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Autumn Anime 2016 |OT| The seasons change, but we're still Falling for Euri

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Thoraxes

Member
Sound! Euphonium S2 - Episode 06

Previous S2 Eupho review(s):
Episode 01
Episode 02
Episode 03
Episode 04
Episode 05 Part 1 and Part 2

I ended up making a blog as a unified location for all these Eupho writeups (cause it's hard to keep track of 13 posts for many people), so if you want a single place to check for these posts, or an easy way to refer people to them, they're at https://thoraxes.wordpress.com/
Also a link to the neogaf post with the URLs for all 13 Season 1 episodes is here.

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- Oh neat, a school festival episode! I wonder what everyone is gonna be up to for this?

- Midori was playing a bass guitar. It's pretty cool that she seems to have the talent and muscle memory for both. It's probably easier for her to play due to her size too, hah.

- Oooo, Nozomi was playing. Look at how happy Mizore is!

- I like this brief cut of Asuka conducting. It's not uncommon to see a more senior student take a role like this, and conducting is hard for most students. That she's confident in conducting for something like a culture festival performance is cool. Also check out the ictus with her baton hand. Pay attention to the way the tip moves and how it's usually pointed up instead of forwards. She's conducting the standard 4/4 pattern, but some of the movements are smaller than you'd expect, particularly on beat two (after the first downbeat she conducts). Since her movements aren't too large, it was harder to tell at first exactly where she was placing her beats. Did good though!

She's also gripping the bottom of the shaft (get your minds out of the gutter!) with two gingers and using her middle finger for support, like a real person would. There are tons of different conducting styles out there, but this matches up with something a relative newbie would do. She's even conducting with both hands in sync, something newer people tend to do. Just look at Taki last episode and then this cut of Asuka this episode to see the difference. Independence of hands is a tough habit to break for most newcomers. All that said, this cut looks really nice in motion.

asuka1ocp8i.gif


- What was that look........? Asuka's sideways glances of misery have been going on for a little while now, but even during something like this festival is kinda odd.

- Ah, the song from the first episode with the whole band this time! It sounds so much fun with a more full ensemble.

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- I would go to their cafe! A shame the aggressive maid cafe didn't work. And Reina showing up was great.

- That cat cafe looks fun, haha.

- Mizore is pretty cute as a maid. Natsuki even more! Nozomi is here too!

- Natsuki and Yuko teasing each other is the lifeblood that fuels my existence. The elaborate zoom-in cut as Yuko picks up her spoon, along with the preceding hilarious faces and banter, makes this brief moment so much fun.

natsukiyukoqtp1u.png


- Shuuichi is embarrassed. Reina is keeping his spineless self at bay, haha.

- Look at Taki. All these girls surrounding him. Hashimoto is totally right about his personality, haha! Reina is ready to shed some blood right now. Haha. Her jealousy is hilarious. She always plays it cool, but for him it's always different.

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- I was almost hoping Kaori would be in the Tuba-kun costume.

- Kumiko is right. Asuka looks good with a witch hat! It's good to see her and Kumiko playing around too. And Haruka always reining her in show that things don't change no matter where the two of them are!

witchlwr5p.png


- The voice acting is keeping this episode very engaging. That half-hearted, trailing off "Reina" Kumiko spoke before she got scared was so good. Then the panic in her voice when the lights went off! Haha. When Kumiko got scared it was great to see her act a little more vulnerable than she usually is. And Shuuichi is starting to maybe try and grow a spine? Reina ruining his moment seem never gets old, though this time it was hilarious. Reina trying to read into that situation a little was funny, and Kumiko still has that disinterested reaction every time his name is mentioned.

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- Oh wow, Mamiko wants to drop out of college? The argument from a few episodes back makes much more sense now if something like this was related to that. I wonder what's going on? Kumiko wasn't wrong about her argument towards her, but at the same time it's impossible to choose a side without all the info first. Clearly something has Mamiko distraught. Surprised she chose to escape the place rather than stick it out, but Kumiko hasn't really been too confrontational till this season.

- Neat, she met up with Taki. His daughter? Haha. The way she realized she put her foot in her mouth after noticing the ring was great... But then Taki's reaction tells me I think I know where this is about to go. I think I know what those flowers are for. I like how they just used leg shots for Kumiko's attempt at escaping. It fully communicated everything important about the scene.

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- I figured something like this would come sooner or later. I'm curious as to how far this scene will go. Also, I love the car.

- Ah, Taki's dad was the adviser. His wife's goals sound pretty familiar, *cough cough*. Even just as little that he did say unveiled a lot about his character and his motivations. The mention of what the flowers mean in the next scene basically says, in no uncertain terms, exactly what Taki was doing if you didn't already figure it out. Man, am I really sad for Taki. I really hope he gets his happy ending somehow.

- Uh-oh. This ending doesn't seem good for Asuka.

endingaro0u.png


Well, this week a lot of new plot threads were introduced, and a few things teased earlier in both this season and the last finally came to the fore a bit more. I wonder where all these new plot threads are going to go, and look forward to seeing how it all comes together! With Kumiko in the middle of most of it, I wonder how she's going to process everything that's going on. With her in on Taki's secrets, she privy to a whole separate set of circumstances she can't really talk to anybody else about. I'm interested in seeing if this wears her down, or she rises to the occasion and continues to overcome her social shortcomings by facing the issues head-on like she's been demonstrating she can.
 

Eumi

Member
Thank god we're finally past Shiho being human scum. I actually found some of their segment funny this time.

This St. Valentine stuff is way funnier than it has any right to be.
 
I wasn't just talking about O;9, but K too. It just bugs me when people go hyperbolic and toss the word shit and trash around like that. I get it, you don't like it, but trash level come on.

I think that's an issue with the anime community: the sheer ease with which hyperbole gets thrown around, positive or negative.
 
I think that's an issue with the anime community: the sheer ease with which hyperbole gets thrown around, positive or negative.
I think the same can be said about any medium tbh. Music, film, TV shows, art is general. All forms of entertainment or art are bound to receive both positive and negative feedback from their own community, we are all different and like different things after all.
 

Ascheroth

Member
I remembered I didn't post my list of anime I'm still watching, so here we go:

GOTY-tier
Xanadu Next

Gureito
Haikyuu
JoJo
Digimon
Flip Flappers

Good
Show by Rock with ShinganCrimsonZ
Girlish Number
To Be Hero

Decent
Izetta
IBO
Twin Star Exorcists
Show by Rock without ShinganCrimsonZ

Funnily enough I'm about 2-3 episodes behind on everything besides the Gureito stuff, lol. I blame Xanadu.
 
I think the same can be said about any medium tbh. Music, film, TV shows, art is general. All forms of entertainment or art are bound to receive both positive and negative feedback from their own community, we are all different and like different things after all.

I think it's a matter of intensity, there isn't really a meme of "Your favorite book is SHIIIIIIIIIIT!" or musical or show or whatever. The only medium that I'd say has a worse culture of hyperbole than anime is video games.
 
I think that's an issue with the anime community: the sheer ease with which hyperbole gets thrown around, positive or negative.
Sure, I agree with that, but the negativity is imo much more present. It's a shame tho, since it makes conversation start on hostility, which makes for terrible discussion with no side acknowledging either sides point.
 

Qurupeke

Member
Pokémon Sun/Moon

Mmm, animation is really fluid. Some awesome reaction faces too, though Alolan Oak's expressions are a bit unsettling. lol

I think it's kind of dumb that Ash seems like a complete newbie here, but at least this makes the new region and the exploration more interesting. I'm afraid it will be completely aimed to kids, not that the past series are that different on that, but I'm kind of optimistic that its visual style, its animation and the colourful world will make this a fun anime. I'll probably try to watch it for a few episodes.
 
Pokémon Sun/Moon

Mmm, animation is really fluid. Some awesome reaction faces too, though Alolan Oak's expressions are a bit unsettling. lol

I think it's kind of dumb that Ash seems like a complete newbie here, but at least this makes the new region and the exploration more interesting. I'm afraid it will be completely aimed to kids, not that the past series are that different on that, but I'm kind of optimistic that its visual style, its animation and the colourful world will make this a fun anime. I'll probably try to watch it for a few episodes.

Wow I really like the style for this! I really want to see how the battles will look.

Also I just thought of something. In the 1st season, I remember Ash saying that is cap was very important to him(he won it in a contest or something), how many time did he switch cap since that time?
 

Cornbread78

Member
I remembered I didn't post my list of anime I'm still watching, so here we go:

GOTY-tier
Xanadu Next

Gureito
Haikyuu
JoJo
Digimon
Flip Flappers

Good
Show by Rock with ShinganCrimsonZ
Girlish Number
To Be Hero

Decent
Izetta
IBO
Twin Star Exorcists
Show by Rock without ShinganCrimsonZ

Funnily enough I'm about 2-3 episodes behind on everything besides the Gureito stuff, lol. I blame Xanadu.


Disgusting lack of Trails of Cold Steel II in this post.
 
Cowboy Bebop - Ep. 5
I got to honest, I lost a bit interest in watching this show during the last few episodes, but this episode was very good and won me back.
Hopefully the rest of the show is more like this and not so much episode 1-4.

On a random side not, I couldn't take episode 4 serious at all,because after hearing "Monkey Business", all I could think about was this.


As it should be.

I can assure you that the rest of cowboy bebop is pretty badly written and unexciting. You will end up regretting the hours spent watching it.
 
Sure, I agree with that, but the negativity is imo much more present. It's a shame tho, since it makes conversation start on hostility, which makes for terrible discussion with no side acknowledging either sides point.

It's also difficult to have a discussion when people immediately bristle at any criticism of a show they like. Like I said earlier, I think Occultic;Nine has undeniably technically strong animation and a lot of ambition in its direction, but the spew of 2chan-esque conspiracy theories that's present in the material is a big weakness. That's what I meant earlier - the source material is garbage and unsalvageable, but the anime team is giving it their all with the talents they have at their disposal, which is most of the top people who regularly work with A-1 Pictures (e.g., Ishihama, Takao, Ishiguro). Thus I recognize that there are both positive and negative aspects to Occultic;Nine.
 

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
Does Serious Actor girl pull a Birdman and go crazy like Michael Keaton?

I didn't watch Birdman but Shibasaki cuts loose a bit in this episode when she gets drunk and gives Chitose the trufax.
 

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
I can't say I ever felt that. I don't want to make a complete judgment without having seen Girlish Number myself, but the sense that I get from reading other people's impressions is that people like it because everyone in it is incompetent, untalented, and/or downright evil, and everyone hates their job and their life. Is that really what it takes for people to think something is realistic? It makes me kind of sad. Correct me if I'm off-base here.
There's this self-awareness where people recognize they're in a morally exploitative industry. The way Shirobako tried to convey this felt too mechanical. On the whole, Shirobako is more educational but it's neutral and removed like a History Channel documentary (before they went full aliens), as opposed to a personal in-situ report like Generation Kill.

The ongoing The Great Passage has already better characterization.
Lacks cute girls. I need to watch it though.
 

Andrew J.

Member
Sound! Euphonium S2 - Episode 06

- I like this brief cut of Asuka conducting. It's not uncommon to see a more senior student take a role like this, and conducting is hard for most students. That she's confident in conducting for something like a culture festival performance is cool. Also check out the ictus with her baton hand. Pay attention to the way the tip moves and how it's usually pointed up instead of forwards. She's conducting the standard 4/4 pattern, but some of the movements are smaller than you'd expect, particularly on beat two (after the first downbeat she conducts). Since her movements aren't too large, it was harder to tell at first exactly where she was placing her beats. Did good though!

She's also gripping the bottom of the shaft (get your minds out of the gutter!) with two gingers and using her middle finger for support, like a real person would. There are tons of different conducting styles out there, but this matches up with something a relative newbie would do. She's even conducting with both hands in sync, something newer people tend to do. Just look at Taki last episode and then this cut of Asuka this episode to see the difference. Independence of hands is a tough habit to break for most newcomers. All that said, this cut looks really nice in motion.

Is this the stage in music education where Taki might take her aside and recommend considering a conducting track at a conservatory?
 
There's this self-awareness where people recognize they're in a morally exploitative industry. The way Shirobako tried to convey this felt too mechanical. On the whole, Shirobako is more educational but it's neutral and removed like a History Channel documentary (before they went full aliens), as opposed to a personal in-situ report like Generation Kill.

I must confess I cannot imagine how someone can view Shirobako as some neutral, detached, sterile report of anime production. At the very least, the constant touches of fantasy that Mizushima brings (such as the director's ridiculous comedic ascent through the publishing company's skyscraper to meet with the manga author) prevent it from being sterile.

I guess my big problem with Girlish Number, and this is a problem not necessarily with the show specifically, but it seems to feed into the general attitude encouraged by the Internet and social media to assume the worst about everyone else, hate everyone else, and ultimately lead to us hating ourselves in addition to the entire world. That's sort of the feeling I got when I was watching Mayoiga - that engaging in entertainment like that was stunting my capacity for empathy and leading to a degradation of myself as a human being. That's something I'm concerned about with myself personally, and something I'm concerned about with the Internet-driven society more generally - that all of us are having our negative emotions amplified to the point where we can no longer act for the good of anyone.

Again, I don't want to draw too much serious conclusions specifically out of one anime. I'm sure plenty of people are able to watch Girlish Number as a harmless piece of black comedy. But I can't help but be concerned.
 

pbayne

Member
Poco's Udon World 6

Kinda sucks that the first 2 episodes of this really gave an impression that it was a diet-Barakamon, because since then it has improved vastly and become its own thing.
While it doesn't hit the crazy bombastic heights of a Flip Flappers or Haikyuu, imo its the most consistent show this season and it steadily improves every week.
 

dimb

Bjergsen is the greatest midlane in the world
It's also difficult to have a discussion when people immediately bristle at any criticism of a show they like.
Most of the criticism stems from people watching the first episode or part of it though. It's not like there are a bunch of really well thought out posts detailing the problems with Occulting;Nine. Not that the show really merits much scrutiny but the feedback or discussion does not usually come from a place of understanding. You even feel like offering an opinion on the show but your only filter is what you see through Twitter I'd imagine.

Honestly the source material is not unusably weak or somehow the failing point of the entire show. Given the medium this is honestly more than most directors are given to work with, but there's a distinct lack of respect for the material that absolutely murders the pacing of each scene in this adaptation that squanders any of the interesting presentation the episode directors typically seem to bring.
 
Is this the stage in music education where Taki might take her aside and recommend considering a conducting track at a conservatory?

He might talk to her about her interest in persuing conducting study. I don't know if it's different in Japan, but in the US conducting as a major field of study is only on a the graduate level, so Asuka would need to go to university/conservatory as a euphonium major first and take conducting classes as elective credit.
 

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
I must confess I cannot imagine how someone can view Shirobako as some neutral, detached, sterile report of anime production. At the very least, the constant touches of fantasy that Mizushima brings (such as the director's ridiculous comedic ascent through the publishing company's skyscraper to meet with the manga author) prevent it from being sterile.
I mispoke. I just woke up so I'm kind of groggy.

But let's use your example. Yes, Shirobako contains a lot of stylistic flourishes like the director's melodrama or the street racing segments. But these fantastic elements are exactly what keeps me from investing into the characters as people rather than as symbols. I don't think Miyamori Aoi is a real person in the sense that I might run into her on the street. I think, if I met someone who worked in production, who gave me her personal account of its trials and tribulations, and if I wanted to create a semi-educational fiction about it, I would invent a character like Miyamori.

What makes GN 6 special is that Koto (the kansai seiyuu) feels like someone from the industry, rather than someone who represents a type in the industry.
 
It's also difficult to have a discussion when people immediately bristle at any criticism of a show they like. Like I said earlier, I think Occultic;Nine has undeniably technically strong animation and a lot of ambition in its direction, but the spew of 2chan-esque conspiracy theories that's present in the material is a big weakness. That's what I meant earlier - the source material is garbage and unsalvageable, but the anime team is giving it their all with the talents they have at their disposal, which is most of the top people who regularly work with A-1 Pictures (e.g., Ishihama, Takao, Ishiguro). Thus I recognize that there are both positive and negative aspects to Occultic;Nine.
So did you actually read the source before saying its garbage? Because if you did no I don't think your point hold much value. The LN and the anime so far tells the same story, but in different matter, and I would never consider any of the two trash or unsalvageable(gosh damn). Most of the complaints the people have here don't even exist in the LN. It's slower and the events are placed in a way that I don't see how it could be confusing.

Of course if you did read it, then heh what can I say. I still think you are way to extreme in your definition of the show.
 

TUSR

Banned
"It's also difficult to have a discussion when people immediately bristle at any criticism of a show they like."
 
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