Damn dude, you’re the kinda person I like when it comes to this ‘favourite hobby & interest of mine’ — someone who understands that ‘every “vision” or project of art (be it this ‘this industry’ or another), has an artistic goal that comes with limitations, ambitions, challenges, and unexpected & miracle-like outcomes at every turn’. When any group enters an artistic project & deadline with multiple departments and, usually, even multiple entities/companies & even different fields of work and ‘operational guidelines’, ... there’s absolutely going to be an enormous amount of challenges (not to mention the ‘financial limitations of these projects for most studios)—so, whilst I’ve gone off tangent defending ‘merely the production process of “accomplishing the goal of an anime-narrative On-Screen”’, it really ticks-me-off when a show artistically accomplishes its own initial project-goal that it (financially and structurally) set out to do “all because it...” ...
Ya know, I’m not even sure how to phrase this. What DID people expect!?? I expected a Shounen - and, though I’m just short of finishing it, it’s been an extremely-good experience! ... I knew I was going into ‘the likes of a Shounen (like Black Clover or something) and, heck, I get waaaay more than that! The production quality is insane, the consistency is insane, the story continuously keeps me interested with things I haven’t seen before, and I’m constantly wondering to myself, “could I write something this good?!”... What ‘exactly’ were the community expecting?!
I can barely put my finger on it. I feel like ‘the reason people valued it low is on the tip of my tongue’, but putting it down to people ‘corresponding Soul Eater’ with ‘Seinen’ seems... .... probably the case, sadly. A situation where the author’s reputation and the unreliable & reminiscent memories of those who saw it, in their early (and, needless-to-say, stupid/inept) teenage years, viewed Soul Eater as some “work of art” [which, by the way, albeit that it was a fresh breath of air artistically, I remember it being way too long and drawn out, and only really noteworthy for its art style] and perhaps expected Fire Force to be ‘something greater than what their long-embellished memories depicted’, thus completely ignoring the realities of a flesh-and-bone artist whom isn’t some “Pokémon that evolves from experiential attention”, but is merely a ‘visionary that wants to see their artistic ambitions come to life’.
Sighs.... Seriously: trying to understand why this entire community is so ‘infected with elitism’ is beyond my capabilities... After reading your review, I came to understand that Fire Force was a True-To-Heart Shounen - and a very good one, at that - and that’s all I needed to know for what I’d expect from it. Heck, it’s in the tags of the show too. The only “information” that misguided me were, literally, those of others in the community whom were (seemingly) being backed enmasse despite their convoluted suggestions (which, admittedly, I bought into despite how innocuous they were - though I hate to admit it).
Well... Though I’ve said it many times: you have my thanks. Even if your review was “lukewarm” in your eyes, I actually think it’s that unconniving and straightforward approach gives credence to your words. If, instead, I thought you had an ‘agenda’, I may have entirely missed out on such a good experience—so don’t underestimate the unrefined words of someone confident in ‘the entirety of what they have to say’. :3
...PS: I know I’m super unpopular for this perspective, but I watched Madoka twice - once by myself (rated it, like, 7), and once with my wife. My wife was an “old-school feminist” (... not to be mistaken with the new-age stuff - neither of us want to be associated with that shit; in fact, we don’t “call ourselves” ‘that’ anymore. ... Think I might be able to explain through the meaning of Madoka).
I didn’t see much if the symbolism [whether intentional or not, who knows—but I respect Gen a lot, so shrug] when I first watched it, so I just saw it as a ‘really edgy Magical Girl’ deconstruction. When I tried to show it to my wife (who.... she really fucking hated me watching this stuff xD Ahahaha, so she hated watching it too—making it an accomplishment to get her to see ‘anything’), she became, unexpectedly, engrossed. She has always been much, much smarter than me, so I was artistically very interested in what (and why) she had to say.
Every single boss fight or stage - whichever you call it - she had a poignant point on the development of young girls/ladies into women, and how it’s a very contrary cycle of “don’t become like that/they are evil” and ‘an inevitability of becoming a Witch’ - so to speak.
Frankly, I wish I’d find the time to rewatch the entire show and do an ‘episode by episode analysis’ on exactly what my wife pointed out, because I think it’s a very special piece of material that does something that anything modern aimed at ‘young & developing girls’ doesn’t: it offers choices and alternative perspectives.
A big reason why I (and my wife) hate modern social-politics is cos, ‘it tells you what to think’. Madoka is artistic to its core in that it asks you, “what do you think? I won’t tell you the ‘answer’ because the “answer” is entirely up to you after you’ve witnessed a display that gives you all the room in the world to debilitate whatever it is that personally interests you the most”—and, to me, that makes this show a work of art through-and-through. Anything that stuffs a ‘message down your throat’ isn’t art in my opinion - but merely a declaration - as any real art is MEANT be depicted so that, at no point is it any kind of ‘declaration’, but rather a ‘postulation’ that leaves its messages, answers, and values, entirely up to the audience that’s interpreting it at the time that that audience exists - so to say, it’s dependent on the “zeitgeist of its customers”.
I really love that about Madoka and just how many different interpretations there have been on its meaning - ranging from something like my wife’s ‘feminist advice to developing girls’, all the way to my original ‘oh cool, what a twisted deconstruction and well-told Magical Girl genre-contribution’, along with the many other reviews and analyses I’ve read since then. That’s art.
... Sorry, can’t help myself when Madoka is mentioned. I see it as a work of genius due to its carefully-constructed ambiguity, and it’s rare to see that level of work (cough TY Shaft) go into a medium that’s, locally, seen as ‘something far less’. Anyways: sorry for the wall of text, and thanks a bunch for showing me the light on Fire Force. Hopefully time will treat it with the respect it deserves. :3
Well, I’m up to episode 9 (despite the poor reviews urging others “not to do so”)—and: as a fan of Ecchi, Mystery, and “Action with flavour”, I’m quite satisfied with what the show is; no - heck - I’m very satisfied ‘thus far’ with how Enen no Shouboutai (heck, I memorised the spelling of the title - limited to a select few shows from my 300-400+ repertoire).
It really has the artistic zeal of a new-age Soul Eater, and the Ecchi and Romantic elements are diluted in a manner that doesn’t affect the story line but suffices as, well, similar to the concept of “comic relief” - an interlude of sorts, and one that somehow feels classy due to the Outro ED & the montage of the nun. Honestly, even if the Ecchi and Romantic elements are purely (what are called in the drug world) “Uppers” - aka they just serve to make the audience happy and nothing else - it’s impressive to do so without causing any kind of rippling effects on the core characters, the storyline, OR the expectations of the viewer! ... Frankly, I find it ‘Superb Fan-Service’.
Besides all those extraneous “browny points”: I went into this show originally expecting a Seinen out of a Shounen. Between the negative reviews, the official tags/genres for the show, and YOUR review, I understood that I should be expecting an “artful Shounen with some ‘cheap’ [supposedly] fan-service”—and once I understood exactly what I was getting into, well... Frankly: if I’d gone into this based off the hype and the “bad reviews”, I’d have been extremely disappointed—but I was lucky and, well, (even if I’m saying so myself, this is from experience) ‘wise’, in that I didn’t trust the Top Reviews and happened to scour all of the reviews till I found both a Score and a Written Assessment that had a proper ”synergy”/logical-correlation - where either ‘hyperbole in the scoring’, or ‘overly self-righteous writing’ weren’t at play - before making any kind of decision/judgement on what I’d expect out of ‘Enen no Shouboutai’ [heuheuheu, I really do remember! Ahaha].
Honestly: thank you. I hope your Review garners more traction over time; as, only your review really gives a proper ‘context’ to Fire Force... It’s a huge shame that people misjudged it, but it’s an even bigger shame that people couldn’t either ‘readjust their expectations’ or... SIMPLY JUST READ THE FUCKING TAGS/GENRES..... (ahem), in order to ‘calibrate’, ...
[lol... I spent an entire hour looking for this word that I wanted. Sighsss], ...
... even-just-vaguely what they were expecting of this show.
Well, hopefully not much changes from the first half to the second half—otherwise, Enen no Shouboutai is a very stylish Shounen that I’m very-much enjoying right now. Merry Christmas, ma dude. And a happy New Year!
(PS: Apologies if my response here is a bit ‘over the place’ as I wrote it in ‘3 parts’, and I wasn’t overly mindful of the “continuity of each part” - not as much as I could have. Hope it reads well... lel, all the best!)
Nice review on Fire Force, yo. Was hard to find a decent review on it that didn’t feel extremely emotional or biased/“full of ‘what the individual wished for’” rather than something ‘relative’ - let alone from many angles.
Nicely done! Gave me a good indication of where the show was actually going, and why the top reviews (capped at the 6-8 episode mark) ave the show a ‘3/10’ whilst the average for the show, overall, was a 7.60/10. Only made sense after reading your review as it showed how ‘certain audiences could draw a high appreciation towards it’; hinted that the show began to derail towards the end, certainly splitting audiences between ‘those who have yet to catch up/won’t ever watch the entire show’ & ‘those who will momentarily score higher due to lingering-bias from “stronger early-episodes”’; and lastly, both the casuals who don’t care, and then the ones who care too much and “have a standard” for which they tend to punish shows that disappoint them after they harbour faith in their artform.
Thanks a lot. Despite everything I’ve read and seen, I’ll be watching the show for now - just as something to pass as ‘background noise’ per se (English Dubbed shows are valuable to me in this way, unusually)—and if it ends up being more entertaining than I expected, then how could I possibly be disappointed!?! Win-Win!
Again: thanks for the great review. Even if I like Dubbed shows, “painful anime [to me]” is still painful—but we all have preferences, likes, and dislikes, and a review that alleviates one’s doubts and concerns about ‘what they will invest in’ (for me, Action + Ecchi - Drama = Fun, ...despite quality x_x) is a Quality Review. Thanks, yo.
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Ya know, I’m not even sure how to phrase this. What DID people expect!?? I expected a Shounen - and, though I’m just short of finishing it, it’s been an extremely-good experience! ... I knew I was going into ‘the likes of a Shounen (like Black Clover or something) and, heck, I get waaaay more than that! The production quality is insane, the consistency is insane, the story continuously keeps me interested with things I haven’t seen before, and I’m constantly wondering to myself, “could I write something this good?!”... What ‘exactly’ were the community expecting?!
I can barely put my finger on it. I feel like ‘the reason people valued it low is on the tip of my tongue’, but putting it down to people ‘corresponding Soul Eater’ with ‘Seinen’ seems... .... probably the case, sadly. A situation where the author’s reputation and the unreliable & reminiscent memories of those who saw it, in their early (and, needless-to-say, stupid/inept) teenage years, viewed Soul Eater as some “work of art” [which, by the way, albeit that it was a fresh breath of air artistically, I remember it being way too long and drawn out, and only really noteworthy for its art style] and perhaps expected Fire Force to be ‘something greater than what their long-embellished memories depicted’, thus completely ignoring the realities of a flesh-and-bone artist whom isn’t some “Pokémon that evolves from experiential attention”, but is merely a ‘visionary that wants to see their artistic ambitions come to life’.
Sighs.... Seriously: trying to understand why this entire community is so ‘infected with elitism’ is beyond my capabilities... After reading your review, I came to understand that Fire Force was a True-To-Heart Shounen - and a very good one, at that - and that’s all I needed to know for what I’d expect from it. Heck, it’s in the tags of the show too. The only “information” that misguided me were, literally, those of others in the community whom were (seemingly) being backed enmasse despite their convoluted suggestions (which, admittedly, I bought into despite how innocuous they were - though I hate to admit it).
Well... Though I’ve said it many times: you have my thanks. Even if your review was “lukewarm” in your eyes, I actually think it’s that unconniving and straightforward approach gives credence to your words. If, instead, I thought you had an ‘agenda’, I may have entirely missed out on such a good experience—so don’t underestimate the unrefined words of someone confident in ‘the entirety of what they have to say’. :3
...PS: I know I’m super unpopular for this perspective, but I watched Madoka twice - once by myself (rated it, like, 7), and once with my wife. My wife was an “old-school feminist” (... not to be mistaken with the new-age stuff - neither of us want to be associated with that shit; in fact, we don’t “call ourselves” ‘that’ anymore. ... Think I might be able to explain through the meaning of Madoka).
I didn’t see much if the symbolism [whether intentional or not, who knows—but I respect Gen a lot, so shrug] when I first watched it, so I just saw it as a ‘really edgy Magical Girl’ deconstruction. When I tried to show it to my wife (who.... she really fucking hated me watching this stuff xD Ahahaha, so she hated watching it too—making it an accomplishment to get her to see ‘anything’), she became, unexpectedly, engrossed. She has always been much, much smarter than me, so I was artistically very interested in what (and why) she had to say.
Every single boss fight or stage - whichever you call it - she had a poignant point on the development of young girls/ladies into women, and how it’s a very contrary cycle of “don’t become like that/they are evil” and ‘an inevitability of becoming a Witch’ - so to speak.
Frankly, I wish I’d find the time to rewatch the entire show and do an ‘episode by episode analysis’ on exactly what my wife pointed out, because I think it’s a very special piece of material that does something that anything modern aimed at ‘young & developing girls’ doesn’t: it offers choices and alternative perspectives.
A big reason why I (and my wife) hate modern social-politics is cos, ‘it tells you what to think’. Madoka is artistic to its core in that it asks you, “what do you think? I won’t tell you the ‘answer’ because the “answer” is entirely up to you after you’ve witnessed a display that gives you all the room in the world to debilitate whatever it is that personally interests you the most”—and, to me, that makes this show a work of art through-and-through. Anything that stuffs a ‘message down your throat’ isn’t art in my opinion - but merely a declaration - as any real art is MEANT be depicted so that, at no point is it any kind of ‘declaration’, but rather a ‘postulation’ that leaves its messages, answers, and values, entirely up to the audience that’s interpreting it at the time that that audience exists - so to say, it’s dependent on the “zeitgeist of its customers”.
I really love that about Madoka and just how many different interpretations there have been on its meaning - ranging from something like my wife’s ‘feminist advice to developing girls’, all the way to my original ‘oh cool, what a twisted deconstruction and well-told Magical Girl genre-contribution’, along with the many other reviews and analyses I’ve read since then. That’s art.
... Sorry, can’t help myself when Madoka is mentioned. I see it as a work of genius due to its carefully-constructed ambiguity, and it’s rare to see that level of work (cough TY Shaft) go into a medium that’s, locally, seen as ‘something far less’. Anyways: sorry for the wall of text, and thanks a bunch for showing me the light on Fire Force. Hopefully time will treat it with the respect it deserves. :3
It really has the artistic zeal of a new-age Soul Eater, and the Ecchi and Romantic elements are diluted in a manner that doesn’t affect the story line but suffices as, well, similar to the concept of “comic relief” - an interlude of sorts, and one that somehow feels classy due to the Outro ED & the montage of the nun. Honestly, even if the Ecchi and Romantic elements are purely (what are called in the drug world) “Uppers” - aka they just serve to make the audience happy and nothing else - it’s impressive to do so without causing any kind of rippling effects on the core characters, the storyline, OR the expectations of the viewer! ... Frankly, I find it ‘Superb Fan-Service’.
Besides all those extraneous “browny points”: I went into this show originally expecting a Seinen out of a Shounen. Between the negative reviews, the official tags/genres for the show, and YOUR review, I understood that I should be expecting an “artful Shounen with some ‘cheap’ [supposedly] fan-service”—and once I understood exactly what I was getting into, well... Frankly: if I’d gone into this based off the hype and the “bad reviews”, I’d have been extremely disappointed—but I was lucky and, well, (even if I’m saying so myself, this is from experience) ‘wise’, in that I didn’t trust the Top Reviews and happened to scour all of the reviews till I found both a Score and a Written Assessment that had a proper ”synergy”/logical-correlation - where either ‘hyperbole in the scoring’, or ‘overly self-righteous writing’ weren’t at play - before making any kind of decision/judgement on what I’d expect out of ‘Enen no Shouboutai’ [heuheuheu, I really do remember! Ahaha].
Honestly: thank you. I hope your Review garners more traction over time; as, only your review really gives a proper ‘context’ to Fire Force... It’s a huge shame that people misjudged it, but it’s an even bigger shame that people couldn’t either ‘readjust their expectations’ or... SIMPLY JUST READ THE FUCKING TAGS/GENRES..... (ahem), in order to ‘calibrate’, ...
[lol... I spent an entire hour looking for this word that I wanted. Sighsss], ...
... even-just-vaguely what they were expecting of this show.
Well, hopefully not much changes from the first half to the second half—otherwise, Enen no Shouboutai is a very stylish Shounen that I’m very-much enjoying right now. Merry Christmas, ma dude. And a happy New Year!
(PS: Apologies if my response here is a bit ‘over the place’ as I wrote it in ‘3 parts’, and I wasn’t overly mindful of the “continuity of each part” - not as much as I could have. Hope it reads well... lel, all the best!)
Nicely done! Gave me a good indication of where the show was actually going, and why the top reviews (capped at the 6-8 episode mark) ave the show a ‘3/10’ whilst the average for the show, overall, was a 7.60/10. Only made sense after reading your review as it showed how ‘certain audiences could draw a high appreciation towards it’; hinted that the show began to derail towards the end, certainly splitting audiences between ‘those who have yet to catch up/won’t ever watch the entire show’ & ‘those who will momentarily score higher due to lingering-bias from “stronger early-episodes”’; and lastly, both the casuals who don’t care, and then the ones who care too much and “have a standard” for which they tend to punish shows that disappoint them after they harbour faith in their artform.
Thanks a lot. Despite everything I’ve read and seen, I’ll be watching the show for now - just as something to pass as ‘background noise’ per se (English Dubbed shows are valuable to me in this way, unusually)—and if it ends up being more entertaining than I expected, then how could I possibly be disappointed!?! Win-Win!
Again: thanks for the great review. Even if I like Dubbed shows, “painful anime [to me]” is still painful—but we all have preferences, likes, and dislikes, and a review that alleviates one’s doubts and concerns about ‘what they will invest in’ (for me, Action + Ecchi - Drama = Fun, ...despite quality x_x) is a Quality Review. Thanks, yo.
All the best~