Animation directors and music for the final episodes

Filed under: Episodes, Random — Starks at 8:13 pm on Wednesday, March 10, 2010

As expected, Sunrise has revealed them.

24: Sayaka Koiso

25: Sachiko Sugimoto and Kayo Tachibana

26: Yoshihito Hishinuma

I'm not surprised that Sunrise is using Hishinuma, one of the more prominent directors from the first anime, for the final episode, but I must remark that he hasn't done anything of merit outside of Inuyasha and Final Act in quite a few years save for Yakitate Japan and that terrible Tales of the Abyss anime (yeah, it looked good, but the 26 episode pacing killed it).

As for the episode summaries, I'm not going to bother trying translating them. I can't.

Source: http://www.sunrise-inc.co.jp/yasya-kanketsu/onair/06.html

Edit: I apologize if the mailing list is acting up again.

Edit 2: According to producer Michihiko Suwa, 25 and 26 will have new background music tracks by long-time series composer, Kaoru Wada:
http://www.ytv.co.jp/anime/suwa/back1158125.html

Episode 23: Selling your soul for a loli never looked so mediocre

Filed under: Episodes — Starks at 5:13 pm on Monday, March 8, 2010

Episode 23: Naraku: The trap of light
(奈落 光の罠 Naraku hikari no wana)

Chapters covered: 540 through the end of 544

I don't have any serious complaints about this week other than the fact that Sakuma directed it. There was nothing special about how the animation looked this week nor did it deviate from the manga. If I wanted to nit-pick, I could say that the whole scene with Sango begging Sesshoumaru to kill her and Kohaku trying to verbally defend her didn't translate very from the manga to the anime. However, it wasn't great writing to begin. The shots off Rin's feet was also kinda weird.

Furtheremore, call me an insensitive fan if you will, but this anime is just terrible at eliciting an emotional response from me. Sure, there was plenty  of on-screen emotion this week, but it just isn't translating towards me. I don't get it.

Finally, right now, pacing is perfect. 24 should cover at least through the end of 548, but I'm pretty sure it will go through the end of 549. Since we are averaging 4-5 chapters per episode, I'd like to make a preliminary prediction of the last 3 episodes.

24: 545-549
25: 550-554
26: 555-558 (end)

Summaries and animation directors for those episodes will most likely appear on Sunrise's website by the end of the week.

But Sunrise promised us crossdressing traps…

Filed under: Episodes — Starks at 7:36 pm on Monday, March 1, 2010

Episode 22: Naraku: The trap of darkness
(奈落 闇の罠 Naraku yami no wana)

Chapters covered: Second half of 534 through the end of 539

There were some things I liked this week and some things I didn't. First of all, chapter 537 and 538 were adapted to the point where they were practically changed. The end result was rather well-animated claw battle between Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru, but how Inuyasha loses his grip on Tessaiga is a considerable departure from canon. Rather than Narakua and his tentacles being the one to pry it from his hands and removing Inuyasha from the fight, it is instead Sesshoumaru who rather effortlessly knocks it away onto the fleshy cliff and continues the fight. I could continue to remark on this destruction of canon, but I'll not waste my breath. Just reread 537 and 538 and you'll see what I'm talking about.

On the bright side, Shippou vs. Jaken was hilarious and the dialogue with Kohaku perhaps even moreseo. Furthermore, I wasn't expecting the death of Magatsuhi (539) to be covered this week. I'm not sure how this will ultimately affect pacing. Also, remember that 558 has the content of 2 chapters.

Next week should at least get us through 544.

When in doubt… Recycle!

Filed under: Episodes — Starks at 5:21 pm on Monday, February 22, 2010

Episode 21: Inside Naraku
(奈落の体内へ Naraku no tainai e)

Chapters covered: 530 through half of 534

Shinichi Sakuma earned a very bad reputation for his second rate animation direction for the first Inuyasha anime. To his credit, he's improved for Final Act, but then you have episodes like this week's…

First, the good: This week was pretty panel-for-panel with a few exceptions. There was also budget-breaking use of CG animation for Spider Naraku and it looked very nice

The bad: Important lines regarding Naraku's plans for the future from chapter 530 were omitted.

The ugly: 3 minutes of footage from the original anime. If you look closely, you can see that even a scene from "Owarinae Yume" (Inuyasha OP3) was included. It must take a special level of desperation to do that. Probably makes sense when you waste half of an episode's budget on computer generated animation.

Next week should cover at least through the end of chapter 538. Atsuo Tobe returns to animation direction and from what I see in the preview, we may be in for a treat. At least, I hope so…

On the issue of pacing, things look very stable at an average 4 to 4.5 chapters per episode.

Toshigaimonaku: To scanlate or not to scanlate… (UPDATE)

Filed under: Chapters — Starks at 6:00 pm on Saturday, February 20, 2010

"Wrong for one's age"
(年甲斐もなく Toshigaimonaku)

Another Rumiko one-shot to bring me out of retirement? Perhaps.

But you guys know the routine. Free-to-use high quality raw (thanks Heiji-sama) plus a free-to-use translated script (thanks Patches) equals a maybe as to whether or not I scanlate.

Raw download: http://www.mediafire.com/?qymiyzydajy

Also, if the plot sucks harder than My Sweet Sunday, I won't touch this with a 10 foot pole. All I know about the story is that it revolves around a old man getting involved with a young woman a few decades his junior.

Pro-tip: If I do scanlate, that work would be at the bottom of my list after my college work. Remember how long Unmei no Tori took?

Source: Big Comic Original

Final set of episode titles

Filed under: Chapters — Starks at 10:53 pm on Thursday, February 18, 2010

These came a lot earlier than I was expected. Nevertheless, I came across these titles the other day in a 2ch thread. No verification though. Hence, I dismissed them until now.

Episode 24: Naraku: A fleeting wish
(奈落 儚き望み Naraku hakanaki nozomi)

Episode 25:  Unfulfilled feelings
(届かぬ想い Todoka nu omoi)

Episode 26: Towards tomorrow
(明日へ Ashita e)

Source: Sony Music Shop

Who shot Kohaku?

Filed under: Chapters — Starks at 9:15 pm on Monday, February 15, 2010

(Yes, I just made a Dallas reference, get over it.)

Episode 20: When the Shikon no Tama is complete
(完成する四魂の玉 Kansei suru shikon no tama)

Chapters covered: Rest of 525 through 529

No complaints this week. Panel-for-panel adaptation of the manga courtesy of Maezawa and Tachibana. The attention to detail was impressive, but the animation itself was quite good save for a few instances of oddly-drawn facial expressions. There was one noticeable instance of artistic license this week and it kind of threw me for a loop. As the jewel was completing, Sunrise made it shatter in a bright, pink flash before recombining completely filled with darkness. Aside from that, no deviations. Because this week was quite faithful, the tone and feelings of the chapters covered were kept and executed very well. No shortage of tears this week.

Next week marks the beginning of the Naraku arc and while this will take us through the end of the manga, Sunrise's pacing for 24, 25, and 26 will make or break the anime.

Second to last set of episode titles

Filed under: Chapters — Starks at 1:16 pm on Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Usually 2ch beats Sunrise to the punch on revealing monthly titles and summaries, but not this time. First off, I am very glad to learn that the animation duo for episode 13 (Shishinki fight), Tachibana and Maezawa, will be returning for episode 20.

Episode 21: Into Naraku's body
(奈落の体内へ Naraku no tainai he)

Episode 22: Naraku, the trap of darkness
(奈落 闇の罠 Naraku yami no wana)

Episode 23: Naraku, the trap of light
(奈落 光の罠 Naraku hikari no wana)

There you have it folks. From what I can tell through the summaries, episodes 21 through 23 will cover content from 530 up to and including chapter 544.

Source: Sunrise – http://www.sunrise-inc.co.jp/yasya-kanketsu/onair/

Kagome uses pay phones

Filed under: Chapters — Starks at 4:25 pm on Monday, February 8, 2010

Episode is up on Hulu servers and Shonen Sunday, but isn't visible as of the time of this posting:
http://www.hulu.com/watch/125220/inuyasha—the-final-act-kohaku%E2%80%99s-shard#play-all

Episode 19: Kohaku's Shard
(琥珀の欠片 Kohaku no Kakera)

Chapters covered: 392, 521 through half of 525

Very faithful episode save for the first minute or so wasted in the modern era. I did not appreciate how Sunrise had Inuyasha destroy part of the Higurashi house. The use of payphones is probably a jab at how Rumiko couldn't decide whether the series would have 1997 or 2007 technology. Poor Kagome, all of her friends have cell phones though. Edit: Apparently I completely forget about chapter 392, Peaceful Table. My bad. It was very nice to see it animated.

Animation direction was done by Fujimori this week. His work is really nothing special, but you can thank him for when the animation and emotions peaked during Shippou's conversation with Sango. After that, however, everything started to go downhill. The ending of this episode was not handled that well in the manga to begin with, but the whole "Is it too late?" exchange looked terribly cheesy animated.

Next week, Kohaku goes into badass mode and gets his shard sniped. Should make for good times and a lot of emotion if the manga is followed and given proper deference.

Edit: Episode titles for 21-24 should appear on 2ch some time this week.

Also, remember this?

Episode 20 title revealed

Filed under: Chapters — Starks at 5:08 pm on Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Episode 20: When the Shikon no Tama is complete
(完成する四魂の玉 Kansei suru shikon no tama)

I love consistency and I love Aniplex.

Source: http://www.sonymusicshop.jp/detail.asp?goods=ANSB-9505

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