Anime Discussion Thread - Page 2329

On September 10 2012 12:32 Taku wrote:

Thank you for once again already telling me my opinion is wrong. But um, I'd say their premise of being trapped in an MMO and all the plot afterwards is entertaining and original to me? Sure as hell better than your generic supernatural fantasy/magical kingdom show. Also I never watched .hack but if it was that much of a copy I'm sure someone would have made a big deal about it before now.

Re: Caller
I think you just broke my brain. Well played.

On July 16 2012 09:54 Southlight wrote:
Kay so my head hurts today so I'm completely unproductive but this topic has been bothering me for like two weeks now because people are being all WOOH SO GOOD about it.

I'm a big, big fan of the .hack// series. Not necessarily the individual works, but as a whole the world and premise set forth is comparable to some of the best in terms of contemporary fiction. The premise of .hack// is that an ingenious programmer constructs a world ("The World") which is a giant MMORPG... but behind the scenes a lot of stuff is administered by AI. The crux of the series is the "battle" of sorts between normal people who just want to play the game, normal people who are fascinated by the game, hackers, virii, benevolent AI, indifferent AI, and ultimately, malevolent AI. Through it all you see what is now considered typical (although often forgotten/overlooked) mixture of people of all sorts of backgrounds. It's this setting that .hack//sign attempted to explore and present, and it's the setting and the mixture of all sorts of seemingly random people banding together that makes that anime series what it was. Bear in mind that .hack//sign ran in 2002, a whole ten years ago. MMORPGs in the day were stuff like Asheron's Call, Everquest, and Ultimate Online. The concept of an MMO world being present in ordinary life, even considered mainstream, was absurd. Combine that with the fantasy of augmented reality and you can understand how almost prophetic the .hack// series was.

On the other hand, Sword Art Online intrigued me with its premise. It is a similar one: an ingenious programmer constructs an augmented reality MMORPG. It then locks people into the game, forcing them into a giant social experiment of having to face life or death within the MMORPG. Fascinating. A very interesting thought and social experiment, and it's something that is touched on quite heavily throughout the first volume. The will and minds of people against the brink, having to beat a game amid the conundrum of whether it's even worth leaving. The slow degeneration of certain sects of people into fanaticism as the number of people (players) dwindles. The discrimination against "beaters" (beta + cheaters), or beta-testers who were perceived to have advantages over the ordinary people. It was, in one word, interesting. I loved the first AND second volumes, the latter of which provided the "filler backstory short stories" to the doings of Kirito and what made him charismatic to certain sects of people (while being feared by others, allowing him to remain solo and generally unbothered). Had they swapped the order of the volumes, it would have been even better. Get to know the world, the character, then end it.

That's the problem though, and where the comparisons stop. SPOILER ALERT! Sword Art Online + Show Spoiler + They abandon the entire premise of the world, they abandon the premise, and devolve into a typical MMORPG harem. Eca sarcastically remarked that "her fiance locked her in a game to have her be a dutchwife," or whatnot. It's a pitiful abandonment of what the story had built up to that point, and at that point everything else becomes a plot device.

But Uta, .hack// spans several games, too!

Touche, but the difference is that .hack// doesn't use the different worlds as a plot device. Rather, the different worlds are a logical progression of the consequences of the bloodbath that ensues during the course of each part of the story. "The World" ends soon after .hack//sign because of all the comatose people: the government and such do not react kindly to a dangerous game. This makes sense! It is later that "The World: R2" is created - IIRC like ten years later - thanks to a revamped engine and what programmers hoped was the fixing of bugs - an assumption they would (spoiler alert!) realize was false because the battle between the AI had not actually been ended by simply shutting down The World. This sets the stage for .hack//G.U. in which Aura and Morganna Mode Gone basically go to war. And a fascinating story did G.U. present, as all sorts of random people get sucked into or willingly walk into the AI/virus war out of luck or interest or whatnot. All the motivations, the IRL vs in-game emotions and concerns, they were interesting, and fleshed out the world to be what it was. You can argue that the game was not very good, the presentation was so-so, but the effort was there, and what resulted was a collective beauty.

But SAO? The subsequent worlds become stereotypical shit. That's fine, given that it draws a lot of its material from the stereotypical garbage MMORPGs that have flooded the market. That's probably why people try to compare it to .hack//, as it's a "more contemporary" take at the MMORPG genre, without the marketing drivel that accompanies horrible stuff like Tower of Druaga (although that ultimately decided to fuck it all and run the parody comedy route) and all sorts of anime series titled after MMORPGs. The problem is that you get a cast that is basically all middle school kids (how realistic! oh wait, not) who appear to be ga-ga over the same character (what're the odds, right? must be a Small Multiplayer Online RPG) and seem to live in the same neighborhood (what're the o- oh wait it's just Japan). There's like no consistent plotline, it's just a typical shoujo/shounen-esque pattern where you get one MOB OF THE WEEK(volume) after another. Which, I guess I shouldn't be too critical of given that it's a light novel (wrong set of standards maybe) but all it becomes is just a quirky version of Naruto/Bleach. Whatever floats your boat.

Oh, and Eca, the yuri couple certain was <3 for .hack//sign, but I like all the other stuff too, and I can't recall too many other lesbian couples in the series. I enjoyed the relationship of such as Haseo (especially when you know his background, teehee) and Ovan though, as well as Bear and the rest of the cast in .hack//sign.

On September 10 2012 12:49 Taku wrote:


Okay, so let's say it's shit as you say. This still changes nothing, because apparently the masses find SAO entertaining and worthy of their support. Okay, so you say my taste is shit. My response is that you sound like one of those people wishing top40 music was dead and that your favorite obscure indie(doujin) band is played on the radio instead. It changes nothing. Once again I thought you'd actually have a legitimate reason for flaming SAO like that wall of text above me that I need to read now rather than the fact that I am apparently shit.

Also you've basically pigeonholed all escapist creations and genres as fan service. Things are written so that people can immerse themselves in the world created. Do you think people who read harry potter didn't insert themselves into the POV of someone, or in song of ice and fire? Are they shit and are their reader's tastes shit now? I don't even...

On September 10 2012 13:01 Taku wrote:

So if I don't stop posting about how SAO entertains me you'll keep coming back red in the face? I look forward to this.

On September 10 2012 14:19 Perguvious wrote:
I'm not up to date on this season's anime. I caught up on watching SAO because it's the thing everyone and their mom is talking about, and I want 2 or 3 more shows to watch (not counting ones running from last season). Suggestions?