Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Megalobox
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Scion Drake
Posts: 941 |
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Uh so you spent several threads complaining about a show you don't like? My God I feel bad for those poor people on those threads. You wasted their damn time & valuable computer data that could have been used for something actually productive. So anyway about this show, its pretty damn awesome. Nice to have something this kind of epic these days. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11349 |
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He wasn't putting his heart into it at the beginning because he was scared. Until he got there, he was unprepared for the psychological effect of being gearless in the ring. Send a star quarterback out onto the field without his pads and even if his line defends him perfectly I guarantee you he won't perform as well without that sense of protection against tanks in full armor. I'm also not sure that he's ever felt afraid before, and it threw him and kept him from getting into his groove. His fights have all been fixed, so his focus was on being disgruntled that he couldn't fight to win. Now he was fighting on his own, unchoreographed, with real stakes on the line. He was fighting his own flight reflex more than his opponent. As for him not wanting to put in the effort, I don't know what to tell you. We got a mercifully brief training montage, but maybe you needed them to pad that out more? I've seen enough of those that the shorthand version was a blessing. And this is a boxing series - from Hitchcock's silent The Ring to Rocky, The Champ and Real Steel, not to mention Hajime no Ippo, cliches are just part of the package. 
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hattori300
Posts: 52 |
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Last edited by hattori300 on Tue May 01, 2018 8:34 am; edited 1 time in total |
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hattori300
Posts: 52 |
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The problem is, while the show is very content in TELLING me that information, it isnt doing a very good job SHOWING me that. Going back to episode 1, there is this perfect scene of Joe driving his bike into a cliff. That scene alone tells me a ton about the character and his drive. Ever since that episode tho, I only get the feeling that Joe doesnt understand the stakes and thinks he is already the best he can be. He got beat up by the world champion, yet I saw no attempt at getting better. Yeah i know there are training montages, but those arent preceeded by a moment of introspection or self reflection where Joe understands that while he is good, he's not good enough. On episode 4 he was shaking with fear, but that fear is demonstrated by the reaction of supporting characters, not from Joe himself. He is just a empty vessel for the coach and the kid, I have no idea how Joe feels about this whole situation. Excusing the cliches and bad writing by saying its a boxing series doesnt convince me at all. You can have the most cliche story of all time, but if the execution is there to support it, it has every chance of standing on its own. And right now, I feel like the character Joe is simply coasting on the cliches and nothing more. Im not asking from more montages and flashbacks and sappy storytelling. Im asking for the show to make me care for Joe. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11349 |
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Actually, the show didn't tell any of what I said, aside from his being afraid. I pieced together what I said from what they'd shown me. So, I dunno, maybe their showing is too subtle? If it's not working for you, then it's not, but I don't think that's the show's fault, or yours, just a mismatch of storytelling style and needs. It seems to be working just fine for plenty of others. If they changed it to meet your needs, then maybe it would stop working for others. Can't please everyone. |
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Merida
 Posts: 1945 |
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This could very well become my favourite show of the season if it wasn't for the boxing clichés. That "cliffhanger" had me
 so hard...the rest of the episode was pretty awesome and surprisingly deep, though.
But while the show is doing a great job of fleshing out the side characters, i'm starting to agree with the posters claiming that Joe has been the least interesting character so far. They are probably saving his backstory and character development for the big fights, but it would be nice if we got something else besides "he's cocky and really wants to fight Yuri again"... |
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hattori300
Posts: 52 |
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Thank you, I was starting to feel crazy for being the only one suggesting such a thing. |
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hattori300
Posts: 52 |
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Im sorry, but am i the only one who thought the conflict between Aragaki and the Coach was incredibly forced?
The guy puts the blame of going into war and losing his legs on the Coach just because he thought he was dead and didn't go out looking for him? Bullcrap. It helps a bit that Joe calls out his bullshit when they meet for the first time, but it's still such a contrived plot point created solely to force drama where there isnt one. This isnt cliche, its bad writing. Two very different things. And its such a simple thing to solve: Just make it so that when Aragaki came back from war he did meet up with Coach to resume his training, but for some reason he got denied that and now he wants revenge. Fuckin solved. Also, this was something bothering me from earlier episodes, but there is no instance of realizing that the Coach is actually an expert in Megalo Box. He's a deadbeat drunk who deals in corruption and gambling a moment, and a seasoned coach of Megalo Box the next. The impression you get from the first couple of episodes is that he's just a crook taking advantage of Joe's talent and that eventually Joe will leave him for something greater. Thats it. I can already see the counter argument: the drunk coach who has given up on life turning out to know his shit when a young upcoming talent asks for his help is one of the oldest cliches in sports fiction. Thats no excuse. You can have that cliche and still present the audience with the surprise of realizing the coach isnt just a sleasy criminal taking advantage of others and that there is more to him than initally thought.A cliche doesnt excuse the lack of information given to the viewers. A simple scene like Joe dismissing his advice and then being surprised by the Coach beating him in a match with said advice is such a simple yet effective trick to implant that into the mind of the viewer. But in this show's case he just so happens to know how to train Joe after being threathened by the mob boss. Ok. I really wanna like this show, but it's proving to be a hard task. It has the perfect story structure to take advantage of, a story that has been told so many times before, yet I feel so many missteps are being taken. Let's hope the next episode subverts those expectations.... |
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Joshua Zarate
Posts: 2061 |
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I never expected this show to get nothing but praise from the reviewer, but also receive a noticeable amount of negativity from the comments. It’s as if the reviews are being deliberately ignored by some people and I’m starting to wonder if some people are actually trying to enjoy it or simply messing with the people that do. I’m enjoying this show quite a bit and cliches are bound to happen, but the execution has been stellar as always, writing has been solid, and very few missteps. I’m starting to think nothing that happens in this show going forward will ever make them happy if they’re still finding ways to complain at this point. The complaints I see befuddle me so much that I don’t even know why some people still are trying to watch it and perhaps watch something else that they enjoy more.
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Merida
Posts: 1945 |
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^Any complaint, no matter how befuddling it might be to you, has more worth than your pointless "if your comments aren't full of praise, you obviously don't enjoy the show and should stop watching" post.
People can read reviews full of praise and disagree with (parts) of them, people can point out flaws and still enjoy a show, people can express opinions which are different from yours without the intention of "messing with you", this forums have been pretty dead lately, so we should welcome every bit of (civilized) discussion and not try to stifle it... |
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MF65
Posts: 90 |
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It's been five episodes, dude. If you still can't get into the show, maybe it's time to drop it. Unless you're one to hate-watch. But it honestly just looks like you're trying really hard to find any reasons to criticize megalobox... As for this episode, is it me or there were some editing problems? The flashback scenes didn't mesh well with the rest of the episode. It kinda broke my immersion in the story, not gonna lie. |
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H. Guderian
Posts: 1255 |
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I like everything around the fight in this episode, but the fight itself was somewhat of a letdown. "Oh wait we need to fight." They were doing such a good job building up to the fight, they probably should ave kept those few lackluster scenes saved for the next episode. Because you know next episode they're gonna have to rewalk some of this story anyways.
Enjoyable so far, I hope they don't feel the need to insert subpar preludes each time they do a story episode before a big fight. |
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Joshua Zarate
Posts: 2061 |
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@ Merida - When did I say people can’t? I never said people should stop watching, and I certainly never said it was obvious. I was only wondering because nobody was bringing the reviews up whenever someone had something to say about the show. It’s also entirely possible that people can mess with others who do enjoy some things because I’ve seen it happen before on the internet. If people aren’t deliberately doing so, then at this point, I was just saying that the show may not be for them after all. I posted my thoughts on the episode, so unless you thought that was pointless as well, I was just wondering if there could be more comments on this forum to at least put some life on here as well as trying to balance things out with positivity and negativity. I’m fine with disagreements, but it comes to a point where enough disagreeing with a show can make for a very unpleasant experience and thinking about whether one should keep watching or not.
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11349 |
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Yes, it's bs, and that was the point. He's looking to put the blame on someone, when it was no one's fault but the war's. And he's bitter because there wasn't even a place for him to come home to. He felt like Nanbu abandoned him because the gym had closed down (he puts it in terms of not looking for him, but that's not his real issue), without looking any deeper into why it closed. And "for some reason" is pretty vague, not to mention it kills a whole lot of the current plotline. If they meet up, what then is the compelling reason that causes Nanbu to spiral down the drain into the life he's in when we first meet him? Now we know he let everything go to hell out of grief and maybe some survivor guilt (even if he wasn't himself in the war), trying to forget by putting distance between himself and the gym that reminded him of his protege.
And then they built on that to show there was more to him than being a crooked manager. I'm not sure what you wanted here, someone to look astonished that he actually knows what he's doing? You're right there was no "Shock!" moment, but I prefer what we got - showing us he knows his stuff, leaving you to wonder for a bit why a guy like that is in the sewer fixing fights. Then we find that out too.
We got that in episode 3 (without Joe dissing him), though apparently not with as much surprise or as dramatic a beatdown as you wanted. But he did point out Joe's flaws and demonstrated to him why they'd get him in trouble. Then iirc we got to see Joe put that advice into action right away. I will agree that Joe needs a bit more development than he's gotten, but I've no doubt we'll get that. It seems to me that most of your complaints are down to the series not showing you as emphatically as you want, rather than it not showing you at all, because for the most part it has. And again, what seems to be a shortcoming to you is the very thing I like about it. |
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meiam
Posts: 3442 |
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I also found the conflict really forced, it wouldn't be a problem if Nanbu had called him out on it more, but he just seemed to agree with him. Why didn't Aragaki just call Nanbu or even look for him? Maybe Nanbu just moved his gym somewhere else, but nah just give up right away and blame him for everything. This wouldn't be so bad if there wasn't a much easier solution, just have them meet but Nanbu would tell him he couldn't take him on again because he couldn't box without his legs. Boom, problem solved, he'd have a real reason to blame Nanbu. I get the subtext and everything, but I think people shouldn't start writing between the lines if they can't even write in the lines.
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