To get back on-topic, what does anyone think of the excerpt from the light novels I posted two pages earlier?
I'm getting the impression the anime toned down the sexism towards men aspect?
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
So was from Ichika's perspective?
edited 18th Sep '15 7:05:09 AM by Lionheart0
Love Hina's Manga. shoot the cover of the final volume gives it away.
◊
But still most readers of LN/Anime/Manga don't really care about the ending, they are there for the characters and the ride. As well as an ending pretty much screws over any fans of other characters which ends up backfiring massively.
edited 18th Sep '15 7:13:43 AM by Memers
But the problem is that, whatever way they handle it, there's still the problem there's a nasty disparity between men and women due to the fact women can only pilot Infinite Stratos suits, with the only one who can fix that issue (Tabane Shinonono), from what we've seen of her, not wanting to.
Well, if we're to be generous about the disparity between men and women as a result of the Infinite Stratos suits, here's an excerpt from Volume 6, Chapter 2:
But, unfortunately, two men who looked like [Travellers] saw that smile and thought that it was directed at them.
"Hey, little girl!"
"Are you free today? Are you free now? Let's go somewhere together~"
By the way, because each nation has undertaken the woman-favoring-treatment-system, men's social position has taken a sudden downturn and is in a bearish state right now.
But, as long as someone has fairly good looks = loved by women, commonly referred as Hosts and Idols, they are even more loved than before.
Since it became like that, just like this moment, the thought of being loved by an attractive woman is as natural of a thing as peaking, thus, this kind of pick-up came.
"I already have an engagement."
"Whaaat? It's fine, isn't it? Let's go play together~"
"My car is parked over there. Let's go somewhere far away! I'm going to show you a lot of good places using a French car!"
French - hearing that part drew a subtle reaction from Charlotte.
"Using a French car, with a bad fuel yield, on Japan's highways, are you? Heeeh, I see."
A 100% Rejection! The two men falter a little at the vicious words that Charlotte, using a max fake smile, spat out.
If there's a possibility that somehow or another, a problem is going to occur, Charlotte can make the two males into beehives in less than a second using her specialty [Rapid Switch].
Aaaa, I want to do it....
Imagining in what way she should shoot the two men, Charlotte massacred them 5 times in her head.
One of the men, who could still see "a pulse of life" in Charlotte's face, put his hand on her shoulder.
"Ouchhhhh!?"
In an instant, Charlotte jumped right just before she was touched, then twisted that hand hard.
It was the so-called CQC (Close Quarters Combat).
"Would you mind not touching me? It will be troubling if the cologne you stink off gets on me."
"W-W-Whaa...!?"
"H-Hey!? Let g-!!"
Frivolous Man B, who wanted to help his companion even during the confusion, was knocked over by a punch from his side before he even managed to finish his words.
"What are you doing to my companion?"
"Ichika!"
The gallantly appearing Ichika is saving her from the hand of the devil!
...Well, to say it like that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but it can't be helped because in Charlotte's eyes, Ichika's profile was shining.
Wow! He looks like a prince!
The fascinated Charl twisted the arm of Frivolous Man A, who she was still holding, even harder.
"Ugyaaaa!"
The nice sound that resembled something being dislocated and the man's scream was causing a commotion in front of the station that morning.
"Forcing yourself onto women is against the rules, you know. Alright, come over here. Good work."
Saying that, the middle-age police chief with the oddly cool, deep voice takes Frivolous Man A & B away to the nearby police station. Thus, the morning's strife is settled.
Now, after reading this excerpt, what do you think of the universe of the series?
Why hasn't Sentai dubbed World Purge? Is it because the dub used big names? Do they not have time? Is it too expensive?
edited 19th Sep '15 12:18:24 PM by Smasher
Well, call me crazy guys, but somehow I get this eerie feeling that the IS Cores are actually reminiscent of Evangelions or Spirit Stones of the Eldar in Warhammer 40k in terms of their origins and the way they function. Should I add this to the "WMG" section of the trope page?
edited 3rd Oct '15 6:56:03 AM by LastPanzer
If you want to add it to Wild Mass Guessing, go for it. It's for random ideas and possible concepts and doesn't have to be a hard and fast thing.
Ok, I'll do it some time later, then.
BTW, I just finished reading the Chinese translation of Volume 9 and a short, spoiler-included review of Volume 10 from a forum in Taiwan. You guys mind if I put up a spoiler-marked synopsis (there is, I think, a partially-completed English translation of Volume 9 done by Rapid Switch) in this forum?
edited 26th Oct '15 5:49:32 AM by LastPanzer
If you're referring to this
for Volume 9's translation, that's daupao. Rapidswitch just linked it.
I *am* rather curious to know what happened in Volume 10, to be honest...
edited 26th Oct '15 6:58:20 AM by JG98
I say got for it.
,, and ,okay, I shall fire away then.
SPOILERS ALERT with a capital S and a capital A! Open at your own risk!
Volume 9's brief synopsis, comin' right up!
In the beginning of Volume 9, we have the girls uncovering something REALLY unacceptable for them: TATENASHI. IS. FALLING. FOR. ICHIKAAAAAAA!!
That's right, Tatenashi's shifting from a Mary Sue-ish perfect gal (albeit with a compassionate and caring side especially for her lil'sis) into a daydreaming maiden-in-love while she was recovering in the hospital wing ("OMG Itotallytoldhimmytopsecretrealnamesoinordertokeepitsecret Ihavetomakehimapartofmyfamily!!" Now try reading that out aloud without breathing), since, you know, she has seen the manly side of this dude back in Volume 8 and is now really starting to consider him as a "male" and "opposite gender" rather than a kouhai that she can easily troll again and again blah blah blah...
On the other hand, as angry as they are desperate, Cecilia and Rin starts to apply for the sole spare spot in the student council, not without fantasies of their own, of course. Only to find out that...the spot has been taken by Kanzashi TAT!
Here's Tatenashi's suggestion: since you gals want him so badly, why don't you compete in the fair-dinkum way—in a sport festival! And there went the sports festival for the whole school—where chaos, hilarity and fanservice ensue.
Now, for there more serious part of the story, in the second half—okay, the last one-fifth—of the volume, Ichika and Tatenashi snuck into an US stealth carrier harbored not far off the coast, using their ID as the IS Academy students as their sole cover (seriously, Mr Lazy-bum Author, just how obsessed are you when it comes to extraterritoriality?? Oh wait a second, I forgot, TONS of Japanese people are pissed off by this issue). Why? Tatenashi believes that the US of A just struck a deal with Phantom Task, and Uncle Sam alone holds the answer to everything related to them.
Here comes the creepy part: according to a computer's data file: Squall Meusel, that blond squad leader of M(adoka) and Autumn, IS SUPPOSED TO BE KIA 12 YEARS AGO! Moreover, her profile picture looks somewhat older than her current self. What the hell could this mean...?
...and then they sprang the traps set by Squall herself. In the ensuing fight, Tatenashi FINALLY managed to pull off her One-off Ability: Sekvabek (the accompanying kanji reads: "Sunken Bed", whatever the hell that means), using a extension package given to her by Kanzashi. When Tatenashi struck Squall and broke her arms however, it's not flesh, blood nor bone that's exposed, but wires and circuits! (Cue a scene when Squall returns to base and reconciles with her "lover" per se, Autumn, who mentions about getting her fixed.)
As for the result of the sport festival? Now all of the personal IS owners within the first year belong to Class 1-1. Eh...hooray?
The epilogue cuts to Tabane as she proudly announces the completion of her newest creation—an IS unit called Kurokishi ("Black Knight"), which is used for the ending episodes of Season 2 anime—all while breaking the knife Madoka used to stab her due to a provocation with her bard hand. She called it "the Black used to eliminate White" and promptly suggested to Madoka "what do you think of Ichika Orimura as your first target?" I'm seriously thinking the author is running out of ideas here!
All right, that's it for Volume 9. Volume 10's synopsis will be uploaded soon.
edited 27th Oct '15 9:10:17 PM by LastPanzer
Hell, I can't recall a single harem manga or non-harem manga with a heavy harem elements that actually have a decent ending
Saber Marionette J, if you stick up to the end of the J to X series.
El-Hazard, if you only consider the first series as canon, as most people seem to do. Even then all the sequels are set in the Time Skip between the first series' penultimate scene and the epilogue, so they don't actually retcon that good ending away.
Ai Yori Aoshi too. If you like Aoi anyway. Either way, it's an ending that plays fair.
And Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei (the manga version), with its brilliant Mind Screw Nightmare Fuel ending.
edited 28th Oct '15 10:59:00 AM by NapoleonDeCheese
nvm already said it.
edited 28th Oct '15 6:21:05 PM by Memers
I know it's from 4chan, but anyone agree with these posts concerning the problems the main characters have:
Ichika:
Source: https://desustorage.org/m/thread/13443797/#13465297
,... but the inner thoughts of Ichika made me think he's kind of bitter about his life, and not without reason. It's not even about being the one guy in a school of girls, but you see when Chifuyu first enters the stage that Ichika not only didn't expect her there, he didn't even know what her job was. "I'm an idiot for worrying about you," he thinks, and the only reason he's in the IS Academy in the first place is that he was going to a similarly named technical school to make sure he had a job to support her in the future. And later still he thinks that as lousy as his situation is, he has to stick with his sister: "I'm not going to walk away on Chifuyu-nee, not like our parents whose faces I never knew." Under all the harem hijinks and permanently unresolved plots there's a current of loneliness in IS, with all the main characters coming from broken families or not having them in the first place,...
Source: https://desustorage.org/m/thread/13443797/#13465383
You are ABSOLUTELY right, and it's a shame none of this made the cut.
Basically, Ichika's deal is thus; after his parents abandoned them when he was very young, the teenage Chifuyu was stuck providing for them both. Though she never begrudged that, it made him feel like a burden, which he tried to alleviate by doing as much miscellaneous chore work as he could (cooking, washing etc) and later getting a job. Then he got kidnapped apparently just to make her throw a fight, which amplified those feelings further.
Basically, Ichika regards himself as a burden on other people. This is why he tries to be as helpful as possible (to alleviate it), and what motivates him, since if he becomes strong he won't need Chifuyu anymore and she can get on with her own life. He also appears to keep people at arms length because he doesn't want their attachment to him to weigh them down.
As a result of this and his abandonment he has a strong work ethic and sense of responsibility, since he doesn't want to be like his parents. Actually, he takes an extremely dim view of irresponsible parenting in general,...
Houki, Cecilia, Rin, Charlotte, and Laura's crushes on Ichika:
Source: https://desustorage.org/m/thread/13443797/#13465441
It gets better. Consider, the reason the girls like Ichika is because they're fucked up, damaged people:
Houki: He was the only good thing in her miserable childhood and she clang to an impossible idealised memory of him to keep herself going. After meeting him again, the disconnect between her view and reality sets off her temper constantly.
Cecelia: Only man she could ever respect because of her abysmal selection of male role models, and thus her crush which she desperately wants to fulfil before having to give her life to her obligations to her dead parents.
Rin: Had a thing for him back during what she regarded as her golden years just before her parents divorced, and tries to retain as much of them as possible, including said crush, and acting childish like she always did even though she's quite capable of being more mature.
Charlotte: The only person in the two years since her mother died to go out of his way to be nice to her after she was alone for so long.
Laura: Her first crush in her first exposure to civilian life. He rescued her, she felt warm fuzzy feelings, was told they were love and didn't know any better.
More on Houki's problems:
Source: https://desustorage.org/m/thread/13443797/#13465590
Here's something else I noticed; after Ichika left she threw herself into kendo partly because of her family, partly because it was the only connection she still has with him. Kendo being a combat sport, she started using it to vent her considerable pent up frustrations with her loneliness and mistreatment by blowing off steam beating the shit out of her opponents much harder than she needed to (there's even a brief, easily forgettable scene where she realises this). So she developed a hair trigger temper and tendency to vent it through violence, which is why she's such a man beater.
The exaggerated abusive tsundere archetype is often rightly called out, as that character would have to be seriously maladjusted to behave that way. Well, Houki is. Yes she's a bitchy, excessively violent bi-polar temperamental bitch, but her being that way makes perfect sense when you think about it.
The others not so much.
Professional Writer & Amateur Scholar
It might be just me, but nowadays when I hear the word IS all I think of is the terrorist organization.
I'm a (socialist) professional writer serializing a WWII alternate history webnovel.
Regrettably, yes. Just add "suits" after saying "IS" or just don't use the acronym. During a conversation I had with my friends on assistance in my fanfic Senjou no Kodoku na Shounen (link here for anyone interested), one of them thought "Islamic State." In fact, yours truly was the one that thought of this excerpt from Volume 8, Chapter 3 of the Light Novels:
I used the salary given by the army to buy a house as our love nest. It does feel a little too large for 2 people, but considering the future, this isn’t inappropriate
“Hm…”
I lay the newspaper out on the living room table, waiting for breakfast.
“The situation in the Middle East is changing. Will it affect my Germany—”
Source: https://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=IS:Volume8_Chapter3
Professional Writer & Amateur Scholar
Warning: Very late and very much potentially offensive.
It's almost darkly hilarious how in IS the French girl is the most popular girl.
Meanwhile in real life, IS attacked France few weeks ago.
Yeesh.
I'm a (socialist) professional writer serializing a WWII alternate history webnovel.
Warning: Very late and very much potentially offensive.
Sorry about that.
Professional Writer & Amateur Scholar
For what?
I'm a (socialist) professional writer serializing a WWII alternate history webnovel.
That excerpt from the light novels.
Emissary of the Void
Huh, wasn’t expecting anything to update given what happened
[DATA LOST]
Discussion ended, opinion respected.