Chatterbox - Anime & Manga

So i found out the manga Minamoto kun Monogatari ended and it open ended, which in my opinion is the worse ending type in a harem series. What a waste.

All harem manga/anime that don't end in an actual harem ending are cowards.

But seriously, there's something to be said about the storytelling craft of fulfilling your promises. All stories do it, you set up reader expectations and then you satisfy those expectations either by fulfilling them, or subverting them in a satisfying manner. An easy anime example would be Naruto - he wants to be the Hokage, the leader of the ninja village. He's either a) going to end up being the Hokage by the end of the series or b) he isn't. If he isn't, there better be a satisfying reason why not.

It's a bit more complicated and multiple choice with many romance/harem works, because you're potentially setting up the expectation that the MC could end up with any or all of the love interests, with extra expectation given that the first girl is the last one standing, but an open-ended no-one wins is almost an universally reviled ending, probably because the baseline expectation of the genre is that the MC gets with someone, so them getting with no-one is the ultimate betrayal of that expectation.

And given the meme surrounding this particular manga, I'm guessing he didn't end up shagging his aunt?

The aunt turn out to be a brocon and basically set her sight on him since he was a baby. they did some foreplay in the last few chapter but nothing else. it kinda implied the MC is going for the bully girl. Don't really sure since i only saw the raw and i can only interpret so much from picture alone.

There seems to be rumours that it was axed?

Seem so, there still few plot thread still on the air and the series haven't adress yet (the cousin feeling for MC, the bully arc,...).

Slayers Evolution-R episode 3:

Never leave Nama and Amelia in a room together. N'uff said.

And they don't even know they're family either.

....so we're 100% sure Nama is Naga right? It's more or less confirmed with that laugh and the silhouette we see of her in the flashback to how she ended up in the armour, and even the way she fights Lina has some callbacks to previous fights.

Still, I feel like there's a tiny bit of wiggle room.

x3 I repeat your first sentence but 100% seriously.

I mean, come the fuck on, the Harem genre is pure, concentrated, juvenile wish-fullfilment, it's barely a step-up from pornography, so stop pretending your work has any kind of artistic value and go the whole nine-yards, ya cunt!

That's my rant for this week.

For a different topic, what's the best, most cathartic scream you've seen in anime?

You know, when the protag shouts the name of his attack before knocking out the baddie, or when he punctuates the punch that makes the screen go all monochrome.

This might be recency bias at play, but my pick is Gray's at the end of ep 12 of Case Files, it's almost orgasmic to listen:

Edited by HailMuffins on Sep 30th 2019 at 11:53:17 AM

This is why Sekirei is a good ‘un.

I second Gray but that's mostly cause I'm incredibly biased towards her.

Harem with a definitive ending and the MC either choose someone or go for all, don't just left the audience hanging. Some great example are:

- The World god Only Know

- Love Hina

- The Quintessential Quintuplets ( not ended yet but the opening already said so)

Bad one with no ending:

- Mahou Sensei Negima! ( no alternative timeline don't count)

- To Love-ru

- Minamoto-kun

Never mind, misread.

Edited by Arha on Sep 30th 2019 at 10:49:36 AM

Now, to be fair with To Love Ru, the original manga did essentially have the MC saying "I choose all" albeit between the main two girls, and then the sequel had the first girl's little sister basically embark on a quest to get him a full harem. Although I stopped reading after Darkness started, so I don't know where it went from there.

Stopped reading halfway but iirc he went for the least developed girl in Darkness since the author didn't want to write her anymore, kind of making the whole series a waste of time since it was what he'd wanted to do from the start.

D-grayman is a weird series for me cause I can trace EXACTLY the moment the story started losing a lot of its charm to me (around the second major artstyle change and consequently around when Lenalee stopped being a relevant character) and yet I'm still desperately clinging to the hope I'll see a conclusion before I kick it

I assuming you mean Haruna? Cause I remember that she was based on the author's wife, who turned out to be a horrible person in the end. Which is why I think she ended up the least developed. Writing her was probably painful for him. Not sure why he didn't just go with Lala then.

EDIT: So apparently, the ending of To Love-Ru was due to a very messy divorce involving the illustrator, not the author.

https://otakuartist.wordpress.com/2010/12/01/the-truth-behind-why-to-love-ru-ended/

Edited by RedRob on Sep 30th 2019 at 1:45:18 PM

Lala kinda forced herself into the picture via Harem misunderstandings though didn’t she?

Had she never shown up, Rito probably would have ended up with Haruna.

But yeah the latter was the least developed via being based on exactly the wrong person and through no fault of her own. Though she was also the typical anime Girl Next Door character you see in these types of stories.

Yeah but like, there was an entire series to either have the balls to go for the harem ending, switch to Lala or any other supporting character the author pleased. Given the storyline for Darkness that would mean either Momo or Yami, really. There was no reason the author had to stick with the girl who hadn't done anything major since about the halfway point of the first series.

It is baffling.

I still say Haruna getting tossed out for reasons that had nothing to do with her is unfair, but it’s more baffling that they kept her around period.

As you said why not go all in on pushing her out? It seems abnormally non-committal.

Maybe they were afraid her fans (every character has fans) would dislike that?

I mean, it was a very messy divorce with the basis for Haruna actually holding their own kid ransom against the illustrator. I don't blame him for not wanting to draw the character all that much anymore. Sure, it's "unfair" for Haruna, but why the hell should we be caring more about a fictional character than a real-life person.

Edited by RedRob on Sep 30th 2019 at 2:02:03 PM

Also fair.

Cause I mean, what that wife did is a horrific thing. That goes without saying.

I just found out that Nausicaa was wearing skin coloured pants under her jacket. For 2 years, I thought Miyazaki was strange/stupid for giving someone only a blue jacket to wear in a toxic wasteland.

Slayers Evolution-R Episode 4:

....What the hell did I just watch?

I forgot to mention that I just specifically watched the fourth episode.

Fish people Soap Opera is the best way to describe it.

Edited by HandsomeRob on Oct 2nd 2019 at 9:07:47 AM

The reason the series is dormant.

Ah Franchise Killers, those are interesting.

I recall reading that the Star Driver anime series future franchise plans was completely totaled after its much hyped movie wound up being a compilation film with less than 5 minutes of original content.

Did Revolution and Evolution-R kill the franchise?

I didn't know. Like I said, I forgot to mention the specific episode (4) and that it was really weird.

Slayers really likes that Fish-people with human legs running gag, ever since Noonsa (YOU ATE HIM! YOU ATE NOONSA!!!!) but I'm not shocked since it's supposed to be silly.