Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Orange
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Hameyadea
 Posts: 3679 |
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I just thought of something, and I hope that it isn't the case, but to me it seems that Naho's inability (unwillingness?) to read the letter more than a day or two ahead, and carrying it with her, is a contrived character trait that is meant to set up an Accidental Reveal of the letter to Kakeru.
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Angel M Cazares
 Posts: 5424 Location: Iscandar |
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After 8 episodes I feel confident in saying that Orange will not be a memorable anime for me. I really wanted to like it, but I am not connecting with it. If it had been only 10 episodes long its frequent glacial pace will probably not be an issue. Heck, I would have welcomed typical otaku hijinks (like an accidental boob grab or a panty shot) to add some much needed spice.
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DerekL1963
 Subscriber Posts: 1113 Location: Puget Sound |
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I loved the manga... and really wanted to love the anime... but they are making it so hard to. The production values are steadily declining, and they re-wrote one of the major scenes in the manga to have all the impact of a marshmallow.
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TheRahi00
 Posts: 154 |
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Literally every scene had off-models and that's sadly not even a joke. This was really extreme.
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Inopethflames
Posts: 34 |
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I like this show and I don't notice or pay attention to "off models" or anything like that, but naho has to be the most infuriating main character I've ever seen in any medium. I know Japan has a more modest culture, but she has a letter from the future detailing events and she knows her friend will die unless she changes things, and she is still terrified to do anything hardly, she can't hardly even speak to kakeru or share an umbrella with him.
I like the cast around the main 2 better than them, that's a problem. I feel like this would have been a better show as just a plain slice of life with a non 'mystical' main component, because most are just likeable kids and that would be enough. Or go more sci-fi or at least have more consequences arise from changing the future as they seem to be doing. Also this series seems like it should have more emotional moments, but I don't remember any lately. If the letter/changing future aspect had some tragic occurrences along the way then that could lead to really sad and or shocking moments. Steins;gate basically. Unfortunately this show isn't anywhere near that and it just feels like it's missed the opportunity to be a really great show instead of just decent. I think depending how this wraps up, it looks like it would've been better in 8 episodes, trim the repetitive naho indecisiveness and speed up the story a little. |
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Zhou-BR
Posts: 1422 |
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Other than the occasional Naho close-up (they must have had a good key animator who was only in charge of those), this episode really had the most QUALITY yet, and it was so distracting I could barely pay attention to the dialogue at times. I wonder if they'll bother redrawing this for the Blu-ray.
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yuna49
 Posts: 3804 |
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The longer I watch orange the more I wonder how autobiographical it is. A search for the manga-ka, Takano Ichigo, brings up hardly anything. She doesn't have a Wikipedia page, and there's little personal information here or at MAL. Mangaupdates has the usual array of useless facts like her blood type and zodiacal sign. So maybe Naho shares some (many?) of her creator's personality traits or those of one of Takano-san's adolescent friends.
I sometimes feel that Takano-san is intentionally throwing out a life raft to nice but stultified Japanese girls who see themselves in Naho. Despite her wallflower personality Naho had managed to build up a circle of friends before Kakeru's arrival. Still I doubt she shared much with them even before his arrival and the letters. Last edited by yuna49 on Mon Aug 29, 2016 10:35 am; edited 4 times in total |
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HeeroTX
Posts: 2046 Location: Austin, TX |
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So yeah, the off-model was TERRIBLE this episode, the friends got the worst efforts of the "B team". Between some of the stuff going on and comments from the podcast, I finished out with the manga spoiler[I HATE this show! So basically you have a guy that essentially (unintentionally, granted) blackmails his friends with his suicide. This is the problem with the "time travel" gimmick, you have Suwa who CLEARLY is in love with Naho, who in the original thread actually expressed that to her (BEFORE Kakeru died) and eventually married and had a kid with her. But now CAN'T do that because if he does, Kakeru "will kill himself". You're left with a "SOMEONE has to 'lose'" scenario because of how selfish a choice suicide is, and no one ever calls that out, even in just an inner monologue. Instead we smile and laugh because at least in SOME universe, Suwa gets to be happy(ish) and in this one we all sacrifice whatever so that Kakeru doesn't throw his life away.]
spoiler[The ONLY upside is that Hagita at least CONSIDERS the overall "harm" they may be doing, noting that originally the other class was supposed to win, but that's hand-waved away as "not important". Considering the endpoint, the Suwa+Naho future should have NEVER been written, it only makes the final end point depressing and adds really NOTHING to what's going on considering that Naho is oblivious and Kakeru does little more than pay lip service to it.] spoiler[And if the author really wanted to tell a "suicide" story, then the time travel gimmick kills it IMO. Either it should be about coming to terms with it (which the time travel is meant to prevent) or it should be about trying to HONESTLY deal with a suicidal person, which these people AREN'T. They know, when, where & how it will happen and there's ZERO indication that they actually REALLY understand Kakeru any better at the end, they simply have "cheats" from their letters. EVERY indication is that without the "cheats" Kakeru would still have died because no one REALLY knows what Kakeru is thinking or feeling at any given time.] |
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Buster-Kun
Posts: 1 |
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For some reason, I remember the production values in the first episode being pretty high. Am I just remembering that wrong? What the hell happened?
These recent episodes have been really, realllly hard to watch. The off-model character shots are inexcusable! Sometimes they don't even look at all like the characters, especially the facial features and expressions. The animation seems to have sharply declined too, so it's even more noticeable when some characters literally are drawn with the details of nothing more than a quick doodle. I mean, if they're going to have a ton of minimally animated shots and lip flapping, couldn't they have at least tried to make the character designs and art look attractive? It's a bummer, because I really felt a lot of potential from this show  (first post, btw!)
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killjoy_the
 Posts: 2459 |
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I thought it was actually funny how spoiler[for all the support they've given Kakeru, it's really Hagita who saves the day because he just outright negated the means of suicide Kakeru had.] |
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SkerllyF
Posts: 244 |
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I stopped watching this series at episode 3 because I think that I am going to watch another Melodrama like Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso, when the drama should be portrayed realistically, instead of cliche and appealing to your feelings. Is it another melodrama but worse?
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DerekL1963
Subscriber Posts: 1113 Location: Puget Sound |
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Watch it and find out. |
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Seishin Jinrou
 Posts: 29 |
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I thought it was interesting at the end how Naho pointed out that the letters aren't always right about what they should do. I'd like to see that expanded upon. Their 16 year old selves are surely better at understanding and supporting Kakeru (now that they have the info from the future) then their 26 year old selves when it comes to specifics. Just like how the future Naho had absolutely no understanding of or empathy for her younger self's piercing insecurities and anxieties but thought that she could just 'do this instead!'
Since everyone has letters the show isn't really focused on Naho anymore, which is good IMO. It is touching how they were able to turn that day around for Kakeru. Still three episodes left. The ending doesn't have to be happy, but it better be meaningful and interesting with some real awareness and insight on the part of the characters. |
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Punch Drunk Marc
Posts: 1742 |
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I swear the longer this show goes on the more it seems to me that Suwa likes Kakeru more than Naho. I know he's supposed to be cupid that supposedly puts them together, but for the most part he's the one that Kakeru to open up about his mom and he was the one that brought his depression to the forefront for Naho.
He's been the catalyst for most of Kakeru's positive development it seems. Naho was mostly there to react to it and occasionally do things here and there. I know I'm reading a lot into it, but that's just the vibe I get. |
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HeeroTX
Posts: 2046 Location: Austin, TX |
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The longer the series goes, the more I dislike both Kakeru AND Naho, they're both pretty selfish/self-centered people. That's my biggest issue with the whole suicide issue/time travel gimmick, the main cast doesn't seem to be using their knowledge to REALLY push to KNOW Kakeru (any better than they did before), they're mostly just using the letters as a "checklist" to note major events and "fix" them. It would've been better if there had just been ONE letter right at the beginning that ONLY said "Kakeru is suicidal" and the story was about really getting to know him so they could use that minimal knowledge as impetus to get to KNOW him. Instead we get "on New Years I misspoke and made him mad" ok, let's not do that. Oops, 11 episodes in and I STILL don't know what he's dealing with or how he feels or how anyone else feels. DRAMA!!!!! |
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