Saw the first 4 eps... a lot of the usual stuff well packaged together I think, some of the usual fan service bs, though not in excess it seems as the characters and storyline evolve more... and that fan service could be done much better, most of this stuff seems like elementary school level for boys... maybe the staff needs a few females on the writing team... it really doesn't take much to 'fix' this stuff to make it work within the confines of the story and characters... Oh well... a sign of impending mediocrity usually.
They should read about the ole Hollywood studio era and how the writers would use different means to insert this stuff and still get it by the censors... it's simply more creative to do so... more challenging, but then this is a sign of the times.. the same crap is found in most pop music here in the States... in your face style... no innuendo, no symbols, just blantant passion on a juvenile level.... but I'm showing my age... as this process has been ongoing every decade... the slow creep of idiocracy, complacency... the zombification of the nation and its peoples.
Oh well....
It is what it is... and all that said, this harem setup isn't obvious, but then most Key work doesn't use the typical harem style do they? The females always seem stronger than the males, another sign of the times... same tendency in most music as well here in the States. The MC's 'power' is interesting and the creators of this story is slowing revealing its nature to us, a good thing, amidst all the usual plot lines, comic bits, fan service and whatnot. The females all seems to be displaying some power... which reminds me of various shows over the past couple of decades.. that superman in high school tv show from WB back in the 90s... everyone ended up being affected by the comet/asteroid that hit the town, so they all get their own episode to display them... and that seems to be the situation here, but this visual romance novel/game from Key seems to use this technique all the time in all their works, so no surprise... I just haven't heard of it before... but it's easy to see how effective they are in exploiting the emotional triggers in the audience... if only they'd clean up the world setup, the fan service etc... this was a complaint with 'Charlotte' last year as well from what I read. In book publishing, the writers are assigned an editor to oversee and look over their stuff, suggest cleanups etc.... and that seems missing here in all Key projects... but like any Hallmark Channel movie that keeps using the same plotlines over and over, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it applies", and the entertainment industry is always content to keep pushing product with a proven track record before trying anything new..... same in politics, and everything else it seems.... it becomes dogma and like in science, nearly impossible to change, until the new becomes the old over decades of the oblivious becoming obvious.
The similarities in the storylines are what draws the audience in and becomes their constant complaint, same with any relationship.
I can now see where all the complaints from 'Charlotte' were coming from.. Key's fans... they love it, but want it to improve each time, which is rare in any line of work, past high school, life doesn't change much for most people, which is why these escapist fantasies work so well.. a distraction from the daily BS... pushing the drug of disassociation.
I don't watch a lot of this stuff, so it's pretty good overall and seems to be getting better as it nears the revelation of what's really going on in town... the usual Key storyline, but then that's the usual story development in most works, and Key is rather good at this stuff, it is their specialty afterall. So, each character will get their 'reveal' episode, and then the city reveal etc. Seen most of these character types before in X-Men, but then that's a Key thing recently as well, from what I read... the superpower thing added to their usual mix.... and IMO, it works.... and "if it ain't broke..."
PS.... reading the wikipedia entry.... interesting mix of the usual storylines, as these have all entered rather esoteric territory in the last decade or two.... the merging of dimensions, the 're-evolution'... wasn't that in one of those ole Brit stories about Narnia? the lion essentially resets the world. Lots of hyperdimensional aspects of negative vs positive polarities present here in the two competing secret societies in town, and from the games end conclusion, it seems even the 3rd demensional aspects of ice age et al are included... tree of life etc... even aspects of the moon/earth energy exchange are included, even though the wiki writeup makes it seem incorrect, at least it's mentioned there, and those that know will understand... this is a kids story afterall, it's interesting to see it all included, most of which will just go over/under the audience's head without any thought whatsoever.... and most likely, from what I understand, the heads of the Key team as well... interesting... not that all the game aspects will make it on screen, we'll soon see. This aspect of Key's work is making progress.