Forum - View topicDies irae (TV).
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Stark700
 Posts: 11762 Location: Earth |
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Dies irae (TV) Genres: Action, Super Power, Magic Themes: Plot Summary: On May 1, 1945 in Berlin, as the Red Army raises the Soviet flag over the Reichskanzlei, a group of Nazi officers conduct a ritual. For them, the slaughter in the city is nothing but the perfect ritual sacrifice in order to bring back the Order of the 13 Lances, a group of supermen whose coming would bring the world's destruction. Years later, no one knows if this group of officers succeeded, or whether they lived or died. Few know of their existence, and even those who knew began to pass away as the decades passed. Now in December in the present day in Suwahara City, Ren Fujii spends his days at the hospital. Every night he sees the same dream: A guillotine. Murderers who hunt people, and the black clothed knights who pursue the murderers. He is desperate to return to his normal, everyday life, but even now he hears his friend Shirō's words: "Everyone who remains in this city eventually loses their minds." ---------------------------------- Visual novel adaptation coming for Fall 2017. |
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Stark700
Posts: 11762 Location: Earth |
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First episode is out today.
Apparently, this anime will be 18 episodes (12 + 6) |
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Harleyquin
Posts: 2969 |
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#0
I've been looking forward to this since it was first announced two years ago during the Kickstarter campaign. Light's attempt to follow in the footsteps of Key and Type/Moon more or less hinges on whether their most successful work captures the imagination of the general audience beyond that of their fanbase. Based on this first episode, fans will be very pleased with what they see but the episode doesn't really do much to alleviate the series' biggest weakness: its extremely slow start. Based on the first scene alone, it's almost a given which route the animators have decided to adapt. It's possible they'll mix in elements of the other routes along the way, but there were only ever two candidates for the finale and it's more or less confirmed as far as the fans are concerned. To be honest, I'd expected the first episode to start with the famous monologue which starts the game. Perhaps a good choice for the animators not to use it since it's really long and probably off-putting for the casual viewer. I AM impressed they chose the 1939 side-story and then summarised the prologue in one episode, doing enough to please the fans and hopefully enough to keep casual viewers interested to continue. Good to discover two of the game's more memorable tracks have made it to the animated adaptation. Hope to hear more of the same. The ED song is probably going to be the OP from next week onwards. Sakikabara Yui has done the OP numbers for the game's iterations down the years and there's no way they could pass on giving her the opportunity to sing the animated adaptation's OP. I prefer the game versions, but the new song they've done specially for this adaptation has the same tone and atmosphere as its predecessors. |
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Dessa
 Posts: 4438 |
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So I'm assuming that this Episode 0 was the ritual that happened way back when, and from episode 1 on will be the present-day stuff? 0 didn't really do anything for me, but I'll try episode 1.
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DuskyPredator
 Posts: 15576 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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It is like someone watched Hellsing and thought that they could make better Nazi super beings.
And really, episode 0 did not make a huge amount of sense. Like who were those people who suddenly started fighting each other? Why did their fight spill over to where the Nazi general guy is? Why did people assume those two were after the Nazi guy, when it just seemed incidental? Why is worried about destroying the world by trying? Where did the priest and that other woman fit into things for being there? Why is there a golden floating Nazi city that can go through portals for some reason? Why are they trying to make Nazis look so glamorous? |
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Harleyquin
Posts: 2969 |
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Reactions from this website's reviewers and others unfamiliar with this game are as I expected. The Nazi imagery was always going to be a turn-off even though its importance is really just to provide context and background to the Thirteen. Like many of the shows I follow, there's always been a disconnect between what North American and Western Europe viewers demand and expect compared to other regions. All of the questions are answered by the end of the series, which assumes casual viewers bothered to stick around to the end. Episode #1 switches the action to 60 years after the events in 1945. |
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Harleyquin
Posts: 2969 |
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#1
Anyone unfamiliar with the source material would have been scratching their heads for most of this episode, wondering what the connection was between last week's episode #0 and this week. The very last scene connects the two together. As to why Nazi war criminals who performed an occult rite in Berlin 1945 can reappear seemingly unchanged after 60 years is something that will be explained over the next few episodes. As expected, no action this week since it's closely tied to the pacing of the source material. The fun starts next week. Fujii Ren, Ayase Kasumi, Himuro Rea, Yuusa Shirou, Marie (Guillotine Girl) and Sakurai Kei (the girl who asks Rea for directions towards the end of the episode) make their debuts. The credits roll is interesting for two reasons: 1. Because this was a crowdfunded venture and not something with the normal budget of a regular anime adaptation, it's just a credit roll with a song in the background. It's been a long time since I've seen a series with no ED animation. 2. The final part of the credits roll lists all of the backers who funded the project back in 2015. It's not a short list. Because of the average cost of anime episodes relative to what was raised in the crowdfunding exercise, they've managed to pull off the entire series by outsourcing a lot of the work to one of mainland China's numerous animation studios. Obviously those spoiled for quality by the AAA releases this season will turn their noses up at this series unless they were fans of the franchise to begin with. I can't remember how well the common route did at pulling casual fans via Steam, but if that advertising campaign didn't take off then this series won't reach the mainstream popularity that Light craves. |
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Harleyquin
Posts: 2969 |
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#2
Despite the short action scene, the pacing is probably still too slow for casual viewers. Little hints dropped here and there probably won't appeal to those unfamiliar with the franchise since there isn't much of a hook to keep them interested. To top it off, there's a little reminder that the two dressed in military garb really are wanted Nazi war criminals; which is going to remind many of what was for them a most unfavourable starting episode. Different viewpoint as far as fans are concerned, since the early part of the common route is easily the slowest and weakest part of the whole story. The animators haven't really missed anything important from the early parts while an attempt has been made to fit everything in which will be relevant later on in some form or another. By the looks of things, next week will be make or break for this series. Fans will stick around to various degrees, but casual viewers will have dropped it for a whole variety of reasons unless something drastic occurs. |
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DuskyPredator
Posts: 15576 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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I think it was the pacing too which I was finding is being off, that the way it is done not cohesive for building interest. There is keeping some mystery for the whole story, and then there is our main character being in bed, then at the scene of a murder at the park, then in the park as if waking from a dream, then back in his bed in the morning. I am sure part of the mystery is why he ended up there, but the plot points did not flow together very well after everything else that happened earlier in the episode. It is not quite in the way of being frantic that it could play off in being dream like, it feels like there should have at least been a scene of him getting back from the park.
And, what is with how they are pronouncing "Theresa"? Not sure if I have heard it pronounced with an "f" sound before. |
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Harleyquin
Posts: 2969 |
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I heard "Te-re-shi-a" from both Fujii Ren and Father Trifa. Riza called her "Rea". |
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Blood-
 Bargain Hunter Posts: 24165 |
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I am completely unfamiliar with the visual novel, which clearly is not helpful when trying to make heads or tails out of the material, but it still is interesting enough for me to continue watching.
One thing I will say that is kind of impressive is that the crowdfunding effort that allowed the series to be made (at apparently 18 episodes) raised slightly less than $800,000 USD. From what I understand, that is anywhere from half to a third of a production budget for a "normal" 1-cours show. Given that, the show actually doesn't look as bad as I might have assumed it would. I also wonder if this is the first instance of an anime TV series raising its budget via crowdfunding as opposed to anime movies or OVAs. |
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Dessa
Posts: 4438 |
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Took 3 episodes, but I'm finally interested in this. We'll have to see where it goes from here.
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Harleyquin
Posts: 2969 |
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#03
At long last the common route has finished and the game truly begins. So the cause of the brutal murders is revealed and it's an unlikely culprit. Fortunately for her no one has figured out she's responsible and there's no physical proof (since the guillotine blades don't leave fingerprints or DNA) tying her to the murders. Although overly dramatic and over-the-top, Mercurius likes doing things his way since he's seen it all before. Now that he's fired the starting gun, the game involving the swastikas and the Order introduced in episode #0 begins with Ren in the middle of it all and with no allies to call upon. Anyone's who had the patience to sit through everything to date should start to enjoy it more hopefully. The slowest and weakest part of the series is now finished and it's time to see the Order strut its stuff. |
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DuskyPredator
Posts: 15576 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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Hopefully, because so far this show has been pure nonsense. It throws out all sorts of things that it does not feel like there is a clean common thread. Sure we found out who was causing the murders, but the way it showed itself does not feel coherent. Why did he wake up in the park again and start looking for the girl? Was he with her up until in the park before going to sleep? Did he follow her there? Is he sleep walking, and knows it is because he was following her? It just does not flow together and makes me confused, not in a good way. She caused that destruction and his response is that she should rest while he cleans up? How does he clean/fix that? I am sure someone should make a big deal out of it. Also, is there now a sliced in half desk in the classroom? I imagine it could not be so easily fixed and would actually cause a huge stir. Did no one see the evil shadows go down the sides of the school? You said that there would be no evidence of her committing murders, but if she is just walking places in a trance I imagine she would have been caught on camera around the murder scenes several times. So far it has been pretty terrible, there would have to be a big shift for it even start to feel coherent. |
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 24165 |
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The low production budget seemed particularly in evidence in episode 3. Lots of non-animation with panning moves to give the impression of motion. Lots of dialogue over still images to save on the expense of animating lip flaps. Still, slack has to be given considering the show is operating at anywhere from half to perhaps even a third of a "normal" budget and even "normal" anime budgets aren't lavish.
I still haven't really figured out what the deal of the game is, but I imagine that might become clearer as time goes on. |
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