STOP THAT BLURRY ANIMATION TECHNIQUE NOW!

Anime titles within this category used a nausea-inducing blurry animation techniques that pisses me off. It look like motion interpolation algorithm going SERIOUSLY BAD.

Review: Level E (レベルE)

Posted by ranpha on 19th June 2011

Posted in: anime review, STOP THAT BLURRY ANIMATION TECHNIQUE NOW!. Tagged: Level E (レベルE). Leave a Comment

The main protagonist (one of the best characters in this anime) with his first punk’d victim.

The fourth 2011 anime reviewed in the ‘Anime of the Year 2011’ audition today is going to be Level E. Actually, at first, I thought Level E is the third season of the CODE-E series (I really need to get off my ass and watch the second season that is rotting on my file share already) but it turns out I was wrong. Therefore, here is my review of a title better than the first and third audition entries reviewed in this blog before.

The always stressed subordinate of the main protagonist, also one of the best characters in this anime.

Story:-
In our peaceful world, humanity doesn’t realize that extraterrestrials from other planets has been living amongst them, just like it is in Men In Black. The various diverse interests between those aliens factions are the only thing that keeps interplanetary wars from happening between them. With the situation hanging on a balance, ~~Aston Kutcher~~ ~~Rio Ferdinand~~ the main protagonist crash landed on Earth, and everything started to change…

Even with its science fiction background just like Infinite Stratos and Dragon Crisis!, this anime is more comedy than shounen action unlike the the other two titles. Just like Dragon Crisis!, this anime also went with the multiple-arc presentation format, but unlike the former, the arcs in this anime are mostly better. The first arc is outstanding (unlike Dragon Crisis! crappy initial arc) and the same can also be said for the first Color Ranger arc. The Twilight Zone-like arc between those two is just average, and probably is the weakest arc in the whole series. The second Color Ranger arc isn’t as good as the first one though, but is still decent. The Princess Saki and the Koshien arcs are slightly better than it though.

I laughed hard when this anime made this E.T. reference. The context is spot on and the scene is so hilarious.

The quality of the comedy here is very good; one of the defining aspects of this anime. It was the comedy that make me hooked to this anime in merely one episode, mainly because of the tsukkomi-like interactions between the main protagonist and his first prank victim shown in the first screenshot above. There are plenty of hilarious dialogues and slapstick routine in this anime. The presentation in this anime is also excellent, with spot-on pacing and smooth story development. Some references to other materials are also done here, like the E.T. parody above.

Character developments in this anime is pretty much non-existent, but strangely this doesn’t affect this anime much. Only the kids in the Color Ranger arc have some semblance of them. Meanwhile, the main protagonist is pretty much the same character from the first episode until the last one. The other blemish that this anime has is the ending arc that is even more obvious when compared to the ending arcs of Dragon Crisis and Infinite Stratos, which makes me wonder how on earth the main protagonist didn’t see what is about to come. From how the ending was written, there should be no second season though.

One of the two best arcs in this anime.

Character Design:-
Character designs in this anime is just average, and this is probably where both Dragon Crisis! and Infinite Stratos are better than this anime. It simply look less modern to newer titles, and maybe it has something to do with this anime being an adaptation of a manga from the last century. Black hairs are common though just like Dragon Crisis! which is a good thing. Even some of the aliens choose to have one…

Just one of the hazing events that the main protagonist enjoys himself doing.

Voice Acting:-
Voice acting in this anime is good overall with no sub-par performances. Then again, there are no outstanding voice acting gig(s) in here either.

Music:-
The complete opposite of Dragon Crisis! and Infinite Stratos happened here. The OST is average but the OP/ED themes are good.

Quoted For Truth #1.

Animation/Direction:-
Unfortunately, just like Dragon Crisis! and Infinite Stratos, this anime also employed the blurry animation technique I don’t like. Not as much as the other two titles, but too much for my liking. Automatic one-point deduction from the final evaluation will be done. With this, three out of four anime titles I watched for the ‘Anime of the Year 2011’ audition already has them. Which is not a good sign.

Ignoring that, character and general animation quality in this anime are good, even in fast-paced scenes. Choreography is non-existent in this comedy anime. The directing is flawless, and I have no problems with the efforts.

Quoted For Truth #2.

Conclusion:-
7 out of 10. Definitely a better title than Dragon Crisis! and Infinite Stratos, but nowhere good enough to prevent HighSchool of the Dead OVA from running away with the ‘Anime of the Year 2011’ title. The less said about the usage of the blurry animation technique, the better. If all the listed unreviewed titles at the right-side bar has them, HotD OVA will simply walk away with the title unchallenged.

Quoted For Truth #3.

Shortlink: http://wp.me/prgSo-p3

Review: Dragon Crisis! (ドラゴンクライシス！)

Posted by ranpha on 15th June 2011

Posted in: anime review, STOP THAT BLURRY ANIMATION TECHNIQUE NOW!. Tagged: Dragon Crisis! (ドラゴンクライシス！). Leave a Comment

The main male protagonist with a face he will make a lot in the series.

The third 2011 title I’ve chosen for the ‘Anime of the Year 2011’ audition is Dragon Crisis! A typical shounen title with dragons in it, can it challenge the current frontrunner for the title which is another shounen title with zombies? Read on to find out.

The fact that he is the best character in this anime says a lot about the quality of this anime.

Story:-
The main male protagonist is having a peaceful and fruitful day at his school, when suddenly his long-lost cousin appeared out of nowhere, snatched him away from his class and took him to the ride of his life. In the next instant, he found himself being chased by a shadowy organization after he stole a big suitcase from them. Suddenly, a stray bullet pries open the suitcase, and a dragon appeared to burn everything in its path.

After watching only 3 episodes or so that covers the first arc in this anime, it dawned to me that the storyline of this anime is fully laden with clichés and also predictable; it makes Infinite Stratos looks Evangelion-like in turn. There are plenty of the cookie-cutter shounen plots that is not dissimilar to Märchen Awakens Romance, but here even I think the latter is better. This anime starts with the wrong foot, pissing me not only with below average storyline quality but also inflicted more damage with a pair of very weak main protagonists.

Here we have a main male protagonist that makes his indecisive counterpart in Infinite Stratos looks badass. He is definitely one of the most infuriating main male protagonist since B Gata H Kei. Unfortunately, the main female protagonist doesn't help either with the 'woe is me' mannerisms and her fickleness. Character development is very minimal. Actually, only the two main protagonists, and the Level 10 Breaker priest to a lesser extent (his acting is wooden though), has distinctive character development path. The childhood friend, the werewolf girl, the main male protagonist’s cousin and others basically has non-existent character development at all. Despite of that glacial development, I like that dragon researcher at Society (another mysterious organization that is poorly explained throughout the series) the most. He is simply a natural at his role, and personally I think he should have more airtime in place of the red-haired Level 4 Breaker scientist.

This anime uses the multi-arc format, used in the likes of Index and The World God Only Knows. Here, the disastrously ordinary and infuriating opening arc was then followed by a few more arcs that is only barely better than the first one. I think the best arc in the whole series is the one that involves the Level 10 Breaker priest. Speaking of Breakers, this anime sure doesn’t want to clue in the viewers about who is a Breaker and what is the difference between Breaker levels. I think it was only near the end that I get the gist on those Breaker people, and I don’t think I fully understand Breakers even after the last episode finished playing.

As for presentation, the pacing in this anime is good, but story development are done better than what Infinite Stratos has managed. There are no skipped or skimped events at all here. Just like the rest of the preceding storyline, the ending is similarly predictable and also full with clichés. There is barely any improvement at all. Even Infinite Stratos doesn’t suck this hard. The ending is structured to have a second season though (or probably an OVA or a movie), with some similarities in execution with Seikon no Qwaser.

Some of the crazy perverted things he is doing in the anime.

Character Design:-
The character design in this anime is good, although maybe ordinary. One thing I noticed about this anime is the huge amount of characters with black hairs, such as the main male protagonist himself. A very good thing considering the setting where dragons actually exists. A positive aspect for this anime.

Voice Acting:-
Voice acting in is decent overall, but there are no outstanding performer(s) in this anime.

Music:-
The OST of this anime is excellent and very prominent. Sadly, there are no efforts at all at making decent OP/ED themes here.

The childhood friend in this anime doesn’t have the same luck that her counterpart #1 in Infinite Stratos does.

Animation/Direction:-
In the course of watching this series, I encountered basically no problems, and as I watched more episodes, I started to lower my guard. Then, BAMMM, the final episode uses the blurry animation techniques in some of the action scenes in that episode. Damn! That technique wasn’t used at all in previous episodes, even in action scenes, but yet the director suddenly start using it in the final episode? One point docked from the final evaluation, just like I have done to Infinite Stratos.

That’s too bad, because the quality for character and general animations are great, even in fast-paced scenes. Integration between 2D and CGI animations are also done well. Some of the choreography severely tested the suspension of disbelief, like that Initial D-esque drifting by an airliner on Haneda airport (why that airliner doesn’t fall apart I don’t know), but is decent most of the time. The director is good in presentation and camera work, but not so for some of the wooden acting seen in parts of the series.

The classmates of the main male protagonist sure have very quick feet to desert the classroom in less than an instant as a missile locks onto him.

Conclusion:-
5 out of 10, same score as Infinite Stratos. And these two anime titles has to combine their scores just to match the score of the Highschool of the Dead OVA. Usage of the blurry animation technique really doesn’t help them either. I still haven’t decided what anime in the audition list to watch (see right sidebar), so you have to wait until the next review to know what I will watch next.

Quoted For Truth.

Shortlink: http://wp.me/prgSo-oW

Review: Infinite Stratos (インフィニット・ストラトス)

Posted by ranpha on 30th May 2011

Posted in: anime review, STOP THAT BLURRY ANIMATION TECHNIQUE NOW!. Tagged: Infinite Stratos (インフィニット・ストラトス). 11 comments

The insensitive main male protagonist.

As mentioned in the previous post, the audition for the first holder of this blog ‘Anime of the Year 2011’ starts today with the high-priority mecha anime titled Infinite Stratos. With the overdose of slice-of-life titles in Japan nowadays, a mecha anime title sure sounds like a breath of fresh air. Or is it really the case?

It would be good for the main male protagonist if he does this ‘thinking’ thing more often, for his own sake.

Story:-
In an alternative version of our futuristic world, the usage of mobile suit system called Infinite Stratos (abbreviated as IS from now on) is prevalent for many purposes. Unfortunately for men across the planet, only women has the ability to use those shiny useful gadgets. Adding to their jealousy, apparently our main MALE protagonist can also pilot one of those things. Therefore because of that, he was enrolled in a special school specializing in training IS pilots. And of course, the school is full with girls…

With this anime's two main premises ripped off directly from Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventure (which is an Evangelion rip off itself), the story in this anime is not only unoriginal, but pretty much predictable. The fact that whoever wrote the story seems to intentionally refused to flesh out the storyline more doesn’t help either, withholding some of the promising potential I’ve glimpsed a couple of times throughout the series. Too much emphasis was put upon the harem aspect of this anime, unlike other mecha anime titles with harems like Dual! itself and Kurogane no Linebarrels (the harem in this title is pretty much understated). While the pacing is OK, storyline development is terrible with this anime’s propensity to skimp on events (like the main protagonist first IS training), or skipping them entirely (read more about this on character development commentary below).

The comic relief of this anime.

Character development in this anime is weird and uneven. The best character in this anime, which is the main male protagonist, has arguably the best natural character progression throughout the series. You cannot say the same thing about at least a couple of characters here though. For example, that girl from Britain – Cecilia ‘Comic Relief’ Alcott. After her IS duel with the main male protagonist in episode 2, then in the very next episode (episode 3 to be exact), she suddenly become lovey-dovey with him. And this happened without any supporting intermediate events whatsoever. I actually try to check whether I have screwed the episode numbering or something like that, thinking that the episode 3 is actually episode 4, but the result is in the negative. Then I also checked whether there will be things like episode 2.5 in Blu-ray or DVD releases, and it seems that there will be no such thing either.

What happened with Cecilia’s character development strategy is basically the same thing that happened with the social club president in Princess Lover!, except that Cecilia’s case is worse. But what happened with her pales in comparison with what you can see with that transfer student girl from Germany that hates the main male protagonist. I know anime girls can be unreasonable, but THAT UNREASONABLE?

Misty-eyed one-eye girl: Instructor, why are you so strong?
Melancholic Instructor: I have a younger brother…
Misty-eyed one-eye girl turned spastic: ROARRRR WARGGGHHHHH I HATE YOU YOUNGER BROTHER!!!!!
Me:

Here I initially thought she hates him because he caused his sister to lose the world tournament (or he rapes her or something like that), but it turned out the reason is so flimsy I don’t even know what to say about it. Her saving grace is that her entry into the main male protagonist harem is much saner than what you can see from Cecilia’s.

Deus ex machina moments like this one makes the predictable ending even worse.

The ending is full with clichés, and just as predictable like the rest of the preceding storyline is. The ending doesn’t seem to be written to accommodate a second season, and I have not heard news for one either. I will not be surprised if there is a sequel though, although the writer really need to cut down on the harem aspect and flesh out the storyline more.

At this point of the anime, I started to wonder how much further the writer will abuse the ‘transfer student’ literary device in his/her writing, after seeing this for the umpteenth time.

Character Design:-
Character designs in this anime is excellent, especially for the female characters. Hair colors can be colorful, but there is a fair share of black hairs in this anime. A positive aspect for this anime.

Voice Acting:-
Meanwhile, voice acting in this anime is patchy in quality. The main male protagonist is average in this regard, while Cecilia has done very well. The latter is definitely the outstanding performer in this anime.

The frustrated main female protagonist a.k.a. childhood friend #1.

Music:-
The OST is good, but I will not say the same thing for the OP/ED themes.

Animation/Direction:-
Just like last year audition, the first title in this year audition also use the damaging blurry animation technique last seen in Katanagatari mostly in fast-paced scenes. A point docked from the final evaluation because of this. To prevent a consecutive reviews containing these kind of animation techniques (the previous audition first three titles has them), the next title I will watch is going to be the Highschool of the Dead OVA (its predecessor doesn’t have it).

Otherwise, the animation quality in this anime is good overall, even in fast-paced scenes. Choreography in action scenes is just average though. The director really balls-up with the flow of the plot and also character developments.

Another member of the harem: childhood friend #2 and also transfer student #1.

Conclusion:-
5 out of 10. Not a good start for this audition. The next review, the one that would be the 200th post in this blog, is going to be for the single-episode Highschool of the Dead OVA. I can only watch them it next week though, so the review will come a little bit later after that.

Transfer students #9001 & #9002. One of them even have the temerity to transfer in TWICE! A second season really need to cut down on this ‘transfer student’ crap.