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REVIEW: Nobunaga The Fool 13 - 24




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leatherhead333



Joined: 15 Aug 2013
Posts: 1187
Location: Kansas
PostPosted: Tue Jul 01, 2014 1:58 pm Reply with quote
I agree with this review for the most part.

About midway through I actually stopped caring about how stupid the premise was and started rolling with it. The over the top fights were just a load of fun. The show wasn't being all that serious which allowed me to enjoy it in a "turn your brain off" fashion.

But as soon as it tried to tell a compelling story I instantly started hating it again. The cheap powerups, pointless torture of Jeanne which resulted in absouletly NO changes in her character, and nonsensical deaths really just shows the lack of quality writing when they suddenly decided to go dark. Jeanne continuously remained to be annoyance throughout the series (even in the next to final episode she does something incredibly stupid). I just don't see what the writers were attempting to do with her character but needless to say they failed.

I agree that Ichihime was a surprisingly strong willed and interesting character for a time. But during the episode where she was spoiler[killed] they completely flushed that down the drain. I do not buy for a second Ichihime suddenly showing undying love towards Caesar. Their relationship was not built up enough at all for me to possibly accept it as natural. If you add to the fact the guy killed her father along with many of her people, forced her into marriage and she already had feelings for Mitsuhide I just don't see her going "Oh where hath my old Caesar gone?" without it being forced. spoiler[She didn't even leave Mitsu any final words when she died which makes it feel like she had completely forgot about him.] It completely ruined her character in my opinion.

Speaking of Mitsu, if there is one redeemable thing about this series it is him. I found him to be the most relatable character in the cast. He goes through great lengths to support Nobu but suffers the most out everyone because of it. He was the only character who I actually managed to feel for by the time things ended. As he continues to support Nobu and the loses of their people continue to pile up I feel his wavering trust in him to be reasonable. It's nice to have a character like this to offset the mindlessly devoted cast that plagued the series.
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Admiral Pizzaman



Joined: 08 Apr 2014
Posts: 504
PostPosted: Tue Jul 01, 2014 3:10 pm Reply with quote
The show was somewhat okay until stuffs gets serious and too serious to the point they end the show in a foolish way.

...but in the end, I have enjoyed Nobunaga The Fool.


Last edited by Admiral Pizzaman on Tue Jul 01, 2014 3:41 pm; edited 1 time in total
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ryanvamp



Joined: 08 May 2007
Posts: 416
PostPosted: Tue Jul 01, 2014 3:20 pm Reply with quote
I agree with most of the criticisms towards this anime. It had an interesting if flawed 1st half with bits of interesting dialogue and then an absolutely dreadful 2nd half with some occasional good moments of character development, mainly spent on Mitsuhide and glimpses of Arthur.

Which leads me to the ending. IMO of course it was rushed but it somehow redeemed the series for me chaging the "weak/bad" rating so a sort of generous "decent" or "I didn't lose my time". Nobunaga made tons of bad decisions but it was in his character to do so; Jeane was a horrible character but at least quite coherent in her chronic indecision; but then Mitsuhide was the richest and most developed and his doubts were always a result of plausible conclusions of the events he took part of.

So I was overally pleased with how they resolved things considering they had everything to lose and mess up. It's far from perfect, but it almost managed to erradicate the bad taste in my mouth of the several bad episodes that preceeded.

I also agree Ichihime was one of the beter characters until they decided to ruin both her and Caesar at the same time.
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TnKtRk



Joined: 17 Mar 2011
Posts: 183
PostPosted: Tue Jul 01, 2014 3:34 pm Reply with quote
I know I'll be adding this to my space opera collection, next to my Escaflowne, John Carter, Flash Gordon, etc BDs.

Modern day classic.
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AiddonValentine



Joined: 07 Aug 2006
Posts: 2201
PostPosted: Tue Jul 01, 2014 3:43 pm Reply with quote
that actually sounds like how I find most of Kawamori's work; he starts off horrendously goofy but entertaining and just when people are starting to enjoy it he pulls the rug out and tries to be "serious." It causes such whiplash that it's just absurd. It's obvious that he's trying to do that whole lulling the audience into a false sense of security before going into the more dramatic, thematically richer second half, but whenever he tries to be "serious" it comes off even goofier when he was being silly.

Also, for those who know anything about Japanese history

spoiler[that declaration of peace Mitsu makes is completely pointless. Akechi Mitsuhide, historically, was killed a mere thirteen days later after he was beaten by the forces of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, mostly because Akechi was branded as a traitor and thus an embarrassment for the culture at the time which led to his own forces depleting. The people who brought peace were Toyotomi and then eventually Tokugawa. Not exactly a proclamation that goes anywhere. Akechi had it ROUGH historically]

I think the thing that frustrates me is that the premise is interesting. Nobunaga was a fascinating figure historically, a complex man who was equal parts bizarre (such as the rumor of him using the gilded skulls of three of his enemies, one of whom was his BROTHER-IN-LAW, as drinking vessels), charismatic, and revolutionary. Heck, there's a reason you see so many Sengoku-era stories was because it was such a huge time for the country with betrayals, shifting alliances, tragic heroes, and people having to become demons for the good of the country (and now I'm getting this image of Game of Thrones with samurai and it's AWESOME). It's why the idea of the Sengoku era with mecha was so neat, but was ultimately wasted by the creative team which just sucks.
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Animegomaniac



Joined: 16 Feb 2012
Posts: 4070
PostPosted: Tue Jul 01, 2014 7:36 pm Reply with quote
I watched the one season of Nobunagun, I didn't know the Fool was two seasons. I wouldn't have known since I didn't watch the first one.

I dodged a bullet on that one though I'd love another season of Gun. Just reading through the descriptions of this one such as Hannibal and Caesar, among others, are women, it's kind of like some slash fiction gone wrong. Which is ignoring the fact that it's obviously historical fan fiction and "wrong" is the only direction it could go.

For once, I'd like to see a male Jeanne D'Arc, just to see if this sex reversal has a point or if these creators are just showing the world their own fetishes.
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Ohoni



Joined: 10 Jun 2003
Posts: 3421
PostPosted: Tue Jul 01, 2014 7:46 pm Reply with quote
I watched the first 12 eps, but when the new season started, it fell into my "maybe if I have the time" slot, and never got out. It was just too "meh."
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dtm42



Joined: 05 Feb 2008
Posts: 14084
Location: currently stalking my waifu
PostPosted: Tue Jul 01, 2014 11:09 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
...the entirety of Nobunaga The Fool engenders similar feelings in the viewer – that maybe we were the fools for watching this show at all.


There, fixed it for you.
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11306
PostPosted: Wed Jul 02, 2014 12:01 am Reply with quote
Animegomaniac wrote:
Just reading through the descriptions of this one such as Hannibal and Caesar, among others, are women, it's kind of like some slash fiction gone wrong.

For once, I'd like to see a male Jeanne D'Arc, just to see if this sex reversal has a point or if these creators are just showing the world their own fetishes.

Caesar wasn't a woman, it was Machiavelli. Smile And Jeanne was sort of role reversed, in that she spent her time unsuccessfully hiding her huge rack as the male Ranmaru, Oda's lover.

My reaction to the series was exactly the opposite of ryanvamp's. Smile I was semi-bored during the first half, then it picked up for me and became quite interesting, despite the constant ass-pulls, and Jeanne, then flushed all that away with the "everything that fits we'll print" ending.
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Wrangler



Joined: 11 Nov 2007
Posts: 1346
PostPosted: Wed Jul 02, 2014 11:58 am Reply with quote
I have mixed feeling about the show. It was trying to be epic story, using historical real / fictional characters in a twist world reborn as two planets.

It had its share of strong characters and plot/storylines it was trying to carry. Given this show origin was a live play, which is somehow connected to anime itself seems telling with some way the characters were betrayed.

I do think it was too much of a mix to carry off well, it didn't hit it home with me. I enjoyed the forces clashed, but i don't think translated well to english audience since you need know bit about Japanese and even chinese culture. Monkey, using his Giant War Armor, Goku was amusing.

I don't think it was good show, it was okay with some flaws and bad writing mixed in with good. I don't think the universer made any sense, specially with spoiler[trailer ending with Jean and Oda reborn meeting again in a "modern" Eastern Star time which looked like contemporary Japan.]
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MaxSouth



Joined: 11 Oct 2008
Posts: 1363
PostPosted: Wed Jul 02, 2014 4:58 pm Reply with quote
The issue is not how serious the anime presents itself, but how lame the storytelling is; very poor on the part, and it makes no sense in a big scale.
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meepsheeps



Joined: 16 Jun 2014
Posts: 399
PostPosted: Wed Jul 02, 2014 5:00 pm Reply with quote
It wasn't a great show but I felt that it was really underrated by most people who call it "utter shit" or other terms I shall not mention but it really is better than a lot of other shows like Black Bullet or Mekaku City Actors.
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Snomaster1
Subscriber



Joined: 31 Aug 2011
Posts: 2793
PostPosted: Fri Jul 04, 2014 6:09 pm Reply with quote
Well,this show is pretty unusual. I wonder what it would be like if they had some figures from American history like George Washington or Thomas Jefferson or Abraham Lincoln. Wouldn't that be fascinating to see? How would they be portrayed? What do you guys think about that?
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