Forum - View topicLove and Lies (TV).
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Stark700
 Posts: 11762 Location: Earth |
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Love and Lies (TV) Genres: Romance, School Themes: Plot Summary: Lies are forbidden. Love is even more forbidden. The time is in the not-so-distant future. In Japan, your marriage partner is selected by the government when you turn 16. Yukari Nejima is a 15-year-old boy who lives in a corner of Japan and has never made much of himself. In grades as well as sports, he ranks below the middle of the pack. However, he conceals a passionate love in his heart. ---------------------------------- |
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Chiibi
 Posts: 4829 |
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Mmm yessss, I'll be all over this one.
......is it weird that dark-haired girl looks JUST LIKE Hanabi? Is this another Mengo work? |
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Cam0
 Posts: 4927 |
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Seems rather interesting. Not sure how I feel about the character designs but I'll most likely check this out. Might be a good romantic high school drama.
Yeah, I guess she looks similar. Trailer suggests she'll have a very different personality though. I was immediately more drawn towards that blonde twin-tail girl anyway. Apparently this is shounen. I watched the trailer and it seems like the male lead is a fairly typical doe-eyed, wimpy looking dude. I guess... I can deal with that. |
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Stark700
Posts: 11762 Location: Earth |
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Episode 1:
Eh..I guess that wasn't bad. However, it felt pretty generic in terms of introducing the main characters into the show. OP song seems okay though, pretty much what I had expected. I'm not too used to the character designs yet especially with the size of the eyes. Misaki is still cute though. I just hope they develop her character better. Not really liking Yuusuke much. Some of his scenes with other characters feels awkward. One thing I did notice is the slow camera movements to capture the characters' emotions/expressions. Yuusuke and Misaki's relationship seems to be the main focus already in this episode. |
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DuskyPredator
 Posts: 15576 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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There is this feeling of grossness to the system in this show. I know it is not advocating for the system, but I think it goes a bit beyond what it initially looks. First, clearly eugenics is a part of it, and that is creepy at just initial appearances, but then you have to think that Japan is already a country that is already quite isolationist, would this mean that the entire system is ensuring a pure Japanese ethnicity? Could they even leave without marrying their appointed spouse, and barring any foreigners to marry in? Are they not allowed to divorce, so presumably a person may be forced to stay with an abusive spouse? If their appointed spouse dies or disappears, are they not allowed to love again? What about the situation with LGBT people, are they systematically repressed, that are effectively arrested for being homosexual? Is there the possibility that this system could be controlled by groups with money for the purpose of actually controlling the class system?
I can think right now that if they made it a situation where the chosen partner was a recommendation and it was looked favourably by society to follow through with it, then maybe it could have been easier to swallow, possibly even making a point. But as of now, it feels like it is a little funny quirk, that says is kind of bad for removing something like free love, but not realising that it kind of invites questions of racism, classism, abuse that can be ignored by the system, and homophobia. If it tackled these topics it might actually be interesting, but I suspect it won't. |
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Blood-
 Bargain Hunter Posts: 24165 |
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Yep, I thought of the Hanabi look-alike-ness right away, too. MC certainly has patience. There's no way I would have hung around for hours after the stated meeting time. I really wish Japanese material would get away from trivial reasons for why characters fall in love with each other. "Zomg, I gave you half my eraser and was madly in love ever since!" Well, I guess we should be thankful they avoided the tried and true, "You saved me from a barking dog!"
Anyway, I'm sort of intrigued so I'll continue watching for the time being. |
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bonbonsrus
 Posts: 1537 Location: Michigan, USA |
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Have y'all watched this title on Anime Strike? Seeing as this is the only one new out there, when I try to play it, I am not getting any subtitles, yet my settings are all so that I should have them and my other Anime Strike shows play with them fine...
I'm frustrated trying to watch this on AS. Is it just me? |
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Yttrbio
 Posts: 3671 |
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It took a while to become available on AS, but once it did, I could see the subtitles fine. Sometimes the language used to label the setting is wrong for subtitles, but there's only one setting for this show for me.
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Cam0
Posts: 4927 |
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Okay. While I think this show has potential, I thought there some kinda silly things in this. First of all the whole thing with falling in love for a trivial reason, something Blood- mentioned already. Seriously, over something so trivial you're gonna fall so deeply in love with someone that you're going to hold on to those feelings for 5 years, study hard to get to the same school and all for a person you never really get to interact with. And then the other person shares those feelings. That's baloney. And I'm going to have to assume that Yukari's situation is somehow unique (there was the weird text message thing) or do they usually have 2 people stalk someone for a day to personally deliver the notice to them in the middle of the night. I mean they did send the notice in the form of a text message to the twin-tail girl... in the middle of the night. Thanks for waking me up government!
Well, not that big of a deal to be honest. I can suspend my disbelief. |
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Galap
Moderator
 Posts: 2354 |
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This one was pretty irritating to watch.
That doesn't mean I dislike it: things I don't like I just stop watching, and they don't bother me really. The things that really bother me are shows where it feels like something good is getting gimped. The way people talk and think about the marriage system, particularly in the first half of the episode, really doesn't seem like the way people who were born and raised inside that system would be talking about it. For example, the pact to follow love, I don't think that would be made in such a nonchalant way; wouldn't there be more resentment in the act, seeing as these people know they won't really be able to do what they want. Like Dusky said, there are a lot of implied consequences to this kind of system that I would want to see explored. My intuition says that if such a system were actually created, where people had to marry their chosen spouse, that it would be pretty bad. Then again, something like that was the historical situation in times older than these. I think the equilibrium that sometimes emerged there was that people would get married and have children for political reasons, and though frowned upon, having affairs on the side with people you really loved was commonplace. That has to happen all the time in this society too, right? It's not like the main characters' situation could be in any way unique. You'd even think there would be a term for what these people are doing (sexual contact with someone other than the chosen spouse). Wouldn't there also be a lot of pressure to flee the country? Go somewhere that does not have this system? I guess the people making this system are pretty clever since they make the match at age 16, when most people are unlikely to have formed a bond with someone serious enough to consider doing this, in addition to the fact that most of them are more tied down to their families. There are a lot of other thoughts about the system that I had while watching, but you get the point. It seems like they introduced this concept without really thinking about how people who live in this world, under this system, would actually behave about it. The one thing that gets my hopes up is some implications that there's more going on than meets the eye: how did those government types know where the MC would be? What was up with the glitchy phone message? It could end up being just hot air, but it seems like there's some kind of hidden undercurrent in this society and I hope that this show goes down that path. (like are there secret groups opposing it, or hacking the records? Seems like that might be going on. And how does the match get decided? Who does the deciding? What if they have ulterior motives?) In summary, I know the show will focus a lot on the romances, and good romance series are something that I enjoy, but I hope that there is also significant focus on exploring the marriage system and its implications, and I hope the romance is deeply entwined with exploration of the system, rather than the system just being a set-up for the usual type of love drama where the ideas it's based on and implications are not explored. From what I've seen I don't really know which way it's going to be, and I've seen evidence for both sides. |
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DuskyPredator
Posts: 15576 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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Episode 2
Okay, I liked this episode a lot more than I expected, which I think came down to the fact I think Ririna, Yukari's assigned wife, is a pretty great character. I came in expecting she would be a perfect ojou-sama, who would be kind of too classy/good for him, that he might drag her down, and that his mind is on someone else would be insulting and unfair to her. Indeed it started off that way, but it kind of totally turned around, for one she is interested in learning about the crush, and otherwise they actually have some pretty good chemistry where they both have trouble talking to others but are finding it fairly easy with each other. I think I am on the Ririna ship now instead of Misaki, which I think has kind of come because it feels like they actually could help the other with what problems they have, hearing about her apparently being bullied has made me open my heart towards her. Despite my problems earlier, I am strangely optimistic now. Did this series manipulate me? |
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Galap
Moderator
Posts: 2354 |
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I also found myself liking this second episode a lot more then the first. For one, this time it got a lot of the little things right with respect to showing how this society is different than ours and the nuances of how people inside that system would behave. I particularly liked the part where the main character goes to school instead of going to the marriage meeting, and when his classmates react with shock, he's like 'hey, you all said you're bailing on your arranged marriages too, right?' They react with even greater shock to this. That felt very true to me: them denouncing their social norm was just hot air, and he's somewhat shunned for actually trying to make good on his claim. It might seem cool or edgy to be all 'screw the red strings of science man', but when push comes to shove, they're all going to do it. And he might even do it himself.
At first, when the meeting with the future wife Lilina was coming, I was kind of wary of the inevitability of her becoming another love interest, because I don't really want this show to be another generic harem. Then they met, and it looks like she's going to be a love interest, but I actually really liked it. They take issue with the way their society has forced them together, but they also can't help but be a little mercenary in their evaulations; it wouldn't be that bad to have someone, would it? And then they start talking and it seems like there might be something there. They're being forced to consider each other in that way, but that doesn't mean those considerations aren't real, and don't come from within both of them. I still think that the love system in this show is probably a bad thing, but I do like how it touches on the idea that who we end up with is kind of dictated more by chance than anything else, and that most people are probably compatible with a larger fraction of the population than they may believe. It points to the truth that falling in love is often a bond that forms through proximity, that the mere act of sharing experiences with someone and having conversations with them causes you to fall in love with them. It seems like the common belief is that love is caused by someone seeing in another person certain static attributes that they like. I don't think that this is wrong, but I do think that another powerful factor is that by sharing those experiences and having those experiences, you're creating shared context, i.e. that part of your life and memory runs parallel to theirs. You change going through life and having experiences, so the more time you spend with someone, that act is making you more similar to them. So in one sense Misaki liking thins like Nejima's hair in the back and giving her the eraser is silly and a little trivial, but when we look at these through the lens of a very long history together in the same classes and doing the same things for the majority of their day, it kind of makes sense; Misaki knows a hell of a lot more about Yukari than Lilina does. I also really liked how this portrayed having someone suddenly come charging into your life. Like it or not, Lilina and Nejima are going to be a big part of each other's lives now, and they were complete strangers just a couple of days before. Nejima's thrust into her world with no context, and he is now a major player in her life, learning aobut her problems connecting with people at shool for example. I think it's an awesome take on becoming involved with someone, and all the aspects of their life that come along with it. How is it fundamentally different from the formation of a close friendship or romance from a chance encounter? |
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Cam0
Posts: 4927 |
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Yup, I liked this episode more as well. I'm so on that Ririna ship. I've bolted myself on the hull. She's infinitely more cute than Takasaki, has a lot more interesting personality and I like her outfit. Just a couple of minutes together and I feel like she and Yukari have a ton of chemistry already. Come on Yukari, drop that age old crush and realize that you got really lucky.
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NonsenseUser
 Posts: 51 |
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Coming in, I thought Ririna would be a make or break character for this show. I was worried she'd end up being a classic tsundere type and if so, I was ready to bail. Despite a couple small moments which pointed to that, she ended up being quite down to earth and very likable! I also really liked how her nervousness came through in their initial meeting. I had a feeling I was gonna like her after that so count me as hopping aboard that ship as well.
I'm glad I wasn't the only one, cause that really bugged the hell out of me too. |
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Chiibi
Posts: 4829 |
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I like the show; it's cute....and these kids are so pure.
Ririna is definitely best character....but I think it would be interesting if she fell for another guy instead. Yukari and Misaki are both bland but they are kind of cute together. It seems like they've always liked each other and not only because of the eraser thing. Though when you're a kid, you don't need a deep reason to like someone, really. |
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