Monthly Archives: September 2009

When the seagulls cry… (II)

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…there are no survivors.

So Episode II should provide some character development that was pretty lacking from the first arc. In particular, the focus is on the relationships between Kanon and Jessica, Shannon and George, and Rosa and Maria. We also move into the real main story thread of Umineko and we learn some more about the mechanics of the world.

The biggest adaptation challenge for this Episode was the meta-world stuff, particularly the red text. The in-world meta stuff worked pretty well, with the greying and freezing, and I guess it’s a good excuse to use the CG golden butterflies. The red text is more interesting. When the first screencaps came out, the assumption was that red text would only be indicated by the red tint on the screen. Obviously, that would make what the exact red text was a lot more fuzzy. It turns out they chose to have the red text flying around, which I found that I didn’t mind so much. Of course, it’s amusing when it flies in weird paths.

The most surprising thing about this arc has been the censoring. I guess slit necks, fingering a deep chest wound, and disembowelment aren’t very broadcast friendly.

Overall, Episode II was pretty well adapted, other than some rushing near the end. Again, most VN readers’ whining are because of some really minor details or inconsequential stuff, like music choices. Wah, wah, wah, Dread of the Grave didn’t get used until the end of Episode II, so the Umineko anime must be terrible.

Everything before the first twilight was pretty spot on, with bonus Jessica silly faces. The first scene that I really wanted to see animated was Kanon vs. goats. It actually turned out better than I expected, although the magical blades could have used some work.

The biggest problem with the anime so far is that even though all of the major events and main points are able to fit in, the dramatic pacing has been lost. Just about all of the moments that made me drop my jaw (Kanon’s furniture reveal, Rosa Musou, etc.) didn’t make as much of an impact.

Other than the timing, the portrayal of the events that took place has been fine. Kanon’s fight was exciting enough and Rosa Musou was Musou enough, even if it was shortened. I was most impressed with Rosa’s scene at the tea party, which was pleasantly and surprisingly disturbing. It makes me look forward to the more creative murders in the next Episode.

tl;dr – there was no にぱー☆ from Bernkastel, EP2 is ruined.

UW logo critique-athon

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Unlike other terrible ideas that no one liked, Waterloo decided it was probably not a good idea to press ahead with a logo that was universally loathed. In a rare moment of humility, they even decided to solicit feedback from real people. Of course, all this is for naught if the new logos are as terrible as the old ones.

2hduzyv
AHAHAHAHAHAHA. It’s pretty terrible. （　´_ゝ`）

logo2

Here, we have the first new one. It’s a huge improvement over the other one. The most obvious criticisms of Unlimited Laser Works were the billions of lines and the billions of colours used. The first is taken care of by focusing on black and gold, the school’s colours. The second is taken care of by the slight tilt and cutting the top a bit. That conveys the dynamism or whatever without having tons of crazy lines flying all over the place.

I wouldn’t mind this one at all, although I think some explanation of the process and what it symbolizes would help make it more interesting. Of course, I’m not going to whine and say it’s too plain, because it’s worlds better than the other extreme.

logo3

At first glance, this one is kind of unsettling because of the way the E fits in with the T and R. But if you take a look on the stationary (the letterhead and the business card), those three lines becomes a really clever little motif that is really flexible. I think it’s a lot better than the random curvy lines that they’re using now. It’s also not too hard to change for faculty use, just by swapping the gold for a faculty colour.

I think this one grew on me and became my choice. The problem with the other one is that it doesn’t have any strong elements that could be taken on its own, so the use of the giant W is forced upon you. This one also has the advantage of a fairly distinct wordmark.