Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Unnamed Memory
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MFrontier
Posts: 11269 |
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So far I'm liking it, Frieren as Tinasha is stellar casting and for an ENGI production the animation and action have been pretty on-point so far, and Oscar and Tinasha's chemistry is palpable.
spoiler[I only worry they're rushing through the material because they jumped pretty far into volume 1 already.] |
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18198 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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The comparison/contrast between Oscar and Tinasha became clearer with episode 2, and that definitely makes the series more interesting to me. It's a wholly different dynamic between the co-protagonists than what we see in Spice & Wolf, but it has its own appeal.
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Multi-Facets
Posts: 217 |
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It's interesting to see the differences between the initial impressions and ratings, and then see a more in-depth article so soon. They've both been handled fairly so far, with good points for both strengths and weaknesses in the plot, visuals, and genre. I'll be looking forward to see how all of this holds up as the reviews go on.
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Iron Maw
Posts: 490 |
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Its a shame that they are skipping the side material. It offered a lot of a lot of nice lore and more character building. I guess that staff doesn't a whole lot episode slots to work with. Besides that the 2nd episode was quite good.
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MFrontier
Posts: 11269 |
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I definitely feel like in focusing so much on the plot the show has kind of lost the appeal of Oscar and Tinasha's slow burn romance...by removing the slow burn.
Definitely feeling like an ENGI anime now...but hey, Ayako Kawasumi! |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11365 |
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Yeah, the animation does leave something to be desired. Aside from Lazar, Lucretia's boob physics are a marvel of bad something (don't know the terms) where her breasts move while the clothing they're (barely) contained in does not. You know it's bad when I notice that sort of thing.
I'm glad you pointed out the rushing. In the first part of the episode Tinasha and Oscar seemed normally prickly with each other, then suddenly they're in a tender romantic hug at the end. The whiplash made me wonder what I'd missed. Apparently a lot, but for once because it wasn't shown to me rather than me missing it. 
Valt and Miralys made me wonder if the Time Retrograde Army from Touken Ranbu are at work here too. Looks like he's disintegrated toast while she was transported somewhere? Of course, if they're timeline travelers, I guess he could still be a player somewhere. You don't hire Yuuki Kaji for a role to kill him off after a dozen lines of dialog. 
I still get a kick out of the pet dragon hitting the high note in the ED. And it's so cute curled up around the big dragon's core. Speaking of which, if they have it, what was it that Valt and Miralys recovered? Or maybe my question should be what does the chibi-dragon have? |
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MFrontier
Posts: 11269 |
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I felt like the beginning was a solid start but this is slowly turning into a typical ENGI adaption breezing through the source material.
The direction and animation is pretty stiff, lifeless, and unimpressive. They cut around so much that nothing is able to breathe or really hit, especially the relationship progression between Oscar and Tinasha and certain plot points. Stuff and development in their relationship just...happens. It's a testament to their chemistry, and their VA's performance, that they still come off so well together in-spite of that. |
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b-dragon
Posts: 453 |
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About the only thing positive I have about the episode is that Tinasha was finally, consistently smiling when interacting with Oscar. Sure, it was to train him to potentially end her in should that become needed, but enjoying interacting with him under any auspices feels like an improvement in their relationship.
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Terraziel
Posts: 57 |
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Yeah this really needs to slowdown for an episode and actually justify the main characters supposedly growing relationship. Heck, it needs to slowdown for a moment and actually tell me something about the characters themselves, at the moment it all kind of feels... random.
For example, spoiler[in the latest episode when accused by the very clearly mind-controlled character why does Tinasha react the way she does? Why does it need an entirely different witch who is hanging around the castle for some reason to note the mind control?] Things keep happening, but I'm not being given a reason to care. [/spoiler] |
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Emerje
 Posts: 7339 Location: Maine |
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This part was all fairly confusing. First off I don't believe she killed the general and and I think her tears at the funeral were genuine. Her cover of being his distant relative to gain his favor and get into the castle was certainly fabricated, but I don't think the kindness he showed her was based on the flashback we saw. They also point out that the general had been sick. Between her master being killed and then this guy that was nice to her dying suddenly I think it was a lot for her. I think the real reason she joined Oscar's workers wasn't for anything nefarious but because it was the safest place for her to be while she planned her revenge, hence Tinasha's feeling no need to do anything about her and saying she knows why she's there. Her master seemed like a nice guy. When Miralys was teleported away by him shortly before being kill he was probably attempting to send her to Tinasha since he has some sort of connection to her. At the end she kills that diplomat because his king is the one that killed her master. They make a big deal about of Tinasha's presence being leaked, but it feels like one of the worst kept secrets around right now. Miralys wasn't the one that leaked it, she said herself before killing the diplomat, "You've got some nerve showing yourself here. Your lord killed him in front of my eyes." which seemed to mean she didn't want them in the kingdom. It is a little strange that they're just letting the maid sit in on their investigation into the new country, seems like the sort of thing they'd send her out for. Most likely it was just so she could be there when they got the news of the general's death. Though it's also entirely possible her identity had already been revealed to the group completely off screen. What really kills me is that they had some really good fight scenes in episode two against mages and monsters, but this episode couldn't even be bothered to give us a montage of stills. Emerje |
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SinisterOracle
Posts: 194 |
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This adaptation just sucks and it really chaps my ass. Too much material is being left out and pacing is moving entirely too quickly. Actual fight sequences are nothing more than a few swings of a sword and then it cuts to healing magic. Like that tells anyone anything aside from the animators’ obvious lack of ability. Not to mention the characters and their facial expressions and body language are barely noticeable. It’s like I’m watching a first generation animation that interns are working on. I wanted so much to like this show, but I can’t find anything likable about it aside from the voice acting. That alone is not enough to keep me watching.
It’s just so aggravating to continue getting these weak and mediocre anime adaptations every season. If you can’t do it right the first time, then don’t bother doing it at all. |
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MFrontier
Posts: 11269 |
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spoiler[I think the idea was that she felt those accusations on an emotional level because she's heard them thrown at her for so long.] |
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Key
Moderator
Posts: 18198 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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This was also my take. Tinasha is a gorgeous woman who, even in her slightly more mature appearance, still looks like she's in her late teens or early 20s. Combine that with her being a witch (and the reputation witches have) and she's probably had to put up with a lot of those kind of insinuations over the years. Something like that probably wouldn't faze Lucrezia, but it would hit hard on someone (like Tinasha) who goes out of her way to avoid romantic and sexual entanglements. In general, I agree that the adaptation seems to be rushing at this point, but I think that's because the production team aimed for a more plot-driven than character-driven approach. That makes it the complete opposite of Spice & Wolf. I don't necessarily think that's bad, as the connection between Lawrence and Holo is more driven by the intricacies of their byplay, while Oscar and Tinasha's relationship is driven more by long-term goals on both their parts. So while there are some flaws here, I'm plenty willing to give the series more time to play out. Even with those flaws, it's still far from being one of the season's most slipshod productions. |
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Glordit
 Posts: 469 |
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Did I miss an episode? When did the other witch just show up to stay at the castle? How much time has passed, the sudden death and funeral felt out of place.
Feels like they speed running the story here and cutting out all the more important character development. |
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Covnam
 Posts: 3654 |
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A character gets mind controlled into becoming an assassin and other than mentioning she's been cured (which took some time, which is an interesting change from the typical casting of a spell immediately undoing the effect) it's never brought up again.
Shouldn't this have been a big incident and a major investigation? I mean the most obvious suspect was an envoy from another nation... that's the kind of thing that can lead to war! |
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