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Old 04-01-2012, 04:55 PM   #26
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Maybe they'll pull a Simpsons and have the characters frozen in time in their respective grades.

I don't remember seeing the old dude outside of Hosaka's fantasies, I think I would have noticed him. Maybe at a cultural festival where he wouldn't stand out so much?

Yo Talon! Since I discovered that you do not have a 24 hour hotline to immediately inform you of Minami-ke news, since you didn't know about season 4, it's possible that you overlooked the existence of something else. Have you ever heard of an OVA called Minami-ke Betsubara? I've never seen you mention it before. So if you haven't, here is my gift to you. Just click on this
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Old 04-01-2012, 05:22 PM   #27
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I have. I consider it a little epilogue-esque thing to Season 3. It even reuses footage from Season 3 in its OP. One of the songs from the Betsubara OST is also on my iPhone. But thank you anyway. ^_^; Yeah, I don't normally mention it just because it's clunky to be like "Seasons 1-3 + OAV" or "Seasons 1-3 + Betsubara", etc. I consider it an unofficial part of Season 3 and I assume that most Minami-ke fans, who tend to be pretty clever people ;D, will figure it out on their own that (a) such a thing exists and (b) yes, they need to see it. I was kinda underwhelmed by it -- it wasn't as good as some of the best episodes from each of Seasons 1, 2, and 3 -- which is also why I don't usually bring it up. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't amazing either.
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Old 04-01-2012, 05:38 PM   #28
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I thought it was pretty good! If it was inserted into season 3 proper, I would have considered it a well above average episode.

Spoiler: show
Hosaka attempting to force feed Hayami to prove his love for Haruka, and Kana accidentally giving Fujioka Valentine's Day chocolate were pretty top notch gags. I was DEFINITELY disappointed that Chiaki didn't recognize Hosaka as the Curry Fairy though! But we don't even know when the OVA took place in the timeline ...
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Old 06-20-2012, 01:34 PM   #29
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Speaking of things that give me warm feelings, I've found out some information on Minami-ke season 4. It's set to air in the winter, and it appears to have changed studios AGAIN! This time to Studio feel. The ones who made Yosuga no Sora and Kiss x sis. I know some of you guys watched them, so what do you think, an improvement over asread? Weird how asread responded to criticism and improved the look of the show so much for season 3, but ended up getting dumped anyway. Why the heck does this show jump studios so much anyway? I've never seen an anime change studios with almost every season.
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Old 06-20-2012, 02:10 PM   #30
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You probably should have disconnected this idea from the above post and posted it in the Minami-ke thread but I'll reply to you here for now. Maybe Yuki will splice these two posts over, who knows.

I have no idea why we never got Daume (the studio who did Season 1) back. The fans loved Daume. And they reviled what Asread did to the project. I put off watching Minami-ke for about a year as a result of the horrors I saw in the first episode of Season 2. You put it off for three or so years. I've read posts on ANN and elsewhere from people who proudly boast that they still haven't watched past Season 1 of Minami-ke, that is just how badly the fans loved Daume's animation and direction and hated Asread's. But the fact remains that Sakuraba Coharu ended up picking Asread again for Season 3. He picked them over Daume ... or anyone else for that matter! ... and I have no idea why. I do have my theories though:
  • It may have been a cost thing. Daume may have been expensive in the first place (hence the initial split studio approach) or they may have become expensive following the success of Season 1. Daume knew they had a good thing going for them -- all you needed to do was Google みなみけ アニメ and you'd surely find the hundreds of fan complaints about Asread's work and celebrations of Daume's -- so when it came time to go into negotiations with Coharu and his lawyers, they probably stood their ground and demanded more than he was willing to offer, certain that he'd have to cede or risk public outcry. Well, he risked public outcry: he went with the cheaper studio (Asread) but told them "Do your fuckin' best to not repeat the mistakes you made in Season 2 and to try and 'Daume-ify' your animation for Season 3 as much as possible."
  • It may have been a personal preference thing. Coharu is first and foremost the creator of Minami-ke. He may have a mental perception of what his comic looks like in color on television and Asread may have been a lot more faithful to his personal vision than Daume was. For all we know he might've insisted Chiaki be blonde and Daume said "Fuck that" and drew her a brunette. Or he might have insisted they make the characters look a little more detailed than Daume ultimately did but Daume said "Hell no, we look kawaii simple" and so they drew kawaii simple. Who knows, who knows. I certainly don't. But by this theory, the idea is that Sakuraba Coharu personally liked Asread's work more than Daume's, to hell with the fans.
  • It may have been a contractual thing. My understanding is that he only signed the rights to Minami-ke away to Daume and to Asread for one season a pop. But for all I know he may have accidentally or deliberately sold Asread the rights to animate up through a certain spot in the manga, entitling them to launch a Season 3 and preventing him from letting other studios handle that same material. Indeed, what if the way the contract was worded it had said "Asread gets to animate up through the Curry Song chapter" but when Asread saw the writing on the wall they decided to deliberately draw things out towards the end of Season 2 and make it so that the Curry Song couldn't possibly show up until Season 3? (That's just a made-up example but you see my point.) If the contract were worded in such a disastrous way, then Coharu'd have had no choice but to let them attempt the third season as well.
I mean, none of these theories seems all that probable to me but they each have enough logic behind them that makes you think they're at least plausible.

So now we come to Season 4. Here, Sakuraba clearly was able to freely pick a new studio because, lo and behold, he's gone and picked a third, different studio to handle Season 4. Why oh why he didn't pick Daume is anyone's guess but the possibilities include:
  • again, money. See the first bullet point in the list above.
  • the original staff (director, lead animator, writers, etc) who he and/or the fans accredit with the perfection of Season 1 may no longer be connected with Daume. Hell, god forbid they may even be dead, who the hell knows. As others have pointed out, studios are living breathing organizations of people. Just like you can't say "I liked Chobits, CCS, and MKR, therefore I expect to like XXXHolic and Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles" because half of the CLAMP staff for the first three had been replaced by the time of the second two, it could be the same thing with Daume. For all I know their most recent anime work has sucked balls. They may no longer be the studio they were in that magical window of time back in Summer & Fall 2007.
  • in his honest to god opinion Coharu thinks that Studio feel will do a better job than Daume ever could
And others. I have no idea why he skipped over Daume for Season 4 but he did and so that's that.

Now, to finally address your question! You asked us what we thought of Studio Feel. Well, I have to admit I didn't know them by name but you say they're the folks who animated Kiss x Sis and Yosuga no Sora. If that's the case, my opinion is that they're a great animation studio. I don't know about their direction or editing merits since I never played the Yosuga no Sora visual novel nor had I read the Kiss x Sis manga before watching the OAVs and TV show, but I do know that their animation is pretty good. They likely won't give us "the pastel fuzzies" feel of Season 1 that everyone so loves. Kiss x Sis and YnS are both incredibly sharp-looking productions. Skin is almost rubbery it's so shiny and taut. (sample; not explicit but still NSFW or with others looking at what you're looking at) But it's top-notch animation all the same. (See previous sample.) Why might he have gone with Studio Feel?
  • They're well-known for being willing & able to release television-quality OAVs direct to video via manga bundles. That's exactly what he wanted to do with Volume 10 and so that may be one reason he approached them. They've done it with Kiss x Sis for years (it's how the OAVs were all released) and Coharu may have seen that the model works. It's way easier to approach somebody to do a TV show plus manga bundle OAV for you if they have past experience and continued willingness doing it than it is to approach someone who has neither the experience nor the willingness, I wager. Maybe Minami-ke volume sales have been lagging , I don't know. Anyway ...
  • They're popular. Everyone loves Kiss x Sis. (Well, everyone to whom Kiss x Sis appeals anyway. ) And I think everyone agrees they did a great job with the Yosuga no Sora adaptation. (Again, I can't speak from personal experience playing the game but what I did see in the TV show was one of the sharpest, classiest ways to adapt a multi-route eroge to television that I have ever seen.) I don't think anyone bears this studio any ill-will. This doesn't answer why he went with them over Daume ^_^; but it does answer why he went with them over Asread.
  • Again, perhaps he personally likes the studio's work and he personally hopes that their interpretation of his manga characters will match or exceed his own visions inside his head than previous studios' attempts have.
tl;dr I'm disappointed it isn't Daume but I like the studio it is and am ecstatic it isn't Asread.
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Old 06-23-2012, 06:37 AM   #31
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Yeah sorry, I'm so used to posting everything in the bbb suggestion box that I sometimes forget other threads even exist.

Daume hasn't made a show in a long time. Maybe they're defunct? Even their official website hasn't been updated in two years.

It's possible that the manga author doesn't really care about the anime, or he simply doesn't have much control. One particularly notorious example of both these things is Akira Toriyama. He said in an interview that he barely even watched the Dragonball Z anime after a certain point, except a few times with his son. He also wanted to end the story after the Freeza saga, but Shonen Jump basically forced him to keep going. When he finally said, "Fuck this, I'm done" Toei went ahead and made Dragonball GT without him to squeeze some more milk out of it. When you agree to give your story to a publisher, you sell your soul to some extent.

I'll admit that I don't know exactly how the industry works, but it's likely that the ones who are actually making the decisions about the anime are Young Magazine.
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Old 07-07-2012, 09:01 AM   #32
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Actually, Daume is not dead, they just haven't been the head animator for a show in two years. They're still doing minor stuff. So what caused this divide, who knows.

Quote:
Kiss x Sis and YnS are both incredibly sharp-looking productions. Skin is almost rubbery it's so shiny and taut. (sample; not explicit but still NSFW or with others looking at what you're looking at) But it's top-notch animation all the same. (See previous sample.)
Ohh, shiny. Maybe we have some nice Hosaka abs to look forward to? His abs looked like shit in season 2! This offended me more than you can imagine. I was talking before about how the characters were too scrawny in season 3. To see what I mean just check this out:



Look at them chicken legs!

Did you also find it weird how they put the ending credits like halfway through the show? I wonder how many people weren't keeping track of the time, assumed that was the end of the show, flipped the channel, and missed some brilliant bit in the last half.
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Old 07-07-2012, 09:49 AM   #33
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It was VERY strange. I've no idea why they did that. What makes it even weirder is that you know it wasnt a quirky studio thing because the same exact studio did Season 2 and placed the ending where it belongs -- at the end! But it's okay though because ED 3 is one of the series' greats, below the impeccable OP 1 and ED 1 for me but above pretty much everything else. (Not surprisingly, Season 2 had the worst of both. Even Betsubara's OP was better! ) Heart-shaping dorky-cute Haruka is mai waifu. (And yours. And Hosaka's. And Natsuki's. And ...)
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Old 07-07-2012, 11:12 AM   #34
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Well I do enjoy the part in OP 3 where Haruka brushes her hair, tosses it back then makes a slight kissy face.
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Old 11-10-2012, 10:42 PM   #35
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The last time I checked to see if Minami-ke Omatase was out, no one had it. Checked on a whim tonight and it looks like there are several raws at different low resolutions (I assume one is the standard 480p DVD rip and the other is an upscale) as well as two different fansub groups who have tackled it, neither of them being Ayako, neither a particularly famous group either afaik. I went with both groups plus a copy of the raw as a result. I watched it with AhoDomo first. They did an okay job but they translated a lot of the syntax wrong. Meanings were overall okay but they weren't actually translating what the characters were truly saying and that bugs me so I'll definitely be trying the other group's to see if they fared any better. Regardless, here's hoping that a fansubbing juggernaut will pick up Season 4 when it airs this winter.

The first thing which jumped out at me was the animation, specifically the new character designs. They're ... okay, I guess. ^^; Nothing beats Daume's original, of course, but right from the get-go I preferred these new designs to Okawari (Season 2)'s. And as the episode wore on and I got accustomed to the new designs, I think I may have warmed up to them even more than Okaeri (Season 3)'s, though that's hard to say because ... well, the one persistent problem I have with the new character designs is that they make all the girls look a lot more baby-faced than they've ever looked before. And I don't particularly care for that, especially not on the older characters like Haruka, Hayami-senpai, and Hosaka. But as far as solidness of animation goes, well, just see for yourself. It's not too too bad. Could've been worse.

The second thing which jumped out at me was that this episode felt rather half-assed directorially. ^^; They recycled the Minami-ke Betsubara OP and ED, though in their defense they did animate a never-before-seen animation sequence for the OP, something which even Betsubara neglected to do, opting for a mishmash of footage from earlier episodes instead. But it wasn't just the recycled OP and ED songs which made me raise an eyebrow. As much as I enjoyed the episode as a long-time fan of the franchise, I felt that these were table scrap sketches dressed up as something else. The Hallowe'en sketch should have been awesome ... but it just shamelessly pilfered from earlier sketches. For example, the part where all the girls glomp-tickle Takeru-ojisan was reminiscent of the Season 1 scene where the elementary school girls all tackle Takeru because he seems like a suspicious person. The post-New Year's sketch was little different. It was weird jumping back in time to New Year's (considering that in the Minami-ke timeline we're currently somewhere in the spring, very very near to the start of the girls' next school year) but when it turned out that this sketch was nothing more than a version 2.0 of the classic scene which finished off Season 1, I didn't know how to feel. Conflicted? On the one hand, as much as I wanted it to be funny, it just wasn't funny the second go around. To be honest, part of that was probably because it was even less well-executed in its antics than the original one was. But on the other hand, I still love and still greatly enjoy the original scene every time I re-watch Season 1. So like, I know I am not tired of the gag period. I think it's just that my brain operates like this:
  • if you're the original, then I will gauge whether I'm tired of you based on how much I've seen you and you've lost your bite
  • but if you're a copycat, then I will judge you much more harshly and you will have to really outperform the scene you're copying off of or else I am going to not like you at all
It seems unfair but I think it's just how I operate. And thus the New Year's scene, cute as it was, was very awkward to watch for me as a fan. The third sketch was a solid example of what I am saying when I say "table scraps": for if the first two scenes were cute but derivative of earlier Minami-ke sketches, then the third scene was original but was rather weak. The highlight for me was the inside-joke reference to Chiaki's famous dislike of carrots and bell peppers by having her eat a plate of nothing but bell peppers like the champ she is. I'm sure Mcsweeney will appreciate the bit where Kana and Chiaki ... well, it's just easier to show it.


Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

So yeah, don't get me wrong. Omatase definitely has its moments. (It's Minami-ke: of course it's going to have its moments! ) But this sketch about people's whims was pretty weak as far as Minami-ke sketches normally go. And the fifth and final sketch, with a grain of rice stuck on Maki's face and Natsuko in anguish as she tries to find a polite way to let Maki know, wasn't much stronger. It had some nice cameos from fan favorite Hosaka as well as Okaeri starlet Hitomi, but aside from that the sketch was pretty forgettable. (EDIT: Whoops! Skipped over the fourth scene, with the swimsuits!) The swimsuit scene was okay but staring at two lolis and Kana in their swimsuits for an entire scene isn't exactly my idea of entertainment. ^^; I did love the part where Uchida, one of my favorite characters, did the talking-into-a-motorized-fan thing that I used to always do when I was her age. (Still do it sometimes, in fact. ) See, it's the little things like this that make me love Sakuraba Coharu's material. I only wish the sketch had been overall as good as that one brief moment was.

I think this is why they decided to do Omatase rather than just waiting for the anime to start in the winter. They wanted to cover some of the weaker scenes which previous studios had skipped over, hence why we traveled back in time to autumn and winter for some of the sketches. But they also probably wanted Season 4 to hit the ground running right from where Asread left off at the end of Season 3 (or more accurately, I guess, Betsubara). And so they created Omatase since it would allow them to go back in time for a few scenes from the past before creating a season that, like all the seasons before it, pretty much just goes straight in order through the calendar.

Overall, I give Minami-ke: Omatase an 8/10 as a biased fan, perhaps more fairly a 7/10. It was good but it wasn't up to snuff with the series' greatest moments in Seasons 1, 2, or 3. Still, the new character designs offer some promise (though they will still take some getting used to) and it was great to see that most if not all of the original voice actors have reprised their roles.

Speaking of Season 4, I'm pretty nervous-excited for it since it should bring with it some pretty big changes, most significantly the graduation of the seniors from Haruka's high school. What will become of Hayami and Hosaka? Only time will tell. All three of the Minamis have got a buffer grade (Chiaki goes to Grade 6, Kana to Grade 3, and Haruka to Grade 3) so we won't see any big shake-ups with them, presumably, but yeah ... Hosaka, oh Hosaka. What will become of you? Please tell me he becomes a sous chef at a restaurant in town and inches his way towards becoming Japan's next top chef.

Last edited by Talon87; 11-10-2012 at 10:59 PM.
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Old 11-13-2012, 01:16 AM   #36
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So which sub ended up being the best? I'm all over this once I know that.
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Old 11-13-2012, 01:51 AM   #37
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So far, I've only watched the first sketch of DeadFish's version. However, from just this one portion I can weigh in and let you get going on your own Omatase adventure! You're not going to believe this but ... the scripts are 100% identical. xfd; To be perfectly honest, I didn't notice at first. The giveaway was when both groups opted to translate itazura the exact same way and I was like "Hrm, I wouldn't translate it that way myself. " (Itazura is a trick or a prank. But they both translated it as "get harassed." ^^; ) So I then did a side-by-side comparison and ... sure enough, the scripts are 100% identical. What was funny is, I actually was more forgiving of the syntactical deviations when watching tonight with DeadFish than I was the other night with AhoDomo. Maybe because AhoDomo was my first and since Minami-ke is so precious to me I was in hyper-critical overdrive? ^^; Regardless, all the complaints I had the other night still stand ... but they bothered me a lot less this go-around.

So basically, you'll be making your decision entirely based on whose name you like more and which file size you prefer. Even the fonts used by the two groups are identical. So:
  • AhoDomo: 291 MB, 576p
  • DeadFish: 134 MB, 576p
I didn't notice any visual quality differences between the two myself so if you want to go with the smaller one then I don't see why not. But yeah, these are i-den-ti-cal releases. I guess that explains why these two groups were the only two to sub Omatase? ^^; 'Cause they were really the only one!
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Old 12-11-2012, 08:46 AM   #38
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Yeah nothing spectacular in this special, except for Haruka in a succubus costume (damn Jimmeh). I'm in agreement about the quality of the animation and character designs: about as good as season 3, perhaps slightly better. Good to see Hitomi again, hopefully she'll be a regular character in season 4, since I enjoyed her episode in season 3 a lot, and was so disappointed that she vanished after that.
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Old 12-15-2012, 01:35 PM   #39
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One more thing. You talked about how some of the scenes were inferior derivatives of classic bits. I love Hosaka, but the salad song was no curry song!

I read some of the manga a long time ago before the anime even existed, and thought it was okay but not great. That's why it was such a surprise that the anime was so good. But since I didn't keep up with the manga, I have no idea how much of season 2 and 3 was actually based off of it. Was this troubling mediocrity of a special conjured out of thin air by Studio Feel, or is it genuine manga material?
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Old 12-15-2012, 04:54 PM   #40
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mcsweeney View Post
One more thing. You talked about how some of the scenes were inferior derivatives of classic bits. I love Hosaka, but the salad song was no curry song!
Yeah. ^^; I mean, I appreciated it, but like, if you're going to re-invent the wheel, then you've got to do a better job than the original! Otherwise the effort is meaningless! I think this is why these sketches were skipped over where they presumably would've turned up during the series' proper run back in 2007, 2008 (during the fall and winter months) and why they turned up in a stand-alone OAV bonus episode instead of being incorporated into the show proper. Timeline-wise they wouldn't fit in Season 4, so there's that, but also impact-wise they just weren't that strong because we'd seen similar, better scenes in the television broadcast series. So like, if you don't want to weaken Season 4's impact by including them, but if you also want to please hardcore fans who are begging to see them animated ("Why did you skip them? "), what do you do? You do exactly what they did: release it as a stand-alone half-hour OAV.

Or at least, this is my conjecture. 'Cause I only own Volumes 1-4 and I still haven't read them all. Which brings us to ...

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mcsweeney View Post
I read some of the manga a long time ago before the anime even existed, and thought it was okay but not great. That's why it was such a surprise that the anime was so good. But since I didn't keep up with the manga, I have no idea how much of season 2 and 3 was actually based off of it. Was this troubling mediocrity of a special conjured out of thin air by Studio Feel, or is it genuine manga material?
The anime does some things out of order relative to the manga but for the most part Season 1 lines up with Volumes 1 and 2 while the reverse statement ("Volumes 1 and 2 line up with Season 1") cannot be said.

Lengthy, thorough answer to your question. Spoilers for people who haven't seen thru Season 3.
Spoiler: show
For instance, this scene shows up on page 23, Chapter 21 of Volume 2 of the manga and in Season 1 Episode 8 of the television show around the 5m40s mark. But then the very next chapter, Chapter 22, is one of the chapters that didn't make it into the series at all. (And it's a cute chapter too! ) In it, Kana tires of Chiaki calling her "bakayarou". After she can see that Kana is clearly upset, Chiaki claims that she's calling Kana bakayarou "in the good sense of the word," but Kana isn't buying it. After their usual physical confrontation ending in Chiaki punching Kana, Kana retreats to the bathroom to meditate. Wondering if she hasn't shown Chiaki enough love and remarking that she'd better act before people start calling Chiaki a delinquent, Kana decides to shower Chiaki with love. Part 1, she asks Chiaki how her day at school was. Part 2, she gives Chiaki one of her fried croquettes. Chiaki resists, and while Kana is shown thinking how she wants to help Chiaki's growth, Chiaki is shown thinking that Kana is trying to fatten her up before eating her. Part 3, Kana offers to wash Chiaki's back when she goes to bathe. But Chiaki, fearing Big Bad Wolf Kana, pushes her away, wondering if Kana's plan was to clean (lit. polish) the meat before eating it. Finally, in Part 4, Chiaki comes to bed after her bath and there's Kana, waiting for her on her bed. "You're late," Kana says. "I'm going to read you a bedtime story until you fall asleep." Then, as Kana mutters to herself over difficult kanji, Chiaki silently retreats and goes to Haruka-neesama's bedroom where she reports, "If I go to sleep, I'll be devoured. " lol So like, as you can see, not every chapter made it from the manga into the show.

The very next chapter, Chapter 23, puts us right back on course: it's the scene where we first meet Riko, where Riko keeps grabbing Keiko's skirt while trying to ask her questions about Fujioka's relationship with Kana (Season 1 Episode 04). Chapter 24 is with Takeru-ojisan and Fujioka both showing up for Santa duty (Season 1 Episode 12). Chapter 25 is the EPIC ending of Season 1 with Hayami-senpai visiting the Minamis with her "fruit juice." Chapter 26 I don't remember where it shows up but it's a discussion of Fujioka (the teddy's) name.

Chapter 27 then clearly catapults us deep into Season 2 territory with it being the Valentine's Day chapter (Season 2 Episode 07) where Chiaki gives Kana the bright idea of collecting chocolates from a popular boy who's bound to get tons of chocolates from other girls. So then Kana goes to school and things hilariously escalate in order: 1) she goes straight for Fujioka and asks him if he's gotten any chocolate yet, 2) he proudly reports that he hasn't, eager to get some from Kana, 3) she "tch :\"s and stands by him, ready to scoop up chocolates girls might give him, 4) Riko and all the other girls in class "tch :\" at Kana who they perceive as standing guard around Fujioka And it continues, just as in the show, with 5) Kana ending up going for Ishikawa-senpai (who she heard of through Keiko) and 6) Fujioka meanwhile returning every single chocolate various girls gave him, 7) Riko crying as Keiko remarks that maybe Fujioka doesn't like chocolate, and finally 8) Kana coming back to the classroom after school, judging from Fujioka's face that he didn't get any chocolates, she feels sorry for him, and she gives him one from her stash, him mistaking it for her giving him Valentine's Day chocolate.

We then jump back to Season 1 with Chapters 28 and 29, 28 being the inkstone scene and 29 being the first time Makoto ever crossdresses. (Both in Season 1 Episode 06.) I should point out that the first chapter of Volume 02, Chapter 20, was the establishment of Baka Chiimu "Team Baka" which was also shown in Season 1 Episode 06. ^^; So like, you can see how Daume would grab chapters as they felt necessary to tell a cohesive plot and make for a good episode.

Chapter 33, you're not gonna believe this ^^; , is Takeru's pen trick scene from Season 3 Episode 01. The one with Fujioka and the roof. So like, why that didn't show up until Season 3, who knows. But in the manga, it shows up well, well in advance of other Season 3 material and is a story Asread clearly circled back around to pick up.

Chapter 34 is when the girls try on each other's school uniforms and Haruka and Kana get a tiny bit catty with each other. (I forget which episode this is in and can't seem to find the scene right now.)

Chapter 35 is when Keiko goes without glasses because Kana insists on wearing hers. (I forget which episode this is in also and can't seem to find this scene either.)

Chapter 36 is the hysterical "loli glomp" scene (Season 1 Episode 07) where the elementary school girls visiting the Minamis apartment all tackle Takeru when he shows up because he seems like a "suspicious person."

On and on I could go. But I fear I've gotten away from your question, which was "Did they make shit up for TV?" Well ...

There is occasional made-for-TV content, particularly in Season 2, it seems. For instance, the bit at the end of the Valentine's Day episode where Chiaki gives chocolate to Haruka-neesama ... that's not in the manga. Same for Haruka giving the girls chocolate and Kana insensitively munching on Chiaki's. The comment Kana makes at the end though, about being tired of black and sweet things and wanting something salty, comes from a combo of the original chapter's ending (the salt line) and the omake doodle in between chapters (the black and sweet line). But as you can appreciate from this example, much of the made-for-TV content bookends or complements actual manga content. It's not like the entire episode is made up. If the manga only explored Valentine's from Kana's side of things, then the anime explored it from Haruka's and Chiaki's as well (although understandably to lesser extents).

Here's another example, straight from the end of Volume 2. The final two chapters of the volume, 38 and 39, are what became Season 2 Episode 01 as well as Season 3 Episode 06. How did this happen? Well, let's start with S3E06. Just as in the anime, the Minamis have gone on a summer trip to the beach, chauffeured by Takeru-ojisan and accompanied by Fujioka, Yoshino, and Uchida. They go to the beach and do all the usual Japanese summer beach things, like split a watermelon and sunbathe and stuff. And the chapter ends, much like how the Season 3 Episode 06 scene ends, with discussion about how Fujioka the teddy bear wound up in Fujioka's beach bag. The final words of the scene are the final lines of Volume 2. But how then does this scene have anything to do with Season 2 Episode 01? Well, you'll recall that in S2E01, we actually get to see the trip to their destination (via rental car) and are privy to the discussions which take place inside. Those discussions, that very scene inside the SUV ... those were used in S2E01. Also, remember how in S2E01 Takeru kept pulling Fujioka aside and grilling him on his relation with the girls? That too all takes place in the original manga chapter (Chapter 28). Since it had already been animated in S2E01, obviously Asread couldn't do it again in S3E06. So they just ... started the episode abruptly with us already at the beach. ^^; But for whatever reason, back in January they must've thought it'd be a great idea to tell this story (of the vacation trip with Takeru grilling Fujioka) and that it'd be great to transform it into an onsen trip, a) because it was winter IRL and the anime honestly did a pretty good job of sticking to the actual seasons of the year in S1 and S2 and b) because onsen = Haruka boobs floating in hot bath water for the one group of fans and naked loli Chiaki for the other group. *sigh* Yeah, I don't think Asread had the best director in the world, particularly not for Season 2. ^^;

So in this sense, we do see made-for-TV content ... but as you can appreciate, it's more a case of legit manga-appropriated content being modified to suit television broadcast needs of the time. Take a chapter about Kana and Valentine's ... and turn it into an entire Valentine's Day episode with all three girls. Take a chapter about a trip to the beach ... and repurpose it into a trip to an onsen since we're airing it in January, not July. That was Asread's practice. But lest we criticize them too harshly for this, it's not like we've revealed Daume to be saints either. They did a rather hoggy job of snorting around the Minamike manga trough and picking out the choicest bits from Volumes 1 and 2 without any concern for the order in which they originally showed up. Or perhaps that's a bit unfair to say: perhaps we should instead say that they told things out of manga order but with the intention of presenting them to the public in chronological order. *shrug* Either way, it's pretty clear that if Asread is guilty of manipulating manga events, Daume is guilty of presenting manga material wildly out of publication order.

This is just looking at Volume 2. I only own Volumes 1-4 and don't have digital copies of the others, so I may or may not be able to answer whether Fuyuki and the bulk of Season 2 is made for TV or not. Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me if the majority of it were. ^^; But I'll find out in a bit. Until then, enjoy this meaty appetizer!

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Old 12-16-2012, 02:20 PM   #41
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Ha. I'm picturing those clever bastards at Daume cherry picking all the best bits from the manga, then dumping the show on Asread who are left with B material scraps.
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Old 01-05-2013, 02:25 PM   #42
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Sorry that I haven't checked the other volumes yet for content comparisons, Mcsweeney. I'll try to remember to do that soon.

But why then am I posting? UTW has announced they are picking up Minami-ke Tadaima. Fuck yes. While they're not as good as a.f.k.'s Strato was (that guy remains my hero ), they're still pretty good. Disappointed that Raze will likely not be on the ball for this one though owing to medical school and other obligations. They'll probably tap their translator who worked on Chuunibyou. That translator did an okay job, but still better imo (much better, tbh ^^; ) than Ayako's translator did with Minami-ke Season 1 thru 3, so this is definitely an upgrade.

Let the good times roll!
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Old 01-06-2013, 10:21 AM   #43
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Strato certainly is the GOAT of fansubbers. The perfect blend of accuracy, clarity, and localization when appropriate.

Out of morbid curiosity, I just checked The Triad's website to see if they finally released Kaiji episode 05. It looks like they are officially dead at last.
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Old 01-06-2013, 03:10 PM   #44
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First episode of Tadaima has been watched. It was very umm....something? Honestly I didn't enjoy it too much. Alot of the humor felt forced. By the time the episode has halfway over, I was kinda hoping it'd end. Maybe it'll get better when the events pick up?
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Old 01-06-2013, 11:08 PM   #45
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Four minutes in. Paused.

Subs:
Wondering if I should drop everything and volunteer to sub / force my way into an existing group to sub / create my own fucking subs for Minami-ke. Would be a boatload of effort but the rewrites are really starting to get on my nerves at this point. They're nothing that bad, but it's just wtf unbelievable levels of rewriting because the words whose meanings they're altering are so goddamn basic. (Like, words you learn in your first year with the language.)

When Chiaki explains her sisters' names: UTW's translated it as "_________ means 'Summer/Spring'. And true to her name, {she is} _________." But Chiaki doesn't say that at all. What she actually says is "True to her name, {Kana/Haruka} ____________." It's one sentence and there's no retarded "HEY GAIZ IN CASE YOU DIDN'T KNOW DIS IS DA PUN IN DA MEENAMEEZ NAMEZES!" Why invent a sentence that isn't there? And why do it for a fanbase that cleaaaaaaarly already knows and loves these girls to pieces so much they don't want your patronizing and inadequate explanations of the girls' names' meanings? (Haruka doesn't mean "Spring" alone. It means "Spring Fragrance," 春香. Hence why simply saying "True to her name" alone with the Spring pun implied would have been better than lying to people saying "This is Haruka. Her name means Spring. And true to her name ...")

Title of episode: it clearly says 春のはじまり,南家のはじまり. This reads Haru no Hajimari, Minamike no Hajimari or "The Beginning of Spring, the Beginning of Minami-ke" (on the one hand) simultaneously with "The Beginning of Spring, the Minamis' Beginning" (on the other hand). Regardless of the inevitable loss of the double word play there, why are we shifting はじまり "beginning", a Grade 1-level word, so badly as to mangle the title into "Spring is here, and so are the Minamis!" Yes, yes, the core meaning is still the same, but ... ugh! >_< Such sloppy translation work! I'm all for not being hyper-literal, trust me, but this is too lax, too rewritey!

I dunno. Probably just tiny complaints. -.- This is my anime of 2013, no question about it, so I guess I'm as anal about the translation choices here as I was with Kaiji last summer. I'll try to tone it down, I promise. That ... or else I'll lose my patience so badly I really will drop everything and sub this myself. *gulps at how many hours that would take though given my perfectionism and the fact that I don't know every word*

Show Proper:
I am loving this! The opening sketch was very cute and was really a great way to get the new season started. Not sure if it's made-for-TV or what but it worked very nicely. Mcsweeney is sure to love the Kana-Chiaki dynamic in it, I'm sure. I love Chiaki's bit when Haruka walks into the room.

The animation is so much better than I gave it credit for when we watched Omatase two months ago. I actually went back to re-watch some Season 3 episodes after those comments were made and I was shocked by just how poor Asread's animation was even in Season 3 compared with what we'd gotten to see in Omatase. And so far, I am seeing here that it looks just as nice as in the OAV. So that's great.

There is just one small concern though, and that's that the new guys appear to be a studio who will shamelessly recycle cels ... as they're already doing it. The picture of Kana lying underneath the kotatsu with her "pincers" sticking out was lifted straight out of the OAV. I'm not gonna be nasty and call it "lazy" just yet, not when I understand the trade-off (prettier but fewer unique cels vs. uglier but more unique cels) and am appreciative of the beauty upgrade, but it's a little worrisome that they're already doing it as early as the season premiere. ^^;

Anyway, those are my thoughts only four minutes in.

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Old 01-07-2013, 12:36 AM   #46
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"OH. MY. GOD. OH. MY. GOD. " - me just now an hour ago after seeing the short little scene that finishes right around 15m49s. Had to pause just to comment on this. >D<

Spoiler: show

FUJIOKA (the human) AND CHIAKI ARE JUST TOO CUTE! >D< I love how she loves him so much and treats him like a special member of the family. But EX. EFF. DEE at her asking him to peel him mandarins and pop them into her awaiting mouth. On the one hand, that is kind of intimate and so I can see why that might fuel some people's Fujioka x Chiaki fanship fires. But we know they're not like that, and so what it soon instead makes one think of is all the times when you were a kid and your dad peeled you citrus fruits. I know mine did! (Still does, in fact, when I visit home!) I'm not sure if it's a dad thing all dads do or what, but I can tooooooooooooooooooootally relate to memories, as a child Chiaki's age, of my dad peeling oranges for me, splitting them into their bite-sized fragments, and serving them to me. Now, popping them into my mouth? No, not often. In fact, downright rare, from either parent, though I know it's happened at some point in my life as I know instinctively it's an experience I've had. But still. This is such an adorable addition to Chiaki's repertoire of "Will you be my surrogate daddy? " moments with Fujioka.

Since I'm paused and already typing, may as well add more comments.

Spoiler: show

A NEW MAIN CHARACTER! Holy shit. We haven't had one of those since ... since Season 3! xfd; But no, seriously, Hitomi was our last one, right? And she was S3E04. This new girl, Miyuki, seems like a very peculiar/intriguing addition tot the cast. She strikes me as an alternate universe Kana who is spunkier, is even more cheerful and carefree, ... the sort of person who might cut in on Kana's turf way more than Riko ever did. But the two seem to get along nicely enough for now, so it remains to be seen what will happen between them in the future.


The study scene with the kotatsu: this was an okay sketch, nothing too terribly memorable but nothing bad either. Kana pranks Uchida, Uchida gets revenge against Kana, and then the two unwittingly (???) prank Chiaki. My only real complaint with this sketch was that it recycled the "I am going to use your own rhetoric against you now that our roles are reversed" schtick that we just saw in the opening scene. If Sakuraba Coharu himself recycled the joke, fine, but I think the studio should have been smart and spaced them apart. Maybe had one in the season opener (the one with Chiaki and Kana, then) and have the other one not show up until Episode 05 or later. By putting them in such close proximity, it draws attention to the fact that they both told the exact same joke, weakening both. Other than that though, a pretty standard Minami-ke sketch. (They're not all greats! ^^; )


Though I should mention: I was delighted to see Good Conscience Chiaki and Bad Conscience Chiaki return. Like bbb laments, maybe things like this feel a bit forced or heavy-handed in trying to appeal to longtime fans? ^^; But what can I say: Bad Conscience Chiaki will win me over any day.


Kana uses Miyuki to get Keiko to help her: I enjoyed this sketch a bit more. I guess I'll start off with my complaint, which is that this new studio seems to delight in toeing the line with sexual innuendo. I mentioned it earlier with Chiaki and Fujioka, and I haven't gotten around to the OP credits yet (oh boy ^^; ), but we see it here when Miyuki gives Keiko her puppy dog eyes look and asks "Will you pwease hewp me study? " ... and Keiko just bluuuuuuuuushes, and it's like, "Are they trying to insinuate that she's a lesbian? ¬_¬" I know a lot of people have joked about that over the years with Keiko, given that all of her relationships in the classroom seem to strictly be with girls ... but like, c'mon, people, that's because she only has TWO RELATIONSHIPS in the series! ^^; Her friendship with Kana and her advice-giving-turned-friendship with Riko. But now we've got Miyuki thrown into the mix and the studio seems to be suggesting "Eh? ;3 Ehhhhh? ;3" that cute girls are Keiko's kryptonite.

That complaint aside, like I said, I liked this sketch. Not magnificent or anything, no, but one of the best ones I've seen in all of Omatase + Tadaima that I've seen so far ... so like, some 45 minutes, if even that much. ^^; I especially loved the reference to the conversation in Season 1 (with the pool) or 3 (with the beach trip) when Kana asks Haruka if they can go and Haruka doesn't answer but then Chiaki asks if they can go and Haruka's all "Yeah, let's go! ^-^" That was a nice nod for the fans.


Speaking of nods! Did you guys catch that one deleted scene I mentioned in an earlier post! They made a specific reference to it this episode! When Kana said "Chiaki said I'm a genius ... and in the good meaning of the word!" Remember? :O That was from that chapter I summarized for you guys in a post earlier last month! The one where Kana's attempts to be nice to Chiaki backfire when Chiaki suspects Kana is trying to eat her like in the story of Little Red Riding Hood. So yeah. :o That was totally an easter egg for hardcore Minami-ke fans! Because if you hadn't read the manga, and you'd only see Seasons 1-3 + Betsubara + Omatase, you might not have even gotten that!


The new OP: I like it. It's not as great as the original, and, like OP 3, it's clearly too scared to 100% strike out on its own and so it invokes the famous main leitmotif from OP 1 to win longtime fans over. But even OP 3 didn't copy off of OP 1 to the extent that OP 4 does! 'Cause OP 4 brings back the adorable "WOOHOO!" chibis of OP 1 fame. And it's not just OP 1 that I feel this new opening is making references to. I feel like it also makes an homage of sorts to OP 2, what with that skydiving sequence and all. (Not because of the girls in the sky, which if anything fits OP 1 just as well as it would OP 2, but because of the skyscrapers and stuff that the girls see. Just feels very urban/mechanized, sort of like the part with the mecha fish and stuff. And the way the girls are falling, too, reminds me less of the graceful balloon ride in OP 1 and more of rocket-powered Fujioka teddy in OP 2.)

So it's definitely making references to its predecessors. In any event, how does the song stand on its own two feet? From first impressions, I already like it more than OPs 2 and 3 as well as ED 2. But it's definitely not as good as OP 1, ED 1, or ED 3 were. For me, it's pretty situated in the middle: pleasant, but not mega-epic. But maybe it'll grow on me more. I have only listened to it once so far.


Bathtub full of lolis. ¬_¬ Wth.

What is up with the blue Fujioka (the teddy) Kana is sleeping on near the end that Chiaki rips out from under her? Surely Fujioka doesn't become blue in a washer mishap or somthing ...? D:

Miyuki is clearly in the OP near the end right along with Riko and Keiko, so it's pretty much official that she's a new major player for Kana's classroom stories.

HOSAKA'S SPEEDO.

HITOMI IN BIKINI. :o (All four in that shot are quite lovely tbh.)

More Fujioka and Takeru-ojisan talks, I love it.

Would love to talk more ... but I want to finish the episode! (Edit note: This post ended up taking a whole lot more time than I planned. ^^;;;;;;; Now back to the episode!)
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Old 01-07-2013, 08:59 AM   #47
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The return of lazy Haruka!

The mediocre special coupled with bbb's chilly reception of episode 1 of the new season had me worried, but it turned out to be an okay episode. I detect some lesbo vibes too, and I don't watch anime while wearing a pair of yuri goggles. All the yuri undertones that APPARENTLY existed in Madoka went right over my head!
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Old 01-07-2013, 02:52 PM   #48
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The return of lazy Haruka!
That was pretty glorious.

Spoiler: show

I just love seeing how no one girl in the household is necessarily the one who is always one step ahead, and while the queen is usually Haruka or Chiaki, Kana has her days -- and that kotatsu scene at the end of the episode with Lazy Haruka was definitely one such day. (Though I do admire Chiaki's interpretation of the events, i.e. who she believes really won that battle. )

One thing I was really caught off guard by though, and I'm not sure how to process it since it's the first we've seen of this in any episode and we've had five years to cement our opinions on the girls from the previous three seasons, is how childish Haruka was in her responses to Kana. "No! >.<" she pouted like a little girl. "I don't wanna! >.<" It was like, whoa, what the heck is this? O_o Since when does the mother-boss hybrid character that is Minami Haruka negotiate with her younger sisters in such a petulant manner? O_o Even Chiaki was caught off guard by it!


See!?

So like, yeah, wasn't sure how to even process that.


Oh, how I have missed these adorable teardrop mouths.

The new studio continues to worry me though with its penchant for unwanted sex appeal. We get it again in the scene where Haruka drags Kana out from under the kotatsu while all she's wearing are her bra and panties. It'd be one thing if the camera were pulled back, we were watching this happen from the side, and we could all just laugh. But the new studio stations the camera two feet above Kana's belly as she's pulled out from under the table and just focuses squarely on her body in its semi-nude state. What the hell. It works with Haruka because Haruka is 16, 17 years old, developed/developing, and has always been portrayed as the adult of the family. (Hell, the way she's animated in Season 3, she looks like she's my age!) But when you do it with 8th or 9th grader Kana, it's a little weird, guys. Minami-ke fans =/= lolikons (even if I'm sure Minami-ke is a choice delight for the latter), so please, fewer gratuitous shots of lolis stuffed into bathtubs and half-naked Kanas being pulled out from under kotatsus, more Haruka fantasies of Hosaka's and the other stuff Minami-ke fans love the series for.


Uh-oh!

The sneak peek for next week's episode seems to suggest that Fujioka (the teddy bear) might be up for a washer mishap or something! Hopefully it's a different doll altogether. I will be quite sad for Chiaki if her cherished brown teddy that Santa got for her is ruined like this.

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Originally Posted by Mcsweeney View Post
The mediocre special coupled with bbb's chilly reception of episode 1 of the new season had me worried, but it turned out to be an okay episode. I detect some lesbo vibes too, and I don't watch anime while wearing a pair of yuri goggles. All the yuri undertones that APPARENTLY existed in Madoka went right over my head!
I'm not sure to what extent my calm satisfaction with the episode is a result of my fanboyism of the series, bbb's comments lowering the bar and allowing me to be pleased rather than displeased by the series opener, what. In the end, though, I would say that Minami-ke Tadaima Episode 01 gets a "7/10 - Good". It wasn't great, but it was still a cut above "average" or "fair" for me. I can see how someone who likes the series less might feel that "6/10 - Fair" is as kind as one one could be to this episode, but I simply didn't enjoy it that little. I mean, ffs, I paused the episode to excitedly report in to you guys with my "SQUEE! >D<" fangirlboy comments on the Fujioka & Chiaki scene. I'm pretty sure I'd be a liar if I then tried to play things off coolly and say "Oh, yeah, well, it was an alright episode, I guess. " hahahaha
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Old 01-08-2013, 09:48 AM   #49
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I was not expecting THAT criticism. During my brief time with the manga, I recall several fanservice shots of Chiaki, so it's not like Feel is adding something that wasn't there already. This is why I originally wrote off Minami-ke as a mildly amusing manga for lolicons; it was not until the anime aired that I realized the story's true value. But Daume actually stayed less true to the manga by censoring all that.

If you mean to say that yes, the manga has lolicon tendencies, but that stuff should be eliminated from the anime version (like season 1 did), then sure. Still, considering this is anime we're talking about here, hebephilia of Kana is a minor crime. Asread did this too so it's not new (there was a number of gratuitous ass shots in season 2). If you're so anti loli, how come you think so highly of Today In Class 5-2? That's basically all about the naughty escapades of elementary schoolers!
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Old 01-08-2013, 01:57 PM   #50
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I was not expecting THAT criticism. During my brief time with the manga, I recall several fanservice shots of Chiaki, so it's not like Feel is adding something that wasn't there already. This is why I originally wrote off Minami-ke as a mildly amusing manga for lolicons; it was not until the anime aired that I realized the story's true value. But Daume actually stayed less true to the manga by censoring all that.

If you mean to say that yes, the manga has lolicon tendencies, but that stuff should be eliminated from the anime version (like season 1 did), then sure. Still, considering this is anime we're talking about here, hebephilia of Kana is a minor crime. Asread did this too so it's not new (there was a number of gratuitous ass shots in season 2). If you're so anti loli, how come you think so highly of Today In Class 5-2? That's basically all about the naughty escapades of elementary schoolers!
I absolutely love Sakuraba Coharu's work to pieces, that I do. I also don't kid myself that the guy is very probably a huge lolikon. But the thing is, neither of his two masterpieces (Kyou no 5-2 and Minami-ke) strike me as "lolikon works for lolikon fans."

Spoiler: show
Kyou no 5-2 is a masterfully hilarious look at what it was like to be on the cusp between young childhood (where one is blissfully ignorant of all things sexual) and adolescence (where one is starting to go through puberty and suddenly starting to have different feelings towards people, things, or circumstances than one would have had only a couple of years before). I can't even begin to extoll the show's virtues in this post: my mind isn't ready for it and so I'd probably turn out some subpar essay. Let's suffice it to say, I think Kyou no 5-2 is amazing. Hilarious. Witty. Sharp. Honest. Nostalgic. And importantly ... not intended as boner material for cartoon pedos. I mean, sure, absolutely, someone who is into jerking off to lolis could totally have a field day with Kyou no 5-2, no denying that. But all of the sexually racy stuff there is the byproduct of situational humor: they are the punchlines to jokes that could otherwise not be told if you did not allow Coharu room.

Minami-ke, likewise, is super-charged from the get-go with some pretty audacious stuff. We have a 10-year old boy who crossdresses, initially because he wants to get closer to an older girl he has a crush on but can't because her younger sister won't let him in, but later because, as Kana, Uchida, and others wryly note, he seems to enjoy it. Well if that isn't dangerous waters (crossdressing shotas), I don't know what is! But again, Coharu never super-sexualizes Makoto in doing any of this. It's all innocent situational humor, humor which may involve sexual topics as part of its punchlines, but humor which never serves a double purpose of trying to give people in the audience a hard on. The same is true with Haruka's wardrobe mishaps. Are they sex humor? Obviously. Natsuki's nosebleeds are proof enough of that. Duh it's sexual when we're talking "guy's face lands in girl's boobs" or "girl's skirt falls apart, revealing her panties before guy," but like, the camera isn't doing these "Ahhhhhhh~ ^.~" 5-second porno panning shots of her body during those moments. What has to be shown for the joke to work is shown, and then we move forward. Is Haruka sexy? Yes, and Coharu knows it. So he'll not shy away from roping her into sexy mishaps. But he doesn't allocate entire pages (or even entire cels for that matter) to close-up shots of her crotch or cleavage. At least none that I can recall.

Now let's contrast this with Season 2 Episode 01 (the most notorious sex appeal insertion in the franchise) and with what we saw here in Season 4 Episode 01. First, S2E01, we've already been through this with my manga comparison a few posts back. Remember? I told you that in Volume 2 of the manga, the girls never go to a hot springs resort with Takeru-ojisan, Fujioka, Makoto, and Touma. That entire trip was an Asread concoction that picked specific elements out of the manga's actual vacation trip, a trip to the beach, and combined them with made-for-TV material. (And I mentioned how the unused material then later showed up in the Season 3 beach trip episode!) Why an onsen? Why couldn't we go to the beach? Well, on the innocent hand, Asread can plead "It was January, and we wanted to do something which was seasonally appropriate." But on the guilty hand, Asread can't escape the elephant in the room: "Nothing shows off girls' bodies like a hot springs episode ... especially the one we delivered! " I was pretty damn disgusted by that episode, specifically some of the shots they did of Chiaki. Samples below. (Just reloaded the episode and fired off these snapshots for this post.)

Spoiler: show

The first three aren't too bad. The shot of Haruka is gratuitous but she's a young attractive woman so it's pretty inevitable that the studio is going to pull something like that. But it isn't too bad, we've all seen much more gratuitous sex appeal in anime. The shot of the two younger sisters is conservative, pulled back. And the close-up of Kana is conservative as well.

But then we return to the onsen for more nude shots. And then we do it again. And then we do it a fourth time. It becomes pretty clear that this has nothing at all to do with establishing a plot point (Asread: "W-we wanted to show Lazy Haruka being lazy in a bath of hot water? ^^;;;") and everything to do with shameless sex appeal. And sex appeal of what!? Of a high schooler, a middle schooler, and an elementary school child? That one shot of Chiaki (the tenth and eleventh pictures above) is particularly telling. As if the first one (the tenth) weren't bad enough, that isn't where the camera stays! It moves on away from her head, shows us more of her body (the eleventh picture), and then just rests there for the duration of her moment on camera. If that isn't lolikon pandering, I don't know what is. Oh wait, yes I do! The thirteenth shot! >_< That was just wtf, Asread.

Say Coharu's done it. Say you prove to me, "Talon, you just didn't get that far in the manga, but what Asread depicted there is lifted cel for cel straight off the pages of the manga." Then I would still be upset with it, but I would shrug it off as "Meh, much as I love his works, I'm not naive, I realize Coharu is probably into this sort of thing, and I'll just write that chapter off as a miss." But what upsets me is that it doesn't seem like these are Coharu's doing. Yes, he does sexy comedy mishaps in both Kyou no 5-2 and Minani-me, but he's never done stuff so gratuitous as to cram four naked little girls into a bathtub and show them all loli-giggling and loli-happy like they're Lunchables lunch meat just waiting to be devoured by a lolikon on the prowl. When the girls changed into their too-small swimsuits, the treatment was similar to what Daume did in Season 1 -- tasteful -- and not what we saw in S4E01 when Haruka dragged Kana out, semi-nude, from under the kotatsu, the camera just relishing on her body, "Yeah, baby, give me more, give me more! " instead of, y'know, showing it from a more tasteful angle / a further distance.

Anyway, if I end being proven wrong -- particularly once I get my hands on later volumes -- then I'll admit it, and I'll just have to cherish the franchise for the tasteful bits I do like while tossing the less tasteful bits into my mind's garbage disposal. But for now, I'm going to give Coharu-sensei the benefit of the doubt and blame this on the new studio. It's unlikely that Coharu's style changed so radically between Seasons 1-3's material and Season 4's material that this is all his doing. It's a lot more likely that these wtf-out-of-nowhere gratuitous sex appeal shots are the doing of the new studio. Like, I can 100% believe that the scene with Haruka pulling Kana out from under the kotatsu happened in the manga. But I'm willing to bet dollars to donuts that in the manga version of that scene it was probably zoomed out (showing both Haruka and Kana at the same time) and drawn in super-unreal chicken scratch like Coharu does when zoomed out. I seriously doubt that the manga version of that scene would've had an entire cel that showed nothng but Kana's torso in it (NOTHING ELSE IN SHOT), with her bra on the top-left corner and her panties on the bottom-right, her trunk just filling all of that space. No way, no how.
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