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my-brodie999-fan · 4 years ago

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The Fats follows a evolved fox-rat family of 8 brothers and 1 sister as they fight a human mad scientist and other threats to humanity alongside their adaptive father/mentor, 2 human allies and other cross-animals in the distant future while trying to accept each other as family. Patriot Fat(voiced by James Arnold Taylor) is the “den-mother and leader of the team and is the most calm and experienced member, but hurt his family and he will hunt you down to the ends of the Earth. He is a hard-headed and serious cone, scolding his siblings when they don't follow orders. He is colored brown, blue pants, has a red belt, black gloves and boots and has blue eyes.

Wreck Fat(voiced by Nolan North) is the most angry and self-loathing loner of the group. He often argues with Patriot about who should be leader of the team. However, they will work together when the situation calls of it.He has intense arm firepower, wiping out enemies in a matter of seconds. He is coloured grey, speaks with a New Yorker accent, red pants, red belt and hazel eyes.

Engineer Fat(voiced by Yuri Lowenthal) is the kind-hearted, calm and gentle pacifist and inventor of the team. He is socially awkward and book smart so much so that his sibling cannot keep up with him. Even though he shows a greater interest in technology than his training, nevertheless, he will defend his family and fight his opponents when there is no other choice. He is also skeptical as he believes humans do not exist and that animals have always been the sole species of Earth. He has red eyes, has a mole on his right cheek, has a cyborg arm, has metallic yellow pants, a blue belt and is coloured silver.

Mischief Fat(Voiced by Mikey Kelley) is the most wild, funny, immature and party-loving surfer dude of the team. He loves riding on his hoverboards, fighting evil and is extremely creative with arts. He is also a member of the Prank Trio along with Runt and Bullsnark. He wants to be part of the human world and he will convince his family to do the same by any means necessary. He also serves as an unofficial second-in-command whenever he comes up with brilliant plans that save the day or gets the Fats out of life-threatening situations, becoming the closest thing a team has to a second leader.He also has a sad side as he borders on depression as a result of spending years with his siblings and father on a island. He is coloured Yellow, has freckles, dark blue pants, a gold belt, has a beard at 16 years old and has green eyes.

Angel Fat(Voiced by Colleen O'Shaughnessy) is the smart, tomboyish, arrogant and independent tech support of the team and bit of a narcissist and will often bring on about her intelligence. As the only female member of the family, she always has the best of intentions. She is coloured yellow, has a gap between two of her front teeth and has green eyes. She is a great mathematician as she can easily hack into any computer data base by correctly guessing their security codes, Unlike the rest of her family(who wear pants, gloves(except for Buster, Engineer and Growly), shoes and are shirtless), she has blond hair, wears a Fat shirt, is coloured mix-purple/Yellow as a result from a lab accident, has a pink belt and gloves and blue shorts with sockings.

Buster Fat(voiced by Steve Blum) is the biggest and most strongest member of the family. He loves training all day and he hates it when his sibling interrupt him. However, he has a good heart and will go by any means to protect them. He also cares for normal animals, fighting to his last breath to save them. He is coloured green, speaks with a Brooklyn accent, has dark green pants, yellow belt, black boots and has golden eyes.

Runt Fat(voiced by Josh Keaton) is the most dim-witted and dizy, yet lovable member of the team. He’s been part of the Prank Trio since Day One and is often made fun of his stupidity by siblings, however when the situation is necessary, it ultimately proves to be his greatest strength. He is also something of a womaniser as he tries to say something to cross-animal females, but can't bring out the exact words and he is the most gullible of the family, causing him believe whatever lies are told to him, even causing him to betray his family, only to rejoin them in one of the future games. Nonetheless, he is one of the most purest cross-animals, never truely joining evil and always finding out to know the truth about himself and his family. He is coloured red and has one red eye and one hazel eye.

Bullsnark Fat(voiced by Roger Craig Smith) is the adventure-loving everyman slacker, jester-like and thrill-seeker who wishes to travel the world. He is sarcastic, playful and completely devoid of cynicism. He is also one of the member of the Prank Trio along with Mischief and Runt. He’s very loyal to his family and always stands up for them and keeps his promises despite his impulsive and impatient nature. He can be sentimental when villains threaten the world and won't stop until they're defeated and can provide tactical strategies. He is coloured orange, has black boots and gloves, yellow pants, a blue belt and has purple eyes.

Growly Fat(voiced by Trevor Devall) is the strict and irritable, yet caring and kind-hearted powerhouse who breaks up fights between the family. He is prone to anger when someone pranks or tricks him, but deep down, he loves his family very much. He was born somewhere in Mississippi and he is also a history junkie as he collects every newspaper, article and art of the world's history. He isn't fond of humans too much until much later on in the game. He is coloured blue, speaks with a Southern accent, dark grey pants, green belt, black boots, and has blue eyes.

Hopper Frog(voiced by Billy West) is the mean, brash, cocky, militaristic and demanding yet kind-hearted father of the Fats, but as the game progresses, he becomes a more supportive, caring and wise parental figure. He has a soft spot for children and he will be a role model to them whenever he sees them. At the beginning of the game, he is overprotective of the Fats, fearing they could die if they go into the human world, but throughout the game, he accepts that his children are teenagers now and he says that he is proud of them. He wears a green military uniform with no pants, speaks like a mad scientist and has brown eyes.

Sarah Stewart(voiced by Jennifer Hale) is the most beautiful, kindhearted and attractive teenage girl the Fats have ever known. She was abused in school and she has recently graduated from high school to apply for science. She can also sense betrayal in strangers she doesn't know. She is also an orphan as she lives with her aunt, uncle and their daughter. She is a blond teenage girl with pink sleeveless shirt and blue jeans. She also has light freckles on her nose and baby blue eyes.

Peter Braxton(voiced by Ben Diskin) is the comedic, shy and loyal sports player whose life is forever changed when he meets the Fats. He is like a modern-day Prince Charming and he has a crush on Sarah Stewart when he first sees her, but does not kiss her until the end of the first game, He also becomes best friends with Wreck and Growly throughout the game as they play hologram games together. He is also a pacifist as he lost his father in a flying car accident and starts campaigns and TV ads to prevent anyone from suffering the same fate. He is a black haired teenage boy with orange eyes, a sports jumper and brown pants.

Dr. Otto Jekyll(voiced by Mike Pollock) is a highly selfish, insane, cocky and arrogant mad scientist and the main antagonist of the series. He wants to end peace and liberty on Earth and will do it by gaining control of the world's governments, police and money. He is also a deceptional liar as he constantly lies to the Fats and their friends, trying to convince them that he can help people have more improved lives until the end of the first game when he reveals his true motives. He is an mildly obese man with balding brown hair with a goatee and a lab coat with red clothing and black and white rubber gloves and boots. He also has yellow eyes. Gaming Mechanics:

1. The video game series will be an open-world where you can play side-missions and help people in addition to the main story. You can also visit other countries in free-roam in the game.

2. You can use multiplayer as 4 of the each titular 9 Fats with the ability to change between the 8 other Fats until all 9 are all dead and the game resets.

3. You can have collectibles, art and unlock new weapons throughout each level of the game.

4. You can also play as the human characters Sarah Stewart and Peter Braxton in stealth missions.

5. Once you’ve completed the game, you can revisit any of the levels. So you won't have to worry getting through 13 hours without completing the entire game 100%.

6. As I said, you can fire weapons with 2 of the Fats, Engineer and Angel who are the tech support of the team while the rest of the team fight hand to hand.

7. The game will have the feel of a Disney movie , Thomas Perkins-like art, the art of Ratchet & Clank and the backgrounds of Young Justice and The Super Hero Squad while still rendered as a 3D dimensional video game.

And lastly, here’s the title for the prequel tie-in novel: The Raoxs: Animals of Science.

Series Outline:Set in an utopian future where all war, problems and disease has been wiped out, the Fats live on a peaceful island with their adaptive Frog father, Hopper Frang, but they have never truly accepted each other as family or understood their father’s lectures, even starting a war with one another once. On their 16th birthday, they are allowed to leave the island and venture into the Human world. But when a scientist named Dr. Otto Jekyll(a pun on the Dr. Jekyll character from Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde) becomes Dr. Peace-Destroyer and threatens to end the era of peace by conquering the world, the Fats are forced to come to term with their calling as a family and what it means to be heroes with the help of 17-year old science intern (smart blond) Sarah Stewart and 18-year old Sports player Peter Braxton.

This would be a Playstation 4 and Playstation 5-exclusive and would be rated E+10 for more cartoon, fantasy or mild violence, mild language, and/or minimal suggestive themes.

Do you want to see this video game series brought to life?

#playstation 5 #disney #insomniacgames #sony interactive entertainment #playstation4 #video games #fats ps5 #fatsps4

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zukadiary · 6 years ago

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Beside the Foggy Elbe / Estrellas ~ Star Troupe 2019

First show of 2019! My home base in Japan is usually Kansai, but for the first time I’m in Tokyo for a lengthy stay. I saw Elbe/Estrellas twice in the theater plus the senshuuraku live view. Spoilers, because the ending of Elbe was one of my favorite things about it.

Beside the Foggy Elbe [Summary]

I caught Elbe quite late in the run, and most of the feedback I heard from talking to other non-Japanese fans beforehand was fairly negative, but I found it VERY enjoyable. Elbe is one of the most historically famous original Takarazuka works. While I haven’t seen more than clips and photos of the older productions, I was already familiar with much of the soundtrack, and I always love seeing and hearing classic Takarazuka elements live, especially as a relatively young fan coming in late in Takarazuka’s 105 year history. It’s a special kind of fun to be able to sit in the theater and sing along (even if only in my head) to a show I’ve never even seen. The story is most definitely dated, but I love the vintage-ness of it (if anything, I wish they’d pushed the aesthetics even more vintage). And because it’s an old classic, I was able to suspend my disbelief of the unlikely love story in the same way I can with old Hollywood musicals (is it believable that Dale Tremont falls in love with Jerry Travers three seconds after finding out he wasn’t actually Horace? No but I’m here for it). I also love that they don’t get together!! The first time I saw it, I looked at the clock when Margit and Florian began yelling for Karl on the docks, and went sort of wide eyed when I realized there wasn’t TIME for it to end any way other than heartbreak. I think it’s much more interesting that way.

Quick complaints out of the way first: while the show isn’t really hard to follow, I did find both Beni and Airi quite difficult to understand. Beni uses a very loud, slurred voice to play the foul-mouthed Karl, and while it’s in keeping with her character, I couldn’t untangle a lot of her words, even though they weren’t lines I’d find complicated if I read them. Airi put on a shrill voice that I also found difficult to understand. I get that her character is an ingenue to the extreme so it makes sense, but I still feel like she could have landed somewhere between that and her natural voice and been ok. Additionally, there is a parade in the beginning that I think was an UeKumi addition. I didn’t DISLIKE it, and I understand its usefulness because it’s a very top heavy show and the parade gives the secondary players a bit of fun extra spotlight, but it didn’t really fit the look or vibe of the rest of Elbe.

I do think you need to like Beni and Airi to enjoy this show, because it is so top heavy (if you love them, I think this will be a really great show for you). I especially liked the role of Karl for Beni. Beni’s Karl was an extremely insecure person who disguised his self-doubt in brash mannerisms and generally poor behavior, which made his moments of sincerity very poignant. Since Beni is known more for her comedic roles than her serious ones, and sometimes seems to be questioned by fans re: her ability to be serious, I thought this really suited her in kind of a meta way. She leaned hard into the brashness because that’s more her strength, but for me she also nailed Karl’s vulnerable moments, and that made them sting extra because it felt like it was coming from a real place. I’m also kind of a sucker for the cross-social-class love story trope. Karl’s behavior for the most part is truly unattractive to the point where it can be hard to sympathize with him, but there are several scenes where you can feel his deep discomfort toward being amongst the wealthy, and how traumatized he is about his ex leaving him because he wasn’t rich enough, and Beni makes them hurt sooooo good (shout out to Otoha Minori who had the very small part of Karl’s ex but really helped succinctly convey that backstory in a way that impacted the whole show).

Margit is a hard sell for me because I don’t find her likable as a character, but I think Airi did a great job hitting the necessary notes. For the story to work, Margit has to be unhappy, but also sheltered, spoiled, frivolous, and naive enough to fall in love with someone she met in a bar at first sight just because he was a little nice to her and the polar opposite of the life she’s trying to escape. Airi made it plausible. She also plays the piano for real a couple of times (angrily!) and I was VERY impressed (Coto also does, but she can’t surprise me with unexpected talents anymore). I think Airi’s strength is sexier more mature characters and I hope she gets to flex that muscle in their taidan show, because in that sense Elbe left a lot to be desired.

As much as I think Karl suited Beni, Coto is the one who made me think it wouldn’t have been quite the same if they’d given Elbe to any current lineup other than Hoshigumi. The least believable part of the entire story is that Florian is too good. There are no men who are that good. Even for the not-men of our 夢の世界 it’s a stretch. But I completely believed that Coto was that good. I don’t even know what to say about her... she can do anything and it’s stupid. Muster up heartbreaking sincerity for a truly unrealistic character? Sure. Play the piano flawlessly while speaking? Why not. (And the way she brushed her coattails out of the way before seating herself at the piano bench made me feel A Way).

The newly inserted Tobias was a nice sendoff for Kai. Not quite as delightful and meaty a role as Kiroku, and not as strong of a goodbye present as Sho Fu Kan, but lovely nonetheless. Tobias was not inherently a remarkable character, but he was an excellent blank canvas on which Kai painted herself, making him cool, hot, and everyone’s big brother—all around lovable. Her costumes made NO sense (cowboy hat??) but she wore them so well I loved them all against my better judgment. Stage time dropped off pretty hard after Beni/Airi/Coto, but the scenes with the other sailors were my favorite, and Kai’s involvement in each was prominent enough (and CUTE enough) to make Tobias feel like a juicy role. She gets a lovely bridge solo toward the end, and fittingly leaves the ship crew to get married (to Mizuno Yuri/Karl’s sister), exiting separately in dramatic fashion to everyone else’s tears and well wishes.

I found myself charmed by the supporting cast—including (especially??) the nameless lurkers of the background—more than usual. Was it the giant food props? Were they just exceptionally silly back there? I don’t know, but unfortunately the recording won’t illuminate them regardless. As for the named support, Mao Yuuki, Seo Yuria, Shidou Ryuu, and Amahana Ema made up the rest of the sailors with lines and stuff, and while there was barely anything for them to do, I (for reasons not entirely known) found Mao and Seo in particular extremely charming. Amato Kanon played a bratty screaming kid, the exact type of role I’d normally find annoying as hell, but she even managed to make HIM charming; she had a lot of very entertaining wordless interactions with some of the bigger players on the outskirts of various scenes while something else was happening in the middle. Mikkii used 5 of her 7 seconds of stage time prowling through the audience, and seeing her angry face advancing head on toward the gaijin seats was indescribably intimidating. The biggest surprise was I fell a little in love with Mizuno Yuri, who, to be fair, did not have to sing OR dance, but who did play a weird lanky adorably awkward country bumpkin with a stupid accent from Karl’s middle-of-nowhere hometown in a way that I for some reason could not stop watching. She, as Tobias’s bride, also bawled her eyes out on raku when the two of them ran off together.

So far I still think Another World is the crown jewel of Benigumi, but I’d place Elbe second.

Estrellas

Seeing Estrellas was an odd experience because it got the New Year’s NHK broadcast, and I watched THAT before I saw it live—how often do you see a Takarazuka video BEFORE seeing the show live?? It’s my personal favorite Benigumi revue thus far. I fell in love with it pretty instantly, and interestingly I think a big part of that was the NHK cinematography, which combined with the song selection made it feel more like a concert or a FNS-style big televised music program. I found that fresh. It didn’t have QUITE that same vibe live, but still a good impact. I can see it being polarizing though; it’s very pop and not very Takarazuka at times, and I probably like it so much because I happen to personally like the song choices.

Allowing for the fact that she was still performing very much within her own quirky style, Beni (up until Tokyo raku) seemed very on point to me, which I was glad to see; my last live Hoshigumi experience was Another World/Killer Rouge in Takarazuka toward the beginning of the run last year, and in Killer Rouge especially it seemed like she was being extremely cautious with her movements in a way that made me wonder if she was nursing or avoiding an injury. Every time I saw Estrellas though she danced full force. Airi had more than one sexy number to make up for Margit, most notably an all musumeyaku dance in the finale portion that I feel like I see pretty rarely from Hoshigumi. Beni and Airi’s duet dance was also VERY cute and very them.

Kai again got a lovely sendoff, a big long 3-song progression with perfectly chosen lyrics. The way she drank in the theater on the last day, like she was really trying to burn the image of the audience into her eyes, was SO much.

Coto is stupid. She paints with her voice and that gets me real bad. There’s a solid handful of siennes in the top tier of vocals in Takarazuka, and while many of them are gorgeous singers, the only two I’ve heard play and emote with their voices the particular way I’m thinking of are Coto and Daimon. Her vocal control while she’s violently dancing is also astounding. She’s stupid.

Senshuuraku was an ordeal! Estrellas opened with Beni doing what I initially thought was some weird attempt at a sexy breathy thing, and then maybe thought she was trying not to cry, till it became abundantly clear that something bigger was wrong. She got hoarser and hoarser till some notes in “Tonight is What it Means to be Young” failed to come out entirely. She used her chuuzume ad lib time to apologize for her voice... sad, because that was the prime slot for cute and touching moments with the retiring actresses, but she was clearly too panicked and struggling to think of that. Then she explained during the curtain call that she broke her voice at the end of Elbe—and it must have been on the VERY last note, because the entirety of Elbe was COMPLETELY fine (I didn’t even notice a weird crack or anything at the end). I didn’t know you could break your voice that badly on one note, but I guess you can. She was very flustered and apologetic—also full on crying—though every curtain call, and while I can’t blame her for feeling remorseful I wish she’d dialed it back after the first couple of apologies and let the retiring actresses have their moment. But considering her state it was pretty remarkable that she powered through, and I hope she has a chance to recover before the next show.

I’ve lived through my share of Takarazuka retirements, including ones that turned a whole troupe’s vibe completely upside down, but somehow Kai’s feels unusually odd (I imagine Miya’s will as well). I think it’s gonna be a downer of a year.

#takarazuka #reviews #beside the foggy elbe #estrellas #am I 東宝組 now 19

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natsthinkitythinkthinkthonk · 6 years ago

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SSSS.GRIDMAN - Thoughts

I finished that whirlwind of an anime! On my quest to finish a lot of anime I missed in 2018, Gridman was at the top of my list! My brother recommended it after finishing it, and I can say that *ahem* I actually enjoyed it. I usually do not like mecha, and even though this show is far from original (it’s a parody of the original Ultraman) I found myself admiring the world they built.

I can say that if you don’t like fanservice, this is not the anime for you. I’m not a fan of fanservice, but I am not deterred so easily. Let me put it this way, the director (forget the exact position) requested thicc ass and thighs and boobs just go without saying at this point. It wasn’t disgusting like some ecchi out there, but they will make their presence known. I found that it got in the way sometimes though. If it means anything, the female characters have a lot of good moments together, and this anime (in its entirety) does pass the Bechdel test.

Bechdel Test:

The work has to have at least two women in it,

who talk to each other,

about something besides a man.

Story and Characters

Yuuta Hibiki is a first-year student in high school living in Tsutsujidai who wakes up without his memories. Yuuta later meets Hyper Agent GRIDMAN who is inside an old computer. Yuuta's quest to fight Kaiju and to discover the meaning behind these events along with finding his memories begins.

The synopsis I made was a bit vague, but that’s what it’s about essentially. In terms of the story, it seems quite light and not that deep, but it doesn’t stay that way for too long. The fights aren’t meaningless, and it’s not a “my power is greater than yours” type of thing. It slowly builds up until a few episodes from the end. While I think the plot twists they pulled were cliche, I still found it exciting. I think I’m going to stop treading around spoilers and just say the plot twists very vaguely. It has to do with creation itself, the meaning of existence, and what is humanity, what is the world, and who are these characters exactly? It will have you questioning everything at times because they don’t answer all the questions they set up (leaving viewers to theorize for themselves). I will include my personal two cents below. But hopefully, that explains enough without spoiling everything. And if you don’t like plot, there are giant robots and fanservice (I say this sarcastically, but I know there are people out there).

In terms of characters, we have a likeable cast for the most part. I think I wanted the female characters NOT to be overshadowed by the fanservice, but *shrugs* it was inevitable. They both contributed a lot to the show besides the camera angles and sexualized shots. It’s a shame that the focus was taken off that. Besides that, the cast is nice, and I didn’t have any character that I hated enough to say, “TAKE THEM OUT”. In fact, the character I didn’t like still ended up playing a large role and was still cool overall.

I feel like they could’ve done more with best girl Rikka, but that’s just my opinion.

Art

Studio Trigger is known for its fluid animation, awesome fight scenes, and fanservice. With its main series being Kill La Kill and the notorious Darling in the FranXX (seriously, their robot design is whack), this isn’t too surprising that they took this on. Both are essentially known for fanservice everywhere, and DITF is known for its *ahem* big robots. But this studio is also known for Little Witch Academia, Inferno Cop, and Kiznaiver which aren’t as sexualized from what I hear. Although it's not that old, Trigger has made their presence known.

The animation in this was pretty darn good. It did everything I wanted (I AM NOT REFERRING TO THE DARN FANSERVICE. I AM TALKING ABOUT FIGHT SCENES). The robots were awesome-looking, and the fights were over-the-top explosive and fun to watch. I’m not a fan of mecha but watching these detailed human-like machines fight and battle each other was exciting!

[”GET ‘EM!!!” - me in the background]

But yeah, the fanservice is heavy to the point where it overshadows the female characters’ actions and sometimes what they’re saying even if it’s important to plot. I don’t mind giving the characters idealic bodies. I just mind the extent of the animators going, “Hey! Did we mention this character has great [insert body part]? Let’s do a pan(ty) shot! How about some yuri baiting?” Ships are built on the actions and what people say and the relationship, not by bait. Most of the gifs that pop up when I search “ssss.gridman” has to do with these shots. There’s even a thing up that’s promoting the body pillow covers with these characters-- I’ll leave it at that. Just a reminder that these are first-year high schoolers. Let’s enjoy some non-sexualized gifs that respect these girls but also pay respect to their design (look at those eyes).

Gridman himself says that he wouldn’t have been able to do it without her. She provides good reasoning and insight. She isn’t afraid to speak up and has more connections than the two other characters. She’s also quite capable and smart just like the other characters. She’s the most normal and down-to-earth. In that way, she reminds me of Hiyori from Noragami.

She is one of the main characters too! She��s mysterious and works her magic behind the scenes. She’s crafty, witty, idealistic, and she’s really creative. She has unique interests that truly drive the series.

Sound

THE OP AND THE ED ARE BOTH AMAZING! I REALLY LIKE OP AND ED. I DOWNLOADED BOTH.

youtube

The score provides a lot too! I can’t say it’s the type where I say, “I’m downloading the OST” but for twelve episodes, I sure got hyped when the OST took flight.

I really liked the voice acting for this. Both Yuuya Hirose and Yume Miyamoto are new to voice acting, but Yume has been acting for a long time since she’s in the large famous group called the Himawari Theatre Group which seems to farm talented youth like Kouki Uchiyama, Miyu Irino, Mamoru Miyano, Ryohei Kimura, Yuuto Uemura, and Sumire Morohoshi just to name some off the top of my head. Yume has range, but I really liked the voice she used for Rikka. I really want to hear her take on more roles. Hikaru Midorikawa playing Gridman was also great because it was like a senior leading the youth. Soma Saito was in the main cast too! He was in a few anime that season. He was good comic relief, and he fits the character so well. Reina Ueda has impressed me with her performances in supporting roles in anime like ReLife and Net-juu no Susume, but this was even better. I really look forward to seeing her in more roles soon. The rest of the cast was filled with people I’ve heard before with exception to Ryousuke Takahashi as Calibur. Everything else worked out great, but as much as I like Kenichi Suzumura... I think a newbie would’ve fit the role a lot better. That was a bit of a slip-up.

Spoiler Zone

But what do I think happened at the end? Besides leaving us hanging with no reasoning or any sign of a sequel, here’s my hot take:

I think Akane comes from the real world, goes to this world because she's tired of real life and wants to control a setting. She takes this alternative universe and wreaks havoc with the help of the main bad guy. She alters things to the point of no return, but after the disorder has reached its peak, Gridman is called in. She is sent back to her own world with only a select few keeping the memories of this ever happening. She isn't a god, but she was a human given the abilities of one by the villain who represents disorder and corruption himself. Gridman is a being who restores order.

But what about the ships?

As much as there is a ton of material for both Akane x Rikka and Yuuta x Rikka respectively, I think the fact that Akane no longer being around ultimately makes me prefer the other one. Hey, Rikka can be bisexual and still choose Yuuta. They’re good together too.

It’s implied in the end that Gridman chose Yuuta because he sat beside Akane and also because he likes Rikka, and Gridman is also wingman. He worked so hard to get them together. He even said to her in the end that Yuuta will remember his feelings for her (not said whether it’s romantic).

In the video below, you can see why I ship it because he says he likes her, her main love interest is gone anyway (Akane is no longer in that universe), and I was good with either with me leaning more towards this one anyway because the other ship was a little too allusive, not as straight-forward, and just look at the look on Yuuta’s face. Do you want to break him? Do you want to break his soul? My heart goes out to the poor guy.

The last scene cuts out before you see the true heartbreak on his face. He invites her out for dinner, and she’s like, “Sure!” He does a small “yatta!” then she says, “But fitting all of us would be difficult.”

Me: I’m sorry for your loss. (+f = I have paid my respects)

For these scenes, I don’t think Yuuta was fully asleep or Gridman was really that determined to play wingman.

youtube

Edit: @italiantea commented this link which explains a lot of the leftover things! It’s a bit long, but if you’re confused about the ending, you might find this a good read!

https://mobile.twitter.com/i/moments/1076999602388299776

#ssss.gridman #ssss gridman #rikka takadara #yuuta hibiki #anime review #anime thoughts

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vanilla-blessing · 6 years ago

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qb anime of the year list 2018

Anime of the Year 2018 - the year of girls going to aquariums together

I’ve seen at least one person who claimed that 2018 was the best year for anime in recent memory and I’m inclined to agree. A large majority of my top ten list is shows that I would consider perfect and even shows that blew away what I thought was possible in the medium. It was a revolutionary year and makes a strong argument that anime wasn’t a mistake after all. - qb

Hugtto! Precure blew away my expectations every week for close to a year. I don’t exactly know what to say about it here, since this isn’t the last time I’ll talk about it for sure. It doesn’t even end in 2018, but it was such a huge part of my 2018 in anime that it would be inaccurate to not include it. The only way I can think to explain Hugtto! Precure is to talk about the Netflix She-ra reboot. She-ra’s a pretty basic modern Dreamworks cartoon, with some interesting ideas thrown in and likable characters, but mostly held back by what they could realistically allot for production. Because of this limitation, She-ra goes hard on a single perfect episode (if you’ve seen it, you know which one) that stands out in a big way and shows the full potential of what they set out to make. Usually, Precure is lucky to get a handful of these stand-out episodes in a season, and most of the time just gets by, due to being an annual series that can never, ever take a break. Normally, the first few episodes of a Precure season can be counted on to be strong, but the realities of anime production being hella tough inevitably catch up.

Hugtto! Precure started with an incredible opening arc, then never let off the gas pedal. Nearly every episode of Hugtto is a stand-out, never-before-seen, innovative tour-de-force. The combination of production miracles that resulted in Hugtto has been talked about by me on this blog before, (http://vanilla-blessing.tumblr.com/post/176000267859/hana-is-getting-unstable-a-pink-precure) but the length of time that Hugtto stayed in the paint, going extremely hard every single week with few exceptions, was just absurd. Every season of Precure has one or two peaks, sometimes a good season gets lucky and has even more, the best seasons bat a solid average, but are still expected to be held back by reality. Coming out of the fifteenth season of Precure with a majority of the best episodes in the entire franchise isn’t something that I can wrap my head around, but it definitely happened, mostly in 2018. It’s simultaneously a love letter to the franchise’s past, present, and future made by the biggest Precure fans on the planet, and it’s unquestionably the best season. Hugtto threw what we all knew was true and had accepted about Precure clear out the window, retroactively made older seasons better, watered my crops, brought world peace, ect.

Oh yeah and boys can be cures now.

I’m definitely not done with Revue Starlight and this won’t be the last time I talk about it. Revue Starlight essentially carried the Summer 2018 anime season on its back. Starlight absolutely dominated my anime watching schedule; my week was seriously just waiting for and watching different translations and releases with every other show being almost incidental, far less important than waiting for the song lyrics to get translated for an episode I had seen three times already. I won’t get into everything here, since I’ve already talked about it on this blog after all (http://vanilla-blessing.tumblr.com/post/179023723689/subtext-is-for-cowards-revue-starlight), but I need to reiterate that it was such a commanding, unique, stylized experience and didn’t drop a single episode in its entire absurdly high-level production. The only reasonable explanation for this is devil magic, and hell, it was worth it. Revue Starlight is probably in my top 5 anime of all time and I wouldn’t get this list out if I said everything I wanted to say about it. It’s great. Watch it twenty times.

Pop Teen Epic, or Hoshiiro Girldrop, was the most wildcard that has ever been in seasonal anime, and could have been absolutely anything. What none of us predicted was just how much of anything this show would be, encompassing an unprecedented range of artists, voice acting talent, and whatever AC-bu are, each giving their very individual takes on a self-described shitpost comic strip, sometimes covering the exact same material two or three times, with no regard for any sort of cohesion or structure.

Nothing about this idea should have been funded, nothing in Pop Team Epic has any reason to work, and as a straight adaptation probably wouldn’t have worked. PTE spun gold from trash through the raw effort of artists doing their own thing, which captures the original spirit that made the formerly-cancelled comic popular in a way that’s much too intelligent for haters to understand. Also it got a dub, which is the most ridiculously bad idea i’ve heard in my life, and it owns that it happened.

Spider-man into the Spider-verse is legit the best comic book movie ever made. It’s a fun, expressive twist on the most tired superhero origin story of all time, and showcases some of the most sssssssssstyle and raw, real emotion I’ve ever seen in animation. Its particular selection of influences is brilliant and poignant, rising far above the simple fanservice you’ve come to expect from Spider-man. The unrelenting individualistic spirit of this movie will stick with you the longest in the soundtrack, bravely incorporating a side of pop music that you don’t usually get to see in big-budget productions, pulling soundcloud rappers out of their grody (i’m told) dens into the spotlight with equal importance alongside the heroic score. Spider-verse is all about establishing your own unique flavor, and it manages to overwrite every other entry in this cursed franchise with its bold taste.

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It doesn’t make sense to me how amazing Aggretsuko’s dub is. The impeccable timing of each line, the perfect integration with the comedy, and the optimal length of the episodes are all far beyond what I expected from a Netflix show. It not only converted the original series of shorts that I already had on my top 10 the first year into a godlike longer series I didn’t know I wanted, but went to the effort to bring real metal singers in for the karaoke. Honestly just repeat everything I said in my 2016 list and multiply it by five. I hope they make more. They’re making more.

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I was pretty slow to pick up anime in the Winter 2018 season, but I never missed Hakumei and Mikochi, maybe because it was like, the only simulcast on my favorite online anime streaming subscription service HiDiVE. The subs weren’t great, and it certainly wasn’t all that popular, but it was just the relaxing show I needed. Hakumei and Mikochi brought me back to my favorite non-racist parts of the Redwall series of books: friendly animals, delicious foods, alcohol, and rustic songs. I was ready to put it on my list for simply being a cute healing foodie anime, but to my surprise, it had much more in store within its tiny world: stark confrontations with mortality, a shy riverside necromancer, the inexplicable remake of The Raid: Redemption in miniature, fashion trends, frogs, carpenter weasels, carpenter skeletons, ghost celebrations, a country beetle with lofty dreams. The list of memorable people, places, and things contained in the gnomish roommates’ tiny world goes on and on.

Masaomi Ando’s directing went completely along with the storybook aesthetic, maybe even to an overall detriment, which is exactly the kind of reckless commitment to style I love to see. The distinctive paneling, constantly gorgeous backgrounds, and deliberate pacing perfectly captured the imaginative stories I loved to read as a kid, but with more alcohol, and more sophisticated themes under the surface. Even something anime rarely get right, endings, were perfectly capstoned every week with a short digest that explored more of the history, legends, and very personal lore of their small, unique world. At its core, Hakumei and Mikochi is the calming story of tiny roommates you think it is, but it’s also so much more. They have day jobs and get drunk and remodel their house after it explodes that one time. They gamble dangerously to escape a blizzard, help a photographer give herself a little credit, and rescue their neighbor from a fancy grave of her own making. By the end of the show Hakumei practically built half a town. The collective stories from their everyday adventures build into something tremendous, and it all wraps up on the most perfect ending sequence I could have hoped for, which calls back to every story thus far as a new verse of the show’s central duet is sung. In any reasonable AnimeOTY Hakumei and Mikochi would be my top anime of 2018, but this year, the competition was unreasonable. This show will just have to settle for being the best regular anime of the year.

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Bloom Into You is an incredible adaptation of an apparently yuri romance manga that raises the bar for anime adaptations in general. I don’t know when, but somewhere along the line I stopped expecting that serious capital R Romance anime would have a distinctive style, and gave up to the notion that there was no demand anymore and a stylized, seinen/josei romance would just never get made. Well that was 2016 and then Scum’s Wish happened which this blog has covered extensively.(http://vanilla-blessing.tumblr.com/post/168842023559/how-lerche-adapted-an-average-trashy-romcom-into, http://vanilla-blessing.tumblr.com/post/168789506264/scums-wish-and-our-messy-uncomfortable) To me Bloom Into You feels similar in concept, as a difficult romantic situation with no easy answers or completely happy people. The main perspective character, Yuu, is among my favorite romantic leads in any series; she doesn’t get romantic feelings, although she wants to, and despite being easily motivated, is kind of dispassionate. Her relationship that she was pushed into with Touko might as well be out of mutual convenience, since Touko doesn’t want to fall in love with someone who would love her back, and Yuu doesn’t think she can.

Yuu filters the developments of the series as they grow closer through a very different perspective compared to more emotional leads of usual romance stories, methodically breaking down and considering where she’s at, observing where others are at, before taking an action that makes sense to her. Her growth through the series takes a very different direction than the common dramatic formula; instead of running headfirst into misunderstandings to overcome romantic challenges, she’s compelled to take a step back and position herself in a way that allows her to understand and confront her girlfriend’s issues. The changes that she experiences herself during this process are extremely gradual, but are no less significant to her. Although the dramatic weight of the series is obviously all about Touko, the central thesis of Bloom Into You is to explore Yuu’s complex feelings, and ask to what degree our actions are dictated by our emotions. It’s a heavy topic to be sure, but what makes this anime adaptation special in particular is how the directing and production pull it off, to maybe an even stronger degree than the original material.

Bloom Into You’s most striking and noticeable feature is the incredible conservation of small movements that connect expressions naturally. Minute changes in characters’ faces are vital to observe the almost imperceptible changes in Yuu over the course of the series, and every aspect of the direction is in service of highlighting these subtle moments. In addition, repeated cinematic themes are reinforced over the show’s run, such as the use of light to impart a blinding realization, flower language to inform deeper personalities, even using a literal (not literal) cinema. Symbols such as trains, masks, and mirrors are used constantly and consistently to reinforce the show’s themes, which should be immediately obvious from the opening animation. I’m still kind of stunned that Bloom Into You’s ending theme is such a banger and managed to use an oscillating sine curve in a metaphorical way. These details might be lost without the brilliant layouts, intentionally resembling a stage, which always push the minute differences front and center. As an anime adaptation, Bloom Into You adds so much value in such a subdued, conservative way that it puts uninspired adaptations to shame.

Thunderbolt Fantasy 2 rounded out the year with a good old new-fashioned Japanese-speaking Chinese-Wuxia Taiwanese puppet show. The novelty of this wild series, like, existing at all, is still incredible to me, but I was really wowed by the new characters and the direction the series went in after the already high standards of the first season. Following the outrageous action and fights of the previous season, I did not expect that season 2’s introductory goon would 1. Live past the first episode 2. So quickly become my favorite swordfighter and 3. Have inarguably the most complete character arc of the entire show thus far. The Princess of Cruelty’s struggle against her inner and outer demons in a unreasonably stacked, desperate situation developed her into easily the most compelling character of the season, and the rest of the cast including a corrupt police officer with extremely disconcerting and bad puppet teeth, a ventriloquist rock-lutist, and a nihilist monk each bring their own unique flavors to the table. The table that they throw the puppets in the air from to make the show. All of the new elements of Thunderbolt Fantasy 2 improved an already strong formula even more, and revealed an emotional depth to the series that I’m excited to see developed further. Some people might not call this anime, but those people haven’t seen Thunderbolt Fantasy for longer than 2 seconds. It’s so anime.

I blasted all available seasons of Star vs the Forces of Evil early in 2018, and it was basically my first foray into straight-up American cartoon magical girl, despite watching all the Japanese ones, which was probably an oversight on my part. That’s because Star Versus is really good, and provided a flavor of magical girl I had been missing out on. I could talk about the excellent sparkle witch aesthetic of the show, fluid animation, and hilarious comedy, but I’d rather spend this blogspace posting Star Butterfly faces.

#10

A Place Further Than the Universe, or YoriMoi, or my preferred moniker That Antartica Anime, wasn’t on my radar until well after it had finished airing, but it stuck with me for most of the year. Although it’s definitely melodramatic at times, it utilizes this tendency in exactly the right way to enhance the individual characters’ emotional arcs. Even though I was personally sort of taken out of it for many of the girls’ personal trials, :penguin emoji: is obviously thoughtfully written and carefully constructed, and especially knows how to orchestrate an immense emotional reaction with pitch-perfect timing. If there’s one particular aspect this anime has absolute mastery over, it’s hitting that perfect note and cue to create a memorable narrative climax. And for all my bellyaching about not fully relating to some of the characters, Miyake is definitively the #1 qb-relatable character of the year.

Here’s the rest of my list. Don’t @ me about it because if its not on my top ten then it doesnt really count anymore i dont make the rules thats just how it is

11. Yuru Camp

12. Hisone and Masotan

13. Asagao to Kase-san

14. Devilman Crybaby

15. After the Rain

16. Planet With

- friend of the show @queuebae on twitter

That’s why the 2018 anime of the year award goes to Kaiju Girls 2.

#top ten anime 2018 #top ten pop team epics #pop teen epic #pop team epic #hoshiiro girldrop #poppiteppikiu #popttippiku #bob team epic #bob epic team #PTE 2018 #Pop Team Epic Season 2

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toraonice · 8 years ago

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Could you explain a little bit more on why you think the JP fandom is focusing on the "look at me~" part of the drama instead of Chihoko stuff (what you mentioned in your ask abt the event). I'm just wondering what you mean about that, or if you could explain that part a bit better than it seems it was in the snippets we got from Twitter? Thank you for all you do :>

Hello! I think it’s a matter of wording… Like, some lines sound more impressive in Japanese. There are some parts I remember very clearly and some where I had forgotten the exact wording, but yesterday I could find a very complete and accurate Japanese report of the drama (to be honest I find it hard to believe that someone could have written such a perfect report by just taking notes on paper, but.. yeah��).

My impression is based on the fanarts/fancomics I’ve seen. Of course, I cannot possibly have seen each and every single fanart about the event, but for example let’s say that I’ve seen about 300 Japanese fanarts and 50 foreign fanarts (numbers are not exact but they are close to what I’ve seen so far). Out of all the Japanese ones, none of them used the line that in English has been translated by some as “I could search all over the world~”, while I’ve seen at least 5-7 foreign fanarts about it. That’s quite a difference. The reason is that this line doesn’t sound as “deep” in Japanese at all, so Japanese people don’t give it so much importance, it’s just Yuuri trying to convince Victor to get down.

Details and partial translations under the cut.

The exact translation of this part (if the report is accurate, but as far as my memory goes I believe it is):

Victor: “Who’s better, Chihoko or I!?!?”Yuuri: “Who is Chihoko??? Uff… There’s no one better than you in the whole world!!!”Victor: “Am I shining!?!?”Yuuri: “Jeez, yeah you’re dazzling!! Just put some clothes on!!!”

Listening to Yuuri’s voice makes it even clearer, but here he’s not really praising Victor with all his heart, he’s just trying to convince him to get down, and in Japanese their dialogue just sounds hilarious.Now, to be exact, the literal translation of Yuuri’s line is indeed “even searching all over the world it’s not possible to find someone as ‘incredible’ as you” (now, this “incredible” in Japanese is “sugoi” which can also have a humorous nuance, as if he’s saying “I’m sure no one else would do the things you do”), but what it conveys in Japanese is more like I have translated it above.

Also, I’ve seen lots of people in foreign fanarts use Victor’s line “I am Yuuri’s ‘now’”. However, this line doesn’t exist in the drama! In fact there are no Japanese fanarts that use it. As I said in my other post, it can’t really be helped because everyone is reporting based on their memory. I didn’t recall hearing it, and reading reports I could confirm that indeed there was no line like that. I think it might be a wrong recollection of Victor’s monologue:

Victor: “That time, I was indeed angry. But not at Yuuri… at myself, for thinking that I knew everything about him. Sha Chihoko. Chihoko… who the hell are you!? Ah, well… I don’t care who Chihoko is. After all, the past is what made Yuuri who he is now.”(”Yuri on Ice” starts playing in the background)“Yuuri… you have surprised me a lot. You surpassed my imagination, by far. You always looked for an answer with shining eyes. That brought new colors to my world. Now it’s my turn. I will try to surpass your imagination, by far. Yuuri… I’ll show it to you. This is my true…. REVERSE SHRIMP POSE!!!”

I think maybe the person who wrote the report had an inaccurate memory of Victor saying “the past is what made Yuuri who he is now”, or “now it’s my turn”. He never says “I’m Yuuri’s now”.(note: I have no idea how to properly translate “逆海老反り”. It’s the shachihoko pose.. like a shrimp arching his back… Literally it’s somewhat like “reverse shrimp back-arching”.)

Finally, the “look at me” part is by far the one where “the way it’s pronounced” is most important, in my opinion. The translation goes like this:

Yuuri: (dead drunk voice) “Dun jus’ look at Chris, look at me~..”Victor: (sweet voice) “I’m looking at you?”Yuuri: “You’re noo~t”Victor: (disturbingly sweet voice) “I am~♡”Yuuri: “Hmm.. ‘ell then… Do it, with me..” (when he says “do it with me” his voice is much lower than before, like a murmur)Victor: (suddenly serious tone, almost whispering) “….Do what?”Yuuri: “Hn.. whaddyou do when you drink~…”Victor: (still like a whisper) “…What is it, that you do?”Yuuri: (suddenly loud) YAKYUUKEN, of course!!!!!!!!”

Yakyuuken is strip janken (rock paper scissors), the one who loses removes one piece of clothing.Anyway, the above is the closest I could get to how it sounded in Japanese! I’m sure even in Japanese it’s still not possible to fully understand how it sounded without listening to the actual thing, but language-wise, it still sounds closer than in English. I swear I wanted to melt into the chair and disappear during this part, it was that embarrassing. (note: I’m praising it) Many Japanese fans agree that you could picture a heart at the end of Victor’s line, lol.

The parts I mentioned above are the ones where I found the most differences between the reaction of the Japanese and overseas fans, but as I already said it’s not someone’s fault as it’s not possible to recall everything 100% correct by just listening to something twice, even if you take notes.

Lastly, it is confirmed that Victor was naked when he was doing the shachihoko pose on the castle roof (I’m surprised he didn’t get arrested for obscenity lol), but actually we don’t know about Yuuri. I don’t think Yuuri went to the castle only wearing his underwear, so he either undressed on the roof or did the pose with his clothes on. This is not confirmed in the drama or by the staff so far, and even among Japanese people there isn’t a fixed interpretation.

Final question corner (questions I haven’t been asked but someone might ask).

1) If you say that everyone is reporting based on their memory, how can you be sure that what you wrote in your post is correct?

The report I’m using as a reference was written by someone who either has genius-level memory or used “tricks” to remember it correctly, because it’s way too perfect (I only hope these “tricks” are not something which is forbidden at events). If you ask me “what did they say?” I myself can only remember the exact wording for some lines, but if you show me 5 different versions of the same line I can tell which is the one I heard at the event. And that report was like… exactly what I heard at the event. So I’m pretty positive it’s almost completely correct.

2) Can this drama be considered canon?

My opinion is: “Why not?”. I think everyone was in character. We know that Yuuri goes crazy when drunk already from episode 10, where he shamelessly clung to Victor even though they weren’t even acquainted (he even remembers it as “I didn’t have the courage to speak to Victor”), and this drama is set in the off-season after the end of the series, when they are much more intimate (however you prefer to interpret “intimate”). Same for Victor, he was already undressing and clinging to Yuuri in the Chinese restaurant of episode 6, so yeah… “Victor undressing in public when drunk” doesn’t sound impossible. All other characters sounded like themselves too, and let’s not forget that YOI does have some “surreal” parts (the triplets in the first place) even in the anime series, so I believe what happened in the drama and the subtle sides of some characters that we got to know here (can kisser drunk Seung-gil be considered “subtle”..?) make sense.

#yoi #Yuri on ice #event report #translation

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100wordanime · 6 years ago

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We’ve made it to Episode 7: China’s On! The Grand Prix Series Opening Event!! The Cup of China Free Skate. After episode 6 left us with Yuri as the lead contender in the competition we now get to see how that will impact on his very newly found confidence. It was a tricky episode but one that I fell in love with even on the first watch through, and once again, not just because of ‘that’ moment. How will this episode hold up on the rewatch though?

Last week I asked on Twitter what your favourite short program was. Here are the results:

New Yuri on Ice poll: Which short program did you like the most? (So we’re not worried about the music anymore, but which actual skating routine did you enjoy the most.) Feel free to reply with ‘other’.

— Karandi (@100wordanime) 4 September 2018

Yuri on Ice Episode 1

Yuri on Ice Episode 2

Yuri on Ice Episode 3

Yuri on Ice Episode 4

Yuri on Ice Episode 5

Yuri on Ice Episode 6

Episode 7:

We start straight away with the opening and then into narration that recaps the scores from last episode. However, unlike previous episodes this narration isn’t intended to be comical, nor is it drawn out. It just quickly recaps where we are and what has happened before transitioning into a phone call between Yuri and Yuuko and her family. The expression on his face tells you everything you need to know about his current mental state and I am glad they didn’t feel the need to directly state that he was feeling pressured but allowed his expression to speak for him. One of the main criticisms I’ll level at the earlier episodes is that they regularly over-explain things and this is one time where they refrained.

Never one to miss an opportunity for comedy though, we then have Victor’s reaction to Yuri’s current state. Yuri hasn’t slept and it shows so Victor, in a display of what is probably genuine concern, forces him back to bed and then lies on him (to stop him getting back out of bed of course). However, Victor is super impulsive and so we have Yuri, blindfolded and pinned down on a bed (wow, that sounds way more explicit than it is) crying out and asking if Victor set an alarm. The scene builds on what we know about both characters and so while the tension of Yuri’s emotional state is momentarily broken, the scenario plays true to both of them and ends up hitting its mark. Even if it sounds weird taken out of context.

I really do love how small details play into this story. The next scene we see of Yuri is him trying to open a water bottle, his expression frozen and hands trembling. He’s confused because he can’t open it. Anyone who has ever started cracking under pressure knows this feeling. They’ve been in this exact spot wondering why something simple isn’t working and just getting themselves into a negative feedback loop. It’s these kind of moments that really bring Yuri on Ice to life and make it really connect with viewers in a meaningful way. Also, Victor’s distance in this scene is notable as it brings us back to Yuri’s relationship with Celestino rather than the fairly close and intimate relationship they’ve had so far prior to Yuri skating. Even when Victor does close the gap by standing in front of Yuri and grabbing his shoulders, the perspective very much makes Yuri look small and powerless and as though the gap between them is massive. It doesn’t help that Victor’s words, while once again sound advice, are delivered in such a way that they aren’t going to help Yuri’s confidence any.

While a lot of the time Yuri’s family and friends in Japan feel a little added on, there are moments, like this one, where they show us that Yuri really isn’t alone. Every one of them watching the warm up on TV can see the state Yuri is in. They recognise it in the way that anyone who is close to someone as anxious as Yuri would and they are worried because they know just how hard it is to get out of that mind set once it is in full motion. It might be a brief moment, but it continues to build Yuri’s background in relationships and as a person.

I feel bad for skipping over Guang Hong in my discussion here but to be honest he’s a character who doesn’t really come back again, so while I love the story and his thoughts while he is skating, I’m going to focus in on Yuri still. Yuri knows he stuffed up his warm up, and Victor’s glib remarks that he will do it better in the performance haven’t done a thing to reach him. Watching Yuri watch Guang Hong’s performance is almost heart breaking.

In case it hasn’t become ridiculously clear, I really can emphasise with Yuri and this was a huge part of what drew me into this anime.

In stark contrast to Yuri’s emotional implosion we have Chris. He’s a seasoned veteran and one who oozes confidence in what he can do. Even though he is second last position going into the free skate, Chris knows he can come back from that and we see it in his expression during his routine. He’s genuinely enjoying the moment and being the centre of attention. While he wants to win, as all of the characters do, for Chris there’s a genuine joy in being a performer. It creates such a different tone when we see him on the ice and provides a good balance for the viewer. As we get to the finals of the Grand Prix the different mind sets of each of the characters become more apparent and each one brings a different perspective on competition. However, it probably isn’t a coincidence that Chris and Phichit that are introduced in this round as both of their personalities contrast sharply with Yuri’s uncertainty without clashing with him (Yuri Plisetsky certainly contrasts with Yuri but there we end up with more opposition and rivalry).

Now I’ve taken a few jabs at Victor’s inexperience as a coach and how ineffectual he has been thus far in calming Yuri, but the one thing that this episode wants us to know is that Victor is genuinely trying. He can see the problem but because he isn’t the kind of person who crumbles under pressure he doesn’t have any ability to understand what is actually going on in Yuri’s head. He has no frame of reference to work from. But the concern is real and that is part of what we all need to love about Victor even when he does seem like an air-head sometimes.

One thing that is noteworthy about this round of watching the routines is the attention on the characters faces and their expressions. In some versions of the routines it is the overall movement that takes priority leading to some interesting facial expressions depending on where you pause the routine. However, like with Chris, when Phichit starts his routine we see his face and exactly the mental state he is when he takes to the ice. Where Chris had that small smile of confidence in himself, Phichit has the determination but even when he is focused there’s almost a sense that he wants to celebrate the music and just burst into a smile, something we hear in his voice when his internal monologue begins. Again, it is such a major contrast with Yuri’s mindset and it really helps establish Phichit more as a character. He isn’t just about social media, there’s a genuine competitor inside him and when he takes to the ice for the free skate we see exactly how determined he is to show everyone what he can do.

Though, once again, Yuri on Ice doesn’t hold its ground and feels the need to add in some fairly unnecessary commentary from Celestino about Phichit having more innate flair than Yuri. This is something that was already apparent from the routine and from the audience response. Celestino saying it adds nothing except perhaps making him feel smug that Yuri was the one he lost and Phichit is still his skater.

And again, my apologies to Leo, but his routine is nowhere near as important as what is going on in the carpark between Victor and Yuri, and the anime knows this as well. Where Phichit’s routine was mostly shown with a few cuts to the main characters, Leo’s routine is almost entirely off-screen. So let’s focus on this moment between Victor and Yuri. This moment where Victor, totally lost as to what to do to shake Yuri out of his despair, takes entirely the wrong path. Again, looking at their body language as Victor begins to speak, they are separated by many steps, their backs to one another, the distance between these two has never been greater when they’ve been onscreen. And then Victor essentially throws ice water onto a sleeping Yuri’s face with fairly predictable results.

Yeah, Victor, this was a really bad idea. If I’m honest, this was the moment during my first watch that I almost fell out of love with Victor as a character. I relate too much to Yuri and just the feeling of someone saying that to me when I was in the middle of emotional turmoil, succeed or I’ll ditch you under the guise of taking responsibility, almost broke my heart in two. Rewatches have not softened the blow from this scene, however, Victor is redeemed many times over and I’ve come to love his awkward self who struggles to learn to deal with Yuri emotionally. Still think he’d have been better off keeping his mouth shut.

For an episode so fixated on faces, this sequence is brilliant in how it twists the knife into the viewer’s heart. Victor says his piece and waits. We get the long shot showing again the distance between them before the close up on Yuri’s frozen expression. Switching back to Victor, we see the first bead of sweat appear and the first hint of doubt showing in his eyes. Then tears roll down Yuri’s cheeks (using anime logic that everyone has an entire bucket of water inside their head), and Victor suddenly realises exactly what he just did but not how to fix it.

However, it does open Yuri up, albeit slightly destructively and Yuri tells Victor that all he needs to do is believe in him and stand beside him. As Georgi begins his somewhat hilarious Tales of a Sleeping Prince routine, Yuri and Victor return to the rink side by side for the first time this episode even if their expressions are still sombre and they aren’t looking at one another. I’ve mentioned this before but this relationship is what holds this anime together and elevates it to being so much more than just a story about ice-skating. At every step we see the back and forth as their relationship grows and the two bump heads, gain ground, clash, understand each other, misunderstand each other, and it all feels so incredibly authentic (if a little bit rushed given the time frame).

In case the discomfort between these two after their small spat in the car park isn’t already emphasised enough in their expressions above, after a brief cut away to Georgi and his delusions of Anya returning to him, we get an image of Yuri and Victor still side by side but leaning away and looking away from another. Again, this is so different from how these two have been presented as they’ve come together in every other episode. This moment is fairly critical not just for Yuri as a skater but for their ongoing relationship both as coach and student and any foundation of a romantic relationship in the future.

Meanwhile, the sign above Yuri’s head is just kind of ironic.

I do however, really enjoy the sequence when Yuri prepares to take the ice as he essentially plays Victor by dropping the tissues and then touching Victor’s part, reminiscent of his actions back in episode 4. For all that Yuri might seem like the one being led along at times or weak because of his anxiety, it is scenes like this that show that Yuri has some real fortitude. Afterall, despite his severe anxiety he did rise up to get into the Grand Prix the year before without Victor. While Victor is still at a loss for what to do next, Yuri is taking charge. And this doesn’t go unnoticed by Yakov who thinks that if the student is consoling the coach Victor has a long way to go. With so much focus on Yuri’s growth and improvement, I love that this sequence turns that entirely on its head and shows Victor as the one floundering and lost and Yuri being the one to show the way.

And then the routine begins. For the first time this episode we see Yuri calm and composed. Internally, he is thinking about Victor’s failings as a coach but externally there is a real sense of control about him. Despite how busy Yuri’s thoughts seem to be, Victor notes that Yuri is smiling and Celestino remarks that he seems unusually relaxed. After an entire episode of seeing Yuri on the brink, this moment is wonderful and while Victor’s approach was still dreadful the end result is the dam of emotions Yuri had been holding back had an outlet leaving him more composed than he might otherwise have been. Having seen the routine before, we get continued cuts to the other competitors, coaches and family as we see their reactions to the Yuri that exists now. The amusement of Yuri thinking about how much of an idiot Victor is right before he executes one of his jumps is fairly priceless as is most of this routine. We’ve seen this skate before, but not like this and we’ve seen plenty of Yuri, but this is a Yuri we haven’t seen before. I think that is the strength of the repeats in this series. Rather than seeing the repeated routines as a weakness, seeing what they can bring out of each character because the emphasis is shifted each time is an absolute joy.

And Yuri once again shows off the theme of surprise. Midway through the routine Yuri has a sudden thought wondering how Victor would react if he changed his last quad to a flip, Victor’s signature move. While the execution isn’t brilliant, Yuri does it and blows everyone away. And so, Victor being Victor, has to surprise Yuri more and does so by literally leaping into his arms as Yuri comes toward him from the ice. And then we have ‘that’ moment. The kiss that blew up the internet. Or the not kiss for those who still want to say it is just a hug – sorry, but I don’t buy it.

I remember when I first watched episode 7. Twitter literally exploded immediately after the episode. My episode 7 review, as poorly written as it is with a typo in Yuri’s name midway along (one day I’ll edit, I swear), is still one of my highest viewed episode review posts of all times. Just as Yuri surpassed everyone’s expectations, just as Victor wanted to surprise Yuri, this moment in the show blew away all the audience expectations. Those who thought it was just going to another story about two characters who were close but their relationship was ambiguous finally realised that the relationship being constructed here was more than just yet more baiting. It was a great moment and one that was executed with perfect timing riding on the high of the routine, on Yuri overcoming his anxiety, after an episode where a rift seemed to begin to grow between the characters. All of that was just blown away in a single instant.

The episode ends with Yuri gaining a silver medal but that is almost beside the point. And that is where I struggle to see this one as a sports anime. The outcome becomes almost a beside the point compared to the personal successes and growth of the characters. Still, we are now set to go to Russia for the next qualifying adventure.

And be sure to check on Twitter for this week’s poll where I ask you which routine is your favourite free skate.

My original episode review: Yuri On Ice Episode 7

Thanks for reading.

Karandi James

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Yuri on Ice Guide To Episode 7 - Relive the excitement and the drama of Yuri on Ice. We've made it to Episode 7: China's On! The Grand Prix Series Opening Event!! The Cup of China Free Skate.

#anime #episode #ice skating #MAPPA #romance #sports #Victor #Yuri #Yuri on Ice

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toraonice · 8 years ago

Text

Yuri on Ice BD audio commentary translation - Volume 4

I absolutely wanted to post this within today because this evening I want to work on the Pash interview with Sayo Yamamoto... This BD volume has lots of choreography footage so that will take a while to translate, and I’m going to give priority to the interview.

This commentary is different from the others because it’s not just Kubo with another person, there’s 4 of them. Luckily enough they don’t really talk over each other (except for one part, lol), but in the second half I translated most of what they say as dialogue because I felt it was more fitting. In the dialogue parts my notes/comments are in brackets.

The commentary is only for episode 7. Episode 8 has no commentary. It’s not a full translation but I summarized most of what they said, and some parts are almost completely translated. Fans of Phichit, Guang-Hong and Leo should definitely read it as it’s a rare chance to get comments from these voice actors. Also, their reactions to the last scene are hilarious, that’s a must read too.

The commentary is by: -Mitsurou Kubo -Kenshou Ono (Phichit) -Yuutarou Honjou (Guang-Hong) -Shunichi Toki (Leo)

Translation under the cut because it’s long. Enjoy!

-In the beginning they introduce themselves and Kubo says that the other audio commentaries were all done by her with another person and this is the first time it’s done by so many people together. She also says that she never had the chance to talk to them a lot (since she couldn’t go to most recordings). Honjou says that he also never spoke a lot with Ono because in episode 6 Ono recorded his part alone and in episode 7 Guang-Hong skated in the A part and Phichit in the B part. Since so many voice actors were in the episode, he waited outside of the recording room during B part because he had no lines and would have occupied space uselessly. He says he spent the time writing a report, and they comment on the fact that he’s young (he’s 20 so he’s a student). Kubo says that the skaters in the China Cup are all quite young and Chris and Yuuri are the oldest (actually she forgot Georgi, he’s older than Yuuri lol). That also made the atmosphere at the tournament quite merry. Ono says that finally Phichit can prove his worth after a few episodes where he was mostly introduced as someone who spoke on the phone with Yuuri. He also says that he’s glad that YOI got so much response because he himself had fun working on it and it’s nice to know that the viewers felt the same. He then asks Kubo how long ago she got the idea for YOI, and Kubo says that in the beginning it was director Yamamoto who had the idea. She says that she (Yamamoto) had been wanting to make a series about figure skating, but since it’s a difficult topic she initially couldn’t find anyone (production/animation studios) willing to work on such a project. Then after the Sochi Olympics figure skating had a little boom and finally someone got interested in it (you might guess that the reason of the boom is Yuzuru Hanyu earning the first Olympic gold medal ever for Japan). She also says that YOI got an explosive response from overseas, especially after episode 7, and is also very popular in China.

-During Guang-Hong’s FS, Toki comments that Leo stars in the imaginary world of the FS and that “the scary guy” (Georgi) is playing the boss. Kubo says that the song is meant to be from the soundtrack of the fictional movie "Shanghai Blade”, and that the choreography also reflects the story (they talk about this in the choreography commentary too). Toki comments that the setting material they read had detailed information about “Shanghai Blade” and that it sounded so interesting that he actually would like to know the full story of the movie. Kubo says that every character has his own background and that both the choreographies and the fictional movies have a meaning.

-Here she asks Honjou how he felt playing his role, and both Honjou and Ono reply about that. I’m writing directly what they said (it’s a summary, not the exact wording). Honjou: The skating parts were actually difficult. Guang-Hong looks carefree but deep inside he’s doing his best to perform his part, and I wasn’t sure how much I should show that gap. When he says “as long as I have my sword I can do it alone!”, usually he uses ‘boku’ as first person pronoun but in this line he says ‘ore’, and since he says it all excited I ended up making him sound really cute, lol. (”Boku” is softer than “ore”) Ono: It was very hard to maintain the balance. Phichit is very cheerful, so when I played him I really tried to create a bright character that would make the people around him smile, but skating is a fight against yourself, something that challenges your emotional strength and mental status, and when you skate you’re alone… That’s why during the monologue, where you can hear what the character is thinking, I thought that even though he’s cheerful toward others maybe I should show a more stoic side of him when it comes to skating. It’s a fight against yourself, you get a score for your performance, everyone is a rival, you are your rival too. I wondered how much I should show a serious side of him looking into himself, because I wanted to convey the fact that someone like Phichit-kun too is fighting against himself. However, when I did that I was told “maybe you should pay attention to the audience a bit more” and I had to retake the part (lol). Also, “maybe it’s better to make it sound a bit more like he wants to entertain the audience”. It was difficult to keep the balance. Kubo: When athletes skate they think a lot about the impression they leave on the audience and the judges. It is a fight against yourself, but it’s also a matter of representing something for others to see. At the same time it’s also a competition, so I find it amazing how they can think about all of those things together. She also says that it really feels like they put a lot of effort into creating the characters together with sound director Shimizu.

-During Phichit’s program, Kubo says that he is very popular in Thailand and that it’s rare that a Thai character has such a major role in a Japanese anime. She says that people like Phichit’s unaffected personality too. Honjou says that his parents went to Thailand and when they visited a “certain shop that sells anime goods” (I guess Animate Bangkok, lol) the plates they had on display were Yuuri, Victor and Phichit. Toki comments that the story of “The King and the Skater” was also very interesting and that you could probably make a manga out of that alone. Kubo says that when they ordered the songs they wrote as many details as possible, and that she wrote in detail for both Phichit’s SP and FS. The FS is set in the near future (more info about this in the choreography commentary too). She also comments that Phichit is cute and everyone at the Cup of China is cute. Ono says that it cheers him up to watch Phichit and you also feel like cheering on him. He also laughs saying that Phichit’s clothes look a lot like his own (they even both use a black face mask) so he feels very close to him. Kubo explains that Phichit looks up to Japanese reader models and pays a lot of attention to his own clothing style because he wants to become like a Japanese boy with a smart fashion sense. She didn’t do it on purpose because she had no idea what kind of clothes Ono uses, but in the end she agrees that they look similar. (In other words she’s praising his fashion sense, lol) Ono says that the sharp facial features are also something that makes him similar to Phichit. Kubo also mentions that Phichit has many hamsters but they could only show this in the last episode, and that there’s a stamp of him with his hamsters in the YOI LINE stamps too.

-From here they start talking about the LINE stamps. By the way, they do this while the anime is showing the scene of Yuuri and Victor in the parking lot and the gap is hilarious (it’s almost better to listen to the commentary without watching the screen, lol). I’m writing what they say as dialogue because it’s faster, though some parts are shortened/summarized. Kubo: In the vol.2 of LINE stamps some use lines that the characters never said in the series. Toki: This is something I was meaning to ask! Does Leo-kun turn down Hollywood celebrity parties?? Lol. Kubo: I do think in some cases it’s better to use lines that the characters actually said in the series, but for some reason I wanted him to say “it’s ok, I turned down the Hollywood celebrity party”. Toki: So you decided the text (of the stamps)? Kubo: Sorry, I used a “dark force”, lol. (She means “connections”, or well, that she took advantage of her position to decide the text, lol) Honjou: It wasn’t shown in the series, but in the storyboard there was a line saying “don’t you go to Hollywood celebrity parties?”. I remember thinking, “is that something you ask someone the first time you meet them?”, lol. Ono: And I think maybe I actually said that line at the audition… Kubo: Guang-Hong-kun likes American celebrities and has a secret ambition to become friends with celebrities one day. He asks Leo-kun, “don’t you go to parties with celebrities?”, and Leo is like “no I don’t, I’m not invited to things like that”, so he replies “if you ever have a party call me, I’ll be there right away!”. That’s why there was that line. In the end we didn’t use it in the anime and it was used in the LINE stamps (lol). In the audition Ono-san had a line like a YouTuber too. Ono: Yes, a line like a YouTuber who is greeting his fans. After the audition ended the sound director Shimizu-san told me “it had a nice Asian feeling”. I had no idea what he meant but if it had “a nice Asian feeling” I guess it was ok..? lol. Toki: People who are wondering what we are talking about please check out the LINE stamps. Kubo: Can I ask you to say the line from the stamps? Toki: What kind of nuance should I use? Kubo: A person invites you to a drinking party and is wondering whether you have already something else planned, but you answer “it’s ok, I turned down the Hollywood celebrity party!”. It’s like you mean to say that your friend’s party is more important than a Hollywood celebrity party. (Toki asks Honjou to say the question part, and Honjou says it as Guang-Hong) Honjou (Guang-Hong): Leo-kun, I’d like to eat lunch with you, is it ok? Toki (Leo): It’s ok. I turned down the Hollywood celebrity party! (not sure who is saying this, maybe Toki): Man, that’s so hard to use, lmao. When do you use it?? Kubo: I use it a lot. I use it when I’m talking with friends and they ask me “is it ok?”. Actually I’d really like to make LINE stamps with voices too. (LINE stamps with voices exist for some series) Someone: I’m sure it’s possible. Kubo: Then I’ll try to use the “dark force”. I don’t know if it works but I’ll try my best. I don’t really have any power myself. (I’d really love to see YOI stamps with voices, although I almost never use LINE. But as far as I know the YOI stamps are currently only available for purchase within Japan, so first of all I wish they would make them available worldwide so that everyone can enjoy them… By the way, this is my personal interpretation, but I guess Guang-Hong asks Leo about celebrity parties because he automatically thinks America = Hollywood...?)

-Short parenthesis where Toki praises the music too saying he would like real figure skaters to skate to some of the songs, and Kubo replies that actually there are some young skaters who want to, and she hopes one day it will be possible to see people actually skate to the songs.

-The anime shifts to Georgi’s FS and of course the topic shifts to him too. Again I’m writing it as dialogue because it’s faster. Ono: Popovich was so overwhelming, lol. Toki: Everyone in the recording booth was busy trying not to laugh. Kubo: I couldn’t go, but I heard that the recording for episodes 6 and 7 was very exciting. How was it? Toki: Hatano-san (Georgi’s voice actor) did his best during rehearsal, and everyone was already laughing at that point, but then in the actual recording he got even better and it was terrific. Everyone was looking down with a hand on their mouth trying to keep from laughing, lmao. Kubo: It was decided that in the audio commentary we can say spoilers until the end of the series. In which scenes, up to the end, did you have a hard time trying not to laugh? Ono: Miyano-san… JJ was very tiring. In a good way. Like when in episode 10 he says “it’s a joooke”. Toki: In the last episode Miyano-san shows up saying “sorry sorry” (in Japanese he says “mengo mengo” instead of “gomen gomen”, it’s kind of a stupid way to say it). He actually kept on repeating that for practice over and over before recording, lmao. I was next to him and thought “what a guy”, lol. Ono: And the JJ song. The JJ song we sang all together. Kubo: Sounds like a graduation song, lol. Ono: We received the English lyrics and did our best to sing it, it was fun. The JJ style thing you (Kubo) did on Twitter, Yasumoto-san (Chris) and Miyano-san kept on doing that in the recording booth saying “this is JJ style” (in English) to make people laugh, lmao. Kubo: JJ is like curry, he changes the flavor of everything. That’s nice to hear. Ono: The ending was very passionate too.

-From here they talk about the YOI all night screening from February. You can read my detailed report of that here if you’re interested. By the way, in the anime Yuuri is skating his FS (I think they were talking about JJ when he started, once again the gap… lol). Writing it as dialogue again. (Just a little explanation about the screening for you to better understand what they say: It was a talk show followed by the screening of all 12 eps of YOI. The event was held in a cinema in Tokyo and simultaneously streamed in many other cinemas all over Japan. It was ok to cheer and speak during the anime episodes, but not in all cinemas people were loud the whole time, some were actually pretty quiet. The one I went to was average but people mostly clapped to cheer on the skaters and no one really yelled randomly.) Kubo: At the all night screening some time ago, as far as I saw/heard, the part where people got most excited was the scene in episode 10 where Phichit-kun says “congratulations for your wedding!”. There was a thunderous applause in every venue. Even in venues where people were mostly quiet, when he says “Congratulations!! My best friend got married!!” everyone just clapped their hands, everywhere. Ono: When he sees the rings, right? I can see why people would get excited, lol. Kubo: Also, at the end of episode 7 too, I was told that people just naturally clapped their hands. Ono: (looking at Yuuri skating his FS) When I see such beautiful animation I never understand how it works. It’s too beautiful. It’s like, how are they even animating this? It’s so beautiful I can’t understand. In YOI I felt that a lot, I had goosebumps. Honjou: I was also very moved to be able to work in this series. Ono: (in the anime Yuuri has just finished skating) I also like the skaters’ expressions when they finish their program. They have the face of someone who has accomplished something. Kubo: (Victor dashes to the rink’s exit) I like this Victor dash. (And then you know what happens in the anime, and they just start yelling random stuff and I’m not even sure who is saying what, lol) Ono: Ah, here! This! Someone (more than one but I couldn’t distinguish who says what): Here it comes. Here it comes!! Here! Uwah! Oh god! Ah! Ah! No! Stop! Noo ahahah lol. Congratulations!!!! Toki: It’s still episode 7, lmao. Ono: They got married! Kubo: They haven’t gotten married yet here, lol. Toki: It happens later on. Kubo: The wedding is later on, lol. But here also… (And I wanted her to finish this line but she leaves it hanging and everyone just talks over each other, doh) Someone: This is something that could be used in the stamps. Ono: This was… very shocking. (Then the anime shifts to the podium) Phichit, congratulations!

-After this the ending starts playing and they say their final thoughts. Since it doesn’t happen often to hear the opinion of voice actors except the main 3 characters I’m translating most of what they say. Kubo: How did you feel working on YOI? Honjou: Regarding an athlete’s ability to concentrate, I actually never played sports so seriously, I never thought of becoming a professional, so at the beginning I couldn’t picture what it means to concentrate during a competition, but looking at the characters’ performances I gradually started to get an idea of what it means, and with every recording it got more concrete, so in the end I was able to enjoy it a lot. Toki: I myself love figure skating. It’s also because my older sister does classic ballet, but basically I’ve been watching figure skating since I was a child, so I was very happy to receive an audition offer for this series, and when it was confirmed that I would play Leo-kun and I listened to his song I really thought “I like this guy!”. I was determined to play him to the best of my ability, but what worried me the most is that I wasn’t sure I could get close to Kubo-san and Shimizu-san’s image of the character. I was worried that I couldn’t fit into the Yuri on Ice world created by Kubo-san. Kubo: By the way, to say it frankly, it was even better than I expected and I wished I could make Leo-kun more amiable from the start. I wanted to get to know this side of him earlier. Toki: I’m glad to hear that, thank you! Ono: I genuinely thought that I wanted to do more. There are so many interesting characters, and 30 minutes is really too short. I had a lot of fun playing Phichit-kun, it was fun to fight on a skate rink as an athlete, and I really wished there would be a sequel. Therefore, I’m counting on you, sensei!! Kubo: I-I’ll do my best! Thank you! And then they just say the final greetings.

I seriously laughed my ass off when they were screeching on the last scene. It’s been said over and over that it’s left open to the viewers’ interpretation, but one thing I can tell for sure is that all of them definitely do not think it was just a hug, lmao. Also Kubo emphasizing the fact that people at the all night event were clapping their hands like crazy during that scene and the “congratulations!!” scene in ep 10, lol (in the cinema I was at we also actually yelled “congratulations”). Just please take the “the wedding is later on” part with a grain of salt because they’re joking referring to the above-mentioned scene from episode 10, they don’t meant to say that they are really getting married (at least as of now).

#YOI #Yuri on ice #Audio Commentary #BD #kubo mitsurou #ono kensho #toki shunichi #honjou yuutarou #phichit chulanont #leo de la iglesia #guang-hong ji #translation

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