Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Seirei Gensouki - Spirit Chronicles
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Melicans
Posts: 627 Location: Canada |
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This series is pretty much my favourite light novel at the moment. I love the way it twists the concept of isekai and messes with their respective timelines. It looks like it is on pace to adapt the first four volumes, which makes perfect sense if you've read the series. It is pretty much the ideal stopping point.
I thought episode 1 was really well adapted. In particular, the aftermath of the crash was really well done. Episode 2 was slightly too quick-paced for my taste, especially regarding future (far future) developments for Christina and Flora that were basically just skipped/skimmed over. With the amount of stuff to go through the time skip makes sense, though trying to cram it all into one episode really hurt the development of the noble bullies. The voice changing to Mr. Protagonist himself took me by surprise; I generally like all his roles, but I don't know if it really suits Rio that well. Episode 3 was done well on a pacing front, but the animation in the Minotaur fight and the "fall" was a bit lackluster. I hope that improves. spoiler[We have probably already seen the last of Christina, Flora, Roanna, and the noble brats. Celia may show up in one or two short scenes reading his letters, but apart from that she won't appear either.] But now Latifi is entering the series, and her story is just fantastic. Her voice seems a great pick for it, I'm really looking forward to seeing what is next. I'd guess that spoiler[Liselotte will get her single appearance next episode (honestly, the OP tells much more of her story than we will see animated this season) and the spirit folk in episodes 5 and 6.] |
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Yune Amagiri
 Posts: 1080 Location: France |
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although my fondness for Celia would make me prefer a stopping point at the end of volume 5, i too feel like stopping at volume 4 is the best for pacing reason. The opening seem to tease as much too.
I had some worries at first but so far subtle changes to the LN didn't impact much, in fact some like the crash were even better than their original version. |
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Lirsen
Posts: 27 |
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Taking into account the opening they will end in novel five spoiler[ the fight between dual dagger rio and the knight is from when he "kidnap" Celia]
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Yune Amagiri
Posts: 1080 Location: France |
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You're right, i forgot this scene happened during spoiler[Celia's wedding arc], then it's a given they will at least adapt until vol.5. |
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Melicans
Posts: 627 Location: Canada |
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That completely slipped my mind. Then it begs the question of what will be compressed to be able to include it. I guess they could compress volumes 2 and 3 into 2 episodes each; episode 4 could be spoiler[Rio traveling, meeting Liselotte for probably her only appearance, and ending with the fight with Latifa]. Then episode 5 could be spoiler[Latifa's backstory, finding out they knew each other pre-reincarnation, and meeting the spirit folk in the forest]. It would mean some heavy compression but depending on what they decide to cut it could make episodes 6-7 spoiler[the first real mention of Aisha, going to Yagumo and reaching the hometown, then meeting his grandparents and learning about his parents]. It's been a very long time since I read volume 3 so my memories of it are a bit foggy, but I don't think there is anything particularly plot-heavy in it and it feels like the most likely spot to skip over stuff, though it's a shame it will mean less time with the spoiler[Yagumo people]. In the books the round journey took about three or four years, so by the time they reach volume 5 there will be a lot of Beltrum backstory to catch up on. |
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Yune Amagiri
Posts: 1080 Location: France |
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It seems like the most plausible pace to me, it's a pity for the spoiler[Yagumo people] but importance-wise they are last, if one of the first 5 volumes has to draw the short straw and be compressed then while it's the longest, it can't imagine another than the 3rd volume, spoiler[Sayo and Ruri] barely appear in the op/end and spoiler[ Komomo is nowhere to be found] .
By the way the ending was even more a given than the opening for the spoiler[Wedding arc with Celia wearing her wedding dress and long-haired Liselotte]. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11588 |
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That was my impression. Both Rio and Latifa seemed to be unconscious or nearly so when they were hijacked by the Japanese wandering spirits.  Latifa doesn't seem to have grown up much over the years, but Stewart looked as young in the flashback as Rio was. I'd guess Liselotte probably had a serious fever or something back then, since her life seems to have been pretty cushy otherwise.
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Melicans
Posts: 627 Location: Canada |
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I absolutely loved episode 4. Latifa's voice actress did an amazing job at bringing out her fear. I thought it was interesting that Rio confirmed her as a reincarnation from her mentioning Tokyo; in the LN, it's because she was speaking in Japanese in her sleep.
A couple very minor corrections that I don't think are particularly spoilery: Latifa was not bought as a slave, she is actually the Duke's illegitimate daughter. Stewart's hobby was brutalizing her, the sadistic bastard. She has been in those cell conditions away from her mother ever since birth, so you're absolutely right when you say her trauma really stems from her Suzune memories appearing at that age. Where Haruto died around age 20 and gained his memories at 7, Suzune was only about 8 years old in the crash. Her ratio of old memories to new life is much closer to 50-50 and she has less of a stable emotional base to cling to. It is no wonder she is so afraid and immediately clings to Rio. Lotte isn't the ruler of a nation, but she is a daughter of relatively high nobility and the administrator of the city. She is one year younger than Rio, compared to Latifa's four years. The difference in when memories appear is really interesting to me, and spoiler[there will be some timeline questions further down the road]. When they died, Haruto was about 20, Rikka (the namesake for Lotte's guild) was around 14, and Suzune was around 8, but in this world Rio is around 11, Lotte is about 10, and Suzune is 7 or 8. |
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andramus
 Posts: 192 |
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Is this interpretation influenced by novel knowledge? I thought the human-shaped spirit that Dryas was referring to might have been the girl Rio has had a couple of visions of. I didn't take the fact that Rio sees himself as a separate person to Haruto as meaning he definitively wasn't a reincarnation. I thought it could have simply been a case of having lived such a different life that when he accessed Haruto's memories he didn't feel like that person. Sort of like the drama trope where a person gets amnesia and becomes a totally different person. Whereupon recovering their memory they have to reconcile who they were with who they are. |
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Blanchimont
 Posts: 3564 Location: Finland |
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Well, if you want to spoil yourself, spoiler[wrong wrong wrong!] 
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sadoldguy
Posts: 68 |
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This is again where light novel readers like myself try to sell the rest of you into reading the light novels. After the trauma of the first volume "The Kingdom of Lies", we start the long process of repairing Rio's heart starting the middle of the second volume "Blessings of the Spirits".
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Covnam
 Posts: 3819 |
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This is my thinking as well. The girl he sees also calls him Haruto and he calls out her nick-name (Mii-chan I think) while he's sleeping. Though I think the girl had two different appearances, so I'm wondering if she reincarnated as the great spirit (if she wasn't already that) when she transferred to this world |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11588 |
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Jeez, what is it with the girls in this series that they won't let him finish a sentence before they attack him?
Also can't say I'm crazy about him suddenly being treated like royalty complete with a harem of worshipful servant girls for no apparent reason. They seem to have changed their attitude because he could do some magic, but that didn't stop them while they were attacking him, so that can't be it. He brought Latifa to them, yay, thanks, but that hardly seems enough to hand him the keys to the kingdom over. All he got for doing the exact same thing among the humans was a scholarship. And c'mon, Latifa? Haven't they already cribbed enough from SAO? (yes, I know Latifa is most known for Amagi Brilliant Park, but it's as close to Leafa as Haruto is to Kirito) |
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Princess_Irene
ANN Reviewer
 Posts: 2653 Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City |
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No, I've only read the first volume, which we're past. I'm going to hold off on reading the rest till the anime's over for that reason.
Ah, see I took that to mean that she was just able to talk to him in that moment because of his mental state, not that she was literally hitching a ride. But I definitely agree that Mii-chan was either reincarnated as or always was a great spirit. |
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sadoldguy
Posts: 68 |
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One of the most important themes of this story that was originally a bit subtle for me to pick up is working thru trauma by the characters making a "found family". Rio and Latifa's trauma is pretty spelled out by the preceding episodes. Adorable Celcia realizes that her success caused her to have very few close friends and they all had to leave her. The Spirit Arts people have been persecuted by humans for generations but start to heal by finding humans that can be trusted. Ursala lost a family member to humans only to find her daughter in Latifa. Liselotte had forty year old men wanting her hand in marriage when she was seven years old, forcing her to take radical measures to establish her independence. Flora is haunted by never being able to thank Rio. Christina will be haunted by the corruption of her kingdom pushing away talented individuals, especially Rio. And more people to come.
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