Blazblue: Alter Memory

[mAc Chaos]

I personally enjoyed it for what it was, more BB stuff, but that is just one of the reasons I heard people complaining.

[Ragnarok_F4]

I don't know, I agree that the pace is fast as fuck, but it is following the story. It doesn't explain anything because that's the idea of a world where pretty much everything is fucked up, it's the essence of Blazblue. Playing the game is no different, you don't understand much of what's happening. Besides, in CT's prologue in Extend the fight with Hakumen happens early too if i recall correctly, so the events in CT could take 5-6 chapters, right? Overall, I'm quite satisfied with the chapter, is better from what I have expected. I think that it would have been better if the season were of 26 chapters instead of 12-13 chapters...

[RifleAvenger]

I don't even think it's lack of explanation, I've seen shows that don't give stuff away outright and it's fine. The episode and how it moved just felt wrong. If I had better training in how to analyze shows etc. I'd be able to say why; sadly I can't finger the cause.

[Narroo]

I don't even think it's lack of explanation, I've seen shows that don't give stuff away outright and it's fine. The episode and how it moved just felt wrong. If I had better training in how to analyze shows etc. I'd be able to say why; sadly I can't finger the cause.

Then finger this! The flow of a show has to be set so that a viewer can follow a thread. As the thread moves, the viewer can pick up interesting bits of information and piece together like a puzzle, explaining the show. Meanwhile, they are kept entertained by the threads which move and thicken as time goes on.

The problem is, is that this show doesn't do it right at all. The thread is very poor: No one character is followed, the multiple characters are story-telling wise separate, and and no time is spent with the characters to make us like them. Instead, we get a collection of scenes about unknown people doing unknown things in a melodramatic fashion. Why do we care what these people are doing? Why is it dramatic? No one knows, and we aren't given a reason. The dialogue is boring and the scenes non-entertaining. Where's the thread? Is the thread the overall plot, the story taking place in Kagutsuchi? Perhaps, but the heavy, yet poorly done, character focus de-emphises that while Rachel and Hazama throw their nails into the coffin by spoiling everything.

Everything is thrown on the table with little rhyme or reason. The characters are unknown, so far unlikeable, and random. The plot is incoherent and constantly ruined by comments from the observer gallery.

There is no strong, likeable thread to follow. Without that thread, there is no enjoyment out of collection information. All in all, there's no reason to like the show because there is nothing in the show to like.

[BlackYakuzu94]

Then finger this! The flow of a show has to be set so that a viewer can follow a thread. As the thread moves, the viewer can pick up interesting bits of information and piece together like a puzzle, explaining the show. Meanwhile, they are kept entertained by the threads which move and thicken as time goes on.

The problem is, is that this show doesn't do it right at all. The thread is very poor: No one character is followed, the multiple characters are story-telling wise separate, and and no time is spent with the characters to make us like them. Instead, we get a collection of scenes about unknown people doing unknown things in a melodramatic fashion. Why do we care what these people are doing? Why is it dramatic? No one knows, and we aren't given a reason. The dialogue is boring and the scenes non-entertaining. Where's the thread? Is the thread the overall plot, the story taking place in Kagutsuchi? Perhaps, but the heavy, yet poorly done, character focus de-emphises that while Rachel and Hazama throw their nails into the coffin by spoiling everything.

Everything is thrown on the table with little rhyme or reason. The characters are unknown, so far unlikeable, and random. The plot is incoherent and constantly ruined by comments from the observer gallery.

There is no strong, likeable thread to follow. Without that thread, there is no enjoyment out of collection information. All in all, there's no reason to like the show because there is nothing in the show to like.

Look, I understand that everything is subject to criticism, and I also understand that this show doesn't do a well enough job of establishing its setting to newcomers.

But here's the thing, that's not its purpose; its a tie-in to a fairly popular series and its purpose is to promote the games, and give people incentive to check them out. All of those things you pointed out are things that people are going to want answers to, how are they going to get those answers? By playing the games.

[RifleAvenger]

Look, I understand that everything is subject to criticism, and I also understand that this show doesn't do a well enough job of establishing its setting to newcomers.

But here's the thing, that's not its purpose; its a tie-in to a fairly popular series and its purpose is to promote the games, and give people incentive to check them out. All of those things you pointed out are things that people are going to want answers to, how are they going to get those answers? By playing the games.

Poor work is poor work. Sure it might solely be a tie-in or a throw out to fans, but that doesn't make it any better as a show.

Besides, if this were my first exposure to the series I'd never think to pick up the games based on the story (though tbh I didn't start playing BB for the story anyways).

[BlackYakuzu94]

Poor work is poor work. Sure it might solely be a tie-in or a throw out to fans, but that doesn't make it any better as a show.

Besides, if this were my first exposure to the series I'd never think to pick up the games based on the story (though tbh I didn't start playing BB for the story anyways).

I never said it does, and everyone generally agrees its average at best, but nobody was really expecting anything spectacular in the first place.

[Volt]

What else would they do? Show us Ragna walking down the roads for 40 odd minutes until he reaches the NOL facility?

Simple, show another part of the story like they did with Jin's prologue while Ragna was walking to Kagutsuchi. They actually did it right in that scene and it didn't felt like a warp like the Ragna's jump I said earlier. Therefore, if they actually did it right once I think that they can do better onwards, the first episode is usually weird and raises a lot of questions in all animes so I won't exactly complain about the anime until the 2nd episode.

And by the way, there's nothing visually wrong with any character and they actually managed to portrait Rachel as a kid. That's awesome.

[Devdan]

Haven't watched this yet, but the ANN reviews (plus one I glanced over in the comments section) made me want to kill myself, with their derisive, smug, self-satisfied tone. I won't deny for a second that BB follows a lot of tropes, but geeze, if the show was bad talk about why it was bad, not why you don't like the character designs / names.

[SixWingedAngel]

I think people on this thread are overexaggerating. The anime was actually enjoyable. The animation was not HALF bad- sure, it had a few choppy moments but it also had good ones. The badly drawn faces on some scenes is another case. Even the direction which seemed totally crappy from the PV had its moments too. The only thing that really bothered me is 1) the fail pacing on some scenes, like hakumen's entrance where he said his signature poem in fast-forward, and 2) the somewhat nonfriendly scenery for someone who doesn't know what's going on. However, this is only the first episode. *Never* judge an anime by the first episode alone. I know that ideally the first episode is the one that should determine whether someone is interested in the show or not, but there are quite few examples of storytelling media that had a messy "wtf" start, only to start explaining things later on.

i wish they wouldn't spoil the whole hazama thing, since there are actually people who watch the show and are irrevelant to the games. But anyway, who cares, let's get to CS

[Shadow Draygon]

No one is judging the whole series based on the just the first episode, people are just pointing out the good/bad points of the episode itself and what it could improve on.

And Hazama being a villain was painfully obvious in CT, that's not a spoiler.

[SixWingedAngel]

And Hazama being a villain was painfully obvious in CT, that's not a spoiler.

It was? I don't quite remember since I'm mainly fond of the reconstruction version from Extent, but anyway, as I said, it doesn't matter, lol

If I recall correctly, I think that the fact that noel is actually the true successor to the azure (as in, the title of the 2nd episode) is revealed by hazama at the end of CT, so, given the fact that we already saw the loop where ragna and nu fall into the cauldron, there's a good chance that we may be getting done with CT in only a few episodes. Can't know for sure of course.

[Vulcan422]

It was? I don't quite remember since I'm mainly fond of the reconstruction version from Extent, but anyway, as I said, it doesn't matter, lol

He wears a black suit, he's a government agent who handles information, and his eyes are always closed.

Dead fucking giveaways right there.

And even before then, the first trailers for CT with the preview of the anime opening showed him standing in a field at night, with a closeup of his face as his eyes open to reveal yellow snake eyes.

Edited October 10, 2013 by Vulcan422

[floatwater]

haha snake slits

[SixWingedAngel]

He wears a black suit, he's a government agent who handles information, and his eyes are always closed.

Dead fucking giveaways right there.

Jin looks like a champion of justice in tights and Hakugirl looks like a Nightmare plus Sephiroth crossover.

I know it is quite obvious from even before playing the game, but i would still prefer it if they handled it some other way.

Edited October 10, 2013 by SixWingedAngel

[LionHeartx]

yeah the closeup of his face in the CT opening was a dead giveaway

[Narroo]

No one is judging the whole series based on the just the first episode, people are just pointing out the good/bad points of the episode itself and what it could improve on.

And Hazama being a villain was painfully obvious in CT, that's not a spoiler.

Let me restate that: He wasn't running around screaming he was going to kill everyone and was the BIG BAD until the finale of CT. He was obviously bad news when he was introduced, but you didn't really know too much about what he was doing. Then after the true end you find out that he's more than a government lacky, he's the guy who maimed Ragna, puts Rachel's panties in a twist, and is laughing insane.

Alter Memory starts off with that from the beginning, no build up.

[BlackYakuzu94]

Except the only thing Alter Memory establishes is that he has plans, it never says what his plans are.

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[RifleAvenger]

Except the only thing Alter Memory establishes is that he has plans, it never says what his plans are.

Doesn't matter what his plans are; the scene at the intro and the one with Rachel essentially shows he knows what's going on, and thus is probably damn important as a villain. Villain status is granted by appearance and crazy evil laugh. Instead of being the creepy, yet cowardly, minor villain that people might think he was if they only had the Noel + Hazama scenes.

[SoWL]

Doesn't matter what his plans are; the scene at the intro and the one with Rachel essentially shows he knows what's going on, and thus is probably damn important as a villain.

But does the same scene imply Rachel's importance in the plot? Because she really isn't that important, let's be honest. There's a slight jump in logic between "Hazama talks to Rachel in weird black space" and "Hazama is the main villain behind everything", though I can see how people who are already acquainted with the plot might make it.

[RifleAvenger]

Considering that Rachel and Hazama both appeared in the beginning part where Ragna "dies" and both talk about things repeating etc., and then do it again later, I think I'd assume they were pretty important even if this were my first exposure.

Edited October 12, 2013 by RifleAvenger

[Ryudrake]

Seeing some of the complains here now i know why all the usa cartoons need to narrate the actions while the characters are doing it, is like without it the viewers can't know shit of what is happening.

"Oh look, i need to run to take cover before that statue crush me when it falls" says while it runs to take cover while a statue crumbles over him

SMH

Edit

I assume that is why they add random narrative on segments that on the original dub are silent LOL

Another way they can do it is to have a random narrator explain what's going on like in JoJo's. I think some old American cartoons had that random narrator at times too.

[White Man]

Watching the first episode felt like I was watching BlazBlue: The Abridged Series, except the voices were Japanese and not funny.

There were some things I liked, to be fair, but the pacing was just abysmal. They included virtually none of the humorous or heartfelt moments from the game's script and comply blazed (lolz) through any scenes where some real character development (or hell, character establishment) could have happened. The pace was so breakneck it didn't even have time to explain what was going on. I thought one of the major reasons for this anime being made was to allow BB newbies the chance to familiarize themselves with the main characters and the early stages of the plot. To that end, this series is off to a very weak start. If I hadn't already experienced this story before, I would have been completely lost watching that.

[werewolfgold]

I concur that things were kind of too fast (thought it's beating a dead horse by this point). But, if they are planning on doing some multiple loops then I can kind of understand. But, if I were a random dude that just turned on the show, I'd just be like "lolwut?" and not watch it again. That's kind of a problem.

Really, the first episode should've ended with Noel giving Jin the letter and Jin just being like "RAGNA!!!?!aifhasishfiafosfnaisfnaifonani". That plus some of brief flashbacks to the church would've given viewers something to really look forward to. I liked how it started though. That was good foreshadowing of all the shenanigans that were about to occur.

So basically, it should've been Nu, Cauldron, Ragna destroying stuff, Rachel, a couple flashbacks, Tao, Hazama trolling Rachel, more flashbacks, Jin and Noel. I think that would've been better. It would've left the viewer with a "Are those 2 the people in Ragna's flashback?" type thing.

[Narroo]

I concur that things were kind of too fast (thought it's beating a dead horse by this point). But, if they are planning on doing some multiple loops then I can kind of understand. But, if I were a random dude that just turned on the show, I'd just be like "lolwut?" and not watch it again. That's kind of a problem.

Really, the first episode should've ended with Noel giving Jin the letter and Jin just being like "RAGNA!!!?!aifhasishfiafosfnaisfnaifonani". That plus some of brief flashbacks to the church would've given viewers something to really look forward to. I liked how it started though. That was good foreshadowing of all the shenanigans that were about to occur.

So basically, it should've been Nu, Cauldron, Ragna destroying stuff, Rachel, a couple flashbacks, Tao, Hazama trolling Rachel, more flashbacks, Jin and Noel. I think that would've been better. It would've left the viewer with a "Are those 2 the people in Ragna's flashback?" type thing.

Personally, I think it should've been "Opening," "Ragna's story over two or so episodes," then various other characters or character groups. There doesn't need to be a time loop and episode per character. For instance, Carl does not require an entire loop or episode to himself, nor do Tao or Bang really. Litchi can share with Tager, and so on. I think CT could be comfortably covered with good character establishment if they weren't so gun-ho about shoving in as much plot info as possible into the first episode.