Karifean
is a Level 30 Priest
Witch of Theatergoing

Just a bit. The last thing we did was go out on a date with Papyrus. That was pretty funny.

You know, I wasn't really looking forward to the twin route in IMHHW because one of the two routes is like a weird threesome relationship with two almost underaged girls, but man if this didn't hit me in the personal feels:

(SPOILER)

Ah the traditional American kotatsu

http://awkwardzombie.com/index.php?page=0&comic=120913

I might just have to play the first one first

Feel free to correct me if I already asked you this, but what are your thoughts on Disney movies?

Daganronpa 2 interests me more than the first but Fynn says I need to play the first one

I still think it's really interesting how we agree on many elements that make a good story but when it comes to the execution of that, we can have very polarizing opinions

True, it was about silly girl fun first and foremost, but it ostensibly used music as the main "plot device". If you can even say there's a plot there...

That said, K-On's not a bad show, just one that I grew tired of after cutesy weird girl antics, and the incompetent treatment of music was just something that made me with just no incentive to continue watching.

Another similar case (well, not in tone, but in the implementation of music) occurs in Kids on the Slope (Sakamichi no Apollon) but it's actually done WELL here. The story isn't about the music but the music is featured heavily and actually draws the characters together. And this time around, partly thanks to the magnificent soundtrack by Yoko Kanno, you can see how this was done by someone who knows what they're doing when it comes to the music, and that's something that made me appreciate that anime so much more as well (well that and the Christian angle actually made this interesting for me, aside from the beautiful story that was there).

In general, what I'm getting at with this is that I get very invested in music anime where that musical element is not only done competently, but also implemented in a way that makes it compliment the story to such a degree that it becomes an integral part of creating a show's identity without overtaking a main plot line. So because of this I became incredibly invested in Shigatsu and Sakamichi no Apollon, while K-On just made me lose interest in it.

coming back to those subtleties I liked, here's an example: I think it was two episodes before the finale that Kousei stumbles upon a cat that got hit by a car. This is right after he sees Kao get transported to ER. He takes it to the vet, but it's too late and the cat dies. The juxtaposition of the two scenes sends a message that is clear - Kao will die and he can't save her. He has blood on his hands, meaning he has to live with the fact that he couldn't do anything about it but has to live on. And what makes this scene subtle - again, in my eyes - is that he never remarks on it. It's all done with visuals. He isn't angsting about that cat verbally, no narration is telling us what that symbol meant. We're just left with imagery that tells the story in a metaphorical way, easing us into the emotions in the last stretch of the anime.

Then we have their final concert "together" where it's not at all subtle, it's super campy and over the top, but it's just beautifully animated and placed at just the right moment that it really works and I had to hold back tears. But again, it doesn't at that point say directly that she dies, and yet you know it from the animation. You know what her disappearing there means and that this is Kousei's way of saying farewell. Not to mention the beautiful Ballade in G-minor they chose for that scene which is just phenomenal, and I'm usually not at all a Chopin fan.

So yeah, I guess by "subtlety" I mean how well it all comes down together without the creators deciding it's necessary for someone to state what this all means.