My problem with the Orochi storyline is that it was nothing innovative, new or interesting. It was just another offshoot of the most fucking cliched storyline in the history of anime/manga.
Two families worked together to defeat an ancient evil 1800 years ago. They were once friends. But one clan got poisoned and now hates the other. Their descendants are pseudo-reincarnations reborn to fight the same evil, which is the only power that can seal off the dreaded world killing foe. The two should be friends, like their ancestors were, but one's hatred for the other may prevent them from saving the day. They must become the sacred treasures once again to save the world.
Yawn. Saw it a million fucking times before, and much better done and with better characters than two steps removed from yaoi posterboys Kyo and Iori.
Nests may have borrowed elements from Akira, from K9999 being a Tetsuo clone (right down to even having the same voice actor!) to genetic experimentaiton using a powerful being as the source material to K' being a surrogate for the Kaneda role (bad boy biker dude) to face K9999 and his big fleshy arm, but the Nests storyline also had the introduction of Kula and some really crazy trickery going on with Zero and blowing up parts of Southtown and so forth.
With Orochi, I knew how the whole thing was going to end the second Chizuru showed up in '96. With Nests, the only thing I knew was that somehow, the good guys might win but I didn't know how it would come to that. That's why I put Nests above Orochi. Plus, K' is a much more interesting character than Kyo and Iori combined.
Oh, my review of KOF: Another Day chapter 3.
Way too short. Putting five characters on a subway car to have a brawl was a bad idea. They need a bigger environment for Team Heidern and K'/Maxima to really mix it up. I felt the animation was constricted by the environs they forced the characters into. Also, the Nests subplot revolving around Dr. Makishima is a little convoluted already, and unlike the superb Rock Howard storyline that is so very deep and yet can be effectively teased in the span of 7 minutes since it really revolves around 3 characters and their relationship with one another, the Nests storyline is a bit more complex since there's more going on there than a character's internal struggle for identity. The set up for the fight could have been handled a LOT better, IMO.
But why is this a problem? Because KOF: Another Day is an attempt to pimp MI 2 to new audiences. With the Nests storyline requirig more than 3 minutes to explain, they will lose more people than they will find if they hope to use this as a selling tool. Don't get me wrong, it's great that they aren't reinventing the characters all over for this series and I love them using the storylines that forged their personas, but this chapter proves that based on how they are going about this, they aren't really going to sell this to very many new people. But it also hasn't been very rewarding to us long time fans of SNK-Playmore (again, except for the Rock chapter). So this mini-anime is in some kind of limbo/purgatory zone in terms of who it's supposed to be for, in the end.
Haven't seen the fourth part yet, but I'm told it's out there. Like I said, I am an SNK fan, so I will stick with it and continue to support the company no matter what. But right now, the anime is turning out to be a colossal letdown.
Except for the Rock Howard chapter
. I wish these were actual full length episodes, but I'll subside with this as well
