Code Trainwreck

Am I just a fucking genius or are people just really stupid?

So apparently Geass is a “High Maintenance” show that requires all sorts of attention paid to it while watching.

I… I… what?

I know from editing it that a large chunk of the dialog is contrived, filler-esque, rambling bullshit. Shit, even the timers realize it. ChaosShadow always cries that Geass is around 450 lines per week, and that episodes of Macross Frontier are roughly half the lines. Hell, even the first two hour long Kara no Kyoukai movies have about the same length script as an episode of Geass.

As for the question I posed in my entry title, I’m leaning towards “people are just really stupid”. The reason why I made the “Geass FAQ” page is because some of the stupid questions on there were ones that people ask in #gg daily. ._.;

Of course, a wall of tl;dr about “paying attention” is really fucking ironic on RandomC, the anime blog where the head writer thought that Miya Hilmick is the same character as the woman in the preview.

Tags: Quit Reading RandomC, RAGE

Whatever | miasmacloud | June 25, 2008 5:28 pm

9 Comments

Whocares (June 25, 2008 @ 8:02 pm)

Honestly, I think you’re missing the point, for whatever reason.

What does it matter if it’s contrived or BS, does that suddenly make it automatically “less maintenance”?

Only if you want to. If someone else actually tries, correctly or otherwise, to pay attention to some of that BS and derive something from it, that’s gotta count for something.

PS: I really don’t think I’ll visit #gg, for semi-obvious reasons… let alone ask questions there. So at least that should make you happy. :)

[Reply]
miasmacloud (June 26, 2008 @ 3:01 pm)
He starts off the article by correlating Geass’s low ratings to it being “intelligent”. And this is without considering other factors, such as the poor ratings that the majority anime get, what the anime that draws in the highest ratings is about, etc.

The “point” of the article is “blah blah you don’t want people saying shit about their show preferences to you” then he goes on to list his own show preferences. Furthermore, he’s already forced a show preference on you by addressing Geass as something that people would collectively agree is “intelligent”. It’s a fucking invitation to criticize his preferences.

This line, right here:

The problem is that such shows often require a certain amount of intelligence and brain power to fully understand and enjoy them.

This is not phrased in such a way that it is an opinion of his.

[Reply]
Whocares (June 28, 2008 @ 10:04 pm)
Then he’s admittedly wrong about that, because I don’t think that can explain the ratings, so you are very much right about the other points you brought up, which he should have considered as part of a better explanation.

But still…the concept of “maintenance” can be used to explain why more attention (call it something other than “brain power” if you must) may be needed to watch Code Geass R2 than, say, Shin-Chan or something like that.

Even if the show still isn’t anywhere near to what I would call an intellectual show, I think the point isn’t to say that Code Geass is “OMGSMART”. Something can be complex and contrived, one doesn’t nullify the other.

[Reply]
風の谷の名無しさん (June 26, 2008 @ 6:02 am)

Sure it requires paying attention and lots of thinking! Specifically, thinking “how the hell do they expect us to think any of this makes sense?” or “what are they ON?”

Or perhaps, “why am I still doing this?”

[Reply]
Whocares (June 28, 2008 @ 10:06 pm)
You’re preaching to the choir here, so whatever floats your boat.

But if you drop the facetious stance for a minute, perhaps you’ll get it.

Yes, the show is often ridiculous, but it annoys me how some people use that as an excuse to ignore that, contrived or whatever else, there are plotlines and details that some, I don’t know, “Martians” may want to pay attention to, not just LOLfesting and posturing for internet applause.

[Reply]
風の谷の名無しさん (June 26, 2008 @ 6:17 am)

Also, it’s pretty hilarious how the difference between “medium-maintenance” and “low-maintenance” shows is apparently “I like one but not the other”.

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miasmacloud (June 26, 2008 @ 3:02 pm)
That made me rage but nearly as much as “R2 is getting low ratings because it’s high maint”.

[Reply]
Lyrinoir (June 29, 2008 @ 4:02 pm)

Of course, you could take it another way and read the randomC entry as an admission that his thinking capacity is maxed out by things like Code Geass.

I personally wouldn’t qualify any anime, with the possible exception of GitS 2: Innocence and Paprika, as “High Maintenance.” I reserve that level of brain commitment for Brian Greene and Stephen Hawking books.

Complex or not, the level of attention needed to understand Geass is insignificant next to… oh, any real sort of intellectual activity. Not to bash any heads, but Geass is entertainment, not grand philosophical commentary. If you feel the need to put it in a higher category because of it’s relative complexity to Naruto, face it, you need to stop watching Naruto.

[Reply]
hurrr (August 25, 2008 @ 11:35 am)
HURRR I AM GOING TO CLEVERLY TELL PEOPLE HOW I READ A STEPHEN HAWKING BOOK WHEN HIS PRIMARY FOCUS IS TO BRING SCIENCE TO THE COMMONMAN

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