So you have this LN adaptation that decides to just inexplicably have its main characters have super powers for no real reason, toss them in a strange foreign world out of nowhere, and suddenly give them the responsibility of saving the world through playing games and stuff. I’ll give you this much: it’s better than generic garbage like Oreshura, which is basically the same old high school romance crap. Or at least it would be if it didn’t fuck up its premise like all other light novel adaptations tend to do.
Problem Children basically comes across like another Rio Rainbow Gate in that it seems like it’s trying to be a tribute to games whilst consorting to some standard anime trends. That’s cool and all, but there’s one big problem that Problem Children has that prevents it from attaining the heights of Rio Rainbow Gate: the lead characters are terrible. In fact, their level of wish-fulfillment perfection surpasses even that of Sword Art Online.
Each character has a unique super power in addition to being really good at fighting and having awesome smarts to the point that they’re ridiculously perfect, so there’s no tension whenever they’re in trouble because you know they’re just going to get out of it. That might work if they had charisma, but aside from their overpowered nature, they’re basically generic high school stereotypes. Let’s look at Rio for a minute. Yes, she’s supposedly perfect in every way and brings good luck to all, but in addition to being a really sexy (if badly drawn) woman, she always had a tough time when it came to matching wits with her opponents in various games. Whether you like her or not, at least the show gave us a chance to care about her. Am I really supposed to care about that cocky male who thinks he can fight a god and then succeeds in punching one out like it’s nobody’s business? Kirito, I still hate you, but this guy (whose name I’m not even going to bother remembering) makes you look good. In fact, I think he rivals Kazuma from Kaze No Stigma in terms of godly douchebaggery.
The girls aren’t much better either, and the fact that the anime tried to give one of them a sad backstory during an admittedly awesome eagle flying scene was just painful. You can’t make these characters relatable and sympathetic if their core is this rotten you know. It just makes them even worse because now we can’t attempt to pass them off as simple fun vehicles. The only one who comes out of this anime with some dignity is the bunny girl. And she’s just a generic moeblob that very occasionally the anime passes off for fan service. I appreciate the fact that you aren’t trying to fully sexualize her, but when you’re going to be this blatantly wish-fulfillment with your characters, you might as well go all the way. What do you have left to lose?
So yeah, Problem Children is officially a failure before it even got a chance to grow on me. I guess the occasional crazy scene and game mechanics are interesting, but the vehicles that we see all this through just plain suck. It’s basically like Last Exile: Fam or Kaze No Stigma in that regard. The fact that it’s only ten episodes and its inexplicable popularity on MAL means that I’ll stick with it till the end, but seriously…who the fuck is this anime for?
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Stingers
- I’ve heard a lot of people comparing this anime to Dog Days. Never saw that anime, but if this is what Dog Days is like, I’m not watching it.
- Another reason this anime sucks is because it’s not funny. Just throwing that out there.
- Edit: Apparently, this thing is a cult anime and insulting it is worse than insulting KyoAni. Yeah, didn’t see that coming.
A failure anime which I have dropped.
It’s just like you said, the main character sucks.I don’t mind powerful main character if he’s a bit cool and charismatic, at least. Just like that Hyoubu Kyousuke who turns super saiyan and rapes everybody. But this brat. This brat. I can’t remember his name too. And I don’t see a reason why I should bother with him. He’s too cheeky, too childish, for my taste. I want to spank him instead, or push him down the stairs. Shit character is shit.
Whoa, you are going to stick with it to the end?
…
NB : This is no way in hell this is similar to Dog Days. I dropped Dog Days half season for an entirely different reason.
I was going to look up his name for the post, but then I realized it didn’t matter one bit.
Yeah no, this turned out to be a lot better than I anticipated. I’m not gonna let some stupid blog mess up my opinion of new anime again… God.
The fact that people like you know that my stuff shouldn’t influence opinions makes me happy.
Well, I will still watch it until the end because it’s only 10 episodes long, but I agree it’s not that great. It’s not even particullary fun
However…. Is this really wish fulfillment ? They makes absolutely no way to flesh out characters, or to makes you identify with them… I mean, even your basic Harem or Moe Anime have more developped and likable characters than here.
And yeah, this isn’t Dog Days (the ultimate example of wish fulfilllment and otaku-pandering…).
A lot of people like main characters because they’re all badass. (me too.) Main guy is not a crybaby. Girls are not air-headed or a Damsel in distress. Their Power are also powerful.
While they are powerful, and want a challage – they know their limit. In ep.2, after that kimono-loli show her world/gameboard to them, Izayou knew that he couldn’t win her in a fight so he told her to “test” them insted. This also imply that there are someone else overpower them in this world. (Remember that they are on the outermost ring in the little garden world so, we can assume that all enemies/communities here will be weak).
Moreover, as they are all powerful at the beginning, it means that this show might focus on characters’ emotional development and story insted of “MCs training to become powerful/strong” which we don’t see much in action anime.
In the end, I would say that this show present itself in a quite different angle than other series which may not suitable for some people preference.
I probably would have agreed with you years ago; but since then, I’ve watched plenty of shows that had “badass” main characters (most recently, Sword Art Online) and I’ve hated most of them because they come off as self-insert fanfic stand-ins who don’t get why badass characters like Wolverine from X-Men work.
Ah……….I agrees with you on Kirito’s character. That’s guy is too perfect as the protagonist.
However, in Izayoi case I think his character has enough flaws to prevent him from being “too perfect” and make him interesting to watch
- He only do thing that he has fun with.
- He doesn’t stick his nose into someone else problem unless he think he will have fun with it
- He’s so rude and arrogance (in a fun way, for me)
- He doesn’t care hitting a girl (LOL)
Those are how I see his character right now. He can develop himself into better character by fixing those issues. (I won’t hope too much) Right now, he only got a skill and some sense of justice that prevent him from becoming a totally bad guy.
By the way, can you go into detail on – What’s your issue with Izayoi’s character? I want to know your viewpoint on him.
He feels about as soulless and constructed as Heathcliff, is why I don’t like him. The only thing I like about him is that he doesn’t care about hitting a girl.