(L) Yoake Mae Yori Ruri Iro Na

[Vexx]

About the only positive thing I can say about the animation is that at least it wasn't stickpuppetshowtime or shadowplay.... at least the characters stayed mostly on model. bleh... ep 4 will give us a clue as to how the rest will go I guess.

[monir]

Actually, there were a few stickpuppetshowtime in the episode. Things got really static near the end of the episode when even the chibi figures stopped moving.

[Vexx]

oye... I only watched a sporadic sampling of the raw..... oye.... ouch... itai, even.

[suguru]

Originally Posted by monir

Like everyone has said already, the animation took quite a downturn in episode 3. I don't think the animation will improve for this episode in a DVD release either. The amount of frame that needs to be added in this episode just to give some sense of motion should put off the DVD-crew/animators for wanting to improve the animation quality. Drop in the quality of animation and drawing from episode 1 to episode 3 is just ridiculous. Frankly, I'm quite disappointed with the effort put on the animation in this episode since I'm more of a fan of animation first and foremost than everything else.

It's bad enough I wish they'd compressed it down to half the episode count--I'd rather watch a more rushed story that's just six episodes but animated well than sit through 13 eps of cross-eyed characters and indecipherable facial expressions. I guess I can always hope Kyoani redoes it, although that's a wish list that's getting to be really long...

[Spuffy]

Originally Posted by suguru

I guess I can always hope Kyoani redoes it, although that's a wish list that's getting to be really long...

Since it has a cute pseudonekomimi-wearing loli, Shaft might consider it. It would be quite interesting let them lose on a show with "lunar" content and see the result.

[Cloudnine]

Originally Posted by Spuffy

I do wonder why they didn't use at least one of the songs from the game for either opening or ending theme. Lapiz Lazuli (short version available here) and Eternal Destiny are very easy to grow fond of and a remix of Lapiz Lazuli as ending would have been nice. (But maybe I'm just in fanboy mode now)

I totally agree~ Eternal just fits in so well with the style and athmosphere of the game. The fast tempo with a mix of techno and hints of piano really left a lasting impression on me. Combine that with the beautiful art direction (especially during halfway through the OP) and you have a must watch for any fan, game and anime.

夜明け前より瑠璃色な Eternal OP

I believe the original HQ version can be found in the Trial version. I wish I could share it myself, but the size is around 115mb for a 2:40 minute clip ^^;;

[Spuffy]

A "semi" HQ (MQ?) version of the opening is available at August's download page (among art, music, trial version, movies etc)
Opening Eternal Destiny:
http://holyseal.homeip.net:8000/mirr...e/yoake_op.lzh

Promo movie - Lapiz Lazuli
http://holyseal.homeip.net:8000/mirr...h/yoake_pv.lzh

[relentlessflame]

I don't know... for all the animation hate (I honestly didn't notice the lack of motion that much), the only thing that annoyed me was the over-simplification of the character models on keyframes that started in episode 2, and got worse in episode 3. For the most part they're still "on-model", but just pared down to most basic of shapes and tones. That's why I made the comment about improving it on the DVD, as that's the sort of thing they seem to often improve (refinement of keyframes). But anyway, let's see if things improve with episode 4; it would be a shame if the merits of the story get drowned out by bad animation complaints.

[Vexx]

aye.. so far the *story* passes muster for me. As long as they can be relatively consistent I can grit and bear it. After all, Petopeto-san had some pretty lame animation but they stayed on-model and produced a (for me) mostly stellar story.

[Sailor Enlil]

Lol! From episode 3

Spoiler:

when Feena was looking at the stuff in a souvenir shop after doing some grocery shopping with Tatsuya,

this image ticked knowledge of some stuff that inspired another anime. Anybody recognize the symbolism of this image from another series that involved a "princess on the moon"?

Spoiler for Tsuki no Usagi:

Does the sentence "The rabbit on the moon is pounding the mocci" sound familiar?

[Wandering_Youth]

Originally Posted by Sailor Enlil

Spoiler for Tsuki no Usagi:

Does the sentence "The rabbit on the moon is pounding the mocci" sound familiar?

Hmm, can it be from Tsukuyomi -Moon Phase- ?

[MeganeShounen]

That Moon Rabbit legend... oh Lord, I hope it's not too related to "that" certain mahou shoujo series of long ago.

And I really didn't want to point this out after Episode 2, but sakuga quality's taking hits like a dejado boxer up against a champion...

Still, chibi Feena makes my day.

[Deathkillz]

ep3...

Spoiler:

wow feena is like the "perfect women"...atm she has shown no faults...a natural at service...kendo expert and a first time cooker with skills
well it does seem that animation has been lowered but tbh it really didnt bother me that much...but i dnt like the increased about of chibi scenes...if you make it too frequent the comedy of it is lost...
c-c-c-carbon!!! how the heck do you turn soup into carbon? XD

[Kaoru Chujo]

In East Asia, people don't see a man in the moon, they see a rabbit pounding medicine (or mochi). When you look at the "man" in the moon, the eye on the right is the rabbit's head, with ears going out to the right. The rabbit is in profile, reaching out toward the left holding the pestle to pound in a mortar. This is not something from anime, but the standard tradition.

EDIT: Not that they may not have thought about Tsukuyomi, too, though, you're right.

[Deathkillz]

Originally Posted by Wandering_Youth

Hmm, can it be from Tsukuyomi -Moon Phase- ?

lol thats exactally wht i thought hurray for hazuki referrences

[valkyrie1337]

Hehe, as a game player myself, I find the pace of show rather fast, though it's understandable. (12 episodes? OTL) Since they have gone on to this far in 3 episodes, I wonder if we'll get to see the WHOLE of Feena's story in the anime? That is, if it goes on as predicted.(To follow Feena's path all the way, that is.) Or would they go on to make an ending of their own?
Either way, the animation levels seriously isn't helping it any, and if things don't improve soon, I'm afraid the anime is pretty much doomed, as much as I am a fanboy of Feena/Yoake. To add on, IMO they've cut too much out of the original story, or should I say, modified. Ehehe, I think I'll stop here for now. Anymore and I'll been spewing spoilers. ^^;
For now, let us pray and believe in the animators. ^^b

[Kaoru Chujo]

I seriously wonder just how many anime people here can enjoy, if the animation level in this show bothers them so much. Sometimes I'm so glad I can't see things that well. The overall look still pleases me. Of course, I loved the look of Noein, and didn't mind the wild variation in character models there from episode to episode, so I'm easy to please.

Oh, and Vexx? I'm seeing less and less of Lamune here. Just some nice hints of romantic feelings. Ah, well, it was worth hoping for.

[Vexx]

agreed.... no lamune vibes at all anymore, the premise itself kind of eliminates that angle. It does seem to be a straightforward romance with a "smidge" of triangle... biggest problem I see ahead is if the political stuff derails the focus on the romance outside of being an obstacle (like Utawarerumono was more focused on the epic rather than the personal for most of the series or in Petopetosan when they fell off the track for a couple of eps with their big theme park project -- but both shows I liked very much in spite of that).

The series story is still reasonably entertaining here... but the animation could crash the thing if the quality plunge doesn't reverse course. So far it isn't THAT bad.... for THAT bad, I refer people to Ichigo 100% where not only the animation crashed but they couldn't even stay on model or do decent drawings in many episodes. There are worse ones but that one is fairly recent and easier to find.

[Sailor Enlil]

Originally Posted by Deathkillz

lol thats exactally wht i thought hurray for hazuki referrences

Actually I was thinking more on the lines of

Spoiler:

an old Maho Shoujou series where the protagonist's familiar, a black cat with a symbol on its brow, would use that legend inspired sentence as a kind of passcode to communicate with its "command center" through a video game.

Anyways, it so happened that's where I first heard about the legend of the rabbit on the moon, before reading about an old Aztec legend of how the sun and the moon were re-created after the great flood (something about the moon being born from the ashes of a despised god, and when the other gods first saw the new moon, they expressed their disgust at it by hurling a rabbit, the first object they could find, at it).

[DrewGSR]

Jin's character cracks me up, always making funny ass comments, scenes, losing or getting into trouble and always getting smacked by his sisters paddle haha.

The hand puppets scene in ep 3 was hilarious haha.