“Nanaki Mirrors Your Soul”


「ナナキは心の鏡」 (Nanaki wa Kokoro no Kagami)

Defying Expectations:

Mayoiga – defying expectations until the very end. Is the ending we thought we’d get? Is this the ending we deserved? Or is it even the ending that makes the most narrative sense? I’m rattling my brain to try to figure out just what I think of this finale, because like every episode before it, it was not what I was expecting. If I were to go back to my (and many people’s) predictions when this all started, I was convinced that this show would end up a bloodbath. I was sure these characters were going to all go ballistic and start chopping off heads, and up until episode 8 that seemed to be the direction things were going, but that never happened. Instead, we got proper explanations about what the Nanaki really is and why these weirdos are all the perfect subjects for the village. We got glimpses into several backstories – some odd, some believable, some laughable – and in the last two or three weeks the majority of the side characters have literally given up on their worth to the story and had a nap. I don’t think anyone would have guessed this is how Mayoiga would end, but that willingness to embrace the absurdity is what made watching this oh so charming.

Cleansing One’s Nanaki:

This final episode was not as action-packed as I was anticipating, which left me feeling a little empty (but I was still laughing until the final moment). Most of the major conflicts were solved with simple conversations, and it is clear that no one was in real danger of death from their manifested nanaki, but rather it was them reacting to their owners wanting to leave the village. Once they each accepted their fate and got over their issues, they were able to “move on” and be transported to the real world, where they could all return to the bus tour and sing the Hippopotamus Song. I did like Masaki and Mitsumune’s farewell, even if they weren’t my favourite characters throughout the show. Lovepon turned out to be rather calm in the end, Jack and Judgeness’s attempts to kill a few villages went nowhere, and Koharun’s daddy issues were revealed at the last moment. As it turns out, she’s not the grand villain after all, but just another person who wanted to return to Nanakimura to get answers.

Overview – Final Impressions:

In the end, nobody died. There was no bloodbath. But there was a ridiculous bus ride filled with eccentric internet-goers who all had unsettling pasts or weird notions about their place in the world. They were all troubled in some way, or simply naive to think that running away could solve their problems, when it turned out that they would have to face their problems directly as they manifested around them and pushed them to the brink – unless of course we’re talking about the uninteresting side characters who didn’t receive any characterisation; they just moped around and went along with the group most of the time. Masaki’s witch hunt could have been the turning point where everything would get horribly violent, but that never occurred. In fact, it was only after that genuinely dramatic episode when things started to get properly explained and we headed for a much more sensible conclusion rather than a chaotic one.

When I think over everything Mayoiga has done these past 12 weeks, I can’t help but laugh. This show is absurd, and purposefully so. The attempts at character drama may have been genuine, but the silly dialogue, stupid character nicknames, and the ridiculous actions of most of the cast still convince me that this show never took itself 100% seriously. As I’ve said many times before, I’ve had a blast with this show, though blogging it hasn’t been the most fulfilling experience. It’s simply not one of those shows that I can dissect or discuss as much as I would like, and the stark difference of opinion between what I think and what the majority of watchers think has made it increasingly awkward to discuss without getting deeper than the show honestly deserves.

Even so, I had fun with it. I’m not sure why it exists or how this all got approved in the first place, because it’s one mad little show that defied expectations and played by its own rules. It’s never going to be regarded as a classic, but not every piece of fiction has to reach for the stars. There was certainly a vision with Mayoiga, and it feels to me that the initial intent came through in this finale. It was us who had a different idea of where this show as going, and that has led to disappointment and outcry, but I have respect for Mayoiga for sticking to its guns and delivering the story it was always meant to be.

ED1.2 Sequence

ED: 「結露」 (Ketsuro) by Katahira Hina

Epilogue:

59 Comments

  1. || Typo in the title there, it’s Nanaki – not Nanami, isn’t it?

    Really was hoping for some major twist in the end of it all but it all crashed and burned. It was long dead and goner for me when a character we thought was dead, is still alive. Yeah, sure we get the overall message they’re trying to send to us here of accepting our past and so on but really..? Couldn’t have they present it a bit better. This show and Big Order went through an epic fail despite all the hype in the beginning.

    Glad I could have a major laugh of how absurd this show was in the end. Thanks for picking this up and staying till the end, Samu.

    HanaChan27
    1. I dont remember he ever said this was a masterpiece, just that he was enjoying the show despite all its flaws which is basically the same he is saying in his last review of it. And I agree, Mayoiga was definitely bad but enjoyable!

      Kathy
    2. Opening with a straw-man argument and using ‘kek’ outside of 4chan… it’s always slightly tragic to see someone who drinks so deep of the /a/ kool aid that he can’t stop himself any more.

      borp
  2. I love how Bus driver guy had the most meaningful/heartfelt scene in the entire series. You could see the pain and regret he was feeling over his daughters death, and the way his Nanaki took the form of his daughter and basically let him say goodbye to her. It was such a sad scene..

    Anyway some plus and negatives from me.

    + Bus driver guy and his Nanaki(Daughter), and how that played out.
    + The Reiji stuff.
    + Some of the group staying behind, and the way the ones who left, left together on the bus and made the series come full circle.
    + Some of the Nanaki were kinda cute, especially Mitsumune.

    – I felt that the Mitsumune and his friends conflict at the end was quite forced. He basically listened to Koharu over someone he has known since childhood. I don’t believe anyone would do that. Though it did produce that funny huge Nanaki chase.
    – The “Mastermind” of this whole thing, the Koharu stuff felt forced and out of character for her.

    A Big “-” for me

    – The lack of meaningful explanations for some of the stuff happening. It felt like the writers were pulling stuff from nowhere and rolling with it. Especially when they were trying to wrap up this whole story. Don’t get me wrong, I found the finale acceptable but it was something you’d have to turn your brain off to appreciate or you’d probably find irritating.

    What I think would work..

    I genuinely hope someone does a live action edition of this series. I mean, we had a huge cast of characters and not enough time to really explore these characters in any kind of depth beyond the usual few. I think a longer run time per episode would accomplish this.

    I would rate this series a 5 out of 10 personally.

    Lyfe
  3. All in all I would say the show was surprisingly mediocre. With these kinds of shows you expect them to be either extremely good or extremely bad. But the end result was just average. It had some genuiely well done moments like the bus driver and his daughter, Ninanta’s and Hayato’s trauma/past or Yutssun’s epiphany and an equally amount of not so good moments. But most was just so-so. The message and theme, while not something outstanding did still deliver it’s point and that not everyone was returning was a good thing. The supernatural elements were actually well done, if sometimes too much CGI and the reasons behind the phenomena was quite logical. On the supernatural front it did imo everything right, besides the use of CGI, but that was probably because of the budget.

    The biggest problem of Mayoiga imo is the cast, pacing and number of episodes. The cast is too big for just twelve episodes. Either cut one third or half of it or increase the number of episodes to 18 or both. I think if there were less characters and/or more episodes the cast could have been fleshed out more. In the end there wasn’t much connection to half of the cast, because they didn’t receive much if any character development. I think Okada mentioned that in an interview that the director told her to write a scenario that requires the double amount of episodes and do it in 12.

    dean
    1. Yeah, the cast was just way too big, so a lot of them got short shrift. Like, I completely forgot about the guy who ate a lot and when he reappeared, I was like, oh yeah, that dude! And towards the end the, since they just had a bunch of one liners about the situation they were in, they sort of felt like the Greek chorus of the show.

      The pacing was all over the place, and the tone shifts were really abrupt, like they’d be trying for humor one moment, then all of a sudden really serious. It was rather jarring at times. It can be done, but this didn’t come off very smooth, transition wise.

      And the very end felt rushed, as they tied up some loose ends really quickly and character behavior flipped on a dime just so they could finish with the story narrative (Koharun I’m looking at you!).

      Bamboo Blade Cat
    2. A superficial, shallow and typical mediocre unintersting human drama mixed with urban legend and japanese yokai(demon-monster) forktale elements, including occasional hilarious comedic moments.

      fripsidelover9111
  4. Random Thoughts:

    As Lovepon is running away from giant Nanaki chasing them, she lets out an “We’re going to be executed!”. That gave me a good chuckle.

    So let’s see a show of hands of who thought Speedstar would be riding his giant grandma/hag Nanaki and trying to kill everyone?

    And why the hell is he acting like a jealous crazy ex-girlfriend? (rhetorical!)

    Lol @ Mitsumune running for his life yet calmly listing all the positives about Masaki. That one’s a keeper, girl.

    Mikage: “Why’d you provoke him?!” Like yeah!

    Lovepon on Mitsumune’s Nanaki trapped in a cage: “It’s a-gore-bale!”, lol

    So Koharun is doing all this to help her dad, Kamisama, from aging any further by helping him find his Nanaki even though he’s not even there with her, through scaring/killing others with their Nakakis? So how is that supposed to work? Maybe she didn’t think that through cause the writers definitely didn’t.

    Speedtsar decides to take one for the team saying he thought he was helping Mitsumune and it was never about controlling him completely, which sort of contradicts his backstory and unhinged actions and rantings.

    So…we learn Masaki’s backstory that Reiji was just her imaginary friend…well into her teens years?!!

    Lovepon gets lines that aren’t EXECUTE!, though unfortunately for her, it was only as a clumsy plot device to further reveal Masaki’s story.

    And she seems like a totally different person when she’s not screaming EXECUTE! Maybe the writers should’ve used that person more often.

    Valkana and Nanko literally tie up some loose ends show up with a tied up Jack and Judgement on a cart! Sort of glad they didn’t bother showing it, didn’t really care for Judgement and Jacks arc.

    Nanko cracking her knuckles: “I’m not weak.” You better watch out fellas, this is best girl right here.

    Mistumune’s new Nanaki is like a cute fuzzy little bean.

    That girl decides to break off her engagement and return to reality, but her fiancé is just surprised she decided to go back! “That’s what you’re surprised about?!”

    Everybody is still lackadaisical and lethargic about not caring anymore about anything or seeing a point in anything because of the effects of the village. Sort of sums up the way many people feel about the show. Was that meta commentary or what?!

    Koharun suddenly decides to help the people who want to stay and live in the village for all the people she’s hurt. And so does almost everyone else (and apparently they’re all ok with the attempted murder). How convenient.

    Nanko: Okay, let’s go.

    Fin

    Though the end credits reveal it actually isn’t that many, as only a handful of the group stay behind.

    So this show ends the way it began, by flip flopping.

    End coda: They all get on the bus and leave the village with Lovepon getting one last, yet calm, execute! in. They really are committed to that joke, that’s for sure.

    Bamboo Blade Cat
    1. @And why the hell is he acting like a jealous crazy ex-girlfriend?

      If this wasn’t Mayoiga, I would wonder if he was in love with Mitsumune. The thought did cross my mind lol. That was some serious jilted lover angst LOL.

      Lyfe
      1. Lol yeah. Though did they ever explain how the huge Nanaki went from being controllable(When he was basically riding on it..) to being out of control? That didn’t make much sense to me. I assume it was because his emotions became unstable or something.

        Lyfe
      2. The implication seemed to be, that once Speedstar became stable/calmer, his Nanaki started falling apart and became unstable/uncontrollable itself (which is sort of consistent with how mostly everyone’s Nanaki chased them since they weren’t unhinged, though Lovepon sort of throws that out the window, but exclusions!), so Koharun needed him to be unhinged to control it, though I have no idea how that’d help her father recover his Nanaki. That didn’t make much sense to me.

        Bamboo Blade Cat
      3. He’s a control freak and a Yandere. Those don’t have to be of a romantic nature. Though some characters did speculate about his sexuality a bit, so maybe he’s actually in love.

        dean
      4. Ah that makes sense, thanks! It was a bit confusing because they said something about Nanaki only attacking people who were actively trying to leave. At that point, I think he was basically too angry to think and when talked down by Mitsumune, things went kinda crazy.

        @dean

        Lol true. Though the inconsistency of the writing made me wonder.

        Lyfe
  5. End of show awards!

    Most Developed Character: Lovepon (C’mon, she went from being unhinged to actually being a normal person again at the end!)

    Most Improved Character Since The Beginning: Lovepon/Valkana (tie)

    Most Consistent Character: Mitsumune/Masaki/Nanko/Lion (tie)

    Most Inconsistent Character: Lovepon/Koharun/Speedtar (tie)

    Best Character: Nanko (hands down)

    Worst Character: Speedstar/Mikage/Judgment (Tie)

    Forgettable Character: Almost Half the Cast, if not more

    Unintentionally Funny Character: Lovepon

    Intentionally Funny Character: Probably Lovepon

    Characters The Viewer Didn’t Care about: Almost all of them

    Episode MVP: Little Fuzzy Bean Nanaki

    Show MVP: Lovepon?

    It’s a Lovepon sweep!

    EXECUTE!!! EXECUTE!!! EXECUTE!!!

    Bamboo Blade Cat
  6. “Pointless” is the word that comes to my mind when I think of this show. It could have been so much better. Lovepon was a good example. She even got some char development and a flashback, all of that to almost never appear again in the second half other than for comedic “execution” purposes.

    Nyast
    1. Urahara// I suspect that samu knows, or has a vague feeling at least that there is something wrong with his overall characterization of the show – a purposeful and intended absurd-ridiculous nonsense story comedy show which was created in order to make the audience genuinely laugh –.

      Note that one of his statements, “the show never took itself 100% seriously”, is pretty much compatible with another claim which is contradictory to his: the show takes itself seriouly, though not 100% but about 99.999% only, thus the show is not anything like a ridiculous-nonsense story-absurd comedy show in the creators’ intent.

      fripsidelover9111
  7. I also think by the ending that those who had stayed behind, will eventually leave Nanaki Village, even if they don’t intend too. Time heals all wounds, and one by one they will wake up one day at peace with themselves and their issues and this will no doubt lead to them accepting their Nanaki and returning to the real world. I don’t see any long term future for anyone in the village.

    Lyfe
  8. I dunno…maybe it’s because I went through some psychological stuff myself when I was in Junior / High School but…after I saw that the series wasn’t going to be some gore-fest and started thinking more psychologically about it (stuff like Dead Space, Silent Hill, and whatnot), I actually enjoyed it overall and felt good with this final episode.

    Not to say that there weren’t any flaws (like a lot of the characters we learned nothing about and so the series could easily have halved the cast numbers and not lose anything, for example) or that this is anime of the year or anything, but I really, really, really know the feeling of wanting to just be able to start everything over, change who I am and just forget about the prior life, so I guess the series really struck a chord with me and got my attention better than others, allowing me to put myself in the story and ride along with the characters (still not sure how my own Nanaki would look though, lol).

    HalfDemonInuyasha
  9. I was more or less fine with the ending, but the execution of the idea could be cleaned up considerably, starting with cutting down the cast. This show somewhat reminds me of Angel Beats, from people trying to deal with their pasts to Mitsumune’s backstory being similar to a character from AB to the too-large cast for the length of the show. Too many characters served little to no purpose at any point, and some didn’t even have distinctive quirks to point to. Pii-tan, annoyingly clingy dude, and big eater didn’t do anything, but I would at least know who they were as background characters. Some of the others didn’t even reach that level.

    SK
  10. I liked the first half, but it feels like everything came together and got wrapped up all too easily. There were some interesting ideas behind this show, but they needed better execution.

    Doctor Hochmeister
  11. This episode feels like an absolute punch to the face after everything that has happen.
    There was so much going on in the previous episodes that I liked about should have stood up more in this one. I actually get this episode and it’s not so bad, but this really should have been better. The ending was such a disappointment and maybe the creators of the series should have thought out more on executions because my god I feel like this has plot holes written all over it.
    Definitely an average rating episode

    Shahir
  12. Mayoiga was definitely a league of its own. I know it’s bad but I do not hate it because I am busy laughing with all the unintentional hilarity unfolding in my screen.

    Hundreds of anime series passed through my eyes and this got to be one of the most eccentric shows I saw.

    Yeah. A good 6/10 with this one. I am sure it will be an illustration on how not to create an original series in the future. Thanks for those ever weird directional choices that made Mayoiga a glorious mess.

    PS: Lovepon, best girl! Lol

  13. Don’t know what I was expecting following this show till the end. Maybe I was just curious about the mystery behind all these, nothing more. It was poor in so many ways, and the final episode and the ending was so rushed.

    Cheers to everyone who followed this show to the end lol

    tsukiyo
  14. This show is awful, horrible, absolutely pointless. The only “so bad it’s fun parts” were the Nanaki’s but everything else was so unbelievably boring. I hated every mindless, unintelligent, breathless character made in this anime created by the equally banal writers who had no thought or care when creating any of these blatant caricatures.

    The finale was equally shit, as the only characters who got closure were our mains. Everyone else had such an unconvincing and lazy resolution where I’m convinced the writers just ran out of time or didn’t care, just like the catgirl. “Who cares? Mew cares?” At least the show is self-aware to the point in realizing that the people who care about the actual story are non-existent, and the only reason to ever watch this show is because the badness transcends the normal bellyacher.

    It might have been a “genius move of intentional unintentional comedy” if the show didn’t take itself so damn seriously. There was nothing charming about this vapid ending. The episode before was climbing to a weak climax of 3 inches, but now failed to keep it up and ended up flaccid, yet most people expected the ending to suck it’s tiny balls off, so it’s not like our expectations were diverted in that it sucked as much as some people thought it would.

    This show has no purpose. Is it suspense? It’s not suspenseful. Is it a horror? Hell no. Is it a black comedy? Maybe if you consider unintentional humor a comedy. Is it a character drama? It’s a crappy one if it is, seeing as only 10% of the characters had a proper resolution. So what is it? Do you like bad anime? Do you like bad anything? Do you like things that are so bad, someway somehow, you may find a wrinkle of entertainment within its folds? Then Mayoiga is for you! You can spend the next 5 hours of your life watching something so bad, it may potentially make you laugh. It may have been some fun, watching it week after week with friends and breaking down each abhorrent layer to nothingness, but this show will be left forgotten. No one will ever speak of it again after it’s gone, because the comedy wasn’t astoundingly funny, the characters suck, and frankly, it’s too damn uninteresting to last. It’s not bad enough like the movie Troll 2 to be idolized by a cult of mother-basement types. It’s just a pointless, uninteresting, mediocrity that’ll be lost in a void of other bad, yet not too bad anime.

    Noragami!
    1. The fact that you can hold anime to such a high standard that simple mediocrity causes your blood to boil likely means less that this show is abysmal, and more that you’re in the wrong medium. Learn to turn your brain off, or go read a book; you are only going to find frustration from here on out. In fact, please leave and find a different medium to dwell in; it was obvious from the near start that this was a stupid show, it’s up to you whether or not you can enjoy it for what it is.

      kangoflemoncity
      1. @kangoflemoncity

        I wish I could upvote you more than once for this comment. It’s absolutely spot on. I don’t think anyone should go into any anime series expecting a well written masterpiece, because you’d be sorely disappointed. There isn’t an anime show out there even that doesn’t have a few flaws, some more than others. You just need to accept the show at face value and decide if its worth continuing with.

        I mean. I find Bakuon and Hundred painfully generic. But I enjoy them for what they are and wouldn’t call either show bad either. They’ve entertained me.

        Lyfe
      2. I agree, you shouldn’t go into any anime series expecting a well-written masterpiece, but you shouldn’t lower your expectations either and expect less. If viewers always expect less, why should the industry give you anything more? Maybe that’s why anime these days is so generic, one note and tropey, because viewers expectations are lower. There’s no incentive for the industry to take any risks if viewers are complacent with what they’re getting, not that that excuses the dross that is being churned out, but this is one of those cases where the industry is just catering to an established demographic. and that just kills creativity. Just look at the new US tv landscape, and see how networks are struggling, because they’re trying to cater antiquated demographics, while cable channels are coming out with riskier and more sophisticated shows, making it a true golden age of television. Of course, there’s room for improvement, but we’re definitely taking lots of positive steps in the right direction.

        I’m watching a lot of older anime, like Utena, Ranma, Yu-Yu Hakusho, Patlabor, and it just shows that anime was a lot more nuanced and diverse back then than it is now, which is really quite a shame, since it’s a medium with endless possibilities. I’ll probably re-watch Berserk in preparation for next month.

        Bamboo Blade Cat
      3. Bamboo Blade Cat // I’m not sure that old days anime really tended to be more nuanced and diverse back then in general than nowadays, since experimental, unconventional and/or non-mainstream anime are still produced consistently almost every year (Pinpong, Kemonozume, boku dake no inai machi, Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu, The Tatami Galaxy, paranoid agent, Subete ga F ni Naru… and so on).

        But I think I see you point, and It’s a little sad to see that an anime without high or middle school setting, harem of young teenage boy, magic, Isekai(another world) being hardly distinguishable from the typical, familiar European medieval world in outlook and/or LN tropes, collapsed and failed so badly, wasting its potential.

        fripsidelover9111
      4. @fripsidelover9111

        That’s true to a certain extent, though some of the anime you mentioned was close to a decade ago, Kemonozume, Paranoia Agent, but you’re right, we got Ping Pong, The Tatami Galaxy, Subete ga F ni Naru (while I disliked the execution, I like the live-action show better, it still is an attempt at something different), Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu (another anime that I just didn’t get into, but recognized what an objectively great show it was regardless of what I thought, see how that works 😉 ).

        And agreed about high school middle school harem tropes and medieval fantasy stuff, it’s all just a blur of the same tropes and stories, it’s unfortunate.

        Bamboo Blade Cat
      5. @Bamboo Blade Cat

        A lot of what I watch, I have no clue about prior. So I don’t really have much in the way of expectations when going into a show. I don’t read a lot of manga/light novels, but I do watch some anime PVs. I’m not sure if I count for the average viewer, but before the first episode starts, I have no idea what to expect from the show lol.

        Lyfe
      6. I’ve only read one manga, One Punch Man, and watching the series was less enjoyable as a result, that much was for sure since you end up doing too much comparing reflexively (I do that with remakes too), so I probably won’t read any other ones.

        But most anime, I have just the vaguest idea about that I get from reading the blurbs (or from the previews on here, which are similar to the blurbs), so that’s all I have to go on. Maybe I hear about something word of mouth, but that’s usually something older.

        Same goes for most network, cable, British shows, some Korean/Japanese dramas, movies, etc I watch. I don’t really have much of an idea going in except for maybe the cast and the blurb.

        I quite frankly am just watching way too much stuff. And now I’ve started watching Dragon Ball from the beginning since I’m watch DBS, so that’s all I’ve watched for literally this entire week.

        But I guess the point is, you have some sort of barometer that tells you whether you like it or not, and whether or not you think it’s good for the personal reasons you have coming into the show (you like horror, you like spy stuff, procedurals, you like slow paced stuff, you like historical, etc), so those are the expectations you bring with you into whatever you watch.

        When you watch a good to great show, you get excited because you know you’re watching something good, and it’s not like there aren’t reasons why your mind gets excited, and it just doesn’t get excited for any old thing.

        Your preferences are your expectations. Once you have an idea of what your getting into, that’s when your expectations are raised, or lowered depending on what you’ve learned, like the live-action GITS.

        Bamboo Blade Cat
      7. Late reply, but oh please. After I turn by brain off, my snooze button will still be right there to remind me of how boring this show was. I knew it was going to be stupid, but it was so catastrophically stupid and at the same time, it managed to be extremely boring at the same time.

        You know what’s a good turn your brain off and have a good time anime? HoTD. That shit is bad but at least it has fun stuff. This show’s standard is characters spewing out idiotic rubbish for “comedy” and then at the end of an episode have a ugly CGI monster sprout from the ground to make viewers go “OMG WTF IS THAT kAKOII.”

        Forgive me if characters just being stupid and the fat guy spewing out “wahh I’m so tired and fat” or the slut lady going “i’m so slutty and my feet hurt” whenever they get screentime doesn’t fit into my “elitist sense of humor.” And kindly back off, and don’t tell me to “leave” a medium that I enjoy.

        Noragami!
      8. I loved HoTD! It was great stupid fun (unlike TWD or FTWD, I guess Z Nation is fun, but couldn’t get into it), though I like zombie stuff, so I was probably gonna enjoy it regardless as long as it wasn’t horrible, but was kind of disappointed in School-Live!, which I thought would be much more fun than HoTD. Speaking of HoTD, where is that season 2 that I’ve heard about for years? Anyhow, I might give HoTD a re-watch.

        Bamboo Blade Cat
    2. Another good “turn your brain off show,” coincidentally airing this season, is Kabaneri, so I think I’m capable of having a good time when something stupid is appealing. But you know, God forbid I have an opinion.

      Noragami!
      1. I just find it weird that people are taking this bizarre, obtuse stance with this show (it’s like we made fun of one of their family members or something and they simply won’t stand for it), and I’m sure they’ll end up nitpicking another similarly mediocre mess of a show for the same reasons we’re nitpicking this show, but it’ll be seen as legitimate. When did this place become like IMDB or was it always like that? lol

        Bamboo Blade Cat
      2. I think I’ve mentioned it before, but I remember when I dared criticize HxH, a show I love, but oh no, I just didn’t get it/the show wasn’t for me/I was just hating on it argument (even though I explained my criticism in detail, like I usually do), and that last reason Enzo accused me of! Though tbf, HxH is like a family member to him, lol

        Bamboo Blade Cat
      3. Amen to that. Never once have I said I expected a masterpiece — it’s entirely possible believe it or not to enter a show with low expectations and still dislike it for how bad it is. Don’t say I “watched it wrong” or criticize me for my opinion. Get out of here with that. RandomC doesn’t have to be a beacon of positivity like it seems to be sometimes.

        Noragami!
      4. Yeah the whole “please leave bs” just motivates me to keep posting, cause it’s easy bs to dismiss. It tells me some of these commenters don’t know how to discuss or defend their opinions. There’s supposed to be room for both sides and everything in the middle on these sorts of sites.

        That and I think some people on here don’t understand hyperbole (they clearly don’t understand nuance or the nature of criticism). I didn’t want to get into it up thread, but that reference someone made to a “hidden masterpiece” was referring to Samu’s effusive praise of what the show was doing strictly for him. He called some episodes great and genius, and that was giving the show way too much credit.

        A great counter example (or maybe just an example that fits the overall Mayoiga argument better) I just noticed after receiving some replies to comments I made for it was the Korean directed movie Snowpiercer. A lot of people over scrutinized the science of it (it played a very little role in the movie but some viewers couldn’t get past it) and took the overall movie way too seriously, even though it was a movie with a mesh of dark comedy, satire, and violent action. Korean movies in general like to do a lot of genre mashing, and they love their dark comedy, and Western audiences aren’t always ready for foreign sensibilities, so many did have difficulty resolving that conflict based on a lot of comments I read because of their inherent Western sensibilities of what to expect going into it. So a lot of people sort of failed to understand that film. But Mayoiga certainly isn’t an example of that, as it doesn’t nearly have the pedigree or ambition of Snowpiercer.

        Bamboo Blade Cat
  15. Hayato went from not trusting & even wanting to kill Mitsumune cuz he wouldn’t be his toy that he’d protect & everything cuz he couldn’t do anything alone to just stating that Mitsumune was actually helping him already just a few moments later – way to go Mayoiga.

    Although, t’was definitely more about the journey than the destination. Tbh, I was kinda hoping every1 would’ve stayed in the village but I guess to each his own. It kinda made sense who decided to stay behind & who didn’t too. Notice that the ones who left were still kids, teens or ones who were pretty well off(Mikage – not mentally though :P), while the ones who remained behind were the adults who’d probably have a tough time getting back to their previous lives to the point where it’d be better to just start over – for the most part anyway.

    Also, I like how Mikage & Lovepon seem to be sticking together even on their return trip. I guess they’re made for each other 😉

    Gonna miss my trainwreck fridays…

    Manly Tear

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