Heck, it's why, whenever Slayers spawns a new anime season, it HAS to have the main four characters, because fans won't like anything new and different.
While it's true that the anime shoe-horned Zel and Amelia into stories that didn't involve them in the novels; at least the anime provided a reasonable explanation for Zel and Amelia being there. You never get the impression that Lina and Gourry magically become incompetent losers whenever their BFFs are gone. Those 4 characters are good friends; but they can still live and function without each other for long stretches of time.
Anyway, sounds like you'd have to throw away everything you knew about the characters from past cartoon series and take this one as brand new, and perhaps a sign of how cartoons are being made these days. Or something. Personally, I never liked Scooby Doo cartoons beyond the campy 70s, so yeah...
Thing is, even if you pretend that this is the first Scooby show ever and don't compare it to previous incarnations, it still fails. The characters are completely unlikeable and one-dimensional, there are plot holes everywhere, the tone constantly shifts between goofy/stupid and serious melodrama, and the girls only exist to chase penises and whine about their love lives.
I don't think this is emblematic of how cartoons are done these days (at least I hope not!). I just think the writers behind this show royally suck at writing drama and romance.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2012-04-18 09:57 am (UTC)While it's true that the anime shoe-horned Zel and Amelia into stories that didn't involve them in the novels; at least the anime provided a reasonable explanation for Zel and Amelia being there. You never get the impression that Lina and Gourry magically become incompetent losers whenever their BFFs are gone. Those 4 characters are good friends; but they can still live and function without each other for long stretches of time.
Anyway, sounds like you'd have to throw away everything you knew about the characters from past cartoon series and take this one as brand new, and perhaps a sign of how cartoons are being made these days. Or something. Personally, I never liked Scooby Doo cartoons beyond the campy 70s, so yeah...
Thing is, even if you pretend that this is the first Scooby show ever and don't compare it to previous incarnations, it still fails. The characters are completely unlikeable and one-dimensional, there are plot holes everywhere, the tone constantly shifts between goofy/stupid and serious melodrama, and the girls only exist to chase penises and whine about their love lives.
I don't think this is emblematic of how cartoons are done these days (at least I hope not!). I just think the writers behind this show royally suck at writing drama and romance.