This episode had two action scenes. And BY GOD where they excellent! This episode had a number of some people from the animation team of Birdy the Mighty Decode on it, and it really showed. The X-Men is a perfect series for these people to show their talents. These scenes were raw and brutal, and drawn with a ton of force and movement. Definitely the best action scenes of this series yet.
The last episode left me rather disappointed by that “fluids”-guy, but at the very least this episode really gave him a great action scene to close off. But Wolverine’s aerial fight against that flying mutant was awesome as well. More episodes like this, please!
As for the story, that also was quite neatly developed further, when Emma Frost of all people turned out to have a second mutation. The creators made good use of the fact that that one bad guy didn’t show himself in keeping the suspicions around her. These mutants with this second mutation are at the moment far more interesting than the U-Men, but let’s see what this series can do when it starts to develop these people in its second half.
Oh, and I also cracked up at Wolverine playing snooker.
Rating: ** (Excellent)
I really don’t like the lil girl she is annoying and way to clingy.
I actually completely disagree with what you said about the action scenes. Yes, the first one was quite good, but the second one was so dark that I actually couldn’t see a thing. Maybe the gamma was off on the video I watched, but that scene in particular was unwatchable for me.
There was some QUALITY animation in the last bit of the episode. Probs blew the the budget in the fights.
But Generally decent as always which i’m very happy with
In the fight with the fluid guy Armor did had some poor quality and weird way of moving.
The mid-air fight with wolverine seem to be good but I couldn’t see a thing.
I also couldnt tell what what going on during that aerial battle.
And was it just me or was the Wolverine soundtrack playing during that fight?
Wolverine had me Rolling too. looks like this series is going to do alot of building of the setting and characters before it really picks up. which is good since i dont know if everyone in japan know about the Xmen setting.
Wow, the animation is this episode was so awful I’m considering fiving up on this show. The first 3 episodes where beautifully done, but this episode was the antithesis of the first three. As a professional animator I can understand rushed budgets and deadlines, but for such a huge variation in quality there is no excuse. I thought I was watching rough storyboard animations for fight sequences, every character was a fluid blob in this episode.
They tried to hide their lack quality by simply darkening the entire action sequences so you couldn’t see the horrendous animation, but that in itself made many parts of the episode unwatchable.
This really makes me sad, I was thoroughly enjoying this anime and had previously raved about its animation and visuals; but now I have to rescind all of my compliments.
Really a shame, there is no excuse for such an awful inconsistency in quality.
@H-MudAnimation you do know this is from the same guys that did the animation for Birdy the Mighty Decode and Noein? I mean if you were an “animator” you’d see that the fluidness and the motion really heightens up in a different way then most anime/cartoons do which makes it look incredibly awesome. Though for the untrained eye, it probably looked like shit but in reality it’s a very hard but satisfying move they did there. And if you want more credibility, some from this episodes have also done key animation for Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood.
I couldn’t see a thing as well…
The fighting scenes in this episode was just bad… seems like a muddle through…
YOu clearly don;t understand that the animation you liked in burdy decode was actually animation that was rushed through because they ran out of both time and money; this is a near universal compalint about that series. While the first several episodes of that series had excellent animation, many of the episodes reverted to rough animation usuing a technique commonly reffered to blobbing.
The animation in Birdy the Mighty: Decode fluctuates between sheer beauty and dull, loose drawing…the animation does dip every now and then and looks slightly cheap”
http://psgels.net/2009/03/28/birdy-the-mighty-decode-2-review-95100/
“Did anyone else notice how the animation quality uber crapped out…”
http://thenullset.wordpress.com/2008/10/06/birdy-the-mighty-decode-review/
“Cons: animation quality, particularly the characters, was inconsistent; various minor things that could have been done better”
http://muirwoods.wordpress.com/2009/01/19/birdy-the-mighty-decode-02-after-episode-01-first-impressions/
This second season of Birdy the Might Decode picks up where the first season left off… To my chagrin, the animation quality did not improve at all and remains crude.”
BTMD 1&2 Had some of the most horribly inconsistent quality in animation I have also ever seen. YOu seem to confuse the fluid bloblike state of the characters during action sequences as good animation…not everyone has an eye for artistic merit, expecially not for animation quality.
Here I made my previous post prettier:
You clearly don’t understand that the animation which you liked in BTMD was actually animation that was rushed through because they ran out of both time and money. You seem to be a fan actually of poor animation, perhaps you like the strange unatural fluid effect it creates…i don’t know why you like poor animation. Inconsistent animatin quality in BTMD 1&2 was a near universal compalint about the series from the vast majority of both proffesional review sites, and blogs alike. While the first several episodes of that series had excellent animation, many of the episodes reverted to rough animation usuing a technique commonly reffered to blobbing.
http://www.toonzone.net/news/articles/35951/birdy-the-mighty-decode-mighty-awesome
http://psgels.net/2009/03/28/birdy-the-mighty-decode-2-review-95100/
http://thenullset.wordpress.com/2008/10/06/birdy-the-mighty-decode-review/
http://muirwoods.wordpress.com/2009/01/19/birdy-the-mighty-decode-02-after-episode-01-first-impressions/
BTMD 1&2 Had some of the most horribly inconsistent quality in animation I have also ever seen…and unfortunately X-Men is carrying on this tradition.
You seem to confuse the fluid bloblike state of the characters during action sequences as good animation. This is the type of animation usually used for storyboarding because it be done so cheaply and quickly it provides a great demonstration of what the scene will look like once full detailed character animations are used. It is not acceptable animatin for a public release.
Not everyone has an eye for artistic merit, expecially not for animation quality. Apparently you do not. Typically people such as your self are very poort artiststs, and are unable to see the lines that make up a image or drawing; therefor that causes them to be poor artists. I’m not trying to be mean, but you are mistaken and I’m trying to make you understand.
Testing
Rewritten comment, Part 1:
So, Here I made my previous post prettier:
You clearly don’t understand that the animation which you liked in BTMD was actually animation that was rushed through because they ran out of both time and money. You seem to be a fan actually of poor animation, perhaps you like the strange unatural fluid effect it creates…i don’t know why you like poor animation. Inconsistent animatin quality in BTMD 1&2 was a near universal compalint about the series from the vast majority of both proffesional review sites, and blogs alike. While the first several episodes of that series had excellent animation, many of the episodes reverted to rough animation usuing a technique commonly reffered to blobbing.
http://www.toonzone.net/news/articles/35951/birdy-the-mighty-decode-mighty-awesome
…the animation style during some of the action was a bit annoying since for some of the scenes they had a full action already drawn (I saw it in a beginning of an earlier episode), but it was never used, I am guessing because they changed the story mid-draw so it couldn’t be used. This would also explain the poor animation during these parts. Its like they used story board slides and just animated it out, which if they shifted gears mid production may of been required to make deadlines.
… Part 2
http://muirwoods.wordpress.com/2009/01/19/birdy-the-mighty-decode-02-after-episode-01-first-impressions/
BTMD 1&2 Had some of the most horribly inconsistent quality in animation I have also ever seen…and unfortunately X-Men is carrying on this tradition.
You seem to confuse the fluid bloblike state of the characters during action sequences as good animation. This is the type of animation usually used for storyboarding because it be done so cheaply and quickly it provides a great demonstration of what the scene will look like once full detailed character animations are used. It is not acceptable animatin for a public release.
Not everyone has an eye for artistic merit, expecially not for animation quality. Apparently you do not. Typically people such as your self are very poor artists, and are unable to see the lines that make up a image or drawing; therefor that causes them to be poor artists. I’m not trying to be mean, but you are mistaken and I’m trying to make you understand.
Harvey: aplologies. Blogsome has this nasty tendency to hold long comments with links in it upf ro moderation. I’ve approved your comment now.
If you don’t like Birdy’s animation, that’s fine. Personally, I place interesting animations and movement above fluidity and crisp art in my priorities, but I can understand that others have different opinions. But it goes a bit far to say that Birdy’s animation is a near universal complaint. I’ve seen enough other people who loved it as well.
Oh, but you are right about one thing: I am a poor artist. I never was good at it.
By the way this quote from toonzone.com is exactly what I was saying:
oh thanks for the explanation psgels about me having to post over and over.
BTW Harvey Mudd is the renound technology school where I studied animation, not my name. Im Joe.
Frankly, I would have loved to see some Birdy-style “animation” in this episode. I was too disoriented by the darkness and shaky camera (did it just have too many espressos, or was Japan still experiencing aftershocks on the night of that shoot?). What I did see was cutting corners badly, so I agree with Joe and others in this case.
But Joe.. give him a break. psgels watches a ton of anime, and it wasn’t necessarily the “animation” he liked in Birdy.. it was well-storyboarded, framed, made great use of contrast, and obviously had a budget far too small to get the job done. If you’re going to be that upset over it, I wonder how you survive while watching most anime. Does the average Shaft show make you vomit up blood?
the action part was great, second scene was too dark though, but still exciting to watch
animation beside the action pretty average, but screw that only action sequence worth to be good
need more action like this
If you’re looking for an action movie, with little progress in the story line, then just stick to old X-Men films. But if you want a detailed, action packed movie…with SUPERB acting…then watch this one. And you will NOT be dissapointed.