Jul 29 2007
Don’t mean to be a quitter but…
Dropping Hayate no Gotoku from blogging. I’ll probably still watch it on the subway to work but I don’t feel like blogging it anymore. I don’t really have much to say about it and spitting out a summary is already done by a few other bloggers. Pointing out parodies isn’t as fun as it used to be and someone told me this show is gonna be 52 eps…of nothing. I’d rather do something else that interests me on Sundays. (Like cooking for the week and going shopping.)
I know that this week was an anime original episode..and while the DBZ parody made me laugh when Hayate was fighting the dudes at the end…I didn’t wanna just blog and be like “uh yea I liked this scene…umm that’s about it.” I’m not sure what it is lately but it’s becoming more and more difficult to blog these kinds of shows and as you can see I’ve been dropping them one by one. Back in the day when downloading anime was hard, you had to watch everything you downloaded cause of all the effort you put into getting the file. Nowdays it’s just a few minutes of torrent gets you what you want (and especially in my case where I don’t have to wait for fansubs.)
Now if you excuse me I have a french manicure to do. 
23 Responses to “Don’t mean to be a quitter but…”
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Well, I can’t blame you - I had high hopes for the anime… and while I still find it entertaining, it’s disappointing several respects:
1) I had hoped for a more faithful anime translation of the manga; Mahoraba and Honey and Clover did this successfully, while Negima did NOT. So far, Synergy’s following the Negima route more than the H&C or even Black Lagoon route (the anime rearranged the manga timeline a tad, but kept the story flowing smoothly).
2) The art’s different. I know this is a topic only the most stupid or fussy of fans would take up… but the art’s different, and I find it less ‘cute’. The CGI tends to be overused in the mansion, and it’s more like they’ve chosen to focus more on the backgrounds being large and elaborate rather than on the character art.
3) Overuse of fillers. We’re what… 18 episodes in, and there’ve been at least two anime-original stories? Yes, I know Hata-sensei penned at least one of them (the video game one), but we’ve had two fillers in 16 episodes. Even the most filler-tastic shows I know of wait at least 20 episodes before reusing or putting in all-original material to pad things out. The manga’s up to Volume -12- in Japan at the moment, and they’re putting out material for Volume 13. We’ve barely touched the stories in the first three or so volumes. The first few episodes took like two or so chapters a bite, while later ones tend to stretch one chapter out per episode, when they use them; the pacing’s shot, and I put some of the blame on the fillers, and the rest on the need they had to get all the characters introduced first, which mucked about with the storyline.
4) It’s overdependent on gags. Yes, the original manga’s a gag manga. Yes, it did anime and game references all the time, and still does; there are pages devoted to figuring out every last one. HOWEVER, outside of the first episode or two, the gags have become consistently less funny, in part due to the way things are paced, and in part because the REASON the gags were funny (the characters either parodied them consciously or unconsciously, and it fit into the current storyline) is because they fit the characters so well in the manga.. and less so here. Look at episode 17 of the anime; the cooking thing was overplayed. In the manga, there’s a storyline where Nagi cooks for Hayate… and it was toxic. They did it in the anime as well - that was back in Episode 3 or so. It SHOULD have ended there, but then they decided to extend it into 17 and the whole ‘Nagi wants to play maid and then show off her cooking to the world’ storyline. The joke was funny once, and it should’ve STAYED there. Even if this was in the manga in a later volume… this story seemed out of place, especially since there’s so much that could still be done with school. The manga doesn’t just depend on the gags for its humor - it plays on the cliches of the harem type of storyline, and uses its characters to provide the humor… rather than the tried, true, and overdone ‘let’s reference this and that and that’s it’. One of the reasons Lucky Star’s doing so well, despite a similar background, is because it’s the CHARACTER INTERACTIONS which provide the humor.
Disappointing in several respects, even.
Still, in the end, I find Hayate funny… but at the same time, it’s tiring. I had HOPED for something fresher than this, which would hit the gags up, follow the manga, and provide something that didn’t feel like the warmed-up leftovers of PPD combined with Negima.
You know, something like Lucky Star, which I had no high expectations for.
I still think Lucky star sucks
As someone said “its just a commercial for haruhi” And yes I did watch a few more eps and didn’t like it any more than I did ep 1 with the 5 min talk about chocolate coronets. (which are gross anyway)
and I agree with all your points about hayate. I havent read the manga but it seems the anime keeps trying to rely on parodies most of which are escaping me these days
The Spring Season started off so good. I started watching many shows… but they didn’t hold my interest for too long. Dropped Hayate on episode 5, Seto no Hanayome on episode 4, Romeo and Juliet, etc.
Now I’m watching Mushi-uta, Lovely Complex, Jdrama “HanaKimi” and the korean drama “Coffee Prince”.
The spring season didn’t start off any good… Picked up 4 shows… I think…
Zero II - need to watch every episode in one sitting.
Nanatsuero - prepare to abandon ship!
Hayate - waning interest. The gags are wearing thin after a while.
Kamishana… err… Kamichama - we need more Himeka x Kaon… wait… something is not correct here.
There always more shana to look forward to :3
I find it also how people after seeing 15+ episodes of Nanoha 3rd have FINALLY realised it… SuckS. Haven’t seen a single ep and already figured out it SuckS since it was announced. The pulling factor was the Loliha x Lolifate. Now there is none.
Moetan… let’s not even go there. It is a show for the uberlolicons. ’nuff said.
Now… if someone presses hard enough… maybe touka gettan may make it onto the list like how kannazuki made the watch list a season and a half after it finished.
Yea well I wasn’t too “thrilled” with the spring season and at this point it’s just become one huge disappointment to me. Summer season’s pretty good though.
Have you noticed that they actually paraphrase huge chunks of Kamichama manga in the anime… Like this week’s confession :3
There’s always more Shana to look forward to! On the other hand, you could try Otogi Jushi Akazukin… and your fairytales will never be the same again.
We’ll see how summer does. And Lucky Star’s still interesting despite being a Haruhi commercial - because it’s not just one, although Episode 16 does its best to be one. At least it’s overall funnier than Hayate is, if only because the gags fit where they feel like they were forced into Hayate to make it contemporary and ‘hip’.
ZnT’s… I dunno about it. And StrikerS at least improved the art in the DVD releases, but I’m not following it regularly with any interest.
Ahem… All the Nanohas improved the art in the DVDs. So it’s not exactly a plus given you know they will do that. And the DVDs didn’t exactly improve the storyline either. It would have been better if it was Shakugan no Arisa x Suzuka instead.
Lucky AIDS wasn’t interesting to begin with. Now if whatsthatstudiothatanimatesthingsandpeoplegogagaoverit really animated bovinepoo, I think people will still flock to watch it. /me tries to remember how far back was the bovine poo commentary posted here.
Err … Nanoha = Shoujo Ai.
memory returns. It’s in JP’s blog…
Correction, Nanoha = LOLI Shoujo Ai
You cannot forget the important selling point!
I’d still pick Lucky Star over Nanoha StrikerS due to the art being more consistent, and at least it’s more interesting… which says a lot about StrikerS right there.
Gurren Laggan’s supposed to be quite good too… but I guess I’ve had my fill of ‘mecha’ shows and can’t get into it. I wonder what this bodes for the future, with the number of ‘harem’ shows which are making a return, including that (spawned from the imagination of a hateful deity) Live Action Negima.
Since you seem to have a lot of space freeing up in your blogging schedule I hope you’d take a look at Gurren Laggan. As for the above poster who lumps it in with your average ‘mecha’ shows, it is far far from it and is much more about the characters than the mechs (regardless of how absolutely ridiculous the look). If you have the free time definitely give it a chance and please watch at least through episode 8.
As for dropping Airantou and Hayate I don’t blame you, it’s just more of the same episode after episode. Speaking of which… I can’t understand how you can continue to blog the never ending story aka Naruto.
I thought you had already dropped it.
As for the Lucky Star subject, everyone has their own preferences. No one like everything. And the format of the show isn’t the most run-of-the-mill so I see how it can be grating to some.
I tried to repeat a funny part of the show to a friend and received a death stare earlier today. In Episode 15 I think, Konata’s cousin is walking down the hall and passes the bathroom, where Konata’s father is sitting on the toilet reading and muttering to himself. The cousin has a priceless look of fear emerging on her face and Konata appears behind her and in English says, “Don’t Mind.” This is absolutely not funny, if you don’t like the show. And the other jokes aren’t much different.
Homework borrowing, laziness, forgetfulness, and all the other antics are all based on the characters and you’re appeal to them. As much as I love the show, if I didn’t like the characters, as many apparently don’t, I wouldn’t be able to stand it either.
I feel this way every time I hear someone obsess over FLCL.
8Gauge: It IS a Mecha Show… and given the number of them, and bad ones at that, I’ve seen in the past few years, even if it’s come highly recommended… well, I can’t get into it. The mecha are a block, just as the harem situation in Airantou’s a major stumbling point for me.
Heh. It’s weird actually. I had been thinking about dropping Hayate myself. I wasn’t exactly the biggest fan of it at the start or found it to be particularly hilarious past episode 3, as my past comments on here show, but it definitely has been in a steady decline for me for a while. Trouble is I’ve already watched 17 episodes and I think to myself if I can sit through the majority of Naruto fiilers (I think I stopped watching around episode 185 to pick it up again when shippuuden started. Yeah… I know… I have no idea how I managed to sit through them for so long. Tony the tiger still makes me cry ;_;) surely I can sit through this. I’ve also seen far worse shows through to the end but then again they didn’t have another 30+ eps left and were usually fairly short.
As for lucky star I had a similar feeling with that but I enjoyed the recent episodes with the intro of some new characters alot more than the previous ones, freshened things up a bit. Ep 14 and 15 are probably among my favourites for the series so far. Perhaps you should try those out. if, however, you hate them I shall not be held responsible. *distracts with some Louise X Saito material*
I’m not sure I’d agree about the Haruhi commercial thing though. There’s been a lot of references to other anime and non-anime stuff. People just seem to focus on the haruhi stuff and only that (at least it seems that way to me).
Also Sabrina-fair what version of ep 15 were you watching? o_O Don’t recall that scene at all. Not even in 16, perhaps you’re thinking of the manga or ep 17.
Anyway… keep up the blogging hinano… despite not agreeing with you on certain things I still love to read your thoughts on stuff. The naruto entries especially crack me up. It’s also cool to read about these romancey type moments from shows as I’m a bit of a fanboy of those moments myself.
Reason I still watch Naruto is because I’ve read all the manga up to most recent Shounen Jump chapters…and I like to see it in animated form. But yes Naruto often gets annoying when my favorite fights/scenes are dragged out and filled with…filler…but the fact that “I know what will happen so I’ll wait to see it” is what keeps me going. The anime on its own I probably would have dropped a while ago had I not known what cool things are ahead. (How about that latest chapter about Tobi? ;))
I gave up Gurren Lagan after ep 1 because it reminded me a lot of Abenobashi + more mecha. I loved Abenobashi but I’m not too big on Mecha (code geass was not my cup of tea). The only big Mecha show I’ve ever liked was Evangelion and that was mostly because it was my 2nd or 3rd anime back in the day when the only animes were about Mechas or girls with guns & big boobs.
And for the record, I dislike yaoi and yuri equally
Lagann lacks the “Sunrise factor” that is the issue with most mecha shows, a lot of the reasons its enjoyable is because mecha most is either “Mai-Hime” or “Gundam” … even if Lagann is very close to 90’s mecha shows.
But true enough … if you do not like mecha (one of my first anime was “Escaflowne” so I am biased towards mecha) there is no point in watching it.
@Arkon: It was Episode #14 at 16:26.
The look on her face just says it all.
http://www.veoh.com/videos/v792229gxxg8fak
Ah right. Must have blanked that from my mind for whatever reason as I didn’t recall it happening at all.
@Hinano: Heh, I recently broke down and caught up with the naruto manga (very interesting development with Tobi as you said. Did not see that coming.) so I’m in pretty much the same situation now. I think it was the one where they spent the entire episode breaking that boulder that made me break down and get reading the manga. I had already passed that point months before when I read the manga to get a taste of part 2(mainly done to give me strength enough to get through the fillers) which was why the episode was so frustrating because I wanted to see some of the fights asap. Now I just tend to flick through the subs to see my favourite parts and cry into my naruto pyjamas at the way they’ve ruined the series. J/k I wouldn’t want to stain my naruto pyjamas
[...] Man, I haven’t written about this show in a good long while. I’ve read a number of people who are either giving up on the show or are getting bored of it, and I can sort of see why. The show could potentially become one of those endless sitcoms, like Ranma, where the concept is milked for all its worth long after it ceases to be funny. [...]
I instinctively feel that I should be defending Hayate… But episode 18 really did suck.
Still, I expect much more from next. If HayateXMaria doesn’t deliver, then I won’t object to any complaints. Not that I’d stop watching it myself, but only because I’m stubborn. That’s why I continue to pay attention to L*S. (If you take a pneumatic chisel to the encrusted Kodansha whoredom, you will occasionally be rewarded with mildly entertaining slice-of-life humour.)
@Di Gi Kazune
> Moetan… let’s not even go there. It is a show for the uberlolicons. ’nuff said.
I disagree. Such a complaint reminds me of the people who described Love Hina as “just another harem”. I can’t stand loli-pandering (Higurashi) but the satirical framework of Moetan is fun to watch. Although I haven’t bought into it entirely; the writers haven’t convinced me that they won’t do something stupid later.