Shaft x Gansis Defeats Kyo-ani this Round But Both are Doing Well at Riuva : Research Institute for Unicultural Visual Arts

Shaft x Gansis Defeats Kyo-ani this Round But Both are Doing Well

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Popularity: 58% [?] Published by tj_han November 9th, 2006 in Anime Rave

Both sides are excellent animation studios, focusing on quality rather than quantity and with a preference for upgrading already popular source material. But I do think Negima!? and its OVA has turned out far better than Kanon, at least for now.

Both are stories that I did not like or read. Particularly Negima, which I think is fouling up the manga world with its crude lameness. But the one thing Akamatsu Ken does well is character design (in spite of them looking dreadfully similar on paper) and Shaft x Gansis just took his characters and tossed away most of what AK calls "story". Brilliant. In focusing the anime on the 40+ characters (not development mind you, just their little gestures and cuteness), the show becomes a burningly cute moe-monger that would melt even the staunchest old school manly Robo fan. Combine that with SxG’s penchant for hiring a giganormous cast of famous and talented seiyuu, and you have a recipe for success.

Good animation (I’m excluding the storytelling aspect here) is not just about smoothness, detailed backgrounds or realistic rendering of physics (no, not that one). What SxG has done for Negima!? is to use really unusual and bold camera angles, cut out most of the lame crude fanservice in the manga, add a lot of arty effects in random scenes and dovetail in very noticeable and funny references. I really like the style of the animation, which has a lot of action and comedy going on at the same time. And the girls are extremely hot.

This multi-frame approach does well. I wonder if its more difficult to do than usual shots?

Setsuna flitting around in the background is always a joy to watch, as is Konoka’s sudden Ichijou impersonations (same seiyuu Nonaka Ai). Did you know that Setsuna has the same seiyuu as LALA Gonzalez from School Rumble and more sexily, Yashi from Tsuyokiss? You can hear it clearly sometimes.

At random times, the girls will strike sexy poses.

Negima!?’s BGMs and OP is fantastic. There seem to be some reused tracks from Pani Poni which is so hilarious. Also, you know that Flash Leek spinning thing that was really popular? They used a similar track for classroom scenes.

I’ve come to the conclusion that every great anime must have battle scenes. I fail to think of even one great anime that did not involve some sort of fighting/warring. Negima!? has cut out the lame pseudo-technical battle mechanics (hello Hunter x Hunter ripoff) of the original manga for a more stylised approach, which I welcome. Because poorly done pseudo-realistic battles just feel retarded while stylised ones can get away with less brainwork and still not feel silly.

Evangeline is one of those who always receives the style treatment.

The references thrown in are not too obscure and numerous like PPD. Like episode 3’s Baka Rangers sequence where Horie Yui as Makie, goes UGU. Now that was a funny one.

Pani Poni Dash reference.

There’s no Kanon bashing here. After episode 5, it dawned upon me that Kanon is a pretty good show, but NOT for the girls. Yuuichi is the best character by far and he actually looks likely to snag all the girls. Kyoani must have noticed that the generic harem lead is the weakest link of a show and thus UPGRADED Yuuichi with the Kyon + Bravery and Frankness package. There seems to be a plot surfacing and I’m intrigued. Why are all the girls retarded? I know why. Mai is actually an environmental scientist sent to investigate the dangerously high levels of mercury found in the snow in Kanontown, which is causing the second Minamata Bay incident. Mai looks like a pissed off version of Nagato Yuki but less attractive because her seiyuu is Tamura Yukari, who soo can’t do silent roles. She just sounds pissed.

Kanon is quite funny, especially when Kyon and the Auu girl hang out.

Popularity: 58% [?]

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16 Responses to “Shaft x Gansis Defeats Kyo-ani this Round But Both are Doing Well”

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1 ryuuu 3 comments Nov 9th, 2006 at 3:24 pm

BLASPHEMY!!! How could anyone call negima’s story lame. It’s one of the most interesting action fantasy manga ever made.
2 kacpy 30 comments Nov 9th, 2006 at 3:42 pm

I wouldn’t know, since I haven’t read it myself (no intention to do so, either). I’ve heard people say Negima! manga has nothing but fanservice. Don’t really care - I’m watching Negima!? not because it is Negima, but because it’s Akiyuki Shinbo.
And hurray! Yet another person who doesn’t go ‘zomg kyoani zomg kanon’. ^^
3 Tsubaki 411 comments Nov 9th, 2006 at 3:57 pm

Why must you add the “but both are doing well” part at the end?

You shouldn’t sit on the fence! You should hit out at KyoAni and watch the number of angry comments (from the kyoani fanboys of course) flooding your site.
4 LianYL 457 comments Nov 9th, 2006 at 4:09 pm

I’m a big fan of these two anime so I won’t bash him for siding any one.

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5 elohir 28 comments Nov 9th, 2006 at 4:42 pm

Err..what LianYL. I love both shows, especially negima!? Great change from the crap Xebec churned out.
6 Crayotic Rockwell 37 comments Nov 9th, 2006 at 4:44 pm

Best thing about Negima!? is the end sequences. Rest of the show just feels.. off. Which is largely due in part to it’s “bold” direction. Unlike say, FLCL or Futakoi Alternative which used unusual composition and camera angles (albeit spareingly) to enhance it’s scenes, in Negima!? it just feels like artiness done for artiness’ sake, and works counter-productive to actually getting across the tone of the scene or getting the character’s over (compared to what a more generic hand would achieve).

And for the premise given–even this new retelling–damn, the whole thing just looks lonely and depressing most of the time.. which doesn’t seem to be their intention.. (if they have one)

Bleh, let’s just say that I don’t think what they’re doing is neccessarily bad, I just think it’s ill suited to this particular kind of story
7 DarkMirage 19 comments Nov 9th, 2006 at 5:12 pm

As much as I agree that Negima!? is waaaaay better than the first TV series and exceeded my expectations for it by quite a bit, and as much as I hate FTG and think that Kanon PC was waaaay over-hyped, I have to say that the new Negima series is just nowhere close to Kyo-Ani’s Kanon.

I started reading Negima from around Vol.3’s release and I’m still reading it, so you can say that I like the series quite a bit.

But really, what Kyo-Ani has achieved is almost perfection. When I watch Kanon, I don’t go “how I wish that scene was done in such and such way”. I can hardly say the same for most anime. The amount of effort that went into its making is so staggering and the quality of the final product is so high that I can’t even begin to compare Negima to it. It’s just on a different plane of existence.

That said, FTG needs to lose some weight.
8 Waterfall 122 comments Nov 9th, 2006 at 6:21 pm

To tj_han,

Re: Director

Akiyuki SHINBO direct Negima!?
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=6708
If you check the credits, the last thing is did was Pani Poni Dash and Tsukuyomi. That explains the PPD references and the Evangeline being the first story arc.

Some people don’t like his busy and stylised directing techbique but personally I enjoy it. No point having all anime look the same, yes? ^_~

From
Waterfall
9 Waterfall 122 comments Nov 9th, 2006 at 6:22 pm

To tj_han,

Re: Director Akiyuki SHINBO

Akiyuki SHINBO directed the Negima!? anime.
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=6708
If you check the credits, the last thing is did was Pani Poni Dash and Tsukuyomi. That explains the PPD references and the Evangeline being the first story arc.

Some people don’t like his busy and stylised directing techbique but personally I enjoy it. No point having all anime look the same, yes? ^_~

From
Waterfall
10 LianYL 457 comments Nov 9th, 2006 at 10:11 pm

@Waterfall: Somehow we all know that even without checking the credits.
11 ubu 21 comments Nov 10th, 2006 at 12:20 am

Not a fan of the “style” used in Negima!?, but still watching it for now. Big fan of KyoAni’s style, and Yuuichi’s new nickname is “Mack Daddy” after episode 5.
12 tik 41 comments Nov 10th, 2006 at 8:16 am

Although I’m a die-hard KyoAni fanboy, I actually look forward to Asatte no Houkou more than Kanon at the moment. It could be because I already knew what’s going to happen next in Kanon.

Didn’t touch on anything Negima so I can’t comment on it.
13 ubu 4 comments Nov 10th, 2006 at 10:25 am

And speaking of KyoAni, can someone who reads Japanese confirm what Andrew says here?
14 Kurogane 95 comments Nov 10th, 2006 at 12:26 pm

>>Particularly Negima, which I think is fouling up the manga world with its crude lameness.

Being a reader of Negima! SINCE the first chapter started, I really take offense to this statement. But oh well, whatever that attracts the readers, eh.

Still, I agree with your sentiments on Negima!? on it’s quality. SHAFT did impress me with the recent episodes, though I still can’t get used to the weird humour (esp. the chupacabra jokes :P) that’s the trademark of them. Their approach in making anime is really very creative, though sometimes it does give you a “WTF?!” feeling.

As for Kanon…. I’m already gay for Kyon’ichi… :).
15 tj_han 903 comments Nov 10th, 2006 at 12:32 pm

ubu: I can’t find any mention of what that dude said. Maybe the news was moved down or something. If you could copy and paste it here or somewhere, it’ll be better.

Kuro, I have read and am still reading Negima manga. It always gives me the WTF feeling, and that’s not a good thing.
16 Waterfall 122 comments Nov 11th, 2006 at 10:08 am

To tj_han,

Re: Omake

The omake is the best part of the show. They should do a 22 min chibi omake episode. XD

(It reminds of Blue Seed, an anime which I would fast-forward the tape with 20min episode just to get ot the hilarious 2 min omake. This was before DVDs even!)

From
Waterfall

Do not use any < and > for your own sake. It will end the comment there and then. Also, there is an automatic IQ filter which weeds out comments made by those who accidentally got transported from the stone age.

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