Hraktuus's Blog

Anime Relations: ChäoS;HEAd

ChäoS;HEAd is one of those anime that consistently gets an undeserved bad rap, in my opinion. When I originally watched the anime however long ago, I gave it a score of 8. I honestly didn't see why everyone had a problem with it. I assumed it had to do with it leaving things out from the visual novel, but anyone familiar with the anime process knows that just getting an anime adaption is a lucky break in the first place, even if it is only one cour. Adapting a visual novel, light novel, manga, or a normal novel into twelve episodes is a challenge in and of itself, and taking that into account they did a damn good job with C;H. I think an anime should never lose points for being one cour.

After having played all routes of the VN, I can see what is missing for sure (and what is added) in my rewatch of C;H. However, the plot is basically the same. The cuts make sense given it being one cour. The added action scenes make sense given the audience and given the fact that there are swords in C;H (which honestly aren't used all that much in the VN). I read things about this anime crashing and burning, but the fact is it isn't even deviating from the VN plotline. I think some of the concepts are just too hard for most people to wrap their heads around. Steins;Gate did better because it was two cour and time travel is a simpler concept that C;H with accessing the Dirac Sea and projecting images from peoples minds into reality. C;H, S;G, and R;N (Robotics;Notes) are all based on real scientific theories and most of what happens (and I mean over 90%) in all three VNs/anime is theoretically possible. 5pb. and Nitroplus took a risk even with the VN given such abstract scientific theory as the basis for the plot.

Of course, this makes me wonder how well the anime did in Japan. I'm only finding English reviews. This is the same community that thinks DBZ is one of the best anime ever, so I tend to not take their word. I think anyone who understands the content of this anime will find it refreshing, but anyone who could care less about theoretical science should stay away from it. And it does deserve to lose some point because of that. However, just because something is liked by more people does not necessarily mean it is of a higher quality.

For truly hardcore gamers out there, let's Skyrim versus Morrowind, for example. Skyrim is liked by the masses because it was designed for the masses, not because it is a truly better game. ChäoS;HEAd is certainly no Morrowind, and Steins;Gate is certainly far, far above Skyrim. Skyrim versus Morrowind is more like DBZ versus Trigun (Which would make Oblivion... Sunabouzu I guess?). ChäoS;HEAd versus Steins;Gate would be more like The Witcher versus The Witcher 2. The first game is good, but it plays like an arcade game. The second game just kind of blows you away with its awesomeness.

Anyways, I'm rambling. TL;DR C;H is a lot better than most people seem to think, but most people will never understand why.

Anime Relations: Clannad

So I finally got around to watching Clannad, and... I really like it, but I think like most people I was disappointed that Okazaki chose Nagisa. Someone said it was the true end so I looked into it and, sure enough, you have to do the Fuko route and the Nagisa route to unlock After Story in the VN.

I haven't watched After Story yet, and based on this information and the massive amount of endings the VN has, I'm going to play the VN first. It just feels like going straight for the anime will lessen my enjoyment of the VN. There won't be any kind of surprise. There's not really as much enjoyment to playing a VN when you know exactly what's going to happen next, whereas anime can be enjoyed even if you do know what's happening next (that's why we watch some over and over). Obviously there's probably some exceptions to this, but for now I'm holding off on watching After Story.

But yeah... for me Kyou > Tomoyo > Kotomi > Sanae > Misae > Fuko > Mei > Yukine > Ryou > Nagisa

Yes, I totally put minor characters in there including Nagisa's mom, who is probably the most beautiful character in the anime.

I don't outright hate Nagisa, but... She has a very bland personality. The quiet, cute, shy, weak thing has been done before, and wayyy better than this case. She's not cute enough to pull it off, and on top of that she seems to be some points short of an average IQ. I can understand how an extremely average guy like Okazaki would go for her, but for the rest of us it just isn't an interesting path at all. It's ordinary.

I'm not the kind of guy who requires a girl to be as intelligent or more than me, but there needs to be something interesting about her that makes her stands out. I like Kyou the most because she reminds me of Haruhi Suzumiya. I like Tomoyo because she's a delinquent who turned herself around and became student council president all because she wanted to save some cherry trees. She's someone you can actually admire. I like Kotomi because... well she's extremely cute but a genius at the same time. She seems like she's high most of the time, but her sweet demeanor and eccentric actions more than make up for that. Everyone else after, it's a simple matter of cuteness and distinct personalities.

I didn't like Nagisa because there's nothing particularly distinct about her. She's an average girl that you could fill the classrooms of other anime with. Perhaps the fact she isn't really distinct in any way, that she doesn't stand out, is what makes her distinct. After all, there are unique things about her like she couldn't make any friends by herself and she had been held back a year. But that's it. Kotomi is actually a rather similar character (she also can't make friends by herself and also has some sort of childhood trauma), but they managed to make her unique through eccentricity. She is basically what Nagisa should have been. My point is Nagisa is a character that for most of the anime I was not focused on. I was consistently focused on more interesting, more endearing characters, while I found myself not caring what happened with Nagisa (other than dreading the predictable ending with her).

However, perhaps I am being a bit harsh. This anime has been out for around 8 years now. I think it more or less set the example for anime like it that came after, so I can't really blame it for taking the obvious route. It's anime that copy-paste it and go for the obvious route that are truly generic. It's anime that defy this and take a different path than the predictable one that end up being some of the best ones made, or at least better than the majority out there. And that's the funny thing. I can remember all of the names of anime that stood out in taking the different route, but I remember very few that take the predictable one. I'll remember Clannad only because I've known about it for 3 years without watching it. It's one that's rather hard to avoid knowing about if you're into anime. I truly enjoyed it, and it did do a better job than the vast majority of school slice of life harems, but it the end it is rather ordinary. I'm sure After Story makes a world of difference, but as a season Clannad is what it is.