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REVIEW: Oreshura Sub.DVD


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Yttrbio
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Joined: 09 Jun 2011
Posts: 3649
PostPosted: Sat Feb 15, 2014 3:48 pm Reply with quote
This review seems... very strange. I get that Carl doesn't like it, but the review has nothing negative to say about the show. Unless the fact that it's a harem show is enough of a negative, which is a bizarre complaint when reviewing a harem show.
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RyanSaotome



Joined: 29 Mar 2011
Posts: 4210
Location: Towson, Maryland
PostPosted: Sat Feb 15, 2014 3:54 pm Reply with quote
OreShura was one of the top 3 harem shows of 2013. I really liked the girls, the chuuni stuff was funny and the art style was great.

And yeah, this review seems to be saying its bad because its a harem, which makes no sense. Then he recommends a show to watch instead thats not a harem, just something that parodies and makes fun of the genre. All it means is that ANN got someone to review a show he never would have liked in the first place, making the review pretty useless.


Last edited by RyanSaotome on Sat Feb 15, 2014 3:56 pm; edited 1 time in total
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normajean19



Joined: 14 Dec 2013
Posts: 81
PostPosted: Sat Feb 15, 2014 3:54 pm Reply with quote
Any comments on the technical qualities of the release? This seems to be more of a review of the show instead of the actual product.
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Half Life





PostPosted: Sat Feb 15, 2014 4:22 pm Reply with quote
I've begun to tune this guys reviews out. The stuff he hates, I love -- and the stuff he loves, I hate... so we are obviously not on the same wavelength.
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Animegomaniac



Joined: 16 Feb 2012
Posts: 4070
PostPosted: Sat Feb 15, 2014 4:26 pm Reply with quote
normajean19 wrote:
Any comments on the technical qualities of the release? This seems to be more of a review of the show instead of the actual product.


Yeah, it really should be for the streaming than the actual physical release. Also:

Quote:
For all its lovely art, and no matter how cuddly the cast or how director Kanta Kamei sugarcoats everything for easy swallowing, deep down Oreshura is a stinker.


A C+ stinker. I'm not sure what's Carl's point is here. He wanted the guy to sit down with Chiwa to tell her that he's too busy trying to get into medical school to help with her treatment that he can't get into a relationship with her? No, Carl wanted Chiwa to talk to him directly so he would dump her just as directly?

It seems like his biggest problem is that he really wanted the Chiwa show.

Quote:
It is as false as Eita and Masuzu's relationship, and in many ways just as cynical.


Its cynical nature is its greatest strength. Everything looks cute but it's a harsh cruel world where the Chiwas all end up as somebody's lap dog. I thought it was a decent show; a B- decent effort rather than an awful C+.

Now, if he called it a stinker and gave it a D- or an F...
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Angel M Cazares



Joined: 23 Sep 2010
Posts: 5407
Location: Iscandar
PostPosted: Sat Feb 15, 2014 4:32 pm Reply with quote
RyanSaotome wrote:
All it means is that ANN got someone to review a show he never would have liked in the first place, making the review pretty useless.


I do not think reviews done with a negative bias (if that is the case here) are useless. On the contrary, I think it is more useful to hear from a detractor his/her reasons for disliking that particular show, provided that the arguments are smart and well backed.

Reviews done by fanboys are more useless to me if all they do is fawn all over the show and are not interested in also taking about the weaker parts of it. I agree with the C+ grade for Oreshura. This anime had an initial freshness, but the creators could not keep it throughout.
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Yttrbio
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Joined: 09 Jun 2011
Posts: 3649
PostPosted: Sat Feb 15, 2014 5:22 pm Reply with quote
I hear that reduction of this complaint all the time, and it's very convenient for dismissing it.

I don't think there's much value in hearing from a detractor whose reasons are "I don't like harem shows." I'd love to hear about the problems of a show from a person who could possibly like it, but didn't, because the show fell short in some fashion. But to criticize a show for simply being the wrong kind of show doesn't tell a reader anything she didn't already know simply by looking at the genre/theme classification (or, in this case, the title).

I don't think this particular review is useless, because it does point out the strong points of the show. It was just odd because the weak points weren't mentioned at all.
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configspace



Joined: 16 Aug 2008
Posts: 3717
PostPosted: Sat Feb 15, 2014 5:36 pm Reply with quote
angelmcazares wrote:
RyanSaotome wrote:
All it means is that ANN got someone to review a show he never would have liked in the first place, making the review pretty useless.


I do not think reviews done with a negative bias (if that is the case here) are useless. On the contrary, I think it is more useful to hear from a detractor his/her reasons for disliking that particular show, provided that the arguments are smart and well backed.

Reviews done by fanboys are more useless to me if all they do is fawn all over the show and are not interested in also taking about the weaker parts of it. I agree with the C+ grade for Oreshura. This anime had an initial freshness, but the creators could not keep it throughout.

The review is useless for fans of the genre. And I know you are not a fan (you are also not a fan of fanservice and so Carl's reviews are right up your alley). I don't agree with the review because all the negative points are actually what fans are looking for. I'd rate Oreshura B+ to A-.

As RyanSaotome mentioned, what does Carl recommending My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU have to do with anything? It's not as if Carl is recommending that show because it executes the same harem premise better. It's not even remotely the same. It's a useless recommendation. I should note that I like that show too, but for different reasons.

Carl states this as if this were a bad thing:
Quote:
Of course it's a show about Eita and Masuzu. And of course it's a show about Eita and Chiwa. It's also a show about Eita and the shy girl who falls helplessly for his delusional alter-ego, as well as a show about Eita and the disciplinary committee member who he promised to marry back in kindergarten.

But this is what it means to be a true harem, something that is rarely seen. It defies the typical false positive harem route, and the show itself acknowledges that by virtue of the aunt game developer discussing harem routes and Eita doing the impossible by not choosing one, not denying all, but actually choosing all.

In order for reviews to be useful, reviewers either need a split personality taking on 2 different roles of who it's aimed at and who it's not; or there needs to be two reviewers of different roles.
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CrownKlown



Joined: 05 May 2011
Posts: 1762
PostPosted: Sat Feb 15, 2014 5:53 pm Reply with quote
angelmcazares wrote:
RyanSaotome wrote:
All it means is that ANN got someone to review a show he never would have liked in the first place, making the review pretty useless.


I do not think reviews done with a negative bias (if that is the case here) are useless. On the contrary, I think it is more useful to hear from a detractor his/her reasons for disliking that particular show, provided that the arguments are smart and well backed.

Reviews done by fanboys are more useless to me if all they do is fawn all over the show and are not interested in also taking about the weaker parts of it. I agree with the C+ grade for Oreshura. This anime had an initial freshness, but the creators could not keep it throughout.


How is a review by someone who hates a genre any different then someone who is a fanboy? In both cases the only time it will have an impact is if the show/work gets a positive reviewer from the hater and a negative review from a fan boy. Like Yttrbo said some who dislikes a genre on its face value will make criticisms of things inherent in these type of shows by their nature, conversely someone who is a fanboy will do the reverse by espousing the greatness of these same points.

I also don't get his obsession with Chiwa. What exactly does she do that makes her any better than the others? Out of the 4 Masuzu has the most realistic explanation of of why she is in that state. Its at least a little more realistic than someone becoming a mega self hating pessimist because he got turned down by one girl like Hachiman. Also personally if any character deserved better it was certainly not Chiwa, even Ai and Hime had better claims. Chiwa came off to me as a spoiled little girl who ultimately had 9 years to do something but did not because she probably thought Eita was always hers. Unlike her Ai (when they were kids, and once her facade broke) and Hime never hid their feelings and tried to go after him full force.
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animefan425



Joined: 01 Feb 2012
Posts: 20
PostPosted: Sat Feb 15, 2014 7:52 pm Reply with quote
Yttrbio wrote:
Unless the fact that it's a harem show is enough of a negative, which is a bizarre complaint when reviewing a harem show.

ANN has been doing this for years, so I don't know why you are so surprised at this. Any series with "harem" or "ecchi" in its genre list aimed at males it's automatically regarded as pandering otaku trash.

If this were the exact same series but instead of having girls had a "cast of attractive, lean-muscled young men" it would be a completely different story, because "harem" and "fan service" are only okay when they are aimed at women.
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Thatguy3331



Joined: 18 Feb 2012
Posts: 1790
PostPosted: Sat Feb 15, 2014 8:48 pm Reply with quote
animefan425 wrote:
Yttrbio wrote:
Unless the fact that it's a harem show is enough of a negative, which is a bizarre complaint when reviewing a harem show.

ANN has been doing this for years, so I don't know why you are so surprised at this. Any series with "harem" or "ecchi" in its genre list aimed at males it's automatically regarded as pandering otaku trash.

If this were the exact same series but instead of having girls had a "cast of attractive, lean-muscled young men" it would be a completely different story, because "harem" and "fan service" are only okay when they are aimed at women.


I find this stupid. Of course I understand, and even partly agree with the notion that mostly harem and ecchi shows tend to me uninteresting, unfunny or downright suck, but why the hell does swapping the gender like that suddenly make it OK? It's still wish fulfillment anyway.

Anywho, as far as this review goes while I myself was fine with the show I can see how someone wouldn't like it, and yes it would have to do with how one takes harem, rom-com and such shows to begin with. Last year when the show was streaming I ran into a blogger who didn't like the show and dropped it because to him it was too deep into "LN chunibyou" and "didn't ring true"to him. Light Novel thoughts aside, a story seeming false or cheap is a perfectly justifiable argument and it doesn't only apply to harems. For me I usually know what I'm getting with these types of shows and don't take them that seriously but I don't find this review pointless. Instead of complaining about how this guy wasn't in the target audience why not simply say why you guys thought the show was good or not as bad?
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Barbobot



Joined: 06 Feb 2007
Posts: 460
PostPosted: Sat Feb 15, 2014 9:34 pm Reply with quote
animefan425 wrote:
ANN has been doing this for years, so I don't know why you are so surprised at this. Any series with "harem" or "ecchi" in its genre list aimed at males it's automatically regarded as pandering otaku trash.

If this were the exact same series but instead of having girls had a "cast of attractive, lean-muscled young men" it would be a completely different story, because "harem" and "fan service" are only okay when they are aimed at women.


Just go look at something like the Highschool DxD review and you can see that your wrong. Not to mention how many reverse harem shows get pretty poor-mediocre reviews as well.


Last edited by Barbobot on Sat Feb 15, 2014 10:32 pm; edited 1 time in total
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stardf29



Joined: 29 Aug 2007
Posts: 171
PostPosted: Sat Feb 15, 2014 10:16 pm Reply with quote
I have to agree with Carl on this review. I don't have anything against harem series, but there were many reasons why Oreshura just simply did not work out for me.

Before I get into the show's problems, I do also agree with Carl that Chiwa is definitely the show's strong point. She's by far the show's most positive force, not just with Eita, but also with the other girls, especially toward the end when she spoiler[takes the initiative with the other girls to help Masuzu feel like she belongs with the group]. When she realizes she's on the losing side of the battle, she decides to do what she can not just on but also off the "battlefield". In the end, she manages to be a character that is not defined solely by her relationship with the male lead… something that I can't really say about any of the other girls.

But that's not really what the show's problem is.

First of all, I never did come to like Masuzu. At the start, I pretty much hated her, for how sociopathic she is. And even when we get some kind of explanation for why she does all the horrible things she did, and has some sense of remorse for her actions, I feel that it never really changes her for the better. Instead of reaching out like Chiwa (and the other girls), she just retreats further into her fake relationship with Eita.

And Eita really isn't much better. Sure, I guess he gets points for wanting to help Chiwa by becoming a doctor, but his preoccupation with his image (and in particular his embarrassment over his chuunibyou past, which Chiwa never finds out about) just makes him as fake as the relationship he has with Masuzu. I suppose it makes sense from a character perspective, but it makes it hard to like him, especially since he doesn't really change, either.

(Mana was also really not done well. First, she's Masuzu's sister who's even more sociopathic than her, and then she's suddenly someone who wants Eita to help out her sister? spoiler[Couldn't have made that transition just a little smoother, could they?])

The other big problem with this show is that it fails at the balance at being a silly harem and at being a more serious show. I don't mind if the show wanted to just be a silly harem like it is a good part of the time, especially when Himeko and Ai enter the show. Likewise, the show could have potentially been a good, more serious rom-com that looks both at childhood friend relationships and the whole idea of fake images. However, it tried to be both at once, and both parts ended up suffering for it. The transitions between the serious and the silliness felt really jarring, and combined with the problems mentioned above, it just fell flat as a show.

It had its good points, so a C+ is a fair grade for it, but yeah, this was definitely not a show I could really get behind.
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jymmy



Joined: 11 Nov 2011
Posts: 1244
PostPosted: Sat Feb 15, 2014 11:15 pm Reply with quote
I wasn't really impressed by this show either. I found the comedy, story and most of the characters mediocre to lousy. I think rather than the review "disliking it because it's a harem", it was a case of "not giving shows it thinks are bad a pass purely because they're harems".
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Fencedude5609



Joined: 09 Nov 2006
Posts: 5088
PostPosted: Sat Feb 15, 2014 11:18 pm Reply with quote
Oreshura is not a particularly good show, but this is also not a very good review.

This review reads like stuff I've read from butthurt Chihuahua fans. Which is certainly not what I expect from an ANN review.

That being said, its a C+ show, but this is also a C+ review.
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