View Full Version : Bad Visuals, Good Story
Dagger
08-03-2006, 05:28 PM
Which anime have poor animation or artwork but kept you watching anyway because the characters/plot were so great? This can also include series whose visuals you disliked at first but eventually came to appreciate. For instance, I felt jarred by Oniisama E's character designs (not to mention the constant 3x panning) when I began watching it, but over time I started to see the real beauty of its art.
Gilgamesh's character art fluctuates a little, but overall I just didn't care for its art style too much, and the animation wasn't anything special either. However, the story is so amazing that I felt completely immersed in the show anyway.
A more recent example is Saiunkoku Monogatari; the characters are generally on-model or close to it, but the movements tend to be awkward. Even so, it's got fantastic characters and strong writing, and for me that more than makes up for the fact that it isn't visually flashy.
scribbles
08-03-2006, 05:42 PM
Speed Grapher
The artwork isn't terrible, just not what I'd come to expect from a Gonzo show, though it does get rather bad in some eps. Still, I liked the storyline enough to watch the entire series...and I'm glad I did.
I'd really have to go with Hitsuji no Uta's OVA adaptation. The manga is awsome, and the story is really good. I'm a fan of Kei Toume's works. But maybe I'm spoiled by state of the art animation, but this one fell short. The characters looked bad, and the animation wasn't to great either. I'd love to see a series made out of the manga though.
Mr. Nail Bat
08-03-2006, 06:39 PM
I've just seen the beginning so far, but Kaze no Yojimbo would seem to qualify. Great story, horribly ugly design.
DocWatson
08-03-2006, 07:03 PM
Initial D. Fuggly character designs (which are true to the original manga) and poor integration of the 2D and 3D CGI, but I love it anyway.
saeba_ryo
08-03-2006, 07:06 PM
Daphne In The Brilliant Blue. Although I didn't mind I know quite a few people were initially turned off by the character design. The actual show itself was hilarious with the great comedic interactions between Gloria, Yuu, Mai and Shizuka. Not to mention the fantastic costumes /images/graemlins/noseblee.gif
The Creation
08-03-2006, 09:22 PM
Now and Then, Here and There. character design is too generic and lacks detail.
Suzaku Seikun
08-03-2006, 09:41 PM
Princess Nine had a good story that kept me watching til the end, but the character designs were a bit unappealing (especially Ryo). The animation felt cheap sometimes, but I still enjoyed the show.
Serial Experiments Nobue
08-03-2006, 09:48 PM
This is a harder question than I thought it would be... but here's what I finally came up with.
Sailor Moon and Sailor Moon R. They pale in comparison character design-wise to S and SuperS, but it's Sailor Moon! Classic stuff any way you slice it. /images/graemlins/sdsmiley.gif
evilarrex
08-03-2006, 09:50 PM
Hakkenden. Great story. Animation veered wildly from Gawd awful to acceptable.
Tomcat
08-03-2006, 11:49 PM
[ QUOTE ]
DocWatson said:
Initial D. Fuggly character designs (which are true to the original manga) and poor integration of the 2D and 3D CGI, but I love it anyway.
[/ QUOTE ]
I could never get past the horrible designs and crappy 3D CGI to even give the series a shot. Just the previews turned my stomache, and I'm a car guy into racing.
KareKano's production quickly rent into the toilet after about epidoes 6 or so, and the last episodes rank right up there with the worse garbage I have ever seen out of Japan. But the story is actually so engagine that I quickly mowed through the first 19 volumes of the manga. I think it is a real shame that GAINAX left the anime butchered.
-TC
Puppet Master
08-04-2006, 01:15 AM
Hakkenden bad animation but it was entertaining irregardless.
AbeChinchilla
08-04-2006, 02:15 AM
[ QUOTE ]
Serial Experiments NieA said:
This is a harder question than I thought it would be... but here's what I finally came up with.
Sailor Moon and Sailor Moon R. They pale in comparison character design-wise to S and SuperS, but it's Sailor Moon! Classic stuff any way you slice it. /images/graemlins/sdsmiley.gif
[/ QUOTE ]
Speaking of Sailor Moon, I was watching a few of my favorite SMS episodes... am I the only one who *loves* Shinya Hasegawa's art direction? She doesn't art-direct many episodes, but she did these SMS episodes:
- Yuichiro gets jealous with Haruka.
- Mimet targets a movie actor on the set.
- The Messiah of Silence's idenity revealed.
Shinya had a couple of SMSS episodes too...
Digital Boy
08-04-2006, 04:25 AM
Votoms
johnmora
08-04-2006, 08:13 AM
Boogiepop Phantom. The designs are awkward and lopsided-looking to begin with, but it also doesn't look like Madhouse was given a lot of money to animate the show with.
Tomcat
08-04-2006, 09:31 PM
[ QUOTE ]
johnmora said:
Boogiepop Phantom. The designs are awkward and lopsided-looking to begin with, but it also doesn't look like Madhouse was given a lot of money to animate the show with.
[/ QUOTE ]
I thought that was done on purpose, to give you a feel for how creepy the show was. Regardless, this story definitely need more length, but at least there is a manga version, and some books to read.
-TC
Helschadenfreude
08-04-2006, 10:30 PM
[ QUOTE ]
DocWatson said:
Initial D. Fuggly character designs (which are true to the original manga) and poor integration of the 2D and 3D CGI, but I love it anyway.
[/ QUOTE ]
I agree to this one!! My first viewing of it in cantonese didn't help as it was the last episode of First Stage, with two white cars.. and me going..(after Gundam Wing, Fushigi Yuugi and Sailor Moon) god those girls are ugly... /images/graemlins/sweat000.gif
Also Capeta makes Naomi look weird, and the girls sometimes.... But I love watching it...
gnikdrazil
08-04-2006, 10:39 PM
Legend of Black Heaven - It had alright animation, but it had a great new take at the entire "save the world from alien invasion" plot.
ohtori_akio
08-04-2006, 11:28 PM
Escaflowne has character design that is hard to love but I came to love it anyway because the show was so great. Now and Then also. Fancy Lala doesn't have anything special in terms of character design but what they do with what they've got is spectacular!
vanfanel
08-05-2006, 04:26 AM
[ QUOTE ]
shounen kakumei akio said:
Escaflowne has character design that is hard to love but I came to love it anyway because the show was so great. Now and Then also. Fancy Lala doesn't have anything special in terms of character design but what they do with what they've got is spectacular!
[/ QUOTE ]
Two shows with great character designs, IMO. I tried to think of some recent shows with "hot" character designs that I could list as "bad art" just to tweak some people...but then I realized that none of those shows had good stories either! *runs* /images/graemlins/catgirl0.gif
[ QUOTE ]
n1bbler said:
Legend of Black Heaven - It had alright animation, but it had a great new take at the entire "save the world from alien invasion" plot.
[/ QUOTE ]
I'm with you there. Every digital pan gives me shudders. And then there's the "floating" bus in the first episode. But they did get the instrument playing animation spot on though.
LimePie
08-05-2006, 01:26 PM
[ QUOTE ]
AbeChinchilla said:
Speaking of Sailor Moon, I was watching a few of my favorite SMS episodes... am I the only one who *loves* Shinya Hasegawa's art direction? She doesn't art-direct many episodes, but she did these SMS episodes:
- Yuichiro gets jealous with Haruka.
- Mimet targets a movie actor on the set.
- The Messiah of Silence's idenity revealed.
Shinya had a couple of SMSS episodes too...
[/ QUOTE ]
Her style isn't among my favorites, but it's still miles ahead of Masahiro Ando's stuff. Everybody looks like they have a swollen jaw when he's in charge. He's not very good at doing the eyes, either.
AbeChinchilla
08-05-2006, 03:43 PM
[ QUOTE ]
Ojamajo LimePie said:
[ QUOTE ]
AbeChinchilla said:
Speaking of Sailor Moon, I was watching a few of my favorite SMS episodes... am I the only one who *loves* Shinya Hasegawa's art direction? She doesn't art-direct many episodes, but she did these SMS episodes:
- Yuichiro gets jealous with Haruka.
- Mimet targets a movie actor on the set.
- The Messiah of Silence's idenity revealed.
Shinya had a couple of SMSS episodes too...
[/ QUOTE ]
Her style isn't among my favorites, but it's still miles ahead of Masahiro Ando's stuff. Everybody looks like they have a swollen jaw when he's in charge. He's not very good at doing the eyes, either.
[/ QUOTE ]
Ando!! His/her work is pretty bad (the first SMS episode and the Viluy/Byruit episodes are probably his best work, IMO).
But even Ando's episodes are better than the dreaded Taichi Nakamura. I dislike his work the most. Totally ruined the SMSS TV special too.
pianocello
08-05-2006, 07:10 PM
[ QUOTE ]
KK1 said:
Air Master
[/ QUOTE ]
Bad visuals? IMHO,Air Master has some of the most breathtaking fight scenes animation ever. Compare the fight scenes with Tenjou Tenge again and I dare anyone to say that Air Master's animation for the fight scenes are bad.
Texhnolyze
08-05-2006, 07:36 PM
Maybe he meant just the general artwork and character designs.
But IMO that's part of the appeal of the series. I don't think Airmaster would work as well if it had really pretty character designs. It's just too absurd.
[ QUOTE ]
Texhnolyze said:
Maybe he meant just the general artwork and character designs.
But IMO that's part of the appeal of the series. I don't think Airmaster would work as well if it had really pretty character designs. It's just too absurd.
[/ QUOTE ]
Yeah, I agree the fiight scences were animated awesomely but it took me half the series to get into the character designs.
O-chan
08-06-2006, 06:42 AM
[ QUOTE ]
AbeChinchilla said:
[ QUOTE ]
Ojamajo LimePie said:
[ QUOTE ]
AbeChinchilla said:
Speaking of Sailor Moon, I was watching a few of my favorite SMS episodes... am I the only one who *loves* Shinya Hasegawa's art direction? She doesn't art-direct many episodes, but she did these SMS episodes:
- Yuichiro gets jealous with Haruka.
- Mimet targets a movie actor on the set.
- The Messiah of Silence's idenity revealed.
Shinya had a couple of SMSS episodes too...
[/ QUOTE ]
Her style isn't among my favorites, but it's still miles ahead of Masahiro Ando's stuff. Everybody looks like they have a swollen jaw when he's in charge. He's not very good at doing the eyes, either.
[/ QUOTE ]
Ando!! His/her work is pretty bad (the first SMS episode and the Viluy/Byruit episodes are probably his best work, IMO).
But even Ando's episodes are better than the dreaded Taichi Nakamura. I dislike his work the most. Totally ruined the SMSS TV special too.
[/ QUOTE ]
You know, to be quite honest Ando's work tends to look more rounded and cutesy and Nakamura's designs tend to look more stiff and lifeless but I've never been so distracted by either artists work that it stopped my enjoyment of an episode they've worked on.
O-chan
fantasydewdrop
08-06-2006, 07:06 AM
[ QUOTE ]
The Creation said:
Now and Then, Here and There. character design is too generic and lacks detail.
[/ QUOTE ]
I think that was the point. I mean, this show was designed to shock you due to the simple nature of the material involved. The simple, cutsie artwork just makes it hit stronger. If the artwork were grittier and more detailed, then it may not have had quite the same emotional impact as it did. The art served as a constant reminder that the cast was mostly kids....
AbeChinchilla
08-06-2006, 08:07 AM
[ QUOTE ]
O-chan said:
You know, to be quite honest Ando's work tends to look more rounded and cutesy and Nakamura's designs tend to look more stiff and lifeless but I've never been so distracted by either artists work that it stopped my enjoyment of an episode they've worked on.
O-chan
[/ QUOTE ]
Personally, it seems that a LOT of Nakamura's episodes are episodes I don't like... I hated all of the episodes of SMS that he worked on, and not because he was working on. They were just terrible...
<span style='color:#dddddd;background:#dddddd'>Except for the episode where Kaori messes with Hotaru. I just love it when Kaori kicks her when she's in the ground. (hides from Hotaru fans)</span>
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