Forum - View topicThe Summer 2021 Preview Guide
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gumbaloom
Posts: 264 |
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Season Zero? Vol 1 and 2 of the main manga? I’ve just finished season zero and about to start on the main mangas |
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SHD
Posts: 1752 |
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Yes, season zero, specifically the Ai storyline. |
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gumbaloom
Posts: 264 |
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OH right in America it's 2 volumes right ?
In Japan it's a single Omnibus edition. spoiler[Have you noticed how they seem to have been playing up the stalker plotline a little ?. I mean yes it's a important part of what brings Sarasa and Ai together as friends but I think they've overdone it a little. Also the bit at the end of episode 2 is completely anime original. The bullimia storyline also made it's appearance - I hope it's give due difference considering how big of an issue that is. Funimation probably needs to put some warnings on these episodes that they contain scenes of a distressing nature. ] |
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SHD
Posts: 1752 |
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I don't know about the US, but in Japan it was originally released by Shueisha as two volumes (titled "Kabuki shoujo!") and that is the edition I have. The serialization continued at Hakusensha as "Kabuki shoujo!!" (one extra !), and the content of the original first two volumes were collected into "Season Zero" and released as an omnibus. ETA: oops, it's Kageki shoujo, of course. *facepalm*
I don't remember very well so you might be right, but also from what I can tell they're juggling the plots a bit, I suppose to make the story flow better when chopped up into 20 minute chunks. But anyway, my problem is not with the anime so far, it's spoiler[with the way the stalker plotline goes in the manga, specifically about how its various aspects play out, re: the stalker and his intentions and how he's not really a bad guy, and how we see Ai "overreacting" to some guys trying to pick her up, etc. I know the intention is showing how Ai's trauma and her feeling of being alone to deal with it have consumed her life and led her to internalize it and close herself up to the whole world in defence (or at least I hope that is the intention), but still the whole thing has an overtone of also chiding Ai for automatically assuming the worst about all men "just because" she was sexually assaulted by one. There's also the problem of how her uncle must have had at least a good hunch of what was happening, but didn't push the issue any further than what we've seen, which is treated as him having done enough... even though it's not really enough, if you have a suspicion that your niece is constantly in the company of a predator. It also treats the whole stalker issue in a way that I feel is really glib, taking a very serious issue re: creepy fans and stalkers (who are not just a problem for idols, by the way) and saying "see, he's kind of creepy but he didn't have bad intentions, so don't assume the worst about others"... From what I've seen so far I don't expect the anime to handle it differently, but one can hope.] Last edited by SHD on Sun Jul 18, 2021 11:50 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Hal14
 Posts: 660 Location: Heart of africa |
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@SHD
I haven't read the manga but that is the impression I got from how the last episode ended, and I also share your opinion. spoiler["Not all men are bad"] is a good message but the way it's being handled doesn't fill me with much hope: At first, spoiler[Ai is presented as being a bit unreasonable in her views on men, then we learn her trauma, then the stalker turns out to not be as bad as we've been led to think]. Basically, I'm not sure they are going to stick the landing especially if this is just a subplot. |
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Saeryen
 Posts: 880 |
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That's awesome! Thank you for covering one of my favorite anime! |
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SHD
Posts: 1752 |
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Yes, exactly. The message itself is perfectly fine, and I don't doubt for a second that the intentions behind it are genuinely good. But the context it's presented in makes it iffy at best. And it's the same with the otherwise also fine spoiler["don't close your heart, open up and let others in to help you heal" message, which is like... yes, great, but seeing Ai's backstory it comes across as blaming her for not having the "correct" reaction to the problems in her life (parental abandonment, sexual assault, not having people she feels genuinely safe and relaxed around except for one person who is not shown going out of his way to help her, etc).] Oh well, I hope the show won't linger too long, and we can move on to the better parts. |
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residentgrigo
 Posts: 2416 Location: Germany |
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Kaizoku Oujo will debut on August 14th and the Japanese premiere is next season so I can wrap this sorry season up for myself.
Star Wars: Visions was revealed to come out September 22th. A fully to mostly non-canon anthology. Anthologies are always a mixed bag but some shorts are destined to strike out and who knows if some aren´t prototype pilots. We need a better SW anime that the failed Resistance by Polygon but it can´t be blamed on them. May The Schwartz be with this one. Biohazard: Infinite Darkness has a pointless plot with a forced 3rd act and is the 2nd RE anime in a row that ends with a human villain who mutates into a Tyrant but not all is bad and all this nonsense is Capcom writing to a T. The CG animation is good, the bizarre adherence to military tactics is welcome and the ending kinda reveal-retcons why Leon has been such a dour guy in all his appearances since RE4 and the first anime set in 2005. TRICELL also cameos, lol. We´ll see if RE adaptations will get good one of these days but this was fine. About on the level of the 2nd anime entry. I just hope that female characters can stop being sidelined in the anime/manga. The next film needs to release as just that as Netflix or Capcom clearly sliced a film 4 in parts with this one. 6,5/10 Getter Robo Arc Studios usually try to make the first 2 episodes look like something but Arc already enters its budget slump from the word Gō and some of the scene transitions are comically bad. This is more importantly an adaptation of part 5 of 5 and none of the other parts were accurately adapted so even people who followed the previous anime adaptations will be lost. I´ll check back at the very end so see how this concludes as the original was unfinished due the mangaka passing away in 2003. Watch the admittedly chaotic 1998/99 Getter Robo: Armageddon OVAs instead. The passion is clearly there and the anime mostly sticks to the manga but This Ain't It, Chief. 5/10 Blue Period. debuts next season so it is automatically saved. Thank Zodd. |
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andramus
 Posts: 162 |
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Regarding Idaten Deities I'll likely re-post my thoughts on this for the review proper but I suspected that the assault at the end of episode one was going to get negative backlash for being tonally jarring. Personally I disagree for the sole reason that I believe violence, torture and murder are just as bad as sexual assault and rape and they had already been depicted in gory detail throughout the episode. Granted sexual violence is primarily directed at women and I can understand why anyone who has been a victim of that kind of violence or knows someone who has is more sensitive to depictions of it. Or perhaps they are just more empathetic than I am.
However my contention is that the entire episode was tonally jarring if you take any of the violence seriously. Which I do. Whilst sexual violence may be more prevalent in society there are many people who have been victims of other forms of violence or have had a friend, family member or acquaintance who was brutally murdered. Gun violence is especially prevalent in the US. As an Australian who has only tangentially been touched by gun violence I often wonder how people in the US who've lost friends or family members to gun violence feel about the casual depiction of it in many action franchises. We all have our unique sensitivities and I don't begrudge anyone being triggered by certain types of content in media. All that said I consume most of my media with a certain level of detachment and can enjoy shows that contain violence and sexual violence as long as it's not too "real" without being bothered by it. For me there's already a certain level of distance from the subject matter because it is animated and less "realistic". I almost never watch gory live action shows because I find the imagery too disturbing but I have watched a few horror animes that I've enjoyed. Blood-C did give me nightmares though. I enjoyed the first two episodes because the mythology and the characters intrigued me and I wasn't bothered by the wildly shifting tone as some others might be. I suppose it's because I've watched other animes that have that bizarre mix of tones before and acquired a bit of a taste for it. Dorohedoro springs to mind. It didn't have sexual violence but some of the other violence was pretty horrific and yet the series was darkly comedic. Last edited by andramus on Thu Jul 22, 2021 3:29 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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MarshalBanana
 Posts: 5307 |
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The Idaten Deities Know Only Peace is the only title that's really interested me this season, Another one was looking forward to Getter Robo Arc until i saw how bad the animation was. The Idaten Deities Know Only Peace has a really interesting art style, somewhat like Calafornia Crisis, and the animation looks good. Some great cuts of background animation.Also rare to see a Seinen in the battle genre.
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Sven Viking
Posts: 1038 |
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Just echoing some of the other people saying Night Head was better than they expected.
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11330 |
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I think I mostly enjoyed Idaten Slackers, and will stick with it, in great part because I love the art style which feels more like Trigger than MAPPA. It seems to be setting up an interesting story, and that included the rape scene, which was illustrative of the point that the Idaten aren't there to help people, even if people's desire to be saved is what spawns them.
However. They really shot themselves in the foot by having the nun wearing bikini panties and Clockworking the scene like it was a merry ballroom waltz. That made it seem either far too pretentious for its own good, or worse, that the viewer was being invited to smile at what a jolly good time the soldier boys were having and even find it sexy. Hellsing Ultimate could pull that evil-fun-loving-Nazis shit off, but Idaten? Not so much. |
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John the Dark Lord
Posts: 232 |
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I think the "Clockworking" as some have put it of the rape scene in Idaten was their weird attempt at censorship. In the manga, there was nothing of the sort, they just show the nun getting raped in all its graphic details. Which is kind of to be expected, since we are talking about a manga written by the creator of Interspecies Reviewers and artist of Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid. Maybe the staff just felt like getting creative about how they censored the scene?
Anyway, this manga is really weird about its nudity and sex. It goes for several chapters without a single panel of fanservice, then it delivers a bordeline-H scene, then goes back to no service at all for some more chapters. Leaves me scratching my head. |
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Daolong
Posts: 8 |
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I think Itaden handled the rape scene fairly well all things considered.
That said the "OMG rape, run for the hills" response is pretty interesting. This being a deal breaker for some people is perfectly understandable, and some sort of trigger warning would probably be a good idea, but... 1- it's anime 2- this is happening for real right now IRL (soldiers raping people, not mythical battles and such) 3 - everyone was fine with the entire premise of useless gods and evil humans causing a new apocalypse until the sex stuff It's like that south park episode where Butters takes a ninja star to the eye, but the only anyone cares about is naked Cartman. {Mod edit}: I edited your post because the first part was entirely crass and in poor taste. I also suggest you drop the snark and passive aggressive attitude. ~ Redbeard 101 |
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lossthief
ANN Reviewer
 Posts: 1388 |
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Curious what you're referring to since neither James or I were particularly scandalized by the episodes, and everyone else here has been doing their best to equivocate that particular scene. The issue wasn't that any of us were just outright offended by the existence of rape, but that the scene is largely at odds with everything that came before it in terms of tone and direction, and it acts as the final moments of an episode that was otherwise pure comedy and stakesless action involving immortal superpowered gods and faceless saturday morning cartoon level villains. Feels like your whole post is tilting at windmills. As for the idea that this sort of act happens in real life, thus nobody should take any issue with it being in an anime? That's entirely missing the point. Nobody is saying a piece of fiction should never include sexual violence. But just because a work CAN do something, doesn't mean it automatically does it well or in a way that achieves its purposes. The presumed goal of that scene is to shock the viewer into realizing there are darker implications to the world this show is set in. But because the actual world was 1) barely set up to begin with and 2) portrayed with an entirely comedic, cartoonish energy for the previous 20 minutes, it doesn't. Instead it just comes off as a head-scratching nonsequitor that clashes with everything that came before and immediately afterwards. Also, speaking frankly, it's pretty tedious to relitigate these ideas every time a show or film misuses a sensitive topic. |
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