kkslider5552000 wrote:I feel like an interesting thing about this is that despite the entire Vermouth arc being my favorite story arc in ALL of anime, there was almost certainly a decline in case quality around that point too. You could very easily make the case that the series peaked before then, depending on your tastes (especially since the plot started before then). I don't but you COULD. Like the vast majority of the best cases in the series happened before Jodie was introduced, I feel confident in saying that.
Ah, so the story arc was the best, but not so much for the cases? How would you rank each of DC's story arcs, and how would you (by arc) rank the case quality? By the way, what makes the Vermouth arc's story transcendent for you?
Yeah, I can definitely see a case being made for, "DC peaked from 97–99..." (Shiho's/Ai's and Vermouth's intro (considered some of the best characters by proponents of this case) + Reunion with the BO (considered best BO story by proponents of this case) + Desperate Revival (considered best romance/ShinichixRan moment by proponents of this case)), "...and it just declined from there."
If not that, then, "DC peaked from 97–03 and it just declined from there," (Sherry/Haibara arc–Vermouth arc) or, "DC peaked from 97–07 and it just declined from there" (Sherry/Haibara arc–Kir arc). With the 97–03 and 97–07 cases, I wouldn't go out of my way to contest the assertion that quality declined after those points—rather, I'd contest the assertion that a
major decline in quality took place.
kkslider5552000 wrote:But to me the interesting thing is that the series peaked at the end of that series, and literally only got back to that peak during the beginning and ending of the Kir arcs (the ending being a 14 episode marathon but still...), outside of one-off cases and maybe(?) the first 1/2 to full year of the Bourbon arc. But the more obvious decline happened during the Bourbon arc. The quality of the series, imo, has stayed basically the same since Sera's introduction. Before that I'd say, depending on my mood, the first half of the Bourbon arc is either of the same quality as the middle of the Kir arc (just with bigger highs and lows) or a bit worse because lolpacing. I lean towards a bit worse if we're specifically talking about the anime.
(and just to make this clear, when I'm talking about arcs, I am talking about the entire quality of everything happening around those arcs during that time as well, including cases and romantic subplots)
What about the very beginning of the Bourbon arc made it worthy of comparison to the Vermouth arc climax, Black Impact and Clash of Red and Black, in terms of it "maybe(?)" getting DC back to the peak?
So what has been the level of quality since Masumi's intro, in comparison to the peaks that are the Vermouth arc climax, Black Impact and Clash of Red and Black? Just how much of a decline are we talking?
kkslider5552000 wrote:tl;dr: Cellphone arc = minor decline, Bourbon first half = moderate decline(?), no decline since Sera and Amuro arrived
How come?
Have you read the last couple manga cases (1,000–1,005 and 1,006–1,008)? If so, after reading them, do you still think the quality of DC is
still the same since Masumi and Rei/Toru entered the picture?
kkslider5552000 wrote:Also, to this day, I do feel like the decline in quality is sometimes very exaggerated. "Series that never stopped airing that's nearing episode 900 has had issues after 20+ years", no **** sherlock. In what reality would that not have happened? For nearly any series ever made?
On a (kind of) side note, I'm also interested in what is or what would be the breaking point (as in, what would make someone stop watching DC, full stop... though there is the matter of those who reach a point of swearing off DC
for only a matter of months before coming back, rather than swearing off DC
altogether), and what makes that breaking point so utterly beyond the pale, by what they consider to be the standards of DC.