Yemi_Hikari's Blog

Anime Relations: Netoge no Yome wa Onnanoko ja Nai to Omotta?

So...

When I wrote my review for this series I actually left out a few spoilers.

First, I'm actually glad I watched until the end despite the aggravating portaial of female gamers in this particular series, as Ako does in fact have a major "a-hah" moment until the end. The problem is, that "a-hah" moment and the amazingness which comes from it really don't make up for the many issues in the series such as Ako being a stalker, the fact the female players are treated as needing men to guide them through their gaming experience and that if a man doesn't that they'll make mistakes, let alone the major lack of character development towards that "a-hah" moment.

It's just not there.

And as for the game.

Well, you won't see any PvP like there is in any good MMO, but PvP done this way is why so many dislike the PvP aspect of games to the point of dreading it being implemented into a game they love. Unless of course someone is a hard core PvP and then they're the type of gamer who doesn't care that they've managed to secure an advantage that newer players will never hope to achieve. Some are of course putting in the hard work, but others are taking advantage of pay to play.

Which, I get why someone might want to make fun of pay to play, particularly when it's pay to win, the latter of which is detested among your more serious gamers for the simple matter skill doesn't factor in--being rich does, yet I'm not comfortable seeing pay to play mocked, particularly since the derision was aimed at a female player, not a male, as if it were just another form of shopping for clothes and shoes despite the fact males can be just as bad if not worse at those than the females are.

And, not all pay to play is bad. There are players who can't afford some of the nicities other players can, but they're still legit gamers in these free to play game and their hard work should be paying off in the games they're playing. And I'm not talking about the ones who think everything should be free here either, but ones who carefully budget for their gaming experience and pick and choose what they fork cash out for.

The other thing is, I'm also glad I watched this series, because I can talk about in both my review and here how female gamers are stereotyped and thought as incapable beings. I'm not saying us female gamers don't have certain safety nets that we utilize, such as playing with guys you know in IRL or not revealing you are indeed a female player, but that doesn't mean we're incapable players. That stuff has to do with the fact there are players out there who would love to take advantage of us if they could or even those who think we shouldn't be playing video games, that it is the domain of guys, to the point they will harass and hound you online if you do.

Which is why it baffles me that the MC didn't block Ako when he realized she was stalking him, because that's a number one rule for gamers particularly if one is a female player. So yeah, this series was a real mess.

Likable characters, yes. Some of the plot points and jokes could have been done without though, and the potential--it really could have gone in a much better direction. The plot which is the title is actually something I can see someone coming along and doing better later on.

So there's that.

Anime Relations: Hoshiai no Sora

Having watched the series, I actually get why the production board decided to cut this one down from twenty-four episodes to twelve, and given that, I also think this is one that is unlikely to get the production funds for doing the last twelve episodes.

I say this having actually fact-checked some things regarding Maki's circumstances, where his father has very limited visitation rights as he is the non-custodial parent, yet the father claims the opposite of this, that he can see Maki whenever he wants to. There's also the question of why getting a restraining order would be so difficult, and the simple answer is...

Adults are stupid and can't do anything right thus leaving kids to solve their own problems despite the fact adults aren't anywhere near as stupid as the series make them out to be.

And I don't buy this idea that the soft tennis club is considered a lost cause, not when it turns out that the older brother was a rather recent alumni.

Anime Relations: Shoumetsu Toshi

I don't agree with her reason for not choosing between the two universes, for the simple fact choosing the other universe where Lost didn't happen wouldn't trivialize what everyone lost, but given the fact there are only three years which have passed, the lives born after Lost are three years worth of lives which could still possibly end up occurring, yet the world is expected to continue dealing with suffering, so is it no wonder that the series isn't reviewed well when it went with the ending that sounded like the MC wanted to be a personal matter for some cause which doesn't exist.

Anime Relations: Kanata no Astra

So, I've actually taken the time to watch the Anime but also read the Manga for the simple fact I was curious how the two differed and the Manga would be a rather short read.

And, I wish to start with how there were some minor differences, one of which moved some important details which would have helped the flow of the series to later on, yet I also found myself wishing that the Anime stuck closer to the ending for the simple reason the time they took to add in extra stuff could have been used to cover some of the cut material from the manga, such as when Kanata and Fumi got stuck out in the storm.

There is, in the Manga, no meeting of Ulgar and his father once the man is in jail, so there is actually no confirmation whether Ulgar is the clone of the person who was his father or who was his brother. There's no asking him to go along with them on the trip either.

Also, the popular pairing in fandom is pairing Ulgar with Luca which I can't get behind. After all, Luca having to be told to shut up because he wasn't respecting Ulgar's personal space happened in both Anime and Manga, but Ulgar getting flustered over making Luca strip feels as if it taking it out of context, as Ulgar actually didn't force Luca to strip, yet also ignores the fact Ulgar's discomfort comes from mainly Luca putting him through a guilt trip and secondly from seeing female parts.

The other argument for is that Ulgar now wears the accessory Luca made on his hat, completely forgetting the accessory is Funi's and that Ulgar wouldn't have gotten it from Luca. In fact, the ending of both does point towards Ulgar and Funi which makes sense since Funi's original and her sister (the other clone of her original) both went for a certain personality type that has a tendency to be oblivious to certain things.

And yes, the relationship has a definite age gap, but that's a non-issue. Funi is seventeen, which depending on the jurisdiction means she's of age while in others would mean she is a year away, yet there is no telling what the age of being of age would be in the world of Astra. On top of this, there's no grooming on the part of Ulgar. He wasn't a parental figure. Sure, it's still quick for some because of the age gap but that by itself doesn't make the pairing cross the line.

Of course, the other reason for disinterest for pairing Ulgar with Luca lies with the fact the reason the pairing is liked definitely feels like it has more to do with this being pretty much the only option for a slash pairing for the series, unless age gap for the yuri counts yet in that same regard, it's still yaoi over yuri when it comes to slash shipping, which is part of the course for fandom, a game I don't want to be a part of as I feel it is just token representation.

Basically, I want the chemistry which for me includes the respecting of personal space, something I feel is important for romantic relationships.

Anime Relations: Kaizoku Oujo

I'm currently in the middle of the eighth episode of Kaizoku Oujo otherwise known as Fena: Pirate Princess.

With this, I'm going to say that I was expecting issues during the second half, but honestly - the reviews for the show don't quite cover what's wrong with this particular show. Effectively, I'd describe the show as someone thinking of one good idea after another and stacking them together as they thought of said ideas without actually thinking about how they fit together, forgetting about some of the previous ideas which would have served the purpose just as well.

Add to this, they had an epic storyline for which I would have expected the series to be planned out as either a double or split cour series, if not something with more cour to it. So when people say there's plot and stuff thrown away such as the pirates they're not kidding. Yet, this I don't think begins to even cover the plot holes that came up the moment the alternative motives for those on Goblin Island showed up, particularly since it utilized what I felt was a very Westernized version of bushido which effectively says a Samurai can turn when they want on a lord and their heir.

I guess it starts with the willing suspense of disbelief I had regarding Goblin Island when it first appeared, as my very first thought was for it to be this island that appears and reappears from different locations. This, and the fact this is an alternative universe possibly as well, made the fact Japan was closed off for a time period to anyone but Dutch traders reasonable.

And then there was a second option when this idea of the island not being that type of island was never explored at that was the free island where people around the world came to trade which would mean that the clan was possibly going against the decree that Japan be locked to outsiders until it was forced to open to trade with anybody but the Dutch, which in turn would make the Goblin Knights actually pirates as they'd been operating under the table.

But nope. Turns out they weren't operating under the table at all, but looking for a long lost treasure that would definitely set this storyline as taking place in an alternative timeline, as all accounts of the sword clearly says it never once left Japan, for even the tale about it supposedly being lost at sea involves it being lost in Japan.

However, the importance of the sword is that it is a divine weapon, one that confirms the legitimacy of an emperor, that they are indeed a descendent of Amaterasu who is the sun goddess of Japan. So, that in itself is a major plot hole given the fact the leader of their village, the priest, speaks of his great-grandfather being the one to come to shore, meaning there were three generations before him, and two after. Stepping into Japan at the sixth generation after they left would cause a major mess. There even appears to be some individuals with Eurasian ancestry.

Unless of course, he knows because the direct line of dependence is in fact with them, to which the most likely candidate for that to be would in fact be Yukimaru which in turn better explains why Yukihisa being bewitched by Fena is such a big deal to the leader of their village, which would, in turn, explain a lot. Mind you, the fact I've thought of it doesn't mean the staff have or that if they have they would do it well. There is by chance they were like everything else, throwing out random ideas as they came up with them.

Still, it does bother me that someone from an Eastern culture would call Fena a witch using Western superstitions and the above makes more sense, although Shitan believing she is one makes sense given what he experienced as a child, yet I'm also wondering why Yukimaru was along for the journey, being a child as he was which hasn't been explained, as it definitely feels like the others on Goblin Island know who he was despite the fact he is the childhood friend of Fena. It's also asked to Kei whether his sword ability is on the level of that of Kei's yet.

And the fantastical elements - I was sure there would have been more of them already, so there is a definite mess going on.

Edit - Finished the episode and the theory makes sense in my head, though I still feel it's something they weren't thinking of, as the leader of the Rose Rogues notes she's the one who gave the heart to Abel (I think that's his name.)

Anime Relations: Shingeki no Bahamut: Genesis, Shingeki no Bahamut: Genesis - Roundup, Shingeki no Bahamut: Virgin Soul, Manaria Friends, Shingeki no Bahamut: Genesis - Short Story

As I look at the discussion section for both Charioce and Nina's character pages on the Bahamut wiki, I see fans of his character complain that people bringing up how horrible of a character he is - that he is in fact a Hitler type character - are hating on them for liking said character, yet what I see is a fanbase who are major apologists.

I guess the best place to start is to point out that claiming someone is hating on you for liking a character simply because they are pointing out how horrible the character is in the canon material is a fallacy of logic, but what fans are really arguing is that Charioce's character should never be criticized. After all, these same fans make the lofty claim that Charioce is a well-written character, but the fact they claim this is true and the fact they like said character means said character should never be criticized, but by following that logic anybody who says anything negative is just a hater.

Which, by the way, is also a fallacy of logic.

As for Charioce actually being a well-written character like they claim, he's not. But then, it's rather obvious reading their comments that these fans bought into the narrative the second season put forth, nor do they pay attention to any of the canon material from the other series.

Yet, as someone who watched Virgin Soul first, I find it rather hard to understand how anybody could think of Charioce as this so called hero whose actions are justified as Virgin Soul actually manages to downplay the strife between humans, celestials, and demons compared to the original, thus defanging the argument that Charioce's behavior was justified because humans were supposedly powerless and just pawns in the grand scheme of things, yet even if you examine the original canon material this doesn't even hold true.

After all, we see humans summoning and using demons in the first series, which means humans are the ones with power and the ones using others as pawns, which n turn shatters this very idea that they are powerless creatures who in the sequel series simply have more power than they did before. Even Favaro and Kaisar note the fact even Azael was used as a pawn by a human when their fathers died, a pawn to gain humans even more power.

Oh, I know there are fans who will bring up the fact Azael was the reason their fathers died, but in reality, he was not. That's too simplistic of an answer and relies to heavily on this idea that matters between celestials (gods and they are called in the RoB series) and demons are black and white, that one is good and one is evil, yet using that very arguement one would need to conclude in the very least that Charioce's behavior towards the celestials was uncalled for.

Charioce apologists will bring up the celestials using characters such as Jeanne d'Arc as pawns as justification, but also evidence that they didn't care about humans, but for this to even work the idea that celestials are "good" and demons are "bad" needs to still go out the window. It also needs to confuse indifference to not caring, but even argue that choosing not to give humans the power they crave is for some reason an evil rather than something that makes sense as humans would just abuse said behavior.

Further more, when you toss out the idea of celestials being "good" and demons being "bad" with this idea that certain celestials are "bad" then you've got to embrace the idea that some demons are in fact "good", yet the cards from the games even touch upon this, such as one of Abyss Angel Mirin's card's saying "<i>To be sure, there are fallen angels who brought on their fall by evil deeds. But there are those of us doomed by more... hedonistic flaws.</i>"

In other words, we shouldn't look at characters like Azael in such a black and white manner, but I think this was hinted at due to his status as not just a demon, but a fallen angel.

Sure, if we were to examine Azael's character in this black and white manner that demons are evil, the next conclusion one can come to is that Azael is evil. If Azael is evil, then he's the one who manipulated the human who came to him seeking power into summoning him so that he could slaughter as many humans as possible. As such, from that point of view Azael is indeed at fault for the deaths of the fathers of our heroes.

Yet, as I've pointed out, the characters of Bahamut can't be looked at in this manner at all.

Azael, as a character, does in fact have a moral compass, one that shines through majorly in the sequel series, yet it should also be noted that his moral compass doesn't just shine through there. It is demonstrated less obviously in the prequel series, something that Favaro and Kaisar figured out from observing him, that Azael actually does have a moral compass, or moral code that he abides by, which in turn led them to figure out the truth.

Part of this truth is that the vast majority of both the celestials and demons won't have anything to do with humans unless they're approached directly. It's not a matter of not caring, as I said, but more of an indifference. This isn't to say there aren't demons out there who say, like the taste of human flesh, who indeed do cause problems, and this isn't to say that there aren't celestials who go out of their way to approach humans to offer powers.

The point is, this is not the majority, yet the Charioce apologists would have you believe that all of the celestial kind and all of demonkind are at fault for the crimes of the few who did interact. There in lies one of the major problems with this idea that Charioce in fact has justification for doing what he did to the demons, that he is justified for enslaving an entire racial group simply because part of said racial group wronged his racial group in this past.

The second truth was about who was the actual pawn. Sure, Azael would <b>love</b> people to believe he was the one using the human as a pawn, being that he is the one who gave the human power and the means to slaughter Favaro and Kaisar's fathers, but that's not the whole story. Sure, in the same regard you can't argue that the human used Azael as a pawn either, given the fact Azael knew what would happen, yet in the same regard he was still the tool used by that human to gain power, something we see humans doing from the very beginning.

More specifically, human goes to demon seeking poiwer. Demon gives the human the power to summon him. What does said demon, particularly one as strong as Azael who is in effect considered to be Lucifer's right hand man, gain from such an encounter.

Nothing.

Well, sort of.

Sure, one could argue that this was to stave off his boredom, but if Azael wanted something to do to stave off his boredem, he certainly didn't have to give a human the power to summon him. One could argue its because demons are super evil, but we've already established that isn't the case, though one can argue that this is the perception humans have of demons which in turn gives humans, or at least most humans, reason to leave demons alone and not seek out their power like they would the celestials.

In fact, Charioce's father was guilty of seeking out power from the celestial side and went mad because he was deemed unfit to recieve their blessing, which plays into the ridged rules of the celestial kind regarding who they will give their power to. As that one fallen angel noted, not all of the fallen fell because they were evil, but because the strict rules of the celestials bothered them. That in turn means that while some of the demons are indeed evil, the rest are simply not as restricted in the rules regarding the lending of their power.

And right there is the problem.

Azael did what he did in order to maintain an image, pure and simple, yet Favaro and Kaisar realized that he wouldn't have lifted a finger to harm a human unless that human first lifted a finger to harm him, which was a sure thing to happen if he were to be summoned into the middle of battle. In fact, it's worth noting the reason Azael falls in many of Cygames incarnations is an angel who fell not because he was evil, but because of hedonistic reasons. Same actually goes for Lucifer. For Azael, his story is often tied to having fallen in love with a human, while Lucifer's is about questioning whether what he is doing is right or wrong.

Yup.

The current leader of the demons fell because he questioned whether what the celestials were doing was actually right, but if you pay attention to Genesis you see a group of individuals which are quick to condemn and slow to forgive. There's a major difference between punishing the fallen who fell because they were evil, and punishing those who fell for hedonistic reasons. The image that Azael is trying to maintain isn't the truth regarding demons, yet said image also provides a layer of protection for the weaker demons who might be taken advantage of by humans.

You know - the demon children whose wings were cut off under Charioce's rule, right? I admit that humans don't have an equivilent, but last time I checked in a thousand years of history, the demons didn't haul a good chunk of the humans away into slavery let alone force them to fight gladitorial matches. Sure, there were demons who experimented on humans like humans experimented on demons, yet they were a small handful in comparison to the number of humans who - because Charioce said it was okay, treated the demons the way they did - like an inferior species.

Okay.

So Azael does say that a mere immortal is inferior to him in his card series, yet - we're also talking the demon who in another series - Grandblue - has a halloween card where he's playing with children. Human children, mind you, but a lot of his dialogue in Grandblue presents him as a being attempting to maintain an image to hide his real self, which is a real softie at heart, particularly when it comes to children. Which in turn means his line about humans being inferior is - well, as I pointed out, his story line in many of the different spin off series has him falling in love with a human, so that's something to take with a grain of salt.

It's only ever the humans who ever treated another race as inferior, yet we're supposed to believe that this inferior race will suddenly be happy to live along side humans as if nothing ever happened, as if the humans never wronged them in the first place.

Okay.

So maybe they might want to live alongside the humans who treated them well, but Charioce isn't one of them and yet he is being treated as hero because he was supposidly selfless and was going to sacrifice his life, but because of Nina's sacrifice didn't have to.

Um, no.

There was nothing selfless about his actions which was to effectively be the one to finally defeat Bahamut, to the point he rushed Bahamut's return which interestingly enough only happens when something happens to catalyst it into happening, rather than because its supposed to happen. It might have been for the greator good of the humans, to be the one with power like his father wanted, yet right there is the problem. He is in effect a human who wanted power for his own self gain, not because he wanted something such as peace among the races.

Not to mention --

The real issue humans have with celestials and demons is that they're born with power, and humans crave that power and selfishly feel they should have that power as well. To buy into the narrative the appologists want, you've got to believe that denying humans the power that celestials and demons are born with is somhow a crime against humanity. You've got to believe that allowing humans to solve thier own problems is cruel as well, when this isn't at all true.

Most importantly, there was absolutely no justification for Charioce's actions, for two wrongs do not make a right, yet the whole celestial, demon and human thing isn't at all black and white like that, where humans are somehow the only "grey" party in all of this.

Narratively, the problem with Charioce's character is that he was forgiven when he should not have been, simply because the narrative suddenly decided he should be the hero and get the girl. Appologists argue - but it's their story, so - right there is not only a fallacy in logic, but the people creating the narrative for the second season weren't the original staff for Genesis nor are they copyright holder of the games from which the material was supposed to be adapted. There's no getting around the fact Virgin Soul went off the rails regarding what the copyright holder wanted.

And - the appologists are appologizing, aren't they? They're trying to pretend his behavior isn't what it is, let alone that it is somehow justified when there is nothing that ever justifies that kind of behavior.

Anime Relations: Otome Game no Hametsu Flag shika Nai Akuyaku Reijou ni Tensei shiteshimatta..., Otome Game no Hametsu Flag shika Nai Akuyaku Reijou ni Tensei shiteshimatta... X

There are plenty of problems with this series, but there is one that I can't talk about in the review and that is Sirius Dieke and Raphel Walkt. While it is true that Sirius wasn't the dominate personality and that might be explained away by the curse, I don't think that's completely the truth given the fact Sirius Dieke (the real one) and Raphael Walt, were in fact half-brothers.

Sure, there was that memory of his father's affair and the fact his step bother didn't care for him or his mother despite the fact he was in effect conceived by rape as it makes clear that she was with him only one time and didn't like it.

Yet, is that all? I mean, they're still brothers and while he may have been jealous of his half-brother for being born healthy, he might have a very different opinion on the matter, particularly since he knew his life was short. His mother, the way she was, didn't just hurt Raphel, but her own son, because her jealousy prevented him from possibly having a relationship with his half-brother.

...

Of course, if I were to completely rewrite the series - I would lean towards Nicole as endgame for her, have none of the girls fall for her. Maria instead of confessing her love would in fact say she refuses to get in the way of Catarina and Geordo, while Geordo is marrying her not just because of the scar, but because he sees her as someone who needs protection, yet he's willing to give her up once he learns his best friends feelings and go for the girl he likes. Keith wouldn't be crushing on his sister, but would eventually end up with Sophia, leaving Mary and Geordo's twin to end up together, but the twin also sees her as someone to protect, but is worried that Mary is crushing on Catarina and is flustered at the idea of something scandelous happening, while Mary is worried about him falling for Catarina and ruining his relationship with his brother.

Sirius - well, let's create a completely new character for that.

Anime Relations: Princess Nine: Kisaragi Joshikou Yakyuubu

So - as I finish watching Princess Nine and plan on writing my own review, there are a few things I'm seeing in reviews for the series which bother me.

"<i>Some people consider this anime to be just another sports anime. In actuality, Princess 9 is very likely the worst sports anime to ever have been made.</i>"

Not only are those words rather harsh, I took the time to check this person's list and saw that Inazuma Eleven and Ultimate Muscle aren't on their list, which are two series I consider worse than this one. Looking at the lowest scoring Anime, those who have enough people scoring it to be up high on the list, one of the ones one my list that's even worse than those is Arcade Gamer Fubuki and one not on my list is Issho ni Training, though I've seen parts of it. The point here, is there are worse series out there

"<i>I personally am not a fan of anime that cut every possible corner and have repetitive filler episodes, though most people seem to like them. If you are one of them I recommend you buy this series right away, surely there is no shortage of people trying to get rid of their copy.</i>"

What filler? No, seriously. The starter episodes are about them finding each member of the team. Then we get into the attempt to cancel the team and some important games in this regard. Then there is their training camp, a staple of all sports Anime and then it rushes through all games up to the important endgame games. Yes, there is some painful drama in the series, but this isn't fillers.

Here's some quotes from another review.

"<i>I can forgive a lot of things about Shoujo storytelling. Shoujo has two things primarily working against it. One is that there's rarely a good budget like its shounen counterpart, so stock footage, sparkles, and lots of talking are used as storytelling devices. The other is that shoujo tends to be aimed at women and faces more scrutiny than shounen, so shoujo is (largely) emotion and character dynamic heavy.</i>

First off, the series isn't categorized as Shoujo. For those who know anything about the category, Shoijo is manga series aimed at a very specific demographic, but this is a series which started out as an Anime and then became a Manga.

Second, this makes the typical assumption made regarding the Shoujo genre that the target audience must be female if the main characters are female, which is why Inuyasha is labeled as Shoujo when it was Shounen. I also have to wonder where they get this idea that Shoujo series are given less of a budget than Shounen series, but they're going with the usual assumption that the "emotion and character dynamic heavy" is something exclusive to Shoujo and a fault of Shoujo, when there are some great Shounen series where this isn't the case.

Of course, third - if you've got to call it "storytelling" or "genre" then you don't know Shounen, but are falling into steretypical generalizations of works aimed at men and women, or in this case boys and girls, such as Shounen not involving romance and Shoujo not involving any form of good stroytelling. It's sexist, to be honest, but it begs to question how many of either the person has watched.

Anime Relations: The God of High School, The God of High School PV

I'm baffled how the bike he's riding is surviving the stuff he's putting it through, but for me this makes me really suspect the series is going to push the willing suspense of disbelief. Then there's the girl who is a complete pervert when it comes to guys bodies and that's supposed to be funny. Third character - he's interesting.

Anime Relations: Hanyou no Yashahime: Sengoku Otogizoushi, Hanyou no Yashahime: Sengoku Otogizoushi - Ni no Shou

While I love the series, I was never fond of Sesshomaru and Rin getting together, but the other problem is the series really didn't need a sequel. I know the writer likes this pairing, and I know a good portion of the fandom likes said pairing, but I was never able to get behind said pairing. Here's an essay which pretty much sums up the reason why I don't think the pairing is good narrative. essay, but one of the things which gets me is how the series this is a sequel for is shounen, aimed at young men who haven't yet reached adulthood while the sequel is apparently aimed at girls, not boys.

And - just reading the summary it reads like poorly written fanfic rather than a sequel, which is weird given the writer is supposidly involved. But then, if you think about it, the sequel is the writer's personal wish fulfillment, isn't it, if what I've heard regarding her opinion of the two are. And - yeah, that's a mess I won't go into, but honestly - I who wasn't thrilled with the ending decided to go my own direction for any fanfic I wrote because - well, why can't Kagome return to her own time, but these characters can do it?