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「Kock-on Effect」
Not to add oil to the burning fire, but criticism has to be given where it’s due – this episode fell a little short in terms of directorial pacing. The presented material wasn’t bad by any means, but compared to the carefully controlled elements such as character exposition and even plot development, this fourth episode is the first instance where it was difficult to tell if the events were just complex or plain baffling. Considering the last three weeks I’m inclined to think it’s the former, but “Knock-on effect” is definitely an episode that required more than a single watch to carefully piece everything together.
The title – “Knock-on effect” – has quite a bit of importance and there are already quite a few events which the concept can be applied to. There are probably more, but they went over my head.
First off, a quick description of the “knock-on effect” from good ol’ Wikipedia:
Knock-on effect: A concept in social sciences that describes unintended consequences – an outcome that is not intended by a purposeful action. It exists as three types:
- Positive (e.g. luck, serendipity)
- A negative effect occurring in addition to what was intended
- A perverse effect opposite of what was originally intended (e.g. a solution making a problem worse)
The whole episode is like a domino, with one event connecting itself to the next one in a narrative sense – there is a logical and rationale present in the storyline that isn’t immediately evident since visually nothing connects well at all, especially near the beginning. The jump into uncovering Shiro’s innocence was a little disorienting, even though the mind can process the narrative progress and piece the events together quite easily. There are plenty tidbits scattered everywhere that none of the plot points feel like they appeared out of thin air, but K lacked a little in visual composition this week to help the viewers make sense of things with their eyes.
Yukizome Kukuri (Satou Satomi) is a key participant in the events and her involvement brings about both luck and misfortune to Shiro. It’s doubly interesting because after considering the meaning of the title, her presence presents a fascinating duality for Kuroh and Shiro. For the former, her actions bring about nothing but positive effects – helping him find his target, returning his cooking utensils, and unintentionally trapping Shiro in his lie – while for the latter she seems to incur more negative consequences than positive ones. Coincidence or not, Kukuri’s request for Shiro to buy fireworks is what set off the chain of events that led him to be chased by HOMRA and Kuroh, and her wholly unintended acts of a good Samaritan have continuously created a complex web around him that somehow culminated in her saving his life. In that sense she feels like an integral character, one that unconsciously affects the flow of the story with her words and actions. Perhaps it’s because she is such a bystander that she affects more things than the main cast would – each of the “main” characters shown so far have a very clear-cut motive that drives them and hence dictates their actions. Because they have a definite goal they want to achieve, the number of paths they can take becomes limited and it becomes an easy task of determining how they will act next based on their personality.
For Kukuri it’s the opposite because she lacks that allegiance. She doesn’t have the same kind of motivation that SCEPTER 4, HOMRA, Kuroh, or Shiro have, which in a sense removes the limiter on what she can do. Her actions are purely dependent on the situation on hand and her judgment is unclouded in the sense that she lacks the knowledge of the bigger picture – in this case, the plot. The main overarching storyline doesn’t directly involve her, but Kukuri is pretty pivotal when it comes to linking the more minute plot-related events together. She’s quite inoffensive as a character as well, which helps her blend into the background.
Kuroh’s current situation with Shiro is an unintended consequence as well, since now he’s placed in a predicament where he’s unable to carry out his duties. He might have been continuously wary of the new “King”, but the unexpected camaraderie he formed with him and Neko was a perverse by-product that was bound to throw a wrench into his plans. Conversely, it was a beneficial event for Shiro since not only did he gain a capable housekeeper, Kuroh can also prove to be a great asset in the upcoming clash between him, SCEPTER 4, and HOMRA.
Speaking of SCEPTER 4 and HOMRA, their arrivals are sure to start an inferno, although it’s quite obvious from the previews that neither party will be able to accomplish what they really came to the Academy for. But a confrontation between Yata and Fushimi is a far more interesting one than one between them and Shiro since it’s rife with emotional conflict that just isn’t there with Shiro. Revenge is a powerful motive, but it feels less personal than the beef Yata is bound to have with Fushimi when taking into account the sheer dedication he has for his gang.
Another notable thing about this episode would be Neko; it was never too surprising that she would possess some sort of powers, and the most interesting thing about her was never her abilities nor her penchant for running around naked. She took an interesting twist on the classic “cat girl” concept by actually being a cat-turned-human, retaining her animal instincts and habits. Character-wise she’s quite endearing, and plot-wise things became rather intriguing when other people could suddenly see her. It’s highly unlikely this was some sort of writing derp, so what changed this time around? One possible explanation is that it takes conscious effort to stay invisible, which seems likely since Kuroh caught Neko by surprise – this doesn’t explain the sudden appearance of clothes, but it does provide an answer for why she suddenly became visible to everyone else.
Her presence around Shiro also complicates things – she seems to be around him all the time, and even during the preparations for the school festival, she was there. There’s no sight of Shiro, but given what is known about Neko, it can be assumed she was in his proximity. Who, then, is Totsuka Tatara’s killer? What about the bloody shirt? More than Kukuri’s photo, what makes it difficult to ascertain Shiro is the killer is how utterly convinced of his innocence Neko is; it’s pretty hard to doubt her testimony when she’s with him all the time. The evidence is pretty compelling though, especially if the snippets of the video are actually flashbacks Shiro is remembering of the night and not some random insertions.
So even though the bloody shirt comes as no surprise to anybody, it’s not as simple as labeling the case solved and calling it a day. Not all the threads have come together yet, and next week seems to add to the complications set up along the course of four weeks. It’s hard to tell how Shiro will deal with this predicament but with the appearance of Yata and Fushimi, things are looking more than a little rough for him.
Full-length images: 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 12, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 26, 27, 28, 30, 33, 35, 36, Preview 02.
Preview
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Foreshadowing… sword fights.
Anime dropped……. show some respect
You’re too kind.
Die *slice boxers*
Sigh… Is it me or is the show becoming more of a yaoi genre… I want to see Shiro x Neko or even Shiro x Kukuri… rather than having Shiro blush at everything Kuro does for him… Ughh. (I don’t want to offend the yaoi fans out there!)
Agreed. I’m not sure if the creators threw in Neko for fanservice directed at the male audience, or if it’s the other way around with the bl hints being a lure for female watchers. It feels like the series doesn’t know where it belongs, though the serious moments regarding the Red and Blue groups are interesting regardless of that.
It’s both of course. Why would there be a choice to make between male fanservice and female fanservice if you can have both and double the number of watchers ? This serie is one of the few who understood that. Though then again it’s maybe a bad choice because the male fanservice can be quite hard on the heterosexual male demographic since they’re not used to it, and so they may reject the product. Well now you know how I felt watching female fanservice in anime. I couldn’t stand it at first but now I’m used to it. I think you’ll have to get used to it too because I can foresee more anime with mixed fanservice like this one coming in the future.
Because you’ll usually find Yaoi can deter or even offend a male audience (Depending on views) and the same can be said about generic male fanservice.
Don’t answer posts if you’ve only read the first sentence.
I did read it. You only mentioned them not being ‘used to it’. That’s completely wrong, most guys just don’t want to see it for various reasons.
@Styxounette I’m not homophobic so I can live with it as long as there’s a limit, same goes for male fanservice. It’s like salt, too much will spoil the food. If the focus on the actual kings isn’t lost, I really don’t mind.
@Crook Not enjoying male fanservice doesn’t mean you’re homophobic don’t worry I completely understand 🙂 Actually, I think the fanservice in K is a bit forced and lacks subtlety. Fate Zero was way better at throwing in subtle fanservice and hints geared toward all tastes (Kirei/Gilgamesh, Broskander/Waver, Ryuu/Caster, Saber/Ilyasviel, even lolis…). So I think the problem isn’t fanservice itself, it’s more about the way it’s included in the plot. In K’s case it leans more toward plot tumor than icing on the cake.
@Kirisu What I meant by being used to it is letting it slide off you when you see it and stop being annoyed because of it. I don’t want to see boobs either but I cope with it (though I admit I did drop Horizon because of them too big boobies) Not in the sense of having seen it many times in your life (I’m sorry english isn’t my maternal language).
@Styxounette
i get the female fanservice and the light yaoi aspects of the show but where did u see male fanservice?
They remind me greatly of Allen Walker and Yu Kanda… But with less bickering and more BL…
How much (yaoi/BL) can you (the average viewer) stomach? That is the question – well, at least that’s the question the writers of this show need to be seriously asking themselves. The comments for the last episode seem to indicate that a significant number of viewers have considered dropping K due to offense from BL innuendo. Anime original IPs like K are risky enough as it is; they lack an established fanbase that guarantees a certain minimum level of revenue and/or critical pre-assurance as to the quality of the story.
K’s writers would do well to be cautious when contemplating whether to take their show further down the BL path- sad as it may be, there is still a significant amount stigma against homosexuality in society; go too far down that route and you risk alienating a large number of potential fans/DVD purchasers. This doesn’t tend to hurt your typical Yaoi/BL show because they usually operate on relatively low budgets that account for the fact that sales will inevitably be limited. K on the other hand was marketed as a mainstream show before release and clearly isn’t running on a shoe-string budget like Yaoi/BL shows. Therefore K’s writers cannot afford to alienate viewers the same way Yaoi/BL shows do because if they do so, they won’t be able to cover their higher costs.
What I’m saying is that K’s bottom line will inevitably suffer if its BL content continues to escalate. I understand that remaining true to their original vision for the narrative is important, but if that vision involves something that could potentially hit revenue hard, compromise needs to be made; a fine balance between narrative vision and marketability needs to be struck…personally, I couldn’t care less about whether a show features homosexual relationships, but unfortunately a significant portion of society clearly isn’t as accepting…
Do Remember that, as non-japanese watchers, we are but a periphery demographic of this show. How much can the japanese straigth male population tolerate male fanservice and BL hints is the real question. If such a show can be aired, then their level of tolerance is probably higher than the average straigth gaijin. The show is probably designed so that the BL hints are just enough so as not to offense the straigth male japanese viewer.
I think the number actually dropping it for that is pretty low though; you need to keep in mind that people commenting on anything on a blog of forum is always a pretty significant minority compared to the entire base watching the show. Going off MAL (Since it’s the best site for getting stats like this) the show has something like 22,000 people watching it with 800 dropped and going around various forums I’ve barely seen anyone say they dropped it because of the ‘implied BL’, (Which I still don’t really see, especially in this one considering it literally consisted of nothing but a gay joke on Shiro’s part- but I think I said enough of that in a previous post on here) but for the slowness of the plot and lack of action scenes that were in the early PVs.
K’s fanbase as of right now seems to comprise of 3 things:
. People who are able to watch shows with plots that aren’t set in stone and are revealed along the way
. People who support or just don’t care about the BL elements in this show, not letting it bother them (Cause seriously, only thing BL in this ep was just those 2 gay jokes, seriously…people get over yourselves, you ain’t going to melt)
. Those who acknowledge the great animation for this series.
So basically…that just makes the haters fall under the Shounen or Female Ecchi lovers category?
@Styxounette
A good point- and one that I was well aware of; how much BL your typical gaijin can tolerate may in fact differ from how much is acceptable to your typical Japanese person- but I intentionally ignored it because the reality is that the difference is probably negligible. While hard, confrontational discrimination, like when vocal bigots get all up in arms about LGBT rights and/or engage in violence, seems to be relatively rare in Japan, soft discrimination is still rampant in the form of silent social marginalization and exclusion in an Asian community that emphasizes rigid conformism – which overall, really doesn’t make things any better than most other first world countries.
Subtle workplace/rental/admissions discrimination against LGBT individuals in Japan is quite common and there are no national legal protections against it; the Diet has struck down a series of proposed bills that would grant the Japanese LGBT community these rights over the last ten years or so, and no Japanese jurisdiction recognizes or allows same-sex marriages – this clearly illustrates the unconducive social climate with regards to LGBT rights in Japan. So if anything, Japanese attitudes towards LGBT individuals are as questionable as those of folks from other developed countries- if not, worse; the Japanese are clearly at least as homophobic as Westerners, they just express it in a more passive-aggressive manner (due to culture) – and by projection, the same goes for their tolerance levels towards media containing LGBT elements…
Sources:
Shadow Report to the UN Human Rights Committee
Human Rights Watch article
___________________________________________________________________________________________
@Altritter
Well, if your statistics are correct, then it certainly places my statement that a significant number of folks are outright “threatening to drop it” due to BL into the realm of pure speculation. But the fact that there have been murmurings and complaints still supports my assertion that “a balance needs to be struck” and that their bottom line would be in peril if the BL innuendo escalates significantly. As things stand right now, I’d say that the balance is holding up (especially with your statistics to back it up), more or less. But if they decide to step the BL up a notch or two, they’re probably playing with fire- at least as far as revenue is concerned…
There is certainly always the danger of making false generalizations based on the opinions of a vocal minority. However, I believe the danger of this occurring is reasonably low in the present case because negative comments about K’s BL undertones have been appearing on many different anime blogs/forums/communities, each of which probably represents different groups of fans – and because these reactions aren’t exactly at odds with the historically overwhelming disdain that Yaoi/BL receives from mainstream anime fans…
Fortunately, thanks to this episode, we have a new pairing: Neko x the Cleaning Robot. She was even riding him!
Just to add. What is perceived as ‘gay’ in the west isn’t the same in Asia.
They can act more feminine towards eachother and it not have negative connotations like it does here.
I don’t think you’ve lived in Asia, have you? I can tell you from first-hand observation (having lived there for a number of years) that Asian sensibilities about homosexuality are generally very much colored by stereotypes – to a far greater degree than is the norm in most Western countries. It is a common and concerning misconception in the West that Asians tend to be more tolerant of LGBT folks because of a lack of large, vocal anti-gay rights/evangelical movements in these countries. The sad truth is that a significant silent majority that is opposed to LGBT rights exists in most Asian countries such as China and Japan – enough to cause their legislatures to shy away from enacting laws that would protect the LGBT community from discrimination; such laws don’t yet exist in both of the aforementioned nations.
The thing you need to understand about Asian societies, especially those in East Asia, is that they’re very collectivist. Members of the community are expected to rigidly conform to accepted social norms and mores; there is far less leeway in Asia for any divergent behavior. Personal opinions are not highly valued, and it is expected that the individual keeps it to him/herself and act in accordance to the status quo. If anyone’s actions diverges from the norm, the community’s reaction generally isn’t to call him/her out; like mentioned above, individual expression simply isn’t valued very highly – they instead tend to take the more passive-aggressive route of silent exclusion – “If you don’t play like everyone else, then you’re off the team.” The typical Asian reaction to LGBT individuals is one that very much resembles the US military’s controversial “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy; keep it to yourself or you’re out; i.e. disenfranchisement from mainstream society – and without the partial legal protections that “Don’t ask don’t tell” provided…
Which leads to the exclusion and marginalization of minority groups such as the LGBT community. As an aggregate, this in fact makes the LGBT community significantly worse off than they are in most Western nations. Westerners don’t perceive it as such because of the absence of vocal anti-gay rights movements in Asia – but the sad reality is that more subtle forms of discrimination are commonplace; workplace/admissions/housing discrimination occurs frequently – and LGBT individuals in Asia tend to have no legal recourse – so there is an immense amount of pressure to stay “in the closet.” This kind of discrimination is certainly less dramatic than the vocal and persistent nay-saying of anti-gay rights groups in Western nations – but is unquestionably far more substantially damaging than simply having to put up with a few noisy bigots.
I have LGBT friends from my time in Asia who left it for the west for college who will attest to the fact LGBT folks are far better off in the West than they are in Asia; not a single one of them wishes to return to Asia after graduation – and it is from their experiences that I draw my observations. The plight of LGBT individuals in Asia is a a sorry one that is far darker than is generally perceived by us in the West; this misconception needs to end so that steps may be taken to guarantee human rights for all…
While I can agree with you that Asia in general is a lot more homophobic/colored by stereotypes, their definition of “gay” is in some ways a lot looser than it is in Western culture. Guy act a lot friendlier to one another physically but it’s still not considered homosexual. Depictions of male friendships such as in Sakamichi no Apollon or Kuroko no Basuke that everyone labeled as BL is in actuality a lot closer to Asian male friendships than people realize.
So yes, it does mean something different in Asia.
And while this is not strictly related, I think you’re missing the marketability of BL subtext – it’s the same reason why yuri sells. I don’t think I need to explain the mechanisms behind that, do I? Both genres sell because it plays on people’s psychological fantasies; there’s a certain allure to anything forbidden, especially in such a restricted society where personal wants/needs always come second to society’s. Any material regarding same-sex love has been pretty popular, even in the ancient times. So I don’t think you have to worry about K’s marketability in regards to the presence of perceived BL subtext – if it doesn’t sell, it’ll be strictly due to its production values/storyline/etc.
@Bakamochi
Never said that it didn’t mean something different. I just said that their perceptions of the LGBT community are intensely colored by stereotypes – which aren’t necessarily the same stereotypes that color Western perceptions; but I think you’ll agree with me that stereotyping isn’t positive no matter what that stereotype may be. But I do see what you’re saying; because Asian men tend to be a lot more physical in their friendships than Western men, they probably won’t decry things like simple male-male close proximity as “gay.” So maybe this does create a higher level of tolerance for male-male intimacy – but I maintain that when it does rise to the level where even Asians would consider it to be “gay” they are far less tolerant than Westerners.
You know, I think you’re right about this one – and I was mistaken. I made the allegation that BL innuendo would adversely affect K’s sales on an (untrue) assumption that men tend to be significantly more homophobic than women, which if true would result in BL subtexts alienating a large portion of the male audience. But it appears that this isn’t really the case. I looked up some studies on the matter, and those that found a statistically significant difference between the levels of homophobia in men and women didn’t find it to be very large at all, and many found none whatsoever…
Not offended, don’t worry.
But yaaaoiii <3 … would be nice xD
Nah, it would be better if it is Bara!
“Yaranaika?”
Not meaning to bash or anything, but isn’t that what Black Hanekawa was like? (not to mention it was very much expertly-written as well)
no, that was more like a human-turned-cat
To be fair, I was talking about the bakeneko possessing Hanekawa, not the fact that Hanekawa transformed into a cat-girl.
And here is where I risk getting bashed by saying i’ve never watched Bakemonogatari.
I pray for your safety.
Look like we are on the same boat here. All the best to both of us.
Yeah… I’m barring my doors tonight 😛
I watched Bake… but missed the Hanekawa arc due to some shit taking my internet from me… 🙁
When I got my internet back, the DLL torrents are gone… damn.
As usual, not enough Neko in the episode.
And cleaning robots. They’re the best part of the show.
So once again the plot is stalled because the show rather would have the characters dick around the school than let the plot move forward. I can’t tell if the show is on Valium or trying to deliberately put me to sleep. Might as well rename the show [Z] because thats all I’m getting.
Oh glorious cleaning robots how I thank thee saving me from the boring tedium!
I liked this episode. Plot advances a bit and lots of cute Neko.
One thing I noticed in this episode is that Shiro (e.g. when he enters his room at the end) and the seventh king (before killing Totsuka) are both humming Beethoven’s Ode to Joy.
https://randomc.net/image/K/K%20-%2004%20-%20Large%2039.jpg
One does not simply walk through the turnstiles.
I found that funny too.
I must say, I chuckled when the cleaning robot got offended and sliced up a man’s boxers, but actually gave thanks in gratitude when it picked up a girl’s pantsu. Geeeeez, lol.
They’re so damn funny. Neko fighting the cleaning robot was another highlight of the episode. lol
Of course one would have to wonder what would have transpire for boxers and panties to be out in the street in the first place.
TQ
This does begs the question: What were male boxers and girls panties doing lying around in the streets for the robots to pick up in the first place?
Seems like the panties appeared when the Homura gang crashed into the school. Maybe it’s bait for the bots?
Again, why is a completely neutral question regarding an observation of a mere FACT getting 5 downvotes?
I’ve said it once and I’ll keep badgering RC again: SCRAP THE DOWNVOTES
To both the question about the pants and the downvotes…I was wondering that too.
Your too kind….
In the photo that Kukuri shows that states his innocence, Shiro buttoned up his blazer, whereas in the past few episodes, he usually unbuttons it. Might be indicating that he was hiding the bloodied shirt underneath.
Ok, four episodes are enough space to let a show shine. I’m dropping this pointless, boring and gayish crap.
I know because I’ve made the same mistake before but if you read that statement out loud you’ll realize how offensive you are… not to the anime but to everyone.
Last time I’ve checked, the word gay plus the suffix -ish referring to a show is hardly an insult to anyone. It’s not like I’ve wrote: “Only a true faggot will chew this shit!”, now, THAT will be offensive to someone (those who love this show, I mean, the lgbt community will hardly count it as an insult).
Calling something people like “gayish crap” is still offensive.
Example:
1. Your mom is a boring, gayish crap.
2. Your sister is a boring, gayish crap.
3. Your prized FF is a boring, gayish crap.
Get the picture?
I just feel is biting off way more than it can chew. The are a lot of questions being raised, and have been raised. We are already done 4 episodes and moving onto the fifth, with the relative half-way mark the week after that. I don’t know if they will be able to wrap things up in the episodes they have. This probably could have been better as a 2 cour show.
I have to disagree. This episode was the most coherent and clear in terms of plot and character motivations… the other three were just plain confusing but now finally start making sense
Spot on. It actually had a clear direction and wasn’t totally random like the previous episodes.
neko is the only reason I can bear with this anime
Neko x Shiro all the way!
https://randomc.net/image/K/K%20-%2004%20-%20Large%2027.jpg
I feel the same way. There’s really no story so for. Just a pile of concepts that have remained to be used in the story too the fullest. Not to mention that the setting isn’t clearly set up. I haven’t the foggiest idea what year or area this is even taking place in? Not to mention the subjects of “kings” haven’t been explained:
-What is the purpose of these “kings”?
-Why are they fighting?
-Where the hell are they getting all of this power from?
Everybody seems to be blind to the fact that a cat can turn into a human and while certain people can use strange abilities the majority just seem normal and pretty oblivious to it.
This show seems to be biting off more than it can chew and it has the overwhelming feeling that it doesn’t know what kind of show it wants to be. Whether that’s an action mystery, a highschool slice off life, or the biggest debatable topic of either a Romance(ShiroxNeko) or a BL anime. But so far it’s just a pretty show with REALLY good animation. We can only hope that this show doesn’t turn into a convoluted mess of a story by the last episode but at this point it’s not looking so well.
Technically I’ve started to hate the creators of this. Not because the show is crappy(because it’s not really that bad yet), but because their throwing in as many gimmicks as possible just to rill in the viewers. I can’t say for sure but this could possible turn into a BL in the future which will draw in a female audience but, to keep the male audience that would have left in droves, they have introduced Neko into the mix as fanservice for us guys. In any show i can easily drop it if it turned BL but when they throw in a hot fanservice girl (that is basically saving the show at this point!) im gonna be torn with myself to drop it or not.
DAMN THEM for making me choose between my love of cat girls and my hate of BL!!
I’ll bet you five hundred funbucks it’s not going to have any canon yaoi in it. It seems pretty obvious that it’s just pandering since the entire show tries to pander to everyone, at once.
Well gents, now you know how I feel when I see a male-oriented-fanservice show that goes too over the top, or a harem show.
I’ll keep around a few more eps for animation, although what I hate more than a harem show, is a BLish show that has bad plot. Too many of those around. So many good original BL material around that have actual plot and character, and companies just have to pick the stupid ones.
Anime make most of their money through DVD/Blu-Ray, merchandise. A great majority of people who buy these things are male. Making a BL anime is not profitable and capitalism strikes.
K, is trying to bridge the gap between BL anime and just regular stuff so as to not alienate the female audience. If the female audience were more vocal… and I mean actually bought stuff, then capitalism would work in their favor.
I personally only dislike K so far because I can only see it as a show that’s TRYING to be complex. Political intrigue is being done pretty bad, and there are too many same style characters for me to like anyone.
Not going to drop it now… but there’s a good chance I might… soon.
Oh I am not complaining that companies are not making BL shows. They do. I am complaining that for the ones that do, they just tend to pick the worst source material possible, to the point that they might as well not make them.
Girls do have quite a bit of buying power. But the population of female anime fans, never mind fujoshi, that actually buy DVDs/Models/etc, just cannot compare with its male counterpart, and I don’t see it changing any time soon either.
Your reason of not liking K is quite the same as mine. Finally a show prettily drawn with girl watchers in mind, and the plot is flopping already, again.
What makes me wonder though, is why won’t people who are not comfortable with the yaoi hints simply don’t pick up the show? I never picked up any of the siscon shows for the same uncomfortableness. And K from its preview alone screamed gay Japanese animation to me. Unless guys miss hints like these?
shouldn’t u be comparing male-oriented-fanservice/harem shows to female-oriented-fanservice shows rather than BLish shows??
Is this going to be No 6 all over again?
You have to stick around to answer it yourself 😛
I watched No 6 for like 8 episodes… I have to say… I came out of that NOT LIKING A SINGLE CHARACTER. I like cleaning robot. It’s not the same.
Shion? He’s boring, overly idealistic and indecisive as fuck to stuff that really matters.
Nezumi? I can’t figure him out… why do you have that hobby? Why do you act that way? I guess it’s just his personality just bugs me. Why did he save Shion??? Think about that.
Dog owner was alright, but I didn’t like her.
The “No.6” force is strong with this one. The only thing that’s keeping this such a uncertainty is Neko. I just hope there’s a Neko x Shiro in the making but for not it’s up in the air.
I’m pretty sure they put her in to Placate the male audience… along with that other sadist girl.
Did anyone else here have a hard time concentrating on the Shiro and the main story instead of the stuff going on the background between Neko and the cleaning robot?
cleaning bots with samurai phrases are awesome!
When you can concentrate on both it matters not.
I’m really hoping for future episodes half the comments stop being taken up by people complaining about “BL” vibes. Hell, in this one, there was plenty of fuel for hetero pairings too, certainly much more than a tongue-in-cheek joke. Even places like MAL and Animesuki have been complaining less about this with each episode so I don’t know why we need long, tired discussions about stuff thrown in for fujoshi in an omni-pandering show at randomc.
Woooooorrrrddddd. I actually see a lot of potential for a KurohxKukuri pairing lol
@BakaMochi: So do I ^^
Yeah. I hope people who are claiming to drop this show would just stop reading the posts here. For one thing, attention whores like those just takes too much space.
I don’t know about you all, but I like the show a lot.
It’s pretty, the characters are different feeling then the bland anime ones, there’s a plot going on in the back that the show takes seriously, and a dab of funny scenes and quirks to lighten the mood.
It’s got everything I’d want out of a show.
Just enjoy the ride.
Agreed. Even with the casual pacing, it’s a lot more interesting than other shows that are zooming through their plots to offer immediate entertainment value.
Neko is always with Shiro, but he didn’t appear near her in the photo nor was he seen. However he knew everything that happened that day. Shiro doesn’t button up his blazer, but in the photo it’s closed, when it might be covered in blood. What was he doing in that warehouse storeroom with a hole on the roof? He was humming the same song “the killer” hummed in the video before he found the clothing.
So has a schizophrenia or is bi…polar, some how got back in an hour in a way that blasted a hole in the roof, where he buttoned up his blazer to hide the blood and heard from Neko about everything that happened that day while he was out, before Kukuri found him? That or he is being framed, & the cleaning robots are in on it & placed the bloody clothing in his closet since they have access to everything?
after watching ep1 i expected much more intensity from this show but this isn’t too bad either(for now) though it can do with little more action.
Well, we’ll probably get this fight next episode. It showed some of it in the PVs, so it should be cool: http://i.imgur.com/Jgn7z.gif
But does Neko ever say Shiro didn’t kill anyone? I think she insists he’s a good person and that she’ll protect him, but not that he’s not a murderer. Also, yeah, this episode really nails down that, whether Shiro remembers it or not, “he” did kill that guy. The hole in the roof? He crash landed there after a magic-fueled rush back from the scene of the crime. Look at Kukuri’s photo. His uniform is uncharacteristically buttoned up to hide his bloody shirt.
It might be mind control or something though. Also, I want to know more about this Totsuka fellow. Seems suspicious. Or the person “Shiro” was meeting.
I don’t know. I need to watch that scene again but what we assume Shiro is “remembering” is actually the same exact shot of the video. There is no perspective change from his POV if he is remembering the actual incident. Instead, I think he’s just remembering what he saw in the video.
Homra and Scepter 4 > Shiro and Kuroh
Agreed. I hope that it starts focusing on them more, since they’re a lot more interesting.
Yep.
When I watch this I always think of Deadman Wonderland because of how Neko acts like Shiro and refers to Yashiro as Shiro. She’s the “I have special powers and act carefree a lot to my close friend who’s killed people and doesn’t even know it”
As a pansexual fudanshi who pays the most attention to animation style and plot, I’ve gotta say, I’m loving it so far. I am, however, concerned as to how they plan to bring in more of the color wars plot into reaching a climax, and leaving the remaining audience with a satisfying conclusion in a mere 8 episodes… This is a 1-cour Anime, right? 12 eps?
13. Things are definitely going to have to pick up soon, but next ep looks like it could easily be the best one so far; here’s hoping shit gets real soon.
According to the director things are gonna pick up at ep 6 and that it is when the real plot will begin .. which i suppose will mean few things, the pacing will speed up, the main characters will all get revealed (we will see if there are any other colored factions characters who will play a role in the story or not), the main plot thread will become clear … but that’s just my guess.
Ok Nice episode. Seems like the people behind K is reading posts and pokes fun at all the yaoi crap everyone was thinking. Love that scene, seriously.
And the plot thickens: he shouldn’t have been there, but the clothes which is no doubt from the murder is in his closet. Kinda weird. Also Homura and Sector 4’s most volatile members will be gatecrashing in Shiro’s school next episode. I wonder how this one will turn out?
i like the way the story is told and i think it’s only going to get better from now on honestly i dn’t see why so many people ( or are they not so many ? ) are fussing about the fancervice for yaoi fans i dn’t see that much in this show or else it’s not so obvious but i agree that the weak part of this show so far is indeed the couple that reminds viewers of number 6 that is shiro and kuro when i saw these too ye it screamed yaoi
Don’t know bout you guys, to me, this anime is not really that big of this fall, but I do feel kind of relaxed watching it for some reason though, at least, personally, I thinks it’s better then Guilty Crown so far in my opinion.
Ok, the ending of the episode caught my interest, because now this opens up the possibility that Shiro DID kill that guy. Still, I REALLY hope they cop out and make it a split personality.
This ep was disappointing, the pacing was just off. Neko on the robot was the only thing that made me happy that I spent time watching this week.
Also, why so many comments on whether this is yaoi? Not in this ep. Everyone complaining seems to have missed that the Mikoto x Munekata scenes last week are way more yaoi than Kuroh and Shiro blushing or whatevr. See what they did there, they coded that pairing for the shonen ai fangirls and the fanboys missed it. That’s how you successfully integrate implicit yaoi into a show with broader appeal.
The entire highlight of the show so far has been the robots. From their phrases to interactions between underwear to even the Neko.
Besides the obvious Yaoi/BL vibes, it seems like we have now Yuri/GL vibes in the mix!
The student council president appears to be seriously crushed by her brown hair peer. K is probably trying to keep some doors open for all types of fans out there, so if anyone isn’t feeling the BL, maybe you’ll like the GL undertones. P:
Shiro and Kuro just screams GAY!!!!!!! We have a fag here people! Seriously blushing at each other like that, it aint bromance, it’s just plain gay.
Not that there’s anything wrong with being gay….
it’s bit remind me for Horizon before,the earliest episode were so confused and hard to understand
if this anime will go in that way…
oh well anyway i think i still will give this anime a chance
I agree that this episode wasn’t as take-your-breath-away amazing as the three past, but given that, it was still pretty fun and had enough foreshadowing and raised enough intriguing questions to keep me hooked.
I didn’t see yaoi, but the I see a problem here, the phrase and lifestyle of gay being as negative as the word nig ger, so why would nig ros use this phrase upon themselves? Because they desensitize themselves from it. What you want to do is not use politically correct afro-americans, but simply identify them as black and simply Americans without seeing any color. The homosexuals, gays, lesbian community don’t need be referred to as anything other than Americans. You see all this diversion is old communist trick to segment people and control people. This is why I posted this, to help you learn something
that the media controlled by politics won’t tell you. Good luck in waking up to the real world!
Can’t help but laugh at all the homophobes on this site.
95% of anime are cheesy fanservice series. “K” even has fanservice with the naked cat and ridiculously large breasted lady, but males showing slight affection toward one another? OMG THIS SERIZ IS SO GAY I’M DONE.
You’re all twelve year olds.
Or they’re just trolls, attention whores… or critics 🙂
Het is ew.
Just fixing my link. (((Ignore))))