Robotics;Notes’ penultimate episode. Its main point was a romantic confession. Why?
I think that that symbolizes my big problem with this series. And don’t get me wrong, I like its ambition. You can really see that this series set out with a mission. It wanted to do so many things, and for that, I give it credit. It just didn’t really work out. I personally really like series in which everything comes together. The more ambitious the better. Robotics;Notes started out with a ton of different side plots and topics. But I see no link between most of them. They all just feel hacked together without much glue, as if they’re about to fall apart at any minute. The confession in this episode: what was the point? Why did it have to take up such an important part right near the end? It established nothing for the rest of the series. The main characters are a couple now, but how much did that change, really?
Also, with this it’s established that the final episode will be a big robot battle. It’s here where some subplots do come together, but if I have to be honest… it does feel rather flimsy here. Like, the creators tried way too hard to set everything up like that. Everything is build up and all, but it feels like some things were done only to get to this particular conclusion. The problem is that it’s not really an interesting one: it just screams been there done that. Was it really worth that build-up? Compare this to Steins;Gate, which meticulously set up ever single one of its plot twists as it went along.
That’s the key of storytelling: balance. There is not one formula to determine what works. You can do things right and wrong, but in the end it all depends on the harmony between all its different elements, and the soft spot is different for everyone. Robotics;Notes got a lot of points for its ambition and realism, but really lost a lot of them in the plot of its second half.
Rating: 3.5/8 (Mediocre)
totally agree 100%.
And yeah that confession/kiss scene was completely unnecessary.
The point of the romantic scene is just to give the impression that Kai is going on a very dangerous mission/task that might end up getting him killed, which is why he chose this moments to confess to Aki becasue he might not come back from this (and explains all the things he did for her before, as well as show that he overcame his childish obsession with Misa her older sister) .. i don’t think there is anything wrong with that scene.
My problems are else where, where did the Monopoles come from (they are a blatant deus-ex-machina in every sense of the word, i thought they will be explained later .. but nothing at all), then there is the goal of Kou .. we never got any reason for all the chaos he caused .. “I just want my plan to succeeded” doesn’t sound like a a good motive to kill 5 billion people, also .. where are the committie of 300 .. where they a lie by Kou or where they the good guys (like the girl from JAXA and the guy who worked with Misa) !!? nothing explained again .. what about Kona’s mother, was she killed, how !!? .. who killed her ? .. is she still alive ? .. where is she if she is alive ? .. etc etc
There are just tons of sub-plots and threads that are just left hanging in the air and never resolved or explained .. that damages the series value pretty badly (despite it having a lot of excellent moments and a great a start)
OP completely missed the point.
But yeah, I agree with HunterWulf… the heck was up with the monopoles? and all those other glaring loose ends that were just left hanging there.
I didn’t even bother watching the last 2 episodes cause of the terribly bad direction this was going, and just by glancing at psgel’s ratingsI lost any motivation to continue this series. I’ll just treat episodes 1-18 as a good slice-of-life type of anime and leave it at that….
I’m okay with some loose ends, some things not being explained. But when instead they spend the time concluding with some really weak exposition and forced confrontations with flimsy premises, it’s tough to swallow.