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Arata the Legend (TV).


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Chiibi



Joined: 19 Dec 2011
Posts: 4829
PostPosted: Wed Apr 10, 2013 9:53 pm Reply with quote


Arata the Legend (TV)

Genres: action, fantasy, romance

Plot Summary: Arata Hinohara is a high school boy who is bullied by an old friend from junior high. Arata is a boy born into a ruling clan in a mystical world. Strange circumstances cause the boys to switch places and force both to deal with situations far beyond their understanding.
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Shocked nobody started a thread for this new anime yet, especially since there are a handful of Watase fans on this board. Anime hyper

Um......so, I haven't read the manga at all...but first episode...
I liked it?
spoiler[Sorta Prince and the Pauper meets....FY, I guess? Anime hyper Very loosely. Sometimes characters switching lives can be cliche (especially when it's physical bodies!) but I don't think I've seen this happen with two guys in an anime all that much?
I admit, I fangirled over the black-haired Arata a lot. Mostly because I loved his voice and I knew it sounded familiar so I looked it up and low and behold, it's Kirito's seiyuu. Rolling Eyes ]


Yeah.
Of course. I'm an idiot for not recognizing him! But the character himself seems like my type. Anime hyper Rebellious with an attitude...yet seems to be a good guy by moral standards at least. Oh and that spoiler[cross-dressing scene was LOL]

So what did you guys think? Is it a fair adaption of the manga or?
Like I said, I have nothing to compare it to. I'm going in completely blind. Anime hyper I see myself enjoying it for what it is, and then reading the manga after the anime ends.

[EDIT: Added the Encyclopedia link. -TK]
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Vaisaga



Joined: 07 Oct 2011
Posts: 13229
PostPosted: Wed Apr 10, 2013 10:07 pm Reply with quote
I've only read two of the manga-ka's works (Absolute Boyfriend and Alice 19th) so I'm not too familiar with her. I did enjoy what I've read, though, and her art is nice, so when I heard this anime was going to be airing I was curious.

The spotlight mostly showed only pretty boys so I was potentially going to give it a pass (not that I have anything against pretty boys), but Kotoha's cuteness got my attention.

I looked into it a bit further, and while it's a shonen title, I always like a heavy dose of shoujo in my diet. The crazy romance web that's to come is definitely the sort of thing I like Smile

As for the episode itself, it was okay but had some pacing problems. A notable instance was how it cut from Hinohara (I guess common convention is to call Japan's Arata by his last name, and the other Arata by his first name) encountering his bullies on the stairs to Hinohara overhearing his friend betraying him. Probably should have been a transition in there somewhere.

Hopefully the pacing will even out when they finish all the set up.
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Chiibi



Joined: 19 Dec 2011
Posts: 4829
PostPosted: Wed Apr 10, 2013 10:24 pm Reply with quote
Yeah, I heard others complain about the pacing too so I prepared myself for that....but it didn't bother me at all! o_o

Kotoha is indeed very cute. Anime hyper I like her hair. I wonder if Hinohara (good idea to keep them apart btw) will fall for her....but if so, that sucks for him because in Kotoha's eyes, he's NOT himself....lol, confusing way of putting it...but you get what I'm saying...Anime hyper
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Vaisaga



Joined: 07 Oct 2011
Posts: 13229
PostPosted: Wed Apr 10, 2013 10:33 pm Reply with quote
Like I said, crazy romance web Very Happy
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Raftina



Joined: 15 Mar 2011
Posts: 3282
PostPosted: Wed Apr 10, 2013 10:52 pm Reply with quote
I find it kind of odd that even though Watase's artstyle has gotten more rounded over the years, this adaptation seems to have made the main character significantly more angular than in the manga. He lost quite a bit of the boyishness compared to his manga design, plus his face looks... oddly proportioned for some reason.

I'm one of those grumblers who would've preferred a Genbu Kaiden adaptation to this. Takiko is just a more compelling protagonist than Arata--either of them.

Haven't had time to watch it yet, but from the discussion, it looks like this will be another anime that will have season 1 end when things are just getting started. I wonder if it'll end with a decent cliffhanger.
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Nyorai



Joined: 10 Mar 2007
Posts: 15
PostPosted: Wed Apr 10, 2013 10:53 pm Reply with quote
I may watch a few episodes before deciding on this one, but I'm still confused about something. Is Hinohara's outward appearance to everyone else different or does everyone just confuse them? I never was a fan of body swap where only their appearance to others changes. Just makes it a bit of an immersion breaker.
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Vaisaga



Joined: 07 Oct 2011
Posts: 13229
PostPosted: Wed Apr 10, 2013 11:00 pm Reply with quote
Hinohara looks like the other Arata to everyone except us, the audience.
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Raftina



Joined: 15 Mar 2011
Posts: 3282
PostPosted: Wed Apr 10, 2013 11:01 pm Reply with quote
I don't remember if it's a spoiler or not, but just in case:

About Hinohara's appearance:
spoiler[Everyone who is from the other world and is in the other world sees Hinohara as Arata. Everyone who is from Earth and is on Earth sees Arata as Hinohara. They did not, however, actually switch bodies, which is why their appearance to the audience and to each other did not switch.]
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chichiriNoDa



Joined: 13 Dec 2007
Posts: 531
PostPosted: Wed Apr 10, 2013 11:18 pm Reply with quote
Chiibi wrote:

So what did you guys think? Is it a fair adaption of the manga or?
Like I said, I have nothing to compare it to. I'm going in completely blind. Anime hyper I see myself enjoying it for what it is, and then reading the manga after the anime ends.


Oh wow! I was really hyped up about the new "Watase" series turned into anime but seriously I am disappointed and all in all displeased with it. :/

First of all the anime unlike Fushigi didn't follow the manga as faithful as it should've been. But that's understandble since you need to condensed the story and focused more on the important part. So ok -disregard the minor details, but I couldn't just ignore it. Anyway in the manga it was spoiler[Hinohara's first day of high school and yeah he is pretty much anxious about it and all then he met Subaru at the bus station so unlike in the anime they weren't friends firsthand. Another thing, Kadowaki was a transfer student to Hinohara's high school whom he knew from Middle school. That's like one of a big difference as in the manga you get to witness Hinohara suffers of psychological torment from him.]

I feel like the writer took out all of the "shojo-ish" part of the series and just focused on the action side of the story. I am utterly disappointed because Watase clearly stated that her purpose on writing the series is to show Hinohara's character to grow as a person to overcome and resonate with his personal struggles. But yeah it is pretty clear that the anime will focus more on the fighting and battles rather than the morale of the story.

The next HUGE problem I have with this anime is the animation itself! I don't want to complain but for a series in the 21st century it is definitely one of the worst I have seen! What the heck, even Fushigi Yugi looks better than this one. Its so distracting, the characters doesn't even remotely resembled Watase's designs. I felt like watching a different low-budget show.. Both Arata doesn't look as cool as their counterpart in the manga.

I also don't like that the 12 Shinsho's identity are revealed too suddenly, like the surprise-wonderment factor was gone.

I will ditch the anime and just follow the manga so it won't stain the manga's sheer awesomeness anymore than it already had.. Episode 1 was painful to watch. Anime hyper
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Chiibi



Joined: 19 Dec 2011
Posts: 4829
PostPosted: Wed Apr 10, 2013 11:23 pm Reply with quote
chichiriNoDa wrote:


The next HUGE problem I have with this anime is the animation itself! I don't want to complain but for a series in the 21st century it is definitely one of the worst I have seen! What the heck, even Fushigi Yugi looks better than this one.


Whoaaa, I definitely wouldn't go THAT far. I mean, I can't even look at FY's animation anymore; I tried watching it again recently and was like "BLARGH" Anime hyper It's plagued with that major problem most 90s anime had: way too obviously different art styles from ep to ep and the bad ones were atrociously bad.

But yeah, I agree the Arata manga is much prettier. I don't really dig whoever did the character design for the anime. :/

Quote:
Episode 1 was painful to watch.

You're probably feeling the same way I did when I first watched Kamichama Karin's anime after reading the manga. Total suckfest. They completely ruined it. I was almost in tears.
That's when I decided to watch stuff first and read the source material later (if I could help it). Anime hyper
You can't get disappointed that way!
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chichiriNoDa



Joined: 13 Dec 2007
Posts: 531
PostPosted: Wed Apr 10, 2013 11:32 pm Reply with quote
Chiibi wrote:

Whoaaa, I definitely wouldn't go THAT far. I mean, I can't even look at FY's animation anymore; I tried watching it again recently and was like "BLARGH" Anime hyper It's plagued with that major problem most 90s anime had: way too obviously different art styles from ep to ep and the bad ones were atrociously bad.

But yeah, I agree the Arata manga is much prettier. I don't really dig whoever did the character design for the anime. :/


Well at least Fushigi Yugi's character designs looked as Watase's whereas in Arata its a slim to no resemblance at all.
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Chiibi



Joined: 19 Dec 2011
Posts: 4829
PostPosted: Wed Apr 10, 2013 11:36 pm Reply with quote
You have a point there, yes Anime hyper

Kotoha still looks like a Watase girl imho. Nicely drawn. But they really screwed up the guys! o_O
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Raftina



Joined: 15 Mar 2011
Posts: 3282
PostPosted: Thu Apr 11, 2013 12:01 am Reply with quote
Hinohara's probably the worst offender in not looking like a Watase character. Kannagi and Akachi are reasonably close.

They really reveal all of the 12 Shinsho right away? Seeing as I've only been tracking the English release of the manga, I guess it's a good thing I didn't watch the first episode, and I probably won't watch it either. :\
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chichiriNoDa



Joined: 13 Dec 2007
Posts: 531
PostPosted: Thu Apr 11, 2013 12:15 am Reply with quote
Raftina wrote:
Hinohara's probably the worst offender in not looking like a Watase character. Kannagi and Akachi are reasonably close.

They really reveal all of the 12 Shinsho right away? Seeing as I've only been tracking the English release of the manga, I guess it's a good thing I didn't watch the first episode, and I probably won't watch it either. :\


I definitely agree! Hinohara is seriously like a different character! His design doesn't come close. In the manga he's cool and is somewhat cough - sexy - cough

Oh lol about the Shinsho, don't mind me. I exaggerated that abit. Well as you know the only Shinsho we get to see up to volume 6 were Kannagi and Akachi but in the anime like half of the Shinsho have shown their appearance within the first episode.
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Chiibi



Joined: 19 Dec 2011
Posts: 4829
PostPosted: Thu Apr 11, 2013 12:23 am Reply with quote
Raftina wrote:
Hinohara's probably the worst offender in not looking like a Watase character.


Yeah, totally agree. :/

I still like other Arata...but that's probably for his mannerisms and voice more than his looks. Anime hyper
I certainly didn't mind seeing him shirtless though. :>
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