×
  • remind me tomorrow
  • remind me next week
  • never remind me
Subscribe to the ANN Newsletter • Wake up every Sunday to a curated list of ANN's most interesting posts of the week. read more

Forum - View topic
REVIEW: Stella Women's Academy, High School Division Class C3 Episodes 7-13 Streaming


Goto page 1, 2  Next

Note: this is the discussion thread for this article

Anime News Network Forum Index -> Site-related -> Talkback
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
Key
Moderator


Joined: 03 Nov 2003
Posts: 18137
Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley)
PostPosted: Thu Oct 31, 2013 12:32 pm Reply with quote
Carl's analysis of this half of the series is on the money. The weakness of the logical progression behind Yura's psychological shift is the series' most significant flaw and the only thing that's keeping me from considering it one of the year's top series.

Still, it was a quite enjoyable series overall and one of the better ones of the summer season.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website My Anime My Manga
Polycell



Joined: 16 Jan 2012
Posts: 4623
PostPosted: Thu Oct 31, 2013 1:18 pm Reply with quote
I'm not sure I can agree with Carl that the "supernatural nonsense" coming back up again is a bad thing - I personally think they salvaged that bit of the show as well as possible; yes, they were wholly unnecessary, but just dropping them would've reeked of sloppy writing.

I will also comment that he seems to have let slip by him the thematic reasons for the sudden change in action's style.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23668
PostPosted: Thu Oct 31, 2013 1:39 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
You get a different kind of enjoyment from this half of the series, but no greater or lesser than that of the first. And given the fun we had in those episodes, that's no mean achievement. However much potential the show wastes, we should not lose sight of that one basic fact: Stella's still great fun.


I disagree strongly with the last statement. That was my biggest beef with the second half: it manifestly wasn't "great fun" any more. In fact, the latter episodes left me pining for the good old days of the first few before the show started investing in Yura's poorly motivated and explicated switch from shy stumblebum to odious "win-at-all costs" jerk.

Another flaw in the series is that none of the secondary girls was given any kind of back-story at all. Cardboard cut-outs. I did come to love Rento and her all-purpose "cake strategy" (although most of the credit for that goes to her seiyuu).
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
Megiddo



Joined: 24 Aug 2005
Posts: 8360
Location: IL
PostPosted: Thu Oct 31, 2013 1:50 pm Reply with quote
Yeah, other than Rento I didn't really care about any of the characters in the first half. Can't say much about episodes 7-13 as I dropped this show at either episode 5 or 6. Hopefully Sabagebu will be more like what I was hoping C3-bu would be after its first episode.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
SquadmemberRitsu



Joined: 26 Jan 2012
Posts: 1391
PostPosted: Thu Oct 31, 2013 2:53 pm Reply with quote
My score would be more like 'F' or 'D' if I was being really generous. Episode 10 in particular is quite possibly one of the worst episodes of anime I've ever seen. I'm actually glad this show failed miserably in the sales department Hopefully it teaches Gainax a lesson about pulling stuff like this in this day and age.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Key
Moderator


Joined: 03 Nov 2003
Posts: 18137
Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley)
PostPosted: Thu Oct 31, 2013 3:09 pm Reply with quote
Why do you consider it one of the worst episodes you've ever seen? I have no problem with you disliking the series - I can easily see why many wouldn't - or that particular episode, but just tossing out an assertion like that without explanation just sounds like hating.

Last edited by Key on Fri Nov 01, 2013 9:21 am; edited 1 time in total
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website My Anime My Manga
Sailor S





PostPosted: Thu Oct 31, 2013 3:29 pm Reply with quote
I wasn't a big fan of Yura's attitude shift. Her win at all costs mindset just made her out to be a complete bitch. Getting to hear Miyuki Sawashiro pretty much is what kept me hanging on until the end. I absolutely love her voice. Rento's voice nearly made me want to mute the audio though. It appears it's her first role, and it shows. It sounded very flat and wooden to me, and totally didn't fit in with a lot of the situations. Hopefully she gets some more training before getting another role, or at least gets a role in a show I'm not watching.
Back to top
Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23668
PostPosted: Thu Oct 31, 2013 3:38 pm Reply with quote
Sailor S wrote:
Rento's voice nearly made me want to mute the audio though. It appears it's her first role, and it shows. It sounded very flat and wooden to me, and totally didn't fit in with a lot of the situations.


You have a tin ear, my friend. Her voice perfectly matched her character. To deny this simple fact would be madness.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
Polycell



Joined: 16 Jan 2012
Posts: 4623
PostPosted: Thu Oct 31, 2013 3:42 pm Reply with quote
I'd have to agree her voice didn't match the situations a lot of times - but matched the character in doing so.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23668
PostPosted: Thu Oct 31, 2013 3:43 pm Reply with quote
...and that was the whole comedic point.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
Polycell



Joined: 16 Jan 2012
Posts: 4623
PostPosted: Thu Oct 31, 2013 3:53 pm Reply with quote
I feltChojiro he might not get it! I didn't miss the joke at all!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
jymmy



Joined: 11 Nov 2011
Posts: 1244
PostPosted: Thu Oct 31, 2013 5:23 pm Reply with quote
Rento was great, and her seiyuu inhabited her perfectly. I've got to agree that Yura's journey was gripping but sadly not based in believable circumstances.

I liked the supernatural angle the series brought in. It lends the scenes where it crops up and the series climax a great ambiguity and expression of passion. When you really get into airsoft-for-the-fun-of-it, you capture an intangible, childlike sense of wonder and the real world melts away, or something. It had good metaphoric use, and it made the series more interesting.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Manga
Fencedude5609



Joined: 09 Nov 2006
Posts: 5088
PostPosted: Thu Oct 31, 2013 6:12 pm Reply with quote
A pretty decent show ruined by its happy ending.

If the series had ended after Yura told off Rento in the arcade, when she smacked away the one, last hand extended out to her, it would have been perfect.

But no, we had to have a happy ending.

Also while Rento is the best, the show did not do nearly enough to establish why she gave a single goddamn about Yura, past just generally being absurdly nice and saintly.

So yeah, C3bu joins KonoMini in the "mediocre GAINAX shows that would have been brilliant if they followed through on their potential for horridly tragic endings, instead of pulling a happy ending out of their ass" box.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Animegomaniac



Joined: 16 Feb 2012
Posts: 4070
PostPosted: Thu Oct 31, 2013 6:33 pm Reply with quote
Key wrote:
Carl's analysis of this half of the series is on the money. The weakness of the logical progression behind Yura's psychological shift is the series' most significant flaw and the only thing that's keeping me from considering it one of the year's top series.


What weakness? Excepting the idea of nonlethal nature of the sport in question {yet the two masters still had training by American ex-military . For using bb guns, sure, you buy that but the believable part?}, Yura was a clear victim of "too good, too fast" combined with severe master mentor mentality aka "Praise me, praise me!" syndrome.

Plus, the fact on what the actual sport is makes her "descent into the way of the ... weekend? ... warrior" pretty amusing. It's wasn't as fun but seeing how this series couldn't come up with actual stakes like Girls Und Panzer makes the second half better than the first one for me. Episode 4: "We're trying to make the subject a serious reflection on the way of the warrior, only related to a nonlethal form of noncombat. Please bear with us." You don't deny that but you deny the series doing in the second half ... what I just said.

Come on, you all really just wanted a group of girls shooting each other? Just for fun? If it wasn't for the "drama", we wouldn't have gotten that stare between Yura and Rento. Come on, that was amazing.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Rederoin



Joined: 29 May 2013
Posts: 1427
Location: Europa
PostPosted: Thu Oct 31, 2013 6:48 pm Reply with quote
I really would have preferred it if the anime had followed the source material.

It would have made the series a lot more enjoyable.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Display posts from previous:   
Reply to topic    Anime News Network Forum Index -> Site-related -> Talkback All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Goto page 1, 2  Next
Page 1 of 2

 


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group