(L) Star Driver: Kagayaki no Takuto

[felix]

*hears show praise in other threads*

*checks out last two episodes*

Let's see,

• magical lyrical manhawt shonen?
• …piloting girl (?) giant robot
• transformation worse then Ayumus?
• cross between victorian and masochist suits?
• reverse rape?

LOLWTF xD All that's missing is man-panty-shots…

I liked the dual sword play, but… everything else is just not my cup of tea.
Um Right; back into the dropbin you go.

[K3cT]

Originally Posted by _gallo_

Personally I’m a bit disappointed at this point since I was expecting something more, especially in terms of character development.

I stopped reading there.

Next time you're going to post a wall-of-text to criticize a show, better make sure you watch the show in question. Will make your case looks more compelling.

[Sageblink]

Originally Posted by K3cT

I stopped reading there.

Next time you're going to post a wall-of-text to criticize a show, better make sure you watch the show in question. Will make your case looks more compelling.

Well, Gallo had a point. He doesn't really critize the show, it's a mix between a general feeling and his impressions about it. Beside, i don't find it rude or anything else. It's just pointing out where the show could have been better (Though i don't agree with all the staff/production paragraph) based on his point of view. It's basically discussion, exchange of opinion.

I do love Star Driver, I'm all excited every sunday, but sometime I also find it a bit disappointing. The repetitive battle sequences, the way some things are not explained (like first phase abilities... I'm still waiting to learn if Mizuno's one was the fact that she can resist being pulled in Zero Time... Cause some people can do that too.)

But i find the chara-design great, and i laugh everytime cause that show got some serious epic faces. Like Keito --> "Tamaya".

[_gallo_]

Originally Posted by citrinitas668

Oh wait, you really don't have any idea what you're talking about. Asai didn't write shit, Enokido has personally written every episode so far.

Stop talking out of your ass and at least bother to get your facts straight before you shit all over something.

The full sentence was: "The only one which I think has above average skills besides the director (Igarashi) and the writer (Enokido) is Yoshiyuki Asai which has directed ep 1, 15 as well as the part where Keito sings in the last episode." I've only added Igarashi and Enokido in brackets

Actually, I still think that Asai directed both those eps, unless you prove me wrong.

But as far I can see maybe you're taking too seriously the whole thing.

[citrinitas668]

Originally Posted by _gallo_

The full sentence was: "The only one which I think has above average skills besides the director (Igarashi) and the writer (Enokido) is Yoshiyuki Asai which has directed ep 1, 15 as well as the part where Keito sings in the last episode." I've only added Igarashi and Enokido in brackets

Actually, I still think that Asai directed both those eps, unless you prove me wrong.

But as far I can see maybe you're taking too seriously the whole thing.

Alright, I glanced at it and misread a line. I'm not arguing that Asai didn't direct those episodes. Way to misdirect the argument at a dumb semantic point because you still have no clue what you're talking about.

It's still blatantly untrue that show is staffed largely by new and inexperienced people and frankly it's pretty insulting. Maybe I am taking it "too seriously," but I have a great deal of respect for the staff of this show and they all clearly love their work, so seeing someone make such rude and unfounded remarks bothers me.

[K3cT]

Originally Posted by Sageblink

Well, Gallo had a point. He doesn't really critize the show, it's a mix between a general feeling and his impressions about it. Beside, i don't find it rude or anything else. It's just pointing out where the show could have been better (Though i don't agree with all the staff/production paragraph) based on his point of view. It's basically discussion, exchange of opinion.

I do love Star Driver, I'm all excited every sunday, but sometime I also find it a bit disappointing. The repetitive battle sequences, the way some things are not explained (like first phase abilities... I'm still waiting to learn if Mizuno's one was the fact that she can resist being pulled in Zero Time... Cause some people can do that too.)

But i find the chara-design great, and i laugh everytime cause that show got some serious epic faces. Like Keito --> "Tamaya".

I'm having a very difficult time to understand the gist of his/her post when he/she spends majority of his/her essay rambling about the staff and what-not.

Also, doing it wrong when you watch Star Driver for the mecha battles. Granted, it's not fine and dandy all the time as I was disappointed in Reshbal duel myself.

Regarding Mizuno's first phase, the show actually explained it to you in episode 16 right after she was captured by the Crux. You might want to pay more attention.

[Sageblink]

Originally Posted by K3cT

Regarding Mizuno's first phase, the show actually explained it to you in episode 16 right after she was captured by the Crux. You might want to pay more attention.

Spoiler for Mizuno / Episode 16:

Actually, i did. And i have just rewatched it.

Keito talks about how Mizuno was good at resisting Zero Time and displaying her mark. But she also mentions that there are few real-mark bearers that can do this trick too (Head wasn't there for a while). So, based on the fact that Mizuno is not the only one able to do that, i though it was just a common power, as long as you train this ability.

And as Marino didn't disappeared after Mizuno lose her mark, i came to the conclusion that either Marino was not the first phase itself, or that being "there" for so long made her real at the end (the last sentence she say on the boat). Or maybe the fact that real-mark bearers keep their 1st phase even when loosing their mark.

But it's not clear. I mean, it not like Scarlet Kiss, back in episode 1 where someone mentionned with clear words that her power is a sort of hypnotic kiss over male.

[_gallo_]

Originally Posted by citrinitas668

It's still blatantly untrue that show is staffed largely by new and inexperienced people and frankly it's pretty insulting. Maybe I am taking it "too seriously," but I have a great deal of respect for the staff of this show and they all clearly love their work, so seeing someone make such rude and unfounded remarks bothers me.

It was not my intention to insult anyone. If you look at the very first page of this thread I said that I had really high expectations for this series and that I love Igarashi as a director. In fact I really liked Ouran. It’s one of the very few anime that turned out to be better than the original manga. The same is true for Enokido whose past achievements proof that is one of the best writer in the industry.
My point here is that (it’s only a personal opinion, feel free to disagree) Star Driver is not as good as the past series that Igarashi has directed for Bones in terms of animation and directing. Additionally (here the evidence is in episode credits) that Igarashi wasn’t directly involved with Star Driver as he was with Ouran and Soul Eater.
As for other staffers, I dunno. You said Iwasaki is really good. His episodes weren’t bad at all, but honestly I didn't find them excellent either. Episode 8 was clearly different from others, but I think it has to do more to the fact that it was the climax of the first arc. No wonder that the emotional payoff was high. As for episode twelve, well, there I was much more impressed with mechanical animation than directing.

In general: I’m not an hater who watches something just for the sake of trolling or criticizing over and over. If I watch an anime is because I like it, at least to some extent. If I haven’t dropped Star Driver so far is because I think it still has its own merits.

[wandering-dreamer]

Originally Posted by Sageblink

Spoiler for Mizuno / Episode 16:

Actually, i did. And i have just rewatched it.

Keito talks about how Mizuno was good at resisting Zero Time and displaying her mark. But she also mentions that there are few real-mark bearers that can do this trick too (Head wasn't there for a while). So, based on the fact that Mizuno is not the only one able to do that, i though it was just a common power, as long as you train this ability.

And as Marino didn't disappeared after Mizuno lose her mark, i came to the conclusion that either Marino was not the first phase itself, or that being "there" for so long made her real at the end (the last sentence she say on the boat).

But it's not clear. I mean, it not like Scarlet Kiss, back in episode 1 where someone mentionned with clear words that her power is a sort of hypnotic kiss over male.

Spoiler:

It's pretty clearly implied that it was Mizuno's first phase power that created Mariano (and honestly there isn't much else that could make a person out of thin air) and it was implied that she transferred some of her power to Mariano (hence why she wasn't getting pulled into Zero Time/even aware of what was going on until it was too late, although part of it probably was her subconsciously resisting it). And in episode 18 Professor Silver said that even if a true mark bearer gets their mech broken their first phase still works (as evidenced by the fighting in the dark scene) so that's why Mariano didn't disappear.

And was I the only person who was really bemused by the part and fireworks scene? When I read the summaries I was a little skeptical of how a little firework party would burn up the dorm but it ended up making sense in the end. And it's interesting to see Takuto being so cordial and having fun with the Crux, I'm pretty sure he knows who the members of Filament are by now, maybe they really will team up in the end after all.

[Sageblink]

Originally Posted by wandering-dreamer

Spoiler:

It's pretty clearly implied that it was Mizuno's first phase power that created Mariano (and honestly there isn't much else that could make a person out of thin air) and it was implied that she transferred some of her power to Mariano (hence why she wasn't getting pulled into Zero Time/even aware of what was going on until it was too late, although part of it probably was her subconsciously resisting it). And in episode 18 Professor Silver said that even if a true mark bearer gets their mech broken their first phase still works (as evidenced by the fighting in the dark scene) so that's why Mariano didn't disappear.

And was I the only person who was really bemused by the part and fireworks scene? When I read the summaries I was a little skeptical of how a little firework party would burn up the dorm but it ended up making sense in the end. And it's interesting to see Takuto being so cordial and having fun with the Crux, I'm pretty sure he knows who the members of Filament are by now, maybe they really will team up in the end after all.

... Maybe i didn't reaaaaally pay enough attention.
Thanks !

And the "Tamaya" game was indeed funny. The reaction of Benio and Takuto when the fire started was also priceless.

[citrinitas668]

Originally Posted by _gallo_

It was not my intention to insult anyone. If you look at the very first page of this thread I said that I had really high expectations for this series and that I love Igarashi as a director. In fact I really liked Ouran. It’s one of the very few anime that turned out to be better than the original manga. The same is true for Enokido whose past achievements proof that is one of the best writer in the industry.
My point here is that (it’s only a personal opinion, feel free to disagree) Star Driver is not as good as the past series that Igarashi has directed for Bones in terms of animation and directing. Additionally (here the evidence is in episode credits) that Igarashi wasn’t directly involved with Star Driver as he was with Ouran and Soul Eater.
As for other staffers, I dunno. You said Iwasaki is really good. His episodes weren’t bad at all, but honestly I didn't find them excellent either. Episode 8 was clearly different from others, but I think it has to do more to the fact that it was the climax of the first arc. No wonder that the emotional payoff was high. As for episode twelve, well, there I was much more impressed with mechanical animation than directing.

I wasn't taking issue with your opinion about Star Driver. I really don't care if you don't like it even though I disagree and think your complaints are unfounded.

I am taking issue with the claim that the staff is "unskilled" and "inexperienced." It's a bit difficult to argue the veracity of the "skill" statement since that's subjective, but "inexperienced" is factually inaccurate. I don't think Igarashi is tied down by his staff at all––he's gone out of his way in almost every interview to say that he feels blessed to work with such an amazing group of people.

As for Iwasaki, he storyboarded those episodes as well. All of the beautiful mechanical work in 12 was based on his storyboards and direction––it's not like the director/storyboarder just comes up with the school parts and hands it off to the mecha team to fill in the fight. Again, it's your right not to like it, but the sakugafags on 2ch are pretty impressed by him at least.

The only episode that's felt noticeably weaker (and had an obviously green staff), imo, was 13 (three animation directors is usually a bad sign). And 18 had some derpy bits mixed in (half of Keito's dance was really smooth, and then I get the impression that they ran out of time/couldn't afford Yutapon for the whole sequence and handed it off to someone else).

I dunno, I guess what I'm trying to say is if you have complaints about the show, that's fine, but don't just make blatantly untrue assertions (i.e. that the staff is all new/etc) rather than fielding real critique. It's like the people who say the show is terrible because it was designed to be marketable––it may be terrible, but it wasn't designed by a committee, and any argument based on that false premise is utterly preposterous.

[Kaioshin Sama]

Originally Posted by _gallo_

I wouldn’t be so sure about this. Star Driver has more drawbacks than simply uninspiring mecha dogfights. Even if you take them away from the show, I doubt it will be judged as a classic. The series seem to have gathered a lot of hate among the anime-sphere. Some people call it and abortion, others a trainwreck and in general this blend between mecha and mahout shojo shonen has been seen as one of the most uninspiring thing ever made.
Personally I’m a bit disappointed at this point since I was expecting something more, especially in terms of character development. Instead of trying to be extremely popular the show needed to dedicate more space to dramatic retrospective about the main characters. Instead too much time is wasted on pandering the audience. The school moments are fun, and there probably lies Igarashi’s ability to handle this kind of situations, but once the show tries to get serious and to go in deep it’s pretty uninteresting and tamed, like the if the authors fear the audience's reactions. Plus characters’ personality is underexposed.
That said, the show is far from being the worst thing out there. I can’t understand all the blame on Star Driver while there are by far worse anime. Sometime I see all this hate as the outcome of an hyperbole syndrome.

Another underwhelming thing about the show for me was the lack of skilled staffers working on it. With more talented people doing single episodes, I’m sure that the series would have been better. The only one which I think has above average skills besides the director and the writer is Yoshiyuki Asai which has directed ep 1, 15 as well as the part where Keito sings in the last episode. The rest of the line directors didn’t really shined across the series. Moreover I was really pissed that Igarashi has not got his hand dirty on some episode ever since the first one. Both in Soul Eater and Ouran he was much more directly involved, whereas here he probably spend his time on directional duties since he has to cope with staff inexperience episode by episode. Bones has made too many series during these years and their talents really got diluited across them. Fuck Bones! Instead of making Ando and Kyoda work under that shitty Heroman director, they should have been redeployed to Star Driver along with Nakamura.

I wouldn't be so quick to call it a trainwreck, but I am frankly in almost full agreement with you and sadly starting to get used to the idea that nothing much is going to come of this show other than good old fashioned cornball fun and maybe a quick revelation about the main characters at the very end. 18 episodes later it still feels like a whole bunch of tropes and fanservice thrown together and like they are going to be desperately rushing for some sort of ending since I can't say the time has been used all that well if they are going for anything memorable in the end. It's hard not to get the feeling at this point that the staff has no real plan for the show or where it's plot and large cast of characters are going. So far again, 18 episodes in, the biggest revelations with regard to the plot have been that the maidens can't leave the island and that the cybuddies work in 5 phases that are governed by the maidens seals which if broken will allow them to leave the island. That's pretty much it. Is that all they're going for?

I've enjoyed the show on a purely fun level where I just completely turn off my brain and allow everything to unfold chaotically before me (though there have been some episodes I was more engaged with like the ones dealing with the Adult Bank characters), but I'm not sensing any grand plan behind all that has unfolded unless it's been really cleverly hidden beneath the whole "shouting out the song of our youth" motif that they've been going for. If the show is planning on some grand finale where it etches itself in the anals of anime history though then it sure is taking it's time with it.

Also just finished the Mizuno arc last night after getting all caught up and am sad to say that as I suspected when she first came onto the scene, her character sucked completely and utterly for me. Her whole story was frankly drawn out and not really all that interesting, being filled largely with banter with an imaginary sister that was far too sappy and childish for my tastes....also frankly she was really really annoying in her interactions with all the other characters as well, her song was inferior to Wakos, Fish Girls and now even Ivrogne's and all around I'm just glad shes hopefully out of the shows focus...hopefully for good. Her whole arc wasn't a complete bust though as under it we were treated to some character development for the Glittering Crux Brigade and the main trio (emphasis on "some"), but honestly every time she was on screen I cringed a little. Her sole contribution to the show for me ended up being her seal getting broken so the story can finally inch forward a bit.

Yet I see nothing changing leading up to the final episodes. Phase 3 is active for the Crux, but now Takuto is a level up again so all that's changed is they are piloting their Cybuddies in the flesh and he has to try and find a way to not kill them because it goes against his beliefs or something.

I don't know, what this show could really use a lot more of leading up to the finale is a little less cryptic faux-inspirational dialogue (this comprises far too much of the shows script for my tastes) and a little more of a hint that there's some purpose, something more to finally be learned out this whole zero-time experience. There's been a lot of talking, but not a whole lot of tangible character development that would fully endear me to these characters because said talking has been largely pointless in the scope of what the plot has been willing to give the viewer in 3/4 of a series.

Make no mistake though, I still want to enjoy this show, it's just not giving me all that much when I kind of expected more by now. I still don't feel like I really know much about the characters because much of what they are is still obscured by the wacky hijinks and facades they put on above what seems to be a false front. I just hope that when they get to the reveals for the main characters it's a lot more than what we got with Mizuno (i.e less sappy dialogue) otherwise I won't have much to look forward too.

edit: Episode 18 is another downer. We're 3/4 of the way through the series and we're given even the chance to see even more time wasted on what seem like pointless trope inclusions. This time it's the festival and the song and dance sequence, the latter of which has become hugely popular in the last few years. It seems like all of a sudden the industry banded together and decided that a show ain't shit unless it comes with at least one Big Lipped Alligator moment involving some cute girl doing a cutesy song and dance number that lasts over a minute. I know some people love this trend, but all it does for me is make me wonder what else they could have done to develop the character properly instead. It seems like Ivrogne is off in a whole bunch of different directions from what we've seen before and who the hell is to know what we'll end up with in the end by the time her arcs done. Unstable/undefined character development....it's going to be this shows biggest flaw and shortcoming, I can just feel it.

[SoFarGone]

in my opinion 25 episodes isn't enough to stuff all this in. It might feel rush.

[CMSensei]

Whoa....wtf...Sugata >_<....he has been dirtied

[Jeffry2009]

Setsuna F Seiei AS Ginga Bishounen & Lockon Stratos AS Ryosuke. Because both characters played by the same VA from Gundam 00.

[ttdestroy]

So what if the show is a stupid, fun, uninspired, poorly conceived and executed mess, it's entertainment isn't it? And so far I've been entertained pretty good. Besides, plenty of shows worse than this are considered "classics". *Ahem* NGE *Ahem*

[Shiroth]

Originally Posted by SoFarGone

in my opinion 25 episodes isn't enough to stuff all this in. It might feel rush.

Hardly. The show is now focusing on the third maiden out of four, there's easily enough episode left to finish of the series. There's really not that much left that needs to be covered.

[Kagura89]

Originally Posted by felix

*hears show praise in other threads*

*checks out last two episodes*

Let's see,

• magical lyrical manhawt shonen?
• …piloting girl (?) giant robot
• transformation worse then Ayumus?
• cross between victorian and masochist suits?
• reverse rape?

LOLWTF xD All that's missing is man-panty-shots…

I liked the dual sword play, but… everything else is just not my cup of tea.
Um Right; back into the dropbin you go.

The whole thing you say feels like you are a total idiot. Why, is because Star Driver is too FABULOUS for you to handle that your body is not ready? Seriously, i'm sick of idiots that think this show is "too gay" for them that i need to smack them in the head

[Patriot's Blade]

ep 18
LOL at the fireworks part
Keito..... this is the the moment i realized that Star Driver is becoming more & more like the next Macross.....
& remember kiddies never imitate rapists on tv

[_gallo_]

Originally Posted by Kaioshin Sama

-cut for space reasons-

I think you too are missing my point. I don’t hate Star Driver. I think it’s a good series with its own merits, and it’s clearly better than most of anime that came out in the past 12 months or so. At the same time I think there was room for improvement in several departments of the series.

Maybe I used bad wording, but I wasn’t saying that the series has only weak points.

For example one of my favorite part of the show, which I think is also one of the cornerstone themes, is the conflict between desire and duty. Almost everyone of the main characters seem stuck with this inner tension between his/her aspirations and what reality forces him/her to do. Wako wants to abandon the island, but she forces herself to stay. Keito has a more exuberant attitude than the one she shows to others and still she’s rather cold at school. You can say the same clash holds for most of the characters of this show. Also, it looks like that Sam decided to follow his wishes even if this (apparently) has caused a tragedy.

This instance between what you want to do and what you have to do (or what you forces yourself to do) gets magnified once it’s situated in the context of adolescence (and this anime screams adolescence from the core).
This is because adolescence is an age after which you became an adult. Hence you have to take decision about what you want to do about your life. Sometimes you would prefer to follow your aspirations. Sometimes you realize that illusions won’t change into something real and therefore you try to be more pragmatic even if unhappy.

This is why the Crux members wears venetian mask as a symbolic way to say that in the real word part of their personality is neglected. You don’t see the real person but only a part of it. Their true self emerges only in time zero where they don’t suffer from constraints but they’re free to act as they please. Hence the stress on the word “libido” so to express their acting only on pure desirers .
This concept clearly relates to Takuto’s catch phrase which he has said ever since episode 2: “when what you want to do is what you have to do then blablabla”. When desire and duty coincide, a person should experience a feeling of self realization. According to Maslow’s pyramid of human needs, this is the achievement of the highest rank of the need for a person.

As a friend of mine noted, in Japanese culture this concept is well expressed by the 2 words: giri and ninjo. Eventually it seems that a great deal of the Japanese theater is based on the conflict between this two words and as everyone noticed there’s a drama club in the series which has clearly some importance for the show.