(L) Fractale (TV)

[sunwen]

Yamamoto and Azuma are disappointed with Japanese otaku who are always making a fuss about trifles.
Therefore they produce Fractale.

[Lumir]

Im begining to understand this series now thanks to this episode. If you look deep into the meanings and what each aspect presented thus far relate to you can begin to understand whats going on in this series.

So far I like they way they are presenting it. EP1 got you all confused and wondering WTF?!!? And in EP2 they hit you with what seems to be the main variable of the series. So far its looking to be a good series with a good message(s).

Loving the characters and their development. Especially the worlds "hope".

[j0x]

bump for episode 3

the animation is still like of a movie, very nice, this series might be the first anime to tackle deeply the future possibilities of the internet so im hook, although their are anime in the past that already add the internet theme like ghost in the shell and summer wars, but i say fractale is more good as it adds the concept of avatar or display pictures into real life projection/holograms and more this holograms can be touched

EDIT:

did not realize i already posted on this forum XD

[Shiroth]

Originally Posted by Arabesque

I agree with this. The ship design especially is what made me think of the connection at first but now the general mannerisms solidify it.

They've gotta be a reference.

[Mizuno]

Originally Posted by cyth

I wonder too...

Spoiler for speculation:

Who's to say Enri and the two bouncers aren't doppels themselves, like Nessa? Who's to say Sunda isn't a doppel himself? A band, a family of doppels... seems like a subject of appropriate depth for the guy who wrote the story.

Well I think they're not because the only Doppel we have seen so far whom perfectly resembles a human is Nessa. I think she's special in that regard. And Enri and the other stooges can have casual physical contact with Clain, so I think they're just your normal humans. And besides, what Enri's brother said pretty much ruled him out as a Doppel.

Originally Posted by Kanon

My guess is that people with doppels can't see her. We know Clain doesn't have one, and it seems fairly safe to assume Enri's group doesn't have any either since they reject the system.

Clain's Doppels... would be his parents, correct?

[Ashaman]

Originally Posted by Mizuno

Clain's Doppels... would be his parents, correct?

Nah, those Doppels belong to his parents.

Clain very clearly states he doesn't have such a Doppel, and doesn't like the idea of having an avatar

[DonQuigleone]

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

With regard to Cluain, it struck me that could be the actual spelling as I suddenly thought of Fion mac Cumhaill (Finn McCool) while watching the second episode. Yup, it's totally unrelated, I know, but it reminded me that Gaelic names look very different from how they sound to English speakers. So, I checked Google (where else? ) and, sure enough, found the possible Irish spelling.

As for Nessa, just google "Irish baby names Nessa". You'll find a variety of sources. Apparently, it can also mean "pure" or "butterfly" and, even more interestingly, could also have possibly evolved from an even older Irish name, Neas.

Same goes for Phryne. The actual Phryne from history, though, is a little bit darker than her anime namesake. At least, that how's the Greek-courtesan original seems, from the Encyclpaedia Britannica entry about her.

As Irish names, I've barely heard of any of these names, excepting Nessa perhaps(but as a shortening of vanessa), my current instinct is that they're generic fantasy names, but I could be missing something.

However I'd be wary of baby name stuff online, they tend to be fairly false. Neasa (which would be close to nessa) in Irish means next, frinne (close to phryne, or japanese furune) from google trans means truth which could be significant. Cluain would mean meadow, but isn't pronounced at all like clain, cruinne may be closer (from japanese L/R mixup) means "universe". Others are crian (crayon) or crain (sow), but it's a bit difficult.

It's a bit hard, I know how to spell Irish(it's fairly consistent, if weird), but I'm otherwise reliant on google translate( I studied Irish only at ordinary level in secondary school). Furthermore I haven't gone through iterations involving accent marks.

Admittedly Truth and Universe are nice, but Next is odd, and furthermore none of them are in fact actual names. Also Irish is such an obscure language that I doubt they would have gone to the trouble(though they had searbh in episode 1...). The English spelling of the names are quite official, being on the website, but correspond entirely to English pronunciation, and not Irish. Also, as they sound they don't feel very Irish either, though that could be more down all the actors being Japanese, who often can barely pronounce English, let alone Irish stuff (Like to see em try Dun Laoghaire, hah!).

However seeing how they've put in a lot of other stuff under the radar, it's possible the names are meaningful, but unless they put out something official it'll be difficult to tell, due to the difference in how Irish and Japanese are pronounced (especially considering that Irish is pronounced quite bizarrely as written)

But baby names stuff are untrustworthy. A lot of em list my second name (Quigley) as a viable first name, which it really isn't. Sometimes they go so far as to say it means something like "maternal side". Most are fairly honest and say is means messy hair, which is the truth. More of the sites were inaccurate a few years back, but they've improved, but then again Quigley isn't exactly obscure, and these names are.

[TurkeyPotPie]

I was a little unsure on this series after the first episode, but the second has convinced me to continue watching. The Ghibli and Nadia vibes kind of turned me off the first episode, not because I dislike Ghibli or Nadia (love them both) but because the way the first episode was being presented felt "fake" somehow. It reminded me of my reaction to Final Fantasy IX. Many hailed it as a throwback to the old school games, but I couldn't shake the feeling that I was being pandered to and didn't accept the game on its own terms for a long time. But once I stopped comparing it to the older games, I started to enjoy it. The same happened here, although the similarities of Enri and crew to Nadia's Grandis gang still kind of bug me.

It also doesn't help that I don't care for most of the casting so far. Kobayashi can do a decent boy's voice, but I keep hearing Hiroshi from Okamikakushi every time Clain speaks. Hanazawa is bringing the right energy to Nessa, but she is in just too overexposed and I would have preferred hearing a new voice in that role.

As a sci-fi fan though, the world that is being presented here is interesting. I was strongly reminded of Silverburg's Sailing to Byzantium while watching the first episode, so when the ending turned out to be a Yeats poem I really wanted to know where the writer was going to go with the series. I usually stay on an information blackout before and during an airing so I can be surprised by shows, but the urge to get some production info on this show is pretty strong.

I got a chuckle out the stuff Clain was reading about doppels when the topic of touch and sexual contact with doppels came up. I've often joked with friends about VR, robotics, and so forth by saying that whenever "sexbots" or VR sex became a reality it would signify the end of human civilization because everyone would disappear into the virtual world.

[Master_Yoma]

It seems like this world is really shallow and what is with theses doppels

[dahl_moon]

As much as I cheer Yamakan on for this series' success, the best impression I'm getting up to episode 2 is "decent." The premise is interesting (although not exactly groundbreaking), the art is fantastic, and the music is nice.

However, the flow of the story isn't exactly compelling, and the characters are lacking. Maybe it's because we don't know enough background information about the world, but Clain is plain (unintentional), and everyone else is pretty much cloud cuckoo lander. Enri is nuts, her entourage are fools, and Nessa is denpa (albeit the moe kind). The doppels are interesting, but they're more part of the world setting then characters on their own right (the irony).

Sidenote: I could've sworn that Nessa was voiced by Toyosaki Aki. Was really surprised when I found out it was by HanaKana.

[Kismet-chan]

Originally Posted by dahl_moon

Sidenote: I could've sworn that Nessa was voiced by Toyosaki Aki. Was really surprised when I found out it was by HanaKana.

Yeah, I can see that! She is kind of Toyosaki-ish here, isn't she? Toyosaki's a lot softer, though. Then again, I've watched Kobato, so I immediately recognized Hanazawa here -- the bouncy tone/pitch she's using for Nessa is similar to her Kobato voice. She does a very nice job as Nessa, as with all her roles, but I could see Toyosaki being energetic enough for Nessa's part as well.

[wandering-dreamer]

And the US/Canada simulcast is back! That was quick, guess I'll check out the second episode/finally read all the spoilers later then.

[orion]

Some of the translation is different. It appears from the FUNimation simulcast that the people in the mobile home trailer park could see her.

[Nerroth]

Voice-wise, Nessa sort of reminds me of the voice Hanazawa-san used for Mato Kuroi.

[cyth]

Originally Posted by orion

Some of the translation is different. It appears from the FUNimation simulcast that the people in the mobile home trailer park could see her.

This is also apparent from the animation itself (the fat guy lying on the chair directly looks at her), but yes, the translation for some of the fansubs are kind of sketchy, so it's great we're getting the official translations back.

[gsilver]

So, I might start posting on animesuki because IGN is sucking ass.


Yay! Funi sorted things out, so we get to keep watching on Hulu!



Fractale episode 2

Quick thoughts:

Unlike Phryne, who seemed far more normal than Clain, this girl is positively weird.
...Is that the same song? ...but she didn't seem to actually know Phryne, despite generally knowing what she was (a humanoid doppel) and quickly understood the likely relationship between them.
The moe fanservice ("touch me")... I can see what they're getting at, but.. akward.
,..the wind, the barking dog... the absence of humanity.
Even in the trailer park city, people ignore eachother.
Even those who don't have doppels and live in the physical world are implanted with nanomachines.
..And so, Clain has his first emotional breakthrough.


Full impressions:

Some of my interpretations of the world seem to have been incorrect. Some doppels, at least, are real people, like Clain's parents. They actually are his real parents, and they're simply in other locations. Others, like laborers and Nessa/Twintails, are electronic beings. It also isn't a MMO world, like I thought, but rather a somewhat Lain or Denno Coil-like world where the lines between reality and the virtual world are blurred.

Building on the theme of interpersonal disconnect, I found the interactions with Clain and his parents to be interesting. They basically feel little to no obligation to be part of his real life beyond occasionally observing them from *where ever* they are. Given what we've seen from the trailer park scene, we see that most people are simply wanderers, doing whatever they want to do, wherever they want, and that they can project doppels if they want to interact with places that they can't physically get to.

Still, the lack of population is incredibly eerie. Through the whole city scene, I was downright unsettled to see a densely built city, yet besides a few government workers, Team Rocket, and Clain himself, it was abandoned. There were no city noises whatsoever, with only the faint sound of a barking dog to be heard.


The trailer park outside of the city, a town in and of itself, had a population that could easily fit inside of a medium-sized room. I wonder if they're trying to tie in the theme of Japan's already declining birth rate, the lack of interpersonal interaction, and the sheer laziness allowed by the Fractale System to be causing humanity to drive itself to extinction.

Now, with Clain's emotional breakthrough at the end: the realization that he doesn't want to be alone, that he really does want to have a family (despite his parents lack of interest in providing it, beyond their sporadic talks), I think that we've reached the start of what will be the core of the series.


Also:

...oh, and since it's pretty obvious that there's no education system in this world, are we supposed to assume that Team Rocket are simply a result of that?


Finally, does anyone else find it ironic that the creator of Fractale, a moe anime, has publicly spoken against moe anime?

[Last Sinner]

After two eps, I feel this series is well ahead of the rest of the pack. It's showing some flaws but nothing major yet. There's good production values in the animation, the music and the seiyuus. Azuma Hitori has a gorgeous voice and makes for wonderful OP and ED themes. Clain is a likeable lead that is human enough to relate to. Nessa is a bit much to handle at times but she does light up the screen with her energy. Phryne is a nice one - I really hope to see more of her. I'm also liking that thus far, the series isn't filled with the angst or immaturity that is prevalent in series similar to it.

The world concept is what interests me most so far. A world where social values have been utterly annihilated and individualism prevails. What amazes me though is that in such a world, there is no anarchy or rampant crime. What has convinced people to all live peacefully and enjoy freedom - something more caused an entire collective to submit, yet I can't figure out what.

A few things annoy me. Firstly, I wonder how people live. The Fractale system supplies income, so it sounds like work isn't that necessary since Doppels do manual, yet in that 2nd episode Clain told Nessa they were in an office district. Are they simply buildings left from a long time ago or do people still work there? That wasn't made clear.

Secondly, the blonde loli leading her lackeys around Team Rocket style...really?! They just may end up more camp and absurd than TR ever were, except TR had spunk and were funny. Can't say that about this lot.

Thirdly, I don't feel the aim/purpose of the series has been fleshed out that well. All I can surmise is that Phyrne wants things to change and that Clain can achieve it somehow. I really hope the plot gets a move on soon, because aesthetics can only keep a person interested so long.

Fractale seems the pick of the season, but really, that's not saying too much considering, as others have said, this season feels like cloud cuckoo land, which has even permeated this series somewhat. I just hope it does have a clear aim, fleshes it out and develops its cast more.

On a final note - it seems A-1 Pictures have come to learn that marketing is a key part of making them regularly profiting and not repeating the mistakes of some of the Chikara project series. Stable staff lineup, links with merchandising companies and prodcuts already announced, catchy OP and ED themes - it's ticking the right boxes in those respects. Hopefully they get it right this time.

[Scy]

Does anyone has any clue as to how close Yamakan is to his retirement? DVD sales, TV ratings? Not that he has done anything to deserve it, but you would always expect a series like this to face a uphill task in being popular and successful.

[Kunagisa]

Originally Posted by Scy

Does anyone has any clue as to how close Yamakan is to his retirement? DVD sales, TV ratings? Not that he has done anything to deserve it, but you would always expect a series like this to face a uphill task in being popular and successful.

Dude closed his blog and withdrew his statements lol.

[ninja_pintu]

Originally Posted by stuopidget

Dude closed his blog and withdrew his statements lol.

Didn't he withdraw the statement of his immediate retirement only? The one he made in response to a comment. Or did I get that wrong? O_o