(CR) Lostorage conflated WIXOSS

[Jan-Poo]

Originally Posted by tuckersister

Tama and Layla are similar in some extent. They both do like battles. Hence their Selector Battle with each will be meaningful.

Originally Posted by Triple_R

the Lostorage cast is getting the lion's share of the focus and the original Selector cast is kinda getting shortchanged.

It is quite evident that Layla was given so much importance in this series because she's meant to be a subvillain for Ruuko and Tama. Which means the true baddie "Carnival" will be handled by the lostorage team.

In the end hints that the characters from the original series are taking a back seat in this new tournament can be seen everywhere.

[Kurohane]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

I still like this show a bit more than you do, but I'm starting to agree with an earlier point you made - the Lostorage cast is getting the lion's share of the focus and the original Selector cast is kinda getting shortchanged. Nowhere do I feel that more than in this latest episode. It truly feels like Ruu and Tama are just along for the ride, while Hitoe and Yuzuki are just jobbers to prop up the new masochist girl. The core focus is on the Lostorage protagonists and Satomi Carnival.

Now, I largely like the Lostorage cast, but this handling of the original Selector cast definitely leaves a lot to be desired. I'm seriously hoping that at least Ruu/Tama will get to shine and shine brightly later on.

If anything, it's consistent. Hitoe and Yuzuki weren't skilled players, and Ruko was along for the ride most of the time only to get a reason to take it seriously later in the original series too. I may be the minority, but that's a plus to me that it's at least consistent. That the anime staff aren't catering to the old cast, because of some sense of seniority, and risk a spotlight-stealing squad scenario. That would be worse.

[Kazu-kun]

They're catering to the new ones so it's the same shit. Equal attention would be the way to go.

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by Kurohane

If anything, it's consistent. Hitoe and Yuzuki weren't skilled players, and Ruko was along for the ride most of the time only to get a reason to take it seriously later in the original series too.

Ruko was pretty consistently involved in things in the Selector shows. There were times when Aki-Lucky or Hitoe or Yuzuki would have more focus, but overall, Ruko was clearly the MC, and she did in fact have a lot of battoru. And both Yuzuki and Hitoe did show improvement at the WIXOSS game in the Selector shows. We shouldn't forget that Yuzuki did in fact succeed in getting a wish.

I feel like this handling of the original cast is really questionable so far. I mean, even if we put aside relative degrees of spotlight... We're now six episodes into this, and the two casts have barely interacted at all. I vaguely recall a brief meeting between Hanna and Yuzuki in an earlier episode, but Yuzuki's role in that could have been filled by some generic no-name character. It was frankly light cameo-esque. Then there was Chinatsu's brief interaction with Aki-Lucky, which sadly never resulted in an actual match.

There's just so much more fun this show could have with this meeting of the two casts (which isn't even a meeting, really, so far).

Like Jan-Poo wrote, it does seem like we have two plots running parallel, one entirely new cast and one old cast + brand new antagonist (with the old cast plot feeling less important overall). And it just seems like such a waste to me, at least so far. While the Suzuko/Chinatsu match was sweet and all, it's not like we haven't seen them battoru before. I'd be more interested in seeing Chinatsu vs. Aki-Lucky. Or Hitoe vs. Hanna or Yuzuki vs. Carnival.

[tuckersister]

Hopefully we will see Remember more in the second half.

[Shyni]

Ruko was only ever important because she ended up with the two LRIGs who had the strongest connections to Mayu. She never seemed like the type who would get very far in a conflict that didn't hinge on such a thing.

And maybe this is more about the universe rather than the storytelling, but casts that don't interact much is par for the course. Even back during Infected there were lots of LRIG-Selector pairs the main cast barely spent time with, and they didn't even get to know Kiyoi as Piruluk very well despite her actually having her own story.

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by Shyni

Ruko was only ever important because she ended up with the two LRIGs who had the strongest connections to Mayu. She never seemed like the type who would get very far in a conflict that didn't hinge on such a thing.

Her profile in the show's website describes Ruuko as a genius player, so it's clear she's the most skilled (no one else is described like that).

And maybe this is more about the universe rather than the storytelling, but casts that don't interact much is par for the course. Even back during Infected there were lots of LRIG-Selector pairs the main cast barely spent time with, and they didn't even get to know Kiyoi as Piruluk very well despite her actually having her own story.

But Kiyoi was a minor character in the first season. Ruuko is supposed to be part of the main cast this season (she comes second in the credits, for instance) yet she's barely had any screentime. Even Hana looks more like a main character than Ruuko which makes no sense.

[Shyni]

Yet barely anyone from the anime besides Mayu figured prominently in Kiyoi's own story despite their bigger prominence, and her encounters with them were only a small section of her LRIG career. Factoring in all the other Selectors and LRIGs known to exist but never spent much time with the main cast, the world they live in was filled to the brim with groups who had their own adventures that only slightly overlapped each other.

Though I guess this relies a lot on looking at things from an in-universe perspective where concepts of prominence and main characters don't really exist.

I'm not sure how much skill is really a factor in relevance considering that the coin mechanism was already pretty different from the actual card game's implementation back in Conflated. And (more importantly) it's probably a convention all on its own that importance is decided more by being the "right" kind of character than being particularly intelligent or talented. (Yeah, this is approaching it from an out-of-universe view instead)

Kiyoi is definitely the only choice for the lead at this point out of all the pre-existing characters. The underlying concern that a cycle of suffering refuses to die regardless of whether anybody is at the head of it calls for the character who's personally seen the most suffering. Perhaps somebody superhumanly kind and selfless saving everybody would be equally appropriate, but none of the existing characters were really built up to being that way. I'm betting Suzuko will lose and get sidelined sooner or later since Chinatsu is already out of immediate danger, so the former has already lost her shot at dramatic importance.

[Kazu-kun]

I'm not sure I understand what's your point, honestly.

[tuckersister]

We still have found out why only Kiyoi was brought back a Selector and what's Remember's role in this season. I'm still not giving on my theory about Remember's involvement in Lostorage.

[Kurohane]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

Ruko was pretty consistently involved in things in the Selector shows. There were times when Aki-Lucky or Hitoe or Yuzuki would have more focus, but overall, Ruko was clearly the MC, and she did in fact have a lot of battoru. And both Yuzuki and Hitoe did show improvement at the WIXOSS game in the Selector shows. We shouldn't forget that Yuzuki did in fact succeed in getting a wish.

I feel like this handling of the original cast is really questionable so far. I mean, even if we put aside relative degrees of spotlight... We're now six episodes into this, and the two casts have barely interacted at all. I vaguely recall a brief meeting between Hanna and Yuzuki in an earlier episode, but Yuzuki's role in that could have been filled by some generic no-name character. It was frankly light cameo-esque. Then there was Chinatsu's brief interaction with Aki-Lucky, which sadly never resulted in an actual match.

There's just so much more fun this show could have with this meeting of the two casts (which isn't even a meeting, really, so far).

Like Jan-Poo wrote, it does seem like we have two plots running parallel, one entirely new cast and one old cast + brand new antagonist (with the old cast plot feeling less important overall). And it just seems like such a waste to me, at least so far. While the Suzuko/Chinatsu match was sweet and all, it's not like we haven't seen them battoru before. I'd be more interested in seeing Chinatsu vs. Aki-Lucky. Or Hitoe vs. Hanna or Yuzuki vs. Carnival.

Wixoss in general has had this tendency to want to be different from other card game anime. It tries to do that by being "realistic". Other than plot reasons, there's no reason for these separate group of characters to come together. I'd be the first to argue that making things more realistic doesn't automatically equate to being good. It depends on the presentation. What doesn't help that in general because of the main source of conflict being a game that only one of the characters is required for the final battle with the antagonist relegating the rest to being spectators, making a full on merge less appealing.

While it would be interesting to have cross match-ups, since the own show's reluctance to give time to any notably gameplay, those matches wouldn't be very interesting other than the fanservice.

[Sageblink]

Spoiler for Episode 7:

We got Yuzuki back ! Still locked in LRIG form... Should Ru use her in battle then win to release her ?

Oh Remember... You got yourself a perfect Selector.

[serenade_beta]

Spoiler for ep7:

I know they are rushing a lot of stuff, but I at least hope they do the Remember-related content well. First episode (this episode) was great, since it showed her fate and aftermath from the Peeping Analyze manga, but the next episode, which unfortunately probably will solve the Akilucky+Remember problem, is even more important.

I know that the reason is because there is no other design (and her blond hair design is popular), but despite Mirurun, Midoriko, and Hanayo taking on the original human designs, Remember is still in her Selector Lrig design.

...Well, they say that confining people in dark rooms/white rooms with absolutely nothing to do does bad things to your mind.
https://twitter.com/_Hitoto_/status/997423529921413120

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by serenade_beta

the next episode, which unfortunately probably will solve the Akilucky+Remember problem

I doubt it. Remember is one of the three main baddies. She's not gonna be defeated so early. Either Kiyoi will lose one of her keycards to Akira or the writer's gonna pull something out of his ass to interrupt the fight.

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by Kurohane

Wixoss in general has had this tendency to want to be different from other card game anime. It tries to do that by being "realistic".

I haven't watched a lot of card game anime. The only other card game anime I've seen a fair bit of is Yu-Gi-Oh! I'd say the main difference between WIXOSS and Yu-Gi-Oh! is that card-game strategy/tactics take center stage in Yu-Gi-Oh!, while WIXOSS is more about character drama and interpersonal character dynamics. And this is a big part of the reason why I'd like to see the two WIXOSS casts interact more with each other. It would give this franchise new and different interpersonal character dynamics that it could play around with.

Also, simply when it comes to compelling rivalries... What's the compelling rivalry in this 2nd season of Lostorage? The original Selector series had protagonists vs. Aki-Lucky, Ruko vs. Iona, protagonists vs. Ulith, and protagonists vs. Mayu. All of those were really well-done, in my opinion. Lostorage Season 1 did a pretty good job of its Suzuko/Chinatsu arc, while also developing Satomi as a compelling main antagonist that would eventually have to be dealt with.

This 2nd season of Lostorage is seriously lacking edge for me, so far, when it comes to new/interesting interpersonal dynamics and compelling rivalries. Masochist girl so far seems much less compelling to me than Aki-lucky did in the Selector shows, or that antagonist!Chinatsu did in Lostorage Season 1. Aki-lucky and Chinatsu also now seem like shells of their former selves to me. In Chinatsu's case, you can maybe understand it due to her lost memories. But the old Aki-lucky wasn't just some one-note trash-talker doing criminal stuff. A lot of what made Aki-lucky fun and interesting is how much she would swap in and out of different personas, how she was often wearing a mask (which played nicely into how focused she'd become on her facial scar later on).

So yeah, I'm pretty disappointed in this 2nd season of Lostorage so far. There's some good stuff here, but on the whole, it's far far less than what I had hoped for.

Other than plot reasons, there's no reason for these separate group of characters to come together.

How about the fact that this latest WIXOSS game is supposed to be more about putting only strong Selectors against each other? In other words, fewer easily defeated random nameless Selectors. And the one area I will give this 2nd season of Lostorage credit is that they are in fact not giving us many if any random easily-defeated selectors. Honestly, given the circumstances of the current WIXOSS game, I find it kinda weird that the two casts haven't really met each other yet. Far from realistic, this sharp separation of the two casts feels very artificial to me. Personally, I'd find it much more natural and realistic for the two casts to have ran into each other and had at least one match against each other by now.

[serenade_beta]

Originally Posted by Kurohane

Wixoss in general has had this tendency to want to be different from other card game anime.

Putting aside the intention and interpretation, the fact that one, if not the only, new original card game that still is alive is WIXOSS probably means they are doing something right.

[tuckersister]

This week's episode is mixed feelings. Lostorage wasted such good characters especially Remember. That blows. However Remember was calm through the whole battle even after losing which is really strange. I don't think Remember is out yet. Carnival is yet again a cheater. We also still have no clue what happened to Yuki.

[Kazu-kun]

Tama got stolen without a fight. That's it, this season is irredeemable garbage. I gave it a chance but this is too much.

[Jan-Poo]

What baffles me is that apparently if you beat someone without taking her last coin you get their LRIG, but if you beat them while taking their last coin the LRIG just disappears with them.

Imagine how this could be abused. If Layla had bet all of her coins and made Ruuko know about this rule, she would have put her in a position where she would have had no choice but to lose in order to avoid making Yuzuki disappear.

[Triple_R]

Well, if nothing else, Episode 8 was very engaging and entertaining. Aki-lucky played a near-perfect over-the-top villain in this episode, and that was good to see after her being somewhat lackluster until this episode. And it's also good to see given how this is probably the last we'll ever see of Aki-lucky.

I also found the brief Suzuko scene kinda cute. For pure entertainment value and emotional engagement, this might be the best Lostroage Season 2 episode yet.

However... Kazu-kun definitely has a point. Things are so incredibly loosey-goosey in this show. Carnival easily stealing Tama without a fight does seem kinda cheap, at least at the moment.

And while I enjoyed the Kiyoi vs. Aki-lucky match, it's yet another example of one side totally dominating before the other side roars back quickly to win. I can understand it in this specific case, for plot reasons, but this match style is really getting overplayed this season, and I hope we get better back-and-forth in future matches.