(CR) Gen'ei o Kakeru Taiyo -Il sole penetra le illusioni-

[orion]

Originally Posted by Tempester

I'm usually the one to dismiss lesbian undertones in anime as being just "close friendship" or what not. Yes, I can even look at Madoka and Homura's relationship in Madoka Magica to be nothing more than best friends.

Thus, I find the way this episode pushed Luna's romantic feelings for Akari to be quite bold, since yuri in anime is usually just used as a cheap marketing device rather than an important plot point. I'd like to see more honestly depicted relationships like Luna and Akari's in anime, rather than the typical "we're best friends 4eva!" stuff that doesn't develop anything.

I agree with most others here that episode 9 is the most powerful episode of Genei wo Kakeru Taiyou yet. The music in particular was gorgeous during those precious moments when Luna and "Akari" were together at the villa. Cerebrum had me completely fooled, although I really should have expected something when I noticed that Seira wasn't together with Meltina and Priscilla when they were in combat.

This episode was like a love letter to yuri fans, only the end of the letter just casually says "Oh, by the way, I killed your parents last night."

The relationship was all in Luna's head, not very healthy and led to her downfall. Even the otber girls noticed how possessive she was towards Akari.

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by orion

The relationship was all in Luna's head, not very healthy and led to her downfall. Even the otber girls noticed how possessive she was towards Akari.

Good grief, you're making her sound like a yandere. Or like Railgun's Kuroko. She's not that severe.

I don't think that Luna was under the impression that Akari would necessarily reciprocate her romantic desire specifically. However, Akari is her friend, and Luna has every right and reason to consider Akari a good friend.

It's true that Luna became slightly jealous towards Seira at one point, but I think Luna deserves credit for handling that well if anything. Luna never blew up at Seira (or Akari), she never passively-aggressively tried to undermine Seira and Akari's growing friendship, she never did anything wrong really.

And Luna was victimized by a slimy villain with great acting ability, it could have happened to almost anyone.

[Gohan78]

I think that they pushed the drama button a bit too much in the last two episodes.

In episode 8 there was no reason for Ginka to sacrifice herself. Etia even explicitly told them to flee if they met their anti-card. Also, since Anti-Temperance was talking about "merging" with Ginka, I would have asked her about that.

In episode 9 I think that they were too nasty to poor Luna. She didn't do anything wrong and still she's transformed into a Daemonia. If Cerebrum had the ability to forcefully insert a Diabolos Tarot inside someone, then why was he wasting time asking for the host's permission? I'd rather have Luna fall to the temptation after "Akari"'s rejection. Instead they wanted to keep Luna innocent while transforming her into a Daemonia at the same time, which doesn't make sense to me.

[MisaoFan]

Spoiler for Episode 10:

Episode 10 really pushes the grounds of the plot. You know when the story gets a lot grimmer such as this, it's not very likely for it to get an happy ending. According to the previous chapter, Luna is turned into a Daemonia and when Akari and her remaining friends are fighting another Daemonia, Luna starts violently biting Seira like a vampire, leaving the latter bearing a butterfly-like mark symbolizing her descent into darkness. Even Priscilla and Meltina are in a bad posture. Akari still doesn't have enough effort to take Luna by force and it's a failure for her so far. Cerebrum really enjoy playing the card of disguise and doesn't really care about what does people commits such sins. Even worse, people starts destroying Sephiro Fiore as if it was some sorcery building. The series almost destroyed any hope to use a redeemably happy route, not even Akari's teammates are going to stop. This series will close sooner and I'm feeling really bad for what happened...

[asaqe]

Originally Posted by misaofan

Spoiler for episode 10:

episode 10 really pushes the grounds of the plot. You know when the story gets a lot grimmer such as this, it's not very likely for it to get an happy ending. According to the previous chapter, luna is turned into a daemonia and when akari and her remaining friends are fighting another daemonia, luna starts violently biting seira like a vampire, leaving the latter bearing a butterfly-like mark symbolizing her descent into darkness. Even priscilla and meltina are in a bad posture. Akari still doesn't have enough effort to take luna by force and it's a failure for her so far. Cerebrum really enjoy playing the card of disguise and doesn't really care about what does people commits such sins. Even worse, people starts destroying sephiro fiore as if it was some sorcery building. The series almost destroyed any hope to use a redeemably happy route, not even akari's teammates are going to stop. This series will close sooner and i'm feeling really bad for what happened...

Spoiler for episode 11 spoilers:

セフィロ・フィオーレを追われたあかりたちは、助けを求め、占いの館に身を寄せる。自身の無力さを痛感しな がらも、ひたすら街を彷徨い、るなを探し続けるせいらは、とうとうある廃墟を見つけ出す。一方、あかりはエ ティアから自分の出生の秘密を聞かされ、衝撃を受ける。

[MisaoFan]

Originally Posted by asaqe

Spoiler for episode 11 spoilers:

セフィロ・フィオーレを追われたあかりたちは、助けを求め、占いの館に身を寄せる。自身の無力さを痛感しな がらも、ひたすら街を彷徨い、るなを探し続けるせいらは、とうとうある廃墟を見つけ出す。一方、あかりはエ ティアから自分の出生の秘密を聞かされ、衝撃を受ける。

Is it a leak? I usually go for the official website of Genei Taiyo to skim screenshots of next episode accompanied by brief summaries coming what's next every Sunday, but this comes today which is strange enough to be a leak.

[D-Joe]

Originally Posted by MisaoFan

Is it a leak? I usually go for the official website of Genei Taiyo to skim screenshots of next episode accompanied by brief summaries coming what's next every Sunday, but this comes today which is strange enough to be a leak.

It's in official site as usual

[Diveman]

Can these girls get a break already? so much stuff in the last 3 episodes.

Oh well, at least this episode solved a mystery that was bothering me since the beginning: Luna actually has big boobs.

[orion]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

Good grief, you're making her sound like a yandere. Or like Railgun's Kuroko. She's not that severe.

I don't think that Luna was under the impression that Akari would necessarily reciprocate her romantic desire specifically. However, Akari is her friend, and Luna has every right and reason to consider Akari a good friend.

It's true that Luna became slightly jealous towards Seira at one point, but I think Luna deserves credit for handling that well if anything. Luna never blew up at Seira (or Akari), she never passively-aggressively tried to undermine Seira and Akari's growing friendship, she never did anything wrong really.

And Luna was victimized by a slimy villain with great acting ability, it could have happened to almost anyone.

In that episode, Luna was looking for a "friend with benefits" or lover. She was too passive to do anything about Seira, instead choosing the "koi" pathway of relationship (longing silently for the person). "Koi" leads to a lot of heartbreak as the other person won't know squat as he/she is not a mindreader.

Friends at that age do not sleep in the same bed. This was pretty much going over into a yuri relationship. Unfortunately, the real Akari wasn't like that. So...Cerebrum tipped it over and lowered the boom on Luna.

This scenario only happens to those who are not honest with themselves and choose to remain passive in any potential relationship.

[Diveman]

I feel like, either they're gonna need to do a 2nd season of this or the ending is gonna be super rushed. Just now we are introduced to a new organization that sound like a bunch of assholes or well intentioned extremists that might or might not be relevant.

But so far, it feels to me like Daemonia has always been on the upperhand while our lovely girls have been fighting for pretty much nothing.

[Triple_R]

Episode 10 was impressively intense with break-neck pacing. I loved all the action scenes, all the highly varied Daemonia. This episode did a good job of showing how totally out of control the situation has become for our protagonists. The shit is truly hitting the fan now.

It's hard to see how our protagonists bounce back from this. The protagonist organization seems to be getting completely outflanked and outmaneuvered by the antagonists. Akari appears to have been isolated, and she must be growing weary both physically and psychologically at this point. This narrative is certainly testing her, and bringing her to the limit. Whether this is to make her comeback that much sweeter, or whether this is all leading into a Bad Endtm remains to be seen.

I do like Luna's Daemonia form. From elegant to completely badass, quite a change.

[GDB]

Just marathoned this today. Man, main characters dropping like flies. Also... Luna's daemonia form is quite erotic. Anything of "value" on full display. I also can't help but feel like Cerebrum is basically pulling a Knightfall on Akari now. Throw random minions at her to wear her down, take out her source of rest, and then swoop in when she's too weak to fight back.

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by GDB

Just marathoned this today. Man, main characters dropping like flies. Also... Luna's daemonia form is quite erotic. Anything of "value" on full display. I also can't help but feel like Cerebrum is basically pulling a Knightfall on Akari now. Throw random minions at her to wear her down, take out her source of rest, and then swoop in when she's too weak to fight back.

Awesome Batman reference. And yes, it fits.

I also agree on Luna's daemonia form being super-erotic. Maybe this is what Luna needs to seal the deal with Akari romantically.

[asaqe]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

Episode 10 was impressively intense with break-neck pacing. I loved all the action scenes, all the highly varied Daemonia. This episode did a good job of showing how totally out of control the situation has become for our protagonists. The shit is truly hitting the fan now.

It's hard to see how our protagonists bounce back from this. The protagonist organization seems to be getting completely outflanked and outmaneuvered by the antagonists. Akari appears to have been isolated, and she must be growing weary both physically and psychologically at this point. This narrative is certainly testing her, and bringing her to the limit. Whether this is to make her comeback that much sweeter, or whether this is all leading into a Bad Endtm remains to be seen.

I do like Luna's Daemonia form. From elegant to completely badass, quite a change.

Still, the fact that Akari at least could bring some sense back into Luna show there may be still be a flicker of light. But still...Seira's more distressing problem at the moment and Akari knowledge of the revolution will put them to the test

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by asaqe

Still, the fact that Akari at least could bring some sense back into Luna show there may be still be a flicker of light. But still...Seira's more distressing problem at the moment and Akari knowledge of the revolution will put them to the test

Well, the last three episodes of this show actually remind me a bit of the darkest portion of Mai HiME... and I think we both know how that anime ended.

In any event, I'm just preparing myself for the best, the worst, and anything between. It's hard to tell with these sorts of shows.

[Klashikari]

Episode 8 9 and 10 were "trying", but really fell flat in term of story telling imo.

I wasn't exactly fan of the narrative thus far, but I agree with Gohan78: the recent episodes were basically dramatic for "sake of drama" without much consideration with the plot in general.
Ginka's development and "death" (?) were basically set like a throw away character, with arguably a lack of tension with the very abrupt introduction of "counterpart card". There was barely any room for the audience to get the danger about these that she kicked the bucket without any proper reason, except that "the scripters decided to off a main character like that".

But suffice to say, episode 9 was really the episode that really didn't impress me one bit: having Cerebrum lurking like that screams haxx to scary degree. I get that the big bad can prowl around and tempt weak minded individuals to turn them into daemonia, but forcefully corrupting an elemental tarot user like that makes me wonder what the hell was he doing all of this time then.
Not only Cerebrum was able to probe deeply into Luna's wavering feelings and all, but he just screwed everything "just like that". Really, I can't take seriously this turn of events, especially right after the shoehorned "card counterpart" plot device which was introduced as suddenly as Luna's corruption.

The chain of events thus is just way too sudden with arguably little to no proper progression in term of narrative elements. Seira retired like right after these 2 episodes is even more obvious they just couldn't really make use of any character other than Akari for the rest of the plot.
And really, Episode 10 started as if a whole episode was completely skipped.

So, it felt like they really tried to rush everything to wrap it by the time of Episode 12. That change of pace is quite obvious starting episode 7.

[Diveman]

They need a 2nd season imo, if not, it's gonna look rushed and kinda bad. They can still fix what they did wrong, but only with a new season.

[Solace]

Originally Posted by Klashikari

And really, Episode 10 started as if a whole episode was completely skipped.

I disagree with you on this part. They continued right from the last episode. But I agree with you on the rest. The show is a lot of really good ideas hamstrung by poor writing. It's certainly not a bad show, but spending entire episodes on monsters of the week with little to take away from it really hurt when it came time to pull out the stops to the climax.

What's frustrating here is that the elemental users are crippled so much. The higher organization refuses to tell them anything, even holding critical information back because fuck you, that's why. Not knowing even an inkling of the motives of Cerebrum, the organization(s) he's working for, or the higher ups at this point is maddening. But villains typically reveal their motives at the end, so I expected that. The good team though? Are they even the good guys? Those damn animals don't seem to care about anything, including winning or losing. Elemental users don't grow on trees, yet they have no concern for their well being, no interest in anything except that the Daemonia are killed regardless of who is affected or any possibility of an alternative to defeating them without killing the hosts.

Hell, the conversations that Etia and Ariel have make it seem like they are under threat, prisoners even, that if they refuse to comply with the organization they will be killed or worse. And that's the good guys? Wtf?

Really at this point joining Cerebrum as a Daemonia seems like the better deal, because being a member of the elemental tarot club seems like a pointless hell. And Luna is kinda hot. Those are some amazing tits for a twelve year old.

Yeah, that's right, twelve. Akari is also twelve, Siera and Ginka are thirteen. And yet they're asked to deal with the mental load of killing monsters/people and saving the world almost entirely by themselves, with almost no support or counseling. With that kind of stress, I'm more surprised that they haven't turned into Daemonia faster than they already are.

[Diveman]

Originally Posted by Solace

. The good team though? Are they even the good guys? Those damn animals don't seem to care about anything, including winning or losing. Elemental users don't grow on trees, yet they have no concern for their well being, no interest in anything except that the Daemonia are killed regardless of who is affected or any possibility of an alternative to defeating them without killing the hosts

Hell, the conversations that Etia and Ariel have make it seem like they are under threat, prisoners even, that if they refuse to comply with the organization they will be killed or worse. And that's the good guys? Wtf?

Relating to madoka...I guess spoilers so:

Spoiler:

If we are to compare those animals to Kyubei, it seems like the writters took all the "assholery" from Kyubei and have it to the animals but forgot to add the important part "a motive". Since Kyubei is working for a "fair cause" (kinda like saving the universe from Entropy) I felt like he kinda was a "well-intentioned extremist" rather than an asshole mascot.

but here that crow and the stupid cat don't really explain anything. They always go "uhm ok yeah, we can't tell you"

Originally Posted by Solace

And Luna is kinda hot. Those are some amazing tits for a twelve year old.

Yes, oh damn yes. She really had them hidden since you couldn't really tell by looking at her outfit.

Originally Posted by Solace

Yeah, that's right, twelve. Akari is also twelve, Siera and Ginka are thirteen. And yet they're asked to deal with the mental load of killing monsters/people and saving the world almost entirely by themselves, with almost no support or counseling. With that kind of stress, I'm more surprised that they haven't turned into Daemonia faster than they already are.

They aren't by themselves though, there's at least 1 girl/boy (?) with a Tarot card's power in the world. I recall they mentioned something about different factions somewhere else (which is where the lovers user dissapeared from).

I guess it wouldn't hurt to join forces with those other users, specially now that shit is going all over their faces.

[Solace]

Originally Posted by Diveman

Relating to madoka...I guess spoilers so:

Spoiler:

If we are to compare those animals to Kyubei, it seems like the writters took all the "assholery" from Kyubei and have it to the animals but forgot to add the important part "a motive". Since Kyubei is working for a "fair cause" (kinda like saving the universe from Entropy) I felt like he kinda was a "well-intentioned extremist" rather than an asshole mascot.

but here that crow and the stupid cat don't really explain anything. They always go "uhm ok yeah, we can't tell you"

Right, exactly. And right about now we'd already be clued in to the motives, mostly. But we're not, and that's what's so irritating, because frankly if there isn't much to separate the good from the bad, why bother with it all? Yeah, human suffering...but while that's all nice and noble, all they've done, and all they're charged with doing, is basically going around mercy killing people.

There are tons of hints of a bigger picture, but never any gestures to pull back that curtain.

Yes, oh damn yes. She really had them hidden since you couldn't really tell by looking at her outfit.

I'm still debating on how much clothing is left, and how much is censored for television.

They aren't by themselves though, there's at least 1 girl/boy (?) with a Tarot card's power in the world. I recall they mentioned something about different factions somewhere else (which is where the lovers user dissapeared from).

I guess it wouldn't hurt to join forces with those other users, specially now that shit is going all over their faces.

That's true, but those factions aren't helping out here, and the impression I got was that while the organization is wide, it's not very deep. So resources are stretched, and that makes them vulnerable, as we've seen. The mood of the characters in general just gives me the impression that their overall battle with the Daemonia is not going well at all, and hasn't been going well for a long time. It's pretty obvious that the villains have had the upper hand for not just the entire show, but even preceding Akari joining.