Sorry to step in, but I have to agree with @Takafumi here. Your last phrase: not always, and that’s just why Taka said those are predictable plot twists, because you can guess the consequences.
Plot twists aren’t a “surprise” by definition. They just mean a change in the main plot, it doesn’t have to be something unknown that was present since the beginning, but mostly it is.
Well, fair enough, then in my particular case, I just really prefer when the twist is a surprise. Either way, I don’t think Punchline thought about that and indeed the twists were meant to be surprises, where it fails. But that’s just conjecture on my part, I guess.
Also, whatever consequences those twists might have brought to the table, I’d say they are not unforeseen as well. When the story is just too predictable, I don’t usually like it unless it has really charismatic characters which I can connect with…something also not present in Punchline.
A plot twist is just a change in focus. Something can be predictable and still have later ramifications that were unthought-of.
Being “hyped” for the change doesn’t matter.
A twist moment doesn’t suddenly tell you everything that will ever happen in the rest of the story. A good twist doesn’t at least.
If a story is so bad that I can only wish to spend my time more wisely, it doesn’t deserve to be read to completion. Whatever ending it has doesn’t stop the hours and hours of bad content from being bad.
It’s an old one anyway. I knew the story for years before I picked it up.
Well, in all of the episodes, the plot has progressed in an interesting way. That’s perfect to me.
There are like… 2 or 3 an episode. They are ~5 seconds long. They get overlooked more than most anime airing this season.
I hate fanservice, but with how little there is in this show, I wouldn’t be surprised if I forgot it even had fanservice in the future. The only thing keeping the fanservice theme alive is the OP and the break bumpers.
It’s nothing.
That’s just anime. It’s the norm. They aren’t comedy moments, they are day of life moments.
They aren’t distinctive, but they are pleasant to watch.
A normal kid who has superpowers, can turn into a ghost, can time travel, and has multiple selves, along with a mysterious family, mysterious interactions, and, for some reason, is the focus of an extremely knowledgeable ghost cat.
He was rarely ever treated as a normal kid caught up in mess. The only time he was treated as such was in reference to him becoming a spirit who somehow leads to the end of the world, things he wasn’t aware of. When it comes to past revelations, he has always been aware of them, and never treated them as something crazy until new information he wasn’t aware of was revealed to him. To him, like to most people, the past is just a matter of fact. If something happens to bring that past back, then your interest in it may rise, but until then it’s just another part of life that never went anywhere, and until then, there’s no reason to act special about it.
Pinpon~ He doesn’t care until it’s made relevant again. Until past events become current.
A lot of the twists are shown in a slideshow of frames in episode 1.
Can we please tidy up the topic title? It’s very long and kind of confusing (question mark?)
As I said, that’s fair enough, but I’m arguing Punchline does not get the surprise neither the ramifications of the twist itself right. It’s just not interesting and everything, including the consequences, is easily predictable and I doubt the next episodes will prove me wrong.
Well, that’s a shame, the final act is extremely good and the main twist is extremely clever. I do find the pace flawed, but nowhere near as bad as you say. Either way, opinions.
Of course, and that’s fine. But to me, it has been anything but interesting. Perhaps the first two or three episodes. But when things began to actually happen or get revealed, than you realize how everything is just too played out or just not entertaining.
You do remember that a few episodes back the whole premise for the show was “panties will end the world” followed by many scenes of Yuuta somehow seeing panties and going bananas. Of course, I’ll say it’s indeed way less fanservice than I thought it would be from the promotional material.
I…think that’s another issue we’ll have to agree on disagree. By your standards, School rumble is just an anime about a normal anime life then.
I don’t want to be rude, but you kinda said they were in your previous post. Like, literally.
Oh yeah, no reason to act special about it when you used to be a boy and now you gotta live with a vagina between your legs and has to hide that fact from everyone else. Just another part of life, no reason to think hard on it. Past is past, right?
As I’m sure you got from my previous reply just now, I don’t buy it. To me, it’s a messed up character development that suspends my sense of disbelief (yes, even stories like Punchline play by those rules). It’s just too forced for a guy with his past to act so okay with everything and only ocasionally think about all the crazy crap he went through when it becomes relevant to the plot. Basically, I don’t think it was properly foreshadowed through his monologues or actions and it just feels like he switches personalities to me.
I fail to see where this means it wasn’t meant to be surprises, unless we assume the viewers are pausing the video to take a good look at what’s happening there. It’s just foreshadowing.
Well, I don’t mind, but how can I do that? Also, I think you forgot about my question to you a few posts back.
Only regulars can do it. Tell me how you want, I can fix it.
Well sorry about this completely random out of place question here but Funchal99 you are a Portuguese from Madeira right?
That may be the premise, but it doesn’t come across in the presentation. As I said before, 2 or 3 scenes an episode, ~5 seconds long. Taking a short MAL description to face value may give you the impression that it is just fanservice, but even before the show aired, there was more to the show than that.
School Rumble is a slice of life romance.
You misread. I said
I didn’t say the characters are distinctive, I said they are a distinctive part of the show. The actual characters are nothing special, but they are one of the focal points of the anime.
The characters aren’t distinctive; they’ve been done before, however the cast is what represents the show best.
It’s not weird to be used to something after experiencing it for years. I don’t spend my days thinking about significant events in the past, I just think about what I have scheduled for the week, or what to get for dinner, or if that one thing released yet. Most people I know live life in a similar way.
Stuff happens. That’s life. You don’t bring it back to the present unless there is some use to doing so, or you are in a nostalgic mood~
Different ways of life though, I guess? I’m more of a “I can’t wait for…” person than a “I remember when…” person.
You don’t need to pause. The frames were perfectly visible for me, and I watch things at 8fps in 360p. For people actually caring about visuals, the flash-forward will have been easily noticeable, albeit easily forgettable.
Whatever Aspirety feels is best, I guess.
Actually, no. I’m Brazillian. I know there is a city in Portugal that’s named Funchal, but Funchal is only my surname.
Ah okok that makes a lot of sense. Thanks for replying doe.
Hello, fellow Brazilian.
You’re kidding me, right? I’m sorry, but now we’re entering a very “your personal definition” territory here, so it’s best to leave it at that.
That…quite literally means the characters are distinctive, therefore a distinctive part of the show. Seriously, that’s just semantics. It makes no sense for you to say the characters are a disctinctive part of the show and not distinctive themselves at the same time. Maybe that’s just me, but it doesn’t compute.
When so much crazy stuff, including being held captive during your childhood, have happened to you, I personally find it hard for people to just live their life thinking just on the moment, future. I don’t think this really compares with me, you, or anyone you claim to know, really, because in Yuuta’s case it’s not just “stuff happens”. It’s not even close to ordinary or normal.
But anyways, this point has already gone on for too long, and our arguments are going for directions that might involve personal subjective takes in life that we can’t hope to prove one another. Suffice it to say, I think Yuuta’s character is too mechanical and changes according to the plot’s needs, you think it’s natural. That’s that.
I for one don’t even remember said flash-forward, which I believe is what they were counting on. Alas, those are conjectures.
Why, hello to you, sir. It’s nice to see Brazillians on forums about visual novels and such. You know, with it being a niche and all.
Again, you don’t understand - Context is important. Despite both statements having the word “distinctive” in them, they are two different things.
The difference between the two is in what they refer to.
Saying a character is distinctive would be the same as saying a show is distinctive. It’s saying “this product as a whole stands out.”
Saying the tsundere aspect of a character is distinctive would be the same as saying the cast of a show is distinctive. It’s saying “this part of a product is one of the defining traits.”
The zombies in HOTD aren’t distinctive, they are just generic zombies and they don’t stand out at all, but when you think of HOTD, you think of zombies. So zombies are a distinctive part of the show, even if the zombies themselves are utterly lacking in originality.
No Punchline characters are distinctive, but they are, in my opinion, one of the defining aspects of the show. Maybe it’s the loud art style, or the overplayed personalities, but the characters stand out as a major aspect of the show, as opposed to the animation or the music.
Hmm, Aspirety, I did say that I didn’t mind you changing the title of the topic, but could you consider putting Nakazawa in the title as well? Not only because his VNs have many traits in common with Uchikoshi’s, but because it just feels unfair to the man. The two were partners and both had a hand on the very important work that was Ever17, and the upcoming Punchline VN will have Nakazawa as its director (not mentioning how I think he was involved into planning as well).
EDIT: Oh, I just found out I can change it. May I?
Yeah go ahead.
I only said Kotaro Uchikoshi since Takumi Nakazawa had no involvement with the Zero Escape series.
So, I just watched episode 9 of Punchline. FINALLY it seems the show has cut the crap (for me, anyway) and has commited to developing the plot itself. Though the twist in this one was still painfully obvious, the execution of the episode itself was the best yet for me: much more sober and to the point. Now I’m more excited.
