2010-01-26, 00:35 | Link #1921 |
Final Elysium
Join Date: Jun 2008
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I knew that line was going to spark something when I read it. The reactions to it are already amusing.
Woot, called Zenkichi's naivety right. I knew that Munakata was just playing possum. No one in the 13 party has gone down with just one hit and Munakata is a lying bastard who has shown he doesn't fight fair. He primarily just wants to kill people, not fight it out like some of the others we have seen. No surprise Medaka picked up on it when everyone else thought he was done though. Next chapter should be interesting to see. |
2010-01-26, 01:06 | Link #1922 | |
Lets be reality
Join Date: May 2007
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And speaking of Zaregoto... stuopidget... aikawa may have only been in the epilogue.. but what an impression. Last edited by Westlo; 2010-01-26 at 04:18. |
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2010-01-26, 02:59 | Link #1923 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2009
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Spoiler for 35:
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2010-01-26, 04:26 | Link #1924 | |
Lets be reality
Join Date: May 2007
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Anyway it was a good book, a bit slow in the first third but I expected that since it was a closed room mystery novel and it needed to build up, the first Umineko VN was similar in that regard. Some nice twists and turns throughout, and yeah I knocked it over fairly quickly, I don't mess around with books... last wheel of time novel that came out I read the Rand chapters (about 60% the novel) out of place the day I bought it after I was like "I don't care what happens to you atm Egwene! Wondering how a Zaregoto anime would work... if it was tv first few episodes would be hard to take for a lot of people who need hooks. I assume the rest of Zaregoto takes a different approach to things compared to the first volume? Obviously isn't going to be a Umineko and repeat the closed room theme over and over. I'm eagerly awaiting the second novel, releases this June I believe. As for the I-chan and Tomo being similar to Zen and Medaka, well with the way Haesslich worded how he saw it I couldn't help but notice the similarities, especially with Zaregoto being so fresh. Wouldn't surprise me at all if he recycles the "I want to be chosen, not just loved" issue with Zen and Medaka. And because it needs to be said again, Aikawa can make an awesome first impression! Last edited by Westlo; 2010-01-26 at 04:36. |
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2010-01-26, 05:29 | Link #1925 | ||
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2009
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Among all Nisio's cast, the strongest with a doubt all belong to the Zaregoto series. With that said, I've always wonder if Medaka will eventually able to get strong enough to last a couple minutes against Aikawa. For the same reason, I can never ever see Medaka as DEM because she is just so much weaker than Aikawa (who can probably even kill vampire Shinobu from Bakemonogatari). What's even more beautiful is that at such a ridiculous level she's not a Mary Sue because of how the world is set up. To be honest, even in Medaka's world, she still gets trashed pretty badly and need power-ups. Hail the Queen! |
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2010-01-26, 23:07 | Link #1926 | |
Go to DMC! Go to DMC!
Join Date: May 2008
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And I read the early chapters more for her fanservice than anything else to start, especially after her perfection started to get grating in Chapter 2 or 3. The 'hated by animals' flaw was a step towards making her less of a 'Mary Sue' and more of a character, as it showed a non-perfect side which was both relatable and not-annoying. The Swim Meet was another time when she got to show off both her strengths AND weaknesses, which made her less grating than she could be.. especially since one of Haruhi's main problems as a character is that EVERYTHING goes her way, the way she wants it, and it means that her jerkass behaviour is self-reinforcing since it always works. I had the same issues with Medaka early on - her perfection and the way she made her beliefs work on others was... well, once is fine. Every time, on the other hand, is annoying, especially in situations where the other character has an equally strong opinion which is completely opposite of Kurokami's position, only to relent and go along with her motivations (see the Kendo Club). Thus it was kinda refreshing to see characters who refused to go along with her ideas (such as that idiot Unzen, and the rest of the 13 class), and who refuse to bow down to her ideals. Also, I'd argue against Zenkichi being a more proactive Kyon - yes, he could express the irritation of the audience when Medaka was being perfect, but at the same time he himself was a bit too abnormal to be 'normal' and totally relatable. Kyon goes along with things because he knows that, if he doesn't, Haruhi will be totally unmanageable and thus prone to doing something stupid that'll wreck reality - Zenkichi goes along with Medaka because, while he acknowledges the ridiculousness of the situation, he believes she's right in what she thinks and is there more for color commentary and to provide exposition than to be a character to relate to. Now, the battle scenes I could definitely do without, but the conflict between characters is providing a bit more 'story' than the series previously had in its one-shot situations where Medaka solved the problem immediately and without flaw. Westlo: It's very human to not believe something deep-down even if your mind acknowledges the possibility. The fact that Medaka really IS as perfect as she appears only makes the gap between him and her worse - yes, she's always been around him since childhood, but that inferiority complex is to some degree justified since he really CAN'T quite match up to her in terms of intellectual talents or physical abilities. What he does do, unlike a lot of 'anime loser lead' males is try damned hard, and then not immediately give up or forget the progress he's made after it's shown he can at least approach her talents/skills/etc. Especially with Medaka's standards for what human beings are like/can be being so high. |
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2010-01-27, 02:50 | Link #1927 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2007
Age: 35
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To expand on that, though, neither Medaka or Haruhi are really perfect characters. Let's talk about a recent example from Haruhi first: throughout the early stages of the series, she's a pretty self-centered bitch. In the second book/season of the series, about the making of their movie for the school festival, after getting Mikuru dumped into a pond, Haruhi proceeds to get her drunk with spiked juice and then tries to make Koizumi kiss her. When Kyon gets angry at her and stops her, she justifies it with "Mikuru's my toy". Not 'perfection' by any definition (although...I still can't quite decide who was more of a tool in that situation. Opposing Haruhi is fine, but trying to punch her? For the sake of some silly crush on Mikuru?). However, contrary to the ideas being stated above, this flaw of Haruhi's made her less likeable to me, rather than allowing me to relate to her self-centeredness. And in fact, throughout the rest of the series and in those parts in the beginning when she isn't throwing tantrums about not getting her way (e.g., when she is having fun like a normal girl or when she is expressing her sense of smallness and insignificance in the face of a sea of dull humanity), I generally find her pretty likeable. As for Medaka; this is a pretty random time for me to be bringing this up, but I heavily disliked that chapter about the dog, and it was one of the things that contributed to my initial distaste for this series. In the first place that dog suit was ugly/freaky as hell, but beyond that the fact that one of the first actual character traits Medaka is given is that she loves animals (lame), and is sad they don't get along with her (even lamer), just leaves a bad impression. This supposed flaw (actually though, wouldn't 'loving animals' supposedly be a sympathetic, relatable, positive/'perfect' trait?) just made her seem pathetic to me (well the repulsive suit I mean, and it didn't even work), and her generic motivation never grabbed me either. So Medaka's other character trait (wanting to 'help people'), and the similar impossibility and pointlessness of the two, combined to make me see Medaka as an extremely generic and shallow character (perhaps, I might point out, precisely because of how mundanely relatable those two motivations/flaws were--yes, btw, I think I will call 'loving animals' and 'wanting to help others' flaws lol :P). However, what made Medaka eventually become more interesting for me was precisely the force and disregard for other people's opinions which she revealed (among other things later on, namely her backstory and the developing plot). The fact that Medaka is capable, and furthermore recognizes (on whatever level) her own capability and therefore tends to disregard the useless sentiments/contributions of other parties around her, and furthermore recognizes that she is not always correct and therefore desires to gain the help of other people who oppose her but furthermore are capable of backing that up, is all very proper and (indeed) likeable for me. So in the end, despite her introductory vapid declaration of existing only to 'help people', the correctness (or maybe 'perfection' ) of these aspects of Medaka's personality do make her at least somewhat relatable to me, and I find her a generally likeable character. On the other hand, Medaka's delusional insistence that she is a 'normal person', and her occasional desire to 'help' others when it would disrupt positive personal growth, are flaws, and they are things I dislike about her character. So to sum it all up, I think flaws are exclusively negative in terms of whether or not a character is likeable--although they might make a character more relatable, that is only for the negative part of a character, which isn't particularly diserable anyway. I think the only challenge 'perfect' characters present for an audience is with regards to suspension of disbelief, not likeability--likeability should generally be based on the compatibility of the character's positive aspects with the viewer. Unless you hate life/humanity/the world or are extremely selfish or something, I'd say generally, flaws remain negative, and perfection remains positive. |
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2010-01-27, 16:07 | Link #1928 | |
The Shermain
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: NY
Age: 44
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Though, I can see where you are coming from, I think it's more the type of flaw that's an issue. For example, in Haruhi's example there, her flaw was that she was a b*tchy, arrogant, controlling person who was using someone. It's not a flaw that inspires sympathy, but instead anger in a person. People don't like characters like that as unless you're that type of person, which I think is rare, as they aren't endearing qualities. Now, if instead, she felt insecure or scared, that's also a flaw and it's one most people can relate to better, because they've been there, and it's not a flaw that makes her act like a complete asshat to people because she doesn't go around harming other people with it. I personally can't stand perfection because it's not only an impossibility, but because it's just something I can't relate to and would never want to. I don't care if someone is better than me at something, but someone who is perfect? It's just something I can't imagine. Everything we know is flawed, so I'd rather have something I'm familiar with. Oh, and I have no problems with life, humanity or the world. I'm just realistic and prefer my people to be a bit more real. I found the whole dog suit thing, while funny, to be a very shallow flaw as well. Of course, for much of the beginning part of the manga, it was very shallow. None of the characters had much going for them development wise as the focus was so much on Medaka's abilities instead of character growth or relationship development. That was one of my biggest issues with the manga, though the last few chapters have gotten a bit better. As for Medaka's personality-- I actually dislike that more than I do her God Mode Sueness. While she loves all of humanity, it's also something that's very hard for me to swallow, given her attitude-- she's arrogant (or overly self-confident), dominating, tyrannical, petty at times and hypocritical (two of those, she freely admits), so her loving everyone feels like a load of bull to me. Her personality doesn't really match up with her philosophy, if you get what I'm saying. While I admire her for trying to get better, the way she goes about things makes me dislike her as a character. As Shiranui said best-- she dominates people around her and makes them follow her. She doesn't believe she's right, so she instead forces other people to believe that, perhaps to alleviate her own fears, which makes her kind of selfish as well. It's why I liked Unzen, though-- he was finally a character who wouldn't fall for her shtick and stuck with his own philosophy. While I don't agree with world outlook, I do commend him for not bowing down before Medaka like everyone else has. It's also one of the reasons Zen has grated on me. He KNOWS Medaka is wrong about a lot of stuff, yet he still feeds her need for reassurance, so she never takes his rebukes seriously (like with the stripping thing). Something I've noticed, in contrast to Haruhi (which I've never read, but always hear about), is how they both live in an abnormal world, but Haruhi WANTS to see all the supernatural things going on, but while everyone else is fixing her messes, she's completely unaware of what's going on. Medaka on the other hand, has a world of abnormal people presented right before her and she herself is abnormal (and even told so), but unlike Haruhi, she's trying not to see it or she sees it and refuses to believe it. It might not have much to do with anything, but it's interesting to see how both author's take the God Mode Sue trope, stick them in unbelievable worlds and then have them get screwed over by being the biggest abnormal thing there is. Haruhi wants to see the supernatural, but she can't. Medaka wants to be seen as normal, but she can't. I'm still wondering is Zenkichi has anything to do with her refusal to accept herself as abnormal. Maybe she realizes that he's completely insecure, so she's trying to portray herself as normal so that wall won't be in their relationship, especially if she reciprocates his feelings.
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2010-01-28, 10:54 | Link #1929 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2009
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Raw is out:
http://freakshare.net/files/k5lsbg2x/Medaka36.zip.html The Chairman fails at analyzing students. Spoiler for spoiler:
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2010-01-28, 12:24 | Link #1931 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2009
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2010-01-28, 12:41 | Link #1932 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Far, far, far away!
Age: 34
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Wow... looking at the raw this looks awesome. Damn Medaka is so cute in this chapter...
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Spoiler for Chapter 36:
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2010-01-28, 14:08 | Link #1935 |
Member
Join Date: Mar 2009
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Spoiler for New Chapter:
KLGChaos, I don't think Medaka is truly arrogant or confident. She's full of doubts because she honestly believes that's she's a normal person and doesn't believe that her abilities make her better than anybody else, which is a sign of humility. She has no sinister arterial motive. She just believes in using her abilities to help people make the best of themselves, like any other right-thinking person. She doesn't want to control them so much as help them down the right path. The problem is that she's so smart that she's above reasoning with most people on their level, but is humble enough not to realize it. However, she realizes on a level that she can't relate to other people, which is why she needs the other student council members. Unzen was a foil to Medaka in this regard. He was everything Medaka wasn't: A pessimist who desired to control people because he thought the worst of them, and that his abilities entitled him to boss them around. That's why he didn't understand Medaka and accused her of being disingenuous, their philosophies were so fundamentality different that he didn't know what to make of her, so he projected his own insecurities onto her. It's the same reason Medaka offered him the position of vice president - they didn't understand each other. |
2010-01-28, 15:09 | Link #1936 |
The Shermain
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: NY
Age: 44
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Getting the chapter now... my only problem with freakshare is waiting like 3 min before you can download. >< Will edit with opinions after I scan them, though from the spoilers, it might be a good chapter.
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Last edited by KLGChaos; 2010-01-28 at 15:21. |
2010-01-28, 20:31 | Link #1938 |
Member
Join Date: Mar 2009
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Fair enough. Sorry If I misread. I actually think she likes everybody the same, but for different reasons. She's never actually tried to hide the fact that she likes Zen. It would be interesting to see what happens if Akune or Swimgirl get hurt. They need to stop standing around.
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2010-01-28, 22:50 | Link #1940 |
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Join Date: Jan 2008
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I read this one last night in one-go, just because I need more works of Nishio Ishin
lol @ how he have to change this manga into more of a battle manga, sorry for him he chosed jump. the title is not even correct now, it should be Medaka the Mighty or something like that. last chapter, is not bad though, because of that cute crying Medaka |
Tags |
action, comedy, harem, nishio, romance, shounen, student council |
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