Valkyria Chronicles generic discussion

[Chrono Helix]

The thing I find really strange about the anime roster is the disproportionate number of snipers they have.

[5cm.per.second]

Well you have 4 snipers. If you lose more than that, you're in trouble lol, but since they hang out way in back, they're mostly safe.

[fulingyu]

Quote:
Originally Posted by kalbron View Post
I think I'm going to take the advice I saw on another forum and regard the anime as an alternative universe version of VC. At least then I can take comfort in the false belief that this train wreck in slow motion isn't really honestly attempting to be a re-telling of the game's plot.
That's the approach everyone here advised as well. I myself hope that they really will treat this as an AU and move away from the plot in the game. Like I said earlier, I'm not interested in Valkyria Chronicles animate 1:1. I'd play the game if I wanted to see the story again.

Actually, this is the way that the vast majority of anime adaptions should be viewed as - an ALTERNATE universe. Very few anime shows will follow exactly their "original source" material - whether it be a manga, light novel, game, or whatever.

And as Keroko pointed out, why would you want it exactly the same? You could just replay the game. While it is nice to see an animated version of VC or any other story, It would be impossible to please everyone.

You see each person has their own feelings and images developed from the game. We like certain characters and events over others. We develop our own personal "attachments" to different parts of the story.

The creators and storyboard writers for the anime had to make certain choices to tell this story. We may not agree with parts of it, but this is THEIR version of the story.

We may not agree with their choice of seiyu because in our own minds we have an image or idea of what the characters should sound like to us. But the staff chose the actors/actresses that THEY felt best portrayed the story. We may not like that they left out a certain scene because to us it was important to the story. However, it might not have been as important to the staff writers. Or, they may have changed it somewhat to better convey the meaning behind the scene. Perhaps even the order of some events has been reshuffled to add to the story at a later time. Maybe we'll see flashbacks to fill in the gaps. As long as they keep to the "essence" of the story, I'll be content.

I've seen on too many forums and threads of someone complaining that the anime "version" doesn't follow the manga or some things were changed and that it was totally ruined for them. I myself have felt disappointed when an anime didn't follow my ideas of what should have happened. But those were MY ideas and expectations and not necessarily what the producers, directors, writers, etc. wanted to convey.

When I focused more on that this was the anime VERSION of the story, I could more easily accept changes. As long as there weren't major changes that changed the story completely (and there have been some anime that unfortunately did this travesty), I could enjoy the anime on it's own merits. I might not agree with the choice of seiyuu, but if they do a good job (and I think most of them do), I can accept them. I might miss seeing some of my favorite scenes being animated, but then again, this is THEIR story.

We are only being invited along to watch and enjoy the show. So yeah, it's an alternate universe of a game that we like. We might not agree with how their story plays out, but then that's what a discussion forum is for - to share and add our own views, feelings, and emotions to their story.

[Runty]

@fulingyu: couldn't have put it better myself. But I can add something to it.

"There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so." - William Shakespeare

[Shiroth]

Originally Posted by kujoe

In the game, he's a very funny and charming character. With the game having a large character roster, his personality set him apart as one of the more memorable ones.

Yeah this is true. His dialogue is so much fun, it's a shame we don't get more mission's like Edy's Detachment in the game.

Speaking of Edy's Detachment, if they animated that part. Oh boy that would be good, though i really can't see them doing it.

[kalbron]

Personally I look at it this way fulingyu:

The best adaptations are the ones that tend to remain fairly closely to their source material, while only changing things neccessary to make them work with that particular medium.

Pretty much 90%+ of video game movies are horrible because they utterly ignore the source material for their own wild tangents. Some even additionally suck on the basis of how they were filmed. Whereas you occasionally end up with movies like Tomb Raider that are horrible because, while they're completely and utterly faithful to the games, they forgot about changing things to work better with their new medium.

Batman Begins/The Dark Knight and the Lord of the Rings movies are what I would term the best sort of adaptation. Very faithful to the source material, while primarily only changing the parts/flow of the story that wouldn't work on the big screen. The end result winds up being awesome.

As far as my opinion of the VC anime goes so far, they're failing miserably in both categories. I expect the next episode will either cement or radically change my view however, given that it's anime-original (*shudder*, but FMA at least proved it is possible for wild divergences to be good... Edit: That is, before they brought in the Nazis after the series ended. >_<).

[spawnofthejudge]

Originally Posted by Shiroth

Yeah this is true. His dialogue is so much fun, it's a shame we don't get more mission's like Edy's Detachment in the game.

Speaking of Edy's Detachment, if they animated that part. Oh boy that would be good, though i really can't see them doing it.

Why not? They have established most (maybe even all) of the detachment as part of Squad Seven. Are you worried about time constraints?

[JagdPanther]

Ugh. I hope Doremi didn't drop this already. LOL (It's only been a few days, I know). My loyalty to the original subs I watch sometimes makes it hard to keep up with others.

[kujoe]

Originally Posted by kalbron

Personally I look at it this way fulingyu:

The best adaptations are the ones that tend to remain fairly closely to their source material, while only changing things neccessary to make them work with that particular medium.

Pretty much 90%+ of video game movies are horrible because they utterly ignore the source material for their own wild tangents. Some even additionally suck on the basis of how they were filmed. Whereas you occasionally end up with movies like Tomb Raider that are horrible because, while they're completely and utterly faithful to the games, they forgot about changing things to work better with their new medium.

Batman Begins/The Dark Knight and the Lord of the Rings movies are what I would term the best sort of adaptation. Very faithful to the source material, while primarily only changing the parts/flow of the story that wouldn't work on the big screen. The end result winds up being awesome.

This is my view on adaptations vs. original material as well. Book to movie, manga to anime, game to anime, whatever.

First of all, the adaptation would be catering to its primary and first audience: the people who enjoyed the original work. Without these fans, the original work wouldn't have received a good enough response to deserve an adaptation in a another medium.

The adaptation of course, will now be open to a wider group of people so changes are indeed necessary sometimes. However, it's important to realize that there's a reason why the original garnered a following in the first place. Changing too much of the source material ultimately ignores the expectations of your core and main fanbase, which pretty much explains most (if not all) of the video game movies to this day.

I say stay close to the original work and don't drastically change its main parts and elements. Significantly changing the plot and destroying character personalities are what I consider as big no-no's in my book. At the same time, one also has to be open to changes that have to be done in order to make the adaptation work or become even better compared to the original.

While there's a balancing act that's involved, personally I see it as the scale being heavier on one side without it ever touching the ground. In other words, I tend to prefer works that follow and stay true to the spirit of the original work most of the time. I guess I'm just a bit of a purist when it comes to these things.


As for the anime version of VC, I haven't seen anything that significantly alters the core portrayal of the game as of yet. I just wish that there would be more emphasis on battles and more focus on some of the supporting members of the cast. The addition of a love triangle isn't that much of an issue, though we haven't really seen this in the anime yet so the jury is still out on this one. But if the anime does change actual, significant plot segments that should be present in the first place, then maybe yes, I would complain a bit. (Gamers probably know what plot points I'm talking about...)

I guess what I'm trying to say is that the anime should try to adapt the original game as much as possible, but also that it should be good as an anime.

[xris]

Valkyria Chronicles now has its own forum. Please continue the anime discussion in the appropriate Valkyria Chronicles Episode Discussion threads and only use this this thread for more generic discussion.

[MrTerrorist]

Thank you xris!

[Keroko]

Originally Posted by kalbron

Batman Begins/The Dark Knight and the Lord of the Rings movies are what I would term the best sort of adaptation. Very faithful to the source material, while primarily only changing the parts/flow of the story that wouldn't work on the big screen. The end result winds up being awesome.

The advantage that these examples had was that they were working of comic books, not something that by all accounts is practically an anime of its own.

How close should Valkyria Chronicles remain to its source material? What should they change? Lord of the Rings had an advantage of bringing a book to life, they already drew the interest by the sheer virtue of bringing a world to life that nobody had seen before except with their own minds' eye.

Valkyria Chronicles, on the other hand, already is an anime in game form. You could cut and paste the cutscenes together, add a little bit of the battles, and you'd have an anime ready to go. If no changes are implemented to the storyline, what possible motivation should a viewer have to watch any of this? Or reversibly, what possible motivation would a person watching the anime have to play the game? Both will already know exactly what is going to happen.

My complaint is the reverse of yours. Not that they changed too much, but that they changed too little. Twists in personality does not equal a change of plot, and so I find myself hoping they'll throw a bomb at us and change the plot in a spectacular way.

Of course, I'm also hoping they'll do it good.

[serenade_beta]

Originally Posted by xris

Valkyria Chronicles now has its own forum. Please continue the anime discussion in the appropriate Valkyria Chronicles Episode Discussion threads and only use this this thread for more generic discussion.

Ehhhhhhhh~~~~`~~~~...

[spawnofthejudge]

Originally Posted by Keroko

My complaint is the reverse of yours. Not that they changed too much, but that they changed too little. Twists in personality does not equal a change of plot, and so I find myself hoping they'll throw a bomb at us and change the plot in a spectacular way.

Of course, I'm also hoping they'll do it good.

I want a twist on what you said... I want to see different aspects of the plot. I don't need them to change it for me to stay interested... but I also don't want them to just show me what I already played (and, arguably, earned). I want to see different aspects of the characters, things you can't see during battles because of fog of war... I want to see the other side of things. The DLC is a good example of learning more about Selvaria... but I want more on the other generals, and what makes them tick.

And I am obsessed with the elipsis. I apologize.

[Bonta Kun]

Originally Posted by Keroko

The advantage that these examples had was that they were working of comic books, not something that by all accounts is practically an anime of its own.

How close should Valkyria Chronicles remain to its source material? What should they change? Lord of the Rings had an advantage of bringing a book to life, they already drew the interest by the sheer virtue of bringing a world to life that nobody had seen before except with their own minds' eye.

Valkyria Chronicles, on the other hand, already is an anime in game form. You could cut and paste the cutscenes together, add a little bit of the battles, and you'd have an anime ready to go. If no changes are implemented to the storyline, what possible motivation should a viewer have to watch any of this? Or reversibly, what possible motivation would a person watching the anime have to play the game? Both will already know exactly what is going to happen.

My complaint is the reverse of yours. Not that they changed too much, but that they changed too little. Twists in personality does not equal a change of plot, and so I find myself hoping they'll throw a bomb at us and change the plot in a spectacular way.

Of course, I'm also hoping they'll do it good.

I'm with you on this, no point sitting through it all again might as well play the game again

So far the anime is done very well and I think keeps with the VC verse well enough. Small changes here and there are welcome as well as any plot twist thrown in but like you say hoping its all done well

[typhonsentra]

Wow cool, didn't expect this show to get it's own board.

[kujoe]

I'm not that surprised.

There are VC threads in the manga and game section as well. The post activity within the anime, game and manga threads would've eventually become big enough that VC getting its own sub-forums was bound to happen.

[kujoe]

Originally Posted by Keroko

Valkyria Chronicles, on the other hand, already is an anime in game form. You could cut and paste the cutscenes together, add a little bit of the battles, and you'd have an anime ready to go. If no changes are implemented to the storyline, what possible motivation should a viewer have to watch any of this? Or reversibly, what possible motivation would a person watching the anime have to play the game? Both will already know exactly what is going to happen.

My complaint is the reverse of yours. Not that they changed too much, but that they changed too little. Twists in personality does not equal a change of plot, and so I find myself hoping they'll throw a bomb at us and change the plot in a spectacular way.

Of course, I'm also hoping they'll do it good.

If it were only that simple. Cutting and pasting isn't really the same as changing things entirely. There lies a bigger risk in significantly changing things. Instead, the anime should strive to portray what the story is all about faithfully, and at the same time, in a way that is different from the game. Adaptations don't have to be 1:1 copies of the original, and indeed such things are actually very rare.

I welcome interesting additions and changes, but my experience with adaptations messing too much with their respective original isn't really that good. A certain amount of imagination and restraint is required in adapting things to another medium. I don't agree with kalbron's criticisms on the anime, but his is a view I can relate with.

[Keroko]

I realize that cutting and pasting and changing are far from the same, and that is exactly my point.

If this is going to be a 1:1 adaptation, I ask again: As someone who has played the game, what possible motivation do I have to watch much less purchase this anime? Or imagine if I was someone who has not played the game, what possible motivation would I have to purchase the game after I have watched the anime?

[kujoe]

And so, I'm not so sure of what you're trying to say.

Like I said, there are little to none 1:1 adaptations. In fact, adapting to another medium is in itself a very significant change from the source material. I don't think anyone is really complaining about that.

But are you also saying that the anime should be free to change anything?