Forum - View topicThe Stream - And I Feel Fine
|
Goto page Previous 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Note: this is the discussion thread for this article |
| Author | Message | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
AlanMintaka
 Posts: 99 |
|
|||||
At first I thought the comment about the ending must have been referring to Season 1, because of the favorable bottom line for this review. But no, the context definitely suggests that Bamboo is talking about Season 2 here. That being the case, how can a series with a "super messed up finale, which had me clawing at my desk in disbelief" possibly be "definitely worth watching"???? When I finish watching a series whose ending has me clawing at the furniture, "definitely worth watching" isn't usually the phrase that comes to mind. I don't make excuses for a series that happens to be decent up until the ending. If the ending stinks, the series does. |
||||||
|
||||||
RyanSaotome
 Posts: 4210 Location: Towson, Maryland |
|
|||||
|
The finale was great for what it was: Setting up Fate/Stay Night. There was no other way they could have done it since the FSN visual novel already described the events of what happened at the end. This was just expanding on it in animated form. If you never read Fate/Stay Night, I can understand not liking it, but they're meant to be experienced together.
spoiler[Seeing the part where Kiritsugu found Shirou among the wreckage and then deciding he'd do whatever it took to make sure he'd live and raise him was pretty powerful, knowing that Shirou would go on to become the main character of Fate/Stay Night and would take Kiritsugus ideals for his own. But something like this probably went over the head of people who didn't read or watch FSN.] |
||||||
|
||||||
dandelion_rose
 Posts: 657 Location: Kuala Lumpur |
|
|||||
|
I usually wait until the fanbase has settled a bit before catching anything. Now that the end of the Spring season is over, these are the shows that I'd try to catch if I have a chance:
1. The Woman Called Fujiko Mine I'm not very familiar with the Lupin franchise but the talk this series has inspired here on ANN has made me very curious about this. I'm also a big fan of quirky art direction, and all the screencaps I've seen are gorgeous. 2. Tsuritama I like quirky, oddball things. This series has been pretty high on my interest list since I first heard of it. It's also very short. I don't expect it to be brilliant, but I hope it is enjoyable. 3. Polar Bear Cafe I wouldn't exactly call this a must catch, but I hope that Animax Asia picks it up. Wouldn't mind catching this if it were broadcast on tv. Despite the high praise for Space Brothers and Kids on the Slope, I'm expecting them to be pretty boring. I feel that Space Brothers is much better suited for live action and a lot of the praise directed at Kids on the Slope sounds similar to praise directed at many things I checked out because of good criticial acclaim but later thought were boring. Fate / Zero and Accel World look fun, but I'd feel a bit self-conscious watching them because of my age. (Thankfully, I'm no longer teaching teenagers, and so the awkwardness of liking something that is directed at the teen / early adult demographic is less felt.) I was hoping that Mysterious Girlfriend X would be an oddball romance about weirdoes finding love, but it seems to have the effect of producing just discomfort, and I don't think I like my romances uncomfortable. I'd bin the others. |
||||||
|
||||||
crosswithyou
 Posts: 2892 Location: California |
|
|||||
It's a hobby of his so I'm sure he'll continue to go around in search of these locations. If you haven't already, check out the top page where there is a list of all the series/locations. He's got photos for series such as Durarara!! (of course), Natsume Yuujinchou, AnoHana, Summer Wars, and a lot more. |
||||||
|
||||||
darkchibi07
 Posts: 5469 |
|
|||||
It helps to have forum members who are already AKB48 fans to point a lot of the Easter eggs on the show. As for the depth of the characters, one can easily make a potshot on AKB48 and say Okada was faithful to the character personalities and their real-life counterparts. 
|
||||||
|
||||||
Etrien
 Posts: 525 Location: Tokyo, Japan |
|
|||||
There's some dark, twisted stuff in the last couple episodes (just like, well, much of the show that proceeded it), but that doesn't mean it was bad. I agree with Bamboo's comments and also happen to think that the final two episodes were among the strongest in the second season. It won't be for everyone - and if someone watches this stand-alone, either with no knowledge of Fate/Stay Night or no intention of following through to it, the ending will test their negative capability a bit, but I still thought it was great nonetheless. Then again, I also disagree with the notion that a bad ending inherently makes a series bad. But my point was that in this case the ending wasn't bad. --- And I guess I'll add to the list of contributors and give my take on all three (I'm pretty hardcore like that) of the current shows I was/am following. 1. Hunter x Hunter: I didn't think I'd be following it this long, and I certainly never thought it'd be at the top of my list. This is "shounen for people who don't like shounen". At least it is to me. The emphasis is on ideas over fighting and cleverness instead of strength, and I love that. Plus it has a stellar adaptation. The finale with Hisoka was incredible, and it was purely because of the wonderful execution. Current score: A. 2. Fate/Zero: It was my number one throughout its first season, but the second season was a bit weaker. It was still greatly enjoyable, though, with so much more to like than dislike, and the really powerful ending kept it from falling to a B rating. Final score: A. 3. Sankarea: I really wanted to like this show - it had a lot of potential and started off rather strongly - but it was ultimately disappointing. The biggest problem was what I felt to be a bad mixture of drama and comedy. In skilled hands, the two can work great together, but Sankarea apparently did not have those hands behind it. The fact the show seemed so downright oblivious about some of its hypocrisies (spoiler[Like objectifying Rea sexually for the viewer in ways that are disturbingly similar to the same abuse that drove her to suicidal thoughts.]) was really annoying, too. The drama side of the show was great, but it was also just a fraction of it. I still haven't watched the final episode, but it would have to be really incredible or really terrible to change my mind now, so I'mma go ahead and call it. Final Score: C. I've been curious about Kids on the Slope and Space Brothers, but felt I'd probably enjoy them more when I could watch them in bigger chunks. So, I'll finally get to see them sometime soon. Normally I'd have no interest in Polar Bear Cafe, but the reviews in this column have been making me really consider it. I'm surprised that Fujiko ultimately beat out Fate/Zero, but for whatever reason I just can't seem to get myself interested in it. (Even though I've liked Lupin in the past.) The fact that almost everyone seems to say that you've got to watch the first 75% of the series before it starts coming together doesn't sound appealing. --- EDIT: Just noticed this.
Fate/Zero's main character is a roughly 30-year-old man with a kid and most of the cast is comparably aged. Coupled with a very dark, somber storyline and a heavy focus on philosophy and ethics, it leaves me a bit confused over your statement. Maybe you're confusing it a bit with Fate/Stay Night, which follows a bunch of teenagers and has more of a shounen action anime feel? |
||||||
|
||||||
|
RyanSaotome
Posts: 4210 Location: Towson, Maryland |
|
|||||
I would like to further comment on this as well. Fate/Zero is a seinen action show, meaning its aimed at adults... its got some very gory stuff, some really deep story elements, and its closer to something like Cowboy Bebop action and style wise then some shonen action show. If you like more mature action stuff, its a must watch. |
||||||
|
||||||
tredaeci
 Posts: 2 |
|
|||||
|
I’m curious about the reception of Kids on the Slope. I also really like the series, but I’m wondering if it’s completely worthy of the praise Bamboo gives it.
My concerns about the series mostly revolve around the plot. I very much enjoyed seeing the “familial problems” that Kaoru and Sentaro have to deal with, but at the same time those problems seem dwarfed spoiler[when the end-of-the-series tragedy involves an all-of-the-sudden bike accident (of course, that may be an example of “putting things into perspective” for the characters, but it still bothers me a bit because of its out-of-nowhere nature)]. More importantly, I feel that the series can be repetitive. My favorite scene in the whole series was the school festival duet, but the idea of Kaoru and Sentaro being upset with each other and then getting over it by the end of the song happened already (in episode 4 or so). spoiler[The church duet in episode 12 also felt very familiar (aside from them playing “Moanin’ ”). ] spoiler[Finally, the finale struck me as a bit of a cop out - Sentaro ran away from home, and even though Kaoru finds him working at a church with little kids, Sentaro still never deals with abandoning his family. Furthermore, after the wonderfully emotional scene where Ritsuko sees Kaoru off on the train, we see Ritsuko reuniting with Kaoru and Sentaro at the end of the series rather conveniently, and instead of contributing to a happy ending, to me it more so seemed to negate the emotional impact of that train scene 10 minutes before (which I loved because the idea of Kaoru and Ritsuko never seeing each other again was depressingly realistic, and I’d think very relatable to a lot of people). I love happy endings as much as the next guy, but it seemed artificial to me in this series.] I don’t know if I’m being too skeptical, maybe some of it was the whole “only having 12 episodes to work with” thing, and I DO still think this series is great, but at the very least I stand by my assertion that something about Kids on the Slope just seems a little bit off. What do other people think? |
||||||
|
||||||
|
dandelion_rose
Posts: 657 Location: Kuala Lumpur |
|
|||||
Maybe. They come from the same universe / franchise and as someone outside of the franchise I find it hard to follow and identify what's what. |
||||||
|
||||||
yuna49
 Posts: 3804 |
|
|||||
I suggest you wander over to the thread for this show where you'll find others of us having many of the same misgivings as you do. |
||||||
|
||||||
Mad_Scientist
 SubscriberModerator  Posts: 3011 |
|
|||||
I think you misunderstood what she meant when she said "super messed up." She didn't mean it as badly executed, or low quality, or anything like that. She didn't think the ending stunk. She meant it as disturbing/depressing/horrifying/freaky. Which, depending on your tastes, is not always a bad thing. Though actually, the ultimate end of the episode wasn't that depressing, but yah, it's definitely no light-hearted happy conclusion. About the only bad thing I'd say about Fate Zero's ending is that it's a prequel, so it doesn't provide a definite conclusion to the story. Which wouldn't be a bad thing if not for what I've heard about Fate Stay/Night. Now, admittedly, I haven't actually watched the anime adaption myself yet, but from what I've seen of the VN it's different in both tone and quality than Fate Zero, so the anime might be a bit (or more than a bit) disappointing when watched as a follow up to Fate Zero. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
AlanMintaka
Posts: 99 |
|
|||||
I was about to pursue that line of thought here or in whatever forum would be appropriate. Even though there seems to be some disagreement about the ending of Fate/Zero, I was wondering about watching them in chronological sequence: Fate/Zero first, then Fate/Stay Night. That would then beg the question, what about the ending of Fate/Stay Night, without going into detailed spoilers? Your interpretation of Fate/Zero's ending as "a prequel, so it doesn't provide a definite conclusion to the story" is fine depending on whether or not Fate/Stay Night does provide that conclusion. A difference in tone for Fate/Stay Night wouldn't bother me so much as another inconclusive or poorly-written ending after seeing all those episodes. Anyone have any ideas on this? How does the series as a whole wrap up at the end of Fate/Stay Night in terms of closure, consistency, quality, sanity, etc? Does it at least make sense? I remind anyone reading this who may have misinterpreted what I've been saying about endings (which would be my fault for how I phrased my posts): by "bad ending" I don't mean "sad ending", or tragedy. I mean poorly written in the sense that there's no closure, it's just plain preposterous, or it's the archetypical "what the f....???" anime series ending. |
||||||
|
||||||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group