2017-12-30, 17:25 | Link #244 |
The Chaotic Dreamer
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: In a cruel yet beautiful world
Age: 32
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I agree with those who said that there wasn't enough time spent showing us Izumi and Natsume together.
Part of what makes Souma and Morikawa so endearing, believable, and worth cheering on is that we actually got to see a good combination of their personal insight and their interactions with one another. But Izumi just... spent the whole series doing way too much thinking, while Natsume just brooded and jumped to a lot of conclusions without seeking context. We're expected to just completely ride on the solely emotional foundation of this supposed past connection they established (which we only receive two extremely short flashbacks of). For some folks here, that's enough for them to be satisfied. But to me, there's little to nothing that's interesting or dynamic about that. The end result was the show concluding with a very lackluster, boring finale that dragged on for way too long. The first few episodes & Souma/Morikawa's plot is a solid 6/10, but the series as a whole gets a 4.5/10 from me.
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2017-12-30, 19:55 | Link #245 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: America
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In the end the main problem is that the show spent too much time building up a love triangle and less time showing us why we should root so much for the winning couple. Short flashbacks and simply telling us they knew each other in the past don't exactly make for compelling romance. Ironically the show itself is an example that you don't need a love triangle to make a compelling romance, considering how the relationship between Haruto and Morikawa has handled.
In the end, I would say the show was overall average.
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2017-12-30, 21:32 | Link #247 |
Udon-YAAAAAAAA
Join Date: Jan 2008
Age: 35
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why were none of the line messages or forms translated? a good deal of information was left out to the sub viewing audience. i give props to the show for keeping the audience on its toes until the last episode. we sort of knew which way it was going to go, but it wasn't definitive until the last ep. that said, the symbolism when they confess to each other is pretty neat. it looks all beautiful with colors and petals, but in the real world, the trees aren't nearly as pretty, the locale isn't as pretty, and there's a pile of dirt under a tarp in the background. the moment they both had visualized for a long time wasn't as picture perfect as they wanted it to be. maybe it's also the point of view from the viewership too: it's trashy and has no luster. Komiya crying after giving him the scrap book and getting rejected hit like a truck. oh well. show had potential, but squandered it.
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2017-12-31, 01:53 | Link #248 |
Princess or Plunderer?
Join Date: May 2009
Location: the Philippines
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I already forgotten the feeling of high school graduation, but I do feel that it's just as uneventful as the ending of this series. After the initial rush of feelings, people immediately settle down to the fact that they are no longer high school students and college or work is the only possible next step. On a similar note, the romantic development between the awkward valedictorian Natsume and the transfer student Eita was uneventful. It didn't help that Komiya had such great chemistry with Eita. Maybe things like this is inevitable, even if doesn't really help make this development any less frustrating.
Overall, it was a big relief that Pine Jam was able to push through with such a challenging project. Just seeing a final episode was assuring, plot direction aside. Hopefully, just as this series sorted out some lessons for real life, I hope that Pine Jam got some lessons in the future. This makes me thinking: what's with Japan and their expertise in making girls that possess such great chemistry with the male lead as well as an inevitable loss in favor of the female lead?
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2017-12-31, 17:39 | Link #249 |
Master of Killing Time
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Makinohara Service Area
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I don't know how people find this ending unpleasant, I mean, I went into this knowing the result but not the events that led to that result, and it even had a proper ending unlike almost every other series ever.
One of my criteria for a great series is something that has a proper conclusion, that alone is sometimes enough make a series great for me One of the complaints I've seen was that the mio storyline wasn't as developed as the morikawa one, to that I'd say that the bulk of the story between eita and natsume was shown in the flashbacks, everything that happened from ep01 onwards was just the conclusion of the events that happened before eita moved out, at least that's what I think. Haruto's entire story started with episode 1, and so it would seem to be more complete since everything was shown, but that's not really the case. As with Komiya.. I think of it as just something Eita needs to get over if he's really serious with Natsume. "Here's this great gal that you have great chemistry with and is far more compatible to you than Natsume, are you sure you still want to pursue that girl you knew from years ago and once threatened to beat you up?" Either way, Eita will end up with a nice girl no matter who he chooses, and since her entire story was shown, people are partial towards Komiya and I can understand how making her cry is just the worst thing ever, but throwing a pebble won't stop the flow of the river, so to speak. as for that "unglamorous" ending, I think most people have just been spoiled by grand declarations of love that most other series do. At that point in the story they pretty much both know what the other was thinking, but they still had to say it, and they did. All in all, I'm glad I picked this one up this season, it's the perfect story for the cold weather!
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2017-12-31, 19:09 | Link #250 |
Me, An Intellectual
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: UK
Age: 33
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It was a decent ending, but I can't say I'm not disappointed. I felt like it could've been a bit more daring and be a bit more "5cm/s"-esque, not just on the ending but throughout the story itself.
Guardian Enzo makes an observation that he doesn't think the show was built around romance but I can't find myself agreeing to that. I do however think it should've been more like that. Less romance and more focus on what exactly these kids want for their futures. I think it could've been balanced a lot better.
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2017-12-31, 20:42 | Link #252 | |
Banned
Join Date: Apr 2016
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Half of the series was a complete waste of time and many people feels like that, ironically most of Natsume fans are the ones saying that it wasn't. Some people needs to learn what is proper development. |
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2017-12-31, 21:23 | Link #253 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2009
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2017-12-31, 21:32 | Link #254 | ||
Banned
Join Date: Apr 2016
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-Show in the series that there is a lot of romance and Natsume/Eita are troubled by that the entire time. -Instead of solving those problems in order to focus on the exams they added all the bullshit with Komiya to suddenly in a couple of minutes dump her and show what everyone knew since the beginning, Natsume is going to win by default with zero effort or at least some developments between her and Eita. -Showing how Eita was half of the time thinking about Natsume, meanwhile she was half of the time doing exactly the same for him and Souma (in the beginning). There is nothing of what you said, the whole "I have to decide my future" topic wasn't the focus of those 3 characters, at best half of the time while this is mostly about the poorly written romance issues between them. This show didn't even tried to do something interesting with Eita or Natsume, just went for the usual cliche stuff that you can find anywhere. The only characters here that shows this were Morikawa and Souma, you can pinpoint every escene or dialogue where they showed their worries about the future and deal in a proper way with their feelings. |
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2017-12-31, 21:37 | Link #256 | |
The Chaotic Dreamer
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: In a cruel yet beautiful world
Age: 32
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2018-01-04, 13:07 | Link #259 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Edinburgh
Age: 41
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 ̄~ ̄
I think this show reflects on some of the problems I hear from some people I know, who used to live in japan. Basically a lot of people leave things, especially romance/love, up to chance or plan too much without taking risks. I'm not sure if this show is criticising or celebrating it. Throughout the 95% of the show it criticised it, until the last scene. If you are making a show, with a message, stick to it and don't change it at the very last second. Or maybe this show doesn't have a message. Personally I would remove the last 2-3min of the final episode. The last 2-3min transforms this series into a bad one. |
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