Of course, I'm ready to be corrected on things as well XD
It's one thing that I feel is quite rare, unfortunately. Most people refuse to even listen to someone else if their opinion is different. I find it more interesting than just unanimously praising or berating a show.
For me, from a show called "Monster", I wasn't particularly looking for relatability towards its antagonist. Again, I think it could work well to show him being cowardly at the end, but not in the way that it was done by making everything he did before that feel pointless and out-of-character.
I'm all for an unexpected ending as well, as long as it still delivers on the important things. In this case, I think they dropped the ball on deliver the two core aspects of the story of "Monster": the dangers of the human psyche (Johan's story) and the responsibility behind taking life into your own hands (Tenma's story). By making it so that Johan's goal was to die all along, it makes a suboptimal ending to his part of the story, in my opinion, and then having it not be Tenma that 'kills' him despite the difficulty he had to go through to commit to doing it in the first place quite actively ruins Tenma's part of the story for me.
Of course, I'm not saying you're wrong, there is no right or wrong in these things, but this is how I felt about it. I'd like to hear what you think about Tenma's side of the story as well. Considering that I've only watched Monster once myself, I'm totally ready to be filled in on story elements I might have missed XD
A Silent Voice is an example I usually use about getting killed emotionally that makes the movie quite difficult to watch, but makes it brilliant at the same time XD
Do you enjoy the fact that Johan is a coward? To me it seems to undermine the whole development up to that point. If Johan had fought back, but was eventually scared of dying because he had been forced into that villain role and had to suppress his fears, that would have made more sense, I feel. But as it is, Johan is the most interesting aspect of the show, so turning him into a coward in the end doesn't feel like a good thing to do, personally.
I like getting crushed by the ending of a show now and then XD It shows that were a lot of deep things to really think about. Although I need to be in a particular mood to really enjoy them. The rest of the time, I'm just looking for happy endings. Although these days, we should be happy if we just get an ending at all.
Yeah, but many people seem to not care much about the story anymore.
I just didn't personally like the ending of Monster. There were some other minor things like some of the characters that came in with the episodic format, but mainly it is the ending. There's such a long and intense buildup and then the end goal for the untouchable antagonist is simply suicide. And then they don't deliver on the main point from Tenma's perspective, either. It had really great things to explore about the nature of humanity and the role one can play in the life of another in both good and bad ways, but the ending we got felt like it abandoned that potential in favour of a safe ending.
It happens really often. I think it's a huge injustice towards those shows.
I'm not particularly a fan of Monster, but it did definitely show some unique settings and also quite a lot of different ones as well. Being able to get the viewer invested in the world is a crucial part which many anime fail with, I feel like.
Well, as someone who enjoys slice-of-life and cute girls doing cute things, that shock value from heart-ripping is pretty powerful, because most of the wholesome-looking shows that I watch are actually wholesome XD
One gets used to the character designs quite quickly, assuming that you give the show enough of a chance.
Yeah. And even shows like Violet Evergarden that have a unique world in anime, even though it is just supposed to be like an old european city, it is so much different to the same old japan high school settings we get otherwise, so it really stands out. Of course, in Violet Evergarden's case, it also stands out because every single background is animating amazingly XD
Same. And often times the different designs can be relevant in the story; like how Made in Abyss' designs take you for a ride in thinking that it will be an adorable, fun adventure story only to slam reality in your face later. It works XD
I can somewhat understand people who find the designs for things like Clannad a bit strange, since the disproportionate eyes are quite extreme there, but I don't think that should be enough to dislike the show for it. If anything, it would only take a while to get used to the characters.
Another interesting aspect is if the world design is unique. We've had so many fantasy isekai village settings or japanese high school settings already that anything that looks really different already catches our attention.
Indeed, but I see many people criticize shows like Made in Abyss or Code Geass for no reason other than that the character designs are irregular. It seems like a cheap way to not even give a show a chance before bashing it and it's quite the ignorant approach if you ask me XD
I do appreciate a unique art style, so that sounds pretty promising.
Speaking of art style, what do you think about shows with unconventional character designs, like Made in Abyss? I know many people are immediately put off by that kind of design.
Based on your favorites, you like getting scarred by movies XD
Yeah, I have to say, I'm not really a big fan of Ghibli movies. None of them are bad, but none of them stand out as great to me either. Maybe Princess Kaguya could be the first?
Have you watched Children of the Sea? It's quite the visual spectacle.
All Comments (49) Comments
we have similar taste let's be friends! :D
It's one thing that I feel is quite rare, unfortunately. Most people refuse to even listen to someone else if their opinion is different. I find it more interesting than just unanimously praising or berating a show.
I'm all for an unexpected ending as well, as long as it still delivers on the important things. In this case, I think they dropped the ball on deliver the two core aspects of the story of "Monster": the dangers of the human psyche (Johan's story) and the responsibility behind taking life into your own hands (Tenma's story). By making it so that Johan's goal was to die all along, it makes a suboptimal ending to his part of the story, in my opinion, and then having it not be Tenma that 'kills' him despite the difficulty he had to go through to commit to doing it in the first place quite actively ruins Tenma's part of the story for me.
Of course, I'm not saying you're wrong, there is no right or wrong in these things, but this is how I felt about it. I'd like to hear what you think about Tenma's side of the story as well. Considering that I've only watched Monster once myself, I'm totally ready to be filled in on story elements I might have missed XD
A Silent Voice is an example I usually use about getting killed emotionally that makes the movie quite difficult to watch, but makes it brilliant at the same time XD
I like getting crushed by the ending of a show now and then XD It shows that were a lot of deep things to really think about. Although I need to be in a particular mood to really enjoy them. The rest of the time, I'm just looking for happy endings. Although these days, we should be happy if we just get an ending at all.
I just didn't personally like the ending of Monster. There were some other minor things like some of the characters that came in with the episodic format, but mainly it is the ending. There's such a long and intense buildup and then the end goal for the untouchable antagonist is simply suicide. And then they don't deliver on the main point from Tenma's perspective, either. It had really great things to explore about the nature of humanity and the role one can play in the life of another in both good and bad ways, but the ending we got felt like it abandoned that potential in favour of a safe ending.
I'm not particularly a fan of Monster, but it did definitely show some unique settings and also quite a lot of different ones as well. Being able to get the viewer invested in the world is a crucial part which many anime fail with, I feel like.
One gets used to the character designs quite quickly, assuming that you give the show enough of a chance.
Yeah. And even shows like Violet Evergarden that have a unique world in anime, even though it is just supposed to be like an old european city, it is so much different to the same old japan high school settings we get otherwise, so it really stands out. Of course, in Violet Evergarden's case, it also stands out because every single background is animating amazingly XD
I can somewhat understand people who find the designs for things like Clannad a bit strange, since the disproportionate eyes are quite extreme there, but I don't think that should be enough to dislike the show for it. If anything, it would only take a while to get used to the characters.
Another interesting aspect is if the world design is unique. We've had so many fantasy isekai village settings or japanese high school settings already that anything that looks really different already catches our attention.
Speaking of art style, what do you think about shows with unconventional character designs, like Made in Abyss? I know many people are immediately put off by that kind of design.
Agreed. I honestly don't think Spirited Away is all that... it looks good, but it's really not as special as people go on.
I know a bit about the myth of Princess Kaguya, but I guess the movie would be a good way to learn more about it, right?
Keep it in mind for when you are in the mood to watch an art project.
Yeah, I have to say, I'm not really a big fan of Ghibli movies. None of them are bad, but none of them stand out as great to me either. Maybe Princess Kaguya could be the first?
Have you watched Children of the Sea? It's quite the visual spectacle.