Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: When Supernatural Battles Became Commonplace
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Cyclone1993
 Posts: 947 |
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I'm not super into this show for some reason. I guess I expected it to be more than what it is. But it seems to mostly just be discussions of Japanese naming conventions for several of the early episodes.
But this episode, episode 4, is making me rethink that. It was funny, had fanservice, and still managed to have some cute moments based off of the drama that the show was able to produce. So if we have more episodes like this, and less episodes like the earlier ones, the show might raise itself up. |
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rinkwolf10
Posts: 750 |
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I'm curious, are you planning to copy and paste this comment on ALL of the episode reviews till the series ends, despite it not making scents already? |
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HaruhiToy
 Posts: 4118 |
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Great review for Episode 5. I particularly like the "aiming straight for the third option" observation.
One other thing I think that needs to be pointed out. I see a lot of comments (complaints?) here and there that the characters hidden super-powers aren't used very much. Actually they are, Just not the way the way that common-grade anime consumers seem to expect. This review points out that some of the interesting conversations and interactions wouldn't be possible without the super-powers being present. That's how they are being used. Not to fight magic battles or something. |
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meiam
Posts: 3442 |
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You talk about this third option like it was something completely new and never heard of, it's a classic comedy harem setting, nothing special there. It start with a few joke, then move on to teen "drama", then you have some romance where the main girl character is totally not in love with the main character but completely is. Character talk about there dream in the same speech we've heard most likely over a thousand time, character go trough the same crisis we've already see them got trough, they might have had different name and face but they were the same character. Tomoyo is just the classic Tsundere, Jurai is just the classic harem MC (kinda weird, surround by girl, with a core and doesn't judge). Sure the show has the super power aspect, but it's not even there, it almost feel like they wrote the script, realized how incredibly vanilla and devoid of originality and decided to throw a twist at the last second in and brought a good comedy writer to do episode 1 and 2 and then went back to vanilla rom com. I don't see how any of this could be different without power, you might have to change one line or two, but they go trough the same motion. If anything they just use the power to double down on the tropes, since now it let them ignore basic logic to get to them even faster, no need to craft a scenario to explain how the main character got naked in the loli house, he just get teleported there like that. |
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BL2W
 Posts: 13 |
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This person gets it. Reading through these reviews, it sounds as if this might as well be one of the best series ever! But, even for those who like this show a lot (sadly, I'm not one of them), I can't see how anyone could find this show to be outstanding. Sure, it can be cute, it has some quality moments, and there's even a joke in there or two that I'll find funny myself (i.e., Jurai's reaction to "Kuki Madoka" in episode four)--and I can't even stand this show! (Before anyone asks, though, I watch it because I find it to be that kind of "fascinatingly bad" not seen in most shows.) But, if you enjoy it for what it is, more power to you; I do my best to keep an open mind. I just can't understand how anyone, especially somebody who writes reviews for a site like ANN, could find this particular show to be this amazing. I don't think it's wrong, I just think it's strange. |
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Agent355
 Posts: 5113 Location: Crackberry in hand, thumbs at the ready... |
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The shift to drama in each episode worries me, because that's when things get unbearably sentimental. The comedy is pretty good. I haven't watched a whole lot of harem rom-coms, but the main character in Supernatural Battles definitely seems above par, and the show is fun to watch in spite of its tropes because it's presentation is good. If the show goes into full fledged drama mode, though, it could very well become unwatchable. |
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HeeroTX
Posts: 2046 Location: Austin, TX |
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I think it's been obvious (if not from episode 1, then DEFINITELY from episode 2) that ALL the girls in the literature club have feelings for Jurai. While I do think Tomoyo is being setup as the "primary" love interest, it'll obviously cause issues if or when Jurai gets more attached to any one girl. I agree that the setup is pretty much a basic harem setup, altho I don't really have a problem with that. I do think it differs from many harem shows though in that even though we don't currently know the specifics, Jurai DOES seem to provide at least emotional support for all the other members for some reason(s). It will be interesting to see how things play out with Hatoko, since from the conversation Jurai had with Tomoyo it sounds like she's been "friend-zoned" by him.
I think that was ALL Mirei, altho I'm still enjoying the series I'm REALLY disappointed that she's not appearing more consistently. Altho apparently she'll re-appear next episode, at least that's the the preview implied. |
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Agent355
Posts: 5113 Location: Crackberry in hand, thumbs at the ready... |
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Episode 6 was boring, and definitely a step down from last week (in that it abandoned *everything* they set up last week, for good or for ill). Sayumi's just too much of a low key character. She's great at martial arts, though. They should have focused on that.
Next week should pick up the *drama* (hopefully in the most amusing way possible). I need something fun & funny to watch after Parasyte on Wednesdays. |
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srlracing
 Posts: 87 |
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Jurai's and Hatoko's relationship was increasingly making me uneasy and now it has finally blown up. Hatoko's speech in episode 7 really made me reflect about how I was back in my middle/high school days. Purposefully standing out and left wondering why the hammer of societal norms would come crashing down on me. I will definitely be chewing on that for a while. I really did enjoy that this show was brave enough to criticize that instead of glorifying it.
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Thatguy3331
 Posts: 1793 |
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This is definitely one of the best episodes so far and I really like how this was set up in earlier episodes to make this moment all the more impactful. It's great when a scene can work both in story and on a meta level like this.
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Plasmaeclipse
 Posts: 153 |
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Maybe it's just because I can't turn off the rational part of my brain but I couldn't really help but feel Hatoko's issues were a bit forced. The "too much talking not enough showing" point sunk this episode much more for me. For all her claims that she tried to keep fitting in we never actually see her try to fit in. I have no idea what the hell Hatoko DOES like. Is she into fairy tales? Romanticized stories of Knights and Princesses? Superhero stuff in the vein of DC/Marvel? Does she just have no interest in this stuff at all? IF she had no interest at all how did she manage to fake her way through it all prior to the superpowers? I imagine the literature club did actual club things in a similar vein to what we saw in the beginning of the episode, so if she wasn't interested and didn't understand it well enough to fake it how did the rest of the club never notice she didn't fit in? That leads me to conclude she DOES have some interest in fiction just not the style of fiction Andou likes.
Part of Hatoko's big explosion was writing off his smugness saying all he did was look up a bunch of random words and mythology that sounded cool. But ya know what? He at least did research did Hatoko ever try? This actually would have given her rant more weight if she did. Like she put in all this effort trying to figure this stuff out, maybe she even tried looking at things outside what Andou discovering the brand of fiction she likes, then when she tries to find some sort of middle ground for their interests she gets stonewalled by Andou's bloody chaos dark dark behavior. The only thing we ever see is that she tried to read the one book several times over only to fail and that's not enough to feel like she just doesn't get it and is stuck on the outside. Another thing the scenes between Tomoyo and Andou shows, I think, that Tomoyo just gets him more on an emotional level as well as on a nerd level. She was the one who comforted him after he "broke up" with Mirei, she managed to force her way into the problem when Hatoko ran off, and she was the one to slap him out of his depression. Tomoyo realizes that while Andou cares deeply about others his Chuuni attitude also makes him a bit of a dope so he needs someone sharp to smack a bit of sense into him every now and then. Comparatively Hatoko is way to passive for Andou to get the hint. Because she bottled it up instead of trying to actually do anything other than deal with it she ended up worse off. If Tomoyo were in this situation she would have dragged Andou off to a bookstore by his collar as soon as the worlds "you don't get it" left his mouth. |
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Clarste
Posts: 428 |
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This isn't like a sports club or anything where you're off the team when you're not good enough at literature. Heck, they let a little girl in there. If she's bad at writing exercises then they compliment her for trying and move on. I think it's pretty clear that she joined the club because Andou did. In that sense, the fact that she's in the club is showing (rather than telling) that she's trying to understand him.
Also, the fact that she even remembers all these various terms, as well as understands them enough to group them into the proper categories (mythological weapons, etc), implies to me that she did look them up afterward. In fact, it sounds like she was trying harder to make sense of the nonsense he spouts than he ever did |
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Charosive
Posts: 5 |
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She did do her research as many of the things that were part of her rant included lists of things that Andou mentioned that were in similar veins as well as a few of his personal quirks that he uses in his chuuni wordplay. Hatoko does know what these things are in their strictest sense, but the thought that always comes up whenever he mentions these things is Why is this cool? Why does he do what does?. She gives several examples of him making words harder than they need to be (such as writing something one way & pronouncing it another) & asks very rational questions that relate to Andou's tastes as a chuuni (Why is losing control of one's powers cool? It'd be cooler to be able to have full control. Why is evilness better than justice?). At some point, she even says that once Andou just told her that she'll feel it; that she'll know if something's cool or interesting just from seeing or hearing about it. This doesn't help her in the slightest so it makes her feel like she doesn't even know her longest (& possibly dearest) friend. |
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HeeroTX
Posts: 2046 Location: Austin, TX |
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It's pretty obvious that she didn't really like (or care) about his chuuni stuff before but she "smiled and nodded" as she walked beside him. And for a LONG time "that was enough". But then he started spending time with Tomoyo and like is said at the end, it looks like he "chose" Tomoyo. THAT is the core problem for Hatoko. Sure, Andou does stuff that keeps himself apart, but look at events.
-Hatoko gets hurt seeing Andou & Tomoyo together -Hatoko gets "restored" when Andou chooses her to come to his house -Hatoko is hurt again when Andou doesn't go home with her and instead spends time with Tomoyo At this point, it's a straight "why has the guy I like picked someone else". But it's driven home when Andou is texting Tomoyo. WE the audience know that he's talking to her about her writing and maybe even still keeping it secret because Tomoyo is embarassed. But Hatoko only sees that Andou is texting with another girl and isn't telling her what its about, and when she presses he of course says "you don't understand". I agree with Clarste, the fact that she actually REMEMBERS all those foreign terms shows that she has been trying to learn, and to an extent, each time she feels like she's getting close, he finds something new and moves the goalpost, and that frustrates her. |
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Plasmaeclipse
Posts: 153 |
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I dunno something about the whole situation just bugged me and its not because of the subtext behind it. I guess its just one of these things where I already know how annoying I can be with my own nerd stuff, and I feel like the problem as its presented could have been easily solved by Hatoko being more assertive then they were younger so none of this had impact on me besides being being very talky
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