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Spring 2014 Tokyo MX, er, Anime |OT1.5| ORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORA

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Defuser

Member
I would of prefer this

henneko.jpg
Why leave the Hentai part untranslated? Why not translate it to Pervert? All according to Keikaku?
 

Articalys

Member
I hadn't noticed how nice the music in Gochuumon was until this episode. Really relaxing stuff.
It really does. That plus the scenery really makes it feel like a JRPG town or something.
I find Tensai really annoying. She is always trying to get up in Juugo business. Even hacked his phone.
How can you dislike the best Kana Asumi character this season?

-------------------------------------


By the way, folks, don't forget to go and vote on which five Monogatari episodes w/commentary you want them to air to fill the Hanamonogatari gap. You have until next Wednesday to decide.

http://www.monogatari-series.com/vote/
 

madp

The Light of El Cantare
If I could take just a moment to describe what kind of show selector infected WIXOSS really is:


I'd like to remind everyone that this is a show that is advertising a trading card game. WIXOSS, however, has bucked the most core convention of TCG anime by habitually failing to provide any explanation whatsoever of game mechanics during its duels. Cards are being drawn, played, and pitted against each other, but in the absence of the necessary context on why exactly what is happening is happening, duels are little more than antagonistic banter between opponents punctuated by kawaii virtual avatars attacking each other until the script decides that it's time for someone to lose. I realize that many people dislike TCG anime because they find the continuous explanations of card effects to be tedious, but excise that element entirely and you're left with a nebulous mess of things happening. WIXOSS is clearly a show for which the game is merely the means by which the character drama unfolds.

In this episode, the nature of how battles are represented is taken to a ridiculous extreme. Where at least we would see the opponents going through the motions of the game, a battle in this episode consists entirely of the opponents' virtual avatars blasting kamehamehas and hadoukens and jolts of lightning back and forth at each other in lieu of any sort of structured combat. The complete obfuscation of the "game" element of WIXOSS battles is made complete by the fact that, on top of devolving into a meaningless barrage of energy blasts, for a portion of the duel the dialogue of the combatants is dubbed over with a music track. Their mouths are moving, but the actual particulars of what is happening in the duel are so unimportant to the show at that point that these mouth movements aren't even voiced. It's a flashy, but meaningless, spectacle.

wixoss7-20ay6k.gif


Oh, and the protagonist's main source of internal conflict now?
SHE ENJOYS PLAYING THE GAME TOO MUCH.
The horror! The show has done nothing to illustrate just why exactly Ruko is a WIXOSS savant other than people telling her that she is, so making her wonder
if she's now some kind of callous bloodthirsty monster for actually enjoying this game she's apparently so good at
is just extra-preposterous and a exists as a new vein of cheap drama to be exploited.

Ruko may be great at the game, but she's not terribly bright otherwise. At the end of the episode,
Ruko's brotherfucker friend receives a text message from the now-defeated psychopathic fashion model who has been obsessively stalking them. She invites them both to meet her in an abandoned warehouse.

Their response? SEEMS LEGIT. They both go, and as you might expect, the psychopathic fashion model has only become more psychopathic after being eliminated from the Eternal Girl competition. She appears from the shadows, in a hoodie and wearing a mask. She removes the mask to reveal a glowing red gash of PROBABLY OMINOUS NATURE on her madness-contorted face.
End episode.
 
No Game No Life 6

This episode was really exciting, I mean that H Bomb at of nowhere. Man for me Jibril seems like the best girl for now I don't know if that'll change though. The bullying of Steph was funny once again and being used as a decoy too. The best part is Sora one upping Jibril ever time in the game which made it so enjoyable for me. Really can't wait for next week.

Was the Skyrim reference at the very end.
 

Mokoi

Banned
How can you dislike the best Kana Asumi character this season?

-------------------------------------


By the way, folks, don't forget to go and vote on which five Monogatari episodes w/commentary you want them to air to fill the Hanamonogatari gap. You have until next Wednesday to decide.

http://www.monogatari-series.com/vote/

I just hate characters who invade other people's privacy. Now that I think about there are a lot anime characters who are always trying to invade peoples privcay. Also thanks for the notice on the voting.
 
If I could take just a moment to describe what kind of show selector infected WIXOSS really is:

snip

I look forward to these more than anything else in a week. It's like I want to hear about the show, but not watch it. A curiosity to the shit.

Having read this though. What's the point of making a show about a children's card game and not introduce the rules to consumers? I mean the standards are set: you introduce the rules that people will follow irl, then you proceed to break them because SCREW THE RULES I HAVE MONEY.

Sadly there wasn't much incest drama this week apparently. Shame.
 

hipbabboom

Huh? What did I say? Did I screw up again? :(
Ping Pong - 6

Well! Things seem to be more complicated than they appear after that song scene.

Also...
dude jacking off to incest model. Hey captain, the team looks up to me so I'm really conflicted about this pure ntr-like justice that needs to happen as though its going to rip your incest pumped member out of your model cousin which is really all I want but can only realize by masturbating furiously on Christmas surrounded by only my rejected gift and mountains of jizz drenched tissue.
 
Ping Pong - 6

Well! Things seem to be more complicated than they appear after that song scene.

Also...
dude jacking off to incest model. Hey captain, the team looks up to me so I'm really conflicted about this pure ntr-like justice that needs to happen as though its going to rip your incest pumped member out of your model cousin which is really all I want but can only realize by masturbating furiously on Christmas surrounded by only my rejected gift and mountains of jizz drenched tissue.

I don't think that
was him in the room full of masturbation material. That was the other guy with the thicker brows, the guy under him in rank
unless I'm confusing them.

As to the episode

Ping Pong 6

I have a feeling this is gonna all end with Peco saving Smile to fulfill this hero prophecy.
 

Clov

Member
That's one of the big problems in Wixoss, really; I never have any idea what's going on in the duels, and it seems like the show has pretty much given up on even attempting to show how it's played. Despite that I'm still having fun, for some reason.
 
Gundam Build Fighters - 10

And so the World Tournament begins!

Haha, Aila is so adorable! Seriously, that entire scene with her fighting over the food with Reiji.

Oh wow. Dat Star Build Strike finishing move. YEEEESSSSSSS. The music during that scene fit the mood perfectly.
 

sonicmj1

Member
Ping Pong - 6

Well! Things seem to be more complicated than they appear after that song scene.

Also...
dude jacking off to incest model. Hey captain, the team looks up to me so I'm really conflicted about this pure ntr-like justice that needs to happen as though its going to rip your incest pumped member out of your model cousin which is really all I want but can only realize by masturbating furiously on Christmas surrounded by only my rejected gift and mountains of jizz drenched tissue.

Not quite right.
Dragon's only love is ping pong, which is why he stood his cousin up so that he could work out instead.
 

Joe Molotov

Member
I'd like to remind everyone that this is a show that is advertising a trading card game. WIXOSS, however, has bucked the most core convention of TCG anime by habitually failing to provide any explanation whatsoever of game mechanics during its duels. Cards are being drawn, played, and pitted against each other, but in the absence of the necessary context on why exactly what is happening is happening, duels are little more than antagonistic banter between opponents punctuated by kawaii virtual avatars attacking each other until the script decides that it's time for someone to lose. I realize that many people dislike TCG anime because they find the continuous explanations of card effects to be tedious, but excise that element entirely and you're left with a nebulous mess of things happening. WIXOSS is clearly a show for which the game is merely the means by which the character drama unfolds.

Maybe the card game is really shit, and they're afraid of showing too much of the actual game mechanics "We know this game sucks, just make it look really cool on the screen so we can trick people into buying it." You know, like they did with Digimon.
 

Syrinx

Member
If I could take just a moment to describe what kind of show selector infected WIXOSS really is:


I'd like to remind everyone that this is a show that is advertising a trading card game. WIXOSS, however, has bucked the most core convention of TCG anime by habitually failing to provide any explanation whatsoever of game mechanics during its duels. Cards are being drawn, played, and pitted against each other, but in the absence of the necessary context on why exactly what is happening is happening, duels are little more than antagonistic banter between opponents punctuated by kawaii virtual avatars attacking each other until the script decides that it's time for someone to lose. I realize that many people dislike TCG anime because they find the continuous explanations of card effects to be tedious, but excise that element entirely and you're left with a nebulous mess of things happening. WIXOSS is clearly a show for which the game is merely the means by which the character drama unfolds.

In this episode, the nature of how battles are represented is taken to a ridiculous extreme. Where at least we would see the opponents going through the motions of the game, a battle in this episode consists entirely of the opponents' virtual avatars blasting kamehamehas and hadoukens and jolts of lightning back and forth at each other in lieu of any sort of structured combat. The complete obfuscation of the "game" element of WIXOSS battles is made complete by the fact that, on top of devolving into a meaningless barrage of energy blasts, for a portion of the duel the dialogue of the combatants is dubbed over with a music track. Their mouths are moving, but the actual particulars of what is happening in the duel are so unimportant to the show at that point that these mouth movements aren't even voiced. It's a flashy, but meaningless, spectacle.

wixoss7-20ay6k.gif


Oh, and the protagonist's main source of internal conflict now?
SHE ENJOYS PLAYING THE GAME TOO MUCH.
The horror! The show has done nothing to illustrate just why exactly Ruko is a WIXOSS savant other than people telling her that she is, so making her wonder
if she's now some kind of callous bloodthirsty monster for actually enjoying this game she's apparently so good at
is just extra-preposterous and a exists as a new vein of cheap drama to be exploited.

Ruko may be great at the game, but she's not terribly bright otherwise. At the end of the episode,
Ruko's brotherfucker friend receives a text message from the now-defeated psychopathic fashion model who has been obsessively stalking them. She invites them both to meet her in an abandoned warehouse.

Their response? SEEMS LEGIT. They both go, and as you might expect, the psychopathic fashion model has only become more psychopathic after being eliminated from the Eternal Girl competition. She appears from the shadows, in a hoodie and wearing a mask. She removes the mask to reveal a glowing red gash of PROBABLY OMINOUS NATURE on her madness-contorted face.
End episode.

This is the show of the season solely because of madp's impressions.
 

Midonin

Member
Consider the time slot. If this was advertising to kids, it wouldn't be a late night show. It'd be airing alongside the Buddyfight/Vanguard/Battle Spirits-type shows. This is aiming for an older demographic, and given the way the cards focus all their power on an avatar (given some personality here for dramatic effect), it's selling the cards more on the lore behind them than the actual game mechanics. There are plenty of links to the card game itself on the show's website - we live in a mixed-media world - so not having the rules in the show isn't a flaw.

I like that it focuses more on the personal stories of the characters rather than the game itself. It's a slightly more advertising-heavy version of what was attempted with Z/X Ignition only one season before. Though I like it better than Z/X because it's not trying to juggle so many characters, and has a clearer idea of what it wants to do with its story. Which is to say, Kamen Rider Ryuki. (Another show that was selling cards, but the actual cards weren't important.)

Mari Okada is reminding me of Yasuko Kobayashi here, and that's a high compliment. Kobayashi's produced some of my favorite work. She can drag a bit, but her stories usually have solid ideas behind them.
 
I'd like to remind everyone that this is a show that is advertising a trading card game. WIXOSS, however, has bucked the most core convention of TCG anime by habitually failing to provide any explanation whatsoever of game mechanics during its duels. Cards are being drawn, played, and pitted against each other, but in the absence of the necessary context on why exactly what is happening is happening, duels are little more than antagonistic banter between opponents punctuated by kawaii virtual avatars attacking each other until the script decides that it's time for someone to lose. I realize that many people dislike TCG anime because they find the continuous explanations of card effects to be tedious, but excise that element entirely and you're left with a nebulous mess of things happening. WIXOSS is clearly a show for which the game is merely the means by which the character drama unfolds.

Sounds just like how Duel Masters handled the card game.

i.e not explaining how the game works.
 

Mature

Member
If I could take just a moment to describe what kind of show selector infected WIXOSS really is:


I'd like to remind everyone that this is a show that is advertising a trading card game. WIXOSS, however, has bucked the most core convention of TCG anime by habitually failing to provide any explanation whatsoever of game mechanics during its duels. Cards are being drawn, played, and pitted against each other, but in the absence of the necessary context on why exactly what is happening is happening, duels are little more than antagonistic banter between opponents punctuated by kawaii virtual avatars attacking each other until the script decides that it's time for someone to lose. I realize that many people dislike TCG anime because they find the continuous explanations of card effects to be tedious, but excise that element entirely and you're left with a nebulous mess of things happening. WIXOSS is clearly a show for which the game is merely the means by which the character drama unfolds.

In this episode, the nature of how battles are represented is taken to a ridiculous extreme. Where at least we would see the opponents going through the motions of the game, a battle in this episode consists entirely of the opponents' virtual avatars blasting kamehamehas and hadoukens and jolts of lightning back and forth at each other in lieu of any sort of structured combat. The complete obfuscation of the "game" element of WIXOSS battles is made complete by the fact that, on top of devolving into a meaningless barrage of energy blasts, for a portion of the duel the dialogue of the combatants is dubbed over with a music track. Their mouths are moving, but the actual particulars of what is happening in the duel are so unimportant to the show at that point that these mouth movements aren't even voiced. It's a flashy, but meaningless, spectacle.

wixoss7-20ay6k.gif


Oh, and the protagonist's main source of internal conflict now?
SHE ENJOYS PLAYING THE GAME TOO MUCH.
The horror! The show has done nothing to illustrate just why exactly Ruko is a WIXOSS savant other than people telling her that she is, so making her wonder
if she's now some kind of callous bloodthirsty monster for actually enjoying this game she's apparently so good at
is just extra-preposterous and a exists as a new vein of cheap drama to be exploited.

Ruko may be great at the game, but she's not terribly bright otherwise. At the end of the episode,
Ruko's brotherfucker friend receives a text message from the now-defeated psychopathic fashion model who has been obsessively stalking them. She invites them both to meet her in an abandoned warehouse.

Their response? SEEMS LEGIT. They both go, and as you might expect, the psychopathic fashion model has only become more psychopathic after being eliminated from the Eternal Girl competition. She appears from the shadows, in a hoodie and wearing a mask. She removes the mask to reveal a glowing red gash of PROBABLY OMINOUS NATURE on her madness-contorted face.
End episode.
My show of the season isn't a show i'm watching.
 
That's one of the big problems in Wixoss, really; I never have any idea what's going on in the duels, and it seems like the show has pretty much given up on even attempting to show how it's played. Despite that I'm still having fun, for some reason.

Really the enjoyable part of the show is waiting for the main characters to lose 3 times and see the glorious fallout. And Ruko's eventual fall to the dark side.
 

Clov

Member
Really the enjoyable part of the show is waiting for the main characters to lose 3 times and see the glorious fallout. And Ruko's eventual fall to the dark side.

That's true! I can never get too much despair, even if it's a bit cheap.

Just started From The New World with a friend. He has no idea what the show is like.

He's in for a treat. I'd go as far to say that I'd put that anime in my top ten.
 
Wixoss 7

Something tells me there's still a shitton of super important info the LRIGs are keeping from the Selectors.

If I could take just a moment to describe what kind of show selector infected WIXOSS really is:


I'd like to remind everyone that this is a show that is advertising a trading card game. WIXOSS, however, has bucked the most core convention of TCG anime by habitually failing to provide any explanation whatsoever of game mechanics during its duels. Cards are being drawn, played, and pitted against each other, but in the absence of the necessary context on why exactly what is happening is happening, duels are little more than antagonistic banter between opponents punctuated by kawaii virtual avatars attacking each other until the script decides that it's time for someone to lose. I realize that many people dislike TCG anime because they find the continuous explanations of card effects to be tedious, but excise that element entirely and you're left with a nebulous mess of things happening. WIXOSS is clearly a show for which the game is merely the means by which the character drama unfolds.

In this episode, the nature of how battles are represented is taken to a ridiculous extreme. Where at least we would see the opponents going through the motions of the game, a battle in this episode consists entirely of the opponents' virtual avatars blasting kamehamehas and hadoukens and jolts of lightning back and forth at each other in lieu of any sort of structured combat. The complete obfuscation of the "game" element of WIXOSS battles is made complete by the fact that, on top of devolving into a meaningless barrage of energy blasts, for a portion of the duel the dialogue of the combatants is dubbed over with a music track. Their mouths are moving, but the actual particulars of what is happening in the duel are so unimportant to the show at that point that these mouth movements aren't even voiced. It's a flashy, but meaningless, spectacle.

wixoss7-20ay6k.gif


Oh, and the protagonist's main source of internal conflict now?
SHE ENJOYS PLAYING THE GAME TOO MUCH.
The horror! The show has done nothing to illustrate just why exactly Ruko is a WIXOSS savant other than people telling her that she is, so making her wonder
if she's now some kind of callous bloodthirsty monster for actually enjoying this game she's apparently so good at
is just extra-preposterous and a exists as a new vein of cheap drama to be exploited.

Ruko may be great at the game, but she's not terribly bright otherwise. At the end of the episode,
Ruko's brotherfucker friend receives a text message from the now-defeated psychopathic fashion model who has been obsessively stalking them. She invites them both to meet her in an abandoned warehouse.

Their response? SEEMS LEGIT. They both go, and as you might expect, the psychopathic fashion model has only become more psychopathic after being eliminated from the Eternal Girl competition. She appears from the shadows, in a hoodie and wearing a mask. She removes the mask to reveal a glowing red gash of PROBABLY OMINOUS NATURE on her madness-contorted face.
End episode.

They probably think it would be redundant to explain the rules since viewers can just learn them by playing the TCG. IIRC, it was more justified with stuff like Yu-gi-oh because a physical card game wasn't available until much later.

Still kind of dumb though.
 
Wixoss 7

Something tells me there's still a shitton of super important info the LRIGs are keeping from the Selectors.



They probably think it would be redundant to explain the rules since viewers can just learn them by playing the TCG. IIRC, it was more justified with stuff like Yu-gi-oh because a physical card game wasn't available until much later.

Still kind of dumb though.

Yeah what I dont get is why the fuck Hitoe's LRIG didn't say anything except a vague "throw me away!" So useless.

As for not showing the rules, it is a bit frustrating but I've learned to not care. Except for the whole "the correct move is to not attack this turn!"

I can only assume the equivalent of a trap card was played.
 

Midonin

Member
Using it as a genre is strictly an American/Western fandom thing. Japan tends to go for the terms 18+ or ero anime. Much like "otaku", it's a loanword we reappropriated while sorta getting the gist of it, but not really.
 

Clov

Member
Saving him from what, exactly? Himself?

At this point, definitely. The episode was showing him becoming less human, more machine-like. It's there in the robotic sound effects as he plays, in his uncaring attitude, and him spending Christmas alone. In contrast, Wenge's gone in the opposite direction; now that he's decided to stay in Japan, he's learned Japanese and made friends with the players that he used to think weren't worth his time. It's really interesting to watch.
 

madp

The Light of El Cantare
Maybe the card game is really shit, and they're afraid of showing too much of the actual game mechanics "We know this game sucks, just make it look really cool on the screen so we can trick people into buying it." You know, like they did with Digimon.

Digimon existed as virtual pets before the TCG!

Nothing about how WIXOSS is depicted in the show lends the idea that it's bad; I mean, really, from the disjointed fragments of the mechanics that have been referenced, it just kind of vaguely seems like a melange of Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh more than anything. One attacker that can evolve, spell/trap cards, typical stuff.

Consider the time slot. If this was advertising to kids, it wouldn't be a late night show. It'd be airing alongside the Buddyfight/Vanguard/Battle Spirits-type shows. This is aiming for an older demographic, and given the way the cards focus all their power on an avatar (given some personality here for dramatic effect), it's selling the cards more on the lore behind them than the actual game mechanics. There are plenty of links to the card game itself on the show's website - we live in a mixed-media world - so not having the rules in the show isn't a flaw.

I like that it focuses more on the personal stories of the characters rather than the game itself. It's a slightly more advertising-heavy version of what was attempted with Z/X Ignition only one season before. Though I like it better than Z/X because it's not trying to juggle so many characters, and has a clearer idea of what it wants to do with its story. Which is to say, Kamen Rider Ryuki. (Another show that was selling cards, but the actual cards weren't important.)

Mari Okada is reminding me of Yasuko Kobayashi here, and that's a high compliment. Kobayashi's produced some of my favorite work. She can drag a bit, but her stories usually have solid ideas behind them.

Is there a reason that you believe that the inclusion of actual TCG mechanics precludes a show from being able to appeal to an adult/otaku audience? I mean, after all, TCG anime are really just an offshoot of shounen/action/sports anime in the fundamental sense that conflict and competition are the vehicles by which the narrative advances. TCG anime are designed around proxy battles rather than physical confrontation, but virtually all combat-oriented anime operate under established frameworks of rules that the characters have to master in order to succeed. There's the common idea that the protagonist has a "power" and has to best the "powers" of his opponents, and in a TCG show your "power" takes the form of a deck. With the correct execution, basically any genre of anime can appeal to any audience of anime viewers.

I just don't think that you can divorce the idea of mechanics-oriented combat from a TCG anime; it implies that certain conventions are going to be followed. I can't speak about Z/X Ignition because I barely watched any, but I'm actually fine with the idea of using an entirely character-driven show to sell a TCG. The keyword there is entirely, though; WIXOSS bothers me because it tries to reproduce some of the structure and imagery of a traditional TCG anime without explaining the game itself. A good example of what I'd prefer it to be is something along the lines of Majin Bone, which managed to extrapolate the basic elements of its TCG to shounen combat where the powers are based on the card mechanics but adapted for a freeform combat environment. You can still tell that the show is advertising a TCG, but the show captured the game's essence while eliminating the need for card duels.


I fully accept that WIXOSS's marketing strategy is to sell the TCG simply by association with its characters. It's a valid way to push the product, it just doesn't make for good TCG anime. It's beginning to run into problems because the show's narrative is more reliant on how the game itself is depicted than it appears--as Ruko's prowess at the game becomes an increasingly-important plot point, the viewer is forced simply to take the word of other characters on how good she is because the whole process of her growth as a player basically doesn't exist in the show apart from the visual shorthand of LRIGs beamspaming each other. Secondhand characterization is bad--show, don't tell. The idea of a more serious, character-driven TCG show is fine in concept, but the TCG aspect itself has to be accepted as just another storytelling tool, not an impediment to be minimized or a skin merely to be worn.

I'll admit to still watching because, in spite of myself, I derive some amusement from Okada's garish carnivals of suffering and irrational behavior. I'm not actually mad or anything when I write my weekly reviews; I don't view WIXOSS as some grand blight on the industry or anything. It's just a highly absurd program to me and fun to summarize in every gory detail. I appreciate you taking the time to engage me on this and hopefully I've elaborated on the nature of my complaints a bit more.
 
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