#too lazy to get proper screencaps for kimi no iro whoooooops

[fakekojimo]

Watching the Heike premier for the first time I had that same thought of it being a downgrade. Especially since I had just watched Tamako Love Story and was in the middle of Tamako Market ("why did you watch it the reverse order" because I'm dumb. shut up.) It's no brainer that all three shows are well-made, but I saw that full level of confidence in Heike compared to her other work. Tamako Market boldly starts with the main trio skipping around town and you gradually getting a feel for their world in such a short time. And fuckin Love Story blindsided me with the sudden abstraction in this scene, like legit. The last thing I was expecting from that movie. Meanwhile Heike was plenty of cool moments, but nothing truly struck a chord with me. I never had a "Woah this is so cool, I can't believe I'm watching this, SAKUGA POWA!!!!111" moment. It was more like: "Yeah that was neat." Only got more disinterested as time went on as they focused more on the war and less on Biwa. And the divide in quality between the two was crazy. I would go from looking at the screen half-awake to being on the edge of my seat the second we went back to her POV. I think episode 6 was my breaking point? 20 minutes of politics talk with the real engaging stuff being shoved towards the end... And it just kept happening! Couldn't take it anymore. Do wanna revisit because everyone says it ends real strong. Maybe I should have that family tree chart on hand while watching it too...

Yamada is a creator I like, but never fully adore. I wont gel with her work 100% in the same way I wont fully gel with a Kyoani show because it's not what I look for stylistically. I thought her Saru era could've been the start of her branching out stylistically and to get a chance to love her works a little more, but instead I just feel more distant. I do agree with all the examples you've posted. They don't feel as thoughtfully constructed-- I guess you could argue that she's going for a more exaggerated tone resulting in a more exaggerated comp but nothing in the trailer really supports that. I know the MC is supposed to have synesthesia and we only get a glimpse of that towards the end, but for the most part it's a down to earth movie about kids forming a band. So it does feel like a downgrade to go from satsuei that feels thoughtful, nuanced, observed, true to life...

There's still intent with the color choices depending on the mood but it's flat and consistent in a way that doesn't feel as purposeful as it should.

Just feels very cut and dry.

There's still stuff I like. I'm glad she's still collabing with Takashi Kojima as CD. I really love the cuts of the main girl skipping around the school. The joy there is infectious.

And also, you were right about the Liz trailers sucking. The high-octane Hollywood type of editing doesn't fit the movie at all. Fuckin' lost it when they did the DRAMATIC PAUSE for the scene where Mizore awkwardly reaches out for a hug.

actually yeah. the yamada movie. spill. what are your thoughts? Her Saru era's left me surprisingly cold so far. Well, I'm just talking about Heike since we can't watch her other short film that's been finished for years now...

You also have her episode of Modern Love: Tokyo, which I don't think was made at Saru. You can find it on nyaa. I quite liked it despite its hard shortcomings.

Heike has some shooters out there, and I kinda wish I were one of them…but I'm with you. Heike is a very good cartoon, and I'd even say she directed it better than she did her season of Eupho even if I like Eupho more. I think that's the fair apples-to-apples comparison. Compared to Liz and Koe though? God it's not even close. It's certainly hard for me not to look at Heike and think "please don't let this be what her entire post-KyoAni career is like."

Part of that is probably unreasonable expectations. In my head, post-KyoAni Yamada has the world. In reality, she has like…moaang and china. There's a whole generation of acolytes inspired by her, with amazing skills not only in animation but satsuei, BGs, etc. who I assumed Choi could gaslight-gatekeep-girlboss into helping, but…I guess not?

I'm getting ahead of myself though since we don't really know who's on this movie, and I still haven't told you what I think of the trailer.

I think it looks really good overall. I also think it's hard to get a gauge on the movie from the trailer. All the trailers for Liz and Koe kinda sucked. In that regard, this trailer is already head of them both by having an actual sense of editing even if I'm not getting like…an actual sense of any of these characters beyond clever emotive girl, melancholy (?) girl, and soft boy. I'd do a close reading, but while it might be fun to go back this fall, honestly that doesn't seem like a good use of time.

There are backgrounds and satsuei choices I don't really like, but that's also true for Koe, and it's very true for Eupho. I know this is a hot take, but I actually don't like Eupho's satsuei and color for the most part. It's gotten better, but it really veered into kitsch a lot with those super aggressive rimlight and depth of field effects and warm tones and such. Koe is guilty of this too. I'd say "I guess I just don't like Kazuya Takao" but they did do Liz, so maybe the buck stops with Yamada herself.

Like,

I like teal but this looks like one of those faded DBZ prints.

The DoF just doesn't look right, and neither does the volumetric lighting or dappling. The whole background is just kinda ugly.

It's not like animating this shirt is trivial, but this just isn't very good. The way his arm moves doesn't look right where it meets his body. Not a tremendous fan of the dutch tilt either but that I'm sure will work in context.

But again, I'm picking out examples I don't like to show what I mean, not because I think the trailer looks bad.

So overall: there are elements in here that could make for a great movie, and because it's Yamada I believe it probably will. However, I also won't deny that one of my first thoughts was "ah, well this is kind of a downgrade."