[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by Skyfall

Spoiler for Anime related stuff up to episode 2:

One thing I noticed you saying a few times this is due to expanded vision from Erika's point of view, but unless my memory is playing a very big trick on me, i don't think we have had any "Non-Kouhei perspective" events in the anime that weren't in the game as well. I might be wrong though (and can't really check at the moment because of the game refusing to run on Windows 7, damn you Microsoft!), but i believe the game had all these early perspective switches as well.

Spoiler for Comparison to the anime:

You made me wonder if my mind was playing tricks on me instead, so I decided to replay the beginning, and it's about half-and-half. I think the game is more ambiguous about everything compared to the anime, which is playing things more "straight". I think it's especially the bits with the student council that are given the short end of the stick. In the anime, there's never any doubt at all about what's going on with Erika, whereas the game plays things a bit more "loosely" and leaves you wondering as it slowly explains things bit by bit. That's what I mean about "mystery", although I suppose it isn't really that mysterious... just that it isn't so "obvious". The anime's re-sequencing of things also impacts this, such as moving Iori's vampire scene up to the end of the first episode to use it as a "hook" (in the game, that hasn't happened yet up to the end of Episode 2 content). The scene at the end of episode 2 with the "blood analysis" didn't happen in the game yet either (it happens later), and there also wasn't the scene in episode 1 where they show Erika talking to her brother about Kouhei before he gets invited into the student council room (though we find out after the fact that Iori already knew).

So yes, although perspective switches did happen in the prologue, the material wasn't presented in quite the same way or in the same sequence. The anime is revealing more things earlier on in the narrative and (I feel) being more "forthright" in the process. Maybe it's just because of how compressed it is.

Originally Posted by Skyfall

Spoiler for Anime related stuff up to episode 2:

While it can indeed be argued they are showing all the essentials and cutting out merely the "fluff", i am not sure the very start of a story is the right place to do so. This is a period where i believe we would benefit more from slightly slower pace and more meat around the bones, to let the characters and mood sink in, rather than one or two extra "essential scenes" squeezed in the episode, making it seem like you are watching the scenery from an express train. Well, i guess what one feels as appropriate "mood" and exposure to characters varies from person to person, so for all i know i might be the odd one out, but all i know is that i feel quite alienated from the happenings of the show *shrug*

Spoiler:

The biggest reason I can think of for this is because they're worried about not hooking the viewers. They're really banking heavily on the vampire factor to keep people interested, which is why they made sure to end each episode with it (even if it means re-sequencing the events in the game or adding original content).

I guess all that to say, having replayed the prologue now, I can see where you're coming from in terms of the pacing and lack of time spent fleshing out the characters and interactions. That's what we get with only 12 episodes, though. In order to tell the story properly, you'd probably need at least 24.