Yeah I showed my housemate and he was mildly intrigued. Guess I’ll show him more as it airs~
I’d rather play it in Rewrite+ especially since I don’t care for the girl they are doing the route for.
I thought the five original routes would be amazing adapted so I’m pretty upset.
I had no expectations but was still disappointed, kinda fascinating
I love Rewrite, but this episode was a fucking mess pacing-, animation-, sound direction- and story-wise
I don’t think this is the case. I watched with my sister and she seemed fine with understanding everything. I have two anime-only friends who also were fine. Most anime viewers don’t expect the first episode to explain everything.
2 Likes
I have shown my boyfriend and he was fine too, and I’ll show some friends later too.
I think that people thinks that anime-only viewers get confused over nothing LOL
2 Likes
My younger brother watched it (mostly due to my constant gushing haha) and he didn’t find it so confusing; just really fast (and he didn’t like Kotori /sad).
We shouldn’t really expect any first episode of any anime to explain everything. Otherwise (usually) there would be no point to the rest of the episodes. XD
6 Likes
Oh I hadnt even thought of how much of a cliffhanger that could be if you were anime-only! Akane sure is a mystery at this point. I had kinda been questioning why they had left off at such a random point, but I can see how much of a “need to know what’s gonna happen next” moment that is now that you pointed that out.
Speaking of showing it to non-VN-readers, Ive been thinking about showing my sister; however, I think Im gonna wait until it ends to decide for sure whether it would be better to force her to read the VN first. With only one episode, we really have no idea at this point how this is gonna play out, or how much having one first would ruin the other. You would think, though, with this being kinda like a huge ad for Rewrite+, that it would be created with anime-first viewers in mind.
1 Like
He even got to think that the “ribbon girl” following Koutarou at night could be the witch, lol.
All what he knows of Akane so far is that Inoue is interested in her and that she knows Chihaya, so, really, he knows literally nothing and they stopped right at the introduction.
He complained because he said the cliffhanger at her point was too much.
1 Like
I think it’s safe to say that watching even this episode alone would damage the experience of reading the VN. If someone has any intention of reading the VN, don’t let them watch this anime first! Only watch this anime if you’ve read the VN or have no intention of reading the VN.
2 Likes
I was soo anticipating to watch this when I got home from ax last night but nope my internet had to die. I will come back and watch tonight when I get home.
Okay, I finally have a bit of a thought for this. 
Personally (or to a lot of people I guess), what makes a good first episode is that it serves both as a set-up and as a hook at the same time. Meaning, a first episode lays down the elements of the story that which the following episodes will base itself from and gives the sense of what the story is all about, while getting the audience’s attention to look forward for the rest of the episodes. Of course that would mean giving away the story without giving away too much.
And personally, I think Rewrite shows to be an example of this, but for the most part, more so on the set-up side than the hook side. Because the original story is incredibly massive and convoluted with a lot of elements placed in the story, the episode inevitably carried a lot of content to show us the massiveness of the story. And at what expense? So many things were happening in a single episode that some people felt overwhelmed by it.
I’ve also read discussions outside Kaza regarding the episode, and the general (negative) comments is that:(1) it was rushed, and (2) the characters felt stereotypical. I’ve already explained why (1) was the case, but here’s for the (2). I do understand why some people feel this way: Because they jam-packed everything in a single episode, they weren’t able to show enough of the heroines to be able to get any substantial personalities from them. (but heyyyy Kotori’s introduction to the story is already pretty good, I couldn’t ask for more for this episode)
However, I think it’s unreasonably early to conclude that they’re stereotypical. I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with archetypes; heck my personality in real life falls on the dandere archetype at first impression. It only becomes wrong when the archetype is all there is, but again, it’s still like Episode 1, and there’s still room for fleshing out the cast.
Also, the thing about Chihaya being deredere suddenly, it does feel a bit fast, but there is an explanation for it. Chihaya is practically (not really so much of a spoiler, but it’s an insight from the VN) just a weird combination of socially awkward, short-fused and carefree, so I doubt she genuinely hated Kotarou at all. tl;dr: she’s not the type to hold grudges for long, and the anime shows this at least.
Of course the VN paced the dynamic of the two better ((VN-only content)like Kotarou randomly sharing English trivias with her before class), but this is still pretty reasonable.
2 Likes
I understand that thing about Chihaya.
I have trouble feeling angry at someone for a whole hour straight, tend to forgive and forget those things easily, is not like hold a grudge benefits anyone.
At the VN I never felt either that she genuinely hated Koutarou, more like being a bit annoyed at him whenever he did or said anything stupid, but mostly OK the rest of the time
Lucia on the other hand feels way more tsundere (VN Lucia route spoilers) until the dating starts
2 Likes
Kagari, Gil, Pani… even Krivoyrog (was it written like this?) showed their faces before my Akane… Nice.
1 Like
They really did, didn’t they. I think the problem is, as VN readers, we already know that there is a bit more to them. But even in the VN they seemed stereotypical at first.
The difference here is, in the anime, it was just “Oh here’s a character thats probably important… bye!” Like you said, rushed, leaving the viewer like, “Ummm, ok, sure. I dont really care.” While in the VN the character interactions were spread out over several “days”, with plenty of other interesting stuff in between.
3 Likes
(The Nitpicking Part)
First I just want to say fuck the PVs! There were numerous points in the PVs where the editing made zero sense, but when I get to the actual episode it’s fine. The editors managed to make the PVs several degrees worse.
- In the Lucia shot they cut a couple of frames of her pulling away from Nishikujou. Whereas the episode cuts on the movement of her doing so, the PV’s cut is abrupt and looks awful.
- In the Shizuru sshot they edited it so it looks like she only swings her arm once, but they cut from her arm being at it’s lowest point to her arm still being on the way down. How do you even fuck up the visual cohesion that badly?
- In this PV the lazers from Krivoy Rog hits Kagari’s shield before she deploys it. (Slow Clap) I get that you want to show your money shots, but is it that hard to put them in the right sequence? Fuck this shit!
I have some points on the production of the episode as well.
- During the evolution montage, they make a random cut between the foot of an amphibian and a T-rex. The small lizard makes a clear footprint in the ground. You’d think the T-rex would make a print in the same spot to show the passing of time, but they don’t do that. The T-rex’s foot is in the opposite angle. Flipping it horizontally make so much more sense. Album
- Kotarou skipping through the ruined city feel a bit too carefree. There’s also the shots when he’s jumping. He starts running in a full body shot, then it cuts to a close up, then we see him jump up some cars in another full shot. That quick close up takes away all power behind the jump. Simply having him start running, bend his knees and jump in the same shot would have a lot more force behind the motion.
- After dropping off Kotori, Kotarou gets spooked by Kagari and hurries to get to sleep. This happens so fast that I don’t even feel the slightest chill. If you hear random sounds in the dark, you get scared/cautious because your brain is imagining all the spooky possibilities, but that needs time to settle in. Seeing Kagari blush when she’s about to bite Kotarou’s arm is also not very scary. The same goes for later when we see her face. Moe =/= scary.
- In the scene with Shizuru, they make a joke about the punishment for running not being in the handbook. So they set it up, flip through the book for a whole 18 frames and then deliver the quick punchline. I don’t like this timing; it reminds me of Fuko. The delivery could work, but it doesn’t feel like Shizuru. Shizuru jokes were usually slow paced with her being confused and needing Kotarou to explain shit. There are other jokes in the episode with similar timing, and I have no problem with those because it’s different characters performing.
- Here’s probably the biggest mistake in the entire episode. After KotaKoto goes to the clubroom the first time, they cut directly to Kotarou’s bedroom at night where Kagari is being creepy. In a vacuum, this scene is creepy and disorienting, but you can’t do a transition like that man. Literally any lead-in would have been appreciated. There are many other examples of scenes being poorly connected, but this is way over the line.
(Positive/Speculative Part)
- I’m generally positive towards the CGI. The students had some smaller animations added to them which helps. Krivoy Rog looked really great; they’ll probably bring him back simply to get the value out of the model. His tentacles extended way too far, but otherwise his movement was nice and heavy. The tree goblins looked fucking awkward though.
- They’re obviously making it a priority to shoot Kagari on very bright backgrounds mostly the Moon. That’s some nice imagery consistency.
- For some weird reason they made the place where Kotori sleeps look like the title screen. It’ll be interesting to see what made them do that.
- (Kagari) I found it weird that Kagari actively killed Kotarou at the beginning. In the VN she never looks at him. It could just be to make it more visually engaging, but it could also mean a change in her character.
- (Chihaya) Shinomiya put on a nice awkward act when they were talking about Martel. I’m almost willing to check if anime viewers pick up on the difference in tone.
- Since the episode title references the World/Myself choice that’s obviously a plot point for later. I’m thinking that there’s something new added there. If this is going to be added to the game there has to be a choice relating to it. Maybe he circled both options or something.
6 Likes
Definitely was thinking the same thing on this point. This is such a critical choice in the VN, and yet… they choose to make it completely ambiguous? There’s got to be something going on here. Obviously theyve already told us a billion times that the anime is gonna go in a different direction, but signs like this make it so… real, compared to just hearing abou it.
1 Like
To me this episode have a very fast pacing. For someone like me who used to the slow pacing of VN, watching this ep for the first time feel like riding a motorbike at 80 kmph (LOL) 
But i get used to it when rewatch for the 3rd time so it’s not a big of a deal 
. Despite all of that some scences still happen so fast.I think they should slow it down and extend it some more it would be perfect the animation is good enough i guess,the arts in a certain scences are good but some other scences…ummm…not so much…
I hope the BD release improve it though.
(I really want to talk more about this ep but since a lot of comments here has nailed pretty much everything i want to say so yeah that’s my thoughts )
1 Like
VN Spoilers The whole start of Moon is meant to feel uncharacteristically carefree of Kotarou. The point is to force this disconnect between the reader and Kotarou, before things start becoming clearer. Mystery is enticing, and great for new anime viewers. Adding to my response, I feel like the impact would’ve felt a lot weaker if Kotarou was killed by Kagari’s automated ribbon. A dramatic death is more impactful to start the series on.
3 Likes
Ah yeah, i’ve been bugged about that, the scary feeling is not there anymore.
Another reason for why it doesn’t give that chill feeling is that the color tone when it’s dark.
I really can’t tell whether it’s bright or dark, especially when Kotarou and Kotori first entered the club room.
I think in that kind of lighting, i can pretty much see that there are 9 switches when i entered the room.
P.S. (Broken door) i was hoping that Kotarou broke the door handle though, but i guess they didn’t put it in. so sad 
I sure hope so as well… 
1 Like
