Wow, I am so relieved I made time for myself last night to finish Akito’s route! I had a feeling this weeks’ episode was going to focus on him so I sacrificed a bit of my sleeping hours for play time. But while the playthrough paid off preventing myself from being spoiled, unfortunately the execution of this week’s episode was extremely sloppy. The entire episode was a mess, the pacing, the animation, the transition between scenes, it was all over the place. I was disappointed because there were a lot of things they could have done so much better. For example, I fail to understand why they changed the location of where Nanami was supposed to fall. It would have made way more sense to have her standing near one of the impacts holes of the ship (as she was originally supposed to), than being knocked off her freaking feet onto the side. Frankly how it happened as was outright stupid! Whose idea was it anyways!? Is it really that hard to still to the original material? And believe me, I wouldn’t feel any differently had I not played the game.
There were a lot of things going on this episode, but it appears to me they are attempting to cement who will be the “canon” love interest for each of the girls. Kakeru and Koharu are already the obvious, this week pointed to Nanami and Akito, and as for Mikoto… It appears to be in between the attacker (who I will not name yet) and Sakuya- so I am not entirely sure which route they are going to follow, but the opening does imply the greater possibility of the attacker route. Considering how they have been dramatically changing the sequence of events, I do have suspicions they will do it again for some of upcoming events, in hopes to maybe throw a curve-ball in order to make it more unpredictable.
And this brings me to my next point: I am seeing a very critical problem that can get out of hand very quickly. I have seen this happen before and usually it does not end well. I am referring to the infamous “Hogging the Spotlight” problem.
For the three episodes now, Kakeru and Koharu have had the most screen-time, leaving choppy bits of hints and bits for the other couples. With Kakeru being bedridden next week, we can only hope for an opening opportunity for another couple to get sufficient screen-time for the sake of their development. What is even worse though, is that the other characters who were not selected to be the girls’ love interest become almost non-existent. It is tricky when you are juggling nine characters, but it is a lot easier if they are able to execute and plan the storyboard by being time efficient with the important parts. With so little time on their hands, it is problematic how this show only has twelve episodes to work with. Had they had more episodes to work with, I sense it would have presented them a lot more time to spread things out to execute properly.
I think most will agree it was almost meaningless to even introduce Sorata three episodes late. They showed the audience the prologue of how he got onto the Norn in the first place, but then they skipped out on his introduction, clearly hoping the audience would remember the flyer with the year he was from (news flash: most people would forget), they left out his confusion and opportunity to interact more meaningfully with the characters and ultimately jumped to how he is able to see one mysterious girl on the ship that nobody else knows about. Of course the mysterious girl was not the only stranger this episode, but another mysterious man, only this time talking with Akito before vanishing into thin air.
Koharu and the audience were also able to see saw a different side of Kakeru, a lot darker side. Well, not to say the least he isn’t intimidating enough with how he goes after Senri (who is precious by the way). Can’t blame the kid for being scared of him. Kakeru slapped her hand away when she tried to brush dirt off his ear because of his earring- something he doesn’t like anyone touching. It made her uneasy but before long he was back to sunshine and rainbows face. We later learn the earring is a memento of Kakeru’s father, who was murdered. But beside the gloomier moments, there were also some amusing scenes. Koharu’s naive personality always gives me a kick since she takes everything she hears so seriously, and how she thought for a moment Kakeru was actually a girl! Perhaps the best part was (as Itsuki said best), seeing Kakeru lose to a plant.
Mikoto and Sakuya had very little air time, but they were able to at least follow up further on the promise that was mention last week. The promise involves Sakuya not falling in love with anyone. They also show us just how bad she is at art. Mikoto was attempting to draw a portrait of the attacker to try and get a reaction from the traitor, but it is completely indistinguishable. It certainly doesn’t help how Sakuya flatters her for how beautiful and accurate it is. He know it sucks, but he doesn’t have it in him to tell her that straight to her face! Sakuya is presently enjoying the fact he and Mikoto are able to interact some more.
Finally, we further learned how Nanami and Akito have a very complicated and tense relationship. Nanami is shouldering guilt of her sins, and wants and expects Akito to kill her. But more than anything, Akito is more infuriated with the fact she keeps on telling him to kill her, nor does he hate her enough to want to see her die before his eyes. Having hurt him in the past, Nanami feels obliged to take responsibility for that, especially if he is the traitor- which is is presently convinced to be the case. But most importantly, she is the only one who knows he is in fact not an esper. She is worried if he is paired with someone else, he would be found out. Furthermore, she knows “he” is there too.
Next week I smell there will be a lot of adjustments made from the original material. I am expecting them to throw a curve-ball and at this point the anime is going to make some original moves. Can’t say it’s for the better since this episode really did not showcase that particular effort in good light. Here’s to hoping next week will have a more stable pacing and all around better delivery.
I’m glad you took my advice on playing more of the game to enjoy the anime better. Norn9’s original source material is the best way to experience it.
But I was really looking forward to the anime because I mostly wanted to see my OTP (NanamixAkito). But I pretty much knew the anime wouldn’t be able to show enough of any of the couples because of the limitations of the medium. (I love hearing Nanami’s thoughts since she doesn’t really show her emotions or talk much. Can’t really do that much in anime form) And I agree about your thoughts on the execution of the last scene with Akito and Nanami. It was so much more dramatic in the game. Falling off a ship that is flying in the air compared to falling from the roof is not as dramatic. Plus, Koharu has fallen twice already which kind of diminishes Nanami’s plot-important fall. Not only that, Nanami wouldn’t be that careless. She is from a Shinobi family. Ah, the whole ship looks really different from the game and it is kind of throwing me off. The roof looks totally different, and it is such a special area. Plus, there wouldn’t be strong winds on the ship because of Mikoto’s barrier and the ship walls. Still, the backgrounds in the anime look beautiful, just like in the game.
From the opening of the anime, they are following the three canon guys for each girl (Kakeru, Akito and “attacker”). They are canon because in the game, they are listed first and they dominate the opening. And well, chapter 1 for each girl really hints to their canon guy. Plus, in a Japan poll, those three are in the top 3. So it makes sense to go with them, but I feel really bad for the other guys. They are like side characters, while in the game, everyone is so important. Despite there being a traitor, everyone kind of feels like a mismatched family, and you get attached to them all over the course of multiple playthroughs. I’m feeling very sorry for Sakuya. He gets lots of backstory with Mikoto, but he won’t be able to be with her. 🙁 Plus, I need some girl bonding time, like in the game.
Looking at some comments regarding the anime, people seem really confused and I don’t blame them. Without playing the game, you will miss some important information, like the World, relationships between the characters and the whole Sorata prologue. He and Koharu basically introduced you to the world and the characters, and the anime pretty much skimmed tons of stuff. I’m afraid of how they will play out the true ending scenes because of it.
Anyway, I’m kind of rambling here. Haha. I need to get this out of my chest. I hope you don’t mind. ^_^;
From the preview, it doesn’t seem like they are derailing too much from the game. The whole Sorata and Mikoto leaving the ship is a scene from the “attacker’s” route.
It’s really strange seeing all these events happening all over the place with so many characters when I’m used to seeing it from one point of view. The game did have some pacing issues (it’s hard to gauge the timeflow), but at least it was always with one point of view. I don’t think the anime will be able to fix the jumping scenes issue because of the merging of the three couples in one story, plus Sorata’s story. You will just have to play the game to understand the anime 100%, which is unfortunate. Norn9 is a really amazing game, imo, and the anime isn’t really helping the series gain new players unless they enjoy reverse harems/otome games.
Anyway, I look forward to the next episode, nonetheless. I enjoy watching my favourite characters interact and seeing all the powers being used. And I am also looking forward to your next review for this anime. 🙂
I am very thankful for your advice, it paid off big time! So thank you! I did a mad marathon because I made the goal to complete the routes (before true end) by or before episode 4. I just have to now finish Akito’s route (LOL I got the bad end, so I’ll be playing for the Happy End tonight), and finish the “Attacker” route (also bad end- which I can tell you absolutely DESTROYED ME (PREVIEW: I AM NOT OKAY), you’ll see my full dramatic reaction when I complete the article for the game!) At one point I ran out of paper for my notes LMAO!
I can tell you I will be ecstatic if they are going with Mikoto x “Attacker” because it’s hands down my favourite route at the moment, also my OTP. I just have to do Itsuki’s next, and I really like him too so I hope his route will live up to my hype I had built towards him. But yeah poor Sakuya, but also poor Itsuki. Mikoto has a group of GREAT guys. Probably the best of the entire game to be honest.
I can see the writers struggling to put the pieces of the story together, especially how we learn so much more about it in each different routes because of how differently the stories unfold- sometimes making it spoilerish if you hadn’t played a specific route. It is a tough challenge to tackle, but I hope they can figure something out. I am sure there is a way, but it without a doubt a difficult feat.