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EP. REVIEW: Princess Connect! Re:Dive Season 2


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Vaisaga



Joined: 07 Oct 2011
Posts: 13224
PostPosted: Tue Jan 18, 2022 3:00 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
I got Christina, geared her up, saw all her story—then promptly quit the game.


But Christmas Christina is coming at the end of this year!

The story of the game and the anime are quite different so it's worth checking out both of them. The characters are the same, but the situations are different. For example, in the anime Tsumugi has no problem with Yuuki, but in the game she initially hates him because he's close to Rei (who hasn't appeared in the anime yet). In the game guild houses are just places to meet up and they must find somewhere else to live (Kokkoro and Yuuki end up staying at Saren's orphanage) while the anime has them live in the guild house. The anime focuses on the Gourmet Guild's group activities, while the game has them operate separately most of the time.

It's funny seeing Christina show up in a Carmina episode because in the game spoiler[after she switches sides she goes "undercover" as Carmina's manager.]
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Electric Wooloo



Joined: 19 Aug 2020
Posts: 308
PostPosted: Tue Jan 18, 2022 5:36 pm Reply with quote
Vaisaga wrote:
spoiler[after she switches sides she goes "undercover" as Carmina's manager.]


spoiler[Yes, "undercover". Definitely not just a non-destructive way for her to get her urge for excitement out, not that that always stops her.]

I'm rather hopeful that they'll go and have "guild of the week" episodes while progressing the Peco/Kyaru conflict after this episode. I would be seriously disappointed if season 2 ended with no appearance at all from Caon.
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Covnam



Joined: 31 May 2005
Posts: 3629
PostPosted: Tue Jan 18, 2022 8:46 pm Reply with quote
Nice to see the quality of the episodes (both in terms of content and visuals) return. Not sure why they needed that rainbow thread when those costumes looked pretty normal...
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Kilgamayan



Joined: 25 Jul 2006
Posts: 275
Location: Location, Location.
PostPosted: Thu Jan 20, 2022 5:35 pm Reply with quote
Electric Wooloo wrote:
I'm rather hopeful that they'll go and have "guild of the week" episodes while progressing the Peco/Kyaru conflict after this episode. I would be seriously disappointed if season 2 ended with no appearance at all from Caon.


I'm also really hoping for this. Now that we've seen Carmina in particular and how they have their shit together, I am incredibly excited to see Monika and the four toddlers under her purview in Weißflügel flop around uselessly in complete contrast. Also, Anna still needs to make her TV debut!
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Electric Wooloo



Joined: 19 Aug 2020
Posts: 308
PostPosted: Tue Jan 25, 2022 11:53 pm Reply with quote
I have to say, Yuni's outlook this episode really irked me in a way I didn't expect.

Like I get it in principle, when learning something understanding the process is generally the actually important part. And if this was a math question I'd agree with her, ultimately the important part of answering the question is to learn the process by which you get to the answer.

But that kind of falls apart entirely in the real world. At the end of the episode Yuni is basically saying "I'm not going to try to figure out what is wrong with the world or why my very memories were apparently altered, because what's important is that I learned that something was wrong with the world."

It rings... intensely hollow to me.
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Dark Mac



Joined: 17 May 2008
Posts: 309
PostPosted: Thu Jan 27, 2022 11:01 am Reply with quote
I mean, it's not like she has any choice. Anything she learns will be erased from her memory.
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SrkSano



Joined: 05 Oct 2008
Posts: 205
PostPosted: Fri Jan 28, 2022 9:25 am Reply with quote
This episode for me worked on so many levels. GIven that Princess Connect is a video game, it was great to see the breaking of the fourth wall look like they are in a video game. Also with Princess Connect's connection to Dragalia Lost (the Princess Connect event in Dragalia Lost is going on right now), and that game's connection to Fire Emblem and Zelda (same currency, Rupees) you have other possible video games where the King and the villager's ghost came from.

Beyond that, you have people in real life who believe that we are all living in a virtual reality simulation. I don't believe that myself, but it's a nice notion to play with in fiction.

That's just my way of looking at it, but it's crafted in a way that I can so that was really cool for me. Strong candidate for best anime episode of the year in my book.


Last edited by SrkSano on Sun Jan 30, 2022 8:53 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Lin Liren



Joined: 11 Dec 2018
Posts: 77
PostPosted: Fri Jan 28, 2022 1:38 pm Reply with quote
Any other “Railgun” fan here got a chuckle out of the way Aoi snapped Karyl’s neck, which was done with the exact same twist (and crunching-sound Razz ) the Dorm Supervisor used on Kuroko? Razz and the icing on the cake of the snap making Karyl’s already-sore neck actually feel better afterwards had me in stitches. Wink
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MarshalBanana



Joined: 31 Aug 2014
Posts: 5296
PostPosted: Tue Feb 01, 2022 2:51 pm Reply with quote
While this in general has solid animation, I was very impressed by this weeks episode.
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Hades_ANI



Joined: 04 Apr 2017
Posts: 20
PostPosted: Tue Feb 01, 2022 3:28 pm Reply with quote
Let's do this the Mauler style:
>
Quote:
This episode has a simple plot:

yeah, no, as you say yourself later, there is way more to it. Honestly, I can sum up every plot in a sentence and tell you it was simple, but that doesn't make it true.
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Quote:
the episode ends up coming off as rather confusing.

up to this point no explanation at all, this wasn't a review, it was a setup to a review, with 115 words of 440 words (for the main body) in total.
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Part of this is due to the six new characters introduced this week. [...] That's the sum total of characterization we get for these new additions. We know nothing about their individual histories or personalities.

this doesn't make the plot confusing, how is this an explanation at all? Yes, it is a (possible) viable critic, but it doesn't make sense here at all. Not enough characterization makes the story simpler, not more confusing.
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Quote:
Then we get the shadow who looks like Kasumi—who seems as new to this whole “existence” thing as Yuuki was

How is this confusing? There is a new type of shadow introduced and at the end of the episode, it is easy to understand that this was a two parter. Are you afraid of mysteries?
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Quote:
we have Neneka who just kind of shows up and says she's inside the Golem

Again, a two parter. How about trying to think about how this could be connected to that new type of shadow, why the shadows want to get into the golem etc.
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Quote:
They're all blank slates, which robs the big battle of any sense of tension or emotional heft.

Please elaborate that more. Do you need a personal connection to every soldier in Lord of the rings? There are support characters filling up the ranks and we have Pecorine, the central figure with support from our other heroes. These "no-names" are not a central part of the fight.
And on the other hand, imagine you knew all these characters - do you want to tell me you would have been crying or being afraid that they could die? Do you think this is a show in which battles are full of tension? Battles are fun, they have big palettes of colors and no real serious implications. How can someone not having fun, waiting for the last "Princess Strike", the gigantic explosion, which suddenly gets stolen? This is like a song, in which you are not allowed to hear the last tone.
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Quote:
The other thing that makes the episode feel more confusing than the simple plot suggests is the fact that it brings up several big questions but offers no answers in return.

asking questions, but criticizing the show for being too simple. This doesn't make sense. There is so much going on in the background.
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we aren't really given enough information to even speculate as to her motives at this point.

So, and now someone wants a mystery show.
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all setup and no substance

what a pointless statement. Setup is substance. Setup implies there is material, that "set ups" more story. And story material is made up of substance.
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Quote:
There's no meaningful character development and no themes explored.

How about Karyl's reaction when she got the ring? How about the growing number of shadows attacking? How about the opening sequence you seemed to have forgotten entirely.

This is called a review, but it's more like an essay, not having time to discuss, forgetting plot points, filling up space with empty sentences and not even trying to understand media.
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Matros



Joined: 22 Feb 2021
Posts: 268
PostPosted: Tue Feb 01, 2022 7:27 pm Reply with quote
MarshalBanana wrote:
While this in general has solid animation, I was very impressed by this weeks episode.


Episodes like this happen once in a decade. Some of the industry's biggest animators worked on it including Arifumi Imai under a pen name. Apparently the production for this episode started in 2020.

Which makes this review even more painful. Episodes can be just dumb fun that are all about the spectacle.
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lucio542



Joined: 11 Apr 2015
Posts: 262
Location: Brasil
PostPosted: Tue Feb 01, 2022 8:01 pm Reply with quote
I rarely coment on reviews but dude this "Review" of episode 4 was one of the worst i have ever seen on this site, don't even need a text since the other guy above explained everything.
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Electric Wooloo



Joined: 19 Aug 2020
Posts: 308
PostPosted: Tue Feb 01, 2022 8:05 pm Reply with quote
Matros wrote:
MarshalBanana wrote:
While this in general has solid animation, I was very impressed by this weeks episode.


Episodes like this happen once in a decade. Some of the industry's biggest animators worked on it including Arifumi Imai under a pen name. Apparently the production for this episode started in 2020.

Which makes this review even more painful. Episodes can be just dumb fun that are all about the spectacle.


Yeah, even though I can understand someone being a bit irked at Caon just being eye candy for game players that didn't seem to be a problem the last 2 episodes for the reviewer. And it kind of boggles the mind how that on an obvious 2-part episode with a cliffhanger one of the problems is there being too many mysteries. That's how cliffhangers work.
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Todd_Harry08



Joined: 24 Sep 2019
Posts: 169
PostPosted: Wed Feb 02, 2022 5:15 am Reply with quote
Matros wrote:
MarshalBanana wrote:
While this in general has solid animation, I was very impressed by this weeks episode.


Episodes like this happen once in a decade. Some of the industry's biggest animators worked on it including Arifumi Imai under a pen name. Apparently the production for this episode started in 2020.

Which makes this review even more painful. Episodes can be just dumb fun that are all about the spectacle.


Nope it started last September and imai wasn't in this episode lol
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WANNFH



Joined: 13 Mar 2011
Posts: 1679
PostPosted: Wed Feb 02, 2022 6:32 pm Reply with quote
Todd_Harry08 wrote:
Nope it started last September and imai wasn't in this episode lol
He was, actually - like Matros said, he worked under pen name.
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