This shows directing is just downright terrible.

Masutado said:


I'm not talking about the story at all really when I say directing. What I mean by directing is the stuff like camera angles and shot composition which directly affects the tone and pacing of the different scenes. Directing can mean to a lot of things, but the creative decisions are mainly what I'm referring to.

deg said:


i know thats why i said story telling (and not the actual story)

and are you aware that its common for each episode to have its own director? what they call anime episode director? so just like sakuga scenes is not simply having awesome animation it also about the unique style/identity of the talented animator doing it so same can be said about directing

lets just wait for the sakugablog report on the production of episode 2 to know who is the episode director that made you hate this episode

Luv2Dgirls said:


There is no way it was by far the best first episode. I believe, on the top of my head, My Hero Academia and Naruto were way better first episodes, and made me sympathize with the characters from the very beginning. I could not with Shinra because they barely revealed anything about him, except that maybe some neighbors didn’t like him. They never showed how his childhood at school was like or any sort and skipped him into joining fire force.

Pakumen- said:
It is very Shaft-like, specially on the second episode.

So if you haven´t seen the Monogatari´s then yes, the directing is weird. I kinda like it, but there are definitively some weird cuts or transitions that are stiff as hell. However the action scenes are looking nice.

Sasori_Nagashi said:
Everything about it is just shit lmao.

Naruto Shinra is troubled because of the demon fox fire powers inside of him that killed his parents. The ninja village the local neighbourhood shunned him over it and called him a demon. He wants to become the hokage everyone looks up to a noteworthy firefighting hero everyone looks up to. His rival is Sasuke Arthur, who he doesn't get along with because all the girls like him.

Generic as fuck. Badly paced as fuck. Failing at all attempts at comedy. Bland character archetypes. Atrocious sound design. Generic edgy character designs. Honestly might be one of the worst big shounen titles of all time from what I've seen so far.

TsukuyomiREKT said:


Talk about an overreaction.

Mesacboy said:
I agree with all the points you made but it definitely isn't unwatchable, that might be a slight overreaction. More than anything I'm just a little bummed out that this didn't live up to all the hype and potential it had. Gonna continue watching either way.

Also heard that it cut and skipped a ton of scenes from the manga, some with important details, and that's never a good thing. Ah well, I'll just settle for a mediocre adaptation and read the manga at some point.

Daniel_Naumov said:

That is more of a case of superficial understanding of tropes and traits. I would expect this from some 6th graders who just started seeing art and literature classes. But here? Kinda sad.

Sasori_Nagashi said:
Everything about it is just shit lmao.

Naruto Shinra is troubled because of the demon fox fire powers inside of him that killed his parents. The ninja village the local neighbourhood shunned him over it and called him a demon. He wants to become the hokage everyone looks up to a noteworthy firefighting hero everyone looks up to. His rival is Sasuke Arthur, who he doesn't get along with because all the girls like him.

Generic as fuck. Badly paced as fuck. Failing at all attempts at comedy. Bland character archetypes. Atrocious sound design. Generic edgy character designs. Honestly might be one of the worst big shounen titles of all time from what I've seen so far.

Afloo said:
I want JoJo part 6 to be adapted quickly as much as the next guy but there is no need to react like this when the studio makes anything else.

Also, your Naruto description only describes like 20% of it. And that 20% is the part that Was already generic when Naruto Came out. But, Here is the deal, Generic doesn't mean its bad. You have to see how that generic thing is handled to say if its good or not. I can think of various shonen that fit that description.

Also, Funny how you say it has "Atrocious Sound design" when JoJo uses almost exactly those same Dubstep drop-like Sound effects.

Sasori_Nagashi said:


What does the studio have to do with anything? Also part 6 is my least favorite part so I couldn't care less about it being delayed or whatever. If I did like it I would probably be happy they were trying to make more funds with another series beforehand so the quality can be better like Part 5 was with Captain Tsubasa compared to Part 4's somewhat lower quality art.

People can just not like things you like without an ulterior motive you know?

Afloo said:
Yeah I know but too many things lined up. And talking about the Captain Tsubasa stuff, A lot of People were angry back then so I thought that history was repeating itself in this case. Seems like it isn't.

Masutado said:


That's true, but I don't really think manga sales indicate the quality of the story.
MHA's story is quite bad, in my opinion, and it's needless to say how well that sells. The production quality of Fire Force was really what had me sold at first, I mean who doesn't like some great sakuga, and I was hoping the story and characters would be at least serviceable, but I was let down for the most part.

Sasori_Nagashi said:


The only thing about Captain Tsubasa that sucked was that it wasn't on the TV in the Turtle lmao.

Sasori_Nagashi said:


What does the studio have to do with anything? Also part 6 is my least favorite part so I couldn't care less about it being delayed or whatever. If I did like it I would probably be happy they were trying to make more funds with another series beforehand so the quality can be better like Part 5 was with Captain Tsubasa compared to Part 4's somewhat lower quality art.

People can just not like things you like without an ulterior motive you know?

TsukuyomiREKT said:


And people can disagree with you without an ulterior motive as well.

Sasori_Nagashi said:


Okay? I wasn't the one accusing people of that though.

TsukuyomiREKT said:

The guy who replied to you didn't accuse you of anything though.

Afloo said:
I want JoJo part 6 to be adapted quickly as much as the next guy but there is no need to react like this when the studio makes anything else.

Masutado said:
It's being done mostly by Shaft, so I came in expecting there to be some quirks in the directing, but my god, this shit is unwatchable at times. The pacing is awful, the comedy never lands (I cringed so hard when they tried to break the 4th wall), the fight scenes have awkward shot composition so it's hard to put together what exactly is happening half the time, there are weird pauses in dialogue everywhere. Even the animation took a hit after just the first episode, which I was expecting, but now everything looks even flatter and more boring than in the first episode. It's just a mess, which I hate to say, as I thought this looked like it had a lot of potential, but after 2 episodes of non-stop jarring directing, I think I'm dropping this. No way I could deal with this for 48 episodes.

Sasori_Nagashi said:


No need to huff your own farts mister intellectual.

Daniel_Naumov said:

You could try to not appear a buffon for everyone else on this forum by spouting childish nonsense and actually attempt to engage in a civilized discussion. But that is for the next time, everyone here already knows just who you are. Just an advise from your friendly intellectual.

HisokaxMeruem said:

well, he is a jojo fanboy, as long as it isnt jojo its bad. The thread about jojo having the worst fanbase is pretty accurate

Sasori_Nagashi said:


"I will have you know I am in fact an intellectual with an IQ of 300 and unless you want to sit there and take my passive aggressive insults and my fake civility you are a plebeian my good sire."

You don't get to open your "argument" with a passive aggressive insult with no actual argument then act smart and civil, genius. You didn't try to argue, just intelligence boast. You're the literal definition of a pseudo-intellectual.

But I'll humour your pseudo-intellectual narcissist self for a moment.

There is a huge difference between employing tropes/cliches and straight up copying another work. Tropes and Cliches can be employed with originality and creativity. Anime is one of the most trope-heavy forms of media that exists and anyone who has watched a sizeable amount of anime will notice this.

Copy-Pasting the entire premise as many Shounen series does with the same character personalities, same backstories, same goals, same character dynamics isn't the same thing as tropes simply existing in the media. Fire Force is the single most by-the-book, copy-paste Shounen I've seen yet and I've seen a sizeable chunk of them. The main character could be replaced with any number of Shounen MC's because he literally is just them without any creativity or originality.

The pacing has been criticised by a number of people because it is far too rushed. Thrusting us into this world and trying to fit several episodes of backstory into character exposition flashbacks, one of the weakest and most overused forms of storytelling in anime. All in order to get to action quicker to try to hook in the audience who watches primarily for the action scenes over the writing.

It's attempts at comedic events were played out and overused 10 - 20 years ago, let alone in this day and age. They're gags that have been done a thousand times over and will be done thousand times over again and their comedic timing leaves a lot to be desired even if the core gags weren't already overused as hell.

It's still early in the series mind you, it might end up one of my favourites for all I know with a sharp increase in quality, it has happened before. But at it's current pace it's at best, a slow-starter and at worst, one of the worst pieces of writing in the Shounen genre.

MonkeyDJasper said:
dr stone isn’t more popular , it’s just crunchyroll constantly advertising it because the manga sales suck and constantly sell less than series who just started yet are having more success than it

Mesacboy said:
I agree with all the points you made but it definitely isn't unwatchable, that might be a slight overreaction. More than anything I'm just a little bummed out that this didn't live up to all the hype and potential it had. Gonna continue watching either way.

Also heard that it cut and skipped a ton of scenes from the manga, some with important details, and that's never a good thing. Ah well, I'll just settle for a mediocre adaptation and read the manga at some point.

Masutado said:
It's being done mostly by Shaft, so I came in expecting there to be some quirks in the directing, but my god, this shit is unwatchable at times. The pacing is awful, the comedy never lands (I cringed so hard when they tried to break the 4th wall), the fight scenes have awkward shot composition so it's hard to put together what exactly is happening half the time, there are weird pauses in dialogue everywhere. Even the animation took a hit after just the first episode, which I was expecting, but now everything looks even flatter and more boring than in the first episode. It's just a mess, which I hate to say, as I thought this looked like it had a lot of potential, but after 2 episodes of non-stop jarring directing, I think I'm dropping this. No way I could deal with this for 48 episodes.

ovo4 said:
Why is it that whenever creators take an experimental approach to things people call it bad. If you don't like something or don't understand it them say so. Don't call it terrible. This shaft-like directing is very unusual in shounen anime and it can be off putting to alot of viewers I get that. But to call it terrible? Firstly, the lack of detail and shading on the characters(especially in far away shots) is kagenashi. It's an artistic approach in animation which deliberately makes the characters look flat by removing shading, it also highlights bright colours(as shown whenever the characters eyes are glowing). Secondly, there are scenes where the characters don't move at all and at times characters mysteriously move from one place to another. This is basic shaft directing, anyone who watched monogatari series can tell. For viewers not used to this I can understand their dissatisfaction but for someone who has already seen the monogatari series, this shouldn't feel weird to you (even if it is in a shounen amime). The jokes falling flat is subjective so if you don't find them funny then I can't argue with you (however when shinra was falling there was a shot of the captain excercising with a flower pot on his head which is a comedic moment 90% of the viewers wouldn't spot). Weird pauses? I personally didn't find them weird, if anything they just allow me to get a better look at the shots rather than focusing on subtitles. During the first part of the episode Shines got his dialogue cut off to start the opening and I found this to be quite entertaining(if you watch gintama than scenes like those shouldn't surprise you). Now as for what makes the direction good? Firstly, the use of colours. There was a scene in the second half of this episode where Captain was talking to shinra and author about the concealing of weapons and right when he was about to say "murder" they cut off his dialogue and cut to a shot of the city drenched in a crimson red background. Crimson red is associated with killing which implies that the word obi was going to say was murder (without him having to actually say it). This symbolism involving colours is what I consider good directing. Also during the shot when author was steering at the backs of the fire brigade as they were walking out of the building. The sunset from the outside creates a shadow on them, which enhances the bright blue on their suits. This shit makes it look like they are the beacon of light during troubled times(which is what fire fighters are in real life). The entire infernal scene was well done in my opinion and was truly unsettling. Another nice shot would be the shot of the shadows of the light poles on the road before they went into the house. Yuki Yase (former shaft director) directed and storyboarded the first episode and their are a lot of wonderful shots and layouts in that episode as well that would require me to write an entirely different post about. The second episode wasn't directed or storyboarded by him but some of his tricks that he learnt from his time at shaft still show up in this episode and they will continue to show up throughout the show because he's the series director. Unfortunately, people have become so accustomed to anime being panel for panel adaptations of their manga counterparts that they easily get upset when the anime takes creative liberties(like getting the same point across bit from a different perspective). Not saying you are one of those people but that will be the main complaint of manga readers throughout this series. IMO this is some of the best directing I've seen in a shounen adaptarion in a while.

Sasori_Nagashi said:


"I will have you know I am in fact an intellectual with an IQ of 300 and unless you want to sit there and take my passive aggressive insults and my fake civility you are a plebeian my good sire."

You don't get to open your "argument" with a passive aggressive insult with no actual argument then act smart and civil, genius. You didn't try to argue, just intelligence boast. You're the literal definition of a pseudo-intellectual.

But I'll humour your pseudo-intellectual narcissist self for a moment.

There is a huge difference between employing tropes/cliches and straight up copying another work. Tropes and Cliches can be employed with originality and creativity. Anime is one of the most trope-heavy forms of media that exists and anyone who has watched a sizeable amount of anime will notice this.

Copy-Pasting the entire premise as many Shounen series does with the same character personalities, same backstories, same goals, same character dynamics isn't the same thing as tropes simply existing in the media. Fire Force is the single most by-the-book, copy-paste Shounen I've seen yet and I've seen a sizeable chunk of them. The main character could be replaced with any number of Shounen MC's because he literally is just them without any creativity or originality.

The pacing has been criticised by a number of people because it is far too rushed. Thrusting us into this world and trying to fit several episodes of backstory into character exposition flashbacks, one of the weakest and most overused forms of storytelling in anime. All in order to get to action quicker to try to hook in the audience who watches primarily for the action scenes over the writing.

It's attempts at comedic events were played out and overused 10 - 20 years ago, let alone in this day and age. They're gags that have been done a thousand times over and will be done thousand times over again and their comedic timing leaves a lot to be desired even if the core gags weren't already overused as hell.

It's still early in the series mind you, it might end up one of my favourites for all I know with a sharp increase in quality, it has happened before. But at it's current pace it's at best, a slow-starter and at worst, one of the worst pieces of writing in the Shounen genre.

Tsarko said:
I wouldn't say it's downright terrible, but I don't like it at all.

There is too many weird pauses during the dialogue and everything feels sort of lifeless. Action also feels weird, like there's no flow (dunno if I'm using the right word). Scenes feel drawn out.

It also doesn't help that the characters are not interesting at all and comedy never lands.

Alex82829290 said:
Read the manga and it's exactly the same, some minor details (like shinra's internal monologue in the fight with maki but the visual storytelling was good enough to make me guess why he fought like that and it fits better in an anine medium) got skipped tho but not so much, the manga's beginning is mediocre as well. The anime at least try to be better and in some way it succeds compared to the manga but in comparison to other anime it doesn't imo, the pauses are just too much for me.

ovo4 said:
Why is it that whenever creators take an experimental approach to things people call it bad. If you don't like something or don't understand it them say so. Don't call it terrible. This shaft-like directing is very unusual in shounen anime and it can be off putting to alot of viewers I get that. But to call it terrible? Firstly, the lack of detail and shading on the characters(especially in far away shots) is kagenashi. It's an artistic approach in animation which deliberately makes the characters look flat by removing shading, it also highlights bright colours(as shown whenever the characters eyes are glowing). Secondly, there are scenes where the characters don't move at all and at times characters mysteriously move from one place to another. This is basic shaft directing, anyone who watched monogatari series can tell. For viewers not used to this I can understand their dissatisfaction but for someone who has already seen the monogatari series, this shouldn't feel weird to you (even if it is in a shounen amime). The jokes falling flat is subjective so if you don't find them funny then I can't argue with you (however when shinra was falling there was a shot of the captain excercising with a flower pot on his head which is a comedic moment 90% of the viewers wouldn't spot). Weird pauses? I personally didn't find them weird, if anything they just allow me to get a better look at the shots rather than focusing on subtitles. During the first part of the episode Shines got his dialogue cut off to start the opening and I found this to be quite entertaining(if you watch gintama than scenes like those shouldn't surprise you). Now as for what makes the direction good? Firstly, the use of colours. There was a scene in the second half of this episode where Captain was talking to shinra and author about the concealing of weapons and right when he was about to say "murder" they cut off his dialogue and cut to a shot of the city drenched in a crimson red background. Crimson red is associated with killing which implies that the word obi was going to say was murder (without him having to actually say it). This symbolism involving colours is what I consider good directing. Also during the shot when author was steering at the backs of the fire brigade as they were walking out of the building. The sunset from the outside creates a shadow on them, which enhances the bright blue on their suits. This shit makes it look like they are the beacon of light during troubled times(which is what fire fighters are in real life). The entire infernal scene was well done in my opinion and was truly unsettling. Another nice shot would be the shot of the shadows of the light poles on the road before they went into the house. Yuki Yase (former shaft director) directed and storyboarded the first episode and their are a lot of wonderful shots and layouts in that episode as well that would require me to write an entirely different post about. The second episode wasn't directed or storyboarded by him but some of his tricks that he learnt from his time at shaft still show up in this episode and they will continue to show up throughout the show because he's the series director. Unfortunately, people have become so accustomed to anime being panel for panel adaptations of their manga counterparts that they easily get upset when the anime takes creative liberties(like getting the same point across bit from a different perspective). Not saying you are one of those people but that will be the main complaint of manga readers throughout this series. IMO this is some of the best directing I've seen in a shounen adaptarion in a while.

JudoJD said:
So it's not just me.
They took the SHAFT staff without taking the main reason SHAFT became noteworthy in the first place...THE DIRECTOR

Sasori_Nagashi said:
Everything about it is just shit lmao.

Naruto Shinra is troubled because of the demon fox fire powers inside of him that killed his parents. The ninja village the local neighbourhood shunned him over it and called him a demon. He wants to become the hokage everyone looks up to a noteworthy firefighting hero everyone looks up to. His rival is Sasuke Arthur, who he doesn't get along with because all the girls like him.

Generic as fuck. Badly paced as fuck. Failing at all attempts at comedy. Bland character archetypes. Atrocious sound design. Generic edgy character designs. Honestly might be one of the worst big shounen titles of all time from what I've seen so far.