Best plotline? (Possible spoilerage)

Ultimatez.EXE

Which one has the better plotline? Anime, manga, or game.

I would say the anime makes it slightly over the manga (in my opinion) because of one particular thing. Cross-fusion! The anime is the only one that uses cross-fusion. That's one reason why Stream is my favorite season. I just liked seeing how each person who cross-fused looked liked, not just the fighting.

And also, the anime uses Soul Unison alot more than the manga. Sure the manga pulls out some good ones woot TomahawkSoul! but the animes gives that variety. Too bad Stream doesn't go on with all the others in BN5...

Anyways, your turn.
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Haly K · Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2007 7:36 am Post subject:

I'm going with anime, since my favorites appear more often than in the games/manga. *points to avatar* And they're given more character too! ^_^

But, the manga's pretty good if you want more action. Then again, later on in the plot, it's like another battle happens right after another ends. No breaks. How can Lan and MegaMan work like that? :O
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Ultimatez.EXE · Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2007 8:22 am Post subject:

Yea, well, it cuts down on the dreaded fillers. There's really only one filler chapter in the manga (excluding the bonus chapters) as far as I'm aware and it's in Volume 1. (Guesses anyone? ^^)
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**Izumi**

I would say the game makes it significantly over the manga (in my opinion) because of one particular thing: Cross Fusion.

I felt that the anime overused this plot device and forgot completely about Rockman's other abilities; rather, forgot about Rockman. When it became the Netto & Enzan.EXE show, I stopped watching. Thank God Beast came along and forced them to devote some screen time to the Navi characters.

Don't get me wrong, I love the manga too, but the games will probably always be my favourite, despite EXE 4.
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ForteGS.exe · Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2007 12:29 pm Post subject:

I would say: Games.
Mainly because Forte isnt overused or underused, like the manga and anime. And it has a solid storyline to follow.
Only negative is that they never let Forte turn good reunite with cossack ;(

Manga: ZOMG, Forte in evey story.......
Anime: Was good in it's first 2 seasons. Axess and Stream killed it with Cross-Fusion overkill and too many fillers. And for not keeping Forte's background story.

Rock Miyabi · Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2007 3:19 pm Post subject:

As stupid as this sounds or makes me look like I'm avoiding the question, I don't think lots of us can really answer the question fully yet. If we had Axess/Stream/Beast/Plus totally translated, I'd be able to answer the anime plotline part a lot better. But I don't think you can lump every series together in terms of plotlines, either. Different flow to them all. Not knowing all the dialogue kinda makes it impossible to answer for the anime.

Manga isn't completely out in English either, so, for me, hard to totally choose that as well. But from the first 10 books, it's more random, so I don't think there's a great consistent plot. It's not like a long running manga series that gets adapted into an anime, so I would say it's lacking more than the other choices. And I'm not taking games by default, although the plot of the games is what the other two are loosely based off of, so...

And to get my two cents in on the whole Cross Fusion issue, I will agree that it got used in too many episodes. But in terms of Stream, the overall message of the series was to show the bond/connection between Navis and their Netops, leading up to the final episode. Since it was airing in conjunction with the Team ____ games of EXE 5, it made total sense that Rock/Netto weren't the main focus. Yes, team CF attained that level of synchronization rather quickly compared to Netto/Rock. But that was just as much due to needing to keep our main heroes relevant and not devoting too much time to the team CF members.

And quite frankly, with so many of them, I enjoyed seeing other characters and their Navis get their own entire episodes. We had 2+ seasons where Rock battling in the net or in tournaments got most of the focus. Having CF for so many duos (pun not really intended, but run with it) mixed things up a bit, gave the humans some face time, and, while not a ton, a little more depth. You can't stick to the same formula for so many seasons without it getting a little stale.

And afterall, having Navis appear in the real world in the anime might possibly be why they added that element in EXE 6 to an extent. Heck, you're a fully thinking humanoid-lookin' program, wouldn't you wanna get out and see the real world?! Smile

So yeah, I agree that it was used too much, but I also think a lot of people here get too worked up about how bad it was. There are days I think I'm the only one who really enjoyed Stream. End mini rant.
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ComicX6 · Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2007 5:47 pm Post subject:

Hmm, well, I have differing opinions on all three of them.

I thought that the manga started out well, but once Rockman started godmode-ing with Saito Style and its ilk, things went downhill. And then came the Dark Power. I never really liked that concept, and the manga further strengthened my dislike. I thought that the manga spent way too much time on that, and while that story arc did introduce some some of my favorite characters (ex. Tomahawkman) some of them felt really random, and thrown in, like Charlie and Gyroman, and Meddy. So, after Rockman and Netto got their little hands on Saito Style, the manga began to feel more like a cyber version of DBZ, which just didn't work.

The games did a very good job until EXE4 and 5 came along. The storytelling in those games couldn't hold a candle to the plot of EXE1-3. (especially in 4) And the Dark Power... EXE4's treatment of a potentially cool plot device was especially cheesy, not to mention it only had the bare bones of a plot. EXE5 fared better, but did suffer from a severe lack of character development. Then came EXE6... and the game was easily up there with EXE1-3. Good storytelling, and it actually wrapped up most of, if not all of the loose ends by it's finale. The only other Megaman to do this previously was Megaman Zero 4.

The anime started out strong during EXE, with its balance of comic and seriousness. Axess came, and utilized the Dark Power in a tasteful, mature way, resulting in some very good episodes. (Axess 28 was incredibly creepy, IMO) Crossfusion was introduced, and was interesting. But then Stream came. Like others, I thought that the overuse of Crossfusion and the amount of fillers took away from the experiance, though Stream did have several incrediable episodes, such as 2, 18, and 40. Beast did well, though the first half (1-14) is superior to the second. Beast +'s Grezar arc was good, but the quality dropped afterwards due to cramming. (though Judgeman's ep had an incredible fight, and Elementman's had excellent art) Though Beast Plus 25 and 26 were good, compared to the bulk of the season, it was a rather disappointing end to the anime.

So in conclusion, the anime is the best in plotline, followed very closely by the games.
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**Izumi** · Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2007 9:34 pm Post subject:

Of course it was deliberate. :P But you did ask for opinion, did you not?
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DanSidney · Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2007 5:49 am Post subject:

Now we have to make a little difference here: the plot itself or the way it was shown. The plot in the anime is USUALLY superior than the one in the games, since the anime can last much longer and has more space and tricks to put stuff in, but the way it's treated varies sharply.

I'd rather compare the arcs of story of the games with the "spinoff anime series" than pointing out strict opinions.

We have EXE1-2-3 vs classic EXE. Game wins with a huge margine, since they had a tight plot chained with the several episodes, while EXE was just a bunch of episodes put together and then a big wrap-up in the end.
And in my opinion, EXE1-2-3 story arc has been the BEST EXE game story.

We have then EXE 4 vs EXE Axess. Game story was very poor, while the anime featured a lot of cool concepts and managed to balance two characters (Netto and Rockman) quite along, with Cross fusion and cyberbattles. Although in the end, Netto ended up getting more highlight. Hmm.

EXE 4-5 vs Stream. EXE 5 had a decent plot, albeit it had very loose connections with the predecessors, while Stream started VERY powerfully, but then turned in a mess of fillers with a few key episodes. Plus, they put NetNavis in second place and made NetOps the real stars with crossfusion, and that really killed the anime.

I can't compare EXE6 with Beast since I stopped watching Beast at episode 13... but it was going on smoothly up to that point, while the game felt like back to EXE1+3 but with too much stuff crammed into one game.

Manga... I haven't read 'em. :p

But for what I've seen, albeit the anime had a really big chance, it almost always ended up missing it, so, at least for me, game plot wins.

Also, Ryuusei anime is rocking so far. Follows the game, and treates it in a very cool way, balancing cheese with kicking butt. :D Game also has a somewhat interesting plot (can't wait for Ryuusei 2) that doesn't really revolve around Subaru's past but rather how he's growing. At least that's how I felt about it. Most probably anime will win.
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Fragman.EXE · Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2007 7:48 am Post subject:

For starters, I didn't get my hands on the manga, so I can't comment on that.

Okay, let's start with the anime.

EXE kicks off to a good start, with the introduction of how Netto got Rockman, introduction of the first few villains, not to mention about the start of the rivalry between Netto and Enzan.

The series has its own share of fillers and plot points, and the emotional parts like [spoil:1c6b634d68]Rock's deletion[/spoil:1c6b634d68] and [spoil:1c6b634d68]Bug Style overload[/spoil:1c6b634d68] mark it up by quite a bit. And who could ever ignore Forte?

For Axess, I'll have to agree with some of the others there. Cross Fusion is nice to see, but it got overused. Soul Unisons were interesting, as well as the [spoil:1c6b634d68]Dark Blues plot[/spoil:1c6b634d68], as it gave some characters more depth, but I guess that's about it.

Stream has plenty of Cross Fusion, but this time it gives some minor characters the spotlight too. Forte comes back as a part of the main plot too, though not for very long.

Beast... well, I haven't watched much of it. Can't say much. Beast+, however, had a nice start with Zero's introduction, but it somehow went downhill after the throwing in of the PotN Navis.

Now, the games.

EXE 1 and 2 have pretty decent storylines, and EXE 3 triumphs over every other game, maybe due to the fact that Forte is part of the storyline itself. It even has its own sub-plot that extends within its own secret area!

EXE 4 lacks in storyline, and for EXE 5 a good amount of the plot was traded for the Liberation Missions and character scenarios. D:

EXE 6 has an average storyline, and interesting points like [spoil:1c6b634d68]Barrel being part of the W3[/spoil:1c6b634d68]. Not to mention giving a glimpse into the [spoil:1c6b634d68]near future, but would've been better if it was sprited out[/spoil:1c6b634d68].

Overall, the anime has a better storyline, as there's focus on other characters aside from Netto and Rock. Though the game allows the other characters to be controlled, their roles are rather minor to the storyline.

Unknown Neo · Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2007 6:33 pm Post subject:

I agree on that last part. I don't know which I like more. But I do say that they could have done one more season of the anime with what was left in the game.

QuickMan · Posted: Tue Jan 16, 2007 5:33 pm Post subject:

I think the game did. It was the original of the 3, had Saito/Hub, and i presonally found it more enjoyable.

Niño · Joined: 06 Jan 2007 Posts: 12

The game, because in the end, the manga and anime were made after a gameboy game. They had a pinnacle that wasnt hard to reach and sit at. I did like the art style of the manga though.

HeatShadow · Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2007 1:29 pm Post subject:

Out of the three, I would have to say I enjoy the game plots more than those of the anime and manga.

The manga suffers from what I've come to call the Little Brother Syndrome. (scientific name pending) For most of the story, Rockman is always inferior to one of the other protagonists and always has to be saved by someone else, usually Blues. Not only that, but he's always on the verge of death due to the next in a line of impossibly strong villains. While I enjoy a hero that has flaws, a hero that can't stand on his or her own most of the time just gets tiring, as you never get to see your favorite character do more than be rescued after having his ass handed to him.

The anime started off better than any others I've ever seen. The first dozen episodes or so were wonderful, with plenty of character depth, action scenes, twisted cliches (in that they use standard hero/villain cliches, but put their own clever spin on them) and good development. The show got a bit spotty around the N1 Grand Prix, as they put quite a bit of focus on Enzan and Blues and never really gave Rockman much to do, but it picked up again with the first half of the second season. Axess and Cross Fusion is where things started to get too formulaic, with each episode playing out almost exactly like the last one; the whole concept of Cross Fusion developed rather well until Enzan got a fusion chip and things started to take a turn for the worse. Stream and Beast sort of sealed the deal for me; seeing all the different Cross Fusion forms was cool, but when the navis themselves got barely any screen time at all, it just wasn't worth watching anymore. (I had always been more interested in the Navis rather than the Operators myself.)

One other problem with the anime is that they felt the need to create tension by making it so Netto had to be at the computer Rockman was in in order to give him battlechips, and that Rockman could barely fight without those chips. Silly and unnecessary, really.

The games do things right probably because they don't throw Lan/Netto into the role of the pious hero. (most of the time, anyway) When he puts his neck on the line and battles the enemy, it's more because of his personal convictions rather then because it's simply "the right thing to do". 2, 3 and 6 easily have the best plots of the series; 1 still had some kinks to get out, and 4 and 5 were too influenced by the anime and too formulaic because of it, with little to no variety between the important details of the scenarios.
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marihikari · Posted: Sat Feb 10, 2007 10:45 am Post subject:

Sithking Zero · Posted: Mon Feb 12, 2007 10:28 pm Post subject:

Plot-wise, I like the Anime better, with Game in EXTREMELY close second, and Manga in dead last. Reason? The manga moves too fast for my taste, and the game and anime move at a nice, relaxed, but still frantic pace.

For action, Anime, but manga is a close second. Reason: Netbattles when they're not in a RPG format are SO much cooler, not to mention Cross Fusion, Dimensional Areas, Double Souls, and manga volume seven.

For Characters... Game and anime tied. The game used the characters and bosses better in some instances, but the interaction between the characters is better in the anime. Plus, the anime makes Netto/LanXMieru/Mayl/Maylu look so cute. (and yes, I am a boy.) Also, the reason that Game rocks in the character department?

Two words: Bass. GS.

For romance, the anime is the way to go.

For which world I'd like to live in? I'd go anime all the way. The net navis seem more... alive in that version. You know?
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Guernsey · Posted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 11:47 am Post subject:

Best Plots?

Games: The plot of the games was very decent especially when Lan (Netto) and Mega Man (Rockman) faced off against the big viruses like the LifeVirus. The games with the best plot to me is the Gospel saga of the games when Lan had to convince a troubled kid that he had to turn from his ways and that everyone in the world has problems. The plot of the first three games are successfully weaved together but the fourth and fifth game somewhat disappointed me. The Nebula saga started off strong but the plot was a drag and it just felt used up. The sixth and final game was the game that brought first air to the series even though it was its final breath of air. The characters (both PC and NPCs) are colorful and abundant but I wished they added in more places to explore, more variety of NPCs and more added more characters to the main character cast instead of just Lan, Mayl (Meiru), Dex (Dekao) and Yai. Also, I wished they had more well designed Navis like WindMan and more unique areas like the Secret Areas instead the grueling and annoying areas of the fourth and fifth games.

Anime: Same here with the anime, I wished the plot of show would be more open minded and less formulaic (as some people stated in this thread). It started like any other Shonen anime with standard plot and villians and it ended like crap, Lan gets slightly dumber and crazier with each episode that by and the story of the later shows gets bland after awhile. I wished they added in a bit more character development to most of the minor characters and somebody else save the day other than Lan and Mega Man.
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DrkXFuZion · Posted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 12:05 pm Post subject:

Sithking Zero · Posted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 2:12 pm Post subject:

to Guernsey:

I agree. The fourth game and the fith game were so stupid. I mean, the Fourth game had the potential to be so strong, with it's new "Dark Chip System" and the cool new double souls. The problem was that ninety percent of the game was some huge stupid tournament, and Nebula only made token appearences. (the date between Lan and Mayl/Mieru was worth it, though).

My other problem? They got rid of the freaking style changes. That sucks. I could think of a few ways to negate this weakness, such as having a double soul equip onto the style change. Could you imagine it? Heat Guts Roll Arrows... Elec team bubblers... Bug style search blast, that does quadrouple damage...

But my biggest problem with all the games from BN4 on...

THEY ROYALLY (Censored) BASS!!! I mean, he had the aura, he had the earthbreaker, the Gospel Cannon, the airbust... Bass in BN4 was stupid. Bass doesn't need Dark Power, that's just... screwing him up more!

BN6 was just plain awesome. (SPOILERS IN NEXT PARAGRAPH.) From Colnol's betrayal, to Iris, to the two Cybeasts, to... just plain awesomeness. (Spoilers over.)

I'm done.
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