Now that’s more like it. These episodes were way more interesting and got me invested in whether Eren was going to succeed or not. They spent too long trapped in Trost just trying to get out, and then the stand-off with the garrison soldiers dragged on longer than it needed to, so it was great to see them introduce something and resolve it in what felt like the right amount of time. What really made it work, besides the fact they managed to succeed at something for the first time in the show, was how it was undercut by the looming spectre of the Colossal and Armored Titans. It creates the feeling that this could all be temporary, since the Colossal or Armored Titan could pop up at any moment and go *punt* ‘nice try.’ I like how the story uses the idea that no matter how much humanity might succeed, it may ultimately be fighting a losing battle as a way of creating tension. The characters aren’t the most well-developed, but they’ve built up at least some of them enough that they’re worth rooting for – though there’s been a serious shortage of Sasha since the Battle for Trost started and that damn well better get rectified. It’s a good balance between hoping for the best and wanting the characters to succeed, and knowing that they’re vastly outclassed and potentially at the mercy of their enemy at every moment, possibly with little chance for them to really do anything besides go down fighting.
Which is the great thing about this show. It’s an action
show on the surface, and you can enjoy it for the fights where characters take
down monsters while swinging around Spiderman-style, and the novel ways they devise
to better fight the Titans. But then it has the deeper level that looks at the
way humans react in desperate situations – the way ‘every man for himself’
attitudes can flare up at moments of crisis, the paranoia when they think the
enemy could be in their very midst, the extreme measures that need to be taken.
Having Eren lose control of his Titan form wasn’t the most novel twist, but it
was still a good use of ‘to fight monsters, you need to create monsters’ and
the dangers that entails. Plus, it’s one more hint that the nature and origin
of the Titans may be more sinister than everyone realizes. Suffice to say, I no
longer believe my earlier suspicions that they were aliens/alien biological
weapons or some kind of divine punishment. After all, who says Eren is the
first person to transform into a Titan and lose control?
Not that I think we’re going to get answers anytime soon. I
still wanna see what’s in the basement, but if that’s going to involve retaking
Eren’s hometown, not to mention making it back there in the first place, I
don’t think it’s going to happen anytime soon. There’s enough else that’s good
about this series to keep me watching, but the Mystery of the Basement just
adds one more reason to.
Gargantia on the
Verdurous Planet [eps. 11-13, Supreme Ruler of Terror, Moment of Decision &
Legend of the Verdurous Planet]
I can’t think of a good lead-in, so I’m…telling you that,
for some reason. But anyway. The Alliance-by-proxy was unsurprisingly
Borg-like, what with how it greeted Pinion’s fleet with basically ‘you will be
assimilated, resistance is futile,’ and as totalitarian and dogmatic as you’d
expect, defining happiness as how well everyone understands their position and
performs their role, and having the skewed perception that people on Earth
‘fear’ the Hideauze. As far as I can tell, nobody really ‘fears’ them. They’re
wary of them and avoid antagonizing them, but they also accept that if they
don’t bother the Hideauze, the Hideauze won’t bother them; there’s no
perception of them as an active threat. But then again, in this case the
Alliance probably defines ‘living in fear of’ as ‘not actively trying to
exterminate’ – you know, because any right-thinking person would instinctively find
the Hideauze abhorrent and desire to wipe them out of existence, so fear must
be the only reason they aren’t.
It also highlights one of the big ironies of the series, the
fact that both sides actually believe in cooperation. The Gargantians, of
course, believe that everyone should be included, and differences will only
make them richer for it. The Alliance also wants all humans to come together
for the betterment of their race. Problem is, it has a specific vision of what
that means, to the point where they exclude people who do not meet a specific
definition of ‘human.’ The theme here isn’t so much ‘cooperation is better than
hostility’ as it is how noble purposes can be twisted into something harmful, and
the danger of thinking your way is the best way, becoming so invested in it that
it becomes ideology and anyone who feels otherwise no longer just disagrees
with you but is repugnant, even outright blasphemous. When you get down to it,
what basis does the Alliance really have for despising the Hideauze other than
‘turning into a space crustacean is icky’? And that touches on the idea of
what, exactly, makes us human. We didn’t spring out of the primordial ooze as
nearly-hairless bipeds – we evolved over time into that form as a means of
adapting to our environment, which is exactly what the proto-Hideauze faction
was trying to do; they even called themselves ‘Evolvers.’ It wasn’t necessarily ‘natural’ evolution, since it was
probably at least somewhat directed and controlled, but since humans didn’t
always exist in their current form, which the Alliance considers ‘pure,’ what
makes changing it somehow worse or ‘not how humans do things’ than using
machines to overcome our limitations? It’s a question with no right answer,
which shows just how arbitrary discrimination and prejudice are.
Also, my speculation that Amy might die so that everyone
could learn how bad fighting was? It would’ve made no sense when you think
about it. Everyone doesn’t need to learn fighting is bad – the Gargantians
already know that, and the people of the pseudo-Alliance were presumably just
brainwashed by Striker. It’s Ledo who needs to learn something, and it’s not
that fighting is bad, but that you can make your own choices, and since he was
already starting to do by virtue of encountering a different way of life than
the one he’d known, all that was left was for him to recognize that by
rejecting Striker’s vision for humans on Earth. Amy’s death would serve no
purpose in that kind of character arc, and as for losing someone close to him
to complete the coming-into-his-own journey, Chamber makes way more sense since
he’s known the latter for so much longer, presumably his whole life. He was
basically Ledo’s mentor. And his character arc ties into another major theme of
how each generation needs to make its own path, rather than blindly following
the course of those who came before, which may not even be relevant anymore.
Overall, it was a good show. It didn’t quite live up to what
it could’ve been, but it still had some good themes, even if ‘we’re all the
same,’ or at least ‘we’re not so different’ and ‘you need to follow your own
path in life’ have been done before, and the setting was still colorful and
fun. Not the best thing ever, but I’m still glad I watched it.
Flowers of Evil [eps.
12-13]
Not much to say about episode 12 except that yes, in turns
out Nakamura’s parents, or rather, her dad since her mother’s no longer around,
isn’t abusive, just neglectful. Not that he’s necessarily wrong in finding her
difficult to understand, but he doesn’t seem to be trying very hard. I’m not a
parent, so I won’t dwell too much on this, but I still think it’s plenty fair
to say he isn’t doing a good job of trying to help her. And he’s not the only
one. That’s the reason I’m not completely happy with the phrasing I used last
time, about how Nakamura is responding to her situation “in completely the
wrong way.” It’s still true, strictly speaking, but it puts too onus on her
alone. As much as she has responsibility for her own behaviour, you can’t blame
her quite so much when she’s lacking in support from her peers, teachers, and
the adults in her family. It’s also uncertain how much of what she feels is
frustration with her present circumstances and how much is actual clinical
depression. And now it feels weird that that never occurred to me until I was
typing that sentence. The boredom of living in a small town and typical teenage
frustrations with one’s peers and angst over whether you’ll ever do anything
with your life explain her feelings to some extent. But if she has depression
that adds a whole other dimension and really would go a long way towards
clarifying why she acts the way she does.
Also, points for Ai. I can’t think of any ulterior reason
she’d have to ask Yamada and what’s-his-name about Kasuga, so the only
explanation I can see is that she’s in some way concerned about him. Not that I
think she’s suddenly supremely worried about his well-being or anything, but she
still felt the need to ask about him instead of writing it off as a weirdo
being weird. I may have been wrong about her. Wouldn’t be the first time.
Well, that turned out a bit longer than I thought it would.
But anyway, episode 13. Spending a few minutes at the start just lingering on
Kasuga being in Nakamura’s room was one thing; the anticipation and ‘man, this
is such a bad idea!’ made it
uncomfortable, which is exactly what it was meant to be. We all know what
happened the last time Kasuga was
alone and did something ill-advised, and Nakamura is unlikely to be as
forgiving as Saeki was. But then we got the constant flashbacks like the
episode was a recap on fast-forward (or in some cases, rewind), and then
glimpses of things that hadn’t happened yet with voiceovers like in the
next-episode previews, and I was just confused. Then: ‘End of Part 1.’ And I
thought to myself, ‘oh, that makes sense.’ I’m not sure why I was assuming the
show would somehow tell the whole story, since I knew shortly after I started
watching that the manga has ten volumes so far, so why wouldn’t I assume it was only going to cover part of it? Granted,
it did sort of feel like it was
building towards an ending; the way things had played out up to now, the story could’ve
been wrapped up at this point.
But it wasn’t, and if the preview hinted at one thing, it’s
that shit hasn’t gone down yet, not even close. From the look of things,
Nakamura’s going to get worse, Saeki will become jealous, perhaps even
vindictive, and if the end of the episode is anything to go by, Kasuga’s just
turned to the dark side. Some of the stuff that I wrote earlier feels premature
now. Sure, if things had ended here, it would ultimately be a minor episode in
his life, but since now it’s clear things have just gotten started, well, he
may be more screwed than I thought. Worse, rather than making ill-advised
decisions because he’s struggling between doing the right thing and fear of the
consequences the former will bring, which is at least understandable, it looks
like he’s actively embraced the part of him that feels anger and frustration.
Normally, it’d be great that he wants to help Nakamura, but it looks like he’s
just going to encourage her self-loathing and insecurity, albeit under the guise
that it’s what makes them better than the ‘shit faces’ they’re surrounded by.
It’s the same as what she was doing to him, only in reverse, and it’s
interesting to see how the power dynamic between them has changed. Sure,
Nakamura could still tell everyone about what he did, but that was never really
the point; it was just a way to get closer to what she thought was a kindred
spirit. Once he ‘rejected’ her by choosing not to run away while they were on
the mountain, she gave up. Now that she’s symbolically defeated and powerless,
Kasuga’s the one in control. And it doesn’t look like he’s going to use that
power in a productive way.
So yeah, I really hope they make a second season. There’s so
much wrong going on here, but that’s what makes it so compelling to watch.
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