(CR) Sketchbook ~full color's~

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by WanderingKnight

Seriously, man. This show takes an AzuDai-level character cast and mixes it with ARIA-like pure slice of life--simply a brilliant combination. Music is excellently fitting, also apparently a Hal Film Maker trademark imported directly from ARIA.

THIS is what I want people to watch when they go praising Lucky Star as a slice of life show. Sketchbook has more slice of life in one single episode than Lucky Star in its whole season.

Much as I love the core parts of Lucky*Star and read the manga and have Kagami all over my cellphone theme...
"Sketchbook has more slice of life in one single episode..." is a true statement for me (at least in terms of the anime).
Sketchbook already shows promise of being *timeless* -- meaning its message doesn't require knowing what decade it is set in. I like the "real" of it ... the more common school uniforms (long skirts), the background scenery and music, ... hey the inclusion of *guys* into the main plot (wow, that's just damned novel in these sorts of series).

The characterizations appear to be priceless.

Someone enlighten me: are the two girls who pop in and execute some intermission inanity the equivalent of the Greek Chorus in this show?
Do they ever step out and become part of the play or is their purpose just what we've seen so far? Its brilliantly eccentric stuff.

[Kang Seung Jae]

Episode 3: Summer Festival.


Another parade of Sora cuteness!


Will be back with screenshots.

[Vexx]

Random Curiosity has screencaps up.... it looks like more priceless win. After all, the matsuri isn't a cliche... it is what the hell people *DO*. Seasonal events are just part of Japan, like most towns have parades and festivals in the US.

I'm about of the notion that (much as I love L*S manga and bits of the anime) that it was a good thing L*S wasn't up against Minami-ke and Sketchbook in the direct ratings --- these two series are such win in the timeless long term sense.

[Stmated]

That was a great episode in both the pun and imagination department. Much more alike the manga in its style. The next episode will feature Sora and Kurihara going away on a trip with Sensei... seems like a duo meant for fun ^^

Spoiler for Episode 3:

I simply loved the scene where Sora tries to draw the fireworks, and does that face when she figures out that's actually too difficult

[Anime Hate Machine]

Brilliant music.
Good characters.
And they're doing art, which we're pretty sure the animators have some experience with.

I have high expectations.

[Woland]

I watched the first minutes of episode 3 (and I've just skimmed through ep 2) and Sora is so great I'm in adoration *_*.
So far so good, probably the best show for the Fall season (first on my book, until the start of Ghost Hound, which is, however, a totally different thing)

[2H-Dragon]

Originally Posted by WanderingKnight

I hereby nominate Sora as the 2007 MLHACOTY -- Most Lovable & Huggable Anime Character Of The Year. I WANT TO HUG HER SO MUCH!

*cough*cough*

Seriously, man. This show takes an AzuDai-level character cast and mixes it with ARIA-like pure slice of life--simply a brilliant combination. Music is excellently fitting, also apparently a Hal Film Maker trademark imported directly from ARIA.

THIS is what I want people to watch when they go praising Lucky Star as a slice of life show. Sketchbook has more slice of life in one single episode than Lucky Star in its whole season.

Definitely looking forward to seeing more of this--it has already risen to my most enjoyed series this season. The only thing that looks like might be topping it is Ghost Hound, and that one hasn't even aired yet.

I always praised lucky star as a comedy slice of life. The comedy aspect of LS is much more superior then Sketchbook. To be honest the comedy in AzuDai is more similar to LS then Sketchbook. Though I only watched one ep.

True that if someone wants a slice of life this one would be better. If we talk about a comedy slice of life or an overall better show. Lucky Star will win.

[WanderingKnight]

I always praised lucky star as a comedy slice of life. The comedy aspect of LS is much more superior then Sketchbook. To be honest the comedy in AzuDai is more similar to LS then Sketchbook. Though I only watched one ep.

True that if someone wants a slice of life this one would be better. If we talk about a comedy slice of life or an overall better show. Lucky Star will win.

Lucky Star is, IMO, a wildly arranged assortment of gags. That they happen to be in a real life context doesn't make it a slice of life anime. Like ARIA demonstrates, you don't need real life to have a slice of life show. Like I explained in this post, slice of life is focused on setting, while LS is evidently doing so on characters.

Slice of life doesn't necessarily mean real life. If not, most harem series out there would be slice of life.

I really don't find the comedy in Azumanga similar to that in LS. Perhaps it's the 4-koma structure (which both AzuDai and LS share), but at any rate, I really feel the assortment of characters and their relationships is much more near Sketchbook than LS. Or, at the very least, the effect they produce on me. In Sketchbook, I feel attached to the characters, just like in AzuDai, which was something Lucky Star could never do to me.

[Vexx]

I've taken to referring to Core-Lucky*Star versus "the animated series of Lucky*Star" since so much of the series was either not related to the manga (*cough* L*C, Anime Tenchou, etc *cough*) or inserted reference gags. Core-Lucky*Star, I enjoyed very much as an excellent collection of little character studies or realizations of the source 4-koma. Sketchbook is quite different in many respects but especially that it doesn't rely on aggressive references or parody to force the humor. That makes it closer to AzuDa, but then it doesn't have the setup-punchline pace of 4-koma-based AzuDa either.

I'd place AzuDa about halfway between L*S and Sketchbook in terms of setting vs character emphasis. What Sketchbook emanates is a lot of positive humanity and sense of buddhist charm (serene laughter?). I keep expecting to see posts comparing Sketchbook to Hidamari Sketch ... but so far few have mentioned the latter.

Meh, I like 'em all -- L*S, AzuDa, Sketchbook, Hidamari, Minami-ke: each has their stellar points and weaknesses. However, so far I've not seen any "weakness" of Sketchbook other than that some people won't be able to tolerate the pacing.

[Calawain]

I've only watched the first episode so far, but I am really enjoying it so far. It seems to pull bits and pieces from other slice of life anime I've enjoyed, but in a different way. Plus I love the character designs and most of the voice work so far, including the males. I have no problem with art based anime in general, as long as it's more along the lines of Hidamari Sketch than Canvas 2.

[Jiji]

Originally Posted by Vexx

Someone enlighten me: are the two girls who pop in and execute some intermission inanity the equivalent of the Greek Chorus in this show?
Do they ever step out and become part of the play or is their purpose just what we've seen so far? Its brilliantly eccentric stuff.

"Greek Chorus" was the first thing that popped into my head, too, Vexx. And I personally think it's an apt comparison, but the function of the Greek Chorus in Classical times was to comment on the action of the "main" story. Those two aren't really doing that all that much (so far). Judging by the manga, they are nothing more than just more examples of the wide range of eccentric characters in this school. (At this point, I'm not even sure if they're in the Art Club, but I'm thinking that they're not...maybe...)

While I understand the comparisons with Lucky*Star and AzuDai, I'm not sure they really do anything useful. They're different stories. Granted, they're similar in lots of ways and easily fall into the same category -- though in my case that category is simply "anime I like" (hee hee...) I will go this far: I agree with Vexx (I think it was) that the characters in Sketchbook are even more vivid and fun than either of those other two series. I thought nothing would displace Hidamari Sketch as my favourite recent anime, but...Sketchbook has really captured me.

[Woland]

I couldn't help myself and I finished to watch the episode 3. I'm officially in love with the serie and I'm with WanderingKnight for the MLHACOTY. Those are really the same people who worked on Aria and on the character of Akari. Two different character, Sora and Akari, but for both of them you just, most of the time, feel this incredible urge to hug them.

Aria-shacho sport drink?


Other Avatar and sign-like

Spoiler for episode 1:

Kasugano-sensei


Kuga-sempai


Natsumi


Negi(shi)-sempai


to all the neko lovers on this board


dulcis in fundo... Sora


And a "spicy" signature

Spoiler for episode 3:

Natsumi puppet-show

Spoiler for a creepy variation...:

a charming Natsumi (she is a subject who can really grab my attention)


And the clou sequence for episode 3... or just something it has to be done U_U

areee~

Complete HQ not AS friendly


AS optimized

All freebies of course

[Vexx]

Actually I'd love an avatar of the short-haired blonde girl doing her "I'm insane" metronome weave as she considers miso (at 07:50)

(even though Kuga-sempai is probably more my favorite with her exceptionally dry wit)

@Ueda: yes... that's my favorite type of anime ---- "anime I like"

[WanderingKnight]

STOLEN!

[S_K]

Originally Posted by WanderingKnight

STOLEN!

Awwww, thats so cute! I feel sorry the guy who requested for it because it got stolen

[Risaa]

Hmm, as much as I love ARIA, I hope there won't be too many references to it. The first few L*S episodes in (sorry for bringing up L*S again ), I read a good chunk of the manga and absolutely fell in love with it.. So when I began seeing so many anime-only bits, especially *references*, I started getting annoyed, then flat-out pissed. My point is not "leave out all references" but rather that I'd like if Sketchbook could keep as close to the manga as possible. (Though, I really doubt the occasional ARIA reference would cause me to become annoyed with Sketchbook).

I actually have volume one sitting in my room and I've thumbed through it and read a few 4-koma strips... It's so difficult to just leave it alone and not read it - I suspect I'm eventually going to break down and just plow right through it in the middle of its anime season.

[Woland]

Indeed "Anime I Like" is my favorite category too

and when I find a "pure" Iyashi kei like this (I tend to use the "Slice of Life" term for a more generic range of anime, but it's me of course) I became very Happy.

Off course I would die for a proper TV series of Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou or Yotsubato! but it's not that I have not hope for those (famous title and the subject seem to grow in popularity)...

Originally Posted by Vexx

Actually I'd love an avatar of the short-haired blonde girl doing her "I'm insane" metronome weave as she considers miso (at 07:50)

In truth I tried different scenes for Hazuki but all were too difficult... that one is a good example, the camera is panning and it's not impossible of course... but a lot of work to correct all the frame is required.
I reassembled some of my scrapped try...

Spoiler for Hazuki and the miso:

these two look decent only on firefox because of the timing


optimized (but less smooth) for other browser (I tried only IE/, Opera and firefox)

[Vexx]

Heh, actually I meant the moment where you only see the back of her head as she ticktocks in front of her blank canvas. I see what you mean though... the camera is panning throughout the moment of the Three Insanities (darkness, puppetry, and rocking).

That whole scene is full of win and screams, "we're artists, of course we're nuts"

[WanderingKnight]

@ Risaa

Hmm, I doubt the passing references to ARIA will do much to the series... And, for now, it doesn't seem like it will go on a self-referential frenzy like LS did.

[Vexx]

yeah, so far the references are "appropriate" .. meaning none of the references so far intrude at all on the story. Even the bowling alley cat (reference) is just a standard Lucky Cat seen in many business establishments usually next to a Daruma.