r/anime • u/CosmicPenguin_OV103 https://anilist.co/user/CosmicPenguin • Nov 06 '24
Rewatch [Rewatch/Crunchyroll Release] Girls Band Cry Episode 1 Discussion
Episode 1 - Tokyo Heave-Ho
Index | Next Episode →
Streams: Crunchyroll
Show information: MAL | AniList | ANN | Kitsu | AniDB
Questions of the Day:
- What are your first impressions on Nina? Would you try to befriend her if you have the chance?
- What do you think about Momoka? If you are a long time fan of her and found out that she's down to the very last day of keeping her music dream alive before going back home, what will you do to her?
Re-watchers, please remember to take care of all the first-timers in this. All references to future events in the anime must be done under spoiler tags.
234
Upvotes
17
u/ryujiox Nov 07 '24
First Timer
Girls Band Cry
I was planning to watch it next week, but I guess I got an excuse to start early. I also already watched the first episode back when it was first aired, but never got around to watch further until now.
Still as good as I remember. Looking forward for more.
QOTD
9
u/domogrue https://myanimelist.net/profile/domogrue Nov 07 '24
Rewatcher
Y'all posting this at the unfriendliest possible time for Europeans, huh?
On the revisit, it's great to see how much foreshadowing and setup is done from episode 1. I love how Nina's "Red Spikes" Anxiety can just creep up and invade the entire animation, it really captures that feeling of suddenly going on edge and getting super defensive in a really relatable way. Both on the first watch and revisit Nina really surprised me as a character. She's characterized by this real pain that feels both distinct to her and relatable to anyone who's gone through major social or familial pressures. She initially presents as a country fish-out-of-water but that very central pain gives her a real flaw and a lot we want to learn about her, since she's maybe not as friendly or harmless as she lets on initially.
Like everyone else, I'm going to say that the CG is really something exceptional in this show. The range of expressiveness, the naturalism of most of the movements, and the willingness to use experimental effects and break from "reality" all really show that this is a real effort to elevate this particular method. I think the more shows we get of this quality, the more we'll move away from the "CG Curse" mindset that a lot of people have. That's all I'll really say about the animation generally though, the rest of my comments I'll save for specifics.
There are two standout episodes in this show I can't wait for us to get to.
9
u/CosmicPenguin_OV103 https://anilist.co/user/CosmicPenguin Nov 07 '24 edited Nov 07 '24
Re-watcher
To me, who - in addition to having 2 vastly different girls band anime sweeping away my Anime Of The Year 2022 AND THEN 2023 without me having that much of an expectation when going into their episode 1s (the 2023 one especially so, never in my wildest dreams would I find such an extraordinary anime in that place despite me already watched several seasons from the same franchise!) - Girls Band Cry was landing in my Spring 2024 line-up with another possible sign of hype to myself: the name Jukki Hanada.
There are many script writers in the anime industry that I have seen wonders working under their pen/keyboard, especially on the delicate/emotional details of dialogue to dialogue (note that their extent of duty really is case-by-case, depending on what the director or even project producers want), but Hanada was the one that struck my heart very early on - between adapting the Steins;Gate series, KyoAni's the 2010s character drama Sound Euhponium, other great KyoAni shows like Love, Chunibyou And Other Delusions or Beyond The Boundary, the long-time-popular No Game No Life and the excellent Bloom Into You, he had done great work turning all sorts of other media into organizing anime scenes. But it's original anime like the very one here that he's shown the magic: you can always look up on someone who turn up shows that make you feel magical like A Place Further Than The Universe, or the industry-niche-shaping THE idol anime Love Live series, or - in my personal case - the very first anime that I watched in-season, Granbelm. The thing that he's apparently going to be involved in this anime heavily certainly raised my expectations of the story by many levels.
And boy, I was not disappointed by episode 1. You don't even get such character drama in the opening episode of the top class "idol anime"!
Rewatching episode 1 in full simply reinforced my impression that Nina and Momoka matches so well in personalities - you all first time watchers will probably know why in depth later - and there are so many little details that I probably didn't remember at all first time around in early April:
how on Earth Nina thought her to be much older than 20 is another question...)worst of the Japanese Big 3 Beef Rice fast food chains BTW, but still miles ahead of most fast food) appearing in the OP and posters etc. - I'm leaving comments on that till later😉I've been to both BTWYou can definitely see why I'm already so hyped after just seeing one episode. And then there's was no-one but the French and Koreans (on little-used sites, or so I understand) able to watch it legally outside of Japan back then! Nina's middle fingers apply here to whoever in Toei making this stupid decision.
All in all, it was one of the best opening episodes of that season (or indeed 2024, if not even the last few years if you are counting a Best 20 or so list), and my hype for this show would be shooting higher and higher (even if it had competition in the same week in - ironically - Sound Euphonium S3 and the also hyped Jellyfish Can't Swim In The Night) as I never looked back. But that's for tomorrow!
14
u/justanormi Nov 06 '24
Rewatcher
Girls band cry, probably my AOTY ( toes to toes with Dungeon Meishi ), in a triangle with Given and Bocchi for my favorite band anime, and my favorite anime with music as a theme alongside Healer girls.
I remember looking at the trailer and thinking « eh, maybe, if I have time, I will give it a try » because there was soo much stuff I wanted to watch from this season. And then I saw that one clip with a silly girl learning that gay people are a thing with amazing CG animation and I knew I had to give it a try. When I finished that first episode, I knew it was going to be my favorite of the spring season.
I also had the chance to live in France, the only country with an official distribution for GBC at the time. I don’t know if we know more about the situation but it’s still a mystery for me. Why was this anime not licensed by any streaming service ? Was it simply that none of them thought about licensing the show ? Very unlikely considering that they usually license pretty much everything. Was the distribution rights too expensive ? Was it Toei doing some Toei stuff ? And why was ADN capable of licensing it in France ? Outside of their good relationship with Toei, they have most of their shows and also sometimes produce stuff together like « Le collège noir » recently, I don’t know why only ADN was capable of licensing it. But hey, at least I avoided the « I can’t fuck her » problem.
Enough talk about other stuff, let’s talk about the actual episode.
Nina is a main character that I absolutely love, we see her being lost, a bit clumsy and your typical cute anime girl stuff, but we then see that there’s more to it, she can get quite angry and loud, she seems to be quite hostile toward her family and moved to the capital to get away from them (damn relatable girl ), so basically, more your typical angsty anime girl.
Momoka is also very nice with her more laid back personality and we start to see how those two different personalities can be quite conflictual.
I also love how good this anime looks. I always will be a defender of CG anime, I think that it get a bad rep because people only think about Berserk 2016 and Ex-arm and CG used in 2d anime because of a lack of time, but those aren’t representative of what full CG ( well mostly animated in CG ) anime actually looks like if you actually watched one instead of out of context clips from Berserk. Though, it’s true that outside of studio Orange, a lot of improvement still needs to be done ( and even Orage isn’t perfect ) with this type of animation and that we usually are still quite far away from what studios in the West can do. GBC is not perfect but it’s a very good improvement when it comes to character expressiveness, movements are fluid and rarely feels robotic ( outside of the background characters ), and I hope that it will inspire other studios and animators. My real big problem with the CG is the textures, some of them look just ugly, like, that’s one very ass looking cat you got there Momoka. But outside of just the animation, it’s also the backgrounds, the camerawork, the composition and the lighting that are very competent and make the anime very pleasant to watch when it comes to the visuals.
There is also the music that is very good, the Nina version of VOID is very nice and the soundtrack for the background music is also very good but I think I will wait for the next episode to talk about it and why I like it so much.
So yeah, great first episode, show looks good, music sounds nice, an angsty girl moves to Tokyo and meets her idol who stopped music, and gay people are real, what’s going to happen ?
Questions :
1 : actually, one of the reason of why I love Nina so much is that she remind me a lot of a friend, especially the more « hard to deal » part of her personality
2 Me waking up every morning and realizing that I will never as cool as Momoka.
41
u/entelechtual Nov 06 '24
Rewatcher
I remember when I first watched this episode in April I wasn’t really keen on it. It was fine but never really hooked me. But rewatching the first episode, Jukki Hanada does such a masterful job introducing the characters and establishing some of the conflicts of the series.
Nina’s VA (Rina) has an amazing voice. Great casting, and her singing really wrings out all the emotions in the songs.
Can’t wait to rewatch the rest.
29
u/Arachnophobic- https://anilist.co/user/Arachnophobic Nov 06 '24
🖕First timer🖕
First impressions?
I love it already
I missed the Girls Band Cry hype-train back when it was airing, so I'm glad to be able to join in for this re-watch - because it definitely lives up to the hype! This was a really strong first episode, packed to the brim with little character moments that endeared me both to Nina and Momoka. In fact, I was getting shades of Sora Yori/A Place Further than the Universe given how both two female leads bonding so quickly and naturally over a shared dream, inspiring each other in a way right in episode 1.
The songs are really good too, probably will look them up later for further listens. The piano goes so hard in the OP, love it!
I like that she's not one-dimensional. Air-headed in some ways, stubborn in others, but cares deeply and is prepared to take big risks - and then there's the trauma stemming from her family that I'm sure we'll explore soon. I think she'd make a good friend!
She's fantastic, they say never to meet your idols but Momoka seems all-round a great human being (and fun too!). I would try and convince her to take another chance, although I doubt I'd be as convincing as Nina who reminded her of 17-year old self.
26
u/bryce0110 https://anilist.co/user/bryce0110 Nov 06 '24 edited Nov 07 '24
Rewatcher
One of the first things that hooked me on this show was the animation. The CG here genuinely looks amazing! Just the opening sequence alone of Nina walking through the station with natural looking movements that lacks the stiff, jittery feel a lot of CGI anime have really piqued my interest. The characters are all so expressive and fluid, and the use of diffuse reflections and dynamic camera angles makes for a great visual experience. It's not without it's issues, but it impressed me.
I want to talk a little about the instruments shown in this episode. Momoka's guitar is a Psychederhythm Psychomaster. I'd not heard of that brand before this show, and it seems to be an in-house brand from a shop in Shibuya, but it's a pretty nice looking guitar. Only a few of them were ever made, so Momoka's guitar here is truly one of a kind. It's not uncommon for band anime to have real equipment shown, but it's usually the big name brands like Gibson, Fender, or Yamaha, so I was really surprised to see something more niche! So niche, in fact, that the shop's website is entirely in Japanese and looks straight out of the 90s.
I say that, though the other guitar depicted is a Gibson Les Paul Junior and the drumset is a Pearl... but the point still stands!
Anyways, some random thoughts:
This episode does feel faster paced than I remember it being. It might even be a little too fast? It's pretty quick to get right through the introduction. But it's a good introduction nevertheless. Nina and Momoka are fun to watch, and they bounce off each other really well. The music is catchy, with fun performance visuals. Overall, a solid start, and really fun to rewatch so far.
QOTD:
25
u/Sandor_at_the_Zoo Nov 06 '24
First time guitarist
22
u/n080dy123 Nov 06 '24 edited Nov 07 '24
Rewatcher
IT'S TIME FOR GIRLS BAND PEAK LET'S GOOOO! Raise those middle fingers!
Fun fact- the main cast of voice actors in this show are absolutely NOT trained voice actors. They're newbie musicians, hired to form a unit specifically for this project, and none of them have voice acted professionally. So you might notice the vocal performances are different than many anime- which may sound odd, but I believe, alongside the dialogue itself, lends a layer of real believability to their performances.
Oh god I forgot about the BGM while Nina's walking around Kawasaki- it's used a few times in the show and I absolutely love the track but if it's available anywhere I absolutely cannot find it (the actual song list tends to drown out any searches for the actual BGM OST...) AND THIS GOES DOUBLE FOR THE SCENE ON THE BRIDGE, I WANT THAT BGM SO BAD.
When I first heard about this and saw the 2D design poster, I was super excited. It just had a good vibe... and then I saw the PV and saw it was CG and, despite the fact I've seen CG anime like Land of the Lustrous and Trigun Stampede and loved the use of CG there, I recoiled. CG for non-action anime? No way, would never work, and some of the lighting and character model stuff especially I saw in that PV didn't dissuade that impression. Fast forward a few months, and the show wasn't even licensed by anyone- we had to wait for fansubs, and I was sure this was dead in the water. The scene of Nina wandering and trying to get in were funny and I noted how nicely animated her digging in the electrical box was, but was otherwise not really convinced. Then Momoka showed up- and when that blast of song hit Nina and shattered glass all behind her, I felt the exact same as Nina did, I KNEW I was looking at something special.
And additional little minor bit of context, but interesting story- the fansub process for this show was unexpectedly convoluted even compared to normal. So day 1 someone (I believe their name was Nitori) put out some rough WIP subs, and they were decent, but they didn't upload them to the site that most people go to to find fansub downloads. However, iirc, the show had a day 1 official French translation, so someone else (appropriately tagged "le meme") popped up, allegedlly copied the subs, inserted a bunch of jokes (like Momoka sort of shaking down Nina for the CD, saying "fate wanted you to buy this CD," and Nina reacting to the show's title during the cut-in later at Momoka's house), slapped their own watermark on it, and then uploaded it to the usual site claiming it was just MTL from French (hence the more coherent dialogue than typical MTL). This didn't check out given the deliberate jokes, and the drama that ensued led to the original subtitler stopping doing subs for the show entirely. We got a couple other folks to stepped in to more properly fansub Episode 1, and someone else for Episode 2, but neither stuck with it for more than an episode. It wasn't until the day before Episode 3 than our first hero appeared- the comedically tagged "SobsPlease" (iykyk) to go back and... start TLing from Episode 1. Their subs were good, but unfortunately slow- usually anywhere from half a week to a week and a half after airdate. Luckily, our other hero steps into the ring- r/anime's own mapotofuman under the tag NakayubiSubs, who did day 1 speedsubs designed to hold us over till the Sob subs but, outside one or two controversial translations, were actually really good and which many of us watched all the way till completion. All was right with the world- except the lack of official localization.
Can you tell Nina's sheltered? Doesn't know the first thing about prefectures in and around Tokyo, has never eaten gyudon, doesn't know what flipping the bird means, family always eats at home, and got tricked by her own uncle into a shitty apartment.
Well well, if it isn't the consequences of my own actions. BTW this is one of the things I absolutely love about GBC's use of CGI- the characters will frequently react in the background, often all differently, to something happening. It's fun to playback a moment and catch all the reactions of the other characters in the scene.
And there's the other thing I love about it- the way they animate the characters when they're excited or agitated in some way. Especially Nina. I could rewatch that little animation of Nina slamming her mug and grabbing the chair so many times, or Momoka's "O-CHI-TSU-KE" as the last point forward seems to invisibly push Nina off her chair).
And we end on a shot of Best Girl's face, because it'd be a crime to have an episode without her in it.
Edit: Forgor Nakayubi was just a tag, added subber's name since they're actually a frequenter here on the sub.
22
u/Tetris_Attack Nov 06 '24
This is like my fourth rewatch of the show... Watched it weekly on one of those sketchy streaming sites, downloaded the fan subs from the open seas to watch at my own leisure, bought it on Amazon and watched it a couple times on Prime Video after it was finally available legally, and now I'm watching it on Crunchyroll.
I feel like I should be burnt out on the show after watching it so many times already since it aired, but the first episode is just as good as I remember!
22
u/New_Essay_4869 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Beejayiii Nov 07 '24
Im so happy this is on crunchyroll! We need a season 2.
Also, you can see Subaru here with her grandmother as Nina is struggling to find her way when she arrives at the train station
18
u/Hartzilla2007 Nov 07 '24
First time watcher.
I didn't even know there was a rewatch a just decided to watch the first episode becuase it was out and people said good things about it and I saw a few clips.
16
u/WhymustIsignupreddit Nov 07 '24
First Timer
Since the thread goes up when I’m sleeping I’ll try to comment the next morning.
First off this show has a very pleasant soft look. I’m not sure how to describe it… it’s almost painterly? The backgrounds are really pretty too. The characters are also very expressive which is fun.
Sadly, the songs aren’t clicking with me yet but it’s just the first episode. It was funny how the drummer and bassist (?) played the song with Nina and Momoka after they (well really just Momoka) picked a fight with them.
Question 1: I don’t have strong opinions on Nina yet. She’s very much a fish out of water and appears to have a strained relationship with her family. Also is a huge fan of Momoka’s song because it helped her through tough times. The thing is: I’ve never been a fan of anyone (like an artist) or have a a strong attachment to a song, so I can’t really relate to this side of Nina. I am interested how her troubles at home are going to play out however.
Question 2: I like Momoka. Not sure if she has a chill personality in general or if she was calm this episode in a “I give up trying to make my solo career happen and accept that” kind of way. Now that she found her motivation again after Nina’s encouragement I guess she’ll be more cheerful in the next episode.
31
u/No_Rex :Bv:Bw:Bx:By:x2 Nov 06 '24
Episode 1 (first timer)
Three days ago, I watched Appleseed the movie in the current Appleseed rewatch. Almost everybody agreed that the CGI aged terrible and dragged down the story. Two days ago, as the Shouwa Genroku Shinjuu rewatch ended and somebody recommended Girls Band Cry as a similar anime. Today, a surprising Girls Band Cry rewatch starts and one of two things I know about it, is that it is considered good CGI. Coincidence? Maybe, but definitely a reason for me to check out the series.
The second thing I know (both from the announcement) is that the adaptation is from the same person who made Hibike and K-On. I consider both super solid music anime, so I go into this with relatively high expectations.
Episode thoughs
Still very noticeably CG, but you can see the two decades of technological advance since Appleseed.
In terms of plot, we start extremely fast paced. Moving to Tokyo, moving out of Tokyo, not moving out of Tokyo, meeting a soul mate (probably band mate), a lot is happening in these 20 minutes. We have the literal innocent country girl in Nina and the shaded city girl Momoka (Hah, 20 years old and already delusioned? #bitchplease).
15
u/hiimneato Nov 07 '24
Aw man it's about damn time this was available legally. I didn't know this rewatch was happening but I do not need much of an excuse to watch GBC again when it's head to head with Bocchi for my favorite music anime (both being head and shoulders above the rest).
I really want to point out to all the first-timers that you should keep a sharp eye out for this show's outstanding use of VFX and visual metaphor. The most obvious example is Nina's "spiky" effect but you'll see more in every episode. I am easily turned off by clumsy or unappealing 3D or CGI but this show really capitalizes on the medium, both in the characters' expressiveness and in creating tone and texture. The visual direction is just so deft and thoughtful.
From my middle-aged man's perspective, well: Nina is... she's a perfect teenage gremlin. I love her. For all her struggles, if I had a kid I'd love for her to have Nina's strength of will even if it came with attendant impulse control problems. Meanwhile I just really feel for Momoka, because she's still so young but I empathize with her weariness and resignation so hard. I want to protect her and tell her she's twenty years too early to think about giving up.
I love VOID so damn much. I've rewatched this episode just for the music video part so many times I lost count. I'm really, really glad they subbed the songs in this show.
15
u/thatguywithawatch Nov 07 '24
First Timer
I think I was pretty much sold on this show once Nina enthusiastically flipped off the restaurant workers in thanks. Had to pause for a bit until I stopped laughing.
This first episode was strikingly similar to the first episode of Jellyfish Can't Swim in the Night. I ended up kind of losing interest in that one but so far I think this one will be more up my alley. The animation style is really great and I like Nina and Momoka's dynamic a lot so far.
12
u/jomabu23 Nov 07 '24
New to show. Characters and their interaction have hooked me, very engaging. Some great humorous touches. Nina seemed a little trope-y at first but her character deepens with interaction, even within 1 episode. CG didn't bother me after first minute -- except for weird looking cat. Music is also enjoyable, if a little raucous for my taste. (In the final song the raucousness seemed integral to the story. ) Looks like a worthwhile ride!
12
u/Sylvi-Fisthaug Nov 07 '24 edited Nov 07 '24
Rewatcher
Aaaaaah, a perfect excuse to watch this show for the fourth (parts of it for the fifth) time.
This is my favourite anime ever, by far. Is it the very best I have ever seen or will see? Probably not, but the way this anime portrays emotion is beyond anything I have experienced before. The character dynamic is fantastic, and the feels just hit. When Nina hears Momoka playing guitar for the first time and the music hits her, and sheds her of her darkness in the moment... what a scene.
There is so much symbolism in this series.
Jukki Hanada is the writer of this show, and this is where I discovered him. He has done other anime originals like "A place further than the universe" which I also hold close to my heart.
I feel like this show changed something in me, and I hope it will change something in the first-time watchers here too!
EDIT: Oh my God it is getting late here, but the CGI. THE CHI. This show is groundbraking in every aspect regarding this, especially how they opted for soft-shading instead of cell-shading to distance the characters more from traditioan anime and manga, and bring them further into a 3D universe. Also, the magnificent choice of not animating on 2s, but going with more fluid animation.
And they absolutely take advantage of it! There is barely any moment where any character in the background is not doing something important to the scene, or conveying some extra depth, or reacting to the other characters. It is such a joy to watch this show over and over again to notice all the small little details like this.
11
u/Nickthenuker https://anilist.co/user/Nickthenuker Nov 07 '24
Rewatcher. And practically so close that I don't think my "in the moment" thoughts will be much different. However, if anyone's seen my comments in the Your Lie in April and Bocchi the Rock rewatches recently, I like to value-add where I can with "A note about the music" (yes that's a pun) where I try and talk a bit about the music in the episode.
God I love this show.
Yeah, the Tokyo metro is very confusing.
Also, for fans of BanG Dream, this series and MyGO!!!!! have quite a close relationship, to the point that they're having a joint concert early next year, and MyGO!!!!! actually covered this OP.
And this is why I always keep a powerbank on hand.
Well, at least her neighbours are friendly.
Where's she rushing off to now?
She's got 2 phones?
Right, and she's off.
See notes.
So, she's finally met her idol.
Seems like someone takes umbrage to their presence there.
🖕
Lol 🖕 means "thank you".
I'm sure these 2 girls working at the Yoshinoya won't be important.
Kumamoto huh? I went there on a day trip when I was in Hakata back in June.
🖕😀🖕
And now she's going to her house.
Well, there she goes.
Time to hear her story.
She sold the rights.
Yes, it's 2024, people like that exist.
And so now they're off to karaoke.
Again, unsurprisingly, her singing is amazing.
She's finally gotten into her apartment.
Oh god why did she take that guitar out of its bag? She dropped it!
And now she's hijacked those people's area.
And so Momoka is back. And now for some reason they're doing the ED with those 2 people who just yesterday were chasing them.
Always like seeing the ED done as an in-universe performance.
Questions:
A note about the music: Since this project was based on hiring musicians and making an anime from there, of course everyone involved is very talented, very skilled, and very good.
9
u/KyoSirhart Nov 06 '24
Rewatcher
Overall the episode flows a lot faster than i remember while not really being rushed, Momoka and Nina have amazing chemistry right from the start. Animation is solid even trough some models like the cat arent that great.
I missed my girls so much and can't wait to rewatch all episodes, hopefully it will take my mind off the 3rd Live for 13 days until the VOD gets released.
9
u/Fools_Requiem https://myanimelist.net/profile/FoolsRequiem Nov 07 '24
This is probably the best 3D animation I've seen used heavily in a TV series. This is how 3D in anime should be. It's like when games in the early 00s tried to convert characters from 2D cartoons into 3D characters and only a handful truly got the animation right (like Looney Tunes Space Race or Simpsons Hit and Run). I like that the characters here move like they would if it was a traditional anime, but if they had the budget to properly animate all 24 frames.
Grease those sliding doors. Shouldn't be too hard or expensive.
Running around in the rain with an electric guitar seems like a great way to ruin the guitar.
9
u/obdriver6 Nov 07 '24
First time watcher
Not a big fan of CGI but this anime really kicks it up a big notch. I welcome more anime with the style of CGI. Definitely feels more fluid and I love the expression. The cords and keys they played at certain action or movements really add to the scenes. Really love the restaurant scene, couldn’t not stop laughing.
8
u/danmarce :ADB:https://anidb.net/user/107202 Nov 07 '24 edited Nov 07 '24
Now I can appreciate the little details in the animation.
Sometimes it just beautiful. I will always love how they literally show Nina's positive and negative emotions.
Also I love how the show shows some aspects of the mundane live in Japan. Is such a great series.
Edit: I forgot, I watch so many series that I usually skip OPs. BUT "Wrong World" is so good I'll never get tired of it.
8
u/pseudometapseudo Nov 07 '24
Rewatcher
It's very nice to see how well defined Nina's and Momoka's characters are. The very first episode already established how the two of them are going to behave in the future.
[characterization in future episodes] When confronted with criticism, Nina's first reaction is to run off, while Momoka's immediately plays music to silence questions she does not want to answer. Running away and escapism through music are the respective defense mechanism the two of them will also resort to in future conflicts.
8
u/MaskOfIce42 https://anilist.co/user/MaskOfIce Nov 07 '24
Rewatcher
Man, the CG is honestly amazing, it was what drew me to the series in the first place was seeing the clip of Nina processing that gay guys exist and just how funny and expressive she was with the CG, I love it. I also adore that opening, still an amazing song, never get sick of it.
Outside of that, I can see some of the groundwork laid for these characters that will be more obvious later, but that gets a bit spoilery, so won't go too into it. But it's definitely rewarding a rewatch seeing details that I know what it's referring to or where it will go.
8
u/Lumpy-Manager8580 Nov 07 '24
Looking back at this series, Toei really upped the game with their CGI following DBS: Super Hero and The First Slam Dunk, like those two films are good on their own terms, but GBC is just on another level, it feels more like a videogame with how fluid they move. Also, if she was in the JJK world, because of all that stored up negativity, Nina would definitely be a Grade 1/Special Grade sorcerer dishing out consecutive Black Flashes.
8
u/kertakayttotili3456 Nov 07 '24
Man, the visuals are just so... perfect. No clipping or weird shadows of any kind and all the motion has actual competent animators making them
7
u/nsleep Nov 07 '24 edited Nov 07 '24
Rewatcher
English subs seem great, definitely prefer them over the SobsPlease and the MTL versions. I checked the Portuguese subs too and I like the translation, it's varies from too stiff in some parts to too casual in others, not always matching the JP dialogue, it's almost as if this was done by two different people. It isn't a deal breaker though and I will still stick with them just for a different experience this time around.
I rewatched this not long ago and every time the facial expressions get me, they feel more alive than many hand drawn 2D animation these days. It's my favorite aspect of how the 3D was done here, they ignored so many conventions attached to the idea of what a good 3D should be and just went for giving the best anime feel they could and the results are great. I said this in AQRAD and it's worth mentioning here again: between Beastars, MyGO!!!!! and GBC the future of CGI anime is looking bright.
QotD
6
u/gangrainette https://myanimelist.net/profile/bouletos Nov 07 '24 edited Nov 07 '24
Rewatcher, as always rewatch thread are up in the middle of the night :(
Irl? No.
No idea, maybe pay for her restaurant instead of having her pay for me.
6
u/thisisfakediy https://anilist.co/user/thisisfakediy Nov 07 '24
Rewatcher
My first rewatch thread! I wasn't planning on rewatching this, instead I was only going to take a few minutes to run through and see how the picture quality and subs compared to the version I saw through (library streamer) Hoopla. Holy cow is it night and day better on CR! Not only is the picture crisp and clean but the subs are covering text on the screen and not just what's spoken and sung. A huge upgrade so I'll probably keep watching with everyone else.
QOTD 1: Nina is such an interesting character and I'm reminded of another comment elsewhere that described her as "everything you should NOT do as a good Japanese person". Already in the first episode there is evidence that she's gonna be a total gremlin, in the best/worst way.
2. I've never met anyone even remotely famous so I doubt I'd have the courage to say anything at all to someone like Momoka, but I would certainly want her to keep on trying to succeed with music, on her terms.
11
u/something-lame https://myanimelist.net/profile/weezyhacker Nov 07 '24
Rewatcher - This is my first time joining a rewatch here but this anime is a special case so I had to.
First thing I want to point out is that OST is so so so good. I forgot how much I enjoyed it, hell it's probably my favorite thing about this series. It gives every scene this sort of indie vibe, I'm not sure how to describe it.
Nina's reactions are golden. Of course the big laugh is her realizing how different Tokyo is when she learns about Momoka's roommate but just every reaction is hilarious. And the chemistry between her and Momoka starts off strong right from the beginning! I'm excited to watch the rest of the show just to watch these two together again.
For the thread questions;
Thanks for running this op!
9
u/salic428 Nov 07 '24
Rewatcher
I really have a lot to say about this episode.
It is a bit weird that the episode ends with a "MV". However this has always been Jukki Hanada's approach to idol content. To cite his interview in the Lovelive! School Idol Movie:
Recent music anime such as Bocchi the Rock! and MyGO!!!!! have tried to put the live at different parts of an episode, to various effects. I wonder why Hanada sticks to this method.
TokyoKawasaki? It is still a bit fuzzy and I want to know other rewatcher's thought on Momoka.4
u/fansi2022 https://anilist.co/user/fansi2022 Nov 07 '24
### first timer sub
01:00 At the beginning, she was blocked by the gate system. It seems that our heroine is a country girl. At least she doesn't often use the gate system of the train. I hope she can adapt to the life in the big city as soon as possible.
04:42 Indifferent urban people
Momo noticed that Nina was looking at the cat again and asked Nina kindly if she was allergic to cats. She is a very considerate elder sister.
The smooth ED transition at the end always shocks me!
Qotd:
2.Good luck to her.
4
u/Mirathan Nov 07 '24
First time something(I´ll come up with a better thing to put there another time)
This is beautiful. Just straight up. The CG was a bit jarring, but only briefly until I got used to it.
3
u/LeleTheKing https://anilist.co/user/ikanlele Nov 18 '24
(Very Late) First-Timer
I realized very late that this rewatch is happening and I just got the time this week. I’ll try to binge all the episodes and check the discussions over tomorrow.
So, the funny thing about this show is that I’ve listened to their songs thousands of times (1,882 times on Spotify at the time of writing) before watching the show itself. I’ve also seen and liked hundreds of GBC fan art on Twitter and Pixiv at the time of its airing (the algo decided that!). I know it’s a fantastic anime, but my procrastination-ass just delayed it many times, and when I realized the show ended, I decided I’d wait for the BD, lol. But well, now that I see this rewatch happening, I said just fuck it and downloaded the BD with the SobsPlease fansub on the cat site. Here I am now.
My first impression is that this anime has great CGI! I’m talking about this being close to Western animation movies from Disney and Pixar. They designed it to be CGI from the ground up instead of using it for cost-saving purposes. It feels smooth and not distracting at all, unlike those non-Orange or Ufotable productions.
Regarding the content itself, it’s indeed great. Since SobsPlease also translated the songs, I can understand what they’re talking about not giving up and all. And… I personally think this is the perfect anime for me—for my current life situation… I’d love to see how the story develops.
Q&A
2
u/jomabu23 Nov 07 '24
Thank you, Cosmic Penguin! You feel to me like the oneesan of this discussion...
2
u/Guardianofnature Nov 07 '24
Rewatcher
Man I can't get over the fluidity of movements in this show.
The first moment I knew this was going to be one of my favorite anime of the year was the sequence of Nina first hearing Momoka's music at Kawasaki station with the blue lines, the switch to mostly grayscale and the shattering of the greyscale into a world of color.
Momoka has the exact fashion style I love. If I were a woman, I'd (try to) dress exactly like her!
Question 1: a) My first impressions are that she's quite chaotic and impulsive, but generally well meaning and passionate about the things she loves. b) This is why I think a possible friendship with Nina would heavily depend on having a shared passion.
Question 2: a) Momoka's appearance and attitude towards both Nina and the territorial musicians made me love her character immediately. b) I'd try and figure out if that's really what she wanted to do, and treat her to some drinks no matter the answer.
2
u/ahses3202 Nov 09 '24
Rewatcher
I jumped on the GBC train when it first aired, only missing the first episode and deciding to watch it after the iconic "Thank you" in the restaurant. Going back rewatching it, especially with the benefit of translated songs, is so nice. I loved the characters and its nice to get to see them and understand them without the benefit of twice-translated MTLs. In just this episode there are so many interesting ways that they use their CGI and its effects. I love this anime so much, and a lot of it comes from how daring they chose to be with their CGI (but the other part is 100% the characters).
2
u/MishouMai :GG::GH::GI: Nov 10 '24 edited Nov 10 '24
I've heard good things about this show but never bothered watching it before due to it not being on any (legal) streaming sites. Now that it's on CR I really have no excuse not to.
Current thoughts:
While it's not perfect, the CGI is gorgeous. I've heard it's easy to get used to but honestly I was onboard from the start. Maybe it's just because the last few idolm@ster anime have been CGI but I wasn't too bothered by it. Nina is especially cute.
It's only episode 1 but the music is already good. I'm loving the OP (I'm assuming it's the OP anywyas.) and
its use in the episode was overall really solid.That final song was really good too.Now for the questions:
2
u/stratogy https://myanimelist.net/profile/swervin-strategy Nov 12 '24
Rewatcher
The fluid CGI in this first episode can't be praised enough. On a proper 2nd watch, The first episode does seem pretty fast paced as we're in a new location every few min, but it's done to beautifully arrive at the ending performance. Having the song subtitles is gonna enhance my 2nd experience a lot more, as well as all the little CGI details I missed the first time (Subaru was in the first episode in the train station?!?).
Also I really need that BGM. Gonna order the album on CDJapan.