Not just that, but the TV version has a lot of color bleeding. That one major cause of the fuzzy look.Originally Posted by Buffalobiian
(edit: I played the ep alongside the official OP. It's definitely washed out and blurred.)
I wonder if this series will ever get a HD broadcast. The first series could use a little revamping too. The animation in these two series deserve better.
Maybe not a broadcast, but according to the OP, the'll be Blu-Ray releases for Melodies at least.
I wouldn't mind downloading the HD raws then and remuxing them with menclave's subs. Just hope whoever does the HD encode has enough sense (or skill) to keep it at the 350MB mark or lower.
If it's not Isuzu-chan Mii~
I can deal with the crappier raws. While the series is certainly as shiny as its predecessor, the art style of ef and others like it (Pani Poni Dash and Tsukiyomi Moon Phase) doesn't really require that perfect visual. It's more stylized and often simplified to just silhouettes or color contrasts. That's what makes it visually stunning to me.
I'm sticking to Menclave for now, so a good intro episode. Not too much detail, but they are certainly hinting at a much darker side to everyone's stories. When Renji's apparently enternally cute mother mentioned Chihiro, I was kind of surprised the Mizuki arc takes place after the arc of the first season. However, it was nicely balanced out by the Yuuko arc which seems like it will mostly take place in the past.
So with the previous arcs focusing on sound and memory, these ones seem to focus more on time. One time running out, and the other avoiding the past. Chihiro was stuck in her past, Yuu wants to forget his.
Maybe it's me, but I just can't call faded colour and undefined lines visually stunning. It just doesn't do ef justice
Anyway, enough complaining, I'll get whatever's the best out there so far.
If it's not Isuzu-chan Mii~
It doesn't make much to get a good looking 720p episode down to 350 MB. Heck, even at 250 it will still look great.
But if you're talking about 1080p Blu-Ray, then that's another matter
Silhouettes and color contrasts:
Episode 2 - Menclave
Episode 3 (h264) - Chihiro
The OP in Chihiro's episode 3 has different animation from previous releases, as shown below on the right side. The left side shows the "official" OP, which was used in the first two episodes. The new OP has less silhouettes and more details, but I prefer the old one (especially the part with Himura pinned to the wall). I hope the go back to the old B&W version.
Spoiler warning: Watching Chihiro's releases.
I'm not really sure what it is, but I can't help but find Mizuki absolutely entrancing. Maybe it is her near-boundless energy, or the totally carefree way she presents herself, but I find myself transfixed by her. There was something about the scene where she spun and danced on the train tracks before meeting Chihiro that I wasn't able to tear my eyes from the screen. Normally I find characters like her utterly annoying (like I did the few times where she appeared last season). Something is very different about her this season. She's dramatically more mature than she was (the pedo within says, "More than one...") but there is this quality about her than I can't even put my finger on fully or even describe with words. The scene at beach was fairly powerful too.
Yet, compare her to Yuuko. On an outer level, the two are very much the same. They both say teasing words to others, and neither of them seem to care at all what others think. Despite all the ways they seem similar, I can't stand Yuuko. Something about her makes me hate her. Maybe something rubbed off her weirdo teacher-brother, but for all the indescribable reasons I am drawn to Mizuki, Yuuko drives me away.
Perhaps it is the difference in energy.
It's almost as if Mizuki is life, while Yuuko is death (her ghostly appearance last season helps that).
Last edited by Ryllharu; Thu, 10-23-2008 at 06:30 PM. Reason: painful grammatical errors
The raw was noticably better than episode 1. God bless them. I wonder how discussion will go with us split half-half?
If it's not Isuzu-chan Mii~
[Chihiro] Episode 4 (h264)
Damn, they're still using the new OP animation. I guess that means the first two episodes used an unfinished animation sequence where they didn't have time to fill in the details and colors?
The black and white version was amazing.
edit: SPOILERS
This episode was quite revealing for me.
Firstly, the timeline difference between the "past" and the "present" are not that far apart. I thought the gap was huge - that Nagi was Hirono's mother. It turns out they're actually siblings and probably no more than 10 years apart in age. I don't recall ever seeing Nagi in the first series. In fact, I think Hirono was portrayed as being all alone, which was why Miyako's presence had such a huge impact on his life.
Next, we're told that there was a huge earthquake in the past. This explains those end-of-the-world backdrops that kept popping up throughout both series. I thought those were just artistic renditions to produce the alone-in-the-world feeling for the characters, but I guess there's more to it than that.
These details gave me a whole new perspective on things, especially the timeline issue.
Last edited by Board of Command; Sat, 11-01-2008 at 12:04 AM.
Spoiler warning: Watching Chihiro's releases
I agree with the Nagi situation. It was explained that Kei and Chihiro had more or less adopted Hirono as a brother. Kei and Hirono remained close after Chihiro's accident, while Kei kept her distance from Chihiro. Perhaps Nagi was abroad at the time, and she might have called him once, I don't remember. The large age gap between the two raises that possibility. Still, rather cold of her to abandon him for so many years, but from the flashbacks, that's just the way Nagi is.
What I am beginning to wonder now is whether the Nagi/Yuu/Yuuko love triangle will resolve itself during the flashback, or in present day. It seems like the flashbacks are establishing all the relationships, Nagi is just as secretly possessive of Yuu as Kei was of Hirono, Yuuko is really weird, etc. This may lead up to Yuuko's eventual death (I'm sticking with her being a ghost) and how hurt Yuu became over that.
Then we will return to the present, where Nagi is in town for a rare occurence, right before she leaves for Australia. Perhaps we will see Yuu learning to love once more, and join Nagi.
As for the Mizuki storyline, their relationship is...was progressing very rapidly, but now Kuze is still attempting to blow her off. We know that she will get him to have sex with her before he dies, but I wonder now progress can really be made in terms of character development, given their little "CPR" sessions.
The Sound Track is really incredible and really gives a lot of strength to the show.
Also, I do not think any feeling is forced on us, mostly we get to see/watch and then decide for ourselves
All the things I really like to do are either illegal, immoral, or fattening. And then: Golf.
ef - a tale of melodies - 03 by menclave
If it's not Isuzu-chan Mii~
ef - a tale of melodies 5 by coalguys
ef - a tale of melodies 05 [Chihiro]
It is really easy to hate Amamiya-sensei (Yuuko's older "brother"). He looks so much like Matou Shinji from Fate/Stay Night.
[spoiler warning obviously]
I am somewhat enjoying the epilogues of the first season's arcs that are intersperced through this series so far. I also failed to realize that their are two towns. I always thought they were the same, and that made it even more strange that Kei never came anywhere near Chihiro while I thought they lived in the same city. So now the twins will go their separate ways...
The Mizuki-Kuze sections were brief this episode, I was a little disappointed. But there was an interesting bit at the end, where Nagi proclaimed herself to be Kuze's girlfriend. Up to this point, I had always thought that Nagi had a thing for Himura. I still think that she does, and she's only with Kuze because she may have thought it would bring her closer to Himura. It's hard to say what her aim is here, perhaps to not see Kuze regret dying and leaving someone he really loves behind.
What was far more interesting was the final moments of the episode. Where Amamiya-sensei brought up two things about Yuuko. One, her "arm," and two, the watch. We saw Himura run away from her when she brought up the subject of her being like a little sister to him while the fire his sister died in still smoldered in the background. I wonder if Yuuko ran into the fire, and pulled the watch Himura's sister cherished off of his sister's body. She would have burned her arm in the effort, leading to the answer why she always wears gloves and why she has the watch at all.
That's a pretty disturbing scenario. Yuuko must still be completely obsessed with the idea of being or replacing Himura's late sister. But it looks like the apple doesn't fall far from the hand that picked it up, Amamiya-sensei and Yuuko are both pretty messed up in the head. They deserve each other.
[end spoilers]
I think I have a thing for Nagi.
[CoalGuys] ef - a tale of melodies - 06 [45D6D88A] mkv 230Mb @ Mininova
Decent subs, eventhough I wasn't really paying attention.
Darker arc, it"s been a long time since I thought I should rewatch an ep to really get everything.
Some will probably hate it, but sometimes darker plots are nice.
Also the op changed again, funny enough the instrumental without the main melody (so a really bare op) still had my mind playing the whole song. Some kind of ghost sound ringing while it played.
All the things I really like to do are either illegal, immoral, or fattening. And then: Golf.
If I'm the only one watching Menclave, I won't mind if you guys dropped the [spoiler tags]. Saves you guys the pain, and I'm part of the minority anyway. Happy discussing
If it's not Isuzu-chan Mii~
Yeah, this episode was similar to the latter bits of Memories with Chihiro and Miyako breaking down. I think it's stuff like this that make the ef series stand out from all the other anime out there. It really doesn't hold anything back and much of it is just raw emotions. It's what makes the scenes so powerful.
[Chihiro] Episode 6 (h264)
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
