Spring 2021 Anime: Oops All Sequels

[Mattias]

That death in 86 would probably mean a lot more if I actually knew which one died. The fact that Whitey only knows them by their callsign, but all the character development was done with their real names means there's even more dissociation from the impact of their death. Was it Redhead Crush? Black haired slut? Slave Albino? I have no idea.

On another note it's really short sighted of the Reapers in TWEWY to tell the people they're harassing that they aren't allowed to attack them. Like sure he can't physically attack them because they'd stomp him into the ground, but he can slap the food out of their hands at every opportunity.

[Arete]

Decided to keep going with Kabaddi since I hadn't heard of the sport before. Show is pretty generic sports anime but the sport itself is interesting, so I'll probably stick with it.

First episode was definitely the most painful of the new series I've watched so far this season. It feels like a big waste having the girl be the only one that is already sympathetic to the 86, rather than having to go through the character development for it. I mean what is her main flaw that she's trying to overcome? Naivety? And adding in that they like cake does not count as character development writers.

I get what the show is trying to do and can see the underlying message behind it, but it's approach to the themes of war just feel insulting personally.

TWEWY is better than I expected but I did set my expectations low. Fights are below average but I they do have a fun momentum to them and I can't say I cared all that much about the fights while playing. It suffers some of the problems the game did such as order of events, but it's hard to criticise it if it's just following the source material. And they did the right thing in including a lot of the songs from the game.

TF is going great like I'd hoped. Just when it seems like something is getting stale or your sick of a character still being kept in the plot, they do something to revitalise it. Also amusing how Lin didn't know something that the rest did for once. Not as knowledgeable as first thought. Still his trick with the guards is one I always love to see. Not sure what I think about the sci-fi elements they're adding.

Vivy is a surprise hit for me. First episode's opening was great and Vivy manages to pull off the robot personality well without getting annoying like so many others do. I like premise of taking place over a hundred years, though admittedly we have to be told how much time has passed since nothing in the visuals conveys it which is a small complaint.

[bassgs435]

That death in 86 would probably mean a lot more if I actually knew which one died. The fact that Whitey only knows them by their callsign, but all the character development was done with their real names means there's even more dissociation from the impact of their death. Was it Redhead Crush? Black haired slut? Slave Albino? I have no idea.

On another note it's really short sighted of the Reapers in TWEWY to tell the people they're harassing that they aren't allowed to attack them. Like sure he can't physically attack them because they'd stomp him into the ground, but he can slap the food out of their hands at every opportunity.

You can go to the official site. Dead characters are marked with destroyed. Besides that, you can also wait for next week and it'll be obvious when we go to Spearhead's perspective

[Rafflesiac]

That death in 86 would probably mean a lot more if I actually knew which one died. The fact that Whitey only knows them by their callsign, but all the character development was done with their real names means there's even more dissociation from the impact of their death. Was it Redhead Crush? Black haired slut? Slave Albino? I have no idea.

On another note it's really short sighted of the Reapers in TWEWY to tell the people they're harassing that they aren't allowed to attack them. Like sure he can't physically attack them because they'd stomp him into the ground, but he can slap the food out of their hands at every opportunity.

On the contrary, it built tension until Lena finally referred to Black Hair Girl, which she did in the lounge room scene.

[mami-kouga]

First episode was definitely the most painful of the new series I've watched so far this season. It feels like a big waste having the girl be the only one that is already sympathetic to the 86, rather than having to go through the character development for it. I mean what is her main flaw that she's trying to overcome? Naivety? And adding in that they like cake does not count as character development writers.

From the start and as the episodes go by Lena's flaw is painfully obvious- she's baby's first defender of social justice. Her heart is in the right place but ultimately she's very privileged, doesn't really know what she's talking about and doesn't really understand the feelings of the oppressed minority she's trying to connect with. As a result her attempts at making a difference amount to acting friendly all the while still being a major in the army that sends people to die as fodder in shit ass mechas makes her come off as insincere as fuck. Essentially she's not learning to not be racist, she's learning how to actually listen to the voices of the group that's being oppressed and bridge the gap from there.

- - - Updated - - -

Maybe it's because I relate a lot to Lena (unfortunately) but people's reading of her character has been confusing me a fair bit at this point and I'm not even a novel reader

[weeblord]

86 ep3: Great ep. Really liked the impersonal way they did Kaies scene. The peeking stuff was anime original though, in the novel its just Daiya accidentally stumbling onto them, his character bio is basically "tall dude with shit luck".

I'm sympathetic to Lena honestly, she reminds me of myself at her age- spouting ideals based off my own self satisfaction, lacking power but also not even truly knowing what I'm doing, thinking things would be fine just cause I'm a nice person and I'll momentarily feel bad even if I'm not truly doing anything. In the end she's just a cog in the system who is trying her best to go against it even if just a little bit. But it's too little for the oppressed race she's being friendly with which is why even with some slight hypocrisy in Theo's words at the end (they don't know her name either and as far as their concerned she's a pig princess who will be gone in like a month) I still mostly agree with his sentiment and felt that was something she had to hear at some point.

Also interesting thing, I don't know if it's just me but Lena feels different when she's shown in her room vs when she's just a voice talking to 86. When she's on her own it becomes obvious that she's not malicious, is trying her best and genuinely wants to connect with them. But as just a voice she feels like a buzzkill who seems to be constantly getting too friendly with the people she's still basically leading to their thoughts. In short she seems more annoying as a voice.

While Theo is not a character to be portrayed as objectively correct, i dont think its hypocritical of him since theyre coming from very different places. To the 86 talking to Lena is just a way to kill time, but they dont care about her. Handler 1 works just fine, shes just their handler that gets awfully chatty and buddy buddy. But Lena wants to get to know them, and makes a very proud self-satisfactory backpatting statement of "oh i dont think of you as 86, i would NEVER call you 86, you guys are human just like me hehe" (you can practically hear the eyeroll in Raidens reply). Thats why its a pretty big whoops that while she asked the name of the cat, she never even thought of asking the human names of the 86, simply referring to them as their titles as badass war units and the data on her screen. Not taboo in itself, the 86 are very proud of their strength, but theyre not just war units, they're human too, and while they were mourning the loss of their dear friend Lena comes in and goes "thoughts and prayers, really sad about the loss of Badass War Unit #8", which was the last straw that broke Theo's patience. All the bragging she did to Henrietta about how shes bonding with the 86, and she didnt even know their names.

That death in 86 would probably mean a lot more if I actually knew which one died. The fact that Whitey only knows them by their callsign, but all the character development was done with their real names means there's even more dissociation from the impact of their death. Was it Redhead Crush? Black haired slut? Slave Albino? I have no idea. .

It's Kaie, the friendly blackhaired girl with the ponytail. I get that for an anime watcher it might be difficult to internalize all the names with such a big cast, especially since they use 2 names for every character, but it did mention who kirschblute is. Lena refers to her as Kirschblute when theyre chatting. Also if youre german savvy, Kirschblute means cherry blossom and they mentioned Kaie was asian (or "Orienta", as the race is called in 86) with the whole yobai and yamato nadeshiko stuff.

[mami-kouga]

Point noted on them coming from different places in regards to how much they care about interpersonal relationships with one another

[Mattias]

It's Kaie, the friendly blackhaired girl with the ponytail. I get that for an anime watcher it might be difficult to internalize all the names with such a big cast, especially since they use 2 names for every character, but it did mention who kirschblute is. Lena refers to her as Kirschblute when theyre chatting. Also if youre german savvy, Kirschblute means cherry blossom and they mentioned Kaie was asian (or "Orienta", as the race is called in 86) with the whole yobai and yamato nadeshiko stuff.

She did mention it in that scene but there was also a bunch of other characters in that shot as well, so I had no idea who she was referring to. And I missed her being Asain, since the only line about that seemed to be the "rare race in the camps". So she's basically a Mikasa Ackerman, without superpowered genes. I wish the yamato nadeshiko stuff could be a tip off but this is anime, where you have people in steampunk Britain (or even complete fantasy worlds) throwing around obscure Japanese idioms.

That said, I expected it to be her since she's the one the show actually made me like that episode. It's the old Shrike Team play from Gundam Victory.

[Rafflesiac]

She did mention it in that scene but there was also a bunch of other characters in that shot as well, so I had no idea who she was referring to. And I missed her being Asain, since the only line about that seemed to be the "rare race in the camps". So she's basically a Mikasa Ackerman, without superpowered genes. I wish the yamato nadeshiko stuff could be a tip off but this is anime, where you have people in steampunk Britain (or even complete fantasy worlds) throwing around obscure Japanese idioms.

That said, I expected it to be her since she's the one the show actually made me like that episode. It's the old Shrike Team play from Gundam Victory.

And yes, the show flickers between the other characters in the room after, but Kaie's the only one who responds.

[Mattias]

Yeah, I missed that. I just thought it was "do you hate us?" and black hair just was the only one to answer.

[RoydGolden]

Watched episode 3 of The Worlds Ends With You. Dang, I didn't expect SPOILERRhyme to bite it this ep. Figured she'd be one of the main gang all the way through the series. We never even found out what the "dream" she likely gave up as her Entry Fee was. I haven't been a wild fan of the show's action-sequences but I have to admit the fight with Higashizawa was pretty hype. Good insert-song and Neku running across his giant arms to deal the finishing blow looked awesome. Of course, as expected with how they were rushing through the days the "game" isn't actually over for good after one week. Gotta' say this episode definitely did a good job of making me hate the Reapers. They may be just doing their jobs in the cosmic hierarchy or whatever but they're so freaking smug and blase about the terrible things they do you wanna see their stupid faces punched in anyway.

[Arete]

Essentially she's not learning to not be racist, she's learning how to actually listen to the voices of the group that's being oppressed and bridge the gap from there.

I can't say it's doing a very good job of conveying that when they show in the first episode that she's already listening to the voices of the oppressed. In fact she's the only one that seems to be. If that's what he character arc was supposed to be then they already failed by starting her at the end. Or perhaps they have her regress for some reason and then that's worse, being done just to cause drama in the first episode.

I am curious to know what your take on the character is, cause most of the takes I read don't match up with what I watch.

[Mattias]

Oddtaxi 4: When rate-up is such a lie, you commit murder. I was not expecting a twenty minute digression on gacha in this show.

[mami-kouga]

I can't say it's doing a very good job of conveying that when they show in the first episode that she's already listening to the voices of the oppressed. In fact she's the only one that seems to be. If that's what he character arc was supposed to be then they already failed by starting her at the end. Or perhaps they have her regress for some reason and then that's worse, being done just to cause drama in the first episode.

I am curious to know what your take on the character is, cause most of the takes I read don't match up with what I watch.

I'll be honest and say your impressions are legitimately baffling me.

1. I'm sure she looks like a downright saint when everyone else is either apathetic to the feelings of the 86 or just condescending jerks but you're grossly misunderstanding what I meant by 'listening'. Lena's way of approaching the 86 isn't very good, she doesn't know better so I don't really fault her for it but she mostly moves by how she feels is the correct way to act rather than putting their feelings into more account (she makes sure to speak in a friendly manner to her squad in the first episode but it's obvious they hate her guts and are just barely being polite because, surprise, one of the soldiers who is still helping in sending you to your deaths crying over the loss of people you actually know day to day and talking as if you're friends doesn't make you happy). She kind of works under her own preconceived notion of being a good person towards them and her sense of ideals clashes a bit with the reality of their situation.

2. I said her problem gets more obvious as the episodes go on and as of episode 3 there's been a start to the resolution to the problem. Episode one gives you a taste of her character but nothing that's shown later contradicts it.

3. You've made a lot of assumptions even though you've literally only watched the first episode!

- - - Updated - - -

"Sometimes even well meaning people make micro aggressions that hurt the people they're declaring themselves allies with that can make them as angry or even angrie that one just being a straightforward bigot" one probably learns this the hard way at some point in their life

[bassgs435]

86 is the big popular LN of the season. So, as happened with SAO, some people will have baffling nonsensical takes just to criticise it and put themselves above those who like it. Trying to prove it's actually a shit story for plebs and these all knowing critics are too smart and above such simple stories the plebs like. My advice is to do as I do with SAO and ignore the critics. Talking to these people is like talking to a wall.

[R.Lock]

Just off episode 1, Lena is a rich, successful kid with connections, living far away from conflict. Even if she does nothing, her future is secure as far as society is concerned. That already places her as far away from people fighting on the front as possible.

Now, what her efforts amount to? Friendly words and empty promises. Lena is not high up enough to improve the life of her subordinates, nor is she low-ranking enough to not take responsibility for continuing the work of her predecessors. Her previous subordinate is barely concealing hostility and speaks with thick sarcasm, showing that she failed to reach even those she was building the case for.

No power, no support, no effect. Lena's fellow people have no reason to disturb the order, while her subordinates have no reason to believe in empty platitudes of the voice in their head. It's even arguable if Lena can take morally high ground for merely doing her job the way it's supposed to be done.

Even if it can be argued that Lena is highly empathetic and simply lacks experience and inside knowledge, well, what of it. Her subordinates don't know her circumstances, can't know, and, really, have no reason to care about her. The ones dying are her subordinates, not her.

Now then, viewing Lena strictly positively or strictly negatively goes against both common sense and what 86 tries to convey. The show is willing to say that Lena is a good kid with a good heart, but is not against rebuking her on her short-sightedness. Also, a good lesson to convey that simply saying that "I'm not a racist" doesn't mean that one is not a racist.

[Arete]

I'll be honest and say your impressions are legitimately baffling me.

1. I'm sure she looks like a downright saint when everyone else is either apathetic to the feelings of the 86 or just condescending jerks but you're grossly misunderstanding what I meant by 'listening'. Lena's way of approaching the 86 isn't very good, she doesn't know better so I don't really fault her for it but she mostly moves by how she feels is the correct way to act rather than putting their feelings into more account (she makes sure to speak in a friendly manner to her squad in the first episode but it's obvious they hate her guts and are just barely being polite because, surprise, one of the soldiers who is still helping in sending you to your deaths crying over the loss of people you actually know day to day and talking as if you're friends doesn't make you happy). She kind of works under her own preconceived notion of being a good person towards them and her sense of ideals clashes a bit with the reality of their situation.

2. I said her problem gets more obvious as the episodes go on and as of episode 3 there's been a start to the resolution to the problem. Episode one gives you a taste of her character but nothing that's shown later contradicts it.

3. You've made a lot of assumptions even though you've literally only watched the first episode!

- - - Updated - - -

"Sometimes even well meaning people make micro aggressions that hurt the people they're declaring themselves allies with that can make them as angry or even angrie that one just being a straightforward bigot" one probably learns this the hard way at some point in their life

I didn't give any of my impressions in that statement. I was saying that 'if' what you said was true, it wasn't doing a good job of it. Also I'd watched another episode by that point so no I haven't only watched just one episode, though I feel like I'd be better off if I had. So yeah, my first comment was watching just one episode, and the second one I only made one assumption but that was being generous to it, and definitely not 'a lot' of assumptions.

I definitely wouldn't call her a saint, so if that's how you took my comments then you're not understanding them properly. And yeah I'd already gathered from what you said that that's what she's supposed to be like. This ain't my first rodeo. I'm more talking about how it's all presented in the anime being pretentious and not very subtle, insulting the intelligence of the audience at times. It doesn't really present things in the best manor and I don't know that I really care enough to put in the extra work to understand what it's really trying to say, especially when I could be looking too deep and giving it more credit than it's due.

You're mistaken if you think I disagree with your points, I'm more pointing out how it's conveyed poorly, with contradictions in how it's presented. Take for example when you say that she needs to learn how to account for their feelings better, yet in the first episode we're told she's supposedly the only one that seems to care for the 86, and already takes their feelings into account. I don't say you're wrong, just that the show doesn't present it in a good way

For me it's the exact sort of show that sounds better on paper as opposed to how it's actually executed. I like some of the ideas in there (though strong emphasis on some) but there's too much suspension of disbelief I need to do to accept it to begin with. Not to mention that while understand what it can be about can be interesting for an analysis, it doesn't do all that well to retain one's focus or interest for long.

On final comment. What does it matter if I'd one watched one episode anyway? I'm far from the only one who makes impressions about what is to come based on the pilots. And I wouldn't even say that I made all that many assumptions. Most of my comment was about the problems within that one episode, of which I didn't actually list my main ones, mostly cause they amount to the same thing.

[mami-kouga]

I didn't give any of my impressions in that statement. I was saying that 'if' what you said was true, it wasn't doing a good job of it. Also I'd watched another episode by that point so no I haven't only watched just one episode, though I feel like I'd be better off if I had. So yeah, my first comment was watching just one episode, and the second one I only made one assumption but that was being generous to it, and definitely not 'a lot' of assumptions.

I definitely wouldn't call her a saint, so if that's how you took my comments then you're not understanding them properly. And yeah I'd already gathered from what you said that that's what she's supposed to be like. This ain't my first rodeo. I'm more talking about how it's all presented in the anime being pretentious and not very subtle, insulting the intelligence of the audience at times. It doesn't really present things in the best manor and I don't know that I really care enough to put in the extra work to understand what it's really trying to say, especially when I could be looking too deep and giving it more credit than it's due.

You're mistaken if you think I disagree with your points, I'm more pointing out how it's conveyed poorly, with contradictions in how it's presented. Take for example when you say that she needs to learn how to account for their feelings better, yet in the first episode we're told she's supposedly the only one that seems to care for the 86, and already takes their feelings into account. I don't say you're wrong, just that the show doesn't present it in a good way

For me it's the exact sort of show that sounds better on paper as opposed to how it's actually executed. I like some of the ideas in there (though strong emphasis on some) but there's too much suspension of disbelief I need to do to accept it to begin with. Not to mention that while understand what it can be about can be interesting for an analysis, it doesn't do all that well to retain one's focus or interest for long.

On final comment. What does it matter if I'd one watched one episode anyway? I'm far from the only one who makes impressions about what is to come based on the pilots. And I wouldn't even say that I made all that many assumptions. Most of my comment was about the problems within that one episode, of which I didn't actually list my main ones, mostly cause they amount to the same thing.

I didn't take your comments as you viewing her as a saint, I just meant she must look saintly compared to everyone else. You seem to view her current state as a logical end to the point trying to be made in the story and would have made more sense for her to work towards while I find a story showing this kind of in between stage more fresh and find it's handling of it pretty realistic. You also didn't give any impression that you had gone past episode one, though I'll apologize for assuming you hadn't.

Her caring about the 86 doesn't quite mean truly putting their feelings into account. Its a start, since she acknowledges that they're people too and wants to try and do her job well and connect with them, but she also continues to make micro aggressions while thinking in her head that they've formed a close bond and asking them stuff like what they plan to do after they leave the military without thinking about the fact that she's never seen a Non-Alba in their city. I'm not sure how to convey this...like an parent of an bisexual child saying they accept that they're child is bi and not kicking them out of the house or something, but also making it obvious that they hope the child's partner is the opposite gender nor make much of an attempt to show support for their child being bi. I don't think the show contradicts itself in that sense.

While you didn't end up watching only one episode, knowledge of the two that followed it made your assumptions of how the story would handle Lena's issue (like regressing her character and saying that "liking cake isn't character development") feel kind of weird to me.

Honestly this story has as much nuance on the matter as a house on fire and the more "anime portions" with the fanservice attempted peeking and Lena's more cutesy quirks are stuff I'm not sure how to feel about but I really can't relate to what you find weak about the handling of Lena's drama specifically even after reading your points over and over.

[DTTS]

The peeking stuff was anime original though, in the novel its just Daiya accidentally stumbling onto them, his character bio is basically "tall dude with shit luck".

I personally quite liked this rendition of obligatory anime fanservice. The characters just bounced off each other really nicely, like one big family. The stoning was also funny.

While Theo is not a character to be portrayed as objectively correct, i dont think its hypocritical of him since theyre coming from very different places. To the 86 talking to Lena is just a way to kill time, but they dont care about her. Handler 1 works just fine, shes just their handler that gets awfully chatty and buddy buddy. But Lena wants to get to know them, and makes a very proud self-satisfactory backpatting statement of "oh i dont think of you as 86, i would NEVER call you 86, you guys are human just like me hehe" (you can practically hear the eyeroll in Raidens reply). Thats why its a pretty big whoops that while she asked the name of the cat, she never even thought of asking the human names of the 86, simply referring to them as their titles as badass war units and the data on her screen. Not taboo in itself, the 86 are very proud of their strength, but theyre not just war units, they're human too, and while they were mourning the loss of their dear friend Lena comes in and goes "thoughts and prayers, really sad about the loss of Badass War Unit #8", which was the last straw that broke Theo's patience. All the bragging she did to Henrietta about how shes bonding with the 86, and she didnt even know their names.

Theo was definitely justified in most things he said but I feel he overstepped when grouping her with the other Alba and basically guilttripping her for her (admitably 100% correct) priviliged life. It's not like the feelings of sadness and guilt she had for Kaie's death were an act or fake in any way and he basically still shat all over them. That's the one thing I think he went too far in.

[Rafflesiac]

Shiro is cute, and Maru is dead.

- - - Updated - - -

Really questionable how most of the dance got spent on Abe and was pretty floppy half the time too. It was fully animated at least, but I guess the rumors of the production being rushed were true.