AnimeSuki Forums

totoum · 2013-04-19, 11:09

For some reason trigger had to reupload the vid (needed to add the anime mirai logo at the start it seems)

YouTube

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AbZeroNow · 2013-04-22, 17:30

Little Witch Academia may need its own thread now.

Crunchyroll get the witches too.

Very happy that CR is streaming it.

Dop · 2013-04-22, 18:21

All this attention would make me very surprised if Little Witch Academia doesn't get a spin-off series. Unless there's some kind of rule to Anime Mirai's government sponsorship that would forbid it.

Iron Maw · 2013-04-22, 19:43

Little Witch Academia is some of the best stuff I've years. Amazing it's just amateur work.

totoum · 2013-04-22, 20:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by Iron Maw

Amazing it's just amateur work.

It's not,I don't know why people get this idea.

@Dop: There's nothing that forbids it, in fact I'd say LWA , Aruvu Rezuru and Ryo all came in clearly with that intention in mind.

Random Wanderer · 2013-04-22, 21:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by totoum

It's not,I don't know why people get this idea.

I think it's the words "young" and "training" in the name of the project, along with the understanding that at least some of the animators involved being amateurs is a requirement for the project.

totoum · 2013-04-22, 22:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by Random Wanderer

along with the understanding that at least some of the animators involved being amateurs is a requirement for the project.

That's not a requirement at all, the aim of anime mirai is to train young pro animators.

Random Wanderer · 2013-04-22, 23:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by totoum

That's not a requirement at all, the aim of anime mirai is to train young pro animators.

There, see? The intent of the project has been miscommunicated rather widely to most people, then.

Iron Maw · 2013-04-23, 13:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by totoum

It's not,I don't know why people get this idea.

It's as Random Wanderer said, the program sounded like something geared to getting more animators into industry and improving their skills. My bad if that was not really the case.

Regardless I really the work, and seeing it expanded would be quite nice. The world needs more Suushy.

HybridBloodsZak · 2013-04-23, 13:36

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/engli...gine/arch.html

Behind the scenes of Little Witch Academia last video 'AnimeMirai'

Not COMPLETELY rookie animators but a definite majority.

Didn't know a 30 min ep takes 3 mon and about $250k* normally in a regular series. This got double with 6 month and $480k

Give or take depending on the series

4Tran · 2013-04-23, 14:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by Iron Maw

It's as Random Wanderer said, the program sounded like something geared to getting more animators into industry and improving their skills. My bad if that was not really the case.

Regardless I really the work, and seeing it expanded would be quite nice. The world needs more Suushy.

The core concept behind the Anime Mirai project is to help train young animators by letting them work on a project with much more money and time and freedom from commercial appeal than found in normal anime. It's not going to be able to get more amateurs into the industry because anyone interested would have to be putting major effort into it by their early teens.

Triple_R · 2013-04-25, 23:08

I'm admittedly way late here, but I still felt like sharing my take on Little Witch Academia, which I watched only a couple hours ago.

That was indeed a very charming, engrossing, and fun little gem. It really left me feeling nostalgic for 80s Saturday Morning cartoons.

There's a certain joyful and magical wonderment to Little Witch Academia that you just don't see in many modern animation works. There's not an ounce of cynicism to it; no attempt to be dark or edgy just for the sake of being dark or edgy.

It makes me think of Disney meets anime, but in a way that's more lighthearted and whimsical than what Ghibli often is. I agree with Haak about how LWA appeals to the kid in us.

Now, for the criticisms the show has received - Yes, the story isn't terribly complex, but then it shouldn't be. It's only one anime episode. Given the time-frame at work here, it's more important for the plot to be tight than it is for it to be fancy. And the plot is extremely tight. Nothing feels dragged out in this, but it's also easy to follow - The hallmarks of a tight plot.

The action scenes sparkle with great visual creativity and just a lot of ballsy work. They have just the right amount of "silly" to them - Just enough to awe/amuse you, but not enough to destroy your suspension of disbelief or your suspense in general.

Finally, I think that one of LWA's biggest strengths is in how it avoids certain common pitfalls, and in so doing, presents a very naturalistic story.

The handling of the Diana character is particularly noteworthy here, imo.

Diana is the main protagonist's rival, a "bully", and also a "top student". All of these are archetypes that can go down in self-parodying flames if not handled well. Here is a case where too much adherence to tropes can truly ruin a character.

In anime, "top students" (especially female ones) tend to be completely idolized by the rest of the student body, turned into something I like to call "school celebrity". This isn't always played poorly, but it often is. Thankfully, LWA completely avoids this pitfall by how Diana isn't presented as someone that all the other students fawn over. Yes, she has a small entourage, but it's no larger than Akko's own friendship circle. This restraint goes a long way to making Diana a more believable character (which in turn makes the narrative easier to suspend disbelief for).

Rivals/Bullies - Both in anime and in western entertainment - Often suffer one of two fates:

1. They get flanderized. They turn into a walking, talking pathos against whatever it is they represent. Which means they become very one-dimensional antagonists that are simply "wrong"; the opposite of a role model ("Don't be like this mean kid, Johnny!"). Characters like this tend to ring hollow because nobody in real life is "all bad".

2. They get a horribly overwrought sob story that's somehow supposed to justify all the bad things they've done. Honestly, this usually isn't any better than the first fate. It comes off as unnatural character development, and it comes off as very forced.

Diana avoids this completely. She isn't flanderized, but nor is she given some overwrought sob story to help redeem her. No, she has inherent flaws - She is smug, she is arrogant, and she can be mean to others because of it. The anime doesn't try to justify this, it simply is. But Diana also is genuinely courageous, strong, resolute, has a good sense of personal responsibility, and is capable of being a hero. So like people in real life, she has her good points, and she has her bad points. The anime doesn't go out of its way to punish her, or justify her, for being how she is. Very refreshing.

On the whole, "refreshing" is probably the best word to describe Little Witch Academia.

That being said, I do think it's easier to make one great anime episode than it is to make a great anime TV series (or a 2 hour-plus animated feature film). And what works here might not work as well in a 13 to 26 episode anime show.

I haven't watched Death Billiards yet, but if I do watch it, I'll share my thoughts on that here as well.

SinsI · 2013-04-27, 08:23

I wonder if it's going to get a BD release... And if it is going to be profitable even without government subsidy.

bhl88 · 2013-05-21, 13:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by SinsI

I wonder if it's going to get a BD release... And if it is going to be profitable even without government subsidy.

It will. Subtitled too.

Utsuro no Hako · 2013-07-05, 21:48

Trigger plans to use Kickstarter to finance a second episode of LWA.

Flower · 2013-07-07, 17:41

Arve Rezzle and Little Witch Academie were both very good - Death Pool was kinda meh for me, tbh.

Would like to see both of the former getting a nice full treatment in the future. ^^

FredFriendly · 2013-07-07, 18:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by Utsuro no Hako

Trigger plans to use Kickstarter to finance a second episode of LWA.

Whoopee! That's great news! Let's just hope they can raise enough money!

Haak · 2013-07-18, 20:54

So was anyone else as disappointed with Ryo as I was? I think they tried to cram in an awful lot into 25 minutes and I didn't even fully understand some of the transitions.

Kakkou · 2013-07-19, 00:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by Haak

So was anyone else as disappointed with Ryo as I was? I think they tried to cram in an awful lot into 25 minutes and I didn't even fully understand some of the transitions.

I certainly was. They already did announce that Ryo was meant to be a pilot but if garnering interest was their goal they failed very badly. The narrative was a mess and felt like a super recap that doesn't work as a pilot either.

More than anything I'm very disappointed by the fact they made absolutely no good use of the budget they'd have been allocated with or even tried to do anything interesting with the visuals befitting of an Anime Mirai/Young Animators Project OVA. There were a few measly seconds of fluid action but the whole thing looked underwhelming.

Not to mention they couldn't even do something as simple as keeping the length of a stick consistent:

Images

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It's been a while since their return but between how Last Exile Fam turned out, Leviathan's glorious quality, everything else they've been making and this sorry excuse of an Anime Mirai title GONZO's clearly still dead.

Blaat · 2013-07-20, 12:44

I'm guessing Ryo took place during the early Mejin Era, but the modern world globe really threw me off or was it alternative history?

Anyway I did not enjoy it, the summary approach did not help much maybe recapping one part of the story (either training or the journey part) would have been better.

2013-04-19, 11:09	Link #101
totoum Me at work Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Dublin, Ireland Age: 36	For some reason trigger had to reupload the vid (needed to add the anime mirai logo at the start it seems) YouTube https://youtu.be/RBlqxEIJ_Cg Sorry; dynamic content not loaded. Reload? __________________

2013-04-22, 17:30	Link #102
AbZeroNow North American Haruhiist Join Date: Oct 2010 Age: 43	Little Witch Academia may need its own thread now. Crunchyroll get the witches too. Very happy that CR is streaming it. __________________

2013-04-25, 23:08	Link #112
Triple_R Senior Member Author Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Newfoundland, Canada Age: 42	I'm admittedly way late here, but I still felt like sharing my take on Little Witch Academia, which I watched only a couple hours ago. That was indeed a very charming, engrossing, and fun little gem. It really left me feeling nostalgic for 80s Saturday Morning cartoons. There's a certain joyful and magical wonderment to Little Witch Academia that you just don't see in many modern animation works. There's not an ounce of cynicism to it; no attempt to be dark or edgy just for the sake of being dark or edgy. It makes me think of Disney meets anime, but in a way that's more lighthearted and whimsical than what Ghibli often is. I agree with Haak about how LWA appeals to the kid in us. Now, for the criticisms the show has received - Yes, the story isn't terribly complex, but then it shouldn't be. It's only one anime episode. Given the time-frame at work here, it's more important for the plot to be tight than it is for it to be fancy. And the plot is extremely tight. Nothing feels dragged out in this, but it's also easy to follow - The hallmarks of a tight plot. The action scenes sparkle with great visual creativity and just a lot of ballsy work. They have just the right amount of "silly" to them - Just enough to awe/amuse you, but not enough to destroy your suspension of disbelief or your suspense in general. Finally, I think that one of LWA's biggest strengths is in how it avoids certain common pitfalls, and in so doing, presents a very naturalistic story. The handling of the Diana character is particularly noteworthy here, imo. Diana is the main protagonist's rival, a "bully", and also a "top student". All of these are archetypes that can go down in self-parodying flames if not handled well. Here is a case where too much adherence to tropes can truly ruin a character. In anime, "top students" (especially female ones) tend to be completely idolized by the rest of the student body, turned into something I like to call "school celebrity". This isn't always played poorly, but it often is. Thankfully, LWA completely avoids this pitfall by how Diana isn't presented as someone that all the other students fawn over. Yes, she has a small entourage, but it's no larger than Akko's own friendship circle. This restraint goes a long way to making Diana a more believable character (which in turn makes the narrative easier to suspend disbelief for). Rivals/Bullies - Both in anime and in western entertainment - Often suffer one of two fates: 1. They get flanderized. They turn into a walking, talking pathos against whatever it is they represent. Which means they become very one-dimensional antagonists that are simply "wrong"; the opposite of a role model ("Don't be like this mean kid, Johnny!"). Characters like this tend to ring hollow because nobody in real life is "all bad". 2. They get a horribly overwrought sob story that's somehow supposed to justify all the bad things they've done. Honestly, this usually isn't any better than the first fate. It comes off as unnatural character development, and it comes off as very forced. Diana avoids this completely. She isn't flanderized, but nor is she given some overwrought sob story to help redeem her. No, she has inherent flaws - She is smug, she is arrogant, and she can be mean to others because of it. The anime doesn't try to justify this, it simply is. But Diana also is genuinely courageous, strong, resolute, has a good sense of personal responsibility, and is capable of being a hero. So like people in real life, she has her good points, and she has her bad points. The anime doesn't go out of its way to punish her, or justify her, for being how she is. Very refreshing. On the whole, "refreshing" is probably the best word to describe Little Witch Academia. That being said, I do think it's easier to make one great anime episode than it is to make a great anime TV series (or a 2 hour-plus animated feature film). And what works here might not work as well in a 13 to 26 episode anime show. I haven't watched Death Billiards yet, but if I do watch it, I'll share my thoughts on that here as well. __________________

2013-07-07, 17:41	Link #116
Flower Blooming on the mountain Join Date: May 2010 Location: Deep in their roots, all flowers keep the light....	Arve Rezzle and Little Witch Academie were both very good - Death Pool was kinda meh for me, tbh. Would like to see both of the former getting a nice full treatment in the future. ^^ __________________

2013-07-18, 20:54	Link #118
Haak Me, An Intellectual Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: UK Age: 33	So was anyone else as disappointed with Ryo as I was? I think they tried to cram in an awful lot into 25 minutes and I didn't even fully understand some of the transitions. __________________ MAL \| AnimeSuki Choice Awards 2020 Winners

2013-04-22, 18:21	Link #103
Dop Mmmm.... Join Date: Sep 2006	All this attention would make me very surprised if Little Witch Academia doesn't get a spin-off series. Unless there's some kind of rule to Anime Mirai's government sponsorship that would forbid it.

2013-04-22, 19:43	Link #104
Iron Maw Banned Join Date: Feb 2006	Little Witch Academia is some of the best stuff I've years. Amazing it's just amateur work.

2013-04-23, 13:36	Link #110
HybridBloodsZak Member Join Date: Aug 2012	http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/engli...gine/arch.html Behind the scenes of Little Witch Academia last video 'AnimeMirai' Not COMPLETELY rookie animators but a definite majority. Didn't know a 30 min ep takes 3 mon and about $250k* normally in a regular series. This got double with 6 month and $480k Give or take depending on the series

2013-04-27, 08:23	Link #113
SinsI Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2006	I wonder if it's going to get a BD release... And if it is going to be profitable even without government subsidy.

2013-07-05, 21:48	Link #115
Utsuro no Hako Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2011	Trigger plans to use Kickstarter to finance a second episode of LWA.

2013-07-20, 12:44	Link #120
Blaat Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2004	I'm guessing Ryo took place during the early Mejin Era, but the modern world globe really threw me off or was it alternative history? Anyway I did not enjoy it, the summary approach did not help much maybe recapping one part of the story (either training or the journey part) would have been better. __________________ MyAnimeList