(CR) Witchcraft Works [anime]

[Razdent]

Originally Posted by kujoe

Well, the anime did lessen Ayaka's height...

and so, they nerfed Honoka's abs as well.

It's a strange decision to be honest. Perhaps it was too much work?

Spoiler for episode 8 stuff:

I can see it that way, but I don't really think making Ayaka shorter affected the story much at all though. As long as she is noticeably taller than Honoka I don't have a problem with it since the contrasts between them remained the same even though she is taller in the manga. However, not showing Honoka's great physique will probably directly lessen the impact of some of the dialogue in the next episode iirc. If the anime staff decided to remove his abs completely from this adaptation it'll be a little disappointing since it undermines his characters personality. What really sucks about it for me is that back when I read the manga, I had thought that the entire nurse scene was specifically for that reveal. Oh well, the rest of the episode was great. I always wondered what Honoka looked like in that fight scene, not bad. He looks like some kind of villain character in that state haha.

[Drkz]

Originally Posted by philip72

Nurse Kagari

Spoiler for size:

I was a little disappointed with this scene. Honoka's supposed to be ripped here. His great muscle definition is a plot point.

Spoiler for size:

They'll probably add it in the BDS when they redraw scenes

[Myssa Rei]

... Except JC Staff doesn't do Blu-Ray corrections.

[ID555]

Maybe they're saving the body for later?? lol

[TJR]

Originally Posted by Myssa Rei

... Except JC Staff doesn't do Blu-Ray corrections.

It depends on the production. I've yet to see a show with a lot of redone animation, but key frames are sometimes redrawn, plus there can be adjustments to the lighting and filters. Other shows are left mostly untouched.

In any case, we'll learn soon enough if this change is intentional.

[Drkz]

Originally Posted by philip72

***,*83位/***,*76位 ★ (**2,903 pt) [*,*45予約] 2014/03/26 ウィッチクラフトワークス 1 [Blu-ray]

If you don't count the Sonico with figma package (and I don't), Witch Craft Works is sitting in third place in total BD presales. Only Chuuni 2 and Seitokai Yakuindomo are beating it.

Of course it's still largely being ignored by western fandom... the idiots...

Doesn't matter you really don't want unnecessary fanfare in a thread you enjoy or you'll just facepalm at the ____ questions

[ellessarr]

Originally Posted by philip72

***,*83位/***,*76位 ★ (**2,903 pt) [*,*45予約] 2014/03/26 ウィッチクラフトワークス 1 [Blu-ray]

If you don't count the Sonico with figma package (and I don't), Witch Craft Works is sitting in third place in total BD presales. Only Chuuni 2 and Seitokai Yakuindomo are beating it.

Of course it's still largely being ignored by western fandom... the idiots...

this is due to the "manliness" problem, what make me sometimes dont get what is inside peoples, a guy like honora is a offense, but guy like raul(yuusha) and other harem mcs who sometimes act much more gay or completly coward toward girls are fine (i feel particularly more offended with raul and others mcs than honora wich at last dont "run" or panics with girls), i see in many foruns and sites aways honora being the center of all the hate, but sometimes i feel him more manlike than 70 to 80% of harem mcs or even no harem mcs.

because their see him being the damsell in distress their also feel like being damsell in distress since the logic is "who their like feel them being the mc and being the damsel in distress is not cool.

but really this anime is being very popular is a good sign we can get another season in future, a thing who for me gonna be a few strange is who now we have 4 to 5 episodes left and the next arc who is comming is something like 12 to 14 chapters(means 6 to 7 episodes) how a too much big arc gonna be done in 4 or 5 episodes????? or we gonna get a very big cut or the series gonna end in the middle of a arc or we gonna get a original ending, next episode is the beginner of the new arc(actually this episode could be considered already the beginner) and will be a long and full of action and revelations arc.

[Drkz]

Its not a harem series. Its a shounen shoujou esque series. Majority of the motifs in the series is mainly for girls not guys. The problem a lot of westerners have is the fact the male lead isn't your archetype male strong lead. After all the series is about witches not wizards.

[liemtodaisu]

Originally Posted by Drkz

Its not a harem series. Its a shounen shoujou esque series. Majority of the motifs in the series is mainly for girls not guys. The problem a lot of westerners have is the fact the male lead isn't your archetype male strong lead. After all the series is about witches not wizards.

What I mean is not about the genre, it's his personality and character trait.

[ookamigirl]

Kagari sure was clueless even though she's so unbelievably smart.
Guess this was an insight into her first days at school.
As time passed she became more and more popular.
She also kept on looking for him.
If only she'd known he'd come to her some day.
Their house sure became crowded recently LOL
Takamiya as student council president = serious problems.
Fun episode ^^"

[VTHokiePride]

So the first few minutes, was it love at first sight for Kagari? She did all that with the other 2 witches so he could notice her?

[TJR]

Originally Posted by liemtodaisu

Yep, Honoka is a princess and is damsel in distress in this series. However, he is not acting like a wuss like other harem leads, or other kind of male characters in other manga or anime. In fact, he's willing to sacrifice himself to save Kagari many times even though he's not that strong (yet), not afraid to choose logical ways and can make decision by himself as well.

The same problem remains though. A wuss who plays hero but consistently proves otherwise irritates viewers (who happen to hold specific beliefs on what defines masculinity or heroism). In fact, he isn't just a wuss, but he's also an idiot who can't take a hint.

The other complaint is that the story isn't very original so far. IMO, the biggest strengths would be the visual gags (a Tsutomu Mizushima specialty, and they're just as twisted and entertaining here) and quirky sense of humour, but many people don't seem to care.

[zero7090]

nurse + megane Ayaka

[Birdway]

How is important if the anime didn't show Honoka's abs?

Originally Posted by Myssa Rei

... Except JC Staff doesn't do Blu-Ray corrections.

Oh, they do, I remember some, not often but they do.

[Myssa Rei]

Originally Posted by Birdway

How is important if the anime didn't show Honoka's abs?

It becomes a bit of a running gag later, and many characters comment on it.

[kujoe]

Originally Posted by philip72

No, she'd been deliberately looking for him all along because *spoilers*.

One can easily see that there are already pieces in place.

A few episodes ago, Honoka had surmised that Ayaka felt somewhat familiar to him as if they've met before, and Ayaka went even further to suggest that it's as if their memories had been tampered with.

Flashback to middle school, and we see Ayaka intending on finding Honoka, but she didn't know which school he was enrolled in. So it takes her an entire school year, checking out every co-ed and boys middle school until she found him. Honoka didn't recognize or even notice her, but somehow Ayaka knew who he was.

(Cabbage Roll Middle School is best school by the way.)

There's also the fact that for some reason, Evermillion is sealed within Honoka, and for this Ayaka has been his bodyguard for quite some time, presumably after she found him and after he and she started going to the same high school. There's also the vision that Honoka saw just as his magic came to life a bit, during the duel at the gymnasium, of a girl on a green field—the very same one featured in the opening.


On another note, the battle for who's the bigger weirdo:

Touko vs. Honoka's mom!

Who's gonna win??

[mangamuscle]

Originally Posted by kujoe

Well, the anime did lessen Ayaka's height...

and so, they nerfed Honoka's abs as well.

It's a strange decision to be honest. Perhaps it was too much work?

Since no one has find the right answer I will have to spell it. If you notice this anime is (in general) produced for heterosexual males (maybe lesbians will also dig it, statistically speaking is hard to say). The idea about selling this kind of products (it also includes manga and videogames) is that the spectator somehow sees a little of himself in the lead characters. That is why shounen characters are most of the time teens (or young adults at most), older people are support chatacters. Ok, what percentage of the people that might buy this in japan do you think has a six pack? 1%? What is worst, make the character too athletic looking (to please the female audience) and many otaku will no longer feel any empathy with said character. I know there are plenty of muscular male leads in manga and anime, but this is another kind of demographic (the opposite in a sense, just like yuri/yaoi do not overlap most of the time); I can almost bet the manga offices probably received a lot of fanmail saying the lead was too athletic and the anime production took note.

Originally Posted by ellessarr

but really this anime is being very popular is a good sign we can get another season in future,

Yep, in the far future (think Seitokai Yakuindomo). What exites me is that we might see more of this KIND of anime.

a thing who for me gonna be a few strange is who now we have 4 to 5 episodes left and the next arc who is comming is something like 12 to 14 chapters(means 6 to 7 episodes) how a too much big arc gonna be done in 4 or 5 episodes????? or we gonna get a very big cut or the series gonna end in the middle of a arc or we gonna get a original ending, next episode is the beginner of the new arc(actually this episode could be considered already the beginner) and will be a long and full of action and revelations arc.

My bet is that we are about to get into action packed episodes, the kind that if you blink or grab a chocolate bar you will lose an important detail, better fasten your seatbelts.

[KleenexGhost]

At last Rinon-sama!

Noriko Shitaya was great. She even did the heavy breathing that I really liked when she was Kyoko from KoreZom

[Razdent]

Originally Posted by TJR

The same problem remains though. A wuss who plays hero but consistently proves otherwise irritates viewers (who happen to hold specific beliefs on what defines masculinity or heroism). In fact, he isn't just a wuss, but he's also an idiot who can't take a hint.

liemtodaisu's post that you quoted does negate the very criticism that you responded with so I honestly have no idea what you mean by, "the same problem remains though". I'm not saying your statement is wrong, a wuss that plays hero but consistently proves otherwise certainly would irritate viewers for sure. I just don't think people aren't watching this show for the specific reasons you stated, because it makes absolutely no sense if that's the case. I don't think Honoka's actions even from the very beginning would be enough to drive people away from this series. Most of the complaints that I've seen about Honoka seem to be misplaced (he's just a small factor of what I think the issues people have with this series) or just completely warped and those are just from the minority. Maybe people with questionable comprehension skills are witnessing Honoka fail at everything he tries to do to improve his situation but that's probably the only way that criticism could be taken as valid. Anyway, what should he have done differently in any situation where you believe he acted like an idiot? The only instance I can think of where he acted remotely in an unreasonable manner is when he tried to save Kasumi's friend from a bunch of bullies and that doesn't warrant him getting described as an idiot who can't take a hint. No joke, that's really all I can think of so I'm curious about what I missed.

Originally Posted by TJR

The other complaint is that the story isn't very original so far.

If people only saw the first episode it can look kinda unoriginal but I don't think the lack of originality counts for much. If you look at this forum (even though it's probably not a great representation of the west), Buddy Complex seems to be one of the most popular series this season and it is also undeniably one of the most unoriginal as well. I'm not bashing it, but you can literally change around some names of the characters and end up with a decent amount of anime series' plots mixed up with it. Most people likely wouldn't realize any changes that significantly impacted their understanding of the story or its characters.

What I really think attributes to this shows lack of popularity despite its sales probably stem from the initial episodes:
- First episode was portrayed in a way that could mistake it as a set up for a harem. Therefore when amazing characters like that dude from Infinite Stratos or *insert another harem male lead* are not present, people might be feeling duped. Adding to this, Ayaka's entire character is like a slap to the face for those that expected the usual stuff.
- Role reversal. It is what it is.
- Lack of fan service.
- The power inside Honoka isn't actively being used to save the day. Despite the premise and the nature of the powers inside his body, him being the main lead and having the story revolve around him will cause people to compare him to the rest of the cast. Basically, what they see is a huge disparity in power levels and don't have the necessary patience to wait for all the reveals.

In the end, I'd say this show ended up nailing whatever the target audience was looking for and maybe it just really isn't a thing for the west.

[mangamuscle]

Originally Posted by icbm3747

In the end, I'd say this show ended up nailing whatever the target audience was looking for and maybe it just really isn't a thing for the west.

I think otherwise, but TJR comment (male lead is a wuss) confirms what I have already known, a vocal group will bash our male lead character even after the last episode, Why? Because they can forgive (i.e.) a hero in drag (i.e. Ayumu from KoreZom) but they cannot forgive a male lead that is NOT a hero, which is the simple reality, this is no shounen series where our male lead sucks for several episodes, then he is cool hero material in one episode, then he continues to suck so more, has another cool moment an so on. Kagari IS the hero of this series, plain and simple. That is the reason I think the series IS popular in the west, but you will not get many people to say (even in anonymous forums like these, you have a "net personality" to protect) out loud they like a series where the male lead is princess carried (physically or metaphotically) every episode by our female lead since the knee kerk reaction of the vocal majority is "are you gay?". Sadly I cannot prove it since the sales numbers of any disc release outside japan will not be published.