False Start and Forward Progress
Behavioral and psychological studies have repeatedly shown that people value first impressions and final impressions a lot more than anything in between. Not me. I’m a middle man. Some of favorite shows have beginnings or endings that flat-out suck, but none of my favorite shows are anything short of brilliant in the middle. To account for this, I’ve adopted two rules into my rating process from the great game of football.
So much better than soccer
Even three-legged soccer
False Start
Rule: If a show starts out poorly, it will be penalized unless the initial sucking is necessary or incidental to preventing future sucking
Most shows can’t help starting out slow. Plot-heavy shows need time to set up. Character-driven shows need time to introduce and develop the cast of characters. Action shows can’t reveal the best moves right away. Even comedies aren’t categorically immune. They’re often obligated to use their most predictable jokes in the early episodes. It’s not until these jokes are out of the way that the writers are pushed to their creative limits.
If a show starts out weak but gets good, I’ll overlook the beginning if it played an important role in setting it up the good parts. Example: Claymore
If a show starts out weak and gets good, and the weak parts are largely independent of the good parts, everything is taken into account when I’m rating. Example: Kenshin
If the show starts out bad and stays bad, it doesn’t really matter whether the false start rule applies. Example: To-Love-Ru
Forward Progress
Rule: If a show is forced to have a crappy ending due to incomplete source material, its grade will be predominantly based on the state of the show before it went downhill. If a show intentionally has a crappy ending, the ending will be fully considered when rating the show.
Endings are a big part of what drew me to anime. Practically every American TV show is designed to keep putting out episodes until cancellation. I was sick of it. It was refreshing to start watching shows that concluded by design, not by some network executive pulling the plug.
Maybe I’m desensitized to all the fake/fraudulent endings that come out these days. Maybe I was already desensitized to crappy endings by the long history of American networks shitting the bed. I’m still appalled at how they ended The Silver Surfer. Who in their right mind ends a series with an episode titled The End of Eternity Part I?
If an ending is weak by design, it will lose points. Example: Clannad After Story
If an ending is weak due to incomplete source material, the final grade will largely reflect the state of the show before the ending. Example: Claymore
In conclusion, Claymore kicks ass.
Tags: Claymore, dinosaur football, football is the best sport ever, my grading scheme is flawless, silver surfer should never have been cancelled, soccer is not football
87 people love sucking up to me
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Holy shit, a comment RSS feed!baka-raptor@baka-raptor.com
June 22nd, 2010 at 3:13 pm
Typical comments of an american who can’t stand the fuss on the World Cup (that’s normal =P USA team is really weak anyway), to me “football” only appear to be nice on films or Eyeshield 21, real ones are so damn boring and sloooow >_>
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Baka-Raptor Reply:
June 22nd, 2010 at 3:29 pm
The World Cup is awesome. We kicked England’s ass 1-1!
That’s exactly how I feel about “football.” Giant Killing has been great so far. Too bad “football” in real life is mostly spent kicking the ball back and forth at midfield.
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Thiago Pagogna Reply:
June 22nd, 2010 at 5:34 pm
wut ? that is why we play Futsal instead of Footbal. With a small pitch size and only 5 people on the team, it is much more fun and enjoyable to play.
And ultimately a tie is not “kicking some one’s ass”, Portugal,Argentina and Germany were the only teams who have kicked ass.
And for the simpsons…some games are just like that, perhaps, because they were american teams ?
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Baka-Raptor Reply:
June 22nd, 2010 at 7:43 pm
Futsal looks a little better. Americans like scoring. If you’re playing most of the game in the middle of the field where there’s no real threat of scoring, Americans will get bored. A smaller field might change that.
A tie against a serious soccer nation like England is as close to kicking ass as the US is ever going to get at soccer. Just like we kicked Brazil’s ass last year.
(Against Brazil, anything less than a blowout is a victory.)
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Thiago Pagogna Reply:
June 22nd, 2010 at 8:07 pm
Yeah i remember that game, it is most unlikely team usa would score like that again in the world cup against the brazilian team (i think). It was a nice game though.
I play futsal since high school, and i must say it is the facto soccer that everyone that doesn’t play professional sticks to. It is so much of a nice game that even some girls like to play along side us.
All this talk about soccer made me want to watch Giant Killing, i guess that is what i’m going to do right now =P
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kluxorious Reply:
June 24th, 2010 at 11:51 pm
The tie with England is not a big deal at all because England was not on their top form for this world cup. They are like France and Italy. They just got lucky and will not survive the second round.
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Narkins Reply:
June 22nd, 2010 at 5:35 pm
Please a 9 man team of quadriplegic’s could beat us at the moment, England are shit.
Anyway the US aren’t that bad, kinda like a raptor with asthma. Good and all but being held back from being top class.
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Thiago Pagogna Reply:
June 22nd, 2010 at 5:45 pm
They play a nice *cough* soccer, though… if they loose playing against north korea or the aussies, then i could laugh my ass out of it.
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Baka-Raptor Reply:
June 22nd, 2010 at 7:44 pm
Could be worse. Just look at France.
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June 22nd, 2010 at 3:41 pm
Good stuff.
For me, Toradora! was such a show. I thought it started slow and generic, but it’s middle and final acts brought it home for me.
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Baka-Raptor Reply:
June 22nd, 2010 at 7:49 pm
This isn’t just good stuff; it’s vintage. Until this week I hadn’t touched this draft since February 2009.
Toradora is definitely one of those shows that can’t help but look generic at first. The well-executed generics are frequeht beneficiaries of the false start rule.
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Michael Reply:
June 22nd, 2010 at 11:16 pm
The ending of Toradora sucked badly, in my opinion. It still ended up being a decent show, but its ending was rushed and that totally ruined it for me.
By the way, have you tried watching Tatami Galaxy? It stays constant most of the time with little epiphanies scattered across the different episodes. The only thing that I’m worried about is the ending. I’m hoping it’s a majestic one. It’s a show you can’t help but focus a lot on since there’s a lot of nuance that passive viewing won’t reveal. If you liked Kaiba you’d probably like Tatami Galaxy as well.
Also, where’s my Opal Mehta? Send it already~.
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Baka-Raptor Reply:
June 29th, 2010 at 11:52 pm
Come on, you were borderline Code Geass R2 in your ranting and raving about Toradora. Does a crappy ending really compromise all that?
I just gave the first episode of Tatami Galaxy a shot. They spoke way too quickly. Normally this wouldn’t be so bad, but right my eyes can’t focus on the subtitles that quick. I’ll give another shot when I get better.
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Michael Reply:
June 30th, 2010 at 9:15 am
Yeah, it did. It was a downer.
Just keep pausing … don’t worry, it’s meant to be that way, but you’ll manage. Code Geass R2 just awoke the fanboy in me, and it also gave me the most comments. It was fun speculating while it lasted, too.
Also, do you know where I can find the complete DVD episodes of Touch? I have only up to the first 27 and don’t really have seeds for the rest.
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June 22nd, 2010 at 3:51 pm
Claymore is awesome (except the ending of course).
Clannad After Story I hate with a passion, this one of the few anime that actually has me raging about the ending, I felt like it raped me and threw me like a rag. Because even though the middle parts were good the ending just killed everything that made the middle so good.
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Thiago Pagogna Reply:
June 22nd, 2010 at 5:39 pm
I totally agree with you about After Story, i though i were the only one in the world who hated this series that baddly.
Claymore is awesome even with that crappy ending, i’m very curious to see what the producers will do to “fix it”, will raki become a badass swordsman along side claire’s icy mountain training ? or will he suck ass changing what we saw on the manga (sorry for the spoilers).
Visit my blog in myanimelist.net, there’s a post about Clannad After Story.
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Baka-Raptor Reply:
June 30th, 2010 at 12:01 am
My one regret about Claymore is caving in and starting to read the manga before the anime ended. I’ll always wonder what I’d think of the anime ending had I not read the manga. Who knows, maybe it might’ve been C-grade suck instead of B-grade suck.
I wasn’t crazy about Clannad/After Story in the first place, so while the ending sucked, it didn’t piss me off as much as a lot of other viewers.
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June 22nd, 2010 at 4:08 pm
What’s that? Sorry, I can’t hear you over the sound of the vuvuzelas
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Thiago Pagogna Reply:
June 22nd, 2010 at 5:49 pm
even zidane couldn’t handle it
==> http://naointendo.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/vuvuzela.gif
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Baka-Raptor Reply:
June 22nd, 2010 at 7:49 pm
I’d love nothing more than to see Krauser rape a vuvuzela.
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Kabitzin Reply:
June 22nd, 2010 at 10:53 pm
The sound would echo in your brain for an eternity…
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June 22nd, 2010 at 4:22 pm
I’ve got a problem with “necessary or incidental to preventing future sucking”. Necessary strikes me as reasonable, incidental lessso. Take Claymore. There are some things which involve setting the ground for future episodes, and others, like the bad pacing in episode one, which are just straight-up poor. Surely those failings still matter? An introduction which lays out necessary information whilst being weak entertainment seems to me like the definition of “weak by design”. Can’t say I like excusing shows because they’re incomplete adaptations either. A bad end is a bad end, no excuses.
However, I have no quarrel with your conclusions.
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Baka-Raptor Reply:
June 22nd, 2010 at 8:25 pm
I stuck in the incidental part because necessary alone is too demanding. If something is going to suck no matter what you do, I’m not going to demand C-grade suck instead of B-grade suck. Just let it suck and move on.
As for bad ends from incomplete adaptations, they’re not much different than filler. If it’s good, I’ll watch it, and if it sucks, I’ll pretend it doesn’t exist. It’s not like I’m letting the show off the hook either. If I treat the show as having ended at the divergence point, it’s still be a show without an ending and lose points, kind of like Berserk. It’s also a matter of capacity to judge a fake ending. If you know it’s fake, can you really judge it without bias? I’m still shocked to hear FMA manga fans bitching about the original TV adaptation.
Lastly, this isn’t some experimental rule I’m laying out or encouraging others to adopt. I’m just trying to put a finger on how I actually watch anime. Objectively, yes, everything should matter, but as a practical matter I seem to let bad beginnings slide and ignore bad endings from incomplete adaptations.
In conclusion, Claymore kicks ass.
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June 22nd, 2010 at 4:57 pm
Both football and american football (or soccer and football) have their fun moments, too bad I live in Argentina and only get to watch american football whenever ESPN isn’t broadcasting soccer or motherfucking poker.
Also, Bakaraptor, I’ve read the entire Eyeshield 21 manga and I have 2 questions:
1) Is it worth it to watch the anime, or at least the games?
2) Could you recommend 2-3 sport animes that rule as much as eyeshield?
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hell yeah Reply:
June 22nd, 2010 at 8:12 pm
> motherfucking poker
Sounds like fun. I should subscribe to ESPN.
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Baka-Raptor Reply:
June 22nd, 2010 at 8:35 pm
I watched a little of Argentina vs. Greece this morning. Your team looks pretty solid. It’s definitely a lot easier to like a sport when your country’s good at it.
1) I’d say you don’t really need to watch the anime. I prefer anime to manga for sports/action/anything where movement really matters, but the action in Eyeshield 21 is so broken down into individual scenes that it’s not all that different from reading a manga. However, there are some moments there are just too awesome not to watch, like Sena faceplanting Agon.
2) Hajime no Ippo is an awesome boxing anime. Touch is an awesome baseball anime, but it’s more about the characters than the sports.
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Alejo Reply:
June 22nd, 2010 at 9:12 pm
I’ve read all of Hajime No Ippo’s manga (YES, the almost 900 fucking chapters) and it is indeed pure win. I may try touch, but it’s 101 episodes and I have the attention span of a retarded pineapple.
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June 22nd, 2010 at 6:03 pm
Brazilian tv networks also shit bed. (they broadcast american content around here too so…) Everyone says that about One Piece, that it is “awesome” past its 250 episodes, but i’ve picked “random episodes” after dropping it and i can assure to you they all suck.
Berserk is also a middle anime and it is another strong candidate to get a new series loyal to its manga.
I totally agree with you, Fairy Tail for instance started strong, got watered down, and then managed to grow little by little. As an overall series i should point out a (+), but the fact i didn’t drop it yet just shows it is good in the middle and thus entertaining.
Filler Comment Ratio 10.5
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Baka-Raptor Reply:
June 22nd, 2010 at 8:39 pm
Great, and here I was about to un-drop One Piece for a fourth time. Maybe next month.
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Robert Weizer Reply:
June 23rd, 2010 at 12:28 am
read. the. manga.
the biggest mistake anyone can make with prolonged media like Naruto and One Piece is to watch. sure, it might be more awesome to watch it, but jesus fuck is it going to take forever.
the biggest mistake anyone can make with prolonged media like Bleach is read it or watch it in the first place
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Thiago Pagogna Reply:
June 23rd, 2010 at 8:04 pm
Bleach, Naruto or One Piece… i can’t decide which one sucks the most.
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Alejo Reply:
June 23rd, 2010 at 8:26 pm
Start from scratch and read the manga, it’s better than the anime, and well, it may still not hook you but it’s very well written, specially compared to other mangas that just throw shit around week after week (I think at this moment Bleach couldn’t possibly be worse).
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June 22nd, 2010 at 6:49 pm
“Practically every American TV show is designed to keep putting out episodes until cancellation. I was sick of it.”
Yes.
However, no for everything else in the post. Bad starts are simply bad, no excuses. I may come to forgive a show for its weak beginnings, but there shouldn’t be any bullshit excuses made for that. There are clever ways to introduce characters, to setup plot points, and whatever else “needs to be done,” that don’t bore or fail to be gripping. Per your example, Claymore could have easily started out better (shit, it could have nixed Lucky all together, but I digress).
Bad endings tend to hurt more than bad starts. The fact that the Soul Eater manga is still in progress does not help choke down the terrible conclusion to the anime. It now becomes hard to recommend Soul Eater as a complete experience, given how bad it bombed later on. The caveat of “stop watching a few episodes before the end and start reading the manga” is no good way to go about things. Also, consider that the need for an anime original direction for Fullmetal Alchemist lead to a better anime overall (yeah, that’s right). There are good ways to go about anime original endings, and there are bad ways. And yes, sometimes it’s better to just leave things open (hello again, Claymore).
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Baka-Raptor Reply:
June 22nd, 2010 at 11:53 pm
Yes, bad starts and bad endings are objectively bad. The question is how much do I care? Looking over my anime list I can honestly say that I don’t care much, or that I’ve come to accept them. It’s not the critically appropriate thing to do, but whatever, it’s not like I’m being dishonest.
Introductory stuff trying to be clever often comes off as gimmicky (Haruhi episode 1). If it succeeds in being clever (Taisho Yakyuu Musume), I’ll give it extra credit. I just won’t take away points for a conservative approach.
I consider a bad non-manga ending to be similar to filler. It’s fine to ignore it. More in my response to comment #5. If an original ending does work out, I’m perfectly happy to acknowledge it.
The anime-original parts of the first FMA series were incredible, but I got that “HP/MP Restored! But you’re still hungry” feeling when it was all over. I never knew why until I found out it wasn’t the manga’s story. The new series does a better job tying up certain loose ends, especially regarding the nature of the homunculi and philosopher’s stone. Both are great series in their own right.
By the way, nixing Raki is never digressing.
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June 22nd, 2010 at 7:41 pm
>>In conclusion, Claymore kicks ass.
Saw this coming.
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Baka-Raptor Reply:
June 22nd, 2010 at 8:44 pm
In conclusion, get thee to a nunnery.
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digital boy Reply:
June 23rd, 2010 at 12:36 am
That reminds me, sometime over a year ago when I was in English class, our teacher was showing the class a movie version of that play. I slept through the entire thing, and then woke up just in time to hear ‘get thee to a nunnery’. Picture my amazement to the best of your ability.
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Thiago Pagogna Reply:
June 23rd, 2010 at 8:13 pm
In conlusion, why woulds’t thou be a breeder of sinner raptors?
PS: I think i’ll never get this joke about Hamlet’s.
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June 22nd, 2010 at 8:20 pm
I’ve always seen the midfield battle as a sort of tactical game as one team tries to move about to find the holes in the defense. I liken that sort of action to a fencing match, except fencing matches are resolved much more quickly. Still, patience does pay off.
Guess that analogy pretty much speaks for how I look at anime as well.
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Baka-Raptor Reply:
June 22nd, 2010 at 8:52 pm
It all looks like a mess to me. Maybe that’s because I only watch soccer once every four years. I could try reading about soccer to better understand it.
…eh, maybe in 2014.
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June 22nd, 2010 at 8:43 pm
We really need another season of Claymore…nay, a re-telling. It is my belief that once the manga approaches the end, they will pull a FMA:B or maybe an InuYasha: The Final Act and finish animating it. At least they better.
I knew Claymore was coming from the opening paragraph.
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TJ Reply:
June 22nd, 2010 at 9:59 pm
Yeah, Claymore deserves a remake. Too bad it doesn’t look like the manga is going to end anytime soon.
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Baka-Raptor Reply:
June 23rd, 2010 at 12:18 am
Ok, smart guy, what am I going to say next?
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Glo Reply:
June 27th, 2010 at 12:33 am
Probably something along the lines of….”Go watch Tenjou Tenge.”
hmmm…..idea?
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Baka-Raptor Reply:
June 30th, 2010 at 12:03 am
Go watch Tenjou Tenge.
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digital boy Reply:
June 23rd, 2010 at 12:38 am
They won’t, Glo. That’s not how Madhouse works. The only shows that they’ve picked back up like that have been Hajime no Ippo and Black Lagoon, both of which were because the staff particularly loved working on the series. The president of Madhouse said at Otakon when I saw him ‘We don’t like to revisit things we are already finished with. The exception is Hajime no Ippo. As long as they pay us to put Ippo on the air, we will make more of it.’
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June 22nd, 2010 at 9:15 pm
What if the beginning starts with the end?
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Baka-Raptor Reply:
June 23rd, 2010 at 12:01 am
That’s literally a false start.
Same rule applies. I’ll ignore it if I don’t find it appealing but it adds to the intrigue later on, like with Berserk.
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Robert Weizer Reply:
June 23rd, 2010 at 12:29 am
Berserk more like preempted by Idolmaster and whimsy
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Thiago Pagogna Reply:
June 23rd, 2010 at 8:17 pm
In this case i agree with you weizer, berserk’s manga beginning is far superior than what they did with its first “adapted” anime episode.
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OBALLER Reply:
June 25th, 2010 at 12:48 am
berserks manga beginning is awesome. but since i saw the anime first i actually loved that beginning because it doesn’t tell you that Griffith ends up the villain. although its not too hard to figure out.
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Glo Reply:
June 27th, 2010 at 12:30 am
> It doesn’t tell you that Griffith ends up the villian.
FUCKKKKKKK YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUU. I’ve lost all ambition to finish this show.
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Robert Weizer Reply:
June 27th, 2010 at 3:34 pm
The show is a danged flashback arc during the manga. Why they did that, I’ll never know.
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Glo Reply:
June 28th, 2010 at 12:43 am
Or wait…I think I already knew that.
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A Day Without Me Reply:
June 23rd, 2010 at 10:52 pm
Oddly enough, I just finished up Idolm@ster. I’m not really sure that it was worth the time, ultimately, as the beginning was pretty blah and it basically remained pretty blah for thirteen or fourteen more episodes… and even when it did pick up, it wasn’t really anything amazing. But, hey, maybe love triangles involving mechs makes it worthwhile on the bizarre scale.
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June 23rd, 2010 at 12:31 am
If a show starts out slow, I just take a bit longer to get into the swing of watching it regularly. OH NO.
the only source-based end I remember seeing was FMA.
To be honest, considering the plot progression at the point it diverged, I think the anime ending was perfectly valid. However, the manga/brotherhood ending is just plain feelgood and awesome.
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Baka-Raptor Reply:
June 23rd, 2010 at 9:52 am
Will discuss in 2 weeks
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Thiago Pagogna Reply:
June 23rd, 2010 at 8:24 pm
There is nothing in the whole universe we can compare with brotherhood. But if do you compare both FMA1 and FMA2 we can see the former is slower and more fillersome even when it hadn’t diverge its plot yet.
PS: I’ve yet to fully watch FMA1
PS2: Filler Comment Ratio 15.2
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June 23rd, 2010 at 6:51 am
Oh hey, wait a second, incomplete source material isn’t an excuse for a bad ending. That’s more bad writing than anything else. These sort of things should be taking into account when any show goes into production.
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Baka-Raptor Reply:
June 23rd, 2010 at 9:51 am
It’s not an excuse. It just doesn’t count. It’s filler.
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June 23rd, 2010 at 11:53 am
i can’t read anything
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Baka-Raptor Reply:
June 24th, 2010 at 11:43 pm
Use the force.
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June 23rd, 2010 at 2:14 pm
I guess I need to watch me some Claymore, while drawing you some fanart.
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Baka-Raptor Reply:
June 24th, 2010 at 11:46 pm
Better yet, draw me fanart with a Claymore.
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June 24th, 2010 at 10:04 am
With the exception of the very end (where the series leaves off with Guts shouting and then goes straight to the ED), I loved Berserk’s ending. Those final episodes were actually my favorites in the show; I love how everything builds to those moments, and then hell is just unleashed on every character. Crazy awesome. I did penalize the series for being an incomplete series but seriously flirted with giving it a 9 instead of an 8, just because what was there was fantastic.
Claymore’s ending is bad, but for me it wasn’t bad enough to override how good the rest of the series is. And, really, I think Madhouse chose the lesser of two evils with the ending once it became apparent they were going to end the show with an anime-original close.
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Thiago Pagogna Reply:
June 24th, 2010 at 6:19 pm
Have you read berserk’s manga ? Actually the hell is unleashed over everyone after the end…you can’t imagine how badass it became after that “ending”…i wish berserk were reanimated like brotherhood was. It really deserves it.
Claymore is a different story…it appears the manga has a looooooooooooooooong run to go off as yet.
I don’t like reading mangas in general, i like to watch ANIMES only, but berserk and claymore were totally awesome i had to go after their respective mangas for more
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Baka-Raptor Reply:
June 25th, 2010 at 12:06 am
My problem with the ending of Berserk, aside from the incompleteness, is that it turned supernatural out of nowhere and didn’t stick with it long enough to cohere with the rest of the story. Maybe a few more episodes would’ve won my acceptance.
Claymore could’ve gotten away with following the manga. Spoilers: Show that everyone “dies.” Then show some sign they’re still alive 7 years later and ready to kick some ass. That would’ve been a satisfying enough ending for me. Maybe they could’ve followed it up with a movie or two.
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June 24th, 2010 at 11:50 am
I think I’m way to influenced by endings and first impressions. I hated Berserk because of its ending. I loved Ergo Proxy because of its first few episodes. Still, Claymore does kick-ass.
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Baka-Raptor Reply:
June 24th, 2010 at 11:36 pm
It’s human nature to put of lot stock in beginnings and endings. Dinosaurs are different. We pay attention to everything, or nothing.
There’s some good Claymore yuri out there. Everyone’s gay for Miria.
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Robert Weizer Reply:
June 27th, 2010 at 3:36 pm
they were dumb and did a flashback arc from berserk for the anime
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June 24th, 2010 at 10:16 pm
Finally someone who rates shows reasonably! XD
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Baka-Raptor Reply:
June 24th, 2010 at 11:32 pm
Reasonably? My grading scheme’s not just reasonable—it’s flawless!
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June 24th, 2010 at 11:53 pm
The end of Claymore sucks. The manga however is a different story altogether though I’m not really that crazy for it atm
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June 25th, 2010 at 12:45 am
A few points here:
1. Claymore is AWESOME.
2. soccer is SOOOO BORING. However i will watch the US games. Once they are out, i will not longer watch (kind of like how i dont care about the aniblog circle jerk after you and glo are out)
3. I give almost every show 3-4 episodes to get into the plot. and if its still not getting into the plot, there is a good chance i will not like the show and i drop it.
4. The silver surfer cartoon brings me back… i actually remember seeing that ep when it first aired. I also remember drinking heavily trying to forget the live action movie. (both FF movies were awful).
5. Lastly there are a few shows that suffer due to incomplete source material that I want to see continued so badly: Claymore, Gantz, and Berserk are the biggest ones for me.
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June 25th, 2010 at 11:42 am
I feel you about giving an anime the benefit of the doubt for having incomplete source material, but it happens so damn often that there is a huge lack of satisfying endings out there. And considering how much anime is adapted, it’s a frustrating problem. You invest a lot of time hoping for a “real” ending, whatever that might mean, and then you get gypped. Could be worse I guess. Could be Lost.
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June 25th, 2010 at 1:52 pm
Still, Raki made me drop Claymore and hate it
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June 25th, 2010 at 9:29 pm
Dude, there’s a new Galneryus album out. Called Resurrection. Fucking amazing. All the songs are on youtube. SO DAMN MANLY
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digital boy Reply:
June 26th, 2010 at 1:26 am
Also there’s a fucking dragon on the cover
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Baka-Raptor Reply:
June 30th, 2010 at 12:07 am
I like Galneryus. I like dragons. Could this be too much of a good thing?
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June 26th, 2010 at 9:15 am
I enjoyed reading Eyeshield21 more than watching it. Should I watch or read Touch?
I also dropped Claymore anime at Ep 20, should I just start over from the manga or carry on watching the anime?
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Theowne Reply:
June 28th, 2010 at 7:08 pm
The Touch manga and anime aren’t terribly different. If you’re strapped for time, read it, otherwise, anime.
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Baka-Raptor Reply:
June 30th, 2010 at 12:12 am
I saw Touch. Tried to read it too but couldn’t find scans at the time (this was about six years ago, the manga is pretty damn easy to find online these days). The anime is awesome. I’m sure the manga is too. Take your pick.
Stick to the Claymore manga. Episode 20 is around the divergence point. You’d have to read the manga anyway.
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June 29th, 2010 at 11:26 pm
I think the worst thing is when a show has sufficient material (like a near completed manga source) but doesn’t have enough runtime/the creators don’t care enough to completely tell the story.
Aah, Dinotopia. Brings back fond memories.
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Baka-Raptor Reply:
June 30th, 2010 at 12:33 am
One of the benefits to rarely reading the original source material prior to watching its anime is that I rarely know if there was enough material to make a full sequel season. Still, I can imagine how much it must’ve sucked to be a Legend of the Galactic Heroes fan back in the day.
I must confess, I’ve never read Dinotopia. I’ll add it to my list, right behind Opal Mehta and Captain Raptor.
[Reply]
July 5th, 2010 at 3:16 pm
American Football blows. There I’ve said it. I know I live in America now and should love it, but its EFFING BORING!
Only in American football can you look at the clock, see 5 minutes on it and 15 minutes later the game is STILL GOING ON! The only thing more destroying to the soul is having to sit through Maburaho.
[Reply]
July 7th, 2010 at 6:13 pm
claymore is shit and soccer is better then football any day
for a show to be truly good it must have all 3, a good middle ending and start, however the middle is main portion of the story and requires the most creativity
[Reply]
August 12th, 2010 at 2:21 pm
[...] came a little too easily. All are classic signs of a cop-out ending. I’d neglect it under the forward progress rule, but it’s not enough to change the final [...]