Admiral Woofington
Member
If anything Log Horizon is more mmo fighting since it mentions cooldowns and combination of skills. Versus Log Horizon press 1 to FUCKING YEAH SPINNING AND SHIT.
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Summer 2014 Anime |OT2| Or, where Jexhius finally watches more Doremi for Hito.
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The characterization in Log Horizon is pretty shallow. Certainly, some time in the first few episodes spent on characters wanting to go home, missing home, or reminiscing about the past lives they've been separated from would have gone a long way to fix that.
Still, the show's emphasis was on economic systems, forms of human organization, and turning the bizarre logic of an MMO world into a logical system within a fantasy world. This means characters and deeper human psychology take a bit of a backseat, but with the construction and interweaving of all the different plots, I didn't really mind.
Similarly, this quote reminded me of something.
In the 4chan AMA that the author held, when someone criticized how simplistic his presentation of PvP was, he said that he knew things went deeper in real life, but he wanted to limit how many themes he was tackling to keep the story coherent. Just as the players all have coherent human names without numbers or symbols, or how children-model characters are almost always being played by actual children, the author made choices writing the story to further the exploration of the ideas he wanted to explore, instead of getting too deep into the psychology of compulsive high-level MMO players who wind up playing the same game for years and years on end.
Your impressions match very closely with my own. I'm normally not the type to marathon shows, but I went through this one fast, because I wanted to see more of the world and how things developed. It's really well-plotted, particularly in the goblin attack arc, where army-level military strategy, political theater, the individual battles of a party of low-level adventurers, and the arcane workings of the world's magic system (each of which has been developing for multiple episodes beforehand) all mix together and have a significant effect on the story's outcome.
It makes me incredibly happy to watch the chain reaction I seem to have set into motion.
hosannainexcelsis
Member
Shounen Hollywood 1-4
In a nutshell, this is the reason why I've found myself cold to Idolmaster and generally steered clear of "idol" anime. The characters are so obviously manufactured to hit certain appeal points - tsundere, ojousama, whatever - that it becomes offputting and the interaction between them feels disconcertingly artificial. Shounen Hollywood is a different kind of idol anime, however, in that it actually has characters who feel like, well, characters. In fact, the whole thing feels surprisingly grounded for anime, to the point where it feels more like a live-action show.
Shounen Hollywood was originally a novel about the titular idol group. This anime series is set 15 years after the novel; the original group broke up about that time and a new generation of boys have been gathered together to become a revived Shounen Hollywood. The original novelist is penning the scripts for the anime, and indeed the dialogue has more of a poetic, reflective tone than is typical for anime writing. (Sometimes it feels almost a bit too flowery, but that could be just an artifact of the English translation.) The characterization is well drawn - the former child actor struggling to emerge from his mother's shadow, the orphan who idolizes the first Shounen Hollywood group - they feel like real people with real issues, not just collections of gimmicks or tropes. The themes discussed - the uncertainty of the future, the difficulty of knowing if you're on the "right" path through life, the fear of death - are explored without having simplistic conclusions shoved in your face. And it even find time to gently make fun of the inherent silliness of idol culture - the end of the first episode is one of my favorite moments in that regard.
The biggest weakness is the animation. The first episode is well animated, but after that the rushed nature of the production can be seen by rough mid- and long-distance shots with some rather poor character art at times. The writing is good enough to carry it though. The direction, while not exceptional, is well paced and matches the grounded nature of the writing. There's quite a bit of slow pans over backgrounds which, while undoubtedly partly done to save time and money, also enhanced the slow-paced, meditative nature of scenes.
So yeah, I like this and I'm looking forward to seeing more.
In a nutshell, this is the reason why I've found myself cold to Idolmaster and generally steered clear of "idol" anime. The characters are so obviously manufactured to hit certain appeal points - tsundere, ojousama, whatever - that it becomes offputting and the interaction between them feels disconcertingly artificial. Shounen Hollywood is a different kind of idol anime, however, in that it actually has characters who feel like, well, characters. In fact, the whole thing feels surprisingly grounded for anime, to the point where it feels more like a live-action show.
Shounen Hollywood was originally a novel about the titular idol group. This anime series is set 15 years after the novel; the original group broke up about that time and a new generation of boys have been gathered together to become a revived Shounen Hollywood. The original novelist is penning the scripts for the anime, and indeed the dialogue has more of a poetic, reflective tone than is typical for anime writing. (Sometimes it feels almost a bit too flowery, but that could be just an artifact of the English translation.) The characterization is well drawn - the former child actor struggling to emerge from his mother's shadow, the orphan who idolizes the first Shounen Hollywood group - they feel like real people with real issues, not just collections of gimmicks or tropes. The themes discussed - the uncertainty of the future, the difficulty of knowing if you're on the "right" path through life, the fear of death - are explored without having simplistic conclusions shoved in your face. And it even find time to gently make fun of the inherent silliness of idol culture - the end of the first episode is one of my favorite moments in that regard.
The biggest weakness is the animation. The first episode is well animated, but after that the rushed nature of the production can be seen by rough mid- and long-distance shots with some rather poor character art at times. The writing is good enough to carry it though. The direction, while not exceptional, is well paced and matches the grounded nature of the writing. There's quite a bit of slow pans over backgrounds which, while undoubtedly partly done to save time and money, also enhanced the slow-paced, meditative nature of scenes.
So yeah, I like this and I'm looking forward to seeing more.
Fiiiiiineee.
The hook should be the messages from the future into love triangles and high school romance which they do in a very dull way. I don't really know what's the point of glassblowing outside of having a niche hobby for the MC, it's not like they even discuss the techniques or the industry, they just use it as airtime filler.
It would have been a unique and interesting subject matter to mold a show around but it seems like just window dressing.
Terareflection
Member
Glad, more people are watching this, definitely my second favorite show of the season after Zankyou.
I agree that the show is ugly after the first episode, but the latest episode actually looks decent.
I've been really enjoying this so far too. Probably the surprise of the season. While the animation hasn't been great in the later stuff, the backgrounds are at least nice enough to make most of the long pans or still shots work.
Turin Turambar
Member
Talking about characterization, the characters themselves don't have really good character arcs. I forgot to comment on that.
We have Shiroe the mc who has his own mini-Arc about him being a loner as he distanced himself from the people and now gaining trust again in groups, and apart of that we have little else: Crusty seems to have some battlelust under the perfect knight persona, Rundelhaus who really wants to be an adventurer, Minori admires Shiroe and wants to be like him, and... uh... I'm searching for scraps already.
They go more for quantity than quality in the series, with more than 30 named characters and a decent amount with their own povs apart from the mc. Quantity in this case brings variety, from warriors to merchants to nobility to people from different factions and levels and perspectives.
In other words, this is the kind of series where the characters are pieces of the board, and it's the board (all the worldbuilding) who is the star.
I love that episode, Kushieda the best though
Admiral Woofington
Member
Would you say the show isn't so much about glass blowing... but more about blowin'?
phoenix296
Member
Sailor Moon Crystal 03
Yay Mars is introduced. I really want to like this more but the art style is just so unappealing.
Yay Mars is introduced. I really want to like this more but the art style is just so unappealing.
In all fairness, those people do exist in Log Horizon as well.
Jex
Member
Jexhius is trying really hard is sell Log Horizon
I respect the write up though. I watched the first 4 episodes last year and was left feeling pretty cold on the series. Maybe I'll give it another shot but I'd be lying if I said it was a priority.
That's understandable. I enjoyed the first arc but it's very standard stuff and the show doesn't "kick off" till after the introductory stuff is wrapped up.
Admiral Woofington
Member
Log Horizon doesn't get really good until the next arc, with all of the alliances and shit.
that face... crayon shin-chan?
Jex
Member
You know, I don't really mind that they completely neglect that element of the story. It doesn't really make sense to ignore it, but it the end it would just be stuff that we've witnessed before and it instead allows the writer to focus on the thing he's actually good at writing: the world itself. The show, for the most, just doesn't care about anything that happened before the characters became trapped in the game.
phoenix296
Member
The frames right after look especially bad. Her right hand looks like it's a mutation.
Crash Station
Member
There's some real strategy and spectacle behind the few fights in the early parts of the series. Even if you don't fully understand the terminology, it's pretty entertaining.
I'm the opposite. Once the introduction was over and the show became more about guild management and political intrigue rather than clashing with PKers and searching for a way out of the game, I just wasn't enjoying myself. I still stuck with it to the end, though.
Femmeworth
Banned
Can't wait for the Digimon anniversary series.
NO.
BAD DOG. NO BISCUITS.
Ewwww
I also heard Rei is different in this?
Doctor Decimate
Member
looks like somebody needs an exorcism all right O_O
Freezasaurus
Member
There are worse things to accidentally buy. I ordered the Toradora blu-ray set from Rightstuf way before it came out... Then I completely forgot I ordered it.
It's still shrink wrapped.
I would definitely watch a Sailor Moon series with the visual design of Crayon Shin-Chan.
Sword Art Online II - 1
You know, it's hard to take a villain seriously when his name is "Desu Gun" and he looks and acts like a two-bit Darth Vader cosplayer.
It's like SAO only has two states, being actively offensive or aggressively tedious. Am I supposed to know who this detective dude is? New character introduction in this episode: a butt with a girl attached to it. Also, some of the worst CGI to ever appear in anime:
http://a.pomf.se/zquicv.webm
"Oh Kirito-kun, I love it when you whisper sweet exposition in my ear."
You know, it's hard to take a villain seriously when his name is "Desu Gun" and he looks and acts like a two-bit Darth Vader cosplayer.
It's like SAO only has two states, being actively offensive or aggressively tedious. Am I supposed to know who this detective dude is? New character introduction in this episode: a butt with a girl attached to it. Also, some of the worst CGI to ever appear in anime:
http://a.pomf.se/zquicv.webm
ultimatemegax
Member
The cause for both of these is that he transferred over his account from ALO (which was copied data from SAO), so he kept all his physical stats/abilities that are co-existant and name. He had to transfer the account or else he'd start with nothing and wouldn't be able to enter the BoB and eventually be targeted by a possible Death Gun for his skills until after grinding/defeating the purpose of going to him in the first place.
phoenix296
Member
I'm not sure, I haven't seen the original for around 15 years. I started re-watching a bit of it on hulu before crystal aired but I didn't get that far.
But we like this idea and background animation is haaaaarrd!
Femmeworth
Banned
Truly something deserving of all the money it shall be making.
I think you missed his point.
Yeah, that's why it didn't bother me personally too much. The wailing, gnashing of teeth, and rending of garments portion of the show is limited to about ten seconds of people whining in the background, and I'm okay with that since they're not really going anywhere. I don't need to know everyone's real names. But I like the rare moments where the show references the players' pasts (Henrietta's MBA, Crusty's sister), because it helps me know them a little better as people. The very beginning would have been a good excuse to learn a little more about that.
I wouldn't want it to come at the expense of the focus on the world and its systems, but I think that's a false choice.
When I clicked that link, for some reason I wasn't thinking it would be that bad. I'm even mostly okay with the CG in Aldnoah.Zero, since I've seen far worse before.
That webm really surpassed my expectations. You'd figure a production like SAO would have a budget, but...
Well, it's at least still better than Golgo 13: The Professional! I can at least say that.
Sword Art Online II - 2
Gotta love how even though it's a game about guns, Kirito is using a sword again for some reason. Be the Gary Stu you want to see in the world.
The CGI shot from the last episode was so good, we're going to use it again.
I guess this is probably about as good as SAO can get. I mean it was still pretty dumb how seriously they were taking a PVP battle("How can he smile on the battlefield? He must be hardcore!"), but without MMO Batman there, there was at least a modicum of suspense. Other than the omnipresent male gaze, nothing too offensive in this episode...
...nothing too...
...no. No. You don't get to do this, show. You don't get to treat a callback underage molestation as a nostalgic moment.
This is what moral depravity looks like.
Gotta love how even though it's a game about guns, Kirito is using a sword again for some reason. Be the Gary Stu you want to see in the world.
The CGI shot from the last episode was so good, we're going to use it again.
I guess this is probably about as good as SAO can get. I mean it was still pretty dumb how seriously they were taking a PVP battle("How can he smile on the battlefield? He must be hardcore!"), but without MMO Batman there, there was at least a modicum of suspense. Other than the omnipresent male gaze, nothing too offensive in this episode...
...nothing too...
...no. No. You don't get to do this, show. You don't get to treat a callback underage molestation as a nostalgic moment.
This is what moral depravity looks like.
Admiral Woofington
Member
All I know about Aldnoah zero is that if Slaine gets killed off in some Urobuchi inspired bullshit I'm outtie like an Audi.
I would too
ultimatemegax
Member
It's all about the scheduling and nothing about budget. A shot like that requires a lot of BG work and Bamboo can only do so many BGs per episode. Ito chose to utilize the CG team on that and rushed it due to how short the scene was (same with one cut in the OP with Sinon firing). It's a consequence of one of the limitations of how rushed productions are now.
Maybe A-1 shouldn't make so many shows a year if it ends up making all of them look worse. It's a trend which has been happening for a lot of their shows and subsequent seasons.
Ice Lightning
Member
Has Sentai uploaded the English dub trailer for Watamote? Really want to listen to Monica Rial voicing Tomoko.
Why would you watch this?
Agreed!
Basileus777
Member
I'm curious what you think the dash of Evangelion is, that's not a connection I'd think to make.
And as others have said, nicely done with the review.
AnimeGAF zeitgeist.
Moral depravity.
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