Ultimadrago
Member
I see, I see. Those humble tech beginnings. That answered my question thoroughly.
Man, feel like I could get at least a solid B on an iM@S exam right now.
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Winter of Anime 2013 |OT -5| This is stupid, kayos90 sucks!
- Thread starter kayos90
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I see, I see. Those humble tech beginnings. That answered my question thoroughly.
Man, feel like I could get at least a solid B on an iM@S exam right now.
Jex
Member
[From the New World] - 20
This series, despite all the strides it has taken over the last few weeks, still seems hampered by inconsistent direction. While last weeks episode was an extremely polished and powerful piece of visual storytelling this one really lacks the kind on finesse that I've come to expect of this third arc. While a few scenes were great I felt that overall the pacing and editing were a bit rubbish and some sequences fell completely flat. Thankfully, despite the weaknesses this episode demonstrates it's still not nearly as wretched as say, the 6th episode. I've just come to expect better and I know that they can do better than this. I'll put it down to inexperience.
Still, I should demonstrate what I'm talking about rather than just explain my reactions. I'll talk about pacing first. Pacing is one of the trickier things to explain either visually or in writing because when I feel like something isn't paced well that's just my gut reaction, it's a little bit harder to explain why I am having that gut reaction. Lets just say that I expect the pacing of the episode to a) change in relation to the tone and events being depicted and b) that the most important thing for an episode to do is use the limited time available as effectively as possible.
So, for example, when the first two minutes of this episode are spent showing us see characters explain things to us that we already know, then that's wasted time that could have been allocated elsewhere. This episode could very nearly have opened at 2:30 in because that's when actual, important content is being shown to the viewer.
That's not the only time that I feel is wasted, between 6:10 and 7:00 we see Saki and Satoru, very deliberately, enter a house and acquire some supplies. I assumed, from the way the scene was going, that staying in this house was going to lead to some kind of character scene between Saki and Satoru but nothing actually happens:
Not even a scene where nothing happens between them, but could of happened. Instead literally nothing happens. This is just time gone to waste. Of course, the most egregious episode of this kind of thing happening was the 'Hunt for Mamoru', although it's not quite as bad as that way.
Leaving aside pacing for the moment, lets talk about tone and how you maintain it. The start of the episode involves a very tense sequence between Saki and Satoru where they discuss what they're going to do next as the tense music plays in the background:
However, for whatever reason when they cut to the next shot:
They completely cut the music off and slow down the editing. If you slow the tempo of the visual editing down and remove the music so abruptly then you completely lose the spooky, tense mode that you've managed to create. We go from a tense chase to just Saki and Satoru lying in a slow moving boat - all the air has been let out of the scene.
Speaking of bad cuts, I really don't like how they cut from Saki and Satoru standing on the shore to Saki tearing her yukata:
There's no attempt at linking the transition, either with visual elements or music or movement. It just feels off when you find yourself faced with a cut as harsh as that one which means that you stop thinking about the show for a moment and start thinking about the editing - which is never good news!
One scene that just feels completely off is when Saki and Satoru have emerged from the house they were staying at. Saki hears an explosion going off in the distance:
Saki's got a painfully derpy look on her face. What's even worse is that it almost looks like she's smiling at the prospects of humans being blown up and killed. What's the deal with this poorly drawn face?
I really hate how the hospital curtains look here:
It looks like a cheap, ugly texture. When someone actually comes to move the curtain it briefly becomes an animated object;
before immediately referring to a shitty looking episode.
I don't want to sound too negative about this episode because I actually enjoyed it, but this was largely due to the strength of the story and how well it's flowing at this point in the series. It's really all coming together at a cracking pace and everything that we've learnt before has really coalesced and become real, with terrifying results for all involved. I can't wait for the next episode.
This series, despite all the strides it has taken over the last few weeks, still seems hampered by inconsistent direction. While last weeks episode was an extremely polished and powerful piece of visual storytelling this one really lacks the kind on finesse that I've come to expect of this third arc. While a few scenes were great I felt that overall the pacing and editing were a bit rubbish and some sequences fell completely flat. Thankfully, despite the weaknesses this episode demonstrates it's still not nearly as wretched as say, the 6th episode. I've just come to expect better and I know that they can do better than this. I'll put it down to inexperience.
Still, I should demonstrate what I'm talking about rather than just explain my reactions. I'll talk about pacing first. Pacing is one of the trickier things to explain either visually or in writing because when I feel like something isn't paced well that's just my gut reaction, it's a little bit harder to explain why I am having that gut reaction. Lets just say that I expect the pacing of the episode to a) change in relation to the tone and events being depicted and b) that the most important thing for an episode to do is use the limited time available as effectively as possible.
So, for example, when the first two minutes of this episode are spent showing us see characters explain things to us that we already know, then that's wasted time that could have been allocated elsewhere. This episode could very nearly have opened at 2:30 in because that's when actual, important content is being shown to the viewer.
That's not the only time that I feel is wasted, between 6:10 and 7:00 we see Saki and Satoru, very deliberately, enter a house and acquire some supplies. I assumed, from the way the scene was going, that staying in this house was going to lead to some kind of character scene between Saki and Satoru but nothing actually happens:
Not even a scene where nothing happens between them, but could of happened. Instead literally nothing happens. This is just time gone to waste. Of course, the most egregious episode of this kind of thing happening was the 'Hunt for Mamoru', although it's not quite as bad as that way.
Leaving aside pacing for the moment, lets talk about tone and how you maintain it. The start of the episode involves a very tense sequence between Saki and Satoru where they discuss what they're going to do next as the tense music plays in the background:
However, for whatever reason when they cut to the next shot:
They completely cut the music off and slow down the editing. If you slow the tempo of the visual editing down and remove the music so abruptly then you completely lose the spooky, tense mode that you've managed to create. We go from a tense chase to just Saki and Satoru lying in a slow moving boat - all the air has been let out of the scene.
Speaking of bad cuts, I really don't like how they cut from Saki and Satoru standing on the shore to Saki tearing her yukata:
There's no attempt at linking the transition, either with visual elements or music or movement. It just feels off when you find yourself faced with a cut as harsh as that one which means that you stop thinking about the show for a moment and start thinking about the editing - which is never good news!
One scene that just feels completely off is when Saki and Satoru have emerged from the house they were staying at. Saki hears an explosion going off in the distance:
Saki's got a painfully derpy look on her face. What's even worse is that it almost looks like she's smiling at the prospects of humans being blown up and killed. What's the deal with this poorly drawn face?
I really hate how the hospital curtains look here:
It looks like a cheap, ugly texture. When someone actually comes to move the curtain it briefly becomes an animated object;
before immediately referring to a shitty looking episode.
I don't want to sound too negative about this episode because I actually enjoyed it, but this was largely due to the strength of the story and how well it's flowing at this point in the series. It's really all coming together at a cracking pace and everything that we've learnt before has really coalesced and become real, with terrifying results for all involved. I can't wait for the next episode.
I don't think the ending is that bad, but I appreciate that I'm in the minority. ZHiME handled things a bit better, but the trade-off is that much of the latter half of that series is pretty rushed.
Nico >>>>>>>>Maki>Honoka>Not-Mio>Everyone Else.
Oh, wait, you weren't talking about Love Live? Err, that's a tricky one. Probably along the lines of...
Ritsuko==Kotori > Haruka > Mami > Makoto > Takane > Chihaya > Miki > Iori > Ami > Hibiki > Yayoi > Azusa > Yukiho
I change my mind an awful lot, though, and my evaluation is coloured a lot by what songs I like and some game stuff (Mami gets a huge bump just from how stupid some of her iM@S2 game events are).
With iM@S 360 targeting a home platform rather than the arcade, they decided to get a smidgen more inventive when constructing Miki's scenario than they did with the other characters. One of the things about iM@S1 is that aggressively chasing talk-sections is actually counter to running a good game, and getting a decent "score" (though the arcade game has a different game structure to the 360 version, from what I gather).
In the 360 version, for Miki, they added an alternate game path which can be triggered by taking certain actions - which run entirely against scoring well, might I add - which change the path of her scenario. It's generally referred to as the "awakened Miki" route, and involved her cutting her hair short, and reverting back to her natural hair colour.
Are there any pics of Miki with the better hair color?
This episode doesn't just suffer from animation difficulties. Last week's episode had a much "easier" setup - it's a horror film, in a single episode form. This episode, like the weaker ones at the start of the series, covers so many different things that the team behind it have a much trickier challenge from a tonal and pacing perspective. That's not to say that the episode couldn't have been done better - it's just a tricky one to get right.
I don't disagree with your points in general, but I think it's worth noting that although some sequences didn't work, I thought there were several that did, including one of the ones that you've screencapped!
Well, there's plenty of fanart if you go hunting, not so much official stuff from what I remember. There's quite a few game videos featuring Awakened Miki, though, because Live for You! made it trivial to select her for you unit, instead of making it a pain-in-the-arse you had to deliberately chase.
I really do think she looks a lot cuter with the short, brown hair, but *shrug*
Moral Panic
Member
From the new world 12-20
Finally caught up!
Tenssion running super high which is a pretty decent feeling. Didn't really buy Saki's relationship at all tbh, seemed more like a childish romance than a character defining love.
Not really buying the whole situation though. Why are the humans walking around in the dark when we know they can make light? Why is pushing the wind shown to be impressive this time when other times they make huge whirlwinds with no effort? After coming under a poision gas attack previously why are they so slow to react with the dark black airbourne gunpowder? Are fiends any less susceptible to damage than normal people? Why not just sacrifice one person to kill a fiend?
Finally caught up!
Tenssion running super high which is a pretty decent feeling. Didn't really buy Saki's relationship at all tbh, seemed more like a childish romance than a character defining love.
Not really buying the whole situation though. Why are the humans walking around in the dark when we know they can make light? Why is pushing the wind shown to be impressive this time when other times they make huge whirlwinds with no effort? After coming under a poision gas attack previously why are they so slow to react with the dark black airbourne gunpowder? Are fiends any less susceptible to damage than normal people? Why not just sacrifice one person to kill a fiend?
Hmmm... new Ikuhara anime PV next month eh? Hopefully it gets announced in the March Newtype first. And hopefully it's better than Pendrum. ;_;
Saint Seiya Omega - Episode 45
Here's an exclusive preview of my impressions since I don't want to double post on the SSO thread!
The flashbacks in this series are all so fully of bullshit! Retcons! Illogical stuff! It's hilarious. This ep wasn't bad. It's actually fairly fun and entertaining for a Mars origin story episode. The art was still rather iffy, but like last week, it's getting a bit better one step at a time. Definitely a refreshing episode after 4 episodes of garbage in a row though. What I can't believe is
Saint Seiya Omega - Episode 45
Here's an exclusive preview of my impressions since I don't want to double post on the SSO thread!
The flashbacks in this series are all so fully of bullshit! Retcons! Illogical stuff! It's hilarious. This ep wasn't bad. It's actually fairly fun and entertaining for a Mars origin story episode. The art was still rather iffy, but like last week, it's getting a bit better one step at a time. Definitely a refreshing episode after 4 episodes of garbage in a row though. What I can't believe is
they have retconned the Koga/Aria origin twice now! It's almost like they can't make up their mind as to who and what they really are! Lolz.
Stupid Fucking Lolita Anime Bullshit 2
Ne, ne~ Look at this! I heard there were some boys at a party. BOYS.
So I watched these raw, and while I can easily piece together the story, they still made no goddamn sense. Pt 1, Itsuko falls in love with Senpai and "accidentally" leaves her Dulcolax prescription (or something?) at his house, so she can go back. She's stopped by Nice Coat guy, but saved just in time... thanks to Senpai, who is randomly outside walking in the fucking rain.
She appears nude at his house, so that she may express her feelings of gratitude toward him fully. He seems confused and disgusted by this display, so he turns into a brown avocado.
Senpai... your love is like my diarrhea!
Part 2
Again with the church themes. I feel like they could try less hard to make me feel bad. I went to a private Christian school you know, so I'm already immune to your guilt baiting!
A young Race Bannon walks in on one of the boarding school students humping a statue... hmmm, that's a new one. He's inspired and decides to draw it... because, art.
But it looks like an avocado, so fuck it. FUCK ITTT!!!!!!!! To take out his frustration he advances on Itsuko, but he sucks at rape, so he leaves to have sex with an old lady. Since he can't get it up, he coerces Itsuko to slob Dick Cheney for photos. She does it willingly but fake NTRs him by taking his dick too. That wasn't part of the agreement!!
Race Bannon's wife laughs at his attempts to reconcile with Itsuko over his bad artistic impression of her lumpy body and attempted rape. She goes to have lesbian sex with her dorm mate while Race stares out of a window wondering where he went wrong in life...
Man, this was so horrible and pointless. It wasn't sexy, it wasn't fun, and it wasn't arousing. I don't know what the enjoyment is in seeing crusty old dudes getting their knob slobbed, while zooming in on their faces. Is this projection porn for old people? It was even worse when the scenes inverted themselves like camera negatives during sex, or when the backgrounds randomly changed into volcanoes.
The moral of this anime is to not watch this anime. A moral you can only discover after it's too late.
Ne, ne~ Look at this! I heard there were some boys at a party. BOYS.
So I watched these raw, and while I can easily piece together the story, they still made no goddamn sense. Pt 1, Itsuko falls in love with Senpai and "accidentally" leaves her Dulcolax prescription (or something?) at his house, so she can go back. She's stopped by Nice Coat guy, but saved just in time... thanks to Senpai, who is randomly outside walking in the fucking rain.
She appears nude at his house, so that she may express her feelings of gratitude toward him fully. He seems confused and disgusted by this display, so he turns into a brown avocado.
Senpai... your love is like my diarrhea!
Part 2
Again with the church themes. I feel like they could try less hard to make me feel bad. I went to a private Christian school you know, so I'm already immune to your guilt baiting!
A young Race Bannon walks in on one of the boarding school students humping a statue... hmmm, that's a new one. He's inspired and decides to draw it... because, art.
But it looks like an avocado, so fuck it. FUCK ITTT!!!!!!!! To take out his frustration he advances on Itsuko, but he sucks at rape, so he leaves to have sex with an old lady. Since he can't get it up, he coerces Itsuko to slob Dick Cheney for photos. She does it willingly but fake NTRs him by taking his dick too. That wasn't part of the agreement!!
Race Bannon's wife laughs at his attempts to reconcile with Itsuko over his bad artistic impression of her lumpy body and attempted rape. She goes to have lesbian sex with her dorm mate while Race stares out of a window wondering where he went wrong in life...
Man, this was so horrible and pointless. It wasn't sexy, it wasn't fun, and it wasn't arousing. I don't know what the enjoyment is in seeing crusty old dudes getting their knob slobbed, while zooming in on their faces. Is this projection porn for old people? It was even worse when the scenes inverted themselves like camera negatives during sex, or when the backgrounds randomly changed into volcanoes.
The moral of this anime is to not watch this anime. A moral you can only discover after it's too late.
One of the weirdest things about this episode was the budget/talent allocation. Some nice animators participated on the episode -Jun Arai, Hiroyuki Aoyama and the designer Chikashi Kubota-, and there were some moments of nuanced movement and things coming alive in between the general derpiness. But to me it was mostly wasted on irrelevant stuff (except the
fish-mutant
Saki and Tomiko
Why the hell wouldn't the episode director assign the good animators to the most important parts? It seems like plain poor decision-making, so I have to agree with the consensus that inexperience killed a lot of the episode.
That said, I liked the images of
the humans being pwned by queerats
the village devastated in ruins
flying + Shun
Hopefully episode 21 will come in top shape, with Ogura in charge of storyboards and all.
I'm covering some of your comments with spoilers just in case. We don't have the same spoiler policy as other TV show threads in here.
Which one? Maria or Shun?
It's clever thinking.
It's not the act of creating wind, it's the act of forcing away the poison gas, that impresses the villagers.
This is explained.
As the young boy says, Yakomaru's forces retreated at sunrise to lull the villagers into a false sense of security - these are people with only rudimentary battle skills, as Saki herself says. The humans are exhausted and not properly on their guard. By sending the monsters in through the canals - which the humans aren't expecting - they gained the element of surprise again.
Yes. Fiends are free of the conditioning of death feedback because they're mentally ill. This is a society totally reliant on the power of Cantus to do pretty much anything - and normally you can't use Cantus to kill another human because it initiates death feedback. As we saw in episode 3's prologue sequence, it took a clan of ninjas to take down one Cantus user by surprise. I doubt that the skills needed to evade a Fiend before it notices you and rips you apart psychokinetically are really cultivated in Kamisu... remember that the only way they killed the last Fiend was by sacrificing the doctor who poisoned him.
Who's to say they won't? They've only just established that the queerats are using a Fiend for certain. When have they had time to come up with a plan? At least with the previous Fiend they weren't also the target of a co-ordinated attack by a large army of suicidal sentient rats - who have actually done most of the damage thus far, rather than the Fiend. They are just not prepared for the situation.
Its not so much depressing as it is a frustrating and maddening show. you will more likely be angry at the outcome than sad.
No you are right. she is WAY cuter with short brown hair. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay cuter!
dakkumauji
Member
Smile Precure! 22
Fall into despair. Pull yourself out of despair. Next episode does have me excited though.
Fall into despair. Pull yourself out of despair. Next episode does have me excited though.
You're an amazing person in many ways, ext
But... But how's that possible!? It was released as a double feature with My Neighbor Totoro!
It seriously was? LOOOOOL. Disney are trolls, confirmed.
Since when do you have double releases in the States? This was in Japan!
Regulus Tera
Romanes Eunt Domus
Extol, I don't condone your anime watching, but I nonetheless respect you for suffering for us.
Oh ok. I see.
dakkumauji
Member
Smile Precure! 23
Well that was the most action packed episode yet. And everyone became pegasus knights! So amazing!
Well that was the most action packed episode yet. And everyone became pegasus knights! So amazing!
Seraphis Cain
bad gameplay lol
Yep.
If by "weird", you mean seemingly missing it's stylesheet, then yes, it's kind of weird right now.
Yes. Its like a basic scripted layout without all the fancy formatting.
Yea, I thought it was just my computer. Guess not.
This is for all of you who may have been curious, but not curious enough to actually subject yourselves to the humiliation and depression that a show like Lolita Anime manages to pile on you.
I thought, Hey! I'm open-minded, and maybe there's something fun in here! There isn't. It's just a horrible, vapid, stinking wasteland of boring old-man fantasies and poorly drawn penises.
I feel like I owe this thread some Nichijou impressions in an episode by episode format, but I watch it so intermittently, it'd be hard to do as much currently, so let me just say this much:
This series is fucking hilarious. The Weiner skit, Principal vs. Deer, Mio's Homework Share, and Camping are pretty much classics from what I've seen thus far (up to about Episode 13).
This series is fucking hilarious. The Weiner skit, Principal vs. Deer, Mio's Homework Share, and Camping are pretty much classics from what I've seen thus far (up to about Episode 13).
CornBurrito
Member
Actually Saki doesn't sound impressed at the idea. She expresses amazement that
they managed to reverse the wind. I am guessing this is harder than creating a localized whirlwind.
Did you watch Magical Twilight? Its nothing special but its really cute for a hentai.
No, but I did watch Dragon Pink, and I thought it was pretty awesome! I also saw something last night that was above average - will post impressions on it later though.
So far, my favorite kinds of hentai have been the ones that mix in fantasy or sci-fi settings. I'm pretty bored of the school setting at the moment, unless it's really hot for some reason. Now if only they would allow Nishieda to design characters for a high budget sakuga-filled fantasy hentai... In my dreams, right?
YES
Hmm, I find this hard to believe as they had no issues with the commentary tracks for Bakemono. I guess the misguided fears of reverse importation work in mysteriously shitty ways.
Regulus Tera
Romanes Eunt Domus
Best episode after 35.
If you think about it,
it probably is. Cantus relies on being able to visualise what you want to do very precisely. Creating wind out of nothing is probably doable. I believe that Shisei, for instance, back in episode 5, imagines something with a wind-like force that happens to look like a woman wielding a scythe. To reverse existing wind, though, a force we still don't completely understand ourselves beyond knowing it has something to do with gravitational pull, must be pretty complicated.
One of these shows is several years old and has had multiple different releases in Japan, the other is from last year.
Thats what happens when you mess with a man who's been in over a 1000 fights.
Lemme know when/if you decide to watch it. Chipple is really cute!
chickdigger802
Banned
Polar Bear Cafe latest
Woah, shit went drama.
Woah, shit went drama.
PFFT
dakkumauji
Member
Smile Precure! 24
As if everyone couldn't be any more cuter. Did like all the fairy tales cameos going on in this episode.
As if everyone couldn't be any more cuter. Did like all the fairy tales cameos going on in this episode.
Ultimadrago
Member
Regulus Tera
Romanes Eunt Domus
Cajun should never watch this one for his sanity's sake.
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