Bartimaeus Posted Monday at 01:54 PM Author Posted Monday at 01:54 PM (edited) Not directed at anything in particular, but... I've been on a bit of a watch spree in getting through a pile of random OVAs and movies from mostly the 80s and 90s over the last few weeks, and one thing that I am appreciating right now is when anime has editing that doesn't waste the viewer's time. I'd much rather see 20 minutes that don't keep the viewer for too long thanks to punchier pacing and not pointlessly lingering on shots or unnaturally slow dialogue compared to 25 minutes that feel like it they were edited specifically to hit a particular run time. There are times when being extra slow is cinematically appropriate, but a lot of older anime makes a bad habit of doing it when it is really just not. It's one of the things that I think Sailor Moon in particular usually got right outside of when the show was being more dramatic: when our characters are having just casual conversation between each other, the editing of conversation is appropriately quick and natural, like a live action conversation would be. It's one of the show's better qualities over even something like Cardcaptor Sakura, where dialogue is, a lot of the time, quite a bit slower than it probably should be. It seems like newer anime does not generally suffer from this problem quite as much, at least from the little that I've seen...though there are other problems that drive me even crazier aplenty, of course. Stuff I've watched over the last few weeks: Spoiler On a Paper Crane - 1993 - 7.5/10 Ringing Bell - 1978 - 7/10 Unico: Black Rain and White Feather - 1979 - 7/10 Darkness of the Sea, Shadow of the Moon - 1989 - 6.5/10 The Hakkenden - 1990 - 6.5/10 Fukuyama Gekijou - 1990 - 6/10 Ariel Visual - 1989 - 6/10 The Laughing Target - 1987 - 6/10 The Dagger of Kamui - 1985 - 5.5/10 Record of Lodoss War - 1990 - 5.5/10 Noel's Fantastic Trip - 1983 - 5.5/10 Baoh the Visitor - 1989 - 5.5/10 Kujakuou - 1988 - 5.5/10 Saving Our Fragile Earth: Unico Special Chapter - 2000 - 5.5/10 Tsuki ga Noboru Made Ni - 1991 - 5/10 Maken Liner 0011 Henshin Seyo! - 1972 - 5/10 Cat Soup - 2001 - 5/10 Yume Kara, Samenai - 1987 - 5/10 Tenchi Muyou 2: Daughter of Darkness - 1997 - 5/10 Great Planet Evil-Destroyer Dangaio - 1987 - 4.5/10 Demon of Steel - 1987 - 4.5/10 A whole lot of "meh" with a few titles that I genuinely liked. "Darkness of the Sea, Shadow of the Moon" would probably be a higher rating if it didn't suffer massively from the exact problem I described above - 90 minutes of material could've been condensed to maybe 75 and been so much the better for it, but still a weird/cute shoujo horror story nonetheless. Twin sisters who have a crush on the same boy get infected with some kind of bacteria after exploring a cave, and when the boy they both like chooses to go out with one of them, the other twin goes completely mad and does just about everything within her power to win him. Again, if it was tighter, I think I could've really liked it, but still, enjoyable for what it was. Ringing Bell is a natural partner to the Unico series - cute little animal movies that start out innocently enough but take sudden dark turns. This cute little lamb becomes a deranged killer by the end of the film. It was brutal, but it worked pretty well - it was heavy on the theme of resignedly being forced to do what you were born for, but then also going against it in just about the worst way possible. On a Paper Crane was a Takahata-esque short film about a young girl with a rather dangerous sense of imagination wandering through a museum dedicated to the bombing of Hiroshima. It's almost completely unknown, but I really liked it, probably my favorite of these types of films that I've seen (and there are a number of them, and I think I've liked more or less all of them to some degree or another). I've now seen all the Unico films - this one was not made by Madhouse, but it's the earliest film and its art style was bizarrely rather Disney 1950s-esque, which I saw another comment point out, and I found it to be a rather worthy addition to the Madhouse sequels. Edited Monday at 02:23 PM by Bartimaeus Quote How I have existed fills me with horror. For I have failed in everything - spelling, arithmetic, riding, tennis, golf; dancing, singing, acting; wife, mistress, whore, friend. Even cooking. And I do not excuse myself with the usual escape of 'not trying'. I tried with all my heart. In my dreams, I am not crippled. In my dreams, I dance.
Sarex Posted Monday at 02:11 PM Posted Monday at 02:11 PM 15 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said: Record of Lodoss War - 1990 - 5.5/10 That one is pure nostalgia. "because they filled mommy with enough mythic power to become a demi-god" - KP
Gorth Posted Tuesday at 02:35 PM Posted Tuesday at 02:35 PM More anime this way... “He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would surely suffice.” - Albert Einstein
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