Mushishi Zoku Shou Episode 8

This episode uses color schemes to express contrasting moods and emotional states of the character.

 A full shot of the ship. The ship sailing the open sea and the mushi birds flying in the bright blue sky are images that symbolizes freedom and adventure.

 The blue sky, the white birds and clouds are colors that give a sense of optimism. The young man looks up with hope for a bright future. The low angle imitates the young sailor's view and communicates this positive mood to the audience.

An eye candy scene. The low framing emphasizes the animation of the waves and the mushi birds diving down from the sky.

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After the ship sunk the young sailor have fallen into depression.

 A long shot of the young sailor. The barren tree and the dark blue sky present an oppressive and dark mood. A young man once optimistic and free is now chained down to his unloving parents.

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The bleak looking house of his unloving parents and the dark mushi worms are images and colors that exude pessimism and restriction. The video above of the mushi birds blowing through his parents' house and consuming the worms symbolize the young sailor breaking out of this restriction and depression to follow his dream to sail freely in the open sea.

Ping Pong The Animation Episode 9

This Kazama flash back sequence beautifully used cinematography to portray the purity and innocence of a kid's admiration of his father.

 A close up of Kazama in the bathroom stall. Deep in thought and has a look of a person revisiting a cherished memory. 

 A shot of lilies with the child version of Kazama in the background admiring it.

 A close up of the lilies. These shots of the lilies show that Kazama loved flowers the same way his father (a florist) did. This suggest he strongly viewed his father as a role model.

 A low angle long shot of Kazama's father. This shot gives an impression of a person looking up to someone in admiration.

 A medium shot of Kazama's father to further drive the point that he's a man that deeply influenced him. The man he plays ping pong for, his hero.

The sequence also has great storyboarding. There were shots of Kazama's father struggling with the flower business. The sequence intertwine Kazama's heroic view of his father and the troubled man behind the hero.

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Another sequence that builds up a hero.

 A medium-long shot of Peco. Without the head in view the audience's eyes focus on the injured knee. An injured Peco asking for his racket really plays up his hero persona. 

 A close up of the racket being handed to Peco. A hero accepting the challenge despite an injury.

Another use of a low angle shot to give a heroic depiction of a person. The light shining on Peco really complement that depiction.

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I thought this was a really nice use of a push in shot to give an illusion of Peco's words from a childhood flashback reaching Smile.

Zankyu no Terror / 残響のテロル? Hmmmm

Okay the only reason I am intrigued by this show is because the director is one of my favourite, Shinchiro Watanabe (Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo). And....Yoko Kanno is doing the score. Hmmmm

Despite his orgy of self masturbation in Space Dandy, I still have faith that he can deliver a good show. Airing on Noitama slot which means either 11 or 22 episodes, next month the world shall see the debut of this show.

The synopsis:

"In an alternate version of the present, Tokyo has been decimated by a shocking terrorist attack, and the only hint to the identity of the culprit is a bizarre video uploaded to the internet. The police, baffled by this cryptic clue, are powerless to stop the paranoia spreading across the population.

While the world searches for a criminal mastermind to blame for this tragedy, two mysterious children—children who shouldn't even exist—masterfully carry out their heinous plan. Cursed to walk through this world with the names Nine and Twelve, the two combine to form "Sphinx," a clandestine entity determine to wake the people from their slumber—and pull the trigger on this world."

Here is the trailer.

Mushishi Zoku Shou Episode 6

As Ginko first appears in this episode it also introduces the prevalent theme of cherry blossoms.

 A long shot of Ginko next to a blossoming cherry tree establishes the setting.

 A high angle deep focus shot with the cherry blossom in the foreground and Ginko looking in awe in the background. This closer look on both suggests that cherry blossoms would play a role in Ginko's travel.

A close up look of the cherry blossoms. These increasing closer looks on cherry blossoms build the thematic ground work for this episode.

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The doctor reveals that Saho's health is directly related to the nearby cherry tree that shelters mushi. The following images establishes that parallel.

Whenever Saho is healthy the mushi cherry tree blossoms. In this flashback shot the camera pans down as the petals falls on Saho. This gives the image of blossoms symbolizing life, and giving life to Saho.

 Now back to present. This medium shot of the barren cherry tree signifies that Saho is in bad health.

A long shot of the tree along with the doctor and Ginko. These dark images of the barren tree gives off a feeling of bleakness. As the blossoms signify life the lack thereof signifies death.

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These images are from scenes after the doctor failed to prolong Saho's life.

As the mushi (which looks like blossom petals) leaves Saho's body the camera pans up to emphasize the imagery of her life dissipating. This is a direct contrast to the shot where the camera pans down as the petals fall on a livelier Saho.

A long shot of the cherry tree and the mushi floating away. This further drives the parallel between the tree and Saho's life and death.

Haikyuu!! Episode 9

There were some really nice subtle touches in this episode in which the character's actions and feelings were mainly expressed through cinematography.

 A long shot of Asahi contemplating. The school and the crows in the background are the visual representation of what's on his mind, which is whether or not he should go back to the team.

 A shallow focus on the crow taking flight in the background, further emphasizes the symbolism. 

 The shallow focus then switches on Asahi as he leaves, emphasizing the decision he has made. Just like the crow in the background he's taking flight again and rejoining the team. In this scene there was no dialogue from Asahi, the visuals were used to speak for the character

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This sequence is Asahi's return. Again very little dialogue.

 His entrance scene starts with the camera slowly panning to the entrance. This expresses Asahi's feeling of anxiety and apprehensiveness. Then only his hand comes into view, the camera focuses on it to show how he feels too ashamed to fully present himself

 The scene further builds on this feeling of anxiety by slowly panning up until finally Asahi's face comes into view.

 The shallow focus on Asahi with Nishinoya in the foreground conveys that his return was most important to Nishinoya.

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The sequence in which Asahi came to a realization that he has teammates that support him switches from medium-long shot to a long shot. This switch that made him look more diminutive signifies that he's seeing the bigger picture, that the team is bigger than him and he shouldn't shoulder all the blame.  

Previous post on Haikyuu!! - Episode 8

Knights of Sidonia Episode 8

Knights of Sidonia uses a variety of camera angles and movements to create intense and visceral action scenes. This was best exemplified by the Mecha battle in this episode. The scene below begins with a high angle shot of a Guana Mecha looking down at a destroyed Garde. This portrays the Gauna as an imposing figure which is further highlighted as the camera quickly moves in for a closeup.

About 17 seconds into the video is where the show truly shines as it uses dynamic camera movements to a great effect. The action starts with an extreme long shot of Tanikaze's Garde, which quickly flies into the camera (full shot). The camera switches briefly to a follow shot of Tanikaze then pulls back, pans to the Gauna and moves in for a medium shot. These constant changes create an exciting sense of speed and hectic pace.

The scene below shows a good application of slow-motion to transition from fast pace action to a more dramatic shot. Again, notice the great use of dynamic camera movements.

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These series images show the use of different framing to portray fear.

 Most of the cockpit shots have been closeups but this is a medium shot to show Kunato's manic and shaky body language. The use of shadow and lighting gives a sense of dread. Kunato's figure is mostly in the shadow with the light only on his face which accentuates his emotions.

 The medium shot establishes Kunato's physical state which sets up the closeup shot to show the fear and panic.

 POV shot from Kunato's perspective with his out of focus hand shaking. Another shot that shows his physical state. 

 The previous shot sets up a closeup showing Kunato in a trance like state, struck frozen by fear.
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 An extreme long shot of Tanikaze high up and looking away. The wide amount of space imitates the sense of detachment that a person feels when deep in thought...or something like that, I really just like this shot.

 Another shot using shadow and lighting to express emotion and tone, this time it's misery and gloom.
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Low angle shots can be used to portray a character as an authoritative and commanding figure. This type of angle is often used on the Captain.

First Few Images from Omoide no Marnie / 思い出のマーニー

Few images released for upcoming Studio Ghibli's latest release, Omoide no Marnie / 思い出のマーニー. Directed by Arietty guy, Hiromasa Yonebayashi, this movie is out in Japan soon on 19th July 2014. No announcement of international release date yet.


Here is the collection of images.


I knew this movie based on Joan G Robinson's children novel (you can read the synopsis on Amazon here), I am looking forward to this. I am kinda enjoyed Arietty so I will follow this with some interest. However I am quite perplexed with lack of trailer(s) to promote this movie. Like big time puzzlement here.

Rumours seems to be buzzing that this might be potential lesbian/yuri material.