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jymmy
 Posts: 1244 |
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Again I'm impressed with Bamboo's ability to keep up with, form rational opinions on and write about so many shows. I'm somehow an episode or two behind with most shows at the moment, but whatever (probably explains why the fanservice episode of Gargantia that I haven't seen hasn't pushed it down to position 50).
I think the season overall has some very good standout titles and even the mid-tier shows are mostly very enjoyable. Nothing truly great, though, I just think most things are better than average. 1. Gargantia: Intelligent, well-written sci-fi with a great premise and execution. It's not wonderful, I'd hesitate to pick this as the best, but in this season it kind of is. 2. Devil Is a Part-Timer: I was really surprised by how good this show is. This is situational comedy done well. The premise had me very sceptical, but then I watched it and damn it's good. 3. Space Brothers: Good shit, slow-going. 4. Attack no Eoten: Entertaining as hell and not as brain-meltingly insane as another title I'll rank by its entertainment value a bit lower on the list. 5. Muromi-san: A series with a moe girl who beats up dolphins is excellent by default. 6. Red Data Girl: The first episode turned me off with the guy's typical jerkface shoujo love interest characterisation, but he's softened and things have gradually gotten quite interesting. Gorgeous, too - as expected of P. A. Works. 7. Fleurs of Aku: Fantastically directed and I love the animation but it's kind of slow and the angst gets less universal and more these specific brats screaming about their dumb problems. 8. Yuyushiki: Pretty good, occasional great lines and sequences. I don't find Yui particularly compelling, but between the two of them the other character always brings some great humour. 9. Nyaruko: I dunno, references to Bewitched, Legend of the Galactic Heroes and last season's harem trash all in the same place is oddly compelling. The harem aspects of the show are worse than ever, but the Lovecraft and reference comedy aspects are still great. 10. OreImo: It's still a pretty good show, but this season's episodes been underwhelming (some of the jokes in the Ayase episode were top-tier, though). 11. Valvavrave: Thoroughly ridiculous and entertaining. I'm glad there are still things this dumb being produced. 12. Devil Survivor 2: I dunno, it's not great but I find it pretty solid and never really lacking. 13. Majestic Prince: It's alright. They're really trying to establish the characters and play them off one another, but I only feel they're getting mediocre results. 14. Aiura: Bland but pretty okay, I love the nature backgrounds to death. 15. Arata: I feel this should be higher, but I'm just not compelled by it. 14. Karneval: I feel this should be higher, but it's hardly trying. 16. Crime Edge: Excellent atmosphere but... eh. 17. HenNeko: Characters bland, comedy bland. It's putting in decent effort but I'm just not liking it that much. 18. This show is bland as I expected. I don't think it's clever, I don't find it funny. It kind of reminds me of OreShura: I do not understand the claim that it's somehow different or special compared to most lazy clichéd high school comedies. 19. Date a Live: What Bamboo said: some okay bits, acknowledging how bad you are doesn't make you better. 20. Cyclops Shoujo Saipuu: Episode 8 was a thing to behold. There was a fanservice sequence that was completely devoid of any sort of humour. I mean, it was being played as though it were humorous - the characters were reacting with funny expressions and delivering verbal ripostes - but there was actually no humour in the episode, which was all the same non-joke, at all. It was a bit surreal. 21. Leviathan: I actually quite enjoy this show, but I'm not so blind as to see it's really quite crap. There are some jokes I did like, though. I feel it's often almost funny, but then just isn't. 22. Sparrow's Hotel: Ahahahahahahahahaha. 23. Photo Kano: For some reason when I started watching I thought this was going to be good. The mood it was establishing felt like an atmosphere something like Tari Tari might have, that kind of optimistic cheer a non-appalling high school show with moderately developed characters might have, even if it did have a guy with a camera. I thought it might be a quietly enjoyable And then I watched it and - nope. I also dropped Mushibugyou and that blood thing because I just didn't feel like watching a second episode. |
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HitokiriShadow
 Posts: 6251 |
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Trying to make a strict definition of what makes a show a "harem" show was always been tricky, but Gargantia is pretty clearly NOT a harem show unless you stretch the definition to be so broad that it's completely useless. Amy is the only character that spends any significant amount of time with him and even she hasn't shown any real romantic interest in him. Other than having some bikini fanservice in one episode, its lacking pretty much any other element that one would associate with a harem show.
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walw6pK4Alo
 Posts: 9322 |
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All of this harem debate comes from Sword Art Online discussions, where people intentionally threw the harem distinction at it to degrade the show's reception, not that it needed any help. I don't believe SAO was a harem, at least not in the first half. I don't believe Gargantia is either, yet.
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ANN_Bamboo
ANN Contributor
 Posts: 3904 Location: CO |
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Dang, you're right. I actually wrote that review last year when the series was announced, and have just been breathing heavily in the corner until I could post it. Ya got me. Note to self: shows are only good if BarCho66 likes them; will make sure to ask for his input before the next column. |
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jymmy
Posts: 1244 |
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BarCho66: Just stop. I don't care how many of your children Gen Urobuchi molested, just stop. Gargantia is a good show and it's not even much of an Urobochi show in the first place, so you don't have to hate it so much. Let go of your anger, you'll feel better for it.
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CrownKlown
 Posts: 1762 |
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The looset definition of harem is one guy and at least 3 girls showing some interest in him. SAO is this at times, but at minimum is a love triangle between Kirhito Asuna and Sugaha. And personally I like harem, so I do not see how calling something a harem is an insult. Tenchi is pretty well respected franchise and its a harem. Takahashi's best works are all harem. Are some shows better than others, and some downright bad. Sure, but I could say that about any genre. Moving on, I just want to clarify at least my issue with Flowers. The issue is not about rotoscoping being good or bad, its awful. The issue is that the anime is based on a pre existing manga, with a pre existing art style. If this was an original work I do not think people would have as many issues with it. But the fact is it already had a certain artstyle and now it looks nothing like what it is supposed to look like. And as far as the roto making it look creepy. I have only vaguely looked into the manga, but its supposed to be a dark psychological drama if anything. If I recall this is the one where they try to commit double suicide at one point? So its not like I think it really contributes anything to the story either. Rotoscoping creep factor is better off served with something like Paranoia Agent or something from Satoshi Kon. So I dont think its fair for you to somehow acuse people of overlooking a good work due to the art style when there is a legitimate question as to why they changed something that really does not fit with the work in question. To me you are taking away from the story with this ridiculous art style not adding to it. The focus is taken away from the story. |
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rheiders
 Posts: 1137 Location: Colorful Colorado :) |
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I sometimes label SaiMono as a reverse harem, so I don't mind people calling Gargantia a harem. It doesn't fit the strictest definition of the word, but if it makes RyanSaotome feel better, then more power to him. It doesn't affect my enjoyment or anything. Genre description isn't an insult.
 I'm confused by people labeling Ledo as a "blank slate harem protagonist" though. For me, he's by far the most interesting thing about the series. Harem protagonists don't have to be blank slates. In good shows, they're just as interesting--perhaps even more so--than their love interests.
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Maidenoftheredhand
 Posts: 2633 |
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Well SaiMono is essentially a reverse harem (and I love that show too). I only mind calling a Gargantia a harem because I think it is silly to call it a harem. |
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Raneth
Posts: 271 |
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Can you say more? I'm not familiar with the manga, so the only sense I'm getting from the new arc is that its very different from previous arcs. I'm getting a very strong DBZ Cell-Saga vibe, which I'm not sure is a good thing. Episode 5 of Gargantia didn't bother me too much until they got to the random transvestites. Sure, I guess it was supposed to be a relaxed episode, but they could have done without that potentially offensive ridiculousness. I think in the grand scheme of things, I'm going to pretend episode 5 never happened. |
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ChibiKangaroo
 Posts: 2941 |
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Actually, yes, that seems like pretty good evidence to me. I'm not saying that's it, but seeing a bunch of girls who think a guy is hot hugging on him, looking at him while blushing, and pressing their breasts against him generally causes me to think there may be some kind of harem quality to a show. |
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Maidenoftheredhand
Posts: 2633 |
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But let me ask you a question? Have you actually watched the show. It is a short scene in one episode. If that one screencap makes you think a show is a harem than that is a bit ridiculous to me. Or do you often judge entire series off of one screencap? There is absolutely nothing haremish about the show. Of the 3 girls, only 1 is a main character who shows any real interest in the male MC. The other 2 think he is cute but spoiler[have no problem teasing the other girl about liking him]. They are minor characters and are friends of the female MC. The story is 1) Not about who Ledo will end up with 2) Not about Ledo going around helping the various girls in the story 3) While there are many female characters in the cast, there are still a good number of male characters. I can't see how the relationship with the female characters (with the exception of Amy) is more important to Ledo than his relationship with the male characters.. So where exactly do we have a harem? |
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Kastel
 Posts: 172 Location: Chicago |
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hahahahahahhahaha oh wow |
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HeeroTX
Posts: 2046 Location: Austin, TX |
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THIS is actually why I'm incredibly disappointed to learn that Gargantia will be focusing on the micro (Ledo integrating into Gargantia) rather than the macro (the way societies, and indeed people in general deal with one another) in the long term.In my opinion, the most interesting thing about Episodes 2 & 3 is it really does present interesting questions about the nature of conflict and how we react to it. I don't think it's as simple as bamboo makes it out to be in the review (there's no real indication that the Gargantians are pacifists) but instead is a much broader issue on the nature of "war". I found episode 2 interesting because it poses the question of how would people react in a "war" scenario if all the enemies could be killed with surgical precision and no harm to "civilians". I think it's interesting that people were not immediately "grateful", but it's not as simple as "Ledo is a mass murderer" either. That's followed up by what I actually think is a clever episode 3 where we get the escalation. I think you need a character like the villian, who is at her core a "bully", and the scenario poses the question: what does a bully do if they recognize that they're losing their "reputation"? Episode 3 also proves that the gargantians are not pacifists. I'm boggled by the implications of their situation wherein they do not want Ledo to stop the pirates the "clean" way and thus, many more people, including on their own side take casualties. I really wish they would explore THIS philosophical situation in depth, but instead it sounds like the series is going to focus more on "finding your place in society", which, while it will probably be done well, is both a more mundane AND a more "cliched" story, IMO. |
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Big Hed
 Posts: 1607 Location: Melbourne, Australia |
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Well, fiction feeds off what is bad about us as happily as it feeds off what is good, right? And I think although you're not overreacting, you are overstating the problem. In spite of Melty's choice words, Saaya is clearly portrayed as physically attractive in the episode, as have been a thousand other anime girls of her build over the years--and will no doubt continue to be in the future (using fanservice as the cornerstone of my argument, oh the irony). So like I said, I choose to take that dialogue as representative of something that actually could happen, even if I disagree with it. Maybe Melty's a bit of a bitch at times. That assumption doesn't require me to perilously suspend disbelief.
I agree that the Gargantians definitely aren't pacifists, and I think Bamboo was playing the word loosely in her review. But I fail to see what people find so incongruous about their morality. Consider that, for however tranquil it may appear, they live on an utterly deadly world--those oceans are an open grave for anybody so careless as to forget how vast they are. On Blue Earth, you either work together, or you die. Still, this doesn't mean that the pirates deserve extremely prejudicial treatment. They may be selfish, and destructive... yet even they have to come together to achieve their ends. You saw how big Lukkage's fleet was. They congregate. They cooperate. They are human. They "survive", to take Bevel's word. It's a fundamental commonality that's more important than ever on their world, where presumably there aren't a whole lot of human beings left; eradicating them with the kind of brutal efficiency that Ledo is capable of thus becomes a commensurately more terrible thing, even if it may be doing away with an evil. It awakens a deep sense of mortality, and that leads to fear. Fear makes people irrational--and maybe makes them ask themselves, "Who says I won't be next?" That kind of distrust is deadly on the high seas, because like I said: on Blue Earth, you either work together, or you die. Gargantia is far greater than the sum of its parts, and those parts can decouple as easily as they can be brought together. Do you want to remain joined to a society that is so quick to exact punishment? Can you trust whatever system of justice exists there--never mind the society as a whole--to be fair? What if some of those pirates were desperate and misguided, and deserved a second chance? If the people you live with are no less merciless than the pirates you fight, is there really a point in sticking around? So in conclusion, the fleet is poorly served by doctrines of maximum force. Infinitely better is a sense of compassion, which no doubt is a rarefied thing as is. It's something worth building on. On another note, is Ghost in the Shell SAC a reverse harem now? |
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HeeroTX
Posts: 2046 Location: Austin, TX |
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I wish the show was exploring the concept as deeply as you just did. I think it is interesting that you present it as "maybe a few of them deserved a chance at rehabilitation/redemption". That is always the key question, the "do you let 100 criminals go to make sure you don't imprison an innocent, or do you put 100 innocents in jail to make sure no criminals walk free". (the "reality" will always be somewhere in the middle) But in the scenario presented, you know all the dead are "guilty" by dint of being part of the attack. You have two sides fighting with battleships, and I think the incongruity comes in when you look at the second battle and we don't give a second thought to the fact that people are no doubt being killed as artillery slams into other boats. The general (not just in this anime) thought is that in a "war" scenario, "soldiers" die, that's their "job", but the tragedy comes in when "civilians" die. The juxtaposition created in episode two is that NONE of the "earthlings" are real "soldiers" as proven when Ledo kills the pirates. While I understand that the brutal efficiency displayed would be off-putting and in-fact quite terrifying, the fact DOES remain that as the second attack shows, one method protects the Gargantians with ZERO loss to their own side, and the other method injures both sides. I agree that the immediate thought would be "how long till he turns on US", but that's a Watchmen-esque argument for another angle (and is in fact the angle that Ridget is worrying over), but that's not the larger consideration. The "bureaucrats" in the fleet command consider turning Ledo over to the pirates as "appeasement", which would only make THEM stronger. Again, the Gargantians showed that they are "willing" to fight and even kill the pirates when necessary, so would it have been "ok" if Ledo had only killed the pirate leader? Or are we saying it's only ok to kill as a "reactive" action, in which case why is it more "moral" to let someone die just to assuage any concerns about stopping your assailants? We had a situation that gets close to the "would you kill Hitler as a boy to prevent the holocaust" kind of situation, but we're not getting these philosophical questions, and I'm just saying I find that disappointing. |
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