I think what Morninglord meant with that quote is what we refer to cliches are still vital tools to storytelling, and that in the end what really matters is how you use them.
Because Pratchett is definitely an author who likes to subvert and make fun of tropes and cliches while simultaneously making a point of how these are what makes stories fun and resonate.
FC: 1907-8030-1478
+3
Flamu49 Gilded Disc Perceives the SunRegistered Userregular
I definitely started to fall out of love with it a few episodes ago, but I liked the last episode.
I'm just sitting over here happy with my Moonlit Fantasy this season. It's isekai and I don't care because I actually do like isekai a lot. It's not a perfect adaptation but it's pretty close and has stuck to the core concepts. When it's over there may never be a second season but I'll be satisfied with what I got.
And then I'll hope for Konjiki Word Magic to get an anime.
+3
Flamu49 Gilded Disc Perceives the SunRegistered Userregular
All this is making me want to watch Escaflowne again.
Heck for starters, Escaflowne spends it's entire first episode on Earth, just following the protagonist around, establishing their character and her life, hobbies, and relationships before she gets whisked away and isekai'd.
It's the type of careful pacing and planning that I feel like the genre isn't really interested in having anymore.
The best isekai acknowledge the video game stuff, mostly levels and skills, but then they don't use it as video game stuff after that. There's levels, but not stats. Classes, but not talent trees. Skills, but no point buys. If they don't have status cards or they're only visible with machines that output them as such then even better.
Considering Escaflowne came out over twenty years ago, I'm surprised there aren't other isekai that explore what happens if a historical figure got isekai'd before you, and you having to deal with the shit they started over there.
Besides Fullmetal Alchemist? And Drifters.
I don’t think you watch the same FMA as me.
The tail end of the anime + Shamballa movie for the original FMA becomes an isekai suddenly, without warning. That element isn't present in the original manga/ Brotherhood.
Considering Escaflowne came out over twenty years ago, I'm surprised there aren't other isekai that explore what happens if a historical figure got isekai'd before you, and you having to deal with the shit they started over there.
Considering Escaflowne came out over twenty years ago, I'm surprised there aren't other isekai that explore what happens if a historical figure got isekai'd before you, and you having to deal with the shit they started over there.
Mazumeshi Elf to Yuubokugurashi (マズ飯エルフと遊牧暮らし) does this, a bit, although the major historical figure is Xu Fu which is arguably a cliché all in itself. Previous isekais play a large role in the worldbuilding, anyhow.
It's not a fantastic series, but it's enjoyable. It's in that weird subgenre of "professional cook gets isekai'd and lives a casual life amongst people unused to that quality of cooking" - in this case it's nomadic elves.
A recent YouTube video I watched did ask a good question:
How many contemporary isekai actually have proper endings? Like, I honestly can't think of any that fully resolve even if the anime itself only got one season
Ironically, some of the "oldest" of this generation of isekai do have endings in their light novels. Jobless Reincarnation and Shield Hero for example both have a definitive ending. It's the ones taking more after Sword Art Online that just meander around forever.
Considering Escaflowne came out over twenty years ago, I'm surprised there aren't other isekai that explore what happens if a historical figure got isekai'd before you, and you having to deal with the shit they started over there.
IIRC a number of the light novels currently getting adaptations or that have been adapted often had complete web novels. The bigger issue you see is that many authors don't really do roadmaps for their works. Turning a web novel into a light novel can alleviate this some, since a good author will look into addressing so stuff that didn't work out well in the web novel, which is why you get some cases where the light novel greatly differs from the web novel. On the other hand, plenty of authors where this doesn't help them. The bigger issue is you have the people with money that want a huge pay out now and they often don't really wait to let some of these manga and light novels build up enough material to avoid having the anime pass the source material content.
Actually, I'm a a bit worried that Iruma might run into the issue where the anime passes the content that the manga has and most stuff ends up going down hill from there. Full Metal Alchemist continues to be one of those exceptions where the anime writers managed to improve some good for an ending.
Original anime basically live and die on merchandise and Blu-Ray sales, traditionally speaking, although I guess for stuff made directly for streaming services they're hedging their bets on it paying for itself with subscriptions and/or ads.
And non-original anime are basically just big advertisements for the game/manga/light novel, yeah. Demon Slayer probably paid for itself with how it suddenly catapulted the manga volumes to the best-seller charts.
One more week to the...well it's not quite a fireworks factory. Something a lot more focused, intense, and efficient than random bangs and booms. But it's gonna be a spectacle all the same. And now I think I have an idea what the ending of this season is going to consist of.
It's going to reveal the other two people who the Goddess snatched from Makoto's world and made into Heroes on hers. They both suck but for different reasons.
One more week to the...well it's not quite a fireworks factory. Something a lot more focused, intense, and efficient than random bangs and booms. But it's gonna be a spectacle all the same. And now I think I have an idea what the ending of this season is going to consist of.
It's going to reveal the other two people who the Goddess snatched from Makoto's world and made into Heroes on hers. They both suck but for different reasons.
I'm thinking that unless they knew they were getting multiple seasons before they started, that its just going to wrap up without even mentioning them. But i find that very unlikely. After being curious enough about some confusing plot points had me look on mangadex and read it, i realize just how much they have completely cut out about that subject. not even giving a hint about that part of the story makes it just one more "Got Isekaied and am now OP" anime. which is fine i guess, its not unenjoyable, but not very deep, unless you want and go looking for details. If anything next weeks episode is going to set a bit of a darker tone then it has been going down unless they change the story to wrap up the anime.
Yeah, I think they've been keeping the other two Heroes out of the picture because they've been setting up to bring them in with an impact. The event next week with Makoto, and his subsequent realization about the nature of the world regarding humans and the goddess, is the perfect time to reveal there's been two others from his world on the side of the humans.
They could change things to cut them out for the final episode after next week, but I don't find that likely because it would ruin the opportunity for a second season. 99.99% sure they're getting introduced tail end of next week and the final episode will cover what they've been doing to set up potential next season arc.
The anime's take on the whole Chimera Ant arc is pretty masterful, especially once the real third-act action starts
It's always been so weird to see how many people love my least favorite part of hxh. I think it was a terrible shift away from everything that made the other arcs great.
Iruma Season 3 confirmed and this episode was a banger
Curious to see how the deal with the one arc where the pacing is a little fucky.
Essentially, the arc is the forest gathering and survival challenge (for lack of a better way to describe it). Overall, I think the arc is pretty entertaining, but there are a few areas where it feels like it drags a touch. I suspect, the main issue is that the author got a little too ambitious with this arc. I get the impression they want this to shift more to an ensemble format, with Iruma still very much being the lead. This arc the author does try to flesh a number of the misfits out, while introducing some new characters, some of which have gotten a little more development in later arcs and some that seem to have faded into obscurity. Ultimately, they probably tried to focus on one two many characters for this arc.
Though I think my biggest complaint with the anime adaption is that
Double spoiler because this is a pretty big reveal in the manga, so if you don't want to ruin it, don't proceed further.
They don't allow for the setup that drops the existence of Purson Soi the 13th member of the misfit class. The anime constantly shows his existence, where IIRC the manga doesn't reveal he actual exists until the end of the forest gathering and survival challenge arc. I mean, I do think it dropped one or two hints very early on and in a very subtle fashion. Regardless, the way the manga does it, it's quite the surprise because it comes out of left field and the following arc that introduces him does a very good job of explaining how no one noticed him until Kalego reveals his existence to the rest of the class. The way the anime has handled him, ensures the audience won't have the same reaction. It's just going to be "oh, so that's the name of the guy and his deal."
Pirate Princess continues to be fun and now everything is on fire, it's great. Very interested to see how things unfold as pieces start to slot into place and mysteries get answered. I'm having a blast watching it
Naoko Yamada has left Kyoto Animation, she's gone over to studio saru, to work on one of their projects
Gonna be weird / interesting to see what she does away from the KyoAni house style.
A trap is for fish: when you've got the fish, you can forget the trap. A snare is for rabbits: when you've got the rabbit, you can forget the snare. Words are for meaning: when you've got the meaning, you can forget the words.
The last couple of chapters in Ah and Mm are All She Says
The Manga: Haha, obviously we're not acknowledging there's anything queer-coming-of-age here!
Also the Manga: Seeing drawings of naked boobs was an earth-shaking revelation for me and I was immediately obsessed with seeing more
A trap is for fish: when you've got the fish, you can forget the trap. A snare is for rabbits: when you've got the rabbit, you can forget the snare. Words are for meaning: when you've got the meaning, you can forget the words.
So it seems like Dr.Stone might not acknowledge the spin off manga since otherwise this current plot line has zero tension
It (the manga) did state it was an alternate universe, so I wondered if this would be the case.
Wait, where was that? Skimming through I can’t find it mentioning it being AU
The very first page, the author/artist blurbs.
Huh, is this a collected volume thing? Most I’ve got on the Jump app version is “Five years before humanity was petrified” on the top panel with Senku and his dad
So checking out the game made me interested in watching Konosuba and uh...
That's it, huh? Just.. stealing panties and near-orgasms over getting hit by monsters?
It's frustrating, because there are parts that just killed me (nuking the castle every day, and later saying "huh, yea, we probably should have assumed someone lived there" was hilarious), but fuck I don't think I can get past the dumb shit.
Konosuba is extremely problematic and if that stuff bugs you enough I would suggest dropping it. It's extremely funny but it never gets better WRT the problematic stuff.
Godsdammit. It's so rare to find an anime that's hitting the right chords for me so I was hopeful that it might get better. Oh well, gonna pull that ripcord.
If you are looking for something with a similar comedic tone to Konosuba, but with far fewer of the problematic issues (none that I can remember), you may want to look into Princess Connect Re:Dive. It (if I recall correctly) was made by the same anime team as Konosuba. It is technically a tie in show to a phone game, but it ended up way better than it had any right to be, and is even getting a second season in January.
It's sad, the mantra should be quality over quantity always, especially in art.
Yup, but art never exists in a vacuum. Money drives all production and decisions made about that production. It's something I've had to learn to accept because I'm right aboard the train of let the art/story be told how the creators want to tell it, not because a suit told them to make more or string it out.
Finally about to start Magia Record. Despite loving the original Madoka Magica I've avoided hearing much of anything about this one and wasn't in a big hurry to watch it, but for whatever reason now feels like the time to give it a chance.
EDIT: Episode 1 Reaction
Okay, I'm more intrigued than I thought I'd be. The visuals are great, the witch and labyrinth designs are still wonderfully surreal, and dream sequence towards the end of the girls headed to the city juxtaposed with what they wished for while Kyubey monologues "I can make any miracle happen" has roped me in. I'm still doubtful they can pull of something as impactful as the original series and I'm going to constantly be wondering in the back of my head if this is all occurring post-Rebellion in Devil Homura's world, but I'm interested to see where this is going.
Do you want an answer about that question, or no? Because there is one.
Speaking of Magia Record, S2 episode 7 had some extremely nice animation efforts. And if the ending of the episode is saying what I think it is, that's really nice.
Basically, the Coordinator warns them very explicitly that the mental picture of their friends needs to be accurate, or they will mangle them when they're trying to save them. Immediately the characters start spouting off about how their friends are super great and admirable and wonderful and my thought was "Uh... no. That's not the FULL picture, that's like buttering them up." And sure enough, it seems from Yachiyo's flopped attempt that that's exactly what went wrong, she sketched out a two dimensional version of her friend that didn't include any of her flaws, worries, fears, etc. I think that's great. If what actually happened is that "the evil magic is too powerful, we need to FRIEND MORE", I'll be SO disappointed, but the writing has been very on point, so I don't think that's how it'll go.
My burning hot plasma torch take is that Magia Record is a better story than Madoka.
The story is told better, without relying on just being as opaque as possible. The characters are more enjoyable and the reasons for their wishes and how they turn out are generally all much better.
Also Mitama/The coordinator is wonderful.
I'm liking it a ton, but do have small frustrations with it. I'm hoping the short second season doesn't ruin any of the payoffs for the end of the story, I feel like it seeming abrupt at the end is a pretty foregone conclusion at this point, but maybe they'll surprise me.
Watch the first of the compilation movies and then just watch the second half normally
IIRC the first compilation movie just has a montage of a bunch of the characters joining at one point, right? Including Rossiu? That alone makes it hard to recommend.
I don't know if I've ever seen a compilation movie for an anime that I would recommend over the show itself. The ones I've seen seem like they end up skipping enough context that it would be difficult for new viewers to understand what is going on and are more for viewers of the original show to be reminded of what happened in the original series.
Yeah true
I dunno. It took me two tries to get through the first half, and ive watched the second half like...8 times?
Its just a kinda shitty 15 episode hurdle
I like the first half up until the timeskip tremendously more so than the second half. And I don't dislike the second half. There are just two episodes that I don't care for and a boring one in the first half.
Just read (manga) through Kuroko's Basketball, and I dunno, I sure wish I'd liked it as much all the way through as I did at the high points.
There's such a weird mixture of sort of trying to justify teleportation / invisibility / etc with the discussion of misdirection and footwork and center-of-gravity etc, which, okay, fine, I see where you're going, this is meant to be theoreticall real. But then it turns into a video game where "you run out of misdirection energy so you can only do it for so long", but then "ooh, but you get a limit break of super opposite misdirection"?
Not to mention the whole 'zone' stuff with its various time limits attached to it, only sometimes they don't count, etc. I sort of see where they're going but I couldn't help feeling like they should just have drawn bars onscreen and shown them slowly emptying out, because clearly something like that was in the writer's head during those bits.
And while I guess I should have seen it coming, the ultimate tier of the ultimate power being the power of teamwork? Sure, okay, I get the point, but sheesh.
I guess my main problem was, weirdly, that there was too much basketball? The final tournament arc felt too long with too few breaks -- before then, there'd been the training arcs, or the cooking bits, or various secondary stories, but when the last games started up it was just such a lot of basketball in a row.
The "kuroko in middle school" arc was a breath of fresh air from just powers-vs-powers all the time, and the "maybe Kuroko can break the ice around the hearts of the Miracle Generation and convince them to love basketball again", okay, sure, now I'm back on board because I'm mostly in it for the people, not the game, so I was looking forwards to seeing that happen.
To be fair, the twist in the final battle where now Kuroko is too famous to vanish any more was a pretty cool twist, as was the way they got around that, but it felt as if they were running out of ideas -- having the very last points be the same 'get foul but deliberately miss' thing they'd done before had a bunch less impact, too.
And I think my least favorite part was the very end -- the other thing I'm waiting for in sports manga is the "where are they now" final chapter set after the last match, where all the various storylines about people get tidied up and couples get together/don't get together, everyone has overcome their weaknesses / regained their love of the game / whatever-it-is. But here, final points are scored, and then like four pages later it's over.
I read the 'extra game' sequel, and even there it finishes with "our team won in the last seconds and it was super close you guys the end", which just wasn't the sort of ending I was looking for either, I just felt like the characters deserved a bit more room to breathe at the end and unspool whatever-it-is that happens next.
ha yeah sometimes the crazy ideas bring you out of the story because a lot of the rest of the time it's so close a normal real basketball story. But I loved the creativity of the reality bending almost possible superpowers. Really a fun and original take.
Huh, they really did skip a bunch of stuff to get to this point. Though, aside from the heroes it was mostly going to be slice of life sort of things to do with him training the forest ogres and setting up the store. So it's not like a ton of story critical things got bumped and Rembrandt did mention that the human empires led by the two heroes were about to go to war. That said, this is pretty much what I wanted the season to end on. It's THE big fight scene, the only one of its kind in the manga after Mio when she was still the big spider. Fireworks factory is about to explode.
Not sure where this leaves a potential second season or if there won't be one and this'll be the true finale. I'm looking forward to seeing the coming nonsense in animated motion at least.
I'm a bit surprised how ignorant the characters are of things like "what happens if a Soul Gem is destroyed". I figured with this many magical girls running around things like that would be more common knowledge.
Madoka stuff
That would require fighting near someone the moment their gem breaks, correctly identifying the cause and effect of what just happened, and then not dying to a sneak attack from the witch who is now where your ally just was. That seems like a miniscule group. Oh and the first series points out the very real possibility of that realization immediately sending a Magical Girl into a despair spiral that turns her gem and kills her as well.
I'm hoping season 2 is better overall, because honestly I was a bit underwhelmed by the first season. For one thing, I feel like there's too many characters and not enough development for most of them. Second, for there to be so many powerful witches running around Kamihama they aren't really getting up to much, with the less interesting (IMO) Uwasa getting most of the spotlight instead. Third, there were a number of things that seemed like characters would be curious about that largely went ignored (like "what's tiny Kyubey's deal?", "why did Iroha turn into a Witch-like thing?", "what creates the Uwasa, and should we really be focusing on them over the Witches?", etc).
I feel like they could have skipped the episodes featuring the b-squad that Iroha meets first before joining up with her real team, at least.
The focus of season 2 has been on answering those questions, and based on those answers, there is a very good reason witches have been de-emphasized.
Really appreciate that Rimuru didn't even bother with Clayman himself, just had Shion beat the ever living crap out of him for like, 22 minutes until the very end of the episode. And Veldora was great as always. Next time he needs to use Ultra Instinct, though.
Also is it me, or is this season's version of Clayman way more incompetent/stupid than S1? It just feels like the character fell of a cliff and is now hitting every branch on the way down.
Really appreciate that Rimuru didn't even bother with Clayman himself, just had Shion beat the ever living crap out of him for like, 22 minutes until the very end of the episode. And Veldora was great as always. Next time he needs to use Ultra Instinct, though.
Also is it me, or is this season's version of Clayman way more incompetent/stupid than S1? It just feels like the character fell of a cliff and is now hitting every branch on the way down.
I guess technically Rapheal can pull full manga from anywhere so this is possible
Depends on when Rimiru died honestly. He was an office worker otaku, and Raph can pull anything from his memory perfectly.
So hopefully Rimiru got to Super and the Broly movie.
I'm pretty sure one is more a state of mind than the other which is something that can be mimicked with any magic energy beam and yelling the name loudly.
I'm more surprised Jump allowed any of those references to be directly named.
Really appreciate that Rimuru didn't even bother with Clayman himself, just had Shion beat the ever living crap out of him for like, 22 minutes until the very end of the episode. And Veldora was great as always. Next time he needs to use Ultra Instinct, though.
Also is it me, or is this season's version of Clayman way more incompetent/stupid than S1? It just feels like the character fell of a cliff and is now hitting every branch on the way down.
I guess technically Rapheal can pull full manga from anywhere so this is possible
On Clayman
We've gotten the info that Clayman isn't the mastermind. I kind of like how the story presents information to the audience that makes Clayman seem far more competent than he actually was. It isn't until like last episode that we are given any hint that he doesn't control Milim. Also I feel like it's implied that he was working from a script that Rimuru pretty much shredded and has pretty much been playing improve ever since.
Really appreciate that Rimuru didn't even bother with Clayman himself, just had Shion beat the ever living crap out of him for like, 22 minutes until the very end of the episode. And Veldora was great as always. Next time he needs to use Ultra Instinct, though.
Also is it me, or is this season's version of Clayman way more incompetent/stupid than S1? It just feels like the character fell of a cliff and is now hitting every branch on the way down.
I guess technically Rapheal can pull full manga from anywhere so this is possible
On Clayman
We've gotten the info that Clayman isn't the mastermind. I kind of like how the story presents information to the audience that makes Clayman seem far more competent than he actually was. It isn't until like last episode that we are given any hint that he doesn't control Milim. Also I feel like it's implied that he was working from a script that Rimuru pretty much shredded and has pretty much been playing improve ever since.
Yeah, it makes sense.
Since Anti-Rimiru essentially sic'd the most powerful character in the world on Rimiru, all his plans sort of revolved around Rimiru dying and the monster nation unraveling under Clayman's plan. Which like, ALMOST happened, and arguably should have, but slime's be slimin.
Does Nega-Rimuru actually know that everyone's favorite slime is still alive?
Posts
Because Pratchett is definitely an author who likes to subvert and make fun of tropes and cliches while simultaneously making a point of how these are what makes stories fun and resonate.
And then I'll hope for Konjiki Word Magic to get an anime.
Heck for starters, Escaflowne spends it's entire first episode on Earth, just following the protagonist around, establishing their character and her life, hobbies, and relationships before she gets whisked away and isekai'd.
It's the type of careful pacing and planning that I feel like the genre isn't really interested in having anymore.
The tail end of the anime + Shamballa movie for the original FMA becomes an isekai suddenly, without warning. That element isn't present in the original manga/ Brotherhood.
Mazumeshi Elf to Yuubokugurashi (マズ飯エルフと遊牧暮らし) does this, a bit, although the major historical figure is Xu Fu which is arguably a cliché all in itself. Previous isekais play a large role in the worldbuilding, anyhow.
It's not a fantastic series, but it's enjoyable. It's in that weird subgenre of "professional cook gets isekai'd and lives a casual life amongst people unused to that quality of cooking" - in this case it's nomadic elves.
Ironically, some of the "oldest" of this generation of isekai do have endings in their light novels. Jobless Reincarnation and Shield Hero for example both have a definitive ending. It's the ones taking more after Sword Art Online that just meander around forever.
Yup, still good.
Actually, I'm a a bit worried that Iruma might run into the issue where the anime passes the content that the manga has and most stuff ends up going down hill from there. Full Metal Alchemist continues to be one of those exceptions where the anime writers managed to improve some good for an ending.
And non-original anime are basically just big advertisements for the game/manga/light novel, yeah. Demon Slayer probably paid for itself with how it suddenly catapulted the manga volumes to the best-seller charts.
One more week to the...well it's not quite a fireworks factory. Something a lot more focused, intense, and efficient than random bangs and booms. But it's gonna be a spectacle all the same. And now I think I have an idea what the ending of this season is going to consist of.
They could change things to cut them out for the final episode after next week, but I don't find that likely because it would ruin the opportunity for a second season. 99.99% sure they're getting introduced tail end of next week and the final episode will cover what they've been doing to set up potential next season arc.
It's always been so weird to see how many people love my least favorite part of hxh. I think it was a terrible shift away from everything that made the other arcs great.
Curious to see how the deal with the one arc where the pacing is a little fucky.
Though I think my biggest complaint with the anime adaption is that
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Naoko Yamada has left Kyoto Animation, she's gone over to studio saru, to work on one of their projects
Gonna be weird / interesting to see what she does away from the KyoAni house style.
The Manga: Haha, obviously we're not acknowledging there's anything queer-coming-of-age here!
Also the Manga: Seeing drawings of naked boobs was an earth-shaking revelation for me and I was immediately obsessed with seeing more
It (the manga) did state it was an alternate universe, so I wondered if this would be the case.
The very first page, the author/artist blurbs.
I've only read the collected version, so perhaps?
https://dr-stone.fandom.com/wiki/Dr._STONE_reboot:_Byakuya?file=Reboot_Author_Comment.png
But presuming the link works, you can go read it for yourself.
If you are looking for something with a similar comedic tone to Konosuba, but with far fewer of the problematic issues (none that I can remember), you may want to look into Princess Connect Re:Dive. It (if I recall correctly) was made by the same anime team as Konosuba. It is technically a tie in show to a phone game, but it ended up way better than it had any right to be, and is even getting a second season in January.
Yup, but art never exists in a vacuum. Money drives all production and decisions made about that production. It's something I've had to learn to accept because I'm right aboard the train of let the art/story be told how the creators want to tell it, not because a suit told them to make more or string it out.
Do you want an answer about that question, or no? Because there is one.
I'm liking it a ton, but do have small frustrations with it. I'm hoping the short second season doesn't ruin any of the payoffs for the end of the story, I feel like it seeming abrupt at the end is a pretty foregone conclusion at this point, but maybe they'll surprise me.
I like the first half up until the timeskip tremendously more so than the second half. And I don't dislike the second half. There are just two episodes that I don't care for and a boring one in the first half.
ha yeah sometimes the crazy ideas bring you out of the story because a lot of the rest of the time it's so close a normal real basketball story. But I loved the creativity of the reality bending almost possible superpowers. Really a fun and original take.
Not sure where this leaves a potential second season or if there won't be one and this'll be the true finale. I'm looking forward to seeing the coming nonsense in animated motion at least.
Madoka stuff
The focus of season 2 has been on answering those questions, and based on those answers, there is a very good reason witches have been de-emphasized.
Also is it me, or is this season's version of Clayman way more incompetent/stupid than S1? It just feels like the character fell of a cliff and is now hitting every branch on the way down.
I'm pretty sure one is more a state of mind than the other which is something that can be mimicked with any magic energy beam and yelling the name loudly.
I'm more surprised Jump allowed any of those references to be directly named.
On Clayman