Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Agents of the Four Seasons: Dance of Spring
|
Goto page Previous 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Next Note: this is the discussion thread for this article |
| Author | Message | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Kelohmello
Posts: 22 |
|
|||
|
11 is probably the best episode in a while, because it feels like the story was finally moving forward with no asterisks needed.
But... it is honestly beyond parody that Rosei and Itecho can afford to be distracted by romance troubles in the middle of a gunfight. What are we doing here? When Itecho is having a whole convo with Hinagiku, I couldn't help but look at the rain of bullets going on in the background and burst out laughing. The terrorist dudes have infinite ammo cheats on and they're committed to shooting *around* the car at nothing while ice god and his buddy talk on the phone. This show has really bad tone problems. |
||||
|
||||
bassgs435
 Posts: 473 |
|
|||
|
I think the problem with the winter duo's phone call scene is the problem of "writing it in the novel and failing to realize how it would look in real time or animated". From my reading of VNs, I find that dialogues or monologues during action scenes present better in such formats than they do when animated. Then the anime has a problem when it can't cut such scenes or move them to when the characters aren't being attacked.
|
||||
|
||||
|
Key
Moderator
 Posts: 19163 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
|
|||
Agreed that the dramatic effect of the conversation and the realities of the situation are sharply at odds in that scene, but it's not just this series; this is a problem I see fairly often with LN adaptations. (American comic book adaptations largely avoided this by just entirely rewriting the scenes, but we all know that wouldn't fly in a case like this.) The best adaptations trim or reorganize dialog to account for that. |
||||
|
||||
|
Aerdra
Posts: 580 |
|
|||
Characters in shounen manga/anime can go through several-minute-long flashbacks in between punches. |
||||
|
||||
|
Kelohmello
Posts: 22 |
|
|||
Surely you've never actually thought about a memory and had it play back in actual time? That's for the audience, it's not diegetic. Shounen Manga also often has characters commenting on fights as they're happening, even though they shouldn't be talking fast enough to keep up with what's happening. But we understand that this isn't important to the diegesis; it's for the sake of the audience's understanding. But when characters are talking on the phone, having an actual conversation diegetically, it kind of cuts into the tension when one of them is getting shot at but the story doesn't treat that with the gravity it deserves. |
||||
|
||||
|
Writer Sharp
Posts: 4 |
|
|||
In this case, iirc there were significant differences between novel and anime versions of this scene. (I don't have the novel on hand and won't until next week.)Primarily, most of that scene takes place within the car, not after it crashed. It's only when Rosei's ice power explodes that the car crashes, and they have to continue the fight outside it. I think taking the phone call makes more sense during a car chase rather than when outnumbered and stationary. And the ice bullets have more of a purpose in that situation as well. Most of the changes from the novel so far have been for the better, but I'm not sure of the rationale for this one. Perhaps animating a car chase would be more resource intensive. I don't know. |
||||
|
||||
|
eryndel
Posts: 11 |
|
|||
|
As of Episode 12, I am dropping the show. My thoughts below:
spoiler[ I am very displeased with how this episode utilizes trauma as a means for shock value without any nuance in the writing, only as a tool to show how much Hinagiku has suffered in case it wasn't overwhelmingly clear. Perhaps there is something to be said about how victims of abuse can continue to perpetuate a toxic cycle, but unfortunately Misuzu is portrayed as a clinically insane woman with a backstory of losing her unborn baby to earn sympathy points. So taking into the account the show's past writing, I very much doubt they will explore that. I don't know if they're setting her up for a partial redemption - I hope not, because it would feel like they're just sweeping everything away with the excuse that she went crazy. That being said, increasing the scale of the despair that our characters must go through (or have gone through technically) with every new episode just screams shallow writing. Our characters can develop without having to showcase a brand-new thing to show how miserable they are. There's a really good concept here with the intricacies of the agencies, the villages, and the insurgents, and with a more well-crafted writing style this story could have been great even while incorporating the agents' human struggles against that system. However, this episode's portrayal of premeditated underage rape, regardless of whether it actually occurred or not (it was not quite clear to me while watching), feels disrespectful and a mockery to my own experiences as a victim of childhood trauma. If this is what they use for the climax of this season, what am I supposed to expect from the sequels they have yet to adapt? I will not stick around to find out.] |
||||
|
||||
|
Key
Moderator
Posts: 19163 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
|
|||
Concerning the part of this that you're referring to as a sympathy play, I didn't at all see that they were trying to make that character seem sympathetic. It felt more like an explanation of motive than a justification and did not at all feel like it was laying the groundwork to redeem the character in question; the series certainly hasn't tried to redeem anyone else. My disappointment about that part is that focusing on that character's motivation alone sidesteps the writing's much bigger flaw of never properly explaining the motives of the terrorists beyond her. The one group's cultish worship of Hinagiku (or more specifically, the Agent of Spring) at least makes sense, but the overall intent of the terrorists still doesn't. Last edited by Key on Wed Jun 24, 2026 12:59 pm; edited 1 time in total |
||||
|
||||
|
eryndel
Posts: 11 |
|
|||
I think it could come down to a difference in perspective, and if they commit to her current characterization then I will certainly walk my original claim back. I've simply had the misfortune of reading/watching stories with this kind of sympathy play for the villain, and it would fit right into Agents' book of poor writing habits. I agree with your point though regarding the insurgents, and it's one I'm still baffled they haven't attempted to address all season, considering it's one of the most intriguing questions of the show. The buildup of the Spring Village's antagonism towards Hinagiku and her mother is understandable and can be explored in future sequels, but our current insurgent arc zeroes in on two individuals at most and not the greater organization(s), her henchmen, etc. It's just a lot of messy worldbuilding. |
||||
|
||||
|
Mami-kouga
Posts: 317 |
|
|||
|
Surprised how James had nothing to say about Rosei constantly asserting he's finally going to do something only to constantly get distracted by a phone call and stop the time sensitive thing he should be doing
|
||||
|
||||
|
GregoRoach
Posts: 14 |
|
|||
|
I'm also confused by the phone calls. My fundamental problem with the show isn't plot holes, but this one stuck out to me. The call drops at the beginning of the episode? Fine, big explosion, I get it. Nobody tries to reconnect despite being in the middle of a rather important conversation? Whatever, no big deal, it's your story. Team Winter discovers a plot to bomb the building Team Spring is inside, and they're heading over to rescue them - explaining that terrorists have shut down communications and transportation in the city? Great! That explains the dropped call and even sets up Team Winter as uniquely able to get around the city due to Rosei's powers. Then... Sakura calls them back...
|
||||
|
||||
|
Writer Sharp
Posts: 4 |
|
|||
|
It's a strange thing to accuse Agents of--wallowing in misery with no catharsis--when the series has multiple cathartic moments, namely the climaxes of episodes 1, 4, 6, and 9, which all resolve toward positive action. I'm not sure what makes all of these conflicts and their resolutions only "lip service" to growth, when their associated developments seem fairly clear to me. Are we saying that the Hinagiku at the start of or even more so before the series is the same as the Hinagiku of, say, episode 10?
One of the series' central pillars is the theme of new life after enduring a period of death. (See Kobai's maxim, Hinagiku's physical and psychological journey, the events of this latest episode etc.) This is Dance of Spring after all. As much as that death or "misery" is important, so is the new life. And I don't think this show has failed to show that aspect at all. Plus, are we really taking Rindo's words to Nadeshiko about the insurgents at face value and not as a simplified warning to a literal six-year-old not to trust (machine-gun-toting) strangers? |
||||
|
||||
IronWish
 Posts: 253 Location: Ukraine |
|
|||
|
Ok, so episode 13 sorta-kinda-almost works emotionally, cause Summer sisters are among few actually likeable characters in the show, but holy crap, it's an absolute mess logistically. Two guys try to tun away with Autumn, to supposedly secure her, but then for some reasons there are nearly a hundred of goons stationed in the forest with no rhyme or reason, they just pop out all over the place. Like, we've seen task force for Nadeshiko extraction, they are not that numerous and have no heavy weaponry. If there were so many insurgent fighters, why are you running away? How you've missed the infiltration if you are stationed all over the forest? And fights in the forest are stupid too, for many reasons, both of "bringing a knife to the gunfight" and "this space ought to have non-Euclidian geometry for this to make any sense" variety!
As James and people in the thread have noticed many times before, barely anything about all the different terrorist organisations in this story makes any sense. (ok, credit where it's due, Misuzu was waxing poetics about bringing world order to its knees, and then all she does is producing & selling heroin and forcing underage girl into "marriage", it is basically just how Taliban works, so some things are somewhat rooted in the real world). So little in the story makes sense at all! How did that decade with no spring influenced society and economy beyond minor inconvenience of "no cherry blossom season"? Extent of agents' powers is extremely inconsistent, and "it's influenced by their emotional state" excuse can go only so far. Would the story actually function, I would be the first one to dismiss all of that as trying to "cinema sin" the show, but it sucks too! It constantly goes for the lowest, cheapest emotional manipulation possible, slaps overly dramatic music on it, and slams the viewer over the head with same scenes and interactions over, and over, and over, and over again, just in case someone's missed the memo! Considering this show and stupidity which was Violet Evergarden overarching plot Kana Akatsuki has dethroned Honobu Yonezawa as my personal Top 1 number in the "talentless hacks whose works get adaptations with unreasonably good production for some god forsaken reason" list. |
||||
|
||||
|
Mami-kouga
Posts: 317 |
|
|||
|
While some mediocre direction choices ruined some tension in the episodes (the insurgents just popping up like very persistent flies, the weird instance on having the guards mostly use swords, once it was out of the shadows Ayame's face of despair looked less like despair and more like she hadn't slept in 3 days, it didn't bother me till now but it feels like a waste to have all the songs be in the same calm slow tilt. Like this girls sister just died, have her belt out a remix before getting more quiet as the insurgents all die) I actually love the summer sisters so much more than everyone else so I liked seeing their relationship change like this. I hope they remain fun characters in the next arc instead of losing all their personalities when we see their boyfriends.
I'm aggressively apathetic to Rindo and Nadeshiko though that might partly be because the focus on the prince and princess routine, the authors very obvious fondness for large age gaps (which I don't mind that much but I don't even really like most of the close gaps in this shoe so adding that on top just worsens it) and the fact that I once saw them together next to couple official art of the spring and summer pairs is giving me the impression that the author is actually going to pair them together romantically. Even putting aside shrodingers pedophilia, I just know so little about these two that Nadeshiko being the world's most unphased 7 year old (no reaction to the death around her? Such a collected response to being saved again?) and Rindo suddenly feeling that his hands are too dirty to hold after murdering someone just feels undercooked. They should have stuck with him not knowing how to show her his "real" face but then that wouldn't hit this story's melodrama quota I guess. Sakura telling Itecho to hurry up almost felt meta, how many episodes have we had the winter duo declare they're going to do something only to just be distracted by suddenly phone call? It's bothered me since the United front was established, yeah Hinagiku, Sakura and Rosei all offered words of comfort to Rindo, but it feels like the summer sisters are the only ones doing the actual heavy lifting to find Nadeshiko. They found her in what, 2 weeks, when winter waffled about for 5 years, like damn. |
||||
|
||||
|
IronWish
Posts: 253 Location: Ukraine |
|
|||
That's the real tragedy of Kana Akatsuki: she was born to write elated yuri, but has chosen to fill her works with the most uninspired hetslop imaginable. |
||||
|
||||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group