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REVIEW: Expelled from Paradise


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darkchibi07



Joined: 15 Oct 2003
Posts: 5455
PostPosted: Mon Dec 22, 2014 10:16 am Reply with quote
Is there a specific reason why anime creators tend to apply this "limited animation" trick on 3DCG often or is it forever a mystery until they realize how awkward the animation is? Other than that, wow, so the story ended being a plus. That's good news.

I hope Aniplex gives this a dub in the future.
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jroa



Joined: 08 Aug 2012
Posts: 536
PostPosted: Mon Dec 22, 2014 11:05 am Reply with quote
I've heard mixed reactions from other viewers who found it wasn't all that great, but it's nice to have a mostly positive assessment in order to take a look at both sides of the equation before making up my own mind after seeing it.

Quote:
It's by far the best-looking Japanese CG animated film in recent memory and perhaps yet made


That might be slightly exaggerated. For instance, I think the recent Space Captain Harlock movie seems far more impressive from a purely visual perspective.


Last edited by jroa on Mon Dec 22, 2014 11:14 am; edited 1 time in total
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configspace



Joined: 16 Aug 2008
Posts: 3717
PostPosted: Mon Dec 22, 2014 11:14 am Reply with quote
darkchibi07 wrote:
Is there a specific reason why anime creators tend to apply this "limited animation" trick on 3DCG often or is it forever a mystery until they realize how awkward the animation is?

It's a misguided attempt at simulating hand drawn animation. Because one of the differences less number of frames (but not always) they think that's the differentiating factor, but it's not. This is from an interview with Studio 4°C about the Berserk movies and seems to have been the widely adopted approach (until now, see Trigger et.al. below). The problem in this approach is that they remove frames equally spaced from each other, which makes the entire show seem constantly jerky, even when there's supposed to be deliberate fluid movement. In other words, 24 fps just becomes a constant 12 fps or 8 fps (the "threes" Hope mentioned). So this, Berserk, Sidonia are all constantly jerky.

Ufotable, Sanzigen and Trigger have only recently figured out how to make CG move like 2D without constant jerkiness. They keep most of the frames and only remove a few at select points, instead of setting the renderer fps down equally across the board. This allows smooth, yet snappy movement. They hold certain poses just slightly longer than the automatic tweening would do and go outside of the interpolated path. This is how actual hand drawn is anyways, as the amount of frames can vary depending on shot.
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residentgrigo



Joined: 23 Dec 2007
Posts: 2398
Location: Germany
PostPosted: Mon Dec 22, 2014 12:46 pm Reply with quote
I will watch the movie too but i have a hard time believing that it Narratively, Expelled from Paradise blows every American animated movie of 2014 out of the water is true.
The Lego Movie was something else and Batman: Assault on Arkham was nice too for example. The Urobutcher is a bit hit and miss in my book. His third acts are a bit rough.
The best anime film of 2014 i have seen so far is Giovanni's Island(8,5/10).
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Kaioshin_Sama



Joined: 05 Feb 2005
Posts: 1215
PostPosted: Mon Dec 22, 2014 1:17 pm Reply with quote
residentgrigo wrote:
I will watch the movie too but i have a hard time believing that it Narratively, Expelled from Paradise blows every American animated movie of 2014 out of the water is true.
The Lego Movie was something else and Batman: Assault on Arkham was nice too for example. The Urobutcher is a bit hit and miss in my book. His third acts are a bit rough.
The best anime film of 2014 i have seen so far is Giovanni's Island(8,5/10).


Yeah I'm really not so sure about that one. I know Chapman seems like a huge Urobuchi fangirl though who apparently once said something like if Madoka Magica were released 100 years ago it'd be used as a resource and taught in the school system so I'll take that one with the grain of salt it deserves. From everything else I've heard from both Japanese and American viewers though it's kind of the opposite, you watch the movie for the action set pieces and the plot is just kind of there and maybe even a little phoned in.
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Dr. Cakey



Joined: 13 Dec 2013
Posts: 13
PostPosted: Mon Dec 22, 2014 1:40 pm Reply with quote
Hm. Yes, well, I guess you could call me a dissenting opinion on this one. I knew going in it would be 3DCG and I knew that wouldn't be an issue (it could've looked like RWBY and I'd've been fine with it, that's just how I am), but for me Expelled from Paradise was so outright revolting I think I'm done with Urobuchi, at least for a while. Certainly I respect quite a bit less, both as a writer and a person, than I did before.

This, for example...
Quote:
On the surface, this story of an arrogant virtual reality "angel" falling to earth and being forced to live with the common, animalistic people would be about serving her a dish of humble pie and arguing for the virtues of flawed reality over a perfect world that "isn't real."

...this is all I got out of the movie. I got it so hard it's retroactively tainting Fate/Zero, Psycho-Pass, and even Madoka Magica for me. This movie and/or Urobuchi relish in not just humbling but humiliating Angela at every turn, and not in a cruel way (which I could probably have rolled with, though I'm not sure what that says about me) but that moe, tsundere, "cute" and mildly corrective kind of humiliation that typifies the heroines of the trashiest light novels. That plus the incessant bouncing breasts (which you were generous enough to not mention in the review) puts Expelled from Paradise on a level of foulness approach that of things like Brynhildr in the Darkness. But characters sometimes said Urobuchi dialog and there was a funny robot so it's all fine I guess?

tl;dr My negative emotional reaction to this movie was seriously in excess of the amount negative emotion reaction sane people have to movies.
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relyat08



Joined: 20 Mar 2013
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 22, 2014 2:08 pm Reply with quote
I thought this movie did a really good job of taking an Urobuchi story and basically making it a kid's movie. I would have preferred something that maintained the same sort of maturity as his other works, but it was kind of nice to see him do something so completely different too. As Hope said, it is extremely sweet. It is a feel-good family film with a lot of action and it was just fun to watch.
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Raebo101



Joined: 17 Mar 2010
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 22, 2014 2:29 pm Reply with quote
Gen Urobuchi has yet to disappoint me Very Happy
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JacobC
ANN Contributor


Joined: 15 Jan 2008
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 22, 2014 2:36 pm Reply with quote
residentgrigo wrote:
I will watch the movie too but i have a hard time believing that it Narratively, Expelled from Paradise blows every American animated movie of 2014 out of the water is true.
The Lego Movie was something else and Batman: Assault on Arkham was nice too for example. The Urobutcher is a bit hit and miss in my book. His third acts are a bit rough.
The best anime film of 2014 i have seen so far is Giovanni's Island(8,5/10).


I loved the Lego Movie, but I'm not sure I'd say the overall plot had much to do with that. It's goals were different anyhow. Writing-wise, I can't think of anything that was stronger than Expelled from Paradise, and that's mostly a slant against animated film quality from Hollywood this year.

Gotta say though, I'm loving the WIDELY divergent reactions to this film in the thread. It's a rare circumstance where it doesn't feel like there's been any weird dominant internet narrative around what you're "supposed to think" about the movie, so people are just forced to say how they feel without hedging it much to fit other viewpoints. It's great! Doesn't happen often in anime fandom neither.
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residentgrigo



Joined: 23 Dec 2007
Posts: 2398
Location: Germany
PostPosted: Mon Dec 22, 2014 2:37 pm Reply with quote
Gen Urobuchi has jet to straigh of amaze me'Cool' but kudos for counting frames during the movie. I will now will stay up late(sorry Assassin's Creed Unity) and give you my oppinion tomorrow. That said the animated movie year(everywhere) of 2014 was kind of meh but the animated tv year(everywhere) was on a crazy high.

Last edited by residentgrigo on Mon Dec 22, 2014 2:42 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Wrangler



Joined: 11 Nov 2007
Posts: 1346
PostPosted: Mon Dec 22, 2014 2:41 pm Reply with quote
I watched the film and it was good for what it was.

I'm not huge fan of CGI, but its way the world animators are going. This wasn't bad.

The story is what focus what I'm talking about. Interesting post-civilization future. spoiler[ Have and have nots, people who abandoned their biological bodies for digitized lives who abandoned their planet in face of it's destruction. You have a plucky and arguably argent female personality who is dispatched to abandoned Earth to deal with those trying to hack their DIVA space station/matrix. On planet you have rough and tumble quest find the source of hacking. Nano thing keeping the digital humans from leaving the solar system is weird. Cosmic radiation?

Possible ending was very unique, anti-E-Wally in a way. Evolved AI leaves earth to explore the universe, abandoning the humans who don't want or bother try exploring or can't. Wally-AI explores universe while humanity fades away. Sad in a way. ]
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Jajanken



Joined: 23 Jun 2014
Posts: 680
PostPosted: Mon Dec 22, 2014 3:06 pm Reply with quote
Come on. The CG was good. And even if it doesn't meet your standards then it's no reason to bash it. They paid a lot and I respect that.
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thekingsdinner



Joined: 25 Sep 2010
Posts: 1066
Location: Geertruidenberg, Netherlands
PostPosted: Mon Dec 22, 2014 3:31 pm Reply with quote
I was willing to give this one a try, but I must say that the CG is extremely off-outting for me and honestly I probably would shut off the movie before half of the runtime so... I probably won't try it.

Sorry but even if the story and characters are good and all, personally I think anime CG is simply too ugly and it will distract me.
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lostrune



Joined: 09 Jun 2012
Posts: 313
PostPosted: Mon Dec 22, 2014 3:35 pm Reply with quote
residentgrigo wrote:
I will watch the movie too but i have a hard time believing that it Narratively, Expelled from Paradise blows every American animated movie of 2014 out of the water is true.
The Lego Movie was something else


Lego Movie? Really? Laughing Don't think you can fairly compare a kid's comedy movie to something more daring like this on a plot level.
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relyat08



Joined: 20 Mar 2013
Posts: 4125
Location: Northern Virginia
PostPosted: Mon Dec 22, 2014 4:39 pm Reply with quote
thekingsdinner wrote:
I was willing to give this one a try, but I must say that the CG is extremely off-outting for me and honestly I probably would shut off the movie before half of the runtime so... I probably won't try it.

Sorry but even if the story and characters are good and all, personally I think anime CG is simply too ugly and it will distract me.


That's a shame. I normally would be very reluctant to give most CG things a try as well. However, the CG in this is some of the best I have seen. Particularly in the battle sequences. I didn't find it to be jarring at all. Though, I suppose part of that is because I went into it knowing that it would be CG and expecting it to look half as good as it did. Laughing


Just to add to my earlier comment, this movie could be well served by a film series, or an anime series. I just really want to learn more about that world and other people within it. My biggest complaint is just be how little development we got for that universe.
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