Forum - View topicUrobuchi, History, and the Wuxia Hero of Thunderbolt Fantasy
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Probablytomorrow
Posts: 164 |
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Great read. It’s nice to learn about the influences behind the show’s setting, themes, characters, and more.
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EmbraceMe
 Posts: 2013 Location: Growing old and jaded. |
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If you're more interested in wuxia, I suggest the works of either Gu Long or Jin Yong (Louis Cha). IIRC, Urobutcher is largely influenced by the former, who I admittedly know very little about besides his protagonists being quirky (i.e. charismatic speakers with low fighting power, using trickery or being cunning, etc.). Jin Yong (Louis Cha) uses historical context, poetry, or philosophy to build his stories (Condor Heroes triology). I think this Mike Toole article talks a bit about them. And, as to not derail this article with recommendations...
I guess this is what Urobutcher meant he says he's a "healing type writer" now. Often his characters struggled against the utilitarian philosophy but they don't outright reject it either. They've come to terms with it and still remain hopeful, at least his post-Madoka series seem to state this. In Shang's case, it's a bit hard to tell without knowing his full character history (and my understand of wuxia is only through TVB dramas). Additionally, I tend to not watch shows through a critical lens so my two cents may be worthless. |
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maximilianjenus
Posts: 2862 |
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but, could china even be considered a single entity before the unification. imgo, 8t was more like a separate collection of small countries and the unification is when it actually became one.
and i understand the mc not wanting to become the fixer of the higher issues. first, it is not necessarily true that fixing the higher issues leans that the smaller issues will dissapear, there is an argument that the smaller issues make it so the bigger issues are possible. like, in a town where nobody pays their traffic tickets, they are ok with the major embezzling money. if the major stops.embezzling money, still the next major, who was a ticket avoider , will start embezzling money. and its something tye mc has foreseen, just by bringing. down the current corrupt government does not mean the new government wont be corrupt, it will also be a matter of politics and culture, not of strenght, so he wil be useless anyway. finally, even if they somehow reach utopia, if they do not fix the small issues, the next generation will fall back to corruption anyway.
makes me think if that is where he is going to go for madoka 4. |
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Zefram
Posts: 107 |
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Is this just me but I hate those 3D characters in 2D landscape and surroundings. They look to me like an updated version of stop motion animation with humanoid characters not even realistically looking. The moment I see it, I refuse to watch it regardless of the story or even if I love graphic novel/comic version of it.
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FilthyCasual
Posts: 2190 |
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BlueAlf
 Posts: 1502 |
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Urobuchi and Gu Long's style both go really well. But I'm really happy to see that Urobuchi recently has become much more positive than then latter.
Man, I love Thunderbolt Fantasy. Really wish I get a chance to catch up on it. |
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senpainotes
Posts: 3 |
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My friends and I can never remember his name, so we just call him Garfield.
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Zeino
Posts: 1098 |
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I think the thing that people should realize more is that Gen Urobuchi has evolved as a writer. He is not the same person he was when he wrote Madoka, let alone Fate/Zero. He no longer thinks happiness is against the laws of the universe or that justice is some relativistic concept used only to justify self-interest. He even mocks his old views through the character of Lóu Zhèn Jiè quite bit.
I can't blame Shang for believing you can't solve society's problems with weapons of mass destruction! And what does Jun Po even need those weapons for, anyway? He has direct access to the tyrants in question, and skill enough to murder them if he felt like violent change was the answer... I could sympathize with the idea that, you know, maybe Shang shouldn't be carrying around a rogue, nuclear arsenal in his back pocket - because, frankly, that sounds terrifying - but that's not what's happening here. It's wanting to take the rogue, nuclear arsenal for yourself so you can throw it at all your enemies. After which, once you've climbed onto the mountain of corpses you've created, you'll wave them around and use your weapons of mass destruction as some kind of justification for your rule. Just doesn't strike me as a great idea, you know? It's also part of the ongoing theme of this show - ultimately, weapons are meaningless except for being weapons. And even then, Shang can kill people with sticks and the hem of his robe if he feels like it, so they're meaningless for even that! All weapons do is make it easier to kill. Which, you know, is not great. It's explicitly why Shang uses a wooden sword, because he's self-aware enough that he will take the easy option if he lets himself. If Jun Po wanted to change things... he could. He might have to get violent, and that sucks. It'd be horrible, hard, bloody work. He'd loose more of his men, no doubt. But it'd probably go better in the long run than the easy bloody work that'd come from using The Sorcerous Sword Index. Instead, he's taking the Hard Man approach, which is actually the easy way out. Also I'm still really sad that Season 3 isn't getting greater coverage over here at ANN. It's been the best one so far, connecting plot threads from the past two seasons and weaving them into a even more elaborate tapestry of story. |
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VerQuality
 Posts: 136 |
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This was a very interesting article. It's especially interesting seeing the link between the idealized wandering knight narratives of different cultures, and how that directly informs a lot of Thunderbolt's narrative force.
I have to use the Japanese character names to remember anyone. It's a lot easier to remember 'Ban Gunha', rather than Wā̀n Jūn Pò, because you hear 'Gunha' repeated again and again in the series when dialogue refers to that character, but you never hear the chinese pronounciation within the work itself. People talk about Sho Fukan all the time, but Shāng Bù Huàn is just an abstraction that only exists in the subtitles (and the Taiwanese dub). |
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