1st Topic Discussion: The 4th Anime of Gaming!?
Greetings readers of the AW blog this is Blitzzz147 here with our first anime discussion topic of the day, The 4th Anime of Gaming!?: In one of my previous topic discussions I spoke about the Big 3 of Gaming which were about three animes in particular that were based around games, these being BTOOOM!, Sword Art Online and Accel World. Now I have revived this topic with the addition of a new anime, recently I began to read over my last topic article and started to wonder about one anime in particular, however I never really considered this anime to be a part of the Big 3 of Gaming but decided that I should at least discuss why I never included it in the first place, so the name of this so called 4th Anime of Gaming is none other than “The World God Only Knows”. And here is the synopsis:
The World God Only Knows, an Anime set in the modern world introduces our main Protagonist Keima Katsuragi, a second year high school student who also happens to be an avid gamer who is referred to online as the God of Conquests for his legendary skills in being able to conquer any women within the world of visual novels. However in reality he is nothing but an intelligent yet geeky kid with a video game obsession, he one day receives an email of a contract to conquer girls, Keima accepts thinking it was an invitation to a game without realizing that he had actually signed a contract with a demon named Elsie. Elsie explains to Keima that by accepting the contract Keima has agreed to be assigned to a mission in which he must help Elsie capture loose souls that have escaped from Hell as they only hide within the hearts of girls, in which case Keima must conquer these girl’s hearts, make them fall in love with him, thus the loose soul will be forced out and reduced to confinement by Elsie. Keima then explains that he is only a God within the virtual world and has no real life experience and tries to quit the job; however Elsie explains that if Keima violates the contract then he along with Elsie will be beheaded and killed by a cursed collar set upon by the demons. Now Keima must use his knowledge in visual novels and capture girls’ hearts in reality or he shall suffer the punishment of death.
This Anime displays several and major differences towards the Big 3 of Gaming, one would be that it’s a completely different taste in genre compared to the Big 3 of Gaming. What is interesting is that BTOOOM! and The World God Only Knows both share the same type of synopsis, for example: “The main character is a gamer (Ryouta Sakamoto/Keima Katsuragi), he is put in a life threatening situation (Ryouta is kidnapped and put on an island where people have to kill one another/Keima is given a collar that will kill him), and the only way to get out of it is that he must play his game in real life (Sakamoto must play BTOOOM! in order to survive/Keima must make girls fall in love with him just like in his Visual Novels in order for the collar to come off).” In saying that do they have a similar plot type? Yes, are they the same type of genre? Hell No. BTOOOM! and The World God Only Knows share similarities but are in no way the same Anime, BTOOOM! influences heavily on the Psychological and Action aspects to the story, whereas The World God Only Knows is a Romantic/Comedy type of show where it’s there to entertain for laughs and giggles. This is the main reason why it was not included nor mentioned within my discussion for The Big 3 of Gaming because it bears no resemblance to the other 3 nor does it encourage Action or Adventure, now granted some may deem it unfair to cast it aside on the fact that it’s not an Action/Adventure type show and to that I would say that it is a fairly solid argument, because technically it is a show based on a gamer struggling between the lines of fiction and reality much like Sakamoto, Kirito and Haruyuki. The World God Only Knows is based on a gamer, but the one problem it has is that it’s not based on the aspects of the game.
Keima does use his knowledge of the game to assist him in his real life situation and they mostly do succeed, however the overall plot of the show doesn’t necessarily involve itself with the actual game. In SAO and Accel World both main characters are sent inside the game which is heavily involved with the main story, as is BTOOOM! where all major characters must be forced to play the game in real life not to mention that the game is also run by a Gaming Company. But in The World God Only Knows this is not the case, the focus of its main story is Keima and Elsie, Keima must utilize his knowledge of the game but does not technically involve aspects of the actual game, and it influences more of a comedic, a romantic and sometimes a fantasy aspect as Elsie is a demon with mystical powers. The story bases itself on Keima and Elsie finding these loose souls which aren’t aspects within the games, also the games that Keima plays are dating simulators which means its more or less a game trying to simulate events in real life, whereas the games such as BTOOOM!, SAO, ALO and Brain Burst hold absolutely zero realism. I guess what I’m trying to say is that The World God Only Knows is an Anime based on a gamer but not an Anime based on a game
2nd Topic Discussion: Ending is Paramount
Now our second Anime discussion topic for the day will be on,
Ending is Paramount: There are many great Anime that have graced us with their
presence along the years, some of which I have referred to as works of art, but
what makes most of these Animes great?, the ending and this is why I am here
today to talk about the thing that makes a good Anime into a great Anime, that
being it’s ending. In my opinion an
Anime cannot be considered a master piece without a solid ending, I have seen
many great Anime in my time and a few I considered great whilst watching them,
however every time I encountered the ending my perspective on the whole thing
was skewed based on the solidity of the ending, for example: The ending of
Death Note.
For those of you who do not know what Death Note is, it is basically an Anime about a high school student who finds a strange notebook with the ability to kill people, he then sparks a rivalry with a genius detective and all hell breaks loose. This Anime holds a close place in my heart being one of my Top 5 Favourite Anime of All Time, however it is not my most favourite ever as I believe no Anime is perfect, but regardless this Anime was amazing, the story was fantastic, the characters were engaging and the soundtrack were just god like, but with all of these facts on my side there is one aspect of Death Note that I did not like in particular, the ending. Death Note’s ending was just terrible, seriously in its final 12 episodes the whole show completely changed gears and started to lose the effects that it had when the series began, although the build up towards the ending and the shocking plot twist leading up to it was one of the best parts of Death Note, the ending could have been better, in my opinion I would have liked it to end around episode 25 where they killed off one of the best characters and I’m not the only one who thinks this. There is a large majority of people who were disappointed in how the show ended, around episode 25 Death Note was reaching the peak of Anime greatness until it slowly plummeted down to an above average show. The main reason for this was because the show was unique, there wasn’t a clear view of black and white, you had two characters that seemed good but at the same time they weren’t, it really broke the line of good vs evil, until it shifted into a lame old revenge plot which has been done more than once before, and that really spoiled the show for me.
But enough on the negative side, on the brighter side of things there is one Anime that stands in my Top 5 Favourite Anime of All Time that has a very solid ending, because to this day I will always respect and commemorate a very special ending, one that I have considered to be the best ending to an Anime ever: The Ending of Code Geass.
Code Geass is an Anime based on a Global War between many fictional countries and the key of this wasr being a young man with the ability of the Geass, a power of the king. Code Geass has a mix of Action, Comedy, Romance, Sci-Fi and Psychological genres within the series and they blend perfectly, the animation is fluid, the story is unpredictable, there are so many characters with great individual development and the soundtrack is amazingly good. What makes this story so great would have to be all the plot twists, Code Geass is one Anime that has so many plot twists that characters constantly shift sides from good and evil, even the main protagonist is hard to figure out. Many fans have mentioned that the plot twists make the story inconsistent based on the ridiculousness character and story elements shifting at a fast paced, however in my opinion these mainly add unpredictability to the show and keeps the viewer interested towards the end, which is a major reason why the ending is so good. As the show reached its climax it was hard to tell what direction the show was going and where the ending would be, but thanks to great writing it ended in such a monumental and explosive way, with the sacrifice of the main protagonist. This death wasn’t just a sad and epic death it was the biggest plot twist of the entire show, he was able to make the audience believe that he was an evil dictator masquerading as a noble emperor; however in the end he became an intellectual martyr by turning the world against him and staging his own death thus bringing peace to the world. Anyone who has seen Code Geass can agree that this ending is among the best if not the best ending ever, and with that being said I keep to my main statement in saying that the ending of an Anime is one of the most crucial elements to the Anime, for without a solid ending leaves disappointment for fans and viewers everywhere.
Now on an extra note the one thing that I have always despised more than a bad ending is no ending at all, and by that I’m referring to shows such as Naruto and One Piece whose episodes count up to 500+ with no viewable ending in sight. These particular shows are labelled as overrated and underappreciated because of the lack of conclusion, granted these shows stir up controversy for their long run but they become so inconsistent without an ending. This is why I believe Animes that are at least 25 to 50 episodes long are more often than not great Animes which is why the ending is always paramount, and with that I leave you ladies and gentlemen Blitzzz147 logging out.
For those of you who do not know what Death Note is, it is basically an Anime about a high school student who finds a strange notebook with the ability to kill people, he then sparks a rivalry with a genius detective and all hell breaks loose. This Anime holds a close place in my heart being one of my Top 5 Favourite Anime of All Time, however it is not my most favourite ever as I believe no Anime is perfect, but regardless this Anime was amazing, the story was fantastic, the characters were engaging and the soundtrack were just god like, but with all of these facts on my side there is one aspect of Death Note that I did not like in particular, the ending. Death Note’s ending was just terrible, seriously in its final 12 episodes the whole show completely changed gears and started to lose the effects that it had when the series began, although the build up towards the ending and the shocking plot twist leading up to it was one of the best parts of Death Note, the ending could have been better, in my opinion I would have liked it to end around episode 25 where they killed off one of the best characters and I’m not the only one who thinks this. There is a large majority of people who were disappointed in how the show ended, around episode 25 Death Note was reaching the peak of Anime greatness until it slowly plummeted down to an above average show. The main reason for this was because the show was unique, there wasn’t a clear view of black and white, you had two characters that seemed good but at the same time they weren’t, it really broke the line of good vs evil, until it shifted into a lame old revenge plot which has been done more than once before, and that really spoiled the show for me.
But enough on the negative side, on the brighter side of things there is one Anime that stands in my Top 5 Favourite Anime of All Time that has a very solid ending, because to this day I will always respect and commemorate a very special ending, one that I have considered to be the best ending to an Anime ever: The Ending of Code Geass.
Code Geass is an Anime based on a Global War between many fictional countries and the key of this wasr being a young man with the ability of the Geass, a power of the king. Code Geass has a mix of Action, Comedy, Romance, Sci-Fi and Psychological genres within the series and they blend perfectly, the animation is fluid, the story is unpredictable, there are so many characters with great individual development and the soundtrack is amazingly good. What makes this story so great would have to be all the plot twists, Code Geass is one Anime that has so many plot twists that characters constantly shift sides from good and evil, even the main protagonist is hard to figure out. Many fans have mentioned that the plot twists make the story inconsistent based on the ridiculousness character and story elements shifting at a fast paced, however in my opinion these mainly add unpredictability to the show and keeps the viewer interested towards the end, which is a major reason why the ending is so good. As the show reached its climax it was hard to tell what direction the show was going and where the ending would be, but thanks to great writing it ended in such a monumental and explosive way, with the sacrifice of the main protagonist. This death wasn’t just a sad and epic death it was the biggest plot twist of the entire show, he was able to make the audience believe that he was an evil dictator masquerading as a noble emperor; however in the end he became an intellectual martyr by turning the world against him and staging his own death thus bringing peace to the world. Anyone who has seen Code Geass can agree that this ending is among the best if not the best ending ever, and with that being said I keep to my main statement in saying that the ending of an Anime is one of the most crucial elements to the Anime, for without a solid ending leaves disappointment for fans and viewers everywhere.
Now on an extra note the one thing that I have always despised more than a bad ending is no ending at all, and by that I’m referring to shows such as Naruto and One Piece whose episodes count up to 500+ with no viewable ending in sight. These particular shows are labelled as overrated and underappreciated because of the lack of conclusion, granted these shows stir up controversy for their long run but they become so inconsistent without an ending. This is why I believe Animes that are at least 25 to 50 episodes long are more often than not great Animes which is why the ending is always paramount, and with that I leave you ladies and gentlemen Blitzzz147 logging out.
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