Regulus Tera
Romanes Eunt Domus
every time you fuckers write ahoge i keep reading ahegao and i fap anyway
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Spring Anime 2012 | Welcome Home, Space Cowboy
- Thread starter iavi
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Unknown Soldier
Member
I know what happens at the end and I can promise that shit will be 100% pure real.
I don't let people down. I elevate them into a new state of reality.
Such is the magic of using your imagination.
Jex
Member
[Sankarea 1]
I must admit, I was sceptical when people started comparing this episode to a SHAFT show. For some reason people on the internet like to draw those kinds of comparisons and they usually turn out to be off the mark. Here, however, I feel that they were completely justified.
Before I get into that, I should probably outline what happens in this episode. We are introduced to our protagonist, who is your bog-standard anime character except for his unexplainable fetish for undead women (and his bizarre cat ears). He lives a fairly normal life: he deals with his slightly peculiar family, gets molested by his cousin and fantasizes about zombie girls. Then an event occurs, which is handled shocking well for the kind of show we're watching and our protagonist is compelled to go to a certain location where he comes across a girl. They talk to each other and that's about it.
Tonally, it's not clear where the show is going. The premise is inherently silly, but some of the scenes are effective in conveying some more serious ideas and emotions, so we'll have to see how things progress from here. I'm going to imagine that it's mainly going to be kind of light-hearted and odd. We'll see.
As this show is largely just people talking it's a blessing that the script isn't too clunky. More importantly, the direction is surprisingly good. The pacing is surprisingly snappy, the editing is effective and the camera work is surprisingly creative. I suppose this is where all those SHAFT comparisons come from. I'll give some concrete examples to support this.
SHAFT shows certainly feature a lot of extreme close ups, and this shows has a number of them. I picked up on this one because it's also a close up on a unusual item - the lower half of the face only. A number of shots in Bake/Nise are exactly like this.
This kind of flat, straight up close up is far more traditional, it's the kind you see in a variety of shows.
This is the kind of fanservice that was littered all over Bakemonogatari. The camera is in closer up and it's titillating the viewer without being especially graphic. The legs are also fetishized
There's also a number of low angle shots, as well as shots where the character is leaning into the shot. Playing with the perspective in that manner happens often in Bake/Nise.
This kind of cut-to-face fault happens quite regularly in Bakemonogatari.
Oh look the classicSHAFT Ikuhara head-tilt in full effect. It speaks for itself.
The camera here is focusing in on some particular object and blowing it all out of proportion while also playing with how time flows in the show. This kind of unusual choice is something you don't see very often.
There's also some pretty nice camera techniques and editing manoeuvres in play here, although they are far more subtle than a SHAFT show. For example this series of shots.
We starts with a bird's eye view where the camera is zooming out and away from the action which cuts to -
A characters face who it witnessing the scene. The camera still has the momentum from it's early outwards zoom but it's now performing a dolly-zoom (or shock zoom) on the characters, where the camera tracks away from the characters but zooms in at the same time, creating an effect where the background blurs and falls away behind the character. It's very striking, as you can see in this clip from Jaws. However, this sequence of shots hasn't finished and the camera is still moving as we cut to -
An alarm clock where the camera finally zooms out for the last time as the alarm rings. It's a pretty neat series of transitions that are all linked through this set of camera moments.
I must admit, I was sceptical when people started comparing this episode to a SHAFT show. For some reason people on the internet like to draw those kinds of comparisons and they usually turn out to be off the mark. Here, however, I feel that they were completely justified.
Before I get into that, I should probably outline what happens in this episode. We are introduced to our protagonist, who is your bog-standard anime character except for his unexplainable fetish for undead women (and his bizarre cat ears). He lives a fairly normal life: he deals with his slightly peculiar family, gets molested by his cousin and fantasizes about zombie girls. Then an event occurs, which is handled shocking well for the kind of show we're watching and our protagonist is compelled to go to a certain location where he comes across a girl. They talk to each other and that's about it.
Tonally, it's not clear where the show is going. The premise is inherently silly, but some of the scenes are effective in conveying some more serious ideas and emotions, so we'll have to see how things progress from here. I'm going to imagine that it's mainly going to be kind of light-hearted and odd. We'll see.
As this show is largely just people talking it's a blessing that the script isn't too clunky. More importantly, the direction is surprisingly good. The pacing is surprisingly snappy, the editing is effective and the camera work is surprisingly creative. I suppose this is where all those SHAFT comparisons come from. I'll give some concrete examples to support this.
SHAFT shows certainly feature a lot of extreme close ups, and this shows has a number of them. I picked up on this one because it's also a close up on a unusual item - the lower half of the face only. A number of shots in Bake/Nise are exactly like this.
This kind of flat, straight up close up is far more traditional, it's the kind you see in a variety of shows.
This is the kind of fanservice that was littered all over Bakemonogatari. The camera is in closer up and it's titillating the viewer without being especially graphic. The legs are also fetishized
There's also a number of low angle shots, as well as shots where the character is leaning into the shot. Playing with the perspective in that manner happens often in Bake/Nise.
This kind of cut-to-face fault happens quite regularly in Bakemonogatari.
Oh look the classic
The camera here is focusing in on some particular object and blowing it all out of proportion while also playing with how time flows in the show. This kind of unusual choice is something you don't see very often.
There's also some pretty nice camera techniques and editing manoeuvres in play here, although they are far more subtle than a SHAFT show. For example this series of shots.
We starts with a bird's eye view where the camera is zooming out and away from the action which cuts to -
A characters face who it witnessing the scene. The camera still has the momentum from it's early outwards zoom but it's now performing a dolly-zoom (or shock zoom) on the characters, where the camera tracks away from the characters but zooms in at the same time, creating an effect where the background blurs and falls away behind the character. It's very striking, as you can see in this clip from Jaws. However, this sequence of shots hasn't finished and the camera is still moving as we cut to -
An alarm clock where the camera finally zooms out for the last time as the alarm rings. It's a pretty neat series of transitions that are all linked through this set of camera moments.
firehawk12
Subete no aware
I guess my belief is that there's no difference between a novel that's 300 pages (the standard these days, it seems) and a Neal Stephenson 1000+ page novel. Or a movie that's 90 minutes long and a movie that's 4 hours long. Of course, the scope is much more different for television, but it's still... television.
While it's fun to see how art can break down in a crappy harem animu where the only art people care about are the boobs on each of the girls, I'm still wondering why you're watching Maken-ki in the first place!
PdotMichael
Banned
And still no picture of the best girl in the show
childhood friend
genki
She will win or? :/
genki
She will win or? :/
Ultimadrago
Member
Ultimadrago
Member
Read my mind.
MP brought Blood-C into my life. Damn you, damn you, man!
/believesittobeaverymemorableanimeandisstillwatchingthefilm
*contains manga spoilers*
Loses, like every other childhood friend ever.
Which is the way it should be.
Jexhius describes in several thousand words what it took us lowly peons a few lines to write!
It's nice to have someone explain competently just what made the first episode work, your efforts are appreciated!
Ultimadrago
Member
Such is the power of King Monocle.
Sounds like a double negative!
Community Community, here we come!
Hellsing321
Member
*contains manga spoilers*
Loses, like every other childhood friend ever.
And all is right with the world.
Regulus Tera
Romanes Eunt Domus
My argument is that Medaka Box is symptomatic of GAINAX's descent into mediocrity while not necessarily the catalyst that set it into motion. I just can't keep on ignoring the facts anymore.
Ultimadrago
Member
"But, I'm the King..."
I haven't read the manga, but, come on. She's not even dead.
Jex
Member
Oh yes.
You do realise that people don't even read surprisingly short OPs? People are inherently lazy!
Jex
Member
SonicX_Zero
Member
Can the original Fate/Zero OT still be used for discussion or will there be a new one?
Yes, the tone is definitely my biggest concern going forward. The plot seems to be headed for some dark, weird, and disturbing places, so if it's also a comedy, it's going to require a very deft touch. Dark comedy is one of the toughest genres to handle well. I can only hope Mamoru Hatakeyama has some good episode directors lined up, and can keep a tight handle on things, because at the very least he seems to have a fair amount of talent.
Jex
Member
I didn't mean to do that. I can't believe that I post the one time the thread isn't moving at 50 miles per hour!
Do you know how many kirino pics are in his collection? This was no easy task.
hosannainexcelsis
Member
I understand your skepticism, and the studio's lack of resources will likely drag the show down, but I don't think this first episode should be viewed as the work of "DEEN", but as the work of Mamoru Hatakeyama/Shinichi Omata. He shows himself to be that rare individual who understands how to use "Shaft style" for good without making it a tour-de-force like the first episode of Bakemonogatari.
hosannainexcelsis
Member
Awesome. CR now has 3/4 of the shows that I want to see. Only thing left is Hyouka
Unknown Soldier
Member
You should consider it a sign of respect when you post and the thread suddenly grinds to a halt. It means everyone is too busy reading your post!
So only 2 shows left for this season?
Dedication Through Light
Member
Hellsing321
Member
Awesome. Don't shit the bed this time Nakamura.
Those 3 don't include Tsuritama.
Crash Station
Member
It's probably not even gonna get to the really dark stuff.
hosannainexcelsis
Member
Don't forget his production of hentai such as Sins of the Flesh.
Something something worth a thousand words something. I guess I'll accept that there was some deeper meaning or serious consideration involved because it's Jex.
Or they've left their computer to reevaluate their lives.
They just announced it a few hours ago.
If the boxes on their lineup are completely accurate. Pretty Rhythm's chances are looking pretty grim.
Jex
Member
Hey, all the best dudes in the 80's worked on smut like Cream Lemon!
Honorary SHAFT anime? Honorary SHAFT anime. Season saved.
Femmeworth
Banned
So this season has been stealth SHAFT'd?
InfiniteNine
Rolling Girl
I'm just watching cartoons yo!
Jex
Member
I know what all of those words mean, but the sentence you've arranged them into can't be processed by my brain.
Is that even possible?
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