Support NeoGAF

[Narag]

I'm still rather loathe to make individual show OTs yet part of doing so is to give something greater exposure and to invite viewers into something with a wider appeal than they might have expected otherwise. Sometimes it doesn't work out if the show goes off the rails but sometimes it works out just right. (Ping Pong, Flowers of Evil , Thunderbolt Fantasy[) and it's always great when it does. Not everyone is interested in the everything of the community thread when the focused discussion of a single show is infinitely more inviting.

What is The Reflection?

Back in 2015, it was annonced Stan Lee was teaming up with Hiroshi Nagahama for a new show. This was a cause of concern among some fans as they didn't want to see Nagahama "wasted" on yet another superhero project in a world where they've grown more commonplace. Fear not, True Believers, becuase it turned out Nagahama is a huge American comic nerd and working with Stan Lee was a dream project for him. Between learning that and the trust Nagahama had built with fans via his earlier works (Flowers of Evil, Mushishi), it was thought to be a project left in very, very good hands. Here's an additional interview with Naghama from May if you don't believe me.

But what's it about?
Seems standard enough but I'll quote Nagahama from the interview above:

I'll give you guys a brief about what The Reflection is about for those of you who may not know. This work is a joint project between myself and Stan Lee, the god of American comics. We're the co-authors of this work, which will be a Japanese anime series. The general story is there are incidents happening all over the world like natural disasters that kill many people. After these deaths, super heroes arise. It may sound a little stereotypical or cliché, but that's the idea there. If you look at the story more closely, these incidents referred to as "Reflections," you'll start to know the truth behind the incidents. It will start to have a deeper background to it.

Characters
(All description taken from this ANN article)

X-On, a mysterious hero who always appears unexpectedly. His age and other personal history remain unknown. If he can touch anyone for three seconds, he can copy the target's powers, and stock a number of powers for later use this way.

Ian Izett/I-GUY, a person who has the power to use his voice to generate a concussive blast all around him. He wears powered armor that enhances his concussive voice. His true identity is a famous rock star.

Eleanor Everts, a hero who excels in computers and intelligence gathering. She has the power to instantly teleport over short-range distances. She has a strong attachment to Xon, and gathers as much information as she can on him.

Lisa Livingston, an inquisitive and energetic girl who dreams of the sky. She is a competitor in wheelchair sprints. Due to The Reflection event, her beloved wheelchair gained the ability to transform into a giant robot.

Flaming Fury, a follower of Reys. She is able to freely manipulate flames and can even use it to fly. If she concentrates on her powers, she can use them while completely submerged in water.

Steel Ruler, a cool-headed woman who agrees with Reys' espoused principles and became his follower. She has a strong ability that allows her to manipulate any metal in existence.

Reys, a person who has been gathering and manipulating Reflected around him for a secret purpose. His powers are unknown. He excels at playing to the sympathies of people, and he has used this to gather many of the lost and confused Reflected under him to swell his influence.

Mr. Mystique, a former astronomer who had foreseen and warned people about The Reflection earlier than anyone else. He has the ability to see where all Reflected are, communicate with them, and observe them.

But is it any good?
Impressions are mixed after the first episode as it's mostly a peek into the world without much of a story hook and it's ostensibly something made by a comic book nerd for other comic book nerds but I'm feeling confident enough given Nagahama's involvement. If I had to draw a more meta parallel between the show and American comics, this was less episode 1 and more issue #1 in the sense that What It's Like is more important than that of the How Things Work that will no doubt come up later on.

Screenshots
The Reflfection is modeled after American comics and it shows. I'd be remiss if I didn't provide some examples from the first episode.

Videos

• 2015 Announcement PV
• 2016 L.A. ComicCon PV
• 2017 PV

Where can I watch?

• Crunchroll (SUB)
• Funimation: Soon™ (DUB)

Staff

• Series Director: Koichiro Sohtome
• Director: Hiroshi Nagahama
• Script: Yasuyuki Suzuki
• Music: Trevor Horn
• Original creators:
  Hiroshi Nagahama
  Stan Lee
• Original Character Design: Hiroshi Nagahama
• Character Design: Yoshihiko Umakoshi

Additional Info

• Official Website
• Official Twitter
• Studio DEEN Youtube Channel

Hope people give this a shot and I hope it doesn't fall apart!
Excelsior!

(Thanks to HosannaExcelsis for providing some links I couldn't find!)

 

[Cornbread78]

In for the OP...

 

[KuwabaraTheMan]

First episode was mixed overall, but the show is undeniably gorgeous. If the story can pick up, then this will be a special show, because it's a treat to look at. Nagahama is someone who I have a large amount of faith in as a director.

 

[Admiral Woofington]

The Reflection 1

I like the look of the show, will definitely make it stand out. But looks like animation itself won't be top notch if this episode is anything to go by, visuals might just be carried by its unique art direction.Then comes the plot and episode 1 isn't an info dump, it isn't much of an introduction either, it's almost like a 40 minute pilot that somebody cut out all of the dialogue sections that give more background and just gave us the battles in it. The opening in Japan seems to have little reason to it right now besides somebody from the higher ups saying "please make it start in Japan because we're a Japanese company first and foremost, even if all three leads and the enemies are in the USA".

As to our leads we learned very little here. We know

Spoiler

I-Guy is essentially a dumbed down quiet Iron Man as of right now, he can fly and has high defense plus can shoot lasers?

Then we have X-dude or w/e his name is, who

Spoiler

fights like Nightwing/Robin and whose superpower is he can copy the powers of those he comes in contact with. He seemingly used a power he hadn't just immediately touched, so apparently he can retain a couple from previous encounters

And then we have reporter-chan who didn't do much besides

Spoiler

stalk X-dude and then show she has weird short teleportation powers as well so she won't just be a damsel in distress I assume. What's her obsession with X dude?

None of the leads really spoke so it's hard to gauge their personalities. Maybe we're used to modern comics, but some banter or back and forth is almost expected to try and piece together personalities of heroes. Everybody here was stoic and quiet though. Also what the fuck is it with the flame dude who opts to

Spoiler

burn a hole into the ground and sink

you have zero fucking clue what is

Spoiler

down there. Could just be never ending soil/dirt under that pavement, maybe a
gas line are you going to suffocate just to escape in a cool fashion?!

Though I gotta admit the line of

"Are you going to keep defending New York?"

Spoiler

"Sorry, I actually live in LA"

made me giggle.

First impression as a whole remains very mellow. Not too hot, not too cold. Maybe it's following the western model where the first episode is usually the weakest, but it really opt to pick up dialogue or do something else cause it won't survive long like this.

edit: something I didn't mention in the review on the anime thread is that I loved the ED's song and style.

 

[thefatness16]

A Hiroshi Nagahama show is always a must watch. Also I never expected to see Trevor Horn working on an anime.
The soundtrack sounds great so far.

 

[Angelus Errare]

Xon, a mysterious hero who always appears unexpectedly

You can't fool me, that's Cyclops.

 

[Oyashrio-Sama]

EXCELSIOR!

Looks pretty interesting. I really like the art style, a great palate cleanser from everything else i'm watching this season.

 

[LayLa]

absolutely loved the art direction but all the superhero stuff does nothing for me. I'll definitely keep an eye on the critical reception though, maybe pick it up later on if it goes somewhere interesting.

 

[Narag]

The Reflection 2

I spent a lot of time trying to contextualize the first episode as it's rather opaque. Most of my theories were shot down and rightfully so as this episode makes it clear that information was intentionally withhold in the first episode to place the viewer squarely in the role of observer either watching the experienced hero from afar or witnessing the debut of the new hotness on the largest stage available. I-Guy, in particular, was amusing given how all the abstractness of his surroundings in the first episode were revealed to be something carefully stage managed in order to garner as much attention as possible. That's a sharp contrast to X-On who simply wants to be left alone and something that I imagine will be a point of conflict between those two protagonists further in.

I feel a lot better after this episode because while the first might not as been as successful in its goal as I'd have liked, the second makes it clear Nagahama knows what he's doing.

 

[ShadowSwordmaster]

Is that Magneto in the OP?

 

[Epcott]

I was going to mention this in the Hero Academia thread when I saw it posted on Hulu this morning... and then after watching the first episode, decided against it.

I'm all for experimental storytelling, but the animation is too jarring, at least for me. The story was also pretty bleh. I'll watch the second episode, but hopes are not very high on this one.

 

[geomon]

4 episodes and I am loving this shit. Breath of fresh air in anime. Awesome.