Forum - View topicEpisode Review: Space Dandy Season 2
|
Goto page Previous 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Note: this is the discussion thread for this article |
| Author | Message | ||
|---|---|---|---|
MarshalBanana
 Posts: 5311 |
|
||
|
I like the episodic nature but after watching this episode I wish they had more 2 parters.
|
|||
|
|||
endallchaos
 Posts: 213 Location: Sin City |
|
||
|
It was an okay episode, but it could have been better.
|
|||
|
|||
No Comment
 Posts: 83 |
|
||
|
I thought the episode was a pretty big letdown. I've seen other comedies where they throw their main cast into a court room for an episode before, and they usually succeed because it allows for the various characters's defining qualities to demonstrated without much else to get in the way, which results in a lot of laughs.
The episode was crippled from the get-go by barely featuring Dandy, and the contributions of the other core cast members couldn't quite make up for it (and where was Dr. Gel?). I couldn't really tell if they wanted the episode to be serious or not, I laughed at Meow tweeting in court and him and QT throwing Dandy under the bus in their testimonies, but that was about it. The rest wasn't particularly serious, just uninteresting and kind of weird. When Space Dandy has a serious episode, usually they go and do something more artistically bold than usual (S1 ep 9 and S2 ep 8), but the almost the entirety of this episode took place in a dull courtroom. Besides the large number of alien designs and the scene with the two kids playing baseball, the episode wasn't visually interesting. Speaking of the two kids playing baseball, I found the spoiler[murderous intent by Twitter thing to be pretty lame, and the murder victim being a masked wrestler was white noise to me.] I appreciated the pyonium breakdown, and the cliffhanger has me intrigued. Did they ever explain spoiler[why Dandy was in the victim's house when he was hit with the ball? I didn't catch that. Did he get teleported there along with the ball?] As of now, it'll be down to the wire on Season 1 vs. Season 2 for me. I've wavered towards S1 > S2 several times this season, but every time a great episode comes along, they go back to being equal. This episode, I'd probably give a C or C-. I am pumped for next week's episode, though |
|||
|
|||
danilo07
 Posts: 1580 |
|
||
|
I really, really liked this episode and unfortunately I seem to be the only one. The humor was very dry, which is why I think people a lot of people were turned off. But it worked for me, and I would say that the script was very witty, as it lampooned the theatricality of courtroom dramas and it mocked the internet culture ( going back to episode 2, it seems that Dai Sato really disliked twitter ).
The reason why the animation was restrained was due to the fact they apparently used up too much budget on the finale. But even so, the episode was visually engaging, the camerawork accentuated the strength of the script perfectly. The frantic movement and wild cutting, complimented the over the top rhetoric of lawyers. There was one sequence with baseball hit that was particularly neat, really well animated. I guess it shows that big budget isn't required if you want your show to look pretty. |
|||
|
|||
Jayhosh
 Posts: 972 Location: Millmont, Pennsylvania |
|
||
|
I didn't enjoy the episode with Dandy's 4 dimensional girlfriend that much, but episodes of Dandy usually get better with repeat viewings for me, so who knows. But the scene where they cut through the layers of the 2D universe kicked ass visually. I also loved Dr. Gel's adventures in 2D space.
Hey! I thought the exact same thing when I saw that! Continuity! Even if it is the second to last episode. I knew it'd happen eventually. I hope they wrap up all of the mysteries we've been teased with all this time. I have high hopes for this. This episode though, I loved. If not just because of the last 5 minutes. I do agree with Dandy's absence however, it could have added some of his character's own personal thoughts into the matter. But yeah, as a standalone episode it would have been better. I mean, I could name worse episodes off the top of my head (the library one?), but for being the second to last episode leading to the finale it felt a bit out of place. It's really that cleverly inserted reference to Dandy's link to Pionium and the cliffhanger ending that made this one worth it. I can't wait until the final episode next week! This has been fun, tuning in every week for more Dandy goodness, but all good things must come to an end. I just wish we'd get more seasons! This is easily the type of show that could go on for at least two more, being the anthology type it is. But I feel as though this finale will probably wrap things up in a way that the series couldn't be continued anyway. And I guess I'm okay with that. But I'll miss that dandy guy in space... with his brave space crew... in space... |
|||
|
|||
leafy sea dragon
 Posts: 7163 Location: Another Kingdom |
|
||
|
This definitely seemed like the sort of episode that came about because the budget was running low, or they needed to save their budget for upcoming episodes.
The serious setting required the humor to not be quite as crazy as it normally is. That's not really a bad thing, considering we can't always have slapstick all the time. I liked this episode because it was slower and drier than how the show normally is. It displays this series as a showcase of different artistic talents by clashing with the rest of the series up until now without losing what it is at its core. That, and I've seen a bunch of People's Court and Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law, so it was interesting to me to see an anime take on a western-style courtroom drama, or perhaps a parody of one. |
|||
|
|||
|
neshru
Posts: 38 |
|
||
The other thing to keep in mind is that the entire episode was animated by a single person. Sometimes even a single person is given the time to animate something beautiful, like Oshiyama Kiyotaka did with episode 18, but if you're pressed for time and you're animating the entire episode by yourself, you're gonna have to compromise. |
|||
|
|||
|
leafy sea dragon
Posts: 7163 Location: Another Kingdom |
|
||
|
By a single person? That's astonishing! But...why would they allocate resources like that? Don't they have an animation team at their disposal?
|
|||
|
|||
|
danilo07
Posts: 1580 |
|
||
They do, but people think of it as a sort of challenge. If you think that animating one episode is amazing, you will be glad to know that the same person who animated this episode also single-handedly storyboarded, directed, wrote, animated and even inbetweened an entire episode of Kaiba. |
|||
|
|||
|
Hellwarden
Posts: 321 |
|
||
|
Space Dandy was easily the most fun I've had watching anime in a long time. It's a crime it isn't selling better, but its financial failings that I'm sure the makers expected, only makes me love and respect it more.
Gonna miss this show. |
|||
|
|||
|
JulieYBM
Posts: 209 |
|
||
Mihara Michio did all of the key animation himself for Episode #25, but he only had 2,800 drawings to work with. The average episode of a television series has 3,000-4,000 drawings. Too many drawings were being used for Episode #26, so this episode had fewer episodes to use. Or am I confusing this episode with Episode #24? |
|||
|
|||
|
neshru
Posts: 38 |
|
||
As an animation enthusiast, I think the "scale of things" had little to do with things looking stylized or inconsistent. In fact, only certain action scenes had a very stylized look, while other action scenes looked very detailed and well-drawn. I think the heavy stylization of certain scenes mostly comes down to the personal styles of the animators working on the episode. This episode was a big gathering of outstanding animators, each with an unique animation personality and style, and they were left free to animate in the style they most saw fit. Some animators like to create really high quality and detailed artwork, while others revel in minimalistic, stylized, or even abstract styles. When they're left free to do what they like, they go for it. |
|||
|
|||
TarsTarkas
 Posts: 5823 Location: Virginia, United States |
|
||
|
I have always liked Space Dandy. The finale was fun. Though I would disagree with the reviewer, don't think Scarlet or Honey were fleshed out that much, that they would leave their jobs and invade the Gogol Empire to save Dandy.
For me Space Dandy was never meant to be taken seriously. So it doesn't really matter what Scarlet's and Honey's motivations were. It was simply fun to have them in there. |
|||
|
|||
|
Jayhosh
Posts: 972 Location: Millmont, Pennsylvania |
|
||
|
I'm going to miss this show. A lot. I don't think I've had this much fun with an anime in a long time, except for maybe Kill la Kill. I guess I'm just a sucker for over the top artistically out there kind of shows. And this show had creativity flowing out of its very seams.
The ending was perfect! It was everything I had hoped it would be. It tied up all of the things we've been wondering about since the beginning with masterful execution! And the animation was freaking orgasmic for a TV anime. There were so many twists, my jaw must have been dropped the entire time. Although I'd be lying if I said I wasn't sad that Adelie never came back. :'( It's sad to see the show go, but I really would love to see a follow up movie or OVA. And it wouldn't even have to ruin the perfect ending. It could take place somewhere in the middle of the series like the Cowboy Bebop movie. And it's not like it matters exactly WHEN it would take place. It would only have to take place between episodes 1 and 25, because those are the only episodes where anything drastically major happens. spoiler[And since the world started over again, wouldn't everything that happened up until the finale just repeat itself anyway? Except now it appears that Dandy is a leg man.  ]
It is shame about its performance in Japan, but hopefully its western popularity will help. I will certainly buy this on Bluray and even some merchandise that they may release. If anything, the fact that this show was made despite the fact that the creators knew it wouldn't be financially successful is very respectful. I also read that due to this unique production process, typical processes that must be made in most modern anime advertising and production didn't need to be in this case. Such as figures and other merchandise.[/spoiler] |
|||
|
|||
|
endallchaos
Posts: 213 Location: Sin City |
|
||
|
The final episode was pretty good. I enjoyed this anime enough to add it to my Blu-Ray collection, when ever it comes out.
|
|||
|
|||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group