Quotes / Battle of Wits

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Battle anime holds our interest because dynamic action makes the fight-or-flight part of our marginally upgraded monkey brains go "brr". Non-battle battle anime, lacking the action part of that equation, can only achieve the same effect of life-or-death tension by putting their characters on a razor's edge where failure comes swiftly and decisively and one mistake can cost them everything. "If Mom finds out about the escape plan, we're all dead!" "If I lose at rock, paper, scissors now, I'll be sold into slavery!" "Oh God, if I ask for his phone number wrong, the president will know I like him!" And of course, "It's L versus Kira, whoever's true identity is revealed first will die!" By removing all margin for error from the actual action, non-battle battle anime effectively transplants all the tension and excitement you'd normally find there to the planning and shit-talking phases of your typical shonen encounter. The characters' ability to anticipate each other's moves and their efforts to mislead each other become the most important part of the "who will win?" push-and-pull equation of the fight.

— Mother's Basement, "A Painfully Honest Review of Platinum End"

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