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Various thoughts on a variety of topics.

Various Thoughts

Various thoughts on a variety of topics.

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  • Tag Archives Novel Adaptation
  • Log Horizon: Entaku Houkai & Hori san to Miyamura kun: Horimiya

    Posted on April 13, 2021 8:26 am by Offkorn Comment

    Log Horizon‘s third season doesn’t waste any time with recaps, so it’d be best if you re-watched the earlier episodes before jumping in. Doing so will also prepare you for it’s somewhat unconventional mix of actionless dialog-heavy arcs and action-focused arcs.

    Back when I first saw the series the only MMO I had played was City of Villains, but now after getting involved with FFXIV I can actually appreciate the extensive mechanic-related references. So experience with the subject matter will definitely influence your enjoyment level… but at the end of the day the choice of whether or not to watch it comes down to how much tolerance you have for extraneous exposition.

    Horimiya meanwhile is an alternate version of an OVA series which fully adapts their shared source material in record time. Which isn’t a complement. This is the kind of story that wants to breath, and here it’s never given the chance.

    Oh the comedy is certainly good and it’s nice to have a cast of characters who actually talk to each other about their problems rather than let misunderstandings fester, but everything develops at such a breakneck pace it strains credulity. It crams over a year of its characters lives and relationship developments into a mere 13 episodes. Just because the show tells you (indirectly) that a month has passed in a second doesn’t make accepting it any easier.

    Continue reading → Post ID 9111

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    This entry was posted in 2021 - Winter Anime Related and tagged Action Comedy Comic Adaptation Dramatic Support Fantasy Finished Funimation Incomplete Source Novel Adaptation Romance School Life Series Televised
  • Null Peta & Space Battleship YAMATO – STAR BLAZERS 2202: Ai no Senshi-tachi

    Posted on February 9, 2021 12:22 am by Offkorn 1 Comment

    A short, 5-min episode series that presents itself as a comedy should probably avoid trying to instill any kind of moral values. Null Peta disagrees. Here is a show that attempts to mine comedy from not only having to put up with a overbearing, naggy older sister… but actively wanting to subsume your life to her desires even if it kills you. Especially if it kills you. It’s infuriating on every level, particularly when it tries for drama/pathos near the end.

    As a follow-up to Yamato 2199, Ai no Senshi-tachi is a pretty much complete disappointment. It has all the negatives of a Yamato work (idiotic character behavior, random plot developments, space mysticism, toxic nationalism/hero worship, etc.) without any of the surprisingly engaging combat encounters 2199 pulled off. All of the battles here seem to both start and end in arbitrary manners with inconsistent power levels and destructive potential. They come across like empty setpieces.

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    This entry was posted in 2017 - Autumn 2017 - Spring 2017 - Winter 2018 - Autumn 2018 - Spring 2018 - Winter 2019 - Autumn 2019 - Winter Anime Related and tagged Action Comedy Crunchyroll Drama Finished Funimation Mixed Media Project Movie Novel Adaptation Partial Adaptation Romance Science Fiction Series Short Anime Televised
  • Joshikousei no Mudazukai & Seishun Buta Yarou wa Bunny Girl Senpai no Yume o Minai

    Posted on September 4, 2020 11:59 pm by Offkorn Comment

    A schoolgirl comedy in the vein of Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou (with a main character transplant from Nichijou), Joshikousei no Mudazukai‘s main problem is that a good chunk of its cast end up more annoying than entertaining when they go to extremes (there effectively being only half of a straight man to bounce the insanity off of contributes to that issue). So it’s basically as hit/miss as a random comedy would be and your mileage will definitely vary.

    The school life comedy Seishun Buta Yarou wa Bunny Girl Senpai no Yume o Minai meanwhile takes its cues from Bakemonogatari and Haruhi, mixing Bake‘s structure with Haruhi‘s sci-fi theme along with character traits from both. What it lacks in action and flashy visuals it makes up for with consistency and an avoidance of potentially offputting extreme behavior. The movie continuation unfortunately doesn’t share those positives, going deep into heavy drama territory as it does, and honestly I suggest skipping it since Shouko remaining a mystery will likely a produce better result than finding out what’s actually going on.

    Oh, and there’s also Ore o Suki Nano wa Omae Dake ka yo (another school life comedy), which sadly doesn’t have anything at all going for it beyond creepy character design and nakedly artificial character behavior.

    Continue reading → Post ID 9111

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    This entry was posted in 2018 - Autumn 2019 - Spring 2019 - Summer Anime Related and tagged Comedy Comic Adaptation Crunchyroll Drama Dramatic Support Finished HiDive Hulu Incomplete Source Movie Novel Adaptation Romance School Life Science Fiction Series Televised
  • Araburu Kisetsu no Otome-domo yo. & HACHI-NANTTE, Sore wa Nai Deshou!

    Posted on September 1, 2020 7:08 am by Offkorn Comment

    As Kuzu no Honkai is a sex-focused romantic drama with comedic elements, Araburu Kisetsu no Otome-domo yo is a sex-focused romantic comedy with dramatic elements. The comedy style here is quite manic, which compliments the various emotional breakdowns surprisingly well. The melodramatic plot developments though… not so much. The club-disbandment, creepy theater troupe leader, and puritanical school officials subplots were all completely unnecessary.

    Hachi-nantte, Sore wa Nai Deshou! could also be considered unnecessary, as it doesn’t really do anything that hasn’t been done before. That said, I think it should get credit for taking the trappings of an overpowered MC harem show and subverting them somewhat. Although the protagonist is strong, he can’t just steamroll his opposition and often finds himself tangled up in political obligations, and though the show is ~technically~ a harem only one of the girls is a love interest (the others are just there for the security the position brings) and there’s only one brief ecchi-related scene (used for comedy).

    I also attempted to watch Kono Oto Tomare! and Hi Score Girl: The club room being occupied by delinquents was too much to deal with in the former, while in the case of the latter Ono’s home situation proved the deal-killer.

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    This entry was posted in 2019 - Summer 2020 - Spring Anime Related and tagged Action Comedy Comic Adaptation Coming of Age Crunchyroll Dramatic Support Fantasy Finished HiDive Incomplete Source Novel Adaptation Romance School Life Series Televised
  • Tejina Senpai & ITAI no wa IYA nano de BOUGYORYOKU ni KYOKUFURI Shitai to OMOIMASU.

    Posted on August 23, 2020 4:19 pm by Offkorn 1 Comment

    The half-length episode series Tejina Senpai starts out as an amusing enough version of Ueno-san, only to run out of steam partway through and lean ever more heavily on lewdness as a crutch. The joke variety is also lacking and the additional two members that eventually get added to the club don’t really help much in that department (unless you’re a fan of inexplicable pseudo-incest).

    Also a comedy, Bofuri takes the virtual fantasy land action-adventure aspects of Sword Art Online and combines them with a somewhat random style of reaction humor focusing on Mary Sue parody. Before the guild gets formed most of the amusement comes from the sharp contrast between Maple’s appearance/personality and fondness for unintentional brutality… and this part of the show works fantastically. Eventually however it leans too far into the ‘overpowered main character’ shtick to the point event developments become tiresome. Remarkably high-quality action scenes throughout though.

    That’s the danger of parody: You run the risk of becoming the very thing you’re trying to laugh at.

    Continue reading → Post ID 9111

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    This entry was posted in 2019 - Summer 2020 - Winter Anime Related and tagged Action Adventure Comedy Comic Adaptation Crunchyroll Ecchi Fantasy Finished Funimation Incomplete Source Novel Adaptation Parody Romance School Life Science Fiction Series Televised Virtual World
  • LEGIⓧN & THE ALIENIST

    Posted on August 21, 2020 11:35 am by Offkorn Comment

    Based off of a Marvel Comics’ character, the 3-season television series Legion is a study in high-concept insanity. It takes guts to make something so deliberately incoherent, to essentially thread together one concept episode after another until you have a consistently inconsistent schizophrenic tapestry… that I can’t deny. Doesn’t mean it’s worth watching though.

    The Alienist is something quite a bit different. A Victorian era thriller with police procedural elements set in New York City, its first season mainly busies itself with highlighting police corruption and reminding people that prostitution is a gender-neutral profession. I’m not at all surprised that it had a middling reception (though I liked the first half or so), especially since the narrative basically falls apart once the focus shifts to ‘the west’.

    The second season, subtitled Angel of Darkness, puts a greater focus on Sara and women’s suffrage in general with the murder victims being babies this time rather than adolescents. The corruption elements here come across as excessive/overwhelming and the work as a whole almost feels less like a thriller and more like soapbox preaching. Meaning I can’t really recommend watching this series either.

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    This entry was posted in Movie & TV Related and tagged Action Comic Adaptation Drama History Marvel Comics Mystery Novel Adaptation Paranormal Romance Romance Series Televised Thriller Urban Fantasy
  • COP CRAFT & Kyokou Suiri: In/Spectre

    Posted on July 28, 2020 1:55 am by Offkorn 1 Comment

    After seeing a comment that made it sound like Red Data Girl, and noticing the rather large disconnect between the early (edgy) and current (goofy) promotional imagery, I decided to finally get around to watching In/Spectre… and I’m undecided on whether it was a mistake or not. While the beginning is enjoyable, the remaining two-thirds to 50% is for the most part pretty boring and/or distractingly implausible. Rather than an engaging mystery/thriller, exciting action series, or amusing romantic comedy it just ends up something like the second coming of Kyoukai no Kanata.

    Cop Craft on the other hand I didn’t have any particularly strong desire to see, but the ‘odd couple’ relationship angle seemed like it might complement the previous series. It did not. Rather, it reminded me rather acutely of why I mostly stopped watching Anime in the first place. While the series has a lot of ideas and messages to impart, some of them even pretty good, it never manages to sell any of them. Stuff is just sort of thrown at the wall and then forgotten an episode or two later.

    What’s interesting is that both of these series (despite their source material having been written 11 and 9 years ago, respectively) seem tailor-made for current events. In the former’s case you have the central theme of using lies and ‘questions’ to obfuscate and/or distract from the truth, while in the latter you have democracy being boiled down to ‘not choosing which one is good, just which one is better’ and corrupt police. So in the end these two series did end up complimenting one another… just not in the way I had expected.

    Continue reading → Post ID 9111

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    This entry was posted in 2019 - Summer 2020 - Winter 2023 - Winter Anime Related and tagged Action Comic Relief Crunchyroll Drama Finished Funimation Incomplete Source LN Adaptation Novel Adaptation Paranormal Romance Series Televised Urban Fantasy Workplace
  • THE WITCHER & THE: MANDALORIAN

    Posted on June 9, 2020 6:31 am by Offkorn Comment

    The Netflix Witcher TV series is strange. I first tried watching it back in March but just lost all interest after the first episode. Tried again now and didn’t get much farther. The production quality is perfectly fine aside from Geralt’s eyes not having a slit pupil (and the swordfighting choreography is fantastic), but there’s just an intangible emptiness of some sort there that makes it difficult to watch.

    The Mandalorian on the other hand has both high production values (for the most part… some sets are curiously empty) and relatively engaging developments. It very much feels like the new movies, but not quite as soulless thanks to both actual time being spent on developing its characters and more imaginative scenarios. I still wouldn’t call it good though… merely watchable if you have some time to kill.

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    This entry was posted in Movie & TV Related and tagged Action Comic Relief Drama Fantasy Netflix Novel Adaptation Science Fiction Series Star Wars Witcher
  • PROMARE & Violet Evergarden Gaiden -Eien to Jidou Shuki Ningyou-

    Posted on June 9, 2020 6:05 am by Offkorn Comment

    Though Promare has a number of similarities to Gurren Lagann and Kill la Kill, it comes off more like an imitation than a celebration. It’s all style and no substance. The supporting Galo/Lio shorts are better, but there’s little point in watching them as stand-alones… and they don’t work well as prequels either.

    The first Violet Evergarden movie meanwhile is a side-story (split into two parts) which appears to take place at some point after the series’ conclusion. Indistinguishable from the TV episodes the movie won’t change anyone’s minds regarding the franchise, but it can be watched as a stand-alone for those on the fence about whether or not they want to watch the series.

    Personally, I’ve never been fond of the whole ‘proper lady, gilded cage’ setup/concept and the particular iteration featured here doesn’t do anything to change that opinion. Fortunately that’s only the theme for the movie’s first half; the second goes back to focusing on the delivery service. Unfortunately, it does so by heavily featuring a new child character who wants to join the office. So long as you don’t mind kids this works as a fitting conclusion. For me however it means pretty much the whole movie ends up a wash.

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    This entry was posted in 2019 - Spring 2019 - Summer Anime Related and tagged Action Anime Original Comedy Dramatic Support Fantasy Movie Netflix Novel Adaptation Science Fiction Violet Evergarden Workplace
  • ALTERED CARBON

    Posted on March 23, 2020 9:33 am by Offkorn Comment

    The first season of this series starts off great, only to noticeably deteriorate about halfway through when it does that thing ‘prestige’ television seems so fond of: Pull out a plot twist that completely changes the show’s focus/themes. I’d still say it’s worth watching, lot of similarities to Bladerunner, The Expanse, and even a bit of Fifth Element (probably some Westworld there too… but I haven’t seen that), it’s just that it ends up merely watchable instead of a must see.

    Fitting in between the first and second seasons is an Anime movie. It’s a side story (meaning it can be watched as a stand alone or completely ignored) done in what appears to be a cell-shaded 3DCGI style, and I would not suggest watching it as an extension of the series since it reminds me of Souten no Ken Regenesis more than any sci-fi work (except perhaps GitS). What is it with shows featuring inexplicable ninja armies? Am I just unlucky?

    Then there’s the second season, which is quite a bit different from the first… and not only because the actor playing the MC has changed (one ‘benefit’ of having a setting centered on body swapping is the ability to shuffle performers at will). While that’s more of a conspiracy drama this instead focuses on an amnesia-themed and somewhat aimless personal quest, trading the police/detective elements for military/political ones. It comes across as pretty forced and lacks any of the pop present in the first season (though the finale’s pretty good).

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    This entry was posted in 2020 - Winter Anime Related Movie & TV Related and tagged Action Anime Original Dramatic Support Movie Netflix Novel Adaptation Romance Science Fiction Series

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