Why do video game animes suck?
I know that’s something of a loaded question in that it presupposes the suckage, but the evidence seems to bear that out. Not counting outings that primarily have Visual Novel DNA (that’s more of its own thing, and has led to some outright great shows), I’ve reviewed a fair number of based-on-a-game or Game Tie-In shows, and there’s only one outlier I recall that scored higher than mediocrity.
To me, it’s a baffling question as to why this seems impossible to get right. At first the hypothesis that taking away interactivity and control from an interactive medium would do it seems promising, but between the Let’s Play phenomenon and the fact that video games are a legitimate storytelling medium with many examples of powerful or emotionally effective writing over their history, that can’t seem to be the case.
We should be able to get not just acceptable but awesome game-based animes. Unlike the world of film, the twelve (or more) episode format lends itself to the long running nature of many classic and effective games, and animation can replicate the wonder and style of fantastical worlds without bringing a major studio to its knees. But whether it’s common production issues or some nasty factor lurking beneath the surface, it seems as though we’re doomed to get failed outing after failed outing.
So, without any further adieu let’s at least dissect MMO tie-in Magatsu Wahrheit: Zuerst and see what’s wrong with this one.
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