If you think you trying to talk reason into me will somehow magically make my opinion of all of Shaft post-Bakemonogatari change, you're dead wrong, princess. Shaft have always been a vocally outsourced studio, with many of its key and in-between animators and storyboarders coming from all over japan to work on one man's brainchild, the identity and ethos of the studio itself; that man being none other than Akiyuki Shinbou himself. Universally, it was widely agreed upon that Shinbou hadn't actively taken on a major role in Shaft productions, for you see, Shinbou is recognized for his vocal handling of direction on everything that he works on, in-house or otherwise.
That leads me back to Oishi. You see, adapting monogatari had originally been his decision and his alone, and since he wanted it to be as in line to the LNs as possible, he brought in his own legion of staff to work on adapting chronologically the first instalment in the series, Bake. One of the aforementioned staff included Akio Watanabe, the guy whom you've come to ascertain as its most distinguished contributor (the char designs could be said to be on par with those of VOFAN's, but that's not the main concern here). With all that in mind, thus began the page by page perusing -- well, except it wasn't exactly done that way -- Oishi and co opted in order to adapt the series in such a way that the end product would reflect on both the novelty of the extra visual cues provided and the wit and charm of the source material. Hence, it became somewhat of a melting point of ideas that overflowed with inventiveness, with Oishi overseeing and making addendums to all the "extraneous" input, all while respecting NisiOsiN and VOFAN's sentiments harbored towards the adaptation at large.
Of course, they ran into problems while attempting to adapt Kizu, but it was well worth the 5 and half year wait, for it exceeded far beyond the material's jurisdiction (it was fair considering a regular Kizumonogatari wouldn't have favored the structure of the narrative, seeing as Araragi's origins were treated as something of a mystery, giving it its own distinct flair proved effective) and solidified itself as its own thing altogether, forgoing said material's content in the process. However, would you rather Itamura and the others unjustly take over from when Oishi was still in the clear and free of failsafe options on Shaft's part? The only reason he took over from Nise onwards was so everyone in the studio would be able to make room for Oishi's efforts, which were morphing into those of fiery passion and meticulous finetuning, plus an unwavering dedication to finally stick the landing and not let it all go to waste.
nice to see someone who hates kizumonogatari :)
that movie trilogy is garbage, has nothing interesting, just dull action & fanservice - is that a masterpiece? God, no!
God only knows why those movies are so highly rated
Tatsuya Oishi is the sole reason I appreciate the franchise for what it brings to the table; a unique penchant for stunning iconography and a directing style matched only by few within the industry, he's certainly got nothing to hide when it comes to the crucial input he may offer to any project to which he's assigned. Itamura, on the other hand? He's a bloody hack with nothing to his name. He made it clear as day that he'd be willing to ride on the coattails of Oishi's success with Bake and the movies which credits were ultimately stripped from him and given to Oishi instead. Maybe it had to do with Shaft's last minute meddling, maybe it didn't. But the crux of the matter is that the man named Tomoyuki Itamura singlehandedly strung up the Monogatari franchise and let it hang by a centralized pressure point, and in doing so, led it down a path of stagnation and creative vacancy since no one was there to fill in the void Oishi's absence from the helm had entailed.
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That leads me back to Oishi. You see, adapting monogatari had originally been his decision and his alone, and since he wanted it to be as in line to the LNs as possible, he brought in his own legion of staff to work on adapting chronologically the first instalment in the series, Bake. One of the aforementioned staff included Akio Watanabe, the guy whom you've come to ascertain as its most distinguished contributor (the char designs could be said to be on par with those of VOFAN's, but that's not the main concern here). With all that in mind, thus began the page by page perusing -- well, except it wasn't exactly done that way -- Oishi and co opted in order to adapt the series in such a way that the end product would reflect on both the novelty of the extra visual cues provided and the wit and charm of the source material. Hence, it became somewhat of a melting point of ideas that overflowed with inventiveness, with Oishi overseeing and making addendums to all the "extraneous" input, all while respecting NisiOsiN and VOFAN's sentiments harbored towards the adaptation at large.
Of course, they ran into problems while attempting to adapt Kizu, but it was well worth the 5 and half year wait, for it exceeded far beyond the material's jurisdiction (it was fair considering a regular Kizumonogatari wouldn't have favored the structure of the narrative, seeing as Araragi's origins were treated as something of a mystery, giving it its own distinct flair proved effective) and solidified itself as its own thing altogether, forgoing said material's content in the process. However, would you rather Itamura and the others unjustly take over from when Oishi was still in the clear and free of failsafe options on Shaft's part? The only reason he took over from Nise onwards was so everyone in the studio would be able to make room for Oishi's efforts, which were morphing into those of fiery passion and meticulous finetuning, plus an unwavering dedication to finally stick the landing and not let it all go to waste.
that movie trilogy is garbage, has nothing interesting, just dull action & fanservice - is that a masterpiece? God, no!
God only knows why those movies are so highly rated