Why I’m not bothered by Manami’s brattiness:
– She’s not THE main character of this story.
– She’s an interesting combination with the rest of the cast.
– She’s fleshed out pretty nicely. She’s an idiot, she’s naive, and yet she’s easily afraid.
The thing I have against most annoying and stupid teenagers isn’t the fact that they’re annoying, but that they’re badly written. Take Lala from To Love-Ru for example. Sure, she’s an extreme case, but the reason why she’s annoying is because the creators spent no effort whatsoever in making her believable. She instantly falls in love with the male lead with no subtlety whatsoever and I couldn’t spot anything that made her really seem like a living being, an being an alien is no excuse.
I think the biggest reason for this is the creator’s desires to make teenagers important at places where they shouldn’t belong. A teenager who occupies a high rank in a military organization doesn’t usually make sense, so writers make these characters a bit too perfect for their own good, in order to help them survive and remain at their position.
The thing is with Manami, that even though she’s an idiot, the creators never portray her as some kind of hero. The only thing that she’s good at is providing emotional support for others, but this episode showed yet again that she often gets way too ahead of herself and tries to get involved in places she shouldn’t belong.
I still wonder why this series has become so neglected, though. Is Manami such a turn-off? Or does this have to do with Poririn? I admit that he was rather disturbing in this episode, wearing the gala-dress and all, and trying to pee while wearing it… Still the reason why I like this series so much is the chemistry between the different characters. The cast of Crystal Blaze is varied and interesting, and one character’s weaknesses are complemented by another.
“I admit that he was rather disturbing in this episode, wearing the gala-dress and all, and trying to pee while wearing it… ”
Err, don’t think that’s going to help bring viewers back to this show. Personally, I found too little in this show (based on 2 episodes anyways, as unfair as that may be) that could impress me into including it in an already bloated list of series to continue watching. Every season has their Crystal Blazes, somewhat decent shows that no one will pay attention too due to everything else airing around it.
I’ve been disappointed that this show hasn’t found an audience, too. But then, I actually *love* Poririn (any idea if they intended “her” name to be “Pauline”?)… That bit with the restroom break was priceless.
I do think the irritating-ness of Manami (especially in the nails-on-chalkboard quality of her voice in the first ep) was probably a big factor in driving off anyone who might have been on the fence. And I was pretty irritated that she rushed into trouble *again* in this latest episode (though I don’t understand Japanese, so maybe there’s a reasonable explanation that I’ll get later.) In these half-seasons they’re doing nowadays, having her rush into a damsel-in-distress situation again, rather than devoting the screentime to fleshing out other characters feels like a waste of precious episode-time. (I’d like to see more of Akira, personally.)
Anyway, I’m enjoying the show quite a bit, and I appreciate that you’re blogging it! 🙂
i think it is because so many manga turned anime and people are watching it first since they all read the manga. people likes to watch what they know first and don’t like to give chance. i for once just discovered this series and i have to say that it is pretty good. i really do agree with you on the characters
Hmmm…..for me….i didn’t want to continue watching due to The Annoying One from episode one..but i respect your blogs and commentary so I decided to give it a chance….so far so good…barring The Annoying One gets as little screen time as possible….This episode over all was good…then she ruined it….Will keep watching though…..
I wonder whether Poririn is a homage to Gerard Depardieu because he looks very much like his anime counterpart especially due to his big nose but also the blonde hair. He also played in a couple of films in which wore a dress despite being very maskuline, tall and big.
Ugh.. Crystal Blaze has so much potential but Manami really makes it difficult for me to like this show. She makes me so angry that I had to stop watching the episode to vent my frustrations. Her first few mistakes were acceptable considering she is still a child trying to prove herself in the world, BUT SHE NEVER LEARNS. She has a horrible insensitive personality towards Ayaka and she keeps screwing the cases up. The creators should’ve provided a brief backdrop (as they did for Ayaka) to explain her disposition to make her character more likeable. Her actions in this episode really crossed the line. How many times did they tell her not to show up? How many times did they tell her to escape? Why did she still pop up screaming in the middle of the shoot out running towards the line of fire only to have Sara end up getting shot? She’s a very difficult character to like and is really turning the show off. I NEVER disliked or felt so much distaste towards a character in my entire life. I am surprised how annoyed I am.