Forum - View topicJūni Taisen: Zodiac War (TV).
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Harleyquin
Posts: 2841 |
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火加減 translates to the intensity of a fire. Usually used in cooking. It's VERY clear in this case the Rabbit refuses or is unable to use the Horse as a thrall because his remains have been exposed for too long under the heat and are no longer capable of being used like the other deceased Warriors. Think I'm spouting nonsense? Next week should clear things up. For a headless corpse, the Snake is thrashing around quite a bit after his forearm wrapped around the Tiger's neck goes up in flames. |
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Squidslinger
Posts: 76 |
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Notice how they purposely went out of their way to not show the Monkey's eyes. The other thralls they all showed the eyes with the same zombie look. Monkey's eyes are purposely hidden. Usually a sign something is up.
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Harleyquin
Posts: 2841 |
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Rewatch the part when the Monkey is sent to retrieve the Horse's gem from his innards. |
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Harleyquin
Posts: 2841 |
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#8
In one sense, I'm disappointed that the majority of this episode was devoted to developing the twisted background of the reptile twins. On the other hand, the elder brother's final statement in court did more for the exposition of the background to these battle royales than the last few episodes. He claimed that warriors from the 12 Houses have been involved in the Zodiac Wars for some time and that their involvement exculpates them from their list of criminal charges. I don't know how true that is, but it's strange that there are 12 established houses yet some participants remained unknown quantities in the current conflict. Because of the inordinate amount of attention devoted to the twins, it took until the very end of the episode to reveal how the strangled pair got out of their fix. As I suspected from last week's episode, the Rabbit cannot raise corpses to do his bidding if their cellular structure has been damaged by incineration or excessive dehydration (which confirms the mistake made in the subtitles last week). The Dragon looks like he's going to make his move by taking advantage of his headless sibling's predicament, but it's almost a given that him doing so is going to get him killed in a manner which will surprise him until his last moments. Speaking of the Rabbit, it's now his turn to enter the spotlight. He has absolutely no info on the official website on his background (something pointed out in the review of the English translation of the source material as well) so the animators may or may not have asked Nishio Ishin for some pointers on next week's episode. I don't think I see Nishio Ishin credited for the series script, so they might have settled for tacit acknowledgement or just decided to do what they pleased without regard for potential complaints. This novel isn't advertised on Nishio Ishin's personal website, so I get the feeling he's not really bothered about the fidelity of this adaptation (compared to say Shaft and the Monogatari series). As of this episode: Rabbit: 4 gems (Rabbit, Horse, Monkey, Boar) Ox: 3 gems (Chicken, Ox, Dog) Dragon: 2 gems (Dragon, Snake) Tiger: 2 gems (Tiger, Sheep) Rat: 1 gem (Rat) |
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Blood-
 Bargain Hunter Posts: 23769 |
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Episode 8 was a complete waste of time for me. Couldn't have cared less about the twins flashback. I'm not sure why Dragon had given up after his brother's death. The ability to levitate in combination with a distance weapon like a freeze-thrower seems like a fairly formidable pairing. I guess he is just too habitually suited to acting in concert with his brother to believe he is capable of being effective on his own.
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Harleyquin
Posts: 2841 |
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Dragon's character biography says something about the difficulties of using a liquid nitrogen sprayer compared to the younger sibling's flamethrower. That might be why he can't just hover out of harm's reach and spray anyone who comes along. Based on the "waste of time" this episode was, the freeze gun is a somewhat slow spray and doesn't hurt anyone or damage anything until it makes contact. This is in addition to its inferior range compared to the flamethrower (when he freezes his brother's employers he has to be in the same still-shot unlike his brother who has a good 2-3 metre range advantage over him). He didn't know about the Boar's demise until halfway through the series. He was probably waiting for the Sheep to kick the bucket as well since bombs aren't a bad counter to flying nuisances. None of the remaining contestants who are still alive have an obvious counter to the strategy posited, so making his move now makes sense. |
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Harleyquin
Posts: 2841 |
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#9
The website's own review of the translated novel already spoiled things, but it appears there REALLY isn't anything to go on regarding the Rabbit's backstory. Nothing on the official website so the animators skipped straight into an extended background story for the Tiger. Considering what state she ended up in from fighting in all those battles, something must have happened to her to snap her out of her everyday life of death and booze. One week late, but the narrator's little hint about the dragon revealing itself with the moon at its back really did come to pass. That Monkey is MUCH stronger than she looks. The Ox faced both reptile brothers in the flesh before, but even he was struggling to take on four different opponents at once until the Tiger got the hint and used the coolant against the corpses. It doesn't seem to have affected him too much so it's a duel to the death between the two strongest opponents remaining. Assuming one of the duellists is killed by next week, I'm wondering how on earth the Rat is supposed to claim the tournament championship when he has not shown any fighting ability whatsoever. Next week's episode title is the series equivalent of the original Chinese idiom, but the Tiger is the subject animal rather than the original leopard. Curiously enough, the Tiger in Kabuki language refers to drunkenness and its associated behaviour which is most probably the inspiration behind the Tiger's drunken fighting style. |
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 23769 |
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I'm pretty ready for this show to be over. It seems literally 90% of it has consisted of flashbacks that show being a warrior sucks as does humanity, mostly. No... really? How profound. It does look kinda slick, though, so there's that.
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Harleyquin
Posts: 2841 |
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Several weeks ago I claimed most viewers from English-speaking markets should be watching this purely for the action. It didn't go down well, but it looks like I've been proved right since the action really is the only thing going for people who can't understand the dialogue without subtitles. The story was telegraphed from the starting three episodes, so if you didn't buy into it then and take it for what it is now there's absolutely no reason to keep watching it for the story it's trying to tell. Not to mention the overwhelmingly negative review on this website for the translated novel which more or less confirms the English-speaker's impressions about the show. |
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DuskyPredator
 Posts: 15462 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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Interesting that that Rabbit was one of the most mysterious with his whole thing, and yet his episode seemed almost entirely devoted to Tiger, despite this episode even being his death. Although I do think it is likely that Rabbit zombified himself at the end when he got split apart.
Tiger was also a pretty tragic figure, she looked like an actual pretty decent person, but was too delicate for the wars she was thrown into and got turned into a beast. In a sad irony she was abandoned by scorn by her father who forced her into the situations that turned her into what she is. That she was especially human, which led her to becoming a beast, and scorned as being a beast and bellow them by the people that created that beast.
Really? Because just one problem I have had has been snobby elitists claiming that English speakers cannot appreciate this show. Has soured it a bit for me. that someone would make such blanket statements, or that I am missing the oh so deep parts. |
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 23769 |
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@ DP - Yeah, that's Harleyquin being his usual... oops, I can't write it without violating ANN's polite and respect rule... self. The notion that this crapfest would be oh so much better if we understood the original Japanese is laughable.
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Harleyquin
Posts: 2841 |
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I mentioned it very specifically in my first post on this "issue", of course it doesn't preclude others from only focusing on what they care about. Nishio Ishin is well known for his Japanese wordplay. It's a common theme regardless of his selected theme for the story. If you understand the language, it makes his works more enjoyable since in many cases it's untranslatable into English. I've already seen instances where it's employed in the adaptation but it's not noticed both by those in charge of subtitles and by the listeners. One concrete example, the second episode when the Dog speaks of killing people through his bite technique. I'm almost 100% certain without even needing to refer to the text that the "kills" are written in three different Kanji but with the furigana pronunciation to force the reader to pronounce them as "kill" nonetheless. There are other less obvious examples elsewhere in this series, but it's of no concern to English speakers. That's not why you came to watch this in the first place. You DON'T need Japanese knowledge to understand this story nor does it magnify the experience to turn something which people continue to watch out of a masochistic sense of accomplishment into a completely different experience altogether. That's what subtitles are for. It's been noted elsewhere, but this is Nishio Ishin's take on the traditional Eastern Zodiac tale. Nothing more, nothing less. I can see he has employed many of the traditional character attributes and folklore facets of the animals into his twelve warriors, but that is of zero concern to English-speaking viewers who frankly should have made up their minds by now what this series is about and can either take it or leave it. Does the above sound elitist? I don't care if you think it does, but that's my opinion of the show and I've enjoyed it as an entertaining diversion on what is an old theme in East Asia. |
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 23769 |
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Okay, I have a better sense of where you are coming from, Harleyquin. I know you don't care whether you come off sounding elitist or not and that's why some of us are reacting negatively - it's not your message, it's your tone. I always assume, regardles of what anime I am watching, that as a non-Japanese speaker/reader, I am missing a significant chunk of the show's full meaning. No doubt with a writer like Nishio Ishin that chunk is even bigger. I actually like a lot of your contributions to discussions here because you can provide context and meaning not availabe to most of us. If there was a way to get that and not get the attitude that sometimes comes with it, that would be awesome but I won't hold my breath.
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Harleyquin
Posts: 2841 |
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#10
If there's a prize for the most persistent warrior of the competition, the Rabbit wins it hands down. It was hinted at earlier, but it seems his ability applies even to his own corpse so the Ox would have needed quite a long time to cut every piece of flesh into harmless fragments had he fought on his own. Somewhat anticlimatic end to the duel teased from last week, but given the Tiger's own past and her encounter with the machine-like perfectionist she doesn't seem to have had any regrets right at the very end. This week's episode title is a good fit since the second half of the saying refers to humans leaving behind their reputations after death. The Tiger hopefully redeemed her own prior to starting the deathmatch of the twelve. Two to go and if there's an episode title that's going to spoil what's going to come next week this is certainly it. No prizes guessing who the beneficiary of what's to come next week is going to be. An interesting choice too since the plant has no relation to bovines whatsoever besides the shared character. The umpire's little speech during the trailer refers to the more common East Asian idiom involving cows, but I can't think of any situation which would apply in this deathmatch. |
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DuskyPredator
Posts: 15462 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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Tiger getting this much time to show her full character was cool, that she actually made a bit of a comeback from her drunken ways thanks to the ox, during the competition seems to be that she was annoyed that he did not recognise her.
I was still wondering, might there still be a zombie monkey running around too? Which could still put up some trouble for the ox. |
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