That gif took my a while to get just right but I absolutely love it. I’m getting better at making gifs I think. It’s not what I would call a marketable skill or any type of skill, and yet it makes me happy!
I don’t know about getting better at reviewing but thankfully Karandi is helping me out so it’s going great. You should read about this very episode here.
Given has decent but basic artwork that can get inconsistent. This show clearly doesn’t have the budget of some of the other series that are currently airing. But there is something so loving about the way the production is crafted that is feels inviting. And there is a lot of subtle attention to detail. More than a lot of more polished productions.
The opening tag as they are discussing the live show and you can actually see how much more relaxed they are with each other. their shoulders are rounded and they slouch a little instead of being all stiff. Mayu is sitting Indian style and just look at how Ueno is holding onto his chair. Everything about their body language says this is a friendly happy scene and we’re all friends here!
I’ve been getting different caps of the OP every week. I like how the colours are so much brighter and more saturated than in the actual episodes. It gives you that manic feeling of a live show.
I ended up with a lot of screencaps of Haruki. He stole my heart a little this week. But you can still see that the show is adamant about sticking to that softly warm palette. Even in the outdoor panorama night scene there is a lot of green which warms up the image. It looks inviting, comfortable and safe.
Haruki has some fine eyebrows there. He may be overtweezing a touch.
Look at that shock of blue in Ueno’s screencap. Of course blue is his colour but it really creates a contrast with everything else.
We rarely see characters have substantial hair transformations so we never get to appreciate just how much it changes a person. Haruki is barely recognizable yet I’m sure it’s still the same face.
I really wanted to put these images together. The difference between Haruki and Kaji’s place is just so striking. Much like the rest of the show, Haruki’s apartment has those soft warm orange tones, natural woods, light fabric, even the dark surfaces reflect warm light.
Kaji’s place, seen just a bit later is one of the coldest environments we’ve seen in the show at all. Possibly with the exception of Mayu’s home in early episode 1. The colours in that early morning interior are much cooler than the outdoor nighttime scenes. I really doubt that just a random design choice. This place is meant to feel cold, hard and uncomfortable.
That’s probably why I took an instant suspicion of the person in that place. Combined with the fact that he’s also pictured as a mass of black covers with grey eyes. The colour story here is not a happy one.
It was fun seeing Kaji make a face. He’s the most stoic of them all.
This has nothing to do with the anime per see, but I really like Haruki’s ombre t-shirt. I would like one. I don’t wear colours much (I know, weird) but if I could get it in grey scale it would make me happy.
It seems Ueno is obsessed, they used the word twice to describe him this episode.
I hadn’t noticed that they switched to summer uniforms at some point. Ueno’s red undershirt matches her bow. I don’t know if it’s on purpose or if the illustrator got lazy and decided not to change colours.
Nice gif. I quite liked Haruki’s expressions this episode, both the goofy ones and the more emotional ones.
Also doggy and new device: the way they first showed the new Line (?) avatar, and then the actual scene, showing that the avatar was a tad more recent than I expected.
Given may not have the most fancy budget, but it’s certainly one of the most throughly and consistently constructed shows this season. All the characters are familiar types, but because of things like body language, they all build on the types rather than being confined by them.
I fear the pending drama.
I believe pending drama may be inevitable. They’ve handlede well enough so far. If they keep putting importance into body language, they might pull off something interesting