(L) Dance in the Vampire Bund

[germanturkey]

my god, what a horrible episode.

[Guido]

Quickly catching up with the rest of the fandom.

At the beginning, I praised SHAFT for puttin up those still-frame shots from cut scene to cut scene, however, I've grown annoyed about those shots during the course of the sixth episode.

This episode test Akira's trust to his limits. It puts a terrible strain for the boy since his innocence is now fading away, as entering to the corrupt world of politics and backstabbing that Mina has been dealing for decades.

Spoiler:

The point is that Akira can judge harshly Mina about her tactics, that at the long-term would ensure not only the survival of her people but also medium to be granted rights for property and public liberties.

On the other hand, means can't justify the means putting such an innocent child at stake, but this politics that Mina deals with and times of need require for drastic measure.

Nevertheless, Mina in a rare ocassion loses her temper since she's losing Akira while accomodating a place on Earth for her people. There was a following conversation that happened right afterwards that was cut off in the anime.

Mei-rin now's starting to bug me. I don't see her as a needed character for the overall scope of the storyline.

Spoiler:

My bet is that she's just under someone's else orders to turn Akira against Mina.

She proclaims to be sent to protect Mina and her bloodline, but I have the hunch that's just bull-****. I think she finds the whole frustrated sexual-tension between Akira and Yuki to be quite funny, and she's pushing Akira towards the edge.

My best scene so far was the church.

Spoiler:

That's a perfect setting for a Halloween scare. A stormy night brewing, the building inside all candle-lit, and irrational fear sweeping through all the minds of the helpless survivors barricaded inside, waiting for what's outside.

The guy that patted Akira's shoulder must be a vampire as well, because he slipped a smile once kaichou and the other vampires broke in.

[OkamiNoKaze]

Oh my episode 7, While with all the still shots and red screens, was pretty bad, I think when they get around to a DVD or as some said the Blu ray version of this episode and are able to actually finish it, could easily be one of the best of the series. Akira looked pretty cool there at the end.

[FateAnomaly]

I have no idea why Akira and Mina actually had to fight "to the death". Anyway, it seems that it isn't really that hard to kill Mina if the enemy really wanted to.

[Yorae_paladin1]

Originally Posted by FateAnomaly

I have no idea why Akira and Mina actually had to fight "to the death". Anyway, it seems that it isn't really that hard to kill Mina if the enemy really wanted to.

In the anime yeah but in the manga that whole nother story not quite alucard level but not as weak as this showing

[Master_Yoma]

Ep. 7 was very good with Mina wearing nothing more then a bed sheet

[FateAnomaly]

Yes, but what's the reason of her only wearing a bedsheet?

[germanturkey]

Originally Posted by FateAnomaly

Yes, but what's the reason of her only wearing a bedsheet?

so she could transform without tearing her school uniform, which essentially is her link to a normal girl's life.

[dojikyo]

Originally Posted by grey_moon

~snip

They feed on humans... Now this is a nature thing, it really is hard to emphasise with your food. How many of our real life population are vegetarians due to respect and understanding of animals?

~snip

While I agree with your conclusion, I find that statement somewhat questionable.

The vampire-human relationship shares some unique differences from the usual food chain relationship.

1. Plenty of vampires are "born" from humans and each of those vampires have memories of when they were human, at least in this series.

2. Vampires and humans communicate on the same level. They share comparable intelligence and language abilities.

So this is kind of an apples and oranges situation.

[Kaoru Chujo]

Originally Posted by FateAnomaly

I have no idea why Akira and Mina actually had to fight "to the death". Anyway, it seems that it isn't really that hard to kill Mina if the enemy really wanted to.

The reason for the fight was hard to get in either manga or anime, but was made a bit clearer in manga. I think they say the same thing in both, but it was said more briefly and allusively in the anime.

I think it had to do with the idea that meeting little Akira, and his promise to protect her -- when she had always been the strong protector/aggressor herself -- was a big turning point in Mina's life. It made her want to have a period away from the vicious life of vampires, to live like a human, and made her think that would be good for all vampires to experience. So she made the Bund as a place the wanderers could "rest their wings."

But if Akira ceased to believe in her and look after her, she would "eat" him, as she promised in the voiceover. If she couldn't have him as a trusting human partner, she would prefer to destroy him, as she said in both the anime and the manga. She is, after all, a vicious vampire, and not a human. Her sometimes actually seeming non-human is one of the good things about the story, it seems to me.

Spoiler for manga:

One thing I found helpful from the manga was when Akira's father told him to fight his hardest against Mina, because if he didn't she would kill him and probably kill Yuki, too.

I don't know how easy it is to kill Mina or any immortal vampire -- you'd have to get at her heart, it appears -- but her power over other vampires seems to be not from absolute strength but from being their master, in a kind of feudal sense. What happened in the fight was hard for me to see clearly, but the wounded bat-creature-guy seemed to be able to grab her, but didn't actually harm her. That was up to the human collaborator, who was not under the vampire feudal obligation. Maybe that "grab but not harm" thing applied to the earlier anime spider-monster, too. Not sure.

I liked the moment when Yuki tried to protect Mina. That was new in the anime and added something interesting, I think. Like accelerating the way Yuki developed friendly feelings toward her "rival."

But I'm prepared to be a bit dissatisfied with how writer Yoshino Hiroyuki arranges the story, since I felt his Macross Frontier was confused and hard to grasp, too, and I never did finish either Mai-Hime or My-Otome.

By the way, one thing I'm wondering is how young Dermailles could be the successor of his father if his father is immortal. Or are vampires just very long lived and not immortal?

Another thing I'm wondering is what Mina eats. Does she drink animal blood like the family of "vegetarian" vampires in Twilight? Or does she have a stable of humans hidden away somewhere whose blood is brought to her daily in wine glasses?

The fact that Mina was willing to use the child and the students as pawns to achieve the greater end of creating the vampire state is one of the best things in the story so far, I think. It is not necessarily true that the end never justifies the means. Unfortunately for our peace of mind, the greatest good of the greatest number is also a reasonable measure for morality. Leaders of countries often feel they have to do bad things for the greater good, such as starting a war before someone else starts one on you, or dropping an atomic bomb on a city to avoid years of fighting that would kill even more people.

And just to make this even more tl;dr, I liked glowing Mina, and the quick dark swirling around her (reminiscent of her speed in the OP), and the lightning over the church. Don't worry, we'll get a chance to see her naked adult form more clearly sometime, lol.

[Random Wanderer]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

But if Akira ceased to believe in her and look after her, she would "eat" him, as she promised in the voiceover. If she couldn't have him as a trusting human partner, she would prefer to destroy him, as she said in both the anime and the manga. She is, after all, a vicious vampire, and not a human. Her sometimes actually seeming non-human is one of the good things about the story, it seems to me. [spoiler=manga]One thing I found helpful from the manga was when Akira's father told him to fight his hardest against Mina, because if he didn't she would kill him and probably kill Yuki, too.

Part of her also hoped he would kill her instead. Fanged vampires are inherently self-destructive. She gave Yuki a talk about that in the manga. Within a month or so after the bund had been created, more than 10% of its population had already died for one reason or another. The ones who survive are those who find some sort of emotional anchor to cling to: something to live for. For Mina that was Akira, and the promise that he would always be with her. When he lost faith in her she lost that anchor. So she threw herself into that fight, part of her hoping to die.

[FateAnomaly]

What i mean about easy is that you just have to snipe her from far away. She doesn't seem to have exceptionally keen senses. Since she can't dodge the candy, she definitely can't dodge a bullet. Her command power actually require her to activate it. If she can't see her target, she can't command it.

[FuzzyWuzzy]

Originally Posted by FateAnomaly

What i mean about easy is that you just have to snipe her from far away. She doesn't seem to have exceptionally keen senses. Since she can't dodge the candy, she definitely can't dodge a bullet. Her command power actually require her to activate it. If she can't see her target, she can't command it.

That's like saying the U.S. president is so easy to kill since he can be sniped from far away. Didn't you see those guys protecting her. They have like total information about everything which allows the vampire queen to easily manipulate people, cities and even nations.

[Hedd]

Here's a thought. What if the incomplete episodes were a complete marketing ploy to encourage people to buy more DVD's and BR? I mean how many people were sweating to get the recent Bakemonogatari release with the complete Nadeko episodes? With hard copy sales the bulk of their income and the most interesting episode of Vampire Bund so far being the one that's "unfinished", it almost seems plausible that Shaft is getting into the marketing game with KyoAni. They say that any press is good press.

[FateAnomaly]

Originally Posted by FuzzyWuzzy

That's like saying the U.S. president is so easy to kill since he can be sniped from far away. Didn't you see those guys protecting her. They have like total information about everything which allows the vampire queen to easily manipulate people, cities and even nations.

Obviously they missed out the candy throwing girl.

[Forbin]

She's CIA, works in the background.

[Deadwings]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

By the way, one thing I'm wondering is how young Dermailles could be the successor of his father if his father is immortal. Or are vampires just very long lived and not immortal?

Imortal vampires should stay young forever. If they get "old", and can look "old" (we've seen at least one "old" vampire in this series), that suggests body degeneration and inevitable death. So they probably have long life spans, not inmortality.

Another thing I'm wondering is what Mina eats. Does she drink animal blood like the family of "vegetarian" vampires in Twilight? Or does she have a stable of humans hidden away somewhere whose blood is brought to her daily in wine glasses?

LOL

[Hedd]

Originally Posted by Deadwings

Imortal vampires should stay young forever. If they get "old", and can look "old" (we've seen at least one "old" vampire in this series), that suggests body degeneration and inevitable death. So they probably have long life spans, not inmortality.

I've heard that Mina retains her young body for whatever reason. If this is true then it bares to reason that Vampire appearance is unaffected by time and can be willed into any age the vampire wishes. Perhaps the "old" vampires wish to appear old as it projects wisdom and presence.

[Ascaloth]

Watched Episode 7.

Yeah, I think I was a little more lenient on this series than most, but even I have to say this was just....bad. Stuff cut out willy-nilly, stupidly fast pacing, still shots galore, and if I weren't a manga reader, I sure as well wouldn't have gotten what just happened by the end. Is this a result of the recap they're supposed to be showing next episode or something? What was that announcement about again, anyway?

[neshru]

Originally Posted by serenade_beta

I think it is Shaft's way of saving money (and not having to work) while pretending to be "Shaft" and artistic. For example... That episode of Bakemonogatari where they clearly didn't finish on time.

I wouldn't use that episode as an example... they weren't really trying to pass it for artistic or stylish, they did the only thing they could do so a largely unfinished episode could be aired.