(L) Mononoke (Noitamina in July 2007) (Bakeneko sequel)

[White Manju Bun]

Originally Posted by monir

Have any specific timeframes in mind?

Anything that has the Medicine Seller in it. So the beginning or the end.

[monir]

Here are a few of the guy who cracked me up a bit:

Then the medicine seller who knows how to work it for the camera in no particular order:

Spoiler for saving space:

[White Manju Bun]

SQUEE!!!!! Thanks monir-san!! ~gives cookies~ The Medicine Seller definitely knows how to work the camera

[Snoop']

You forgot the awesome card circle !


Yeah, Tokuji is a priceless character, I love his way of speaking.
BTW, there's an abstract of the second episode on the official site. Oh I can feel that it will be gross !

Spoiler for ep.2:

あかずの間の怪異の原因はモノノ怪「座敷童子」だった。薬売りの男は退魔の剣を抜くために久代たちから座敷 童子の真と理を得ようとする。女将の口から、かつてこの宿屋が女郎屋であったこと、多くの女郎たちが「開か ずの間」でやや子を堕ろしたことが語られる。志乃とその胎内のややこを狙う座敷童子の理とは何 か・・・？
This house is a former brothel, and many women had to abort in the Sealed Room. What is the kotowari of the Zashikiwarashi, who seeks to raven Shino's baby ?

Heh, that's why the funky yellow kid wanted to take Shino to the room behind, and now that I think about it, the red tentacles/tapes were aiming at Shino, and they were made of the same fabric as his clothe (?).

[Monkey D. Luffy]

Looks great, can't wait for somone to sub this one.

[runpsicat]

The first ep will be aired again (in HDTV) on Kansai TV late tonight (or early morning tomorrow) JST, and it shouldn't suffer from missed recordings this time, so here's for hoping that nicer raws come out when the Kansai-based cappers get a fighting chance.

Edit - Also, I came across a 2ch poster claiming that the Bakeneko arc will be a completely different story despite having the same title as the Ayakashi arc. This would be cool if true, but has anyone come across that kind of information while perusing more reputable sources?

[physics223]

If it had a newer arc, or maybe a continuation ... or ANYTHING NEW I WILL PRAISE THIS SERIES EVEN MORE. :3

[SassyRobot]

Watched the raw of episode 1. First off I do not understand Japanese, nor have I seen Bake Neko. I downloaded it anyways because the art style really caught my eye and the show overall seemed interesting!

Anyways, I definitely liked what I saw, though I do agree about the somewhat "pretentious-feeling" start. Don't know if that's because it's the first episode, so it is trying to set the mood of the show, or because "artsy" shows just can't help giving off a pretentious vibe. Coming into this blind, I wasn't really sure what to expect, either. The end was very cool though If Black Sheep do pick it up, I will be following it for sure.

Really like the visual style and effects of the show, like the raindrops streaking down the screen. Good OP, too.

[runpsicat]

Black-Sheep is on board. Just getting held up a bit due to the silly soccer match-related delays that foiled some cappers when episode 1 first aired. The second airing is tonight, and it's known that reputable cappers record from Kansai TV, so we thought we'll wait it out just in case.

[monir]

Originally Posted by Snoop'

You forgot the awesome card circle !

That is indeed a good one. I took a screenshot of that one as well, but considering Manju is looking for screenshots to make icon, I though I would only post the ones that have good facial of the cool dude.

Spoiler:

This house is a former brothel, and many women had to abort in the Sealed Room. What is the kotowari of the Zashikiwarashi, who seeks to raven Shino's baby ?

Heh, that's why the funky yellow kid wanted to take Shino to the room behind, and now that I think about it, the red tentacles/tapes were aiming at Shino, and they were made of the same fabric as his clothe (?).

I was anticipating some discussion on the controversial subject of the "choices" (in some places in the world) after when the significance about the room was made apparent in the episode, but so far it seems the fans of the show are very open minded. Even though the episode itself wasn't scary at all, the room becomes creepy once the understanding dawns with a bit of after-thought.

[wao]

Originally Posted by monir

So we can expect the episode 2 to be filled with uberly cutesy thingy or an uberly exciting episode that is filled with those adrenaline pumping action scenes? Looking forward to it.

As for the episode, since the animated movement won't be made an issue to the series with 1D drawing to boot, I suppose the show can concentrate on the story telling more than any typical shows.

Episode 3 onwards.

And that's not 1D drawing. Shadows are added to 2D drawings to make them look a little 3D; without them they "look 2D". You can't really have 1D animation, I think.

Don't forget that in place of the lack of shadows, there are a LOT of costume details required for this show that makes it hard to draw in that sense (that is why the director and animation director are less bothered concentrating on the faces). At least here they're details that really add to the charm IMO (as compared to insanely detailed highlights and what not...)

I pity the colour designer for this show

EDIT: Call it a gut feeling or something, but I think we shouldn't expect too much from episode 2, at least if the staff is anything to go by... I'm looking more forward to episodes 3-5 - at least just to see Furuhashi's storyboard, WITH Chiaki Konaka's scripting!


EDIT2: Good god, the stuff I'm reading about the new Bakeneko arc.

Oi oi oi, don't let this be an Otogizoushi... but I am so dying to see what it'll be like anyway. But then he can't say his trademark line!

Mina-mina sama no makoto to kotowari - o-kiki negaitaku sourou!!11one

[Snoop']

Originally Posted by wao

Mina-mina sama no makoto to kotowari - o-kiki negaitaku sourou!!11one

It's "o-kikase negaitaku sourou".
Speaking of, I wonder if the medicine seller will have to say his famous lines in each arc :
- I use this sword to kill. The mononoke, that is.
- The kotowari is blablablah, the makoto is blablablah.
- Would you please tell me about your makoto and kotowari.
And of course the complicated "transform !" scene...

[Aniki Meiski]

It's 皆々様の真《まこと》と理《ことわり》、お聞かせ願いたく候《そうろう》.
真《まこと》truth
理《ことわり》reason
候《そうろう》Sorobun style sentence ending.

[Snoop']

Originally Posted by Aniki Meiski

候《そうろう》Sorobun style sentence ending.

Oh.
I thought it was 早漏《そうろう》.


...all right, I go kill myself.

And sorry to keep posting things for the few people who understand Japanese, but I found a nice blog (with many trackbacks), so here's the link for the Mononoke fanatics :
http://blog.livedoor.jp/loveless_zer.../50984838.html

[Aniki Meiski]

Originally Posted by Snoop'

Oh.
I thought it was 早漏《そうろう》.


...all right, I go kill myself.

And sorry to keep posting things for the few people who understand Japanese, but I found a nice blog (with many trackbacks), so here's the link for the Mononoke fanatics :
http://blog.livedoor.jp/loveless_zer.../50984838.html

お聞かせ願いたく候。
Okikase nagaitaku sourou.

You are right. It might be,
お聞かせ願いたく、早漏を。
Okikase nagaitaku, sourou wo.

[monir]

Originally Posted by wao

And that's not 1D drawing. Shadows are added to 2D drawings to make them look a little 3D; without them they "look 2D". You can't really have 1D animation, I think.

In this case I believe the show is definitely 1D animation-wise where the characters are concerned. Sure there are frames where shadows are added to make it appear 2D (i.e. the umbrellas, the medicine seller in few frames), and some bonus 3D effect like that l33t charm-circle in that screenshot posted by Snoop -- but in overall the series is 1D when we take animated movements into account. Okay, before you call me crazy, I'll try to explain myself why I think so. As we know, most series does animate characters separately and then add the background later on. In this show the character are drawn within the background. How do we know? By observing the movements of the characters. (I also wonder how many folks can actually appreciate this special little facts. Trying to animate characters when they are drawn in the background is an incredible feat itself. Not only the animators are forced to draw and redraw the characters over and over, but they are also redrawing the background over and over along with those characters. Watch Beyond the Cloud to give a feast to the senses those of you who have yet to see.)

Either way, I agree that technically speaking, there can't be any 1D animated movements. Even South Park can be nitpicked to pass a judgment to having 2D movements here and there. And yeah, we can all pity the guy/gal who gets to color these images.

[wao]

I don't know if I'm the one having a complete misunderstanding or whether you don't understand what 1-D really means, but I was pretty sure that a one-dimensional drawing would be a line. And I mean a LINE. Like a vector line. Not flat shapes as in a 2-D drawing.

Technically I suppose whatever is animated is 2-D since it's on a flat screen and isn't an object you can pick up, but the whole point is that 2-D is supposed to be "flat", like a square (with north-south and east-west dimensions), and 3-D has an extra dimension depth, like a cube (up-down dimension?). You can figure out this depth through a. shadows, and b. perspective/moving the camera around (and maybe a c. that I haven't even thought of).
In animation, character drawings are usually given depth by adding shades so that you know the chin hangs over the neck and casts a shadow on it, this arm is forward of the other, the leg has a cylindrical shape, etc. It is a stylistic choice (or perhaps it goes deeper than that) to omit drawing shadows and leave it "flat". There's a whole lot you can find out about artists starting to make their art more "flat" when it comes to art.

And are you so sure about the characters being drawn within the background? Just because it moves doesn't mean they're animated the same way. You don't have to re-draw the background each time the character moves if you have it on another layer, and even if you hand-draw moving backgrounds (not seen very often nowadays...) you'd put the character on another layer unless the character is being eaten up by the background or something.

[Snoop']

Actually, I'm pretty sure that 100% of the background is a 3-D model, like in Gankutsuou. You don't notice it until the camera moves because there are no shadows (or even cel-shading). For example, if you look carefully at the vase (?) on which the amniotic fluid ("yousui") falls at the end of the episode, the edges are polygonic.

And I totally agree with wao : a show in 1-D would consist in a dot (or a segment) moving along a single line !
All anime are a 2-D representation of a 3-D situation ; shadows merely help giving the illusion of depth.

[Zappster]

LOL. I wonder what the hell monir is on and what the hell he means. Whatever it is, I want what he's on.

I guess I'm one of the folks that can't "appreciate this special little facts" being that you sound as if you don't know what the hell you're talking about. Still, cookies for making me laugh.

[Snoop']

Zappster, you've got some nerve to openly laugh at a mod...