Forum - View topicThe Summer 2024 Anime Preview Guide
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ktarf
Posts: 15 |
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I think what's misguided here is you thinking that anybody who's even giving a chance to this show isn't looking forward to an exploration of its thematics, which includes addressing those things. But that can be done in a lot of ways, and I liked how this first episode is doing it. Also, pronouns in Japanese are very different than English or any other European language, including my native one, so I fear the translation will have to personalize a lot, with the following discourse ending up partially focused on the actual, original content and partially on the localization choices. Hopefully I'm wrong. By the way, thanks for the answer, that makes me a little less mad at the studio.
That's exactly why it's weird to me to see mentions of "Western politics" when this show and many others are doing something Japanese fiction has been doing on its own for decades. It feels like there's some kind of paranoia. One can be exhausted with how the West does things while enjoying the different approaches found in anime. |
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Daerian
 Posts: 206 |
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My first acapit explains why that was written - reactionaries try to show Japan as backwards country untainted by LGBTQ and gender representation. Calling it "western politics" is sarcastic dig at such people, who think that only western cultures are being more and more open towards LGBTQ representation and produce it. People as such are always trying to say that nobody in Japan is interested in any gender/LGBTQ representation and any such mentions in anime must be because "bad west media" made Japanese authors do such things against their will. It's not really surprising that James Beckett is done with such bull***. |
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Jabootu
Posts: 198 |
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Daerian wrote:
I have to admit, I have never seen anything like that. I'm not saying there aren't some people pushing it, but I haven't come across any of it myself. In fact, I'm sure there is some; there are billions of people and always a few morons. I'm just saying such views must not be very widespread, because I watch a lot of media on anime from people with all sorts of political / cultural viewpoints. Do you perhaps refer to people who just aren't acquainted with anime at all? If that's the case, their views can be ignored as you would in all such instances. I'd be glad if you could share some examples, though. What I *have* come across--indeed, it's almost impossible to avoid, particularly on this site--is literal and quite vile hatred and threats of violence / death threats (for which one person had all their notes deleted) by people enraged by the so-called "yuri-baiting" of Sound! Euphonium. For people who haven't followed that discussion, people have been shipping two girls who were very flirty but also firmly established as hetero. Then they flew into rage mode when at the end of the series the hetero girls turned out to be hetero. Shipping is fun, until the people doing the shipping somehow come to believe that their headcanon must be validated by the original work itself. I don't really get why they think that, or why they don't just continue to headcanon it as they were doing previously. In any case, let's not act like all the stuff that's "extremely racist and false" is only coming from one side of the aisle. Back to seasonal anime. I still haven't seen much to get into this season; usually by now I'd have at least half a dozen shows to follow. I was hoping for at least one fairly decent isekai, and then I got it. Ironically, it was really helped by my vast dissatisfaction with another one. Failure Frame was depressingly terrible. It was like that first couple of episodes of Arifureta, except possibly worse. And I grew to like Arifureta, both ironically and unironically. I liked the characters, and I'm a sucker for adopted daughters in anime. The edgelord hero eventually appealed to my inner 13 year-old, which is what they were trying to do. I even grew fond of that show's terrible CGI, which was often dreadful in--again, to me--an entertaining way. (Ironically, I found the second season of Arifureta to be objectively somewhat better, but less enjoyable.) So as with Arifureta, it's possible I'll grow to like Failure Frame more later, but whew....it's just awful right now. Back in the day, because I'm really old, I reviewed 1990's Mortal Kombat film, which I have always adored since seeing it the first night of its theatrical run. One thing that immediately inspired my love for it was that three stock heroes and the stock villain and their backstories were all established in less than five minutes. Sonya Blade--a cop after the guy who killed her partner. Got it. Seen it thousand times, and the movie knows it, so they didn't feel we needed scenes of the two bonding after which we see the partner getting killed, etc. Nope, he was already dead, Sonya was introduced in media res already hunting the killers, etc. Failure Frame, aside from just looking horrendously terrible, stretched out its box of cliches for an unbearable amount of time. The whole advantage of using stock characters is that we already get it. Look, if you have vampires, you only need to explain any variations of established lore, like if they can walk around in the sunlight. Otherwise, say "vampires" and move on, please. The aptly named Failure Frame, in contrast, spends an entire episode explaining that a) a full class of high school students gets isekai'd, b) a bunch of the students are psychologic bullies and the rest of the students are afraid of them, c) the goddess who summoned them is arrogant and evil, d) the hero has a "weak" power and is left to die, and e) then it turns out his weak power is, like, super-OP. Oh, and the whole thing is edgelord central with everyone being completely unlikeable, and again, it all looks like ass. In a funk, I immediately moved on to I Parry Everything. And it wasn't great, but it answered all the complaints I had with Failure Frame. It was light-hearted. Not really comic in tone, but light-hearted (although the episode title "I Parry a Cow" was pretty funny.) Second, it moved pretty fast and never got bogged down. Third, it was decently animated. Not great, but say a 7 out of 10. Good enough, anyway. Fourth, the hero and pretty much everybody in the show was likable. Fifth, no one disdained the hero for his weak power--which he only manages to build up to being OP (although he hasn't realized it yet) by fanatically working on his one skill for 15 years. There's even a minor twist in the magic system where people usually have multiple skills instead of just one. The hero has a few other skills (he can make a small flame and can run fast briefly), but they remain super-low-grade. But it's OK, because he *gasp* uses them efficiently and often cleverly. He can accurately throw a stone, but not very hard. So you know what? He throws at the monster's eye, because that would still hurt even a powerful beast. I especially like when he used his tiny flame power as a pilot light to start his stove. I mean, well yeah. Of course he would. Who wouldn't? Again, I have no hopes this will be a classic, but an enjoyable 20 minutes for the next three months. Sure. That's really all I ask. Still, for me that's been the only thing I've really enjoyed so far. Hopefully we have some better stuff coming. |
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AdditionalRamen
Posts: 24 |
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I would add Stars Align to your excellent list as well! |
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Alan45
 Village Elder Posts: 9897 Location: Virginia |
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ktarf wrote:
Why would you hope to be wrong? The people translating a new show for ASAP streaming don't have the time to spend worrying about localization and certainly don't have time to type up translation notes even if there was a way to show them. Where a forum like this shines is when people who do understand spoken Japanese can explain when a specific translation lacks nuance or is actually wrong. (and when others can jump in and explain why the first poster is not quite correct  ) For those of us who do not understand spoken Japanese this sort of thing is quite helpful.
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ktarf
Posts: 15 |
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Oh, what I meant was that I fear people will be throwing hands at each other for stuff brought entirely by the localization and not present in the original text, with a lot of "translators are such hacks!" and "no, it's you that have no idea how translations work!", which, while at times true, I'm not a fan of. Of course I do hope to hear the perspective of people who know Japanese way better than me (slowly, I'm learning!), and other meaningful discussions. |
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Mami-kouga
Posts: 208 |
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That's unlikely to happen in this series unless you go in prepared to be overly nitpicky and get mad
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Takkun4343
 Posts: 1530 Location: Englewood, Ohio |
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>reviewers thus far gave 2.5 Dimensional Seduction 2 to 2.5 stars
>"Community score: 5.0" I picked the right time to click on that preview page.
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Daerian
Posts: 206 |
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To be honest, I'm jealous you are able to not see this often. But if you want examples, let me give you some (sorry if it will make you feel bad about world afterwards  ):
- people who cried that Lily from Zombieland Saga isn't trans and that it was added by woke translators, coming as far as fabricating false translations to build-up their point; - people who to this day argue that Cagliostro from Granblue isn't trans, she is just ancient man who made new girl body for herself because she liked cute things and her old body was dying - you can find them easily if you check Steam forums of Granblue Fantasy: Relink (I would advise to not delve into this cesspit personally); - the entire Bridget from Guilty Gear Strive debacle, when they were saying that Bridget was made trans by translators, that it was bad end, that it was woke western people making poor Japanese creators made Bridget trans against their will, falsified "official" response from Arc Systems saying that Bridget wasn't trans and in the end decided that game creators don't understand their own game (good write-up of this entire thing can be found on HobbyDrama reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/HobbyDrama/comments/y2k0mf/video_games_the_bridget_controversy_does_daisuke/ if you want to read more) - people who spend ages arguing that Yuri on Ice totally isn't gay, not at all; - erasure of any pairings in "soft" yuri series (by which I mean pairings that are strongly implied, instead of stated outright) - you will find people who to this day will argue, with death threats, that Madoka Magica, Nanoha or even Utena were totally straight series with only friendship and no LGBTQ pairs at all; - even more blatant, people who spend tons of time arguing that Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury totally didn't have lesbian main couple, ending with them clearly shown as same sex marriage, by them having wedding rings (and shortly-cut fingernails on strategically chosen fingers of heroine) to the point that publisher came out and agreed with them, to be then denounced by show's creators stating that main pair obviously were married lesbians (and making tons of unofficial merch for that pairing at comiket, if I remember correctly); - anime- adjacent, but people are really trying to argue Mihoyo games are straight as arrow, there is totally no gay/lesbian relationships suggested (even in Honkai Impact 3rd, game that has official lesbian couples and official lesbian kiss in official supplemental materials). |
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smurky turkey
Posts: 2224 |
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I really liked the first episode of Pseudo Harem, it was very charming and the show has a lot going for it. The chemistry between the main characters is strong from the start for example and all of their interactions are either funny, cute, romantic or all at the same time. It adds to the fun that the other characters acknowledge how much fun those two goofballs are having together. Add the solid animation and vibrant look to all that and you have a winner if it were not for the issue of repetition.
I really believe that anime based off 4-koma manga should stick to 12 minute episodes to prevent things from feeling samey or overly long. Anyway, a couple of drops: After seeing the premiere of The Café Terrace I now know that one season is enough for me. As unfair as it may be, 2.5 Dimensional Seduction made me think that it is a significantly worse My Dress-up Darling far too often. Senpai is an Otokonoko seems decent yet not special enough to add to my to watch list that already has 2 romance shows on it. |
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Hiroki not Takuya
 Posts: 2570 |
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John the Dark Lord
Posts: 243 |
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Speaking of 2.5 Dimensional Seduction, the manga also releases chapters on friday, and today's chapter is about the cast watching Liliel's new anime, gushing over how great of a VA Kaori Maeda is (directly praising her work in Uma Musume) and having the In-Universe creator of Liliel thanking the staff of the anime and asking them to take care of his "child".
Yeah, none of this has anything to do with the reviews for the anime first episode, but I wanted to share it anyway. Cutest way of breaking the fourth wall I've seen in some time. Well, not surprised people aren't sold on the work yet. I always felt the manga is at its best when it's many characters are all interacting together and sharing their different life experiences and reasons for cosplaying, but that also means the manga doesn't get really good until more people become regulars of the club. Which is only going to happen in the second cour of the anime (noticed how two girls from the main visual are completely absent from both the OP and the ED?). |
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ktarf
Posts: 15 |
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Just watched Nier Automata Ver.1.1a, and I'm baffled at the changes they're making from the game. I HIGHLY recommend anyone who can and is interested to play that masterpiece before watching this... strange adaptation.
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InfiniteNothingness
 Posts: 135 |
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Having never seen My Dress-Up Darling I don't have a frame of reference to compare the two (not that I would), but I liked 2.5 Dimensional Seduction surprisingly more than anticipated after being down on it until relatively recently. I really like Lilysa and Masamune being their own kind of recognizably otaku freaks, and to be honest Masamune is charming in his own way too. The "loyalty," the encyclopedic knowledge that is shared between the two, the way I feel like he subtly loses his gatekeeping energy in service of a companion that actually "gets him" so he feels. I can't fault the staff for being down on him either, I suppose he just hit differently for me. Although, it would be nice to see more fictional character strictly interested in the fictional, especially without the understandably offputting elements of Okumura seen here (e.g. Lilysa needing to be even more otaku than him was unpleasant even if I could largely flow with him). It's a well of social, sexual, psychological and altogether curiously fascinating stuff to explore, so it's frustrating for the first instance of that for me -- or at least in recent memory -- is with a show I'm middling-positive on. (I woudn't be surprised if something like Genshiken or other otaku-centric media had them too, I just haven't experienced those yet.) Like, while I expect it to change, it's in the name after all, that element adds a whole other dimension to interfacing with others in general that grabs me.
The entire premiere was a mixed bag, really. Both of them were lovingly animated and had their own goofiness, and felt somewhat like actual people I could see, albeit less so for Lilysa who comes on just a little too hard set against the sort of series this is. I get you need a catch, in various ways, but I personally would've liked more time with them both before diving right into the comically sexual situations (what a bore). Which, on that front, despite how it dances around that matter nonetheless was altogether less effective than the foot stuff in Roshidere precisely because of how much comes on and so fast. Really barreling through to establish their points of entry to fandom. Yet, there's just enough heart here that it's easy to see myself watching more, if not immediately. The lady cosplayers gently chiding and supporting a middle school Lilysa, the ways Okumura is so obviously ill-equipped for the thing he actually wants in some companionship, the more-or-less snappy character dynamic (but again can't compete with the aforementioned), and most especially for me how we saw Okumura and his teacher doing some good old wotagei in service of the girls trying their best, and with an energy not unlike a few avid photographers seen elsewhere. I like it, I get the spirit and can vibe with it. The ED really felt like an adorable throwback too, tonally. Still, it's a pass for me for now. I'd sooner read the manga first, or at least wait until there's more out or my media schedule is less packed or both. But hey, eventually. Also: Lilysa so reminds me of Mash Kyrielight, which absolutely was not helped by hearing the two nerds talk about "Nasu" and "Gorgon" at one point. Last edited by InfiniteNothingness on Fri Jul 05, 2024 1:28 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Jabootu
Posts: 198 |
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Daerian responded:
To be honest, I'm jealous you are able to not see this often. But if you want examples, let me give you some (sorry if it will make you feel bad about world afterwards Sad ): I learned decades ago there are doofi in the world, so no problem. Basically I just stay off social media to avoid such craziness. And I appreciate the examples, but really what I want is the articles themselves so I can read such statements in full as they were written. Thanks, though, really. I'd say the funniest, and thus the easiest to dismiss, would be anyone attempting to argue that Yuri on Ice wasn't gay. That's a bold claim. |
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