Uknighted Manganime Life is too short to watch bad anime

Willuknight asked me to post this here too. I’ve removed all links to the posts and profiles on animesuki, but they can be found in the original posts on my lj (here and here).

During a synchro session (it was a week before I first wrote this, but I won’t check the date now, really… ^^;;;) we got to “Is there a fanbase for Soul Link?”, and I said I will read people’s opinions on the show, and now there is the “Does Glass Fleet have a fanbase?” question.

[23:36] northlander72: This show is just such an amazing pile of shit.
[23:37] shinigami9x: I can’t imagine why anyone would actually like this. Tolerate, yes. But LIKE?
[23:37] northlander72: Actually, I’d scratch “tolerate” off that list as well.
[23:37] willuknight: i wonder whos the guy that looked at the writeup for this show and thought “wow, what a great idea”
[23:38] northlander72: And the guy who signed the budget proposal… how can HE sleep at night?
[23:38] shinigami9x: What budget? :))
[23:38] willuknight: i bet hes a relative of the same guy that said “hey, lets bomb perl harbour!’
[23:39] northlander72: Well, the budget they need to bribe TV stations to send this piece of shit, of course.
[23:39] shinigami9x: I’m gonna search for opinions ol
[23:39] willuknight: northy> those kind of bribes are called “sake”
[23:39] shinigami9x: someone must watch this for the subbers to keep at it
[23:40] willuknight: shinigami9x> i bet you the majority of the audiance is american
[23:40] shinigami9x: well, I’ll search, lmao and post the results on lj

There are (only) 3 reviews on animenfo, but 2 of them give characterization as a plus! The best part in this anime is probably the animation and character development. Nonexistent character development aside, Soul Link’s animation getting a 10? Was it better in the first episode or something?
And I rofled at this: If you’re bored and want to watch a short, slightly entertaining anime, watch Soul Link!. Wrong, wrong and… oh, so wrong.

There is only one review on animenfo, grading it at 9 (nine!) and comparing it to Last Exile, based on the awful first episode.

So the animesuki boards it is, but I’ll look into Glass Fleet first, because there’s far less stuff posted, and it should be quick.

Yes, there are people who liked this.
There is one guy who likes it so much that he defends it from other people with stuff like *nod* Yes, please move along. There’s no point in you being here if you have nothing nice to say. I’d say I found someone who was suitably impressed. Let’s see why.

* People breathing in space can be put simply as fantasy? Suspension of disbelief? Dramatic license?. Yeah, well, if you put it this way… No, wait, it’s still wrong. Besides, “dramatic license”? Who but total lamers need shit like having the characters breathe in space to build tension?
* This fan takes suspension of disbelief very seriously when he writes Glass Fleet has a very developed and unusual looking world. He mentions people drive carriages around their battleships as a plus. Not a fan of that here. >.>
* The groan-worthy sudden appearance of that savior guy becomes a plus because that sweeping entrance was the climax of the episode. I am pleased - a dynamic entrance is essential for the forces of good’s true hero in this story. No, it’s not. It’s a tired cliche.
* Plus, he is an awesome character: we didn’t get to meet him but you could tell from his stance on the bridge of his beautiful unique ship, casually sitting with his harmonica, that he’s just going to be cool and badass. Indeed! That was one of my major problems with the show!
* And I adore Shirua (Shila?); how can you not love a maid who no matter the battle, no matter the weather, *will* push that tea trolley, and you just know her cakes and tea will be perfect. - …*sigh*

He (she?) also finds the later highly episodes amusing, but I can’t comment on that.

Soul Link talk on animesuki:

Zalas’s posts are interesting. He’s very disappointed He calls Ryouta a bumbling idiot and regrets that he is the main character instead of Shuhei (which I suppose is his older bro). The best part of his post is This has even more service than the actual game -_-; . Good to know. Also, according to another post of his, the anime starts at the end of the game. Uh, interesting, I suppose? But no, wait a sec. He mentions showing all these random backstory scenes ahead of time. What backstory scenes? O.o Could it be that we are wrong in thinking that almost nothing at all happens in the first episodes?

Which reminds me. I am supposed to find the fans of this show.

Ok, now this is more like it.
After the first episode alone there are 3 people saying they liked the way the characters were introduced. I guess falling on a girl and groping her boobs is not an overused cliche for nothing…

People debate the animation. Is it crappy or just bad? Does it matter or is good characterization more important? (Good characterization? Here?) I am surprised no one mentioned the incredibly lame voice acting.

Well… *streches* I guess I won’t find any Real Fans on animesuki. The only entirely positive post for the series as a whole was this one: Zelda1: I like series with a slow build. Soul Link reminds me of a Robert Heinlein style novel from the ’50s, so I’ve enjoyed all of it so far. *takes a brief moment to watch Heinlein roll in his grave* Other than that there are people praising specific episodes, for example saying that episode 5 had nice plot development of Kazuhiko and Aki (I fail to remember any nice plot development at all in the first half of the show.) and that the battles at Soul Link aren’t “woaomg” (in fact they really suck) but the way they develop the strategies to counter the Terrorists’ plans are what make me liking them. What strategies? Seriously. IIRC in synchros we kept talking about how lame and nonsensical it all was.

Obviously some people liked this show enough to watch it. Being a fansub, it’s not a matter of availability. There were much better fansubbed shows out there. So why pick this one? After reading way too many posts, none raving about Soul Link’s merits (like the Glass Feet guy >.>) the only conclusion I could reach is that these people like utter mediocrity for what it is. Bo-ring.