Comic Update: わたしまだ女子高生でいたいよ
While there certainly are parody elements in Angel Beats, I find the very setting to be ironic. There was that scene in episode one where the main character was hesitating to fire his gun at the flat-chested, loli-looking Tenshi. I couldn’t help but see this as a metaphor for otaku trying to escape from the grasp of their hobby. But it probably isn’t. I personally don’t really care either way–I’m not all that for or against the show–but I kind of wanted to drive this slight disappointment over this missed opportunity home with Brad, so I did.
I’m not that sold on the artwork in this one, but it turned out fine. My main qualms lie in the brightness of the colours, and Tina’s face in panel 2. Maybe I should lay off the bloom effect a bit more next time. I drew the outlines of the speech bubbles with the tablet as opposed to using the shape tools to create them, in attempt to make the comic look more organic, but in the end they came out a little messy. I’ll try something different next time.
I haven’t talked about news in a while, but something happened this past week that caught my attention. Aniplex is entering the American market in an attempt to directly market their products to US buyers. While this’ll probably crash and burn like every other Japanese attempt to sell directly to the US, what caught my attention was their plans to release five other series by 2011. This is pure conjecture, but wouldn’t it be neat if they had Bakemonogatari? I mean, this is really fucking crazy, but if this means I could get Bakemonogatari in the US, on BRD, I’d be pretty fucking stoked. It’d be perfect if it were a carbon copy of the Japanese release, just with English subtitles. But that’s just a dream at the moment. It’d be cool, though!
I also haven’t spoken about anime for a while in this space, but I feel something like Beck isn’t worth a whole blog entry, but is too much for a series of tweets to cover. But yeah, we’ve been watching Beck down at the ol’ anime club and it’s pretty amazingly average. I dont mean average in the sense that every element of the show is executed half-heatedly. It’s more like, there’s certain parts of the show that are spectacular, and certain parts that are just awful. The animation is pretty rough, the frequent use of English–both from Japanese and American voice talents–is laughably bad, the direction is really awkward, and the acting is stilted.
But the show has spirit. I’m not sure if this spirit is carried over from the (rather lengthy) manga, or if it’s due to the enthusiasm of the staff, but the amount of effort put into the rendering of the instruments and the show’s constant adoration for rock music is probably what makes it watchable. I mean, it’s not painful to watch, but it could be a lot better. The best parts of the show are easily the opening and the ending. I especially like all the illustrations used for the ending, as they’re not the types of images you usually see in anime.
Next week is more or less the end of the semester, and I have something like three ten page papers to pump out before then. That said, don’t expect a comic next weekend. Later!
Brad just can’t get a break can he? Haha
BECK is a weird show, indeed. When it’s good, it’s good, and when it sucks, it blows.
Surprise surprise, though, the animation quality skyrocketed during Maho’s skinny-dipping adventure.
We all know that animation quality and camera angle brilliance are always ushered in by fanservice… it’s one of those 101 laws of anime isn’t it? I’m not complaining, just saying.
BECK is probably better to watch in dub, what with all the Engrish. The animation is still horrible, but it really becomes something special by the end.
That said, my opinion on the show is probably embellished by nostalgia, since BECK is a lot like my high school years.
No it is exactly as you said it. There is very little in Angel Beats that is original and the setting is just so forced. The author wanted it to be that way (probably because everything else is this way). Nothing needs to be explained, everything feels set-up. If you felt bad shooting the angel then you were probably meant to feel bad about it.
However for Jun Maeda fans, Angel Beats is everything they want from his works. It is everything they like , it’s his particularly brand of humour (always refreshing), it’s his crying-game style tear jerkers and his character designs, always absurd, which go hand-in-hand with his humour. Lastly, it is not everyone’s cup of tea.
What I’m trying to say is that, it is exactly as it is, it’s enjoyable if you know how to enjoy it. Pure brilliant fun, random romp, in afterlife, afterschool world with fun characters and then some Clannad after story stuff sneaked in later. Sorry for wordiness, a lot of people have not understood this show and the bashing is wrongly served, I feel.
It seems like you can get a little bit of social commentary out of Angel Beats. People likened NPCs, no consequence for dying, etc.
And it’s because of this that I’m now addicted to Angel Beats
Brad reminds me of when I watched Koi Koi Seven.
How do you know that Angel Beats isn’t parody?
Because the writers aren’t that clever.
Well the plot and situations are rather strange and new, the comedy and the fact that nobody can die is rather eye-catching and makes you imagine the most horrid things to experience and yet somehow live because your already dead.
I must disagree that and state that the art work looks pretty good especially when they show the band singing and show almost every angle of the entire band, including diagonal views from the sides as if they were organic and real life people. i’m rather uncomfortable with the way the world is in that place but it definetly stands on a world of their own, even though i somehow got reminded of bleach when i observed this “Other dimension” in the anime. and leader who the main character meets at the beginning of the anime for some reason reminds me of Haruhi Suzumiya only she doesn’t completely thinking about herself, has a different purpose, and personality is of course different except for their leadership skills. and the way they look for some reason they have an almost striking resemblence or rather i just got reminded of Haruhi Suzumiya by looking at. either way this a decent anime to check out if you don’t mind ignoring the reality of life for a bit and just wanna laugh, see a bit of action, and admire the characters and artwork for a bit.
Oh yes and i thank you for sharing this anime with us, i never would have heard of it if it hadn’t been for this blog. thanks so much! i enjoy stopping by to read the comics and latest stuff the characters have seen as some of the stuff they’ve played, watch are things i have seen or like to see. :D
Why did Gakuen Mokushiroku (highschool of the dead) pop into my head after seeing this comic.
Was supposed to be this fall or winter?