Shangri-La - 13
Oh my god. I’m not sure who exactly was responsible for the dogfights in this episode, but I have to say, that these were the most visually pleasing scenes that I have seen this season. Yes, that includes Guin Saga and Eden of the East; it was THAT good. With this episode, Gonzo has really shown why they are the masters of CG. It may not be the best blend with the rest of the art, but damn. These guys are getting closer and closer to perfection in making CG action scenes engaging. I don’t care what the popular opinion on them is, it’s going to be SUCH a shame if these guys are going to close down due to poor sales. Their bad series are indeed really bad, but their hits really are one of a kind, and for me, Shangri-La has been their best series ever since Bokura no ended. Say what you want about both Gonzo and this series. I’m too busy drooling over the incredible visuals in this episode.
The rest of this episode was also really good to close off the first half of this series. This episode was intense, in which Kuniko for the first time has to really display her leadership, and even though she still has a lot to learn, at the same time you can see that she’s trying her hardest guiding the Metal-Age, instead of sitting back and letting the others do the dirty work.
And while most of this episode was about the Metal-Age trying to bust into Atlas, there also was something interesting going on around Ryouko, as some sort of upper chief has decided to pay a visit. His influence on Ryouko is going to be pretty interesting. There was also a pretty touching moment about Miiko and Mikuni, where you can see that the two have gotten even closer since Sayaka left.
I’m wondering when Kunihito is going to play a role in the story again. He obviously is important, he has a dagger, he is a digma, but so far the only thing he’s done is screw up when Kuniko was around. He definitely was a character meant for the second half of this series, but I’m really wondering what kind of role he’s going to play in the whole series. I’m definitely pumped for that second half. With such an ambitious setting, if this series manages to avoid any major screw-ups, it’s going to be epic.
Rating: *** (Awesome)
Incredible CG visuals, very exciting dogfights
If its Satelight level CGI, I can handle it, but has Gonzo got to that level yet?
Comment by Denizen — June 29, 2009 @ 15:44
Sadly, Gonzo got busted, for real this time
Comment by Iro — June 29, 2009 @ 16:26
@Denizen
Gonzo has shown in the past what CGI is all about with Yukikaze and Gankutsuou. Its more an issue with budgeting as evidently as it seems they just don’t have the money to pull off amazedly stunning CGI.
As for the episode I would have to say it was impressive.
Comment by zaeris — June 29, 2009 @ 16:42
I CAN ALSO FEEL THAT KUNIHITO HAS A BIG ROLE IN THE SECOND HALF SO DAMNIT GONZO MAKE HIM DO SOMETHING REALLY BIG NEXT EPISODE ALREADY!!!!!! O_O
Anywayz, I haven’t seen the episode . . . yet. But seeing those spoilers and screenshots already confirm to me that this episode is awesome! *_*
Comment by Sapphire Pyro — June 29, 2009 @ 18:41
Did you catch the name of the “upper chief”? O_O
Comment by Shounen A — June 29, 2009 @ 20:17
Shounen A: At first, I didn’t catch the name of the upper chief. But damn… to think that he was Karin’s father… O.o
By the way, I’m getting an internal server error when I try to post on your blog. Does this happen more often?
Comment by psgels — June 29, 2009 @ 21:39
I may follow anime series that often, but Shangri La is honestly amazing. I’m glad I never took a look a the public opinion on this series before starting to watch it, because this one does indeed rule, it’s odd at times, but I rarely see shows I accually look forward to,and here, after every episode I wanna see the next one already.
Comment by Marlon — June 29, 2009 @ 23:30
Agreed, Gonzo’s CGs are awesome. You should totally see Last Exile(Which is also from Gonzo), it has one of the most epic CGI ever! *3*
Comment by Elky — June 30, 2009 @ 0:57
@psgels: I don’t think he is Karin’s father: Karin is usually annoyed at Tarsion, whereas she was quite happy when she got voice mail from her father.
Sorry about the internal server error. It seems that my shared host has been going into crazy overload mode more often recently. :(
Comment by Shounen A — June 30, 2009 @ 1:07
How is Gonzo’s CG better than Satelight? To even put shit like Dragonaut and Linebarrels in the same league as Aquarion is a joke.. and I’m not even going to mention the heavy hitters in Macross Zero, Frontier and Basquash.
Comment by Westlo — June 30, 2009 @ 9:26
Westlo: I don’t mean this in terms of detail. Sure enough, nothing beats the huge budget of Macross Frontier and most other Satelight productions. The effect I’m talking about is hard to describe, but the CGI makes the entire picture come alive. I think this is the most noticeable with Blassreiter: sure, the CG looked pretty ugly and all, but the combination of fast-moving camera angles and character movement was something that even Macross Frontier was inferior at.
I’m obviously no animation expert like you, so I know that I’m rambling a bunch of nonsense here and I realize that this is highly personal, but Gonzo’s CGI for some reason has a certain something (call it an X-Factor) that I have yet to notice with Satelight, or at least, the Satelight productions that I watched, since I can’t speak for Aquarion or Macross Zero. If it turns out that Blassreiter’s action scenes were blatantly ripped off from Aquarion and Macross Zero also had a boomerang-shaped air-carrier that assaulted a huge fortress while moving slow and realistically, then I of course take these words back.
Comment by psgels — June 30, 2009 @ 9:39
seen it now
I don’t consider GONZO as the master of CG, but visuals were indeed very amazing in this episode! I love the CG action scenes in this episode *_*
forgot to mention that this got me really amused:
but so far the only thing he’s done is screw up when Kuniko was around.
BWAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA xD
Comment by Sapphire Pyro — June 30, 2009 @ 13:38
All this enthusiasm for Shangri-la makes me almost want to pick it back up, except I thought the first few episodes were terrible and I disliked the majority of the characters. But maybe I’ll give it a second chance?
Comment by Senna — July 1, 2009 @ 19:35
Senna:
No, it doesn’t change.. this series is pretty consistent. If you liked the first few eps (their pacing, the animation style, the action, etc), you will like all of them. If you were annoyed at the chars, lack of reasonable plot, depth etc then you will not like all of them.
Comment by Acorns — July 2, 2009 @ 6:37
Momoko really looks feminine in the new ED background. Haha.
Comment by Shockinblue — July 2, 2009 @ 21:29
@Senna: As for the animation quality, a few episodes after the first one may have had terrible quality, but thankfully the animation quality recovers to a reasonable level.
Comment by Shounen A — July 3, 2009 @ 2:16
“With such an ambitious setting, if this series manages to avoid any major screw-ups, it’s going to be epic.”
As I was expecting, I’ve loved the ambitious nature of this series since the very beginning :)
My god I loved episode 13.
Comment by Lightning — July 7, 2009 @ 4:05