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Debaser Uncategorized

Knights of Sidonia

The other new anime series I’ve been watching (also 4 episodes in) is Knights of Sidonia. While I described the animation in Ping Pong as being crude and ugly, here it’s the absolute opposite. Truly some of the nicest animation I’ve seen in an anime in ages. I’m also really digging the setting – humans (and hey, there’s now a 3rd sex) are living on a floating station, defending themselves against the occasional appearance of insane galactic monstrosities. They do so fighting in mechs – of course – and so far there’s been a lot of great space battles, and enough intrigue – how is it this guy, out of nowhere, is so good – to keep me interested. It feels like it’s been quite a while since I’ve enjoyed a good sci-fi epic, so I’m hoping that this continues to be as interesting as it’s been over the first few episodes.

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Debaser Uncategorized

Ping Pong The Animation

Last month marked the start of a new season for anime, and the series I was most excited to check out was a new animated adaptation of Taiyo Matsumoto’s Ping Pong. So far, 4 episodes in, I’m truly enjoying it. I should mention that it’s not the prettiest show out there – the animation style is actually crude and fairly ugly, which I get is a nod to Matsumoto’s illustration style, but as we saw with the Tekkon Kinkreet film, it can be done to look more beautiful. But what shines here is the construction of the scenes – brilliantly directed by Masaaki Yuasa – and the characters. It’s been a while since I’ve watched an anime series in which I really can’t wait to watch the next episode.

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Debaser Uncategorized

Space Dandy

Shinichiro Watanabe’s new series, Space Dandy, has started, and although I wasn’t particularly excited by the trailers, I was still going to watch this because it’s by Watanabe. After one episode, although I loved the crazy sudden ending, I’m not that sold on the setting and especially the main characters – not getting a Cowboy Bebop or Samurai Champloo vibe at all. But like I said, it’s Watanabe, so I’ll give the series at least a few episodes to see if it develops into something that’s more interesting. And I’m all for sexiness in any form of media, but this “Boobies” stuff just feels juvenile – I’m hoping the show starts to leave that stuff behind.

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Debaser Uncategorized

Aku no Hana

I wrote about Aku no Hana when I first started watching it last fall, and wanted to write this follow-up now that I’m done watching the first season – I’d only watched the first 6 episodes, and so now finally got around to watching the rest (the last 7, that I watched in one go). This is truly an amazing piece of work, and although I did find the main character’s constant hesitation and self-doubt to be annoying, those last 3 episodes are really quite something. I think it has some of the best cinematography I’ve seen on TV. I can’t even begin to understand where the story can go following that ending, but it ends saying that it’s the conclusion of part 1, and I know it only covers half of the original manga series, so I really hope the show was successful enough for them to go ahead with a second season. 

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Anime Film

Space Battleship Yamato

Here’s the first trailer — in the form of a TV commercial — for the upcoming live-action Space Battleship Yamato film.

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Anime

Anime Decade, from Boom to Bust

Over at CNNGo, Matt Alt presents a timeline of anime over the last decade, tracing the highs and lows the industry has known over the past 10 years.

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Anime Film

The Borrower Arrietty

Studio Ghibli has announced that it will be releasing a new film next summer, to be directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi, an animator for the company (this will be his directorial debut). The film’s title is The Borrower Arrietty, and is based on the British story The Borrowers, “an enchanting story about miniature people living under the floorboards of a home.” Via Spoon & Tamago.

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Anime Film

The Dream Machine

Satoshi Kon’s next film is called The Dream Machine, and unlike his previous complex and adult work (Millennium Actress, Tokyo Godfathers, Paprika, Paranoia Agent), is being described as a family-friendly film. Here’s what Kon has to say about the film (taken from this interview):

On the surface, it’s going to be a fantasy-adventure targeted at younger audiences. However, it will also be a film that people who have seen our films up to this point will be able to enjoy. So it will be an adventure that even older audiences can appreciate. There will be no human characters in the film; only robots. It’ll be like a “robot movie” for robots.

The film’s official site now reveals a few images from the film, including the one pictured above. Via /Film.

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Anime

Rain Town

As a follow-up to the post on “Fumiko’s Confession,” here’s another short directed by Hiroyasu Ishida (Tete). Via Tim Rudder.

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Anime

Fumiko’s Confession

Simply amazing: the above short, “Fumiko’s Confession,” was completely animated by one person, a student known only as “Tete.” Please, studios, give this person some money to produce a series or a film. Via Japan Probe.

Update: The short was actually produced by a team of five — they are listed here (in French). “Tete,” or Hiroyasu Ishida is the director.