If you come in here looking for "anime recommendations" then please refer to this chart before posting: Anime Recommendations (as of may 2014). We also have an IRC channel called #tladt where we all hang out. The channel is on Rizon, not QuakeNet! Feel free to check it out. TLADT discord is Discord.gg
For currently airing anime, please see Anichart.net
On April 22 2018 03:43 Slaughter wrote: Franxx was really strong this week.
like... the last 2 weeks as well?
And people are hating on it
Episode 14 of franxx was anything but strong. It relied on one of the weakest writing crutches known to man to generate drama.
What was that? There wasn't really anything weak about it.
I think he's probably talking about the misunderstanding, granted you gotta take it with a grain of salt because like, they're a bunch of dumb horny teenagers, but I could totally see the perspective + Show Spoiler +
that having Hiro COINCIDENTALLY going to find 02, while 02 finally got everyone's consent to go visit Hiro, and Hiro wasn't there. 02 thought she was being lied to, in spite of there be evidence of Hiro escaping.
On April 21 2018 22:02 abuse wrote: more shameful sorayori promotion for being best anime of the last long time.
I love Sorayori so much, man, it makes me miss going on an adventure and travelling. There's this amazing thread on TL of someone going on such adventures http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/511617-chris-on-tour-around-the-world-pictures (Although at the time of writing, the vast majority of his photographs aren't working). Honestly thats my #1 fear of settling down with a family and a career.... I feel like any chance of those feelings are completely gone because providing your family and future becomes so important.
Not saying it isn't, but the idea of those adventures being completely unreachable for you because of important commitments is scary. I don't know anyone in my family that has traveled after having kids, like, anywhere abroad at least. The most exotic location they'll travel is just 300 miles away to Disneyland.
I think that's also why those first 10 minutes of Up were so incredibly powerful to me and many others. Even if you have the goals and the ambition to go somewhere, it is SO easy for life just to pass you by because you're dealing with so much bullshit on a day-to-day basis.
But he brings up a very interesting point, we have so much high quality media that its sometimes very easy to get jaded, apathetic, or desensitized towards the messages of said media. Like, we have so much media with the message "Believe in yourself" or something like that, but its a message thats said so much, its hard to really understand what that actually means. It becomes kinda like a trope you gloss over because you hear it so much, even if the message is fantastic and the media giving out that message is doing a great job.
Wow, Franxx was super hype, and pure at the same time, loved it.
I kinda think Jek is onto something, having 02 and Hiro reconnect after 1 episode seems..... kinda rushed considering how dramatic the previous episode was. I didn't feel much loss or longing, but was still happy when they reunited.
On April 22 2018 09:55 lestye wrote: Wow, Franxx was super hype, and pure at the same time, loved it.
I kinda think Jek is onto something, having 02 and Hiro reconnect after 1 episode seems..... kinda rushed considering how dramatic the previous episode was. I didn't feel much loss or longing, but was still happy when they reunited.
There's just so much in episode 15 that seems out of place. The worst offender is + Show Spoiler +
Hiro being able to link up with someone other than Zero2 without anyone batting an eye.
Seriously, it have been on of his defining traits in the entire story so far and there's no explaination, it'd be like Toriyama had skipped Krillin dying and Goku just randomly while eating dinner could go super saiyan all of a sudden.
The nine's leader being the one "ridden" by the girl was pretty interesting. I guess Hiro and Mitsuri can at some point link up or if he's a reverse trap Ichigo and Ikuno?
Episode 15 could have been really good if they had invested just one episode to investigate the actual results of the seperation. :-/
Their slow and obvious mental decay? How did the squad react to it? Ichigo's frustration? Mitsuri being the only other what that know how it feels when Zero2 starts devouring you? Goro dealing with the whole situation?
Didn't he link up with her earlier.... I recall him linking up and then going limp once combat actually started? Using that memory as reference, I think he can link up if he's just moving and not doing anything too technical or combative.
Didn't he link up with her earlier.... I recall him linking up and then going limp once combat actually started? Using that memory as reference, I think he can link up if he's just moving and not doing anything too technical or combative.
They linked and immediately broke apart when they started to move. Ichigo entered rampage mode out of frustration. Would have liked if Ichigo went rampage mode too when moving Hiro to Zero2 or at least let the squad go "wait wtf" about it.
edit: On second thought I guesssss I can live with it, they have stated the pilots need to be in harmony of sorts and Ichigo have now fully accepted Hiro wants Zero2. But meh it just feels so cheap.
I have just watched ep4 of FMP Fumoffu and I'm kind of bored. The show was pretty funny in the beginning but that is decreasing at an alarming rate because the show is pretty much a one-trick pony...
This is incredible. The ship built by peanut butter squid. I can't believe it happened. This battleship is unstoppable after all.
People were saying that this would be the combo presented by Soma as the appetizer, but a perfected version. For this to be Erina's dish is freaking great.
On April 22 2018 13:44 Miragee wrote: I have just watched ep4 of FMP Fumoffu and I'm kind of bored. The show was pretty funny in the beginning but that is decreasing at an alarming rate because the show is pretty much a one-trick pony...
them somehow leaving their rooms to see eachother at exactly the same time and missing eachother in the process
it's pretty fucking shit drama. They couldn't write anything actually compelling and decided to rely on something this lazy. It's one of the laziest and weakest crutches a writer can rely on if they want to generate drama.
If i had to rate that episode it'd be like 3/10 at the very highest. What a poorly written episode. Then again, going straight from the best episode to the worst back to back is sort of impressive in its own right.
Didn't really rely on it. More or less just used it as a trigger. It was going to happen eventually with how unstable she was.
Then why use that incredibly cheap device if the writers didn't have to rely on it? Regardless of why they did it, it's still fair to judge them for using it.
Not only did 02 and Hiro miss each other while going for the other's location, the rest of the team was somehow absolutely clueless that this was going on. From Ichigo's "I'll just leave this knife with you for no reason at all", to Hiro escaping with his bed sheets and said knife, to each party missing each other on their way... everything about that whole situation felt like an attempt to cramp as many bad cliches in there as possible. For me, that is the definition of terrible and lazy writing.
That aside, the core conflict there is absolutely silly as well and it cannot be called logical or reasonable at all. The two partners voiced the need to talk to each other multiple times and it's very clear that this was a thing that needed talking about. None of the rest of the team had any idea what was going on inside the cockpit, so they should have had a need to understand that situation as well. But I guess this is another one of those absolutely obnoxious anime cliches; a conflict easily resolved if only the characters involved would talk to each other.
What makes this worse is the fact that everything that was happening in the show up until that moment was pointing to this plot development. Finally the mystery is resolved, the characters can talk to each other and set off on their shared journey... and then episode 14 happens. I'll be honest here: I was incredibly frustrated and mad as well, especially because I knew that this shitty drama is going to be resolved in a few episodes anyway. It's a waste of time and absolutely transparent, coming at the worst time possible. Episode 13 gets people excited and in the "here we go" mood and then the writers essentially punch them in the face for no reason at all.
So yeah, I think a 3/10 rating for episode 14 is very generous here. It was poorly written, poorly timed and poorly executed. They used episode 14 to set up a needless drama that gets resolved completely in episode 15 anyway. The show as a whole would've improved if they had just cut both episodes and went from 13 to the end of 15 straight away.
so if you had a guyfriend who literally ended up in hospital almost dying because of an abusive girlfriend, twice at that, who is still in love with her and then tells you "it's not really her fault for hurting me. Just let me talk with her to resolve this mess!" you'd be sitting next to him in the hospital and go "you know what? Yeah, you two should talk things through!" ? Like people already mentioned it's only made worse by the fact that she literally is a monster, or non-human of some sort that is literally able to fight off armed soldiers (as long as we're talking a hand full) with her inhuman strength+speed.
I find that to be laughable. I wouldn't let my friend close to that girl either.
Except we already had an episode for that when she started to corrupt him and then it turned out to be somewhat fine. That episode already established pretty clearly that he is aware of the danger that he is in and that he accepts it... because the alternative to accepting that risk means to get iced by the organisation since he is absolutely useless without 02. And most of the kids realize that, too. That was a very major element of the story up until this point.
When my guyfriend has the choice between literally dying and a relationship that physically harms him from time to time, I'd be a monster to suggest that he should just die instead, simply because I am jealous of the person that he get's to be with. That is not love or having his best interest in mind, it's obsessive and possessive behavior and much worse than what 02 is doing. The kids didn't even let either Hiro nor 02 even voice their objections.
In the example you mentioned: Imagine that his girlfriend is hulking beast of a woman that occasionally bruises him. You suggest that the reasonable response there is to forbid them from seeing each other without even trying to understand what exactly happened there. Even worse, you forbid both sides from even trying to explain the situation and talk to each other or the group to dispel any misconceptions. Worse still, upon him being discharged from the hospital, the first thing you do is walk up to him and kiss him.
That is not reasonable behavior. If that kind of stuff makes her the "lowkey best girl" of the show, there's something seriously wrong here.
The core conflict was pretty realistic imo. The rest of the crew don't know 02 well and have only neutral at best impressions of her from previous rumors of her plus her attitude towards them. Then they see Hiro put in the hospital with strangulation marks around his neck. Yea I wouldn't want to let them see each other either for a while. Going from 13 to 15 would be silly, the only thing you could argue is that they could have extended the disconnect between Hiro and 02 and not have it resolved in 15.
If they had just gone from the "they remember who each other is" at the end of episode 13 straight to the "Hiro grabs 02 and shatters her long horns" from the end of episode 15 and merged those (or made it the same scene), not much would have been lost: She strangles him, he remembers who she is, grabs her horns, says his "you're the girl with the picture book... my darling" line, her horns shatter and they finally embrace each other. The only development in episode 14 and 15 in terms of character relationships is that Ichigo finally (after like 10 too many episodes) realizes that she has no chance with Hiro. What else would have been lost there and why would that be silly?
them somehow leaving their rooms to see eachother at exactly the same time and missing eachother in the process
it's pretty fucking shit drama. They couldn't write anything actually compelling and decided to rely on something this lazy. It's one of the laziest and weakest crutches a writer can rely on if they want to generate drama.
If i had to rate that episode it'd be like 3/10 at the very highest. What a poorly written episode. Then again, going straight from the best episode to the worst back to back is sort of impressive in its own right.
Didn't really rely on it. More or less just used it as a trigger. It was going to happen eventually with how unstable she was.
Then why use that incredibly cheap device if the writers didn't have to rely on it? Regardless of why they did it, it's still fair to judge them for using it.
Not only did 02 and Hiro miss each other while going for the other's location, the rest of the team was somehow absolutely clueless that this was going on. From Ichigo's "I'll just leave this knife with you for no reason at all", to Hiro escaping with his bed sheets and said knife, to each party missing each other on their way... everything about that whole situation felt like an attempt to cramp as many bad cliches in there as possible. For me, that is the definition of terrible and lazy writing.
That aside, the core conflict there is absolutely silly as well and it cannot be called logical or reasonable at all. The two partners voiced the need to talk to each other multiple times and it's very clear that this was a thing that needed talking about. None of the rest of the team had any idea what was going on inside the cockpit, so they should have had a need to understand that situation as well. But I guess this is another one of those absolutely obnoxious anime cliches; a conflict easily resolved if only the characters involved would talk to each other.
What makes this worse is the fact that everything that was happening in the show up until that moment was pointing to this plot development. Finally the mystery is resolved, the characters can talk to each other and set off on their shared journey... and then episode 14 happens. I'll be honest here: I was incredibly frustrated and mad as well, especially because I knew that this shitty drama is going to be resolved in a few episodes anyway. It's a waste of time and absolutely transparent, coming at the worst time possible. Episode 13 gets people excited and in the "here we go" mood and then the writers essentially punch them in the face for no reason at all.
So yeah, I think a 3/10 rating for episode 14 is very generous here. It was poorly written, poorly timed and poorly executed. They used episode 14 to set up a needless drama that gets resolved completely in episode 15 anyway. The show as a whole would've improved if they had just cut both episodes and went from 13 to the end of 15 straight away.
so if you had a guyfriend who literally ended up in hospital almost dying because of an abusive girlfriend, twice at that, who is still in love with her and then tells you "it's not really her fault for hurting me. Just let me talk with her to resolve this mess!" you'd be sitting next to him in the hospital and go "you know what? Yeah, you two should talk things through!" ? Like people already mentioned it's only made worse by the fact that she literally is a monster, or non-human of some sort that is literally able to fight off armed soldiers (as long as we're talking a hand full) with her inhuman strength+speed.
I find that to be laughable. I wouldn't let my friend close to that girl either.
Except we already had an episode for that when she started to corrupt him and then it turned out to be somewhat fine. That episode already established pretty clearly that he is aware of the danger that he is in and that he accepts it... because the alternative to accepting that risk means to get iced by the organisation since he is absolutely useless without 02. And most of the kids realize that, too. That was a very major element of the story up until this point.
When my guyfriend has the choice between literally dying and a relationship that physically harms him from time to time, I'd be a monster to suggest that he should just die instead, simply because I am jealous of the person that he get's to be with. That is not love or having his best interest in mind, it's obsessive and possessive behavior and much worse than what 02 is doing. The kids didn't even let either Hiro nor 02 even voice their objections.
In the example you mentioned: Imagine that his girlfriend is hulking beast of a woman that occasionally bruises him. You suggest that the reasonable response there is to forbid them from seeing each other without even trying to understand what exactly happened there. Even worse, you forbid both sides from even trying to explain the situation and talk to each other or the group to dispel any misconceptions. Worse still, upon him being discharged from the hospital, the first thing you do is walk up to him and kiss him.
That is not reasonable behavior. If that kind of stuff makes her the "lowkey best girl" of the show, there's something seriously wrong here.
The core conflict was pretty realistic imo. The rest of the crew don't know 02 well and have only neutral at best impressions of her from previous rumors of her plus her attitude towards them. Then they see Hiro put in the hospital with strangulation marks around his neck. Yea I wouldn't want to let them see each other either for a while. Going from 13 to 15 would be silly, the only thing you could argue is that they could have extended the disconnect between Hiro and 02 and not have it resolved in 15.
If they had just gone from the "they remember who each other is" at the end of episode 13 straight to the "Hiro grabs 02 and shatters her long horns" from the end of episode 15 and merged those (or made it the same scene), not much would have been lost: She strangles him, he remembers who she is, grabs her horns, says his "you're the girl with the picture book... my darling" line, her horns shatter and they finally embrace each other. The only development in episode 14 and 15 in terms of character relationships is that Ichigo finally (after like 10 too many episodes) realizes that she has no chance with Hiro. What else would have been lost there and why would that be silly?
I think there's a difference between "riding with her comes with complications. Such as the thing on your chest and your health in general getting worse but she's not out to kill you" like it was portrayed in that episode you mention and her literally trying to kill him in the later episodes. That's the point, it's not that she's a hulking, big girl who occasionaly bruises him without the intent to do so. She literally was out to kill him in the later episodes and I think that makes a big difference.
If it's really just what you mentioned I'd say that's kinda okay and people can talk that through, which is what we saw the first 10 or so episodes: The kids kind of scared of her, not sure what's going on and if they can trust her but in the end they're willing to let them talk to each other because they don't think it's malicious and it's his decision. But then EP 13 and 14 happened and it becomes malicious with her intend on killing him. Not as a byproduct of riding with her or anything he was fine with, just straight up killing him for the purpose to further her goal.
I'd say in that situation, if you say a) is certain death for him (not letting him ride with her and he's not able to ride with anyone else) b) is certain death for him as well (letting him be with her) I'd probably still try to get him away from her and try to work something out. A is obviously not good, but in the same way doing heroin isn't good. Sure you're going to die but if I see someone currently getting strangled (because for some reason that helps against his heroin addiction) I'd still first try to do something about the strangling. And then try and work something out from there. And I think that's what Ichigos train of though was. She clearly got him away from the immediate death threat and then mentioned that she'll find a way that he'll be able to ride with someone else, basicly saying she'll deal with the other problem as well. Wether that's possible is another question but seems reasonable to me to first get the immediate deaththreat out of the way and then think about the other one once you're done with that.
them somehow leaving their rooms to see eachother at exactly the same time and missing eachother in the process
it's pretty fucking shit drama. They couldn't write anything actually compelling and decided to rely on something this lazy. It's one of the laziest and weakest crutches a writer can rely on if they want to generate drama.
If i had to rate that episode it'd be like 3/10 at the very highest. What a poorly written episode. Then again, going straight from the best episode to the worst back to back is sort of impressive in its own right.
Didn't really rely on it. More or less just used it as a trigger. It was going to happen eventually with how unstable she was.
Then why use that incredibly cheap device if the writers didn't have to rely on it? Regardless of why they did it, it's still fair to judge them for using it.
Not only did 02 and Hiro miss each other while going for the other's location, the rest of the team was somehow absolutely clueless that this was going on. From Ichigo's "I'll just leave this knife with you for no reason at all", to Hiro escaping with his bed sheets and said knife, to each party missing each other on their way... everything about that whole situation felt like an attempt to cramp as many bad cliches in there as possible. For me, that is the definition of terrible and lazy writing.
That aside, the core conflict there is absolutely silly as well and it cannot be called logical or reasonable at all. The two partners voiced the need to talk to each other multiple times and it's very clear that this was a thing that needed talking about. None of the rest of the team had any idea what was going on inside the cockpit, so they should have had a need to understand that situation as well. But I guess this is another one of those absolutely obnoxious anime cliches; a conflict easily resolved if only the characters involved would talk to each other.
What makes this worse is the fact that everything that was happening in the show up until that moment was pointing to this plot development. Finally the mystery is resolved, the characters can talk to each other and set off on their shared journey... and then episode 14 happens. I'll be honest here: I was incredibly frustrated and mad as well, especially because I knew that this shitty drama is going to be resolved in a few episodes anyway. It's a waste of time and absolutely transparent, coming at the worst time possible. Episode 13 gets people excited and in the "here we go" mood and then the writers essentially punch them in the face for no reason at all.
So yeah, I think a 3/10 rating for episode 14 is very generous here. It was poorly written, poorly timed and poorly executed. They used episode 14 to set up a needless drama that gets resolved completely in episode 15 anyway. The show as a whole would've improved if they had just cut both episodes and went from 13 to the end of 15 straight away.
so if you had a guyfriend who literally ended up in hospital almost dying because of an abusive girlfriend, twice at that, who is still in love with her and then tells you "it's not really her fault for hurting me. Just let me talk with her to resolve this mess!" you'd be sitting next to him in the hospital and go "you know what? Yeah, you two should talk things through!" ? Like people already mentioned it's only made worse by the fact that she literally is a monster, or non-human of some sort that is literally able to fight off armed soldiers (as long as we're talking a hand full) with her inhuman strength+speed.
I find that to be laughable. I wouldn't let my friend close to that girl either.
Except we already had an episode for that when she started to corrupt him and then it turned out to be somewhat fine. That episode already established pretty clearly that he is aware of the danger that he is in and that he accepts it... because the alternative to accepting that risk means to get iced by the organisation since he is absolutely useless without 02. And most of the kids realize that, too. That was a very major element of the story up until this point.
When my guyfriend has the choice between literally dying and a relationship that physically harms him from time to time, I'd be a monster to suggest that he should just die instead, simply because I am jealous of the person that he get's to be with. That is not love or having his best interest in mind, it's obsessive and possessive behavior and much worse than what 02 is doing. The kids didn't even let either Hiro nor 02 even voice their objections.
In the example you mentioned: Imagine that his girlfriend is hulking beast of a woman that occasionally bruises him. You suggest that the reasonable response there is to forbid them from seeing each other without even trying to understand what exactly happened there. Even worse, you forbid both sides from even trying to explain the situation and talk to each other or the group to dispel any misconceptions. Worse still, upon him being discharged from the hospital, the first thing you do is walk up to him and kiss him.
That is not reasonable behavior. If that kind of stuff makes her the "lowkey best girl" of the show, there's something seriously wrong here.
The core conflict was pretty realistic imo. The rest of the crew don't know 02 well and have only neutral at best impressions of her from previous rumors of her plus her attitude towards them. Then they see Hiro put in the hospital with strangulation marks around his neck. Yea I wouldn't want to let them see each other either for a while. Going from 13 to 15 would be silly, the only thing you could argue is that they could have extended the disconnect between Hiro and 02 and not have it resolved in 15.
If they had just gone from the "they remember who each other is" at the end of episode 13 straight to the "Hiro grabs 02 and shatters her long horns" from the end of episode 15 and merged those (or made it the same scene), not much would have been lost: She strangles him, he remembers who she is, grabs her horns, says his "you're the girl with the picture book... my darling" line, her horns shatter and they finally embrace each other. The only development in episode 14 and 15 in terms of character relationships is that Ichigo finally (after like 10 too many episodes) realizes that she has no chance with Hiro. What else would have been lost there and why would that be silly?
I think there's a difference between "riding with her comes with complications. Such as the thing on your chest and your health in general getting worse but she's not out to kill you" like it was portrayed in that episode you mention and her literally trying to kill him in the later episodes. That's the point, it's not that she's a hulking, big girl who occasionaly bruises him without the intent to do so. She literally was out to kill him in the later episodes and I think that makes a big difference.
If it's really just what you mentioned I'd say that's kinda okay and people can talk that through, which is what we saw the first 10 or so episodes: The kids kind of scared of her, not sure what's going on and if they can trust her but in the end they're willing to let them talk to each other because they don't think it's malicious and it's his decision. But then EP 13 and 14 happened and it becomes malicious with her intend on killing him. Not as a byproduct of riding with her or anything he was fine with, just straight up killing him for the purpose to further her goal.
I'd say in that situation, if you say a) is certain death for him (not letting him ride with her and he's not able to ride with anyone else) b) is certain death for him as well (letting him be with her) I'd probably still try to get him away from her and try to work something out. A is obviously not good, but in the same way doing heroin isn't good. Sure you're going to die but if I see someone currently getting strangled (because for some reason that helps against his heroin addiction) I'd still first try to do something about the strangling. And then try and work something out from there. And I think that's what Ichigos train of though was. She clearly got him away from the immediate death threat and then mentioned that she'll find a way that he'll be able to ride with someone else, basicly saying she'll deal with the other problem as well. Wether that's possible is another question but seems reasonable to me to first get the immediate deaththreat out of the way and then think about the other one once you're done with that.
Well, one of the "complications" of riding with her was certain death for everyone up until that point. As far as she knew, he was going to die at their 3rd ride together and yet we didn't see her making such a big drama out of it.
Episode 15 was similar in that regard. Ichigo from episode 14 would have picked him up after his training unit crashed and brought him back home instead of delivering him to 02. What changed between episode 14 and 15 for Ichigo?
There was no scene of Hiro explaining to her why talking to and riding with 02 would be alright now. So there seems to be a bit of inconsistency regarding her character - or episode 14 was just made up bullshit for the sake of additional drama.
I honestly disagree with your assessment of the situation. The choice there seem to be:
1. Certain death at the hand of the organisation. Nothing suggests that she would be able to find a way that he can ride with someone else. The scientists know that he cannot ride with someone else properly and they were about to ice him during episode 1 before 02 showed up. The kids kinda know already that this is what happens with the people who are incapable of riding the Franxx (we had a few scenes regarding that) 2. Possible death at the hand of 02. True, she intended to kill him, but it could just as well have been a short outburst of insanity. And both the audience and Hiro know that he could have reached 02 and resolved the problem if only he could have talked to her.
Again, talking to each other tends to be a thing that characters should do - and would do in such a situation. The fact that Ichigo never even gave him the chance to explain himself and why he thinks that talking to 02 will solve the problem makes that episode so terrible. This is not what reasonable human beings tend to do. Or would you not let your guyfriend at least try to explain that situation and rather just tell him to shut the fuck up and that you love him? That doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense - unless you have serious mental health issues.
Aside from that, Hiro himself said multiple times that he is dead anyway and that he'd ride with 02 even if that would be certain death for him. That's why the whole team was kinda alright with him riding with 02 up until that point.
And that is just the in-character stuff. The writers could easily have changed a small detail here and there to shift it in either direction, but they didn't and went ahead with it in that cliche way of not letting the characters talk to each other for no reason at all. That episode 15 rendered episode 14 completely irrelevant is just the icing on the cake here.
them somehow leaving their rooms to see eachother at exactly the same time and missing eachother in the process
it's pretty fucking shit drama. They couldn't write anything actually compelling and decided to rely on something this lazy. It's one of the laziest and weakest crutches a writer can rely on if they want to generate drama.
If i had to rate that episode it'd be like 3/10 at the very highest. What a poorly written episode. Then again, going straight from the best episode to the worst back to back is sort of impressive in its own right.
Didn't really rely on it. More or less just used it as a trigger. It was going to happen eventually with how unstable she was.
Then why use that incredibly cheap device if the writers didn't have to rely on it? Regardless of why they did it, it's still fair to judge them for using it.
Not only did 02 and Hiro miss each other while going for the other's location, the rest of the team was somehow absolutely clueless that this was going on. From Ichigo's "I'll just leave this knife with you for no reason at all", to Hiro escaping with his bed sheets and said knife, to each party missing each other on their way... everything about that whole situation felt like an attempt to cramp as many bad cliches in there as possible. For me, that is the definition of terrible and lazy writing.
That aside, the core conflict there is absolutely silly as well and it cannot be called logical or reasonable at all. The two partners voiced the need to talk to each other multiple times and it's very clear that this was a thing that needed talking about. None of the rest of the team had any idea what was going on inside the cockpit, so they should have had a need to understand that situation as well. But I guess this is another one of those absolutely obnoxious anime cliches; a conflict easily resolved if only the characters involved would talk to each other.
What makes this worse is the fact that everything that was happening in the show up until that moment was pointing to this plot development. Finally the mystery is resolved, the characters can talk to each other and set off on their shared journey... and then episode 14 happens. I'll be honest here: I was incredibly frustrated and mad as well, especially because I knew that this shitty drama is going to be resolved in a few episodes anyway. It's a waste of time and absolutely transparent, coming at the worst time possible. Episode 13 gets people excited and in the "here we go" mood and then the writers essentially punch them in the face for no reason at all.
So yeah, I think a 3/10 rating for episode 14 is very generous here. It was poorly written, poorly timed and poorly executed. They used episode 14 to set up a needless drama that gets resolved completely in episode 15 anyway. The show as a whole would've improved if they had just cut both episodes and went from 13 to the end of 15 straight away.
so if you had a guyfriend who literally ended up in hospital almost dying because of an abusive girlfriend, twice at that, who is still in love with her and then tells you "it's not really her fault for hurting me. Just let me talk with her to resolve this mess!" you'd be sitting next to him in the hospital and go "you know what? Yeah, you two should talk things through!" ? Like people already mentioned it's only made worse by the fact that she literally is a monster, or non-human of some sort that is literally able to fight off armed soldiers (as long as we're talking a hand full) with her inhuman strength+speed.
I find that to be laughable. I wouldn't let my friend close to that girl either.
Except we already had an episode for that when she started to corrupt him and then it turned out to be somewhat fine. That episode already established pretty clearly that he is aware of the danger that he is in and that he accepts it... because the alternative to accepting that risk means to get iced by the organisation since he is absolutely useless without 02. And most of the kids realize that, too. That was a very major element of the story up until this point.
When my guyfriend has the choice between literally dying and a relationship that physically harms him from time to time, I'd be a monster to suggest that he should just die instead, simply because I am jealous of the person that he get's to be with. That is not love or having his best interest in mind, it's obsessive and possessive behavior and much worse than what 02 is doing. The kids didn't even let either Hiro nor 02 even voice their objections.
In the example you mentioned: Imagine that his girlfriend is hulking beast of a woman that occasionally bruises him. You suggest that the reasonable response there is to forbid them from seeing each other without even trying to understand what exactly happened there. Even worse, you forbid both sides from even trying to explain the situation and talk to each other or the group to dispel any misconceptions. Worse still, upon him being discharged from the hospital, the first thing you do is walk up to him and kiss him.
That is not reasonable behavior. If that kind of stuff makes her the "lowkey best girl" of the show, there's something seriously wrong here.
The core conflict was pretty realistic imo. The rest of the crew don't know 02 well and have only neutral at best impressions of her from previous rumors of her plus her attitude towards them. Then they see Hiro put in the hospital with strangulation marks around his neck. Yea I wouldn't want to let them see each other either for a while. Going from 13 to 15 would be silly, the only thing you could argue is that they could have extended the disconnect between Hiro and 02 and not have it resolved in 15.
If they had just gone from the "they remember who each other is" at the end of episode 13 straight to the "Hiro grabs 02 and shatters her long horns" from the end of episode 15 and merged those (or made it the same scene), not much would have been lost: She strangles him, he remembers who she is, grabs her horns, says his "you're the girl with the picture book... my darling" line, her horns shatter and they finally embrace each other. The only development in episode 14 and 15 in terms of character relationships is that Ichigo finally (after like 10 too many episodes) realizes that she has no chance with Hiro. What else would have been lost there and why would that be silly?
I think there's a difference between "riding with her comes with complications. Such as the thing on your chest and your health in general getting worse but she's not out to kill you" like it was portrayed in that episode you mention and her literally trying to kill him in the later episodes. That's the point, it's not that she's a hulking, big girl who occasionaly bruises him without the intent to do so. She literally was out to kill him in the later episodes and I think that makes a big difference.
If it's really just what you mentioned I'd say that's kinda okay and people can talk that through, which is what we saw the first 10 or so episodes: The kids kind of scared of her, not sure what's going on and if they can trust her but in the end they're willing to let them talk to each other because they don't think it's malicious and it's his decision. But then EP 13 and 14 happened and it becomes malicious with her intend on killing him. Not as a byproduct of riding with her or anything he was fine with, just straight up killing him for the purpose to further her goal.
I'd say in that situation, if you say a) is certain death for him (not letting him ride with her and he's not able to ride with anyone else) b) is certain death for him as well (letting him be with her) I'd probably still try to get him away from her and try to work something out. A is obviously not good, but in the same way doing heroin isn't good. Sure you're going to die but if I see someone currently getting strangled (because for some reason that helps against his heroin addiction) I'd still first try to do something about the strangling. And then try and work something out from there. And I think that's what Ichigos train of though was. She clearly got him away from the immediate death threat and then mentioned that she'll find a way that he'll be able to ride with someone else, basicly saying she'll deal with the other problem as well. Wether that's possible is another question but seems reasonable to me to first get the immediate deaththreat out of the way and then think about the other one once you're done with that.
Well, one of the "complications" of riding with her was certain death for everyone up until that point. As far as she knew, he was going to die at their 3rd ride together and yet we didn't see her making such a big drama out of it.
Episode 15 was similar in that regard. Ichigo from episode 14 would have picked him up after his training unit crashed and brought him back home instead of delivering him to 02. What changed between episode 14 and 15 for Ichigo?
There was no scene of Hiro explaining to her why talking to and riding with 02 would be alright now. So there seems to be a bit of inconsistency regarding her character - or episode 14 was just made up bullshit for the sake of additional drama.
I honestly disagree with your assessment of the situation. The choice there seem to be:
1. Certain death at the hand of the organisation. Nothing suggests that she would be able to find a way that he can ride with someone else. The scientists know that he cannot ride with someone else properly and they were about to ice him during episode 1 before 02 showed up. The kids kinda know already that this is what happens with the people who are incapable of riding the Franxx (we had a few scenes regarding that) 2. Possible death at the hand of 02. True, she intended to kill him, but it could just as well have been a short outburst of insanity. And both the audience and Hiro know that he could have reached 02 and resolved the problem if only he could have talked to her.
Again, talking to each other tends to be a thing that characters should do - and would do in such a situation. The fact that Ichigo never even gave him the chance to explain himself and why he thinks that talking to 02 will solve the problem makes that episode so terrible. This is not what reasonable human beings tend to do. Or would you not let your guyfriend at least try to explain that situation and rather just tell him to shut the fuck up and that you love him? That doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense - unless you have serious mental health issues.
Aside from that, Hiro himself said multiple times that he is dead anyway and that he'd ride with 02 even if that would be certain death for him. That's why the whole team was kinda alright with him riding with 02 up until that point.
And that is just the in-character stuff. The writers could easily have changed a small detail here and there to shift it in either direction, but they didn't and went ahead with it in that cliche way of not letting the characters talk to each other for no reason at all. That episode 15 rendered episode 14 completely irrelevant is just the icing on the cake here.
You seem to be under the impression that all the children who are clueless about pretty much everything except piloting should somehow be mature and rational actors who understand relationships. They are not (though I absolutely disagree with you about keeping them apart. That was actually something great they did from their perspective, dunno why you think it was bad. Just because Hiro wanted something doesn't mean its good for him. They even relented after a cooling off period anyway. They were more then reasonable.
EPT
