The new series - overall impressions?

Aug 31, 2012 6:39 AM

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Apr 2012

Whilst there are still four episodes to go, and these last few episodes will most likely be the "darkest" of all the episodes as the relationship between Mei and Gabu is challenged, overall I'm neither impressed nor disappointed with the series.

The english dialogue is horribly wooden, but I find the japanese voicework charming enough. The storylines were a mixed bag of less mature and more mature stories (the tale of Jess in particular seemed more adult than the audience the series seemed aimed at). The animation is nice in some places and horribly clunky in others, seeming to lack real consistency, especially when it came to presenting certain key emotions (like Mei's ambivalent laugh that becomes a despaired crying at the end of episode 22; if it was supposed to demonstrate Mei's sad realisation that wolves and goats could never be friends, it was poorly done).

I don't see this series going beyond the initial 26 episodes.

Aug 31, 2012 8:23 PM

Folgrimeo

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Aug 2012

Overall I liked it. What I noticed most were the visuals, I thought they were amazing. The grass, the lighting (especially the many sunsets), the appealing character designs for the wolves, and seeing eyes constantly darting around. The Japanese voices were also great, believable and fun to listen to. Can't say the same for the English voices although I understand they probably spoke slowly so it could be an aid in learning English. Barry and Kuro had great voices in English though. Anyway, I went in thinking that it looked and sounded the part for an awesome adaptation.

And that's where I was disappointed. The dialogue's shallow, the characters aren't too smart, and it seems like they shied away from anything too emotional to keep it kid-friendly. Which just seems at odds with the source material. I know, the show's meant for kids, so it couldn't be a dark serious show no matter how much I wanted it to be. But they came up with a Gabu I found more cute and likeable than the movie version, where his over-sensitive nature and being able to read his face like an open book do give off a similar impression that he was affected deeply by the events. I wish they did more with that because he really is interesting to watch. I keep hoping that the rest of the shots from the intro will show up, because Gabu looking up at the moon with tears in his eyes is quite powerful.

Even though I only liked about half of the episodes, it was definitely enjoyable when it did work, and I could always rely on the cuteness factor (such as Boro's admiration for Gabu). I appreciate the effort that went into it, glad that it turned out as well as it did. But again I wanted it to be more daring, had so much promise but didn't seem like it reached its full potential.

Sep 1, 2012 6:02 AM

Tustin

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Apr 2012

I've always found the books to be the most powerful representation of the story, simple as it is, perhaps because it leaves more to the individual to fill in the details as such. The movie was a good adaptation though, touching enough that I made the effort to do the english dub of it when I discovered no such dub existed.

When I saw the new character designs, not to mention the female Mei, I knew the series was not going to be half as daring as the movie or even the original story books. The series is still touching, and I think (and hope) the best is still to come in the last few episodes.

If it were ever possible, I would love to see a full CGI reboot of the movie, with a darker and more mature rendition of the story that would be more daring on a few more levels (particularly in regards to Mei and Gabu's initial meeting in the barn; it never struck me as at all realistic that they could -hug- each other in fright of the storm and not realise who one another were species-wise.) Not to mention, the reinstatement of Giro as Gabu's father.

The story has a lot more potential than has been realised, that's for sure.

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The new series - overall impressions?

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