Mari Okada discussion
Ok,since it seems there's more and more threads derailed by Okada discussion, even in animes she's not involved in (look at Tari Tari) so we might as well have a thread.
So,here's the woman in question: http://forums.animesuki.com/picture....ictureid=41765 Her résumé as a head writer so far: Dynamic tag cannot be rendered. (PrintableThread) To me there's 3 reasons why Okada is the talk of town over the past year: 1)She worked on a lot of shows over the past 18 months,when you work so much you're going to get noticed. 2)Not only is she working on a lot of shows but she's working on big name franchises (BRS,Lupin,kenshin,AKB48...) that all have an established fanbase which leads to more people paying attention to her 3)Even if they're part of an established franchise the animes themselves aren't straightforward adaptation,which leads to extra attention on the anime writer. I still look forward to every new Okada animes,there's success and failures but somehow Okada manages to entertain me even in her failures,so either way I know I'll be entertained and that's all I'm looking for. However I can understand that she's overexposed right now but maybe that won't last,there's no Okada show airing this summer and the only animes she'll be working on for the rest of the year are the second cour of AKB0048 (will probably air this fall) and the Hanasaku Iroha movie. As for the three Okada animes this season,here are my thoughts: Aquarion evol: I'll just quote Enzo Quote:
I enjoy AKB0048 as well so far but still have my reserves because I don't know exactly what Okada has in mind for the rest of the plot. Lupin III:Episode 9 really leaves me uncertain, I'm not sure I like where this is going,that's a shame because I enjoyed the early parts of the show quite a bit. |
I think she's very good at writing things that end up being entertaining and/or at least gaining a lot of attention.
I think she's excellent at writing life drama (romance drama in particular) when she wants to. She definitely needs a good, strong, takes-no-BS Editor or Supervisor to get the most out of her skills when it comes to serious life drama/romance shows. Her overall range is impressive. There doesn't seem to be much that she shies away from completely. Okada seems to have become the anime industry's first choice for anime original writing (she's also handled a fair bit of adaptation work, of course). I do think that Okada is getting spread too thin and is probably doing more than she should, but my hunch is that this might be mainly due to a general lack of depth/talent amongst writers within the anime industry (not including mangaka, and LN/VN writers) moreso than any real fault of Okada's. The only other regular to semi-regular anime original writer I can think of that gets praised as much as Okada does is Gen Urobuchi (Gen seems to be more widely praised than Okada, but he also doesn't seem to have her range). I think that the anime industry owes Okada a lot, but by the same token, I think the anime industry could badly use another prominent anime original writer (specifically for the sorts of shows that Okada is most known for) in order to truly challenge Okada and keep her from getting too sloppy. |
On one hand I think it is really cool to see a woman have such a strong presence in what is a pretty predominant male industry.
But I have to admit I do find her overexposed also I think she is just an average writer. I dont mind her original works so much but I don't want too see her as the head writer for every poplar adaption. In my opinion anime needs to get more voices but the industry seems to like to stick to what is popular and not try out anything new. |
I do not like Mari Okada for the opposite reasons I do not like Makoto Shinkai: every time she does drama, it feels like an Oscar-bait performance with no subtlety. While it's true that I love Aquarion Evol and that the anime she writes can be good or bad depending on the director, her bad drama NEVER goes away. Not even in Lupin III.
To make things clear: I love Aquarion Evol, I like Lupin III, Hanasaku Iroha and Toradora are tolerable (but only just), and I've hated everything else she's written (have not seen AKB0048 as of yet). And even in the ones I like, I thought the drama sucked. |
Other than AnoHana and Lupin III I've been wholly unimpressed with her resume and find her material pretty insulting to my intelligence though she hasn't managed to take on anything I truly care about. I totally agree that she's overexposed right now and ought to take a breather for both her sake and animes sake in general.
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Okada does Waaaaaaaay too much work for her own good. Because of this, her recent works really have TERRIBLE writing (EVOL, AKB0048, BRS). She does make some great SOL drama imminent in parts of HanaIro, the entirety of Anohana, Horo Musuko. . . And she did adapt Toradora, a 10 volume light novel, into 25 episodes without losing emotions, developments or feeling rushed (Index aired at the same time as Toradora and only had 6 volumes to adapt yet pacing always felt off).
In any case she really deserved that Kobe award for having the whole industry (which is mostly male) depend on her and what she writes. |
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Seriously, it's often that the director is more prominent than the screenwriter, and hence generally not well-known, so it's hard for me to know of a writer who's on her level (or even better) and/or has a similar range of works and genres. Also in the pecking order, I believe that the production committee has more decision-making power than the screenwriter. While I agree that, given her current status in the industry, she should be able to pick what projects she can work on and pace herself; I don't have the appetite to harshly criticize, only that I wish I have the opportunity to politely tell this woman to take it easy. |
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Also just because somebody has written in a wide variety of genres doesn't mean that they have written well in all of them. Frankly I find her forays into sci-fi/mecha to be among her absolute worst attempts at writing fiction. Also as a reiteration of my prior post, I really do need someone to explain to me how the industry (if it were just J.C Staff and Studio Deen I'd be inclined to agree more) owes this particular person anything other than her paycheck and a listing in the credits of each work she does to acknowledge her contribution. Did I miss something, is Mari Okada saving anime ala Yamakan? :confused: |
Hit and miss.
Go back to SoL plz. The thing about her is that she constantly writes with a trollface expression and seems to try to pry a reaction out of the audience. This works sometimes, but on the other hand not every kind of story can work like this. |
Thanks for the thread totoum. Tari Tari subforum was getting outta control with all the Okada talk when she's not even involved. I admit though, I was one of the participants :p.
So Mari Okada... where to start. I think I'll first point out how I find it ironic on how she's been criticized for being excessively melodramatic, she's wasn't always like this and in the past (not that long ago actually) she was able to write great down to earth, subtle, controlled drama be it in original works or adaptations. I know this sounds absurd but once upon a time she scripted a series called True Tears back in late 2007, early 2008. That was also PA Works debut anime, and to this very day I consider it both Okada and PA Works's best work. Unfortunately True Tears was competing with both Clannad Season 1 and ef tale of memories on the drama side which Clannad pretty much took all the market share and popularity, not to mention according to the majority, the "wrong pairing" won in True Tears which led to massive shipping wars and butthurt at the time both on AS, MAL and various blogs. It was actually quite humourous :heh:. Fast forward to the Winter Season of 2011, and we had Horou Musuko, in which Mari Okada scripted the adaptation of the critically acclaimed manga by Takako Shimura together with Fate/Zero's director Ei Aoki. That was also a very well done drama without excessive melodrama, was down to earth and controlled. And it was also the only anime that involved crossdressing involving Okada that wasn't used as the butt of a joke. Both series had relatively great writing, in particular internal monologues. This is something Okada really excels in when she gives a damn, which I cannot say for her recent works. Both series also had something else in common. They bombed. True Tears initially under 2k DVDs per volume, and Wandering Son was the worst selling noitamina series of all time selling under around the 700 mark. They were disgustingly underrated. Now compare that to series in which Okada was involved that were the most successful financially - Toradora and Anohana. Now what did Toradora and Anohana both have? A lot of slapstick comedy for the former and a lot of melodrama in the latter. You know what else had a lot of slapstick comedy and melodrama and did very well in sales? Key - Air, Kanon, Clannad and Angel Beats. Anime fans in general love slapstick comedy and melodrama. Hanasaku Iroha was also doing poorly reception wise until that infamous bondage episode (episode 3) came out, after which pre-orders spiked drastically up. Still makes me mad, but that's the reality. So in a way, Mari Okada is "selling out" just like rest of the industry. Because you have to be almost Gen Urobuchi level to create a highly recepted, financially viable that is also "great" from a "critic's" point of view, is the reason why there has been a lack of creativity. Why bother making something that is great from a academic or critics point of view, when you can just churn out something via a "checklist" approach that caters towards a niche group of the fandom who happens to have all the spending power. Why bother making genuine subtle drama or interesting premise/plot when you know it's gonna bomb unless if it's absolutely amazing (Urobuchi's Madoka level) when you can just have a bunch of teenagers crying on screen and having the next tsundere beat up the MC, alongside a high budget to which Japanese "hardcore" otaku gobble up. Of course, Mari Okada herself has a lot to blame on herself. Firstly, she takes up way too much work. This season she's working on three series, Aquarion EVOL, AKB0048 and Lupin III and out of the lot, I can only say that Lupin III is the only "legit good" out of the bunch with the other two having a hit or miss "campy" charm depending in what tickles you fancy. Last Spring, she was scripting both Anohana and Hanasaku Iroha, which were both anime originals ON TOP of finishing off the Gosick adaptation. This is just absurd and crazy and the woman is really just overworking herself. It's gotten to a point where she got mad at she was suggested to be taken off the AKB0048 writing team because Aquarion EVOL behind schedule. I have no idea what Okada is trying to prove at this point other trying to perhaps set a world record on the number of scripts an script writer works on in the industry. This leads me to the second point. Either Mari Okada is too ego-flated that she's telling other production staff to F-off if they don't let her get her way, or the other production staff don't have the balls to say NO to her crazy antics and fetishes - she seems to have developed an obsession of putting males in dresses, generally portraying male characters terribly and the craziest ideas of fanservice that would rival NishioIsin's "toothbrush" debacle in absurdity. The only person recently that I can think of that had the balls to say NO to her was Tatsuyuki Nagai who pretty much told Okada to rewrite the whole of Anohana because Okada initially intended it to be a raunchy romcom. Thankyou Nagai, you have my respect for having balls. At the end of the day, I think Okada needs a hiatus. She should take a holiday and come back refreshed. And god forbid ... go find a boyfriend or something because her writing seems to be affected by her lack of one lol! So much "romance trolling" on her part, some of which is just flat out facepalm worthy. There's a bit of joke going on in the AS forums atm in that Kawamori and Okada should get married already since they're current style is so complimentary it's hilarious. The King of Trolls and the Queen of Trolls. When they combine the anime industry will explode :heh: not in a good way of course EDIT: I'm using some hyperbole here so don't take everything at face value! |
Get a boyfriend? Not happening! In the words of Elaine Benes: "I'm not a lesbian - I just hate men."
I agree that the Hourou Musuoko adaptation was great - but having read the manga wire to wire (so far) I can tell you, all she did was remain very faithful to the manga. In took artfulness to distill the essence of a long manga into 12 eps, and full credit - but the tone, and the drama, and the power - that's all the mangaka. I see a larger issue where the industry is becoming increasingly homogeneous - it's most obvious in subject matter and cast, but it's happening in composition too. If most of the docket is either Nisio's insufferable verbal masturbation, Okada's egomaniacal fetishism or Yoshino's middle-school mediocrity - or copycats of same - how is that a positive? Are we just left to wait for the occasional Urobuchi Gen brilliant despair-fest? Okada has talent, but she needs a strong editor and she needs to have her workload sharply reduced. The bubble is going to burst, likely soon, and it isn't going to be pretty - she's building up a lot of resentment from a lot of people who can't wait to kick her when she's down. The question is whether she'll be able to rebuild her career after that happens. |
Recalling my readings of the late Mario Puzo's The Last Godfather, in which the novelist injected his experiences as a part-time Hollywood screenwriter into the book through a despairing character, generally the screenwriter has little power compared to directors and producers; they have a bigger say in the script that the draft of a screenplay is altered to the point the final script bears little resemblance to the original, and to complicate things several more writers rewrite the script.
For me, it's rare for a screenwriter to have more leverage than the director and/or the producer, or even argue with any of them, which tends to disrupt the pecking order. It's also rare that a screenwriter, much less paired with a known director, is asked by a supervising producer to take overall responsibility in developing a feature series, and in this case Yasushi Akimoto (asides from being AKB's producer, is also himself a novelist and a screenwriter, but not wanting to manipulate every aspect of the creative process, having done so with the (in)famous Heavy Rotation music video by leaving it in the care of the PV's director -- also a woman, no less) gave Okada and Kawamori a free hand with 0048's screenplay. For now I'm satisfied with her version of Toradora, and I also find that 0048 easily dovetails into her interests than the other two shows she's working on. |
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It's at the second part from the subtitle "Follow the Money" where they talk about who gets paid. From that royalties are paid to the director, series composition and the original creator (if adaptation) which they each get 1.7% each of net revenues. Another 1.7% is paid to the music rights organisation for the OP/EDs. |
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Nevertheless, what sets Okada apart is her success at zeroing in on industry demand. She's in tune with the tastes of modern otaku (I don't think the style and direction of her writing is any coincidence), can structure a show well, dabbles in multiple genres, gets along with the producers/directors (most of them anyway :heh:), and feeds the industry's demand for large quantities of shows on tight schedules. I suspect her way of working has led to some skewed perceptions. As with prolific directors and production studios, Okada sells dependability. It's really the type of business savvy that brought Akiyuki Shinbo and J.C.STAFF (primarily through head producer Yuji Matsukura) into prominence. All are capable, but they ultimately succeed by catering to specific industry wants. Quote:
The problem is that the animation pot is divided amongst tons of overworked people, whereas the script pot is enjoyed by only a small handful of writers, some of whom may write multiple episodes at a time. The average payment for a script is about $2000 US an episode. Last year, 55 Mari Okada episodes were released, which would mean a sum of ~$110,000 (excluding the series composition fee). On top of that, there are royalties. I'm not sure if this applies to adaptations, but the successes of AKB0048, Aquarion EVOL, Hanasaku Iroha, and AnoHana would represent a nice sum of extra cash. I can see why Okada would insist on tackling AKB. The iron is hot, so Okada has every reason to strike while she can, especially when it has worked out so well. |
Oh you guys want me to be srs. Fine.
The following is merely just an opinion piece about her work. I don't know shit about production work or blah blah blah, so it might even be her doing. At the same time, when you put your name on a piece of work... you take responsibility for it. And yes, some of it is a joke. Deal with it. :heh: Since original works really showcase someone's writing style as opposed to an adaptation, I usually try to focus on them. In this case, I will refer to the Okada Trilogy which focuses on the three works I'm most familiar with, and I think truly brings the best (and sometimes worse) of her style that's the most distinct. Stuff like Lupin III isn't just her by a large margin, and Black Rock Shooter is well... the less said, the better. Anyhow, the Trilogy consists of True Tears, AnoHana, and Hana Saku Iroha. True Tears is why everyone seems to fanboy over her. It's a great series, but it was hardly all up to her since the show was also enhanced by the wonderful directing and excellent soundtrack. Of course, the heart of True Tears was the 1.5-3 (depending on how you ask) really cute girls that were written. The characters of Hiromi, Noe, and that other girl were not just pure fetish tools that just sat there and looked cute. They acted remarkably like actual humans with flaws, conflicts, and inner thoughts. True Tears spent most of its time really getting to know our characters so that we'd really understand why things happened and when they happened. In general, it was a series that avoids the typical asspulls of your typical anime, and is actually very close to the opposite of Key moe. Although the female characters are the main appeal of the story, the lead Shinchiro is not a piece of cardboard. Which makes him better than 95% of Okada's guys already. Still, although I lavish the praise on True Tears and enjoy it for its tightly written plot, I somehow felt detached from the whole situation. Yes, I liked exploring each character, but then in the end Okada never told me why I should care, and thus I cool story bro'd the main premise! She seems to have an issue of exploring way too much, like some kind of bizzare OCD which means that she can leave no stone untouched. Everyone that's watched the show knows of those detours that well... while explained, has me going "so?" In any case, we can say that even though the sales were as large as Minko's patience and Enshi's manhood, True Tears did become sort of a cult classic in anime terms. Okada would indeed use Hiromi and Noe as her main archtypes, and it's very likely you'll see someone resemble one of them in a show she writes. (Aquarion Evol's has a blatant one) And then came AnoHana. Anohana was an incredible success in all forms of the word. The more cynical call it pandering, but it just really worked for the market. In this series, Okada directed a more emotional approach but while keeping a relatively sensible plot. It didn't have True Tears's realism, but the nature of the story was fantastical and shows how Okada can definitely deal with these elements in a manner that manipulates the emotions. It should be noted that Okada's shows are frequently best watched live, because you sometimes literally have no idea what will happen next. This starts the whole "who's gonna wear a dress next week phenomenon". She had just finished work on Wandering Son, and we wonder if that seemed to have spurred something within. Anyhow, Anohana didn't have the same artistic approach of True Tears, but it did balance it out by having some kind of widespread appeal. Indeed, if you go around anime sites, you'll go around finding people crying over it. :heh: So AnoHana's greatest success was to create a story with the emotional touch that True Tears lacked, showing us two sides to her writing. A very calm, logical, and perhaps trolling attitude but laced with emotion. The character Tsuruko from Anohana displays this most heavily in the series. Unfortunately, the narrative suffers a crapper near the end and the fragile balance devolved into one of excess. Really, the ending is corny as hell. However, it still ended intact, but... And then, around the same time, the third and final entry is Hana Saku Iroha. It combines the artistic style of True Tears moe with the emotion and shock value of AnoHana. The first episode really drove it home, with a very close and amicable character in the lead Ohana, but the show is far more explosive as opposed to True Tears' more subtle atmosphere. It's closer to Anohana's wackiness in being over the top. Unfortunately, as the series went along, it was clear that it just wasn't holding due to planning. I noticed all 3 shows sorta decline in entertainment (for me) near the end), though Hanairo decayed faster. I feel that Hana Iro at its worst would combine the worst of the previous two-- being emotionaly distant and too over the top. And while I could laugh at the silliness in Anohana, Hana Iro would lead to one facepalm to the next due to this. In general, Hana Iro's strengths were mostly seen in the main character, aka the only one that wasn't ridiculous and I could relate too (and was cute too), though even she would fall in the worse episodes. In its good moments, Hana Iro would provide the best that Okada's written as part of the things I've enjoyed about her previous animu. You know, characters that acted like people, however, it was drowned out by what I consider to be the negatives listed above. Unfortunately, it seems that her excess gathered in AnoHana/HanaIro have spilled into her later writing a bit too much. TL;DR Her best works have really tight plots and memorable characters that provide a unique experience. She needs heavy help from good directing and probably editors to keep her long ramblings in tow. Much like myself. |
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Not everyone is Yoko Kanno or Shinichiro Watanabe who have already proven themselves in the past and have large pockets to the point where they seem to be making Sakamichi no Appollon "because they can" regardless of the fact it's likely going to bomb. Still, Okada needs to take a break. It's getting to a point where her writing is just god awful at times. |
Archon, I loved AnoHana (my #2 series of 2011) but by most accounts it would have been a gigantic clusterf*** if Okada had been allowed by Nagai to write the show she wanted (no ghost story, tons of ecchi, etc.). Nagai is one of the few directors who stood up to her (which pissed her off mightily, to the point where she bad-mouthed the final product) and that "spurred from within" you credit to Hourou Musuko was mostly "spurred from without" by Nagai. And thank goodness, too.
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I guess I should have said "allegedly" badmouthed - because as I remember it was reported, rather than recorded. There may be an interview somewhere that I've forgotten - but it's early morning here and it's been a long day...
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It also explains the not so good work she's done. |
It's hard to tell which has more drama, Okada's shows or posts about her.
I mean, sure, I think AKB and BRS are as cringeworthy as the next pretentious moe scholar. But I have to question how much of that is really her fault. Look at the concepts she got to work with. Compare with AnoHana, Wandering Son, and Hanasaku Iroha just last year. In light of the "specifications" for each show, I'd say Okada's work ranged from good to brilliant. TL;DR: Call me when her Okada-isms ruin something that should have been good, because it has yet to happen. Quote:
In my experience, Okada's fans tend to rever her work on shows like True Tears, Toradora, Wandering Son, Ano Hana, and Hanasaku Iroha. On the other hand, stuff like Fractale, AKB, Black Rock Shooter and Canaan seldom receives the same praise. Aquarion Evol might be an exception because a lot of Okada fans seem to consider it a guilty pleasure, but even that's not respected the same way the former works are. |
Praise the heavens she has her own thread, was sick of seeing her mentioned in any P.A Works anime thread let alone others.
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TJR has a list of writers that have been prolific, they just don't seem to be attention whores like Okada as well as attracting people to talk about them all the time through their trolling ways. |
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Hanasaku's pretty cool though, and Toradora and AnoHana do indeed rule |
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:heh: Well as mentioned in my massive tldr wall and also very well in Archon's post, True Tears and Wandering are more works of art, whilst Toradora and AnoHana are more *ahem* "commercialized" works that work on having a good laugh or emotion :cool:. No idea how to describe Iroha. Maybe I'll just call it Sparkling - the anime! But math homework > Wandering Son? That's harsh man! :heh: It's ok, for that I will think of you as a lesser kouhai who has yet to appreciate the art of genuineness and subtlety. :p :cool: EDIT: Just realized you're the same age as me. Epic fail by me. EDIT2: I have now SUBSCRIBED to this thread. |
Nah, I can appreciate things that are subtle perfectly fine, just not things that are boring. I hope I haven't let you down as your senpai ;_;
Though we do agree on Hanasaku Iroha being a pretty baffling series, at least. I'm still not completely sure what to make of it. Come to think, the way it treats such mundane issues as srs business (Omelette rice, etc) kind of reminds me of Hyouka's Chitanda and the way she treats anything and everything as though it's the mystery of the century. :heh: "Oreki, why do people keep checking out this book? I'm curious! Oreki, why did my math teacher make a minor mistake? I must know!" Maybe Hyouka's writing is kind of Okada-ish in that sense. |
God forbid Okada ever writing an anime original script for Kyoani. Then the world will be doomed with all its moe and crossdressing antics. :heh:
Plus PA works will be very very angry at her if she did since they are kinda rivals :3. And of course, Okada will be in no position to tell staff from the mighty Kyoani to F-off and do what she likes. Actually... on second thought... I would like to see that. Okada being all arragont and and all and then the Kyoani Staff firing her ass mid-series. Would provide lulsy drama. |
Well, like I said. I myself wasn't very attached to True Tears. Wandering Son was arguably worse in that regard because I wasn't really liking any of the characters. But I appreciate their intent. Though I guess True Tears never bored me. It was too nicely packaged to do such a thing. But if you liked that, then it's more of the directing and audiovisual experience, not Okada's writing. The way I see it, it really provided the perfect stage for the play, except Dr. Casey didn't give a shit about the play itself.
But it's ok! Hiromi's still pretty hawt. |
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But it was very obvious that the "smelly wench" writer wanted to perv it up, granted it is a lot more subtle than the ero she tends to add recently. |
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Anyway whatever, Okada's not exactly in her game mode this year. I only like EVOL because of how straight face it is with a technically terrible script. It's like you can't help but love it sometimes. Same with AKB0048. BRS was just terrible while I appreciate Lupin more on its artistic merits rather than the writing and dialogue. |
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Here's the original japanese arcticle that lead to the ANN article that says her "emotions were shaken" ,which to me is normal when you're told your work needs a major rewrite,but it's not like she quit the project,she stayed on board,rewrote the script and went on several promotional interviews alongside Nagai so I don't buy into her not liking the show. Though if anyone feels like translating I'd appreciate it because I don't always trust ANN. |
What I got from that article using my limited google translate (lol), was that Okada was inspired by I Can Hear the Sea and Only Yesterday. Both of them are Ghibli josei dramas. Never seen I Can Hear the Sea, but I did see Only Yesterday, which was excellent. So this is where she got her inspiration from for her drama scripts? No wonder why she was great (compared to the rest) in the past.
But look at her now... sigh. Don't trust me on this, google translate is unreliable lol. It came out all grammatically wrong, but i did see those two films mentioned. Or maybe they were comparing Ano Hana to them. If they were LOL. Just no, Anohana is in no way comparable to those two (Well at least Only Yesterday since I saw that one), doesn't have the quality :p. Maybe a kind person can translate? :D |
Well here are my experiences of Okada's work:
Ano Hana – Fantastic drama up until the ending. But I think a lot of this was the Nagai factor too. (Overall: 9/10) AKB0048 - It's actually decent when there's no weird shit. But there's plenty of weird shit overall. (So far: 6/10) Aquarion Evol - Same as above. And the plot is just God awful really. (So far: 6/10) Canaan - I really liked this one. It was dark and had great characters and dialogue. The plot wasn't all that great though. I thought it was good but not great. (Overall: 7/10) Black Rock Shooter – Great dialogue. Terrible plot AND characters... (Overall: 5/10) Fate/Stay Night - >_____<’ Fractale – I actually liked this one. The dialogue was good and the characters were good too. It wasn’t great but it was enjoyable and I think the bad aspects are due to other factors *cough*Yamakan*cough* (Overall: 7/10) Gosick – Great dialogue and good characters but I’m guessing this was more of a straightforward adaption than something Okada could actually worked with. The bad aspects were due to its questionable plot which I doubt Okada had much control over (Overall: 7/10) Hanasaku Iroha – It’s definitely flawed but overall I enjoyed it immensely. My final opinion on how much Okada contributed to it will depend on how good Tari Tari is. (Overall: 8/10) Hourou Musuko – Great series but yeah it seems like it was just a straightforward adaption. (Overall: 9/10) Toradora! – I loved this show to bits. I think it’s the first Romcom I watched and I still think it’s among the best. Great character interactions and great dialogue. But I also think that was mainly due to the Nagai factor and the plot was already established by the author so Okada couldn’t ruin it. (Overall: 9/10) True Tears – To be brutally honest, I didn’t think this was all that great. It certainly had excellent dialogue but like Archon Wing I felt kinda emotionally detached to what was going on and after the motorcycle crash, it just gets stupid. (Overall: 7/10) So basically she does excellent dialogue and characters but she really needs to work on her ability to write plot because it’s just God damn awful. And she ought to stay with Drama/SoL because slapstick comedy will almost always bring down an action/adventure type. In fact she should just stay away from comedy since it almost always feels inappropriate when she does it. I can’t help but feel like we’re being a bit elitist here as well. Maybe Mari Okada genuinely enjoys stupid weird stories like AKB0048, Aquarion Evol and Black Rock Shooter just as much stories like Ano Hana and True Tears? If so who are we to judge? Maybe we should just accept that she’s a lost cause? :heh: As for her blatant hatred for men, yes it’s annoying as hell but if you think about it you have to wonder if any female writer can survive in the Anime Industry (Home to all sorts of weird fetishes) without developing a rather cynical view on men. :heh: I’ll also quote this from another thread. Quote:
Those scores are for the anime btw, not for Okada... |
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I personally think this is a good thing, in and of itself. More anime original works means: 1) The quality of anime isn't limited by the quality of current/recent manga, LNs, and VNs (i.e. if manga, LNs, and VNs go through a bit of a weak patch for one or more of them, anime doesn't necessarily have to get "dragged down" with them). 2) Even for high-quality manga, LNs, and VNs, the pacing and format differences between these three and anime can cause anime adaptations of them to feel a bit off. Anime originals are first and foremost anime, and so can be ideally paced for the anime format without needing to slash and burn vast quantities of content. 3) The anime industry is less likely to "burn through" all of the existing good manga, LNs, and VNs due to lack of alternatives. More anime originals means that the anime industry can "take its time" a bit more when it comes to adapting manga, LNs, and VNs. Long story short, more anime originals is good for the anime industry, imo. And I'm not sure if we'd have as many anime originals over the past two years if not for Mari Okada. TJR raised the names of some other prominent anime writers, but after I looked a little bit into them, I don't see either of them as being anywhere near as active with anime originals, recently, as Okada has been. AnoHana, Hanasaku Iroha, Aquarion EVOL, and Black Rock Shooter (the TV series) are all recent anime originals, and Okada wrote all of them (there may well be other recent Okada-wrote anime originals that I'm not aware of). Reception has been mixed for Aquarion EVOL and BRS, but AnoHana was widely praised, and even some people who were often critical of HSI (like myself, Demi Soda, and Archon_Wing) ended up more or less liking it overall. Okada isn't "saving" anime, but her prolific works does make anime that little bit less reliant on manga, LNs, and VNs, and I think that's good for the anime industry. And Okada's works do tend to be either "Dumb, but fun" or "Excellent", imo. She's not a great writer, imo, but she does tend to be an entertaining writer (albeit sometimes for questionable reasons). Now, I do think that much of what makes Okada an entertaining writer will, over time, have diminishing returns (in how much it entertains anime-watchers). You can only "troll" your readers/viewers so many times before your schtick gets old. Okada is eventually going to need to write something that's just plain "legit good" again, without needing trolls to amuse (some) of the audience. Eventually, she's going to need another True Tears or AnoHana. Here is where her current career direction is a bit worrisome to me, and a lot of other people following her career. I get the temptation to do nothing but "Dumb, but fun" if you, as a writer, can get away with it. But when a writer does that when s/he's capable of much more, that's a bit sad, imo. |
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I think this would be the case for any major self-respecting studio production comittee with clout though. Quote:
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A lot more than a handful :heh:. Though it's very common for directors and writers to be freelancing between studios. Unless you're named Shinbo, in which case you stick with Shaft :). Anyways guys, I was just kidding regarding Okada writing for Kyoani and then getting fired. Don't take it seriously :heh: |
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