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EP. REVIEW: Battle Game in 5 Seconds


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TanyaTheEvil



Joined: 11 May 2018
Posts: 331
PostPosted: Tue Jul 20, 2021 1:16 pm Reply with quote
So far I am so loving this anime and the characters too. I really like Mion. I even started to read the manga
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Hiroki not Takuya



Joined: 17 Apr 2012
Posts: 2501
PostPosted: Tue Jul 20, 2021 9:58 pm Reply with quote
Well, my dear Mr. Farris, for what it's worth I voted for Mr. Eisenseis to review this as he appreciates the main thrust as a legit mystery show. So far, I'm quite happy to see there is more "show" than "tell" and it is intelligently written so that reveals come after the audience has enough to deduce at least partially what is going on and why. I can already "see" each episode giving more clues to the big mystery and Ep3 just cements what should have already been the thinking viewer's suspicion that nothing here is by accident or random. The dream I see more as a teaser for the mystery.

Presentation of the backstories are a little clunky at present but at least the supporting cast is getting characterization. The protag's story for now only needs to establish his world view and aims which it does with economy. I expect we will see him treated as one of the show's mysteries that will eventually get expanded upon. Mion's VA I also find quirky but not grating.
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Melicans



Joined: 01 Feb 2012
Posts: 620
Location: Canada
PostPosted: Tue Jul 20, 2021 10:09 pm Reply with quote
I felt the cat girl's voice in episode one was really bad, but then when it came to her exposition at the very end of the episode I realized it actually fits her perfectly. I didn't mind it at all during episode 2; if anything, it draws you into the mystery. Her assistant seems pretty pointless though. She's by her side all the time, she should know everything she is asking about. It's definitely done in a more "tell" rather than "show" manner.
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Hiroki not Takuya



Joined: 17 Apr 2012
Posts: 2501
PostPosted: Tue Jul 20, 2021 10:26 pm Reply with quote
^My take on the last part is that the assistant sets up the reveal but clues to the answer are almost always delivered for the viewer before that so the "tell" is just a confirmation. If Mion was doing a mini "info dump" before the "show" then it would be in major violation...
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11306
PostPosted: Wed Jul 21, 2021 1:08 am Reply with quote
This is ok so far. My main question right now is what was the point of the 1-on-1 battles, if it wasn't eliminating battlers? Guess we'll find out.

Quote:
It's supposed to be wrapped up in a formative hatred of 'random chance' that instead is exemplified mostly in the unavoidable happenings of life.

That's kind of the point? Where most people shrug and say, "these things happen," to her it's being reminded over and over and over of her mother writing her very existence off as something that "just happened" to occur and ruin her life, instead of something she wanted to happen, or wished for, or planned for.
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Hiroki not Takuya



Joined: 17 Apr 2012
Posts: 2501
PostPosted: Thu Jul 29, 2021 12:01 am Reply with quote
Ep3- Probably the biggest waste here is that the "team mates", most notably big-time gamer Akira, didn't take advantage of the knowledge base and find out who the members battled and what their opponent's abilities were. Akira did "win" the subtle test behind the non-team reveals as his true ability is still unknown and will remain so for at least one more battle so uninvolved opponents won't be able to get an advantage. He can still change things around for the current participants by claiming his power is actually "illusion" and just claim a different "illusory" power.

To the question about the purpose of the battles, it may actually be as simple as the stated purpose of "ability test group" meaning that the aim isn't elimination so much as gauging how effective different abilities can be against each other given the wielder's personal abilities. The only guaranteed condition for elimination other than death (maybe...) was stated as when a participant stops being useful for the testing. In that case Ringo should be careful how many times she forfeits...

Mr. Farris' seems to be missing that having cool superpower fights is "obviously" not the show's aim and that Akira has not actually undercut anything because he can get around the problem he created by being creative in his information management. If you ask me based on the episodes to date, this show is about having the audience think along with the characters, see how they plan and execute their "win" strategies and see how they play out as they try to find a way out of this "battle game".
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DracoInduperator



Joined: 08 Feb 2021
Posts: 9
PostPosted: Fri Aug 06, 2021 10:48 pm Reply with quote
I thought the reason the girl was using a slingshot was obvious. The slingshot will make the marbles fly faster and hit harder. A normal person would have a hard time following where the marble went with their naked eye if it was accelerated by the slingshot. Later she was just throwing marbles by the handful out of desperation and because the slingshot was broken.
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Hiroki not Takuya



Joined: 17 Apr 2012
Posts: 2501
PostPosted: Mon Aug 09, 2021 10:37 pm Reply with quote
^I don't think she was so desperate because the marbles landed in a nice pattern to allow finishing off her opponent in one or two shots max. Ep5- Well the train is beginning to tip as it starts into the curve and I hope next Ep will start to right itself because changing the story dynamics like this could really cause a wreak (by sudden slow-down...)! Too many new questions and a setup that really makes little sense relative to what the supposed "organization" could be after due to the obvious lack of involvement with the "factions". It's been going on for at least 6 months and having a point currency system almost guarantees the game as laid out will have no end or winner...

And about that thumbnail from the show- Dudes, those eyes are out of bounds even for "anime eyes"... Confused
Edit: Also, My Dear Mr Ferris, I begin to think you are a contrarian...
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MFrontier



Joined: 13 Apr 2014
Posts: 10946
PostPosted: Tue Aug 24, 2021 6:45 pm Reply with quote
Yuuri is really growing on me as the female lead. I like her attitude, spunk, and girlishness. I hope Akira starts returning her feelings soon...
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11306
PostPosted: Wed Sep 01, 2021 4:17 am Reply with quote
Asuka could've won that fight so easily if she'd just timed her gimmick differently. Instead of letting him catch it and then smugly weighing him down, giving him a chance to fight back, if she'd made the sword weigh 100 tons, a millisecond before he caught it, he'd have been prepared to catch a lightweight sword and instead have his hand, arm and pretty much his whole body sliced through before he even knew what happened. Game over. But noooo.

Also, Yuuri needs to try imagining that Akira's power is having any power he wants whenever he wants it. That's not complicated and doesn't require visualizing anything. She may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I think she is capable of abstract thought.
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Hiroki not Takuya



Joined: 17 Apr 2012
Posts: 2501
PostPosted: Mon Sep 06, 2021 10:12 pm Reply with quote
^^ Well, it's a relief to see that there are at least two other people here who like Battle Game in 5 enough to comment! It does seem that the show has an element of convenience when it comes to the plot so while your idea is great, I would guess being able to do that is a little too esoteric for the writer and not at all convenient when you want a "partner" for Akira other than Ringo (go go Ringo!!).

One thing I find refreshing about this show relative to the usual shounen battle settup is that the audience is kept guessing what the abilities of the side characters are as they are brought into the battle.

Ep9 here was interesting because the writer threw us off of the real abilities of one character and the identity of another by having them exclusively use one aspect of their abilities. I just thought it was a little obnoxious that one set of "baddies" this Ep were supposed to be Chinese...
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MFrontier



Joined: 13 Apr 2014
Posts: 10946
PostPosted: Tue Sep 07, 2021 4:43 pm Reply with quote
I'm glad they finally had Yuuri realize how Akira had previously just been using her and may not have cared about her as much as she cared about him, and that as well as Rin comparing the two is enough for Akira to start realize he's starting to care about people and not just trying to win the game.
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11306
PostPosted: Tue Sep 07, 2021 9:31 pm Reply with quote
But was that really the time for that? Even if she felt like she was being used, maybe wait until you've got some down time to hash out your relationship?

I've seen this trope so many times in cinema, where they're fighting for their lives and suddenly the girl needs to take time out from the hail of bullets to nail down her relationship with her partner. Priorities! Girls can have practical priorities too!
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Hiroki not Takuya



Joined: 17 Apr 2012
Posts: 2501
PostPosted: Mon Sep 13, 2021 9:37 pm Reply with quote
Just had to say kudos to the writer because I never thought Ringo's ability could have an upside! That is some really creative thinking there...
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MFrontier



Joined: 13 Apr 2014
Posts: 10946
PostPosted: Tue Sep 14, 2021 4:32 pm Reply with quote
I really should have seen Akira letting the fact that his canon isn't his real ability leak as part of his plan coming.

I wasn't expecting Kumagiri's power to give him a full-on armor. Giving me some tokusatsu vibes.
Hiroki not Takuya wrote:
Just had to say kudos to the writer because I never thought Ringo's ability could have an upside! That is some really creative thinking there...

Yeah, I really wasn't sure how they would end up utilizing it but it turns out to be even cooler than I expected.
Gina Szanboti wrote:
But was that really the time for that? Even if she felt like she was being used, maybe wait until you've got some down time to hash out your relationship?

I've seen this trope so many times in cinema, where they're fighting for their lives and suddenly the girl needs to take time out from the hail of bullets to nail down her relationship with her partner. Priorities! Girls can have practical priorities too!

I mean, she really only took a couple of seconds for it dawn on her that he might have just seen her as a tool the whole time and then she ran off because she had to save Asuka.
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