[wao]

OK, I watched it. But of course I have to blather on about it! It's the first episode after all. I always talk lots of crap on the first episode.

Like I guessed, more than intense and detailed character animation we got treated to some excellent composition and an amazing piece of work in general.

Spoiler for blah blah I love eyecandy blah blah:

The biggest most obvious jaw-dropping aspect must have been the BACKGROUNDS. God. So full of details! So rich in colour, so intricate and agagagaga. I would die for a wallpaper.

But the backgrounds wouldn't have worked with the really, really impressive storyboarding. The part that really took my breath away - since I've been spoiled by watching the trailer and such that included some of the other amazing scenes - was when Barusa was walking down that hill and saw the children in a distance. To be honest, more than the fighting and the conversation with the Queen - while those were good too - I was impressed by that scene. Another one I liked was when Barusa was walking on the bridge. That was just so technically perfect! *drools*

Of course, one scene that impressed me even in the trailer and still impresses me now is the one with the carraige going astray on the bridge. The carriage looked like an excellent example of 3D animation in 2d anime done right. It interacted with the 2D characters really well and was used in what I personally thought was precisely what 3D should be exploited for in 2D animation - that is, animating large complex inanimate objects. 'Course, the 360-degree part in the beginning of the show was good too, although it felt like a tad of an overkill.

And heck, despite what I say about the 2D animation it was certainly not bad. However, more than z0mg awesome animation it felt more like "this has had a LOT of money and time spent on it". It was still a heck of a lot better than a lot of first episodes you see out there, I think.

I think what I like greatly so far is the good mix between the epic storyline but also the painstakingly detailed world and background design.

Spoiler for etc:

I don't just mean visually, but in terms of simple things like the written text, architecture, clothing and more complex things like the way the people act. It's something that many anime set in other worlds don't really get down as well as I like, but that's usually the case in many film adaptations of fantasies anyway so I let it pass... But throughout the whole thing, not one time did I ever have that "uh, aren't they missing this?" feeling at all. And I don't think it's because they were covering it up nicely (that's what most shows do, again I don't mind it though) - but because they have it all down.

Anyway, I have my doubts as to how they could keep this up but you never know - the world of GITSSAC was so detailed I'm willing to believe they can do the same here, although it might be a bit harder for the staff to imagine it up.

Of course, I love Barusa - I was very pleasantly surprised by her attitude! Truly a world-wise person.

Spoiler for z0mg!:

She's serious when she needs to be but doesn't get tense to the point where it's detrimental; I loved her casual manner after finding out the real reason when being chased by those dudes (where other characters would either yell, kill, or run away or something). Another part was when she got to her room... I enjoyed her humorous amazement at the size of the futon - and her subsequent decision to just heck it all and enjoy sleeping on it for once. Yay! Sleep is good! For all the hard work you have to do, it never hurts to have some good sleep especially if you're given a comfy bed. Thbbbpt to all those unrealistic heroes who don't believe in sleeping. But of course she's not stupid enough to not notice when someone's around.
And yet on the other hand, she's sooooo coooooool I don't need to go into superlatives about it because everyone else has. I don't mean it sarcastically, this is like Motoko #2 or something! Except more likeable perhaps.
To be honest, I don't like watching really admirable/amazing/cool leads all in a row - I derive much more pleasure watching people with inherent flaws or hopeless people getting better or just ordinary folks even - but I haven't watched one in some time, and I'm totally enjoying this. It was the same with Motoko and Kino. Looking forward to see more of her, at any rate.

I never thought I'd enjoy the script of the show so much, but I ended up finding much delight in hearing (and seeing) the levels of formality within the show.

Spoiler for and so on:

I especially liked that really deliberate (?) and formal way in which the palace attendant talked to Barusa, and I loved the quiet and delicate way the female attendants opened the doors to Barusa's most intricate and grand room (god, what a futon!)
I was also surprised at how serious and queen-like Chagum's mother was. I guess I'm too used to the usual queens you see in anime who are all kind and benevolent (or batshit crazy). Not to say she wasn't a kind mother who cared for a child, but she acted very fittingly. I liked how this sort of broke down slowly later - she kept it up until Barusa very calmly appeared to turn her offer down which of course must have gotten her desparate for totally understandable reasons.

...and now I've forgotten the rest of what I wanted to say, which is in fact perfectly fine since I've yapped on enough.

One last thing though, I still still still wish they had an instrumental opening... *grumbles* I guess I wasn't expecting such an upbeat/light mood to the show. Same goes with the music, maybe I'm spoiled by Kunihiko Ryo or I'm just biased against Kenji Kawai (this is true I think), but I didn't think it matched up to the rest of the show. But that's okay, this is already pretty great as it is.

And now let's just hope they keep it up.