FMP IV-1
Outside of Megalo Box, and presumably Hisone which is stuck in Netflix Hell, this was probably the strongest directed premiere this season. Out of all the elements, the thing that surprised me the most was how good the storyboarding was. I always viewed Nakayama as being a scrub in regards to storyboarding but outside of the first few minutes feeling a little fast, this was really well directed. The apartment scene is probably the highlight on this front with both Sousuke and Kaname having a number of smaller glances or reactions that convey their feelings, although the car conversation at the end was pretty solid as well.
I also appreciate the approach of saying 'fuck newcomers' as there are a ton of smaller elements which if you hadn't watched TSR you wouldn't pick up. For example the above screen shot wouldn't make sense unless you had known that Leonard had kissed Kaname. It's really well handled character acting in that it doesn't feel exaggerated in the usual anime way but very naturalistic.
Sousuke's repeated reactions to Kaname's interactions with Leonard is a great illustration of this. In addition to all of that, some of the transitions were slicker than I expected even in-scene. The waves crashing in the beginning serving as a screen wipe was nice.
The background art and overall art direction was also better than I expected although different from previous franchise entries. Studio Bihou is really fucking good at doing clouds. The photography direction is leagues better than TSR but that was to be expected. Another major improvement is
the monitor designs, although I don't think Takashi Aoki worked on those.
Masanori Nishi's presence could be most easily felt on the insane 2D background mechanical shots. Maybe you could make the mechs 2D if you didn't waste so much time on shots like these. Overall though you can definitely tell the staff working on this are military nuts, there's a
high level of detail to minor military elements. The CG seems pretty good but I need to see how it works in combat before having a strong opinion either way. Apparently there are ex-Studio Orange people (not the studio itself I think) working on this so it makes sense why the animation style/approach seemed in-line with them.
My major concern is whether Xebec can maintain this animation quality going forward. It's only going to get harder from here on out.