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Originally Posted by Futaba-chan
...I had some concerns about the dialogue seeming wooden and overblown in the first episode, but episode 2 just completely blew me away...I find it [the watercolor backgrounds] rather distracting, actually, and I wish they would stick with a consistent colour palette: either vibrant and well-saturated like the CGI, the sky, and the Sibylla flight suits, or consistently in a watercolour style. I'd vote for the former; the overall artistic design is just gorgeous, and I find myself wondering what scenes like the citadel and the spring would look like done in a sharp, well-saturated style like a Ghibli film....
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Great summaries in your other posts. Reading them was like rewatching.
I didn't find the dialog wooden, even at the beginning. I think the situation is just so bizarre that the dialogue does seem overblown until you really enter their world. It's like the scene in episode one with grand 18th-century-style music under Neviril being escorted to the Simoun. That was probably the point when a lot of people who were unwilling/unable to enter the world laughed, made derogatory comments, and turned off. But for me it was grand and thrilling, like a royal procession, as the producers intended. Even moreso now when I watch it again.
As for the palettes, I get your point, but I take the opposite view. I think they help give the show its special feeling. I would be horrified to see anything that brought the look closer to something plastic and mainstream like Mai-HiME, for example. Even a real Ghibli look would be too hard. I think the washie look gives a feeling of spaciousness that a consistently sharp, bright look might constrain. I think the temple pool scene was more atmospheric than it would have been if everything was sharper and more defined. And the watercolor-look art is just beautiful in itself.
In any case, I think the Ghibli look is expensive to do, and even the Mai-HiME look I think would be more expensive than doing it the way they have, though I'm no expert in animation. The anime might not even get made if it cost much more, since I don't imagine this could have been predicted to be much of a money-maker, compared to more mainstream shows aimed at a somewhat younger and more male audience.
Just my thoughts.