(L+CR) Black Bullet

[Dark Paladin X]

Originally Posted by blackwhite67

PV's good. Nice apocalyptic atmosphere of despair going on there. Music's almost alien. Character designs a little too mature for me, but maybe that's because I've gotten so used to the manga.

The manga tones down a lot of the dark themes and characterization from the Light Novel series. I hope the anime stays faithful to the Light Novel a bit more than the manga. Judging the fact that they mention Tina Sprout's voice actress, it seems that they are covering up to volume 2 from the light novel. I'm wondering if this is a 2-cour series since 4 volumes of Light Novel can cover a lot in anime (about 25 episodes).

On the other hand, I personally love the character designs of the lolis Kohina and Enju, they are really cute.

Judging by the PV, anyone wanna guess who will pick this anime up for North American home distribution and video streaming rights. My bets are on Viz Media, but this is more relating to the fact that I came up with a fantasy English dub cast for Black Bullet even though doing something like this is too early to tell (I probably will share my ideas sometime next year in May or June).

Originally Posted by Ougon no Kemono

To be truthful, I was expecting more from this studio..

You mean the art design. A lot of folks at ANN and Twitter were bitching about the color filters of the art and character designs.

[Ougon]

Originally Posted by Dark Paladin X

You mean the art design. A lot of folks at ANN and Twitter were bitching about the color filters of the art and character designs.

PV was not able to bring out the true atmosphere of the LN, it almost felt like some shounen action series aimed at middle school students... The LN feels way, way, way more dramatic.

And that music........

Still, I'll hold off my real judgement until anime airs.

[desrtsku]

Contents has little to do with the studio though, it's more about the staff in charge. The studio is more responsible of the production of the animation itself than anything else.

[Ougon]

Originally Posted by desrtsku

Contents has little to do with the studio though, it's more about the staff in charge. The studio is more responsible of the production of the animation itself than anything else.

I didn't know I was talking about contents....

[desrtsku]

Well, just like Dark Paladin X said, the studio is mainly responsible of the visuals. In other words, you shouldn't expect things like "mature atmosphere" from the studio but from the people in the main staff (Kojima-san, etc).

[Dark Paladin X]

Originally Posted by Ougon no Kemono

PV was not able to bring out the true atmosphere of the LN, it almost felt like some shounen action series aimed at middle school students... The LN feels way, way, way more dramatic.

And that music........

Still, I'll hold off my real judgement until anime airs.

Well, let's put it this way, at least I find the PV did gave me a really good impression a little bit, but I have to agree with you, we'll have to hold our own judgment until the anime actually airs. I hope the staff involved in the anime doesn't derp things up like the folks in Aniplex derped Sword Art Online (another anime where I found it be a bit decent or average at best, but a great dub in my opinion). But who knows, a well-done English dub can sometimes make a bad show more enjoyable.

I'll be honest here, I'm mostly interested in Black Bullet for three reasons: 1) the cute lolis, and 2) the very dark nature and political themes from the light novels, 3) the complex characterization and relationships between the characters. I really hope the anime can cover all of this (well, they obviously covered the cute lolis part of things).

[Ougon]

Originally Posted by Dark Paladin X

Well, let's put it this way, at least I find the PV did gave me a really good impression a little bit, but I have to agree with you, we'll have to hold our own judgment until the anime actually airs. I hope the staff involved in the anime doesn't derp things up like the folks in Aniplex derped Sword Art Online (another anime where I found it be a bit decent or average at best, but a great dub in my opinion). But who knows, a well-done English dub can sometimes make a bad show more enjoyable.

I'll be honest here, I'm mostly interested in Black Bullet for three reasons: 1) the cute lolis, and 2) the very dark nature and political themes from the light novels, 3) the complex characterization and relationships between the characters. I really hope the anime can cover all of this (well, they obviously covered the cute lolis part of things).

The very reasons for my "affection" towards Black Bullet.

To add, it has awesome characters~~

[Dark Paladin X]

Originally Posted by Ougon no Kemono

The very reasons for my "affection" towards Black Bullet.

To add, it has awesome characters~~

Not to mention a good number of drama and tearjerkers:

Spoiler for from the first light novel:

For example, Rentaro breaking down and crying when he has to mercy kill Kayo Senju to end her pain and suffering from the Gastrea virus when the virus exceeds the critical value rate. Hope the anime makes this a bit more dramatic.

[Ougon]

Originally Posted by Dark Paladin X

Not to mention a good number of drama and tearjerkers:

Ahem~

Spoiler for ..:

I am not sure, if you can post such a spoiler in here

The music was really odd for me..... Animation looks decent, but the music~~

[Dark Paladin X]

Originally Posted by Ougon no Kemono

Ahem~

Spoiler for ..:

I am not sure, if you can post such a spoiler in here

The music was really odd for me..... Animation looks decent, but the music~~

Well, I hope the anime can cover a lot of things from the light novels. 4 Volumes of the light novel series can easily cover 24-25 episodes. Regardless, I apologize if I post the light novel spoilers in, but seeing that Tina Sprout is in the anime, I know they are definitely covering most of volume 2 (where she is first introduced).

As for the music, I wasn't really that bothered by it in my opinion.

[blackwhite67]

Originally Posted by Ougon no Kemono

PV was not able to bring out the true atmosphere of the LN, it almost felt like some shounen action series aimed at middle school students... The LN feels way, way, way more dramatic.

And that music........

Still, I'll hold off my real judgement until anime airs.

Were you expecting something a little more like Psycho-Pass in terms of lighting? I wouldn't worry about the music too much. I doubt this little piece is actually going to air in the anime. I bet it was just for this PV with no other audio.

Originally Posted by Dark Paladin X

Well, I hope the anime can cover a lot of things from the light novels. 4 Volumes of the light novel series can easily cover 24-25 episodes. Regardless, I apologize if I post the light novel spoilers in, but seeing that Tina Sprout is in the anime, I know they are definitely covering most of volume 2 (where she is first introduced).

As for the music, I wasn't really that bothered by it in my opinion.

6 episodes a volume? You're crazy. That's way too long for any sane fan to watch. It's gotta be four and with that they could possibly cover every volume released so far.

[Ougon]

Originally Posted by blackwhite67

Were you expecting something a little more like Psycho-Pass in terms of lighting? I wouldn't worry about the music too much. I doubt this little piece is actually going to air in the anime. I bet it was just for this PV with no other audio.



6 episodes a volume? You're crazy. That's way too long for any sane fan to watch. It's gotta be four and with that they could possibly cover every volume released so far.

Yeah, something of that sort. I would hand out free money if that happens!!!!


With all that advertising about how anime is gonna cover more material than manga, and stay true to LN, I think he is not that off with his prediction.

[desrtsku]

The music, huh. I personally like the one in the PV.
But If anything, the scores you'll end up hearing every episode will either sound like this or this or this or this or even this or any kind of music genre from blues to pop, so I wouldn't worry too much about that one aspect if I were you guys.
Well, anything might still happen though.

[blackwhite67]

Originally Posted by Ougon no Kemono

Yeah, something of that sort. I would hand out free money if that happens!!!!


With all that advertising about how anime is gonna cover more material than manga, and stay true to LN, I think he is not that off with his prediction.

We need to see at least 1 fight every 2 episodes. I could never stand two consecutive episodes of talking and talking. Can anyone even recall an adaptation where they covered a volume in 6 episodes?

[Dark Paladin X]

Originally Posted by blackwhite67

6 episodes a volume? You're crazy. That's way too long for any sane fan to watch. It's gotta be four and with that they could possibly cover every volume released so far.

Originally Posted by Ougon no Kemono

Yeah, something of that sort. I would hand out free money if that happens!!!!


With all that advertising about how anime is gonna cover more material than manga, and stay true to LN, I think he is not that off with his prediction.

My rationale behind the 25 episodes covering 4 volumes is because the Sword Art Online anime (which was a 2-cour series) actually covered the first four volumes of the light novel series. Thus being said, a lot of people didn't really like the Sword Art Online anime adaption because the series wasted a lot of potential and didn't cover enough details on the plot and character like the light novels did. Sword Art Online had a lot of action and fighting scenes (and they're pretty cool in my opinion), but the plot development is horribly written (which had a lot of deus ex machinas) and the characterization side is really lackluster (the only characterization I got from watching Sword Art Online is that Kirito is flawed badass character, but ended up as a "marty sue" protagonist and the only character relationship that is covered is his relationship with Asuna). The plot went down the hill more when the anime tried to cover the Fairy Dance arch. Sword Art Online had a good premise at start, but the end, it was ended being average (apparently, like Black Bullet, I was drawn into the SAO anime because of a loli character and even so, she doesn't get much screen time in the anime).

But then again, comparing Sword Art Online to Black Bullet is like comparing apples to oranges. Both are light novels with anime adaptions and are quite action-heavy series with dark and serious themes, but Sword Art Online wasted a lot of potential in the anime adaption. The problem I personally have with action/fighting light novels in anime adaption is that sometimes the staff will tone down of the darker themes, plot, and characterization or not cover enough because they throw in more fighting/action scenes in the anime. Yes, I do admit that Black Bullet anime might not able to cover everything in the light novel, but at least the anime should try to cover the important plot themes, characterization, the politics involving cursed children, and the character relationship as well as a good mixture of comedy, drama, and action. I could see Black Bullet being a hit-or-miss based on:

• The balance between action and plot development in the series. How much fighting scenes and plot is being portrayed. A good series would balance between the two and doesn't overuse deus ex machinas.
• Characterization and character relationship. No mary or marty sue type characters. Characters need to have some flaw in their personality and have room for character development.
• A good premise that get people on hook into the series.
• How faithful the anime is to the light novel series. Like I mention before, they might not able to cover everything in the first four volumes of the light novel series, but 4-6 episodes per story arc and light novel should be enough to cover a lot of cotent and have good action. A little anime difference variation is okay as long as they stay faithful to the original source.
• How written the drama, comedy, or tearjerker scenes are written. A good anime would not have the scenes forcefully written down in unexpected manner (they should create an feeling of some foreshadowing that a particular tragedy or event will occur).
• A good ending. Since the Black Bullet light novel series is ongoing, I hope they will create an ending that kinda hints for a sequel continuation if possible and not some random cliffhanger.

So far, the synopsis, the character designs, the characters, the plot, the themes, and the PV still keep in on hook into the series. I hope the anime staff knows what they are doing and learn the mistakes from other light novel based anime adaptions.

[Esclair]

Originally Posted by blackwhite67

We need to see at least 1 fight every 2 episodes. I could never stand two consecutive episodes of talking and talking. Can anyone even recall an adaptation where they covered a volume in 6 episodes?

If KyoAn actually followed the LN more closely, using the pacing that had for episodes 1 and 2, it'd have taken them 8 episodes to cover the first volume of the Kyoukai no Kanata light novel. Even with all the changes, the amount of material taken from the LN covers roughly about 5 episodes of the anime, and they left out a sub-arc that consists of 1/3 of the LN.

4 episodes is not enough for a 1 volume unless the LN is really short. Just look at the adaptations for Unbreakable Machine Girl and Strike the Blood. The pacing is extremely rushed in both of them, and a lot of details are left out in favor of covering more material. 5 or 6 episodes give a lot more breathing room and allows the directors to work in the scenes that may not directly pertain to the plot, but help build the characters.

Anyways, Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid covers 2 LN's with 13 episodes, and the pacing isn't slow at all.

[Dark Paladin X]

Originally Posted by Esclair

If KyoAn actually followed the LN more closely, using the pacing that had for episodes 1 and 2, it'd have taken them 8 episodes to cover the first volume of the Kyoukai no Kanata light novel. Even with all the changes, the amount of material taken from the LN covers roughly about 5 episodes of the anime, and they left out a sub-arc that consists of 1/3 of the LN.

4 episodes is not enough for a 1 volume unless the LN is really short. Just look at the adaptations for Unbreakable Machine Girl and Strike the Blood. The pacing is extremely rushed in both of them, and a lot of details are left out in favor of covering more material. 5 or 6 episodes give a lot more breathing room and allows the directors to work in the scenes that may not directly pertain to the plot, but help build the characters.

Anyways, Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid covers 2 LN's with 13 episodes, and the pacing isn't slow at all.

Yeah, 5-6 episodes per volume should be enough to cover a lot of things. I rather have the anime cover as much material as possible AND have strong plot and character development rather than trying to rush everything in 4 episodes per volume. I'm pretty sure this will be a two-cour anime that will cover most of everything up to volume 4 (as the most logical explanation here) Volume 5 and 6 can be reserved for a special anime film if possible.

Anyways across from that, anyone want to guess who might pick this anime up for streaming and home distribution rights for North America? If anyone ask, look up a couple of posts before.

[blackwhite67]

Originally Posted by Dark Paladin X

My rationale behind the 25 episodes covering 4 volumes is because the Sword Art Online anime (which was a 2-cour series) actually covered the first four volumes of the light novel series. Thus being said, a lot of people didn't really like the Sword Art Online anime adaption because the series wasted a lot of potential and didn't cover enough details on the plot and character like the light novels did. Sword Art Online had a lot of action and fighting scenes (and they're pretty cool in my opinion), but the plot development is horribly written (which had a lot of deus ex machinas) and the characterization side is really lackluster (the only characterization I got from watching Sword Art Online is that Kirito is flawed badass character, but ended up as a "marty sue" protagonist and the only character relationship that is covered is his relationship with Asuna). The plot went down the hill more when the anime tried to cover the Fairy Dance arch. Sword Art Online had a good premise at start, but the end, it was ended being average (apparently, like Black Bullet, I was drawn into the SAO anime because of a loli character and even so, she doesn't get much screen time in the anime).

But then again, comparing Sword Art Online to Black Bullet is like comparing apples to oranges. Both are light novels with anime adaptions and are quite action-heavy series with dark and serious themes, but Sword Art Online wasted a lot of potential in the anime adaption. The problem I personally have with action/fighting light novels in anime adaption is that sometimes the staff will tone down of the darker themes, plot, and characterization or not cover enough because they throw in more fighting/action scenes in the anime. Yes, I do admit that Black Bullet anime might not able to cover everything in the light novel, but at least the anime should try to cover the important plot themes, characterization, the politics involving cursed children, and the character relationship as well as a good mixture of comedy, drama, and action. I could see Black Bullet being a hit-or-miss based on:

• The balance between action and plot development in the series. How much fighting scenes and plot is being portrayed. A good series would balance between the two and doesn't overuse deus ex machinas.
• Characterization and character relationship. No mary or marty sue type characters. Characters need to have some flaw in their personality and have room for character development.
• A good premise that get people on hook into the series.
• How faithful the anime is to the light novel series. Like I mention before, they might not able to cover everything in the first four volumes of the light novel series, but 4-6 episodes per story arc and light novel should be enough to cover a lot of cotent and have good action. A little anime difference variation is okay as long as they stay faithful to the original source.
• How written the drama, comedy, or tearjerker scenes are written. A good anime would not have the scenes forcefully written down in unexpected manner (they should create an feeling of some foreshadowing that a particular tragedy or event will occur).
• A good ending. Since the Black Bullet light novel series is ongoing, I hope they will create an ending that kinda hints for a sequel continuation if possible and not some random cliffhanger.

So far, the synopsis, the character designs, the characters, the plot, the themes, and the PV still keep in on hook into the series. I hope the anime staff knows what they are doing and learn the mistakes from other light novel based anime adaptions.

If you're gonna accuse SAO of going Mary Sue then that was an inherent problem with the light novel itself. I think it was a pretty smart move to cover the side stories in SAO since it would've seemed funny to end the whole namesake in just six episodes with the other 18 covering completely different games.

For Black Bullet, there isn't nearly as much exposition to cover so it should be fine.

Originally Posted by Esclair

If KyoAn actually followed the LN more closely, using the pacing that had for episodes 1 and 2, it'd have taken them 8 episodes to cover the first volume of the Kyoukai no Kanata light novel. Even with all the changes, the amount of material taken from the LN covers roughly about 5 episodes of the anime, and they left out a sub-arc that consists of 1/3 of the LN.

4 episodes is not enough for a 1 volume unless the LN is really short. Just look at the adaptations for Unbreakable Machine Girl and Strike the Blood. The pacing is extremely rushed in both of them, and a lot of details are left out in favor of covering more material. 5 or 6 episodes give a lot more breathing room and allows the directors to work in the scenes that may not directly pertain to the plot, but help build the characters.

Anyways, Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid covers 2 LN's with 13 episodes, and the pacing isn't slow at all.

When KyoAni did Kyoukai they only had one novel and a draft of volume 2 to work with so that doesn't even count. Strike the Blood had horrible budgeting. Did you notice how they did an OP sequence in the final episode of the recent arc? Usually, in the last episode of an arc where climactic fight occurs, the powers that be usually don't do an OP sequence to save on time and if the OP theme is good enough they'll use that as the background music for the fight, but they kept the OP sequence. Do you realize what this means? The project was so underfunded that even if they had the opportunity to include more content, they wouldn't do it.

As for Machine Doll, they only had one cour and covering only 2 volumes would have been pretty pathetic. I personally blame the excessively long and horrible CG fight scenes.

[Ougon]

Originally Posted by blackwhite67

For Black Bullet, there isn't nearly as much exposition to cover so it should be fine.

What!? What!? What!?

How did you come to such a conclusion!?

Originally Posted by Esclair

If KyoAn actually followed the LN more closely, using the pacing that had for episodes 1 and 2, it'd have taken them 8 episodes to cover the first volume of the Kyoukai no Kanata light novel. Even with all the changes, the amount of material taken from the LN covers roughly about 5 episodes of the anime, and they left out a sub-arc that consists of 1/3 of the LN.

4 episodes is not enough for a 1 volume unless the LN is really short. Just look at the adaptations for Unbreakable Machine Girl and Strike the Blood. The pacing is extremely rushed in both of them, and a lot of details are left out in favor of covering more material. 5 or 6 episodes give a lot more breathing room and allows the directors to work in the scenes that may not directly pertain to the plot, but help build the characters.

Anyways, Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid covers 2 LN's with 13 episodes, and the pacing isn't slow at all.

Originally Posted by Dark Paladin X

Yeah, 5-6 episodes per volume should be enough to cover a lot of things. I rather have the anime cover as much material as possible AND have strong plot and character development rather than trying to rush everything in 4 episodes per volume. I'm pretty sure this will be a two-cour anime that will cover most of everything up to volume 4 (as the most logical explanation here) Volume 5 and 6 can be reserved for a special anime film if possible.

Anyways across from that, anyone want to guess who might pick this anime up for streaming and home distribution rights for North America? If anyone ask, look up a couple of posts before.

I fully agree with you guys here, I really don't think four episodes are enough for a single volume.

I was hoping for Viz, but I think its gonna be Funimation.

[Dark Paladin X]

Originally Posted by Ougon no Kemono

I was hoping for Viz, but I think its gonna be Funimation.

It can go either way since Black Bullet is one of the bigger titles for the Spring 2014 anime season (and both these licensors LOVE to license big title anime, particularly Viz Media, who's known to be very picky on the titles they license).

However, I'm leaning towards Viz Media mostly due to English dubbing reasoning over the nature of the anime. While Funimation does have a good voice talent pool, I really can't see any of those voice actors get roles in this series. Not to mention, Black Bullet has like a total of 4+ lolis (5-6 if you count the ones at volume 3-4) and Bang Zoom! is usually better handling loli characters in their own dubs than other studios (sans Sentai Filmworks in some of their dubs). If you actually compare Magi, Accel World, Sword Art Online, K-On!, and Squid Girl, these anime have at least one loli character and they handle them quite well (usually either Christine Marie Cabanos, Stephanie Sheh, or Sandy Fox. The last is barely used in any of the anime dubs anymore). Funimation usually isn't that great with handling loli characters in their own dubs unless if you get someone like Monica Rial, Jad Saxton, or Tia Ballard (and even so, lolis aren't their primary forte. And did I mention there are 4+ lolis).

To further back my reasoning, take the dub voice actors of Kirito (Bryce Papenbrook) and the loli Silica (Christine Marie Cabanos)* from Sword Art Online and cast them as Rentaro and Enju respectfully and compare the character similarities between the two set of characters. Also, take Yui's voice actress (Stephanie Sheh) and have her cast as Kohina Hiroku and you'll have someone similar to Illyasviel von Einzbern from the Fate series.**

Additional fun fact: Silica's Japanese VA (Rina Hidaka) shares the same VA with Enju Aihara. So it'll be a funny English dub casting gag if Christine Marie Cabanos is cast as Enju Aihara.

NOTES:
*The poster originally thought of Sandy Fox for this character since Enju's personality and background is very similar to Marona from Phantom Brave (a loli voiced by Sandy Fox), but since said voice actress doesn't do much anime voice work anymore, the poster settles with Christine Marie Cabanos as a more realistic choice.
**Okay, I admit Illya isn't exactly evil, but she has a bit of a childish bipolar and psychotic personality. Kohina is cute, psychotic, and evil all at the same time; so this is definitely a Sheh role.