Oh great, that would be the same as me, then, except I actually acquired that habit on MAL. Not on the hopeless mess that the forums are, though^^' (sorry, but I just had to say this)
I'm also going to begin by apologizing for the very late reply, but college has been hell this last week, since it was midterm week and I had some stuff to catch up with, which means some studying to do.
It seems we agree completely regarding the plot. It's not flawless, but it certainly it's so damn near it. I specially agree with you when you say that "the story's flaws are usually only eminent on a small scale", and that's mainly the reason why while I have some (small) bones to pick with each volume that prevent me from giving them a perfect 10/10, I'm considering scoring the series that way, depending on the last volume, of course.
I certainly get your feeling regarding the realism in the series and charcters and that's actually a lot of what I meant by the characters being intelligent rather than stupid. Their reactions are understandable and relatable, and their conclusions are logical, and ones who could achieve by ourselves, thinking rationally. A lot about them feels human, and that's a big bonus as well, specially since I agree with you rgearding works of fiction involving the supernatural usually feeling distant.
And damn, Daiya's mind-games during the first round of Kingdom Royale? I thought it was genius how he managed to get everyone from being sure that he was the Revolutionary (and Kazuki and Aya/Maria sure that he was the owner) to everyone being completely at a loss about it. And that including the readers (or at least me^^). I was just so proud I saw through his purposeful slip up in his argument with Iroha. I still never did see through his plan in total. *impressed*
PMMM
The pacing in PMMM is close to flawless, that's certain. It's what I'd describe as similar to a "constant linear accelerated motion", in that it starts out slow and increases gradually at a constant rate. As for the last few episodes, I do agree that it was soewhat off, but PMMM had a script written for 13 episodes, so it's understandable. On the other hand, I really, really love episode 10, and it shouldn't be hard to understand why. In that case, I actually believe that having so much content crammed in there was beneficial to the impact.
Well, with both Kajiura and PMMM in my favorites, it would be rather surprising if I hadn't listened to the OST. i love it to bits, and it's definitely a really strong point of the series. (can't wait until the movies' OST comes out^^)
Volume 2
Well, that would be my main problem with volume 2 as well - the fact that it was rather obvious Asami was the culprit. But I think it's only natural to assume it was intentional, and given the fact that the focus was supposed to be the character interactions, as opposed to the mystery, this time around, it served a purpose. Though of course, the entertainment and brain work derived from it is lost, and even if th writing quality was still really good, I agree that it was indeed a negative point for me as well.
On the other hand I did think the way the box worked was quite an interesting one. Instead of the usual existentialism problems derived from insecurities you get a literal one, with Kazuki's hours being slowly taken away from him, and him starting to doubt who was the real him and what makes someone... well, that person, as the prespective of everyone toward him changed. It was an interesting volume theme-wise and character-wise, but yeah, it lacked the mystery aspect and that did take its toll on my enjoyment as well.
Volumes 3&4
The problem really would be getting the circumstances to try it out xD Oh, well, I'm fully aware this will probably never go beyond the "I'd like to".
I actually thought the same. Not only that, the game itself seemed really simplistic and seemed not to hold that many possibilities. After Daiya first pointed out to Kazuki that Sorcerer wasn't the safest class, I quickly understood that there was way more to it and the potential the game held and started reasoning out possibilities like crazy. And man, if that potential wasn't explored to the max in these volumes.
Btw, just a little question. What would you do if you were the player? Or rather, since this isn't a question that can be surely answered: what do you think you would do if you were the player? I think I'd probably act like Iroha and take the safest and quickest route to survival while I still had the biggest advantage of being the only one aware of nature of the game. Unless I had the Revolutionary class available, in which case I
might try to play.
Oh man... I really have no idea how Eiji manages to come up with these plots either. It is impressive indeed. Stuningly impressive.
Volume 5
i thought it was quite remarkable how Daiya actually managed some overturns considering he was trapped inside the Wish-Crushing Cinema and had pretty much only the breaks between the movies both to think and to act, considering his state while watching the movies.
You're right when you said that volumes 5 & 6 weren't as good regarding the mystery part, but once again, I think that wasn't the intention at all, seeing how character-driven these volumes are. It was loads of fun seeing the consequences of Kazuki's experiences inside the Game of Idleness in his personality and priorities, and his battle of wits with Daiya.
As for him having given up on his everyday life and his obsession with Otonashi (bah, I'll give up and go with this as well here), I'm not only impressed with how he managed not to break down completely, I'm thouroughly impressed with how Eiji managed to keep him a likeable protagonist, and how his thoughts border between the twisted and the relateable in a way that makes keeps him whitin understanding. I loved his development, actually.
Another character I've really come to like and never thought I would was Yuuri. Heck, even the NPC Yuuri actually seemed to have a strategy and started the manipulative scheme from day 1 in the first round of Kingdom Royale (interesting how Daiya actually saw through her - I would have never) and her double-playing in volumes 5 and 6 was quite beatiful (strange use for the word, I know - I just can't find a better term ^^)
Volume 6
I'm also of the opinion that the ending will definitely be very important to volume 7. I just don't see it as a part that impacts how I see volume 6 as a whole. And for some reason I can't stop re-reading it. It was just such a beautifully sad epilogue...
Haha, well, I'm of the opinion that usually, the only people who are that cynical were once disappointed with their well-grounded belifs. In other words, there's a high chance they were once wide-eyed idealists. So Daiya's past romantic persona didn't really surprise me all that much, but it's certainly a funny thought^^
Good, nice thing we share the wish for a tragic ending in this. And yeah, the ending will be crucial to my thoughts of the series as a whole as well. It always makes me relieved when an author already has an ending planned, as writing something in function of an ending naturally connects much better with it than thinking of an ending in function of what was written before. Thankfully, these six volumes were so well built upon one another, that I have few fears for the ending. Having read this now, I don't really mind for how long I have to wait either. As long as it's brilliant, I'll be fine with it.
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Hmm... I don't mind your qustion but I'm not so fond of talking about myself so I apologize if this will be somewhat vague.
Perhaps it is as you say and I do bear some resemblance to Aya and Homura... As I said, the trait I admire the most about them is their iron determination. Well.. Let me say a bit about myself, then. I'm a self-denying perfeccionist who's had this little trait bring her many problems with not being able to meet her own standards. When you join that to some other problems from external causes, I've had quite he troubled adolescence. And I've overcome everything through sheer determination, in the meantime trying to find my ideal self. And yet this year of college, while starting out exactly has I had wished, didn't stay like that for long. Anyway, the point is I often feel like I should just give up and stop caring.
Those characters are in a fictional world, thefore, even if the way they plan on changing themselves (and do it) is not all that different, their goals are way more abstrac and hopeless, and their circumstances way worse than a pessimistic stupid little girl like me. And yet they aren't those perfectly sculpted characters - they're deeply flawed in many ways. However, despite that, they're
that determined. Despite everything, they won't give up their goals, even if their goals aren't even for themselves. That makes them fascinating, admirable, relateable and a huge inspiration.
...and that turned out a big paragraph. I'm sorry if it was somewhat boring, or weird, or whatever.
Death Note
i see. That's not surprisimg, considering most manga are better than the adaptation, tbh. I'm not sure if the extra dialogue is reason enough to make it worth reading, though. Thanks a lot for your descriptiong, btw^^
i've also only watched the Death Note anime about 3 years ago so my memory of it might not be perfect either.
Tbh, I didn't like Near as a character anyway, but I'll proceed to answer to your points (based on the anime, of course).
1. Yeah, that rubbed me the wrong wa as well. That the the finishing blow in the battle of wits was a stroke of luck was really.... unfitting. And while you say it was parly Light's fault (btw, I felt he wasn't behaving as intelligently the second half of the show), I also didn't like how little of it was Light's fault. If only Mikami had done exactly as he asked instead of acting on his own, things wouldn't have gone like that. His mistake was basically trusting in someone else to act fo him.
2. Interesting... I felt it's exactly the other way around xD that Mello was the one who had the biggest hand in defeating Light, while Near was just lucky to have been able to take advantage of that due to, once again, luck. And Mello's planning. That's what it seemed like in my eyes.
Either way, I agree that Near's statement was really silly.
Well, considering how you just compared anime and manga and how much I still have to read and catch up with (starting and catching up with Vinland Saga, reading the New Testament volumes from To Aru) and how college has been such a pain lately, I'll put it off for now. I might end up reading it some day, but not now. Once again, thank you for helping me make an informed decision^^
i sent you one!
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A club for Hakomari? Certainly^^ The first thing I did when I finished reading was looking for one on MAL. And yeah, meepinganime is an anime blog I run along with some friends from Skype. They all have MAL accounts too, and Doofus (another writer from the blog and one of my closest friends) is reading Hakomari, btw. He's on volume 4 now and he's enjoying it a lot.
Anyway, back to the blog, I'm taking a break from weekly coverage this season, once again due to college, but I'm still writing reviews. I plan on writing one for each volume of Hakomari, but I haven't had time for the other yet. Maybe this weekend...
Last.fm recent tracks
