Forum - View topicThis Week in Anime - Is WorldEnd (Suka Suka) Worth Watching?
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Merxamers
 Posts: 720 |
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So I guess it's time to nitpick the above-average series to death, huh?
WorldEnd is what I would call an "Anime Anime", one of those shows that despite its numerous problems (questionable plots or pacing, dumb or underwritten characters, unfortunate tropes, etc.), it has enough sincerity and positive points to leave me emotionally satisfied. I would count stuff like Fate/Stay Night and Charlotte in this category, too. So, will WorldEnd be remembered 5 years from now? Is it great? I'd say no to both. BUT, does every anime have to be? I found WorldEnd to be a comfortable watch with an interesting setting and sympathetic characters, that ended with an unsurprising but emotionally satisfying climax. It's not easy for media to make me feel emotional these days, so I'm giving credit where it's due. I'm not saying it's not fair to evaluate it critically, bc yeah, it has a lot of adaptation issues and some of the tropes were off putting. But if that's the only lens through which you look at this show, I think think you'll miss out on a fun one. |
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Angel M Cazares
 Posts: 5420 Location: Iscandar |
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I am not usually a big fan of otaku-oriented anime, but SukaSuka was a pleasant surprise. Around the middle of the show's run I was very fond of it, but the ending left me emotionally drained and disappointed because I wanted the main characters to have some happiness. I think Nick D. and Micchy are being too prude about the show's sexual grossness; it was tame. I wonder how they would react to a Cross Ange.
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ChibiKangaroo
 Posts: 2941 |
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This was another one of those shows that introduced some interesting ideas and then faltered a lot on execution. The story idea is kind of cool and the world that they are in seemed to open up a lot of possibilities for exploration. However, too much time was spent at the warehouse and/or playing off typical rom-com tropes for Wilhelm. The show seemed to introduce a very serious story but then didn't take it seriously. A lot of that might have been due to compressing things into a single season. I would have liked to see more of the girls solo stories and I think there should have been more scenes with Wilhelm and Ctholly working together and becoming friends to make their ultimate love story seem more earned and realistic. Instead, we got too many jarring scenes where Ctholly would seem to make sudden declarations of love that seemed to come out of nowhere. Also, the "massage" gag was just juvenile, and combined with the several overt voyeur fanservice shots of the various girls really hampered the show's ability to be serious in my mind.
It was a serviceable show and I am not dissatisfied that I watched it, but it was just one among many similarly serviceable otaku targeted shows. |
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Lemonchest
Posts: 1771 |
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Alternative SukaSuka title: How to train your waifu, spoiler[then kill her].
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Nordhmmer
Posts: 1028 |
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"It really needed a little structural rejiggering to work the way it wanted to. The heavyhanded writing's a holdover from the source material and imo acceptable for a work with that target audience, but those structural problems really dug its grave. Also, shitty lolicon jokes.' -Micchy
Being a fan of the light novel,along with SukaMoka that,really rings true. Being a prequel,SukaSuka spends time setting up foundation of Sukamoka's story. And this caused a need for some "structural rejiggering ". @ChibiKangaroo Willem's and Chtholly's backstories should have been stronger,the material is there,the author chose not to use it. Willem and his friends last battle should have been adapted,those chapters provide a better understanding of Willem and of the story's world. . |
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Chrono1000
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I thought WorldEnd was a good show and I would mention the two fanservice scenes are less than 1% of the show. I had hoped for a different ending though that is because spoiler[I personally dislike tragic endings].
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Random Name
Posts: 644 |
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Am I the only one that despises the styling of these articles?
I felt this show had a really strong start but my interest began to wane about half way through and it was a struggle to watch the last couple of episodes. The characters were likable enough but I just didn't find the story all that interesting nor do I feel it progressed all that much. The whole season felt like a build up to the second half of a story that I am never going to see. |
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Shiroi Hane
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 7580 Location: Wales |
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Sukasuka was released first, so it is not a prequel; Sukamoka is a sequel. |
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Calsolum
 Posts: 898 |
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honestly, i enjoyed the series overall. If I could go back in time to talk to my past self I would say "prepare yourself this one is gonna sting, in a good way".
And while the lolicon and rom-com stuff were... jarring at times they shouldn't be a dealbreaker. Maybe it's just that I've gotten used to this kinda stuff so I don't think it's a big deal. Nonetheless, I would want to see more, just hopefully better adapted if the issue was the translation from literary to video. |
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Vanadise
 Posts: 492 |
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I liked SukaSuka, but I didn't love it. I wanted to love it; I think the setting is really cool, some of the individual scenes are really good, and I liked some of the characters... but my complaints are basically the same as everybody else's: some of the writing was pretty bad, the chemistry between Willem and Ctholly never clicked for me, and it often seemed like much of the interesting action and development was happening off-screen. With better direction and writing it probably could've been a great series, but sadly, it was not.
I'd still recommend it to somebody who's looking for a decent fantasy series that isn't as bad as most light novel series are, but a few years from now I probably won't remember it as anything other than, "Yeah, that show was kinda nice." |
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zrnzle500
 Posts: 3767 |
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It was one of my favorite shows last season, and I really wanted it to be the best non-sequel of that season, but it wasn't quite as good as I had hoped it would be. Some of that was not metering my expectations as much as I usually do, but it did seem that some of the appeal of the LNs did not transfer into the anime. This show disillusioned me of the idea that having the original author as the lead writer for the anime would make for a good if not ideal adaptation. I'll see what happens with Apocrypha but it seems that even being as familiar with the original work as the original author is themselves is no substitute for experience in writing for anime. I don't think the strong emotional response the show evoked from me was unremarkable, but if they make more of the series - and I hope they do - I hope they get someone who knows how to write for anime to help or replace the author in the series composition position, as I said in the episode review thread.
Also, while the lolicon jokes wore quickly, they seem quaint by comparison to the ones in Hajimete no Gal. At least Willem was being falsely accused, while Minoru will be visited by police in the near future, if he continues as he does. |
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Nordhmmer
Posts: 1028 |
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@Shiroi Hane
SukaSuka was indeed published first but it is the prequel to SukaMoka,storywise. A long prologue. Last edited by Nordhmmer on Tue Aug 22, 2017 8:11 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Mad_Scientist
 SubscriberModerator  Posts: 3011 |
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I definitely liked SukaSuka more than either Nick or Micchy, but I can agree with them there were some structural issues. Shortly after the show started, I remember hearing some complaints about the anime adaption not doing the light novels justice, so out of curiosity I checked out some of the fan translation that was available.
And so I can indeed say that there were some very baffling decisions made in the adaption. which contributed to some but not all of the issues the anime had (some issues were in the light novels too). Ironically, the person who did the series composition for the anime is the writer of the light novels, but perhaps this is a case of him simply not having the experience to do a different medium properly? Writing an anime is rather different than writing a novel after all. The light novels contain a lot of inner monologue, as well as a frequent asides where various aspects of the world or backstory are highlighted. Stuff like this work better in a written form than in an anime, and so most of this was cut out or minimized heavily. Unfortunately, a lot of characterization and explanation was in this form, and the anime didn't really add anything to replace it. So some stuff in the anime just makes no sense, like Willem's bizarre initial reaction to the mayor's daughter in the infamous furry racism arc ("You're the type who'd start a war in the name of justice!" or something like that, remember?). Or why the furry racists were so incompetent, and why Willem beating them up solved the mayor's problem. Though the anime made some definite improvements in areas as well, so it's kind of a mixed bag. I think, more than anything, having seen both the anime and read portions of the light novels, I'm just super excited to see what this writer will come up with in the future. Because there is just so much good material in both, held back by execution issues in both, and if he can just refine his work a little he'll be able to make something truly great. I also really hope the final two volumes of SukaSuka get adapted. Or barring that, that the light novel gets licensed for an official English release. Because holy crap Volume 4. |
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ChibiKangaroo
Posts: 2941 |
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If the author's trajectory followed that of Reki Kawahara, then perhaps he would get a second shot at an anime adaptation that would be much superior but perform more poorly heh... Seriously, Reki's skills definitely leveled up for Accel World but that show tanked unfortunately while SAO continues with its complete world domination. But maybe things would be different here, I guess depending on how successful SukaSuka is financially.
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Nordhmmer
Posts: 1028 |
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@Mad_Scientist
Volume 4 does carry the novel,my two cents. To keep it simple and spoiler free,for anime viewers the 4th volume would be,well,a new story altogether. Perhaps a long OVA,if properly written,would do it justice. And would say yes there are issues with the novel,I feel there are a one or more points where the author contradicts his own story.Though those points were written while SukaSuka lived daily on the edge of cancellation . |
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