Aku no Hana: dropped after a few episodes, couldn’t stand the rotoscoping
A Christmas Story/National Lampoon: Christmas Vacation: watched with family. The former was pretty good. The latter, though, had some good jokes but was generally mediocre and strained, and a product of its time.
FWIW I very much enjoyed Aku No Hana; I felt it captured the experience of disaffected youth better than anything else I’ve seen. It was everything Catcher in the Rye is reputed to be. Gwern mentioned the rotoscoping; it’s also paced very slowly (extreme but indicative example: several minute shot of the characters walking home, saying nothing).
I felt it captured the experience of disaffected youth better than anything else I’ve seen.
I could believe that based on what I managed to sit through. It’s definitely a series I had a strong impression that, if not for a fatal flaw (in this case, rotoscoping), I would have liked it a lot.
it’s also paced very slowly
Not actually a problem for me except that it forced me to look at lots of low-res rotoscoping which only exacerbated the problem for me...
I began reading the manga on the recommendation of a friend before the first episode of the anime adaptation aired but after the promising PV for it dropped. I keenly remember not enjoying the plot at all to begin with, and the art is initially horrible, probably even worse than the rotoscoping in the anime.
I persevered with it, however, since this particular friend is yet to supply me with a poor rec, and gradually, the art has become quite pretty, and the story has also developed into an entertaining rollercoaster of events and emotion. I think it improves so much that of currently running manga, AnH is the title I anticipate new chapters of the most out of 50+ I’m following, and it has been consistently so since I first caught up, with each new monthly chapter delivering drama and excitement in spades.
Since the anime’s sales were amazingly poor, there will never be a second season, and imo the story only really becomes enjoyable a fair while past where the anime stopped, so I would recommend reading the manga if you ever plan on revisiting the franchise, or for anyone else who wants to pick it up.
As it isn’t finished, it could still turn to shit, but it’s pretty great right now.
-
Edit made months later: It turned to shit. No longer recommended.
All the more reason to try to only consume finished works.
I agree with the sentiment because it’s frustrating not being able to complete something right away, but with AnH I really did enjoy following it month by month. I think that some pieces of entertainment are suited to that style of consumption and are fun to follow, even if they don’t turn out to be very good in the end and aren’t worth it for those who would go back and consume it all at once.
Aku no Hana: dropped after a few episodes, couldn’t stand the rotoscoping
A Christmas Story/National Lampoon: Christmas Vacation: watched with family. The former was pretty good. The latter, though, had some good jokes but was generally mediocre and strained, and a product of its time.
FWIW I very much enjoyed Aku No Hana; I felt it captured the experience of disaffected youth better than anything else I’ve seen. It was everything Catcher in the Rye is reputed to be. Gwern mentioned the rotoscoping; it’s also paced very slowly (extreme but indicative example: several minute shot of the characters walking home, saying nothing).
I could believe that based on what I managed to sit through. It’s definitely a series I had a strong impression that, if not for a fatal flaw (in this case, rotoscoping), I would have liked it a lot.
Not actually a problem for me except that it forced me to look at lots of low-res rotoscoping which only exacerbated the problem for me...
I began reading the manga on the recommendation of a friend before the first episode of the anime adaptation aired but after the promising PV for it dropped. I keenly remember not enjoying the plot at all to begin with, and the art is initially horrible, probably even worse than the rotoscoping in the anime.
I persevered with it, however, since this particular friend is yet to supply me with a poor rec, and gradually, the art has become quite pretty, and the story has also developed into an entertaining rollercoaster of events and emotion. I think it improves so much that of currently running manga, AnH is the title I anticipate new chapters of the most out of 50+ I’m following, and it has been consistently so since I first caught up, with each new monthly chapter delivering drama and excitement in spades.
Since the anime’s sales were amazingly poor, there will never be a second season, and imo the story only really becomes enjoyable a fair while past where the anime stopped, so I would recommend reading the manga if you ever plan on revisiting the franchise, or for anyone else who wants to pick it up.
As it isn’t finished, it could still turn to shit, but it’s pretty great right now.
-
Edit made months later: It turned to shit. No longer recommended.
All the more reason to try to only consume finished works. In-progress recommendations are treacherous.
I agree with the sentiment because it’s frustrating not being able to complete something right away, but with AnH I really did enjoy following it month by month. I think that some pieces of entertainment are suited to that style of consumption and are fun to follow, even if they don’t turn out to be very good in the end and aren’t worth it for those who would go back and consume it all at once.