天下制覇

Got to love Japan’s backwards sexual culture.

Impressions:

The short version is "No, it did not get any better." Refer back to the previous post for part 1, but since the episode had the temerity to be twice as long, I may as well heap some more on it. Consider everything I said there about the boring characters to stil hold just as true now as it did before. This episode was a little more focused, but it still wasn’t a mystery by any Western standards.

The primary issues though relate to yet more problems with the main protagonist, Narumi. He is a complete non-entity, made to represent the audience just enough to act as their voice "Look at all this crazy stuff. We, the writers, realize that it’s crazy. See? We’re so unique and creative." There are many problems with this, but foremost is that he never stops complaining about being in the show. "Why is this happening to me?" "Why do I have to do this?" "Why me?" "Why am I involved?" "Don’t just say things without my permission."

The second major problem is that the presentation is nonstop narration. I make this complaint a lot, but this episode was especially bad with it. Show, don’t tell. Basic tenant of all media. It even gets so bad at points that characters are informing Narumi how he feels. Don’t tell me he looks depressed while the camera is locked onto the back of his head. Show me that he looks depressed. This is not a book any more, nor is it an audio CD. Make use of your medium, damn it. That’s why animation is fun. The creators have complete and exact control over camera angles, lighting, visual style, everything, but what’s the point if you don’t use any of it?

Preview:

Legs.