2012-10-14, 14:00 | Link #981 | |
Administrator
Join Date: Dec 2003
Age: 41
|
Quote:
Other than that... I've played a number of MMORPGs, so the subject is instantly accessible to me. I think the world is interesting along with a number of the concepts explored, and I find the characters quite engaging (both main and side). I find the art and animation quite decent, many of the in-game vistas presented to be quite beautiful, and the music is quite nice as well. And, for whatever flaws the story has, I still generally enjoy it a lot more than not. I also think the franchise does generate some interesting fan discussions (even if there is an ever-encroaching army of novel readers who want to give everything away). So I guess the long and short of it is that everyone has their own tastes, and I guess the things I enjoy about the show just aren't compatible with your tastes. I think the reason it's likely popular is because it blends elements of so many different genres (sci-fi, fantasy, action, romance, etc.) so there's potentially something for everyone... but that also means that more people will try it out and find it isn't for them (possibly because it doesn't focus strongly enough on whatever genre they are most drawn to). If the story were more narrowly-focused to start with, fewer people would try it (but those who try it after researching it may be more likely to enjoy it). For a late night anime, you could probably say this is about as close to mainstream entertainment as anime gets.
__________________
Last edited by relentlessflame; 2012-10-14 at 14:12. |
|
2012-10-14, 15:25 | Link #982 | |
Senpai!
Join Date: Mar 2007
|
Quote:
1. I'm a fan of the source material, which in my opinion is well... epic. It makes me recognize, but ultimately overlook the storytelling flaws of the anime. 2. Kirito is the ace, not indecisive when it comes to love interests, and not a butt-monkey. Which is rare for a LN protagonist. 3. It's based off MMOs, and the setting is really enhanced if you're used to its culture. I used to be a heavy MMO-gamer, so that appeal is always there. The way it's VR is wish-fulfilling. |
|
2012-10-15, 05:15 | Link #983 | ||||
the cynic
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Somewhere between life and death.
Age: 42
|
Quote:
Maybe my standards have been warped by having watch too many (to be healthy) harem/romance anime, where romance is the main plot, but I kind of expected better. For example, Amagami SS's Tsukasa Ayatsuji's arc was amazing and it was done in only 4 eps - with considerable backstory too. While SAO is over 14 episodes and I still don't quite "feel it". PS: IMO they could also have shorten/speed up some of the side plots and reallocated the time. Those took up a considerable amount of time and dragged on a bit. Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Heh. I have no issues with indecisive, butt-monkey male leads. The indecisive-ness is necessary to maintain the love triangles (polygons) and the butt-monkey-ness is mostly comic relief as the lead plays "straight guy" to the most of the time fairly wacky cast. Played quite a bit of WoW a few years back. For most part it works for and against me when it came to shows like this. It's like being relative well versed in how computers worked and then see a movie when the someone "Hacks a satellite !!!" ... YOU CAN'T DO THAT! Those things use custom hardware and software, there is no way anyone can hack into it "just like that" without months of information gathering and research, and this is overlooking the fact that the said satellite must have the shittiest security ever. Spoiler for Probably unnecessary. It just talks about things from ep1-14.:
__________________
|
||||
2012-10-15, 07:17 | Link #984 | ||||
Meh
Join Date: Feb 2008
|
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
as far as the "will-powering", it's actually a specific concept/mechanic that gets expanded later on in the story, but for now it's going to feel like a regular DEM. Last edited by relentlessflame; 2012-10-15 at 08:42. Reason: fixed quote |
||||
2012-10-15, 08:42 | Link #985 | |
Administrator
Join Date: Dec 2003
Age: 41
|
Quote:
I never read the source material coming into the anime either, and am only judging it as a standalone anime. Even on those grounds alone, I think the romance is well conveyed in the context of the situation that surrounds them. (They're warriors in a death game, so I don't expect them to have a lot of time to go out on regular dates. In this context, the fact that their relationship continued to deepen significantly even after the confession is one of the key points. It's a bit different from regular shounen romance anime where the confession is often seen as the end-game.)
__________________
|
|
2012-10-15, 09:32 | Link #986 | |
18782+18782=37564
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: InterWebs
|
Quote:
__________________
|
|
2012-10-16, 04:26 | Link #987 | |||||
the cynic
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Somewhere between life and death.
Age: 42
|
Quote:
Maybe they should have planned the story out differently. Quote:
But that wasn't my point. I'm just pointing out that it's possible to set up a convincing romance with only 4 episodes. SOA has clocked in at >14 episodes and I'm still not quite "buying it". For another example of "hard to swallow" romance, I refer you to Koi to Senkyou to Chocolate. I seriously can't accept who they chose as the "winning" heroine. >< Quote:
I consider SOA more or less sci-fi. It's set in the real world and takes place in an advanced MMO game. Advanced or not, it's still an MMO game, hence I expect the "rules" to be roughly analogous to those of RL MMOs - such as players not having access to proprietary information about how the MMO servers work, much less be able to manipulate them the way Kirito did. Now if this was a "fantasy" game with rules more or less enforced by magic, then yes, more or less anything would go as long as internal consistency is maintained. Quote:
The problem is, I'm "unconvinced". The marriage proposal came way too fast. "Other on-goings" or not**, they could have at least spared like 4 episodes to do it right. IMHO, if they could not do it right, they should have just skipped it and intro Kirito and Asuna as couple straight from the start - and maybe show the pieces of their relationship development through flashbacks. At least then there is zero risk of the audience "not buying it". What I'm trying to say here is, they could have done better. >< **Amagami SS did have the school festival, granted it was more to advance character development than being the main focus. Quote:
If they manage to fall in love in the "death game", then the script writers should have been able to convey it convincingly.
__________________
Last edited by Salt; 2012-10-16 at 05:01. |
|||||
2012-10-16, 05:38 | Link #988 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2011
|
Your post boils down to SAO not following the cliche's you like. The problem with your idea of how everything mysterious should be explained is that this means you can't have a mystery in the story. Right now so is it is a mystery to the MC how those things happened, but you want them to be explained anyway to the audience, just because it bothers you otherwise?
The main difference between SAO and Amagami SS is that in Amagami so are everyones reactions exagerated to make sure that the audience can easily see what the characters are thinking. The problem with that is that it's not very realistic as most normal people doesn't act like that. The problem with SAO is that you need some normal social competence to catch on what is going on rather then reading standardised anime ques. |
2012-10-16, 05:42 | Link #989 | |||||
Meh
Join Date: Feb 2008
|
While I agree with the sentiment to a degree, I have to say that the writers were somewhat handicapped by the source material, which itself had certain handicaps when it was initially written (page limit due to competition etc).
Quote:
SAO on the other hand, is not a romance story, you're essentially comparing a bunch of short romance stories to an lengthy action/adventure story, not really a fair comparison if you ask me. Quote:
It's ironic that you used Star Trek as an example, that show pulls so much DEM out of its reversed-tachyon field arse on a weekly basis it makes SAO looks like the pinnacle of plothole-free writing Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
I'm not sure if you're really placing a reasonable expectation here. Not every couple needs to go through a sappy drama-filled shoujo-esque plot before they can 'fall in love" |
|||||
2012-10-16, 05:49 | Link #990 | |
18782+18782=37564
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: InterWebs
|
Quote:
__________________
|
|
2012-10-16, 06:14 | Link #992 | |
Meh
Join Date: Feb 2008
|
Quote:
First off, there is no real-world analogues to the Nervgear nor Admin access panels located in the middle of a dungeon in a MMO, those things simply doesn't exist IRL, so you can't say with any authority what can or can't be done with those unless you're the author himself. Moreover, if you go by current standards, the idea that a regular GM would have the authority to sectioning off a portion of the game's programming and create a brand new item with it is laughable, hence why it would be considered to be a plothole by many. |
|
2012-10-16, 06:36 | Link #993 | |
SIBYL salesman
Join Date: Feb 2011
|
It tends to be mainly from the novel readers who have been spoonfed every piece of information, and they think viewers shouldn't be given the same right (and yes, I've read some of the novel and it really is spoonfeeding).
Quote:
A sub-program with admin rights, file system access to her own files, the ability to convert/transfer her script/AI/files/whatever into another game object... @Salt: Trust me when I say you're not alone in your thinking, so don't be tempted to rage in here if you feel insults are being flung. You can pick any random episode thread and watch it explode with the same/similar complaints (truthfully I advise not to read them, unless you like stepping into a mine field full of spoilers, though technically it may be safer now that the first whole arc has ended). Heck you can search any of my posts and watch it explode into rants a couple of times (no regrets, but I don't suggest you read those either, lol). But yes, though others might disagree, I believe knowing how the original story was written gives a better insight of why things felt a bit "out of place". Fixing timelines is a tricky business and requires a bit of effort/serious ret-conning to make it flow better. |
|
2012-10-16, 12:04 | Link #994 | |||
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: The Netherlands
|
Quote:
Quote:
MPHC001 is Yui's file name. Quote:
Last edited by chaos_alfa; 2012-10-16 at 15:06. |
|||
2012-10-16, 17:01 | Link #995 | ||
Garnet
Join Date: Dec 2011
Age: 29
|
Quote:
Quote:
|
||
2012-10-16, 17:12 | Link #996 | ||
Administrator
Join Date: Dec 2003
Age: 41
|
Quote:
a) You missed the supporting evidence and details that supported the relationship growth b) I read too much into things that were shown to see evidence beyond what was intended c) We both just have different perspectives and neither of us are either right or wrong d) All of the above e) Other...? I mean, I can list all the evidence that I noticed in each episode that supported the conclusion and make the romance feel natural and convincing to me. I could even say "try watching the episodes again and this time pay attention only to the romantic development" to see if you notice the things I did. (In fairness, I watched each episode at least 2 or 3 times to make sure that I didn't miss any detail, given that I didn't come into this show with any novel knowledge.) But if it still wasn't convincing enough for you, what can I say? Spoiler for Comparison to Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate anime:
Quote:
__________________
|
||
2012-10-16, 17:47 | Link #997 | |
Meh
Join Date: Feb 2008
|
Quote:
*looks at the countless bodies of deleted posts that litters all over the field that is the SAO forum* |
|
2012-10-16, 20:02 | Link #998 | |
Aldracity
Join Date: Feb 2010
|
Quote:
I've somehow managed to lose count of the number of times this guy has smacked me over the head, and I only hopped onto the bandwagon less than a month ago. |
|
2012-10-17, 03:14 | Link #999 | ||
SIBYL salesman
Join Date: Feb 2011
|
Quote:
Not going to add more on that note, because I'm becoming a broken record and off-topic. Quote:
Unfortunately, I've kinda picked up who's a reader and who's not, and can read between the lines and sometimes tell when there's, what I call, a "hand of god" discussion going on (readers "pretending" to come up with some idea and force some revelation upon the viewer ) or their opinions are vocal enough where you have a fair idea of what is/isn't going to happen (bulk inference), which I guess isn't truly spoilers but sometimes you get an idea of what they unintentionally leak out. The reality is that I don't expected you guys to remove all of these kind of posts because then there wouldn't be much left in the thread. (and I seriously don't suggest you try harder than what you're currently doing, because you'll probably end up making too many false positives). On a more on-topic note, there's no love polygons, but what's it called when everyone loves Kirito? Love sink? Not limited by gender (Klein, Agil), race (Agil), machine (Yui, Cardinal(?)), insanity (Kabaya), family (imouto)...what's, or who's, next? As for Asuna-Kirito, I believe their development had more to do with breaking each other's facade, and their common ground was they discovered both were truthfully scared, hence them wanting to support each other. In some ways, the whole "everyone's acting tough, and so will I" wasn't conveyed so well (well, some people may have picked that up properly, though too subtle for it to register convincingly in my mind). Beyond that, he's a guy, she's a girl, some standard compliments... |
||
2012-10-17, 08:24 | Link #1000 |
Moe Kyun~!
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Philippines
|
It's called Kakaka Kata-omoi (kyo-pun is punny) ... or One Sided Love. Oh and, Klein, Agil, and Kayaba uses a "different" kind of love. Klein "life-saving" "friendship". Agil ... probably the same if you ask me. Kayaba -- love for the plot. Sugu -- incest . Yui, mix of curiosity and deep gratefulness for "freeing" her. Cardinal...wait..what?
__________________
|
Tags |
action, romance, shounen |
|
|