06-29-2010, 07:52 PM | #1 | |
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Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou
preview
opening credits Plot summary, taken from Wikipedia and/or ANN (same content): Quote:
The plot premise had me interested. The fanservice I saw looked fun, if a bit excessive. (Think Sekirei or Kampfer for similar vibes.) And so? I decided to go ahead and check it out. I'll check back in once I have! ^^;
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06-29-2010, 10:43 PM | #2 |
我が名は勇者王!
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Oh hey, I read about this series in one of the episode preview posters. I'm going to wait on your word for this one though, because indiscriminate fanservice isn't exactly my cup of coffee. x_x
I hope he falls in love with the robot... ... Eck, I don't care much for the art and the animation suggests it'll be low budget. Their use for CGI on the ships was tasteful, but if the animation is weak IN SPITE of the presence of CGI I'm going to call it a shoestring. At some point, budget is going to impact the ability for the show to tell a convincing story, and if my fears are confirmed (the budget goes to the fanservice) things could turn out ugly. The main dude looks to be the draw of this (Gar potential?) since I'm getting stock character vibes from the female cast.
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ふたりの想いが見つけだす希望 今 信じあえる あきらめない 心かさね 永遠を抱きしめて Last edited by Doppleganger; 06-29-2010 at 10:51 PM. |
06-29-2010, 11:39 PM | #3 |
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I've watched the first two episodes. I like it for what it is -- magic academy harem done well -- but therein lies the rub: it ain't nothin' new. ^^;
Pros:
Cons:
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06-30-2010, 12:14 AM | #4 |
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Sai Akuto, the protagonist. Hattori Junko, the swordsgirl with a temper. Soga Keena, the forgotten childhood friend. Korone, the android assigned by the government to keep tabs on Akuto once word reaches them that he has been prophesied to become the next Demon Lord. Etou Fujiko, the school's #1 idol. My crush. :3 Hooooooooot. :3 Miwa Hiroshi, Akuto's self-proclaimed right-hand man. Soga Keena, when she and Akuto were little kids. Last edited by Talon87; 06-30-2010 at 05:20 PM. |
06-30-2010, 01:33 AM | #5 | |
我が名は勇者王!
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Haruhi has spoiled us. Simply comparing what I'm seeing in Angel Beats to the clips you showed I figured I would end up disappointed with the show's look.
Quote:
Interestingly, another harem also has a similar plot element - Rosario + Vampire, although it features another kind of supernatural being rather than a demon. It was treated rather seriously despite the show's overall comic relief of the manga, but under no circumstances would I recommend R+V.
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06-30-2010, 11:29 AM | #6 |
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I'd recommend checking out this link before passing over this series. It is the opening scene to the third episode of the series. It gives you the sense of potentially awesome characters this show is capable of putting forth. The little girl, naturally, is Etou Fujiko.
The scene forms a nice bridge with the ending scene of episode 2 (click) which revealed that Fujiko has an incestual relationship with her brother: one so strong she actually brought him back from the dead (no doubt a sin against the God of this world). Mind you, he's a head inside a glass vacuum-sealed liquid-filled jar ŕ la Futurama, but still ...
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06-30-2010, 05:20 PM | #7 |
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I'm through Episode 07 of 12. My thoughts on the series are ...
In one sense, this is like the best Harry Potter fanfic ever. Imagine if Harry Potter were prophesied to become the next Dark Lord. Imagine if his friends were a mixture of Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws, and Slytherins. The Gryffindor likes him but is mortified by the prophecy since she tries to uphold justice and honor. The Slytherin is a super-hot witch who dabbles in the forbidden dark arts and wants to become Harry's bride. The Ravenclaw is this curious robot girl who is assigned to keep tabs on Harry. And the Hufflepuff is this spacey girl who can float and turn invisible, though losing her clothes in the process of doing the latter. But in another sense, the show is nothing special. It is rife with intra-episode subplots that are mercilessly discarded the moment they outlive their usefulness, something which causes a great deal of confusion. (For example, we're told that Fujiko's brother discovered the Demon Lord's pet dragon ten years ago. In order to make sure nobody could ever find it, he erased his own memory of the event. Soon afterwards, he was murdered by the man who had intended to use him to gain access to the dragon. Yet in direct contrast to this angle, Fujiko's brother also went ahead and buried a map and three clues which would allow future generations to locate the dragon's whereabouts. >_> WTH. The only reason Fujiko's brother hid the clues was so the author could justify the kids finding the century-old dragon. In other words, it's completely deus ex. This is just one example of several I could bring up. Others include: how Korone left and then returned in Episode 7; and how Hattori missed school to deal with a particular clan in Episode 5.) The plot itself isn't that deep. It's something which is pretty obvious from Day One: our hero has the power of a Demon King but not the heart, whereas the hidden enemy in the shadows is a guy who has the heart (i.e. the desire) to become the next Demon King, and ultimately our guy is going to have a showdown with him. And while this plot advances at a snail's pace, the remainder of the episodes' air time is allotted to moe character moments and to fan service. The show is fun to me ... I mean, obviously: I'm thru Episode 07 already in less than 24 hours. But do I highly recommend it? No. Do I recommend it? Yes. Do I recommend it to all audiences? No. The only people I'd recommend this to are: (a) those looking for something to watch and (b) those who enjoy harem anime with slightly above-average fan service. (Admittedly, the likes of Kanokon and Kiss x Sis have raised the ecchi bar way, way up there; but this series is still rather explicit.) One of my favorite scenes in the series is from Episode 6. The first years have gone on a field trip to the beach, but Fujiko as their senpai is stuck behind at school. She goes to her I <3 Fujiko. |
07-05-2010, 10:26 PM | #8 |
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I finished this show last week but didn't get a chance to post about it until now due to going home for the 4th of July weekend.
In a nutshell, the first third to half of the series is pretty good and seems to be adapted from the book(s); while the second two-thirds to one-half is somewhat dumber / more vapid, reminding one of Chrno Crusade. My advice? * watch the anime if you have time to kill and go into it with low expectations * if you find yourself liking this show, great: but do yourself a favor and remind yourself constantly, "the second half of the show is made-for-TV and is pretty dumb" * read the books I'm going to actually look into this, in order to verify for myself just how much of the second half of the show was made-for-TV and how much wasn't. 'Cause if the second half of the TV show is taken straight out of the books, *BARF*.
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07-05-2010, 11:31 PM | #9 |
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So who did Harry end up with? Or is he somehow in a harem with all the Hogwarts girls now?
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07-06-2010, 09:25 AM | #10 |
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That's part of the badness of the (I pray) made-for-TV storytelling. -_-;
Long story: Spoiler: show Short: the show ends no better than it started off, with every single girl clinging to Akuto, and Akuto having decided on none of them.
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Last edited by Talon87; 07-06-2010 at 09:29 AM. |
07-06-2010, 09:37 AM | #11 |
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Here it is: the last six minutes of the last episode. Probably the worst ending I've seen in one to two years.
God, I hate it when a studio adapts an unfinished work for television and then decides they can do just as good a job as the original author at filling in the gaps ... only to fail terribly.
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Last edited by Talon87; 07-06-2010 at 09:49 AM. |
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