Quote:
Originally Posted by Flawnalyst
I wouldn't consider him amongst the greatest writers ever, but when it comes to making likable characters out of moe stereotypes, he's a master (the Angel Beats characters were so fun, despite very few of them being fleshed out).
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Agreed. Plus I think that Maeda is exceptionally good at a phrase that 0utf0xZer0 coined and which I like to use: Precision Wham Moments.
In other words, Maeda knows how to effectively build up character/life drama into one very powerful and emotionally impacting moment (i.e. a "Precision Wham Moment"). To this day, there's a particular episode of Clannad: After Story that emotionally impacted me more than any other anime episode that I've ever watched.
Also, to me, it's not melodrama
if you legitimately earn it. Maeda really does legitimately earn it, imo.
That being said, Maeda struggles a bit with some of the more basic nuts-and-bolts of writing, and his range is limited. But for certain types of stories (certainly a standard VN-style romance routes narrative), I'd take him over any other anime-related writer.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jao
Push-button melodrama like mysterious incurably illnesses, slowly and painfully dying fox girls, ghost girls and ridiculously contrived car accidents?
I adore Kanon and it's my personal favourite KEY work (Tied with Littler Busters) exactly because of how archetypal and straight played it is. I wouldn't exactly say the drama was at all subtle or clever though.
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Honestly, I'm with Guardian Enzo here. I felt that most (not all, but most) of the arcs in Kanon were reasonably subtle. They could challenge one's suspension of disbelief due to all the supernatural stuff going on in them, but I felt that the level of drama in them was appropriate given what was actually going on.
Yuuichi is probably the most happy-go-lucky and least angsty of the three Key/KyoAni male protagonists. A guy who's really smooth and manages to infuse Kanon with a certain subtlety, imo.
On the topic of who's going to be doing Little Busters!, I wouldn't be surprised if it's KyoAni come Winter 2013. That's probably the best-case scenario, and would fit even with the data that Demi Soda shared with us (thanks for the info, DS
).