Forum - View topicThis Week in Anime - The Dynamic Direction of Mamoru Hatakeyama
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FilthyCasual
Posts: 2417 |
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Wow, that's a lot of OVAs to check out.
Will Spy Classroom season 2 get a season review? |
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fathomlessblue
 Posts: 391 Location: Manchester, UK |
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Huh, I knew he used to work at Shaft, but I've long since forgotten he was actually Shinichi Omata. That certainly helps create a strong tie between Arakawa Under the Bridge & what came after.
I recall people standing up and taking notice of Hatakeyama when Sankarea came out, both because it was the first example in a long time of a Deen show having a strong production, & that even to a relative newbie like me it was one of the most pronounced examples of a strong directorial vision elevating somewhat middling source material. From what I read, Sankarea was a pretty standard horny rom-com, but with several pretty irresponsible & iffy concepts & messages strewn in (eg. anything involving the [expletive] dad), however, the adaptation really ampted up the sense of uneasiness regarding how the cast treated the female lead, to the point it felt it was specifically criticizing the protagonist for his unhealthy objectification. Unfortunately the show fell apart a little by the end, with the needs of the plot directly clashing with the tone Hatakeyama presented. In the end his directorial pedigree couldn't quite alter Sankarea from the authorial intent. Something similar also occurred with Rozen Maiden Zurückspulen, which was most a sort of au side-story/sequel to the original franchise, although at least this time the mangaka was definitively behind the change. As someone who watched the original two series & honestly thought they represented some of the worst examples of mid-00's moe tropes (back when that term was spoken like a curse), I was utterly shocked to find Zurückspulen to be a moody & thoughtful character drama about someone pulling themselves out of a spiral. Again, the dolls do eventually come in & take over the story in the final third, but like Sankarea, it didn't diminish Hatakeyama's efforts to elevate the material. Unfortunately, the problem with Zurückspulen is that it effectively acts as a third season in the Rozen Maiden franchise. This normally wouldn't be a an issue, however, by the time of the second season, the adaptation had ran out of material, & as was popular in the 00's, the staff started creating their own story, in which events & characters deviated greatly from the source. As a result, the first episode of Zurückspulen serves as a condensed recap of the story, both for the earlier events the first season covered, & for the manga specific twists that came after. It's like if someone was to create an ambitious follow up to the Fullmetal Alchemist manga, however Brotherhood hadn't been created, so you were just given a condensed summary of the original story, including all the radically different manga-specific events & people that showed up after the introduction of Greed. It's a pretty great show, but asking people to sit through the pretty mediocre 00's seasons, then a recap of manga events is a hell of a barrier of entry. I really like it, but it's nearly impossible to recommend unless you're really committed. |
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MarshalBanana
 Posts: 5524 |
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So he is a protege of Akiyuki Simbo? Only without the distinctive style.
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fathomlessblue
Posts: 391 Location: Manchester, UK |
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There's probably some truth to that, although I appreciate that Hatakeyama appears to be both a lot more ambitious & thoughtful concerning what he learned. So on one hand you have the wildly inventive & experimental kitchen sink approach to comedy in Kaguya, & on the other, the more reserved & muted period piece aesthetic of Rakugo, with its reliance on body language. It's a shame Shinbo hasn't also managed to branch off in the same way, instead turning his aesthetic into the studio house-style. He also doesn't seem to have some of Shinbo's predilections regarding fanservice, although that one Kaguya ova also certainly hints at having experience with hentai. I've only watched an old & speculative digibro/nee/? video regarding Shinbo's mid-00's porno output, so I can't speak to that with any confidence |
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