June 22nd, 2006
Hmmm.
To be honest, I’m a bit disappointed in the end of Jyu Oh Sei, and I don’t even feel like it’s totally because the show was so short; I don’t think there would have been that much more to tell if it had gone beyond 11 episodes. I think I just plain don’t like the ending; this doesn’t invalidate how much I enjoyed the journey, but essentially episodes 10 and 11 have pretty much weakened the overall experience of the show.
I don’t blame anyone involved in the production except Natsumi Itsuki, really; animation and artwork were topnotch throughout, the OST was awesome, and virtually all the acting was top notch save a few dodgy moments from Shun Oguri. I just think that the ending really wasn’t very good or convincing, and felt a bit pulled out of nowhere - it still had an emotional impact to an extent, but not only did episode 10 not give us an intellectual payoff in the form of a decent resolution to the main mystery of the show, but episode 11 didn’t really give an effective emotional payoff in certain regards, and I guess this is mostly down to the original story.
I can’t deny that I’m probably mostly disappointed because I thought the first episode was so good; definitely the best of the April season starters. I think that the pre-aging arc was also a tad better written than the bishied-up stuff; too much time was spent on Karim and too little on anything else (but then there WAS nothing else really that would have delayed the inevitable ascension-to-Jyu-Oh-dom). Nevertheless, Jyu Oh Sei is far from being a bad series; it’s pretty good really, and I don’t regret watching it and would probably recommend it to others. It’s just ultimately a little unsatisfying if you ask me.
Spoilers after the cut.
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June 20th, 2006
Spoilers, for lo! is this episode revelatory.
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June 18th, 2006
Only brief discussion follows, but I guess it warrants a spoiler warning…
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June 18th, 2006
Why does Thor love Karim? They’ve known each other for a couple of hours at best; hardly the grounding for a proper relationship that he’s willing to screw up Third’s plans for. Speaking of which, what’s with the holographic globe, one has to wonder? Third’s motives are perhaps the most interesting thing in the show right now…
One does have to feel slightly sorry for Tiz given that she’s pretty much shafted by Thor’s love-doveyness. I liked her scene with Chen towards the end of the episode; band together, shoujo women, and angst over the ones you love!
To be honest, I didn’t think this episode was amazing or anything; it felt a bit “fillery” in that it took most of the episode for what was essentially a foregone conclusion (Thor and Karim) to come to fruition in the bowels of the Earth with a little bit of Zagi-plotting on the side.
(is wearing disturbing leather like that particularly effective insulation from a blizzard? I wouldn’t know, I don’t tend to wear PVC on a regular basis…)
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June 16th, 2006
All the Nordic/Norse/whatever the word is names in Jyu-Oh-Sei are particularly apt given what much of my time may be taken up with in a couple of weeks:
Anyway…
YAY PAKU ROMI!!!! Everyone loves Paku Romi; she’s smart, she’s sexy, she can sing and her voice is incredibly ambiguous. So it’s no wonder that Thor falls in love with her… I mean, Karim. She’s from the seemingly rather common school of deadly string users (which reminds me, I should watch Hellsing Ultimate sometime…) and Thor falls pretty much immediately in love with her; while he has his little chat with Zagi, most of this episode ends up being about Karim and her problems with Zagi’s command (she’s his Second) and the episode ends with Thor and Karim falling into a big ravine together - RABU RABU will undoubtedly ensue.
Another great episode of Jyu-Oh-Sei; I don’t know quite how it manages to be so engaging, especially in an episode like this where there wasn’t all that much going on… okay, that’s a lie, we got some information on what REALLY happens to the Jyu Oh, but Zagi gets interrupted before he can really explain and I want to know exactly what the Midgard Project Odin’s planning is; I presume he’s keeping all the Jyu Ohs as some kind of superhuman army, or maybe it’s some kind of eugenics program? I’m sure all will be explained, even though the show hasn’t got that long to keep us in suspense.
I do feel sorry for Tiz, especially as Thor’s immediate infatuation with Karim was quite rapid and perhaps unintentionally amusing, but I can basically see why; Thor treats her like a sister figure (admittedly a sister figure who he’s going to sleep with during the next Kou no Tsuki, but hey, who am I to judge?) and I pretty much get why he runs after Karim; she’s pretty, she’s vulnerable-yet-strong like everyone else with two X chromosomes in this show, she’s VOICED BY PAKU ROMI…did I mention that?
Anyone know when the soundtrack is due out? I occasionally twig how awesome it is, but it’s fairly sparse in true Mizoguchi style; there’s one piece in particular that usually gets played towards the end of episodes that I really, really like, though.
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