Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Your Forma
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Glordit
 Posts: 771 |
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FYI there is a prequel on YouTube which explains a few things before the start of the show.
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ktarf
Posts: 103 |
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This has to be one the most baffling adaptation choices I've ever seen. It's one thing when those in charge decide to deliberately change elements because they think they can do better than the source material (newsflash: they can't), but to just skip the beginning of the story and then adapt the rest faithfully as it is? That's insane.
The review is right to ask the question of "why?", as I'd like to know as well. I also thought it might be that they want to finish with volume 4, which I guess would make a slightly better season finale than volume 3, but... it'd still be nowhere near as bad as skipping the first volume. It's especially tragic because I think it's one of the best volumes, along with 2 and 6, and it sets up both the characters and the world. It's of course impossible for anime onlies to care about characters that they've seen for seconds. I'll try to answer the other questions the review understandably asks. The "Your Forma" is the brain thread that allows people to connect to the network and do all the stuff we expect in a cyberpunk setting, including displaying annoying ads on buildings unless you pay a premium. It also records all the memories, which can be accessed by performing a Brain Dive. The "Luddites" are all the people who refused to install the Your Forma in their brains. The mean things, the pendant, Echika's sister, her distaste of Amicus, her relationship with Harold, all of that is part of the first volume and is essential to the story that follows it, so I don't know how viewers can enjoy the anime without knowing it. I won't go into detail because it's a whole book worth of stuff. The previous arc, however, is not about the murders of St. Petersburg, though I'm not blaming the reviewer for thinking so given the mess. Those murders are part of Harold's backstory which is partly revealed in volume 1 but it'll be touched on again in the anime as well. The volume 1 arc follows the sensory crime, which gets only mentioned in the anime. It's mostly about Echika and explains everything about her story and her character, which, again, it's obviously incredibly important to understand why she talks and acts like she does. Speaking of which, when they call her "genius" they mean her data processing speed when brain diving, which is so high that she fries any human belayer (the person who helps the diver and pulls them out when they're done) and so she can only work with Harold; as a detective she's not that good, hence the mistakes. Volume 1 ends with the "Amicus attacking a human" event that starts this arc, another thing we don't get to see here. About the prequel I see mentioned above: while it does recycle some dialogue and plot points, it's not actually from the first volume but rather it's a random original side story set between that and the second volume. It doesn't help. I guess I ranted enough. It's just so sad. One single dumb choice destroyed all the potential of the anime, with novel readers frustrated and new viewers confused and unable to enjoy it. |
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n1nn1nn1n
Posts: 13 |
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This adaptation bums me out because the premise and the promo opening and ending videos caught my eye. I was sad to hear the streaming was going to be limited too. However, the adaptation choices just make it sound like you're better off just reading the light novels, at least to start.
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Dnautics
Posts: 104 |
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It's fine, i'm still going to watch it - just a odd way to start a show. Not like we haven't seen this type of thing before. I don't need everything spelled out for me to enjoy the show.
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Gina Szanboti
 Posts: 11798 |
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When Echika is on the rotary phone, she's told it's ok, the line is encrypted. How does the call get decrypted on her end?
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Aerodynamic41
Posts: 247 |
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Seriously, I will never understand the decision to skip Volume 1. The chemistry between Echika and Harold is a core part of this series, and the anime fumbled it by not showing how their relationship was established.
See, that's the problem: The callbacks to Volume 1 are still there so if you didn't read the first novel, you will have no idea what the characters are talking about. When they showed spoiler[Matoi] during the Brain Dive sequence in Episode 2, I was scratching my head over how to explain that part to anime onlies. Last edited by Aerodynamic41 on Sun Apr 20, 2025 12:13 am; edited 1 time in total |
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MFrontier
Posts: 15746 |
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I think this is a textbook example of what not to do with an adaption, even as much as I like the characters and the setting in-spite of the adaption/story issues.
Even Kana Hanazawa was confused as to why they were skipping a volume. If your female lead is questioning your narrative decisions, you're in trouble.
I feel like they're relying on the natural chemistry Kana Hanazawa and Kensho Ono have as a married couple to help sell the relationship and story where the script is lacking and from the lack of any of the actual story set up for it. I think it does work to a degree, but not completely. |
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TJ_Kat
Posts: 489 Location: Saskatoon, Canada |
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It feels like the producers of this show are trying too hard to make it Ghost in the Shell. Ghost in the Shell tends to drop the viewer straight into the action in episode 1 with no explanation, then build the characters and story afterwards, and it seems like that's what they were trying to do here. And failed pretty miserably.
Finding out that they skipped the entire first LN actually makes sense of the fact that so much of the story doesn't make sense, if that makes sense... |
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Glordit
Posts: 771 |
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Remow has now put a time limit of 1-week on episode 4 onwards.
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TJ_Kat
Posts: 489 Location: Saskatoon, Canada |
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I had a slightly different take on this. The Laws of Respect don't exist not because standard Amicus are too stupid to question them, but rather since they only pretend to think they can only actually do what they're programmed to do. If they're not programmed to violate the Laws of Respect they won't, so there's no reason to install such laws in them. And in Harold's case, they couldn't be installed because that's not how his brain works. He has been TAUGHT the Laws of Respect, but since he can actually think for himself, he could choose not to follow them. |
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MFrontier
Posts: 15746 |
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It's funny to think that Lexie and Furman were that college couple who had kids but Lexie was the kind of mom who had big dreams/ideals for her "children" even if it went against the norms of society, she'd do anything for them in a very mad scientist mom way, while Furman was the "dad" who was too caught up in his ideals and fear of the future to accept his children or how much they resembled him. And no love lost between either of them considering they had no hesitation to shoot each other.
Harold is so important to Echika that she'd commit a cover-up just to protect him. Ironically after a wedge was driven between them over Harold lying to her and now their partnership is being built upon Echika lying for Harold's sake. The sentient Amicus who doesn't even know he's sentient. And because he's the last survivor of his brothers, the only one. Did Echika really accomplish anything in this arc? I mean, I guess she stopped a download but Lexie was the one who subdued Furman and basically gave herself up afterwards so Echika had somebody she could arrest. Honestly be interesting to compare her to the other HanaKana detective Reiko Hosho to see who fares better. Reiko may be routinely called an idiot but she's shown a better track record for catching suspects. That whole "equal partners" scene was dripping with romantic subtext that is as impossible to ignore as that flashback with Lexie and Furman. Even felt like a proposal. The fact that their VA's are married probably helps. |
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