|
View Poll Results: Sword Art Online - Episode 12 Rating | |||
10 out of 10 : Near Perfect.... | 44 | 29.93% | |
9 out of 10 : Excellent... | 31 | 21.09% | |
8 out of 10 : Very Good... | 29 | 19.73% | |
7 out of 10 : Good... | 20 | 13.61% | |
6 out of 10 : Average... | 12 | 8.16% | |
5 out of 10 : Below Average... | 3 | 2.04% | |
4 out of 10 : Poor... | 3 | 2.04% | |
3 out of 10 : Bad... | 3 | 2.04% | |
2 out of 10 : Very Bad... | 1 | 0.68% | |
1 out of 10 : Torturous... | 1 | 0.68% | |
Voters: 147. You may not vote on this poll |
|
Thread Tools |
2012-09-28, 02:33 | Link #261 | |||
Criminal Unrequitor
Graphic Designer
Join Date: Jul 2010
|
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
__________________
|
|||
2012-09-28, 03:16 | Link #262 | |
Administrator
Join Date: Dec 2003
Age: 41
|
Quote:
Stories like that are... well, like I said, perfectly normal to me. I understand how that works. And yes, I can and do sympathise with that character even in the hour (2 half-hours) that we get to know them. Not every situation that's introduced has to be part of this long over-arching narrative that spans across long stretches of episodes. As long as it contributes to the development of the world, the characters, and the narrative on the whole, then it's still advancing the plot. Even if Yui's entire purpose -- so far -- was to be a plot device. So yes, I get that you and Pocari_Sweat hate it. But it honestly doesn't bother me at all. If that means I'm okay with "shoddy writing"... then okay. It wouldn't be the first time I've been accused of having bad taste.
__________________
Last edited by relentlessflame; 2012-09-28 at 03:41. |
|
2012-09-28, 10:12 | Link #263 |
Goat Herder
Author
Join Date: Jun 2008
Age: 36
|
You know, given how she was turned into an item that can be stored locally outside of the game, Yui will probably return at a later date. You're all acting like she was only ever allowed these two episodes. Just wait and see instead of throwing around trainwreck accusations and the like.
__________________
|
2012-09-28, 11:57 | Link #264 | |
Senpai!
Join Date: Mar 2007
|
Quote:
I will be the first to admit that most of those episodes made me wonder about 'shoddy writing'. In fact, for those rare instances in those shows where the cast and viewer becomes emotionally attached as much as Asuna and Kirito did towards Yui, those episodes were considered masterpieces! For this episode, I actually look at it with a similar light as those 'masterpieces'. Yes, they were only together with Yui for a couple of days. But it's a fact that Asuna truly loved her like a daughter. Yui being virtual or non-blood related/adopted doesn't matter; I think people underestimate the bond between parent and child, and you don't need a whole childhood worth of memories to form that kind of bond. |
|
2012-09-28, 12:17 | Link #265 | ||
Criminal Unrequitor
Graphic Designer
Join Date: Jul 2010
|
Quote:
Quote:
__________________
Last edited by relentlessflame; 2012-09-28 at 22:45. Reason: removed a minor spoiler reference |
||
2012-09-28, 12:22 | Link #266 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2006
|
Quote:
That's like having character's part... and complaining that all the development that character recieved was wasted because they're not around 'now'... even our character's in the show believe they'll meet again. Dunno, again, not defending the episode, just pointing that bit out. |
|
2012-09-28, 12:24 | Link #267 | |
Administrator
Join Date: Dec 2003
Age: 41
|
Quote:
Now that I think about it, perhaps this is why I never really had a problem with the earlier "guest of the week" type episodes either -- I've found the characters portrayed to be quite sympathetic in the time allotted, and I was already accustomed to that style of storytelling. It must really depend on the viewer here. I didn't consider the melodrama "half-assed" because I have no trouble buying the relationship formed, even in a short time. Your point about deus ex machina is inherently contradictory -- if a plot development is foreshadowed, then it's not a "deus ex machina" plot device by definition (and if it's hinted, then it's not "out of nowhere"). The whole "god unaware" plot revolves around that very realization. Your not liking that sort of story is obviously at issue, but I think that -- clearly -- calling it "bad writing" is just a matter of opinion.
__________________
|
|
2012-09-28, 12:48 | Link #268 | |
Criminal Unrequitor
Graphic Designer
Join Date: Jul 2010
|
Quote:
I don't wanna get too technical but based on that definition above, I think it's safe to say it really was deus ex machina. And when I meant it hinted that Yui was an AI or whatever she is, the part where she suddenly pulls out a goddamn fire sword and kills a monster Kirito and Asuna couldn't kill is definitely NOT part of that hint. Also, of course what I consider bad writing is completely subjective, I mean it's my opinion after all and sharing opinions is the point of why there are discussions like this in Animesuki .
__________________
|
|
2012-09-28, 13:14 | Link #269 | |
Administrator
Join Date: Dec 2003
Age: 41
|
Quote:
Basically, I think you've mis-prioritized the plot threads. The primary plot is Yui's identity being revealed. The secondary plot is the one most-recently introduced about finding the lost guild member. The secondary plot was constructed entirely to service the primary plot. If not for Yui's identity, the whole situation would never have happened in the first place. (I can tell you what would have been deus ex machina, though. Let's say that they had never met Yui, and never setup the issue of her mysterious identity. And then, for some other unrelated reason, they go down to rescue the guild member, and encounter the reaper. Then, right in their moment of greatest need, Yui (previously unknown) appears out of the admin console with her fire sword and kills the monster, revealing that she's an AI and she has come to see them. Now that is deus ex machina, because in that case the fight is presented as a the primary plot, and the resolution is completely tangential and completely "out of nowhere".)
__________________
Last edited by relentlessflame; 2012-09-28 at 13:26. |
|
2012-09-28, 17:34 | Link #270 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2006
|
Quote:
Many people knew in the previous episode knew that she was an AI, so the idea that in a computer controlled world, a computer program would have 'god-like' abilities shouldn't be even vaguely surprising. You could liken it to character's trapped in an alien 'ant farm', befriending the alien's child, and having that child save them from some sudden danger before being yanked out of the scene by the parents. You wouldn't call that a Deus ex Machina event... even though that's technically what it is. It is not at all a 'contrived and unexpected intervention'... Now you could argue that it's silly that Kirito didn't simply waltz away from the boss, but that's an entirely different debate. |
|
2012-09-28, 18:45 | Link #272 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Safe from the BETA
Age: 36
|
Spoiler for Novel reason why Kirito engaged the boss instead of getting away.:
There was no deus ex development in the arc, apart from Kirito saving Yui's data but that was a artificially created because of the way the producers choose to portray the scene (they should have shown it as a very intuitive simple and quick task... not as hacking the 3rd lvl Matrix). Yui's lack of cursor was a huge clue and the first one the anime gives. Yui said she "remembered" being what she was when she entered the room with the terminal. As for poor writing, they didn't say much about Sinker guy. Presented as an expendable device in the anime. You are left to imagine how is he going to handle the Army now. |
2012-09-28, 21:26 | Link #273 | ||
Criminal Unrequitor
Graphic Designer
Join Date: Jul 2010
|
Quote:
Quote:
__________________
|
||
2012-09-28, 21:48 | Link #274 | ||
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2006
|
I remain concerned about how boring and terrible this show must be for the casual viewers. It's probably one of the greatest failings of the 'show, don't tell' idea that people always clamor for...
Quote:
Remember? Just a few episodes ago Asuna was perfectly willing to sacrifice a whole village full of NPC's to make a boss fight a little easier. I'm thinking she's feeling slightly different about this NPC, and that feeling is likely going to reshape her opinions going forward (or did we all forget that one already?). + It re-introduced the guy from Ep2 and told us what he's been up to, what a douche he's continued to be. + It re-introduced us to the guys from that horribly failed boss fight, and gave us hints as to why they'd do something so utterly stupid. + It reminded us that people can be callous jerks, even in a video game with consequences... and that ultimately people still find ways to cope, even when they're in a hopeless / hostile environment way over their heads (although some of that was in the final minutes of last week's show). + It finally answered a rather important question of exactly how a MMO game once full of 10k people could be running without a staff of employee's implicit in the hostage situation. + It reinforces the notion that the SAO game was designed to be a 'game', not just simply as a death trap for 10k unfortunate or unlucky souls. + This arc showed us, for the first time since the opening minutes of the show (ep1, remember?) what's going on with the people left behind in the starter town (also some of that was from last week). So, if you simply throw away this episode, or the last, as some pithy little melodrama vehicle... well... nuff on that topic. Quote:
Instead we just get the "Oh snap, I've done something utterly stupid." |
||
2012-09-28, 22:23 | Link #275 | ||
Administrator
Join Date: Dec 2003
Age: 41
|
Quote:
But yeah, don't get me wrong -- it was a surprising plot twist... it's just that it makes sense when you step back and look at all the signs and put it in context. That's my view anyway... Quote:
Edit: This is like how I saw on a Japanese blog a few commenters complaining about the fact that the author clarified minor details about the episodes in his tweets each week, with the insinuation being "if your story is so obscure that it takes author tweets so that you can make sense of what's going on, then you've failed". But I think that's sort of missing the point. Sure, the little details that he mentions are interesting bits of trivia, but they're not "game-changing". The problem is you have a mostly high-tech audience and a lot of people who know a thing or two about MMOs, so they get hung up on details that distract them from the more important things going on in the story. (I realize I started something similar in the thread this week, but I really did mean it mostly as a joke...) That isn't to say the details aren't important, but they're not more important than the story that is being told. In that sense I guess I would say that following this anime from an anime-only viewer's perspective may require not being too distracted by the things the anime doesn't cover in detail at that time. Perhaps it's almost a bit of an "uncanny valley" sort of thing -- the setting is a bit too close to reality for people to just dismiss it. Something like the same author's Accel World avoids some of these issues by setting itself a bit further out into the future using technology that is even less familiar than what we know.
__________________
Last edited by relentlessflame; 2012-09-28 at 22:38. |
||
2012-09-29, 00:23 | Link #276 | ||
SIBYL salesman
Join Date: Feb 2011
|
Quote:
Quote:
It was love at first sight for Kirito and Asuna, therefore viewers were expected to follow suit. And that's it. Either you played along or you didn't. |
||
2012-09-29, 00:23 | Link #277 | |
Moe Kyun~!
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Philippines
|
Quote:
__________________
|
|
2012-09-29, 01:17 | Link #278 | |
~ Your Smile ~
Author
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: 346Pro
Age: 38
|
Quote:
__________________
|
|
2012-09-29, 04:03 | Link #279 | |
Administrator
Join Date: Dec 2003
Age: 41
|
Quote:
Or, in other words, the audience needs to place some faith in the writers that the decisions they've made about what is most important to show are based on a good understanding of the story they need to tell and where they're going with all this. So far, based on the way the plot points have interconnected, I've been generally satisfied that this is the case (at least as someone who isn't doing any sort of comparison to anything else). For the things that simply aren't shown (because they're not the focus of the story), it may require some extrapolation, and I guess that can be a bit hard if the viewer is being a bit overly-literal about everything (as, to be frank, sometimes happens among a geek audience -- we live in worlds of facts not metaphors! ).
__________________
|
|
2012-09-29, 05:28 | Link #280 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Safe from the BETA
Age: 36
|
Going back to the episode.
No one found it weird how Asuna was about to take someone else's child for herself and her internet boyfriend? It felt like she didn't want to find Yui's parents at some point. What kind of human being thinks like that? She's a monster. |
|
|