07-04-2014, 09:55 AM | #6451 |
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07-04-2014, 11:41 AM | #6452 |
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I mentioned this to BBB last night before I was assaulted by sleep, but Studio Ghibli is making a new movie and frankly it looks really bad. The animation is clearly CGI, like a better looking, lower frame-rate The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker with the block cel-shading. The digital really gives it away for some reason I'm still trying to understand.
I read an interesting topic a few days ago discussing frame-rate: almost all anime is recorded at 24 fps, and several of the newer cartoons and anything done on computers comes in at higher. Although MLP was done at 24 fps and its "look" is likely due to the distribution of unique frames, which I don't like. I suspect that the higher fps in that Ghibli film is what's turning me off. I don't like rotoscope, partially because I think it is poor technique and otherwise because of the incongruity of watching it. It's abrupt in some parts but smooth in others, and the limited geometry rubs off wrong.
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07-04-2014, 12:01 PM | #6453 |
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New shows! Or in this case, a lack thereof. A few have aired, but I've only started two.
Glasslip Oh JOY! Episode 1 spoilers Spoiler: show Locodol Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Japan loves their idols. This show bored me to tears. I stopped watching it halfway through the first episode. |
07-04-2014, 12:07 PM | #6454 | ||
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I certainly didn't get the feeling that anything was obviously rotoscoped -- and even if it were, we have to be mindful whether we're using the term in the colloquial sense to mean graphics like those in A Scanner Darkly or Aku no Hana or whether we intend the technical meaning. Because the technical meaning is going to take you right back to many of the most famous animated films in history, including Walt Disney's Bambi (which made heavy use of rotoscoping to better animate animal movement and anatomy). Actually, a quick Google search reveals claims that Disney employed rotoscoping as far back as Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs, though this I've neither heard of until now. Regardless, rotoscoping as a technique is something which has been employed by many animation studios over the past century. So you can't just dismiss Ghibli out of hand and say, "UGH! ROTOSCOPING! " if you feel like you can tell that certain intricacies of anatomy or motion were rotoscoped. As for the lay use of the term to mean visuals which resemble those in Aku no Hana ... I definitely wasn't seeing that here. Is there a particular point which stood out to you as Aku no Hana-esque? And -- importantly -- in a way that looks nothing like what we've seen in other Ghibli works? Because I felt like this trailer presented visuals entirely mistakable for those in any other recent Ghibli work. Anyway ... even if the animation is meh, frankly the biggest turn off for me with Ghibli films is how weird their narrative structures are. They're difficult films to follow, certainly nothing like Western children's animated films. Sometimes they feel more like a homework assignment in an art analysis course than like a children's film. So for me, I'm less worried about the animation than I am about the story. The Ghibli film right before this one (about the World War-era plane designer) seemed from its trailers to be inaccessible to younger audiences. This film likewise looks like it's been made more for adults than for small children. Honestly, I ... I got pretty bored watching it. (Which is partly the reason I also didn't make it to the end of the trailer before having to reply.) I feel bad saying that since the trailer also successfully made me sympathize with the two mysterious girls who feature most prominently in it, made me want to know more about them. But I'd be lying if I said that this trailer made me want to go out and rent the movie right this second. So ... even if Ghibli's animation is also in hot water, I feel like they have bigger problems to worry about these days. The novelty of their Picasso-esque storytelling has worn off for international audiences by now; and the telecommunications era has allowed Japanese children to easily tune in to foreign children's films; and so ... it's not as though Ghibli has a monopoly over what Japanese children watch on the big screen anymore. Japanese parents can vote with their dollars to take their children to see the Bolts and the Toy Stories just as easily as they can to take them to see the latest Ghibli films. While I appreciate the studio's non-conformist attitudes to a degree, I worry that their stubbornness in this regard is only going to see them losing touch with more and more moviegoers as time goes on.
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07-04-2014, 12:30 PM | #6455 |
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Double post: WOW. I can honestly say that that trailer was AWFUL at doing its job of selling its story. Because it turns out that its story is like RIGHT UP MY ALLEY. But I only learned that thanks to the (presumably spoiler-heavy) Wikipedia when I went to look up what book this was based on. (I had my suspicions given that the Japanese title was not a translation of the English title, a somewhat common occurrence when books are brought over to Japan.)
I'll spoiler tag what Wikipedia says since it's probably spoilerific up through the 66% mark of the film (maybe even later than that), but still: check this out if you don't mind spoilers and/or if you too were bored by the trailer. Spoiler: show Maybe if the trailer had indicated this I'd have been interested to see the film. But instead all it showed was what looked like a particularly boring coming-of-age, possibly lesbian love story.
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07-04-2014, 01:11 PM | #6456 | |||
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To illustrate this, and the uncanny valley effect, take a look at Roger Rabbit short Tummy Trouble. Evidence of this occurs like when the mother's legs move around (no longer appearing as legs, but rotating parabolae) and when the orderly screams "LUNCH" (@ 3:33) with his face resembling a circle due to the shading. Also seen in Maxwell's Silver Hammer at 1:21 where Maxwell suddenly looks like he's made of shapes, with the creepy eye pan from right to left. I don't know if you have time for this, but it appears a lot in Friend Like Me as well, at least when Genie is mono-colour, he looks fine to me but in some scenes he suddenly has this 3D look which jars since he's fine in other scenes, and it only applies to movement. The Genie looks strange up until "up your sleeves" and returns to looking odd only after he's conjuring the menu/table for Aladdin later in the song. What I see in common is, -it's always humans or humanoids -the shading makes the humans look like simpler geometric shapes -it seems to be simple shading on either high fps or unique frames -that contrasts with the environment and really stands out to me in a distracting way I can tell you I liked Arpeggio of the Blue Steel and the original IM@S game and found them charming and endearing despite being "more poorly animated" than what I see in that Ghibli film, but they were more consistent across the videos I was watching. Quote:
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It's kinda funny Ghibli made another World War I movie. Howl was basically World War I + environmentalism, so I guess both of those are the studio's favourite themes.
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07-04-2014, 02:40 PM | #6457 |
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I thought that trailer was pretty amazing, even without knowing the background.
On new shows, I've only watched the first episode of Free2 so far. I'd post in the thread but all I have to say is that this show is so shameless. Still haven't watched Glasslip. Glanced at some of the reviews and still not really convinced to check it out. From the trailer and OP/ED, I don't even see any signs of pretty glassmaking... Just chibis and chickens. >.>;
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07-04-2014, 03:07 PM | #6458 |
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Oh hey, it's Gargantia all over again, except Hiroshi Kamiya is the new chamber. I'm sure Talon, LBC and kaisa will be all over that! More ugly CGI though, even worse than the Ghibli one I linked to.
I added Futsuu no Nichiyoubi to my mp3 player, I think when I go home I'm going to marathon Hana Yori Dango in prep for the drama/romance scenes in JwH. Just watching the OP gets me pumped up and I forgot all about how I failed to get past the bullying scenes in the original series, despite how famous it is. Oh, and bad news Talon - the butcher boy isn't writing PSYCHO-PASS two. Maybe BBB will watch it now!
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07-04-2014, 03:16 PM | #6459 | |
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Also, I'm not a big fan of the animation. It's very distracting. It's in a sort of uncanny valley where 50% of the screen is normal animation and 50% is blatantly CGI and the domains which govern which bits get CGI'd and which bits don't isn't immediately obvious to the subconscious -- and thus cannot easily be written off. It was different with Suisei no Gargantia where most things were CG-assisted animation and the only super-blatant CGI was Chamber and the other mechas. And even Chamber tended to be CG-assisted animation (although I guess I should rather flip it around in his case and say animation-complemented CGI?) -- it was only in certain scenes where you could tell that he was like 95%+ CGI and 5%- animated. That's very different from what's shown here. Here, you have these really weird mixes of CGI and animation that are just far too distracting. The CGI isn't used seamlessly nor is it used sparingly or copiously enough to escape the uncanny valley. The show needed to either be more CGI or else be much, much less. Well that's disappointing in the one sense -- Psycho-Pass was Gen's project so passing it off to another writer offers us no promises of quality -- but it could be good news in the other. Psycho-Pass didn't enjoy the strongest of endings. In fact, I've found that most people I recommend the series to tend to come out of it anywhere from "I finished it but I was not impressed " to "I dropped it and you can't make me start it back up again. " Obviously the show enjoyed enough popularity to net itself a second season, so I know I'm not alone in liking it, but yeah ... Gen's writing for the first season had enough flaws that pushed a lot of people away. Maybe a new writer for Season 2 can offer us a different look at Gen's universe. It worked for Nasu! Maybe it can work for Gen too.
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07-04-2014, 03:26 PM | #6460 | |||
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By and large, I agree with you on the CGI, although for me, it's more the animation as the characters look fine even when moving. And the background CG is the best use of it - I don't see characters done in CG as on the same level as inanimates or environments. Like in the Kid Icarus cutscene from earlier. Quote:
Take that as you will.
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07-04-2014, 03:43 PM | #6461 |
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Neither Madoka nor Psycho-Pass were written with sequels in mind. So in that sense, I don't fault Gen for pursuing the greater of the two cash cows. It's not like he said, "Well, Psycho-Pass clearly warrants a sequel whereas Madoka does not ... buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut I'mma go write a Madoka sequel because teh moniez. :3" I mean, sure: he likely did go with Madoka for "teh moniez," but it's not as though Psycho-Pass desperately needed a sequel either.
Though if the case were to be made for one or the other, then I feel I'd have to go with Psycho-Pass deserving the sequel over Madoka. The way that Psycho-Pass ends, there are characters whose futures you still might want to know more about; there remain unanswered questions to be solved for that universe; etc. Whereas Madoka's ending is one of those endings that pretty much leaves no room for future exploration that wouldn't be shameless milking of the cash cow. Putting it another way, "What happens now? " is a question that I don't think is terribly worth answering for either series -- but it's at least marginally worth answering for Psycho-Pass. For Madoka, the question is almost idiotic. (Madoka final episode spoilers) Spoiler: show That stated, I am not the biggest fan of Madoka -- I liked it too, but man if it's not been grossly overhyped -- so this sequel isn't for me to begin with. Perhaps Mcsweeney will feel differently about it. But I am interested to see if he actually agrees with me. :o
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07-04-2014, 04:17 PM | #6462 |
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In Grisaia no Kajitsu, the main character does what I feel is the most awkward thing ever, in every single route.
He's in this school, see, and the only classmates are 5 girls. If he decides to go steady with one, he gathers the rest in a classroom and goes "attention everyone, I have an important reason for gathering you. [route heroine] and I are now dating." In a more abstract sense, this is like telling the girls they no longer have a chance, were not chosen, etc. But from a real-world perspective, it almost assumes the girls are dullards who can't pick up subtle social cues and have to be told flat-out they lost. It makes me want to see something like Whitest Guys U Know have a skit like that. A boy and girl announce to their co-workers "attention everyone, we have an important announcement. We are now having sex." just to see the reactions.
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07-04-2014, 04:42 PM | #6463 | |
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07-04-2014, 04:46 PM | #6464 |
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I find it weird how Talon talked about a Madoka sequel in a purely hypothetical manner when a sequel already exists. It's called Rebellion.
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07-04-2014, 06:06 PM | #6465 |
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Shows you how utterly uninterested I am in continuing to explore the Madoka franchise. That I have confused any previously made sequels for more rehashed re-dos like the one you saw in theaters some time ago.
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07-04-2014, 08:08 PM | #6466 |
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Well DCD just told me that they're thinking of making Rebellion non canon, meaning Madoka season 2 would be a totally different alternate storyline. You have a source for that? If that's really what they're doing then I'll be pissed. Higurashi after episode 4 pissed!
As weird as the twist was in Rebellion, it's going to be retarded if they just pretend it never happened. It happened and now they need to deal with it!
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07-05-2014, 01:05 AM | #6467 | |
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Speaking of Urobutcher, I read something really disheartening. This is a page from F/Z with Tanaka Romeo reviewing a chapter of it. Why do I find it disheartening? It's a writer I really like singing praise for one I dislike! Romeo is better than that god damnit! |
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07-05-2014, 05:49 AM | #6468 |
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From what I've seen of his (Madoka and Saya no Uta) I respect Gen's skills when it comes to writing a premise and plot twists. However, he has much to learn about character interaction and development.
I'd still like to know where DCD got the info that Madoka season 2 is a go, and it will ignore Rebellion. inb4 "My source is a guy on 4chan"
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07-05-2014, 09:12 AM | #6469 |
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That was my interpretation, because movies are never canon usually. Consider The End of Evangelion which is just a retelling of what happened canonically in Episodes 25/26.
As for the Madoka 2 information, Gen was invited to whatever current anime con (?) is on right now and he's been talking about the project and PSYCHO-PASS.
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07-05-2014, 01:24 PM | #6470 |
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Sailor Moon has aired. Time to give thoughts on it!
Sailor Moon Crystal So far, this is an okay remake. It's not as ridiculously sloppy as I imagined it to be. Not much to really say. Usagi's not as annoying as I remember her being. I look forward to next week's episode though. Ami is go...I think! Speaking of Sailor Moon Crystal! |
07-06-2014, 02:56 PM | #6472 |
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Now that I know who will be voicing Rei in the Sailor Moon remake, God I want fanart of ...
Spoiler: show so badly now. Better yet (even if it's not the right character exactly): Spoiler: show
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07-06-2014, 04:59 PM | #6473 |
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What has 3 legs, 2 tails, 1 arm, and 5 asses? I don't know, but here's some shows!
Akame ga Kill Oh fun! We have the most hyped show this season! (episode 1 spoilers) Spoiler: show Barakamon A show about a pissy artist and an energetic child? Could be sweet (as long as it doesn't lead to a relationship). I really enjoyed the first episode. It has the potential to be an incredibly heartwarming show. Hopefully something won't make it sputter out. Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun Shoujo version of Manga-san to Assistant-san to? Well my main problems with Manga-san was the constant panty jokes. I enjoyed the first episode quite a bit. The main guy is entertaining, and I like the idea experiments. The romance is silly, but maybe the show will be surprising and make something worth a damn of it? |
07-06-2014, 05:03 PM | #6474 |
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LOW BLOW, DUDE! ............ *sigh* At least the anime version cut that part out ... ._.
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07-06-2014, 05:12 PM | #6475 |
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Barakamon is actually great! I HIGHLY recommend it as a sweet comedy show. :3
(And it's a reaction gif gold mine.)
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