Fun fact: this show is being written by Mamoru Oshii (yes that Mamoru Oshii) and directed by one of his life-long friends/collaborators who he worked closely with on a lot of stuff, going all the way back to their Time Bokan/Urusei Yatsura days.
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Iaboo, Youaboo, Weallaboo for Anime!
- Thread starter Johnny Unusual
- Start date
Becksworth
Aging Hipster Dragon Dad
Has the Pluto adaptation been mentioned? The backgrounds and character art seemed to clash in places, and it looks like it is emphasizing action sequences, so I don't know...
Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
I'm still waiting for the final product but I'm pretty hopeful. And hopefully we'll end up with more Urasawa adaptations.
Leiji Matsumoto died, so that's kind of a big name.
SO I'VE BEEN WATCHING TRIGUN AND READING TRIGUN. I've finished 3 Episodes, and I'm midway through Maximum volume 1!
One of them I've been enjoying very much!
The other one... certainly exists.
I will say one unabashedly positive thing about it. I really REALLY like what they did with the Nebraskas.
I wasn't wild about them going from "walking landmass and man who is literally a gun" to "Big guy and small guy" but I do genuinely like what the story did with them. The spin on them, while still extremely cartoony, added a great deal of depth to both of them, and made them genuinely compelling characters instead of a momentary obstacle. That's a GOOD CHANGE and I applaud it!
I do not have anything nice to say about the other changes, so this post will just abruptly end here.
One of them I've been enjoying very much!
The other one... certainly exists.
I will say one unabashedly positive thing about it. I really REALLY like what they did with the Nebraskas.
I wasn't wild about them going from "walking landmass and man who is literally a gun" to "Big guy and small guy" but I do genuinely like what the story did with them. The spin on them, while still extremely cartoony, added a great deal of depth to both of them, and made them genuinely compelling characters instead of a momentary obstacle. That's a GOOD CHANGE and I applaud it!
I do not have anything nice to say about the other changes, so this post will just abruptly end here.
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Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
I've been enjoying this iteration of Trigun for the most part. I think it's decently written, and is trying to do something interesting with previously minor characters. I wish we had more Nebraskas, in fact.
However, it does have the misfortune in trying to reinvent itself casting off some of the stuff I love. Yes, Milly but that's symptomatic of my issue. The original series starts silly but then uncovers a deep well of sadness in the lead character, one that the villains only pick at more and more. In this one, he's wearing his heart on his sleeve but there's no time for him to enjoy his life, which is what makes such a good counterpoint to the character's sadness.
I still think the series is quite good, especially on it's own terms, but I hope the direction the show is going is Vash finds his smile. I hope the show learns that, too.
In other news, Kaina of the Snow Sea is a nice and original series. After so many basic-ass fantasy series that's basically "this is a Western medieval kingdom but magic", this feels like an old fashioned sci-fi/fantasy adventure an interesting setting.
Best series of the season is easily season 2 of Vinland Saga. It's weird to have a series that changes gears to slow down a bit a couple years after it originally aired. Not a strike against it though, drama about characters living as slaves trying to buy back their freedom by making a farm is as exactly as compelling as the Viking action and political manipulations of the first season. The characters are still as strong as before and after a season of Thorfinn being a lead-by-the-nose murder brat, he is finally developing into a character who we can root for (really the star of season one is Askeladd), though his new friend Einer is doing a lot of the heavy lifting there, no pun intended.
Also enjoying Blue Lock, a show I find really addictive. It's pure dumb popcorn sports entertainment and despite not actually featuring death, is the first "death game" series in forever that I can unabashedly recommend.
However, it does have the misfortune in trying to reinvent itself casting off some of the stuff I love. Yes, Milly but that's symptomatic of my issue. The original series starts silly but then uncovers a deep well of sadness in the lead character, one that the villains only pick at more and more. In this one, he's wearing his heart on his sleeve but there's no time for him to enjoy his life, which is what makes such a good counterpoint to the character's sadness.
I still think the series is quite good, especially on it's own terms, but I hope the direction the show is going is Vash finds his smile. I hope the show learns that, too.
In other news, Kaina of the Snow Sea is a nice and original series. After so many basic-ass fantasy series that's basically "this is a Western medieval kingdom but magic", this feels like an old fashioned sci-fi/fantasy adventure an interesting setting.
Best series of the season is easily season 2 of Vinland Saga. It's weird to have a series that changes gears to slow down a bit a couple years after it originally aired. Not a strike against it though, drama about characters living as slaves trying to buy back their freedom by making a farm is as exactly as compelling as the Viking action and political manipulations of the first season. The characters are still as strong as before and after a season of Thorfinn being a lead-by-the-nose murder brat, he is finally developing into a character who we can root for (really the star of season one is Askeladd), though his new friend Einer is doing a lot of the heavy lifting there, no pun intended.
Also enjoying Blue Lock, a show I find really addictive. It's pure dumb popcorn sports entertainment and despite not actually featuring death, is the first "death game" series in forever that I can unabashedly recommend.
Egarwaen
(He/Him)
It's got a lot in common with popular sci-fi from the 70s and 80s, where a common structure was to contrast high technology with the rigors of settlement by constructing a historical-fantasy setting in an alien world. And it's pretty well executed too, and extremely Tsutomu Nihei.
Trigun Stampede continues to be really friggin' good. This interpretation of the story, and how they've filled out Knives' and Vash's whole backstory is very well done and compelling. It's really nailing the dramatic themes of Trigun and I dare say potentially surpassing some aspects of the older stuff.
Also, really dig this new key art:
Also, really dig this new key art:
I barely follow, let alone actively watch current anime but there's a huge concentration of adaptations of like, all my favourite ongoing stuff coming up this year. Without knowing anything about how the animated treatments will turn out, mark your calendars for Skip and Loafer on April 4th, Yuri Is My Job! on April 6th, and Frieren: Beyond Journey's End sometime in the autumn.
FUCK IT SIX EPS IN LET'S FUCKIN WRITE SOME WORDS.
Here's what I think of the first six episodes of Trigun Stampede, and how the BIG MOMENTS they wanted to recreate stack up to their source material, which I have also been rereading.
EPISODE 01: PILOT SHIT AND SPEEDRUNNING LORE.
It jumped franticly between "oh god we need to frontload EVERYTHING" and "Oh shit this needs to be an episode god dammit." Vash as an utterly unprepared rube that went into the big duel without bullets made him look foolish instead of silly. That said, I did like how everyone already knew and liked Vash at the bar, and him effortlessly wiggling out of the ropes was extremely in character.
MANGA MOMENTS ADAPTED
There weren't any. Moving along.
EPISODE 02: MY LARGE ADULT SON.
Everybody in town realizes Vash is worth a fortune, and decides to shoot him. Then the Nebraskas show up and decide to shoot him more. Then everybody forgets what they're doing and have a party.
MANGA MOMENTS ADAPTED:
TOWN OF GUNS: Pretty much hit the same basic notes, but having Vash flee the town and then come back 10 minutes later was... kinda clunky. On the whole it wasn't better or worse. VALUE NEUTRAL.
THE NEBRASKAS: So I was definitely not digging their far less ridiculous redesigns, and the shift from "Vash can't possibly dodge this" to "Vash dodges this easily and effortlessly" wasn't great. Also the ending party no longer makes any sense, because none of the town's problems have been solved. THAT SAID, the new Nebraska family are actual characters! By the end of the episode I genuinely liked them both, and was happy that they were done being dicks. That's a great shift from their original purpose as joke enemies. ACTUALLY BETTER!
EPISODE 03: HELLO I AM THE BAD GUY.
EG Mine shows up and makes a bunch of kabooms. Then Knives shows up, gives us cameos of future villains. He looks like a fucking fish. Loads of people die in massive sprays of gore. Knives shows off his super powers. Everyone is sad and/or dead.
MANGA MOMENTS ADAPTED:
EG MINE: The original Eg Mine was a joke in the manga. The fight lasted less than four pages, and was just there to show that Vash was not putting up with his bullshit. Here he's got an impossible car and superbombs that fuck everything up, I hate his new design, but I do like how the thing that beats him is the fact that he's a coward. NOT BETTER OR WORSE.
KNIVES BIG INTRO: UHGGGHGHGHGHGHGH.
Okay.
In the manga Knives big debut is not just about how he's powerful and scary. It's also about how VASH is powerful and scary. So instead of wrecking shit himself, he takes control of Vash's plant powers and forces him form a giant fuckoff cannon to destroy the entire city. Vash responds by ripping his human arm out of his plant body, and shooting Knives through his own leg. Knives crumples, Vash redirects his magic arm at the moon, the city still gets fucked up, but nowhere near as bad as it would have been.
This tells us a LOT about both characters! We get a first look at their insane super powers, how they work and why Vash doesn't use them. We get a demonstration of how far Vash will go to resolve a situation without murder, and how much raw determination he's got when the cards are down. Finally we also learn Knives secret weakness: He doesn't like pain. Both he and Vash get shot the exact same amount, but Knives falls to the ground screaming while Vash doesn't even blink. It's a great sequence that organically tells us lots of things we need to know!
In Stampede, knives murders some people in giant sprays of gore. He gives us an early introduction to some of his quirky minibosses, then uses his own powers to steal the town's plants and fuck the town up. Vash yells at him to stop. Knives does not stop. The survivors are sad and yell at Vash to go away, which he does.
I GUESS how his redesigned powers could turn into a giant circular saw were kinda cool? Kinda? Not THAT cool, but better than nothing I suppose? MASSIVE LETDOWN.
EPISODE 04: DID YOU SEE DUNE IT WAS A PRETTY GOOD MOVIE.
Wolfwood is introduced, and everyone gets eaten by a big worm. Wolfwood's cross now has a death star laser. This episode was honestly kind of boring.
MANGA MOMENTS ADAPTED:
Nothing really springs to mind, other than Wolfwood and Zazie showing up. That's a good thing! There should be completely original sequences in here! Just not this one. Because it bored me.
EPISODE 05: VAAAAASH THE STAMPEEEEED VAAAAASH THE STAMPEEEEED VAAAAASH THE STAMPEEEEED VAAAAASH THE STAMPEEEEED.
The Monev the Gale episode. WITH A TWIIIIIIST!!!!!!!
MANGA MOMENTS ADAPTED:
VASH VS MONEV: So they changed this one up a lot and it just doesn't work for me. I feel like a lot of it comes from the lack of TENSION. In the Manga, the Monev fight is the first time you're like oh shit OH SHIT how's he gonna survive this one? Vash starts the fight handcuffed in a jail cell, in a crowded town. He has to immediately bust out his secret last ditch weapon just to survive the first few seconds, loses an entire arm almost instantly, and barely ekes out a win with a last ditch charge. Shit is INTENSE.
Here, the town comes pre-abandoned. For plot reasons that I'll bring up when I talk about how I think they translated the characters, Monev doesn't seem to posses higher thought. There are multiple times when Vash and Wolfwood lightly jog away from Monev to sit down take a breather and have a chat. The intensity from the earlier version is just... GONE.
To put the whole thing in perspective, Vash LOST the new version of the fight, but somehow he never felt like he was in as much danger as old Vash was when he won. IT'S NOT AWESOME.
WOLFWOOD KILLS SOMEONE TO SAVE VASH: So this is a pretty important moment in every version of Trigun. In the manga, which I am treating as my sole point of reference, Vash beats an opponent (Rai-Dai the Blade), lets him live and starts to leave. The opponent decides he's not done and prepares to attack Vash anew, but is shot in the head by Wolfwood before he reaches him. The following conversation makes their opposing philosophies very clear: Wolfwood is okay with killing a "bad guy" to save a "good guy", Vash is horrified that wolfwood is willing to reduce the world to that binary. In his own words "I would have just dodged! No matter how many times I'd have to! Better than killing him and taking away his chance to stop!"
In Stampede, the bad guy (New Monev) has Vash cold, but is hesitating to deliver the killing blow, because he doesn't really WANT to kill Vash. When wolfwood kills him he justifies it not by saying he was saving vash, but MERCY KILLING the bad guy, because team evil turned him into a fucked up monster. He then says it's Vash's fault he became a fucked up monster, because he knew the kid when he was young, but was not in town when the kid's mom handed him off to the fucked up monster maker guys. As such, it's less a clear cut demonstration of their opposing philosophies, and more a personal breakdown of what is supposed to be Vash's hypocrisy.
I... didn't buy it. Vash was doing everything he could for the kid, he had no way of knowing what the kid's mom was gonna do to him, and appeared to be sincere in his intention to return and help the kid however he could. The horrible fate that befell him isn't really Vash's fault.
It's not a bad idea, but I think the outcome is much murkier than the original, and if they're trying to illustrate the hypocrisy of Vash's philosophy, (Which absolutely exists and is a valid thing to interrogate!) they could have found a better thread to pick at than "You weren't in town on X evening." COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER.
EPISODE 06: FUCK SAND I'M ON A BOAT MOTHERFUCKER.
Vash and Wolfwood get on the sandboat. Livio shows up WAAAAAY early. Wolfwood's tragic past is revealed via flashbacks, WAAAAAY early. Legato's here too I guess. The badlands gang is also here, but like, as a cliffhanger.
MANGA MOMENTS ADAPTED
This is all different enough to count as original. EDIT Actually no! there's a LOT being adapted here, they just pulled it from so far ahead in the manga my reread hadn't reached it yet! Which kinda points to a PRETTY BIG pacing problem, but that's a topic for Later.
CRYBABY LIVIO: So in the Manga, the Livio flashbacks are less about how Nicolas and Livio became friends, and more about how Livio became the semi-immortal monster man he is when they meet as adults. Less "look at these cute kids aw they're friends" and more "wait the one with white hair is kinda fucked up right? Like, has an evil personality named RAZLO that's looking for chances to do murder fucked up."
If I'm being totally honest I found stampede's version of the flashback kinda overlong, and was ready for it to end well before it did, but I don't think this version was bad, especially since at this point at least, there's no solid indication that RAZLO exists, which would be a pretty significant mixup! So for now I'm giving it a ranking of FINE.
That said, I'd bet good money that studio orange lacks the strength of conviction to stay the course on "Livio made his own choices." And if they do ANOTHER big flashback a few episodes later that shows that RAZLO is a thing, then this flashback will have been nothing but a waste of time, that didn't need to be so fucking long, and will be immediately rejudged as BORING AND NEEDLESS.
WOLFWOOD'S PAST MONTAGE: The manga spent very little time on Wolfwood being trained by the eye of Michael. Two pages of montage, two pages of Operating table, and a few scattered pages of him looking at Chapel like "fuck you I'm going to kill you." The big mixup here is the implication that the Orphanage is actively recruiting for the Eye of Michael instead of being a pawn in their game, which could result in an interesting situation later, but frankly I'm more worried it'll just fuck up the BIG SCENE they would be idiots to not try to adapt way down the line.
Oh also New Legato is onhand now? And his power set is more powerful but less weird and strange? Like he's just a normal-ass psychic now? Fuck New Legato. Whatever. On the whole it's CLOSE ENOUGH.
WOLFWOOD VS LIVIO: Will be covered in the next BIG STUPID POST because as of episode 6 it's ongoing.
Okay NOW we're good.
Here's what I think of the first six episodes of Trigun Stampede, and how the BIG MOMENTS they wanted to recreate stack up to their source material, which I have also been rereading.
EPISODE 01: PILOT SHIT AND SPEEDRUNNING LORE.
It jumped franticly between "oh god we need to frontload EVERYTHING" and "Oh shit this needs to be an episode god dammit." Vash as an utterly unprepared rube that went into the big duel without bullets made him look foolish instead of silly. That said, I did like how everyone already knew and liked Vash at the bar, and him effortlessly wiggling out of the ropes was extremely in character.
MANGA MOMENTS ADAPTED
There weren't any. Moving along.
EPISODE 02: MY LARGE ADULT SON.
Everybody in town realizes Vash is worth a fortune, and decides to shoot him. Then the Nebraskas show up and decide to shoot him more. Then everybody forgets what they're doing and have a party.
MANGA MOMENTS ADAPTED:
TOWN OF GUNS: Pretty much hit the same basic notes, but having Vash flee the town and then come back 10 minutes later was... kinda clunky. On the whole it wasn't better or worse. VALUE NEUTRAL.
THE NEBRASKAS: So I was definitely not digging their far less ridiculous redesigns, and the shift from "Vash can't possibly dodge this" to "Vash dodges this easily and effortlessly" wasn't great. Also the ending party no longer makes any sense, because none of the town's problems have been solved. THAT SAID, the new Nebraska family are actual characters! By the end of the episode I genuinely liked them both, and was happy that they were done being dicks. That's a great shift from their original purpose as joke enemies. ACTUALLY BETTER!
EPISODE 03: HELLO I AM THE BAD GUY.
EG Mine shows up and makes a bunch of kabooms. Then Knives shows up, gives us cameos of future villains. He looks like a fucking fish. Loads of people die in massive sprays of gore. Knives shows off his super powers. Everyone is sad and/or dead.
MANGA MOMENTS ADAPTED:
EG MINE: The original Eg Mine was a joke in the manga. The fight lasted less than four pages, and was just there to show that Vash was not putting up with his bullshit. Here he's got an impossible car and superbombs that fuck everything up, I hate his new design, but I do like how the thing that beats him is the fact that he's a coward. NOT BETTER OR WORSE.
KNIVES BIG INTRO: UHGGGHGHGHGHGHGH.
Okay.
In the manga Knives big debut is not just about how he's powerful and scary. It's also about how VASH is powerful and scary. So instead of wrecking shit himself, he takes control of Vash's plant powers and forces him form a giant fuckoff cannon to destroy the entire city. Vash responds by ripping his human arm out of his plant body, and shooting Knives through his own leg. Knives crumples, Vash redirects his magic arm at the moon, the city still gets fucked up, but nowhere near as bad as it would have been.
This tells us a LOT about both characters! We get a first look at their insane super powers, how they work and why Vash doesn't use them. We get a demonstration of how far Vash will go to resolve a situation without murder, and how much raw determination he's got when the cards are down. Finally we also learn Knives secret weakness: He doesn't like pain. Both he and Vash get shot the exact same amount, but Knives falls to the ground screaming while Vash doesn't even blink. It's a great sequence that organically tells us lots of things we need to know!
In Stampede, knives murders some people in giant sprays of gore. He gives us an early introduction to some of his quirky minibosses, then uses his own powers to steal the town's plants and fuck the town up. Vash yells at him to stop. Knives does not stop. The survivors are sad and yell at Vash to go away, which he does.
I GUESS how his redesigned powers could turn into a giant circular saw were kinda cool? Kinda? Not THAT cool, but better than nothing I suppose? MASSIVE LETDOWN.
EPISODE 04: DID YOU SEE DUNE IT WAS A PRETTY GOOD MOVIE.
Wolfwood is introduced, and everyone gets eaten by a big worm. Wolfwood's cross now has a death star laser. This episode was honestly kind of boring.
MANGA MOMENTS ADAPTED:
Nothing really springs to mind, other than Wolfwood and Zazie showing up. That's a good thing! There should be completely original sequences in here! Just not this one. Because it bored me.
EPISODE 05: VAAAAASH THE STAMPEEEEED VAAAAASH THE STAMPEEEEED VAAAAASH THE STAMPEEEEED VAAAAASH THE STAMPEEEEED.
The Monev the Gale episode. WITH A TWIIIIIIST!!!!!!!
MANGA MOMENTS ADAPTED:
VASH VS MONEV: So they changed this one up a lot and it just doesn't work for me. I feel like a lot of it comes from the lack of TENSION. In the Manga, the Monev fight is the first time you're like oh shit OH SHIT how's he gonna survive this one? Vash starts the fight handcuffed in a jail cell, in a crowded town. He has to immediately bust out his secret last ditch weapon just to survive the first few seconds, loses an entire arm almost instantly, and barely ekes out a win with a last ditch charge. Shit is INTENSE.
Here, the town comes pre-abandoned. For plot reasons that I'll bring up when I talk about how I think they translated the characters, Monev doesn't seem to posses higher thought. There are multiple times when Vash and Wolfwood lightly jog away from Monev to sit down take a breather and have a chat. The intensity from the earlier version is just... GONE.
To put the whole thing in perspective, Vash LOST the new version of the fight, but somehow he never felt like he was in as much danger as old Vash was when he won. IT'S NOT AWESOME.
WOLFWOOD KILLS SOMEONE TO SAVE VASH: So this is a pretty important moment in every version of Trigun. In the manga, which I am treating as my sole point of reference, Vash beats an opponent (Rai-Dai the Blade), lets him live and starts to leave. The opponent decides he's not done and prepares to attack Vash anew, but is shot in the head by Wolfwood before he reaches him. The following conversation makes their opposing philosophies very clear: Wolfwood is okay with killing a "bad guy" to save a "good guy", Vash is horrified that wolfwood is willing to reduce the world to that binary. In his own words "I would have just dodged! No matter how many times I'd have to! Better than killing him and taking away his chance to stop!"
In Stampede, the bad guy (New Monev) has Vash cold, but is hesitating to deliver the killing blow, because he doesn't really WANT to kill Vash. When wolfwood kills him he justifies it not by saying he was saving vash, but MERCY KILLING the bad guy, because team evil turned him into a fucked up monster. He then says it's Vash's fault he became a fucked up monster, because he knew the kid when he was young, but was not in town when the kid's mom handed him off to the fucked up monster maker guys. As such, it's less a clear cut demonstration of their opposing philosophies, and more a personal breakdown of what is supposed to be Vash's hypocrisy.
I... didn't buy it. Vash was doing everything he could for the kid, he had no way of knowing what the kid's mom was gonna do to him, and appeared to be sincere in his intention to return and help the kid however he could. The horrible fate that befell him isn't really Vash's fault.
It's not a bad idea, but I think the outcome is much murkier than the original, and if they're trying to illustrate the hypocrisy of Vash's philosophy, (Which absolutely exists and is a valid thing to interrogate!) they could have found a better thread to pick at than "You weren't in town on X evening." COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER.
EPISODE 06: FUCK SAND I'M ON A BOAT MOTHERFUCKER.
Vash and Wolfwood get on the sandboat. Livio shows up WAAAAAY early. Wolfwood's tragic past is revealed via flashbacks, WAAAAAY early. Legato's here too I guess. The badlands gang is also here, but like, as a cliffhanger.
MANGA MOMENTS ADAPTED
This is all different enough to count as original. EDIT Actually no! there's a LOT being adapted here, they just pulled it from so far ahead in the manga my reread hadn't reached it yet! Which kinda points to a PRETTY BIG pacing problem, but that's a topic for Later.
CRYBABY LIVIO: So in the Manga, the Livio flashbacks are less about how Nicolas and Livio became friends, and more about how Livio became the semi-immortal monster man he is when they meet as adults. Less "look at these cute kids aw they're friends" and more "wait the one with white hair is kinda fucked up right? Like, has an evil personality named RAZLO that's looking for chances to do murder fucked up."
If I'm being totally honest I found stampede's version of the flashback kinda overlong, and was ready for it to end well before it did, but I don't think this version was bad, especially since at this point at least, there's no solid indication that RAZLO exists, which would be a pretty significant mixup! So for now I'm giving it a ranking of FINE.
That said, I'd bet good money that studio orange lacks the strength of conviction to stay the course on "Livio made his own choices." And if they do ANOTHER big flashback a few episodes later that shows that RAZLO is a thing, then this flashback will have been nothing but a waste of time, that didn't need to be so fucking long, and will be immediately rejudged as BORING AND NEEDLESS.
WOLFWOOD'S PAST MONTAGE: The manga spent very little time on Wolfwood being trained by the eye of Michael. Two pages of montage, two pages of Operating table, and a few scattered pages of him looking at Chapel like "fuck you I'm going to kill you." The big mixup here is the implication that the Orphanage is actively recruiting for the Eye of Michael instead of being a pawn in their game, which could result in an interesting situation later, but frankly I'm more worried it'll just fuck up the BIG SCENE they would be idiots to not try to adapt way down the line.
Oh also New Legato is onhand now? And his power set is more powerful but less weird and strange? Like he's just a normal-ass psychic now? Fuck New Legato. Whatever. On the whole it's CLOSE ENOUGH.
WOLFWOOD VS LIVIO: Will be covered in the next BIG STUPID POST because as of episode 6 it's ongoing.
Okay NOW we're good.
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I don't remember much about the manga anymore for it to be a frame of reference, but the spirit of this scene kind of happens later in the show in last week's episode. And while it doesn't do the same thing or say the same things, I think it works. At least, for me. But a lot of this stuff works for me in ways that it doesn't for you so ymmv.
I feel like the whole point of this scene wasn't to belittle or criticize Vash, but to just show the kind of guy he is - which is someone who would blame himself for this even though he - as you note - isn't really at fault here or did anything wrong. But that at least was my takeaway. Every person he can't save, he bears that weight emotionally.
And ya, I will echo the sentiment that these are fun write ups to read, and I appreciate your attempts at trying to stay objective too.
Updated my big stupid post because it turns out episode 6 was actually adapting a whole lot of stuff it was just all from so late in the Manga my reread hadn't reached it yet.
I feel like that's kind of a significant pacing problem, but I'll wait until the season's over to run my mouth off on that.
I feel like that's kind of a significant pacing problem, but I'll wait until the season's over to run my mouth off on that.
Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
Agreed. I liked this season a little less in the second half but in part because I assumed we were heading to the end game which would just be a big battle, albeit one with very high concept stuff. But man, that last episode was powerful stuff and the direction for season three looks perfectly nuts. It's like they took what would be a logical endpoint and asked "OK, sure but what happens after that" and that is very exciting to me.
Okay. So somehow I algorithmed myself to watch Demon slayer entertainment district arc and it is 11 episodes covered what is essentially 7 of those episodes involves 2 fights; I am sure story arcs are more involved than start the setting, find the problem, spend about 2/3s of the allotted time sword battling said problem, end (question mark).
Is this what shounen battle anime is nowadays? Always been? Am I just old?
(But it is pretty to watch tho)
Is this what shounen battle anime is nowadays? Always been? Am I just old?
(But it is pretty to watch tho)
The English dub of Gundam Wing is on CR now
Oooooh booooooy
Oooooh booooooy
Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
R.R. Bigman
Coolest Guy
I’m glad someone else thought this, as well. The season does does barely anything with the setting of a red light district and the toll on it’s inhabitants. It is just dress up the underage main characters as girls to infiltrate sex house, immediately find the demon lady, fight a demon lady, fight a demon lady’s outfit, then fight another demon that Sekiros out of her, fight them both, Sad Backstory, Credits. One of the biggest cartoons on the planet.
I hope the next arc has a story to go along with the whiz-bang action.
That's just the show's entire MO, and honestly, shounen demographic shows in general. I was excited when Demon Slayer first came out because a Taisho Era show should be really interesting. But the show might as well have taken place in any time period because they didn't do a single thing with the setting beyond some set-dressing on occasion. Then I remembered what kind of show I was watching and adjusted my expectations down severely. You've gotta be a real outlier, or just leave that entire demo behind if you want something that actually uses and explores the setting in a meaningful way.
Is this a mfing Jojo reference?
Gundam Wing has perhaps one of the most romantic meet-cutes, with Heero and Relena, in the entire Gundam series
In the course of 25 minutes;
He seriously considers shooting her shuttle out of the sky for his own benefit
She attempts to rescue him from an apparent drowning, he responds by covering his face, attempting to kill them both with a fail-safe bomb before running away
They meet again at school, she offers him an invitation to her birthday and he rips it up and informs her that he will kill her.
And she, intrigued, says "What kind of man is he?"
In the course of 25 minutes;
He seriously considers shooting her shuttle out of the sky for his own benefit
She attempts to rescue him from an apparent drowning, he responds by covering his face, attempting to kill them both with a fail-safe bomb before running away
They meet again at school, she offers him an invitation to her birthday and he rips it up and informs her that he will kill her.
And she, intrigued, says "What kind of man is he?"