(L) Yosuga no Sora

[Vexx]

Sorry, but I'm laughing way too hard at the people who aren't careful about who is nearby when they watch any 'choose the girl' based material... much less stuff rated 'adult' that came off of a pay-channel in Japan.

Moral: do your research, eh?

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by Hypernova

These guys really know how to push the boundary.

And I still don't get the gigantic Akira head thing. And there's the fact that her eyes wobble constantly...

Spoiler for size:

That reminds me of Eilleen's head from SH4

Originally Posted by Skyfall

I recall myself saying that Akira is a person who is hard not to like, when doing a summary on the title's characters back before it started, and going by the comments here it seems said assertion holds true

A quite enjoyable episode overall, even if it did move at a break-neck pace (though that goes without a saying at this point i believe). Akira and her interacting with others is always fun to watch (loved the "toilet? " "NO!" part ), and it felt like this episode had a better flow to it than the previous ones.

I agree it's very hard not to like Akira. I didn't expect to like her so much, I even thought I'd be bored while waiting for Sora's route, but I very much enjoyed this episode thanks to Akira's super genki personality (that and her story was far more interesting than Kazuha's). It pains me to think about what she must have felt during Kazuha's arc: not only did Haru never remember her, he started going out with her sister. Akira is such a kind-hearted girl that I'm sure she was happy for them, however, I bet she felt very sad deep down. Maybe Sora and her could comfort each other...
The "toilet?" almost made me spit my drink, that line came out of nowhere and Haru looked so serious when he said it

Things definitely moved at a lightning fast pace (the bath scene happened way too soon in my opinion, they should have kept it for the next episode) but the great directing made it work more or less fine. The soundtrack is so, so good. I can't help but relax when I hear those wonderful tunes. It adds a lot to the atmosphere of the anime.

Another reason I loved this episode was that Sora got quite a bit of screentime. My heart melts everytime I see her. I'm dying to see her arc...

[Saturn Beaver]

Yep, as expected, enjoyed this episode more than the previous arc/girl. I think the fact that I like Akira better than Kazuha has something to do with it, although I agree that it's been way too fast. Not just the bath scene, but the inconsistency with how they go to festival straight away whereas we saw in Kazuha's arc that there's been quite some time between them. Would really like to see Akira to get 3 episodes for her arc, but alas...

Oh, but there's still the twist with who Akira's real mother is. It's possible that it's just someone we haven't seen before, but it being Kazuha's real mom (maybe this means that Kazuha is the bastard daughter?) is pretty likely as well. For a crazy, impossible theory, what if it's Haru's mother? After all, we'll get the incest end with Sora anyway, so why stop at one? Yeah, I'm completely kidding with the last one.

Originally Posted by Vexx

Sorry, but I'm laughing way too hard at the people who aren't careful about who is nearby when they watch any 'choose the girl' based material... much less stuff rated 'adult' that came off of a pay-channel in Japan.

Moral: do your research, eh?

Haha, yeah, I completely agree. I for one will never share an anime with my family until I finished watching all of them, who knows when a surprise can come up...I remember when Chobits starts off real cute and funny with Chii's antics, only to later takes a different turn In no way shape or form will I watch this with my parents, that's for sure.

[Sprite_Coke]

Weird Akira in the Omake part.... Looks like a frickin SouthPark character....
Other than that, great episode.

[Haak]

Oh geez...

It was going so well until the bath scene...

[Skyfall]

Originally Posted by Kanon

Things definitely moved at a lightning fast pace (the bath scene happened way too soon in my opinion, they should have kept it for the next episode) but the great directing made it work more or less fine.

This is true indeed, but the nature of the beast is a bit different here compared to previous arc. Kazuha's arc, by its very nature, is quite centered around the romance itself and the effect said romance has on her relationship with Akira. Thus they have the benefit on building up the relationship more (as much as 2 episodes can possibly allow for it anyway) before jumping in to the deep end. Akira's arc though is more "content heavy", and a good deal of that content exists outside of the romantic scope, or is less directly tied to it compared to Kazuha's.

In a way, "to be or not to be" between Kazuha and Haru is the main conflict of her arc, while for Akira it lies elsewhere - as evident from this episode, the focus is going to be on her own missing mother, the situation with Kazuha's mother, and the missing pendant. That is a lot of stuff to handle in 2 episodes. On the other hand, there is less to throw a wrench at the romance side. While the romance buildup suffers because of this, it can't really be helped and i understand why they made the choices they did - there is a lot to be done, and by largely "getting it over with" on the romance side gives them more time to do it. And adds an additional motivation boost for Haru to get involved on Akira's behalf.

So ... yeah. Suffice to say, a lot needs to be sacrificed in order to cram it all in to 2 episodes, and Akira's arc may well be the least suited for such treatment. 2 episodes is what they have though, so nothing to be done there. It is a shame the relationship development gets to suffer because of it, but some sacrifices needed to be made if they actually want to cover everything they should in terms of plot, and it just so happens the romance aspect in this case is the easiest to "trim down", so to speak. That is not to say i am satisfied with the whole deal being crammed in such a small timeframe (goes for the anime as a whole), but i think the director is doing a credible job within the constraints he is forced to work with.

[Hooves]

Its quite sad that they can only have 2 episodes for each arc unlike Amagami with 4 episodes... It sorta speeds through the romance as you said Skyfall, trying to cram everything in there... The bath scene in fast pace seemed to be put well.. If it wasn't for the fact that it only had 2 episodes..

[Seihai]

Originally Posted by Hooves

Its quite sad that they can only have 2 episodes for each arc unlike Amagami with 4 episodes... It sorta speeds through the romance as you said Skyfall, trying to cram everything in there... The bath scene in fast pace seemed to be put well.. If it wasn't for the fact that it only had 2 episodes..

I'm satisfied with how this anime is handling things.
I think the pacing is fine. I mean, it's fast of course, but it's not too fast.
To be honest the 4 episodes / 5 episodes each story thing is imo doing a better job than some OVAs having the same amount of episodes (though to be frank I can't think of examples right now) in terms of pacing, amount of events etc.
__________
I can't imagine them doing more than 13 episodes with this kind of format either.
Whether the pacing would be more favourable if it was 24~26 episodes is questionable but it would kinda make the resetting to a certain point a bit more difficuilt as there'd probably be more important things to remember, which isn't like eating candy considering it's 4 different stories.
And only watching your favoured arc(s) isn't too good either since each story kinda sets the other stories up in regards to background info and such.
edit: Actually, considering that Amagami has the same format (or so I heard since I don't watch it) my above comment was probably bullshit and might just refer to my personal position. <.<


On another note, I actually have quite a few friends that would have liked the bathing scene to be more detailed and longer (and I personally wouldn't have minded it either).
Yeah, uh... don't mind me.

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by Skyfall

In a way, "to be or not to be" between Kazuha and Haru is the main conflict of her arc, while for Akira it lies elsewhere - as evident from this episode, the focus is going to be on her own missing mother, the situation with Kazuha's mother, and the missing pendant. That is a lot of stuff to handle in 2 episodes. On the other hand, there is less to throw a wrench at the romance side. While the romance buildup suffers because of this, it can't really be helped and i understand why they made the choices they did - there is a lot to be done, and by largely "getting it over with" on the romance side gives them more time to do it. And adds an additional motivation boost for Haru to get involved on Akira's behalf.

So ... yeah. Suffice to say, a lot needs to be sacrificed in order to cram it all in to 2 episodes, and Akira's arc may well be the least suited for such treatment. 2 episodes is what they have though, so nothing to be done there. It is a shame the relationship development gets to suffer because of it, but some sacrifices needed to be made if they actually want to cover everything they should in terms of plot, and it just so happens the romance aspect in this case is the easiest to "trim down", so to speak. That is not to say i am satisfied with the whole deal being crammed in such a small timeframe (goes for the anime as a whole), but i think the director is doing a credible job within the constraints he is forced to work with.

Hmm, if the romance between Haru and Akira plays such a "minor" part in her arc, maybe they should have fused Akira and Kazuha's arc? Going by what you're saying and what I've seen in the anime, I think it could have worked better this way.

[Klashikari]

The problem is that you would need Kazuha as the romance interest in such case, and it will be a bit too jarring to merge Kazuha's deep guilt towards Akira, whereas you have to unfold what's up with Akira's past (which would contradict the reason for Kazuha's guilt with Haru).

[Hooves]

Originally Posted by Vanish

On another note, I actually have quite a few friends that would have liked the bathing scene to be more detailed and longer (and I personally wouldn't have minded it either).
Yeah, uh... don't mind me.

I was just amazed at how fast Akira takes things.. I mean she has been a friend of Haru for a loong time, even trusting him enough with her mother's pendant, even though she dint know much about her mother. She still gave it to him, and the "I love you" part where Haru went back to looking for the pendant was a fast part in my opinion.. Well the relationship with Akira is mostly based on the childhood memories, and the determination Haru is now showing.

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by Klashikari

The problem is that you would need Kazuha as the romance interest in such case, and it will be a bit too jarring to merge Kazuha's deep guilt towards Akira, whereas you have to unfold what's up with Akira's past (which would contradict the reason for Kazuha's guilt with Haru).

Yeah, I don't think the two arcs are actually compatible with each other in the sense that you could develop either romance and still tell both sides of the story. It's possible that they could have re-written the whole thing to find a way to develop the story without developing either romance, but that would have been a pretty major rewrite, and (personal opinion, of course) I like that they're showing the romance parts of these arcs. Having Haru's romantic feelings for the respective heroine be the motivation he has to help them work through their insecurities and fears works a lot better for me than some of the alternatives (and reminds me more of the game, of course).

[Skyfall]

Originally Posted by Kanon

Hmm, if the romance between Haru and Akira plays such a "minor" part in her arc, maybe they should have fused Akira and Kazuha's arc? Going by what you're saying and what I've seen in the anime, I think it could have worked better this way.

I wouldn't say "such a minor role", just that there are a lot of other details that demand attention as well. I am not suggesting Akira's relationship with Haru is less meaningful to her than it was for Kazuha, just that there are many things on the plate this time besides the romance, so the focus needs to be spread around. Anyways, i guess i won't be elaborating further, as i am afraid i might slip beyond what can be considered an obvious implication by the episode. You can visit the game thread for more detailed answers, should you decide you want them

[Ichy]

Something hard is poking me

10/10

[Hooves]

Originally Posted by Ichy

Something hard is poking me

10/10

That defiantly deserves a 10/10

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by Klashikari

The problem is that you would need Kazuha as the romance interest in such case, and it will be a bit too jarring to merge Kazuha's deep guilt towards Akira, whereas you have to unfold what's up with Akira's past (which would contradict the reason for Kazuha's guilt with Haru).

What I had in mind was to leave Kazuha's arc more or less as it was, and start off Akira's soon after, where both Kazuha and Haru trying to help her uncover her past this time. Haru's motivations would have had to be changed, though.

Originally Posted by Skyfall

You can visit the game thread for more detailed answers, should you decide you want them

Thanks, maybe after the anime ends then. I don't want to get spoiled

[vaden]

Originally Posted by margafred

Seems like storyline were divided into 2 parts, first one which was about Haru trying to help Akira to find her pendant given by her mother, and the 2nd one about Haru trying to help Akira to find her mother, which he thought might still be alive and live somewhere, though i believe that Akira knew the truth about it, since she kept with her a notebook (or a medical record?) which i think might be related to her mother.

It looks to be the 26th book that was missing when Haruka went flipping through the records at the clinic. Akira probably has it partly as a confirmation of her parentage, and possibly to cover it up in case someone else went poking around.

Spoiler for Preview speculation:

It's pretty clearly foreshadowed that Hiro-neechan from the store below the temple is related to Akira — Yahiro's very defensive about anyone poking around in Akira's history, Akira went down to her place to make dinner in episode 3, and the two of them have pretty similar ahoge going on (as do Haruka and Sora). Now she's showing up in the preview... she looks a bit too young to be Akira's mother, so I'm leaning towards another half-sister, but appearances lie sometimes.

[DragoZERO]

Whoa. That was intense. So much emotion, positive and negative. Things are moving smoothly too. The hunt for the necklace was dumb though. There ain't no way it's still there, even if there was a landslide. The bath scene was good too. I am really liking how they aren't censoring anything, as in omitting the sex like in F/SN.

And swimsuit play...

Originally Posted by Hypernova

And I still don't get the gigantic Akira head thing. And there's the fact that her eyes wobble constantly...

Yeah. Can anyone explain that??

Originally Posted by Shinji103

Wow, I'm suprised that they

Spoiler for Episode 4 and 5:

didn't show the "action" in the bathtub, given that they certainly didn't skip the chance to show the "action" between Haruka and Kazuha last episode. It's pretty likely that they went past a kiss, after all.

I saw it was 2nd base. Not bad for the first time Haru.

Originally Posted by Hooves

Its quite sad that they can only have 2 episodes for each arc unlike Amagami with 4 episodes... It sorta speeds through the romance as you said Skyfall, trying to cram everything in there... The bath scene in fast pace seemed to be put well.. If it wasn't for the fact that it only had 2 episodes..

It helps that they don't put in extra, useless stuff and focus on what's important.

[broken270]

Spoiler:

Based on the current episode, it is safe to say that every girl is going to get around two episodes per arc. It is a bit fast-paced for me, but I do not mind it much. I'm surprised with the sudden confession. Due to Haru's determination in wanting to find her pendant and her mother, Akira confirms her feelings of love for Haru. In my opinion, the bathroom scene came a bit too early in the arc, but it was probably purposely done that way for a better cause in the next episode. It is interesting how medical book 26 is missing from that box. Someone has to have taken it. Primary suspect is Yahiro. Secondary suspect is Akira. Third suspect is the father. If it is neither of the three, then I do not know who has it.

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by broken270

Based on the current episode, it is safe to say that every girl is going to get around two episodes per arc

See also.