Melody of Oblivion eps 22-24

[meganbmoore]

...

...

WTF, ANIME???

I'm not sure what's worse.  The cows, Pee(yes, that is a characters name) or the climax of the final battle.  (In another anime, that wouldn't have been as bad, and probably would have had the desired affect, but here?  No way.)

Buried somewhere in here was a pretty decent shounen plot with an interesting take on the idea that the "bad guys" maintained world peace, but the "good guys" can't accept one aspect of that, but it's pretty much lost amongst the misogyny and overuse of surrealism.

Also, even for shounen anime, I find it really hard to accept that three teenagers, two of whom have under a year's experience, one of whom has nothing vaguely resembling proper training, are the most important and powerful Meros warriors, and the biggest threats?  And that the least trained, least experienced one with canonically inferior equipment is the only real threat?

Also, the end?  Doesn't remotely go with what came before it.

Solo became the Monster King because, after killing the last one, he realized the world needed a monster king to maintain peace.  Bocca kills solo, but does not become the king.  Therefore, the moster's organization should fall apart.  At the end, however, we see that nothing has changed, and the monster society is still in place, exactly like it was before.

Here, have screencaps.  I refuse to give you any context at all.  Possibly because I don't understand half the context, anyway.

I now need to cleanse my brain with something.  I was going to read the first volume of RG Veda or Magic Knights Rayearth, but I don't think that's the kind of thing to use to cleanse the brain.

ETA:  Also, I left out the most disturbing part about the cows.  No one deserves that.

Comments

[magicnoire.livejournal.com]

I guess I must have missed it but... why did you start watching this anime in the first place?

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

telophase taunted me with awesome crack, like the bulljeep. She warned me about the other stuff BUT I DID NOT UNDERSTAND.

[wasabi-girl1.livejournal.com]

I saw that milking clip on Youtube. Scarred me for life. O_O

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Did it show the farmer after the milking? It makes it about 1000000 times worse.

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

Yes. Yes, it does.

(Frankly, I was expecting one of the milk hoses to spring a leak, just to add to the visual wrongness...)

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

There are only 2 things I can think of that could have possibly added to the visual wrongness, and that's one of them.

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

What's the other one? (fatal curiosity, etc.)

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

showing the pumping

[wasabi-girl1.livejournal.com]

Yes it did. :( Scarred, I tell you, SCARRED! :P

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Now imagine 23 episodes of buildup to it, follow by the ultimate cow, ans then an ending that goes "yes, the only reason women exist is to perform physical services for men, and they have no identity beyond their men."

[wasabi-girl1.livejournal.com]

*headdesk*

How does the show end, btw? From what you just said, I'm sure it's not good, but I'm still somewhat curious...

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

At the climax of the final battle, Bocca and Solo fire arrows at each other, and Sayoko and Melody dive in front of them, sacrificing themselves to save their men. Except that Melody is an illusion, so the arrow passes right through her, and Solo still dies. As an isolated event, it can actually work, but near the end of 24 episodes of women being solely defined as sexual objects...

Also, according to the mythology the series set up, if Bocca kills the Monster King(Solo) and doesn't take his place, the monsters' rule will disappear, and the world will descend into chaos. However, Bocca remains a Meros warrior and there's no apparent new king, and the world is just like it was, with monsters maintaining peace and order as long as they're given human sacrifices, and a few Meros warriors on the outskirts of society trying to stop them.

Oh, and Sayoko somehow lived. (Rarely am I so unsold on a pairing.)

[wasabi-girl1.livejournal.com]

That...what? I...what?! XD

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Exactly. All that, and the only change that I can see is in who the players are. I would have overlooked a lot if there had actually been some resolution, or change in the world.

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

Ah, it's like an animated version of one of Piers Anthony's skeeviest moments! How very special...

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I MAY NEVER RECOVER FROM THIS!!!!

Also, after reading a comment by Anthony about how the person in the wrong in one of his books was the social worker who removed the traumatized 13 year old from her adult lover. This was right after a trilogy (i think) where a man on a prison planet raped his jailer and she became nice, and another character raped his love interest because the minotaur could smell virginity.

Come to think of it, that may have been about the time I swore off any fantasy before '95 or so...until then, I was just reading any sff that sounded interesting, and alternating between loving the genre and being horrified by all the rape...

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

Let's just say that if this traumatized you, you never, ever want to read the short story "In The Barn". It's clearly intended to shock readers into vegetarianism, and in the hands of another writer it might have just been an anvilly little bit of PETA-ish propaganda; but he dwells in such loving detail on the size of the "cows" breasts, the narrator's intense sexual attraction for one that's "in heat" -- a virginal sixteen, of course, and begging for it -- that it comes across more like porn with just enough of a philosophical veneer that the author can pretend he's not really just writing porn with some of his pet fetishes.

[wingstodust.livejournal.com]

...I'm so happy I didn't watch this. Granted, the reason why I stopped after like, 5 minutes into the show was for crappy reasons like 'I can't handle the horrible, horrible art anymore!!'. but hey, while I may potentially miss out on amazing shows from the 90s, I at LEAST miss out crazy, wtfery shows like Melody of Oblivion. XD (The cows? omg, burns my eyes... Don't wanna know.)

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I LEFT OUT THE WORST PART WITH THE COWS! THERE'S AN ENDCAP! BUT I COULDN'T SUBJECT ANYONE TO IT!

[morwen_peredhil]

Er, what? COWS?

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Yes. They moo. And faint with ecstasy when they're milked.

Possibly, at least one person has threatened to disown me for watching this. I cannot object.

[foenix.livejournal.com]

Do you really wanna give me the opening of asking "WTF, anime?" ;)

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Well, as this anime cancels about about 20-30 decent ones...

(seriously, it STARTED with a decent plot underneath...)

[retsuko.livejournal.com]

Ahaha! Oh, that looks *insane*! Extra-special ~*~insane~*~!

But then again, after some of the stuff I saw on late night Japanese TV...

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

insane is an interesting word for it...