Blazblue: Alter Memory

[Errol]

Yeah, you did a pretty good job putting into words just what is wrong with it.

The thing is that it also seems like it is designed to get people to buy CP, and well, doesn't do anything to bolster sales of day 1 purchases I doubt. Why else does the story just go up to CP. It's like it is to set up CP.

Budget is one thing, but there might also be time frame. It feels like it was made to try to meet the CP date.

They really didn't spend any time on CT and it shows. And I don't think you can just take a game story and try to 1:1 adapt it to an anime, which is almost exactly what they are doing.

[redsilversnake]

I mean, I don't know if I can blame Arc. I imagine an involved anime would take a lot of money they may not be able to afford. Perhaps this was the best they could do with the budget they had.

Arc isn't to blame for this, least of all for the budget. They may have invested in it, but most of the budget is from the production company itself and any other investors it has. Mori personally could probably take some blame (since, IIRC, he does have some involvement), but ASW itself wouldn't be much more involved than any other company whose IP gets adapted.

[00Bubbles00]

ARC can be blamed. Maybe they wanted 95% of the profits so no good anime studios were interested. ARC maybe also wanted full artistic control which turned off any good anime director from wanting to do it.

It works much like when writers pitch movies to production companies.

All speculation of course. We would have to know the terms of contract to comment on what the hell went wrong.

[Shadow Draygon]

In Alter Memory, everyone lacks plot and backstory.

I meant T_its and A_ss.

But I do agree with everything you summed up.

[kylehyde]

Yeah, I was hoping that the anime would cover their back stories in more detail. The next episode seems to have some flashbacks, so I'm hoping we get to see some stuff about Ragna, Saya, and Jin's past.

[Volt]

Too late. The perfect time to do that and introduce the relevant characters was the CT part of the story. Now the damage to the anime's credibility is already done.

[BlackYakuzu94]

So, is it all downhill from here?

[mAc Chaos]

Episode 3 will wrap up CT. Then they have 8ish episodes to do CS.

[C Ray]

So then next episode we will see at the end of the episode Tsubaki getting her orders to kill Jin and Noel? And every Anime-only viewer, who managed to keep watching this, will again ask him- or herself: "WTF is going on...?"

I understand that BBCT was covered many times already, but immediately going to BBCS's story is stupid. This anime will be a huge waste of money if the other episodes are as bad as the first two ones or even worse.

[kylehyde]

If I had never played the game and I was just viewing this "Blazblue" for the first time, my thoughts would normaly be, "Well I guess they'll explain the stuff that I don't know about in the 4th or 5th episode.

Although I do buy that the anime was made specifically in mind for the people who have played the game. So it wouldn't surprise me if they don't explain anything and just move on like we already know what's going on and requires no explanation. But honestly, the whole time loops thing is confusing enough as it is in the game itself.

[Zeromus_X]

Wait the anime is only 12 episodes long? Wow, RIP.

[Narroo]

If I had never played the game and I was just viewing this "Blazblue" for the first time, my thoughts would normaly be, "Well I guess they'll explain the stuff that I don't know about in the 4th or 5th episode.

Although I do buy that the anime was made specifically in mind for the people who have played the game. So it wouldn't surprise me if they don't explain anything and just move on like we already know what's going on and requires no explanation. But honestly, the whole time loops thing is confusing enough as it is in the game itself.

I could have been done so well though. If they stuck with CT, they could have used it for character establishment and development, which would have been great.

[SolxBaiken]

I still think BB Morning would've been better if they didn't focus on adapting existing material and instead focused on establishing stronger setup by either serving as a transitional period between CS and CP or by focusing on more personal histories of characters [seriously I would've killed for an episode each to establish some of the past for Azrael, Bullet, and Amane. Maybe even one talking more about the Yayoi house and their relationship to Izayoi, and perhaps another devoted to Nu's previous encounters with Ragna---maybe go more into depth about his slaughter at Akitsu. Heck while I'm at it, an episode talking about the Mutsuki or just Kagura's silent rebellion. I think making a collection of self contained yet interconnected---obviously shown more once you play CP---would've been much better]. Heck I think I would've preferred them adapting the PS novels since I'm really not looking forward to slogging through a VN portion of it...

I think AM is wasted potential, even before considering the lackluster quality of the actual series.

[Henjin]

Although I do buy that the anime was made specifically in mind for the people who have played the game. So it wouldn't surprise me if they don't explain anything and just move on like we already know what's going on and requires no explanation. But honestly, the whole time loops thing is confusing enough as it is in the game itself.

After the endcredits you hear Jin/ragna mention them being in a fighting game. Now if you think about it, you wonder if the directors(or anyone involved in making the series) are hinting whoever is questioning the anime to get the game to know more about it. Think about it. They are trying to increase their popularity. (Then again i could be completely wrong)

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[DragonLordZ]

My question is why is it being made if it's only for people who've already experienced the content, I mean we've already seen it and the fight scenes are too shit to bother with on their own.

[Elochai]

What about the Unlimited Blade Works movie? It's kinda in the same vein (as in for people who already did the route in the game). It's just a treat for fans.

[SolxBaiken]

What about the Unlimited Blade Works movie? It's kinda in the same vein (as in for people who already did the route in the game). It's just a treat for fans.

I don't think UBW is the best comparison; yes the fans of the VN get more mileage out of it, however it was additive of the already established previous anime series, they didn't need to tell a good majority of the audience "this is who this is and this is how the world works". Also because it's a movie as opposed to a series it had to be as standalone as possible by default, OVAs and movies are made specifically for wanting to cater to the fan base as opposed to broader audiences.

AM fails as an adaption and on its own merits.

[mAc Chaos]

I'm a fan of the VN and I hated the UBW movie. It moved so fast, had everything cut out of it, it wasn't even good for battles because every fight was like 3 seconds long. They should have just made it a full length series.

Well, I guess hate is a strong word, but it didn't really do anything good. The only people I've seen that particularly enjoyed it were people who were: a) Fans of the Fate franchise, but b) unfamiliar with UBW itself. So they already knew the general story but UBW was new. I feel like 90% of the good stuff was not there though.

[Elochai]

I don't think UBW is the best comparison; yes the fans of the VN get more mileage out of it, however it was additive of the already established previous anime series, they didn't need to tell a good majority of the audience "this is who this is and this is how the world works". Also because it's a movie as opposed to a series it had to be as standalone as possible by default, OVAs and movies are made specifically for wanting to cater to the fan base as opposed to broader audiences.

AM fails as an adaption and on its own merits.

I must apologize for the bad analogy, but yeah. I don't think BBAM was meant to appeal to a "new" audience anyway. The twelve episode setup and fast pacing seem to imply that the studio who made the show assumed that all of the viewers were already familiar with the source material. If this isn't the case, then I wouldn't see any other reason for the show to be the way it is.

Or maybe it's just a non-elaborate scheme to hype up CP

[Martian Buddy]

I must apologize for the bad analogy, but yeah. I don't think BBAM was meant to appeal to a "new" audience anyway. The twelve episode setup and fast pacing seem to imply that the studio who made the show assumed that all of the viewers were already familiar with the source material. If this isn't the case, then I wouldn't see any other reason for the show to be the way it is.

To test this theory out I showed my sister (who has very little BlazBlue knowledge other than "knows it exists") the two episodes.

To say she had very little clue as to what the fuck was going on is putting it very mildly. When I spend more time explaining backstory and what was going on than the two episodes runtime combined, someone dropped the ball somewhere.

Edited October 20, 2013 by Martian Buddy

[SoWL]

My question is why is it being made if it's only for people who've already experienced the content, I mean we've already seen it and the fight scenes are too shit to bother with on their own.

The problem is, it's not made for the fans only, it's just that they're doing a pretty bad job at adapting the plot for the newcomers. Like I've been saying, Mori mentioned at TGS that the plot is going to make more sense than the game to those who haven't played it, but apparently, he and the rest of the world have different definitions of "make more sense"

[mAc Chaos]

I guess it could be serving two purposes:

1) There are lots of BB fans that fell off the radar. They see this and get hype for CP.

2) Reel in new fans that go "who the fuck are these guys" and check out the game.

[Shadow Draygon]

I love how they haven't even explained why Ragna is a criminal.

Without the wanted poster near the beginning and Tao being a bounty hunter you'd have no idea Ragna is some sort of renegade.

I also love how if medical supplies were available to Noel (in a place she was completely lost in btw) she rushes to Ragna's aid instead of Jin (who is in critical condition while Ragna continues to shrug off everything).

This shit makes no sense even from playing the games. Going to be shooting fish in a barrel when I get around to future episodes projects.

[mAc Chaos]

She was pretty much overwhelmed by her Saya identity at that point. I can at least give them that.

[Shadow Draygon]

Well the affection towards Ragna was at least in the games, but I was more poking fun at the fact that she knew where medical supplies in a place she's never visited and was clearly lost before fighting Nu.