Forum - View topicThe Asterisk War (TV).
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Chagen46
 Posts: 4377 |
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Episode 2 has cemented this as a show I'll watch. For a generic battle harem, Asterisk is actually pretty damn good.
The ED in particular is amazing. Such a wonderfully somber song for an LN adaption, I was expecting some cheesy J-Pop/J-Rock. And I love that it's an English song with surprisingly decent pronunciation, you usually only see those on the more ambitious anime. |
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Raftina
 Posts: 3282 |
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Not quite: The fact that he is here on scholarship and has the official qualification for being among the top means that we may be spared the tedium of watching the protagonist upset the system with his supposedly superior but overlooked abilities. We have already seen an example of his official status making a difference: He is present to try for the best weapons because he's one of the best students, not because he happened to be there.
An underdog means that he is apparently weaker relative to his competition. Asterisk postulates a competition between 6 academies, out of which each academy has a top x list. What we have been told is that Ayato is stronger than #5 in his academy (Julis). Starting Ayato as one of the strongest in his academy means we can be spared the tedium of dealing class bullying and whispers of shock as "the weakest" takes a surprising win, but it has no implications about the hero's position in the competition. And then, of course, Asterisk postulates a tag-team competition. Even if Ayato is acknowledged as the strongest in the city, his personal combat prowess does not imply that he lacks obstacles. It simply means that we can be treated to the more interesting spectacle of problem solving rather than the tedium of a supposedly untalented person ramming his head against the problem repeatedly. As an aside, MacFail's relative physique is a shorthand for a person who overemphasizes his physical abilities to the detriment of technique. In series where the MacFail physique is standard, the MacFail relative physique is that of a giant--like in Fist of the North Star. |
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Alan45
 Village Elder Posts: 9853 Location: Virginia |
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@Raftina
I agree that this plays out a bit differently than the "branded inferior" ones, but it is really just a variation on a theme. In the inferior stories the person is usually thought to be a known quantity but is hiding some special prowess. In this variant the main character is an unknown quantity but appears harmless at best. This is what I meant by appearing average. There is likely still a couple of episodes while he establishes his place in the pecking order at school. They are not just going to put him in the top twelve based on someone's say so. Keep in mind that while we know he is superior that is not the same as the whole school knowing it. Claudia (the blond) knows it and the odd looking girl apparently from the hero's home town knows it. Julis probably suspects how powerful he is but can't be sure as the duel was stopped. MacFail is probably the type that thinks there is something wrong with the system, not that the MC is better than he is. After all, he still hasn't accepted that Julis is better than he is. Unless Claudia is supposed to represent the whole of the administration, there may be others in the know but we haven't met them yet. |
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WhiteHairGirls
 Posts: 4713 Location: New York City |
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The full song is out btw. |
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Stark700
 Posts: 11762 Location: Earth |
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Episode 3:
Ha, Ayato just ran like that. What a joke. Not that it should of been surprising but that could of been a golden opportunity. As for the episode, it felt slow. We'll probably get more action next time though. Also, Julis looked kinda cute on their "date". |
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HelloBucket
 Posts: 477 Location: Upstate New York |
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episode three
Julis's backstory came a bit sooner than I was expecting it to and actually the whole Ayato/Julis relationship is moving faster than I was expecting. I'm hoping that doesn't mean that they'll move that element to a point and then just leave it sitting there, spinning in circles. Sort of like how they solved giving Ayato a powerful weapon so early by damaging it before he could even use it. |
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Shikiari
 Posts: 462 Location: Wales |
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That ED is nice, but I really like the OP too.
Pretty good episode. I find it funny how they keep changing McDonalds ever so slightly in each different anime. Julis looks like a cross between Asuna Yuuki and Mikoto Misaka the more I see of her. The city also seems similar to 'Academy City' from Index. Ayato jumped off a building at the end... Even with improved athleticism, that's got to be risking it somewhat. |
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DuskyPredator
 Posts: 15485 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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Episode 3
Good old WcDonalds. So the show itself seems to be saying that angry guy is probably he culprit, which means that it probably be revealed that it is not him. |
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HaruhiToy
 Posts: 4118 |
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Just once I would like to seem them not to do the "joke" but instead have the male MC respond some other way than that. But in anime the options of A) positive response, B) positive response with some humor or serious talk or both, C) decline with grace, or D) act like a total panicked-out spaz -- Option D wins every time. Every Time. In anime there is no law of physics that cannot be trashed but this law cannot be. |
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Stark700
Posts: 11762 Location: Earth |
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Mm, this week's episode was pretty predictable imo with the heavy action. However, that ending....
Oh boy, Claudia has a bit of a darker side hmm? And anyways, I find that Ayato is getting stronger each episode. |
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FenixFiesta
Posts: 2581 |
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In presentation of super powers, sure, but as a character he is still pretty "ho-hum" average for such a set up. The episode was "predictable, but necessary" as it closes up the stalker incident and presents potential issues for the future. |
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HelloBucket
Posts: 477 Location: Upstate New York |
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episode four
They're continuing to build pretty hard and fast in one romantic direction, considering the harem vibes. Whatever happened to poor Lester in that big dust-up anyway? Also, what happened to Julis's leg wound, did she heal already? It seems like Ayato's head would have been right on it. |
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FenixFiesta
Posts: 2581 |
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Probably can be explained already in universe that everyone that has magical powers is super human already, which can also mean that even though Ayato's sister is still "missing" it doesn't necessarily mean she is dead if we can take that the implication that a super powered person stabbed with a "laser sword" isn't necessarily fatal (if Claudia's comment can be taken at face value). |
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HaruhiToy
Posts: 4118 |
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It is a little absurd for him to do the whole fight one handed, carrying Julius in a one-armed princess carry the whole time. Of course I would consider that reasonable payment but she wasn't helpless and he could just have easily set her down. Perhaps he just wanted to cop a feel as long as he could. |
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Raftina
Posts: 3282 |
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I thought it was rather obvious why he held onto her: He has some sort of complex about protecting her because of what happened with his sister. It it still up to the author to explore the problem in-depth and make us care, but he has sufficiently identified it as a problem--or motivation, if you prefer.
Back when episode 2 aired, I praised this series about not making us to through the charade of the alleged underdog by specifically recognizing the protagonist as a genius by the conventional scale, This episode is making me skeptical about that optimism--the limiter seems like it would make Ayato too similar to the alleged underdogs. I'll give the series a few more episodes to see how they use this limitation. Did the series go for Ayato x Julis already? The end of the episode felt like a confession in all but the specific words. I wonder what it will do with Saya and the sword loli in the preview. |
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