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REVIEW: Accel World Blu-Ray


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Tuor_of_Gondolin



Joined: 20 Apr 2009
Posts: 3524
Location: Bellevue, WA
PostPosted: Thu Dec 05, 2013 8:11 pm Reply with quote
walw6pK4Alo wrote:
You know, all of "90% of everything is crap" thing means you adhere to video game ratings. If it's not 9.5+, it's shit, ignoring that works fill an entire spectrum ranging from absolute garbage to perfection, with most things falling into a happy medium of mediocrity and average-ness. I can enjoy a 6/10 anime without having to resort to calling it shit because it wasn't an 8/10. Even 4s and 5s out of 10 aren't total condemnations, unless you believe in the pure mediocre being worse than the worst.

No, they're two entirely seperate things.

Video game ratings (the kind you're talking about, anyway) suffer from "grade inflation" where, for various reasons (many of them unsavory) a lot of games reviewed by Certain Gaming Sites have an unrealistically high average score. Some of those games are legitimately that good, while others are not.

90% of everything is crap (Sturgeon's Law) means exactly what it says it means: you take any arbitrary grouping, and 90% of it will be crap. If game reviewers followed this policy, only 10% of their scores would be above average. Sturgeon's Law doesn't say that 90% of everything *seems* like crap, but that it *is* crap, meaning that according to the law, a video game site that rated 90% of the games it reviewed as below average would be being *honest* and *accurate* in their reviews. This is definitely *not* how a lot of game review sites act.

So, grade inflation and Sturgeon's Law are not interchangeable. As to whether 4s or 5s aren't total condemnations, that would depend on the exact criteria used by a specific reviewer. Even without grade inflation, a 4 might indicate a near total condemnation, or it might just mean that it rubbed the reviewer the wrong way, or it might mean that there were aspects of an otherwise decent anime that were so bad that they dragged down the overall score -- different people use different criteria.
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jojothepunisher



Joined: 04 Sep 2007
Posts: 799
PostPosted: Thu Dec 05, 2013 8:14 pm Reply with quote
vashfanatic wrote:
ikillchicken wrote:
That's a pretty major "also". I'm sure there are good LNs out there. And 90% of everything is crap. But so long as they continue to predominately serve as a "medium" for otaku bait I'm gonna go ahead and look at their adaptations with a great deal of skepticism until shown otherwise. That's just good inductive reasoning.

Well, yeah, but most anime follows more otaku sensibilities. If it's on late at night, which most anime is, they're targeting the nerd crowd who buys the DVDs. The kind of manga that get adapted also tend to be those that they think will sell with otaku, and to a lesser extent fujoshi. The original projects that get made also tend to be what they think will sell with otaku, and to a lesser estent fujoshi.

If that's the attitude you take, then treat all anime with a great deal of skepticism.

Except of things made by Hayao Miyazaki
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Spotlesseden



Joined: 09 Sep 2004
Posts: 3514
Location: earth
PostPosted: Thu Dec 05, 2013 10:06 pm Reply with quote
i only watch this for Snow Black, but i dropped it at around ep 15.
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jkphantom



Joined: 08 Jun 2013
Posts: 46
PostPosted: Thu Dec 05, 2013 11:38 pm Reply with quote
enurtsol wrote:
jkphantom wrote:

I really hope this series airs on Toonami, because' I just want SAO to just hurry and finish up already!


They'd probably replay SAO. Needs moar gilded cage Asunaxploitation. Laughing


Oh gosh... Hasn't Asuna already dealt with enough NTR already??? I mean, we all knew that Kirito x Asuna would be set in stone with 16.5...
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dtm42



Joined: 05 Feb 2008
Posts: 14084
Location: currently stalking my waifu
PostPosted: Thu Dec 05, 2013 11:48 pm Reply with quote
^
Kirito has to wait another two years before he can get it up again, so it's not like Asuna has to worry about him cheating on her in the meantime.
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GrayArchon



Joined: 28 Feb 2011
Posts: 393
PostPosted: Fri Dec 06, 2013 12:37 am Reply with quote
Mr Sinister wrote:
Fat kid gets made fun of for being fat. Does nothing to get in shape, just runs away to his virtual world to play.... racquetball! Then he becomes a hero because of magic video game powers.

Stopped after episode 2 due to the vomit covering my screen.


So, in other words, you're bothered that a bullied fat kid with severe self-esteem issues and related emotional issues, a support system that consists of a mother that could seamlessly be replaced with an ATM and it would be an improvement, and a childhood friend whose efforts to help are inadequate and taken as pity; is unable to undertake the punishing diet and exercise regime required to drop his weight to remove part of his problems.

After which you're annoyed that an unattractive character gets to be the hero because of virtues unrelated to his physical appearance, correct?

Animegomaniac wrote:
And the series addresses the idea of technology addiction but then says "that's life" and promptly gives the worst offenders real life powers based off of how addicted/immersed they are in it. There's missed opportunities and then there's completely missing the point. And when it's your own point that you bring up in your own story...


You mean the 'worst offenders' who proceed to illustrate the ways in which technology can be a double edged sword once they get those real life powers? The point is not to say that technology is evil, but rather that it can have positives and negatives that must be balanced.

CrowLia wrote:
my problem is that the show never even attempts to say that being a VR junkie isn't really a good thing.


So you don't see the fact that the two main characters who had Brain Burst before the start of the series largely destroyed their personal relationships because of it, and the characters we see lose BB during the series are said or shown to be happier without it afterwards, as the series showing that BB isn't necessarily a good thing?
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Echo_City



Joined: 03 Apr 2011
Posts: 1236
PostPosted: Fri Dec 06, 2013 12:40 am Reply with quote
ReverseTitan wrote:
Let's not forget Steve Foster, shall we? Kaeko Sakamoto, a little Japanese woman can direct dubs far superior than anything Foster comes up with.
I happen to like Foster, when he is on his A-Game. I'll agree that he has, sadly, not really been on his A-Game as of late(since Horizon?). Why do the size, ethnicity and sex of a dub director matter?

I really think that ANN needs to do a public service by getting Funimation and Sentai bigwigs to explain, slowly, to the fandom that the same people who write the dub scripts also write the sub scripts and that both are translated liberally to meet the requirements of their medium (sound and on-screen text). Then again, if someone like Matt Greenfield were to come on here and explain that the subtitles are often "less accurate" than the dub because of the additional limitations of subtitles then the heads of some of ANN's readers and reviewers would explode. This ex-ANN guy is still wrong, but he's halfway to being right.
Quote:
Kirito has to wait another two years before he can get it up again, so it's not like Asuna has to worry about him cheating on her in the meantime.
Ugh, I'd forgotten about that. Maybe Kirito should do the civil thing and do something like what Eris did in Cat Planet Cuties: allow Asuna to "explore new horizons" while he, ah, recharges. How is it that Star Trek fans had sense enough to despise Wesley Crusher but anime fans, a significant portion of them, love the even-worse anime version of him?
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Animegomaniac



Joined: 16 Feb 2012
Posts: 4070
PostPosted: Fri Dec 06, 2013 10:59 am Reply with quote
GrayArchon wrote:


You mean the 'worst offenders' who proceed to illustrate the ways in which technology can be a double edged sword once they get those real life powers? The point is not to say that technology is evil, but rather that it can have positives and negatives that must be balanced.


By technology, you mean the game while I mean the whole thing, especially having people wired from birth. Dropping the game, that comes up but unhooking from the system completely which is what their reality is, their "life"? Remind me, does the series ever say if that's bad, good or even possible or would ever be necessary?

"It's not a matter of psychological damage, it's a matter of convenience so why would they want to?" {The double edged sword for everyone, I suppose, not just "Brain burst" users?} It effectively turns people into smart devices and I find it amusing that the cut off age for those wired from birth coincides with the usual driving/employment age {that barren wasteland known as "middle school"}. That is, not that the series doesn't show how adult multitasking users fail but it doesn't show how the Birth Users can turn it off to be independently productive for a long stretch of time. You know, real time that people even today can't do {Today, I saw a driver texting at a green light. Isn't modern technology ... dangerous?}

But since this is the guy who did Sword Art Online where a safe immersion system free of, I should I put it, human failings is the starting condition, why am I even bringing this up? He asks "How should it be used" ignoring the whole "Should it be used at all? I mean, you know how people are..." question that nags me.
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ChibiKangaroo



Joined: 01 Feb 2010
Posts: 2941
PostPosted: Fri Dec 06, 2013 6:22 pm Reply with quote
I watched Accel World to the end and I had a lot of fun with the show. I've said this before, but it was the most intellectually stimulating of these MMO/Virtual World inspired anime that have come out recently, AND additionally, I think the biggest reason why I loved Accel World is that the lead character was fantastic.

One of the things that annoys me a lot about recent anime is that so many male leads are superficial archetypes. I have my separate criticism about how many female leads are treated, but I'm just focusing on male leads right now.

I'll separate the male leads that frequently come up into a few generalized categories:

(1) Innocent perverts (sometimes taken to the extreme as the "innocent rapist" or "innocent sexual assaulter")

(2) Jerkwad Bishies who emotionally abuse people around them but get away with it because they are so attractive and really have a heart of gold

(3) Super macho manly men who are essentially perfect in every way

(4) Handsome or cute boys who are smart/good at what they do, but for some reason are extremely unsure and indecisive (particularly about girls in harem situations)

There are other categories I am sure, and some characters fit into more than one of these categories, but those are the most obvious ones I was thinking about.

The reason why I like Haruyuki so much is that he doesn't really fit into one of those defined categories as far as male leads go. I can't really say that I have ever seen a male lead quite like him before.

Yes, he is fat and short, two qualities that most people producing and consuming anime would NEVER normally idealize. Fat/short male characters in anime are always a joke or the bad guy.

Beyond that though, Haru is such a likeable character. He has serious flaws, but yet he is very virtuous and has a gentle personality. He struggles with self esteem at the beginning, but it doesn't become a burden for the audience like it does with many male leads. Maybe it is because of the fact that despite him struggling with his self-esteem, you also get to see how determined and goal driven he is. He is shown to have a very powerful and capable mind, unlike many of those leads who seem so simple minded and bumbling. I also just loved the scene at one point in the show where Haru is given the opportunity to take advantage of his childhood friend and he is shown to be tempted but declines to do so. It reinforced the idea that he is a good person, but not by any means a gary stu.

I also really liked the character of Kuroyukihime, for similar reasons. She is not the traditional "mysterious hot girl who just suddenly falls in love with the male lead." It is made clear at numerous points in the show that spoiler[Kuroyukihime was merely using Haru at the beginning, and she doesn't start to fall in love with him until much later.] Again, she was shown to be a flawed person, and goes through a kind of redemption process throughout the series.

These two characters do a pretty great job of carrying the show for the entire run. There are some elements of the plot that could have been executed much better, but I don't think I've seen many examples of a better pairing of two great leads in a recent show.
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SpacemanHardy



Joined: 03 Jan 2012
Posts: 2509
PostPosted: Fri Dec 06, 2013 6:57 pm Reply with quote
Thank you ChibiKangaroo. You hit the nail on the head as to why Haruyuki's such a good character. I've always thought of him as the Shinji Ikari-type character done correctly: Starts off weak and pathetic, only to gradually develop confidence in himself and "man up" over the course of the show.
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HitokiriShadow



Joined: 09 May 2005
Posts: 6251
PostPosted: Fri Dec 06, 2013 8:06 pm Reply with quote
ChibiKangaroo wrote:

There are other categories I am sure, and some characters fit into more than one of these categories, but those are the most obvious ones I was thinking about.


5) Bland Average Guy who Gets Average Grades and is Average in Everything (and Just Wants A Normal Life And/Or Girlfriend).
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jymmy



Joined: 11 Nov 2011
Posts: 1244
PostPosted: Fri Dec 06, 2013 10:20 pm Reply with quote
SpacemanHardy wrote:
Thank you ChibiKangaroo. You hit the nail on the head as to why Haruyuki's such a good character. I've always thought of him as the Shinji Ikari-type character done correctly: Starts off weak and pathetic, only to gradually develop confidence in himself and "man up" over the course of the show.

How is "manning up" the definition of correct character development? I agree with ChibiKangaroo's assessment of Haruyuki, but I get the implication from your post that the problem with Shinji's character was that his self-esteem and emotional issues didn't "get better" over the course of the series.
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