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Most Aesthetically Daring Tournament: COMPLETE!!!!


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Spastic Minnow
Bargain Hunter
Exempt from Grammar Rules


Joined: 02 May 2006
Posts: 4595
Location: Gainesville, FL
PostPosted: Wed Jul 23, 2014 10:23 pm Reply with quote
A1
FLCL 1 2 3
Vs.
Animatrix: World Record 1 2

Voting For: FLCL

Hmm.... World Record is, in part, (and slightly ironically) the poorer "running" version of "Running Man" (revealed to much of the western world via MTV's Liquid Television link). I strongly considered nominating that one, but decided it was just a little too slight and short to do so. Plus, despite it being a precursor, it also shares a little too much in common with Redline. So, despite it being a good short I still feel it's lesser, shorter, and two steps of derivation from better works.

Add the fact that FLCL really is a stunning work of frenetic energy and design. I have to go with FLCL.

A2
Angel’s Egg 1
Vs.
The Tatami Galaxy 1 2 3

Voting For: The Tatami Galaxy

I've never seen it, but I always thought the really daring part of Angel's Egg is the completely wacked out narrative. Judging by the pictures shared (which are all I really have to go on) the designs actually look a lot like a somewhat typical, if highly detailed and finely crafted, "demonic" setting common in the 80's and 90's. Inspired by Moebius, HR Giger, and their contemporaries, it's really good and I'd vote it over others in the tourney, but I can see a little too much of where it's coming from to be surprised.

Tatami Galaxy's design and breakneck pacing, kept fresh and maintained through an entire season, make it too strong of a canidate to pass on.

A3
Mind Game 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Vs.
Summer Wars 1 2

Voting For: Mind Game

Yeah, not a contest. Summer Wars is highly polished and has refreshingly fresh otherworld designs but it can't compete with a show that ups it's creativity by the second the way Mind Game does.


A4
Tamala 2010: A Punk Cat in Space 1 2 3 4 5 6
Vs.
Noein 1 2

Voting For: Tamala 2010: A Punk Cat in Space

Neoin has a few great design ideas and it is definitely a different aesthetic but it doesn't have much variety and it's not too hard to get used to it. It simply doesn't continue to wow you after seeing a bit of it. I'll probably go into my reasons for nominating Tamala further in a next round (or if the vote tally starts to go against it later in this round) but in short, to me, its a movie I don't like blinking during. Despite its slow pace and deceptively simple core designs it's a feast for the eyes.

A5
Paprika 1 2
Vs.
Cromartie High School 1 2 3

Voting For: Paprika

Cromartie is striking cartoon design, has great parody character designs, and does some nice little things but go ahead and mute one of those clips, ignore the jokes and ask yourself if its much more than funny pictures? Maybe a little more, but not much.
Paprika is the ultimate dream sequence, every crazy thing you can think of jammed on screen and some of the nightmare scenarios completely stick with you. That trailer is a great representation... the shifting room, the guy bursting into butterflies, the dried out husk of a person seen from the perspective of a fairy... not to mention the "rape" scene- that's a bad touch!


A6
Birth 1
Vs.
Trapeze 1

Voting For: Trapeze

Trapeze runs on some tricks and gimmicks, but they are great ones. The Birth AMV sort of reminded me of a great Future Boy Conan AMV I once watched... but it never crossed my mind to nominate that show, and something about it also made me remember that I had been planning to (but never got around to) nominating Dirty Pair: Project Eden. So... finding comparisons to other things I like more... not a good way to convince me of its unique value.



A7
Gatchaman Crowds 1 2
Vs.
Asura 1 2 3

Voting For: Asura

The only real problem with Gachaman Crowds is the problem of diminishing returns and familiarity. This is a more restrained Trapeze without the rotoscoping or a tsuritsuma without the fish... To me, it pales a little in comparison toNakamura's other projects, so I'll go with Asura, which I haven't seen, but whose pictures show me a sort of impressionistic darkness that is very impressive.

A8
Cowboy Bebop 1
Vs.
Nichijou 1 2 3 4 5

Voting For: Nichijou

I have to agree with others here. Cowboy Bebops is iconic, well done, classy... but not daring. It's a model for what the mainstream should look like.
Nichijou is brilliant. It could like Cromartie, a funny gag series with art true to the manga art with some great sight gags, it could have been a more polished show that tried to emulate a more traditional "cute girls" show with some surreal moments, but what it mostly is is a "challenge accepted." It takes what would be safer and expected and infuses it with a love of animation hat expresses itself in unique ways. This is Kyo-Ani, they specialize in fine animated shows, but they're known MORE for polish and beauty. Instead this infuses what were obviously static sight gags on a page, probably illustrated with some speedlines and goes crazy with the motions, the movements, the accents. This doesn't just recreate the original comic's site gags, it completely enhances them and makes them something much more special.
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TsunaReborn!



Joined: 08 Sep 2012
Posts: 4713
Location: Cheltenham UK
PostPosted: Thu Jul 24, 2014 6:26 am Reply with quote
Round 1, Group A:

A1
FLCL 1 2 3
Vs.
Animatrix: World Record 1 2

For me this one goes to FLCL .
After finding a few clips on YouTube for Animatrix: World Record I thought the visuals were certainly daring but even if it’s just for the Manga panel scene FLCL has my vote.

A2
Angel’s Egg 1
Vs.
The Tatami Galaxy 1 2 3

I haven't seen ether of these but from the snippets I have found my vote has to go toThe Tatami Galaxy .
Angel's Egg does look awesome but visually it didn't seem as out there as The Tatami Galaxy; the character designs are unique and at 2.32 in this just wow!


A3
Mind Game 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Vs.
Summer Wars 1 2

Voting for Mind Game .

I mean coming they have a guy with a real life goldfish for a head smoking! There are so many types of designs used I don't think there is much that can compete with it.


The Summer Wars videos don't work in the UK Sad (Found my own though Smile )

A4
Tamala 2010: A Punk Cat in Space 1 2 3 4 5 6
Vs.
Noein 1 2

Ugh I really don’t know with this one but I think I’ll have to vote for Tamala 2010: A Punk Cat in Space I haven’t seen it but it seems to draw its inspiration from LSD. The use of CGI and colour seem to add another level of daringness to this show.

A5
Paprika 1 2
Vs.
Cromartie High School 1 2 3

Voting for Paprika Paprika seems to have more to it, Cromartie High School can’t win this round with some strange faces and comedic stills. (Watching the video reminded me that Paprika has my favourite soundtrack Laughing )
A6
Birth 1
Vs.
Trapeze 1

Trapeze gets this vote , from what I could find of Birth (if it was the correct show) it looked like a standard 1980’s anime. Trapeze looks insane and that guys face, bizarre!

A7
Gatchaman Crowds 1 2
Vs.
Asura 1 2 3

Voting for Asura I haven’t seen ether, not that I have seen many in this list so far, but Gatchaman Crowds to me doesn’t seem as daring as Asura. Asura has a very ominous feel about it with is portrayed very well in its art work, the girl is creepy and I love the think outlines on her (it is a her right?).

A8
Cowboy Bebop 1
Vs.
Nichijou 1 2 3 4 5

Voting for Nichijou …. I just watched the Pumpkin scene at work and couldn’t stop wetting myself, I was getting some odd looks. That aside Bebop looks fabulous (and annoyingly is till unopened on my shelf at home) but doesn’t seem too daring, character designs do look a little odd at times. Nichijou action scenes are crazy; the backgrounds, facial expressions, body movements are over exaggerated to the point of laugh out loud humour.

Sorry for the pretty poor reasoning’s, I was trying to get this sorted before tomorrow and wasn’t going to happen if I didn’t rush.
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Galap
Moderator


Joined: 07 Apr 2012
Posts: 2354
PostPosted: Fri Jul 25, 2014 9:55 pm Reply with quote
A1
FLCL 1 2 3
Vs.
Animatrix: World Record 1 2

Voting for: FLCL.

Animatrix has a lot of really interesting an unusual coloring choices, which is something that I wish we saw more of in anime. The animation has a lot of attention to space and physics musculature.

FLCL however has a lot of internal variation, and does so not only in image appearance (like the manga semgents and infamous South Park moment) but also in motion cadence as well, with both floaty and heavy motion, both jerky and smooth motion. Pick one from each column, and others at different times.


A2
Angel’s Egg 1
Vs.
The Tatami Galaxy 1 2 3


This one is a really tough matchup for me. There are going to be a lot of them throughout this tournament, and that’s a testament to how much anime pushes the envelope on aesthetics in many different ways.

The anime in this matchup are very different in the way they go about things. I really like Angel’s Egg’s intricate detail of objects, and sense of antiquity and decay. I really like Tatami Galaxy’s blobby minimalism with interesting texturing and often washed out palette.

For me it goes to Angel’s egg, because the aesthetics here served to create a haunting, atmospheric mood. The movie conveys a strong sense of abandoned splendor and stagnation in its environments, and a kind of focused monotony in its characters’ minds, all through the way things look and move.


A3
Mind Game 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Vs.
Summer Wars 1 2

I’ve seen neither, but I consider Summer wars to be a rather weak entry here, and Mind Game’s blocky style that appears to delve into other things quite a bit takes the cake for me. I should probably see this thing some day.

A4
Tamala 2010: A Punk Cat in Space 1 2 3 4 5 6
Vs.
Noein 1 2

I’m not a fan of Tamala 2010’s aesthetics. It reminds me too much of bad western TV animation. Everything’s flat like Kansas and too rotund without any quality of form.

Noein on the other hand, has very odd looking forms as well, but they add together and move in time and space to create something that has a lot of truth and meaning with respect to the spaces and characters being depicted: for example here, you get a glimpse into what it’s physically like to be a quantum being, how that affects people’s perceptions of you, and your perception of the environment.

In the fights you can feel the characters impetus and pain, push and pull of them against their opponent or environment, and pushing their own limits, and it’s through this really rugged and angular-curvaceous motion that this all comes through.

A5
Paprika 1 2
Vs.
Cromartie High School 1 2 3

Again, seen neither but Paprika is the clear winner here, since the motion and character designs are so realistic. It might sound weird that I’m voting for something being aesthetically daring because of realism, but that kind of thing was really only a direction that was taken in things in certain anime films in the 90s, and never really appeared before or since, and in a medium that usually prefers some degree of stylization, that kind of attention to form, motion, and physics is pushing things pretty far.

It’s also interesting that this realism is used in a film whose subject matter is so surreal.

A6
Birth 1 2 3
Vs.
Trapeze 1

Birth stuns me with its near constant camera movement, angular and snappy motions, characters that are cartoony in a unique way, and bright and playful color palette.

It’s really interesting because it manages to give complete immersion despite its appearance embracing the fact that it is artifice. There is a really great relationship between form and pattern here, which I don’t see too much. What I mean by that is that a lot of widely different types of objects (rocks, lightning bolts, fire, warp drives, etc.) all are recognizable but there are similarities in pattern motifs with which they are drawn, tying everything together in a unique way.

A7
Gatchaman Crowds 1 2
Vs.
Asura 1 2 3

Asura: dark colors, ‘wicked’ twisted landscapes and people, and CG cel shaded characters. Doesn’t really do it for me. The CG certainly doesn’t help, but even without it I’d have a hard time seeing much appeal to this particular style of grim.

Gatchaman Crowds is the winner here. The CG blocky things don’t really help here either, and I’ve only seen the first episode, but the storyboarding is really really impeccable in this one. The shot composition is so unique and carefully handled that I can’t help but notice that a lot of thought was put into trying to make every shot convey meaning and look unique.

A8
Cowboy Bebop 1
Vs.
Nichijou 1 2 3 4 5

Nichijou Has an interesting mix of pastel color choice, character designs farther from human than most things go, and really physically dynamic animation on top of that. Even at its most surreal, it conveys a sense of matter and form in its objects and characters that’s especially uncommon in shows with that type of palette and character design.


Last edited by Galap on Fri Jul 25, 2014 11:15 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Ghost_Wheel



Joined: 30 Jan 2013
Posts: 203
PostPosted: Fri Jul 25, 2014 10:59 pm Reply with quote
A1
FLCL 1 2 3
Vs.
Animatrix: World Record 1 2

Voting for: FLCL.

Man it's tough for me to turn down World Record here but sadly it got unlucky this round. As a short it really squeezes life out of its running sequence and that is something I really respect.

FLCL had great camera direction, motion pacing, use of color, and general variety in animation that it is easily very distinctive and intriguing, so it edges WR out here.

A2
Angel’s Egg 1
Vs.
The Tatami Galaxy 1 2 3

As the person who nominated it, I'm going to have to agree with Galap in voting for Angel’s egg. The visual direction of the piece really gives it it's identity and while a haunting atmosphere is something that can be created elsewhere, the unique blend of mystery and wonder created by the ruins, shadows, and characters is what has earned this movie respect over the years.


A3
Mind Game 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Vs.
Summer Wars 1 2

Voting For: Mind Game

I wasn't very impressed with Summer Wars. The netscape environment didn't really distinguish itself and the animation didn't for its time either. Willing to take a semi blind shot a Mind game here.

A4
Tamala 2010: A Punk Cat in Space 1 2 3 4 5 6
Vs.
Noein 1 2

Vote for: Noein

It's tough to vote for Tamala here, because the argument basically hinges on the fact that it looks a lot like astro boy or old western animation but releaed in 2002

Noein, however, goes for it's own original aesthetic in the design and animation of the dragon knights, especially contrasted with the ornate destructrons

A5
Paprika 1 2
Vs.
Cromartie High School 1 2 3

Tough call. Haven't seen either and going of trailers I like Parprika's style a lot more but Cromartie might win win on the "daring" qualifier. I guess I'll give the vote to Cromartie but maybe if I were more educated I would have chosen differently

A6
Birth 1 2 3
Vs.
Trapeze 1

I love Birth, I love its chase sequences, and I love its animation. I breaks my heart to give something I haven't seen the vote over it, but it's tough to be biased when I'm looking at collage like stuff like this. Clearly there was a fleshed out vision here and i'll have to go with Trapeze

A7
Gatchaman Crowds 1 2
Vs.
Asura 1 2 3

I'd be voting Asura here if it wasn't for the CG. I haven't seen either but Gatchaman Crowds vision seems just as fleshed out while being a little more consistent internally.

A8
Cowboy Bebop 1
Vs.
Nichijou 1 2 3 4 5

Nichijou is the clear winner here. This show wouldn't be nearly as funny as it is without the amazing visual attention that is paid. Comedy is timing and the complicated tempo of the jokes is often supported by a beautiful countertempo of animation speeds.
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Galap
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Joined: 07 Apr 2012
Posts: 2354
PostPosted: Fri Jul 25, 2014 11:48 pm Reply with quote
Round 1, Group A is now closed!

Before I get to the results, let me discuss some rules stuff. Numerous people have stated that they don't think having to justify all the votes in the first round is a good idea. I decided to let a full round go under the original rules to see what would happen, and with 7 voters including myself, I think it's probably a good idea to change this, so For the rest of round 1, you only need to justify at least 2 of your choices.

And now, the results: Wow! none of these were even close! we had 3 total shutouts and the rest were 5-2 (and on a side note a lot of the dissenting votes were from myself). I wonder if results this strongly tilted will continue throughout the tournament or not.

FLCL shut out Animatrix World Record 7-0. People seemed to like WR, but none of them more so than FLCL

Tatami Galaxy defeated Angel's Egg 2-5.

Mind Game shut out Summer wars 7-0. In this case, I get the impression that the fact that this was a shutout happened more to the perceived weakness of SW than necessarily MG's strength.

Tamala's 5-2 victory over Noein surprised me quite a bit, partially due to personal bias of myself not being impressed with it, but mainly because Noein performed very well in the nomination stage. In fact, it's the only matchup that went opposite of how I expected it would. Too bad we're not doing a minigame, because I think predicting these would be fun and interesting. I guess instead of a minigame feel free to talk about which of your expectations were met or not.

Paprika defeated Cromartie High School 5-2. What interests me here is how most people made the choice based on the aesthetics of what kind of subjects and transitions and the like were being depicted, rather than the presentation of depiction. It seems one way to categorize a lot of the anime in this tournament is into shows that are daring in depiction and shows that are daring in presentation, for lack of better terms. It'll be interesting to see what happens when the big favorites from both sides come head to head.

Trapeze took out Birth 5-2. I know Birth didn't win, and I nominated it, but since a lot of posters professed unfamiliarity with it, and there was some trouble finding/viewing material about it, I have to promote it a little. I think it's something that more people should see. I'd say I recommend this thing very strongly with the warning that a lot of people don't like it. Even if you prefer to view everything you see legally, you can get it on DVD for only about $5 US, so that's not really that much of a barrier either. Not many people know about it, so hey, check it out!

Asura Beat Gatchaman Crowds 5-2. Sorry guys, but I don't really have much to say about this matchup, except that I was less sure about how it would go than most of the others.

Nichijou shut out Cowboy Bebop 7-0. I think the general consensus here was that CB shouldn't really have been here, which I agree with. Unfortunately, we had a hard time getting to 64 nominations. That being said, I really think there are only a couple of shows in this entire tournament that don't belong, so we did pretty well for ourselves.

That brings us to this being the current state of affairs.
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dtm42



Joined: 05 Feb 2008
Posts: 14084
Location: currently stalking my waifu
PostPosted: Sat Jul 26, 2014 1:01 am Reply with quote
Galap wrote:
For the rest of round 1, you only need to justify at least 2 of your choices.


That helps a lot. It took me well over an hour to vote and I didn't write all that much for each entry. Part of it is the thinking time and checking the various images and videos, sure, and that part is inescapable. But I found expressing my thoughts into words to be the hardest part, as I knew what I wanted to say but couldn't figure out how to say it (hopefully that makes sense). So, not having to type the words out will greatly help. I'll still put great care into my votes.

Galap wrote:
I wonder if results this strongly tilted will continue throughout the tournament or not.


I doubt it. The first round always has the most number of blowouts, because as the tournament progresses the weakest are weaned and only the strongest and most competitive remain. Therefore matches will become much closer with time.

Galap wrote:
I know Birth didn't win, and I nominated it, but since a lot of posters professed unfamiliarity with it, and there was some trouble finding/viewing material about it, I have to promote it a little. I think it's something that more people should see. I'd say I recommend this thing very strongly with the warning that a lot of people don't like it. Even if you prefer to view everything you see legally, you can get it on DVD for only about $5 US, so that's not really that much of a barrier either. Not many people know about it, so hey, check it out!.


Thanks, with your strong recommendation I will definitely check it out.
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Galap
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Joined: 07 Apr 2012
Posts: 2354
PostPosted: Sat Jul 26, 2014 1:56 am Reply with quote
Round 1, Group B:

B1
Serial Experiments Lain 1 2 3 4
Vs.
C3: Cube x Cursed x Curious 1


B2
Magnetic Rose 1
Vs.
Bobby's in Deep 1


B3
Soul Eater 1 2
Vs.
Otome Yokai Zakuro 1


B4
Freedom 1
Vs.
Kemonozume 1 2 3


B5
Katanagatari 1
Vs.
Spirited Away 1


B6
Turn A Gundam 1 2
Vs.
Space Dandy 1 2 3 4


B7
Lupin III: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine 1 2
Vs.
Yozakura Quartet: Hoshi no Umi/Hana no Uta 1 2 3 4 5


B8
Samurai Girls 1 2
Vs.
Gankutsouou 1
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Ignatz





PostPosted: Sat Jul 26, 2014 5:24 am Reply with quote
B1
Serial Experiments Lain 1 2 3 4
Vs.
C3: Cube x Cursed x Curious 1

Voting for: Serial Experiments Lain

B2
Magnetic Rose 1
Vs.
Bobby's in Deep 1

Voting for: Bobby's in Deep

B3
Soul Eater 1 2
Vs.
Otome Youkai Zakuro 1

Voting for: Soul Eater

B4
Freedom 1
Vs.
Kemonozume 1 2 3

Voting for: Kemonozume

B5
Katanagatari 1
Vs.
Spirited Away 1

Voting for: Katanagatari

Spirited Away is a beautiful movie, but Katanagatari is so stylish that I simply have to vote for it. Seriously, just look at its characters. Every one of them is different, having unique patterns in their eyes, style of clothing, hair color, and so on. Honestly, I don't recall any anime being so stylized.

B6
Turn A Gundam 1 2
Vs.
Space Dandy 1 2 3 4

Voting for: Space Dandy

B7
Lupin III: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine 1 2
Vs.
Yozakura Quartet: Hoshi no Umi/Hana no Uta 1 2 3 4 5

Voting for: Lupin III: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine

B8
Samurai Girls 1 2
Vs.
Gankutsuou 1

Voting for: Gankutsuou

Well, I have to admit that I really dislike Samurai Girls. Even then, Gankutsuou looks way more impressive. While they both have gorgeous backgrounds, the character designs in Samurai Girls look way too generic. Gankutsuou's designs are not exceptional either, but the way the creators decided to photoshop complex textures into the clothing and hair is amazing.


edit: fixing some typos


Last edited by Ignatz on Sat Jul 26, 2014 1:08 pm; edited 3 times in total
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ikillchicken



Joined: 12 Feb 2007
Posts: 7272
Location: Vancouver
PostPosted: Sat Jul 26, 2014 6:27 am Reply with quote
Round 1, Group B:

B1
Serial Experiments Lain 1 2 3 4
Vs.
C3: Cube x Cursed x Curious 1

Voting for Serial Experiments Lain
Maybe if I saw more of C3...it just looks fairly standard to me. A few bold stylistic choices but more the exception and not a lot that I particularly love.

B2
Magnetic Rose 1
Vs.
Bobby's in Deep 1

Voting (unexpectedly) for Bobby's in Deep.
Memories is a beautiful, lavishly animated, detailed film. It doesn't strike me, relatively speaking, as that artistically daring though. And that sequence from Bobby's in Deep was outstanding. You really don't see that kind of dynamic, motion and shifting perspective a lot in animation. And great use of contrast between light and shadow. Very nice stuff.

B3
Soul Eater 1 2
Vs.
Otome Yokai Zakuro 1

Voting for Soul Eater.
Soul Eater is...a bit too Hot Topic-y for my taste. But it's still decently inventive. I like the architecture better than the character designs. And Zakuro does nothing for me.

B4
Freedom 1
Vs.
Kemozoume 1 2 3

Voting for Kemonozume without question.
There's a few nice elements sporadically appearing in Freedom but the bulk of it is really unremarkable CG mimicking equally unremarkable typical anime character designs. And Kemonozume is outstanding. Completely unusual visual style. Great, dynamic animation and composition. Really visually stunning on all fronts.

B5
Katanagatari 1
Vs.
Spirited Away 1

Voting for Katanagatari.
Spirited away has some nice imagery but also has a lot of more conventional Ghibli visuals. Katanagatari has a really inventive look from top to bottom.

B6
Turn A Gundam 1 2
Vs.
Space Dandy 1 2 3 4

Definitely voting for Space Dandy.
Turn A Gundam is nice but there's little that can match space Dandy purely by virtue of its visual diversity. Each episode is something new, with some new visual twist. That show basically is just an excuse for various talents to cut loose and do whatever crazy, visually inventive stuff they want.

B7
Lupin III: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine 1 2
Vs.
Yozakura Quartet: Hoshi no Umi/Hana no Uta 1 2 3 4 5

Voting (reluctantly) for Fujiko Mine.
I wish I could vote for both of these. Yozakura really impresses me. Some nice stylistic choices and simply fantastic dynamic action sequences. It just can't quite compete with Fujiko though which has more of an overriding visual style. At worst, you can argue some of the artistic choices in Fujiko don't work (mainly the shading) but that doesn't mean they aren't still extremely daring.

B8
Samurai Girls 1 2
Vs.
Gankutsouou 1

Voting for Gankutsuou.
Those screencaps from Samurai Girls are actually quite nice. Not sure if they're just the exception though or not and in any case, it simply can't compete with the creativity on display in Gankutsuou. Far more daring and far more all prevalent.
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Spastic Minnow
Bargain Hunter
Exempt from Grammar Rules


Joined: 02 May 2006
Posts: 4595
Location: Gainesville, FL
PostPosted: Sat Jul 26, 2014 8:32 am Reply with quote
I know you can't create unique pages for each nomination (or, it's way too much trouble to do so), but in the future, could make the title to each show a link to the post with the original nomination to each show? OR just provide a list with links to them. It can serve as justification in place of those that chose not to give it to a show.

Because it looks like I'm going to be stuck inside with a nasty summer cold/ (strep thuroat?) which woke me up early, I decided to add them to my votes here. It's a redundant linking system, but some candidates (thanks to the lack of much video/ image references) need that extra bit of written explanation.


(The link loses the green, and I had to add a dash to separate the two sides of links, but it helps me at least.

Round 1, Group B:

B1

Serial Experiments Lain -
1 2 3 4
Vs.
C³ - Cube×Cursed×Curious - 1

Voting for: Serial Experiments Lain

See, right off TsunaReborn's original nomination helps, explaining the provided picture links much more than the pictures do alone. Judging by just the pictures C³ would be the winner, but the nomination serves as a reminder of the slow moving aesthetics, the relation of light and dark. To me, it also reminded me of an annoying but significant touch...those damn powerlines (hummmmmmmm), repetitious reminder of the wired world Lain inhabits. I find it a ittle irritating, but I've always been able to recognize it as pure style.
Here's a trailer link to add to the discussion

C³ - Cube×Cursed×Curious has flashes of some brilliant stuff, but is hampered by more than half of it having very, very, mainstream designs.


B2
Magnetic Rose - 1
Vs.
Bobby’s In Deep - 1


Voting for: Magnetic Rose

I don't see Magnetic Rose lasting long, but that provided scene from Bobby's in Deep, while being very finely animated, doesn't impress me a whole lot.


B3
Soul Eater - 1 2
Vs.
Otome Yokai Zakuro - 1

Voting for: Otome Yokai Zakuro

Man, I really half-assed that nomination for Otome Yokai Zakuro. I swear Crunchyroll had a longer preview before though, or maybe I intended to provide a different link. Problem being that most available videos I found were focused on the bishie romance aspects of the show and not the unique flower based fighting sequences (oops, there's one!)

Soul Eater isn't bad either, but ultimately I think this a case of a fight between two adaptations that take their character design and general aesthetic directly from the original work and deciding which does more to really enhance the original. For me that's Otome Yokai Zakuro.
Soul Eater is "daring" and has great designs largely because the original work has those aspects. They do a fine job with it, but it's like One-Piece, it has a cool, unique, dynamic style because the original does.
Otome Yokai Zakuro not only embellishes the action, but even adds a bit to the character designs, giving them unique (if not admittedly groundbreaking) rounded facial features and interesting curves on somewhat standard flat manga designs.

B4
Freedom - 1
Vs.
Kemozoume - 1 2 3

Voting for: Kemozoume


B5
Katanagatari - 1
Vs.
Spirited Away - 1

Voting for:Spirited Away

This is a hard one, I nominated Katanagari (see my nomination for reasons) but, after discussions in the nominations thread I'm going to support Spirited Away for its less noticeable daring. Chihiro really isn't a typical design at all. She is aggressively normal looking without being ugly, you can actually tell that she's Japanese from her facial features and more so than any other Ghibli film (meaning more than just about any animated film around) it pays special attention to small human movements, like tapping your shoe on its toe when you put it on or being bounced around in a car while it's moving. And then there's the grotesqueness of so much of the spirit world, The pig parents, the stacking heads, baby Boh, the fat sweaty mostly naked daikon spirit are some of the least noticed minor character. I've always been surprised that there aren't more stories of kids being absolutely frightened by characters in this film in the same way that my generation and others after it were by E.T.


B6
Turn A Gundam - 1 2
Vs.
Space Dandy - 1 2 3 4

Voting for:Space Dandy

B7
Lupin III: the woman called Fujiko Mine - 1 2
Vs.
Yozakura Quartet :Hana no Uta / Hoshi no Umi - 1 2 3 4 5

Voting for:Lupin III: the woman called Fujiko Mine

B8
Samurai Girls - 1 2
Vs.
Gankutsuou - 1


Voting for:Gankutsuou

I'd kinda like to vote for Samurai Girls too. I think I got through an episode before seeing the story content as trash, but yeah, great art. The broadcast version even had that unique censorship device of splatter ink blots over the naughty bits.

Gankutsuou seems dependent on a gimmick, but even if they took away the still patterns on shifting clothes and surfaces, it'd still be a very artistic expression. If it has any problem, it's too much. A discussion for the next round.


Last edited by Spastic Minnow on Sat Jul 26, 2014 8:45 am; edited 1 time in total
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Spastic Minnow
Bargain Hunter
Exempt from Grammar Rules


Joined: 02 May 2006
Posts: 4595
Location: Gainesville, FL
PostPosted: Sat Jul 26, 2014 8:40 am Reply with quote
Here's an idea for future tournaments, whether it's member run or by Key.

During the nomination round-
One nomination per post.

That way, the entries in the tournament can be directly linked to each nomination post instead of new pages or doing the silliness I did above.

it would save a lot of time.
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danilo07



Joined: 25 Dec 2011
Posts: 1580
PostPosted: Sat Jul 26, 2014 11:43 am Reply with quote
B1
Serial Experiments Lain 1 2 3 4
Vs.
C3: Cube x Cursed x Curious 1

Voting for: Serial Experiments Lain

B2
Magnetic Rose 1
Vs.
Bobby's in Deep 1

Voting for: Bobby's in Deep

B3
Soul Eater 1 2
Vs.
Otome Youkai Zakuro 1

Voting for: Soul Eater

B4
Freedom 1
Vs.
Kemonozume 1 2 3

Voting for: Kemonozume

B5
Katanagatari 1
Vs.
Spirited Away 1

Voting for: Katanagatari

B6
Turn A Gundam 1 2
Vs.
Space Dandy 1 2 3 4

Voting for: Space Dandy
This one is easy, I mean Turn A Gundam looks good and it is the last Gundam series to use traditional cel animation. But it doesn't approach the level of uniqueness that Space Dandy possess. Space Dandy gives freedom to anyone working on the show, from the storyboarder to alien designer, everyone can do whatever the hell they want to.The wildest cuts are barely even corrected by animation director and animators even add scenes that aren't in storyboards. It comes to a point where every episode gives us some completely new.

B7
Lupin III: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine 1 2
Vs.
Yozakura Quartet: Hoshi no Umi/Hana no Uta 1 2 3 4 5

Voting for: Yozakura Quartet: Hoshi no Umi/Hana no Uta
Yozakura Quartet is great looking anime, it gathered talented but very young animators with some of the biggest legends in the industry. It offers a variety of brilliant animation , from the kinetic action scenes with unique camera angles to a great character expressions. The show looks daring because it offers us with highly stylized effects animation and it often ditches art for the sake of motion.
Lupin III: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine has a whole lot of issues.I think the schedule with this one has been pretty horrible, I remember how Thomas Romain said that the animation process for some of the episodes took up to two weeks. Takeshi Koike's designs are great, but they feel lifeless, there is a reason why Koike needed to complete Redline within 7 years.
B8
Samurai Girls 1 2
Vs.
Gankutsuou 1

Voting for: Gankutsuou
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marie-antoinette



Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 4136
Location: Ottawa, Canada
PostPosted: Sat Jul 26, 2014 7:16 pm Reply with quote
I've got some time to look at this and get some votes in for this group.

B1
Voting for: Serial Experiments Lain

C3 looks interesting but it would take a lot to get me to vote against Lain, particularly in the first round. This series has some very interesting visuals that tie in with the series themes, helping to make this one of the most interesting anime series I have ever seen.

B2
Voting for: Magnetic Rose

B3
Voting for: Soul Eater

I was actually ready to vote against Soul Eater, even though I did support it's nomination, since I do consider it borderline. But I don't see anything from the competition that impresses me either and Soul Eater's aesthetic was the first thing that drew me to the series, even though it's not something I would typically watch.

Also, there's the fact that I actually watched the whole OP video, even though I had already decided for vote for Soul Eater and so didn't actually need to - it's such a cool opening.

B4
Voting for: Kemozoume

B5
Voting for: Katanagatari

Wow, a match-up where I've actually seen both, at least partially. Katanagatari gets it due to the fact that the series is about being daring - not about which one I prefer most. Ultimately, I found Katanagatari's designs to be pretty expressionless and so I didn't watch much of it but I can appreciate that they were different from the norm, more so than I found Spirited Away to be.

B6
Voting for: Turn A Gundam


B7
Voting for: Lupin III: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine 1 2

B8
Voting for: Gankutsouou

Like Lain, it's going to take a heavy hitter to turn my votes against Gankutsuou. I don't think there is anyone in this group capable of accomplishing it.
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Galap
Moderator


Joined: 07 Apr 2012
Posts: 2354
PostPosted: Sat Jul 26, 2014 9:14 pm Reply with quote
B1
Serial Experiments Lain 1 2 3 4
Vs.
C3: Cube x Cursed x Curious 1

C3 is doing a lot of really great stuff with using different methods to convey its conventional form designs (like the charcoal drawing, and pen drawings), and the stuff like the hand’s shadow with the eye in it, and the floating eyes and mouth sewn with string with chains in the foreground are done in an evocative way (not just being ‘hey look at this weeeird stuff’), as in the composition and forms there are really well considered.

B2
Magnetic Rose 1
Vs.
Bobby's in Deep 1

This is a really hard matchup for me. Magnetic rose is probably my favorite anime drawn in that hyper-realistic style I mentioned last round in my vote for Paprika. It’s also by far my favorite anime in which Satoshi Kon had major involvement (as an aside, I’m pretty lukewarm on him for the most part: I consider most of his works to be very beautiful and very clever, but also kind of empty in the long run. Magnetic rose to me had a little more meat in it so to speak, in addition to being more beautiful and more clever. Kon only did script and art direction on this, so maybe he wasn’t responsible for the elements I liked more, or maybe he was. Who knows?)

Anyway, I really love Magnetic rose, for its amazing animation, from multicolored electric arcs in space, to rotating wind-up dolls, to the amazing dinner table scene which intertwines realistic motion of domestic life with the flowers morphing into roses and the reveal of the scene being an artificial plastic facsimile. I really like the way the artificial material was handled, its webby form dripping and shattering.

I also really like the scene where the main character shoots the hologram of the woman, and it is disrupted by the shots, each impact revealing the robotic architecture underneath.

The designs of a decaying old palace on a space station were pretty unique too.

It’s also interesting to note that this matchup (and I knew it but didn’t think of it at the time) is partially a duel in the work of the same artist: Koji Morimoto. Morimoto was the main animator for the motorcycle scene in Bobby’s in Deep, and also was the director and storyboard artist of Magnetic Rose.

I think in the end, I’ll have to go with Bobby’s in Deep, because those extended driving down the road cuts are so incredible! It really conveys the sense of what it’s like to drive down the street, and have scenery come at you in three dimensions. The way the scenery comes at us is so realistic, but is also heavily stylized. I love how we see through the character’s eyes, looking up and down, side to side, focusing on different things at different times, like the sun, the stop lights and the dancing solar reflections in the scratches of his helmet.

B3
Soul Eater 1 2
Vs.
Otome Yokai Zakuro 1

Soul Eater seems to be pushing things farther in terms of color design, and interesting background animation in the OP. Its opponent didn’t really do too much to impress me.

B4
Freedom 1
Vs.
Kemozoume 1 2 3

Kemozoume gets my vote. I never saw the appeal in trying to make CG look like drawn animation. Kemozoume’s style looks really interesting; I tend to like that rough and blocky kind of stuff, especially when it’s being used to describe realistic forms and spaces.

B5
Katanagatari 1
Vs.
Spirited Away 1

I have to say that neither of these really do too much for me, but I’ll give it to Katanagatari because the character designs are simplistic in an interesting way.

B6
Turn A Gundam 1 2
Vs.
Space Dandy 1 2 3 4

Space Dandy sports a magnificent array of wild and idiosyncratic animation showcasing the styles of many different artists. This kind of variation is the kind of thing that I always want to see.

B7
Lupin III: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine 1 2
Vs.
Yozakura Quartet: Hoshi no Umi/Hana no Uta 1 2 3 4 5

Yozakura Quartet is one of my favorite series visually. I really like how the animation has such extreme force and physical dynamics, and it’s not afraid to look odd in terms of the images and forms to convey these concepts of motion.

B8
Samurai Girls 1 2
Vs.
Gankutsouou 1

Gankutsuou pushes the envelope with its characters being colored by textures and patterns rather than solid colors.
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TsunaReborn!



Joined: 08 Sep 2012
Posts: 4713
Location: Cheltenham UK
PostPosted: Sun Jul 27, 2014 3:02 pm Reply with quote
Round 1, Group B:

B1
Serial Experiments Lain 1 2 3 4
Vs.
C3: Cube x Cursed x Curious 1

Voting for: Serial Experiments Lain gets this one for me as when I read the thread name back in the nomination process it was the first show that came into my head. The imagery used during scenes like "Memory Reset" are very psychedelic and obviously I still stand by my comments during the nomination processes. From watching some clip on YouTube I don't think C3 as imagery as weird or thought provoking.

B2
Magnetic Rose 1
Vs.
Bobby's in Deep 1

Voting for: Bobby's in Deep

B3
Soul Eater 1 2
Vs.
Otome Yokai Zakuro 1

Voting for: Soul Eater without sounding harsh I didn't see too much that was daring in Otome Yokai Zakuro I mean there were a few crazy looking creatures but that's not different than Pokémon. Soul Eater though isn't much better in relation top the touniment I think some of the character facial expressions and odd camera angles at times places it above the prior.

B4
Freedom 1
Vs.
Kemozoume 1 2 3

Voting for: Kemozoume as Freedom looked very much like Akira.

B5
Katanagatari 1
Vs.
Spirited Away 1

Voting for: Spirited Away

B6
Turn A Gundam 1 2
Vs.
Space Dandy 1 2 3 4

Voting for: Space Dandy

B7
Lupin III: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine 1 2
Vs.
Yozakura Quartet: Hoshi no Umi/Hana no Uta 1 2 3 4 5

Voting for: Lupin III: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine

B8
Samurai Girls 1 2
Vs.
Gankutsouou 1

Voting for: Samurai Girls
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