straightforwardly (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
straightforwardly) wrote2015-03-16 03:02 pm
straightforwardly) wrote2015-03-16 03:02 pm
0067 | in which I share some initial thoughts on Utena & Death Parade
► It occurs to me that I've been on an anime-kick these last couple of months. Last year I'd started watching anime somewhat more regularly again, and that seems to have been picking up more steam. I'm not complaining, but it's interesting.
► I finally got around to starting Death Parade yesterday.
I felt pretty tense when watching the first episode— it was really nervous-making, especially since I don't quite know where this series falls on the scale of frightening or gruesome scenes and images. (I get both frightened and squicked out pretty easily.) I really, really hope that nothing violent happens with eyes in this series, though. While that one scene with the eyes wasn't as bad enough to make me quit, I still had to cover my eyes and read the text through my fingers until it was done, so.
The end of the first episode made me feel quite uncertain about whether or not I'd like this series. I thought it was pretty clear that Machiko was making everything up she said at the end, and hated that she was sent to the void— especially since her husband seemed to be a much worse person than she was, and ended up being reincarnated.
The second episode ended up reassuring me on that front. While Machiko's fate feels even worse with the knowledge that she was lying, and that the arbiter— Decim— simply screwed up there, I felt reassured that— I'm not sure what the word I'm looking for is; maybe the morals/tone of the show?— aligns closer to something that I can go along with.
Typing that out, I can't help but think a bit about what it means that, Machiko's words being taken at face-value means that she's destined for the void while her husband gets reincarnated. I mean, he ended up killing both of them (albeit accidentally), while all she "did" was cheat on him and be pregnant with another man's child. I'd say that, even if what she said was true, his crimes were worse, right?
But in the second episode, someone— Nona, I think— also said something about how these games are supposed to bring out one's darkest side. And if Machiko's words were taken at face value, the most obvious reason for her saying them at that moment would be to break Takashi. I mean, what she said did end up making him pretty much catatonic at the end. So... what I'm thinking is that it's not necessarily what she did when she was alive that made Decim make that choice, but what it would say about her that she would do something like that when Takashi was at his lowest moment, if that makes sense.
Of course, it's possible that I'm reading too much into it, and that the series really meant to say that cheating is worse than (accidentally) killing yourself & your wife out of jealousy, but for now, this is how I see it.
As for the characters, I found myself warming up to Decim more in the second episode, mainly since it's shown that he's not some omniscient, infallible being.
Nona is creepy— that moment when she grabs Decim!— though I love her character design. I'd been under the impression that she was beneath Decim in the presumable-hierarchy, but now I think she's above him. In any case, I'm hoping to see more of her.
Finally, I don't really have many thoughts on the black-haired girl. I like her, and think that her relationship with Decim could be potentially interesting, but for now, I don't think I can say anything certain until I see more.
I'm still not sure if I'm going to watch this series all the way through, but after the second episode and how it addressed some of my concerns, it definitely got hooks into me.
► I've also been slowly watching Revolutionary Girl Utena for the first time these last couple of weeks. I'm up to episode 18 right now.
Despite this being such a famous series, I've actually never seen it before, nor do I know much about it. This is what I knew before watching:
Obviously, I know a little bit more now that I've been watching it. (Though I'm still not sure about the is-Utena/Anthy-canon-or-not thing.) I actually watched the first episode back in last June, but was completely baffled, and didn't get around to continuing the series until... sometime in the end of February / beginning of March. I'm not sure which.
Anyways, my thoughts! The characters I like best so far are probably Utena, Nanami, and Miki. I also really like Wakaba, and am interested in Touga and Juri's characters/story arcs. I...don't really like Anthy very much at the moment, though. I don't hate her, certainly, but I don't particularly enjoy her either. I'm much more interested in the other characters.
That being said, I am eating up the Utena+Anthy+Miki interactions with a spoon. So cute!
The relationships between Miki & Kozue and Touga & Nanami are also delightfully twisted in just the way I like them. (Though the bit with Nanami and the kitten was horrifying— I tend to try to not think about it.)
Although I'm well into the second arc by now, most of my plot-specific thoughts are still stuck around the Touga-Utena battles at the end of the first arc. (This could also be because I'm not entirely sure about what's going on all the time, so instead of breaking my brain in trying to figure it out, I'm just letting myself go merrily along for the ride and hope that the series will tell me eventually.)
Anyways, the Touga-Utena battle. First, I really, really liked that she fought the second battle not to win back Anthy, but to win back her "self". It really worked for me. That being said, the first battle rose some questions re: Utena, and Utena and Anthy's relationship that hasn't really been addressed again (yet?), and I can't help but chewing over.
I'm not quite sure how to put this in words, and it's possible that when I do, it's going to come out badly or otherwise not comprehensible, but I'm still going to try.
First point: Saionji's a jerk. I don't think there's any way you can dispute that, what with the way he kept knocking Anthy around. And it was disturbing how he, before he was expelled, he kept following Anthy around, pressuring her, insisting that they had a great love / she loved him when that was clearly not the case.
Second point: I figured that whenever Utena directly said to Anthy, 'hey, don't you think this?', her reply was formulated to some extent by the whole "I need to do what you say" thing. But I thought that the rest of the time, her responses/actions came from being essentially herself.
However, based on what Touga said / how Anthy acted after Utena lost, it seems like there's more to it than that? Perhaps I misunderstood, but it seemed like Anthy not only obeyed direct orders, but also, to some extent, molded herself into what the person she's engaged to wanted from her.
This led to two train of thoughts.
First, I... think I can understand Saionji a bit better now? I mean, he still had no right to knock Anthy around like that, and he was being awfully creepy, but if Anthy molded herself into someone who loved him (because that's what he wanted), then his insistence that they share(d) a great love begins to make much more sense. Again, I don't think this excuses his actions, but it does make them easier to understand.
Second, isn't Utena's position after her duel with Touga in some way comparable to Saionji's?
After all, they both (presumably) had forged some sort of relationship with Anthy, and then, once they lost her as a Bride, were forced to confront the idea that their relationship is 1) gone and 2) might not have been what it thought it was.
I mean, yes, it's clear from what we saw from Anthy's point of view during that brief period when she and Utena weren't engaged that she is fond of Utena, and not all of their friendship came from her trying to please her. But Utena has no way of knowing that, really.
As far as I can tell, after Utena defeats Touga, she doesn't seem to push the "don't you want to be a normal girl?" thing at Anthy anymore. (This could, of course, change as I watch more episodes.) But nor does she seem to be questioning any other aspect of their relationship, at least not outwardly. And that's something I'm really curious about, basically. I don't know if the series is going to address any of this— though I certainly hope it does.
Of course, it's also possibly that I'm misreading all of this. We'll see what happens.
► I finally got around to starting Death Parade yesterday.
I felt pretty tense when watching the first episode— it was really nervous-making, especially since I don't quite know where this series falls on the scale of frightening or gruesome scenes and images. (I get both frightened and squicked out pretty easily.) I really, really hope that nothing violent happens with eyes in this series, though. While that one scene with the eyes wasn't as bad enough to make me quit, I still had to cover my eyes and read the text through my fingers until it was done, so.
The end of the first episode made me feel quite uncertain about whether or not I'd like this series. I thought it was pretty clear that Machiko was making everything up she said at the end, and hated that she was sent to the void— especially since her husband seemed to be a much worse person than she was, and ended up being reincarnated.
The second episode ended up reassuring me on that front. While Machiko's fate feels even worse with the knowledge that she was lying, and that the arbiter— Decim— simply screwed up there, I felt reassured that— I'm not sure what the word I'm looking for is; maybe the morals/tone of the show?— aligns closer to something that I can go along with.
Typing that out, I can't help but think a bit about what it means that, Machiko's words being taken at face-value means that she's destined for the void while her husband gets reincarnated. I mean, he ended up killing both of them (albeit accidentally), while all she "did" was cheat on him and be pregnant with another man's child. I'd say that, even if what she said was true, his crimes were worse, right?
But in the second episode, someone— Nona, I think— also said something about how these games are supposed to bring out one's darkest side. And if Machiko's words were taken at face value, the most obvious reason for her saying them at that moment would be to break Takashi. I mean, what she said did end up making him pretty much catatonic at the end. So... what I'm thinking is that it's not necessarily what she did when she was alive that made Decim make that choice, but what it would say about her that she would do something like that when Takashi was at his lowest moment, if that makes sense.
Of course, it's possible that I'm reading too much into it, and that the series really meant to say that cheating is worse than (accidentally) killing yourself & your wife out of jealousy, but for now, this is how I see it.
As for the characters, I found myself warming up to Decim more in the second episode, mainly since it's shown that he's not some omniscient, infallible being.
Nona is creepy— that moment when she grabs Decim!— though I love her character design. I'd been under the impression that she was beneath Decim in the presumable-hierarchy, but now I think she's above him. In any case, I'm hoping to see more of her.
Finally, I don't really have many thoughts on the black-haired girl. I like her, and think that her relationship with Decim could be potentially interesting, but for now, I don't think I can say anything certain until I see more.
I'm still not sure if I'm going to watch this series all the way through, but after the second episode and how it addressed some of my concerns, it definitely got hooks into me.
► I've also been slowly watching Revolutionary Girl Utena for the first time these last couple of weeks. I'm up to episode 18 right now.
Despite this being such a famous series, I've actually never seen it before, nor do I know much about it. This is what I knew before watching:
- There are two characters named Utena and Anthy, and they are either a canon pairing or people just ship them really hard.
- There exist characters named Juri and Nanami.
- People turn into cars? Also, that might be a part of a movie instead of the series.
- it's supposed to be very confusing and full of symbolism.
Obviously, I know a little bit more now that I've been watching it. (Though I'm still not sure about the is-Utena/Anthy-canon-or-not thing.) I actually watched the first episode back in last June, but was completely baffled, and didn't get around to continuing the series until... sometime in the end of February / beginning of March. I'm not sure which.
Anyways, my thoughts! The characters I like best so far are probably Utena, Nanami, and Miki. I also really like Wakaba, and am interested in Touga and Juri's characters/story arcs. I...don't really like Anthy very much at the moment, though. I don't hate her, certainly, but I don't particularly enjoy her either. I'm much more interested in the other characters.
That being said, I am eating up the Utena+Anthy+Miki interactions with a spoon. So cute!
The relationships between Miki & Kozue and Touga & Nanami are also delightfully twisted in just the way I like them. (Though the bit with Nanami and the kitten was horrifying— I tend to try to not think about it.)
Although I'm well into the second arc by now, most of my plot-specific thoughts are still stuck around the Touga-Utena battles at the end of the first arc. (This could also be because I'm not entirely sure about what's going on all the time, so instead of breaking my brain in trying to figure it out, I'm just letting myself go merrily along for the ride and hope that the series will tell me eventually.)
Anyways, the Touga-Utena battle. First, I really, really liked that she fought the second battle not to win back Anthy, but to win back her "self". It really worked for me. That being said, the first battle rose some questions re: Utena, and Utena and Anthy's relationship that hasn't really been addressed again (yet?), and I can't help but chewing over.
I'm not quite sure how to put this in words, and it's possible that when I do, it's going to come out badly or otherwise not comprehensible, but I'm still going to try.
First point: Saionji's a jerk. I don't think there's any way you can dispute that, what with the way he kept knocking Anthy around. And it was disturbing how he, before he was expelled, he kept following Anthy around, pressuring her, insisting that they had a great love / she loved him when that was clearly not the case.
Second point: I figured that whenever Utena directly said to Anthy, 'hey, don't you think this?', her reply was formulated to some extent by the whole "I need to do what you say" thing. But I thought that the rest of the time, her responses/actions came from being essentially herself.
However, based on what Touga said / how Anthy acted after Utena lost, it seems like there's more to it than that? Perhaps I misunderstood, but it seemed like Anthy not only obeyed direct orders, but also, to some extent, molded herself into what the person she's engaged to wanted from her.
This led to two train of thoughts.
First, I... think I can understand Saionji a bit better now? I mean, he still had no right to knock Anthy around like that, and he was being awfully creepy, but if Anthy molded herself into someone who loved him (because that's what he wanted), then his insistence that they share(d) a great love begins to make much more sense. Again, I don't think this excuses his actions, but it does make them easier to understand.
Second, isn't Utena's position after her duel with Touga in some way comparable to Saionji's?
After all, they both (presumably) had forged some sort of relationship with Anthy, and then, once they lost her as a Bride, were forced to confront the idea that their relationship is 1) gone and 2) might not have been what it thought it was.
I mean, yes, it's clear from what we saw from Anthy's point of view during that brief period when she and Utena weren't engaged that she is fond of Utena, and not all of their friendship came from her trying to please her. But Utena has no way of knowing that, really.
As far as I can tell, after Utena defeats Touga, she doesn't seem to push the "don't you want to be a normal girl?" thing at Anthy anymore. (This could, of course, change as I watch more episodes.) But nor does she seem to be questioning any other aspect of their relationship, at least not outwardly. And that's something I'm really curious about, basically. I don't know if the series is going to address any of this— though I certainly hope it does.
Of course, it's also possibly that I'm misreading all of this. We'll see what happens.