Recent Viewing: Attack on Titan

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luYOt2-c2TI&w=560&h=315]

The above trailer belongs to a series called Attack on Titan. It was a series that I watched in spurts when I had some downtime because the title has a pretty big buzz associated with it. The fact that you are reading this is evidence of that. You are either reading what another viewer thought or you have heard something about the title and are interested in knowing more.

I am going to start by being completely honest, I think this title is going to be a big series for the anime community when it gets released in the states (by FUNimation). The series is a stark contrast from a lot of the titles that are coming out. Attack on Titan is not a series based in comedy, not a musical promotion anime and not one for the harem crowd either.

The series takes place in a world where humanity has retreated to within tall walls to prevent “Titans” from getting in. Titans are giant fleshless human creatures that exist to wipe out humanity. There are various classes of Titans, some 12 feet tall and some with abilities, as you will see in the show.

The animation of the series is pretty enjoyable. Some have griped about the color palette, I personally didn’t mind it. There were lots of earthy tones, some oranges, tans, etc. I felt as if it felt the world they were portraying well. Considering the circumstances of the story, they wouldn’t have various colored buildings, etc. The action scenes are animated well, with several shots having unique camera views.

The soundtrack to the series enhanced the animation and the unique story. I was watching the stream so the title isn’t dubbed yet. I am excited to see the dub when it is eventually released. The opening tracks by Linked Horizon are some of the catchiest openings I have heard since Evangelion and Deathnote.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OkpRK2_gVs&w=560&h=315]

While the trailer provides a unique look at the world and the story, it really doesn’t do it justice. There is so much more to the series than story outline I described, but I want to avoid spoilers for readers who haven’t streamed it this season. Let me put it this way, Attack on Titan may be an early favorite for my presentation for next year’s SGMS conference.

Have you watched it yet? If not, go check it out on Crunchyroll, I don’t think you will be disappointed.

Recent Viewing: Penguin Drum Season 2

I am a few days late on my review of Penguindrum Season 2, but when I sat down to write about it, I realized I needed a few more days to gather my thoughts. My initial reaction to the series was that I thought it was great, but at the same time there were so many layers to it, that I realized I couldn’t write a full on review of it without watching it a few more times to peel back each layers. I also instantly felt that I needed to do a research paper on the whole series because I felt that there was so many thing they were trying to say.

Let’s start with explaining the basic premise of the story. There is a sister, Himari, and her two brothers, Shoma and Kanba. Himari is terminally ill and one day while at the aquarium, Himari dies. Himari wears a Penguin hat that brings her back to life, but in order for her to continue living, Kanba and Shoma must find the “penguin drum”. Along their way of searching for the penguin drum they come across several interesting characters, Mr Tabuki, Natsume, Ringo and more.

You can read my review of the first half of Penguindrum here. Season 2 wrapped up the series and this review is going to be more along the lines of the whole series. Overall, season 1 was a mix of comedy, character backstories and hints of a larger plot that came to fruition. Towards the ending of Season 1, we received glimpses of a new character and potential story paths, but we could see how some of the characters were going to start having intersecting story arcs.

Season 2 starts to expand on these storylines and we learn more about what the Penguindrum is. At the same time we start to see a dark side of some of some of the characters and even darker areas of their backstories. I don’t want to spoil the series for anyone because I highly suggest for people to check this series out. I personally felt the series was written to make you view it several times, which are the types of series I enjoy. I give the show high ratings based on that. I reserved the right to change my opinion after a few more viewings so I can determine if I can make sense of potential arcs.

Season 2 saw a more direct influence of terrorism as an element, which coincides with an actual terrorist attack that took place in Tokyo. This angle of inspiration or creator statement, is one that really interests me. I am thinking next year, I might research this topic further.

There is also possible directions in Japanese society and in particular, homelessness and possibly homeless children. There are sprinkles of a fate vs destiny debate as well. With so many paths and influences towards characters actions, it is hard to write a non spoiler review of the series. That isn’t even touching on the purpose of the penguins as in the series as well.

I highly suggested the series to a friend and he read episode summaries before watching the series. He told me after he marathoned the show, he regretted reading the summaries. The episode summaries do not do the show justice. The best comparison I have heard in regards to Penguindrum, is the show is like a scenic train ride. It takes you from point A to point B, but along the way you see so much interesting stuff that you can’t explore at the time and makes you need to revisit it several times. Once you are through the show, you are no longer distracted from an entertainment stand point, and you can start to focus on things that escaped you the first viewing.

I will touch on the series again at a later date, once I am able to view it a couple more times. I hope you give it a watch 🙂 Penguindrum is licensed by Sentai Filmworks in the U.S.

Recent Viewing Flowers of Evil

It’s been a little while since I have reviewed anything I watched and with all of the craziness of the last couple months. I never heard of Flowers of Evil until a friend told me to check out the first episode since it had an interesting art style and he wasn’t sure why it looked the way it did. So I checked it out and I loved seeing the rotoscoping technique in action so I wanted to check it out on a weekly basis, but was so busy I ended up marathoning it a week or so ago.

First off, this has been probably one of the most debated series I have ever seen in recent memory. In the anime fandom world, it seems to be a title you hate or you love for various reasons. Flowers of Evil was produced by Zexcs, and is licensed in the US by Sentai Filmworks.

The first reason is the art style, the rotoscoping technique isn’t for everyone. There are films that use similar techniques that I hated, A Scanner Darkly for one. While it employs a slightly different visual, it is using the same technique.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TY5PpGQ2OWY&w=560&h=315]

Here is a screenshot of the style of Flowers of Evil.

imagesFlowers of Evil uses less shading when compared to A Scanner Darkly, which is why I think it appeals to me more. The rotoscoping allows for them to get some really great details in the close up facial expressions.

While the characters are rotoscoped, the backgrounds are very beautifully painted. There were times in the series, that I was in awe over some of the painted backgrounds. And if you watch the series, there is a beautiful sequence in episode 7 that is artwork. Several amazing sequences of animation that are some of the best things I have seen in a long time. I wish I could post up just that sequence, it was that good.

If you aren’t turned off by the artwork, the story itself is very unique and is not something for everyone. The story revolves around the main character Kasuga, who likes one of the popular girls in school. Also getting involved in this story is the “creepy” girl in the class, Nakamura, who sees a way to start to manipulate Kasuga for her amusement and other motivations.

The first season is 13 episodes, and showcases the growing escalation between the three characters relationships towards one another. While part of Kasuga wants a normal relationship with the girl Saeki, Kasuga also reveals a potential darkside which likes Nakamura. All of this is set in a small town and not a giant city like Tokyo which adds to some of the characters motivations.

The music in the series is great. The ending theme is rather creepy, while the opening theme seems a little ironic with its tone and also artwork. This was a series that I would watch one episode and feel like I needed to watch the other right away. I am not sure if the series will get a season 2, but if not I will be buying the manga to finish up. If you have seen Flowers of Evil feel free to comment below and let me know what you thought. If you haven’t seen it yet, you can view it on Crunchyroll.

Recent Viewing: InuYasha the Final Act part 2

Synopsis– It has been close to 5 years since we last left off Inuyasha in the anime world and the gang of InuYasha, Kagome, Miroku and Sango were all still trying to regain all of the fragments of the Shikkon jewel and defeat Naraku. Other characters are also aiming towards Naraku, such as Sesshomaru, Koga and more. Naraku can create other forms with his pieces of the Shikkon jewel and uses these forms to try to destroy InuYasha and others. InuYasha the Final Act 2 is the epic conclusion to a series that had a run on Adult Swim back in 2000.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyOnnAb-wHk&w=560&h=315]

Review- When InuYasha had it’s initial run on Adult Swim, I never gave it much of a chance. When I got to college I had several friends that really stood by the series so I eventually caved in and gave it a chance. After the first season I fell in love with the cast of characters and their adventure to track down Naraku.

The final episodes in InuYasha the Final Act 2 didn’t disappoint. I don’t really know what else to say other than it felt very satisfying to see the show finally come to a close and get closure to the characters and what decisions they were going to make. InuYasha spans 8 seasons and 4 movies and were well worth the time. It’s not like I can suggest watching just one season out of all of them.

I personally, am a big fan of longer running shows because I am interested in the dynamic of telling longer stories and the challenges that arise in keeping them fresh and well paced.

If your a fan of longer running shows, InuYasha may be worth checking out. There are a few times where the story does drag a little, but find a series that spans more than 3 seasons that doesn’t have it’s moments. The good storytelling and interesting characters far outweighs the bad. The tagline for the show is a “feudal fairytale” and it lives up to that billing with a good mix of shonen action but also a counter balance of the relationships between characters that has it’s serious moments. It even has it’s comedic characters to give it a little bit of something for everyone.

Production Quality- InuYasha the Final Act 2 is one of my favorite aesthetics of any series. The hybrid of 2D, 3D and effects make this finale look really sharp. While the animation isn’t as smooth as a film may be that is to be expected with the shorter budget and more content to produce. InuYasha has some great visuals as you could expect since it is the final conclusion of an epic battle. The effects and 3D really add to certain shots, especially Inuyasha’s technique that cuts into a  space dimension, the same can be said of Sesshomaru’s technique as well. I can’t recall seeing battle scenes so masterfully put together in a series. I am a big fan of the titles out right now that can put the two styles together well. It is good to see the experiments of the last several years paying off in titles today.

Music- The opening and closing themes fit well into the soundtrack of the series overall and makes you forget the gap in production.

Dub Quality- The dub was very solid, fits in with the rest of the series and no characters switching voices after the layoff.

Extras- I was a little disappointed with the fact that InuYasha finally came to a close and the DVD had no extras of substance, just some trailers, credits and previews. Perhaps they are saving this content for some kind of anniversary set or something, but some interviews, commentaries or a panel discussion has to exist. No series of that popularity and with all of the anticipation for the final season, there is no way something along those lines doesn’t exist that could have been on the DVDs.

Both parts of the Final Act are available to stream on Viz.

Anime Review: Tari Tari

Along with the production updates and posts about my recent trip to Japan I wanted to also start posting about some content I have been watching. While in Japan, I saw several advertisements for all sorts of shows. I took pictures of several advertisements and decided that I was going to watch some of these and check out their production value.

My typical process has been to wait until series come to the States so I could watch them while I work since they would be dubbed already. However, when I go to conferences and such people have had access to some of these titles already by watching them on simulcasts. Secondly, it also puts me about a year or two behind current production techniques and such. So, I made the decision that I am going to start to watch a little bit more stuff and focus on some of the production value in these series.

The first title I decided to check out was Tari Tari. I had never really watched a series about school life or anything along those lines in anime before. I have been mostly a Shonen/action fan. To give you an idea of some of the visuals for Tari Tari, check out the opening here.

To provide you a quick synopsis of the story, Konatsu is a girl who wants to start a new school choir club after not being able to perform in the current choir club. Since she needs several members to start, she is able to recruit enough people to start the choir and sometimes badminton club. The group then practices in hopes of performing at the school festival.

Over the course of 13 episodes we see the group come together and we also have episodes that focus on each character and some of their history and past events.

Since my presentation at SGMS this past year was about CGI in anime, it was good to see several of the techniques I talked about used in the show. There are several shots that involve 3D environments, and 3D objects such as cars filling the streets. The character animation is well done. The coloring and effects in the environment are very well done. As you can see from the opening, there are beautifully painted backgrounds throughout the show.

There are even several nice subtle effects in the show. Shots that use depth of field (blurring of the background to focus on the foreground), subtle camera shakes and even lens flares in outside shots add some really nice production value to the series. You can tell that the series is newer based solely on the production value of the show. Throughout the series there are several really nice panning shots that seem to have several layers of depth in them. Tari Tari has scenes that are very brightly colored and even some scenes that are muted due to rain, that still look very good.

Tari Tari was a great show to see a wide variety of CGI techniques throughout the short 13 episode series. The series also didn’t seem to have much filler in it at all. If your looking to see some beautiful artwork and have time to fit a short series in, you can check it out on crunchyroll and be sure to keep an eye out for some of the effects 🙂 Production update coming on Monday!