Anime Discussion Thread - Page 5990

I actually liked it quite a bit. The sci-fi was actually very well done, especially in the first half. The characters were mostly likable. The story was very gripping - I never got the feeling anything story-wise should have been disposed of. Animation and sound were top notch, I really enjoyed myself regarding those two!
However, I think it could have used a few more episodes. By the last third I felt like they tried to stuff in "too much" story relatively to how much time they had left. I think all the story-bits were needed but the world-building suffered from that. With a few more episodes they could have added more in-depth explanations to how human-forms work, the development of anti-human-form weapons, more backround to the Tessiks, their Xam'd cycle and the Xam'd "overlord, etc.pp. They could have used a bit more time for the story as well to soften the edges. It felt pretty rough at times because the pace was so damn high near the end. It also had a little bit too much of "hey, let's give every character an important role in the finale even if we have never talked about it before" for my taste.
Regarding the ending, I think they chose a really impactful ending but messed it up a little bit. To me it felt like they cut it during the most important point when Akiyuki gave away his self without showing any reactions. It was kind of a "that's it?"-moment. Then they swapped into the future and by the end of the episode Haru and Akiyuki just met again because reasons (because someone called his name or so yadayada). I might have missed something but that took a lot of the impact away for me. I think the stronger ending would have been without a time-skip but instead having an inner monolouge of Haru stating how she will wait for Akiyuki or something similar at the very end. Just leave it in the air whether they meet again or not. It also kind of took away from Nakiyami's sacrifice. I was much more attached to Nakiami than I was to Akiyuki, yet they decided to give more importance to Akiyuki's sacrifice.

Why did nobody ever ask Kurosawa why he masturbated over the girls stuff ? I know middleschoolers would usually rather talk shit behind people's back instead of finding out the truth but I figured at least Magister and Sugawa would've wanted to know. Maybe the LN epilogue has some answers about that (which I really should get around to reading)

This manga is one of the funniest and most genuine things i've ever read (in terms of the MC's thought process atleast) so why did the second half have to be like some cliché love-triangle movie. I just wanted Molester and Kansai to hook up immediately after they had a chat at the restaurant and skip all the drama.
The most annoying thing is that I like all the characters and I don't hate anything about the second half of the story, my brain just refuses to believe something that cliché could happen IRL (especially not after the unique start it had).

Also I hope that the rumor of IRL Kansai cheating on IRL Molester is false and that they're married with 2 kids or I'm gonna kill myself.

Very similar. I was definitely a lot more invested in Nakiami, and I think I put Akiyuki out of my mind for the last episode just because of how much I hadn't gotten over Nakiami's sacrifice. When Benikawa started crying, really felt bad since that relationship was probably one of my favorites in the show.

I think there's some merit in saying it had pretty meh pacing, but I think the reveals at the end were sparse enough not to matter. Like I don't think they ever had a moment where they dropped a fifteen minute knowledge bomb that explained everything, and I think whatever ambiguity remains is sort of "might've been nice to know, but not necessary."

Overall, I think the show's fantasy elements are really good, and I really like the pervasive theme on the topic of mothers and the relationship between child/parent (specifically mother) that sort of escalates and reveals itself through the series. I think it's something unique and we don't see it very often, but I think it was one of the instances where the theme really helps to inform and strengthen the drama so that it feels real and genuine. I never got the thought that a character was just some archetype of some form devoted to a very standardized purpose. There were your usual characters yes, but they all felt very visceral in terms of how they showed off their emotions and inhibitions.

Finally, I think the worldbuilding is really well done. For how much they devoted to characterization and drama, what else they did with the show was really cool.

The highlight of the show is definitely the worldbuilding and maybe 1/4 of the cast. The actual plot was pretty meh by the end. It's a shame too, because the start was really strong.

I think it's really telling that Nakiami outshines Akiyuki so much despite Akiyuki's importance to the plot. The start was interesting because of how his desire to go home coupled with his Hiruko issues. The problem is, they never really followed up on that. Once he gets home, amnesia hits and he has to rediscover himself. Only... he doesn't. Haru just calls his name and he magically gets better. After that, he learns about people wanting to die, then he goes to fight the Emperor. Syncronizing with the Hiruko was all about self-acceptance, having a purpose and all that. What did Akiyuki learn about himself? That he wants to save people? That he wants to be with Haru? I'm just left scratching my head about his development. Akiyuki giving his name to the Emperor was pretty clever at least.

Furuichi was almost well done. His insecurities made sense. Problem is, his hatred was so intense it became comical. I do like how they ended his arc though - him committing suicide makes a lot of sense considering how he's basically lost everything.

Haru was confusing. Overall, it felt like she had no place in the plot whatsoever. At the start, she was developed nicely. However, once she joined the military, it kinda all fell apart. She joins to find Akiyuki, but then becomes a serious soldier, then becomes defiant, then escapes to actually find him. It was an awful lot of meandering for not much gain. I also hated the way the Midori sideplot got developed. It felt like an unnecessary addition.

The postal ship crew got forgotten. Raigyo and Isshu's fun time was pointless because neither of them were sufficiently developed for me to actually care. Isshu surviving was also rather contrived, and it was ultimately a rather pointless detail.

Nakiami is the best character because she is at once strong, lost, and she has an actual character arc. At the beginning she's just doing her thing on the postal ship. After meeting Akiyuki and doing various things, she finally makes up her mind to return to her village to face her past. Along the way, she picks up Yango, who just like her, is outwardly strong and inwardly weak. She helps him come to terms with his insecurities and he helps her with her own demons. Their relationship is by far the best one in the entire series, which is kinda funny considering they only had half the season to pull it off. Eventually, Nakiami realizes what she wants to do and pulls it off. A nice, clear arc.

Akiyuki's parents have a similarly good arc. They start the show estranged because of communication problems and misunderstandings. Despite loving each other, they have trouble opening up to one another, and it's not until they have to face the loss of their son that they finally start to reconcile. It's a minor subplot in the grand scheme of things, but it was honestly my favorite.

To me, it feels like they just didn't know what to do with a bunch of the characters, so they half-assed a resolution and called it a day. I don't think having more episodes would've helped them here.

Yea, I think if they had minimized the cast, or at least given less attention to some of the characters, it would've helped. Like I feel like giving less screen time to the guy who crushes on Nakiami, the guy Isshu keeps calling fat, and a couple of other people would help to ensure that people knew these were just side/static characters that are there just to be there. For the most part, I think they did that well, but they had a serious case of E7 when they try to focus on people like Nakiami's sister and try to give her a part. I think her design was cool and I think it served a purpose, but it had its fair share of problems because there just wasn't time to give her an actual story.

Yea Akiyuki's parents were great. Definitely my favorite part of the story apart from Nakiami/Isshu and how their relationship is just tragically understated because that's kind of the point (feelsbad). For his parents, I love their interactions together and they felt like real parents. Maybe it's because we don't really see parents a lot in anime. A lot of times they're either dead or just MIA, so we don't get the opportunity to see how an anime really portrays two parents who are just seriously worried about their kid and their marriage.

For Haru....I really hated her the first time I saw her. I think she kind of grew on me the second time around. I can't really explain why, but I think she slotted in more nicely to how I thought the story was trying to tell everything rather than being pointlessly abrasive to the plot and just all around boring. Maybe I thought her emotions were more genuine this time around.