• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Winter-Spring 2014 Anime |OT3| People incapable of guilt usually do have a good time

Status
Not open for further replies.
I'm going to assume that she basically makes the douche less douche via the power of optimism. Maybe they go on adventures to discover what's beautiful about the world or something. lol.

Yea, I can already see the signs there, which is another reason I hold off on dropping the show.

I've read the manga up until how far it is. They don't go on adventures to discover the beauty about the world.Douchey McDouchery XIV as you put him isn't a douche like Lelouch is when he's in his "GAWD I'M SO SMART" masturbatory mode. In fact the only way he's a douche is how he does indeed talk like he does, with that swagger. The story is first and foremost about them getting closer together and discovering their feelings. He does act like a kid at points, but she acts like a brat plenty of times as well so they go along perfectly. The title is more about him discovering that he can still love despite what happened to him and opening up more, but it does that fairly quickly.
 

firehawk12

Subete no aware
I've read the manga up until how far it is. They don't go on adventures to discover the beauty about the world.Douchey McDouchery XIV as you put him isn't a douche like Lelouch is when he's in his "GAWD I'M SO SMART" masturbatory mode. In fact the only way he's a douche is how he does indeed talk like he does, with that swagger. The story is first and foremost about them getting closer together and discovering their feelings. He does act like a kid at points, but she acts like a brat plenty of times as well so they go along perfectly. The title is more about him discovering that he can still love despite what happened to him.

Wait... so this is just The Pilot's Love Song. :( lol
 

Jex

Member
Reminder that you guys can post Mahouka impressions in the Mahouka OT: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=797231
What's the point of this if all people do is shit on it.
Not that I disagree with Branduil's reading of the series so far, but he really did poison the well is that Opening Post. I imagine that if anyone has any positive impressions of the show they'd be unlikely to want to share them in such a negative atmosphere.

Not that I have anything with jokey or negative OP's, but I just wouldn't expect to see defenders of the show post in there when it seems like a lost cause.
 
No they spent 5 whole minutes at the end explaining why what you just said doesn't happen. Magical Girls don't
turn into witches anymore because of Madoka's wish. In that time they also explain what happens when a Soul Gem gets too impure or goes bad(basically nothing). Therefore Sayaka should've never turned into a witch or disappeared because of Madoka's wish
. It's a plot hole through and through.

Actually no.
Madoka wish
didn't change the magical girls conditions or the process in how they are born .madoka just appears before they turn into a witch and prevent them from despairing.Sayaka turned into a wish because sayaka didn't went with madoka ( that was her own personal wish ) It's just that madoka interferes each time ( from past present and future ) The only exception was sayaka ( so far shown ).
There is a scene with sayaka & madoka where sayaka explain that this is what she wanted and thus madoka didn't act that one time.
Not a plot hole
 
Captain Earth 2

This felt even more convoluted then the first episode and they actually took the time to try and explain some things this episode. Fucking Bones!

And I also have to nitpick the ridiculously over indulgent launch sequence for the mech. If the mech is a weapon that was built to destroy Near Earth Objects than why not keep it up in Space where it can respond to them faster and far cheaper than blowing hundreds of millions of dollars on launching it from Earth every time?
 

Shard

XBLAnnoyance
I've read the manga up until how far it is. They don't go on adventures to discover the beauty about the world.Douchey McDouchery XIV as you put him isn't a douche like Lelouch is when he's in his "GAWD I'M SO SMART" masturbatory mode. In fact the only way he's a douche is how he does indeed talk like he does, with that swagger. The story is first and foremost about them getting closer together and discovering their feelings. He does act like a kid at points, but she acts like a brat plenty of times as well so they go along perfectly. The title is more about him discovering that he can still love despite what happened to him and opening up more, but it does that fairly quickly.

Well then, this is dropped like a hot potato.
 
Wait... so this is just The Pilot's Love Song. :( lol

Not at all. It's far less melodramatic and they have nothing in common. The only thing they have in common is that they deal with royalty kids whose
mother got killed
. The lead here isn't on a quest for vengeance. This is fairly standard shojo that just happened to quicken the pace on how fast the two got together, which makes it interesting. The somewhat professional lead with a heart of gold who masks it with snark, the female lead who can't stand him as a whole but learns to love him and he loves her, etc... Again the difference is that this gets rid of the fluff bullcrap where they don't get together for the most of the show. It also gets rid of the hollywood kiss at the end of the show shit. If you don't want to watch a fairly well done and fast shojo romance then I'd warn against this.
 

kiryogi

Banned
I get what you are saying. I do. I understand it. I am talking about this scene at the end in particular...



Kyubey and Homura explicitly show here that
Magical Girls cannot become witches because the impurities just shatter and that's how Kyubey gathers energy that it needs. The loop that the show created was shattered. No longer can magical girls become witches. It's inconsequential how impure the Soul Gems get. In which case no Witch should ever be born ever. I am gonna keep looping back to this scene because they spent 5 minutes explaining this. Madoka is inconsequential. Because regardless, without Grief Seeds, the Soul Gem will be tainted to all hell. Hence they wrote around it by saying "well if a Soul gem gets too tainted the impurities leave the soul gem and shatter after a certain period of time and this is how Kyubey gets the power it needs". In which case -> magical girls can never become witches. You can't have it one way and claim it also does the other. If magical girls cannot become witches due to this new rule with the Soul Gems, Magical Girls cannot become witches therefore making Madoka's wish null and void at that point. She doesn't need to "save" MG anymore because of this. Therefore Sayaka's Soul Gem when it got tainted should've just shattered the impurities. But for whatever reason that didn't happen. Leaving the gaping plot hole that I am referencing
.


Now watch Rebellion
 
Are you sure we saw the same
wish Madoka had given? To quote: "I wish to erase all witches from existence before they're even born. Every witch in the universe, from the past and the future, with my own hands."

Essentially Madoka became a universal law at this point due to her erasing her 'witch' self during part of the ending. With that established Madoka purges witches before their born IE when a magical girl fulfills their runtime. However Madoka doesn't redo the purpose of magical girls or how they work IE a incrementally tainted soul gem (and other factors such as the initial wish, purpose in fighting witches [now wraiths], etc.)

Thus you have this limbo area in what exactly happens to magical girls. Thats where Madoka/Law of the Cycle comes in. Without Madoka a witch will naturally be born (since the tainting process of magical girls isn't changed) but now with Madoka a witch will never be born. Hence why they disappear 'into' Madoka instead

As for whether the series deserves the praise I give it, I grant it's a matter of opinion. I enjoy these 12-13 episode series because each episode serves a purpose and is 'fulfilled' to maximum potential in drama/intensity/tragedy/etc. to which I describe as 'compactness' which then can progress into execution. I mean if you look at it, it is common to have a 24-episode anime have people whine/dislike certain episodes, this is rarely the case with 12-13 episode anime.

I get what you are saying. I do. I understand it. I am talking about this scene at the end in particular...

puella_magi_madoka_magica-12-homura-soul_gem.jpg

Kyubey and Homura explicitly show here that
Magical Girls cannot become witches because the impurities just shatter and that's how Kyubey gathers energy that it needs. The loop that the show created was shattered. No longer can magical girls become witches. It's inconsequential how impure the Soul Gems get. In which case no Witch should ever be born ever. I am gonna keep looping back to this scene because they spent 5 minutes explaining this. Madoka is inconsequential. Because regardless, without Grief Seeds, the Soul Gem will be tainted to all hell. Hence they wrote around it by saying "well if a Soul gem gets too tainted the impurities leave the soul gem and shatter after a certain period of time and this is how Kyubey gets the power it needs". In which case -> magical girls can never become witches. You can't have it one way and claim it also does the other. If magical girls cannot become witches due to this new rule with the Soul Gems, Magical Girls cannot become witches therefore making Madoka's wish null and void at that point. She doesn't need to "save" MG anymore because of this. Therefore Sayaka's Soul Gem when it got tainted should've just shattered the impurities. But for whatever reason that didn't happen. Leaving the gaping plot hole that I am referencing
.
 

firehawk12

Subete no aware
Not at all. It's far less melodramatic and they have nothing in common. The only thing they have in common is that they deal with royalty kids whose
mother got killed
. The lead here isn't on a quest for vengeance. This is fairly standard shojo that just happened to quicken the pace on how fast the two got together, which makes it interesting. The somewhat professional lead with a heart of gold who masks it with snark, the female lead who can't stand him as a whole but learns to love him and he loves her, etc... Again the difference is that this gets rid of the fluff bullcrap where they don't get together for the most of the show. It also gets rid of the hollywood kiss at the end of the show shit. If you don't want to watch a fairly well done and fast shojo romance then I'd warn against this.
If they don't go anywhere, I'm just not sure what they can do if they're just hanging out at the castle all the time. At least Pilot's Love Song had the excuse of the school.

Although then again, Allison to Lillia is kind of static in terms of dumping its characters into a specific place for 4-6 episode arcs anyway.
 

duckroll

Member
Not that I disagree with Branduil's reading of the series so far, but he really did poison the well is that Opening Post. I imagine that if anyone has any positive impressions of the show they'd be unlikely to want to share them in such a negative atmosphere.

Not that I have anything with jokey or negative OP's, but I just wouldn't expect to see defenders of the show post in there when it seems like a lost cause.

Yeah this just shows the insular and self-destructive environment that some people here want to create! We must fight back and reform ourselves. I will take the first step next season, by continuing to watch Sword Art Online II!
 
Kyubey and Homura explicitly show here that
Magical Girls cannot become witches because the impurities just shatter and that's how Kyubey gathers energy that it needs. The loop that the show created was shattered. No longer can magical girls become witches. It's inconsequential how impure the Soul Gems get. In which case no Witch should ever be born ever. I am gonna keep looping back to this scene because they spent 5 minutes explaining this. Madoka is inconsequential. Because regardless, without Grief Seeds, the Soul Gem will be tainted to all hell. Hence they wrote around it by saying "well if a Soul gem gets too tainted the impurities leave the soul gem and shatter after a certain period of time and this is how Kyubey gets the power it needs". In which case -> magical girls can never become witches. You can't have it one way and claim it also does the other. If magical girls cannot become witches due to this new rule with the Soul Gems, Magical Girls cannot become witches therefore making Madoka's wish null and void at that point. She doesn't need to "save" MG anymore because of this. Therefore Sayaka's Soul Gem when it got tainted should've just shattered the impurities. But for whatever reason that didn't happen. Leaving the gaping plot hole that I am referencing
.

My theory of what happens in the end (and this is basically the general theory amongst everybody, I'm a bit LTTP on this conversation) is that
before the hope magical girls wished for turns into an equal amount of despair, Goddess Madoka comes along and takes them up to magical girl heaven or whatnot. The Rebellion story further clarifies on this, but still, don't watch Rebellion.
 
If they don't go anywhere, I'm just not sure what they can do if they're just hanging out at the castle all the time. At least Pilot's Love Song had the excuse of the school.

Although then again, Allison to Lillia is kind of static in terms of dumping its characters into a specific place for 4-6 episode arcs anyway.

They do go to other places, but for the most part, at least with the 15 chapters in english, they largely stay in the city. It's a fairly big city and they haven't shown most of the stuff in it. There's 40 chapters out total though, so chances are they have gone to other places.
 

survivor

Banned
Looks like Mekaku City Actors is something I need to check out based on the impressions here. At the very least I hope it would provide me with the Shaft fix without the stupidity of Nisekoi
 

Acosta

Member
so you didnt like Yuusibu? I can understand why I suppose but man Fino is the greatest.

Fino was the best of the show without doubt.

I didn't disliked it, it had some very good moments, but some of the jokes and situations didn't work for me. Maybe I'll recover it when I feel I have less stuff I want to watch before.
 

jgminto

Member
Three points:

1) What about the ending do you feel is 'nonsense', in particular? I'm just curious because it's fairly in keeping with the core themes of the show even if it's portrayed in a very unusual way.

2) Yes, time and budget were the key factors here.

3) You Asuka-bashing must end!

1) I thought the themes made sense but I felt the zero connection with what was going on previously was nonsense. We were just on a beach but now we're suddenly metaphysically dissecting the cast of the show. I actually enjoyed it but it could have been framed much better. I can assume what happened to cause those events but it's still a pretty big leap in logic.

3) Never!
 

Link Man

Banned
The World is Still Beautiful 2

Powerful ending to the episode (though it would probably be better if the budget didn't seem so tight). Otherwise, this was a lot of character building, so some people might find it a bit boring. I personally enjoyed it, the characters do have some depth to them.
 
Dragon Riding Fucking I Don't Care Anymore 2

I dropped this within the first 5 minutes. Any hopes I had that the show would be about actually riding dragons and not about pantsu, harem, and tsundere loli with the carbon copy personality of Zero No Tsukaima girl are all gone. Like literally who wrote this? Same VA, same hair color, same hair length, same teeth, same face, same attitude, same body type, same fucking everything have some originality ffs. Also the Saber character lost her saber hair in one episode, not interested anymore. And the previews make it seem like the main character will get a power with shitty design armor and shitty sword. UGH.

Done. Fucking done. No more.
 

Link Man

Banned
To expand on my impressions on Captain Earth from ealier, I'm getting a nice Kamina vibe from Daichi thus far, and it really makes the show that much more enjoyable. The fight scene at the beginning just screams Gurren Lagann, and I was grinning from ear to ear. And the climax with
Daichi shooting the transmission tower to free his friends from the slave crowns
was full of hype. I didn't have any trouble following any of the terms that they were throwing out, as they explained them pretty much instantly. And to add, the art is superb and very pleasing to the eye.
 
Mekaku City Actors
Welp, now I want an AI. Show seems pretty cool though. I managed to enjoy watching it, can't wait for the next episode!

Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei 2
Managed to get that odd comparison out of my head from last week. Still have no clue why the first episode made me think that, but now that thought is thankfully gone. Anyhow, I'm still really enjoying this show. The characters are fun to watch, and the plot seems really interesting and just hits a special place. I'm interested to see how things go with Tatsuya considering how he just went all bad-ass mode near the end of the episode, It makes me wonder if he purposely bombed the practical test.
 

Jex

Member
Yeah this just shows the insular and self-destructive environment that some people here want to create! We must fight back and reform ourselves. I will take the first step next season, by continuing to watch Sword Art Online II!

If only it promised to be half as good as Accel World I'd watch it!
 

Mik317

Member
Mekakucity actors

This is some Shaft ass stuff... And I like it. I like Shafts style and then has it. No clue WTF is going on but Meh. Will watch
 
Knights of Sidonia 1

The background art looks great, but the character and movement animation looks terrible by golly those faces damn. OP is pretty meh to, just hope the action isn't going to be bad.
 

Kurita

Member
Thinking about Mekaku City Actors, I'm still amazed that they created an anime based on vocaloid songs... Oh well at least they chose songs of one of the best producers.
 
Mushishi S2 - 2

I like when a series can step back away from using the supernatural elements of its world and craft a story primarily focused on the interactions between its characters. It's a testament to the author's/script writers ability that this episode was as interesting as it was without invoking or relying on an inherently interesting type of mushi (with respect to all the other crazy stuff these things can do). The ending sequence in particular with the
mushi of the week flying out of their shells
is definitely going to be a highlight moment for this series as a whole for me.

Mahouka - 2


So is the hostility between magically proficient and less magically proficient something that pervades the society as a whole? It seems weird to me that even the first year students would be so aggressively against having a brother and sister sit near each other because of the results of a single test, especially if that sort of culture hadn't been exposed to them before that point. At least the argument the Vice Pres. made near the end of the episode seemed to have some merit with the implication that a Course 2 student wouldn't be able to effectively do the job of the position they were offered.
 
DATE A LIVE S2 - 01
Unnecessary episode made necessary because there was a cut between seasons.

However , that tease at the end was straight up evil .
 

foxuzamaki

Doesn't read OPs, especially not his own
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders Episode 2
this episode was super great! firstly the OP was amazing, loved it, I dont know what it was about this episode but I felt the hot bloodedness and loved jotaro kicking the guy's ass while giving an awesome speech. ED song is awesome though something tells me they didnt finish the actual ED in time.
 

Neo C.

Member
The pacing is an issue in terms of how much time passes for one thing to happen, and it's riddled with flashbacks at the most inopportune moments. I personally love it and if the blu-ray price wasn't ridiculous for 1 part I'd consider buying it. But GAF as a whole really dislikes AoT. AoT has been my gateway anime for many.

Yeah, the flashbacks could be handled better. Personally, I don't have any issue with the pace, more with being hesitant to sympathize with the characters because the death toll is quite high. Some deaths are hard to stomach, not because of the gore (which is rather manageable), but because some characters were good/lovely.
 
Yeah, the flashbacks could be handled better. Personally, I don't have any issue with the pace, more with being hesitant to sympathize with the characters because the death toll is quite high. Some deaths are hard to stomach, not because of the gore (which is rather manageable), but because some characters were good/lovely.

If the character lacks detail they'll die. That's the reality of the show, which makes it funnier.
 
I get what you are saying. I do. I understand it. I am talking about this scene at the end in particular...



Kyubey and Homura explicitly show here that
Magical Girls cannot become witches because the impurities just shatter and that's how Kyubey gathers energy that it needs. The loop that the show created was shattered. No longer can magical girls become witches. It's inconsequential how impure the Soul Gems get. In which case no Witch should ever be born ever. I am gonna keep looping back to this scene because they spent 5 minutes explaining this. Madoka is inconsequential. Because regardless, without Grief Seeds, the Soul Gem will be tainted to all hell. Hence they wrote around it by saying "well if a Soul gem gets too tainted the impurities leave the soul gem and shatter after a certain period of time and this is how Kyubey gets the power it needs". In which case -> magical girls can never become witches. You can't have it one way and claim it also does the other. If magical girls cannot become witches due to this new rule with the Soul Gems, Magical Girls cannot become witches therefore making Madoka's wish null and void at that point. She doesn't need to "save" MG anymore because of this. Therefore Sayaka's Soul Gem when it got tainted should've just shattered the impurities. But for whatever reason that didn't happen. Leaving the gaping plot hole that I am referencing
.

In that scene you referenced
Homura had just told Kyubey of the original universe before Madoka had rewrote it to which Kyubey ponders the theoretical harvesting method of energy. In this scene there is no dialogue/mention of how exactly Kyubey gets said energy in the new universe, however it can be heavily implied the 'cubes' Homura is tossing towards Kyubey is the new way of energy harvesting he needs. With that said one must now derive where said cubes come from in the first place.

The series never gives an answer to this, however the sullying and shattering of soul gems still exists like you stated. This is where Madoka/Law of the Cycle comes in and takes care of that issue, however note again that there is no answer to how these 'cubes' that Kyubey eats are formed. Hence a conclusion that Kyubey harvesting energy from a soul gem shattering is not true.

Grief_Cubes.png


In fact in the same scene this moment is shown where these cubes are seemingly purifying Homura's soul gem. If Kyubey harvests energy from a soul gem shattering then why do these cubes exist that he eats/absorbs? Again, there is no explicit dialogue on how exactly Kyubey harvests energy in the new universe, however there is heavy implication he does so from these cubes.
 
Mekaku City Actors
Welp, now I want an AI. Show seems pretty cool though. I managed to enjoy watching it, can't wait for the next episode!

Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei 2
Managed to get that odd comparison out of my head from last week. Still have no clue why the first episode made me think that, but now that thought is thankfully gone. Anyhow, I'm still really enjoying this show. The characters are fun to watch, and the plot seems really interesting and just hits a special place. I'm interested to see how things go with Tatsuya considering how he just went all bad-ass mode near the end of the episode, It makes me wonder if he purposely bombed the practical test.

He didn't, in this episode in the Magic Experiment Room was one of the assignments they have to do at the school, and as you saw his casting and activation time for the magic was just way too slow (compared to Erika and the other student beside him).
 

Dresden

Member
captain earth - 02

I think 'Salty Dog' and 'Macbeth Revolution' takes the cake for the worst names/titles/techbabble-lang so far. Feels like there's this simple story here buried underneath a layer of implications that I don't think they'll be able to resolve. I just want Daichi to show them his boomerang and blow things up, man.
 
On the Madoka discussion... I just don't understand why Madoka
didn't wish for something more reasonable in the first place. There are so many things she could have wished that would fix everything...

Mekakucity Actors started slow, but I think the
most depressing
parts later on are going to surprise some people.
I just hope the show is good because I'm a fan of the songs (sad that they're not being used in the anime), but I have no idea how the other adaptations (manga and LN) were.
 

Kurita

Member
I wonder if Japan still has a boner for names like Yggdrasil, Ragnarok and shit.

I just hope the show is good because I'm a fan of the songs (sad that they're not being used in the anime), but I have no idea how the other adaptations (manga and LN) were.

They're not even using the songs? RIP Jin.
 
He didn't, in this episode in the Magic Experiment Room was one of the assignments they have to do at the school, and as you saw his casting and activation time for the magic was just way too slow (compared to Erika and the other student beside him).
Ah I see, When I was watching I got the impression that he was purposely limiting himself by doing something like "Alright, let do this as slow as possible"
 
On the Madoka discussion... I just don't understand why Madoka
didn't wish for something more reasonable in the first place. There are so many things she could have wished that would fix everything...

Mekakucity Actors started slow, but I think the
most depressing
parts later on are going to surprise some people.
I just hope the show is good because I'm a fan of the songs (sad that they're not being used in the anime), but I have no idea how the other adaptations (manga and LN) were.

Because one important theme in the show is that miracles/magicalgirlawesomesauce don't happen without a price/giving something in return. Plus as how much Madoka had grown throughout the series, I doubt a 13-year old mind can create a wish/description so intricate and exact that would solve ERRYTHING.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom