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silvercover · 2015-09-20, 08:02

also the only people who are really mad at the addition of another 7th, didnt cared about the mystery in the first place and came wanting for your typical action hero adventure against monsters.

they probably never really tried to think of who, would have been fine with anyone being the 7th, and just wanted it to end to get back on their journey.

most of us who liked the whole mystery and delved deep into solving, while we also got exasperated with another one showing up, welcomed the new challenge and strove to rework our original hypothesis of who the fake is especially for those who didnt target nach as their primary by the end.

MgMaster · 2015-09-20, 09:15

So the one who most people suspected all along was the fake after all and ignoring the fact that she was my favorite girl & character of Rokka and it's gonna suck not having her around if we ever get a 2nd season, I'm fine with that. It has impossible to prove it, but her random moods switches from composed to panicked, the part her waving her wand/sword and claiming, breaking the tablet and shouting "I'LL BE THE MISTRESS OF THE BARRIER!" above all) and some of the more subtle stares that had a few times(one in her ending), always made her the most suspicious of the bunch, although no1 had any proof for it. But how could we when the last part was only revealed at the end. Not sure how to feel about that but I guess there it was the only way to keep the audience still in doubts, even though Nachetania was the prime suspect for most.

If those two tablets would've been revealed much earlier than the characters would've had to have been written to act a bit stupid just to keep the mystery going, which would've been pretty dumb. So I guess we could say this was the only way? In order to keep the mystery going yea but as for the show as a whole, not so sure...

Personally, I would've rather had the mystery of the 7th solved faster, like in 3, maybe 4 episodes, and use the remaining time to delve into some of the other character's backstories and have them get to know each other better, which would've been also been a good setup for a 2nd season, possibly better than the one we got since we'd know our characters better and be more invested in them. Mora & Goldov are the 1st that come to mind, followed by Chamo.

We could get to learn more about Nachetanya & her country as well, who was one of the more interesting characters of the bunch. Due to Rokka's slow pace & attention to detail, I doubt it would've failed to deliver.

Anyway, while I did enjoy Rokka a lot, it had it's shortcomings due to a mystery that felt like it dragged on for more than necessary(yea I know we got told it's gonna be like this early on, but that doesn't mean it can't be criticized) and introducing another (fake?) 7th right there at the end had me roll my eyes. Not my favorite way to end a set-up season, unless we get a 2nd season that makes good use of all this setup and show's us why it was all needed.

Also

Images

Sorry; dynamic content not loaded. Reload?

Directed at all us Nachetanya fans eh? Fremy's breaking the 4th wall there.

Quote:

Originally Posted by silvercover

also the only people who are really mad at the addition of another 7th, didnt cared about the mystery in the first place and came wanting for your typical action hero adventure against monsters.

You know...this stereotypical complaint I've been seeing all over is getting tiring, not to mention awfully repetitive. The assumption always goes one way or the other: "If they didn't like the mystery as much as us then it means they only wanted to see some typical flashy heroes fight monsters & defeat the big baddie action" is something I've seen enough to make me roll my eyes.

Some viewers, like me for instance, could've also wanted more characterization, interactions between the braves, more about the fiends & more world building - seems like an interesting world after all. I didn't dislike the mystery - it was pretty intriguing after all, but I did feel like it dragged on for too long, which also made the mystery itself less interesting to me, because the clue that would've revealed the fake had to be kept all the way 'till the final ep. And it's not like something that couldn't have been done before it, it just happened that Chamo & Hans thought of dig underneath the temple floor. They could've well thought of doing that much earlier or perhaps much latter. There was no real catalyst for that, it just sort of happened. Instead a quantity over quality approach was taken, using precious time to drag out the mystery of the 7th instead of using it in other ways which don't have to be heroes fighting monsters.

As for the action itself, it's not like there was so little of it. Far from the 90% mystery/10% action that some LN readers claim. I mean, we got to see a display of every brave's skills(more with some than others) but sadly not too much beyond that with characters like Mora, Goldof & Chamo.

DragoonKain3 · 2015-09-20, 09:47

I personally thought that Hans finding those stone tablets was awfully real convenient. There just happened to be another spare, and that spare just happened to have the real instructions to the ritual. The fact that they didn't even put the effort into PROPERLY investigating the temple before pointing fingers just highlights the stupidity of the braves. I thought it was only Maura was the stupid one (well Chamot is also a dumbass but she's a kid), but it seems like only Adlet has a head on his shoulders.

Granted, I didn't suspect Hime, but that was mainly because I really thought she was just yandere over Adlet. Coming off fresh from her role as Freya, I really thought it was just another Hikasa yandere role. Turns out her character this time is crazy in another way, so I blame my genre savviness for blinding me. XD

Over all, it was an enjoyable 'whodunnit' series and it is certainly different from most other fantasy anime out there, though the conclusion leaves a lot to be desired. Sure it wasn't handled as badly as Charlotte, so this distinguishing itself as something different from the rest of season earns itself second place for my anime of the cour.

Anh_Minh · 2015-09-20, 09:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by DragoonKain3

I personally thought that Hans finding those stone tablets was awfully real convenient. There just happened to be another spare, and that spare just happened to have the real instructions to the ritual. The fact that they didn't even put the effort into PROPERLY investigating the temple before pointing fingers just highlights the stupidity of the braves. I thought it was only Maura was the stupid one (well Chamot is also a dumbass but she's a kid), but it seems like only Adlet has a head on his shoulders.

They described them as "buried" under the main chamber. I kinda have to ask "why?", but it does explain why they weren't immediately found.

Irenesharda · 2015-09-20, 11:40

Ah, I can finally talk about this now.

First for the anime, to me, I loved every minute of it, animation errors don't bother me and I never notice them unless they are truly horrendous or someone mentions it later. It was fine for me (even though even I had to admit they were getting lazy in those last few minutes.

)

I loved this mystery. This was a series that didn't promote itself as a mystery and ended up being the best mystery series of the season, and this is compared to those series that DID promote themselves as mystery shows (Ranpo Kitan). I had a fun time looking for clues, discussing with everyone on boards, listing to every characters conversations and paying attention to details.

I figured out it was Nachetanya by episode 9. It was only when I was sure that I actually started reading the novels. I wanted to read the novels before the series showed the ending since reading the book is different than watching it and I didn't think that reading it was be as fun if I had already seen the ending.

Anyway, the secret to this series is that they make you doubt yourself. Nache looked suspicious in the beginning, but they continued to make you rethink yourself. Even though I was sure it was her by episode 8, when I read the last chapter, even I began to waver whether the author was going to stupid and make it the obvious red herring, Maura.

Most of my experience with mysteries come from older Christie-type novels and crime noir. And the most important thing there is attention to detail and knowing when a character makes a slip. You just need one slip and then you've got 'em.

Going through all the clues it was apparent that it couldn't be Hans, Chamot, or Maura. I trusted that they would show the actual activation of the barrier on screen, which means that the person who activated it would have had to have activated before the start of episode 5. And in all of episode 4, only three people had access to the dais. While Maura, Chamot, and Hans did arrive, none of them approached the dais until after the barrier had be proven to be activated. Flamie, while arriving earlier, never touched the thing. So, the ONLY three people that it could have been was Adlet, Goldov, or Nachetanya.

I had thought about it being Adlet and that he was not aware of it, but it never really clicked. If he was the culprit, there would be some times where he would blackout and not recall what happened. This never happened and was never mentioned by Adlet. Also, I did end up have an outside spoiler from RC that stated that the 7th was indeed aware of what he/she was doing and did indeed intend to kill the other Braves. (This was of course from the 7th inner monologues that are in the novel but not the anime) And so, I completely crossed out Adlet as a suspect, which only left Goldov and Nachetanya.

Goldov, I did suspect heavily in the beginning, but as his character got less and less and the looks he continued to give Nachetanya looked more and more genuinely hurt, perplexed or surprised, I just didn't feel it was him. However, I wasn't sure that he was innocent until Nachetanya committed that "one slip" I was looking for. She point blank lied about Hans, and it was done in such a subtle way that unless someone was suspicious, it would have seemed like truth. Also, it was shown in a way, that also seemed to make it important. Once she did that, along with all the other clues that I had already figured out. And the fact that she was the one who told Adlet to go to the temple in the first place, secured my belief that I had gotten my man (or woman in this case).

I enjoyed this so much and I really do hope this has a season two, but then again, they would actually have to animate the ENTIRE story, or else no one would even feel satisfied. Each novel has it's own mystery but each adventure runs right into the next, so unless the whole story gets done it will just be continuous plot twists and cliffhangers.
I've finished the first 3 volumes and I'm waiting until the 4th is fully translated, and if anyone thought the first volume's mystery was twisted, then they haven't seen anything yet.

James Rye · 2015-09-20, 12:06

Knew that it had to be Nashe. Maura would have been the only other real choice but then she would have been one horribly bad 7th,which is shown with how everyone was ready to go against her till, how conviently, the stone tables showed up which had the instructions on activating the barrier and all.

Being Goldof is suffering. Poor dude got a lot of bad talk here due him being so underrepresented in his screentime and his stoic and loyal to a fault character but I kind of liked him because of that and never thought he was the 7th. It's sad to see his loyalty and feelings being so betrayed in the worst sense by the woman he treasured the most. For her going so far to blame him for not following her orders for her to tell him the truth, aka killing Adlet when he had the chance and she told him so, is quite harsh.
I wonder how Goldof's character will change due that betrayal. Outta the 6 he was the one most invested in the relationship with Nashetanya and also the one who knew her the longest and also owed her a big deal for his life as well.

Then again, it doesn't seem likely we will get a 2nd seson despite its 1st season open ending.

But man, another 7th? With the crest in the same place as Nashe? Does that mean one of the others were a fake after all? Damn, that gonna be nasty. xD

~Yami~ · 2015-09-20, 13:59

To be honest, the production and adaptation has done everything to make this show become appealing
and it actually quite successful at least for me

They didn't rush anything.. take everything slowly.. develop all the relations between characters
Enveloping one arc in one season is actually a very good adaptation
and to think that they didn't even left any clue for the next 7th is actually like saying "if you want to know the next 7th, we'll drop the clue if we have second season"

if the sales is not good... then watchers probably expect more battle scenes against Fiends or they are just too tired to do another 7th searching

well, I just prayed for the best.
They got enough material for second season so hopefully they got to do it

Draco Spirit · 2015-09-20, 14:02

So ends a rather good show.

It's nice when they give a LN adaptation proper room to tell it's story. Most of the time you get 2-3 episodes covering one book, while this got 12!

Strong Points

Fleshed out and flawed characters

Even the MC a bit too cocky for his own good, but when your 'hero's' includes nutjobs, knight templars and killers for hire... you can safely suspect everyone. It also works nicely into the second point...

The Main Character has to earn his position

A lot of shows give there MC some hax power or such and let him take over the show with it. Perhaps he's the chosen one, or the best of the best.... Not so with Adlet. Oh sure he's a Brave (probably), but besides Fremy, he has the weakest starting position. Most of the characters know each other or have respectable positions in the settings... Adlet is just some criminal with a box of tricks.

But by the end of the show he's become the leader of the Braves, earning there trust, solving the mystery and uniting them, despite there flaws and difference. 'Strongest Man' indeed.

The romance subplot is well handled

Slowly developed over the course of 12 episodes. A romantic confession that hit all the right feels buttons, a Tsundere like reaction that avoid being too by the numbers and continuation after that felt realistic. It also fitted quite neatly into the shows themes of trust, which is a important quality in any subplot.

Original setting

Hero's set out to hunt the demon god isn't exactly a new idea.. but turning it a locked room mystery with Aztec art theme was a creative spin on it. Heck, they made a bunny girl setting appropriate with the Aztec fondness for animal warriors.

Weak Points

Dodgy CGI

Not the first anime to do it, and unlikely to be the last, but the cgi demons looked rather off....

Under explained characters

Goldov the worse offender here, we never really got his side of things explained. However Nachetanya villainous actions need more explaining as well, through I suspect it will be a case of 'see book 4?'

Overall I'm putting this show as a nice strong B+.... oh screw it Fremy is adorable, lets call it A -!

Also going to give the LNs a shot too.

Polarpew · 2015-09-20, 14:54

in hindsight, its freaking obvious.... SHE HAS RABBIT EARS! DOES THAT LOOK HUMAN TO YOU?!

BPD Renegade · 2015-09-20, 14:55

I'm not familiar with how new studios work. After checking, Passione has only worked on Rail Wars before this, and it looks like it did even worse than Rokka. As a new studio, would it be more likely for Passione to dump Rokka and look for something more profitable with nothing on deck, or would it hang onto it as a source of early income while still looking for other means of income? The studio certainly left a lot of hints for a second season.

Quote:

Originally Posted by karice67

Ah...yes, we do have to contend with 'innocent trolls' as well.

To be honest, if it had been something like "Nache's ending being named 'Dance of the Fake' is a bit suggestive," it wouldn't have set off my alarm bells, because this genuinely sounds like speculation (exception: I wouldn't have liked to have seen it from someone known to be a novel reader). But it was definitely something that sounded like the person was a novel reader who wanted to spoil/give hints...so if that was indeed you

...maybe try to tone the trolling down next time?

https://forums.animesuki.com/showpos...&postcount=710
Guess it wasn't me then. Whew! Off the hook!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Polarpew

in hindsight, its freaking obvious.... SHE HAS RABBIT EARS! DOES THAT LOOK HUMAN TO YOU?!

EXACTLY! That's the point I've been trying to make all summer! RABBITS ARE EVIL!! (Seriously speaking, you do know those ears aren't real though, right?)

Znail · 2015-09-20, 14:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by silvercover

a season 2 will depend on whether japan takes into consideration how popular rokka is in china.

because as some of you may know, rokka is really low in terms of popularity in sales in japan. which usually means a 2nd season unlikely to happen... if it wasnt popular in china that is.

Does the popularity in China matter at all? Isn't unimportant like the popularity over here? BD and DVD sales are the only thing that matters due to how anime is funded in Japan, so any audience that doesn't buy discs doesn't matter.

Wandering Soul · 2015-09-20, 15:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by Polarpew

in hindsight, its freaking obvious.... SHE HAS RABBIT EARS! DOES THAT LOOK HUMAN TO YOU?!

As Monthy Phyton showed, Rabbits can be surprisingly dangerous.

I'm assuming you are just joking and know that the ears are part of her armour.

Polarpew · 2015-09-20, 15:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by the one above all

As Monthy Phyton showed, Rabbits can be surprisingly dangerous.

I'm assuming you are just joking and know that the ears are part of her armour.

everyone knows rabbits are shifty and cannot be trusted!

Iron Maw · 2015-09-20, 17:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by MgMaster

If those two tablets would've been revealed much earlier than the characters would've had to have been written to act a bit stupid just to keep the mystery going, which would've been pretty dumb. So I guess we could say this was the only way? In order to keep the mystery going yea but as for the show as a whole, not so sure...

Quote:

Originally Posted by DragoonKain3

I personally thought that Hans finding those stone tablets was awfully real convenient. There just happened to be another spare, and that spare just happened to have the real instructions to the ritual. The fact that they didn't even put the effort into PROPERLY investigating the temple before pointing fingers just highlights the stupidity of the braves.

The stone tablets literally do not matter to the mystery. Because the culprit was already was outted to readers/audience by Adlet explanation back in ep 11. The tablets only served the purpose having the characters in story connect the dots in the context with what Adlet said prior. And frankly so what if Chamo found them by accident? Not everything needs to be a calculated move done by everyone. Sometimes fortune and misfortune factor into these things too and works with that someone as capricious as she would have found it doing something innocuous. It's also silly to be arguing from highsight when the whole point of a mystery is to misdirect the viewers and characters in story about things they might have overlooked no matter how small to begin with.

And the Braves did investigated the temple as much they reasonably expected to, that was the whole point showing a little of what Hans, Adlet and Mora did im ep 5, i.e checking the surroundings, the altar etc. Even Chamo checked for holes leading to the outside to see anyone could have gotten into the temple that way. But just like with activation method at that time there no way for them to know there was spare because all the information was manipulated. They didn't even know about the existance of this device at all until just a day ago so nobody is exactly an expert about this Barrier.

Quote:

Some viewers, like me for instance, could've also wanted more characterization, interactions between the braves, more about the fiends & more world building - seems like an interesting world after all.

While it's true that half of the cast don't get as much screentime development as some other characters, but they were all definitely well characterized. The cast here is a little too big to delve into everyone's past in 12 episodes while still setting up and handling the mystery anyway. There also the issue of relevancy to current problem, i.e learning about Hans or Mora's backstories would have been pointless here because they do not connect to the events. Ultimately this might be forgotten from time to time Rokka is an adaptation of several books. The story is not written to be stand alone, so it's natural that narrative will not get to every character and plot point in one go. What matters handles ones it does focus on. The others will come later.

Soraya21 · 2015-09-20, 17:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eater of All

Where would you draw the boundary between "actual evidence" and "personality/behavior" though? For instance, when does Nashe breaking the tablet go from suspicious behavior to actual evidence?

I'd probably say that the anime overplayed that scene & made it too obvious that her breaking the stone tablet was going to become an important element for solving the mystery. Her irrational flailing about on the pedestal just made it all the more memorable for the viewers out there.

It's just that the impression I got from Nashetanya's character in the LN felt more subtle & low-key, with her emotional outbursts coming off more naturally given the Braves' predicament (I myself didn't start suspecting the princess until chap. 4 when Mora started being pushed as the obvious red-herring). Most people can definitely see why she's the culprit based on her actions/dialogue upon a 2nd reading of the novel. Yet the anime kinda makes it apparent upon the 1st viewing that something's up with Nashetanya due to the sharp contrast of her personality & behavior alone (which other posters have already observed and predicted as well).

Irenesharda · 2015-09-20, 17:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by Iron Maw

The stone tablets literally do not matter to the mystery. Because the culprit was already was outted to readers/audience by Adlet explanation back in ep 11. The tablets only served the purpose having the characters in story connect the dots in the context with what Adlet said prior.

While I know and understand what you're saying, I do have to say that there were actually quite a few people that I knew and read that still couldn't put it together by the end of episode 11. Because of that I'm glad the writer included the final coup de grace evidence in the form of the tablets. Once those and the swords were shown, even those with extremely little experience in mysteries could finally figure it out. So, I can't say they don't matter to the mystery, to some they were the final pieces of evidence they needed in order to put everything together.

I mean, even Adlet, the sharpest mind in the group didn't put everything together until he saw the tablets and read what they said, and it was from there that he finally figured out who the 7th was.
So, if even the MC couldn't figure it out until then, I'm going to give the least experienced among us, that they couldn't figure it out until they saw the tablet and the sword too.

Quote:

While it's true that half of the cast don't get as much screentime development as other characters they were all definitely well characterized. The cast here is a little too big delve into everyone's past in 12 episodes while still setting up and handling the mystery. There also the issue of relevancy to current problem, i.e learning about Hans or Mora's backstories would have been pointless here because they do not connect to the events. Ultimately this might be forgotten from time to time Rokka is an adaptation of several books. The story is not written to be stand alone, so it's natural that narrative will not get to every character and point in one go. What matters handles ones it does focus on. The others will come later.

Because they made this an extremely close adaptation to the book, as you say it would also suffer the same problems that the novel would have had if it was a stand alone. The novel is really just the first part in an ongoing narrative, so each part is really not meant to stand alone. That's why the realization of some of the characters sometimes seem kind of stunted. Each of the following books digs into each character after that, and that's when we begin to know more and more about them. So, I can only tell people that if they want to know more about our braves, they're going to have to read the novels or wait until they may animate it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Soraya21

I'd probably say that the anime overplayed that scene & made it too obvious that her breaking the stone tablet was going to become an important element for solving the mystery. Her irrational flailing about on the pedestal just made it all the more memorable for the viewers out there.

It's just that the impression I got from Nashetanya's character in the LN felt more subtle & low-key, with her emotional outbursts coming off more naturally given the Braves' predicament (I myself didn't start suspecting the princess until chap. 4 when Mora started being pushed as the obvious red-herring). Most people can definitely see why she's the culprit based on her actions/dialogue upon a 2nd reading of the novel. Yet the anime kinda makes it apparent upon the 1st viewing that something's up with Nashetanya due to the sharp contrast of her personality & behavior alone (which other posters have already observed and predicted as well).

When I finally read the LN, I was instantly glad they didn't include the prologue in the anime since once I read that, I was immediately suspicious of her when reading it. Yet, like you say, the anime did make it more apparent by adding in scenes that weren't in the book but foreshadowed her sinister nature, such as when in episode 1, she was covered in red light, while standing in silhouette, and the shadows that formed behind her practically made her bunny ears look like demon horns. The whole scene made her look extremely dubious, and was what first clued in anime watchers.

However, thankfully the writers were able to twist it in a way that made you second guess her, and start to question the others.

Iron Maw · 2015-09-20, 18:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by Irenesharda

While I know and understand what you're saying, I do have to say that there were actually quite a few people that I knew and read that still couldn't put it together by the end of episode 11. Because of that I'm glad the writer included the final coup de grace evidence in the form of the tablets. Once those and the swords were shown, even those with extremely little experience in mysteries could finally figure it out. So, I can't say they don't matter to the mystery, to some they were the final pieces of evidence they needed in order to put everything together.

I mean, even Adlet, the sharpest mind in the group didn't put everything together until he saw the tablets and read what they said, and it was from there that he finally figured out who the 7th was.
So, if even the MC couldn't figure it out until then, I'm going to give the least experienced among us, that they couldn't figure it out until they saw the tablet and the sword too.

Oh yes I don't disagree that there are people wouldn't have gotten it until final piece came into play, but I'm just saying that you have enough piece assemble to figure out it though logic. The most key element to this plan moreso than the activation, hinged on getting one of Braves to go to the temple alone and opening up the door so that 7th could immediately turn on the barrier using Adlet as a cover. Without that happening none of this could played out the way it did. Nashetania and Goldof where the only two people who could have done it at that time as they only ones to touch the altar at that moment.

Quote:

Because they made this an extremely close adaptation to the book, as you say it would also suffer the same problems that the novel would have had if it was a stand alone. The novel is really just the first part in an ongoing narrative, so each part is really not meant to stand alone. That's why the realization of some of the characters sometimes seem kind of stunted. Each of the following books digs into each character after that, and that's when we begin to know more and more about them. So, I can only tell people that if they want to know more about our braves, they're going to have to read the novels or wait until they may animate it.

It's a common problem of most adaptations honestly. It can be overlook by anime only viewers from time to time since they're usually expecting open and closed works. Which why it more important to keep in mind that is an ongoing story in back of mind when judging shows like this especially when it's this faithful.

Dark Faith · 2015-09-20, 19:25

It was a decent watch, but I highly doubt I'd watch a second season if it ever came out.

I feel that the mystery behind the seventh's identity took far too long to be revealed.. and once it was finally over, a new one comes over to take Nashetanya's place.
Err... What?

Still, in all fairness, I was unable to guess the seventh's identity. My guess was still Mora/Maura/whatever... for someone in such a position of power she certainly was quick to jump the gun and make wild guesses that could've costed someone their head.

Irenesharda · 2015-09-20, 19:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dark Faith

It was a decent watch, but I highly doubt I'd watch a second season if it ever came out.

I feel that the mystery behind the seventh's identity took far too long to be revealed.. and once it was finally over, a new one comes over to take Nashetanya's place.
Err... What?

Still, in all fairness, I was unable to guess the seventh's identity. My guess was still Mora/Maura/whatever... for someone in such a position of power she certainly was quick to jump the gun and make wild guesses that could've costed someone their head.

And that's fine, for some people mysteries aren't for them. And yeah, if you weren't into this one, you won't be into the rest of the series either. Each volume has a central mystery to solve, while other mysteries in the series, like this second 7th one, extends through several books.

Iron Maw · 2015-09-20, 20:32

Yeah when people say that the mystery is dragged out as if they're expecting it to be some short one note thing before story turns into a typical fantasy story, then this series is probably either not for you or you're misunderstanding what Rokka is. The mysteries themselves are the plot more or less, they are pretty much used as vehicle to explore the characters, lore, advance the overarching plot and everything else. It will be constant framing device the story works under in how it presents it's narrative to the viewer and they will be coming in different forms.

2015-09-20, 08:02	Link #1721
silvercover Romance Expert Join Date: Feb 2012	also the only people who are really mad at the addition of another 7th, didnt cared about the mystery in the first place and came wanting for your typical action hero adventure against monsters. they probably never really tried to think of who, would have been fine with anyone being the 7th, and just wanted it to end to get back on their journey. most of us who liked the whole mystery and delved deep into solving, while we also got exasperated with another one showing up, welcomed the new challenge and strove to rework our original hypothesis of who the fake is especially for those who didnt target nach as their primary by the end. __________________ my fanfics: Refractions (madoka magica) Reversed Connections (BRS) could only keep it this big

2015-09-20, 09:47	Link #1723
DragoonKain3 Osana-Najimi Shipper Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Mt. Ordeals	I personally thought that Hans finding those stone tablets was awfully real convenient. There just happened to be another spare, and that spare just happened to have the real instructions to the ritual. The fact that they didn't even put the effort into PROPERLY investigating the temple before pointing fingers just highlights the stupidity of the braves. I thought it was only Maura was the stupid one (well Chamot is also a dumbass but she's a kid), but it seems like only Adlet has a head on his shoulders. Granted, I didn't suspect Hime, but that was mainly because I really thought she was just yandere over Adlet. Coming off fresh from her role as Freya, I really thought it was just another Hikasa yandere role. Turns out her character this time is crazy in another way, so I blame my genre savviness for blinding me. XD Over all, it was an enjoyable 'whodunnit' series and it is certainly different from most other fantasy anime out there, though the conclusion leaves a lot to be desired. Sure it wasn't handled as badly as Charlotte, so this distinguishing itself as something different from the rest of season earns itself second place for my anime of the cour. __________________ Yes its YOU childhood friend - source of BERZERKER RAGE since forever Childhood Friend couple STATISTICS(spoilers abound though)

2015-09-20, 11:40	Link #1725
Irenesharda Senior Member Join Date: May 2013 Location: Chicago	Ah, I can finally talk about this now. First for the anime, to me, I loved every minute of it, animation errors don't bother me and I never notice them unless they are truly horrendous or someone mentions it later. It was fine for me (even though even I had to admit they were getting lazy in those last few minutes. ) I loved this mystery. This was a series that didn't promote itself as a mystery and ended up being the best mystery series of the season, and this is compared to those series that DID promote themselves as mystery shows (Ranpo Kitan). I had a fun time looking for clues, discussing with everyone on boards, listing to every characters conversations and paying attention to details. I figured out it was Nachetanya by episode 9. It was only when I was sure that I actually started reading the novels. I wanted to read the novels before the series showed the ending since reading the book is different than watching it and I didn't think that reading it was be as fun if I had already seen the ending. Anyway, the secret to this series is that they make you doubt yourself. Nache looked suspicious in the beginning, but they continued to make you rethink yourself. Even though I was sure it was her by episode 8, when I read the last chapter, even I began to waver whether the author was going to stupid and make it the obvious red herring, Maura. Most of my experience with mysteries come from older Christie-type novels and crime noir. And the most important thing there is attention to detail and knowing when a character makes a slip. You just need one slip and then you've got 'em. Going through all the clues it was apparent that it couldn't be Hans, Chamot, or Maura. I trusted that they would show the actual activation of the barrier on screen, which means that the person who activated it would have had to have activated before the start of episode 5. And in all of episode 4, only three people had access to the dais. While Maura, Chamot, and Hans did arrive, none of them approached the dais until after the barrier had be proven to be activated. Flamie, while arriving earlier, never touched the thing. So, the ONLY three people that it could have been was Adlet, Goldov, or Nachetanya. I had thought about it being Adlet and that he was not aware of it, but it never really clicked. If he was the culprit, there would be some times where he would blackout and not recall what happened. This never happened and was never mentioned by Adlet. Also, I did end up have an outside spoiler from RC that stated that the 7th was indeed aware of what he/she was doing and did indeed intend to kill the other Braves. (This was of course from the 7th inner monologues that are in the novel but not the anime) And so, I completely crossed out Adlet as a suspect, which only left Goldov and Nachetanya. Goldov, I did suspect heavily in the beginning, but as his character got less and less and the looks he continued to give Nachetanya looked more and more genuinely hurt, perplexed or surprised, I just didn't feel it was him. However, I wasn't sure that he was innocent until Nachetanya committed that "one slip" I was looking for. She point blank lied about Hans, and it was done in such a subtle way that unless someone was suspicious, it would have seemed like truth. Also, it was shown in a way, that also seemed to make it important. Once she did that, along with all the other clues that I had already figured out. And the fact that she was the one who told Adlet to go to the temple in the first place, secured my belief that I had gotten my man (or woman in this case). I enjoyed this so much and I really do hope this has a season two, but then again, they would actually have to animate the ENTIRE story, or else no one would even feel satisfied. Each novel has it's own mystery but each adventure runs right into the next, so unless the whole story gets done it will just be continuous plot twists and cliffhangers. I've finished the first 3 volumes and I'm waiting until the 4th is fully translated, and if anyone thought the first volume's mystery was twisted, then they haven't seen anything yet. __________________ "Someone who cannot forgive lies or secrets, will never trust another." - Major Kyosuke Hyobu

2015-09-20, 12:06	Link #1726
James Rye Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: Germany	Knew that it had to be Nashe. Maura would have been the only other real choice but then she would have been one horribly bad 7th,which is shown with how everyone was ready to go against her till, how conviently, the stone tables showed up which had the instructions on activating the barrier and all. Being Goldof is suffering. Poor dude got a lot of bad talk here due him being so underrepresented in his screentime and his stoic and loyal to a fault character but I kind of liked him because of that and never thought he was the 7th. It's sad to see his loyalty and feelings being so betrayed in the worst sense by the woman he treasured the most. For her going so far to blame him for not following her orders for her to tell him the truth, aka killing Adlet when he had the chance and she told him so, is quite harsh. I wonder how Goldof's character will change due that betrayal. Outta the 6 he was the one most invested in the relationship with Nashetanya and also the one who knew her the longest and also owed her a big deal for his life as well. Then again, it doesn't seem likely we will get a 2nd seson despite its 1st season open ending. But man, another 7th? With the crest in the same place as Nashe? Does that mean one of the others were a fake after all? Damn, that gonna be nasty. xD __________________

2015-09-20, 14:54	Link #1729
Polarpew Bash'a no falor talah Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: New York USA Age: 33	in hindsight, its freaking obvious.... SHE HAS RABBIT EARS! DOES THAT LOOK HUMAN TO YOU?! __________________ Epicness

2015-09-20, 13:59	Link #1727
~Yami~ a random Indonesian otaku Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Xanadu Age: 32	To be honest, the production and adaptation has done everything to make this show become appealing and it actually quite successful at least for me They didn't rush anything.. take everything slowly.. develop all the relations between characters Enveloping one arc in one season is actually a very good adaptation and to think that they didn't even left any clue for the next 7th is actually like saying "if you want to know the next 7th, we'll drop the clue if we have second season" if the sales is not good... then watchers probably expect more battle scenes against Fiends or they are just too tired to do another 7th searching well, I just prayed for the best. They got enough material for second season so hopefully they got to do it

2015-09-20, 14:02	Link #1728
Draco Spirit Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2013	So ends a rather good show. It's nice when they give a LN adaptation proper room to tell it's story. Most of the time you get 2-3 episodes covering one book, while this got 12! Strong Points Fleshed out and flawed characters Even the MC a bit too cocky for his own good, but when your 'hero's' includes nutjobs, knight templars and killers for hire... you can safely suspect everyone. It also works nicely into the second point... The Main Character has to earn his position A lot of shows give there MC some hax power or such and let him take over the show with it. Perhaps he's the chosen one, or the best of the best.... Not so with Adlet. Oh sure he's a Brave (probably), but besides Fremy, he has the weakest starting position. Most of the characters know each other or have respectable positions in the settings... Adlet is just some criminal with a box of tricks. But by the end of the show he's become the leader of the Braves, earning there trust, solving the mystery and uniting them, despite there flaws and difference. 'Strongest Man' indeed. The romance subplot is well handled Slowly developed over the course of 12 episodes. A romantic confession that hit all the right feels buttons, a Tsundere like reaction that avoid being too by the numbers and continuation after that felt realistic. It also fitted quite neatly into the shows themes of trust, which is a important quality in any subplot. Original setting Hero's set out to hunt the demon god isn't exactly a new idea.. but turning it a locked room mystery with Aztec art theme was a creative spin on it. Heck, they made a bunny girl setting appropriate with the Aztec fondness for animal warriors. Weak Points Dodgy CGI Not the first anime to do it, and unlikely to be the last, but the cgi demons looked rather off.... Under explained characters Goldov the worse offender here, we never really got his side of things explained. However Nachetanya villainous actions need more explaining as well, through I suspect it will be a case of 'see book 4?' Overall I'm putting this show as a nice strong B+.... oh screw it Fremy is adorable, lets call it A -! Also going to give the LNs a shot too.

2015-09-20, 19:25	Link #1738
Dark Faith Often Disappointed Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Portugal Age: 38	It was a decent watch, but I highly doubt I'd watch a second season if it ever came out. I feel that the mystery behind the seventh's identity took far too long to be revealed.. and once it was finally over, a new one comes over to take Nashetanya's place. Err... What? Still, in all fairness, I was unable to guess the seventh's identity. My guess was still Mora/Maura/whatever... for someone in such a position of power she certainly was quick to jump the gun and make wild guesses that could've costed someone their head.

2015-09-20, 20:32	Link #1740
Iron Maw Banned Join Date: Feb 2006	Yeah when people say that the mystery is dragged out as if they're expecting it to be some short one note thing before story turns into a typical fantasy story, then this series is probably either not for you or you're misunderstanding what Rokka is. The mysteries themselves are the plot more or less, they are pretty much used as vehicle to explore the characters, lore, advance the overarching plot and everything else. It will be constant framing device the story works under in how it presents it's narrative to the viewer and they will be coming in different forms. Last edited by Iron Maw; 2015-09-20 at 20:59.