(L) Tokyo Majin Gakuen Kenpucho

[Cyprene]

Right after making that post earlier today, I watched an episode of naruto, where a blue-haired character with a trident sword was attacking Gaara.
"Hey, she's pretty cute!" I said.
"He's a guy.", my friend said.

Every time it can possibly happen, it happens. I'm glad that traps don't exist in the real world.

Either way, the main character is Tatsuma Hiyuu, the dude in the hoodie who seems nonchalant about everything. Interestingly, the primary mechanic of the game left you, the player, in COMPLETE control of Hiyuu's personality, you controlled the emotion to which he responded to every statement every character made. You could decide who he liked, didn't liked, wanted to hit on, thought was ugly, etc. Kind of a neat mechanic, but the net result was that the "official" Tatsuma Hiyuu was a total blank.
That's why in the anime you never get a feeling for what he's REALLY thinking about anything.

[7Th]

Hey, 2nd episode is out. Can't dowload here or enter 2chan... how's the animation? It keeps it up? I must know if my excitement was justified or if I was just SpeedGrapher'ed.

[aroduc]

Re: #2

Oh thank god, a real introduction ep showing when Hiyuu transfers and they all meet. Whew.

[7Th]

Originally Posted by aroduc

Re: #2

Oh thank god, a real introduction ep showing when Hiyuu transfers and they all meet. Whew.

Yeah, I was sure that was going to happen... BUT HOW'S TEH ANIMATION?!

[aroduc]

Originally Posted by 7Th

Yeah, I was sure that was going to happen... BUT HOW'S TEH ANIMATION?!

As of 7:30 in, :^: :^: :^:

Spoiler:

Hiyuu and Kyoichi are fighting in the courtyard.

Also, the OP is really irritating. Screaming metal rock and whatnot.

Okay, just finished it.

Very brief summary is:

Spoiler:

Hiyuu transfers there, all the 'special' students sense him and Kyoichi immediately picks a fight. About to hit each other, they both stop, trade names, become buddies. Lots of wandering around the town and character introductions between them before Daigo calls out Hiyuu to a sealed up mansion to test him in a fight. Kyoichi tags along and Misato/Komaki hear about it and try to stop them. While there, a demon spirit thing (yum, protruding spinal cord and naked breasts) attacks them with shadows and sucks them all into various demon worlds. It then attacks Hiyuu's heart and the black line tatoos cover him (not just the face) and blast the thing away. He goes berserk (pupils disappear as well), as do all the others trying to kill it with their various powers, though it's hard to tell if they're really in control mostly or not. They fail and it's about to kill one of them with the shadows again when the shopkeep/bishi leader guy steps in with the glove thing that Hiyuu was wearing in ep 1 and kills it. End episode.

But yeah, the fight at the start and the end were same level of quality as ep 1, so definitely quality.

[Drytchnath]

Originally Posted by aroduc

As of 7:30 in, :^: :^: :^:

Spoiler:

Hiyuu and Kyoichi are fighting in the courtyard.

Also, the OP is really irritating. Screaming metal rock and whatnot.

Sounds like a winner to me!

[Doria]

That's a big relief to hear. My biggest concern was that the animation would be just horrible after the first episode. Since the raw quality is already questionable, that would have been tragic...

I don't care if they skimp on the animation when the guys are just sitting around talking, but to have an action series with poorly animated action would make me very, very unhappy.

Thanks for the update. I look forward to seeing the episode tonight.

[aroduc]

It's definitely the same quality, there's just less of it. Like, maybe only about 3 minutes of fights as compared to the 8 or so in ep 1. The rest is mostly character intros and random wandering about town.

I remembered what the OP reminded me of though, Bleach's 3rd OP. Generic sorta whiny sounding rock... but with random gutteral yelling interspersed throughout.

[Sonhex]

Originally Posted by aroduc

It's definitely the same quality, there's just less of it...

What he said.

Spoiler for ep 2:

No noticeable drop in quality of the action - just fewer scenes but what there is is awesome stuff again. Kyuichi and Tatsuma's early spat, kicking off in the classroom and ending in a sakura strewn schoolyard, to the ending battle with another insanely well designed monster (Sadako on a bad day) all have that same energy, quick-fire editing and invention of the first episode. The best of it is reserved for the latter half with the monster battle and the sequences where the group are being scanned or probed or something. Characters remain drawn to form, details such as hair (ahoges wild as ever) and eyes are given the same attention to detail as ep 1. Clearly the pace is a bit slower, there's more conversations and whatnot but only for the first half. It's all great stuff and comes as a huge relief that it doesn't free-fall into b-team blues.

Plotwise, this is about introductions and events prior to ep one. Tatsuma comes to Majin Gakuen, Kyuichi picks a fight with him, they realise they're equal and become buddies. Daigo wants to join the pissing match, so challenge Tatsuma to a brawl in the old school building, unfortunately their fighting triggers some voodoo and awakens some witch monster from hell that Kisaragi imprisoned there. The monster skewers Tatsuma through the heart (that'll need some explaining later), and this also seems to awaken all the group's hidden powers including those nifty tattoos. Moody old Kisaragi turns up, kicks the witch monster's ass with style (he seems to have the powers of the others we see in ep 1, including Tatsuma's). Guess that's next episode, how the gang gets their powers and weapons. No Kodzuno or Mary is the ep, except in brief re-used material, but I guess that's for next time.

Elsewhere other good things are the music, put to better use here and especially in the last ten minutes or so. The OP isn't really my thing, but I dig the visuals in the OP though, there's some nice animation in there, and it seems to capture the desolate atmosphere of the setting well (and some of the storylines to come). The ED musically was better, but the visuals were a bit meh, just shots of the characters hanging out around town.

Good humour again, Marie-san continues to rock with her Engrish and despair at her pugilistic pupils. Toona gets a few more laughs, tailing her scoop with cute charm. Inugami's nonchalant rollcall also made me chuckle - guess the teachers are clearly used to their students beating the crap out of each other. We also get a closer look at the other pupils - the chick with the eyepatch with the hots of Tatsuma, the guy with the afro all stand out and the victim from ep one gets a cameo...

Anyway, if this is the standard set for the rest of the series, then we're in for a real treat.

And Lady Misato in a kimono is the cutest thing since... I don't know when.

[Deathkillz]

Originally Posted by Sonhex

Spoiler for ep 2:

details such as hair (ahoges wild as ever)

and this fact alone is enough for me to keep watching ~ basically youve said it all about this ep ^__^ amazing kick ass action in ep 2 not to mention their inkeeping with making monsters as gruesome as possible lol ^__^ and if this continues then this series is a keeper

[7Th]

Good to hear it remains consistent. Downloading now.

[Ori]

It's a quality episode.

Just wish they would focus on the main character more. Honestly, none of the other characters in the special team seems interesting other than the main character.

[monir]

Screenshot for Episode 2: To compliment Sonhex's brief overview! The series has yet to make much sense in regards to storytelling, but since the story has always been a secondary thing for me to enjoy any series in general, I'm just going to keep enjoying the animation until it dries out. Then, may be then, I'll try to figure out why am I glued to another of these genre. Since I also have distinct disliking for any too-goody two-pants character in any series, especially in these shounen rendition, I have my utmost loathing for the Ojosan at this point. The only thing I'm curious about from this episode is the content of the love letter. Hiyuu-kun was offered a bowl of ramen right after he read it!

Toona gets a few more laughs, tailing her scoop with cute charm.

*click*

[Sonhex]

Originally Posted by monir

... The only thing I'm curious about from this episode is the content of the love letter. Hiyuu-kun was offered a bowl of ramen right after he read it!
...

Not sure about that either, I'll wait for the subs. I do think that girl with the eye-patch might end up be playing a more significant role though. Just a hunch.

Spoiler for ep 2 animation stuff:

Ep 2 came with plenty o' eye-candy (other than Misato I mean) to drool over. It's always a good sign of a decent storyboarder/animation director who knows his stuff when seemingly straight-forward (and very familiar) scenes are given a degree of invention to make them stand out. Choice of angles and framing all given a great deal of thought; adding to that voyeuristic approach established in ep 1. A few good examples:



This is also reflected in some excellent composition, lightning, shadows and whatnot, such as:



It's amazing how much detail in packed into the quick flashy scenes, you literally have to watch them frame by frame to pick them out. Like the witch monster's hand being impaled by Kisaragi's daggers, or the trail of saliva from Daigo's mouth as he goes beserk:



Then there's the fights. Choreographed, fast and furious - almost too fast to catch the details without some closer examination. Again, as wao mentioned about ep 1, much of the sense of speed and dynamism comes from the distorted jagged lines, used to ramp up the sense of motion:



And the monster design is as twisted as last time - this one is all broken spine, disjointed limbs, floppy boobs and ack, those split mouth-like finger nails and (like the spider thing from last week) has the T'ai Chi embedded in it's body. Who thinks up this stuff?



And Misato of-course. Useless but cute:

Here's a special treat:

Spoiler for chibis:

[Doria]

Oh, those are adorable! Where did you find them?

Yeah, I heard from the song TL that the OP was very, very difficult to make out. I'd imagine it's the combination of possibly oldish Japanese mixed with screeching rock-style screams. Not sure that's really my cup of tea, either.

[Cyprene]

It's those stupid screams. If you accept the idea that the screams are untranslatable then it gets really easy.

[evil-samurai]

Yay! This episode is actually a good follow up episode to the last. Though personally I wouldn't of cared if they didn't include this and just went from where episode 1 left off. But hey I'm not complaining.

Still cant get the image of Masataka, out of head when looking at Tatsuma >.> especially when we see him in fights.

Un-expected shot at the end but I loved it

Spoiler for cute no?:

@ Doria The picture is from the official Blog site =)

[physics223]

I wish Misato sooner or later becomes what happened to Sarah Kerrigan: from a wussy, boring woman to the Queen Bitch of the Universe. Ohohoho~

No, seriously, if Misato transformed into something awesome that changes her attitude and her demeanor totally but still lets her fight for the good side, that will be so awesome.

[wao]

Oi oi oi, what was that?!

I was totally expecting to just skim through episode 2 and get on with my schoolwork, but .... That OP!

Spoiler for me fangirling about the OP and the show's visuals:

It's so awesome! It may not be the pinnacle of animation or anything - but....but.... I love this sort of stuff! !!

The song sucks (except the guitar bit at the very end), but the detail and the awesome shounen-ness of it just enraptured me. The first few seconds were just perfect - the camera and timing and buildup and all of that crap. That was enough to hook me - I ended up watching the entire episode.

But really, what a rich and expensive-looking OP. I like it so much.

And it doesn't help that I did a little spasm-dance thing when I saw the credits - first on the animators list, TAKASHI HASHIMOTO! The master of explosions and effects (who has also shown his prowess in character designing/animation - see Bakeneko).

You could tell there was a different kind of animator at work with some of the shots - see the bit of the black silhouette breaking up into pieces. (and the stuff coming out from him before that). I'd venture to say that that was Hashimoto.
Other shots that caught my eye were the one with the wind blowing against Tatsuma with his hood up; as well as the shots of the people in the street breaking up plus Aoi's face after that. I don't know if that was Hashimoto or not though. The last one, probably not...

And the camera work was awesome too. The effects don't feel overdone (like I felt was the case with, say, Ergo Proxy's OP) but they're used to excellent effect as well. One of my favourite parts is when the singer goes "gozen reiji" and there's this umbrella in the rain, and a design appears on the floor for a brief second. The way it was composed felt so good!

The framing was good too (they make use of the entire frame and space available), and the pacing with the song... A lot of it was impressively produced, for example that shot with the blue->orange gradient clouds moving quickly over Tatsuma and Kyouichi. It was visually impactful because of the composition and the striking colours...


And speaking of colours - I love it when animation companies utilize the full range of colours digital animation can offer. Just like in Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto, which I still love the colours of, this show has a great palette despite the apparent greyness of it all. The OP is proof of this capacity. Effects and brief flashes of colour...

The most important thing within the show is that there's a nice harmony between the colours of the characters and the background. It doesn't feel like it sticks out too much.

Plus the backgrounds use nice colours (like in Iroha) - rather than those eternally bland oversaturated skies you see in things like Blood+ (to name the first example that came to my head, anyway), they pick nice shades of blue and depict night cityscapes quite decently. And no to mention they're detailed - see the ramen shop, it's got stuff pasted on it and it doesn't look all spanking clean and so on...

Another thing that I noticed which seems to overlap with Iroha - the falling sakura petals, I'm pretty sure most of it was CG. A very nice and unobtrusive use of CG. Iroha does this with the confetti in the first episode and ep 5 etc., and I definitely think it greatly adds to the visual effect of the scene. It does so much!

Since I've rambled on to the show itself, I might as well mention that the animation's solid once again - great! And the fight scenes definitely were good. Not just solid but better than that, though of course not, say, Noein-level. You can really feel a sense of energy. GJ! Now how long will they maintain it for...?

You know, it's not like this show is awesome or anything - a lot of things feel archetypical and like a collection of various enjoyable shounen anime cliches. And the monsters are all cheesy (albeit well-animated and varied in design). And the plot could be totally predictable...

But who cares!!! I think I can get interested in the story just on the basis of a nostalgic throwback to evening shounen anime from my "younger days". So sue me I really get a huge kick out of people suddenly starting cool fights in school and being all "hay we are superpower club u wanna join?!" sort of. It's just so... anime.

And to quote a certain $evil_multinational_fastfood_company - I'm lovin' it. This is just sheer baseless entertainment for me... I can say I'm so interested in seeing the dynamics between Aoi and Kyoichi - but who am I kidding? I shan't bother trying to justify myself. Don't think, feel!

Now I can only say this if they keep up the quality of the first ep. Because you have to have the eye-candy in order to pull off shows with random monsters (see how Speed Grapher sadly failed in that aspect).
I can tolerate some drops in animation since it's quite foolish to expect it to keep up exactly the same level; but I do hope they do it with polished shiny style and "aw damn that's cool" kind of stuff.

Oh, one last thing. It doesn't help that Kisaragi is so...

In a BL fangirl's mind, there's already enough to start fantasizing about because of the tension/friendship between Kyoichi and Tatsuma. But I won't go on about it here because a. I don't care for it and b. I'll get dashed into pieces by some of you guys here :P

Yay. I feel so entertained now.

[Zu Ra]

I am desperate to get that 2nd ep ( subbed ) . The first ep got me hooked onto this show and reading the summaries make me want it bad .