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Winter of Anime 2013 |OT -6| How much lower can we go?!

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CorvoSol

Member
Rin-ne No Lagrange S2 5

Bwahahahaha "I had a dream last night where my left and right nostrils switched sides! It was such a small difference that even I am amazed I noticed it!" Bwahahaha. I love this show. It's high time we had some more giant robot fights, though. Also, as comically oversized as Muginami's breasts are, Yurikano's stand out moreso as being so oversized.

Anyway, team Muginami.
 

Taruranto

Member
Blood-C


What the shit!!! I didn't sign up for this shit!!! I mean, Saya
actually manages to protect people in this movie.


I WANT MY TIME BACK.
 
I'm sure this has been discussed to death in this or some earlier anime thread, but MAN does Attack on Titan look awesome.
This trailer is giving off Bionic Commando and Shadow of the Colossus vibes like crazy.
I love me some action anime!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znvVz-V-4Oc

If only the titans, I guess, didnt look so awful. Though thats my fifth time watching the trailer, somehow always watch it when its linked. Anyway main character, fanart, and the last few minutes will make it worth watching.
 
Ishida to Asakura 09

My love for Ishida to Asakura continues to blossom. So much goodness.

iL1p36BvrbUzx.gif
 

Theonik

Member
I don't really see how one is better than the other.
The bottom shot has more detailed shading and actual texture and highlights applied to Wham's jewellery. The background art is also much more detailed and better laid out. Character art is also otherwise better.
 
The latter shot is much more defined and better shaded, and in general less blocky with regards to the character art. Plus it sports good background art, which is why there is a more clear sense of depth.

I'll give you the background, but I don't see a significant difference in Wham's design, or at least not enough to greatly detract from my enjoyment of the show. It's not like a super off-model shot like the kind you see in Space Bros, it's just got a bit less detail.

But then again, I didn't love ep 20 any more than most episodes in the show, so it clearly doesn't bother me when it's a motion comic.
 

firehawk12

Subete no aware
This is an interesting point which I feel I can expand on. I don't feel that it's a problem so much as a really interesting discussion topic. :(

With regards to the usage of montage, I think it's very effective precisely because of what is montaged and what is not. The purpose of the early parts of the story was not to give the father figure an important role into the story, but rather focus on things which eventually become important to Yuki. Maybe this is something which takes more reflection to realize, but it really is another sign of how Hosoda's instinct as a director has matured. This is a great example of how a film should "show" and not "tell".

The scenes which apply montage the most and have the least amount of dialogue are also the scenes which Yuki would have never experienced herself. They are things her mother told her about as she grew up, and after she is born, it would be mixed with events she would be too young to remember in detail.

Obviously the story isn't entirely from Yuki's perspective, so this isn't exactly an exact science, but I feel there's a very conscious application of how the earlier parts of the movie are more focused on specific events (how I met your father), (we would meet at dates at night), (then we started living together), (how he died), with the rest being more dreamlike, and a mix of Hana's memory and how Yuki would probably imagine it to be. As the two children grow, the movie also gets more and more subtle about placing specific importance on events, and becomes much more natural. So I'm sure that feeling is intentional.
You know, when you put it that way, I think it makes sense. (And it doesn't take 10 years to answer the question like a certain American sitcom!). Maybe Up is just still in my head, because it felt like he could have pushed the silent montage a lot more. I mean, the part where the father
reveals his wolf form could have all been silent, using the reaction of the characters to explain how Hana ends up accepting him anyway
. But as a representation of memory, either of Hana's memory or of Yuki's recollection of Hana's memory, the fragmented nature of the use of montage works.

As for the narration, that's a really interesting point which I didn't think about. It's definitely true that in retrospect, Yuki narrating the entire story shows that she continues to think and interact as a human does (keeping records, ensuring the account of her family's story is passed on, visiting her mother from time to time, etc), while Ame fully embraces his animal side and becomes part of nature where such things which are so important to us are less important to him.

My main takeaway from the narrative aspect was that it was a sort of red herring, where Hosoda wanted to make it seem like the predictable sort of family drama where the mother actually died in some dramatic tragic finale, and the daughter is telling the story years later. Only to sort of surprise the audience at the end when the movie is really not that dramatic. Your interpretation actually makes much more sense. Lol.

It's just funny because as I was writing that part, I remembered that
Ame actually gets the last "word" in the film, after Yuki finishes her narration.
Once I came to that realization, it sort of just fell together.


Glad you liked it. The movie really does expose the flaws of Letter of Momo. I watched it before Letter to Momo though, so instead of thinking "wow this is how much better Momo could have been", my reaction was "why isn't this as good as Wolf Children".
I still think Momo kind of works as an adventure film of sorts at least. It's not exactly E.T. but it tries to be like it anyway. lol

Roflmao. As for the inequality bit, fwiw,
the scene where Yuki reveals herself to the boy using the curtains, was voted on one of the NTV early morning variety shows as the #2 best scene-which-makes-the-audience-cry in all of 2012 or something. So I'm sure that counts for something! Yuki's story is definitely the story which I think most people will relate to, while Ame's story is something which I guess reflects more of "how much simpler life could be if we weren't constrained by society".
I think I'm dead inside, because I found that scene to be less effective than the
Hana :firehawking Ame scene that takes place right before it
. It's just that the film gives you a direct representation of what Ame feels when they
show that captured wolf in a cage being all lonely trapped in concrete. There's nothing romantic about city life other than what we bring to it as audience members, while Ame's scenes are full of nature porn and exciting music and so forth.

But hey, if I could, I would live in Coruscant. A giant city where all you can see are skyscrapers? Sign me up.
But the film does nothing to privilege civilization as far as I can tell. There's nothing like the moment where, as a family, they run through the snow. The closest thing you get is the community nature of the village, but they had to run away from the city in order to do so... so even that could be interpreted as a need to escape civilization in order to find human connections
.

I suppose it's also funny that
Ame wanted to stay in the city and Yuki loved running around as a wolf when they first moved to the village
anyway.

And a day later, I still find it weird that no one bothers asking Hana about what
happened to Ame. lol
 
R_thanatos, instead of being super productive this week I've spent this weekend watching various Slayers stuff and listening to Slayers songs.

I'm holding you responsible. ;P (I'm exaggerating, as I run "Give a Reason" in the background).

Just according to keikaku
(NOTE: keikaku mean "plan")

Seriously slayers is good stuff.Especially "next".

If only they didnt come up with this horrible character named pokota in the 4th season...
 

Shergal

Member

I quite like these four, those were some good moments in the movie. I'm assuming she animated the eight cuts these layouts are for?

Speaking of animation in Wolf Children and Hosoda stuff in general, I think a large part of what makes them so appealing is the involvement of Takaaki Yamashita. He has a knack for the type of low-key, everyday life stuff Hosoda likes to do (and do really well); a good example of this would be Dennou Coil 2, where he did KA and also art setting. He has been closely related to Hosoda since forever, and I'm sure some two-way influencing must have happened after all these years.
Of course, Wolf Children is really polished, I think more so than any other of his movies, but his good sense for expression and nice animated details here and there that flesh out the setting remains as strong as ever.
 

CorvoSol

Member
Just according to keikaku
(NOTE: keikaku mean "plan")

Seriously slayers is good stuff.Especially "next".

If only they didnt come up with this horrible character named pokota in the 4th season...

There's a fourth season?

The 08th MS Team 8

So things are suddenly GRIMDARK because Shiro is accused of treason, which I can only assume is because he admitted to it (since otherwise how would they even know what had happened?) and then some hungry mooks in Zakus and Goufs roll in and want a meal, but one guy takes it a LITTLE too far, and so he gets rocket launchered, which in turn shows us just how much damage a single mobile suit can do to a bunch of guerillas, and in turn how much damage guerillas can do to a single mobile suit. A fact sadly lost on the Gundams of 00.

In any case, we have 4 episodes left, so I assume this means everything is going to get really bad, really fast. We're already after Operation Odessa at this point, so Amuro should be off having Newtype Hijinks with Lalah and Char any day now.
 

sonicmj1

Member
There's a fourth season?

The 08th MS Team 8

So things are suddenly GRIMDARK because Shiro is accused of treason, which I can only assume is because he admitted to it (since otherwise how would they even know what had happened?)

Hidden cameras in the Gundam watching their hot spring bath.
 

Theonik

Member
SERIOUSLY, FUCK THE WORLD

Chinese cartoons are generally hot ass and I'm pretty sure those McDull movies are in Cantonese and are thusly impossible to comprehend (I'm sure there is a bad Mandarin dub but that's true of lots of things) but they look cute and the first one came recommended by trusted British animation expert Andrew Osmond, so it is definitely on my list.
Learn Cantonese then!
 

Hitokage

Setec Astronomer
SERIOUSLY, FUCK THE WORLD

Chinese cartoons are generally hot ass and I'm pretty sure those McDull movies are in Cantonese and are thusly impossible to comprehend (I'm sure there is a bad Mandarin dub but that's true of lots of things) but they look cute and the first one came recommended by trusted British animation expert Andrew Osmond, so it is definitely on my list.
Well, Hong Kong may be Cantonese, but what about Taiwan?
 

Articalys

Member
Finally, the rest of the Blu-ray sales numbers from February 18-24. For the top half of the list, see here.

Blu-ray
-- (23) --- *2,256 **2,256 **1 Teekyuu Box
-- (24) --- *1,941 **1,941 **1 Busou Shinki v3
-- (26) --- *1,788 **1,788 **1 Rinne no Lagrange Season2 v6
-- (28) --- *1,665 **1,665 **1 Gosick BD Box
-- (30) --- *1,408 **1,408 **1 Kidou Senshi Gundam AGE v13
-- (31) --- *1,389 **1,389 **1 Dakara Boku wa, H ga Dekinai. v6
-- (35) --- *1,074 **1,074 **1 Shin Tennis no Ouji-sama v6
-- (37) --- *1,019 **1,019 **1 Lupin Sansei Touhou Kenbunroku ~Another Page~ LE
-- (39) --- *1,004 **1,004 **1 Kami-sama Hajimemashita v3
-- (47) --- **,683 *28,877 *10 Girls und Panzer v1
-- (48) --- **,667 ***,667 **1 Seitokai no Ichizon Lv. 2 v1
-- (50) --- **,651 *28,340 **4 Code Geass Boukoku no Akito v1
-- (51) --- **,618 ***,618 **1 Densetsu Kyojin Ideon BD Box
-- (54) --- **,602 *17,710 **4 Jojo no Kimyou na Bouken v1
-- (57) --- **,591 ***,591 **1 Shinsekai Yori v4
-- (62) --- **,550 ***,550 **1 Gekijouban Tiger & Bunny -The Beginning-
-- (69) --- **,461 ***,461 **1 Hiiro no Kakera season 2 v2
-- (71) --- **,425 ***,425 **1 Asobi ni Iku yo! BD Box
-- (72) --- **,424 ***,424 **1 Saint Seiya Omega v7
-- (73) --- **,422 ***,422 **1 Ebiten Kouritsu Ebisugawa Koukou Tenmonbu v4
-- (76) --- **,354 ***,354 **1 Code:Breaker v3
-- (82) --- **,307 ***,307 **1 BTOOOM! v4
-- (83) --- **,306 175,873 100 Evangelion Shin Gekijouban: Jo (Evangelion 1.11)
-- (94) --- **,268 ***,268 **1 Lupin Sansei Touhou Kenbunroku ~Another Page~ RE
-- (96) --- **,266 ***,266 **1 Galaxy Angel AA+S BD Box
-- (97) --- **,262 *29,133 **5 Sword Art Online v4

And thus, the complete temporal (first volumes) sales rankings for Fall 2012:
28,877 10 Girls und Panzer [DVD+BD]: 2012/12/21
23,957 *4 Jojo no Kimyou na Bouken [DVD+BD]: 2013/01/30
17,520 *5 Chuunibyou Demo Koi ga Shitai! [DVD+BD]: 2012/12/19
16,625 *3 Magi [DVD+BD]: 2013/01/30
12,838 *4 To LOVE-Ru Darkness [DVD+BD]: 2012/12/21
12,349 *2 Gintama' Enchousen [DVD]: 2012/12/19
11,609 *4 Little Busters! [DVD+BD]: 2012/12/26
11,462 *6 Initial D 5th Stage [DVD+BD]: 2013/01/11
*9,928 *3 Hidamari Sketch x Honeycomb [DVD+BD]: 2012/12/26
*9,503 *9 Psycho-Pass [DVD+BD]: 2012/12/21
*9,297 10 K [DVD+BD]: 2012/11/07
*6,249 *3 Kami-sama Hajimemashita [DVD+BD]: 2012/12/28 [Vol. 2 drops more than half]
*3,649 *2 Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo [DVD+BD]: 2013/01/30
*2,764 *1 Busou Shinki [DVD+BD]: 2012/12/26 [Vol. 2 data]
*2,497 *2 Onii-chan Dakedo Ai Sae Areba Kankenai yo ne [DVD+BD]: 2012/12/26
*2,494 *1 Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun [DVD+BD]: 2012/11/21
*2,392 *1 Jormungand Perfect Order [DVD+BD]: 2012/12/21
*2,256 *1 Teekyuu [DVD+BD]: 2013/02/22
*2,024 *1 Hiiro no Kakera Season 2 [DVD+BD]: 2013/01/29
*1,911 *1 Zetsuen no Tempest [DVD+BD]: 2013/01/23
*1,759 *1 Ixion Saga DT [DVD+BD]: 2012/12/05
*1,235 *1 Robotics;Notes [DVD+BD]: 2013/01/23
*1,080 *1 Code:Breaker [DVD+BD]: 2012/12/21 [Vol. 2 data]
*1,011 *1 Hayate no Gotoku! Can't Take My Eyes Off You [DVD+BD]: 2012/12/21 [Vol. 2 data]
**,667 *1 Seitokai no Ichizon Lv.2 [DVD+BD]: 2013/02/22
**,652 *1 Medaka Box Abnormal [DVD+BD]: 2013/01/30
**,594 *1 Shinsekai Yori [DVD+BD]: 2012/11/30 [Vol. 2 data]
**,345 *1 BTOOOM! [DVD+BD]: 2012/11/21 [Vol. 3 data]

**,*** ** Sukitte Ii na yo [DVD+BD]: 2012/12/26

(via something)
 

CorvoSol

Member
Hidden cameras in the Gundam watching their hot spring bath.

LIGHTSABER MADE HOTSPRING BATH.

Gundam 00 8

Okay, you know what? Setsuna is a moron. An absolute moron.

Here's how other guys do it:

Heero Yuy "Oh did that girl see me and now might know I have some connection to the Gundam? Better kill her so as not to blow my cover."

Sousuke Sagara "Does the girl have some vague suspicion that I'm more than an unusual high school student? Better be "stealth" so as to not blow my cover."

Setsuna Fuck Seiei "I WILL TELL A WORLD LEADER MY IDENTITY AS A GUNDAM PILOT AFTER SHOWING HER MY FACE AND TELLING HER MY LIFE STORY AND THREATENING HER HOMELAND."

I mean, REALLY.

BTW, Gundam Princess is a good character, because at least she talks about politics as if she took a politics class in High School, as opposed to, you know, the rest of the cast, where they've only kinda heard of politics.

AND MOBILE ARMORS ARE DUMB.
 

RurouniZel

Asks questions so Ezalc doesn't have to
If only they didnt come up with this horrible character named pokota in the 4th season...

Or completely forget the plot of previous installments, or forget how to balance the serious and comedic.

Yeah those things were important too.

I agree with most of this, but I'll admit I rather ended up liking Pokota. He annoyed the shit out of me at first but somewhere around the middle he really kinda fit in nicely.

But yeah, it's not as well balanced as prior entries. :/
 
Finally, the rest of the Blu-ray sales numbers from February 18-24. For the top half of the list, see here.


16,625 *3 Magi [DVD+BD]: 2013/01/30
11,609 *4 Little Busters! [DVD+BD]: 2012/12/26
*9,503 *9 Psycho-Pass [DVD+BD]: 2012/12/21
*9,297 10 K [DVD+BD]: 2012/11/07

*1,911 *1 Zetsuen no Tempest [DVD+BD]: 2013/01/23
*1,235 *1 Robotics;Notes [DVD+BD]: 2013/01/23
*1,080 *1 Code:Breaker [DVD+BD]: 2012/12/21 [Vol. 2 data]

**,652 *1 Medaka Box Abnormal [DVD+BD]: 2013/01/30
**,594 *1 Shinsekai Yori [DVD+BD]: 2012/11/30 [Vol. 2 data]
**,345 *1 BTOOOM! [DVD+BD]: 2012/11/21 [Vol. 3 data]

Shonen Jack must be crying for Medaka Box Abnormal (though I guess Bakuman had no sales?).

At least SSY and Btooom and probably MBA will definite score higher sales in America...all my other shows seems to be good.
 

BGBW

Maturity, bitches.
Learn Swedish and you can watch great cartoons like Bamse, Alfons Åberg and the Moomins in the language it was originally written in.
 

Articalys

Member
Also, a few more per-volume series total sales averages, for those that have released their final volumes. All numbers BD+DVD:

Rinne no Lagrange S2 -- 1,838 avg. across 6 volumes. S1 was 3,122 avg.
Dakara Boku wa, H ga Dekinai -- 1,537 avg. across 6 volumes

Gundam AGE -- 2,049 avg. across 13 volumes. The lowest full TV series Gundam sales ever, apparently, and by quite a lot too.
 

madp

The Light of El Cantare
Blood-C: The Last Dark:

I was wondering why everyone was freaking out about the CG when all I was seeing were a few PS2 cars and helicopters, but then I hit the finale. MOTHER. FUCKERS.

Well, that was certainly underwhelming. Honestly, I think I'm slightly less disgusted than everyone else because I had assumed from the start that this would be a serious film with no troll twists (I mean, once
Saya regains her memories at the end of Blood-C and finally becomes the terminator
it seemed likely that any future narrative would shift in tone to reflect this), but fuck if the execution wasn't still horribly lazy. I mean, come on; we're all expecting two hours of righteous vengeance where problems are solved with the cracking of skulls and flaying of flesh and we get 80%
LOL ANIME HACKING
? For the most part, Saya is denied most of the agency in her own quest and seems to be completely at the mercy of others except when it's time for her to kill things, and most insultingly,
the film can't even find a way to elegantly sidestep Saya's inability to kill humans in order to deliver her her revenge. Fumito falls on her blade. The End.
Even with my expectations in check, this was a depressingly lame way to end the franchise.
 

Lain

Member
From The New World 22

A couple of things about this episode felt a little off, but on the whole it wasn't bad, just a little boring.

Mondaiji 7-8

Should have waited until episode 9 aired to watch these. Episode 8 felt better than 7 thanks to the presence of more action in it, though 7 had its moment, like with the miss walking around with the faerie, as that was really cute.
I'm guessing there will be an upgrade to her powers in episode 9.
 

Hitokage

Setec Astronomer
I've never really gotten into mainland or Taiwanese comics/animation because what I have seen isn't worth much, but there are several really excellent Chinese directors around not even counting the HK film industry, so it isn't all bad.

Plus they put subs on everything 'cause even Chinese people can't understand each other and their million billion dialects, lol.
Learning Chinese to watch Chinese movies subbed is a tad ironic.
 

Instro

Member
Zetsuen 20

Called it. The question now is
whether Hanemura is involved in all of this at all, or if he just inherited the power after Aika died. He did say that his girlfriend who dumped was a pale girl, I wonder if he knew her somehow.
 

duckroll

Member
Yeah but his porn is not only tense, beautifully made and emotionally involving, but it also stars Tony Leung, world's hottest Chinese man. AND it was mostly in Mandarin.

It's like a win-win-win for everybody.

Yeah. I watched it just to see Tony Leung's testicles. I'm not remotely kidding, and I'm not ashamed of that fact at all. I mean yeah, it was a really good movie too, but Tony Leung's balls... <3
 

CorvoSol

Member
Also, a few more per-volume series total sales averages, for those that have released their final volumes. All numbers BD+DVD:

Rinne no Lagrange S2 -- 1,838 avg. across 6 volumes. S1 was 3,122 avg.
Dakara Boku wa, H ga Dekinai -- 1,537 avg. across 6 volumes

Gundam AGE -- 2,049 avg. across 13 volumes. The lowest full TV series Gundam sales ever, apparently, and by quite a lot too.

It's a crying shame that Rinne sold less than Gundam AGE. On the other hand, it's hilarious that 12 episodes sold better by a full 1000 than all 50 mind warpingly awful episodes of Gundam AGE.

Mobile Fighter G Gundam 8

Wow, that was a surprisingly emotional ending to the episode, and I wasn't expecting it. What DO you do when you've been robbed of your hope for revenge? What do you do then? Poor canadian guy. His Gundam wasn't as hilariously stereotypical as Neo-Mexico's (complete with hilarious mustachio!) but he himself looked as Canadian as can be.
 

Metrotab

Banned
OreImo (rewatch) - 14

Something that always confused me about this episode: how the hell do you get critical errors in a visual novel? I mean, I'm not a programming grand wizard or something, but standard visual novels don't seem like exceptionally complicated pieces of software to write. In terms of game development difficulty, I'd wager it being near the bottom.

This episode also gave me the urge to program games again, until I remember I'm absolutely shit at drawing and have 0 artist friends or acquaintances.
 
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