I feel weird trying to discuss a serious subject in a serious film, surrounded by Precures, Mahoukas, and a CRAZY dude who tries to brush his teeth off with a gun... literally!
It's a good post though and something I'll be watching for when I rewatch Honneamise. Never really did make the religious connection for whatever reason.
Alien vixens make a splash in the interplanetary dating pool in this sci-fi rom-com from the director of Jormungand and the studio behind Cat Planet Cuties!
In a world devastated by mysterious Spatial Quakes, Shidoh isn’t what you’d expect in a hero. He’s an average Joe who gets bossed around by his adorable little sister and mocked by the popular girls at his school. You’d definitely pick him last for dodge ball, but when it comes to saving the planet from imminent destruction, Shidoh’s got one thing going for him: intergalactic hotties can’t keep their hands off him! When the secret to stopping the Spatial Quakes turns out to be romancing the extraterrestrial Spirits responsible for all the chaos, Shidoh the loveable loser becomes the hero of all humanity. For every Spirit he makes out with, mankind breathes a little bit easier. Kiss the girls – save the world. That name of the game is driving the space babes crazy, and nobody does it better than Shidoh!
The excepts from the commentary track given there are rather damaging to duckroll's argument, at least to the idea that his viewpoint is what the creators intended. It's unquestionable that Honneamise lacks any inherent moral outrage at the assault that takes place, so it's up to the viewer to determine whether that lack of criticism is just a depiction of the world as it is or a moral failing on the film's part.
I feel this is a very important discussion, so I'm going to put some effort into explaining this. Those who have not watched Wings of Honneamise and do not want to read about a major plot point being dissected should skip this post.
The attempted rape is a very interesting scene because I feel that what the viewer takes away from scene and its place in the overall narrative generally indicates the level of understanding they have for the characters, or whether they are able to really relate to the sort of personality the characters embody. I don't think the scene is meant to show off the flaws of the main character as much as it is a critique on a specific sort of lifestyle and mentality, and how it can be create incompatible relationships.
The girl in the story is a deeply religious person who truly believes that she can better the world in small ways by sharing her faith and helping others. It is very clear from the body language and signals she gives that she is not in any way interested in the guy romantically. She sees him as someone she can "save" and her happiness in being with him comes from thinking that he truly has an interest in the message she is sharing with him.
This social blindness is an extremely real thing - she could be simply socially inept and unable to read the obvious signs that he's interested in her and not her message, or she chooses to ignore it because she wants to believe he can be receptive to the message anyway. This ends up hurting her because he takes it as a sign that she is putting up with him and hence must have a sort of interest in him, but since she doesn't want to progress the relationship he is frustrated and tries to force the matter on a night where a combination of factors causes him to become a sick brute. She clearly does not want any part in that, and her natural instincts kick in and she defends herself.
What happens next is the most important point of what the story is trying to say about this relationship - she doesn't just "forgive" him. She -blames- herself. This is not the writer saying that it is her fault, but the story showing how real these people are. It is not making a personal judgement on whether what happened was right or wrong (it is clearly wrong to anyone who has half decent morals, and she should have nothing to blame herself for) but rather it shows that such a girl who lives such a life in a society which is not too different from some places in our world, would not only forgive a friend or acquaintance for attempting to force themselves on her, but would blame herself for failing in making him a better person. She sees the incident as something which she shares blame for - instead of being a source of inspiration and godliness, she became a source of temptation. She feels shamed for being herself, rather than being offended by what he did. That is the tragedy of the relationship in the movie.
I never felt that the scene was out of place, and from the very start, the possibility that something like this could happened was fairly obvious based on the personality and characteristics of each character, which the audience gets a better look at than they do of each other. There is nothing in the narrative which condones or encourages such an act, only the acknowledgement that these things happen to people, and a realistic look at how flawed views of how society should work can hurt people deeply. The emotional pain caused by his actions have far greater impact when this is understood, than if any sort of strong reprisal was delivered just to say "rape is bad".
In the end, like many of the other themes in the movie, it isn't trying for moral commentary, but rather a more meaningful study into the dynamics of how people, organizations, religion, and politics work on an emotional level. That is the strongest point of the film, and why it resonates so strongly with me.
It's been so long, I'll have to watch the movie again. I remember not understanding it at the time and felt it was out of place, but this explanation makes more sense.
I've never heard that commentary track because it's on a terrible R1 DVD release, but other than painting a few Gainax guys as doofuses, I don't think it's particularly helpful for analysis on the film itself. The characterization remains one of the more realistic depictions of people being people in the animated medium. Jin Roh would be another which I feel tackles similar themes where people are not "good" and "evil" but rather flawed due to who they are, or how they were formed by society.
But that article DID remind me of something pretty hilarious - that Akai guy who said that forgiving him made her a "strong woman" is the same dumbass who eventually became a Gainax producer and made that "anus of the internet" comment after people dissed Gurren Lagann episode 4 online, and subsequently stepped down. Roflmao.
Baby Steps is really turning out great and while visuals aren't top notch their still alright. Natsu's character is great and cute, and I really like her clueless personality as it makes the anime funnier. The good thing is that the real first match is gonna start next episode which will show Ei's progress in tennis. It's been enjoyable to watch can't wait till next week. Oh yeah that engrish was so funny.
The excepts from the commentary track given there are rather damaging to duckroll's argument, at least to the idea that his viewpoint is what the creators intended. It's unquestionable that Honneamise lacks any inherent moral outrage at the assault that takes place, so it's up to the viewer to determine whether that lack of criticism is just a depiction of the world as it is or a moral failing on the film's part.
I think it's pretty unfortunate (for the person) if someone making the film feels that her reaction makes her a "strong woman". It's clearly a misogynistic viewpoint, and one I don't condone, but that viewpoint itself is not represented in the film. She doesn't come stronger to me, and there's nothing that validates her forgiveness of him. It just makes her more miserable, like it would in reality. If Akai thinks that is strength, and a desirable trait in a woman, then he's a pretty sad guy too. He wasn't involved in writing the story though.
I'm actually pretty curious what Yamaga and Ohnogi would have to say about the script process. From that article it isn't really clear if Yamaga talked much about intent or themes in the story in the commentary track.
After all the Team Rocket comparisons around here I'm not sure what I was expecting from the enemies in this episode, but
a full-on violent invasion of the good guys' facility complete with robot rampage and "how many breads have you eaten"-esque treating-humanity-as-food moment
wasn't it. The crepe truck "disguise" was certainly Team Rocket-ish, though, so I can see where the comparisons are coming from.
Everything was going normal and then out of nowhere fucking terrorist shit gets dropped like a bomb
So let me get this straight, in high school there is a group of students who wish to make equality between the two different classes of students the gifted and the not gifted, these students are in some ways part of a terrorist cell that is attempting to usurp power and destroy the country from the inside due to a mysterious backer from outside the country... and our main characters knows this because... and somehow the terrorist want our MC for their plans because? I mean I get why the students want a not gifted who's so powerful to try and break down the class wall... but our MC is more gifted then any gifted... and
What the hell am I watching, what the fuck is even going on in this series?
No no
You have missed information and you didn't reach the proper conclusion:
First in the mahouka world , magician are rare and powerfull and are considered military assets , many either go to the military, do police work or bodyguard work , other are going on research , it's a limited ressources pool ( not everyone can become magician ) and not everyone can become a powerfull magician.
The MC understand that there is a emotionnal impulse because everyone cannot become a gifted magician BUT he also realise that the people behind this , ( not the students , but those backing them up ) are in it only for their own interest , the proof is that they resort to terrorism.
The reason why the MC know this will be revealed later , the reason why the vilain want the hero is because he is part of the not gifted ( in theory ) yet he is strong so they want him for their own projects.
But that article DID remind me of something pretty hilarious - that Akai guy who said that forgiving him made her a "strong woman" is the same dumbass who eventually became a Gainax producer and made that "anus of the internet" comment after people dissed Gurren Lagann episode 4 online, and subsequently stepped down. Roflmao.
The sad part is that this doesn't surprise me. I think this is a good summary of my feelings in regards to the scene:
article said:
Then there’s the aftermath of the assault, during which Akai points out that Riquinni reveals herself as a “strong woman” by completely forgiving Shiro and saying that it was her fault. So, depending on your interpretation, the film’s leading (and only) adult female character is a fundamentalist lunatic willing to immediately overlook a horrible event, or she's a woman who shows perseverance and robust spirit by BLAMING HERSELF BECAUSE SHE WAS ALMOST RAPED. Holy fucking shit.
In truth, Honneamise is ruined not just by the near-rape, but by the film’s subsequent handling of it. Following his conversation with Riquinni, Shiro finds his way to his Space Force compatriots and, in a conversation with his friend, openly wonders if he’s a good or bad person. The problem here is that Shiro, at his most troubled, seems only slightly ill at ease. He doesn’t act like a man who just tried to force himself on a woman. He acts like a guy who just cheated on his taxes or ran over a squirrel on his drive to the office. I’ve heard that one cut of the film deletes the rape scene entirely, and I have to wonder if the typical viewer would notice, because the film deals with Riquinni’s attack by simply bustling on its way through a street-sweeper chase and fighter-plane dogfights and symbolic montages that don’t seem affected by it in the slightest.
Furthermore, the movie still insists that the viewer care about Shiro in some way. He obviously isn’t supposed to be a blatant, stand-up-and-cheer hero of any sort, yet Honneamise continues to focus its story around him with the implicit assumption that he’s still an ambivalent and intriguing enough character to shoulder the movie’s conflicts. If we’re not expected to root for him, we’re still asked to stay interested in him and what he’s doing. And that’s asking a lot when the movie’s shown him trying to rape someone. When Shiro emits his message about prayer and loss while he’s in orbit, it seems rushed and inauthentic, because he hasn’t truly dealt with his actions. And neither has Honneamise at large.
I feel this is a very important discussion, so I'm going to put some effort into explaining this. Those who have not watched Wings of Honneamise and do not want to read about a major plot point being dissected should skip this post.
The attempted rape is a very interesting scene because I feel that what the viewer takes away from scene and its place in the overall narrative generally indicates the level of understanding they have for the characters, or whether they are able to really relate to the sort of personality the characters embody. I don't think the scene is meant to show off the flaws of the main character as much as it is a critique on a specific sort of lifestyle and mentality, and how it can be create incompatible relationships.
The girl in the story is a deeply religious person who truly believes that she can better the world in small ways by sharing her faith and helping others. It is very clear from the body language and signals she gives that she is not in any way interested in the guy romantically. She sees him as someone she can "save" and her happiness in being with him comes from thinking that he truly has an interest in the message she is sharing with him.
This social blindness is an extremely real thing - she could be simply socially inept and unable to read the obvious signs that he's interested in her and not her message, or she chooses to ignore it because she wants to believe he can be receptive to the message anyway. This ends up hurting her because he takes it as a sign that she is putting up with him and hence must have a sort of interest in him, but since she doesn't want to progress the relationship he is frustrated and tries to force the matter on a night where a combination of factors causes him to become a sick brute. She clearly does not want any part in that, and her natural instincts kick in and she defends herself.
What happens next is the most important point of what the story is trying to say about this relationship - she doesn't just "forgive" him. She -blames- herself. This is not the writer saying that it is her fault, but the story showing how real these people are. It is not making a personal judgement on whether what happened was right or wrong (it is clearly wrong to anyone who has half decent morals, and she should have nothing to blame herself for) but rather it shows that such a girl who lives such a life in a society which is not too different from some places in our world, would not only forgive a friend or acquaintance for attempting to force themselves on her, but would blame herself for failing in making him a better person. She sees the incident as something which she shares blame for - instead of being a source of inspiration and godliness, she became a source of temptation. She feels shamed for being herself, rather than being offended by what he did. That is the tragedy of the relationship in the movie.
I never felt that the scene was out of place, and from the very start, the possibility that something like this could happened was fairly obvious based on the personality and characteristics of each character, which the audience gets a better look at than they do of each other. There is nothing in the narrative which condones or encourages such an act, only the acknowledgement that these things happen to people, and a realistic look at how flawed views of how society should work can hurt people deeply. The emotional pain caused by his actions have far greater impact when this is understood, than if any sort of strong reprisal was delivered just to say "rape is bad".
In the end, like many of the other themes in the movie, it isn't trying for moral commentary, but rather a more meaningful study into the dynamics of how people, organizations, religion, and politics work on an emotional level. That is the strongest point of the film, and why it resonates so strongly with me.
I definitely agree about her not being interested in him romantically but the problem I have with it is that there isn't enough buildup to lead to the physical act itself. There is the whole objectifying her bit right before but there really isn't any indication that he would actually try to rape someone. It just reminds me of that awful real life experiment. I don't think being ignored or 'friend-zoned' is enough of a provocation to try and rape a woman in her home in front of a kid. He's never really portrayed as a violent individual prior to this, rather the opposite in fact, and so I felt that it comes out of nowhere.
I also do agree there is an element of self-blame on her part(or at least she perceives it), but the problem is that they don't do anything with it. The act itself is probably the darkest scene in a movie that for the most part is light-hearted but the self-blame is even darker. The problem is that the film doesn't do enough to justify having these scenes in the film other than a throwaway line a few minutes later. I can understand it being social context for women violence and how women perceive these events but rather than building upon that scene, it's really just left there. It also served to undermine the conclusion, for me anyway, because you have an attempted rapist giving this uplifting speech in space. As mentioned in the article wonzo found, if the goal was to show how flawed the main character was, there were other ways to have gone about it rather than just having a couple of scenes and a line. If the goal was to make a larger social point about women, I don't think the film did enough then.
Navel and Overflow couldn't be more different in their game philosophies, at least at the outset. Though I haven't seen Shuffle, I have watched Soul Link and OreTsuba, so I'm somewhat familiar with their style. I also remember expressing an interest in their sister brand VN that revolved around Nostradamus back in the day.
All the staples of a VN are here. The secondary girl that collects information, the best friend who's girl obsessed, the childhood friend (please recover soon, Yuko Goto). And the faint supernatural element with the demons/gods in our world. That one of the fanclubs calls themselves the KKK is something that couldn't have been foreseen for what that means overseas. Because really now.
Sugita's fun to watch as Rin, but I'm still working my through the episodes that get into all the girls' heads, so unless it's about Sia, I have yet to determine who my favorite is.
So a lot of little things bothered me about this episode even though it was pretty great in general. Most notable theres a point in the game where they have runners on 1st and 2nd while they're down by 2 runs and have no outs. They have their 5 hole hitter up who is by far the strongest guy on the team and most capable of giving them a lead with 1 swing of the bat.
They have him fucking sacrifice bunt. I realize the logic in that the next guy in the lineup is a "clutch" hitter who can only get hits with runners in scoring position but... there already was a runner in scoring position. Then what happens after the bunt is just as terrible. Runners on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out and the pitcher decides to tell his fielders to come in to force a play at the plate on a ground ball and his outfielders in to try to cut the run off at home. This is so fucking wrong on every level. You have a 2 run lead and its only the 4th inning. Play for the out at first, ideally you just get a strike out or a pop up but you don't open up that many holes in your defense just to cut off 1 run. And if you're really of the belief that any runs scored means you lose then just walk him and set up a double play situation to get out of the inning.
Especially given the fact that their ace hasn't played yet (or will he swerveeeee). You've already knocked their best pitcher out of their game and they are down to another freshman who has not shown the ability to be effective at all - literally the fans and his teammates go ape shit because he gets one single guy out. And it obviously backfires horribly as the drawn in outfielders get smoked. Also holy shit at that "animation" on that double of the ball bouncing off the wall. Took me like 5 seconds to figure out what the hell they were trying to show there, where exactly did the warning track disappear to?
Seido not to be outdone, with the game tied up 2-2 and with a runner on 3rd with 1 out decides to fucking run a suicide squeeze. Awful, awful, awful baseball here. I really hate the suicide squeeze in general - you're giving away 2 chances to score including 1 that doesn't require a hit at all for the element of surprise and one that backfires in the worst way possible if the batter fails to execute the bunt properly.
But my biggest pet peeve also happens in this episode. Runners diving headfirst into first base! It's not any faster than running through the bag and puts both the 1B and the hitter in unnecessary danger, the only time its useful at all is the incredibly rare situation where one is trying to dodge a tag being applied at first.
Japanese high school baseball. Man, its fucking weird.
No no
You have missed information and you didn't reach the proper conclusion:
First in the mahouka world , magician are rare and powerfull and are considered military assets , many either go to the military, do police work or bodyguard work , other are going on research , it's a limited ressources pool ( not everyone can become magician ) and not everyone can become a powerfull magician.
The MC understand that there is a emotionnal impulse because everyone cannot become a gifted magician BUT he also realise that the people behind this , ( not the students , but those backing them up ) are in it only for their own interest , the proof is that they resort to terrorism.
The reason why the MC know this will be revealed later , the reason why the vilain want the hero is because he is part of the not gifted ( in theory ) yet he is strong so they want him for their own projects.
Okay that makes a lot more sense, I felt like the episode out of nowhere just dumped mass amounts of exposition on something random out of nowhere guess now I understand. Thanks
Yu Gi Oh Arc V 2
All this episode did was establish Yuya has no idea how he pendulum summoned, need the real plot to roll in asap or this is going to get boring fast, preview for next week looks to introduce the rival character.
Okay that makes a lot more sense, I felt like the episode out of nowhere just dumped mass amounts of exposition on something random out of nowhere guess now I understand. Thanks
So Ei-chan has superhuman eyes in addition to superhuman note-taking ability! =p The little contest between Ei-chan and Takuma was pretty cool to watch even though it was essentially just him getting the hang of super basic stuff.
Forcing Takuma to get serious is as good as a victory!
Oh, and I say this every week but frankly it can't be said enough: Takasaki-san is a goddamn angel <3
I definitely agree about her not being interested in him romantically but the problem I have with it is that there isn't enough buildup to lead to the physical act itself. There is the whole objectifying her bit right before but there really isn't any indication that he would actually try to rape someone. It just reminds me of that awful real life experiment. I don't think being ignored or 'friend-zoned' is enough of a provocation to try and rape a woman in her home in front of a kid. He's never really portrayed as a violent individual prior to this, rather the opposite in fact, and so I felt that it comes out of nowhere.
I also do agree there is an element of self-blame on her part(or at least she perceives it), but the problem is that they don't do anything with it. The act itself is probably the darkest scene in a movie that for the most part is light-hearted but the self-blame is even darker. The problem is that the film doesn't do enough to justify having these scenes in the film other than a throwaway line a few minutes later. I can understand it being social context for women violence and how women perceive these events but rather than building upon that scene, it's really just left there. It also served to undermine the conclusion, for me anyway, because you have an attempted rapist giving this uplifting speech in space. As mentioned in the article wonzo found, if the goal was to show how flawed the main character was, there were other ways to have gone about it rather than just having a couple of scenes and a line. If the goal was to make a larger social point about women, I don't think the film did enough then.
But don't you think your points here reinforce what I was saying? What I found interesting about the approach in the film is how little it comments, but rather simply shows characters being people. Is being friendzoned or ignored enough of a provocation for rape? Absolutely not. That's not acceptable, it's morally wrong, and in every civilized nation it is illegal. But that doesn't mean people don't do it, feeling justified. It could be a moment of weakness, it could be evil intent, it could be poor upbringing. Doesn't matter, there's no excuse for it, it's wrong. I don't think a show has to SAY it's wrong, especially if the audience are adults who can form their own opinions with their own life experience and moral compass. Is he shown to be a violent guy? No. Is he shown to be an obvious sexual deviant? No. But not all rapists are. Rapists, murderers, molesters, and various sorts of sick people don't come in one package. Often they are completely normal people on the outside, and sometimes they give in to temptation or they snap. Obviously there are also those who have clear warning signs, and commit premeditated acts, but not everyone is the same.
I don't think the show is making a social statement about women in particular either. In fact, I feel that Honneamise represents and showcases a lot of the worst in human society, and things which people don't like to think about much or see. The reaction to the rape scene clearly shows people don't want to see stuff like that, and it's a fair reaction. You shouldn't. The other is the lack of satisfaction the show gives anything at all. It's a story of unresolved things. The relationship is unresolved. The aftermath of the rape is unresolved. The political maneuverings amount to nothing. Even the "successful" launch of the ship is meaningless. No one expected it to succeed, and in the end no one cared. He got to make a transmission which vindicates his personal achievement, but that's about it. It probably inspires no one, it makes no difference in the world, and he's probably dead after that.
This lack of satisfaction and resolution is something I find really interesting because it can be seen as a warning to what happens in a world where apathy has taken over. The movie does not comment on this directly, just like it does not really comment on anything directly. But simply watching what they chose to show, that is the only conclusion I can come to. It shows a world which mirrors our own in many ways, but things here have gotten to a point where there really isn't much hope for those living in it. There isn't much of the future or positive progression in society, people are forced to rely entirely on their own initiative and set personal goals to get any sense of satisfaction, there is a terrible support system for people who feel lost, and all this leads the various people in the show to do the things they do. The politicians act against their own interests because change is more frightening. The engineers have more or less given up and take things one day at a time because no one else cares. The lonely fall towards the redemptive concepts of religion without benefiting from the community support which should come with it. I don't view the movie as "light-hearted" at all, even though the rape scene is probably the only physically dark moment in the film. The tone throughout is bleak, even though the protagonist is largely whimsy and care-free. The fact that such a society is seen by everyone as largely normal, and so they act normally in it, creates a really sick undertone.
Wings of Honneamise is a really interesting movie because there's a lot that can be read from it. Whether it was designed to be read a certain way or whether much of it was inspired by things in reality isn't as important, because by not saying anything explicit about what they show, it allows the audience the freedom to judge such a world and relate it to how we see our own world. I think that is far more valuable than a film which has a specific message telling people what they are seeing is right or wrong. We have enough of those sort of stories, the ones simply showing things as they are definitely hold my interest more. Probably why I'm a huge fan of Wong Kar Wai movies.
So a lot of little things bothered me about this episode even though it was pretty great in general. Most notable theres a point in the game where they have runners on 1st and 2nd while they're down by 2 runs and have no outs. They have their 5 hole hitter up who is by far the strongest guy on the team and most capable of giving them a lead with 1 swing of the bat.
They have him fucking sacrifice bunt. I realize the logic in that the next guy in the lineup is a "clutch" hitter who can only get hits with runners in scoring position but... there already was a runner in scoring position. Then what happens after the bunt is just as terrible. Runners on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out and the pitcher decides to tell his fielders to come in to force a play at the plate on a ground ball and his outfielders in to try to cut the run off at home. This is so fucking wrong on every level. You have a 2 run lead and its only the 4th inning. Play for the out at first, ideally you just get a strike out or a pop up but you don't open up that many holes in your defense just to cut off 1 run. And if you're really of the belief that any runs scored means you lose then just walk him and set up a double play situation to get out of the inning.
Especially given the fact that their ace hasn't played yet (or will he swerveeeee). You've already knocked their best pitcher out of their game and they are down to another freshman who has not shown the ability to be effective at all - literally the fans and his teammates go ape shit because he gets one single guy out. And it obviously backfires horribly as the drawn in outfielders get smoked. Also holy shit at that "animation" on that double of the ball bouncing off the wall. Took me like 5 seconds to figure out what the hell they were trying to show there, where exactly did the warning track disappear to?
Seido not to be outdone, with the game tied up 2-2 and with a runner on 3rd with 1 out decides to fucking run a suicide squeeze. Awful, awful, awful baseball here. I really hate the suicide squeeze in general - you're giving away 2 chances to score including 1 that doesn't require a hit at all for the element of surprise and one that backfires in the worst way possible if the batter fails to execute the bunt properly.
But my biggest pet peeve also happens in this episode. Runners diving headfirst into first base! It's not any faster than running through the bag and puts both the 1B and the hitter in unnecessary danger, the only time its useful at all is the incredibly rare situation where one is trying to dodge a tag being applied at first.
Japanese high school baseball. Man, its fucking weird.
Honestly up until that point I could infer some things like the school nurse? trying to
legit seduce the MC for questionable reasons which I guess will tie into this terrorist sub plot
I just wish we had seen some other scene or something to establish anti-magic terrorist before the MC just massive plot dumped a new plot thread out of nowhere. I think up till that point all we had was one random guy with a random bracelet attack our mc then run away. How hard is it to have a scene on the news of a building blowing up under "natural gases" and our MC can go "natural gases psh what a terrible lie" or something to hint the plot line before the dump.
Honestly up until that point I could infer some things like the school nurse? trying to
legit seduce the MC for questionable reasons which I guess will tie into this terrorist sub plot
I just wish we had seen some other scene or something to establish anti-magic terrorist before the MC just massive plot dumped a new plot thread out of nowhere. I think up till that point all we had was one random guy with a random bracelet attack our mc then run away. How hard is it to have a scene on the news of a building blowing up under "natural gases" and our MC can go "natural gases psh what a terrible lie" or something to hint the plot line before the dump.
Problem there is that everyone wants his dick leading up to that so it doesn't really stand out from other character interactions he's had so far. Were it a rare occurrence, I'd be on-board that notion.
Well yeah they're little kids who can barely grasp the concepts of baseball.
For all the hyping the show was doing of Shunshin as some kind of baseball savant he made a lot of awful decisions putting his team in shit scenarios. But Seido's manager really is Ron Washington. Players love him and treat him with respect but he is really terrible at his job.
Problem there is that everyone wants his dick leading up to that so it doesn't really stand out from other character interactions he's had so far. Were it a rare occurrence, I'd be on-board that notion.
Yep, cut that conversation and the last 2 minute plot dump and literally the entire series has just been every girl being mad thirsty for our perfect MC. Honestly I'd have been fine if that was the whole series, or if the plot thread of a bunch of 2nd tier students trying to create equal footing slowly gave way to a bigger/darker plot thread with a terrorist group... not just "oh btw terrorist" like the series does
Twins were pretty entertaining. I like the robotic one better for whatever reason. Course Shido's gonna have to figure out a way to choose both.
Liked the cuts to Yoshino watching her soap opera paralleling the situation in this episode. It was there last episode too; wonder if that's gonna be a thing. Yoshino is uninteresting and has no presence so if her primary function this season is to watch TV then I'm fine with that.
Doremi's chicken dance in Motto! Ojamajo Doremi is still number one though.
- Cake Song was cute and slightly creepy. Perfect.
- Connect being used somewhere in the film's OST made me happy.
- The pillow juggling scene before
the second nightmare appears.
- Fight sequences were so intense. These were the high points of this film by far.
- The Twist.
In regards to The Twist, without spoiling I would say that it was definately not necessary to have done that although I don't believe it has soured me on the series.
With spoilers:
The film really should have ended with Madoka taking Homura up into the light and then they would be together forever and that would've achieved Homura's goal of being together with Madoka forever but we can't have that can we? Homura has to become the devil for some reason and make a new world order as the previous world order that Madoka introduced had no drawbacks, no evil. Homura had to introduce that evil back into the world but still stay with Madoka for some reason. I'm not really seeing the point nor am I seeing the motive behind Homura's actions here. It's also a much, much more open ended ending than the main series was. Introducing more questions than we had before it's as if they realised that Madoka Magica was getting really popular all of the sudden but they gave it too conclusive an ending so they made a new ending that could easily have a nice follow up TV anime. I wouldn't mind it but it's a strange way for the story to go.
In regards to the film as a whole, I'd say it was great. It got me speculating what would happen all the time and I was pretty invested in the whole thing. I'll just have to make do with the ending even though I wasn't pleased with it.
I also do agree there is an element of self-blame on her part(or at least she perceives it), but the problem is that they don't do anything with it. The act itself is probably the darkest scene in a movie that for the most part is light-hearted but the self-blame is even darker. The problem is that the film doesn't do enough to justify having these scenes in the film other than a throwaway line a few minutes later. I can understand it being social context for women violence and how women perceive these events but rather than building upon that scene, it's really just left there. It also served to undermine the conclusion, for me anyway, because you have an attempted rapist giving this uplifting speech in space.
Yep. That she would blame herself and "forget" the incident could be explained like Duckroll did, but neither [spellingnazi]Shillotzugh? Cirotegue?[/spellingnazi] nor the movie seem all that bothered over what happened, so... Awkward!
So, I've just finished reading the manga and watching all episodes, movies and OVAs. I really liked the show. The beginning was weak, but it quickly raises itself to become something memorable.
Great post. I've only seen the entire run of UY once myself, only rewatching specific ranges, and I never got around to reading all of the manga, so your insight here is much appreciated.
Doremi's chicken dance in Motto! Ojamajo Doremi is still number one though.
- Cake Song was cute and slightly creepy. Perfect.
- Connect being used somewhere in the film's OST made me happy.
- The pillow juggling scene before
the second nightmare appears.
- Fight sequences were so intense. These were the high points of this film by far.
- The Twist.
In regards to The Twist, without spoiling I would say that it was definately not necessary to have done that although I don't believe it has soured me on the series.
With spoilers:
The film really should have ended with Madoka taking Homura up into the light and then they would be together forever and that would've achieved Homura's goal of being together with Madoka forever but we can't have that can we? Homura has to become the devil for some reason and make a new world order as the previous world order that Madoka introduced had no drawbacks, no evil. Homura had to introduce that evil back into the world but still stay with Madoka for some reason. I'm not really seeing the point nor am I seeing the motive behind Homura's actions here. It's also a much, much more open ended ending than the main series was. Introducing more questions than we had before it's as if they realised that Madoka Magica was getting really popular all of the sudden but they gave it too conclusive an ending so they made a new ending that could easily have a nice follow up TV anime. I wouldn't mind it but it's a strange way for the story to go.
In regards to the film as a whole, I'd say it was great. It got me speculating what would happen all the time and I was pretty invested in the whole thing. I'll just have to make do with the ending even though I wasn't pleased with it.
I can't believe I'm saying it, but the twist actually makes sense. I still hate it with all my guts, but it still makes sense.
Homura's goal was never to "be" with Madoka. That would be good yes, but her real goal was to "protect Madoka". Which in her terms, means keeping her happiness safe. Madoka stated on the flower bed hugging scene that she could never do something that would separate her from her friends and family. But Homura knows that if there was something Madoka felt that she and only she could do to help someone, she would do it despite the consequences, that's how good of a person Homura knows she is.
So, assuming that she wouldn't be able to talk Madoka down the mountain (or heavenly plains or whatever) Homura decides to force Madoka into a happy world created just for her, becoming the exact opposite of her doing something really selfish. But deep down Madoka's wish is still there and Homura can only suppress it, and she knows Madoka is going to fight against her one day so she can do what she knows is right.
In other words. TO BE CONTINUED.
Exactly what I did not want from this series. I hope whatever sequel they do make fixes this mess.
I can't believe I'm saying it, but the twist actually makes sense. I still hate it with all my guts, but it still makes sense.
Homura's goal was never to "be" with Madoka. That would be good yes, but her real goal was to "protect Madoka". Which in her terms, means keeping her happiness safe. Madoka stated on the flower bed hugging scene that she could never do something that would separate her from her friends and family. But Homura knows that if there was something Madoka felt that she and only she could do to help someone, she would do it despite the consequences, that's how good of a person Homura knows she is.
So, assuming that she wouldn't be able to talk Madoka down the mountain (or heavenly plains or whatever) Homura decides to force Madoka into a happy world created just for her, becoming the exact opposite of her doing something really selfish. But deep down Madoka's wish is still there and Homura can only suppress it, and she knows Madoka is going to fight against her one day so she can do what she knows is right.
In other words. TO BE CONTINUED.
Exactly what I did not want from this series. I hope whatever sequel they do make fixes this mess.
So it meant that the TV series ending wasn't the ideal ending for Homura as Madoka ceased to exist in both past, present and future. Which would seperate her from her family and friends. So in order to do this Homura had to do that even though it would force everyone else, including Madoka, against her although it gives her what she wants so she's fine with it for the time being.
New rival is Kaiba as fuck in a good way, acts all friendly before he steals the MCs cards, kidnaps his friends, and betrays the people he was working with to keep the pendulum cards for himself. After the mehness of episode 2 things are looking up in a good way
Okay that makes a lot more sense, I felt like the episode out of nowhere just dumped mass amounts of exposition on something random out of nowhere guess now I understand. Thanks
Well the mahouka world is MASSIVE and some parts are forced to become info dumps because of it.
this isn't just a magic school show , it's set in the future (2095) and the author did create a very complex background for it . Rest assured that the why and the how are not things that pop-up out of nowhere usually , but this arc is forced to do it because you don't have enough information right now.
It's impossible to adapt Mahouka otherwise.
In this situation , the anime viewer knows:
-The mc was attacked while doing a normal job on the school ground.
-He saw someone using magic and spotted a bracelet
-Same bracelet is on the screen when he explain about "egalité" and "blanche"
-Few scenes earlier , he made an assumption out loud and did say "the ones behind it"
Anyway 1+1+1+1 = 4
As for the "why" , since anime viewer just got a info dump , it'll be treated later...Simple as that.
Honestly up until that point I could infer some things like the school nurse? trying to
legit seduce the MC for questionable reasons which I guess will tie into this terrorist sub plot
I just wish we had seen some other scene or something to establish anti-magic terrorist before the MC just massive plot dumped a new plot thread out of nowhere. I think up till that point all we had was one random guy with a random bracelet attack our mc then run away. How hard is it to have a scene on the news of a building blowing up under "natural gases" and our MC can go "natural gases psh what a terrible lie" or something to hint the plot line before the dump.
Well i understand but you missed some other hints before that ...all will be clear in the next episodes. Also as i said above , the key of that attack was the bracelet ( blue , white , red ) it was associated with "egalité" when you got that massive info dump.
it was this part :
Also you can't have that scene and the MC acting smart ass because , oficially , those organisation aren't made public ..only a few people within the school know about them( most of the teachers and 3 people in the student concil at most ) it's supposed to be a secret. That's why he tells the whole story to his sister... even her , as cheated as she is , doesn't know.
Problem there is that everyone wants his dick leading up to that so it doesn't really stand out from other character interactions he's had so far. Were it a rare occurrence, I'd be on-board that notion.
the "everyone wants his dick" is not that true . he has more than half the school that hate him ( for being a weed ) and aside from the tiny group of friend he has , nobody was nearly even close to him past friendship.
And no the girl with the ponytail in this episode doesn't count since she doesn't want his dick , just to recruit him for her cause.
The only people that don't hate him are the course students in his class and a part of his co-workers when he do rounds on school grounds ( even amoung them , half don't like him at all ).
So it meant that the TV series ending wasn't the ideal ending for Homura as Madoka ceased to exist in both past, present and future. Which would seperate her from her family and friends. So in order to do this Homura had to do that even though it would force everyone else, including Madoka, against her although it gives her what she wants so she's fine with it for the time being.
The TV series ending wasn't ideal to Homura, but the fact remains is she just went along with it because she felt like she couldn't do anything about it at that point. She accepted her and Madoka's fate and continued to fight. Hell, a part of her told her that Madoka was happy with her wish.
It's not until Rebellion when Homura realizes that Madoka was lying to herself and is in fact not entirely happy in the role of being a goddess. So then boom, she's gonna have to force happiness on her now. In the words of Lelouch Vi Britannia: "If you force it upon us from on high, that's no different than being evil." Though the same could be said for Madoka in that regard since she's got this whole "Law of Cycles" thing going on for all magical girls now.
Madoka Magica really is magical girl Code Geass at this point isn't it?
Well at least now I guess there's the possibility the magical girl equivalent of TTGL's final battle. Though I really don't want that to happen in this scenario.
In regards to The Twist, without spoiling I would say that it was definately not necessary to have done that although I don't believe it has soured me on the series.
With spoilers:
The film really should have ended with Madoka taking Homura up into the light and then they would be together forever and that would've achieved Homura's goal of being together with Madoka forever but we can't have that can we? Homura has to become the devil for some reason and make a new world order as the previous world order that Madoka introduced had no drawbacks, no evil. Homura had to introduce that evil back into the world but still stay with Madoka for some reason. I'm not really seeing the point nor am I seeing the motive behind Homura's actions here. It's also a much, much more open ended ending than the main series was. Introducing more questions than we had before it's as if they realised that Madoka Magica was getting really popular all of the sudden but they gave it too conclusive an ending so they made a new ending that could easily have a nice follow up TV anime. I wouldn't mind it but it's a strange way for the story to go.
now that it's established thanks to Sayaka and Bebe that those who have been "saved" by Madoka can live on with her in some form, why would Homura even want any other outcome?
- but I think at the end of the day the answer is that
Homura was just pushed one step too far, beyond the snapping point.
I'm sure the original, good-hearted Homura would never have chosen this outcome if she was offered it, but she's been through a lot even then - repeating the same hopeless cycle over and over again in the vain hope of finding a solution can't be good for a person's mental stability on its own, and we saw at multiple points in the original series that Homura was almost mentally broken by the realisation that her efforts had achieved completely the opposite effect to what she wanted - first when she found out that her attempts to save Madoka had just made her a bigger target for Kyubey and a bigger danger to all of humanity, and then again at the end when her efforts to save Madoka ultimately resulted in Madoka being torn away from the world entirely.
Since then Homura has been forced to live on, fighting in a world where the person she loves is completely out of reach, and working together with the very creature who caused all of this. The Homura we see in this movie is one who's reached the final breaking point - her loneliness and bitterness have driven her to the point of actually starting the transformation into a witch herself, which is about the most dangerous mental state any magical girl can be in. Not to mention that even during her witch transformation she was toyed with by Kyubey and once more confronted with the horrible possibility of her own actions resulting in Madoka being manipulated in the worst possible way.
So yeah, I think after all of that, Homura's mind just wasn't able to accept the world she was living in any more. Leaving the world behind in peace and being reunited with Madoka on some other plane wasn't enough - she had to achieve something more than that, to reshape the whole world that had betrayed her again and again, to bring back Madoka in the form both of them originally wanted rather than accepting her as some cosmic being that she never asked for and Madoka only became out of necessity, and to create a world where she could finally get her payback against Kyubey instead of having to accept him and be at the mercy of his manipulations.
...Also, what nintendoman said while I was writing this post ~.~
New rival is Kaiba as fuck in a good way, acts all friendly before he steals the MCs cards, kidnaps his friends, and betrays the people he was working with to keep the pendulum cards for himself. After the mehness of episode 2 things are looking up in a good way
