Accel World - Anime General Discussion

[vansonbee]

Originally Posted by Randrak42

I'll have to spoil a bit to explain but I'll try to keep the spoil at a minimum.

Spoiler for Episode 4 Censor:

Basically in Kyoto a man driving a minivan had an epileptic attack and lost control of the vehicle, plowing into a bunch of people and killing 8 of them, injuring several others. Next episode there's a car accident which apparently will be censored due to the Kyoto incident.

Censoring the next episode?

Will it be cancel altogether or post pone till a further week OR won't show it on TV and can only be view through DVD purchase?

[Haak]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

They're sympathetic to you, and I suppose to me, but have you seen the vitriol thrown at him earlier in the thread? Besides, sympathetic or not, they're still flaws.

Which till now has done very little for him. Besides, is he that good? We've only seen him play one game, that nobody else played at all.

Dude think about. Despite his flaws he already has two super cute girls that have the hots for him, one of which already has a boyfriend and the other is so popular she could get any guy she wanted. You don't think that's just a little bit overcompensating to begin with?

As for his video game skills he was at least good enough to get "fans" which I think was the story's way of telling us he's a badass. And plus he has that absurdly highscore in virtual tennis which impressed KYH. Plus we know he must be good because otherwise KYH wouldn't have asked for his help.

[thundrakkon]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

But I don't even see you proposing a better solution, so where's the high horse coming from?

Woah there. Calm down here.

Best solution is for her to follow her own feelings. She should not have done something to try to make everything convenient. If she did not like Taku in that way, then she should have told him that she rather they remain friends and that they are too young to be in a relationship. Their friendship dynamic between the 3 would have changed anyway after the confession, so might as well change it in a way that they will be honest with each other.

There were plenty of excuses she could have made. In the end, she chose the easiest path that would end up hurting all involved.

Originally Posted by tsunade666

When did Haru gets jealous of Taku? or maybe his jealous but he is soooooo darn straight on the belief that he doesn't have a worth which brings back in episode 2. He doesn't believe in his own self.

Hmm.. Well, you have a point. He does not want pity from his perfect best friend, although, in that regards, it is a form of jealousy, if not romantically. However, I still can't shake the feeling from their interactions that Haru has feelings towards Chiyu.

Btw, I expect for a show like this that all the significant characters are Brain Bursters. That includes Chiyu and Taku, or course. Then that leads to the question of why they did not tell Haru about it, even though they are supposed to be 3 good friends.

[Randrak42]

Originally Posted by vansonbee

Censoring the next episode?

Will it be cancel altogether or post pone till a further week OR won't show it on TV and can only be view through DVD purchase?

No idea, just explaining the Kyoto incident and why there would be censoring next episode.

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by Haak

Dude think about. Despite his flaws he already has two super cute girls that have the hots for him,

So? Much worse kids have attracted harems in the past. It's anime.

one of which already has a boyfriend and the other is so popular she could get any guy she wanted. You don't think that's just a little bit overcompensating to begin with?

I don't even know what you're getting at. You're trying to paint him as some kind of Gary Stu in a world of horribly flawed people. All I'm saying is, everyone in that world is flawed. And his flaws are rather plain to see. And likewise, flawed as they are, the other characters largely aren't monsters. Except the bully.

As for his video game skills he was at least good enough to get "fans" which I think was the story's way of telling us he's a badass.

Not badass. Interesting. Ash Roller was a fresh level 2 when he was defeated. But hey, Haruyuki was clever and won.

Look at the spectators' reaction. They were more amused than impressed.

And plus he has that absurdly highscore in virtual tennis which impressed KYH.

What's absurd is spending that much time on it...

Plus we know he must be good because otherwise KYH wouldn't have asked for his help.

She asked him because he was good at the squash game, which isn't the same as being good at all games. (It means he has good reflexes, but that's not exactly enough to excel at everything.) He said he was good at games, and I'm willing to take his word for it, but that's probably just at the level of being that kid who's good at games, rather than that kid who's national champion of SC2 in South Korea.

[lightbringer]

Originally Posted by Salt

Question. Only watch the 1st episode so far.

From the previews, this looks like a "fighting" anime. Is my conclusion correct?

I doubt I'll spoil anything by saying that yes, there will be more battles. You can expect as much from KYH's belligerent attitude, which Haru supports.

[Wandering_Youth]

Originally Posted by TheEroKing

Guys, I think the most important topic to discuss should be what would you have done if you were on top of Chiyuri on that bed with her being all cute?

@jinxidol: lol good one, mangatron will be quite proud of that.

That whole scene when they entered into her room to her tone of voice and the way she just laid down on her bed was like a prostitute just wishing it'll end quickly and move on.

[Randrak42]

Originally Posted by Wandering_Youth

That whole scene when they entered into her room to her tone of voice and the way she just laid down on her bed was like a prostitute just wishing it'll end quickly and move on.

You...opened yourself up for so much trolling with that one...

[Triple_R]

I just finished watching the third episode of this.

Excellent character and world development here. I like the meticulous care that has been put into fleshing out this Accelerated World and the Brain Burst program.

There's a nice element of Fantasy to this show even while its Sci-Fi continues to more or less make sense.

The decisions of the Kings of Pure Color also makes sense. I can totally understand them deciding it would be best to simply enjoy their Accelerated World fiefdoms for as long as they could instead of risking everything in trying to achieve Level 10.

OTOH, I get Kuro's motivation as well. It's understandable that she would want to meet the developer of the Brain Burst program and find out what the main goal behind that program is (although I'll laugh loudly if its goal is not the lofty one that Kuro hopes it is ).

So the central conflict has been presented, and good motivations have been given to both sides of that conflict. Not bad, not bad at all.


As for all of the character discussion:

1. My view on Chiyuri is that she simply likes two different guys. It is possible for someone to have romantic feelings for two different people. When Takumu confessed to her, she had to make a tough decision. I don't hold her decision against her, and I'm not sure why anybody would. I do think that Chiyuri regrets her decision because her feelings for Haru are probably stronger than her feelings for Takumu are. Her situation makes her sympathetic to me, and I don't really see it as a character flaw so much as her being humanized and interesting.

I will say, though, that the ages involved here are pretty hard to swallow.


2. One way that the ages might actually help to explain things, though, is perhaps Haru simply didn't care about girls that way back when Takumu confessed to Chiyuri. I mean, lots of boys that age (pre-adolescence) don't care that much about girls, so perhaps at the time Haru didn't consider it a big deal for his friend Chiyuri to be the girlfriend of his other friend Takumu. But now, a couple years into his adolescence and more mature, Haru does care, and that's probably why he's grown distant from Chiyuri and Takumu. It probably does hurt him a bit to see them so close like that when he himself doesn't have a girlfriend (although it looks like that's going to change, lol ).

Honestly, I really like this overall setup between the three friends. Again, it helps to humanize these characters, and it provides for good interpersonal dynamics and character drama.


Altogether, this show has been pretty impressive so far. Excellent start, especially going by the old three-episode rule.

[DragoonKain3]

Even as hardcore as I am as a childhood friend shipper, I just don't see Chiyu having romantic feelings for EITHER Haru or Taku. I mean, for all the 'heartfelt' moments coming from her towards Haru in this episode, which I guess one can see to imply she has feelings for Haru, it still came undone when she reintroduced Taku again to the conversation. From what I gather, both Haru and Taku are so important to her that she wants to be #1 for both of them, and what she would do for one, she'd also gladly do for the other.

Chiyu takes this to such extremes for both (from making bentos to as far as accepting their confession) that I can only conclude that she has the same feelings for both Taku and Haru. Which of course either just boils down to she has romantic feelings for both, or she does not. And considering her insistence that all she did, she did to maintain the status quo, I'm gonna invoke Occam's Razor and just go for the latter.

Is it bad that she accepted Taku's confession even without her having the same degree of feelings for him? Yeah, definitely is gonna spell doom (or at least hurt for both the parties), if her feelings don't change.

But can I fault her for doing so? No not really, as she really was only 10 or 11 at that time. In fact, it's one of the major reasons that childhood friend couples don't really work in real life.

And maybe this is the reason why I like this show so much, in that even though it doesn't portray the idealized childhood friendship that I so adore, it's about as real as you can get for a light novel. Not everyone is perfect, but the main characters aren't total demons either.

Unless of course Kuroyukihime's heart is really as black as her name. But so far, she ain't that bad...

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by DragoonKain3

Even as hardcore as I am as a childhood friend shipper, I just don't see Chiyu having romantic feelings for EITHER Haru or Taku.

I'll grant you that in real life you can have cases where a young boy and a young girl are very close platonic friends, but in anime, it's exceptionally rare for them to be this close unless there's some romantic feelings at play for at least one of the two, if not both of them.

[Flere821]

Originally Posted by thundrakkon

Hence, she placed all the burdens on Haru's shoulder, and she reaped all the benefits guilt free.

WHAT benefits? I don't think she thought having a boyfriend was a good thing

She wanted to keep the status quo, and wasn't looking for a boyfriend. To me she was trying to do damage control, somehow get through this without straining the relationship between the three of them. Sure, in the short term it worked, but now with Haru's inferiority complex things have gone down hill.
There's just no real 'right answer' for her - decline Taku and tell the truth, it might alienate him from her for good - we know that being 'friendzoned' isn't necessarily a good thing And well, now we're seeing what happens when she accepts...

Originally Posted by Randrak42

I'll have to spoil a bit to explain but I'll try to keep the spoil at a minimum.

Spoiler for Episode 4 Censor:

Basically in Kyoto a man driving a minivan had an epileptic attack and lost control of the vehicle, plowing into a bunch of people and killing 8 of them, injuring several others. Next episode there's a car accident which apparently will be censored due to the Kyoto incident.

... Why is it such things happen a lot when related anime came out? 'Nice Boat' from School Days, Puella Magi with the Earthquake, and now this

[DragoonKain3]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

I'll grant you that in real life you can have cases where a young boy and a young girl are very close platonic friends, but in anime, it's exceptionally rare for them to be this close unless there's some romantic feelings at play for at least one of the two, if not both of them.

While I don't discount the possibility, for now I'm just taking what both Haru and Chiyu are saying at face value. That Haru is distancing himself away from both Chiyu and Taku because of his low self-esteem, and thus his actions from before. As for Chiyu, she didn't want anything to change between the three of them, and thus hates how Haru is distancing himself from her.

I mean, for all the mushiness state Chiyu was in, it still bothers me to no end that she brought Taku back to the conversation. If a girl was that close with someone they romantically love, having a very good heart to heart talk, it just makes no sense to me that she's going to bring up another guy out of the blue. At least for me, this signals that she cares as much about Haru as she does Taku, because not only does she claim it to be so, but her behaviour also reflects it.

Don't get me wrong, you are perfectly right in that for some reason, Japanese fiction makes opposite gender childhood friends romantically involved, unrequited or not, for vast majority of the time. Heck, this is THE reason why I am drawn to Japanese fiction, as Western fiction having opposite gender childhood friends are next to non-existent, let alone romantically involved one way or another. But I digress...

But invoking a stereotype/trope to a work of fiction just because it is made in Japan? I dunno about that, as I like to evaluate any sort of fiction on its own terms.

Thus, if Chiyu claims to like both Haru and Taku as much as each other, and so far she has shown no romantic favoritism one way or another, then so far there is no point in claiming otherwise. Future developments or revelations might change my mind, but so far with two episodes of Accel World, there is nary of any evidence that Chiyu did what she did because of romantic intentions... for both Haru and Taku.

[syke123]

So two years ago I would've rejected Taku and gone out with you, is what she's saying no?

The manga adapted scene was far more productive and had such a heart warming atmosphere to it, I just didn't feel it in the episode. The job was to portray Chiyu struggling with her developed feelings over her distanced childhood friend that was always there for her when she needed him, but instead they cast her out as some hypocrite who sees him the very way he saw his relationship with senpai.

This was a mood killer, incorporating a few things from the manga wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, I don't see why they had to destroy the subtle possible relationship that was present in the manga.

[Randrak42]

Just re-watched that scene between Chiyu and Haru to make sure but they forgot something very important in the anime that was said in the manga: Chiyu actually confirms that she only started dating Taku because Haru TOLD her to when Taku confessed. This was because he, like her, feared that if she refused Taku then he would drift away from them.

Then there's also the fact that she blatantly implies that if Haru had confessed to her first she would have accepted (as opposed to Taku's confession which required Haru to push her to accept).

There's also a short bit they left out when Chiyu points out some of Haru's good points that she likes, but that's not that important.

Chiyu is CLEARLY in love with Haru but is dating Taku so the trio doesn't drift apart. She more than likely loves Taku but probably more in a true childhood/best friend sense rather than it being an actual romantic love.

[Salt]

Originally Posted by lightbringer

I doubt I'll spoil anything by saying that yes, there will be more battles. You can expect as much from KYH's belligerent attitude, which Haru supports.

Thanks. Think I will give it a skip then. "Fighting" anime like Bleach/Naruto/Rurouni Kenshin/DragonBall, basically "fights" chained together by a storyline, have kind of outstayed their welcome with me - and to be honest I never was really fond of them.

Not to mention, the lead character thus far has failed to "click" with me.

[Flere821]

Originally Posted by Salt

Thanks. Think I will give it a skip then. "Fighting" anime like Bleach/Naruto/Rurouni Kenshin/DragonBall, basically "fights" chained together by a storyline, have kind of outstayed their welcome with me - and to be honest I never was really fond of them.

Not to mention, the lead character thus far has failed to "click" with me.

You're missing out, then. The plot of Accel World IMO isn't fight driven, but character driven. eg, this recent 3rd episode with no fight scenes of any kind, instead delving into relationships. Fights happen here not because 'the plot demands it' like in DragonBall or Bleach, but truly because of conflicts between characters, because of their emotions or clashing ideals and such.

Of course, if you're dropping this due to boredom of romance in anime these days I won't blame you

[apsody243]

As Flere821 just said there is more to this show than just fighting. A lot more, I can't say any more than that because I don't want to spoil anything, but I would advise against dropping it so soon.

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

2. One way that the ages might actually help to explain things, though, is perhaps Haru simply didn't care about girls that way back when Takumu confessed to Chiyuri. I mean, lots of boys that age (pre-adolescence) don't care that much about girls, so perhaps at the time Haru didn't consider it a big deal for his friend Chiyuri to be the girlfriend of his other friend Takumu. But now, a couple years into his adolescence and more mature, Haru does care, and that's probably why he's grown distant from Chiyuri and Takumu. It probably does hurt him a bit to see them so close like that when he himself doesn't have a girlfriend (although it looks like that's going to change, lol ).

It explains things from Chiyu's side, too. At that age, she may not have know what she was getting into when she accepted the confession. As they grew, so did the commitment involved, and maybe she's started to feel trapped in a relationship she got into too lightly.

[Cosmic Eagle]

Originally Posted by Randrak42

I'll have to spoil a bit to explain but I'll try to keep the spoil at a minimum.

Spoiler for Episode 4 Censor:

Basically in Kyoto a man driving a minivan had an epileptic attack and lost control of the vehicle, plowing into a bunch of people and killing 8 of them, injuring several others. Next episode there's a car accident which apparently will be censored due to the Kyoto incident.

How do you even censor that and make it make sense...