Another slight TV series vs. game (source material) session
All right, I did a rush!playthrough for Togainu no Chi just so I could compare things in my head a bit better. Since I rushed, and I haven't played the game for several years, my information might not be 100% accurate, but that's not the point at this moment~! It's time to attempt to figure out just where the TV series might be heading in comparison to the source material.
For starters, I heard that the director for the anime is a brand new director, so maybe that explains how shoddy this version of the story is being handled. It's something to keep in mind, for sure.
From what I can gather, the TV series' story is following Nano's route, but it's still confusing because there are route-specific scenes still presented that aren't in Nano's route. I wonder if that's the best they could manage because you actually need to play through all the main routes before you're able to access Nano's story?
That still doesn't excuse the awful pacing presented!
Brief points of interest per route presented thus far:
1) Keisuke = recovery sequence (all his Line addiction moments happen in all routes, while the recovery presented in the anime is only from his route)
2) Rin = vs. Shiki fight + flashback
3) Motomi = church scene + flashback
4) Shiki = extended vs. Shiki scenes + suitcase scene (shared only with Nano's route)
5) Nano = Akira rescue + greenhouse scene (which was shortened to near-painful levels)
Because Shiki's route with all three possible endings involve Akira getting taken in by him before the truth about Nano comes to light, there's no chance for any of his endings to happen. Shiki technically is handled so poorly in the anime, he comes across as a random "optional boss" sort of character who just shows up and kills people. However, the preview for ep. 11 implied they would show the flashbacks involving Shiki vs. Nano in the past, which only happens in Shiki's route.
Motomi's ending also won't be used for the ending presented in the TV series because he also is skipped over just enough to make us not really get the full picture or maybe not even care. He's also currently elsewhere, so less interaction with Akira translates to no Motomi ending present. He's just an extra source of information here.
Rin probably won't be a major player in the end, at least not with Akira, because his story segments have been handled separately from Akira's main interactions. It seems that there won't be any further Rin vs. Shiki battle due to Rin losing in record speed, and with Shiki currently about to take on Nano, I don't see much Rin-centric focus going to happen before the ending.
Keisuke is a hard one to guess. If they do follow Nano's route to any degree, that might lead to Keisuke's death. Because the majority of the episodes were rather focused upon Keisuke's behavior and inevitable Line addiction (also added details to remind us of certain R18 scenes from the game including the bad ending and presence of the screwdriver), there is a chance of him surviving, which would probably lead to his route ending. It's not my preference at all, however. They went through the trouble to showing Keisuke recovering, but that doesn't mean he'll get the best ending.
And then there's Nano. Same with everyone else, they certainly rushed and lessened the deeper value to his actions and dialogue. Nano's route is considered to be the true ending route, which I can absolutely agree to after replaying through them all. Since Nano can only get killed by Shiki and vice versa, given the setup thus far, I'm much more inclined to believe that Nano's route will be covered in some form, possibly all the way to the end. Side evidence is actually in the opening sequence, if the opening can be trusted. They do take the time to show Nano paired up with Akira near the start (in water, each floating in opposite directions) and near the end (Akira reaching out to Nano in the past, and while that is a brief plot point in all the routes, it's only revealed in its entirety during Nano's route).
I'm still under the impression that if they actually followed the manga, they'd almost certainly get better results. I'd say take the main recurring points then either have one specific route/ending in mind or create a brand new ending that should keep the fans happy in some form. That could even mean combining routes/endings in a way that would make sense. Instead, we've got rather confused storytelling with super poor pacing (did we really need so many episodes to cover Keisuke's Line addiction while only one episode to cover 4+ major plot points and revelations that should have been lengthened out a great deal more?). Now that we've only got a couple more episodes to go and actually very little material to cover left, it really makes one wonder how on earth they're going to handle things from here on out.
Considering that Shiki is the most popular Togainu no Chi character, if they do kill him off, so many of the fanbase will cry and possibly attack the animation team as soon as it happens. I'm sure other Shiki fans have been rather upset or disappointed about how he's been handled in the anime as well. Then again, the anime's handled in such a way that I think pretty much all the characters have been handled dubiously. Except maybe Arbitro, which seriously makes no sense why only he has been allowed to have all the fun.
After having rushed through all the main routes, I'll again point out how Nano's route feels like a true finale to the game. Only in his route do we get an epilogue and "Fin" still, for example. There seems to be a much deeper connection going on as well. I find it somewhat strange yet amusing that it's heavily implied that Nano killed Shiki "off-camera" and shortly after Akira/the player understands this, Nano gets clingy with Akira, hahaha. Maybe it's just me, but things feel more connected between Akira and Nano than any of the other main route pairings. I do still like Shiki x Akira stuff, but Nano x Akira is just super special to me.
I have to note that out of all the main routes, Nano actively searches for Akira in all of them, regardless of if you're able to access his route yet or not. His background basics are also revealed in all the main routes, although you get the full picture from his and Shiki's routes.
The constancy is pretty interesting regardless. It's like how certain things are completely unavoidable, no matter what you do. If you'd like another excellent similar example, give 999 for the DS a try.
At the very least, I can say that watching the TV series makes you really appreciate the original game a ton more.
Even though it's censored/edited in ways, I'm actually still very excited to play the upcoming PSP version of Togainu no Chi, which is a port of the PS2 version, if only to appreciate how a non-R18 version of the story can be handled well and intelligently, similar to the manga series. Thankfully in these, everyone is treated well enough to make everyone happy, haha.
For starters, I heard that the director for the anime is a brand new director, so maybe that explains how shoddy this version of the story is being handled. It's something to keep in mind, for sure.
From what I can gather, the TV series' story is following Nano's route, but it's still confusing because there are route-specific scenes still presented that aren't in Nano's route. I wonder if that's the best they could manage because you actually need to play through all the main routes before you're able to access Nano's story?
That still doesn't excuse the awful pacing presented!
Brief points of interest per route presented thus far:
1) Keisuke = recovery sequence (all his Line addiction moments happen in all routes, while the recovery presented in the anime is only from his route)
2) Rin = vs. Shiki fight + flashback
3) Motomi = church scene + flashback
4) Shiki = extended vs. Shiki scenes + suitcase scene (shared only with Nano's route)
5) Nano = Akira rescue + greenhouse scene (which was shortened to near-painful levels)
Because Shiki's route with all three possible endings involve Akira getting taken in by him before the truth about Nano comes to light, there's no chance for any of his endings to happen. Shiki technically is handled so poorly in the anime, he comes across as a random "optional boss" sort of character who just shows up and kills people. However, the preview for ep. 11 implied they would show the flashbacks involving Shiki vs. Nano in the past, which only happens in Shiki's route.
Motomi's ending also won't be used for the ending presented in the TV series because he also is skipped over just enough to make us not really get the full picture or maybe not even care. He's also currently elsewhere, so less interaction with Akira translates to no Motomi ending present. He's just an extra source of information here.
Rin probably won't be a major player in the end, at least not with Akira, because his story segments have been handled separately from Akira's main interactions. It seems that there won't be any further Rin vs. Shiki battle due to Rin losing in record speed, and with Shiki currently about to take on Nano, I don't see much Rin-centric focus going to happen before the ending.
Keisuke is a hard one to guess. If they do follow Nano's route to any degree, that might lead to Keisuke's death. Because the majority of the episodes were rather focused upon Keisuke's behavior and inevitable Line addiction (also added details to remind us of certain R18 scenes from the game including the bad ending and presence of the screwdriver), there is a chance of him surviving, which would probably lead to his route ending. It's not my preference at all, however. They went through the trouble to showing Keisuke recovering, but that doesn't mean he'll get the best ending.
And then there's Nano. Same with everyone else, they certainly rushed and lessened the deeper value to his actions and dialogue. Nano's route is considered to be the true ending route, which I can absolutely agree to after replaying through them all. Since Nano can only get killed by Shiki and vice versa, given the setup thus far, I'm much more inclined to believe that Nano's route will be covered in some form, possibly all the way to the end. Side evidence is actually in the opening sequence, if the opening can be trusted. They do take the time to show Nano paired up with Akira near the start (in water, each floating in opposite directions) and near the end (Akira reaching out to Nano in the past, and while that is a brief plot point in all the routes, it's only revealed in its entirety during Nano's route).
I'm still under the impression that if they actually followed the manga, they'd almost certainly get better results. I'd say take the main recurring points then either have one specific route/ending in mind or create a brand new ending that should keep the fans happy in some form. That could even mean combining routes/endings in a way that would make sense. Instead, we've got rather confused storytelling with super poor pacing (did we really need so many episodes to cover Keisuke's Line addiction while only one episode to cover 4+ major plot points and revelations that should have been lengthened out a great deal more?). Now that we've only got a couple more episodes to go and actually very little material to cover left, it really makes one wonder how on earth they're going to handle things from here on out.
Considering that Shiki is the most popular Togainu no Chi character, if they do kill him off, so many of the fanbase will cry and possibly attack the animation team as soon as it happens. I'm sure other Shiki fans have been rather upset or disappointed about how he's been handled in the anime as well. Then again, the anime's handled in such a way that I think pretty much all the characters have been handled dubiously. Except maybe Arbitro, which seriously makes no sense why only he has been allowed to have all the fun.
After having rushed through all the main routes, I'll again point out how Nano's route feels like a true finale to the game. Only in his route do we get an epilogue and "Fin" still, for example. There seems to be a much deeper connection going on as well. I find it somewhat strange yet amusing that it's heavily implied that Nano killed Shiki "off-camera" and shortly after Akira/the player understands this, Nano gets clingy with Akira, hahaha. Maybe it's just me, but things feel more connected between Akira and Nano than any of the other main route pairings. I do still like Shiki x Akira stuff, but Nano x Akira is just super special to me.
I have to note that out of all the main routes, Nano actively searches for Akira in all of them, regardless of if you're able to access his route yet or not. His background basics are also revealed in all the main routes, although you get the full picture from his and Shiki's routes.
The constancy is pretty interesting regardless. It's like how certain things are completely unavoidable, no matter what you do. If you'd like another excellent similar example, give 999 for the DS a try.
At the very least, I can say that watching the TV series makes you really appreciate the original game a ton more.
Even though it's censored/edited in ways, I'm actually still very excited to play the upcoming PSP version of Togainu no Chi, which is a port of the PS2 version, if only to appreciate how a non-R18 version of the story can be handled well and intelligently, similar to the manga series. Thankfully in these, everyone is treated well enough to make everyone happy, haha.