(L) X-Men (Madhouse)

[Funkatron]

I'm not digging these monstrous mutants. They look too much like rejects from a Godzilla movie. Almost too... Japanese? Does that make any sense at all?

[Patriot's Blade]

am i the only one who lol'ed at Cyclop's Kaga fell in love with Yui part? its like he has telephatic powers that surpasses both Xavier's & Emma's, WHAT?

[duckroll]

Heh, looks like the "leaked" animator list for ep9 was fake after all. Although Masayuki Satou, Masahiro Kurio, and Yoshihiko Umakoshi did work on it. Haven't seen the episode myself yet, but I'm still looking forward to it!

[duckroll]

Ep9 was by far the best episode since the first episode. I'm really impressed. Great action, good plot developments, and everything really feels like it's coming together. The episode was really well storyboarded, and there was some pretty awesome animation in various scenes.

The best part is that Hayama's art style makes the entire episode look very different from the rest of the series. And unlike Niho's style in ep4, the characters here look much more detailed and refined, so it's clearly a specific art style which is consistent throughout and won't be mistaken as "bad art".

The preview looks badass too.

[GDB]

Originally Posted by duckroll

Ep9 was by far the best episode since the first episode. I'm really impressed. Great action, good plot developments, and everything really feels like it's coming together.

Including Hisako kind of play-flirting with Wolverine, which was rather humorous.

[Kallen4life]

gonna watch ep9 soon


on a side-note - First Class movie turned out to be awesome and exceeded all my expectations

[taelrak]

LOL! Cyclops enjoyed that little "fight" just a tad too much....

Action scenes were decent, but the art quality during the conversation scenes were awful :/

[kache]

Originally Posted by GDB

Including Hisako kind of play-flirting with Wolverine, which was rather humorous.

Especially considering Wolverine has a long history of "relationships" with underage girls...

[GDB]

Originally Posted by kache

Especially considering Wolverine has a long history of "relationships" with underage girls...

I prefer to remember his mentoring roles, including but not limited to Shadowcat and Jubilee.

[Arabesque]

When your Logan's age, everyone starts becoming underage.

The main problem is that Hisako is Japanese, and considering how his past relationship ...

Anyway, this episode

X-men's Bizarre Adventure Episode 9 indeed ... Maybe it because duckroll had posted that list that I hadn't really gotten a clear indication to what sort of episode this was going to be other than it was going to be more action packed, but damn if the nostalgia didn't hit me hard here.

Junichi Hayama worked on this this episode, and unlike past AD's, his style is pretty distinctive. I honestly got clued in when Jun started looking a whole lot like Jotaro, and since then it just brought back fond memories of that OVA.

Other than the fight with Wolverine though, this wasn't all that action packed. In fact, I'd say that the previous two episodes were a whole lot better in that department, with the past episode giving us IMO a better Cyclopes fight, and 7 and 4 (yes, Niho's episode) a more exciting Wolverine one.

Not to say this wasn't good at all. Seeing Wolverine jumping from place to platform was pretty nice and all, and the designs were very good (or is this my nostalgia talking?) but honestly? I thought that the best part about this episode were when there wasn't any fights. and when there wasn't slime rape involving Emma and Hisako Seriously guess, there is enough martial for the next Comiket as it is, no need to add further stuff to the gutter.

Seriously, the scene where the group were going to open the door? Such classic X-men. The way Logan acted when he was going to cut through the door, only for Scott to take the less destructive method, and then his reaction ... just the visuals of it was classic. Storm's and Armor's lines only sold it further. Really great scene.

Interesting developments all around with Mastermind finally showing up (though we had known that already ... oops?) Hopefully we can get a really big fight scene to send off this show.

Originally Posted by duckroll

Ep9 was by far the best episode since the first episode. I'm really impressed. Great action, good plot developments, and everything really feels like it's coming together. The episode was really well storyboarded, and there was some pretty awesome animation in various scenes.

Agreed

Originally Posted by duckroll

The best part is that Hayama's art style makes the entire episode look very different from the rest of the series. And unlike Niho's style in ep4, the characters here look much more detailed and refined, so it's clearly a specific art style which is consistent throughout and won't be mistaken as "bad art".

Not agreed.

Now it could be because I might might have really liked Niho's art style a lot here, but I can't see how it can be mistaken as bad art. I mean the style was also pretty consistent throughout the episode, and not every scene this episode was all that great looking. They were more or less the same in quality.

I mean episode 4 had the more amazing fight scene, both in concept (Wolverine fighting in an aerial battle) and look. The only problem was that it was too dark so it needed to be scene several times to figure out what was going on.

This episode on the other hand, while also great, had scenes where it felt like it was pretty padded out, and the transition between Wolverine's illusion and the actual happenings.

[Mr. DJ]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

Last I checked, Jug's helmet is specifically designed to defend against telepathic assault (especially from Xavier). The same might be true of Magneto's helmet, but I don't remember for certain in his case.

Magneto vs. this particular anime X-Men team would be a good fight. Ironically, I could see it coming down to Hisako. Now that would be something.

yes, their helmets serve as telepath shields, though Juggs' is easier to remove in comparison to Mags'

so far this series is doing better than Iron Man and Wolverine imo

[duckroll]

Originally Posted by Arabesque

Not agreed.

Now it could be because I might might have really liked Niho's art style a lot here, but I can't see how it can be mistaken as bad art. I mean the style was also pretty consistent throughout the episode, and not every scene this episode was all that great looking. They were more or less the same in quality.

I mean episode 4 had the more amazing fight scene, both in concept (Wolverine fighting in an aerial battle) and look. The only problem was that it was too dark so it needed to be scene several times to figure out what was going on.

This episode on the other hand, while also great, had scenes where it felt like it was pretty padded out, and the transition between Wolverine's illusion and the actual happenings.

I think you misunderstand. I'm not knocking on Niho's talent, but it's really not for everyone. His faces and overall visual detailing is one of his weak points when working on any series with a more established character design style. It might be how he prefers to draw people, but it will always be mistaken by the mainstream as "poor art" because his background as a web gif animator continues to reflect on his professional work as an animator.

Hayama's art is something that looks pretty normal in regards to anime. While the art in ep9 clearly shows a departure from the normal character designs of the series, it still looks like a pretty detailed anime style with good faces and solid shading. In fact the shading of shadows is something that Hayama is particularly known for, especially on faces. If the entire series looked like it did here, it wouldn't be particularly worrying because it would still look like an anime X-men series, just a slightly different one.

On the other hand, if the entire series looked like Niho's work, most likely Marvel would pull the show off air, and most people would stop watching after the first episode, commenting about how the show has a 2 dollar budget and is animated by morons. There's a reason why even with Niho's even more impressive work (motion and animation wise) on Birdy, his scenes were not met with many positive comments from the normal viewers, and some of his scenes were completely reanimated on DVD.

Let's face it, the majority of people watching anime aren't watching for sakuga cred, but just watching to have a good time. They have no deeper understanding of animation techniques, or the people behind them. They only know that if what they're seeing on screen isn't appealing, they get turned off. That is the sort of impact that animators like Niho, Utsunomiya, and Osamu Kobayashi have. Their styles are just a bit too "different" for the average viewer.

That's all I was commenting on.


Edit: On another side note, I too watched First Class today, and it turned out a lot more entertaining than I expected. For a little over 2 hours in runtime, the movie really got full bang for buck, fitting each and every scene with interesting stuff. The writing was pretty good too.

[Arabesque]

Originally Posted by duckroll

I think you misunderstand.

That I did, that I did

>.>

Originally Posted by duckroll

Hayama's art is something that looks pretty normal in regards to anime. While the art in ep9 clearly shows a departure from the normal character designs of the series, it still looks like a pretty detailed anime style with good faces and solid shading. In fact the shading of shadows is something that Hayama is particularly known for, especially on faces. If the entire series looked like it did here, it wouldn't be particularly worrying because it would still look like an anime X-men series, just a slightly different one.

Besides people wondering why there are mutants in Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, yeah you are right.

Originally Posted by duckroll

On the other hand, if the entire series looked like Niho's work, most likely Marvel would pull the show off air, and most people would stop watching after the first episode, commenting about how the show has a 2 dollar budget and is animated by morons. There's a reason why even with Niho's even more impressive work (motion and animation wise) on Birdy, his scenes were not met with many positive comments from the normal viewers, and some of his scenes were completely reanimated on DVD.

Even the most impressive scenes get reanimated, though. That might not be an indication that Niho's scenes were that bad, other wise he wouldn't have worked on both seasons.

I mean I get your point, Niho's style is obviously not going to get a lot of love from casual viewers, but I don't think that means that Marvel is going to pull the plug on the show. I mean even on episode 4 the designs of the characters was not bad at all, and wasn't that distinctive to the past 3 episodes. It only changed during the fight scene.

I mean even Hayama style isn't always positively received. I honestly think that people can till the difference between truly bad animation and Niho's style.

Originally Posted by duckroll

Let's face it, the majority of people watching anime aren't watching for sakuga cred, but just watching to have a good time.

I think that the two overlap quite a lot though. I mean a really good looking scene is going to make people enjoy the show more right?

Originally Posted by duckroll

Edit: On another side note, I too watched First Class today, and it turned out a lot more entertaining than I expected. For a little over 2 hours in runtime, the movie really got full bang for buck, fitting each and every scene with interesting stuff. The writing was pretty good too.

I liked the anime more, to be honest lol but the movie was much better than I thought. I mean I just walked in to watch Emma Frost wear nothing but her underwear, but it had some pretty neat overall. The acting in particular was pretty good (mostly) the story was interesting, and like you said the writing was actually decent.

Kinda makes me wish they used the movie!Emma's design as bases for the anime!Emma's though.

[duckroll]

Originally Posted by Arabesque

I mean even Hayama style isn't always positively received. I honestly think that people can till the difference between truly bad animation and Niho's style.

While I -hope- that it is true, I can unfortunately say that I know enough people personally who find Niho's style to be plain bad. I find his use of movement very interesting and refreshing, but there are definitely those who feel that "interesting and refreshing" are just sugar-coated ways of saying "weird and ugly".

I think that the two overlap quite a lot though. I mean a really good looking scene is going to make people enjoy the show more right?

Yes, there is definitely overlap. What I'm saying is not that a well animated scene is goes unappreciated, but rather that generally people will gauge something based on expectations. Since most viewers probably don't follow sakuga news and credits for individual episodes, their expectations are generally that a series should look consistent across all episodes. So unusual art directions which contrast sharply with those expectations are more likely to be negatively perceived if the viewer doesn't understand why it happened.

I liked the anime more, to be honest lol but the movie was much better than I thought. I mean I just walked in to watch Emma Frost wear nothing but her underwear, but it had some pretty neat overall. The acting in particular was pretty good (mostly) the story was interesting, and like you said the writing was actually decent.

Kinda makes me wish they used the movie!Emma's design as bases for the anime!Emma's though.

I think it's interesting to compare the movie and the anime because they're both current adaptations of X-men which feature Emma Frost and a variation of the Hellfire Club. I find that the anime portrayal of Emma is far superior to the one in First Class. Not only was the character in the movie a waste, but they never really did much with her or explored much of her character at all. On the other hand, the anime does a pretty solid job of showing her various powers, as well has her back story.

But overall, in terms of the general storyline and how the various characters are used and tied into the story, the movie does a much better job of making it feel like an X-men storyline. The anime wasted far too much time with uneventful conflicts which did far too little to move the plot forward. The fights in the movie were really well done, especially the mutant vs mutant ones. I like the anime mutant vs mutant fights a lot too, so hopefully since they've been building up on that from ep7 onwards, they continue with it.

Fights featuring superheroes vs supervillains are much more interesting than X-men fighting giant monsters, robot armies, etc imo. Although, I have to say, having a mix of crazy random villains in the anime really makes it feel like -anime-. So that's a plus. It feels like the X-men characters we know simply stepping into a wacky 90s Madhouse action OVA and fighting anime villains instead of X-men villains.

But yeah, I've had enough of that, and I really hope the last 3 episodes focus on the X-men fighting the Inner Circle members. I loved the Mastermind fight in ep9, because watching mutant powers being used in fights just makes it more exciting and interesting to watch.

[Kallen4life]

watched ep9 - Mastermind was a nice break from the lame u-men, hope we get more


and yes, I didn't particularly like FC Emma, anime-version is better and more screen-time lol .. however, in other aspects (mostly Xavier & especially Michael Fassbender as Magneto) FC was an incredible film, I will likely go watch it a second time

[v1cious]

So are we ever gonna get to see Magneto in this series, or is the outro false advertising?

[kenjiharima]

^
It's probably like the Wolverine anime with Sabertooth being there, but he's not, it's more like flashbacks from the past when the credits roll. Unlike the Ironman I was shocked it was the ending of the series that was shown in the ED.

ep.8-9 it's like they took a page out of resident evil. lol.

Also how could prof.X have a son?.... O_o another lie?

[klare]

team X-men has the number advantage in this fight, they should win against team circle

question is how will the professor escape

[duckroll]

Tonight's fight should be pretty exciting. I'm looking forward to it. Newtype has updated with the known staff credits for the last two episodes:

Ep11
Script: Mitsutaka Hirota
Episode Director: Yukio Nishimoto
Storyboard: Satoshi Nishimura, Ken Ootsuka
Animation Director: Undecided

Ep12
Script: Mitsutaka Hirota
Episode Director/Storyboard: Fuminori Kizaki
Animation Director: Michinori Chiba

[FlareKnight]

Originally Posted by GDB

I prefer to remember his mentoring roles, including but not limited to Shadowcat and Jubilee.

Those were good times. He actually was a pretty good mentor.

Though really when you consider him getting into a relationship with anyone the age gap is going to be pretty big thanks to his mutation keeping his aging slow.