Music Awards Winter 2017

The winter season is over and with every season comes new great music but which OP's and ED's were the best of the season? Today I will be giving out four music awards for winter's set of music! The four awards are:

• Best Audio OP 
• Best Visual OP
• Best Audio ED
• Best Visual ED

For each award I will be doing a top 3. I will only be posting music for the top spot in each category but I will talk a little about the runners up as well so don't worry. Out of the 12 possible spots a show could land in, I only have six shows that are featured on here. That's not to say that other shows not mentioned here did a bad job. It just means that these six shows pulled in clutch in each respective category. I would like to remind everybody that this is based merely on my opinion so you don't have to give two shits but I hope you enjoy this little post. Also I have more awards coming up exclusively on my YouTube Channel, GiraffePants Anime, so check out my channel to see that exclusive content.Without any further interruptions, let's start these music awards!

Best Audio OP

        Let me just start off by saying that female singers really killed it this season. I generally prefer female singers but all of my OP award spots go to groups with female leads. That's insane! 3rd place in this category goes to Scum's Wish (Kuzu no Honkai) for their opening song, "Uso no Hibana" by 96neko. This Pop-Rock song was absolutely great to listen to. From that infectious guitar rift (you guys know which one I'm talking about) to the lead singer's vocals, The slightly fast paced song really represented the roller coaster of emotions this show was. Aw, and that piano bit at then end hits me good! 

In 2nd place is Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu for their opening song, "Imawa no Shinigami" by Megumi Hayashibara. I really like the feeling this song gives off. It feels for lack of a better term 'other-worldly.' The mix between Orchestral and Jazz was a very good decision. Add that with Hayashibara's voice and you have a smooth jam that gives you a bit of chills. 

Finally, in 1st place for 'Best Audio OP' is 3-gatsu no Lion for their OP, "Sayanora Bystander" by YUKI. This was my favorite song of the season! The music is good but what makes this song my favorite is YUKI's voice. It's like rough but sweet at the same time and I LOVE IT! Especially in the second half of that song; she begins to sing with much more emotion and it nails me in the heart so good! I also like the inclusion of piano; I am a big fan of pianos in my OPs so that was a plus. Overall, this is the type of song that gets me going. I like songs where I can feel the emotion; feel the very nature of the show! This song did that for me and for all these reasons it lands in my number one spot!

Best Visual OP

There were a couple of OPs this year that did a great job visually. They used a variety of different techniques to make their openings come to life! This award goes to the show that dazzled me best with their OP performance! 3rd place goes to Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid for their OP "Aozora no Rhapsody" by fhana. Kyoto Animation did a great job with this show in general but the OP is just fantastic. The whole OP just screams zany and weird much like the show. We have dragons doing silly worm dances, multiple Tohrus sprouting from each other, Fafnir's head blooming from flowers. I love the weirdness of this OP because it's just so eye catching. That and fluid animation from Kyo-Ani make this OP all the better! 

       2nd place is 3-gatsu no Lion for their OP, "Sayanora Bystander" by YUKI. Aside from the fact that this song is my favorite of the season, Studio Shaft really made the OP creative and just artistically beautiful. For example, the scene with the flowers blurring in and out was beautiful  and then when the chorus hits, we just get an explosion of animation in its glory. Rough line art and constant movement make those 15 seconds look badass! 

In 1st place is Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju for their OP, "Imawa no Shinigami" by Megumi Hayashibara. That's right, we had a little switcheroo with the #1 and #2 spot. The Opening for this show was well directed to say the least. This opening is full of meaning and symbolism that I can't touch on (case then this post would be long!!!) but If you look at the OP and start to think what happened in the show, you'll be able to notice what little scenes in the OP mean. In fact, it's kind of fun because you find new meaning in scenes every time you watch it. Anyway, this Opening lands at #1 for being full of everything an OP should be filled with like symbolism and deeper meaning. 

Best Audio ED

Onto a new award. Now, the EDs weren't as strong as the OPs but there are some golden gems worth talking about. This award goes to EDs that had killer music and awesome vocals. Starting with 3rd place is Saga of Tanya the Evil for their ED, "Los! Los! Los!" by Aoi Yuki. Aoi Yuki (the voice actress for Tanya) delivers a great song! It was actually quite unexpected but I guess for that very reason, this song makes the list. The song gives off a victorious feel; Patriotic in a way. I guess it should since the lyrics are about going to war and fighting for the empire! I especially love the part where she stops singing and just shouts out like a military commander. That part gives me the chills!

In 2nd place is Scum's Wish for their ED, "Heikousen" by Sayuri. I like this song because I think it's very beautiful. Beautiful and lonely at the same time, much like the show itself. Even the lyrics give a lonely feeling; talking about never being able to touch the one they love so they'll just have to do their best to move on! Oh god the tears are starting to roll! This song touches my heart and for that, it gets 2nd.

In 1st place is Tales of Zestiria for their ED, "INNOSENSE" by FLOW. The best way to describe this song is...'RAD!' This is the kind of song you listen to get pumped up; like a battle song! Yeah, if you haven't noticed, EDs have done a good job of representing the show! The best part is the very beginning! The guitar rip followed by the string section followed by the yell from FLOW make those beginning seconds truly epic! The 'flow' of the song (see what I did there) is pretty damn good too; It immediately gets you excited but then cools down a bit and then comes back with full force to give us a cool ending! This is my favorite ED of the season and gets the award for Best Audio ED.

Best Visual ED

The last award! There weren't a lot of EDs with great visuals. There were many that were just single shots and maybe they pan toward a direction but that's about it. I was able to find a couple of EDs that had great visuals though so lets start. In 3rd place is Tales of Zestiria again for "INNOSENSE" by FLOW. Ufotable always does good animation work but it really shows here in the ED. The beginning starts with some stills that look incredible. Each character looks like a bad-ass hero of justice and then the shot of them looking up at the lord of calamity is epic! Then there's the section where everyone jumps out to fight transition to a still posing all cool like!  This Ed definitely deserves to be up here.

In 2nd place is Scum's Wish for their ED, "Heikousen" by Sayuri. What I love most about this ed was the art style. It's very rough and almost mosaic. Everyone is nude but not graphically nude and the mirroring is interesting. It really mixed well with the song and lyrics; this is why I say the mirroring effect is interesting because it compliments the lyrics (Parallel line and what not). For these reasons, this songs gets 2nd place but who's number one.

In 1st place is 3-gatsu no Lion for their ED, "Orion" by Kenshi Yonezu. This was a nice ED to look at. I love how the blizzard was animated and just the overall minimalist style of animation. There's a light watercolor touch to the ED which is always a plus in my book and seeing Rei in some of those scenes had me choke up a bit (especially the scene with Rei in the rain). Combine that with some kickass singing from Yonezu and we have our winner. Studio Shaft did a good job this season and their ED gets 1st place in my book.

Sorry, couldn't find a video for this one so here's a shot from the ED.

I hope you all enjoyed this post! If you did, please check out my YouTube Channel, GiraffePants Anime. I got exclusive content on there such as anime episode reactions, and more reviews! I'll have more posts up as soon as possible so stand by and I'll see you all later!

Film Theory & Art Direction: March Comes in Like a Lion

Now that the Fall 2016 season is over with we can look forward to a bunch of new exciting anime to blow our minds but even before that I have to talk about a lot of shows that I witnessed during the past year. One of those is March Comes in Like a Lion. I'm not doing a review on this show because it's only halfway done but I can't help but write about this show a little so I thought it would be a great idea to talk about one of the show's strong points; its art direction. I hope you guys are ready for some film theory and deep analysis (if you're not, read anyway because why not!) because I have a lot of good things to talk about.

THERE WILL BE SPOILERS (maybe...)

Before I begin, I'm assuming you know what I'm talking about but if you don't here is a little synopsis (Skip to the next subheading if you know the story):

Rei Kiriyama is a 17-year-old boy who recently started living alone, financed by his salary as a professional Shogi player. Despite his independence, however, he's yet to mature emotionally, and his problems continue to haunt him in his daily life. His relationship with his adoptive family is strained, and he has difficulties interacting with his fellow high school students. Meanwhile, his professional career has entered a slump. Burdened with the heavy expectations placed on him as the fifth to become pro in middle school, his wins and losses are fluctuating as his record and progression into the ranks begin to stagnate.

Acquainted with Rei are the three Kawamoto sisters: Akari, Hinata, and Momo. Unlike Rei, they live happily in their modest home, which they warmly welcome Rei into as if he were one of their own. Despite his reservations about becoming too close to the family, he frequently visits, interacting with them and receiving the kind of care and affection he never quite had while under his foster home.This is the story of Rei's triumphs and failures, relationships new and old, and his growth as a person

-Information provided by: MyAnimeList

Attention to Detail

The first thing I want to talk about is the detail put into the simplest of scenes. If you don't think small attention to details matter then let me tell you, YOU ARE DEAD WRONG!!! Detail can elevate a show to monstrous proportions if done right. It's like when you watch Inception (by the way, great movie) and start picking up on little clues to unfold the story before they tell you. March Comes in Like a Lion is good at putting in subtle scenes that perfectly describe the situation at hand.  

This next picture will be a perfect example but first some context:

Before the following scene, our main character Rei is having a match against a fellow shogi professional who's career isn't going to well. His career is bad to the point where he results to drinking and gambling. Because of this, he now faces a divorce from his wife who can't take anymore of his BS. While Rei and the man play, we might not be sure who is winning but then comes the scene that describes what's going on. 

Rei's side shows a perfectly clean tray but on the other side, the man's tray is contains spilled bottles and some water all over the tray. We can clearly understand the situation thanks to this single frame that anyone can overlook. The man is obviously frustrated and anxious. as we continue the scene, we begin the scene you'll see that Rei is taking control of the game while the man is being backed into a corner. Scenes like these can really tell you what's happening without spelling it out for you and that's a mark of a good show. 

Artistic Decisions Done Right

Now let's get into a little bit of film theory. Continuing with the previous scene I was talking about, the man Rei is playing against is on the losing side of things and then we see this scene.

This is another great scene that shows how powerless the man is to the talent of Rei. In this scene, we see the man looking down towards the shogi board but his body only covers about 10% of the screen. His small size represents how powerless the man is compared to Rei. Rei is represented by the light above the man's head because Rei's talent is bright and prodigious. The light hangs above the man to say that Rei is above him or in a position of power. I could be reading too much into it but then again, who knows what the director was thinking when making this. Okay onto another example. 

Let's get into some more context:

This next scene takes place in an episode prior to the last one where Rei plays against an old man who's career as a shogi player is just abysmal. He plays mediocre at his best and terrible at his worst. This match happens to be important for both Rei and the old man because Rei's income as a shogi player is at stake and the old man intends to retire if he loses. The old man realizes that his chances of winning are slim so instead he accepts that his career will be ended at the hands of Rei. The old man states, followed by the next scene.

 "I could only think of you as a grim reaper, come to close the curtain on my life as a shogi player."

This is another great artistic scene. at first it just looks like Rei silhouetted by a bright light in the background but there's a lot of meaning here. First, the light. The light in the background represents the afterlife. We know this because the old man refers to Rei as being a reaper so we can imply that the light is meant to show the end of his career. Rei's face is black and covered by shadows to give a sense of mysteriousness, power, and supernatural prowess. The purpose of this scene is to strengthen the statement made by the old man and it does just that. 

This show is full of beautiful art and excellent story telling so If you haven't checked it out yet then I highly suggest you do so. It's a great show and I'm excited to continue it in all of its glory. The next blog coming up will be a top 10 of my favorite female characters with blue hair so make sure you follow me on Google+ to stay informed on that. I also have a YouTube Channel just about anime called, GiraffePants Anime so you can check out my videos over there and subscribe if you like what you see (Note* I'm fucking hideous...). With all that said, I hope you all enjoyed this post and I will catch you all later.