Kotoura-san Episode 1 Discussion

soulelle said:

Could you please be more specific and provide a simple list of issues? What I got from you so far is that it was not realistic and cliche.

And I think that it was perfectly fine considering the goal - to quickly (within half an episode of the entire show) build up the drama level to the max, reach the climax, and resolve, thus completely setting up the characters and the situation they are in. It really didn't need to be "smart" and realistic because the whole show is not about how one person becomes hated by his parents and the rest of the world, but rather enduring the everyday school issues given the specific properties of the main character. I also think that it was directed amazingly well, with perfect timing for the right angles and cuts, artistic colouring, and well executed drama and comedy parts.

I mean, in the end, the show or the episode is good because it is good, not because of some clever and non-cliche plot elements. Of course, I'd love this to be another penguindrum or something of that kind, but I think it never tried to be one. And it doesn't mean it's bad. It's just different. And the quality's waaaay above the average. Just read the responses above, people were crying, laughing, enraged, and smiling. Isn't it amazing? Really, I just don't get your concerns.

katsu044 said:
holy crap..my heart wasn't ready for that only saw a PV for this so that was unexpected reminded me of the beginning of UP just Darker, mindreading an power to this day i would never want causes more harm then good

hope the rest of this is good doesn't seem like the drama is over since her bitch of a mom is still around judging from the OP.

bastek66 said:
Best scene

AkhenAkhen said:
Today :



Yesterday :


Wtf ? xD

InfiniteRyvius said:

Sure, I mentioned it all earlier.

Here you go:

Additionally:


THERE YOU GO.

soulelle said:

In other words, you point to lack of emotional subtlety and lack of realism or naturalness in the described events, am I right?

Although I believe these points are well-spotted, I disagree with the need to have them actually changed. There's simply neither enough time nor point to develop the premise realistically and with subtlety.
As I said in my previous post, we're talking about 10 mins where you have the whole story background set. In fact, doing it the other way, I believe, would be wrong because it would change the focus of the show, if not the entire story.

I think the episode was great because even you questioned the way you would've dealt with the main character yourself if you were in the parents shoes. I think this is what truly matters in the end. That's why straight, unrealistic, or cliche plot devices are not bad just because they are what they are.

Siva said:
I really don't think that the first half was to show how melodrama it was but rather to show that was how she got to the current point. Honestly, I have seen 13 episodes of Little Buster yet the impression I got from that was not equal to what I saw 10mins in this episode.

@InfiniteRyvius:

First of all, Kotoura is a honest little girl. She did what she believe is right. She doesn't lie nor she pretend to be something else like all of us do. You might as well say that she doesn't understand us who are pretending and lying all the time for the sake we all know but her. In a way, you can say that she saw no fault in her own action for telling people what they actually thought in their mind, at young age. By the time she realized it everything was already too late for her and the reason she is still doing that "response", as Firixizu_Mint said, it was to keep people away from herself. She could have chose the other option like the one you suggested "learn how to restrain herself" and make a lot of friends but by doing that that means she has to learn how to lie and pretending in front of everyone else. But she did not, she choose to be alone and be herself rather wearing a mask as you suggested.

As for her parent, have you ever asked yourself why they didn't show the face of her father? IMO, it was pretty clear that her father never give a damn about his family. Honestly, her family was never mean to be last long to begin with.

As for her ability, her parent DID feel strange about her but they never care enough to dig it out which also explain they care for themselves more than for the kid. But the way you suggested it as if like they should jump around and yelling "OMG my daughter is Professor X!!!"

SomePerson said:
This is why I criticized the nature of those parents and their actions. It felt more instrumental in its use as a background backstory development subplot for the main character, the nature in which I felt it was bad was such that I felt it lacked good development. If anything, it was an unoriginal usage of a cynical view of adults and moreso to the extent of the effect, the school children themselves. Certainly, not everyone had to distance themselves away from her. If the boy or the girl were to be honest in the first place, I would find no harm in having some circulative rumours about loving another individual. Although we are left to understand that schoolchildren, teenagers and people of all audiences are to feel embarrassment about loving another individual or even liking them, for such a simple contrived plot such as saving the girl from bullies or falling down. The alternative to which, if such honesty was portrayed, and alas to the extent that they really had to put a mask was implausible in most circumstances. Everyone had to put a mask on and lie about such little matters. Other than the affair, which was more justified in effect with such retortive and hostile response to the child as a scapegoat.

itsvero said:
...No one would want to stay with someone that could read their mind 24/7.

SomePerson said:
I don't think she had to necessarily lie, she just had to not blurt out the truth from reading other people's minds all the time. She could of just forewarned them of her special ability, and still subsequently befriended them. If anything, it is a double-edged sword. Albeit she can't stop reading people's minds, but at this stage, she already or should acknowledge that humans do have feelings of distrust, anger and of such nature towards eachother even under concealment. In Kino no Tabi, we do see that mind reading leads to devastating effects of complete isolation of individuals within a society.