[Arabesque]

Woah, friend zoned 0_o

Boy do I feel bad for Rihoko. the really weird part about this episode (actually, this arc) is that it feels like a side story to a background character that doesn't actually lead to anywhere.

Nice start for the arc, but very underwhelming afterwards.

Originally Posted by Vexx

Unfortunately, it looks like they split up into project teams for each arc and lets just say the skill set was not equally distributed...

I actually asked about this in the Q&A thread near the end of Ai's arc, because of how different each arc has been handled lead me to believe this as well. But from what I've learned from there, it seems like this isn't the case here

Spoiler for cut for size:

Source

From what I can gather, this could mean that:

-the director (Yoshimasa Hirakie) is treating this anime as an experimental title for the ominbus format (which would make sense considering how some of the arcs look like they've been done by two different people, while they are in reality scripted by the same person) and are seeing what direction would be more popular/favorable

-there are other uncredited, ''shadow'' directors/scriptwriters who handle each arc/episode (unlikely imo) explaining why some episodes look like they were done while the writer was stoned

-the staff (or the writer in charge of an arc) just doesn't know how to handle or write specific types of girls or their stories (which would explain why some of them had some ''filler'' material in them, e.g. Ai's ''eat me'' and Sae's early episodes)

-there are internal problems within the staff that leads to some weird/uneven results (This is what my friend believes)

-they're trying to include some sort of ''shock value'' to the anime, by having these really strange, lol-worthy moments where to have some variety between arc.

Regardless of the actual reason, this anime is making some really strange turns that make me wonder if the staff knows what their doing half of the time. This is an easy story structure, that simply goes from point A to B, but at times it look like they are holding the map upside down or just guessing the way to the ending.

Originally Posted by Shadow5YA

This. Why is Rihoko the only girl who didn't get to the Best End? Not only that, but why did it have to be one of the girls who gives meaning to the title of the series?

I find this baffling as well. Especially since I have learned that Rihoko was supposedly the third most popular girl in Japan.

Originally Posted by Mentar

Sorry, but I have to disagree. The "omnibus mechanics" are a great success, definitely. Compared to the usual harem-style developments, we finally get proper romance stories, some better, some worse. Lots of personal preference going on.

I think it's a great success commercially and marketing wise. It caters to the specific girls fanbase. Guaranties that the fans will buy her DVD once it comes out. Quality wise though ... well, this sort of omnibus format (there have been semi-omnibus animes in the past) thus far from what I've seen, doesn't really make me all that confident about it. Like I said in the Omnibus vs Unified thread, I can see how it could be used in interesting ways, but the closest one to sell me on that point would be YnS even with all the pacing issues at the conclusions. It's funny, Yosuga no Sora, the anime that looks like it would be more about selling DVD's, manages to tug more emotions out of me than Amagami SS. I wouldn't have believed that at the start of the season, but there you go.

Originally Posted by Shiroth

I don't see where it says in the rule book that the girls arcs can only adapt the romance parts of their source material . Sure it's a huge shame, though Rihoko's arc still worked in the end. It's just that it wasn't what everyone wanted, so the hate will continue.

But, every other girl had a romance ending. How come all of the sudden we get an arc without them hooking up? If they wanted to break the formula, they could've done it on any of the past 4 arcs, but they wait to the penultimate one to do so? This is just out of left field.

I don't think that everyone hated the arc, but I am just stunned at the way the arc was handled.