(L) Sora no Woto

[einhorn303]

Spoiler for spoiler for Episode 01:

Strike Witches: 15 year old girl joins the military.
K-On: Highschool girl who's horrible at playing an instruments becomes great at it with the help of her friends.

Soranowoto: Combine those two previous plots. Add awesomeness.

Not that I have a problem with anime being derivative sometimes. It's like, "you see furthest by standing on the shoulder of giants." That's one of anime's greatest strengths as a medium.

(Ok, technically Yoshika was 14 when she enlisted, but she turned 15 abouth a month in on Sanya's birthday in episode 6)

And I love the show so far. The direction/scene composition is really cinematic and good. I can feel the "anime no chikara" here. It knows the right time to have little pauses of silence, snatches of bird song, or pans over scenery to make you vicariously feel the wonder of the characters.

There are some good points in the critique of the animation (Rio's trumpet playing). But on the whole it's far more expressive and realistic than most other current anime. They may not have a KyoAni sized budget, but the budget they do have is being used well. That's another part of the "anime no chikara"...the artistry born from limited animation, as opposed to Disney-style complete animation. The purpose isn't to show you movement, it's to give you the feeling of movement and vitality through stylistic techniques and visual tricks. I'd rather take animation like Soranowoto and have the occasional choppy frame, then other shows that are just static talking heads with flapping mouths and no attempt at depicting volume or proper anatomy.

Rio's trumpet animation also seems to say "this isn't really a music-based anime."

Originally Posted by Spectacular_Insanity

All I have to say in regards to the long discussions about animation, etc. is that you people need to stop nitpicking over thing like framerate (seriously, who the fuck cares?) and take the value of the show based on plot and character development. Besides, there was nothing wrong with the animation in the first place. Anyone who is paying attention to the FPS of fabric in the background has too much time on their hands.

This is anime. Anime is the domain of otaku, and discussion like this has been a key part of it since people were recording Macross onto VHS tapes back in the 80's. I think analysis of animation is fascinating, and I buy entire shows just to watch 2-second shots looped over and over again.

[Dop]

The 'fortress' was giving me strong vibes of Haibane Renmei's 'Old Home', even before we discovered...

Spoiler for ep.2:

it used to be a school. Finding the old books which they can't read was a nice touch (and the only thing they could read was the music).

I really want the back-story to be further explored.

[einhorn303]

Spoiler for Episode 02:

- Kureha is Perrine. Noel is Sanya (not quite, but it's still kind of funny. Hmm...Noel is Sanya, with a touch of Ursula Hartmann?).
- Breast size jokes incoming.
- And now Kureha is having a whole "I may just be a child, but don't underestimate me!" moe dynamic. This stuff emphasizes what I'm liking about Soranowoto...it can pander to otaku and at the same time be a quality show. There are plenty of shows out there that can do only one of those at a time, but the true gems are those that do both.
- From the map at 07:32, all the provinces are based on numbers. I don't know French, but based on general Latin knowledge it's something like:
une: 1
treize: 2
quatre: 4
cinq: 5
seize: 6
dix: ?
vinot: ?
neu...(?): ?
onze: 11?
- Then at 13:32 you see more, with "zero," "huit," "dix-huit," "dix-neuf," "dix-sept." Pretty odd that there's actually a province numbered zero...did computer scientists come up with this? (it's like array indexing)
- I like how Kureha's twintails look with her helmet on. They remind me of dog ears (inumimi).
- They really let 14 year old girls join the military and carry around guns and stuff? Their society really is in a different place than our own. With the reduced population, I guess it might be like in Sky Girls..."The world population was dramatically reduced, so the military has to take everyone they can, even kids."
- There might be something up with that owl. It has a tendency to always conveniently lead Kanami to important stuff (hey, look at this demon fossil. Hey, let's go on an adventure to bond with your squadmate and become friends). Kind of reminds me of the crows from Haibane Renmei.

It might just be because I'm reading "The Windup Girl" right now, but after seeing Kanami explore that school, I totally feel like the world of Soranowoto might be post-apocalyptic Europe. Not so much an apocalypse, that is, as a "contraction," a gentle decline of civilization caused by oil running out or some other global crisis. That would explain the mishmash of cultures...Europe just had tons of immigrants, including many Japanese in this future.

The extremely utilitarian (numbered) naming of the provinces also seems to reflect, rather than tradition, a sudden political shift/catastrophe. Sort of like the "Area Eleven" and all that in Code Geass. I dunno why I'm using that as an example, but I guess in speculating on anime settings, "how political science works" is less predictive than "how Japanese anime script writers think political science works."

[Falkor]

Originally Posted by typhonsentra

I probably shouldn't of brought up my complaint about animation mistakes (Although I still stand by it) because it seems it diluted my original argument which was supposed to be focused on the fluidity of the character's motion and various corner cutting. To be clear I'm not necessarily opposed to the style, it's just that going with it usually is supposed to lead to higher quality animation looking at A-1's previous work, this show is a downgrade in both categories.

now it's animation "mistakes"... wow, seriously...

character designs, as far as I know, define how the characters look (hair color, clothing, facial features, etc.) and it can be easily associated to a particular style---as the name implies, it's the design of a character. it has very little do with how the animation is going to be handled, which depends entirely in the quality and quantity of animators hired by the studio, the storyboard/script, the director (or episode directors) and other people that form part of the staff. That's the reason why I'm not surprised when some people look forward to a particular show based on whom they hire to animate it. Even then, the level of detail (animation quality) varies depending on the time/money budget and some other factors. in my opinion, little to do with character designs, or the style used on them.

I keep looking at this thing trying to figure out why it bugs me (Besides the stuff about placement in my previous post), so I compared it to other shows on how they handle similar angles and something struck me: all they did was flip it, did squeezed the left one together about 25% and added the line for the nose over the very end of it's right side. K-On (Comparison rooted in the similar style) handles this effect by making the perspective eye much, much thinner.

wow, seriously, you should stop trying to guess-estimate how the picture "should" look like or how it has been "theoretically" conceived. doesn't work that way, really...

Nothing to do with style. I'm no expert but it seems like drawing body lines on slender characters is considerably more difficult than drawing ones for either a very overweight one or one that's completely covered in bulky clothes. If you accidentally draw pant legs or sleeves like these ones s little too wide or slim it'll be far less noticeable than making the same mistake with a bare arm or leg, correct?

wow, I was hoping for you to actually draw it, showing us that it was indeed easier compared to something else. =D

and do you remember what I said? for the animators to follow these character designs, they still have to worry just as much about proportions (and their unique traits) in order to create likeness, so the same character doesn't look dissimilar from one picture to the other.

is drawing bulky clothing easier than normal clothing? it's clothing, you still have to draw it, still have to create the illusion of form!!! still pay attention to the different parts that make up the clothing (like belts, boots, pockets, buttons, etc.), still worry about an imaginary light source, still worry about the level of detail, still worry about shadow shapes created by the multiple foldings, still worry about the size according to the height/proportions of the character, still worry about the general picture/composition, and they still have to worry about proportions in order to create likeness, whether the clothing ends up a bit too small or a bit too big.

is drawing clothing easier to do than the body itself? not really... neither one is easier...

We're arguing around each other on this point. It's probably my fault for using language that sounded harsher than I intended.

and I should apologize for arguing like this... something about your comment really bothered me...

[Roardel]

I can’t stop laughing at the "ghost" (though we can easily guess).

I like Kureha. She’s so cute.
And the opening movie. It reminds me of Elfen Lied so much.

[einhorn303]

Spoiler for Episode 01:

- At first I thought I'd dislike Kanata's VA. Apparently she's a model, and I've always disliked the trend of casting celebrities or models as voice actors...Hollywood does it way too often. But I was pleasantly surprised.
- With Soranowoto's unique mixture of European references, I feel Seize might be based on the Italian island of glassblowing, Murano (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murano). I remember visiting there with my family as a child, and they had glass dolphins exactly like the ones in Rio's window!
- The random freckled loli is on the site's character page (http://www.sorawoto.com/chara/chara09.html), so I guess she'll be a recurring character. I welcome with open arms the new area of "gap-tooth moe."
- For Noel, happiness is working on her tank. I think I'm gonna grow to love her.

[BBOvenGuy]

Originally Posted by einhorn303

- At first I thought I'd dislike Kanata's VA. Apparently she's a model, and I've always disliked the trend of casting celebrities or models as voice actors...Hollywood does it way too often. But I was pleasantly surprised.

They've had a run of good luck with "celebrity" VA's lately, with Takabe Ai in Aoi Hana, Hoshii Nanase in Kemono no Souja Erin and both leads in Michiko to Hatchin.

[Bombo]

Spoiler for Episode 2:

9/10 episode 2 ..So awesome and I love Rio when checking this owl from yesterday? HAHAHA <3

the anime have girl called Noel Kannagi....><

[Midonin]

Originally Posted by BBOvenGuy

They've had a run of good luck with "celebrity" VA's lately, with Takabe Ai in Aoi Hana, Hoshii Nanase in Kemono no Souja Erin and both leads in Michiko to Hatchin.

This isn't the first time Kanata's VA has done voice acting either. She did have a bit part as Edogawa's sister in Sora no Manimani; the school festival episode.

[Kaoru Chujo]

This is an interesting group of seiyuus, so I've made a characters/seiyuus page showing pictures of each character and their seiyuu, along with info about each seiyuu. Here's a simple group shot to introduce them:



front (l-r): Kanemoto Hisako (Kanata), Kobayashi Yuu (Rio).
rear (l-r): Kitamura Eri (Kureha), Yuuki Aoi (Noeru), Endou Aya (Felicia).

This is Kanemoto's debut role, apart from the bit part Midonin just mentioned. She has done a couple of games: Sword World 2.0 and Tower of Aion. I thought she had been in show business before, as a model of something, but I can find no info about previous work in entertainment anywhere. Endou Aya (Sheryl in MacrossF) just seems to do every role well, with her soothing and flexible voice. And KitaEri makes a big impression as Kureha in episode 2.

And Yuuki Aoi, after breaking in a couple of years ago as Murasaki in Kure-nai, is now becoming a big name, cast in four current shows (see linked page), including as Mina Tepes in Vampire Bund. And she sounds different in all four roles. She has been an actress for years, having been in ten dramas and three films.

EDIT: Here's Yuuki Aoi's website "Aoi Town." Click "diary" to see her photo blog.

[Spectacular_Insanity]

Originally Posted by einhorn303

This is anime. Anime is the domain of otaku, and discussion like this has been a key part of it since people were recording Macross onto VHS tapes back in the 80's. I think analysis of animation is fascinating, and I buy entire shows just to watch 2-second shots looped over and over again.

Get a life much?

[konart]

Originally Posted by Shiroth

This is nothing like Nausicaa.

I was talking about the idea of the post-apocalyptic world itself. Not the production\animation\whatever

[typhonsentra]

At this point we're probably going to abandon this discussion as we're just repeating the same things over and over and talking over one another.... right after one last thing.

I can accept a lot of our differences, even the stuff about perspectives but... saying perfect proportions matter less with bulky clothes should be in no way shape or form controversial, the fact that it's gotten you so worked up it pretty weird. Her clothes subtly change change frame for frame quite a bit in the show but you never notice it because your eye can write it off as the clothes ruffling with her movement or the wind or something similar. We don't see too much of her without all her gear in the episode however....

Spoiler:

Unless she's just been freed from a concentration camp or part bird, her legs are messed up here (We see her legs again later, much more shapely then). When you mess up by making the pants slightly too big or slightly too small only a nitpicker going frame by frame would notice. However when the same is applied to arms and legs, even small mistakes can have bad results. By the way, this wasn't something that was just up for a single frame, her legs were like that for 10 whole seconds, sometimes they were even drawn thinner than in the capture.

[sirn]

Did anybody else notice in episode 2…

Spoiler for episode 2:

that all thunder scene includes at least one ghost, in the background?

[Kunagisa]

Episode 2 is great as well. In a group of 5 like this, there is usually one or two of the group that I am apathetic about, which is not the case here however. All of the girls are pretty likable so far, though Noel is probably my favorite at the moment. Kudos to Kitamura Eri for not making Kureha annoying despite the character's personality (ESPECIALLY Kureha's character type's the one that I hate most of the time); I honestly have not watched any of her shows since LastExile and Blood+ (unless if you count Bakemonogatari, which she did have an epic monologue after the end of one episode that I can't recall at the moment).

The music continues to be awesome. It is what I consider to be distinctive for this series. There are WAY MANY cliches in the episode, yet somehow everything felt refreshing and fall into place just because of the music.

Although I didn't notice in the previous episode but ...

Spoiler for 2:

seeing the basketball court when they were showing the tank instantly alerted me that they are in a school. Seeing the tank again re-affirms my idea that the tank will be the spider in the legend because the legs look really freaking long.

Also, I laughed when I saw nomansland on the map.

Still no sign of where the story is going besides the hint dropped in episode 1, but that is expected of a setup episode.

PS: On a very random note, Cloud Age Symphony and Over the Sky are still the best and MOOD-FITTING OP/ED for me. DAMN IT GONZO WHY DID YOU HAVE TO DIE T___T

[Traece]

Originally Posted by stuopidget

PS: On a very random note, Cloud Age Symphony and Over the Sky are still the best and MOOD-FITTING OP/ED for me. DAMN IT GONZO WHY DID YOU HAVE TO DIE T___T

Cloud Age Symphony is definitely a favorite.

Funny you should mention that because this anime actually reminded me of Last Exile musically, and in the art. All vast distances of mountains and clouds really makes me think about Last Exile. Probably because Last Exile is literally ONLY mountains and clouds (that's all their world really has, to be honest).

My watching of this anime in any fashion was based purely off of the recommendation of someone in the General Anime forum in a topic intended to list what 2010 animes you like.

Surprisingly enough out of all the animes I've watched these last couple of days this was easily the best of them. I don't know how, but the prevalent K-On theme with the addition of really awesome looking tanks (when I say awesome, I mean when I saw it for the first time I did this: for about half a minute).

I'm not entirely sure what to say about this anime, considering it really does seem to be K-On if instead of highschoolers, they are in the military. The first episode excelled in trying to draw you in to watching the rest of the episodes, and the characters were all extremely likable. Even the characters who don't say a word and just fill up the background had likable qualities because they were either laughing and splashing people with water, or smiling and enjoying themselves. Even the uptight military man who drove her (Now I have to say, the last time I saw motorcycle driving like THAT, the male lead was in a coma for the rest of the school year) up to the town was nice past the formalities.

[FlareKnight]

Spoiler for Ep2:

I have to say the hints about the background have seemed the most interesting to me at this point. Looking to be a post disaster future of some sort. Making a damaged school into a base, textbooks that can't be read, and revealing a much lower population due to the schools in their capital not even being that large. I'm curious about what exactly went down.

Still fairly fun and getting introductions taken care of. Curious about where this show is going to go.

[Cosmic Eagle]

I wonder if the tank and dragon bones are related......

Also, anyone else think the girls are in pretty terrible spot? Just one tank holding an entire section of the border?

[Hypernova]

-Agreed that the walker tank is the spider of legend.
-Nomansland is quite probably ground zero of a nuclear war.
-It is possible that they lost basic cartography technology and the current map is a copy from a old military map that was used to only designate sites of major event's. Hence the numbering like einhorn303 pointed out (Nice find as I had no idea they were French numbers).
-The Japanese race that inhabited the place got destroyed and the current civilisation are immigrants hence they have no idea about the language.

[Kotohono]

Originally Posted by FlareKnight

Spoiler for Ep2:

I have to say the hints about the background have seemed the most interesting to me at this point. Looking to be a post disaster future of some sort. Making a damaged school into a base, textbooks that can't be read, and revealing a much lower population due to the schools in their capital not even being that large. I'm curious about what exactly went down.

Still fairly fun and getting introductions taken care of. Curious about where this show is going to go.

Spoiler for episode 2:

Yea I agree the episode was good, but the history or such of the setting is starting to look pretty interesting definitely a good reason to keep watching besides that the characters are pretty likable so far, and also I still have no idea where the plot is going yet.