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Spring Anime 2016 |OT| Get a Season So Complicated
- Thread starter BGBW
- Start date
- Status
Ok if he had posted that on GAF I think its fair to call him out on it. Trawling his Twitter feed, even if its public, feels off. Like backdoor, behind the back tattle-telling. IMO at least.
EDIT: Oh wait I saw you actually talked to him on twitter first. Ok that feels less shady since you've engaged him already and its not "sneaky"
Sweet <3
MetroidPrimeRib
Banned
I wasn't too hot on the opening chapters of MHA so maybe I'll like the later episodes more so
Let’s talk a bit about Danball Senki, also known as Little Battlers Experience in the West. This was something entirely off my radar until a few weeks back. We were joking around about character designs on twitter and a character from the second season of Danball Senki came up. Someone in the conversation mentioned how it was likely to be of dubious quality given it was a boy’s anime and someone else stepped in to defend it by linking a particular video that took me by surprise. Despite it being CG and despite the designs, I was able to take a step back and look at it a bit more abstractly and recognize it for what it was: Gundam Build Fighters without the Gundam skin. It was the same sort of proxy battle show that I’d never realized existed before checking out GBF and that I’d been thirsty for since especially with the disappointment that was Try. It carried the same premise and spirit as GBF despite predating it by a couple years and it came through for me in a big way.
The show follows Ban Yamano, a kid who loves LBX but isn’t allowed to have one of us own. Cue mysterious circumstances where he’s given one but not just any LBX, it’s the one his dead father worked on. It’s his father’s legacy, something that could be used to save the world or to destroy it. Sound familiar? For fans of the genre, it should. As expected, things escalate quickly and never stops doing so.
In the interest of cutting to the chase, I’ll start with the cons so people can bail as soon as they see fit:
CONS
Designs
From the outset, it’s clear Danball Senki doesn’t have the same caliber of design work that Gundam Build Fighters had going for it nor should it given it didn’t have a well nearly 40 years old to draw from. When you’ve got names like Mamoru Nagano, Syd Mead, Kunio Okawara, and Hajime Katoki and you’re able to pick and choose from the best of everything, it’s really not a fair comparison. GBF leveraged this advantage to the max to not only bring us some exciting encounters from unlikely combatants but the act of animating some of these popular yet unused designs was this ultimate sort of fan service for Gundam fans.
As for the characters, they’re in a similar position as they’re very Level 5 for all that entails.
No 2D action animation
This will be the big sticking point for people and I really can’t blame them. One of the big draws of GBF was the 2D mecha action in world where it’s become increasingly rare. Some of the cuts in the show are ridiculous showcases that take us back to when something like this might have been closer to the norm rather than current novelty.
There’s this sort of adjustment period checking this out given the LBX themselves are CG. Composition with 2D elements is usually serviceable at worst and environments/effects during the battle sequences do show their age from time to time. The action works through the combination of very strong direction, great choreography, a wonderfully bombastic OST, and correct leveraging of CG’s strengths, in particular an often dynamic camera and longer uninterrupted cuts. The LBXs typically have strong posing to better sell the idea of the battling along with pilots often cutting into the action with reaction shots as befitting of mecha anime. Once I got into this, I really got into it and found myself tweeting examples of stuff that I thought worked well as the show went on.
Example #1
Example #2
Example #3 People afraid of spoilers shouldn’t click this one.
Example #4
If you find yourself intrigued by this, just know there’s a whole show’s worth of this stuff that I didn’t share.
Characters
PROS
Better realized world
Super Robot anime and all that entails
for good measure. There may or may not even be one that combines. It’s ridiculous but in a good way as the show’s very much a love letter to older, more traditional super robot shows.
Very Action Driven
It’s a great show and something more people check out as Try didn’t give us more of what we actually wanted since it took a step back and reduced the importance of gunpla to the world and instead treated it like an after school club activity. Danball Senki is also unique in that it can give GBF fans that were pre-existing Gundam fans perspective of how non-Gundam fans perceived and enjoyed GBF without knowing the history of the franchise. If you haven’t seen either and decide to check out GBF over this, I’m fine with that as more people should enjoy that too. If you liked GBF’s pure spirit and wanted something in the same vein, this is what that show is. I said it before and I’ll say it again: This is the super robot complement to GBFs real robots.
The show follows Ban Yamano, a kid who loves LBX but isn’t allowed to have one of us own. Cue mysterious circumstances where he’s given one but not just any LBX, it’s the one his dead father worked on. It’s his father’s legacy, something that could be used to save the world or to destroy it. Sound familiar? For fans of the genre, it should. As expected, things escalate quickly and never stops doing so.
In the interest of cutting to the chase, I’ll start with the cons so people can bail as soon as they see fit:
CONS
Designs
From the outset, it’s clear Danball Senki doesn’t have the same caliber of design work that Gundam Build Fighters had going for it nor should it given it didn’t have a well nearly 40 years old to draw from. When you’ve got names like Mamoru Nagano, Syd Mead, Kunio Okawara, and Hajime Katoki and you’re able to pick and choose from the best of everything, it’s really not a fair comparison. GBF leveraged this advantage to the max to not only bring us some exciting encounters from unlikely combatants but the act of animating some of these popular yet unused designs was this ultimate sort of fan service for Gundam fans.
Instead Danball Senki applies a more toyetic aesthetic to the show where the designs are almost insultingly simple early on yet give way to more impressive machines as the show progresses. Designs become increasingly complex as it moves forward from the base “LBX as a toy” concept to their use as something far more with most of the main characters receiving one or two upgrades throughout the show. These are often increasingly unique and personalized to reflect the personality of their respective user. With the increased complexity of design typically comes an increased complexity in the action choreography as we see what the LBX are truly capable of.->
->
Progression example.
As for the characters, they’re in a similar position as they’re very Level 5 for all that entails.
No 2D action animation
This will be the big sticking point for people and I really can’t blame them. One of the big draws of GBF was the 2D mecha action in world where it’s become increasingly rare. Some of the cuts in the show are ridiculous showcases that take us back to when something like this might have been closer to the norm rather than current novelty.
There’s this sort of adjustment period checking this out given the LBX themselves are CG. Composition with 2D elements is usually serviceable at worst and environments/effects during the battle sequences do show their age from time to time. The action works through the combination of very strong direction, great choreography, a wonderfully bombastic OST, and correct leveraging of CG’s strengths, in particular an often dynamic camera and longer uninterrupted cuts. The LBXs typically have strong posing to better sell the idea of the battling along with pilots often cutting into the action with reaction shots as befitting of mecha anime. Once I got into this, I really got into it and found myself tweeting examples of stuff that I thought worked well as the show went on.
Example #1
Example #2
Example #3 People afraid of spoilers shouldn’t click this one.
Example #4
If you find yourself intrigued by this, just know there’s a whole show’s worth of this stuff that I didn’t share.
Characters
In a vacuum, Danball Senki’s characters are fine but this is something that should be addressed if I’m bringing up comparisons to Gundam Build Fighters in order to sell it to others that enjoyed that show. Without a doubt it’s lacking in this show what with the large cast of which we barely get to know. Ban gets the most character work as he’s the one that bears all the show’s various ups and downs but there’s nothing driving things like the character work in Gundam Build Fighters where Sei’s desire to chase his father, Reiji’s competitive spirit, the camaraderie those two shared, and their rivalry with Tatsuya drove everything important in the show. Sure they wanted to wanted to win the World Championship but it’d been the hollowest of victories had they not gone through each other. Most of the GBF characters are like this where while gunpla is very important to them, it’s still just a vehicle to allow for their motivations to be seen through. There’s also a likeable charm to GBF in how overly important they treat the battles that’s not entirely present in Danball Senki because those battles really are that important.
PROS
Better realized world
How’s Danball Senki compare favorably to GBF after all that? Well, it starts with the world. Gunpla’s important in in GBF and we get gags that hint at it being more important past tournaments what with the gunpla police/mafia/etc but that’s not a joke in the world of Danball Senki. LBX permeates society far past joke encounters and only tournaments. They’re not confined to their arenas with a limitation like Plavsky particles. They’re toys that are dangerous weapons in the wrong hands. There’s underground tournaments with them, shady back alleys where you can pick some up, they’re used as corporate security, they’re used for assaults by a secret organization, and one’s even used in an attempt to assassinate the Prime Minister of Japan. The central conceit of the show is how these were dangerous toys until the advent of fortified cardboard that allowed people use them safely within the confines of a fortified cardboard arena, how people began to abuse them, and how it’s important to restore them so kids and adults alike can use them safely once again.
Super Robot anime and all that entails
The show loves its mecha tropes, particularly the super robot ones. It’s all the more amusing as these are basically tiny 4-6” toys. You’ve got your called attacks, you’ve got your heartbreaking twists, you’ve got your villains without a hint of gray to them, you’ve got one LBX that transforms into a flight mode and can reach the sound barrier, you’ve got LBXs that berserk, you’ve got LBXs that move faster than the eye can see, you’ve got an LBX that’s powered by HATRED, and hell, you even have one that
stops a runaway train going 250 mph head-on
Very Action Driven
What Danball Senki lacks in character development it makes up for how action driven the narrative is. It’s a constant roller coaster with very little time to catch your breath before some new threat appears and things threaten to fall apart. The show’s not afraid to reality check the protagonists by reminding them just how far in over their heads they truly and the bad guys have no compunctions about playing dirty with the situation calls for it. Often the rug gets pulled out from beneath the good guys and they’re forced to redouble their efforts to catch back up to where they were so their enemy doesn’t leave them behind. The bad guys aren't afraid to leave a body count behind either. There’s probably 3-4 episodes max where there isn’t some big battle between LBXs and for those there are, the ones that are kids having fun are in the minority as the rest are a means to the end of saving the world.
It’s a great show and something more people check out as Try didn’t give us more of what we actually wanted since it took a step back and reduced the importance of gunpla to the world and instead treated it like an after school club activity. Danball Senki is also unique in that it can give GBF fans that were pre-existing Gundam fans perspective of how non-Gundam fans perceived and enjoyed GBF without knowing the history of the franchise. If you haven’t seen either and decide to check out GBF over this, I’m fine with that as more people should enjoy that too. If you liked GBF’s pure spirit and wanted something in the same vein, this is what that show is. I said it before and I’ll say it again: This is the super robot complement to GBFs real robots.
ColossalLazy
Member
Calling out people in Twitter? Is that how you make your point?
Edit: So he called AnimeGAF, fair enough.
hosannainexcelsis
Member
Yeah. I'm not looking to go behind anyone's back, but since he specifically called out AnimeGAF in his (now deleted) Twitter posts that were retweeted onto my feed I felt it was fair to link them in here.
You're impressions while watching were already enough to put this on my watchlist.
The concept of proxy battles is something I really, really like. Although I can't really think of many shows with it.
The ones that come to mind in addition to what you meantioned are really only children toy shows (not that they are automatically bad or anything), like Beyblade, Medabots, to a lesser degree Yu-gi-oh and all the other card games.
MetroidPrimeRib
Banned
I don't think its a call out. Just leave it.
Hellwarden
Member
You and I both know I've dug and escaped from deeper holes than this!
Look at these things.
Look at them.
But to be fair, I concede that the character designs were alright in G-Reco.
We'll put you in a hole a Hundred feet deep if you keep it up.
MetroidPrimeRib
Banned
There are so many MS in each Gundam series that you can handpick shitty and great ones
As I doubt many people still watch this, I also want to add this. There are several comedies that I'd call hit or miss. But Kuma Miko, when it's "miss", it doesn't simply become boring, but it actually becomes offensive. Fortunately, no sexual harassment or anything creepy this time, but as I said on the previous post, it had bullying, and I'm not sure why I was supposed to find it funny. It was around 1~ minute of the punk girl beating the protagonist, to the point of tears. Not the "gag"-like beating, but something that would certainly categorize as violence.
Eeeeeh, this anime makes me hate myself for continue watching it. :|
Eeeeeh, this anime makes me hate myself for continue watching it. :|
Reminds me of Seth McFarlane style humor.
Which is beyond terrible.
nintendoman58
Member
Jojo is undeniably better than My Hero Academia, there's no doubt about that.
But I seriously don't understand why I generally see quite a few negative comments towards MHA.
I can understand someone personally not liking the show for whatever personal reason, but what is it doing for it to be called boring or bad for everyone?
It's not doing anything particularly wrong, and the slow pacing is helping make the first few chapters of the manga come off stronger. The OST's big orchestral piece during One for All moments in episodes 2 and 4 is making things more fun as well. Like, I decided to catch up with the manga specifically because of the first three episodes.
Aside from reactions from people don't like the show for personal reasons, I haven't seen a really compelling argument as to why it should be called bad, per say.
They look silly.
Like cartoon robots should look like.
But I seriously don't understand why I generally see quite a few negative comments towards MHA.
I can understand someone personally not liking the show for whatever personal reason, but what is it doing for it to be called boring or bad for everyone?
It's not doing anything particularly wrong, and the slow pacing is helping make the first few chapters of the manga come off stronger. The OST's big orchestral piece during One for All moments in episodes 2 and 4 is making things more fun as well. Like, I decided to catch up with the manga specifically because of the first three episodes.
Aside from reactions from people don't like the show for personal reasons, I haven't seen a really compelling argument as to why it should be called bad, per say.
They look silly.
Like cartoon robots should look like.
One reason why everybody jumped off this show in record time.
ThatChairMan
Member
The G-Lucifer is great though. And there are way more good/great designs compared to the number of bad ones. Ignoring the Gundam-types, Grimoire, Montero, Jahannam, Hecate, Catsith, Mack Knife, and a lot more.
And, yeah, considering the number of suits, there are always going to be some that don't stand out or look terrible in any Gundam.
I think the point here is My Hero Academia isn't happening in a vacuum and there is a staggering amount of shonen to choose from and MHA just hasn't risen to that next level yet. This is actually fairly common in shonen but MHA has to be weighted against great expectations.
Newtype-001
Member
Part 1 was boring
Part 2 was good
Part 3 was boring
Part 4 is good so far
Must mean part 5 is gone be boring aswell whenever that happens.
Part 2 was good
Part 3 was boring
Part 4 is good so far
Must mean part 5 is gone be boring aswell whenever that happens.
MetroidPrimeRib
Banned
Part 5 is very reminiscent of Part 3 but with way better fights and Italians
Part 3 and Part 5 are the most popular parts, coincidence?
And part 7 is the best part by far so evens vs odds don't mean anything
Part 3 and Part 5 are the most popular parts, coincidence?
And part 7 is the best part by far so evens vs odds don't mean anything
Dedication Through Light
Member
HeroAca's writing is significantly stronger than the writing offered by the staff behind JJBA. HeroAca is consistent and while predictable one knows what they will get. JJBA meanwhile is very inconsistent with lazy writing choices at key moments.
Alien pee-pee. DB finally did it, lmao
I can agree to Jojo being inconsistent and we are not even at the apex of this nonsense.
Newtype-001
Member
I always thought 3&4 were the most popular, and then the one with the president.
MetroidPrimeRib
Banned
I am curious to see how Western manga readers (as its already very popular in Japan) will take Part 5 animated. If it's anything like how DiU has been thus far I won't have much to complain about since I like the fights in Part 5.
The translation is the issue with Part 5. It is the worst. People shit on Duwang but Duwang isn't that bad past the first quarter. You can tell its at least not the best translation but its more accurate then the Part 5 one. The Part 5 one is the absolute worst kind of translation because it looks legit despite things just being made up.
Want to know why the King Crimson meme exists only in the West? Because the translation kept switching around what the fuck it did.
West - 7 = 4 > 2 > 3 > 6 > 5 > 1
Japan - 3 = 5 > 4 > 2 > 7 = 6 > 1
Obviously Part 8 is the most popular currently so I'm not going to rank that.
but I thought we were just comparing it to other shonen series.
Yeah. Basically, stands allow Araki to do whatever the hell he pleases because the rules around how a stand does or doesn't work are downright non-existant. But it's still cool and entertaining to watch every week.
MetroidPrimeRib
Banned
David Pro has been doing a great job for years so I have complete faith in the staff and whatever they will do JoJo wise because they have not let me down yet and have actually exceeded my expectations multiple times. The comparatively weak opening fights in Part 4 have been done better then most of the good fights in Part 3, so what will the actual awesome fights in Part 4 look like?
I think Highway Star might kill me.
I think Highway Star might kill me.
SliceSabre
Banned
Re: Zero 04
I fully admit that I too got caught up with Subaru and this episode and how well things seemed to be going with him and Emilia now. Then the end of the episode happened and reality came back.
Asymmetrical twins maids are the best kind of maids.
I fully admit that I too got caught up with Subaru and this episode and how well things seemed to be going with him and Emilia now. Then the end of the episode happened and reality came back.
nintendoman58
Member
Okay seriously, enough with these damn drive-by shitposts that contribute nothing to discussion.
Like, for real.
Getting upset over that is like that dude that caught feelings over Heavy Object.
DeadRockstar
Member
Even though I'd put Steel Ball Run alone at the top I'm kinda with you here. 4+ are all great.
Admiral Woofington
Member
there's better shows to defend
Like Psycho Pass S1.
Like Psycho Pass S1.
MetroidPrimeRib
Banned
It's obvious he isn't serious chill
Dedication Through Light
Member
Admiral Woofington
Member
Who would defend Infinite Stratos anymore with Hundred out? It's the anime IS wanted to be, and more.
GoldCrusader
Member
Edit: I misunderstood :/
I didn't know it needed a defense. Season 2, sure hate that all you want.
MetroidPrimeRib
Banned
But I'm pretty sure he was talking about JoJo
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