... Yeah, it's one of those kind of stories again...
Male brothels has sprung up in Aincrad because... well, turns out MMORPG'ers love to tap boy ass I guess. Life's apparently tough in SAO, since even a front line clearer like Kirito is forced to work nights at a brothel.
However, doing so has turned him into a huge buttslut--or perhaps that's the reason he works there in the first place? Either way, Silica finds out about his secret occupation, and she's more than happy to lend a helping hand... along with other things.
DF | RG
SOA and perhaps anime in general rant
Spoilers ahead!
This one had quite a lot of references, and while wiki-pages are a great help, it's always better to get the whole picture by reading/watching the original. This also seem to be one of the more popular shows at the moment (along with "Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai" and their eye-patch-tan), what with all the SOA doujins coming out of Comiket, so I thought it would be a good idea to watch the show to see what all the hubbub is about.
This forced me out of my "anime retirement." It's been many years since I last watched anime regularly, and the last anime I remember watched was OreImo some one and a half years ago--again, this was in order to understand all the h-doujins...
Maybe this particular anime is an exception, but one thing I couldn't help wondering was whether or not anime has become bolder as of late? I know I've heard about the industry catering more and more to fanservice, but I never really though about it before since I'm not really following the anime scene anymore.
Excuse me if I sound like some old grouch going, "why, back in my days...!", but from what I remember, you'd never really see any progress between the hero and the heroine of the show. Yeah, you always knew they had a thing for each other, but as soon as they were about to kiss or whatnot, some comical side-character would barge in and interrupt them and, what do you know, roll the credits.
Holding hands? Well yeah, not that uncommon. Hugging? It happen, but they usually snuck it in there in an I'm-so-scared-hold-me-situation rather than something romantic. Kissing? If we're lucky, maybe towards the end in the final episode.
Of course there were exceptions, but I feel like this was how things were in general.
Here there are plenty affectionate displays. There's that blacksmith girl proclaiming "I love you" in the same episode she met the protagonist--granted he doesn't hear her, but still. Of course we all know that every girl falls in love with the main guy, but they never actually say it. Hell, not even halfway through the season there's implied sex between the two main characters!
I'm far from a chastely saint myself--case in point: I translate stories about 12-14 year-old dickgirls having sex with male prostitutes--but watching this actually shocked me. I don't know why it affected me to this degree, and I don't really disprove of it in any way, but I was still genuinely shocked after watching the 10th episode of the anime.
Maybe I've just been away for too long and have forgotten that most anime are like this. Maybe this is a rare case where the writers just though, "we all know >she wants to fuck; might as well give 'em what they want!" Maybe this is the new, bolder path anime is heading nowadays. Whatever the case, with this out of my system,
/blog... Wait, this is my blog!
PS: What's with all these nice people dying in this show? Fuck me, this is depressing.
RIP in peace, tank-chan. I'd translate something in your honor,
but most doujins are about you getting raped ;_;
A tank chan rape doujin is fine too.
ReplyDeleteIMHO, SAO is pretty different in that regard, with the harem actually realizing that they are in love with the guy and the main girl and guy actually having a sexual relationship.
ReplyDeleteIt is worth noting that, in the original web version of the first novel, there is an actual sex scene after chapter 16 (episode 10). The infamous chapter 16.5 was cut out of the print novel for obvious reasons. If you are interested, here is a link to it: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1T5ZK203f4UZIiHnVIQpP1BnGYrBRgpj-u5XyLi2_lRE/edit
It's probably all mostly because the original author just wanted to be more ballsy in that regard. I read the novels but haven't watched the anime; the novels are pretty fucking good so far. Though, I can't say I watch anime much either lately. Cool that someone else beat me to talking about 16.5 already, go check it out. Not particularly well written but interesting anyway.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, guys and girls getting together early on and/or having sex is still pretty uncommon. The main guy and girl in Bakemonogatari get together pretty early, and have sex in the sequel, but other than that it's pretty tough to think of examples. The romance was one of the things that really impressed me about SAO. I don't think I've seen a better one in an action series before.
ReplyDeleteVN adaptation has the highest rate of implied (and on rare occasions, onscreen) intercourse. It's frequent in the source material, often one of the text's purposes. I would say everything from Yosuga no Sora to Clannad counts.
ReplyDeleteLN adaptation has the middle rate of ~, sometimes using omission/circumvention, sometimes tweaking events. The source material is able to use them it, but not as a primary objective; it's incidental. And only when the author does make the attempt.
Originals/Manga adaptation has the lowest rate of ~, since the source material rarely has the opportunity to try. I guess Aki-Sora counted. Meanwhile, To Love-Ru is slated to maintain the status quo indefinitely.