December 31st, 2008
In a Sentence: I Don't Know What I'm Doing
1) My decision to actually watch Legend of the Galactic Heroes
2) A (not-so) shocking revelation that I have no clue what quality actually is. Sadly that doesn't make me unique in the Critics & Connoisseurs Club.
3) Taunting people with prospects of a drunken pic of a famous Portuguese footballer.
4) Slamming a fan-service filled beach romp, while letting others take credit for a modern classic.
This an more here.
2) A (not-so) shocking revelation that I have no clue what quality actually is. Sadly that doesn't make me unique in the Critics & Connoisseurs Club.
3) Taunting people with prospects of a drunken pic of a famous Portuguese footballer.
4) Slamming a fan-service filled beach romp, while letting others take credit for a modern classic.
This an more here.
Posted by EmperorJ | Dec 31, 2008 6:39 PM | 0 comments
December 11th, 2008
Show to Watch Perhaps?
Anime Relations: Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu
See the show in the entry relations. Note the length of the completed shows in my list. A list of my reasons for and against is here. Now give me some reasons why I should watch.
Posted by EmperorJ | Dec 11, 2008 9:39 PM | 0 comments
October 22nd, 2008
Critics & Connoisseurs Club Assorted Voting Statistics
Genre stats for Anime now include all genres for a show (basically Aria no longer counts only as Drama)
Anime
Air Date versus Approval and Unwatched Percentage
Length of Show versus Approval and Unwatched Percentage
Producer versus Approval (Minimum 2 series)
Genre Approval (Minimum 2 Series)
Manga
Starting Publishing Year versus Approval and Unwatched Percentage
Length of Series versus Approval and Unwatched Percentage
First Listed Genre Approval (Minimum 2 Series)
Anime
Air Date versus Approval and Unwatched Percentage
#Shows Avg App% Avg IDK%
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2002-present 21 69.44 42.86
pre-2002 12 76.51 43.01
Length of Show versus Approval and Unwatched Percentage
#Shows Avg App% Avg IDK%
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1-14 eps 15 70.75 35.13
14-27 eps 13 68.73 42.15
more than 27 eps 5 84.35 68.19
Producer versus Approval (Minimum 2 series)
#Shows Avg App%
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Madhouse 5 78.83
Sunrise 2 78.24
Studio Ghibli 2 74.70
Aniplex 2 73.62
Studio DEEN 2 72.71
Kyoto Animation 2 72.15
J.C. Staff 2 72.11
Gainax 3 62.06
Genre Approval (Minimum 2 Series)
#Shows Avg App%
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Military 3 83.73
Supernatural 2 83.49
Historical 4 82.50
Fantasy 10 77.55
Adventure 11 77.53
Space 4 77.38
School 2 76.62
Shoujo 4 74.47
Slice of Life 6 74.44
Mystery 6 72.79
Horror 3 72.67
Drama 21 72.14
Romance 9 70.47
Action 11 70.15
Sci-Fi 14 67.88
Psychological 6 67.14
Mecha 5 66.18
Comedy 7 65.87
Parody 2 64.93
Dementia 2 63.40
Manga
Starting Publishing Year versus Approval and Unwatched Percentage
#Series Avg App% Avg IDK%
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2000-present 15 65.72 71.57
pre-2000 18 71.61 70.54
Length of Series versus Approval and Unwatched Percentage
#Series Avg App% Avg IDK%
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1-20 chapters 2 65.39 76.41
21-49 chapters 3 75.93 79.81
50-99 chapters 11 61.67 68.53
100 or more chapters 17 72.82 70.42
First Listed Genre Approval (Minimum 2 Series)
#Series Avg App%
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sci-Fi 4 80.71
Slice of Life 5 71.99
Supernatural 6 66.91
Romance 2 61.33
Shoujo 2 59.17
Shounen 7 58.80
Posted by EmperorJ | Oct 22, 2008 8:36 PM | 1 comments
May 15th, 2008
Project 1998: July
Before I get on with the three early reviews of the shows I've been watching, I thought I would see exactly what was happening at the time. Nike forced an unfit Ronaldo to play in their World Cup final defeat to France, Nicholas II was buried 80 years after the Bolsheviks had he and his family killed off, the Monica Lewinski scandal was in full force and most importantly for this the Wakayama Arsenic poisoning case.
So to the shows themselves:
Shadow Skill (Episodes 1-5) - A fairly episodic show with a decent amount of comedy. It was also near the end of the period where Megumi Hayashibara was in nearly everything. Unsurprisingly it looks very dated, but I probably would not have dropped it if it was airing now.
Serial Experiments Lain (Episodes 1-4) - Well I can see why this is considered great by a lot of people. A dystopian world that is not that much different from Japan circa 1998. The post-bubble economy and incidents like the arsenic case pointed to a society that had changed, and this masterfully takes on that feeling. There's already been several murders and suicides, along with a murder-suicide in the first 4 episodes, but the emotional impact of each is minimized to great effect.
I guess I was somewhat saddened by the fact that no one would make anything this adventurous anymore. It's all high-concept anime now.
NightWalker (Episodes 1-4) - Here's mid-90s anime as I remember it. Episodic, hardly serious with absurd plots, and casual frontal nudity. Yes, it was the era before the hovering steam cloud or lens flare or any other effect like that. The show pretty much plays out like a bunch of horror movie plots thrown in a blender with a little bit of Japanese culture thrown in. I probably would not have dropped this either if it were airing now despite it also looking horribly dated.
So to the shows themselves:
Shadow Skill (Episodes 1-5) - A fairly episodic show with a decent amount of comedy. It was also near the end of the period where Megumi Hayashibara was in nearly everything. Unsurprisingly it looks very dated, but I probably would not have dropped it if it was airing now.
Serial Experiments Lain (Episodes 1-4) - Well I can see why this is considered great by a lot of people. A dystopian world that is not that much different from Japan circa 1998. The post-bubble economy and incidents like the arsenic case pointed to a society that had changed, and this masterfully takes on that feeling. There's already been several murders and suicides, along with a murder-suicide in the first 4 episodes, but the emotional impact of each is minimized to great effect.
I guess I was somewhat saddened by the fact that no one would make anything this adventurous anymore. It's all high-concept anime now.
NightWalker (Episodes 1-4) - Here's mid-90s anime as I remember it. Episodic, hardly serious with absurd plots, and casual frontal nudity. Yes, it was the era before the hovering steam cloud or lens flare or any other effect like that. The show pretty much plays out like a bunch of horror movie plots thrown in a blender with a little bit of Japanese culture thrown in. I probably would not have dropped this either if it were airing now despite it also looking horribly dated.
Posted by EmperorJ | May 15, 2008 6:16 PM | 0 comments
May 11th, 2008
The Cones in my Eyes Are Screaming in Pain
Anime Relations: Mach GoGoGo, Mach GoGoGo (1997)
This week I am going to talk about the new film by the Wachowski brothers "Speed Racer." USA Today had a story about a week ago about film studios turning to anime as the latest material to adapt to the big screen. Citing the upcoming adaptations of Battle Angel Alita and Akira as evidence of this kind of move made me ask a certain question. All of the source material is well before the time of 80% of anime fans, but does that mean modern anime is terrible for adaptation? I'll get to that later. And now onto the review in which I try to not be as Kermodian as possible.
Story: 8/10 - The story is cliche ridden, but what would one expect from an adaptation of a horribly made 60s dub. It's faithful to the tone of the original in a good way. The story primarily emphasizes the importance of staying close to family, and only delves as deep as "Corporations bad" in its social commentary.
Animation/Visuals: 10/10 - I would really give this a 15, but I must stick to a 10-point scale. The Wachowskis have created a stunning world which uses nearly every color imaginable to great effect. I wouldn't say it looks like anime, but it's as close as anything I've ever seen. The effects have no basis in physics or anything in reality, but frankly no one should expect that.
Sound/Music: 8/10 - The score is surprisingly similar to the original series, although that has been improved with the major increase in budget. The song in the closing credits combines the original Japanese OP and the American dub OP combined with the efforts of a rapper who only seems to do movie soundtracks.
Characters: 7/10 - The first 30 minutes of the movie must make no sense to someone without any knowledge of the characters at all. That said, these characters never really had much depth to them at all except Rex Racer, and that was ruined by the end as well.
Enjoyment: 8/10 - At 135 minutes, its way too long. It was enjoyable to find the scenes that were put in solely to boost the rating up to a PG. It was a fun film to watch even if it is kind of half an artwork.
Overall: 8/10 - It gets a thumbs-up from me.
Now back to the earlier question, is modern anime terrible for adaptation to film, declining in quality or none of the above. Part of this was a reason why I went back to the new shows in my Project 1998 (part 1 of which will be in my next blog). Part of me says its just cheaper to make adaptations from older stuff because it won't cost as much to license. Another part says that modern shows have become so niche oriented that it would be almost impossible to adapt them to western audiences. The concept of moé characters would make little if no sense to anyone.
Story: 8/10 - The story is cliche ridden, but what would one expect from an adaptation of a horribly made 60s dub. It's faithful to the tone of the original in a good way. The story primarily emphasizes the importance of staying close to family, and only delves as deep as "Corporations bad" in its social commentary.
Animation/Visuals: 10/10 - I would really give this a 15, but I must stick to a 10-point scale. The Wachowskis have created a stunning world which uses nearly every color imaginable to great effect. I wouldn't say it looks like anime, but it's as close as anything I've ever seen. The effects have no basis in physics or anything in reality, but frankly no one should expect that.
Sound/Music: 8/10 - The score is surprisingly similar to the original series, although that has been improved with the major increase in budget. The song in the closing credits combines the original Japanese OP and the American dub OP combined with the efforts of a rapper who only seems to do movie soundtracks.
Characters: 7/10 - The first 30 minutes of the movie must make no sense to someone without any knowledge of the characters at all. That said, these characters never really had much depth to them at all except Rex Racer, and that was ruined by the end as well.
Enjoyment: 8/10 - At 135 minutes, its way too long. It was enjoyable to find the scenes that were put in solely to boost the rating up to a PG. It was a fun film to watch even if it is kind of half an artwork.
Overall: 8/10 - It gets a thumbs-up from me.
Now back to the earlier question, is modern anime terrible for adaptation to film, declining in quality or none of the above. Part of this was a reason why I went back to the new shows in my Project 1998 (part 1 of which will be in my next blog). Part of me says its just cheaper to make adaptations from older stuff because it won't cost as much to license. Another part says that modern shows have become so niche oriented that it would be almost impossible to adapt them to western audiences. The concept of moé characters would make little if no sense to anyone.
Posted by EmperorJ | May 11, 2008 7:07 PM | 0 comments
May 4th, 2008
Deconstructing Deconstructionist Animation
I wanted to start regularly posting something here on Sundays, I don't know if anyone reads it but really it shouldn't matter. Anyway, I'm here to talk about a blog post I saw the other day about horrible animation in particular the 3D tentacled monster sequence at the end of episode 4 of To-Love-Ru. The cut-out episode of Kare Kano (episode 19) came up, so I had another look to see if it was as good as I thought it was originally, or if it was with the general consensus as awful and detracting from the show.
The episode begins with a recap of the events of the series as it did in many episodes. However, this was one for the ages. A short description of post-bubble Japan is spoken over shots of seemingly random objects and places. In effect, a society that has built itself up so rapidly, but now finds itself stagnant, is unable to reflect on how much they have done and changed everything.
The actual episode itself is done mostly in cutouts which provides an amazing level of consistency to this episode above all others. Perhaps in a reaction against increasingly better looking, content-optional shows, it was decided to do an episode that challenges a viewer to look at what is being said rather than how aesthetically pleasing the show is.
As the first episode of the last storyline of the series, all the elements are there to successfully build it up. There's also elements in there that show the Gainax crew are still true to their roots. The tokusatsu sequence, the reuse of shots from Eva and you can't tell me anyone who sneaks "NCC-1701" into a shot can't look back into past.
And fittingly in the end credits, they burn all the cells and photographs they used to make the episode in a big pile, but played backwards. Creating something from trash, nihilist animation, it can be interpreted in so many ways.
To sum this all up in one sentence: Terrible looking animation can only be called terrible animation after evaluation the content itself.
The episode begins with a recap of the events of the series as it did in many episodes. However, this was one for the ages. A short description of post-bubble Japan is spoken over shots of seemingly random objects and places. In effect, a society that has built itself up so rapidly, but now finds itself stagnant, is unable to reflect on how much they have done and changed everything.
The actual episode itself is done mostly in cutouts which provides an amazing level of consistency to this episode above all others. Perhaps in a reaction against increasingly better looking, content-optional shows, it was decided to do an episode that challenges a viewer to look at what is being said rather than how aesthetically pleasing the show is.
As the first episode of the last storyline of the series, all the elements are there to successfully build it up. There's also elements in there that show the Gainax crew are still true to their roots. The tokusatsu sequence, the reuse of shots from Eva and you can't tell me anyone who sneaks "NCC-1701" into a shot can't look back into past.
And fittingly in the end credits, they burn all the cells and photographs they used to make the episode in a big pile, but played backwards. Creating something from trash, nihilist animation, it can be interpreted in so many ways.
To sum this all up in one sentence: Terrible looking animation can only be called terrible animation after evaluation the content itself.
Posted by EmperorJ | May 4, 2008 7:09 PM | 1 comments