So, as I mentioned earlier
Heat Guy J has a messed up office. But that wasn't the main problem with episode 18.
No, the real problem comes from this action sequence near the end of the episode. This being a Statelight production you might well hope that at least this scene would be handled well.
Oh dear. So, we see our heroes pinned down here :
Kyoko learns about this on the magical exposition TV device :
And decides to get help. After she does this we return to the action here :
But how long did it take Kyoko to get help? The answer is about 1.5 minutes. This removes any sense of fast-paced action or suspense that this sequence was supposed to have. Where did it all go wrong?
Here's how. After seeing the TV news, this series of event's happen :
MCU on Kyoko's reaction - 2 seconds
Tilting Crane LS of Aurora for - 9 seconds
CU Aruora's head - 1 second
MCU Kyoko - 2.5 seconds
CU Aurora - 9 seconds
CU Kyoko - 1 second
CU Spinning car wheel - 1 second
MS Kyoko inside the car - 1 second
LS to ELS shot of car speeding down highway - 1 second
Alright, so, at least that's done and we can crosscut to the action right? Nope.
Establishing LS of Lab - 1.5 seconds
CU Antonia - 2.5 seconds
Slow tilt up J's body - 5 seconds
MS Anotina - 4 seconds with lots of calm fill lighting everywhere
EL of Kyoko running in - 3.5 seconds
MS of Kyoko and Anotonia - 11 seconds
CU Antonia - 1 second
CU J's face - 1 second
CU Antonia - 2 seconds
CU reaction shot of Kyoko - 1 second
CU "turn-on-device" - 1 second
CU J - second
Match action cut to CU J which holds for - 1 second
MS J - 4 seconds
CU Kyoko - 4 seconds
And now, back to the action!
Who paces there scenes like this when it's supposed to be exciting? I really don't know how this kind of mess would get past the storyboarding stage. It's so slow and lifeless.
And oh yes,
SHAFT and Shibo make conversations about a thousand times more exiting then this shit. Because they're actually good at making anime.