Forum - View topicBlast of Tempest (TV).
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kpk
 Posts: 484 |
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Well, I actually thought the first half of the show was very promising but the second half was a big letdown. It felt like there was no clear direction most of the time and when there was it felt too much like any typical shounen show. Don't get me wrong, I usually like typical shounen shows, IF the main conflict is interesting, but with the enemy being a TREE I didn't really cared about the conflict. I also didn't care about any of the characters.* So to me it wasn't even that fun to watch anymore. It was boring, clear and simple. Why did I kept watching it? Because I hoped it'll get better (it didn't). *Well, I did liked Aika but she was dead from the start, so... I also liked Hakaze during the first half of the show, when she wasn't so love-sick over Yoshino... |
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aleatory
Posts: 10 |
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While I would not say the second half was a BIG letdown, I agree that it went downhill in the second half. The first half was intelligent, intense, well paced and interesting, while the second half seemed to lose its way a little. I lost the clever twisting and turning of the plot and suspense and relied on some often weak humour and emotional byplay to gt it through its required number of episodes. They probably could have shortened the story down from 24 eps to about 16-18 and it would have been much better, bit too much padding towards the end. Oh and the Mage of Exodus/Dancing Princess costumes they added? What on earth were they thinking!! Overall however I really did enjoy it, one of the better things I have seen for a while despite its shortfall towards the end. |
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Stark700
 Posts: 11762 Location: Earth |
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Episode 24/Finale
Although I feel that the finale episode wasn't too good, I thought the overall series and its presentation were well executed. It was definitely nice to see the spoiler[Sword of Exodus] this episode. Looks pure and shiny. It looks like this episode concluded everything well and in a way that I spoiler[was satisfied with. Oh and the finale's little gags other than the action scenes were amusing to watch. Aika-chan's last tease and that sucker punch  ]
I will rate this show as very good. Oh I had a very good time watching it indeed. |
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Tuor_of_Gondolin
 Posts: 3524 Location: Bellevue, WA |
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Based on the first 5 or 6 episodes of this series, I was expecting it to end up as an 8, with the potential to make it to a 9. But things started wavering during the long 'Confront Simon/Bring Hazake Back' sequence. And once she did return, the decline accelerated. People seemed to know things for inexplicable reasons, and one of the central plot points of the series (spoiler[Aika committing suicide the way she did]) was something I strongly disliked.
I also felt that this was a particularly *Japanese* series. And by that I mean that the cultural mores of the viewer played a stronger role than usual in being able to enjoy several aspects of the series (including the one I mentioned earlier). As a result, even when I was following along intellectually, emotionally I was at times being repelled by something I thought that the writers didn't intend as being repulsive. Hopefully that makes sense. At any rate, my final score for this series is somewhere between Decent and Good. The writer/director couldn't take the initial premise and bring it to a conclusion that did it enough credit, IMO, which resulted in a feeling of mild disappointment. I think, all things considered, that I'll rate it as Decent. |
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DuskyPredator
 Posts: 15462 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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Episode 24 (finale)
And so it ends, not really in an interestin way, but in the way they somehow win, they watch pretty sight in the sky, and get on with mediocre life. I was not a big fan of this series from the beginning, I did not appreciate the dark themes as much as other people, and I was totally put off by it. Though I would have liked the end to feel more connected to how it was earlier. the characters were generally unlikable, at least to me until the halfway point when it got more romantic comedy, which most people disliked. Although the episodes of talking in finding a way save Hakaze were intersting, but dragged a little. All up I would probably give the series a Decent, it really did not interest me a lot in general with the initial theme that I could have dropped it, but I felt later that I was not loseing my time in watching. |
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One-Eye
 Posts: 2261 |
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I was a little disappointed with the last episode. It felt like it was building up to something and the result...the only thing that comes to mind is that it deflated itself like a balloon losing all its air.
I pretty much agree with everything that Tuor said here and I too would only rate this show Decent. |
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CrowLia
 Posts: 5505 Location: Mexico |
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I too felt underwhelmed by the finale. Like One-Eye said, it seemed like it was building up for an explosive climax, but it felt like it just ended. In spite of that, I feel the series in its entirety did an excellent job in building up an intriguing world and creating interesting characters with a well-written story. I enjoyed watching Mahiro and Yoshino progress and grow up. The interactions among all the characters were really entertaining to watch and I really liked how Samon and the Kusaribe gradually shifted from antagonists to vital allies. I rated it Excellent, falling just very slightly short from Masterpiece
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drdr48
Posts: 360 |
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Well I thought the main two characters (Mahiro and Yoshino) were incredibly unlikeable (especially Mahiro).
I also thought the show ended up being a huge waste of time. I'll rate it as Mediocre. |
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18189 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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I will probably be reviewing the second half eventually, so I'll save my detailed comments for that, but I am somewhat surprised that the series as a whole is getting such a tepid reaction. I actually thought that the story recovered nicely from the drudgery that it got mired in during the last third of the first half, and while the ending was hardly spectacular, it did precisely what it needed to wrapping up the overall story and bringing its characters to final resolutions. "All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players" was a Shakespearean philosophy that Aika literally lived and died by, and she was true to that (and her personality) to the very end. I very much liked what Mahiro had to say about that in the final scenes and was impressed with the direction that he ended up going given where he started. He was, in the end, very much more than the prick her started out as. The final scene with Hanemura was also good, and I loved the comedy bits.
Not sure yet how I'll letter-grade this, but I will probably rate this overall as a very good. |
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Yttrbio
 Posts: 3652 |
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I'm in a similar boat. I actually almost dropped in in the first few episodes, because it didn't seem like it was going anywhere. The last half was absolutely stunning to me, in the way it handled multiple characters and motivations, building drama without resorting to the same old "good guys vs. bad guys" stuff. The show was in many ways hilariously aware of its genre conventions, but did so in a way without constantly winking at the audience.
The climax was sort of meh, but I never found the battles and such interesting compared to the rest of the show, so I'm glad it went by quickly. |
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rheiders
 Posts: 1137 Location: Colorful Colorado :) |
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Overall, the series didn't wow me, but I thought it was pretty good. I was entertained throughout, even during those episodes on the cliff in the first half. It touched greatness a number of times, with the bizarre relationship between Mahiro and Yoshino, with Aika's entire character, and with Mahiro's words there at the end of the show. I liked how Mahiro and Yoshino developed over the course of the series and how their friendship evolved too. The animation and music were never short of fantastic and the twists were awesome. However, for me, it never really came together as a whole. It seems like it needs another round or two of editing to reach its potential. Ultimately, it feels like the rough draft to a really great story.
Final thoughts: I really need to read The Tempest. Also, can I marry Samon? |
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DuskyPredator
Posts: 15462 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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I was just thinking how interesting a character Aika was. She was literally dead for the entire series, except for spoiler[a small bit with time travel], but she was every bit a character as anyone else. The fact we mostly only explored her through flashbacks despite all of it is rather novel.
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CrowLia
Posts: 5505 Location: Mexico |
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I'm frequently surprised by how often our opinions seem to coincide, but this one takes the cake. Literally took the words out of my mouth. |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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To me, Aika was not the stand-out character, Mahiro was. He looks like a rich prick with a tough-guy persona who has few brains and an anger management problem. But he's actually very smart, shows impressive emotional maturity and self control, and is a very complex person and fascinating person. For a guy who was so eager to throw away the world, he now wants to save it. Now sure, he had that huge oversight over Aika, but most people have blind spots when it comes to people they love. As for him loving Aika (in a romantic way), well he knew it was wrong and his feelings were understandable. Cute girl starts living with you and flirting with you, it's hard to keep your cool, especially if she's got an aura about her that's like nothing you've ever seen.
Apart from the lack of imagination of setting five episodes on a hill, the biggest problem of the show was that Mahiro and Yoshino had nothing to actually do in the second half, so they were given odd duties. Mahiro trained Hanemura and came up with the plan. Now, he's good at fighting and quite smart, but shouldn't those roles have been given to properly-skilled adults who were properly skilled in such things? Evangeline should have trained Hanemura, and Samon should have thought up the plan. Yoshino had even less to do than Mahiro, basically reduced to accompanying Hakaze and being the object of her affections. Both boys had to beg to do something in the final plan itself, which resulted in them doing grunt work that should have been left to Kusaribe goons.
You two can fight over Samon, maybe timeshare him or something. Me, I'll be marrying Evangeline. |
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rheiders
Posts: 1137 Location: Colorful Colorado :) |
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@dtm42
Ah yes, forgot to mention that, but it bothered me as well. For me, the show was at its best when it focused on the relationship between Mahiro and Yoshino (and Aika, of course). Much as I love Samon (eeeeeeeee~ >u<), the second half of the series pulls the focus away from the main characters and that was a big problem because their issues were the best part of the show. |
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