I dont quite get why they just dont put those at the end of the episodes.
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More than half of the anime I watched last season removed all instances of next episode previews. I quite miss them 
So we finally get a first sample of ZHIENDās song
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I like the instrumental parts but Iām not quite sure where sheās singing English and where itās Japanese. Maybe itās only me, thatās a problem I often have with Japanese music.
This happened as well! Uploaded by VisualArtās themselves this time.
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The How-Low-Hello single is āSinger Daysā and I think the song conveys this story
Rough translation and guessing:
About two person chasing the same dream, but only one (the singer) able to have the wish granted. Then the chorus filled with regret, about the singer wanting to meet the other one again, about how the singer want to say love, about the singer wanting to redo the past over again. and so onā¦
While the ZHIEND one, well I canāt really tell the lyrics. I think itās fully Engrish?
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Probably to maximize how much content they can fit in the timeslot.
I donāt understand anything outside the main pieces, making it pretty much my experience with 90% of post rock bands because it doesnāt really matter, itās just supposed to sound good. Itās weird because the parts I do understand are actually pretty well handled. She has an accent but itās not bad. I can pretty much confirm though that once thereās a lyrics release youāll hear them bright as day. Itās always like that.
This might be a little early and we donāt have many clues to go by, since weāve only seen two episodes as of yet, but letās try it anyway: Letās try to talk about what the central topic of Charlotte might be.
Note: spoiler-tagged lines are related to information from episode 2.
Letās gather whatever clues we have right now.
The most outstanding thing for now are the superpowers.
- Thereās a āspecial timeā when youāre young, when you can do things
nobody else can. You have a āspecial powerā until you grow up - you are tempted to use or even abuse your special power for your own
gain - but that power makes you exploitable
-
in fact, EVERYONE (or letās say most grown-ups?) wants to exploit you. Thereās enemies everywhere
-
basically, you can only trust children who are like you
-
while thereās also children who work for the enemies that you shouldnāt trust
-
those enemies will recklessly abuse you while they can, but throw you away when youāre broken and your āspecial powerā is gone
After talking to a friend about various speculations regarding charlotte, I have reached the following conclusion regarding what the central topic of Charlotte:
Itās probably about talented children.
Letās say thereās this child thatās extremely good at singing. The child gets praised for its singing by parents, friends, teachers and neighbors. So it continues to sing to get more praise and increase its popularity. One day, the child gets scouted - it catches the interest of people who can convert the childās talent into money. Baited by the money, even the childās parents can grow weak and betray it, basically selling it into slavery. Or maybe they arenāt even aware of the dangers.
The abuse begins. The child gets turned into an idol and works its ass off. Thereās concerts, photoshootings, commercials, appearances on radio and TV. Itās all super taxing on the child and thereās never-ending pressure and stress. But the child needs to be squeezed for more money. Scandals happen to promote the child even more, ruining its social life and mental well-being.
By the time the child grows up, itās burnt out. A life of stress and pressure leaves its marks on it. Itās burnt out and tired. At this point, everyone abandons the child. Why? Because it lost its āspecial powerā. Being a talented singer as a child is a big deal, but a talented grown-up singer is nothing special. Thereās plenty of competition. Itās way more lucrative for the agency to look for a different talented child.
Iād be happy if the book club took a closer look at this theory ^^
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Reading that theory just made me say āwowā out loud.
That means I think itās pretty good~
As I said a few times, itās my personal hope that they look into the stress that comes with having powers, and the sort of inner conflict that characters can have because of these powers; that said I think it can also fit into your theory pretty well.
On a more realistic analogy, a talented singer could think āthey just like me for my singing, but after that, Iām all alone in this worldā sort of thing, which I find pretty interesting.
SIDENOTE: Wet guy has a name now! http://charlotte-anime.jp/character/#/kumagami
Kumagami, eh
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Incoming fanart of him stood in the middle of a field with bears praying around him.
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I think this theme is just too limited, and I donāt think most of the audience would identify with it. I think is something broader like āyouthā and its ephemeral nature, not talented children. At least I myself wouldnāt be interested in a story whose theme was this one.
Personally, I think Jun Maeda explores great themes. Miracles, promises, maternal bonds, dreams, family, growing up, life. All of those are very broad and thereās a lot to tell about them. I donāt think ātalented childrenā as a theme would have much worth telling or exploring to begin with.
Kinda? Except when I throw in the very specific criticisms Maeda had in Angel Beats whereby he was straight up attacking the way education works in Japan? ātalented childrenā is no more ālimitedā or weaker than that. Themes are powerful. Thereās alot you can do with them. I wouldnāt throw out accusations like that, even if it was a theme Iām all together done with.
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I donāt think this counts as a theme. Every fictional work represents the visions of the ones who created it. Themes are just the central ideas, however there are other concepts present throughout every work that show us the creatorsā point-of-view about something. This is AB!'s case probably. If the same happens in Charlotte with the ātalented childrenā thing as a concept, Iām fine. I just donāt think it works as a central themes.
[quote=āAegair, post:33, topic:1313, full:trueā]talented childrenā is no more ālimitedā or weaker than that. Themes are powerful.
[/quote]
Themes are powerful because they can reach people broadly. Sure, ātalented childrenā can change some peopleās point-of-views, but it wonāt be very well assimilated by most of the audience. And I doubt Maeda would want that, since he expressed previously his desire of the players understanding his work.
[quote=āAegair, post:33, topic:1313, full:trueā] I wouldnāt throw out accusations like that, even if it was a theme Iām all together done with.
[/quote]
Iām not accusing anyone, since we donāt even know the theme yet. Just saying that I donāt think it would be a good choice for a theme.
I think we might be disagreeing on something a lil too fundamental here. The themes and ideas encapsulated by a work are not limited by just the visions of the ones who created said work. Works generally operate on an interaction between itās āreaderā as well as itās ācreatorā. This means many many things but a few of those are: Something the creator intended to be in a work, might not exist when a certain reader reads it. Something the creator did not intend to put into a work might exist when a reader reads it. These themselves have many more connotationsā¦
But I guess the best response I can really give to what youāre saying is that Charlotte might have this theme of ātalented childrenā in it, even if you disagree that āthemeā is the right word or whatever, ragardless of whether itās the central theme that Maeda intended to put into the work. Limiting yourself to what a creator says their work is about isā¦ really limited and reductionist thinking ^^;
Through a fictional work, the creators are expressing their world view everywhere. Of course, every reader can understand it in a different way, but itās a form of communication.
And Iām not talking just about intentions here. Even if the creators arenāt intending to put something there, they can subconsciously put it there. Itās how they see the world. Everyone sees it in a different way, so when something in there is different from the way you understand the world, you can see it as a message, even when the author didnāt intend to do so.
A fictional work is a way for the author(s) to communicate with its viewers/readers. Even when it can mean different things for different people.
Now letās go to Charlotte and the talented people thing. When you watch an anime, youāre connecting with it in a lot of ways, youāre identifying yourself with it. If that connection is very tiny, you probably wonāt like it. If that connection is big, however, you will like it. āTalented peopleā as a central theme would be hard for most people to establish a connection, as opposed to family or growing up. Those are things most people can connect. So, here I use your point. The viewers can and probably will see it in a different way from the creators. This happens to the other themes as well, but in a much smaller scale than it would happen to this one. This is what Maeda doesnāt want. He is aware people can understand his stories in different ways, however, he wants them to feel as close as possible to what he felt and understood when writing them. I dunno how Na-ga and the other staff feel about this, but probably the same. Be aware that not just Maedaās ideas are there, but the whole staffās point of views are present in Charlotte as well.
Thereās a blog article I liked very much about this: http://wrongeverytime.com/2014/09/08/your-taste-is-bad-and-so-are-you/ You should check it out 
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This is a wonderful response. Itās nice that we donāt disagree fundamentally on how fiction works. 
(Also Nickās articles and essays are always wonderful)
I think instead maybe weāre just disagreeing on how ātalented peopleā is a small theme. Have you seen Sakurasou? Or maybe Ping Pong the animation would work though I havenāt finished it myself. Either way, thereās actually a lot less going on here than I guess it seems. Really I think youāre just saying that ātalented peopleā isnāt the central theme like you could say āfamilyā is to Clannad, āadolescenceā is to Little Busters,etc. Which I agree with? I just found dismissal of that theme entirely to be a bit lacking is all.
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Yep, this is what I meant. And no, I havenāt seen those animes. (Sakurasou and Ping Pong)
But if it was just people as you say ātalented peopleā, then I think it would be much more appropriate and less limited, as opposed to 'talented children ', and it could work as a central theme. Thereās a lot to be said and itās easier to identify with ātalentsā as a whole, like in ātalented peopleā, as this includes everyone. However, the same canāt be said about ātalented childrenā.
I dunno about that. Thereās alot about adolescence, puberty and talent that can be explored. Again, not too sold on it myself, more defending it as a standpoint that isnāt justā¦ wrong? Those previous anime I mentioned do it quite a bit, in fact itās the central part of Sakurasou. (And I also believe itās the central theme of Ping Pong but I could be mistaken on that.)
Hmā¦ Letās just modus vivendi hereā¦ But, thinking about it, maybeā¦ Itās just that the way Naoki put it made it feel like thatā¦ If it was like childrenās developing their talents as they are afraid of the uncertain future that awaits them and relying on those talents as their hopes, it could be cool thoughā¦ Letās just wait and see.
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