Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Akashic Records of Bastard Magical Instructor
Goto page Previous 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Note: this is the discussion thread for this article |
Author | Message | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
mangamuscle
Posts: 2658 Location: Mexico |
|
|||||||||||
No one, but in Sistine's defence, there seems to have been a time and place where real people wore their hair in flashy designs as to say "You have to be rich to have your hair like this" https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/Benjamin_West_-_Queen_Charlotte_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg and no doubt even nowadays you can convince people to have their hair like this: https://sushigokart.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/all-completed-poor-sena.jpg
Sadly nowadays irl that seems to be a legitimate "motivation" for lone wolf terrorists.
IMO it was pretty realistic to boot since in most action series many characters go from newbies to lean mean killing machines in an instant, which is not how it works irl.
I would say this is part of a trend here at ANN, reading the previews and reviews many shows are labelled as "oh, this is going to be so bad" to later be "it was good" or even "series of the year". IMO ANN has to give anime some credit for becoming better as times goes on, not only on the animation front but also on the writing front, slowly but surely people start to expect better and new writers do learn from the mistakes of their predecessors.
I do not think it is okay in Japan either, but the big difference here is that neither of them are openly flirting with each other, there is a chemistry that is building up and will probably continue after Sistine no longer is a student. Glen has not even attempted to see the girls naked or has abused his authority to make Sistine wear something provocative (which I think I have seen in many other series) so I do not understand from where the discomfort comes. |
||||||||||||
maximilianjenus
Posts: 2892 |
|
|||||||||||
it's not a real relationship either, sistine kind of has a crush on glenn but glenn is not trying to get into sistine's pants.
|
||||||||||||
Key
Moderator
Posts: 18385 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
|
|||||||||||
Oh, that's easy: because there have been too many cases (both IRL and in anime) where that line does get crossed; heck, it's one of the most common fantasies to see explored in hentai doujinshi. Hence even the possibility of a relationship going in that direction can make some antsy. And this one does stray very close to the line with Glenn's comments about marrying Sistine, even if we know that he probably wasn't serious about that. |
||||||||||||
SleepySkull
Posts: 36 |
|
|||||||||||
I agree with this assessment of the series, Both this show and Sky Wizard's Academy tried to escape the slippery walls of the Trope Tank prison with character development, but this show actually managed it on a regular basis. Hmm, that comparison begs a question: is there a specific name for the sub-trope of an older insert character with a three-girl harem? Harem Lite? Trinity Harem? As to the episode review, yeah, this whole last arc felt rushed and Peak Eye Roll hit with the Mage Corps appearing. Why drag them in? Assuming everyone's down with killing drug addicts (because, you know, zombies), Re=l has shown she could probably dispatch the entire threat with her only injury being blood spatter on her dress clothes. Not to mention the wedding guests comprise, ahem, an entire freaking school class who regularly drill in magical combat spells. Arrgh, I get these headaches! So, yeah, a Decent score overall. Like some others here I found the school play presentations of coming attractions to be one of the bright spots of the show, so whether the BR will be rental worthy will probably depend on the inclusion of more of those character romps as extras.
Well, the previews are of limited utility by their very nature -- but they're popular and generate traffic, so there you go. You just have to calibrate to the different reviewer's prejudices. There were no preview warnings that Akashic Records was going to be this season's Hand Shakers, so I gave it a shot and was pleasantly surprised. On the other hand, both Eromanga-sensei and Armed Girls' Machivellism have been in the top ten in Japanese rankings yet here the previews varied from "meh" to "ick, ptui!" If I hadn't already learned to discount most of the ANN previewer's opinions I might have missed out on some very funny scenes. (Theron's assessments are, happily, consistent and informative.) If you don't find reviewers whose tastes mirror your own, I think you just have to invest your time. AGM wound up being one of my favorites of this season, but I wouldn't have known it from the first few episodes. It wasn't until the fourth episode's showcase of Kyo-bo, Bear Extraordinaire, that I had to pause scenes because I was laughing so hard. As to Eromanga-sensei, cute little sister complex isn't my thing, so I was neither titillated nor charmed by its premise; I was however regularly amused by the character interactions. As always, YMMV. |
||||||||||||
SilverTalon01
Posts: 2413 |
|
|||||||||||
Did you just compare this to Sky Wizards? My eyes hurt just thinking about that.
The age gap here is only 4 years which isn't really that large. Seniors dating freshmen definitely is not the norm, but it isn't exceedingly rare either which is also [potentially] a 4 year age gap. Sure, it would usually be 14 and 18 instead of 15 and 19 but that seems like a trivial difference. The only thing that makes it questionable to me is that Glen is Sistine's teacher which completely negates the ability to have a relationship as equals. |
||||||||||||
mangamuscle
Posts: 2658 Location: Mexico |
|
|||||||||||
That would be sad. I know I did not watch 91 Days last summer because here organized crime is on the news every f*ck*ng day. IMO one thing is a fantasy story that entertains us and another thing is something that reminds us of a clear and present danger
To me it is clear that Glen would marry Sistine only if she wanted and under the conditions she required. So no, there would have been no marriage while she still is in school (but Glen do seems to salivate to the possibility of having his meals secured for life).
Here I would have to disagree. The reason I come to ANN is to get information, plain and simple. Opinions are a dime a dozen. It is clear that there will be surprises on a series that is yet to be finished (or shown to the public at large), but quite often the manga or light novel chapters covering the anime adaption have been available for months (even years, sometimes decades). Also, even if the story is anime original the team working on the adaption is known months before the first episode is broadcast. That is a wealth of information from where to distill insight. i.e. Glasslip either would become the debut of an overlooked talent or a trainwreck from writer that never had the talent for said task. I would have liked to receive that warning before watching it thinking "P.A. Works can do no wrong"
If I wanted to hear the echo of my voice I would place a bucket over my head, thank you. I do not always agree with Theron, but I think he is reasonable in his reviews. If he one days becomes the echo of my voice and offers no new insight on his reviews, I would stop reading. p.s.
It would be questionable if Glen abused the authority that comes from being a teacher, which he clearly does not. |
||||||||||||
SilverTalon01
Posts: 2413 |
|
|||||||||||
It doesn't really matter if he abused his authority. He is still an authority figure which means they are not able to have a relationship as equals. That doesn't magically cease to be the case because he isn't using his authority to force a relationship with her. |
||||||||||||
DuskyPredator
Posts: 15550 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
|
|||||||||||
People keep thinking that he was thinking fondly of it, but the big thing about his character is reading between the lines. He likely let himself care about Sara to some degree, that after her death it looked like he adopted the trait that he would hide what he really cared about usually behind something else. He hated the innocent with using magic kill which came out as him being mostly lazy, he said that the girls in swimsuits is what he wanted but he actually wanted them to have fun, and he said that he wanted to marry into money when really he cared that Sisti could follow her dream. He is easily misinterpreted as a "bastard", but it is hiding a side of him that he is afraid that he has no right to feel after the things he has done, that without flinching he would have to kill a regular looking civilian because otherwise it could be him. It seemed quite clear that he did not look at his students like that, that he did act as a friend to them, but did understand the line between teacher and student. The romance was all on Sistine having a crush, and even some other thoughts he might have towards her he also realises it is some thoughts he had towards Sara, that he tries to be conscious that she is not her. |
||||||||||||
SleepySkull
Posts: 36 |
|
|||||||||||
Yes, the pursuit of trope truthiness often leads to painful realizations. But let me hasten to add I wasn't recommending Sky Wizards. I would be pleased to learn of other (better!) examples of the disreputable warrior teacher and his three young female protégés.
Well, by your standards, the preview guide for this series offered a nickel's worth of opinions, but only one even mentioned the light novel source material. Four of the original six reviews are 1 or 1.5, with Jacob Chapman's take concluding:
Which reads to me like an opinion rather than your sought-after information dump. And I wouldn't be surprised if some of the people who rate this series as Decent on the whole weren't particularly impressed with the first episode. So I stand by my limited utility assessment.
Perhaps I was unclear. I was referring to reviewer opinions in the context of the preview guide. Let me give you an example. I consider KonoSuba to be my gold standard for comedy. When you look at the preview guide for the first season of KonoSuba and see ratings of 1.5, 3.5, 3.5, and 2 you don't have to have to be a statistics genius to realize the reviewers are probably using different criteria to arrive at their scores. Chapman gave KonoSuba a half-point over the lowest possible preview score in recognition of "its unexpected childish cruelty" and concluded with "Blech! What a mess!" I am fine with Chapman having different criteria and opinions from mine and I'll keep reading his work because I like to learn from people who are different from me. From these and other preview ratings, however, I'm confident that a low Chapman preview score is quite possibly a sign of an anime I'll enjoy. A low Theron preview rating, on the other hand, is something I'm more inclined to take as a warning sign. |
||||||||||||
SilverTalon01
Posts: 2413 |
|
|||||||||||
I said this earlier, but 'rokudenashi' isn't really 'bastard' in the first place. Neither does bastard describe his character. The actual definition for rokudenashi is "のらくらしていて役に立たない者" which is more like 'a lazy person who isn't useful.' Closer to bum than bastard. He really just wants to take it easy, chill, and watch everyone have a good time preferably with little to no effort. |
||||||||||||
Hiroki not Takuya
Posts: 2615 |
|
|||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
mangamuscle
Posts: 2658 Location: Mexico |
|
|||||||||||
Just for the record, what I tried to say is that ANN previews does not have to be limited to the opinions of the writers and proceeded to explain how you can talk facts of a series even if you have only seen the first episode (in layman words, do your homework, if writers are paid to talk about an up and coming series they do not have to limit themselves to the first episode as a source of information), In case someone is wondering what kind of reviews I look forward to, check mother's basement in youtube, even if he dislikes a series he talks about facts, even if might sound pedantic one has to respect his work. |
||||||||||||
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
||
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group