Maid Café (メイド喫茶)

Memor-X

12:06 AM

some Nights of Azure, just to show how yuri it is

Memor-X

12:52 AM

He’s a whole new speed of hero. Watch the new trailer for Sonic The Hedgehog, in theatres this November. #SonicMovie https://t.co/mogO8hfRaX

Tweeted by SonicMovie on April 30, 2019 at 12:47 PM

and since Jim Carrey is not a big fat egg, he's name is Robotnik not Eggman

@Tonepoet my childhood wins

Tonepoet

@Memor-X Coincidentally, I've been watching Sonic X lately.

Memor-X

@Tonepoet use to watch it myself

Makoto

I've been otherwise distracted on the network to notice this theme. On the one hand, I'm super glad to see that this is now "official". On the other...I'm really not seeing any themes or anything here that ties or evokes imagery of Anime or Manga.

My problem now is one of expression. I'd like to not conflate my frustration elsewhere on the network with providing constructive criticism but I don't really know how here; this doesn't seem like anything what we had pitched earlier.

So um...help...? :|

Memor-X

@Makoto well it was sorta similar to one that was pitched

4 hours ago, by forest

2

though this one is alot lighter

Makoto

Geez. Okay.

Memor-X

12:58 AM

wait here's the meta anime.meta.stackexchange.com/a/4234/1587

Makoto

Yeah, I tracked that one down just to be sure

Tonepoet

@Memor-X I'm at around episode 50 right now. Not exactly though. Well over halfway through though. Overall it's not very good (it seems like some things just happen without much in the way of reason) but it does make some interesting additions. It's one of the only shows I can think of where the governmental task force isn't completely useless.

Makoto

Turns out I had indeed overlooked that...

Yeah, this might be a "me" problem right now. I don't recall thinking much of that design even if it was simple; it didn't really evoke much in the way of anime/manga for me.

But in all reality I have no clue how to provide feedback to this. Saying "I don't really like it" doesn't help and I don't think that'd add anything constructive to the discussion point right now.

So...I'll just slink away for a bit. Hopefully when I'm in a better frame of reference I can objectively provide feedback.

forest

@Makoto That's my opinion as well.

It's certainly better than the beta theme, but honestly it doesn't really seem to represent anime. It looks more like a theme for a site about public transportation. Looking through the 2019 site theme ideas thread, I can't see any of those being implemented. I see a flat theme with some clouds and a bus. I guess public transport is important in Japan, but so what? I don't see it as being reflective of the community at all. — forest 3 hours ago

I wrote about it.

Makoto

Thanks @forest

forest

1:01 AM

It feels like it's a really sloppy theme. Anything's better than the beta, but still...

Makoto

To be completely honest I'd rather scream about it since it's just been that kind of day on the network but that ain't gonna get us nowhere.

forest

I already screamed about it.

Makoto

I dunno. After what, six years? The beta theme kinda grew on me. Kind of turned into the white noise of my daily interactions with it. :) But I don't disagree there.

forest

We just need more people to voice the opinion.

Makoto

Like I said - I've been snake bit earlier on the network. I've learned that there is a specific way to submit feedback and being upset about something isn't what's listened to.

forest

1:03 AM

true

ahiijny

that's true in general I think

Makoto

(Depends on what you have to deal with @ahiijny; if you have college kids "upset" about WiFi connectivity, that gets addressed quick-fast and in a hurry.)

forest

The problem is that it was made with no transparency behind closed doors, and then they just give it to us and only let us make trivial changes to the CSS.

Makoto

Oh. Did the mods not get a chance to preview it?

forest

So it's not like we failed to tell them. They refused to listen.

Makoto

1:04 AM

I thought that was a thing.

forest

Maybe they did, but clearly the community didn't.

Makoto

k

I'mma let this sum up the day then

I'll do my best to put together some constructive criticism. That will take time, though.

forest

I said it earlier, but I'm pretty damn sure it was made by someone with little to no experience in graphics design who thinks Spongebob is an anime. :P

@Makoto That's good. I'm quite bad at constructive criticism myself.

Makoto

@forest I know you're trying to go for a laugh here but all I can do is wail tbh

forest

Seems it's all anyone can do.

ahiijny

1:06 AM

@forest that's the exact sort of thing you shouldn't put in constructive criticism :P

forest

heh

Told you I'm bad at it!

Tonepoet

forest

wot

Memor-X

from Sonic X

Tonepoet

1:24 AM

I'll try to B.R.B. My internet is a little slow all of the sudden.

SONIC X Ep1 - Chaos Control Freaks

►

@forest You'll have to watch the show for context. XP Topaz, the officer lady, probably first appears in episode 12 if I recall correctly?

forest

I didn't even know there was a Sonic anime.

Memor-X

@forest i think there's been a couple. Sonic Underground was another

Tonepoet

@forest It kind of stretches the term anime a bit. I mean T.M.S. did animate it, but they also did some animation work for some shows that would probably be considered off-topic.

I mean it did air in Japan first 'n all, and it got the 4kids dub treatment, so I suppose it qualifies though.

Looks like she actually debuts in episode 11.

Tonepoet

1:51 AM

Also, there are a number of interesting things on the T.M.S. channel. I vaguely remember hearing about this beforehand, but I never really knew much about it. It looks like a possible C.C.S. precursor:

Sweet Tales of St. Tail

►

Tonepoet

2:05 AM

They also have the full little Nemo movie, and perhaps a few others:

LITTLE NEMO

►

I'm not sure about any of you but that sure was a blast from the past for me.

Sakamoto

3:03 AM

0

Q: What is the song played by Takuma Miura in S1 Ep 11 of SWORDGAI The Animation at 17:52

The song sounds great but I can't identify it no matter what I try. I made a short video of the main melody in case it might help. I'll put the link in here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MXXt2MW8dU

music

Sakamoto

6:01 AM

0

Q: Why do many manga artists prefer to use pen and paper over digital drawing?

It seems that many renowned manga artists still prefer using traditional "hand drawn" methods rather than using technology to draw. Even people who use technology to finalise their art rely on pen and paper to sketch their initial outlines. What are the limitations of drawing using digital metho...

manga-production

кяαzєя

6:11 AM

this design... my face

I'd prefer eternal beta over this.

Memor-X

5 hours ago, by Makoto

Oh. Did the mods not get a chance to preview it?

being one of the mods, did you?

ahiijny

6:46 AM

though it should be noted that there tends to be a cognitive bias against change and in favour of the status quo, so that should also be kept in mind

I had a really strong knee-jerk reaction in response to the recent Tumblr darker blue colour change, but I quickly got used to it to the point where when I tried using the extension to change back to the old colour scheme, it looked too washed out and faded, and I switched back to the new colour scheme

similar thing with the Gmail redesign and the Chrome redesign

I still really dislike the YouTube redesign and the Reddit redesign, though

forest

@ahiijny There's a difference though. This is unique to the anime site.

Although perhaps some other sites are pissed off, a number of them are getting decent themes. Most notably World Building.

ahiijny

@forest eh I'm not talking about the sidebar thing / those other changes (I think that's what you're talking about?) I'm referring to the new anime site theme

forest

I was talking about the theme too.

The sidebar changes I think are universally bad on all sites.

But in terms of the theme, it feels like Anime was distinctly left out.

Its theme seems to be almost completely unrelated to anime in every way.

ahiijny

(re: the sidebar thing: eh tbh I quickly got used to it and I don't really mind it anymore)

forest

Multiple people have noticed it too, so it's not just my lone opinion.

(I still hate the sidebar thing since I don't have a maximized screen)

ahiijny

6:53 AM

(oh I usually have my windows maximized, so there's probably a use case difference there)

forest

Yep. I use Tor, which intentionally does not maximize.

It results in everything in
an answer having only a
few words per line, badly
squishing the text. I am
not even exaggerating.

And SE staff say explicitly that my browser configuration is not supported.

So... I guess SE is only designed to work with maximized windows?

Fuck anyone who uses Tor or a tiling window manager, right?

ahiijny

(hm for me at least if I unmaximize the window and try making it narrower, it seems to have some adaptive UI thing going on where the right column of HQ/community bulletin/linked questions disappears if I make it narrow enough, and if I make it even narrower, the left sidebar disappears as well)

forest

I'm at the uncomfortable width where it's just big enough that both display.

ahiijny

oof

forest

Thankfully, I can disable the sidebar in settings. Unfortunately, I also have to disable responsiveness and that requires I click a button on every page.

ahiijny

7:03 AM

anyway, regarding the theme: personally, I don't think there's anything necessarily wrong with the core idea of blue/green sky + clouds + bus stop/train stop/whatever

anime is really vast in different themes after all, and this kind of nature scenery is just one of many that could possibly work

forest

The core idea, no. I don't think it's ideal, but it wasn't executed well.

Just look at the really nice example in the ideas thread.

Which was simply butchered in the version that was rolled out.

ahiijny

"butchered" hm I wouldn't necessarily go that far, though I do agree that it turned out somewhat suboptimal; aside from misc colour choice variations, I think the only significant difference between the examples in that thread and the one currently rolled out now is that it looks like the designer(s)? opted for a more minimalist art style. Not necessarily a bad choice in general, but in this case, it removes that distinctive anime-like quality to the art.

forest

Yeah as a simple, flat theme, it's not bad.

But for Anime.SE, it's not really great.

ahiijny

I think my key gripes with the current design are:
1. lacking in visual cues that unambiguously shout "anime/manga" (as you mentioned previously, this design could equally fit on a bunch of other sites)
2. background clouds are too blurry; looks like something low resolution that was zoomed in too much

Dimitri mx

@Memor-X Nope, no sneak preview for mods

forest

7:17 AM

Ouch, so you guys were in the dark just as much as us. :/

ahiijny

what are distinctively anime/manga things anyway? some random ideas (just throwing stuff at a wall here)
- misc kana (doesn't distinguish from Japanese SE though)
- "to be continued" arrow
- manga speech bubbles
- aho crows
- hanko
- torii
- other shinto stuff

Dimitri mx

Yeah, I haven't really voiced my opinion on the design just yet, as I am pretty un-certain how to phrase it. But I think in general we all are not that big a fan ;)

ahiijny

- animu eyes
- mascot-chan
- tankoubon
- akihabara
- comiket

it would need to be something that could fit in with the sky / clouds / bus/train stop theme though

forest

If there's a bus stop, I'd love to see Furude Rika sitting there. :P

Nipaa~

ahiijny

not sure what the legality of including a copyrighted character in a cc by-sa site design would be

on the other hand, that's very clearly Goku and Spock in the Movies SE design

forest

7:29 AM

The issue is if you copy a copyrighted design.

07th Expansion and Studio DEEN don't have a copyright on "little girl with long, dark blue hair". Now, if you took an image created directly by their artists and pasted it in...

Dimitri mx

Then you'd be looking at IP infringement ;p

forest

Hence why you don't need it to be an exact copy. :P

Not to mention, I'm pretty sure that everyone behind Goku and Spock both have a lot more copyright trolls on their side than a little doujin VN group and Studio DEEN.

Dimitri mx

Adding a character or 2, would most definitly give more of a A&M vibe

forest

Maybe a girl chasing the bus with toast in her mouth. :P

Now that would give it an anime vibe. Probably too much of one.

Dimitri mx

That could be made subtle.

forest

7:34 AM

true

Dimitri mx

Personally I was thinking about how maybe certain anime specific tropes could be visualised in the design as is.

forest

The problem is that, right now, the visual style is not at all eastern.

It's too flat, like a crappy mobile app's interface.

ahiijny

hm it reminds me a bit of the graphics in Crash Course

Dimitri mx

I feel like the current design goes for a cool/calm japan look, as made by somebody who is maybe familiar with some slice of life anime at most.

The bus stop gave a me litle bit of a monogatari feeling at first, but that disipated quickly

As far as the color scheme goes, anime is known for it's explosive colors. But nobody on a website would be happy with that. So the mellowed down color is quite fitting, and would probably grow on me eventually.

ahiijny

I like slice of life, so I'm fine with the mellow colour scheme

it's nice

Dimitri mx

7:39 AM

Ironically enough, this made me look at some apps and sites I unambiguously associate with anime and manga. And noticed most of those sites actually follow a color scheme like our beta, without any specific background/header/footer designs

They more often use a X amount of characters across the page to visualise it, more as full on page design

Dimitri mx

7:53 AM

Not this, but something like this, would be cool.

Would put some life in the design

ahiijny

while we're on the topic, here are some pretty scenery arts

^ pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=12618523

^ pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=4360892

^ pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=62227375

forest

omg the kid has a gun!!1

@ahiijny Well technically Sanae is from a video game, even if it's Japanese. :P

ahiijny

@forest well the video game also has official manga adaptations, so eh

forest

good point

And it does take up a significant fraction of Comiket.

ahiijny

mhm

also, here's some renmerry

#秘封ランドスケープ

Tweeted by hmrnuk on July 31, 2018 at 11:36 AM

日の丸構図な秘封

Tweeted by hmrnuk on August 28, 2017 at 2:30 PM

Dimitri mx

8:31 AM

cool stuff

Memor-X

10:54 AM

OH GOD! the colors of the chat are bad on my laptop! and even my screenshot this morning is bad. what the hell is up with my screen!

Memor-X

11:15 AM

@Dimitrimx lol, that's right, your the third mod

i was trying to remember who replaced Toshino

Gallifreyan

11:30 AM

Oh DoG, there's a design!

In all honesty, looks more like a "Japanese Culture SE" than "Animu and Manga SE"

Memor-X

ok so for some reason my home laptop screen is weird. no matter what i try i can't get the green color back in chat

yet the main site looks fine

@Gallifreyan well anime and manga is apart of the culture

Gallifreyan

11:50 AM

But the site is for animu and manga, not culture as a whole

Peilonrayz

1:33 PM

кяαzєя

2:03 PM

I chalk it up to poor branding decisions.

I had low expectations yet I was still disappointed.

@Dimitrimx it's not if it's transformative: nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/fair-use-what-transformative.html

As long as we are not tracing some copyrighted work into some silhouette there is some legal leeway.

Dimitri mx

@кяαzєя There's plenty of legal lee-way. And alternatively we could always ask the community to 'draw' a/more representative characters. Which would be a original creation.

кяαzєя

I'd rather pay someone to do it right myself tbh

and post it under CC

But at this point we can't do a thing

love it or hate it, it's what we get.

Dimitri mx

2:31 PM

I wonder, doesn't jin yang still work as a designer over at StackExchange?
I recall him being fairly into Japan, and a huge gundam fan.

кяαzєя

3:06 PM

Sakamoto

3:25 PM

0

Q: Where to watch My Hero Academia Movie

So i've been searching for a place to watch the MHA movie but I cant find it. If anyone has a link or knows where to watch it that would be great. Thanks

my-hero-academia

Sakamoto

5:03 PM

0

Q: Crunchyroll price raising

I'm not sure if people have heard yet but Crunchyroll is raising their prices. Does anyone know when this will take affect, and if so how much will the subscription be per month after they raise the prices?

crunchyroll

ahiijny

6:14 PM

@Peilonrayz ah my mistake, I read that incorrectly. The design/logo is copyrighted by Stack Exchange, and only user contributions are cc by-sa. That makes sense.

@кяαzєя I love reigen redraw memes!

Sakamoto

0

Q: Why are there only 3 episodes of world war blue

So I thought that world war blue was a pretty good idea for a show I'm not really sure why it only got 3 episodes can anyone who knows the show please explain that to me ( not sure how the tag thing works so I put a random one)

attack-on-titan

ahiijny

6:30 PM

@кяαzєя this comment...

> The references that here are not easily grasped by the average user. Many might not realize this, but the big round thing on the bottom is the nuclear explosion from the Akira movie. Green color is likely a representation of the nuclear fallout emitted by the explosion.

> The stationary bus here has a front view seat of the impending shockwave. The train stop turned bus stop up top is a clear symbolism of the queue to enter the cycle of reincarnations those bus riders that have yet to meet their fate.

> This depiction is highly representative of the chaotic and symbolic nature of anime and manga. You guys need to watch more anime and read more manga to understand to appreciate the hidden aspects of this anime-esque design. It's all there you just have to use your imagination to see it.

kind of comes off like this :P

кяαzєя

6:46 PM

How outraged ppl are at me for this is how outraged I am about the design.

I don't have anything good to say about it.

ahiijny

(・ω<)

кяαzєя

Also none of the references in my comment are true. The explosion in Akira is not a nuclear one. Without spoiling too much, in the manga it was Akira the caused it. None of what I said has any relevance to anything at all it's just my outrage expressed in very crassly worded sarcasm.

ahiijny

Poe's law tho :P

imo that sarcastic interpretation is actually a rather interesting one, albeit farfetched

кяαzєя

it's fine, if people miss the irony.

I'm just very dissatisfied.

Sakamoto

7:19 PM

0

Q: Does Metal Bat need his bat for being more powerful?

So Metal Bat is capable of doing a swing which destroys a building. For doing such a swing he would need an incredible strenght and for having that strenght he would need a very hard body (arms and fits included). What does the bat add here? Does Metal Bat need his bat for being more powerful? Ha...

one-punch-man

0

Q: Who is the strongest monster in One Punch Man?

Not considering aliens as monsters (because those soldiers from Boros could be thought as monsters but not counting them) and leaving Garou "the half monster" aside, who is the strongest monster in One Punch Man?

one-punch-man

Sakamoto

8:18 PM

0

Q: In Hunter x Hunter, is there any type of resolve that's more powerful than death?

In the series, Gon ends up really strong when he fought Pitou, but only because he sacrificed his nen. I was wondering if there was any sort of thing he could've done to become even more powerful than he was then. I know that death can greatly increase power, as well as risking your own life or/a...

hunter-x-hunter

Tonepoet

8:31 PM

@forest Most designs are copyrighted because copyright is granted by default. The CC-BY-SA also isn't quite public domain; there are certain requirements of it, so if we were to copy Wikipe-tan there'd need to be a credit and a notice of license on every page on which she appears at the very least. I doubt the existing CC-BY-SA 3.0 notice suffices for any content that originated off-site too.