(L) Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru

[redgrnbluylw]

New CM:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KexX1ZrNrwc

[Milfeulle9001]

Maid anime from SHAFT?

Interesting.

[Malkuth]

Originally Posted by Milfeulle9001

Maid anime from SHAFT?

Interesting.

Hey! SHAFT did animation work (with GAINAX) in Mahoromatic and Kore ga Watashi no Goshujin-sama!!! Also don't forget Matsurika@Maria+Holic!

[omimon]

I think everybody needs to look at Shaft differently now. Ever since their golden goose we called Bake came out, they pretty much did a 180. No longer are they short on staff or anything. I think we can finally put to rest the whole thing about "Shaft quality."

[Suzuku]

*looks at Dance in the Vampire Bund*

Should we?

[applejuice]

Originally Posted by omimon

I think everybody needs to look at Shaft differently now. Ever since their golden goose we called Bake came out, they pretty much did a 180. No longer are they short on staff or anything. I think we can finally put to rest the whole thing about "Shaft quality."

Yes, and no. My speculation says that their staffs were always in short till recent months. Most of their recent production had poor quality standard and low budget (Yes, I'm talking about Arakawa and Dance in the shit bund.), and it was majorly due to the fact they had too much things on their hand. I mean, they JUST finished 're-animating' bakemonogatari BD 2 months ago (according to Shinbou, all of the 'Elite' SHAFT members were working on 'fixing' bake.) and they are still going on with Negima OVAs. Considering every single series from SHAFT is directed by single person, it's obvious that it can cause a lot of faults; we get same cuts from Bakemonogatari 'RESUSED' in Arakawa sometimes. However, since they are done with Bakemonogatari now, it's true that production quality will increase for sure. (but not expecting that from Arakawa 2nd season.)

Still, usual SHAFT animation quality wasn't 'that' high anyway. I know their colour direction is best of all studios and character + BG design is also superb, but animation is basically slideshow most of the time with few exceptions, which cuts a lot of budget for them. This treatment always gets either of black and white responses from fans; as shinbou knows how to make an episode not boring without having much animations.

I <3 SHAFT, though, since ima shaftfag.

Originally Posted by Suzuku

*looks at Dance in the Vampire Bund*

Should we?

DitVB was pretty much 'SHAFT's thrown card'. Manga was more of B-movie material AND horrible; budget also seemed to be pretty low (You know how bad its character design was.) as they were doing extremely good job with visually eye-candy Hidamari, another evidence that they were understaffed. Funny that Dance in the shit bund actually sells 'a bit'. (not sure how much loss it was.) I was glad that at least SHAFT made it 'a bit more interesting' than what it was in manga before.

[redgrnbluylw]

Originally Posted by Suzuku

*looks at Dance in the Vampire Bund*

Should we?

Personally, I don't even know why people don't like dance in the vampire bund. Sure, it's different from the manga, but who cares??? It doesn't make the anime bad or anything, and I enjoyed it a lot. I want the series to continue witnin a couple of years, when there is more material.

[applejuice]

Originally Posted by redgrnbluylw

Personally, I don't even know why people don't like dance in the vampire bund. Sure, it's different from the manga, but who cares??? It doesn't make the anime bad or anything, and I enjoyed it a lot. I want the series to continue witnin a couple of years, when there is more material.

It's more like manga itself was atrociously bad already, but some people wanted to deny it and ended up complain SHAFT for trying to have 'different plot' other than already shit story-line.

The biggest fault of DitVB was animation quality and uninteresting characters with terrible design. Romance was handled pretty decently, but it was ruined by lack of good actions and logical sense. And, I doubt there will be sequel for this one, as they changed plot too much to continue on (or bad sales.) But, reliable source says that they are going to do sequel for Maria+Holic, which was also financial loss of SHAFT. So, no-one knows.

SoreMachi is slice-of-life comedy/romance manga. So, nothing worries me, since SHAFT is just too good at this genre.

[adamatari]

I'm going to admit it - I only care about Kon-sempai! Hopefully the apparent newby playing Kon will do it well.

I've actually read this, except for the most recent volume that I haven't gotten to yet. There are a couple chapters I am really looking forward to seeing animated, and at quite a few places where SHAFT weirdness will work. On the other hand, at least half of the chapters are slice-of-life realism, and the interaction between the characters is more important.

Well, so far it seems to me that SHAFT has shown a sensitivity to the source material, so that's a good sign. Hidamari was weird but in a way that complimented the source (artsy/cute), same for Bakemonogatari (the use of text). It will be interesting to see how they paint Soremachi.

[Woland]

I found this one (theme song for the op from Maya Sakamoto)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGEx_0No42E&NR
It's quite old but I didn't see this in the previous message, so, sorry if it's a repost (as for the song, I can't really say I'm sold... )

[Midonin]

Long as we're on the subject, if anyone should desire a sample of the ED.

[Kaoru Chujo]

Originally Posted by adamatari

I'm going to admit it - I only care about Kon-sempai! Hopefully the apparent newby playing Kon will do it well....

Yazawa Rieka may be a newbie to voice acting, but she is 23, has been involved with radio shows, apparently auditioned years ago for Di Gi Charat, and is a college graduate in home economics. Here is her home page (with pictures, a music video, and a link to her blog). Japanese Wikipedia says she claims to be an otaku, knowing a lot about anime, games, and Japanese history. None of this tells us how she will do, but here she is:

[Kaoru Chujo]

So now I've seen episode one, and I laughed out loud several times. Hilarious.

I do think Omigawa Chiaki is perfect for the role -- some really funny bits. But can we take that nasal whine for a full series?

However, my main reaction is that Yuuki Aoi can do anything. Shinbou has given her comic liberty and she has given us several new turns within one episode. Just outstanding.

Also loved the ED. The animation and song were funny, and if that's Yazawa Rieka singing the lead, she can really do it. Sakamoto Maaya's OP was very plain, and at first I thought I didn't like it, but by the end I could feel hints that it will grow on me and has staying power.

[sirn]

This first episode was quite an disappointment for me. Feel like they got to 7 of what it should be, but not quite 10. The material doesn't work too well with fast-paced direction. Considered this episode was done just recently, I have higher expectation for episode 2 that was done two months ago.

OP and ED, on the other hand, are superb. Love it.

I love Yazawa Rieka's singing voice. Expect to hear more of her as Kon-senpai.

[Kaoru Chujo]

Even if I feel differently, I get what sirn means. The gentle weirdness of the manga is overlain with slapstick and shouting. On the other hand, I think those give the manga a lift it sometimes needed.

Yuuki's natural comedy style is fairly mad, for better and worse. And as I've said before, her voice is not pretty, just highly, highly skilled.

2channel, which has always loathed Omigawa Chiaki's voice, is condemning it here, too. But for me the most remarkable seiyuu choice in this show is Sakurai Takahiro -- the actor who played Suzaku in Code Geass, Oshino in Bakemonogatari, Yaichi in Five Leaves -- as the elderly female proprietress of the cafe. No-one is complaining about him, as far as I can see.

[karice67]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

2channel, which has always loathed Omigawa Chiaki's voice, is condemning it here, too. But for me the most remarkable seiyuu choice in this show is Sakurai Takahiro -- the actor who played Suzaku in Code Geass, Oshino in Bakemonogatari, Yaichi in Five Leaves -- as the elderly female proprietress of the cafe. No-one is complaining about him, as far as I can see.

It took me a little while longer than usual to realise that it was Sakurai (I knew he was in this series, but not what the character looked like)...and spent most of the rest of the episode fighting off tears...of laughter that is Not that I'm complaining...but colour me stunned!

Whether I can stand Omigawa Chiaki's voice enough to actually finish this show is another question altogether though...

[serenade_beta]

Spoiler for ep1:

Yeah, the main problem is Omigawa's voice... Just wheeeeeew...

The actual episode was fairly enjoyable (mostly thanks to the girl with glasses only though), though I didn't really get an idea on just what this anime was trying to do.
Shaft's usual random flashing in the episode was pretty annoying, but the musical-like OP was catchy. ED was fun.

[MeoTwister5]

The reason this is now in Currents is because it's been subbed... right?

Cause I'm not seeing any.

[Shiroth]

Originally Posted by MeoTwister5

The reason this is now in Currents is because it's been subbed... right?

Cause I'm not seeing any.

That's not the rule anymore. Shows go into the 'current series' section after they've been aired, not subbed.

[sirn]

Episode 2 "Popular Sexual Harassment Lawsuit"「セクハラ裁判が大人気」
(Manga chapter 3「セクハラ裁判」and 8「看板娘が大人気」)
Script: Takayama Katsuhiko
Storyboard: Tatsuwa Naoyuki
Direction: Tatsuwa Naoyuki
Animation Director: Iwasaki Yasutoshi, Yamamura Hiroki

Episode 3 "Cat-eyed Boy"「猫省年」
(Manga chapter 4「目」and 11「猫少年」)
Script: Takayama Katsuhiko
Storyboard: Satou Takuya
Direction: Noshitani Mitsutaka
Animation Director: Masui Ippei

Episode 4 "Curses' Equation"「呪いの方程式」
(Manga chapter 9「恋の方程式」and 25「呪いのルーレット」)

The rumor about Satou Takuya (NieA_7, Ichigo Mashimaro) working on Soremachi was true. I'm pleased. Though I wish he also do the episode direction himself. Episode 3 seems like an outsourced episode to Magic Bus. Episode 2 was screened in TBS Anime Festa back in August, and is the first PV material.