RE: Zero Kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu – 20
Wilhelm (imitating Schwarzenegger) : Eye think you dropped something!!!
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Is this your eyetem? I know it’s been busy, but we need to check our eyetinerary! If the cake isn’t a lie, then neither is the eyecing Sorry-not-sorry! I couldn’t help myself…But without further adoo, it looks like, ♫♫ We get battles. We get battles. Oh, we get sacks and sacks of battles. BATTLLLLLLLLLES ♪♩♬ |
Oh me, oh my (I’m a fool for you, Melville *)
Wilhelm has his head stuck up his ass past…
Which doesn’t mean that I’m going to break down every little scene one by one. You saw they same thing I did, and it was pretty much a bunch of puny humans picking a fight with a space air whale. WYSIWYG. This doesn’t mean I will discount the real man with the real plan. That being Wilhem as the man, and that being him as a complete idiot as the plan. Cause wow, talk about a dork and a half. Which is a great place to start when you want to show off, at least a few small and therefore not-so-detailed-yet still relevant parts, the arc of a badass. Which you’ll see me trash, later on….
But before that I’ll hit some highlights as far as the Battle of the Whale of Gluttony goes; keeping in mind this the first part of the whole shebang, a bunch more can happen next episode (spoiler tags! LN readers) that can change my viewpoint around. In all honesty, it was what it was, and it was kinda ropey. I mean, there are only so many ways you could do this and still have it look like a pitched battle. But all in all, it had the feel of a rip-off, second rate Gojira film. At times the whale looked like an angry and confused guppy kinda just floating there, and in others it looks like a pinata with blood-coloured streamers coming off it. Putting it against a gargantuan tree at night is a stroke of maddening genius…when you keep the camera close to the ground, that is. But, turn up the lights, keep it against the tree, and then stick the camera on a “drone”/”crane”? Oh, boy, silly, silly, circus, perspective lost…
Still a pretty good one…
When they kept it close to the ground, when we had the coalition forces POV onto the whale, in the Fog, then it felt tense. It might have even had some give and take. Maybe if we had less of the damn “blood plowing” I think I’ll call it, it might have looked good. I like the shots of Ricardo knocking out a great tooth, I enjoyed some of the acrobatics, and slicing when it came into focus. I enjoyed how alien and strange the “fog emitters” looked and acted. Very unpredictable and chilling as a result. Oh, and speaking of knocking things out, EYE loved the injury to EYE motif; mostly because the whale would end up paying them back for that EYE. But until the fog set in, this was pretty ridiculous.
Best shot of all…
I know why, too. It’s to show, literally, the difference between night and day in so far as the very real terms of fighting this thing, between their assumptions about the whale and the reality that set in. It’s key focus, was to bear down good and hard and make Subaru and the rest desperate and scattered. To make him, in terms of story, call on Return by Death and turn on his witch stank as a result. Because they went from bad to worse when he did that, and all for a distraction? We also needed to see vital parts of the collected forces just plain lose it in turn; Ricardo and Wilhelm falling, and Crusch losing her standard….Cause badassess need to get taken back a peg to stay real.
Old Stories are New Stories Waiting to Happen Again
The mystery of how they got married is something I’m waiting for…
It’s a damn good cliffhanger, it’s just that most the execution wasn’t all that great. It looks like it had some pretty cheap direction and animation, and a few more thoughts on how to present it would have improved it in my mind. As it stands, this told the story of how Wilhelm became the badass he is today, and how useless that was in the end. It’s about how all his expectations fell, probably because he held them in to high a regard. It’s about having something else other than that perhaps?
High class pout…
I love the juxtaposition near the end, with Thearesia speaking about the nobility of the blade and of protection, and the next scene is of reality, of butchery, and the true meaning of being a knight, the mythology falling away like so much breadcrumbs from a high table. At least that’s my reading, and in a show that loves to deconstruct our notions of heroic fantasy, I think it stands well. But lets see how far down the rabbit hole this goes next week…
…or down the backside…
About skylion
All around nerd that enjoys just about any anime genre. I love history, politics, public policy, the sciences, literature, arts...pretty much anything can make me geeky...except sports. Follow me @theskylion
POWUH: 500-599 with 540 comments
Yeah, I’m also not a fan of mindless fighting like this. I like my fights quick decisive and good looking. (and smart XD)
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
I find it’s not the issue of length, but an issue of variety.
POWUH: Beginner (20-35) with 22 comments
There was nothing mindless with the battle: they had artillery, distractors, heavy hitters, cavalry, organized assaults, everyone was prepared for people going crazy, etc. Even Subaru had his own back-up plan (distraction) in case things went awry.
The problem was that nobody knew just how enduring the Whale would be: no matter how much they cut through him, it did not cease floating even after losing its eye. The plan to land it and then overwhelm it before it could summon the fog clearly did not work, but you can’t learn such things without suffering defeats.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
…since the arc is ongoing, I can’t say for sure that we supposed to learn anything from the battle itself, other than Unsure in Defeat, which they were handling with Wil’s backstory just fine. But still for me it’s a matter of execution, and this one felt really furtive and clumsy, and not in the positive way to underscore Crusch’s side…
POWUH: Meta Resident and LN Informant with 1529 comments
Some fun facts about Re Zero’s author:
– Not a professional writer, but works as a meat shop butcher (Currently taking leave from his job to assist on the anime)
– He thinks up plot developments while cutting up meat, and sometimes likes yelling Subaru’s name during meat cutting
– Emilia’s his favourite character, but thinks Crusch is the best ruler candidate
– He loves putting Subaru through lots of sh*t because it’s fun, but also to give him constant development (The author believes MCs grow strong through adversity). He’s thinking he’s been too soft on Subaru lately and needs him to experience even more intense sh*t
The author was in Taiwan to promote the Chinese translation of Re Zero Vol 6; the info was revealed by him at some meet and greet events there.
Here’s some pictures of the author himself!
http://gnn.gamer.com.tw/9/135899.html
The info was obtained from Taiwanese websites, and translated by a Redditor.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Re_Zero/comments/4xe6et/miscellaneous_stuff_from_nagatsuki_tappeis_visit/
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
As always, thanks for the information.
It’s a well regarded but sometimes not followed dictum in writing fiction: torture/kill your babies. Without adversity, narrative fiction loses applicability, and loses then loses appeal. It’s made up, so lean and lean heavily into making your character’s lives living hell. This is true of romance as well.
LOL. I always come up with my ideas when I’m doing practically anything else. Sometimes it’s a boon, and sometimes it gets really odd; such as coming back to the same idea when I arrive to wait at the same bus-stop…I wonder what our Re: Zero author things about with his various cuts of meat..Hell, dude, whatever cut it was, I wish there was more of it for Felt, right?
POWUH: Meta Resident and LN Informant with 1529 comments
Probably thinks about what gruesome manner Subaru should be killed next…Like while cutting beef he imagines how Subaru being turned into Subaru cutlets or loin of Subaru.
POWUH: 500-599 with 540 comments
Good to know the author agrees with me that Crusch is the best Ruler candidate in relation to ruling itself.
POWUH: 500-599 with 540 comments
Oh and yeah we can really see how Emilia is his favourite character. He probably just wrote Emilia as his dream girl XD.
POWUH: 500-599 with 540 comments
Its just too bad Emilia hasn’t been getting much screen time or development lately. (sorry for making 3 short comments I keep coming up with new things to say after my last)
POWUH: Beginner (20-35) with 35 comments
Note about the Magical Satellite Dish Artillery:
It shoots magic stone (the thing at Roswaal hand) at an accelerated speed. has only one color option though probably the reason it doesn’t work that much. not enough flavor XD and the Night Clearer are basically a whole lot of them shot in the sky.
Seeing the explanation on the Whale fur reminds me of the Nanoha series barrier jacket.
Thankfully PETA has not shown themselves in an Airship to defend the Whale that will be more trouble to deal with XD
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Thanks for mentioning these details. I thought I would grow to like those dorky light cannons one a second viewing, but…nope. I wonder how it comes off in the book…
POWUH: Beginner (20-35) with 35 comments
Also take note of Wilhelm dialogue the one regarding the impossibility for the Whale to beat his wife.
Whale vs theresia
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POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
I did notice what he had to say and it came off as cocky and just the sort of thing the show made him pay for by episode’s end. All I can go by is the show, not the source.
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POWUH: Beginner (20-35) with 35 comments
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POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Next episode…