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View Poll Results: Shin Sekai Yori - Episode 24 Rating
Perfect 10 11 22.45%
9 out of 10 : Excellent 20 40.82%
8 out of 10 : Very Good 13 26.53%
7 out of 10 : Good 3 6.12%
6 out of 10 : Average 1 2.04%
5 out of 10 : Below Average 1 2.04%
4 out of 10 : Poor 0 0%
3 out of 10 : Bad 0 0%
2 out of 10 : Very Bad 0 0%
1 out of 10 : Painful 0 0%
Voters: 49. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 2013-03-16, 11:53   Link #21
kuromitsu
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Originally Posted by Kanon View Post
This is the first episode I feel was too slow paced. With only one episode remaining, I wish they hadn't spent so precious minutes on that chase. I'm afraid the ending is going to be rushed.
It's so weird that people think this ep wasn't paced well. What do you think of ep 23 then? I mean, the part where they had how many minutes of the group sitting and talking, then Saki and Inui sitting and talking, then the two of them trudging along in the cave, then Inui charging the minoshiro library critter, fiddling with the sub, Saki taking a bath........ and they didn't even do anything with all that idle time, no flashbacks of why Satoru isn't with Saki, no psycho buster letter, nothing.

I think this episode had just the right pacing, if they had sacrificed or shortened anything it would've seriously lessened the impact of the episode (as it is, they already cut things I had hoped they would leave in). Actually, if they're stringing everything on dealing with the akki then the pacing is just right. The problem is that there are so many other things to cover but at this rate I think they won't even touch them.

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Originally Posted by Kanon View Post
Humans apparently have a habit of destroying colonies for obscure reasons,
Well, it's not really obscure reasons, it's just that for the bakenezumi these reasons are hard to accept - you're going to kill us all because a handful of us are rotten apples? oh come on! (Though in any case they don't do it often, anyway.)

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Originally Posted by Kanon View Post
This is exactly what I argued in a previous thread. I fully agree with Kiroumaru's assessment of Squealer.
Well, of course Squealer also has an opinion on Kiroumaru...
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Old 2013-03-16, 12:06   Link #22
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Originally Posted by kuromitsu View Post
It's so weird that people think this ep wasn't paced well. What do you think of ep 23 then? I mean, the part where they had how many minutes of the group sitting and talking, then Saki and Inui sitting and talking, then the two of them trudging along in the cave, then Inui charging the minoshiro library critter, fiddling with the sub, Saki taking a bath........ and they didn't even do anything with all that idle time, no flashbacks of why Satoru isn't with Saki, no psycho buster letter, nothing.

I think this episode had just the right pacing, if they had sacrificed or shortened anything it would've seriously lessened the impact of the episode (as it is, they already cut things I had hoped they would leave in). Actually, if they're stringing everything on dealing with the akki then the pacing is just right. The problem is that there are so many other things to cover but at this rate I think they won't even touch them.
Episode 23 wasn't really an issue with pacing as it was about direction ... disjointed, choppy, lack of smooth transitions, etc. But this episode was just running, talking, running, talking ... They dragged out the whole "maybe the Akki really isn't a Fiend". I expected this episode to be more explanation-based starting with the Shun tie-in.

If anything, I was hoping that they would at least reveal the plan on how to exterminate the Akki and maybe leave off with the rising action.

In either case, I feel like they botched the past two episodes and therefore, sandbagged the last episode.

I guess we'll have to wait and see ...
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Old 2013-03-16, 12:08   Link #23
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Originally Posted by kuromitsu View Post
It's so weird that people think this ep wasn't paced well. What do you think of ep 23 then? I mean, the part where they had how many minutes of the group sitting and talking, then Saki and Inui sitting and talking, then the two of them trudging along in the cave, then Inui charging the minoshiro library critter, fiddling with the sub, Saki taking a bath........ and they didn't even do anything with all that idle time, no flashbacks of why Satoru isn't with Saki, no psycho buster letter, nothing.

I think this episode had just the right pacing, if they had sacrificed or shortened anything it would've seriously lessened the impact of the episode (as it is, they already cut things I had hoped they would leave in). Actually, if they're stringing everything on dealing with the akki then the pacing is just right. The problem is that there are so many other things to cover but at this rate I think they won't even touch them.
In retrospect, you are probably right. Having no knowledge of the novel, I had assumed there wasn't much left to cover so I didn't think too much about it, but now with only one episode left and the akki and Yakomaru still alive, it's becoming obvious the final episode is going to be fast paced.

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Originally Posted by kuromitsu View Post
Well, of course Squealer also has an opinion on Kiroumaru...
I'd be curious to hear that

Is that going to be in the next episode or was it already omitted?
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Old 2013-03-16, 12:42   Link #24
kuromitsu
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Originally Posted by sonagi View Post
Episode 23 wasn't really an issue with pacing as it was about direction ... disjointed, choppy, lack of smooth transitions, etc. But this episode was just running, talking, running, talking ... They dragged out the whole "maybe the Akki really isn't a Fiend". I expected this episode to be more explanation-based starting with the Shun tie-in.
But that's not a pacing issue? Ep 23 had at least 6-7 minutes of idle time when it was just people doing irrelevant stuff and doing talk that could've been done over montages and flashbacks. If the writer hadn't wanted to drag things out so they could make a big drama about Shun and end on a stupid "he's back! or isn't he!" cliffhanger, they could've made Saki locate the psycho buster by halftime, have the Shun revelation at 3/4 and they could've started setting up the Satoru scene by the end. That way, they could've had Satoru attempting to off the kid by halfway of ep 24, and by the end Saki could've been done with the explanation necessary for setting up the plan on how to deal with him (like you also said you wanted it to end).

Of course this way we wouldn't have had these huge, dramatic cliffhangers. "OMG IS SHUN BACK?" (nah) "OMG WHAT COULD BE HER PLAN?!" (...) Just smaller ones: "will Satoru die?" "ooo, are they going to do what I think they're going to do?" (or maybe "ooo, I think I know what they're going to do, but will it work?")

Apparently the writers preferred the huge cliffhangers. I personally don't think they were necessary, but I'm not a writer for this show, so.

As for not being enough explanation in ep 24, that's how it is in the source material. Sure, they could've cut Saki & Satoru's last ditch attempt to save the boy, or Satoru's attempt at taking him out, but I think these were very important character moments. (I would've RAGED if they had been cut, especially after the pacing mess that was ep 23... )

By the way, solely by page numbers they're actually doing well. According to my edition, they covered some 46 pages in ep 24 (36 pages in ep 23), and there's 43 pages left.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kanon View Post
I'd be curious to hear that

Is that going to be in the next episode or was it already omitted?
Technically it should be in the next episode, though I'm about 90% sure they won't have time to mention it...

Last edited by kuromitsu; 2013-03-16 at 13:00. Reason: one of these days I'll make a post that I won't have to edit later.......
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Old 2013-03-16, 13:26   Link #25
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Originally Posted by kuromitsu View Post
The problem is that there are so many other things to cover but at this rate I think they won't even touch them.
As a non-novel-reader, that's what I'm afraid of, too. It's as if, at some point, they switched the focus from setting dilemma to character drama, and character drama was never the strength of the show. It's still a great show (my favourite for two seasons running), but it might have been a masterpiece. At this rate, I'm afraid I'll have to seek out novel information to be fully satisfied with the ending.

Quote:
He is dead. He already said what he was - obviously people can interpret it in many ways, but I think the safest route is to take his words at face value, I mean he probably knows best.
No, you misunderstand. Of course, he's dead. That's why they can be together forever. Death is no longer a limit. All that has to happen now, is that saki becomes a gouma, too, and then they can haunt Tokyo togher forever. See? It's romantic (in a Byronic sense): they can give a lover's face to the curse of humanity.

Of course, nobody will remember them, so that means nothing. But, yeah, no plan is perfect.
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Old 2013-03-16, 13:32   Link #26
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Originally Posted by Dr. Casey View Post
Unless you mean her "bros before Minoshiros" moment, which was indeed pretty sad. ;_; Poor little guy.
That's a unique way of putting that scene...
I think this is the only thing I'll hold against Saki in this series. I can't believe she'd just throw the minoshiro like that. I know they needed a distraction to survive, but still ;_;
Throwing a cute living library like that, not cool.

Now while Saki did destroy the anthrax to save Satoru, it looks like it may have been the right move.
Regarding this from the last thread
Quote:
Originally Posted by SeijiSensei View Post
How Anthrax is Weaponized

"In order to cause disease, at least 8,000 to 10,000 spores need to lodge deep in the lungs, in the tiniest air sacs known as alveoli."

I wonder how much volume 8-10,000 spores consumes. The amount in the Psychobuster looks to be a few cubic centimeters.
Those bakenezumi had hazmat like suits / gas masks right? If there were any left over spores of the sort, then they may have been able to obtain them and cultivate them for future uses. Assuming if that is also part of Squealer's plan to secure enough weapons to use against cantus users in the world. Got to hand it to him if he was planning to create more of the anthrax. Truly planned well ahead.

Though I didn't see that coming in the ep, when Satoru broke the container, spores...don't move or appear like that at all.
Then again this is a pretty strange world so maybe it can I guess. (or it was just for us viewers to see only, but Saki did burn it all before it even reached the kid so...?)

I guess I can't wait for the last ep, but at the same time I don't want to see Kiroumaru die. It's great to know he wasn't working at all with Squealer with how some things were being speculated in the past couple threads. Such a shame he lost his colony, and his brethren who shared his culture. Poor guy has really nothing left...

Oh and it's a boy? Man that hair looks way to good for a boy who's been living with bakenezumi all his life.
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Old 2013-03-16, 13:47   Link #27
kuromitsu
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As a non-novel-reader, that's what I'm afraid of, too. It's as if, at some point, they switched the focus from setting dilemma to character drama, and character drama was never the strength of the show. It's still a great show (my favourite for two seasons running), but it might have been a masterpiece. At this rate, I'm afraid I'll have to seek out novel information to be fully satisfied with the ending.
Well, there's a lot that they wouldn't be able to touch anyway, simply because it's all narration that wouldn't work in animation unless they're planning to make Endou Aya sit in front of the microphone and read the last chapter while they show some random montage... But there are also things that, I think, are important enough to deal with in detail, to give them enough time, and I'm not sure how they'll be able to do them justice in such short time.

But hey, I'm just being pessimistic. Perhaps they'll manage to pull it off, in which case I'll be incredibly happy. This show deserves to go out with a bang. (Or rather, the story's own idea of a bang.)

As for setting dilemma/character drama, I don't know... I think they tried to mix the two all along, and I think they're doing it well. I think it's very important to remember that these characters are just humans (and bakenezumi), and their world is shaped (quite literally) as much by their feelings, moods and whims, as by their actions based on logical thinking.

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Originally Posted by Dawnstorm View Post
No, you misunderstand. Of course, he's dead. That's why they can be together forever. Death is no longer a limit. All that has to happen now, is that saki becomes a gouma, too, and then they can haunt Tokyo togher forever. See? It's romantic (in a Byronic sense): they can give a lover's face to the curse of humanity.
And now I imagined the Satoru-Saki-Shun trio acting out Wuthering Heights... (I hated that book)
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Old 2013-03-16, 14:21   Link #28
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Originally Posted by kuromitsu View Post
Well, there's a lot that they wouldn't be able to touch anyway, simply because it's all narration that wouldn't work in animation unless they're planning to make Endou Aya sit in front of the microphone and read the last chapter while they show some random montage... But there are also things that, I think, are important enough to deal with in detail, to give them enough time, and I'm not sure how they'll be able to do them justice in such short time.

But hey, I'm just being pessimistic. Perhaps they'll manage to pull it off, in which case I'll be incredibly happy. This show deserves to go out with a bang. (Or rather, the story's own idea of a bang.)

As for setting dilemma/character drama, I don't know... I think they tried to mix the two all along, and I think they're doing it well. I think it's very important to remember that these characters are just humans (and bakenezumi), and their world is shaped (quite literally) as much by their feelings, moods and whims, as by their actions based on logical thinking.
Well, I'm thinking about things like showing the letter with the psychobuster, and then completely ignoring it (maybe they'll still mention it, but I'm not optimistic). Also, sometimes they spend a shot too many on what I term Saki's eyes of dispair. Rather than giving me a feeling a sympathy, that tends to ellicit unintentional comedy. I prefer my drama more subtle. That is: less visualisation of the drama is actually more emotional evolvement: episode 19 got the balance right; episode 20 got the balance wrong (starting with the monty-python like squashing of the flower...) - if you see what I mean.

At its best the show is subtle and creepy and tragic; at its worst it's melodramatic. Don't get me wrong; it sounds worse the way I say it than it actually is, but I don't know how to make the point clear without exaggerating it.

Quote:
And now I imagined the Satoru-Saki-Shun trio acting out Wuthering Heights... (I hated that book)
Actually, I think Heathcliff:Edgar = Yakomaru:Kiroumaru. Maria is Catherine, and Saki is a more active Nelly. (I love the book, which is ironic considering I'm the one to complain about too much drama .)
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Old 2013-03-16, 14:53   Link #29
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Burning the Psychobuster, Saki? Seriously? I'd be pretty disappointed in her if she hadn't thought of something at the very end. I'm still a little disappointed in her. That was a dumb, weak move. The mirror trick was a clever try though. Trying to get the kid to kill a bakenezumi might also be interesting (but tricky to pull off).
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Old 2013-03-16, 15:01   Link #30
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First reaction:

Women.

Further reactions:

If the boy isn't a fiend (and I'd guess he's not, since that's become the in-your-face apparent the direction the story wants to take us), then the only obvious solution is for Kiromaru to kill it, since the boy can't kill him. Of course, the rats can, so whatever plan Saki is thinking up will require separating the boy from the rats.

I'm still a bit unclear on what Kiromaru's motive for helping the two is. He's becoming more and more evident as a pragmatist. I'm guessing in rat culture, there's no real possibility of joining a new clan somewhere else unless he was willing to just be a slave, so he's decided he simply wants revenge? Rather than striking it off and living on his own? It was also amusing watching him spend a good portion of this episode channeling much of the message board complaints about Saki. Though, in a far more calm, almost dignified, voice.

Of course, I think Saki will still try to grasp a solution that doesn't require killing the boy, if one rears its head. At the moment, she doesn't seem to have any more ideas in that direction. Let's just hope, for everyone else's sake, she doesn't have an epiphany about that right when they're closing the snare on their trap to kill the boy, and then ruining said trap.

In the bigger picture, I'm still unclear how this all will end. Saki, obviously, survives the ordeal.

Regardless of how it plays out against Maria's child, the rats have a bunch of other human babies to mold into weapons.

So, as entertaining as this cat and mouse with Maria's child is, it's relatively pointless in the bigger scheme of things, outside of giving humanity a few years of breathing room, assuming the series has any real grand scale message it wants to try to convey by the time the end credits roll. Of course, it may not, and this really may just be a very personal story and speculation over changes in rat/human society just an entertaining past time. Though I suppose we've already entered a "New World" in that the rats have reached a point where they can openly revolt against their overlords. Or, we were already in a "New World" from the very start, and the assumption that the title had anything to do with the conclusion was a flight of fancy.

Yokamaru simply isn't the type of personality you reach a rainbows and sunflowers agreement with. You either lose, or you cow him so hard into submission he won't be able to say your name without pissing his pants, at this point (or kill him, of course).

Edit: It's been a while since the beginning of this story, but am I recollecting things wrong when they had young Saki writhing in pain as a reactionary lesson against hurting other humans in that temple during her orientation? And, if I'm not, shouldn't there have been some feedback from burning the boy in this episode?

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Originally Posted by Tougarashi View Post
Saki is special because she has Shun inside her.
Perv.
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Last edited by creb; 2013-03-16 at 18:09.
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Old 2013-03-16, 15:03   Link #31
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This episode was heartstoppingly tense and pushed all the right buttons for me. Also for the first time in a while I got a feeling of hope from this; the idea that their world, and ours as well perhaps, can change for the better.

I'm also somewhat relived that the anthrax won't be used to kill the kid (and Satoru) because tricking it into killing itself, having Kiroumaru kill it or having Saki convert to child all seem like more interesting resolutions to the conflict than the indirect --and even anticlimactic-- way of killing it with anthrax.

Quote:
Originally Posted by kuromitsu View Post
Hiding behind the name of democracy he's trying to grasp all the power until [Yakomaru] becomes a dictator. Kiroumaru says that even under the rule of humans bakenezumi had been allowed to develop and nurture their own culture and customs, and follow their own way of life, and now [Yakomaru] is about to destroy it all with his new world order.
I really hope the ending will respect the audience enough to go a little deeper into Yakomaru's motivations than just: lulz evul wurld urder dictathurdurship.
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Old 2013-03-16, 17:03   Link #32
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I need to see the next episode NOW! My god, I had the same reaction as Satoru about Saki's ambiguous rambling.
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Old 2013-03-16, 17:19   Link #33
kuromitsu
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Originally Posted by Dawnstorm View Post
Well, I'm thinking about things like showing the letter with the psychobuster, and then completely ignoring it (maybe they'll still mention it, but I'm not optimistic).
Well yeah, that was a bad idea, but I think that was victim of the pacing issues with ep23. If they had cut down on the idle time they could've included a summary of the letter's too... (As I said in the novel thread, it's not particularly plot important but it's a nice piece of worldbuilding and places the thing in its proper context instead of leaving the viewers to wonder why the hell it looks like that.) Oh well, I suppose there's still a slim (anorexic, really) chance that they'll revisit it in the last episode...

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Originally Posted by Dawnstorm View Post
Also, sometimes they spend a shot too many on what I term Saki's eyes of dispair.
I think that was a directorial quirk? Anyway, it was mildly amusing sometimes but I didn't really mind it, I guess I'm just a jaded anime viewer who just takes these things at face value. (Unless they're really just too stupid.)

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Originally Posted by Dawnstorm View Post
episode 20 got the balance wrong (starting with the monty-python like squashing of the flower...) - if you see what I mean.
Oh, but ep 20 had that absolutely heartbreaking sequence when Niimi died, with the Dvorak melody (in the book it even has lyrics which just make the whole thing even more painful - I didn't know but apparently this is an existing song in Japan called 家路 "ieji" "the way home"). The start of the episode with people trampling the flower was indeed clichéd, but with Niimi's death sequence they managed to avoid the clichés, and it was really heart-crushingly sad and nostalgic and it pretty much made me cry so yeah. (It pretty much traumatized me so that I'll never be able to listen to that melody without thinking of this scene... )

Anyway, I think I get what you mean - me, I'm usually not very bothered about these things unless they get really obtrusive, and I think in SSY they mostly managed to do it well. Mostly. (Maria comes to mind.)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dawnstorm View Post
Actually, I think Heathcliff:Edgar = Yakomaru:Kiroumaru. Maria is Catherine, and Saki is a more active Nelly. (I love the book, which is ironic considering I'm the one to complain about too much drama .)
I....... I don't think I want to imagine this..........

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Originally Posted by creb View Post
First reaction:

Women.
Men, too. :P

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Originally Posted by creb View Post
I'm still a bit unclear on what Kiromaru's motive for helping the two is.
He also wants to stop Squealer? He has a problem with what Squealer is doing, he has been personally wronged by Squealer in very special ways (destruction of his colony, taking his queen, etc.), and he doesn't want Squealer to succeed with his plan. And he's noble enough to do something about it. Kiroumaru has a very strong sense of loyalty to his colony and his queen.

Quote:
Originally Posted by creb View Post
Edit: It's been a while since the beginning of this story, but am I recollecting things wrong when they had young Saki writhing in pain as a reactionary lesson against hurting other humans in that temple during her orientation? And, if I'm not, shouldn't there have been some feedback from burning the boy in this episode?
They actually wonder about that in the book - apparently, it's because by burning the anthrax she pretty much saved the kid's life, and burning him was just an acceptable side effect of that. She also didn't act with a killing intent and didn't attack the boy.

By the way...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tougarashi View Post
Saki is special because she has Shun inside her.
Uhh. Anyway, without any spoilers, not really.

Last edited by kuromitsu; 2013-03-16 at 17:44.
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Old 2013-03-16, 18:18   Link #34
creb
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Originally Posted by kuromitsu View Post
They actually wonder about that in the book - apparently, it's because by burning the anthrax she pretty much saved the kid's life, and burning him was just an acceptable side effect of that. She also didn't act with a killing intent and didn't attack the boy.
Ok, I can live with that. Intent + action required for the trigger, and while that seems awfully specific for what is supposedly a genetic trait, I'll bite.

Also, as much as I seriously did simply roll my eyes at what a 'girl' Saki was being, it was refreshing to see some aspects of the more admirable old (young?) Saki in her non-hesitation to throw the false miyashiro away as a sacrifice. I've always liked that aspect of her, when she was a kid, how despite her hrm....'humanity', she'd have her seemingly nonchalant moments of surprising brutal moments where her character reminds us that her value system is still very much set in her world, and not ours.

As far as the pacing disgruntlement some have, I suppose if I had a fixed image of where I saw this series ending, I'd be a bit miffed as well, but I don't, so I'm happy to just be along for the ride to wherever it is we're going to end. For all the big questions that have been discussed over the past many weeks, it can help to take a step back and remember this is a very localized affair that we've been watching, and it may be asking a bit much for it to have some earth-shattering conclusion.
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Old 2013-03-16, 18:21   Link #35
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Originally Posted by kuromitsu View Post
I didn't know but apparently this is an existing song in Japan called 家路 "ieji" "the way home"
Well, it's known as that, anyway. They really do play that melody over school speakers to remind people to go home if they haven't yet. Thought it was an interesting thing they kept from the old society in the current one in SSY.
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Old 2013-03-16, 18:39   Link #36
kuromitsu
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Originally Posted by roon View Post
Well, it's known as that, anyway. They really do play that melody over school speakers to remind people to go home if they haven't yet. Thought it was an interesting thing they kept from the old society in the current one in SSY.
Oh, I knew about them using the melody, but I didn't know there was a song, as in with lyrics. I knew there were lyrics in English, but I didn't know about any Japanese versions until I saw them in the book. (It's not surprising, though, it's such a lovely melody.)

Edit:
Quote:
Originally Posted by creb View Post
what a 'girl' Saki was being,
...It's late at night here so I'll just let someone take this up... ಠ_ಠ

Last edited by kuromitsu; 2013-03-16 at 19:00.
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Old 2013-03-16, 18:53   Link #37
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Regardless of how it plays out against Maria's child, the rats have a bunch of other human babies to mold into weapons.
With the akki dead? The humans have maybe ten years to rip apart the landscape and hunt down all the rats. And try and breed hunters like the cats or other counter-measures. Yakomaru's society has new tech and some dangerous creatures but I'd still give the humans decent odds.

That's assuming they don't reach some sort of peace settlement and the kids returned.
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Old 2013-03-16, 19:07   Link #38
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Originally Posted by kuromitsu View Post
Well yeah, that was a bad idea, but I think that was victim of the pacing issues with ep23. If they had cut down on the idle time they could've included a summary of the letter's too... (As I said in the novel thread, it's not particularly plot important but it's a nice piece of worldbuilding and places the thing in its proper context instead of leaving the viewers to wonder why the hell it looks like that.) Oh well, I suppose there's still a slim (anorexic, really) chance that they'll revisit it in the last episode...
The thing, though, with SF is that very often the setting is more interesting than the plot, and the plot serves to emphasise the setting, not the other way round. Plot-relevance is important, but often setting information is more important. On the whole, I'd say that the anime does a pretty good job.

I don't think ep23 had pacing issues. Instead I think they gave the episode to Inui, as he's important but had little screen time so far. They started with him, then he died, Saki cried, and the rest was a visual summary, until they ended on Shun (as a bridge). I honestly think they wanted us to grieve for Inui more than we otherwise would. Watch the show as a tribute to the man, and the pacing makes perfect sense. At least I think so.

That's the sort of thing I think is a bad idea.

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I think that was a directorial quirk? Anyway, it was mildly amusing sometimes but I didn't really mind it, I guess I'm just a jaded anime viewer who just takes these things at face value. (Unless they're really just too stupid.)
Maybe it's a directional quirk. I noticed fairly early on (episode 4, when they listened to the minoshiro, for example). It's a fairly established anime-technique, and this sort of thing usually gets processed automatically. It's sort of an indicator: when it stands out, something's wrong.

I don't really mind either, not in itself.

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Oh, but ep 20 had that absolutely heartbreaking sequence when Niimi died, with the Dvorak melody (in the book it even has lyrics which just make the whole thing even more painful - I didn't know but apparently this is an existing song in Japan called 家路 "ieji" "the way home"). The start of the episode with people trampling the flower was indeed clichéd, but with Niimi's death sequence they managed to avoid the clichés, and it was really heart-crushingly sad and nostalgic and it pretty much made me cry so yeah. (It pretty much traumatized me so that I'll never be able to listen to that melody without thinking of this scene... )
True, Niimi's death was perfect. That was a very effective scene. (Interesting information about "ieji". Thanks.)

Maybe I should have said the first half of episode 20? Not even that is entirely fair, since I thought the appearance of the "fiend" was top notch, too.

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Anyway, I think I get what you mean - me, I'm usually not very bothered about these things unless they get really obtrusive, and I think in SSY they mostly managed to do it well. Mostly. (Maria comes to mind.)
I'm just worried because of the ending. It's no big deal for me, either.


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I....... I don't think I want to imagine this..........
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Old 2013-03-16, 22:08   Link #39
Triple_R
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I disliked what they did with Kiroumaru here. In my view, it's the worst of both possible worlds.

If he had been playing the humans all this time, that would have been a very nice plot twist.

But no, he wasn't... however, his own schemes clearly weren't that much different from Yakomaru's. He too wanted to acquire a WMD that could make his people more powerful than humans.

Perhaps Kiroumaru just wanted that as a means of defense in case the humans turned on him, but if so, that could have been made more clear by what he said here.

Kiroumaru as an interesting counterpoint to Yakomaru really loses a lot of edge in this episode, imo.


I also sense a certain naive idealism starting to take the reins here, given the increasing importance of certain plot points. It's not the ending I would want for SSY if my suspicions prove correct here.


Positives for the episode was getting to see Maria's child again, and getting to hear Yakomaru again. These were both played very well for good drama and intensity.
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Old 2013-03-16, 22:42   Link #40
Kirarakim
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Originally Posted by Triple_R View Post
But no, he wasn't... however, his own schemes clearly weren't that much different from Yakomaru's. He too wanted to acquire a WMD that could make his people more powerful than humans.
But here is the major difference, Kiroumaru was honest about it. He told them that if given the opportunity or if he felt his tribe was in danger he might have attacked them too. More than anything that honesty to me makes him even more honorable.

Anyways I liked this episode but the Shun part in the beginning was lame, especially when they built it up with the cliffhanger and in this episode the scene ended in a flash.

My favorite part was definitely the mirror scene with Maria's child and hearing Yakomaru again (how I missed that bastard).

However I am getting nervous that they won't be able to wrap everything up in one more episode.


edit: Also I like Saki's decision to destroy the psyhcobuster. Was it the best decision? I don't know, but I am glad she stuck to her own beliefs and guts. I also like that it stemmed from not losing Satoru. I understand she put humanity at risk but instead she was thinking of the human(s) close to her which actually is a very human thing to do.
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