Mashiro-iro Symphony (PC & PSP)

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by hyl

edit:

Spoiler for Opinion Sana's route overall:

Eventhough i did like it, i find the story a bit long / padded at the end. Not too much happens after new year and the story still goes on till Miu graduates. Most of the other stories (not counting the epilogue) and besides Miu's story ended at Christmas.

Spoiler for Sana's route opinion, and end-route spoilers:

This is actually one of the aspects I liked most about this route, because it really underscores Sana's journey as a person. Although I didn't touch on it in the summary above (I should have but was trying to keep it brief... if that counts as brief), Sana's admiration of Miu is actually an important aspect of her low self-esteem, and her finally gaining enough confidence to take over the club (with Shingo's help) is an important step towards the future. It was a symbolic passing of the torch, as Sana was able to "graduate" from Miu, just as Miu was herself graduating. Sana's route actually had a great sense of finality as a result, as it really wrapped up all the loose ends and felt to me like a nice way to wrap up the entire game (not just her route). So... I can sort of see why you're saying that, but personally I liked how it had a full epilogue that extended all the way to the next semester. Then again, I actually thought some of the other routes could have used more epilogue too -- I'll take all the "after story" content I can get.

[hyl]

Spoiler for episode 5:

The previous ended and beginning of this episode starts off by ending the main route with the direction of Airi's route.
But in this episode the story seems to shift to Ange's route at the end o_O. Because i haven't played Ange's story yet, i don't know how faithfull this episode is compared to the game and i have no idea how this arc will end.
Also i never saw Ange as a real love interest for Shingo (She is in my opinion just for the comedy relief) and that's why i never played her story and after this episode i still think that she is an odd love interest. I think it's a little too sudden how she is starting to like Shingo after understanding what her mother meant , but that's just my opinion.

Also we get another small scene/hinting with Miu, who is starting to get problems with her unoffical club. The anime is slowly getting into Miu's story, but Ange's story needs to finish first before we can get to Miu's and Sana's story.

Edit: next week more Ange. Time to actually play her story today to see if i can understand her a little better.

Edit:Forgot to mention that in the previous episode. Eventhough that episode follows the main route, but every main route in the game ends slightly different on what route you are in. In this case it's heavily implied that the final girl will be Airi, because in the other stories Shingo and Airi never get friendly enough to be calling eachother by just "Sena" or "Uryu"

more edits:I think that Sakuno in the anime is quite underdeveloped characterwise compared to the rest now.

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by hyl

Spoiler for episode 5:

But in this episode the story seems to shift to Ange's route at the end o_O. Because i haven't played Ange's story yet, i don't know how faithfull this episode is compared to the game. Also i never saw Ange as a real love interest for Shingo (She is in my opinion just for the comedy relief) and that's why i never played her story and after this episode i still think that she is an odd love interest. I think it's a little too sudden how she is starting to like Shingo after understanding what her mother meant , but that's just my opinion.

Spoiler for Episode 5 (explanation based on the game, pretty major spoiler):

Yes, I think you would understand a bit more if you played her route. They did something "clever" here in the way they combined the routes. Remember: Ange is a "stray maid" in search of a master. So that whole revelation sequence at the end is not actually that she's fallen in love with him -- contrary to the misunderstanding Airi will definitely have, and the audience is sure to have as well. She's asking Shingo to become her "employer" (her "Master"). In the game, of course, this becomes tied to romance, but I'm sure that what they'll do here is (like they showed in the preview) have her start intruding in Shingo's home life. So the fact that there were not hints of her "love interest" is on purpose -- they're faking out the audience. If you have some time, play Ange's route, and I think you'll see what they're doing. Sneaky, sneaky...

[hyl]

Spoiler for episode 5:

i understood the double meaning of "danna" being both master and husband. But i haven't though of it as a fake out, interesting.

Also, this episode brings back the silly cliffhangers that were missing in the previous episode.

Edit: i am only at the beginning now, but it seems that the anime also used the same joke about Sana not being able to fit into Ange's maid uniform.

edit

Spoiler for episode 5 after playing Ange route for a little:

In a way the anime is actually faithfull even with the altered and original scenes. We still get to see Ange's problem if she is not having her headdress on (i actually disliked those 3 scenes that she didn't wear her headdress and went litterly crazy about it. In the game she does act more like a little kid if she doesn't wear it ), the way that she is almost too obsessed wanting do some work/chores and the scene that she got wet (eventhough the circumstances and misunderstandings about it has been altered). The biggest change does seem to be the reason why she lost her spirit. In the game it was even more serious than in the anime, to the point that she even gave up being a maid (eventhough it was only for 1 day, because in the same day she cheered up and recovered from her depression after seeing Shingo helping an old woman). And the reason why she want to become Shingo's maid is also different.
The anime is keeping the core of Ange's route intact, but they are somewhat compressing her story because the orginal source material is too large for an anime that doesn't completely focus on one character. But the anime is probably focusing the most on Airi at this moment.

[Mahou]

Spoiler for Episode 5:

Awww, Airi was so adorable in this episode . Being surprised herself at her "Bye, Bye" and that they walked casually next to eachother. Just too cute how she muttered his name on her bed and wished that it would already be the next school day in order to see him. Her blushes are becoming more frequent, now even at so simple things like arranging the tables in a proper formate.

It was funny how Sana got owned by a mutual silence + Ange's breast comment about the maid uniform . Glad to see that Miu wasn't too down in front of the group after the talk about possibly shuting down her club.
@Ange: The part where Shingo talked alone with her was similar to the dialogue with her before the first choice selection in the Visual Novel. I was taken aback at her child-like status when her maid headwear had fallen off after she crashed with Shingo. Shingo's comment on her non-maidish bahvior today was indeed quite rough, especially at how he usually acts. Seems like he acted against his own priciples there ...

I will save Ange's route as the last one because I'm not too interested in it. I like how she can be more serious when it counts (like at one point in Airi's route), but still generally keep her comedy factor.
After I'm eventually done with Airi's I may try Sakuno's to see how the they handle the sister-trope. That is without any expectations from other VNs.

[relentlessflame]

@Mahou: You don't need to double-post your main anime episode impressions here, just in-depth game comparisons and questions about future anime content based on the game. The rest can stay in the anime thread.

[netvope]

Is anyone aware of any translation projects for either the PC or the PSP version?

[hyl]

I don't think anyone is doing a translation of it

[hyl]

Episode 6 preview shows that the anime is somehow heading to Miu's story next.


http://mashiro.tv/onair/index.html

edit: placed this in the game section, because this preview has obvious hints to Miu's story if you played the game

[Skyfall]

Since they already introduced issues with her unofficial "club" during ep5, that's not too unexpected indeed. Considering that Miu's story is also pretty much the only one that has plot related to outside influences, makes sense they would tackle it and get it "out of the way", so to speak, before returning to character focus and building towards Airi's ending without anything outside the group interactions to break the pace.

Also, her story being featured in the middle is pretty much the nail in the coffin regarding possible Miu ending, otherwise they would have saved it for the last. I know, I know, it never had much of a chance of happening to start with, but one can always hope - if there ever was a realistic contender besides Airi, Miu would have been it

[Mahou]

So after watching the raw of episode 6:

Spoiler for To be sure:

The last scene with Airi and Shingo being caught in the rain and the bathtub offer; I'm sure it only happened in Airi's route, but the dialogue concering why he didn't ask Airi to join was new. I'll start Miu's route soon, so if there's also this Airi moment it's nice-to-have . Otherwise the anime combined a few bits together.

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by Mahou

So after watching the raw of episode 6:

Spoiler for To be sure:

The last scene with Airi and Shingo being caught in the rain and the bathtub offer; I'm sure it only happened in Airi's route, but the dialogue concering why he didn't ask Airi to join was new. I'll start Miu's route soon, so if there's also this Airi moment it's nice-to-have . Otherwise the anime combined a few bits together.

Spoiler for Episode 6 game comparison:

Haven't watched the episode quite yet (should get to it soon), but yes: the joining the club situation only happened in Miu and Sana's routes, while the bathtub only happened in Airi's route. This is just like how Ange only becomes Shingo's maid in Ange's route. So they've blended the routes together, hence the added dialog in that scene. They created a "super route".

So far it looks like my prediction was pretty close, but Ange's content got moved up a bit so she could have a role in the on-going plot (instead of being a one-off), which is actually better. They're also integrating Airi throughout all the episodes more, which is a good touch. All in all, it's going even better than expected.

[hyl]

Spoiler for episode 6 and some game spoilers:

This episode combined parts of 3 stories together. Ange's story is temporary on hold, while this episode mostly focuses alot on Miu's story on the group saving the club by finding enough members to make it official. Like Mahou said the anime did combine the bath scene with Airi into her joining the club, while it was slightly a more surpise that she would become the final club member.
I liked the rivalry between Ange and Sakuno at the beginning and it reminded me of a certain sdcg

Oddly enough Sana's drawing in the anime is much worse than what she drew in the psp game. (i don't think we get to see the posters in the pc game, but i am not sure on that one.)


edit: guessing from next week preview, i don't think that the anime will go too much further with Miu's story and we might to get to see the start of Sakuno's story




more late edits:
I slightly disliked the way how the anime did the beginning of Miu's story. The part with the club and posters focused a bit more on Sana in the game. I think it was a wasted opportunity to make Sana look more like a main heroine than a side character. Example the part where shingo burned his hand to save the poster, the only present at that moment was Sana and not the whole group and it was Sana who treated Shingo's hand, not Miu. That scene pretty much showed that Sana is nicer than that she seems .
This is shown again later in the Sana route, when she treated Shingo's hand when he got hurt again by wrapping his hand using her ribbon.


edit thanks to relentlessflame: Darn i missed the Yutsuki cameo x_x

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by hyl

Spoiler for episode 6 and some game spoilers:

I slightly disliked the way how the anime did the beginning of Miu's story. The part with the club and posters focused a bit more on Sana in the game. I think it was a wasted opportunity to make Sana look more like a main heroine than a side character. Example the part where shingo burned his hand to save the poster, the only present at that moment was Sana and not the whole group and it was Sana who treated Shingo's hand with bandages.

Spoiler for Episode 6 game comparison:

I thought this was actually a pretty good compromise, personally, though of course I know they could have stretched it out even further. We saw a few important scenes of Shingo + Sana, including an important one while while they're putting up the posters. Later when Shingo burns himself, we still see Sana get mad at him. But they compressed things a little bit more here by giving them a tighter deadline and having the whole group be present. Still, I would say that Sana was a "main heroine" as much as all the others here, and she actually wasn't overshadowed by Miu (who, if anything, was a bit downplayed compared to the game as well). But this is I guess what we get when we combine all the routes into a "super route" -- each heroine gets a bit of focus without overshadowing the others too much (but with Airi still taking the lead as the main heroine).

Next episode's title is a direct reference to Sana as well, but it's telling that they didn't actually show Sana at all in the preview. But I don't think any game players can forget the sunset-coloured swing...

Originally Posted by hyl

Spoiler for episode 6 and some game spoilers:

Later in the Sana route, she treated Shingo's hand again when he got hurt (again). And i liked the long hair Sana without her bow/ribbon or whatever it's called in English

Spoiler for future anime content speculation based on the game:

This is one of my favourite scenes in the game and I love it. I don't know if they'll be able to incorporate it into the anime, but I think they're setting things up so that it could be possible. I think the anime is building towards the message this particular scene was trying to convey -- that Shingo's kindness can actually hurt others when he won't allow others to care for him back. That was really the theme of Airi's development this week, so the foreshadowing is there. The next step after that is Airi's "I want to be like you", followed by Shingo saying the same to Miu, and perhaps then the actual "sunset-coloured swing"? The elements are coming together pretty nicely, anyway.

[hyl]

Spoiler for the swingscene:

If they already use that, then it's pretty much the end of Sana as a main heroine and i think (and hope) that it's a little too early for that.But the title is pretty ominous

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by hyl

Spoiler for the swingscene:

If they already use that, then it's pretty much the end of Sana as a main heroine and i think (and hope) that it's a little too early for that.

Spoiler for Future anime episode predictions:

Yes. I think next time will only be an introduction, as part of the journey of breaking the ice (just as it was in the game). But, to me, the main reason to introduce the swing scene is if they're going to come back to it again later... so my speculation is that they're going to animate that part of Miu's arc in full. I had thought of this earlier too, but I wonder if they could change that scene so that the one she sees is Airi, and the shoulder to cry on is Miu? I guess we'll see if they get some stray cats and decide to name the girl cat "Airi"...

[hyl]

Spoiler for next episode and huge game spoilers:

I am not even sure if the anime has the time to introduce the stray cats if the next episode is the swing scene. I am sure they will somehow skip the cats and somehow immediately go for

But this scene was essential to really start Miu's story, but at the same time i think that the anime has not addressed Sana enough to make this scene more impactfull.

edit: i am still mad at myself for not noticing the Yutsuki cameo. I probably blinked or wasn't paying enough attention at the scene to see that less than 1 second cameo

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by hyl

Spoiler for next episode and huge game spoilers:

I am not even sure if the anime has the time to introduce the stray cats if the next episode is the swing scene. I am sure they will somehow skip the cats and somehow immediately go for

But this scene was essential to really start Miu's story, but at the same time i think that the anime has not addressed Sana enough to make this scene more impactfull.

Spoiler for continuing per above; big game spoilers:

The only mitigation is that that isn't "sunset", so they'd have to show the swings a few times to build up to that one. Perhaps there's a way of re-telling the story without involving the cats, which may be necessary anyway if Airi's the chosen heroine. My bet is that the aforementioned scene will still happen later, but they're just going to start building towards it now. I do agree that it's too early to be eliminating heroines in the "super-route" and there isn't enough build-up of any character yet. Even if you set aside if they could develop Sana enough in one episode, that whole scene would require Shingo to be clearly in love with someone else. If that's Airi, that's not going to happen until they go through a few more trials (in particular, she has to have a big blow-up with her mother, and make the "I want to be like you" proclamation, which is what triggers Shingo's feelings). If it's Miu... well, that'd just be the most random turn of events ever at this point -- it'd need a lot more build-up. So no, I don't think it'll happen next week, but if they use the sunset scene to foreshadow it, then I think it could happen later.

Originally Posted by hyl

Spoiler for next episode and huge game spoilers:

edit: i am still mad at myself for not noticing the Yutsuki cameo. I probably blinked or wasn't paying enough attention at the scene to see that less than 1 second cameo

Spoiler for Episode 6:

hehe... to be fair, I only caught it on the second viewing, and it is a really brief cameo.

[hyl]

Spoiler for episode 6:

As pointed out by relentlessflame : Shingo has pretty much the same expression both in the game (as a sdcg) and anime in the scene where Shingo got hit by Sana, when he had that x for eyes. Eventhough the scene was different, because it took place after the swing scene for different reasons in the game and Shingo was kicked instead of punched.


edit: it's a nice touch that the makers of the anime are putting quite some effort by putting scenes in the anime that the people who played the game knows

edit: I think i can remember a few scenes with Sana that she was talking to Shingo when they were both at the swings. Time to check that out if my memory is correct

edit: Yes! There is atleast one scene , when she was just talking with Shingo at the end of the day (after doing the club stuff) when she was sitting at the swings during sunset.

I now think that it's possible that the title of the next episode will not be about "that scene"

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by hyl

Spoiler for episode 6:

edit: Yes! There is atleast one scene , when she was just talking with Shingo at the end of the day (after doing the club stuff) when she was sitting at the swings during sunset.

I now think that it's possible that the title of the next episode will not be about "that scene"

Spoiler for Episode 7 predictions:

Bingo -- I think that'd be a perfect scene to show in the next episode, the particular line of dialog you chose especially. Now that Shingo's proven himself to Sana, and as he continues to spend time with her in the club, I think she'll start warming up to him too. This sort of development is necessary if they're even thinking about doing "that scene" later, and makes sense if she's going to be considered a full heroine in this anime. But I do assume they're only going to develop Sana per her story in the PC game (and the manga), and not get into any of the material covered in the PSP game. Also to remember that Shingo has to get close to Miu as well, as he has to meet her mother (per the OP).