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[darkside31337]

Yuru Yuri 10

Such an adorable episode. Himawari x Sakurako has turned into my favorite pairing of the show, that flashback scene was the cutest thing I've ever seen. I do wonder who Nadeshiko was talking with on the phone, I suppose I'll never actually know

This episode was also a stroke of brilliance. The

Spoiler

time paradox

stuff in this episode was awesome, from the subtle with

Spoiler

that tin can

to not so much with

Spoiler

that ending

.

Shame this show is almost over. I'll miss it a ton

 

[yn-neko hates a cat]

That scene with the woman and monster in Ninja Scroll, may I post NSFW material from youtube?

late 80s - early 90s anime got away with some of the most risqué things I've ever seen like that. I think ninja resurection had one of the most shocking scenes I've seen to date in any anime.

 

[Envelope]

This isn't correct. Mamoru Nagano is the creator, writer and artist for Five Star Stories. Five Star Stories is famous for having been serialised in Newtype since 1986 - I believe it's still ongoing, in fact - and was made into a film in the late 80s. Independent of that, he is justifiably famous for his beautiful character and mecha design work in particular. Admittedly part of the mystique is that he's been working on Gothicmade for years, but he does have a level of pedigree.



It's probably something you have to be of a certain age or type of fandom to get. Maybe that's a bit patronising, but anything Nagano does is big news in mecha fandom and for people who used to need to read Newtype for news. The hype isn't really mindless, either - have you watched the trailer? It looks and sounds beautiful.

Interestingly, Ikuni and Nagano collaborated on Ikuni's Schell Bullet novel series!

I wasn't aware he was the actual writer for 5 Star Stories, and without knowing how good or bad the writing in it is, I wouldn't necessarily expect a good artist to be able to make a good story. Perhaps 5 Star Stories is really just that good, but even then, that's only one actual work to his name.

 

[R_thanatos]

i guess it's time to watch hyouka and see what it was all about ..
( all in one go )

 

[yn-neko hates a cat]

It went from bad to okay then alright at the festival arc. Everything after it has hit home for me with the exception of that stupid shed episode.

That's crazy talk! Hyouka was good through and through ;_; I won't stand for this blasphamy!

i guess it's time to watch hyouka and see what it was all about ..
( all in one go )

I don't think it's a good idea to shotgun this series. There's a lot of reviewing of evidence in the multi-week arcs that may feel repetative if watched back-to-back imo.

 

[Envelope]

i guess it's time to watch hyouka and see what it was all about ..
( all in one go )

The beginning is an absolute slog, so bad that I gave up on it, but apparently it starts getting better in the teens.

 

[darkside31337]

The beginning is an absolute slog, so bad that I gave up on it, but apparently it starts getting better in the teens.

Don't listen to the lies. The show never gets better, it is what it is. And the first arc of the show is by far the strongest.

School Festival arc is one of the most overrated things I've ever watched. What makes the show so hard to watch, Mayaka and Fukube being emo as shit is stronger than ever in those episodes.

But the episodes that follow have like no Mayaka and Fukube and thus are the best episodes in the entire series. I haven't watched 21 yet. I might honestly just skip it because I don't want to see those 2 characters ever again.

Giving up on the show was the right call.

 

[Kazzy]

i guess it's time to watch hyouka and see what it was all about ..
( all in one go )

It's the way I watched it last week, which probably speaks to my (conspicuously) positive opinion towards it.

Although I can sort of empathize with the general opinion that's in a non-starter. I imagine a mystery regarding a teacher's love of helicopters wouldn't go down too well as your sole fill of Hyouka for the week.

 

[/XX/]

Thanks, /XX/, Bye Bye Liberty Crisis is the next Lupin title I'll check out. It's directed by Dezaki too? I'm looking forward to it!

I have In Memory of Walther P-38 covered, albeit written more towards the format of a plain bulletpoint summary than I'd like to remember.

I hope you like it, man!

And yeah, I find that "dark" is a really apt general description for Walther P38. Everyone! Check out this special and the impressions from Ultimadrago, please! It even has the sakuga@wiki (作画@wiki) 'seal of approval', unusual for a TV special:

作画@wiki - @作画アニメ
http://www18.atwiki.jp/sakuga/pages/100.html#3

2chan.us » Blog Archive » Sakuga@wiki’s List of Recommended Sakuga Anime
http://2chan.us/wordpress/2010/05/01/sakugawikis-list-of-recommended-sakuga-anime/

If it was someone like ABe or Ikuhara or Hosoda, I could understand the mindless hype, even when it results in something like Penguindrum, but this guy? I really don't get it.

Well, I don't think it is exactly mindless either. We will have to wait to see how the story pans out, but personally, I like the look of this film. Knowing that it is an achievement in itself with only a couple of key animators at its realm I know that this will probably be animated consistently as nice as it does from those videos, in my opinion. Don't you like any of what you have seen in those PV, Envelope?

Also, The Five Star Stories is really that good! I think every other credit seems secondary when this work isn't a simple thing; the obsessiveness on detailing that universe and the information he incorporated about it (and everything in it) is so vast the animated project that spawned from it only grasped the surface. And it hasn't even ended yet! It is like the work of a lifetime for him.

Now I see that BluWacky already replied to some of this points, and I agree.

 

[Soma]

I managed to introduce Hyouka to my cousin over the weekend.

He's got a pretty short attention span (especially with a lot of anime) so I figured he'd lose interest after the opening credits.

To my amazement, he enjoyed the first episode a lot and is already halfway through the first season!

My internal reaction:

 

[duckroll]

So, I was looking into the live-action director who is attached to the series as the Chief Director, and it seems to be a much bigger deal than I previously thought. He isn't just someone who might be "good" for the sort of genre they're trying to tackle with the series - he also generally has huge commercial success.

The two franchises he worked on which most resembles what noitaminA seems to be going for in Psycho-Pass would be Bayside Shakedown (TV series + bunch of movies) and SP (TV series).

SP ran for 11 episode on FujiTV in from Nov 2007 to Jan 2008 at 11pm on Saturdays. Even at a later than normal time slot for J-Dramas, the series had ratings of 15.4 on average, with the lowest rating episode being 12.6, and the highest being 18.9 (the finale). A 130min special compilation TV movie later that year got ratings of 21.5.

Bayside Shakedown is a huge success as well, and the third film in 2010 had a total box office gross of 7.3 billion yen. The "final" movie just opened in Japan last weekend, and in just 3 days made over 1 billion yen, selling over 800,000 tickets. It doesn't seem to be a coincidence that FujiTV is planning Psycho-Pass's broadcast to start a month after this movie opens.

While there's no guarantee that he can bring even a fraction of the same sort of success to an anime series (most of the popularity of these shows seem to be linked to the cast, and older audiences prefer live action over cartoons anyway), it is encouraging that FujiTV seems to be really trying unusually hard to make this show appealing to a broad range of viewers - staff-wise.

Motohiro was probably brought in to give the project mainstream credibility and to interest people who might like this sort of material in Japan who might not watch anime or normally have interest in anime.

Amano seems to have been approached because of the popularity of Hitman Reborn, to try and attract the manga and female fan base to pay more attention to the series.

Urobuchi was certainly brought in because of his rising success in the more otaku-centric circles last year with both Madoka, as well as Fate/Zero's adaptation.

In an interview with the FujiTV producer in one of the mags this month, he also mentioned that he approached Production IG specifically because he thought they had an idea which could have the appeal of Ghost of the Shell, indicating that they're looking to target fans of the series, or cyberpunk in general, both in Japan and overseas.

It's going to be interesting to see how the show actually ends up looking like, and whether it is any good at all. While there is definitely a danger of something being too "designed for success" and losing sight of actually being creative, it is also refreshing to see an anime project being put together in an unorthodox way.

 

[sonicmj1]

Don't listen to the lies. The show never gets better, it is what it is. And the first arc of the show is by far the strongest.

School Festival arc is one of the most overrated things I've ever watched. What makes the show so hard to watch, Mayaka and Fukube being emo as shit is stronger than ever in those episodes.

But the episodes that follow have like no Mayaka and Fukube and thus are the best episodes in the entire series. I haven't watched 21 yet. I might honestly just skip it because I don't want to see those 2 characters ever again.

Giving up on the show was the right call.

Of the holdovers from last season that I'm still following, Hyouka is probably the best, and episode 21 is one of the better episodes so far. The directing is great, and it brings out a lot of subtle things in Houtarou and Chitanda's relationship, even if it's largely about Satoshi. Also, Sawakiguchi cameos are always welcome.

Space Bros is still awesome. 9 and 10 of Jinrui were both excellent, and I'm looking forward to watching 11.

Eureka 7 AO has gone totally crazy in a bad way, and even if I cared at all about anyone in that show (I can't believe

Spoiler

Truth was that surprised he was a Secret, and I don't know how "giant Secret monster turns into human boy because..." was a sensible plot point.

), they're rushing into the endgame too fast for any of the beats to have impact.

 

[Envelope]

I hope you like it, man! And yeah, I find that "dark" is a really apt general description for Walther P38.

Everyone! Check out this special and the impressions from Ultimadrago, please! This even has the sakuga@wiki (作画@wiki) 'seal of approval', unusual for a TV special:

作画@wiki - @作画アニメ
http://www18.atwiki.jp/sakuga/pages/100.html#3

2chan.us » Blog Archive » Sakuga@wiki’s List of Recommended Sakuga Anime
http://2chan.us/wordpress/2010/05/01/sakugawikis-list-of-recommended-sakuga-anime/


Well, I don't think it is exactly mindless either. We will have to wait to see how the story pans out, but personally, I like the look of this film. Knowing that it is an achievement in itself with only a couple of key animators at its realm I know that this will probably be animated consistently as nice as it does from those videos, in my opinion. Don't you like any of what you have seen in those PV, Envelope?

Also, The Five Star Stories is really that good! I think every other credit seems secondary when this work isn't a simple thing; the obsessiveness on detailing that universe and the information he incorporated about it (and everything in it) is so vast the animated project that spawned from it only grasped the surface. And it hasn't even ended yet! It is like the work of a lifetime for him.

Now I see that BluWacky already replied to some of this points, and I agree.

I can't say the PV really does much to get me excited, no.

 

[duckroll]

I wasn't aware he was the actual writer for 5 Star Stories, and without knowing how good or bad the writing in it is, I wouldn't necessarily expect a good artist to be able to make a good story. Perhaps 5 Star Stories is really just that good, but even then, that's only one actual work to his name.

I think the core problem here, is ultimately that you don't know anything about Mamoru Nagano at all and hence there is no reason for you to be excited. That is fair, but it is not for you to criticize or comment on what other people feel when you have zero facts or knowledge about the situation to stand on.

Gothicmade is not a work where anyone at all is going "OMG IT IS XXXXXXXXX WORKING ON IT IS MUST BE GOOD!". Far from that, it is simply Nagano's newest project. People who have followed Five Star Stories for decades are excited and intrigued that he decided to create a brand new property which is similar in look and tone to FSS, but yet a completely original universe and setting. Instead of making this a manga, he decided to make it an animated film instead.

It is also insulting to suggest that Five Star Stories is "just one work". If Oda were to announce his next project, and One Piece fans get really excited, will you also be there to go "meh, he only worked on one manga so far, who cares?"

Don't be patronizing when you know nothing about what you're talking about.

 

[PdotMichael]

At the very least, I'm glad that they were executed better than Gosick's mysteries. Gosick had some potentially interesting mysteries but I really didn't like the way they were executed. They make a good comparison for me though because I ended up following both of these for reasons other than the mysteries.

No opinon about Gosick but if they waste 50-80% of a episode with these mysteries (+ the hit or miss visuals) then I can't say it anymore that I like the show for the 20% character interaction.

why?

 

[Envelope]

I think the core problem here, is ultimately that you don't know anything about Mamoru Nagano at all and hence there is no reason for you to be excited. That is fair, but it is not for you to criticize or comment on what other people feel when you have zero facts or knowledge about the situation to stand on.

I agree that I all I know about Mamoru Nagano is what I read on ANN a few minutes ago, but I will always be right in antihyping stuff other people hype simply because of who's working on it, so that's that.

To be clear, my lack of excitement due to my ignorance of his works and my refusal to be hyped for something just because of who's working on it are two separate issues.

It is also insulting to suggest that Five Star Stories is "just one work". If Oda were to announce his next project, and One Piece fans get really excited, will you also be there to go "meh, he only worked on one manga so far, who cares?"

Of course I would.

Don't be patronizing when you know nothing about what you're talking about.

I haven't really intended to be patronizing, but I don't feel like rewriting all my posts to make that clear.

 

[7Th]

You missed out Pretty Rhythm 1 and 2 from 2011 and this year. Also I would sort-of include Symphogear? Maybe?

Yeah, I guess Symphogear kinda counts.

 

[duckroll]

I agree that I all I know about Mamoru Nagano is what I read on ANN a few minutes ago, but I will always be right in antihyping stuff other people hype simply because of who's working on it, so that's that.

That makes no sense. Are you saying that you're not interested in an informed discussion, but you just want to stick your face in to tell other people that they shouldn't care about what they care about? Because that sounds anti-social.

 

[OceanBlue]

No opinon about Gosick but if they waste 50-80% of a episode with these mysteries (+ the hit or miss visuals) then I can't say it anymore that I like the show for the 20% character interaction.

Eh, I guess that's where our opinions will differ. I personally think that it gets closer to 60/40. Even then, a lot of the mysteries become vehicles to move the character development, so I don't really create too much of a distinction when I think about the two. I also like the mysteries more often than not, so that might influence how I see things.

I can understand people not liking it, I guess. It has really grown on me. I liked it initially, but now I think it's amazing. Episodes like 21 really put Hyouka in a high category on my list.

 

[Envelope]

That makes no sense. Are you saying that you're not interested in an informed discussion, but you just want to stick your face in to tell other people that they shouldn't care about what they care about? Because that sounds anti-social.

I edited to explain what I meant!

 

[Articalys]

Saimoe Round 1 - Group G, Day 1 Results

G01
1st 261 Momoko Touyoko @ Saki
2nd 195 Mayoi Hachikuji @ Nisemonogatari
3rd 179 Yukiho Hagiwara @ The Idolmaster

G05
1st 263 Aria H. Kanzaki @ Hidan No Aria
2nd 166 Rihoko Sakurai @ Amagami SS
3rd 164 Angelina Nanatsu Sewell @ Mashiroiro Symphony ~The Colour Of Lovers~

G09
1st 270 Tsukihi Araragi @ Nisemonogatari
1st 270 Rea Sanka @ Sankarea
3rd 73 Siesta @ Zero no Tsukaima

Well, I'll be damned, we have our first tie match of the tournament.

------------------------------------------

Today's round preview, bringing in the final new series of the year

 

[Jarmel]

So, I was looking into the live-action director who is attached to the series as the Chief Director, and it seems to be a much bigger deal than I previously thought. He isn't just someone who might be "good" for the sort of genre they're trying to tackle with the series - he also generally has huge commercial success.

The two franchises he worked on which most resembles what noitaminA seems to be going for in Psycho-Pass would be Bayside Shakedown (TV series + bunch of movies) and SP (TV series).

SP ran for 11 episode on FujiTV in from Nov 2007 to Jan 2008 at 11pm on Saturdays. Even at a later than normal time slot for J-Dramas, the series had ratings of 15.4 on average, with the lowest rating episode being 12.6, and the highest being 18.9 (the finale). A 130min special compilation TV movie later that year got ratings of 21.5.

Bayside Shakedown is a huge success as well, and the third film in 2010 had a total box office gross of 7.3 billion yen. The "final" movie just opened in Japan last weekend, and in just 3 days made over 1 billion yen, selling over 800,000 tickets. It doesn't seem to be a coincidence that FujiTV is planning Psycho-Pass's broadcast to start a month after this movie opens.

While there's no guarantee that he can bring even a fraction of the same sort of success to an anime series (most of the popularity of these shows seem to be linked to the cast, and older audiences prefer live action over cartoons anyway), it is encouraging that FujiTV seems to be really trying unusually hard to make this show appealing to a broad range of viewers - staff-wise.

Motohiro was probably brought in to give the project mainstream credibility and to interest people who might like this sort of material in Japan who might not watch anime or normally have interest in anime.

Amano seems to have been approached because of the popularity of Hitman Reborn, to try and attract the manga and female fan base to pay more attention to the series.

Urobuchi was certainly brought in because of his rising success in the more otaku-centric circles last year with both Madoka, as well as Fate/Zero's adaptation.

In an interview with the FujiTV producer in one of the mags this month, he also mentioned that he approached Production IG specifically because he thought they had an idea which could have the appeal of Ghost of the Shell, indicating that they're looking to target fans of the series, or cyberpunk in general, both in Japan and overseas.

It's going to be interesting to see how the show actually ends up looking like, and whether it is any good at all. While there is definitely a danger of something being too "designed for success" and losing sight of actually being creative, it is also refreshing to see an anime project being put together in an unorthodox way.

Well my first inclination is whether most people consider the productions, that Motohiro worked on, were actually good. The second inclination is whether Motohiro helped those works or were they popular despite him. If you have any info on his directing style then that might give some insight (like he's hands-on). Also what was the tone in the previous works? If there is a big genre shift then Motohiro might not be able to adapt.

I'm also curious as to what Motohiro is actually doing in the project. If he's acting more like a specialist and just making sure that things check out(like Urobuchi overlooking certain aspects or character details) or pretty much dictating everything and Shiotani is just handling the animation component.

Urobuchi mentioning that he went to IG because of Ghost in the Shell is great news as it looks to have something similar in tone. He definitely seems to be aiming for an older audience and I'm really curious what other inspirations he's using(hopefully Blade Runner).

If this works out well though, I can easily see it blowing up(popularity-wise). I'm much less interested in how creative it is but rather how well-executed it is.

 

[duckroll]

I edited to explain what I meant!

Well, I'll just put it to you this way: No one gives a fuck if you are interested in it or not. You asked "remind me again why should we be interested in this?", and people told you why those who are interested, are interested. You then proceeded to attempt to poke holes into why it is not exciting, without knowing anything about the subject. Do you not see how self-serving and pointless your acts are? It is not a social activity, you're just trying to show everyone how ignorant and apathetic you are, and wanting people to acknowledge that, as if it really matters to us that YOU in particular care about it. Pro-tip: we don't.

 

[jman2050]

I feel like a total outsider for being a fence sitter on Hyouka.

It is what it is I guess. I haven't even been motivated to write episode impressions.

 

[Necrovex]

I just realized the English opening of Rave Master was made by Reel Big Fish. I didn't think 4Kids would actually get that band to create the opening theme.

...I miss the anime version of Rave Master.

 

[Canis lupus]

late 80s - early 90s anime got away with some of the most risqué things I've ever seen like that. I think ninja resurection had one of the most shocking scenes I've seen to date in any anime.

Woah, I hadn't heard of that before, adding on my backlog. :/

 

[BluWacky]

Thanks for all the in depth research on Psycho-Pass, ducky. I'm very excited about the show and all the extra information isn't helping

A few comments/questions on what you've dug up:

SP ran for 11 episode on FujiTV in from Nov 2007 to Jan 2008 at 11pm on Saturdays. Even at a later than normal time slot for J-Dramas, the series had ratings of 15.4 on average, with the lowest rating episode being 12.6, and the highest being 18.9 (the finale). A 130min special compilation TV movie later that year got ratings of 21.5.

It's also worth noting that SP is a "high concept" detective drama about a detective with ESP, which suggests that Motohiro does at least have some experience with a similar kind of story (leaving aside his other genre works).

I agree that Motohiro's name adds legitimacy to the project in the way that IG's own staff wouldn't manage. I didn't realise he'd directed Summer Time Machine Blues, which I've been meaning to watch for a few years.

Urobuchi was certainly brought in because of his rising success in the more otaku-centric circles last year with both Madoka, as well as Fate/Zero's adaptation.

I am a bit confused about what Urobuchi has worked on as English Wiki and J-Wiki give conflicting information. Do you know if he has actually worked on any of Nitro+'s BL titles under the Chiral imprint? While his name will certainly bring in male otaku interest (and obviously Fate/Zero has generated some interest from a female audience), I was wondering whether he would have enough "cross over" appeal. I guess Amano's designs will be more of a draw here for girls but it was something I was wondering about.

It's going to be interesting to see how the show actually ends up looking like, and whether it is any good at all. While there is definitely a danger of something being too "designed for success" and losing sight of actually being creative, it is also refreshing to see an anime project being put together in an unorthodox way.

Psycho-Pass reminds me a little - but only a little - of Eden of the East. Elements of their construction are similar - mangaka known for popularity amongst female audiences providing character designs, near-future thriller plotlines, Production IG animating.

Regardless of the quality of the end product, I'm very impressed with the work Fuji TV et al have put into promoting the show so far.

 

[duckroll]

Well my first inclination is whether most people consider the productions, that Motohiro worked on, were actually good. The second inclination is whether Motohiro helped those works or were they popular despite him. If you have any info on his directing style then that might give some insight (like he's hands-on). Also what was the tone in the previous works? If there is a big genre shift then Motohiro might not be able to adapt.

I can't really speak for his films or shows since I'm not familiar with them, but here's an interview with him in English: http://www.midnighteye.com/interviews/katsuyuki-motohiro/

That site also has reviews of some of his movies, so maybe you'll find that helpful.

Urobuchi mentioning that he went to IG because of Ghost in the Shell is great news as it looks to have something similar in tone. He definitely seems to be aiming for an older audience and I'm really curious what other inspirations he's using(hopefully Blade Runner).

Sorry for the confusion, but Urobuchi didn't say that. I was talking about a Newtype interview with the FujiTV producer of the noitaminA block. He was the one who approached IG. Butch is a Nitroplus writer. There are no interviews with him on the show yet because the main staff have not actually been announced. Lol.

 

[darkside31337]

Natsuyuki Rendezvous 10

Glad to see Hazuki finally grow a pair. Shimao needs to be sent back to hell, one of the biggest assholes I've ever seen in anime. Unfortunately Hazuki will forgive the lad for all his transgressions which is unfortunate, but hopefully Rokka sends him packing as the ending of this episode would indicate.

 

[duckroll]

I am a bit confused about what Urobuchi has worked on as English Wiki and J-Wiki give conflicting information. Do you know if he has actually worked on any of Nitro+'s BL titles under the Chiral imprint? While his name will certainly bring in male otaku interest (and obviously Fate/Zero has generated some interest from a female audience), I was wondering whether he would have enough "cross over" appeal. I guess Amano's designs will be more of a draw here for girls but it was something I was wondering about.

I'm not that familiar with his VN work outside of Phantom and Saya no Uta, but I'm much more familiar with his original anime work. I'll say that given the sort of style he has with writing characters, there's definitely a crossover appeal for fujoshi audiences who might be interested in the series based on Amano's design contributions. Blassreiter and Fate/Zero both contain the sort of male characters and relationships which appeal to BL fans.

 

[RurouniZel]

I feel like a total outsider for being a fence sitter on Hyouka.

It is what it is I guess. I haven't even been motivated to write episode impressions.

You're just conserving energy. ;P

 

[Westlo]

Sword Art Online 4

Silica is pretty awesome, nice choice in outfit for her Kirito. Hopefully we see more of her later on, also $5 his sister/cousin somehow becomes involved in SAO.

Sword Art Online 5

Pretty mediocre episode, feels like some filler crap.

#Team Asuna.

My Little Sister Works for Nintendo and Told me the Next Zelda Game is Going to be the Best One Ever!

My Little Sister reviewed the latest Zelda game and gave it a score of 8.8

 

[duckroll]

More like Assuna. Amirite?

 

[yn-neko hates a cat]

SAO is just so pretty some times <3

 

[amishpriest99]

In an interview with the FujiTV producer in one of the mags this month, he also mentioned that he approached Production IG specifically because he thought they had an idea which could have the appeal of Ghost of the Shell, indicating that they're looking to target fans of the series, or cyberpunk in general, both in Japan and overseas.

It's going to be interesting to see how the show actually ends up looking like, and whether it is any good at all. While there is definitely a danger of something being too "designed for success" and losing sight of actually being creative, it is also refreshing to see an anime project being put together in an unorthodox way.

Good stuff, duckroll. My hype levels are definitely rising, as is my hope that this will turn out well.

 

[Kazzy]

Tari Tari 11

Taichi continues to be the neglected character of the show, so very much.

Well, there's nothing much to say about this episode, except that it was pretty much putting the the pieces into place for the finale. The lull in the story allowed to ruminate on the one burning question of the series, why is the principal's hair so goofy? I'm suprised that its never been mentioned, but it continues to entertain and bemuse me in equal measure.

Overall, it felt especially workmanlike after coming off the back of last week's Wien-fuelled awesomeness.I'm still enjoying it, although I'm pretty much satisfied at this point, and ready to see it conclude.

Spoiler

No! This is the end of the ridiculously spacious super-school?

Good episode. I didn't expect the twist to be that big.

There was a twist?!

 

[Envelope]

Well, I'll just put it to you this way: No one gives a fuck if you are interested in it or not. You asked "remind me again why should we be interested in this?", and people told you why those who are interested, are interested. You then proceeded to attempt to poke holes into why it is not exciting, without knowing anything about the subject. Do you not see how self-serving and pointless your acts are? It is not a social activity, you're just trying to show everyone how ignorant and apathetic you are, and wanting people to acknowledge that, as if it really matters to us that YOU in particular care about it. Pro-tip: we don't.

Eh, if you say so.

 

[Pooya]

More like Assuna. Amirite?

wrong, it's hidden in her name as it is, you just have to read it right. excuse me now :\

 

[kayos90]

SAO is just so pretty some times <3

Too bad all the earlier episodes boiled down to still-shots.

 

[Jarmel]

I can't really speak for his films or shows since I'm not familiar with them, but here's an interview with him in English: http://www.midnighteye.com/interviews/katsuyuki-motohiro/

That site also has reviews of some of his movies, so maybe you'll find that helpful.

Thanks for the link. It showed that he has done short anime works in the past and is atleast lightly familiar with the medium. I found his line about the composers fairly interesting as it stands in stark contrast to Nolan. It also demonstrated how he's aware of the differences between television and cinema, in regards to scope, which shows knowledge about the differences and limitations in those particular mediums. What is fairly interesting is this quote.

I'm fascinated by organisations. Everybody is in some way part of an organisation. If you have an organisational structure, there are people at the top and at the bottom. But for a comedy, the people in the middle are the most interesting ones. Because their position is not as clear as those who are at the top or the bottom. They have relations with those above and those beneath them, which allows you to develop very funny situations. Often, the top turns out to be the villain, but I like to focus on those people in the middle.

In this respect I also like films that give the audience a lot of information. This is even more true for foreign audiences watching a Japanese film. People are confronted with a lot of images and information and they get a little bit confused, which makes their position also a little bit unclear, just like the characters.

I was going under the impression that this was Urobuchi's idea and he was the one who pitched it due to how well it seems like something Urobuchi would create. Instead it seems like this is Motohiro's pet project and he chose Urobuchi because of Urobuchi's past works. It would also fit Motohiro's line about finding the right composers for each project, to writers.

Bayside Shakedown it seems is considered light-hearted. He also likes his sci-fi references, in that he references BttF in Summer Time Machine Blues. That almost certainly means he's seen Blade Runner and atleast doesn't mind mentioning western influences. So he's mostly known for comedic production, which is why Shiotani and Urobuchi might be very crucial for PP. I'm not sure if that site is a good indicator of the general impressions of his works though.

 

[Chet Rippo]

That feeling when you realize we will never be able to enjoy this product of grorious nihon culture in English.

I'll never give up hope!

Oh my lord! What is that?

Senran Kagura.

Well, there's always the upcoming anime.

Yes, and it will be glorious.

 

[Risette]

Staff isn't the best barometer for determining if something will actually be good.

Yes it is.

 

[duckroll]

I was going under the impression that this was Urobuchi's idea and he was the one who pitched it due to how well it seems like something Urobuchi would create. Instead it seems like this is Motohiro's pet project and he chose Urobuchi because Urobuchi's past works. It would also fit Motohiro's line about finding the right composers for each project, to writers.

I don't think this show is any single one person's "idea" so much as something which was put together by the staff gathered by FujiTV noitaminA producer Koji Yamamoto. We'll know more when they reveal the staff officially (hopefully this week), since each time they reveal new staff members there are quotes from the staff about how they got into the project.

We know for a fact that Yamamoto was the one who approached Amano to do the designs, and he approached Takeshi Wada at Production IG based on their experienced on GitS. Wada is also the producer who runs Wit Studio now, and he's the IG producer on both Robotics;Notes and Psycho-Pass.

 

[/XX/]

Eh, if you say so.

Envelope, give a look at some of the miscellaneous The Five Star Stories material available that could give you that sense of such accomplished universe I think this project has. Basically, something like this for starters:

Five Star Stories - GEARS Online
http://www.gearsonline.net/series/fivestarstories/

Seeing it maybe you start liking what this offers, and makes you check out this work as a whole. Give it a try, please! I recommend it to you personally.

 

[kayos90]

Yes it is.

I can't tell if you're being serious....

 

[Hellsing321]

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s162/maikeru_01/3be.gif

That feeling when you realize we will never be able to enjoy this product of grorious nihon culture in English.

 

[Risette]

I can't tell if you're being serious....

When am I not serious?

 

[kayos90]

When am I not serious?

I... don't know? Fuck. I'm so confused now... Btw, is your avatar picture really how you look?

 

[Risette]

I... don't know? Fuck. I'm so confused now... Btw, is your avatar picture really how you look?

That's not me.

 

[Envelope]

Skip Beat 1-8

I found this while randomly browsing through CR's selection, and since I enjoyed the manga for a while until it got too dull and repetitive, I gave it a try.

As far as the manga goes I really liked Kyouko, the heroine, until she started getting boring and too stereotypical. Her driving force is a burning desire for revenge against the boys in her life, which made a welcome change from the typical "girl falls in love with tall dark bishounen who is a jerk and treats her poorly but she loves him anyway". Her character transferred quite nicely to the anime, her voice actress plays the role well. Even though Kyouko feels like a unique heroine for a shoujo series, she still runs into one of the worst offenders, where no matter how badass she is, or how hard she tries, she can never win. The hero will always sweep in at the last minute and upset her somehow. It's somewhat similar to Kaichou Wa Maid-sama in that regard, although there's a lot more romance in Maid-sama than in Skip Beat, especially early on.

The adaption feels rather mundane, gag panels from the manga are played out for far too long, the art can get really poor at times, the animation, backgrounds, direction, etc all feel uninspired. On the bright side, the pacing is quite good, the main arc I saw went on for several more episodes than I would have expected it to, but it didn't feel slow or drawn out. One of the few positive aspects of the annoying gags is that they do help keep the drama from being far too melodramatic, but that isn't really enough to cancel out the fact that they exist in the first place.

Despite the rather average adaption, I really did enjoy this, simply because it's fun seeing a manga I enjoy in motion. Kyouko's presentation in the anime really shines, especially as she's really the only aspect that makes Skip Beat feel different from a bog-standard shoujo. I would probably still recommend to others to watch Maid-Sama instead, simply because JC Staff did an excellent job with the production there, while Skip beat is quite lacking in that regard, but if you enjoyed the manga like I did, or want to see a shoujo with a bit of a twist, I'd recommend you at least give this a try.