Forum - View topicREVIEW: She, The Ultimate Weapon DVD
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Animegomaniac
Posts: 4099 |
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Or e) it could point out the direction of the show by having the energetic and clumsy comedy relief brutally murdered in the first few minutes. Because of that first episode, Nana comes off as tragic instead of comedic because you knew what this series was willing to do to its nice and happy characters; I only read the manga because I wanted to see what happened to her. Bring that back to Saikano, I always felt that the inclusion of the military directly into the slice of life/high school/ city setting genre of the first episode perfectly showed the intent of the series: Contrasting youthful ideals versus the worst of reality. Saikano's a much better show than Elfen Lied because EL the anime didn't have anywhere it could go after that emotional first episode; the manga's a little different with its, you know, plot. But back to Saikano. I liked it, I like it. But since it more of a personal response, it's hard to define in words for those who haven't seen it or only choose to compare it to inferior attempts at manipulation; It took Madoka three episodes to set the tone while Saikano did it in one. It's not about a romance, it's about the desire for a romance, even an imperfect one or especially an imperfect one, in a world that only wants death and destruction. Pointing out that it's a fake love or maybe a forced one only points out something else, yeah? In the end, any show that's this short but elicits such a response must have struck a nerve. The shows I personally truly hate are the ones that are boring and that's a label I'd never use on this one. I think the most important question to ask if it needs repeat viewing and with that I'd lean on "no". Unlike Wolf's Rain and its episode count and its clip shows and its last four episode slough, Saikano is at least concise but it's the kind of series where the first impression is the only one that matters, definitely an emotional show over a thinking one, and repeat viewings will only serve to dilute that emotional response... or reinforce negative opinions. One last thing: "Tragedy porn". Basilisk and Bokurano wear their "everyone you will watch will die" label on their sleeves but Saikano with its use of flashback narrative, averts it. It does wallow in misery and pain of its side characters and I'd say does it quite well but it doesn't do it to the main characters... until. Just "until"; Kind of says it all. Such is Saikano, such is life. I probably should get the DVD. |
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enurtsol
 Posts: 14795 |
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It's like people grow up and see more of the same kind so they realize it's not so special after all, but they still remember their first.
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nobahn
 Subscriber Posts: 5120 |
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^
I do, indeed, remember my first anime. |
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Snomaster1
 SubscriberPosts: 2819 |
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Zac,I just read both your reviews from 2002 and today and boy,are they different. I never watched "Saikano" because in a sense,it was too gloomy for me. Now,if I were a Hollywood producer going to do a remake of this series,I'd probably do it as a sci-fi comedy. I'd keep the title "She,The Ultimate Weapon" but I'd mix in elements of "The Six Million Dollar Man" and "My Life as a Teenage Robot." It would have a clumsy teenage girl who was recruited by the military to be their cyborg.
But,she's still a teenager and when she falls in love with a boy,she spends a lot of time mooning over the boy rather than fight bad guys. Also,there'd be periodic malfunctioning of her weaponry and her trying to ditch her military handlers to go on dates. I'd even throw in a couple of Japanese-American teens who go into melodramatic jags...for no discernible reason. What do you think,Zac? Would this be a better idea? Last edited by Snomaster1 on Wed Apr 29, 2015 7:11 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Gewürtztraminer
 Posts: 1028 Location: Texas - Its like whole other country. |
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Sorry for being a bit late.
I watched this pretty early in my fandom, and was blown away, devastated, mind blown etc... I bought it and lent it to my brother, I am kind of an advance screener for him. His exact words after watching.... "What is WRONG with you?!" Hehe, good times. No desire to rewatch this myself, dont want to screw with my memories of the first time. |
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Actar
 Posts: 1074 Location: Singapore |
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After taking some time to think things through, I find that you've brought up a very pertinent point. It is true that what one can or cannot find emotionally engaging will be due to whether or not they are able to empathize with the characters and care enough about them to feel for them. However, the number of factors that affect whether or not one cares for the characters are just too numerous to pin down and depends on how the viewer appreciates anime, their likes and dislikes with regard to presentation, setting, character personality and more. Even the list you gave is purely subjective as there are people who can care for a cardboard cut-out character, but can't feel for a complex character simply due to the fact that they can't relate to them. Sometimes, simplification can make something more accessible, and I can't disparage people for enjoying them. For you, it just takes more to get you to care and I respect that. However, I don't think we should disregard the emotions that people have for characters or even begin to quantify whether or not the feelings are "earned" as everything is emotional manipulation. The only difference being the execution and how receptive the viewer is to the show. |
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gatotsu911
Posts: 457 Location: US of East Coast |
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I am way late to this party but since I only recently started watching this show on Hulu - after having wanted to see it since around the time it first came out - I suddenly have Things to say about it and thought about jumping into this discussion. I'm about 3/4 of the way through and I really, desperately want to like it but it is a pretty big disappointment - a disappointment, not an unmitigated disaster, because it hits on a few things that really feel almost great and maddeningly spoils their potential.
It begs a lot of comparisons to Evangelion and Gunslinger Girl, two of my favorite series: its core metaphor renders teenage angst in literally apocalyptic proportions, which of course is exactly how it feels to those experiencing it; and it centers around children's innocence (and naive selfishness) clashing with their exploitation by the mechanisms of a harsh political reality, an adults' world, beyond their understanding. These are two themes I [expletive] love, and that anime is particularly well-equipped to explore. That Saikano attempts to deliver on these with the added appeal of flawed characters who - in a frustratingly rare occurrence for anime - deal frankly with their own sexuality and conflicting emotions is icing on the conceptual cake. (And, to its credit, some of the dialogues feel uncommonly intimate and raw for anime. Also notable - women talk, without euphemism, about sex and sexuality, including their own. This practically puts it in white-elephant territory, anime-wise.) And yet, all the show's gestures toward emotional depth and hard-hitting pathos fall apart, because at the end of the day everything about it - the plot, setting, and most critically the characters - feels critically underdeveloped. Not only do the sci-fi concepts assault suspension of disbelief, even on anime terms (check Gunslinger Girl for a series that miraculously manages to sell a ludicrous premise with drop-dead seriousness by being rich and judicious with its world-building), but there are too many unanswered questions about the human base of the story without which it's impossible for anything that's happening onscreen to make the leap from two-dimensional caricature to emotionally plausible "reality". Who are Shuji and Chise? Why do they behave the way they do? What do they do or think about when no one's around? What is the nature of their relationships with their (barely-glimpsed) families? Without crucial building blocks like these, the audience's ability to perceive them as empathetic figures, and therefore to feel affected by their tragedies, falls apart. The setting is similarly half-baked, and if there's one thing a fantasy or sci-fi narrative has to succeed in doing it's getting the audience to believe in the imaginary world presented to them on its own terms. Lack of real-world plausibility can be overcome if the world is believable unto itself - that is, if it consistently follows its own rules (see: magic in Harry Potter, the entire premise of Gunslinger Girl) - but Saikano does not establish any clear rules to follow, and seems to have little to no consistency taken at face value. The parts dealing with the military (kind of a huge part of the story) are especially frustrating: the author seems to want to make a Statement about war without understanding warfare in even the most basic terms. I get that the audience is supposed to be left in the dark on purpose because we are witnessing the story through the naïve eyes of its child protagonists, and that's a device that can work marvelously when done well (see: The Sky Crawlers); but Saikano's lack of consistency and detail just makes it seem poorly thought-out. We need to be made to believe, through well-chosen details, that there is a complete world outside of just what the protagonists can see and to which we are being granted limited access; Saikano's world just feels sketchy and undercooked. I'm still curious to read the manga for a couple of reasons: the lack of broadcast standards allows it to be more visually explicit in its tackling of sex and violence, both important parts of the story; and, I hope, there may be crucial details on the page that were excised from the screen in a misguided attempt to boil down the story to just "the highlights". Also, I like the art. As somebody in this thread already pointed out, it's a good means of presenting the story through the main characters' eyes and it's an effective contrast to the tone and subject matter. I can't agree with the "proto-moe" criticism; the men look as squishy and vulnerable as the women, which makes a big difference in the overall impact of the art style. And that's my two cents. |
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