(L) Yumekui Merry (Yume Kui Merry)

[jedinat]

What a weird first episode... the animation kept focusing awkwardly on the wrong things... a foot stomp, an elbow, a wall, etc... Random nothings happened and any development was carefully avoided. The protagonist spent the whole episode looking surprised yet strangely accepting, and it ended with the heroine fainting away in tears and you have no idea why. The weakest of today's three new anime.

[Kunagisa]

I fairly enjoyed episode 1. One of the very few shows I am watching this season that I don't already know the source material. Pacing seemed to irk some people but I was fine with it. The VAs are supposedly mostly new and I find them pleasant. Merry's pretty cute, and all the casts are likable so far. There are no 'wow' moments but I definitely enjoyed episode 1.

[DangerMouse]

Originally Posted by stuopidget

I fairly enjoyed episode 1. One of the very few shows I am watching this season that I don't already know the source material. Pacing seemed to irk some people but I was fine with it. The VAs are supposedly mostly new and I find them pleasant. Merry's pretty cute, and all the casts are likable so far. There are no 'wow' moments but I definitely enjoyed episode 1.

I really enjoyed this first one but I can agree rather than push for a badass moment it favored setup and mystery (the music before the fight where we got a bit of teaser info from John Doe kind of did too Kajiura-style), and there were a lot of really nice moments and I enjoyed the characters, atmosphere, art style and action and the tone was great but objectively-speaking it probably hasn't really had it's "OMG wow" moment yet, though some of the smoothly animated moves once the battle got outside and John Doe's badass design (and Mr. Badass, Alucard voice) got close but perhaps it was a bit too brief to really get a "holy shit" moment.

Originally Posted by jedinat

What a weird first episode... the animation kept focusing awkwardly on the wrong things... a foot stomp, an elbow, a wall, etc... Random nothings happened and any development was carefully avoided. The protagonist spent the whole episode looking surprised yet strangely accepting, and it ended with the heroine fainting away in tears and you have no idea why. The weakest of today's three new anime.

Eh?

I don't remember the elbow but the foot stomp being focused on was obvious, it was accentuated (and the music suddenly went silent) because that was the moment he shifted back into the real world.

She woke up still half-asleep in a trash heap in a world she doesn't really know with no way back as she mentioned, wandered a decent distance probably getting some barrings seeing some similar things, fought a powerful foe who had the ability to take her back where she came from and now she's seemingly stranded in the real world, not really surprised she finally passed out after her reaction when John Doe faded away and she passed through him futilly not once but twice driving it home which is what her tears were from, being stranded. (Plus at least she didn't shake him and/or assume he was lying or whine like baby to him though he's still mostly a stranger lol, like the usual "shipping" setup, at least she tried to reign in her emotions again and she was going to accept it and move on till he grabbed her arm)

As for avoiding development, well we were thrown into the events like the main character which is a common way to start a show so it's not like this is some new technique, they'll probably start giving us the details in next week's episode.

I found it the strongest of the shows so far as it had the most ambition for where the story might go even if we don't have explanations yet and is easily the broadest show that can handle the full range of storytelling styles and the hardest to categorize into a single genre other than a broad one like fantasy action adventure. As well as a bunch of seemingly "normal full emotional range" non-one-note-emotional-state characters.

Early thoughts on Merry is that I'm already liking her as an action heroine who's a fighter with some confidence in a fight and she's quite cute with an easily likeable voice and I especially like that she has a relatively full personality right off the bat, hopefully she's stays this "fresh" and doesn't get boxed into a type, which most of this thread says that she doesn't which is really just a good thing to know rather than a spoiler I think if the anime achieves this.

The motion blur technique used here and there and then throughout the action scene was neat and looked really cool making both Merry's (especially) and John Doe's moves look extra nice, should look great in longer later fights as things ramp up.

[Dahak86]

For a first episode, it was pretty good I guess. The whole reality and dreams thingy -(filled with cats)- looks very interesting, and they succeeded in making me very curious about it.

OP is very good! and...

Merry is uber-cute! =>

Spoiler:

I can't help but notice the supposed "fanservice" has been totally focused on Merry's stomach/navel... well, it's good for a change. I definitely like her navel.
also, have to say, I was half-expecting a "pantsu-kick" when she high-kicked the John-Doe dude (nice name there)
but, since it didn't happen, maybe they're reserving it for a later time?

some GIFs =>

Spoiler:

well, I kinda liked this first episode, Merry's cuteness (and navel) definitely won me over, so I'll keep watchin'.

[jedinat]

Originally Posted by DangerMouse

I don't remember the elbow but the foot stomp being focused on was obvious, it was accentuated (and the music suddenly went silent) because that was the moment he shifted back into the real world.

Well, the timing or something was off there, like it was throughout the episode. Pauses were too long or too short, the wrong things emphasized... (like what was up with her apparently leaping into the air, but then always immediately seen walking on the ground?)

Originally Posted by DangerMouse

She woke up still half-asleep in a trash heap in a world she doesn't really know with no way back as she mentioned, wandered a decent distance probably getting some barrings seeing some similar things, fought a powerful foe who had the ability to take her back where she came from and now she's seemingly stranded in the real world, not really surprised she finally passed out after her reaction when John Doe faded away and she passed through him futilly not once but twice driving it home which is what her tears were from, being stranded.

Maybe all this bothered me because there was no sense of place or cause and effect at all. Heck the very opening annoyed me slightly merely because right before the credits you apparently see the girl walking away from the view of the closing clock thing, but spatially it made no sense since she had been walking in the wrong direction for such a camera angle... it was a very slight and inconsequential thing that I immediately let go, but it ended up being a precursor for the tone of the entire show...

Originally Posted by DangerMouse

As for avoiding development, well we were thrown into the events like the main character which is a common way to start a show so it's not like this is some new technique, they'll probably start giving us the details in next week's episode.

Which is fine except for the fact that it lacked any other sort of device to hook my interest.

Originally Posted by DangerMouse

I found it the strongest of the shows so far as it had the most ambition for where the story might go even if we don't have explanations yet and is easily the broadest show that can handle the full range of storytelling styles and the hardest to categorize into a single genre other than a broad one like fantasy action adventure. As well as a bunch of seemingly "normal full emotional range" non-one-note-emotional-state characters.

Well sure I guess you can say it's a "broad show that can handle the full range of storytelling styles" since the writers have the dream world plot device, which I loath. It lets them do whatever they want, basically an inexhaustible deus ex machina.

Originally Posted by DangerMouse

The motion blur technique used here and there and then throughout the action scene was neat and looked really cool making both Merry's (especially) and John Doe's moves look extra nice, should look great in longer later fights as things ramp up.

Well, it's great that it worked for you I guess. I got the distinct impression that shortcuts were being made in animation.

[ShiroiRyu]

For a first episode, i was not disappointed.
In France, we have the first two volumes of the manga so i read and i compare ...
No differences for the moment ...

[Master Assassin]

...

Since I was listening to the Japanese dialogue, I can't help but notice an unintentional shout-out to another of JC Staff's works.

Ippou Tsuukou and Tsuukoudome.

And then I looked at the main character.

... Wait, why am I pointing out such a thing!?

[Jerseykid]

Very neat first episode.

[Skyfall]

This was one of the shows i was looking towards to, but sadly i didn't find the first episode all that entertaining. Everything that didn't involve Merry felt somewhat boring and uninspiring, which goes for the other characters and the male lead himself. The 'Merry in real world' scenes were done well and i liked the contrast and out-of-place feeling they conveyed, but shift her out of the focus and i found myself tapping my foot, waiting for a scene change.

The animation directing, most notably the camera angles, felt weird as well. Off-focus was how it often felt to me, with the screen focusing on one triviality or another, or nothing at all, with the character(s) feeling peripheral. The zoom didn't feel comfortable on a number of occasions as well. To add to the oddity, lip sync apparently hasn't been much of a concern, as there seemed little effort in making the mouth movement match up with the word flow. I like the character designs, and the overall 'feel' of the show, but i don't really like how they work in practice here.

The OP song was good though, probably my favorite part of the episode Going to stick around for another episode or two to see if things change, as i like the concept of a lost spirit stuck in human world, but not sure if i will last - the visual package didn't really work for me as a whole.

[lightbringer]

Originally Posted by jedinat

The weakest of today's three new anime.

Overall I found it to be the strongest of the three (assuming we are talking about IS and PMMM). It has great camera direction and sets itself apart from the usual generic shows with the dream world and the crossing from/into it. It has the potential to be the best show of the season. In contrast to that, IS is hopelessly generic with no hope of redemption and PMMM, while interesting, is a bit too Shinbo and Photoshop for my taste.

The only real gripe, but this can turn out to be a big problem, is the weak male lead. He really doesn't do much and his special ability isn't all that useful. But so far, Merry makes up for that. And the other cast adds some flavor, especially the haiku guy.

[totoum]

Originally Posted by jedinat

Well, the timing or something was off there, like it was throughout the episode. Pauses were too long or too short, the wrong things emphasized...

Sounds like what a few people said about casshern sins.Basicly it's the director's style,which gets a lot of "love it/hate it" reactions from people

[paladinenvec]

I liked the first episode i was thinking that the strongest qualities of this anime are the story and the animation(especially the fighting scene), and art direction all of them are superb, i understand that some characters felt a little "weak" but i think that it's because is the first episode, i dunno what others think about that the camera focus seemed weird for me was "ok" very generic and i didnot notice any "weirdness" on it,only that for a change they focus on the belly button of the character(which is fine), the only thing that could keep viewers away may be the story that it's dark and a little difficult to digest for some ppl, at the beginning of the episode i was thinking "wtf, someone smoked cannabis and didn't shared with me"...^^u, i'll keep looking for this ,it seems really interesting.

[Tsuyukusa]

I'm not sure why people are so concerned by the lack of explanation. Most series don't attempt to explain everything in the first episode. I'm sure we'll get a good deal of information next week, and a bit more through out the rest of the series.

[DangerMouse]

Originally Posted by jedinat

Well, the timing or something was off there, like it was throughout the episode. Pauses were too long or too short, the wrong things emphasized... (like what was up with her apparently leaping into the air, but then always immediately seen walking on the ground?)


Maybe all this bothered me because there was no sense of place or cause and effect at all. Heck the very opening annoyed me slightly merely because right before the credits you apparently see the girl walking away from the view of the closing clock thing, but spatially it made no sense since she had been walking in the wrong direction for such a camera angle... it was a very slight and inconsequential thing that I immediately let go, but it ended up being a precursor for the tone of the entire show...

Looking at it again I'm not seeing it, she sleepily walked up the alley she woke up in towards the larger street with the clock in front in the distance, leaped once as she woke up a bit more seemingly reaching the main street since the camera angle changes to down the street from the corner and we see her foot slide as it lands as pushes off this second time she's moving into the screen from the new camera angle showing down the long non-alley-looking street goes somewhat down it away from us and no longer straight towards to the clock before landing again (I suppose really looking for what you might be seeing perhaps they could have shown it in one cut rather than switching "cameras" or shown a full first landing with the corner and pivot more visible and not just her foot when pushes off again if they were going change camera angles in order to further emphasize the mid-point direction change, maybe a director's style/time/budget thing), hence when she lands the clock is slightly behind her on her left across the street at the top of some building, so she looks over her shoulder at it, before finally turning her head back again and starts walking down the street when we switch to the behind view and everything's white.

However I do agree there were a few shots where they went with kind of a basic angle and let it linger a bit longer than usual which sounds like one of the things you were feeling and are talking about and may indeed feel weird, I guess probably to give the feel/mood of her sort of wandering and her floaty leaps a certain "otherworldly" feel which I thought worked okay looking back on it since while it stuck out a little at first I think it also got me ready for what she could do later.

Originally Posted by jedinat

Well sure I guess you can say it's a "broad show that can handle the full range of storytelling styles" since the writers have the dream world plot device, which I loath. It lets them do whatever they want, basically an inexhaustible deus ex machina.

Hmm, how do you know this yet since our main characters haven't even had a chance to talk to each other yet, not to mention we haven't met half of them yet and we already know that beings like John Doe, and according to him Merry too, apparently need a host body to enter the human world, so I think it's too early to be saying it'll be a source of deus ex machina. By broad range I meant it has non-one-note characters and appears to have a tone that can potentially handle both a serious adventure with weight and some light comedy (and maybe even some stronger comedy, the guy who played Maes Hughes and some other lovable characters like that apparently plays Isara's dad, the guy whose taken Yumeji in) and doesn't necessarily have to box itself in. For example I was worried before it aired that this would even box itself in where it couldn't even be ambitious with some weighty stuff and was going to be a fanservice show. Most importantly we're probably only halfway through the full intro since next time we'll get Merry talking to people other than John Doe who knows more than we do.

Originally Posted by jedinat

Well, it's great that it worked for you I guess. I got the distinct impression that shortcuts were being made in animation.

Actually I agree there were some from time to time, I would have preferred we got more interesting shots of those leaps and glides for example as that shortcut made it a little confusing and there were plenty of closeups of her so we didn't need them there and I could only look back after my first viewing and feel that looking back I guess their purpose was to obtusely leave little hints that she's not human and is from the dream world and was kind of hovering between the two worlds without knowing it for some reason so that her abilities felt right in the second half and the action scene at the end was totally fantastic and stylishly animated as it was and some of it is probably director stylistic choice (Edit: like in Casshern Sins actually), but ofcourse I'm greedy and wouldn't have minded a few more sweet wide shots of the fight like the cool ones we got for her spin kick, and some of her big dodges and the finisher, the cool motion blur too and all with no skimping on the character art for Merry and John Doe during the fight which was really nice, I look forward to the bigger, longer fights.

Originally Posted by paladinenvec

I liked the first episode i was thinking that the strongest qualities of this anime are the story and the animation(especially the fighting scene), and art direction all of them are superb, i understand that some characters felt a little "weak" but i think that it's because is the first episode, i dunno what others think about that the camera focus seemed weird for me was "ok" very generic and i didnot notice any "weirdness" on it,only that for a change they focus on the belly button of the character(which is fine), the only thing that could keep viewers away may be the story that it's dark and a little difficult to digest for some ppl, at the beginning of the episode i was thinking "wtf, someone smoked cannabis and didn't shared with me"...^^u, i'll keep looking for this ,it seems really interesting.

Yeah I agree and I think you're probably right with dark tone and the mystery feel to the first ep.

True, I guess they probably wanted to do something like they always do since Merry's cute (and yeah part of that is probably her trim stomach that they seemed to like showing at least this episode, so I guess they chose that as her distinguishing body figure shot in place of shots where you know most shows would be zooming in and framing side shots with characters behind and to the side of the heroine at perfect lines of sight for the boobs of large-breasted heroines even in non-fanservice shows), I think it's fine though noticeable for now.

Originally Posted by totoum

Sounds like what a few people said about casshern sins.Basicly it's the director's style,which gets a lot of "love it/hate it" reactions from people

Ah good point totoum, I think you're on to something, I remember this with Casshern Sins, great show.

Originally Posted by Tsuyukusa

I'm not sure why people are so concerned by the lack of explanation. Most series don't attempt to explain everything in the first episode. I'm sure we'll get a good deal of information next week, and a bit more through out the rest of the series.

Me either, same reasons you said plus the main characters just fully met by the end of the episode and haven't even really introduced themselves yet to each other, which will obviously be next time. And this used to be even more common when shows were almost always at least 26 eps.

[Cabrini6000]

I just watched it, and it was very good. But, I have a headache from the music. Does anyone eles feel the music was played too loud, in the background? It got annoying.

[HandofFate]

not bad.

Other than the whole cats thing, which I find annoying. Hate cats..
The rest of the episode was pretty interesting.

Aura seeing eye is neat.
animation is bright and vivid.

Merry is adorable. Fangs, eyes.
and her navel is to die for. I want to sex it so bad.
Her ears are ugly though.

The fight jumped up like 2 levels in animation.

[s07195]

Liked it. Will watch the whole series. Not much to hate, or maybe I'm just inexperienced.

[Bonta Kun]

Yea not bad at all, don't think I can say great yet but def not bad.

Merry def the best part of it so far, she's an oddly weird intriguing character.
I seem to have formed a odd love/hate with her eyes for some reason.
Quite fascinating but yet something is very off about them at the same time.
looking forward to seeing more about her.

oh and + 1 for the "meddlesome wife"

[Xacual]

I got the feeling from Merry in this ep, that despite the opening and stuff, that she has probably been in the human world a while. I mean her response to John Doe made it seem like she's been stuck and lost for a while and is at the breaking point trying to find a way back, especially as him and the rest of his cats were fading away.

[Katapan]

I liked the first episode a fair deal. I wasn't sold on the manga after the first two volumes, but as I somewhat expected, Yamauchi Shigeyasu might just be able to bring out the better elements of the story.

Anyway, I mostly felt like posting to point out my favorite part of the episode: I thought Sakura Ayane, Merry's seiyuu, did a terrific job. Not once did she sound like a beginner, and her voice even came off as really refreshing. Merry's probably not the easiest role to nail either, but I can already tell she's got it right and should build a likable character. The rest of the voice work was excellent as well, whether it be from Okamoto Nobuhiro who shows that he does have some range, or the also rookie Kayano Ai - the sound director must be doing something right.