Monogatari Series Second Season - Anime News & Speculation (No Spoilers)

[FelynxTiger]

=w= It's loli time

[FelynxTiger]

Oni PV 2:
http://www.monogatari-series.com/2nd.../oni_pv02.html

[shinyaNakagawa]

let me fix that.

Originally Posted by FelynxTiger

=w= It's super loli time

[Daniel Lind]

Originally Posted by FelynxTiger

Oni PV 2:
http://www.monogatari-series.com/2nd.../oni_pv02.html

That guitar...

[Altima of the Gates]

Now, I have a picture here for the newspaper exclusive for Shinobu.

Spoiler for Shinobu Science - warning, pretty big:

Edit: Fixed

[shinyaNakagawa]

Originally Posted by Altima of the Gates

Now, I have a picture here for the newspaper exclusive for Shinobu, and I am pretty sure it says "Shinobu Seance". Is that right?

Spoiler for Shinobu Seance - warning, pretty big:

Shouldn't it be 'Science'?

[Altima of the Gates]

That is what I was guessing if it wasn't 'Seance'.

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by Altima of the Gates

That is what I was guessing if it wasn't 'Seance'.

It's science. You must be mistaking the "sa" for a "se".

[ultimate_noob]

I just saw the new Madoka movie in the cinema today and oh boy the quality of the movie from monogatari SS is quite different. Its like the whole shaft staff is considering this show a side project despite having two cours.

My only hope is that koi and hana will never suffer the same *harsh* treatment from shaft like the other arcs did.

Where the money blooms is where they go I guess.

/rant

[relentlessflame]

I don't think it's a matter of it being a side-project or whatever else, but I would guess that they probably had as much time to produce the movie as they have to produce this entire show (that has many, many times as many minutes of content), which is why they make up for it with massive Blu-Ray edits/improvements/re-animation. In the end, expecting theatrical quality from a two-cour TV show isn't really realistic. Plus, I think this project is sufficiently different in style and approach that it can afford the more limited TV showing (with revamped disc release). I'd even say that it's part of this show's "charm", in a way. In the end, both projects will be quite financially successful for Aniplex and all, despite the vastly different approaches to the production.

[shinyaNakagawa]

I think what ultimate_noob really meant is the content in the series itself not just the visualization and animation quality. I do feel Shaft is not trying that hard for this season. They compressed too many stuff for the 2-cours' sake. As for BD/DVD version of the show, well, they only fixed and replaced some scenes with new artworks, the content itself doesn't really changed nor improved.

Meh.

[Tyabann]

I feel much the same, really.
It's not just the visual quality that suffered this season compared to Bake/Nise, it's that the show is by and large boring, and not all of that can be blamed on the source material.
None of the talented people at Shaft are working on this... Shinbo certainly isn't, he's just "supervising" like he does with 90% of the shows under his name.

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by Kaisos Erranon

I feel much the same, really.
It's not just the visual quality that suffered this season compared to Bake/Nise, it's that the show is by and large boring, and not all of that can be blamed on the source material.
None of the talented people at Shaft are working on this... Shinbo certainly isn't, he's just "supervising" like he does with 90% of the shows under his name.

I certainly wouldn't call this show "boring" in the slightest, but I think it's inevitable that it doesn't have the same wow factor as the earlier seasons because this is now a long series of stories, and we've entered the middle part of the trilogy. I don't even necessarily think that the style and approach here is all that different from the previous seasons at all, even in terms of how much content is covered vs. cut.

And, honestly, I don't think you can say that "none of the talented people" are working on it. The writers and storyboard artists/episode directors are mostly people who've worked on the previous seasons as well. There hasn't been a major staff change on the creative level.

It's just that the anime novelty is wearing off a bit. Perhaps part of that is having the stories one after the other so the pattern of the style is more apparent.

[zato_1one]

I agree with relentlessflame about the staff, art style and direction. I'd say that if you feel bore then it's mostly because of the source material. I read novel spoiler of this season. And to tell the truth, I think that Nadeko arc is my most favorite and most interesting. This is also the truth for the anime, IMO. The series is still fun to watch for me. It just like someone said in the forum. This is the only anime which could keep me hooked on the screen by only showing two people simple chatting for almost the entire episode. But I do feel that other characters are not as interesting and fun to watch as Senjougahara. :\

[Altima of the Gates]

@relentlessflame: Yeah, it would be silly to say none of the talented people are working on it, what with the excellent finish to Tsubasa Tiger, the great visual effects in Nadeko Medusa, and the masterful way that they did Shinobu's narration of the past for Shinobu Time, which some novel readers praise as being much more engaging than the book was.

At this point, sorry to say, but people are really looking at Bake though rose tinted nostalgia glasses. I for one, can't say that Shaft isn't "trying as hard" on this season, and that would be a great insult to the staff to say so.

There are flaws, some animation at the start of Tsubasa Tiger was kind of funky, and Kabuki definitely could have been done better(especially at the end), but this saying it doesn't measure up to Bake or Nise (especially when people had been ragging on Nise heavily during its production for not having the Bake style) is just false.

@zato: well without getting into character favorites here, Hitagi really is just overrated even if she is a good character. Particularly that people really don't seem to be able to give the other characters a chance. But that could be said gice-versa for some other fans as well. I kind of feel people never really approach discussion with an open mind much in fandoms anymore, but that is just me.

[zato_1one]

Originally Posted by Altima of the Gates

@zato: well without getting into character favorites here, Hitagi really is just overrated even if she is a good character. Particularly that people really don't seem to be able to give the other characters a chance. But that could be said gice-versa for some other fans as well. I kind of feel people never really approach discussion with an open mind much in fandoms anymore, but that is just me.

She is really a great character. And I do like other characters. It's just that no one else can amuse me as much as her. Her interaction with Araragi is pure gold. My second favorite is the interaction between Kanbaru and Araragi.

[DorkingtonPugsly]

I think there are plenty of interesting characters that aren't Hitagi.

I for one savor every interaction that Gaen has with someone. I love it.

[Altima of the Gates]

Originally Posted by zato_1one

She is really a great character. And I do like other characters. It's just that no one else can amuse me as much as her. Her interaction with Araragi is pure gold. My second favorite is the interaction between Kanbaru and Araragi.

It is an observation I mostly get from fandoms mostly. You may 'like' other characters, but if you find yourself too often asking, "I wish Hitagi were here" in the back of your mind, you can't really say it doesn't affect your enjoyment of the story even if it is a preference. People have preferences for sure, but we have to ask whether that clouds us from enjoying other aspects of the show.

For instance, the relative lack of viewer feedback in this season would be what I am getting at. Some would say, "it doesn't feel like Bake" or something along those lines. If I asked the question, "what is Bake to you?" it is doubtful that I would get answers that weren't keyed toward a character or pairing, which is okay. However, I feel that is also the cause of the relative lack of viewer feedback at this stage of the game.

[dmaxzero]

My issue at this point with the series is in the LN. I am kind of bored seeing Araragi doing the same to solve the issues over and over.

[Tyabann]

Originally Posted by Altima of the Gates

@relentlessflame: Yeah, it would be silly to say none of the talented people are working on it

Shaft's top animators from Bake aren't here. Shinbo's presence really can't be felt either, especially compared to, say, Sasami-san.
While sure, the overall creative staff is unchanged, I don't think you can tell me Monogatari S2 is as interesting to look at, even though they're more on top of things than they were during Bakemonogatari's production.
I just don't feel as though they're trying as hard. It's routine at this point.

Originally Posted by Altima of the Gates

this saying it doesn't measure up to Bake or Nise (especially when people had been ragging on Nise heavily during its production for not having the Bake style)

People ragged on Nise for "having fanservice" (as though Bake didn't) because they're complete idiots. It looked much, much better than S2 and a hell of a lot more consistent than Bake.