I do however like the Huke-BRS world a lot! It really takes me back to what I loved in Yumekui Merry just the whole dream world vs real world set up. They used a lot of CGI in the actual BRS world and it works really well for them, but will it become boring after episode four? Probably.

So less emo school friendship < more kick ass BRS world fighting.

DAT CGI ASS <3

The BRS OVA failed for me in a way that the connection of the worlds was placed too late in the game. If they integrate very closely in the TV series it would probably be a better approach. Better literal than artificially vague for me I guess.

Geddit?

ARS?

Like arse?

…oh never mind

People who follow this franchise more closely will know more about the characters, even if it’s only from stuff like the Black Rock-Chan manga which, while I’m sure it’s not meant to be canon per say, is still helmed by Huke (I did proofreading for the first two translated chapters of this manga if you’re interested.)

So anyway, I was saying similarly back when the OVA came out that they’d have to leave a lot of mystery so as not to ruin the characters for existing fans, but at the very least, I think most of the show’s new ideas will grow out of things that have always been around in the story.

But I haven’t watched the ep yet so I’ll go do that

You should be careful, friend. That’s a dangerous word in these parts to admit to knowing.

Marcosius still is one of my favorite voiced objects ever, though.

Lol I kinda buy into his pomo mumbojumbo, if you haven’t already notice.

I suppose I do too, to some degree, otherwise I wouldn’t have sat through however many pages of him setting it up. :3

I do acknowledge his orchestration of emotion porn. So when it comes time to rewatch this series I do kinda have to resign to the Maeda-hypereality of it all.

I think that’s really a good distillation of my feelings. I also like the term “orchestration,” that gets us out of the weeds of arguing about “manipulation.” I think Pontifus is right, as are you, that obviousness is not necessarily a problem, and I’ve used the term emotion porn as well, with the definition that it’s “something that gets an intended psychological and/or biological result, and requires tissues.”

People get a little bent about the “emotion porn” thing but if you’re playing Clannad with the goal of getting sad, and going through this contrived and constructed situation that leads you there, that’s a similar experience to porn and let’s face it — who doesn’t like porn? (And yeah, I think the fact that Clannad the anime is a viable and semi-popular license confirms that it’s not just our overseas brethren).

People often suppress their emotions to the point of needing a “release” so to speak, a way to feel something stronger than what you get out of everyday life. What’s funny is in the comments of a stupid aniblog we can argue all day about whether that response and release is “genuine,” but the proverbial Keima doesn’t care. :3