Blue Seed eps 15-20
Apr. 10th, 2008 02:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
meganbmooreWe are starting to leave the "monster of the week" schtick behind and focus on the mythology centric stuff. I especially like the episode with the mermaid. It reminded me of Rumiko Takahashi's mermaid series(which, I think, was never actually completed...) We also finally got a little explanation for Sakura and her attitude. It helped a lot with her, though while she's grown on me, she's still my least favorite of the main characters. Mostly, I just wish she weren't quite so full of herself. Characters who are full of themselves really only work for me when they can back it up so well that it's almost humility, like Yoruichi in Bleach or Major General Armstrong in Fullmetal Alchemist or Yuuko in xxxHolic.
Kunikida seems to have gone to the same Academy For Retard Shounen Heroes as Kusanagi. Though I'll give him a pass for understandably not getting that a woman 20~ years younger than him might like him. I'm not sure, though, what I think of Takeuchi suddenly being helpless without her gun. Granted, I suppose there hasn't really been a lot of indication that hand-to-hand combat is her thing, but standing there helpless without a gun isn't really the impression I had from her. I guess they just needed an excuse for Kunikida to rescue her.
Kusanagi, thankfully, is not falling into the typical behavior patterns for the "old girlfriend comes back and distracts hero from love interest" trope. Here's the thing: that trope pops up all the time. I hate it. You basically have the whole thing building up the relationship with the hero and heroine, and then suddenly, his old girlfriend returns from the dead/europe/whereever she was and suddenly the hero is chasing all over after her, probably not noticing that the heroine is hurt by it, and often lashing out at her if she brings it up. Yes, it normally makes sense, but no matter how well it's handled, I usually start growling as soon as the poor heroine is left behind to wait for him while he goes chasing the other girl. It's one of the reasons I've largely given up on Inu Yasha, I can only take that New Love/Old Love flipflopping so much. There's just this element of emotional manipulation about the trope that I respond badly to, especially since they usually deliberately make the Old Love unlikable or annoying in some way to make sure we root for the heroine to "win" the hero from her.
Kusanagi, thankfully, isn't doing that. Aside from his little breakdown when he learned Kaede was alive, he's still staying pretty focused on the big picture and Momiji. While he is running off and leaving Momiji sad(I highly disapprove of anything that makes Momiji sad, but that's another story altogether) he isn't running off after Kaede, he's trying to figure out exactly what's going on, and doesn't seem to have any illusions at all about Kaede still being the girl he used to know, nor does leaving Momiji or following Kaede over Momiji really seem to have crossed his mind. It's enough to make me forgive random acts of stupidity.
Meanwhile, Momiji and Kusanagi can communicate telepathically now? Interesting. And am I understanding this correctly that Kaede is now somehow the reincarnation of the original Kushinada? I'm not sure, though, what I think of the "humans are destroying the world, and it objects" route the story has taken. Nothing wrong with it and it's well done, I think I've just seen so much anime at this point that that's starting to become old news.
ETA: Also, Momiji gets many points(not that she really needs them) for having a flashback of when she first met Kusanagi and basically going "man is that a messed up way to meet a guy." And now being very familiar with the insane levels of Kusanagi's angst, it's all so much more obvious in that first scene.
Kunikida seems to have gone to the same Academy For Retard Shounen Heroes as Kusanagi. Though I'll give him a pass for understandably not getting that a woman 20~ years younger than him might like him. I'm not sure, though, what I think of Takeuchi suddenly being helpless without her gun. Granted, I suppose there hasn't really been a lot of indication that hand-to-hand combat is her thing, but standing there helpless without a gun isn't really the impression I had from her. I guess they just needed an excuse for Kunikida to rescue her.
Kusanagi, thankfully, is not falling into the typical behavior patterns for the "old girlfriend comes back and distracts hero from love interest" trope. Here's the thing: that trope pops up all the time. I hate it. You basically have the whole thing building up the relationship with the hero and heroine, and then suddenly, his old girlfriend returns from the dead/europe/whereever she was and suddenly the hero is chasing all over after her, probably not noticing that the heroine is hurt by it, and often lashing out at her if she brings it up. Yes, it normally makes sense, but no matter how well it's handled, I usually start growling as soon as the poor heroine is left behind to wait for him while he goes chasing the other girl. It's one of the reasons I've largely given up on Inu Yasha, I can only take that New Love/Old Love flipflopping so much. There's just this element of emotional manipulation about the trope that I respond badly to, especially since they usually deliberately make the Old Love unlikable or annoying in some way to make sure we root for the heroine to "win" the hero from her.
Kusanagi, thankfully, isn't doing that. Aside from his little breakdown when he learned Kaede was alive, he's still staying pretty focused on the big picture and Momiji. While he is running off and leaving Momiji sad(I highly disapprove of anything that makes Momiji sad, but that's another story altogether) he isn't running off after Kaede, he's trying to figure out exactly what's going on, and doesn't seem to have any illusions at all about Kaede still being the girl he used to know, nor does leaving Momiji or following Kaede over Momiji really seem to have crossed his mind. It's enough to make me forgive random acts of stupidity.
Meanwhile, Momiji and Kusanagi can communicate telepathically now? Interesting. And am I understanding this correctly that Kaede is now somehow the reincarnation of the original Kushinada? I'm not sure, though, what I think of the "humans are destroying the world, and it objects" route the story has taken. Nothing wrong with it and it's well done, I think I've just seen so much anime at this point that that's starting to become old news.
ETA: Also, Momiji gets many points(not that she really needs them) for having a flashback of when she first met Kusanagi and basically going "man is that a messed up way to meet a guy." And now being very familiar with the insane levels of Kusanagi's angst, it's all so much more obvious in that first scene.