(L) Yosuga no Sora

[0utf0xZer0]

Posts from people like RelentlessFlame always seem to draw my attention to how many little subtleties this series has... but I think that the breakneck pacing of the show is preventing me from picking up on a lot of them myself.

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by Francismeunier

I prefer to compare myself in reactions though of what I see and understand. They are interesting in both ways I find from experience seeing RAW and then subs.

Okay, but with all due respect to you, publicly posting your impressions of an episode when you didn't even understand its contents and then getting into extensive forum debates with people who are trying to explain your rather clear misconceptions (that you wouldn't have had if you actually understood what happened in the show) is a waste of all of our time. Not to be too forward/presumptive, but if we're going to discuss the show's content, I would always recommend 1) understand, 2) analyse, 3) criticize & speculate. If you skip steps 1 & 2, then you can basically guarantee that 3) will be... less than useful.

[Francismeunier]

Something bothers me still. Why did the father betray the mother? Could not hold his thing properly or what?

This does not make sense as to why someone would cheat on someone else....my parents never cheated so I have no idea why this would be happening. One thing is clear now, the person that loves you gives you strength is the classic cheese of so many been there done that deal. That's for sure.

[0utf0xZer0]

Originally Posted by Francismeunier

Something bothers me still. Why did the father betray the mother? Could not hold his thing properly or what?

This does not make sense as to why someone would cheat on someone else....my parents never cheated so I have no idea why this would be happening.

Generally people chalk this kind of thing up to "thinking with the wrong head", although that's probably oversimplifying things.

Akira and Kazuha's similar ages make me think his affair developed in parallel with his relationship with his wife, as opposed to the more stereotypical "I got bored after a while".

[Zexas]

Ep 4

Well I didn't expect that


Hmm interesting they goes with omnibus format eh? I got mixed feeling about it but I guess it's okay since I found the episode and the whole Kazuha arc itself really enjoyable.

And so we goes to Akira arc. Some aspect in Akira arc would gives viewer more insight on Kazuha arc. For example, more detail reason why Kazuha father wouldn't adopt Akira. Some route would enforce the other - I guess this might be one of the reason why the director choose this format.

Anyway Akira is my third favourite so I'm looking forward to this

[jeroz]

Originally Posted by Francismeunier

Something bothers me still. Why did the father betray the mother? Could not hold his thing properly or what?

He's a politician, what do you expect :P


Just curious, other than AT-X, what other stations is this show aired on?

[DragoZERO]

Whoa...a lot of posts inside of 12 hours.

Originally Posted by germanturkey

do it. i mean, we're already rewatching frontier...

I'm lucky I am able to re-watch Frontier and this season's new shows.

its amusing how people get freaked out about sex in anime. like, it happens in real life the same way. though yeah, through the zipper is never a pleasant experience.

Hahaha, and it's not like it's the first time it's been done, you'd think someone would have mentioned that.

Originally Posted by relentlessflame

No no. In every scene prior to the ending, she was always calling him "Kasugano-kun", but after the viola scene she calls him "Haruka". The "transition" from one name to the other occurred during the sex scene, which is the clue that the scene really happened (a flashback, not a fantasy). Also note that it is a direct follow-up to the kiss that occurs just prior to the viola scene, so the stage was already set.

That was what I was going to say. There's no meaning in that being a fantasy right before the end of the series, because the point is that they end up in a committed romantic relationship. What difference would it make if they "didn't" have sex yet, because they will eventually anyway. Still, it is Haruka's recollection of the scene, so perhaps his memory "glorified" certain aspects...

I think that it happened as well. It's not like they were in a special place and if it was his fantasy, there would probably be less talking and there would be no awkwardness either and god was it awkward. They really could have done it better but the only thing that is sticking out in my mind is her laying on the bed with her kimono open.

Originally Posted by Freya

@relentlessflame

You played the game?? o.o

He's played many...he's lucky.

[germanturkey]

Originally Posted by Francismeunier

I I off to listen to it in subs......yes I did see at first RAW and now shall see if it changes my aspect in subs.

all your past arguments and future arguments are invalidated by this statement. this is like watching Martin Luther King Jr. give his i have a dream speech without understanding english, then preaching that its about lowering taxes.

[johnishida]

This thread sure got a lot of pages since the last time I read it.

Anyway, I'm pleased with episode 4, the director is doing a great job with this series considering the limited time. Since Kazuha is my favorite character I'm glad she got her happy ending.

Next is Akira's route, looking forward to it!

[peco365]

Yosuganosora became famous in japan as erotic anime

Amazon ranking rose from No. 20 to No. 200

[Mairsile]

I can't say I'm really liking any of the girls thus far since there isn't anything about them that makes me interested. Hopefully we'll get a bit more character development with the rest of the episodes. Although I'm concerned that will take a back seat to the erotic nature of the series.

[Kaoru Chujo]

Originally Posted by jeroz

...Just curious, other than AT-X, what other stations is this show aired on?

After its Sunday showing on AT-X, it's also on Tokyo MX (Thursday) and BS11 Digital (Friday).

Originally Posted by peco365

Yosuganosora became famous in japan as erotic anime. Amazon ranking rose from No. 200 to No. 20

Thanks for pointing that out. That's of all DVDs. I checked and found that it is up to #4 among TV anime DVDs, after K-On 5 and Angel Beats 5 and 6. Exalted company. OreImo 1 is #6, and Hakuouki II - 1 is #13.

Originally Posted by Mairsile

Hopefully we'll get a bit more character development with the rest of the episodes. Although I'm concerned that will take a back seat to the erotic nature of the series.

A valid concern, but I think we are getting both. It all depends on whether they can continue using quick strokes and subtle indications to sketch in character as well as I think they have been doing so far.

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

A valid concern, but I think we are getting both. It all depends on whether they can continue using quick strokes and subtle indications to sketch in character as well as I think they have been doing so far.

Yes, I agree with you. After reading some comments on another forum about the supposed lack of proper build-up/development in this show, I spent a bit of time last night sketching out the sequence of events and the way the events are connected to each other in Kazuha's path. I found that, in fact, all the developments both in terms of the romantic and non-romantic plot (if you want to divide them that way) were carefully sequenced and actually included careful foreshadowing in nearly every case. Sometimes this is through use of music and imagery, but often it is through dialog and metaphor.

For example, some have said that Kazuha's romantic development came out of nowhere and had no merit or basis, but I think the show actually sets it out pretty clearly if you put the pieces together. You have to remember that Kazuha's love language is words of affirmation. As I pointed out when discussing episode 3, the proof in her mind of her father's poor treatment of Akira was that he had not praised her, and it's no surprise that this came back very dramatically at the end of episode 4 (we got a flashback to make sure people wouldn't miss it). Because of the misunderstanding re: Akira, Kazuha had distanced herself from her father, but was still looking for praise and affirmation from him. So what did Haruka do to endear himself to her? From the get-go, he praised and affirmed her. And not just "you're beautiful" or "you're smart" or some surface level thing, but he really understood her true self beneath her prideful and somewhat-forceful facade. He called her gentle. He called her caring. He recognized that she worried for others out of love. And the reason why he recognized those qualities in her was because that was something they shared in common (ref: Kazuha to Haruka at the beach and Akira to Sora at the end of episode 3, among others). He saw through her barriers and affirmed her worth despite her insecurities, and that was exactly what she needed. So her falling in love with him was natural: he filled the hole in her heart.

So there's a ton of subtlety and character development crammed into these episodes, but it's very densely packed, so you have to really pay attention to the details, metaphors, imagery, and dialog to pick up on the way that everything is connected. But as 0utf0xZer0 said, I think the rapid pacing makes it that much harder to pick up on this information and really internalize it, especially when we're all used to shows that really stretch romantic development out. Plus I think it's easy for people to get a bit distracted by the sensuality and fanservice, and so miss the carefully-constructed plot.

[0utf0xZer0]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

Thanks for pointing that out. That's of all DVDs. I checked and found that it is up to #4 among TV anime DVDs, after K-On 5 and Angel Beats 5 and 6. Exalted company. OreImo 1 is #6, and Hakuouki II - 1 is #13.

A valid concern, but I think we are getting both. It all depends on whether they can continue using quick strokes and subtle indications to sketch in character as well as I think they have been doing so far.

I personally think they'll keep the subtleties going. I'd be more concerned about whether the inevitable imitators do... I'm worried that other companies are going to see those sales as "omnibus format + sex scenes = profits". I'm all for more romance-drama eroge adaptations - quite a few of my favourites hail from such sources - but I'm not entirely sold on this omnibus thing yet.

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by 0utf0xZer0

I'm all for more romance-drama eroge adaptations - quite a few of my favourites hail from such sources - but I'm not entirely sold on this omnibus thing yet.

What's interesting about this (and you're not the first person I've seen say this) is that there's a definition difference here. In multi-path eroge, "romantic drama" means that the path to the ending is fraught with turmoil and conflict even if the chosen heroine is clear. But in anime, people generally think of "romantic drama" as suggesting that the chosen heroine isn't clear, and that the decision about who the protagonist will end up with is in question and part of the drama. And so people worry that if we switch to an omnibus format, that means the stories will be "lacking in drama".

If you asked me to classify this anime so far, I think I would still call it a "romantic drama" even given the structure (I mean, it's not a romantic comedy, and I'm not going to call it "slice of life"...). But the drama is more specific to the character and not part of a larger dramatic framework between the cast at large, so it is indeed different.

I guess all I'm saying is that may be we need more words to explain what we mean in this case.

[DragoZERO]

They also didn't label the arc by the heroines name or anything. No one knew for sure if it was omnibus until the end of last episode. I think it would be better if they don't tell you who the next girl is or anything. That would spice it up a bit.

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by DragoZERO

They also didn't label the arc by the heroines name or anything. No one knew for sure if it was omnibus until the end of last episode. I think it would be better if they don't tell you who the next girl is or anything. That would spice it up a bit.

Well... technically they did label the episodes, just that people didn't quite pick up on the hint. Episode 2 was "KA2", and episodes 3 & 4 were "K3" and "K4". Next episode will be "A3" and so on. So they sort of told us (it was in our face the whole time), but nobody started picking up on it until the end of episode 3. It'd be pretty hard not to figure out pretty quickly which heroine's path we're following with this style, though (shared episodes notwithstanding).

[DragoZERO]

Originally Posted by relentlessflame

Well... technically they did label the episodes, just that people didn't quite pick up on the hint. Episode 2 was "KA2", and episodes 3 & 4 were "K3" and "K4". Next episode will be "A3" and so on. So they sort of told us (it was in our face the whole time), but nobody started picking up on it until the end of episode 3. It'd be pretty hard not to figure out pretty quickly which heroine's path we're following with this style, though (shared episodes notwithstanding).

Wha? Where did they do that? That's awfully sneaky of them.

I still think not telling us who the arc is centered around would be a nice spice.

[vaden]

Originally Posted by DragoZERO

Wha? Where did they do that? That's awfully sneaky of them.

The episode numbers were on the title cards after the opening credits, though they weren't always obvious: episode 2 hides "AK2" away in the subject line of the phone screen, episode 3 has "K3" on a sign in the back, and episode 4 puts "K4" atop the title hidden in the leaf shadows.

[Ashaman]

That is sneaky.

What/where is the one for episode 1?

I imagine it will be AKNS1 or something.