Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: A Centaur's Life
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Tylec
Posts: 14 |
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I'm not sure what to make of the show's presentation of merfolk clothing and fashion. As far as we've seen, "ocean towns" have the same architecture and layout as the cities for land species, they're just artificially flooded with canals. Merfolk attend the same style of schools, worship at identical shrines, and live in the same homes as Hime and the others. Both land and water cities are supposed to be equivalent to modern-day Japanese society.
So why does everyone dress in the same identical blue thongs? I mean, from what we've seen, Hime's world is permeated by fashion magazines and idol worship. You'd think the advertising industry would find an angle to convince merfolk to spend their disposable income on trendy wet-suits or cute sarongs. Not only that, but clothing seems inconsistent - professionals like teachers and government officials wear full three-piece suits, but construction workers don't wear coveralls or protective clothing on the job? When it comes to aquatic creatures, I can't help but think that Monster Musume - with their waterproof fabrics and wheelchair transport - came up with some simpler and more elegant solutions to how these people might live. |
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Melchiorgk
Posts: 39 |
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Actually, in regards to the giant fish-man (Tagon, not Dagon? Really?)....
Pretty certain the old merman was right in that it was some sort of robot mock-up posing as a god. The bit with Antarcticans made it looked like they were meeting up with the god-machine, and retrieving the pilot - a four-armed Antarctican? That was a bit of a surprise, though at least one of the others on the boat had four arms. Sassul doesn't, though.... I have the feeling this is more of the Antartican "We don't know how to relate to the other people in the world, so we're testing out all sorts of ideas until we find one that works and gets what we want". The ones at the end looked like they realized that the interaction failed, but did not understand why not. I did find it fun that class rep basically shelved her personal opinions to try and drum up some more business for her shrine by talking positively about the gods. Even that her shrine's god was good for academics - and then promptly show the god/zarashi-wariki losing in Go to the littlest sister. |
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mangamuscle
Posts: 2658 Location: Mexico |
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About episode 7 review, I am surprised there is no mention about Kyouko's father comment about getting close to manami to "dig some dirt". Also, I do not think Manami was doing shrine maiden exorcising as a matter of faith, she really needs the money for her sisters and I know for a fact how horrible it is growing up penniless when everyone around seems to be drowning on money.
About episode 8 review, I think the whole giant fish god digs about how UFOs and the like end up being government experiments. Maybe the antartican's thought they could peacefully conquer the world with religion. |
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Blanchimont
 Posts: 3461 Location: Finland |
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I haven't been watching the show(plan to, at some point) but have been reading the reviews occasionally. However, I have to ask, is that a reference the Lovecraftian lore, specifically to At the Mountains of Madness, by the author/creator? |
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Melchiorgk
Posts: 39 |
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Somewhat, but not really? If memory serves, At the Mountains of Madness covers the Elder Things in a ruin in Antarctica, not fish people or snake people. However, both snake and fish people do exist in Lovecraft's work, and the name of the god was "Tagon", which is very close to Lovecraft's "Dagon". Last edited by Melchiorgk on Mon Sep 04, 2017 12:20 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Kendra Kirai
Posts: 187 |
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The blue thongs are probably the extent of the school uniform when 'normies' aren't around. Notice the boys also having the thin rope 'ties' as well. |
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Blood-
 Bargain Hunter Posts: 23878 |
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Welp, if Gabriella thought the second half of Episode 8 was weird, I cannot imagine what she'll make of all of Episode 9. It is literally the strangest thing I've ever watched in anime. And that's really saying something.
Jacob and Nick D. MUST do a "This Week in Anime" segment on it. It blows away Vatican Miracle Examiners first arc in terms of sheer wtfness. And that's really saying something. |
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omnistry
 Posts: 1015 |
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As a fan of Art Spiegelman's Maus, the second half of that episode was the closest we'll ever get to an animated adaptation of his graphic novel. Needless to say, I was wowed by it, especially with how it ended. |
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 23878 |
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Well, let's just say that if you had told me after the first episode of A Centaur's Life - you know, that one about how Himeno is cast in a play and the hijinks that surrounded that - and then given me the plot summary for episode 9, I would have said "ha ha, good one!" and then checked to see if it was April 1st.
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Chrono1000
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consignia
 Posts: 392 |
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It was a bit tangential to what the series has seemingly been about, but it was far more coherent than the nonsense that was the previous half episode.
There series has always had an undercurrent of the effects of racism and prejudice, and this just took a side look at the theme in wider world. The only thing that could be said is it didn't link the main characters too well into the narrative. I really liked it. |
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ChibiKangaroo
 Posts: 2941 |
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That was DEEP. Shockingly deep for a show like this. So much was covered there in 22 minutes. Normally I might be inclined to say that it was too much also, but it just worked for me. There were SO many little details there that were just kinda stunning in their depth and the fact that the writer thought so much about this subject matter. I was basically speechless for the entire second half of the episode.
The whole thing about the gloves on the frog guy's hand and the Jewish stand-in guy's refusal to make him wear the gloves for the handshake, that was powerful stuff right there. So much meaning. Of course I didn't understand the full meaning of that gesture until after watching the second half of the episode, and that was so perfectly written. The writer really thought that through carefully. Then the internal conflict within each episode among the "minority" individuals was really impactful too. I mean, heck, before going there, the way that the frog guy switched his clothing when going from the "mammal" society to his ancestral society (and the amount of time that was put into showing it in animation), SO much meaning there. This dude is totally realized. Then the dialogue between him and the more militant leaders of his people, there are so many real life analogues that could have been compared to across the world. U.S. Civil Rights movement, Japanese society dealing with indigenous peoples, European colonialism, that could have represented all of them. I really didn't know what to expect at the beginning of the episode when I saw it being set up, but WOW. I want to watch that again just to see what details I missed. Then the whole Jewish analogy took me by surprise too. I wasn't expecting it at all when I first saw the frog guy shaking hands with the angel dude. It was kind of good that they didn't identify any particular race as being the Jewish stand in I think. It caused you to focus more on the relationships of the characters as they were presented rather than being able to assume things. That way, the whole "collaboration" side story was more meaningful and the same thing with the revenge parts. Also, I think it is important to stress how rare it is for anime to delve into the horrors of WW2 and not glamorize it. We've seen anime that dealt with WW2 before, often with fantasy settings that play off the war but make it seem exciting or pander to military otakus. This was just straight up horror. I say that it's meaningful because Japanese society still has a hard time dealing with WW2. When I was studying in Japan and we visited a history museum, our tour guide literally left us when we got to the section of the museum dealing with WW2. Like, he straight up said "Ok my part is done, enjoy the rest" and left. So I would expect that a story like the one in the second half of this episode would probably be even more shocking to a Japanese audience. I have to give the writers for this show major props for this, they didn't pull any punches. Totally was not expecting this show to be this serious. I'm sure there will be more goofing about, but damn, this has to rank among the top 10 most amazing episodes of an anime I've ever seen. |
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mangamuscle
Posts: 2658 Location: Mexico |
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I would argue any ex-colony is an analogue, the religious blabber made me think about the actual conflict in Marawi, Philippines.
IMO that is just the opposite of the authors wishes, Rousseau's conflicts are real life conflicts that have not been (and maybe will not be in our lifetimes) solved, making us feel uneasy is a reminder about the inequalities in the world.
or maybe Manami will go full yandere and cut him to little pieces and report him missing in hope of cashing on the insurance to pay for her youngest sister health care, just saying. |
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 23878 |
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I'm deeply disappointed that in her review, Gabriella neglected to ponder the profound and nuanced reason behind why Jean Rousseau's Japanese high school "orientation committee" was required to wear French maid outfits and serve him tea.
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Yttrbio
 Posts: 3653 |
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