{"id":417,"date":"2009-03-25T16:36:46","date_gmt":"2009-03-25T23:36:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mikoto.wordpress.com\/?p=417"},"modified":"2009-03-25T16:36:46","modified_gmt":"2009-03-25T23:36:46","slug":"akikan-11-sudden-drama-fails-to-mask-failure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flomu.net\/blog\/2009\/03\/akikan-11-sudden-drama-fails-to-mask-failure\/","title":{"rendered":"Akikan! 11: Sudden Drama Fails to Mask Failure"},"content":{"rendered":"

FAIL-O-METER
\n<\/span><\/strong>This episode was nowhere near the nightmare of episode 10<\/a>, but it was still horrible. \u00a0The fail here is equal in size to Eiken boobs, and that’s saying something.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Honestly, this villain is the best looking character in the series, not to mention the most awesome.<\/p><\/div>\n

The biggest surprise I got from this episode wasn’t the plotline, actually.
\nRather, it was the lack of the horrible art and animation that I’ve seen in the past ten episodes.<\/p>\n

The only glaringly bad artistic error I found was this…
\n\"\"
\nAt first glance, it seems like a normal screenshot. And then you notice that the entire eye<\/strong> is on top of the hair<\/a>…. >__>;<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nShe looks a bit different<\/a>…<\/p>\n

In other news, we get some pretty unique things this episode:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Actual art!<\/li>\n
  2. Actual animation!<\/li>\n
  3. Sudden insertion of plotline to bring the series to a definite conclusion by episode 12!<\/li>\n
  4. Sudden drama!<\/li>\n
  5. Some very badly done scenes! (not unique)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    So #1 and #2 have already been somewhat discussed, so I’ll move on to 3 and 4…<\/p>\n

    \"\" \"\" Screw you guys, just give me some comedy!<\/p>\n

    The bottom line is that Akikan!<\/em> is not meant for drama.<\/p>\n

    I don’t care how good (or laughably bad) the drama is, because Akikan!<\/em> and drama should rarely belong in the same sentence.<\/p>\n

    We get all these episodes of LOLPERVERT comedy, one huge filler episode, and now we are pushed into the midst of a monsoon of utterly pointless drama that offsets all of the dirty humor that has come to characterize this series.<\/p>\n

    So… why? Why would anybody even think of putting a huge waste of effort<\/span> dramatic episode right here?\u00a0<\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/p>\n

    Well, episode 12 is the end of the series, so you’ve got to have some kind of conclusion, right?<\/p>\n

    So, think Kannagi<\/em>\u00a0and To Aru Majutsu no Index<\/em> for a second.
    \nKannagi<\/em> shifted from a brilliant comedy to a brilliant drama in the last few episodes, mostly to give the viewers at least a bit of a sense of closure (of course, the drama had been building up for the entire series, unlike Akikan!<\/em>)
    \nTo Aru Majutsu no Index<\/em> ended with a bunch of questions and gave no sense of closure (much like Code Geass<\/em> S1). \u00a0However, this obviously forecasted a second season.<\/p>\n

    Akikan!<\/em> will have no such second season. \u00a0Or at least, I doubt the masses would want another one.
    \nAkikan!<\/em> has dealt with nothing but gags and the like for most of the series, so there’s not much in drama to fall back on for a conclusion.<\/p>\n

    Thus the most logical thing to do is drag a bunch of plot, drama, and action out of thin air to force a conclusion, right?
    \nWell, no<\/strong>. \u00a0I think passing up a conclusion would be better in this case.
    \nAkikan!<\/em>\u00a0isn’t exactly the refined comedy that Kannagi<\/em>\u00a0was, so why bother attempting to bring about a refined conclusion?<\/p>\n

    Phooey.<\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/p>\n

    And now we arrive at the best (or rather, worst) aspect of this episode – the horribly thought up scenes and dialogue!<\/p>\n

    \"Akikan!
    \nThis is quite reminiscent of DBZ-style fighting. \u00a0Never knew Yell had it in her!<\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/p>\n

    \"Akikan!
    \n“Oh Yell, you’re protecting me…”
    \n\"Akikan!
    \n“…from this huge explosion…”
    \n\"Akikan!
    \n“…and somehow we managed to end up in these positions… o_o”<\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/p>\n

    \"\"
    \n“I talk in a zoomed up scene to show significant plot details!”
    \n\"Akikan!
    \n“I’m cool like that too!”
    \n\"Akikan!
    \n“Hah, my face is the most cut-off!”
    \n\"Akikan!<\/p>\n

    Indeed, what the hell is this?<\/p>\n

    When I first saw Airin-kun’s half-face portrait, I knew that a slew of the same type of shot was going to follow.
    \nTwo or even three of these shots in a row are good for emphasis, but…<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. No matter what technique is used, I doubt Akikan!<\/em> can be taken seriously.<\/li>\n
    2. Six half-face portrait shots in a row is ridiculous.<\/li>\n
    3. It’s annoying.
      \nWhen you have Airin-kun’s face on the left, then Kakeru on the right, Melon on the left, etc., you might as well put Theodore Roosevelt and a herd of cattle stampeding in from the bottom left corner under the Moon from Majora’s Mask. \u00a0It’s simply not a good idea!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      \"\"
      \nSo after a minute or so of half-face portraits, we are rewarded with a picture that totally kills the dramatic feel that the shots had tried to set up.<\/p>\n

      I’m not arguing with an insertion of comedic relief, but can Akikan!<\/em> focus on one thing?
      \nIt’s either comedy or drama, not both! \u00a0If this is meant to be a dramatic episode, at least relent on the random jokes during what should be a dramatic moment.<\/p>\n

      But from a personal standpoint, I liked this scene.
      \nThe intense boredom that the “strongest Akikan” dialogue set up was just too much, and only a scene like this could have made me laugh and continue watching.<\/p>\n

      \"Akikan!<\/a>You can’t really see here, but there’s a Budoko grape bomb heading near Melon in this screenshot.<\/p>\n

      Note that Kakeru and Melon are sitting down<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

      \"Akikan!This is the very next scene.<\/p>\n

      Note that…<\/p>\n

        \n
      1. Kakeru and Melon should have died, but are still alive.<\/li>\n
      2. Kakeru and Melon are running on their feet.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        Basically, Kakeru and Melon have mysteriously avoided the bomb and stood up in the few milliseconds between this scene and the scene before.<\/p>\n

        \"Akikan!
        \nAnd this is the very next scene.
        \nNote that Kakeru and Melon are again seated<\/strong>!<\/p>\n

        \"Akikan!
        \nNo duh?
        \nPlease, save me a speech about why they are obviously not the real deal.
        \nAnything but that. \u00a0Please, just not a speech justifying your clai-<\/p>\n

        \"Akikan!
        \n\"Akikan!
        \n\u00a0\"Akikan!
        \nWhy….??\u00a0\"\"
        \nI’ll just let Melon do the talking, then…
        \n\"Akikan!
        \naka “Just shut up already!”<\/p>\n

        \"Akikan!
        \n\"Akikan!
        \n“Hahah! I break out in stereotypical evil laughter when I explain my powers!”<\/p>\n

        Seriously, there’s no need for the maniacal laughter and the hair breezing out effects when a villain is explaining her powers for the first time.<\/p>\n

        And finally…\u00a0<\/p>\n

        \"\"<\/p>\n

        The fading-away effect for the villain is unnecessary and shows lack of effort.<\/p>\n

        It’s as if they just went “Whatever, this’ll look cool and won’t require us to do anymore frames!”<\/p>\n

        \u00a0<\/p>\n

        \"\"

        Am I watching this show just because it's laughably bad?<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        FAIL-O-METER This episode was nowhere near the nightmare of episode 10, but it was still horrible. \u00a0The fail here is equal in size to Eiken boobs, and that’s saying something.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2zM4X-6J","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flomu.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flomu.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flomu.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flomu.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flomu.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=417"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/flomu.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flomu.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flomu.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flomu.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}