Some fannish nitpicking...

I love all kinds of animation, and I obviously love anime, or I wouldn't be wasting so much of my time on it. I do have some little annoyances with it though. Please note that I am in no way trained in doing any kind of animation, aside from a flipbook or two I doodled in school notebooks when the lectures were boring. My art experience is limited to a handful of drawing classes in high school and junior college, eons ago.

One of the reasons I like Cowboy Bebop and others like it so much is the animation is fairly sophisticated and realistic-looking. There is very little use of what I'll call "shorthand" - the stylized sweat-dropping, veins-popping, chibi-appearing, fangs-growing, kitty-faces, expression of emotion. We get what the characters are feeling without being beat over the head with it. I think Faye gets googly-eyes for exactly one frame, when she surprises (or rather, is surprised by) Gren in the shower. I really didn't care for Tenchi in Tokyo (Shin Tenchi, I think?) just because that kind of shorthand seemed really over used. It was annoying. For some reason, this doesn't bother me so much in Fullmetal Alchemist - maybe because without it, it would be hard to tell what Al was feeling at all, since he spends most of his appearance in the show as a big metal suit of armor. So I can put up with a little "shorthand," as long as it fits the context, and isn't overdone.

What does bug me, even in a fairly high quality shows like CB or Trigun is this. Note the following graphic, which someone sent me in an email.

( walking... )

( Noses... )

All ranting aside, I really have very little to complain about. For the most part, in the face of so much network programming in the form of "reality" shows, I'm grateful for a form of entertainment that's given me so many hours of pleasure, and that it's become so much more available, even in the few years I've been watching it.

( An aside - Google oddities... )

(crossposted to anime and otaku_over_30)

Some fannish nitpicking...

I love all kinds of animation, and I obviously love anime, or I wouldn't be wasting so much of my time on it. I do have some little annoyances with it though. Please note that I am in no way trained in doing any kind of animation, aside from a flipbook or two I doodled in school notebooks when the lectures were boring. My art experience is limited to a handful of drawing classes in high school and junior college, eons ago.

One of the reasons I like Cowboy Bebop and others like it so much is the animation is fairly sophisticated and realistic-looking. There is very little use of what I'll call "shorthand" - the stylized sweat-dropping, veins-popping, chibi-appearing, fangs-growing, kitty-faces, expression of emotion. We get what the characters are feeling without being beat over the head with it. I think Faye gets googly-eyes for exactly one frame, when she surprises (or rather, is surprised by) Gren in the shower. I really didn't care for Tenchi in Tokyo (Shin Tenchi, I think?) just because that kind of shorthand seemed really over used. It was annoying. For some reason, this doesn't bother me so much in Fullmetal Alchemist - maybe because without it, it would be hard to tell what Al was feeling at all, since he spends most of his appearance in the show as a big metal suit of armor. So I can put up with a little "shorthand," as long as it fits the context, and isn't overdone.

What does bug me, even in a fairly high quality shows like CB or Trigun is this. Note the following graphic, which someone sent me in an email.

( walking... )

( Noses... )

All ranting aside, I really have very little to complain about. For the most part, in the face of so much network programming in the form of "reality" shows, I'm grateful for a form of entertainment that's given me so many hours of pleasure, and that it's become so much more available, even in the few years I've been watching it.

( An aside - Google oddities... )

(crossposted to anime and otaku_over_30)

(no subject)

Our tenth anniversary is coming up and I'm wracking my brain trying to think of an appropriate gift for John (that I can afford). I was hoping to make reservations at the inn in Seal Beach where we spent our wedding night, but I think that may be beyond my means, at least for this month. I was going to replace the Maori Twist pendant I got him last year, that the kids broke, but I want to get him something else too. Think, think, think...

Meanwhile, Avalon is on my list. She grabbed my little flash drive, was swinging it around by the neck cord, and bopped me on the head with it before I could grab it away from her. The cap that covers the connector went flying to gods-know-where. Then she yanked on the cord, which is only attached by a lark's head knot to a tiny brittle plastic bar; it immediately snapped off. John took it out the garage, drilled a tiny hole and attached a jewelry fastener to it, so at least I can put the cord back on. So I reprimand her, and she bursts into tears and screams "I hate you! NEVER...DO...THAT...AGAIN!" before stomping off into her room. My. She and Gareth seem to have a flair for the dramatic. Not sure where that came from.

But then five minutes later, she's forgotten all about it, making with the grins like I posted a few days ago, all the while looking for something else to get into.

(no subject)

Our tenth anniversary is coming up and I'm wracking my brain trying to think of an appropriate gift for John (that I can afford). I was hoping to make reservations at the inn in Seal Beach where we spent our wedding night, but I think that may be beyond my means, at least for this month. I was going to replace the Maori Twist pendant I got him last year, that the kids broke, but I want to get him something else too. Think, think, think...

Meanwhile, Avalon is on my list. She grabbed my little flash drive, was swinging it around by the neck cord, and bopped me on the head with it before I could grab it away from her. The cap that covers the connector went flying to gods-know-where. Then she yanked on the cord, which is only attached by a lark's head knot to a tiny brittle plastic bar; it immediately snapped off. John took it out the garage, drilled a tiny hole and attached a jewelry fastener to it, so at least I can put the cord back on. So I reprimand her, and she bursts into tears and screams "I hate you! NEVER...DO...THAT...AGAIN!" before stomping off into her room. My. She and Gareth seem to have a flair for the dramatic. Not sure where that came from.

But then five minutes later, she's forgotten all about it, making with the grins like I posted a few days ago, all the while looking for something else to get into.