Quote:
Originally Posted by jeroz
personally i find the characters and set up to be the weakest part of the first episode
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Indeed, having thought more on it, that's my main sentiment about the episode as well. I love the post apocalyptic (kinda) setting, the gloomy and oppressive mood, the shadow politics behind the scenes, secret army divisions, rebel resistance, the works. The world setup is ripe for a great show, but it's the characters operating within said setup that didn't quite allow the first ep to truly shine.
Inori aside, whom I found aptly intriguing for the most part, the other two characters worth noting from ep1 were Gai and Shu. Gai is alright as the badass resistance leader (though they overdid his entrance, and him allowing Shun to simply run off with the genome was a bit ...questionable), but it's Shun that has the most negative aspect on the setup and the overall seriousness of the mood of the story. Which is pretty ironic, since he is supposed to be one of the central figures for the show to revolve around.
No, I am not talking about his personality, but rather the events that stem from his involvement. Namely, the last two or so minutes of the episode - I found them quite out of touch with the mood and identity of the rest of the ep. What had been a rather realistic, if a bit over the top, depiction of oppressive regime and the military's crushing down the opposition suddenly came to a screeching halt when a teenage schoolboy came yelling down the street, pulled a magical three meter sword from hammerspace within the main female's chest and proceeded to dice up a modern military vehicle.
This sequence of events seriously propelled the show in the eyebrow-raising territory for me, and was the main reason that prevented me taking the show seriously as a whole. Everything had been more or less perfect up to the very end, where the gritty realism took a backseat to the revelation that this uuber-secret weapon that the military have been developing is ... an oversized sword. Bleh. I felt somewhat betrayed by that being the big secret of the genome.
And that is my main gripe with the episode - everything would have been perfect, from fantastic visuals to occasionally gripping music to gritty, "realistic" setup, if not for Shu showing up and developing the ability to pull swords from female chests amidst all of it. Swords that are, apparently, superior to modern military equipment. It felt like a pesky drop of oil amidst an otherwise clear glass of water. It won't ruin the drink, but will make you wince at the fact it's not as good as it could have been.
Ironic, really, but the impression I got from ep 1 was that the show would actually gain from the absence of Shu, and the concepts he brings along with himself. Ah well, it was still a good start, better than most other things this season, but sadly the final few minutes felt like they took away from the great world building effort the episode did before them, rather than added to it.