I just feel like the series really hit it's climax at the Stagiaire arc. I really enjoyed that they were actually getting into the real aspects of cooking and owning a restaurant. When the Azami stuff happened, it took a turn into "battling evil" rather than being a look at what it takes to be a chef and the sort of real life issues one would potentially face in owning a restaurant and improving your cooking skills. Now its more of a battle of fake ideals and it's just not doing it for me. And I get that it needs to change to continue running, and introducing villains helps drive a story. But it could have been more organic, or at least not so blatently "oh this guy is evil, we gotta fight him"
Food Wars - It's In the Trash
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Read the chapter and it wasn't as bad as the spoilers made it seem.
On the surface, this is an odd and quite absurd development. A sibling of the MC popping out of nowhere with no proper foreshadowing. But here's the thing. We don't know anything about Jou's backstory. NOTHING. The author can play this the way that best suits him, and there're even some minor hints.
But the 5-0 is inexcusable. Even I, with all the patience I have cannot defend this shit. It's a real shame, but I'm going to see through the end of this with my expectations very low.
3DS FC: 0087 - 2971 - 9910
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@Elektrik:
I just feel like the series really hit it's climax at the Stagiaire arc. I really enjoyed that they were actually getting into the real aspects of cooking and owning a restaurant. When the Azami stuff happened, it took a turn into "battling evil" rather than being a look at what it takes to be a chef and the sort of real life issues one would potentially face in owning a restaurant and improving your cooking skills. Now its more of a battle of fake ideals and it's just not doing it for me. And I get that it needs to change to continue running, and introducing villains helps drive a story. But it could have been more organic, or at least not so blatently "oh this guy is evil, we gotta fight him"
Stagaire and everything before it was great, but I think the cooking festival after it was pretty good too, that is, if you're ok with pretty Soma specific arcs. I love this manga mostly for the interesting dishes that we've seen throughout and I'm a fan of Soma (which others don't seem to be, oh well) because until the 10 vs Rebels part, I thought the author did a pretty good job always coming up with interesting ways for Soma and friends to come up with new dishes and face challenges head on. I think the random nature of the Shokugeki's during the final phase of the Asami arc did away with that sense of discovery along with making the actual cooking take shorter and shorter amounts of time as it got closer to the end. As someone said earlier, the pizza was about the only highlight from a pure cooking standpoint, although there were some really neat dishes. (like the salt crusted mead, pastry castle and the Dorayaki)
Still, I'd say Soma is much better than Bleach was at its worse. It's entirely readable every week, even if for many of you, the place the author is taking this world and characters is unappealing. Late Bleach had terrible composition, new characters that no one cared about left and right, and powerup after powerup, most of them silly as well as a villain that was as bad as Asami. (Bach) I read the chapter but stopped reading it weekly I think after the third or fourth time the superhero quincy came back to life. I would be impressed if Soma ever got to that level.
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Read the chapter and it wasn't as bad as the spoilers made it seem.
On the surface, this is an odd and quite absurd development. A sibling of the MC popping out of nowhere with no proper foreshadowing. But here's the thing. We don't know anything about Jou's backstory. NOTHING. The author can play this the way that best suits him, and there're even some minor hints.
But the 5-0 is inexcusable. Even I, with all the patience I have cannot defend this shit. It's a real shame, but I'm going to see through the end of this with my expectations very low.
We're assuming the 5-0 is 5 judges ranking his dish as better and not him losing 5 rounds in a row, right?
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Soma was always a boilerplate shonen series.
However, in the early days, they actually committed to the idea that this was a cut-throat school where they'll toss out thousands of students to polish the dozen or so who remain. The series gave a glimpse into what it's like running a good restaurant and the world they are entering. There are some great single chapters in this series.
And they've completely pissed it all away by trying to have a villain and moving away from that premise.
They didn't need it. Bakuman was great because it let viewers have an (albeit dramatized) look into how manga is actually made. That is what made that series so great (until they too pissed it away) Soma has done the same thing and it's just sad.
I've written about this in my blog, but if you are going to create something, you need to COMMIT. TO. YOUR. PREMISE.
I wasn't distracted by Lucy being half naked.
You won this week Fairy Tail.
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The premise is boobs
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@Purple:
The premise is boobs
Quite possibly.
But this show was at it's best when it was about Soma, the unprivileged outsider making his mark in a school that'll toss you out if you make one mistake. That was fun to read. Not the food version of Akatsuki, or food Aizen.
I wasn't distracted by Lucy being half naked.
You won this week Fairy Tail.
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Still, I'd say Soma is much better than Bleach was at its worse.
Sure I think most people could agree with that. I'm just sad it got to this point and the direction it's taken
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@Elektrik:
Sure I think most people could agree with that. I'm just sad it got to this point and the direction it's taken
Bleach at it's worst is a level of bad that only a few shows can attain. I've yet to see one.
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Quite possibly.
But this show was at it's best when it was about Soma, the unprivileged outsider making his mark in a school that'll toss you out if you make one mistake. That was fun to read. Not the food version of Akatsuki, or food Aizen.
Next up: Food Blackbeard
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If this Saiba guy is Food Sasuke, or Food Light, I'm out.
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Air Gear is one of the few series I felt reach that level of bad.
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I've written about this in my blog, but if you are going to create something, you need to COMMIT. TO. YOUR. PREMISE.
I couldn't agree more with that.
I may not look like at first glance, but I have better taste than you think. Everybody's favorite One Piece aside, some of the manga I enjoyed to the end sticked to their premises. These include Rurouni Kenshin, Hoshin Engi, Hoshi no Samidare and Sengoku Yoko (I love this author), FMA… There's a lot more.
The only work that can derail from its premise and still be successful is Medaka Box.
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Air Gear is one of the few series I felt reach that level of bad.
Thanks, now I'm having vietnam flashbacks.
3DS FC: 0087 - 2971 - 9910
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But the 5-0 is inexcusable. Even I, with all the patience I have cannot defend this shit. It's a real shame, but I'm going to see through the end of this with my expectations very low.
We're in the same boat with this manga it seems.
We both tried to give the benefit of the doubt and enjoy ourselves,
but it feels like things have now gone one step too far. -
Actually yeah people are, in this thread in fact, are you actually reading this thread? About this very chapter people are talking about the ramifications this reveal has on various characters. That's critically judging it.
On top of that there's various other arguments to be made about it such as that it's being put up for sale. As a commercial product. That means you're being put up for critical reception by default. In fact the idea of "is it fun or not" is critically judging it.
Never mind how WSJ works, every title fights for a chance to stay based on readers vote, people vote for the series they enjoyed the most that week, they do that based on their own thoughts and judgements, which could potentially be more than just "hey i had some mindless fun this week". The problem in your idea is that "is this enjoyable" is apparently not criticism? While it very much is, one of the very basises of critcism is in fact about whether or not a given product can appeal to people or not.
Ehm, you are kind of missing the point.
You argued about it being popular and its popularity being tested weekly with it trying to be critically appealing, it´s a wrong statement.What the people here are doing is something entirely different.
First off, people in such a forum, especially APForums, are generally harder to please and tend to over-analyze and criticize more.
The majority of a mainstream piece of fiction, they neither have the time, the critical approach nor the actual motivation to analyze a fictional work.And secondly, a manga such as Shokugeki which had a pretty superficial appeal in teh first place, maybe there is not much sense and meaning to expect consistency, especially in a format that emphasizes weekly satisfaction of the reader in any way over long time payout.
It´s just an advice i fare pretty well with, analyzing stuff that is actually trying to be more than lighthearted fun makes more sense to me but hey, this is the internet where people are overly sensitive, so stuff like this needs to be met with sarcasm rather than a genuine response.
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@The:
The series was never going to be prime quality, but Purple Hermit and others have talked about how there was heart and actual character development and buildup early on. Megumi was shown to grow confidence and over time show she could be up there with the best of her class, and there were a lot of great moments her over the course of the series through the fall festival. I was never a big fan of Soma but he got some nice development when he learned that he needed to learn about other kinds of cooking and find what kind fits him best. The early battles pitted ideals and with the build up made them much more interesting. Both people in the battle had some motivation shown and while there was some sort of stake put on the battle, the ideal was the much bigger part. I think of Mimikasa (copy guy) against Soma, where Soma showed that experience and passion to make something trumps being able to copy and refine a dish.
Yes, even in at its best this series wasn't going to go down as one of the best, but there was quality to it that made it worth reading, and with that came great reactions to eating food. Pretty much all of that is gone, with only from time to time some good reactions happening (sinful Megumi was a great reaction page). However, with the Azami stuff all character stuff was rushed and/or shoved aside, and big achievements were basically a side note (Souma getting the first seat), any hope of the series having those great moments are pretty much gone.
I never saw this "heart and character development" as integral to the premise of the show, neither to its success.
First off, Soma himself is an incredibly stale character and one dimensional character who can be characterized with "loves exploring food more than anything".
Sure, here and there some kind of reflection on his side was needed to overcome the newest challenge, but it never deviated from his characterization from the beginning.
Megumi on the other hand, sure, while that development basically comes down to "getting more confident", it was something you could root for, but i would argue the sometimes ridiculous developments with Azami or now this does not really negate or distract from that. If anything, the way she dealt with that underground chef guy speaks more than volumes how far she has come. -
Soma tries to be lighthearted but also have a structured story. It ain't no gag manga, and it did, from time to time, have good character arcs. It's perfectly fair to give it a work through the critique machine given that some of its enjoyment is based off of its early successes. People here have commented on that, and I think there is merit to the argument that its earlier arcs had a lot of great promise beyond just saying "this is a stale character and series and should only be judged on the premise that it was never meant to be taken seriously in the first place."
But hey, boobs are boobs so I guess if that's all you go in for then that's fine.
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"Structured story", nothing that goes beyond "next challenge in the curriculum", so hardly something that was integral in itself to the premise rather than an excuse to show distinctive dishes with the superb art and their reaction shots and introduce new and quirky characters. The difference to now is, instead of being underdogs, the challenges shifted from the curriculum to their duties as elite 10, that´s all the structure you have. And regarding Azami, it pretty much was the same thing, only that those challenges were pretty much all sub-challenges to the main thing, beating Azami, that´s the only thing that deviated from the beginning of the series, meaning the challenges they needed to overcome were all connected together, while for the actual first time you had a clash of cooking ideologies (so like Franky mentioned, if you are looking for something like that, the huge Azami arc should have been appealing) but still on a rather lighthearted level, since Soma himself was never really pressured.
"Good character arcs", a very vague statement that i would actually deny since for the most part, there has not been good characters arcs. Soma we already mentioned, and besides Megumi and Erina, both still developing right now as much as they have been since the beginning, there has not been much regarding that. You might mention Hayama but he was quite unappealing as a whole as a character.So if you really want to overanalyze such a story, do it rather thoroughly and actually look at how it developed, since what made Azami and his arc so unappealing was not a lack of structure or the lack of good character arcs, Azami himself was simply a rather boring and sometimes ridiculous character and having him featured for so long became rather stale and seemed uninspired pretty quickly.
But whether it´s the challenges themselves, or the character interactions, or the cooking, or the structure, or the character arcs, nothing much changed regarding that. The major difference is, they are trying to do actual arcs now, rather overlong arcs admittedly, rather than do challenge after challenge in 10-20 chapter interval.So you might ask yourself if you just have been wrong in the first place about what makes this series appealing and successful but hey, this is the internet, rather throw around vague statements about story and characters which always seem to work rather than simply stating "i do not enjoy it as much as i used to, it´s not as fun anymore" and make assumptions about people who do not agree with you and who try to give genuine advice to generally approach a fictional work, especially one like this, since dedicating your time and effort to analyzing a story which never had a high standard for its story and stood out based on other and more superficial aspects, is not the most sensible thing to do but at this point, i can hardly fault you considering that i wasted my time here as well.
If you want to look for a deeper level in a series such as this, feel free to do so and i genuinely wish you have fun doing it and you get something out of it, though i suspect that won´t be the case.
Good day. -
"Very vague statement" ignores the other random story rants that people have been putting into this considering that most other members here have actually put some good thought into why the series had at least a little more promise. Not that I expect you to sift through all the pages of the thread, but even the past few pages where you have Lich talk about how the series is pretty good at presenting a few novel things like apprenticeships or how to run your own restaurant give this series part of its unique flavor. Critics not asking for it to be revolutionary, but for it to have a few things like decent tension and stakes in its food duels, a level of consistency doesn't do something like a solid 5-0 against the series' currently established best chef, and some decent characterization. Sure, the story has been set up as a cutthroat school where you live on a knife's edge every day, but a lot of what's made it engaging is that you get to see in the beginning things like Megumi growing as a chef. It's the thing people no matter it be reddit or AP or wherever else will laud because, well, it was nice. It wasn't amazing writing, and if you really want me to tear into it, I could easily overanalyze it and say it's actually a pretty mediocre arc that follows the same story beats as any other gifted-but-timid-girl-learns-to-get-her-groove-back arc, but we're not even looking for amazing writing here. It was just a very pleasant part of the story and one that gets presented as a series highlight that gives it something more than just a new "Challenge of the week." It's definitely presented itself with at least a little more meat than "hey check out my weekly food art collection."
Now, you are free to disagree and say that the writing was never that great and the arcs are pretty substandard shonen, which, in a lot of ways, yes, that's true. But there's a lot of talk from ardent defenders of the series that talk more about things beyond just challenges, food art, and reactions, and it's a dichotomy that I would say implies that people are taking more out of it than just something substandard.
It's got a good amount of heart and charm that makes this readily recommendable to friends IRL in the beginning who are like "Purple, why are you recommending this sort of series with women getting naked??" before it clicks with them, too (although I did tell them that before the Azami arc started). It starts out as a very pleasant, easily digestible material on unique, inventive dishes, as well as a good balance on characters with a reasonable amount of consistency that can lure in a pretty captivated audience, and it's not that people are disappointed because we're looking for a deeper level of IQ 100000 writing. People have been disappointed that it can't even meet its base line.
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I think the biggest problem I have found, which make the other "itz for the lulz type of show" issues more evident, is that a lot of it is being off-paneled. Most of the achievements of the characters are not shown but voiced by other characters.
See the challenges of running a school for a teen? No, have a couple of old men talk about it with praise.
See, at least, the dishes that were cooked for the 5-0? No, just have some old men say that Joe lost.
See Megumi's travels? No, a flashback.Etc, etc.
The 5-0 is really that bad? Why? Joe is a good chef, but his story was mostly that of someone that instead of trying to be on the top, was content with opening a side shop. If instead of Joe, the french chef had been defeated like that. And moreover, with just someone saying he lost, would be a much worse offense.
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The most interesting thing about this chapter was Isamu sitting in the meeting looking out of his depth.
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The majority of a mainstream piece of fiction, they neither have the time, the critical approach nor the actual motivation to analyze a fictional work.
Hmmm…
Most people don't have the time or motivation to analyze mainstream fiction
Maybe??? -
Sad thing is if you've been to japan or a early morning market you'll know there's so much more aspects the writing could have and how much more successful Shokugeki would be if it worked on the human and food
aspect of this manga.But let's throw that all away for SHOUNEN FOOD FIGHTS, TIME SKIPS, FLASHY VILLAINS, MYSTERIOUS PLOTS!!!
yeah i don't know about everyone but I liked this manga now it's complete horseshit. -
It's out in manga stream.
If this guy is who the manga made painfully obvious that he is, then.. yah, this is insulting me.
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Nah man. Its just his uncle.
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Oh, thank god, can you imagine that the stupid foreshadowing of "He might infiltrate us", and the fact that he looks like soma with sojiro's hair, and that has sojiro's philosophy, and soma's taste in junk food point to a early confrontation with the apparent final boss next chapter?
That would be stupid.
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This seems like a giant red herring,
but then again…. with how things are going now I honestly have no idea. -
It seems like a red hering, but.. even if it is, it doesn't counter the recent failures of the manga.
But if it isn't, well
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A somewhat good chapter.
@MDL:
This seems like a giant red herring,
but then again…. with how things are going now I honestly have no idea.A red herring and also a big ploy, and Jou is behind this as well.
To elaborate,
Soma learns by chance through his dad that he has a brother. Said brother beats his dad efortlessly in a cooking match and identifies himself with the name Saiba, but it sounds more like he made that on the spot, rather than it being his real name. Weeks after, they are unable to contact Jou, and this Asahi attends the school as a teacher that goes by the name of Suzuki.
And now comes what I think is the most blatant proof of Joe's involvement in this whole scheme. Suzuki tells Soma the words that he didn't hear from his dad, because he hung up the phone before giving him the chance. Suzuki goes to add that these words come from his 'master'. Yeah, no prices for guessing who is.
If Soma had heard what Jou wanted to tell him back then, it wouldn't have taken him a second to connect the dots and realize Suzuki and Jou are acquainted. Yet, Suzuki went and told him the secret to become a top chef, nonchalantly, almost as if he already knew Soma didn't hear that from Jou.
It's also the start of the 2nd year, and the BLUE is months ahead.
As for who this Saiba guy may be, I think he's a Yukihira, which would make him Soma's uncle.
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but I have better taste than you think
Rurouni Kenshin,
Hmmmm you say that, but then mention something as mediocre as Kenshin (not to mention how the creator was basically arrested by having crap ton of CP dvds).
Have you read Vagabond? Real? Nausicaa? Legend of Basara? 7 Seeds? Buddah? Lone Wolf and Cub? Akira? Monster? Space Brothers? 3 Gatsu No Lion? Kokou no Hito?
Judging by your posts in this thread and other, you seem like someone who only reads mainstream stuff.
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My first impression from his looks alone made me think of the Person 5 protag.
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What chapter are we at? Or does anyone have a non-mangstream link?
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The power of Shipping will defeat the brother.
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I already like his personality, and I hope he's just not putting up a facade. Going by his first approach with the students, he's as chill and jolly as Jou and Soma.
Hmmmm you say that, but then mention something as mediocre as Kenshin (not to mention how the creator was basically arrested by having crap ton of CP dvds).
Your opinion. And one thing doesn't take away from the other. And I'm well aware of the author's prosecution, thanks.
Have you read Vagabond? Real? Nausicaa? Legend of Basara? 7 Seeds? Buddah? Lone Wolf and Cub? Akira? Monster? Space Brothers? 3 Gatsu No Lion? Kokou no Hito?
Yes, but I lost track of the first. Also, I liked Pluto a lot more.
Judging by your posts in this thread and other, you seem like someone who only reads mainstream stuff.
Think what you want.
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Kenshin being mediocre isn't an opinion lol.
Visit Kenshin thread to be educated on that if you want.
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Kenshin being mediocre isn't an opinion lol.
Visit Kenshin thread to be educated on that if you want.
Look up the definition of opinion lol
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And you can look up the definition for educated opinion.
Also known as critical thought.
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But I like Kenshin.
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Visit the thread so I can read people sharing thoughts I and many others won't agree with.
Great thinking, man. Didn't you hear me? I read it long ago and my opinion of it isn't going to change just because you say so.
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This chapter was kinda dumb. All this "Oh man. What if he's right under our nose as a lecturer. " yup he totally is plot was just silly. I think I've hit that phase with this series where I am just reading it to see how it's going to end lol. This brother uncle thing or whatever seems fairly uninteresting. Why is he trying or match make? Lol.
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For a moment there I thought that he was hitting on him. Gotta check those Incest boxes on the fetish bingo when you can.
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Soma but with an eyepatch
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Looks at spoilers
Shit is stupid lol.
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Ehm, you are kind of missing the point.
You argued about it being popular and its popularity being tested weekly with it trying to be critically appealing, it´s a wrong statement.What the people here are doing is something entirely different.
First off, people in such a forum, especially APForums, are generally harder to please and tend to over-analyze and criticize more.
The majority of a mainstream piece of fiction, they neither have the time, the critical approach nor the actual motivation to analyze a fictional work.And secondly, a manga such as Shokugeki which had a pretty superficial appeal in teh first place, maybe there is not much sense and meaning to expect consistency, especially in a format that emphasizes weekly satisfaction of the reader in any way over long time payout.
It´s just an advice i fare pretty well with, analyzing stuff that is actually trying to be more than lighthearted fun makes more sense to me but hey, this is the internet where people are overly sensitive, so stuff like this needs to be met with sarcasm rather than a genuine response.
How is it a wrong statement? People always judge critically, doesn't mean they do it in the right way or for the right reasons.
Soma is an official product that places itself in a top running magazine, if that's not enough cause to be critical towards something then i don't know what is.
There are plenty of superficial series that can be critically appealing, so i really don't get your point, you act as if only things that have some level of depth should be criticized. No.
What you're saying is that if i should consume a given product that i shouldn't appraise it for what it's worth. Based on…. what exactly? What are the reasons something should be critically appraised. Who decides that? Why?
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! Told you he wasn't Jouichirou's kid by blood and was in fact his apprentice. Very predictable.
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https://readms.net/r/shokugeki_no_souma/273/5244/1?mobile=1
I agree with Megumi. This is insane lol.
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Hahaha unwarranted
Quick recap: Joichiro got 5-0'd by someone who's his "son" but was otherwise just some random kid in America who's come all the way to Japan to make Erina his wife
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Save this because I've said it first: Asahi is just playing the wingman role in the disguise of a rival, and Jou is actually the one behind this ploy.
@Purple:
Hahaha unwarranted
I'm not even talking about the series itself. But sure, pretend that Wagomu did the right thing when he started pestering an user for disagreeing with him over.
Do you want to hear a honest opinion of mine about this forum in general? In one word: trash. But there are some genuinely nice fellas, so I'm still there.
3DS FC: 0087 - 2971 - 9910
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Save this because I've said it first: Asahi is just playing the wingman role in the disguise of a rival, and Jou is actually the one behind this ploy.
I'm not even talking about the series itself. But sure, pretend that Wagomu did the right thing when he started pestering an user for disagreeing with him over.
Do you want to hear a honest opinion of mine about this forum in general? In one word: trash. But there are some genuinely nice fellas, so I'm still there.
Seconded. I wouldn't put it past Jou. But then again we did see the match. If we hadn't seen the 5-0 I would say it was all a ploy. But why lose? It would be too Aizen-ish lol
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Dude gave you good arguments with very well written breakdowns on why the series was going down the gutter and you just sidestepped him every single time so I don't even blame him when the majority of retorts are "this is fiction so it can't be horrible," "if you have things that are bad to say about it then you are a h8r," and "my tastes are horrible so if I lower them down enough then at least it can't be that bad" ¯_(ツ)_/¯
The plot "twist" was just so bad that I don't think anyone wanted to say "man there's no way this guy would do this shitty fake out", but hey the series continually exceeds expectations.
But hey here you go, your development to make Soma x Erina a thing as a checkmark towards the end of the series.
