(L) Hidamari Sketch

[Deathkillz]

Originally Posted by Impz

hahaha, i am keeping up slowly with the episode summaries.

For now, episode 5 summary + thoughts is up.

Cheers!

Spoiler for episode5:

An episode without more of Miyu-sensei just does not spark too much...Still good though.

this summary helped a lot when watching ep 5

Spoiler:

ahh well even though our favourite sensei didnt turn up as much she did manage to provide the best scene of this ep im beginning to doubt that she is a sensei even

taking the piss out of the principal ~ now that is funny XD

and i just love the way how the others took care of yuno its quite heart warming ^__^

[Kilgamayan]

Just finished Typesetting. Episode 2 is in encoding.

[eggplant]

I went to the Hidamari Sketch "Hidamatsuri" event today and had a fun time.

Spoiler for Hidamatsuri Event Report:

The event took place at Sony Music's event hall, where approximately 400 selected fans attended the standing only talk show and live performance festival. Shaft provided event proprietary anime frames, including the title background.

The show started off with the singing of the opening theme, Sketch Switch by the four protagonists, Asumi Kana (Yuno), Mizuhashi Kaori (Miyako), Gotou Yuuko (Hiro), and Shintani Ryouko (Sae). It was obvious the fans practiced the clapping sequence for the song, quite befitting of a live event.

Being a standing only event, I couldn't make out much of the seiyuu's attire, but they mentioned that they based their hairstyle and clothing on the characters they played (Mizuhashi Kaori's Hiro-like hair was hilarious). Shintani Ryouko was wearing glasses as per the bespectacled character of Sae.

Prior to the talk show part, today's special guest was introduced, none other than Aoki Ume-sensei, the mangaka of Hidamari Sketch, who also appears as herself in the anime. From the moment Ume-sensei appeared on stage, it was obvious her stature (or lack of it) was going to be the first topic. Standing at 144cm, Ume-sensei was adorable, not taking a back seat to the four photogenic seiyuus.

The talk show was a Q&A session, where it was revealed that the characters of Hidamari Sketch are all part of Ume-sensei's personality, where Yoshinoya-sensei is portrayed as the character Ume-sensei wants to be. Apparently, Ume-sensei wasn's supposed to be casted for the anime, but upon the recording of episode one, the script had her name on the list, and the rest was history.

There was the interesting story of Ume-sensei being a fan of Gotou Yuuko's illustrations on her website and vice versa. Incidentally, Yuuko's manga was based on her role in the OVA Mizuiro, created by the now defunct Neko Neko Soft, for which Ume-sensei wrote four panel manga on their website.

As Hidamari Sketch is based on an art school, the second part of the talk show showcased their artistic skills. The four seiyuus and Ume-sensei were given a sketchbook where they were instructed to draw illustrations of topics consisting of Ume-sensei (as depicted in the anime), Brutus, and Gundam (for one reason or another). Two things were evident from this exercise: Asumi Kana has no talent in art, and Mizuhashi Kaori is a Gundam otaku.

Following the talk session was the live performance by Marble, who performed a live acoustic version of the ending theme, Mebae Drive using a glockenspiel and acoustic guitar.

Last but not least, the four protagonists came back on stage for an encore performance of Sketch Switch. They requested Ume-sensei to sing and dance along, and although she declined, she also said that if the DVDs sell well, she'll consider it.

Despite being a free event, today's show was more than one could ask for. The four seiyuus were hilarious, especially Asumi Kana, who's a natural (airhead?). However, Aoki Ume-sensei stole the show with her cuteness. I definitely would like to see another Hidamari event like this, even if they charge a fee.

I am scheduled to attend next Sunday's Chihara Minori Suzumiya Haruhi event (as well as the live event on March 18th), so I'll try to report that as well.

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by eggplant

I went to the Hidamari Sketch "Hidamatsuri" event today and had a fun time. [...]

Thanks for the report! I hope they include clips of the event on one of the DVDs, as it sounds like it was indeed a lot of fun.

[Jiji]

Originally Posted by Kilgamayan

Just finished Typesetting. Episode 2 is in encoding.

Yay! Gambatte, Angel-tai. Did I read somewhere that you guys are going to use the BS-i widescreens for your releases now? And are you going to re-release ep 1 in ws? Just wondering... :)

Originally Posted by eggplant

I went to the Hidamari Sketch "Hidamatsuri" event today and had a fun time.

Wow, that sounded like a great time. I can't get over Ume-sensei. Now I have to go track down pix of this tiny mangaka. I don't suppose you took any pix of the event, eggplant? ^_^

[paTKany]

Spoiler for Episode 3,4:

Trivia for episode 3:

"Oshare Tantei Lovely Chocolate"
The heroine of this fictitious series has a strike resemblance to Behoimi (magical-girl form) from Pani Poni Dash.

and a minor one for episode 4:

Sign on the wall: "Karaoke Kirara". The Hidamari manga serialised in the Manga Time Kirara Carat magazine.

[Kaoru Chujo]

Eggplant, thank you so much for the report from what sounds like a great event. 2channel is full of praise for it, too.

A couple of links from there: one to a video of Aoki Ume sensei at a signing event for the launch of the first volume of the manga. You can hear her pleasantly unusual voice at one point, too. She certainly does look short. One of the 2channel posters said she seemed to come only up to Asumi Kana's shoulder. Other posters said how cute she was. The video is careful not to show much of her face. Do mangaka make a point of keeping their faces out of the limelight?

Here's a really useful page with photos and names of many currently popular female (and a few male) seiyuus, around 72 pictures in all, with names in kanji and kana and birthdates. The more experienced stars of this show are highlighted in red. Asumin (nickname for Asumi Kana) isn't highlighted, but she's B1.

And a link to an image of a color page of the manga, for people who haven't seen what it looks like. Scenes from episode 5.

[Kilgamayan]

Originally Posted by Ueda

Did I read somewhere that you guys are going to use the BS-i widescreens for your releases now? And are you going to re-release ep 1 in ws? Just wondering...

Yes to both, although I have no idea when we'll get around to retiming Episode 1. We're moving pretty slowly as is. >_>

[Maids! Maids! Maids!]

[Impz]

Originally Posted by Maids! Maids! Maids!

Spoiler:

Wahahah, I am stealing all the images! Considering that it comes from a tsuruya cultist, it is not surprising since Tsuruya is the goddess <3

That said, I finished the entry on Episode 6 summary + thoughts.

Spoiler for ep 6:

Just me, but is Miyako a mix of Miu + Osaka? She totally rocks my socks off!

To deathkillz, I am glad that it helped (episode 5 summary, that is)

[Kilgamayan]

http://forums.animesuki.com/showthread.php?t=43432

mweeheehee

[Vexx]

yay... ep 2 ... every time one is released it frees up around 100MB on my anime drive (those raws I found were freaking huge).

More sensei goodness ahead

[Karnot]

Hmm...why people are comparing this show to PPD & Azumanga is beyond me. I look and see basically a powered up carbon copy of Sensei no Ojikan. Down to the polka dotted backgrounds.

[Skane]

So like... after hearing so much buzz about it in the blog-community, I decided to give this series a whirl. I am... kinda underwhelmed?

Random Thoughts on Ep01
---- ----

• Other than the title and that it is adapted from 4Komas, I knew nothing about the show; so I more or less entered blindly into the territory. My initial impression was... a calmer version of "Pani Poni Dash!"?
  .
• One of the problems I have with the first episode is that it is incredibly vague. It took me some time before I finally concluded from the OP and dialogue that Yuno was being schooled in a specialised art-school.
  
  Sae's reaction to the text message was also kinda out there, and there better be a good reason for the way she reacted to it, or it is just going to be too random.
  .
• I enjoyed Azumanga Daioh, and I enjoy a lot of slice-of-life shows such as ARIA and Bartender, so the problem I am having is not the genre. There is just... something lacking in it that is causing me to be not hooked by it.
  
  At times, the pacing felt dull and my interest began to wander. This is generally not a good sign of things to come when it comes to me enjoying a series.
  
  Hopefully, things will pick up from the 2nd episode onwards. I generally give a 4-episode grace to unknown series.
  .
• One of the saving grace of the first episode was Yoshinoya-sensei. She was adorably quirky, and I am quite a sucker for squeaky-footwear( slippers in her case). When she was onscreen, my attention was focused.

Cheers.

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by Karnot

Hmm...why people are comparing this show to PPD & Azumanga is beyond me. I look and see basically a powered up carbon copy of Sensei no Ojikan. Down to the polka dotted backgrounds.

Well...... it falls into the description: "cute girls doing funny quirky things"

Not everyone has seen Sensei no Ojikan?

As Skane remarks, it is much calmer than PPD (and less absurd) - the comparison is weak. It comes closer to Azumanga but not as zany. It may fit even closer to Ichigo Masimaru during the more "gentle" parts.

But... I guess now I'll have to seek out Sensei no Ojikan and see what it is about

[Kaoru Chujo]

I couldn't disagree with Skane more, on this one. I found ARIA boring, and I find this show heartwarming to the point of being almost a religious experience. Clearly, different people see things in different ways -- and that's a good thing.

I see what is great about this show as having to do with subtle modalities of characters and relationships and humor, and with the great beauty of the visual art -- and of the voice-acting, to be honest. I think it's a matter of which particular subtleties happen to strike one's particular chords, since ARIA is clearly a subtle show, too, and it didn't strike a chord with me. As usual, one has to struggle to avoid elevating personal preference to the level of absolute truth, lol.

The comparisons to PPD and Azumanga are reasonable, but they are very partial. PPD is by some of the same staff, so has definite similarities, but is quite different in spirit. Azumanga, despite surface similarities, feels very different to me, too. The comparison to Ichigo Mashimaro is valid, as well, but that show is much funnier, for me, and even deeper, in some similar ways -- especially in its joyous acceptance of our human weaknesses. This show is more ethereal, and that one more down-to-earth in spirit, it seems to me. I haven't seen more than half an episode of Sensei no Ojikan, so I can't comment about that comparison, except to say that this show grabbed me from the start, and I didn't even finish one episode of that one.

All four of the shows I've seen are too strong to be reduced to their similarities with any other show. But anime creators borrow shamelessly from each other, and each season adds new memes to the treasury of anime memetic code from which new shows are born.

[Shiroth]

Originally Posted by Skane

One of the saving grace of the first episode was Yoshinoya-sensei.

My main reason for watching this show is for her alone. Other then that, its my Shinbo fetish that carries me on through the episodes - its a relaxing watch, i just think this time Shinbo might have gone a lil' to far with that feature. I'll carry on watching, but at this point - i'd rather watch Negima?! for some Shinbo love.

And people who don't like Aria = fail at life.

[Kaoru Chujo]

Originally Posted by Shiroth

...And people who don't like Aria = fail at life.

That sort of statement appears to be exactly what I mean about elevating your own preferences to the level of absolute truth. Not correct.

I certainly plan to watch some ARIA again, to try and see what others do. I did that before and found myself able to enjoy it a bit. It still didn't seem that deep to me, either in thought or feeling. It's legitimate for different people to like different things. I didn't say it was a bad show, just that it didn't move me. I sometimes find later that people have decent reasons for what they say, whether they feel the same as I do or not.

[Shiroth]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

That sort of statement appears to be exactly what I mean about elevating your own preferences to the level of absolute truth. Not correct.

So now i can't play around with my own opinion? Wow - what a harsh world we live in.

[WanderingKnight]

Going a bit OT:

It still didn't seem that deep to me, either in thought or feeling.

That's the problem, I guess. Trying to find some sort of deep message or thought in ARIA, or something like that, will make your experience with it suffer. ARIA, as I see it, is just to enjoy a quiet moment where nothing, nothing at all happens. It's something different from any other slice of life show I've ever seen, because its focus is not comedy (like many slice of life shows) nor character development (like many slice of life shows). Seeing it in this light, it might just be the only show I've seen that truly shows a slice of everyday life, with all sorts of moments, even those which might look monotonous.


Back on topic:

The main reason that makes me link Hidamari Sketch with PPD is its unique directing style. It's almost a masterpiece in that department. Of course, many people might find that directing style very annoying, but I find it one of the most original I've ever seen.

And, to digress with what some people have said, I've found Hidamari Sketch, viewed in terms of direction, much less calmer than PPD. Strange angles and camera cuts fly abound a lot more in the former than in the latter. Episode 2 is a clear show of that.