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「セレモニー」 (Seremonii)
“Ceremony”
We actually have fairly good coverage of the superhero genre in anime. Sure, stories of upstanding heroes saving the day from villainy is a universal staple (and of course, Japan still loves its tokusatsu), but even the Western comic book style, freelance heroics has fair representation. That’s not too surprising considering that Western comic books (or do we call them ‘graphic novels’ these days?) and Japanese manga are cousins, however distant, but it does mean we get anime inspired by works from across the ocean. Along comes THE REFLECTION and the question is what fresh take it intends to offer. I mean, we have Boku no Hero Academia if we want to see the themes played straight, and Concrete Revolutio if we want to see them all deconstructed. Will THE REFLECTION fit on one of those ends of the spectrum, or somewhere in between?
If you came to this show based on our preview, though, what probably really caught your eye was the names behind THE REFLECTION: Marvel Comics great Stan Lee, and Mushishi director Nagahama Hiroshi. That’s quite he marriage, no? Spiderman doesn’t really fit into agrarian fantasy Japan, does he? So let’s split them up and talk about the influences on THE REFLECTION one at a time. We’ll start with Stan Lee, since that one’s the most obvious. If you scroll up and have a look at the screencaps, I think the stylistic flair of THE REFLECTION should be obvious. This is a comic book, with thick lines and solid colours, and abstract backgrounds (not to mention POW!). Sure, we nominally start in Japan, we’re quickly taken to New York (which seems to be where many comic book writers live). And hey, literal X-men. I think we can say this goes beyond being ‘influenced’ by comic books; THE REFLECTION is very deliberate trying to evoke the comic book feeling in its visuals. As if Stan Lee narrating he preview wasn’t enough.
Where does Nagahama come into it, then? Well, I think we should compare it to other shows of its ilk, ‘superhero shows’ as we may call them. Boku no Hero Academia is has high-octane, hot-blooded shounen action. Concrete Revolutio was pure chaos. In contrast THE REFLECTION is actually… rather quiet. With the exception of I-Guy (aka Steve Jobs’ hero alias), who seems to bring his own theme song with him, the general silence is very notable. In fact, outside of action scenes, there is a general stillness to the show. Perhaps it’s that THE REFLECTION is cheap and can’t afford the frames (which is a definite though unfortunate possibility), but it could also be a stylistic choice. We’re a comic book, remember, which is ‘still’ until we turn the page. Regardless, I can imagine the relative lack of animation can be off-putting to some. Perhaps to talk of Nagahama Hiroshi and think only of Mushishi is too much typecasting. More relevant here is, perhaps, Aku no Hana, a much more divisive show that nonetheless managed to tell a powerful story using a… ‘distinctive’ visual style. It may not have been for everyone, ‘ugly’ even, but the unique form of storytelling was very interesting and ultimately worthwhile.
You may have noticed that I’ve just been talking about the style and much about the substance, and that’s because in this pilot THE REFLECTION really sells itself on the style. We don’t really know much about the story, which seems to involve a global disaster and cryptic villains lounging about in high places. THE REFLECTION doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to tell us anything, and that’s fine, because mystery is a tantalising spice, and giving viewers time to work things out for themselves keeps them engaged. Still, how much that works for you will still depend heavily on your reception of the style, and that may in turn depend on your nostalgia for comic books. I strongly recommend you at least give THE REFLECTION one episode, to see it in motion and make a judgment on whether it’s for you. I think it’ll be an interesting exercise no matter what.
ED Sequence
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ED: 「SunSunSunrise」 by 9nine
End Card
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That Stan Lee shot in the opening. Instantly noticeable. xD
Let’s forget about the next episode announcement by him. Geez. >_>
At the beginning my first reaction to the animation was “well, this will take some getting used to”.
And it’s true, near the end I figured the passing (or my issue with the passing.) It plays like a comic book. Not much going on? Then it’s not going very fast either. Lots of action? Flipping through the pages/scenes in turbo.
I actually never read any comic books, especially not super hero ones. But I can dig this.
The lack of frames and the thick-lined, flat art style- remind me more of old flash animations from waayyy back in the day (pre-youtube explosion, on sites like Newgrounds), than modern A-List comic books, whose art tends to have far more tone/definition/depth than the look employed herein. The negative aesthetic synergy of the low frame count and the flat art style is so pronounced that I find it very difficult to believe they were both born solely of artistic choice/vision; one or the other alone might have been tolerable, but together they did naught more than scream “shoestring budget” to me for all of 25 minutes. Aesthetic decisions conceived in an attempt to accommodate a limited budget in the most interesting manner possible, perhaps, but in all likelihood existing (mostly)- make no mistake- because of being strapped for cash, not in spite of it…
That’s not how anime production works. At all. Almost all anime have more or less the same budget. “Budget issues” is a myth. Issues can arise from scheduling (AKA not being able to finish stuff properly before deadlines) or from the staff itself simply not being good or suited for the material.
Here. I’d blame the director. He has directed Aku no Hana and Detroit Metal City, both really “unique” in terms of art and animation style.
Thing is, this director may not be the most correct person for an action show. DMC, for example, worked because it was a comedy about absurd situations. But then, remember all the backslash against Aku no Hana. It could also be that the staff available to DEEN can’t bring the director’s vision and ideas to fruition successfully.
But it’s not budget
“But it’s not budget” most problems in anime production are scheduling and managerial in nature but to say that budget is not an issue either is incorrect. I think people underestimate what a good sized budget can provide for an anime production. To just say “that’s not how anime production works” kind of makes it sound like you’re ignoring the effect a budget can have on a production
@sonic
Sure more Budget do not expand the deadline, but more Budget can expand the manpower needed to reach the deadline while working more on the inbetween frames and stuff aka quality
Reflection’ll have a Stan Lee-lookalike character, per his tradition.
Lee himself will voice said character in Reflection’s English dub.
I do not like this strange color filter, as if the have an cloudy sky that are about to start raining at any second
Stealth marketing, very sneaky //BlobLul
I really want to like this show, it’s everything I love, but the action scenes just look plain terrible. For a show about superheroes, getting the action scenes right is critical. Right now it looks much worse than even an ordinary comic book. I really hope this turns around in the next few episodes.
On the other hand, I think the dub of this show is going to be much better than the subbed version.
Where’s the logic in that? What could the dub possibly fix about the faults found with while watching the sub?
People getting powers from an unexplained phenomenon remind me of certain comic books (DP7 and Rising Stars) and manga (Area D).
Nah, Steve Jobs’ hero alias would be Scum Guy. Or maybe Shit Job. Or I-Garbage.
Well, it’s Dead Guy now, anyway.