Eureka seveN

awhir

*got from TenshiOni on narutofan.com*

gona give it a try looks very promising.



Liked Fullmetal Alchemist's animation? Fan of the writer behind Cowboy Bebop? The artist behind Princess Mononoke? The director of the RahXephon movie? The mecha of Macross?

Eureka Seven is the new hit anime being animated by Studio Bones, the animation studio that brought you Wolf's Rain and Fullmetal Alchemist.

It is the work of combinding the collective talents of Tomoki Kyoda, director of the RahXephon movie; Dai Sato, the script writer behind Cowboy Bebop; Ken'ichi Yoshida, the character designer of Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke; Kazuo Nagai, who did the background art for Miyazaki's Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle; and Shoji Kawamori, who was responsible for the mecha design in the renowned mecha anime Macross. And well, it kicks ass.

It is my opinion that it is currently one of the best anime out right now, and I highly recommend.

And no, it is not really a mecha anime, though there are some mech elements. I'd say it's more of a slice of life story that has combined elements of drama, action, comedy, and an intriguing story.

seanos

Most excellent anime indeed, mentioned on a few other threads too (although it is the kind of thing which deserves it's own thread it could be easily argued).

Thankfully it has decent fansubbers doing it too (Nanashi).

sharingan

[Nanashi] take forever though. Their translations have been done for ages, but their editing & quality teams are just procrastinating. Other groups manage to get their quality related activities done in a couple of days after translation drafts are done. I am not sure why Nanashi take so long, these aren't translation activities, or even translation research/check activities.

I suspect a process based on redo-from-scratch and requiring absolutely everybody to sign off on a release. Basically too many cooks.

awhir

http://www.nanashi-fansubs.com/?page=projectinfo&id=59&theme=2

Art_Wolf

Aye a very very good anime

seanos

sharingan wrote:

[Nanashi] take forever though. Their translations have been done for ages, but their editing & quality teams are just procrastinating. Other groups manage to get their quality related activities done in a couple of days after translation drafts are done. I am not sure why Nanashi take so long, these aren't translation activities, or even translation research/check activities.

I suspect a process based on redo-from-scratch and requiring absolutely everybody to sign off on a release. Basically too many cooks.

Nanashi subs are of high quality - this is a good thing.
Most good groups take time to sub, Anime-Kraze for example.

It's rare to see a group put time & effort into subbing, and producing excellent (and constant) results.

If you want fast/crap subs go look up shinsen, or download a release from a different group (who just used the released the leaked Nanashi subs under their own name)

CuLT

I've already got the second DVD release of this.

Nanahsi's pacing is incredibly poor when you consider that the show is already licensed and being released.

Also, Nanashi's subs are of reasonably good quality, despite their ridiculous level of QCs they have still managed to make the same mistakes as every other group does. It's not a big deal, but they're certainly not the be all and end all of fansubbers.

sharingan

SeanOS wrote:

Nanashi subs are of high quality - this is a good thing.
Most good groups take time to sub, Anime-Kraze for example.

It's rare to see a group put time & effort into subbing, and producing excellent (and constant) results.

If you want fast/crap subs go look up shinsen, or download a release from a different group (who just used the released the leaked Nanashi subs under their own name)

I am going to say this *again* - other groups manage to get their QC & Edit activities done in a couple of days

I am not talking about the groups who skip editing & QC, like [Shinsen] as you mention, and a whole pile of other groups. I am talking about the groups that do quality activities - they manage to accomplish them within 2 days generally.

And some of these groups do manage to bring out superb subs. Like [Triad], [Lunar], or [HnK] (only 2 guys there ATM - Dragosmore & LordBrian) or the frankly brilliant [a.f.k] - these guys are meant to be short-staffed, yet their Haruhi Suzumiya releases are practically the reference standard in quality translation & releasing (not even a typo or misspelling). And they manage it all in 48 hours. Or [central] who just keep knocking out classic anime releases - in fact Galactic Heroes releases are slowed down, so that they can maintain output through scheduled unavailability of key staff.

[Nanashi] are by no means the best. Their much vaunted time consuming editing & QC didn't get key terms from the series properly translated (we were stuck with best-guess phonetic romanisations until people spotted the spelling in japanese sites/forums).

At the end of the day, quality check and editing are not very time consuming activities. The editor fixes the english - at most there is 200-300 lines of text per episode. Hell, you can even use a spellchecker on the scripts. Quality check requires you to watch the release candidate or draft episode for its full duration and take notes on any issues you find, timestamp those notes and assign those bugs to the relevant people to correct (translator, typesetter, editor, encoder, etc.).

Many teams develop processes to make this more efficient. Like developing standards to be applied to all releases, QC checklists etc. Perhaps splitting up QC activities so that translations can be checked while typesetting and encode can follow later. Some groups junk all the frivolous stuff like karatime or elaborate typesetting and after effects to reduce their QC burden (and ironically often end up with clearer, more readable fonts).

I suspect [Nanashi] have process paralysis. Their process probably requires their entire QC staff to sign off on a release. So if one guy is doing exams nothing gets done. I suspect they are not doing proper defect tracking (which becomes more important the more QC people you have) so authoring staff are less efficient at releasing. In addition fixing issues in a fansub that you worked on 6 weeks ago is tough - its not fresh in your mind anymore. I suspect that all the QC team must sign off on the fixed release too, that they dont have proper issue regression, and that they don't move on to further draft releases. I also suspect that their process frequently generates numerous release candidates, rather than 'draft', then 'fixed draft' (which is subsequently released) - that they have issues with bug regression.

For all of their numerous staff, a dedicated QC-er working directly with the translator can produce better results within a day.

[Nanashi] should reflect on their release process after E7. It is not 'perfectionist' as they so claim - they have let issues through in the past, it is merely mind bogglingly beaurocratic, and this results in glacial releases.

Graki_Khan

I didnt really like Eureka Seven, the same way I didn't like Wolfs Rain. I watched a few eps of each series and the animation was solid (a must for me), no really annoying characters (also good), but the shows had no grip really. It has a hint of something that could be class but, not much follow through.

Seemed like the same ol' stuff that other shows have done over and over.

sharingan

Graki_Khan wrote:

I didnt really like Eureka Seven, .... <snip>

Seemed like the same ol' stuff that other shows have done over and over.

That would make you completely, utterly wrong.

Eureka 7 initially underwhelms, as it recycles some cookie cutter plot devices to get the plot started. The main mecha, and most of the cast are introduced right off the bat, and I suspect this was due to some interference by sponsors. Theres huge money and merchandising behind this show, and producers like it when all the toys & action figures are being pimped right from the start.

I am not sure precisely when, but about 7 or 8 episodes in, it starts to get very compelling, and soon after that it is utterly gripping. It is very much a breath of fresh air in the mecha genre, and it is one of the best titles in years.

I think it sunk in, that when the action quietens down, the show actually improves as the characters start to develop and grow on you. Renton could have been the young male lead stereotype all over again, in fact theres potentially lots of stereotypes. But somehow, while the roles are familiar the characters don't feel clicheed.

Theres also lots of nice touches like how the show doesn't ever state anything directly, you learn about the setting and relationships via osmosis. When it gets serious it goes totally RahXephon on you and doesn't pull any punches. The aerobatics with the mecha, while initially very odd (air-surfing mecha) grow on you, and then you realise that they are actually depicted very well and used consistently throughout the story.

And the way it deflates the whole kid-protagonist-mecha-pilot cliche is astounding. it makes you realise how much you have suppressed the suspension of disbelief with other similar shows.

Considering that Eureka7 is hitting close to FMA levels of quality now, fans owe it to themselves to watch more episodes of it and give it a chance to grow on you. Its only the initial episodes that are formulaic.

Graki_Khan

sharingan wrote:

That would make you completely, utterly wrong.

heheheheh. havent heard that in a while.... so maybe i'll give it another shot.

but yeah, osmosis should be a standard in everything. It just shows how bad storytelling used to be by saying that this is good for using it.

....i wasnt a fan of Raxephon either tho...

so yeah - im gonna watch till 8 and if its not good prep for a long post

CuLT

It's not eight where it gets good. FYI.

Somewhere in the early teens probably, my memory is hazy.

sharingan

Well I am not totally sure myself, but personally it was around the 7 or 8 mark where I kept watchign the show because I wanted to, and not because everyone thought it was great (which implies that it is, and I have watched enough anime to know that many great shows don't start out great).

I think it was around 7 or 8 where Renton broke the ice with the kids.

Graki_Khan

The teens?.....

We'll I've watched enough anime to know that popular vote dont count for much.

Probably give this one a miss so.

sharingan

Obviously the popularity of shows like Naruto, Bleach, Ghost in the Shell SAC, Full Metal Alchemist, Last Exile etc. means they are crap?

I don't follow you? Popular means rubbish? Thats a really elitist attitude you have there.

There are obvious cases where something can be very popular by stroking the most mainstream triggers, yet exhibit elements that compromise its true quality.

But any popular show always has something intrinsicly good about it. Just ignore the rabid 15yo fanboys. Its when a 35yo anime fan for over 20 years gets excited about a show I tend to take notice.

awhir

ok just watched the 50 eps since i posted this and i got totaly hucked on this.i feel this is by far the best anime i have ever seen yet i loved the way they could mix romance,action and comady in it.


felt sad when it ended

CuLT

sharingan wrote:

Obviously the popularity of shows like Naruto, Bleach, Ghost in the Shell SAC, Full Metal Alchemist, Last Exile etc. means they are crap?

I don't follow you? Popular means rubbish? Thats a really elitist attitude you have there.

There are obvious cases where something can be very popular by stroking the most mainstream triggers, yet exhibit elements that compromise its true quality.

But any popular show always has something intrinsicly good about it. Just ignore the rabid 15yo fanboys. Its when a 35yo anime fan for over 20 years gets excited about a show I tend to take notice.

Her/his loss tbh sharingan

When they've gotten that cynical there's really not a lot you can do. I've a mate who is pretty much looking for Cowboy Bebop in any anime he sees. Needless to say, he's become rather bitter and cynical about anime. I have given up on introducing him to any new series.

awhir

oh and also the music was also great.

sharingan

CuLT wrote:

Her/his loss tbh sharingan

shrugs/agrees. The whole 'I will bash it because its popular' is one attitude that has me loading anti-troll rounds in general.

CuLT wrote:

When they've gotten that cynical there's really not a lot you can do. I've a mate who is pretty much looking for Cowboy Bebop in any anime he sees. Needless to say, he's become rather bitter and cynical about anime. I have given up on introducing him to any new series.

Yeah thats rough - theres about 5 series in the entire world that can even come close to what Bebop is like. I am not saying its the best series in the world, but its a great show and deservedly well received, but it was also very unique for its time and hasn't really been repeated or cloned. You only get the 5 by being very loose in how you compare them (yes - I am counting Samurai Champloo).

I am not going to suggest ideas to you - you have probably cut your losses with the guy - I have been down that road before, but I have had more successes I guess. I can fondly remember lookign around for a cable splitter and a second set of headphones as I introduced Ebichu to my mate, and we both had a good chuckle (my first watch too - hence the lack of preparedness). I was far better prepared when I sprung Midori no Hibi on another friend.

Eureka 7 though is a show that is worth showing to new fans. Adventure anime done well, is simply the best kind of anime - you get everything - drama, pathos, action, HQ animation (usually), tragedy, romance, interesting settings, character growth and epic, continuous narrative.

Most people get bowled over by this kind of anime, and when they run out of it, its a real shock to the system. I think its going to be a bit rough for new fans who are introduced to it as their first anime - when they start looking for more of the same they will be a bit disappointed & frustrated.

awhir

ok theres ment to be a OVA ?? coming out soon may i ask what a ova is ??/