(L+CR) Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso (NoitaminA)

[Quadratic]

Originally Posted by kyouray

For people interested in the technique : there's the director interview in a short program titled imagine-nation http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/engli...3_archive.html

He explains how they animate the musical performances. To keep it short the staff hired musicians as model perfomers. The animation team analyze and do rough drafts based on these live performances, this isn't rotoscoping. There's a huge amount of work. They (brilliantly) used CG for the piano.
The staff is rather young but the director seems competent & according to the producer Yuuichi Fukushima, around half of animation directors are women.

Thanks for the link.
They say a typical scene takes ~10 sketches vs a single character playing a violin scene taking ~200 sketches! It makes sense they'll try to cut as many corners as possible (eg. the unimportant musicians).

[BetoJR]

I'm in love with this show. Simply in love.

[sikvod00]

Originally Posted by FlareKnight

This episode kind of reflects why I'm probably not going to feel that bad for Tsubaki when Kousei doesn't end up with her. Even though the show made a good effort to make her harassment seem well intentioned and reasoned, I still didn't feel much for it. Not letting him quit on his own terms is what she is doing, she wants him to quit or not quit depending on her personal standards.
....

It seems like Tsubaki and Kaori were doing that. Am I wrong?

[Dop]

Originally Posted by kyouray

For people interested in the technique : there's the director interview in a short program titled imagine-nation http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/engli...3_archive.html
He explains how they animate the musical performances. To keep it short the staff hired musicians as model perfomers. The animation team analyze and do rough drafts based on these live performances, this isn't rotoscoping.

Weren't the musical performances in Sakamichi no Apollon/Kids on the Slope animated using a similar method - animation based on the filmed performance rather than just mo-cap or rotoscope?

Also, just think how far things have come since Nodame Cantabile where most of the musical performances were portrayed using pans over stills with the occasional CG closeup on hands.

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by sikvod00

It seems like Tsubaki and Kaori were doing that. Am I wrong?

Kaori's a relative stranger, and doing it for her own reasons. Tsubaki's a friend, and supposedly acting for his own good.

[Pocari_Sweat]

Another stellar episode except one bit. The rooftop scene where Kaori burst out into tears and begged Arima to accompany her for the violin competition. That was too much forced crying and melodrama for me and reminded me of the more overacting and desensitizing (due to overbearing the drama) portions of Ano Hana and Key based anime.

Otherwise, loved it. The twinkle twinkle little star scene was in particular the best part of the episode.

Also, I'm tolerating... even appreciating the comedy in this because for some reason it seems "age" and "tone" appropriate. Not sure why since I don't usually like slapstick comedy but here it just ... fits. Though I wouldn't mind it being slightly toned down since it got a bit excessive towards the end.

Can't wait for next week's episode for performance round #2.

[Benigmatica]

Great episode thanks to Kaori and Tsubaki pushing Kousei to play the piano in a very hilarious way! Heck, they become like stalkers on this episode!

On the other hand, I'm worried about Arima-kun as he still has that trauma when he broke down midway into his performance...

[kyouray]

Originally Posted by Dop

Weren't the musical performances in Sakamichi no Apollon/Kids on the Slope animated using a similar method - animation based on the filmed performance rather than just mo-cap or rotoscope?

You're right.

[Kanon]

I'm delighted with how this show is turning out. My initial worries were needless, it seems. Music is definitely the focus of the show, and the romance only plays a secondary role so far.

Definitely my favorite anime in a very strong season. Every episode has been fantastic.

[kuromitsu]

Originally Posted by Dop

Weren't the musical performances in Sakamichi no Apollon/Kids on the Slope animated using a similar method - animation based on the filmed performance rather than just mo-cap or rotoscope?

Also, just think how far things have come since Nodame Cantabile where most of the musical performances were portrayed using pans over stills with the occasional CG closeup on hands.

To be fair that's because Nodame Cantabile had the fraction of the budget of Sakamichi no Apollon, let alone Shigatsu wa kimi no uso. (That's actually one of the things I didn't like about Nodame Cantabile - it tried very hard to follow the visual style of Honey and Clover, except with less money and less creative visual directing, and so it had lots of awkward moments.)

More on topic, I'm dropping this show. It's not that I think it's bad, but... I guess I'm just a cynical old bastard who doesn't believe in manic pixie dream girls, doesn't really feel excited at yet another story about one of them leading a depressed male protagonist out of his shell, and doesn't really appreciate the admittedly very shiny visuals. (Actually, they're kind of too shiny for me. )

[MgMaster]

Yea,the Manic Pixie Dream Girl in Kaori felt pretty strong here and both her & Tsubaki do come off as forceful BUT that won't an issue if the show is well-aware of that,which is something we'll find out eventually,probably starting with Kaori & Kousei's performance next episode. If the show is well-aware of how forceful they come across and uses it to it's advantage then I can see the character interactions,which haven't been very good so far tbh,benefiting along with the characters themselves,which I haven't found to be very likeable so far either.

The other weak point of the show is it's attempts at comedy,which never made me laugh once and came off as abuse. Granted,I'm not much of a fan of "let's all abuse a certain character" slapstick comedy in the first place but even then,it really doesn't feel at home in a show like Shigatsu,coming off as annoying instead. I do hope it'll at least be toned down in the future since we'll probably never be rid of it entirely.

That being said,Shigatsu is still in my 2nd tier favorites of the season so far. I guess the show was simply at it's worst this episode which is still decent,but I seriously hope it the reliance on the manic pixie dream girl trope and the out-of-place slapstick comedy will be toned down as much as possible.

[Klashikari]

In my case, it isn't just the slapstick that I consider a miss in there, it is rather how misplaced in my books.
Frankly, I have difficult times to appreciate Kaori and Tsubaki as characters simply because they are way too pushy.

Sure, Kousei is shackled by the ghosts of his past, but being that clingy and pushy isn't really the best option. I couldn't help but shake my head when Tsubaki was happy go lucky, saying it was the best strategy against Kousei.
Whether or not she was serious about that isn't the problem, but rather how it just asinine when it comes to dealing with people deep trauma.

Be it when I read the manga chapter or watched ep3, in both instances I found Kaori and Tsubaki borderline obnoxious.
Of course, I don't expect a magical cure for Kousei's inability to play piano, nor a "let's lick each other wound" scene whatsoever. But really, this course of action rubs me the VERY wrong way.

Besides that, ep3 was fairly ok, with good pacing and mood left and right. I just wish it wasn't so faithful to the manga to the point every slapstick scenes are kept.

[Arya]

Have I already said I love this show, haven't I?
The episode was great and all, even if I also have preferred they had toned down certain aspects that instead are still pretty strong. As already said, the slapstick comedy is a bit excessive (I mean, blood again, really?) and Kaori is still over the top. And yes, character interactions are not very good. It's like we are still at an introductory level, I really can't sense them. But I like the characters individually. And Tsubaki particularly. I don't know if what she said is completely true or not, but I liked her reasoning. Despite the forceful method she and Kaori used (that I think could be partially attributed to the out of place comedy as at the same time a good excuse to move the plot more quickly) the reason felt pretty sound. She is trying to give Arima a chance to come to terms with his issues, that's the deal. It doesn't matter if he will play the piano or not. Basically what she is asking to him is to face it.

Talking about Kaori her crying moment felt out of place. It felt forceful to move the plot. The pace is a bit fast for my liking, but since these are the most predictable steps I'm fine. Apparently they are hinting at something for Kaori reasons that again could feel a bit cliche (and probably we are supposed to latch her crying moment on that). So all in all I understand kuromitsu reasons in a way.

But as far as the music keeps being at the center of the show, as it seems to be, and they keep feeding me with this visuals I'm not concerned by those things. I'm really looking forward to their first performance as much as I was rejoicing listening to Arima's playing the piano at the bar with the kids. They also took the time to draw his foot on the pedal

Originally Posted by DOmus

About the things of playing with the nose and with a stick (or something like that) is a reference to beethoven who played like that sometimes.

More precisely he played with a stick in his mouth to be able to feel the vibrations of the piano (having the other end of the stick laying on the piano). In relation to Arima's inability to hear his own playing.
About the nose I didn't know, but since the show hinted at Mozart I was able to find out that apparently Mozart made a bet with Haydn that he wouldn't have been able to play a little piece he wrote. And he didn't so he lost, when instead Mozart was able to, since he used his nose

[Kaoru Chujo]

Originally Posted by Flower

...I still cringe at the physical violence the girls allow themselves with Kousei....

The way it's played makes it seem unserious to me. There are no real consequences. I can't say I like it, or find it funny (except when the timing is great, which it hasn't been here), but it doesn't bother me. I just move on.

My own bugbear is the real social problem of violence against women (in real life, violence of women against men is a tiny fraction of the opposite), but even that I can take when it seems totally a joke. To me.

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by Klashikari

In my case, it isn't just the slapstick that I consider a miss in there, it is rather how misplaced in my books.
Frankly, I have difficult times to appreciate Kaori and Tsubaki as characters simply because they are way too pushy.

Sure, Kousei is shackled by the ghosts of his past, but being that clingy and pushy isn't really the best option. I couldn't help but shake my head when Tsubaki was happy go lucky, saying it was the best strategy against Kousei.
Whether or not she was serious about that isn't the problem, but rather how it just asinine when it comes to dealing with people deep trauma.

What they do sounds like a refusal to acknowledge mental problems. He doesn't have issues, he just needs to buck up. To stop being depressed. Just like that. At least they didn't accuse him of doing it just for attention.

[HandofFate]

A mental issue, just needing to buck up. A bit of both is how I see it.
And pushing him, and being stubborn is showing some progress. Better than him just sitting in a corner by himself pretending he doesn't care about music anymore, but still keeps a string to it transcribing music sheets.

[Irisiel]

On one hand, we have tasteless slapstick humor of a violent Manic Pixie Dream Girl (and what a prime example of the trope she is!) bulldozing the Main Character into getting over his problems.

On the other hand, we have the usual drama of a violent (I assume from the tropes displayed, and if not physically, psychologically) Ugly Bitter Old Hag bulldozing the Main Character and causing his problems.

The dissonance is strong in this one.

[Guardian Enzo]

I guess I'm very much in the minority in that I disliked this episode almost as much as I loved last week's.

Yes, the comedy is unfunny and has always been unfunny, and there was more of it this time. And yes, the "comic" violence against Kousei is not only unfunny but discordant and even offensive. But those aren't the main problems with this ep - that's the way the female characters go about "helping" Kousei.

It's certainly true that Kousei has some serious issues, and he's running way from them. With no parents in his life it appears no one is pushing him to receive the therapy or other help he clearly needs. But what Tsubaki and Kaori are doing is a textbook example of how not to go about "helping" someone. This isn't a game for Kousei - it's a serious trauma, a dysfunction that makes him unable to utilize his greatest natural gift. He shouldn't be forced to accompany Kaori (at least her accompanist had the good sense to dump her) if he doesn't want to, and he shouldn't be turned into a punching bag because he refuses. It's not good comedy, it's not good therapy, and it's not good friendship.

As if all that isn't bad enough, what do we get in the end? After Kaori's belligerence doesn't get her what she wants, she turns on the waterworks and naturally, Kousei caves. That's wrong on so many levels, not least for how demeaning and sexist it is. I want Kousei to overcome his demons and play the piano (the tiny taste we got of it was wonderful) - desperately so - but I sure as hell don't want this to be the way it happens. Frankly, I find myself hoping that the performance at the competition next week is a disaster because that would restore my faith that Shigatsu and mangaka Arakawa-sensei haven't completely missed the boat on common sense. It should be a disaster - a lesson that everything we saw this week was completely wrong. But I'm not expecting that.

[Master_Yoma]

Kaori is a violent girl and seem to get her way

[Dawnstorm]

Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo

Frankly, I find myself hoping that the performance at the competition next week is a disaster because that would restore my faith that Shigatsu and mangaka Arakawa-sensei haven't completely missed the boat on common sense. It should be a disaster - a lesson that everything we saw this week was completely wrong. But I'm not expecting that.

I feel the same way, down to not expecting that. (Part of me is also hoping that Kaori has gone to that hospital for treatment of cat scratches, acquired in episode 1, rather than some, oh, uncurable disease? Or dying relative?)

But the show totally has me when it comes to the music.