And oh yeah, it totally is wish-fulfillment. The protagonist (Kirito) describes himself as "nerdy, shy and awkward" despite possessing none of those traits, and his assessment of his abilities is never shown to be skewed.
Basically it exists so that teenage nerds can pretend that they're brave and powerful and badass. It's wish-fulfillment at its finest, and not even entertaining wish-fulfillment at that.
SAO is legit for...three episodes. Mind, it's not great, but it's tolerable.
It's around episode 4 when things really start to suck. Basically an interesting premise and honestly fantastic visuals are wasted because the author has zero grasp on romance, character development, tension, subversion of audience expectations, drama, comedy, or any method of keeping the viewer invested other than its male power fantasy protagonist.
Yes, which myself and Acererak and others have already answered. It's badly written wish fulfillment, which makes the bad writing stand out even more. To over-simplify matters, obviously. Mostly, yeah, and we've said why.
i asked my brother what was so good about it and he said the soundtrack mostly, and also the first season had a good story and there was one particular antagonist who was really nasty in a way that was really hatable and made you want to see them get taken down
i asked what he thought of the criticism that it was wish-fulfillment and he said he didn't think it was
I haven't heard much of it myself, but SAO's soundtrack _is_ written by a notable anime series composer, Yuki Kajiura (who's written for works such as Noir, Madlax, El Cazador de la Bruja, Elemental Gelade, Madoka Magica, Mai-HiME, .hack//SIGN, etc.).
I really like anime (and media in general) like this because like usually when something weird or strange or supernatural is a main plot element, the characters find out about it super early on. That moment of discovery, where the characters' old lives crack apart beneath them and they discover the truth of their universe, and if it's a good show, that we share with them, is usually incredibly short--15 or so minutes--if it happens at all.
shows like this extend that and unspool it over the course of a whole series, creating an underlying mystery. Maybe something'll happen, maybe something won't, but it's more interesting than if they had just told us from day one. If it DOES happen, we won't know what until we get there.
also this
something does happen at the very end of the series. Kind of.
it's kind of weird seeing Dio's Stand's identity as a huge secret when thanks to internet stick figure memes (and later Touhou) that was literally the first thing you ever knew about JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.
it's kind of weird seeing Dio's Stand's identity as a huge secret when thanks to internet stick figure memes (and later Touhou) that was literally the first thing you ever knew about JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.
actually it's kind of funny how much Japanese pop culture is based on a manga where the author couldn't think of names and so named everything after his favorite musicians
it's kind of weird seeing Dio's Stand's identity as a huge secret when thanks to internet stick figure memes (and later Touhou) that was literally the first thing you ever knew about JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.
I decided to delve deeper into moe fluff for some reason and watched Love Live!. It had tons of moe archetypes and some more unseemly parts that bugged me (an episode about one of the main cast being "fat" and having to diet and a recurring sexual harassment played for laughs gag were the main lowlights for me). I also found the CG in the performances a bit odd and sort of off putting, but that is a super minor point.
Despite those misgivings, I was surprised how much I ended up liking most of the characters. I thought the show got better over time and was all in all decent feel good show. I guess I kind of understand its popularity now. Honestly, it reminds me a lot of how many critics of K-On! described that series. I liked K-On! (especially its second season) quite a bit better, but then again I am not really into idol stuff at all, which is probably a big part of Love Live!'s appeal.
Just superficially, I think it's probably more of a thing wingsy would like than I would, only because it does seem to be quite cutesy and while I don't hate cutesiness I just am not particularly drawn to it either. But I haven't actually seen it and if there are characters that I can "hook my heart on" so to speak I might still enjoy it.
Also I think there's a difference between adorable-cute (the d'awww kind) and cutesy-cute (the squee kind). I'm probably way more receptive to the former than the latter.
Also I think I concluded that I wasn't truly into the idol stuff after I felt a lukewarm response to AKB0048 overall and failed to be drawn in by Aikatsu, ad I just really liked iM@S for the great characterization.
Just superficially, I think it's probably more of a thing wingsy would like than I would, only because it does seem to be quite cutesy and while I don't hate cutesiness I just am not particularly drawn to it either. But I haven't actually seen it and if there are characters that I can "hook my heart on" so to speak I might still enjoy it.
No worries, I was not really expecting an in depth response anyway, so it is totally fine.
Love Live! definitely has some cutesy stuff (I am not sure how much is of the "d'awww" variety and how much is of the "squee" variety). I think it also has some characters that are pretty neat and some cool friendship stuff. Of course, if the negative aspects of the show I mentioned in that last post sound really annoying to you, you probably will not like it.
Non Non Biyori is a show I totally would recommend though. It is one of my favorite slice of lifes and has some pretty great moments that I would consider adorable cute and/or heartwarming.
My current excuse for not getting into Love Live is that I'm a committed iM@S fan, and there's a rivalry going on.
I guess by "cutesy cute" or "squee cute" I just meant that sort of sparkles, behaviorial tics, winking, heart signs with the fingers, lots of face faults, various overdone anime tropes (e.g. tsundere) especially used to flanderized degrees.
Meanwhile, "adorable cute" or "d'aww cute" is generally much slower-paced, and more about observantly experiencing the events that occur, in the sense of getting a heartwarming feeling from it.
A given series need not be restricted to one or the other.
Just that I tend to be annoyed at cutesy cuteness but appreciate adorable cuteness.
Mikagura School Suite, a show that’s airing this season (Funimation has it, and Hulu probably does too). It’s about an academy where the clubs duke it out in supernatural battles to earn school prestige. It’s light, fun, silly, nicely animated, and the main character Eruna is the happiest, bounciest, most openly gay anime girl I think I’ve ever met.
While the series occasionally veers into stereotype territory by making her kind of a horndog, she’s a friendly, well-meaning kid at heart, and it’s really refreshing how no one in the school condemns her for her constant flights of romantic fancy. Granted, I’m only 6 episodes into it, so the series could pull an about-face at some point, but so far I’m enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would. So that might be an option, too.
Comments
There's this theory if that gives anyone incentive to watch it.
Despite those misgivings, I was surprised how much I ended up liking most of the characters. I thought the show got better over time and was all in all decent feel good show. I guess I kind of understand its popularity now. Honestly, it reminds me a lot of how many critics of K-On! described that series. I liked K-On! (especially its second season) quite a bit better, but then again I am not really into idol stuff at all, which is probably a big part of Love Live!'s appeal.
Just superficially, I think it's probably more of a thing wingsy would like than I would, only because it does seem to be quite cutesy and while I don't hate cutesiness I just am not particularly drawn to it either. But I haven't actually seen it and if there are characters that I can "hook my heart on" so to speak I might still enjoy it.
on first viewing i remember i sympathized somewhat with Kyon and mostly disliked Haruhi, particularly during parts that came earlier in the chronology
now i'm finding Kyon's philosophy kind of depressing, and finding myself sympathizing with Haruhi more than i like
Love Live! definitely has some cutesy stuff (I am not sure how much is of the "d'awww" variety and how much is of the "squee" variety). I think it also has some characters that are pretty neat and some cool friendship stuff. Of course, if the negative aspects of the show I mentioned in that last post sound really annoying to you, you probably will not like it.
Non Non Biyori is a show I totally would recommend though. It is one of my favorite slice of lifes and has some pretty great moments that I would consider adorable cute and/or heartwarming.
I guess by "cutesy cute" or "squee cute" I just meant that sort of sparkles, behaviorial tics, winking, heart signs with the fingers, lots of face faults, various overdone anime tropes (e.g. tsundere) especially used to flanderized degrees.
Meanwhile, "adorable cute" or "d'aww cute" is generally much slower-paced, and more about observantly experiencing the events that occur, in the sense of getting a heartwarming feeling from it.
A given series need not be restricted to one or the other.
Just that I tend to be annoyed at cutesy cuteness but appreciate adorable cuteness.
Something's gotta make me wanna watch them, specifically.
serious reply:
> occasionally veers into stereotype territory by making her kind of a horndog
this concerns me :(
I said this about Houseki no Kuni and some other stuff and yea I know how you feel cat person brep brep brep brep>
also it appears that periods are broken on this keyboard so that"s cool
oh it"s all punctuation that"s even cooler
!@#
numbers as well
ok< sure> WHATEVER. NOT my computer.
ohh now it's fixed
idk
kinda like that one show mo liked, but not quite