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EP. REVIEW: March comes in like a lion


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meiam



Joined: 23 Jun 2013
Posts: 3442
PostPosted: Mon Dec 05, 2016 9:30 am Reply with quote
skinnywonderfulman wrote:
I almost want to just watch this anime solely for this character. Worth it?


In the 12 episodes she's going to be in them a grand total of maybe 10 minutes.
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chaccide



Joined: 16 Aug 2016
Posts: 295
PostPosted: Sun Dec 11, 2016 2:38 pm Reply with quote
I really struggled through a lot of this episode. I fast forward through those stupid cats with their stupid song. I literally could not pay attention to the old guy's monologue at the restaurant. It defied my concentration and every sentence eluded me. The humor this time was just bad. The whole episode was skipOP recap good cringe snore ohthat'sgood FASTFORWARD! cringe snooooore nice cringe skipED oh great the Christmas depression episode next week.
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killjoy_the



Joined: 30 May 2015
Posts: 2457
PostPosted: Sun Dec 11, 2016 3:26 pm Reply with quote
^ The cat OP was the only part of the episode I liked, but other than that. yeah, I somewhat mirror you.
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Merida



Joined: 21 Feb 2012
Posts: 1945
PostPosted: Sun Dec 11, 2016 4:36 pm Reply with quote
I generally really like the old guys in this series because they act like real old people who aren't automatically wise or dignified, but i gotta admit that the part where Matsunaga went on and on and on about his hometown made me want to fast forward as well...then again, that was probably the intention of that scene since Rei seemed to desperately look for a fast forward button, too. Laughing
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Seishin Jinrou



Joined: 04 Mar 2016
Posts: 29
PostPosted: Sun Dec 11, 2016 8:03 pm Reply with quote
...No. This series is not about exaggerated, over the top comedy and singing cats. I despise how SHAFT has preferred to pander to a general, immature audience by making fun of the manga story, which is somber, quiet, sensitive, not filled with this cliche BS of distorted faces and cutesy sequences. There was nothing even remotely funny about this chapter in the manga. I don't even want to watch anymore at this point, they are just ruining the story every damn chance they get. And they're trying to make Kyouke into Senjōgahara from monogatari, which she is most definitely not.
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Merida



Joined: 21 Feb 2012
Posts: 1945
PostPosted: Mon Dec 12, 2016 3:22 am Reply with quote
Seishin Jinrou wrote:
...No. This series is not about exaggerated, over the top comedy and singing cats. I despise how SHAFT has preferred to pander to a general, immature audience by making fun of the manga story, which is somber, quiet, sensitive, not filled with this cliche BS of distorted faces and cutesy sequences. There was nothing even remotely funny about this chapter in the manga. I don't even want to watch anymore at this point, they are just ruining the story every damn chance they get. And they're trying to make Kyouke into Senjōgahara from monogatari, which she is most definitely not.


Now aren't you exaggerating just a little bit? With the exception of the singing cats, this was a pretty faithful adaption of the manga. The humour does come across a bit more...intrusive in the anime, but it's defintely there in the manga as well.

I do agree about Kyouko, though. But then again, she would fit right into Monogatari, so perhaps SHAFT got a bit carried away with her character...
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11306
PostPosted: Mon Dec 12, 2016 3:58 am Reply with quote
The singing cats are unbearable because they won't even give us subtitles as a distraction.

I could see what they were going for with the endless history lesson, but it didn't work. For an example of how to do it exquisitely and hilariously, see Genos telling his life story to Saitama in One Punch Man.

The waterfront scene almost salvaged it, but they sabotaged that at the end too, so, yeah, not the best episode.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23667
PostPosted: Wed Dec 14, 2016 5:18 pm Reply with quote
I had been dreading this episode because I figured it would be heavy on shogi and a downer about Rei putting an old guy out of misery. Instead, it turned out to be one of my favourite episodes (the power of low expectations, perhaps?). I found Rei's mental exclamations during the shrine visit and shogi match to be hilarious. Not knowing anything about shogi myself, I had no idea if the old geezer actually did have something up his sleeve or not. And I love the capper that his real reason for not wanting to retire is that his family would take its "revenge" on him for skipping chores all those years to focus on shogi.

And the real cherry on top was when the Beautiful Monster called Rei, expecting to find him devastated, only to find out that the old guy was quitting after all. Nice!
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meiam



Joined: 23 Jun 2013
Posts: 3442
PostPosted: Sat Dec 17, 2016 11:42 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
Rei and Kyouko would both realize that it's their father who should be blamed for their unhappiness, but children can't help but hold out for their parents' love.


That's pretty harsh, it's not his fault Kyouko is worse at shogun than Rei and can't accept it. What is he supposed to do, encourage all his kid to do shogun when it's clear Kyouko wouldn't be able to keep up? Discourage Rei from playing shogun (something which he's always saying he like) just to spare Kyouko feeling?
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chaccide



Joined: 16 Aug 2016
Posts: 295
PostPosted: Sun Dec 18, 2016 3:27 am Reply with quote
Sometimes I wonder if adult Kyouko is real or if she's just a part of Rei's psyche that just shows up to attack his sense of purpose and worth. Whatever she is, I found myself wishing he'd just pick her up and heave her over the railing into the river. At least he realizes she's poisonous.

The ending of this episode was amazing, how it felt like he was dragging himself up a steep hill, then suddenly was racing out of control downward toward a cliff and going over the edge. His moment of catharsis was both liberating and heartbreaking. I hope he gets some time with his friends soon.
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Merida



Joined: 21 Feb 2012
Posts: 1945
PostPosted: Sun Dec 18, 2016 5:09 am Reply with quote
meiam wrote:
Quote:
Rei and Kyouko would both realize that it's their father who should be blamed for their unhappiness, but children can't help but hold out for their parents' love.


That's pretty harsh, it's not his fault Kyouko is worse at shogun than Rei and can't accept it. What is he supposed to do, encourage all his kid to do shogun when it's clear Kyouko wouldn't be able to keep up? Discourage Rei from playing shogun (something which he's always saying he like) just to spare Kyouko feeling?


Wow, i pity your (hypothetical) kids. "Sorry meiam jr, but with your lack of talent you'll never be able to become a pro soccer player. So better give up playing altogether. Here, have a teddybear instead."

Seriously, it has been established earlier that for these children, the only way of being close to their father was through playing shougi. Bringing a more talented stranger into the family and putting all his attention onto him, just had to feel like being abandoned to them. I don't think their father really meant it that way. Perhaps he even believed he was doing them a favour by taking away the pressure, but he certainly didn't manage to communicate that very well...

As for Rei, part of his feelings of guilt come from believing that he stole his way into that family by lying (about his love for shougi) because that was his only way of survival. This was also part of what made that final scene so poignant: he can't hold back, even if it means to hurt people because "shougi is all i have!" (which is slowly starting to change, but it's been that way for most of his life).
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meiam



Joined: 23 Jun 2013
Posts: 3442
PostPosted: Sun Dec 18, 2016 10:46 am Reply with quote
Merida wrote:
Wow, i pity your (hypothetical) kids. "Sorry meiam jr, but with your lack of talent you'll never be able to become a pro soccer player. So better give up playing altogether. Here, have a teddybear instead."

Seriously, it has been established earlier that for these children, the only way of being close to their father was through playing shougi. Bringing a more talented stranger into the family and putting all his attention onto him, just had to feel like being abandoned to them. I don't think their father really meant it that way. Perhaps he even believed he was doing them a favour by taking away the pressure, but he certainly didn't manage to communicate that very well...


Parent are not friend, there parent, they need to use there considerably higher life experience to guide kid in life when they don't have the necessary baggage to make long term decision. I'd much rather break my kid impossible dream rather than have them at 30-something tell me that they feel like they wasted there live chasing something that was obviously impossible from the beginning. Especially something like shogi that's high risk (very little people can be professional shogi player) low reward (most professional shogi player don't make that much money especially considering how hard it is to stay competitive).

And it's not like he abandoned his other kid, like you said he even gave her a giant teddy bear, it's not like they got home and he was all "None of you get gift except Rei cause he's the only one who deserves it for being good at shogi".
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zrnzle500



Joined: 04 Oct 2014
Posts: 3767
PostPosted: Sun Dec 18, 2016 11:27 am Reply with quote
^But you can see how they might have seen their gifts as merely consolation prizes and saw the shogi pieces as just how much their father believed in and valued Rei, though he probably didn't mean that he didn't value his other children. And at least for Kyouko, I would have to agree with her contention that a giant teddy bear is not a gift for a middle school girl, unless they have explicitly shown an interest in them at that age. I'm not about to question your parenting skills and there is some merit to your opinion on the matter, but I find Merida's more agreeable myself.
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killjoy_the



Joined: 30 May 2015
Posts: 2457
PostPosted: Wed Dec 21, 2016 2:54 pm Reply with quote
I wish I could find "character screams feelings" moments cathartic, 'cause anime does them so much, but unfortunately they're always a negative to me. I honestly can't sympathize with the situation at all, unless it's for an actual audience, like in a conversation or something. Screaming to the wind just feels so incredibly unnatural to me.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23667
PostPosted: Wed Dec 21, 2016 4:24 pm Reply with quote
So I wonder if before every match he has now, Kyouko will give Rei some sob story about his opponent in the hope that it will either throw him off his game or cause him to throw the match. Somebody really needs to punch her in the face.
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