Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: The Elusive Samurai
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Otohiko
 Posts: 35 |
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Having done the whole "watch first episode of every new show this season" over the weekend, this was the one show where I literally went "WOW", and more than once. I've seen a ton of historical dramas (anime and otherwise), it's honestly such a breath of fresh air to see something so fun and vibrant for a change. Even in the scenes where things went really dark, it didn't descend into black-and-white or muddled sepia. It's an awesome reminder that historical stuff (loosely historical though it may be) doesn't have to take itself so seriously that it forgets to look good.
Haven't seen the other episodes yet, but I look forward to them. Last edited by Otohiko on Mon Jul 22, 2024 3:58 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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FishLion
 Posts: 266 |
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I'm so glad to see this premiere! It has been excellent so far, also glad that I'm not the only one willing to fight to the death for these little guys. It's interesting to find out the game visuals are based on an actual game, that tracks with the themes though. In this case, it seems war is being compared to a money game, everyone is rushing for their slice of the spoils whether that is being a conqueror, getting status, or making money. Tokiyuki is forced to play the game, but he doesn't have the same win conditions as everyone else, he is figuring out how to achieve his goals on the same board as them but he isn't trying to gather the most power he can like others, he is simply trying to survive.
Very excited to see how this develops! |
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ab2143
Posts: 760 |
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I forgot how annoying Yorishige was at the beginning of the series lol. One of my favourite gags is him pulling on his braid to dim / switch off his brightness lmao
Got the best ED of the season imo |
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ktarf
Posts: 45 |
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Yorishige feels a bit like a discount Korosensei so far, as well as the general mood resembles Assassination Classroom but without the perfect balance that made it such a masterpiece. It's still really good, and maybe my expectations were unfair because of my deep admiration of the author's previous work.
Visually though, I can't stress enough how beautiful it looks. I never imagined CloverWorks would pull this off, but really, the fluidity, colors, different styles, it's glorious. Also, I really appreciate the on-screen gore that made the decapitation scenes very impactful. |
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FilthyCasual
Posts: 2412 |
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I'm frankly shocked by how amazing this looks.
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dm
 Subscriber Posts: 1480 |
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I’ve been enjoying the manga, though I do find Yoroshige’s antics to be a bit much.
So, the moment that stood out for me in the first episode was waiting for the ball to come down off the roof, and having the scene quick cut to a falling head. “Ah. I guess the coup against the Hojo is going to start now.” Shocking. Memorable. That bit of directing will stand out for me as one of the great (or at least noteworthy) visual moments of anime. |
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Thesarum
Subscriber Posts: 540 |
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This anime in motion is so joyous.
Yorishige is pretty much never not jarring. Wacky and weird and loud at the worst times then suddenly calm and insightful when you least expect it. I guess it wouldn't be to everyone's taste, but so far I've found it excellent. |
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OpenYourEels4TheNextFeels
Posts: 141 |
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Heads up that if you Wikipedia search for "Suwa Yorishige", the only English article is for a different guy from the Sengoku era with same name (& not even just that their names have the same spelling when Romanized into English, we're talking exact same Kanji here; both are "諏訪頼重"). The one in this show is based on the one described in "Suwa Daimyōjin Ekotoba".
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OpenYourEels4TheNextFeels
Posts: 141 |
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Somewhat important narration about Yorishige from the manga chapter the first half of episode 3 is adapted from: spoiler[
During this era of Japanese history, people believed in Arahitogami. Arahitogami were human beings worshipped as gods, and three were most prominent. One was the emperor in Kyo. Another was the high priest of Izumo grand shrine. And the last, was the high priest of Suwa shrine. That individual fulfilled the roles of general, priest, and deity. He was a feudal lord of exceptional status. Thus, the god Suwa Myojin resided within Yorishige, making him an object of veneration in this region.] (Probably will not being getting adapted later, so it's not really spoilers, but spoiler tagging anyways just in case) |
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dm
Subscriber Posts: 1480 |
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Episode 4
Ah, yes. We've got to the first of the not-quite-body-horror antagonists. It's not Ninja Scroll, but it still seems weird to me (telling you that I haven't read much shonen manga without saying I haven't read much Shonen manga, I guess). So : shouldn't Tokiyuki stop wearing pants with the Hojo crest, if he's in hiding? |
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OpenYourEels4TheNextFeels
Posts: 141 |
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dm
Subscriber Posts: 1480 |
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Ah, the triangles are individually rotated.
I guess the visual elements of crests are simplified enough that the difference is significant and the presence of three triangles isn’t completely explicit. Still, you’d kind of expect him to disguise himself with a Suwa crest, under the circumstances. |
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NeverConvex
 Subscriber Posts: 2559 |
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The protagonist being really into risking his life is a hilarious eccentricity. I didn't really think it would work at all, but it never fails to entertain me when the show leans into it.
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malvarez1
Posts: 2145 |
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The animation has been mostly excellent so far, but the CGI horse thing is a legit concern. As a manga reader, I can safely say that we have many, many scenes coming up that involve horseback riding.
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OpenYourEels4TheNextFeels
Posts: 141 |
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Personally I think Tokiyuki's CGI model looked pretty good, but Sadamune's was a big step down compared to his 2D appearance. I think it would have looked a lot better if they had included all the thick shading lines that are normally on his face, but I saw some analysis on social media speculating that they only made a close-up & super-far-distance version of the model, so if they gave the close-up model all the face lines it would probably look like black blob at middle distance. I'm hoping what happened is that they super prioritized making Tokiyuki's CGI model as good as possible because they knew they would be reusing it more, and that's the reason Sadamune's suffered in comparison. The actual quality of animation in 3D Sadamune's movements is something I hope will not be representative of how all 3D horse-sequences will go though, since that was just plain lacking. Hopefully it's something the staff can improve at over time.
The Horses themselves actually looked really good. If Studio EXSA (the studio apparently handling the 3D CGI sequences) can hone their horse animating skill on Elusive Samurai, I could see a future where they get contracted to do the horses on JoJo's part 7 one day. |
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