I’m not saying it’s so pleasurable to watch that it’s almost criminal; I’m rather saying that the fact I see a loli on screen practically naked during the OP eye-catcther can be constituted as criminal in some countries around the world.
My thought? What’s a little kid doing on screen? But she ain’t a little kid; she’s a few hundred years old.
Well-said. That’s why it’s animation and not real life. So on to my thoughts.
Shaft animators have a knack of showing small actions and gestures that display the characters’ personalities, moods and so on. That’s the masterwork behind it all. This time, instead of seeing lighting, sets, and other rather out of place stuff that only drama/theater engineering majors (what’s the real term) can love, we get some normal scenes. The animation quality isn’t all that great but the story is driving the interest of the audience. After a couple of episodes, I can’t say I’m hooked or vastly interested, but I sure gained some inspiration for my writing. Visual descriptions of this episode seems to be overdone as some characters over-gesture in certain places. I felt the gestures displayed by the student president and her minions seemed a little bit over the top and unnatural. No, I’m not talking about their emtions or reactions, I’m talking about small gestures that animator painstakingly drawn and displayed on screen.
Saito Chiwa seems to be the house-seiyuu for Shaft, because she voice-acted as Senjogahara in Bakemonogatari, and now she’s voicing the childhood friend. I love listening to her elegant voice describing the events. She’s no longer Becky, the awkward 10-year-old teacher in Pani Poni Dash or spoiled child in Tsukiyomi Moon Phase. Both shows were produced by Shaft.
Akira is similar to Araragi in aloofness and awkwardness and Mina Tepes is a loli-version of Senjogahara without the nasty (or fun) streak. But she has a brilliant mind.
Bottomline? Loli-fans will jack away and spill it all but for other folks, you may want to read the manga and watch your favorite episodes only.
Additional note: Ito Shizuka/Itou Shizuka plays the student president. She is also the voice actress behind Hinagiku (hai hai!).
I agree with rayyhum777 about how loli fans will love it but others, such as myself still very much prefer the manga. There is no way that the anime will ever be as good than the manga. I will not give away spoilers but in the manga Akira never lost his memory. The anime moves way to fast. They should have made a 26 episode series out of it. You can’t get to know the characters. The scenes that I was looking forward to seeing are never going to be shown. I am not saying that I hate the anime, its just that I was expecting more of a slower paced story with good action scenes, which will most likely not happen. Once I realized shaft made Bakemonogatari I kind of realized where Dance in the vampire bund is headed, Alot of talking and very short action scenes.
@ flashtoons – If these scenes are as important as you say, then it would be a cryin’ shame not to see them. With Shaft’s artistic abilities, the scenes would’ve been brilliant. If the manga is quite deep with good stories, they need to somehow make a longer series out of this.