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REVIEW: Den-noh Coil Blu-Ray

It does remind me of the insular social/business culture built around the Ipad, especially considering the ultimate use the Ipad is quite similar: Finding new ways for people to waste time. The fact that this series treats it more like a toy makes me believe the creators think along the same lines.

I liked the animation and the music, loved the overall production design- for a supposedly cultural utopia, there's a lot of urban decay in this very much "used future"- but the show as a whole felt disconnected to me.

In short, I liked everything about it except the core conceit. Everything they did was important to them but those buggie treasures are like bitcoins to me; Just because a few people think they're all important, it doesn't make it true for the rest of the world. "This is why it's important, this is why we want it, this is why we need it." I never understood it at all; It's created and consumed at seemingly different values and amounts.

Episode 12 (beard wars) and 13 (Plesiosaur) are two of the most memorable episodes of the entire show though...

-Iso says that original works are not particularly welcomed or commended by the anime industry, which was originally created to animate manga in the first place. Like when everyone gets together to make an original anime but it doesn't sell... he ventures that perhaps this industry is not suited for making original projects.

-Sugii asks about the planning (pitching?) for Dennou Coil, and Iso says he had to do it himself - anime production studios wouldn't take him up on his offer and he was turned away everywhere [until he went to Tokuma]. Animators are not welcome except to do what they're told and since the industry feeds on profits made from making animated adaptations, they don't know how to sell original works. Therefore he had to do it himself.

They don't like it when the original creator goes on to direct the show as well (a director should be working under a production house). Iso can't mention too many details because of certain people in high places... Something about how you can't help certain power positions. [You get what I mean?] (Inoue jokes whether Iso is trying to portray himself as a victim)

Except for a couple of small jobs, some even under a pseudonym, Iso has basically left the industry. I find it sad that someone with his talents cannot find a place to display them. By the way, he wrote the storyboard for episode 12, the "beard" episode, so I'm guessing he saw it as more than just filler.

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Except for a couple of small jobs, some even under a pseudonym, Iso has basically left the industry. I find it sad that someone with his talents cannot find a place to display them. By the way, he wrote the storyboard for episode 12, the "beard" episode, so I'm guessing he saw it as more than just filler.

He didn't leave it, he is now working with Yapiko studio and is trying to make a movie called Les Pirates de la Réunion, le réveil des dodos. You can even follow him on twitter now. I am guessing that it's not just the uncommerciable nature of his works that prevent him from directing more anime, it probably has more to do with the fact that he is perfectionist.

One thing that wasn't discussed is the fluidity of the animation and how non-static it was. Characters had inertia to their expression, which meant that most scenes didn't involve sticking moving mouths on still characters.

However, Dennou Coil aired with its halfway point around New Years and its halfway point episodes were airing during some of the lowest TV viewing weeks of the year. I remember hearing somewhere that this was a motivation for airing a few non-plot-relevant episodes before picking up on the main story again.

Oh cool, I hope it gets re-released over here with a dub, the lack of it had stopped me from getting the sub only release despite how charming it is. It was done with Toradora where Hanabee released a dub tracked one after Siren only having the sub release...

DuskyPredator wrote:

Oh cool, I hope it gets re-released over here with a dub, the lack of it had stopped me from getting the sub only release despite how charming it is. It was done with Toradora where Hanabee released a dub tracked one after Siren only having the sub release...

Hanabee did the original sub only release of Toradora! in Oz. I know because I have it. It was their first ever release, along with Dream Eater Merry, so I bought it as a show of support. It wasn't quite good enough to buy twice when the dub version came out. In any case, I like the Japanese dub.

And as quality filler episodes go, I'd easily choose the ones in the middle of Moribito (which, interestingly, aired around the same time) over this one.