April 14th, 2013
Sword Art Online: Review and Thoughts on the Present State of the Anime Fanbase
Anime Relations: Sword Art Online, Shinsekai yori
Sword Art Online. I'm sure you all know about it by this point, so I'm not going to go into any details about it so as to familiarize you with it like I would most other anime I would write about. By far the most popular title in 2012, if not the past 5 or 6 years. I've talked to many of my NON-anime watching friends who tell me they have seen SAO. Of course with this kind of popularity usually comes extreme opinions, and SAO is no exception. In fact, I think SAO is a great exhibit that can be used to showcase the anime community and what they have become.
Sword Art Online is such an extreme example of diverging opinions that you almost never see people rating it anything between 4-9, it's always 10, 10, 2, 1, 3, 10, 2, 1, 1, 1... etc. For some reason, all those who would normally give it a mediocre rating, instead decide that they hate the show. Why? Because so many other people love it, and they can't comprehend that. They then notice that many of the people who love it are those also love Naruto, Bleach, Fairy Tail, and other mainstream anime. SAO then gets branded as a mainstream anime, and gets shit from a whole chunk of the community. They go into it with a closed mind, and after coming out they only see what they expect to see and proceed to rant about how terrible every single aspect of the show is. And such are the ways of the anime community, which unfortunately in everywhere except Japan, seems to follow whatever ideology /a/ tells them to.
In case you haven't realized, I am of neither factions. I am neither a rabid fanboy, nor someone who thinks the show is absolute shit for no justified reason. I think it is, at best, mediocre. I also think, at worst, it is mediocre. To me, this anime represents a couple things: a) It epitomizes mediocrity, and b) The convoluted demographic anime is now aiming for. There is nothing particularly good about it, but on the flip-side, there's nothing particularly bad. The story is kind of well written, but has many flaws. The characters are for the most part pretty flawed and poorly written, but not so much that it detracts from the show. They certainly don't add anything, but they don't detract either. The art looks quite nice; some of the landscapes are beautiful. However, I felt that the action sequences left some to be desired. I would like to say that the sound was great, as it featured some solid voice acting along with an OST composed by Kajiura Yuki (!!!), yet there was nothing for Kajiura's tracks to highlight, and none of them stuck out particularly. So while the sound helped set the overall tone of the anime, much like the rest of the show, nothing stood out.
Yet, with all that being said, without question, it is an enjoyable watch. For those of you debating whether or not to watch it, I'd suggest watching the first few episodes and then deciding if you'd want to continue. I realize that this is what most people will suggest when watching ANY anime, but for many shows the first couple episodes might not give you enough. You might end up dropping a show that could have become your favorite. A personal example for me would be Shinsekai Yori. Honestly, I found the first couple episodes kinda boring, and forgot to watch the next couple. It was only when I picked it back up on a whim a few weeks later did I realize that this was something more than what I had thought it was. Shinsekai Yori is now one of my favorite anime, but if I were to have done the "3 episode trial" with it, I probably never would have finished it. With SAO, this is not the case. The first 3 episodes are a wonderful example of what is to come in the rest of the series, as there is never really anything more than those three episodes, but nothing much less either.
SAO is split up into two overriding arcs, each taking place in two different video games. Sword Art Online, and Alfheim Online respectively. Many people bicker about which arc was better, so I'll share my thoughts on this as well. I thought the first arc, SAO, was much better than the second arc. It wasn't really as much about what the first arc did right, but more what the second arc did wrong. The plot for the second arc seemed to be mainly be a feeble excuse to get them back in some different game. While the plot for the first arc seemed to be relevant and remained interesting throughout, the second arc seemed to be mostly a rehash, where everything that made the first arc work taken out. Without the plot points that made SAO work, they had to create new ones. And so a much more superficial plot was created, complete with some good ol' cousinly incest. For the most part, the second arc just bugged me. It however, through some miraculous force of will, remained entertaining.
The last thing I want to leave you with is the thought that when it all boils down, all you're doing is watching a 16 year old kid play video games. Honestly, you can do that on youtube so much more easily, and instead of 25 episodes there are tens of thousands. I personally don't enjoy watching people play video games, so my enjoyment of the show was cut a bit as a result. If I were rating this on a bell curve (Which I normally don't, but for the sake of this review, I will), I'd give SAO a 5/10. Not a particularly great story, feeble characters, relatively nice art, and one of Kajiura's poorer works. Yet all together, somehow creates something of an enjoyable experience.
tl;dr SAO was okay, and people need to learn to calm their tits. 5/10
Sword Art Online is such an extreme example of diverging opinions that you almost never see people rating it anything between 4-9, it's always 10, 10, 2, 1, 3, 10, 2, 1, 1, 1... etc. For some reason, all those who would normally give it a mediocre rating, instead decide that they hate the show. Why? Because so many other people love it, and they can't comprehend that. They then notice that many of the people who love it are those also love Naruto, Bleach, Fairy Tail, and other mainstream anime. SAO then gets branded as a mainstream anime, and gets shit from a whole chunk of the community. They go into it with a closed mind, and after coming out they only see what they expect to see and proceed to rant about how terrible every single aspect of the show is. And such are the ways of the anime community, which unfortunately in everywhere except Japan, seems to follow whatever ideology /a/ tells them to.
In case you haven't realized, I am of neither factions. I am neither a rabid fanboy, nor someone who thinks the show is absolute shit for no justified reason. I think it is, at best, mediocre. I also think, at worst, it is mediocre. To me, this anime represents a couple things: a) It epitomizes mediocrity, and b) The convoluted demographic anime is now aiming for. There is nothing particularly good about it, but on the flip-side, there's nothing particularly bad. The story is kind of well written, but has many flaws. The characters are for the most part pretty flawed and poorly written, but not so much that it detracts from the show. They certainly don't add anything, but they don't detract either. The art looks quite nice; some of the landscapes are beautiful. However, I felt that the action sequences left some to be desired. I would like to say that the sound was great, as it featured some solid voice acting along with an OST composed by Kajiura Yuki (!!!), yet there was nothing for Kajiura's tracks to highlight, and none of them stuck out particularly. So while the sound helped set the overall tone of the anime, much like the rest of the show, nothing stood out.
Yet, with all that being said, without question, it is an enjoyable watch. For those of you debating whether or not to watch it, I'd suggest watching the first few episodes and then deciding if you'd want to continue. I realize that this is what most people will suggest when watching ANY anime, but for many shows the first couple episodes might not give you enough. You might end up dropping a show that could have become your favorite. A personal example for me would be Shinsekai Yori. Honestly, I found the first couple episodes kinda boring, and forgot to watch the next couple. It was only when I picked it back up on a whim a few weeks later did I realize that this was something more than what I had thought it was. Shinsekai Yori is now one of my favorite anime, but if I were to have done the "3 episode trial" with it, I probably never would have finished it. With SAO, this is not the case. The first 3 episodes are a wonderful example of what is to come in the rest of the series, as there is never really anything more than those three episodes, but nothing much less either.
SAO is split up into two overriding arcs, each taking place in two different video games. Sword Art Online, and Alfheim Online respectively. Many people bicker about which arc was better, so I'll share my thoughts on this as well. I thought the first arc, SAO, was much better than the second arc. It wasn't really as much about what the first arc did right, but more what the second arc did wrong. The plot for the second arc seemed to be mainly be a feeble excuse to get them back in some different game. While the plot for the first arc seemed to be relevant and remained interesting throughout, the second arc seemed to be mostly a rehash, where everything that made the first arc work taken out. Without the plot points that made SAO work, they had to create new ones. And so a much more superficial plot was created, complete with some good ol' cousinly incest. For the most part, the second arc just bugged me. It however, through some miraculous force of will, remained entertaining.
The last thing I want to leave you with is the thought that when it all boils down, all you're doing is watching a 16 year old kid play video games. Honestly, you can do that on youtube so much more easily, and instead of 25 episodes there are tens of thousands. I personally don't enjoy watching people play video games, so my enjoyment of the show was cut a bit as a result. If I were rating this on a bell curve (Which I normally don't, but for the sake of this review, I will), I'd give SAO a 5/10. Not a particularly great story, feeble characters, relatively nice art, and one of Kajiura's poorer works. Yet all together, somehow creates something of an enjoyable experience.
tl;dr SAO was okay, and people need to learn to calm their tits. 5/10
Posted by maxtheax | Apr 14, 2013 5:09 PM | 1 comments
April 5th, 2013
Welcome. Devil Survivor 2 Episode 1 thoughts.
Anime Relations: Devil Survivor 2 The Animation
Guess I'll be using this blog from now on for mainly my thoughts on various episodes of anime as they air mostly. How original. I might do some more interesting stuff with this later on. Apparently I have to relate this to an anime, so I'll tie my first post into this.
Mild spoilers below.
Devil Survivor 2. Not being a big fan of the Persona series, and not particularly liking how the anime adaptation turned out, I went into this first episode with mixed expectations. The premise and staff seemed promising, however it's being tied to Persona got me walking into this one with trepidation. Thankfully, for the most part, I thought the first episode was great. I'll get what I thought didn't work out of the way first though.
Cons:
-The "intro" was too rushed, too short. Didn't have even an excuse for a time to connect with the characters before they were thrown into action, and even once they were, things happened a little too quickly for my liking.
-There were some moments when I felt that the characters weren't acting all that realistically, for example after receiving the first "Death face" which depicted their gruesome deaths in that subway line, they kinda sat around there stupidly until they died. I realize that they were skeptical, but unless it would be really easy to fake that kind of footage, I would freak the fuck out and bolt it. However, if in the society in which they live that kind of technology is possible, then they didn't spend nearly enough time building the world for that to become even the teeniest bit obvious. So either the characters are poorly written, or the world building was way too brief. I personally think it's a bit of both, as I felt that the characters weren't acting properly later on during the episode as well, but it's no question that we have no clue what the world they live in is like.
-The glasses tits girl thrown in to give the main guys a reason to get hard.
Pros:
-The animation is great, not only for the action sequences, but I thought it really stood out during the crowd scenes. The backgrounds and people wandering around looked perfect
-Interesting plot, draws you in, you want to know what happens next. Introduces many variables that will be solved later on. What is this weird software on your phone? Why are they still using flip phones when they live in some world of advanced technology? We may never know.
-The music. The opening theme is nice, it works with the show, and has a great sequence to go along with it. The song itself is okay, nothing special, but not mediocre. The ending theme starts out great and then... well this is the pros sections so I'll stay positive. Lets just say that the rest of the ending theme is lacking, although not so much that I would call it a con. Once again though, it goes well with the show, and looks quite nice
-The action. Holy shit that was adrenaline inducing. Was choreographed extremely well, and moreover, in what I thought was a great improvement over the Persona 4 series, the fights didn't feel like they were out of a video game.
-None of the weird hip hop vibe from Persona.
All in all, I quite liked this first episode. I don't think I'll ever be able to love this series (reminds me too much of Guilty Crown for that), but I may like it quite a bit. I think this is how you should start a series.
Recommended.
Mild spoilers below.
Devil Survivor 2. Not being a big fan of the Persona series, and not particularly liking how the anime adaptation turned out, I went into this first episode with mixed expectations. The premise and staff seemed promising, however it's being tied to Persona got me walking into this one with trepidation. Thankfully, for the most part, I thought the first episode was great. I'll get what I thought didn't work out of the way first though.
Cons:
-The "intro" was too rushed, too short. Didn't have even an excuse for a time to connect with the characters before they were thrown into action, and even once they were, things happened a little too quickly for my liking.
-There were some moments when I felt that the characters weren't acting all that realistically, for example after receiving the first "Death face" which depicted their gruesome deaths in that subway line, they kinda sat around there stupidly until they died. I realize that they were skeptical, but unless it would be really easy to fake that kind of footage, I would freak the fuck out and bolt it. However, if in the society in which they live that kind of technology is possible, then they didn't spend nearly enough time building the world for that to become even the teeniest bit obvious. So either the characters are poorly written, or the world building was way too brief. I personally think it's a bit of both, as I felt that the characters weren't acting properly later on during the episode as well, but it's no question that we have no clue what the world they live in is like.
-The glasses tits girl thrown in to give the main guys a reason to get hard.
Pros:
-The animation is great, not only for the action sequences, but I thought it really stood out during the crowd scenes. The backgrounds and people wandering around looked perfect
-Interesting plot, draws you in, you want to know what happens next. Introduces many variables that will be solved later on. What is this weird software on your phone? Why are they still using flip phones when they live in some world of advanced technology? We may never know.
-The music. The opening theme is nice, it works with the show, and has a great sequence to go along with it. The song itself is okay, nothing special, but not mediocre. The ending theme starts out great and then... well this is the pros sections so I'll stay positive. Lets just say that the rest of the ending theme is lacking, although not so much that I would call it a con. Once again though, it goes well with the show, and looks quite nice
-The action. Holy shit that was adrenaline inducing. Was choreographed extremely well, and moreover, in what I thought was a great improvement over the Persona 4 series, the fights didn't feel like they were out of a video game.
-None of the weird hip hop vibe from Persona.
All in all, I quite liked this first episode. I don't think I'll ever be able to love this series (reminds me too much of Guilty Crown for that), but I may like it quite a bit. I think this is how you should start a series.
Recommended.
Posted by maxtheax | Apr 5, 2013 10:56 PM | 0 comments