Forum - View topicChaika - The Coffin Princess (both seasons) (TV).
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A Mystery
 Posts: 1886 Location: Netherlands |
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Episode 2
I can only spot one big flaw and one minor flaw in this episode, the big flaw being Chaika's speech pattern and the minor flaw was Akari's limited screentime. The fights were nicely choreographed, but we were also given more details about the story. The saboteurs are fun characters. Toru clearly has some chemistry with Chaika (as in friendly or brotherly, not love (yet?)), but his other reason to follow her is him spoiler[basically being someone who lost his place in this world after the war stopped and found something fun to] do again. This show does resemble Scrapped Princess, with the spoiler['she will bring calamity!!' thing going] on, but these characters aren't so clearly the 'good guys' (as opposed to Pacifica&co), but have more shades of grey to them. |
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leatherhead333
 Posts: 1187 Location: Kansas |
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I feel like a really old fart for referencing this but the concept behind the show reminds me much of Castevania 2 i think where the objective is to go to different castles and find all of Dracula's bones and defeat him after collecting them all.
Maybe that means Chaika's dad will be the final boss? That would sure be a twist lol. I'm pretty sure something is going to happen when she gets all the body parts though. Would just seem anticlimactic if she just buried his parts and that was it. |
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Yttrbio
 Posts: 3652 |
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Or someone forgets to fill the (incredibly resilient) jar with magic embalming fluid. Eww.
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Tuor_of_Gondolin
 Posts: 3524 Location: Bellevue, WA |
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At the very least, I'm willing to bet that that creature she was talking to (or, rather, that was talking to her) at the beginning of the first episode will have some part to play when she gets the spoiler[whole body together] (as we know she will). However, there is still *a lot* about this world and how it works that we don't know. What we do know is that the "peace" that was supposed to come from offing Emperor Gax hasn't really materialized, though apparently full-scale battles are no longer being waged. So, not only do we not know much about what Gax was actually like, but we also don't know much about how magic works, how he was able to rule for so long, or what Chaika really is -- is she his actual daughter, or is she something he created and called "Daughter"? And without knowing that, we don't know what he may have intended for her once he was dead -- a tool to restore him, someone to carry on his legacy, or did he want her to be free to pursue her own goals (I doubt this one)? I'm looking forward to seeing how these issues are addressed. I also appreciated how the head Gillette guy was actually pretty decent towards our heroes: he told them the truth and seemed to honestly want to allow them to back out of things before becoming completely ensared in them. I often find characters of his type to be amazingly annoying, mainly because of how supercilious and condescending they tend to be, but he actually avoided those pitfalls, so I do have a bit of respect for him. I'm still of the mind that Toru and Akari are not biologically related, though they're obviously very close in a non-romantic sort of way. Time will tell if I'm right on that one. Another good episode. I'm pretty sure I'll be following this one for the duration. |
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Bango
 Posts: 1122 |
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Ep 2 This show had so many chances to screw crap up this ep and it didn't screw up a single thing. Bloody freakin awesome. Mainly with the Gilette people but all the characters really are absolutely awesome. When they met on the bridge I was sure I'd hear my most hated "I see no reason to tell you!" line. But they actually went and explained their case. Right at that moment I knew this was a show I'll enjoy to the end. I really liked the mansion fight because, IMO, spoiler[using traps] and such is a very smart way for a guy to fight. Especially when his opponent overpowers him. I'm kind of iffy on him spoiler[smashing the important relic on the swordie skull] but I guess that thing is more durable than expected. I'm surprised the giant tank thingy didn't just plow over the cart. But that in itself tells us many things. Could the tank not handle the damage the cart would do? I highly doubt that. So they really wanted to avoid any destruction of property. I'm really liking these Gilette guys. I can really respect both sides of the coin here. It may not be absolute peace but it's better than war from the Gilette perspective. But from our heroes' perspective it's only masking the problems and making their lives empty. I'm reminded of a friend of mine who moved here from Sudan a few years back. He once said to me something like "The war never really ended. Like all great evils it just changed shape so it could go unseen. But everyone knows it's still there, killing and killing." Then we have the... 3rd side of the coin, Chaika, who is being denied and hunted because spoiler[her father was an enemy of the world]. Even if all she wants is to give spoiler[her late old man a little dignity I can totally see how others would wonder if it's worth the risk. To them, she could be lying. She could be being manipulated. Or putting the pieces in one spot might be ok for her but other shadowy forces might jump in and use the pieces for evil.] It's extremely smart writing. It's always a good idea to actually write a scene from the viewpoint of different characters, even if you're only using the one version. It lets you notice ways to deepen the characters. I think the original author (if this reflects the book) did that here. What I love about this so much, and it's a constant thing in all my favourite stories, is that I can sympathize with all sides here. Keep it coming, this might rank as one of my favourite shows ever if all goes well. It's certainly my #1 of the season so far. |
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WhiteHairGirls
 Posts: 4713 Location: New York City |
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You can read the summary on the first page if you want an answer. |
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Stark700
 Posts: 11762 Location: Earth |
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Damn, I was hoping to see that tank in action. Still, the action performed by the MC was impressive enough for me, at least for now.
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meiam
Posts: 3442 |
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Well there clearly the good guy, while the MC character are the bad guys. You can cut it however you want, but the MC basically just said "yup I'm fine with millions of people dying just so I can get a job". I hope the show actually keep this up and doesn't just goes "lol the post war restoration group are actually corrupt and are the real bad guys for absolutely no reason". Otherwise the actual fight was really nice. The mansion fight was, ehhhhh, just too heavily reliant on the duke or w/e walking really slowly and somehow ignoring the sister and Chaika for no reason. |
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Blood-
 Bargain Hunter Posts: 23749 |
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I completely disagree with you vis-a-vis respecting both sides of the coin. I totally support the Gilette perspective, assuming they are telling the truth (i.e. trying to avoid the resumption of war). Our MC is being a huge dick. "Gee, things were better for me personally when war was going on - I'm a saboteur, after all - so bring back the war!" What an a-hole. What evidence is there that the current peace is "masking problems"? Which problems are those? And even if there are "masked problems" - bringing back the war is a good solution to them? Come on. Now, perhaps the MC is just being flippant and what's really motivating his actions is that he likes Chaika and doesn't actually believe that her actions will bring about war. Perhaps he feels sympathy for her and wants to help her. If that's the case, he's taking a pretty big risk for someone who is still basically a stranger. No, to me this is a rare example where an MC's "antagonists" have a way stronger case than he does. |
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A Mystery
Posts: 1886 Location: Netherlands |
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@Blood-: I actually like him being 'evil' and I do think Gillette's group is quite sympathetic. There are already plenty good guy protagonists out there. Also, the way he was acting in the first episode implies that he couldn't get a place in this new world (or better: didn't want one, he seemed pretty lazy). It's not a shocker that such a person would long for war when it's brought him good things before.
This kind of character also has more room for growth. |
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 23749 |
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My problem with his character as currently portrayed, A Mystery, is that there is no consistency. I don't admire his desire for war (if genuine) but he doesn't read as an evil character. If he was, he would have bladed Chaika by now. That's problem. So far he is coming across as a decent guy except for this "bring back the war" business. I like me a good anti-hero as much as the next person but his characterization is coming off as muddled as opposed to either evil or good.
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Alan45
Village Elder Posts: 9832 Location: Virginia |
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As best I can tell, apart from the magic, the technology seems to be late pre industrial. War would not involve the death of millions, WWI style. A major battle would involve a couple hundred causalities most of whom would be professional soldiers.
As late as the 1700s war was an honorable profession. It did not potentially involve the end of the world. If you were not in the area actually being fought over, it usually wasn't a problem. I'm not suggesting that it was a good thing. Regardless of the period war had it's horrors. But a character who is in favor of a new war is not as horrible as they seem to modern ears. |
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Tuor_of_Gondolin
Posts: 3524 Location: Bellevue, WA |
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I just did. I think before my gaze just never got below Akari's thighs... 
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Tuor_of_Gondolin
Posts: 3524 Location: Bellevue, WA |
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Sometimes, significant change is necessary, and war is a vehicle that can cause extreme changes. When bad things become ingrained in a society, sometimes only something like war can get rid of it.
Also, I recall that after the Vietnam War, there were a lot of US soldiers who came home and found that they couldn't hold regular jobs anymore. The war had changed them and it made them feel angry and helpless. I'm guessing this guy felt some of that. And even the duke commented that he must feel pretty useless now that there is no war to fight -- that just upon meeting him and finding out he's a saboteur. To me, war is not the worst thing in the world. I don't think it is worse an living in a perpetual state of injustice or oppression. Also, we don't know much about what the current "peace" is like, but we do know what the head of the reconstruction group said about it, and it didn't sound very encouraging to me. I'd say that Toru's comments were a mix of being flippant and actually feeling empty and useless in this so-called peace. He probably does want a renewal of war, and maybe that's selfish on his part, but I don't think it's an entirely unjustified desire. |
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meiam
Posts: 3442 |
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That would sorta work if there were real injustice in society, but everything we've seen till now point that there isn't. I mean the tank even decided not to run over the cart or to fire there gun in densely populated area, so the military seems alright, and the town was living just fine no sign of poverty or anything. From all the info we have, the MC is really just being a huge dick (which I'm fine with, so long as the show stay consistent). Other possibility is that he really want to score point with Chaika, in that case "dude she's like 10, how desperate are you?". Oh and if were trying to estimate how deadly war was during that time period, look up the spanish flu. Not many people died from actual fighting cause most of them were already dead by the time the fight started. |
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