Just in from episode 2. This was again a well-directed episode - I thought the splicing of the 'normal life' scenes with the 'horror' scenes was expertly done because I didn't feel like either one dragged on for too long.
But the real star of today's episode was, beyond doubt the
voice acting. (IMHO, of course.)
I was really bowled over by the performances. I can see a lot of people getting pissed with this episode because there was a lot of screaming girls - but this is one of the very few times it's worked so well for me. In every scream, you could feel the true fear of the girls from running away from that thing. I've had dreams like that and once ended up screaming myself awake...
Coupled with the tense direction, I couldn't help but end up unconsciously going "eee!" at one point. Without even thinking! I don't think that's ever happened to me besides in the first episode of Blood+ when it comes to TV anime. I was so surprised!
But seriously, I felt the pain,tension, fear and relief of the characters for the most part. I was really impressed by the way that they could infuse even their
breathing with these feelings. For example, Kate's trip to the washroom near the end... When they're all together hiding beside a car and they're still breathing quickly or whimpering even while the other two are talking, you can really feel the atmosphere.
In fact, it was almost funny at one point - where Kate and Rose are talking to each other on that rooftop - where the animation is so static that when Kate is speaking full of emotion and with so much variation, her face isn't reflective of it. The animation could be better, you know, considering that they've got prerecorded acting. But I guess they wanted to focus on the really pretty drawings. It was sufficient for the most part though (although the animation of the monster-man was a bit distractingly off)
I was kind of disappointed that the singing still continued.
Spoiler for not really a spoiler, but to save space:
It didn't feel as melodramatic as the last episode, but I still think it was damn awkward. And this time it wasn't just Kate, it was Claire and Rose and Rachel and even Lula of all people!
It just felt too out-of-place. I don't know, what's the
point of putting it there? It doesn't help at all if you ask me. Sure, it's metaphorical, but there's good metaphors and bad metaphors and I can't help but cringe even slightly at this one.
Although I suppose it does add a different sort of sadness to the whole atmosphere, and now I think we can be sure that the off-key singing is because they wanted to put in a bit of realism... It was more like the kind of singing that you do quietly and 'halfheartedly' while you're doing something else, which usually sounds a lot more off-key than normal singing - although the way they presented it seemed like a musical - and furthermore it's entirely beliveable that the characters can't sing. Why do I conclude that the off-key is on purpose? Because if even Rie Tanaka's going to sing like that, then surely it must be the case...
Still, I guess I'll just try to accept it. I hope this doesn't happen every single episode, seriously.
In the context of eggplant's poster which AisuruMirai pointed at, it seems like there is a point. But still... meh.
As for what happened, maybe some people will be disappointed, some people wouldn't, but I don't think it was really that bad.
EDIT: By the way, Lula looks
really vampirish if you saw the screenshot that says "00:18:10" on MrProphets screenshots
here.