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EP. REVIEW: Talentless Nana


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Yuvelir



Joined: 06 Jan 2015
Posts: 1529
PostPosted: Wed Dec 16, 2020 5:58 am Reply with quote
It never crossed my mind that Michiru might be dead, my immediate thought was "oh, Jin must have drugged her again". But I guess Nana did just read about her becoming faint right after trying to revive Tsunekichi, and unlike sickness and poison, cuts and lacerations are something her powers CAN heal...

On Jin's case, I thought he might have been the killer by copying the other girl's powers... but he seemed wholly uninterested in the affair?
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Kitsu Kyouno



Joined: 22 Dec 2018
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 16, 2020 7:29 am Reply with quote
Michiru's love for nana its so stronger, their relation it was build up so well more than any other relationship you would see in a regular shonen where they end up married just because. My girls always have a interaction advanced emotional social they are expressive and show love It is for that reason that I always prefer relationships between girls. inserting a boy into the equation would have ruined it.
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Cryten



Joined: 19 Jan 2019
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 16, 2020 9:36 am Reply with quote
I may of missed subtleties given Im only following with the ep reviews and comments nowadays, But isnt Jin more of the type of being interested in why everyone died previously rather then committing murders himself? That said I do remember him getting the giant internal evil grin in the intro to the show. Unless thats another layer of subterfuge, IE what he presents to Nana vs what he really believes / thinks. I could just see the show pulling a double or triple bluff for the climax. Is this an original work?
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Key
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Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley)
PostPosted: Wed Dec 16, 2020 10:49 am Reply with quote
^
No, it's a manga adaptation. The manga is available on Crunchyroll, and it looks like the most recent episode covers chapters 22 and 23.
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Probablytomorrow



Joined: 04 Aug 2019
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 17, 2020 10:42 am Reply with quote
Jin was very cavalier when admitting that he killed former classmates. He’s also proven to not care about the current class’s lives. I’d say he at least seems capable of killing someone just to set a trap for Nana.
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blahmoomoo



Joined: 27 Jan 2020
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 17, 2020 11:02 am Reply with quote
I would not be surprised if the cliffhanger is a fakeout, though still something alarming, where Michiru fainted due to overuse of her powers. Considering she didn't know about the poison vial after all (and the lack of visible blood in the cliffhanger), I don't think this is caused by direct self harm (though using her power indiscriminately is self harm in that it allegedly shortens her life; maybe the next episode will get into how that works). I suppose Nana getting mad at her could have triggered something, but I'd rather not guess about that.

As far as I can tell, Jin is currently just an observer, so he's not involved in this. Aside from his inaction, of course.
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TarsTarkas



Joined: 20 Dec 2007
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Location: Virginia, United States
PostPosted: Thu Dec 17, 2020 9:08 pm Reply with quote
MiloTheFirst wrote:
this was very poetic and all but where did you get all that? As far as the series has told us she is an agent for the government following explicit orders, it makes for interesting writing to see how she is feeling conflicted about killing some of these children but from the world setting perspective she will only be seen as a hero and is expected to get a medal and a paycheck from this (unless the series decides to go the "no loose ends" route, after her mission but so far that's just a possibility). We as the viewer can of course judge her under our own morals but as far as the setting goes she is just a soldier doing the dirty job some one had to.


She is an assassin, not a soldier. She is not attacking enemies of the state, but murdering innocent (and not so innocent) teenagers. We held the Nazi's accountable at the Nuremburg trials, so following orders is not an excuse. As we know, these are secret killings, as the government doesn't want the populace to know. No matter how you cut it she is bad.
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Yuvelir



Joined: 06 Jan 2015
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 20, 2020 5:03 pm Reply with quote
And we've reached it, the inflection point when Nana (and to a minor extent the audience, given the stories about the dead guy) is left with no option but to accept that everything she has been groomed to believe is bullshit.

I liked the paralel lines running these episodes. On one side we had Nana finding out that Michiru is pure-hearted and that she can't bring herself to dislike or dehumanzie her. And her story brought the double whammy - even if someone seems superficially bad (which is how Nana has justified her murders) that might not be true at all.
On another, we got this "enemy of humanity" we didn't know about until he died turning out to be popular but also a great guy (which is what made him popular). Yuka's story is in the background telling us to not be too trustful, but so far it works.
And finally we had Jin, so far the most dangerous and inhumane character in the show (only rivaled by Nana herself) showing his good side by caring about the island's fauna.
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Agent355



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PostPosted: Tue Dec 22, 2020 4:27 am Reply with quote
TarsTarkas wrote:
MiloTheFirst wrote:
this was very poetic and all but where did you get all that? As far as the series has told us she is an agent for the government following explicit orders, it makes for interesting writing to see how she is feeling conflicted about killing some of these children but from the world setting perspective she will only be seen as a hero and is expected to get a medal and a paycheck from this (unless the series decides to go the "no loose ends" route, after her mission but so far that's just a possibility). We as the viewer can of course judge her under our own morals but as far as the setting goes she is just a soldier doing the dirty job some one had to.


She is an assassin, not a soldier. She is not attacking enemies of the state, but murdering innocent (and not so innocent) teenagers. We held the Nazi's accountable at the Nuremburg trials, so following orders is not an excuse. As we know, these are secret killings, as the government doesn't want the populace to know. No matter how you cut it she is bad.

She is a minor. We generally don’t hold children accountable for crimes to the same extent as adults, including child soldiers and terrorists who were brainwashed to kill innocents. I know that in the US, convicts under 18 are never considered for the death penalty or even life in prison (a more recent change), even when charged with violent crimes or murder and tried as adults.

But that’s besides the question of how the series is framing Nana and whether we as viewers/readers are being led to sympathize with her and see her as redeemable. I was recently describing to a friend how it felt like watching Game of Thrones, where most of the characters aren’t the least bit innocent, but are often framed as relatable and likable (and not as bad as the *worst* characters) to the point where fans can forget the worst things they did. Except GoTs was all shades of gray morally, while Talentless Nana seems to be heading towards a point where Nana might realize she’s been on the wrong side and try to do the right thing going forward.
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FilthyCasual



Joined: 01 Jun 2015
Posts: 2165
PostPosted: Tue Dec 22, 2020 3:13 pm Reply with quote
RIP that dude who complained about spoilers in the opening blurb lol.

I will be very sad when Michiru's death flags inevitably catch up to her.
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TarsTarkas



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PostPosted: Wed Dec 23, 2020 12:10 am Reply with quote
Agent355 wrote:
.
She is a minor. We generally don’t hold children accountable for crimes to the same extent as adults, including child soldiers and terrorists who were brainwashed to kill innocents. I know that in the US, convicts under 18 are never considered for the death penalty or even life in prison (a more recent change), even when charged with violent crimes or murder and tried as adults..


Wikipedia wrote:
Lee Boyd Malvo (born February 18, 1985), also known as John Lee Malvo, is a convicted murderer who, along with John Allen Muhammad, committed murders in connection with the Beltway sniper attacks in the Washington Metropolitan Area over a three-week period in October 2002. Malvo was aged 16–17 during the span of the shootings. Currently, he is serving multiple life sentences at Red Onion State Prison in Virginia, a supermax prison.[1] Muhammad was executed in 2009.[2]


You are generally right, but when it comes to crimes like this, we do hold them accountable. You can bet if the Columbine shooters were caught alive, they would be serving life sentences too. Child soldiers is not a U.S. problem, and I think if a teenage terrorist had a multiple body count, they would be in prison for life too.

I have no problems with stories that feature a villain and their life story. There is no problem even with sympathizing with them. Even in real life, a lot of bad people, had bad lives growing up, and had to make hard choices. But in real life, forgiveness comes from the victim's or their families, not the courts. When it comes to serial killings or serial assassinations, however you want to frame it, there is no room for sympathizing on judgement day. There are too many family and friends that want their pound of flesh for the killing of their loved ones.

This is not real life, but if they are framing it as a redemptive story, (no problem with that at all), it is a personal redemption, not a redemption from society. The proper course of such a story, is for the killer or former evil one, to save their victims and/or destroy the organization that turned them to evil. Usually with them dying in the process. This comes with a proper denouncement and a dying redemption. But in cases where the former evil one survives, they spend the rest of their life, hunting the remnants of the evil organization till they die. They are not supposed to have a happy end, nor be part of society.

I am curious on what the writers have planned, you may get what you want, but personally, I would view it as a failure. When villains get happy ends, I view it as a betrayal of their victims.
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Cryten



Joined: 19 Jan 2019
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 23, 2020 3:54 am Reply with quote
That is an interesting take. I dont watch many villian stories so I dont have much to compare her to. Closest I can think of is black lagoon which is criminal vs criminal and they all understood that the life would kill them. They merely wanted to find as much happiness in the moments of life that they could find and maintain their thieves pride. So I dont know many stories about properly villainous characters redemption. There is plenty of side character who where zealous killers then seeking redemption. Just generally not the main character for me.

Maybe villain stories are incompatible with with my desire to associate with the main characters. And I dont have the world view that thinks that all humans are trash. Self interested and often fear or pride leading to horrible things yes, but outside of psychopathy or desperation most see value in being a net positive to society (whether they are mistaken is another mater). Hmm then again I liked overlord. Perhaps the portrayal of him losing his old self made it watchable for me.

I love anti heroes but I would not count Nana as an anti hero. You dont religiously believe in killing people like dogs and be an anti hero.
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darkchibi07



Joined: 15 Oct 2003
Posts: 5459
PostPosted: Tue Dec 29, 2020 6:05 pm Reply with quote
I have to admit, when I decided to watch Talentless Nana, I kind of got spoiled by the big twist in the first episode which in turn got me interested in this show. Considering seeing how supposed female leads in My Hero Academia get continually screwed over in screen time and major arcs, watching a show in a not!MHA setting with a bubbly pink-haired girl that can outsmart them without powers felt incredibly cathartic. And I have to give credit to this show for allowing Nana to really grow as a character and go beyond the initial gimmick. It definitely makes Nana more rounded and human than some narcissist chess masters like Light from Death Note.
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dm
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 29, 2020 7:02 pm Reply with quote
Steve's reviews (or rather, the thumbnail paragraphs on ANN's front page) were what got me to watch this series, starting a few weeks ago. I was quickly hooked, then went on to read the manga on Crunchyroll (which meant I knew what was coming in the last few episodes).

This is a good place to stop, I think, because the manga loses a bit of steam after this point --- for a while. The new arc takes a while to get going again.
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FilthyCasual



Joined: 01 Jun 2015
Posts: 2165
PostPosted: Tue Dec 29, 2020 9:23 pm Reply with quote
I wasn't very surprised that Michiru died, but I sure am sad about it. Part of me wants to read the manga while the rest wants to wait for a second season.

Either way, I'm glad I watched this show. I'd love to see where Nana goes from here.
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