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Old 01-04-2008, 09:58 PM   #1
big bad birtha
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big bad birtha's suggestion box 2: secret passions unveiled

Are you ready for a new and sexier suggestion box? Yea, neither am I, but here it is. If you have done anything here, you know what to do, so an explanation is pointless. Well, a great way to start off is to tell my watching status...

Err.....@_@ I haven't watched a damn thing. Let me see, I have been fighting, controlling a loli army, chasing a sparrow girl so I can eat her (I gave a link in Dopple's thread), and shooting stuff. Yup, I have been devoured by Touhou. Don't worry though, I will start watching when this dies down.

Speaking of Touhou, how is your controller status Suigin? I have been itching for a fight since you said you would get one =D It would also be good to have another player (we are trying to recruit people.)

Well, incase anyone cares, I have downloaded the Kanon and Clannad visual novels. I can play them, but I don't understand a damn word they say, so I will be waiting for the translations to finish.
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Old 01-04-2008, 10:46 PM   #2
Talon87
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Re: big bad birtha's suggestion box 2: secret passions unveiled

Picking up from where we left off ...

I just finished ef ~A Tale of Memories~ Episode 6. Go Go Kei! I hope she wins Hirono-senpai's heart instead of Miyako. But I'm not expecting it to happen. Because if it did, it would leave two people out in the cold (Miyako and Cameraboy), whereas if Kei fails, then everyone winds up with a partner (Miyako x Hirono and Kei x Cameraboy). But bleh, I say! BLEH! :x Please let Kei win. ;_;

Looks like in the next episode, we'll get to see Miyako's sap story. She's been a happy-go-lucky girl all show, but it looks like we're finally going to figure out now what her own trouble past is that has created the girl we see before us today. Looks like when Kei told her, "I'm going to erase your existence from Onii-chan's heart," she took it pretty ... um ... psychotically. If this were Higurashii, I'd be afraid for Kei-chan right now.

Not much Renji x Chihiro in this episode, although we did get to see the humorous seifuku trying-ons at Kuze-san's house, and we also saw (in Chihiro's mental image of her heart) Renji lending a helping hand to the chained Chihiro, helping to widen her total effective radius. Still, it's like the non-pastor guy explained: every morning, Chihiro relies on a stranger's account (herself) to learn who she is and what she's been doing in the last 4 years since the car accident. Even if Renji does earn Trust Points via Chihiro's notes in the diary, that doesn't change the fact that emotionally and memories-wise she's still a 12-year old little girl. I don't see how Renji is ever going to get to 3rd base. Something I thought was bullshit about 50 First Dates, too, sweet a movie as that is.

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As for the new thread title, not bad. A little long. ^_^; But hey, that makes it twice as likely for Mcsweeney to click on it.

Mcsweeney: This running gag about me clicking on the wrong thread and replying to it without looking is getting old. ¬_¬

And as for me getting a controller, I actually haven't been to a Target or Wal-Mart since mentioning it last time. If I am there, then I ought to remember and be able to find the XBox 360 controller which can connect to a PC via the USB port and do stuff. If I can't find one, then I'll just go to a proper game store when I go back to Purdue and see what they have. The Japanese are so Sony obsessed that it might be wise for me to get a PS2-esque controller if I can find one, although I think the original XBox controller (with the 6-button fighting pad layout via Red, Blue, Yellow, Green, White, and Black all being near each other) was the best for fighters.
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Old 01-04-2008, 11:05 PM   #3
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Re: big bad birtha's suggestion box 2: secret passions unveiled

I see you found a use for the name, "Secret Passions." Sorry I said it sounded like a kinky porn/sex toy shop's name.

Two new episodes of Hayate No Gotoku came out. I haven't downloaded them though.
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Old 01-05-2008, 12:48 AM   #4
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Re: big bad birtha's suggestion box 2: secret passions unveiled

Quote:
Originally Posted by Xuande
And as for me getting a controller, I actually haven't been to a Target or Wal-Mart since mentioning it last time. If I am there, then I ought to remember and be able to find the XBox 360 controller which can connect to a PC via the USB port and do stuff. If I can't find one, then I'll just go to a proper game store when I go back to Purdue and see what they have. The Japanese are so Sony obsessed that it might be wise for me to get a PS2-esque controller if I can find one, although I think the original XBox controller (with the 6-button fighting pad layout via Red, Blue, Yellow, Green, White, and Black all being near each other) was the best for fighters.
Aah, I see. Anyway, I think you would have trouble playing fighting games with an Xbox controller. I mean, tapping the stick twice for dashing seems really difficult. Actually, I couldn't play Budokai on the cube for the same reason. Well, that's probably the difference between us, because as you know, I can play with the keyboard just fine. You would probably have no problem pushing the control stick twice in a row to dash.

Quote:
Originally Posted by KoalaDevourer
I see you found a use for the name, "Secret Passions." Sorry I said it sounded like a kinky porn/sex toy shop's name.
That's alright. Well, I think what I told you was actually "Silent Passions" but it's close enough. As for what that name was intended for, I still prefer "Gravy and Biscuits". Anyway, it kind of does sound like one, but I still think it's an awesome name.

My names were between this, "attack of the killer lolis", "bbb takes it all off", and something else. I don't know about you, but I think what I chose was the best one.

.................

Anyway, I am loading up episode ten of Ghost Hound. I am also considering watching a show called Hatenkō Yugi. I don't know if it will be any good or not, but apparently it is =o.
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Old 01-05-2008, 03:00 AM   #5
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Re: big bad birtha's suggestion box 2: secret passions unveiled

Seen through Episode 8 of ef ~A Tale of Memories~.

While the plot is improving, it is improving predictably. So ... I am both pleased and unpleased. "Better better than worse" on the one hand, but "I'm starting to get bored calling everything two episodes before it happens" on the other hand.

The animation director, I am almost 90% positive based just on the show alone, is probably the same one in charge of Kare Kano. And that guy fucking sucked and was notorious across the Internet for sucking back when Kare Kano came out. I can't believe he didn't get similar flack this time around. Maybe nobody except Doppel and BBB and me has watched this show yet. -_-; Regardless, the director's idea of what constitutes "art" is really getting on my fucking nerves. "Art for the sake of art" isn't art. It's just noise. And that's what a lot of the animation in this show has been so far -- a lot of visual noise. It's been longer than I can remember (as in, I have no memories of doing this) since I have last had to close my eyes and just listen to the Japanese audio, imperfect as my Japanese is, because I'm better off than trying to read the subtitles amidst the frustrating animation behind it. It's that bad at times. I'm not ranting to be mean. I'm ranting because the show fucking deserves it. :x If I were to review the show right now, I'd give plot a 7, characters a liberal 8, but animation a 5. What it has in shininess and cute character designs, it KILLS in its so-called "artistic direction."

So I've bitched about the plot and the animation direction. What next? Calm down. :P Nothing really. I'm happy ... well, I was happy to see Kei completely creaming Miyako in the war, but lo and behold Kei and Hirono had a fight, Miyako squeezed back in, and Kei is (predictably) softening up to Cameraboy. I also am glad we got Renji's "see Chihiro when she wakes up after having completely forgotten who you are" scene out of the way. I was beginning to worry they weren't going to show that until Episode 11. It's a powerful scene, yes ... if you don't see it coming. For those who've read or seen stories like Chihiro's before (*points back to 50 First Dates again), this is something that gets called back around Episode 1 when we put together that she's a girl with anterograde amnesia with a high probability of falling in love with the boy we just saw bump into her at the broken-down train station.

Okay. I think I'm probably nagging too much.

Overall impressions through Episode 8: average (on the good side rather than the bad side, but pretty close to deadpan average). Would not recommend to others. Would not rewatch. Not forcing myself to finish -- enjoying it enough to finish on my own steam. But ... the steam's only enough to power a little engine, not a huge one.

Also, what ever happened to Kei's lesbian friend? You know, Hirono's kohai? I thought she was supposed to be just as important as the other three girls ... no?
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Old 01-05-2008, 12:50 PM   #6
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Re: big bad birtha's suggestion box 2: secret passions unveiled

Alright, I have actually watched something. Here's my thoughts on what I have watched.

Ghost Hound 10- Well, this was a tad boring, but still entertaining. I did love the end to this episode though. That guy was freaked the **** out.

Oh! Edo Rocket 1- This is really weird =O Well, as a matter of fact, I like really weird, so it's all good. I don't completely understand the plot yet, but I have good vibes from this. It's good to watch something a little different.

I am also considering watching Rosario Vampire. Well, back to the loli army game =3 It's so cute.
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Old 01-05-2008, 01:04 PM   #7
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Re: big bad birtha's suggestion box 2: secret passions unveiled

Thru Episode 10 of ef ~A Tale of Memories~. Same level of goodness (average to slightly above average). We just got out of the woods, it looks like, with the whole Miyako x Hirono x Kei love triangle, with Kei losing. As predicted. As angrily predicted because Kei is (a) way more deserving and (b) way less psychopathic than Miyako. I just don't get it. Kei loved Hirono for years and he was oblivious to it; then he goes and dates Miyako for what has to have been (as in the storyline) less than 2 months, and bam, sex. I'm glad for Kei, in a sense, that she's not winding up with such a dirtbag as Hirono. And I'm glad, in a sense, that Hirono got saddled with Miyako because he has no idea what he's in for. (Considering Kei erased the 99 psychotic messages Miyako left on Hirono's cell phone.)

Even though I think Cameraboy's a hollow character with not enough development, it was cool to see him kick Hirono's ass both philosophically and physically.

So, with two episodes remaining, it's looking increasingly like we're going to focus on Chihiro and Renji with the occasional Kei x Cameraboy scene to polish things off. I guess I can't complain. Even if I question what sort of relationship Renji and Chihiro can have short of a medical miracle which restores her anterograde memory capabilities.
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Old 01-05-2008, 02:20 PM   #8
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Re: big bad birtha's suggestion box 2: secret passions unveiled

I actually haven't seen ef - a tale of memories yet; I've heard a lot of praise about the animation/art (which is the point Talon dislikes) and the music. My reasons for not downloading it are...I can't hear sound anymore! If the musical score was one of the highest points of the anime, subtracting it would seem to push me toward a middling review at best. So, I put it down in favour of the OVA Iriya no Sora, UFO no Natsu (which by reputation is really sad).

As for Talon's disgust with the art director, shes not the same person as the one who did Kare Kano, but nothing on her record seems to strike me as notorious. She's worked on One Piece Movie #6 (which had fantastic animation, if it looked awful) and was the art director for Negima?! and its OVAs.

...

Also, SaiGar's started. I wanted to vote last night but couldn't because of the power-outage.
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Old 01-05-2008, 03:39 PM   #9
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Re: big bad birtha's suggestion box 2: secret passions unveiled

The people who think ef ~A Tale of Memories~ has brilliant artwork must be the same people who think that Eva has brilliant artwork. I'll give you an example of this director's sense of "genius art" which gave me such a fucking headache (for real; an actual, physically manifested headache out of nowhere) that starting at 75 seconds left on the calling card, I had to shield everything with my hand except for the very bottom of my screen so I could still read the translation. And I closed my eyes constantly to avoid the strobe effect it did.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=js7q7HQVFJ8

The link is a scene from Episode 10. Don't watch any of the earlier portion (spoilers!), but do skip to exactly 5 minutes 30 seconds (5:20 to be safe and to recognize that a girl put a calling card into a phone). So long as you don't speak Japanese, you'll be fine, since the sub is in Spanish. Please (DOPPEL, I MEAN YOU!), go ahead and click on this, go to 5:20, and watch it until the video ends. (The video ends right where I would have asked you to quit watching to avoid spoilers anyway. It's way before the "spoiler point," which is when the countdown approaches 0.)

My point is, this drivel is what constitutes "art" to the ef ~A Tale of Memories~ team. -_-; Fucking ridiculous, about as artistic as a Jackson Pollock paint-sneeze or random finger strokes on a canvas by Koko the gorilla. What is it really? Is it art? No. Then what is it? I'll tell you what it is. A guy who is both arrogant enough to believe hit shit constitutes art, and stupid enough to buy his own lie.

Although you're telling me it's a woman, in which case, she is too arrogant and too dumb.

You know, it really, really reminds me of Eva. Where you just watch the same motionless image for 3 minutes while voice actors talk in the background. Like God is playing some sick joke on you, and you're strapped to a chair watching what's really a radio drama with a still painting for your visual stimulus but you've been told that it's "an anime." This is nothing more than lazy animation, and I'll have none of it. >_<

Anyway, I'm about to finish the series, so, here goes.
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Old 01-05-2008, 06:48 PM   #10
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Re: big bad birtha's suggestion box 2: secret passions unveiled

Just finished ef ~A Tale of Memories~. So, SPOILERS!

The end of episode 11 was amazing. I totally thought Chihiro was going to throw herself from the rooftop, though. The diary bit was unexpected (despite having watched Renji chasing after the pages in the wind in the 4-minute trailer), and arguably even crueler than killing herself. Man.

The beginning of episode 12 (the final episode) was good, but the second half was really, really disappointing. I think that the happy ending with Renji and Chihiro, while desirable from one viewpoint, was a copout. And it felt very forced. "Renji-kun! I just can't forget about you! ;_;" It made no sense. The Chihiro saying that had only known Renji for 2 days (assuming she was waking herself up in the wee hours of the morning to re-read the diary, like last time). The Chihiro who knew Renji the longest (the 5-day one ... iirc it was 5 days) ended up crashing from physical exhaustion of not getting enough sleep, and she slept over 13 hours and forgot everything. How are Renji and Chihiro planning on avoiding that this time around? My point is, 2-Day Chihiro may look fine now, but what's to keep her from crashing in 72 hours' time? What is Renji going to do if Chihiro enters a deep sleep she simply can't be woken from? And even if she does manage to wake up every 8 hours and re-read the diary to keep Renji in her active memory, she's still not going to be able to remember everything. You can't remember an entire lifetime in 1 day -- you just can't. It would be naive to think otherwise. This means that Chihiro is only ever going to remember (at most) 13 hours' worth of details about her life with Renji. And more like 12, because that 13th hour is "buffer space" for when she's cycling through memories just to cling on to them. That's right, she gets 12 memories of her and Renji assuming she does nothing each day but process memories for 13 hours. So really, she gets even less. More like 3 or 4 hours, tops.

Back at Episode 8, the show made this precise point and (imo) made it wisely and well. Yet now, they toss it out the window in favor of the Cinderella "happily ever after" ending. Like I said ... it just feels too hollow to be enjoyed. You can't enjoy a gift that wasn't earned properly (e.g. enjoying a Wii you stole from a store). It's the same here. I can't enjoy this happy ending because I know it's undeserved.

And the problems don't stop there, I'm afraid. My favorite character (Kei) got shit-for-nothing development until the last 10 minutes, wherein she had this explosion of character growth and (DAMNINGLY) was attracted to Cameraboy but didn't act on her feelings other than to blush. Damn it! :x Either don't show her liking him yet (if we're supposed to believe only a day or two has passed) or show her being his lover (if like years have passed).

Also, I reaalllllly hated how Miyako was like, "Oh! It's a phone call from Kei-chan! How is she doing? ^-^" Grrrrrrr. ¬_¬ Even if you do have big boobs (which got dismally smaller as the series progressed), it doesn't mean I like you. I hate you. :P

In the end, a good ending. So ... that's good. Review next post.
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Old 01-05-2008, 07:10 PM   #11
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Re: big bad birtha's suggestion box 2: secret passions unveiled

Plot: 6/10 The plot was slow, clumsy, and clich. To show I'm not just throwing those words around, I'll explain. It was "slow" because I had to plow through 12 episodes in about 48 hours just to get what felt like 4 episodes' worth of stuff. It was "clumsy" because the first 2/3 of the show felt like it didn't know what it wanted to do and was trying to hold on to everything. (If I gave these guys any credit, I'd say that that could have been the writers trying to vivify Hirono-senpai's spirit and infuse it into the storyline.) It was "clich" because Chihiro's situation is not a new idea (neither in medicine nor in pop culture), Kei's situation is not new (standard "girl likes guy who sees girl as family but keeps her hopes stringin' along that they might become something more" storyline), and Miyako's situation is not new (standard "girl grows up unloved and has need issues. Major need issues" storyline). I give it a 6 out of 10 because, after all of these serious grievances, it did everything else fine. It wasn't bad. It wasn't a mindfuck anime nor was it too much of a self-congratulatory anime. So that was good.

Characters: 7/10. Average. See above for some character complaints that also affected plot. I felt that the cast was sufficiently large (there were as many main characters here as in Myself;Yourself or Elfen Lied), yet it failed to stay afloat with just those characters' development. You could say the show needed more characters, but I disagree. If anything, it needed fewer (e.g. nix Kuze-san, the dude at the church, the angelic lady, and other minor characters who stole away too much attention from the main characters). It also needed more ... emotional investment in characters. I didn't suffer with Renji. I didn't feel sorry for Renji. I felt like I was just watching Renji, a character devoid of any emotional investment on my part, instead of suffering alongside with him as I do in many other shows and movies. This is clearly a characterization flaw. We needed to know more about Renji, Chihiro, everyone. A hell of a lot more.

Animation: 5/10. Yes, a failing grade. Fucking annoying animation. I hate art directors who think they're such nouveau hot shit and they think to themselves, "Hmm, if I animate the entire second half of this episode on white construction paper with colored pencils, that'll be really artistic, right?" No, bitch. WRONG. -_-; That's what we in the industry like to call "lazy," "what to do when your budget reaches $0," or "running away from your problem." Take your pick. And go back to school and learn what real art is all about. The only reason the score is not lower is because the rest of the animation outside of art direction was fine. That is to say, the colors were nice and vibrant at times. The characters were drawn well. I mean to say, I didn't feel I was watching Ed, Edd, and Eddy for one second. I knew I was watching a 21st Century anime that had been animated in a computer "well." Too bad, really.

Music: 7/10. Average. Annoying intro that grows on you and becomes a nice intro. Several of the many (5, was it?) different ending songs had little 5-second ditties that I absolutely loved, but the rest of the songs were forgettable. The in-show music was not very memorable, either. Missing was the musical excellence I saw in the trailer for this series. I definitely felt cheated on the music front for that reason. :x

Replay Value: 4/10. Very bad score, I know. Sorry. Don't want to watch this again. Lower scores would suggest I'd actually be pained to be made to sit down and watch this show.

OVERALL: 6.5/10. Slightly below average for what I'm used to watching. Probably would have gotten a 7/10 (a dead average) if I had watched this show 2 or 3 years ago. Who knows, maybe even higher. Oh well.
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Old 01-05-2008, 09:37 PM   #12
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Re: big bad birtha's suggestion box 2: secret passions unveiled

4th post in a row ... Doppel, I can understand (as he's dealing with blackouts); but BBB? :P ;)

Just cast my vote for Hosaka-senpai (Minami-ke) and Itou Kaiji (Kaiji ) for Rounds 3 and 4 of SaiGAR 2008. Says the results will be out by 13:00 PST, which should be around 5pm EST. It should be around then that I'll have moved back up to Purdue, so I guess I can wait until then to see if Hosaka-senpai was popular enough to defeat two of the Claymore girls. I'm hoping that since they both come from the same show, fans of Claymore will be split over who to vote for and that'll help Hosaka. Still, even if he does make it, he doesn't stand a chance of beating Dio. My only hope is that Kaiji will prove popular and GAR enough to outperform the Emperor di Britannia and (if he were to do that) Dio. I doubt Kaiji can beat Dio, but who knows ... Kaiji is definitely riding a small but loyal wave of popularity these days, so I'd say it is still possible.

Honestly, though, once Kaiji loses (if Kaiji loses), I'll lose interest in this until it's down to the final eight.
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Old 01-05-2008, 09:52 PM   #13
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Re: big bad birtha's suggestion box 2: secret passions unveiled

Comments on the first round of SaiGar:

Holy shoot, epic! Dio and Kenshiro had a pretty darn close fight, there - a difference of seven votes for two of the heaviest hitters in the whole tournament! I better check the Yotsuba archive to see if SaiGar Guy's report was saved - I must see the graph of the first round. The Emperor cleaned clock on the other side; that's the single largest win of any conteder in the tournament's history!

As for tomorrow, I think it'll be an easy win for Kaiji. The other side is contestable; I'll probably cast my vote for Hosaka, since Teresa wasn't really all that manly...she was practically a lesbian and a lolicon from how she acted before she left the stage. D:

Quote:
Originally Posted by Xuande
The people who think ef ~A Tale of Memories~ has brilliant artwork must be the same people who think that Eva has brilliant artwork. I'll give you an example of this director's sense of "genius art" which gave me such a fucking headache (for real; an actual, physically manifested headache out of nowhere) that starting at 75 seconds left on the calling card, I had to shield everything with my hand except for the very bottom of my screen so I could still read the translation. And I closed my eyes constantly to avoid the strobe effect it did.

The link is a scene from Episode 10. Don't watch any of the earlier portion (spoilers!), but do skip to exactly 5 minutes 30 seconds (5:20 to be safe and to recognize that a girl put a calling card into a phone). So long as you don't speak Japanese, you'll be fine, since the sub is in Spanish. Please (DOPPEL, I MEAN YOU!), go ahead and click on this, go to 5:20, and watch it until the video ends. (The video ends right where I would have asked you to quit watching to avoid spoilers anyway. It's way before the "spoiler point," which is when the countdown approaches 0.)
I just watched it. Boy did I chuckle. It's hard to imagine that a lot of the anime is as ridiculous as that! As far as art is concerned, though, I think what people valued in this show was what you described earlier as "shiny-ness"; that scene in between those cuts to the phone card, with the nice sunset and sun-beams in particular. In Evangelion, we had the dumb stuff with single face stills, but most of the praise for Eva's artwork was in the smoothness of animation like when Unit-02 jumped off of a battleship. When I saw Eva a couple years ago, I couldn't help but hold my disgust at how ugly the art was, but I had to concede that at times the frame rate for some scenes was absurd.

But compared to say Gurren-Lagann, Eva made up for those scenes during the last couple episodes (or so I hear).

Oh, for the record, I can read Spanish subtitles.
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Old 01-05-2008, 10:34 PM   #14
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Re: big bad birtha's suggestion box 2: secret passions unveiled

Whoops.

And Doppel, who are you going to believe? /b/tards or Talon? Well, I can see that I am outnumbered, so I'll have to prove my case with even more examples. If you that that calling card scene was me cherrypicking to be mean to ef, THINK AGAIN!

Click here and roll -- it starts EXACTLY where I wanted it to.

This is why I say ef reminds me in many ways of EVA. Let's watch this together, shall we? And I'll list off the problems I have with it.[list=1][*]They're reusing a bunch of cels from an earlier episode and all they're doing is
  1. coloring them B&W, and[/*1ay9m6iq]
  2. strobing them with solid black every 0.5 seconds[/*1ay9m6iq]
I'm sorry, but that's not art. That's crap. Lazy crap.[/*1ay9m6iq][*]A disembodied pair of lips talking on an all-white screen. Artsy? Maybe if this was the 1960s. Sorry, but this is such a "been there, done that" concept in cinema that it's no longer excusable, and especially in an anime (where they don't even take the effort to color in the background), it's clear that the issue here is cutting financial corners. "Why draw an entire cel -- why even draw a single full character -- when you can just draw a pair of lips opening and closing in sync with the voice actress?"[/*1ay9m6iq][*]Okay, color returned, but we're still doing the pointless strobing effect with old cels. Dumb.[/*1ay9m6iq][*]Storyboard cels. Storyboard cels. Have we stooped that low? I haven't seen this stunt pulled, ever, except in two shows: Kare Kano and Neon Genesis Evangelion. In fact, I'm not even sure I can pinpoint where it happened in Eva. I'm sure it happened in Kare Kano. But enough digression! What the fuck is this shit!? :x Do you mean to tell me that you matched up the seiyuu's voice with your storyboard cels and you colored 'em in with some Crayola® colored pencils?[/*1ay9m6iq][*]Showing pure text on the screen for what is being said. (e.g. she just said "nanchite", or "Just kidding")[/*1ay9m6iq][*]Wow. Now the fucking storyboard cels aren't even animated-remuxxed anymore. They're just pure, static cels. "Daddy cel. Mommy cel. Baby Miyako cel." What the FUCK. And you call yourself an artist's anime? FUCK OFF! You're nothing more than a snake oil salesman, asshole! And you've suckered people into BUYING your worthless crap! @_@[/*1ay9m6iq][*]I got bored, so I skipped ahead to 3:30 in the Youtube video. You should probably do so, too, if you're bored. Tell me when you get to 3:30.[/*1ay9m6iq][*]Okay, so, 3:30. This is the point where the flashback ends (okay?) and we're back to the present. As in, back to the normal story-telling story of ef. Except ... they're still pulling that bullshit storyboard cel stunt. >_< What the hell. Quit it, you guys! Cut it out! It's not funny any more! Ha ha ha ha, okay, we get it, "This is what an anime might look like on a shitty budget." Now cut the bullcrap and get back to animating real art![/*1ay9m6iq][*]So we stare at a phone for a minute. A poorly sketched phone. Thanks a fucking lot.[/*1ay9m6iq][*]Then we stare at text with a psychotic girl rambling in the background for 3 minutes. Great. Just great. [/*1ay9m6iq][/list1ay9m6iq]

And then the thing ends.
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Old 01-05-2008, 10:36 PM   #15
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Re: big bad birtha's suggestion box 2: secret passions unveiled

"But Talon!" you say. "My friends want to know, if you're so smart how would you have done things?" Well, I'll tell you. It's pretty fucking simple.

SPOILERS! - DOPPEL, READ ME IN GREEN! -- I want you to either read this reply once you get through Episode 7, or else send it to your friends (should you have any friends who voice the complaint I just wrote above). Okay? But don't read it yourself till you've gotten through Episode 7, if and when you do.

a) most of my complaints could be solved if they had just animated stuff as they do for every other scene. For example, when Renji invites Chihiro over to his house for lunch, that entire scene is animated normally. Why couldn't they have done the same for Miyako's flashback? And don't give me any bullshit like, "Because, Talon, Miyako was a child, so the artists were trying to be clever and were showing her childhood through the eyes of a child -- using colored pencils and paper." Bullshit. You've been fooled, sheep. Open your eyes. Of course the studio is going to try and pawn their POS work off as "art" or "an experiment in psychology." But it's none of that, really. All it is is a bunch of jackasses trying to be artists (like little kids on the playground trying to be whatever) and failing at it poorly, and then stubbornly refusing to admit that a spade is a spade, and that their failure is failure. The reality is, they took the easy way out. They couldn't think up a real, genuine way to be artistically revolutionary in anime (like "shiny" Kyoto Animation or like "amazing camera angles" V for Vendetta or like "gothic lolita meets creepy porcelain dolls" Rozen Maiden), so they copped out like a high schooler cops out on his art project and they tried to be clever.

b) for the scene where Miyako calls Hirono and leaves all of those psychotic messages, I'd have done one of two things. What I would not have done was allowed Kei to erase the phone history without even listening to the messages herself. I'd have either ...

1- had Kei listen to the messages and been freaked out, or
2- had Hirono listen to the messages and been freaked out
3- had Miyako giving the messages and show her becoming increasingly insane (like that red-haired girl in Higurashii when she looks fucking nuts)

And whichever I'd have done, I would have animated it all. I would shown Kei/Hirono's twisted, contorted face, their eyes bulging, their mouth agape, sweat beading on their temples, etc. I'd have shown them walking backwards in fear away from the desk on which the cell phone sat, its Speakerphone delivering the psychotic sermon relentlessly. I'd have shown them falling over and still listening. So on and so forth. Similar concept for Miyako if #3.

This had the perfect opportunity to be a really creepy scene, and that was squandered by having Kei erase the messages before she or Hirono could listen to them.
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Old 01-05-2008, 11:14 PM   #16
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Re: big bad birtha's suggestion box 2: secret passions unveiled

Quote:
Originally Posted by Xuande
4th post in a row ... Doppel, I can understand (as he's dealing with blackouts); but BBB? :P ;)
Eh!? Err.......Everything has been revolving around Touhou the past few days. I have been playing the games (they are so addictive @_@) and I have found some awesome clips/flashes. I mean, I CAN spout ALL of that, but I kind of thought that no-one wanted to hear about it (from the responses I got from the hell thread, and Dopple's topic, one would assume that). Trust me, the things I have shown in the hell thread are nothing. I have seriously been exposed to alot of Touhou. That's what I get for actively joining in the chat's Touhou activities.

I also had nothing to say about your griping to ef either. I mean, all I had to really say was "Well I did like it." and I already said it. Anything else I would have to say might escalate into an argument/fight and I don't want that.

Well, just for you, I will go on one of my Key jabberings =D (I'm sure no-one wants to hear one of these either, but pluh!)

I have played like a few minutes of Kanon and Clannad. I kind of wanted to get a taste of the visuals and the music, and here's what I discovered.

Kanon- The visuals are a little dated, but they kick the crap out of ONE's visuals. Unlike what someone says, I don't think they are ugly. Of course, it'd be nice if they updated the visuals when re-releasing this. The music is the exact same as the 2006. The only difference is that this includes Asakage (well, the orchestraish version.) I'm really surprised at the jump in music and visual quality in only one year. I also love the feather for the mouse pointer =3

Clannad- So gorgeous! I made a screencap of the first scene. I haven't played many visual novels, but this definitely qualifies as the best looking one I have seen. The only exception being Sunohara. There is one face he makes that just makes him look deformed. The music is also the same as the anime. You know the music they play after the OP and after every episode? Well, that's the music they play on the start screen. They also put the start screen in English, which helped me in finding how to window it and un-window it. I didn't do much in this, because I had like one hundred lines talking to Sunohara, and I was tired of looking at his face & words I couldn't understand. This has a tree branch as the mouse pointer.
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Old 01-06-2008, 12:12 AM   #17
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Re: big bad birtha's suggestion box 2: secret passions unveiled

Clannad (the game)'s back-ground visuals and its interface are amazing; pity, though, that to my eyes the character designs are only slightly more improved over Kanon.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Xuande
Click here and roll -- it starts EXACTLY where I wanted it to.
Alright, experiment time. Do we think along the same lines? I shall not read you comments until I've watched most of the video.

...

Ok, couldn't watch it all - skipped over a lot of the sketches and jumped to where the text was flowing on the screen...and it wouldn't stop. D: I can see how you're getting the "Evangelion" vibe from this - without knowing much of the series, I'm just guessing the girl Chihiro is having a memory dive or she's near death and having one of those "fractured thought moments". Regarding what you said earlier, there does appear to be a lot of "lazy" art, if that's the case - a lot of black and white, not in the shaded type like we see in the last episode of Gunbuster, stills that last a second or longer, strange stuff like the aforementioned words going up, down and all around the screen, and more. I actually like the sketches bit as a way of conveying vague memories, but there's virtually no animation there, and there's a lot of those sketches. The screen swaps that I laughed at in the phone card example you posted earlier are pretty frequent as well.

This is sort of disappointing, since I was expecting this story to have a pretty high budget, given the praise for the animation and music. Perhaps not Clannad level, but I was thinking I'd get something comparable to Clannad in this show.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Xuande
This is why I say ef reminds me in many ways of EVA. Let's watch this together, shall we? And I'll list off the problems I have with it.[list=1][*]They're reusing a bunch of cels from an earlier episode and all they're doing is
  1. coloring them B&W, and[/*3spfl08w]
  2. strobing them with solid black every 0.5 seconds[/*3spfl08w]
I'm sorry, but that's not art. That's crap. Lazy crap.[/*3spfl08w][*]A disembodied pair of lips talking on an all-white screen. Artsy? Maybe if this was the 1960s. Sorry, but this is such a "been there, done that" concept in cinema that it's no longer excusable, and especially in an anime (where they don't even take the effort to color in the background), it's clear that the issue here is cutting financial corners. "Why draw an entire cel -- why even draw a single full character -- when you can just draw a pair of lips opening and closing in sync with the voice actress?"[/*3spfl08w][*]Okay, color returned, but we're still doing the pointless strobing effect with old cels. Dumb.[/*3spfl08w][*]Storyboard cels. Storyboard cels. Have we stooped that low? I haven't seen this stunt pulled, ever, except in two shows: Kare Kano and Neon Genesis Evangelion. In fact, I'm not even sure I can pinpoint where it happened in Eva. I'm sure it happened in Kare Kano. But enough digression! What the fuck is this shit!? :x Do you mean to tell me that you matched up the seiyuu's voice with your storyboard cels and you colored 'em in with some Crayola® colored pencils?[/*3spfl08w][*]Showing pure text on the screen for what is being said. (e.g. she just said "nanchite", or "Just kidding")[/*3spfl08w][*]Wow. Now the fucking storyboard cels aren't even animated-remuxxed anymore. They're just pure, static cels. "Daddy cel. Mommy cel. Baby Miyako cel." What the FUCK. And you call yourself an artist's anime? FUCK OFF! You're nothing more than a snake oil salesman, asshole! And you've suckered people into BUYING your worthless crap! @_@[/*3spfl08w][*]I got bored, so I skipped ahead to 3:30 in the Youtube video. You should probably do so, too, if you're bored. Tell me when you get to 3:30.[/*3spfl08w][*]Okay, so, 3:30. This is the point where the flashback ends (okay?) and we're back to the present. As in, back to the normal story-telling story of ef. Except ... they're still pulling that bullshit storyboard cel stunt. >_< What the hell. Quit it, you guys! Cut it out! It's not funny any more! Ha ha ha ha, okay, we get it, "This is what an anime might look like on a shitty budget." Now cut the bullcrap and get back to animating real art![/*3spfl08w][*]So we stare at a phone for a minute. A poorly sketched phone. Thanks a fucking lot.[/*3spfl08w][*]Then we stare at text with a psychotic girl rambling in the background for 3 minutes. Great. Just great. [/*3spfl08w][/list3spfl08w]

And then the thing ends.
Ooh, I hit on a good number of the major issues. Unfortunately, it's a pity these issues are flaws in the show and not something to be praised of. ._.

...

In other news, I'm on the second episode of Iriya no Sora, UFO no Natsu. I've got a hypothesis; the Newspaper Club chairman is PROBABLY an alien. That is all.
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Old 01-06-2008, 12:28 AM   #18
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Re: big bad birtha's suggestion box 2: secret passions unveiled

The story is still decent (just clichd). And the girl you saw was Miyako (the girl I hate), so don't worry, Chihiro is still fine and dandy.

I dunno. Don't let me reverse-bias you too much. I got excited because you guys (I thought; guess it must have just been BBB) said it was really good. Then I got let down, and got jaded, and got ranty. So now you're like, "Sheesh @_@, maybe it's not so good after all. @_@" One can only hope that my overly being negative will improve your reception of the show. ^_^;

BBB: *bites tongue*

I know when to leave well enough alone. I'm done, I'm done! And hey, it's not many 6-hour shows I finish in under 36 hours. So I guess that says something ... anyhoo ...

Looks like I won't be beating Ever17 ( ^_^; ) until I return to Purdue tomorrow. Making it a 2-week hiatus. Whoops. I'll get on it, I swear. I'm so close, too, I can feel it!
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Old 01-06-2008, 12:34 AM   #19
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Re: big bad birtha's suggestion box 2: secret passions unveiled

Oh, that reminds me. I need to post the bad news.
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Old 01-06-2008, 12:55 PM   #20
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Re: big bad birtha's suggestion box 2: secret passions unveiled

I have some new episodes to watch @_@ I have two Hayates. Rosario Vampire has been uploaded, and then there's H2O Footprints in the sand. Apparently, they are good.

Oh, Doppel, I loved how Nagisa looked in that CG I showed. I don't know about the designs, but to me, the characters' looks (I couldn't think of a better word for it. Don't go on correcting me saying "That IS designs though.") were a massive improvement. Here's the first CG from Kanon. I just wish that when Key re-released Kanon, that they gave visuals that are comparable to Clannad's.

Ok, off to watch my new episodes...if I can @_@ Go away Touhou! I'll play with you later!
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Old 01-06-2008, 05:57 PM   #21
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Re: big bad birtha's suggestion box 2: secret passions unveiled

Just downloaded the raw for Minami-ke ~Okawari~ Episode 1. I'll try not to bias people with positive or negative opinions and simply state facts.
  • This past fall, Studio #2 put out a poster showing their art for the girls. It featured a blonde-haired, blue-eyed Chiaki, a bleach-blonde-haired Haruka, and a red-brown-haired Kana. All of that is gone. The girls various body parts' colors don't completely match those seen in Series #1, but it's much closer than the poster from last fall suggested. Chiaki now has browny-blonde hair with hazel eyes. Haruka's hair is also a little darker than it was in the poster (although much lighter than in Series #1). And Kana's hair color is identical to what we saw in Series #1. Haruka's eyes are burnt sienna now. I think Kana's eyes were roughly the same color.[/*1hxr2uox]
  • This isn't true for other characters, though. Makoto now has green eyes. Fujioka has spiky, bleach-blonde hair. Actually, ... that's about all I can think of, though, off the top of my head. All the other characters' hair and eye colors seem to have been copied off of Studio #1's. Or else these characters have been shown before in color that leaves no room for doubt. (I say that because Chiaki's hair color in the manga is probably closer to what we see in Series #2 than Series #1, but neither studio got it quite right. Which just goes to show how hard it is.)[/*1hxr2uox]
  • The animation is jittery.[/*1hxr2uox]
  • The show tries to preserve the "Bible Black faces" that Series #1 did. I don't know why, since I have not seen this in the manga, but whatever. I will say this (devoid of positive or negative opinion): where Series #1 scary faces reminded people of Bible Black, I think that Series #2's scary faces will remind many people of the scary face that Yamato makes in Naruto Shippuuden.[/*1hxr2uox]

As for opinions ... well, I'll wait till more people have a chance to watch.
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Old 01-07-2008, 02:07 AM   #22
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Re: big bad birtha's suggestion box 2: secret passions unveiled

God, I'm tired....I'll watch the two Hayates tomorrow. I did watch Rosario and H2O. Here's my thoughts.

Rosario + Vampire 1- .........-_-;........ Err...Lemme catch myself here, because I can't find the exact words for this. Ok, I found them. This was awful! God, the very first thing you see in this is a panty shot. I was like "Okay....that was pointless." Then, you are hit with one hundred more panty shots of the same girl. I mean, you never see that girl without them going up her skirt. However, that's the tip of the iceberg. The story is crap. "OOOOO! This human guy moves into this school full of monsters!" He meets this vampire girl, and they are close in like seconds. She is ultra affectionate towards him, which just feels tacky. Then there are these overdramatic moments that just left me laughing. "Oh! You hate humans? Well, let me tell you! I am a human!" *The girl acts shocked* Honestly, I would've stopped watching this at like the first half of the episode if I wasn't told it was great. I will continue to watch, but I can only endure so much. The girl is really cute, but that will only get a show so far (Prism Ark, Nanatsuiro Drops, etc.)

H2O ~Footprints in the Sand~1- This is surprisingly good. It's so sweet, but this time, it isn't the girls that are sweet. It's the guy this time. You see, he is actually blind, and everyone is helping him adjust to the school. At the same time, the first girl he meets is constantly being harassed/bullied, in turn, giving her a Tsugumi-like personality. This is a little ecchi as well, but it isn't really forced or annoying. Actually, it's kind of cute in a way. I hope this goes in the direction it is going, because I thoroughly enjoyed the first episode.

Aaaaanyway, I will be off to whatever I do best.

One more thing. My figurines still haven't been shipped ;_; I'm not mad or anything, but I am disappointed. I had them preordered over a month before they were available, so I kind of hoped that they would've arrived. God damnit 4chan! It's your fault!
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Old 01-07-2008, 11:43 AM   #23
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Re: big bad birtha's suggestion box 2: secret passions unveiled

Dopple triumphantly returns from the middle ages to scream,

HOSAKA AND KAIJI DOUBLE WIN FOR THE WIN!

:14
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Old 01-07-2008, 01:37 PM   #24
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Re: big bad birtha's suggestion box 2: secret passions unveiled

Yeah, all of the people on Wakachan who hate Minami-ke are pissed. (All 2 of them. ) Especially the one who really loves Claymore and feels Teresa deserved to win. (All 1 of them. )

The Minami-ke apologists (amongst whom, even as a fan, I find myself and many other Minami-ke fans find themselves), are saying that while Hosaka may not be Gar, he's still loads more loved and enjoyable than the other two, ergo "Gay for Archer" in the truest sense. In that we who voted for Hosaka are "Gay for Hosaka." Not for the same reasons as those who are gay for Archer were "Gay for Archer" (and thus "GAR" was born), but it's the same idea.

In that sense, I'd say Hosaka was the truest candidate of the three, i.e. he was truly the one most fans were gay for. After all, you can't be gay for a girl.
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Old 01-07-2008, 11:12 PM   #25
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Re: big bad birtha's suggestion box 2: secret passions unveiled

When people were selling Hosaka to me, like saying "he climbed a cliff just to deliver hot food to someone who wasn't even there!" I thought pretty highly of him. Just all the more incentive to get farther in Minami!

On the other hand, the lastest match is sort of a disappointment. Speedwagon? Itoshiki-sensei? Very weak characters if I do say so myself. Then again, the "new folk" vote is overwhelming this time around - Boota got 350 votes for punching Anti-Spiral. He was almost a background character!
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