Can we really blame the studio at this point? (ep 9 spoilers)

skysurf said:
Even if you think the animation gives you the same emotion as a powerpoint presentation, would it really make any difference if it had, let's say, god-tier animation, the best VAs, best opening song, etc?

Would that change the fact that the plot is about a MIDDLE SCHOOLER that acts like a salary man and travels the world fighting terrorist/supernatural/alien(?) global threats armed only with a gun, "quippy" lines and the power of waifus?

Just as an example, at this point they've defeated the enemy's mind control attack with a tiny makeup mirror and then with the power of love (I guess they ran out of mirrors this time?)... would any pretty animation make stuff like this any better?

Share your thoughts!

skysurf said:
Would that change the fact that the plot is about a MIDDLE SCHOOLER that acts like a salary man and travels the world fighting terrorist/supernatural/alien(?) global threats armed only with a gun, "quippy" lines and the power of waifus?

AbelNhom said:
So lets break down the anime a little bit OK.
First of, animation quality: judging from episode 1 and 7, the studio isn’t bad. NGL, those 2 episodes quality are top-tier. But the rest looks either OK or bad. Which mean the studio isnt bad at making good quality animation, the problem is the consistency.
Second, the story: it just feel wrong to blame the script writer/series composer. Because the script writer/series composer of this series also do the same thing to Vanitas no Carte. That anime story is pretty good. Which mean we cant blame her for the bad story. If you think that this story is bad or stupid, the Light Novel will never get an almost 8 score you know.
Judging from the staff members, I would say the staff are pretty good. So what really happened?
I have 2 conclusions:
1. The studio dont have enough money: this is understandable because the studio is pretty new, so lacking money is possible.
2. The studio have a rushed schedule: remember AOT Final Season? I have a feeling this anime is in the same boat at that anime. The manga publisher of AOT Kodansha rushed MAPPA to make AOT Final Season in 8 months, and we all know how it turned out right? The LN publisher Kadokawa could possibly done that to the anime(we dont have any official news saying that, it just my thoughts). So that could be one of the reason that lead to the inconsistent animation quality. Story is another thing. Like Ive said, the script writer/series composer of this series isnt bad. In fact, she is pretty good. So the problem could be because she got told to write it like that by either the LN publisher or the Director or somebody else.

eren_genocide said:

Don't disrespect SNK finale Season and compare it with this gay trash dogshit garbage abomination 🤢🤪

AbelNhom said:

1. The studio dont have enough money: this is understandable because the studio is pretty new, so lacking money is possible.
2. The studio have a rushed schedule: remember AOT Final Season? I have a feeling this anime is in the same boat at that anime. The manga publisher of AOT Kodansha rushed MAPPA to make AOT Final Season in 8 months, and we all know how it turned out right? The LN publisher Kadokawa could possibly done that to the anime(we dont have any official news saying that, it just my thoughts). So that could be one of the reason that lead to the inconsistent animation quality. Story is another thing. Like Ive said, the script writer/series composer of this series isnt bad. In fact, she is pretty good. So the problem could be because she got told to write it like that by either the LN publisher or the Director or somebody else.

AbelNhom said:
What Im trying to say is the tight schedule could be the result for this shit to happen. Because the LN is damn good. AOT Final Season wasnt bad, but it could be a million times better without that dogshit schedule. The story is better, but we are talking about EVERYTHING, not just the story. And AOT Final Season animation wasnt so good. And it could be a million times better with a better schedule. Thats what Im trying to say and AOT is just an example of how a tight schedule could make a good anime become bad. If u AOT fanboys/fangirls have problems with that, get out.

Sylverthas said:

I would also argue that it is largely the studio's fault, although by episode 2 I thought that the writing quality was also pretty bad (dunno how well the dialogue from the LN got adapted, but I felt the anime was trying to be witty but was instead slow and boring, which could be more a directing problem).

But non of the shows ENGI produced up till now have been impressive. Kemono Michi had decent animation the first ~4 episodes and then took a sharp turn, with later fights being largely badly looking slideshows. Uzaki-chan was mediocre overall, but they can get away with that for a RomCom. Full Dive was similar to Kemono Michi.

So I'd say they blow their production on only a couple of good scenes, and pray that this will suffice :D

AbelNhom said:
The only thing I want to know is what lead to that inconsistent animation quality. The fighting in episode 1 is amazing, and somehow episode 6 looks like a powerpoint presentation and episode 9 looks like a bad version of To Your Eternity. The other episodes looks OK, not good not bad. If you can make 2 episodes looks good, there’s no way you cant make the others too.

Sylverthas said:

I would also wager that the good cuts from episode 1 (and possibly later, I will take your word for it as I don't plan to watch it) were done by a decent animator, as several work on the same episode but do different parts. So even in a mediocre show you can have scenes that look great if they were given to a good animator.

Sylverthas said:

Take what I say with a grain of salt because this is only what I gathered over some time, but I would not call myself an expert.

Often I assume it is time / manpower constraints. Anime are usually not finished before airing and a long preproduction helps in polishing in particular the beginning of a show and gives the staff more room to work on later episodes or difficult cuts.

For the first episodes there is usually more time to work on, so they get polished more. If the production gets screwed somewhere down the line, which I assume can easily happen in a small studio that likely needs to outsource many cuts, it can be a disaster.

I would also wager that the good cuts from episode 1 (and possibly later, I will take your word for it as I don't plan to watch it) were done by a decent animator, as several work on the same episode but do different parts. So even in a mediocre show you can have scenes that look great if they were given to a good animator.

Btw. if you are somewhat interested in this stuff, you could give the anime Shirobako a try, which shows some parts of the production process. Also the Cannipa Effect channel on Youtube has some decent videos detailing anime production in a digestable manner.

Mattinator95 said:
Didn’t they stop being a middle schooler in like 2 episode

BlackBird1234 said:
you really make a thread like this every day

MuZe- said:
A combination of both. Even if the studio did their best, it could not have been anything more than mediocre. But yeah I agree the whole story is utter nonsense that looks like it written by a 12 year old.

BlackBird1234 said:
you really make a thread like this every day

AbelNhom said:
So lets break down the anime a little bit OK.
First of, animation quality: judging from episode 1 and 7, the studio isn’t bad. NGL, those 2 episodes quality are top-tier. But the rest looks either OK or bad. Which mean the studio isnt bad at making good quality animation, the problem is the consistency.
Second, the story: it just feel wrong to blame the script writer/series composer. Because the script writer/series composer of this series also do the same thing to Vanitas no Carte. That anime story is pretty good. Which mean we cant blame her for the bad story. If you think that this story is bad or stupid, the Light Novel will never get an almost 8 score you know.
Judging from the staff members, I would say the staff are pretty good. So what really happened?
I have 2 conclusions:
1. The studio dont have enough money: this is understandable because the studio is pretty new, so lacking money is possible.
2. The studio have a rushed schedule: remember AOT Final Season? I have a feeling this anime is in the same boat at that anime. The manga publisher of AOT Kodansha rushed MAPPA to make AOT Final Season in 8 months, and we all know how it turned out right? The LN publisher Kadokawa could possibly done that to the anime(we dont have any official news saying that, it just my thoughts). So that could be one of the reason that lead to the inconsistent animation quality. Story is another thing. Like Ive said, the script writer/series composer of this series isnt bad. In fact, she is pretty good. So the problem could be because she got told to write it like that by either the LN publisher or the Director or somebody else.