NineSwords

Yuuki is the worst addition to the story that I had to drop the light novel at some point. I just couldn’t take this guy any longer. The only real question for me is which character kills a franchise more. Yuuki or Fuga from Realist Hero.

It’s one of those 3:

• Heidi, Girl of the Alps
• Maya the Bee
• Captain Future

I don’t remember which one of those was actually the first (most likely Heidi or Maya, just going by the kid-friendliness), but all three are in my earliest core childhood memories.

I’m not overly concerned if the anime simply diverges from the LN a bit, but it at least needs to make sense by itself.

The problem is that you need intimate knowledge and deep understanding of the source material to make an adaptation into a different media. Whoever was in charge for this adaptation had neither. I would be surprised if they did more than quickly skimming the pages at best. They skimmed the scene in the replenishment hall and the word feystone might have stood out so they put it in, without understanding why the feystone would have been used there.

The story is a bit one-sided but should be entertaining enough for a anime season.

I hope that with the servant now in her court, this will change up the formula from “non-stop-malice towards MC/MC just happily tanking everything” to something else.

I can add to that. The composer, Christian Bruhn, has become the head of the organisation that fucks you over if you dare to use a snippet of music from one of their members. I had to deal with them over the years a couple of times. I’ve grown up with German Captain Future. The title score is still a core memory of mine. I’m not sure if it was the first anime I’ve ever seen, but it’s in the first 3. And then the composer heads a litigious shithole of a government organisation. Speak about going from hero to villain.

It adds an ironic aspect that was not at all present in this episode, and I think the book’s style was simply superior.

What’s angering me there is how this change makes the whole scene more sinister. In the source this was an important moment of calm that broke up all the looming dread and malice around Rozemyne. In the anime we see them being abducted and separated from the others which negates the intended “here, let’s have a relaxing and magical moment for MC mental wellbeing”. It’s just another instance of fucking WIT studio not understanding the source material.

I might post a bit more on the last episode’s thread, just in case they move some bits around in the anime and show them later, but the anime seems so far sanitized to move the needle further to the comfy/wholesome side.

Apparently a tiny bit of the darker parts of the story are sneaking into the adaptation.

Lovely Elisabeth doing what Eli does best.

Yeah, let’s have a nice little relaxed chat and do nothing while one girl is fighting for the life of the sacrifice. They could just as well grab the sacrifice while the enemies are distracted by their frontliner, but that wouldn’t give MC the chance to be the hero that saves the day, so naturally we can’t have that now, can we? God, I hate those types of trash isekai so much, I have no idea why I can’t stop hate watching them.

Let’s add it to the list…

The LN is good. I’m happy that it gets an adaptation.

Clannad. Easy.

Image

In episode 3, Being-X is talking to her in the form of this Nutcracker sitting on the nightstand in a house they are occupying. Ever since then, Being-X has been showing up as this Nutcracker. The more interesting question is, whether or not this is the very same Nutcracker from back then since Viktoriya specifically mentioned that it’s from a house they used to occupy. That line makes me think that Being-X is fucking around with probabilities again to “keep in touch”. (Or it’s an anime original Easter egg. If the LN wasn’t so god-awful we can never know.)

Image

Honestly, that sucks. I’m just a filthy casual Beat 'em Up player, but even I know that there is a huge community around the genre that SF is just a tiny fraction of. And that’s not even counting the entire old-school arcade games. I’m not sure if the series can keep my interest if it’s just an uninterrupted SF6 ad.

If they don’t feature the Daigo Parry somehow in this show, I’m going to be pissed. I also wonder if this is just an SF ad or if they show off some other beat 'em ups as well.

Let’s be fair here: it was a brief conversation and a unfinished handkerchief! If that’s not enough to get someone’s sworn fealty, then I don’t know what does. Panties maybe.

I like that they’re trying to use dialogue / inner monologue to characterize Victoria, but it feels hamfisted sometimes.

They are reducing her thoughts quite a bit here. This is to be expected for an anime adaptation, but I feel like they reduce it more than usual here. On one hand, I am pleased that there aren’t extensive scenes of just inner monologue exposition. On the other hand, they cut now so much that a lot of her character and motivations are lost, and I agree that it feels hamfisted. As @Polkira@piefed.ca mentioned, she feels now “too perfect” without getting the exposition in her inner thoughts about why she is so perfect. Her character in the anime also feels less unfortunate. Maybe they will go into more detail in the next episodes so I’m not saying more in case of spoilers, but at this point in the LN it’s already clear to the reader that not everything is mirth and carefree wonder.

I’m okay with demon lords and magical girls, but some hikkikomori just getting a teaching job is where they lost me.

Was this an anime original? I don’t remember Diablo picking them up in the demon realm, just that he showed up with them at some point. Or was that maybe form bonus story? Then again, It’s been years since that part in the LN so I might have just forgotten.

Look at it this way: Why start with something divisive like this adaptation instead of something universally beloved like the 1995 movie? I also highly doubt that anyone not familiar with the setting would be able to follow what’s happening (at least in this first episode).

Most people outside this fandom don’t even know that it is based on a manga, yet even people who don’t usually watch anime know the movie. It’s iconic and, alongside Bladerunner, defined the look and tone of countless other works in the general “cyberpunk” genre.

The aerial combat scenes are sick.

There is one cut that was especially great, where they are fighting inside the clouds and Tanya’s computational orb and the fighter’s tracer rounds are lighting up the clouds around her from the insight.

Image

The hollywood “adaptation” shits all over GitS

I hate that one as well.

It’s not for you. But its hardly offensive to the franchise.

That depends on what you define as “the franchise”. If you define it as “the manga”, this might well be true. But if you see the franchise as “the old anime movie and series”, then it’s a different discussion. The themes in GitS exist in a lot of works that aren’t GitS. What defines the franchise is not its themes alone but a combination of all the aspects it’s made of. The underlying themes are just one of those. And I would argue that the tone and art style are a lot more defining in this particular series than some esoteric plot points. The art style and tone of the 1995 GitS movie, as well as Bladerunner, have been a defining feature of the entire cyberpunk genre. So, from my point of view, this is definitely offensive to the franchise. It’s like turning John Wick into a pastel colored show about a petting zoo and saying that it’s still the same because the theme of him liking dogs is still intact.

Also, just to reiterate, even if it weren’t GitS I wouldn’t like it. It’s not “uhh, it doesn’t look like the movie, so I don’t like it”. It’s “I don’t like it because everything about it is shit AND on top of that, it doesn’t even share the aesthetics of the movie”. I honestly can’t understand how someone could like this first episode. Exposition, plot, pacing, narration, animation, score, cinematography, editing. It was all over the place. It’s just not a good episode. And it’s an even worse GitS episode.

I love those behind the scenes shots.

Here is the finished ending sequence for comparison

The only thing about it that I consider positive was the opening song. I dislike everything else, from character designs, art style, pacing, cinematography, color palette, character expressions, plot structure, exposition, score, to animation, and whatever else there is.

And before someone uhmakschually me, I am aware that this is based on the manga, but the anime movie is a lot more iconic than the manga, and to me GitS is the 1995 movie. This version here, I hate, and no “Uhm, but the manga…” does change that.

What do you expect? The Woobie was told to stay in the carriage, so she stays in the carriage. Otherwise, how else could Prince Perfect rescue the oblivious saint of convenient plot devices?