[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by Dorsai

Spoiler for Comparison with Mashiro-iro Symphony:

Thats why most VN adaptations are average at best... And Mashiro-iro was worst of them... Making good chemistry with one girl and then in halfway changing to another one, like all this relations with previous one never exist... Its not bad writing, its sth even worser...

[...]

And even if you think that creators made anime to looks like that there is no winner yet- there are still some subtle hints that love is already here... There was like this in Mashiro-iro between Airi and Shingo and its same in Koico between Yuuki and Chisato. Forgeting about it to increase show popularity is like telling to viewers- "You will buy any crap we created and still smile thinking its good!"

Spoiler for Comparison with Mashiro-iro Symphony:

I don't think I could possibly disagree more strongly with you here. Just because the relationship doesn't develop in the way you want doesn't make it bad writing or "something worse". The fact is that, in these games, there are multiple possible relationships that make perfect sense. In Mashiro-iro Symphony, the relationship between Shingo and the final heroine was indeed setup properly in the early episodes, even though the plot at that point was focused on someone else. Plus, the way the plot develops subsequently does in fact build very carefully on the first part of the story, and nothing was forgotten or ignored (in fact, it could only have developed that way because of the first half). Of course, there was some minor misdirection at play, but that doesn't mean that it was unreasonable or that they were trying to "shove crap down our throats". I really liked that adaptation; although I won't say it was flawless, I think the romance was indeed well-justified. I think they did justice to the game, even if they didn't show the route that some people wanted to see most. (Though, yes, they did merge routes and misdirect a bit on the romantic interest. I think that was key to the plot.)

But here, even more so than in the other example, there are multiple relationships being hinted at strongly, and developing over the course of the story. The relationship with Satsuki is a prime example of this -- he only really met her at the beginning of the show (so of course they don't have as deep of a background), but every encounter has shown them getting closer to each other. If a romantic relationship were to blossom between the two of them, it would certainly not be surprising in my view. That doesn't mean that Chisato's relationship with Yuuki was unimportant or will be forgotten, it would just mean that her love won't work out due to choices that were made. Not everyone can get a happy ending.

It seems to me that your ideal for adaptation would always require the writers to develop only the one romance you feel more strongly attached to in the beginning. I think that's a rather narrow definition of acceptability, and would make all the adaptations even more patterned than what many already accuse them of being. (If you're going to do that, I think the omnibus approach is more suitable, because it allows you to make better use of the other characters and of the game story.) To me, so long as the relationship shown is justified, and they develop the characters well throughout the story, I think I will be reasonably satisfied. I've enjoyed many adaptations that blended routes and kept us guessing a bit at the romantic pairing, and I didn't consider them less romantic.

I respect your preference, but I can't agree with it myself.