• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Winter 2012 Anime Thread 2.22: You Can (Not) Outpost Cajunator

Status
Not open for further replies.

Instro

Member
Hakugei: Legend of the Moby Dick 21

iVDQQQtMgQMo0.jpg


The manliest of tears. That was an awesome episode. After such a downer ending last week that left me pretty sad, this episode did the right thing to make me happy again :).

It's rather interesting what has happened to this show over the last 5 or 6 episodes. For whatever reason the production values have markedly improved. The quality of art, the quality and variety of animation, the variety of character art, etc. All of it seems improved lately. Even the amount of panning and zooming during action scenes has decreased. Not sure if they got more money, if they were saving from the early episodes or something but it is rather noticeable I think. Looking at the ANN entry it seems like there may have been some staff changes to in the animation director area at about the half way mark of the show, or at least some different people involved. That would kind of make sense because there have been some stylistic changes to some of the art during the comedy scenes as well, lots of exaggerated variety in the animation and character art that was not present in earlier episodes. Puzzling, but its certainly welcome as it has added quite a bit to the episodes particularly during recent events of the show.
 

TxdoHawk

Member
Mirai Nikki 23:

I just...dude, wait. So the gist here is that
past Yuno is some evil murderous bitch who has horrible intentions and present Yuno was innocent?
even though she's essentially
a copy of the same person?
Couldn't you argue that
she'd turn out the same way once the game began and therefore she'd turn out no different?
or am I supposed to just go with it since
Yukii has an attachment to the original Yuno's promise despite the logical nightmare of trying to be angry at a copy of a person?
And what the hell kind of terrible plan does
Murmur have for taking over as god, since that is obviously her plan at this point
? In conclusion:

 

trejo

Member
Saint Seiya Lost Canvas 1

Let's watch some pretty boys beat each other up! Fuck yeah!

O5vSPl.jpg


Alone is a badass motherfucker. He looks like a Disney princess about to break into song surrounded by cute little forest critters and a goddamned bear and he just don't give a shit. Dude just wants to paint.

Manly!
 

Makoto

Member
Tordora 2

This... is not Oreimo. Right?

... Right?

Also School play episodes are the best, so screw you!!

And I hope you enjoy Toradora.
Hey, if you like school play episodes, I totally understand. I won't judge anyone who likes them. School plays in anime (thus far) just aren't my cup of tea.

And please tell me Toradora isn't Oreimo. Or at least tell me the dynamic between the two leads isn't as severe as Oreimo.
 
Saint Seiya Lost Canvas 1

Let's watch some pretty boys beat each other up! Fuck yeah!

Alone is a badass motherfucker. He looks like a Disney princess about to break into song surrounded by cute little forest critters and a goddamned bear and he just don't give a shit. Dude just wants to paint.

Manly!

Disney princess, eh? Maybe if Disney was run by Gen Urobuchi. Now that would be a fun world.
 

Deadly

Member
Shana
Ending was a bit cheesy but still good!
I was pretty pissed they killed off Sydonay but it's what he wanted to be with Hecate so it's good
Hishoku no Sora coming on was great too
 

jp_zer0

Banned
Bones have fallen so bad I nearly mistaken them for DEEN. E7 AO better be good.

DEEN has terrible animation, but I always commend their heart. They adapt shows from content that they like, and make silly anime that is genuinely fun.
Ganbatte ne, studio deen.

I really liked Seito-kai
 

TxdoHawk

Member
Milky Holmes 5
Also lolCatMan

I've been watching this as well, and yeah, the dude just looks hilarious. I will say this, Milky Holmes themselves just aren't nearly as funny as 3-card, IMO. The main trio just come off as kind of flat characters, maybe because everyone else around them is so wound up and goofy. It's a very weird dynamic, I find myself watching for everything that happens around the main characters.
 

cajunator

Banned
DEEN has terrible animation, but I always commend their heart. They adapt shows from content that they like, and make silly anime that is genuinely fun.
Ganbatte ne, studio deen.

I really liked Seito-kai

You just explained why I like Deen. They at least try to make enjoyable shows.
In some cases I would argue that they are very successful.
 

madp

The Light of El Cantare
Brave 10 12 (END):

NSnhb.jpg


After much turmoil and strife, Isanami finds her true purpose in life.

All-destroying deity awaken in your adorable nakama?
So powerful she effortlessly om nom noms the guy who was about to kill you
? No sweat, just
politely ask to enter into her soul, give her a few words of encouragement,
and crisis averted. Kushimitama? What's that?

I hope my experiences with Brave 10 have been enough to keep you guys from ever touching the series. It's certainly among the worst anime that I've ever watched to completion, and was disappointing even when watched masochistically. There weren't nearly enough insane plot developments or awkward yaoibait moments to compensate for what ended up just being a meandering, zero-budget, hideous mess of a show. Hopefully Sengoku Collection or Noboobnaga in summer will satisfy my need for a not-terrible show bandwagoning on the sengoku jidai craze.

My single regret about the show being over is that I'll kind of miss Kamanosuke now. That lisping, crossdressing psychopath kind of grew on me.

One final dose of Isanami for cajun and others:

http://i.imgur.com/NEaL7.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/1oTsj.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/ZMvWm.jpg


It was perfectly integrated, without addressing the audience at all; they just have Olivier waving Salamander's crystal thingy in a way similar to how the Miracle Lights are meant to be waved by the little kids.

Oh wow, that's really neat. I probably need to give the movie a rewatch anyway. I miss Heartcatch something fierce but I have too much on my plate to give the whole series another watch any time soon.
 

Ultimadrago

Member
I've been watching this as well, and yeah, the dude just looks hilarious. I will say this, Milky Holmes themselves just aren't nearly as funny as 3-card, IMO. The main trio just come off as kind of flat characters, maybe because everyone else around them is so wound up and goofy. It's a very weird dynamic, I find myself watching for everything that happens around the main characters.

Between loli punching bear, Twenty and loli punching bear, I'm inclined to agree thus far.
 

cajunator

Banned
Isanami is too cute. She is just too fucking cute. :cajun

I appreciate you looking out for those of us who may have otherwise been lured into watching it.
 

Branduil

Member
Taiga tones down a lot in the later episodes, she definitely stops with the physical abuse at least.:p

Toradora was somehow good despite having both a Kugiloli and an Okada script. I guess that must show the quality of the source material and Nagai's direction.
 

Lafiel

と呼ぶがよい
Toradora was somehow good despite having both a Kugiloli and an Okada script. I guess that must show the quality of the source material and Nagai's direction.
Maybe it was somewhat good due to those two things to begin with?
 

jman2050

Member
Phew, okay. Episode 2 was very good but I keep getting Kirino hotflashes.

Taiga is different from Kirino in that A) she has actual justification behind her personality beyond 'because violent tsunderes are hot' B) she actually cuts that shit out when it makes sense for her to do so. C) she doesnt have the hots for her damn brother.
 

Branduil

Member
Maybe it was somewhat good due to those two things to begin with?

To be honest, Okada does have a pretty decent resume with adaptations. I guess it just goes to show that the skills required to adapt material don't necessarily overlap with the skills to write original scripts.
 

cajunator

Banned
Taiga is different from Kirino in that A) she has actual justification behind her personality beyond 'because violent tsunderes are hot' B) she actually cuts that shit out when it makes sense for her to do so. C) she doesnt have the hots for her damn brother.

Taiga is better because she's not a stupid bitch like Kirino.
However, oreimo is saved by the presence of everyone else.
 

duckroll

Member
To be honest, Okada does have a pretty decent resume with adaptations. I guess it just goes to show that the skills required to adapt material don't necessarily overlap with the skills to write original scripts.

I dunno if that's really true that she's good at one and bad at the other though. She has also put out terrible adaptations, while some of her original material works far better than the others. The only real answer here seems to be that she is only as good as the creative direction that the directors or original creators had. Which makes a lot of sense when you think about the role of screenwriters in general. :p
 

Branduil

Member
Flower Declaration of Your Heart 3

iQDSXm9K47JR9.jpg


You know you can trust us, just look at our best-selling book, "How to Serve Man."

Probably the best episode so far. The lampshading of the effects of mecha combat in populated cities was funny, as was the alien guy trying to analyze Madoka's dumb combat maneuvers. It certainly doesn't hurt that the show looks and sounds great. It's a complete package of gorgeous backgrounds, great traditional mechanical animation, well-integrated CGI, sharp art direction, and an up-tempo soundtrack.

Not a fan of the Code Geass-style sexist pilot seating designs, though.
 

Dead

well not really...yet
I dunno if that's really true that she's good at one and bad at the other though. She has also put out terrible adaptations, while some of her original material works far better than the others. The only real answer here seems to be that she is only as good as the creative direction that the directors or original creators had. Which makes a lot of sense when you think about the role of screenwriters in general. :p
It does seem like some people think the screenwriter works in a total vacuum...
 

Branduil

Member
I dunno if that's really true that she's good at one and bad at the other though. She has also put out terrible adaptations, while some of her original material works far better than the others. The only real answer here seems to be that she is only as good as the creative direction that the directors or original creators had. Which makes a lot of sense when you think about the role of screenwriters in general. :p

So what you're saying is, Black Rock Shooter TV is all Imaishi's fault.
 

duckroll

Member
If you follow the development of any show or movie from the concept stage to the final product, you'll generally realize that it is often rare that the screenwriter has a particularly huge role in shaping the overall vision of the product unless the screenwriter is also a producer, director, or showrunner. This applies to TV shows, movies, anime, whatever.

Usually an idea is conceived by a producer. This producer can either be representing a studio and pitching concepts to make a product for that studio, or the producer could be a writer pitching a show concept to a network, or a director/writer trying to put together an original idea to get funding from a studio.

Then after this idea is created into a creative plan, the producer either selectively picks staff who he is interested in getting involved with the project (director, writers, etc) to put together a pitch, or the pitch draws attention from the industry internally and directors who are interested in the project gravitate towards it and try to get involved.

For a Hollywood movie, it is not unusual for a producer to go through several screenwriters in the pre-production stage before a satisfactory script gets approval from either studio heads or the director attached. After this is also not unusual for the director to pick a different writer to do rewrites on the draft script, cutting the original writer out of the process entirely at this point.

If a writer is pitching a screenplay to studios, it is also not unusual for studios to buy the script, and while developing it into a film they hire other screenwriters to change it drastically, cutting the original creator out of the process.

For anime, because of much lower budgets and production considerations, it is rare for there to be such redundancy in terms of paying many different people for the same work being done. As such, it is more common for writers in the industry to simply bend backwards and be willing to rewrite and amend whatever the producers and directors want in terms of moving towards the start of production.

There are some creators in the anime industry who have more creative control, but often not because they can command it, but rather because they work with producers and directors who are on the same wavelength as them, and are willing to allow them space to create the best output possible. This is extremely rare though.
 

Jex

Member
[Rinne no Lagrange 12]

This is what the people wanted right, mecha and yuri? I guess there was quite a bit of each in this finale, and it generally looked pretty good. As with many episodes in this series, the production was of high quality throughout, the editing and cinematography were good and it was generally interesting to watch.

However, as with the rest of the season, I can't help feeling like the "girls becoming friends" story is a separate show to the "intergalactic conflict" show. It really feels like all the Space/Mecha stuff is just in the background and none of it really matters because it leaves no lasting influence on anything. Maybe that will change from here on in, but that remains to be seen.
 

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
Very educational, and also one of the reasons I love manga because I feel it doesn't stifle creative vision as much as other visual storytelling mediums.
 

duckroll

Member
Very educational, and also one of the reasons I love manga because I feel it doesn't stifle creative vision as much as other visual storytelling mediums.

Well, I think that it's logical to expect that the less number of people involved in creating an end product, the stronger the individualistic creative contribution will be. If one guy writes a book, that book is entirely owned by that one person. Everything good and bad. With manga, it is usually either one guy writing and drawing, or a writer and an artist.

But I don't think that makes larger scale productions less creative. It just means there is more shared creativity. One man cannot make a feature film for example, because unless the film has a grand total of one character, it doesn't make a lot of sense. You would need a full cast, a crew, and so on, but that doesn't mean it's less creative, just that the creative responsibility is spread out across disciplines. It can make something more interesting as well.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom