The Official SRW OG: The Inspector Thread Mk II

[Zechs Merquise]

I won't say I'm not loving this series! I'm a massive fan of this franchise, and this show has had me consistently more excited than any series since Gundam 00. I'll concede that a good deal of my problems likely come from comparing too closely with the games, since it is an adaptation, and I can't say it hasn't hit some fantastic high notes. But since this series is ostensibly made to please long-term fans of the games, it's a shame that it occasionally falls short of that mark.

It indeed did deliver some awesome, the high point being episode 15 for me, the best thing to come about in the series.

[Destiny_Gundam]

it's a shame that it occasionally falls short of that mark.

Can't always win every battle.

[Wingnut]

Congratulations on not listening to a single thing I said and sticking with your own flawed opinions. I have nothing else to say to someone as unreceptive as that.

Yeah, and you keep being a huge bigot.

Look here at the pot calling the kettle black. You're just as stuck as you claim I am. BTW, if you call me something like that again, I will take it to the staff. I do not take that kind of insult lightly.
If you can actually provide proof of any of your claims beyond your own words, like screencap comparisons of this mass use of stock footage you claim to see, then that's one thing. But when you complain of something that badly that thus far only trolls have spoken of with such hate, then it becomes hard to take seriously.

Chiming in again here. Honestly, my problem with the boss dispatches isn't how they happened, per se. More that they've been in general abrupt and unsatisfying.

Unfortunately, that's a result of the medium change more than anything else. In the games, a writer can spend several stages on something that can be dealt with in the span of one or two episodes. Bosses also don't have the ?????? level HP bars in anime so ones that don't have a gimmick of some sort like the Inspector or Shadow Mirror machines will go down a lot easier than something with machine cells for example.

[neolordmaxwell]

Can't always win every battle.

Nah, just getting my favorite games animated is a pretty big victory in and of itself. I have a few minor laments, but it in no way shape or form means I don't love the show to bits. Like the man said, it's because you love it that you have such high expectations.

Unfortunately, that's a result of the medium change more than anything else. In the games, a writer can spend several stages on something that can be dealt with in the span of one or two episodes. Bosses also don't have the ?????? level HP bars in anime so ones that don't have a gimmick of some sort like the Inspector or Shadow Mirror machines will go down a lot easier than something with machine cells for example.

Oh yeah. That goes without saying. I think my big/only real disappointment with that is that even Divine Wars, for all it's faults, did handle their bosses in a much more grandiose fashion. The battles with Ingram, Atad, and Levi's Judecca were a lot 'bigger' than these fights. And with Obari heading an animation staff, I did have a bit higher expectations when it comes to choreography. We've had some spectacular battles and fights earlier in the series, so for things to be as 'abrupt' as they feel like they've become in the past two episodes is a shame.

Again, minor complaints for me really, but I can see why other long term fans would be more disappointed.

[Destiny_Gundam]

Remember that Divine Wars had a lot fewer boss characters and less story to condense, and most of its boss characters were just grunts with names.

[Zechs Merquise]

Look here at the pot calling the kettle black.

How about no?

You're just as stuck as you claim I am.

Yeah you keep believing that.

BTW, if you call me something like that again, I will take it to the staff. I do not take that kind of insult lightly.

Guess what, you insulted me first.

[Destiny_Gundam]

Knock it off. When you resort to name calling and single sentence answers, know it's time to step back and drop it. This goes for everyone.

[Strike Zero]

To all members who are bitching and moaning: what in the world did you expect?

Anybody saying that the anime has not remained faithful to the games is simply incapable of grasping the bigger picture; with the sole exception of Einst Wendolo, things have played out exactly as they did in final length of OG2: a gigantic clusterfuck of final bosses thrown at the heroes one after the other with no breaks in between. Minor problem is: while the game had the leisure of about 7 stages with which to draw out all of these fights, the anime is limited to less than half that amount of time. End result: final bosses are forced to drop like flies in an abrupt manner with little fanfare as the show does its best to get through them all.

This relates back to the infection of Wendolo. I personally don't have a problem with it either way, but lets address it simply for the sake of argument: one must realize that by reducing his role as a villain, Obari and Terada are thereby cutting back on screentime necessary to exposit his role and character, thereby once again allowing for a more evenly-paced finale. And it wasn't just him; everybody got a similar cutting-down treatment, from the Shadow Mirrors to Lee Linjun, so Wendolo's certainly not alone on this matter. Doing so helps to streamline the overall narrative, which in the original OG2 had a bad habit of jutting out all over the place with so many different villains with different motivations operating at the same time.

And in the end, if people truly are that unhappy with the fact that his character was altered, all they have to do is go back and play their copies of the game again. I mean, good God, its not as though The Inspector is meant to replace the canon set up by the PS2 Original Generations.

I honestly can't believe there are people complaining about stock footage. Everything they've been reusing up to this point has been very well animated, and I'd gladly take any number of reused attack animations here and there if it means that the rest of the new footage can maintain the good to spectacular level of quality we've seen all throughout the series. Besides, as Destiny Gundam pointed out earlier, every battle in every Super Robot Wars game to date amounts to little more than a gigantic collection of stock footage, so if anything people should be glad that they're once again doing their best to stay true to the source material.

And with Obari heading an animation staff, I did have a bit higher expectations when it comes to choreography.

If you've had the same experience with his shows as I have, the fact that animation quality tapered off after a certain point isn't at all surprising. In both Gravion and Gravion Zwei, the animation started out great, went to hell after the halfway mark, then became fantastic again for the final episode. The Inspector has followed this trend so far (though it at least managed to keep the QUALITY contained to a single obvious episode), and I imagine it will continue to follow it for the finale on Friday.

[Mu La Flaga]

I want to add something on the Wendolo Einstified.

On a recent rewatch, I think it doesn't change too much it does change Wendolo's character and motivations, but the end result is he is driven far more so then what he was before and he has a sense of power unlike anything he could have dreamed of before.

It does corrupt some of his goals to match those of the Einst though obviously.
But the end result would have been fairly simillar overall since the Inspectors started off the same, it's just in the end Wendolo came to a different end?

Maybe we can consider the Inspector anime to be a slight variation reality of the main OG reality we all know?

aka alternate universe or so, that is one I will probably put this thing aside and all in terms of cannon.
Since it's not like Gundam where the anime is canon over the games, here the games are canon over the anime more so first and foremost

Just some quick thoughts of mine.

[neolordmaxwell]

Doing so helps to streamline the overall narrative, which in the original OG2 had a bad habit of jutting out all over the place with so many different villains with different motivations operating at the same time.

Oh so very true.
Much as I love it, OG2 was a haphazard mess of scattered plot points and bits of narrative thrown together that never really had much of a story flow going for it. I honestly agree that Einst Wendolo does help tie the storyline together somewhat, especially with this timescale. My real complaint is that it severely hindered one aspect of the storyline in my view, but the trade-off is that everything does flow together much better as a result. It's not my favorite decision and not one I'm exactly in love with, but I understand and agree with their reasoning for doing so.

And in the end, if people truly are that unhappy with the fact that his character was altered, all they have to do is go back and play their copies of the game again. I mean, good God, its not as though The Inspector is meant to replace the canon set up by the PS2 Original Generations.

Also entirely true. Like I've said, I'm beyond happy to see an anime adaptation of this franchise, no matter how many little things might end up getting changed. As with all things, it's up to each fan to decide which telling they like best, and which elements of which telling they prefer.

Not withstanding that the entire 25 year run of Super Robot Wars has been driven by adaptation drift- the stories are never quite the same twice, and that's part of the magic. I do think it's okay to complain that one version has downsides compared to another version of the same story, though. It's all relative. Isn't that the point to having these discussion topics in the first place? To share our thoughts and opinions on this version, including how we feel it compares to previous versions? At least, assuming that discussion can remain civil.

If you've had the same experience with his shows as I have, the fact that animation quality tapered off after a certain point isn't at all surprising. In both Gravion and Gravion Zwei, the animation started out great, went to hell after the halfway mark, then became fantastic again for the final episode. The Inspector has followed this trend so far (though it at least managed to keep the QUALITY contained to a single obvious episode), and I imagine it will continue to follow it for the finale on Friday.

I'm more familiar with this shorter OVA adaptations, i.e; Fatal Fury. I haven't been displeased with the overall quality of the animation itself, though. It's maintained a largely consistently acceptable level, and that's really all I ask for. If I have any complaints, it's with choreography, not animation itself. A small disappointment only because I've seen what his staff can do with a fight scene.

I can say one thing, for sure. Highs and lows aside, this is a show I'll be rewatching very frequently.

[Dark Duel]

Maybe we can consider the Inspector anime to be a slight variation reality of the main OG reality we all know?

I think it was firmly established that The Inspector was "a slight variation" on OG2/OGS...from episode 1 onwards when they changed Bullet's first machine.

Personally, except for that one episode a little bit ago where the animation was just awful, I've had no complaints about this show. Yeah, there're a couple of issues with it, but nothing too major, and it's IMO more than offset by the sheer amounts of epic win we see in most of the fights.

[Zechs Merquise]

Knock it off. When you resort to name calling and single sentence answers, know it's time to step back and drop it. This goes for everyone.

Just adding Wingnut to ignore, our fighting stops here.

To all members who are bitching and moaning: what in the world did you expect?

Something better.

Anybody saying that the anime has not remained faithful to the games is simply incapable of grasping the bigger picture; with the sole exception of Einst Wendolo, things have played out exactly as they did in final length of OG2: a gigantic ZOINKS of final bosses thrown at the heroes one after the other with no breaks in between. Minor problem is: while the game had the leisure of about 7 stages with which to draw out all of these fights, the anime is limited to less than half that amount of time. End result: final bosses are forced to drop like flies in an abrupt manner with little fanfare as the show does its best to get through them all.

That's more a problem with the pacing of the series, and little too much focus on the school subplot and not the others.

I honestly can't believe there are people complaining about stock footage. Everything they've been reusing up to this point has been very well animated, and I'd gladly take any number of reused attack animations here and there if it means that the rest of the new footage can maintain the good to spectacular level of quality we've seen all throughout the series. Besides, as Destiny Gundam pointed out earlier, every battle in every Super Robot Wars game to date amounts to little more than a gigantic collection of stock footage, so if anything people should be glad that they're once again doing their best to stay true to the source material.

That's funny as a joke, but not as an serious argument especially in a era where stock is hardly used anymore on anything but transformations.

If you've had the same experience with his shows as I have, the fact that animation quality tapered off after a certain point isn't at all surprising. In both Gravion and Gravion Zwei, the animation started out great, went to hell after the halfway mark, then became fantastic again for the final episode. The Inspector has followed this trend so far (though it at least managed to keep the QUALITY contained to a single obvious episode), and I imagine it will continue to follow it for the finale on Friday.

Yeah it's a shame they never get the budget they need.

[DuelGundam2099]

I don't suppose we can wait until tomorrow when the last episode airs that we can actually start opinion debates. Just saying.

Spoiler

Seriously Obari don't fail us now.

[Zechs Merquise]

I don't suppose we can wait until tomorrow when the last episode airs that we can actually start opinion debates. Just saying.

Spoiler

Seriously Obari don't fail us now.

The only thing I ask now is for Tornado Blade, that's all I want.

[Strike Zero]

Something better.

Well, I'll just finish off by saying that there's no help for you here, then. I'm still not quite sure where your expectations for a new OG anime came from after the crap-fest that was Divine Wars, but suffice it to say I feel they've more than delivered with The Inspector when compared to the efforts that were put out on that show.

[Zechs Merquise]

I'm still not quite sure where your expectations for a new OG anime came from,

It came from first half of the show itself.

suffice it to say I feel they've more than delivered with The Inspector when compared to the efforts that were put out on that show.

I agree that this is alot better then Divine Wars still though.

[neolordmaxwell]

That's more a problem with the pacing of the series, and little too much focus on the school subplot and not the others.

I have to disagree with you on that count.

Having recently played OG2, I can easily say that the school subplot does get more focus than any other subplot. Being heavily tied into both the Neo DC plot and the Alpha Gaiden originals' subplots, it's only natural.

Just taking a quick look at a game guide says worlds about how much impact each of the subplot actually had on the game's story. Of a total of 54 unique stages in the game, 13 of them directly involved the school plot (Including the stages focusing on Latooni and Shine's story). Applying some simple math means that they amounted for just under 25% of the game's story. It's only logical that an anime adaptation would cover that subplot extensively.

Comparatively, Wodan himself only makes appearances in 6 of 54 total stages- Two of which were exclusively event dialogue, making him relevant to just over 11% of the game, by the same calculations. Project TD fares even worse, accounting for a little more than 7% of the total storyline.

Due to various storyline cuts, the anime removed many scenes originally present for all of the above, but the overall ratio of story relevance hasn't really been changed.

Overall, SRWin changed the order of a few things, but in general what happens and what they focused on is pretty well unchanged from the game. I understand that a lot of fans might not like the School Arc and might choose route-splits to avoid them, but that doesn't make them any less relevant to the overall story.

[Destiny_Gundam]

Well I have no problems with the school plot outside of not being fond of Seolla. I do poke fun at it, though, as seen in my reviews.

[Mu La Flaga]

Well I have no problems with the school plot outside of not being fond of Seolla. I do poke fun at it, though, as seen in my reviews.

Although I stand by my point of how Seolla only mistreated Arado in episode 24 when he made that comment about her legs, which resulted in her kicking him in response and letting Russell see her infamous panties.

So Arado sometimes does ask for it when he provokes a reaction from her, considering she just made him a nice big sweet looking meal and all for him.

[neolordmaxwell]

Arado's an idiot. Their entire dynamic consists of him being an imbecile, saying something stupid/insulting/embarrassing for her, and her reacting by slugging him.

They're somewhere between the standard tsun/boke trope and an old married couple. Somehow.