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REVIEW: Amagami SS Sub.DVD




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dtm42



Joined: 05 Feb 2008
Posts: 14084
Location: currently stalking my waifu
PostPosted: Mon Dec 05, 2011 1:57 am Reply with quote
Interesting. The fifth arc was decried by many fans of the game, and I thought it was unfair that Rihoko got the short end of the relationship stick compared to the other girls.

I generally liked this show and I thought Kaoru was the best girl. Haruka was beautiful-sexy, Sae was cute-sexy, Ai was feminine-sexy. Rihoko was attainable-sexy, and Tsukasa was, well, BDSM-sexy, I guess. But Kaoru was sexy-sexy, the best kind by far.

Oh, and Risa was a delight. The reactions of all the girls when she talked to them was hilarious, especially Tsukasa's. I also thought she was as well-developed (character wise of course) as any of the other six girls, and that's quite a feat considering she had three less episodes than they did.

The biggest thing I didn't like about the show? The fact that Ai looked too much like Miya, and vice versa. I can hear the imouto fans now. "Oh, Ai isn't the main character's sister, she just happens to be Miya's one and only doppelganger and therefore looks totally like her!" It's a bit sad, really.
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vinamara



Joined: 30 Nov 2008
Posts: 229
PostPosted: Mon Dec 05, 2011 4:36 am Reply with quote
The first and the last arcs were the best of them all. Especially the last one belonging to Tsukasa was a pleasant surprise.

I sure as hell would love to know how they're gonna handle the second season since each arc seemed relatively conclusive to me. I guess they could revisit and show more silly mundane stuff they did.
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dtm42



Joined: 05 Feb 2008
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Location: currently stalking my waifu
PostPosted: Mon Dec 05, 2011 5:05 am Reply with quote
I thought the first two episodes of Haruka's arc were very, very generic and cliched. You could really feel the dating-sim model and it wasn't really working. The third episode was quite good, with strong development and some great scenes, but the fourth episode was so-so; too much meldodrama from Haruka in the hotel room. Overall I felt the arc was okay, but the weakest in terms of writing. Haruka's personality definitely plastered over some of the cracks.

I'm kind of nervous about the sequel series that will be airing next season. Where can they go from here? Unless, maybe we'll see the pairings as official couples? What ever happens, I'll be sure to watch.
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vinamara



Joined: 30 Nov 2008
Posts: 229
PostPosted: Mon Dec 05, 2011 5:29 am Reply with quote
dtm42 wrote:
I thought the first two episodes of Haruka's arc were very, very generic and cliched. You could really feel the dating-sim model and it wasn't really working. The third episode was quite good, with strong development and some great scenes, but the fourth episode was so-so; too much meldodrama from Haruka in the hotel room. Overall I felt the arc was okay, but the weakest in terms of writing. Haruka's personality definitely plastered over some of the cracks.


I agree but this arc actually has one of the best endings, which was a satisfactory way to seal off their love. Same goes for the last one. So comparatively speaking the first arc is a strong contender.

And apparently there are a lot of Morishima fanboys out there since I believe she is the only one with a mature appeal.
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prime_pm



Joined: 06 Feb 2004
Posts: 2335
Location: Your Mother's Bedroom
PostPosted: Mon Dec 05, 2011 9:42 am Reply with quote
I admit that I liked the Ai arc, I'm not sure why. Something about the character, I guess. Although there wasn't really any real conflict in this story. I don't know.

Maybe in the second season, Rihoko will receive a more complete arc, perhaps continuing where they left off from here. Would be interesting to see the aftermath of some of these relationships, some of the conflict involved in maintaining their different relationships.
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Key
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Joined: 03 Nov 2003
Posts: 18179
Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley)
PostPosted: Mon Dec 05, 2011 11:36 am Reply with quote
dtm42 wrote:
Interesting. The fifth arc was decried by many fans of the game, and I thought it was unfair that Rihoko got the short end of the relationship stick compared to the other girls.

She did, but the more consistent use of humor in her arc still made the arc one of the most entertaining ones to me.

Quote:
Oh, and Risa was a delight. The reactions of all the girls when she talked to them was hilarious, especially Tsukasa's.

Yes, that was probably my favorite part of the entire series. I had issues with the parts that came after that in that episode, however.

Quote:
The biggest thing I didn't like about the show? The fact that Ai looked too much like Miya, and vice versa.

Hmmm, I didn't pick up on that at the time I watched it, so I'll have to take another look. If that's really the case then I agree that she was likely deliberately done that way to be the stand-in for Miya so they could avoid the more obviously creepy "little sister" angle popular in eroge.

Quote:
Haruka's personality definitely plastered over some of the cracks [in her arc].

This I'll also definitely agree with.

And concerning which arcs are favorites: the series is deliberately set up so that each viewer can choose his favorite(s) rather than force-feeding them. That is, quite possibly, the series' biggest appeal.

And I am also curious to see where a second season goes. Maybe they'll do a Clannad After Story approach and develop one girl's story further? The series doesn't have a level of drama sufficient for that kind of task, though.
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Spastic Minnow
Bargain Hunter
Exempt from Grammar Rules


Joined: 02 May 2006
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Location: Gainesville, FL
PostPosted: Mon Dec 05, 2011 12:33 pm Reply with quote
Hasn't it already been confirmed that the new season is just further elaboration on the previous arcs? I don't exactly see how that could work, as Rihoko is the only one that needs more story. Although, I have to admit the very short specials I've seen were charming little stories on their own.

I guess they could try to expand on the humorous theory from the stalker girl story and try to say that all of these stories were actually going on at once, with him trying to make a decision between them, and only the resolution varied... of course that would mean that at some points he was seriously fooling around with 6-8 girls all at the same time, spoiler[licking knee-pit] one day, spoiler[sucking belly button] the next...
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Volibear



Joined: 29 Nov 2011
Posts: 344
PostPosted: Mon Dec 05, 2011 12:40 pm Reply with quote
overall this wasn't a bad series, certainly better than most of the high school romance series that come out and working it in the 6x4 episode arcs worked well
as for this set, i actually liked all 3 arcs, particularly Tsukasa's one which just edged Haruka's arc as my favourite
Rihoko's was good although like alot of people i actually wanted that one to end like all the others, the whole still just friends ending just felt too anticlimactic and out of place, maybe if it was Sae's arc it would have worked but not Rihoko's
Ai's arc was good, not great, it was enjoyable but a bit flat compared to the rest of the set, but still better than Sae's and about on par with Kaoru's

hopefully in the upcoming season Rihoko and Ai get better stories, they definitely felt like the 2 arcs with the most wasted potential, dispite still being good arcs, although with only 2 episodes per arc i'm not sure that the arcs will be as satisfying in the end as Haruka's and Tsukasa's where first time around
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mewpudding101
Industry Insider


Joined: 07 Apr 2009
Posts: 2205
Location: Tokyo, Japan
PostPosted: Tue Dec 06, 2011 3:32 pm Reply with quote
Tsukasa is definitely my favorite. Somehow, she seems a little more... Real? Maybe it's just me. Not to mention she's voiced by Kaori Nazuka.

I hope the next season focuses more on her~
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Kohii



Joined: 12 Nov 2010
Posts: 428
PostPosted: Wed Dec 07, 2011 11:48 pm Reply with quote
Well, thanks to TRSI, I finally got this series. I wanted to own the series, just not at the price it had when it first came out. Don't get me wrong, I like Amagami.

Anyway, Morishima was my favorite. Very playful and fun. I don't agree with your opinion of Rihoko's arc. Rihoko and Sae were probably the weakest.
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