Yes, but it's aggressively ridiculous in Steins;Gate, which also happens to be sci-fi story where time itself cares that certain things happen. Huh? There's predestination but you can also change lots of things? Don't get me started.
Steins;Gate is a show where people like the characters and the relationships and this allows them to somehow gloss over the part where the main story makes no sense.
There is an "explanation" (in quotes!) used by the series in why there are both predestination and the possibility of changing stuff.There were certain concrete timelines, parallel universes, Okabe could change things and jump between timelines if the changes were big enough, but inside a timeline there was a predestination for the things happening a a certain way.
A way to explain it: they weren't infinite in variety, they were integer universes: 1,2,3,4, etc (for example). You couldn't fall in universe 3.5. Or in universe 3.141525. The predestination is a way to understand why you returned you back to the same universe you started if the jump was small one, or would snap you to the closest possible universe. Why there was a certain resistance to jump between universes, but with a jump big enough it could be done.
Hell, all that is the central plot, him searching the way to make enough big of a jump to the universe if he wants, and usually falling short.
Of course this explanation it's kind of hokey and weird, but what you are gonna do, all the explanations for time paradoxes and different universes in time traveling fiction are hokey by nature! It isn't like you can have a realistic version.
The important thing is that the plot is entertaining, the discovery of the time travel, the plot twists in the middle, the time shenanigans in between, etc.
From what I understand, geek/nerd kids that are too obsessed with fiction, usually some garbage-tier fantasy. Also refer to that kind of crappy fantasy fiction.
So have we heard anything on Akatsuki no Yona? It sounded interesting from the premise on ani-chart and CR just picked it up for simulcast so I'll probably watch it
I know nothing of Akatsuki but the PV looked good. As I understand it the source material is well regarded. It's made by Pierrot though, take that as you will.
Overall, this is fantastically dark anime of torment and despair that is turned around when the protagonists discover the beautiful colours of the world. The deep plot of working through deep-seated emotional trauma is engaging and thoughtful. The scenes of the other world that represent this battle are action packed and enjoyable to watch. Pink, Blue, Green, we can work through our problems together!
Incredible. Great voice acting, amazing comedic timing, and fully capable of hitting a bleak and sympathetic tone even with all the fluffy tails and wit floating around.
I notice a lot of the earlier blurays look AWFUL and the DVDs of the time actually look much better. I got suckered into a couple upscales like ROD TV that look pretty horrid.
I thought the first half was very important. The whole thing serves as a big set-up but it very neatly foreshadows what's to come in the show so the viewer doesn't get bored. I definitely enjoyed it.
Steins;Gate - 22
Wow. Had it not been for Kurisu and the others,
Okabe would have ended up exactly like Homura Akemi from Madoka ended up. Seeing Mayuri die over and over again was slowly and slowly wearing on him to the point where he was determining the deadlines on her death with little-to-no qualms about it at all.
Homura didn't have anyone to turn to when she kept going back in time to save Madoka. Okabe did, and that's why he's still able to keep his mind in check. There's a really good contrast between these two characters, with Homura being like a "What could have been" when it comes to Okabe. Now I understand why these two shows are compared with each other a lot.
The confession scene in this episode is almost exactly on par with Madoka episode 11 in terms of how well it works and how well it was executed. The only difference between there and here is that both of them truly understand what's going on and how they feel about it all, only making it more heartbreaking. Nonetheless, if he stopped now, it will all have been for naught. He goes through with the time-leap, and finishes the job.
All in all, that was Steins;Gate. A really great show that was totally worth having Mike watch TTGL. I'm really glad that I made this watchbet with him an-
Wait a minute,
Suzu? What's going on? Wait, WORLD WAR III? Hang on a second here WAIT WHAT?!?
Im glad you noticed the similiarities. People think Im crazy when I tell them they seem similar but that in itself might be spoilerish if theyve seen one or the other.
Be sure to watch the OVA episode too!
I had reservations about this, but it was actually quite enjoyable, unlike a lot of KyoAni's recent works. Looking forward to some Roller Coaster Tycoon: The Animation.
Denki-gai No Hon'ya-san 1 - Bland and incredibly generic, this barely managed to hold my interest through an episode. It's a harem (I assume) series about this bookstore that apparently sells lots of H-mangas. Naturally most of the employees are anime girls. I didn't like this much, not sure if I'll keep watching. So... dull...
Madan no Ou to Vanadis 1 - Fantasy harem action series. It seems fairly average for the genre -- it's got action, violence, fanservice, etc., and isn't anything of particular interest. It stars a generic nice guy who is a noble on the side which just badly lost a battle, and he got captured by the enemy. He is a very good archer, and is looked down on by other nobles because of being an archer -- knights are thought of more highly after all. Perfect setup for generic storytelling, that -- he's shown to both be very competent, and also looked down upon. Of course. Anyway, he's now the property of the war maiden woman who captured him. Naturally, the war maiden leader, who I guess is one of the Vanadis, and her guard are both scantily clad and well-endowed, and they can wield some magic as well, or at least this main one can. Because 'harem' is in the genre, I imagine that eventually all seven Vanadis will fall in love with him, or at least a bunch of them will, plus some other girls (such as that one back in his hometown).
And looking up a few spoilers, I see that ENTIRELY unsurprisingly, he has a superpower of sorts that only works when combined with a Vandis's abilities, and that makes him super strong. Naturally! You can't have a harem action show without the MC being the real strongest character despite being surrounded by "strong" women, because of sexism etc. I mean, magic is very much involved here, so "but men are stronger in real life" is not the reason; gender stereotypes and power fantasies are. Unfortunate. It'd be great to see one of these shows sometime where the (male) MC actually WASN'T the strongest...
As for the series in general, this is an adaptation. I did start the manga version of this, but quickly lost interest and didn't get far at all into it, maybe not even through this whole episodes' worth of material. I don't know if this anime version will hold my interest any better, it's generic and kind of stupid. In addition to everything else, sure, I know that female fantasy costumes are usually as absurdly skimpy as the outfits the two warrior girls we've met so far are wearing are, but it's still dumb. How is she supposed to be as serious warrior with "armor" that exposes her belly and no helmet? Just relying on magic for everything might not work... bah. Maybe it's because of how much I like medieval and fantasy settings, but this kind of stupid stuff really gets to me... and I think that I don't even need to comment about the omnipresent presence of 19th century French maid costumes.
Of course though, the whole harem thing is bad too. I know the idea is 'lots of choices so many viewers' tastes are covered', but particularly in something like this, where the harem element seems unnecessary to the show and mostly present just to attract more viewers, I don't like it. At least this MC is competent, but he's also perhaps TOO nice and kind. That looks good compared to the somewhat violent tendencies of others, such as main war maiden woman who wants to have the three guys who intentionally gave him a bad bow killed for insulting him, but still is annoying sometimes. He could be a lot worse, at least, though -- he's not an obnoxious jerk like, say, Shirou, just a nice guy. I do mostly like the main Vanadis girl, Ellen, though. She's cool. Overall though, there isn't much about this show is good. It's average to bad all around. I highly doubt I'll finish this.
Last season
Himegoto to 13 (End) - This was a pretty fun series. I hope they make more of it, I'll definitely be watching! Hime never had much chance of staying away from those three girls for long... and deny it as much as he wants, but he clearly likes crossdressing. I just hope that next season has longer episodes, it's hard to have much to say when they're only two minutes long each!
Jinsei 1-2 - This is an okay comedy/romance thing with a harem setting, but maybe not a harem plot -- so far at least it's clearly about him and one of the girls. So, the MC has been forced into writing a school newspaper advice column, and three very different girls give the advice. One is a smart scientist girl, the second a kind of dumb sporty girl, and the third a cute and feminine miko girl. So yeah, they're pretty straight stereotypes.
Scientist girl is very clearly the main girl -- all romance so far is between her and the MC.
Each episode is broken up into several questions. The question is read, then the girls each give an answer to it and argue amongst themselves about whose answer they think is right -- and of course, they never agree. Then various silly skits or scenes happen, they do things to test what the right answer is or to try to solve the problem, and eventually an answer is written, likely after plenty of silly antics. It's an okay show, and I'll watch more. This show is definitely nothing great so far, and the characters are very stereotypical, but it's solidly decent and amusing. Some of the humor is amusing, and the choice of main girls is a bit different from usual.
Rail Wars 5 - I really should drop this... it's ugly, stupid, sexist, and has no redeeming qualities of note! And yeah, that describes a lot of anime, but in plenty of ways this is worse than most. The MC is obnoxiously useless 99% of the time and undeserving of most of the praise he gets (except for that one time in that one episode; his moment in this episode wasn't so great, even if MC girl overly liked him for it), and cool main girl, as always, is treated badly for her violent crimefighting tendencies for no reason other than her gender. Much more of that dreck and I WILL finally drop this thing.
Tokyo ESP 6 - The show is mostly action-focused again now. I wonder if it'll stay this way? This is an okay show, but nothing more; strictly average stuff. If it was another "generic guy becomes a hero" show instead of "girl becomes a hero" maybe I'd have dropped it, but the gender change makes it slightly more interesting. Only slightly, though; this show is more weird for its crazy degrees of mood whiplash than actually good. Anyway, in this episode we learn a bit more about the main villain, and as expected he's a hateful nutjob. Of course, as if supervillain types are ever anything else. Episode one kind of spoiled that though, so the whole reveal is a bit too late...
Before that
High School DxD New 6-7 - This is a comically idiotic series on every possible level, as I always say about this stupid thing -- and yes, I will never give up on commenting on how hilariously idiotic the idea that devils and dark angels are separate factions is! -- but it's amusing enough that I can't hate it even if I should... anyway, in these episodes, we learn lots of amazing and oh so surprising revelations! Of course, as always it's completely incompetently written. Every single character in this universe is a total idiot. But if they weren't the plot wouldn't work, so... oh well. So, here, the fight against the jerk dark angel who wants to start a war continues. We learn the revelation that
God is dead, he died in the war along with all four head devils. This is being hidden from humans so that they will continue to believe, because belief power keeps the whole system going, or something. Devoted religious girl promptly abandons her beliefs and becomes a demon. Does this mean that she killed herself offscreen without it ever being mentioned? Because I thought that, as with him, you had to die to become a demon... or am I wrong? I'm not sure, actually. Anyway though, even if she's still alive, the whole thing is quite absurd. God is dead and it's being hidden from me... so I'll go become a demon? Huh. I don't know if this entirely makes sense.
Of course, it serves to get a second "angel" girl into the MC's harem, and that's all the 'reasoning' the writer surely ever needed. Also, of course the MC and his harem are some of the least evil demons I've ever seen. At least in the anime, I haven't seen them actually do even one single actually evil thing yet, as far as I can think of... this is clearly a "there is good and bad on all sides, and the angel demon dark angel etc labels do not apply morality" kind of universe, and that's okay, but applying psuedo-Christian terms into a universe with such an utterly anti-Christian reality is stupid, and this series has a lot of that. I know Japan doesn't understand outside religions, and that's understandable, but to those who do at all it looks really foolish.
Also, foolish angel girl, you're trying to actually turn on the MC? He may act like a pervert, but being an anime MC, is quite thoroughly chaste in reality, you know!
Denki-gai No Hon'ya-san 1 - Bland and incredibly generic, this barely managed to hold my interest through an episode. It's a harem (I assume) series about this bookstore that apparently sells lots of H-mangas. Naturally most of the employees are anime girls. I didn't like this much, not sure if I'll keep watching. So... dull...
Still mad at myself that I stayed up til 5 am to watch this. I think I subconsciously hate myself, and do these things to intentionally cause myself pain. Oh well.
This is very enjoyable, as I don't mind with the ecchi/harem hijinks.. the two lead have decent chemistry and the tycoon concept are intriguing, I can see why KyoAni/Takemoto want touching this, its seem like something that can get pretty big with correct treatment.
I have to say that after the greatness of Battle Tendency I was left distinctly underwhelmed with this part of the series. The monster of the week format got really tiring after a very short while. They do try to keep things fresh with the varied opponnents and Jojo's unique brand of absurdness but it was not enough to keep things compelling. BT was a battle show too but wrapped in an interesting and moving story. Here you could watch episodes 1,2 and 24 and you would have missed very little on the main plot front. The characters were alright. Not up to level of Ceasar and young Joseph but good nonetheless. Polnareff especially was the highpoint and I was laughing my ass of during his interactions with the Enya. Having never been a big fan of Pokemon battles, I wasn't big on the sudden introduction of Stands and I still hope for some meaningful return of Hamon. Especially since they're getting close to Dio now.
Madan no Ou to Vanadis 1
As for the series in general, this is an adaptation. I did start the manga version of this, but quickly lost interest and didn't get far at all into it, maybe not even through this whole episodes' worth of material. I don't know if this anime version will hold my interest any better, it's generic and kind of stupid. In addition to everything else, sure, I know that female fantasy costumes are usually as absurdly skimpy as the outfits the two warrior girls we've met so far are wearing are, but it's still dumb. How is she supposed to be as serious warrior with "armor" that exposes her belly and no helmet? Just relying on magic for everything might not work... bah. Maybe it's because of how much I like medieval and fantasy settings, but this kind of stupid stuff really gets to me... and I think that I don't even need to comment about the omnipresent presence of 19th century French maid costumes.
You can blame illustrator and editor for the "armor" part, because LN author originally wrote they wear actual armor, but illustrator ignore it and draw them like a mahou shoujo, and the editor side with illustrator , so author have to change some setting lol.
Well, MF Bunko J, guess the author next time should submit his work to other publisher like Fujimi Fantasia Bunko.
Im tired as shit, I don't think I have another 3 episodes left in me for the night.
I haven't been spoiled on the ending of this show or any plot details, I have no idea how this is going to end. I foresee sadness that outweighs happiness. Something entirely fucked up has to happen to conclude this show right?
Steins;Gate - Episode. 24 - Aight guys, this show was actually great. I regret being scared off by the otaku pandering last time I tried watching it. Great character development, coherent plot (at least as far as time travel plots go), and a good ending.
And ops I might have watched the whole thing in two days,
Yes indeed its a fantastic series. Ive gotten so used to otaku pandering just being in anime I dont give it much thought. Its there and whether I enjoy it or not it doesnt ruin the show for me. Definitely not this one!
Denki-gai No Hon'ya-san 1 - Bland and incredibly generic, this barely managed to hold my interest through an episode. It's a harem (I assume) series about this bookstore that apparently sells lots of H-mangas. Naturally most of the employees are anime girls. I didn't like this much, not sure if I'll keep watching. So... dull...
sora no method 01
This show is swinging really hard for melodrama right out of the gate. Feels lame and creepy. Music was notably good, but it wasn't Stella C3 tier so I won't watch the show just for it. I feel bad for the composer because he's putting in work on a bunch of junky shows.
couldn't last the whole episode as the thing was just so painfully unfunny. a shame too as it's a shin-ei show and it's got a nice style to it with some good bits of animation (and 2d cars!)
I know nothing of Akatsuki but the PV looked good. As I understand it the source material is well regarded. It's made by Pierrot though, take that as you will.
This sounds great and right up my alley. Will definitely watch.
Before I go to sleep, since I finally caught up with the thread and all..
Amagi Brilliant Park 01
Best KyoAni show since K-on.
Every girl is a cutie, especially the princess. The premise is weird and fun. the music really fits the atmosphere of mystery and adventure. This really could be like RCT the anime and Id be fine with it but there seems more to it under the surface. So far I really love this a lot. Far more than other recent KyoAni shows surely. So much hasnt been told yet. So many possibilities. Will it be a let down? I dont know, and I honestly dont care because Im having too much fun already.
This is much faster and a bit better than I expected. I've read the original manga (not the new one that the anime is based on) and a few things struck me in regards to pacing. It covers about the same amount of material as the first chapter of the manga but it feels quicker at the same time. I think that's due to the heavy emphasis on quick cuts that Takemoto uses. There are a lot of quick cuts, more so compared to Fumoffu. The show jumps around from place to place and time to time. I think that gives it a quicker feeling than what you would normally get from the same material. It's very much quickfire jokes played off for contrast which work when showing how awful the park is. Sonicmj1 pointed out about the visual storytelling and I think it works really well in this context as the stuff Sento is saying about the park is being flat out contradicted right in front of the audience. It works not only in establishing the setting but also characterization in that the audience appreciates how deadpan and emotionless Sento is.
I think Takemoto really wanted to establish the park as its own character and how it looks before Kanye takes over, so there is more focus on the park than expected. I would have liked to have seen a map of the park so I know the attractions and their locations in relation to each other but that's probably nitpicking. On the whole though, there isn't that much characterization of Kanye but I think the show does enough for the audience to understand not only his point of view but his personality as well. I'm not sure if they're going to tone down how much of a narcissist he is compared to the manga so that should be interesting to note. The show/director himself seemingly cuts off the character when he starts to go on(it happens twice in the episode), so that might be a way to reduce how annoying the MC can potentially be.
There's some sound direction that I want to note such as in the opening scene. The frequency pitch creates a sense of tension and oppresion which the visuals alone don't really accomplish. I like the music, it's a bit jazzier than I expected and from what you typically see in shows nowadays. I think that 'jazzy' component is largely due to the brass in the OST. I really liked the piano piece when 'Kodama Seiya' was introduced, that was far and away my favorite piece from the episode. The piece right after also was pretty good in that there was this eerie feeling to it.
Another thing that I want to mention is the lighting, I much preferred the evening shots as there was a lot more atmosphere to them but there were some good use of self-shadows such as Sento's face during the bus ride, that helped to convey her emotions despite her being as deadpan as usual.
Pretty clever storyboarding with this shot. It's a typical symbolic 'person is trapped' shot but I wouldn't have thought to use the legs of the table considering their shape, how wirey they are, and how low the camera has to go to make this work.
The drama should be interesting to play out as they tweaked a number of things seemingly compared to the light novel. The first being that the queen is seemingly isn't blind here. That still might be the case but she doesn't seem so, which is good as on top of the other shit stacked on her(in the LNs), I thought it was too much. The other thing is that there is some sort of prior connection between the queen and Kanye which I never got the impression of in the manga, it might be in the light novel though.
The ass shot is there but it's handled 'quicker' than I thought. Like Kanye doesn't stare at her ass for a good five seconds. So in a way that again is a bit different from the manga, as here his response seems much more human/organic.
It should be interesting going forward to see how much they go into the actual economics of everything and the extent in which the show is going to play up the lewd aspect.
Amagi Brilliant Park - dropped. Not that I'm surprised given I thought the manga version was terrible. I think this is it for me with Kyoani material based on their own books. After this and KnK, I'm done. Oh how far they have slipped since FMP and Hyouka.
Gugure - another one where I'd already decided to drop the show before enduring the whole first episode. Really didn't finds it interesting at all. Whch is odd given how I tend to like shows about youkai and related supernaturals.
Seven Deadly Sins - Eh. Reminded me heaps of what little I've seen of Fairy tail. Talking pig sidekick is a plus.
Ai Tenchi Muyo - Not as bad as expected given its a short. Tenchi as a school teacher...not something I envisioned.
Amagi Brilliant Park - dropped. Not that I'm surprised given I thought the manga version was terrible. I think this is it for me with Kyoani material based on their own books. After this and KnK, I'm done. Oh how far they have slipped since FMP and Hyouka.
There is an "explanation" (in quotes!) used by the series in why there are both predestination and the possibility of changing stuff.There were certain concrete timelines, parallel universes, Okabe could change things and jump between timelines if the changes were big enough, but inside a timeline there was a predestination for the things happening a a certain way.
A way to explain it: they weren't infinite in variety, they were integer universes: 1,2,3,4, etc (for example). You couldn't fall in universe 3.5. Or in universe 3.141525. The predestination is a way to understand why you returned you back to the same universe you started if the jump was small one, or would snap you to the closest possible universe. Why there was a certain resistance to jump between universes, but with a jump big enough it could be done.
Sorry, I realize that was long to write, but... that makes no sense to me. It all boils down to "sure, you can try a lot of different things, and thus change a lot of stuff, but that one thing? nope, the writers decided that one was fate, somehow (i.e. arbitrarily super harder to prevent)".
Of course this explanation it's kind of hokey and weird, but what you are gonna do, all the explanations for time paradoxes and different universes in time traveling fiction are hokey by nature! It isn't like you can have a realistic version.
Because once he wrote the perfect protagonist in the form of Kirito there wasn't really the option of writing another one, so he went in the complete opposite direction and made his new hero a self pitying pathetic lump of fat.
Sorry, I realize that was long to write, but... that makes no sense to me. It all boils down to "sure, you can try a lot of different things, and thus change a lot of stuff, but that one thing? nope, the writers decided that one was fate, somehow (i.e. arbitrarily super harder to prevent)".
Well, it's true it was decided by the writer. Like, everything that happens in fiction. In that sense it was arbitrary that her death was part of his current timeline and closest ones and the timeline without her death was a far away one. Well, not pure arbitrary, but made it that way so narratively speaking we can have a story worth telling.
But I wouldn't say it doesn't make any sense at all. Looking back now that we watched the entire series, her fate wasn't super hard to prevent as you say, Okabe difficulty to succeed came from not having complete, objective knowledge of what timelines/parallel universe exist and what are their friends status in each and how each timeline connects each other, what moments caused the divergence and how different divergencies were tied to other moments. He didn't have a "map" to read.
He had to go blind in his time adventure, which of course it meant lots of trial and error, half understanding little by little and with time how everything was connected. Had he have a "map", a guide, and his adventure could have been done in two or three episodes.
I found the mix of predestination that can be overcome jumping to another different timeline far way enough novel.
In that sense it was arbitrary that her death was part of his current timeline and closest ones and the timeline without her death was a far away one. Well, not pure arbitrary, but made it that way so narratively speaking we can have a story worth telling.
Sounds like "pure arbitrary" to me.
And note that it's merely
Mayuri's death
that has to happen, and all the circumstances surrounding it, i.e. the causes and consequences of
her death
can differ wildly. For example:
Nae traumatized for life because she caused Mayuri's death
? Yes or no, doesn't matter, apparently.
Looking back now that we watched the entire series, her fate wasn't super hard to prevent as you say, Okabe difficulty to succeed came from not having complete, objective knowledge of what timelines/parallel universe exist and what are their friends status in each and how each timeline connects each other, what moments caused the divergence and how different divergencies were tied to other moments. He didn't have a "map" to read.
Well, at least someone from DAL won. And at least Kurumi beat her in their last match. And at least she ended the tournament on a high. And at least she's better than Kotori. And at least I don't care about IntSaimoe. And at least I'm not mad.
So, I decided to flick through Cross Ange 01. I want to see if this show really is Fukuda at his SEED-iest. A few things...
- So many SEED references/Fukuda-isms within the mecha combat. They're not done with the same panache that you see when Obari references appear.
- The fanservice is really, really stupid. The pilot suits are so fucking dumb. That could be a deliberate thing, narrative-wise, but I can't really tell from episode 1.
- Was that Kira in the OP?
- It's so fucking ham-fisted. Everyone is basically unlikable. I see that's by design, since they're going with the mana-using society being horrible racists and the people on 70s Women In Prison Movie Island. Ange is girl Hitler so far; a literal princess anyway, but will probably become some Kira/Lacus hybrid saviour figure.
- I can't figure out if that was Ange's blood or her mother's blood on her dress. Also, I get the impression that that scene is supposed to imply that Ange was forcibly sterlised or it could just have been a deliberately rough physical.
- So, Normas can neutralize mana. I'm guessing that why they're forced to fight dragons, because, and I'm spit balling here, the dragons are fueled by mana or consume mana.
- This is my impression of how the story will turn out: Way back, people started to use mana. Then dragons appeared from portals to consume mana and fuck up the mana-using world. Then Normas started being born, females only because Bandai wants to sell a lot of PVC figures, who could neutralize mana, and therefore dragons. Magic government thinks Normas could destroy magic-powered society, but since they can fight dragons, they cover up the whole dragon thing and ship the Normas off to Monster Island (it's really a peninsula) to fight them in mechs that Bandai will sell plamo of for about 4,000 yen RRP.
- It looks like a Fukuda trainwreck. The first episode does not give me a good impression at all. It could be deliberate. I want to believe that Cross Ange is setting up all this awful shit so the show does a complete 180, plot-wise and turns out to be good, and people praise it as the second coming of Code Geass S1. However, I can't really trust post-GSD Fukuda. I know he's not writing it, but he has a shitload of control over it. I'll still give it a couple more episodes because I feel that the ham-fisted suffering and shitty fanservice could leading to something interesting.
Because once he wrote the perfect protagonist in the form of Kirito there wasn't really the option of writing another one, so he went in the complete opposite direction and made his new hero a self pitying pathetic lump of fat.
I think you are thinking too hard on this. Of course it's pure arbitrary, but that what happens in lots of fiction.
-The MC happens to witness a murder he shouldn't have seen. Arbitrary.
-The evil guy happens to fall in love and kidnap the mc's girlfriend. Not any of the other thousands girls available, but hers. Arbitrary.
-An alien crash in MC's backyard, fun hijinks ensue. Or maybe body horror happens. Arbitrary.
-The serial killer was your best friend all along. Arbitrary.
Lots of stories main cause, premise or challenge is arbitrary by nature. That makes the story be based in a 1 in 5000 chance event, and not something super normal taken from a Slice of Life story, but that doesn't mean the story is bad.
Mayuri's death was hard to avoid, but that doesn't mean it was the only thing hard to change. It would have been arbitrary if that would be the case. We have to understand there are lots of other things that are hard to change in that timeline, as each timeline has predermined things. Maybe get a gf for Daru would be as hard. Maybe make Mayuri less autistic. Maybe kill Moeka or a random neighbor would be as almost impossible. We don't know, because the series isn't focused in any of that. You are having selection bias.
I have to say that after the greatness of Battle Tendency I was left distinctly underwhelmed with this part of the series. The monster of the week format got really tiring after a very short while. They do try to keep things fresh with the varied opponnents and Jojo's unique brand of absurdness but it was not enough to keep things compelling. BT was a battle show too but wrapped in an interesting and moving story. Here you could watch episodes 1,2 and 24 and you would have missed very little on the main plot front. The characters were alright. Not up to level of Ceasar and young Joseph but good nonetheless. Polnareff especially was the highpoint and I was laughing my ass of during his interactions with the Enya. Having never been a big fan of Pokemon battles, I wasn't big on the sudden introduction of Stands and I still hope for some meaningful return of Hamon. Especially since they're getting close to Dio now.
1. Caesar is a garbage companion and Joseph is better in his Grandpa form.
2. The introduction of stands is literally the best thing to happen to the series and I'm glad Araki pushed Hamon aside once he had done all he could with it. There's about 2 or 3 uses of Hamon left in the entire 8 part series so say goodbye now.
