Forum - View topicMost Aesthetically Daring Tournament: COMPLETE!!!!
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CrowLia
 Posts: 5505 Location: Mexico |
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I was just about to ask how long does he intend to keep the round open and if he just plans to make every round longer and longer hoping that more voters will show up miraculously. Not to offend anyone, but there's obviously a lack of interest in the tournament; not even the earlier rounds broke the 10 voters mark. Giving each round more time hoping for an extra one or two votes will only drag the tournament longer |
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Galap
Moderator
 Posts: 2354 |
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Well, I have determined that if I wait a couple of days, the votes seem to come in. we currently have 4, so with mine added that'll be 5. That's a pretty small sample size. Usually, we get 7-8, which I think makes more sense. I agree that there's not much reason to let it drag excessively, but I'd rather get more votes.
I'm going to try having the next round only have 4 matchups. Doing so only extends the tournament by a week, and hopefully only having to deal with 4 matchups will make it easier for people. |
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CrowLia
Posts: 5505 Location: Mexico |
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I don't mean to sound rude, but we're already 24 hours into overtime for this round and we still have 4 votes only. Let's just face it, there is a very small interest in this tournament and it's insanely boring because there are so few participants. I would honestly wish you kept the timings according to the rules so it doesn't drag any longer than it needs to.
Having irregular schedules for each round doesn't help either, plus the already messy state of the "groups" that marie_antoinette mentioned, people who aren't on the forum that often can't keep track of where the tournament is at right now. Make it one week and stick to it, if there aren't enough votes, suck it up and move on. Otherwise this won't be over before 2015 |
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ikillchicken
 Posts: 7272 Location: Vancouver |
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Let me get in on this since you guys are running short. (I keep meaning to).
B1 Mononoke 1 2 Vs. Kaiba 1 2 3 4 Vs. Animatrix: Kid's Story 1 Voting for Mononoke Kid's Story is nice. Not in the same league as the other two. Kaiba is in some ways more atypical for anime but slightly less inventive I think. It borrows a lot from western animation but once you get past that unusual choice it's only inventive in places. Mononoke just does more on a regular basis. The whole style is something entirely unique that simply doesn't exist outside that show (or franchise I guess). B2 Evangelion 1 2 Vs. Kanashimi no Belladonna 1 Kanashimi no Belladonna Gotta give it to Belladonna here. Evangelion is great too. So much mind boggling imagery. But on the surface, Eva is also fairly conventional. Belladonna really impressed me in that clip. Some great imagery there too. B3 Birdy the Mighty: Decode 1 2 3 4 5 Vs. FLAG 1 Vs. Tsuritama 2 Voting for Tsuritama Unpopular opinion here perhaps but the camera thing in FLAG seems like a fairly trite gimmick. And one not all that inventive outside anime. I'm not actually a big fan of the crude art style in Birdy or the singular color palate but I do like the dynamic action. So Ultimately I think Tsuritama for its color palate and fun use of visual metaphor. B4 Flowers of Evil 1 2 Vs. From the New World 1 2 3 4 Voting for Flowers of Evil Remember that one episode of New World where the art style just went randomly off the rails? Maybe if the whole show looked like that but also not really because come on. Flowers man. It's the shit. B5 Madoka Magica 1 2 Vs. House of Five Leaves 1 Voting for Madoka Magica A tossup. I like what Madoka does occasionally best but I like Five Leaves look better on average. I guess the cool witch sequences and sprawling architecture were frequent enough that I'll give it Madoka by a hair. B6 Hidamari Sketch 1 Vs. Revolutionary Girl Utena 1 2 3 Voting for Revolutionary Girl Utena B7 Metropolis 1 2 Vs. Cat Soup 1 Voting for Cat Soup B8 Red Garden 1 2 3 Vs. Redline 1 2 3 Voting for Redline No contest. Red Garden is nice looking but still relatively conventional. Redline is pure visual excess. |
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danilo07
 Posts: 1580 |
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B1
Mononoke 1 2 Vs. Kaiba 1 2 3 4 Vs. Animatrix: Kid's Story 1 Voting for Kaiba B2 Evangelion 1 2 Vs. Kanashimi no Belladonna 1 Voting for Kanashimi no Belladonna The unique blend of still imagery and full animation makes Belladonna stand out even 40 years after it's inception. It is obvious that Belladonna uses stillness as means of expressions, it's not a product of cheapness or hectic schedule. Belladonna is essentially a revolutionary manifesto against full-animation, which in my eyes makes it all more daring. B3 Birdy the Mighty: Decode 1 2 3 4 5 Vs. FLAG 1 Vs. Tsuritama 2 Voting for Birdy the Mighty: Decode FLAG's use of camera always struck me as contradictory, trying to give sense of realism to medium that is inherently unrealistic seems like a futile task. Not to mention how the anime has to create preposterous and unrealistic explanations for the presence of camera, thus creating another contradiction. Tsuritama is fine looking show but nothing daring. I always loved how Birdy the Mighty: Decode ditched consistency for the sake of pure visceral thrills. B4 Flowers of Evil 1 2 Vs. From the New World 1 2 3 4 Voting for Flowers of Evil Ahh, I nominated From the New World but I like FoE more. I think a lot of great animation from From the New World is pointless and misplaced. Does something like Jun Arai's overtly stylized animation really belong there? It seems to be rather inappropriate considering the context of the story ( though I will unabashedly defend Jun Arai in most other things). FoE is atypical not only because of rotoscoping, but because of direction as well. Long and distant shots are extremely rare for anime, and they work here by makings us slowly absorb the monotony and dread of typical suburban life. B5 Madoka Magica 1 2 Vs. House of Five Leaves 1 Voting for House of Five Leaves B6 Hidamari Sketch 1 Vs. Revolutionary Girl Utena 1 2 3 Voting for Revolutionary Girl Utena B7 Metropolis 1 2 Vs. Cat Soup 1 Voting for Cat Soup B8 Red Garden 1 2 3 Vs. Redline 1 2 3 Voting for Redline |
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Galap
Moderator
Posts: 2354 |
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B1
Mononoke 1 2 Vs. Kaiba 1 2 3 4 Vs. Animatrix: Kid's Story 1 Kid’s Story gets my vote here. All three I think are pretty strong, but KS edges the other two out because of the density of texture in the animation, and ‘dirtyness’ of the lines, neither of which are a common thing B2 Evangelion 1 2 Vs. Kanashimi no Belladonna 1 Kanashimi no Belladonna B3 Birdy the Mighty: Decode 1 2 3 4 5 Vs. FLAG 1 Vs. Tsuritama 2 Birdy gets my vote again. I love the rugged simplicity of the forms with high attention to physics. To me, that comination in this specific works extremely well. B4 Flowers of Evil 1 2 Vs. From the New World 1 2 3 4 From the New World. Like I said last time, I really don’t think that the mere fact that flowers is rotoscoped is enough to carry it through, and I honestly think that that is the only thing that’s unique about it. It’s kind of cool, and not the most common thing, but roto is by no means new, and I don’t even really think it was done particularly well here. On the other hand, FTNW took on a lot of different styles and showcased several artists, while still creating its own unique essence and identity that’s pretty separate from anything else. B5 Madoka Magica 1 2 Vs. House of Five Leaves 1 Madoka Magica has such incredible surrealistic elements. Those witch barriers and transformation sequences are truly exquisite. B6 Hidamari Sketch 1 Vs. Revolutionary Girl Utena 1 2 3 Hidamari Sketch B7 Metropolis 1 2 Vs. Cat Soup 1 Cat Soup B8 Red Garden 1 2 3 Vs. Redline 1 2 3 Redline |
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Galap
Moderator
Posts: 2354 |
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Alright, Round 2 group B is now closed.
In addition to waiting for more votes, I've been getting really slammed with work, which is why I took another day to finish up. I'll probably put the new round up tomorrow, and will decide when to end it then. Guys, try to be a little better about voting in a timely fashion. There will be half as many matchups per week from now on, so hopefully that will improve things. As to the complaints about the round labeling, what I'm intending to do is say where we are in the bracket globally, i.e. round 2 group B means that we're in the bottom half of the second tier of the bracket. It's just a label, and so is the other way. They're just ways of counting things up and have nothing to do with any real attributes of the tournament. I'm only addressing it now because I keep getting posts about it, but I'm not going to talk about it further because it's so low impact. Sorry if you're particularly confused by my labeling convention. This was a pretty interesting round I must say. A lot of hard matchups for me and a lot of entries that were reasonably competitive for a while. Mononoke took out Kaiba and Kid's story 5-1-1. Kanashimi no Belladonna squeaked out over Evangelion 4-3. Flag and Birdy remain neck and neck yet again (3-3) with Tsuritama scoring one vote. I feel like this is happening because both really just have the same number of strong supporters. Let's see what happens in the future. Flowers of Evil went pretty hard on From the New World 6-1. Madoka Magica beat House of Five Leaves 5-2. Revolutionary Girl Utena beat Hidamari Sketch 5-2. Cat Soup shut out Metropolis 7-0. Redline shut out Red Garden 7-0. So this is where we are at the end of round 2. |
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Galap
Moderator
Posts: 2354 |
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I just noticed this, and I think it's really interesting that you think that, especially if you like Jun Arai (who I know a lot of people do not). I think it worked very well myself. It's a very interesting take on things, and I think that the use of his kind of snappy stylization is much more intersesting here, in a serious story with typically a kind of quiet intensity than some bombastic and garish comedy where he's usually used. I think it's pretty daring to use a style in a context where it's not typically expected, and I think it did very well, and actually meshed with the global identity nicely: his scene from the past was the most different, but that served to distinguish it from the present. His other stuff with Shisei's power and the gunpowder leviathans were much less divergent in terms of color palette and texture, but his motion style I found appropriate there, and really interesting there, because the heavy stylization carries a sort of ethereality and alienness to them, while somehow grounding those moments in reality more to me, because they're a departure from the norm, if that makes any sense. |
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danilo07
Posts: 1580 |
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@Galap I think most people dislike Jun Arai because of his horrible personality, not his animation skills. Though I do remember that his cuts on Nisekoi looked rather bad.
His style is definitely antithesis of the look From the New World went for, with his focus on shading and detailed art and I agree that having him in this show is pretty daring. But I still feel like he presence is largely inappropriate. I guess I don't find much meaning between differentiating past and present, especially when one of the points that FtNW made was how the human race has been stuck in circle of bloodshed for years now and incapable of socially evolving ( until the end of when spoiler[ Saki warns their heirs not to make the same mistakes previous generations did] ). Sorry for the late reply. |
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Galap
Moderator
Posts: 2354 |
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Round 3, Group A:
This one will be open till a week from tomorrow. I will not be waiting extra time for more votes from now on. There are half as many entries as there have been previously, so hopefully that makes the voting easier. A1 The Tatami Galaxy 1 2 3 Vs. Mind Game 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 A2 Paprika 1 2 Vs. Asura 1 2 3 A3 Serial Experiments Lain 1 2 3 4 Vs. Kemonozume 1 2 3 A4 Katanagatari 1 Vs. Gankutsouou 1 |
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Galap
Moderator
Posts: 2354 |
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@Danilo 07:
Hmm, that's interesting. I've seen a bunch of people who don't like Jun Arai's aniation, but I've never heard anything about his personality (positive or negative). What does he do that people don't like? As for the time part, I interpreted the point to be that human society is evolving and changing over time, but not in ways that people would find predictable or expected, and maybe not even desirable from the perspective of those of the old world. I do think that their past (both our present and the future that was Jun Arai's part) was pretty different than their present state of affairs. |
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danilo07
Posts: 1580 |
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He acts like prima donna, he has shut down his twitter account on several occasions when people just mention how they dislike his style ( I think he also shut it down when his episode of FtNW aired, apparently some people criticized him) , he will call himself a victim of bullying when an animation director corrects him. Stuff like that, he is really annoying.
The social structures have changed, but the underlying core of repression in society is always present. Which is what I think FtNW was getting at, humanity always ends up making the same mistakes and misdeeds. I think that those gray filers and grains used in episode 1, that drew distinction between past and future worked much better in the show's context. |
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TsunaReborn!
 Posts: 4713 Location: Cheltenham UK |
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Round 3, Group A:
A1: Voting for Mind Game Now I haven't seen much of ether but from what I have seen Mind Game has a larger variety strangeness (fish-head anyone?). A2: Voting for Asura. In terms of bizarre story and mind f[...] Paprika wins but in terms of over all animation Asura takes it as Paprika is still very well polished visually - as this is for daring aesthetics Asura gets the vote. A3: Voting for Kemonozume which I've surprised myself with - SEL was one of my contenders to win (and my own nomination) but I can't justify voting for SEL when I have given the justification above for Asura. Kemonozume's more unpolished visuals take this one for me. A4: Voting for Gankutsuou, I probably wouldn't have voted for ether of these to make it past this round but I still stand by my opinion that Katanagatari shouldn't have made it past the first round so Gankutsuou takes this one. |
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Unicorn_Blade
 Posts: 1153 Location: UK |
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A1
The Tatami Galaxy 1 2 3 Vs. Mind Game 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Voting for the Tatami Galaxy - I am a bit more familiar with it, so here goes my vote. In terms of storytelling it is quite unique, but the animation goes hand in hand with it, with the different angles, perspectives and textures in a really fun way. A2 Paprika 1 2 Vs. Asura 1 2 3 For me Paprika is the winner here. Kon's imagery is mindblowing, the way he animated the dream sequences is so clever and visually stunning. The fact that is it quite polished for me is an advantage not a disadvantage, the attention to tiny details makes a deep impression, specially if you can see it on a big screen. A3 Serial Experiments Lain 1 2 3 4 Vs. Kemonozume 1 2 3 Voting for Serial Experiments Lain. It has been a while since I have seen it, but I remember the way it was animated with the simple, sometimes overexposed backgrounds the angles, almost complete lack of music and the repeatedly used buzz of the power cables helped to create the claustrophobic feeling. A4 Katanagatari 1 Vs. Gankutsouou 1[/quote] I am still voting for spoiler[Gankutsou.] Can't think of any other anime except for Mononoke that plays with textures so well, and I have never seen a similar style of animation anywhere before. The clips for Katanagatari did not really convince me on the other hand. |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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Let's get voting people.
A1 The Tatami Galaxy 1 2 3 Vs. Mind Game 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 The Tatami Galaxy The powerhouse battle this week. One would think I would vote for Mind Game. I have raved about it ever since nominating it. But I feel that at this stage of the tournament the movie's use of many different styles actually comes as a disadvantage. While they keep the viewer on their toes (and also offer something fresh), it does come across as a hodgepodge. Meanwhile, The Tatami Galaxy offers a consistent theme for its aesthetic. Certainly it improvises and experiments, but whatever you see on screen is always recognisable as from the show. I think the margins are so tight in this match that this factor is the tiebreaker. A2 Paprika 1 2 Vs. Asura 1 2 3 Paprika I was going to vote for Asura yet again, but while its style - full of darkness and despair - is certainly memorably striking, it is rather limited. Emotional impact and the horror of humanity are conveyed well, but that's about it. Meanwhile Paprika has almost too much going on visually-speaking, but those dreamlike sequences are very very clever. A3 Serial Experiments Lain 1 2 3 4 Vs. Kemonozume 1 2 3 Serial Experiments Lain Wow, talk about difficult. Took me ages to finally decide. I don't like Kemonozume's rough style nor do I rate it highly. I mean, rough does not necessarily equal good just on its own, you need other factors like colour and storyboarding and so on. Lain has those and more. A4 Katanagatari 1 Vs. Gankutsouou 1 Gankutsuou Katanagatari has a nice bright colour scheme with simple yet striking character designs that are easy on the eye. But Gankutsuou just rocks. It's got psychedelic (and often sumptuous) clothing, and the way the backgrounds deliberately clash with the character designs is a nice trick which enhances both. It was groundbreaking when it came out and - if aired today - would still be groundbreaking. It's a visual tour de force. |
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