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Terror in Resonance (TV).


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getchman
Space Cowboy



Joined: 07 Apr 2012
Posts: 9117
Location: Bedford, NH
PostPosted: Sun Sep 21, 2014 6:08 pm Reply with quote
same thing happened with Angel Beats
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danilo07



Joined: 25 Dec 2011
Posts: 1580
PostPosted: Sun Sep 21, 2014 6:25 pm Reply with quote
Personally, I would have cut a lot from this show. A lot of threads and characters that were introduced had barely any effect on the story and they seemed to exist solely for the sake of padding out. If they had reduced this to movie, the entire structure would have been leaner and more compact.
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Ohoni



Joined: 10 Jun 2003
Posts: 3421
PostPosted: Thu Sep 25, 2014 1:57 am Reply with quote
Ok, just got caught up. This one had slipped to the bottom of my watch list but with a lot of shows capping out last week I've had some extra time. I like the show, I think it's well done, but I found the pacing a bit slow and dull, it just didn't excite me. It had tinges of Deathnote, but without the heavy suspense, even when they tried to get suspenseful. Forgive me but I'm not going to read through 23 pages to catch up, so if I'm repeating anything already said, my bad.

Anyways, I feel that the characters make sense. Five's actions work for me. spoiler[She had no interest in justice or anything, she just wanted to beat Nine, and so she did, and she was apparently going to die soon, so she ended it on her own terms. I suspect that Nine and Twelve have shortened lifespans as well, as a result of the experimentation. This is their last hurrah.]

I also feel Lisa was both well written and important. I don't like her, she actually annoys the hell out of me, but in a way that a real person would with her traits. Wink We don't need any explanation of why she does what she does, it seems perfectly clear. Her mom is a nutcase, likely her father abandoned them, so she has daddy issues, she was bullied in school, and Twelve was her knight in shining armor. She wants to be helpful, but is completely lacking in the capacity to do so, she's mostly a good person, but has a weak view of humanity so she's not entirely married to strong morality. She's dumb, but not poorly written, she's just well written for a dumb person, which is unusual enough in fiction that it deserves credit that they pulled it off.

As for why she's important, for one thing, she's the Companion. Without the companion, who is the Doctor to explain things to? In the episodes before she properly joined them, they were very "surface," they were a semi-mysterious foil doing their own thing, but without really discussing it. Once she was around, they became more characters, interacting with her and providing more context to their actions, even if they didn't do exposition-dumps. She also helped to ground them, to give them people in the world worth caring about. I don't think she's the love of Twelve's life (well, it might turn out that way, but if he lived to 80 they'd each probably end up with someone else), but I do think he's at least a little romantically interested in her, but responsibility is more his motivating factor than romantic love.

I can see why some people could like her, and why plenty of people could hate her, because her constant, Slaine-esc failures to help are pretty grating, but I think they all make sense, they are true to who that character would be if she were a real person.
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Stark700



Joined: 30 Jan 2012
Posts: 11762
Location: Earth
PostPosted: Thu Sep 25, 2014 12:38 pm Reply with quote
Episode 11/Finale:

It was an impacting finale especially for spoiler[Nine and Twelfth. I was somewhat shocked to see 12 getting shot like that tbh..as I didn't think he deserved it. Lisa was sad as usual which didn't surprise me. But with all the events that build itself up to this point, I think it was a good finale.]

Overall, this series has been one hell of a ride. I'm rating it as very good as there were some bits that irritated me. However, I loved the overall direction of the show and the technical aspects of it (especially that glorious OST).
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11306
PostPosted: Thu Sep 25, 2014 1:03 pm Reply with quote
Let me get this straight: spoiler[the US shot Twelve, but no one else just to cover up Five's escapades? And preserved Shibazaki so he could blame the Japanese, assuming, what, he'd just forget to mention the US involvement at those incidents? And that Nine wouldn't say anything either (if they knew the boys were about to die, why bother killing Twelve either?)?] ::headdesk::

I guess Lisa's role was to give Shibazaki someone to talk to afterward. :/

Thank god this wasn't 24 episodes.
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ookamigirl



Joined: 15 Jul 2012
Posts: 2274
Location: Croatia
PostPosted: Thu Sep 25, 2014 1:27 pm Reply with quote
#11 Final

spoiler[An atomic bomb threat!
That definitely takes first place in their bomb threats.
A balloon with a bomb, interesting concept.
This bomb sure got everyone worked up to the max.
12 was in pretty bad shape..
Damn, this episode was the icing to the cake!
They actually did it, they detonated it.
It was nice to see those 3 hang out afterwards.
In the end they wanted to get caught and wanted Shibazaki to do it.
Of course the US had to interfere..
Shame both of them died, but that was to be expected.
Really good final episode.]
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Unicorn_Blade



Joined: 18 Jul 2010
Posts: 1151
Location: UK
PostPosted: Thu Sep 25, 2014 4:14 pm Reply with quote
The series has got some fantastic music. The spoiler[explosion] had a great music background and really nice animation. The OST is the only thing that has consistently been really good from episode to episode.


As a side note, although technically no one spoiler[got killed as a direct result of the bomb, potentially hundreds of people in hospitals etc could die as a result of power shortages. Not sure how long the generators would last knowing that electricity and most electronic devices went dead for quite a bit.] Was that somehow taken into account by Sphinx?

Gina Szanboti wrote:
Let me get this straight: [spoiler]the US shot Twelve, but no one else just to cover up Five's escapades


I thought the same thing. Why would Shibazaki spoiler[avoid involving the US government when he knew they were excercising pressure of US anyway, and he saw the US helicopters shooting 12...
I mean, he would of course uncover the experiments and bomb making, but it's not like the airport episode and the train bombing would all of a sudden go unnoticed. ]
- although mind you, it seems that it's exactly what happened judging after the time skip.
The series used such childish logic not once and not twice.

And then I was not sure what happened to the helicopters anyways. spoiler[So they shot 12 to erase proof of the airport incident, but let Shibazaki talk to 9 and flew away... And left Lisa (Lisa, twice almost killed with a bomb with the US involvement, obviously did not count as a witness here?)and Shibazaki and dozens of people who experience Five meddling with the security with their own eyes... ] Anyway, they simplified things a lot for them to fit into the eleven episodes.

Which is a great shame as there were some seriously good elements here and a lot of talented people worked on the series, but the writing was so poor.
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danilo07



Joined: 25 Dec 2011
Posts: 1580
PostPosted: Thu Sep 25, 2014 4:22 pm Reply with quote
The anime didn't have much to offer really, in terms of mostly anything. The direction was good and so was music, but besides that nothing else really stood out. On the other hand we have poorly written characters, illogical plot, dreadful dialogue, and heavy handed themes. Ahh, this is by far the worst thing Watanabe made, hopefully next time he will hire competent writers.
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RestLessone



Joined: 02 Aug 2009
Posts: 1426
Location: New York
PostPosted: Thu Sep 25, 2014 6:27 pm Reply with quote
Wow, this ending was pretty bad.

Nine was the one spoiler[holding the detonator. Why not kill him instead of his companion? Leaving Shibazaki alive made no sense after what he had witnessed. Oh, and Shibazaki, I assume the US army arrived because a couple of teens set off an atomic bomb and Japan has no power (because of them). Just a thought.]

It's totally BS that no one spoiler[was harmed, either. People in hospitals requiring electricity? Car accidents in the panic of evacuation? People who flat out killed themselves instead of being taken by an atomic bomb? Did no one think that through?]

It had a good base idea, but didn't utilize it effectively. At all. Five was a distraction. They didn't even give us a good handful of flashbacks to explore Nine and Twelve's relationship. It could have been so much more...
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Yttrbio
Subscriber



Joined: 09 Jun 2011
Posts: 3649
PostPosted: Thu Sep 25, 2014 6:54 pm Reply with quote
spoiler[Waaah, bad things happen to me so I'm going to destroy the livelihoods of millions of people so that they'll notice what went on... not that they'll care, because they'll be too busy trying to repair the damage from my temper tantrum.]

Sympathetic!
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One-Eye



Joined: 08 Mar 2011
Posts: 2260
PostPosted: Thu Sep 25, 2014 7:54 pm Reply with quote
Lessons to be learned from this story:

1. If you have an issue, grief or an injustice has been perpetrated bring attention to it by blowing stuff up.

2. Terrorists are good guys that don't kill anyone.

3. Highly intelligent children are potential terrorists and need to be locked up or shot.

4. America is bad.
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princess passa passa





PostPosted: Thu Sep 25, 2014 8:03 pm Reply with quote
Not satisfying at all...

I just shrugged and was like "I guess"
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23669
PostPosted: Thu Sep 25, 2014 8:55 pm Reply with quote
I ended up rating this title Decent. Yes, there was some wonky writing, but I liked the direction, animation, artwork and music a lot. I even came to like Lisa.
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Alberto7



Joined: 11 May 2014
Posts: 43
Location: Montréal, QC, Canada
PostPosted: Thu Sep 25, 2014 9:52 pm Reply with quote
Anything I say here is subject to change, but here goes anyway...

I'm not sure why so many people disliked the ending (and the show as a whole) so much. Sure, we had a couple of characters that could have been written better (but by no means were badly written characters), and a couple of instances where character motivation might have been somewhat questionable, but I felt that the overall plot unfolded quite naturally and concluded right where I felt it should have concluded. These kids wanted spoiler[to bring the world's attention to what had happened to them and to the atrocities committed by the Japanese government, as well as bring justice to everyone involved, and to hopefully prevent future events like it. Their means were too utilitarian in nature for my liking, but a show does not have to portray the same set of ideals that I believe in for it to be likeable.

Now, getting more into the direct criticism that I've seen the show has received, the US government shot Twelve as well Nine, we're just not shown explicitly. The camera tilting backwards while the doves flew into and out of focus was Twelve's visual perspective as he fell backwards after being shot. They didn't leave him alive, no.

Shibazaki held a grudge against the Japanese government after what they had done to him, and it's more than reasonable to think that he'd quickly proceed to blame them for how the events unfolded. It was a rational decision made by the US official (whose name I forget) to let him live. Like he said, it's not that the US government wouldn't be implicated, but Shibazaki putting pressure and blame on local authorities would just turn attention away from US involvement.

For Five it was just a shallow game of pride, as simple as that. I found her character motivation very well defined and clear from the very beginning. My problem with her, however, is that despite the fact that she was a very prominent figure from the moment she showed up until the moment she was killed off, her actions were possibly not even needed. She was useful in getting the antagonist (the US government) in contact with our protagonist/s, but, for the most part, I feel like she was just the foil. Not that I think a foil is a bad thing by default, especially since it makes Sphinx's purpose and anti-hero nature that much clearer and understandable, but it tells us that her character, ultimately, wasn't as important as they'd have us believe. Also, even though one could kind of see it coming, the briskness of her death took me a bit by surprise, as well as her brief justification for finishing herself off. The reasons made sense, but it just didn't feel properly paced, given the context. I didn't exactly dislike the way they did it, but it felt like one of the weakest parts in the anime's writing.

Lisa was the means the writers used to give the viewer a wider context of the situation, and to get a bit more personal with Nine and Twelve. She was a simple character with big implications for the story, and I liked her a lot for it. It gave the show a relatable anchor to the real world; something that let the viewer (or me, at least) know that it could really have been anyone taking her spot, given that she had the skills of an average person. I do acknowledge her moe-ness, but I actually liked that (feel free to disagree Laughing)]


The techno-babble did kind of disappoint me at times, as I felt it was a bit shallow and/or presented in too straight-forward a manner (not to mention that I think it might have been overly simplified at times, although I can't criticize it for that, since I'm no expert in police work, bomb-defusing, system hacking, etc.), but it did the job pretty well overall.

I think the show had an excellent atmosphere and tone, but some things felt a little bit too... fleeting. Like some events were somewhat easily forgotten. What I said previously about spoiler[Five,] for example; very prominent character, but definitely not as big as first impressions make her seem. To further my point, even though the bombings before the last one were important in developing the story, they seemed rather superfluous a few episodes after the fact, and gave the show a feeling of being rather episodic, or arc-based, when it really wasn't. I guess whether a show is good or bad for being episodic is very dependent on the show itself and is heavily based on personal judgement, but I do think it made some of the events of this particular anime kind of forgettable. It may be due to the fact that episodes were aired one week apart and I had enough time to forget about what had happened the week before; maybe if I just marathoned the show I wouldn't see it that way, but that's how it came across upon airing.

That would really be my main gripe with the series. That, and the fact that the animation seemed to go a tad bit downhill towards the end, but it by no means went to sub-par category, I don't think.

Now, I realize that I've mainly talked negatively about the anime (things pertaining to the plot anyway), but it's just because everything else that I didn't mention I found stellar. Every other bit of writing I found absolutely great, and the "camera work" (for lack of a better term) was fantastic. I haven't even mentioned the BRILLIANT score by Yoko Kanno, which suited the show just perfectly, and I've barely touched upon the beautiful art and animation (the last of which isn't really my strong point).

It might be a bit too early to tell, since I do have a tendency to change my opinions after some time, but for now I'd give Zankyou no Terror a rating of excellent if I take into account its entertainment value, and a rating of very good if I take it at face value. I'm a bit uncomfortable with the latter rating though, since I do feel that the show's strengths shadowed its shortcomings.


Last edited by Alberto7 on Fri Sep 26, 2014 12:43 am; edited 1 time in total
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11306
PostPosted: Thu Sep 25, 2014 10:43 pm Reply with quote
Alberto7 wrote:
the US government spoiler[shot Twelve as well Nine, we're just not shown explicitly. The camera tilting backwards while the doves flew into and out of focus was Twelve's visual perspective as he fell backwards after being shot. They didn't leave him alive, no.]

There's no reason to believe that spoiler[they shot him, because there was no reason not to hear the shot if they did. It was clear to me that Twelve knew he was dying, rather than that he knew he was about to be shot, what with the blurry vision and his last words. Instead of a shot we got the ringing in the ears they've associated with whatever was killing all three of them. Yes the doves indicated that he died (shades of Cowboy Bebop), but that was just so we wouldn't be waiting to see him in the hospital or something.]

Quote:
...given that she had the skills of an average person.

No, she had the skills of an average six year old. If she'd had the physical and mental skills of an average teen or adult and even half of the average social skills, I wouldn't have disliked her so much.

I at least agree with all your other praise of the score, art and animation. I just wish it hadn't all been wasted on such a pathetic story.
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