zaterdag 15 oktober 2022

(Average+) Skeleton Knight in Another World

Series in one sentence:
Skeleton man is from our world, but why?

Series in more sentences:

A man suddenly awakens inside the body of his in-game avatar, but when reminded of his choice of race and power level, decides he shouldn't stand out too much.

After helping an elven warrior who learns of his appearance, he lies to her about his predicament and calls it a curse. When she brings up a possible cure and he experiments with his own magic, he begins to believe he might very well be cursed.


An alright anime with unnecessary flaws, one of them being the choice of genre. Why is the main protagonist from another world? Why does he care so little to be stuck in a game, or a walking skeleton? It muddles the story, as the mystery of a knight suddenly finding himself cursed is interesting
enough. Now the mystery is "I'm from Earth, how did I get here?", but it's one the main character himself doesn't care for.
Animes like these rarely bring the protagonists back home, this is a red herring mystery, for lack of a better word.

Also, that molestation scene the show opens up with is really.. not great. It's not the only instance of a woman about to get sexually assaulted. A cheap way to make us hate a villain, I wish there was less of it in anime.


(Average) Cyberpunk: Edgerunners

Series in one sentence:
Team Minor Characters does random shit and dies.

Series in more sentences:

In a futuristic world where robotic implants are par for the course, David Martinez suddenly loses his mother and has to deal with the many bills she used to take care of. He considers working for a well-paid group of mercenary thugs when the opportunity arises, if only because he feels to owe them for taking one of their possessions.

High on confidence -thanks to a powerful cyber spine implanted in his back- he works hard to earn everyone's respect, but his obsession with himself and his metal body takes him down a destructive path.


Oh no. This was boring.

Cyberpunk fans did this show a disservice by praising it so loudly. I don't play the game, my decision to watch Edgerunners was purely because of the high ratings. I expected a great, action-packed drama, but was hit with disappointment since episode one. I struggled very hard to sit through this.

What the show and I had in common is that we didn't care for these characters. Nobody received a proper amount of screen time, the friendships and romances just suddenly existed.
Why does David like his team? They're violent, planned to kill him, and their little moments of bonding were unimpressive. Why are David and Lucy in love? The parts they actually had chemistry were fake; Lucy was tricking him for his spine, and the moment her job is done, you just see her moping. Her playful self doesn't make a return, even when they're officially dating. How am I supposed to feel for these two? The ending of the series falls flat because of it.

I don't like the world of Cyberpunk. Human beings giving up their flesh for hideous robotic shit I find an implausible future, nor do I buy a scenario in which struggling poor people can afford even a screw in their head.
Inserting yourself with metal comes with dangerous risks as well and only shady people seem to benefit from stuffing weapons inside their arms -so how did human society build itself around this otherwise pointless trend? Is everyone an aspiring criminal? For Pete's sake! David removed his own dick! He has no dick!

I liked how any character risked dying at any moment, but again, why care about these casualties if the characters involved maybe had 5 minutes of dialogue in total throughout the whole season?
These twists and turns would've been very impactful if there was real time spent developing the cast and their relationships.