Discover Top Posts Tagged with #sunrise studio

Brave Exkaiser fanart!

I reaaaally love how this turned out-

It looks like a Tatsunoko poster or a 1995 Sunrise artstyle imitation. Or Kunio Okawara's simplified coloring style!

I also took references of Iron Leaguer's official art to create this coloring style. Too much airbursh and hard cel shading i think? I also absolutely love adding my own touches⁓

80s-90s super robots are so cool...

さらば！

#artists on tumblr #my fanart #mecha anime #brave exkaiser #exkaiser #brave series #yuusha series #sunrise studio #super robot #classic mecha #mechanical artist #tw 67

Gundam Evolve (ガンダムEVOLVE) a.k.a. Mobile Suit Gundam Evolve - Episode 8: GAT-X105 Strike Gundam (2006)

In a secret ZAFT desert base, the Aile Strike Gundam faces off against several GINN OCHER Types. The animation adapted the style of visual special effect seen in The Matrix, and featured the Grand Slam Sword included with the Perfect Grade and later Master Grade Strike Gundam model kits.

Mystery without mystery + boss baby vibes

rewrote this. okay so. it looks like for the past 10+ years up to now, people on reddit + forums have talked about disliking the restored version of the show, for, among other things, including the scene in episode 1 between Van and Balgus talking about Folken— they’re asserting that it ruins Folken’s reveal later.

nor do they like the scene where the generals mention him alone, for the same reasons

Now I understand thinking it ruins the mystery. However. If we don't begin the story knowing Folken exists, there is no mystery. In that instance, he'd just show up and we'd have nothing to associate him with other than "he sold out Fanelia." The mystery would begin and end with "Damn, who's that guy? Oh, Van's brother? Okay." Is it not at the very least equally if not more interesting if the mystery is why he's here and not dead and why he "sold out" Fanelia? Why he's so loathed by the generals while loved by Van? I don’t know what it ruins unless your concept of a good story is just Star Wars.

If you’ve only seen episodes 1-2, you wouldn’t know why Fanelia may have “crumbled under its own weight,” because you’re being told to empathise with Fanelia, and its ugliness is shown later. But Van was raised to be an heir to the throne— the dragon-killing rite always has death as a possibility, no matter how much they deny it, so a backup is necessary. In episode 22, there’s a flashback to people talking badly about Folken, saying he was too young to try. And of course, as we watch, we learn that in fact Folken took on the rite so that Van wouldn't have to suffer the burden of it.

These opening scenes establish that Folken’s presence has remained in Van’s life as both alive and dead— a presence made negative by other people, but not a view Van himself holds. Remember, until Van sees Folken again, he has nothing unkind to say about him.

It's important to show us that Van’s advisors thought Folken was dead and they’re still slagging him off, calling him a failure, saying this directly to Van as if it wouldn’t hurt him! As if goading him like a matador with a bull. And it does hurt him, because he reacts to it with hurt! Sheesh. Enjoy the scenes or not, you can't overlook that this is pretty cruel. That’s what’s most important. It’s setting up their relationship, it’s setting up the demands of Fanelia. To obscure that he’s Van’s brother, we would miss one of the most integral, propulsive pieces of the story.

This would make the intended “reveal” in episode 3

Folken is alive, and,

is the strategic advisor and doesn’t need to bow to his superior, and,

is doing these things for reasons we don’t yet understand.

This is our very first glimpse of Folken’s ethereal, otherworldly function in the story. But I digress.

By meeting Folken without Hitomi or Van, we’re abruptly no longer on equal footing with them. We’ve been learning in real time up until that moment. In terms of what we know, we’re also above Folken’s subordinates— right now, we are closer to him than any of the people around him. The story has suddenly expanded. What we believed up til now was wrong, and, we get the perspective of a new character, one who is calm and non-reactive.

That means there’s an element of mystery here! It’s a mystery set up primarily by

The demands of Fanelia,

which we saw Van be subjected to— we saw him nearly killed by the dragon, and Hitomi had to step in to save him. With it being nearly impossible for Van, that should make us wonder about the nature of Folken’s supposed failure and rebirth.

The aims of Zaibach

Van and Folken’s relationship

By/in episode 3, we know at least 4 things no one else does:

Van doesn’t know Folken is alive

Dilandau doesn’t know Van and Folken are brothers

No one knows Folken is working with Zaibach

Van et al doesn’t know Folken didn’t want Fanelia destroyed this way

AND! in episode 3, what do we know that Folken doesn’t know…………….?

i have no idea.

…

oh: that he’s on the wrong path, most likely.

In episode 5, we’re suddenly, intimately, experiencing Folken from Van’s limited POV. Those dutch angles that frame the first scene between them tell you that this is confusing and disorienting. Even after we've had some chances to hang out with him, Folken is back to being mysterious because Van and Folken know each other better than we know either of them. And Van is more outwardly expressive, so we feel— rightly or wrongly— reliant on his reactions.

If we know who Folken is, it should be meaningful to us that Van is not able to recognise him— by looking at him, by him whistling their lullaby— until he's shaken out of his anger.

(In a much shorter post, I talk about the art direction of this scene.)

Back from the break: This part is shot more straight-on, but Van and Folken still can’t see eye to eye, literally, facing away from one another until Van turns Folken around. Folken smiles while closing his eyes, listening. He is so happy to see him. And in spite of Folken’s honesty and vulnerability, Van can’t possibly interpret his smile as such. When Folken whips around to talk to Van, they’re still not facing each other, and he’s not happy about having to knock Van out. He feels he must do it. His smile is strained, eyebrows raised slightly, somewhat distressed. We’ll see it other times when he talks to Van and to Hitomi, when he’s desperate for them to understand. With the way Escaflowne is written through foil and parallel, Folken's expressions are not meant to be gleefully and mischievously evil. He's not Dilandau.

Also, I’m serious dude. People are HELPLESS TO BOSS BABY VIBES

I know the stranglehold Star Wars still has on "culture," but it it's weird to view Asian media through the lens of a singular western franchise (which, for the record, owes much of itself to Japan.) Moreover, in Star Wars, neither the viewer nor the evil guys are under any illusions that they’re anything but evil. They're cardboard fascists. If you look for Star Wars in Escaflowne you'll not only not find it, you also won't find Escaflowne. Seems not worth the effort then.

Not for nothing, but Escaflowne was made with the explicit purpose of NOT being a franchise. it was approached without that goal in mind. that's why there's also not a tonne of merch for it. Sunrise made so much money off of Gundam, it meant it could pour more of it back into developing creative one-offs like this.

I can be helpful though: The element that makes this episode “like a Spielberg film” is that it’s a joint rescue mission where, for the first and last time, we see people genuinely happy and excited to be fighting in a way where we don’t fear for their safety.

We are shown that Zaibach/Folken is taken by surprise. Folken can't anticipate Hitomi's influence yet. That means we trust the Crusade to have the upper hand. Zaibach has command of war technology, but we know the crew is good at hand to hand fighting. We see Hitomi do a death-defying jump. The framing and acting, and who is/isn't the focus of this episode, tells us we can safely enjoy this moment.

In Fanelia, Van’s attacks were non-lethal. He broke their swords, cut their capes as to destroy their stealth cloaks, cut off the arms of the mechs, or just knocked them over. (He does this again when beamed to Zaibach in episode 18.) Episode 5 is the first episode where Van directly physically injures someone.

He was able to do this because

Folken gave him back his sword, and

Hitomi has a vision about it + interrupts.

I wonder why Folken would re-arm his brother after going through such lengths to disarm him. Is it because

Folken loves/trusts Van and wants him able to defend himself?

Folken somehow anticipated that which Hitomi also knew?

Whichever one you pick, think about what that means for the story.

In regards to all this + Folken activating Escaflowne,

Even without those omitted scenes, we have enough reasons to believe they’re brothers already by their framing, their colour coding, the way/when Folken is introduced, and Dilandau remarking that Folken “sold out” Fanelia in episode 3. He’s the only other guy from there! Regardless— we are also learning here about how Escaflowne works. Escaflowne requires its pilot’s blood to operate (now that's what I call a metaphor!) and as we learn in episode 15, although the pilot of this Ispano guymelef is the king of Fanelia, they can be piloted by anybody. And no other mecha but theirs forms a blood pact with its occupant.

Escaflowne was hanging out in a boulder before Van wakes it. Until episode 9, we don’t know that Escaflowne really has been a continuously-utilised part of their lineage. Up to that point it seemed like it had been untouched. Van is very surprised when Balgus mentions it.

Hmm that’s interesting. Kinda goes back to something I wondered before: how long has Dornkirk been seeing/seeking Escaflowne? Because if Goau piloted it, would it not have shown up in Dornkirk’s projections? Or is it Van who shows up in those? Has he been shuffling the deck for a while now?

MAYBE MORE IMPORTANTLY?: Folken conceals drawing his blood. Dilandau is on his right side and does not see. The shot of Folken doing this is close and tight for us, not for his subordinate, because Folken doesn't want Dilandau to know they’re brothers nor how Escaflowne works. He does not want Van killed. WE are meant to know this.

I also just have to say: A viewer/reader knowing things before the characters do is not a blunder. Why would the characters, and you, all be on equal footing all the time, at the same time? Why bother having an ensemble cast?

When Van is knocked out, and the compositions and physical distance within the episode changes dramatically, we’ve “zoomed out” visually and emotionally.

All of this and more is why I say Folken is a really useful character to crack, a lodestar. A character and an instrument most similar to Hitomi. Our first big hint comes at the end of episode 4. Folken closes his eyes, walks with them closed, tilts his head a few times thoughtfully, goes over to the window, and then, ~somehow~, decisively sniffs out where the Crusade is hiding (WHILE HITOMI’S OUTSIDE-OF-UNIVERSE PSYCHIC RECAP MUSIC PLAYS?)

But while he's a character that points to the heart of Escaflowne (literally) it’s not like Folken is some sort of cheat code... CLEARLY, since for many people he seems impossible to read. And since they can’t read him, I sound like I’m full of shit.

Like when someone told me Folken “isn’t remorseful” because “He admitted his mistakes but never once said he’s sorry.” If you want that, if that’s your measure of guilt and remorse, then you want a totally different character. You have this quiet, calm, deeply sorrowful guy seeking atonement for his actions, and you expect him to break down crying asking for forgiveness. Forget a different character, you want a totally different story— one without the payoff of emotional conflict and turmoil. Van doesn’t apologise for his constant slaughter either, so I guess it’s time to put Van in the guillotine!

ANYWAY. back to the point: the restored omitted scene fumbling the type of setup/reveal that reddit anime fans want.

👨‍⚖️VERDICT

Yeah I dunno man. I think the setup is to reveal something much more complex. What we have here is only not-compelling if your idea of a good mystery is… uh… not knowing there even is a mystery until it’s not one anymore. GOOD GRIEF

#escaflowne #the vision of escaflowne #folken fanel #van fanel #analysis #media analysis #character analysis #天空のエスカフローネ #sunrise studio

【ティザーPV】『長谷雄双六』｜ショートフィルムプロジェクト「未来への航路」

Dir: Hidekazu O'Hara

Website

#長谷雄双六 #dice with demon #hidekazu ohara #sunrise studio #anime #animation #short films #short movies #teaser #Youtube

Completed what must collectively be my 15th or so full rewatch of Cowboy Bebop since the days when it first aired on Adult Swim & just getting to those final episodes reminds me of why I consider the Bebop Crew to stand alongside the likes of the Strawhat Pirates in One Piece & Guts’ Party in BERSERK as one of the all time best Found Families in fiction.

Similar to what the creators accomplished again in Samurai Champloo, the creators of Cowboy Bebop have a fantastic knack for convincingly splitting up a wayward cast of misfits while simultaneously still making it an emotional gut punch seeing a family in the purest sense of the word, a group of people whose faults and talents enrich & complement each other so beautifully and naturally that their eventual mutual love is a matter of course (even if they don’t admit as much), split into their own separate lives to possibly never see each other again. It’s such a bittersweet feeling that never fails to make me teary eyed during those last handful of Bebop episodes.