Honestly, that sucks. I’m just a filthy casual Beat 'em Up player, but even I know that there is a huge community around the genre that SF is just a tiny fraction of. And that’s not even counting the entire old-school arcade games. I’m not sure if the series can keep my interest if it’s just an uninterrupted SF6 ad.

If they don’t feature the Daigo Parry somehow in this show, I’m going to be pissed. I also wonder if this is just an SF ad or if they show off some other beat 'em ups as well.

Let’s be fair here: it was a brief conversation and a unfinished handkerchief! If that’s not enough to get someone’s sworn fealty, then I don’t know what does. Panties maybe.

I like that they’re trying to use dialogue / inner monologue to characterize Victoria, but it feels hamfisted sometimes.

They are reducing her thoughts quite a bit here. This is to be expected for an anime adaptation, but I feel like they reduce it more than usual here. On one hand, I am pleased that there aren’t extensive scenes of just inner monologue exposition. On the other hand, they cut now so much that a lot of her character and motivations are lost, and I agree that it feels hamfisted. As @Polkira@piefed.ca mentioned, she feels now “too perfect” without getting the exposition in her inner thoughts about why she is so perfect. Her character in the anime also feels less unfortunate. Maybe they will go into more detail in the next episodes so I’m not saying more in case of spoilers, but at this point in the LN it’s already clear to the reader that not everything is mirth and carefree wonder.

I’m okay with demon lords and magical girls, but some hikkikomori just getting a teaching job is where they lost me.

Was this an anime original? I don’t remember Diablo picking them up in the demon realm, just that he showed up with them at some point. Or was that maybe form bonus story? Then again, It’s been years since that part in the LN so I might have just forgotten.

Look at it this way: Why start with something divisive like this adaptation instead of something universally beloved like the 1995 movie? I also highly doubt that anyone not familiar with the setting would be able to follow what’s happening (at least in this first episode).

Most people outside this fandom don’t even know that it is based on a manga, yet even people who don’t usually watch anime know the movie. It’s iconic and, alongside Bladerunner, defined the look and tone of countless other works in the general “cyberpunk” genre.

The aerial combat scenes are sick.

There is one cut that was especially great, where they are fighting inside the clouds and Tanya’s computational orb and the fighter’s tracer rounds are lighting up the clouds around her from the inside. Some of the best compositing I’ve seen in a long time.

The hollywood “adaptation” shits all over GitS

I hate that one as well.

It’s not for you. But its hardly offensive to the franchise.

That depends on what you define as “the franchise”. If you define it as “the manga”, this might well be true. But if you see the franchise as “the old anime movie and series”, then it’s a different discussion. The themes in GitS exist in a lot of works that aren’t GitS. What defines the franchise is not its themes alone but a combination of all the aspects it’s made of. The underlying themes are just one of those. And I would argue that the tone and art style are a lot more defining in this particular series than some esoteric plot points. The art style and tone of the 1995 GitS movie, as well as Bladerunner, have been a defining feature of the entire cyberpunk genre. So, from my point of view, this is definitely offensive to the franchise. It’s like turning John Wick into a pastel colored show about a petting zoo and saying that it’s still the same because the theme of him liking dogs is still intact.

Also, just to reiterate, even if it weren’t GitS I wouldn’t like it. It’s not “uhh, it doesn’t look like the movie, so I don’t like it”. It’s “I don’t like it because everything about it is shit AND on top of that, it doesn’t even share the aesthetics of the movie”. I honestly can’t understand how someone could like this first episode. Exposition, plot, pacing, narration, animation, score, cinematography, editing. It was all over the place. It’s just not a good episode. And it’s an even worse GitS episode.

I love those behind the scenes shots.

Here is the finished ending sequence for comparison

The only thing about it that I consider positive was the opening song. I dislike everything else, from character designs, art style, pacing, cinematography, color palette, character expressions, choreography, plot structure, exposition, score, to animation, and whatever else there is.

And before someone uhmakschually me, I am aware that this is based on the manga, but the anime movie is a lot more iconic than the manga, and to me GitS is the 1995 movie. This version here, I hate, and no “Uhm, but the manga…” does change that.

And just to be extra clear, even if this wasn’t an existing iconic IP, I would still criticize all the same points. Being so different from the iconic movie just gives it that extra push from “Not for me; I don’t care” to “This shits all over something that I like; I hate it”.

What do you expect? The Woobie was told to stay in the carriage, so she stays in the carriage. Otherwise, how else could Prince Perfect rescue the oblivious saint of convenient plot devices?

One of those extra slow characters.

she could also just derail everything by just saying something after being rescued:

“Oh hey, by the way, that fugly bitch over there? Yeah, she wants to kill me and my lifeblood to curse some princes or whatnot that are in the line to the throne before her little bastard son. Would be swell if y’all could stop her. thankies.”

But, noooo. Better stay silent and be upset that the guy who rescued her spoke a lie about her virginity.

Also, get a better executioner for Christ’s sake. What type of axe can be knocked of course so much by a stupid goblet?

Yep. I hate this exactly as much as I expected I would hate it. Maybe a little bit more.

SEIZON SENRYAKU!

This is burned into my brain like Chitanda Eru’s “Watashi kininarimasu!”. I mean it’s been 15 years and the first thing my mind does when reading “mawaru penguindrum” is screaming the catchphrase.

Good first episode. Seems quite faithful so far.

Don’t worry. It’s very different apart from that tropey setup.

Hmm. No-pan Kimono Azusa. Great start to the season.