I am pissed off.
I am bloody pissed off.
I am downright PISSED OFF.
WHAT HAPPENED TO MY BLOODY SPECIAL A? Instead of seeing something like Ouran, I get an Ass-ran filled with Naruto tards trying to act Japanese. I wanted to see something that resembles a decent comedy with a group of likable characters. I got more. I got a grating mixture of excellent comedy that continues to impress me. Oh, I mean impress as in “how the hell did they make an above average manga be absolute shit in anime form”. I am so impressed with the ABSOLUTE COMEDY.
I will try to keep myself from too much anger, lest I feel like tearing the ridiculous skull of the Gonzo director working on this abomination. I will want to eat my words later in the series, and oh please, let me eat my words. I will thank the gods for giving me justified deliverance for a thousand years of pain. I really cannot see it owning my ass (pun strictly not intended).
What went terribly wrong for Special A? What made it so bad that it does not EVEN become good?
The character designs
I was initially fine with the character design. I mean, I am used to CLAMP designs with long legs and slim beautiful figures. Screw them for making Barbie-shaped dolls out of anime characters, but at least it felt right in the series. However, it just didn’t work out for me this time. The legs are not only very long, but it feels like really out of proportion. It’s like someone in Gonzo decided that it is time to combine anime with his pet, the daddy long legs. The fusion of anime character and insectarachnid just does not equate to Spiderman awesomeness.
It does not work. Serious. Mind you, I love spiders.
The voices, my god
You can say that voices complement or pull down an anime. I have complained about this since the first episode. Despite my appreciation of Yuko Goto’s efforts as Mikuru (which is not saying much), it is clear that they have casted the absolute wrong person to voice Hikari. Yes, she is definitely trying her best and Yuko Goto is a very talented seiyuu. However, her voice absolutely fails. Before you go on Goto-sama on me, think properly before you respond.
If you do not know it’s Yuko Goto, will you think that Hikari’s voice was fitted for her character. It’s like Goto does all right in normal lines but when it is time to hit spunky levels, she just does not generate that raw power that is required of Hikari. It’s like anticipating a mega orgasm at a hot chick, only to realize that you have been viewing ladyboy porn.
In fact, the last thing that broke my back was Kei father’s voice. Yes, I am a camel because I feel so abused and weighted by this anime. Yes, he is supposed to be young, but I do not remember that he has to sound like a total faggot. If Gonzo’s aim is to make him so annoying that even gays will run away from him, then they have succeeded.
What else, how about the OP and Gonzo-modifications
I know I am no musician like David Byrne. However, I can definitely tell that an OP is sang by someone who cannot bloody sing! In addition, it is so easy to blame Gonzo for adapting and screwing it up. I have resisted all attempts to do that, and in fact has fought others about the adjustments done to Bokurano before. However, Gonzo, you are on your own.
You have annoyed a nice guy who usually is too happy to lavish praise on shoujo series by screwing it up so massively with stupid changes that you think might impress the audience. Rather than doing it, I come out watching every episode feeling like “what the hell happened to the feelings of joy and happiness”. Before you hit me straight as the “manga whiner”, you can go take a look at my sparkling reviews of Vampire Knight, a SHOUJO SERIES MIND YOU, where changing the canon material made it even more awesome.
Sorry, Gonzo, Special A never truly had a plot. However, you even lost the script. You even lost the pet dog that is supposed to send the China-imitation script over. Good job, good bye and good riddance.
35 Comments
Good review. I agree wholeheartedly. Nothing in this world will make me watch this and say I like it. Nothing. (Well maybe some really good spoilers or a boatload of money, but hey, I’m only human.)
Yea it sucks, let’s face it, but someone’s gotta stick around and slap its ass with a wet towel. ORE NI MAKASETE
I think you are elevating the SA manga to something more than it is. It had generically drawn characters (I could rarely tell the bishies apart by their looks), and the story died for about 3 volumes as they just kept doing more and more challenges. I mean, the premise is interesting, but I don’t think you should have gone in expecting some amazing work here. It’s mildly entertaining but that’s about it. And if you want to complain about voice casting, Soul Eater is 10x worse than this is (taking the OP out of consideration).
I disagree, Maka’s voice in Soul Eater rocks!
Anyway, I think that the major culprit here is a bad staff overall. The director has never directed before, and this series just shows that he just isn’t good at it. Gonzo offers a lot of support to rearrange parts of the manga to the director’s vision (just take a look at how well this went with Bokura no), but if the director has no vision, then the series will indeed turn out crap.
First off. Arachnids must die! They give poor D.J panic attacks.
Secondly *pats Impz on the back* At least you have Vampire Knight.*
Well you should certainly never depend on gonzo.
Other than that, Umm… well I hated on the anime without even watching it because I felt the manga sucked. I was really bothered by the way every outcome was so predictable and the characters had so little too them, which goes for everybody but especially ranks 3 through 7 of special A. Comparisons to Ouran are just tragic, there are funnier, crazier characters with way more layers of awesome to them (Tamaki and Haruhi for the win!) So I said all this when special A was 1st being talked about here, how I dropped the manga and everything, but now I;ve watched it, I really like it. It’s light hearted fluffy fun.
So yeah.
LOL! I don’t like Special A OR Vampire Knight
I’ve never seen Special A but I never tried because I hated the pictures
I watched Vampire Knight up to ep3 and got bored lols *please don’t kill me Impz*
I’ve never even read the manga, and I think it’s disappointing so far. I don’t really have a problem with the characters designs (or even Hikari’s voice to this point) but the story just hasn’t been, well, funny, at least to me.
I have to agree with what Josh said…I generally don’t have the manga versions for comparison but the story itself just isn’t catching me. I’m holding out for 1 more episode but I have a feeling it will be the last one I watch.
Yes, he is supposed to be young, but I do not remember that he has to sound like a total faggot. If Gonzo’s aim is to make him so annoying that even gays will run away from him, then they have succeeded.
… UH. I get that this is a rant, but what? Not every gay man talks like a screaming queen, you know.
my main problem with this series is the poorly executed scenarios. The comedy just gets cued at the wrong times and in the process, butchered. Pales in comparison to the original but hey, this is GONZO. S.A actually has one or two good writers doing the screenplay, script or storyboard depending on which series you’ve been a fan of. Not sure what went wrong along the way. Voice casting was so-so but could have been better if they kept the Drama CD cast, despite it being rarely (or never) the case. Asano Masumi nailed more energy in Hikari than Gotou Yuuko did, even though the latter is talented and is trying her best. In this case, it seems it’s more to do with voice matching than acting.
Pretty much covered everything I disliked about this show, although I don’t care for the OP(I skip it) and have overlooked the character designs, hoping that it’ll at least deliver on the lulz. It never did.
Sweet Jesus. Kei’s dad’s voice was like listening to nails on a chalkboard. It made me cringe so much that I couldn’t watch the rest of the episode. Since when did young = pre-pubescent sounding 8 year old? Isn’t he still an adult? Even Kei’s little brother’s voice was deeper! Like WTF.
ahaha… yeah, when I first read the plot, I was thinking “finally a series where the female character doesn’t get swooped up by the male…” – that kind of died in episode 2.
I’ve always wondered… how do they stay that smart when they barely study? Heck, Hikari even fell asleep – if she has only that much endurance (cram = not that hard) during her cramming! How on Earth did she become #2? They spend more time drinking $2000 tea than studying!
@Hypertoast: Heh, I think I will still watch it. Blogging it is a different matter.
@Hinano: You are the woman for the job. I don’t like dissing series. They make me feel bitter.
@Calawain: Well, I actually was more tolerable for Soul Eater. I didn’t hear the seiyuu carefully since I am just stuck on Episode 1, but ya. Nonetheless, I thought that SA manga is somewhat hilarious, but the hilarity stopped in the anime. It’s like once per episode. That’s not good enough.
@Psgels: They got to recruit better directors that actually know about anime viewing. It’s like they decide that emotional scenes are not required, and replace them with half-baked crap.
@DJ: Spiders are cute. And yes, I still have itazura no kiss and VK.
@D4: I never blame a company for everything. In fact, a huge company usually will have more fails than success. Kyoto Animation is perhaps one of the rare companies that has more, but it probably will have some failures as it continues to grow. Nonetheless, despite the lack of depth in the manga, I expect this show to be an enjoyable ride.
It is now a ride given by an elephant. Total fail.
@Blissmo: You got bored? *places needle in voodoo doll*
@Josh & Caitlin: Hmm, that is true. i expected to laugh a lot since I laugh easily. I even laugh at stupid jokes that are not meant to be laughed by a normal person. I will just watch it for more lulz of the failed attempt.
@Helena: That’s why he’s even worse. Gay are normal humans just like us who do not mind effiminate people. His dad – not even close.
@Keiri: Very much so. Gotou Yuko can definitely pull off a cute voice (which is about the only voice I heard of her) but anyone else just doesn’t work. She cant’ sing too. Sigh.
@Shin: Cool. Well, i generally try to get into the mood of viewing while listening to the OP. It turns me off.
@Seaweed: No, he’s still in the womb. Bastard kei’s father. They spoiled my rather decent impression of him.
/me pats Impz
Glad to know I made the right decision of not following this anime nyahaha
It’s not that bad. At least if you know how it’s going to end, you can spend time doing other things while it plays in the background. This episode was better in my opinion (mostly because I hate the student body president with a passion so great, not even the ocean can quench it’s fiery hatred)
I kind of wish Itazura had Special A’s budget… that show also features a clueless girl and a giant jerk as the main characters, and has the same class layering system, but for various reasons related to the relative crap of Special A’s “challenge of the week” story, comes off as funny/sweet-ish.
That ladyboy site was so wrong. I should stop haphazardly clicking on links…
After reading this, I went back and listened to the OP, and oh my floating blue bananas is it bad! Okay, to be fair, it’s decent but when she tries to hit the high notes it goes all wonky. And the Engrish! The Engrish makes me cringe. When she sings ‘Try it!’ that’s when I feel the need to turn off the sound.
I swear… I’ll continue watching it, but OMG KEI’S FATHER INDEED.
As a manga fan, I’m pretty disappointed, true. And in fact, I think if they screw my favorite character up (if he even appears) I think I’ll just go.
Bai bai to them. D8
SA feels forced and it makes me wonder how exactly they’re going to portray some further events, seeing as how things get pretty emotional and whatnot.
Well basically, excluding my usual venomous ranting, both SA and VK anime versions left me disappointed. Manga for me.
well, when i heard their voices in episode 1, i just stop on watching. I told myself read the manga, its better that way. They should learn from Soul Eater. LOL! How i wish the voice actors from Ouran are the ones doing Special A. T_T
@Jen: I thought it could be good. I really thought it could. I had higher hopes for this compared to VK. Guess which one is becoming a total gem?
@K.K: HAHAHAHA, i thought that the student president in the manga is actually decently funny. However, I think the director decided that he needs to be more annoying as a punching bag and looking like a trap. However, this trap is ugly. Very very bad move.
Were you thrown into a trap, my friend? ^^
@Blue: HAHAHAHAAH, the engrish. I didn’t even get to the stage. I just pressed the button to get to the episode after the first listen.
@Chey: Same here. I think I know who you are talking about. He’s a very cool character and is likely to make or break.
That we should get:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_aircraft_carrier_Admiral_Kuznetsov
+
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Su-33
+
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H-41
= PROFIT!!!
Yuko Goto should go back to being Kaede Fuyou. Seriously.
Totally agree with the review! Every new episode so far makes my head boil, but this one was a total killer :E
Why, oh why did Special A get such suckers as producers? :’(
Truly, it’s not the best-of-the-best-story ever, but it’s quite good and funny and it could’ve turned into a sweet candy worth watching. This crap they made of it isn’t worth of anything.
Guess I’ll continue to watch it just to see if they can screw it even more (a bit of mazochistic here, yeah). I have no doubts they will :E
@KCT: or mikuru. She is better off that way.
@Jasana: Heh, I was trying to control myself and be positive for the first three episodes. It’s apparent that the manga isn’t anything of a fresh wind. It’s standard stuff, but it is enjoyable and a very good laugh. This anime now makes me laugh, but in the “so bad, it is a laughable attempt”. I am surprised that we have only intelligent commenters here. There is no one flaming me, lulz
Impz, you are awsome.
You just totally voiced my whole opinion on this anime. It’s true that it was exciting to see all these good mangas getting their turn to be animated. But when you actually watch it, it feels like you are watching some low quality filler episodes of a long running series(i.e Naruto). That makes me quite sad.
Now if someone could start critisize VA as well…… >_>
I haven’t watched this episode garh
I don’t share the same opinion as you perhaps because i watch this anime with my mum so since she knows nothing of the manga so she enjoys it and since i’m concerned whether she’d like it or not i don’t watch it too attentively probably due to my over reliance on subtitles so i kinda blank the voices out
About the opening i never watched it until you talked about how rubbish it was- curiosity killed the cat…perhaps maybe since you’ve read the manga the expectations are different from those who want to watch a shoujo with some good old classic comedy therefore you are currently …losing hope but i guess you’ve lost all hope with this angry post
*Gives a BIG hug to Impz*
I completely understand your indignation. I stopped watching it at episode 2, you’re really brave if you could get to watch more than this.
About Gonzo I usually like their character design and sound tracking, and hate their adaptation of the original story. I loved watching Trinity Blood and Chrno Crusade untill the anime started to diverge from the manga/novel. ¬_¬ God, they should NOT make up some random ending just because the anime had just 26 episodes.
And with SA they didn’t even make a decent OST. =/
Do I suck for sorta liking to OP? ._.
Eh, I have to agree… Not nearly as good as the manga and my goodness… What the heck was up with Kei’s dad????
I’m okay with Hikari’s voice. Not the best (I haven’t heard the drama CD), but it does fit. As for the OP… yeah, I wince when I heard it. =S
This episode was meh…. Too much stupid filler and the comedy was very forced. They’ve really buried the things I liked about the manga. *sigh* I’m going to continue to watch in the hopes of it getting better. Thank you for the valiant effort in trying to blog this!
Well wait, there were two character that I expect. I do think the one that is evil and scheming might come out soon enough, but the other… Mebbe not. D8 But either way, PLEASE MAKE ;__;
Spiders are bad, just like this anime.
@Sl33py: heh, Naruto? It’s NOT that bad yet. Now, you are just being awfully mean, tsk tsk. ^^..
@Bamboowitch: hahahaha, i cannot believe that your mother is so cool to watch this with you. I think that the seiyuu for most is fine, but when the main leads feel so awkward, it just doesn’t work.
I pity having to “tempt” you to listen to the OP. I apologise for my bad mistake for allowing you to suffer from total agony!
@Tohri: NO MORE BLOGGING…i think. I do not see that this might become slightly better. The laughs are not there at all. I do not mind if it deviates. In fact, I don’t mind even if it’s not as stellar as the manga (which is just average but fluffy happiness). However, do not give me crap and expect me to accept it.
@Nagato: Nope. You just have no ears. BURN!!!
@JC: His dad decided that being 3 years old is better. No matter you have Kei who has such a cool attitude. He probably trained it from facing a retarded dad.
@Chey: Heh, ya…..i pray for your sanity.
@DJ: Spiders ain’t bad, but this anime = no comment.
Gawd. People need to get a hobby to share with their parents
It helps with the generation gap XD I need to find a hobby besides ‘discussion’ (angry conversation) with my dad >0<
Is it really that odd that mum’s like watching anime?
Haha. I found the song enlighting- I was like wow… I can sing compared to her, so don’t feel bad about it – I can hardly follow a tune O.o
S.A the manga, has some hit and miss chapters, however the art is beautiful and the emotion emitting from each character comes off as real and quite engaging. They lose all that in the anime form, I agree with everything that Impz is saying in regards to each and every downfall. With each episode, I find myself getting more engrossed in doodling, doing my nails, checking out gaming magazines, making instant noodles.. because frankly, S.A the anime bores the crap out of me. I just finished reading volume 4 of the manga and although it started off a bit slow it got really interesting halfway through and got really good till the end. I think the manga might get more interesting as time goes on, the anime? Pfft. I no longer wait for each episode, I just download and watch as background just to know how bad it is. You know what it’s like with shoujo series, ya gotta watch em all
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