Quote:
Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo
@Guardian Enzo -- Your reaction that the show is not taking itself seriously enough is reasonable, but my reaction differs completely. As I said before, a show does not have to be simple and straightforward to be serious, and the complexity of tone here -- humour, moe, and serious business all interlayered -- is part of what makes this show so great, at least for me.
We can feel Erio's uncertainty and pain, Ryuuko's longing, Maekawa's pride and depression, without them having to be reinforced with a complete consistency of tone. One of the things that makes Shinbou at his best so modern is that he refuses to fool us with such traditional dramatic trickery. He has better tricks to play, lol.
From my point of view, Shinbou is simply playing in a higher league than most anime directors. He may fall off his high wire from time to time, but when he is on, as here and in Bakemonogatari, he is superb. It definitely has to do with the source material, as both you and Kanon said, in different ways. His style suits these serious fantastic comedies perfectly.
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This is certainly where we differ. I see this not as Shinbou playing in a higher league, but not willing enough to trust his talent (and the material) enough to let it speak for itself. There's a compulsion to inject his genius into the work - to remind everybody how smart he is by showing them repeatedly. Sometimes it works better than other times - I'd argue that it works best when there's a very strong established identity balancing it out (for example Gen Urobuchi or Ken Akamatsu). In the case of Bakemonogatari, you've got a ticky director paired with a writer equally eager to throw cleverness in your face, and it's kind of a perfect storm of pretentiousness - a harmonic resonance if you will.
I think that's a case where both the source material and the director were ill-served by being too compatible. Others can - and do - strongly differ.
I do agree with your assessment that these absurdist comedies are easy pickings for Shinbou, right up his alley.
Natsu no Arashi,
Soredemo,
Denpa Onna - this stuff is right in his strike zone. I think both NnA and Soredemo had enough inherent sincerity that the final product was somewhat more effective than it is here in terms of emotional impact. This show clearly exceeds them in visual dexterity and cuteness, so on balance I'd rank them all about equal - though the first season of NnA would still rank highest of the group for me.
EDIT: You know, in thinking about it, I think Shinbou is a lot like Tarantino (a huge anime fan, obviously) is with live action. A lover of snarky, absurd dialogue. A deft hand with action and a superb visual framer. Someone whose personal style makes every work he directs unmistakably his own - for better or worse. A "name above the title" director - where it's always about him first, the material second. The difference, of course, is that Tarantino is very often working with his own scripts - so the synergy between director and material (and the self-indulgence) is generally assured. With Shinbou, part of the success or failure of the work comes in deciding what to adapt - or in the case of
Madoka, who to collaborate with.