(L) Dragonaut ~ The Resonance

[aardvark]

Originally Posted by MrProphet

Brave Story. Giniro no kami no Agito. Witchblade. Red Garden. Afro Samurai. You probably mean these crappy low budget anime, right?

Please, let's not insult each others' intelligence with nonsense.

And speaking of Witchblade, Makoto Uno is the one who did the character designs for that show, in case anyone is wondering why those characters look like they escaped from Witchbladeworld. 8)

Brave Story and Agito are movies for one as already mentioned, Afro Samurai is not only an OVA, but funded with $$ as far as I know...of course it would look decent.

Red Garden's animation IS poor. The art itself is rather good, but in terms of animation I don't see how you can argue that it's anything but that... Witchblade was also very inconsistent, that show had tons of retakes for the DVDs, and the less said of NHK the better...

Im not gonna write off a show just because it's from Gonzo, they have quite a few series I like, but when it comes to their TV animation, I don't really have much faith in that department (though I do think Romeo x Juliet might be an exception)

I don't think it's about all their shows having drops, but rather the average new Gonzo series is just not well animated period, save the few like Gankutsuou, Kaleido Star or even Basilisk...

[MrProphet]

Yeah, right. GONZO sucks, but... but... but... Irrational antipathy at its best.

This is a pointless discussion, since people aren't owning up to things they say. I hate it when people are so blind, but this seems to be a mass phenomenon and nothing I could change in the long run.

[ZODDGUTS]

True true I think it's time to

Out of this topic.

[Honey_and_Cleaver]

Good cast. Can you really confirm Daisuke Ono,Nana Mizuki, etc etc.

[DangerMouse]

Originally Posted by 7Th

Maybe Vandread, but Last Exile's 2D art was EXTREMELY SUBPAR

What? Which part is extremely subpar?

This all my opinion so you may disagree, but to me: The background art is generally very good, the structure designs and 2D artwork inside of places is often quite intricate (especially in the towns and anything Guild oriented). The character design work from Murata was amazing and the character animation was generally highly above average. And the costuming art was great and really fit the setting and the coloring was spot-on... I may be a bit biased as a huge Renge Murata fan (These designs are some of my favorites, wasn't crazy about Blue Sub 6's character designs), and this steam-industrial setting perfectly fits his style, but I've almost never heard complaints about the 2D art, just 3D complaints from those who don't like even good CG.

Again I may be a bit biased since this anime is one of my favorites (loved the setting and scifi story and style of the show), but I've often heard most people compliment Last Exile's 2D animation.

I'm definitely not saying some of their other shows haven't had serious problems and/or drop offs (Speed Grapher for example, or Witchblade's inconsistency of sometimes looking great and others really bad) in animation but I personally think generally their shows look good. Trinity Blood for example may have some of the worst story pacing I've ever seen but design wise I loved the artwork and animation.

[andromeda0201]

This is an original concept right? I have no opinion about their manga adapted works but their original concepts are usually good e.g. Kaleido Star, Last Exile, Red Garden...

probably because theres nothing to compare with so manga readers can't complain

[DangerMouse]

Originally Posted by Inujun

This is an original concept right? I have no opinion about their manga adapted works but their original concepts are usually good e.g. Kaleido Star, Last Exile, Red Garden...

probably because theres nothing to compare with so manga readers can't complain

I totally agree, I also think they happen to do some of their best work when they do originals.

[eggplant]

Saw the trailer at the Gonzo Festa, which is also on the official website.

Ono Daisuke (Jin) and Director Ono Manabu were present, but Chihara Minori (Toa) was absent because of physical reasons. Upon seeing the trailer, my first impression was Uno Makoto (Character Design)=Witchblade! Lots of fanservice included I must say.

Although I'm looking forward to this in fall, I hope it doesn't become an Olynssis.

[Nightengale]

Go figure. Maybe I'm jumping the gun, but it really felt like Yu-Gi-Oh without cards. And the talking time replaced with shounen action. And ugly CG.

Okay, maybe not that bad. There's parts of the trailer that felt mildly interesting, giving it a fleeting vibe that there'll be more to this than just fanservice-inclusive shonen, but we'll see. Not really impressed with the trailer, aside from the slighty-out-of-place space scene and the hand-holding...which was a little perplexing for a first meeting.

I've should've known, considering this is from Jun Maekawa.

[Sonhex]

Wow, the characters really have escaped from Witchblade! That purple haired lady could easily be from that particular anime. To me, it felt more like a technical demo than a bona fide trailer and this is not unusual for Gonzo as they do that a lot, especially for their Festa. Footage used in Last Exile's OP animation and the recent RomeoxJuliet promo are good examples (that one was released at the last one) that I can think of.

Whether this will bear any real resemblance to the final product remains to be seen. I'll certainly give them the benefit of the doubt as mecha dragons in space have me all excited and I like the red haired girl's design. Though I do hope they improve the character animation a notch.

[Scribble]

Judging by the trailer, looks like the male character isn't the smug, hair flicking egomaniac like I thought he would be. This series looks like it'll be entertaining in a "Mai Hime" or "Code Geass" way.

[MrProphet]

The trailer is somewhat by-the-numbers, but it's otherwise alright.

BTW, for those unaware... Dragonaut means "Dragon sailor" in Greek.

[Guido]

Originally Posted by Sonhex

Wow, the characters really have escaped from Witchblade! That purple haired lady could easily be from that particular anime. To me, it felt more like a technical demo than a bona fide trailer and this is not unusual for Gonzo as they do that a lot, especially for their Festa. Footage used in Last Exile's OP animation and the recent RomeoxJuliet promo are good examples (that one was released at the last one) that I can think of.

Whether this will bear any real resemblance to the final product remains to be seen. I'll certainly give them the benefit of the doubt as mecha dragons in space have me all excited and I like the red haired girl's design. Though I do hope they improve the character animation a notch.

Indeed, the characters seemed to belong to another WitchBlade universe, designed by Uno-san, where dragons are piloted mecha. Dragons coming from Dragon Riders and Eragon (the book not the film)

The chibi with the pink hair I could swear that she is Riko Amane's twin. Meanwhile, the boy who was pointing the gun at the male lead has an uncanny resemblance to that cook guy from Burst Angel.

[Honey_and_Cleaver]

Cant anybody wait for this anime? I cant!

[7Th]

Originally Posted by DangerMouse

What? Which part is extremely subpar?

This all my opinion so you may disagree, but to me: The background art is generally very good, the structure designs and 2D artwork inside of places is often quite intricate (especially in the towns and anything Guild oriented). The character design work from Murata was amazing and the character animation was generally highly above average. And the costuming art was great and really fit the setting and the coloring was spot-on... I may be a bit biased as a huge Renge Murata fan (These designs are some of my favorites, wasn't crazy about Blue Sub 6's character designs), and this steam-industrial setting perfectly fits his style, but I've almost never heard complaints about the 2D art, just 3D complaints from those who don't like even good CG.

Again I may be a bit biased since this anime is one of my favorites (loved the setting and scifi story and style of the show), but I've often heard most people compliment Last Exile's 2D animation.

I'm definitely not saying some of their other shows haven't had serious problems and/or drop offs (Speed Grapher for example, or Witchblade's inconsistency of sometimes looking great and others really bad) in animation but I personally think generally their shows look good. Trinity Blood for example may have some of the worst story pacing I've ever seen but design wise I loved the artwork and animation.

The standard anime watcher isn't the best judgment of animation, you know. There was no sense of movement in Last Exile at all, outside of the first episode, Luciola's duel at the end and the captain's captivity at the queen's chamber before the end. Range Murata's designs were undoubtedly good and the original scenery concepts are really inspired but everything fails in execution, not only at movement but at basic drawing style. I am not asking for extreme consistency just for the characters to don't look like they came out of a generic low-budget shounen-series most of the time, just go and watch the majority of the middle episodes and you'll understand what I'm saying.

[MrProphet]

The standard anime watcher isn't the best judgment of animation, you know.

What? And you're some "anime expert" who sees what some of us fail to notice, namely subpar animation in Last Exile?

Vaguely saying "it's bad" doesn't make it so, and i would even contest that your memory is clearly failing you, since the show was full of well-animated scenes, even excluding the vanship battles.

[7Th]

Originally Posted by MrProphet

What? And you're some "anime expert" who sees what some of us fail to notice, namely subpar animation in Last Exile?

Vaguely saying "it's bad" doesn't make it so, and i would even contest that your memory is clearly failing you, since the show was full of well-animated scenes, even excluding the vanship battles.

Well, I ruined everything with that first line. I knew I shouldn't have written that. I'm a goddamn idiot. Still, the show isn't full of good animation, just go and look any AMV or get your DVD/fansubs out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocEnFAVz2_Q

The scenes from the first episodes are well-drawn but still there's no much movement in them at all, no sense of motion or anything. The later don't even have good art and just piss all over Murata's designs.

[Kaioshin Sama]

So I'm deeply unimpressed with the female leads voice in the trailer even though it was like one line, something about it irks me, perhaps a feeling of lack of any connection with the scene and the voice. I went to ANN to find out who it was and to my utter lack of surprise it turns out to be Chihara Minori. Sorry to say but she is something seriously weak when it comes to anything interesting and passionate in voice acting. Daisuke Ono (Who has earned my respect recently) is a bit weak in his line too, but he might just be temporarily smitten be this Toa girl, who knows, it happens though. Now that I think of it, why is just about every otaku pleasing idol-seiyuu in this show. We've got Goto Yuko and Nana Mizuki rounding out the cast. The show looks fine in the trailer, but I don't like where the casting seems to be heading, sure Goto Yuko and Nana Mizuki have proven themselves in different roles (Goto Yuko has played a bipolar after all and Nana Mizuki has been brash Sunao from Tsuyokiss and quiet Fate from Nanoha), but when you get this many idol-singer seiyuu into one show.... I don't want any random stops for the characters to partake in singing in order to sell the idols latest singles, (The only excuse would be if music is pivotal like in Macross) otherwise I'll be dropping this faster than I can blink. If not, good, I'm probably just a bit paranoid, but I'm still really worried about Chihara "Phone it in" Minori being the female lead.

I'll say it here so nobody else need bring it up several times. Yo! The cast is composed of 3 members of the Haruhi Cast, dig it! Except only one of them is one of the two that sucks and it isn't Sugita Tomakazu

[Shinndou]

I usually don't bother too much about Gonzo's animation level anymore, I know that they are capable of doing good stuff if they have good resources (animators, scriptwriters, and of course money) to use, and it can't be helped if they can't always maintain a consistent quality throughout an entire serie, especially if they have different teams working on different shows in the same season. People tend to forget that Gonzo usually has atleast two series running during a season, and they constantly keep producing and proposing new shows, while for example on the other hand a studio like Kyoto Animation only focuses on one show during a season, and it's absolutely not guaranteed that you'll see them with an other show the following season either. This is just to point out that you can't expect a company who produces an average of two shows per season each season to keep a constant and consistent quality for each and all of them.

Anyway, I watched the trailer and it looked ok to me, it might not be my cup of tea unless it'll be something really different from the usual shounen/romance show, but atleast technically speaking the trailer did look interesting.

[Kaioshin Sama]

Originally Posted by Shinndou

People tend to forget that Gonzo usually has atleast two series running during a season, and they constantly keep producing and proposing new shows, while for example on the other hand a studio like Kyoto Animation only focuses on one show during a season, and it's absolutely not guaranteed that you'll see them with an other show the following season either. This is just to point out that you can't expect a company who produces an average of two shows per season each season to keep a constant and consistent quality for each and all of them.

Give me Gonzo's sometimes inconsistent animation, but often intriguing series over Kyoto Animations next All-Girl Light Novel or Key game adaptation any day of the week, but top-notch animation any day of the week.

Though with this cast it seems like their shows are starting to run together now. 3 Kyoto Animation Darlings in a Gonzo show, what could this mean? Next thing you know Sugita Tomakazu is going to turn up in a supporting role and I may have to kill myself.