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[trejo]

C3 2

What the hell? This is some tonal dissonance right here. Talk about a misleading first episode.

I'm banking on a prequel OVA with Momhana.

Either this or a Sui prequel and I'm fully on board.

 

[wsippel]

C3 2

What the hell? This is some tonal dissonance right here. Talk about a misleading first episode.

The very end of episode 1 hinted at something, but I wasn't prepared, either. The second half was quite "in your face", but I especially liked the first half, with the

Spoiler

principal having a gasmask fetish and the chick taking a shower in latex clothes

and shit. That was really unexpected.

 

[Ezalc]

That New Musou anime that has incest and a harem 2

That beginning scene was great, I laughed a lot at the magnum thing. Those were probably the most boner killing censors I've seen yet.

 

[scy]

Eh, I disagree we're told this. We assume most likely this is the case based on the evidence, which it probably is, but we're never told who the occupants of the Harmonic Divine States were exactly (yet).

Ah, I see what you're getting at here. Yeah, I guess it is presumptuous to say who exactly went into the HDS. Just felt like it went the direction that whomever went is also the same group that conquered the land after its fall.

Well, based on the synopsis, the Harmonic Divine States took the form of a "pocket dimension," and it coincides with what form I thought it could possibly take when the Divine States got duplicated and where it could be placed. So a dimension which can house a copy of the Divine States.

And I disagree what it is is any less important since we're getting weird translations of Tenjou being "outer space," and if that's true, the story is even worse than I'm understanding it to be.

lol, true, though I'm more feeling Tenjou's definition as Heaven (some of the translations use it as "Reached Heaven as Gods" for what Tenjou was) rather than Space. If we're doing space than, well ... damn you, Horizon, damn you.

Yeah, he blatantly states that. And yes, the time periods are relevant because if you understand how the story works, you'll know how those time periods are spoilers themselves because of what entails within those time periods :lol

...Yeah, I guess that's true. Well, we'll see how they use it.

Also, the History Reenactment was been in progress since the invasion. The Testament Union has been dictating as much ever supposedly since 1457 if we're using novel spoilers.

Yeah, just not sure if there's an explanation for why Sengoku Era is still worth mention at all if they've gone past that some 100 years. That's all I'm puzzled on the inclusion of it, really; seems like if they're at 1648 then they should have left that Era quite some time ago (1460s - 1570s, isn't it?).

Like you say, though, first episode. Maybe it'll make more sense when stuff occurs rather than just showing off the colorful cast of characters doing what they do. Thinking about it so much has actually made me look forward to the following episodes though.

Edit: Just to clarify, I understand why the period itself is relevant to the plot itself, just wondering how it remains relevant with the years we're presented. That's where I'm getting confused over it :/

And to talk about something besides Horizon, C^3 is sounding interesting based off all these posts :/ Great, now I'll have to watch this...

 

[trejo]

Gundam Age 1

It was Gundam, pretty much. First episode played out exactly as one would expect. Let's see where this goes from here.

I was a little wary of the character designs at first but now I think they are a good match for the world and characters presented. Serious anime with serious plot that should be taken seriously this is not.

 

[PdotMichael]

Denpa Onna - end

I'm finished with the world. It was too great for me, I will never be able to watch other animes again.

and

Maekawa > Yashiro > Erio > Meme > Ryuko > Maekawa ...

 

[Geneijin]

lol, true, though I'm more feeling Tenjou's definition as Heaven (some of the translations use it as "Reached Heaven as Gods" for what Tenjou was) rather than Space. If we're doing space than, well ... damn you, Horizon, damn you.

Exactly. Exactly...

Yeah, just not sure if there's an explanation for why Sengoku Era is still worth mention at all if they've gone past that some 100 years. That's all I'm puzzled on the inclusion of it, really; seems like if they're at 1648 then they should have left that Era quite some time ago (1460s - 1570s, isn't it?).

This is one of the things they subtly imply by suggesting those two time periods actually. Given the current state of the Divine States with separate states/divided lands amongst the different countries/groups, you can postulate why they specifically chose those two time periods if you look at the map. I suggest reading the wiki entries of the Sengoku Era and Thirty Years War very carefully and look at the names very closely. Those two time periods are also inherent spoilers of what's to come. Remember the Sengoku Era represents the civil war between the Divine States and the Harmonic Divine States.

 

[trejo]

Y'know, at first I had this image of PdotMichael watching only classy oldschool anime while sitting in a big ornate chair and holding a glass of fine aged wine that he sips from time to time.

Well that image has been shattered.

 

[Geneijin]

Edit: Just to clarify, I understand why the period itself is relevant to the plot itself, just wondering how it remains relevant with the years we're presented. That's where I'm getting confused over it :/

They're foreshadowing something specifically by stating the Thirty Years War. Read the wiki entry and you'll wholly understand what this time period will imply for Horizon's plot in the future.

 

[hosannainexcelsis]

Gankutsuou 16

Aha!

Spoiler

Peppo redeemed as a character! I was wondering why she was still around.

It's sad but thrilling to watch as things collapse all over the place. This is the kind of narrative climax I love.

 

[Cowie]

Working'!! 02 -

I love this expression. Popura is, in this moment, completely and 100% positive that she is about to devastate Satou, and is savoring that fact.

Working feels like a slightly higher class affair this time around.

 

[trejo]

Gankutsuou 16

Aha!

Spoiler

Peppo redeemed as a character! I was wondering why she was still around.

It's sad but thrilling to watch as things collapse all over the place. This is the kind of narrative climax I love.

Spoiler

"She"

?

 

[hosannainexcelsis]

Spoiler

"She"

?

Spoiler

She, he, whatever.

 

[firehawk12]

Working'!! 02 -
I love this expression. Popura is, in this moment, completely and 100% positive that she is about to devastate Satou, and is savoring that fact.

Working feels like a slightly higher class affair this time around.

Hey! Is Strike Witches still the voice of our generation?

 

[Cowie]

Hey! Is Strike Witches still the voice of our generation?

The voice of a generation doesn't just fade away, you know.

 

[scy]

This is one of the things they subtly imply by suggesting those two time periods actually. Given the current state of the Divine States with separate states/divided lands amongst the different countries/groups, you can postulate why they specifically chose those two time periods if you look at the map. I suggest reading the wiki entries of the Sengoku Era and Thirty Years War very carefully and look at the names very closely. Those two time periods are also inherent spoilers of what's to come. Remember the Sengoku Era represents the civil war between the Divine States and the Harmonic Divine States.

...

They're foreshadowing something specifically by stating the Thirty Years War. Read the wiki entry and you'll wholly understand what this time period will imply for Horizon's plot in the future.

I get their relevance, I'll sit back and see how the two periods pan out in why they're both in use, I suppose. It's semi-fascinating, really, if it ties together rather well with their goal for things to come. My confusion is mostly stemming from sticking too much to the periods and their relevant years and not so much the course of action during them, really.

And in unrelated news:
C^3 01 - I hate you all for making this seem interesting.

C^3 02 - I love you all for making this seem interesting. What the...

 

[trejo]

Spoiler

She, he, whatever.

It's an important distinction!

 

[hosannainexcelsis]

It's an important distinction!

Well, Peppo

Spoiler

self-identifies as she, so if you're going with one...

 

[PdotMichael]

Y'know, at first I had this image of PdotMichael watching only classy oldschool anime while sitting in a big ornate chair and holding a glass of fine aged wine that he sips from time to time.

Well that image has been shattered.

huch? Denpa Onna is a classy anime and in 4 years an oldschool anime too. I think it should be OK

 

[Geneijin]

I get their relevance, I'll sit back and see how the two periods pan out in why they're both in use, I suppose. It's semi-fascinating, really, if it ties together rather well with their goal for things to come. My confusion is mostly stemming from sticking too much to the periods and their relevant years and not so much the course of action during them, really.

Yep. You need to look at what happened during those periods rather than the actual dates.

Also, this is just speculation since the translation is a bit iffy in the ending credits, but I think those two periods aren't in use based on our discussion. We're transitioning from the Sengoku Era to the Thirty Years War. Or to put it simply "this is destiny."

 

[firehawk12]

The voice of a generation doesn't just fade away, you know.

You speak such noble truths, soothsayer!

 

[Risette]

huch? Denpa Onna is a classy anime and in 4 years an oldschool anime too. I think it should be OK

SHAFT anime can't be classy. It's against nature.

Especially SHAFT anime adapted from light novels.

 

[Regulus Tera]

The voice of a generation doesn't just fade away, you know.

So what you are saying is that the voice of our generation is K-ON!.

:/

 

[hosannainexcelsis]

Gankutsuou 17

Spoiler

MECHA. YES.

 

[Extollere]

Code Geass R2 9 - 10

Wow this is awesome. Back to war strategy. I love how they get started with a bang, and draw out the tension and the action. The episode feels twice as long. Geass is the show that keeps on giving. It asks nothing of you in return, and it gives you double what you expected, with fucking icing, and everything. Also, the end of episode 10

Spoiler

...two Lelouches

?!? Okay, what... Rolo, maybe... not sure yet. Oh god, I'm scared of the consequences!

 

[duckroll]

No!

That's the worst part.

Mecha makes everything better. Scientific fact.

 

[hosannainexcelsis]

Gankutsuou 18

No!

That's the worst part.

No you!

Spoiler

Normally I would scoff at the ugly CG mecha, like all the ugly CG in this series, but when it makes for such an effective dramatic moment as we got in this episode, I won't complain. Plus I think even through the CG they did a good job of displaying the different emotional states of the two combatants.

 

[Articalys]

Phi Brain 2

I swear I used to have the puzzle featured this episode when I was a kid. Certainly not the same way they played in the show, of course.

Anyway, looks like it'll be the normal pattern of building up the cast over the first few episodes then hopefully kicking the main plot into overdrive after that. Works for me.

 

[Lazy vs Crazy]

Ben-to is seriously amazing. What a concept.

 

[Proelite]

Will Watch this season:
Ben-to
Maji
Boku Tomadachi
Shinryaku!? Ika Musume 2

Might drop:
Shana 3
Mirrai Nikki
Guilty Crown

 

[Dedication Through Light]

Phi Brain 2

I love it when Daimon Kaito makes that face. Having a title in this school is pretty nice, wish my school was run like that. The background ost really is awesome especially the music when solving puzzles. The nice mix of puzzles was nice and the new character was pretty funny.

 

[hosannainexcelsis]

Gankutsuou 19

CONGRATULATIONS! Wow.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

So what you are saying is that the voice of our generation is K-ON!.

:/

Deal with it.

 

[jman2050]

Mirai Nikki 1

It's competent enough and they haven't mucked around with the story (yet), so if you're interested in the premise at all, give it a shot. Even if you aren't, watch it for Yuno.

Weirdly paced though, seems kind of rushed in some spots.

 

[Krev]

[Penguin Drum Spoilers for Episode 13]

Spoiler

Wouldn't that just make it worse though? Why waste an episode on what it would be like if the died when they already know that they are going to bring her back? That would be very inefficiently storytelling, unless you just want to see people being sad because someone has died. But, we already know that they'd all be sad, so it would be rather pointless.

Spoiler

I agree. In any case, the point was about Kanba refusing to let Himari slip away, not about how sad it was that she died and her miraculous resurrection being uplifting. I thought that the story about Mary and the appearance of the bunnies at the end made episode 12 pretty upfront in telling the audience that she wouldn't be allowed to die and that a Faustian pact would be made. Anyway, I suspect this would have played better for the people complaining if they'd watched a few episodes in a row, without the one week gap.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

Mirai Nikki 1

It's competent enough and they haven't mucked around with the story (yet), so if you're interested in the premise at all, give it a shot. Even if you aren't, watch it for [b[Yuno.[/b]

Weirdly paced though, seems kind of rushed in some spots.

Yandere is Best Dere!

I gotta watch this one and Ben-To.

 

[Master Milk]

Mirai Nikki 1

It's competent enough and they haven't mucked around with the story (yet), so if you're interested in the premise at all, give it a shot. Even if you aren't, watch it for Yuno.

Weirdly paced though, seems kind of rushed in some spots.

No "kind of," it's definitely rushed. The pacing was the only real problem I had with it. As long as that was just to get past the set up and next episode is paced better, this'll be really fun.

 

[Hellsing321]

Ben-to 1

This was pretty stupid but pretty entertaining. Will keep watching for now.

 

[scy]

Yandere is Best Dere!

Finally, others see the light. Yandere is our future

Spoiler

before they kill us.

 

[trejo]

Now, important question, what mental image do you have of me? :3

I cannot say. There are minors present.

 

[Instro]

Gundam Age 1
It's not like this was particularly bad, but it was really damn boring to be honest. The characters, the plot, the designs, all very uninteresting. I'll give it a couple episodes, but I don't think I'll be sticking with it.

 

[Articalys]

Mirai Nikki 1

Holy shit. No way did I think they were going to start with that scene. Loving this so far.
Regarding pacing, I guess it was because they tried to cram a 20-page prologue chapter, 60-page first chapter, and about ten more pages of exposition from the second, into less than 20 minutes.

lol at the omake bit at the end, though.

 

[DrForester]

Mecha makes everything better. Scientific fact.

It's true, trust me I'm a doctor.

 

[Dynedom]

It's pretty great. Unless you're watching the aborted Fox Kids version.

Dat English OP

 

[A Black Falcon]

http://i.imgur.com/ZhWBx.jpg

It's just speculation name association = level of importance from me.

I don't know if I really remember her... whatever, we'll see.

Because there was enough evidence to suggest some form of time travel even if it isn't explicitly stated as such.

There was also plenty of evidence the other way too, though.

Nope. It's explicitly stated that the Harmonic Divine States is the copy, and the Divine States is the real world/present unless it's a mistranslation. The Divine States are the people from the fallen colonies/floating continents unless stated otherwise later. What kind of people the Harmonic Divine States consist of isn't yet known

I do think looking for some answers in the novel spoilers makes sense, and that they probably should be applicable unless the anime specifically goes against them later. And my interpretation of what I've read of the novel spoilers makes me think that my interpretation makes sense.

The Harmonic Divine States isn't restarting the history-remaking project at all. They are copy the Divine States created in case things they fuck up except they did but they couldn't restart from their save file - the Harmonic Divine States - although the reason why they created the Harmonic Divine States is still left to speculation. Either way, their failure caused the Harmonic Divine States to either fall/destroy itself or merge with the Divine States in simpler terms, and the people from the Harmonic Divine States overwhelmed the Divine States (Far East) after the destruction or collapse of the Harmonic Divine States.

I don't think that's right. The novel spoilers say that

Spoiler

the sky lands were created because there wasn't enough room on the ground for all the people after they were forced to return to Earth, yes? So the people there being alternate dimensional clones or something like that just doesn't make sense.

Except the Harmonic Divine States being a copy perhaps created from the book Testament suggests at least an alternate dimension of some sort.

As I think scy said later, the book of Testament is their manual for the history they're following, I'm pretty sure. Not that.

It could be magical or something, but not definitely. And I don't know if there are any ties between it and the Harmonic Divine States.

Nah. It's like one of those puzzles you feel like solving out of amusement or slight interest. You just feel compelled to because you can and it's in front of you.

Yeah, that's probably true.

Quote: "In order to regain their former prosperity, they created a history book called the Testament. They separated the Divine States in the real world and its copy, the Harmonic Divine States."

Hmm, maybe it means that the shape of the land was in the shape of the land on the ground or something? Or maybe they were in fact also running through the history too, though I'm not so sure about that. I don't know, there are multiple explanations.

Yeah, you lost me there. While we can speculate the very reason (a very good reason) the Harmonic Divine States was created was because of overpopulation once the sky colonies fell, the Harmonic Divine States people never lived in the skies. Only the people of the Divine States did. Once the sky colonies/continent fallen, they didn't have the power/technology anymore to rebuild those sky colonies. That's why they are rewriting history: so they can restore that lost power. The Harmonic Divine States was never in the skies but a duplicate of the Divine States/Far East land.

The main issue here is the difference between the place that all of these people came from, be it floating continents, spaceships, whatever, and the places they are living now, either on the earth or in flying cities or whatever.

That is, I'm assuming the novel description is right and humans had left the earth for some time, as it was ruined and uninhabitable. But some disaster happened, and they were forced to return. But there wasn't much safe land, so they set up something in the skies/dimensional portals or something, where some people lived, while others were on the ground. I'm assuming that the latter group, on the ground, are the Divine States (our heroes, now oppressed), and the former the Harmonic Divine States who are now their masters, after the disasters and wars in the new 15th century. I could, of course, be wrong however.

Yeah, I'm a little puzzled at how long it's really been. They've gone through 11,000 years of history which is a rather long stretch of time. Considering how dire thing seem to be, I can't imagine they've actually been sitting around for 11,000 years rewriting/reliving history at a 1:1 rate.

Hah, yeah, I hope that as well. It depends on how literally they're taking their history retelling thing.

I kind of hope they have background story narration every credit roll. Not because we need the info dump, just because it's stupid and needs to be repeated.

I don't know if that's really a good reason to want to keep it as the ED, essentially...

The synopsis seems to indicate it. The basic timeline is:

Humans on Earth, yay!
Humans get advanced and move to the skies; this aerial world/land is referred to as "Tenjo."
Bad stuff happens and Tenjo crashes back to Earth; however, only a small amount of land "Shinshu" is habitable.
The land is too small to house everyone so "Juso Sekai" is created in a parallel world.
They begin rewriting History from 10,000 BC.
At 1413, war breaks out in "Shinshu" that ultimately causes the collapse of "Juso Sekai"; the residents of "Juso Sekai" invade "Shinshu" and divvy it up amongst themselves.
Try to pick up rewriting of History at 1457 AD but more shit hits the fan.

That said, the show seems to contradict it a bit? Or at least leaves a lot of it out? The start is the same (Earth -> Tenjou -> Back to Earth -> Shinshu). The oddity is the wording on the history bit; the anime credit roll, at least for the translation I have in front of me, seems to indicated they copied ... their History? ("...they rewrote their old history Sefu into a new history named Sinshuu and made copies called Jushou Shinshuu"). Same terminology but there's a lot of mishmash on things. I think I need to start comparing translations or something :/

I agree about that timeline. The wording in the anime version is an issue, but as is it's too unclear to say for sure either way, I think, so I'd rather hope that they didn't change it from the original version. I'm hoping that they just left some stuff out, and I think it's a reasonable thought.

@Horizon - Going over the lines from the ED credit roll on various translations, they don't seem to say much on it besides "There's the Harmonic States and the copy, the Divine Harmonic States." Doesn't seem to indicate much here on what the hell either of them are. That said, there's some wildly different stuff in these translations so I'm banking on most the confusion stemming from these.

Looking over novel stuff, seems to indicate that it's just the "The World" and "Japan". Much of the World leaves Earth and makes their copy of as the Divine Harmonic States; what this is, I don't know (LN reference calls to a "pocket dimension", though I don't know if that's actually the proper term for it or just the way it's described). Either way, they "leave" Japan one-way-or-the-other and does stuff their own way to recreate History following The Testament.

The "Testament" isn't a creation, it's an existing Holy Bible/Record of Time; it's their guide to recreation of the timeline towards working towards the History that led to the technology involved with Tenjou.

So is it a magic book, or not? Where did it come from? Who created it? Do they even know?

More specifically, it seems the goal of both the groups is to recreate history to regain the technology that led to Tenjou in the first place, and not a learning from their mistake sort of thing. Though, something happens that causes the Divine Harmonic State to return.

Yeah, they want to recreate it, but not have the disaster that happened the first time happen again. They don't seem to be having much success, given that they can't even get through all of the past history without having further disasters and wars.

Or ... something like that. There's a list of this on the official website that I'm going through to see if there's anything relevant there for this. Most LN stuff I can find uses references to "The World" as those who left and "Japan" as like 5 different things.

Well, as I think Geneijin said, "the world" as in the Harmonic Divine States, and "Japan" as in the Divine States.

Also of note, they are actually at two different points in time since the Sengoku period and Thirty Year period are some 200 years apart, now that I actually stop to think about that little tidbit.

Heh, yeah, I do wonder about that now that you mention it...

...

I think I just failed some kind of test.

Spoiler

Edit: Going through a lot of the information, seems there's absolutely nothing involved with parallel worlds, alternate timelines, anything like that. Just that, when Tenjou fell, the only habitable land is basically Japan. Much of the world leave for a copy of this land called Juso Shinsuu, aka the Divine Harmonic States. I don't know what it is but, based off the opening scene of the anime, it might just be a floating copy of it.

Both the original world and the Divine Harmonic States are going through History according to the Testaments/Bibles/History Book. The Divine Harmonic States reach the end of the time (1648) according to the books and return to the Harmonic States (still in 1413) and conquer it and splits it up amongst themselves. These people who were conquered are the residents of the Far East area and the floating city-ship Musashi.

And then series starts.

Huh, for the most part that's exactly what I've been saying, except for that last part about

Spoiler

the two worlds being in different points in time when the invasion happened. If true that would definitely explain things... I am left wondering if the Harmonic Divine States are still there, though, or after the war if they were destroyed or something. There does seem to be a suggestion of trouble, but I'm not entirely sure. Or are the sky lands still up there, but they rule the ground now too?

I think there's more left out information than contradictions. With the translation you quoted, the reason why I don't trust them is because they tend to be too literal (specifically near the end of episode and ending credits), the pronounced Engrish (the song lyrics at the beginning), and they really could use an editor.

I agree, all of the translations have their problems.

Ah, you're looking into novel spoilers...

Why not?

Spoiler

Nah, we know for sure it's Tenjou or most likely to be it. Remember, they lost the power to create Tenjou when it collapse/fell, so they're recreating history or whatever to regain what was lost (Tenjou and the accompany knowledge). It doesn't make sense if the Harmonic Divine States is "Tenjou" since they are just a copy of the Divine States.

Spoiler

Tenjou and the Harmonic Divine States are entirely different things, yes.

No, I meant that the Harmonic Divine States was just some floating continent copy of the land; I just don't know what exactly the Harmonic Divine States are besides that. I mean, floating continent like the city-ship Musashi? A literal pocket dimension? I'm half thinking it's just a "some people left then they came back" thing that isn't meant to be looked into that hard; it's just there to setup why they have Sengoku era people and Thirty Years War people in the same room, be damned on the what and how of it.

"Tenjou" I think is something beyond the skies (space? Heaven?) since it wouldn't make sense that "we need to figure out how we did that!" when they have a floating city already. Unless they've lost the technology for that, too, and Musashi is just kind of there as a relic of the past.

Space seems to be my guess for where Tenjou was. Spaceships? Offworld colonies? Space colonies? Something else, but clearly not on the Earth, perhaps? Something like that, anyway. But other than that, yes, I agree with this explanation.

(I'm not sure if this quote should be spoilered or not. Perhaps, but I'll leave it out for now.)

Really, my only confusion with the opening scene of the crashing land is the time frame.

Spoiler

1457 is right before the start of the Sengoku era, which I think is the recreation period that the Divine States were (are?) in; it shifts to 1648 after that which is the period that the Harmonic Divine States were (are?) in. Is there just a nearly 200 year timeskip? Do they just use two different years?

Or is it unrelated to the Divine States/Harmonic Divine States to begin with, since the synopsis makes it sound like 1413 is when things went south and they combined/invaded so 1457 is just a different thing altogether?

Figuring out when we are is such a hassle...

Spoiler

I was thinking that the conquest of the Divine States happened in 1457 and now it is 1648, but yes, dates are an issue. For instance, the Wikipedia article for the show mentions the Divine States-Harmonic Divine States war as starting in 1419, not 1457... I don't know why there is a discrepancy, or what the answer is.

Well, my original translation just had mention of the Thirty Year War; the others I was looking at just kind of mentioned them both in the same breath so I glossed over the fact that they're two completely different eras. I guess I don't know my history well enough to have caught it at first mention, lol.

A lot of 16th and 17th century European history is often glossed over, in the US anyway, so that wouldn't be too surprising... and the show mentions them together and they are "only" from a few hundred years apart.

What is? I've kept it to anything I know is from the synopsis or the anime. The last little blurb in that post is me just translating the synopsis into something that makes more sense. I'm still trying to figure out "when" the series is :/

I mean, I've said everything I know from the novels themselves so I might have inadvertently but everything seems to be in the show and synopsis. The closest thing that isn't is that

Spoiler

the year 1648 is when their recorded History in the Testament stopped, but the synopsis says that 1648 is when the update of History terminates.

Those two don't sound THAT different really...

Hell, if anything I said is a spoiler than the summary on TAN is far worse :/

I agree, more things should be spoilered in this discussion than have been. I've tried to spoiler most of the stuff that should be, here, but I might have missed something...

Also, yes, summaries sometimes can have spoilers in them I think.

 

[Proelite]

Kuudere is actually the scientifically-proven ideal type of woman: cold, unfeeling, and completely lacking in personality.

So the ideal type of woman is a corpse.

 

[Dresden]

So the ideal type of woman is a corpse.

Not a requirement or anything, but it helps.

 

[Instro]

Samurai Girls 2
This show is fun and all, but the censoring is going to be a killer. Might just wait for the BD's.

 

[hosannainexcelsis]

Gankutsuou 22

That's... one way to take the story. A very Japanese way, if I may say so.

 

[scy]

That is, I'm assuming the novel description is right and humans had left the earth for some time, as it was ruined and uninhabitable. But some disaster happened, and they were forced to return. But there wasn't much safe land, so they set up something in the skies/dimensional portals or something, where some people lived, while others were on the ground. I'm assuming that the latter group, on the ground, are the Divine States (our heroes, now oppressed), and the former the Harmonic Divine States who are now their masters, after the disasters and wars in the new 15th century. I could, of course, be wrong however.

This is basically the assumption I'm operating under for the show; it seems to make the most sense to me right now and, until the show tells me otherwise, I think that's how I'll view it.

I don't know if that's really a good reason to want to keep it as the ED, essentially...

But it's so ridiculous! They must continue this tradition.

So is it a magic book, or not? Where did it come from? Who created it? Do they even know?

I ... don't know. My guess is that it's some tome that was leftover from the whole Tenjou thing. Considering how big and important this is to the plot, it'll probably get covered.

Spoiler

And then eventually be a sham; this plot device is always a sham~!

Yeah, they want to recreate it, but not have the disaster that happened the first time happen again. They don't seem to be having much success, given that they can't even get through all of the past history without having further disasters and wars.

Feel like they should get to the warring parts of History and just, I dunno, skip them. They have the step-by-step Director's Cut of History so just skip the battles damn it and get to the cutscenes.

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the two worlds being in different points in time when the invasion happened. If true that would definitely explain things... I am left wondering if the Harmonic Divine States are still there, though, or after the war if they were destroyed or something. There does seem to be a suggestion of trouble, but I'm not entirely sure. Or are the sky lands still up there, but they rule the ground now too?

The two

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different time periods at the time of invasion is the only rationale I have for why we had Sengoku Era and Thirty Years War combined; plus, the only legible novel tidbit I found seems to indicate this: "The Japan and the world’s history occur at the same time; Japan’s history is in the Sengoku period and the world’s history is at the start of the 30 Years’ War."

As for the

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Harmonic Divine States, I'm under the assumption they're gone since the plot synopsis refers to them losing their land, though that could mean it has just become pretty crappy too. These guys keep breaking their toys...

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I was thinking that the conquest of the Divine States happened in 1457 and now it is 1648, but yes, dates are an issue. For instance, the Wikipedia article for the show mentions the Divine States-Harmonic Divine States war as starting in 1419, not 1457... I don't know why there is a discrepancy, or what the answer is.

Yeah, it seems to indicate that the important date is

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1413-ish, not 1457; the show seems to start with some kind of floating island collision with the land, which I take to mean the fall of the Harmonic Divine States ... which means it's like 40 years off of when it should be based off what the novels and synopsis seem to indicate. 1457 is where they pick up again for the History reenactment, supposedly, so maybe it's just from something else entirely.

I agree, more things should be spoilered in this discussion than have been. I've tried to spoiler most of the stuff that should be, here, but I might have missed something...

Also, yes, summaries sometimes can have spoilers in them I think.

Well, I wasn't sure; most of the discussion revolved around stuff in the show synopsis and the first episode and not really from beyond. I probably should have erred on the side of caution and started redacting it anyway, I guess, since that's just standard courtesy.

I might read up more on the back story if we still have no clue what is going on by like Episode 3 or 4, lol.