Forum - View topic

EP. REVIEW: Kino's Journey - the Beautiful World-

Claiming that something is a "failure of adaptation" and then following up with an explanation of how they changed they story, does heavily imply that you know the original story.

And I would say that the Master taking over a historical monument, rigging it with a bomb and shooting people in the kneecaps just to extort safe passage and a boatload of money does indicate that she's a gigantic asshole. In fact, I have no idea how you could possibly think that she's intended to be heroic from the actions that she takes in the story.

Who is "pretending" Gabriella has read the books when she hasn't? I'm not seeing anything in these reviews or in your examples that suggest she's been completely wrong about anything in them, nor has she claimed to have read them all. She is not presenting herself as an expert on the books in any of these reviews and I haven't been defending her as one.

We agree she could be clearer in her comments about the nature of this adaptation, but beyond that you're prescribing a lot here.

This is a literalist argument and I don't really subscribe to literalism when it comes to media analysis or criticism. Gabriella's position is argued pretty clearly, she backs it up with examples. It's a valid reading of the series in my opinion.

I don't agree with this. The episode has a message, one she disagrees with - and one she explains, at length, in the review, why she thinks the metaphor doesn't work, why she thinks the conclusion it comes to about human nature is irresponsible. You may not like her analysis, you may disagree with her approach, you may think her perspective is overwrought or too political or too whatever, but from a structural standpoint, it's solid and rooted in examples from the show. She didn't just throw it out there and then back it up with bad examples, she explained herself. And it was entirely within the context of this episode.

Hardly. Her companion is taken prisoner under false charges by a corrupt government. Master's actions are framed as just and cool. The viewer is presumably meant to be excited about watching the clear villains of the story getting their just desserts. This is further emphasized when we learn her actions actually helped overthrow the corrupt government and make the country prosperous. At worst, the characters are presented to us as Chaotic Good. We're supposed to root for them.

I think people are exhausted of quoting that line from the second episode review and explaining its implications at this point.

At the very least Jacob acknowledged he got it wrong and that was the end of it. No such "adaptation"-regardad claims have been made ever since and Gabriella has certainly never claimed to reading the novels. Again, you pressing on this point with the Master and walled-city examples makes no sense in regards to what Gabriella is actually saying.

I'm sorry, but I'm genuinely too disturbed by the idea that someone would consider Master's actions within the episode to be just and cool to even provide a counter-argument.

So you're saying that we're supposed to find Master's actions reprehensible and that the "heroic" thing to do would've been to ditch her subordinate and let him rot in "Corrupt Government Prison"? It's not about what I believe but how the show is presenting the story. In this specific story, Master is being put against a clearly villainous "corrupt government". In contrast with that, her actions are clearly presented as "positive" -if not necessarily ethical- Without any background information about the novels or the character, can you honestly say that the characters are being presented as anything but "heroes"? Not heroes in the lawful good kind of way, but simply as characters that the audience is supposed to cheer for. That's like saying Lupin III isn't framed as a hero, after all, he does selfish and unlawful things all the time.

You're completely ignoring my argument. I didn't claim the Master was framed as a "good" person. I explicitly said otherwise. That was literally the point of my last two lines and the Lupin comparison. She's not "good" or "moral", but her actions are not framed as villainous or reprehensible. The narrative is not criticizing her or presenting her actions as a "bad" example. The viewer is not expected to come out of the story thinking "gee, that Master person sure is awful, hope they get punished for their selfish deeds". Just like you're not expected to root for Zenigata even though he is by all accounts the "good" person in the Lupin franchise

The newest episode ... I don't think that the 2003er version would have adapted such a bad story. This is really underwhelming.

That comment is wholly satirical.

Anyway, can somebody point me to the episode that adapted Land of Adults? I put this series on hold because I wanted to see how it would adapt that.

Not the Master. Not the traveling merchants in the Tale of Feeding Off Others. Not Kino's parents and not the people in the Land of Permitted Murder or the Land of Rule by Majority. None of them are framed as bad people despite having killed countless others. The series may present their actions as disturbing, but it will never condemn anyone.

.

you are at all baffled by the series' disinterest in actively persecuting a villain