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EP. REVIEW: Re:CREATORS


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Nordhmmer



Joined: 11 Feb 2017
Posts: 1028
PostPosted: Sun May 21, 2017 11:32 am Reply with quote
@Desa


Sota is being portrayed as a normal 16 yr old student,who is naturally reticent about discussing,a close friend's suicide(am starting to think she may have been murdered).
He is suffering from a long list of guilty feelings,had he failed her,what could he have done and on.Also Sota convinced himself of not being good enough to realize his dreams.
To top it off Sota is now confronted with MUP,who is out to destroy the world,a being which he has a hand in creating.

Sota is being portrayed as a real person dealing with real emotions in an unreal setting,
not as some trope,my two cents.
Sota reminds me of young Mikiya Kokuto,the Ufotable Cafe easter egg brought this to mind.
In other words a ordinary,normal guy.
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FlowerAiko



Joined: 05 Apr 2017
Posts: 218
PostPosted: Sun May 21, 2017 11:34 am Reply with quote
I'd honestly like this show so much more if the protagonist wasn't as generic as he is (though that's subject to change during the run) and if Meteora did more than just be the Exposition Dumping Fairy.

I'm hoping once they finish sharing all of the background information via her they'll turn her into a real character.
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FilthyCasual



Joined: 01 Jun 2015
Posts: 2190
PostPosted: Sun May 21, 2017 11:37 am Reply with quote
Nordhmmer wrote:
Sota reminds me of young Mikiya Kokuto,the Ufotable Cafe easter egg brought this to mind.

No thirsty sister though, or harem of girls with emotional issues.

Also I'm curious as to whether Sota's writing block stems from. Maybe he feels like he didn't do a good enough job on designing Altair, thus getting Setsuna flamed and encouraging her suicide. I wonder if that sketch we saw a corner of back in episode 2 was actually Altair and she's hiding animal ears under her giant hat; last I recall of it, the eyes were off, though.
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Nordhmmer



Joined: 11 Feb 2017
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PostPosted: Sun May 21, 2017 12:11 pm Reply with quote
FilthyCasual wrote:


Also I'm curious as to whether Sota's writing block stems from. Maybe he feels like he didn't do a good enough job on designing Altair, thus getting Setsuna flamed and encouraging her suicide. I wonder if that sketch we saw a corner of back in episode 2 was actually Altair and she's hiding animal ears under her giant hat; last I recall of it, the eyes were off, though.


Was Setsuna "flamed"? I saw only one mild criticism,the rest seemed to be nothing but praise..

Mind,am leaning more towards her having been murdered vs a suicide.
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bassgs435



Joined: 21 Mar 2015
Posts: 273
PostPosted: Sun May 21, 2017 12:25 pm Reply with quote
Nordhmmer wrote:



Was Setsuna "flamed"? I saw only one mild criticism,the rest seemed to be nothing but praise..

Mind,am leaning more towards her having been murdered vs a suicide.

Apparently, the untranslated posts that show up in a brief flashback by Sota crticise the Princess' design for being traced. So he may be feeling guilty of giving Setsuna a traced design, her posting it as her character, and the criticism leading her to suicide.
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BodaciousSpacePirate
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Joined: 17 Apr 2015
Posts: 3017
PostPosted: Sun May 21, 2017 12:40 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
Watching Yuya and Rui engage in a “mutual cool” brofest afterwards was amusing but fitting, and I hope they run with that in future episodes.


Yeah, their "BROSBROSBROSBROS"-esque moment was my favorite part of the episode.
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DeTroyes



Joined: 30 May 2016
Posts: 520
PostPosted: Sun May 21, 2017 12:49 pm Reply with quote
I suspect Sota blames himself for Shimazaki's suicide. Perhaps they had some kind of disagreement that got out of hand, things were said that they didn't really mean, and then when Shimazaki died Sota believed he had pushed her over the (psychological) edge when he really didn't mean to. Now he feels shame for whats happened, especially now that its escalated in a way no one could have possibly foreseen, and just can't face admitting to his new-found friends that he may be the source of Altair's vendetta (or at least, so he believes).

As a corollary, I think Altair's true motivation is vengeance, trying to avenge Shimazaki's death on a world that would be so callous as to drive her to suicide.
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ximpalullaorg



Joined: 16 Jan 2007
Posts: 396
PostPosted: Sun May 21, 2017 2:04 pm Reply with quote
[quote="Nordhmmer"]
FilthyCasual wrote:


Was Setsuna "flamed"? I saw only one mild criticism,the rest seemed to be nothing but praise..

Mind,am leaning more towards her having been murdered vs a suicide.



The brief text from the fake 2ch boards that flashes in this episode (untranslated in the official sub) has comments accusing the "artist" of plagiarizing art and music (the actual term used is パクり), though there are some more doubtful posts.
Some speculate that this is what brought Setsuna to suicide.
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stilldemented



Joined: 16 May 2015
Posts: 232
PostPosted: Sun May 21, 2017 2:59 pm Reply with quote
From what I can tell, it's fair to assess that a lot of Sota's hesitation in sharing his artwork stems from a desperation to avoid criticism/backlash. He has seen what it can do to young artists such as Setsuna. Which would explain why every time someone urges him to share his work or follow his dreams, he puts his guard up.

And I figure a lot of that is why he is stewing on Altair's identity without telling his allies. It is Setsuna's creation and his artwork that is responsible for all of the death and destruction that is taking place. That would cause anyone to be a little hesitant to come forward. Because he would have to admit that by putting pen to paper, he has had an indirect hand in setting all of the current events in motion.

Talk about having the weight of the world on your shoulders.

That's the common thread that I've seen others fail to appreciate when it comes to the shock the character must be going through. Sota's got to take some time to wrap his head around it. He has never been the kind of character designed to take the bull by the horns. So it shouldn't really be expected of him. That all probably comes later, seeing as his story arc seems to be centering around facing this overwhelming fear. The fear that he has created a monster. And the fear that comes with being a creator--putting your work out there for the masses to judge as they see fit.

There's also been a lot of flak about the expository nature of the narrative thus far, but I'm hesitant to acknowledge any of it simply because the actual complexity of writing a story such as Re:Creators practically calls for all of it. You're making up nine different characters with fairly fleshed out backgrounds from nine different and distinct genres, inserting them into the real world and challenging their worldviews, and still making room to flesh out how the government would respond to such madness and giving perspective as to the process of creating fiction/art...that's all kinds of insane, and yet the show manages to be perfectly comprehensible. Shocked

All that said, Yuuya, Mamika, and Makagami all have an awesome presence and are all made of win. All my favorite characters. Wink


Last edited by stilldemented on Sun May 21, 2017 3:42 pm; edited 4 times in total
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Chrono1000





PostPosted: Sun May 21, 2017 3:29 pm Reply with quote
Good action scenes and a lot of character development in this episode. The characters are literally changing and Mamika has gone from naive magic girl to someone who seriously evaluated her own decisions. Also we are finally going to hear the details about Altair from Sota.

Desa wrote:
And it seems Re Creators has created the poster child of indecisive, dickless, wimps with Sota, since I guess you can't have all the anime genres without one (he even wears glasses to complete the trope). Everything he does in the recent episodes fills me with nothing but rage: Stop averting your gaze! Stop stuttering and complete your damn sentences! Goddamn!. Shinji-motherfvcking-Ikari had more spine and yes I'm referring to the real one.
Sota made a huge mistake by keeping secrets but he isn't a punk that gets into street fights each week. Sota is a shy nerdy guy that likes to draw. He also feels a lot of guilt regarding Setsuna's suicide.

Sota's hestitation to talk about Altair would be understandable if they were just looking for Altair but considering the Great Destruction could happen it does make him look bad. Than again the Great Destruction is only sometimes relevant and at the moment they seem more concerned with the murder of two people than planetary destruction.
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Nordhmmer



Joined: 11 Feb 2017
Posts: 1028
PostPosted: Sun May 21, 2017 3:46 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
quote="bassgs435"
Apparently, the untranslated posts that show up in a brief flashback by Sota crticise the Princess' design for being traced. So he may be feeling guilty of giving Setsuna a traced design, her posting it as her character, and the criticism leading her to suicide.



Thank you for the info.


Last edited by Nordhmmer on Sun May 21, 2017 8:41 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Mojave



Joined: 07 May 2017
Posts: 178
PostPosted: Sun May 21, 2017 5:34 pm Reply with quote
stilldemented wrote:
From what I can tell, it's fair to assess that a lot of Sota's hesitation in sharing his artwork stems from a desperation to avoid criticism/backlash. He has seen what it can do to young artists such as Setsuna. Which would explain why every time someone urges him to share his work or follow his dreams, he puts his guard up.

And I figure a lot of that is why he is stewing on Altair's identity without telling his allies. It is Setsuna's creation and his artwork that is responsible for all of the death and destruction that is taking place. That would cause anyone to be a little hesitant to come forward. Because he would have to admit that by putting pen to paper, he has had an indirect hand in setting all of the current events in motion.

Talk about having the weight of the world on your shoulders.

That's the common thread that I've seen others fail to appreciate when it comes to the shock the character must be going through. Sota's got to take some time to wrap his head around it. He has never been the kind of character designed to take the bull by the horns. So it shouldn't really be expected of him. That all probably comes later, seeing as his story arc seems to be centering around facing this overwhelming fear. The fear that he has created a monster. And the fear that comes with being a creator--putting your work out there for the masses to judge as they see fit.

There's also been a lot of flak about the expository nature of the narrative thus far, but I'm hesitant to acknowledge any of it simply because the actual complexity of writing a story such as Re:Creators practically calls for all of it. You're making up nine different characters with fairly fleshed out backgrounds from nine different and distinct genres, inserting them into the real world and challenging their worldviews, and still making room to flesh out how the government would respond to such madness and giving perspective as to the process of creating fiction/art...that's all kinds of insane, and yet the show manages to be perfectly comprehensible.



You pretty much summed up most of my thoughts on the fairly shallow criticism of Sota and all the exposition so far. I understand the hesitation some viewers have about Sota having some majorly important information and not sharing it with the rest of the protagonists yet, as many poorly-written works use the trope of a character needlessly withholding information from others as a plot device to artificially create tension. But even a cursory look into the character of Sota reveals that this isn't one of those instances, and that he has complex reasons for acting this way. Sota's behavior isn't poor writing, it's great writing, adding complex realism to his character. Same with all the exposition you mentioned, it's great writing creating multidimensional characters, not pointless boring exposition.
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7jaws7



Joined: 17 Aug 2013
Posts: 704
Location: New York State
PostPosted: Sun May 21, 2017 6:28 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
I would love to see cosplay of some characters from this series, especially Silesia, Magane (aka Evil Magic Girl), and Altair! Sadly, the series appears to be too new to have attracted that kind of attention yet.


I'm not into cosplay but depending on the degree of difficulty in putting those costumes together, it could mean the show is too new, or just not popular enough. I hope it's the former because it's going to take A LOT for me to enjoy a 2017 anime more this year.
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Key
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Joined: 03 Nov 2003
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PostPosted: Sun May 21, 2017 7:44 pm Reply with quote
stilldemented wrote:
That all probably comes later, seeing as his story arc seems to be centering around facing this overwhelming fear. The fear that he has created a monster. And the fear that comes with being a creator--putting your work out there for the masses to judge as they see fit.

Yeah, I definitely think there's a connection on those two points and I wouldn't wonder if Altair is meant to symbolize his fears (literally) come to life.
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Desa



Joined: 07 Mar 2015
Posts: 285
PostPosted: Sun May 21, 2017 7:47 pm Reply with quote
Nordhmmer wrote:
Sota is being portrayed as a normal 16 yr old student,who is naturally reticent about discussing,a close friend's suicide(am starting to think she may have been murdered).
He is suffering from a long list of guilty feelings,had he failed her,what could he have done and on.Also Sota convinced himself of not being good enough to realize his dreams.
To top it off Sota is now confronted with MUP,who is out to destroy the world,a being which he has a hand in creating.

Sota is being portrayed as a real person dealing with real emotions in an unreal setting,
not as some trope

I have a hard time buying this "realistic" angle. I have never encountered such an unbelievably milquetoast 16-year-old male in real life. More importantly I have never seen such a character in ANY OTHER fiction besides anime, like Chinese or Korean fiction. If this is a realistic portrayal of a common Japanese male teen, then I'd stand corrected. I have no idea what they're actually like over there. Regardless since I HAVE seen this type of character in other anime before, he is an anime trope.

Sota having a role in creating MUP is also dubious at this point. I think what he was trying to spit out at the end of the episode was "MUP is my FRIEND's creation". If he actually designed MUP either in art or in writing, he would have recognized her almost immediately when they met, and no, I'm not buying any "repressed guilt locking away memories" type nonsense. Besides he clearly had to wade through some old web content just to remember, which further supports the notion that he had minimal, if any role in MUP's creation other than perhaps an "inspirational" role, e.g. someone saw some of his prototype sketches and then got an idea, which resulted in MUP.

zztop wrote:
Well, Rui IS voiced by Amamiya Sora, a female VA.
But if you think he's feminine, wait till you see the lead for next season's Knights and Magic anime, Ernesti - voiced by Takahashi Rie

I was fully aware Rui's VA was female. Very importantly I didn't say he was feminine, I said he was "feminine sounding". Usually when a female seiyuu tries to voice a young boy they lower their voice considerably, but in Rui's case I hardly hear any effort in that regard, which creates quite a disconnect in the fact that we know he's male, and what he sounds like. Before Rui I never noticed this being so incongruous before, for example with characters like Shinji Ikari who could at least somewhat pass as prepubescent male.
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