Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: The Executioner and Her Way of Life
|
Goto page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 Next Note: this is the discussion thread for this article |
| Author | Message | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
L'Imperatore
 Posts: 936 |
|
|||
|
Same here, James. When Menou murdered this random isekai-ed dude, I'm sold
|
||||
|
||||
dm
 Subscriber Posts: 1463 |
|
|||
|
The train-wreck scene was a great cap to the third episode, but the thing that caught my attention was when, in parting in the train car, Akari said "I don't want to be left alone again!", and Menou paused at the door to wonder, "Again?"
I wonder if this entire story maybe isn't Akari's first trip through this tale. |
||||
|
||||
|
Rogueywon
Posts: 264 |
|
|||
|
My take on the light novels (the ones out in English at least) was that they're ambitious and high concept, but prone to getting muddled - so much stuff gong on to juggle - and dragged down by writing that was never really more than fair-to-middling. There's also an occasional tendancy towards excessive lore-dumping. The question is whether the adaptation can overcome those faults.
So far, it's looking good. The first three episodes definitely surpass the source in places. |
||||
|
||||
|
RenimLS
Posts: 135 Location: North America |
|
|||
|
I rather appreciate that the show is sometimes being more vague or less forthcoming on details than the LN. It seems the show is set to really only cover them when it's necessary, which the LN tends to reveal more of its hand before it's actually necessary. The way the LN introduces Akari you're actually in her headspace and get her thoughts on things before Menou appears. spoiler[Which serves as a flag for the readers as her feelings and thoughts do not match up well with her behavior after meeting Menou], but it wasn't really necessary to have to go there.
|
||||
|
||||
zensunni
 Posts: 1294 |
|
|||
Exactly! There was a huge hint there that Akari has either been through this all before OR her life in Japan featured abandonment and loneliness to spare. Perhaps this could have something to do with the dreams that Menou has about being in a classroom in Japan with her best friend who has Akari's outline waving at her? Is it possible that Menou is also not a native of this world, but also an otherworlder with a pure concept that is just as dangerous as Akari's? And the train wreck scene at the end was NOT the first indication that Akari's pure concept had come into play during the episode. There was a moment, shortly before Akari interupted Menou's fight with the Red Knight when she attacked and then was back in position to attack again and had a 'Whoa... that was weird' reaction, and then the same basic thing happened in the fight between Momo and the Princess, and one of them said something like "That was disconcerting..." And, technically, the train wreck scene was Menou's imagination of what might have happened... at least that's my take on it. If we see the scene from Akari's point of view at some point we'll know for sure I guess. There is one thing I wonder about with the crusade the Church has against Otherworlders with Pure Concepts. If ALL Pure Concepts eventually corrupt the person, how did their society get influenced so strongly by Japanese culture and language? It seems like, if the otherworlders were always so unstable, they wouldn't have had the type of impact on the world that they did to influence so much of their culture. This says to me that the church is actually reacting to the few extreme cases... the Great Human Errors... and eliminating ALL otherworlders in order to prevent any more catastrophes of that magnitude, when it is possible that some otherworlders might be able to remain stable with their Pure Concepts and not lose control. I'm guessing that is the direction Menou's thoughts will be heading in the story at least... since Akari seems to be a girl that has already lived through some heavy stuff and maintained a positive outlook on life and might be the type that won't appear to be corrupted by repeated use of her powers, or suspected repeated use of her powers since Menou won't really know that they were used since it will be to save her life every time. |
||||
|
||||
|
Aerodynamic41
Posts: 236 |
|
|||
|
I absolutely love the LN and the adaptation is looking great so far. I think the red knight didn't feel as dangerous as it was in the LN but that's a minor quibble. From the opening and the pacing, it looks like the anime will adapt until Volume 2. I'm really excited to see how the anime will depict spoiler[Akari's real personality].
|
||||
|
||||
|
thadec
Posts: 45 |
|
|||
|
Proposing that James Beckett not be allowed to review any isekai titles in the future, or really shonen shows in general. It seems that Beckett has a real disdain towards the target audience - or at least what that audience likes and why - and will not be objective.
|
||||
|
||||
|
FilthyCasual
Posts: 2370 |
|
|||
|
It's nice to have a refreshingly Light Novel Energy LN adaptation. Dead Detective did its best, but the production values and plotting crumpled; fingers crossed this one goes the distance. Presumably Akari will be something other than Nice, Existent, and Increasingly Down Bad once she gets shipped off to church.
Menou and Momo are great, though. Especially poor Momo, doomed to lose to BSS. |
||||
|
||||
|
dm
Subscriber Posts: 1463 |
|
|||
I interpreted the train-wreck scene at the end as the explanation for the time-stutter in the fight with the Red Knight (and the "simultaneous" scene between Momo and the Princess) --- that was the moment Akari reset the timeline to.
Given that I think Menou's vision provides an explanation for the time-stutter earlier in the episode, I interpret it as a memory of the original timeline. |
||||
|
||||
TarsTarkas
 Posts: 5928 Location: Virginia, United States |
|
|||
|
I like this series and I like the characters. So looking at this one as a must see to the end. I wonder if the anime adaptation will beat out the english light novels.
About Menou, while the anime shows her killing someone who probably deserves to die, we must remember spoiler[she and her group kill everyone who has that power/skill. Guilt or innocence doesn't matter. People who want to have normal lives within soceity and don't use their power/skill, are still hunted down and killed. If you have been isekai'd, they will search for you, and they will kill you. So even if you choose to be a good person and not use your power, you will still be killed.] So Menou is a problematic character. You can sympathize with her for her upbringing (brainwashing?) and despise her for her actions. I like Momo too and can understand why she is the way she is. Like Menou too. Much discussion could be had on who is ultimately responsible and if really any justice can be had. Probably not. |
||||
|
||||
|
Nev999
Posts: 159 |
|
|||
And I propose that he should be allowed to review whatever he wants, which I imagine will continue to happen. I've been following ANN for a while, and considering he really liked JJK (way more than I did), did super in-depth adoring reviews on AoT (which personally just allowed me to see that the show was continuing not to be my thing at all but I admired his passion) and his criticisms of Demon Slayer were pretty mild, it's just that fanbase is ridiculous, I never got the impression he doesn't like shonen or doesn't fall into its audience at all. And he's suited just fine for this series, as the reason people are interested in THIS show is because it's offering a bit of a twist on the isekai premise, and that seems to be what he was hooked by as well. This review focused on whether the show itself held together beyond that initial hook, and offered a fair assessment. And honestly, considering you criticized the main character of this show and its fandom despite admitting not even watching the first episode in the Premiere thread, I don't think you personally have much room to talk about how it's bad to approach something with preconceived notions or disdain for the target audience. For me, I think what will make or break this show is how Akari holds up as a character, and if her deal and her relationship with Menou deepens wants she finds out about Menou's hidden agenda. If she's what she appears on the surface, or they're just leaning on tropes with her, the central relationship won't be dynamic enough to carry the show, so I'm also hoping that hint about not wanting to be left behind means we'll get some good character writing and reason to root for this dynamic. There were quite a few moments in the eps that made me roll my eyes, but enough mystery and intrigue and potential in the plot I'm willing to keep going. Plus, I'm trash for girls being cool action heroes and gay with each other, I won't lie. |
||||
|
||||
|
Florete
Posts: 381 |
|
|||
|
The novels of this series are what got me to start taking notes on what I read, just to make sure I can keep track of all that is and has been going on.
Funny how, from what I'm seeing, the critics are liking this more than the fans. Perhaps seeing their precious self-insert potato-kun get a murder done on him was triggering. |
||||
|
||||
|
Thesarum
Subscriber Posts: 514 |
|
|||
|
Serious bad vibes from Mother Superior. Quite aside from the obviously ominous name of "Archbishop Orwell" and the fact that any time a western church (i.e. Catholic/Anglican in its structure and iconography) is depicted in anime they're generally bad news. There's a whole pile of secrets awaiting us (and, by the looks of things, Menou) there. I think the fact that Menou will have her faith in the church challenged is fairly obvious. It'd be more of a twist if she didn't and it was just a straight up choice of betraying them for Akari.
Akari seems to have her share of secrets too, which is great. The bubbly crushing-on-Menou personality is plenty fun, but could outstay its welcome fairly easily. Enjoying this so far, and there's plenty of promise. |
||||
|
||||
Covnam
 Posts: 3819 |
|
|||
That's the most predicable thing to happen (leading to her not trying to kill (or save as needed) Akari, and while I think that's probably what will happen, I hope the story goes in a different direction. I'm enjoying it so far, but not interested in seeing the usual tropes, so fingers crossed Stopping the train that way was odd. The engine was going full tilt, but instead of shutting off the engine, they just slowed the train by using a magic net (which, at that speed, probably would have caused the middle and rear cars of the train to derail at best (unless all the cars were also slowed by the magic?)) and somehow that caused it to turn off?
I'm guessing those two moments are for the same event and are proof that time was rewound from the wreck we see at the end of the episode back to that point. |
||||
|
||||
|
DRosencraft
Posts: 671 |
|
|||
I've definitely already seen some people making that same mistake, if you want to call it a mistake, of not recognizing that Menou is at a minimum far more complicated than "hero stopping monsters" many want to paint her as out the gate. I haven't read the novels, but it's really obvious there are only a few directions things could be heading, an only a couple of them let her stay in the realm of any sort of heroic character - flawed or otherwise. My sense of the "justice" issue is that, as it often turns out, it is a matter of stop diffing a deeper pit once you realize what's going on. My guess is that one or the other or both by the end will recognize that philosophy too late, or have given up on it despite realizing it. |
||||
|
||||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group