Ah, you know what? The World God Only Knows is hereby dropped. I thought about it a bit more yesterday, and realized something here:
– Panty and Stocking pokes fun at cute girls and American cartoons. It’s characters are thin, but it is a better comedy and parody than TWGOK.
– Squid Girl may not be a parody, but it’s still a much better comedy than TWGOK and its entire cast is far more down to earth and likable than Elcea.
– Milky Holmes has a great time taking the piss out of moe shows and the detective genre, and is also a far better comedy and parody than TWGOK.
– Kuragehime has a cliched premise, and yet it’s a far fresher and better comedy than TWGOK.
– When you look at the series that are carried over from previous seasons, you have Marie&Gali 2, which again with its creativity is far a better comedy and parody than TWGOK.
I didn’t realize this back on Wednesday, but damn: that show is redundant.
As an alternative, I’ve been considering Togainu no Chi and Otome Youkai Zakuro. Even though Togainu no Chi is much less well produced, it does have the potential that I don’t feel at Otome Youkai Zakuro. Until that changes, I’m interested enough in covering this series. This episode still was pretty poorly produced and acted, but the script was pretty solid, providing some much needed introductions and a much more varied cast. Mystery does remain one of my favourite genres, and this episode, unlike the first, had me intrigued.
It’s clear that the lead couple is gay at this point, but that was not one of my worries for this series. Instead, the bad bishie series are just like the bad moe series, in which they have this really weird and unnatural way in which they portray their characters. These are the series like Hanasakeru Seishounen and Miracle train, in which the characters act like a bunch of catalog models, or how everyone and his dog is suddenly gay. Most of this can be blamed on bad actors, who try way too hard to catch attention. Togainu no Chi has a few of those, but it’s not the entire cast here. This episode showed that the main couple knows how to at least be a bit subtle, That guy in the bar kept hopping back and forth between hammy and reserved, though that kid that was introduced in this episode is trying way too hard.
If a bunch of characters are gay, but well portrayed, I have no problems with them. Just in the same that moe girls get really annoying when they only try to pander to their audience without doing anything more. But really… that dog. I’m not really sure what to think about him…
Rating: * (Good)
Kind of bummed you dropped TWOGK but I’ll get over it.
“characters act like a bunch of catalog models, or how everyone and his dog is suddenly gay.” this pretty much summarize Toganu no Chi the game, it’s a gay dating sim after all, just very gory.
Boo: well, so much for the hype around it, then. Still, I’ll have faith in the plot and setting for this show for now.
Lol how to pick up a serie and drop it after 3 posts XD. I’m quite happy you dropped TWOGK as it really didn’t actually suit you at all, but i’m less happy you picked this instead.
…….Sigh….
I really am having trouble trusting your opinion these days. However I do agree with the others that TWGOK is just not your thing.(But seriously, You honestly think Panty and stocking has better comedy than TWGOK? It’s toilet humor for gods sake….) I am still trying to figure out what you see in Star driver.
Just blog whatever you are happy with.
Boo: Well, I wouldn’t call it a gay dating sim.
It’s a Boys Love dating sim, explicitly made for women. Of course in the end just about all characters are gay and for some reason terribly hot for the main characters, but it’s clearly a female fantasy acted out.
I never really got into the whole nitro/nitro+ stuff, because their plots are so junai (plots about the undestructable power of pure love that triumphes over all) I can’t take them seriously.
Their stories are not even that bad (except maybe the ass-born outter dimensional monsters from one of them) but I don’t really get their strange concept of violence meets love…it’s really bordering into the more creepy regions of eroguro…
Well I can’t blame you for choosing this, psgels. It is constructed fairly well and as long as you can look past the sappy and fluffy lovestory, combined with rather sickening fetishes (that were probably removed for the anime as for the all ages version) I think you could (stress on COULD…with a big maybe) enjoy it.
I think you looked into TWOGK as a comedy in general rather than a harem parody ^^
Boo. You dropped it (TWGOK) pretty fast when the past TWO episodes haven’t really been bad. I can’t believe you’ve even been holing on Legend of the Legendary Heroes when it’s record has been pretty bad.
Let me amend that a bit. Not “pretty bad” but…average? Not at all playing its best? I’m a fan of war and politics but I’ve lost interest in it afterward the kid incident with Alpha Stigma.
Aaw, I’m so happy you decided to keep up with Togainu! I’m reading the manga now and from what I’ve seen, the story (and characterization) definitely pick up. 🙂
That blond kid reminds me a lot of Alois. I don’t think the Togainu no Chi anime could get anywhere near as fetishized as Kuroshitsuji II was, and you did enjoy that. I’m personally hoping for something similar to that.
wow I hadn’t realised this but this season is really the season of parodies
Well… Too bad you dropped TWGOK… Anyway, if it wasn’t to your liking it’s better this way.
But to pick this serie instead…
Thank you for blogging TnC. Played the game and can promise this is going to be quite interesting. Although I don’t explode over the whole gay thing… may god, this is so much way better than the average 0815 harem for youngsters. 😀 Strangely, those series are quite famous in blogging. I can’t understand it at all.
I don’t know why people are somewhat disappointed for you dropping TWGOK, as you’re a true critic and well, TWGOK is more moe/entertainment of an appeal than actual depth, but thank for giving it a chance. 😀
Also, I’d have to agree with you on Chi, it seems kind of lackluster right now, but it does also seem to be brimming with potential. That in retrospect, can either turn into a great strength, like Casshern Sins where it just got amazing with each episode and turned into something quite enjoyable, or a complete waste of time and a very frustrating show where you wait for something to happen but nothing does. We’ll see. I’m also keeping tabs on it, but I honestly don’t feel the same enthusiasm for it as I do for REVERSE, Star Driver, and Yakumo. 😀
@chounokoe
Togainu no Chi is NOT a story about the “undestructable power of true love that triumphs over all.” I offer you an excerpt from a good article I read earlier by the person translating the Togainu PC game:
“The biggest draw for me personally is that it’s not about love or romance. The game’s worldview is too bleak and melancholy to leave room for anything resembling a regular love story… the characters’ emotions are tangled and convoluted and often defy description. Sometimes sex intersects with attachment or affection; sometimes it’s a sick power play; sometimes it’s a desperate attempt to feel some kind of human connection. The lack of easy answers and easy romance is fascinating…”
http://visualnovelaer.wordpress.com/2010/09/24/968/
There’s a lead couple here? *Really?*
Keisuke harps out Akira’s name more times than Orihime does with Ichigo, but sadly, he got totally friendzoned lol.
Calling Togainu no Chi a gay/boys love dating sim is like calling Air a filler harem dating sim, or Requiem for the Phantom a hentai game.
TnC doesn’t romanticize sex or pander to the fangirls, it knows exactly why it’s there. The game is dark, twisted and gory, and its story is precisely why it has such a huge following.
@lane: That is exactly where I was heading, sorry if I didn’t explain further, but after a certain length people stop reading comments.
Junai (or ‘pure love’) is a genre that features a central protagonist who is the point of identification for the reader/viewer. That protagonist is thrown into a sick world controlled by power, money, violence, etc. and has his worldview turned on it’s head. That character is often turned stoic or devasated at the realization that the world is so terrible.
His ‘pair’ (the desired true partner for the true ending in case of a VN or dating game) is seduced by those dark influences and somehow chained to them by either his destiny or a terrible past.
In the end, those two can only find happiness and salvation in the love towards each other no matter how twisted it is, the world is always more twisted. Junai is not about the ‘
purity of love, but love being the only salvation.
For example Saikano, should you know it, is a perfect example for Junai. The main character is a normal school boy who is struck by the fact that Japan is involved in the war and loses all hope in humanity.
The titular girlfriend is seduced by the militaries promise to be Japan’s only hope and thus becomes and instrument of destruction, which is also the way to her downfall.
The only thing that keeps both from loosing it is their pure love, their junai.
In the end it’s not “the plot is not about pure love because the setting is so bleak and terrible”. It’s “the plot is about pure love BECAUSE the setting is like this” and the more horrible, twisted and downright sick the setting is, the more the love of the central pairing can shine.
@frellisa:
But it IS a boys-love game, just like AIR and Requiem are renai-harem. And Togainu IS pandering to the fangirls, just not with romanticized sex, but with hard and twisted sex. In the original version of all 3 games, sex was an integral part of it and served as one of the main selling points.
Many games in the visual novel sector sell themselves via sex, because it’s difficult to succeed with story alone. Many publishers as well as the consumers WANT hardcore content.
This does NOT say anything about the quality of the story around which it revolves. There are boys love games with a well thought out story and some just use their stories to somehow connect the sex scenes.
Togainu is okay in that department. It sometimes forgets it’s plot in favour of fanservice, but it knows where it’s headed and the backgroundstory is well constructed.
I think the main reason why games like Togainu are successful is not because of fanservice or the story. It’s because they fuse both.
The (mostly female) audience can read/watch something of at least some literary value and at the same time be treated to ‘yummy fanservice’ and goodlooking males.
It’s the same with many renai-games. They wouldn’t be half as successful, wouldn’t they be cockful of cute girls and at least heavy hinting towards sexual content.
@ chounokoe : BL dating sims and BL GAMES are different. By grouping Togainu into the dating sim category, it’s pretty much saying that Togainu is selling itself the same way the game Gakuen Heaven does. It’s suggesting that Togainu is all about chasing after man-on-man loving and leaves out the rest. But, as you’ve said, it’s the story and the combined gorey sex scenes that drive the popularity of this title.
My beef with calling Togainu a gay ‘dating sim’ is that, it just simply doesn’t do justice to the series. Look at PSGels’ reaction upon the dating sim comment, that’s the sort of thing I hope to avoid with the careless labeling. Yes, the game does have sex, tons of it, but the game made sure it’s not only the selling point.
You’ve clarified your previous comment excellently, and this is exactly what I’m talking about : It needs more explanation than the simple generic “dating sims” label.
* btw, I should point out that the dating sim quip stemmed from the comparison between Togainu and MIRACLE TRAIN, of all anime. 🙂 I usually just lurk, but this is just so hilariously off that I had to jump in.
I’m a long time fan of Star Crossed Anime and I am very happy that SCA has decided to stick with Togainu no Chi. And I decided to write to show my support. It’s unique compared to the majority of new Fall 2010 anime and it’s one of the series I am sticking with through it’s duration. I am also with those who are very happy that TWOGK was dropped. This season has more than enough harem genre anime (seriously, look at the entire list of new Fall anime and there is more than enough harem shows) and frankly, it’s getting boring. Make no mistake, TWOGK is beautifully produced, but it’s not a show that stands out and can be blurred along with the rest of the harem shows currently out. Honestly, I’ll probably look at it after I’m done with the other shows I like to watch and to kill some time. Togainu no Chi shows a lot of promise and from what I understand it really kicks into gear later. I’ve never played the game or have read the manga, but reading about it from those who have, it looks really cool. Dark, twisted, with no hope, and gory with pretty boys. That sounds super good to me. Keep it up SCA!
So you dropped one of the best shows of this season and added insult to the injury by saying it’s worse than a bunch of third-rate garbage shows 😀
There is more to TWGOK than the comedy, but this is just one of those times when our opinions diverge – it’s not like you did not previously promote shows that I thought were garbage in the end, lol.
Well, like the others have said, you definitely should watch what you want to watch and blog what you want to blog about. There’s no point to anime if you are not enjoying yourself watching it.