Forum - View topicWhy is it that anime fails at some things so completely?
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tarheel91
 Posts: 128 |
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Have you ever noticed there are just some things that hardly ever seem to be correctly translated into animation? It really gets frustrating. Two of my two biggest interests are sports and cars. The first, anime usually does a decent job at. When you see someone playing baseball or soccer, it actually looks like the sport. However, basketball no one can get right. All of the movement looks so awkward and stiff, and the shots don't look natural at all. People don't play basketball in anime the same way basketball is played in real life. If someone tried to imitate them on the court, they'd either be losing it constantly, looking like a retard, and/or completely dominated. All the slice of life or romantic comedy type shows that try to bring in basketball fail miserably at making it look convincing. Even Basquash doesn't do a very good job. I'm not denying that it looks awesome, but it looks so unlike actual basketball. Not even the spirit of it is preserved (I'm not talking about the bouncing the walls off building or stuff like that, obviously). Just look at the ED; no one in their right mind would ever dribble like any of them.
Right up there with basketballs is cars. Outside of Initial D, it seems like animators can't do cars to save their life. I just finished watching Skip Beat (that ending was terrible, by the way), and the Porsche 911 in that show is absolutely murdered. Not only does it look like some monstrosity, it sounds absolutely terrible as well. Porsche's flat-six engines sound beautiful, and Ren's car sounds worse than my mom's Nissan Sentra. The Ferrari in Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom vaguely resembles a Ferrari F40, and while they at least choose the sound of some powerful engine, it sounds nothing like the high-pitched bliss that is a Ferrari engine. Is there anything that doesn't translate well into anime that you can't stand? |
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Yuki_Kun45
Exempt from Grammar Rules
 Posts: 725 Location: U.S.A. |
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Maybe this isn't exactly what you have in mind, but I have yet to see a Space Opera style anime that isn't a mecha. Not against Mechs or anything but really I want to see some "Star Wars" like dog fights with space ships rather than clunky CGI monstrosities
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Craeyst Raygal
 Posts: 1383 Location: In the garage, beneath a 1970 MGB GT. |
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I'd recommend you watch more anime that actually has cars featured as stars. For instance, Wangan Midnight is a racing anime of a wicked high quality with a classic 240Z for a star car, powered by a custom 280ZX twin-turbo L6. Or, Gunsmith Cats whose lead character is (literally) in love with her 1967 Shelby GT500.
I mean, I haven't even begun to discuss the works of Kosuke Fujishima, whose technical detail with cars and motorcycles is legendary, from Keiichi Morisato's classic BMW sidecar, to the Honda City dashing around Tokyo in [img]You're Under Arrest[/img]. Good cars in anime are hardly limited to Initial D. It just takes a little looking around. |
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tarheel91
Posts: 128 |
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My point was to say that, outside of anime specifically focusing on cars, cars are slaughtered. I recognize there are a few great car-focused anime(of which Initial D is definitely not the best). |
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Murasakisuishou
 Posts: 1469 Location: NE Ohio |
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It all depends on the animation studio - if you want good car animation, Production I.G and Madhouse both do a consistently awesome job animating vehicles, from cars and trucks to multiped tanks. The animation is done with 3D models and then colored to look like cel animation, and it's really beautiful to watch in some cases. The car chases in GitS: SAC make me squeal.
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braves
 Posts: 2309 Location: Puerto Rico (but living in Texas) |
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I totally agree with you on the sports point. Just today I saw the first episode of Eyeshield 21 and I just couldn't stand it. Aside from the fact that it was poorly directed, didn't pull off the humor as well the manga, and the art just isn't the same- the players didn't move like they were playing football at all.
Of course, it mostly has to do with the budget. To make anime characters move exactly like real human beings do on the playing field, they would need quite the budget when it comes to these type of sports. Once you've seen the real deal, it isn't the same otherwise. |
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Some Guy
 Posts: 135 |
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I think you are speaking volumes here. As another possible example K-on! which kinda focuses on music hasn't done a stellar job of it. That is to say they dont really focus much on the characters actually playing. The explanation is pretty obvious, the fine animation required to make guitar playing look convincing is very expensive, but the point is illustrated. This is of course not a universal truth, The Melancholy of Haruhi had a brilliant episode showing how well music can work in an anime (one that wasnt even focused on it no less) but I suspect it was at the expense of Kyo-Ani's budget  .
BTW, you just made my day, you are the first anime viewer I have met who also appreciates a fine car. |
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Beltane70
 Posts: 3969 |
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There's plenty of Space Opera style anime out there that doesn't focus on mecha. The most famous series is Space Battleship Yamato. The show features the old World War II battleship Yamato rebuilt into a space ship and sent away on a mission to save Earth from the Gamilas. The space battles in Yamato are very much like they are in Star Wars, with plenty of ship to ship and dogfights between human and Gamilas fighters. In fact, Space Battleship Yamato actually predates Star Wars by three years. The closest thing to "mecha" in Yamato is the ship's robot, Analyzer. Another famous series in the Space Opera style that isn't mecha is the many episodes long OVA series, Legend of the Galactic Heroes. Set a couple of centuries in the future, LoGH centers around a war between two factions of humans, The Free Planets Alliance, and the Galactic Empire. The battles in this series features fleets in the hundreds of ships, as well as numerous dogfights. |
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eyeresist
 Posts: 995 Location: a 320x240 resolution igloo (Sydney) |
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^ and Macross. But is there anything from the last 20 years?
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Mushi-Man
 Posts: 1537 Location: KCMO |
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There are actually quite a few good space operas that don't focus on mecha. I would first suggest Toward The Terra. It's a very good series (and an ok movie) that focuses on psychic powers and space ships, rather than giant robots. Another good one is Magnetic Rose. Although its only one segment of a movie (Memories), it's still are very compelling space opera. Also check out They Were 11. It's a very good sci-fi movie from the 80s that could be classified as a space opera. |
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kornpone
 Posts: 55 Location: West of the Yodo River |
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I dunno, they did a pretty a good job on the Taurus recently though
--Generally speaking you're spot on, though, especially when it comes to luxury sports cars. So what do you make of the 'ball action in Basquash? |
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18424 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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Crest/Banner of the Stars (the first series is Crest, followed by Banner I, II, and III) is a space opera made earlier in this decade which entirely lacks mecha. Beyond a few planetside action scenes in the first series, nearly all of the action is complicated ship-ship battles based at least generally on actual or extrapolated physics. The franchise tells an interesting and well-respected story about a young nobleman who gradually forms a close bond with an infamously temperamental, but also highly capable, princess as an epic space war literally flares up around them. It also features probably the best-developed nonhuman race in all of anime in the Abh, a genetically engineered offshoot of humanity. Bad dub, and maybe not the sharpest artistry, but few who give the franchise a chance don't end up liking it.
On the car issue, it's worth further noting on Gunsmith Cats that the show isn't actually car-focused; it's much more gun-focused. A lot of attention to detail was put into portraying that 1967 Shelby GT 500, however, including recording the engine sounds of the actual car for use in the sound effects. (The "making of" feature on the DVD is very informative on this.) |
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zawa113
 Posts: 7358 |
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Personally, I'm ok with it. I'm familiar with the rules of basketball, but quite frankly, they're not trying to be basketball so much as an entirely new sport that uses some of the same equipment as basketball. And has mechs. I could see utter disappointment if you're expecting straight up basketball, but taking it as its own new thing, I think it's perfectly fine. I made up all sorts of games with my friends when I was younger using just a ball and I see so many variations on Frisbee games on my campus, making up new ideas of how to play something is innovative and fun, which is part of what I think the spirit of the show is. However, I also think that if a series is trying to do a sport straight up without any supernatural/mech variations that it should stick to the rules of that sport. At first I wasn't entirely pleased with Big Foot Basketball in Basquash, but then the series clearly proved it wasn't just going to play straight up basketball and add mechs, so it was ok. But man if I were to see an anime about juggling and it ended up looking totally unnatural and phony, I'd be rather upset. Also, there's not enough juggling in anime. |
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Funkgun
 Posts: 23 |
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Along with Gunsmith Cats, you could watch Riding Bean. It might just be a one shot OAV, but it sports a few good car chases.
In fact the love affair with the GT500 is in that show as well. Sonada created both. It is few and far between, where many anime can cel draw the cars driving well (well at least those that it is not the focus of the episodes.) Many resort to a static shot of the moving vehicle, or a clunky drawing of it going by. I used to be a major lover of only animation that was cel drawn, but in recient years I can see the overall quality that ensues with CG; when a vehicle looks realistic and smooth in movement, such as Ghost in the Shell SAC, or even the latest East of Eden. I am suddenly reminded of the dreadful blobs that were supposed to be cars in Speed Grapher. By episode 4 or 5, anytime the people were in a vehicle it looked like a box. I soon began to wonder if they were going to stick their feet through the floor, ala Flinstones. As for good space combat, to throw another title out there, in the mix, Sol Bianca had some well done ship battles as well. Not on the level of LoGH, or Crest. But worthy none the less. Last edited by Funkgun on Fri Jun 05, 2009 1:25 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Mushi-Man
Posts: 1537 Location: KCMO |
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Yeah, I was going to suggest Riding Bean too, but it seemed like the op was meaning that the cars aren't realistic. And lets face it, although Riding Bean's car is the most awesome one ever, it's not the most realistic. But if your looking for a cool OVA about cars, Riding Bean is the way to go. |
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