Anime Thigh Thread II

[Sesto]

Re-Creators 14 - Honestly, I really dislike this 'creator' pandering shit. It honestly feels like circlejerk masturbatory material for people in the industry so they can pat themselves on the back and pretend their work is something more than it is. It's part of the reason why I hate Saekano's serious parts, because that show was chalk full of this stuff.

This show is pretty bad overall but it'd be better if they just focused on the creations. I really don't care about the creators at all.

[Shinzai]

Re-Creators 14 - Honestly, I really dislike this 'creator' pandering shit. It honestly feels like circlejerk masturbatory material for people in the industry so they can pat themselves on the back and pretend their work is something more than it is. It's part of the reason why I hate Saekano's serious parts, because that show was chalk full of this stuff.

This show is pretty bad overall but it'd be better if they just focused on the creations. I really don't care about the creators at all.

I actually stopped watching it quite early on because of this.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

End spoilers for IBO fans

Spoiler: 

Rustal for President!

- - - Updated - - -

Quite interesting to see how people proclaimed Re:Creators to be a fantastic show when it first aired, only to be bashing it a few months later.

[Deleted]

Quite interesting to see how people proclaimed Re:Creators to be a fantastic show when it first aired, only to be bashing it a few months later.

Looked promising, turned out to be disappointing. Nothing new or particularly surprising. Several of those each season.

[Schirmy]

Quite interesting to see how people proclaimed Re:Creators to be a fantastic show when it first aired, only to be bashing it a few months later.

This happens every season bro.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

This happens every season bro.

I've just never seen this much backlash on the thread since Kabaneri and Aldnoah.

[Sesto]

If you think that it's bad you should probably drop it. It's better than making disparaging remarks about it every other week. I don't think it's great either, but I still enjoy it to a certain degree.

I still enjoy it somewhat, at least enough to not drop it. I'm just annoyed it ended up being so crappy despite its production values.

[Shinzai]

This was actually a pretty fascinating read:

What The Heck Happened To Berserk?

[Shinzai]

Yeah, that article sparked a little bit of discussion in discord earlier.

Spoiler: 

Enjeh - Today at 4:24 PM
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/feat...erserk/.117834
Anime News Network
What the Heck Happened to Berserk?

Dad pls - Today at 4:43 PM
looks like complete shit

Neichus - Today at 4:44 PM
That was a pretty good read. I saw that article listed before, but only just now bothered to finish it.

goriq - Today at 4:56 PM
all they had to do was to look at the 90s anime and see where modern animation techniques could have improved on that
that's it
3D is certainly not the way to anime one of the grittiest stories in anime and manga

Neichus - Today at 4:57 PM
Yeah. Did you watch the "Berserk is Unadaptable" video, goriq?

goriq - Today at 4:57 PM
I also don't understand how 3D is supposed to be able catch the detail of the art more accurately than 2D
no, I haven't
because I disagree with the title
Neichus - Today at 4:58 PM
It's actually more nuanced than his title says
More accurately, he thinks that Berserk is unadaptable using modern styles, with special difficulty given to certain elements of how the manga flows.

goriq - Today at 4:58 PM
Berserk is not unadaptable, the 90s did a good job aside from the scrolling stills, but modern animation could remedy that. It's not like they don't have a huge budget available for one of the longest running and most successful manga.

Neichus - Today at 4:59 PM
It's funny you mention the scrolling stills; the video argues that's why the 97 adaptation was more faithful in some regards

asetotti - Today at 4:59 PM
Japanese people have a special talent to fuck every budget up

Millhi - Today at 5:00 PM
they cant even budget majority of the times so yeah

Neichus - Today at 5:00 PM
I haven't watched the recent Berserk, nor have I read the manga, so here I am merely parroting opinions.

Millhi - Today at 5:00 PM
just look at that berserk article
they lost 6 months bcs diretor and staff were disagreeing on eachother

goriq - Today at 5:01 PM
sorry, had to go afk for a minute

Neichus - Today at 5:02 PM
But the crux of his argument is that Berserk thrives in a highly-detailed atmospheric setting. The older styles, which were often limited by budget and technique, lent themselves to drawing a "picturesque" style, where high-quality slides are produced then panned over, or where only small portions of the scene are animated.
Modern CGI has a "kinetic" style, in which everything is moving. But this lacks the ethos of the original, which has many panels that are meant to draw you in to just look. The frenetic motion interferes with the story, rather than aiding it.
I thought it was a good argument, but again I have no basis to judge its accuracy.

Millhi - Today at 5:03 PM
thats why itagaki wanted to make it a hybrid

goriq - Today at 5:03 PM
I mentioned the scrolling stills because a lot of people criticize the 90s anime for that, I personally don't mind them. I can understand why it would be hard to animate Berserk in a modern style as modern art is often digital and thus much cleaner and much more refined. The hand-drawn, raw look of the 90s anime was why it managed to capture the artstyle of Berserk so well. It wasn't completely faithful to the original art of course but it looked much better than what we have now.

Millhi - Today at 5:03 PM
whcih well failed
ive only seen part of the vid before i closed it
didnt feel like he was talking berserk cgi but just cgi in general

goriq - Today at 5:04 PM
I figured that it was more of clickbait title, but it's not exactly a short video so I didn't want to invest the time, especially considering that the damage is done and we can't fix it now.

Schirms - Today at 5:04 PM
Why do you guys think they went with a heavy CGI focus on Berserk?

goriq - Today at 5:04 PM
read the article and you'll know

Neichus - Today at 5:04 PM
Well, that part of his argument is what intrigued me the most. "We can animate everything" due to CGI seems to be an expression of what can be done, rather than what should be done.

Schirms - Today at 5:04 PM
no thanks

Neichus - Today at 5:06 PM
But yes, he was definitely talking about CG in general in that part.
It makes me wonder if something is lost in the transition. I never considered myself an animation traditionalist, but I've been thinking about it a bit since the video.

When I was growing up, I liked to play with Legos. One of the great pleasures of building with them were their limitations. It always irritated me when they just printed new pieces for things they needed, and inversely delighted me to see old pieces used in novel ways to achieve an effect.

goriq - Today at 5:08 PM
it is definitely not impossible to create incredible CG animations, just look at Blizzard cinematics, they've always been fantastic. It's just the japanese animation studios can't do it and seemingly don't want to learn how to do it either.

Millhi - Today at 5:09 PM
advent children
gantz O

goriq - Today at 5:09 PM
yeah
Millhi - Today at 5:09 PM
they certainly can

goriq - Today at 5:09 PM
but those are few and far in between
just look at the more recent examples

Neichus - Today at 5:09 PM
Something about the inherent limitations of the Legos gave them an...architectural aesthetic. Something that was uniquely their own, and that their very limitations were what were central to their charm. Traditional animation had certain limitations, which people learned to work around and work with. You wouldn't look at it and say, "these things made animation great," but at the same time I wonder if they didn't lend them much of their art as well.

goriq - Today at 5:09 PM
Kemono Friends, Knight of Sidonia, Frame Arms Girl, KADO (from what I've heard)(edited)
that's not good looking CG
it is acceptable at best

Millhi - Today at 5:10 PM
they work with the same flow as tradional whic his the problem
cgi needs more frames per sec

Neichus - Today at 5:10 PM
KADO's CG is beautiful for certain things, but not humans. And unfortunately, humans are kind of central to most stories.
If it were a story about jellies and galaxies, KADO would be a visual masterpiece

Millhi - Today at 5:11 PM
koe no katachi's school walkway scene is a pretty good example of cgi and 2d mixed well

goriq - Today at 5:12 PM
I pretty much always notice when CGI is used
and that shouldn't be the case when you're bleding styles
whenever I see an anime with CG background characters, I always think "this will never be great" and it's always the case

Schirms - Today at 5:13 PM
give a japanese studio the financial means Blizzard has

Enjeh - Today at 5:13 PM
blizzard spend months on a single cinematic though

Schirms - Today at 5:13 PM
ez CGI niggy
goriq - Today at 5:13 PM
you don't use cost-efficient but sub-par looking techniques when you create something that you really care about, something that is supposed to be long-lasting

Neichus - Today at 5:14 PM
But in a post-bubble anime economy, expedience seems to be king.

Millhi - Today at 5:14 PM
cg background chars are always iffy tbh

Some interesting stuff there on the Berserk part. No mention of Etotama by anyone though, probably the only anime series to actually get 3DCG perfect in an anime style:



The show was mostly garbage tier, but the 3D segments were amazing.



(Skipping the Made In Abyss part for now, going to watch it myself shortly.)

[Schirmy]

Feel free to critique, but I think Kakegurui is the real deal. Really tense and dramatic first episode coupled with a beautiful aesthetic. I'm down with the psychological mind games and the general focal point of the story. Hopefully this doesn't shit the bed.

[Shinzai]

Castlevania Episodes 1+2 - 7/10: Well. This isn't quite what I was expecting. I was thinking it would be another shit-tier Bayonetta/DMC anime, but this thing has some actual teeth to it and some great script writing. Dracula is painted as a recluse, whose ire is turned against mankind because of the trespasses of short-sighted religion and religiously motivated violence aimed at his love's scientific knowledge. It's interesting, as almost the entire episode is dedicated to a short character arc for Dracula, from passive and attempting to be understanding to irreverently genocidal.

In the second episode, we get to know Trevor Belmont, assumably the main protagonist of the show. As a Belmont, his family line is disrespected, having been associated with demons and their attacks, as his lineage has fought with them and brought their wrath down upon others. He's a rough and ready man, with a passive demeanour, though he's not opposed to flexing his monster hunting skills upon anyone who dares to trouble him. He's got little patience for the church as they've rolled his family name in filth.

Interestingly, though Trevor is well versed in religion, world politics and the hunting of monsters, he's also an alcoholic and somewhat nihilistic. He acts as though he cares little for the people he's meant to save, as he's become used to them caring little for him. He knows how to manipulate people and isn't in any rush to save the world. Instead, he comes across as much more of an every-man, rather than a stoic saviour of any sort, you could probably just about call him an anti-hero. He also has some amusing lines:

"Is that how you want it? I used to fight fucking vampires."

"I'm Trevor fucking Belmont and I've never lost a fight to man, or beast."

"A cyclops, right out of the family bestiary. God shits in my dinner once again."

The shows animation is fair enough, not amazing or anything, but a fine C~B-grade of quality. It's all fairly well drawn and looks nice enough, however Dracula's presentation is consistently impressive as he shifts forms, between a humanoid, a shifting face made of fire and his visage made of bats. They have some nice backgrounds and the general visual quality is good enough. The show is surprisingly violent too, being unafraid to show people torn in half, children eaten by monsters and other such.

The sound is fine and dandy, with nothing major, or of note to report, the music mostly being a fairly typical orchestral score. It sets the tone well and the sounds are accurate to what you would expect.

So far, the show is entertaining and has a lot of potential. It's interesting that the first two episodes are 90% character building, with some brief other events mixed in. I was expecting something a lot less talky and a lot more cheesy-action. I'll be interested to see more, as apparently the second season has already been green-lit.

[bals]

rin tohsaka won /r/animes best girl contest this year
couldn't find a gif that could adequately display my disgust

[Val the Moofia Boss]

rin tohsaka won /r/animes best girl contest this year
couldn't find a gif that could adequately display my disgust

Who was your pick then?

[bals]

Who was your pick then?

it's not something I care too much about unless it's in regards to shitposting.

[Sesto]

well deserved imo

[bals]

db super 98 DANGERS' TRIANGLE. Them speaking of goku pacing himself this episode makes me wonder why he never did the same thing with god form as he did with ssj form before cell. also just a few random thoughts I've had recently. Does Goku actually have any techniques of his own? Everyone else seems to have their own techniques but Goku just has his strength and techniques he's learned from people. Since they mentioned the race that knows instant transmission at the tournament, why haven't more people learned instant transmission? Seems like Whis at least should know it. slightly too much thinking about a show that requires none. why did whis mention before freiza they need to learn to move their body without thinking then it was never brought up again.

[Artorius]

couldn't find a gif that could adequately display my disgust

[Sesto]

Fate/Apocrypha 02 - Ended up watching the raw because I couldn't wait. Animated Mordred is so great. Also I didn't really care for Astolfo before but he's pretty cute too.

[bals]

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/KhjbTsx.gif/IMG]

child rin was pretty cute

[Millhi]

Made in Abyss 01 - I thought this was a pretty good introductory episode. The opening sequence established the mysterious, uncharted atmosphere of the world quite well and there were some pretty striking shots such as the upward pan as Riko finds the passed out robot. I can't quite put my finger on why that part stood out to me but the burned treetop made for a memorable touch somehow. I don't know who it was that said that the art quality dropped at the end of the chase-sequence with the worm but it looked like an intentional change of style to me.

The transition into the OP was handled quite nicely and the song might grow on me. Placing the shift in tone from "action/mystery" to "lighthearted/adventure" after the OP was a good call. First they established the general feeling of the world and then introduce to the characters in a more relatable way.

We are shown that the kids, despite their optimistic disposition, are workers that live in a harsh orphanage.

Riko makes for a good main character so far and her happy-go-lucky attitude is endearing. Another aspect that I liked was the lack of exposition where it isn't needed. Right from the very start of the episode the show dumps a lot of world-related information on us such as "the Red Whistles" and "the 600 meter team". All of that is easily understood through the anime's show-don't-tell approach and makes the entire experience feel more genuine.

I will definitely keep watching this for now and I hope it'll be able to deliver. I was told that there are some questionable shots later on related to the fact that the main cast consists of children but I'll see how it is once I get there.

Yes the style change is intentional.

Aninari is in charge of the show’s bizarre monsters as their designer, and that gives him plenty of room to experiment with nightmarish creatures. Anime fans tend to hate different approaches on principle, but I can’t blame anyone put off by his sequence in this episode. No matter how you look at it, the otherworldly overfiltered creature isn’t aesthetically pleasing.

from Sakugablog Made in Abyss ep 1 production notes