(L+CR) Free!

[Gravitas Free Zone]

Hmm, decency laws: Either nobody gets nipples or everybody gets nipples. There shouldn't be a double standard.

(While we're at it... beefcake.) (NSFW?)

[kenjiharima]

Just saw epi.3 on Chrunchy.....

Seemingly the yaoi pairing is starting. Nice episode, didn't know Rei was funny, thought he was the cold nerdy type, nice character development for him. Either way a good episode.

[Master Assassin]

Originally Posted by whitecloud

For the boys....here is the FANSERVICE...

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Gladly.

[NoemiChan]

Originally Posted by whitecloud

For the boys....here is the FANSERVICE...

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I love my waifu... but the shoulders is......dude..

[bastek66]

Originally Posted by whitecloud

For the boys....here is the FANSERVICE...

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[MisaoFan]

Spoiler for Episode 4:

I really enjoyed this week's episode. It was actually focused on swimming, but first of all, it all started with training. Despite not being a good swimmer, Rei is trying to follow the steps, and I really laughed at how he does swimming wrong, and I rarely got genuine laughs when watching an anime. After watching this episode, I really wanted to properly swim and just like Rei, I'm not good at it, and that's saying something. I also liked some trunk service and there's a bit of drama between Haruka and Rin involving rivalry. In the end, it's really starting to make Rei properly swimming after spending a good amount of training with his fellow teammates and the club is slowly building to fame. Next episode is going to be a typical beach episode but with bishies this time, but I have a strange feeling that there's a major turning point that will happen halfway to my eyes.

[rulfo]

Spoiler for ep 4:

CAUTION: DANGEROUS LEVELS OF SERVICE

is the way to sum up this episode....

Seriously, of all the episodes Kigami had to handle, this ends up in his hands.

Oh well.... This was pretty glaring. If not for the fact that Rei kept sinking, I would have dismissed this as pure fanservice. Glad there was some form of dilution.

Also Rei doing butterfly while failing at the 3 easiest styles was dumbfounding. I was expecting him to struggle in the water to stay afloat only to discover Butterfly was his thing but that didn't happen. Oh well.

Decent ep.

[Warm Mist]

This feels pretty much like the first season of K-On! to me. I don't think it will sell nearly as well to allow them to make a 2-cour second season with better pacing and tighter writing, so it'll probably remain as a mostly forgettable gag/sports show.

I've to say I did laugh a bit in this episode, particularly due to the reaction faces. Yukiko Horiguchi is really among the best sakkans in the studio, the character animation in this episode was much more interesting than in the previous three.

One thing that bugs me is that cliched way of showing the guys in outfits. Put a shiny, simple coloured background and do a fast pan over a still with an exaggerated pose. I find it to be among the most aggravating vices of low-budget shows, and I really dislike seeing it in a Kyoani production. They did it in Chuu2 too, and scarcely in K-On! (although I'm not sure if they even used it in the second season).
Comparatively, a similar scene in Hyouka involved Chitanda taking some photographs of herself. It had context, animation (as in, she moved and made expressions) and was much more tasteful in terms of the overall visual execution.
Just goes to show the visual polish they haven't reached since, I guess.

[musouka]

Originally Posted by Warm Mist

Comparatively, a similar scene in Hyouka involved Chitanda taking some photographs of herself. It had context, animation (as in, she moved and made expressions) and was much more tasteful in terms of the overall visual execution.

Free! has gorgeous animation when you compare it to pretty much any female-oriented series out there, but comparing it to Hyouka is just laughable. There's no way they were going to dump Hyouka-level money into this series from the beginning.

[Warm Mist]

This is not only about budget, it's about the overall visual execution. It has as much to do with money as it has to do with the conscious choices the storyboarder and director make. I guess it does fit a show with this tone, but it's still pretty glaring when in the middle of an episode which has such smooth and nice character animation otherwise.

Also, I'm guessing you have a source to back up your claims about the budgets of these two shows?

[musouka]

It seems like sort of a minor thing to get caught up on, honestly. I understand what you mean about the lampshading of service, but I feel like they've been doing that from day one...

Originally Posted by Warm Mist

Also, I'm guessing you have a source to back up your claims about the budgets of these two shows?

Uh, nothing that isn't obvious by watching the two of them back to back for about five minutes each, but if you want to pretend there isn't an obvious discrepancy in character movement and fluidity, I guess we can do that instead!

[ultimatemegax]

Originally Posted by musouka

Uh, nothing that isn't obvious by watching the two of them back to back for about five minutes each, but if you want to pretend there isn't an obvious discrepancy in character movement and fluidity, I guess we can do that instead!

That is not budget; that is time investment in key frames/in-betweens to produce the fluidity as determined by director/layout/key animator. Since KyoAni does not pay by the cut as has been stated in a few interviews, more frames does not mean a higher amount is paid to produce additional frames/in-betweens.

Simply saying "look at it!" instead of providing a concrete source for budget does not support your argument at all.

[Warm Mist]

Supposedly they also told Yamada "not to worry about budget" for K-On!, and there's also a discrepancy between that and Hyouka.
Honestly in terms of amount of frames, I don't think there is a major difference. Whatever extra downtime Free might have is compensated nicely with the swimming scenes done on 1s, and the show is really consistent one way or another. Hyouka just hadbetter (not more, better) animation with a more naturalistic approach. Of course every other visual element of the show was leagues beyond, but that doesn't have a lot to do with budget, especially when talking about a studio like Kyoani.

Yeah, it's a minor thing, but I thought of bringing it up since it sort of bothered me while watching. I'm not making a big deal out of it, Free is still a really well produced show, it's not like they're skimping.

[musouka]

Originally Posted by ultimatemegax

That is not budget; that is time investment in key frames/in-betweens to produce the fluidity as determined by director/layout/key animator. Since KyoAni does not pay by the cut as has been stated in a few interviews, more frames does not mean a higher amount is paid to produce additional frames/in-betweens.

Ah, okay, good to know. Thank you.

Would it instead imply that there was a shorter lead time for production than some of their other series?

[ultimatemegax]

Originally Posted by musouka

Ah, okay, good to know. Thank you.

Would it instead imply that there was a shorter lead time for production than some of their other series?

It's very likely. The series you mentioned, Hyouka, began work in October of 2011 (see some of the production materials that state "10/11") at the same time the production of the K-On! movie was progressing, before airing at the end of April 2012 nearly 6 months later. It was their first project of this recent run of shows, so it had a giant amount of lead time. Free! appears to have a fair amount given shots from episodes 1-3 in the introductory PV shown on April 26th, but they only had a 3 month break between Tamako Market and Free! for its lead time. As Warm Mist stated, there's other cuts that were more important for smoother animation (swimming) that weren't present in Hyouka, especially in a Kigami-directed episode.

[musouka]

Having seen it for myself now, I thought the ep was just okay. I feel like they dragged out the whole "Rei can't swim" stuff too much--the ep only got a couple of real laughs out of me, and that was mainly to do with Haru and swimsuit related antics.

I also think part of the problem is focusing on Haru VS Rin to the exclusion of the others. While you could say that was the backbone of High Speed, I feel like the breadth of interaction was a lot better, with Rin also reacting to Makoto and Nagisa on an individual level as opposed to just dismissing them as "Haru-related clumps" like he does in Free!

Or maybe I'm just cranky because my favorite character--and the character I genuinely think is the most interesting, especially when you take High Speed into consideration--has been regulated to "straight man" background character from the very beginning.

[ginger02]

lol Rei swimming without going anywhere is how I am when I try to swim. I never understood why I can't move.

Kou was never really shown in previews and such but is certainly becoming one of the most major characters, alongside Haru. Her interactions with him are nice, and it's like she's a fangirl trying to get Rin and Haru together. Oh and the shipping that will erupt from that fence scene will be hilarious

It's nice that we now know why Rin was upset at the win, he didn't think Haru was at his full potential, so he thinks he had an easy win. I know lots of people like that. I guess it's nice they don't flaunt their victories.

I enjoyed the swimsuit scene, especially since it was done similar to how girls do it in other shows. Kou saying this is how guys feel like shopping with their girlfriends also enhanced the parallel hahaha.
The music is one of the best things about the show for me. The piano and strings in the background when Haru was teaching Rei was great.

Oh and that ending pic of Haru and Makoto was too cute.

[Dop]

I think they just parodied every scene in every anime where a bunch of girls go to try on swimsuits.
Well played.
That said, I was expecting that they'd find a poster in the swimsuit shop of Ama-sensei when she was a swimsuit model.

[kuromitsu]

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...did anything else happen in the episode?

Oh yeah, this happened, too:

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Anyway, I also think that the "Rei can't swim lolol" gag was overdone. I mean, really, come on. -_-) Also, if they have a kickboard why didn't they use it? Maybe it's old-fashioned but that's how I, and most people I know, learned to swim...

At least we had butt shots? (even if mostly as a gag...)

Originally Posted by musouka

I also think part of the problem is focusing on Haru VS Rin to the exclusion of the others. While you could say that was the backbone of High Speed, I feel like the breadth of interaction was a lot better, with Rin also reacting to Makoto and Nagisa on an individual level as opposed to just dismissing them as "Haru-related clumps" like he does in Free!

Yeah, seriously. The four of them were supposed to be friends, no? It would be nice if Rin at least acknowledged Makoto and Nagisa as his ex-friends or something. It's like there are two different stories here, one a Haru vs Rin that would work with or without the rest of the characters, and one about the swimming club...

But then, it doesn't help that I couldn't care less about Rin if I tried. :/

Originally Posted by musouka

Or maybe I'm just cranky because my favorite character--and the character I genuinely think is the most interesting, especially when you take High Speed into consideration--has been regulated to "straight man" background character from the very beginning.

Hey, at least your favorite character is not getting turned into a joke. ^^;; I love dorky megane characters but not like this. -_-)

But my biggest problem is that this show gives me nostalgia liek whoa. ;__; I miss swimming so much...

[Kanon]

I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've seen boys trying out swimsuits in anime. That scene was really funny. Rei turned out to be a lot more hilarious than I thought he would be. I figured he'd be the serious guy of the gang, and he kind of is, but the show isn't afraid to ridicule him. It's a good thing as long as they don't turn his character into a complete joke, which I don't think they have it although they're close.