Forum

I'll agree that the late twists did give Island a different spin, but I'd say it went from a show that ok to one that got pretty dumb where motivations didn't match reality.

spoiler[I mean, I get wanting your daughter to be happy, but knowing full-well that you're trying to facilitate what would have been an incestuous relationship with neither part of it knowing is pretty iffy.]

Almost every question I had when I watched the anime had an answer in the visual novel, so it's okey for me

I think the review is more charitable that it should be. The story was confused and convoluted, the characters were as stereotypical as they come and overall was boring. One of the most forgettable shows of 2018 for me and I wouldn't pay a dime to buy this. Heck, I've rewatched Death March and Isekai Smartphone and enjoyed those much more than Island...

^I mean, I’ll always remember it for spoiler[the MC ending up with the main girl’s mom, which is good because he was the main girl’s dad.] Not necessarily memorable in a good way, but memorable nonetheless, personally speaking. I don’t think it’s that hard to find more forgettable shows from summer last year (for example, I can’t recall much about Ongaku Shoujo beyond that it was an idol anime). I also continue to be astounded by how many shows you watch that you find boring and unenjoyable, as well as your memory of those supposedly forgettable shows.

Wasnt this the show that had a heavily implied paedo/lollita sex scene in the first episode? Like a simulated sex act for a 12-13 year old. I remember being completely repulsed by it and cutting the episode right there.

I thought Island had some interesting concepts and I liked it’s early 2000s visual novel feeling. It especially reminded me of shows like Air and Kanon. But the later plot revelations felt like it was out of left field and like they were trying too hard to be shocking with it without any proper foreshadowing. It also seemed like they were combining too many routes from the game but not giving them enough screen time to make their resolutions feel meaningful.

zrnzle500 wrote:

^... I don’t think it’s that hard to find more forgettable shows from summer last year ... I also continue to be astounded by how many shows you watch that you find boring and unenjoyable, as well as your memory of those supposedly forgettable shows.

I suppose you must be confusing me with someone else to make these statements as I rarely say I find shows I watch boring (Island is definitely one). I more frequently either really like or really dislike shows I watch (split about 70/30% respectively) and don't tend to grouse as much as some people. Yes, Island was in the 30% I disliked but I watched to the end because I kept hoping for improvement (it didn't happen).

I commented to save some interested party the disappointment at spending $50 to check it out since Funi discontinued streaming it. It was "forgettable" because I never wanted to see it again (unlike Death March) and didn't think about it for over a year until this article. You can say I'm "cursed" with a memory that tested at the 99.8 percentile by the Johnson O'Connor Foundation for Human Performance Measurement so I'd remember what I saw regardless. Actually, you may know that people tend to remember more detail about things they dislike.

Last year, I did a con panel called "Whatever Happened to Visual Novel Anime" that looked at the rise and fall of this genre, from 2001's Comic Party to 2018's Steins;Gate 0 and Island. I used average disc sales numbers from someanithing.com, applying the old rule of thumb (admittedly less reliable in the streaming era) that a show is profitable at 3,000 copies per volume and a major hit over 10,000. Back in the day, even a mediocre VN adaptation like Otoboku could sometimes break the 10,000 mark.

Island sold an average of 376 copies per volume.

invalidname wrote:

Last year, I did a con panel called "Whatever Happened to Visual Novel Anime" that looked at the rise and fall of this genre, from 2001's Comic Party to 2018's Steins;Gate 0 and Island. I used average disc sales numbers from someanithing.com, applying the old rule of thumb (admittedly less reliable in the streaming era) that a show is profitable at 3,000 copies per volume and a major hit over 10,000. Back in the day, even a mediocre VN adaptation like Otoboku could sometimes break the 10,000 mark.

Island sold an average of 376 copies per volume.

Wow this is quite telling.

Personally, like the tropes of Light Novels are becoming now, the tropes of Visual Novels like Island and Key's works are becoming stale and antiquated

Izanagi009 wrote:

Personally, like the tropes of Light Novels are becoming now, the tropes of Visual Novels like Island and Key's works are becoming stale and antiquated

We've seen a lot of VN companies go out of business over the last few years -- it was real telling when the former heads of several of them were introduced as part of the Muv-Luv team at their livestream event a few months back. One even described the group as the "gal game Avengers", as if they were teaming up to make a last stand for visual novels.

But you're totally right to bring up LNs, because they have stolen a lot of VNs' thunder. Also mobage, which is just eating everybody's lunch. The story parts of most of these mobage, from Fate/Grand Order to Magia Record to BanG Dream! Girls Band Party are straight up using a VN mechanic. And they're free. How do you compete with that?

Hiroki not Takuya wrote:

[...] Yes, Island was in the 30% I disliked but I watched to the end because I kept hoping for improvement (it didn't happen).

I commented to save some interested party the disappointment at spending $50 to check it out since Funi discontinued streaming it. It was "forgettable" because I never wanted to see it again (unlike Death March) and didn't think about it for over a year until this article. You can say I'm "cursed" with a memory that tested at the 99.8 percentile by the Johnson O'Connor Foundation for Human Performance Measurement so I'd remember what I saw regardless. Actually, you may know that people tend to remember more detail about things they dislike.

I think it was pretty apparent what Island was from the beginning. They have put some twists on it in the end, but that didn't fundamentally change it from what it was in the beginning, and I think Theron pretty accurately conveys that here. I think anyone reading the review can get a good sense of what they would be getting into, so I don't think he's being charitable here. At the risk of speaking for him, I'd say a show would have to be actively bad for him to give it below a C, rather than merely mediocre.

invalidname wrote:

[...] Also mobage, which is just eating everybody's lunch. The story parts of most of these mobage, from Fate/Grand Order to Magia Record to BanG Dream! Girls Band Party are straight up using a VN mechanic. And they're free. How do you compete with that?

I guess by making or releasing their works on those platforms themselves. With F/GO, Type Moon has been the most successful at doing so. Jun Maeda's first original game in 13 years is going to be a phone game. Key's previous work to that was also released for iOS and Android. But you probably know this better than I do.

zrnzle500 wrote:

At the risk of speaking for him, I'd say a show would have to be actively bad for him to give it below a C, rather than merely mediocre.

This is correct.

Late comment, but Sara's hair is what got my attention from a Youtube thumbnail and why I then watched the series in the first place lol.

I felt slightly nostalgic watching this series for the most part due to the storytelling structure and Yukari Tamura voicing the main heroine was a big draw for me in watching and finishing it in the first place. More episodes could have benefited this series methinks, but what’s done is done. This series was a slightly odd duck for some of its runtime, but I ultimately didn’t mind watching it as it aired even if this wasn’t one of my favorites of the season.