General Anime Thread

@Holofan4life
 
No, you’re not.
 
 
@dt
 
Why did you drop it so suddenly? Because of one particularly cringey bit of dialogue?

I guess the reason I’m taking dt dropping The Devil Is a Part-Timer really hard is that I can’t think of any major flaws with the show. Like, I can totally understand someone dropping Toradora or Spice and Wolf. Despite those two shows being my two favorite animes of all time, I can see someone not liking Toradora because of Taiga and I can see someone not liking Spice and Wolf because it is rather atmospheric. However, I can’t wrap my head around someone disliking The Devil Is a Part-Timer. Maybe there’s pieces of dialogue that aren’t great, but the animation is fantastic, the comedy is amazing, the characters are likable, and it is written really well. It’s also especially frustrating because dt is a friend of mine and I’ve been recommending animes for him to watch and because I gave the show a 9/10 and he decided to drop it I don’t know what to believe now.

It also makes me sad because discussing The Devil Is a Part-Timer with DT was the highlight of my week last week.

@YetAnotherBrony  
Yes. The show attempted to explain why Maou is so damn nice, and I hated their explanation.
 
Maou goes from Dark Lord Satan to perfectly nice anime hasubando, without anything in between. It’s not even an arc, it’s a step. It might’ve worked if they framed him as a more complex character at the start. But they just established him as being Dark Lord Satan. He goes from pure evil to pure good, and his change of heart is just out of nowhere. It seems like his character development happened off-screen. I don’t mind horrible people being redeemed (i.e. Diamond Fucking Tiara) but, from a story-telling perspective, I did not buy this at all.
 
The show keeps showing characters thinking Maou and Emi are a pair, but I didn’t feel any chemistry between them. I don’t really buy Emi’s tsundere act. Her tsun act is weird. If she still can’t trust him despite seeming like a perfectly nice guy, she’d just kill him. Her reason for not killing him was because she had to save her magic, but he’s a normal guy now. She could just non-magically stab him or something. As for her dere act, I guess the idea is she must like him because he’s so fuckin’ perfect. I guess lending her some money, letting her sleep in his place for a night, and tending to her wounds makes up for him killing her father, burning villages down, and taking countries by force? I shouldn’t impose my morality on someone else, but those seem like very different levels of “good” and “evil” acts. This might’ve worked better if Maou was a more nuanced or conflicted character, then her issue would seem deeper than just “He’s supposed to be evil.” (I don’t mean to imply this is an allegory for anything, it’s probably not.)
 
I really shouldn’t be so cynical but the show makes her seem so weak. She’s supposed to be the Hero, right? If her people saw this, would they be as conflicted as her? I think at least some of them would be like “Fuck him, he killed my family!” I hate how they depicted her as being so incapable. She keeps having problems and Maou has to keep helping her because she’s helpless without him. She’s not a rival or a counterpoint to Maou, she’s just another love interest.
 
The scene where I dropped the show might’ve worked better if they were actually fighting. Like, instead of crying, Emi snaps and attacks Maou and is like “You killed my father! There isn’t a goddamn thing you can do to make me forgive you!” And then Maou could’ve explained that he’s in the middle of his redemption arc (it didn’t happen off-screen) and he understands that there’s nothing he can really do to fix what he did. And then Maou stops fighting back and tells Emi if she doesn’t think he deserves a second chance, she should just kill him. And then Emi could hesitate because she’s a Hero and heroes believe in second chances or something like that. But no, she cries, he apologizes, and the scene ends.

@dt  
There was build-up between his transition from evil to good. And he himself is still bad. He gets his powers from people being terrified. It’s not that he decided himself to be good. He doesn’t have any power in the human world, so he’s forced to adapt. As for beating bad guys, he’s doing it not just because he wants to help out but because he himself wants to be the one causing the destruction. His transition from bad to good is actually being built gradually.
 
Also, I disagree so, so much about Emilia being weak. That’s not true at all. She is not. Also, Maou himself doesn’t know if he killed Emilia’s family or not. Maou says this in either episode 2 or 3.

Maybe I misinterpreted this scene.
 

 
He did those things but didn’t understand what he was doing? Are they actually going for “The Devil is misunderstood?”

@Holofan4life  
… I think I skipped an episode because I did not get the sense of any of this.

@dt  
The way I took the scene is that he was all about himself before. Me, me, me. However, once he came to the human world, he realized through his interactions with people like Chi that humans aren’t so bad after all and he starts empathizing with them. He still wants to cause mass destruction, though. That’s his main goal.
 
That’s part of why Emilia is suspicious, as she knows what he plans on doing and yet he is showing kindness and empathy for the first time ever. Also, in the process maybe starting to fall for him a little bit. And again, Emilia is not weak. It’s just that she’s more careful of using her powers than someone like Maou is.

@dt  
dt, I think you misinterpreted the scene. It actually makes sense and doesn’t come out of nowhere.

@dt  
Okay, so I just rewatched the scene. Basically, Maou is regretful for his actions back then because he was full of himself and didn’t start sympathizing with humans until coming to the human world. However, Emilia feels an apology isn’t enough. To her, Maou will always be the guy who killed her family. That’s part of why she’s determined to have him killed. As for why she can’t kill him without using her magic, he’s no mere mortal. I don’t see how you have a problem with this scene. It makes complete sense and is fitting for their characters.

@Holofan4life  

 
 
 

 
Their expressions pretty much sum it up. You’re right, Emi doesn’t feel like an apology is enough, and I agree with her. I don’t think Maou gets it. He’s not a school bully, he’s a conqueror. He can’t just start acting nice and have people forgive him, things aren’t that simple. Just the idea that Maou should even have the right to repent should be in question. Hell, the bully in A Silent Voice went through tougher times than him. And the show never shows Maou doing any sort of introspection. Like I said, his development isn’t an arc, it’s a step. If I felt that the show would be willing to challenge Maou, I might’ve kept going. But I feel like the show agrees with him. The only one who might challenge him is Emi, and she’s tsundere for him. That’s why I lost interest in him in that instant.

@dt  
Well, like I said, even though he’s the main character he’s not supposed to necessarily be in the right. He’s not. Also, he’s still has some evil tendencies. Again, I don’t understand your reasoning. Also, how is the show not challenging Maou? He has to deal with his former friends trying to take over the human world.

I also don’t understand what’s wrong with that scene. It makes total sense in my opinion. Also, the show is not siding with Maou. Most people in the human world don’t know he’s a demon. Only two other people do, Emilia and Alciel, and they aren’t human themselves. You can’t fault a show for flaws that don’t exist. That be like saying in Toradora the show is siding with Ryuuji when he tries to get Taiga to meet with her father. That makes no sense. No offense.

@Holofan4life  
No one has told him he’s wrong. He doesn’t face any hardship, not even for comedic sake. He has not faced any negative consequences for his actions. (Well, other than coming to our world, I guess.)
 
Redemption shouldn’t be this simple, certainly not for someone who did what Maou did. Even Symphogear, a dumb show with awful storytelling (10/10 Best Anime Ever Made), the character who got redeemed questioned whether she even deserved to be saved. I am all for redemption stories, but they shouldn’t be that simple.
 
Really, it just needs a scene with someone challenging Maou, their point being that Maou does not deserve redemption, no matter what he does. You tell me that happens, I’ll pick it back up.

I feel like it’s one of those shows that takes an interesting idea and simplifies it too much. Maou thought “I feel bad so I’ll be nice now.” when he should be thinking “Do I even deserve this second chance?” The fact that he doesn’t go through that makes me question if the show even understands the ramifications of Maou’s actions.

@dt
 
This is spoilers but I’ll just go ahead and tell you because I want to make you feel at ease. ||There’s a character introduced later on named Crestia Bell. She is a member of the church that came to kill Sadao. Admittedly, the show never does do the conflict of second chances. However, Crestia Bell does see all the good things he does and still decides to try to kill him for the better of the church. I feel part of the reason why it doesn’t focus on the second chances aspect is twofold. First, not many people in the human world know his past. They know him for all the good stuff he did at the restaurant. Emilia believes he doesn’t deserve a second chance and neither does Crestia Bell. They still view him as the demon he was. Eventually, later on in the series, it is revealed he didn’t kill Emilia’s parents, but that’s not covered in the anime. Second, I don’t feel like the show needs outright to have a character say he is irredeemable. It is implied rather than said outright. I know the old saying Show don’t Tell, but in this case it’s alright because you know Emilia feels he can’t be redeemed. That’s why she acts the way she does when he apologizes. ||
 
Also, Maou doesn’t feel “I feel bad so I’ll be nice now”. He tries to better understand the human world and is now nicer, but there’s multiple times in the series he tries to use the fear of humans to get powerful. He’s still somewhat evil.

@Holofan4life  
Watching that scene over and over, I just can’t. His expression, his delivery, the writing. I feel the same as Emi at that moment.
 
I guess if I were to be as optimistic as possible, I’d say the idea is that since he’s new to understanding people, he doesn’t get that the things he’s accused of are really horrible, and so his apology is this:
 
But I don’t honestly know if that was their intention, and it doesn’t change how I feel. I can’t care about him anymore. I’m sorry, Holo-sama. I respect your opinion, but I can’t agree with you on this one.

@dt
 
I really do think your reasoning for dropping the show is silly, especially given your criticism of the show isn’t something the show does.

I shouldn’t be this upset over one of my friends dropping an anime but sadly I am. I guess I’m just immature.

@PonyPon  
Another thing that is pretty bad is two types of thrombosis, venous and arterial thrombosis. There’s also Essential thrombocytosis, which is overproduction of platelets.

Yama no Susume ep 8. I’m quite impressed that this show can achieve this level of melancholy without clashing with the overall bright tone too much. I’d still prefer it to be this comfy and optimistic show, but once in a while, this isn’t bad.
 
Yuki Yuna wa Yusha de Aru ep 1. Characters seem alright, kinda cliche but it’s a magical girl show. I liked how in the play, Yuna starts off saying how they should talking things through but then punches the guy at the first opportunity. I hope this translates to her magic fight scenes. The pacing was mostly good. Had some exposition of stuff everyone in the scene should already know, but wasn’t too bad. Outfits and transformation scenes were alright. Fights were okay, picks up when Yuna gets into it. Music is nice. The color palette makes me hopeful the fights won’t be at night. Other than Yuna’s moment, it seems pretty average, but maybe they’ll have a twist in ep 3.

Holy shit, Cells at Work really is trying to make you feel bad for actual Cancer.
 
Well it isn’t working.

@PonyPon
 
They’re not trying to make you feel bad for cancer. They’re trying to make you feel bad for a normal cell afflicted with cancer.

@Holofan4life  
A sepia-toned flashback fleeing extermination soon after birth as a ‘child’, with a brother that didn’t make it. Clearly a cancerous cell from the word go.
 
I refuse to feel bad regardless of what this character is.