Stripey was pimping the Negima 2 trailer to me on one of my visits to the den of siscon a few weeks ago and we both nodded appreciatively at this particular sequence. Having grown up watching lots of Hong Kong-made martial arts TV series which were, more often than not, adaptations of Jin Yong novels, it’s always a pleasure to see a good martial arts sequence. Especially since many of the HK-made series were mind boogling in their awfulness.
In the scene captured above, Asuna (I remember her name correctly) whips up such serious momentum into that attack and I really liked how the animation shows her throwing all her power right from her torso, up the shoulder, through her arm and projected from her weapon. Yet what I liked most was the rootedness of her lower body to the ground at the moment of release. Anyone whose ever had to hold a horse stance for an extended period knows how difficult is, much less combining offensive power with stability on your feet. Continue reading ‘Immovable as the mountain’