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[Neonivek]

As for Zero... The anime stops before it actually justifies it yet. Currently their relationship is based off of him ignoring everything she says, contradicting her constantly, and throwing himself at her whether she wants it or not... and him trying too hard to impress her to the point where she is forced to console him... It is a very one sided relationship all things considered (Intentionally mind you. It just means their relationship isn't immediately perfect)

The issue isn't that he doesn't like Rem currently. It is that there is more of a reason for them to be together then not because they are, so far, the proven couple.

As in right now the relationship between him and Rem is eclipsing the "One True Love" in both screen time, poignancy, and set up. Heck say what you will the reason he always gives for liking Stella applies even more to Rem.

HOWEVER that said Zero does ONE THING REALLY WELL!!!... The main character learns how to be a better person, how to be a better boyfriend... From Rem. He doesn't suddenly become good at relationships, he learned it from the patience, love, and caring that Rem showed him at his darkest time. THAT is why Zero works and one of the ways it gets out of that trap.

---

But even then my observation wasn't so much "Why does every anime do this wrong?" so much as "Why do so many animes do it wrong?".

Which is, what I think it is, that too much fiction spends too much time on the romance being a sure thing and forget to set it up.

Cinderella actually handles the "Love at first sight" very well with only one scene, but it did it by actually setting things up without them needing to be together. Full Moon Wo Sagashite even though it ran off of "Sooo designated" it actually handled it differently and... (Snow White didn't handle it badly... because Prince Charming is meant to be a non-entity. It is both the hearts of the Dwarves and the radiant goodness of Snow White that saves her)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

It was the female lead who was never sure if she really wanted the relationship. That she knew he was supporting her the whole time and that she isn't ready to love, doesn't want to love, but she is going to love him and she asks him to be patient.

There are ways around it for sure and you don't sink JUST because you have designated love interest.

[Cruxador]

The issue isn't that he doesn't like Rem currently. It is that there is more of a reason for them to be together then not because they are, so far, the proven couple.

As in right now the relationship between him and Rem is eclipsing the "One True Love" in both screen time, poignancy, and set up. Heck say what you will the reason he always gives for liking Stella applies even more to Rem.

See, this is what I'm getting at. This kind of thinking doesn't really make sense if you consider a media relationship as something that should reflect real-life relationships, because that's not how relationships work in real life. We as spectators can look and say "he'd be so much better with Rem" just as you can look at some of your friends and think they'd be good together. But it's not that kind of relationship even though they get along well, and the relationship your friend (or Subaru) does want has all kinds of problems. Re:Zero sells this well, and I'd say it's the most realistic romance I've seen in anime in age, even though it does end before the "payoff" aspect of it, if there even is one. I don't know, I don't read that LN.

As for the rest of your post, I agree, and I knew where you were coming from, but only wanted to add this qualifier.

[Neonivek]

Real life doesn't come into it. I don't say this because I am thinking with respects of real life so much as how it works as a story.

[GreatJustice]

This season has just been a parade of shows that don't match up with my expectations (mostly).

Went into Occultic;Nine hoping for something on the level of Steins;Gate. But while it isn't outright bad, I can't help but feel annoyed when I watch it because I feel like there's a lot of potential being totally wasted.

Of particular note,

Spoiler: Really stupid scene (click to show/hide)

The way they decide to randomly cut to shadowy conspiracy organization for seemingly no reason except to cram in hamfisted exposition really feels ridiculous. They raise questions like "Why are these people ghosts" and then just straight up answer them with "Well they were injected with magic metal that turns you into a ghost after you die and this evil organization wants to mind control people or something". No build up, no slowly revealing less significant details, hell, they don't even bother explaining why the audience is suddenly getting to see the villains' meeting. Just randomly revealing important information in the most boring manner possible because the writers wouldn't want us to get intrigued or anything.

Steins;Gate handled the pacing of reveals to the audience really damn well and that's part of what made it great. I don't get how Occultic;Nine could screw it up so badly. It also doesn't help that (most) of Steins;Gate's characters were really likeable and interesting whereas Occultic;Nine has crammed in so many characters for seemingly no reason that most of them feel very flat.

On the other hand, Shuumatsu no Izetta has been a pretty alright show, with the only big issue I've had so far being that the animation quality is comically uneven. They spend so much on the "magical moment" scenes that the regular ones look really terrible.

Spoiler: Izetta talk (click to show/hide)

On the plus side, the characters are reasonably well fleshed out and the plot twists have been unpredictable enough to keep me constantly guessing while getting just enough foreshadowing to not feel like complete ass pulls.

On the other hand, there is some seriously stupid shit in this show. Like how Random Soldier Kid is just wandering around in the woods and walks past a general and the head of intelligence loudly discussing the weaknesses of their secret weapon for no reason, and then Random Soldier Kid goes back to his camp and basically goes up to Random Not-German Spy to tell him that he heard important information for absolutely no reason.

Finally, Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku was a show I expected to be a cheap Madoka knockoff that has turned into the gift that keeps on giving. The first five minutes were really stupid and unnecessary but otherwise it seems like an all around solid show.

[Arx]

I've started watching Steins;Gate on a friend's recommendation. This may be the best thing.

[Reelya]

Steins;Gate is special. After finishing it, google John Titor to see where they got some of the ideas.

Other "thing;thing" series aren't so special. They don't have consistency comparable with e.g. Key visual novels, where your sort of getting the same thing each time.

[Folly]

I loved the general pacing and ideas behind Steins;Gate, but felt that the show was tainted by several significant story elements that were introduced and then never went anywhere at all, as well as some major inconsistencies with the rules of time travel. Although I never played the Visual Novels, so those may well contain the missing story arcs and better explanations for the time travel mechanics.
Despite my complaints, I'm looking forward to re-watching the show when S;G-0 comes out.

[Reelya]

Were the story elements the John Titor-related stuff (which you'd have to google the specifics) or other stuff? Because several plot elements are based on the fairly rambling John Titor source material. Basically, it's based on a set of Creepypasta posts for want of a better description.

[Hawkfrost]

Steins;Gate is a fairly good show that I think wanders around too much for it's own good, to the point that I don't know if I cared about the plot anymore by the time it ended.

It's a similar problem to Parasyte, where I was only half-watching for the last three-or-so episodes because I didn't care anymore and just wanted it to finish.

[Folly]

It's been a while so I don't remember all the specifics...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

but I remember there were several dream-like sequences that talked about fate and such which never got explained or fulfilled properly. Also, the idea of fate in general, where certain events were destined to happen regardless of intervention, doesn't make much sense without some intelligent force manipulating events. And that shady government organization that seemed to know more than they should and appeared to be directly involved in the events of the show but never really got explained. I just felt like there were a lot of loose ends in the show.

[itisnotlogical]

It turns out that, as long as you realize the era it was made in, the old old Fist of the North Star/Hokuto no Ken anime holds up pretty impressively. Maybe I've just grown an appreciation for the sillier aspects of it, or maybe I've spent too long watching modern shounen garbage like Sword Art Online and co.

[Cthulufaic]

It turns out that, as long as you realize the era it was made in, the old old Fist of the North Star/Hokuto no Ken anime holds up pretty impressively. Maybe I've just grown an appreciation for the sillier aspects of it, or maybe I've spent too long watching modern shounen garbage like Sword Art Online and co.

Fist of the North Star is amazing, even if some of the visuals are kinda dated.  Some arcs are definitely better than others, though, but that could be said for pretty much any show.

[Flying Dice]

Just started watching Sora wo Kakeru Shoujo. Exactly what I needed.

[Arx]

I have now almost finished Steins;Gate, and good grief the whole 'Christina' thing was an elaborate Phantom of the Opera reference. Wow.

[i2amroy]

I have now almost finished Steins;Gate, and good grief the whole 'Christina' thing was an elaborate Phantom of the Opera reference. Wow.

Wait what? According to the Steins;Gate wiki the likely origin was that the pronunciation of "Kurisu" matches that of the western name "Chris", which then gets given a western feminization to get to "Christina". (Basically it's just "Kurisu"+"tina"; pronounce it kinda engrishy and you will see the connection)