Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: The Gymnastics Samurai
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Gina Szanboti
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I don't think I understood what happened with the agents. Did Leo meet with them or elude them? If the former, why did they let him go? Did he cut a "just let me say good-bye first" deal? Or did he meet them and then elude them?
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Agent355
 Posts: 5113 Location: Crackberry in hand, thumbs at the ready... |
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Episode 5 was boring. We’re introduced to a bunch of new characters by having their introduction literally “told” (as opposed to shown) to us by sports commentators. We see very little of Minamino’s performance and *none* of Jotaro’s, the competitors we actually care about. Then the commentators tell us who won and Jotaro’s rank, rather than capitalizing on the natural suspense of waiting for the judges scores after watching an athlete execute a routine—there’s drama in watching athletes and their coaches wait for their fate on the scoreboards after executing a routine in real life that this episode basically skipped.
From the (admittedly little) I’ve seen of scored Olympic sports like figure skating and gymnastics, there is some strategy in tailoring a routine based on the competition—some moves are required, but an athlete can gain points by doing something more difficult—at the risk of *losing* points if they don’t execute the move flawlessly. In episode 3, they illustrated this factor—Jotaro focused on doing the basics flawlessly while Minamino performed a flashy, difficult move that Jotaro created. I didn’t mind that they emphasized Jotaro’s “perfect the basics” strategy in this episode, but the fact that they told us rather than showed us was not a good storytelling strategy.
Good questions! I’m guessing they cut away on purpose so that they can do a flashback when they finally want to focus on telling us what Leo’s deal (backstory, reason for wanting to live with Jotaro, who’s chasing him and why) deal is. I hope they do it soon; he can be a fun, comic character but we still don’t know anything about him. |
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meiam
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So iirc from the last few Olympic I watched, there used to be mandatory routine and free form one, but they cancelled the mandatory one in favor of fully flexible one. But I can't say if every competition follow the same format, since the show didn't even bother explaining its own competition. I think the athlete have to give the routine they want to do ahead of time (partially because they need to score the move they'll do on difficulty if its not standard) but they don't have to stick to the routine itself. So this leads to situations where the athlete might do an easier move, with commentators going something like: "Oh he was supposed to do a much harder move here. He grabbed the bar a bit strange on his previous move, maybe he hurt his shoulder. His coach looks worried too" or an harder move "Well if he does his planned competition he can't possibly dislodge 1st rank, maybe he'll push for an harder one but might fail and be ejected from the podium". And why is this made up commentary more interesting than what actually happened in the show?! |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11355 |
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Aside from the shopping trip, I really loved that episode. I'm glad they finally found out more about Leo. Maybe it's because I don't understand gymnastics, but I felt like I understood his pinwheel/shuriken analogy right off. Yet somehow it was the "don't think about it" part that seemed to resonate with Jotaro as a new idea. That seems to me like that would be a normal approach past a certain point. I think most athletes try to get to that stage where their body knows what to do by instinct, even before they can actually pull off whatever they're trying to do.
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7777ale7777
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Is it me or didn't some parts of Leo's dancing looked a little like those interpolated 60fps anime videos?
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blahmoomoo
Posts: 460 |
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They did animate that dancing on the 1s (every frame) instead of 2s (every other frame, or whatever TV anime normally uses), making it look a lot more smoother than usual. Like, 24 FPS instead of 12 or 6. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11355 |
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Oh you!  Wait a minute... What part of the owl was caught? Its leg! And what part of Jotaro got an ow-ie? His leg!! This may run deeper than we think....
Jotaro's situation at the Olympics was unfortunately not unique. But it seems like when something like that has happened in real life with such bad timing, coaches have withheld the information until after the athlete's event. I suppose how close to death their loved one is affects that choice. If they're just hospitalized or if there's just no way to get there in time, or they're already dead, let them compete in the dark. If the loved one is on their last leg, then I think they should be told to go spend that brief time with them before it's too late. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11355 |
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That was a nice finale, and I too wish they'd shown more actual gymnastics over the series, since what they did show was quite beautiful. I really enjoyed the POV shots during his routines too.
I kinda wanted to see Ayu go up against the MiB though. 
Speaking of them, I still feel like I don't understand Leo's situation. He seemed to be dancing for a London troupe, but the whole chasing him down and having a crew of MiBs shepherding him around felt straight out of Cold War USSR and guarding against defections. I can see that he might've had a contract he was violating, but if so, the response was a bit much. Basically it felt like they literally owned him, and he had no choice but to obey them, especially given the threat the director (?) leveled at him. Anyway, thanks Christopher, for the excellent reviews! I think I liked this more than I otherwise would have without them, since they made me think more about the themes and execution than the series itself did. |
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aenigma
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I really liked the entire show, I expected something else honestly, but it worked and became a really nice suprise.
Have you seen the Billy Elliot movie? The entire ending scene at the ballet theater is the same as in the Billy Elliot, even the pice Leo is appearing in. I think, it was a good move to end the series. |
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