Forum - View topic(A) Returner's Magic Should Be Special (TV).
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11406 |
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But nobody did any of 1) until Desir led the way, after there were only 3 left. The knight (I know she has a name, I just can't remember it) just ran her race until he confronted her at the end, at which point the confrontation was moot because both were guaranteed to pass if they crossed the finish. If it were set up as a "The first one out that door survives," it might've yielded the benefits you propose, but since it was "The first three out that door survive," the test is essentially over once three are eliminated. As far as I can tell, there were no cool perks for the finishing order. This stage was just pass/no pass. Maybe why this didn't set so well for me (aside from the pointless battle between the finishers) was because they made such a big deal beforehand about "Don't worry about dying, Shadow world is safe," as if the setting itself was going to provide something to test them, and then all we got was a nice 10K run in Central Park where the only danger was other people (and what a nice forest! You could drive a semi through it without so much as scratching the paint). As I understand it, that's not the environment these students are being prepared for. And I wasn't advocating for a tournament that was 1 on 1 with set rules, which would've been almost as lame as what we got. I actually thought about riffing on Romantica's name for a fleeting moment, but was too annoyed with her to waste my time. It's already a joke, and I had nothing to top it. 
Dang it smurky-T, you ninjaed me. Now I have to edit this to add the quote. 
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Edjwald
 Posts: 1166 |
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Well, sure, just edit it like you did with that "My Daughter is S Rank" post. 
Anyhoo, I guess the noble and commoner stuff hasn't been explained very well in the anime yet. I honestly didn't notice, but your post made me think about it. I'll bet they've held off on some of the background explanations in order to make room, and they're waiting for the designated classes and a certain teacher to show up to explain how the noble/commoner crap skews everything. The reason the guy in second place wasn't messing with Ajest is because he thought first place was hers by right, and even if he didn't want to accept it, he was 100% sure that she would just kick his ass in an embarrassing fashion if he tried anything. Of all the nobles, Ajest doesn't give a flaming fart about anything except actual capability. Since Ajest was already in first, and noble #2 thought he had second place in the bag, he didn't have any reason to mess with the status quo, I think I'm right in saying that if there had been five nobles in the race, it's entirely possible that they would have just run side by side the entire time, making sure they arrived in an order that reflected their real life status. Romantica was planning to let everyone else get a ways in front of her before she turned the place into a disaster movie set. Then she got distracted by Desir and noble #3. And noble #3 hung back to use magic and mess with Romantica because her status is a little strange. In an "Are you a noble or commoner or what?" situation, she's kind of an "Or What." See? (koff) perfectly obvious, right? Um...right? I know you're out there....I can hear you reading... |
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Blood-
 Bargain Hunter Posts: 23833 |
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Episode 2
Gina, please refrain from mocking my waifu, Romantica (or as I like to call her, Ikka). I really respect and admire her because she's got I'm sticking with this show so far. I like that they are actually using the "go back in time" concept for more than just premise window dressing. I'm adding this a few days after I saw this episode so I'm going by memory but was this the show that had a character called "Sing Eggs"? If so, I'm adding it to my Wacky Names I've Heard in Anime list. |
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Edjwald
Posts: 1166 |
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There's no doubt in my mind that the anime has benefited from my reading the web novel first at this point. It's one of the shows that I actively anticipate watching, whereas the majority of the 20+ shows I'm hanging with are more of the checking out Crunchyroll's updated list and going "Oh, that one's on today? Sure, why not?" variety.
And I'm not sure I'd feel that way if I was seeing this anime unfiltered. But one area where the anime has suffered is that I have this image in my head of what the characters should look like, and it's distracting. I read the web novel, not the manga, and I didn't picture Romantica this cartoonish for humorous effect, nor having a voice like she just took a hit off of a helium balloon. Azest is described as a statuesque, stone faced valkyrie type classical beauty in the novel, not some gaunt, scowling scarecrow with forelocks from hell and eyelashes that look like a mutation. Pram is sort of what I pictured, but what's up with those batwings coming off the top of his head? Does the artist have some weird hair fetish? BTW - Blood, there was indeed a character named Sing Eggs though I don't think you have to worry about him playing a major role. Not with Electric Hot tub and Lackadazia coming up. |
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smurky turkey
Posts: 2008 |
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That is always the big issue if you are a really big fan of the source material. You have a clear image of how all the characters are/should be and when it comes to what to leave in and out content wise it gets even trickier. I try to stay open minded for every anime, but know that skipping a lot of material or rushing tends to annoy me.
As for the latest two episodes. The divide between commoner and noble has been made abundantly clear. It is a stupid system in that a lot of magical talent is being completely wasted, but when you realize that many nobles fear the commoners rising up it makes a lot of sense. |
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Edjwald
Posts: 1166 |
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This week's episode made me think of Baka and Test with it's pristine battle room for Alpha class and a rat infested dust collector that the Beta's needed to get special permission for. It's a pretty basic underdog set-up, but there's a reason it works, and this one did for me. I can't wait for the first time they brush up against a certain villainous organization or enter a real shadow world.
I watched the new English dub for episode 1 - I often do that out of curiosity. Generally. I prefer the original voice actors though there aren't that many instances where it's a deal breaker (like how I can't listen to anybody but the originals do Konosuba). But this might be one of the occasions when I definitely prefer the dub to the sub. I thought the voice actor portraying Desir did a great job distinguishing between his inner, older, world-wearied voice and the younger academy voice he speaks with. Romantica didn't get a big speaking part in episode one, but her voice was less I'm-in-a-sitcom annoying in the dub. |
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 23833 |
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Episode 4
I'd love to think you're pulling my leg but, sadly, you probably aren't. They're really laying on the noble prejudice against commoners pretty thick but the comment above about how the nobles are afraid of commoners raking over if they get too powerful at least makes sense. This show is on the lower scale of enjoyment of the titles I'm following but it's doing enough to keep me from dropping it so far. |
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Edjwald
Posts: 1166 |
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Heh. If I'd said Electric Hot Springs instead of Hot Tub, I might have even gone back to recheck and make sure I wasn't subconsciously remembering something I read.
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smurky turkey
Posts: 2008 |
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Episode 5 is a solid growth episode. Romantica succeeded in both goals related to her wind magic and made herself clear to mr arrogant noble (though the flashback does show where he got his hatred from). Pram got his sword back and the truth about said sword has pepped him up. As for the fight, it was pretty well done and showed a clash between different sword builds so to speak. You can be giant and have equally giant muscles, but if your opponent is so fast and agile that you can not hit him, GG.
I have to commend the adaption on focusing on the school stuff arc and making the most of the episodes while not rushing or cutting all that much of the source material. If they had decided to rush through the school arc to get into the main story more it would have been a mess. |
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Edjwald
Posts: 1166 |
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I agree that the anime is paying due respect to the material. It doesn't always come across as vividly as I remember. The training Desir put them through in the novel was pretty merciless and spartan for example, and even though they had the noble making all the right expressions and had a flashback and everything, the scene didn't seem to scream tension to me for some reason. It spoke tension clearly. But the writing/directing team is clearly familiar with the material and has some investment in it. I enjoy the show every week. I hope other people are.
It's hard to gauge just using Crunchyroll's most popular chart because it tends to skew toward what shows were watched within the last two days rather than for the week, and there's a seasonal delay effect as well. By my count, there were only 7 Fall 23 shows on the top 20 when I just checked (Sunday Morning), but The Great Cleric, Am I Actually the Strongest, My Unique Skill Makes Me OP, and Sweet Reincarnation from last season are all in the top 10, which is hard for me to process. I'm sure that's why a lot of people hate the Isekai genre with a raging passion. I like Isekai, and even I have to stifle a "How did mediocre at best crap like that beat Shangri-la Frontier?" impulse. I suppose those summer 23 shows are more widely available to non-premium members now, and the latest episodes of the new Fall 23 shows aren't? But A Returner made the top 20, so I guess it's doing alright. |
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smurky turkey
Posts: 2008 |
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Well, a couple more episodes have gone by and they have entered the first big group fight of the series. Plenty of action in terms of spells being flung and swords being crossed. They are still giving the source material time to breath, no rushing at all really.
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Edjwald
Posts: 1166 |
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Gotta say, I'm enjoying the tournament arc.
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11406 |
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And lo and behold, it's pretty much what we're getting now! Except teams, sort of, since I guess your whole team doesn't have to survive for you to pass. Still pretty uncreative, but better than the prelim at least. I mean, demon rats ain't nothin' - we all know how dangerous rain is to Japanese people.
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smurky turkey
Posts: 2008 |
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And that was the end of the tournament arc. It was fun and exciting until the very end. Lots of magic, sword fighting and some clever tactics to beat out the ''superior'' nobles. The only minus is not seeing the face of a certain student upon realizing that he has lost to a bunch of commoners. I was also hoping that the piggy teacher would have a stroke upon hearing the news even if it would differ from the source material, but oh well.
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Edjwald
Posts: 1166 |
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I wouldn't have minded seeing a little more crow eating either. But that's partly why I'm looking forward to next week
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