Mercurial Morpheus

I get that it was a joke, but I still think it was a poorly timed one, and would've been better left on the website or later in the credits. I wouldn't have minded it so much had it not been for the content of the preceding scene, that's all. Nothing takes you more out of an emotional scene for an escapist like me then something completely unrelated grabbing one's attention, especially negatively. Heck, had it been in the middle or after the credits, I probably wouldn't have minded, as I would've winded down from the scene. As for response, it's probably partially due to good comments being easier to post on fansub sites than bad. that, and the positive comments I've seen were by people who seemed to genuinely hate Ali Project. As much as it bugged me, I wasn't about to go to the IRC channel and vent about it, as I'm sure you get enough from people actually out to aggravate fansubbers. Your asking for opinions here allowed for a more civilized response Sorry to sidetrack the discussion.

Thanks for the contribution, though it could use a tiny bit of cropping at the start. As for Sheryl songs, several have already been posted. I posted two myself. How are they not decent?

Duke Togo, where...did you get....that icon?! I thought this was a pretty good episode, one of the better ones even. We're finally getting some plot, and it really wasn't much of a clip show. besides, the song medley made even that work well. Sheryl's getting more aggressive with Alto in front of Ranka, but fortunately Ranka's pushing back. It's interesting to see just how used Sheryl was. Looks like Galaxy's pulling the strings. The only thing that gets me, and pardon if this was brought up as I haven't read every page, is that she doesn't question Grace. Namely, why she's still alive and on Frontier. Maybe I missed something, but Sheryl herself narrowly escaped Gallia IV's fate, doesn't she wonder how Grace got off? Could it be common on Galaxy for people to have multiple bodies and this is no big deal to her? You'd think, "how did you get here?" would be the first thing on her mind. Though Sheryl's disignation seems to imply that there are many girls like her or even multiple Sheryls throughout the different fleets (they can't all be in contact with one another). Oh, and while this was brought up a few episodes ago, am I the only one amazed that there were new Macross-class ships built after the launch of the Megaroad-01? To think copies were being built upwards of 39 years later... heck of a class.

I was wondering if I was the only one checking this out. A subbed version just came out too.

Hmm, the story doesn't seem like it's been cut down. Though it would explain why certain things move faster than they used to. I was certain Shirley would've gotten at least another episode, and 14 did seem to move quite fast. What's your source on this? Those are rumors, not spoilers. Though they are plausible. I just hope Lelou kills Rolo before his heart does. By the way, did anyone else notice that the date is wrong on her coffin? It's looks like Rolo not only killed her, but even robbed her of an entire year...

It was planned to be three seasons? It doesn't seem that way.

I'll see what I can do. I'm on a new PC, and haven't gotten all my ripping gear in check yet.

You've finished "Miss D.J."? Awesome. I loved listening to that after I miraculously found it at Streetlight records. It works really well on a rural freeway at night.

Great to hear that you're taking on the radio dramas. Those get ignored too often. As for Lunar, they're still pretty good, but I agree the "Remation Eater" bit was too bad. Though it *did* sound like that and the text proving otherwise was kind of easy to miss. It's still no "Brief 25" though . It's be nice if they did a v2 to fix it. I liked their phrasing of Grace's line the best too. I'll see how it goes, though I hate to switch groups for consistency sake. GG's parody though is true of most fans though. "He who releases first....wins." I did check out 14, and it was pretty good from what I could tell. The captions do help it seems. It's nice to see how far the groups come from the Pani Poni days. My only complaint isn't with your Macross Frontier, but rather Code Geass. Opinions on Ali project not withstanding, was it really necessary to vent such hatrid by writing, "F*ck Ali Project" right after a major death scene and emotional highpoint in the season? It sort of damaged the mood. ;;

It seems to me that part of the point is to partially echo Euphemia. It's a bookend, a recurring theme, and a very effective plot device. Again, Lelou messes up due to his overconfidence, and this time, he has even less control over the course of events. Again, this reminds him that he isn't the puppet master he sees himself as. Again, it's not just a game of chess. people get hurt, and his quest for vengeance with inevitably hurt those he loves, no matter how hard he tries. This is very powerful for a character like him. Okay, I don't know how character deaths, or any other plot device can be overused in a medium as a whole (in fact, I haven't seen many such things in all the anime i watch, not enough to call it "overused" anyway). Saying it's cliche is also like saying having her fall in love is cliche, but whatever. Everything's a cliche, it's all in how it's executed, and this was executed quite well. Besides, can't we want to see where they go with this before throwing around such claims. It's not like her thread ends with her death. Only crap drops a story like that, and Geass is far from crap. It's true she could've been used as his link to a normal life. Though that's precisely part of the reason she's dead. Not to mention, what you're describing is far more generic then was they did. You're forgetting the story being told and basic storytelling 101. Lelouch's ties need severing as he's past the point of no return. He can't have a normal life, and he knows it in the most brutal of ways. He's not meant for a happy end, and that's what revenge is. He gets what he wants, at the cost of just about everything but. This show is basically almost a Greek tragedy. It's also moving to it's final stage, Ashford is side story, and it needed to end. Shirley's storyline also needed resolution, and none of your, "non-cliche" ideas even remotely serve it as well as this. You're basically saying you'd rather Shirley serve as a mere background thread (something she did for most of this season, and it stunk), or "someone to come home to", and a simple exit device for the main character (a sweet thought, which could work at the cost of her character, but I fail to see how this isn't "overused" or "cliche", lots of shows end this way). Basically to not serve the story or her own development whatsoever. Maybe that could've worked if it didn't go against everything they'd already done with the character. She'd have to stay a happy little Geassee, which would suck, or a pointless member of the Black Knights, and that's a paltry conclusion to her, "Everthing's a lie, Lelouch killed my father, but I love him" plot (seriously, what would she do besides be a love interest?). That, or have her become another pointless side thread that has again nothing to do with her pre-established background, and again serves neither her development and could actually hinder the plot with yet another concern for Lelouch, (first kidnapping, now coma, seriously, how "cliche" is "we won, and Shirley miraculously recovered?" ;. unless you have her never recover, which would be good tragedy in the show if done right, but something of a loose thread and misplaced. Maybe she didn't "have to die", and I'm all for thinking outside the box, not to mention I love Shirley quite a bit, and hated to see her end violently, but none of those ideas serve really anything, no offense, and wouldn't be in line with what had already been setup. At the very least, they wouldn't have the impact that it did. You're also forgetting that she doesn't have to be alive to be a love interest. He can easily fight in her memory, and stop in it too. Reflecting on the life of someone close, especially one you feel you've failed, can have a strong impact. One need not be physically present to do so. I doubt it. It doesn't work with all the setup given. It defies his character as well. Also, give me a likely suspect. You can't, because there aren't any. Don't you dare even suggest Suzaku...

Actually, if anything it's a setup for the guy to be alone, or die. Kallen's no love interest, plain and simple. She's not even that great a character, outside of being the embodiment of Lelouch's connecting to the Black Knights. CC is more likely, but it's not exactly love between the two. Dead or no, Shirley's probably the most likely one in his heart, even if it's a little regret driven. For the record, they basically did write Shirley out of the show for about eleven episodes of little impact, her storyline frozen. How's her being kidnapped going to advance her plotline anyway? You already have Kallen captured for crying out loud! Nunally still needs rescuing as well. Why would you prefer all of Lelouch's girls be mere liabilities to him?You could have her join the Black knights, but how does that work? She either becomes closer than ever, spends time wallowing in confusion and indecision, her love torn, or she dies. looking at the options, the last had the most satisfying potential. As much as a Shirley/Lelou relationship would be nice, giving the guy some much needed connection to sanity, it doesn't serve the plot much. They also didn't kill her because she was useless to the story. If that were true, why revive her memories at all? Just leave her in the background. While I would've preferred a longer conclusion, it wraps up her thread nicely, if tragically. It cuts Lelouch's ties to Ashford, allows another great moment where we see the real Lelouch and reminds him of his fallibility, gives him some real motivation to crush the Geass cult, starts Rolo's downfall, cementing him as a person who will do anything to stop people from coming between him and Lelouch, and possibly sets up the conclusion to the Lelouch/Suzaku conflict. How that's killing her because she won't be used any more is beyond my comprehension apparently. Maybe it is a little Euphy, but it's really the best they could do with what they had.

Whether they hate them or not, it was really uncalled for given the content of the preceeding scene. Waiting until the end or the next episode would be better. Better yet, just sub the damn show and leave the commentary for the website. As is, it's f*cked up. Eclipse write a huge "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" instead. In context, but not much better. Looks like I have a mkv to edit.... I actually can't remember what the previous ending sounded like at the moment.

Aww, I wanted to be the one to post that... Cornelia is such a babe.

I realise that I have yet to release my angst..... I so can't wait for Lelouch to kill him.

I've used k-lite for years. Never had a problem with it. Glad to see I'm not alone amidst the CCCP sea. I also use VLC for incomplete playback.

Two shows by Kyoto and IG respectively. Both companies are known for large budgets and consistent animation. Gainax, Shaft, Bones, Ghibli, Madhouse and 4c are also known for this. Sunrise tends to be decent. Gonzo shifts on project to project from great to blah. Toei, Pierrot, and Deen are usually okay to awful. Everyone else is about average. As always it depends on the project. Actually, I never stated that I was of the opinion that old anime is washed out, so if you're implying such, you're mistaken. I merely stated that digital paint allowed for a greater range of color, thereby rendering a statement that newer animation looked "washed out" as ridiculous. One need only look at the CAPS system to see the gradients it allowed in just its first uses to see the truth there. The range allows for the "pastels" you speak of. Since cel painting permitted more solid colors instead, of course old school stuff might appear more translucent in presentation. A lot of TV shows had very simple color ranges. I'd say the chroma has remained the same. The only difference is that newer animation can benefit from a much more varied palette. You think Sheryl's hair would've been plausible with cel painting? Maybe, but it would've been a huge headache. Whether the studio wishes to to this is up to them. Light colors have gotten popular, as has the muted look. Even stuff like Vampire Hunter D used mimimal colors to set tones back in the day. So yes, it is a large blanket statement. One that compares apple and oranges. Twelve Kingdoms was an early 2000s series that ran 45 episodes and was animated by studio Pierrot, a company never known for having the best consistency, especially in later years. They do specialize in long series, and have probably learned to stretch a budget. Compared to the more recent, much shorter Haruhi, done by Kyoto, a studio known for lavishing money on cafeful animation, of course there's a difference. Having just watched the latest Code Geass, I can say that every character has remained on-model throughout the episode, and it's by Sunrise. Still, I don't see how you can argue that this is anything new. As even you've admitted, TV animation in the 80's was just as inconsistent. Keeping Macross as an example, it was admitted that Misa hardly ever actually looked like her character design. Then you have Gunbuster, which has near flawless animation. True, a lot of old shows had great animation, but again, it depends. A lot of old shows also had passable animation. Even more shows had great animation with many, many scenes of sloppy animation. A lot of the new shows I've seen have had splendid animation, and detail befitting it's style. Still others have the pitfalls of their older brethren. I don't think I've ever seen anything as bland as you describe. What are these "typical' shows? Anime has branched a bit in that the new techniques, I think, allow a little more freedom in look. So some show use simpler styles. It also depends on modern mentality. I love the ridiculous detail some old mecha shows had. That look may not always be what is wanted today. I've been watching Code Geass, Kamen no Maid Guy, and Golgo 13 and the animation has always befitted the scenes they depict. It again is subjective. A lot of the older shows looked just as good, and just as bad. In terms of eighties mentality, I mention it as a fan of both Japanese and US animation. Hence the old argument over priorities. The Japanese have always prioritized detail over movement when budget allowed. By the eighties, it was down to a fine art. Movement only when needed. Remember in VHD how the count never even moved for most of the film. It was because he didn't have to, so he became a talking head. Still, you had plenty of shows with crap detail in some scenes to allow easier animation. Trust me, you're preaching to the choir on the over use of CGI. I've had a long hate affair with GONZO for pushing it, and how people loved it. I still shudder at how reviewers called Last Exile, "the most gorgeous anime ever" when it relied on moderately detailed ships flying in straight lines, CG'd for no apparent reason. I only tolerate it if it's justified. If the complexity warrant it, then I'll stay quiet. The opening shot in DYRL is still a favorite due to all the non-computer assisted detail in it. Same as the fly through in Beautiful Dreamer. I hate the Star Wars SEs for the very same reason. Still, modern techniques and the overall maturation in the art has allowed for much more fluidity in recent years. Remember that animation has always been about money. it was a lot less obvious before the bubble burst. Again, this is a horrid blanket statement only made acceptable by the use of "a lot of". I'm not saying the 80s stuff didn't or couldn't look great. Just that its on par with today. Your statement paint it like everything from the 80s was genius, and 00s animation is cheap. Trust me, the frame rates are the same, if not higher, as is the detail, but it depends on who's making it and what they're resources are. Heck the Zeta movies are a great example to this. You can't tell me modern movie level animation looks worse than mid 80s TV animation. At the same time, the old animation still holds up well. It seems like an unfair comparison, but it proves my point. It all depends (the new animation was the only good thing out of said films, but that's another thread). Toward the Terra is another great example. The old movie looks great. The new series is about on par, with much more detailed designs, and just as fluid animation. The color is also worlds more varied. I like some scenes better in the film, and vice versa. I'd say the TV looks better having been done now than if it had been done in the 80s as a TV. Conversely, I'd take the Dirty Pair Movie over Flashes look any day. So saying "a lot of old animation looks better than new" is a weak, pointless argument. As it can be proven true in it's vagueness, and can just as easily be proven untrue. most of your grievences appear much more based on tastes than objective comparison. It's like saying Dexter's Lab is the epitome of western animation. One need only look at The Thief and the Cobbler to see extraordinary animation, drawn mostly on 1s, with superb detail that proves this untrue. There's a shot of a cog so precisely animated, the commentator had to point out that it wasn't CG. By your criteria, one could argue 80s = high detail, lush color perfection 90s = so-so detail, bland color 00s = CGI, pastels/muted color, simplistic (your view) It wouldn't be wrong, but it's awfully unfair and narrow. You do not need to defend old stuff from me, as I'm a huge proponent of old-school. I even ran an anime club that championed oldschool, for crying out loud. What I'm saying is that anime hasn't really changed much, and that you're judging everything as a whole, when really it's a case by case thing. Precisely. Apples and oranges. Based largely on opinion, and ignoring of simple truths. I prefer hand stuff too, but this discussion is about claiming all new anime is stilted and has degraded from the 80s, which you just admitted it's not. The best animation ever, in terms of technical prowess and not just opinion, would probably be the afore mentioned Thief and the Cobbler. Specifically the War Machine sequence. Seeing as it was drawn on 1s and directed by a guy so anal, he'd throw away a day's worth of shooting if one hair landed on a cel. My personal favorite is Sleeping Beauty. Absolutely gorgeous animation is every way. Beautifully rendered, with exquisite backgrounds done mostly by one guy, and just the right amount of fluidity. It's a moving painting. Though amusingly, the better the animation, the simpler the story it seems.. I think the character animation is fine and no worst than anything in SDF. What's your criteria for saying that anyway? The often lush backgrounds? The often on model characters moving rather fluidly? The great effects animation for lighting. How is it anything like the crap Anime Friend put out? We've not had a mannish looking, horribly off model Sheryl stiltedly run at an unmoving Alto with a knife against a plain, simple background. Then proceed to fight an important scene using all of two frames of animation. Sure, it's had it's production errors, but now you're just being silly. ;; At least now you admit it. Though I thought you liked most new chara designs? The crap versus gold ratio is pretty much the same. There's just more of everything know, and the crap is more obvious. Actually it, and mostly opinion, which does end the argument. The fact of the matter is that the quality is about the same. The only difference is that production has gone up, stretching talent and budget, new techniques and design preferences have taken hold, and a lot more crap gets it's day in the sun than before. Whether you view this positively, negatively, or passively is up to you. Now this is something I've not heard of in my years of studying animation. Where did you read this? Anime studios effectively use something similar to the CAPS method to my knowledge. even if such a technique were used, I doubt everyone's doing it, same as how some studio stuck with cels for a long time. Everything is hand drawn. It's just scanned into a computer and painted instead of being inked and painted. Why? Because it is cheaper. That's true. it's also faster, and allows better control over the finished look. Gankutsuou's frozen patterns look would be impossible without said techniques. Even Disney's new paperless process, used because of Eisner's retarded dismantling of CAPS, uses stylists and drawing pads. The only difference there is there's now nothing to scan, but it's still hand. What you're describing is full on 3D animation. One of the reasons such doesn't impress me as much. I find this hard to believe. Do you honestly think studios would find such a method easier? Drawing with a mouse is much harder. I know, as I've tried. If you have proof to the contrary, I'd love to read it. I've found precious little on japanese production techniques. Seeing as they've long emulated animcan ones, the methods I've described sound more logical. I don't recall ever seeing a modern making of stating use of vector graphics outside of full CGI. A really old technique dating back to the 60s. Heck, the Japanese almost never animate chins. It is cheap, but nothing new. I really don't know why we're arguing. We're both hardcore old-school fans (even Area 88 can vouch for me), but personally I have nothing against modern stuff. It's not better, it's not worse. It's just different. Personally, I just hate it when someone slames new anime because it's different just as much as when newer fans slam old anime because it's, well, old. Still, as an artform, it's just getting more refined as techniques become perfected. It all depends on talent, length, format, and budget. Just like it always has. This post has gotten long enough, and I'm tired of proofreading it. I've even been snipped twice. Truce as fellow old school fans? Comic Kaze, my bit on digital paint was merely in response to "new animation looks washed out" and wasn't meant to be a comment on the virtues of either technique. I love the work that goes into the hand method, but even I can't argue with using a cheaper, faster, much more flexably method just because "it's lazier". There's was plenty of lazy cel painters too. Why else do we have color errors and background drawing done in one color instead of the correct three or more. Also, danths avatar looks familiar, I just can't place it.

Personally, i liked it. Thank goodness it wasn't like last season, where they went from gold to crap... That was one of the few times i skipped an opening sequence on a regular basis.

Sayoko is becoming quite awesome. In more ways than one. As the Code Geass LJ pointed out, her ass appears to even rival CC's (ah, fandom). Sad, sad episode for me. They always have a habit of killing off my favorites. First Euphy, now this... With Milly written out, all that's left is Cornellia, Cecile and CC. Fortunately, CC can't die (yet), and Cecile's too minor to be worth killing, but I'd say Cornellia's not entirely safe. So now i mourn. Though i saw it coming the second episode 12 ended, and have been dreading it since.What with the tender moment which was an obvious last hurrah for her fans and last effort to get non-fans to care. Heck, the episode confirmed it before it even happened. Two minutes in, and there's a new opening without so much as a second of her in it. If that's not screaming, "she's dead!" I don't know what is. Though the drawing in the new ending was nice. I'm glad that they didn't drop her arc like they appeared to though. Even if there was no way it couldn't end in tears. I would've liked to have seen her develop a bit more, given how much they had dawdled in season one. Seems liker a bit of a waste, but not as much as dropping it would've.The comfort being as one pointed out, she died for the plot, and not just to end her arc. So it's not meaningless. She's sort of to Lelouche now as Euphy is to Suzaku. As someone eloquently put it, "Her death means more to Lelouche than her life would have." The forgiveness part seemed abrupt, but worked well in the end. Lelou's reaction just heartbreaking. It's a shame they only thought of killing her to end it, but I suppose it's the best option. Her joining up and truly becom,ing his lover would have been nice, but wouldn't serve the story as well. The poor girl just had nothing left to give outside of the ultimate sacrifice. This was signaled by Milly graduating. To wrap up the series, the school arc must end, allowing focus on the war with Britannia. She was the last major thread there, and she either would have to join him, or die. Her death provided greater catalyst, as once again, Lelouche has personal blood on his hands, reminding him that this is no harmless game of chess. I'm not sure if i can hate Orange-kun for being indirectly responsible. Though I didn't hate Lelou for Euphy, so I guess I'll be like Lelou and just hate Geass in general. Orenji is becoming interesting. Oh, Did GG really have to write "F*ck Ali Project" right after her death too....? Way to kill the mood. I'm going to have to remove it before burning or just watch Eclipses version for that episode.

While I agree that 80s anime is great, what new shows are you watching? That's a pretty big blanket statement; and not a very accurate one at that. If anything, colors have gotten much more vibrant thanks to digital paint techniques (which started off looking horrid like Sol Bianca the Legacy, but has great improved to CAPS quality). Though some shows use muted palettes, as that's the directors choice. Watch something like Gankutsuou and try to tell me it looks "washed out". Character design is largely opinion. Animation quality varies from show to show, but the 80s was the height of Japan's "detail over fluidity" mentality. Anime is way more fluid now than any 80s TV show. Only movies and some OAVs match the average "Garbage" on TV today. Even than, it's largely subjective and depends on budget, studio and director. A lot of anime is still quite static as is preference (versus american animation preference of fluidity at all costs). Heck, take Macross as an example. Ignoring chara designs as being of mostly opinion, Frontier is way more vibrant, fluid, and consistent than even A-team animated episodes of SDF Macross, even if it uses shortcuts like CGI (which ityself is a step above most). It's not until you get to DYRL that you have animation that can match it. I love the look of old, cel painted series too, and the 80s had some awesome chara and mecha designers, but to call new stuff ass just because said designers have changed is just ridiculous. The 80s had plenty of crap too. It's just rightfully buried.

Me too.. A spoiler for episode 14 revealed a death being avenged too... I couldn't

Ah, the sub's finally out. Thanks.

I'm out of town at the moment in Sonora, so I'll do so when I get back. I need to get those suckers framed. Great AX news. ANN reports that the Gattai set will be released on Blu-ray in November. Seeing as I now own a Blu-ray capable laptop, it makes me glad that I haven't gotten the US boxset just yet. It sounds like Bandai Ent is taking a page from the "Mad collectors" book. They're prioritizing boxsets with interesting and worthless crap for future releases. Anyone in LA to inquire for Gunbuster? I forgot to mention something from Fanime. I stopped at the Broccoli booth to inquire on the shirts. He said they had chosen numerous designs and had sent them to Gainax for approval, but had not heard back. So Gainax is the reason for the delay. Personally, I was more frustrated that they didn't bother to mention this on the site. I forgot to ask if the winners had been informed. Part of me wanted to point out, "You do know that the President and the CEO of Gainax are pretty much right down the hall, right?"

It wasn't the one at AnimeSuki, right? That one used destructive grain removal (for example, the delicate pattern on Minmay's blanket is totally gone).

Isn't that true of Basara himself anyway?

It was Max that did the sign of the cross. One of the things that impressed me was that he actually did it it correctly. So many times have I seen anime characters do it backwards!