Quote:
Originally Posted by monir
This is you in a nutshell... you will focus on the story above everything else. You would enjoy the story of Romeo and Juliet even if it is reenacted by two stick figure.
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I wouldn't go that far.
Actually, I have enjoyed a lot of anime with severely-flawed or awkwardly-presented stories if it manages to engage me in some way. It's true that I won't generally watch an anime just for its production values if I'm not engaged by the story at all (I've said it before: I'm not a fan of "anime" itself, I'm a fan of certain types of anime), but I think the production values are still very important, because it's essential to conveying emotions. Most of my favourite anime moments were defined primarily by the visual and auditory characteristics of the production, in addition to their context in the overall story..
(That being said... I'm not sure if it validates your stick figure point or what, but one of my favourite anime moments of all time is Miyako's voice mails in
ef - a tale of memories, which is all just audio (music + voice acting) and on-screen text. So it doesn't necessarily take *much* more than stick figures, perhaps?
But you did touch on SHAFT's stylistic approach too, so this isn't really much of an admission actually.)
I will say, though, that I am much more focused on the way a story comes together than on whatever happens in the moment. So as long as I can see the way the pieces are coming together, I can put up with a fair bit along the way. So in this show's case, though I can't say that it was entirely gripping as an anime-only viewer right from the get-go, I could quickly see the way the pieces are coming together. So in that sense, I am willing to wait it out. I'm willing to assume that, when the show's key moments do come, they'll be presented in a memorable way.
Quote:
Originally Posted by monir
The point is having a high budget or not having one is moot. A story will receive well from all corner of audience when a studio properly capture the fundamental used to tell a story in anime.
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Well... it's pretty rare to encounter any sort of show that's universally well-received... But I suppose you will get a better overall reception if your production receives high marks across every objective metric (because then all that remains is subjective taste).
I think I get the overall intention of what you're saying, which is that nothing is "carrying" this production through this part of the story you don't find engaging. If there were any visual or auditory aspect of the production that was spectacular, you could stick with it even if the story isn't "all that". And given that you feel that you're a bit more biased towards audiovisual presentation elements, the show isn't satisfying to you. If the question is "can this anime be widely recommended for its worth as an anime at this point, without reference to the source material or the pedigree of the author?"... I guess it'd be a hard recommendation right now. As it stands currently, it's probably a bit of an acquired taste (because it depends mostly on a certain brand of humour).
Quote:
Originally Posted by monir
In an anime, I put far more emphasis at looking (Animated motion, background drawing, detail, color, character design etc.) and listening (Voice acting, tone color, music etc..) than reading (the story itself and the script).
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I don't think "reading" is really the right word, because I've never been much of a reader. The only things I've basically found the patience to read have been certain visual novels and certain light novels. So I think the audiovisual aspect is actually pretty important to me too. But, I do place it all in the context of the story. Although I appreciate the art, to me it's more a means than an end unto itself. I suppose I could also say that I see these early episodes of Little Busters as a means to an end as well, hence my willingness to suspend judgement for longer. (Then again, I've always hated judging anime by the episode anyway -- to me, it's all connected...)
I will make one more admission that's probably a horrible thing to say in a Little Busters thread... but speaking of the importance of visual aspects, I did try a few times to start the Little Busters game (knowing that there likely something worthwhile as far as they story goes), but I just could never find the time and motivation to get past the first 10-15 minutes. A major reason, in addition to the sort of odd, abrupt start, is because... some of the character designs in the game (particularly of some of the male characters) just annoyed the heck out of me. That's not a knock on people who like that style... but I was "shallow enough" that I decided to move on to games with a more attractive (to me) art style. It's a "visual novel" so finding the visual attractive matters! So I do understand also what you mean by the importance of anime being in the audio-visual aspects. It's not an aspect I can ignore either in any visual medium either.