Anime of the Season

I notice that almost all your reviews are pretty negative. The second season of Clannad is the best part of the story and many people loved it. It is meant to be sad, it is a nakige after all. As far as Ef a Fairy Tale of Two, I do agree about the first part of it. The latter tale is where the story gets really good and it all ties in together. You need to give it another chance. The visual novel it was based one was a masterpiece.

Clannad- First season is your classic 'cram every route into one season and somehow make it turn out all right' story.  It has lots of good feels.  However, the tone of the second season is excessively depressing due to the protagonist basically being a broken man though most of it.  This makes it infuriating to watch for some people.  Also Nagisa is my least-favorite heroine.

Kara no Kyoukai 2- The true 1 of the anime movie series, it follows Shiki and Kokutou as their relationship begins (in a very rocky fashion) and it is the only time in the series where both of Shiki's original personas are present.  I will say this now, because it needs to be said, but every single conversation in this series, down to the seemingly least-important remarks, has meaning.  While I'm not terribly fond of classic mysteries, I do like the way they planted easter eggs that rewarded watching each movie multiple times.

Kara no Kyoukai 1- It is understandable that they use this as an initial jumping-off point because it strikes a better balance between the mystery elements and action that define the series than any of the ones that come after it.  Also, it gives you a reason to be intrigued about Shiki's past, which is probably why they chose to release this one first.

Prism Ark- Low-quality fantasy that doesn't go anywhere.

Shion no Ou- I'm going to be straight with you... I don't know the first thing about Shougi (I always forget the rules between one time I play it and another, though not as badly as mahjong).  However, this series is fun to watch even if you don't know crap about it.  From what some of my friends tell me, it is fairly close to reality when it comes to the situation for professional shougi players, and the actual story is top-notch.

Night Wizard- Really, really low-quality fantasy action story.

Rental Magica- Setting has potential and is complex in a good way, but it fails to go anywhere.

Majin Tantei- Comedy mystery focusing on a demon assistant and his slave/assistant who is an airhead.

Shakugan no Shana 2- More good stuff but the last battle of the season takes up way too many episodes.  This is time that could have been used to flesh out the story for what happens in the final season, but sadly that isn't how it worked out.

Gundam 00- Easily the best of the post-1990's Gundam series.  The series is basically a reinterpretation of the concept of Gundam Wing, where a small elite force tries to force the world to change out of a sense of idealism and a huge dose of ruthlessness.  On the other hand, it manages to come across as more brutal than previous entries if you first watched it when it came out, as it mirrors the conflicts of the time to an extent.  This is perhaps because there is almost no focus on Europe or the Americas compared to previous Gundam series, as the writers focused on Asia and the Middle East for this one.  Combat-wise the main characters' side of things has a near-absolute advantage at the beginning, but by the end of the first season, the tables are beginning to turn on them.

Clannad second season is how Hell on Earth looks from man's standpoint as you work on a crappy physical labor job and is the only supporter of the family. And because total misery you basically watch your family suffer and wane with every day as health aggravates. There's no way out from this despair and you're constantly emotionally depressed blaming your weakness. What I see is author deliberately depicting most grisly traits of everyday life in order to invoke emotional empathy. Real artists can invoke the same emotions by relaying totally normal or inventive situations without using forbidden moves and fighting dirty. I'd gladly watch a show about simple moments of happiness in poverty, but in this state it's pursuit for short-term impact and using all methods for that. It gives me nothing as I know how life can look like, and I was never going to marry, anyway, and I'm too bitter to be affected, but it can have a very negative impression on some men. 

In case of ef: A Tale of Memories I'm just really tired of cycle structures. Even in the best examples it often starts to feel tiresome. I react to most works with cycle structure in a similar way, and in this particular case Chihiro is one of the most irritating characters I ever encountered. Her personality changes on daily basis, and only the worst traits remain intact as she behaves in obsessive manner and all the time tries to pique and offend while protagonist does not stand out and tolerates all that so that it starts to look like he enjoys it all. This is an example of immature and unhealthy relations. I prefer more seasoned romance, and I know enough examples of such works to compare.

I'll definitely need to rewatch at least Kara no Kyoukai 2 and probably read on the background of these series as I had no prior knowledge what to expect. I usually keep watching at least till I can see the outlines of the story, and where it's going to. I still can't believe these are just supernatural murder stories with twists and different resolutions, but maybe it's just that as mysteries tend to look very bleak when put in chronological order and retold in own words.

Edited May 24, 2023 by kivandopulus

On 5/24/2023 at 11:07 AM, kivandopulus said:

Clannad second season is how Hell on Earth looks from man's standpoint as you work on a crappy physical labor job and is the only supporter of the family. And because total misery you basically watch your family suffer and wane with every day as health aggravates. There's no way out from this despair and you're constantly emotionally depressed blaming your weakness. What I see is author deliberately depicting most grisly traits of everyday life in order to invoke emotional empathy. Real artists can invoke the same emotions by relaying totally normal or inventive situations without using forbidden moves and fighting dirty. I'd gladly watch a show about simple moments of happiness in poverty, but in this state it's pursuit for short-term impact and using all methods for that. It gives me nothing as I know how life can look like, and I was never going to marry, anyway, and I'm too bitter to be affected, but it can have a very negative impression on some men. 

In case of ef: A Tale of Memories I'm just really tired of cycle structures. Even in the best examples it often starts to feel tiresome. I react to most works with cycle structure in a similar way, and in this particular case Chihiro is one of the most irritating characters I ever encountered. Her personality changes on daily basis, and only the worst traits remain intact as she behaves in obsessive manner and all the time tries to pique and offend while protagonist does not stand out and tolerates all that so that it starts to look like he enjoys it all. This is an example of immature and unhealthy relations. I prefer more seasoned romance, and I know enough examples of such works to compare.

I'll definitely need to rewatch at least Kara no Kyoukai 2 and probably read on the background of these series as I had no prior knowledge what to expect. I usually keep watching at least till I can see the outlines of the story, and where it's going to. I still can't believe these are just supernatural murder stories with twists and different resolutions, but maybe it's just that as mysteries tend to look very bleak when put in chronological order and retold in own words.

The real draw of Kara no Kyoukai is Ryougi Shiki's struggle with her own humanity (or lack of it, as she sees it) and Kokutou's attempts to keep up with her despite being a powerless normal with a higher than average intelligence.  The second draw is the way the series digs into the weirdness of the Nasuverse's sorcery system and mystics.  Third comes the mysteries (which aren't really mysteries, since - as El-Melloi says - the howdunnit of mysteries are meaningless in a world of sorcery).  

There is also the hedge philosophy... but that's wrapped up in the sorcery, so it can't really be separated from it.

Clannad - Considering the VN is quite well received, obviously the anime version is also well received, especially with Kyoani working on this. Also it's very obvious that it need more than 40 episodes to adapt it faithfully seeing that Clannad is a very lengthy VN. For the first season here, it only adapt three main heroines routes (Fuko, Kotomi, and Nagisa) with the rest of routes (Tomoyo and Kyou) are made into OVA.\

ef - While the anime art is not as good as the VN (It still good on it's own), at least Shaft make it up with the stylish animated art in the opening. If I may nitpick something, it would be on how the director seems to prefer Miyako more than Kei because Kei's action in the anime is not what she did in the VN and not to mention made her character reputation worse to the anime only audience, but if anything else at least it's not as bad as Kaede from Shuffle.

Shugo Chara - Magical girl anime starring 11 years old cool girl who want to be seen as normal, and the 3rd season of it is not as good as the first two seasons. Also it's manga was available in Indonesia, although I only glance a bit of it.

Minami-ke - Cute girls do cute things with three sisters, and that there's a handsome weird man Hosaka who keep trying to win Haruka love (And also have imagination scene when he sang the song revolving curry or vegetable).

Myself Yourself - I'd like to hear the opening song of the anime, and it's quite good. Not the most well received anime that Doga Kobo made (It would be Oshi no Ko), but at least it's not 11eyes.

That's all for what I can write in regard of Fall 2007 anime here.

Edited May 30, 2023 by littleshogun