2012-11-23, 09:31 | Link #2022 | |
Member
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Wichita
|
Quote:
I prefer a Light Music Club. Rikka as vocalist/lead guitar, Kumin in keyboard, Morri Summer in bass, and Dekomori in drum. Oh, and Yuuta could wear cat-ears and hold another guitar. Wait...
__________________
|
|
2012-11-23, 14:13 | Link #2024 | |
The Voice of Reason
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: The Netherlands
Age: 47
|
Quote:
__________________
|
|
2012-12-08, 21:56 | Link #2026 |
Senior Member
Author
|
For a couple months, I was pretty busy, and hence had to cut back a lot on anime shows. So I stalled this one, planning to eventually get back to it later. I just recently did.
I have to say - Episodes 4 through 10 were just full of great plot twists and surprises. It's honestly amazing how dramatic and serious this show began. I recall a long time ago saying this show made me think a little of Key, but I never imagined it would be this much like Key. The Rikka/Yuuta romance honestly makes me think of a very well-executed Key romance. And this show has this same transition from lighthearted slapstick comedy to (mostly) very serious and heartwarming show about family, friends, and romance. Along the way some major reveals were made (I was pleasantly surprised by what they did with Shinka's character in Episode 4, the Makoto/Kumin romance was a nice secondary romance that fits pretty well, the core reason behind Rikka's chuunibyou was startling and just filled my heart with sympathy, Yuuta had a great transition moment in Episode 5 where he started to truly care about Rikka leaving his past overly insecure self behind, etc...). And Episodes 4 through 10 were certainly fun to marathon. My only major criticism of the show is that there are some clunkier elements to the transitions made in this anime (though, in fairness, they were perhaps inevitable). 90% of the time it's easy to differentiate comedic scenes from serious/dramatic scenes, but sometimes you get disconcerting bleed-over. Generally, this isn't a huge deal, but it can impact how you view the characters. For example, "Mori Summer" is a true enigma to me now. In my view, her character did a major transition not once, but twice, and in only 10 episodes. She went from the perfectly sweet "everybody loves her and for good reason" school girl, to someone who's actually rather abrasive and puts on quite a mask, to someone who deep down inside really is kind of caring. Given Shinka's Episode 4 through 8 characterization, I'm at a loss to understand why she'd even care about Rikka and Yuuta, let alone try to play matchmaker for them and provide them moral support. But in fairness to Shinka's character, I think this largely comes down to that comedy to serious transition. However, in the most important area - the Rikka/Yuuta dynamic - I think the anime handled the comedy to drama/romance transition as well as possible. It was honestly impressive. I can honestly say that, barring some last minute disaster, Rikka/Yuuta is one of the best anime romances of the year.
__________________
|
2012-12-09, 05:24 | Link #2027 |
Irregular Hunter
Join Date: Oct 2010
Age: 37
|
I too have some problems with the serious parts of the show, especially the earlier ones. However, the case you mentioned about Nibutani isn't one of them. I personally think it's pretty clear. It began because she simply is a love junkie, as we can see by how much she talked about it when she was still the Mori Summer. She won't pass the chance to have some fun seeing there is a romantic event this closed to her in real live. Once she started to intervene though, I think she feel the obligatory to fellow up on the matter. Being responsible is a part of her personality (she is the class rep after all). Also, it's pretty clear that she considers those in the club her friends at least, seeing how she decides to focus on the club since she quit the cheerleading.
|
2012-12-09, 07:18 | Link #2028 | |
Senior Member
Author
|
Quote:
But then, it's probably good to have fascinating, hard-to-figure-out characters.
__________________
|
|
2012-12-09, 09:39 | Link #2029 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2007
|
Quote:
The sweet persona she adopted was a mask, but like Hyper points out, being responsible is a real part of her. When she visits Rikka's family, she's flawlessly polite, and she even takes care of Dekomori. I think this trait is compatible with Chuunis, who after all have inflated views of their purpose in the world. Yuuta is also quite responsible and looks after his sisters, after all. Last edited by CrowKenobi; 2012-12-09 at 10:02. Reason: Please edit your post and refrain from double posting... |
|
2012-12-09, 09:52 | Link #2030 | |
Senior Member
Author
|
Quote:
Still, after thinking about it a lot, I have a theory on Shinka. I'm going to share it in her character thread in a bit. I do think you're right about how Shinka's politeness in this scene wasn't entirely an act, though.
__________________
|
|
2012-12-19, 18:49 | Link #2033 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2011
|
So, now that the main series is finished, I guess this is the appropriate thread to talk about impressions of the whole thing.
The first that came to mind after finishing episode 12 was that Chuunibyou would have benefited from being a 2-cour series. As it is now, the side characters are not explored enough, some not even a little like Kumin and Makoto. Dekomori's supposed character arc was shoehorned in these last two eps and felt like a cop out more than anything, and Shinka, while she was adressed more thoroughly, could have been explored much more. None of the side cast has a personality developed enough, and many comedic scenes fell flat because they relied on these characters' charm, and they had too little to relate to at the time. With 24 episodes, they would have been able to develop not only the whole cast including tertiary characters, but go much deeper on Yuuta and Rikka's relationship and flesh out the themes of the show at a pace that would flow much better. Particularly, Touka's character arc was non-existent, and that is a pretty big flaw I find with the show, since there were a lot of hints and little foreshadowing scenes that ultimately amounted to nothing. For me, the peak of the show was the first half, focused on comedic interactions with a relaxed pace that allowed to know the whole club at once. Episode 5 in particular was really good at doing this, Hiroko Utsumi is someone to pay attention to. I was expecting the drama and romance to kick in around the time it did, but something about the execution of it all was lacking. Episodes 7-9, 11-12 didn't manage to do anything for me, only Takemoto's 10 stepped up from these and tried to bring the show back to its highest points. I think this has a lot to do with the pacing of the show too. The developments felt too quick and rushed, and while particular emotional scenes were well done (except for that horrid camera thing they did at the end of 9 :P ), the narrative flow was too wacky and clumsy. As for the technical side of the show, it's Kyoani, what more can I say? Well, in this case I think I can say a bit more. This was a step back from Hyouka, which had some of the best color design, photography and BG art in recent anime, if not the best. Chuunibyou was just Kyoani's standard fare, having standard color choices for the most part, and going back to the typical slapstick animation of Nichijou and the exaggerated expressions of K-On!. While this is not bad per-se, Hyouka's (and Disappearance) approach to acting and movement seems more suited for current Kyoani and it just strikes my fancy more. The animation started to falter around the halfway point too, just by a bit, but thankfully it was saved by awesome color choices in the key scenes (episode 10's confession scene and the finale's "BANISHMENT THIS WORLD+Ethereal horizon" scene come to mind) and some nice sakuga from time to time (like, again, this episode 12's scene with all those superb FX and impact. I think it was Ishidate who did that, but he wasn't credited so I wouldn't know for sure). So, all in all, the series was good and enjoyable, especially for the first 5~6 episodes, but failed to make itself memorable when it got serious. My biggest complaint with the writing is the lack of thorough characterization and thematic exploration, and it seems like it was a direct consequence of having to work so many characters and situations in only 12 episodes. A 2-cour Chuunibyou show would have had just so much more impact and investment from me, especially if a studio like Kyoani is making it; they have shown me with K-On! and Hyouka that it's impossible not to get attached to their shows and characters after enough exposure to them, no matter what inconsequential plot may they be executing. So whatever, this confirms Ishihara as my least favourite supervisor in the studio. His episodes are always a joy to watch, but when he takes on a whole show I always find myself having gripes and issues with it. I certainly have enjoyed K-On! and Hyouka much more than Chuunibyou and most of Haruhi (except Disappearance). I won't count Nichijou because I'm too biased for its animation to make a fair judgement of its directorial and comedic merits. All that's left now is to wait for nice eye-candy in the form of BD shorts, and maybe a good dose of the comedy and interplay that made early Chuunibyou great in episode 13. |
2012-12-26, 08:32 | Link #2037 |
Nyahahahaha♥
|
From Tatsuya Ishihara's interview in Nyantype:
The new episode on volume 7 will take place after episode 12 and be centered around a certain winter event (that's coming up in real life) with a gag theme. All the club members will show up and it'll be more like episode 4/5 in tone.
__________________
|
Tags |
chuunibyou, drama, romance, romantic comedy, school, seinen |
Thread Tools | |
|
|