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EP. REVIEW: God Eater


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Lemonchest



Joined: 18 Mar 2015
Posts: 1771
PostPosted: Mon Jul 13, 2015 2:19 pm Reply with quote
I'm sure the characters will turn out to be as deep as the cleavage. Those two things always go together.
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Primus



Joined: 01 Mar 2006
Posts: 2758
Location: Toronto
PostPosted: Mon Jul 13, 2015 2:22 pm Reply with quote
Some of the backgrounds are CG renders but the characters are all hand drawn. It's an interesting animation style that I'm not sure will be loved by all.

Last edited by Primus on Mon Jul 13, 2015 2:31 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Hameyadea



Joined: 23 Jun 2014
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 13, 2015 2:27 pm Reply with quote
If ya wonderin' how it would've looked like had ufotable animated this like they did the Fate series, well look no further. Plus, it offers some additional backstory on the God Eater universe.
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Via_01



Joined: 24 Aug 2014
Posts: 551
PostPosted: Mon Jul 13, 2015 2:41 pm Reply with quote
I'm really digging this show's artstyle. A lot of people out there won't enjoy it, but there's something to be said about this rather peculiar style, which seems to be a bit of a mix between CG and handrawn animation. In any case, the artistic value along with the action will be enough to keep me watching, though it'd be great if it improved in the plot department.
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dtm42



Joined: 05 Feb 2008
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Location: currently stalking my waifu
PostPosted: Mon Jul 13, 2015 2:50 pm Reply with quote
I hate how the action is constantly sped up and slowed down, complete with harsh sound effects that hurt my eardrums. Less of that, please.
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Z-Raid



Joined: 18 Feb 2014
Posts: 132
PostPosted: Mon Jul 13, 2015 2:59 pm Reply with quote
dtm42 wrote:
I hate how the action is constantly sped up and slowed down, complete with harsh sound effects that hurt my eardrums. Less of that, please.


Same. And the also the same with the glitch effects and grainy filter that they use on occasion. It really hurts my eyes and overall I feel like the special effects are used a tad bit too much, making it feel less cool and more cheesy.

I've never played any of the God Eater games and I know nothing about the series so I don't expect a revolutionary plot or characters or anything like that. But I am expecting at the very least a pretty, well-animated spectacle to entertain me and pass time, and so far, God Eater is delivering on that.
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Sahmbahdeh



Joined: 05 May 2015
Posts: 712
PostPosted: Mon Jul 13, 2015 3:01 pm Reply with quote
I really like the animation style; as I was watching, I kept thinking that everything looks like an oil painting or something, rather than just drawings. I'm pretty sure it's hand-drawn, considering that the people, weapons and backgrounds look different from the monsters, which are CG. Also, there was a press release earlier (reported on ANN, no less) that specified that the weapons are hand-drawn. Considering the people and weapons are done in the same style, I think it's safe to say this series is mostly hand-drawn.
Story-wise, the AoT comparisons are inevitable. The story is a bit trite, but it's all about the execution, and I for one think it's doing really well in that regard. I also appreciate the fast pace of the episode; we're more or less up to speed at this point. I was quite impressed by the direction in general, actually. Let's hope it keeps up.
So far so good.
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Caramichael



Joined: 07 Mar 2015
Posts: 114
PostPosted: Mon Jul 13, 2015 3:30 pm Reply with quote
Personnally dropped, I didn't feel like it was going anywhere, only a collection of tropes reused an infinite amount of time. If it was only that, I could still enjoy the execution but I was just bored during the entire episode.
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killjoy_the



Joined: 30 May 2015
Posts: 2457
PostPosted: Mon Jul 13, 2015 3:35 pm Reply with quote
I felt like the production team knew full well how hamfisted and cliché the plot was and decided to just roll with it. The constant slow-motions were more funny to me than cool (wow look the main character is removing his jacket). I liked the little of the OST we had so far, and I dig the art style.
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_Cyphon_



Joined: 16 Nov 2014
Posts: 996
PostPosted: Mon Jul 13, 2015 3:46 pm Reply with quote
Yes, this show will need to distinguish itself from AoT. The art style is a good start. I like Lenka's character a lot, so hope they will continue working on him.
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FilthyCasual



Joined: 01 Jun 2015
Posts: 2165
PostPosted: Mon Jul 13, 2015 3:53 pm Reply with quote
I quite liked the art style; it's very unique in a mostly homogeneous sea of obvious outlines and flatly colored faces.

As for the story, we've gotten the basic outline in the first episode, so now we're just waiting for events to occur; I hope that they're exciting ones!
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Key
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Joined: 03 Nov 2003
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Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley)
PostPosted: Mon Jul 13, 2015 4:00 pm Reply with quote
I think it's fair to compare the first episode of this to the first episode of AoT, and on that comparison this one loses by a mile. It doesn't have anything which grabbed me from the get-go, doesn't have the stellar opening theme, and has nothing other than the visual style which distinguishes it from other series of its type - and since I'm one of those who's not a fan of the visual style, it dies on that point, too.

That means that, for now at least, it's a drop for me. If it steadily gets positive reviews going forward then I may change my mind and give it a second try.
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RaylenCypher



Joined: 03 Mar 2015
Posts: 138
PostPosted: Mon Jul 13, 2015 4:09 pm Reply with quote
Amazing first episode for me personally. There were no info dumps no long drawn out conversations that explained things. Exposition was to a minimum. It showed things through action and body language which brought more depth to characters. It just "showed" rather than "tell" the viewers. I loved it. I was worried about them using an original protagonist for this because Lenka seemed like the stereotypical hot-headed hero who goes on and on about 'I have to kill all the Aragami!' like Eren who goes on yelling 'I'm going to slaughter all the Titans!' Lenka is not like that, he ended up more quiet and composed to a certain degree. He values others safety over his own when shown through scenes of his training and out on the field. He also appeared to be bad with technology as was shown when he tried to put in a request through the Terminal, that was cute haha.

Comparisons are inevitable but I don't really care. If you allow other shows similarities and expectations to cloud your mind, you won't enjoy the show.

I gotta hand it to the director though, he worked on the 5th Kara No Kyoukai movie and boy is the camera dynamic. We could have gotten just got a normal escape sequence but instead the motion is slowed and sped up and swirls around, it's just great. I don't know how many times I replayed that sequence of him escaping base when the insert song started playing (I'm a sucker for rock/j-pop music).

All in all, I'm just happy how this premiere turned out. I'm enjoying it.
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Valhern



Joined: 19 Jan 2015
Posts: 916
PostPosted: Mon Jul 13, 2015 4:10 pm Reply with quote
I have many problems with God Eater, and none of them have anything to do with the animation. I mean it, the animation, illustration, everything looks tremendously astounding, and the artstyle is pretty interesting. But it's hollow, in my opinion.

First off, I felt that I don't know where the hell we are. Like, I know it's some sort of militar head-quarter in the center of a city, but we're shown so few shots of the scenario that it seems that the space is pretty constrained. There is a hall, a corridor that connects to the training room and to the city, apparently, also there is a workshop where our cute engineer is working. And I still don't understand how Lenka escaped, he got out of a military base with no authorization just...walking and jumping? Fine, I guess we'll have to believe that. I don't know if the problem actually stems from bad directing or lack of actual scenery to work with.

On a second level but not less important, the sound effects. I know it's usally not a big deal on most anime and we tend to look over them, but in this case it made most of the scenes unbearable for me, the steps, the clashing metal, the movements, almost all of them felt hollow and with little to no impact (example, when that guy Lenka wanted to save gets wrecked). And on that regard, Lenka's voice felt...not strong enough, even if your main character is as reckless as main characters come and go, it does have to yell louder, like really loud, and Lenka just falls short.

I agree that the designs are tremendously stupid and it's almost obnoxious to watch people going to war wearing the less protective outfit possible just to look sexy and badass enough, but that's not actually a problem of the anime as it is for the game itself.

The plot and characterization? Well, it is as cliché as it gets, but I didn't shy away of Attack on Titan for it, so I guess I'll have to wait for that. Curiously enough, like in AoT, I'm way more interested in the non-fighters, adult characters, rather than the fighters and teenagers.
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Barbobot



Joined: 06 Feb 2007
Posts: 460
PostPosted: Mon Jul 13, 2015 4:26 pm Reply with quote
Key wrote:
I think it's fair to compare the first episode of this to the first episode of AoT, and on that comparison this one loses by a mile. It doesn't have anything which grabbed me from the get-go, doesn't have the stellar opening theme, and has nothing other than the visual style which distinguishes it from other series of its type - and since I'm one of those who's not a fan of the visual style, it dies on that point, too.

That means that, for now at least, it's a drop for me. If it steadily gets positive reviews going forward then I may change my mind and give it a second try.


Definitely agree with this. God Eater's first episode does nothing to distinguish itself from the plethora of shows just like this. All the character and story elements are archetypes we've seen before. I don't think God Eater did any of them horribly, but nothing special either. Just middle of the road.

But I reside on the other side as far as the animation is concerned. I thought it had a very interesting aesthetic. It's almost imitating the cell-shaded CG style of something like Expelled from Paradise, while ditching any of the uncanny valley-ness that's almost always apparent in that kind of animation.
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