Just a few quick & dirty reactions to series I didn’t even have time to cap:
Kuma Miko – 01
Talk about a tale of two halves. The first chapter was completely feel-good moe fluff – Satou Junichi on too much Zoloft. Then we got into some really squirmy territory – creepy guy telling way too explicit “fairy tales” to little kids, disturbing fantasy sequences, wholly inappropriate dialogue spoken by a 6 year-old.
The dilemma here is that the nice part was complete snoozerville, while the nasty part was at least sort of interesting. I don’t know which Kuma Miko shows up next week, and I don’t know which one I want to show up. The curiosity factor is there and at least this wasn’t regurgitated LN pablum, so it gets another look.
Re:Zero – 01
This is drawing some very positive notices, and I get that. To be honest I chalk it up to lowered expectations – anytime a LN does anything that deviates from the accepted formula even superficially, people fall all over themselves praising it. And Re:Zero is certainly bloodier and grimier than average.
Here’s the thing: Christopher Booker may have broken down all literature into seven plots, but even that’s way too broad for LNs. And for me, I don’t see Re:Zero as being different in any meaningful way – it just puts a nasty spin on an impossibly overused premise. It jumps right into the middle of the story for the benefit of an audience that has zero patience for development and exposition. It’s loaded with self-aware dialogue for people who think they’re smarter than everyone else.
Re:Zero certainly has a ruthlessness to it that makes it stand out. And it’s well-executed as an anime – competently directed and acted. It’s not for me, but I’m not too surprised it’s being so well-received – it’s a safe kind of rule-breaking in a medium that almost never allows the rules to be broken in any substantial way.
sonicsenryaku
April 4, 2016 at 4:36 pmdidnt i tell you enzo; attach time travel to anything and it sells like hotcakes
Kamui
April 4, 2016 at 6:56 pmBuddy Complex disagrees with you.
Passa
April 4, 2016 at 9:37 pmMan, I’m probably the only one that liked that show and I have nothing to say to really defend it, I just liked it lol.
mweloo
April 4, 2016 at 11:14 pmYou’re hardly the only one. I really liked it, too.
Kamui
April 5, 2016 at 5:52 amI liked it too, but it was a comercial failure. the show failed because Sunrise didn’t even bothered to promote it, it aired a few days after Valvrave ended and the show itself was pretty generic —even if it was executed wonderfully—, and the “yayoi” undertones that some people saw in the show even before it aired. All those things combined and killed the show-.
sonicsenryaku
April 4, 2016 at 10:26 pmif im not mistaken (correct me if i am) but buddy complex just had its protagonist flung into the future. There wasnt no “go back in time to change some event” type thing going on. That’s like saying inuyasha is under “time-travel” because kagome travels between the feudal era and her present. Im more referring to shows were the time traveling aspect has major consequences for the story or that time travel is integral to the plot
RealDrakeula
April 4, 2016 at 5:40 pmThe time travel thing turned me off the most about Re:Zero, but it’s watchable. Cliche? Absolutely. But I enjoy LNs being spun around if simply because I’m tired and cynical at this point. I wasn’t turned off, I liked how life was still going on the background, and (pardon my french) the main girl was qt.
Kamui
April 5, 2016 at 5:54 amTime travel was an integral part of the story. Let’s just say that without it, there wouldn’t have any story. It is just that it was used in a pretty uncommon way.
WingGT1
June 1, 2016 at 9:55 pmIt sounds like you don’t have a very positive opinion of light novels-why is this? Seems like they’re getting mined even more than manga is for series these days.