daywithoutgames said:i did read the manga , and i just heard the news about an anime adaption .
my current opinions :
Recipes for failure ? :
- black-and-white anime ? what is this ? the 1960s ? we are currently in the 2020s . no colors because this anime has low budget ?
- only 4 episodes ? not 14 episodes ? because this anime has low budget ? and can 4 episodes faithfully adapt 3 volumes of manga ?
- it was announced in 2019 , and is delayed to 2022 .
- it is produced by Production I.G USA , aka P.I.G. USA , lol .
- it is directed by Hiroshi Nagahama , the guys who directed the infamous The Flowers of Evil anime , lol . he likes to try new unique things , but some times , new unique things dont equal good quality .
- this is a horror anime .
- nowadays , main-stream anime-watchers dont like horror , they mostly like colorful anime-s with some themes like : isekai , harem , over-powered , hack , cheat , action , comedy , ecchi , cute girls , etc etc .
- Are you seriously that close minded artistically? There have been masterpieces, at least in cinema, that were stylistically chosen to be in black and white. Case and point: Raging Bull and Schindler's List. There is such thing as a color palette, meaning visual artists have nearly unlimited options in terms of color choice. Imagine if every show/movie you watched had the same color palette. Imagine how bland that would be. Imagine how tired you would be of looking at the same visual formula. Personally, I find it exciting that the artists have chosen black and white. It's actually a bold move that will turn away many shallow viewers, which appears to already have happened. I think that the black and white may enhance the horror elements by giving the show a surreal aesthetic. The animation appears to be fluid so I don't think that was a budget issue. Smaller studios have used a wide array of colors before in their works so this point makes no sense whatsoever.
- There are countless movies that have been adapted from long novels. Are you saying that every anime should be a page by page adaptation of the manga their based on? Urasawa's Monster, for example, was adapted panel by panel (so I've heard. I have not actually read the manga myself.). I find when that is the case, I have no real reason to pick up the manga because I've seen the story as it was originally told. The same could go for a movie that faithfully adapts a novel. Sometimes elements from paper do not translate into moving images. It may speak to the creativity of the producers and writers of the Uzamaki anime that it is shorter. Perhaps it will be an interpretation. Now, I'm not saying the interpretation will be an effective one, but then again, what is the point of speculating on the quality of something that has not even been released? I find that there's no real reason to compare one work of art to the source matter outside of analysis. The inspired art does not owe it to the source to be a perfect adaption. There are plenty of songs, for example, named after books and movies, but it would be silly to make a song with lyrics ripped straight from the pages. Again, sometimes mediums have to be translated from one to another. I find it exciting when one piece reinterprets something from the past. It's often times fresh! Of course, often times the interpretation is unnecessary and poorly executed, but again, at this point in time, you can only speculate. If you're already expecting the anime adaptation to be bad, you may be setting yourself up for confirmation bias and you may view it with preconceived lenses. If this turns out to be a phenomenal adaptation, which I hope it does, it may be a pleasant surprise for hardcore fans of the Uzamaki manga who are hoping for panel by panel animation. Then again, if that's what you want, you will be disappointed by many great anime.
- Again, unnecessary speculation. It's just as possible that the delay is due to perfectionism as it is possible that the delay is due to shortcomings. I don't keep up with things like that, so that information may be out there, but I don't care. I will form my opinion when I see the anime with my own eyes. Many great shows and movies have had several delays but they turned out great. Case and point, and a recent example, Matt Reeve's the Batman was delayed once if not several times to accommodate for covid interruptions. Yet, the Batman was released to acclaim from both critics, Batman fans, and general cinema fans. Yet again, your point is silly.
- I've never heard of this studio, but after looking into them, they have been responsible for several acclaimed works, including Usagi Drop, Attack on Titan, Vinland Saga, Haikyuu, and the End of Evangelion for God's sake... Your point is once again silly! I'm seeing a pattern here.
- Nagahama has several classics under his belt. Oh, but he likes to take risks? It's like you said, risks do not always pay off. Key word: risk, meaning "possibility of loss or injury", according to Merriam Webster. Once again, a silly point. You cannot assume a risk will fail. That's what makes a risk... Come on. Many great pieces of art were results of risk taking. JPEGMAFIA is an artist who has taken countless risks with his music and most of them have payed off with a die-hard fanbase of eclectic music listeners. Francis Ford Coppola took a huge risk when he made his magnum opus Apocalypse Now. He pushed the actors to their limits with a hostile work environment. The story is drawn out and patient. It was overall experimental and risky, but it payed off because it's considered one of the greatest movies of all time. Now, it was not unanimously praised upon release but of course it wasn't! It was unconventional. It did well at the box office but not every artist is concerned with profit alone. When you reach a certain point in your career, and many do not wait that long, you may be more concerned with creating a challenging piece. Challenging art is not made for most people and is often not understood until long into the future. I'd argue that a work of that nature is more artistic than a work that plays it safe because it challenges the status quo and inspires more artists to be more authentic. It inspires change. That is a good thing because if every work of art played it safe, there would be no variety. Everything would be formulaic. It's the works that take bold risks that stand out and offer the most unique experience. Also, back to your previous point about faithfulness to the source material, Apocalypse Now was based on a book Heart of Darkness. The movie is a loose interpretation but I've never heard anyone complain about it not being faithful enough. Besides, reinterpretations are many viewers first experience with a story. When they find out about the source material, many of them will check it out. That sounds like a win for Mr. Ito.
- I will group your next two points as one because they are one point. You seem to think that horror is unpopular. The Exorcist is a horror movie and is the highest grossing rated-r movie of all time. Although, I admit, perhaps you have a point here. The most popular anime are often action-adventure shounens and comedies. The problem is you discount the mainstream appeal of horror. Many fans of cinema and television in general love horror. Horror is one of the most popular genres of fiction. Stephen King has sold more than 350,000,000 copies of his books. He primarily writes horror. His books have been adapted into several movies that are household names. The films based his books have collectively grossed over a billion dollars, if not more. But I am pulling from the mediums of cinema and books. I will concede that you have a point here. Horror has not been widely successful in the medium of anime. I think this one could possibly turn heads for two reasons:
1.) Anime has a much wider audience than it did in even the last decade, many of which are casual fans who are also fans of film and television. Horror films and shows do incredibly well. General cinema audiences eat up horror. It's fair to say that horror is the go to genre for a date night. You have a date coming over for netflix and chill? Odds are that you will turn on a horror movie. Now that a wider audience watches anime, I don't see why they would not eat this up if it gets even humble marketing.
2.) I can't think of one horror anime to be quite frank with you. The only one that comes to mind is the Junji Ito Collection. While it's not mainstream, it's not exactly a completely obscure series. I know one person in my personal life that has seen it. That series was based on other works by Junji Ito. Ito wrote Uzamaki. If any horror title would do well, it would be one based on his works, as he is fairly popular among manga fans, most of which I would wager watch anime and most of which will be curious to see this Uzamaki adaptation.
To summarize, I disagree that this anime is a "recipe for failure". The trailer has 1.3 million views on Youtube. Might I remind you that this is coproduced by Adult Swim? That right there almost makes for a recipe for success. Toonami was countless American millennials' gateway into anime. Like I said, there is no point in speculating on something that is unreleased. You can do with your time as you will but I'd rather occupy my mind with what is available in the present moment. Sure, I am excited to see this but the finished product remains to be seen. The manga style art looks extremely promising. This one looks risky but that is definitely not a bad thing for me! If it turns off casual viewers than so be it. I doubt the aim of the studio working on this thing is to create the next Dragon Ball series. If the finished product is surreal, tense, artistic, and is even mildly successful, I'd say that the team accomplished everything they could.
I'd love to see this one do well. This may be what anime needs. The shounen boy adventure has become stale. Shojo is just as oversaturated and there are plenty of gritty psychological seinen. A left-field horror mini-series is exactly what anime needs. Let's hope for the best because if this does well, it could mean a new chapter for anime as a whole, and if you ask me, the page is in dire need of turning. |