I really, really wish I could be more excited about this.
While I've watched the original trilogy so many damn times and have been very successful in using them to get almost anybody I know at least interested in the series they frustrate me so much. Obviously I don't need to get into why, but the fact that I have to pause the movie and explain things to my friends so they can understand the story better is just absurd.
I can have my hopes that they animate the first few books as with Lost Children and eventually onto the rest of the Conviction I can't help but feel as though they'll just keep cutting and cutting. It's insane to me since the series is written in a way that it could go straight into animation.
I've introduced the 1997 anime series to four of my friends these last six months, and they all loved it. I did elaborate on some things throughout; especially the ending.
I think it's better to show newcomers the old anime series rather than the movies. In spite of its shortcomings, it's far closer to the source material. Not to mention it *feels* far better aesthetically, with respect to the character design (the faces in the movies look way off), voices (at least, the Japanese original voices are better in the series, especially Griffith's voice) and music (While I was quite impressed with the first movie's soundtrack, the second OST was just okay and the third one fit so badly that it ruined several scenes. On the other hand, even in 2015, Susumu Hirasawa's utterly retro soundtrack sounds freshly engaging.).
I think there's actually an okay chance they might do the Lost Children part well, in regards to to the tone and pace. As long as they don't omit stuff!
But the rest of the Conviction arc? It's so dark and complex that even in a best case scenario of the studio actually trying to be faithful to the source material, I really can't imagine them doing it justice.
