| Hi guys, I just wanted to creat a Thread specific to the issue of "flatness" which has been repeatedly brought up, and ways in which it could be improved. I know most of us love Rurouni Kenshin as a core memory from our childhoods, and want to see ways the show could better succeed in living up to it's maximum potential. The biggest culprit is likely the background track for the audio. The art I feel is quite fine, and I feel the voice actors also do a good job. The animation is more "storybookish" than one might expect. This likely relates to experience and budget for the production company. Extra humour was cut a bit from the remake, this might be considered good or bad. |
Vyaiskaya said: The biggest culprit is likely the background track for the audio. While it does plays a role, to me, the obvious answer is the whole directing itself. Outside of the fight scenes, the compositions are literally basic. The camera is either placed in front/back of or to the side of the actors, and there is no artistical choice made for it. The characters are always perpendicular to the ground, and almost always in close-ups. Now, i'm not very knowledgeable about cinematography and its terms, but even to me it feels obvious that there is no dynamism or meaning that was infused through it. The scenes are there, just to be there, they doesn't try to bestow you a certain impression or something. It's all the more blatantly marking when you compare it with recent works, which are filled of such techniques. Just to take an example, Sousou no Frieren, which is still airing. Right from the first few minutes of Episode 01, the characters are traveling on a cart. The storyboard doesn't just show you the cart moving, the camera always moves and changes plans. The scene begins, the camera is laid on the ground, with the cart seen from afar. Then, very high close-up in front of a character face, 2 seconds later, the camera is almost to the ground, to the left rear, of the cart, with two characters visible. And it changes again, the camera is now on the cart, showcasing a city from afar, with trees in second plans moving at a moderate pace. The camera switch again, medium plan of all the characters, with the sky taking the upper half of the screen, switch, the city is shown from a little bit less afar, in a large plan, switch again, the characters were talking all this time, now we focus on their discussions, the camera moves, right, left, behind, in front, in a corner, close-up on the wheels, camera on the road, large plan of the road (which will be used at the end of the episode to share a meaning of the story) with the cart in second plan. To end this small sequence, middle plans on the two most important characters talking, with shadows and lighting moving on their bodies, and we finish with the camera on grass, with the cart in third/fourth plan and the camera lifting up to look at the sky. All of that happens in barely a minute. It creates a lot of dynamism, and doesn't just show you that the cart is moving, but it makes you feels it. Sousou no Frieren sure is a stellar production, but i'm sure i can find many such sequences (even just a few seconds) in half of the Animes airing each Season, and Rurouni Kenshin 2023 is not one of them, when it should have ! That's where the comparison with Rurouni Kenshin 1996 hurts a lot, as it was absolutely filled with such meaningful directing. Edit : And i'm also one of those who believes the removal of comedy is bad too. The stories of the Tokyo Arc are, in the end, very simple. The break moments of the gags created dynamism in the discussions themselves too. That's probably why they didn't completely removed it altogether, as it would have ruined the portrayal of Kaoru and Yahiko. I'm really not fan of what that did to Kenshin tho, i would've preferred them to leaves him as a 90s goofball. |
Alexioos95Dec 25, 2023 12:54 AM
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