Charlotte - Pre-Release Discussion & Speculation

Key Discussion
#292

Ok, yeah but (Little Busters)1) The reader didnt even know that either of those were the main points until the very end, and 2) Thats not entirely correct. Riki growing stronger was just another regret: it was arguably just as important to the story as the other heroine’s regrets.

[quote=“sillylittlemelody, post:291, topic:728”]
Ryou (sorry, I meant her, since Kyou is a main heroine), Kappei, Mei and Sasami (at least in the original LB!) are not considered main characters, even if they have their own route. This is my point: if characters that are not main can have their own routes, why couldn’t the same happen in Charlotte?
[/quote]Ok so I think part of the problem is whether you think about this in terms of the anime, or the VN. In the anime, sure, all four of those are side character (Kappei wasnt even included). And in the anime, the majority of the SSS could be considered side characters. But in the VNs, Ryou, Kappei, Mei, Sasami and anyone else with a route (well, maybe not Koumura) is a main character. Tomoyo’s route is just as important as Mei’s, and Sasami’s is just as important as Haruka’s. And, in the AB VN, ALL of the SSS will be main characters.

What Im getting at, though, is Charlotte is an anime. If I had to guess, I would say the side characters in Charlotte will be just as important to the story over as all as most of the SSS is in the Angel Beats anime, if not less.

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#293

You got my point. Then, we can conclude that is reasonable that Charlotte will have more episodes than AB!, at least 26.

No, it wasn’t just another regret. Actually, it’s totally different from the heroines’ regrets. They had dreams that they couldn’t accomplish anymore, since they were going to die, and they wanted to fulfill them. The whole game is a mission to make Riki and Rin stronger in order to survive and face the big pain of loss of all their friends.

#294

Riki going stronger was one of the main plotlines. It could be considered the main story of the VN. That’s one of the two reasons why the fake world was created. The heroine routes individually weren’t equal to it. Riki + Rin growing stronger was an equal priority to all of the other characters’ regrets combined. Riki’s regret was the car crash stuff, hence the narcolepsy. Him needing to be stronger wasn’t a regret.

So… not very?

I’m still not sure where you are getting this idea from. It could work with 11-13 episodes if that was how it was planned. It could work with 24 or 25 episodes if that was how it was planned.

The problem with AB wasn’t the story length, it was the direction. Maeda didn’t know about writing for anime, so he tried to get too many ideas in. For some reason the anime director agreed with Maeda, and he created a flawed storyboard that somehow got past everyone else working on it.
AB could have fit into 13 episodes, if they understood the scope of the story and the limits of 13 episodes. Neither Maeda or PA understood this.

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#295

In response to your spoilered stuff:

1) Riki and Rin not being strong enough to survive without the Little Busters was the regret of three of the eight, so yeah, you can say its more important than the rest. Its one of the six reasons the fake world was created. 2) Riki and Rin didn’t originally have a regret, or more specifically, they had no part in the creation of the world until the end of Refrain.

[quote=“Takafumi, post:294, topic:728”]
So… not very?
[/quote]Yeah, thats kinda what I’m guessing.

[quote=“Takafumi, post:294, topic:728”]
AB could have fit into 13 episodes, if they understood the scope of the story and the limits of 13 episodes.
[/quote]Angel Beats was originally planned for 26 ep, then got cut. It could have worked as 13 ep, but it would have been a completely different story, and not probably very amazing at all.

I don’t know, I might be the only one, but I’m almost happy they screwed the anime up in the way that they did. Because then they had a extremely incomplete story, which Maeda wanted to complete, and the fan wanted to be completed, and now we get a huge VN that can encompass a story larger and more complex and more incredible than any anime version could be.

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Little Busters! - Refrain Arc Discussion
#296

Guess Maeda has improved now, then. About the episode length: Maeda has wrote 4 visual novels (5 if you count Tomoyo After). He also wrote AB! that was an anime but had a visual novel structure. (When I say visual novel structure I mean some character-centric plots that fit together somehow).

Assuming Charlotte will have the same structure, then the side characters can count as a factor to increase the number of episodes. Charlotte has 4 main characters and I don’t think they are the only characters that will have their own arcs, instead of it, I just think they are the focus of the big plot that’s behind the story.

All that I say is based on the hypothesis that Charlotte will be structured like all Key previous works: small (but reasonable) character arcs and a MAIN PLOT behind the whole narrative.

#297

I’m pretty sure that’s just a false rumor people use to defend AB’s credibility and explain the massive cuts. IIRC it was planned as a 13 episode anime with extra content in the form of drama CDs and Manga. It just wasn’t planned very well.

So you are saying that if AB was planned for 13 episodes, it’d be “not probably very amazing at all” in contrast to the butchered story we did get? I don’t see how it could have been worse really… I mean, at least we would have got a coherent story, instead of getting fragments of one.

You can only use this argument with 24-26 episode anime. Saying a butchered 13 episode anime could have worked as a non-butchered 13 episode anime makes no sense from a debate standpoint…

Of course, that’s how I guess it’ll end up. An episode or two dedicated to a problem, a main character develops through it. Follow it with another arc and another arc, and then around episode 10 it’ll go full main story mode.
That’s how most VN-inspired anime end up, and it’s pretty much a spin-off of the formula Key pioneered.

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Angel Beats! - General Discussion
#298

You forgot about the main-but-not-very-main-plot episodes, like the baseball in LB! and the drama club in CLANNAD. There are also the trivia episodes

#299

While he did say it would be a regular Key story, that doesn’t mean that there are guarantee that there are going to be arcs and neither does it guarantee that if there are arcs, each of the 4 main cast will have their own

I’m still of the opinion that it can be good as 13 episodes and it can also be good as 26 and it can also be good as 52. But my point being that the “mistake” that they referred to when producing angel beats was not solely the episode count. They could have made Angel Beats as 26 episodes and it’d still be lackluster. Which is why I wanted to try and approach that issue from Maeda’s perspective

What I’m trying to say is I won’t hold any expectations in terms of episode count only for it to be shattered later on :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

I think what he means by “amazing” is that it has immense story potential. A short and sweet story would be “amazing” in an informal sense (very impressive; excellent) but it wouldn’t be “amazing” in a literal sense (causing great surprise or wonder; astonishing)

#300

See, I’m sure if they write it to be great and complete in 12-13 episodes, it will be great in 12-13 episodes. But when something is really good, I don’t want it to end that quickly! I want more! Which is why I would love for it to be in the 24-26 range. But I certainly also wouldn’t want it to drag on. So if its meant to be one cour, let it be one cour and I will be satisfied.

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#301

Yes, that’s no guarantee, but this is how all Key previous works worked like and I can’t imagine any other way to progress the story forward, as the plot itself is never a main focus for a story whose objective is to make you cry. And yes, there’s no guarantee each one of the 4 will have their own arc, I think there will be just one arc for the 4 of them.

#302

I would cite Rewrite as a counter-example but that wasn’t written by Maeda lol

#303

Expect a new CM today in 23:00 Japanese time.

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#304

Awwww man it’s in Tokyo MX. I wonder how fast it’ll take for the Internet to give us a source T^T

#305

here is the cm:

wonder what the date is they mention at the end (April 2 late night); think they only mean release of the PV

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#306

Yes it’s actually a commercial for a PV. I’m thinking they’ll release the PV at Anime Japan and then release it for the public on April 2

#307


Charlotte school identified as Hitotsubashi University.

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#308

The PV timing only strengthens my belief that it’s gonna be next season.

#309

By next season you mean… Summer?

#310

So my tweeter just got flooded and destroyed by the official twitter account for Charlotte. Anyone know whats up?

#311

Pretty sure Charlotte is at Anime Japan right now?
EDIT: They’re live tweeting an interview with Maeda, Na-Ga, and some others about Charlotte

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