Probably gonna get around to the first episode of Kingdom later today.
and two days later...
Introduction: So we've got our pre-air for the season; and wouldn't you know it, it's double-length. The actual show is a shounen piece of historical fiction (emphasis on the fiction, I would imagine) known as Kingdom. Of course, neither shounen manga nor historical fiction are exactly uncommon over in the land of the rising sun (although it's usually their own history, not China's). More interesting is that the studio, Pierrot, seems intent on using this project to try out their CGI. I guess we'll see how well that goes.
Premise: We've got two friends, both war orphans and servants to some non-specific individual, sparring with each other every day in the hopes of becoming war heroes and escaping their lives of servitude. One day, a nobleman comes and whisks one of the two away to become a political officer, leaving the other behind. A month goes by, and the friend returns, covered in blood and dying. The one swears vengeance on those who caused his death, so he heads out on his quest amidst a rebellion that pits two princes against each other.
This episode was... chaotic, to say the least. It was twice as long as usual, and yet the pacing was still enough to snap your neck. We see these two sword fighting, this old man chats them up, he takes one of them away, the one dies, the other runs off for vengeance, defeats a group of bandits, then meets his friend's doppelganger. They just plow through these plot devices one after the other and give us no time to actually comprehend why the hell we should care about what's going on. The only point I can give is that it does manage to explain the old noble's peculiar interest in them (well, one of them) by the end.
This is only made worse by the terrible delivery of these elements. I would call them cliché, but that's being generous. The episode takes every opportunity to dump information on us in as bland and routine ways as they can imagine. Then, you've got the fact that these characters don't stop talking. We don't need a verbal expression of every single thought or emotion that goes through these guys' heads. I'm aware that this is carried out in a very shounen way, but that's no excuse for telling without showing.
Speaking of the dialog, did no one proofread this stuff? Now, I admit that this is partly due to the melodramatic acting, but the script isn't doing it any favors. To put it in perspective, when I'm watching characters say their lines, I should not think that the character has a serious mental condition (unless, you know, that's the point). I mean, damn. If you want me to feel sorry for these characters, your first step should be to get me to stop laughing at them.
Characters: I like a grand total of one of these characters; and even the one, just a bit. The villain is the only person that I could honestly enjoy watching. Sure, he's a generic villain out for revenge, but at least his motive is tied to the times, and the authority he manages to command makes him out to be a decent threat. Plus, the melodrama actually works for this character. Melodramatic is a suit that fits him very well.
The two main characters in this episode are Xin and Piao, the two friends. Xin is an unlikeable anger management case study who literally shouts all but maybe two of his lines. Piao is the calm and collected one. He's not unlikeable, but he isn't likeable either. The guy is just sort of there, relying on his status as an important character to carry him through. None of the other characters are even worth mentioning, and these two are only worth mentioning because we follow them through the episode.
Artwork: This anime is visually confused. It's backgrounds range from gorgeous to stock to abstract wallpapers worthy of an entry-level photoshop class, and everything else dances between CGI and 2D animation. Unfortunately, it seems to like CGI more. The character designs are uninspired, made all the worse by the simplistic CGI models. I'm sure that they were simply trying to make them match, but it just lead to both versions of the characters looking generic. Though, to its credit, there are a few times when it's hard to know for certain if what you are looking at is 2D or 3D.
Animation: I really only have one basic rule for CGI implementation: If you use a CGI model for something once, use it for the entire production. Of course, there are exceptions (if you want to do close up/interior shots of CGI machines, feel free to use immaculately detailed 2D artwork), and minimalism seems to be the best standard; but as a general rule, this should be fairly obvious.
Why? Because when you animate something in 2D, and then switch to animating it in 3D (and vice versa), it's noticeable. At the very least, I would expect most studios to be smart enough not to switch between camera angles during the same damn scene (an expectation soundly defeated by Pierrot). It's a shame too; because with 2D animation, it might have looked decent. The times that we do see it, there are some nice details and good emotion in the characters' faces. It wasn't perfect, but it was certainly better than the jittery CGI movements.
Music: The opening theme is generic rock, but it's catchy generic rock. The ending attempts to be the same, but the sub par singing hinders that achievement (even if it did have the best animation of the whole episode). The soundtrack behind it wasn't all that bad. It's nothing ambitious, to be sure, but the orchestral, fantasy score fits the series and provides something nice to distract you from the hilarious aesthetic efforts.
Overall: A poor opening episode on almost all counts. The visuals are a mess, the characters have no character, and the plot can't even tell itself in an engaging way. It has alright music, and that's it. This is more likely to serve as an example against CGI than for it. While I'm already biased towards 2D animation, I'm sure that most will agree that, at the very least, 3D animation needs to be handled better than it is here.
EDIT: Just a little correction.
Kingdom's first episode was apparently not a pre-air, but the proper debut of the show.