(L+CR) Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: Tensai-tachi no Renai Zunousen

[Cloudedmind]

It was OK. Not really feeling why this was so hyped personally.

I liked Fujiwara the most though.

[serenade_beta]

Spoiler for ep1:

First of all, the narrator needs to shut up.
In fact, the anime needs to calm down, if it wants to do 24 minutes.

You know that drum roll thing that people do when a joke is made?
That was pretty much what this episode did, except it drum rolled for the entire episode. And that... isn't funny. At the least, I see potential for this anime to be funny if it wasn't overreacting and over-narrating every scene.

As of now, it felt like every except the episode content took over the screen, so I found it hard to actually laugh at the anime.
Imagine sitting down to watch a movie. And you get to the funny scene and are about to laugh. And then some lunatic gets up and shouts "THIS IS FUNNY, PLEASE LAUGH!" and you end up sitting there with this emotionless face instead.

[Master_Yoma]

A very nice start Kaguya was just so cute wanting that octopus sausage

That opening looks like a 70s slash Bond

[Frontier]

The Opening was so out-of-left-field from what I was expecting, and with the visuals, that I actually thought it worked for this .

As a Manga reader I thought the visuals and presentation for this were top-notch and a true depiction of the Manga and it's style. Can't wait to see how much they cover with this, and it's nice to get some refresher on some material I forgot .

I wasn't quite sure about the voice cast when I first heard the trailer, but I was sold as soon as I started watching the episode, especially with Kaguya's. That "How Cute" was perfect .

Originally Posted by Eclar

I like how they adapted this episode.
Might be a nitpick from me, but I didn't like how the subs translated their names when they were addressing each other (like putting Chika when Kaguya was saying Fujiwara).

I was also distracted by them translating "Kaichou" as "Shirogane" even though Kaguya's not actually saying his name...

Like, it's one thing not to keep honorifics, but I think you should at least keep what the characters are actually calling each other consistent.

[frodonk]

I don't know how this would be any different from that juliet series last season, but I'll stick around a few more episodes.

[Lex79]

What does make you think it's the same as Juliet? The entire premises of the two series are different.

[WingedAccelerator]

Originally Posted by Frontier

I was also distracted by them translating "Kaichou" as "Shirogane" even though Kaguya's not actually saying his name...

Like, it's one thing not to keep honorifics, but I think you should at least keep what the characters are actually calling each other consistent.

The translation pretty much went with the choices made by the official english release of the manga.
When they are actually in the Student Council, it's quite questionable why would they think that using "President" and such doesn't make sense or sounds stupid to a point of complete change.

[zeando]

Reading the whole thing before the anime started was a good choice, the anime has good animation and maybe went overboard with the special effects, but the pace may be too fast to give you even the time to laugh after the jokes.

Wonder if this kind of pace is part of that trend in anime comedies to have machinegun speed for the jokes, it reminds of the speed mahoujin guru guru had.
It may work for the domestic audience, but if you've also to read subs it becomes hard to keep up with it.

Originally Posted by Cloudedmind

It was OK. Not really feeling why this was so hyped personally.

As everytime a new adaptation is hyped, who is hyping is basing their hype not on just one first episode, but on the whole serie(in manga form). So even if the manga was godly there is still a chance for the adaptation to don't live up to it, or to run things differently.

Anime onlys should really ignore the pre-airing hype, and decide for themselves.
The manga fans hype is just a kickstart.

[4th Dimension]

Especially since Kaguya calling him President allways is kinda core to her ojou polite officious persona.

[Cosmic Eagle]

The narrator seriously needs to chill a bit

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by zeando

As everytime a new adaptation is hyped, who is hyping is basing their hype not on just one first episode, but on the whole serie(in manga form). So even if the manga was godly there is still a chance for the adaptation to don't live up to it, or to run things differently.

Anime onlys should really ignore the pre-airing hype, and decide for themselves.
The manga fans hype is just a kickstart.

Agreed. As usual when an anime doesn't live up to its hype, it's because the manga itself took a few chapters to really find its legs, and because there is some loss in the adaptation.

[WingedAccelerator]

Originally Posted by 4th Dimension

Especially since Kaguya calling him President allways is kinda core to her ojou polite officious persona.

Makes you think how the official translation will go with the chapter, where Kaguya can't call him President anymore, but the others have no problem adjusting to Miyuki. So how would the joke go, if she uses Shirogane from the beginning? He is always going to be Shirogane to her? Yikes...

[4th Dimension]

TBH, any kind of by the book translation will pale next to the fan one that even bothered to translate raps to rhyme, that's dedication. But this kind of thing makes me wonder why do they do this shit. Especially when you can hear that she didn't call him that.

[Tactics]

Translation aside, I'd say what lessen the impact of first episode is the comedy timing and how the narrator delivered his lines.

IMO, the narrator deliver it fast as 'this is what happened on their head' instead of 'they treated it as war, guys!'
Still, how he did can't be considered as mistake given it would ask slower narration which not fitting two-three chapters adaptation thanks to the amount of text.
The comedy timing itself somewhat dragged under Not!Shaft style. Example is when the table became longer, making it kinda obvious neither of them will caught the 'sugar supply' after previous presentation.

Other than that, the first episode showing how the VA managed to get good grasp of their character compare to the PV.
Shirogane and Fujiwara truly showing what's the character personality. Kaguya VA managed to shift firmly between her facade and inner mind easily tells the decision why she's picked.

[DragoonKain3]

I'm honestly surprised how critical this board is of Kaguya-sama. I honestly thought it was a better pilot episode than 5toubun, and I'm pretty darn crazy about that series. Not that I don't like this series... on the contrary, this very "KareKano-like" relationship was the reason why I liked it in the first place. I mean sure, IMO Kaguya loses a bit of steam in the middle while 5toubun's mysteries just becomes much more interesting to figure out, but strictly speaking from the beginning, Kaguya-sama has the better hook.

Oh plus, the animation/direction is truly top notch. The Shaft-style really lends well to Kaguya, as it has a lot of exposition so over-the-top stills gives it great impact. Sure VAs are fittting at best, but I still think overall it was great.

Whatever the case may be, looks like Crunchyroll wins this cour, as they got my #1 and #2 anticipated anime. Would have been nice to get the third romance anime in Domestic na Kanojo, but I guess you can't win them all. XD

[felix]

Originally Posted by DragoonKain3

I'm honestly surprised how critical this board is of Kaguya-sama.

I feel the narrator part is fine, but just that it better not be the shape of things to come, ie. "one scene happens, [insert 5min of narrator drama], scene is diffused" Other then that I think the premise is very powerful, the cast we've seen so far seems perfectly fine, though I'm worried that it's gonna be an anime with very small cast (just 4 characters?). It wouldn't be so problematic, but 2 of the characters are the gender swap of themselves and one is an airhead.........

[Botan_TM]

Originally Posted by DragoonKain3

I'm honestly surprised how critical this board is of Kaguya-sama.

I would say, that long discussions about some details tells that show is liked. Rather lack of any discussions or just short rants about how everything in show is bad could be a bas sign.

So far it seems to get then dating they have to go MAD

Spoiler for If you do not get it:

Mutual Assured Destruction

[RRW]

Well I want to talk about Kaguya VA performance. I honestly believe she did excellent job especially for newcomer. Kaguya have 3 "mode". you have your oujo-sama mode with ara ara. Then you have yandere mode with menacing voice, lastly you have her cute side. Aoi Koga manage to switch this mode smoothly without breaking her character to much. She is certainly new VA that need to watch for. I hope this is her breakout role

[felix]

Originally Posted by RRW

Well I want to talk about Kaguya VA performance. I honestly believe she did excellent job especially for newcomer. Kaguya have 3 "mode". you have your oujo-sama mode with ara ara. Then you have yandere mode with menacing voice, lastly you have her cute side. Aoi Koga manage to switch this mode smoothly without breaking her character to much. She is certainly new VA that need to watch for. I hope this is her breakout role

Well... yes but don't a ton of VAs have to do a ton of VA roles? Both small roles and main roles. Sure some do the same voice over and over because it's very liked.

[RRW]

Oh Another thing is that those who complain about it being narrator heavy. not all chapter is like this.

Originally Posted by felix

Well... yes but don't a ton of VAs have to do a ton of VA roles? Both small roles and main roles. Sure some do the same voice over and over because it's very liked.

the thing that impressive about her is that

1) She is relatively new. This is pretty her first big role. the closest is Tenshi no 3P!
2) She can do multiple type of voice in matter of minutes as you can see in Lunchbox part.