Dantalian no Shoka Episode 12 Discussion

What did you think of this episode?

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Apr 20, 2021 9:31 AM

#101

Ashhk

Shalltear

Offline

Apr 2018

35772

Dalian was so cute at the end as a tsundere! :D Well I think it was a pretty good end for a one cour anime, and overall it was pretty good, some episodes on the 2nd half felt boring but apart from that it was entertaining and liked the concept (similarities with Gosick) and the characters as well. 6/10

Jun 14, 2021 12:12 PM

#102

Adampk

Offline

Feb 2020

5795

Got to say a really beautiful anime. Animation was awesome fitting and creative at times. Story was very enjoyable ( Goes well with Victorian Tea menu) . I wish everything there was a season 2 which answered everything properly and given side characters to more develop.

overall great watch. Can't belive its from same author who wrote strike the blood ( day and night difference)

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Still not gone bandwagon u, keep crying. Here u are welcome to CRINGE at my EXISTENCE

Feb 19, 2022 3:07 PM

#103

Fafette

Offline

Feb 2020

1318

This last episode was good, but it felt so much like an ending for a different show than what we got... What I mean is that the show overall has been completely episodic with barely any connection between episodes even if there were some clues here and there, and then you have this episode that feels like the conclusion for something much bigger and much more epic than that. I always felt this anime was a good example of wasted potential and now I'm sure of it, and it's a real shame.

This is not to say I didn't like it ! It was charming, with some interesting messages about literature and arts in general. It just could've done so much more with what it had. I also thought it was really lacking some good character development (even if it solved that a bit with the last episodes), and was so disconnected that it ended up being very confusing. The characters also being introduced and then forgotten by the next episode was very frustrating too (Flamberge being the best example for that considering how interesting she was, though I'm glad she showed up at the end).
The biggest problem though, is probably that the whole show seemed to be setting up for another season, which it never got and most likely will never get. That's too bad.

I give it a 6/10 ! And for now I'm not considering reading the novel but I'm quite curious to know how it will continue from here and if some questions I have can be answered, so maybe I'll end up checking it out anyway.

Sep 22, 2022 11:53 PM

#104

HD90

Offline

Aug 2018

151

I will miss dalian's rude words and attitude lol

Dec 24, 2022 3:57 PM

#105

Ten

Offline

May 2015

3341

Halfway through it became a bit more interesting but in the end there was still lots of lost potential. Instead of focusing on forgettable episodic stories it would have been better if they explored the main characters more, as well as Flam and Hal, they were cool! Too bad they only appeared in two episodes. Not sure that the whole mystery with the white-haired girl was addressed properly. The finale was more confusing than resolving anything. Still, it was a pretty nice watch. 6/10

Jan 16, 2023 3:59 AM

#106

epidemia78

Offline

Aug 2018

8518

Pretty good series.

Definitely could have greatly benefited from a higher episode count and a slightly less generic art style.

Animation quality was high.

Characters were alright. Both Dalian and Huey were kinda shallow but still likeable. the side characters were interesting, especially the other book-hunters.

The script was above average although each story painfully compressed to fit into 22 minutes.

The cinematography/direction was actually great. No complaints there.

This final episode was a poor way to end the series though. So many questions left unanswered. incomplete and rushed adaptations are the cross that anime fans must bear. Poor us, such a tragic fate.

7/10

epidemia78Jan 16, 2023 4:20 AM

Apr 7, 2023 7:47 AM

#107

yveltalkyogre

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Dec 2021

1596

ok. Did not enjoy much.

Mar 29, 2024 8:38 PM

#108

lushwang

Offline

Mar 2018

purely vibes based anime. liked it

Apr 22, 2024 5:59 PM

#109

Archean-Return

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Dec 2022

5862

This anime introduces far too many questions, unknowns and esoteric elements without compensating for it with at least some insight into what they mean. With the "main plot" being scattered into fragmentary, isolated scenes amidst the largely episodic structure of the narrative, it only makes it more and more difficult to properly immerse yourself in the world. The main pair, Huey and Dalian, also came across as being sidelined characters with little value in any given situation until they finally decide (seemingly on a whim) to resolve it with the Phantom Books. The casual interactions between characters are often entertaining, and the plot does elicit viewer interest at times, but it's too unfocused for my liking.

ｲ乇刀乇乃尺ﾑ乇

╔⏤═⏤╝

╚⏤═⏤╗

☽ Shaded Horizon ☾

Jul 11, 2024 2:19 AM

#110

NoviSun

Offline

Aug 2018

1871

Finished. Too bad there is no second season.

Mar 22, 10:19 PM

#111

FarCritical

Offline

Jul 2016

3509

Glad Hal could make it to the finale along with his tome-fueled flamethrower, not to mention Dalian's dere side coming out in full force.

Aug 2, 6:23 PM

#112

Darkdaxter

Offline

Mar 2016

376

Please see the threads for episodes for 4, 5, and 7 for more in-depth breakdowns.

I'm just going to say it. This anime sucked. It's got everything going for it, and it pisses it all away. Cute Tsundere loli Dalian forgets that at some point she's supposed to be a little Dere, so really she's just a massive bossy bitch until Huey dies. She has no history with Huey, and we have no insight into her past, so we have no reason to look into her actions more deeply. Other anime like Gosick, Toradora, and Familiar of Zero also have quite mean tsunderes. But what makes those characters work is that you understand why the characters are the way they are, their counterparts come to understand so as well, and there are moments where their true feelings shine through. No one ever really calls her out either. At least banter with her.

Huey is as capable as he needs to be, and usually they need him to forget he's a soldier. Despite spending so much time with him, we don't really know anything about him or his personality beyond that he likes airplanes and has a crush on Pink Dalian. He generally waits until the enemies are already right on top of him or lets himself gets captured. He doesn't necessarily seem to value his friends either, considering he had no qualms with letting one burn to death in front of him.

The healing magic is an obvious problem, and they picked the worst solution. Either have free limited healing or don't heal at all. Having healing methods work over and over in some episodes (like the soul exchange) and then saying only 1 heal per person in others is retarded. That means Huey used his heal in the very first episode, but I'm pretty sure he healed in episodes past that as well.

It's pretty difficult to take any of the episodes seriously. They're all self-contained, reuse the same female character models over and over, and generally end with everyone but Huey and Dalian dying. Episode 12 feels like it should have been episode 2 because it was the very first one that saw any sort of development. Elsewise we don't get character development, plot progression, or even really world-building since the rules feel like they're constantly changing. The other option is to build thematically, but we don't really do that either. You could still make an episodic series like this fun by doing something like Mushishi, where each arc takes a few episodes and has it's own theme and leaves an impression on the main character. We rush through every story so fast, it's impossible to get invested in any of them. A character we've only heard a single paragraph from is already spilling their sob story before dying within 10 minutes of their introduction. It becomes so boring. Everything feels so forced and rigid, which kills all of the jokes. The best episodes were (aside from 12) the one inside the book (made zero sense) because the main characters were essentially in the background, and the OVA because it dropped us immediately into the case without wasting time on setup.

The atmosphere of the show is great, but it really feels like we're going nowhere. The magic system isn't explained at all, takes forever to cast, and feels like a deus ex machina barely related to the tome's story every time. The side characters are never really in the show. We just keep getting introduced to new people to kill off or never see again instead. We're not actually building anything. We're not going anywhere.

What even is Huey's, let alone Dalian's, goal? It seems like they should be book collectors adding books to the real and mystical archives. They're much too powerful for people to handle, and if the wrong people try bad things happen. Except basically anyone can read a mystical tome after the first episode, and they repeatedly leave tomes in the posession of random people. The tomes and the archives are a well-kept mystery, until a few episodes later when everyone and their mom knows about them and can find one whenever they want. We should be pursuing whispers of strange powers from ne'erdowells in a tavern, but instead we get, 'The neighbor got a magic tome.'

Episode 12 makes no sense. Once again Huey just lets himself get shot by a bad guy. Then he breaks the archives to rescue Pink Dalian who can't leave because she is the archives, but who can totally leave through a locked door, but is also Dalian's other self... But he can still take books out apparently. An archive isn't much without copies and backups, and it isn't clear exactly how this works with an archive of ABSOLUTE knowledge and wisdom. Kind of sounds like it's raw data you can endlessly pull in the form of a book, but there are also tomes not in the library. Furthermore the tomes can be destroyed, but some tomes have multiples. Many of the tomes don't physically exist but manifest after pulling, and there are tomes that are only spoken word or giant clock parts that can't be stored in an archive girl.

It really just feels like they wrote whatever, hoped they'd come up with better explanations or rules later, and just never did.

3/10. Dreadfully boring. Pretty spectacle at times. The storybook art episode looked cool. Needed way more archive lolis arguing with each other.

DarkdaxterAug 2, 6:37 PM

See All Discussions

Poll: » Dantalian no Shoka Episode 7 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Yumekichi11 - Aug 26, 2011	50	by Darkdaxter »» Aug 2, 2:54 PM
Poll: » Dantalian no Shoka Episode 5 Discussion ( 1 2 ) tsubasalover - Aug 12, 2011	75	by Darkdaxter »» Aug 2, 1:36 PM
Poll: » Dantalian no Shoka Episode 4 Discussion ( 1 2 ) tsubasalover - Aug 5, 2011	86	by Darkdaxter »» Aug 2, 12:48 PM
Poll: » Dantalian no Shoka Episode 11 Discussion ( 1 2 ) tsubasalover - Sep 23, 2011	65	by FarCritical »» Mar 22, 9:23 AM
Poll: » Dantalian no Shoka Episode 10 Discussion tsubasalover - Sep 16, 2011	46	by FarCritical »» Mar 15, 2:21 AM

Dantalian no Shoka Episode 12 Discussion

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