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This Week in Anime - Isekai Fans Are Eating Good This Season




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andramus



Joined: 19 Apr 2020
Posts: 185
PostPosted: Tue Jul 16, 2024 11:33 am Reply with quote
One thing that I keep getting tripped up on each season with these articles is that they are only talking about the series seemingly based on the first episode.

In many cases I've already seen the second or even the third episode by the time these articles are published. In some instances this can lead to a jarring disconnect between what the article says about the shows and what I know having seen more than the first episode.

Sometimes the next few episodes are more of the same and don't change my overall impression of a series. Other times an extra episode or two adds more context to the setting and the characters and can make me like a show more or in some cases like it less.

I came fairly late to one of the more highly regarded isekai series - Re:Zero. I was fairly new to isekai in general and had begun working my way through a number of titles. I binged all of season one in a couple of days sometime in 2017 I think. Probably a year after it originally aired. I went back and read reviews of the series as well as checking out the opinions of the first episode in the preview guide. It wasn't especially well received although I suppose a score of 3 out of 5 isn't terrible.

I don't know how many of the reviewers in the preview guide turned around on the series as it went along if any did. I do know of some people who didn't like the series much to begin with but stuck with it and ended up liking it.

All this is to say that I'm of the opinion first episodes of a show don't always give the best impression of how that show will progress or improve over time. As such I'm generally unwilling to judge how a series will turn out based on one episode. Last year I watched the One Piece anime - mainly due to the Netflix live action series spurring my interest - and it took until about episode 300 before I became truly invested in the story and characters.
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Dr. Wily



Joined: 09 Nov 2007
Posts: 354
PostPosted: Tue Jul 16, 2024 3:11 pm Reply with quote
QA In Another World is the first show I've seen in a long time to actually use the "it's a video game" setting in an effective way. It makes me think way back to watching SAO in the first few episodes and thinking "man this rules" before (imo, of course) it all went off the rails.

andramus wrote:

All this is to say that I'm of the opinion first episodes of a show don't always give the best impression of how that show will progress or improve over time. As such I'm generally unwilling to judge how a series will turn out based on one episode. Last year I watched the One Piece anime - mainly due to the Netflix live action series spurring my interest - and it took until about episode 300 before I became truly invested in the story and characters.


I think you're right that a lot of shows don't have their best episodes first, but I don't think it's unfair to go ahead and write a column like this. I mean, they're critics, and "these shows have pretty bad starts" is a fair critique. Also... damn, dude, 300 episodes? I usually give a show like 5 tops to hook me. I cannot see watching anything ever for 300 episodes and only being like "meh".
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NeverConvex
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Joined: 08 Jun 2013
Posts: 2448
PostPosted: Tue Jul 16, 2024 6:53 pm Reply with quote
Man, every time folks dump on it, all I can think is that I still really want Failure Frame to do something interesting. I remember being similarly drawn in by especially the first half (or few minutes? It's been a while!) of Arifutera's premiere, thinking, "Oh, crap! Potato-kun will have to struggle and grow!", as if I were re-experiencing the opening scenes of Re;Zero or something... before being rapidly disillusioned by the rest of that episode, and thoroughly disappointed and bored a few episodes later. So, I guess I have a type. I can fix them, as the saying goes.

Still leery of Debugging in Another Virtual World, but I have to admit it's got a lot going for it. And I wish people wouldn't keep loving the Suicide Squad isekai so much, as it's making it hard to maintain my stoic unwillingness to mix comics with anime. Sad


Last edited by NeverConvex on Wed Jul 17, 2024 6:49 am; edited 1 time in total
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Cryten



Joined: 19 Jan 2019
Posts: 1081
PostPosted: Wed Jul 17, 2024 6:30 am Reply with quote
We are actually seeing a few post Isekai, or game world inspired fantasy series (with adventurers guilds) instead of straight Isekai.

Also Arifureta did suck until it got outside of its first dungeon, cause then is discovered its humour and absurdity. And let go of the stupid being abused angle that some Isekai use instead of personality.
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pikabot



Joined: 19 Nov 2014
Posts: 169
PostPosted: Wed Jul 17, 2024 10:28 am Reply with quote
Quote:
All this is to say that I'm of the opinion first episodes of a show don't always give the best impression of how that show will progress or improve over time.


I mean, that's kind of the purpose of a first episode.
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Alternative Ice



Joined: 07 Jul 2016
Posts: 96
PostPosted: Wed Jul 17, 2024 1:25 pm Reply with quote
While I do think that it's a show's own fault if they lost viewers due to not having the series good points in the first episode, I think TWIA would benefit from waiting one or two more weeks before going over all the isekai, otherwise they don't have anything to say that wasn't already said by reviewers in the preview guide.
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Woozy



Joined: 18 Apr 2023
Posts: 19
PostPosted: Sat Aug 10, 2024 5:30 am Reply with quote
The column is kind of uninteresting since its just a rehash of the preview guide. Most shows I would say takes its time to settle in comfortably (by around epi 3).
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