Forum - View topicCheating Craft (TV).
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Stark700
 Posts: 11762 Location: Earth |
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Cheating Craft (TV) Genres: action Themes: Plot Summary: In a world where people have been sorted since childhood by exams, only those who excel obtain happiness. L (Learning) Types – who prioritize study – and C (Cheating) Types – those who choose not to study to pass – will battle and team up in tests. C Type protagonist Mumei, and L Type heroine Kōi battle together to pass tests. ---------------------------------- Episode 1: A lot of exposition for the first episode about their school, students, system, etc. I find the part about the battling strange just because of the style. Still, I was somewhat entertained. Looks like this isn't a full length show though.(about half the standard length, 10-12 minutes) |
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DuskyPredator
 Posts: 15470 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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What is with this animation company, the short bit at the beginning of the episode first showed up with The Outcast, but this is the third show that has had it this season, the other two being Bloodivores and TO BE HERO (also short length). I suspected it earlier but the general Chinese setting of these anime seems to be from a connection of a company, apparently named Emon Animation Company, what I think is a Chinese company, I say think because there is almost no information on these guys. I can only guess that I think that they are making anime with the Chinese "sensibility" in mind. Although BLADE is credited as Animation Production for Cheating Craft.
Episode 1 On the positive side of comparing this to the others, I think that this has been the least offensive so far, although that might be partially attributed to way too much exposition for a half length episode. I read an article by someone who taught English in China, and the story that seems set up about a huge pressure to study and on tests seems to ring familiar to a few of the things in that article, so I can see where the story of this anime might be aiming at. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11368 |
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Episode 2
Hmm, the cheating might be more effective if they weren't shouting out the cheat names... I didn't understand why the proctor doesn't have the power to fail them when they cheat right in front of him, just because he couldn't physically stop them from doing it. Last week they had to knock them out cold so they couldn't observe the cheating. |
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Merida
 Posts: 1945 |
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I think the best way to approach this show is to switch off your brain as much as possible. The premise is utterly ridiculous, but it's surprisingly entertaining (and short enough not to become annoying) and i love the regular "don't try this at home, kids!" overlays. 
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11368 |
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Well, they spent so much time last week laying out the rules of this universe that it just seems fair to ask them to stick to them. I mean, I thought the whole premise was finding clever and creative and ridiculously over-the-top ways to cheat without getting caught. So while it's still entertaining, it kind of takes some of the fun out of it (not to mention the whole point), if it doesn't even matter if they're seen openly cheating.
I'm not even talking about the fantasy arena they were battling in - that was great (I was joking about shouting the cheat names). It was the splitting the paper thing at the end that bugged me. |
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DuskyPredator
Posts: 15470 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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I think that we are meant to take most of the battlefield area as symbolic, like they are not really talking out loud when they were using their techniques, it is more like they could communicate through understanding each other's techniques. The examiner was not really using some special technique that literally made them unable to move, instead he was simply watching really closely, him entering the battlefield meant that he too was aware of the secret battle. His dialogue during that time meant that he got pleasure out of not attacking them but leaving them hopelessly unable to do any actual cheating. The hole in it all seems to be when it returned to normal our main character was out of his seat while the examiner could see it the overt paralysed.
I like the girl main character, especially with her nerd glasses, interestingly she is voiced by Rie Kugimiya. I actually had an exam today, Company Law, a stressful two hours that I really felt the time limit. Watching the episode kind of helped me de-stress in a way. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11368 |
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Episode 4
Ok that was pretty good. The whole double entendre-filled conversation about pens reminded me of Pen Island.
Episode 5 Sharknado! Yeah, that one was pretty stupid. And they killed the talking, intelligent shark! 
Episode 6 I don't even... Wtf was that all about? Whose fever dream was that? |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11368 |
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Episode 7
If he spent all the time he's devoted to "studying the ancient texts" to learn his cheating craft, to studying the actual curriculum, he wouldn't need to cheat. |
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DuskyPredator
Posts: 15470 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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Episode 5
Intelligent shark examiner who can create sharknados and progressively acts to take over the world. Now that is jumping the shark and stupid, but gloriously so. I think that the term that comes to mind is "jumping the shark", but it was kind of hilarious for it. Episode 6 I kind of have no idea what actually just happened, but as it started to transition from some sort of reports of an incdent to someone being killed, to a random fights, A John Woo flick, and then a BL story, that was funny. The playing up of the absurdity is kind of working here. Episode 7 I like how Kou's title of Mysterious "Lady K" kept changing until it no longer had Lady K in it and became "Vitamin C". Like just the small detail that she clearly used her ID to get in there so there was no point in even having an alias. Also The school should seriously stopping putting cyborg brains in things. |
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DuskyPredator
Posts: 15470 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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Episode 10
Surprise love triangle. Mumei (main character) has been into Haku (innocent girl) for some time, although Kou (cousin) not been a fan of it but has grown a fan of yaoi pairs, yet apparently Haku is actually into Kou. The episode was being put as the girls episode, it even had the beetle join the group, but largely had the teacher complaining about comments on her age, the girls really stunting girl talk and avoiding the supposed makeover, and there were some shots of the guys. |
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DuskyPredator
Posts: 15470 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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Episode 12 (finale)
So, apparently their teacher is an alien who was going to destroy the planet by making the moon crash into it, this after her scenes in an earlier. Well being stupidly over the top has been some of its charm. Although the very end is weird with spoiler[Mumei apparently shot]. Rating it Decent (6/10), although it is not really good, but for what it is at half length, I think that it is worth some chuckles. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11368 |
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Yeah, dat ending... smh I guess after episode 6 though, I shouldn't have been too surprised. They never explained what the hell that was all about, and in the unlikely event of a second season of this, I'm sure they won't explain this either. The End was pretty definite though.
Overall I kinda liked it, I guess. I enjoyed episode 11, with the super seiyuu. Oh, Mary, you fickle little beetle. |
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