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The Spring 2017 Anime Preview Guide

1. I thought some of the dialogue choices were a little strange. For example, at the beginning, when they first see the blue haired girl, the creatures in the crowd say she is disfeatured or whatever because she has no "fur," but then there is a toad dude standing right next to them who also has no fur, and as far as I could tell there wasn't any particular class distinction between the furry creatures and the toad/lizard type creatures. It's a minor thing, but it's the type of simple writing error that stands out to me because it indicates that someone sort of half-assed things. That kind of inconsistency can be an indication of things to come as well...

4. I won't re-open the harem discussion here. Once the first review posts for this show, I'll raise it there, but I did take note that although the "weapon girls" appear to be innocently presented at the moment, there are clearly some sexy times envisioned between our self-insert hero and at least blue haired girl and troll girl (the latter of whom repeatedly says she will "eat him" while playing her tongue about or otherwise putting forth cliche indications of arousal, and the former of whom blushes around our hero and is seen naked and blushing in the final shot of the "next episode" teaser).

5. The weapon girls were cute, but almost annoyingly so. Also, thus far, they don't seem to have been presented as being much of individuals.

ChibiKangaroo wrote:

1. I thought some of the dialogue choices were a little strange. For example, at the beginning, when they first see the blue haired girl, the creatures in the crowd say she is disfeatured or whatever because she has no "fur," but then there is a toad dude standing right next to them who also has no fur, and as far as I could tell there wasn't any particular class distinction between the furry creatures and the toad/lizard type creatures. It's a minor thing, but it's the type of simple writing error that stands out to me because it indicates that someone sort of half-assed things. That kind of inconsistency can be an indication of things to come as well...

Could be a translation issue, or could just be a generic term that's developed over time for people who don't have animal or goblinoid features. The latter seems plausible enough to me that I don't plan to fret over it.

So what? Two girls does not make a harem, so I hope you don't intend to rigorously pursue that angle unless there are clear indications of more than that being romantically interested in the MC. (Besides, despite all of the innuendo being tossed out, I do think that the "eat him" thing is also intended literally.)

I read "disfeatured" as "not having animal features." Once you see her hair, you'd expect fur. But she doesn't have any. Surprise! I mean, featureless was far more prominent in everyone's comments than the absence of fur that one guy mentioned.

Key wrote:

Could be a translation issue, or could just be a generic term that's developed over time for people who don't have animal or goblinoid features. The latter seems plausible enough to me that I don't plan to fret over it.

I considered this, but I'm sort of doubtful that it was translation. But if anyone has a definitive answer that would be good.

I could be overthinking this, but it can actually be argued to be a translation issue, though the issue I see isn't with the word "fur" (the original used 毛皮 kegawa, which means "pelt" or "fur"). 毛皮もねぇ奴 got translated as "someone without any fur". The particle も has the basic meaning of "too" or "also", but in negative phrases where it modifies only one word it acquires the meaning of "even" or "as much as". Either way it implies that other options may be present, while the negative version sets up the option that is mentioned as some sort of minimal requirement that hasn't been met. In other words, a more literal translation would be "someone who doesn't even have fur". The implication that fur is some sort of minimal standard of animal status can still feel a bit jarring, but it's at least understandable given the apparent prevalence of furry animals in the local population and the biases of the beastman who made the remark. He would likely see fur as the least unusual marker, so for him it's like "if you're not covered in feathers, slime, scales, a carapace or green skin, then you've gotta at least have fur like most of us".

What did the troll woman have that marked her as not-human? As far as I noticed, it was only her fangs when she smiled, but unless she's baring them all the time on the street, I don't know why people don't react the same to her or people like her.

ChibiKangaroo wrote:

1. I thought some of the dialogue choices were a little strange. For example, at the beginning, when they first see the blue haired girl, the creatures in the crowd say she is disfeatured or whatever because she has no "fur," but then there is a toad dude standing right next to them who also has no fur, and as far as I could tell there wasn't any particular class distinction between the furry creatures and the toad/lizard type creatures. It's a minor thing, but it's the type of simple writing error that stands out to me because it indicates that someone sort of half-assed things. That kind of inconsistency can be an indication of things to come as well...

Could be a translation issue, or could just be a generic term that's developed over time for people who don't have animal or goblinoid features. The latter seems plausible enough to me that I don't plan to fret over it.

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4. I won't re-open the harem discussion here. Once the first review posts for this show, I'll raise it there, but I did take note that although the "weapon girls" appear to be innocently presented at the moment, there are clearly some sexy times envisioned between our self-insert hero and at least blue haired girl and troll girl (the latter of whom repeatedly says she will "eat him" while playing her tongue about or otherwise putting forth cliche indications of arousal, and the former of whom blushes around our hero and is seen naked and blushing in the final shot of the "next episode" teaser).

So what? Two girls does not make a harem, so I hope you don't intend to rigorously pursue that angle unless there are clear indications of more than that being romantically interested in the MC. (Besides, despite all of the innuendo being tossed out, I do think that the "eat him" thing is also intended literally.)

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5. The weapon girls were cute, but almost annoyingly so. Also, thus far, they don't seem to have been presented as being much of individuals.

Can't agree here. Even though they've only acted as a group so far, each has shown a clear enough distinct personality.

Anyway, I'm going to be following it for at least a couple more episodes myself, so I'm sure will have further debates about it in the streaming review thread.

Speaking of Granblue Fantasy, I don't understand why it is that so many people (including some of the reviewers) always complain about mascot characters. It's a well established staple of the fantasy/RPG/adventure type story. Sometimes they are comic relief, but usually they act as a friend and conscience or otherwise serve in an advisory role to the main character. Sometimes, depending on the nature of the show, their role might expand into more of a guardian role, which I think is the best version of such characters. In general, I have absolutely no problem with these characters. In addition to their relationship to the main character, they tend to be cute in a way that makes them sort of like pets. The idea of a pet who is also your friend is basically every kid's dream come true, so yea I find them kind of fun and appealing in that way. There have occasionally been a mascot character who was so obnoxious or has a character design that is so offensively bad that they serve no purpose, but as long as they are cute I think they have met the minimum standard.

ChibiKangaroo wrote:

Speaking of Granblue Fantasy, I don't understand why it is that so many people (including some of the reviewers) always complain about mascot characters. It's a well established staple of the fantasy/RPG/adventure type story. Sometimes they are comic relief, but usually they act as a friend and conscience or otherwise serve in an advisory role to the main character. Sometimes, depending on the nature of the show, their role might expand into more of a guardian role, which I think is the best version of such characters. In general, I have absolutely no problem with these characters. In addition to their relationship to the main character, they tend to be cute in a way that makes them sort of like pets. The idea of a pet who is also your friend is basically every kid's dream come true, so yea I find them kind of fun and appealing in that way. There have occasionally been a mascot character who was so obnoxious or has a character design that is so offensively bad that they serve no purpose, but as long as they are cute I think they have met the minimum standard.

Given what else you get picky about, that you're tolerant here just flabbergasts me. But to each his own, I guess.