Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Agents of the Four Seasons: Dance of Spring
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Miya543
Posts: 15 |
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I actually really liked episode 8 and would rate it a 4.5/5. I don't have any problem with the storytelling or pacing but I can't say that I'm emotionally invested. Idk I'm just not connecting with the characters, but, I'm still looking forward to each new episode, and that's new for me, Usually when I'm not emotionally invested I get incredibly bored and drop the anime right away, but somehow not with this one.
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Mami-kouga
Posts: 306 |
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Huh, I actually didn't dislike this episode. It definitely feels like it was stretching certain moments to end specifically on the scene where Sakura asserts that they forming a united front and I think the story is still a bit too in love with characters explaining certain stuff that's already been established in excruciating detail but there's actually a lot of scenes that actually feel like they're trying to highlight how the characters are feeling instead of suffocating you with it. The silence as Rosei waited for Sakura to pick up the call, Sakura understanding that Itecho is basically holding himself back because he needs to be the "adult", and Rosei gratitude to Sakura for her hard work simply moving her to tears as if someone else acknowledging it finally makes the fact that she actually has been protecting Hinagiku real. I didn't even mind Sakura rinsing Rosei in the second half, though interesting choice to have her simultaneously still blame them while having her acknowledge that the actually were still trying, let's see how a proper reconciliation will play out.
That said this is yet another episode where neither girl is actually allowed to communicate with their alleged love interests in the present but at least they'll probably meet next episode or two? Unless the winter boys spend the time in a comically large freezer until the last episode. |
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Miya543
Posts: 15 |
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Can the reviewer just please drop the anime? Like it's just silly to continue with the anime at this point if they dislike it that much. It's just a complete waste of time.
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Mami-kouga
Posts: 306 |
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I'm not sure if that's how reviewing on this website works? They can drop it between seasons but I'm pretty sure unless something makes him physically unable he'll finish his commitments whether or not he dislikes it since he's not reviewing for personal entertainment reasons |
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InfiniteNothingness
 Posts: 371 |
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People have made all sorts of remarks in that vein for years now and it never amounts to anything because it doesn't mean anything lol. So weird, since it's either desperate cope or noticeable interest. If you don't like what you see here there's also the Series Discussion area specifically. Here's the one for Agents of the Four Seasons.
Last edited by InfiniteNothingness on Tue May 26, 2026 1:28 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Saeryen
 Posts: 1163 |
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I do think it would be nice to get more than one staff opinion so users don’t feel unwelcome. There’s a tendency for humans in general to see a thread like this and believe it’s a majority opinion even though it isn’t necessarily. I often find myself afraid to speak up because I’m so scared of seeming rude to people who don’t agree with me, and when someone speaks bluntly when disagreeing with me online it’s hard, since I have no idea what the tone actually is.
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Mami-kouga
Posts: 306 |
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This is a discussion thread, you're allowed to discuss whatever you want (that's one topic) while even possibly outright ignoring the reviewers opinions.
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eryndel
Posts: 11 |
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I for one appreciate James's reviews a lot, as a lot of his opinions mirror my own about how this show handles its stretched-out melodrama and character development (or lack thereof). A lot of the online discussion I see seems to glaze this series to the point that I feel like I'm watching a completely different show from them most of the time. It's unfortunate, given I actually enjoyed the original Violet Evergarden series, so I'm not sure what seems to have changed between this and the author's next work to be so overly dramatic, or if it's an anime-only script/directorial issue. I think if the show could spend less time on laying it on thick how much its characters are hurting, the show would have much better pacing and a solid plot - because the world is genuinely interesting! The characters, as they are currently presented, not very much.
I did enjoy the latest episode to an extent more than the bulk of everything post-E2, as it was satisfying to see Sakura finally hold a proper(?) conversation with Rosei and Itecho and partially clear the air. It's a welcome change from her mindlessly blaming them in the current era, which she has previously admitted to holding onto out of spite. We'll have to see if the next episodes actually progress the plot forward and begins to explain what is up with the insurgents and the Four Seasons Agency, as I'm tired of the Spring Village drama. |
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Hellsoldier
 Posts: 1152 Location: Porto,Portugal,Europe,Earth,Sol |
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James is snapping, isn't he?
I didn't vote for this show. Not this time |
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Mami-kouga
Posts: 306 |
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I will admit that for this particular show, I didn't expect James to be the one to pick it up for review. I thought it would be Rebecca, particularly since she already claimed to be familiar with the source (though she didn't particularly like it that much either). That said James rereading the first reviews James obviously didn't go into the story with bad faith even if he was never impressed by the world building, but also this is a story where the reactions are very say, love it or hate it the more you try to engage with it. Either it makes you cry or it's attempts to do so makes it's warts feel even worse to you, he just happened to fall into the latter category.
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Writer Sharp
Posts: 2 |
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I'm not sure where you are finding these all these unopposed encomia to Agents' greatness. Everywhere I've seen this show discussed it has been fairly divisive, with a sizable faction complaining about repetitive flashbacks, the insurgents' motives, and melodrama. (At least on the English speaking part of the internet. My impression is that the domestic reception is somewhat warmer.) In any case, I would not single out this show as the one whose fanbase believes it to be God's gift to the world this season, as the most recent review seems to imply. I don't think Beckett embarked on this in bad faith, but I do think the early assumptions of Four Seasons as "shallow melodrama" have gradually come to occlude his ability to assess what is being presented with unclouded eyes. If one assumes that the purpose of any given scene (especially a flashback) is only to wring tears from the audience, then soon one stops looking for anything else. "This scene can't be trying to gradually develop these characters and their relationships. It has to be trying to get me to cry, and it's sure as hell not working." |
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Saeryen
Posts: 1163 |
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Okay, I read the review of Episode 9 and saying he wanted the terrorists to bomb all the characters feels really icky and inappropriate. I know we’re not talking about real people, but I can only imagine how hurt someone who went through real and similar abuse or a real terrorist attack would feel upon reading that.
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Mami-kouga
Posts: 306 |
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I don't mind an abusive traumatized mum who insists on staying with her "daughter" no matter what being Hinagiku's personal enemy in contrast to her mum that did love her but misguidedly decided that dying would do more for Hinagiku. However when you combine it with her being a crazy doll lady, arms dealer terrorist lady who inexplicably thinks constantly killing toddlers will somehow get her power and people somehow going along with this despite the last time they listened to her the child singlehandedly wrecked havoc and escaped it becomes a bit hard to take in and I'm left not knowing what to feel towards this character. I try to not turn my media critique into a game of changing the story wholesale since that can make it less an analysis of what it does right/wrong and more me twisting the story into my own preferences but I can't help but wonder if maybe they could have ditched the whole terroist angle who threatens to shoot unruly children or kill everyone they love and played more into Hinagiku being a """willing participant""" to her abuse because even if she's a horrible abusive monster she's still a mother who "stayed" with her.
Rosei deciding to step in and threaten the spring village to protect Hinagiku and Sakura's progress is a nice step in actually being active but I can't deny that I'm a bit befuddled why him and Itecho were talking about the spring leader being crafty when she didn't actually do anything besides not flinch when she got threatened. I did think it was pretty nice that Hinagiku, Sakura and Rosei stepped in to comfort Rindo, particularly the first 2 since he had looked down on them in the prior to the kidnapping. Side note they said "illegal drugs" but it's just weed again isn't it |
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Mami-kouga
Posts: 306 |
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Why do they keep setting drawn out dramatic monologues in the middle of characters actively being shot at?
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GregoRoach
Posts: 14 |
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Let me get this straight. In the building we have: Hinagiku & Sakura, normal guards loyal to the agents, terrorists & guards loyal to terrorists, and then Nagatsuki & her spring supremacists? Nagatsuki is aware of the coming attack and tries to get out ahead of the terrorists with Hinagiku who she'd then kidnap. Sure that all makes sense, but oh boy the FSA needs to improve their background checks. They can't keep getting away with this.
The Gurren Lagann "grit those teeth" was actually funny. Laugh out loud moment for me. So was the moment the pursuers on the highway just pulled out an RPG. Classic. Stories can do a mysterious enemy with mysterious motives, that's fine. What bothers me is that for half the season it was actually an enemy everyone but the viewer knows with a motive everyone but the viewer knows. Then they introduce the first group of terrorists, the eradicationists, with a motive that doesn't make sense with the in-universe logic. Frustrating. For people who were as confused as I was, I'll write what I currently understand about the different flavors of terrorist below, please correct me you notice anything wrong. -There's the 'eradicationist' ethos - "No gods." Agents have too much power, so kill them. -Then there's the mercenary arms-traders - "Money is god." Use the agents' powers for geopolitical control and to earn money. -Finally, we were just introduced to our first 'supremacist' group - "Control your god." Spring demonstrated they were the most powerful in the attack 10 years ago, so we'll kidnap the Spring Agent and somehow control and use her to our advantage. |
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