(L) Star Driver: Kagayaki no Takuto

[FlareKnight]

Spoiler for Ep16:

Well certainly seems possible that Takuto's first phase really was that personality shift. Before he got the mark was definitely moving in a positive direction. But could see it responding to his desire to be more like his friend and helping things along there.

The fight could've been better, but was still a pretty flashy affair. Takuto got as much beat up as he ever has and really did almost lose right there. A better fight against a unit much more matched up to Tauburn. If it hadn't been for that weird power-up at the end would have been done. Still not sure what that was about. Maybe thinking back helped give him the extra motivation to not lose. Or his mark really is that unusual.

Glad that Marino was there in the end. Gave enough scares with her being missing for a long time, being inside the maiden cybody, and then Mizuno leaving on her own. While the seal broke guess this means her ability is still there. She might have been created, but has been a part of Mizuno's life so long that she is family. Anyways the sisters leave the stage and that takes care of the most serious female competition for Takuto other than Wako.

Things are at least moving forward. The Crux is in the third phase and only two seals remaining. One that is pretty easy for them to break and finally Wako.

[Shiroth]

Spoiler for Episode 16:

Shame there was no Star Wars moment, though it'll happen soon, i'm sure. Rather enjoyed this episode, though the power up scene was rather poorly paced and just flat out random. Ah well, most of them are.

There was a Gurren Lagann and Macross Plus scene in this episode, so they make up for it.

[creb]

Well, it's official.

Our protagonist will never taste defeat. Because, we all know heroes who never have to face adversity and grow from it are the best heroes!

With the new season bringing some anime worth watching, this has officially become not worth following.

And great job Marino. Showing up after your sister has her seal broken. Though, in all seriousness, I still see no reason why we should side with Takuto in protecting the seals.

About the only thing with any promise in the entire episode was that Sugata didn't intervene with his pillar. If that's a harbinger for his eventual kicking of Takuto's butt as his views on the whole matter start to tilt towards glittery, then I suppose there was something good about an otherwise horrible episode.

[Stefkov]

Spoiler for Ep 16:

I really enjoyed this episode. Even though the fight might have been lacking a bit I still really enjoyed it. Takuto's finishing move was really cool.

I'm really interested in what happened to Head's sword. The ability to suck out other's power to make them immobile seems like a really useful thing to have but it depends on the user. I would have thought Takuto would have something like this, maybe it'll come soon.

I'm also curious about what Ivrogne said about the marks. It seems like Mizuno was quite powerful or something as she could resist being dragged into Zero Time. This might be why in a previous episode when Head was talking to Sugata, Head was still frozen when the world greyed out. He might also be powerful enough to resist being pulled in.

I didn't notice if Takuto or anyone else made a remark about how similar Head's Cybody looked to Tauburn. Or even him calling himself another Ginga bishounen.

Marino appearing at the end was really nice. Didn't they say in the past something like if you believe strongly in a lie/illusion then it will become real? How many years have Mizuno and Marino been together, all of the people in the school have seen Marino, etc. I'm not surprised she didn't disappear although I was expecting it.

Originally Posted by Shiroth

Spoiler for Episode 16:

Shame there was no Star Wars moment, though it'll happen soon, i'm sure. Rather enjoyed this episode, though the power up scene was rather poorly paced and just flat out random. Ah well, most of them are.

There was a Gurren Lagann and Macross Plus scene in this episode, so they make up for it.

I also thought of TTGL when Tauburn powered up.

Spoiler for Pictures.:

Really reminded me of

[Destinyblade]

Originally Posted by creb

Well, it's official.

Our protagonist will never taste defeat. Because, we all know heroes who never have to face adversity and grow from it are the best heroes!

With the new season bringing some anime worth watching, this has officially become not worth following.

I haven’t watched all the shows done by BONES, but the ones I’ve seen suggest that they always make the characters the central focus. This is very obvious because BONES shows are almost entirely made up of character arcs, and in some cases, the story/plot is like an afterthought. It sometimes makes me wonder if what they say in their meeting rooms is, “Oh yeah, we need to wrap up the story. Let’s do that in the last two episodes.”

Star Driver is no different from this. If they wanted the fights to be more suspenseful or take more of the center stage, they wouldn’t be doing a Cybody-of-the-week and make Takuto win every time. The Cybody mecha fights seem to be more of a gimmick to entice viewers to watch their show. As we’ve seen thus far, the show’s true intention is to explore as many characters as possible and develop them and their relationships.

That's what makes BONES so different from a studio like Sunrise. If this were a Sunrise show, the Cybody fights would have more focus and be very different from this.

[ars89]

Spoiler for ep 16:

Wako with her little screen time was funny.

So confirmed that Marino was Mizuno's first phase power. Sad that she left the island, but nice to see Marino appear again. So does that mean even if her seal was broken she still has her first-phase ability? Also why was Mizuno able to see Takuto's past?

So Head is also a ginga bishonen, also Reshbal looks very similar to Tauburn. Surprised no one thought of asking him what that meant. So no star-wars moment. Ncice to see Takuto actually losing, but seems like he activated his true mark and turned Tauburn into 4th-phase. Head was caught off-gaurd but he knew about that Mark, so that means he didn't know that Takuto had a special mark.

Nice to see Takuto's past. Finally got to see what his grandpa looks like. I'd say it looked like an older version of head mixed with a ginga bishonen flair.

I thought that Sugata would try to intervene when he saw Takuto on the floor, because he's helped him before when in a jam, but he didn't even try to help. Thinking he wanted to see Takuto lose.

So Keito's arc is next, i would think it would be short because she's already in the Crux and they easily break her seal, but we'll see her plans.

[lightbringer]

Originally Posted by Destinyblade

That's what makes BONES so different from a studio like Sunrise. If this were a Sunrise show, the Cybody fights would have more focus and be very different from this.

In a Sunrise show, each Cybody fight would last 1.5 episodes. Just the transformation sequence would go on for five minutes.

Maybe my demands for this show are not particularly high, but I'm still enjoying the fabulousness of it. Not a dull moment since the start, although I certainly agree that there are some pretty questionable moments as far as the actual plot is concerned. That's another thing Star Driver has in common with Utena.

[creb]

Originally Posted by Destinyblade

I haven’t watched all the shows done by BONES, but the ones I’ve seen suggest that they always make the characters the central focus. This is very obvious because BONES shows are almost entirely made up of character arcs, and in some cases, the story/plot is like an afterthought. It sometimes makes me wonder if what they say in their meeting rooms is, “Oh yeah, we need to wrap up the story. Let’s do that in the last two episodes.”

Star Driver is no different from this. If they wanted the fights to be more suspenseful or take more of the center stage, they wouldn’t be doing a Cybody-of-the-week and make Takuto win every time. The Cybody mecha fights seem to be more of a gimmick to entice viewers to watch their show. As we’ve seen thus far, the show’s true intention is to explore as many characters as possible and develop them and their relationships.

That's what makes BONES so different from a studio like Sunrise. If this were a Sunrise show, the Cybody fights would have more focus and be very different from this.

I think you missed my point. I don't really care about mecha fights. It's just that Takuto hasn't really dealt with any adversity at all with the season more than half over. Whether that comes via some glorified mecha fight or not isn't really the issue.

It's a very, very, very rare story, no matter if it's some Sunrise mecha-fest, or a touching character drama, that has a protagonist that never faces real adversity. I'm actually having a very difficult time trying to think of a show/story off the top of my head that featured a protagonist that never faced real adversity.

It's not like the creators of this show don't know what adversity is. Plenty of characters have had to face it. So, it's obviously a conscious choice of theirs to make their main character not have to face any. I just find that to be a very odd, and unappealing choice.

[FlavoryFantasy]

Spoiler for episode 16:

A good episode, but a bit disappointed too.

Like others I was really hoping for Head to win. Seriously didn't expect that 4th phase power up to come in such a pinch for Takuto!
Though one would wonder why the section leaders were only surprised Head had a mark. But not saying anything about Reshbal being similar in appearance to Tauburn & that he said Takuto wasn't the only Galactic Pretty Boy. Unless they leave that for later.

Keito also said something about if you're strong enough you can resist the mark and not go into Zero Time, that clears up why Head was still gray a couple episodes back.

Also Takuto's mark is just so special since when Head apprivoised he didn't get any new clothes!

It was nice to see Takuto's past though, his grandpa was pretty cool, and looked awesome!
Though dang flying and crashing for kids seemed like it was tons of fun too! I can say I'm jealous there.

I did like Mizuno & Marino's ending/reunion, it was touching. And Mizuno well go give a punch to her mother too, all is good!

Well next ep more Vanishing Age members, and hooray for Phase 3 for Crux, and hope for a Head vs Takuto rematch later since he didn't use those black star things like in the OP lol.

[ars89]

Spoiler for well just in case:

So now that we've seen Head's mark, it appears different from Takuto's mark. I'm sure that 2 people can't share the same mark at the same time, but since there's speculation that he's his father i would think they would have the same mark. Now we know that Takuto was given the mark from his grandpa. So does that mean that Head:
A) is not Takuto's father and just has his own mark
B) Is Takuto's father and his family has 2 marks, but only inherited one mark, and not The Mark, as in the one that Takuto was given
C) Grandpa is not actually Takuto's grandfather and just gave him his mark

[Freya]

Tauburn officially unstoppable. Close Head. You need another power up.

[Aqua Knight]

Spoiler for ep 16:

I think Marino didn't disappear because she was a clone not an illusion, and clones tend to be made of flesh, not some weird magic power so that's why she stayed.
Or am I completely crazy?

[Destinyblade]

Originally Posted by creb

I think you missed my point. I don't really care about mecha fights. It's just that Takuto hasn't really dealt with any adversity at all with the season more than half over. Whether that comes via some glorified mecha fight or not isn't really the issue.

I guess I should have been more specific in my response.

BONES shows usually focus more on character relationships and their backstories, but they're also very open-minded on what kind of characters they create. They focus on this so much that they tend to ignore what usually are big no-no's in storytelling. For instance, Takuto's "invulnerability" as a character (which is a little reminiscent of Kira in GSD).

So what I'm trying to get at is that I don't believe BONES really concerns itself with the fact that they made Takuto have no real struggle yet. They're jumping from one character to the next so Takuto probably won't face a problem until it's his turn to get the spotlight. Again, this is normally something you don't do when telling a story because he's not really "the main character" in a sense. He's more of an outlet to either solve or explore the difficulties of the other characters. But BONES doesn't usually follow the unspoken rules of telling a story: they seem to be more of a studio that tries new stuff out or mixing in a couple of things to get an interesting result.

They did the same thing in another one of their originals called Ayakashi Ayashi. They set up a "character arc" for the main character, Ryuudou Yukiatsu. Once his arc was done, the writers focused on other characters and Yukiatsu never really faced a challenge or had more focus.

Because BONES does this sort of thing is why I think their shows have mixed results in terms of commerical success and popularity. In all honesty, the only show I've seen from BONES that I would call an excellent show all-around (characters, story, art, etc.) would be the first Fullmetal Alchemist series, but that was a manga adaptation, so it wouldn't be fair to give the studio all the credit for that.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not defending the studio for things they shouldn't really ignore. I'm just explaining what I've observed, based on watching a few of their previous shows.

[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.

[Dann of Thursday]

Originally Posted by ars89

Spoiler for well just in case:

So now that we've seen Head's mark, it appears different from Takuto's mark. I'm sure that 2 people can't share the same mark at the same time, but since there's speculation that he's his father i would think they would have the same mark. Now we know that Takuto was given the mark from his grandpa. So does that mean that Head:
A) is not Takuto's father and just has his own mark
B) Is Takuto's father and his family has 2 marks, but only inherited one mark, and not The Mark, as in the one that Takuto was given
C) Grandpa is not actually Takuto's grandfather and just gave him his mark

Spoiler for Head:

I've been thinking the Tau mark runs through Takuto's mother's side of the family with Ikurou being her father, which would explain easily enough why each of them can have a mark.

Maybe there is also a possibility that several marks could run through a line.

Also, are we positive that Takuto's in the Fourth Phase with Tauburn? It seems the most likely, but could it be something else?

[IronFenix]

I don't see what's the big drama about Takuto never losing. Yeah, it would be more realistic if he loses at one point in time, but to write off an anime based on this is kind of ridiculous. Personally, he can win all he wants, I enjoy this anime for the character development and the story progression.

[Dark Wing]

Originally Posted by Destinyblade

In all honesty, the only show I've seen from BONES that I would call an excellent show all-around (characters, story, art, etc.) would be the first Fullmetal Alchemist series, but that was a manga adaptation, so it wouldn't be fair to give the studio all the credit for that.

Eureka 7 it's a great series and a prime example of what are talking about.

@ars89

I don't think he wanted to see him lose just that if he could really when without his help.

[Dann of Thursday]

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.

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.

Takuto does want to change things though. He wants Wako, and probably Sugata as well, to be able to leave the island though that seems very unlikely given how the island keeps them on the island now. Both seem to have similar desires actually, though Takuto quite frankly doesn't know as much about what's going on as them.

It still couldn't hurt the Crux to perhaps approach Takuto peacefully and actually try to explain their position. A little late in the game to do so I guess. It seems likely that Sugata will end up going over to them, perhaps out of a desire for power.


You know, I have to wonder what would happen if he did lose. Would he be unable to use his Cybody or repair it, thus putting him completely out of the game?

[AlphaDragoon]

Originally Posted by IronFenix

I don't see what's the big drama about Takuto never losing. Yeah, it would be more realistic if he loses at one point in time, but to write off an anime based on this is kind of ridiculous. Personally, he can win all he wants, I enjoy this anime for the character development and the story progression.

Agreed. It's not like him not losing fights is preventing the story from moving forward, as shown by the fact that...

Spoiler for episode 16:

...They still reached the third stage by breaking the seal. So even if Takuto keeps winning, if they break the seals it still spells bad times when Cybodies are in the real world wreaking havoc and allowing the Crux to have a stranglehold on the world. In order for Takuto to truly "win" he has to stop the seals from being broken.

[Dark Wing]

Originally Posted by Dann of Thursday

It still couldn't hurt the Crux to perhaps approach Takuto peacefully and actually try to explain their position. A little late in the game to do so I guess. It seems likely that Sugata will end up going over to them, perhaps out of a desire for power.

That would be so funny it were to happen!

Crux: Look I know we've had some disagreements in the past but you seem to be the strongest in the universe right now so what say we let by gone be by gone and join forces to change the world for the greater good.

Takuto:Umm...no

Crux: How about we toss in this FABULOUS uniform!

Takuto:

Wako: TAKUTO-KUN!

Takuto: I'm Thinking! I'm Thinking!

You know, I have to wonder what would happen if he did lose. Would he be unable to use his Cybody or repair it, thus putting him completely out of the game?

Thats must likely the reason the creators can't have him lose...It'll be hard to write a way to get him back in the game.