Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers
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kinghumanity
Posts: 365 |
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Does this really warrant an A grade? I agree with the artwork and character design, but I cannot be the only one who thought the pacing of this is SO. GOD. DAMN. SLOW. Half the first episode was exposition with a bunch of legend names. Half the second episode was a bunch of...nothing, and only introduced two more characters towards the end.
You can't have a good story to tell when you bore people to death and then tell them "no no, it gets better" and then keep droning on with expositions. Last edited by kinghumanity on Mon Jul 20, 2015 1:32 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Thespacemaster
Posts: 1108 |
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Hard to believe it to be possible that the same writer who wrote Book of Bantorra..is the same writer for Rokka no yuusha..considering i just watched that show a couple of months ago....
In comparison to those two....both of them had a huge world buildiing and a senses of deep mystery that kept you guessing..in bantorra's case..it had diverse range of cast and a lot of build up that wasn't really revealed until the very end. it is a real shame that it is such an underated series that slips by almost everyone....for those whoa re watching Rokka i reall recommend to watch bantorra too..if u have the chance Rokka no yuusha also has that distinct style of world building and sense of mystery. the cast is smaller in this case with a total of 7 and while both had a fantasy feel and magic this one focuses on the more Aztec fantasy where as bantorra was on the more revolutionary era fantasy. i cant way to see who it goes.. I bet It is Nathessia who is the traitor nuff said. |
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Pidgeot18
 Posts: 101 |
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Actually, the series is primarily Inca (/other Andean, maybe? I don't know much about non-Incan cultures down there) in aesthetic. Llamas, extreme terracing (cf. Machu Pichu), and highly mountainous terrain are all associated heavily with the Inca. On the other hand, the writing system appears to be inspired by the Mayan (the Mayans had intricately detailed glyphs that were strongly rectangular; here the symbols are detailed glyphs contained within circles), the classic step-pyramids are Mesoamerican in general, and the capital itself is clearly modeled after the Aztec Tenochtitlan. So praise Gabriella for being the first reviewer on this site to actually catch the Inca reference. On the other hand, Aztecs and Maya are both Mesoamerican culture, which is very definitely not South American, so minus one point for that. I actually kind of like the attempt for a New World-themed fantasy over the usual Medieval Europe (or perhaps Middle Ages anywhere in the Eurasian core in general)-themed fantasy. Yeah, there are elements that aren't true for a pre-Columbian Mesoamerican or Andean culture, but on the other hand, pre-Columbian cultures were notably also pre-Bronze Age, so strictly attempting to follow historical accuracy would limit your flexibility compared to usual fantasy settings. Historical accuracy quibbles aside, it's also a fun game to guess who the traitor is: Adlet: Most certainly not. The fact that he's the main character is a big indication, but it also doesn't make sense to me that the Demon God would pick someone unusual to be a mole/traitor. Nashetania: On the other hand, she seems the perfect fit for the role of traitor. She outwardly seems to have a good claim for being a Brave (talented with blades), but she has also generally been underwhelming in the fights so far--sufficient to justify (to me, at least) the goddess skipping her over in favor of a nontraditional like Adlet. She also feels way too eager to check that Adlet is a Brave and to journey with him to the meeting point... almost as if she's afraid that 6 people will arrive at the meeting point before she can show up and create confusion. I suspected her from episode 1, and (asides from a brief time pondering Flamie), I haven't seen any reason to suspect anyone else more. Flamie: The fact that she's been killing off potential Braves is suggestive that she could be the traitor, but on further reflection, it does feel like it's a red herring. That she doesn't want to join up with the other Braves is a bad trait for a traitor to have, so that firmly eliminated her from the competition for me. Goldov: We don't know much about him, and as I read earlier posts, I did see that people suggested him. Even though it's only on his word that Flamie is the Brave Killer (and lying about the disposition of another Brave to get them offed is totally something the traitor should be doing), Flamie's actions seem to corroborate his word. Of course, this analysis assumes that the traitor knows that he/she is the traitor and isn't a latent agent (I'm thinking like spoiler[Syaoran from Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle]). If that assumption is off, then, quite frankly, all bets are off. I love shows with fun plot speculation, and this seems to be providing it for quite some time to come. |
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T.Silver
Posts: 163 |
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One of my favorites of the season, hopefully it keeps delivering.
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Gabbomatic
 Posts: 74 |
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I'll keep that in mind for future writeups! Mostly caught the Incan stuff and didn't want to conflate them with any other cultures. Looking back, however, Piena is a canal city, which are characteristically Aztec, if I'm remembering correctly... |
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FilthyCasual
Posts: 2189 |
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Piena's quite obviously based on Tenochtitlan, which is an Aztec city, so mentioning their culture as an influence is completely accurate. As for pacing complaints, I'd complain if I didn't like what I was getting so much. The character interactions are engrossing enough where I don't getting episodes of them. |
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Iron Maw
Posts: 490 |
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I don't mind the pacing myself. I prefer to rushed as hell adapations we normal get when it comes to LNs.
Anyway on 7th/Fake Brave: I don't know why some are so quick to assume it's Nachetania when it's still anybody (even Adlet) at this point. Nachetania is definitely a great fighter considering that not only she won sacred tournaments in Piena once, but retained her title as it's champion. I think her issues can be boiled she isn't use to non gladiator-style environments where isn't fighting only human opponents without rules. That makes a huge difference when comes to things like awareness of one's surroundings. Furthermore she did work pretty well Adlet compared to Goldof, so there might issue of teamwork too due to personalities. As far her harshness concerning saving that one girl that who was left behind goes, logically it's sound decision that likely sterns from her past experiences in the civil war. I did imagine she had make similar tough decisions then to get where she is now. Of course I could be totally be off base here, but I think it's one reasonable possibility for her behavior. as of this moment. Eitherway it will be fun to see where it goes. 
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MiloTheFirst
Posts: 429 |
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to be honest, i think it is very posible for the fake brave to be adlet himself.
his premonition/dream secuence prior to getting the symbol looked rather diabolic, so it ocurred to me that his crest might have been made by the devil god in a plot to turn them against eachother. it has been done before although not very common, the plot twist of the good guy protagonist having been working for the evil boss without knowing, or realizing he wasnt the chosen one and still defeating the evil boss. but as the post above said, it could be anything at this point, even the posibility of the seventh brave actually being legitimate, and they turnning against eachother for no reason |
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Tuor_of_Gondolin
 Posts: 3524 Location: Bellevue, WA |
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I wouldn't be very surprised if *none* of the Braves are the traitor. The whole concept itself might be a red herring. What I'm saying here is that the very mechanism of selecting the Braves could be responsible, as we don't know why only 6 have been chosen in the past, we don't know much about the goddess (the One Flower) who originated the whole system, we don't know much about the Demon King, and we don't know much about what happens to the Braves after they enter the Demon King's territory.
We know the story and some of the history about this stuff. But just how accurate is it? Why did Fremery say that Adlet would try to kill her if he knew whatever it is Fremery is keeping secret? Why has it been set up that *only* the Braves can enter the Demon King's territory, and why haven't the human kingdoms done more to cut off that land from the rest of the continent? The fact that this story is by the same guy who did the Book of Bantorra is enough for me to conclude that not much here is as it seems. I guess we'll just have to see how things progress, but if none of the 7 braves are actually imposters, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised. |
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One-Eye
 Posts: 2261 |
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A little slow, but I like the premise and the art.
It might be interesting if there are always more than 6 braves selected and maybe most people don't know that, but they end up fighting/killing each other for the honor of achieving one of the coveted slots. It might explain why Flamie says that they would kill her on sight and why Goldov said she killed other Saints. Either that or maybe she belongs to some outcast group which normally makes her a target and this other status doesn't really have anything to do with the whole Brave situation. Anyways didn't the description say that the group thinks that someone is an enemy? This doesn't necessarily mean that there is one just that they think there's one. It could have been the demon god that decided to mark one of them as extra to sow discord or maybe the Goddess/Saint/whatever foresaw that they would need an "extra" to go to the temple and release the fog while the others went and fought the demon god. You can't get too stuck on tradition (there can only be |
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Sahmbahdeh
Posts: 712 |
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I really like the aesthetic of this show a lot, but I wish it carried over more into the character designs. The gloomy/stoic dude that showed up has it pretty well, but none of the others really feel like they're from the world they inhabit (and I get that Adlet is probably a foreigner or something with a name like that, but still). The animation was a lot better in the first episode, as well. It's still above average, but there's been a significant drop.
I really like the characters so far, for the most part, especially Adlet and Nashetanya. Adlet has demonstrated that he is skilled and level-headed despite being boastful, as well kind-hearted without being naive (I really liked that he had a mirror the whole time, uneasily watching Flamie as he walked away. That was great). Nashetanya on the other hand is a really interesting character so far due largely to her moral ambiguity. The mystery presented is interesting, and while the actual story itself seems kind of trite at this point, there's a lot of promise here. Sitting around a B+, at the moment. |
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Pidgeot18
Posts: 101 |
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Well, the assumption I've been working on is that the prophecy is true, because that's the usual fantasy trope. Subversions tend to rely mostly on misinterpretation of prophecy; there's even one story I recall where the bad guy is an elder god that can manipulate communication on the fly and it is manipulating the prophecy to trick people into doing the wrong thing. Even then, though, the actual original prophecy was true--people were just unaware that it wasn't actually the correct prophecy. Another thought I entertained during the first episode was that the other braves being offed weren't actually being killed, just merely sequestered so that they could be chosen as Braves yet be unable to arrive at the meeting point, allowing for multiple traitors in the ultimate party. This theory is as untenable as the no-traitors theory or as the one-traitor theory, at least as far as the information we've been given can let us conclude. And that's what I like about the story so far: it's encouraging people to build theories while (quite purposefully, I think) neglecting to first build the underlying foundation that those theories can build on. There's already multiple interpretations of certain scenes: some people seem to be adamant that the depiction of how Adlet gets his Brave mark is clearly indicative that it's been given to him by the Demon God, while I never entertained any other thought than that it was the normal way the mark was given. The Demon God goes mad and sets the cycle off; the Goddess goes "Time to get the Braves together" and marks them. After being prompted of the other theory, I can now see both as being plausible--and I don't think the structural ambiguity is anything other than intentional. |
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lord_goodman
Posts: 6 |
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So this show makes pretty much all mistakes it possibly could.
The characters. It's never good when clothes have more character than the character. These designs are overly complicated garbage. None of them are cool in any way. They don't even fit the aesthetics of the world. Which for some stupid reason is based on Aztec design, but i'll get to that later. The characters are boring, blank slates, more defined by their clothes than personalities. The main is the worse offender, generic shonen hero 107, except he's even worse than that. They say he has all those shonen attributes, but hasn't displayed them. He's boring, the bunny is boring, the hat girl is boring. The world is a mess. It's almost insulting. Starting off in a big Aztec city. Two Aztec warriors getting ready to fight with traditional Aztec weapons, but suddenly we're faced with a bunch of white people in standard RPG-wear. I guess the Spanish killed the normal inhabitants and have just taken over their daily lives. Aztec themed architecture. European themed everything else. Asian themed lore. It just all seems forced together. The combat so far has been extremely underwhelming. For the main they just picked the most overly convoluted combat strategies. The bunny manages to summon some shiny sticks and as far as i can tell the other two people just have a gun and a sword. Boring, uninspired. The monsters they are fighting are some of the worst I've seen. There's a point where a monsters head just kind of disappears. a perfect straight line where the editor cut it away with his square select tool. Overall, its just bad. It's just boring. It's just pointless. That's really what this show is. A whole bunch of nothing. Its like staring off into space, mind blank. This show is pretty much that... But noisier. |
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Botan_TM
Posts: 18 |
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Definitely the best anime of the season.
Expect for those, who expected some shounen constant super looking fights, guys, this is a opposite thing, a mystery/psychological show with some action. |
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_Cyphon_
 Posts: 996 |
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There are currently two things that can be improved upon. One is animation and the other is pacing. I don't think I need to explain anything about the CG. The art style is good, but not so much the animation. The prison scene was good and so was the bomb tossing in episode 3, but everything else was sort of meh. And about the pacing.... well you have got to speed it up when you're three episodes in and you haven't touched upon the main mystery of the show which was included in its synopsis.
I like how the story has already led to a lot of theory crafting in here. Sadly for me the traitor was spoiled in the Youtube comment sections. It would've been great if the director told the audience that there was a possibility the TV series would deviate from the LN to prevent LN readers from spoiling the identity of the fake brave. Otherwise I really like this show. Especially Adlet. Calling it right now he's my favorite main character of the season. Yuu Otosaka right behind him. |
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