2009-08-30, 12:10 | Link #841 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2004
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Personally speaking I'd much rather have the anime original content spread over the entire series than end up in a situation where the last 10 episodes end up being an anime only arc. |
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2009-08-30, 14:23 | Link #842 |
Pro Procrastinator
Fansubber
Join Date: Apr 2009
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When you send that in, do make sure you say you are 3. They'll give you pity points.
This week's episode was quite good, and the one next week seems interesting too. I never read the manga, so a good episode is a good episode, filler or not. |
2009-08-30, 17:27 | Link #843 | ||
Cross Game - I need more
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: I've moved around the American West. I've lived in Oregon, Washington, Utah, and Oklahoma
Age: 44
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Traditionally "coming of age" is usually depicted as occurring during one of the following two events: 1: Love and Romance, with the following subcategories
2: Confronting Death, with the following subcategories
Well done Coming of Age stories are noted for extensive character development. As you can see Romance often overlaps with coming of age stories, and which one you primarily tag it as probably depends on emphasis. Maison Ikkoku for example is primarily a romantic comedy, but it clearly has coming of age aspects for both Godai (Marriage and Commitment) and Kyoko (Second Love). In fact this is why Yagami is so important to the story despite how annoying fans find her. She also has a coming of age element (First Love) that stands in contrast to the more mature themes for Godai and Kyoko. Cross Game is clearly a coming of age story. It deals with:
And the selection of baseball is no accident. Baseball has traditionally held a special place in the annals of coming of age stories. Almost all baseball stories ''are'' coming of age stories, and of a specific flavor too. Quote:
Baseball for some reason provides a link to childhood. Many, many people feel this, I know I do, although I can't really explain why. Baseball's enduring innocence extends even into the professional level, (despite all the scandals, baseball still has that emotional element). Bittersweet nostalgia is one of the main emotions generated by baseball, and it's a useful emotion to have when telling a coming of age story. Particularly a slow moving, and deeply emotional one like Cross Game. Last edited by Sackett; 2009-08-30 at 18:45. |
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2009-08-30, 17:49 | Link #844 |
Knowledge is the solution
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: St. Louis, MO
Age: 39
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That sounds more like a descriptor than a literally genre though. (at least I couldn't find any source that recognizes it as a proper genre). However, it fits the bill so maybe we should just go with that.
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2009-08-30, 18:12 | Link #845 |
Seishu's Ace
Author
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Kobe, Japan
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It is indeed a genre dating back many centuries:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bildungsroman And one I've actually requested in the Suggestions thread, as its one of my favorites. The proper definition is a bit different than what Sackett laid out, but bildungsromans are basically what we're talking about. Another overlapping but slightly different genre is what we'd call the "rite of passage" story.
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2009-08-30, 18:30 | Link #846 | |||
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Join Date: Feb 2008
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2009-08-30, 18:36 | Link #847 |
耳をすませば
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Toronto, Canada
Age: 34
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Well, there seems to be two definitions of filler which float around the interwebs. #1 is a story which doesn't particularly advance the plot. #2 is any scene that wasn't in the original source.
By #2, it seems like its filler. P.S. You don't have to quote every single post next time...
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2009-08-30, 18:50 | Link #848 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2007
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Baseball is also, of course, the oldest of the major American sports--it has the longest history, and it still carries the markers of nineteenth-century America--there's no clock, for example, in baseball, which makes it different from all the other major sports. And its virtues make it more family-friendly; games are cheaper, and the charms of football (violence and complexity) and basketball (pure athleticism) make them less suited to children and families. Baseball also has one advantage (and I'm biased here)--it's a game fundamentally premised on failure. A player can still make the hall of fame with a career where he makes out 60 percent of the time, or more even (and, of course, that's assuming a walk is never a failure, which is a debatable assertion--I'm assuming on-base-percentage as the metric here). And while football is far more violent, there's something especially fragile about a pitcher, who always seems one pitch away from a catastrophic injury. The sport is humbling in a profound way, and while every day is a new day and offers the hope of redemption, there's also the perpetual chance of failure, which more often than not occurs. My impression is that the sport appeals to certain strands in Japanese culture and society--the pitcher/batter contest is something akin to a duel between samurai, but the game still depends on teamwork; the ups and downs of a baseball season put a special value on a sort-of stoic level-headedness, which I think appeals to the Japanese; the importance of technical skills as opposed to pure athleticism also appeals to the practice-heavy mentality of the Japanese. But at the end of the day, I really don't quite understand why exactly baseball is so popular in Japan. Which is fine... the Japanese have made the game their own, and I get a real kick of seeing the different styles of baseball played in the US and Japan. |
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2009-08-30, 19:26 | Link #849 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2007
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That being said, the very nature of the pitcher-batter confrontation is very much a zero-sum game: either the pitcher prevails or the batter does. And it's only once the ball is in play that anyone else can influence the outcome, which is somewhat different than other sports - baseball is very much a collection of individual efforts amalgamated in a team (at least the offensive side of the equation) - while it is possible for a "star player" to allow a team to punch above it's weight, even the greatest running back goes nowhere without his offensive line to block for him, and the greatest point guard can't carry a bunch of stiffs up and down the basketball court all day. |
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2009-08-30, 20:54 | Link #851 |
Cross Game - I need more
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: I've moved around the American West. I've lived in Oregon, Washington, Utah, and Oklahoma
Age: 44
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Just watched the subs. I liked this episode. Aoba deserves her own development that isn't always directly connected to Kou.
Actually if anything I'd think it would make her pain more acute. |
2009-08-30, 21:12 | Link #852 | |
mechaii
Join Date: Jul 2009
Age: 44
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Tags like "romance," "sports," "slice of life" (whatever the heck that is) etc. are used as a type of shorthand. Over time, usage among anime/manga afficionados on the internet has imbued these terms with a generally accepted meaning, and they are affixed to a title to allow browsers looking for something new to read or watch to learn at a glance what the story contains, if not what it is about. "Coming of Age" is a recognized descriptor within academic and literary circles, but I'm not so sure it has gained the same currency as a term of art among anime/manga forum habitues on the interwebs. In addition, even as you describe it, the term embraces quite a bit of territory, so it may be too broad to be that helpfull in this context. I wish people who don't yet know about Cross Game could spare the time to read your post. If that can't be worked out somehow, then I'm afraid the existing tags will have to do. And for those already enjoying Cross Game, categorizing it ought to be at the bottom of the to-do list. Wouldn't it be great if the US could sprout its own version of Adachi? |
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2009-08-30, 21:19 | Link #853 | |
Koh nara dekiru!!!
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: August 17th - 31st
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2009-08-30, 21:24 | Link #854 | |
耳をすませば
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Toronto, Canada
Age: 34
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BTW The ratings for Cross Game seem to be a far cry from what Touch used to enjoy (1-3% vs. over 30%). Wonder if this is just due to the "times changing".
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2009-08-30, 21:39 | Link #855 | |
Koh nara dekiru!!!
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: August 17th - 31st
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Welcome to the modern world... yeah... TV rating in the '80s are higher than '09... OMG, really? |
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2009-08-30, 21:40 | Link #856 | ||
Knowledge is the solution
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: St. Louis, MO
Age: 39
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2009-08-30, 21:46 | Link #857 | ||
耳をすませば
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Toronto, Canada
Age: 34
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2009-08-30, 21:51 | Link #858 | |
Koh nara dekiru!!!
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: August 17th - 31st
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Oh and that last comment was a "No shit Sherlock..." Sorry if you missed it... |
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2009-08-30, 21:58 | Link #859 | |||
耳をすませば
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Toronto, Canada
Age: 34
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2009-08-30, 22:06 | Link #860 |
Alto x Ranka :)
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: New York City
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Well I just finished watching the latest episode and aside from the fact that this is a filler episode, it's one of the best fillers that I've been exposed to As much as Aoba wants to deny it, she's pretty excited to play and it seems to be tickling her competitive nature. No one knows Aoba better than Kou and from the looks of things, he'll be reading her mind all throughout the next episode
Initially, I was not fond of the drawing style but the synopsis was too interesting to pass up, and I'm glad that I'm currently following this underrated anime. It just goes to show you that you don't necessarily need the most complicated drawing styles out there to create an anime as good as Cross Game.
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baseball, drama, romance, school life, shounen, sports |
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