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Winter Anime 2017 |OT| John Wick cleaning up KyoAni's mess

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Chiruran 1/2 Episode 2 - 5

The fan letter episode and the sleeping episode were the best of these shorts thus far. I kind of want it to be a bit longer as the op song is really good but also the comedy.
 

firehawk12

Subete no aware
I’ve got a few points to make in response to your comments above, but for the sake of clarity I’m just going to roughly summarise what I believe your main point to be. You’re saying that the series features a lot of internal monologues, these monologues aren’t being depicted in a visually interesting manner and therefore you’re questioning why experiencing this story through the medium of anime as composed to some other format. My thoughts on your points are as follows:

- I think the earlier episodes, especially the 1st episode, were better directed and as a result of this better direction all these aforementioned internal monologues were more interesting. There was not only more going on visually, but aurally as well, to suture the audience into these characters and give us the same experiences they were having. I think that’s the show is at its best when you’re uncomfortably close to these people.

- There are lots of other visual techniques I feel like the series could be using to tackle this material such as: symbolic imagery, colour/lighting choices, expressionistic mise-en-scene, extremely subjective cinematography, fanciful visions imaged inside the minds of characters – the possibilities are endless. But the direction seems to want to remain fairly grounded in the ‘real world’ and so instead you have stuff like “plain text on the screen” as in your above screenshot, which isn’t really very interesting. I think that you can only really get away with stuff like that if your name is Hideki Anno.

- Even with the somewhat restrained nature of the direction I still find myself interested in these scenes and therefore there is some merit in having them depicted in this fashion, even if it’s clear the show could do more.
So I had some thoughts written out, but I just decided to read the equivalent manga chapter just to educate myself and here's a couple of pages:
QvGlvk4.jpg

The intertitles are actually anime original, so that's the director presumably trying to "spice things up" visually (maybe he's an Anno fan :p), but I think the manga version of this scene is - at least for me - more palatable than the anime version.

So, Fleabag is on my mind because I just watched it recently, but this is how they introduce the main character in the very first episode:
(NSFW I guess?) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klnudgr6R1A

In essence, they're the same. But the slight change from simple omniscient narration to having the character address the audience directly is more than enough to make Fleabag interesting to me. The effect is the same, in that you're getting into the head of a character by being confronted with their thoughts, but Fleabag describing the awkwardness of her sexual encounter to me is more interesting than Akane explaining her thoughts as she has sex with the most milquetoast man in Japan. It's like the show doesn't trust that I understand that she finds him dull.

Perhaps I can forgive the manga because I can read the chapter in a couple of minutes instead of the 5-10 minutes or so the anime devotes to it. There's also the fact that there's no voice acting to carry tone, so maybe having her explain that she's bored is necessary - it might be an interesting experiment to remove all the text bubbles and ask random people if they understand what is happening in the scene without any of the narration.

My issue also stems from essentially seeing the same technique repeated three times with the three different stories from this episode (born from 2 chapters of the manga). It made the narration feel even more transparent in terms of not feeling like the director trusts me to be able to read the characters without a full explanation from them.

I totally understand what the manga is going for, and by association, I can understand what the anime and live action show is going for as well. I just think they could have tried to push it a little further to make the experience of watching the shows more than just watching a voiced/animated version of the manga.

I think there’s probably a number of factors that go into the show’s depiction of sex, but I would have to guess that the key ones are:

- Avoiding any imagery that objectifies the characters through revealing imagery of camerawork. The show never feels like its exploiting the characters, even though we’re experiencing very intimate moments with them.

- You probably don’t want to get very explicit when you’re depicting characters of this age engaging in sexual activity.

- If a scene causes the intended response in a viewer, then is it really necessary to me more explicit anyway? Do you understand what the characters were feeling in that moment and what it meant for them? If so, then arguably the scene has done its job.

- Cultural norms regarding the depiction of sex.

I think my feelings about this come from how they animate the kissing:
4risSPNl.jpg

Someone had to draw those individual lines of spit on the tongues, so it's not like they didn't give this any thought. lol

Of course, this is also how a lot of the kissing is depicted in the manga, so maybe it's more of a problem that I have with source material than anything else.

I mean, on the one hand it's trying to invoke sexual imagery by allowing us access to something that's supposed to be intimate - particularly since every character seems to love shoving tongues into mouths - but on the other hand it's also relatively tame outside of the kissing... so it just feels like an odd dichotomy.
 
Yowamushi Pedal New Generation Episode 4

When will characters I like win.
Onoda again? really? Hotshot was there, and then in the second race, not Naruko or even Aoyagi? What

Best Teshima.
C4aynS8XAAAwb9W.jpg:small
 

Jex

Member
So I had some thoughts written out, but I just decided to read the equivalent manga chapter just to educate myself and here's a couple of pages:

[...]

I totally understand what the manga is going for, and by association, I can understand what the anime and live action show is going for as well. I just think they could have tried to push it a little further to make the experience of watching the shows more than just watching a voiced/animated version of the manga.
Right, I think there's plenty of other options open to them in depicting the same material, even if they don't want to get too "out there" with the direction.

As a point of comparison, I happen to be going through the shoujo series, Hideki Anno's Kare Kano, and that's another work that stuffed full of characters monologuing. Unlike Scum Wish, this series is more experimental when it comes to depicting a characters 'inner world'. Consider the below sequence, which is so visually clear that you essentially don't need the text explanation to tell you what's going on:

 

Thud

Member
Lion King Tournament in March 17


*laughs*

Kyoko is the best. Her voice actress is doing a fine job in bringing out her persona.


Gintama 182-184

The character popularity poll arc is the gift that keeps on giving. I AM SHOCK.
 
The character popularity poll might be the absolute height of Gintamas comedy.

As far as long running comedy shows go, that arc can easily butt heads with The Simpsons or Always Sunny.
 
Lion King Tournament in March 17



*laughs*

Kyoko is the best. Her voice actress is doing a fine job in bringing out her persona.

In an alternative timeline, the author would get a clue and focus on Rei and Kyoko instead of the corny, sickly sweet sisters. Bus alas, that isn't the case.
 

firehawk12

Subete no aware
Right, I think there's plenty of other options open to them in depicting the same material, even if they don't want to get too "out there" with the direction.

As a point of comparison, I happen to be going through the shoujo series, Hideki Anno's Kare Kano, and that's another work that stuffed full of characters monologuing. Unlike Scum Wish, this series is more experimental when it comes to depicting a characters 'inner world'. Consider the below sequence, which is so visually clear that you essentially don't need the text explanation to tell you what's going on:
I guess at least for the flashbacks, having them just talk over scenes from their past is somewhat palatable. It's more unimaginative than anything else. The "present-tense narration" is what bugs me the most.

They could just try to lampshade the conventions that the manga is clearly trying to situate itself in. Having a girl monologue about the many great qualities their love interest has is basically standard fare, so seeing a woman basically shit on her primary love interest should be fodder for some interesting visuals. Maybe he could be surrounded by sparkles that just fade out.

But maybe it's just a case of them trying to keep it as "grounded" as possible. I'm just trying to imagine this writing in something like Manchester by the Sea, where Casey Affleck spends the entire movie describing what he's thinking as he tries to deal with his dead brother and being forced to adopt his nephew. Yeesh. lol
 
Yu-Gi-Oh! GX (Subtitled) Episode 66 – Judai's First Dream Duel!

Glorified recap episode, but hearing the two victory themes back to back was actually awesome. I just love seeing Judai win.

Also Gotcha!
C4bCFSZWIAIYds-.jpg:small


I hope we get a Judai v Ryo Marufuji v2. Could be pretty brutal.
 

Thud

Member
In an alternative timeline, the author would get a clue and focus on Rei and Kyoko instead of the corny, sickly sweet sisters. Bus alas, that isn't the case.

The relationship between Rei and Kyoko is rather sweet in a twisted way.

It's probably closer to brother and sister than most anime can deliver.
 
The only three complaints I can really give the Gintama anime as whole are: It's quite hard to pierce through to the good stuff that starts to appear around episode 20ish (this is in part the fault of Sorachi not sure what direction the manga should be at first, and the anime staff having trouble getting the timing of the comedy down), the anime (mostly since S3) has started to skip some fun/great mini arcs which were 1-2 chapters long in the manga; and the final issue was S3's first season feeling quite off due to the series getting a new director (there are still issues going on with this last part, but it's gotten better). I'm going to assume this final season will try to adapt everything left in Gintama considering the manga should end this year (I'll say Summer with it's current pace).
 

Thud

Member
The only three complaints I can really give the Gintama anime as whole are: It's quite hard to pierce through to the good stuff that starts to appear around episode 20ish (this is in part the fault of Sorachi not sure what direction the manga should be at first, and the anime staff having trouble getting the timing of the comedy down), the anime (mostly since S3) has started to skip some fun/great mini arcs which were 1-2 chapters long in the manga; and the final issue was S3's first season feeling quite off due to the series getting a new director (there are still issues going on with this last part, but it's gotten better). I'm going to assume this final season will try to adapt everything left in Gintama considering the manga should end this year (I'll say Summer with it's current pace).

The first anime is four seasons though :p.

Gintama 185

Wasn't that bee chapter early in the manga? Hmm, Mayorin.
 
Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's Season 1 (Subtitled) Episode 62 – Final Fight! The Man with Two Gods

Godwin was the big bad of this arc...didnt expect that

Team Satisfaction back together (Rip Kiryuu) is a great way to end this arc.
 

jett

D-Member
GO BEYOND
PLUS ULTRAAAAAAAAAAAA

My Hero Academia really ratcheted it up near the end. That was some fun-ass stuff. Too bad this is a newer show and I'm unable to binge it to the end. P

yR2L9io.gif
 
GO BEYOND
PLUS ULTRAAAAAAAAAAAA

My Hero Academia really ratcheted it up near the end. That was some fun-ass stuff. Too bad this is a newer show and I'm unable to binge it to the end. P

yR2L9io.gif
I told you it was amazingly awesome!

Good news! Season 2 starts on March 25th, you wont have to wait long for more!
ac253b517447e662ac1959140df4e4a8.gif
 

Erigu

Member
the very last line is danna no atama ga gomashio desu kara
'because master's head is grey'
maybe there's a pun I'm missing from a previous line
Yep. The previous line uses some old expression for "fooling somebody" that also sounds like a rice dish. The kind of dish you season with the salt used in the final line to describe the color of the character's hair.
It's... yeah. Japanese pun. Apparently, not even Japanese people get that one anymore.
 

Jarmel

Banned
That's because, aside from the temporal distance, KyoAni's two FMP seasons are fine but not particularly exceptional production-wise. They don't stand out in the way KyoAni productions began to stand out around 2009. You still hear old-school anime fans bring up Fumoffu every now and again though.
Actually TSR looks really fucking good, even by modern standards. I rewatched some of it recently and the art direction is on point.

Fumoffu is the one that isn't as stellar but the animations are pretty dynamic.
While I'm not the one to ever cry out "K-ON!/MOESHIT KILLED KYOANI AND ALSO ANIME", I always can't help but feel a little miffed how in their shadow the Full Metal Panic shows KyoAni did seem to be.

Like, somebody brings up KyoAni and it's always about Hyouka, K-ON!, Euphonium, and now Maid Dragon. Which is all fine, since those are popular and well done shows, but it's a damn shame Full Metal Panic barely gets any recognition when it comes to them.

And with Xebec making season four it looks like it'll even get less recognition.

Huh? FMP is probably the second most popular franchise of theirs in the West. People here have been begging for a sequel for god knows how long. People though don't generally being it up because there's nothing to really talk about.

Also KyoAni is a different beast then when they did TSR. Christ, TSR had incest lesbians and an implied pedophile. They won't and can't make something like TSR again.
 

Thud

Member
Tiger Mask W18

Tiger Mask has been on point for a while now. Which is pretty good considering the side events we had these past few weeks. Go Spring Tiger!

I also love it that Fukuwara Mask both fights and comments. Somehow Toei knows what fans want. Way better at it than super slimmery balls.
 
Dragon Ball Super 78

NNiDKCt.png

Narag, Woofington and Sabre gtfo of my serious fighting show with these DeviantArt OCs

Okay, so here is the setup for this arc.

Goku, right? Dude is never satisfied. After Buu, he just kept trying to fight stronger and stronger people until eventually he lucked into befriending Zen-Oh, basically the creator God of the multiverse, with his dumbass happy go lucky nature. So he encouraged Zen-Oh to make a tournament so he could fight strong people from other universes, but now Zen-Oh will destroy the universes that lose.

So Goku created a situation where trillions of people will die because he wanted to fight more. Good one Goku! I don't expect that to all happen, but what an ending it would be if Goku's hubris got everybody killed because he wanted to fight more.
 
Ushio and Tora 24
661539c7f22ec8265f593c5e0bf28c3e.jpg


This episode which left me wondering if it would be good based on the summary, was actually both super fun and super sweet. The Mayuko and Tora relationship is super cute and their dynamic makes for some great moments.

So far only Mayuko and Saya are actually good female characters though. Asako is very mix for me so far.
 
Escaflowne Episode 7
C4bYYoKWQAAOWwc.jpg:small
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Van is finally becoming a happy person again and actually doing well. So glad its becoming his show and not the others. Though if only Hitomi would stop falling in love with every pretty guy she sees while ignoring Van, the one who saved her in the first place. The scene when she creyed was the most annoying thing ever because of this and then once rescued not even taking the time to thank Van but instead thinking of Prince Alan instead, what even?
 
I am wondering what bullshit reasons they will pull out to justify the 10 man team they put together. Let alone Android 17 and 18 be there, along with Tien and Krillin, but fucking Master Roshi?

I'm assuming Gods, Kais and Angels aren't allowed to participate and Goten and Trunks won't come because of their mothers.

Surprised they aren't bringing back Cell or some movie only villain so they can have a point man and some fanservice
 

Szadek

Member
Mawaru Penguindrum - Ep. 16-17
"If it cannot break it's egg's shell, a chick will die without being born.
We are the chick. The world is..."
Oh wait, wrong anime.

I'm very happpy that the anime told us more of Natsume's backstory. I already really liked her before and her backstory only made her more interesting.
All these dreams and the scene at the end makes me woner if she actually killed him in all those "dreams".

Also, Esmeralda is best penguin.

Cardcaptor Sakura - Ep. 50-51
Looks like the second part is going to have more of a plot than the first, which makes me quite happy.
The fact that show suddenly has an actually villain should change thinks quite a bit.
I wonder why he became evil, though.
 

Jarmel

Banned
I am wondering what bullshit reasons they will pull out to justify the 10 man team they put together. Let alone Android 17 and 18 be there, along with Tien and Krillin, but fucking Master Roshi?
Our top ten team consists of A17, A18, Tien, Krillin, and Master Roshi?

We're fucking dead. There was really nobody else in the universe that could fill that roster?
 
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