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The Fall 2018 Anime Preview Guide


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RangerDanger





PostPosted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 2:00 am Reply with quote
Megiddo wrote:
Whew, at least one reviewer took the power-fantasy isekai to task in terms of actual criticism. There is some slight hope yet.

If “actual criticism” just amounts to “things I agree with” and “fake criticism” is “things I don’t agree with,” then I think that says a lot more about the people at hand rather than the content itself.
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Megiddo



Joined: 24 Aug 2005
Posts: 8360
Location: IL
PostPosted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 2:07 am Reply with quote
What is fake criticism? I was referring to the lack of criticism for Slime's writing before I got to Nick's entry. There was no criticism as to its bevy of tropes and adhesion to isekai power fantasy main character, as if those things were simply acceptable as a base. I thought the dude was just going to be a lowly slime, but it turns out that he gets stupid OP powers because apparently you can't have a main character that is slightly challenged in their isekai world, even if they are a slime.
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RangerDanger





PostPosted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 2:14 am Reply with quote
My apologies, I thought you meant something else. I only really took exception to the “hope left” part of your post anyway, which felt unnecessarily adverse. Carry on.
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kotomikun



Joined: 06 May 2013
Posts: 1205
PostPosted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 2:33 am Reply with quote
Kadmos1 wrote:
Most places I have seen translate "isekai" as "another world".


Well, yes, that's the issue. The fanspeak definition is more specific than the literal definition, but exactly what it means isn't entirely decided.

Anyway, now that I've actually seen Slime Anime: Episode 1, I have to give it at least some credit for the good animation (a surprising amount of experimental weirdness for just an exposition/setup episode) and sense of humor. If it continues making fun of itself like this, it could be consistently good; if it doesn't, it's just going to be yet another power-fantasy isekai. spoiler[The ending theme, which is probably actually the opening theme, reveals that Slimey gains the ability to transform into a human, probably within the next few episodes. Which kinda defeats the whole gimmick of this show, and doesn't give me high hopes for him/it not becoming a generic superdude.] So, we'll see.
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Merida



Joined: 21 Feb 2012
Posts: 1946
PostPosted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 4:20 am Reply with quote
Not a huge Isekai fan and the MC instantly becoming the most OP Slime ever, doesn't give me much hope, but for now i'm hanging in for the adorable tsundere dragon.

As a big fan of the original Tiger & Bunny, i didn't expect much from Double Decker, but after 2 episodes, i'm positively surprised. The characters won me over fast, i am very curious about Doug's and Kirill's backstories and am looking forward to learn more about their colleagues, too.

Run With The Wind also looks like a keeper. I like that the characters are in college and it features a bit of a more unusual sport. Bonus points for the non-stereotypical (so far) black character.

Thunderbolt Fantasy 2 was my highlight so far, of course! I loved the first season and the second one looks very promising. The new puppets are beautiful and i'm looking forward to more action!

Also, Tiramisu is back, though i'm probably the only one who's happy about that. Laughing
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zrnzle500



Joined: 04 Oct 2014
Posts: 3768
PostPosted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 6:54 am Reply with quote
Megiddo wrote:
What is fake criticism? I was referring to the lack of criticism for Slime's writing before I got to Nick's entry. There was no criticism as to its bevy of tropes and adhesion to isekai power fantasy main character, as if those things were simply acceptable as a base. I thought the dude was just going to be a lowly slime, but it turns out that he gets stupid OP powers because apparently you can't have a main character that is slightly challenged in their isekai world, even if they are a slime.


It's as if people, including reviewers, have different tastes and find different things acceptable or not, including isekai tropes and characters. It's not like the reviewers who reviewed it most positively did not address the things that you mentioned, they just *gasp* found them to be well executed. Personally, I would be the one losing hope if none of the reviewers recognized how Slime does better than, say, Death March or Ragnarok, even putting the visuals aside. That seems to me to be as actual criticism as Nick's take. I can respect that others don't like the genre, but I would ask they return the favor.
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meiam



Joined: 23 Jun 2013
Posts: 3447
PostPosted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 8:39 am Reply with quote
kotomikun wrote:
Anyway, now that I've actually seen Slime Anime: Episode 1, I have to give it at least some credit for the good animation (a surprising amount of experimental weirdness for just an exposition/setup episode) and sense of humor. If it continues making fun of itself like this, it could be consistently good; if it doesn't, it's just going to be yet another power-fantasy isekai. spoiler[The ending theme, which is probably actually the opening theme, reveals that Slimey gains the ability to transform into a human, probably within the next few episodes. Which kinda defeats the whole gimmick of this show, and doesn't give me high hopes for him/it not becoming a generic superdude.] So, we'll see.


Yeah the premise really seems like it's just being throw out the window almost right away, he's neither weak nor is he going to be a slime much longer. The LN industry really grind any originally out of everything it touch. : (

Run like the win was good, although it seems like were getting two "cute boy doing sports" this season (aka "free made a shins of money) so there might be over saturation. The main character is a bit worrying, he's a gambling addict and a thief... not exactly someone I'd rout for. Same with the other guy, arm twisting people into doing his bidding.
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yuna49



Joined: 27 Aug 2008
Posts: 3804
PostPosted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 9:09 am Reply with quote
Any chance you could post the reviewers' average score for each show on the main page? Now I'm forced to decide whether to read the reviews based on titles and pictures. Since I'm likely to watch only 3-5 shows each season, knowing the average scores would help me focus my attention on the ones that might qualify.
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maximilianjenus



Joined: 29 Apr 2013
Posts: 2902
PostPosted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 10:00 am Reply with quote
Kadmos1 wrote:
kotomikun wrote:
I don't know if there's an exact official definition of "isekai," but I take that to mean "one protagonist from our normal world somehow ends up in a fantasy alternate world." Grimgar, the similar-concept Log Horizon, the spider one, SAO, and a few others all involve a whole bunch of people thrown into a new world; sometimes the entire population is fishes-out-of-water. Having one character become both the primary character and absurdly powerful is a much less natural conclusion in that situation--one person completely dominating everyone else feels less plausible if other "real" people are involved--so many (but not all...) of them avoid it.


Most places I have seen translate "isekai" as "another world". Let's not forget that sometimes the transported to another world routine involves being run over by Truck-kun or Train-kun.


Nah, it's still isekai if even more than one people gets transported, I won't spoil saying the series names but a bunch of them are playing pretty nicely with the concept by.

a) the main characters are not from earth, but natives from the isekai, they are still isekai as summoned heroes, etc.. exist in there.
b) the mc's live a normal life in the isekai until something happens and they remember their previous life.
c) we get one MC then as the story progresses, more earth people get summoned/reincarnated to the isekai.

I think not a single one of those has been adapted to anime yet.
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Jonny Mendes



Joined: 17 Oct 2014
Posts: 997
Location: Europe
PostPosted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 11:19 am Reply with quote
meiam wrote:

Yeah the premise really seems like it's just being throw out the window almost right away, he's neither weak nor is he going to be a slime much longer. The LN industry really grind any originally out of everything it touch. : (

The LN industry, like any industry, is made to get profits out of their clients.
And what most power fantasy Isekai LN's fans want is self insert, OP's MC's .

How do they know that and if that will sell?
Most of this LN's start as web novels in free amateur novel websites like Shousetsuka ni Narou ("Let's Become a Novelist") were amateur novelists (most are in their late teens and young adults) publish their novels and interact with readers/fans of those novels, even listening for advice and plot directions that fans and other novelist give to them.
Publishers look in this amateur novel websites try to find what web novels have more readers and license those so they could publish them as full Light Novels.
And nowadays the web-novels that have more readers are self insert OP, MCs power fantasy Isekai.

Some examples that started this way.

Arifureta
Death March
Smartphone
Isekai Cheat Magician
Kenja no Mago
Knight's & Magic
KonoSuba
Log Horizon
Mahouka
Nidome no Jinsei
Overlord
Re:Zero
Spider
Slime
Tate no Yuusha

Most are Isekai with OP MC's

You may ask, "what about a original novel were the MC are not OP?"
Well, if that kind of novel can get many followers on amateur novel websites, then maybe you can get more of that in the future.

Who have guessed that been reincarnate as a slime or as a spider would have sucess?
Thanks to those web novels have many readers on the web novels amateur sites, they could be published by big publishers and now have anime adaptations.
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meiam



Joined: 23 Jun 2013
Posts: 3447
PostPosted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 12:27 pm Reply with quote
Jonny Mendes wrote:
meiam wrote:

Yeah the premise really seems like it's just being throw out the window almost right away, he's neither weak nor is he going to be a slime much longer. The LN industry really grind any originally out of everything it touch. : (

The LN industry, like any industry, is made to get profits out of their clients.
And what most power fantasy Isekai LN's fans want is self insert, OP's MC's .

How do they know that and if that will sell?
Most of this LN's start as web novels in free amateur novel websites like Shousetsuka ni Narou ("Let's Become a Novelist") were amateur novelists (most are in their late teens and young adults) publish their novels and interact with readers/fans of those novels, even listening for advice and plot directions that fans and other novelist give to them.
Publishers look in this amateur novel websites try to find what web novels have more readers and license those so they could publish them as full Light Novels.
And nowadays the web-novels that have more readers are self insert OP, MCs power fantasy Isekai.

Who have guessed that been reincarnate as a slime or as a spider would have sucess?
Thanks to those web novels have many readers on the web novels amateur sites, they could be published by big publishers and now have anime adaptations.


Oh I don't blame the publisher/author, I 100% blame the reader. I just don't understand how this work. Do people start reading the slime novel thinking "man I hope the main character become super OP and turn into a normal human" or do people start reading after that happen, with some sort of word of mouth:

"-Have you read reincarnated into a slime?
-Nah man, it doesn't feature an OP male character surrounded by harem with slave girl
-Dude it's exactly that after the 4th chapter
-Awesome I'm picking it up right away and hope it'll get an anime, I really needed one more of that because 20 000 near copy just wasn't enough for me."

It's just a weird industry.
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Jonny Mendes



Joined: 17 Oct 2014
Posts: 997
Location: Europe
PostPosted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 12:54 pm Reply with quote
meiam wrote:

Oh I don't blame the publisher/author, I 100% blame the reader. I just don't understand how this work. Do people start reading the slime novel thinking "man I hope the main character become super OP and turn into a normal human" or do people start reading after that happen, with some sort of word of mouth:

"-Have you read reincarnated into a slime?
-Nah man, it doesn't feature an OP male character surrounded by harem with slave girl
-Dude it's exactly that after the 4th chapter
-Awesome I'm picking it up right away and hope it'll get an anime, I really needed one more of that because 20 000 near copy just wasn't enough for me."

It's just a weird industry.


Yes,WN can also change depending on what the readers want the story to become. There are lots of interactions between author and readers in these kind of sites were most of then have comments sections. Is a very fluid process. Because WN's authors work mostly in a base of 1 chapter a week or a month, the author can change the plot depending on readers reactions.
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Megiddo



Joined: 24 Aug 2005
Posts: 8360
Location: IL
PostPosted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 1:13 pm Reply with quote
@Jonny Interesting that you list Log Horizon since that is actually an excellent example for an isekai MC that isn't incredibly OP and has mechanics involving teamwork/strategy/delegation instead of just simply giving the MC powers for no reason. Would love to have more like it. But it's so much easier to just give the MC powers, and I guess readers like reading the same thing over and over, so I doubt it'll happen.
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Jonny Mendes



Joined: 17 Oct 2014
Posts: 997
Location: Europe
PostPosted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 1:34 pm Reply with quote
Megiddo wrote:
@Jonny Interesting that you list Log Horizon since that is actually an excellent example for an isekai MC that isn't incredibly OP and has mechanics involving teamwork/strategy/delegation instead of just simply giving the MC powers for no reason. Would love to have more like it. But it's so much easier to just give the MC powers, and I guess readers like reading the same thing over and over, so I doubt it'll happen.

I know. This are examples of LN that start as WN on those sites and now have anime adaptations. That's why in then end i refer that most of them have OP MC, But not all. KonoSuba MC also is not OP
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stilldemented



Joined: 16 May 2015
Posts: 232
PostPosted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 1:37 pm Reply with quote
meiam wrote:
Do people start reading the slime novel thinking "man I hope the main character become super OP and turn into a normal human" or do people start reading after that happen, with some sort of word of mouth:


Usually, it's just a matter of having enjoyed a similar novel and seeking out more stories of that nature. It's not really even about power fantasies or OP characters. A lot of people just like the story template. What happens when a run-of-the-mill person finds themselves in a world of swords and magic? It's part of the romanticism of the medieval.

Sure a lot of these stories are self-indulgent, but I don't think many anime fans recognize that these authors weren't ever writing with the intention of getting a book deal. They wrote for pleasure on syosetu until their story became popular enough to make publishers want to capitalize on the audience. And anime companies started turning light novels into shows, so yeah...It's really just something of a snowball effect.

And there's something to be said as well about the audience of these sorts of shows. They aren't as interested in whether or not these stories are quality novels or shows. They don't have those expectations. They're stories by fans for fans. There's something of a support system at play.

But there's beauty in that as well. Average people in Japan have the opportunity to write a story for a website and if it gets popular enough, someone will publish and likely animate it. All they need is an internet connection and the tenacity to put words on paper.
Smile
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