I'm sad we didn't see saekis gf

I'm sad we didn't see saekis gf

Maybe in the LN

The light novel is finally out!!!

I just reread the manga. Still be the best manga for me. Thank you, Nakatani-sensei.

I just reread the manga. Still be the best manga for me. Thank you, Nakatani-sensei.

Great way to remind me to start my own re-reading of this... After I watch a history documentary with my dad that is.

I was never able to find the YagaKimi anime streaming online conveniently (the only places I found were slow-loading pop-up hells), so the Blu-Ray DVD set arrived yesterday, and I just finished bingeing it.

The anime is . . . very good. It’s generally true to the feel of the manga, and the voice acting seems to be quite adequate. (I won’t get into the whole “anime is inherently better than manga” business—each is its own medium, with things it does well and less well.)

That said, the anime is unavoidably more on-the-nose with a lot of the dialogue—the manga is able to take its time, with some subtler interactions. The treatment of the play also added elements, since the producers didn’t know if there would be a second season (it deserves one)—we got a sense of what the rewritten end of the play would be like from the added material at the aquarium. I did think the florid coloration of the sky in the evening walk-home scenes was a bit too apocalyptic, but at least they were consistent about it.

I thought the snippy exchanges between Yuu and Sayaka came through a little more forcefully than in the manga, and the equipment-shed scene pulled no punches in the sexytimes-tongue-kiss department. The music in the scenes was mostly effective, although the styles in the various scenes seemed to vary from ‘50s Hollywood melodrama soundtrack to cafe easy listening. The opening theme was pleasant enough, but the electronically processed vocals of the ending theme started bugging me after awhile.

[I will also note as an aside that the train-in-the-background scenes all created an extremely foreboding mood. There was quite a bit of scorn here heaped on any suggestion of Touko committing suicide in the post-study-camp sequence, but the way that train-station scene was staged in the anime was even more suggestive of that than in the manga—when Touko asks “Where can I go after that?” we see a Touko POV of the edge of the train platform and the tracks and hear a train approaching, then cut to a long shot of her taking a step forward as the speeding train intervenes. (I’m not saying she’s about to commit suicide in the scene, just that the staging mimics the way such a suicide would be depicted.)]

So although I’m a comics/manga person, I have no strong criticism and much appreciation for what the anime does well.

PS: Not sure why exactly, but cafe-owner Miyako really comes off as a sex bomb in the anime. She’s sexy enough in the manga, to be sure . . .

last edited at Jan 9, 2020 3:31PM

I was never able to find the YagaKimi anime streaming online conveniently (the only places I found were slow-loading pop-up hells), so the Blu-Ray DVD set arrived yesterday, and I just finished bingeing it.

That first part of the sentence was so relatable. When I was re-watching this over the previous days (before going to re-read the not-yet-animated chapters (currently, I only have the last volume left to re-read)), I had to find several episodes on pop-up hellsites, due to Dailymotion-eqsue versions over at kickassanime being unavailable for those episodes. For episodes 10 and 12, I even had to give up on watching it on my phone and watched it on the comp instead.

The anime is . . . very good. It’s generally true to the feel of the manga, and the voice acting seems to be quite adequate. (I won’t get into the whole “anime is inherently better than manga” business—each is its own medium, with things it does well and less well.)

nods in agreement

That said, the anime is unavoidably more on-the-nose with a lot of the dialogue—the manga is able to take its time, with some subtler interactions. The treatment of the play also added elements, since the producers didn’t know if there would be a second season (it deserves one)—we got a sense of what the rewritten end of the play would be like from the added material at the aquarium. I did think the florid coloration of the sky in the evening walk-home scenes was a bit too apocalyptic, but at least they were consistent about it.

Interesting... I wish I was able to more properly make a reply to this part of the post, but my brain just doesn't feel like investing into this paragraph.

I thought the snippy exchanges between Yuu and Sayaka came through a little more forcefully than in the manga, and the equipment-shed scene pulled no punches in the sexytimes-tongue-kiss department. The music in the scenes was mostly effective enough, although the styles in the various scenes seemed to vary from ‘50s Hollywood melodrama soundtrack to cafe easy listening. The opening theme was pleasant enough, but the electronically processed vocals of the ending theme started bugging me after awhile.

[Insert a combination of the replies to both previous paragraphs here] Also for the part about the Sayaka - Yuu exchanges: I think I said something to that end back during the original release of one of the middle episodes...

[I will also note as an aside that the train-in-the-background scenes all created an extremely foreboding mood. There was quite a bit of scorn here heaped on any suggestion of Touko committing suicide in the post-study-camp sequence, but the way that train-station scene was staged in the anime was even more suggestive of that than in the manga—when Touko asks “Where can I go after that?” we see a Touko POV of the edge of the train platform and the tracks and hear a train approaching, then cut to a long shot of her taking a step forward as the speeding train intervenes. (I’m not saying she’s about to commit suicide in the scene, just that the staging mimics the way such a suicide would be depicted.)]

Dude, I thought I was the only one thinking that. Thank you.

So although I’m a comics/manga person, I have no strong criticism and much appreciation for what the anime does well.

I do remember most people appreciating how faithful to the manga the anime proved to be, as well as how I posted a link to Zeria's analysis of the anime and a few replies to that post.

PS: Not sure why exactly, but cafe-owner Miyako really comes off as a sex bomb in the anime. She’s sexy enough in the manga, to be sure . . .

I've got nothing to add here.

last edited at Jan 9, 2020 3:02PM

Friends, it is really not that hard to find sensible anime streaming sites for recent anime. Get Adblock and 90% of pop-ups on the more sensible sites disappear. If you had just asked I could have linked it for you (and then deleted the link).

Friends, it is really not that hard to find sensible anime streaming sites for recent anime. Get Adblock and 90% of pop-ups on the more sensible sites disappear. If you had just asked I could have linked it for you (and then deleted the link).

I used Adblock, and still had trouble, mostly with redirects. I actually prefer to pay money for stuff I want to see; I’m just not going to add a whole streaming service for one show.

had trouble, mostly with redirects.

My trouble was always the re-directs...

EDIT:
Actually, now that I scanned through my own memory, there was an ad or two that popped out instead, but, yeah, mostly re-directs.

last edited at Jan 9, 2020 4:08PM

I never encountered the re-directs and I'm using the most evil one, ac version. My ad and tracker blockers keep me safe from any advertisements.

last edited at Jan 9, 2020 4:07PM

It's available legally on hidive (Sentai's own streaming service), provided you either live in the US or convince the website that you do.
I'd rather use paid "as close to legal as possible" streaming (vpn+"licenced" service) than illegal streaming (for which you obviously want a VPN as well).

@Blastaar they didn't include a new English dub in the Blu-Ray release, did they? (assuming you got a US-release Blu-Ray from Sentai)

About the adaptation: I can't judge how close the subtitled, let alone the Japanese version, is to the original (which I've likewise also only read in a few different translations) in terms of word choice and phrasing. I know that the English dub has taken some liberties and significantly altered some parts (as has been discussed to death, I know, let's not rehash that), which I must say I didn't personally mind. Since I read the manga only after I'd seen the anime (and 95% only in dub as well) my inner voice direction and acting for the manga's dialogues was already influenced by their interpretations and as such I didn't find it to be that much different in tone, but I do think you could make a point that Yuu and Sayaka's interactions come across as a bit more sharp and pointed in the anime.

Content wise I'd say it was a very faithful adaptation of chapters 1-24, with the ending of the aquarium being altered (IIRC in cooperation with Nakatani herself) to make the anime feel a bit more rounded by itself, with no second season on the horizon. I also think that they captured the artstyle and visual quality rather well in most situations. I for one loved the lush skies, considered making a screenshot from the stone-hopping scene of episode 6 (or was it 7?) my PC wallpaper for a while.

I think the scenes involving physical contact and intimacy came out really well in the anime, as they did in the manga, obviously.

That pre-aquarium train station scene was, as you said, a lot clearer in showing what manner of dark place Touko's mind had wandered to, simply due to the "arriving train" noises (which, even if present, would come across way less oppressive in written form). The manga isn't really subtle here either, though, so I think the extra emphasis is warranted. Lots of negative space in the images (pp. 21, 22), downtrodden mood and Touko's standing really close to the edge. Seeing her reaction to Yuu's message in motion, however, certainly added to the experience for me.

last edited at Jan 10, 2020 9:04AM

@Zormau If I have to use a VPN to watch something in my own country, the publisher clearly didn't want me to see it, so I have no incentive to support them. I buy the licensed manga faithfully as it comes out and if the blue-rays ever come over here with subs, I will buy those too. Everything else is a travesty and shows how useless streaming services can be.

My condolences for having the Eng dub be your first experience with YagaKimi once again (not even the manga you poor thing). Such a waste.

last edited at Jan 10, 2020 9:12AM

Zormau, I’d rather smash my thumb with a hammer than listen to the English dub of an anime.

English dubs of Asian popular culture simply grate on my ears—even the way English voice actors pitch their voices in the (female) Japanese or Korean (I watch a lot of Kdramas) manner I find completely repulsive.

EDIT: The Blu-Ray dub could be Pig Latin for all I’ll ever know.

last edited at Jan 10, 2020 9:49AM

Zormau, I’d rather smash my thumb with a hammer than listen to the English dub of an anime.

Dunno, the Konosuba dub is not that bad.

Zormau, I’d rather smash my thumb with a hammer than listen to the English dub of an anime.

Dunno, the Konosuba dub is not that bad.

I watch almost no fantasy/adventure anime except stuff like Konohana Kitan, Natsume’s Book of Friends, and XXXholic. Never had any inclination to experience a dub rather than sub.

It was stumbling on a dub-only episode of the Bakemongatari series online that confirmed my horror of English dubs. I have no idea if it was a bad dub—it’s just that those characters were supposed to be speaking Japanese. They came off as morons in English, not because of what they were saying but the way it sounded.

last edited at Jan 10, 2020 10:05AM

Zormau, I’d rather smash my thumb with a hammer than listen to the English dub of an anime.

Dunno, the Konosuba dub is not that bad.

I think any reasonable person knows that there are good English dubs out there. They are far and few inbetween, but they exist. Whether they are not as good, but enjoyable nontheless (Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon) or just as good in a different way (Spice & Wolf). But because it is such a rarity, it is a risk that you shouldn't take on your first viewing of any series.

Unlike Blastaar I don't think the voices are such a big issue these days per se (there are very talented voice actors in the dubbing scene now which are just as skilled as the average Japanese seiyuu), but rather the scripts. I just can't stand many of the changes that are made to the source material. With each interpretation of something the original message gets muddled. There are some foreign dubs that base their translation on the English dub, making it a 3rd degree translation... ugh.

YagaKimi fell victim to the later for sure, as the voices are not bad (I dont like Yuu's, but that's just me).

last edited at Jan 10, 2020 10:21AM

I think what hurts dubs the most is the need to lip sync. They're forced to change scripts to fit mouth flaps and have to work around that. Japanese don't give a fuck as long as character is moving lips, but we are so fixated on that, we consider something bad quality if lips don't move correctly.

last edited at Jan 10, 2020 10:11AM

Suit yourselves, I guess ;)

@BD I really get that attitude towards availability, used to be my stance as well (would still be if VPN weren't an option). I've chosen for myself that I'd like to at least in some way support the creation of the media I enjoy (which is chiefly anime), but I'd much rather also be able to support a properly licensed service for my region. If I weren't an "English dub" kinda guy, I'd be mostly capable of doing so, Crunchyroll, Netflix, Amazon and hidive (also available in Germany with a fraction of their US catalog) have a fair selection of subs (and in Netflix's case hideous German dubs).

Curiously, the way Japanese Seiyu sound often rubs me the wrong way, so I generally find anime more palatable in English. And since it's not my native tongue either, many English dubs (at least those made after 2006 as well as a select few from before that - the quality has improved massively since the 90s) don't feel as bad to me as German dubs generally do.
Bloom into You I found a particularly well acted dub and I much preferred the voices of Tia Ballard (Yuu, probably her best performance to date), Luci Christian (Touko), Shanae'a Moore (Sayaka) and Clint Bickham (Maki) over the Japanese version.

@Lilliwyt funny, I couldn't quite warm up to that dub. I don't think it's bad by any means, but I wouldn't count it among the better ones.

Edit: I don't think there's an official English dub for any of the Monogatari series, Blastaar, so it was probably a fanmade dub. Netflix has a German dub, and I couldn't take that one for more than 2 minutes.

last edited at Jan 10, 2020 10:31AM

@BD
Curiously, the way Japanese Seiyu sound often rubs me the wrong way, so I generally find anime more palatable in English. And since it's not my native tongue either, many English dubs (at least those made after 2006 as well as a select few from before that - the quality has improved massively since the 90s) don't feel as bad to me as German dubs generally do.
Bloom into You I found a particularly well acted dub and I much preferred the voices of Tia Ballard (Yuu, probably her best performance to date), Luci Christian (Touko), Shanae'a Moore (Sayaka) and Clint Bickham (Maki) over the Japanese version.

As we already established last time we "discussed" this topic, you just got used to one side of the equation. Because you are biased towards English dubs after mostly only listening to them (and understanding them), the Japanese dubs seem outlandish to you. You can't pick up the ways their voices work or how well acted they are because of too little exposure. I'll just flat out say it, the Japanese cast is more experienced in the field and far more talented. They also don't have to work with shoddy scripts.

If that was Tia Ballard's best performance I don't want to hear her worst one. Blegh.
The way Minako Kotobuki legitimately gave me goosebumps during some scenes in the anime is a testament to her skill. I liked Luci just fine, but she does not have the capacity for that kind of nuanced acting (yet).

Almost all English dubs pre-2010 are horrible. Don't pretend otherwise. There are a few exceptions, but that's about it. The first real upwards trend I noticed was with Spice & Wolf and Steins;Gate . Starting from around 2011 they actually started trying and got more VAs that were actually familiar with the media in.

As we already established last time we "discussed" this topic, you just got used to one side of the equation. Because you are biased towards English dubs after mostly only listening to them (and understanding them), the Japanese dubs seem outlandish to you. You can't pick up the ways their voices work or how well acted they are because of too little exposure. I'll just flat out say it, the Japanese cast is more experienced in the field and far more talented. They also don't have to work with shoddy scripts.

Completely fair assessment, nothing to argue against there. If I were able to properly understand Japanese dubs without needing to rely on subtitles, I'm pretty sure I'd be watching that way.

If that was Tia Ballard's best performance I don't want to hear her worst one. Blegh.

Yeah, YMMV. It sounded quite different from many of her previous gigs and I loved it. She's more often used for calm, and timid, sweet young women (cf. ex. Sakura Quest), which she does well, but didn't make such an impression on me with.

Almost all English dubs pre-2010 are horrible. Don't pretend otherwise.

If you want to set 2010 as the mark, go ahead. I couldn't think of a good English dub from 2000-2006 at all, before Black Lagoon (2007, oh if only Tabitha St. Germain still did anime) and Spice and Wolf (2009, which I don't think has aged as well, just rewatched it last month). Before that I'd call Cowboy Bebop (1999) the benchmark dub.

Little anecdote: earlier this week I hopped into the first episode of The Slayers (1995) on Funimation. Man, that's some retro stuff. It looks, sounds and feels like a cheap homebrew VHS recording of an episode that once aired on TV, and the script and voice acting are about as cringe-inducing as you'd expect.

last edited at Jan 10, 2020 12:03PM

If that was Tia Ballard's best performance I don't want to hear her worst one. Blegh.

Yeah, YMMV. It sounded quite different from many of her previous gigs and I loved it. She's more often used for calm, and timid, sweet young women (cf. ex. Sakura Quest), which she does well, but didn't make such an impression on me with.

To be fair, I have my own bias here as well. I actually think Yuuki Takada as Yuu (despite the funny name overlap) was also not the best choice for her. I've grown used to her quickly, but I think neither actress protrayed Yuu the way I expected her to sound when I read the manga. Oftentimes the anime completely overwrites my impression or I grow to like it, but in this rare case I just don't think either did her real justice.

Though Takada still performed a lot better overall...

Almost all English dubs pre-2010 are horrible. Don't pretend otherwise.

If you want to set 2010 as the mark, go ahead. I couldn't think of a good English dub from 2000-2006 at all, before Black Lagoon (2007, oh if only Tabitha St. Germain still did anime) and Spice and Wolf (2009, which I don't think has aged as well, just rewatched it last month). Before that I'd call Cowboy Bebop (1999) the benchmark dub.

Little anecdote: earlier this week I hopped into the first episode of The Slayers (1995) on Funimation. Man, that's some retro stuff. It looks, sounds and feels like a cheap homebrew VHS recording of an episode that once aired on TV, and the script and voice acting are about as cringe-inducing as you'd expect.

Bebop is a once in a decade miracle dub where everything came together incredibly well. You will barely find anyone who is not a diehard dub hater that denies it was good. It is not representative of its time, nor of the genere overall.

Spice & Wolf holds up phenomanally... Though I guess I haven watched the English version in years. The Japanese dub at the very least is still as amazing as it was back then. Spice & Wolf deserved a season 3, 4, 5 ,6 and whatever else it needs to catch up to the novels. Such a shame that Japan has shit taste.

last edited at Jan 10, 2020 12:13PM

Following up on BugDevil’s “preference” point, I freely admit that as a comics- and text-centric person, I’d much rather read a sub and hear the original language than hear even an excellent English dub—that’s as true for live-action film as it is for anime. (I often have CC on when watching British TV with heavy regional accents.)

As much as I’ve enjoyed many examples of the art form, anime is just a secondary (at best) interest for me. The YagaKimi anime has nothing to be ashamed of; the manga is a masterpiece.

Well whichever you prefer, I think nobody with a hint of sanity left could deny that this scene was beyond amazing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGXqx3O9kCQ
Minako Kotobuki can make me feel things with just a whisper that people acting their heart out can't in an entire speech.

This scene as well as the song insert during the sports festival marathon and a few other tiny aspects are even better than in the manga to me. That's exactly the kind of thing this medium benefits from the most.

I've grown used to her quickly, but I think neither actress protrayed Yuu the way I expected her to sound when I read the manga. Oftentimes the anime completely overwrites my impression or I grow to like it, but in this rare case I just don't think either did her real justice.

Yeah, it's rough when that happens, but that's the crux of any adaptation to a different medium.

Bebop is a once in a decade miracle dub where everything came together incredibly well. You will barely find anyone who is not a diehard dub hater that denies it was good. It is not representative of its time, nor of the genere overall.

True, and while CB stands above its contemporaries immeasurably more, Black Lagoon isn't representative of its time either, they're both probably by far the best examples of their times (maybe with The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya coming close to BL).

Spice & Wolf holds up phenomanally... Though I guess I haven watched the English version in years. The Japanese dub at the very least is still as amazing as it was back then. Spice & Wolf deserved a season 3, 4, 5 ,6 and whatever else it needs to catch up to the novels. Such a shame that Japan has shit taste.

Maybe you should rewatch it. It's not bad at all, just takes a little getting used to it again, and overall it was a superb experience rewatching it after a few years. Also yes, please, gods of anime, give us seasons 3 through 8 (assuming they do 2 LN volumes per season again and jumping off after vol. 16 or 17). J Michael Tatum and Brina Palencia are also still very much in business and play so nicely off each other...