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View Poll Results: Critique of Episode 03 | |||
10 out of 10: Near Perfect... | 49 | 22.17% | |
9 out of 10: Excellent... | 39 | 17.65% | |
8 out of 10: Very Good... | 52 | 23.53% | |
7 out of 10: Good... | 46 | 20.81% | |
6 out of 10: Average... | 18 | 8.14% | |
5 out of 10: Below Average... | 6 | 2.71% | |
4 out of 10: Poor... | 6 | 2.71% | |
3 out of 10: Bad... | 0 | 0% | |
2 out of 10: Very Bad... | 0 | 0% | |
1 out of 10: Torturous... | 5 | 2.26% | |
Voters: 221. You may not vote on this poll |
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2012-07-22, 12:11 | Link #261 | ||||
I disagree with you all.
Join Date: Dec 2005
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Spoiler for Novel RNR, how they resolved it:
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2012-07-22, 12:12 | Link #262 |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2004
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Well, I liked the episode, but I agree with the flaws many of you pointed out. I mean, me neither got attached to Kirito's first guild, but Sachi. I was sad for her, she was cute and everything, plus I'm a bit of a sucker for this kind of settings, cute girl needs help and comfort.
Anyways I'm a bit biased because the show remind me when I played MMO so I'm enjoying this feeling even if I didn't get attached to the characters, but Kirito. Even Kline is a no one for me so far. I'm still wondering why they are so attached to each other. But probably that's depend by the fact that I'm not getting how much time he really spent with the other players. But all in all this episode worked for me, I mean, it was clear from the start that something would have gone wrong. Hiding his true level was the key, even if I understand his will to help and be useful Even if I don't understand how they even could have a party together with all that difference in levels. But, letting that aside, it was clear even that Kirito's words to comfort Sachi and his behavior were meant to give her confidence, sense of safety, and let her live her last few days/months better than hiding and being always afraid of dying. She knew/understood that, but not Kirito himself. I really liked when she decided to sleep in the same bed with him and he agreed it without any sort of misundestandings or whatever. That scene was the exemplification of that feeling. Surely I'm waiting for the main story to start, which I hope would not be episodic as these last two episodes.
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2012-07-22, 12:28 | Link #263 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2011
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As I haven't been checking many anime these days, I don't even know there was a hype at first place. I only marathon the novel 2 days after watching ep 1. Still I felt disappointed, at least on this ep., so I don't think the hype affected people that much. |
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2012-07-22, 12:31 | Link #264 | |
Administrator
Join Date: Dec 2003
Age: 41
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After reading the opinions in this thread, I'm reminded of one of the main reasons I often prefer to watch shows in small batches rather than week-to-week (and one of the reasons I'm often frustrated by episode threads). I think that if you look too deeply at any one piece of the puzzle, it's easy to spot flaws and to over-think how important this-or-that aspect was about that episode. But as the story comes together on the whole, I think we will see how this small piece of the puzzle fits into the overall narrative. And in that light, I think it's better to take a bit of a "big picture" view, even for those of us who haven't read the novels and don't yet see what the full picture is. If nothing else, it's easy to understand how this chapter of Kirito's game experience will be foundational to whatever comes next, so I think that's how we can take it if nothing else. To that end, whether this episode itself is rushed or whatever else is I guess good for academic discussion and critique, but I think the whole is often greater than the sum of its parts.
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2012-07-22, 12:36 | Link #265 |
You're Hot, Cupcake
Join Date: Aug 2008
Age: 42
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It was a slightly above average episode indeed. I don't recall praising it. I merely said that the amount of criticism in general seemed excessive. Frankly I'd rather a short part of the overall story which wasn't that important was compressed accordingly and that enough time is left to focus on the core material and do that right. This was a bridging episode that was quite accruately adapted - it wasn't meant to set the world on fire. It didn't in the novels. Asuna will be back with major plot points and a character cast that will make Kirito more to one's liking - people just need to be patient.
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2012-07-22, 12:43 | Link #266 | |
Banned
Join Date: Feb 2006
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2012-07-22, 12:51 | Link #267 |
Truth Martyr
Author
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Doing Anzu's paperwork.
Age: 38
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Like Nighty said, the anime is simultaneously trying to execute "show, don't tell" while at the same time trying to adapt what can be adapted and cut out what can be cut.
...it doesn't seem to be perfect. On the other hand this isn't a perfect world, and while it doesn't have the same tearjerker feel that novel RNR had, I think this was still a good episode, and the best effort from the studio. Hearstrings tugged, even if I didn't cry. Then again, after one's gone through an emotional roller coaster IRL and been repeatedly exposed to Chihaya's song, the tear ducts are pretty much dried up.
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2012-07-22, 14:00 | Link #268 |
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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People keep trying to pin the complaints on Light novel readers complaining about pieces missing. Anime Only viewers like me are greatly disappointed too.
I think the real problem is that the adaptation hasn't done enough adaptation to make this story fit in the new medium.
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2012-07-22, 14:19 | Link #269 | |
阿賀野型3番艦、矢矧 Lv180
Graphic Designer
Moderator Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Belgium, Brussels
Age: 37
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Really, it isn't the content that is lacking, but more like how it was delivered: adding transitions and filling the gap between the scenes don't mean you are changing the content but adapting it so the flow make it less jarring. Adaptation is always a hard task as the anime should be self sufficient, which is often a problem when content must be cut, but also occurs when the adaptation stays "too truthful" to the original story, to the point the format is really not the best for it (series like Tales of the Abyss got that kind of syndrome). It is all about what you want to show and -how- you do that. And in this specific episode, while they wanted to show Kirito's plight, that was the only concern in there, so the rest has much left to be desired.
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2012-07-22, 14:40 | Link #270 |
Meh
Join Date: Feb 2008
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A humorous bit I saw elsewhere
Animators: “We’re animating SAO!” Fans: “YES! Gonna be awesome!” Animators: “We had to cut/change a few minor things from the source material because of time/budget constraints.” Fans: “WTF! Noooo!! Stay true to the source material!” Animators: “OK, we stayed true to the source material.” Fans: “Eh. Not long enough.” Animators: “But.. there isn’t enough material from the LN Short story.” Fans: “Your supposed to fix it!” Animators: “Ok, We added some more source material.” Fans: “WTF is this filler crap!?” Animators: (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻ FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU |
2012-07-22, 14:40 | Link #271 |
Me, An Intellectual
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: UK
Age: 33
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This was a really good episode but it would've been so much better if it were expanded more. Really one extra episode would've probably been enough to make it near perfect. Such a shame. It was still enjoyable nonetheless. The death flags were all over that girl and yet I still found her final message heartbreaking. If nothing else the anime is really doing a good job of showing how much it's breaking Kirito up inside.
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2012-07-22, 14:48 | Link #272 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2006
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Title of the next episode "The Black Swordsman". I hope its the main storyline and not the side story one.. there are only 2 more side stories to go though. A lot of the complaints for episodes 2 and 3 are stemming from them rushing the side stories into a single episode.
This episode was solid, but not great due to the rushing.. at least its not the abomination that is Campione! where they made an entire volume into 1 episode!! |
2012-07-22, 14:58 | Link #273 | |
I disagree with you all.
Join Date: Dec 2005
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2012-07-22, 15:09 | Link #274 | |
Quietly Lurking
Graphic Designer
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Beneath the prodigious sky...
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And your argument brings up another point: the anime hasn't shown enough of Kirito for me to relate to him and thus make me care about how he is affected. Perhaps we just have different styles of watching anime, but I like to immerse myself into the protagonists and SAO hasn't done that so far. It's only been 3 episodes, I know, which is why I believe RNR should've been adapted later.
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2012-07-22, 15:20 | Link #275 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Moscow, RU
Age: 35
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2012-07-22, 15:23 | Link #276 |
Enjoying Snack Time!
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Putting in characters that are destined to die alongside a sympathetic character (ie Sachi), who bonded with the main character to an extent. Isn't that supposed to create development in Kirito's character so that it'll motivate him to put an end to everything. I mean, as a reader of the novels, it did seemed rushed, but to me it seemed that Kirito's short relationship with Sachi was generally the main focus of this episode, and we've seen development on his part when he ran off to get a "Phoenix Down" like item, and for the fact that he cried because of his inability of keeping his promise to protect her. The episode was great overall because I felt for Sachi and Kirito showed sides of him actually working with others and sympathizing with others, to an extent, but that's just me.
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2012-07-22, 15:56 | Link #278 | |
Not an expert on things
Join Date: Jun 2007
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I'm still optimistic about it. There's so much potential and they're doing so many things well, or at least competently, that I really want to hope that they're pushing us through this so they can surprise us with the main content later. That being said, I might be able to hold more patience with them because I didn't dislike the episodes as much as some people have been saying they have . |
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2012-07-22, 16:04 | Link #279 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2012
Age: 31
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2012-07-22, 17:13 | Link #280 |
Guess what time it is?
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada
Age: 38
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I'm going to stay generally positive here and presume that the purpose of this episode was to help define who Kirito is and what he's up against emotionally. The focus is entirely on him, and I suspect this incident will shape him in the coming episodes. In that, I thought it was a big success. The time skips made me "Uhhh..." but now I'm getting the impression that the bulk of the story is what takes place on the upper levels among those who make it that far. So in that context, it makes a bit more sense.
Having said that, and at the risk of sounding heartless, if (and only if) the tale of Whats-her-name and the Knights of I-can't-remember-and-now-there's-no-point-in-looking-it-up was supposed to be a tragic self-contained story with characters whose absence will be felt... well, maybe they shouldn't have died seven minutes after I found out they even existed. Again, assuming the purpose is to give insight into how Kirito becomes what he's going to be for the rest of the series, I'm cool with them taking an episode to cover this material, which I understand was a side-story to begin with. |
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