(L+CR) Phantasy Star Online 2

[Shadow5YA]

Originally Posted by Kyero Fox

I agree with you Dapper.

and the whole anime seems like they are just rubbing it in the US's face "Nya nya, we never gonna give it to you! HaW HAW HAW! Stupid Americans"

because this anime is aimed at Americans, right

[mickbis]

Let just avoid going into that direction
or the mod will coming again

[Benigmatica]

Episode 1:
So many SEGA references on this anime apart from promoting Phantasy Star Online 2!

On the other hand, I feel that Itsuki Tachibana is boring for a protagonist. I hope that in future episodes, he'll be an interesting character.

[Dextro]

Not really sure how I'm supposed to take this. I haven't been blown away by so much mediocrity for quite a while now

It feels completely phoned in and too much like the commercial it is. It's painful to watch at times. Oh well, I guess I won't need to wait for episode 3 this time...

[Triple_R]

A few words passed through my mind as I watched Episode 1 - Safe, Vanilla, Inoffensive, Pleasant, Unexciting

This is probably the safest show I've seen since Girlfriend Kari.

Some viewers will find this dull and uninteresting, and I completely understand that. However, the show had a few mostly subtle elements that helped maintain my interest, and give me some mild hope that the writing may prove more interesting over time. FlareKnight picked up on the two most important elements here:

Originally Posted by FlareKnight

Well I will say it was a slight surprise that Izumi would go with such an...eccentric character to secretly greet and adventure with Itsuki. Though I suppose it works in the sense that he'd never guess the truth .

I'm somewhat more curious on what really made Izumi bring Itsuki into this. Sure it makes logical sense, but she does seem a bit too interested in him for that to be the whole story.

This was easily the most interesting element of Episode 1 - Izumi playing as a big bulky male character type, while voicing lines and making gestures that make him seem like a flashy veteran sentai hero. There's a substantial superficial contrast between Izumi and the character she plays has (SORO). I find this sort of clash inherently interesting. I suspect (hope?) that it's pointing towards more than just Izumi wanting to keep Itsuki from knowing exactly who is helping him. I hope that it's saying something about her personality.

As for Izumi's possible interest in Itsuki... "The Student Council President knows the faces and names of every student"

That's what a student council member went with for explaining how Izumi recognized Itsuki without actually knowing him personally. I raised eyebrows here as the idea is pretty unbelievable for a school as large as this one seems to be, but I have to admit that Izumi's Ms. Perfect image is played up enough by the anime that I can't easily dismiss outlandish memory quality for her.

Still, did Izumi recognize Itsuki because her attention to detail and memory is just that good, or is she interested in him in particular for some reason? And could that interest be romantic?

This show is probably too safe to go anywhere bold with it, but I think you might get a subtle and somewhat interesting romance between the two leads here. What would make it somewhat interesting is the element of subterfuge involved due to Izumi being SORO - With that in mind, I hope that Izumi's identity as SORO is kept from Itsuki for at least a few episodes.

One other element I like is how Izumi is much more a girl-next-door type (visually speaking) than your more conventional long dark-haired beauty. This thankfully makes Izumi a little different than your standard super-successful school celebrity character type.


A few more notes:

1. It's fitting that I haven't discussed the action scenes yet, because they're just barely passable. And given the overall setup for this show, I doubt that will change.

2. I don't think the show was aiming for comedy, aside from maybe the scene with the guard, which I thought was cute at least. I think the more generic "anime" elements of the show is just the show playing it safe.

3. The show gives me a real "for kids" vibe. Other than the slightly snarky student council, the characters tend to give off this "aw shucks!" vibe to them. It honestly makes me think a lot of 1950s America.


How much I like the show, and whether I even stick with it, will probably depend on the handling of Izumi and her relationship with Itsuki.

[kk2extreme]

Well they did not put on VR helmets at least

[Haak]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

A few words passed through my mind as I watched Episode 1 - Safe, Vanilla, Inoffensive, Pleasant, Unexciting

This is probably the safest show I've seen since Girlfriend Kari.

Some viewers will find this dull and uninteresting, and I completely understand that.

Pretty much sums it up for me. The quirkiness of the main girl is kinda cute and it seemed to me like there might be more to her and behind her motivations but that's the only hook I have on this show and that might not be strong enough.

[cloud04]

i assume the SC pres wants some1 to be there main DD lol

[Master_Yoma]

Hmmm seems like a lesser SAO or LH

[mickbis]

Originally Posted by cloud04

i assume the SC pres wants some1 to be there main DD lol

PSO2 is where everyone is a DD thu...
even support build can easily take down every boss with right gear

unless go full defensive build with no damage skill up ( no people play like that unless they want to try something new )

[Seihai]

Originally Posted by mickbis

PSO2 is where everyone is a DD thu...
even support build can easily take down every boss with right gear

unless go full defensive build with no damage skill up ( no people play like that unless they want to try something new )

You're leaning too much onto game information again. We've already seen in this anime that a mere Gunslash could easily take out a Breeahda (flying bug) so comparing what happens in the anime to the game mechanics won't help us. The best example to underline the point is when Itsuki suddenly got quite a decent character after just 1 click on the random char creation. While I still doubt that the prez wants Itsuki to be their main DD considering she is a supposed veteran herself, I believe there's a specific reason to fill their gap in members with him that we'll find out in coming episodes.

[KBTKaiser]

From a gaming standpoint, it seems more like she just wants additional firepower to shore up the DPS.

Weapon Skills shown in episode 1 for the Itsuki/Soro part:
Impact Slider rifle PA(slide forward unleashing a torrent of shots and ending with a sweep kick)
Cluster Bullet launcher PA(lob a high shell and make it rain cluster bombs)
Aiming Shot gunslash PA(1-stage chargable shooting attack, can move around while holding the charge)

Sadly, I'm not that intuitive for the next part given it's so dark.
Weapon Skills shown in the Tower defense corridor:
Il Foie(One of the high tier fire techniques, drops a giant fireball that explodes on impact)
Zondeel(Utility lightning technique, causes a gravity well, does bonus damage if hit with another lightning tech other than Zondeel)
Master Shot bullet bow PA(Fires multiple arrows at the same time, charging increases number of arrows fired and damage dealt)

[Kyero Fox]

Originally Posted by Shadow5YA

because this anime is aimed at Americans, right

Did...I say it was? Pretty sure none of my words was about them aiming the show at Americans. I was saying that the whole premise of Sega taking over the world and PSO2 being so freaking important is like them shoving it in peoples faces who can't play the game inRL.

[RDNexus]

Shadow5YA was, most likely, being sarcastic about your "spot-on" comment.

[Seihai]

Originally Posted by Kyero Fox

Did...I say it was? Pretty sure none of my words was about them aiming the show at Americans. I was saying that the whole premise of Sega taking over the world and PSO2 being so freaking important is like them shoving it in peoples faces who can't play the game inRL.

Feel free to interpret it like that but let's get some facts straight:
1) It's not what they intended.
2) Most people who really wanted to play simply did by playing the JP version with or without English patch.
3) This is off-topic and has been discussed many times over. Let's drop it, please.

[Harbinger]

Sega, the animation... It's beautiful but heh... we shall see how it turns out.

[mickbis]

Originally Posted by Seihai

You're leaning too much onto game information again. We've already seen in this anime that a mere Gunslash could easily take out a Breeahda (flying bug) so comparing what happens in the anime to the game mechanics won't help us. The best example to underline the point is when Itsuki suddenly got quite a decent character after just 1 click on the random char creation. While I still doubt that the prez wants Itsuki to be their main DD considering she is a supposed veteran herself, I believe there's a specific reason to fill their gap in members with him that we'll find out in coming episodes.

my bad
but my point is everyone can handle mob on their own with how weapon and skill work, no need to get someone to become a main DD of the team in this kind of action game
You can see that at the start of the episode too, eveyone can clear those Darker like a simple flies
IMO the term "Vanguard" is more appropriate then DD
but well forget Breeahda They can clear Goldrahda (The armed humanoid insect) much more easily

I believe that there is more than what we see in first episode regard the Prez and this student council work

edit after seeing the intro again.... so the blond girl next episode is a Talisman-Force user

[jvcscasio]

Why can't RPGs nowadays go full fantasy???
I'm tired of "this RPG is actually a game (sometimes the main character gets sealed inside it) sometimes he just plays from his computer!

Jokes aside, there is no tension in battle scenes if you know the main character is at his table, clicking and moving his mouse because someone told him to...
It would be so much better if they jumped into the world head on and BE A FANTASY!

I don't know the game, but I feel like I'm watching a let's play with a not very funny player of a game I know nothing...

[Stark700]

Suzuki forgot to include that one of her specialties is stalking.

And she already got a position in the student council? That was fast. I'm still curious to see her battle in the PSO2 world..but I'm sure she is strong enough just based on her personality so far. Lol, that dream.

[mickbis]

Aside from her bring High level Stalker
The way Suzuki Action, talked and How she refer to PSO2 as ORACLE
really drop a really big clue.....

Spoiler for PSO2 Background related:

ARKS is the main organization in PSO2, Their main mission is to combat Darker threat
ORACLE is the ARKS main fleets and also the name of Mothership

Virtual Reality Training Program = Extreme Quest
the mode that allow player 1-4 person to form a Party to clear the specific mission for training purpose ( The Operator did said it Virtual Reality)
the difficulity range from facing native beast to Dark Falz ( aka PSO2 Dark Lord )

The Episode itself is still on a story building path and most likely go on for some several episode...