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This Week in Anime - Who Inspects the IN/SPECTRE?




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gedata



Joined: 04 May 2013
Posts: 615
PostPosted: Thu Feb 20, 2020 3:08 pm Reply with quote
This anime's aproach to storytelling seems less surprising when you know the original title translates to "Invented Inference" because boy does the heroine know how to weave some bull crap.
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meiam



Joined: 23 Jun 2013
Posts: 3442
PostPosted: Thu Feb 20, 2020 4:24 pm Reply with quote
I do hope they expand on the other of creating myth that turn real, for one things, does that mean every Yokai is just a myth taken form, or are there realy Yokai?

For another, if you can create bloodthirsty monster, wouldn't it be possible to create good things (super hero or even non physical entity say a cancer cure)?
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Nom De Plume De Fanboy
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Joined: 14 Jan 2011
Posts: 606
Location: inland US west, pretty rural
PostPosted: Thu Feb 20, 2020 6:10 pm Reply with quote
meiam wrote:
I do hope they expand on the other of creating myth that turn real, for one things, does that mean every Yokai is just a myth taken form, or are there realy Yokai?

For another, if you can create bloodthirsty monster, wouldn't it be possible to create good things (super hero or even non physical entity say a cancer cure)?


/Joke on/ Quick, all of us otaku must agree on a dream of having Succubi Happy Hooker Brothel Yokai! /Joke off/

And for the record, I like Interspecies Reviewers, but I don't think I'd want to try the succubi. The Cyclops... maybe?

minor spoiler for future eps, I think(?): spoiler[ unfortunately, we will soon get a character that shows the limits on this. Which is too bad. ]

I like shows like this, but they always make me wonder what the rules of the story's universe are. And what limits there are. And I enjoy that, but usually, sooner or later, they do put some limits on things. Except maybe for comedies where what is funny is all that matters.

For now, a person can dream. Wink Shocked
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Engineering Nerd



Joined: 24 Apr 2008
Posts: 897
Location: Southern California
PostPosted: Thu Feb 20, 2020 8:42 pm Reply with quote
As a manga reader, while I love this adaptation (with limited budget and production frame, they did the best they could), I can’t help but to wonder which arc the anime would conclude. Since.....Steel Lady Nanase arc isn’t gonna extend to the end at this pacing
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steelmirror



Joined: 22 Oct 2015
Posts: 342
PostPosted: Fri Feb 21, 2020 12:00 am Reply with quote
This show is more interesting than entertaining for me. I was real close to dropping it after the snake episodes, which I did dislike for how much it felt like the show was purposely wasting my time. Fortunately it picked up very quickly afterwards, and the entire steel lady arc has been really interesting. I still feel like the pacing is very much a detriment in this show, and not in a deliberate or useful way, but the main character is definitely a huge strong point for the show.

The main guy borders on boring, with his backstory being more interesting than anything he's ever done on screen, and even that is played out and a bit melodramatic. But again, main character ftw.
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kotomikun



Joined: 06 May 2013
Posts: 1205
PostPosted: Fri Feb 21, 2020 3:16 am Reply with quote
What makes this show interesting is that it sets itself up like a normal supernatural-mystery show, but the whodunit segments are practically a deconstruction of themselves--the snake bit has Kotoko molding a made-up story to fit the evidence and later admitting she has no idea whether it's true, and the second chapter isn't really about the death itself so much as the cultural aftermath. The genuine mystery is what the heck is/was going on with our strange protagonists. Kuro's name makes a lot more sense after the reveal that his family was running grisly super-biological experiments that killed who-knows-how-many of their children. Kotoko's backstory doesn't seem fully explained yet; maybe she considers losing an eye and a leg "fair," but they didn't tell her this would happen, they kinda dragged her into it, and we didn't see what entity did this or how they justified it.

On a moment-to-moment level, though, it's good just because of its weird sense of humor. That first conversation between Saki and her boss was some of the best deadpan comedy I've seen in an anime; wish the medium had more of that and less exaggerated-reaction cues.

The only disappointment is that their universe has a magical girl anime derived from the "eat the rich" meme, and ours does not.
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micah007



Joined: 25 Jan 2017
Posts: 205
PostPosted: Fri Feb 21, 2020 9:33 pm Reply with quote
I simply find the primary cast particularly Kotoko to be extremely likable for some reason.
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Agent355



Joined: 12 Dec 2008
Posts: 5113
Location: Crackberry in hand, thumbs at the ready...
PostPosted: Sun Feb 23, 2020 2:37 am Reply with quote
I find Kuro fascinating, but I’m always interested in how media deals with psychological trauma. The way he goes numb and expressionless when he fights supernatural creatures shows how much it’s still affecting him. He’s willing to be a hero, but he doesn’t *want* to be—he’s not interested in taking martial arts to be a more effective fighter, for example. Contrasting Kotoko’s lack of psychological trauma with Kuro is interesting in how it plays out in their relationship. I don’t get the sense that she really appreciates his pain, in part because she’s so blinded by the romantic fantasy that they are “meant “ to be together simply because they are both connected to the supernatural world. I’m not sure what actions she should take to help him feel understood, but I hope she finds a genuine way to reach him emotionally and he starts to love her back. Right now, I get the sense that he’s still very much closed off.

I was under the impression that the Steel Lady had many “creators,” but this article made it se like there might be a single, or primary, creator with a motive? Isn’t the motive simply “people online like to spread cool rumors”?
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meiam



Joined: 23 Jun 2013
Posts: 3442
PostPosted: Sun Feb 23, 2020 10:46 am Reply with quote
Agent355 wrote:
I was under the impression that the Steel Lady had many “creators,” but this article made it se like there might be a single, or primary, creator with a motive? Isn’t the motive simply “people online like to spread cool rumors”?


I get the feeling that's how the story (in the manga) started but by the time the author was finishing it they decided to instead make some kind of antagonist control things from the shadow, which is much much less interesting.
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ATastySub
Past ANN Contributor


Joined: 19 Jan 2012
Posts: 639
PostPosted: Sun Feb 23, 2020 11:38 am Reply with quote
The "many creators" is how she comes to actually exist. At the core of it all a singular person made the webpage, and specifically the image, for the Steel Lady, and the collective belief of the countless people that checked it out is what brought her to life. While it might seem less interesting, the point is that the countless masses that are doing that are all beholden to this singular lie without realizing it, and that sure feels true for how the internet operates.
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NeverConvex
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Joined: 08 Jun 2013
Posts: 2269
PostPosted: Sun Feb 23, 2020 12:03 pm Reply with quote
I don't think there being someone actively trying to perpetuate rumors & stoke the memetic fires online/elsewhere to create monsters is necessarily less interesting; it gives the source-of-antagonism a personality, which is valuable. Having an anthropomorphic villain is a bit less original than having your obstacle be some particular narrative about how mass human communication works, but the power of rumors/the web/etc isn't really unexplored territory, either -- Gatchman Crowds explored similar themes a few years ago, Gegege no Kitaro covered evil smartphone games in an episode or two, and even this season's Puella Magi Madoka spin-off is interested in some distantly related ideas.

I think the way they write the antagonist will be much more important than simply the choice to have an antagonist at all.
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dm
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Joined: 24 Sep 2010
Posts: 1346
PostPosted: Wed Feb 26, 2020 1:29 am Reply with quote
Thanks, guys. This one had slipped below my radar until I read the start of this review/discussion, and decided to check it out.
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