For collectors and hobbyists of all types, there are items, objects, or crafts one pursues with an acute, vulgar obsession (i.e., "white whale," "Holy Grail," "glorious purpose," etc.). Sometimes, this is passive; other times, it's dynamic. But as I unbox my latest haul of animation production artwork, I can scarcely believe I've successfully tagged "The Paper."
R.O.D. the TV is a wildly entertaining and dramatic anime series (even more so the precursor OVA), and I came upon a good amount of Yomiko art while hunting and tracking various auctions for anime art. In total, I nabbed a 43-sheet set of Yomiko and other characters, plus a 17-sheet set of Yomiko solo.
Additional recent finds (cel, douga, genga): Haruhi Fujioka (Ouran High School Host Club); Kiba (Wolf's Rain); Lina Inverse (Slayers); Armitage (Armitage III); Hitomi Kanzaki (Escaflowne: A Girl in Gaea); Tuberov Bilmon (Gundam Wing); Taiki, Youka, others (12 Kingdoms); Mirai Yashima (Mobile Suit Gundam).
Sariphi : It's spectacular! I've never felt better!
Chise : Well, I have coolest Marriage! Same thing here!
Sariphi : Yep.
Chise : So... What's Titan's bride going to be a marriage thing?
Sariphi : Titan's bride? What does Titan's Bride have to do with marriage? It's not like that you would go and meet a bunch of SNK nimrods that wanted a marriage thing for the "Titan"?
Chise : I don't know, ma'am. Doesn't ring a bell. Anyway time to find out what this Titan's Bride is going to be like?
Sariphi : Alright. Let's find out. (Walks off) Hey there, dark-skinned prince with blonde hair. How's the marriage coming along?
Caius : It's working perfectly! I chosen the perfect human that I summons from another world. A human that would reclaim as my bride.
Sariphi : Of course, I would like to see your bride and she's a beautiful young woman. Is it a lovely lady perhaps? I can't wait to see your--Huh? Hey, what the--is your bride something look manly?
Caius : Quite certainly. Isn't it wonderful.
Sariphi : Yeah, wonderful. (Walks back)
Chise : So what kind of bride did this guy chose? Did he get it from a place called Jersey.
Sariphi : Uh, no. I just realized he summoned a guy named Koichi that is a basketball player from Japan and he was chosen as the Titan's Bride.
Chise : Wait, Koichi? He summoned a guy named Koichi, a basketball player from Japan? When you said lovely lady, I believe that he was participating in marrying a guy that is a basketball player from Japan. And also, he just started to have sex with him.
Sariphi : A guy having sex with another guy. That's what the titan bride marriage will be like? I'm sorry, WHAT THE FU-
[AIR SIGN OFF]
Sariphi : Titan's Bride, a guy on guy marriage.
Chise : You know what? This is fine. Let's just sink it in.
Sariphi : Yeah, I guess that makes sense. Titan's bride is kinda weird about it. But, shouldn't you be going to the academy for the second season after the marriage, like for real?
Chise : Second season after my marriage? Why would the ancient Magus bride wanted a second season after the marriage? Of course that I wanted to go school and Elias told me that---(realizing) OH, MOTHERF-
TIME of the SEASON Spring 2024 Edition: The DUKE of DEATH and His MAID SEASON 3
Will they finally break the curse and he can hold and embrace his lover?!
So……I know I usually say that I cover sequel seasons in one whole blog but this season, there are mostly shows that I might just go for the dub only.
For example, I haven’t covered Laid-Back Camp S3 because since S2’s dub is airing now, I know after that ends, the dub for the 3rd season will premiere and to be fair, while I think that show is good, it’s one where I can just wait for the dub.
Same…
the animated cutscenes of ace attorney 5 / the great ace attorney chronicles
something that's been on my mind recently, the anime cutscenes in the games.... long rambly post ahead about those who worked on it & my praise (especially of Dual Destinies) and issues (from a technical standpoint) as an animation fan
so from preliminary research (and after just finishing the great ace attorney chronicles 1) i was genuinely curious, who worked on the anime cutscenes? so i looked up various people from the credits (thank you youtubers who uploaded JUST the credits) and cross referenced names with anime news network.
there were about 60 credits under animation [and main work under JC Staff] for character design, storyboarding and direction, keyframes , in-between, cleanup, color, backgrounds and cinematography, etc... and i tried to look into each person who had an entry on ann. it was so interesting seeing what people had worked on and how impressive their work / history was!
onto the criticisms : [ cs = cutscene ]
mise en scene ; there are a few scenes that have a little too much negative space and end up feeling bare [think cs 2, 3, 5, and unfortunately the last one of the game :(] in moments where you want to feel the scale of the world or large concrete / brick / steel buildings of great britain , the storyboard instead emphasizes some wide shots with no particular focus. it breaks the immersion of the scene at times. various panning scenes too with no focus, again make some scenes feel somewhat bare or lacking in energy [cs3], i also think back to the beginning of the cs on Baker Street , wide shot w/ no focus. it also feels like the layout or composition could've been used to convey more?? [that's exactly why i enjoyed anime cs in Dual Destinies more in a way?]
lighting : for the cs that take place in the daytime there's no discerning shadows on the ground or specific direction & i feel like it doesn't work with this setting for some reason... it ends up making the cs feel flat and somewhat blended into the background
there also feels like a lack of character acting in some scenes overall so the characters feel very static even when scenes are supposed emotional
now i have to say the backgrounds , seeing the designs in action, and the atmosphere they set out to create was really ambitious .
now for an ace attorney game with more compelling anime cutscenes to me was AA5
what i LOVED about the Dual Destinies cutscenes in particular was the direction / storyboarding and layouts (in particular cs 2 with a certain characters backstory, other cs, and school setting cs for the shot composition / imagery / symbolism used to convey that characters inner thoughts just through visuals). the animation also feels more full or well rounded (like the in-betweens aren't as noticeable, not sure what the technical phrase would be???) i think the variety of shots throughout also help with that.
in addition the emphasis on light and shadow feels more used throughout. i think as connecting scenes in animated form, they also capture particular moments well
a reference i found super informative was while browsing wiki for Dual Destinies led me to the Capcom blog post- Intro to Japanese Anime Production Starring Phoenix Wright
it includes commentary from game director Yasuhiro Seto and storyboards from a cutscene from the beginning of the game. it was also interesting seeing how the animation team could add their own flair to the dialogue through the visuals!
overall while i still have some criticism of the cs in game 5, i feel like the cutscenes worked better at setting tone and the team behind them utilized the medium to get the most out of these short scenes and packed more into the minutes available, the action also felt more tangible
i was hoping to also discuss game 6 , will probably do another post on that game :) thanks for reading! i really hope what im saying makes sense & really would love to know if anyone has thoughts on this topic <3
La seconda stagione di THE DUKE OF DEATH AND HIS MAID andrà in onda solamente a partire da luglio, ma nel frattempo, ecco il trailer ufficiale!
La commedia sentimentale prodotta da J.C. STAFF (DanMachi, Hi Score Girl) è tratta dall’omonimo manga di Koharu Inoue, che si è concluso l'anno scorso con il 16° volume.
L'opera è edita in Italia da RW Edizioni, sotto l'etichetta GOEN, con il titolo IL DUCA DELLA MORTE E LA DOMESTICA OSCURA.