Freedom Project, Akira author's new movie

[fahr]

I hate to say it, but I'm appalled at the look of this film. The characters are very stiff and poorly animated. Defintely NOT a good substitute for hand drawn characters. Its almost an insult to the art form that these concoctions are designed to LOOK hand drawn.

Im a HUGE Akira and Steamboy fan, and I'm a 3d artist. But this does not feel like a good combination to me.

I hope at least the story is good.

[Spater]

I hate to say it, but I'm appalled at the look of this film. The characters are very stiff and poorly animated. Defintely NOT a good substitute for hand drawn characters. Its almost an insult to the art form that these concoctions are designed to LOOK hand drawn.

Im a HUGE Akira and Steamboy fan, and I'm a 3d artist. But this does not feel like a good combination to me.

I hope at least the story is good.

that statement is more an insult to art and expression than this movie. Your opinion is your own. Mine is that cel shading in this sense adds a unique, indiscernable style to the animation, whether its good or bad is going to vary from person to person.

[amannin]

their mouth movements felt slow or inaccurate, as well did some of the body movements --- but it looked rather interesting.

i liked the cell shaded look of appleseed, so i don't imagine this being any different or not as good.

but if japan won't be seeing this till the end of october, then we in the US probably won't be seeing it for another year or so :(

[ParamountCell]

A 6 minute trailer is now available.

http://www.star-reef.com/images/freedom.jpg

The characters are in 3D btw.

Trailer: http://www.twitchfilm.net/archives/007191.html

http://freedom-project.jp/

Looks pretty good to me, feels like it will have some depth like so few movies have.

didnt this start out as an advert for some cup noodles? I love the look of it though, although it doesnt look as fluid as the hand drawn animation, I can still imagine it to be pretty slick.

[Renzsu]

I love the looks of this, it's got the busy futuristic style of Akira and although I think handdrawn characters would look better I'm now eagerly awaiting this movie (these certainly look alright, but miss some of the snappy and slightly over the top livelyness of handdrawn characters...).
I have a feeling this will be another hit :)

[Apoclypse]

I hate cel shaded stuff and this is some of the worst I've seen. I can't believe otomo would even do something like that, it looks so generic. The animation is awful. My whole thing is why fake cel shading at all. Cel animated stuff can never imo come across as well as 2d animation, except for certian things. I like the Ghost in the shell approach to things use cg to enhance the 2d aniamtion but not to emulate it. At least not the character cause it just never works. Please don't mention appleseed as an example of it working cause frankly it looked awful. I was more excited with the cg parts than any of the cel shaded crap.

[AdamHerbert]

I think cel shaded 3D characters are great. They don't look too bad in this trailer either. I just didn't think the backgrounds/painted scenes fit with the characters at all. All the mats looked very 80's cartoon style and just didn't fit with the 3D cel chaded characters.

[PhilOsirus]

These celshaded characters are almost identical in animation and design than those of Akira, so if you think the mouth moves slowly or the animation is bad then you could say the same about Akira. There isn't much of a difference between the two.

[Rye]

wow...that was dissapointing to say the least. I know Akira didn't have the greatest animation in the world (although for its time in Japan it was incredible), but this just looks downright TERRIBLE. The animation feels so forced and stiff. Its like the animators had no acting skills at all and just made the arms and hands flail about when the characters are talking to try to show them emoting.

Honestly if I didn't know this was by Otomo, I would have though it was someone's final project (and a bad one at that) at a one year 3d school.

[speveo]

Its a 6 part OVA, not a Theatrical release, so a compromise in quality is to be expected.

[Rye]

Its a 6 part OVA, not a Theatrical release, so a compromise in quality is to be expected.

Did you see FuriKuri? That was a 6 part OVA with brilliant animation. Freedom is just plain sad. Even tv shows with hundreds of episodes and hardly any animation at all atleast have more emotion and better poses than this.

[speveo]

Yes, FLCL was awesome. But you can't compare a Gainax/Production IG co-production to something that's seems to be mostly funded by the Nissin Food Company. Their speciality is evidently Pot Noodle, not producing quality anime. :twisted:

[amannin]

These celshaded characters are almost identical in animation and design than those of Akira, so if you think the mouth moves slowly or the animation is bad then you could say the same about Akira. There isn't much of a difference between the two.

i haven't seen Akira for some time now -- and now i'm hesitant about watching it again. i don't want to destory another classic. thankfully i have the original dub :) should i.........hell, i'm just gonna watch it this weekend.

[ibrahim.x]

at least it is more akira :D



from what i see it is better than the first installment

[aesir]

This was horribly depressing. I mean jesus... The animation was so "meh..." Its downright terrible if you compare it to a masterpiece like akira... 3d is not meant for this

[Youal]

Just for the record, Katsuhiro Otomo is the character and the mechanical designer, not the director. I thought I should point this out.

[Arrghman]

Yes, FLCL was awesome. But you can't compare a Gainax/Production IG co-production to something that's seems to be mostly funded by the Nissin Food Company. Their speciality is evidently Pot Noodle, not producing quality anime. :twisted:

I remember hearing that the 6 eps of FLCL cost the same that most 26 ep series cost! Not sure if its true, but it wouldn't surprise me given how good it is.

Now I want to go watch it again!

[KOKE]

I like the look, and the story might be cool, but the animation is terrible.....

As far as I know, in anime productions they animate the mouth first and then put the audio on top of the animation, so that could explain the complete lack of lip sync (happens in other animes but here due to the bad animation quality, it stand out more IMO).

Anyway I will take a look at this movie for sure once its released.....but that animation....:cry:

:D

JK.

[Apoclypse]

To say that this crap and Akira are on the same level is an insult to Akira and its legacy. All these preachy pricks come out talking about japanese anime this and anime that, I have yet to see an American hand animated movie stand the test of time and as well animated as Akira a movie that came out in 1989. Hell the little mermaid came out at the same time and looks dated by today standards the same cannot be said of Akira which is still a masterpiece of 2d animation. This IS NOT comparable to AKira, maybe the character design is, but that is Otomo's style for which he was hired in this movie for btw.

[igorstshirts]

I don't think it's as bad as you guys are making it out to be but yeah... The people do need a little more work. It looks like a test run for a try at the Katsuhiro style. I think the next project that Otomo directs/produces will be amazing.

[Per-Anders]

To say that this crap and Akira are on the same level is an insult to Akira and its legacy. All these preachy pricks come out talking about japanese anime this and anime that, I have yet to see an American hand animated movie stand the test of time and as well animated as Akira a movie that came out in 1989. Hell the little mermaid came out at the same time and looks dated by today standards the same cannot be said of Akira which is still a masterpiece of 2d animation. This IS NOT comparable to AKira, maybe the character design is, but that is Otomo's style for which he was hired in this movie for btw.

So what in fact you're saying is that anime hasn't moved on at all since then while american animation has.

Go and watch the Jungle book.

Don't confuse design with animation.

Regarding the little mermaid it's pointless to compare the two as one had a much bigger budget, however as you insist the little mermaid may look dated in style but it's animation is still lightyears in advance of Akira, get over your fanboyism and start to use your eyes, I liked Akira but one thing I can't claim for it is that the animation was good because it wasn't, however it was sufficient to tell the story and there were some cool concept designs (not the same thing as good animation), for me it doesn't matter as it's a part of it and the main thing is the concept.

[aesir]

sorry, per, but saying that akira's animation was simply "suficient" is hardly accurate either. It was damn good. However youre right, in that where it really shined was the cohesiveness of its design, the artistic ability of its creators, its timing, and the storyboarding and camera angles.

[igorstshirts]

Man,
I gotta say... The animation in Akira is way better than the Little Mermaid by far. The constant motion of characters in difficult perspectives and atmospheres, the weight of big objects and scale alone outweigh the cartoony style of the mermaid. The dance scene in Snow White might be another story though. My 2.

[CHRiTTeR]

Yes, the quality of the character animation is a shame (transitions are too curved/smooth), but it looks like it would be a cool movie to watch anyway although I got no idea what the story is about from that trailer.

[de_tomato]

I cant get to view the clips, something wrong with the site? Its just me or anyone else having the same problem too?

edit: Fixed. Just copy n paste the URL to WMP.

[Apoclypse]

So what in fact you're saying is that anime hasn't moved on at all since then while american animation has.

Go and watch the Jungle book.

Don't confuse design with animation.

Regarding the little mermaid it's pointless to compare the two as one had a much bigger budget, however as you insist the little mermaid may look dated in style but it's animation is still lightyears in advance of Akira, get over your fanboyism and start to use your eyes, I liked Akira but one thing I can't claim for it is that the animation was good because it wasn't, however it was sufficient to tell the story and there were some cool concept designs (not the same thing as good animation), for me it doesn't matter as it's a part of it and the main thing is the concept.

First the fanboy comment: I give a rats ass if you think I'm a fanboy. Yeah I love the movie do I give a sh*t if you don't. NO.

Second: The Little Mermaid has a way bigger budget than Akira. Akira was the most expensive movie made in Japan, but compared to what Disney was spending and still spends on their movies even mediocre ones like Home on the range, its pennies.

Now the references to shut you up
Little Mermaid:http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=7068243

Akira: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akira_(film)

Akira had half the budget, yet which one is barable to watch now? Please look sh*t up before you talk man. Google is your friend. It only took me 2 minutes to get the references for you. The animation in mermaid was adeqaute but not better. Where is the level of detail in the animation? The movie looks damn right hokey by todays standards yet Akira still holds up. When I say that I'm not talking about just anime. I'm talking about animation in general.

I'm not going argue anymore. Its not worth it.

[Lunatique]

Comparing American animation to Japanese animation is kind of pointless, because the two styles are so drastically different it's like comparing apples to oranges.

The Japanese are more focued on visual details and wide ranging genres of stories for both adults and children, while the Americans are more focused on fluid movement and the younger audience.

When it comes to the look of any 2D animation, you pretty much have to sacrifice one for the other (elaborate visuals or fluid movement) on the account of budget. There has never been a feature animation made with both the stunning visual details of Japanese animation and the fluid movement of American animation combined, and the sole reason is because of time and money.

[kurtw]

Akira 3D: Electric Boogaloo

The look is neat. But the character motion is too floaty, and uninspired. It's really too bad, it looks like they are just animating on 2's or higher and using straight linear interplation. Perhaps it's a budget issue.

[The-Maestro]

Reminds me of the same type of animate scheme and layout Voices of a Distant Star. same type of technology. I think its the way one precieves the story VS the animation style and teh work that can or does go into it. I see promise in it.......

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