To those who were turned off by the character-designs, or found them ugly: what do you consider to be great character-designs? Personally I love the character-designs of this series; I’m a big fan of series that have their own visual identity, rather than staying with the same tried and true moe-based art style. The character-designs here are all unique despite the fact that it isn’t the first series set in its time-period.
In any case, this was a wonderful episode that did an excellent job in fleshing out the characters. This is one of those series that really makes the cast come alive. While it was a typical episode that showed the lead character as he tried to decide whether or not he should join group X (in this case, five leaves), but the key with those kinds of episodes is to really show the thought-process that these characters go through, rather than stretch for time. While we see Masa pondering about what to do, you see people trying to influence him from all sides, and check him out. Especially Ume is interesting with his doubts. And even outside of this, Masa’s reactions to everything around him are really well characterized.
The use of music also was pretty interesting, especially that tune that was played as Ume walked around with that body. The pacing was slow but yet the soundtrack was fast-paced. It overall has a great use of sound effects and music, with a lot of variety in them. It’s great to see such a slice-of-life so well executed, and there’s quite a bit of subtle wit in the dialogue.
Rating: ** (Excellent)
Honestly man, for me it’s just the huge/pointy noses. The designs would be fine without them. And sometimes the woman looks kind of man-ish too.
Those noses are nothing compared to Akagi/Kaiji, these character designs are well within their limits before they become hard to look at. xD
The moe and bishie designs look generic and are trite. I don’t see the appeal anymore after the millionth time. A different visual design is always welcome for me. Does it look ugly? Yes, but so are many other anime and manga character designs when taken into a real world context.
I find the “dare to be different” rationale a little too much. Yuasa’s excellent Tatami show looks just as different as the rest of them in terms of character design, and I doubt anyone would call that ugly. That sort of “originality” is overrated anyways. There are oodles of other anime that don’t go for this so-called moe look, but don’t get called ugly at the same time. Or for that matter, what good comes of merely looking different?
As with matters of aesthetics, there are probably some subjective reasons why Ono’s designs rub some the wrong way, but you probably shouldn’t be concerned what other people thinks about it if that isn’t something that matters to you.
I don’t know why so many people have problems with Sarai-ya’s designs. But it was similar for many with the designs of Tenku no Escaflowne.
Somehow I like these designs much better than many of the things I’ve seen recently. Not only do they look more mature, but also quite elegant and flowing, which fits into the atmosphere of the show.
But on the other hand, there has been almsot no Shounen Jump series which I did not find ugly as hell, so it’s pretty much a subjective thing.
While I’m not going to go on about how I hate the character designs, I’m going to ask you something. You said “I’m a big fan of series that have their own visual style, rather than staying with the same tried and true moe-based art style”. What does “moe-style” mean to you? You’ve been using that phrase a lot, and it leads me to believe that you think any cute character designs are moe.
Most of the time when people evoke that “moe” shorthand to describe things they don’t like, it’s an ill-defined strawman. You just have to ignore those things when people say it.
Agreed, this was excellent, and I don’t have a problem with the character designs either.
well obviously k-on! is the new standard in character design…………………………….lol -_-.
Well there is a certain moe-style that, especially outside Japan, has grown to be accepted as THE anime style.
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%90%8C%E3%81%88%E7%B5%B5
It’s been gaining popularity since the 90’s and has become especially widely promoted in the 00’s when anime and manga started to hit the western world.
In a way any cute character design is moe, because moe are those things which get a big reaction for being cute, sweet and adorable…
Does “moe-style” really need defined? Do what not all know EXACTLY what psgels means by it? Personally, I like moe char. designs most of the time, but I also really enjoy divergence from those norms, especially in shows that also take a non-standard approach to telling a story. For instance, Sarai-ya is clearly not your typical samurai story, and has this slow meandering pace that is quite different from the typical plot-twist after plot-twist pace of most anime.
I don’t find the character designs to be ugly. I think it looks really refreshing.
I think people are just used to KyoAni’s moemoe style of emphasizing the “roundness” of the face and body, rather than their more angular aspects. Personally, I rather like seeing a nose in anime.. I often miss them (hell, remember any noses in Ladies vs Butlers?).
What’s nice about this style is that you can easily focus on the face and tell the difference between characters WITHOUT having to have crazy hairstyles, and can better-realize human expressions without relying on the stock anime cliches (teardrops, out-of-style emoticon-faces, arm-flailing, etc). It suits adults better than children, not to mention people who aren’t from a time when everyone’s overweight to begin with.
I’m interested in why people are so averse to seeing something different. Take Angel Beats – why is it considered beautiful? To me it looks generic as hell, like just about every other anime I’ve seen in the past few years. Is it because people prefer to “see” the beauty of a character in obvious terms, rather than have to decide whether the person’s beautiful from other hints?
The exact definition I’ll leave to the enthusiasts or researchers, but if you compare say, K-ON to Uragiri’s style, you probably have a vague idea of how the moe style is different from others.
The character designs aren’t what many people would call gorgeous, but just like how some sculptors prefer doing primitive art even if they can do the seemingly more complicated classical art, the mangaka’s style is her own preference and makes it unique. But I digress… I’m loving the relaxed atmosphere of the story, even if it’s about kidnappers and samurais. This episodes makes me wonder about Yaichi’s relationship with Otake though.
I chose to watch this show based on character design only, without having a clue about main plot. Their look goes along well with image of this historical period I thought. I’m glad my instinct proved right – not only the character design but the art overall as well as storyline are interesting.
I’m completely with you. I have a real appreciation for shows that have their own unique style. Even while at first I didn’t like the art, I really came to adore it as I watched these last two episodes. It suits the story, which I’m also enjoying so far too C:
Ah… See, I don’t really like the froggy eyes, it makes them look a little zombie-ish. I would agree that it is original and refreshing but… eh… not that I’m calling it ugly, repulsive, or aesthetically beautiful but the eyes sort of kills the character’s charm. Of course, the man who resembles to Ginko is another story. He’s a charming and intriguing character.
And as for the noses… come on, it can’t be as bad as the character designs in Red Garden. =P, but that’s just my two cents.
OK well. . .
I think the character designs look UGLY, and since Im not an art major I dont think I need to explain every little point as to WHY they look ugly, they just do!
Its my opinion and Im proud of it! If anyone doesn’t like it, well… that’s their problem!
Now I actually like the story and the characters a lot, its intriguing, mysterious and different in a way
yes the characters look ugly as hell but I still like the show and still would keep watching/buy it when it comes out on dvd
I also find the faces unappealing. The character are designed to resemble realistic people but all share the same unusual facial features. This is actually a pretty common trick in anime (‘Cross game’ comes to mind as a recent example). Doesn’t stop this show from still being entertaining so far but I don’t really get what the added value is of making everybody look like inbred zombies.
I also find the face unappealing. Character that are designed to look like real people, but all with the same unique (unusual) facial features are actually a pretty common trick in anime (cross game etc). Here they just look like inbred zombies though. It doesn’t disturb me so much that I can’t enjoy watching the show but can’t say that I see the added value of the character design.
I dont like the character designs either, specially the eyes, then how the mouth is right above the chin, its really weird
But somehow they fit with the background and everything else, its really well done… And this episode was just amazing, I wish it would have lasted much longer
Also payed alot of attention to the music, and its probably the best I heard this season so far, really good stuff
All in all, this could become even better than Samurai Champloo
I find the character designs awesome… It feels fresh and very chic. It’s the same way I feel about CLAMP’s art. The designs really give the characters personality and edge. I love how distinct all the characters look.
Besides the art, the anime itself is FANTASTIC! I think this might be my favourite this season.
Can someone please tell me which group subs this?
Thanks.
Just wanted to comment that this show can be watched on hulu and if you have a xbox 360 or ps3 you can use PlayOn or Tversity to watch it on your big screen tv. This show is awesome btw.
The point of the character designs in this anime are not to make pretty looking people. I think it’s somewhat ridiculous to watch or not watch a series based solely off of what designs the characters have.
That being said, I’m surprised nobody really mentioned how pretty the rest of the art is. The backgrounds especially are very detailed. Overall I like the pacing to this anime; it’s refreshing to see such a slow series in the midst of many one season series that try to put out the plot at breakneck pace.