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General anime discussion thread
- Thread starter LOG
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Ah, I see. I think I get it now (and also LOG's broader point). I call that to myself the "reduced universe mode of fiction", but I quite like LOG's "closed environment" (which is concise and says it all). Basically, you're setting up a status quo and control it, so that nothing happens until it serves the plot development you have in mind. Resets are part of that instrumentarium. In anime romance, in particular, other common elements are "eternal dithering" or "terminal obliviousness" of the main character.
Yay! Hopefully it stays that way (though some arcs are better than others).
Kuwisdelu said:
Had to google. MyAnimeList, maybe?
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Why Infinite Stratos sells shitloads of DVD/BDs while otakus on both sides of the Pacific scratch their heads.
I have to say #3 baffles me most, since as mentioned, Madoka was airing that season, and Star Driver was in its second cour, IMO the two best series in recent memory. But I guess Madoka was just to grimdark for some people and Star Driver was too difficult and Enokido-y (and fabulous).
Yeah. Though I haven't updated my own ratings in forever. I need to get to that one of these days.
I have to say #3 baffles me most, since as mentioned, Madoka was airing that season, and Star Driver was in its second cour, IMO the two best series in recent memory. But I guess Madoka was just to grimdark for some people and Star Driver was too difficult and Enokido-y (and fabulous).
Yeah. Though I haven't updated my own ratings in forever. I need to get to that one of these days.
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Started watching Dragonaut.
Nearly stopped because the dialog was soooooo bad in the beginning.
It's gotten a bit better.
Nearly stopped because the dialog was soooooo bad in the beginning.
It's gotten a bit better.
Okay, so Dragonaut doesn't really pick up until the end, it gets a bit better at the very end, but its visuals and audio are the only thing really carrying it.
I think there are two major things that hold ti back:
1) It needed more time (i.e. episodes) to fully develop itself. At least twice, if not three times as many.
2) Hand-in-hand with that, is that I don't think the series fully realizes what it is. The messages of the series, once explicated are unclear, conflicted and confused. Nevermind the surface messages.
"Destiny can't be changed...but fate can." Lolwut? Unless there's some sort of meaning in the Japanese words being translated that English just completely misses, that is moronic. And there were so many freaking disconnects in the dialog I felt like beating my brain in with a shovel before the first half was over.
Worse yet even, "I wondered if maybe the love we felt was manufactured...but then I realized it doesn't matter as long as the love is there." Not only is naive, idealistic B.S. (and trust me there was sooooo much more of it, blegh) but the obvious conclusion is that the same idea could also be manufactured. They went nowhere with what should have been a fascinating concept. There's even a conflict between separate and aggregate consciousness as which is superior for life, once again, left mostly untouched.
And the whole idea that the dragons are basically slaves to the humans just gets completely forgotten and tossed to the wayside.
The philosophical ideas I can clearly extract are...scary.
I'm hoping it was just poor implementation. Otherwise the people who wrote this are terrifying.
Also, there are unresolved plot-lines and questions left at the end (not the good kind).
The Lonely Island special was...okay.
Edit: Oh, and the power levels are inconsistent.
I think there are two major things that hold ti back:
1) It needed more time (i.e. episodes) to fully develop itself. At least twice, if not three times as many.
2) Hand-in-hand with that, is that I don't think the series fully realizes what it is. The messages of the series, once explicated are unclear, conflicted and confused. Nevermind the surface messages.
"Destiny can't be changed...but fate can." Lolwut? Unless there's some sort of meaning in the Japanese words being translated that English just completely misses, that is moronic. And there were so many freaking disconnects in the dialog I felt like beating my brain in with a shovel before the first half was over.
Worse yet even, "I wondered if maybe the love we felt was manufactured...but then I realized it doesn't matter as long as the love is there." Not only is naive, idealistic B.S. (and trust me there was sooooo much more of it, blegh) but the obvious conclusion is that the same idea could also be manufactured. They went nowhere with what should have been a fascinating concept. There's even a conflict between separate and aggregate consciousness as which is superior for life, once again, left mostly untouched.
And the whole idea that the dragons are basically slaves to the humans just gets completely forgotten and tossed to the wayside.
The philosophical ideas I can clearly extract are...scary.
I'm hoping it was just poor implementation. Otherwise the people who wrote this are terrifying.
Also, there are unresolved plot-lines and questions left at the end (not the good kind).
The Lonely Island special was...okay.
Edit: Oh, and the power levels are inconsistent.
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Amagami SS finished, well almost. It was serious and realistic. Fully watchable. Some arcs were more boring than others, but that's to be expected since everyone has a different taste when it comes to romance. From the beginning I had high expectations for the last arc with the class representative Ayatsuji Tskukasa, and it was more amazing than I could imagine.
The resets were interesting in that if I'll rewatch parts of it, I'll look for details that one misses the first time. E.g. I'll look for that Christmas tree next time. There were subtle possibilities that it would not go so well for some of the girls in the alternate realities where the boy didn't help them.
Now I really want to play that game, and I feel like creating this kind of game myself.
The resets were interesting in that if I'll rewatch parts of it, I'll look for details that one misses the first time. E.g. I'll look for that Christmas tree next time. There were subtle possibilities that it would not go so well for some of the girls in the alternate realities where the boy didn't help them.
Now I really want to play that game, and I feel like creating this kind of game myself.
Heh. I went into that one fully unprepared... We had five rather gentle arcs, and then... that?
What I find interesting is that favourite girl and favourite arc doesn't match up at all. (Except for Sae, who's both my least favourite girl and the least favourite arc.) Normally, in this type of show there's a correlation for me. (My favourite girls would be Kaoru and Ai, but my favourite arks would be Rihoko and Tsukusa. Go figure.)
Finally - I said it before - I love the minor characters, such as the tea-club sempais, or Hibiki, or Junichi's little sister.
This sort of game rarely gets translated, though.
I just finished re-watching White Album. It's been a while since I saw it, and having recommended it, I got worried that it might not have been worth a recommendation. Oh, dear, I needn't have worried. The plot is ridiculously over-constructed, full of co-incidences, and yet it somehow works for me (and I hate over-constructed plots).
This was one of the first harem shows I ever watched, so I didn't notice how unusual it was for the genre. First, the characters are university students (and idols), not highschoolers. Second, the show's playing in the eighties, which means answering machines and pagers (instead of cell-phones). The plot would have played out a lot differently, had it been set only a decade later.
I initially didn't intend to watch it all, but I stuck it out. I missed a lot the first time round. It's actually better on a second viewing.
Recommendation stands.
This was one of the first harem shows I ever watched, so I didn't notice how unusual it was for the genre. First, the characters are university students (and idols), not highschoolers. Second, the show's playing in the eighties, which means answering machines and pagers (instead of cell-phones). The plot would have played out a lot differently, had it been set only a decade later.
I initially didn't intend to watch it all, but I stuck it out. I missed a lot the first time round. It's actually better on a second viewing.
Recommendation stands.
Okay, seriously, how come the cliche "fall and catch one's self on a girl's bare breasts" never happens to me in real life? Or the "walk into the unlocked bathroom as a girl is stepping out of the shower"? Or the ever-popular "accidental upskirt hello"?? It's just not right such common flags never trigger with me. It's truly unfair. Unjust, even. Unjust, I tell you!!
Yes. The most interesting arcs storywise was for me Tsukasa and Haruka, but Tsukasa is seriously scary. Since it didn't feel like every problem was solved it was difficult to believe that they had such a happy family life 10 years later. And the way she lambasted the other girls... Such a powerful girl, it felt like Junichi wasn't good enough for her. The best match for him would be Kaoru or Ai, I believe.
Yes, I wanted to see more of Manaka. She was the dark horse of this show.
I guess I'll have to learn Japanese. Otherwise I'll have to create a similar game myself. Do you think it would be most interesting with girls or boys? I've lost touch with school kids, so it might be best to have it in a university setting.
Male lead, because probably more girls would play a dating sim as a boy than the other way round. And make the love interests both male and female, so you can play the character any way you want (straight, gay, bi, mysterious tease...). Add non-romantic roles for everyone, too, so they don't feel superfluous if you don't go for their arc. Something like that.
Ok, I can add a same-sex relationship. The only difficulty would be the graphics, though that can be solved. After the rest is finished I can ask an artist to draw the pictures.
How I suck at dating! I just tried an online dating game and I managed to piss off all the four girls immediately. One turned around and one is standing with arms crossed now. One ran away and one never wanted to talk at all.
How I suck at dating! I just tried an online dating game and I managed to piss off all the four girls immediately. One turned around and one is standing with arms crossed now. One ran away and one never wanted to talk at all.
Ha, ha, I just found a Love Hina RPG game, and it seems to be quite big. If you annoy any of the girls there will be a fight and they'll kick your ass. Then you can't talk to anyone before you have regained HP.
http://www.lovegames1.com/games/7/Love-Hina-Sim-Date-RPG.html
http://www.lovegames1.com/games/7/Love-Hina-Sim-Date-RPG.html
I just wish more galge and eroge were ported to iOS and translated to English. I have Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni for my iPod, but I wish there were more titles available. It would be especially nice if Apple approved erotic content... *grumblegrumble*
Would you call Higurashi harem? I was thinking about it when someone wanted harem recommendations, though from what I've seen it's more horror than romance. I have seen two or three arcs or so. It is similar to Amagami SS in that the story is reset for every arc.
No. It's a horror mystery. And it actually has an in-story *reason* for resetting.
Sorry, I mentioned galge and eroge, but any good visual novels or sound novels would be nice, too. Though I would probably prefer stuff with more choices... As I mentioned earlier, I don't really care about genre.
But there is a boy and several girls, and the focus in which girl is shifting in different arcs.
Now I began on Clannad. I'm continuing on it because it's so weird, e.g. the plot with the ghost girl.
Now I began on Clannad. I'm continuing on it because it's so weird, e.g. the plot with the ghost girl.
Yes, you're a better match for her than Junichi. I'd like to see her dating you.Mmm Ayatsuji is the type I love to fall for. She's my kind of girl.
Yeah, I suppose there are some harem elements, but it's not really the focus of the story. It's mostly about the mystery of Onigafuchi village and the secret behind Oyashiro's curse.
You haven't seen Kanon, then, I take it? I'll just say that Fuko's arc is Key directly and blatantly ripping off their own previous work. It's the most supernatural Clannad gets, though. Unlike Kanon, most of the plot remains pretty solidly in reality for most of the rest of it, except for... a few important things later on in After Story. As I think I've mentioned before, After Story is definitely the best thing Key has done, and the latter half of it really shows a leap in the level of maturity compared to the rest of their work.
I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not...
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Heh. How come I managed to make Rei Ayanami's head explode in a Love Hina dating RPG?
Heh, I like the characters in Clannad better, though. And the nobody-can-see-her thing was just so sad to watch...
Agreed, After Story takes it to the next level.