"The fact that it's selling so well and has such an amazing fanbase says that it wasn't, being as the
word "failure" improves it well... failed"
Selling well doesn't prove anything. I think the problem with today's anime fans is that they are overwhelmed
by the beautiful style of anime that they simply ignore what truly makes a show great. Just last week I talked to a
long-time Clamp fan. I asked her why a lot of people like Clamp's work so much, and the answer she gave to me was
"because Clamp know how to draw their characters so good-looking". And I believe she spoke the truly, be it
childish or not. If you go to any Clamp forums, all they care about is "omg hime is so cute" and "how
come Kurogane and Fay haven't had sex yet?". Seriously wth is that...?
I also don't understand why you are so against me writing reviews with my opinions in it. Why would I use someone
else's standard to rate a show? And isn't that what a review is? Give people your opinions on the show instead
of just writing a synopsis? What I usually do is give my opinions and use ample examples to support them. Well maybe not
for this one because like I said I already stated most of my reasonings in my Bleach review. But if you want some
examples I'll give you examples. I commented that the humours are gay in this show. Here is an example.
Kurogane (to Fay and Monoka after monoka mimiced his voice): I'll kill both of you.
Fay: O no daddy is mad.
Monoka: This is my one of my 108 secret techniques.
Fay: That is so cute.
...
Do I really need to say more?
merged: 11-10-2007 ~ 05:55am
I don't know how to use the quote system on this forum so I'll just do this manually.
"And what manga/anime is there that doesn't fall into either of those two categories (Shounen/Shoujo)?
That's kinda the starting categorization for all animes, and if that's wrong I'd like for someone else to
fill me in. Also, if it's the same stuff over and over, why do you bother reviewing them, or even watching them for
that matter? Thats far too generic of an accusation for anyone to make. They may have common themes and such, but very
few shows are that similar if you look at them objectively. "
Yeah that one is my bad. Someone told me already. What I meant is a subgenre of Shonen/shojo which deals primarily with
a thirteen~sixteen year-old who saves world and goes through these basic routines: 1. tragic pasts. 2. continuing
power-up 3.there must be a final boss 4.when his friends are in dangeer, he gets pissed and powers up and saves the day
and becomes a hero. 5.must be gifted or have immense potential from the start.
"The problem is you CAN'T just chuck the "fancy fights" and "cute little conversations",
those are part of what build on the story, and in those conversations is where you learn the other things you are
looking for like depth. Maybe not all of those conversations are like that and fights can be overdone, but some of them
are. Judging the depth of the theme is something that isn't easy to do when the series isn't finished because
you can't look at it as a whole and see how everything turned out and what it led to. "
I have to say I can't agree with you on this one. What does them travelling to the first world and the second world
contribute to the entire story? I never said thoughts and in-depth conversations are unimportant. Quite the contrary,
like I wrote in my Bleach review, good character development comes from thoughts, behavious, decisions, converstaions,
facial expressions, which are what Tsubasa lacks the most. Give me one example where Tsubasa actually has an in-depth
dialogue or thoughts.
"There is the constant theme of what trials love can withstand, as Sakura has lost her memories of Syaoran whom she
loved- a price both of them had to pay to save her life- but over the course of the series you can see that she
doesn't need them to love him, she finds that again as she meets him all over again."
Firstable this theme has been done millions of times so what makes Tsubasa so special? Second relationship doesn't
work that way. A relationship stems out from communication, then understanding, last trust. The real trials are the
conflicts between the lovers. To protect someone you love, to even sacrifice yourself for her sake, but without
considering her feelings, brings only tragedies, as stated clearly in Episode 23 of Eureka Seven, or Chapter 70~137 of
Suzuka. A story about a prince risking everything to save his princess is a fairy tale and a fairy tale is made for
little kids.
"Kurogane's conflict is more so something in his past: you learned about his hardships and loss and what makes
him want to be the strongest fighter that he can be. It's case where at first glance he seems shallow, but over the
course of the story you see there is something deeper that makes him tick."
I'm not particularly against creating a tragic past for you character. But this should be done through recurring
motifs, not by writing an entire volume dedicated to his past and never mention it against and expect us readers to
accept who he is. A good way to bring up a tragic past would be constantly showing that motif in a not very obvioius way
and through that connects the present to the past.
"Being as the series hasn't even finished yet it's kind of expected that a lot of those things
aren't answered yet. It would be far more "kindergarten"- as you seem to like to put it- for them to
throw this information at you and move on, as that wouldn't give it any time to gain depth. "
It's already at Chapter 170 something. And like I said earlier, if you want to bring up something from earlier
chapters, use recurring motifs, keep the readers aware that this thing happened in the past and it does have a
relationship with what's going on right now (although I seriouly doubt how beating up bad guys would contribute to
the future story except maybe they'll all show up to help the party but that's just even worse).
