Forum - View topicMost Aesthetically Daring Tournament: COMPLETE!!!!
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Spastic Minnow
 Bargain HunterExempt from Grammar Rules  Posts: 4609 Location: Gainesville, FL |
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Has anyone checked out my justification? I admit I shouldn't have linked to that video (and swear CR had a longer one when I linked it) and have provided a better one. I don't really expect it to change too many minds, I knew it was a weak nomination when I put it up, but it's true that the show made a very strong impression on me when it aired specifically because, aesthetically, it went above and beyond what was probably necessary for such a show |
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marie-antoinette
 Posts: 4136 Location: Ottawa, Canada |
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I went back and checked out the video you posted in your justification and ... what I see makes me think someone has been watching a bit too much CLAMP and picked up on their "petals flying through the air" fetish.
Definitely not enough to convince me to vote against a show that has a design aesthetic that I haven't seen elsewhere - and as I said in nominations, even though the anime didn't originate the designs, it still had to make them look good, which isn't always possible (to again reference CLAMP, I love their designs for the xxxHolic manga but the anime made them look pretty damn terrible most of the time, with the exception of a few of the more interesting creatures). And now I shall watch the Soul Eater OP again! |
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Spastic Minnow
Bargain Hunter Exempt from Grammar Rules Posts: 4609 Location: Gainesville, FL |
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Well, as I said, in my opinion, OYZ not only did a good job replicating the source, they actually improved it, and that's why I voted for it (There are shows I would have voted above it, but not Soul Eater)
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marie-antoinette
Posts: 4136 Location: Ottawa, Canada |
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Fair enough. My point was mainly that if the first thing that pops into my head about an aesthetic is that I've seen it before, it's not exactly something I would consider "daring."
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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Yikes, I almost forgot to vote.
B1 Serial Experiments Lain 1 2 3 4 Vs. C3: Cube x Cursed x Curious 1 Voting For: Serial Experiments Lain Based on just the visuals, use of colour and art style I'd give it to Cube x Cursed x Curious, However, Serial Experiments Lain offers so much more than that. The recurring aesthetic motifs such as humming power lines and spotted shadows, the use of silence and sparse use of dialogue, and the storyboarding are just some areas where Ryūtarō Nakamura really sets his creation apart. B2 Magnetic Rose 1 Vs. Bobby's in Deep 1 Voting For: Magnetic Rose B3 Soul Eater 1 2 Vs. Otome Yokai 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: Turn A Gundam I feel like if ever I needed to justify a vote it is this one. In terms of aesthetic appeal and creativity Space Dandy wins this match hands down. But this tournament isn't just about great aesthetics, it's also about those who are audacious. You have to look at Turn A Gundam within the context of its own franchise, which exists to promote cool robots so that fans will buy the model kits of said robots. After two decades of this winning formula Tomino decided that he wanted to go somewhere different. He had Syd Mead design the titular robot, and he came up with an original design that featured a mustache. A freaking mustache. Many of the other mobile suits had similarly weird designs, and, to much disappointment but little surprise, sales of the toy range suffered as a result. It wasn't just the robots that were unusual though; even the character designs were weird (especially Loran's, with his white hair and dark skin). Then there was the aesthetic of the mythos, which had robots being "born" by bursting out of statues, and a low-tech setting being prominent rather than the high-tech settings of previous Gundam titles. Like I said, on its own merits Turn A Gundam isn't all that aesthetically strong. But in terms of how it daringly eschewed standard elements of the franchise and forged its own identity, even at great risk to its own profitability, I believe that is wonderful. 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 Rarely has a franchise gotten such a thorough artistic makeover like Lupin III. The Woman Called Fujiko Mine was intended to be darker and more mature than previous titles, and it got revamped aesthetics to match. It looks fantastic. What makes it so strong is not just the shading and grimy colours which gives it a great atmospheric tone, but also the shot selection, the framing, and the different takes on the character designs. It makes for an unforgettable viewing experience that helps breath new life into the franchise. B8 Samurai Girls 1 2 Vs. Gankutsouou 1 Voting For: Gankutsuou Two strong candidates. Samurai Girls is a fairly standard harem show but it's worth watching for the beautiful and slightly surreal art style alone. Those thick lines and the ink blots are unique yet give it a very Japanese flavour. Against most candidates I'd say it was stronger. However, Gankutsuou is just in another league. Gonzo have made some great looking shows over the years but none look as amazing as this rone. The trippy way the patterns stay still as backgrounds and clothing move over them blew my mind back in the day, not to mention Haydée's absolutely gorgeous dress. Even the character designs and the way 19th century Paris was re-imagined into a science fiction setting are standouts. |
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rheiders
 Posts: 1137 Location: Colorful Colorado :) |
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Well, I missed last round, but I'm here for this one!
B1 Serial Experiments Lain B2 Bobby's in Deep I watched Bobby's in Deep after watching the video for its nomination. I unfortunately haven't gotten around to watching any of Memories yet, apart from the nomination video here for Magnetic Rose. I liked the aesthetics for both, but I was very impressed by the motorcycle scenes at the end of the former. They mimic the feeling of the scenery blending together and melting away before you as you go perfectly and in a very interesting way. I've never seen anything quite like it before so I'll vote for it in this round. B3 Soul Eater I don't think either is particularly strong, but Soul Eater's aesthetic impresses me more. I'll paste this from my post in the nominations thread as justification: "I love the way the show distorts and skews the backgrounds and perspectives to suit a particular mood. The show deals a lot with madness, and it's interesting watching as a POV character falls deeper into madness, their own proportions and the background around them becomes more and more distorted to match. It's a really nice touch." B4 Kemonozume B5 Spirited Away 1 I don't think I voted for this one in the nominations thread, but the more I think about it the more it seems to fit. As others have said, the designs in general are actually pretty daring in this show, especially for a Ghibli movie. Chihiro doesn't look anything like the typical Ghibli heroine, or even like a typical anime character. Moreover, I always loved how the beauty of the movie grows directly from its aesthetic ugliness much of the time, especially with regard for the designs of the spirits. The spirit world is strange and gross and sinister, and because of that, it's very beautiful too. B6 Space Dandy B7 Lupin III: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine I think Yozakura Quartet has some gorgeous animation (some of my favorite clips come from it), but it never seemed that daring to me, just well-done. B8 Gankutsouou |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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Hey Galap, you still there? The round has ended already . . .
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Galap
Moderator
 Posts: 2354 |
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Yeah, I got a little behind.
I'll put comments on this round and the new round up later today. |
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TsunaReborn!
 Posts: 4713 Location: Cheltenham UK |
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If you need a hand with anything let us know
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Galap
Moderator
Posts: 2354 |
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Apologies for the delay, Round 1, Group B is now closed!
We only had one shutout this time, likely due to higher voter turnout. Nothing particularly close still, either, but there were some that seemed up in the air early on. This time there were matchups where I had little idea before hand which would win. However, I was accurate in all my predictions for the matchups I had a guess about. Serial Experiments Lain won a decisive victory against C3 8-1. Bobby's in deep emerged victorious in one of the closer matches (6-3) we've seen so far over Magnetic Rose. I myself had to deliberate about which to choose for quite a while. Soul Eater nearly shut Otome Yokai Zakuro out 8-1, and it seems that this is because of a percieved weakeness of the latter rather than a particular strenght of the former to most voters. Kemonozume (which I know notice I haven't been spelling correctly) defeated Freedom in the only shutout of the round 9-0. I had no familiarity with this title until this point, only having heard the name, but it certainly made an impression from the clips I saw. Katanagatari won against Spirited Away, though the latter garnered more votes than most losers (6-3), which surprises me due to the large controversy in the nomination phase over whether it even belonged. Space Dandy took out Turn A Gundam 7-2. Lupin III Fujiko Mine beat Yozakura Quartet 7-2. This matchup along with the Bobby's/Magnetic one were the ones I was unsure of as to the outcome. Gankutsuou strongly won against Samurai Girls 8-1. So, this is where we now find ourselves. |
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Galap
Moderator
Posts: 2354 |
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I think I'll end this round at the same time as the others, despite the delay, since last time we didn't have any votes in the last couple of days anyway.
Round 1, Group C: C1 Mononoke 1 2 Vs. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind 1 C2 Kaiba 1 2 3 4 Vs. Animatrix: Kid's Story 1 C3 Ping Pong 1 2 3 Vs. Kanashimi no Belladonna 1 C4 Last Exile 1 Vs. Evangelion 1 2 C5 Tsuritama 2 Vs. Akira 1 C6 Birdy the Mighty: Decode 1 2 3 4 5 Vs. FLAG 1 C7 Flowers of Evil 1 2 Vs. Sexy Commando 1 2 C8 Oh Edo Rocket 1 2 Vs. From the New World 1 2 3 4 |
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Unicorn_Blade
 Posts: 1153 Location: UK |
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Missed two rounds because of holidays but finally have some time to vote here.
By the way, does anyone know why sometimes the image code does not work? Managed to put in one image here, but the other one did not work regardless how many times I tampered with the code, and finally had to change it into a link... C1 Mononoke 1 2 Vs. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind 1 Mononoke I personally find Mononoke's animation one of the most interesting among all the shows I have seen. On the surface, it might look quite... plain? The characters are not very detailed, and very often only the main characters are drawn properly, with the background crowd being empty faced dummies like in this picture But what it does brilliantly, is playing with an infinite amount of beautiful textures and the perspective. The backgrounds in Mononoke often play an important part in the story, and on the top of that are constantly moving, changing and evolving. The animation id very dynamic and at times the whole screen is dancing. 
And the attention to detail, like in this image: even the poles are not is not just poles, covered with a design and is far from plain. We get to see the events from different angles, top, bottom, sides, an sometimes a reply of the same event from a different perspective. Much as I love Nausicaa, all I can say it o beautifully animated, but not daring. C2 Kaiba 1 2 3 4 Vs. Animatrix: Kid's Story 1 My vote goes to Kaiba. Characters not very detailed, disproportionate, but able to convey so many emotions through their facial expressions, the animation stylised for production for children, but clashing with the serious theme. The backgrounds looking like pictures drawn by a child, and yet full of colours and definitely very distinct. C3 Ping Pong 1 2 3 Vs. Kanashimi no Belladonna 1 Voting for Ping Pong: The Animation C4 Last Exile 1 Vs. Evangelion 1 2 Voting for Evangelion C5 Tsuritama 2 Vs. Akira 1 Voting for Tsuritama C6 Birdy the Mighty: Decode 1 2 3 4 5 Vs. FLAG 1 Voting for Flag There was something new and interesting in watching the events through the screen and a photo camera lenses. C7 Flowers of Evil 1 2 Vs. Sexy Commando 1 2 Voting for Flowers of Evil C8 Oh Edo Rocket 1 2 Vs. From the New World 1 2 3 4[/quote] Voting for From the New World Last edited by Unicorn_Blade on Mon Aug 04, 2014 5:17 am; edited 2 times in total |
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Ignatz
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C1
Mononoke 1 2 Vs. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind 1 Voting for: Mononoke Easy choice. The impossibly gorgeous art direction and the kabuki-like characters make Mononoke one of the most distinct anime series ever made. In my opinion, this is a title that actually deserves to win this whole tournament. C2 Kaiba 1 2 3 4 Vs. The Animatrix: Kid's Story 1 Voting for: The Animatrix: Kid's Story Kaiba is an amazing experimental work, and I hate having to vote against it so early, but that chase scene from Kid's Story (which is animated by Shinya Ohira, if anyone cares to look him up) completely won me over. You rarely see someone so masterfully playing with motion and perspective, while at the same time having so many little details in every shot. Great stuff. C3 Ping Pong 1 2 3 Vs. Kanashimi no Belladonna 1 Voting for: Kanashimi no Belladonna C4 Last Exile 1 Vs. Evangelion 1 2 Voting for: Evangelion Last Exile's got... some nice 3D effects? Yeah, that's about it. I simply can't compare that to Anno's interesting claustrophobic directing style. C5 tsuritama 1 Vs. Akira 1 Voting for: tsuritama C6 Birdy the Mighty: Decode 1 2 3 4 5 Vs. FLAG 1 Voting for: Birdy the Mighty: Decode C7 Flowers of Evil 1 2 Vs. Sexy Commando 1 2 Voting for: Flowers of Evil C8 Oh! Edo Rocket 1 2 Vs. From the New World 1 2 3 4 Voting for: From the New World Last edited by Ignatz on Sat Aug 09, 2014 5:48 am; edited 5 times in total |
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marie-antoinette
Posts: 4136 Location: Ottawa, Canada |
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I have to say with this round that I found myself questioning how often the opening was used as a example. Openings are great and all but I feel like you can never be sure how closely they represent the animation of the actual show, though I would hope that for something like this they would be closer than is often the case.
C1 Mononoke Mononoke is the first thing I've seen that actually sort of looks like Gankutsuou. And given the fact that Ghibli doesn't tend to feel all that daring to me, I definitely have to give Mononoke my vote. C2 Kaiba C3 Ping Pong This is the toughest one in the group for me, so I'm going with the one that makes me want to watch it most - I knew Ping Pong looked different but I didn't realize just how different. C4 Last Exile C5 Tsuritama C6 Birdy the Mighty: Decode C7 Flowers of Evil It will take a heavy hitter to get me to vote against Flowers of Evil, another one that I want to see partially because of how it looks. C8 From the New World |
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CrowLia
 Posts: 5505 Location: Mexico |
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Probably my only participation because it's the first time I know more than half of the series contesting this round
C-1 Mononoke For one, Nausicaa doesn't really have anything particularly daring, and for the other, Mononoke is probably one of my favorite all time shows when it comes to visuals, so it's a no-brainer. Mononoke is not only weird and daring, but beautiful to look at. One of those few series I would consider worthy of watching in BD quality. C-2 Animatrix: Kid's story C-3 Kanashimi no Belladonna C-4 Evangelion I fail to see anything daring at all in Last Exile's aesthetics. If anything, they are one of the things I like least about the series, I found them terribly generic and played a great factor in making me sleep through half of it because of the dull colors and unremarkable character designs. Evangelion at least has those drug-induced hallucinogenetic sequences that reflect the characters' perturbed state of mind so vividly C-5 Akira As brilliant as the drowning-stage fright metaphor sequence is, I can't think of many other aspects of Tsuritama's design that are particularly daring C-6 FLAG The sequences in the supporting video for Birdy, although fluid, to me look quite crappy because of how off-model many characters are. I may be missing the point of them, but I think FLAG has a much more daring and interesting aesthetic proposal that drags through the entire series, rather than a handful of slickly animated fight sequences C-7 Flowers of Evil I may not like the looks of the show (to the point that I dropped it by ep. 3), but they're quite daring alright. C-8 From the New World The other video is blocked in my region and FTNW has very solid and yet unique creatures and backgrounds to get my vote. |
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