2013-02-21, 02:22 | Link #445 |
Manus ad Ferrum
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Costa Rica
Age: 33
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So since we are stock on who is the one who endures the most we can also bring something else here. Overall the past argument just serve the purpose of making half of the people talk about the series while also bringing thoughts on others here that didn’t really add anything. Impossible to reach a conclusion maybe is time to move on and just keep, as Keroko says, being constructive. So I decided to be just that and voice something different. What I like of the series.
Overall the Nanoha franchise as a whole was never the perfect anime but why I find it good? Two main reasons: Characters and emotion. You see the plot of the first series is easy to follow, doesn’t really goes beyond regular magical girls and it does deliver an ok execution with some elements here and there making it a little different but overall and ok series. The reason why I care and actually watch more was the two main characters in the first season: Nanoha and Fate. Where everyone else just kind of sit in the background and really had nothing more going on the two started a dynamic relationship that even send the original plot to the side line as in the middle of the first season I was more interested in how Nanoha and Fate will resolve their problems than what will happen to the Jewel Seeds. And the story also gives you that impression as most of them are actually get off camera and then bet in a “final” battle between both girls. So I will be lying if I say I didn’t see how that was going to end but later on the story gives something more if I think was lacking a better action climax. The villain and the final trouble were kind of deal with in a less dramatic way than expected and the ending was a sad if heartwarming scene in a breach with the phrase “we will see each other again” that has been done several times and will be until the end of times. So really all that was there in the end reduces to one simple fact: did you care about the characters? Because if you don’t then this will not be that good and like I say I did care. Without calling it the best execution and develop ever we did get to see Nanoha and Fate in their scenes, how this affects them and how they were determinate to win no matter what. Is the passion on them that I get what makes me care and watch this to the end. Not to say the other characters were just waste of space but just don’t stand out that much and others like Yuuno or Arf fall in to strong side characters or weak main ones in case of Yuuno which role is always reduce as the series moves forward. So with that in mind the sequel to the first season A’s, use the same formula. And is really obvious how they repeat the same idea twice: lost logia that can do something, people who wants to use it and need to be stop but they aren’t that bad. We can pretty much guess where this is going right from the start so really again they need to use what save the other season: characters. Sadly even when tiny bits are dedicated to Fate’s development those are just too short and too spread across the 13 episodes to be as good as they should and Nanoha, while still good, also suffers from this to make room for new characters: the Wolkenritter and Hayate. And I am just going to say this but I am not that much of a Hayate’s fan. I get her just fine but she seems to be just bland in the sense she is good, she is going to die and she seems pretty much ok with this. We don’t focus the story on her and how she feels now with a loving family just see her happy and knowing she probably won’t make it to her 10th birthday. In the end while I get her feeling she remains too much in the background not just unknowing her knights are doing things but also we don’t focus on her side of the story that much. We spend most of our time with the Wolkenritter but that is just fine. In the end what makes me care here are Vita and Signum the ones who get the best screen time and the characterization, a little basic, but characterization. My problem with Hayate is that her character just remains too basic and without the passion or focus Fate had in the first season so really we do see more of how Vita cares than why Hayate does and we get more of how Signum feels about doing bad things than how the others do. Maybe that is why I tend to see this as a package. The characters do their jobs but like I say they fit their roles without stand out: Hayate is the cute, adorable and motherly little girl (I still consider odd that she as the age of 9 was the “mother” of the Wolkenritter) and is obvious the Wolkenritter will fight to protect her and while I like Reinforce she should be present more to make her tragic final stand all the more tragic. In the end they get the job done ok and there is when I stop is just fine but is not great. Overall A’s is enjoyable and I will always agree to that. The action did improve and the little mystery help the plot with the masked guys even if it just sort of end and that was it. Chrono’s reveal was really spoil to us early and the fact the twin cats were the masked guys as well. But none the less I still care for some of the new characters, not all, but I did care about Vita, like Signum enough and just of make room for Shamal. Zafira really… not a big fan, too little scream time to really get anything from him. Nanoha and Fate in reduced roles still were the ones who make me watch this and seeing Fate’s get over its familiar problems and get family and friends was nice. A’s was really an enjoyable anime. Now with all this comes the question: why I didn’t like StrikerS? Well even when some of the elements I enjoy where there this anime was fill with so many other things I didn’t care all that much and too many new characters that didn’t receive enough screen time to make me care enough to put them above the old favorites. When I consider what Fate and Nanoha went through in two seasons only to find their role reduce in the third to make room for 4 kids I never seen until that point I was not really looking forward to the anime. Overall I find StrikerS boring and that is its biggest crime to me but don’t focus on this last part and please try to read what I just say I did like. Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha was, to me, full of heart and while using just cute little girls to tell stories and some fan-services it did make something I enjoy for what it was. A cute simple adventure about two girls becoming friends and then fighting more possible friends is not an epic duel of legend but more a simple adventure with some human elements to it that while not complex were indeed relatable.
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2013-04-01, 18:06 | Link #446 | |
Banned
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Sure, Nanoha is more popular in Japan, but I was talking mainly about the west. The Nanoha DVDs sold so badly, that the license was dropped in the west, and so no StrikerS over here. Despite A's being one of the more acclaimed series. The movies aren't being released here, as DVDs or BDs. If you want them, you have to order them from Japan. The 3 different manga (which are MUCH cheaper to produce), are once a month affairs... instead of the once a week of other series. And ask any other anime fan to name magical girl series. Odds are, they know Sailor Moon, Card Captor Sakura, and maybe Pretty Cure (which is constantly getting new series). Oh, Madoka, too, of course. Hell, some of them will probably know Tutu and Wedding Peach. But not Nanoha. Call me when the Nanoha license gets picked up by a western company again. And when a new anime series is produced(which is harder to make money back on, then a movie). Hell, Sailor Moon is getting a reboot series instead of a movie, and that's frickin' old by now. Also understand that MG shows make most of their money on merch, too. You can run any half-decent MG show on merch alone... but it won't make it popular. So merch alone is not a good indicator of popularity. All the evidence you really have, is that some small subsection of fans in Japan will go watch the movies multiple times. Outside of Japan, Nanoha fails hard... and that's coming from someone who still likes the series and still tries to promote it to people. Inside of Japan, it's still not the biggest thing around... not even close. It's base shrank through StrikerS (a season I liked, but can recognize not a lot did). They've returned to using loli's, because they know that sells with the Japanese otaku. And you said it yourself: a movie is more profitable than an anime series. But if Nanoha were as popular as you think it was, then it could easily support an anime series. It can't. |
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2013-04-01, 18:20 | Link #448 | |
Left for TFF
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Simply because anime has to produce a new episode every week, they don't take breaks very often and they don't do re-runs. And series that go on hiatus have a hard time coming back on the air unless they were really popular (Inuyasha and Negima for example). Yes, in the short term, it's easier to do a series, but, well... Look at Bleach, one of the big 3 in Japan for a long time, it got canceled. Manga's still on-going, but after this arc's over, the series is over.
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2013-04-01, 18:22 | Link #449 |
Banned
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That's only one side of the coin. Yes, it can cost more to make a movie, but it is easier to make money back from a movie, then a series, since people actively pay to watch it (instead of depending on advertising). Lots of anime gets reduced to movies; Gintama is the latest. it's been cancelled a few times, yet has a movie coming out.
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2013-04-01, 18:22 | Link #450 | ||||
Ass connoisseur
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Florida
Age: 37
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The movies are really working well for him, it's a big risk planning for a 13 or 26 episode series. Especially when the movies have been a known success. Quote:
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2013-04-01, 18:25 | Link #451 | |
Left for TFF
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If you have a TV series that's running while movies are being made, you can advertise for them, get more people interested in the movies and have more people watch them, then make even more money?
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2013-04-01, 18:54 | Link #454 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Canada, Sault Ste. Marie
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It's not like Force or Vivid can be animated anyway with the mangas still running. I'd rather they do the high school stuff in a movie rather than put a whole series' worth of work into it.
Unless you'd like to see Touma beat Curren with a courage punch. |
2013-04-01, 19:24 | Link #457 | ||
Adeptus Animus
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Join Date: Jan 2007
Age: 36
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However, there is a big difference between an anime series an an anime movie. Quality, for example. An anime series has far lower quality standards than a movie, which means the animators spend less time and can afford to outsource many in-betweens for even lower production cost. A movie does not have that luxury, thus increased time and money are required. Also, if you believe competition for timeslots on TV is fierce, imagine for a moment what competition for cinema halls is like. Don't be mistaken, lots of time and money go into assuring your movie hits the cinema's. |
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2013-04-01, 23:29 | Link #458 | ||||||||
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But, to you, focus on anyone else means less time for Fate. Quote:
And by the time of StrikerS, most of who were left were pedos who got damn upset that StrikerS took their lolis away. So they drifted off to other series. Quote:
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And think about that quality for a moment... A 12 ep series has about 6 hours of animation. A movie runs about 2 hours. So, for the same price as a 12 ep series, you can have a movie with 3x the quality. Dial that back to 2x the quality, and a movie comes out cheaper and more directly pays for itself. Quote:
Taking out the unknown variable as far as competition goes, you can see how clearly a movie is more profitable for a studio than a series. So even if we think movie theater is more competitive, it still makes financial sense to concentrate on a movie, to gauge interest. I'm not sure how movie theaters work in Japan, but in the states, something like 95% of ticket sale money goes to the studio on the first week. The next week, the movie theater can probably keep 10% of the profit... then 15% on the following week. But movie viewership is decreasing all the while, and movie theaters need new films constantly to keep people coming in. There are only so many movie releases, and some specialize specifically in anime. Nanoha was only shown in specific select theaters, so it didn't get the exposure it could have. Thus, theaters would see Nanoha as a good idea, once made aware of a rabid otaku fanbase that would keep coming back to watch it... and thus make the theater more money week after week. |
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2013-04-01, 23:53 | Link #459 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Canada, Sault Ste. Marie
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(and Dog Days is a good show) Last edited by Justin_Brett; 2013-04-02 at 00:04. |
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2013-04-02, 00:49 | Link #460 | |
On a mission
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And good riddance to losing those fans referring to adult Nanoha and Fate as "hags".
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