Hraktuus said:Draconix814 said:@Hraktuus I really should hide my age, so people like you don't dismiss everything I say because of it... At any rate, it's not like I was giving a teaching course, I was giving the very basics of what every teacher should know. And if you think you know better about teaching, then surely you could dispel what I said about it without any of your preconceived bias. And for the rest of your argument, please refer to my other posts in this forum for what I think about that.
I would have said the same thing even if you were 24, and my points hold true as far as the character. Why would a 16 year old know any of the basics about teaching when he hasn't taken any such course? Your argument is irrelevant to the character. You're expecting way too much of him and projecting both yourself and your culture onto him.
First, you say that no one should take advice from me because I am seventeen, then you say that you wouldn't even if I was twenty-four? How does that make sense- besides the fact that if I were 24, I would have had enough time in my slow-moving life to go to college and get a teaching degree.
But what is it about my points about teaching that was so wrong? Please explain it so a dumbass 17-year-old can understand, because by the way you are dismissing my argument makes me think that you have some sort of teaching knowledge. Go ahead.
Like I said, I was only explaining the basics of how to tutor children, it's not like I was attempting to teach an entire course (though my sarcasm doesn't really help). And while I didn't comment on your views on the character of the Ryou (I'll do that now), allow me to address a few flaws in your argument- and why he isn't a believable character.
Bear with me.
The Ryou is 16 and has a ninth-grade education (I guess he hasn't gone to school for two years?), he isn't limited in social interaction- and he even has a younger brother- which means that we can assume that he has common sense. He's a surrogate for the audience, after all, we should at least expect that much- but as a character, he is also supposed to be the Meijin/ Ryou of Shogi. Shogi and Chess require a lot of thinking and understanding of other opponents- of other people. This means that Ryou is actually supposed to be smarter than the average person for the sheer fact that he uses his brain a lot- not only that but as the Ryou, he is supposed to be the mentor of others. This I assume you already know, so let's take a step back and analyze what this all really means. His character is the surrogate for the audience, but he has already reached his pique of development- think about it, when has he been characterized to have a flaw that needs fixing- and where do you expect him to go? This really isn't all that much of a problem until you consider that he makes very stupid mistakes- his inner monologues that consist of a few exposition dumps for the audience, while the only actual things he says for himself is "I need to give it my all!". Again, this isn't all that bad yet- he is after all young like you said.
That said, look at how horribly he rationalizes everything else in Episode 4. First of all, the whole "will you be my bride" thing doesn't make sense from a comedy perspective, nor does if he was really in a pinch. If it was a joke on his part, then we would assume that everyone in the room would understand the joke and everyone would laugh upon hearing it- even if he recognized it as a poor joke that he did in bad taste, he would apologize and admit that he was joking. This doesn't happen. Now let's assume that he was seriously in a pinch (from this overtly childish question that someone of his age wouldn't take seriously from someone who's nine-years-old (sound familiar?)), why does he go straight to the marriage? If it was a slip of his tongue, that would mean he was thinking about marriage with ("a" or "the") child before receiving this question- and it slipped out. Understandable- but then he would apologize and get embarrassed for saying something so ludicrous in an inappropriate scenario (this is Japanese culture after all, even if arguably the same norms apply in America for this situation). But that doesn't happen either.
If that was his prototypical reaction to a little girl asking him why she couldn't be his disciple- then what is he a pedophile? This here shows he doesn't have common sense- and wasn't even smart enough to read what everyone's reactions would be if he did decide to spout it out- contradictory to what we established earlier. Then we get to the stuff with Ai Prime. I suppose what bugs me the most is that Ryou intentionally hides Ai prime from Ai- which isn't all that bad on a surface level, in fact as an absurd parody of rom-com anime, it would be gold, however, it is actually taking this seriously. Actually what I think would have worked better in this scenario, would be that Ai walks in exactly when he tells Ai prime that she would be better than her in a shogi match- as this would bring forward development on both sides- The Ryou would have to deal with an even further depressed Ai because he tells her she's not good enough, and Ai would need to get over whatever problem she has and find it in herself to forgive the Ryou after she beats Ai Prime.
That's not how things play out (obviously), but what's wrong with how everything plays out is the fact that it is clearly trying to contrive itself unto a cliche misunderstanding. (Ai walks in when he's holding Ai Prime's hand, and I am certain this will lead to Ai being jealous of the Ryou, Ai Prime get's a bit cocky and challenges her to a shogi match and it ends in a draw before they both ask him to be his tutor again) Now I understand that complaining about cliches is a cliche in it of itself (even worse because I am talking about a hypothetical cliche), however, it is justified by everything that happens before it. The scene with Char momentarily broke his character, followed by him blatantly hiding his new contract with Ai Prime from Ai for no other reason than she would get mad at him (I already explained in a previous post that Ai cannot be in love with him, rather she idolizes him, and in this one where I said he isn't characterized as a pedophile (except for that dumb joke), so from both sides it doesn't make sense for him to think this), and him actually misreading Ai's reading of him. He's supposed to be good at reading people, so why doesn't he notice that Ai was reading him- and why did he say to Ai Prime that Ai isn't good at reading people? Do you even see (partially) why I am getting annoyed now? The only way this show can NOT get worse is if the author decides to use Ai's new ability to read others as a plot point next episode, and a reminder to Ryou that he wasn't paying attention (while he should have already mastered that).
The Ryou is the master, his role in the story should be getting Ai to progress, to be her teacher, but none of the story progression so far points to anything but a rom-com. He is still allowed to develop, he doesn't need to be a static character like Gintoki from Gintama or Oshino from Monogatari (both characters are mentors that are used to develop everyone else), but he looks like he is developing backward rather than forward- contrary to the nature of the narrative.
I heard that later on, in the third light novel, it gets very intense with shogi, but I have a feeling it will all be as hollow and meaningless as this episode was because this show has a habit of taking a step forward and moving a step back in the same minute. Serious threats to their relationship such as Ai's mother taking her away, only to be downplayed by giving conditions to their relationship such as an engagement if he doesn't make her successful, then never bothering to dwell on it again to move the story forward, is enough evidence to this idea.
And you can't defend it by saying "it's a comedy, so we should allow some illogical situations", because there is a light novel anime named KonoSuba that can make even more absurd situations while it still making logical sense, and it builds off itself in hilarious ways that still work for the narrative. There's the legendary Gintama that can crank both comedy and tension to 11 while still making logical sense, and Monogatari can make borderline pedophilia fun.
But explain to me again how I am placing unrealistic personal and cultural expectations on the Ryou? |