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All Comments (4881) Comments
The Pianist is elite ! One of my favorite movies of all time. Def top 10.
And Nier Automata is the best game outside of the souls series. It has been in my top 3 for a long time now. The story is phenomenal, the gameplay is extremely fun and the music is unparalleled. Now, I'm definitely feeling like replying the entire game.
Dude, Toei's staff has been insane in the egghead arc. I don't know who's incharge of the art direction, but it looks so beautiful. The shading, lighting, sceneries, character models, linework etc., everything has been pristine. Better than 99% of the seasonal shows and I say this without any bias. Animation has its ups and downs as well, but they always go insane in critical times, and last episode was one such instance. But still, no matter how inconsistent the animation is, the art direction is top tier and personally, art > animation. On 11 Aug, they'll be revealing some news on the remake production and they better not have a sloppy production, as for Suicide squad. WIT as of late has been very hit or miss.
As for things on my end, they have been so-so. Until last month, I had been working on the most critical phase of my thesis, I had a student research assistant position at my Uni and I had another student position in a reputable company. Needless to say, schedule was jam packed with things to look forward to everyday. Since, June 30th, I graduated, got done with my thesis, and both of my student job contracts ended at the same time. Now I feel a bit empty. A bit too much time on my hand and I have no idea what to do. Luckily, the Euros and Copa America kept me a little occupied, but that's done with now. I need things to keep myself busy again. It's kinda difficult to not do anything nowadays. My other friends are working summer jobs and are only available in the evenings. So, again, kinda difficult not doing anything.
Though, I did start Better call Saul recently, and I must admit, it is very enjoyable. Solid show so far.
Anything new since we last talked? How's life treating you nowadays?
Ofcourse I'm caught upto the latest chapter xD I live and breathe One Piece. Overall its phenomenal man. Every chapter has been extremely captivating. The amount of connections you get to draw to various literature from each chapter is what makes this series so fun. IMO Oda is easily the greatest writer I've seen. It feels like he writes the series so effortlessly and naturally, yet its such a complex story with so many layers to it. He draws inspirations from the most obscure stuff, and he seems to never run out of ideas. That's unnatural to do on a weekly basis.
I know this is a lot of glazing to start with, but I just caught upto MHA and the difference in writing is truly shocking. Not saying MHA is bad, I actually enjoy it a lot, but it just makes me realize how great OP is and that when it ends, there is nothing to replace it. But speaking of MHA, it definitely has its strengths. Its one of the better shounens I've seen that handles character drama really well. I really enjoy the major cast of characters. I think characters like All Might, Endevour, Bakugo, Todoroki and while I have some reservations about Midoriya, I think for the most part, they're really well written and utilized characters. Also the whole class-A are good likeable characters, and other heroes like Hawks and Jeanist are really likeable characters. I also think Horikoshi sets up moment to moment conflicts really well. They feel tense with tons of emotions (props to Bones). And lastly, I think despite a really mediocre run for a couple of seasons, the major arc in season 6 was really tense and enjoyable.
That being said, I do have three very major gripes with this series. I hate, and I reiterate HATE the villains in this show. They're uninteresting, one dimensional and have very poor motivations. They're hard to sympathize with, just for the fact how poorly their ideologies are conveyed. I think Shigaraki is the biggest culprit here. I cannot understand why anyone would be inspired to follow him. His whole gimmick is what 90% of the villains share in common. "Heros didn't save me and now I'll destroy everything". His powerups are the biggest asspulls I've seen and really made the plot very boring to watch. Not to mention how every villain magically got an insane random powerups just because Horikoshi didn't know how to execute things any better. Toga is also appalling and shallow to watch. The magician guy and Stain lover were very forgettable. Dabi is yet another case of "notice me", though I think his motivations are better conveyed than the rest. AFO is fine though, having a power hungry fanatic is believable. But coming back, I don't know why any of the characters who have a problem with the current hero system would automatically follow AFO, someone who completely goes against their ideology. Like most of the characters that have a problem with the hero system are still people that care deeply for the betterment of the society. So why tf would they support a mass murderer who just doesn't want the abolishment of the hero system, but wants to replace it with a literal Nazi regime. The only really well written villain is Stain. Every action he takes makes perfect sense for what he stands for. But characters like Lady Nagant (and anyone in the L of V), who was fed up with the unjust system .... does what ? Resorts to murdering and supporting the greatest genocide maniac in the series??? And Izuku is like, "Holl up, its not her fault that she is a murderer, its all AFOs fault"?????? And then proceeds to get angry at AFO when clearly, characters like Shigaraki and Lady Nagant are acting out of their own will. Things like this really strike a nerve in me and there have been multiple occasions where I've just stopped in the middle of the episode because it felt like my intelligence was being insulted.
Not too mention how stupid the residents of the MHA world are, which is by extension hints at how dumb Horikoshi's morality is. As an example, villains are literally murdering people left and right, displaced them from their homes and literally made life hell. Then Dabi leaks a video of Hawks murdering Twice (btw Twice was great) and people are somehow losing trust in heros? I mean is this the first thing you are questioning? Like people in this world are quite entitled and SJWs and literal snowflakes. Anyways, sorry for the long rant but I was just flabbergasted when I saw people praising MHA's villain writing. By far the worst written cast of villains out of any major shounen.
Other two gripes are somewhat minor in comparison. One being that sometimes, things are so overly dramatic like Izuku's emo phase or when for the 20th time Izuku and Mirio scream, "I'll save you Ari". Such forced writing honestly. Also sometimes, the VAs really need to chill. S4 was my least favorite season because of how forced the writing was. Lastly, fanservice of minor characters is honestly so weird. Horikoshi really needs to stop drawing them as curvy as he does and maybe stop writing reasons to make them in even more revealing costumes. Lastly, I feel like Horikoshi is a little lacking in terms of creativity. His writing is very inflexible and hence, MHA feels extremely planned, a bit predicable and very less improvised. He has to put a lot of effort to make characters likeable and stakes feel important. This is part of the reason why I was glazing OP. Horikoshi, unless he puts a lot of emphasis on a character, writes very bland characters. Like the other two characters from Big 3, a lot of the villains and heroes feel very unlikeable. This kind of diverted my attention to OP. Oda conceptualizes a character in such a way, that their initial premise and idea is enough to make them extremely likeable, and 90% of the times, do not need any additional development to make them more relevant and likeable. Like imagine in BnHA, we get to see so much depth from Bakugo and Hawks for example and then only, we really end up liking them. In OP, this is hardly ever required. Oda mentioned WB, and then showed him for one page, and just from that, he became my fav character (xD not really). Same with Supernovas, Warlords (especially Mihawk), Dragon, Garp, Doffy, Crocs, Admirals and basically every character ever, especially Kuma. They're so interestingly conceptualized that they never need additional screen time (aham Shanks). And latest addition to this is Vegapunk. I dunno about you, but VP is such a cool character. He is blend of Einstein, Tesla, and possibly Oppenhiemer. AAND he's goofy AF, has the most absurd design, is beyond passionate about research, yet he's so likeable as a character. He could easily have been a boring scientist as hinted throughout the story, but honestly, he has exceeded my expectations as a character. Like Oda's ability to make a character intriguing is insane, and not to mention his ability to make the reader care about the mysteries of the world. Like literally, water levels rising in a fictional world is so hype xD
I agree with Toradora. Its very bland. I was left disappointed after hearing it was one of the best romances regarded by many. I think I've given it a 6/10 as well and I watched it way back in 2014 ~ 2015. AssClass is great. First season is mediocre but its great fun overall. Ousama Ranking overall was a mess sadly. Loose writing and poor handling of a very interesting premise. Still 7/10 because of WITs efforts.
Yeah, given up on expecting anything about the OP remake. Only thing worth noting is that Shuu Sugita, a very talented animator, joined WIT studio. Also, a number of notable animators from Boruto have now joined WIT. Conflicted because I'm not a huge fan of Boruto's animation sequences. Maybe, they'll pop with a better art direction. Kind of like Ota's early key animation in One Piece didn't look impressive, but ever since Toei has handed out the post-processing and finishing to another studio, the linework, shadows, lightening and effects have looked stellar. Episode 1061 & 1100 was probably the best animation I've ever seen. Insane production. Honestly, Ishizuka is teasing Garp vs BB pirates and I am so hyped for it. Garp is my favorite character excluding SHs, and Ishizuka's teases are looking pure hype. Just look at this:
https://twitter.com/Ishi_01/status/1763622190166286614/photo/1
https://twitter.com/Ishi_01/status/1766926673080156597/photo/1
https://twitter.com/Ishi_01/status/1782998854100803605/photo/1
This is just art man. OP's production is insane.
Yeah, even more than MH, its sad that the producer for Freiren never does sequels. I love the director for the series.
Starting with, belated Eid Mubarak. Hope you had a fun time. I didn't do much on Eid but had a nice outing with a friend.
I can respect that. BM is my least favorite of the Yonkos or should I say Gokous. But I like each one for different reasons. Makes me realize how diverse each one is. Can't think of two with similar ideals or demeanor.
Yeah, on my re-read, Dressrosa is definitely a low point in the series. This is also the arc during which I started OP and caught up with the series just as G4 was being revealed. But yeah, Dressrosa is my least favorite major arc so far (not counting Fishman island).
I also agree. The slow pacing during major battles is my least favorite aspect of Oda's writing, right after the fakeout deaths. Fortunately, I do not dislike it that much in EH since its the big bois we're dealing with, rather than wasting time on the millionth minor characters fight (aham Dressrosa, Alabasta, Enies Lobby, FI etc.). As for Vegapunk's message delay, yeah that's typical Oda. Couple that with the giant robot as well. But honestly, its a double edged sword. It has its merits as well. I feel like a lot of the series loose potential in their mysteries by revealing them too quickly. The brilliance of a mystery series lies in letting the reader care about the mystery. AoT and OP are fantastic examples of this. Although in this instance, we already care of the message so might as well reveal it, but in the case of the giant robot, its not a bad idea to introduce the concept first and then wait for the reveal. I felt ranking of the kings really failed in this aspect. It had a lot of mysteries going for it, but really failed for engage the reader enough before revealing them. Ended up finishing the series, and felt it was really carried by the superb production quality and world building. The characters and fakeout deaths were by far the weakest aspects of the story. 6.5 ~ 7/10 series for me.
I'm particularly interested about sword fights man. Not those random ass big slashes that Toei often does. I'm not particularly the biggest fan of action series but the titan fights and sword fights in AoT just do it for me (WIT only). The impact of the punches in titan fights is the single most satisfying thing and would translate so well into Luffy's final punches. Toei's sound department is so underwhelming that despite some unreal effort by the animators, the punches don't feel too satisfying (except a few instances where they've knocked it out of the part). I'm also particularly interested to see how they'll handle Sanji's combat. I always feel like Toei's hand to hand (or should I say feet-to-feet) combat is weak, compared to how Pierrot handles them (in Naruto). Lastly, Zorro's sword battles will also be a treat to watch. If only they could reveal some information regarding the series :( Been 4 months of drought now.
I've been binging some WIT content as of late in anticipation. Consistently impressed with their works. Despite my criticism on Ousama ranking, its production was stellar. The art direction, character designs, soundtracks etc. were all done pretty well. The pacing and flow was a bit iffy but that mostly due to how weirdly the manga is structured. Even watched some anime original Pokemon short series by WIT. Greatly impressed honestly. The art style was gorgeous, but what impressed me most was how good the flow of the story was despite the simple nature of the series. Perfect placement of soundtracks as well. A+ in terms of the production. Moreover, I also watched Spy x family. Thought I would really dislike it but ended up enjoying the series a lot. I can guess the art direction was handled more by Cloverworks, because the thin lines was a little uncharacteristic of WIT but the animation was still very superb. Also in the second season, the art did feel a little downgraded, almost as if they started using two layers (coloring/shading) instead of three layers (coloring/highlights/shading), but regardless, it was really enjoyable to watch. The characters really grew on me with each season and I'm a little surprised by the negative reception of the later seasons since I felt the show was very consisting throughout its run. The show was paced to perfection. Not a single moment felt dragged or rushed. The background music in important scenes was implemented really well. Overall, great setting and cast of characters with a very good adaptation. I'll rate it a generous 8/10. Rare to see a proper adaptation nowadays really, with most series employing over the top animation but sacrificing the direction in its place. Similar case with One piece. I feel like the direction is definitely a huge step up since Wano and even more so in EH, but its significantly below early One piece, especially until the end of W7 or beginning of Enies lobby. The animation was very simplistic and thus, had to use innovative ways to make the scenes engaging from moment to moment. The series was very consistent overall. Now it is very evident that certain episodes have extremely competent directors and animators, while others are very lackluster in their production. Makes the series very inconsistent overall. Can't blame too much honestly, its hard to maintain consistency in a weekly running series with no breaks. Toei's immense talent is carrying this series afloat.
Frieren's current rating is insane. I guess this is what happens when a production manager known for having connections to some of the best talents in the industry picks up an award winning story. Not too mention, Madhouse is an amazing studio, dare I say the best after KyoAni. Really knows how to keep animation simple but very effective in its usage. Also, judging from Bocchi the Rock, I can imagine the direction must have been stellar as well. I'm keen to watch the show but do not feel like watching it at the moment. I'll give Frieren a watch someday; I do think dialogue centric series are my cup of tea, especially since Sangatsu and Monogatari are some of my favorite series. But until I watch it, I cannot have a say.
Secondly, I always say this but "me (and my family) before others". So before stressing over others, figure your situation out first. Screw the friend for now. He might have his situations and circumstances, but then again, before you tackle him, sort your self out.
Thirdly, RIP Toriyama. I may not be a DB fan, but I respected Toriyama a lot. His early juvenile DB was beyond charming.
One thing I'm slightly concerned about regarding OP's ending is the sudden lore drop all at once. I feel too big of a change in story's perspective might feel alienating. Hence, I really hope Oda starts dropping some plot points here and there. EH has been good at revealing major plot points, but I feel like more should be done (especially God valley, Shanks and Mihawks BS, BB's BS and Dragon's BS), so that everything doesn't seem overwhelming at the end. It's like writing a motivation letter for universities. You should never write new information in the ending paragraph, and instead reiterate what has already been said. I feel like Oda should take a similar approach. Drop 90% of the lore (expect OP and void century) and give 100 ~ 150 chapters for the lore drop to feel normal and not overwhelming. The final arcs should just be closing plot points, rather than forming new ones.
Ehhhhh I will disagree with you. IMO BM is the only yonko that's actually terrifying. She is a senile psychopathic old lady with dementia and personality disorder and doesn't even stop at killing her own children. Her backstory is horrifying; in that she is someone so oblivious to how terrifying they are. She is ruthless and cannot be reasoned with, unlike other antagonists. I love her chosen character within the context of the story, rather than being the same old serious antagonist. Wano did her dirty though; the memory loss and defeat were out of place. BM was a freaking powerhouse honestly. Abnormally strong with giant's strength, an extremely overpowered DF and ACoC. I don't think Luffy could've 1v1'd BM like he did Kaido. WCI is freaking top tier and I will stand by this statement until the end.
Cannot say the same about Dressrosa though. I'm re-reading it (43 chapters into it) and it has glaring problems. Almost 30-40% of the fluff could be removed and no one would bat an eye. It is extremely bad at establishing too many parallel events; doesn't develop much when an event is onscreen and just before a climactic moment, cuts away, only to come back to the event with things resolved off-screen. There is way too much idle dialogue that should be removed and the side villains do not need to have as much of a screen time as they have. It is the worst executed arc honestly, which is a shame since it boasts some of the best content; Doffy is a freaking cool character and his (and Law's BS) is one of the best. Fujitora's and Sabo's introduction, Law's character arc, Usopp's moment, smile fruits, as well as the coliseum are fun events if not juggled with thousand other events. The Tontatta BS is vital for the plot, as well as the SH alliance. Similarly, the setting of the arc is beautiful, and should've gotten the same treatment in showcasing the beauty, as with Water 7.
However, the amount of uninteresting side characters is hindering this arc. Wano is long, but atleast the characters are interesting. Doffy's underlings are some of Oda's worst characters. I really dislike Rebecca's character, from her design to her personality and to her character arc. Violet is ok but occupies way too much screen time. And I'll reiterate it but I really dislike Doffy's underlings. If re-adapted, Dressrosa is definitely the arc that needs the most work. It should capitalize on its strong points and reduce the unnecessary fluff as much as possible. It could easily be a 50 - 70 chapter arc with a very solid plotline.
I'm very glad that Oda, after his regressed writing (Post TS till Dressrosa) has continuously improved his writing with each arc, especially the straw hats themselves, which I perceived to be very one dimensional post TS. However, Oda has done an excellent job in developing Luffy, Nami and Sanji, and bringing more life to Brook, Franky and Jimbei. I'm hopeful for Usopp but he has been neglected very badly for a long time. Chopper's character is the most concerning since he has been sidelined the most. Lastly Zoro ... hhmmm I feel like his more stoic character makes sense and I like it a lot but I loved the old goofy Zoro with more emotions.
Lastly, I do think EH is shaping up to be the best of OP, but I have some issues with tension building. Granted this was never OP's strong suit, but I kinda wish for Oda to tone down Luffy's G5 reactions a little, and involve more straw hats in the conflict. OP as it is now feels way too heavily centered on Luffy.
As for Ranking of Kings, I'm surprised WIT has managed to extract as much out of it as it already has. The premise is interesting but there is a huge problem with lack of direction, with events and character motives changing at moments notice. I feel like this story is unplanned and abrupt. WIT has really created something out of nothing here. Gives me immense hope for The One Piece. Btw Asano Kyoji (the character designer and chief animation director for AoT and Psycho Pass) has shared some OP related content within the past two months. Is this perhaps a given sign that he'll also take charge of the remake? I love his refined character designs and how he shades characters (the two color shading with white outlines and dark areas for shadows). Most of his series have involved studio Bihou for background art (except SxF because Cloverworks did it), which you should know from AoT, is a beast of a studio in background art. He is an excellent animation director. However, I can't picture his style fitting the goofy nature of One Piece. Like I just cannot picture it. Noboru Koizumi's early One Piece is timeless (episodes 1 - 402) and I can't see anyone replicating that style. Extremely exaggerated and funny expressions, fast animated comedy and character designs. I'm just beyond excited to see the character designs since that'll make the largest difference overall.
I gotta read/watch GTO someday.
Hey man, screw the depression. Focus on good positive stuff. I don't know if you remember, but around a year ago when we started talking again, I was suffering from depression for no particular reason. Like, everything was good in life, however the mental state was bad for no reason. Now I'm not the one to let depression take over my life, but everything felt very shitty at the time. Having these small discussions with you at the time was a great mode of recovery for me. Now I feel like I'm happier and much more positive than I've been in the past five years :D So, while not every remedy has the same solution, I'm always here to talk about the good geeky stuff. Engross yourself in meaningful things. The worst you could do is stay locked in your room. Start setting random feel-good goals for yourself. Like for instance, I don't know, start jogging and set a milestone for how long it takes you to build stamina to run X number of km etc. What we have right now is time, so it's best if we take baby steps and slowly improve on different aspects of our lives that will make us feel more positive. If you ask me, there is so much I would like to improve in myself. I would like to start reading good literary works, and as soon as I am done with my degree, you can bet I'll start it. I also want to build a good physique. However, since diet and supplements are very costly here, I'm delaying that until I find a full-time job. Point being, I have many things to look forward to, so in the present, I want to focus on what I'm doing and do the best I can in it :) All these steps take a lot of conviction but just take the first step. It's also the most difficult step to take.
Again, you're one of the two people to be bombarded by my obsessiveness about things I'm passionate about, which has primarily been One Piece for the past 4 years or so. So, I would very much like you to be happy as well, and talk about things that make you happy :D
"To make matters worse, the protagonists' motivations became so unclear" - Couldn't agree more. It more so felt like Isayama's motivations also became unclear. Which is a shame, because I actually liked the Marley arc (minus the butchering of the previous cast of characters) and thought it was a very nice continuation of a story that was otherwise very difficult to follow on from the conclusion of season 3. I don't think the series should've ended with the basement reveal since it felt uncompleted at that point. But as you pointed out regarding "blurring the lines between right and wrong and changing our perspective on the story", it could've been dealt without opening up so many new plotlines that had a very unsatisfying conclusion just to fit them in with the current narrative of the story, Gabi's and Magath's plot lines being the prime example.
You've summarized my main gripes with the ending a lot better than what I wrote. Freedom was such a beautiful concept to focus and conclude the story on. Isayama had every ingredient handed to him to write one of the best conclusions to, in my opinion, one of the best storyline in anime. But Isayama just couldn't cook. Seeing how Isayama fumbled big time, it makes me a little skeptical to trust Oda regarding the conclusion to One Piece, but so far, Oda has covered so many themes in the story and he has done such a remarkable job that I'll choose to trust him, even if he ends up not delivering. I don't know if this is an unpopular opinion, but I'm loving the theme of "liberation" that has been adopted by Oda in the past few years. I think its a great theme to align and conclude the story on. It very neatly encompasses all the events that have occurred in the story so far, and it's also a very fitting response to people that criticize that each arc revolves saving a kingdom, country etc., since that now inherently has become what the story is all about. Now this also raises some criticisms about making Luffy the "chosen or the destined one", like other shows within the same genre, but I think there is a huge misconception surrounding this debate. I've always perceived it as it's not that the chosen one is Luffy, it's just that because of who Luffy is, is why he will be the chosen one. It's not destiny choosing him, it's him that's choosing his destiny. Sounds very pretentious but to me, it's very clear that it is meant to be that way.
Also, I skipped past my re-reading journey and went straight to WCI because I felt like reading it. I am pleasantly surprised by WCI in all honestly. I regarded the arc highly when I first read it, but upon my re-read, I'm placing it even more highly. It was a brilliant read from start to finish. WCI has the most frequent occurrence of some of the best events in the series. Sanji's backstory, Sanji vs Luffy, Luffy's hunger strike, the formation of the assassination alliance, Brook calling BM young lady, Brook breaking BM's portrait, Brook retrieving the poneglyph, Luffy's genius way to ruin the party, Jinbei leaving BM, BM's backstory, Luffy vs Kata, Luffy vs Cracker, Katakuri's short backstory, the redemption of Germa after saving the SH/Sanji, Beje being an absolute homie, reveal of the fifth emperor, Pedro's sacrifice, introduction to underworld players especially the GOAT big news Morgan, Nami getting Zues, heck even Lola's father's death felt very tragic. Like this was atleast an A+ tier arc. Also, the comedy was spot on in this arc. I was laughing my ass out so frequently, especially Gangster Gastino and Brook sleeping with BM xD Also, I really liked BM's ideals, even if she didn't implement them properly. And I feel like this arc did a great job of letting the secondary characters shine. Overall, potential top 5 arc. I'll re-read Wano to see if it also holds up well. But WCI really covered a lot of good content in 78 chapters. Also, while reading, I tried to imagine potential pacing of the arc. All in all, the arc fits wonderfully in 26 episodes with episode 1 and 26 being 45-minutes in runtime. The earlier episodes only covered 2 chapters, while starting episode 18, the pacing can really be sped up, covering 4-5 chapters at a time. This was all possible by cutting out content after the party crash, where story started dragging a little. In my fictitious directing role, I cut out a lot of the content surrounding preparing the cake, BM fodder having useless monologues towards the very end, and streamlining some scenes, such as removing a lot of cutaways in some scenes and instead merging the content for some scenes to play out entirely, rather than be segmented with 10 other events.
I also started watching Ranking of the kings, to really see what WIT is capable of. I can confidently say, if the pacing is not too fast, WIT will knock this adaptation out of the park. It just seems that WIT doesn't know how to produce anything bad. WIT is one of the very few studios that doesn't copy paste manga to anime (cough Mappa and Toei) and instead, really looks to bring out the potential of animation and sound, in contrast to static panels in manga. I feel like they'll really breath new soul into this series. Also, it seems like WIT is really hiring a dedicated staff for One Piece. From May 2023 onwards, they've grown from 153 employees to 200 employees (as of January 2024), and I'm confident this number will keep growing a bit more for the next 3-4 months. The only point of skepticism is that I've triple checked every official announcement, and we're only getting East Blue. Its very clearly mentioned in all of the official announcements. Hopefully, they consider re-making the entire manga, because I can assure you, arcs like WCI deserve a remake very badly.
So, I've gone ahead and finished all of Attack on Titan now. I have a lot to say; however, it would be nice to know your opinion about season 4 part 1 and 2, as well as the final chapters. Based on the reviews, I'm in the minority it seems, so I'd like to hear about your take, not only about the ending but everything post-timeskip. Since I'm extremely bad at expressing my opinions, I want to just write some bullet points about the main things I'd like to discuss (which I may forget) since I've finished the series freshly. The following list is just for me to remember things:
Ok, wow, I didn't think there were so many points that I had. I don't know even know if I'll ever have the time and energy to properly express my thoughts. In case I never get to express myself, TLDR: I think after finishing everything, I've fallen out of love of a story that hooked me like non other. Everything leading up to the basement is, in my humble opinion, the most suspenseful, perfectly executed and most engaging piece of media I've ever watched. From the basement to the rumbling (and chapter 123 and 131), the quality is equally as good, if not even better as that to pre-basement; however, just with a very lackluster direction and depiction my MAPPA.
However, I cannot even begin to express how bad everything in-between rumbling and the ending is. I don't even dislike the theme of the ending that much; but what lies in-between was painful to watch. I watched the entire thing at 1.5x because I just couldn't watch it without physically cringing. It doesn't help that I'm the biggest hatter of marvelesque story-lines, "saving the world" bs, everyone ending up happily every after, artificial suspense that the writer continuously hammers down the viewers throat, shallow storylines that casual watchers will defend as "deep" etc. Again, I will not address every event, but it was a poor handling of interpersonal relationships and the struggle.
As for the ending, I can respect the actual theme of the ending. I respect Eren's dilemma and I can respect the aftermath of the ending. I don't even mind the plotholes since this was a bit of a trainwreck. What is unforgiveable to me, is that the show wasted so much time on the alliance bs, that it completely chose to ignore to show Eren's psychological struggle (which NGE does a masterful job of), choosing to incorporate a very complex physiological concept (Stockholm syndrome) but instead showing nothing and dumbing down the entire Ymir plotline to "love", and a half-ass resolution of Mikasa being Ymir's savior??? Also, ignoring the pseudo-philosophical discussion between Armin and Zeke, where a lot of words were thrown out without any meaning, what is the whole deal with Eren's "love" for Mikasa? That was so bad to sit through. All in all, Mikasa's character, although non-existent in the first place, was reduced to nothing, Armin, who was actually developing well during the second and third season, ended up being a one-dimensional character and Eren's character and storyline was completely destroyed, and destroying with it the complete build up of storylines that the first three seasons worked so hard to develop. I hated everything about this, and I hate the fact that I can no longer watch and enjoy the first three seasons again, especially knowing the characters I love will get butchered at the end. This whole sequence of ending events have wasted a wonderfully crafted series.
Overall, I'd rate individual seasons as:
As a whole, I'll rate AoT an 8/10, and unfortunately, forcing me to remove it from my favorites list, after staying there for 12+ years.
Lastly, as for the remake, there is a journalist from "what-on-netflix", which isn't an official NETFLIX news source, that claims the remake is a 25 episode series going over the EB. While I don't trust the source, I think 25 episodes is a little too fast paced, but I'm okay with it since we've already seen EB many times. However, maintaining this pace in the later arcs would be a bad thing in my opinion. Learning more about the industry, it is a little concerning that Toei has 1200+ employees and only focuses on few projects, while WIT only has 200 employees and is involved in a lot more projects. This leaves me a little concerned for how long it may take to complete this project, assuming it adapts the entire manga. However, the fact that Madhouse, with 150 employees at the time, was able to dish out 148 episodes of extremely well-produced HxH, gives me a little hope. I just hope the pacing isn't 4 chapters an episode. At best, they should limit to 3 chapters an episode, on an average.
Yeah, the fighting and power-scaling aspect of slime is definitely the least attractive thing about the series. However, like you've stated, I'm here for the SoL journey. It's a calm and relaxing series. Also, I'll mention this again but really solid cast of fun characters.
Well, I think I've been a little too harsh on MAPPA. If there's something to celebrate, it's that atleast it wasn't a "bad" series overall. It could've turned out much worse, especially had it deviated from the source material. Atleast MAPPA sticks to the source material. I guess my hatred for the studio is more directed towards the fans, that proclaim that MAPPA did a much better job compared to WIT. I'd go as far as to say, even WIT's CGI is significantly better than MAPPA. Only reason being that WIT cleverly focused on aerial or away shots for CGI colossal, which actually didn't look too bad. Actually, I very much liked the S3 P2 colossal. On the other hand, CGI monkey boy, armored titan and warhammer titan were abysmal.
Yeah, I know you're a hardcore shounen lover, so SL is right up your ally xD I've heard A-1 is doing a solid job overall.
Yeah, I've watched and read One Piece more times than I can count. Honestly, I have a habit of re-watching stuff that I really like.
I've grown so used to Toei's slower pace that sometimes I can't imagine a pace faster than 3 chapters/episode. Who knows, it may turn out to be better than my imagination. I mean, imagine a 25 episode Dressrosa. Could very well make Dressrosa a genuine fan favorite arc.
As for the composers, I have very little confidence that the OG composers will be returning. Mostly since they're still composing new OSTs for OP. I'm greatly enjoying the new OSTs. They're a breathe of fresh air in EH. And it honestly excites me to imagine a new composition for OP, because now matter how hard I try to imagine it, the original soundtracks just don't escape my mind. Also, I think Sawano's style is very fitting for an arc like MF. I've been hearing SL's new OSTs and it's very evident that Sawano has a certain style of composing with heavy usage of drums, guitars and trumpets. It would suit MF a lot, if we ever get to that point. And I completely agree, MF is a brilliant arc. Unfortunately, it was carried completely by Oda's story in the anime. The anime, rather than elevate the arc, actually did a much worse job than the manga. A 13 episode MF arc, under the supervision of Araki, is definitely a must, with music and animation comparable to something like AoT.
Honestly, as soon as you mentioned AI, I was going to comment that it has practical applications in generating backgrounds with final touch-up by actual people, NPC characters and fine-tuning the VAing lines in case they plan on reusing the VA recordings from the original series. Then, I go and check the AI generated short film by WIT and they're using AI for the exact same reasons I mentioned. I'm actually very open to this idea. I think wasting resources on background art, which is, as of this moment, the only thing that AI tools are really good at, is not a good idea. And I don't think it comprises the artistic process that greatly. Afterall, it's only background. However, at the the same time, I didn't like the background art in the short-film too much. I honestly think it needs to be more detailed. I think the ideal usage would be to generate background art and include some hand-drawn details as a finishing touch.
Until we get more information, I'm dissecting the already released information. I have become a lot less optimistic about this honestly. NETFLIX's statement makes it seem like we're confirmed getting the East Blue Saga only. Additionally, from one of the sources, it will be released exclusively on NETFLIX, which is imo a very weird decision. For example, what is Fuji TV doing on the production committee, if not to serve as a broadcasting station in Japan? I hope this is just a misinformation; however, multiple sources mentioned this (which could be a case of copy-pasting news from the same source). Lastly, I'm a little worried about the VAs. Franky's VA is struggling already and with time, other VAs are sure to decline with age as well. I think there are a lot of characters that need a VA change, such as Dragon. But I cannot imagine the main cast with different VAs. Even some of the side characters such as Law and Buggy just wouldn't feel the same with new voices. I've heard there are voice doubles as well, so I hope they can replicate the original VAs. Lastly, there is news circulating regarding changing a few things in the initial arcs, with one of them being Luffy's character. I hope this is false news. I already disliked them making Luffy an inspirational, heroic justice warrior in the LA. Whereas, he is supposed to have his own twisted moral compass and is definitely not a cardboard cutout justice uploader like Tanjiro.
You should definitely re-watch Sangatsu no Lion. Though I'm definitely a biased fan xD On the other hand, I need to re-watch NGE. I liked a lot of things but the plot was very messy overall.
Freiren sounds interesting. Still, I'm not too motivated about watching it at the moment. Instead, I've recently started Slime. It's very different from what I expected it to be. I'm loving the colors and the animation so far. The characters are equally good. The whole vibe is very light-hearted. And yeah, I'm enjoying it so far. The one thing I'm not too fond of is how easily everything goes Rimuru's way. I wouldn't mind more conflict in the series. Also, the pacing in the second half is a little too fast.
I see. Killing off characters left and right does seem a little redundant. Hopefully it ends in a satisfying manner. Shounen series are terrible at endings.
I think I don't really like MAPPA as a studio. It does have some excellent staff though. Like I'm noticing it now but for me, its pretty much Watanabe Shinichirou who's carried MAPPA so far. Everything he has been involved in has been A+. The character designs, the art-style, the animation, the composers; everything has been top notch in any project he has been involved with. Why couldn't they do AoT justice though? :'( I'm still so salty about that. Like the producers at MAPPA are absolute crap ngl. Araki Tetsurou, the director for AoT, is an absolute directing GOAT. Like I cannot even imagine how the 4th season would've looked under his supervision. S4 had some of the best twists and MAPPA flopped hard on those scenes. Declaration of war, From you 2000 years ago etc., Araki would've made those the most iconic scenes in all of anime, yet MAPPA couldn't even make them memorable. Also, they chose the absolute worst person for character designs and I'm not even kidding. I've yet to see worse character designs than AoT S4. My MAPPA slander will never end. Aside from Isayama writing the worst possible ending, MAPPA completely killed my love for the series. And for everyone copping and saying MAPPA's AoT is not bad, I'll keep being toxic around them xD
So, I'm re-reading the OP manga nowadays while keeping how many chapters would fit in an episode in the back of my mind. Honestly, 3 chapters an episode could work. They could skim through some of the dialouge which doesn't hold much bearing on the current events. (though, it would be criminal to remove comedic interactions at the back of some panels). But 3 chap/episode seems very idealistic pacing.
For the gore, I say 100% include the gore already part of the manga. That's one of my main gripes with Toei, that they removed some cannon moments. I'm only against them adopting a more series tone for the series. Gore is 100% ok in places where is it meant to be placed. I hope the colors are as poppy and bright as possible. I love bright colors in One piece. As I said, I'm watching Slime right now, and I love the green landscapes and poppy colors. As an example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fzA-WgzUgc&ab_channel=ONEPIECE%E5%85%AC%E5%BC%8FYouTube%E3%83%81%E3%83%A3%E3%83%B3%E3%83%8D%E3%83%AB highlights my preference. I think this is also what Oda wanted One piece to look like. He always mentions that OP should be bright and colorful and seeing this color palette in the video, I couldn't agree more. OP from beginning of NW to end of WCI has some of the most bland looking colors. WANO was perfection, on the other hand. For EH, although I love the art-style, I'm kind of iffy about the choice of dull looking colors. I hope they opt for more poppy colors in the episodes to come. It still looks 100 times better than dressrosa though.
I had a thought about the choice of composer. Personally, now that I think about it, Hiroyuki Sawano doesn't suit a series like One piece. Maybe for more dramatic and thrilling scenes yes, but otherwise, not really. In general, from within WIT, I think MAYUKO, the composer for Ranking of the kings, is a very fitting choice. However, the most suitable composer, imo, is someone like Kevin Penkin. His soundtracks for Made in Abyss assure me that he is the absolute perfect fit for this job. Other than the OG composers Tanaka Kouhei and Shirou Hamaguchi, he's honestly a little too fitting for the role. I hope somehow, he ends up being the composer for the remake. Along my search for great composers, I found a few other which are honestly legendary, however, their style doesn't fit OP. For example:
- Yoshihisa Hirano: My favorite works of his are in Death Note and HxH. Both series have some of my favourite soundtracks ever.
- Yoko Kanno: I don't think I need to state why. If not for Hiroyuki, I think she's my second favourite composer.
- Yasuharu Takanashi: FT and Naruto. Some of the best emotional and hype music out there.
- Yuuki Hayashi: I just noticed that he did the OSTs for both Hikyuu and MHA. And for both series, I immediately added the soundtracks to my playlist after hearing them once in the series. Didn't know that he was behind not one, but two of my favorite OSTs.
Also, imagine MF looking like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4-71D75KcI&ab_channel=AtsuxOnePiece.
If MF, with a shitty pacing and production can be legendary, just imagine a fast-paced, better animated, more dramatic MF with amazing soundtracks and sound design. Like in the video, if they can make it as chaotic, with things happening right and left, just imagine it man *_*
An even more difficult question would be: Who should be the chief director for the remake? I honestly cannot think of a single candidate. I just want some news man :( like, its my drug at this point. I want to hear the tinniest of the news leaks. Someone made a fanart of the teaser image: https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/6fa57a5f-3ad6-4577-8de5-39615780da22/dglbjst-7f177851-3467-4dd0-86e5-cde59f1103e9.jpg/v1/fill/w_1280,h_754,q_75,strp/the_one_piece_teaser_colored_sketch__by_shiredora_dglbjst-fullview.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9NzU0IiwicGF0aCI6IlwvZlwvNmZhNTdhNWYtM2FkNi00NTc3LThkZTUtMzk2MTU3ODBkYTIyXC9kZ2xianN0LTdmMTc3ODUxLTM0NjctNGRkMC04NmU1LWNkZTU5ZjExMDNlOS5qcGciLCJ3aWR0aCI6Ijw9MTI4MCJ9XV0sImF1ZCI6WyJ1cm46c2VydmljZTppbWFnZS5vcGVyYXRpb25zIl19.s_UyPV6wNuA-ew0R4tmH6KekE-WMiX1vT0oXk6-QcsM
If it looks even remotely close man, I cannot even imagine how gassed I would be. I would be pausing at every single frame xD
Lastly, as for Solo levelling, I watched the first two episodes. The production looks solid, about 7.5-8/10 and totally not what I expected. Soundtracks are obviously solid. But I don't think I'll be continuing it. It's not my type of show and I really dislike these type of setups. Its the same reason I didn't delve deeper into the manhwa and stopped around 35th - 40th chapter mark. I mean you know me, gimme a show with depth which forces me to think a bit, and I'm instantly invested xD SL is more of a power fantasy story for casual watching, and I unfortunately have grown out of these.
Also, THEY ANNOUNCED NEW MONOGATARI WITH ALL OF THE STAFF RETURNING !!!!!! Ok, I'll calm myself down, but if, just if they end up announcing a third season for sangatsu no lion, I'll loose it man. But now there's actual hope. If Shinbou can return for this, there's hope for sangatsu !! We're living in the best timeline.
Yeah, heard Gege's been killing everybody at this point. Kinda makes the ending atleast a little bit interesting. Sukuna for the win xD But ngl, seems a waste to kill all the characters. JJK has freaking interesting cast of characters, something new gen series have failed to deliver. It obviously reminds me of HxH, but honestly, it reminds me more of Tokyo Ghoul characters for some reason. I hope Tokyo Ghoul gets a remake someday with a good pace and faithful adaptation of the manga. As dry as the later half of TG:re was, I still think a remake would be a great watch, especially if the art is on-point.
Yeah, SARU started off with a different direction and now its slowly transitioning to mainstream stuff. I think its a good direction though, considering the amount of talent they have. Hope MAPPA on the other hand goes back to its old ways. MAPPA's resume is insane, up until a couple of years ago, where they've really started increasing the volume and reducing the quality. I remember when Hajime no Ippo was transferred to MAPPA from Madhouse and MAPPA delivered big time on it. Also, series like Zankyou no terror and Sakamichi no Appolon had a sick aesthetic and amazing direction. And now looking back on it, MAPPA has produced amazing content over the years. Its just a shame that when they've been given the best content, their production has taken a hit. I still think they'll bounce back. They are an amazing studio overall with minor hickups recently. I'll still be salty about AoT though.
Ok now, time to discuss the main thing (good luck if you manage to read it all xD because this is what I'll be excited about for the next few years):
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THE ONE PIECE
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Ok, firstly like a mature adult, let me just say, YEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS, MY WISHES HAVE BEEN ANSWERED !!! WOOOHOOOOOO !!!!!!!
Aham, I mean, yes, it is an understatement to say I'm beyond hyped for this. I was sure that a remake would only be in talks years after the series ends and even then, it'll be a remaster of the original series like Dragon Ball Kai. However, this is probably the most insane announcement I've seen in my 12 years of following anime. Like, this is huge !!
However, firstly lets address some of the more technical and concerning stuff. Because it is important to be skeptical in this regard. Firstly, the production itself. I would absolutely dislike two things: First being that the series is produced in seasons of 12 or 25 episodes and secondly being NETFLIX itself, where all of the seasonal episodes are released in batches. I do not want it to end up like Part 6 of Jojo's, which became dead after the first part. I know that chances are low, but I hope and pray that they make it a weekly show with a continuous production and if they plan on taking breaks, I hope they don't split the entry into multiple parts since 50 entries of One Piece would be a disaster in itself. I mean they have all of the advantage in the world. They have reference material from Toei, since Toei is on-board with the project. I presume they will have access to the voice acting from the original series so they wouldn't need to call upon the VAs again. And hopefully, they have access to all the original scripts and drafts, which would save them a ton of time and enable a consistent production without needing to redo every single detail. If not this, they're currently hiring a new team for One Piece so hopefully, like Toei, this team will be able to maintain a continuous schedule. I sincerely believe that with a 50 episode initial buffer, they'll be two years ahead of production time and will be able to make weekly content for a long time. Moreover, with each year, they'll grow more used to the One Piece aesthetic and as a result, the production usually speeds up as the series goes along. Lastly, once production is a significant way into the series, they'll be able to reuse a lot of the things from earlier episodes, like certain sequences of animations (kinda like Toei often does). Lastly, One Pieces is relatively very easy series to animate. The character designs and art-style is very fluid and simple and majority of One piece is long sequences of dialogue and simple visual story-telling.
Secondly, I really hope that the art style they adopt is very close to Toei's Wano or movie Red/Stampede/Gold. Or even close to the art in early One Piece around Whiskey peak. I think that aesthetic fits WIT really well, with their signature "white" shadowing. For reference: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpMwb0I67Z8&ab_channel=Tetsuyagiri), notice how Zoro's drip has white outline or how around, 1:38, Luffy has a lighter shade on the outline. This is very close to WIT's AoT aesthetic (ref: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6pnMWpM5yc&ab_channel=RyukahTK), with the use of light and dark shadowing. This type of shadowing along with thick outlines like Toei implemented in Wano would honestly be the perfect and most manageable art-style for One Piece. Tbh, if the production wasn't an issue and they are able to hire a significant staff, the more softer art-style of Megumi Ishitani would be the best possible outcome. On the other hand, I'd hate if they go for the thin outlines and more of a "sharper" art-style and honestly, this scares me a lot because this is WIT and NETFLIX's style in Suicide Squad Isekai (or even Spy Fam) (ref: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLz7F7VlBfY&ab_channel=DC). I am not a fan of this aesthetic at all and even Toei's non-Wano One Piece (except Dressrosa) is multiple times better than this. But you know, a boy can only dream. If they go with my direction, you can bet I'll be fanboying on the new series every chance I get and no one would be able to stop me.
Secondly, let's talk about background and aesthetic. This is honestly what I'm most excited about. WIT is a master of background and lightning. Especially the aesthetic of sky in AOT and the background art in Vinland Saga (ref: https://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=2098618&msgid=69345333). Like it is gorgeous to look at and this has been a trademark for all of WITs projects. I haven't watched Ranking of the kings but the sceneries in its second opening are beautiful and One piece's landscapes are picturesque. I sincerely think this is the area WIT can absolutely nail the most. Ocourse, early One Piece's pastel colored aesthetic is GOATED but I wouldn't mind if WIT went with the AoT or VL's gorgeous aesthetic, but with a bit more color and pop to fit One piece's aesthetic. Secondly, WIT is obv equally good with their lighting. Despite how shitty the Suicide Squad art-style is, the lighting is on point. I personally believe lighting and shadowing are the two most important elements of a polished art. The best example is ofcourse, any episode directed by Megumi Ishitani. The abolishment of Warlords in 957, the iconic walk in 1015 and my fav scene in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu4V3iTjpeY&t=12s&ab_channel=Crunchyroll. All of them have breathtaking lighting and shadowing. I hope WIT implements such an aesthetic in important scenes but its highly unlikely. I believe Toei had Asahi productions onboard for Wano, which made the complex shadowing and lighting possible. Even if we take examples of earlier episodes like 235 (ref: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5x-6tgsiow&ab_channel=OneTail%27Anim) -- (sorry couldn't find a better version but this is hilarious xD) OR (ref: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5h3ZW6A8lM&ab_channel=PieceAnime), just notice the golden hue or the clouds and stuff, this is peak OP to me. Or the contrasty blue in (ref: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMuiAajBkJ0&ab_channel=Crunchyroll). I think W7 and Sabaody was the best OP has been in terms of overall direction, coloring and pacing. I know WIT has it in them to replicate and improve on these aspects of the show and I hope they do it. Especially the lighting with the new tech. Example (ref: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3hTd3dS1CM&ab_channel=Provsoo). Also, praying that they adopt a similar "snow" aesthetic to VL because Toei's snow episodes are ugly to look at (sadly looks like the case again in Egghead). All in all, just hope they do everything similar to what they did in AoT or VL because that's peak stuff.
Moving on, for fight scenes, I'm not concerned at all. WIT's choreography is the best in the industry so anything they do is bound to be better than the original one. However, the thing that is concerning is the comedic and goody nature of One Piece. And this is where I have to say that I really disagree with your take on the more mature aspect of OP and this is also where I disagree with a lot of people vouching for 3-4 chap/episode pacing. OP is goofy and fun and that's what separates it from the other generic fighting shounen. Obviously, they can add the violence like with Zeff's leg in the manga or Luffy cutting his eye in Romance Dawn, but OP is all about goofy and fun. Its a series meant to not be taken seriously, even in the fight scenes. You look at early OP and it is not until Enies Lobby or Sabaody that we get our first serious fight. Everything before that is goofy and as it should be. Majority of big 3 (and a lot of other series) fights are stupid because there is nothing at stake. Why do we need to see the fight between X and Y when it has no bearing to the overall plot. They could remove the fights and it'll all be the same. So atleast, why not make the things comedic and fun like OP does. People may give Toei a lot of shit but the first 300 episodes of OP are GOATED and I think WIT will definitely not be able to surpass Toei until about Enies lobby, where pacing and directing takes a huge hit. With how WIT handles the comedic and goofy aspect of the series is what'll make or break this remake. Secondly, the pacing. anything over 2.3 ~ 2.5 chapter an episode will be rushed as hell. OP is dialogue heavy and very dense with a lot of visual story telling tucked in the smallest corner of some panels. JJK is a testament to how fast pacing isn't always an answer. I think WIT's pacing of AoT and VL is GOATED so I trust them to stick to the slow pacing. OP won't be OP without room for breathing. Often, the most beautiful parts of the story are the slow moment where they allow the viewer to breath and relax. One of my personal favorites is end of MF where they showcase the outcome of the war. So on lore-heavy episodes, 1.5 chapters, on early moments in arcs 2 ~ 2.5 chapters and during the middle to later half where things drag out, especially with many fights going on at the same time and constant back and forth from fights, they can replace that with a more dynamic, fast-paced take with intense but momentary action sequences and wrap up the fights quickly. This is where they may go upto 3-4 chapters and trim down the weakest aspect of OP, which is the slow and often, repetitive fights. However, early chapters in arcs, short lore-heavy arcs and post arcs must be slow, just like in the original series. I actually made a hypothetical OP remake pacing on December 9th, around 10-15 days before the announcement (freaking hell, me calculating a remake pacing and talking about WIT before the announcement. Coincidence?? xD), I calculated the pre-timeskip to be 260 episodes instead of 516 episodes and post TS until end of Wano to be 186 episodes instead of a whopping 572 from Toei. Overall, leading to a pacing of 2.38 chap/episode, which IMO, is the best most optimum pacing possible. Also, PLEASE ADAPT THE COVER STORIES. PLEAAASEEEEEEEEE !!! Toei not adapting cover stories is the biggest crime charge against them.
Onto OSTs and sound design: Firstly, screw Toei's sound design. Especially in Wano with the garbage phew phew sound effects from DBZ and some other old ass sound designs. Quite unnoticed by many people, but WIT's sound design is freaking amazing. Definitely excited for it. Could be the simplest things such as ocean sounds in slow moments but I am absolutely excited for it. I believe this alone would be a huge improvement. And secondly, the OSTs, and this is what I'm praying for the hardest. So we know Toei is part of the production committee or atleast, they still have rights to the series I think, so I wonder if WIT is allowed to reuse some OSTs from the original series and make some new of their own. Because I'll be honest, sometimes overused, but OP has some of the best OSTs ever. I mean WIT has Hiroyuki Sawano and let's be honest, he is the best in the business. Any new OSTs by his team would be the best thing to happen. Overall, AoT's soundtracks are the best and YOUSEEBIGGIRL is the best anime OST of all time and don't even argue me on this one but I hope the remake is able to use OSTs from the original series. I still do not get the big issue with re-using original material, especially FMAB and FMA. Both are from the same freaking studio so why not let them re-use some resources. Like the OST "Brothers" from FMA is so good and they never bothered to reuse it. Part of the reason why FMAB is an okay series is because it has some of the most mid OSTs. But coming back, like the OG OP OSTs are just so amazing that it'll be the biggest waste not to reuse em. TBH this is the only reason I was thinking a remake or remaster by Toei would've been the better choice. I'm all for the remake but without the original OSTs, its not the same series anymore. So, I really hope that even if they mess everything up, atleast they get to reuse some OG OSTs. That'll save em so much time and resources tbh. It's almost foolish not to reuse them. Toei, in a lot of ways, functions very different to most studios, in that they pretty much own whatever they produce. So since they have a stake in this, it'll be a weird choice not to reuse the OSTs. My denial self believes that the trailer mentions "all new animation team" so maybe the OSTs could be reused xD xD Lastly, I believe the VAs will be the same. They could either reuse the original recordings or just let AI fill in some bits. Especially since Mayuki Tanaka voices in the remake trailer and also, I know she'll still be busy with the original series. So makes sense to reuse the recordings. Again, saving so much time and effort on the production and making a continuous run of the series very plausible. Also, we know VAs cost shit ton on money, so to me, this seems like a no brainer. For once, reuse most of the OSTs (and obv make some new to fit certain moments) and voice recordings and just maximize the profits of all parties involves xD
To summarize, this is all what I want in my definitive version of OP, which is just a polished version of OP. I'm beyond excited for the news regarding this, about the staff and details, about the production process and how they're planning to release this. Everyday I wake up and just search for any tiny bit of news on this xD I just want to see whether it'll be anything close to my ideal version of the series. Honestly, the original teaser hints that this is not OP re-imagining and just OP-repolishing, which is the best we can hope for. The first 300 episodes of the series are very close to perfection and honestly, if they can polishing the remaining 800 episodes, this'll be a perfect representation of the series. Obviously, a more epic, fast paced, better directed visually and aurally MF is something that's guaranteed and I'm excited for it but I'm especially excited for how Punk Hazard, Fishman Island and Dressrosa will look but let's be honest, they're garbage in Toei's version and part of it is due to the series director at the time, who was incompetent. Thankfully, a new person undertook Zou and WCI and then obviously Nagamine has been a GOAT for bringing in such a competent team, especially the free lancers (direction was still lacking overall but atleast production was fire). Honestly, Uda Kounosuke (director for episodes 1 - 278) and the production team for Wano brought by Nagaime would result is an epic version of OP, however, WIT can take a page from the OG series and implement the positive aspects and remove the bad aspects.
Punk Hazard with faster pace, new sound design and animation and better background art (because snowy episodes can be so memorable if done right), and FI with better background (bluely hues, beautiful art) and better OSTs and faster pace can be an incredible experience. They can really trim the boring parts in both arcs, like all the useless fights and focus on the "vibe" more and honestly, that's the thing I am most looking forward to. Also, a faster paced and better animated WCI and Dressrosa will be so refreshing to watch. For WCI and Dressrosa, 3-4 chap/episode after mid-way point is ideal and for Wano, 2.5 ~ 3.5 chap/episode is ideal.
Anyways, this is all from my side. Honestly, as much shit as Toei gets, they've done an incredible job on a major chunk of OP (minus everything from Impel down to beginning of Wano). Handing a continuous production seems so much more amazing, especially when you look at series like JJK, struggling to complete 23 episodes. So, kudos to Toei and everyone that worked on One Piece for 25 years. Without the fear of catching up to the manga, they'd have done an incredible job throughout.
JJK manga is pretty hot nowadays. I guess it's a good thing it's ending while it's still good. I hope they maintain a better schedule for future seasons and add some touches to the BD version.
Speaking of Kyoani and good studios, shall we discuss Studio Saru? If they manage to bring in revenue, it seems Saru could become the golden standard for artistic anime. Especially since as of late, they're bringing in amazing talent. I'm sad that Yamada Naoka has left Kyoani, but she has already directed masterpieces and Saru seems like a good new chapter in her journey. Her new movie seems to be very artistic and I'm excited for the release. Also, Dandadan's trailers are looking insane so Saru definably focusing on mainstream stuff as well. I'm very excited for their progression. I hope it doesn't end up like Tezuka.
Ok now, let's talk about the elephant in the room. We were hyping up WIT lately and you know what, someone must've eavesdropped our conversion because the announcement felt like a fever dream 😂 I'll let you begin.
No, I'll watch it once it ends. I'll be honest, I'm actually hyped to watch the second season quite a lot. Obv I'm aware of some manga spoilers which are inescapable at this point. But I peeked into the latest chapters and it looks absolute whack 😂 Def the best new gen to me.
One Piece is all about mysteries, world building, adventure and characters to me. And Egghead has all the elements of an S tier arc. Def alongside MF, Sabaody, Water 7 and Wano for me. My fav arcs in the series. I trust Oda more than any other author and I wholeheartedly believe this final saga is going to be just as good as Egghead.
I think what stands out about WIT for me is their directing and music composers. They always have an amazing combination of talent staff members and their vision behind every adaptation is just absolute perfection. From the pacing, where it's fast when it needs to be and really slows down when it needs to be, to the handling of mystery and handling of major scenes. WIT absolutely gets it. That's why I hail them as one of the best studios alongside Kyoani. Kyoani is also a beast in directing their style of shows. Some of the episodes of Clannad AS has so many events happening in one episode, yet it never feels rushed. Same with Silent voice. They adapted the whole manga, yet handled the pacing like a champ. And not to mention, like WIT, they have amazing composers. Ofc there are other studios as well which are worth mentioning, such as Shaft. Though since Shinbou left, it has been downhill.
I think the issue with handling pacing is something MAPPA really lacks. It was really evident from JJKs first season. They didn't slow down when needed and as a result, I wasn't able to appreciate some great scenes. One piece might be slow as a snail, but it really allows you to digest the moments and hence, despite it's shitty pacing, it resonates with a lot of people and communicates the message effectively.
I really want to watch Sopranos as well. Hopefully, after exams.
Watching anything interesting nowadays? JJK seems to be in the news each time an episode drops. Be it about some on-going events in the story or just flaming MAPPA for slaving the staff and so on. How's the direction and animation according to you?
Also, OP manga has been fire for a while now. Oda's cooking hard with Egghead. I think it could be top 5 or even top 3 for me.
Lastly, AoT ends. End of an era. What'd you think about the ending? Needless to say, I still think it's a garbage ending and while that prevents AoT from attaining GOAT status, I'll still look back onto it with fond memories. WIT's AoT is still a masterpiece in my eyes. MAPPA may have tried their best but it's not easy to replicate WIT's direction of the series.
I still don't mind the reuse of animation. However, there's one difference in my opinion from the previous one. I'd change the Boro breath. It's not because I essentially dislike the sequence they used as its highly stylized as well, but I have another sequence on my mind which I think would've looked even more epic and would've prolonged the fights a bit more. So the direction they went with was 100% fully looney tunes. However, for that particular scene, I would rather go with a more conventional one since it would look really epic. Kaido blasting his breath, then maybe an aerial shot of the blast going towards Luffy to build up sometime or multiple angle shots of the blast would've also worked. And then the actual rebound could've been made about 6-8 seconds like, and more emphasis on the ground with some pan shots of Luffy's face and the ground in a back and forth frame to build suspense and amplify the force of the blast. And then the actual rebound towards Kaido could be fast. Big missed chance since it looks really cool playing in my head.
That's the only G5 scene I'd change. I'd keep the rest the same since they nailed it :D But we still have a lot more to come. I hope Nagamine is not in charge since he has a lot more responsibility and cannot dedicate separate time towards individual episodes. I hope a one-off director ascends to the role.