[SPLIT LIP]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Den-O

And it wasn't better anyway since OOO was a much better series overall.

That's my personal opinion however

I can't agree with that. Not that I'm saying you can't like it more. I mean, go ahead, I still love the show. But better than Double? OOOs story was told well, but concepts and ideas were either too silly to accept against everything else, or didn't jive with the rules the series had presented. Also while the final episode itself was great, the show just wasn't as enjoyable near the end. I felt like Ankh's character arch was mismanaged. His decision of "I don't want to be a Greeed" while perfectly in line with his motivations before, came far too late to really be a game-changer. It seemed like it was crammed in with everything else too late in the game. I also felt like Eiji's story, while again a very good one, was drawn out and became a bit repetative. I think it would've worked better if the purple medals didn't make him lose control at first. Having him lose control, gain control, then all of a sudden lose it again just to overcome it seemed a touch contrived. They basically used the same idea twice. And it was very blatant.

I also felt that there were far more "useless" characters than double. Double had a lot of random friends of theirs that showed up, and so did OOOs. I'm not talking about Santa verses the Resturant owner. I mean main supporting characters. Mainly Birthday Man's assistant and Hina. My God they were pointless, the assistant more than Hina. When I saw the assistant at the end trying to catch Eiji like everyone else in his power revelation I genuinely cocked my head because of how utterly vacant the character had been. She had no personality, no purpose that couldn't have been given to a candroid, no nothing.

Hina is also vexing. While Akiko started out pretty annoying, her boundless energy, determination and few genuine successes made her pretty endearing. Hell, I was laughing out loud at her antics by the end. She never felt useless, unlike Hina. Hina's only job was to stand there and look pitiful, occasionally hugging someone for a contrived bit of character realization. She had no personality, had as much energy as Ben Stein, and did nothing worthwhile. Her big thing is that she's super strong, but the show forgets that by, like, episode twenty. So realy, totally pointless. Akiko, for all her character faults, was strong, silly, supportive, yet well contrasted. I remember her infiltrating the Sonozaki mansion as a maid and uncovering the Sweets dopant, uncovering the Pupeteer dopant, as well as the only one besides Shotaro to put up any sort of fight against the dream dopant. Now think of that for a second, he's a dopant that invades and controls dreams. He projects his mental prowess onto someone else to control their mind. So for Akiko to be able to even inconvenience him, let alone mentally attack him, puts her mental control (or possible lack thereof) on the same level as Shotaro.

Akiko was awesome. Hina sucked.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SideswipePrime

Cool! So wold you say it's beter than Double? Or is Double still your favorite?

Subjectively I think Double will always be my favourite. Objectively I still think Double is better. It was just better crafted, and it got far more emotional responses out of me than OOOs did. (And I had been spoiled to W's ending, so it had that working against it)

On W's ending verses OOOs: Really, as much as some people say it "cheapened" the second to last episode, I don't really see that. The emotion in the scene where Shotaro lets Philip go wasn't really undone, since it was still a major point to his character. And while philip wasn't gone long for us, he was for Shotaro, and seeing Shotaro not lose strength in the meantime was a huge service to the character. And his reuniting with Philip was very well done, really makign the relation between the two seem incredibly genuine.

Sadly, while I didn't want to do this, the main decider for which series overall was better comes mainly due to the acting. Shotaro's actor really, really portrays the character well, and really gets across the intense emotion Shotaro is based around. That's the best part of Shotaro and Philip: one is heart-on-his-sleeve and overflowing with personality, one is very reserved and awkward, sometimes oblivious, to emotion. They both aspire to be more, and grow in different ways, Shotaro accepting who he is and realising emotion is not something to just be ignored, and Philip wanting a family and to, basically, feel love and loved again.

Eiji... I like the character a lot, I like the actor a lot, but he's not Shotaro. He's just not the emotional powerhouse. I'm not saying he has to be the same character, but I can't remember a lot of scenes where Eiji expressed so much emotion outside of his oft-repeated civil war flashback, even when he should have. It got very tiring, honestly, and is one of the reasons I'll probably end up forgetting a huge part of him. He had a character, but he didn't have much of a personality.

Combine that with the other (minor mind you) flaws of the show and I can't honestly call OOOs better than Double. They are the same tier though. And OOOs did not ever dissapoint, especially coming off of Double which I, and many I've heard, consider one of the stronger series. I don't want to pick a favourite or which is better, but if I had to, it's Double, both times.