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Summer Anime 2016 |OT| Makes Me Happy When Skies Are Grey
- Thread starter BGBW
- Start date
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Celcius
°Temp. member
Whats surprising about my time with Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu is just how unwavering my passion truly is for this show. Episodes go by and I come away enamored time and time again by this wonderful, phenomenal series and it displays no signs of stopping. Episode 3 right off the bat familiarizes me with the close proximity and comfy nature of this series with some beautiful pillow shots that focuses on the lush backgrounds that scroll past the screen as characters monologue and talk away. Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu really feels less like a show and more like a film due to its relaxed nature, be it the pacing of the episodes themselves or the way in which each scene meanders in pleasing manners that allows for you to soak up the entirety of the atmosphere that this show exudes. Unfazed by the 25 minute run-time the animators bask in the scenery and likewise the camera almost takes joy from caressing the backgrounds. Everything moves slow, slow enough that you have enough time to take everything in and enjoy the ride. Each and every shot looks beautiful. Episode 3 is a love story and its depictions of the characters and their interactions are perfect. Its also a story of friendship and companionship and like the characters themselves your heart almost cant bear to be apart from this fantastic show and as the minutes go by you feel as if it could last forever. The camera takes its time, lingering, it too unable to take its eyes off if the characters and its world. A plethora of wide angle shots find their way into this episode as the characters wonder outside and it truly allows for the lovely backgrounds to be captured in their full splendor. The way in which the camera also focuses on body parts, shots devoid of a face, be it a hand or a foot allows for emotions to be depicted in non-direct manners.
By cutting away from the main action and instead focusing the camera on a visual element such as an object in the distance, a landscape or even just a character brushing their hair, cooking or folding some clothes you conjure up a sense of place, adding credence to the fact that these are real worlds with real people going about their daily lives. They also inject much needed tranquil and serene moments in order to create a much more elegant method of pacing, almost like a visual form of punctuation in-between scenes. They also can be utilized in order to evoke a feeling of irrelevancy that the human characters actions have on the nature that surrounds them. Not much Rakugo itself is depicted in this episode and instead the focus is placed on the characters and their interactions and development. Its a phenomenal episode, heartfelt and earnest it further enriches the characters and the world that they inhabit.
The next episode is a continuation of this focus on the characters however we do see a return of the Rakugo with a 6 minute uninterrupted bout of storytelling that truly had my imagination running wild. The voice acting is such a delight in this series and its integration here is some of the best examples of its use in an anime to date. Like with a Rakugo performance, the voice is imperative to its success and this show demonstrates the power of great audio. The performances are both captivating and enthralling and it enables the entire show to feel like a true ode to the art of Rakugo itself. The episode introduces a new character, a love interest and her integration into the show feels organic and honest and it adds a much needed dynamic to the series.
Episode 5 continues with the angle of love with the relationships developing further. The romance is portrayed in a way that feels natural and beautiful, conjuring up emotions that feel all too real and palpable. The beautiful character designs have a lot to do with this, truly capturing the era of which this show takes place in and the show business nature of the profession that they reside in. Beautiful characters are not to say perfect but rather human with each facial expression feeling genuine. Its a highly attractive show that has your eyes glued to the screen with no signs of giving up. The episode ends on a play that feels like a huge pay off and a culmination of the previous episodes.
I am just going to say you will likely enjoy the final arc of season 2 and leave it at that.
hosannainexcelsis
Member
I would say the best fully CG (backgrounds and everything) Japanese animation I've seen would be the CG segments of the Go Princess Precure film.
Lee Chaolan
Member
Celcius
°Temp. member
Cool, I hope they left out the weird stuff this time. So far so good.
Cornbread78
Member
I don't "hate" the show, but they could give me at leastc1 likable character outside of the lil' brotha. Everyobe is so pissed off and mean all the time..
Yes, battery mates! Welcome to team outcast, now get ready to roll your eyes constantlt at the waves of vile hate SAO gets here every time its name is uttered, lol.
to be fair it seems like SAO has mostly moved to a knee jerk it's garbage and move on reaction in here.
there might even be more legit hate for Attack on Titan around here anymore
Lee Chaolan
Member
Re:Zero Episode 15 (Yes, that episode)
I feel like I was watching something out of Black Mirror, or American Horror Story.
This show keeps finding ways to surprise. Especially after episodes 12-14 were pretty cringe-worthy and not as good as it's predecessors.
That ending shot in the snow though. God damn. I need that musical track.
I feel like I was watching something out of Black Mirror, or American Horror Story.
This show keeps finding ways to surprise. Especially after episodes 12-14 were pretty cringe-worthy and not as good as it's predecessors.
That ending shot in the snow though. God damn. I need that musical track.
PshycoNinja
Member
Yeah. This is the episode where I really started to come around and really started to love the show, personally.
Miyokichi was an excellent addition to the main cast, when episode previews teased her appearance, I've read people say that she's going to ruin it haha, I can't say I haven't dreaded the same but I'm glad that it was quite the contrary.
Hey, that trio's backstory actually completely justified why they're all such terrible people to each other. They both have a huge right to be majorly pissed at the other. I was honestly expecting something more like pastry girl screwing over medicine girl from her personality, but having it be this complete misunderstanding works pretty well. Especially since I doubt they'll ever know what really went down.
Other than that, this pretty much confirms that the viewing order is definitely future-despair-fut-des etc. Which is a fantastic gimmick.
Although still. Every time Junko isn't on the screen, I'm going to be asking, "Where's Junko?".
PshycoNinja
Member
Neon Genesis Evangelion 24 [Watchbet]
Some creative decisions in this show puzzle me. Yeah let's show that clip of
. Yeah, hold this shot of Eva 01 holding
for like a solid minute or two before ending the episode. But let's quickly get through the whole becoming friends part. Felt super unnatural. Just a weird episode in general. It could've easily been split into three episodes and would've had more impact by the end than...what they did end up doing. Skip over a few Angel of the Week episodes and expand this episode by two more. Gloss over two of the Angels. /rant
Despite the rant above, I still, for the most part, enjoyed the episode. Just a few things about the episode felt off because it just seemed like the show was rushing itself by the end.
Some creative decisions in this show puzzle me. Yeah let's show that clip of
Asuka running in a dream sequence seven times and then cut to operatives finding her
Kaworu
Despite the rant above, I still, for the most part, enjoyed the episode. Just a few things about the episode felt off because it just seemed like the show was rushing itself by the end.
Heck yes. If it's as good as S1 then Rakugo will be AOTY two years in a row probably.
NCR Redslayer
NeoGAF's Vegeta
That could be a reason. I never thought of it this way. Though i think other people know why.
hosannainexcelsis
Member
It's going to be a long rest of 2016.
You're going to love the next two episodes.
Mmmmm.
Awesome. Now we have at least 1 great anime next winter, which is usally a pretty dark time for anime.
i'll watch delta eventually but at this point it's just existing as a means to delay my watching of symphogear considering seasons 4 and 5 are already announced
PshycoNinja
Member
Neon Genesis Evangelion 25 [Watchbet]
Wha...
What...did I just watch? What the actual fuck is even going on?
Show has a lot of explaining to do and only one episode to do it. Dunno how they plan to land this crazy...train... But however they do it Godspeed, because fuck if I know what is happening.
Wha...
What...did I just watch? What the actual fuck is even going on?
Show has a lot of explaining to do and only one episode to do it. Dunno how they plan to land this crazy...train... But however they do it Godspeed, because fuck if I know what is happening.
don't forget to watch the End of EVa movie after you finish EVA.
Nice.
I just have a jarring sense of confusion because the kids all look way older than their actual age. I have to keep remembering the main guy is 12 and not 16.
One day I might actually watch s2 so I can hate on it more legitimately. Lol
I hope it never comes to that
The last arc is actually pretty alright, but the first arc sucks and the excalibur arc is a waste of everybodies time.
Why hate things legitimately when you can hate them from afar solely on other peoples impressions?
Of course it's serious. Your two requirements were
- quick
- Hype
ThisGunnaBeGood.gif
But in all seriousness, EoE after the TV series is a must if you want an more complete ending
log horizon eps 2-6
continues to be decent, but SAO is still easily the better series up to this point. That being said if it continues to build nicely I could see log horizon easily having the better second half (that for SAO much like death note is still a good watch, just not as good as the first half)
continues to be decent, but SAO is still easily the better series up to this point. That being said if it continues to build nicely I could see log horizon easily having the better second half (that for SAO much like death note is still a good watch, just not as good as the first half)
The show is about to get very political (and by that, i mean GOOD!)
GoldCrusader
Member
Oh wow that is pretty amazing! I think I will agree with you on this one.
GoldCrusader
Member
I think that aside from the excalibur arc which I found quite boring SAO II was quite fun to watch. GGO had some awesome moment and MR was propably the best thing about SAO.
I'm in a similar boat (though I do think MR needed a LOT more time so that the viewer can grow proper attachment to the new characters, because as is, it felt a tad rushed)
Though I will say, the butt-crack of truth moment was horrible and made most of GGO retroactively bad.
GoldCrusader
Member
Just to be sure what you mean, what is the butt-crack of truth?
the friend killer?
Also I don't think more time would have been necessary since I think MR said pretty much everything it wanted to say.
I should note, I think log horizon has the better opening though.
I can't recall SAO's opening right now but I could totally see myself singing database over and over
There should be a rule against talking about anime they drop early as if they finished it. Shit gets annoying when you see someone shitposting when they only saw ~4 episodes of a 20+ episode series. :S
The butt-crack of truth refers to the moment where Kirito figures out
You know, because
I honestly love both, but i agree, database sticks into your mind
The butt-crack of truth refers to the moment where Kirito figures out
there is 2 people caring out the murders
You know, because
he figures it out while staring intensely at Shinon's ass crack
I should note, I think log horizon has the better opening though.
I can't recall SAO's opening right now but I could totally see myself singing database over and over
I honestly love both, but i agree, database sticks into your mind
GoldCrusader
Member
Ahhh right I get you! Yea it was kind of an ass pull.There should be a rule against talking about anime they drop early as if they finished it. Shit gets annoying when you see someone shitposting when they only saw ~4 episodes of a 20+ episode series. :S
The butt-crack of truth refers to the moment where Kirito figures outthere is 2 people caring out the murders
You know, becausehe figures it out while staring intensely at Shinon's ass crack
I honestly love both, but i agree, database sticks into your mind
but then we wouldn't have so many re:zero is generic LN garbage posts
to be fair people will be people, even if you had such a rule people would just claim they saw it all
Lalalandia
Member
SAO II is fine if you can look past the OP Kirito and that they wall him off from any of his existing companions for the entire GGO arc (I quite liked Sinon for the first part of the season). Excalibur was meh, to be frank I can barely recall it, but Mother's Rosario was the best of SAO for me as it actually discussed an interesting application of the tech and it had way less Kirito whom I'd grown very tired of by that point. The ugly in SAO is entirely in the ALO parts of SAO S1 there's nothing remotely as objectionable in S2
That's a terrible idea. People stop watching things because they don't like them. It's the times when you watch all of a 20+ episode series you hate that's really weird.
I've done that more than I care to admit though.
Log horizon's main problem is pacing, lack of animation quality, perhaps a bit too much explaining, and a really irritating one sided crush
Still better than Sao at that point though imho
As I recall we all hated database until about four episodes in when it infected our brains. The band actually cameos in the show lol.
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