I'm not hating on it (I'm still watching the show), but I can completely understand the justifiable negative reception. Here's a reasonable critique why this show is sub-par (I'm watching the official dub, so this is up to episode 4):
Let's start with the character introductions and their individual motivations. The main protagonist the show is told from the view of--Eleanor--is a one dimensional character, with the all-too-frequent sob story of "my parents died when I was young" (boohoo, cry me a river) shtick. That wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for the fact that we know Stan Lee can do better than that. Sure, perhaps his most famous work (Spider-Man) stars the young Peter Parker who lost his parents, but at least the loss of Uncle Ben was employed as an identifiable motivator that the audience can connect with. What's here with Eleanor? Nothing, really.
Next, we have X... Man? Sorry, I meant Exon. A complete stranger who's motivation we're not sure of, who hardly ever speaks, and really doesn't do much other than hang around hoping for the best, relegating all the hard work to Eleanor. How was expecting to get closer to Raise (I always thought it was "Wraith", but MAL character list shows his name as Raise...) if he wasn't so lucky to have been stalked by Eleanor? He can't seem to find his own way out of his own walk-in closet, and if he can, he sure isn't letting it on.
Then we have the self-indulgent I-Guy, or Ian Izzet. This character is just a self-gratifying narcissist of the highest order, who happened to strike it rich with an one-hit wonder in the '80s and who's now cruising through life like a drunk idiot. Sure, take a page out of Tony Stark, it's only fair since it's Stan's own creation anyways. But so far, there's no greater conflict, there's no character growth. He fights crime to get the spotlight, but even that's not enough for him since it's I-Guy who gets all the credit (and, incidentally, all the blame when the criminals with super power eventually escape from police custody). This is the biggest dark horse character, I'll grant you that. There's definitely the chance that he'll become something more.
Lastly, let's not forget our oh-so-cliche Joker-wannabe villain in Episode 4. "I just want to watch Los Angeles burn!" Really? That's the best you can do for a villain's motivation? It wouldn't even be so bad if it wasn't delivered in a complete dead-pan manner with the acting pedigree of a cactus.
Regardless of what you think of the show as a whole, there are clear deficiencies in the pacing of the show. I'm still giving it a chance to see if it improves, but I'm not shocked that the initial impression didn't draw people in, since the show is pretty slow on the uptick and the first handful of episodes leave much to be desired with few redeeming qualities (the music being one big redeemer so far).
I can appreciate the fact that director Hiroshi Nagahama has his own take (I enjoyed Aku no Hana immensely for its unique direction), and I'm not slagging on the art direction at all (even though it's rather obvious the art was done on a budget--oh well, the economics of making an original animation is tough and I can give that a pass). There just isn't enough substance in the writing to keep most people's interest ("where's the hook?", in literary terms). Perhaps this is due to Stan being more of a salesman/showman these days, rather than a genuine creator. There's a reason why he's still best known for his age old works on Spider-Man, Iron Man, X-Men, etc. rather than something more recent.
I'm still going to follow this show to see how it develops, as the marquee talents behind the title is still fantastic and I'm hoping that it starts some serious character/plot development, but as the age old saying goes... "I won't be holding my breath." |
