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16bit Sensation: Another Layer (TV).


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Tony K.
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 26, 2023 12:29 pm Reply with quote


16bit Sensation: Another Layer (TV)

Source: Manga (ongoing @ 2 volumes, written by Misato Mitsumi [original concept], Tatsuki Amazuyu [original concept], Tamiki Wakaki, illustrated by Tamiki Wakaki)

Demographic:

Animation Studio: Studio Silver

Genres: comedy, drama, magic, science fiction

Themes: adult cast, bishoujo, otaku, time travel, video games, visual novels, workplace

Plot Summary: Konoha is a passionate bishōjo game fan who dreams of creating her own characters and games, but she's stuck in a menial job where her talents are wasted. This all changes when she's flung back in time to 1992, when bishōjo games as we know them were just starting out. Landing a job at upstart game company Alcohol Soft, Konoha has the chance to live her dream. There's just one problem: if she creates a hit game in the past, she might irrevocably change the present.

Air Date & Platform:
October 4, 2023 (Wednesday)
Available on: Crunchyroll

Episode Count / Runtime: 13 episodes
----------------------------------

Another workplace comedy. But the otaku tag has me feeling possible Genshiken vibes.


Last edited by Tony K. on Mon Jan 15, 2024 4:27 pm; edited 6 times in total
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smurky turkey



Joined: 30 Jan 2022
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 04, 2023 1:47 pm Reply with quote
That was a fun first episode. Konoha is a very fun mc in how energetic and passionate she is about making a bishoujo game with cute girls. She is sadly not able to do so at her very cheerful workplace that surely makes games that will sell well. Thanks to the game store grandma/goddess she gets her change in the past though. I love the charming presentation and many hidden and not so hidden game/anime that there are to find.
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Edjwald



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PostPosted: Wed Oct 04, 2023 6:33 pm Reply with quote
So my main reaction was "Huh? Kanon was a video game first?

My second reaction was...lessee...if I was back in 1992, what stocks would I invest in...

I agree that the time travel element is an odd thing to have neglected in the show description. I almost didn't watch it, but now that I did, I'll watch the next episode to see how the work place goes. I haven't seen one of these making-a-game-type shows in a while.

My list of shows I'm willing to give 3 episodes is getting a bit unwieldy, but the number of shows I've already committed to for the duration in my heart of hearts is pretty small. Of course, Friday and Saturday will be the days some of my fondest hopes drop.
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Blood-
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 05, 2023 7:02 am Reply with quote
Episode 1

One of the interesting things about the new season for me is that I've encountered a number of first episodes that make me think the show is basically "good", make me plan to watch some more... but don't necessarily sell me on the notion that I'll be around for the long haul. To put it another way, the type of first episodes I'm talking about aren't evoking a strong reaction, but they make me suspect I will get more engaged as the show goes on.

16bit falls into that category for me. I liked the first episode but it didn't grip me or make me think, "I'm following this to the end, for sure!" However, I also suspect I will end up feeling more enthused as the show goes on. We'll see.
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BalmungHHQ



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PostPosted: Fri Oct 06, 2023 3:27 pm Reply with quote
Amazing first episode! I truly loved it. From it portraying the reality of the bishoujo game market as it is now vs. it's glory days, to Konoha's pure love and enthusiasm for the medium. The many, many real games that got to be shown on-screen are a great reference to boot.

The episode worked well as a great setup to Konoha's character. Now that she's time leapt back to 1992 where the cast from the manga are going about their usual business... she has a chance encounter with Mamoru.

I'm excited to see how he and Konoha get along, as well as how she fits in with the rest of the gang, and what type of stuff they'll get up to making at the dawn of the 90's bishoujo game boom! Cool
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Edjwald



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PostPosted: Thu Oct 12, 2023 4:16 am Reply with quote
I was a little disappointed by the second episode. The struggles with primitive technology were sort of interesting, and I got a chuckle out of the idea that they were so desperate for a graphic artist that they would take an apparently raving homeless person in off the streets without batting an eye. The idea that gaming industry artists are so eccentric that she wasn't raising alarms or eyebrows was funny. But I found the MC's constant slapstick reactions starting to lose their humor value after being overused (IMHO). And the "chemistry" between her and the male lead seemed a bit forced, like the show was just going through the motions as per use. It wasn't bad, but I didn't like it as much as the first episode.
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Tony K.
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 12, 2023 11:13 am Reply with quote
Episode 02

Her slurred speech pattern started to grate on me, a little. I could take it in smaller doses, but there is such a thing as too much. The whole blurb on "having fun while making games" was nice and poignant. I feel its important for any artisan to love what they do, because that passion is what makes the overall creation more enjoyable. Would be nice to see them touch on the intricacies of designing and constructing the actual art and/or stories of these games.

The big twist, though, was that Meiko ended up back in the present like it was all a dream. I was under the impression she'd just be stuck in the past for a while, if not forever. But if she can go back and forth between the past and present, that's a whole other can of worms that could be great or disastrous (maybe a Butterfly Effect kind of thing).
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smurky turkey



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PostPosted: Mon Oct 16, 2023 11:13 am Reply with quote
Yeah, the mc is very energetic and in your face, but her passion is infectious. It was also interesting to see how all that future time experience is kind of useless due to a difference in available tools. It was interesting to see how much you can do with 15 colors though. Maybe they can get in depth with other aspects of development for their next game.

That is assuming there is a next game, since a fall brought her back to the future. I assume that it is not the end of the past adventures, so maybe she can indeed switch between time periods, which has the danger of making things very complicated and it does not seem to be that kind of show so far.
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 01, 2023 5:25 pm Reply with quote
Episode 4

I don't really get the protag of this show. Okay, so you've got proof that your time travelling is affecting things... games are disappearing. You wanna go back in time to work on games in an important way because your job in the present doesn't allow for that but because you are afraid you are changing the future, you're just gonna do menial tasks and limit your contact with people there? That makes no effing sense. You want to work on games you like in the past, but you can't. You like the people in the past but you can't really interact with them. So why are you going back to the past, you dumb bitch? I like the general premise of this show but I don't like how things are unfolding. I don't enjoy watching a protag who wants to do something not get to do it. That's not entertaining for me.
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Tony K.
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 01, 2023 8:46 pm Reply with quote
I think the irony of her wanting to fulfill her dream, but inadvertently inspiring other people is the point. She has the passion to wanna' make these bishie games, but then the others get into a mental rut, and she breaks them out of it with said passion, getting them to pursue their own dreams (the fan girl embracing the games, the developer guy going hardcore into PC-98 to try and make it famous). But whenever a dream (in this case, the other peoples') is "spiritually fulfilled" the time travel magic wears off, and she goes back to the future.

It feels like each game she got from the old lady takes her to the year the game was made, and before the protag can get settled to do her own thing, she ends up "accidentally" helping someone else. But because she's being so nice (and I'm pretty sure she doesn't even realize it), it's throwing time-wrenches into her original selfish plans, hence the back-and-forth time travel.
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 01, 2023 9:29 pm Reply with quote
That's an interesting take, Tony K. To tell you the truth, I hadn't noticed that the trigger for her returning to the present is when she helps somebody in the past fulfil a dream. I didn't notice that, but it makes sense. Once she pops back to the present, I'm curious how they are going to justify the 4th time jump. You can argue that when she did the 3rd one she didn't really have full prove that she was affecting the future, but she certainly knows it now.

Also, I agree the show is probably going for that "she inspires others to reach their dreams" thing but that doesn't mean I'm happy never seeing her get to do some real work on a game she loves.
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Tony K.
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 01, 2023 11:06 pm Reply with quote
Well, the manga is only at 2 volumes since 2016, so I'm gonna' go on a limb and guess it'll never achieve a nice long story run. But if I had to make a prediction about the anime's endgame, I could see her shenanigans either preserving Alcohol Soft long enough that they'll get famous and still exist in the future. Or even better, she'll have provided enough inspiration to key characters, that when she's in the future for good, Alcohol Soft will be around, will have most of the same crew, will be big enough of a company that it withstood all the Butterfly Effect mumbo jumbo, and she'll finally get to make her games using modern technology with the people she cares about most.

In this case, while she originally had a goal to attain, the journey itself might be the key to actually achieving it. Because her infectious passion touched the others, that kindness could eventually come back in the form of good karma to set up the perfect ending she keeps obsessing over. And she'll unknowingly become the bishoujo heroine in her own life, which will then be turned into a game. (*chef's kiss*)
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DuskyPredator



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PostPosted: Thu Nov 02, 2023 12:14 am Reply with quote
My big reaction from the recent episode about a console release would be to ask which console, because she as a modern gamer should know that could make a big difference, although she has never been the brightest on the differences of technology. It would be my understanding that a game studio hitching everything to a release on a console that might be doomed, could in turn end the company. No one was very familiar with Alcohol soft before, so she should be aware that something might kill it.

Also, I wouldn't think that her parts in the other game creations would have necessarily not exist. Specifically mentioning eroge, I wonder if it would have anything to do with her interactions with the girl at the store. Could she have done anything to affect the existence of eroge?
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smurky turkey



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PostPosted: Thu Nov 02, 2023 3:45 am Reply with quote
Tony K. wrote:
Well, the manga is only at 2 volumes since 2016, so I'm gonna' go on a limb and guess it'll never achieve a nice long story run. But if I had to make a prediction about the anime's endgame, I could see her shenanigans either preserving Alcohol Soft long enough that they'll get famous and still exist in the future. Or even better, she'll have provided enough inspiration to key characters, that when she's in the future for good, Alcohol Soft will be around, will have most of the same crew, will be big enough of a company that it withstood all the Butterfly Effect mumbo jumbo, and she'll finally get to make her games using modern technology with the people she cares about most.

In this case, while she originally had a goal to attain, the journey itself might be the key to actually achieving it. Because her infectious passion touched the others, that kindness could eventually come back in the form of good karma to set up the perfect ending she keeps obsessing over. And she'll unknowingly become the bishoujo heroine in her own life, which will then be turned into a game. (*chef's kiss*)

I like this take. Our plunky mc is great at showing off how passionate she is and that is indeed rubbing off on the people around her. She is also learning a lot of new/old techniques and technologies, thus getting more skilled and knowledgeable. That said, her ending up at the company she helped guide in the past many times so that it still exist while she has barely gotten any older in comparison to the crew would be a weird moment.
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DuskyPredator



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PostPosted: Thu Nov 30, 2023 5:10 am Reply with quote
Episode 9

Looks like she finally created some sort of dystopian future by making a game the way she wanted in 1999, changing Akihabara from geek central to some upper class thing.

Although, I will be a bit confused if it is something like her game was so successful that it changed the future, because I saw so many red flags in the game she was making. A bunch of her stuff looked so advanced for the time it must have caused bloat that may have not been fully accessible on the average customer's hardware. She just threw in a bunch of expensive extras to the game that would have made it even more expensive to buy, with things that may not have even been what the market was interested in.

She just said to other people on the team adding in things of their style with the explanation that the story will make it work, without really a consistent image. In general it just felt like she was saying to do a bunch of things without any understanding of why those things are the way she knows of. I am in no way a game maker, but I have watched a lot of game analysis, marketing and a lot of dissections of media. And so much that I watched up on will say that it doesn't matter how ahead of time something could be in so many places, if it can't focus on one or two core new things that need to be done right. And she just kept adding in stuff that she can't be sure would be possible for a little inexperienced studio who are only seeing the things for the first time.

Plus again the marketing, where a size of a project usually needs to have some level of interest, just to make it feasible. She seemed to have control in that too, without really much knowledge of what is able in the time period.
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