Comment on [News] Takopi's Original Sin becomes first anime to have each episode rated over 9 on IMDb
Rottcodd@ani.social 1 week ago
Having just watched it, I find myself wondering why.
It was okay. It tackled some difficult subject matter in an interesting way, and it has a very distinctive and effective artstyle, but all in all, it ended up oddly unsatisfying.
spoiler
Glibly, it seemed that the central message was that Shizuka and Marina were both doomed to end up suffering and/or dead unless and until they bonded over the fact that they both had shitty parents. And that Takopi was an annoying idiot. Or more sincerely, that talking to each other was the key - that life just has ugliness in it, but if we talk and listen, we can maybe cope.
That’s fine as far as it goes, but I’m not sure how that rates 9+, much less how each episode does, especially since each episode ended up going somewhere that ultimately didn’t matter. Is it just that they tended toward shocking twist endings? If that’s the case, a whole lot more people need to watch Vivy: Fluorite Eye’s Song, which did shocking twist episode endings much better.
It was odd enough that it made me think, and is still making me think, and I guess that’s something, but I could say the same, just off the top of my head, for Madoka Magica or Kaiba or Wonder Egg Priority or Mushishi.
I dunno. I certainly didn’t dislike it - it’s among the more interesting and unusual anime I’ve seen. I just don’t get how each episode is 9+.
mo_lave@reddthat.com 1 week ago
My rating of Vivy is 9, and thought Takopi is much, much better overall. I may agree with you that in terms of twist endings, Vivy (and also 86) could be better. As to why? Perhaps it’s better explained there. Certainly, in terms of the plot twist, Death Note and Steins;Gate did it better than both of them.
As to why I would rate it a 10 (not just that, but the best anime, period), I took into account the totality of the work. Long story short, once all factors are considered, the conclusion is that Takopi’s just built better.
Format: It didn’t force itself to last a whole season. The staff deliberately chose to adapt a whole story in six episodes. Remember how we wish Death Note ended sooner?
Consistency in storytelling quality
Consistency in art style and quality. Even more impressive is the studio choosing to stick to 2D. Their 3DCG in Spice and Wolf (2024) is ass. They made the right decision to keep that to a minimum. I may be biased on hand-drawn animation styles since upon retrospect, I tend to rate those works highly (Frieren, Shinkai’s works, the WMT series, etc.).
Amazing episode direction, all of them
Amazing music direction. Very few times do discordant music (the mood of the scene does not match the music) work. They did it. Very well.
Comparing the manga and anime ratings, I don’t recall another animation that stayed faithful to the source material AND elevating the experience at the same time.
Takopi made me feel emotions that I’ll remember long after I watched it. Vivy didn’t evoke the same. Perhaps a lot of those who rated Takopi that highly thought likewise