Madan no Ou to Vanadis

The original artist for the LN wasn't very good, to be honest. The anime character designs are noticeably better, but unfortunately they still have to follow the same general pattern.

I don't really mind the clothing design. I mean, it's a bit ridiculous as usual, but it's okay. I kinda like Tigre's outfit, actually, even if I don't like that string-attached loose sleeves design. Also, I found the outfit Elen picked specifically to show off to him better than her combat outfit. The Pink Armour of Evilness here wasn't bad either. Sure, a little overdesigned with some bits sticking out where they shouldn't and such, but nothing too bad.

I don't really have a problem with the pacing, though I tend to be good enough at reading between the lines. As such I'm rarely bothered by material left out. When people say some anime doesn't explain things that are in the source material, I often just shake my head, because I get those bits anyway (or they're not important enough) by interpreting smaller details that are usually left in instead. Not everything has to be mentioned explicitly.

edited 12th Oct '14 11:39:43 PM by AnotherDuck

This post from another forum seems to summarise things pretty well for me:

please don't tell me this refers to the goddamn war maiden as the person that needs to be saved

normally I have reasons to defend Sword Art Online but this is one thing where I couldn't disagree if I wanted to

Happily, no, she gets to stay badass. It's Tigre's maid. So on the one hand, at least they're not making any characters more powerless than they'd usually be in order to serve as a prize in a power-fantasy scene, but that doesn't make the concept and execution of the scene in general any less skeezy.

I think Tigre maid might be of the character type that I noticed started to pop up occasionally in shows where female lead is an Action Girl: a proxy distressed damsel, who exist so the main character has someone to rescue while allowing the heroine to keep looking good. I predict she will require rescuing many more times in the future.

Also, I just realized that they skipped the funniest part of the arc : Ellen trolling the maid.

The maid asks about Tigre relationship with Ellen, which she seems to ponder for a second before simply replying "That guy's mine." while looking really pleased with herself.

Oh Ellen

Episode 2, in which Elen continues to be best girl.

...the other girl actually wears armor? Well I mean it's not like Elen is the type that would need to...but still, designs. x:

Holy shit at the arrow catch.

Rapey scene at least didn't last too long/the guy didn't get to really do anything. Found it hilarious when his hand got stabbed and he's just like "wuh?"

Yeah, well, that rapey scene made my opinion of this show plummet. Not into negative values, to be clear, as everything else basically works, but that didn't need to happen.

Really, the bigger issue was spending so much time on it. They don't need to work that hard to establish Zion as a douche and maid-chan as the Unlucky Childhood Friend. I mean, I highly doubt that anybody's watching the show for Titta.

Yeah. Back to raiding towns. Much more fun.

edited 14th Oct '14 6:19:43 AM by AnotherDuck

I agree with not caring about Titta. Was pretty bored during that whole thing until moar Elen happened, the same way I felt whenever Suguha got scenes without Kirito in Sword Art Online (and in this case, the MC isn't interesting enough for me for his presence to distract me from anything.)

BTW, you guys should totally watch the "Tigre-kun and Vanadichu" specials, since it seems that some parts of the manga that didn't make it into the main anime are shown there. First special: tigre-kun tries his hands with other weapons... and something else.

The rapey scene bothered me mostly because I thought the show would be more tasteful about it. Ah well. Focus on the positives. Ellen rocks, the airbending looks good, lots of people are going to die, etc.

No clue where you got that idea, what with how its not exactly trying very hard to hold back on fanservicey design.

Now that you mention it, it somewhat saddens me that I can unironically consider the outfits in this show modest.

edited 17th Oct '14 9:24:10 PM by fillerdude

Well, most of the outfits are modest. Some aren't.

A tasteful attempted rape scene? I don't think that's a thing.

Probably means less played for fanservice and more for drama.

Episode 3 is out.

It's unfortunate that the adaption is as budget- and time-limited as it is. Still, they're doing a good job of adapting the parts they are covering, some nitpicks notwithstanding. They've captured the rapport between Tigre, Ellen, and Lim nicely.

Episode 3. In which they move out.

Suddenly, fighting has happened. Considering adaptation compression issues, probably an acceptable cut. The battle they left in is probably more interesting anyway.

Someone who was alone in the mansion and got his hand shot at shortly before the other forces appeared just under the balcony really shouldn't get away. Just another sign of how shoehorned that previous scene was. That actually bothers me more than the somewhat tasteless fanservice part.

If they lost 100, and the enemy 300, they should be just as they were before.

His fault? You attacked his home. At least expect him to be somewhat defensive about that. Well, he is the type to blame everyone who's not himself.

War taxes are easy to levy when your town has just been attacked, and you've driven the enemies out. The threat is still there, and people want to survive, so they bet on the ones who protected them.

Going for the eyes, of course. Didn't work.

Good idea to let her handle the dragon. It's not like anyone else stands a chance. That worked.

Don't hit people with your injured hand, stupid. But a retreat, given the information he's been presented, isn't a bad idea. Imagine that, he's actually more thoughtful than his subordinates. Well, he'd still manage better if he had attacked, and you could attribute it to wanting to save his own skin, but it was a reasonable decision based on what he knew. Attacking would've been a matter of pride rather than prudence, and pride can be just as bad as cowardice, if not worse.

He's got an uncanny ability to escape. It's almost as if his opponents don't want to defeat him. Not uncanny enough, though.

That battle was actually skipped in the manga too. It wasn't that important anyway.

Good battle plan can overcome numerical advantage. Bit of trickery helps too.

So they just moved the part where Ellen trolls the maid here. Ellen is the best.

I liked how they showed the flow of battle. The chess pieces representation made it easier to follow.

Dragon, super strong and armored - even it's eyes. Not a problem for Ellen and her wind blade. Ellen is awesome.

Breaking opponent morale is just as important as killing him.

I got to say, I love watching Ellen and Tigre. They just go well together.

That were some mad bowing skills indeed.

Magic bow to complement magic sword. Truly a fearsome couple.

First crisis averted but now any hopes of not getting involved in the civil war went down the drain.

So that was the trolling? Not that much, really. Just Ellen being Ellen. And feeling confident enough that she has Tigre in her pocket. Can't argue with that.