So apparently last episode concluded the material originally covered by the OVAs. Which, first of all, seems kind of crazy to me. I’ve heard from people who watched the OVAs that the current season’s patchwork nature is fairly apparent, but as a first-time watcher, this has all felt like a remarkably cohesive work – each episode seems paced extremely well, each episode has told its own cohesive current story, each episode has also detailed the life story and motivation of one of our principles while knocking the overarching plot a few feet down the road. Episode two built perfectly towards the source of Koto’s confidence – episode five neatly danced around and then revealed the nature of Myoe’s emptiness. If this is what the show can do even while working around existing material, then…
Well, I’m excited to see what happens next.
Episode 6
1:54 – These shots are beautiful. The lighting is so stark in the real world
3:16 – Kind of a loaded word choice in the context of this show
4:06 – One mystery explained
4:32 – And he has her feed it to him, so they are both his parents in his life reborn. I guess we didn’t have to stretch to explain the pomegranate – the show designs its own creation myths
5:42 – The beauty of the actual world is less ostentatious than the Mirror City, but impressive in its own right. This show better sell well – I can’t wait to see what new vision this director will bring us next
6:25 – Speaking of direction. I love how they’re now framing the monk as this dark, forbidding figure. Episode 1 was largely his view of the world, but it looks very different from young Myoe’s perspective
And of course the soundtrack here is perfect, but in this show “perfect sound design” goes without saying
7:22 – Dear lord. They’re not pulling any punches
7:56 – The monk is great. More gods should have this kind of attitude
Of course, to young Myoe, this is the worst curse imaginable
8:25 – Oh, he’s used to it. Any more than that…
8:50 – The anime answer to all conflict. ”I’ll despise you forever!” -stomach growls- “But I guess I could eat first.”
8:58 – They’re… really not half-assing this. His non-quest to find meaning is actually one of the central aims of the show, and they’re treating his feelings with the gravity they deserve.
Man, every episode with this show
9:41 – Another very well-chosen song. I’m also a big fan of the way this director cuts these montages together – the ones in the first (when the full family was being introduced) and second (during Koto’s silent walks) episodes were great as well
10:44 – I’m not sure Yase would approve of her portrait
10:52 – Those damn animals. I haven’t really seen anything consistent to their appearances – they show up fairly often at a variety of times. There was one shot where young Myoe was accompanied by two of them, leading me to think they represent the three siblings. But here…
11:18 – Nice choice
11:51 – What a beautiful shot. I love how the foreground leaves frame the temple here
12:12 – She understands Yase’s feelings well. I love how even those out-of-focus background leaves have the false white outline of all Mirror City objects
12:28 – Even Koto can be a little subtle when she wants to. Your family doesn’t have to be set in stone. Another great camera angle, too
13:51 – These two make for pretty adorable siblings
14:20 – One more nice shot here. I like how they intentionally add foreground elements to give depth to shots intended to look overtly two-dimensional and painted
14:39 – Of course, we know from Yase’s episode exactly how Kurama tends to “investigate” things. He’s a chuck-into-the-station-disposal first, ask questions later kinda guy
15:05 – Love this expression. Yase is always great
16:29 – And here we are back at 00
16:52 – Hey, you know what’s the difference between this episode and 00/the ONA? I know the characters now, and actually care about them and their various goals, so their interactions have weight. I have some grounding in this world, context which provides meaning to their actions, since I know what they are and are not capable of. The things which are significant to these characters are now significant to me, and so when they say, “oh no!”, I think “oh no!”, and not “welp, something happened that must be important to these ciphers.” There is a status quo, and so when that situation is disrupted, it is actually meaningful.
In short, goddamn everything. If your description of your story starts with the first event that happens and not the first person it’s happening to, you are Doing It Wrong. Character is the gateway to drama, and if you take shortcuts to drama you might as well be writing Axe Cop
16:55 – It’s like this lame half-joke is given poignant resonance due to what I now know about Myoe’s personality and circumstances!
17:22 – And this reads as a legitimate betrayal, not just a thing that happened!
Sorry, I’ll stop. But seriously, my method of interacting with media is just in-freaking-compatible with that ONA as a work in its own right
18:16 – And now this is dramatic irony, and not the first line I actually agree with!
Sorry. Sorry
19:26 – She gets all the best expressions.
This scene is actually fantastic in its rightful place in sequence. So much unspoken resentment between the siblings being aired out
20:09 – No you don’t mean it you love each other!
20:28 – It’s actually kind of impressive how much context and subtext there is to every one of their lines given the events of the past five episodes. What was a pithy throwaway in the ONA now resonates both with his current personality and his own relationship with his parents
22:06 – Quite a skyline
23:00 – More prettiness. Kurama’s plan was flawless!
And Done
Welp, guess that explains how that piece syncs up. But… we’ve still got four episodes left!
Which is great, actually – I’d probably be disappointed if a story with this much emotional weight was concluded with some big action scene and Mom’s triumphant return. I don’t want these siblings’ issues to be solved by them getting everything they’ve wished for – that’d be cheap and meaningless. Dealing with loss, with ambition, with guilt, with the search for meaning – those are quests without easy answers. Once more, I’m left wondering where the show will go from here
“So apparently last episode concluded the material originally covered by the OVAs.” Actually even though this wasn’t an adaptation of one of the ONAs per say it did still use some footage from them, like that montage you were admiring at 9:41 (think it went on until 11:18), heck it looks like we might get some footage from THE VERY FIRST PV next week which blows my mind since 90% of that never made it to the OVA or the ONAs. And beyond that, when they showed the OVA/episode 0 some people, myself included, noted that there were a few problems with the continuity and you know what? This episode DIDN’T include those shots/lines so I think we can even say now that people don’t need to watch episode 0 to understand the show, they can start at one and still really really enjoy it! (and dammit I need to keep writing my comparison posts I guess, at least these won’t be as long).
As for the animals, noted at 10:52, my best guess is that they were Yakushimaru’s original playmates, I think we see a shot of him and Myoue drawing them out, and then Kurama and Yase came later to give him more “human” companions
Ahh, so I guess they didn’t QUITE plan out all of this beforehand – they did end up having to shift some stuff from the ONA. That makes me feel a little less terrified of their foresight.
That idea regarding the animals seems reasonable. I feel like their continuous presence would indicate some greater significance, but that definitely fits with their appearances so far.
Been listening to the soundtrack all day.
Wonderful.
Maaan, everybody’s saying the OST’s fantastic. I’m gonna hold out on listening to it until I’ve finished the show, so any songs we haven’t heard yet will be a surprise.
I think only 2 eps are left. We have 6, the 0 and the 5.5, so 8 all together. I mean according to MAL’s counting (I have the MAL updater). If it’s like that I wonder what they’ll do with them.
Hm. I figured 0 and 5.5 didn’t count, since them plus 10 full episodes brought it up to the standard season length of 12. According to ANN, it’s actually 13 total, with 10 regular episodes and one more recap or something coming:
http://www.animenewsnetwork.co.uk/news/2013-07-26/kyousogiga-anime-gets-tv-series-this-fall
oh, thx! well, we’ll see I guess. I surely want more as to enjoy and better understand it
Axe cop was an odd pot shot seeing as it was literally written by a 5 year old. I think he might be 7 now but that’s beside my point.
That was intentional – I’m not saying “fuck Axe Cop”, I’m saying that writing stories based on a series of events instead of a series of character actions and their consequences is basically writing a story the way a five year old would – “and then this happened! and then this happened!” etc.
And that’s my beef with Spirited Away, hue.