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Post by Leon Tekashi on May 28, 2017 12:37:17 GMT -5
In this poll, you are to agree or disagree if Hijikata could be a good successor to Ikaruga, similar to how if Ayame will be a good successor to Katsuragi. For those of you who don't know, Katsuragi and Ikaruga are at the point where they're just about ready for graduation, considering they're 3rd years. It has been confirmed that Ayame will be Katsuragi's successor. However, we don't know who will be Ikaruga's successor. Looking at the NW cast that's part of Hanzo Academy, it's highly possible that Hijikata could be Ikaruga's successor considering her character profile, hence why I'm choosing her as the possible successor to Ikaruga. With that said, let's get started. Could Hijikata be a good successor to Ikaruga? In my opinion? I would think so. My reason is because in terms of her character (based on what's given to us on her character profile), Hijikata sounds like the protective type, kinda like an older sister, which is what Ikaruga was like. While it doesn't straight out say it, it's highly possible that she's also the serious type like Ikaruga, considering she doesn't respect anyone that doesn't respect life. Now, this doesn't mean that she doesn't know how to lighten up, cause it's also possible that she does... Like Ikaruga. Unlike Ayame though, we don't have any information on her story as of yet. It would be nice though to be able to know what it is however. With that said, if Hijikata turns out to be the succesor to Ikaruga, I wish her luck on what she'll have to face as a student of Hanzo Academy and if she could be the 2nd Ikaruga of the group.  |
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Post by HomurasBra on May 28, 2017 12:49:37 GMT -5
Maybe. She does protect her comrades and wields the HAMMER OF JUSTICE! But looking at her I see more differences than similarities between her and Ikaruga. She'll be a good older sister type, but I'm not entirely seeing her as an Ikaruga replacement.
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Post by ateliertohka on May 29, 2017 23:37:14 GMT -5
I honestly think that the series needs to have an ending. It just never struck me as something that could keep going for years and years. Eventually, there will be a point where it starts to decline, and I'd rather sucessors to characters not be a concern. It'd feel too much like beating the franchise into the ground. And this is a problem that I already have with Kingdom Hearts, where they had the perfect place to end it, but didn't take that chance. I'd be happy if Senran didn't suffer the same fate. If the next game or two provides a good ending point, I think Marvelous would be better off taking that chance to give the franchise closure. I don't want New Wave Versus. To me, that's like asking for another Mortal Kombat: Armageddon.
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Post by omnimegami on Sept 6, 2017 12:22:06 GMT -5
I honestly think that the series needs to have an ending. It just never struck me as something that could keep going for years and years. Eventually, there will be a point where it starts to decline, and I'd rather sucessors to characters not be a concern. It'd feel too much like beating the franchise into the ground. And this is a problem that I already have with Kingdom Hearts, where they had the perfect place to end it, but didn't take that chance. I'd be happy if Senran didn't suffer the same fate. If the next game or two provides a good ending point, I think Marvelous would be better off taking that chance to give the franchise closure. I don't want New Wave Versus. To me, that's like asking for another Mortal Kombat: Armageddon. MK Armageddon is one of the greatest MK games of all time. also, Senran Kagura could finish its story, but the franchise could continue. overall this series is better if it wasn't dictated by narrative, since Takaki's team apparently see the girls more like objects, than people that could be given an amazing ongoing story that makes people care about them more, the conflicts, and epic battles. but time again, they show to have the series fall flat on its face, with its overdose of fanservice, and not even bothering to have Naruto levels of ambition to give the characters, expanding factions, conflicts, and overall scope a greater meaning and tone that mainstream could take more seriously. and this is why a lot of all girls fighting franchises suffer, because their makers have too trashy minds and make the mistake of making the games for males, instead of females and people that want skilled, strong, dignified, and feminine female characters like Sailor Moon and a few others. Senran Kagura has skilled, strong and feminine female characters, but the problem is that time and again, they express the characters and plot from the lenses of a total pervert, and that's going overboard. nudity is fine, sexy costumes and expressions are ok, but not to the point where the girls are treated like sex dolls and where sexual harrassment is approved. that's one of the reasons why Senran Kagura is stuck in that controversial pit that has wasted similiar franchises and not taken seriously as they could be, while still being energetic, beautiful and fun. You don't see Naruto expressed from the perspective or pandering to female pedophiles, with their games having touchy feely minigames, that's just degrading and scare off even most of the male fanbase. if the franchise is gonna center on girls, then express it from a feminine perspective, and even guys can express female protagonists from a feminine perspective, with educated interpretation of feminine perspective and feminine nature. yea sure of course they can be warriors while being beautiful and feminine, but they don't need to hurl the girls at viewers like prostitutes or sex slaves to get attention to the franchise. Like look at DOA fighting, sure it has its fanservice costumes and stupid volleyball game, but in its fighting games, the female characters are always treated and expressed like fighters, like warriors, nothing less (well ok some of the endings can be downright dumb, but aside from that, DOA female fighters are beautiful fighters that aren't force fed as sex objects like SK characters are) the amount of sexual ridicule Senran Kagura characters get, the franchise just can't rise out of that and be something more from that direction they are going with the series. and look at the wasteful things they done with some things, like all that money spent on a COOKING game, which ruined the momentum they had with an awesome leap forward with Shinovi Versus, then.... a cooking game that fans don't even talk about anymore. See, it's examples like that that keep Senran Kagura reputation a joke instead of something greater. but even so, Senran Kagura should not be put down, there's still a chance it will find a superior identity as they try different things and move the series forward. there are series that haven't found their winning formula until their 7th or 10th game. so Senran Kagura still has potential, though time will tell if its makers will go in the right direction |
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Post by senranstory on Sept 20, 2017 14:54:39 GMT -5
I feel that if we do see a successor type situation between Hijikata and Ikaruga, it won't be for quite some time. I have been having an amazing discussion on the general board here about the timeline of the Senran Kagura universe (feel free to go have a look) about how things have progressed in the different timelines, and while age and time seem to be moving they are doing so at a snail's pace. Take Ayame for example: she was introduced in New Wave as a 1st year at Hanzo that idolized Katsuragi. I never played New Wave (as no official English release to my knowledge) but aside from that basic level of information we did not get much more than that. Fast forward to Shinovi Versus and Ayame makes an appearance as the shopkeep, waving a banner of neutrality as she hands over sexy outfits to good and evil shinobi alike. Then comes Estival Versus where the same sort of thing happens, but this time she is a DLC character that is given a lot more depth than her previous roles. Finally we come to Peach Beach Splash and she has become a major character. This is a character integration that has taken 4 games to fully happen, which is crazy considering how fast Yumi and others have hit the spotlight. Point of the matter is that even if this passing of the shinobi torch is to happen I am thinking it will take a decent bit of time to fully happen. I'm sure it will be faster this go around as their is a New mobile game coming out and Peach Beach seems to give more attention to the New Wave girls than previous games but even so I think we would be looking at a few more iterations of the same Hanzo team before the switch happens.
As for if Hijikata would make a suitable successor to Ikaruga, there would need to be more information on her for me to say one way or the other. Part of Ikaruga's appeal, to me at least, was the fact that she had been adopted into a wealthy family and thus became Yomi's enemy, because rich people suck lol, so there was that whole side story of how she does not indulge herself and goes to the Slums to perform and entertain the children there. That character development there is why I think Ikaruga is a good character and I would hope that if Hijikata does take Ikaruga's position that she will have her own motivations, values and story and is not just a copy and paste Ikaruga. Kenichiro Takaki-san (series creator) has an excellent way of giving life to his characters and I always do worry that adding new ones may detract from the overall world and depth of his characters, but that may just be me haha. I'd love to hear what you guys think though!
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Post by senranstory on Sept 20, 2017 16:48:49 GMT -5
I have to say you have a very well put and passionate opinion onmimegami. I agree that at times the overall plot of Senran Kagura can be overshadowed by extreme levels of fanservice, but I also have to say that the creators do give a level of depth to this series more than one would think given the visual elements. I think your reference to Naruto is actually an apt series to compare to Senran Kagura because I believe both series face the same issue, which is an abundance of characters. In the Naruto series you have the shinobi of Konohagakure or the Hidden Leaf Village taking the main roles and we get a feel for why each one of them is interested in becoming a shinobi, it's real and can at times be very inspirational. Fast forward to Shippuden and we now have new characters from the other villages popping up, the full ensemble of the Akatsuki, and all of the Jinchuriki making appearances. Due to this characters like Kiba, Shino, and Ino to name a few become very obscure background characters where any and all development takes place in filler. Shino, who was the silent and slightly disturbing bug man becomes the character that everyone forgets about, Kiba becomes nothing more than a endless track of "You know I want to become Hokage too." and then Ino is used as a glorified cellphone towards the end.
I think we can see something very similar happening in Senran Kagura with characters like Asuka getting overtaken by Yumi, which she even has a side story bit in Estival Versus where she complains that for a main character she doesn't get enough screen time, and then characters like Miyabi are hardly shown in the intros to the new games, I don't think she is shown at all in PBS's intro. Do I think they should curb adding new characters? Not at all I always love to see what Takaki-san and crew can come up with for a new character. What I would say is that having a spin-off game or 2 that star one of the other groups (like Miyabi's, Homura's or the Mikaruga Sisters) would be amazing and definitely help give them the love they deserve.
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