AnimageNeby said: The episode was alright. Not superb, but certainly not bad neither.
Yeah, I remember the same discussions about 'how they messed up'; even now some say so, and we're only at the first ep...
*rolls eyes*
Truth is, I remember first seeing the anime and then only the manga, contrary to most others manga/anime, and - if you've not read it beforehand - one would generally agree it's a great anime-series.
Yes, yes, here and there they could have done better, and the manga was a bit more in-depth, but really, with the constraint of the number of episodes, this is unavoidable: some things just *have* to give in and be omitted. I think most people complaining about the anime, are people who read the manga and are just to perfectionist about it. On itself, the anime is good. On some fronts the manga is better, true, but that doesn't make the anime 'bad'. I try to hold the middle-ground between the devotion of fanboys and eternal manga prudishts, that many here seem to choose. It's not bad at all, but it's not without faults neither.
As for this episode, for instance, I thought the opening scene - as it was shown - was a mistake. If I had made this episode, I would not, or at least not with that length, shown a 'future flashback', or how you wanna call it. Yes, it makes an impact, and non-manga readers are directly captivated. It says 'awesome' right from the start, true. It's important to peak the interest of the audience right away. I understand it, and from a meta-stance, like view- and sale-numbers, I comprehend why they did it.
Only, it does mess up the natural flow of the future sequence a bit, or at least, things will not come as a surprise anymore. Manga readers will know, that many, many suspenseful moments will arrive, when Alladin gets to Magnostadt. Life-threatening events, even...but what is the use of those, if you NOW already know he's going to be safe, at least until that scene happens?? And when you-know-who says "Alladin, you truly are a magi"..well, he's already given away half the mystery of one of the subplots... because, if one says something, it implies something of the one saying it too. Even his 'gradually getting stronger' education is already screwed up or made not really surprising anymore; whatever happens, you already know he will gain a level where he can create three giants and fire a huge fireball with unbelievable force... well, now, what to think of the scenes where he will struggle and one doesn't know how far he will get; not really all that emphatically convincing anymore now, is it? And look, we see a bunch of red-haired strangers fighting. Now, what race might that be, I wonder? Ummm...(again: no surprise of their appearance anymore) Etc.
No, they divulged FAR too much with that opening scene, and it had no sense being there, expect for the meta-vision as I explained. which is rather worthless in my appreciation of the anime itself.
Now, this does not make the anime crap, mind you. It may seem I'm complaining overlong about it, but that's because I thought that scene was a choice of the director/creator of the anime that was a strategic mistake. Nothing major, but still a mistake. Nothing less, nothing more. I would have done it differently, with respect to the scenes/surprises/revelations that yet have to follow. The appreciation for this can be different from person to person, but in general, if one opens a scene where, for instance, the hero is victorious in a battle, then I've always found it less captivating and was less thrilled and get less suspense out of the' life-and-death' scenes of the battle. Because they aren't life-and-death situations anymore. He'll survive. You've seen it from the start.
To some extend I have the same feeling a bit with this opening scene, which is why I hope they won't continue in that way.
All of the rest of the scenes were pretty well done, though.
I totally agree with this guy and he said what I wanted to say in the previous post much better and clear |