Forum - View topicGrimgar of Fantasy and Ash and the Consequences of Death
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Valhern
 Posts: 916 |
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I don't agree that this article pretends to say that only and only Grimgar has done this correctly (it's like saying that only KyoAni knows how to draw or only OPM has great animation, only Gintama uses japanese history for its basis, going from the feature articles), that'd be way too naive.
However, it certainly is unfair to From the New World and take the example from the manga, which is the worst bastardization I've seen, there is no point of comparison on how much I've hated reading it considering how much I loved the anime. In the anime the death factor is certainly well done, since three main characters die, one in half the season, two tragically away from their friends, and almost every dead carácter heavily affects the plot and the remaining characters. Maybe we should add the "Dead, but not quite" common shonen trope, which is almost similar to reincarnation, but it also adds the bit of having characters live even if they shouldn't, almost every shonen anime or manga I've seen touches upon this, some with more care (like in JoJo, if you die you don't get more tan a cloud with your face) and sometimes it's just ridiculous (in Shaman King you basically need to die to become stronger). |
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CheezcakeMe
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Maison Ikkoku, I think, does a good job of handling death. The difference being the person in question is dead before the series begins. Instead it's about a man trying to court a woman while the shadow of her late husband lingers over every aspect of their blossoming relationship. It's a story about not only accepting that your loved one is gone, but giving yourself permission to move on with life, and to fall in love again.
It's a silly and light-hearted story for the most part but it knew when to get serious too. |
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jiecut
Posts: 8 |
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Probably a title spoiler.
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Fronzel
Posts: 1906 |
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“If he were alive, she might come to see his flaws...but a dead man is perfect.” |
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wolf10
 Posts: 906 |
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I really think the point was more that there are a number of stock ways death is handled in anime and manga (and everywhere really) that ends up blunting the impact that "death" is supposed to have.
Grimgar is unusual for deliberately choosing to be a realistic examination of death in unrealistic circumstances. While I had no idea it would be that when I started watching, it's been a breath of fresh air in an age where I find myself put off series that use (often graphic) death as a shortcut to being edgy, and try to say that Death is Serious™, but do it in pretty much the same unintentionally self-defeating way every time. |
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Neko-sensei
Posts: 283 |
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Spot-on. I love Grimgar for being the closest thing to my dream genre piece: "high fantasy slice-of-life thought piece."
I'm surprised no one has mentioned The Eccentric Family here, which is entirely defined by mourning and the ripples of a death that occurs before the series even begins. And obviously anime films (most infamously Grave of the Fireflies) tend to leave people dead, not having an indefinitely continuing story to worry about. Finally, and this is not at all a grammar Nazi thing, nor an attempt to criticize Rebecca's writing, but rather a heartfelt, personal plea: please, please do not use the phrase "begs the question" to mean "raises a question," and if you absolutely must, please do not follow it with the awkwardly unnecessary preposition "of." It sets my teeth on edge, makes my hair fall out, curdles my spittle, shivers my sesamoid bones, and, most importantly, pitches me right out of the extremely enjoyable act of reading an excellently-written article. I'm begging you, show mercy! |
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meiam
Posts: 3442 |
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As someone brought it up, special mention need to be given to gundam 00 making a character die in S1 finale just to replace him by his twin brother, who played no role in the first season 1. He then goes on to pilot the same suit, take up his name and even date the girl his brother did!
Surprised Drgon ball wasn't mentioned either, with character just coming back like it's nothing. And even the arbitrary restriction like can only resurrect character X number of time stop don't hold for more than a few episode. My only complain about Grimgar handling it all is that Manato dead was kinda hugely telegraphed, which robed a lot of the emotional gut punch. Somewhat related, but another problem I have with character death in anime is how inconsistent it is, even in the same series. You can have a character die from silly easily avoidable death when a few episode earlier they miraculously avoided dead. |
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bs3311
 Posts: 416 Location: Cincinnati, Ohio |
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IKR? Plus It feels poorly handled here because how it happened was laughable and inconsistent. No one bothered to look at him through the obvious hours they ran to see if he was injured or not? They obviously know from his character that he bottles up things. Plus there was already constant foreshadowing that he was gonna get axed off. Plus, the dude lacked personality. Following the big brother trope. Hey, does that sound familiar? No matter how executed the death or cremation is, it lacks payoff. For characters having amnesia yet spouting BS against the term amnesia by spouting video game tropes and possessions in the real world meaning that they don't have amnesia. But it keeps contradicting itself. It would be so effective if this whole, "trapped in a fantasy world." trend would not happen here and just be a regular fantasy adventure with characters with clear backstories and actual personalities to show what they are fighting for and why death would be terrible. Make em have family to go back too, or spur a romance, ANYTHING! But it happens after the death between the main lead and pink bimbo. PARASYTE HAS A MORE MATURE SPUR OF ROMANCE THAN THIS! Berserk does this better, Children who chase lost voices did it better and even Gurren Lagann did it better imo. |
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daneandnori
 Subscriber Posts: 6 |
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I was thinking about Hikaru No Go.
But I remembered that the character is a ghost. But the show still dealt with Hikarus' reaction to losing Sai. Sai had been a friend, mentor, father figure, and constantly with him for years. Hikaru was devastated when Sai moved on to the afterlife. He cries for days.He stops eating. He withdraws into his bedroom and stops playing Go which is his love. It takes him months to be able to finally say goodbye and pick up the pieces and move forward with his life. It was a plot device to have him go; so that Hikaru could mature and move forward with his life. |
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Spleen
Posts: 56 |
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'Allo 'Allo did it first. Kind of. spoiler[Renee is shot by the Nazis halfway through the first series, but the execution is faked and he returns the next episode - posing as his own twin brother. Who is also called Renee. No-one asks any questions about this, including the general who ordered him to be shot and the Gestapo. He does however have to spend most of subsequent episodes competing to marry his own widow in order to get his business back. Hilarity ensues.] |
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Color2413
Posts: 49 |
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In Fafner, one of the most devastating scenes occurs in a shrine to the young soldiers fallen in the war against the Festum, with what looks like hundreds of photos on the walls. Admittedly, Exodus cheated slightly by hinting that some would come back in some form, but most of them were gone for good.
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Angel M Cazares
 Posts: 5424 Location: Iscandar |
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Nice piece Rebecca. I had not read it because I was in the process of finishing watching Fushigi Yugi for the first time, and I wanted to avoid spoilers.
I have a bit of an issue with bringing up the From the New World manga because you were comparing other anime with Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash, but your essay is well thought out and insightful. |
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thecritter
Posts: 68 Location: Northwest GA |
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Legend of the Galactic Heroes has well over a hundred episodes, and the death of a main character in the 20's has repercussions to the end. Another one affects the course of the anime for nearly 40 episodes after. It's well worth mentioning and watching, and death in wartime and by misadventure are themselves almost major characters. The deaths have enormous consequences, and some of the deaths are never gotten over.
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maCSlate
 Posts: 10 |
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Thanks for the spoiler.
Next time maybe don't show the character who dies in the picture on the mainpage. I've only watched the 1st episode and was looking forward to watching the remaining when I had some time. So now I know that Manato dies. Thank you very much for that. 
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Blanchimont
 Posts: 3453 Location: Finland |
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Just watched episode 8.
I like the visuals of Grimgar, they're gorgeous. And the character development, it has a sense of reality to it. And the different than usual take on a story of this kind. But, I also have to admit, the more I watch this, the more I'm starting to root for the goblins... |
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