Baby Steps

Image from: http://myanimelist.net/anime/21185/Baby_Steps

Name: Baby Steps ベイビーステップ

Status: Completed
Episode: 50 (25 + 25)
Release date (for eng subs): -

Summary:

Diligent and methodical honor student Eiichirou Maruo decides to exercise more during the little free time he has available because he is worried about his health. For this reason, after seeing a flyer, he joins the Southern Tennis Club at the beginning of his freshman year.

During his free trial at the club, he meets Natsu Takasaki, another first year student, who is determined on becoming a professional tennis player due to her love for the sport. In contrast, Eiichirou's study-oriented life exists because he believes that it is what he has to do, not because he enjoys it. However, his monotonous days come to an end as the more he plays tennis, the more he becomes fascinated by it.

Baby Steps is the story of a boy who makes the most of his hard-working and perfectionist nature to develop his own unique playing style. Little by little, Eiichirou's skills begin to improve, and he hopes to stand on equal footing with tennis' best players.

Summary by: MAL Rewrite
Summary from: http://myanimelist.net/anime/21185/Baby_Steps

________________________________________

Personal Ratings: 3.4 / 5

Idea: 2 / 5
Use of Cliche Idea: 3 / 5
Baby Steps is a sports anime which focuses on tennis. Sports anime like this are really cliche and can be found anywhere. We already have several tennis anime like Prince of Tennis and Softenni. However, if you were to compare all these animes side by side, you can tell that they are very different.

In this case, unlike most sports anime where it’s set in a school club, this anime takes on a different approach, and is set in an independent well-known tennis club. This gives the anime a focal point on developing the main character to an in-depth level, and is very different from your usual high school club sports anime where teamwork is usually the focus.

In no way this anime has any fan service, so there is definitely some risk in it because most people who watches sports anime usually go for the fan services (i.e. Kuroko no Basuke, Prince of Tennis, etc) and sports anime are known for having very good fan services. This anime, however, backs it up with a proper story backbone and a strong development.

Execution:
Development: 4 / 5

Because this anime main focus in on the main character - Maruo - most of the development goes into the 'main character develop' category, so here I'll talk about the matches itself.

The perks of having just to concentrate on one character makes it a lot easier for them to plan matches out really well. The details of each match is really very in depth and they focus on each and every point. Also, the fact that it is not a school match means that each player gets 3 sets in a match (depending on the scale of the competition too, sometimes they get 1 set matches), this gives the anime and plot more time to work its way out and for a proper development.

This anime doesn’t focus only on the technical side of a match but also the many different areas which affects a match and the players themselves; like the emotional side, or the luck side, or the situational side. They have many different variation of matches which focuses on the different types of areas which affects the outcome of a tennis match, and having the main character build up experience with it as he goes along.

Emotions: 2.5 / 5

The only thing which they are lacking compared to most of the other ‘fan service’ sports anime out there is actually the tension of the match itself. It doesn’t have the wow factor that makes the viewers smile and say that it’s a good match. This is mainly because Baby Steps sticks to the more logical side of sports. Which means that there are not flashy moves to captivate the viewers. But this doesn’t mean that the matches are not interesting.

The matches themselves, slowly captivate you and draws you in because they go through with you the character’s thought process. It allows you to feel that the main character is going through and feeling.

Planning: 3 / 5

I think what made this show unpredictive is the fact that they actually stick to the logic of things. Outcomes of matches are not done to impress the viewers or to make sure that the main character win, but they actually take into consideration the skill levels of the characters when they are being made and developed. In most animes, the main characters are surely the one to win the matches, but for this anime it’s not true.

And unlike many other animes where they set out to let the main character shine, in this anime, there were situations where by the main character was not in favor of the crowd.

What I thought was lost in the anime was actually the balance. Even though it’s a tennis anime, I still think that there should be some balance between tennis and the slice of life side of it. Many sports anime has this episode where they go on a break from the sports they are doing (is usually a very funny episode). However this anime didn’t have that balance. I thought that maybe they should have added a little bit of scenes here and there about Maruo’s OCD to sort of balance out the whole anime, but that was kind of forgotten half way (but what brought back by his racket strings).

So while the overall planning of whole story was good, I felt that they left certain parts out, which resulted in the lack of balance.

Main Character Development: 5 / 5

The main character development is really good, and they take you through even the smallest bits of details. It feels like you are taking a journey with the main character himself. And because of the way things are being set – having the main character having known nothing about tennis – they take you on this tennis journey. Though each basic area of tennis is being explained properly, I felt that there was a lack of explanation for the different types of balls (i.e. slice, flat, etc) and the characteristics of each balls, and because the main character actually focuses so much on the different types of variation, I did think that it was hard to follow his though process in the later part of the show because of this.

The development of the main character is accumulative, and doesn’t skip a step. The slow (not too slow) and precise development of the character is what fundamentally made this whole show nice.

Side Character Development: 4 / 5

That being said, they don’t neglect the side characters at all, and when you actually compare this anime with other sports anime, I would say that the way in which they treat their side characters are with a lot more care and development. None of the characters are being abandoned, and they each have their own story to tell, which adds up in the main character’s tennis growth. What I would like to comment on is actually the development of the skills of the side characters. While it may sound very obvious that the side characters also improve along together with the main character, I find that this is one of the most neglected factor in most sports anime. The proper growth in the side characters are properly portrayed in the matches.

Seiyuu: 2/ 4

I was pretty shocked at the choices of voice actors for this anime, but I did like certain ones. To actually match the art and style of development they were going for, I think the main characters were a good match - someone who isn't too flashy but yet someone who isn't as plain.

As for the side characters, I liked some and I didn't like certain ones. For the side characters they actually use more popular seiyuus, in which one actually suite their roles, while some of them stood out too much.

Some of the good roles where Araya (CV: Hatano Wataru), Aoi (CV: Toriumi Kousuke), Takuma (CV: Namikawa Daisuke), Ide (CV: KENN), Ike Souji (CV: Hosoya Hoshimasa), Nabae (CV: Sakurai Takahiro), etc.

But certain roles I felt that the voices were overpowering the characters, especially since their voices were 'sparkling' while the characters look kind of plain. 

OST: 0 / 1

I found that there was a huge gap between season 1 and season 2. Even though they were both good, but season 2 was really good compared to season 1. I don’t know if it’s just because Maruo’s skill is a lot better in season 2, thus leading to more interesting matches, or if the OST has something to do with it.

I did feel that season 2’s OST was used a lot better, but I did think that they could have done more in terms of the OST to actually boost the viewer’s feelings towards the matches.

*while the ratings are 3.5 when u combine the 2 seasons, I feel that the 2nd season was way better, and everyone should give this anime a try.

________________________________________

Art Ratings: 4 / 5

In this case, I'm not really rating the art, but more of the animation style. Even though I didn't really like the art style, I loved the animation.

The art style was supposed to be something more towards the 'realistic' type of art style, where by they try to draw the characters as realistic as possible. But I think that the art style for the body was not really to my liking - the males seems to have all the same body type, and there wasn't really a distinct difference in body types in this anime. I think that it actually plays apart in sports anime, especially when the different body types compliments the different style of tennis which each player plays.

But other than the negative character design and art style, I really loved the animation. I don't think most animation actually pay much attention to the different types of sounds used in different shots of the scenes, but this anime did - i.e. in a single scene, they can have different shots of different areas while the characters are talking, and complimenting the different distance and scale of the shot in question, the volume, and type of background sound effects changes along with it. It was something that I was quite amazed, because of the different types of depth it gave the animation, and I didn't think that it would make such a difference, but it did make you feel as if you were in the anime.

This anime also uses a lot of different types of shots - close up, zoomed in, etc. And I think that they really made full use of the different types shots to compliment what they were trying to convey to the viewers. The scale of each scene was thought to best compliment the match, in order for the viewers to get the best understanding of what they were trying to convey.

As for the animation of each characters, you can tell that they only included certain animation styles into their anime only after they realised they could/should do it (e.g. it was only in the last few matches were they actually animated Maruo turning/playing with his racket while waiting for the opponent's serve). There were also times where the fast movements of the characters during the plays were a little off or lagging, but overall for a 2D animation, I feel that it's one of the most smooth sports animation out there.

________________________________________

Similar Animes:

This is probably the section where most people would just throw you all the random sports anime they have watched before, but other than Prince of Tennis (if it's tennis you are interested in), I don't think that this anime is really any similar to much of the other sports anime, or any anime out there in fact. Because this anime stays so true to the sports itself, I feel that it lacks that whole 'anime' part of it.

Tennis no Ouji-sama:

Basically this anime is one of the most popular tennis anime out there. But other than the fact that they both focuses on tennis, they are in no way similar with each other. Like many sports anime, Prince of Tennis is one that focuses more on the 'cool' factor, and also the relationships between the characters.

Bamboo Blade:

A kendo anime. If your looking for a sports anime that focuses on the sports itself, this is one of the other sports anime which I find that stays pretty true to the sports itself - other than some romance bit in it. This anime however talks more about the team in general and the problems faced by each one of them, rather than just the main character herself.

Chihayafuru:

Chihayafuru is also another anime that stays very true to the sports in focus - Karuta. Basically it follows the similar way whereby baby steps also took the slow development process of the sports, following the main character. In this case, even though this anime doesn't start from scratch (as in the main character doesn't start the sports from 0), each and every game is thoroughly explained, which I find was very similar to Baby Steps.

Ookiku Furikabutte:

This is a baseball anime. I feel that the art type and the matches were pretty similar to Baby Steps, whereby fan service isn't applied to this anime (though in some people's mind it happens, btw don't get me wrong, I'm also a Fujoushi). Although it's also a school type of sports, and doesn't follow a single character, this anime focuses mainly on the 2 characters. And although this anime doesn't also start from scratch, each and every point is well explained, which I thought was similar to Baby Steps.

** and one last thing, because of the similar styles they have, even though this anime isn't something that is at all similar to Baby Steps, I feel that people who loved Baby Steps would definitely love Gin no Saji

________________________________________

Recommended for:

Gender: Both
Age: 13 and above
My Ratings: PG

Top 10 Anime: Sad Animes (You'll Cry a Ton) Part 1

I've put together a list of animes which had made me cry A LOT, and I would like to share it with you guys... And... I hope you guys would watch some of the animes listed and share with me your thoughts about it. 

**This is a non-spoiler version, and for those of you who have already watched the animes, I'll be posting a spoiler version in which I'll talk about the sad scenes in each of the anime.

So firstly I would like to share my top 10 tear jerking animes. I ranked it according to how much each anime made me cry.

______________________________

Top 10 Tear Jerking Animes

10th: Kotonoha no Niwa (Garden of Words)

Kotonoha no Niwa is an anime animated by CoMix Wave Films who are known for their advertising animes and their anime dramas. CoMix Wave Films have produced a number of famous anime dramas like Byousoku 5 Centimeters. Their beautiful and realistic animation would be sure to take your breath away.

Kotonoha no Niwa is a short movie (around 46 mins long) which focuses on a beautiful relationship between 2 people similar, yet unlikely people. The whole theme of this anime revolves around 'rain' - with the setting, music and even poems about rain included in this anime - this anime sets itself out for a tear jerking story.

As expected from the setting of the anime, CoMix Wave Films will give to you one of the best animation of rain and water you have ever seen. They have really went down to the little bits of details of even the way water droplets reflect under the sun, to the ripples made by the droplets in the rain, and even down to the way water leaves a trail behind them as they drop.

On top of the wonderful animation of the rain - which is enough to get your feels going - the beautiful story line between the main characters definitely made me cry a lot. It is a long way of building emotions from the start to the sudden out-lash of emotions at the end.

______________________________

9th: Charlotte

Charlotte was a light novel written by Maeda Jun, who is known to have written Angel Beats! - an anime which is well known to be one of the saddest anime. So it's not any surprise that this anime would be on the list.

Even though not as sad as Angel Beats!, Charlotte didn't fail to delivery some sad episodes and scenes. Charlotte has the same type of musical layout as Angel Beats! - where, in both cases, singers are involved. They both really did deliver some really sad musics, though sadly for Charlotte, it didn't play out as a strength.

In Charlotte's case the anime just didn't have enough development for the sad scenes to fully develop and unfold itself. Having to rush through certain developments, while dragging on the front half of the anime was a mistake, which I felt could have been made better use into developing the story line itself.

However, despite it not being one of the best it could be, I still did feel that this anime didn't fail to deliver some really sad scenes.

______________________________

8th: K-ON!! (Season 2)

K-ON!! is one of the biggest anime hit in the list of anime animated by Kyoto Animation. This anime would be one of the last thing which most people would expect to see on a list of sad animes. For one reason - it's actually isn't. While K-ON!! itself isn't a sad anime, I still would put this on the list, for a specific episode in the anime which made me cry non-stop.

The character development for this anime was really superb, and soon enough you wouldn't want to stop looking into the daily lives of these 5 characters. A sense of character development would have been formed nearing the middle or the end of the 2nd season of this anime. Which will now bring you to one of the most memorable and sad graduation of all time. Both the character's feelings and the your own affections for the characters would definitely make you burst into tears during the graduation.

______________________________

7th: One Piece

One Piece, as we all know, is the best adventure-type anime of all times. Unshakable and strong since day one. And like most mainstream anime, there are bound to have episodes which are sad. One Piece, in my opinion gave me one of the most saddest scenes in all time. The only down side to this is that you would have to get through 500 episodes, before you would be able to see this. But never the less, a beautiful and engaging story.

Although I did feel that more character development for the 2 characters could have been done to help amp up the emotions. But the reactions and the point of view of different characters really made it one of the saddest anime which had me crying for a few episodes.

______________________________

6th: Code Geass

Code Geass, is loved and adored by many of the older anime fans. Though it's not one to be labeled and 'sad' rather than a 'tragedy', I still fell that it deserves to be in this list. 

The whole show itself revolves around politics and mecha as it's main genre. But really, to me the last episode was quite a bit of a shocker, and I didn't have enough time to embrace myself for the impact before that scene came about. It was a mixed feeling of sadness and triumph. Rather than your usual sad scenes and shows, this show was more about love and sacrifice. It wasn't so much about the sadness of a death of someone, but more of how much one could sacrifice so much - his life, and his name.

Even after the end of the whole show, there is still this lingering feeling of sadness that will never go away. The whole OST for the show will also set you off.

______________________________

5th: Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai

Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai, or in short - AnoHana - is a very well known sad anime that has touched many viewer's hearts. The basis of the whole anime is set to make sure that everyone would try while watching this.

A group of childhood friends parted after the death of one of them during the summer holidays, but she comes back, unable to move on, but only visible to the main character - Jinta. The 5 of them then came back together to help her move on, while at the same time sorting out their feelings.

As many can see from the short summary, it's a sad anime. But it's not only the fact that because one of them died, it's sad, but it's also the addition of all the other character's feelings. Each of them has a story to tell, and each of them bring to us many different feelings of sadness.

Warning: Embrace yourself on the last episode.

______________________________

4th: Angel Beats

Angel Beats!, as mentioned above, is written by Maeda Jun, and was also adapted from a light novel.

Angel Beats! has many mixed reactions; though many would agree that it's one of the saddest anime they have seen in their life, there are also another group of people who said that there is not enough, which is why I only ranked this as 4th.

In my opinion, I think that the stories themselves were sad, and like many, I also feel that it's one of the saddest anime. But I also do feel that it's lacking in character affection. With just 13 episodes, there is just not enough time for a proper connection to be made between the character and the viewers (different for people who fall in love with character at the first sight), which brings out this lack of impact.

I think the secret to this anime lies in the ups and downs of the anime. Because of the huge difference between the sad scenes and the funny scenes, it makes the sad scenes feel even more sad. Though for people who change gears slower, it back fires.

However, I feel that it doesn't change the fact that Otonashi (main character)'s story and the last scene was one of the saddest thing seen in the modern anime history.

______________________________

3rd: Chrno Crusade

Chrno Crusade was one of my childhood anime which I have loved since I first watched it. (though now that I look back, I find certain scenes pretty dumb).

This story revolve around demons and the people who has the power to kill them - either people with special powers or people who are trained in killing them. However, in this rare case, a human - Rosette - and a demon - Chrono - is paired together. Even people who have a deep hatred for demons can to slowly like Chrono. In this story, Chrono doesn't have his horns, which are the source of this demonic powers. So instead of horns, he has to make a contract with a human to bring out his powers. Every time he uses his demon powers, his human contractor's life force would be drained.

As you all can predict how this ends out, but this isn't what makes it sad. There were many different stories in this anime which brings about sadness. Furthermore, the ending of this whole anime - not only the main character's stories, but also the other side characters - really makes you heart break. The story starts out pretty fun, but as you go deeper into the story, the different sides drown you into this deep darkness, before reaching the point of sadness. It leaves you with this sad and emotional darkness lingering in your heart.

And as a bonus, the ending song for this anime is a killer (makes me cry just hearing to it).

______________________________

2nd: Kyoukai no Kanata

Kyoukai no Kanata, another anime beautiful anime animated by Kyoto Animation. Though at first sight, you would least expect this anime to be a sad one. It looks more like an action, slice of life, comedy type of anime. But in the last few episodes of the anime and the movie - Kyoukai no Kanata - I'll Be Here - Mirai Hen, it showcases many many sad scenes which will definitely touch your hearts.

This story focuses mostly on the 2 main character who have suffered through many different incidents because they are different. Having met each other, their feelings for each other grew, and a tear jerking story was born when the 2 of them try their very best to save each other.

Many waves of sad and emotions scenes will come your way starting from the 2nd half of the anime series all the way to the end of the movie.

______________________________

1st: Clannad After Story

Clannad After Story probably went down the anime history as the saddest anime of all time. Produced by Key, who has also produced other popular series with similar art styles.

The starting of this anime probably let a lot of people down, and there will be times where you will be thinking "what the hell am I watching?" but trust me, once you get to after story, you wouldn't regret watching everything from the first episode. And for people who think they should just skip to after story, I'd advice not too. The deep character affection developed between the viewers is crucial, and it can only happen if you watch this show right from the beginning.

All I can say is that I probably cried throughout the whole of after story. I got tired of crying after that. 

______________________________

Photos taken from:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Garden_of_Words

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte_(anime)

http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E3%81%91%E3%81%84%E3%81%8A%E3%82%93-6-DVD-%E8%B1%8A%E5%B4%8E%E6%84%9B%E7%94%9F/dp/B0024DGNCK/ref=pd_bxgy_74_img_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=1EQXPDN8YK67BX26HNQ7

http://www.crunchyroll.com/forumtopic-864683/one-piece-3d2y-anime-special

http://dcyberanimes.blogspot.sg/2014/07/ars-nova-animes-chat.html

http://arukunews.jp/2924.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel_Beats!

http://hiwatari-girl-aliandry1.blogspot.sg/

http://www.masterani.me/anime/info/1210-kyoukai-no-kanata-movie-ill-be-here-kako-hen

http://voiceacting.wikia.com/wiki/Clannad:_After_Story

______________________________

3D Animation taking over 2D Animation?!

Basically today I thought I would touch on the topic of 3D animation, since it feels as if the number of anime using 3D animation is increasing over the past few seasons.

I don't know when 3D animation was first used, but I think what had spread the influence of using 3D animation is basically the american culture, vocaloid and budget restraint.

So before I move onto talking about the reasons, I picked up a few anime which as inputted 3D animation.

_________________________

Well as we all know the anime Digimon as our childhood anime, they had already started using 3D animation for the digimons when they evolve into the higher stages. But they didn't really do much with it other then for that few seconds. So I won't go into details.

So the first is Baby Steps which was aired in 2014. Baby steps is a spurts anime which touches on tennis. Even though 3D animation is more useful when they are trying to show more precise and smooth motion, in this anime, the 3D models were used as bystanders, and not for the movements of the characters.

and I don't know why, but it really annoys me when their having a match and I see these 3D models standing there, and it really distracts me a lot while trying to watch the match. It was probably done to save time in having the draw in all the by standers in every frame they animate. I appreciate the effort in actually making people stand there, but I would rather it not be there.

In Prince of Tennis (aired in 2001 to 2005), also a tennis anime, most of the time they didn't actually have any by stander in the frame itself, or just have shadows of people, but when you are actually watching the match itself, you wouldn't even notice. So I actually thought that it was better this way.

 

_________________________

Next would be music anime, and especially anime with piano scenes. Piano scenes are really important to show the fingering on each key to actually bring out that liveliness of that scene. And in animation that would be killing yourself by drawing each any every frame for each finger movement (or even half a finger movement), so it's obviously a lot smoother and faster to use 3D animation where you can actually use motion sensors.

I think it's already well known, but Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso does this for their piano scenes. It was actually mentioned a few times among the voice actors themselves during events and talks that they actually used an actual pianist and recorded it down with motion sensors to get the fingering right, and as a result, you get a very smooth piano scene.

And it's very obvious that these scenes are using 3D animation. I don't know if it's because of the style they actually use to paint on the hands, but it's very obvious, compared to Nodame Cantabile. In Nodame cantabile, even though they also did use 3D animation for the piano scenes, it's not as obvious, and it's hard to tell that it's actually 3D.

 

It's probably confirmed that any anime on classical music, using piano - they would probably use the motion sensors for the scenes.

It was said to be almost impossible to animate violin scenes because of the fact the compared to the piano, violin is an instrument which moves along with the player.However, for Shigatsu's violin scenes, it was done using 2D animation style. But 3D models were used as reference for drawing in the 2D frames. And on top of that, they actually filmed a violinist playing from different angles to use as reference for the drawings too.

And you end up with a ton of frames for just 5 seconds. But I'm sure all of those who had watched Shigatsu was pretty pleased with the animation. Just by the amount of hard work they had to put into a single scene it would really put off the animators, and we should all be grateful for all their hard work, because we ended up with such a beautiful scene and animation.

_________________________

Next up is sports anime. I think I've only seen one sports anime using 3D for their animation, but it's only a little - like a 5 seconds thing? And that anime is Yowamushi Pedal.

Basically they only use 3D animation for scenes where the camera pans out and it shows their back.

I'm actually not too sure as to why they would only do that for the few second scenes, but I'm thinking it's because of the fact that when you pan out the camera and it shows so many people riding on their bicycle, it's actually really hard to coordinate the timing for the movements of the head, arms and legs (and not to mention - hair). On top of that, since it actually shows many difference character, who are riding with different movements, it's actually hard to get the timing correct.

But of course, for sports anime whose movements of the limbs are crucial, 3D animation makes it a lot smoother. This applies to action anime too. As most of you know that during these few seasons, many of the animation uses 3D during their action scenes or well, specific scenes which require a lot of movement (this includes anime like Divine Gate and Phantasy Star Online). Which brings me to my next point - selective 3D animation.

_________________________

Selective 3D animation seems to be the trend in anime these 2 seasons. Since they still want to preserve that traditional 2D animation, yet still want the quality of fast paced movements to be there. A number of animes can be listed off the bat, but I'd be focusing on Rokka no Yuusha.

In Rokka no Yuusha, the monsters (which are also known as 'kyo' or 'fiends') are 3D animated, while the rest of the anime is 2D animated.

Well I didn't care too much about this, because the monsters didn't really play a huge role in the anime, and don't have a lot of screen time. But it really bothered me when there was more character-monster interaction. And the contrast between the 2 when put side by side, was just unsightly.

But on the other hand, I liked the consistency of making all the monsters 3D animated. So I don't really know which is better - using 2D animation for this monster or continue with the 3D animation.

_________________________

Next is full 3D animation, and these are the how anime may look like in the future if everyone decides to using 3D animation instead of 2D. There have been a few 3D animated anime like God Eater and Ajin. But since I have yet to watch God Eater, I'll be talking about Ajin.

Well I don't really have anything against 3D animation, because I really liked movies like Final Fantasy. But for this animation, I don't think I can say it's nice. Instead of giving the anime more life, I feel like it's actually worst off compared to a normal 2D animation - it actually looks a lot flatter. I think this is mainly because of the style of colouring and highlights, it really lacks that depth which 3D needs in order for it to look nice.

Unlike the American animation, they don't actually layer on texture onto the characters and things itself, instead they just colour it normally. So it doesn't really look as glamorous. In addition, the character movements were stiff and it didn't look very natural. This is probably because they are actually using 3D models and moving them, while smooth and natural movement requires motion capture of a moving human being. But whether a not using 3D animation was for the better or worst, I wouldn't know.

But if Japanese 3D animation is going to be heading towards what we see in american movies like Good Dinosaur, I must say I'm looking forward to it, but if it's going to remain in this level, then I don't think changing it for the better. 

_________________________

As we all know, vocaloid has been a huge influence in Japan, because of Miku's popularity, and has also been gaining popularity in other foreign countries. And they have been holding vocaloid concerts, with vocaloids (mostly Miku) being displayed on a large screen and a live band.

Well this Miku hologram is made based on capturing motions made by a real dancing person and then used as 3D animation to make her look as real as possible. Even all their games have a 3D dancing miku. With this, I think that it has spread more ideas on how to use 3D animation, especially seeing how influential Miku is in Japan.

_________________________

But the biggest and most important reason is probably because of the lack of budget animation companies have.

Ever since the rise of the internet and free online videos, the animation group has been seeing a decline in sales and revenue of animation DVDs and CDs. The amplifying of the sale prices of the DVDs are actually backfiring and lesser people are buying it because it's just too expensive. Why would viewers spend a bomb on raw Blueray DVDs (they cost around 60 SGD for 2 episodes) when they can get free Subbed, high quality videos online? As such the revenues earned are dropping and the budget is decreasing.

In 2D animation, the amount of effort put into each frame is very costly, to the point where animators are not getting paid enough, as each frame has to be hand drawn over and over again just to make a few seconds of animation. So to cut down on the amount spend on animating, they use 3D animation which only needs the creation of the individual pieces, after which they can be reused as many times needed. Compared to the 2D animation which needs to get redrawn over and over again. Basically it's a lot more efficient and less costly to use 3D animation as compared to 2D animation.

As to whether 3D animation would replace 2D animation, I think it's up to the fans to decide.

Durarara!! x2 Shou Ep 4.5: Watashi no Kokoro wa Nabe Moyou

Basically this special episode was from where they left off at episode 4, whereby they decided to hold a hot pot party after Celty and Anri were trying to learn cooking.

I was actually thinking what kind of weird special episode were they going to put up, but I ended up loving this episode more than any episode in the main series.

This episode is mainly about past stories which happened between friends, and how their relationship actually came about. Though they only got to talk more about Ryuugamine, Anri and Shizuo. I was actually really interested in knowing how Dota-cchin and his gang came about, but guess they didn't have time for that.

_____________________________________

So for starters, obviously they have got to start with the 2 main characters - Ryuugamine and Masaomi.

Though it was said before from the beginning that they were both childhood friends before Masaomi had to moved to Ikebukuro, they didn't actually tell us how close they were before. So at last, here comes the moment of truth.

The flashback starts with Masaomi going to Ryuugamine's house at 2am (which friend goes knocking on their friend's windows at 2am?!) and well, from the first scene you can tell that Masomi's personality had not changed since then. Though his appearance was from before he dyed his hair blonde.

Young Ryuugamine was also the same as before - hating violence, and trying to stop people from doing the wrong things even though he can't fight.

Well, as expected their voice actors were different, though I did spot Terashima's voice (Togusa's voice actor) in the midst of everything.

_____________________________________

Secondly it was Anri and Harima Mika. Well they did mention before from the start that they both knew each other, and Anri was frantically trying to find Mika when she went missing in the first few episodes of season 1. However after all that, there was only a brief mention that they knew each other. So to what extend their relationship was, was kind of a mystery.

But now it's unfolded that Mika actually saved Anri from a bunch of bullies, and their relationship grew from there when they started hanging out together.

Though expected, both their personality didn't change since then. Anri was still that shy girl who doesn't talk much, and Mika is still a happy go lucky and high tension girl.

_____________________________________

Thirdly is our long waited Shizuo and Tom's story. There was an episode in season 1 (ep 12 I think) which was about Shizuo and his life story - mostly about how he came to be so strong, and how his fight with Izaya started. In that episode, there was a little missing piece which was skipped; which was when did he actually met Tom-san.

It was mentioned before that Tom-san was his senpai, so when he invited Shizuo to go work for him, he just accepted it. But as to how he came about to know Tom-san was a mystery itself. Because it was honestly a hard think imagining Shizuo knowing a senpai from school that easy, especially because I doubt he is in any clubs.

While telling us the story about Shizuo and Tom-san, they actually also told us about how Shizuo's blonde hair came about (I honestly just took it as he just decided to dye it one day, and left it at there). Apparently it was Tom's idea that Shizuo dyed his hair so that people would avoid him. Though when Tom first suggested this, Shizuo was against it saying "I shouldn't dye the hair which my parents gave me." (Awww, Shizu is such a cutie pie).

_____________________________________

Well, so ending the story about Shizuo and Tom-san they were just about to get into knowing more about Dota-cchin and his gang, but...

Well Yumasaki decided to use his awesome Otaku-ness to do a flashback, well while we can never be sure how true his story his (minus the random butler setting), Karisawa decided to turn it into a fujoushi material. And, well, somehow it ended up with random anime cross references - (from the left) Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei, To Aru Kagaku no Railgun, To Aru Majutsu no Index, Ryo-Kyu-Bu! And then it all ended with Dota-cchin being angry.

I'm guessing they are having Index and Misaki grab onto Dota-cchin was because he did mention before that even though he doesn't really like anime-related stuff, he really likes the light novel for To Aru Majutsu no Index. So we have Index grabbing onto his left arm, and sine To Aru Kagaku no Railgun is kind of like a side story (more like an alternative setting) for Index, we have Misaki grabbing onto Dota-cchin's right arm.

_____________________________________

When Shinra heard them talk about random childhood memories, he decided that he wanted to share with them more about him and Celty, but then it was cut short because Celty said she couldn't really remember, though she was just lying because it was too embarrassing.

Being desperate Shinra wanted to call Izaya up to reinforce his memories, but was stopped by Dota-cchin because Shizuo was there.

If only Izaya was there then we could have another Izaya - Shizuo moment again, though Shinra's apartment would be... gone, for good.

Well, I'm really hoping that there would be more episodes like this, especially when they decide to talk more about the main few cast. Somehow it makes me feel nostalgic too.