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EP. REVIEW: Didn't I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?!


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ReraroteMaruke



Joined: 30 Aug 2019
Posts: 4
PostPosted: Wed Oct 23, 2019 3:20 pm Reply with quote
You see, the reason why this feels like a generic isekai is because of the director. All epicness is cut which you all can find in the LN. Hell, even the epic nanobots got transformed into a "supposedly" cute mascot. The whole anime and the crew got more or less dumbed down and spoiler[Pauline's personality is partially shifted because they managed to remove pretty much all the moments, for example in the tournament arc, where should be showing the second part of the personality.

As a Light Novel reader (up to 7), I am just infuriated. They did not only skip or alter stuff, but straight up created plot holes. For example the Rock Golems are supposed to be killed at the end of LN 2 and are part of a plot device later in LN 6 or LN 7. The first time she sees them in the LN, she takes out every part of the rock golem only to find a white pearl / orb. Of course that didn't happen at all in the Anime. >.<]


[EDIT: Move spoiler tag so people can have a clue about what you're spoilering. - Key]
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Yune Amagiri



Joined: 28 Jul 2016
Posts: 921
Location: France
PostPosted: Wed Oct 23, 2019 4:03 pm Reply with quote
]Agree with @ReraroteMaruke, currently waiting for vol.8 too. FUNA's humor is still mostly present so i'm not really bothered, i'm just going to enjoy it as another version of the story. Because of the plot holes it's better they keep on going with an original-partially faithful anime rather than trying to get back on the rails, there would be too much inconsistency if they do.
I still hope to see some important arcs to be adapted like spoiler[the first escort mission, Mavis/Pauline's family problems and also that they won't dismiss the wonder trio, at least they are in the ending. ]

[EDIT: Overuse of spoiler tag. Only a small part of the post is actually spoiler content to any degree. - Key]
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maximilianjenus



Joined: 29 Apr 2013
Posts: 2858
PostPosted: Wed Oct 23, 2019 5:10 pm Reply with quote
Ah, so this does not become a "slice of life because the mc is too OP" story ? going by the manga , which might be a broken adaptation I was underthat impression.
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harminia



Joined: 24 Aug 2015
Posts: 1987
Location: australia
PostPosted: Wed Oct 23, 2019 5:45 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
Granted, this female-centered spin still isn't terribly uncommon in the realm of the light novels the series takes its source material from, but it definitely feels like we've seen it less in anime adaptations up to this point.

Back in the day, it was pretty much only girls that were getting isekai'd... Somewhere along the line Truck-kun arrived and targeted males.

I don't have anything against this series but it would be funny if everyone's opinion of it by the end is generally just "well, it sure was average". Self fulfilling prophecy
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BodaciousSpacePirate
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Joined: 17 Apr 2015
Posts: 3017
PostPosted: Wed Oct 23, 2019 6:25 pm Reply with quote
If I were to make a list of my favorite light novel series of all time, this franchise would almost assuredly make the Top Five. It's a shame that the show is nowhere near the quality of the novels (although it must be said that A Certain Magical Index Season 3's terrible way of adapting its source material definitely caused me to be wary going into this adaptation). I still really adore the characters, though, so I'm probably going to keep on watching, no matter how much worse it is than the original story.
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Florete



Joined: 21 Jan 2018
Posts: 363
PostPosted: Wed Oct 23, 2019 7:23 pm Reply with quote
Author's notes in the novels shorten the title to Abilities Average, in case you're interested.

As a novel reader, this "adaptation" is kind of hard to watch. As the review mentioned, it's difficult for anime viewers to get a feel for the cast since all the development was cut out. Instead we get this pedophile woman with an annoying voice and Mile angsting over her cup size, neither of which exist in the source material. I can't blame any anime viewers for finding this series to just be bland and boring.
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Engineering Nerd



Joined: 24 Apr 2008
Posts: 897
Location: Southern California
PostPosted: Wed Oct 23, 2019 7:48 pm Reply with quote
Florete wrote:
Author's notes in the novels shorten the title to Abilities Average, in case you're interested.

As a novel reader, this "adaptation" is kind of hard to watch. As the review mentioned, it's difficult for anime viewers to get a feel for the cast since all the development was cut out. Instead we get this pedophile woman with an annoying voice and Mile angsting over her cup size, neither of which exist in the source material. I can't blame any anime viewers for finding this series to just be bland and boring.



THANK YOU, yeah, before I hit this thread, "bland, trying too hard with anime references and meta jokes, too many unnecessary boob jokes" are my lasting impression of this adaptation. So based on the replies here, I guess it's more like the director is taking too much liberties and literally made his own show with the novel characters, whose personalities are also butchered to various degree.

I just want some wholesome adventure iseikai sprinkled with some well-timed humor, so far the anime is a hit-or-miss on that department, so maybe....I should give the novel a try? Any advice from novel readers? (Should I start volume one or two? I assumed they finished the first one by the end of episode 3)
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Florete



Joined: 21 Jan 2018
Posts: 363
PostPosted: Wed Oct 23, 2019 8:12 pm Reply with quote
Engineering Nerd wrote:
I just want some wholesome adventure iseikai sprinkled with some well-timed humor, so far the anime is a hit-or-miss on that department, so maybe....I should give the novel a try? Any advice from novel readers? (Should I start volume one or two? I assumed they finished the first one by the end of episode 3)

If you're interested in the novels, definitely start with vol 1. The anime technically just hit the end of the first volume, but it cut more than half of the content (literally the entire first half of the novel vol 1 was cut for the anime, among some other things in the second half).
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Yune Amagiri



Joined: 28 Jul 2016
Posts: 921
Location: France
PostPosted: Wed Oct 23, 2019 8:35 pm Reply with quote
Indeed you should absolutely start with the first one, this serie has multiple side story which involved a certain group of characters spoiler[ Mile's first friends from her school in the country she fled when she was still called Adele] who first appeared in the first volume. Also, the part that was skipped in both the manga and anime ( until flashback at least ), is the very foundation of this serie. Even the part that was kind of faithful in the anime was distorted in a way that would make future arc incoherent with the LN if you only know the former.
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zztop



Joined: 28 Aug 2014
Posts: 642
PostPosted: Wed Oct 23, 2019 9:29 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
Mile sets herself apart from slogging through so many self-insert high-school boys by being a reincarnated high school girl instead! Granted, this female-centered spin still isn't terribly uncommon in the realm of the light novels the series takes its source material from, but it definitely feels like we've seen it less in anime adaptations up to this point


Most of the isekai-themed light novels that have been getting anime adaptations so far are published under male publishing imprints targeting male readers (which is why their mains are so often guys.) Average Abilities' LNs are published under the male-imprinted Earth Star in Japan, despite Mile/Adele being a female lead.

Now the upcoming My Next Life as a Villainess/Bakarina is set to change that, since it'll be the 1st recent anime to adapt from a female-imprint branch of Ichijinsha, Ichijinsha Bunko Iris, that targets female readers. In fact, we've yet to actually get the wave of anime adaptations of shoujo/otome-themed light novels published by female imprints like Arianrose and Regina (of Alphapolis), despite there being a thriving novel/manga market for the ladies.

PS. Some of the shoujo/otome themed novels may get published under a male imprint, like Accomplishments of a Duke's Daughter and Villainess Daughter's Going to Keep the Last Boss (both under Kadokawa). Both are pretty good stories ripe for adaptations.
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Clockwish
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Joined: 24 Oct 2019
Posts: 8
Location: Melbourne, Australia
PostPosted: Thu Oct 24, 2019 3:14 am Reply with quote
Florete wrote:
Instead we get this pedophile woman with an annoying voice and Mile angsting over her cup size, neither of which exist in the source material. I can't blame any anime viewers for finding this series to just be bland and boring.


We've already had 2 or 3 instances of Mile carefully planning a way to defeat enemies without revealing her superhuman powers, but instead going all-out because someone insults her lack of growth and she loses her temper. I'm glad to learn that this silly plot device is anime-specific.
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HannoX



Joined: 30 Apr 2012
Posts: 194
PostPosted: Thu Oct 24, 2019 11:37 am Reply with quote
As a reader of the LNs I am sadly disappointed by this anime adaptation of them. They are so much better.

One key motivation for now Mile wanting to be average when she was reincarnated was left out. In her previous life because she was so much above average her grandparents on both sides were fighting over her, wanting to claim her for their side of the family since both families never produced anyone distinguished until she came along. She was tired of being fought over her entire life by people who valued her for her abilities, not herself.

And there was a reason she earned reincarnation. The little girl she saved in later life lays the foundation for hyperdrive allowing humanity to travel to the stars. God was supposed to save the girl from truck-kun, but was distracted at the moment. So God felt he owed now Mile a new life.

spoiler[And at the end of LN#7 it's hinted that God deliberately misconstrued her intent when she asked to be average (aside from her extremely high-powered abilities she's a viscountess).]
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Chrono1000





PostPosted: Thu Oct 24, 2019 5:19 pm Reply with quote
The anime adaptation is good but they did make some odd adaptation changes. I understand skipping to the adventurer school and leaving the early stuff for a flashback episode but they are trying to make it more like an over the top comedy. The light novels have a good amount of comedy to them but the first few light novels are closer to slice of life with adventures. The Konosuba style humor is mostly anime original content and it varies in terms of how well it works though the part where the opponent in the tournament runs away was hilarious.

harminia wrote:
Back in the day, it was pretty much only girls that were getting isekai'd... Somewhere along the line Truck-kun arrived and targeted males.

The trend in shoujo stories simply changed the story setting from a fantasy world to the real world but with hidden magic. I would mention that long before the shoujo isekai stories of the 1980's there was the scifi isekai stories of the 1920's such as the Barsoom series in which spoiler[John Carter gets transported to another world, gains super human strength, has a princess fall in love with him, becomes the king of the planet after defeating evil space wizards, and was in sequel stories set in the distant future because he had become immortal.]
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Leviathonlx



Joined: 24 Oct 2019
Posts: 84
PostPosted: Fri Oct 25, 2019 9:04 pm Reply with quote
This anime has made so many bad changes to the source material. It's not terrible as a standalone show but the anime only pedo hunters who apparently will keep showing up really hurt it. That and the animes continual focus on a 12 year olds chest from said hunters.
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mangamuscle



Joined: 23 Apr 2006
Posts: 2658
Location: Mexico
PostPosted: Fri Oct 25, 2019 9:37 pm Reply with quote
I disagree with this trend (because it is not limited to this anime) of judging an anime series by comparing it to the source material. No matter if it is an anime, live action, puppet show, etc. any adaption must be judged on its own. Rule of the thumb is that the original material will be better most of the time because on paper you have no time limits of how long your descriptions are nor are in danger of boring the audience with internal monologues.

So far this series has been cuddly and funny, hope it continues with the kind of humour it has shown so far.

*Sits down sipping tea and expects all the Kuroneko clones to come out like rabid beasts smelling blood*
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