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Old 2012-12-01, 07:08   Link #44
Malkuth
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Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: London
Age: 43
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Triple_R View Post
You know, for the longest time, people were suspecting Shun of having some great inner evil in him. Of being untrustworthy. Of manipulating his friends rather than being honest and sincere with them.

In my view, this episode completely and utterly blows those ideas out of the water. The poor guy calmly went to his death because he didn't want to hurt his loved ones anymore. Some great inner evil...
I agree, with one reservation... we are oversimplifying here with good vs evil. Think about it, Shun killed his parents along with probably many more villagers or at least that is what an outside observer will see, and for him that is definitely evil since he did it because he prioritized his own survival over so many others. But from his and his friends' perspective, he tried really hard to control himself, so he did the best he could, and ended up giving up, which is what one would expect, nothing more.

Labeling him as evil or not is just simplistic.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Triple_R View Post
So on what basis do people say that Saki only loved an idealized Shun? Because she didn't know all his inner turmoil?

But that inner turmoil doesn't change the sincerity of his love for Saki. It doesn't change his core personality. It just makes him a much sadder and more tragic figure. If anything, Saki learning more about the extent of Shun's inner turmoil in this episode merely made her love him even more.


Did Saki turn away when she saw what Shun had turned into? Did her love for him fade upon seeing the depths of his descent into becoming a Karma Demon?

No, not at all. In fact, it made her want even more to not leave his side!


I'm amazed at how many people can miss such strong, powerful, true love here.

Saki had just finished barely surviving an encountering with one of those PK-killing cats when she met up with Shun. You'd think the girl would be in a panic to stay alive! But even after that PK-killing cat encounter, all she can think about is finding Shun, saving Shun, and learning more about Shun.

Some questions to consider:

1) Who did Shun give the necklace charm too? Satoru, or Saki?

2) Who was the first to give up on trying to find Shun? Satoru, or Saki?

3) When Saki and Satoru were going through the Queerat War Adventure together, did Saki ever think of Shun? If so, what was her reaction to thinking about him?

4) In contrast to Question 3, did Satoru come up at all in this episode? Did either Saki or Shun stop for a second to think about their mutual friends?


You know, if I was in Shun's position, I'd probably want to send a farewell message to all my closest friends. The fact Shun never bothered to ask Saki to pass such a message on to Satoru, Maria, or Mamoru is telling, in my view. Especially since he went to great lengths to have a "10 minute" conversation with Saki (one that required him to have steely concentration when it comes to those orbs that were flying around).


I mean, short of becoming a "Romance as Primary Genre" story, what more can this narrative possibly do to show that Shun loves Saki more than he did any of his other peers? What more can this narrative possibly do to show that Saki loves Shun more than she did any of her other peers?

The implications are so breathtakingly clear, in my view.


But, in fairness, I will say this - There's a couple key pieces of information that the anime doesn't state explicitly that leaves things murkier than what they should be. Once you know them, a lot of things become much clearer, imo. If anybody wants to know what I'm talking about here, please PM me.

It doesn't spoil any future event, by the way.
A couple would be an understatement

Anyway, Saki hardly interacted with Shun (well as much as Mamoru), she had absolutely no understanding about the way he was thinking, and struggled with her feelings alone most of the time or rarely at a superficial level him. All her time with him was along with their friends, with one notable exception, which obviously everyone is thinking of... but that was it. On the other hand, she understands and is understood a lot more with Maria and Satoru. They mutually care about eachother, and had shared a lot more.

Now I understand that Shun was a very private person, but that did not stop him from opening up a lot more to Satoru, then Saki.
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