Aku no Hana
Way better than I initially expected. My first impression was that the rotoscoping was ugly and added little to the anime. I still stand by that, though it definitely had it's pretty moments as well. Howeverit had too little detail overall to match the way the characters moved and the realistic background art, and static frames stood out obnoxiously and made it look lazy. I think this series would have benefited greatly from being a live-action show rather than a rotoscoped anime.
Aside from that, I was really taken with the story and the writing. I suppose I'm going to have to read the manga now. The direction and the sound design were excellent, and they would have got me rating the show much higher if not for the distracting rotoscoping and some rather slow first episodes. Looking it up, I realized that the director and the sound director are the same as the anime Mushishi. Now that I know that I see the similarity. Both are very atmosphere heavy shows, and though the feel of both are very different, the delivery is remarkably similar.
It's pretty much inevitable now that I'll reach 300. I wonder what that one will be.
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