This episode was good and i have seen in a blog this:
「C」ollapse
「H」ypnotism
「A」scertainment
「R」emove memories
「L」ooting
「O」bscure
「T」ime leap
「T」eleport
「E」vocation / Emblaze
well, kinda makes sense
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That’s a different thing, subversion of expectation, which is not what I’m talking about here.
We’re not talking about the work subverting a trope or surprising the audience, we’re talking about the audience (me specifically) working under the wrong initial expectations of what the work is trying to achieve. I don’t think that does a disservice to the work, if anything I think having the right expectations does more service to the work because you can put yourself in the correct mindframe.
The perfect example of this, to me, is horror. There are many ways to watch a horror movie. You can walk in to the movie ready to be scared, allow yourself to get taken by the ambience, and let yourself get terrified. You can also watch very passively, being distracted by other things, and generally being disengaged. You can also watch hypercritically, predicting the jump scares, noting every flaw in the special effects, actively hunting for plot holes and unrealistic character action.
If you watch the horror movie the first way, you’re much more likely to enjoy it than the other ways. By coming in expecting to be scared, you are more likely to be scared.
That’s what I’m saying about Charlotte. I came in expecting to have feels (I think the pre-aired PV helped set that up). I was trying to analyze character interactions and motivations. I was trying to sympathize with and learn about who those characters were, with the belief that doing so would allow me to better enjoy the drama when it started to unfold. I wanted to be that audience member active in my own entertainment.
Instead I got something else. Not necessarily something bad, but something I wasn’t prepared for. I got an action adventure show with some big twists and turns, essentially a thriller. I think the best way to watch a thriller is to sit back and let it wash over you, to take everything at face value and allow yourself to be surprised by the twists and turns the story takes. My attempts to be an active and invested member of the audience has actually reduced my enjoyment, because I’ve had an inkling of every twist before it happens, because I’ve invested too much of myself in analyzing the show.
That’s what I’m getting at, having the right expectations can help you better appreciate a show because you approach in correctly. Charlotte set up the wrong expectations.
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I’m still waiting until Charlotte is completely over to cast my judgment of the show.
So far I like it as an anime, but it’s not felt special or particularly engaging the way every other Key work has. I don’t think anything will be able to change that, because I haven’t felt a build-up of feels like I felt watching Kanon and Clannad and Angel Beats!.
I’m somewhat inclined to agree with @Bizkitdoh that Charlotte isn’t objectively bad. Or at least not completely bad. I mean, you can say that it has poor character development or bad directing or whatever, but that still comes down to what one considers good character development or good directing. Sure, there’s a “normal” consensus of what makes something good, but that doesn’t make it truly objective. It’s opinion disguised as fact.
From what I’ve read, Biz thinks that Charlotte is good. Not just that he likes it, but that Charlotte is actually doing things right. I also think Charlotte has done some things right.
I also agree with @therationalpi that Charlotte set up the wrong expectations. When I first heard of Charlotte, I heard it was going to be 2-cour and better than Angel Beats!. Coming from Key, I expected to get “Key feels”.
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I think that’s a really valid point and I see where you’re coming from. All I can say is I think that’s unfortunate, really. Lol. Pretty much word for word what I do everything to not fall into hahaha
Exactly, and I’ll be happy to explain in a bit more detail on the podcast why things have made me feel a certain way on a case by case basis if need be. I don’t think it’s without weak points or understandable dislikes, but I do this thing where I feel it’s valuable to share those defensive argumentative thoughts when it may or may not be in vain. I think keeping it reactionary is more useful instead of being ‘informative’ to my thought process or perception.
I’m looking forward to hearing your points on the podcast. There are most likely several things I’ve overlooked while watching so maybe it’s a better show than I think due to my subconscious bias, but as of now I just think it’s an entertaining superpower show with boring straightforward characters.
“HEY GUYS I’VE GOT IT LETS INTRODUCE TIME TRAVEL AS THE CENTRAL POINT BEHIND THE STORY”
“SHIT HE LITERALLY HAS NO THREATS IF HE CAN TIME TRAVEL LETS TAKE IT AWAY”
this show is such a joke now what even was all that
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poor Pooh…the torture was pretty scary
I’m enjoying Charlotte, also this episode…but it’s kinda losing direction. I feel everything that has happened so far could have build up to something more than this.
This event is important but there’s no doubt this isn’t the climax. There’s more to it.
There are only 2 episodes left so it’s going to be terribly rushed; and they still need to conclude this arc; unless they only purpose of these people in the anime was to take Yuu time leap power and an attempt to make us cry with Pooh’s death
I don’t really know what to think about Charlotte at this point tbh. It’s like watching this cute little kid build lego towers then crush it with his cute little hands.
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Pooh’s death wasn’t so much a weapon to upset the viewer as much as it’s to unsettle them, and put a .45 through Shunsuke’s stomach.
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If I went into the show not knowing it’s by Key and after watching this episode, someone tried to tell me it’s by Key, I wouldn’t believe him. All in all, this was my least favorite Charlotte episode yet.
Unnecessary brutality. Key has never used unnecessary brutality before. Kumagami didn’t deserve to leave like that. Betrayed by one of his allies, tortured and crippled until he revealed everything he knew about his friends and people he devoted himself to protect, lastly sacrificed his life to save an ally who would otherwise indirectly die by the hands of a different ally who originally came to save both of them.
Personal biases aside, let’s take a look at things
I think this is where we’re supposed to understand the gravity of the situation. The power users are just brats. They are up against grown-ups who don’t give a damn human lives. The kids just barely managed to protect themselves against the scientists, but in turn, even more dangerous enemies showed up. Enemies who can do stuff like breaking into school dormitories. Ever wondered why they’re foreigners? I assume it’s because it’s easier to catch power users in japan than where they came from. And now that these foreigners are dealt with(?), it’s not cakes and unicorns for everyone. There’s a whole world of similarly, or even more dangerous enemies out there who will eventually come for a visit.
On the other hand, what can the kids do? They can’t even decide to abandon one dude’s family. Instead, they’re putting their entire organization at risk. What chance do they have against infinitely more brutal enemies? It’s a race against time. They have to spread that vaccine everywhere before they get taken down.
Didn’t anyone else wonder why the blind dude was leading the second wave? He can’t possibly give orders if he doesn’t see what’s happening, he can’t fight and he has to be looked after. Not to mention that he’s the head of the organization and they can’t afford to lose him.
Speaking of the second wave, they should’ve taken along someone with powers suitable for combat.
Here’s what I think: They relied on Time Leap way too much.
Let’s give Yuu a little bit of credit, shall we? Apart from how he almost killed his love interest, he did manage to defeat a gang of brutal criminals who made extensive preparations to counter and capture him, all by himself. Though it’s hard to tell how much of it was skill and how much was luck. (Sure, it was mostly the power of collapse, triggered unwillingly, but he did protect himself in the last moment)
On a side note, Kumagami can’t actively “search” for powers. He has no control over when or where he’ll detect one, so there’s the flaw.
[quote=“Rabla, post:87, topic:1891”]
“HEY GUYS I’VE GOT IT LETS INTRODUCE TIME TRAVEL AS THE CENTRAL POINT BEHIND THE STORY”
“SHIT HE LITERALLY HAS NO THREATS IF HE CAN TIME TRAVEL LETS TAKE IT AWAY”[/quote]
That’s not how it works. Time travel was needed to gain a way of protecting everyone against scientists. It’s never been a central point. It’s a way of showing how bad the situation is. They had to friggin go back in time several times to save themselves. But now that it’s been taken care of, time travel is OP. This is not a story about time travel. Once again, time travel is NOT a central plot point. Now that it’s served its purpose, it has no business staying around and preventing any tension or drama from happening. It was destined to leave.
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Just wondering, for looting/plunder does Yuu just need eye contact with any eye or can he no longer use that either? I can’t remember if he ever used it with an eye closed or something before.
I didn’t think it was unnecessary. I think the having the balls to make it so grossly detailed was really good and not something that I didn’t expect after some of the events and their meanings in the past. There’s always been an aura of grotesqueness, for lack of a better word atm. It was by all means valuable to expressing how FUBAR this situation was and what it means to those present.
Not eye contact. I believe he just needs to have them in vision. It’d be hard to maintain eye content in an exam 
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I was thinking of that flashback (alt universe showcase?) where didn’t he need the dude to look at him to get telepathy? I guess I somehow forgot about the exam thing.
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Does seem to be contradictory, yes. But what if there’s some kind of quirk where he can possess people without seeing their eyes, but needs to be able to see their eyes to steal their ability?
I absolutely agree with that and pretty much everything else you’ve said.
My problems with Charlotte as of this moment are: its not what I wanted or was expecting; it seems to have almost no narrative direction, and many things seem random and pointless; I have next to no attachment to the characters, whose development was not well written.
The reason I didnt like this episode was because I felt like it continued to cement these things for me, digging Charlotte deeper into the hole that I kept hoping for it to pull itself out of.
I am fully open to the last 2 episodes pulling it all together and back out at least onto level ground. Especially since we still dont have any idea about this “promise” from that pre-airing PV…
Yeah, it really did just verify that the whole action-thriller thing is what Charlotte is meant to be, not just a diversion.
I wholly agree. I wasn’t expecting Charlotte to be another tearjerker or melodrama like typical Key stuff, but I am expecting, expecting a whole lot of character development and character relationships. I’m extremely bummed with the writing so far, my expectation betrayed me because Maeda himself stated that they will focus on small number of characters so they’re all equally developed. But instead we get like, a whole new group of people suddenly claiming that they’re your friends.
My expectation wouldn’t matter if only the writing was better, or they provide the viewer another equally good or better excitement.
This season I watch another anime which I expect it to be RPG-esque action adventure about bunch of people defeating Demon Lord. Turned out it’s the whole wrong genre. But it still provided excitement (at least for me) through a good and detailed writing. My expectation wasn’t answered at all (and in only one or two episodes it’ll be done airing) but overall it was exciting and I grew to love the characters within every episode. It has the same episode count with Charlotte, but Charlotte has been showing a lot of pretty random pointless stuffs and random sudden cruelty and deaths.
I don’t know how they’re gonna fix this in 2 episode. I still have a slight hope, so they’re better not be disappointments.
