Best first episode of all time?

Neostorm-X said:
nah samurai champloo, cowbow bebop, the original berserk, is probably better in terms of flow etc.

the problem is, its unfair to compare this because its literally 1 hour and 20 minutes long, it has had a lot of run time in comparison, its basicly like the first 5 episodes of anyother show,
if we compare this.

its like the entire golden age arc flashback of berserk put into a movie(which kinda exists) around the same length as well.


or the entirety of the first movie of ghost in the shell length.

actually I would also mention elfen lieds first episode being literally famous. 
the anime itself I wouldn't say is the best or anything, but people always remember the first episode of elfen lied. 


i've watched a lot of anime so i might be forgetting a few,
its just not fair to compare a 1 hour plus episode with most shorter episodes, and even then there are some which have more impact.

noraqs99 said:
No because it's bad. Or at least, technically proficient but a complete mess in the writing department. There are an infinite amount of shows with better premieres but if we go for "any medium" I'd go to Twin Peaks first; utterly haunting.

Neostorm-X said:
damn ironicly?

i wouldn't say its bad,
however its overrated to hell.
i see that you rated this a 4, I can see where the rage is coming from after seeing the huge echo chamber praising this as the second coming of christ.
however

the rating of 4 or lower should only be reserved to the truly abhorrent series like drinking BLEACH, re:shit, midjitsu kaisen, or my dumpster academia.
series that only have gotten high scores due to their high animation quality and nothing else even though the manga had shit writing.

oshi no ko's manga might be slightly overrated, but it would say it stands in its own right, so i can't  completely say the animation carried it, unlike my re:shit or stuff like midjitsu kaisen with manga art uglier than ONEs from opm (which he does on purpose at this point)

noraqs99 said:
No because it's bad. Or at least, technically proficient but a complete mess in the writing department. There are an infinite amount of shows with better premieres but if we go for "any medium" I'd go to Twin Peaks first; utterly haunting.

noraqs99 said:

4 is my "mediocre" rating.

Pillsbury_Uchiha said:
Is this the best first episode thats ever made been in any medium? 
If not give examples 

Neostorm-X said:
I seeee
so you are one of those who uses 5 as the baseline eh?
I respect that but since 90% of people don't do it, some people get the wrong idea that you are saying its worse than it is.


anyhow, as an inspiring writer and some one who researches writing, 
I always check to see what the source material is like and what THAT rating is before I see the anime, 
because even though its possible for an anime to be much worse than its source material but skiping and altering things.

its almost never the case where an anime can be better than the source material. because unless you are only looking for saguka fight scenes like the old new grounds animations etc with no plot.

the baseline writing is whats important.

for example I remember when midjitsu kaisen first came out and only 30 chapters existed. this was like 6 or so years ago. and i remember seeing the manga with only a 6.6 score or something, and I read it, and it was extremely mediocre, both the dialogue and the plot was horrendous, it was like some fanfiction from watpad doing some edgy roll play, the blindfold guy just came out as extremely edgy or contrived, and gojo acts exactly like 90% of shounen protagonists at the time, the whole trio of characters is so overdone and all the uniforms powers and dynamics were not interesting also the art fucking sucked. for example when fujimoto drew nobura on his twitter it was hilarious because he completely mogged the original author Akutamis art of the same picture.

jjk literally was horrendous to the core, it was like mass produced story written by AI,
then the anime came, and all of a sudden the multi million dollar animation turned a mediocre story, into an also still  mediocre story BUT NOW IT HAS FLASHY ANIMATIONS AND FIGHTS,
then everyone liked it. horrible writing and bad world building aside.

Enel- said:
I thought the writing was really good personally and did a good job of getting you to care for the characters in the time in had and hooks you into the story perfectly. The execution was extremely well done and I think that's the reason there's been so many high ratings. I'll admit I've gone through these chapters multiple times as I'm a manga reader and love the series, but I felt like everything met and even exceeded any expectations I had. As has been mentioned in this thread, I do agree it's the best first episode of any series, but it's definitely an unfair comparison since it's essentially a movie. That said, the studio really knocked it out of the park. 

I'm not gonna speak about "themes" as i feel like that's used as a buzzword a lot of the time, the most important thing to me is a narrative where I'm invested in the plot and characters and cannot wait to see what happens next. I feel like every arc in this series has its strong points. 

k11chi said:
Of course not. It's just the prologue in a movie length episode. I heard this same song and dance with Ranking of Kings 3 episodes in, how it cannot be topped.

noraqs99 said:

"art having meaning is a buzzword actually" ???????? what kinda take is this

like its ok to casually watch stuff for entertainmemt but how u gonna just be anti-analysis lmfao like i feel like talking of a works themes is an objectively good thing

Cestlavie_ said:
Regardless of how the shows turned out I'll say the best are from
Akame ga Kill
The promised Neverland
AOT
Death Note
To your eternity
Erased
etc

Apolygon2 said:


if not for that, stuff like steins;gate, the promised neverland, attack on titan or mars red would easily beat it.

Dignity said:
Mars Red, you my friend have great taste. That episode 1 was orgasmic, unfortunate the rest of the anime wasn't on par but it was still enjoyable

noraqs99 said:

i havent read the manga but its the baseline writing i have an issue with. wrote this for letterboxd and the duscussion forum;

"A modernized spin on the themes of Perfect Blue, but watered down and given far less care and subtlety, wrapped in an Isekai story device and the shitty comedy (the person who wrote Kaguya-sama wrote this? unbelievable fall off) that often comes along with it - making it feel less prescient and ahead of its time and more regressive, clunky, and obvious. That being said, there is some scenes here that are incredibly well written for emotional affect and it provides the baseline for a gripping story. I am, however, left curious how it'll succeed considering the most interesting and thematically strong character seems to be out of the picture in the first episode.

The character designs and animation are gorgeous, that much is obvious. That aspect most obviously comes out in the flashy performance scenes, but there are quiet moments delivered with such strength too. The potential such things show leaves me evermore frustrated at its failures on a writing level. Having the technical skill to be Satoshi Kon does not make you Satoshi Kon - one must also have the intelligence to carefully weave complex, layered themes into your work, and the audacity to play with the conceptual limits of the medium as delivery method for an improved and visceral understanding of those themes as seen in Perfect Blue or Paprika."

if that gives you a better understanding of my issues. it fails to dive into its themes, only unsubtly gesturing at "idol culture bad" instead of exploring why, how it perpetuates, and how we can get rid of it, through the potential of the audiovisual medium. it's stupid and sloppy, failing to live up to the comparisons it so clearly wants with Perfect Blue.

noraqs99 said:
No because it's bad. Or at least, technically proficient but a complete mess in the writing department. There are an infinite amount of shows with better premieres but if we go for "any medium" I'd go to Twin Peaks first; utterly haunting.

Thorf said:
Attack on titan begs to differ. There's also death note, terror in resonance, ajin, vinland saga and more. 

Pillsbury_Uchiha said:
Is this the best first episode thats ever made been in fiction? 
If not give examples

edit
Also, dont say its unfair because of the length
because you cant do anything about it