Anime Thread #2

[Kamaduck]

To be honest I really hate it when people speak of the ‘standard’ anime-manga style (the humongous eyes and the weird hair colors) as if that’s the only thing there is. I’m of the opinion that each artist has their particular art style which you can’t really pigeonhole neatly. Besides even if there was a standard it was only something that came in vogue fairly recently, and was by no means universal.

Oh, and there’s also the issue of color. A common trend today is to use more duller, subdued colors or a paler, more translucent palette. Again, compare Haruhi - which was pretty vivid, bright and opaque - with some more recent works. (Again, shonen anime don’t count.)

No, anime definitely look different from each other. On the other hand, they look pretty different from western shows as a whole.

Frankly, I think it’s odd when people talk about anime looking ridiculous- compared to western animation, it’s usually far more realistic-looking.

 

[suko]

panting Ok… finally finished the Spring shows (8 out of 9 shows since I managed to drop only 1 show)! But I actually thoroughly enjoyed a lot of them, though. I think Chihayafuru 2 and its Karuta madness was still my favorite, and WOW, the way it ended, too!!! I was incredibly happy with how it ended that I was cheering! The OVA should be coming (I think) on Sept. 13; hopefully CR will pick this up; If u loved the first season, then u need to watch the 2nd, lol!!

I think my next favorite was Gargantia. The characters in this were very much likeable. I especially loved Ledo, Amy, Chamber, and Bellows. The character growth of Ledo and Chamber, I thought, was exceptional. Some unfortunately fan service bits in ep 5 (though I didn’t think it was too bad), but ep 6 was a “festival” ep, and 3 of the girls in there “danced” to their hearts content… I was quite disgusted by this ep though. But other than that, I very much enjoyed this series. There were a lot of nice and touching moments in this one, too. IMO, though, it really needed to be a 2 cour season in order to really maximize its potential. But for a 1 cour, I think it did well enough.

I think Oreimo 2 would be my 3rd fave. It turned out to be a lot better than I thought it would be. Just a lot of wacky and amusing comedy tidbits in this one, and a lot of shocking/jaw dropping and sweet moments as well. However, when the 3 OVAs air this August on CR, I have a bad feeling about how this series will finally end…

4th fave I’ll have to go with The Devil is a Part-Timer; Just a lot of craziness and amusing antics by the main characters. The drama was pretty good, but I wish they had more action in this one, and didn’t give all the epic beatdowns to a certain Maou. Was it just me, or did Emelia the “Hero” not seem too much like a “Hero”? Nevertheless, I still liked her character.

5th place will have to go Date a Live. I was actually surprised there wasn’t a whole lot of fan service in this one aside from the beginning scenes of ep 1. Then, (for the most part) it became pretty much non-existent Anyway, I thought it was a pretty good show with some laughable/amusing moments and decent action scenes, too, especially by the end of the series. But if a person really enjoyed The World God Only Knows, then I think they will enjoy this one, too.

6th place I’ll award to The Severing Crime Edge. All I can say is, those fetishes man, those fetishes!!! The drama was pretty gripping, at times, and I will say that there were parts that I thought were really sweet, especially between the 2 main characters, Iwai-chan and Kiri, especially in ep 6. However, there were parts that were down-right creepy and distasteful with the fetishes. I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone, quite honestly. Just too many distasteful scenes that I thought crossed the line. Whether there’s a 2nd season remains to be seen (even though there was a PV possibly for one at the end of the last ep), but I kinda doubt it at this point.

7th place I’ll have to give to Flowers of Evil. There’s really only 3 main characters in the show, Takao, Saeki & Nakamura, and it seems all 3 of them have more than a few screws loose, especially Nakamura. xP The rotoscoping, I think, worked great for this series as it seemed to make it even creepier and more realistic than if were to have a traditional anime look. All-in-all, it was a pretty decent show. I really liked the 1st 5 or so eps since it’s a bit on the bizarre-side that I wasn’t used to seeing, but after a while, I think its “bizarre-ness” started to lose its hold on me and interest in the show, and I just continued watching it just to see how things would resolve. I know a lot of people seem to think this is the greatest show since sliced bread, so I prolly would recommend it to those that are looking for a dark and disturbing show. Definitely not a kid-friendly show, I must say.

8th place is Majestic Prince. I could only muster watching the 1st 4 eps on this one. Just couldn’t get into it enough, and I needed to drop some shows at the time, lol. But from what I’ve been hearing from other people who are now 13 eps into it (as I believe it’s a 24 ep series), it’s still very much a “meh” kind of show.

I’m not counting Attack on Titan (since that’s still on-going), but WOW, that show is unbelievably gripping, and intense! So many surprises and cliff-hangars at the end of each ep that it’s ridiculous, lol! Really deserves every bit of attention that its getting, imo.

Now I gotta see what’s airing for Summer! I’ve already added to my watch-list the new Rozen Maiden series though, since I was a fan of the original; The World God Only Knows since I really liked the 1st 2 seasons; Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA ILLYA since I’m a fan of type-moon.

Anyone else have some good suggestions for Summer? And for those that watched the Spring shows, what were your favorites?

 

[epiclotus]

I’m actually looking forward to some of the classic releases coming out in the next year or so, especially Mazinger Z from Discotek Media. It’s supposed to be one of the first transforming robot shows (maybe the first?) that led to a lot of later stuff like Gundam. I’m also intrigued by Sentai Filmworks’ BD release of Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, along with the titles they just inked a deal on with Tatsunoko Productions.

 

[Steph_L]

No, anime definitely look different from each other. On the other hand, they look pretty different from western shows as a whole.

Frankly, I think it’s odd when people talk about anime looking ridiculous- compared to western animation, it’s usually far more realistic-looking.

I’ve seen people dislike anime on the grounds that it’s “ugly”. Well, when you say that I don’t know what you mean by “ugly”. Do you mean stuff like Pokemon or Death Note? Sailor Moon or My Neighbor Totoro?

Unless you’re talking about the generic, emotionless, out-of-proportion, half-hearted anime, I don’t see how it could be any worse than traditional American animation.

 

[Kamaduck]

I’ve seen people dislike anime on the grounds that it’s “ugly”. Well, when you say that I don’t know what you mean by “ugly”. Do you mean stuff like Pokemon or Death Note? Sailor Moon or My Neighbor Totoro?

Unless you’re talking about the generic, emotionless, out-of-proportion, half-hearted anime, I don’t see how it could be any worse than traditional American animation.

I only have one friend who refuses to watch certain anime on the grounds that they’re “ugly”. For the most part, she uses it to refer to the more cartoony shows. Anything that looks less realistic than Fullmetal Alchemist is automatically off her watch list.

Wow, Suko, what a long post! About the only one I saw at all was The Devil is a Part-Timer, and I didn’t see the whole thing. I thought it was kind of funny, good for a few laughs I guess. The characters weren’t interesting enough, so I got bored. The only interesting one is Maou himself, and maybe Emi to a lesser extent. I did like the idea that this evil overlord really didn’t have a reason for causing the destruction he did- he just didn’t understand or care about humans, so he never felt bad about killing them.

Apparently, I can’t even watch a show like that without trying to get something out of it. I don’t think I’ll finish it, though, as I don’t care about the characters enough.

I think the only thing I’ll watch of spring is Chihayafuru 2. I’m picky about this stuff, and none of the other shows look like a good use of time. I’m also going to finish up Morbito, I think. It’s five or six years old, but it looks great, has a developed setting, and managed to get me invested in the characters almost immediately. As far as summer anime go, none of them really stand out so far and I’ll just wait to hear people’s opinions before watching anything, as usual.

 

[suko]

About the only one I saw at all was The Devil is a Part-Timer, and I didn’t see the whole thing. I thought it was kind of funny, good for a few laughs I guess. The characters weren’t interesting enough, so I got bored. The only interesting one is Maou himself, and maybe Emi to a lesser extent. I did like the idea that this evil overlord really didn’t have a reason for causing the destruction he did- he just didn’t understand or care about humans, so he never felt bad about killing them.

Yeah, it’s hard to really care for the characters (at least for me) when half the show, if not more, is done in a light-hearted manner; it’s difficult even to take the drama seriously, sometimes, when the show is trying to be serious (à la Gintama ← I could only handle about 11 eps of this - believe me when I say I tried, lol). And the thing about Maou, it’s a bit… strange, to say the least, because it seems, perhaps, at least in the 1st ep, he doesn’t care too much about killing humans on Ente Isla (since he does want to conquer it, after all), but it seems during his time on Earth, he either changed, or… he ALWAYS was a bit of a caring overlord actually… it’s a bit confusing, some things just didn’t quite add up since they weren’t explained in full detail, especially the history between Maou and the Hero. That’s all I can really say though w/out completely spoiling it for other people. I have a feeling there will be a 2nd season of this, especially since the ending was inconclusive, and Japanese fans have thought quite highly of this, buying almost 12000 copies of volume 1, which is 3rd place for the spring sales. And the novel sales have been excellent as well.

Apparently, I can’t even watch a show like that without trying to get something out of it.

I think (it’s possible) u might like Gargantia then (aside from ep 6, the “festival” fan service one, and although it was done in poor taste, imo, there was a purpose behind that one). Have u seen Full-Metal Panic (FMP)? The main character Ledo, is a born military dude kinda like Sousuke from FMP, although Ledo is completely unfamiliar with the things of Earth (when he unexpected lands there), since he’s been living in space his whole life being raised in a constant space war between humanity and an alien life-form called the Hideaze. And it’s really all he knows how to be: a killing soldier. It may sound cheesy now, but there’s a very good reason as to this constant war as u find out in the latter part of this series, and it’s a shocker (for most people, as it was even for myself); As a result, a lot of philosophical debates have arisen from this show to say the least. It really makes a person think. And it’s interesting to see someone of Ledo’s character go thru these shocking/jaw dropping plot twisters (and watching him grow).

I think the characters are very much likeable in this, too, so I think it’s pretty easy to get into, even after the first few eps. It might be worthwhile to check out. The popularity it has garnered, already, I think is certainly warranted.

I think the only thing I’ll watch of spring is Chihayafuru 2.

This show really is just amazing! It’s too bad though there prolly won’t be a 3rd season, if ever, till maybe late next year, since there’s still quite a few manga volumes that need to be produced before it can happen, unless they decide to do a 1 cour season.

 

[patrick457]

I’ve seen people dislike anime on the grounds that it’s “ugly”. Well, when you say that I don’t know what you mean by “ugly”. Do you mean stuff like Pokemon or Death Note? Sailor Moon or My Neighbor Totoro?

Unless you’re talking about the generic, emotionless, out-of-proportion, half-hearted anime, I don’t see how it could be any worse than traditional American animation.

-]Something like this? /-]

 

[suko]

-]Something like this? /-]

http://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/_img/voice_this/15.jpg

LOL! Why is he headless?!? I hope it wasn’t actually like this in the actual anime scene (unless it’s supposed to be like that)!

 

[patrick457]

LOL! Why is he headless?!? I hope it wasn’t actually like this in the actual anime scene (unless it’s supposed to be like that)!

Sloppy animation (作画崩壊 sakuga houkai), usually caused when animators are in a rush or are too tired/drowsy to pay close attention to what they are drawing. It’s actually quite a pretty common occurrence. Some of the results can be quite -]horrific/-] hilarious.



http://livedoor.4.blogimg.jp/kinisoku/imgs/d/3/d3b38845-s.jpg
(That’s supposed to be a cabbage right there)





(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)

 

[Kamaduck]

Sloppy animation (作画崩壊 sakuga houkai), usually caused when animators are in a rush or are too tired/drowsy to pay close attention to what they are drawing. It’s actually quite a pretty common occurrence. Some of the results can be quite -]horrific/-] hilarious.

LOL. That stuff seems more common in the really long-running shonen. I heard it was because the amount of funding a series gets isn’t very related to the number of episodes, so something as long as Naruto has a lot of it.

I guess if it looks OK when moving, it’s not too big a deal- but I prefer shorter shonen that look consistently nice.

 

[CesarAugustus]

These animation errors are also known as QUALITY.

About Spring shows, I watched some episodes of Attack on Titan, finished OreGairu -a high school comedy- (I didn’t liked the fujoshi and the behaviour around the “trap” character). Also began Aiura -about schoolgirls-, [but I only have watched two episodes (which are very short)], and Miyakawa-ke no Kuufuku -sequel to Lucky Star focused on secondary characters- (only watched one episode).

I began watching Girls und Panzer recently.

Now, Summer shows. I’m watching Servant x Service (about office workers). Good show so far. And the opening is fantastic.

Other shows I’ve started watching are, Kitakubu Katsudou Kiroku (a high school comedy), and C3-Bu (about an a girls airsoft high school club).

Other shows that seem interesting are Gatchaman Crowds and Gin no Saji: Silver Spoon (about agricultural life, from Hiromu Arakawa, author of Fullmetal Alchemist.

Blessings!

 

[rocklobster]

Currently watching Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood and Guyver: The Bio-Boosted Armor. I should also mention that I have my own anime review blog, the link is here. I review the anime from a Christian perspective, pointing out things that potential viewers should keep in mind when watching the show.

 

[Tenofovir]

Just an update my fellow otaku fanboys/fangirls.

OMW!!!
This —> Fate Kaleid Liner Prisma Ilya the best show of the season!

Pure Magical Girl comedy parody.

And this —> Senki Zesshou Symphogear G (Season 2). Is almost as good. Season 1 is also worth watching.

Only worry I have about this show is that two of the antagonist characters are “loli”. I dislike putting children as enemy characters - and it seems like these have some emotional baggage in form of some failed experiment of the government, although they’re not evil characters, they’re just on the side of evil. The lead heroine Hibiki tried reasoning with them before they attacked her and I’m hoping this show does a Vividred Operation or Rinne Lagrange and they manage to turn them around through Magical Girl kindness and love and not kill them off .

A Certain Scientific Railgun Season 2 has been a disappointment. A contrived story where the government cloned the lead heroine into 20,000 little girls and employes an effeminate monster to murder them off in the hope of boosting his psychic powers. Lead heroine is unable to stop the tragedy thus far. Season 1 of Railgun was one of the best anime I’ve seen thus far, and I’ve been watching anime since Tenchi Muyo days in 1996.

Gen’ei o Kakeru Taiyou - Il Sole Penetra le Illusioni = pretty dark anime. A group of girls employed by a secret organisation has to fight monsters who are people possessed by evil Tarot cards (as though that needs that qualifier ). The only way to recover the evil card/demon/whatever is to kill the monster i.e. the host. The lead heroine in episode 1 inadvertedly kills her cousin who is possessed in such a manner and in episode 2 she was unable to kill the monster with the help of her new friends. Her conscience bugs her too much. I think this will go in the Madoka Magica route although I hope it does not go into such dark and contrived territory, especially as these are very diminutively drawn little girls.

 

[Tenofovir]

Anyone else have some good suggestions for Summer? And for those that watched the Spring shows, what were your favorites?

Prisma Illya is very good. In the FATE/STAY series Illya actually gets killed off or sacrifices herself or some such unnecessary nonsense, but this series is much more light hearted. Although one can’t ever really tell with Japanese anime script writers.

Rozen Maiden ever since they failed to bring back — ahem Hinaichigo - the character who least deserved to “die” if these dollfies can be said to “die” has been “meh” for me. GOSICK and DANTALIAN NO SHOKA have been far better Rozen Maiden = goth loli show, IMO. At the end of the day it’s about a goth loli tsundere - in form of Victorique or Dalian or Shinku. I’m hoping for more Dalian in the future.

But RM still makes a great ad for Volks (volks.co.jp). Volks dollfie sales should pick up again.

 

[Tenofovir]

Has anybody watched Ghibli’s Porco Rosso? I thought it was a really fun movie, and the Disney dub was great.

It also has a message behind it. The guy with the pig mask is actually the decent guy.

 

[Tenofovir]

I think the giant saucer eyes that people associate with anime are mostly relegated to shojo anyway. Shows for younger kids are more stylized, while the more mature animes often use a more realistic or just less cutesy style.

That said, there are still a lot of crazy-looking characters out there.

Not just shoujo anime but mainstream stuff. Look at all the popular shows, and shows for B type fans - it’s all large eye/small mouths stuff. Madoka Magica which is a very dark anime has huge eyes. Ghost in the Shell Arise does not however.

 

[Kamaduck]

Not just shoujo anime but mainstream stuff. Look at all the popular shows, and shows for B type fans - it’s all large eye/small mouths stuff. Madoka Magica which is a very dark anime has huge eyes. Ghost in the Shell Arise does not however.

Madoka Magica isn’t a good example, since it’s a deconstruction of magical girl stories. Mainstream shonen, like Naruto, Bleach, and One Piece have exaggerated features, but the eyes are much smaller than in a lot of shoujo.

 

[rocklobster]

I think the giant saucer eyes that people associate with anime are mostly relegated to shojo anyway. Shows for younger kids are more stylized, while the more mature animes often use a more realistic or just less cutesy style.

That said, there are still a lot of crazy-looking characters out there.

Actually, “giant saucer eyes” can be found in American animation too. Disney was full of them back in the day. It’s what influenced the “god of anime” Osamu Tezuka to draw his characters that way.

 

[Tenofovir]

Madoka Magica isn’t a good example, since it’s a deconstruction of magical girl stories. Mainstream shonen, like Naruto, Bleach, and One Piece have exaggerated features, but the eyes are much smaller than in a lot of shoujo.

From the top of my head:

11 Eyes - horror anime with deaths.
Another - horror anime where almost every member of the cast is slaughtered.
Gunslinger Girl - anime about child assassins with deaths.
Rozen Maiden - the youngest looking character dies, is tortured beforehand.
Danganronpa: Kibou no Gakuen to Zetsubou no Koukousei - Battle Royale murder mystery type anime where the characters - many of them having huge eyes have to murder each other or be murdered.
Genei wo Kakeru - Magical Girl anime with deaths.
Railgun 2 - thousands of big eyed girls get slaughtered by psychopath.
Noir and related anime (same writer) - big eyed girls, much mayhem and violence.
Chaos;Head - big eyed characters, lot of violent deaths.
Steins;Gate - big eyes, serious anime with violence etc.
Hyperdimesion Neptunia - no serious stuff beyond lots of fanservice.

These are hardly shoujo shows and they’re definitely not for children.

Shoujo anime usually has little deaths or other serious material, beyond soap opera type drama/romance. It’s also usually pretty bland romance, no ero stuff.

Of course there are shows like Ghost in the Shell and Paranoia Agent which have smaller eyes and more realistic drawings.

 

[Kamaduck]

From the top of my head:

11 Eyes - horror anime with deaths.
Another - horror anime where almost every member of the cast is slaughtered.
Gunslinger Girl - anime about child assassins with deaths.
Rozen Maiden - the youngest looking character dies, is tortured beforehand.
Danganronpa: Kibou no Gakuen to Zetsubou no Koukousei - Battle Royale murder mystery type anime where the characters - many of them having huge eyes have to murder each other or be murdered.
Genei wo Kakeru - Magical Girl anime with deaths.
Railgun 2 - thousands of big eyed girls get slaughtered by psychopath.
Noir and related anime (same writer) - big eyed girls, much mayhem and violence.
Chaos;Head - big eyed characters, lot of violent deaths.
Steins;Gate - big eyes, serious anime with violence etc.
Hyperdimesion Neptunia - no serious stuff beyond lots of fanservice.

These are hardly shoujo shows and they’re definitely not for children.

Shoujo anime usually has little deaths or other serious material, beyond soap opera type drama/romance. It’s also usually pretty bland romance, no ero stuff.

Of course there are shows like Ghost in the Shell and Paranoia Agent which have smaller eyes and more realistic drawings.

Ah, I see. We have different ideas of what constitutes “giant”. I’m thinking about Tohru Honda levels of saucer eyes.

Giant eyes are in anime that go for moe points, though. They’re also in ones that start out cutesy and then subvert your expectations by being super bloody. Or, alternatively, they’re just trying to get more sympathy for the soon-to-be-dead characters by making them cuter.

I suppose, then, that this style isn’t only found in shojo (and shows that comment on shojo). However, it does seem to be more common there, particularly when drawing protagonists.

Also- no deaths or serious material? Aren’t 90% of magical girl stories originally from shojo manga? And I know Fruits Basket is, if nothing else… I know shojo is full of lots of melodrama, but I wouldn’t say it’s never serious.

Of course, we probably also have different ideas of what constitutes “serious”.