Kami nomi/TWGOK - Episode 4 Discussion / Poll

[Chaos2Frozen]

Originally Posted by Jimmy C

Keima should consider himself lucky that a nonprogramming solution was possible to bypass the bugs. Had it been that bad, no amount of effort would have done any good.

Keima's romantic ideas aside, I'm certain the game is indeed that bad as shown that even if he did break the loop, the program would not proceed any further

[DJLowrider]

I've been enjoying this series so far, but this filler episode just fell flat for me. It also had that good ol' "Endless Eight" feel to it, which did not help. 6/10 for me. Hopefully next week things pick back up a bit.

[Wrath88]

It's not so much filler as it is character development for Keima. 'Filler' would apply when we already know a lot about that main character, but they're just repeating it.

Still, it was hell watching the thing repeat, and repeat, and repeat... 7/10.

[DJLowrider]

If that episode was meant as character development for him, it failed miserably. I didn't get anything out of it other than reinforcing Keima's obsession with games and game heroines over reality and real people. The past 3 episodes did a bang-up job of proving that point already so this one didn't break any new ground there. Had it provided an actual reason for said obsession, that would've been development.

[MartianMage]

Finished watching it. It was ok(gave it 7/10). Admittedly the looping part could have been shorter. I think they went for a full episode this time cause even if they made the loop sequence shorter it would have been more awkward if they tried to rush a capture chapter seeing that there's still not enough time even if the loop was shortened.

On the upside Keima's animated epic rants are hilarious. "The 2nd disc is only patches! AHOU!"

Although TBH I'd prefer Manglobe sticking to the correct chapter sequence.

[quigonkenny]

Originally Posted by Kuroi Sabato

Although TBH I'd prefer Manglobe sticking to the correct chapter sequence.

That is the only complaint about this episode so far that I can agree with... I see no reason why they would have moved it, as of yet, and the events that happened at this time in the manga would have been enlightening...

[Kotohono]

Great episode overall with plenty of comedy well balanced, though I thought 1/2~3/4 of an episode would have fine for this episode, but if the next girl will take 2 or 3 full episodes I can see why they pushed it here rather than start the next one now.

Originally Posted by Divini

Wow, I'm seriously surprised they made a whole episode out of this! (which only took 1 chapter)

The best part was:

"You can't save in this game." (bishie sparkle)
Cue blimp with the words: "Oh my GOD!!!!!!!!"

Seriously I literally rofl'd at this part and the part where he said "The game doesn't turn on two times out of three." .

[Clarste]

What's with this false dichotomy people keep setting up? It's not "either a full episode of this or start the next arc early". That's never been the case. They could've had this as half an episode and then another short filler story about Keima's normal life as the second half. That's not rushing through the story, it's just setting better pacing for the storytelling of this episode.

[MartianMage]

Originally Posted by Clarste

What's with this false dichotomy people keep setting up? It's not "either a full episode of this or start the next arc early". That's never been the case. They could've had this as half an episode and then another short filler story about Keima's normal life as the second half. That's not rushing through the story, it's just setting better pacing for the storytelling of this episode.

IMO even cutting the loop sequence there still wouldn't be enough time to do the "god mode" filler chapter. Asides from the loop sequence I really didn't think the other parts were drawn out really.

[Clarste]

They could have cut out minor scenes, gone through things slightly faster, etc etc. Cutting a minute or two in lots of places adds up pretty quickly. That's exactly what they've been doing in previous episodes.

[quigonkenny]

Originally Posted by Clarste

What's with this false dichotomy people keep setting up? It's not "either a full episode of this or start the next arc early". That's never been the case. They could've had this as half an episode and then another short filler story about Keima's normal life as the second half. That's not rushing through the story, it's just setting better pacing for the storytelling of this episode.

They obviously thought highly of this manga chapter, so giving it only half an episode was never going to be an option. And there was nothing wrong with the pacing; it was just slower than the rest of the series to date. And besides, what do you think they used to help "pad out" this chapter to a full episode? Short filler about Keima's normal life. The walk to school was completely new, and the Kodama-sensei bit was inspired by bits from later chapters. The actual chapter doesn't start until about 5:30.

The "start the next arc early" comes from the Mio Arc, which was started in the middle of episode 2. I'm pretty sure that's going to be the exception for how they do it, though, since most the early capture arcs are four chapters, which fits neatly into two episodes.

[Clarste]

Originally Posted by quigonkenny

They obviously thought highly of this manga chapter, so giving it only half an episode was never going to be an option. And there was nothing wrong with the pacing; it was just slower than the rest of the series to date. And besides, what do you think they used to help "pad out" this chapter to a full episode? Short filler about Keima's normal life. The walk to school was completely new, and the Kodama-sensei bit was inspired by bits from later chapters. The actual chapter doesn't start until about 5:30.

Well, if that's your attitude then yes, it's exactly perfect for what it is. That's a meaningless way to judge things though. "Giving it half an episode was never an option"? Of course it was, they just didn't. And a portion of the audience was displeased by this. They screwed up a chance a to make the show better. This isn't the worst thing ever that will ruin the show for all eternity or anything exaggerated like that, but it wasn't up to par for a portion of the audience. Saying, after the fact, that is could only have been this way is missing the point entirely.

As for the padding, yes, it was padding. Padding is bad. Padding wastes time without being either funny or emotional. They could've had more jokes instead of pointless padding. They could have had the same number of jokes in less time. It could have simply been a better episode.

I'm not saying you're wrong for liking it, and perhaps you'd like it less if the changes I envision had taken place. But defending it in the way you are, as if it was inevitable and that complainers are just whining about nothing, misunderstands the nature of criticism. I think this could have been a better episode than it was if it stuck closer to the pacing of previous episodes. That's all.

[noktown]

God,I love how they rename stuff like PFP and Windoes 7 Ultimate rofl.

[quigonkenny]

Originally Posted by Clarste

Well, if that's your attitude then yes, it's exactly perfect for what it is. That's a meaningless way to judge things though. "Giving it half an episode was never an option"? Of course it was, they just didn't. And a portion of the audience was displeased by this. They screwed up a chance a to make the show better. This isn't the worst thing ever that will ruin the show for all eternity or anything exaggerated like that, but it wasn't up to par for a portion of the audience. Saying, after the fact, that is could only have been this way is missing the point entirely.

How can you reconcile those two statements? You can't please all the people all the time. Most people did think that the episode was well done this way, as evidenced by the poll results and comments over the last several pages. For a lot of those people, alloting only half an episode to the chapter might have not "made the show better". Is your opinion, and that of those who agree with you, so much more weighty than theirs? Hell, you yourself may have been disappointed with a "same pace" version of the chapter; considering we didn't get that, I guess we'll never know...

As for my "was never going to be an option" statement (not "could only have been"; there is a connotative difference because "was" =/= "could"), this is the kind of chapter that begs to be expanded upon. It's standalone even in comparison to most of the other "non-capture" chapters, and serves as an easy opportunity to embellish upon the contained story. Plus it's a popular chapter among manga readers. It's an ideal opportunity for the anime makers to flex their own creative muscles, especially in a series that is already so much like an anime in pacing and visualization. (The chapter it "replaced" is also like that, as I'm sure will be illustrated later in the season.) Of course Manglobe was going to expand it out to a full chapter. Not only is this something we already knew (one of the first solid bits of information we received concerning the adaptation), but it was fairly obvious. We may disagree on its execution, but if you didn't expect it, as a manga reader, then you really haven't been paying too much attention to how anime studios adapt projects...

Originally Posted by Clarste

As for the padding, yes, it was padding. Padding is bad. Padding wastes time without being either funny or emotional.

If the padding in this episode did any of those things, I might agree with you. As it is, it did a nice job of setting up Keima for the rest of the episode and showing both his dedication to the game world (in his outward ignoring of the real) and his considerable experience at doing so (in his ability to still completely take in his real surroundings). Is it development? No. It's a fleshing out of the character. It shows, like some things that were removed from previous episodes, that while he appears to be near autistic with his game fixation, he is still very functional, and scary intelligent.

[Kanon]

I see I wasn't the only one reminded of the Endless eight nightmare. That was pretty much Endless eight: the game. I feel you, Keima, I feel you... you know you're getting trolled but you can't stop watching/playing hoping it will end soon. At the end of the day, was it worth it? Probably not.

[Clarste]

Originally Posted by quigonkenny

How can you reconcile those two statements? You can't please all the people all the time. Most people did think that the episode was well done this way, as evidenced by the poll results and comments over the last several pages. For a lot of those people, alloting only half an episode to the chapter might have not "made the show better". Is your opinion, and that of those who agree with you, so much more weighty than theirs? Hell, you yourself may have been disappointed with a "same pace" version of the chapter; considering we didn't get that, I guess we'll never know...

The average for this poll is significantly lower than previous episodes. While you can't please everyone all the time, it's presumably the job of the studios to please as many people as possible. The outliers who would like it no matter what they do are less important than those who were previously satisfied but are suddenly not.

As for my "was never going to be an option" statement (not "could only have been"; there is a connotative difference because "was" =/= "could"), this is the kind of chapter that begs to be expanded upon. It's standalone even in comparison to most of the other "non-capture" chapters, and serves as an easy opportunity to embellish upon the contained story. Plus it's a popular chapter among manga readers. It's an ideal opportunity for the anime makers to flex their own creative muscles, especially in a series that is already so much like an anime in pacing and visualization. (The chapter it "replaced" is also like that, as I'm sure will be illustrated later in the season.) Of course Manglobe was going to expand it out to a full chapter. Not only is this something we already knew (one of the first solid bits of information we received concerning the adaptation), but it was fairly obvious. We may disagree on its execution, but if you didn't expect it, as a manga reader, then you really haven't been paying too much attention to how anime studios adapt projects...

They didn't have to expand anything, nor did they have to flex any creative muscles ever. Many adaptations do not. Personally, I'm not fond of their creative muscles, and would prefer them to not flex them if possible.

If the padding in this episode did any of those things, I might agree with you. As it is, it did a nice job of setting up Keima for the rest of the episode and showing both his dedication to the game world (in his outward ignoring of the real) and his considerable experience at doing so (in his ability to still completely take in his real surroundings). Is it development? No. It's a fleshing out of the character. It shows, like some things that were removed from previous episodes, that while he appears to be near autistic with his game fixation, he is still very functional, and scary intelligent.

They could have done those same things while also telling a funny story. It's not mutually exclusive.

[DJ Trouble]

Originally Posted by quigonkenny

You'd be better off complaining about Ranma's Ukyo carrying around that giant spatula all the time...

Actually, I was wondering why no one seems to care that she's always got it on her when she slipped in the classroom. xD

[Xacual]

Honestly maybe they just looked over their plans for the season and what they needed to cover and decided that expanding this chapter to fit a whole episode worked better than starting a new arc this episode or using a different Keima chapter to fill time. I think we should wait until the whole season has aired before we argue that they wasted a ton of time because they expanded one chapter.

I liked this episode and it does count as character development for Keima. Before we saw that yes he played games instead of doing his work. This time we saw that to him games were more than just games and that the heroines in those games were actually important to him. We had hints of that before but this episode clearly declared it for us. Also that he could clearly answer teacher questions despite being focused on a game.

[khryoleoz]

I also loved this episode. It was a fun and very interesting way to flesh out Keima's character and show what propels him and further display to what extent he will do what is necessary to achieve his ends, all of which make him a very likable odd-ball. And it is his steady resolve that we will endoubtedly see help him in future captures/crises. Elsea's cuteness is not gonna wear thin any time soon, and I doubt that it ever will for me.

Comparisons in feel to Endless Eight are way off the mark. There's a remarkable difference between the experience of watching 8 variations the length of full episodes each and watching some amusing recurring scenes in a single episode.

[Asuras]

This episode didn't exactly appeal to my id, but still developed nonetheless. There's nothing worse than a stagnant episode with no purpose.
I like the parts where he goes for the girl (reason I'm watching it in the first place), but this works as well.

Or does it?

I pretty much already got the jist of his video game fixation and the degree to which it controls his life, but did they really need to explain it like this? For a full episode?

'Meh' I say to this. Hopefully the next one sends my anima aflutter.