professional crafter of artisanal queer tatterpigs | I'm the monster wreathed in smoke and orange blossoms
another fantastic writeup!! your bit about the anime missing the mark about what makes CSM's fight scenes feel so arresting is dead-on, i think. this bit in particular--
"the adaptation has largely opted to look as good as possible all the time, for a given value of good, in a way that I think loses a lot of the grungy charm of the comic."
--also feels relevant to Dorohedoro, one of my favorite comics of all time, which is getting a second anime season soon (also by Mappa). the first season is very slick, sure, but the grungy, haunted energy of Q Hayashida's artwork is what gives the comic its singular vibe in the first place, and the show exchanges it for "look at us, we can be peak-era Production I.G. when we feel like it too!". anything that gets more people reading the source material is good, i guess, but. it's almost like shit that works perfect in one medium loses something when translated to another in the name of profit, huh
yeah I have to admit that I bounced off the anime for Dorohedoro a bit and I think it was because of the production decisions... at the time I thought it was just because it was 3d animation but having seen Girls Band Cry now I'm much more on board with that animation method. maybe it just wasn't a good fit for a comic like that?
actually I feel similarly about the BLAME! adaptation haha. so much of what I like about Nihei's work is how grungy everything feels.
yeah i'm a huge 3D anime apologist and i LIKED how the DRHDR anime turned out, but it just doesn't hold a candle to the original comic's art. the little collection of short stories they released as an episode way after the first season finished airing, animated in 2D using a style much closer to Hayashida's, stung that much more because we could've had a whole SEASON THAT LOOKED LIKE THAT GODDAMMIT
also yeah, god, the fuckin BLAME! Netflix anime, huh. fuckin eesh. you wanna talk about a comic that's at its best when it's at its least narrative and most vibes-iest,
I was trying to reach for what the ideal BLAME adaptation's vibes would be and realized that it's Mad God lol