Forum - View topicBottom-tier Character Tomozaki (TV).
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Stark700
 Posts: 11762 Location: Earth |
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Season 01: Bottom-tier Character Tomozaki (TV) Season 02: Bottom-tier Character Tomozaki 2nd Stage (TV 2) Source: Light Novel (onging @ 11 volumes, written by Yūki Yaku, illustrated by Fly) Demographic: Shounen Animation Studio: Project No. 9 Genres: comedy, romance Themes: school Plot Summary: Tomozaki is one of the best gamers in Japan, and in his opinion, the game of real life is one of the worst. No clear-cut rules for success, horribly balanced, and nothing makes sense. But then he meets a gamer who's just as good as him, and she offers to teach him a few exploits. Air Date & Platform: Season 01: January 8, 2021 (Friday) Available on: Crunchyroll Season 02: January 4, 2024 (Wednesday) Available on: Crunchyroll Episode Count / Runtime: Season 01: 12 episodes + 2 OAV Season 02: 13 episodes Total: 27 episodes |
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Stark700
Posts: 11762 Location: Earth |
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Episode 1
Heh they even parodied the victory screens from Super Smash Ultimate. Classy. I got the impression of a romance-drama especially from Tomozaki's interactions. Not sure why but I'm also getting some slight vibes of Hachiman's personality coming from Tomozaki especially from his narrative dialogues. I wonder how far this anime will explore the gaming culture though. Decent first episode, hope it can also take time to develop the cast. |
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DuskyPredator
 Posts: 15576 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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Okay, that left me with a number of conflicting thoughts. First were my worries on the toxic characteristics of Tomozaki, his idea of viewing the world through the lenses of a gamer and being misanthropic in ways that feel all too much like incel stuff. It is then good that the show acknowledges that these are gross attitudes to have, and one can take an active part to alter their attitude a bit. Also that maybe this girl should not have to do this for him.
The next conflicting thought is along the lines that I don't think things are always that easy, and maybe I have to consider some own self reflection. This coming from someone who has been a guy who had horrible track record talking to people as a big introvert and stuff, that I have described myself as really similar to Tomoko Kuroki. My point being that I can suffer big from social anxiety, where overcoming human interaction for me is not the same as it would be for everyone else, including a number of other things. A good attitude probably helps, but you can't just make things easier for an introverted person with social anxiety like you can with a more extroverted person. And I would say that I have had other things that would not have helped just by matching what all the other "boys" did, and there is just that assumption that he needs a girlfriend, I guess to be happy, like they would be some prop. I can just say, sometimes when people are not happy with who they are or look or feel, there can be certain underlying reasons, and you might be looking at otherwise building some confidence. Anyway, it looked good. I would consider myself a pretty okay social player of Smash Bros, I don't really follow a lot of the technical aspects of the play, but I would consider myself among the higher levels of my geek friends. I do think that it could crash and burn into some terrible things, such as part of the harem genre, but I also remember the anime that was literally called Gamers, that was something I surprisingly liked. |
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Animegomaniac
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So was I the only one pointing at the screen when we saw Tomozaki in his classroom with a very sudden out of nowhere girl with white hair sitting slightly behind him? A girl who shows up for that brief two seconds and then nowhere else... save for the end/opening credits? I can't tell right if it's a "problem" or a problem but her seat there I think is a bit of a red flag for this whole premise of "confirmed loner".
Another problem is that I like Aoi more as her regular irritable self and not when she was simping on that guy's arm like a regular airhead. "Not everyone has to be the same, not everyone has to fit in". It's sort of an anime "My Fair Lady" which is a mess of problems on its own and removing the wager only meddles the notion of what's in it for Aoi. This could be good if it stays away from "wacky friends make your life better!" and hews more closely to "It's not quantity, it's quality that matters" That is, I think Aoi's hypothesis needs more work, less "one size fits all" |
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DuskyPredator
Posts: 15576 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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Episode 12 (finale)
Finishing all these shows one after another can be tough. I would say the show was finishing on some good points. A problem that has been kind of evident from the beginning is that a lot of this advice that Tomozaki gets can approach pick-up artist stuff, where it is about faking a personality, and at worst manipulation. I appreciate that at the end Tomozaki decided against giving in entirely to a fake persona, with wanting some of what is genuine him, while keeping some of the skills. The skills I would say would be the kind that boosting his confidence, and at least my understanding is that confidence is a good thing, along with being receptive to the needs of others. The most questionable elements were the parts like treating human interaction like a game, the type of him putting the effort in and he might have been owed a relationship with the girl he was told he could make as a girlfriend. I wonder if there was some part of the Minami arc, where she was getting frustrated over the idea of always trying to put the effort in and never getting the prize, that things like effort should no always be just to earn your prize. Minami was probably the most interesting character, and also totally came across with bi vibes, although I don't otherwise know how to take her sexual harassment of other girls. Was it supposed to be like a joke, like how crazy it would be if she bit her friends ear, questioning if move beds together in Minecraft or something? Other points, I don't understand why Tomozaki could not just be open to people that he was doing things like following lessons to be more social or something, it really is not that super strange. Perhaps revealing that it was from a female classmate could be odd, but anyone can follow some lessons at being a more able person in socialisation. Says the big introvert with some pretty bad historical social anxiety, which I would like to think that I have worked on. Anyway, a rating; mine will probably be Good (7/10), I think that it is worth seeing, at least for its on gaining social skills in not seeing the world in the negative way many can, even if I think it was not always the best at thing. I probably would not award the same level to something that tried the same thing unless they did a substantial improvement, like not being as so clumsy over things like the gamer identity. You know, I was watching the last episode and the idea came to me in how the concepts of the skills he was learning could be paired with his whole gamer thing, and the answer seemed kind of obvious because it is actually something I consume. Livestreaming, if he is a top player of a game, and there is a new type of a career that can incorporate some reasonable game skills along with utilising some sort of social skills of coming across as engaging and could be some success. It sounds like an interesting idea for a series base beyond sort of manipulating your way into teenage social circles. |
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bonbonsrus
 Posts: 1537 Location: Michigan, USA |
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This was a pretty enjoyable show, I actually looked forward to it every week. It really didn't get talked about much, which it could have based on the content probably had some good discussions. C'est la vie.
I was sad to see this end the way it did. It felt too soon for Tomozaki to try to turn this around as confidently as he did on Hinami and challenge her to change while he is still in the process of evolving himself. I'll be looking forward to the OVA's to see if that gives me some clarification on how things wrap up since I am left with too many questions currently and I want to know what happens to these characters! I care about them! This show made me care about the main characters and some the secondary characters, both the girls and guys. I'm not usually driven to manga for answers, I'd be happy reading a synopsis usually to wrap things up, but this show does make me want to know what sort of relationships come about. Does Hinami ever get real with anyone? We never get a window into her thoughts and it's hard to read what she's really after, what motivates me, what's hurt her, I want to know. Does Tomozaki hold on to his guy friends? Get a girlfriend? Is it Aoi? Kikuchi? This story on it's own still sucked me in, I'd give it a good rating. |
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Edjwald
 Posts: 1589 |
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Edited to clear up an ambiguous pronoun
So I watched season 1 of this show - not every week, but I watched every episode eventually. I never thought it was a top tier, A-rank, USAD guaranteed life changer of a show or anything, but I thought it was watchable and an enjoyable enough way to unwind with a cup of coffee. And I still think so. In fact, I thought the first episode was a little stronger than most of the episodes from last year, so kudos. I thought they capitalized on the "treating life as a game" concept in a way that was a bit more...concrete? Relevant? Anyway, I liked the RPG approach Tomozaki took and recognized some of the strategies he applied; it was the kind of thing I would have liked to have seen more of in season 1. I also enjoyed seeing and catching up to some of the supporting cast, a few of whom I genuinely like. I like that this isn't one of those unhinged anime high schools where all of the normies are sociopaths and bullies and snobs, though that side can surface when specific conditions are met and the herd/mob instincts kick in And I like that the show doesn't just pretend the progress made in season 1 never happened and reset for dramatic purposes. I doubt this show will ever be one of the faves I rave about, but I like it on about the same level that I like shows like Horimaya or Do it Yourself Club. |
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smurky turkey
Posts: 2674 |
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Yeah, it is a solid show. It treats fitting/functioning in a group and the dynamics that go along with it in a pretty realistic and sometimes uncomfortable fashion. The mc is now able (with help) to influence the goings on in his class and understand why things function as they are by asking around and understanding people. This is thankfully not a show were just yelling about being good fixes all the problems in a magical fashion. Tomo has indeed come a long way, though he still has some ways to go for the set goals.
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smurky turkey
Posts: 2674 |
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So, maybe this is me being a primitive, but the bullying that happens in the second episode can be solved pretty easily. Sure, you can try to stay strong and just weather it out or try a tactic to stop it (maybe it is teacher time), even easier is a few people that are friends of the bullied person (Tama in this case) getting in Kono's face. If that does not work, than the good old backhand is an option outside of school time. I am sure that some readers here will gasp at the mere notion of getting physical, but sometimes the easiest way to deal with a bully is to make them hurt a bit.
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Edjwald
Posts: 1589 |
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Welp, Kono is clearly a coward who takes the path of least risk to bitchiness, so yah, it seems like it would be easy for somebody like Aoi to start kicking her desk and knocking her stuff over and getting in her face and seeing how she likes it. And it would probably work short term.
On the other hand, Kono might just get slicker and more secretive the next time she chooses a victim. Or Kono might be unstable, and if the only thing holding Kono back is that she wants to be admired, it's hard to say how she'd self-destruct or what she'd t take with her if she was humiliated and felt like she had nothing to lose. Or Kono might just be a drama bomb and emotional bully, and they have a real genius for flopping over and acting hurt and victimized when someone gets angry or calls them on their BS. It comes from being shameless and a real sense of genuinely feeling like victims with a grievance even when their own actions clearly caused the situation they're in. And there are always dumbasses willing to fall for it, maybe because they're kind hearted but easily manipulated, or because they love drama, or they have their own resentments, etc. Once favorites and emotions and sides get involved, things like right and wrong and reason can go out the window fast. If bullying was that easy to solve, it wouldn't still be around. The second season of March Comes in Like a Lion had a frustrating but pretty realistic take on this kind of situation. Anyway, it's kind of in the spirit of this show that they're trying to game the best solution where nobody loses. I guess for the achievement bonus or whatever. |
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smurky turkey
Posts: 2674 |
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Well, there are indeed several options.
One is to get in her face, Tama has the friends necessary to do so and bullies are usually cowards, so that might work out. As for Kono self-destructing after that, it would mean doing away with her social position completely and doing something extreme will get her expelled and become an outcast, one would hope that she has enough sense to realize that. As for going for the perfect solution where nobody loses....I doubt that there is one to be honest. As for my backhand comment. I used to deal with bullies in the past being all sneaky and subtle. They did the same thing to several other people in class, so the result was me and those guys together getting a little handsy after school. Once bullies get some pain they tend to back away with the speed of sound. |
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Edjwald
Posts: 1589 |
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I recently heard a youtuber - I honestly didn't check the name at the bottom of the tag, but he was ranking Fall anime - say something to the effect that Frieren was the best boring anime out there. And I got where he was coming from, because Frieren is very leisurely paced and slice of lifey but also insanely well crafted to pull you in anyhow.
And the reason I bring that up is that I think this is a pretty okay boring anime. Definitely not great in my books, or even very good, but I don't get impatient sitting through it, and by the end, the scale tips on the side of entertained. As usual, there was hardly any action this episode, only interaction, but the balance of different personalities kept things running along smoothly. Aoi's cute. Tama's cute. Even the class dork is kind of cute (can't remember his name) and Tomozaki is well intentioned. That said, I confess, I was a little surprised to discover that Smurky used to habitually take mean girls out in the back of the school and smack the crap out of them  but watching all the talking and talking around how to deal with Kono made me sympathize with the impulse.
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smurky turkey
Posts: 2674 |
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The thing is, having a good interaction heavy anime is tricky. In order to get and keep people hooked you need likeable characters, at least decently flowing conversations and for the relationships between the characters to be somewhat believable and interesting. Bottom-tier is not an amazing show, but it does manage to deliver pretty well on those points, the result is something that does not bore despite it being 90% talking and feeling invested in the story/characters.
It is also a show that shows some decent insight in how complex the mood/relationship situation in a class can be. Also, no, no smacking mean girls, but I did smack a mean guy or two. No regrets either. As for the bullying, I have respect for them trying to find a perfect solution, I doubt that there is one though. |
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Edjwald
Posts: 1589 |
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All right, I'm officially ready for this Erika BS to be over now (as soon as I find the rubber stamp and form). Hopefully things will blow up in an epic fashion next week and we'll have some closure instead of introducing another 3 episode complication.
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smurky turkey
Posts: 2674 |
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Yeah, it is feeling really drawn out and annoying now. I get that they want to end the conflict in a way so that everyone can be happy, but they make the whole thing extremely over complicated with all kinds of plans and tactics. I want it to be over already.
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