Forum - View topicREVIEW: Tokyo Majin DVD 1
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bahamut623
 Posts: 1463 |
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Hmm. Granted, I only saw the first 3 or 4 episodes fansubbed, but I remember one of the things I enjoyed most was the animation, at least in the fight scenes. From what I saw, I would hardly give the animation a C.
edit: The box art is hideous. |
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Aromatic Grass
 Posts: 2424 Location: Raleigh, NC |
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I've only seen one episode and I thought it was great. The animation was consistently good, but you never know when it's on the first episode... I'm lookin' at you, Shippuuden! Regardless, I'll probably pick the series up anyway (since it's shorter), though I look forward to a review of DVD 2 to see where the series goes.
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bci110
 Posts: 391 |
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I saw a screening of Tokyo Majin at SugoiCon and I didn't think the show was that bad. It was a bit confusing at first but once the characters established themselves it wasn't too bad of a viewing IMO. I won a copy of Vol. #1 from the Guessing Game contest on AoD's English Track forum (Janice Williams mentioned that the prizes are ready to be shipped, and mine will be autographed by Kalob Martinez) so I'm looking forward to receiving my copy and watching the episodes again.
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youngavatar
Posts: 28 |
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I seen the first season while it was fansubbed and i thought it was actually good the storyline and the animation. It was better then most of the anime i seen now. i hope the dub verison is good i might actually buy it.
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teh*darkness
 Posts: 901 |
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I never saw more than one ep of this fansubbed since there were no good groups that did it, but this is exactly the kind of anime I like... mindless action... good plot is a bonus, if it's there. With Kanon coming in January and TTGL in February (right after my birthday) I'll finally have some good anime I want to buy (since I've been rather unimpressed with most recent releases).
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Randall Miyashiro
 Posts: 2451 Location: A block away from Golden Gate Park |
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There is something about this series that seems dated much like Tokko and Innocent Venus. Part of it might be from the animation and art which seem to be lacking that polished look that many newer shows have in favor of a grittier darker look. It might also be the content and emphasis in it's violence and rough monster fighting.
The most impressive thing about this DVD is the audio mixing. There are many points on this volume where I would end up looking over my shoulder when audio was isolated to the back. Many of the 5.1 English mixes (found on most ADV and Funimation DVDs) take the Japanese stereo and assign them to the L/R channels with the dub mixed to the center. Tokyo Majin has a true 5.1 mix with sound effects and voices coming out of all of the speakers which rivals top mixes like Gungrave (the gunfights are amazing), Samurai Champloo (the L/R channels are used for dialog and works well if you have matching fronts) and Elfen Lied (one of the best 5.1 mixes ever). |
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mufurc
 Posts: 612 |
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I could comment on many things in this review, but what baffles me most is the C for animation.
Huh? How'd that happen? The Tokyo Majin Gakuen I saw had animation that was pretty damn good on its own right (and it's consistently good throughout the whole series, with the exception of the last episode, but I hear it's been fixed for the DVD release), and hands down awesome for its genre ('B-category' fight anime). There are not many fight anime where the fights are actually animated, not represented by flashes, stills and stock footage, and the fight animation in TMG is one of the best I've seen so far. Hell, when it was airing, people were constantly wondering where the producers got money for such good animation. True, it's not on the same level as, say, Kyoto Animation's CG orgies, but even at its worst moments it's decent, and most of the time it's pretty good. It definitely doesn't deserve a "C"... |
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Randall Miyashiro
Posts: 2451 Location: A block away from Golden Gate Park |
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There are so many factors when judging animation. I will agree that this series has sub par animation since there seems to be a distinct lack of motion from anything besides the main characters, especially in crowd scenes. This is why I have a hard time saying that Utawarerumono has good animation despite the nice job that they do with what is there.
Quantity is only one for though since many shows (like Gundam Seed) will cheat via looping a few frames, reusing animation regularly, and xerox/cut and pasting images. I have seen some people here post at how Gundam Seed has really great animation, but I really do not agree. How many times do we see Captain Ramius breasts bouncing around shot. There are many more shots that are used as often (like MS firing there weapons, or launch shots) but the more colorful ones are the ones that stand out. Other shows like Fighting Spirit have limited animation and tend to loop cels. It isn't uncommon to see a left right left left attack which uses the exact same frames for the left attacks. There are also many shots where motion is implied by motion lines overlaid over a still. Yet, there are times when the characters are rendered really well despite their complex character designs. These slow rotations and full body shots has earned this series praise for it's animation, while I still have troubles thinking it's well animated overall. There are other shows that have a good amount of foreground and background motion but suffer from poor rendering. I think most of Gonzo's works fall into this category, although I'm the wrong person to ask since I tend to think most of Gonzo's series have great animation. I'm still confused at why shows like Speed Grapher earned a D in animation since there is a fair amount of motion compared to many shows like Tokyo Majin. I also find the 2D and 3D integration for most of the Gonzo shows to be excellent which scores well in my book. Although the 2D animation in Geisters or Divergence Eve is mediocre both series rank low for animation for me since the integration of CG stands out and is distracting. I still believe that there are more factors that go into rating animation in an animation compared to the dub, art or music. |
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mufurc
Posts: 612 |
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But that's the standard in anime, I wouldn't the animation sub par only because of that. And when characters move in TMG, it's animated pretty well. Sure, the movements are not as fluid as in some other, big budget shows (Ouran Host Club comes to mind), but it's not stiff by far, and I simply don't understand the "barely supports the action scenes" part. The action scenes are usually very well done, the characters actually move - as I said earlier, it's very rare that a B-list (or even A-list) action show such as TMG has such well-animated fight scenes. There's few reused animation, little to no distorted designs (if we ignore the last episode), and while the color palette may not please everyone, it's consistent throughout the show. |
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Uthred
Posts: 79 |
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I have to agree that the C in animation seems odd. The fights are usually well animated and quite fluid and the general tone and style of the animation fits the show quite well. Perhaps the reviewer mistook the rater "dirty" style of the animation to be a reflection of quality rather than stylistic choice.
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