(L) Star Driver: Kagayaki no Takuto

[Vallen Chaos Valiant]

Originally Posted by Dann of Thursday

It'd be an interesting thing if that actually ended up being the case, though thus far only Kanako has displayed any sort of interest in using Cybodies for the good of others and it would seem somewhat worrying to have a bunch of people running around with giant robots. That seems to be part of Sarina's reasoning anyway and it does have logic to it.

It doesn't matter what the Crux wants the robots for. This clearly isn't a battle between good and evil, to begin with. So there is no reason to jam one side with the hero tag while marking the other as a villain.

The Crux isn't fighting Takuto directly; they are fighting the mythical forces that held the island in place with cultural traditions and magic. Takuto is merely one of its defences taking human form. If and when all four seals are broken, it would no longer matter if Takuto was still undefeated; the cat would be out of the bag and Takuto would have failed in his mission. It is unlikely Takuto would have wanted to put the seals back even if he can, as Takuto himself doesn't really like what sealing would mean to Maidens.

Let's look at it this way; despite the imagery of implied gang rape in this episode, Mizuno appears to actually be better off at the end of it all. She is free, she still has Marino in some form, and they are going to go see their mother together.

Maybe this is all about tradition vs rebellion. After all, the Crux wears clothes that would be considered exceedingly rude in most cultures. But that might be the point of it all; they are telling their ancient culture to go screw itself.

[Destinyblade]

Originally Posted by Vallen Chaos Valiant

I think it is easier to think of the story from the antagonist's point of view. The Crux are the true main characters, and Takuto is the immovable object they are trying to force out of the way.

After all, Takuto protects the status quo. It is the Crux who wants to change things.

In that respect, it is clear why Takuto can't lose; though the Crux IS making good progress, as they did succeed in breaking another seal. Takuto can't undo the damage.

Well, the antagonists are more interesting because there's so many of them. Also, they each have their own motives for using the Cybodies in the real world. I am a little disappointed that Star Driver hasn't gone into that: I'd be curious to see which ones from the Crux would be more understanding, and which ones may be "evil" (like, using the Cybodies as war weapons or something like that).

Still, I wouldn't call the Crux the true main characters because of that. There've been many shows and plots where the protagonists are trying to keep things as is whereas the enemies want change.

It's not like an overpowering character as the main can't work: it's been done before and succeeded. However, even those characters faced problems of their own. As creb pointed out, it's bad when the main guy doesn't have anything to really struggle with: it's just not good storytelling. Sure, Star Driver is still likeable, but it would probably be even better if Takuto actually had some kind of internal or external conflict.

[Vallen Chaos Valiant]

Originally Posted by Destinyblade

It's not like an overpowering character as the main can't work: it's been done before and succeeded. However, even those characters faced problems of their own. As creb pointed out, it's bad when the main guy doesn't have anything to really struggle with: it's just not good storytelling. Sure, Star Driver is still likeable, but it would probably be even better if Takuto actually had some kind of internal or external conflict.

The obvious conflict with Takuto is Wako. Specifically, what the hell is he suppose to do with her. Wako is a maiden who takes her role as the guardian of the seal seriously, despite her desire to go to Tokyo. And Takuto wants to protect Wako, but at some point he had to decide if protecting the seal is worth keeping Wako imprisoned.

The Maidens are victims in all this; they didn't ask to carry the seal, and most don't even know why they should keep it.

[Dark Wing]

Originally Posted by Vallen Chaos Valiant

The Crux isn't fighting Takuto directly; they are fighting the mythical forces that held the island in place with cultural traditions and magic.

I cam up with this idea with Dann of Thursday sometime ago and it looks like we are seeing this teen rebellion unfold just like we said it would but The goal unifying the Crux is still the same breaking the seals to get the Cybodies in the real world. Each of the members has their own motives though. If they did achieve the Departue in all likelihood there'd be a lot of infighting about who has the right to do things with the Cybodies since they're all after different things.

[Vallen Chaos Valiant]

Originally Posted by Dark Wing

I cam up with this idea with Dann of Thursday sometime ago and it looks like we are seeing this teen rebellion unfold just like we said it would but The goal unifying the Crux is still the same breaking the seals to get the Cybodies in the real world. Each of the members has their own motives though. If they did achieve the Departue in all likelihood there'd be a lot of infighting about who has the right to do things with the Cybodies since they're all after different things.

It's obvious that those with the true marks are actually very few in number, so they would obviously win over the majority of the Crux. And Head is their leader, so you know at least that the civil war would be short and conclusive.

And finally, there is a very real possibility that some of the Cybodies might have a will of their own. So when it comes to it the Crux might have very little say on what the Cybodies will do if they lose control of them.

[serenade_beta]

Spoiler for ep16:

It was an amazing. episode...
Although kind of a shame Takuto is still taking out everything in his path. I don't really have much of a problem itself, but the fact the development this episode was (Takuto in danger --> All of a sudden, a new power activates and saves the day!) was kind of unfortunate... It happens often in anime, I know, but it still isn't a great thing.

Mizuno follows Sakana and leaves... It was kind of a horror, when her sister was like "I'm behind you..."


But I wonder what happened to the girl that was with Takuto and Natsuo in the past...


Still, ugh, that leader... He acts all tough and gets destroyed by the great Super Protagonist Power.
And what Ginga Bishounen?! At best, you're Ginga BiSEInen!
And Takuto's grandfather is Ginga BiJIJIi...

[Freya]

I was surprised Sugata didn't use his King's Pillar. He's been so trigger happy to use it and when Takuto REALLY needs help he doesn't?

[Dann of Thursday]

Originally Posted by Vallen Chaos Valiant

It doesn't matter what the Crux wants the robots for. This clearly isn't a battle between good and evil, to begin with. So there is no reason to jam one side with the hero tag while marking the other as a villain.

The Crux isn't fighting Takuto directly; they are fighting the mythical forces that held the island in place with cultural traditions and magic. Takuto is merely one of its defences taking human form. If and when all four seals are broken, it would no longer matter if Takuto was still undefeated; the cat would be out of the bag and Takuto would have failed in his mission. It is unlikely Takuto would have wanted to put the seals back even if he can, as Takuto himself doesn't really like what sealing would mean to Maidens.

Let's look at it this way; despite the imagery of implied gang rape in this episode, Mizuno appears to actually be better off at the end of it all. She is free, she still has Marino in some form, and they are going to go see their mother together.

Maybe this is all about tradition vs rebellion. After all, the Crux wears clothes that would be considered exceedingly rude in most cultures. But that might be the point of it all; they are telling their ancient culture to go screw itself.

It doesn't? I'd think it would help in increasing sympathy if we knew that some of those in the Crux actually wanted to use the Cybodies and their tech for the good of mankind rather than fighting for their own selfish reasons. I suppose there's nothing all that wrong about doing such a thing,

I guess this means the staff are failing to some degree with how they are presenting things as they have pointed out that Takuto is meant to be a person who will come to this island and destroy some of the customs and such that the island has held to for so long.

Still, it does seem they have common ground though they'll still never likely see eye to eye. Still, it's essentially a given that the Crux will succeed in breaking all the seals and achieving the Departure. That would free Wako and everything and allow Takuto to let her go to Tokyo and everything, but what then? Do they all just go about there business with the Cybodies everywhere and everything's essentially okay?

It would make sense that quite a few of them would be interested in basically saying that to their elders and the islands traditions, but I don't think that's a motivation carried across with everyone here.

I don't know, I apologize. I'm having trouble getting my thoughts across concerning this in an intelligent manner.

Originally Posted by Vallen Chaos Valiant

And finally, there is a very real possibility that some of the Cybodies might have a will of their own. So when it comes to it the Crux might have very little say on what the Cybodies will do if they lose control of them.

I'm curious as to whether they'll explore this more as they go along. Ayingott at the moment is the only one that's actively demonstrated a will of its own, but it came across as a somewhat odd case in how it operated. If any of them begin to demonstrate a will, I'd expect Samekh to do so.

Originally Posted by Freya

I was surprised Sugata didn't use his King's Pillar. He's been so trigger happy to use it and when Takuto REALLY needs help he doesn't?

It did seem quite odd, didn't it? It could be that, as others have guessed, he secretly wants Takuto to lose. Or, maybe he just kept hoping that Takuto would be able to overcome it on his own as he's done before and through the training he's given him. At times, he seems to place a lot of faith in Takuto's abilities and did seem to step up the training after his conversation with Head.

[j0x]

Originally Posted by Key Board

This is an endless loop

you just can not win against Tauburn in a duel. He's always one step ahead

I think the only solution is to gang up on him. If several crux cybodies can combine to form an even larger cybody that's even better

im thinking of that too, an episode where all the cybodies will be resurrected and team up to fight Tauburn

Originally Posted by Vallen Chaos Valiant

I think it is easier to think of the story from the antagonist's point of view. The Crux are the true main characters, and Takuto is the immovable object they are trying to force out of the way.

After all, Takuto protects the status quo. It is the Crux who wants to change things.

In that respect, it is clear why Takuto can't lose; though the Crux IS making good progress, as they did succeed in breaking another seal. Takuto can't undo the damage.

nice, i never thought of those

[Dark Wing]

Originally Posted by ckmox

nice, i never thought of those

Yea all in all Takuto may be winning battles but he's losing the war...

[molitar]

If Wako was correct in that Zero Time was crying from having the seal broken than that gives Zero Time some personality. Which we know Cybodies do have or the Evil one could not have taken over Marino that time. So my theory on the power up of Takuto is either Grandfather put several layers of seals on Takuto's power to limit him until it was needed or two that Zero Time itself helped Takuto as the one who has been trying to protect the Maiden and their seals. Every time it appeared Takuto was being defeated the first time he than pulled out the second Sword after remembering words from his Grandfather.. first power up? And now when his seal was completely being overwhelmed his power that was blue went to a new level RED and he defeated the head.

If Takuto fails and the cybank gets the Cybodies in Zero Time their goes the world as anyone knows it there is only ONE reason to want to free the Cybodies from the Island and that would be for POWER! There is absolutely no other reason to want to free such dangerous items onto the world except to possibly try to conquer the world.

Now on being more than one Galactic Pretty Boy it's probably Head's wishful thinking as he is not called The Galactic Pretty Boys but always referred to as The Galactic Pretty Boy which is singular in nature. Probably why Takuto is still stronger than the Head because his mark is the real and only Galactic Pretty Boy. And after seeing that Grandfather has purple hair definitely does look like the Head is Takuto's father and that neither Takuto or Grandfather agrees with what his father is doing and the reason he gave the mark to Takuto.

[Dann of Thursday]

Originally Posted by molitar

If Takuto fails and the cybank gets the Cybodies in Zero Time their goes the world as anyone knows it their is only ONE reason to want to free the Cybodies from the Island and that would be for POWER! Their is absolutely no other reason to want to free such dangerous items onto the world except to possibly try to conquer the world.

Not entirely. Kanako and her husband actually are thinking of the benefits Cybodies can bring to the world at large as mentioned by the others and brought up in the show to degree. It's everyone else, including Takuto and the others, that is really only thinking of themselves and their own desires.

We don't actually know what everyone wants to actually do when the Departure happens. Filament largely seemed concerned with restoring the honor their families seem to have lost due to losing the marks. Keito is still something of a mystery, but part of her motivation seems to be getting to Sugata. The Science Guild is probably only concerned with research. And who knows what it is that Head wants.

Most of the Drivers are teenagers and none of them seem the type to conquer the world.

Sugata did demonstrate a desire for power from apprivoising, which is rather worrying. The question I hope he tries to answer is what he wants to do with that power. Part of it would probably be to protect what he cares about, but another could simply be to get away from the island using it and no longer be constrained by the customs on the island.

[Key Board]

What to cover in 8~10 more episodes

4 more warrior cybodies to defeat barring cybody revivals.
rematch with head/takashi/ect?
new zero time song soon?
deal with samekh
explain what is it about Takuto that makes him different

[Dann of Thursday]

Originally Posted by Key Board

What to cover in 8~10 more episodes

4 more warrior cybodies to defeat barring cybody revivals.
rematch with head/takashi/ect?
new zero time song soon?
deal with samekh
explain what is it about Takuto that makes him different

9 episodes left.

Well, we have Takashi, Madoka and Kou. One of the Sword trio remaining. I'm assuming a rematch of some sort with Head. And Samekh for the finale probably so Takuto vs. Sugata in the end.

[wandering-dreamer]

I'm actually okay with Takuto winning all the matches so far (even though I was really expecting him to lose here) since, as others have pointed out, it would be pretty hard to repair Tauburn (at the very least he'd need to sneak into the GCB base and get some of their scientists to cooperate). Honestly I'm expecting the series to end with all the seals broken, all the cybodies destroyed and the island itself destroyed so this won't happen again (that volcano was active a few episodes back after all). I'm a bit surprised however just how easy it was to destroy Mizuno's seal, you'd think they'd at least make it harder to destroy a maiden cybody if they wanted to keep them sealed (although I have seen speculation that this is the job of Tauburn, to be the fighting power that keeps the maidens unbroken).
I was also puzzled why Mizuno stayed in Zero Time after her mark was broken and Mariano stayed around too. I had assumed that if someone's mark was broken they lost their first phase, I thought that Benio lost her power when her cybody was broken, but apparently not. Makes me wonder if Mizuno and Fish Girl will come back at the end and play some special role, probably not though.

[Freya]

Sugata probably going to take leadership of Crux for the lulz and then fight Takuto. Final boss.

[Kyouka]

so mad first the green hair now the pink hair is down 2 favorites is out of this series me is mad

[Arabesque]

So I watched the episode today, and while I enjoyed it quite a lot (I thought it was a much better ending for the arc than episode 8 was) going from the apparent end of Mizuno storyline which I thought tied up nicely with the other simultaneous threads going at the same times and I can say that it sort of breaks my heart that Takuto couldn't protect her or at least develop some sort of attachment to her. Exploring Takuto's past (as well as hearing Irino) was also quite the treat, and really gave us nice insight into what sort of change he went to thanks to his friends and grandfather, and seeing a maidens Cybody for the first time was also a nice change since we always have the Warrior types (as well as learning more about Star Swords and seeing some visual changes in Zero time) I had two issues, both relating to the fight with Head.

The first is that the fight itself was very underwhelming. It went from being one sided to Head's advantage to horribly one sided to Takuto's. I was expecting something more special for this fight considering that this was the end of the arc and Head's hype. Nevertheless, it was a fairly flashy fight, but I hoped it would've had more substance to it.

The more serious issue had to be the Tauburn upgrade. Now I don't mind that Takuto is wining constantly, as it's not the reason why I'm watching this show nor do I think that any of the fights really hold that much importance over the direction of the show (in fact very few can be said to be that important, and even in this episode the seal was broken due to manipulating Mizuno into the Crux's trap than beating Tauburn) but normally, we'd have a power up appear after alluding to it earlier or throughout the episode (sometimes it'd be like how Sugata used King Pillar to strengthen the Star Swords, or how his first fight with Benio made him prepared for the second etc.), or have Takuto come up with a new attack using his exciting tools (Kanako's fight) or even due to nonsensical reasons (Green, using Mizuno's spell) we at least had reasons. This time however, it ended up as coming from left field (I'm almost tempted to say ''ass pull'' but they might go back and actually explain what went on here adequately) I mean, what exactly made this come about? Head was sucking away Takuto's libido and then all of the sudden ... ?

The only thing I can think of is that once Mizuno's seal was broken all mark bearers leveled up automatically so Takuto moved on to the next Phase because of that. But they could've at least said so in the actual episode.

Regardless it was an enjoyable episode. I just wish they placed some more effort into the fights.

[Lumir]

This episode just goes to show that takuto's mark is the real deal. That dood who was going to finish him off said it...

"People with weak libido's mark will wither at the light of a star sword of someone in the 3rd stage"

Guess takuto's libido is stronger then any 3rd stage and strong enough to semi-transform taubarn into a higher form.

Now if you will excuse me im going to make friends with a dying person with a dream, see their dream for myself while falling into some tree's and get "a mark" lol. Sarcasm aside i think the history behind his mark could of been something more heroic. His radiance was discovered through someone else's ideal/dream in a way. Maby it helped him discover his own.. but meh~

[faiz blaster]

Just saw the new episode. I guess that with this upgrade it is safe to assume that Tauburn has advanced into Phase 4.

Also, since Head revealed a Galactic Pretty Boy himself, an old doubt started to bother me again: how is a Galactic Pretty Boy any different from other Star Drivers?

On another note, was that Miyu Irino voicing Natsuo? If that's so then... how can I say this... the fate that bind him and Mamoru Miyano (Takuto's VA) is stronger than I thought.