Idiots, Tests, and Summoned Beasts #21 — Profanities

August 25th, 2011

 

Oh boy! A flashback episode!

Impressions:

You know how I do love Japan’s inabilty to stick with a current plot to go make up backstory on a whim! Who needs character development in the present when you can just retcon it in later! Yes, I am aware that Minami’s crush itself is nothing new, but it is the journey, not the destination. It is the narrative version of the passive voice, instead of showing a character fall in love (or in this case, a new reason why she loves him), they’re showing that she had fallen in love. The characters are not driving the story, the story has happened around them. Even if you absolutely must have a flashback, at least interweave it with current events, don’t put a giant pause button on the show to say "By the way, this happened and it’s suddenly more relevant than whatever else was going on."

Anyway, flashback about Minami coming back from Germany a year ago and screwing up her Japanese all over the place, leading to her being ostracized and only Yoshii trying to be friends, yada yada. You can write the rest yourself. Silver Link seemed like it was letting all its inner Shaft-ness out this week too. I was a bit (further) disappointed that they didn’t try to make her speak German, just ‘subtitled’ silent reels in Japanese. Not that I can speak German, but it’s always amusing to hear VAs butcher it. It was painful enough listening to Minami’s VA trying to sound foreign even before they kicked in the voice filter to make all the voices incomprehensible.

It certainly could have been worse. I guess it was at least a change of pace from the recycled jokes for once. I did think that the whole thing with Yoshii screwing up and trying to speak to her in French ("Mon amie" instead of Minami) was pretty nice, although they really should have cranked the filter up a little more. Even slightly distorted, Yoshii’s mangled French sounds nothing like Japanese. Regardless, I detest taking the focus away from current events to retroactively make stuff up for a character, particularly after ending on a cliffhanger, and maudlin drama is not this show’s strong suit anyway, but I guess at least they stuck with it consistently through the episode, unlike certain other shows I could name. Consistency and focus are seriously underappreciated virtues in the anime world. I don’t think this episode was particularly needed or contributed all that much, but at least it felt like some actual thought went into it instead of just the urge to chew up time or loosely stitch together some fetishtastic scenes. Thought I don’t agree with, yes, but thought nonetheless.

Posted in Bakatest | 4 Comments »

4 Shouts From the Peanut Gallery

  • Raikitsune says:

    I don’t know why it says it but that “What a shit” frame is making me laugh pretty hard.

    • Aroduc says:

      She was saying Watashi then (badly), which he misunderstood as “What a shit” because she said “What a shit man you are” to him earlier in the episode.

  • Nanaya says:

    I think they gave up the German after the author got called on using babelfish to get the lines early on in the series.

  • TOP2NE1 says:

    A contrived episode if I ever saw one.