Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai NEXT (Anime 2nd Season) - General Discussion

[Malkuth]

Originally Posted by relentlessflame

Well, they have a new director, updated art, and the novel author involved with the story planning. So, we'll have to wait and see.

Kitahata Tooru, the new director was the assistant director of season one and lead director of KoiChoco, which in his area of responsibility was far worse than Haganai.

Also the involvement of the author based on past eperience is doubtful how much it can help. Writting novels requires a very different skillset then smoothly arranging them into 20 minute weekly visual presentations.

Add to that that Urahata Tatsuhiko is still involved with the series composition, and out of his 50 or so anime he has worked since the '90s, I liked only one... the only one where he wasn't responsible for the series composition

Finally, the animation and realization of the character designs, is bound to the less well-known animators that stuff and are contracted by the animation studio, and this will not change.

Despite all that, I agree that we have to wait, Haganai has strong source material, and I am satisfied with just a mediocre visual presentation. Nonetheless, some miracle might happen in between and all the above are rendered pointless

PS: Anime character designs are by the same dude, in between.

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by Malkuth

Kitahata Tooru, the new director was the assistant director of season one and lead director of KoiChoco, which in his area of responsibility was far worse than Haganai.

Also the involvement of the author based on past eperience is doubtful how much it can help. Writting novels requires a very different skillset then smoothly arranging them into 20 minute weekly visual presentations.

Add to that that Urahata Tatsuhiko is still involved with the series composition, and out of his 50 or so anime he has worked since the '90s, I liked only one... the only one where he wasn't responsible for the series composition

Finally, the animation and realization of the character designs, is bound to the less well-known animators that stuff and are contracted by the animation studio, and this will not change.

Well, I should start by saying that I didn't really have a problem with the first season; I rather liked it. It also sold rather well, and it's on that basis that it's getting a sequel. So it isn't exactly clear to me what failing you expect them to solve here.

For the director, I personally am not so sure that the direction was the main failing in his last project, but I don't know how much control he had on the story planning. And given that most of the rest of the points are related to the story planning, here too I'm not exactly sure what fault you are insinuating was at issue, but I generally take the involvement of the author as a good sign (in conjunction with the first season's story planner).

As for the character designs, animation, and realization... I didn't have a particular problem with the first season, but at least in the promo they've shown so far, it seems like they may have increased the attention to detail a bit. We'll see if it carries over to the actual show or not. Time and budget are always too major factors that determine how well the animation works out for the original airing.

In general terms, since this is a sequel and not a "reboot", it probably makes sense for it to carry on as it did last time, and to me at least that would be just fine.

[Malkuth]

^^ As we did when the anime was still airing, I am comparing the visuals with Denpa Onna. Based on this, it definitely lacks. Concerning the series composition, it was addressed here after several episodes, that the choice of mixing, stretching, or shortening stories wasn't working particularly well.

Now independent of whose responsibility that was, I am addressing the fact that most of staff will be the same, and that is more telling than a promotional video, about what to expect.

Nonetheless, Haganai was not bad, and deserved it sales, as well as a sequel, for which I am pretty excited. That doesn't mean though that compared to other anime from a genre I like, it is not the best, but also not among the worst.

TL;DR The staff is almost the same

[zeniselv]

you have to take into consideration, that since the series did so good, they migth put more budget/effort into this season.

[Om Nerabdator]

Damn i dont know what to think about yozura , shes acts up most times but its passable then she gets all cute with kodaka then she turns into a giant bloody bully and treats sena like a total whore, and all Sena wants is to be friends, she pisses me off something fierce!!

(been awhile since i watched this so the names might be off)

[Miraluka]

Originally Posted by zeniselv

you have to take into consideration, that since the series did so good, they migth put more budget/effort into this season.

Like Index II did? XD They (JCS) really needs stop calling for unreliable freelancers...

I have my hopes that Haganai S2 won't fail or rush its adaptation.

[Snuffle]

Originally Posted by mironicus

Spoiler for saving space:

Wow! Love the upgrade in the artwork! Yozora and Yukimura look the same but everyone else looks amazing. Kodaka looks more manly. Sena looks even more like a girl. Rika looks so different, a very nice enhancement (I doubt it's because her glasses are off). Kobato and Maria have better proportions. I also like the subtle change in the color palette as well. I'm not fond of harsh vibrant colors, I prefer the more pastel and pale styling.

[Chaos2Frozen]

Originally Posted by Wilfriback

Like Index II did? XD They (JCS) really needs stop calling for unreliable freelancers...

It did look prettier didn't it?

[supermegasonic]

Originally Posted by Mizuno

Yozora needs to grow her hair back.

YES plz!

Originally Posted by zeniselv

you have to take into consideration, that since the series did so good, they migth put more budget/effort into this season.

didnt think of it like that. if you make a bad anime, than its just simply bad, but if you make an anime good and than destroy it, will probably do more long term damage and resentment

[n120cky]

Originally Posted by Mizuno

Yozora needs to grow her hair back.

I think the short hair match her well, but it will be good if they show her hair grow as the story progressed.

[sky black swordman]

Yozora's hair looks great long or medium length. but short (By short I mean when she had just cut it) not so much. I still looks good but not as the other 2.

[Chaos2Frozen]

Normally I would agree that long hair > short hair, but in this rare particular case I really do think that she looks cuter with short hair

[zeniselv]

Originally Posted by Wilfriback

Like Index II did? XD They (JCS) really needs stop calling for unreliable freelancers...

I have my hopes that Haganai S2 won't fail or rush its adaptation.

Index 1 sales werent very good, it did help the LN's get a boost, but most of that was thanks to railgun, so it was somewhat understandeable why S2 was like that even if the LN's were hugely popular by the time it it got greenlighted, but i accept that some -a lot- second seasons rely on popularity to decrease the budget knowing fans will buy them regardless.

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by zeniselv

Index 1 sales werent very good, it did help the LN's get a boost, but most of that was thanks to railgun, so it was somewhat understandeable why S2 was like that even if the LN's were hugely popular by the time it it got greenlighted, but i accept that some -a lot- second seasons rely on popularity to decrease the budget knowing fans will buy them regardless.

The problem there wasn't budget as in money, it was budget as in time. They had revealed that the decision to make a sequel was rather last-minute so the production was rushed for the TV airing, and that was the cause of the production problems, many of which were fixed for the Blu-Rays/DVDs. Here, I don't think they're on quite as much of a time crunch since the sequel appears to have been in the works for quite some time. (And actually, when a first season sells well, it's also rather common that the second season gets a slightly bigger budget, which is useful because second season sales -- particularly for comedies -- tend to drop off a lot.)

[Westlo]

Considering Index II increased in sales on the first season (thanks to Railgun and also probably the LNs getting more and more popular) I would say we shouldn't worry about a low budget for the 3rd... especially if the movie does well.

Originally Posted by Chaos2Frozen

Normally I would agree that long hair > short hair, but in this rare particular case I really do think that she looks cuter with short hair

Yozora's short hair look just doesn't do it for me, anyway nice too see how proud Sena is in the new key visual.

[zeniselv]

hardly any comedy anime i like tend to get a second season so i couldnt judge, but judging by adaptations like shana, ZnT or asura crying, though that migth be just ASCII media works, also i readed that index 1 was so amazing because it had some great animators, and im not sure the only issue with that was time, since they for some reason didn't used some of the footage in the comicon PV, thing that bothers me to this day.

anyway i really welcome any improvement in any aspect of the second season, i wouldnt sat the first season is bad, but if i hadn't enjoyed the lightnovel so much , i most likely would had dropped it, also there is the point that this show came after mayo chiki, wich came from the same production comitee/pertners but different studio, so either they put less budget in haganai 1 knowing it was more popular, or my theory of aniplex shows affecting other animes in the same studio and period is true, something buth series i mentioned migth had in common.

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by zeniselv

also i readed that index 1 was so amazing because it had some great animators, and im not sure the only issue with that was time, since they for some reason didn't used some of the footage in the comicon PV

Being able to get great animators is mostly a function of time, because they are in demand and so have to be scheduled well in advance. (But I'm not sure if Haganai is a show that really demanded top-tier animation -- there's not that much action...) And it's quite common for PVs to be animated just for the sake of the PV, not using footage from the actual show (because, at the time the PV is shown, none of the episodes are yet complete).

Originally Posted by zeniselv

there is the point that this show came after mayo chiki, wich came from the same production comitee/pertners but different studio, so either they put less budget in haganai 1 knowing it was more popular, or my theory of aniplex shows affecting other animes in the same studio and period is true, something buth series i mentioned migth had in common.

I think neither of those theories are necessarily the case. Keep in mind that the specific staff involved also matter, both at the top level and all down the lines. Are the "budget problems" you're alluding to really about animation or are they more about the character designs and art direction? I know that Malkuth said that he was comparing the anime character designs/art to that of Denpa Onna and found it lacking in comparison, but I'm not really sure that had anything to do with budget, just the anime character designer and staff. Throwing more money at them would not necessarily have resulted in the characters being drawn differently, as that's just the style they went with.

[zeniselv]

Im aware of that, im not talking about the character designs, but of the amount of off-model scenes the series had previous to the disc release, what i meant is that most business's that provides a service and have multiple customers give preferential trait to the the customer that benefits them the most, wich is usually the one with most money, but yes, im also aware this is just my speculation.

[Miraluka]

http://akiba-souken.com/article/anime/14941/

OP: Be My Friend.

[DorkingtonPugsly]

Originally Posted by Wilfriback

http://akiba-souken.com/article/anime/14941/

OP: Be My Friend.

So the op is being done by the same producer, and it's supposed to go along nicely with the first season's, hmmm. I was not the biggest fan of that op song, it wasn't bad, just didn't do much for me. Hopefully this one will be better for me.

Also, are those images mid way through the page from that preview from some time ago, or are they unreleased stuff? I don't recall seeing them.