Mr_Nice_Username
Brigade Leader
I saw Dan Da Dan at the weekend. I went in knowing precisely nothing about it. No trailers, no spoilers, nothing. I often try to do that when I see a new movie, so I can be surprised and judge it purely on my own terms and its own terms before I see what anyone else has said.
So imagine how Extremely Extremely Confused I was when the film starts with a 10-ish minute set of interviews about the film with the cast and crew BEFORE the film starts, some of which contained light spoilers. Very disappointing - it removed the surprise when those pieces came up in the story.
I was so confused that I even left the cinema briefly to ask the staff whether there'd been a mistake at the projector. They said that two separate people asked the same question the day before, lol. I just looked down at the floor for the rest of the interviews. I'd like to see the interviews now that I've actually watched the film. Hopefully I can find them online at some point in the future.
I've since found out that this isn't uncommon in Japan. Apparently this is because the audience have generally come from the manga, so they know the story already. But even then, it seems like an obviously better choice to have those interviews appear after the film. Personally I thought it was a bewildering choice. I would have got 3x more enjoyment from the interviews if they'd come after the film.
Then, imagine how confused I was when the film ended at what seemed to be two thirds of the way through the story. A big build-up that just ends out of nowhere, part way through the story.
Of course, I've since found out that it's not strictly a film, but the first few episodes of the TV show (which also explains some jarring editing and pacing choices - it's just the natural ending of one episode and the start of a new one). I would have greatly appreciated a card at the end of the story but before the credits that said "Find out what happens next in October" when the show launches. It's such an easy thing for them to add in, and it offers a clear marketing advantage too. It would have given me an "aah" moment, and made me really excited to see what comes next. Perhaps there's a card like that at the end of the credits that I didn't see. As it stood, I left the cinema totally baffled. I assumed they'd run out of money or something!
Nothing wrong with offering the first three episodes as movie. Great idea, in fact. But I can't be the only person in the entire world that goes into movies blind like this. In fact I'm sure I'm not, because when the credits rolled I looked around the audience to see a small number of folks looking at each other with confused faces, which I assume is because they also didn't understand why the story just ended.
A shame really, because looking back I enjoyed it a great deal. It's weird and outlandish and experimental and interesting. But at the time I just left the cinema feeling baffled and disappointed.
So imagine how Extremely Extremely Confused I was when the film starts with a 10-ish minute set of interviews about the film with the cast and crew BEFORE the film starts, some of which contained light spoilers. Very disappointing - it removed the surprise when those pieces came up in the story.
I was so confused that I even left the cinema briefly to ask the staff whether there'd been a mistake at the projector. They said that two separate people asked the same question the day before, lol. I just looked down at the floor for the rest of the interviews. I'd like to see the interviews now that I've actually watched the film. Hopefully I can find them online at some point in the future.
I've since found out that this isn't uncommon in Japan. Apparently this is because the audience have generally come from the manga, so they know the story already. But even then, it seems like an obviously better choice to have those interviews appear after the film. Personally I thought it was a bewildering choice. I would have got 3x more enjoyment from the interviews if they'd come after the film.
Then, imagine how confused I was when the film ended at what seemed to be two thirds of the way through the story. A big build-up that just ends out of nowhere, part way through the story.
Of course, I've since found out that it's not strictly a film, but the first few episodes of the TV show (which also explains some jarring editing and pacing choices - it's just the natural ending of one episode and the start of a new one). I would have greatly appreciated a card at the end of the story but before the credits that said "Find out what happens next in October" when the show launches. It's such an easy thing for them to add in, and it offers a clear marketing advantage too. It would have given me an "aah" moment, and made me really excited to see what comes next. Perhaps there's a card like that at the end of the credits that I didn't see. As it stood, I left the cinema totally baffled. I assumed they'd run out of money or something!
Nothing wrong with offering the first three episodes as movie. Great idea, in fact. But I can't be the only person in the entire world that goes into movies blind like this. In fact I'm sure I'm not, because when the credits rolled I looked around the audience to see a small number of folks looking at each other with confused faces, which I assume is because they also didn't understand why the story just ended.
A shame really, because looking back I enjoyed it a great deal. It's weird and outlandish and experimental and interesting. But at the time I just left the cinema feeling baffled and disappointed.
I may finally, finally get my wish of attending Scotland Loves Anime now that London has seceded and moved to Scotland. Right, when are they announcing the dates already? I need to book a month off of work. Is this really happening?? Aaaarrgghh!!
