Forum - View topicThe Spring 2009 Anime Preview Guide
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Swissman
Posts: 797 Location: Switzerland |
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Personally I understand the worries about bad quality control in terms of animation when there seems to be inconsistencies but I think it's silly to demand from animation studios that the animation in one single anime episode, in this case K-ON episode 1, has to be consistent at all cost and that stylistic choices must have specific underlying "reasons"; if not, it's supposed to be bad quality control. Tell that to animators with individual approaches to animation like Yamashita Masahito whose style is immediately recognizable in certain episodes from Urusei Yatsura or Seiya Numata for his animation outburts in Kannagi episode 2 or episodes in Ichigo Mashimaro.
People need to realise that, no matter how much anime is a merchandising product in the grand scheme of things, it still requires a lot of experience to actually animate characters for our enjoyment and some anime animators have made an art out of it over the years. They try distinctive approaches to animation for the sake of expression, for expressing what they think are interesting movements. K-ON has several scenes with interesting movements, DKL has pointed two of them out. In the end it's more a matter of taste than a matter of actual animation quality. For examples of bad animation control, of sakuga houkai (作画崩壊), look at the one short cut in Toradora episode 24 when Minori and Ryûji run out of the classroom to catch up Taiga or this example out of Shakugan no Shana II with two characters running around a corner (scroll down for the last gif). I think Westlo is right with his remark that Kyoto Animation used a "sketchy" approach to animation. I like this kind of approach to animation because for me it's more expressive and interesting than the normal "slick" looking approach. I like variation in anime, in several scenes in one single episodes or in the grand overall of a series (from the preview of the next K-ON episode it looks like they used a slightly different character design and animation; it looks a tad bit more cartoonish. Maybe every K-ON episode will have the trademark of its chief animation director). Moreover I think it's interesting to see how realistic the characters bodies have been drawn an animated, except for the usual cute anime faces and super deformed scenes of course. Last edited by Swissman on Sun Apr 05, 2009 6:22 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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DKL
 Posts: 1962 Location: California, USA |
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WOW... I like how Shana disappears right before they turn the corner.
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kyokun703
 Posts: 2505 Location: Orgrimmar |
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Even though "moeblobs" (lol) aren't my thing, I still may give Saki a try, just because I like mahjong. I don't know any of the scoring, just the very basics, but I still find it interesting.
Just need to find an avi or stream of it. Looking forward to FMA and Ristorante Paradiso so far; nothing else sounds vaguely interesting. Hoping for a Toradora! though, since these previews were how I found that last season (and what a treasure). |
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Ghiblix2
 Posts: 42 Location: San Diego |
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BTW Ausdoerrt TY for saying that I've "completely missed the point' in my comparison with Batman and K-On! Just what dictates necessary movement and adequate animation quality to make it deserving of the label 'well animated'? Frame rate perhaps or some other arbitrary measure you can compare with in a vacuum? If that were the case then already, Japanese animation loses to American animation by leaps and bounds. I brought up Batman not to compare the styles and say "hey look batman is inconsistent too" but rather to say, it appears to be inconsistent due to the adopted style and the perception the viewers may take in terms of the amount of effort and time that went into it.
But thank you ausdoerrt for assuming me to be the idiot. When it comes to animation, I find little thoughtful details and character movements that communicate or helps develops the viewer's understanding of the character is appropriate. Miyazaki makes amazing movies with excellent character flares that doesn't require the most amount of work or flashy effects to communicate a feeling well, not that he's a slacker of any sort, I just think he puts effort where he feels it deserves the most. Singers don't need to display the peak of their talent throughout the songs do they? Even music has its peaks and valleys, maybe you should keep that in mind because I'm going to hint at the fact that it pertains to more than just music. If you want intricate detail then is Japanese animation the way to go to begin with? Japan has specific and simple ways to communicate feelings like dread, anger, surprise, embarrassment and if these things along with over exaggerated physical features of characters in Japanese animation doesn't at least hint at their method of approach then maybe you're the one missing the point. But hey, maybe I should just be more anal when I'm watching shows, because I sure as hell don't see a problem with the animation in this case -- and that could just be my inability for sophisticated observation. Opinions, opinions. |
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maaya
Posts: 976 |
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I'm pretty sure the animation in K-On is completely intentional. Just like for Lucky Star they also intentionally chose a certain style, which was also called "bad animation". But we know very well, they could have done differently if they wanted (like Clannad or Kanon), but they didn't, because in their opinion this style matches this series better. Even if it might change depending on the episode.
On the other hand. Calling Phantom:
is really a big exaggeration as well. |
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Hazumu-san
 Posts: 76 Location: Michigan |
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I have enjoyed the conversations so far. It is interesting to see the opinions expressed. It is still disconcerting that people are still going on about Queens Blade. There has to be something more interesting to talk about. So far it doesn't seem, from the reviews, that there will be many big hits, this season. Oh well, that happens, you can't have great seasons all the time.
I wonder what other shows will be on soon. |
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Ausdoerrt
 Posts: 481 |
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Ghiblix2, this post:
Nothing else I can add that hasn't been said already. Inconsistency in quality or style during the episode is not excusable unless there is a specific purpose to it. There's no reason for it to happen in K-On! It's not horrible, but anyone actually praising them for it is outright ridiculous. As for the Miyazaki comparison, I think there should be no comparison. As far as I remember, most of the Miyazaki movies have not only well-animated characters, but also highly detailed and beautiful backdrops at a level that many other shows years later still struggle to achieve.
Dunno, I didn't think it was bad. It was a flashy episode about completely nothing, with questionable purpose. If anything, I've always valued FMA for story over action. Bones is also not at its best in terms of animating action sequences, but perhaps that's because they're trying to keep the same style as the last series (question: why?). If anything, the introduction ep was pretty unnecessary - boring for people who read the manga, and possibly confusing for those who didn't. Seeing how they're doing a flashback in the next ep, it seems like they're much less faithful to the manga than they originally promised, prety much the only reason I wanted to watch it. |
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animeboy12
Posts: 160 |
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I hope queen's blade is as bad as everyone says because most of the time when I'd seen an anime seires being bashed on a forum for being "bad it turns out out to be decent
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DomFortress
 Posts: 751 Location: Richmond BC, Canada |
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TatsuGero23
 Posts: 1277 Location: Sniper Island, USA (It's in your heart!) |
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I'm just surprised how many popular Seiyus they got for do Queen Blade. I was kind of caught off guard by all the blanant fanservice in the first 5 minutes of the series. Also is it considered an ecchi series or hentai series? Cause honestly they just might as well just move these series to a even later time block and stop playing around and get it done with.
In any case, yeah, I think the scores are pretty appropriate. |
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Megiddo
 Posts: 8360 Location: IL |
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So far my two favorites of this season (that have been aired) haven't been subbed yet: Senjou no Valkyria and Cross Game
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DomFortress
Posts: 751 Location: Richmond BC, Canada |
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Case
Posts: 1016 |
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So, as is his custom, Zac rails on K-ON and Asura Cryin' (and I'm sure there will be more) because of all their "stereotypical" characters and themes, but he's impressed by Dragonball Z Kai, a straight up edit of a 20 year old show, specifically praising its "high-quality glossy new opening and closing animations set to energetic pop tunes" and easy-to-digest format.
...And the mind boggles. 
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor
 Posts: 7912 Location: Anime News Network Technodrome |
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And then Case is an ass about it in the forums. It's the ciirrrrrrrcle of liiiiiiiiiife and it moves us allllllll through despair and hooooooope through faith and loooooveeee till we find our waaaaaayyyyy on the path unwindiiiiiiiiiinnnnngggg in the circleeeeee the circle of liiiiife |
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penguintruth
 Posts: 8502 Location: Penguinopolis |
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Lol @ Zac mistaking Raditz for Vegeta.
This character has it bad enough without that. |
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