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ANNCast - Critical Mass II: The Seasoning

I'd like to point out that the first season of Horizon adapted 1 novel (split into two parts, but its considered "volume 1".

Generally, when you read a novel, you are expected to sit down and [expletive] read it. And not get mad its not explained everything in the first 50 pages.

The first half of the first volume of Horizon was episodes 1~6 of the first anime, and if you watch those episodes, and pay the fudge attention you will, by the end of them, have a decent idea of who the main characters are and what the crisis they will be dealing with is.

And if you go on to watch the last 7 episodes, which cover the second half of the first volume, you will know what the overarching theme and goal of the series is.

Now, if thats too difficult for some people, well, thats not my problem, and its not the show's problem either.

Literally, in episode eight, during a debate with the protagonist, one of the other main characters states plainly the core theme that runs throughout the novels.

Does that make it a "sub par adaption"? Maybe. I don't particularly care, because taken as a single work, its fantastic.

I hope that when the US BD comes out, whoever is assigned to review it gives it the attention it deserves.

And in that bold quote lies the problem: I didn't find that it deserved the effort.

Don't get me wrong: I didn't find Horizon to be awful, either. Just a mediocre-quality show whose creators seemed more interested in jamming as many cool things as they possibly could into a series than in telling a coherent, smoothly-flowing story.

"Why Shouldn’t It Be on the Middle of Nowhere?", you ask? Well, because it makes no effing sense to throw things in that don't belong together.

You wouldn't throw everything in your fridge and cupboard into a blender because you'd end up with sludge. Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere is the Anime equivalent of that sludge.

Except it does make sense, in the context of the world Horizon takes place in. Like Zyl mentions, everyone in the show already knows the context, everything that happens makes sense to them, because its normal. Sure, to us its bizarre, but so what? Its their world, we're just observing it.

It would be like saying that Orcs and Elves make no sense in Lord of the Rings, despite the fact that Tolkien created the lore to justify and explain their existence, even if only the most directly relevant bits of information made it into the story proper, the rest relegated to reference notes and other material where it was more appropriate.

Everything was thrown in to appeal to as many fans as possible, not as part of meaningful world-building.

It's not the world of the characters, it is the made-up world from an author and publisher who want to make as much money as possible, and logic be damned.

>Comparing this shitty show to Lord of The Rings.

See above question. I can provide more backup to my position, and just watching the show (and having a decent backing in 17th century european and Japanese history) will demonstrate that this is patently untrue.

Yes, because in 17th century Europe and Japan there were flying cities filled with morons waltzing around in their birthday suits and getting away with it, incubi, high-school girls with their chests bursting out of their school uniforms, Indians who threw curry as an attack move, robots, and so on and so forth.

Don't give me such obvious BS. There's absolutely no reason for all the different character archetypes to be mashed into one show except to bring in as many fans as possible.

Look at this picture and tell me that those characters are there not for the audience but because there is a perfectly logical and sensible reason why they would be assembled together at the same time in the same place in the same universe.

And then tell me what that reason supposedly is. Because what I see is a terrible mis-mash of character tropes including angels, an incubus, a beast-style robot, a racist depiction of an Indian man holding up a plate of curry, a gynoid, an orange blob, and an eight-foot-tall bodybuilder in a crusader helmet. I would love to hear how all of those characters being together is not a by-product of the author's greed but instead all part of a coherent and reasonable story that has nothing to with pandering whatsoever.

The difference between LotR and Horizon? Orcs, dwarves, humans and elves are all logical beings in a Fantasy work and it is further logical to see them inhabit the same world. Heck, Tolkien literally wrote the book on that. Whereas an incubus has no business being in the same work as a robot, and an angel has no business sharing screentime with a racist Indian caricature.

Do not presume me to be close-minded just because I will not tolerate Horizon's BS writing.

Or maybe it's because Horizon literally RUNS on Rule of Cool. Everything about it is cool. Horizon basically crams every single anime cliche into a blender and somehow became one of the most awesome shows in the recent years...and I'm only 6 episodes into the 1st season.