Forum - View topicShelf Life - Familiar with Zero
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James_Beckett
ANN Reviewer
 Posts: 282 Location: USA |
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Hey guys! James here, and I'd like to say first and foremost that I'm really excited to be contributing to the column, and I'm looking forward to getting to take part in conversations like this. I'm really glad to see how civil and thoughtful the discussion has been so far; getting to know and engage with the different thoughts and opinions of everyone in the community is really my favorite part of this whole gig.
As for my comparisons of WIXOSS to Madoka, I can see why people feel the comparison is played out. Honestly, I'm the kind of guy that doesn't really mind when things come across as being heavily inspired by other properties, or even when things go so far as to be "derivative". I guess WIXOSS didn't do enough with those familiar tropes and themes to make it stand out for me, personally. But that's just me! As Vaisaga noted earlier, ANN's own Theron Martin enjoyed the show quite a bit, and it's awesome that the show was able to strike that chord for you guys. |
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7jaws7
 Posts: 704 Location: New York State |
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Perishable is supposed to be a rather harsh criticism in this column. Harsh in that there is literally nothing rewarding about watching the show.
I would consider WIXOSS rent-worthy. A lot of people clearly enjoy it. |
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WingKing
Posts: 617 |
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I haven't seen Wixoss, so I can't comment specifically on this review, but in principle I agree with this thought. I've talked to a lot of people who have little to no magical girl exposure besides Madoka and think that everything it did was totally original, which is far from the case, and Sasami is one of those earlier shows that I always point them towards, along with Nanoha, Uta Kata, and Mai Hime. I had a conversation with Rose earlier in the year on this subject when she was doing the weeklies for Houkago no Pleiades and compared it with Madoka several times, even though Pleiades was a much lighter series and in many ways a pre-Madoka throwback. As she correctly pointed out, though, the influence of that show is pretty much impossible to avoid at this point, so if it's there it almost has to be discussed. She also noted that "influenced by" doesn't necessarily make something bad or unoriginal, though, that it can still be unique and memorable depending on what it does with its influences, how it chooses to spin them in its own way, which is also true and I think is important to keep in perspective. That's also basically where Theron went with his review of Wixoss that someone else linked up above - he acknowledged the influence of Madoka and Mai Hime on Wixoss, but also noted some differences and found enough to like in the way Wixoss spun its own story out of those influences to give it a pretty high grade. James obviously did not find Wixoss' story different enough to enjoy it, and that's his right. Personal taste and all. As for me, I was already curious to see this show, and now I'm even more curious to see it just to find out who's perspective I agree with more here, James' or Theron's. |
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DmonHiro
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Completely disagree with your review for WIXOSS. I don't see any similarities in the story, expect the grim setting. The perishable rating should be given to really trash shows with no real redeeming features, but that don't outright insult/offend anyone (those get the flushable rating). I think WIXOSS deserves a rent rating.
Last edited by DmonHiro on Mon Nov 23, 2015 5:25 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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James_Beckett
ANN Reviewer
Posts: 282 Location: USA |
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For me, it was the ending of the show that pushed WIXOSS over into "Perishable" territory. I didn't feel that everything that was covered in season one justified thirteen entire episodes of setup. I spent the majority of my time watching WIXOSS either frustrated or bored with it, and at the end of the day I wouldn't recommend anybody spend money on that. It's quite possible that I would enjoy the second season of WIXOSS, but it wouldn't have made the experience of watching season one any better for me, and that experience alone was what I responsible for grading. Again, though, I'm very glad that others had a better time with the show! I noticed that Selector Spread WIXOSS is streaming on Funimation. For those of you that have gotten to see it, how do you feel about it? If you liked this new season, did it live up to the first? |
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Blankslate
Posts: 425 Location: Atlanta, GA |
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The themes and plot points present in Madoka Magica and Wixoss are present in a lot in competition anime (whether they be card game, sports, or otherwise) Yu-gi-oh starts with a group of happy-go-lucky kids playing card games, but then yugi gets sucked into a battle for his grandpa's soul. Along the way he has to fight against his friends and even crush his one friend's dreams of curing his sister of a debilitating disease. Sound familiar? Well all competition anime follow similar plot points and have somewhat similar themes.
The only reason I can see why Wixoss is being pegged as a "Madoka rip-off" instead of something like Ping Pong the Animation is because Wixoss and Madoka share similar tones and they both feature an almost all girl cast. |
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Ali07
 Posts: 3333 Location: Victoria, Australia |
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That collection and set up. Very nice.
Personally, I disagree with the Familiar of Zero rating. And, yes, this is because I've bought the BDs for the first 3 seasons (the 4th and Final season has yet to be released here in Aus). Personally, I find this series to have one of the best tsundere characters out there. Of course, the character is also one of the more abusive I've seen, so it does depend on the viewer as to how much that would bother them. But, I still rank Louise up there with Taiga. Aaaand, I had a look...found out that the last season is coming out in early December here. I'll be placing my pre-order. 
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relyat08
 Posts: 4125 Location: Northern Virginia |
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That collection is clean and organized wonderfully! So, when can I come visit? I have a few days off for Thanksgiving!
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FenixFiesta
Posts: 2581 |
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The issue with wixoss s1 and s2 is that the two seasons original air dates were released close enough that it is more like a mid season break than say compared to other series adaptational breaks having a ~3 year gap. That is to say for my own personal viewing experience, I took the s1 cliffhanger of Wixoss as simply a proper point to place such a narrative climax in place of a more arbitrary "we might make more of the series... or we might not" as so many other adaptational works have gone. That said, if a viewer wasn't hooked with the characters by the end of the first season, then the experience probably won't be worthwhile enough for s2.
Amusing because the original seiyuu for both characters is Rie Kugimiya who has spent a good chunk of her career playing tsundere pettanko characters. {When quoting other users, please identify them. Thank you. ~nobahn} |
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louis6578
 Posts: 1872 |
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Wixoss did take a lot of its ideas from Madoka Magica. Its damn near identical. It's riding off the success of its predecessor.
And yet... it's also doing more than that. I found every element "stolen" from Madoka to have been improved upon greatly in Wixoss. This review (I should say hate speech, but I feel everyone is entitled to their own opinion) feels rather biased. It's as though the author of the article is a rabid Madoka fan who will attack anything remotely similar. Every survival royal will be compared to Battle Royale regardless of quality. Does that mean that Future Diary and Fate/Zero should both be considered shallow ripoffs of the novel? Heck no! Everyone Mon anime will be compared to Pokemon, but does that mean that Digimon and Zatch Bell are merely condemned to live in that show's shadow? No. If we're going to insult Wixoss for being a "ripoff" of Madoka Magica, taking something and making it dark and tragic, then we should just say that Madoka Magica is just ripping off Bokurano. It does essentially what that does, except to the Magical Girl genre instead of the Mecha genre. Almost all shounen anime should be shoved aside as "Dragonball ripoffs" and "JoJo ripoffs" if this is the case. The way I see it is that Madoka Magica did what Little Kuriboh did for "abridged series" but with this "dark subversion" genre. Now a lot of people are making their own pieces of this genre. How ambitious they are and how good or bad they are vary from anime to anime. It's pretty easy to tell that Wixoss is more than a shallow copy. |
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AnimeMaine
Posts: 123 |
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My opinion on both series are the opposite of the reviewer's. I enjoyed Wixoss and am looking forward to the second half. It is not a shelf worthy anime, but definitely a rental (even though I bought it.)
However, I bought Season 3 of Zero only for completeness. But this is a series I might ultimately give away. I don't mind a tsundere character, but Louise is beyond that; she's abusive. If the genders of the two main characters were reversed there would be outrage about their relationship. I still might have be able to enjoy the series if there was some real character development and Louise gradually became more caring. spoiler[But the love between Saito and Louise is never properly developed; it just happens because, well, it's meant to happen.] |
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GVman
 Posts: 730 |
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@louis6578: I'd say a more apt comparison would be that Madoka did with magical girl stuff is akin to what EVA did with mecha stuff: it took a lot of elements and things that had been done before, slapped a new coat of paint on it, and made it slightly more depressing and "artsy." Hell, they both even borrow from tokusatsu; EVA was influenced heavily by Anno's love for Ultraman, and Madoka is awfully similar to Kamen Rider Ryuki.
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jr240483
 Posts: 4411 Location: New York City,New York,USA |
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true enough. rental? yes. but definitely not perishable. also you'll never ever see any of those other TCG anime series that will be dark like this series let alone having siblings in an incest relationship. the committee definitely have some serious stones to use that storyline instead of making them stepsiblings or cousins like in other series(talking to you Oreimo & SAO). and they at least made that story of both yuuzuki and kazuki interesting with a close up on the struggles on their choices. sure its not as good as like Koi Kaze, but its passable. However while Jamie's performance is definitely good, its not the case for the character. when it comes to the most disliked female support character in the otaku, Akira might even surpass kuroko from the index series.
not necessarily. if it comparing to madoka magica, then yea considering its more superior for the dark like genre scene, but for those fans that like TGC based anime series, afraid this series is the only one in that genre that is very good. sure not shelf worthy, but definitely rental for a weekend. especially considering that the other alternatives are that OR crappy ass series that have been completely edited as kids shows (Cardfight Vanguard and especially the yugioh franchise that have been massacred by 4kids/4k media) |
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Shenl742
Posts: 1524 |
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That Wixoss series sounds silly as hell. I just can't take the whole "The (Officially Licensed and available at your local hobby store! Bonus Ultra rare card with BD purchase!) card game is REAL!" seriously. And it sounds like this show wants you to take it seriously pretty badly, which...kind of compounds it.
And whenever I see that title (which is now...three times, granted) I keep wanted to pronounce it "Wicks-Sauce". Which kind of sounds delicious. |
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FenixFiesta
Posts: 2581 |
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The show is trying to be "taken seriously" as any other fictional media, that said being condescending to a show that you can watch legally for free is a variation of elitist attitude that one finds on the forums. {Fixed your quote tag. ~nobahn} |
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