Ascendance of a Bookworm - anime discussion

LurkingMcLurk

@goldkoron
Yes, more specifically

Eternal Wanderer

Enjoyed the latest episode but don't have much to say about it other than I hate the name Main so much right now.

Shiny

Their general handling Myne's internal monologues and backstory were handled really well. The use of chibi interludes and other visual styles to convey such information really keeps things entertaining and easy to distinguish.

But Main? Gah, I am so disappointed in their decision to deviate from the LN and stated preference of the author, and it isn't even internally consistent.

flarecde

Myne's mother is Effa in the books, isn't she? It seems like they picked Eva for the subtitles. From the VAs, it sounds like it could work as either?

Terabyte

@flarecde Yeah, the name is Effa. And as far as I know all the names Quof is using were officially approved by the author. It would have been nice if the anime used the same names, too.

sniper_samurai

@terabyte They are. They started with Main in the manga and had to redo the first 3 chapters to change the names.

LurkingMcLurk

@sniper_samurai
I think quof actually started with Maine not Main.

Paul Nebeling

Do the subtitle people even care? It could also be they are going with a phonetic spelling.

I'm not sure, but it's possible (I generally don't pay the closest attention to the audio while watching subbed anime.) that the romanized Myne is pronounced M long-A N silent-E or like the words Main/Maine. Me, I would pronounce it M long-I N silent-E like the word Mine. I'm probably wrong.

sniper_samurai

@paul-nebeling I would assume the translators would be given a style sheet with character names and a few terms they are required to use, but have chosen to ignore it. Not the first time incorrect name changes have been made mid series by Crunchy either.

jpwong

They might only get the script sheets, but yeah, I've seen a couple of series (like Monster Hunter) where the names just flip one episode from the Japanese/phonetic spellings to something else, or the official English names even if they sound nothing like what the characters in show are saying.

yairhb

The third episode was better. I hope it will keep going that way. OMG this "tuuuli" that myne said was a critical hit for me!

Cibastian

I think the anime so far is doing an OK job adapting the story - as a fan of the books there were some differences that really popped to my eye (and I'm not talking about the subbers ignoring the glossary quof sent them) - most of which I get why they did (time constraints), but some just really bother me - such as it's hardly noticeable when Myne has a fever or not, and it isn't really emphasized how weak she actually is (other than being unable to flip a paruecake - which I think she could do, if the oven as at a proper height for her to do so) - with most of the scenes that showcase it in the book being cut.
They also didn't really convey exactly how poor Myne's family is - they didn't show how they couldn't even afford to replace nails that were so rusted even the weak Myne could break them.

All unrealistic demands (such as adapting 100% of the LN) aside, I think they're doing a pretty decent job getting the main points across, and at a reasonable pace so far (getting around 50% of volume 1 in 3 episodes). I do somewhat worry since at this pace there's no way they'll reach the end of volume 3 (it seems silly to introduce the high priest if they won't reach when he shows up in the adaptation) - though it will make sense to keep this pacing if they have a second season in the works already (one can hope)

yumenokage

@cibastian I already feel like it's going a bit too fast. If they speed it up even more to cover through book 3 or farther...

SomeOldGuy

@cibastian The nails incident was not essential to knowing how poor they were, so why include it? The whole sequence was about how she was smarter than she could act upon, but it was not essential to showing that they were just as poor as everyone around them.

And if her fevers were obvious, why would there need to be "someone who knows her, monitoring her health"?

renofury

@yumenokage I felt the same way, the pacing is really fast. But the story doesn't feel disjointed and quite happy with adaptation.

I think the anime would serve me as a nice refresher to the LN, especially if picking back the novel after a long a break. The production is nice and the littke skits with the chibi Myne are a nice fun addition. The background artists done a fabulous job depicting the city. Myne Apartment had so many details, and its exterior was a surprising wooden skyscraper. The layout of the towns gate office was also believable, with filling and writing tools sensibly placed.

SomeOldGuy

OK, I broke down and fired up Crunchyroll to watch the first episode, and the use of the High Priest isn't a spoiler, but a plot device. By having things as "recalling memories", you can gloss over a lot of missing detail.

I just hope Crunchroll having the streaming license for this doesn't end up like so many other streamed animes, delaying the release of disks by years, to protect the value of the streaming rights.

hornet65

Her name should be spelled Myne. It was Myne in episode 1, then they changed it for episode 2, went back and edited episode 1, and it's still Main in episode 3.

I'm seeing if I can have Crunchyroll correct this, but who knows if they even care all that much.

Eternal Wanderer

@hornet65 I doubt they will fix it but this kind of thing just makes me so angry, I mean we have the authors word on how to say Myne's name and we can even hear the characters on the show say Myne so why is the whole thing even an issue in the first place. At this point I wonder if its just Crunchyroll being stubborn.

I also hope if this series ever gets dubbed its not done by Crunchyroll because if I heard the characters actually refer to her as Main I might just go insane of anger.

MoreDinosaurs

Still enjoying this anime! Looks like they have different artists doing the art for the end of each episode. Are these collected in a book somewhere or are they original for the anime? I don't quite understand the Episode 3 pic. Is Tuuli supposed to be a bird? Is this a Japanese culture thing I'm missing out on?

Here are desktop backgrounds for Episode 3 and 4.

Episode 3

Episode 4

DoubleMangekyo

@moredinosaurs said in Ascendance of a Bookworm - anime discussion:

I don't quite understand the Episode 3 pic. Is Tuuli supposed to be a bird? Is this a Japanese culture thing I'm missing out on?

Probably a reference to this folktale:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsuru_no_Ongaeshi