×
  • 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
EP. REVIEW: Just Because!


Goto page Previous  1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6  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
ScruffyKiwi



Joined: 25 Oct 2010
Posts: 672
Location: New Zealand
PostPosted: Sun Nov 05, 2017 5:25 pm Reply with quote
In my opinion both Haruto and Natsume fell in love with people who don't exist. Natsume fell in love with her impression of Haruto but never actually got to know him at all. Haruto fell in love with the trumpet player who was supporting the team. Both of them created in their mind an idealized version of their crush without getting to know them as a friend.

Real people don't compare very well to imaginary people, hence why Eita has never stood a chance while Natsume mooned over an imaginary person.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23669
PostPosted: Sun Nov 05, 2017 6:33 pm Reply with quote
@ ScruffyKiwi - I agree. We have been provided with way too a simplistic scenario for why those who do have crushes have them so it makes it hard to truly buy in. I mean, they all seem like decent folks but yeah it has been more of a case of being told who likes whom as opposed to being shown why.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
mangamuscle



Joined: 23 Apr 2006
Posts: 2658
Location: Mexico
PostPosted: Sun Nov 05, 2017 6:52 pm Reply with quote
Blood- wrote:
We have been provided with way too a simplistic scenario for why those who do have crushes


I am no expert on the subject, but AFAIK crushes are simplistic, even skin-deep and the series cast is at the age where they are physically adults but they lack the emotional maturity of most adults. There may be teenagers that at that age have plenty of experience, but from what I gather so far they are all virgins who never have been on a single romantic relationship. The show IMO is interesting because we see little by little how they mature, albeit I could be wrong and the series could do a U turn later on where characters never change no matter what experience they get.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23669
PostPosted: Sun Nov 05, 2017 7:02 pm Reply with quote
@ mangamuscle - yeah, I agree that crushes by their very nature tend to be superficial, especially among teenagers. The problem for me as a viewer is that unless you come up with some telling or interesting detail about why x likes y I just find it hard to get invested. For example, with My Love Story, I was able to get invested in the relationship because I was shown a number of details that together made go, "yeah, I see why these two dig each other." We are five episodes into Just Because! and I haven't seen anything to get me invested beyong a knee jerk sympathy I tend to have for characters who aren't jerks and want to be in a relationship with another non-jerk. But perhaps that's why the title of the show is Just Because!...
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
mangamuscle



Joined: 23 Apr 2006
Posts: 2658
Location: Mexico
PostPosted: Sun Nov 05, 2017 7:44 pm Reply with quote
Blood- wrote:
The problem for me as a viewer is that unless you come up with some telling or interesting detail about why x likes y I just find it hard to get invested.


Unlike other series where I get shipping vibes (with or without my yuri googles) and start to think how x and y make a nice couple, so far I do not get that from this show, the vibe I get is the classical "good bye to my youth", where they will remember decades later how they had a crush on someone they have lost touch with or did that wild and/or stupid stunt they know any sane adult would not.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
meiam



Joined: 23 Jun 2013
Posts: 3442
PostPosted: Fri Nov 24, 2017 1:16 pm Reply with quote
My only problem with the love triangle is that it rely on us just accepting Eita feeling for Mio. We haven't seen that much of them just together and we've seen nothing of why Eita loves her, the show started with his feeling already there and they haven't really changed since the beginning. In contrast Ena's feeling have been build up as we watched, which makes it a lot easier to be invested in.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Kaylee Smerbeck



Joined: 26 Jul 2017
Posts: 144
PostPosted: Fri Nov 24, 2017 1:46 pm Reply with quote
Why not ot3
Seriously no one other than Subaru Emilia and Rem think that at least consider polyamory just a thought bubble
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Merida



Joined: 21 Feb 2012
Posts: 1945
PostPosted: Fri Nov 24, 2017 3:20 pm Reply with quote
Well, so far the reasons for falling in love in this show have been "he gave me his eraser" and "she played the trumpet so nicely", so i don't really need a similar "explanation" for why Eita fell for Mio...

Instead i really liked how he kept remembering all the bad things that happened to her in the past and how much he wanted to prevent her from being hurt again while he was running to the station, that showed very nicely how much he cared for her.

And while i can't help but cheer for Ena's straightforwardness in dealing with her feelings, things are not looking so good for her. Especially now that Mio seems to have come to terms with her feelings for Eita.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime
AholePony



Joined: 04 Jun 2015
Posts: 330
Location: Arizona
PostPosted: Fri Nov 24, 2017 5:06 pm Reply with quote
Teen love doesn't really need reasons. All we need to know is Eita has had a crush on Mio 5ever and has obviously been watching her from afar. Typical teen crushing as far as I'm concerned. I was hoping for a resolution where Eita learns the romance and connection developed with Ena holds much more meaning than the imaginary romance and connection with the girl he'd been staring daggers into the back of her skull.... but this is anime, who was I kidding?

Mio had an eraser but we didn't see her give that umbrella back! As far as items to latch onto I think that gives Eita a leg up on the competition lol.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23669
PostPosted: Sun Nov 26, 2017 12:55 pm Reply with quote
And once again I am mystified by Nick's assurances that this is a badly animated show. Looks fine to me. In any case, I loved the ending: "No, you can't." Hah! Triangle solidified.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
zrnzle500



Joined: 04 Oct 2014
Posts: 3767
PostPosted: Sun Nov 26, 2017 1:22 pm Reply with quote
Blood- wrote:
And once again I am mystified by Nick's assurances that this is a badly animated show. Looks fine to me. In any case, I loved the ending: "No, you can't." Hah! Triangle solidified.


I mean pretty much every scene where Eita is running is stiffly animated, seemingly missing some in betweens. Specifically, starting at 7:48, 8:16, and to a lesser extent 8:30.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23669
PostPosted: Sun Nov 26, 2017 2:31 pm Reply with quote
Are you effin' kidding me? Yeah, those running sequences are a bit jerky, which by the way is not hugely uncommon in anime which historically doesn't use as much inbetween animation as Western shows. To me, Nick was on somewhat surer ground with the observation about the sudden and inconsistent use of photorealistic backgrounds. It didn't bother me but I guess I could see how some viewers would find it distracting.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
zrnzle500



Joined: 04 Oct 2014
Posts: 3767
PostPosted: Sun Nov 26, 2017 3:29 pm Reply with quote
Blood- wrote:
Are you effin' kidding me? Yeah, those running sequences are a bit jerky, which by the way is not hugely uncommon in anime which historically doesn't use as much inbetween animation as Western shows. To me, Nick was on somewhat surer ground with the observation about the sudden and inconsistent use of photorealistic backgrounds. It didn't bother me but I guess I could see how some viewers would find it distracting.


That sort of jerkiness isn’t common when things are going well. You won’t see that sort of thing in, say, KyoAni’s recent work, and you didn’t see it in the beginning of the show. Even if you don’t agree that it has become distracting, you can see how others might come to the conclusion that it has at least gotten worse than before.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
mangamuscle



Joined: 23 Apr 2006
Posts: 2658
Location: Mexico
PostPosted: Fri Dec 01, 2017 12:05 am Reply with quote
Quote:
Ena and her tubby cat Puta, one more of Just Because!'s consistent pleasures.


I wonder if people realize "puta" means whore in spanish (who knows, maybe the cat got the name after the fact Anime hyper ).

p.s. I was expecting the Kouhai to steal a kiss at the last date location, but I guess that would give an insurmountably lead and we still have more episodes left.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15434
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Fri Dec 01, 2017 6:28 am Reply with quote
Ena has felt like a much better character to cheer for, she has shown a much stronger style to not let things pass her by. I kind of loved the line where Mio asked Ena why she even asked for permission if she was going to ignore it, and Ena responded "just because", like right there some statement of the series. That things don't need to be stopped just because of something else, and those may as well happened "just because".

And although Mio has first girl status, and he is still kind of hung up on her, there is a chemistry between him and Ena, which other characters can comment on. But I wonder if that will be thrown away just because he had liked her from a distance and she just realised she might like him after somewhat giving up her own crush she had for the same length of time.

Also, that is a cat that sounds like you have to be worried that it will suffocate you in your sleep.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
Display posts from previous:   
Reply to topic    Anime News Network Forum Index -> Site-related -> Talkback All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Goto page Previous  1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6  Next
Page 4 of 6

 


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group