(L+CR) Nagi no Asukara (Nagi-Asu: A Lull in the Sea)

[Haak]

Originally Posted by Tenzen12

If it was different plot, characters AND director, I might as well try. There wouldn't be much point otherwise though.

What do you have against the director?

[Tenzen12]

Oh my bad, I wrote it without thinking (I am genuinely feel bad about that), I meant Series Composition.

[Key Board]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

Let me use a pro sports analogy to try to convey the romantically deserving idea.

Suppose you have two soccer teams competing against each other for the World Cup. Team A appears to be trying much harder to win, they're getting many more shots through and playing great defense against Team B, they're simply outhustling and outworking Team B for almost the entire game. But then Team B wins 1-0 after scoring on a flukey shot.

The general consensus is that Team A deserved to win. Some sports commentators even say "They were robbed". Now, the guy who scored on the flukey shot is in fact the best soccer player in the world, so its not shocking that Team B won, but nonetheless, it's not hard to feel sorry for Team A. At least not if you're a fan of Team A or a neutral observer (it might be harder for fans of Team B to feel sorry for Team A, but even here, some Team B fans will admit their team stole the game).


This is roughly comparable to a love triangle situation where the person who tries the hardest to make a romance happen/work, and who contributes the most to the well-being of the person s/he has a crush on, nonetheless ends up alone in the end. Girl A did more to help out and try to win over Guy A than Girl B did, but in the end, Girl B won anyway.

Now, I think part of maturing as a human being is learning to accept that life can be unfair like this at times, but it can still make people feel sad for the losing girl.

Well, I mostly agree with this.

Love really isn't about effort. I mean you have to make an effort and return the feelings otherwise nothing will happen.
But there's no rule saying that who made the most effort must be rewarded because in the end, you can not force love to happen.
There is no karma in love.
You brought up the sports analogy. I'm going to be bring up another one.
It's like making an effort to get another person to like a certain kind of music.
It's not something you can accomplish by putting more effort in to it. I'd say chemistry and compatibility weighs a lot more.

With Nagi Asu it's a bit complex, though. I still get the feeling that this is one huge chain of person A loving person B, who actually loves person C more who in turn.. ect..

I wont' be surprised if Manaka still has to struggle about her feelings for Tsumugu

And you have to admit, Miuna really did shoot herself in the foot..

[Reckoner]

The latest episode was better than the previous two now that Okada isn't completely flailing around with bad melodrama surrounding the irrelevant unrequited loves of Miuna and Sayu. Still though, Miuna is completely shoehorned into the main story here for no other reason here than simple pandering it feels like.

I also can't help but lament the lack of development for a character like Kaname, who has been one of the more interesting characters around, and instead they devote more time to someone like Sayu. Okada doesn't like Y chromosomes, I get it, but it still sucks.

[Haak]

Originally Posted by Reckoner

The latest episode was better than the previous two now that Okada isn't completely flailing around with bad melodrama surrounding the irrelevant unrequited loves of Miuna and Sayu. Still though, Miuna is completely shoehorned into the main story here for no other reason here than simple pandering it feels like.

If speculation is to be believed, Miuna could be the replacement sacrifice.

I also can't help but lament the lack of development for a character like Kaname, who has been one of the more interesting characters around, and instead they devote more time to someone like Sayu. Okada doesn't like Y chromosomes, I get it, but it still sucks.

Riiiiight. Never mind the fact that Hikari has been given far more focus than any character by several leagues. Sure, it's because of the Y chromosome...

[Reckoner]

Originally Posted by Haak

Riiiiight. Never mind the fact that Hikari has been given far more focus than any character by several leagues. Sure, it's because of the Y chromosome...

He's the main character and last I checked, this wasn't a harem story.

[Guardian Enzo]

I would say he was the main character in the first cour, but he certainly hasn't been in the second.

[Haak]

Originally Posted by Reckoner

He's the main character and last I checked, this wasn't a harem story.

I didn't realise you could only have one.

[Raine721]

Originally Posted by Key Board

Well, I mostly agree with this.

Love really isn't about effort. I mean you have to make an effort and return the feelings otherwise nothing will happen.
But there's no rule saying that who made the most effort must be rewarded because in the end, you can not force love to happen.
There is no karma in love.
You brought up the sports analogy. I'm going to be bring up another one.
It's like making an effort to get another person to like a certain kind of music.
It's not something you can accomplish by putting more effort in to it. I'd say chemistry and compatibility weighs a lot more.

With Nagi Asu it's a bit complex, though. I still get the feeling that this is one huge chain of person A loving person B, who actually loves person C more who in turn.. ect..

I wont' be surprised if Manaka still has to struggle about her feelings for Tsumugu

And you have to admit, Miuna really did shoot herself in the foot..

I agreed with your music example, we tend to root for the underdog in the story that put out the most effort to gain that love in stories, mangas, movies etc because we feel that they are more deserving. But in real life, this might not be the case, one cant't force someone to love them back nor making yourself to return someone's feelings just because the person is a really good guy/girl. This reminds me of the song "Can't make you love me" >.>. It's sad but unrequited love is part of what makes us grow ^^

[Tenzen12]

It sound all nice and stuff, but in most cases it's just way to cover defeatest attitude. If one realy belived in it, there is no point in trying. Better just wait until some girlfriend magically fall dawn from sky.

Unfortunetely such things also happen only in fiction. It's pretty neet, cover own failure by pretty words like youthfull experience (...Wait, I think I heard than one before somewhere.)

[ices]

Or in this case wait when they magically pop up from the sea.

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by Key Board

And you have to admit, Miuna really did shoot herself in the foot..

How did Miuna shoot herself in the foot?

[Tenzen12]

By finding Manaka, despite knowing what consenquence it will have for her personal life.

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by Reckoner

The latest episode was better than the previous two now that Okada isn't completely flailing around with bad melodrama surrounding the irrelevant unrequited loves of Miuna and Sayu. Still though, Miuna is completely shoehorned into the main story here for no other reason here than simple pandering it feels like.

Pandering? How so?

[Birdway]

Originally Posted by Thess

None of those were made in a romantic framing, Hikari treated her as family. That Miuna misunderstood filial bond with a romantic one and then self-inserted herself in his past like she did in the last episode just proves her feelings are borderline unhealthy and immature. I reiterate, Sayu just has a crush on the charming bishounen of the cast which is pretty normal for a teenage girl. She's also self-aware it's dumb as hell but her hormones are acting up. She tries to move on while Miuna's hung up in an unhealthy fantasy world she imagines things and pines over someone she barely knew. The fact she longs to be part of his past is actually a clue that she's chasing after a fantasy. The way she pictures the school when in reality the school never had that many students is also a contrast of the world Miuna believes it existed and the cold hard facts.

A normal relationship wouldn't be one to be part of the past, but a person's present and future.

If that is your way of thinking the others are misunderstanding things which isn't there is no reason to shame about a romance that started as admiration. Isn't inmature or unhealthy, its pretty normal in this world. You really shouldn't try hard to portray it as some kind of crime or sin.

Oh, and the past isn't something to be ashamed of, tha past is part of our lifes, whether we use it as a basis for our life or whatever is a very personal matter that outsider has no right to tell them what to think about their own life.

Unhealthy would be someone like Yozora from Haganai who is so hung up on the past that he wants his love interest to go backwards in order to restart a relationship from the past.

Last episode me it clear that Miuna wanted to be part of the group back then, be underwater with them and attend their classes. That is a wishful thinking of inserting in someone's past and living a fantasy. It doesn't mean it's unusual for a little girl to fantasize over this, but it does hint her feelings are regressive and make her childish.

So is unusual for people like us to fantasize about other people(I don't ever met) and wish to be part of their lives? So does fantasizing to be part of some heroic historic tale or fantasizing over a famous person life makes me regressive and childish?


BTW:

Spoiler for underwater logic:

[Reckoner]

Originally Posted by Kanon

Pandering? How so?

Eating poki sticks while posing underwater is not enough?

Originally Posted by Haak

I didn't realise you could only have one.

He's been the main POV of the series, though not as true in the second cour as Enzo rightfully pointed out, so you would think he would be the most developed.

Other than him though, the balance of character development has been quite poor. They still have time though I hope to give Kaname and Tsumugu their just due.

[sikvod00]

*Shrugs* I didn't see that as pandering, but then again I know I'm not as cynical as you and others are about these types of things.

[Haak]

Originally Posted by Reckoner

He's been the main POV of the series, though not as true in the second cour as Enzo rightfully pointed out, so you would think he would be the most developed.

And clearly shows Okada has nothing against the Y chromosome, since it shows Okada not only has no issue in giving male characters screentime but also has no issue making them the only main POV in doing so.

Other than him though, the balance of character development has been quite poor. They still have time though I hope to give Kaname and Tsumugu their just due.

And hopefully Chisaki too.

[Reckoner]

Originally Posted by Haak

And clearly shows Okada has nothing against the Y chromosome, since it shows Okada not only has no issue in giving male characters screentime but also has no issue making them the only main POV in doing so.

What it shows to me is that Okada is capable of doing so. That's it.

Her bad tendencies as a writer have started coming out more and more in this second cour.

[Flower]

Originally Posted by Reckoner

What it shows to me is that Okada is capable of doing so. That's it.

Her bad tendencies as a writer have started coming out more and more in this second cour.

Well, if that's how you see it (combined with the pandering and such) then so be it, but on an overall level do you feel it is ruining the series for you? If so I kinda feel badly for you, because this really is an excellent series for me and the overall strengths far outweigh anything I have come across I may have thought was not to my liking. I guess I say "badly" here from a wish that you could enjoy the series as much as I (and perhaps others) have....

For me I just do not see what is being shown to be "pandering", per se, nor do I feel the writing has been any "worse"; I guess we will just have to disagree there. The things that bother you about the series simply don't bother me - but hey, that's fine, isn't it? ^^

For now I am going to reserve my overall judgement until the end of the series, simply because I have faith in the overall good track record I have been shown so far in the episodes. Who knows? Maybe I will be terribly dissappointed by a horrible end or delightfully surprised by something completely unexpected?