(L) Kuromukuro

[zztop]

Originally Posted by ReddyRedWolf

Oh I don't know that giant robot and cube found 60 years ago?

Certainly researched about any giants in folklore and historical discrepancy of the missing clan. Plus that photo.

Given that Yukina looks like the princess I venture to guess she is related by blood to her. Meaning clan survivors.

Good point. He must've found something no one was looking for.

[jzmagic]

Originally Posted by Stilts

Kuromukuro - Relationship Chart

Images

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Wasn't expecting 3 girls to have romantic interest in our MC, interesting.

[Nvis]

Interesting mecha show.

[DemonneoPT]

I also agree that the feel of an alien invasion is not being well portrayed in the anime especially when none of the conventional human weapons worked against the invaders, not even nukes which is absurd because simple high tech swords seems to do the trick..lol. With no way to defeat them, a little more panic would be expected. It's true the show is focusing more on the Japanese side of the world where the enemy was successfully defeated but still...
Anyway, besides that i really enjoyed seeing once again the culture clash between Kennosuke and the modern world. It's always fun to see a man out of it's time interacting with thechnology..lol. Strong aspect of the show so far. I'm also curious about Yukina father and his research!

[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

Just done binge-watching from episode 02 to the newest episode. So far, so much fun. I thought the "man outta time"-element will be annoying like watching Tarzan or Encino-man introduced and getting used to civilization. But it's actually a lot of fun. The presence of the monk-uncle really helps the communication with Kenn too. That's a good use of his character. Kudos to PAW that can turn laborious plot proggression into something enjoyable. This show's Definitely a keeper. Can't wait to see more.

Originally Posted by DemonneoPT

...none of the conventional human weapons worked against the invaders, not even nukes which is absurd because simple high tech swords seems to do the trick..lol.

It actually reminds me of Evangelion. Nukes can't do jack shit to the Angels (they can't even expose their core), but a tactical stab of EVAs' progressive knives and their other sharp melee weapons that can penetrate to the core can kill them .

[Kismet-chan]

The more I watch this show, the more it grows on me.

Y'know, I thought I was going to find Ouma extremely annoying and prefer Yukina as I was going into this... But I find that it's very much the opposite. Yukina, while not a terrible character, just doesn't really interest me all that much outside of her likely connection to the princess from 450 years ago. Meanwhile, I actually kind of feel bad for Ouma. Everything must be so terribly confusing and frightening for him, and you could really feel his pain when he read about his clan being wiped out and forgotten.

And the action we've seen so far has been very solid, imo.

[Wandering Soul]

Originally Posted by DemonneoPT

I also agree that the feel of an alien invasion is not being well portrayed in the anime especially when none of the conventional human weapons worked against the invaders, not even nukes which is absurd because simple high tech swords seems to do the trick..lol.

This isn't even the first mecha series to do that. Evangelion was similar, but it at least had the whole AT Field thing as an excuse.

[Benigmatica]

Originally Posted by bakato

So Yukina's dad disappeared. Any chances he's the masked villain? "I am your father."

I would see that happen in later episodes. For now, Ouma-dono needs to adjust to modern times first!

[DragoonKain3]

I'm still trying to get over the fact that Sengoku Era Japan had mecha technology. It's the ONE thing that still detracts my enjoyment of the show (it gnaws into my mind every episode), but I just imagine it that somehow our MC and Hime gundamjacked one of the invading demons. Hopefully they get into how they acquired the Kuromukuro in the first place, if only to give me peace of mind. XD

Overall, I actually like the characters a lot, especially the MC. He doesn't do crazy things just for the heck of it, and once he has truly grasped his reality, he settled down. Pretty much he's the idealized samurai archetype, which ironically is severely underrepresented in the anime world.

The one reaction that bothered me though was blond girl freaking out getting groped... if she really was that skilled, her training would've made her hold even tighter, possibly literally choking the MC to death.



@Stilts
Thanks for all that extra info; I'm an especial sucker towards relationship charts (I wish these get translated more often TBH). BTW, if you're THE Randomc Stilts, welcome to Asuki forums and I still love your portions the best.

[Chosen_Hero]

^They probably stile the Artifacts from the aliens and made them their own by "taming them" (notice how he calls the red part Steed). It wasn't ever stated that they made them, just that they were able to used them.

[D-Joe]

https://twitter.com/KUROMUKURO_UNKL/...00885759664128
さきほどニコ生でお知らせいたしましたが、TVアニメ「#クロムクロ」は全２６話“２クール”でございます 。

Total 26 episodes officially confirmed.

[zztop]

Originally Posted by D-Joe

https://twitter.com/KUROMUKURO_UNKL/...00885759664128
さきほどニコ生でお知らせいたしましたが、TVアニメ「#クロムクロ」は全２６話“２クール”でございます 。

Total 26 episodes officially confirmed.

26 episodes can be both a blessing and curse for Kuromukuro (plus any other similar length series).
The pro is that the writing will have plenty of time to build up and develop the various characters and relationships, as well as the core mysteries of Kennosuke's past, Yukina's dad and the aliens' motives.
The cons is the risk of the main plot getting stretched too thin to fit the allocated length, which could lead to unneeded fanservice/fluff moments to pad the episodes (like in Utawarerumono 2). There's also the risk of the writers dropping the ball with the plot, especially in the later half which leads to an unsatisfying or badly plotted ending (like how Valvrave ended). Not to mention risk of animation quality dropping...

(Times like this you wish the anime industry could make concessions for irregularly numbered cours, like 1 season having 19-22 eps similar to some K-dramas. That way the writers still have plenty of room to tell their story, but not so much that they get lost trying to tell it.)

[bakato]

Originally Posted by zztop

26 episodes can be both a blessing and curse for Kuromukuro (plus any other similar length series).
The pro is that the writing will have plenty of time to build up and develop the various characters and relationships, as well as the core mysteries of Kennosuke's past, Yukina's dad and the aliens' motives.
The cons is the risk of the main plot getting stretched too thin to fit the allocated length, which could lead to unneeded fanservice/fluff moments to pad the episodes (like in Utawarerumono 2). There's also the risk of the writers dropping the ball with the plot, especially in the later half which leads to an unsatisfying or badly plotted ending (like how Valvrave ended). Not to mention risk of animation quality dropping...

(Times like this you wish the anime industry could make concessions for irregularly numbered cours, like 1 season having 19-22 eps similar to some K-dramas. That way the writers still have plenty of room to tell their story, but not so much that they get lost trying to tell it.)

Getting stretched too thin? That can only happen to adaptations.

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by bakato

Getting stretched too thin? That can only happen to adaptations.

No, it can happen with originals too. It depends on whether the premise has enough legs to fill that number of episodes, and also depends on execution of course.

[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

Originally Posted by zztop

The cons is the risk of the main plot getting stretched too thin to fit the allocated length, which could lead to unneeded fanservice/fluff moments to pad the episodes (like in Utawarerumono 2).

Utawarerumono 2 is a rare case where the director deliberately chose the sillier parts (or even make some silly parts himself) from the game to be put into the anime instead of adapting the content that is more interesting, meaningful and more useful for the plot (not to mention the lackluster execution). It’s as if the director intentionally trying to make the anime fail, which I think he succeeded. It being 24-26 episodes has nothing to do with it.

Originally Posted by zztop

There's also the risk of the writers dropping the ball with the plot, especially in the later half which leads to an unsatisfying or badly plotted ending (like how Valvrave ended).

Valvrave’s story was already bad, silly and ridiculous from the start. It’s just that the first half still had some mysteries and didn’t give us all the answers and kept us guessing and speculating that it gives the illusion that it’s better than the second half. It being 24-26 episodes has nothing to do with it. The bad ending is just icing on the already messed-up cake.

Originally Posted by zztop

Not to mention risk of animation quality dropping...

24-26 episodes is actually an ideal number for a (competent) animation team (with enough budget) to make a consistent mecha show, art-wise. Gundam 00 (each season), Code Geass (each season), G-Reco, Gundam Build Fighters/Try, Sidonia (2 cours), Majestic Prince, etc all look pretty good and consistent.

Originally Posted by zztop

(Times like this you wish the anime industry could make concessions for irregularly numbered cours, like 1 season having 19-22 eps similar to some K-dramas. That way the writers still have plenty of room to tell their story, but not so much that they get lost trying to tell it.)

It really depends on the story/writing. Some stories can easily fill 26-100+ episodes (Zetsuen no Tempest, Fullmetal Alchemist, Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Last Exile, Arslan Senki, Gundam 00, Patlabor, etc), while other stories are already struggling to fill the 12-25 episodes (Dai Shogun, Nobunaga the Fool, etc). As a mecha aficionado, I can say with confidence that mecha series need at least 24 episodes to decently explore its story coz most mecha involves a world that is vast and filled with characters from various places of the world/universe they’re living in. Mecha series with only one-cour (12-13 episodes) which succeeds in telling a whole story in a good manner are exceptions rather than the rule. And no, some Gundam OVAs that took place in UC universe and Code Geass Akito don’t count coz they’re more sidestories that do not need to build their universe from the ground up as the main Gundam & Code Geass series already did that for them.

Originally Posted by bakato

Getting stretched too thin? That can only happen to adaptations.

Nadia: The Secret of the Blue Water is one (of many) example of anime-original material that got stretched too thin which was evident during its second half.

[zztop]

^ The above are just concerns, and I wish Kuromukuro's writers all the best with the project.

26 eps means Netflix will only officially release Kuromukuro in the West like around late this year, or next year, right? (Once Netflix has got all the subbing and dubbing done.)

[bakato]

You can't stretch thin something that was long to begin with. You can say it drags bits unnecessarily, but that's its original length. The creators of Kuromukuro didn't just decide to make this two cours just now. They decided that some time after conception. Kuromukuro's has presented itself rich with engaging characters and potential. So we should be giving it the benefit of the doubt.That said, it looks like we've got our obligatory perverted trio including one seriously socially awkward stalker.

[Triple_R]

26 episodes is good, as long as there's something substantive to the demons/aliens. In other words, if we eventually get to learn a lot about them, and ideally they get some personality of their own.

26 episodes is maybe a bit much if we're only going to get the human side of things, with that heavily focused on a small handful of characters.

One positive is that the pacing so far does make me think of a 2-cour show.

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by bakato

You can't stretch thin something that was long to begin with.

Writing isn't mathematics. The number of episodes is decided during pre-production, when the staff only have the premise and a bunch of plot points to work with. They can't be 100% sure the story can fill up all the episodes properly until all the scripts have been written, but at that point is already too late to change the number of episodes if they find out the story got stretched too thin. Anime is made on a very tight schedule after all.

So we should be giving it the benefit of the doubt.

No one said we shouldn't.

[zztop]

Originally Posted by Stilts

Spoilers

Spoiler for Episode 6 preview - Title: Dancing On Jinzu's Riverbed (神通の川原に舞う).

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Tks! I'm Stilts from AnimeNewsNetwork / Stilts_Song from MAL / Mangerlis from wikia and Wikipedia / BaptizED from Randomc.

The Jinzu River's an actual natural location in Japan's Toyama prefecture. It originates from Gifu Prefecture, flows through Toyama and out into Toyama Bay and the Sea of Japan.

Spoiler for River map: