Wednesday, September 1, 2004

   So much for...
*sigh* I am posting! I promise! Really! ^^;

In the interim of cons and plans and plots, here's an anime-related entry grabbed off my xanga. So for any MKR lovers,haters,or people who've just seen and watched it, enjoy.
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Ahem...

GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

*cough* Sorry, but that was something I had to get out. Because I am annoyed at the moment. Quite annoyed, in fact. And one of the annoying things is, I'm not quite sure why.

NOTE TO ANY POTENTIAL READERS: The following contains MKR (Magic Knight Rayearth) spoilers, so anyone who hasn't read the manga and seen the series had better stop here. Capish? That's yer warning, folks.

Ooookay. So Nachan was finally buckling down to watch the MKR anime that Kenchan had so generously loaned her. After watching the first two and a half discs, she took a two week break. But due to a strech of boredom, she managed to finish the other three and a half discs within two days. Which is good, right?

It would be, if I liked the second half. The first half of both the manga and anime were pretty aligned. There were some minor battles added in the anime, as is to be expected. Inouva wasn't in the manga at all, but I didn't mind. The whole Clef turning to stone thing was kinda odd, but not too bad. I hated the part where Presea dies, thought the part with Sierra taking her place isn't terrible. All in all, I liked the parallels, and the first half of the anime was dubbed good stuff.

But the second half was something else entirely... *shudders*

The manga storyline was simple enough. The Magic Knights were still saddened over what they did to Zagato and Emeraude, and their sorrow somehow (*winkwink*) brought them back to Cephiro. There, they found that the world was starting to collapse due to the absense of a pillar. Also, the other worlds (Autozam, Chizeta, and Fahren) were invading, so they decided to fight for Cephiro again so they wouldn't have any regrets. Fighting, growing, yadda yadda... until Hikaru and Eagle went through the road of the pillar, Hikaru was chosen, dragged Eagle back through, made the wish for there to be no piller, yadda yadda. Good stuff. And Mokona being the world's creator was a great twist, that I thought really fleshed some of the story out.

But in the anime, everything was different. I mean yeah, they got back to Cephiro and everything was crumbling. And yeah, the countries were invading and stuff. But Nova and Debonair mucked everything up. Now, don't get me wrong. I liked Nova. The heart shadow was clever, and she couldn't be defeated by normal means. Hikaru had to accept her as part of herself, and learn to love herself. That was done well, and enforced what I thought was the theme of the anime- knowing yourself, knowing who you want to protect, loving them, etc.

Debonair, on the other hand, was pointless. While I liked how the citizens of Cephiro had to believe in themselves, that wasn't why she was there in my opinion. She gave the knights some big bad guy to beat at the end. And then Hikaru made her wish as pillar on her own? What was the deal with that? It totally dismissed the beautiful scene they had in the manga of the knights all reaffirming their vow to protect the ones they love, and to never have a repeat tragedy of what happened to Emeraude and Zagato.

Another thing that pissed me off was that Umi and Fuu took really backseat roles during the second half. Everything was about Hikaru, and Lantis, and Nova, and Eagle. The bond the three of them had, while they said it was stonger, actually seemed weaker. Especially at the end where all you could see was Hikaru and the "Proof of the Pillar" defeating Debonair.

And what was with that "Proof of the Pillar" anyway? I can't believe they just threw out the detail that Mokona was in fact the creator of the world, and that he summoned the knights back, and that he created Earth too. The living circlet was just plain boring, and the fact that they showed it every fecking episode didn't really help.

Which kinda leads to- I can't believe they actually made it so Hikaru and Eagle knew WAAAAAY in advance that one of them would be pillar! And they both told everyone, and Lantis knew, and they bargained with Clef... and Hikaru was so fecking calm. How?

And another thing. Eagle is NOT supposed to die! Nor is he supposed to hack up blood! His disease was supposed to be more like winding down of energy, and then he was supposed to make a slow recovery at the end. But I would've excused that had he not gone and gotten himself KILLED! That was not the point!

So now we go to all the lovey-doveyness. Now, some of it I liked. The Caldina/Lafarga coupling was done very well. Fuu and Ferio have always been great too. And of course, Emeraude and Zagato. Timeless. Umi and Ascot I liked in the manga somewhat, but I actually preferred how it was handled in the anime. Especially since Umi and Clef was always something I liked...

But... Hikaru and Lantis? Graaaaa! That wasn't supposed to happen! At least, not so OBVIOUSLY! What about Eagle, hm? Oh yes, I forgot... he's DEAD! I mean, come on! What about Lantis and Eagle? Eagle and Hikaru? No... no, Eagle and Hikaru was never top on my list. But then, I wouldn't be completely adverse to the three of them... ^^;

But my absolute HUGE beef with the anime is the very end. Including the non-Mokona bit, but more what happens after. How they all kind of admit (or decide not to admit >.<) they love eachother- and then they're back in Tokyo. Which would be fine... except they don't go back to Cephiro! At least not for a year, and by the looks of things, not ever! What about Fuu and Ferio? Umi and Clef? And, as much as I hate to say it, Hikaru and Lantis? What about all their friends back in Cephiro? Are they actually okay never seeing them again? Their friends, their loves? I just can't imagine that... it reminds me a bit of The Amber Spyglass, only this is worse. Much worse. Because I like these characters so much better!

GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!~
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Hope that didn't depress anyone. Or freak them out. ^^;

Starting on Naruto soon. Wish me luck!

Ciao!
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