Forum - View topicAkane Analyzes (Spoilerific).
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Errinundra
Moderator
 Posts: 6528 Location: Melbourne, Oz |
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All the best with your teeth and your state of mind.
Did SAO do your head in? Just joking. Hope to see you pushing me to do better in my thread. |
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Akane the Catgirl
Posts: 1091 Location: LA, Baby! |
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Akane Analyzes: When Did SAO Jump the Shark?
Hello, and welcome back to Akane Analyzes! You know, if there's anything that both Sword Art Online fans and...not fans agree on, it's that the show jumped the shark at some point. Although I don't truly fall into either camp (yes, really), I do concede that there was a point when the anime began Seasonal Rot. But when was it? When did SAO begin it's great decline? You'd be surprised by the answer. ...Oh, where are my manners? I have to sing the Shark Jumping song! There comes a time when life gets you down/ and the ratings are low Gotta do what it takes/ gotta up the stakes/ 'til there's nowhere left to go! Shaaaa-aaaark jump-ing!/ making some friends on the waaay together, we're- Shaaaa-aaaark jump-ing!/ tomorrow's a brand new daaa-aaaay Might lose some friends/ along the way If you won't reach it up/ it'll all be okay! Shaaaa-aaaark jump-ing! That's what friends are/ that's what friends are/ making our dreams come true! With that out of the way, let's see where SAO went wrong? Was it Episode 24, the ending of Fairy Dance? 
Actually...no. Yes, the ending was just as bad as viewers said it was, but I don't think the show Jumped the Shark at this point. It already had a looooong while back. It was horrible and nasty and disgusting, yes, but there had already been an onslaught of horrible and nasty and disgusting things! Asuna had already been molested TWICE before this episode; once by Sugou and once by one of the evil scientists. Kirito had already won thanks to a Deus Ex Machina. There had already been over-the-top evil villain to be b***h-slapped by the resident white bread protagonist. It's really nothing new, but this time, there was nothing to distract the audience from how utterly terrible the writing was. So, was it Suguha's arc? It has to be that! 
Nope! It wasn't Suguha that made the show Jump the Shark! See, the thing about the token imouto here is that this wasn't the first time the show had female characters existing to fawn over the main character! Silica and Lisbeth (and to an extent, Sachi) didn't have much of a point except to be love interests for Kirito. The only thing that's really different about Suguha is that 1) she's his SISTER and 2) she was a far bigger prescence than usual. The prior three girls did not appear in many episodes, while Sugu was the second main heroine after Asuna during Fairy Dance. Even her romance arc was almost exactly like Lisbeth's episode but stretched out to mind-breakingly dumb lengths. Okay, so was it Nobuyuki Sugou that marked SAO's beginning of the end? 
Not even him. Like I said earlier, the show is not doing much different in regards to the antagonists. Sugou is similar to, say, Kuradeel and Rosalia in how utterly one-dimensional he is in terms of villainy. The one thing that makes him unique is that he has far more screentime and a prescence than those two baddies ever did. He definitely is not this show's Jumping the Shark moment. In fact, the show had already Jumped the Shark by the time the very first episode of Fairy Dance aired! Yep, the generally accepted to be the worst arc of the series is NOT when the show began it's great downfall! I had you fooled for a while, didn't I? Let's see where it all began... Maybe it was the final episode of the Aincrad arc? 
Not so fast, bucko. Yes, the last episode has a stupid Deus Ex Machina and is all about Kirito being the center of attention, but...it wasn't really that different from earlier episodes. And to be honest, if it wasn't for those earlier episodes AND the Deus Ex Machina, the final episode would have been perfectly fine. The Shark Jumping moment is earlier than you think, my dear readers. Oh, oh, it was when Asuna and Kirito became a couple, right? 
Sorry to break it to you, but SAO had already had kind of a romantic focus long before Asuna became Kirito's official waifu. Remember Sachi, Lisbeth, and Silica? They had their own episodes long before Asuna won the right to have Kirito be her Man. To be honest, the episodes that focused entirely on the main couple's relationship were always the most boring for me to watch. However, in my opinion, the show had never been very good at romance anyway. Two can play at that game! Was it somewhere in the first three episodes? 
Alright, now we've gone a bit too early. Yes, those first three episodes of this series did not have the best writing per say. Episode One's dialogue was ninety percent textbook exposition and ten percent Klein being the best. Episode Numero Dos ended on one of the dumbest decisions Kirito makes throughout the show, and don't get me started on how much I hated Number Three. These episodes were not very good, especially in hindsight, but none of them went too far in terms of badness. Yes, not even the third episode. No, I think Sword Art Online Jumped the Shark during it's fourth episode, "The Black Swordsman". What!? You mean the one with Silica? THAT ONE!? ARE YOU MAD, WOMAN!? 
Put your pitchforks down and allow me to explain. I had a very specific reason why I chose this episode above everything else. Yes, even the incest subplot. You see, I think this single twenty-minute episode embodies every single problem I had with this series. I'm going to list them in order of how much of an issue I had with them. Okay? Let's begin. 1. It's filler. "The Black Swordsman" is one of the most pointless episodes of the series, and I recommend that new viewers skip it for this and another reason that's coming up at the end. The sad thing is that it could have had a point. This is one of the few times Suguha is brought up before her proper introduction, but for the rest of the Aincrad arc, Kirito barely thinks about his family. Yet Silica's supposed resemblance to her doesn't really go anywhere. 2. Silica is interesting, but the plot doesn't know what to do with her. This is general problem with the entire anime, to be honest. Silica is adorable while also being capable, but she barely appears after this episode. She's honestly one of the best characters in the entire cast, and you'd be hardpressed to find anyone that hates her. The problem, ultimately, is that the story decided she was best used as one of the Kirtio Fanclub members. I wanted to see more of her story and see her grow, but nope. As such, I was left disappointed. 3. Kirito is in this. I'm planning on writing another essay on why I don't think Kirito works as a protagonist, so allow me to be brief. This is supposed to be Silica's episode, right? Then why is the climax all about Kirito? Huh? Silica doesn't get to do sh*t except be a spectator to how bad*ss and awesome and cool our main character is. In universe and out, Silica was merely a tool to show off the amazingness of the Great Kirito. And she isn't angry at all about being manipulated. In fact, she outright forgives Kirito in the end and falls in love with him, even when she should be angry at him. And finally... 4. The biggest plothole of Aincrad is introduced here. During the climactic battle between Kirito and Rosalia's army, it's revealed that Kirito is immortal. I'm not even kidding. His levels are so high that he can heal instantly from being slashed over and over and over. As you can guess, I f**king hate this plot point so much, even more than the dual wielding. Why? There's three reasons. First, as I said, it's a plothole. After this episode, the story magically forgets that Kirito is immortal. When I watched him get stabbed by Kuradeel and after the fight with Gleam Eyes, all I can think is "isn't he immortal?". He shouldn't be on the brink of death! The second reason is that it exists solely to get Kirito out of trouble. It's the first Deus Ex Machina introduced in the series, and other than showing off how awesome he is, there's no point. Third and last, having Kirito be immortal ruins any tension in the series. I know that Kirito is going to be fine from now on, and so I have no reason to feel like he's in any real danger. This is the OTHER reason why I recommend skipping this episode. So! Those are my thoughts for today! When did YOU think SAO Jump the Shark? Leave a comment below and let us know what your opinion is on today's topic! I'll (hopefully) see you soon! Take care! Next Time: I'm still in pain, but I'm trying my best! |
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Chiibi
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Kirito is definitely not "immortal". Rosalia's army's attacks were just too weak to damage him.
Kuradeel damaged him pretty well and he would have died if Asuna hadn't come in time to save him. Remember, Kuradeel paralyzed Kirito through drinking water and you cannot heal yourself in SAO if you are paralyzed because you can't even move. |
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Gina Szanboti
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For me it was episode 10, when Asuna was reduced to a trophy the menz could fight over, and then awarded to the loser by the end of the episode. Neither her character nor the series ever recovered.
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nobahn
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Akane the Catgirl--
Just FYI: In your post the link to: http://statici.behindthevoiceactors.com/behindthevoiceactors/_img/chars/nobuyuki-sugou-oberon-sword-art-online-extra-edition-0.62.jpg doesn't work.
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louis6578
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Well, I think that the Silica episode was pretty bad. Either way, I think SAO jumped the shark when they pulled a fake out with Yui's death. Kirito becomes a PhD level hacker in the span of 5 minutes and hacks into the game's system. He does this in order to preserve his waifu's tamagachi (Yui) instead of adding the game's logout feature back, saving countless lives. Great writing there. Just... brilliant.
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Chiibi
Posts: 4829 |
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Even I have to admit that moment is ridiculous. 
It's tamagochi, louis. 
*gets hit* |
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louis6578
Posts: 1862 |
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Well, at least SAO fans are big enough to admit when their show obviously fails at someth- HOW DARE YOU CORRECT ME, MONGREL! NO ONE CORRECTS ME! I AM THE BEST! AAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!!!!! Sorry for that outburst. I'm good now. Yeah. So I think SAO is an average show all things considered. Its lowest points are pretty damn low, but even before it messed up, it was never THAT great. But I think you should keep going, Akane. The GGO arc is actually decent, if a little meandering, and the Mother's Rosario arc is surprisingly good. Definitely the best thing in the whole franchise.
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Chiibi
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Sorry; misspelled words bug meh. :'D
What I love about Mother's Rosario is how it's touching two-girl friendship that is not exploited AT ALL for yuri fans or the male audience.....it's just so.....pure. Given SAO's nature before that, I was a teeny bit surprised. You are not at all uncomfortable when watching it.....though it might make you shed a tear or two. Gives a lot more of Asuna's backstory, which we desperately needed. |
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louis6578
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I admit that I cried watching that as well. And it is VERY hard to make me cry. |
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Akane the Catgirl
Posts: 1091 Location: LA, Baby! |
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Update: Gonna Be a Few Delays...
Hi, guys. So, the good news is that I finished Your Lie in April about a week ago. The bad news is everything else. So, my health has never really been the best, physically or mentally. Holy sh*t, are you dying!? NO. Let me finish. I'm not dying at all. However, I am in horrible pain from multiple sources. You all remember I have problems with depression and anxiety, as well as carpal tunnel syndrome, a toothache, and general allergies. Well, looks like I can add acid reflux to my ever-growing list of Things That Are Wrong With My Body. That sounds painful. Yup. You've got no idea. I won't bore you with the details, though. So what does this mean for February and your SAO posts? I'm going to have to ask all of you to hang in there while I get everything sorted. I'm going to see a dentist in February and am hoping to get treatment for acid reflux. In the meantime, I have to delay literally everything having to do with this thread. Hopefully, it won't last too long and I'll be back to posting my various thoughts on anime. Okay. Take care, Akane. I'll do my best. Until we meet again, my dear readers. |
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Akane the Catgirl
Posts: 1091 Location: LA, Baby! |
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A Brief Introduction to Code Geass
Hello, and welcome to Akane Analyzes. You know, Code Geass is...interesting. I'll put it that way. I remember in high school I was super-hyped to watch this show for reasons that escape me. Looking back at it, I realize there were some flaws. Okay, a lot. There were quite a lot of things wrong with it. (Especially R2). But why? How did this hit 2006 anime get to be such a trainwreck? Allow me to explain. A (Not So Brief) History of Code Geass's Production Let's start with the tale of Goro Taniguchi, the director of this anime. Years earlier, Taniguchi directed smash hit and critical darling Planetes at Studio Sunrise. During that time, he and his friend Ichiro Okouchi (screenwriter) came up with what would eventually become this anime. The basic idea followed two characters with opposing ideals who were both part of the same military unit. Today's anime...kind of follows that premise. However, Sunrise had a bone to pick with Taniguchi, who had gained a reputation for being a perfectionist during the production of Planetes. From day one, the executives proceeded to make the Code Geass staff's lives utter hell. The original episode count was cut in half from fifty to twenty-five, the writers weren't meeting the average deadlines, and if what I heard is true, they didn't even have their own photocopier. Rumor has it that Sunrise had little to no faith in the success of this anime, or rather, what I believe to be Taniguchi's original vision. With certain elements popping up, I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of parts of this show were mandates by the executives in order to ensure this show would not be a total financial failure. (It has been confirmed, at least, that the Geass concept itself and the character of C.C. did not exist in the first draft of the series). Counts? Well...sort of. At the beginning of each recap, I'll go over what important events happened in each episode. At the end, I'll have a little section called What's Nunnally Doing?. You'll see why I call it that when we get there. Oh, and there's a third count, but I'm not introducing it until R2. Personal Thoughts This show is wild, don't get me wrong. I love, love, LOVE parts of this series. The main character is fascinating, the designs are appealing, and some of the music is great. However, I will admit it gets silly. Really silly. What am I talking about? Join me soon, when I begin my recap of Code Geass in honor of it's tenth anniversary (and new season coming up). See you then! |
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Akane the Catgirl
Posts: 1091 Location: LA, Baby! |
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Akane Recaps Ouran Episode Five: In Which the Twins Break Up and Make Up
Last time on The Young, the Rich, and the Airheaded: Haruhi Fujioka is an ordinary girl who disguises herself as an ordinary boy because her job requires it. Recently, a strange young lady named Renge Houshakuji squeezed herself into the life of the host club members, then declared Kyouya Ootori her hasubando and herself the brand new manager. Her first move? Make the host club darker and edgier to appeal to a modern demographic! Needless to say, Renge p*ssed off everyone and nearly got herself killed while making the host club's movie. In the end, a lesson was learned and everyone had a good time. Wow, it's been almost three months since I last touched this show, and boy am I glad to be back after the nightmare that was the Fairy Dance arc! As today is Valentine's Day, I felt this would be the best time to continue my recapping of this hilarious show. What better way to celebrate the month of love than covering an episode about hate? Ladies and gentleman, I bring you "The Twins Fight"! *** Before we begin, I'll be adding a point to the Funny Aneurysm Moment for this entire episode. Funny Aneurysm Moment: 15 Why? This is where Hikaru and Kaoru's character arc- at least, in my opinion- begins. The Hiitachiin brothers, as we shall learn, have huge, HUGE codependency issues that don't end with this episode. Nay, their tragic arc is only beginning. The episode starts with a flashback! More specifically, Hikaru and Kaoru reminisce over the very first time they played the "which twin is which" game. On a winter day, one of their female classmates invites the then grade school age brothers to make a snowman. Upon further probing from Hikaru and Kaory, it is revealed she can't tell the difference between either of them. Okay, before we go on further, let us discuss some tropes. 
This here is the image you will see when visiting the TV Tropes page for "Single Minded Twins". In much of fiction, chances are that when you see twin characters (especially in children's media), they'll usually be written as basically the same person but with two bodies. Ouran Host Club takes a sledgehammer to this trope and shows how annoying and difficult it can be when this sort of thinking is applied to real life. Like the previous episode states, people aren't just archetypes and cliches, and it's wrong to treat people like they are based on shallow assumptions. If you or any of your friends or relatives are identical twins, you probably understand what Hikaru and Kaoru are going through. There's an episode later on where we learn the circumstances of how the Hiitachiins met Tamaki, so I'll save the rest for where we get there. The episode cuts back to present day, where Hikaru and Kaoru are playing the "which twin is which" game with some of their clients. As the only way to tell them apart are which direction their hair is parted and what their voices sound like (Hikaru's is more nasally, Kaoru's is more boyish), the twins put on nice hats to make it harder. According to them, there hasn't been a winner so far, to which a passing by Haruhi proclaims the game to be the dumbest thing she's ever heard of. The boys, irked by our heroine's confusion over the fetish they cater to, give her a quick lecture about the appeal of twincest and the twin threesome. I can just hear the sound of this anime throwing shade at a bunch of amateur shoujo manga that have long since fallen into the Pit of Obscurity. Don't you? Suddenly, Tamaki bursts in on the scene, demanding an explanation from Hikaru and Kaoru. Turns out that they were given control of the host club's website, which they used to post a photoshopped picture of a male Haruhi, much to our heroine's consternation. Tamaki believes the twins used a fatty tuna bribe to take nude pictures, They explain that it was obviously photoshop (hey, y'all should be grateful they're keeping up the masquerade), to which Tamaki asks if they could use their editing skills to put Haruhi in cute outfits. Then he decides, silly him, he'll just ask her, to which the clients agree that they'd love to see Haruhi "crossdressing". It only takes one p*ssed off glare for Haruhi to scare away my hasubando. She then tells the twins to please stop posting creepy voyeuristic photoshop edits online, to which they respond with "lol nah". Haruhi, naturally, is not pleased to be at the blunt end of their trolling ways. And then...we get this. 
Ladies and gentleman, Nekozawa. Just...Nekozawa. He's going to be a Client of the Week soon enough, so I'll just cover the basics. Umehito Nekozawa, voiced by Patrick Seitz, is the president of the black magic club and is the host club's neighbor, so to speak. Basically, if you're a fan of chuuni characters like Gundham Tanaka and Himiko Yumeno (both from the Danganronpa series), you'll LOVE Nekozawa. If I'm not mistaken, I do believe he's one of the earliest examples of a chuunibyou you'll see in anime. Anyway, Nekozawa hears the word "toy" from the twins and is Nekozawa. According to Kyouya, Nekozawa is not fond of brightly lit places, and Tamaki, being the protective ditz he is, advises Haruhi to stay the f**k away from the chuuni goth boy. Apparently, Tamaki was "cursed" with bad luck after accidentally stepping on Nekozawa's beloved Beelzenef kitty puppet. Even when Kyouya rationally explains the source of his misfortunes, he still thinks it's magic. It doesn't help that Nekozawa is all too happy to enable Tamaki's fears. Fortunately, the twins have a flashlight on standby to scare the black wizard back into his clubroom. Things quickly to normal when the twins ask Haruhi if they could pretty please go to her house. She rebuffs their request, as well as Tamaki's. (Side Note: Caitlin Glass's delivery of "no way in hell, Senpai" is hilarious). They force her to play the "which twin" game, with the penalty of losing being them coming over to her house to bother her. Unluckily for them, Haruhi can easily distinguish the two of them apart. This impresses them, and if their sudden flashbacking to that playground bench in winter is anything to indicate, this sort of thing rarely happens, if it does happen at all. Two of the clients ask Haruhi how she could tell the difference. "Hmm...well, how do I put it?" she says. "It's kind of difficult to explain. But Hikaru's speech and actions make him come across a little more mischievous than Kaoru." Kaoru laughs at Haruhi's analysis, but Hikaru doesn't find it funny. At all. Things only get heated between the two from there, with Kaoru at one point accusing Hikaru of making passes at Haruhi because he likes her- Funny Aneurysm Moment: 16 Then suddenly, Renge happens. She pops up out of the ground, recognizing that Haruhi is in the middle of a love dodecahedron and squeeing over it. Meanwhile, Hikaru and Kaoru's fight only grows more and more tense, until they both decide they're done. They're through! This is the end! This is the very last straw! The twins are no more! 
["Cone head!" "Yellow!" "Pink!"] The next school day, the Hiitachiins show up to school with their hair dyed separate colors, Hikaru in pink and Kaoru in blue. The two of them act catty and awful towards each other until they're literally throwing everything they can at each other, even Usa-chan and Honey. They even continue to get on each other's nerves at lunch, with Honey's attempts to pacify them with cake only making things worse. (Meanwhile, Tamaki notices that Haruhi made her own box lunch and fantasizes about getting a taste of her amazing cooking.) Soon, another fight, this time of the food variety, begins when Haruhi gets a taste of Hikaru's delicious fancy lunch. Once again, the twins through everything but they kitchen sink at each other, and Haruhi heads back to the classroom to eat. Things aren't looking good for the host club, as Kyouya explains that if Hikaru and Kaoru don't stop fighting, they won't be able to exploit their client's twin fetish for all the monies. He then passive-aggresively blames Haruhi for starting the damn thing in the first place. That's when Honey speaks up. Apparently, this is the first time they've seen the Hiitachiins fight period. Tamaki adds that they only spended time with each other back then, and that they used to be bigger a**holes than they are now. (No, I'm not giving it a point because it's not being played for laughs). The king, optimist he is, opines that this is probably a good thing, since it means Hikaru and Kaoru can expand their social circles and start having actual lives outside of each other. And...he has a point. But I'll explain at the end. Haruhi mentally agrees, though she does express concern that the boys won't be able to resolve their fight maturely. Sure enough, they're STILL going at it, to the point where Hikaru got a curse doll and announces his intention to write Kaoru's name on it. This is what drives Haruhi to punch them on the heads and chew them out over making everyone's lives miserable with their seemingly endless fighting. Then she yells at them to apologize or she'll never let them come over to their house EVER. And that's when Hikaru and Kaoru see an opportunity. If they make up, they propose, then they can go hang out with Haruhi at her place, right? She turns over the curse doll to see that the word "blank" written on it. This entire fight, in fact, was a ruse to get Haruhi to let the Hiitachiins come over to play, much to everyone but the twin's chagrin. Or...was it? But I'll get there after I finish recapping. Things go back to normal quickly enough, as the twins start enough round of "which twin is which". Haruhi, of course, wins yet again, even when the boys have died their hair separate colors. As she walks away, Kaoru comes to a realization. "Do you realize what's happened, Hikaru? Until now, there were only two groups of people: us, and everyone else. But for the first time, someone's crossed into our world." *** If I had to guess, this is the most interesting episode I've recapped so far. Not only is this the beginning of the Hikaru and Kaoru arc, it also opens up a lot of questions about them, the most important being this: was it all a sham? Yeah, the Hiitachiins CLAIM they were just play fighting due to boredom, but I personally don't think it was entirely false. I've already explained in the past that Hikaru and Kaoru are creepily codependent, but deep down, I think that while they secretly are both tired of spending time with each other, they don't quite know how to reach out to anyone else. Haruhi, being the first to understand that they're not the same person, unintentionally lights the fuse between them. For the majority of their lives, the only ones they could depend on was each other, and so they hermetically sealed themselves off from socializing with their classmates. Hikaru and Kaoru both yearn to be seen as independent individuals, but they still need to learn how to BE individuals first. Note that Tamaki, little common sense he may have, does recognize that they need to start having their own lives outside of being "the twins". So, yeah, I don't think the fight was entirely fabricated, and some of those insults the brothers made do have some basis in truth. You can kind of tell what I think about this episode from my incessant babbling, but even I'm surprised at just how GOOD this is in hindsight. COUNTS: Funny Aneurysm Moments: 16 Next Time: I promise I'll start on Code Geass soon! Wish me luck! Oh, and go see the Lego Batman Movie if you haven't seen it yet! You won't regret it! |
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Chiibi
Posts: 4829 |
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Unlike MUCH of the fandom, the twins are not my favorite part of the show so this wasn't my favorite episode either. I think, (and lots of others make this comparison) they are like Fred and George Weasley....and I've always liked those two better.
One thing I found jarring is Kaoru accusing Hikaru of liking Haruhi when we were not given anything to allude to this in previous episodes. I was just like "....where did that come from?" And I'm really lenient when it comes to exposition....EXCEPT if it's about character emotions or their development. I prefer to just be shown that. So that is my two cents. Also, I love Nekozawa. =D |
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Akane the Catgirl
Posts: 1091 Location: LA, Baby! |
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Thank you for the comment, Chiibi! To be honest, on my first complete run of Ouran, the twins weren't my favorite characters either (that would be Tamaki in first and the duo of Honey and Mori a close second). I was actually very surprised by how good this episode when I rewatched it, though hindsight does help a lot. Part of it may be my newfound fascination with the Jerkass Woobie trope.
As for the "Hikaru likes Haruhi" thing, that too can be left up to interpretation on whether Kaoru meant it. I personally don't think he did at the time. Either way, it's pretty great foreshadowing for the summer vacation arc. (In regards to the Harry Potter books, I'm one of about five people who haven't read the series period. My sister and one of my best friends absolutely love the books, and I'd probably like them if I weren't too lazy to pick up a copy.  )
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