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The Spring 2009 Anime Preview Guide


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Swissman



Joined: 11 May 2006
Posts: 768
Location: Switzerland
PostPosted: Sun Apr 05, 2009 5:21 pm Reply with quote
Personally I understand the worries about bad quality control in terms of animation when there seems to be inconsistencies but I think it's silly to demand from animation studios that the animation in one single anime episode, in this case K-ON episode 1, has to be consistent at all cost and that stylistic choices must have specific underlying "reasons"; if not, it's supposed to be bad quality control. Tell that to animators with individual approaches to animation like Yamashita Masahito whose style is immediately recognizable in certain episodes from Urusei Yatsura or Seiya Numata for his animation outburts in Kannagi episode 2 or episodes in Ichigo Mashimaro.

People need to realise that, no matter how much anime is a merchandising product in the grand scheme of things, it still requires a lot of experience to actually animate characters for our enjoyment and some anime animators have made an art out of it over the years. They try distinctive approaches to animation for the sake of expression, for expressing what they think are interesting movements. K-ON has several scenes with interesting movements, DKL has pointed two of them out.

In the end it's more a matter of taste than a matter of actual animation quality. For examples of bad animation control, of sakuga houkai (作画崩壊), look at the one short cut in Toradora episode 24 when Minori and Ryûji run out of the classroom to catch up Taiga or this example out of Shakugan no Shana II with two characters running around a corner (scroll down for the last gif).
I think Westlo is right with his remark that Kyoto Animation used a "sketchy" approach to animation. I like this kind of approach to animation because for me it's more expressive and interesting than the normal "slick" looking approach. I like variation in anime, in several scenes in one single episodes or in the grand overall of a series (from the preview of the next K-ON episode it looks like they used a slightly different character design and animation; it looks a tad bit more cartoonish. Maybe every K-ON episode will have the trademark of its chief animation director). Moreover I think it's interesting to see how realistic the characters bodies have been drawn an animated, except for the usual cute anime faces and super deformed scenes of course.


Last edited by Swissman on Sun Apr 05, 2009 6:22 pm; edited 2 times in total
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DKL



Joined: 08 May 2005
Posts: 1947
Location: California, USA
PostPosted: Sun Apr 05, 2009 5:30 pm Reply with quote
WOW... I like how Shana disappears right before they turn the corner.
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kyokun703



Joined: 06 Jan 2005
Posts: 2505
Location: Orgrimmar
PostPosted: Sun Apr 05, 2009 5:52 pm Reply with quote
Even though "moeblobs" (lol) aren't my thing, I still may give Saki a try, just because I like mahjong. I don't know any of the scoring, just the very basics, but I still find it interesting.

Just need to find an avi or stream of it.

Looking forward to FMA and Ristorante Paradiso so far; nothing else sounds vaguely interesting. Hoping for a Toradora! though, since these previews were how I found that last season (and what a treasure).
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Ghiblix2



Joined: 16 May 2006
Posts: 42
Location: San Diego
PostPosted: Sun Apr 05, 2009 6:10 pm Reply with quote
BTW Ausdoerrt TY for saying that I've "completely missed the point' in my comparison with Batman and K-On! Just what dictates necessary movement and adequate animation quality to make it deserving of the label 'well animated'? Frame rate perhaps or some other arbitrary measure you can compare with in a vacuum? If that were the case then already, Japanese animation loses to American animation by leaps and bounds. I brought up Batman not to compare the styles and say "hey look batman is inconsistent too" but rather to say, it appears to be inconsistent due to the adopted style and the perception the viewers may take in terms of the amount of effort and time that went into it.

But thank you ausdoerrt for assuming me to be the idiot.

When it comes to animation, I find little thoughtful details and character movements that communicate or helps develops the viewer's understanding of the character is appropriate. Miyazaki makes amazing movies with excellent character flares that doesn't require the most amount of work or flashy effects to communicate a feeling well, not that he's a slacker of any sort, I just think he puts effort where he feels it deserves the most.
Singers don't need to display the peak of their talent throughout the songs do they? Even music has its peaks and valleys, maybe you should keep that in mind because I'm going to hint at the fact that it pertains to more than just music.

If you want intricate detail then is Japanese animation the way to go to begin with? Japan has specific and simple ways to communicate feelings like dread, anger, surprise, embarrassment and if these things along with over exaggerated physical features of characters in Japanese animation doesn't at least hint at their method of approach then maybe you're the one missing the point.

But hey, maybe I should just be more anal when I'm watching shows, because I sure as hell don't see a problem with the animation in this case -- and that could just be my inability for sophisticated observation. Opinions, opinions.
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maaya



Joined: 14 Oct 2007
Posts: 976
PostPosted: Sun Apr 05, 2009 6:52 pm Reply with quote
I'm pretty sure the animation in K-On is completely intentional. Just like for Lucky Star they also intentionally chose a certain style, which was also called "bad animation". But we know very well, they could have done differently if they wanted (like Clannad or Kanon), but they didn't, because in their opinion this style matches this series better. Even if it might change depending on the episode.

On the other hand. Calling Phantom:

Quote:
No, what makes this show so unexpectedly awesome is its cinematography; the quality is higher even than many animated feature films.


is really a big exaggeration as well.
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Hazumu-san



Joined: 09 Mar 2007
Posts: 76
Location: Michigan
PostPosted: Sun Apr 05, 2009 7:23 pm Reply with quote
I have enjoyed the conversations so far. It is interesting to see the opinions expressed. It is still disconcerting that people are still going on about Queens Blade. There has to be something more interesting to talk about. So far it doesn't seem, from the reviews, that there will be many big hits, this season. Oh well, that happens, you can't have great seasons all the time. Smile

I wonder what other shows will be on soon.
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Ausdoerrt



Joined: 27 Oct 2008
Posts: 481
PostPosted: Sun Apr 05, 2009 7:55 pm Reply with quote
Ghiblix2, this post:

Kaioshin_Sama wrote:

Except Batman: Gotham Knight isn't a valid comparison since the whole purpose of it was that it contained five deliberately seperate chapters with each using a specific artist's style and vision as to what it should look like. It was an artistic choice and intrinsically tied to the whole gimmick of the project.


Nothing else I can add that hasn't been said already. Inconsistency in quality or style during the episode is not excusable unless there is a specific purpose to it. There's no reason for it to happen in K-On! It's not horrible, but anyone actually praising them for it is outright ridiculous.

As for the Miyazaki comparison, I think there should be no comparison. As far as I remember, most of the Miyazaki movies have not only well-animated characters, but also highly detailed and beautiful backdrops at a level that many other shows years later still struggle to achieve.


Teuvan wrote:
kpk wrote:
FMA 2:

Bad first episode.
too rush, too slow. not a very good presentation of the characters, not a very exciting action scenes, not a very good animation (the carton-ish character design didn't fit to the [very] gray backgrounding).

in other words: it was boring!

and sorry for my English.


Thank god someone agrees with me. You completely hit the nail on the head. I was pretty excited for this series, but the first episode turned me off so severely that I'm dropping it for now. I'll pick it up again if I hear it gets good further down the line, but for now I'm uninterested.


Dunno, I didn't think it was bad. It was a flashy episode about completely nothing, with questionable purpose. If anything, I've always valued FMA for story over action. Bones is also not at its best in terms of animating action sequences, but perhaps that's because they're trying to keep the same style as the last series (question: why?). If anything, the introduction ep was pretty unnecessary - boring for people who read the manga, and possibly confusing for those who didn't. Seeing how they're doing a flashback in the next ep, it seems like they're much less faithful to the manga than they originally promised, prety much the only reason I wanted to watch it.
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animeboy12



Joined: 15 Sep 2008
Posts: 160
PostPosted: Sun Apr 05, 2009 8:10 pm Reply with quote
I hope queen's blade is as bad as everyone says because most of the time when I'd seen an anime seires being bashed on a forum for being "bad it turns out out to be decent
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DomFortress



Joined: 13 Feb 2009
Posts: 751
Location: Richmond BC, Canada
PostPosted: Sun Apr 05, 2009 9:39 pm Reply with quote
Mr Adventure wrote:
What about Shin Mazinger Shougeki! Z-Hen? Looks like it could be a good super-robot show. Maybe.
From what I've being reading off the Asian Pacific anime fandom responds, it's a mixed comments of epic from the veterans(30+) to train-wreck from the less experienced(21 and below). I'll be honest, I didn't see it personally, but director Imagawa was really bold at the opening act from what I've heard. And this might contribute to the feeling of confusion among the younger and inexperienced anime fandom, for not able to cope with something that's not like a calculated sequence of introducing a cast of everyday characters. And if you knew Go Nagai, then you should at least expect that none of his characters was ever "everyday". So with an "in-your-face" attitude on the direction with a bunch of "in-your-face" characters, if you're not prepared to face this anime epic head-on, then you'll just might find yourself in an emotional wreck. Left by the emotional rampage known as the opening act of Shin Mazinger Shougeki! Z-Hen.
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TatsuGero23



Joined: 18 Nov 2008
Posts: 1277
Location: Sniper Island, USA (It's in your heart!)
PostPosted: Sun Apr 05, 2009 9:44 pm Reply with quote
I'm just surprised how many popular Seiyus they got for do Queen Blade. I was kind of caught off guard by all the blanant fanservice in the first 5 minutes of the series. Also is it considered an ecchi series or hentai series? Cause honestly they just might as well just move these series to a even later time block and stop playing around and get it done with.

In any case, yeah, I think the scores are pretty appropriate.
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Megiddo



Joined: 24 Aug 2005
Posts: 8360
Location: IL
PostPosted: Sun Apr 05, 2009 9:53 pm Reply with quote
So far my two favorites of this season (that have been aired) haven't been subbed yet: Senjou no Valkyria and Cross Game
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DomFortress



Joined: 13 Feb 2009
Posts: 751
Location: Richmond BC, Canada
PostPosted: Sun Apr 05, 2009 10:12 pm Reply with quote
TatsuGero23 wrote:
I'm just surprised how many popular Seiyus they got for do Queen Blade. I was kind of caught off guard by all the blanant fanservice in the first 5 minutes of the series. Also is it considered an ecchi series or hentai series? Cause honestly they just might as well just move these series to a even later time block and stop playing around and get it done with.

In any case, yeah, I think the scores are pretty appropriate.
It's rated R15, for age 15 and above in Japan. And the casting of popular Japanese Seiyus is just it, a publicity scheme for a bad story that's hardly acceptable even by the Japanese general public. Calculated TV ad is calculated. Neutral
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Case



Joined: 09 Apr 2002
Posts: 1016
PostPosted: Sun Apr 05, 2009 10:24 pm Reply with quote
So, as is his custom, Zac rails on K-ON and Asura Cryin' (and I'm sure there will be more) because of all their "stereotypical" characters and themes, but he's impressed by Dragonball Z Kai, a straight up edit of a 20 year old show, specifically praising its "high-quality glossy new opening and closing animations set to energetic pop tunes" and easy-to-digest format.

...And the mind boggles.
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor


Joined: 05 Jan 2002
Posts: 7912
Location: Anime News Network Technodrome
PostPosted: Sun Apr 05, 2009 10:26 pm Reply with quote
Case wrote:
So, as is his custom, Zac rails on K-ON and Asura Cryin' (and I'm sure there will be more) because of all their "stereotypical" characters and themes, but he's impressed by Dragonball Z Kai, a straight up edit of a 20 year old show, specifically praising its "high-quality glossy new opening and closing animations set to energetic pop tunes" and easy-to-digest format.

...And the mind boggles.


And then Case is an ass about it in the forums.

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penguintruth



Joined: 08 Dec 2004
Posts: 8461
Location: Penguinopolis
PostPosted: Sun Apr 05, 2009 10:31 pm Reply with quote
Lol @ Zac mistaking Raditz for Vegeta.

This character has it bad enough without that.
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