The Asterisk War (light novel)
| Before I start on this I want to make one thing clear. I am in no means disregarding Digibro's long review of TAW nor do I think that he's wrong in the points he makes regarding this anime's problems. In addition, I am in no means attacking Digibro or anyone who supports him. I've watched his review three times already and for the most part I agree with just about everything he says. So to anyone who decides to reply to this thread please refrain from saying, "Digibro said this! Digibro said that! Therefore you don't know what you're talking about and you're an idiot if you think there's anything good about this show!" I am not interested in what Digibro said and I have better things to do than argue with people who can't accept other people's opinion. Either be respectful or GTFO. Now, moving on. To describe just how I feel about this anime let me use a quote from anime reviewer Arkada's most recent review of Psycho Pass 2. "Sometimes I like it when I come across a series that I referred to as 'Enjoyably Flawed'. It's a series that when you watch it there will always be parts of it, maybe even large parts of it, that have glaring issues. From animation and art style to more often story and character development. But despite these flaws that would normally cripple the enjoyment of the show for me it's able to mask it enough so that I can still enjoy it while being fully aware of its problems." - Tristan "Arkada" Gallant June 19, 2016 from his review of Psycho Pass 2 This is exactly how I feel when I watched TAW. I'd be the first to acknowledge it's problems but even then I still like for what it is. Now granted, there are some products out there that are so bad they have no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Despite what you might believe, TAW is not one of them. When reviewing something like this you have to be willing to look at the positives along with the negatives, something that I feel Digibro didn't take into account when he did his review on this show. If you just focus on one side of the coin, in this case the negatives, then your review is going to end up sounding bias and that you're just ranting your reasons on why you hate this show so much. And this is the biggest problem I have with his review despite the fact that I agree with him for the most part. I can't deny that Digibro had well thought out his review. He knows the anime industry much more than I can hope to be. However, at the same I feel as though he took this show a little too personally. Making a negative review is one thing, but making 12+ videos on a single anime is taking it a bit too far. I understand his reasons but I can't support them. Making that many videos makes it look like you're on personal vendetta on the studio that made. That's not to say I'm excusing A-1 Pictures from this. A-1 has been making a lot of shit shows lately(TAW is no exception) and the way they're running things with their employers is indeed atrocious. However, while I may not agree with their ways, I have to keep reminding myself that A-1 is still a business and that they're out to make money. It's not exactly a matter of greed, it's that the studio has to be able to pay their employees. And if making shows like this is the only way to do it, then so be it. I may not agree with that kind of thinking but I can't hold it against them either. Now in regards on why I like this show despite all of its problems let me just repeat what I said on Season 2 Episode 12 Discussion. I remember when I first saw this series last season I was immediately put off by it in the first episode. At the same time, however, I was watching Volume 3 of RWBY and after my frustration finally culminated I stopped watching it. But then I was left with a void so I decided to give this series another shot just to see if I can relieve my frustration. To my surprise, not only did it relieve my frustration by I also ended up liking this show. Is it a great show? No, not by a long shot. Is it really as terrible as everyone else says it is? Well, I think the better question to ask would be: "Does it really deserve all the hatred it gets?" In my opinion: Yes and no. Yes because it is a perfect example of everything that's wrong with anime today. No because despite all its problems, TAW still had the potential to become something greater had it not been written the way it was or taken in the direction the anime did. So basically, I like this anime for many of the same reasons I like Sailor Moon(the original, not the reboot). And while I'll be the to agree that Sailor Moon(again the original, not the reboot) is a far superior series, I still stand by my point. Like many other anime, The Asterisk War has a great concept but suffers poor execution. Going into this show I already had a pretty good idea of what it was going to be like. Yes, the ecchi, fanservice, and harem elements can indeed get rather annoying but having gotten used to those things are easier to ignore. In short, TAW suffers from the exact same problems that SAO does in that it doesn't know what it wants to be. And what I mean is that throughout the series it keeps switching back and forth between harem, action, and comedy. It never focuses on just one of those elements. This was prevalent in Season 1. Season 2 allowed the show to settle down a bit more of the action genre. If we do get a Season 3, I do hope that it will being more focused enough to give the show it's own identity. Despite all its problems, I liked TAW for two reasons: The compassion between the characters and it's concept. It's clear to me that this show deserved than what it got, but I still enjoyed it for what it was. Some of you I'm sure may never understand why I think that and will think I'm crazy. Well, perhaps I am, but that's who I am. I do intend to to make a Anime That Deserved Better discussion on this show so for those who like this anime but wish it could have been better be on the lookout for that. I'm DirectorK and until next time, stay tuned. |
| "You talk too much. Think too much." "I don't care how justified you think your reasons are. I won't tolerate liars or thieves." "If you're not going to be nice to me, don't expect me to be nice to you." "I'm a soldier, not a superhero. Don't ever think of me as one." "The world doesn't revolve around you. Get that through your thick skull." "People who live by their emotions go nowhere in their lives. They only find misery. "If you don't like the way your life is than do something about it instead of sitting there feeling sorry for yourself." "You want something go get it. Period." |
| Can't agree with you enough. TAW is indeed something that appears generic on the surface and has several glaring flaws that one could identify just by looking slightly below the surface, I admit that I myself initially refused to touch the show with a 10-inch pole after merely looking at all of the negative responses to it. But after taking a chance with it, while I could identify and understand the flaws everyone was pointing out, the show was in no way something that instantly compelled me to burn off the face of the Earth. There are certainly shows done so badly that they would merit that kind of response, or even shows that try so hard to do something new, but instead crash and burn like nothing else. In my opinion, TAW is something that sits comfortably within the realm of "safe"- what I see with the show is exactly what I get, and it's done decently enough that, while I'm not pulled in hook, line, and sinker, I at least look forward to watching each new episode. It's something of a "relaxing watch", which is by no means a bad thing. After all, watching only the most phenomenal shows that grab my heart and squeeze every last drop of blood out by every passing minute would probably be bad for my health. If there's one thing that compelled me to continue watching the show, it's probably the world-building that comes out of it. This may just be bias on my part after reading the LN's, as the anime does admittedly do a rather poor job when it comes to exposition and setting things up, but I like how- amidst all of the generic character personalities and motivations- there seems to have been a fair bit of effort put into establishing the various factions and overall setting. It's not just one-off reveals shoved in for plot convenience either, but well thought out tidbits that continue to stay relevant even as the story progresses. |
| Yeah Arkada nailed it, even though he hasn't talked about Asterisk and probably hasn't even watched it, he always says very interesting things and he's by far my favorite reviewer. I'm not a fan of Asterisk and most of what Digibro said about it made sense to me, but for some reason that I don't know how to explain, I found myself more interested in it than in Cavalry, and I'm really glad it got a second season. Asterisk has way better art, music, and characters in my opinion (Saya is definitely my favorite, I wish she was the protagonist tbh). |
| The only thing digibro did well was getting asterisk into the spotlight and making it even more popular ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) |
 |
AnimeFanboy1234 said: "When reviewing something like this you have to be willing to look at the positives along with the negatives, something that I feel Digibro didn't take into account when he did his review on this show." Has it occurred to you that just maybe, what YOU considered to be positives, HE didn't? For somebody who wants others to respect your opinion, you yourself appear to be VERY close minded in this category. Also, the videos was made so long because, the titles themselves say so: Everything that's wrong with modern anime. Why do you think one of the parts is titled, "OR How to screw up a sci-fi setting", etc. Besides, you have given me no reason to care about your opinion, because you have given almost no elaboration. All you said is that the Asterisk War is enjoyable for you, it has, "compassion between characters", that's it. Unless I forgot something (which I tend to do). I'm not asking you to care about my opinion. What I am asking is to understand why certain people like myself actually liked this series for the reasons stated above by myself and a couple others. Whether you agree or not is entirely up to you because in the end I don't really care. I'm not going to start repeating myself just because someone can't accept the fact that some people didn't hate TAW as much as Digibro and many others did. These are our opinions, not Digibro's or yours. If you can't accept that then I have nothing else to say to you. And did you forget the fact that I actually agreed with Digibro for the most part? If not, read the post again. Like I said, I understand his reasons but I can't agree with them. |
| "You talk too much. Think too much." "I don't care how justified you think your reasons are. I won't tolerate liars or thieves." "If you're not going to be nice to me, don't expect me to be nice to you." "I'm a soldier, not a superhero. Don't ever think of me as one." "The world doesn't revolve around you. Get that through your thick skull." "People who live by their emotions go nowhere in their lives. They only find misery. "If you don't like the way your life is than do something about it instead of sitting there feeling sorry for yourself." "You want something go get it. Period." |
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