For the record, if you really loved Book of the Atlantic and thought it looked great and/or are sick of people bitching about it, you probably won’t want to read this post.
If you didn’t like the movie, thought the movie looked terrible, are curious about how and why people don’t like it, or, most importantly, want to read about aesthetic techniques and how they relate to anime in general, please continue.
I want to really talk about animation, visual direction, and adaption techniques, and I want to use Kuroshitsuji: Book of the Atlantic as a negative example, because I soooo wanted to love this movie and ended up really disliking it.
For the most part, this post is just me getting something off of my chest, because I feel like there’s this grand misunderstanding held by people who didn’t like the movie about why the movie looked bad.
I just disagree with the consensus so strongly that I…I have to make a post about it. Because every review I’ve seen of this movie mentions how just the cgi is bad, or it just looks like they didn’t have enough money amiright?
I just think it is so much more interesting complicated than that.
I just want to say that I agree with everything you explained.
I never understood if Sensei’s style was somehow hard to adapt as an anime or if it’s something else, but BoC/BoM and BotA never visually pleased me, to say nothing of its impact as a story compared to the manga
(and I’m not speaking about s1 and s2 because I haven’t healed yet).
For impartiality’s sake though, I have to add that I follow another monthly series that was at some point turned into anime by the same studio (it’s Ao no Exorcist) and, not only it doesn’t look cheap, but I really enjoyed it despite already knowing what would happen => so it’s probably not even a studio thing, but rather a difficulty to adapt Sensei’s very “visual” side for Kuroshitsuji.
(I’m sorry, not only am I not English but I have legit no knowledge of this field, so it’s hard to properly explain but) basically the feeling I have is that Sensei and her assistants give us a work that’s extremely attractive and entertaining
visually speaking and, by trying to reproduce it as much as possible, the team in charge of Kuro at A-1 studio kinda… breathe the life out of it as you said.
I don’t know, maybe I’m just being harsh because I don’t doubt that it’s a very tough job to make an anime or an animated movie, but even faithful adaptations of Kuro in anime never struck right with me. ://
I’m in bed not awake scrolling on my phone so forgive me for not picking up on everything but gdi they’re all so afraid of Ackermans it’s killing me they legit tell ghost stories about them in Marley and I’m just so slain.
Zeke is not working with the Survey Corps. The young Paradis soldiers who are fighting him are sincere. They are trying to kill him. I count Levi in this number as well.
But it’s looking increasingly likely that Eren and Zeke have a secret. This has been the buzz for months and the evidence continues to mount
a promise to save Eren in chapter 83
a letter in chapter 97
a baseball glove in chapter 98
a declaration in chapter 103
Eren had been staying in the same hospital as Zeke’s grandfather so there’s that too. At this point if Eren and Zeke aren’t doing something together, it’s the most disappointing set up ever.
What I find most confusing about Zeke’s declaration in this chapter is what benefit it serves. I don’t see any tactical advantage in announcing that the stated enemy of your nation is not your personal enemy.
This is a compilation of the questions fans asked Isayama about Flock from the Q&A and autograph signing in Oita that occurred on March 3rd, 2018.
Isayama on Flock’s role in the manga:
Q: Do you aim to have a prepared role for Flock? A: Do you mean his name’s meaning? Q: Oh no, the meaning of his existence… A: Oh, yes a very important role Q: That’s!!! You mean in a underhanded** way? A: Yes.
Translator note: The interviewer used the term 飛び道具 (missile) for guessing Flock’s future role. The term is slang, generally used to mean in a “cowardly/unethical way”. In the past, combat involved hands or swords only. Using a gun/missile would then be considered a cowardly move
Editor’s Note/Disclaimer: This information, while sourced and repeated among Japanese fans, comes from both first and second hand accounts of the event and should be taken with this information in mind. SNK editor, Kawakubo Shintaro, advises to not take anything said in the event as “strictly canon” as things may be subject to change. Finally, many of the answers from both Isayama and the questioning fans were done in less formal/more slangy terms.
Casca literally did not care for anything that was beyond Griffith or his dream. She cared for the Hawks. She cared for Griffith. The old band of the Hawk were an extension of Griffith’s dream. She was a sword. No more, no less.
But Guts, an outsider, was always challenging how everything worked. Griffith’s word was always absolute. Until he came.
Griffith embraced that trait of his, alternating his plans according to how Guts would act in battle. Casca hated Guts for that. It made her feel worthless.
Worthless as a woman AND as a sword.
When Guts left, she should’ve been happy.
Everything will now go back the way it was.
Except that Casca wanted Guts to stay.
Not once did she think of Griffith in this entire scene.
She picked that sword up for herself.
From this point onward, Casca was no longer Griffith’s property.
midnight-in-town 