(L+CR) Captain Earth (Bones)

[Frontier]

Was Captain Earth's premier anymore incoherent or crazy than, say, Valvraves ?

[FlareKnight]

Originally Posted by Esclair

Who's going to be Captain Heart then?

Clearly Captain Earth has learned from Captain Planet...no one cares about Heart .

[Vallen Chaos Valiant]

Originally Posted by Frontier

Was Captain Earth's premier anymore incoherent or crazy than, say, Valvraves ?

So far the key point is that there had been a secret, invisible war that took place in the MC's childhood that he didn't know about. And that the war has now restarted. Also note that the enemy actually used English too, suggesting that they are at least part-human.

From what I can understand, the MC broke into a secret facility as a child and ended up being chosen as a pilot by the powers-that-be without the facility owners finding out. This is why people were freaking out when the Earth Engine started moving when both the known pilots were elsewhere.

I am curious about the fact that the promo art showed four pilots. I find it unlikely that there would be more than one Earth Engine in the show, as it seems the antagonists themselves can't afford more than one weapon either. So is there going to be multiple pilot seats, or are they going to go the musical chair route and just switch pilots periodically?

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by Frontier

Was Captain Earth's premier anymore incoherent or crazy than, say, Valvraves ?

Valvrave's first episode was wilder, with more over-the-top elements to it, but its plot progression was very linear and you get a pretty good sense of most of the key characters right away. With Captain Earth, I get a pretty good sense of the male lead, but beyond that, it's harder to say.

So while Valvrave was wilder, it also was less mysterious. I'm generally fine with both "wild" and "mysterious", but I can see people liking one but not the other.

[Galaxian]

I'm far more interested in this one than I was with Valvrave after the first episode.

[apotheosis]

Originally Posted by Dextro

Eureka Seven, Wolf's Rain, Darker than Black, Star Driver... Yhep, almost all of them started with people scratching their heads over what the heck was happening. Seems to be a Bones specialty

And as soon as they answer the initial questions, that will only pose MORE questions

They like mysterious shows where you uncover layer after layer of schemes/plots/secret truths.

Sometimes they go a little overboard too. I didn't fully understand RahXephon until I saw the recap movie. Still one of my top 10 anime along with Darker than Black though.

[leokiko]

Well...that was a clusterfuck.



Will see how it goes.

[Wild Goose]

The combination sequence was fucking awesome, but I couldn't help but laugh nervously at how ridiculously easy it would be to kill everyone if someone fucked up.

Which, in all fairness, describes every space launch ever.

[Irenesharda]

Originally Posted by Dextro

Eureka Seven, Wolf's Rain, Darker than Black, Star Driver... Yhep, almost all of them started with people scratching their heads over what the heck was happening. Seems to be a Bones specialty

Originally Posted by orion

Eureka 7
Darker than BLACK
Star Driver
Rahxephon
Angelic Layer
Fullmetal Alchemist

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bones_(studio)

Ah, I see. I think of all those titles, I've only was able to finish two: FMA and Wolf's Rain. While FMA pretty much stayed with a pretty linear storytelling pattern, I can see what you're talking about with Wolf's Rain. I love both shows, but Wolf's Rain was more visually stunning to me, than the actually story itself, which in the end I had to actually do extra research on the web just to comprehend. FMA of course is just plain awesome.

Originally Posted by kuromitsu

There was a coherent plot line. Daichi lives an empty life after his father's death, until he sees a mysterious "rainbow" on TV that awakens memories in him and jolts him into action. He goes back to Tanegashima to visit his father's grave and the facility that was his workplace, and gets some exposition on his father who was a great "captain". The audience learns that Daichi's dad died fighting some kind of enemy. Daichi goes on to relive memories of a decisive incident in his childhood which is connected to the mysterious rainbow (meeting Teppei and the mysterious girl). Meanwhile, a mysterious organization launches Sakamoto Maaya's character into space who apparently attacks Earth. Daichi, now inside the seemingly abandoned facility, starts following a mysterious girl who shows him/makes him see a vision of Sakamoto's character attacking Earth. Daichi decides he wants to do something about it, so he basically plops into a mecha and is launched to meet the enemy. The end, be sure to tune in next week!

Just because there was lots of lingo and unexplained things and mysterious characters doesn't mean the episode didn't make any sense whatsoever... You're supposed to follow the show to find out what's going on.

I understand more from that summary you just gave me, than from watching the episode itself. I just didn't see any of that enough to put it together into one coherent whole. I see all the elements of what your mentioning. I got everything about the dad, Teppei, the attack on Earth and Daichi wanting to stop it, but that was about it. And even those things weren't presented in a very clear fashion to me.

I guess we process information differently, as you were able to follow and you're okay with finding out more as you go. I just need a more stable foundation on the first episode and then have further things revealed as the show goes on. I guess it's sort of like watching a premier and than watching the rest of the series just so you can understand the first episode. That's really not my kind of thing, as I'd rather they set up the premise in the first episode with everything clear, and then as the show goes on they reveal things that expand that world that's been set up and/or change the status quo that had been set up in the beginning. Maybe it's just a matter of preference. I didn't like Star Driver or Eureka 7 either, so maybe Bones' mecha series just don't work well with me I guess...

Originally Posted by Frontier

Was Captain Earth's premier anymore incoherent or crazy than, say, Valvraves ?

Actually, look at Valvrave's premiere again. Other than the after-credits stinger, they pretty much followed the mecha first episode playbook point by point. You know the standard, normal school boy has his life shaken up by war, in order to protect friends he decides to pilot a mech that falls into his lap, against an opposing enemy faction that was trying to steal it? Mecha 101 practically.

It wasn't until later in the series that things started to go crazy, but even then despite the twists, they still pretty much followed a linear storytelling pattern.

[Frontier]

Well, I honestly thought Captain Earth was also a typical Mecha premier .

Daichi is a normal high school student who happens to find a Giant Robot and fights the "bad guys" to protect the world around him. You also have various characters, terminology, and potential sub-plots introduced that will likely be explored over the course of the series.

If you don't mind me asking, is it just the non-linear storytelling, with the flashbacks, that's creating the disconnect with you?

[Jarmel]

Originally Posted by Vallen Chaos Valiant

I am curious about the fact that the promo art showed four pilots. I find it unlikely that there would be more than one Earth Engine in the show, as it seems the antagonists themselves can't afford more than one weapon either. So is there going to be multiple pilot seats, or are they going to go the musical chair route and just switch pilots periodically?

The other characters will probably fly the components that were in the different gates. There are four main sections so it matches up. It also allows the mech to combine if the gates get jacked up.

So in short, it's like GaoGaiGar.

[Wild Goose]

Originally Posted by Jarmel

The other characters will probably fly the components that were in the different gates. There are four main sections so it matches up. It also allows the mech to combine if the gates get jacked up.

So in short, it's like GaoGaiGar.

If they do a FINAL FUSION MANUAL I will be so happy.

[Gohan78]

I think there is a fine line between introducing some mysteries to stimulate the viewer's curiosity and making an outright confusing premiere. Unfortunately, Bones often errs on the latter side. The combination of obscure lingo, a plethora of barely-introduced characters and mysterious organizations made the first episode a mess.

The fact that the alien faction look very human (especially the mechanics!) only added to the confusion. I have patience, so I will keep following the show, but I cannot fault those who decide to bail out.

[kuromitsu]

I'm probably doing something wrong, then, because I didn't find the episode confusing at all...

[Chosen_Hero]

Originally Posted by Vallen Chaos Valiant

So far the key point is that there had been a secret, invisible war that took place in the MC's childhood that he didn't know about. And that the war has now restarted. Also note that the enemy actually used English too, suggesting that they are at least part-human.

From what I can understand, the MC broke into a secret facility as a child and ended up being chosen as a pilot by the powers-that-be without the facility owners finding out. This is why people were freaking out when the Earth Engine started moving when both the known pilots were elsewhere.

I am curious about the fact that the promo art showed four pilots. I find it unlikely that there would be more than one Earth Engine in the show, as it seems the antagonists themselves can't afford more than one weapon either. So is there going to be multiple pilot seats, or are they going to go the musical chair route and just switch pilots periodically?

About the pilots just think Star Driver and you'll know what to expect.

[Traece]

Originally Posted by Gohan78

I think there is a fine line between introducing some mysteries to stimulate the viewer's curiosity and making an outright confusing premiere. Unfortunately, Bones often errs on the latter side. The combination of obscure lingo, a plethora of barely-introduced characters and mysterious organizations made the first episode a mess.

The fact that the alien faction look very human (especially the mechanics!) only added to the confusion. I have patience, so I will keep following the show, but I cannot fault those who decide to bail out.

That fine line isn't fine at all where pilots are concerned. The main thing I'm seeing where Captain Earth is concerned, is a huge amount of people who don't understand the difference between important elements, and unimportant elements. I've seen people comment about how there are too many characters, or too many questions, and been completely confused by both.

A lot of the characters and mysteries of the first episode aren't relevant, and a lot of people are too used to this idea that every anime pilot should introduce everything in the show right off the bat. The reason why we don't know the names of every person on the station is because most of them aren't important, and all of them are irrelevant at this present time. Just as well, half of the lingo is going to be flavor text more than it is relevant.

This is a big reason why people seem to have this perception that Captain Earth is more confusing as a pilot than most anime. If I knew why the MC was pulled into this mysterious war between a mysteriously oversized space station that seems to have huge and invisible lateral thrusters and an equally mysterious lunar-based whatever, I would actually be forced to criticize this story for having too much exposition. Also, there would be a lot of us here complaining about Bones dropping infodumps in their pilot.

The short version is: A lot of this 'confusing' stuff isn't relevant yet, and most of it will be explained in the second (at most, the third) episode. That's how fiction works. Hell, that's how well-written non-fiction works. A well written newspaper article uses this same principle of leading with a teaser, followed by answers to all your burning questions.

[Eclipze]

I don't see how Captain Earth's first episode was anymore confusing than, say, Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei's first episode. The amount of unexplained lingo in that show's episode far exceeded Captain Earth's (...how many "unexplained lingo" where there really?), and the flashback shown at the beginning isn't even coherent compared to the rest of the episode and its progression.

The only thing that I could legitimately consider confusing was the part with the "enemy" faction. At first glace they were communicating with other humans and that made it seem like they were part of the earth protection force. Then next thing we know they launch an attack on Earth.

[Gan_HOPE326]

Originally Posted by Eclipze

I don't see how Captain Earth's first episode was anymore confusing than, say, Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei's first episode. The amount of unexplained lingo in that show's episode far exceeded Captain Earth's (...how many "unexplained lingo" where there really?), and the flashback shown at the beginning isn't even coherent compared to the rest of the episode and its progression.

The only thing that I could legitimately consider confusing was the part with the "enemy" faction. At first glace they were communicating with other humans and that made it seem like they were part of the earth protection force. Then next thing we know they launch an attack on Earth.

Personally I accepted the enemies quite readily, it's not unheard of that there might be humans or almost-humans acting against their own planet because for example there's a faction that wants to subvert the current government, or provide an external enemy to justify some extreme policy etc. Or it might even be some kind of Instrumentality-like thing - an insane plan that this specific organization thinks desirable. Or plain old terrorism.

What baffled me the most was everything that happened after that. Especially the part with the MC going from meeting a mysterious loli in the military base to holding some sort of gun thing to being teleported into the robot base to being accepted as a pilot and launched into space. All interspersed with talk about "Avatars" and what the hell I know. It was confusing as hell, at least usually your typical mecha kid just happens to find the giant robot and pilots it in an emergency of his own initiative. I got the feeling that they rushed because they had to show at least SOME action in the first episode (namely, the launch sequence) or they would have had a premiere which was only setup and character establishing moments - thought that would have been much better imho, it doesn't sit well with the need to get viewers engaged asap. I hope it's just that and the next episodes will pick up the story and give us some more clarity.

On another note, I didn't even watch Mahouka and from what I've read I don't think I'd especially like it either, so I kind of agree with you there.

[Eclipze]

Originally Posted by Gan_HOPE326

What baffled me the most was everything that happened after that. Especially the part with the MC going from meeting a mysterious loli in the military base to holding some sort of gun thing to being teleported into the robot base to being accepted as a pilot and launched into space. All interspersed with talk about "Avatars" and what the hell I know. It was confusing as hell, at least usually your typical mecha kid just happens to find the giant robot and pilots it in an emergency of his own initiative. I got the feeling that they rushed because they had to show at least SOME action in the first episode (namely, the launch sequence) or they would have had a premiere which was only setup and character establishing moments - thought that would have been much better imho, it doesn't sit well with the need to get viewers engaged asap. I hope it's just that and the next episodes will pick up the story and give us some more clarity.

From my understanding, he did not go to a millitary base - it was the abandoned facility where he had met Teppei + bubble girl (there wasn't any indication of it being millitary). He had gone there in hopes of seeing Teppei again (or from simple nostalgia), went to the door that originally led him to Bubble Girl, then finds that the lock broke. He goes in and meet the loli. (seems fine so far)

The loli he meets is quite possibly an alien like Teppei, and after confirming Daichi's resolve in protecting earth (after he was shown the invader), the loli alien/the gun-object teleported him to the base, where he meets the creator of the Earth Engine. Considering le rainbow ring by Teppei, teleportation doesn't seem that farfetched.

Whether or not this is considered rushed/bad writing is entirely up to your perspective, because I don't think this was any more nonsensical than how the other mecha animes handle their initial mecha aquiring scenes.

[anime fan99]

I am more confused about The two girls and the boy that wanted Daichi to go With them to the palace Will we see them again