Forum - View topicLink Click (ONA) - "Anime with Chinese Characteristics"
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Panino Manino
 Posts: 752 |
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Is someone watching this chinese animation? I discovered this on friday and I'm very impressed, here is the trailer from Funimation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxoR_7jVBCM I decided to create the topic, if it's allowed, because next week promises to pick up "the plot". It's episodic but the first story left a hint that there was more to the story that would be developed latter and episode 5 ended with a cliffhanger that looks like it's this moment. Even if you're interested in a grand story I still recommend, the individual stories are all good and touching. In my opinion it's one of those hidden gems. |
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Panino Manino
Posts: 752 |
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#6
Hum... this episode is complicated. This "power up" is the type of detail that may "ruin" a story with super natural powers. You don't put fanciful elements to your story to do anything you want with it, to allow the "impossible". You add it to create a game with clear rules and the rules must be respected. But you can "cheat", like they did here. That's why they only gave us that basic explanation at the beginning of episode one and nothing more. If you don't establish the rules, all the rules, clearly beforehand you can always write the rules as you go. This is what this episode did, we didn't knew everything that Lu could and couldn't do with his power so we can't say that this is a brake of the rules even if it feels a bit forced. I want to point this clearly before commenting more because this is a series that we can easily forgive some faults, I believe people here agree, right? Because this "cheat" wasn't used to resolve some dilemma or obstacle that the characters couldn't normally overcome. On the contrary, it was used to create a new dilemma and obstacle. The way the series keeps hammering about not changing the past, not only that but also that it's better to not change the past and instead work in the present for a better future, was making me expect that eventually they would try to change the past. The policeman didn't came asking for help with Emma's case, but he is on her cause and the possibility that she will be saved still remains, but the episode subverted expectations a bit using this "new power" to create that catastrophic encounter between Xiaoshi and Xiao. So, again, I repeat. What the series that in this episode was a huge risk but it survived upping the game. As only as the core rules and commandments aren't betrayed everything goes. Now, about the rest... wow! THIS SERIES IS REALLY GOOD! Man, they wanted to tell touching human dramas and they are really doing it. It's amazing how they are making me care about every single character in this. And with such elegance... The scenes with the mother in the present could be a very sad sight but only made me fell love for that couple. It also surprised me that they would involve Xiao as another person with a personal regret, and her case is scary. How many "crimes" did you see with your own eyes but never noticed? If Xiao were strolling with her friend in some other neighborhood and never had seem the news about the kidnapping she would had forgotten completely. Just think about that for a second... Maybe that's one reason why she is in the business with the other two, because she also had a regret about the past that she could change. (special mention that the father regrets something GOOD that he did) Technically the direction and cinematography was off the charts. We can't have those past "sakugas" in every single scene, it's clear that half the time the animation isn't exceptional, but it works good enough and the background most than compensate for this. Not only we have a lot of backgrounds for each location a good number of them are from non-conventional angles (which makes the animators job more difficult). This makes the scenes feels more alive, specially with such exceptional transitions like in this episode chaining the emotions of the characters. What a gem. |
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Panino Manino
Posts: 752 |
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#7
Emma! Now we can finally say that the cracks appeared. It's not easy at all to write a story like this without created a lot of holes and other small details that you can noticed an ruin the experience for you. There where some here. For example, Xiaoshi went into the photo, to the past, and was seen by Xiao. When they went back to the present was like this didn't had happened in their current present. Xiao mentions that he was outside the country making an explanation impossible, her friend even phoned him to make sure he didn't had got back to the country. Xiaoshi appearance should had left a big impression on that moments diminishing greatly the memory of Doudou getting kidnapped. The chances of Xiao forgetting the incident and feeling no regret are strong, and she could very well blame her failure to act on Xiaoshi. When she talked and asked forgiveness to the father was like this didn't had happened, nothing had changed, but then letter the story tells you that the past in fact changed, Xiaoshi was even catch by the cameras allowing the detective to discover their powers. This is a plot hole. Now, there's other that it's arguable... After they discovered's Doudou photo, wasn't the case immediately solved? Just looking into the photo, even with Doudou drugged Lu would be able to describe a sketch of the kidnapper face. There are a number of ways how they could solve this case. But when Xiaoshi entered the photo... he could just not be kidnapped, right? The goal was this, save Doudou. There was a right possibility that he was already dead after three years so the best alternative was to enter the photo and just walk back inside the store. Done, Doudou saved. This is a moment when the lack of exposition may makes things more complicated to the anime. We didn't see Lu and Xiaoshi discussing about how to do the work, what would the best way to do the work, we didn't see and can't say it didn't happened, but the way they acted makes us doubt. Instead of discovering what happened with Doudou or saving him, instead of doing what the father asked them to do, they did their own thing, try to get the kidnapper. What they did was wrong, just getting information about her identity to give the police would risk Doudou life if he wasn't alive anymore in the original present. Xiaoshi saved the day half by accident, by his impulse (MASTER SIWEN!). Maybe scaring the kidnapper that way saved his life. They saved his life but it was half by accident. They're not very good at their jobs. One reason I'm giving a lot of thoughts to this is that if you think by another angle what they did had the biggest positive effect they could achieve. Not only Doudou's life was assured, by making the kidnapper do the contrary and take care of him probably saved a lot of other children lives. This change in the story probably prevented a lot of other kidnappings to happen, but the problem is like I already described if this happened by accident and was not their intention. We don't have how to know because there's no exposition in this anime. No we'll probably enter "the plot". The detective knowing about their power is a great upset to the status quo, they'll probably be forced to collaborate from time to time. The remaining cases must be all about the serial killer in the city, ending with Emma's case and all the personal conflict involving her death. Xiaoshi probably saved a few lives in this episode, but all lives of people he don't know, will never know. Now to be followed to discover one person whose life ended because of him...[/b] |
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bonbonsrus
 Posts: 1537 Location: Michigan, USA |
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Thanks for saying something about this show, it hadn't hit my radar before you did and I caught up last week I think and saw the new ep out today.
I'm really enjoying it! It's completely different from Heaven Official's Blessing which was the last donghua I saw, and I loved the op and ed of so much...I tend to watch a lot of live action shows like that in the fantasy action/wuxia genre...I thought perhaps this would be similar, but it surely is not! I should really search out some of the other good Chinese animation ones out since I'm becoming more aware of how many are available really... Anyway, I will say, todays story I was really enjoying (and stressing out for them!) and now I'm left really hanging for what happens next! Good stuff! |
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Panino Manino
Posts: 752 |
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Today episode, wow, talk about hearts beating fast, right? When that last girl at the exit of the karaoke appeared waiting to cross the street a lightning fell in my mind. "She is one of the victims?!" Remember episode 6? When the detective was looking the file of the murder cases? And one was missing? I thought, "she is the seventh case that was missing!". No, we know that she is not, but at the same time it is! Because Xiaoshi intervened thinking that he would prevent a murder, he actually created the conditions for another murder! It was Xu who was actually the seventh case, but it was missing because the conditions for her death weren't still fulfilled? I had thought first that the seventh case was missing from the file because of the murderer, because he had some way to know and interfere with the investigation, or because he is aware of the Main Duo powers and he himself may have some super natural power, but now it seems it was just a temporal inconsistency/paradox? Will my mind remain blow the heck out all the way to the moon until the next episode? This thriller is as good as Odd Taxi. It's a shame IMO that some times the series have this need to "remember" that "it's an anime too", but thinking about it it's only the second time in 9 episodes that this happen. Even so this don't diminish all the good and punches. I believe that is very probably that there's more people with super natural powers out there beyond Lu and Xiaoshi? If even Qiao don't know about Lu's powers I have to assume that other people keep their power as secret as he. Something to discuss. If the Murderer is aware of Lu and Xiaoshi, why is this? Why would he go after Xu despite Lu apparently trying to stay away? Why would he "provoke" the two going after Xu? Because of the messages he sent of Xu phone and the call we must assume that he is aware that those three work together, right? My explanation is the photo the detective showed Lu. By his own powers Lu can see into the photos, he must had seems a bit into the photo with Emma's corpse and a bit into the photo of the security camera that caught the murderer. What if the Murderer "felt" Lu presence when he looked the photo? Could this be one of the reasons why he is aware of the main cast? |
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Panino Manino
Posts: 752 |
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This is the music that the character Xu sings in this episode, "Ru Hai" (Into The Sea) by Mao Buyi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5KL0HzfQqA
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Panino Manino
Posts: 752 |
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#9
The plot is already interesting enough, but the direction and editing helps a lot in selling the drama and emotions. I had commented this during episode 7:
Wasn't a plot hole after all! What was important for Qiao was only that she left the opportunity to act slip, the reason was irrelevant and she couldn't put the blame of others (on Xiaoshi). Now that it's relevant to remember that Xiaoshi was there it was done. The whole Emma situation. When Liu Min appeared on the wheelchair my mind was blown with the implications. Maybe Xiaoshi had succeed in saving Emma but at the cost of Liu's walking and there was a real possibility that he was innocent, having suffering the car accident while running in distress from Xiaoshi. But no, he was really there to kill Emma... but like I already said, Link Click is always finding now ways to surprise us, episode by episode, scene by scene. At every moment a new little surprise and conflicted feelings. Liu wasn't a serial killer, he probably never killed anyone but was going crazy with all the online harassment. When a company that relate to him was caught on that hit job he snap. I still need to think how he knew it was Emma who leaked the information, or was it only by inferring that she could be the only one to leak the fraudulent information? Anyway, he went after her because of the job Lu and Xiaoshi did, but... was Emma destined to die anyone? Even if randomly by overwork? Lu seems to believe that there are limitations to how much they can change the past, was Emma's death one of those limitations? Was she destined to die around those days? Because first Emma only died by Liu's hands because of the message Xiaoshi sent on her phone, and now she died because he interrupted Liu from killing her. And there's still this mysterious person who send that messaged in the beginning... Re-watching the first episode you'll hear the news saying she was found by the river. The photo of her body shows her on the ground that fits a river side. First we could assume that she was killed somewhere else and latter her body dumped there to pretend it was as suicide, but with what we watched in this episode looks like Xiaoshi unintentional interruption only saved her temporarily. She wanted around alone for a while until reaching the river where... was she killed? Or did she killed herself? Maybe the second option, she was already very mentally frail, maybe that murder attempt made her give up and she let herself fall in the river. |
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Panino Manino
Posts: 752 |
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#10
One more episode to end and the series couldn't be in a better place now. This is really an above average series. We never had the impression that the story was moving according to the plot, that things were happening because the writer wanted, like it happens in most of other animations. This whole time the story moved according with the characters emotions and personalities. We never discussed what the story was trying to do, we always discussed how the characters would react and what they could decide to do. This is a good series. Also, despite the simple formula it never god repetitive, better, they did something new. Normally whatever changes to the past that they provoked we only took noticed after the fact. Even with the Earthquake Case when episode 3 gave us a good look at the client's hand to be aware of how much the past had changed when it showed his hand again in episode 5, we never had seen the changes happening in "real time" like in this last arc, what made us confused and freak out. Again, for using the rules established before but finding new was to use them to surprise us and keep the episodes fresh, is a reason why this is a good series. And talking about the rules, what matters most here are the personal rules. It's fascinating for me that we are seeing both Xiaoshi and Lu play for and against the rules at the same time. Xiaoshi is making an effort to be composed and let the past be and this meaning let the dead stay dead, and Lu is finding a way to change the past and bring the dead back to the living. Some people believe that it's Xiaoshi idea to save Xu, but that Lu listened to this plan minutes before executing it and went along with it is something big. A total inverse of roles. But still, I feel that Lu is cheating his own rules a bit, I believe that he was already trying to save Xu because no one knows about her death yet, that's why he checked with the police if they had encountered her body in her house of any sing that she was killed there. If her death isn't yet acknowledge by the world, what will change saving her? Not much will change, really. But still remains the mystery of this killer/Lin. It's clear now that he faked his medical record, but did he really killed Linhua (Emma)? Did he killed the others? When we see him seeing that news about Xu capturing the molester on his phone he talks about "my friend". How is this possible before Xiaoshi talking with him? No one knows how the last episode will, but we already have one of the better animated series this year, without a doubt. I can't praise this series enough, the direction and editing is fantastic! The way that there was no screaming and tears when Lu found what happened with Xu, that Xiaoshi simple sat there breathing, the whole montage with Lu waiting and Xiaoshi mourning the dead his way, just beautiful. |
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Panino Manino
Posts: 752 |
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#11
I'm in state of shock, what can I say, how can we explain this final Link Click episode? It was perfect on so many levels, so many... So many good things in this episode and the whole series, and as if this was not enough it also have the courage to make a ending like that?! And again, I repeat: "Vivy is the disease, Link Click is the cure." Seriously, compare these two series, the execution. Not only Link Click is "actually" well made, it also have both a story and characters that makes you care. It lives beyond the script, despite having supernatural powers and the premise only be possible with these supernatural powers, it's a series that never forgets it happens in the "real world", with situations and questions from the "real world" with universal appeal. There's mystery but isn't a series to try to "understand", it's to feel. And this ending... it's something worthy to make people like Urobutcher falls to he grown and kiss the feet of the person who wrote this. |
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bonbonsrus
Posts: 1537 Location: Michigan, USA |
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After some sleuthing, there seems to be a second season in the works, which I for one am grateful for, I think there is a lot of story left that NEEDS to be told. I need some conclusion to this...I can love this show for what it is in part because I know that that ISN'T all there is.
https://www.bilibili.com/read/cv11708788 What a well told and interesting story though! I was on the edge of my seat through so many of these later episodes. |
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Panino Manino
Posts: 752 |
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This pleases me a lot, but really, I was not expecting it to rise so fast and so strong, and it seems that it'll at least keep it as more people are coming to watch. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11601 |
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Wow, what a ride! I don't think I've ever seen a series throw out so many curves in the last ten minutes, without it feeling rushed or contrived at all. Obviously they knew they had another season greenlit before producing this episode. Otherwise they would've just left a couple questions dangling, instead of ending with a MAJOR cliffhanger. Can't wait for round 2.
I also want to give some props for Cheng's stay-alive speech. Usually those sorts of things feel like empty platitudes that writers lean on to be dramatic and appropriately uplifting, but his words, along with the visuals to emphasize them and the actor's delivery, carried real weight and elevated them into something genuinely inspirational. Very impressive work. |
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Panino Manino
Posts: 752 |
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Gina!!!!
I'm very bitter with anime because of scenes like this one, anime 99% of times fails at giving a convincing or coherent speech, 90% of times when the protagonist needs to spill it all out, put his emotions into words, debate the antagonist, feel that the character isn't saying what he should, that he is missing the point and ends saying nothing of worth. The whole exchange between Emma and Xiaoshi didn't felt like it was just words at the wind because the plot demanded the two to have a talk, and this even despite the clear narrative parallel of Xiaoshi, while trying to change the past, doing this convincing Emma that it was ok that she could not change her past and that her future would be better. And I hope it'll be because of that text after the ending ("Emma, wait for me"). |
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Panino Manino
Posts: 752 |
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Much is being talked about "what makes this series so good?", and besides the general "human factor" there's the detail about all stories being tied to "work".
How people lose themselves or the ones important to them with work or don't let them lose themselves with work. Not by chance the "villain/villains" is/are the one/ones that didn't need to work, didn't wanted to work, cheated at work. |
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DuskyPredator
 Posts: 15576 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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I just watched episode 5. fudge, that destroyed me with putting tears in my eyes. The show had been good up to now, but all those emotional points of time leading up to a big disaster, that it turned the idea of just saying a few words into something big. About the power that some pictures as a snapshot in time, and what a little fantasy of a possible future can mean.
I am probably going to continue watching more episodes right after watching this, seeing as I am binging it, but it was just a lot for me. |
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