Comments on: Ghost Hound: first impressions

By: Pride Comes Before A… Fall 2007 Previews: Trade of all Jacks » Cruel Angel Theses ♪

Wed, 31 Oct 2007 11:43:56 +0000

[...] you with not a lot of options unless you like to read symbols into everything. Ah, the soliloquy of the niche, how you never fail to astound me. Misery loves company and all that [...]

By: ConcreteBadger

ConcreteBadger — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 22:00:00 +0000

@Gabest: Cheers for recommending Shigurui - it’s not often I’m tempted to watch an historical-themed show. Sadly my viewing backlog is so intimidating I doubt I’ll be making any posts on it for a while yet!

@Hige: Yeah, it’s a worrying trend…try to think of it as great minds thinking alike, eh? I’ll have to check out the new Radiohead album now too, since I lost interest with them after Kid A. Back o/t, I love Nakamura’s approach to directing as well. It feels so mature and assured and never takes the audience’s intelligence for granted; I mean, it’s the polar opposite of the ‘dumbing down’ we see so often these days.

By: Hige

Hige — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 12:18:22 +0000

I was holding off on reading this entry until I’d seen/written about Ghost Hound myself, but it’s good to see we agree (a ubiquitous trend, eh).

“Pregnant pauses” is a fantastic way to summarise Ryutaru Nakamaru’s directional technique. It’s atmospheric as fuck and I’m enjoying it far far more in GH than I did with Lain. Can’t describe the sense of relief it is to enjoy an anime this season with absolutely no apology. It’s like hearing the new Radiohead album in anime form!

By: Gabest

Gabest — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 02:21:29 +0000

If you want to watch something similar to texhnolyze I can recommend shugurui (same director), I just finished ep 4-6 and all the time texhnolize was on my mind for some reason. The faint colors and story telling style is so identical.

By: ConcreteBadger

ConcreteBadger — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 18:09:40 +0000

@Washi: I *think* I know where the story’s headed but after being surprised at how Lain turned out I’m a bit wary of jumping to conclusions! The ’show rather than tell’ approach is something I really appreciate as a break from the norm though, and the writers should be congratulated for that.

As for the character designs…they’re okay close-up I suppose. With it being an I.G. effort (a 20th anniversary one no less), it’s fair to assume the quality of the animation should be pretty consistent throughout the series. At least, I hope so because this should turn out to be a really good series. It’s nice to know I’m not the only fan! (:

By: Washi

Washi — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 02:37:23 +0000

I agree with you on your Ghost Hound verdict. Although, I’d like to say that I didn’t think the plot was presented in a particularly cryptic or obfuscated manner at all. Aside from the fact that the events depicted in his dreams are more implied that outwardly stated, the direction of the plot thus far appears to be quite clear indeed.

The character designs aren’t so bad, but when they’re met with this simplistic cel animation style, it’s a bit of a detriment.