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EP. REVIEW: The Reflection


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Tenebrae



Joined: 26 Apr 2008
Posts: 485
PostPosted: Wed Jul 26, 2017 11:52 am Reply with quote
The art style looked interesting and I liked it, however seeing it animated... or should I say not animated? This was especially evident during the battles which should have been the highlight of the episode. There was no punch in them, the aerial battle looked like them holding each others' hands and having a dainty little dance. At least not!Spiderman's fight with Skeletor had some good bits, but for the most part it all was just meh.
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Zhou-BR



Joined: 28 Feb 2008
Posts: 1419
PostPosted: Sat Jul 29, 2017 8:43 pm Reply with quote
Am I the only one who's really curious to find out who sings "Sky Show"? The credits only mention Trevor Horn, who did a great job making it sound like one of the many Yes songs he produced in the '80s, but I'd like to know who the vocalist is.

Edit: oh, it's Christopher Braide. Thanks, YouTube.


Last edited by Zhou-BR on Sun Jul 30, 2017 5:42 pm; edited 1 time in total
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scowler



Joined: 30 May 2009
Posts: 92
PostPosted: Sat Jul 29, 2017 9:08 pm Reply with quote
This reminds me of Re: Zero. You may recall, that also premiered with a double episode, and that the first episode alone was not enough to understand what the show was really about. If those two episodes had been separated by a week, we'd have all been complaining the first week about another ridiculous isekai show. The Reflection should have aired these two episodes back-to-back.
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meiam



Joined: 23 Jun 2013
Posts: 3442
PostPosted: Sat Jul 29, 2017 10:50 pm Reply with quote
Guess my taste are just way different, I though ep 2 was good but definitely digged ep 1 a lot more.

The story is nothing special, so much so that I don't feel like I learned anything that I didn't already know from episode 1 aside from I-guy backstory. The recap of the first episode was a bit too long and I kinda wished they said less, a bit too much "as you know" exposition and not enough trust in the audience to figure stuff out by themselves. The only things that I wish they talked more about they didn't despite having the perfect occasion to, fire girl (guy?) said everyone "forgot" about the victim but didn't actually explain what she meant then.

Also, can we please stop with the "people with power get bullied at school" it makes no [expletive] sense whatsoever.
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TymersRealm



Joined: 05 Jan 2017
Posts: 93
PostPosted: Sun Jul 30, 2017 1:11 pm Reply with quote
For starters, I'm still not a fan of the art design and some of the animation. That, I think, is gonna affect my overall scores as the series continues.
I'll also agree with @Scowler that it might of helped if eps 1&2 were run together.
It was cool seeing how X-On's fight got started and explained how X-On was able to finish off tangle-hoddie guy in ep 1.
I think The Reflection's story can be done in 12 episodes, but it's gonna be a tangled mess.
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Sahmbahdeh



Joined: 05 May 2015
Posts: 712
PostPosted: Sun Jul 30, 2017 1:49 pm Reply with quote
Wow, talk about a second episode being way better than the first. Whereas before I was merely intrigued by the art style and designs, now I'm genuinely invested. Also, I'm very interested that not only is Stan Lee cameo-ing (in a way), he seems to be an important recurring character, and a villain to boot. I am absolutely here for that.
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Hiroki not Takuya



Joined: 17 Apr 2012
Posts: 2501
PostPosted: Sun Jul 30, 2017 6:15 pm Reply with quote
scowler wrote:
This reminds me of Re: Zero. You may recall, that also premiered with a double episode, and that the first episode alone was not enough to understand what the show was really about...
I'd also mention The Saga of Tanya etc. but there is a big difference between The Reflection Ep1 that is being missed in comparing it to Re:Zero Ep1. In the latter, the viewer is given enough to understand what's happening, the characters involved and something of thier places and roles in the setting even in the first 5 min through subtle visual storytelling and well-crafted dialog.

At AX I saw almost 10 minutes of The Reflection Ep1 and there were no clues given in the visuals as to who these characters were or why they were fighting and in fact, there was no hint of a story and no meaningful dialog either. At the end, I knew nothing and that is just poor storytelling and a waste of time. I tried the front two-thirds of Ep1 last week and it only served to add stupidity to the vacuum with the silly "I-Guy" introduction and incomprehensible super-happy crowd reaction to the fight amid chants of "Sky Show". WTF?

Ep2 this week rectifies all that with meaningful dialog and a few telling visuals. They could easily have taken a few seconds of Ep1 and added to Ep2 and the result would have been 1000% better. Now I look forward to next week because Ep2 presented an understandable and interesting story with background and some mysteries to explore.
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zrnzle500



Joined: 04 Oct 2014
Posts: 3767
PostPosted: Sat Aug 05, 2017 11:40 pm Reply with quote
At first I thought it was lucky to get covered before it aired, but now I'm glad it did. The story is really picking up, and the fight scenes this episode looked much better. Once we got to the suburbs, the backgrounds were a lot better, though the scene where Eleanor has to escape her apartment catching on fire didn't look bad either.

Quote:
In all honesty, we don't know much of anything about this guy so far [...] X-On remains the most elusive (and least interesting) member of the cast [...] Outside of using his vague set of powers to fight off bad guys, X-On mostly remains in the background so far.


I wouldn't say he has a vague set of powers. His power is copying powers, as we saw in the first episode (and also in the promotional material). I don't know where the Spidey like grappling powers came from but the other powers were copied from previous enemies - the water(?) sword he got from the skull faced astronaut from the first/second episode and the expanded fist power he used to punch out of the mass of metal in the junkyard he got from the other guy he fought in the first/second episode. I don't know the exact limits of his powers - he seems to be able to copy more than one power at a time, though how many at once is unknown, and there doesn't seem to be any meaningful time limit on it - but I don't need to know the entirety of it yet. Unless he pulls a power out of his butt, it seems we will know what his powers are at any given moment so I can't really call it vague.
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Sahmbahdeh



Joined: 05 May 2015
Posts: 712
PostPosted: Sun Aug 06, 2017 10:51 am Reply with quote
And episode 3 is even better than the last. Lisa is definitely Best Girl, and the casual rapport between X-On and Eleanor is pretty engaging so far. I also have to echo the creativity and weirdness of some of the powers and character designs. Aqua-Astronaut from eps 1-2 is a given, but the mecha/toy manifestation power is interesting, and the fat guy who split in half and turned into a meat grinder was pretty WTF-inducing.

Also, about Lisa's powers, I have a suspicion (or maybe hope) that her power is actually the ability to transform and control inanimate objects in general, and the wheelchair was simply what she had the strongest emotional attachment to, so it transformed into a robot, to which she also had a strong attachment.
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11306
PostPosted: Mon Aug 07, 2017 5:08 am Reply with quote
Although I dropped this after the disastrous first episode, and nothing has convinced me to pick it back up again, I've still been reading the reviews. When I saw that part of this episode took place in Dayton, OH, I had to check it out, having grown up thereabouts.

I never in my life would have expected to see New Carlisle name-checked in an anime. Very Happy It was worth sitting through for that alone. Still not on board for the series though.
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Agent355



Joined: 12 Dec 2008
Posts: 5113
Location: Crackberry in hand, thumbs at the ready...
PostPosted: Fri Aug 11, 2017 2:09 am Reply with quote
I'm glad This Week in Anime covered this, because that intrigued me enough to want to check it out. I waited for Funi to dub the first ep, but then I went on Crunchy & watched the next 2--episodes 2 & 3 were better than ep1. Some thoughts:
Dub impressions:
--In the dub, the Japanese girls' conversation is kept in Japanese. I wonder if they'll maintain that with all their scenes the whole series?
--The line readings in the dub seem very slow paced. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it bugs me.
--I loved Ian's accent
--hey, Stan Lee!
General story impressions:
--Really like what they're going for with Ian. One-hit wonder has-been tries to revitalize his career by becoming Iron Man. I can dig it. But if he's trying to become famous, why is he going by I-Guy & doing the whole secret identity thing?
--I like X-On--he's got the whole "lone wolf forced to play nice with others" vibe. Can't wait till Eleanor gets him to talk more. But the real question is: what is he hiding behind the mask? He said that the more violent shadow affected power users tend to be more disfigured--is that what he's hiding?
--Independent, capable young woman in a wheelchair who's dad is a cop? Did anyone else think they were setting up Oracle? I like Lisa, I like what they've done with her, although I am wondering where she took off to at the end of the episode...
--So now we know that a person's powers are what they want or what they're emotionally connected to manifested, right? Eleanor wanted to run away, so she got teleportation, Lisa got her toy robot and the ability to fly in it--wonder what Russian Johnny Storm lady wanted?
--Does Eleanor work in NYC while she lives in Baltimore? That's not a commute you'd want to do on a regular basis! In any case, I want to learn more about her.
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TymersRealm



Joined: 05 Jan 2017
Posts: 93
PostPosted: Fri Aug 11, 2017 11:00 am Reply with quote
I'm a little more concerned if what @Agent355 said about the Dub of The Reflection is accurate.
Up thread I mentioned that I was concerned that The Reflection was gonna be used as a vehicle to promote the idol group involved. Now this could be just intentional, but it adds just a little bit to my concerns.
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Dop.L



Joined: 23 Mar 2007
Posts: 713
Location: London
PostPosted: Sun Aug 13, 2017 5:03 pm Reply with quote
What I want to know about the dub is does Trevor Horn play himself?
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TymersRealm



Joined: 05 Jan 2017
Posts: 93
PostPosted: Sun Aug 13, 2017 5:49 pm Reply with quote
Dop.L wrote:
What I want to know about the dub is does Trevor Horn play himself?

I wouldn't be surprised if he did.

I mentioned up thread that The Reflection's story is gonna be a tangled mess. I think I was right. I kinda like how the narrative is splitting between I-Guy and X-On/Eleanor/Lisa. But it also slows down the overall pace. And to be honest, I'm liking X-On/Eleanor/Lisa's story a bit better.
I'm figuring Wraith's group is giving I-Guy just enough fame and bringing just enough hope to people to crush it with a all-out take down of I-Guy. Something it seems they were maybe looking to use X-On for.
And now the clock is ticking on when the Idol group shows up...
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meiam



Joined: 23 Jun 2013
Posts: 3442
PostPosted: Sun Aug 13, 2017 6:59 pm Reply with quote
I really hope they don't spend too much time on the prejudice aspect, people with superpower is such an awful analogy for it that it just limit the story potential you could have if you actually explore the idea of people with superpower and it's a huge disservice to conversation on prejudice since they only really validate them (black person, not dangerous, person with superpower that can wipe out a city, dangerous).
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