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Winter Anime 2016 |OT2| Bellariology, Puellology and Simulacrumology
- Thread starter BGBW
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Noir: END
This was mentioned to me a few times so I decided to watch it recently and I wasnt disappointed. Noir begins its story when Mireille Bouquet, an assassin based in France, receives an email from Kirika Yuumura, a girl in Japan asking if she wants to make a pilgrimage for the past with her. Kirika lacks her memories along with her emotions but what she does have is a Student I.D with her picture, lethal skills, the name Noir and a melody playing pocket watch thats connected to Mireilles past; thus the duos adventure for the past starts, operating under the ancient codename Noir.
The story from there takes an episodic approach for a while as they take on assassin assignments, with the overarching plot slowly building up in the background. I didnt mind the slowdown in pace since it gave a lot of time to observe the main characters, whom I found to be very intriguing. Mireille keeps her business professional even to the point of saying she will kill Kirika once their pasts are revealed since she knows Mireilles identity. However, she does take the time to enjoy her life, hanging out at cafes and sunbathing, just taking the time to relax. There is also her past that they flashback to a lot. It attracts a lot of curiosity but the problem is they ended up using the same scene far too much, they eventually do show other aspects of her past that wasnt as overused.
Kirika on the other hand isnt as expressive as Mireille with her amnesia in effect but still intriguing in her own way. When a character such as her finally displays a hint of emotion, it can be very notable and in this case I think it was. I enjoyed watching her become more expressive as the show went along; I think it progressed at a nice pace. With that said, I think the best part was watching them grow closer and form a fairly strong bond. They come a long way from the start and the lengths they eventually go for each other was great to see. Also want to mention one more character named Chloe, shes introduced a little before the halfway mark when the episodic plots slow down and the overarching plot takes the main stage. She turns out to be an interesting character too and brings a new dynamic to the Noir name, also is pretty skilled.
Speaking of skills, the action in the show can be pretty good. Mireille gunplay isnt bad, she is good at her job but Kirika is just on another level. The way she uses items from her environment like popcorn, glasses, coins, etc., mixed in with her acrobatics and hand to hand combat was impressive to see. There is one surprising drawback to the action though being that there is practically no blood/gore in this, to the point its kind of distracting. The brutality of it all is there and not saying there needed to be an abundance of blood but to have not even traces besides torn clothes is odd. There is a few times where they use angles to avoid the absence but for the most part its something that stuck out constantly.
As for the animation in general, its dated of course but still pretty good. I thought the character appearances were consistent for the most part; just noticed some irregularities here and there. Also the assignments took them all over the world with varied environments so there were a lot of different palettes that set the atmosphere for them. Also have to give mention to the soundtrack by Yuki Kajiura, it was great and built up the atmosphere and set the tone at the necessary moments pretty well. There are a few tracks that are played more often than others but it wasnt bothersome at all.
Overall, the episodic start off with some developments building up along the way really paid off as the plot started to hit its stride in the second half. There are some complaints, already talked about the absence of blood during the fights that can make it distracting, repetitive scenes, there are some unanswered questions as well, and also there are some unnecessary long pauses. Its good to not always have characters say whats on their mind and take a show rather than tell approach and have the viewer actually try to decipher whats going on in that characters head yourself but some of those stares went on a bit too long. In the end though what it did right outweighs the complaints. Kirika and Mireille were good leads to follow and see a strong bond form between them; the mystery of it all was very interesting, a good bit of action and the soundtrack meshed well with the atmosphere and tone of it all. This was definitely worth the watch.
Noir It is the name of an ancient fate. Two maidens who govern death. The peace of the newly born, their black hands protect.
This was mentioned to me a few times so I decided to watch it recently and I wasnt disappointed. Noir begins its story when Mireille Bouquet, an assassin based in France, receives an email from Kirika Yuumura, a girl in Japan asking if she wants to make a pilgrimage for the past with her. Kirika lacks her memories along with her emotions but what she does have is a Student I.D with her picture, lethal skills, the name Noir and a melody playing pocket watch thats connected to Mireilles past; thus the duos adventure for the past starts, operating under the ancient codename Noir.
The story from there takes an episodic approach for a while as they take on assassin assignments, with the overarching plot slowly building up in the background. I didnt mind the slowdown in pace since it gave a lot of time to observe the main characters, whom I found to be very intriguing. Mireille keeps her business professional even to the point of saying she will kill Kirika once their pasts are revealed since she knows Mireilles identity. However, she does take the time to enjoy her life, hanging out at cafes and sunbathing, just taking the time to relax. There is also her past that they flashback to a lot. It attracts a lot of curiosity but the problem is they ended up using the same scene far too much, they eventually do show other aspects of her past that wasnt as overused.
Kirika on the other hand isnt as expressive as Mireille with her amnesia in effect but still intriguing in her own way. When a character such as her finally displays a hint of emotion, it can be very notable and in this case I think it was. I enjoyed watching her become more expressive as the show went along; I think it progressed at a nice pace. With that said, I think the best part was watching them grow closer and form a fairly strong bond. They come a long way from the start and the lengths they eventually go for each other was great to see. Also want to mention one more character named Chloe, shes introduced a little before the halfway mark when the episodic plots slow down and the overarching plot takes the main stage. She turns out to be an interesting character too and brings a new dynamic to the Noir name, also is pretty skilled.
Speaking of skills, the action in the show can be pretty good. Mireille gunplay isnt bad, she is good at her job but Kirika is just on another level. The way she uses items from her environment like popcorn, glasses, coins, etc., mixed in with her acrobatics and hand to hand combat was impressive to see. There is one surprising drawback to the action though being that there is practically no blood/gore in this, to the point its kind of distracting. The brutality of it all is there and not saying there needed to be an abundance of blood but to have not even traces besides torn clothes is odd. There is a few times where they use angles to avoid the absence but for the most part its something that stuck out constantly.
As for the animation in general, its dated of course but still pretty good. I thought the character appearances were consistent for the most part; just noticed some irregularities here and there. Also the assignments took them all over the world with varied environments so there were a lot of different palettes that set the atmosphere for them. Also have to give mention to the soundtrack by Yuki Kajiura, it was great and built up the atmosphere and set the tone at the necessary moments pretty well. There are a few tracks that are played more often than others but it wasnt bothersome at all.
Overall, the episodic start off with some developments building up along the way really paid off as the plot started to hit its stride in the second half. There are some complaints, already talked about the absence of blood during the fights that can make it distracting, repetitive scenes, there are some unanswered questions as well, and also there are some unnecessary long pauses. Its good to not always have characters say whats on their mind and take a show rather than tell approach and have the viewer actually try to decipher whats going on in that characters head yourself but some of those stares went on a bit too long. In the end though what it did right outweighs the complaints. Kirika and Mireille were good leads to follow and see a strong bond form between them; the mystery of it all was very interesting, a good bit of action and the soundtrack meshed well with the atmosphere and tone of it all. This was definitely worth the watch.
nintendoman58
Member
Why is there human vs human stuff in a manga called Attack on Titan? How could there be human vs human stuff in a society where giants that eat people are everywhere?
MetroidPrimeRib
Banned
Have you ever watched any post apocalypse survival story?
"Humans are da real monsterzzz so deep" and humanity being humanity even in the darkest hour is like the core plot of nearly every single one
nintendoman58
Member
No, because I have a strong distaste for the genre. Zombies, disaster stuff, I avoid all that.
It all just boils down to an unpleasant mess of a bunch of people dying, then credits for me.
victreeb3l
Member
She and Her Cat 1
No.
Fuck you. No.
Hell fucking no. Fuck you Shinkai.
This is going to have one brutal ending isn't it. Shit is practically written based on the first 15 seconds.
No.
Fuck you. No.
Hell fucking no. Fuck you Shinkai.
This is going to have one brutal ending isn't it. Shit is practically written based on the first 15 seconds.
Noir is a classic, loved that show when I was younger, for some reason the
Also agree every bit about the music, I think Romance and Canta per Me were my favourites but the soundtrack has a lot of standout songs for me.
Which reminds me that I should probably get around to watching either Madlax or El Cazador.
death of Chloe stood out to me but I can't remember why, I just remember I couldn't believe she was dead.
Which reminds me that I should probably get around to watching either Madlax or El Cazador.
She has made some really nice soundtracks.
victreeb3l
Member
Hero Prinny
Member
ahh I finished Your Lie in April... jeez, i went in there fully knowing she wouldn't make it and that was still really rough to watch. Its okay though, they got to spend time together and make memories, thats enough. :'(
AnathemicOne
Banned
I just heard this, but is it true Attack on Titan S2 is getting delayed? If so, can I've a source for it?
Dedication Through Light
Member
The human v human stuff in Shingeki feels a bit less evolved than peers in the genre (Terraformars) or even among other post apocalyse stuff like Owari no Serafu.
I love human v human stuff in post apocalypse series, it keeps things grounded and realistic and brings out a new layer in showing how human fictional characters can really be.
Yes every episode lowers the cat's survival rate at the end. Lol.
NCR Redslayer
NeoGAF's Vegeta
Political reasons. Like all manga.
MetroidPrimeRib
Banned
Probably not, but there was never a date given other then a nebulous 2016 in the first place so...
Hero Prinny
Member
the political arc in attack on titan is just so dreadful, it lasted a whole year too, thankfully its over tho.
I wasn't completely surprised by Chloe's demise but it definitely could have been avoided, her jealously of Mireille just got the better of her.
MetroidPrimeRib
Banned
I hope Tokyo Ghoul ;re and Attack on Titan S2 air at the same time so two different groups of people can go "Who fucking cares about this get back to where we were"
ShinRPGamer
Member
Rewatching Paprika in a university class right now (subbed this time). I forgot just how trippy this film was.
Cornbread78
Member
Green Green ep.1-3
What have I done? I have stepped into the abyss for sure now. This has the beginnings of your classic ecchi harem, but damn his friends are annoying as hell and I want to shoot them myself... uggh, trash, trash, trssh...
What have I done? I have stepped into the abyss for sure now. This has the beginnings of your classic ecchi harem, but damn his friends are annoying as hell and I want to shoot them myself... uggh, trash, trash, trssh...
Yeah it was pretty obvious what was going to happen though I was watching this back when I was still a teen, at the same time
I think I had hoped she could have avoided her demise, I didn't feel any particular dislike towards her, probably liked her character.
I should give the show a watch again sometime to refresh my memory on it.
names2hard4you
Member
No anime yet, been coding an assignment for the past 12hrs. My eyes feel like they are about to fall out. What is an outside world. All I see is letters and numbers. Ah. Ahaha.
CielTynave
Member
Your Lie in April 17-22
Once it became clear where this was all going all I could think for a few episodes was "fuck you," but this turned out a lot better than I expected. I feel like the end probably would have hit me a bit harder if they hadn't been hammering in what was going to happen for almost 11 episodes straight though. The pacing was definitely the biggest flaw this show had, like some of the concert parts probably could have been one episode shorter each. It's probably a good thing I more or less binge watched this show because if I had been watching weekly with this pacing I probably would have gotten more pissed than anything. Overall a pretty enjoyable show in the end, but right now I kind of want some super happy feel good romance series just to follow up on these feels lol.
Once it became clear where this was all going all I could think for a few episodes was "fuck you," but this turned out a lot better than I expected. I feel like the end probably would have hit me a bit harder if they hadn't been hammering in what was going to happen for almost 11 episodes straight though. The pacing was definitely the biggest flaw this show had, like some of the concert parts probably could have been one episode shorter each. It's probably a good thing I more or less binge watched this show because if I had been watching weekly with this pacing I probably would have gotten more pissed than anything. Overall a pretty enjoyable show in the end, but right now I kind of want some super happy feel good romance series just to follow up on these feels lol.
Hero Prinny
Member
My Love Story! is cheesy cliche goofy anime romance fun. like its so damn cheesy but I couldn't help but like it! I'm actually finishing up the show now after finishing Your Lie in April as well, I don't even remember why I stopped watching it, I was only 3 episodes away from finishing it, I'm enjoying it as much as I remembered. Guess I just got side tracked is all
Dimension W: 10
Pretty good episode, nice moment with Kyouma and Mira in the beginning. Seeing him rage out at the end was pretty cool too.
Koyomimonogatari: 10
This was nice too, good intentions from Ononoki. Hopefully no Hanekawa in these last two eps.
Grimgar: 10
Ranta is still annoying and all that but Haru communication skills in that conversation were awful smh.
Pretty good episode, nice moment with Kyouma and Mira in the beginning. Seeing him rage out at the end was pretty cool too.
Koyomimonogatari: 10
This was nice too, good intentions from Ononoki. Hopefully no Hanekawa in these last two eps.
Grimgar: 10
Ranta is still annoying and all that but Haru communication skills in that conversation were awful smh.
Dedication Through Light
Member
Anime in one screen, code in another? Its how I do it.
Cornbread78
Member
If you stopped there, give it a few more days before you finish it! Thete is that one part that lasts an episode before it goes back to sticky sweet, but yeah, perfect feel good romcom for him to watch after those feels...
Maho Girls Precure 6
Movie is looking pretty meh thus- hold on Masuko? Not the best one, but movie still saved. Liz reminds me of Momoka. Come to think of it Riko seems to have a similar inferiority complex as Erika. At least now we know why she has all that fragile pride. Liz clearly has no idea how to handle Riko. Kind of wanted to see a bit more from Haa. Well, that will happen later. Spilder is going to be the lamest villain. Fight felt a bit stronger. Ooh, Riko gets ice magic. Always neat. Wonder how long till Liz realizes her sister is Precure. Not sure if Riko accidentally using the Linklestone counts as cheating or not. Eh, I'll give her a pass since there aren't any rules against it as far as we know.
Movie is looking pretty meh thus- hold on Masuko? Not the best one, but movie still saved. Liz reminds me of Momoka. Come to think of it Riko seems to have a similar inferiority complex as Erika. At least now we know why she has all that fragile pride. Liz clearly has no idea how to handle Riko. Kind of wanted to see a bit more from Haa. Well, that will happen later. Spilder is going to be the lamest villain. Fight felt a bit stronger. Ooh, Riko gets ice magic. Always neat. Wonder how long till Liz realizes her sister is Precure. Not sure if Riko accidentally using the Linklestone counts as cheating or not. Eh, I'll give her a pass since there aren't any rules against it as far as we know.
names2hard4you
Member
Wouldn't be able to focus, can't multitask like that. Either way, I'm more than done for today, I have a major headache but we made some progress closing a couple of issues in our milestone. Gonna kick back and enjoy the rest of the night now.
nintendoman58
Member
Actually, now that I think about it, there is one exception to this:
names2hard4you
Member
Osomatsu-san 23
The kerosene battle of wits was hilarious.
The kerosene battle of wits was hilarious.
Hero Prinny
Member
saving the last 2 episodes for tomorrow while on my school break.
Just a single episode helped me get over Your Lie in April (and thank god for that cause that ending really bummed me out even though i fully knew that was going to happen)
Cornbread78
Member
Planetes ep.14
Really good episode with the crew
for daddy to be that knocked up a director's daughter. This will clearly set up that they will
also be defiant about the bew company policy and move forward with their relationship. It's actual relationship development done very well, I'm floored!
Really good episode with the crew
saving an experiment
(Tanabe and Hachi)
names2hard4you
Member
Shirayuki 22
Based older brother has given his blessing. That's it folks, just good feels all around this show.
Based older brother has given his blessing. That's it folks, just good feels all around this show.
Cornbread78
Member
to be fair there is a random closed quote tag as well
, but I figured that one would get noticed
I will try to make time to look in more detail later. most of it looks fine. The only major thing I would do if I was making it would be order the shows by alphabet, but I just love alphabetization
PdotMichael
Banned
You got that wrong. The mind of the author reverted back into that of a 10 year old while writing Erased.
holy shit
Post of the thread.
Goddamn. Do you want to come accept the award in person, or do you want it mailed to you?
Edit: Uhm... did anyone know that there's apparently a prequel to Barakamon happening in summer....
Wow...
just wow
Wow...
just wow
Yea, this looks to be the year of spin-offs.
Enter the Dragon Punch
Banned
there will never be a third season of samurai flamenco and that fucking sucks
Just by a quick look at things, there aren't all that many spin-offs. I could only find 3 (5 if you include bayblade and Gundam Unicorn).
There are a butt load of sequels though. A even more stuff that hasn't been adapted before (Amaama to Inazuma being in the summer is slightly suspect to me. The story in the manga hasn't really gone anywhere (unless japan is farther ahead than crunchyroll is))
hosannainexcelsis
Member
Run Melos (1992)
It really is a shame this film is so unknown. It doesn't even have a DVD release, let alone a BD release, so the only way to watch it is with a very low quality VHS version. Even through the appallingly bad video the artistry still shines through, however.
Perhaps the most notable aspect of this film is that it is an early work of Hiroyuki Okiura as character designers and animation director, before he went on to his more famous work on Ghost in the Shell and Jin-Roh. Okiura's style of realism isn't as fully formed yet as it became in Jin-Roh, but you can still see it in nascent form in the designs and character animation throughout this film. The list of key animators who worked on this film is insane. Top credited are powerhouse animator Toshiyuki Inoue and Satoshi Kon himself, who apparently did a substantial amount of the layouts for this film. Beyond that there's still a star-studded list of names such as Kazuto Nakazawa, Michio Mihara, Mitsuo Iso, Satoru Utsunomiya, Shin Matsuo, Shinji Hashimoto, Tensai Okamura, Toshiyuki Tsuru, and Yasunori Miyazawa. The animation quality is what you would expect from animators of this caliber - it's not quite as lavishly produced as the really top animated films, but it's got excellent animation throughout with some great highlights, and some nice attention to detail in the character movement. The art, handled by Hiroshi Ohno who most recently was art director on Miss Hokusai, helps to create an appropriate Grecian landscape to set the characters in. I don't know how historically accurate the setting is, but it feels authentic for what is essentially a legend.
This film is an adaptation of a famous short story by Osamu Dazai, a reworking itself of a German ballad. I've seen the Aoi Bungaku version of Run Melos, but that adaptation by Ryousuke Nakamura takes a very unconventional approach to the material, framing the original story within a modern story of strained friendship that reflects its themes. This version is a more straightforward telling of the story, but at the same time it somewhat alters and greatly expands on the sparse original. Melos, a simple country peasant, comes to the big city to buy a ceremonial sword for his younger sister's wedding. (As an aside, I find it amusing that the voice actors for Melos and his sister are Kouichi Yamadera and Megumi Hayashibara, the same duo who were the sole voice actors for the Japan Animator Expo.) After getting into one trouble after other with city folk eager to take advantage of a bumpkin, he runs into a friendly ex-sculptor named Celine, and the two of them quickly form a bond. When Melos gets mistaken for a potential assassin, the king orders him executed, Melos begs for three days freedom to attend his sister's wedding, and the king agrees, but only if Melos can find a substitute. As it turns out, Celine is the only one who will agree to take Melos' place. Melos makes it back to his home village safely for the wedding, but getting back to the city is more of a struggle.
The main theme of the film is trust, and whether that is a strength to be treasured or a weakness to be discarded. Each of the three main characters - Melos, Celine, and the king - are given good reasons and backstories that motivate what they believe and the actions they take. The film does an admirable job of fleshing them and several of the side characters out in a multi-faceted way. This can perhaps best be seen in its treatment of the king, who could easily have been a maniacal despot out solely for power, but instead is presented as a harsh but not inhuman ruler who has trained himself to act stern to prevent challenges to his rule. This expansion of the characters adds substance to the thematic exploration, and creates greater sympathy with Melos and Celine during their struggle. It's an admirably grounded film, not excessively flashy but simply trying to portray various facets of humanity - its flaws and its strengths.
Do check out this film if you are able; a well-told story with strong production values should not be missed.
It really is a shame this film is so unknown. It doesn't even have a DVD release, let alone a BD release, so the only way to watch it is with a very low quality VHS version. Even through the appallingly bad video the artistry still shines through, however.
Perhaps the most notable aspect of this film is that it is an early work of Hiroyuki Okiura as character designers and animation director, before he went on to his more famous work on Ghost in the Shell and Jin-Roh. Okiura's style of realism isn't as fully formed yet as it became in Jin-Roh, but you can still see it in nascent form in the designs and character animation throughout this film. The list of key animators who worked on this film is insane. Top credited are powerhouse animator Toshiyuki Inoue and Satoshi Kon himself, who apparently did a substantial amount of the layouts for this film. Beyond that there's still a star-studded list of names such as Kazuto Nakazawa, Michio Mihara, Mitsuo Iso, Satoru Utsunomiya, Shin Matsuo, Shinji Hashimoto, Tensai Okamura, Toshiyuki Tsuru, and Yasunori Miyazawa. The animation quality is what you would expect from animators of this caliber - it's not quite as lavishly produced as the really top animated films, but it's got excellent animation throughout with some great highlights, and some nice attention to detail in the character movement. The art, handled by Hiroshi Ohno who most recently was art director on Miss Hokusai, helps to create an appropriate Grecian landscape to set the characters in. I don't know how historically accurate the setting is, but it feels authentic for what is essentially a legend.
This film is an adaptation of a famous short story by Osamu Dazai, a reworking itself of a German ballad. I've seen the Aoi Bungaku version of Run Melos, but that adaptation by Ryousuke Nakamura takes a very unconventional approach to the material, framing the original story within a modern story of strained friendship that reflects its themes. This version is a more straightforward telling of the story, but at the same time it somewhat alters and greatly expands on the sparse original. Melos, a simple country peasant, comes to the big city to buy a ceremonial sword for his younger sister's wedding. (As an aside, I find it amusing that the voice actors for Melos and his sister are Kouichi Yamadera and Megumi Hayashibara, the same duo who were the sole voice actors for the Japan Animator Expo.) After getting into one trouble after other with city folk eager to take advantage of a bumpkin, he runs into a friendly ex-sculptor named Celine, and the two of them quickly form a bond. When Melos gets mistaken for a potential assassin, the king orders him executed, Melos begs for three days freedom to attend his sister's wedding, and the king agrees, but only if Melos can find a substitute. As it turns out, Celine is the only one who will agree to take Melos' place. Melos makes it back to his home village safely for the wedding, but getting back to the city is more of a struggle.
The main theme of the film is trust, and whether that is a strength to be treasured or a weakness to be discarded. Each of the three main characters - Melos, Celine, and the king - are given good reasons and backstories that motivate what they believe and the actions they take. The film does an admirable job of fleshing them and several of the side characters out in a multi-faceted way. This can perhaps best be seen in its treatment of the king, who could easily have been a maniacal despot out solely for power, but instead is presented as a harsh but not inhuman ruler who has trained himself to act stern to prevent challenges to his rule. This expansion of the characters adds substance to the thematic exploration, and creates greater sympathy with Melos and Celine during their struggle. It's an admirably grounded film, not excessively flashy but simply trying to portray various facets of humanity - its flaws and its strengths.
Do check out this film if you are able; a well-told story with strong production values should not be missed.
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