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Shelf Life - A Certain Something


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Cecilthedarkknight_234



Joined: 02 Apr 2011
Posts: 3819
Location: Louisville, KY
PostPosted: Tue Apr 23, 2013 12:11 pm Reply with quote
Can I just that I'm one of the few that actually enjoy the raildex franchise for what it is despite it's flaws!
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britannicamoore



Joined: 05 Dec 2005
Posts: 2618
Location: Out.
PostPosted: Tue Apr 23, 2013 12:48 pm Reply with quote
Cecilthedarkknight_234 wrote:
Can I just that I'm one of the few that actually enjoy the raildex franchise for what it is despite it's flaws!


Sure! You are not alone. I haven't read any of the novels- thinking about it- but I enjoy the story. I've seen all of Index and the first 10 episodes of Railgun and I enjoy the characters and the plot. spoiler[Touma loosing his memory was a great plot twist] and the fact he spoiler[keeps moving on even without his memories and doesn't get them back is great ]

As for the magic vs science stuff - I don't care. I got enough to understand the difference between the two and how they work in the world. Even if they didn't explain anything else i'd be fine.

I've seen a lot of anime and I found this show to be fresh in a pile of stale. I've been trying to get back into anime lately and this worked for me. It's fun to have a series to actually be excited about (besides One Piece) Very Happy
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Cecilthedarkknight_234



Joined: 02 Apr 2011
Posts: 3819
Location: Louisville, KY
PostPosted: Tue Apr 23, 2013 1:07 pm Reply with quote
britannicamoore wrote:
Cecilthedarkknight_234 wrote:
Can I just that I'm one of the few that actually enjoy the raildex franchise for what it is despite it's flaws!


Sure! You are not alone. I haven't read any of the novels- thinking about it- but I enjoy the story. I've seen all of Index and the first 10 episodes of Railgun and I enjoy the characters and the plot. spoiler[Touma loosing his memory was a great plot twist] and the fact he spoiler[keeps moving on even without his memories and doesn't get them back is great ]

As for the magic vs science stuff - I don't care. I got enough to understand the difference between the two and how they work in the world. Even if they didn't explain anything else i'd be fine.

I've seen a lot of anime and I found this show to be fresh in a pile of stale. I've been trying to get back into anime lately and this worked for me. It's fun to have a series to actually be excited about (besides One Piece) Very Happy


That's the way I feel as well, it's an overall fun series to watch with some great characters that I do care about. From a reviewer's POV i do see where this series has flaws but it's not so terrible that it holds it back from making it enjoyable by a long shot.
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Wakazhi



Joined: 31 Dec 2010
Posts: 203
PostPosted: Tue Apr 23, 2013 1:59 pm Reply with quote
shamisen the great wrote:
Wakazhi wrote:
I like Denpa Onna, but probably the main deal-breaker for me was the box art. I'm used to fanservice or whatever, but I just don't like anything ecchi-esque on my shelf, especially something very noticeable (i.e. NISA's LE releases) . If a standard edition blu-ray comes out, I'll definitely consider that.
I guess I've been doing this too long or I'm just desensitized to ecchi, because I didn't even register that the cover might be considered inappropriate. It seemed pretty tame to me.

I initially thought that, but when I saw it in person at a convention, that changed my perception.
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Agent355



Joined: 12 Dec 2008
Posts: 5113
Location: Crackberry in hand, thumbs at the ready...
PostPosted: Tue Apr 23, 2013 2:15 pm Reply with quote
I saw the first 4 or so eps of Index (thank you, Funimation!) and the warning buzz in my head came from "average good hearted teen risks life to save moe girl/damsel in distress". It's just been done. Over and over and over, in just about every shonen anime and every Hollywood movie and every male-oriented action story from the dawn of time.

Now, Mikoto's character shows me that most of the female characters in this show aren't in need of saving, just one particular character. The science vs. magic stuff can be a lot of fun. (As Amy from Futurerama says: "Science! It's like magic, just with electricity!) But I still wonder if the dynamic would feel less washed out if Touma were female, Index were male (or if they were both the same gender) and that teacher character actually looked like an adult.

I get the impression from this review and the comments that the show is uneven and its spin-off might be better. On the fence on this one.
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Mikeski



Joined: 24 Sep 2009
Posts: 608
Location: Minneapolis, MN
PostPosted: Tue Apr 23, 2013 3:59 pm Reply with quote
Eh, people are assigning way to much "science" to the "scientific" railgun. And to Touma's hand. It's shounen super-heroes-and-magic, and logic doesn't really apply.

Spoilered just in case, since I'm talking about things that happened in Index S1 and Railgun S1.

spoiler[If you take something that weighs less than most bullets, and has aerodynamics less like a bullet and more like a parachute, and throw it at sub-relativistic speeds, it isn't going to stop a car. Maybe it'll chip the paint.

Most likely, the "railgun" coin is a conduit/focus for her lightning, and whatever handwaves the author wants to give that, it's got. (Thus it makes sense that hitting Touma's hand stops it.)

As it's most-scientific, it's the reverse of her cling-to-metal-walls ability; she uses electromagnetic force to place the coin exactly where she wants it, whether a car is trying to drive through the same space or not. (Thus it makes sense that hitting Touma's hand stops it, while it "hits" that car with anti-tank-weaponry force. And it hits other targets with... well... flipped-coin force if it's outside her control range.)]
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Fencedude5609



Joined: 09 Nov 2006
Posts: 5088
PostPosted: Tue Apr 23, 2013 4:10 pm Reply with quote
Mikeski wrote:
Eh, people are assigning way to much "science" to the "scientific" railgun. And to Touma's hand. It's shounen super-heroes-and-magic, and logic doesn't really apply.

Spoilered just in case, since I'm talking about things that happened in Index S1 and Railgun S1.


The problem is the show expects you to take them seriously and spends an awful lot of time trying to justify them.
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DissonanceCog



Joined: 22 Apr 2013
Posts: 11
PostPosted: Tue Apr 23, 2013 4:30 pm Reply with quote
GiriOni wrote:
You need to read the LN's to understand the symbolism behind his hand, and later volumes reveal more why it works.


Sorry, but I'm going to need to stop you there. The moment somebody says "You need to read X SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL to fully comprehend X ANIME", then that anime has failed on some level. Because Index was sold to me as a comprehensible story in itself, it was not sold to me as this companion piece where the fact that you're aware of additional material is a given. Thus the anime gets to be judged by its own merits, and not the merits of it plus the light novels which fill in the gaps. And when the anime has problems (See: Touma's hand), they are legitimate problems, even if there is this whole different piece of fiction that explains them.

Mikeski wrote:
Eh, people are assigning way to much "science" to the "scientific" railgun. And to Touma's hand. It's shounen super-heroes-and-magic, and logic doesn't really apply.


The thing about the MST3K mantra is that when a show starts to spend a good deal of screentime explaining the various aspects of something and talking about it at length... you start to assume that the show wants you to actually take it seriously. If Touma's (And Misaka's) ability was just kind of taken as a given and we got pretty much no elaboration upon it, your handwaving would have a good deal more credence. And I will say that I don't find your explaination particularly compelling.
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Ingraman



Joined: 07 Feb 2005
Posts: 1077
PostPosted: Tue Apr 23, 2013 4:35 pm Reply with quote
Rinkwolf wrote:
I really liked Mikoto but she is at her best when Touma is involved because I some why think that they have really good chemistry together.

She's at her best when she's with Kuroko, Uiharu, and Saten Ruiko. When Touma's around, she can't seem to manage to do all that much. Got to let the "hero" be the "hero"... <sigh>
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Fencedude5609



Joined: 09 Nov 2006
Posts: 5088
PostPosted: Tue Apr 23, 2013 4:35 pm Reply with quote
Actually even in the LNs Touma's hand isn't explained and works explicitly on the power of whatever the plot needs at the moment.
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TarsTarkas



Joined: 20 Dec 2007
Posts: 5821
Location: Virginia, United States
PostPosted: Tue Apr 23, 2013 4:44 pm Reply with quote
Wakazhi wrote:
shamisen the great wrote:
Wakazhi wrote:
I like Denpa Onna, but probably the main deal-breaker for me was the box art. I'm used to fanservice or whatever, but I just don't like anything ecchi-esque on my shelf, especially something very noticeable (i.e. NISA's LE releases) . If a standard edition blu-ray comes out, I'll definitely consider that.
I guess I've been doing this too long or I'm just desensitized to ecchi, because I didn't even register that the cover might be considered inappropriate. It seemed pretty tame to me.

I initially thought that, but when I saw it in person at a convention, that changed my perception.


It is tame, considering what other stuff is out there. NISA's Ghastly Prince Enma Burning Up, actually had a hotter cover out there. Having a poster or picture of your favorite model or singer on your wall is probably hotter than the LE box art for Denpa Onna. But too each their own.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23669
PostPosted: Tue Apr 23, 2013 4:45 pm Reply with quote
I love Index/Railgun and I don't give a flying toss about hand inconsistencies. If shit like that bothered me, I wouldn't have gotten into anime in the first. Index is a ton of fun and had some very inventive stories lines, good humour and watchable characters.
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Cecilthedarkknight_234



Joined: 02 Apr 2011
Posts: 3819
Location: Louisville, KY
PostPosted: Tue Apr 23, 2013 4:59 pm Reply with quote
Fencedude5609 wrote:
Actually even in the LNs Touma's hand isn't explained and works explicitly on the power of whatever the plot needs at the moment.


I thought that spoiler[arc angel Gabriel explained that some day touma's entire body would have the same power as his right hand.]

no it never has gone into full detail why he has this power but that makes it half the fun for me.
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DissonanceCog



Joined: 22 Apr 2013
Posts: 11
PostPosted: Tue Apr 23, 2013 5:02 pm Reply with quote
Cecilthedarkknight_234 wrote:

I thought that spoiler[arc angel Gabriel explained that some day touma's entire body would have the same power as his right hand.]


That doesn't really explain the aspects Fencedude, et al. are complaining aren't being explained, though. That's just kind of additional information, and just raises further questions as to what on Earth his powers are and how they are supposed to work.
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Bablioteca



Joined: 22 Mar 2013
Posts: 51
Location: REPUBLIC OF TEXAS
PostPosted: Tue Apr 23, 2013 5:53 pm Reply with quote
i'm pretty sure touma's power at least has been heavily implied to be:

spoiler[ that his right hand is actually sealing Lucifer, and as a byproduct happens to dispel any kind of reality-altering that all of these special powers do (including magic). Esper powers are presented as generation of specific phenomena ironically through belief; being so sure you can do it/it works that reality yields.

i had figured his hand had something to do with Michael the whole time i was reading but someone having the hand of Michael and being set up as his power's foil more or less pushed me to figure that it's sealing Lucifer. That whole incident with the dragon would make a lot more sense then because a lot of the time symbolically dragons= the devil. That whole "negation of miracles" thing kinda fits then. ]


Really if the anime has a major flaw it's that it rushes through things to adapt as much material as possible, touma's fight with accelerator seemed a lot more dramatic in the novel, it almost seems too easy in the show.

As for his blocking the railgun, i think the coin is actually supposed to MELT and disintegrate at that velocity only leaving makoto's esper generated force for him to block, otherwise yeah, he shouldnt be able to block the coin itself.

Then again he blocks her iron sand with his hand as well... so who knows?

It's a fun series that pretends to be smart but i enjoy it, Touma's a refreshing protagonist for me by simply being a good guy, if that's not enough for some, the author was clever enough to include two other protagonists that might appeal to different tastes.
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