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General Discussion
Topic Started: Aug 19 2012, 08:10 PM (22,198 Views)
ACDCFan89
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Woof Woof Woofies!
Shadow Dragon
Oct 6 2015, 12:56 PM
I watched the first episode of Kowabon. It's a series of horror shorts, with episodes about three minutes in length. The first episode managed its short time pretty well, and came off as kinda creepy. It was a ghost story using the typical long haired Japanese ghost. It's worth a quick look if you're into the horror genre.

The only thing that might be off-putting to some is that it uses a rotoscoping style of animation, in which animators basically copy images from a film reel, shot per shot. So it's kinda realistic but slightly distorted. It's not the prettiest to look at, but I think it can work well for dark and/or horror animation.
Already not a fan of horror, but rotoscope as well?
 
savepoints
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Yeah, I remember it after reading your post, Raine, and I watched the first episode, mostly just to see how they would manage it and well... I mean, sure, I guess it could work well if they had a much higher budget and/or refined it a lot more. As it is now it's pretty off-putting in certain parts, and it's all but immersive, imo. But who knows, maybe it'll grow on me towards the end of the series.

Did we watch the same thing tho? Because my first episode had like a dinosaur or some shit, not some Japanese ghost.
 
Shadow Dragon
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Chicka Bow!
savepoints
Oct 6 2015, 11:22 PM
Yeah, I remember it after reading your post, Raine, and I watched the first episode, mostly just to see how they would manage it and well... I mean, sure, I guess it could work well if they had a much higher budget and/or refined it a lot more. As it is now it's pretty off-putting in certain parts, and it's all but immersive, imo. But who knows, maybe it'll grow on me towards the end of the series.

Did we watch the same thing tho? Because my first episode had like a dinosaur or some shit, not some Japanese ghost.
Dinosaur? Yeah, I think we watched different things. This is the Kowabon I watched: http://www.gogoanime.com/kowabon-episode-1

It was about two girls talking over skype video and a ghost girl appearing.

Edit: I'm thinking you might have watched Kagewani instead.
Edited by Shadow Dragon, Oct 6 2015, 11:30 PM.
 
savepoints
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You are absolutely correct! So there are 2 rotoscoped shows this season then... Well, I'll watch Kowabon tomorrow then, and we'll see which one is better...
 
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Ok, so I watched Kowabon this time, and you're right, it was pretty creepy, and compared to Kagewani (which I am still not entirely sure if it actually is rotoscoped), it actually looks pretty good as well. I think it was really smart to have it be a "laggy webcam" of sorts to get around choppiness in the animation and such. But yeah, I guess my only problem with it atm would be the short episodes (even something like 8 minutes would've been better), and the ED kinda ruins the mood a bit, but oh well.

Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry - First Impression - (7/10):
So, while this was pretty decent, I guess it was still only barely so. The "weakest person beats strongest person because his only skill is super OP but not recognized by the system" is probably one of my least favorite tropes ever. I mean, you know it's bad when the series itself even points it out. But still, I kinda liked Stella, and it looks good visually, so depending on how they go about the episodes, it might turn out to be a decent watch anyway.
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Edited by savepoints, Oct 7 2015, 02:37 PM.
 
Shadow Dragon
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Chicka Bow!
Okay, I've seen two more debuts.

Dance With Devils: (slight spoilters) I came into this wanting to finally have a decent reverse harem series, and it kinda gave me that. However, it was not in a way I was not expecting at all. The first half of the episode was a musical. The little scene before the opening felt like it was lifted straight from some gothic opera. Then in the second half, it became a supernatural shonen. The vampires that run the school choosing to protect the girl they see as their prey from a cult that wants a grimoire that's in her family. The shonen part being the student president and lead vampire having a fight against two supernatural beings (probably vampires but I can't say for sure) from the cult. No clue what to expect from this moving forward, and I'm not entirely sure what to say about the debut. It was certainly unique.

Beautiful Bones: Sakurako’s Investigation: I'm going to use the English name since the Japanese one is kinda long. Anyways, it was basically CSI: Japan starring crazy bone lady. You could tell that the animators were having fun whenever she went into detective mode. Sakurako herself has a lot of personality, and could become my favorite new character from this season. As a bonus the guy that helps her collect bones isn't a complete doormat and has some commonsense. They compliment each other's personalities fairly well.
 
Pong
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Neener Neener Neener
Sakurako-san no Ashimoto ni wa Shitai ga Umatteiru is a perfect example on how to not capture the audiences attention, got bored with it after 10 min and wont watch it any more unless it turns out to be awesome.

Not even giving this the 3 episode deal.


LOL the complete fucking opposite reactions to the series.
Edited by Pong, Oct 7 2015, 04:17 PM.
 
savepoints
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Alright, so I'm actually kind of in-between you two regarding Sakurako. Like, for starters it looks absolutely GREAT, and I agree with Raine that Sakurako herself might be one of my favorite characters that we've seen in any show so far. I also really, really love how they handled the "investigation" parts, as it's really reminiscent of the Sherlock Holmes series (and movies, I guess), with a lot of zooming in on what she's observing and shit like that, and then bringing all that up (and even better, in a visual presentation) as she "solves" the case (looking at you, Laplace). I really love stuff like that, although we'll have to see how they develop the cases to remain interesting, as opposed to just being short like this one.

However, there is one thing that brings this show down for me, and it's the guy (I seriously can't remember his name...). Sure, I guess you could say that they compliment each other, but his entire personality feels so out of place, I guess. I don't have anything against the "innocent" character type in a show like this, because it usually gives a non-forced way to deliver exposition and whatnot, but here it's like we have Mr. Justice Shounenprotag right here who is CONSTANTLY going on about how "this is wrong, you can't do that, don't say that", and it just annoyed me. At this point I don't see him becoming like a "Watson" either, so he'll probably just be there for that exact reason, and more or less be the "counterbalance", I guess. Which may be fine, it all depends on how they build him from this point on, but judging from the first episode, I don't really like him at all.

But yeah, so far I'd say it tips over to an 8/10, even with the problems I have, so let's hope they don't blow this one.
 
ACDCFan89
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Woof Woof Woofies!
Dance with Devils. I'll admit, although unorthodox, I liked the first half. The musical numbers gave it a unique distinction.

The 2nd half, shit got serious yo. Why?
Posted Image

Actually got that from MyAnimeList, but still. I think I'll keep it up. So long as it doesn't turn into a blood fountain fest like another supernatural/action anime series did a couple seasons ago.
 
Pong
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Neener Neener Neener
So, i actually finished the episode and it still sucked. I guess the whole CSI shit is to worn down for me to find something as mundane as some bitch from Bones with a whiny sidekick to be fun. Animation is OK noting more. There are better crime anime out there so i don't get what the whole thing with favorite character and why she would be any good. Sure they borrowed the whole Sherlock thing but withought the whole charm and meticulous planning, she just seem like a mundane fucking character with a good concept performed poorly. Overrated as fuck.

As i was trying to figure out why i was hating this show so much, it even uses some good concepts. It's just that! It's all stolen concepts from one show or another, it's literally NOTHING new, it's the girl from bones, it'Shitty Sherlock and the crimes are mundane as fuck, (at least for now).
Edited by Pong, Oct 8 2015, 03:40 AM.
 
savepoints
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Well, I think that's part of it. It borrows concepts (like literally every series ever), but these aren't anime it's borrowing from. This isn't Yu3 borrowing the exact concept from Madoka, or pretty much any harem show copying Love Hina. The thing is that these are western things that it's borrowing from, and it's borrowing something that, at least from what I've seen, is a first in anime (at least the Sherlock part of it).

Also, I've literally never seen Bones, so I don't know shit about that other than "they find bones", so I can't relate to any of that when it comes to Sakurako. And I think that just because it is a mystery show, it's even more important to give it a few more episodes. Even if you think the characters are weak, both them and the cases are expected to develop (if it is any good, that is). I mean, first episode of Gosick is also pretty dull when it comes to the mystery part, and the entire first half of Psycho-Pass is really slow compared to what comes later.

Also, when I say favorite character, I just mean out of this season. Not counting old characters from Noragami (since that's a sequel), I think Sakurako only really has Kaon (from Comet Lucifer) to compete with as of now, so.
 
Shadow Dragon
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Chicka Bow!
The Perfect Insider: Though they're both mystery anime, this was the exact opposite of Sakurako-san. Sakurako-san seemed to follow the trend of most modern crime solving shows (Sherlock, CSI, etc). On the other hand The Perfect Insider just screamed classic noir with it's main character monologue intro, the long, stream of conscious style dialogue, and even in the camera angles used. This anime is going to go at a very slow pace, and likely not offer any answer until near the end. As for the characters, the banter between them was good, in my opinion, and should get better once they're given more to talk about. Also the major characters are different enough from each other to keep their dynamic interesting.

It's hard to judge a show like this based on the first episode. What I can say is that there will be a lot of talking, plenty of philosophy being thrown around, some wtf moments as the mystery unfolds, and very little in the way of action.
 
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Subete ga F ni Naru: The Perfect Insider - First Impression - (9/10):
I think I've found my AotS right here. I seriously can't remember when I last saw such a good first episode in a show. Since the mystery part of it all hasn't really gotten started yet, the episode felt slow, but at the same time very captivating, and the weirdest thing for me was how thrown off I was when the episode ended, because I had almost forgot I was watching a single episode, and not a movie. Because that is just what it felt like to me - the start of a movie. Like Raine said, it did a very good job of "show, don't tell", and even though there may be quite a few questions floating around at the moment, I feel like you could figure out a whole lot just by studying the shots in the first episode. In fact, it was really well animated, in the sense of the "shots" and composition. I mean, I don't hate a show just for explaining every single thing that happens, but I think we can all agree that sometimes it just gets tiresome, and while there are some that do it less than others, there aren't a whole lot that don't really do it "at all". The characters, or at least the two main ones, I really liked a lot as well. Mostly because they're actually very natural. When Moe meets a person who has an intimate relationship with Saikawa, she is upset, and it shows so well, but she expresses this in a realistic way, and not in usual exaggerated anime fashion.

Honestly, if the rest of the episodes follow this style, then I think this may be much better seen as a "marathon", as opposed to airing weekly, just because of how it's all set up (like I said, to me it feels like watching a movie). But I think they would really need to mess up the mystery parts or pull some kind of Samuenco level of twists to ruin this show (hopefully that won't happen...).

A 9/10 for me, and a definite contender for AotS (or more like the only one worthy of it at this point).
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Noragami Aragoto - First Impression - (8/10):
Same old Noragami here, honestly. This episode doesn't really kick off the story at all, except for putting some pieces in place to set it up, so to speak. It's more like getting reacquainted with the characters, and showing you that this is the situation everyone is in right now, as opposed to acting as a "direct sequel" of sorts. But the episode was funny, with the same style of humor as the original series, it looks just as good, and the soundtrack is great as always (and it even brings back one of my favorite songs from the original series). The OP is also REALLY good.
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Edited by savepoints, Oct 8 2015, 10:59 PM.
 
ACDCFan89
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Woof Woof Woofies!
Sakurako-san no Ashimoto ni wa Shitai (you know the rest)-
A lot like NCIS/Law & Order, though with the focus strictly on the forensics side rather than including the police work as well. Which I like. Though her obsession with bones is a bit off putting at times. I'll keep it going for now.
 
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Taimadou Gakuen 35 Shiken Shoutai - First Impression - (7/10):
Honestly much better than I expected it to be with an ecchi/harem tag. I thought the action scenes (as in when they are on the missions) were really cool, and had a nice tone to them for the most part, and it even got pretty dark towards the end. We've also been given a hint that the MC is presumably insanely powerful if he wants to, but is holding it back (or they're making him hold it back). The ecchi really took a backseat position as well, which was a nice surprise. Basically, there was a chick in a bunny costume at the start, and at one point the MC fell on a girls boobs (of course), but he played it off with a joke, which was pretty funny actually. To be honest, the MC seems to be pretty good when it comes to just interacting with people in general, and isn't just a complete doormat. The problem I have with this, however, is that it drifted a lot between serious action and comedy. I'm hoping that future missions will remain darker in tone, and the lighthearted comedy will be kept to when they are at the school, but I guess I won't get my hopes up too much.
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