Forum - View topicReal Girl (TV).
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Stark700
 Posts: 11762 Location: Earth |
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Real Girl (TV) Genres: romance Plot Summary: Hikari Tsutsui is a high school boy who is satisfied with the virtual girls he encounters in anime and games. He does not have many friends and he lives in his own world. One day, when he is stuck on pool cleaning duty, he is approached by Iroha, a "real girl" who is showy and popular with boys. |
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Animegomaniac
Posts: 4082 |
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I really really liked the first episode because it's exactly not what I expected or what it's described as. Iroha is neither "showy" or "popular with boys", she's spoiler[a loner with what may be a reputation] and the scene where she's outside the hospital could very well make for a great series if the reasons for that... and her ending comments... mean what I think they mean.
No, not that... I think.... uh.... No, I don't think it's going to be that serious even if the first episode already went places most romances wouldn't, from the decidedly unmeet cute to the brutal beat down. spoiler[Great, the guy's a stalker! Except that he's not. Great, the girl's a thief. Except that she's not... maybe.] In short, this single episode has more going for it than most series of the same type manage in their entire run or what My First Girlfriend is a Gal couldn't manage at all. |
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Spastic Minnow
 Bargain HunterExempt from Grammar Rules  Posts: 4609 Location: Gainesville, FL |
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I did like it, but there is something I'm not so hot about. Interestingly, it is something you could say that the mostly insipid My First Girlfriend is a Gal did have. Namely, nerds that looked like nerds and a girl who looked the part of a showy girl that others think poorly of.
Really, both of these "outsider" characters (and friend[s]) look pretty damn cute. "gross" for having long bangs? Have you seen the "stylish" boys these days? Artfully tousled hair- in their eyes. The only thing Hikari is lacking is the gel to keep it messy. It kind of takes me out of the story of a gross otaku and supposedly slutty unpopular girl when the guy is a tall long-limbed guy with flawless skin and stylish glasses and the girl is all soft features and modest dress. Even her camisole is modest. |
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DuskyPredator
 Posts: 15462 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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Episode 3
I think that it might be starting to show some promise. I had been thinking the way he was acting was problematic, that he acts distant even when saying he is really liking her. So the shift that he seems to found a way to express himself with baking, is kind of cool, and it felt like he himself started to be more inclusive of her Plus the introduction of a new character, it feels like it has less been stuck in an us vs them mentality. |
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Animegomaniac
Posts: 4082 |
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I still can't figure out how honest Iroha is about anything. In six months, she'll be moving... by itself fine but when combined with the lies, tears, the distance she places between people? It's very odd. "Does it matter what I do? In 6 months, I'll be gone."
Every episode we've been reminded there's a deadiline to their relationship... Riddle, what's the difference between a real girl and a 2D one? A hospital in the first one, a close relationship with a doctor in the second... I honestly thought when she said he was the family doctor, I thought she meant that he was her brother who was a doctor... openly telling her new group of friends in the third episode that she'll leaving in a few months, in the middle of the school year... This is still something of a question, even into episode 3 which puts it miles ahead of similar shows where's it screams what it's going to do so loudly that it gets irritating that no one comes out and asks what's going on.
The main character of My First Girlfriend is a Gal neither looked like a nerd nor openly acted like one. One of the largest problems with the show was how his friends weren't just openly repellent to normal people, they were actively disgusting to each other in a "we accept you, just not what you are" kind of way. Also, the girl was actively and with no uncertainty a Gal which means lots of makeup, garish actions, outlandish accents to the uniform and speech. The people here in Real Girl look more like people meaning each other, they just ostracize themselves through their actions. |
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Yttrbio
 Posts: 3652 |
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Episode 4:
I could do without the "every male other than the main character is either non-threatening or a total jerk" attitude that's so common in shows like this. I do recognize the high school feeling that everyone is out to get you, but I also recognize it as a delusion extrapolated from a small number of actual antagonists. This show just seems heavy-handed about conveniently having events match up with our nerd's perspective. Then again, the whole "fight over a girl despite her only being interested in the main character" thing also has me rolling my eyes. It's such a boring, tedious story-telling shortcut. There's any number of ways to put nerdboy's insecurity on the front-burner in situations that highlight real, meaningful conflicts. |
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DuskyPredator
Posts: 15462 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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I would think that the stunt that the guy pulled should actually be illegal. Take it to the administration of the school that the guy framed him to the police and spread misleading photographs. It is pretty much ridiculously evil.
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11352 |
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I'm still liking this, although it was kind of ridiculously convenient that a) Tsuitsui ran into the situation with his bully's little sister and b) sister is in love with his little brother and c) happens to spill the beans in front of his only useful ally (catboy doesn't count here since everyone thinks he's even weirder) and the one his bully is bullying him over. That's gotta be the weirdest quadrangle I've ever seen.
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Animegomaniac
Posts: 4082 |
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"Every other male other than the male character is either non-threatening or a threat"? Welcome to high school? I'm not really certain what option "C" would be, be a friend yet still be antagonistic? Oh, the "rival". Now my eyes are rolling... My own take on it is that everyone around Tsuntsui are ready to expect the worst of him because he doesn't give them any other choice by showing the rest of the world his better side, he's the "loner", the "otaku freak" and if police bring him in on grounds of child molestation, what are you going to do, believe him or your own eyes, the most popular guy on campus and his little sister? I think it's less about a fight over the girl and more about otaku boy not staying in his place, how dare he get with a girl who's totally out of his league? Or more precisely, "Him over me? What does he have that I don't?" And he is yet another main character and this is part of his own character arc. |
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Yttrbio
Posts: 3652 |
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Non-threatening sexually. As in, not a consideration for sexual attention that our lead has to compete with. His cat-eared friend, for instance. And I said "total jerk," not "threat." A decent but confident human being could easily be more attractive than this otaku (i.e. a "threat"), so he can't exist.
What you describe as "less about a fight over the girl" is exactly what "a fight over a girl" is. It's a personal conflict between the boys, not a competition for the girl's attention, because, again, that would be threatening and thus unacceptable for this show. Other Guy has to have no chance with the girl (outside of Otaku Boy's head). |
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DuskyPredator
Posts: 15462 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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Episode 12 (finale)
I guess that is the ending, there being 12 episodes, and a mild uptick in relationships of him getting her a present from work he was doing which had her worried they would stay together. The ending bit with them all at a ramen shop seemed to be the strongest element of this being the ending as a last hoorah of characters. But it feels cheap as this last bit seemed to introduce the element of her brother, but did not really amount to anything but a bit of angst. I really was not too into this show. It was a romance show of characters of different social demographics, that even had otaku elements, it should have been an easy show for me to enjoy. But I am putting it down to that I just did not buy the chemistry that the show was setting up. It had parts that I though could work, with her having a spotted reputation, that he started baking, and even managing to get me to rail against the people trying to break them up. But things just did not click as a whole. It also felt like there really was not much for the show to go. The otaku girl introduced part way through was kind of cool, I liked it offset by her love of gardening, but there was a tick that just felt too artificial, and into overdramatic. Despite that, she might have had more chemistry than the main female character that I don't think we learned anything meaningful about. The series' gimmick of a real or 3d girlfriend, felt both pushed too hard and underused. It really made Tsutsui feel like a big idiot and not nearly the nice person that his gimmick was supposed to be, and I don't think any interesting insight was given. Stuff happened in this show, but to me it just kind of flashed by, I was told that I have probably had anime burnout, but these sorts of shows can tend to get my attention anyway. This season has also had Wotaku, which just makes it feel like this show did not even have a portion of the insight that show had about how geeks/otaku can have relationships. I had my hopes up at times, but I don't think it really reached them. Maybe "neko ears sensei" was cool, that the broship of him with the main character would have been more interesting of a focus. Anyway, I give a rating of Not-really good (4/10), it did not really have any offensive elements, that I might require to be that low, but it should have attracted my attention more than it did, which has me more annoyed. |
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Yttrbio
Posts: 3652 |
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Season 2, Episode 3:
Well, that escalated quickly. I know I was inclined to give this season the skip, after having become bored with it by the end of the first season and not doing much to surprise me in the start of the second. But I needed something to watch on the treadmill, and I'm now glad I kept up. So if you are watched the first season but kind of fizzled out this time, maybe give eppie 3 a try. Things have at least gotten interesting, if a little weird. |
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DuskyPredator
Posts: 15462 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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Odd that this drama seems to have escalated to such a high degree. It does create some conflicting thoughts. Really his mother should not feel pressured to stay with the father just because it would be expected for reasons of keeping the family together, throwing away her feelings just because what is expected. Tsutsui sounded especially selfish in that. My understanding is that such environments just breed more conflict and anger. On the flipside it also feels like she is making a sudden rash decision that a day or two later she is ending it, and is planning to quite suddenly move herself and children across the country.
Ultimately looks like his father is having major fault here. not only for having the affair, but it looks like he can't be a man in saying he still is very much in love with his wife, and could do something other than simply say that he is sorry. Maybe a set up to create a reflection of Tsutsui with his poor self esteem, and how it can harm those around him if he sticks to that. Seemed like all his mother managed to get out of his father was that he liked the attention the extra woman gave him. But it also seemed clear they really were comfortable, which doesn't excuse it, but maybe at least how long it went on. Sounded like the man is majorly unable to think he can reassure his wife other than say he has no right to speak up. |
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Animegomaniac
Posts: 4082 |
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Episode 21.
He knew. Funny how with that, I want to this this through when other shows of the same type turn me off with how clueless the leads are. Could be good, could be great but I'm not bored. |
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DuskyPredator
Posts: 15462 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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Season 2, Episode 12 (Episode 24, Finale)
Ouch, a lack of discussion here. Anyway, it had a very happy and fulfilling end, where Iroha may have forgotten, but survived and then started to remember things when she met Tsutsui Hikari again. Ishino and Takanashi are married and have a baby, Ito working in anime industry, and Ayado supposedly got married to someone else but divorced in the end so Ito can ask her out again or something. Iroha's step brother is kind of a creep who maybe made up in the end for bringing her to Tsutsui, but still seemed to be trying to groom his amnesiac step sister to be reliant on him, and him keep repeating that they had history which I think was exaggeration. It is not like the show is super good, but it is not really that bad either, it is almost like it feels a bit cosy. Up from the first season, I am giving the second a rating of Decent (6/10), I didn't really lose my time watching, but I still think is a bit off from making a lot of its relationships feel enjoyable to watch, |
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