Flip Flappers

[Bamyasi]

I haven't caught up with all the pilots from this season so I'd normally refrain from calling AOTS, but the premiere episode of Flip Flappers is the first thing in so long that I actually felt giddy watching, like being a kid again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHGz8tMZWSc

I would say the show does everything Trigger tried doing with LWA, but better, and references Ghibli more tastefully than Wit Studio in The Ancient Magus' Bride, and captures a child's imagination more lucidly than Pendleton Ward and his army of sycophants ever did, but you're really better off seeing these things for yourself. No one else I watched it with could believe how beautiful and good and pure it was either.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJBbprAetf0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGKjPD_BNAE

Restored my faith in life and possibly even anime. Seriously go watch it.

[rtil]

honestly i think you're overselling it a little bit. it's cute and charming and very well animated. but characterization is a little awkward and its childlike nature sometimes gives way to weird fanservice. it's definitely worth checking out, though. i initially started watching it for the animation, lead animator Takashi Kojima is very high profile and it's full of great sakuga action and lively character animation.

[Bamyasi]

characterization is a little awkward and its childlike nature sometimes gives way to weird fanservice.

Overselling is my specialty but I don't see these as inherent negatives personally.

Based on the first episode alone though this is definitely one of my favorite shows recently. Checks all boxes, and my friends agreed it was a 10/10 pilot as well. Cures depression and possibly cancer.

Also look at the director's credentials goddayum.

[rtil]

i don't think it's a bad thing, it's just that a few scenes made me wince. i get a kind of FLCL vibe from it in the sense that i feel that the staff is using the project as an opportunity to go wild.

[Bamyasi]

That's fair. My reaction to scenes like that is typically laughter.

I think shows like this and FLCL are often unfairly relegated to the kooky "experimental tech-demo" section. I last saw FLCL almost 10 years ago but from what I remember it also had some of the best writing I'd seen in an anime at that point.

If a show/book/movie etc. manages to surprise me, or does anything unpredictable, I'm much more inclined to like it. That's my problem with pretty much every Hollywood movie recently: they don't even try to pleasantly surprise us, because folks oversees might not get it. It's an industry run by business rather than craftsmen.

[Bamyasi]

Flippin flappin crackalackin.

[rtil]

flcl was a coming-of-age story told through visuals which was super cool. i don't see it as a tech demo but it was a rare moment in anime when a ton of super talented people were all working on one thing and came up with a great excuse to go all-out with animation.

[Bamyasi]

I wish more people working in visual media would remember they're communicating through flippin pictures first and flappin dialogue second or third (music should take precedence over words). Like a dumb exposition dump explaining away the mysteries of FF's world would have ruined it from the get-go.

Also I think Gainax and I.G. originally intended to demonstrate new software and techniques with FLCL but idiots still call it that.

[Bamyasi]

Still AOTS. Trigger/Imaishi eat your heart out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWy5wAwQuT4

[Bamyasi]

Bout to drop 600 flippin dollars on this flappin lesbian children's cartoon.

[rtil]

seems fairly standard for japanese prices

maybe viz will license it so you can get ripped off in america, too

[Bamyasi]

Really? I haven't seen many shows get limited editions that were that expensive.

¥ 20,000 - 30,000 yes, but never ¥ 60,000.

Also Sentai's licensing it here I think.

And I don't consider it getting ripped off if I'm supporting productions I actually like whose BD orders have been less than mediocre. I'd much rather spend that much here on something I know is great than gamble on Kickstarter, which almost never turns a worthwhile product.

[rtil]

gurren lagann's is upwards of $700. yamato 2199 is $400+

either way they're all absurd. they're strictly for collectors only, even with the nice presentation