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A bit late to the party? Otherwise, great review.

Lunatic loose ends? Really it seems like we are supposed to get more of him with the Rising movie. Likely as well a push from Sunrise not to talk about him much more in the series.

We really can't move onto Lunatic's final plot relevance until we finished Barnaby's plot points. Which has happened. The story had a limited number of episodes and an expansive lore to go with it. They had to pick and choose what they wanted since Sunrise basically told them "this isn't our type of show". We are lucky enough to get the Rising. The staff and creators are extremely fond of Lunatic, my guesses were Sunrise higher ups weren't.

Lunatic's background has little impact on the story? How about character development? Or does that only count when it's revealed in the first episode or two? As for his absence or being pushed aside, did you miss the part about his mother?

As for corny plot twists, it is a show that is supposed to make fun of Western comic culture and writings.

Quote:

This date is completely at odds with some of the technology shown in use in the series

Iron Man 3 or even just the Avengers movies... We don't have the shit that makes the Iron Man interfaces work. We don't have Stargates. I'm not even a comic books geek and I know this stuff. We certainly don't have the tech from the SDF Macross.[/quote]

^
If they couldn't handle Lunatic properly and found the time to wrap up his arc then he shouldn't have been in the show in the first place. It's the old saying, "don't bite off more than you can chew". Add in the fact that Lunatic himself is just a poorly-done Light Yagami (or should that be Teru Mikami?) clone, and he really isn't all that interesting.

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I get the feeling Theron really enjoyed reviewing this, seeing as how he's a comic book fan and all.

Excellent review, but I really wished there was more episodes on Lunatic but well there's always the movies and maybe season 2?

streexanime wrote:

Lunatic's background has little impact on the story? How about character development? Or does that only count when it's revealed in the first episode or two? As for his absence or being pushed aside, did you miss the part about his mother?

Actually, I see his point. spoiler[I think he was talking about the stuff with Mr. Legend and how that really didn't play into anything. Like, why did his abusive father have to be Mr. Legend, anyway?]

dtm42 wrote:

If they couldn't handle Lunatic properly and found the time to wrap up his arc then he shouldn't have been in the show in the first place. It's the old saying, "don't bite off more than you can chew". Add in the fact that Lunatic himself is just a poorly-done Light Yagami (or should that be Teru Mikami?) clone, and he really isn't all that interesting.

I would assume Lunatic (and maybe Ouroboros) will be handled in the new movie.

I've only watched Set 1, but overall I enjoy the show quite a bit. I like how it tries to take the piss out of both US and Japanese Super-hero cliches.

But at the same time its internal logic can be a bit spotty, and production necessities seem to dictate character appearances (why is the shape shifter in a CGI armored suit again? Oh right, so they don't have to animate the text logos in every scene he's in)

But overall, its a very sharp looking show, and can be quite funny. And even its serious moments can have weight.

Can't wait to get set 2, unfortunatly it seems a bit pricey-er then set 1. Which is unfortunate.

Altorrin wrote:

streexanime wrote:

Lunatic's background has little impact on the story? How about character development? Or does that only count when it's revealed in the first episode or two? As for his absence or being pushed aside, did you miss the part about his mother?

Actually, I see his point. spoiler[I think he was talking about the stuff with Mr. Legend and how that really didn't play into anything. Like, why did his abusive father have to be Mr. Legend, anyway?]

Precisely.

I thought it was interesting how different the effect of one man had on his own son versus some total stranger.

As fare as the tech goes, It never crossed my mind that this show was taking place in our 1978. I always considered it to be an alternate reality. But, I guess the fact that people with powers exist pretty much proves that.

I'm mildly surprised by the A- for art/animation. The cg suits covered in shameless logos really don't do it for me, but I have seen worse, both in terms of cgi and in terms of sponsors (BUY PIZZA HUT). I wasn't ever particularly excited by the idea of an anime series about super heroes, but I now am vaguely interested in the series... I may give it a shot.

The brand name logos actually tie into the premies of the show. So I actually don't mind them at all, and find them kind of charming and clever.

As Theron pointed out, Blue Rose is unusual for being a teenage girl going after a thirty-year-old single father. And when I say "going after", I mean she is quite serious about it:

Mr Adventure wrote:

The brand name logos actually tie into the premies of the show. So I actually don't mind them at all, and find them kind of charming and clever.

I appreciate that the show's budget was drastically increased thanks to the logos, but it does undermine the anti-corporate message the show was trying to send.

Whoever wrote that book must have been filling one hell of a niche market.

^
Single fathers are rare, but over a country as big as the United States there must be more than enough to make a book worthwhile.

And besides, Fire Emblem likes it; his endorsement is on the front cover.

dtm42 wrote:

As Theron pointed out, Blue Rose is unusual for being a teenage girl going after a thirty-year-old single father. And when I say "going after", I mean she is quite serious about it:

Mr Adventure wrote:

The brand name logos actually tie into the premies of the show. So I actually don't mind them at all, and find them kind of charming and clever.

I appreciate that the show's budget was drastically increased thanks to the logos, but it does undermine the anti-corporate message the show was trying to send.

I always thought its was kind of funny and unusual, and with her being 18 and him 30ish did not care. But WOG had to be a spoilt sport and nix that pairing off site.

If they do make a sequel I just hope they reverse whats happening to Kotesu, he is by far my favorite character and he by far gets the most crap in the series.

Key wrote:

Altorrin wrote:

streexanime wrote:

Lunatic's background has little impact on the story? How about character development? Or does that only count when it's revealed in the first episode or two? As for his absence or being pushed aside, did you miss the part about his mother?

Actually, I see his point. spoiler[I think he was talking about the stuff with Mr. Legend and how that really didn't play into anything. Like, why did his abusive father have to be Mr. Legend, anyway?]

Precisely.

I saw it as a way to tie together Lunatic and Kotetsu's storylines. spoiler[Both Kotetsu and Mr. Legend started losing their powers around the time their children gained theirs (presumably, in Lunatic's case - although it's not stated exactly, I thought that was heavily implied).

This power loss absolutely crushes Legend, a man we knew at one time to be good: encouraging a young Kotetsu to use his powers to help people, teaching his son not to turn a blind eye to injustice. He's a man who's defined his life around his powers and image as a superhero. When his powers start to fade, he not only refuses to accept his limitations and quit the hero business, he takes out his frustrations physically on his innocent wife and child.]

Ben even tells Kotetsu about spoiler[Legend's power loss, and his inability to accept it. Kotetsu's shocked, of course - this is his idol! Hell, he probably wouldn't even be a superhero if not for him. And at first, he even falls into the same trap: "I can still do this!" His crushing defeat later that episode (at the hands of some scum who isn't even a NEXT, no less) is made all the more devastating when it serves as his signal that yes, he really should quit before it's too late - before he's as bad as Legend, before he takes a dive with nothing to break his fall.]

It's not until the next episode that we learn about spoiler[Kaede's budding NEXT powers, providing even more reason for Kotetsu to retire. He needs to actively be in his daughter's life, not just because she needs a father, but so he can teach her how to control her powers. It's his family, not his superhero image or powers, that is truly important.]

That all goes to pot in the next episode (thanks Barnaby! I kid, I kid), but when that whole plot is finally resolved in the last episode, spoiler[we see that Kotetsu does in fact retire and move in with his family. Of course, he does come back to the hero biz (out of urging from Kaede!), only this time he's with the second string heroes and fully embracing his "Wild Tiger 1 Minute" persona. Yes, he's weaker now, but he's not going to let that get him down or blind him from his goal: helping people.]

So in the end, you have two heroes with the exact same dilemma, but who use two completely different ways of handling it. spoiler[With Legend, you have denial, anger, resentment, and familial abuse. With Kotetsu, you have acceptance, sacrifice (sacrificing his work, which he loves), and familial closeness.] Tl;dr: it's some good character contrast.

All that said, I guess you could argue that spoiler[you can have the Legend/Kotetsu power decline contrast without involving Lunatic, but that removes the family contrast angle (unless you introduced some new family for Legend but then we're just adding even more characters at that point) and the parent loss/child gain angle, which hasn't meant anything so far, but... And you could probably write a whole 'nother post on how Lunatic's view of justice has been shaped by watching the decline of his once good, pure father: the epitome of justice, King of Heroes. But it's late and it's been a while since I've watched the whole series!] And speaking of superhero gimmicks, it's totally in the spoiler[Luke I Am Your Father] vein. Classic!

pajmo9 wrote:

As fare as the tech goes, It never crossed my mind that this show was taking place in our 1978. I always considered it to be an alternate reality.

Same. The date's always written as NC 1978 as opposed to AD or CE. I figured it was either an alternate universe or our universe, in the future, with some kind of different calendar/date system.

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