Forum - View topicNot quite the Masterpiece.
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nobahn
 Subscriber Posts: 5150 |
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Have you ever seen an anime that just grew upon you, and after every re-viewing you mentally raise it a notch and eventually want to rate it 11/11 (masterpiece) -- but for some niggling details?
For me, that anime is Sword of the Stranger. The following are reasons that I would like to rate it 11/11.
Unfortunately, the Hollywood physics makes it impossible for me in good conscience to rate it 11/11. In particular, I am talking about:
So I am -- with the greatest of regret -- unable to rate it as a masterpiece. |
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UnrestrictedMethod
 Posts: 80 |
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FMP! 2nd Raid drove me insane at the end when spoiler[Kaname chickens out and doesn't confess her love to Sousuke. It does make some sense as she never learned the real reason Sousuke went AWOL, believing it to be mere exhaustion. But here we have a show that put vast emphasis of forcing Sousuke to confront his feelings yet stopped just short of taking it to its final conclusion- a confession of love between the two. ] How am I supposed to be satisfied?! There's even an after-credits scene that seems to be there specifically to tease me. Generally, I hate the spoiler["she comes close to confessing her love but chickens out at the last moment"] cliché. On the subject I hate the spoiler[ “they're about to kiss just as they're interrupted” ] cliché even more though that particular cliché, thankfully, wasn't in this show. Before ending I should note that otherwise the ending is terrific, it's just this one (really big) thing that ticks me off.
Last edited by UnrestrictedMethod on Sat Apr 07, 2012 1:39 am; edited 2 times in total |
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walw6pK4Alo
 Posts: 9322 |
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My problem with Sword of the Stranger is that the film just doesn't have much to chew on, there's not enough meat on the bones to really talk about anything aside from how good the fight choreography is. It's not comparable to say, Redline, where the visuals and cool aesthetic are the driving focus that keep you pumped, but the story and characters are slim. People criticized that film for the same reason I'm using on Sword of the Stranger, but I guess what the point I'm making is that while it's a good samurai film it's not an Akira Kurosawa good samurai film.
For something that's not quite the masterpiece: Honneamise. Disregarding the attempted rape, the score for this film is just wrong and completely forgettable, and the end is really anti-climatic. Small things that keep the movie from really succeeding. |
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Tris8
 Posts: 2114 Location: Where the rain is. |
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My Not-quite-a-masterpiece is Trigun. It's one of the first anime I saw and the only title I've gone back and forth on whether to give it the masterpiece honor or keep it at excellent. In the end I've kept it at excellent, but really it gets something like a 9.99/10 from me
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Why I want to rate it as a masterpiece: -The masterful balance of comedy with seriousness and tragedy. The first half is mostly light-hearted and fun, while the second half is mostly dark and intense. The two aspects balance each other well and let us really get to know our protagonists under both good and bad circumstances. -Vash. There are so many protagonists (mostly shounen) that label killing for any reason terrible, but so few that are executed well. The only other character I can think of that does this well is Balsa, though Moribito places less emphasis on that aspect of the story. -The ending. When Vash has spoiler[defeated Knives, but instead of taking the easy route decides to stick to his guns and not kill him, I was impressed. When he did break his oath by killing Legato I was shocked. But it takes more from a person to renew a promise and actually follow through then it does to make the promise in the first place. Through all his trials and tribulations, he never stopped wanting to save everyone, even those who were out to kill him.] What's stopping me from rating it as a masterpiece: -The ending. spoiler[As amazing as it was, it seemed a little sudden. But that hardly matters. What got to me was that Vash let Knives live, without any kind of safeguard he wouldn't do the same thing again. And we know Knives is going to try it again. By letting him live, humans will die. If there was some way Vash could lock him up or prevent him from murdering, I would be okay with letting him live.] |
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Unicorn_Blade
 Posts: 1153 Location: UK |
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My not-quite-a-masterpiece
AnoHana. Why I thought it would be a masterpiece- because the story is so touching and well developed. Because the characters are so real and easy to relate to, and on the top of it, interesting. Why it is not a masterpiece: because the writes did not know where to stop and simply overdid it. The last episode, and its last 5 minutes in particular, were embarrassing to watch. I did not feel moved, I felt as if everything was done to make the viewer cry and the makers just pushed too hard. Then there is a bunch of series like Eureka 7 or Stein's Gate that were close for me to get the highest rating, if not some major pacing issues. |
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Animegomaniac
Posts: 4159 |
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An almost masterpiece except for the details that come out over time or a show that you want to call a masterpiece except for the details? I thought it was the minute flaws that made the masterpiece but I believe that saying is derived from the Chinese and this is Anime...
Excel Saga. Most people usually get it wrong but the series is more an adaptation of adapting manga rather than a direct adaptation of the Excel Saga manga. What what producers, writers and directors do or try to do in order to gain viewers, fill time slots with limited animation and above all, adapt when there's nothing to adapt. All that info about the mysterious this and mysterious that from episode two? That's about all they had from the manga. So. What's the problem? Thinking that this idea would work as a 26 episode anime series. I love it and it's fairly brilliant and informative but it's too disjointed, not in the plot but in the cast. Due to the snapback nature of the premise, characters can not develop even as they interact with other individuals and groups. So they're forced to develop suddenly and with great force when the show gets serious. Lyish. |
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nobahn
Subscriber Posts: 5150 |
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UnrestrictedMethod--
I am quite enchanted with your avatar -- I myself ended up rating Princess Tutu as a masterpiece. |
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Rhyono
Posts: 1039 |
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I loved Time of Eve, but I could not rate it as a masterpiece simply because I wanted more. The story is too incomplete and short for me to thoroughly enjoy it.
As for [C]: I really enjoyed the style of the battles, but the ending seemed rushed. |
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Mesonoxian Eve
Posts: 1858 |
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Cowboy Bebop is short of a masterpiece rating because of the relationship between Vicious and Spike, which was never fully disclosed on why they were enemies beyond simply "Spike leaving the organization". That's a poor excuse to build a rivalry, and it gets worse when Vicious obtains power and sends people to kill Spike only to "fail" so the inevitable final showdown occurs. A plot element I despise.
The Ghost in the Shell franchise lost its masterpiece rating for inevitably suffering from anime's worst attribute: Filler Time. The pacing of the story starts of very strong and sets a tone immediately for the viewer, then it happens: the pace is broken for spoken rhetoric which could put an insomniac to sleep in half a second. I've not seen any of the movies (aside from the first) to determine if they'd make up for the faults of the series. The second Death Note pitted a college student against a trained professional in a game of wit, this instantly turned a potential masterpiece into a waste of a day. Midway through the series, a turning point occurs which should have brought the story to a close. Instead, the writer(s) felt another 20+ episodes we've already seen were necessary to close it. What a waste of an excellent story premise. Kanon lost its masterpiece rating the second it introduced the character named Mikoto. Its "sister" series, Clannad, never had a chance to become a masterpiece. Aria: The Natural lost its masterpiece rating because Sato seemed to have been temporarily blind as to not see those horrendous character designs sporadically placed throughout the series. This wasn't a retelling of "The Planet of the Apes", so there was no reason to make the characters look the part. Hell Girl is a series which is so close to a masterpiece rating, literally within grasp, but ultimately loses the prize because of a single episode titled "Hell Boy". It's the insufferable plot element "these two must come together to resolve their conflict", which ruined its chances. Sorry to disappoint some of you as to not mention the repeated story delivery used throughout the series as a fault. It's actually the entire point and to remove it would have ruined it. In some regard, I actually preferred parts of Outlaw Star over those of its "often compared to" Cowboy Bebop. Not only was the opportunity to form originality embedded within the series, but it seemed purposely added just to try and prevent the comparisons. Sadly, it is some of these which helped strip its masterpiece rating. Call it a hunch, but I don't believe what we were given was the true ending the series originally had. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if the original called for a death of either Gene or Melfina, but we'll never know. It also didn't help there was a hot springs scene, which seemed to be tossed in at the last minute given how these scenes were... appreciated. Trinity Blood - The ending. The end of its masterpiece potential. Okay, I'm done now. In looking at my collection, there's more I can add, but this is already a tl;dr moment, so why ruin it further. |
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TheSwedishElf
Posts: 300 |
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To be fair, it kinda took just as long to conclude in the manga, they were just going by that and adding a little of their own content. |
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Unicorn_Blade
Posts: 1153 Location: UK |
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Quite agree with that... For me there were a few other elements that made this a bit further away from the masterpiece, but the ending was a big disappointment. So rushed- spoiler[I would expect to know more of the big opponent, after the whole build-up of the conflict seeing so many aspect of it unexplored was not that fun]. |
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Saffire
 Posts: 1256 Location: Iowa, USA |
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Soundmonkey44
 Posts: 1243 |
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Technically NOTHING is a masterpiece since many times that is seen as akin to perfection, since humans are incapable of making anything perfect.....yeah.
But Don't mind me, I just like to rant. Still stuff like Bebop, Trigun, gits etc. arguably hecka lot better then alot of the other stuff Japan has been spewing out the past 5-7 years. But thats just imo. |
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nobahn
Subscriber Posts: 5150 |
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Soundmonkey44--
There's nothing wrong with an opinion -- just so long as you can cogently explain it.
As I recall it, the main point of contention spoiler[(other than just wanting out of the syndicate)] was that Vicious tried to spoiler[force Julia to kill Spike -- and she would have rather have died than do that.]
I must disagree -- quite enjoyed your post! |
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Unicorn_Blade
Posts: 1153 Location: UK |
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Well, it is a bit of both really- the conflict was about spoiler[Spike wanting to leave the organisation to have a peaceful life with Julia, and chose her over his partner. Then Julia chose Spike over Vicious and did not want to kill him, so alltogether, he got dumped twice] 
Last edited by Unicorn_Blade on Tue Apr 10, 2012 1:22 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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