(L) Robotics;Notes

[NoemiChan]

Hehehe.... the ending scene was romantic at some point... the mood was so right for a kiss to just occur. Too bad it didn't happen...

[Unknown Soldier]

What's important about this episode is that it establishes how much Kai cares for Aki, even though he spends all his time playing KILL-BALLAD and apparently ignoring her. He's not hanging around her for no reason, that much is obvious. He has to be her onii-chan because Misa asked him to. Why he does so and what exactly it is that ties these three together will hopefully be revealed later on, probably when it would be dramatic to do so.

[Insane]

Hmm, somehow i feel that this show share several similarities with Little Busters! :
-The main character has some syndrome that maybe tie with main plot.
-Want to accomplish something before graduated from school.
-The club is moving by people who was friends since childhood.
-Both are come from Visual novel that the predecessor both doing too good job.Many people expect too many good thing from the later.
-On-air in same season.the story progressing is nearly in the same pace and both have enough of potential drama and huge surprising plot.

It’s very amusing to see those series take its setting apart from each other completely. Now they’re different because one was baseball and begin with five people (if you include Kengo). They didn’t take itself too seriously and more focus on friendship.
But Robotics;notes focus more on club activity while try to add character department in the same time and definitely will reveal some serious plot.

[Ghanw]

Well both RN and LB both were VN before they were made into an anime. Right now RN is slow paced but will pick up and get interseting and i also want to see how they will continue it to the end.

[Jan-Poo]

Well... I think there's a huge difference in style and storytelling between Key and Nitroplus...

I don't really expect many similarities apart a few premises.

[Klashikari]

You can't exactly call that Nitroplus to begin with, since the "science;" series is more of a property of 5pb, with the assistance of Nitroplus. Nitroplus usual stuff is even more different than the science series and Key stuff.

[Midonin]

When dealing with visual novel stuff, I find looking at the writer is often more important than the company. Though companies can often share staff across multiple projects defining their identity in the first place, that's not always the case. As for what this means for R;N, not all Nitro+ stuff is written by the same team, but all of the Science Adventure series is. I'm sure it will prove that it belongs in this trilogy, and nowhere else, soon enough.

[Cyrogen]

Poor old guy, don't think that will be the last of the discounts he has to give out.

[Kaioshin Sama]

Man after this episode I kind of sense a kindred spirit in Akiho. Nobody around her really seems to take her passion for mecha seriously and everyone looks upon her as merely wasting her time and think that her hobby is worthless and even go so far as to scorn her for it yet it only gets her down just a little and she still manages to maintain the Soul of Chogokin and her enthusiasm for her cause. I have a feeling we have an early favorite candidate here for my favorite heroine of the season.

Originally Posted by Jan-Poo

Well... I think there's a huge difference in style and storytelling between Key and Nitroplus...

I don't really expect many similarities apart a few premises.

I'll just say that I find the comedic value in this series light years ahead of anything I've seen in Little Busters! so far, but that might just come down to preference in the subject matter more than anything.

[desrtsku]

Originally Posted by Kaioshin Sama

I have a feeling we have an early favorite candidate here for my favorite heroine of the season.

Then, that's something we have in common.

[Ghanw]

No make that wes (even though its not a word), her personality is what i like, it's like i dont care what people think i will do what i want.

[Triple_R]

I like Akiho, I like the artistic direction/style, and I actually kind of like this slow, meticulous build-up approach that the show is taking so far (since I see enough thought and care behind it to think it'll lead to a good payoff).

That being said, I agree with many of the criticisms that Klashikari made a page or two ago.

The main thing holding the show back, imo, is that its core and overriding character dynamic through the first two episodes is "High-energy impassioned girl drags snarky disinterested guy off to help her advance her passion in life".

This particular character dynamic has simply been done to death in anime over the last few years - KyoAni in particular has made nothing short of an art form out of it.

So here's the thing - You can't play this entirely straight and have it be all that entertaining any more. It's just too worn out. There has to be some twist to it, or the characters involved in it have to have some major stand-out appeal, to make it work any more. It also helps a lot if there's other major characters that play the two sides off against each other (this is what helps this character dynamic a lot in Haruhi, Hyouka, and Chunnibyou).

This robots club really needs to get another member or two, and soon.

[Midonin]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

You can't play this entirely straight and have it be all that entertaining any more. It's just too worn out.

According to who, exactly?

I'm as big an Akiho fan as any other person, though, because of my personal umwelt, I think it's coming from a slightly different place. More because she's a passionate fan of something, and that it happens to be robots is merely a bonus. The similarities with other things I'm watching at the moment also play a part in it, as well as her VA.

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by Midonin

According to who, exactly?

I'm not saying the dynamic can't work. After all, it's working fine in Chunnibyou right now.

It's just that I think the dynamic works best when you have other important characters that the leads can play off of. But hopefully that'll come in time, anyway.

[Kanon]

The reason it doesn't work here is that Kai is entirely dull. His reaction (or lack thereof) are not entertaining for the audience. All he ever does is play his game and he doesn't really care what happens around him even when he is (indirectly) involved. Aki is basically putting on a one woman show.

[Jan-Poo]

Kai does care. He's already helping Akiho a lot. She's quite enthusiastic but she wouldn't be able to do anything by herself.

Her chances of winning the upcoming robot contest are absolutely zero. But With kaito controlling the hobby robot using a kill ballad interface they'll probably win.

And the one who's proposing that is Kaito himself. Then one who found out the doc's granddaughter (who is bound to join the club) is Kaito. The one who managed to convince the doc to give Akiho those extra parts is yet again Kaito.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and predict that once again it will be Kaito who will convince Subaru to join them, after Akiho repeatedly failed.

I hardly see how he could do all of this if he didn't care.
The only real problem is that he's so good at pretending that he doesn't care, that he's still as boring as someone who actually doesn't.

[Kaoru Chujo]

Originally Posted by Kanon

The reason it doesn't work here is that Kai is entirely dull. His reaction (or lack thereof) are not entertaining for the audience. All he ever does is play his game and he doesn't really care what happens around him even when he is (indirectly) involved. Aki is basically putting on a one woman show.

Actually, for me he is so negative that he becomes positive. His personality has to be really strong to persist through all the moments when in an ordinary anime he would give in and openly help. It's a weird effect.

[Kaioshin Sama]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

This particular character dynamic has simply been done to death in anime over the last few years - KyoAni in particular has made nothing short of an art form out of it.

So here's the thing - You can't play this entirely straight and have it be all that entertaining any more. It's just too worn out. There has to be some twist to it, or the characters involved in it have to have some major stand-out appeal, to make it work any more. It also helps a lot if there's other major characters that play the two sides off against each other (this is what helps this character dynamic a lot in Haruhi, Hyouka, and Chunnibyou).

This robots club really needs to get another member or two, and soon.

Why is it suddenly not okay now and a detriment to a story after all this time? I never saw people arguing in the threads for any of the shows you mentioned let alone Chuuni which is one that's currently airing that the concept is worn and thus there's no life to the narrative so I don't understand why it should be a problem here unless there's a major double standard going on. Not that I disagree with you completely, but I think this is the first time I've ever seen a mecha spin on the whole club thing even though I admit it's something that has been done to death, but again why is it suddenly a problem now, but okay in say any given Kyoani show like Chuunibyou. Also why because one particular studio in your own words has taken the concept and run with it almost to death should all other creators now have to suffer for it in basically having the idea attributed to their concept that it is overexposed because of one particular facet of the storyline and thus can't make for a good story? Who says this has to follow completely in the footsteps of something like K-On or Haruhi anyway or that there's no room to tread some unexpected or even unfamiliar ground in the following vast majority of the shows run (20 episodes by my count)?

Also patience is something of a virtue I've come to understand with this sort of show which admittedly I would not be watching if the building a robot aspect didn't catch my interest versus say starting a Light Music Club. I didn't see people railing against Chuuni in the first two episodes where it was mostly just Yuuta who is arguably even more stubborn and sarcastic than Kaito interacting with Rikka who is arguably even more delusional and bubbly than Akiho and now in the third episode they have a new club member and everyone is all the more happy for it. It should be quite obvious from the opening and some telegraphing from other characters that more people are going to be joining their club. They can't do this on their own after all. Also there are plenty of other characters that the two have interacted with so far and have given their own opinions and contributions to the matter so I fail to see how this show has little life to it's character interactions and is a one person show like some are arguing.

So yeah really not seeing how this type of argument is fair to apply to one particular show and one only while it's perfectly fine for other shows to pursue this kind of slower paced club based dynamic and plotline unquestioned and without it being held against it for even a second. I just see a lot of problems with this sort of argument going on here and how it's being applied very specifically to this case and not others.

Originally Posted by Kanon

The reason it doesn't work here is that Kai is entirely dull. His reaction (or lack thereof) are not entertaining for the audience. All he ever does is play his game and he doesn't really care what happens around him even when he is (indirectly) involved. Aki is basically putting on a one woman show.

He clearly pretends not to care but has shown multiple times that he very much is interested in the well-being of Akiho. Why would he shop around trying to find a way to get a discount off of the Doc of his own volition using his own free time after school if he did not care at all. That to me right there is a sure sign that there's more to him than just, "I'll do x if you beat me at my game". If you need further proof he recited the whole elephant and mouth syndrome thing that Akiho has to the audience as well as the indication that he had some sort of historical relationship with her family and then stayed to make sure that everything was alright so yeah the doesn't care and is completely dull thing doesn't hold much water.

Originally Posted by LKK

Is anyone else wondering about that aurora borealis we've seen twice now? I don't think the aurora borealis is a common sight over Japan. That says to me something drastic has happened to the world to produce it. Perhaps related to the incident 9 years ago and perhaps related to the source of Aki's fast-forwarding illness.

I definitely got the impression that it was supposed to be related to just that. I don't see why they would keep focusing on that visual cue while talking about the incident and Aki's strange affliction otherwise.

[Kanon]

Right. He does care about Akiho, there's no doubt about that. He wouldn't stick with her otherwise. But I feel she's the only thing he cares about. He doesn't seem interested in the robot competition, the building of Gunvarrel or anything else besides Akiho's happiness for that matter. That makes him rather dull in my eyes. I wish he were a little bit more outgoing. As of now, he's a bore to watch for me.

[Kaioshin Sama]

Originally Posted by Kanon

Right. He does care about Akiho, there's no doubt about that. He wouldn't stick with her otherwise. But I feel she's the only thing he cares about. He doesn't seem interested in the robot competition, the building of Gunvarrel or anything else besides Akiho's happiness for that matter. That makes him rather dull in my eyes. I wish he were a little bit more outgoing. As of now, he's a bore to watch for me.

Well, and this is just pure speculation, I think something might have happened 9 years ago that made him the way he is today and that there's more to him and his story than is immediately obvious, but I'm simply basing this off of some subtle cues and the talks he had regarding Akiho's sister. I get the sense that she was very important to him and that whatever transpired that resulted in what appears to have been his untimely demise deeply affected him.

Also this would make this show the second series I'm watching where a dead sister has been a driving force for the motivations of more than a couple characters. I'm actually curious to find out more about her and precisely what happened so that in and of itself is a bit of a hook for me.

I will agree that Kaito is a bit of a mopey dullard (albeit with a heart of gold it seems), but IMO no more so than characters like Kyon from Haruhi or Oreki from Hyouka were early on. Again we're talking about only the second episode where we are just starting to learn more about what makes these characters tick besides giant robots. If he's still a dull and uninspiring character 10 episodes from now then I'll have a lot more to say about the matter, but somehow I doubt it and I think a simple matter of patience and sticking with the show will see the day through on this matter. I'll just say rare is the two cour anime series where I've completely fallen in love with the core cast after only 40 minutes. Usually it takes at least a month for me to really start getting into a cast and to get a feel for what makes them tick.