Steins;Gate

I liked that "horrible" lighting

The lightning was very atmospheric. I miss it. And Mayu once again proves why she deserves all my hatred.

Frankly the idea of "SERN" actually being a conspiracy lowers my interest level in the plot by quite a bit.

Really? I think it's rather amusing. Although I have to wonder what the people at CERN would think if they stumbled across this (provided they actually give a shit )

It gives the whole story a "cash in on the LHC scare fad" feel to it. Like it's a story that wouldn't be worth telling otherwise. It was probably written immediately after that or something.

Way to reduce the entire story down to one aspect, and totally ignore everything about it.

So what if it uses the silly LHC scare? Its a decent starting concept, and there are certainly dumber plotpoints I've seen in anime.

I never said that was the only plot point. It's certainly accompanied by numerous other terrible plot points though, such as Mayu opening the microwave in the middle just so it'll explode and delay investigation. There's a limit to how much of an Idiot Plot I'm willing to tolerate.

While I suppose it may be insensitive to demand that the mentally deficient are entirely excluded from storytelling, I just can't accept the treatment of that character at all. When she was in the background doing nothing I could just ignore her and sigh, but when her remarkable terribleness of character actually affects the plot I just want to punch the writer in the face.

edited 20th Apr '11 5:20:29 AM by Clarste

Well at least her characterization is remaining consistent. And to be fair, it's not like she had any idea what was going on.

Yeah, I really don't get the hate for Mayushii. Everything she's done has been 100% consistent with her chareacter, and the biggest complaint against her (and the other girls, come to think of it) is that she has "no purpose"

Thats silly. Of course she has a purpose! Its just not clear yet, because we're only in episode 3!

Also, generally opening a Microwave doesn't cause explosions.

Anyone with half a head could see that they were trying to do something, and that it'd be at the very least rude to open it. Of course, she doesn't have half a head, and that is consistent with her characterization, but that's exactly the problem. She's just a terrible archetype from a long line of otaku assuming that it's perfectly normal for an adult woman to act like a 6 year old. If they actually treated her like she had some kind of problem it'd be one thing, but no she's treated like she's a normal person despite the fact that there's clearly something wrong with her. It's insulting to the audience to let something like that go unexplored.

edited 20th Apr '11 5:38:14 AM by Clarste

Now that I can agree with.

Wait, you are expecting Okarin and Daru to treat Mayushii as if she's mentally disturbed? They're all mentally disturbed! Thats the entire point! She's no nuttier than Okarin, and to be fair, he does treat her as younger than her apparent age (go watch episode 1 again).

Also, seriously, bitching about something being "unexplored" three episodes into a 2 cour series is ridiculous. If they still haven't done anything with her in that respect when September rolls around, then you can bitch about it.

On another note, Daru is seriously starting to annoy me. I was disappointed when Makise didn't punch him in the face.

He didn't even scold her for opening the microwave, or ask her to stay back while they were doing their thing. When you have a small child in the lab, it's common sense to do something like that. And despite his rambling, Okarin does have common sense. Also, Daru isn't really crazy at all.

While I do think it's pretty likely for her character to be subverted in the future, the fact that it's considered "normal" enough to be subverted at all strikes me as bad storytelling. If she later turns out to be a spy or a time traveler or something unusual, that'll shock us precisely because the writer expected us to think nothing of her. Such a development would merely add insult to injury. And, having played Chaos;Head, I don't have much faith in the writer doing anything subtler than that.

edited 20th Apr '11 5:50:09 AM by Clarste

You're right, he's just creepy as hell with obsessive tendencies and little grasp on social norms or reality. Totally not crazy.

He's definitely creepy and has no shame about showing his creepiness to others, but I've seen nothing to indicate that he has a poor grasp on reality. Having poor social skills isn't the same thing as being crazy at all.

It's not just that he has poor social skills, it's that they don't exist. And the whole "mai waifu" thing seems to suggest a tenuous grasp on reality in my opinion.

Clarste, you are just setting it up so that no matter what they do with her, you get to complain about it.

If that's the case then a third of all anime fans on the internet have a tenuous grasp on reality. He's just the kind of guy who's internalized message board etiquette instead of real-world etiquette. That's rebellious, not crazy.

If you think any of the people in this series are actually mentally ill (other than Mayuri) then I can only assume that you've never been to high school.

No, I'm complaining about what they've done to her, which cannot be undone. By your logic, we should be able to forgive anything the writers do for the entire series as long as the final minute is well written. That's not how it works.

edited 20th Apr '11 6:30:34 AM by Clarste

What they've 'done' to her? You mean establish her character?

I'm really not getting whats so horrible about her, and why you seem to think that nothing that could be done with her would be worthwhile.

Perhaps you should read my little rant about her in this post where I explained it quite clearly. Then again, your tastes seem roughly incompatible with mine, so I don't expect you to agree.

edited 20th Apr '11 6:35:49 AM by Clarste

I did read it, and it doesn't make any sense. You seem to be saying that her character type just shouldn't exist, and is obviously not going to add anything useful to the story.

Which is A) not your call, and B) something you have no basis for, respectively.

I said her character type is insulting to the audience. I am the audience, thus I am insulted. This strikes me as pretty straightforward. As for her having a role in the story, I never said she wouldn't, but rather that I wished she wouldn't. Because by having a role in the story her appalling character becomes something I can no longer just ignore.

edited 20th Apr '11 6:38:40 AM by Clarste

How is her character type "insulting to the audience"?

Because adult women are not 6 year olds and to treat that sort of behavior as normal is just... insulting. The basis of it seems to be either misogyny or pedophilia.

...but they aren't treating it as normal.

And she's hardly the only female character in the series, or do you think Kurisu acts like a 6 year old?