[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by kuromitsu

Killing Zessica off would've made no sense whatsoever, though. Sure, it was a possibility, but then we would've had a character whose entire existence was basically "was a normal character, then she got hit by the Plot 2x4 and turned into an angstmachine, and then she died." Uh, okay, so the point is?

There might not have been a point, per se.

Zessica may simply have been a "plot device character". And there's no question that Kagura was a plot device character.

What I mean by a "plot device character" is a character that's needed purely to fill a certain role (or roles) in order for the plot to work. In other words, a character that's not important in and of him/herself - the only thing that gives him/her importance is the role s/he has to play.

Once such a character has served his or her role(s), what happens to them afterwards may well be immaterial (from a writer's perspective).

I think that Zessica was meant to add more romance conflict drama to the show (for its own sake), and give the show a solid action heroine to round out the cast. It was probably also planned beforehand for Zessica to be Mykage's convenient tool in the final act.

There being a lot of focus on Zessica's romantic angst was not, I think, primarily intended to make the viewer really like Zessica, but I think it was primarily intended to amp up the romance drama in general. This is where the writers goofed, in my view - They drastically underestimated how much this Zessica focus would cause viewers to feel sympathy for Zessica and hurt Mikono by sheer contrast.

Kawamori was genuinely startled at how poorly Mikono was received by a lot of viewers - frankly, he wouldn't have been startled if he had thought more deeply about how Zessica's handling would likely impact the audience. It strongly suggests to me that Zessica was largely an after-thought to Kawamori - a character that conveniently filled certain roles for him.


Look at where Zessica was at going into the last episode of Aquarion EVOL: Under Mykage's control, finding it impossible to get over Amata, and having played a key role in the deaths of the parents of the man she loves (notice how this last one was conveniently ignored?)

Is there any reason to believe that Zessica could totally bounce back from all of that in one episode, like she seems to have miraculously done in the last episode of EVOL?

I don't see any reason to.

And as for authors deciding last-minute stuff based on audience reactions... As I said earlier, Zessica has been obviously designed to be a fan favorite.

I think she was meant to be decently popular, but not as popular as the main pairing.

Kagura had a more steady death flag but by the penultimate episode it was quite obvious he would survive, the only question was how, since there seemed to be no way to do it smoothly. And well, they didn't do it smoothly. But.

You can't say that there was no logic to their actions in the last ep.

Characters as passionate about love as Kagura and Zessica clearly are don't get over a failed love like flipping a light switch, to the point that they're actually cheerleading somebody else getting with the person they love. That's not a logical characterization shift.

Sure, you can come up with a decent rationale for their final episode actions, but it doesn't mean it fits their characters any. Okada is not so bad of a writer that she wouldn't be able to realize this. No, I think that Kagura and Zessica becoming Amata/Mikono shippers was a clear attempt at last minute damage control - writing consistency be damned, we have to ensure this show actually sells!

(Also, in case of Zessica, what is "well-established characterziation"? The Zessica we got to know in the first cour, or the angstmachine she devolved into? Because the two are not exactly compatible in the first place.)

What I mean by "well-established characterization" is her extreme difficulty in getting over somebody that she has become interested in and/or has fallen in love with. This is a consistent element of her character. You can't show a character being like that for a long stretch of episodes, and then for her to totally get over it in the last episode.

Originally Posted by miketyson

Sorry Triple R, I can't see the "they were going to die" theory either, if they die beforehand it seems like it requires a huge revision of the finale sequence (who's going to be in the gattai with Amata then...Sazanka and Malloy, )?

I wouldn't be surprised if the original plan was to have Zessica kamikaze herself against Mykage while Amata rescues Mikono at the same time. Kagura would either be dead, fused with Amata, or be the guy that Amata has to overcome in order to save Mikono (so it essentially boils down to Zessica vs. Mykage and Amata vs. Kagura: The Final Round! for the last episode).

After thinking it through more I've come back around to my earlier take: this wasn't so much "steering the ship based on fan responses"

I don't think they steered anything based on fan responses... except the final episode.

Kawamori going out of his way to say to fans "the final episode won't leave a bad aftertaste in anybody's mouth" sounds like classic PR damage control to me. It also hints at the possibility that the ending has been changed to ensure that it won't leave a bad aftertaste in anybody's mouth.

As an aside:

Spoiler for Zessica speculation:

If I had to guess how they'd expand on Zessica's character they'd just say she was never happy and had been putting up a false front from the very beginning...and it wasn't that that first crush turned her into a wangstmachine, it's that it shattered her false front to reveal what she'd always been. Some of her early scenes fit this, what with the mix of wanting attention, being too-cool-to-care, wistful looks, and so on.

This is an interesting take on Zessica. I can see her as the genki girl that's actually very lonely on the inside and wants somebody to love (who will love her back). So this mysterious male outsider who just happens to be great in combat (but with none of the rigidity that can come with being a military-man) comes along, and Zessica feels like he's the perfect guy for her.