(L) Mashiro-iro Symphony

[Vena]

Originally Posted by relentlessflame

You're right that he clearly didn't think this all the way through. (I like the two choices! ) But actually, I think there's something in Episode 4 that tips us off here too -- at lunch, he was surprised that she took the promise seriously. So I guess he probably didn't actually think that far ahead, and thought only that it'd diffuse the current tension and that she'd either forget about it or he could brush it off later by making some excuse. I guess he thought it through about as well as when she invited him over to her house in front of everyone (getting closer to that option 2 already! ).

Option two would have been refreshing but a little too mature, maybe. I don't think he meant it seriously either, as I said, I thought it was a bluff but it was a really bad/shortsighted/perplexing bluff from someone in his position and given what he told us about himself in Ep.4. You're right that it was a fun little duality that both he and Airi made these offers without thinking about what they were saying, and that were very easily taken the wrong way. The only difference was that Airi had just found herself in a new atmosphere whereas Shingo did it in his usual stride (just without thinking about what he was getting himself in, apparently).

Maybe we can still hold out hope for another such series of not-thought-out events ending up in Option2?

Originally Posted by relentlessflame

Spoiler for some inferring based on the game to this point:

Yup, I totally agree. I think they are closing paths (and I can say that, for this game, that would make total sense too). In truth, this is always one of my great fears/disappointments with these sorts of short adaptations -- they tend to bite off more than they can chew, and everything ends up jumbled or rushed. My only solace is that the pace of the first four episodes (and their handling of the branch points) suggests that they may have something planned other than just trying to smash as much game content into as short a window as possible. So this is why, as I said before, I'd be totally 100% fine if they ended up sticking with Airi to the end, and made this more of a "love story" than anything else. That may be too boring for some people, but at least it has a logic that can be followed and has some inner cohesion. At the end of the day, there's only so much you can do with 12 episodes anyway.

Spoiler for rawr:

For now, at least from these first four episodes, I don't think Manglobe is going for the: cram every route into 13 episodes. And, unless the pacing has a drastic shift, it really feels like this may just turn out to be more of an old fashioned love story rather than a harem. They can still follow the pace and take us to Miu since they have developed in a very open manner concerning her, but the rest of the cast is about as friendzoned as Shingo's male friend.

I haven't enjoyed an old fashioned, dedicated love story in a long time.

Originally Posted by relentlessflame

Cheers to that! If I were to make a list of "cutest VN heroines of all time", Airi would definitely make the list (along with Sana). Truthfully, if they gave me nothing but lots of that in this anime, I'd probably be totally satisfied -- I'm not that hard to please.

Cheers to that.

[Candyshark]

Reading your posts Vena and Flame i'm in a loss to see how is his proposition of having her tutoring him could turn thing for worse? It was merely a very simple tool to give her an excuse to leave.

What came to my mind if Shingo is person who avoids tensions how he gonna deal with Sana who is an obstacle to get to Miu? Would not it be more reasonable for him to keep distance from Miu all together. He doesn't seem to suffer from typical "gotta save damsel in distress" syndrome. I would be very surprised if he stirs some problems up to resolve problems instead of avoiding frictions.

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by Candyshark

Reading your posts Vena and Flame i'm in a loss to see how is his proposition of having her tutoring him could turn thing for worse? It was merely a very simple tool to give her an excuse to leave.

What came to my mind if Shingo is person who avoids tensions how he gonna deal with Sana who is an obstacle to get to Miu? Would not it be more reasonable for him to keep distance from Miu all together. He doesn't seem to suffer from typical "gotta save damsel in distress" syndrome. I would be very surprised if he stirs some problems up to resolve problems instead of avoiding frictions.

Well... I think that's sort of over-simplifying his motivation a bit. He's not trying to avoid conflict, he's trying to diffuse conflict. In the process, he puts all the burden on himself, goes out of his way to be helpful, and puts on a fake smile so people won't be mad anymore rather than express any frustration or anger. So if he remains true to form based on what he just said, we can assume that his next step might be to try to diffuse the conflict with Sana in a similar way to how he diffused the situation with Airi, which is sort of "kill them with kindness". Basically, he does put himself in situations where conflict will arise, but he doesn't attack or retaliate, which eventually forces the other side to back down ("if they're itching for a fight I won't give them one", or sort of "turn the other cheek").

As for how the study session could have gone bad... well, if they were still as "high tension" as they were before Airi's secret was revealed, but she still insisted on following through with her promise and tutoring him, I imagine it wouldn't not have been a very "pleasant" study session. It probably still would have worked out, since Shingo could still follow his "kill them with kindness" technique, but if something had gone wrong it could have made things that much worse between them. So it was a bit of a gamble on his part that she probably wouldn't take him up on it seriously and would just use the excuse to leave, since he figured an excuse was what she was looking for but couldn't give herself due to her pride.

[amoirsp]

After watching four episodes I realized that I felt like Miu has been a seriously big driving force. Well, somewhat offscreen, that is.

I had some inquiry on it so I'll tag spoilers.

Spoiler:

I am not sure if I saw correctly, but was Sana's good behavior due to Miu or something? If so I consider that pretty big because even if that attitude was fake, I feel like it seriously helped Shingo with early integration instead of another hurdle of boy rejection. If Sana was a hater from the get go, the mood would have been extra crappy in terms of the second year classroom.

I also noticed from episode 1 that Sakuno said now you know how I feel, after the guys were like whoa so many high school girls, so was Sakuno in all girls school before?

On the Miu thing, isn't she rather proactive? All the Miu meetings are chance encounter based but Shingo was not fully aware of every location prior at all such as the club or the job. The meeting in the courtyard park felt like Miu approached Shingo. Miu going to the second year classroom to eat lunch was Shingo influenced, but totally Miu initiated. Sana wasn't even notified, unless that was somehow fabricated but that I don't think so. The Airi lunch invitation was initially by Miu too. Sana joining the group was due to Miu even from Sana herself that was stated, even it just so happens to end up like that.

I might have completely forgotten if Shingo invited Miu to visit him at lunch, but I don't remember that since I thought Miu spontaneously suggested everyone eat together. Shingo ate alone in the first place due to the initial tension.

Is there something going on? This makes me really curious about her route or at least why Shingo was invited to the club. Chance encounters are one thing, but Shingo meeting Miu by chance like that every time? Or maybe I somehow missed the arrangement or that it's offscreen.

At first I thought Shingo brought the group together, but it's more like everyone separately joined due to at least one factor.

I think there was also a Japanese trend of reactions to kouhai or senpai joining a classroom, but Sakuno is a little sister so that unusuality did not spawn. But Miu joining totally appears to be her decision of wanting to visit, so I kept using words like proactive, driving force, or initiative to describe Miu actions.

I might have remembered something wrong but I am definitely interested to see which direction Manglobe decides to do. I originally thought Miu fits great as a supporting senpai but that's a lot more offscreen pro activity than I expected now that I think about it.

And on the flow thing, it's critical. I remember a friend I know who saw Hoshikaka thought it was weird to have a flashback with a character but not be the lead girl.

[relentlessflame]

amoirsp: I don't think all of your questions have anime-based answers, so you might have to direct some of these questions towards the game thread if you want more information (though I think the answers will come in the anime if you give it time). I'll answer what I can though, only based on what we've seen in the anime...

Spoiler for quotes and responses from amoirsp's spoiler section; no future event spoilers:

Originally Posted by amoirsp

I am not sure if I saw correctly, but was Sana's good behavior due to Miu or something? If so I consider that pretty big because even if that attitude was fake, I feel like it seriously helped Shingo with early integration instead of another hurdle of boy rejection. If Sana was a hater from the get go, the mood would have been extra crappy in terms of the second year classroom.

I don't think that Sana's good behaviour was necessarily due to Miu... but I don't think you necessarily want to show people your "bad side" at first. I guess she thought she could tolerate the boys at first, and that was going well until Shingo got too close to Miu and that made her snap and no longer care about making a good impression.

Originally Posted by amoirsp

I also noticed from episode 1 that Sakuno said now you know how I feel, after the guys were like whoa so many high school girls, so was Sakuno in all girls school before?

I think the meaning of that comment was more pointing at the fact that they've been standing next to a high school girl (Sakuno) the whole time arguably without noticing it.

Originally Posted by amoirsp

On the Miu thing, isn't she rather proactive? [...] Is there something going on? This makes me really curious about her route or at least why Shingo was invited to the club. Chance encounters are one thing, but Shingo meeting Miu by chance like that every time?

Miu definitely took interest in Shingo, and Shingo reciprocates that interest. And as far as the anime goes, we can definitely see that there's a certain "red string of fate" that keeps bringing them together. We know from Miu's comment at the end of episode 4 that she's worried about him. Beyond that, I think you should just wait for the anime to explain what's going on. Certainly though, as I said before, we can see that there is "smoke" there. The scenes are short, but they stand out anyway (and there's been at least one in every episode).

Originally Posted by amoirsp

I think there was also a Japanese trend of reactions to kouhai or senpai joining a classroom, but Sakuno is a little sister so that unusuality did not spawn. But Miu joining totally appears to be her decision of wanting to visit, so I kept using words like proactive, driving force, or initiative to describe Miu actions.

I think Miu joining the class was indeed somewhat forward of her, but she's probably not a total stranger due to her friendship with Sana. Sakuno is probably unusual too, but given that they're basically transfer students and she's his sister, people probably aren't going to be that uptight about it.

[hyl]

Spoiler for possible game spoiler about the anime version of Sana as a response to amoirsp post:

In the anime she is much nicer to boys than the game. In the game she only acted nice at the beginning and towards Miu, after a few days in the game she sometimes showed her annoyed face and she stopped using her cutesy sounding voice at some points.

[amoirsp]

Originally Posted by hyl

Spoiler for possible game spoiler about the anime version of Sana as a response to amoirsp post:

In the anime she is much nicer to boys than the game. In the game she only acted nice at the beginning and towards Miu, after a few days in the game she sometimes showed her annoyed face and she stopped using her cutesy sounding voice at some points.

Spoiler:

From what I read on this forum, Sana's annoyed face was also toned down. I was actually surprised the anime didn't overdo that. It was definitely implemented, but the duration was short.

I don't know about the game but Sana's voice in the anime sounded deeper than half the cast. o_O

As far as Miu taking interest to Shingo, I thought that wasn't the case when you guys mentioned that Miu's "taking interest" applies equally to other characters, like when meeting Sakuno.

Alright, I'll just look forward to the upcoming episodes.

[Vena]

I am not sure what Miu is focusing on, whether she's focusing on the whole cast or on Shingo specifically. Some good points have been raised that I could see being taken to mean either one. She could definitely fit the role of caring senior who's out to get her underclassmen together and understanding one another. She could also be doing this all for Shingo because she saw through his facade.

You could easily argue that she is taking care of her underclassmen in the same way she is taking care of the injured animals. That she took in Shingo in order to give him a place to belong while she helped him find him place in the school and in a better atmosphere. Or... you could just as easily think she's just as enamored as Airi.

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by Vena

You could easily argue that she is taking care of her underclassmen in the same way she is taking care of the injured animals. That she took in Shingo in order to give him a place to belong while she helped him find him place in the school and in a better atmosphere. Or... you could just as easily think she's just as enamored as Airi.

Yup, and this is again where I'd simply say that it helps to remember the source. These are games where, based on a common foundation/base setting, many different possibilities can be explored. So the fact that it isn't all clear and we don't know it all yet simply means that there is more to be revealed and doors that have yet to be closed. And at this point in the story, I think that's a good thing. Time will tell...

[Bonta Kun]

I guess if I had to say what I think this series has been so far is mellow but a sizable dollop of Sappy slapped on

It certainly gives off a odd feeling, you can't mistake ithat it is a VN adaptation but not the usual kind we get.

It doesn't have many cliches in the typical sense concerning what this is yet has it's moments, that won't let you forget what this is as well.

Good stuff.

4 eps in now, gotta say really liking the ED, much more than the OP.

"Bring Bring Love, Bring Bring Spell~" <--it's soooooooooo catchy

[ookamigirl]

Airi having some money issues, but working hard.
It's never easy living on your own.
Hanging out at her apartment was pretty fun ^^

[Mahou]

Originally Posted by Vena

I am not sure what Miu is focusing on, whether she's focusing on the whole cast or on Shingo specifically. Some good points have been raised that I could see being taken to mean either one. She could definitely fit the role of caring senior who's out to get her underclassmen together and understanding one another. She could also be doing this all for Shingo because she saw through his facade.

It would be interesting, if Miu has been able to see though Shingo's facade. It may not necessarily be a too important trait, but I would somehow like it to be true. She's obviously very good in providing relaxed atmosphere/tension-relieving atmosphere + is - at least a bit - attracted to Shingo (as seen by her blushing in the latest episode). From the existing sources, I think Shingo can be glad to have encountered Pannya which in turn lead him to meet Miu .

[hyl]

Spoiler for episode 5:

Eventhough i haven't played Ange's story in the game, so i can't comment about the differences. The first half was meant as plot development for Airi and Miu for later on and for some comic relief.
I liked the way how Airi is acting flustered and it's a sign that she is getting along with Shingo.
The 2nd part focused on Ange and that part bothers me. The way how Ange started to have feelings for Shingo is probably too sudden for me.
I guess i have to play her story on my psp from now on to understand it better :/

[Midonin]

Spoiler for Iroiro 05 - 夢をみる:

To master a language's puns is to master a major part of that language. I won't dwell on this for too long, but it relates to this episode.

This episode advertised itself as an Angie focus, and was indeed such. Starting at about a quarter of the way in. The first quarter was all continuing the Airi route we've been flagged to for a while. Looks like Airi is, indeed, worried that she can't call Shingo by his name, and slightly confused as to what that means. Even if she can't see the flags, it's becoming clear that everyone else can.

The actual Angie part of the episode played out mostly like I expected it to. Angie was worried about her work, and then got her groove back. (I'm assuming it was a groove.) It's clear she's got some weaknesses beneath that happy exterior, but not enough to make the exterior false either. She bounces back pretty quickly.

For individual scenes, the verbal sparring with Sana where her chest size was mocked was good for a short laugh, and Pannya's scene at the door was adorable. Cat-things are quite common in the animeverse, aren't they?

Even if Shingo's on the Airi route, it looks like he just optioned into the Angie route without even trying. That's got to measure at least a few kilodudes on the scale.

Next week: Fa~nservi~ce~

[hyl]

Spoiler for Episode 5:

I agree that he is suddenly in Ange's route without even trying and that's what bothers me. There no hints at all in the previous episodes and in this epside she started to develop them now.

edit:after rewatching again, i think i know what puns you were talking about.

[relentlessflame]

Spoiler for Episode 5:

So now we are officially into anime-original territory in terms of the way they're combining the routes, and they ended on a sort of cliff-hanger. I'm not going to do any speculation/commentary in this thread about this point at all for certain obvious reasons, except to say "well played, anime writers".

As for the rest... the episode is continuing to develop and focus on Airi a lot. I liked the fact that the episode continued straight after the last one even though it wasn't really a "cliffhanger" exactly, and then again right after the OP. Of course, Airi had a number of cute scenes: the feet-kicking on the bed was one, but also the "shampoo" scenes, and especially when she started twirling her hair. Airi is way too easily embarrassed, and way too cute in the process! They're continuing to develop Airi's growing feelings one piece at a time, which I thought was nice.

Also, this episode continues the trend of advancing Miu's story with one scene in each episode. Obviously, this time it was the news that there's some talk of closing the Club. I did think it was funny that Pannya continues to be used as a "plot advancer" - it's a bit blatant but I guess they need some way to ensure that Shingo will go from point A to point B as needed.

One thing that was a bit puzzling at first was the scene where they're assembling the desks... took me a minute to figure that out. What Airi is noticing here is his care and gentleness, even in the way he carefully assembled the desks properly. Contrast this to Hayata who just shoved the table roughly together, but without flinching Shingo makes it right. This is sort of a sign of the little things he does in the background to take care of others. On the surface, I'm not exactly sure what it says that Airi was entranced by the fact he straightened the crooked desks... (if that's all it takes to impress someone...) but yeah, it's just an example.

The other little thing that is a nice touch. As Shingo walks away from the table (after cleaning up the mess on the table), he glances over to Miu for a split-second with a worried look on his face (because he remembers what happens earlier). And Miu's response, without necessarily noticing that he was worried about her (or even knowing that he knows what's going on) was (roughly) "Uryuu-kun is really observant" or "he really notices things". That itself is good attention to detail by the anime staff; nice parallelism.

Anyway, as for the rest with Ange... I was a bit surprised that they took such a serious tone, and Shingo's stern "you're not being very maid-like" was... well, rather stern (though he wasn't wrong). But the main problem with Ange is that she's kind of hard to take seriously (I laughed at the headdress scene here and in the game too, even though it suggests she's a bit not right in the head... ), so such a serious mood kind of isn't quite fitting. But well, at least she managed to find her resolve at the end.

I won't say that this episode was one of the show's strongest (so far I think episode 4 is the strongest for me), but it did have some nice scenes and advances the plot further. On to next week...

[Vena]

Spoiler for Because subs aren't out yet!!:

I'll admit I watched this episode in parts when I found myself less busy at work fighting against the oppressive foe known as Matlab, so I may have spotty/dodgy memory of certain scenes.

Ahem... *clears throat*

This episode was a very peculiar one, to say the least, it has the Airi subplot starting off as the main focus for the first five to ten minutes, throws in another bit of spicing for Miu's subplot, then shifts gears to focus on Ange and her maid dilemma. So, I'll talk about it in parts.

It would seem that everyone in the main cast except Shingo, Airi, and Shingo's male friend (and probably only because he arrived late) have noticed something peculiar developing between Shingo and Airi, that is to say everyone except for the people involved have their eyebrows raised. Their (everyone else) huddling up and expressions while watching it was an enjoyable moment for me. We also had Airi being cute (a plus in my book) as our cliche girl in love (no cliches are not inherently bad). She's also started to take notice of the little things about Shingo... at a break neck speed. I've heard of picking up the little things when you pay attention but she's seems to have meticulously swept up every detail. (What I am strangely surprised by, unless I missed it in my sporadic viewing, was a lack of jealousy to Shingo's actions with others: Ange, Miu, specifically. What is this? Real life? bring on my anime over reaction + drop kicks + vengeance! )

Miu's club is facing the (as expected from last episode's build up) a looming closure for a complex number of reasons. And, of course, Shingo takes notice and is worried like the proud, caring gentleman that he is. And, again, this is a one single scene carefully placed in the middle of everything else.

And then we reach Ange's shenanigans. She may be a little off in the head... >.> But it was cute to see her lose it, regain it, and then seemingly turn Shingo into a walking idol/avatar of glory. For taking up most of the episode, I have a strangely small amount of things to say as this felt like a build up into next episode more than anything else for Ange's character.

[hyl]

Spoiler for spoiler episode 5:

After playing Ange's story for roughly 90 minutes, i seem to understand Ange a little better.

I don't mind the anime orginal parts, it's not possible to fit her story in the game in probably 2 or so episodes (the anime only had like 8 episodes left after the "main route" has ended). The way how the anime handled it , was to shorten her story while keeping some of her more important parts of Ange's story in the game intact. That's why i still think this episode is not on par with the previous epsides, because it felt more rushed than the previous 4.

The part that she loses her headdress is probably meant to be funny, but i didn't like it too much. (in fact in the game she is more annoying in the anime)

The things that they did handle well is the growing relation with Airi (which really seems to be the final girl at this point) and some hinting towards Miu's story.

[Chaos2Frozen]

I don't know if it's the MASSIVE levels of dere being unleashed in every direction, but episode 4 has shot my interest in this show to new heights and despite what I've said in the last few weeks about Uryuu, he suddenly became alot more entertaining to watch in this episode, damn VN leads and their ability to say the right things...

The only thing I thought was strange was the sudden 180 with Sana, it's like now that Sena has accepted the guys they needed someone else to pick up her slack

(Looking back now, it was sort of mentioned in the synopsis right? But they certainly did a good job hiding it for the last 3 weeks... )

Time to jump into the 5th episode.

[amasposu]

Just watched episode 3. I'm loving this series so far. Sena is SO cute. 8D

Both the OP and ED are so good.