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Thursday, June 2, 2016

Netoge no Yome Dropped:

Netoge no Yome is pretty enthralling when it talks about online gaming related subjects, like account hacking, but it's terrible when it leaves that orbit.  The latest episode featured zero net gaming and as a result was indescribably dull and pointless.  The fact is the characters themselves aren't likable, so whenever it focuses on the characters instead of the setting the story grinds to a halt.  In a good story it should be the exact opposite.  The setting should serve the characters and chapters focused on characterization would be a show's finest moments.  Netoge, therefore, is clearly not a good story.  Watching it to the end would be a disservice to the 'good' classification.  I wouldn't want people to start watching this show based on my guarantee that it was watchable, only to find out that it totally wasn't, and blame me for lying them into six hours of their wasted life.  Pulling the plug here is my only escape from that fate.

That brings the spring season down to 14 shows, only 3 of which aren't great anime -- 12 Sai, Re:Zero and High School Fleet.  Hopefully at least these three shows will survive until the end.

This level of attrition is normal every season, but I do wish the summer season would start already.  Spring just isn't that exciting, and all the best shows are slated to start this summer.  Just one more month of waiting to go.

Naruto is going back into filler again, just a week after it left filler.  This show is very frustrating.  The manga ended years ago, but the anime just can't seem to do the same.

One Piece slightly redeemed itself this chapter by having Sanji finally reject a girl in favor of his loyalty to the Straw Hat crew.  This is something Sanji has never managed to do in the past, to the great jeopardy of the crew.  Just like how Usopp turning coward and running away has jeopardized the crew again and again, this needed to happen for anyone to respect Sanji ever again.  He was more of a liability than an asset the way he's been up until now, a joke character more prone to nose bleeds than helping anyone out.

Now if only Luffy, Zoro, Usopp, Franky and Brooke could all have their glaring weaknesses corrected as well, the series would actually be good again.

Luffy = too reckless, gets himself and crew killed over and over again, only ever saved by luck.
Zoro = too lost, never at the right place at the right time.
Usopp = a coward who's always running away when his help is needed most.
Franky = too worried about his own scruples and world-view to consider the needs of the crew as a whole.
Brooke = a seeming idiot who simply doesn't get when and how to act to the advantage of the crew, always putting himself and them at a disadvantage instead.

One Piece is on hiatus again though, just one more annoyance on top of all the other annoyances involving this series, so don't expect any additional characters to overcome their flaws anytime soon.

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