AnimeSuki Forum - View Single Post - Art/animation and sound in anime: "fanservice is tl;dr."*

Warm Mist · 2013-03-22, 09:53

Man, just watch episode 1 of AB! again. It struggles to be on-model at all times, the movements are some of the most stiff, unnatural and nonsensical I've seen on anime, there's not a single image or cut that you can say is striking, but there are plenty (more than 3/4 of the runtime) that instantly stick out by how badly done they are. Not simply the animation, but the layout work is horrible: most of the shots are uninspired and boring, the posing and arrangement of the characters in the screen is, like the animation, stiff and robotic, and there are some pans that stick out like a sore thumb.
All this is made even more obvious when combined with the rather decent sound production and voice acting. You'll have a scene where a character is speaking with a certain tone and inflexion that gives the idea of a strong expression, only to be ruined by the non-existent/bad facial animation.
I've not watched any episode of LB, so I can't know if it's worse or better. But if it really is worse, it must be among the worst looking shows of 2012 (and 2013 too).

Toradora's fight works as a whole because it's a dynamic sequence with a lot of drawings that may not be the best by themselves (but they're all solid drawings, don't confuse stylization with lack of technique), but contribute to the movement meaningfully. The layouts are also top-notch in that fight. It's no wonder, Seiya Numata animated it, and he's a really good animator who knows how to create impact through the animation.
Toradora as a series is a good example of "average" production values being put to good use due to a talented director. There are a lot of non remarkable episodes, but even in those there is enough visual integrity in the show that helps carry the story and make it watchable. I have no trouble going "couch potato" with those, because there's nothing that jumps out to the viewer and generates dissonance. The show also has some really nice episodes, which speaks of stellar budget and talent allocation, as well as good schedule management. It's a solid production, among J.C.Staff's best from recent times (like all Nagai series). There's no point of comparison with AB!.

2013-03-22, 09:53	Link #118
Warm Mist Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2011	Man, just watch episode 1 of AB! again. It struggles to be on-model at all times, the movements are some of the most stiff, unnatural and nonsensical I've seen on anime, there's not a single image or cut that you can say is striking, but there are plenty (more than 3/4 of the runtime) that instantly stick out by how badly done they are. Not simply the animation, but the layout work is horrible: most of the shots are uninspired and boring, the posing and arrangement of the characters in the screen is, like the animation, stiff and robotic, and there are some pans that stick out like a sore thumb. All this is made even more obvious when combined with the rather decent sound production and voice acting. You'll have a scene where a character is speaking with a certain tone and inflexion that gives the idea of a strong expression, only to be ruined by the non-existent/bad facial animation. I've not watched any episode of LB, so I can't know if it's worse or better. But if it really is worse, it must be among the worst looking shows of 2012 (and 2013 too). Toradora's fight works as a whole because it's a dynamic sequence with a lot of drawings that may not be the best by themselves (but they're all solid drawings, don't confuse stylization with lack of technique), but contribute to the movement meaningfully. The layouts are also top-notch in that fight. It's no wonder, Seiya Numata animated it, and he's a really good animator who knows how to create impact through the animation. Toradora as a series is a good example of "average" production values being put to good use due to a talented director. There are a lot of non remarkable episodes, but even in those there is enough visual integrity in the show that helps carry the story and make it watchable. I have no trouble going "couch potato" with those, because there's nothing that jumps out to the viewer and generates dissonance. The show also has some really nice episodes, which speaks of stellar budget and talent allocation, as well as good schedule management. It's a solid production, among J.C.Staff's best from recent times (like all Nagai series). There's no point of comparison with AB!.