I had a friend who watched the first season of Sword Art Online and he had nothing but horror stories to tell me. I was shocked by this, so I decided to burn through the first season to find the issue.
SAO broke me. It seriously brokeme. It might be one of the worst shows I've seen in a very long time. What it starts out as is nothing like how it's entire run become. SAO is essentially "Perfect Main Character and His Magical Waifu: The Show" with a poorly fleshed out premise on top of it (dying permanently in an MMO...that happens to leave out any portrayal of real world consequences of aforementioned deaths).
I would not have reacted so strongly to it, if the show didn't have anything else going for it, which it did at first...but dumped all that promise into beaten into the ground, otaku wish fulfillment. The only reason I didn't go further is because I learned that the second season is worse...by introducing incest as a main plot point (main character's big tittied sister (who later turns out to only be his cousin so now everything is magically okay) wants to bang him), which apparently dominates all the rest of it.
Please don't watch this show and waste your time like I did. Don't give it a chance because it is awful and has no redeeming qualities at all.
I've really been enjoying it. I seem cursed to only REALLY like anime series with very short runs, though. 12 episodes is better than 6, I suppose.
The art is fantastic and the story is well done, too. The sequences that take place in Rikka's or others' imaginations and the way they blend it into the action... it's really good. I like it. My powers of articulation are failing me. Eject. Eject!
I watched Accel World recently. Really liked the whole transhumanist brain interfaced virtual reality concept. I hope it gets some more episodes made because it didn't actually end the story and as the show says itself "There’s nothing lonelier or sadder than the end of a game with no ending." I also watched the first season of Durarara seeing the Baccano cameo was both amusing and perfectly in character for them.
Also Black Lagoon started showing dubbed on UK TV on Monday so far it is 3 episodes in and I am enjoying the over the top action movie feel of it. (I mean in the second episode they hit a pilot of a helicopter in the face with a torpedo and blew him up while ramping off a beached ship.)
I've really been enjoying it. I seem cursed to only REALLY like anime series with very short runs, though. 12 episodes is better than 6, I suppose.
The art is fantastic and the story is well done, too. The sequences that take place in Rikka's or others' imaginations and the way they blend it into the action... it's really good. I like it. My powers of articulation are failing me. Eject. Eject!
I couldn't finish the series I just felt bad for Rikka. Escaping in a fantasy world to that extreme isn't healthy for anybody. I guess the series does address those issues. But it seemed from what I had watched that Rikka was pulling Yuta back into that delusional lifestyle.
Legend of the Galactic Heroes may, in fact, be the only anime there is that really deserves the title of being "epic." At least, in the non-colloquial sense.
I've really been enjoying it. I seem cursed to only REALLY like anime series with very short runs, though. 12 episodes is better than 6, I suppose.
The art is fantastic and the story is well done, too. The sequences that take place in Rikka's or others' imaginations and the way they blend it into the action... it's really good. I like it. My powers of articulation are failing me. Eject. Eject!
I couldn't finish the series I just felt bad for Rikka. Escaping in a fantasy world to that extreme isn't healthy for anybody. I guess the series does address those issues. But it seemed from what I had watched that Rikka was pulling Yuta back into that delusional lifestyle.
Spoiler alert, it ends rather well. At least, I think I saw the last episode. I sort of fell asleep during it. I may have to double check.
In any case yes, the issue is certainly addressed. Yuta sort of goes back in for the purpose of pulling her back out, although they do play it up to seem like he may just be getting sucked into it.
[Exaggerated drama with missing spaces and bad HTML tag usage] SAO is essentially "Perfect Main Character and His Magical Waifu: The Show" with a poorly fleshed out premise on top of it [bla bla bla]
Don't forget the comic book villains! They too are hilariously terrible.
[Bla bla bla] The only reason I didn't go further is because I learned that the second season is worse... [PUT A FUCKING SPACE AFTER YOUR ELLIPSES ALREADY, YOU FILTHY LANGUAGE MURDERER] by introducing incest as a main plot point [you get a parenthesis, you get a parenthesis, and you get a parenthesis!] , which apparently dominates all the rest of it.
What second season? You are aware that the second season has only been announced. Not yet aired. What you talk about is just the second cours of the first season. By not watching it you missed the best worst villain even. Spoilers, MC has no time to consider his cousin as his desire to bone Asuna reaches critical levels.
Please don't watch this show and waste your time like I did. Don't give it a chance because it is awful and has no redeeming qualities at all.
Puh-lease. Shit's hilarious if you wanna watch a show that devolves into absolute garbage. Go study archaeology so you can dig up a humerus for yourself. Kappa
[Bla bla bla, shitty boring anime, bla bla bla] I also watched the first season of Durarara [bla bla bla]
Are you implying you're soon to be watching a second season? If so, do give me access to whatever inside information you got, because SECOND SEASON WHEN!?
Are you implying you're soon to be watching a second season? If so, do give me access to whatever inside information you got, because SECOND SEASON WHEN!?
I meant the first 13 Episodes when there is a clean break in the storyline and the opening theme changes.
I meant the first 13 Episodes when there is a clean break in the storyline and the opening theme changes.
Fucking hell you're a boring cod. I'm not sure how to tell you this, but the whole fucking world already knew that, Sherlock. Go join Geo in the archaeology class and dig up your own humerus, this is just shameful.
Just finished Yamato 2199. Damn that was an amazing show.
I don't know if I should trust you completely because you are a huge Yamato fan, or if I should completely ignore your opinion because you are such a big Yamato fan...
As a huge fan of the original (both the English dub Starblazers and the original Japanese version), it is very, very faithful to the original while cleaning up some of the sketchier/dated/etc. bits of the original. It really was a love letter to the fans of the original while introducing the story to a new generation. Hell, they even got Hideaki Anno (who, not surprisingly, is a fan of the original) on board to storyboard the opening credits.
Just got done accidentally watching the final movie in the Armitage III series. D'oh. I grabbed the rest last night, will have to give it a watch.
The style (particularly the stilted English dubbing) is VERY dated, but the story is more than decent. I liked it, even having to infer some of the back story.
I missed the complaints. My daughter really dug that show and it's one of the few times I've been able to sit down and watch one of her selections without rolling my eyes.
Ah, went back and found his complaints. Valid opinions. I don't agree with them, but they're valid.
Picked Watamote back up because it's that kind of day. I definitely see Churbas complaints this time, but it doesn't make me not like the show.
Well, that's the thing - You'll not catch me saying that people who watch and enjoy watamote are bad people, or that you can't or shouldn't like it - just that I find it INCREDIBLY distasteful. I'm telling it like I see it, and saying that it makes me personally very uncomfortable, but I'm not ever going to shit on anyone for liking it, or say that you can't or shouldn't like it.
Oddly, someone made a comparison between Watamote and Big Bang Theory recently, and it made me take a long, hard second look at BBT - and while I still don't like the show, after thinking about it, it actually improved my opinion of BBT.
I dunno Churba. I think that if somebody made a comedy all about a protagonist with Crohn's Disease (which I've got), and there were a lot of jokes about how humiliating Crohn's is (even while humiliating the protagonist) and making them the butt (haha) of everything... in the same way that Watamote does, I think I'd be OK with it.
They're very thorough in their treatment of what it's like to be that socially anxious, including the self deprecation and perceived (or actual) deprecation from others. And sure, that's where a lot of (most?) of the humor comes from, but I don't see where it's malicious at all. Anxiety makes you do things that are silly and humorous. Maybe looking at it from this perspective will open somebody's field of view and change their self awareness. If all we can ever do is be deadly serious and delicately respectful of human foibles and ailments, then I think we're severely stilting the discourse around those issues.
Watamote is a far cry from a minstrel show. People have failings and difficulties. Failings and difficulties often have humorous aspects. We can laugh, or cry, or do both. I think doing both makes us better rounded.
It's a lot easier to watch once you don't have those failings and difficulties anymore, though. If you still have that degree of social anxiety, Watamote can be tough to watch because its like watching yourself. You need to have overcome it to some degree to be able to watch more than one episode without cringing yourself to death.
Anxiety makes you do things that are silly and humorous.
No, man, No. Yes, they sometimes seem silly and humorous from the outside, that doesn't mean that mocking it is the right thing to do, or acceptable. And to the person affected, it's often not all all silly or humorous. It's a fucking terrifying, hateful thing that feels utterly inescapable, you're hopeless and powerless in the face of it.
Allow me to give an example a little closer to home - Your daughter is being bullied at school, and the bully is making her do things which, if you'd have seen them being done to someone in, say, a mean prank compilation youtube video, you'd find them pretty funny. She can't fight back, and this little fucking asshole pushing her around is one of those popular, butter-wouldn't-melt-in-their-mouth types around authority figures. But you sure as hell wouldn't find it funny, and nor would your daughter - how would you feel about someone turning around and saying to you "Yeah, but the part where they did XYZ was pretty funny, you can't take it serious all the time, it's not mean, just funny"? You don't even really need to answer, because I'm pretty sure you'd want to twat the bastard, or at the least you'd be practically incandescent with rage.
Well, that's the equivalent of what you've said here, dude. I know you didn't mean anything by it and I do get what you're getting at, but do you understand why it's simply not the case, and really not a very good thing to say?
(small edit - that doesn't relate to Watamote specifically, just that dude, what you're saying just isn't right, either factually or simply to say.)
If all we can ever do is be deadly serious and delicately respectful of human foibles and ailments, then I think we're severely stilting the discourse around those issues.
Second, You're acting like I ever said or acted like that we have to always be deadly serious and absolutely respectful of these things.
Dude, I've said it before and I'll say it again, I've roasted more sacred cows than we could count as a team(and been paid to do it, and be funny about it), and I'm sure as hell not saying that. What I am saying is that sometimes, you have to be careful with precisely how you do that. I can think of plenty of ways that Watamote could be funny without being (again, as I see it, I know your opinion differs) as cruel and mean-spirited as it is.
This doesn't mean it being fluffy, happy and gentle, or anything like that. It means things like letting tomoko have a win once in a while where the object isn't to either yank it away from her, or that she's so desperate for a win, she thinks it's a win while we laugh at her because it's really a failure. It means things like having jokes with punchline that isn't entirely just pointing and laughing purely at this girl being ill, or being hurt. You can be brutal, honest and funny, exploring all the same areas, without being cruel. Laughing at these serious things does make us better rounded - but being cruel about it does not. If anything, it makes us lesser, not greater.
To send it back again to your own daughters, to give another example to which you can relate - I don't doubt that you would be honest with your daughters, even if that honesty might hurt their feelings or upset them in the short term. But you would never, ever do so cruelly or in a mean-spirited manner. You certainly could, but I'm absolutely certain that you don't.
It's the same type of thing - you could tell them that painful honest thing in a way that will hurt them(as there are things in life that do suck, and do hurt, and aren't nice to hear), but there's also a mean and/or cruel way to do so, which you avoid. Same principle - you can joke about something painful, but you don't have to cruel or mean-spirited about it.
I think there's a huge yawning difference between internal conflict even in the presence of a disability, and being coerced externally, but I can understand why someone would feel differently.
And I'm just not seeing how Watamote is at all mean-spirited. I just don't see it. I think Tomoko is an incredibly sympathetic character throughout. Maybe I missed part of an episode or something where the rug was pulled out from under her solely for a cheap laugh, but I don't think so.
I think there's a huge yawning difference between internal conflict even in the presence of a disability, and being coerced externally, but I can understand why someone would feel differently.
That's why I said equivalent, Muppet, not the same. The point was to relate to you why what you said wasn't cool, in the context of something you could understand and might plausibly happen in your life.
And I'm just not seeing how Watamote is at all mean-spirited. I just don't see it. I think Tomoko is an incredibly sympathetic character throughout. Maybe I missed part of an episode or something where the rug was pulled out from under her solely for a cheap laugh, but I don't think so.
I think for at least 90% of that author's list, where he says "funny" I'd probably substitute "endearing" and for the rest I'd argue that it's simply a true-to-life depiction of living with a disorder like that. I just don't see these things being played for laughs in the way that you and he do. I rooted for Tomoko for the entire series. I certainly didn't laugh at her in the way it's being represented there.
Might some people? Probably yeah. The same people who laugh at a classmate who just got tripped in the hallway by some dickhead. So the potential for mean spirited laughter is probably there, but I think you have to bring that with you. I don't buy that it's inherent to the show.
And, just for context, I had what was probably undiagnosed, crippling social anxiety for at least 10 years during my schooling. I literally talked to nobody, except maybe my brother. I literally had no idea what was going on socially at my high school in ANY clique. It's a surprise to me now to learn who was dating who, who was in what clubs, and so on, because in high school I was completely divorced and isolated from all of that. We just didn't call it "social anxiety" back then. We called it being a freak or other equally charming things.
So, I'm not trying to say "some of my best friends are black" but only, I think I have a little more context for this than you're giving me credit for.
It's definitely only funny if you've been as awkward and anxious as Tomoko. If you can't relate to it, it just seems fucked up and sad. I don't think Churba has ever had that variety and degree of difficulty, so he can't enjoy it like we do.
It's definitely only funny if you've been as awkward and anxious as Tomoko. If you can't relate to it, it just seems fucked up and sad. I don't think Churba has ever had that variety and degree of difficulty, so he can't enjoy it like we do.
Greg, I don't think that's a wise assumption to make, and a pretty insulting one. I'll grudgingly give you a pass on it because I don't think you really meant anything by it, certainly not anything untoward, but please don't do it again. Assuming things about people's past - particularly their difficulties or lack thereof, based on little-to-no information - isn't a done thing, y'dig?
I think for at least 90% of that author's list, where he says "funny" I'd probably substitute "endearing" and for the rest I'd argue that it's simply a true-to-life depiction of living with a disorder like that. I just don't see these things being played for laughs in the way that you and he do. I rooted for Tomoko for the entire series. I certainly didn't laugh at her in the way it's being represented there.
Might some people? Probably yeah. The same people who laugh at a classmate who just got tripped in the hallway by some dickhead. So the potential for mean spirited laughter is probably there, but I think you have to bring that with you. I don't buy that it's inherent to the show.
Fair enough. I can see your point even if I don't agree. I can't and never intended to force my opinion on you, I can only run it up the flagpole and see who salutes.
Comments
It is pretty awesome and I really like it.
And I still do not know what is it about :O
SAO broke me. It seriously brokeme. It might be one of the worst shows I've seen in a very long time. What it starts out as is nothing like how it's entire run become. SAO is essentially "Perfect Main Character and His Magical Waifu: The Show" with a poorly fleshed out premise on top of it (dying permanently in an MMO...that happens to leave out any portrayal of real world consequences of aforementioned deaths).
I would not have reacted so strongly to it, if the show didn't have anything else going for it, which it did at first...but dumped all that promise into beaten into the ground, otaku wish fulfillment. The only reason I didn't go further is because I learned that the second season is worse...by introducing incest as a main plot point (main character's big tittied sister (who later turns out to only be his cousin so now everything is magically okay) wants to bang him), which apparently dominates all the rest of it.
Please don't watch this show and waste your time like I did. Don't give it a chance because it is awful and has no redeeming qualities at all.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love,_Chunibyo_&_Other_Delusions
I've really been enjoying it. I seem cursed to only REALLY like anime series with very short runs, though.
The art is fantastic and the story is well done, too. The sequences that take place in Rikka's or others' imaginations and the way they blend it into the action... it's really good. I like it. My powers of articulation are failing me. Eject. Eject!
Also Black Lagoon started showing dubbed on UK TV on Monday so far it is 3 episodes in and I am enjoying the over the top action movie feel of it. (I mean in the second episode they hit a pilot of a helicopter in the face with a torpedo and blew him up while ramping off a beached ship.)
I couldn't finish the series I just felt bad for Rikka. Escaping in a fantasy world to that extreme isn't healthy for anybody. I guess the series does address those issues. But it seemed from what I had watched that Rikka was pulling Yuta back into that delusional lifestyle.
In any case yes, the issue is certainly addressed. Yuta sort of goes back in for the purpose of pulling her back out, although they do play it up to seem like he may just be getting sucked into it.
Kill la Kill
Monogatari Series: Second Season
Hajime no Ipoo: Rising
The style (particularly the stilted English dubbing) is VERY dated, but the story is more than decent. I liked it, even having to infer some of the back story.
Ah, went back and found his complaints. Valid opinions. I don't agree with them, but they're valid.
Oddly, someone made a comparison between Watamote and Big Bang Theory recently, and it made me take a long, hard second look at BBT - and while I still don't like the show, after thinking about it, it actually improved my opinion of BBT.
They're very thorough in their treatment of what it's like to be that socially anxious, including the self deprecation and perceived (or actual) deprecation from others. And sure, that's where a lot of (most?) of the humor comes from, but I don't see where it's malicious at all. Anxiety makes you do things that are silly and humorous. Maybe looking at it from this perspective will open somebody's field of view and change their self awareness. If all we can ever do is be deadly serious and delicately respectful of human foibles and ailments, then I think we're severely stilting the discourse around those issues.
Watamote is a far cry from a minstrel show. People have failings and difficulties. Failings and difficulties often have humorous aspects. We can laugh, or cry, or do both. I think doing both makes us better rounded.
Allow me to give an example a little closer to home - Your daughter is being bullied at school, and the bully is making her do things which, if you'd have seen them being done to someone in, say, a mean prank compilation youtube video, you'd find them pretty funny. She can't fight back, and this little fucking asshole pushing her around is one of those popular, butter-wouldn't-melt-in-their-mouth types around authority figures.
But you sure as hell wouldn't find it funny, and nor would your daughter - how would you feel about someone turning around and saying to you "Yeah, but the part where they did XYZ was pretty funny, you can't take it serious all the time, it's not mean, just funny"? You don't even really need to answer, because I'm pretty sure you'd want to twat the bastard, or at the least you'd be practically incandescent with rage.
Well, that's the equivalent of what you've said here, dude. I know you didn't mean anything by it and I do get what you're getting at, but do you understand why it's simply not the case, and really not a very good thing to say?
(small edit - that doesn't relate to Watamote specifically, just that dude, what you're saying just isn't right, either factually or simply to say.) Second, You're acting like I ever said or acted like that we have to always be deadly serious and absolutely respectful of these things.
Dude, I've said it before and I'll say it again, I've roasted more sacred cows than we could count as a team(and been paid to do it, and be funny about it), and I'm sure as hell not saying that. What I am saying is that sometimes, you have to be careful with precisely how you do that. I can think of plenty of ways that Watamote could be funny without being (again, as I see it, I know your opinion differs) as cruel and mean-spirited as it is.
This doesn't mean it being fluffy, happy and gentle, or anything like that. It means things like letting tomoko have a win once in a while where the object isn't to either yank it away from her, or that she's so desperate for a win, she thinks it's a win while we laugh at her because it's really a failure. It means things like having jokes with punchline that isn't entirely just pointing and laughing purely at this girl being ill, or being hurt. You can be brutal, honest and funny, exploring all the same areas, without being cruel. Laughing at these serious things does make us better rounded - but being cruel about it does not. If anything, it makes us lesser, not greater.
To send it back again to your own daughters, to give another example to which you can relate - I don't doubt that you would be honest with your daughters, even if that honesty might hurt their feelings or upset them in the short term. But you would never, ever do so cruelly or in a mean-spirited manner. You certainly could, but I'm absolutely certain that you don't.
It's the same type of thing - you could tell them that painful honest thing in a way that will hurt them(as there are things in life that do suck, and do hurt, and aren't nice to hear), but there's also a mean and/or cruel way to do so, which you avoid. Same principle - you can joke about something painful, but you don't have to cruel or mean-spirited about it.
Osamu Tezuka Style
And I'm just not seeing how Watamote is at all mean-spirited. I just don't see it. I think Tomoko is an incredibly sympathetic character throughout. Maybe I missed part of an episode or something where the rug was pulled out from under her solely for a cheap laugh, but I don't think so.
Might some people? Probably yeah. The same people who laugh at a classmate who just got tripped in the hallway by some dickhead. So the potential for mean spirited laughter is probably there, but I think you have to bring that with you. I don't buy that it's inherent to the show.
So, I'm not trying to say "some of my best friends are black" but only, I think I have a little more context for this than you're giving me credit for.