Netoge no Yome wa Onnanoko ja Nai to Omotta? – 10-12 [END]
It’s all fun and games, really…
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Hey folks, long time no see. This time I got a three-fer-finale. So how did the show pan out? |
Raids and Maids
Alley Cats Raid Time!
I really do hate putting off talking about a weekly show; there’s just a part of me that reflexively chides myself for what I should be doing and the fact that I made an excuse not to do it. But sometimes them’s the breaks. Ya don’t have to do it weekly for each show, really! For shows like Netoge, you get what you get, and that means a blogger such as myself has to struggle to put a paragraph or two together to justify the “look-see”. You can only talk about the atmosphere a show gives off so many times before what you have to say loses some of it’s impact.
Everything is better with giant raid golem things…
But darn it, the atmosphere is what makes this show so much fun and so very interesting. We could have had a story that went down the other pant leg, so to speak. It could have been the heartbreaking story of a painfully shy girl that never made a real friend, never felt any true value for herself…a girl that retreated instead of taking that timid step forward. That’s what this show was really about. Taking that first timid step forward. So instead of despair, they choose to meet this with kindness, and let the game and especially this arc’s Raid story as a stand in for some of the cruelties of the outside world. Good use of metaphor, if not a little overextended…But, in taking a look at the whole series, there isn’t a scene, or a line of dialogue that doesn’t move the plot forward or advance the atmosphere this show initially established, nothing was wasted in maintaining or keeping consistent to it’s tone. That’s not something to be underestimated, as lots of shows try to hard to bring everything and the kitchen sink to a story, and manage to only show us the bungle.
School Festival? Yes, maids, it’s almost a requirement!
In that regard I think it shares a great degree in common with a lot of anime, and indeed with the rest of the Project No. 9 studio catalog, specially Saikin, Imouto no Yousu ga Chotto Okashiinda ga. That is another story of young girl that struggles to find her place, and there she has a ghost possessing her and (someone that cannot make any more life choices) pushing her forward to make life choices, even the ones that embarrass her or make her feel a bit out of her depth. It also has a supernatural chastity belt, which has nothing to do with Netoge I realize, but that part of it’s very specific and funny charm.
Legendary Age…
So what happened these three episodes? They played a Legendary Age raid as part of the cultural festival that’s what! Also, something to do with a maid cafe that they totally showed us so little of. Now, the raid is something I cannot even muster up much to talk about – cause I don’t even vidya…LOL. I suppose I could look some stuff up, but I won’t…cause I won’t…. well really, it’ll just sound obviously fake and like I’m trying to hard anyway. I mean I had a few favorite moments in the game world with Schew being her usual badass self, and with Master not even doing good at PVP, coming to her own personal odds. Sette being part of the trap for the finale was quite cute as well. But honestly, you saw the same stuff I did, it came off straight-forward, and most of you know more about the MMO raid world than I do anyway; and it only really went the one layer deeper.
Is there anything you can add, Schew?
But that one layer is one well worth exploring. Finding self worth and trying to get out of your shell, no matter how much it hurts. Pain is serious, but it can be temporary compared to life-long positive experiences we get by enduring it. That’s Ako, and the girl we found offline…and the show in a nutshell. It might have over-extended a metaphor or two here and there, and sometimes Ako’s character did come off as overly clingy, but I can accept those when the rest of the affair is as well done as this. Nishimura was a stand up guy, and both Akane and Kyou grew a bit themselves when they looked at what they needed to do as friends to both Ako and the hapless idiot boy.So…not the highest of highs anime has ever achieved, but not the low that some churlish ‘know it all” fans might try to place it without a second glace.
Really?
After all, someday we may have virtual experiences that can totally replicate and maybe even replace “real” ones. Maybe even leaving any hot-button contentious issues aside cause all of us live in a VR and those issues are solved by re-writing the programming. But that day isn’t today, and until then…well, we still get the interrupted kiss, cause stupid trope use….hell, that might even become virtual to, if you’re into that sort of thing, hell we know it will…So to wrap it all up.
Really REALLY!
tl;dr Just looking at this show from the Spring Catalog, I didn’t intend to cover this one. So, all in all I really enjoyed this one, and it was a genuine pleasure to watch every single week. I’ll be looking out for more from this studio, as I think they’ve got a great touch with their own storytelling style. Cheers….
Thanks for Watching!
Wheeeeeeee!
About skylion
All around nerd that enjoys just about any anime genre. I love history, politics, public policy, the sciences, literature, arts...pretty much anything can make me geeky...except sports. Follow me @theskylion
POWUH: 400-499 with 445 comments
THAT INTERRUPTED KISS!!!!! Insubordinate…..and churlish!!!
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Dammit, of all the tropes they had to exploit, they should have subverted the Interrupted Kiss one.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I would have been fine with interrupting it… after they actually kissed. That would have been a nice change and still gotten the point across.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
…yes, a change of pace would suit the industry to a tee…
POWUH: 400-499 with 445 comments
exactly; they subverted the whole group of girls liking the one main lead that i was almost certain they’d subvert this one to. The sad thing is that the kiss would have added some closure to the story because it would have demonstrated the shattering of the game reality hideki wanted so badly from ako; for her to acknowledge him for him. I mean i guess the point still got across but sometimes the audience like icing on their cake dammit
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
…and today was my birthday, I would have liked icing…