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NeedMoreCats wrote:

See, this is why Theron gets paid to write, and I don’t Very Happy

A little behind the times, my friend. It's been a couple of years since I did any writing for ANN; I blog independently about anime now.

But you're welcome about the assist.

Blood- wrote:

I'm a Canadian but I feel entitled to answer on behalf of all North Americans. Heh. Concept or premise tends to be used more often than conceit but the three are somewhat interchangeable terms. I would argue that there is somewhat of a nuance when using the word conceit ... it's almost a bit pejorative. In other words, if you say, "The conceit behind Superman's anonymity is that he merely has to put on a suit and a pair of glasses and suddenly he is magically unrecognizable as Clark Kent..." you are in a sense raising your eyebrows a bit in mild disapproval. If you feel absolutely neutral, you are probably more like to use concept or premise.

Hmm, I see! Thank you for the explanation. I kinda feel like in the reviews conceit is being used neutral more often than not, but I can't speak to the writer's intentions, and it probably does still work neutrally (I guess?).
That Superman example helped a lot to get the idea across, and Nom De Plume, your isekai example also gave me a better idea of it.
The world of writing is so interesting. I honestly had never seen anyone use conceit in any way beyond a person being conceited prior to ANN. At first I thought it was a typo, then I saw all the reviewers were using it, every season...

Anyway, sorry to digress the conversation! Thank you both for your replies! It's been very enlightening.

You're welcome, harminia! And I think you are right... the use of conceit by ANN's reviewers does seem to be neutral and there is nothing wrong in doing so. The whiff of pejorative around conceit is just something I've noticed in general useage.

Blood- wrote:

@ Nom De Plume... it's a pity you quoted an earlier incarnation of my Superman example because, all conceit aside, I believe the final version is much better. Wink

I'd just like you to know that every autistic molecule in my body is being restrained from arguing about Superman right now.

Blood- wrote:

I'm a Canadian but I feel entitled to answer on behalf of all North Americans. Heh. Concept or premise tends to be used more often than conceit but the three are somewhat interchangeable terms. I would argue that there is somewhat of a nuance when using the word conceit ... it's almost a bit pejorative. In other words, if you say, "The conceit behind Superman's anonymity is that he merely has to put on a suit and a pair of glasses and suddenly he is magically unrecognizable as Clark Kent..." you are in a sense raising your eyebrows a bit in mild disapproval. If you feel absolutely neutral, you are probably more like to use concept or premise.

I disagree that it has a whiff of pejorative nature. "Premise" is a term that would be used pretty strictly for narrative structure; it doesn't feel right to say "the premise is the main character is gay" as that has no implications for narrative structure. "Concept" tends to be more of a big picture, a broad idea thing--you can talk about the concept of love triangles or harems, for example.

"Conceit" itself tends to be a narrow focus on a specific theme, and it's specifically something that is supposed to set it apart (think novel or imaginative idea). Given that the word "conceited" refers to someone who is overly impressed with themself, I think that crosses into "conceit" a little bit into assuming that it's a twist on an idea that doesn't quite work.

Stardust Telepath has a premise rife with potential, gorgeous character designs, and some charming voice acting performances.
I've noticed there's an inordinate amount of focus on the girls' lips. Like really just a lot of lip-centric shots. It started to remind me of the infamous Akebi's Sailor Uniform foot fetish from last year. So that could be fun or uncomfortable, depending on how into lips your are.

I don't think I generally saw conceit used very much before reading ANN regularly either (am American). My guess was that it's more common among people with literary/creative writing backgrounds, although I guess the concept of the same name is not the same, and maybe among journalists covering creative beats, which isn't the kind of thing I usually read outside of this place.

So far, I really enjoyed Spy x Family and Migi & Dali. Frieren was okay, and the rest was sort of.. not bad, but not great either, in my opinion.

For example, Ron Kamonohashi’s Forbidden Deductions isn’t a bad show, but we just had Undead Murder Farce, which was more interesting in every way. Stardust Telepath isn’t bad, I can actually empathise with the struggles of the main character, but it’s not “Bocchi The Rock- level” either. I will probably watch like 3 episodes, and then forget about them.

For now, I’m mostly looking forward to the end of October and the beginning of November which will bring us Apothecary Diaries, Pluto and Akuma Kun. I hope Akuma Kun will get at least some attention on ANN. Despite the timing.

With how far back its history goes (and by the same mangaka as GeGeGe no Kitarō no less), I wouldn't be surprised if it got a TWIA article or something like that. I'd hope so, anyway.

Far as stuff like Telepath vs Bocchi the Rock goes though I'm not too inclined to compare them. They work along different lines, with different goals beyond that of a deeply socially anxious young girl getting friends, which to me is enough to only compare them in superficial terms.