Saihate no Paladin

[KrayZ33]

Cause they ARE happy.

Yeah but that's not the point.
Don't make it harder for me to explain "just because".

It's not like you have never seen a show where a character is actually friendly and happy, but the guy looks like a total badass or scary monster.

The same "happy" version fought the Undead God.. it's not like they changed the looks depending on their mood.
The scene where he fought Gus was not scary at all because it was normal Gus.
If it were Blood it would actually have been weird and not just "normal".


This picture captures the mood a few thousand times better than the anime did. Which had nothing even remotely in that direction.
If undeads are supposed to be scary monsters, make them look like monsters and not like "fun to hang out with" dudes, no matter their alignment.
I always hate that stuff, especially when they encounter a random guy who is super scared seeing them even though they look friendly and almost normal or human (like the Zombie priestess)

[Kraco]

If undeads are supposed to be scary monsters, make them look like monsters and not like "fun to hang out with" dudes, no matter their alignment.

How do you actually depict that? You might say an undead creature would be scary because it shouldn't exist. It might also be grotesque looking, like a rotting zombie with partially visible internal organs and bones. However, a human skeleton is just a human skeleton, even if it's reanimated. The horror would be solely in the eye of the beholder, so it's difficult to depict in a visual medium. In a novel you can spend all the time in the chapter to describe how a character feels. In anime (or manga), you can do something to show it, but ultimately not awfully lot, unless you suddenly pull off half an episode of flashbacks and whatnot. But it might ruin the flow.

Once again, I'd say the manga did it a little better with Blood since he didn't even have the eyes the anime gave him. In the manga he had nothing but deep, dark, lifeless, empty eye sockets, like a skeleton would. Gus is what he is. I reckon his face is the one he had in life, which would make sense. He can't change his face from scene to scene.

[KrayZ33]

How do you actually depict that? You might say an undead creature would be scary because it shouldn't exist. It might also be grotesque looking, like a rotting zombie with partially visible internal organs and bones. However, a human skeleton is just a human skeleton, even if it's reanimated.

You just do it like the thousand shows that already did it.
Obviously budget is limited, but that is really not something new?

Colour, details, shadows, lack of shadows.
I mean, come on, I literally posted the LN version of the same character who looks completely different and has a completely different aura to him.
Anime has extra benefits from getting to choose his voice and the way he moves etc.

You could add twitching head movements and "clacking" noises when he moves and all that stuff.
Not to mention that you can have "chibi" version and whatnot if you want them to picture the daily-life stuff, to emphasise the contrast between what he is and what he does or what is alignment is.

[Kraco]

If he had looked like in that earlier smudgy, almost sketch like picture you posted, the whole show would have been one of those "artistic" shows, where you wouldn't know half the time what you see on the screen. You can't just make one character like that and the rest, along with the backgrounds, look clear and crisp. He also had to move like he moved in his life to make him as capable. Actually he's not as capable because a skeleton is lacking mass compared to a full body, which is a huge weakness in all but the most ninja like ways of fighting, but I doubt as an undead he would be capable of learning a new style.

Gus could have been more ghastly easily, though, although that would have also made him far more unrecognisable, and thus the audience wouldn't have really cared about him a whole lot.

[KrayZ33]

I don't know why you fixate yourself on exactly *that* look. This is just an example.

Again, there are tons of horror-*anime*shows that have ugly/scary looking monsters in them that are sometimes pretty disgusting to look at without the whole show looking like the shitty Star-Wars animes that came out recently.
Hell, there has been a harem show recently that is somewhat similar to Slime, that featured a very minor side character for like 2 epsiodes, that was some kind of Lich, and even that one looked way cooler and evil than him.
You are really not using your imagination and knowledge and experience here.

And the "he had to move like that" doesn't really count. It's magic that he moves in the first place, so magic is magic and magic allows him to do whatever the author decides he should be able to do. It's no less or more believable either way.

It's about the intention of what they wanted to show and when I look at the LN pictures (and I didn't read it, so maybe the LN is weird in that regard), it seems like the monsters are supposed to look more grim-dark than how they look in this show.
It's also why the battle with Gus was kinda weird to look at when he was floating there, looking super normal, and MC nearly pissed his pants.

[Kraco]

Blood was a handsome and great dude while alive, working as a champion for mankind. Why would he be a horrifying monster in unlife? If you ask me, that's the point of why he looked like he did. Although, like I said earlier, the manga still did it a bit better. You ask me why I fixate myself on some looks, but I could ask you why you fixate yourself on hoping they would look more terrifying. They were great parents and a grandpa for Will, so I don't quite understand why or how they would need to be any scarier. For comparison, if you think of Ainz Ooal Gown, he's not a reanimated human skeleton. I don't remember what he is, but he's some other monster. He's also evil, so it makes sense he looks more evil, store wise. There's a distinct difference here.

[DarthEnderX]

Again, there are tons of horror-*anime*shows that have ugly/scary looking monsters in them that are sometimes pretty disgusting to look at without the whole show looking like the shitty Star-Wars animes that came out recently.
Hell, there has been a harem show recently that is somewhat similar to Slime, that featured a very minor side character for like 2 epsiodes, that was some kind of Lich, and even that one looked way cooler and evil than him.
You are really not using your imagination and knowledge and experience here.

I feel like the thing you're glossing over is that making shit like that is...hard? And/or expensive?

Those Star Wars things are like 5 minutes long. And have Star Wars budget. They can do things that simply aren't going to be feasible for a show like this.

[KrayZ33]

I feel like the thing you're glossing over is that making shit like that is...hard? And/or expensive?

Those Star Wars things are like 5 minutes long. And have Star Wars budget. They can do things that simply aren't going to be feasible for a show like this.

The Star Wars stuff were pretty shit - and I didn't praise them for what they did. So you might be able to make the argument that budget means nothing in that regard
But I'm not glossing over it. This show is low budget, and I'm saying it's such a waste because this show could be a great fantasy show, and it isn't partly due to that.
There are other low budget shows that did make monsters look more like monsters.

I also think that this Avatar of the undead god looked weird and low effort.

[DarthEnderX]

The Star Wars stuff were pretty shit

The animation wasn't.

[KrayZ33]

8
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While the bards story was a bit cheap-ish and the animation was... not even there (lol), I still like the Half-ling.... *so* much even.
What a happy soul. And what a waste she is on this show's budget.

A bard through and through, lovely.

[DarthEnderX]

Agreed. Halfling bard good despite being loli bait.

[DarthEnderX]

9

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Huh. Guess that elf was a dude afterall.

[KrayZ33]

Sooo I think I stopped watching it, but a second season will come later this year and the MC VA changed to a male voice.
Now I'm kinda interested again..... yes, it bothered me... VERY MUCH.

Same VA as 86 MC and this elite-school anime show. Ayanokouji was the dead-pan MCs name I believe.

[DarthEnderX]

S2 E01

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This is back also.

[DarthEnderX]

03

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The artist is definitely a fan of movie Thorin.


I don't remember what happened to Will's hands.

[DarthEnderX]

6

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Oh man. Magic armory. That really triggers the endorphins.

[DarthEnderX]

9

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The undead dwarves was a cool moment.

This show is overall kinda boring, but it keeps having interesting little scenes.