But hey, another allusion to Hamlet!
My patience is wearing thin. I’m finding it harder and harder to enjoy this show. The narrative is just so bland and uncreative.
Notes:
• Some shows may have too many characters, but does it feel as though ZnT has too few? Of course, it doesn’t help that the black iron syndrome pretty much eliminates anyone but the main characters, but the anime just feels… dull. It’s been the same three kids as protagonists, and the same two mysterious men as antagonists — one of which has barely talked. There’s also Evangeline, but she hasn’t shown up recently. It isn’t until this very episode that we meet new characters.
• More boring exposition. More boring exposition as the characters from both sides literally walk around. The sad thing is that the bad guys only seem to confirm what the good guys are saying… so… awesome?
• But why? Why is all of this happening? What is the evil cult trying to accomplish? Thanks for asking! We’ll proceed to tell you why… through yet another boring exposition. But hey, there are blurry black trees on a red backdrop for you to stare at. That makes it all better. Then we see blurry fruits fly at us. Finally, a scrolling glimpse at the canopies of trees. Fucking top-notch storytelling, Bones. Gold star.
• I swear this is worse than The Lord of the Rings:
–
It isn’t until the seventh minute of the episode that our heroes finally stumble upon a location: an aquarium where Hakaze had hidden yet another one of her talismans. So walking and urban exploration.
• So another Hamlet quote: “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” Hamlet utters these words to, of course, Horatio shortly after the two encounter the ghost of Hamlet’s father. Horatio is a learned man, and as such, he can’t comprehend the existence of a ghost, but Hamlet assures him that there are phenomena out there that not all learned men can explain or understand. So how does ZnT employ the quote? To reinforce the constant theme throughout the narrative that logic controls and binds the events of the story. Nothing happens without a reason, including Aika’s death. Not that profound, however, because the theme is getting repetitive at this point.
• Judging by the way Aika keeps harping on and on about how everything happens for a reason, I guess she was at the time or used to be a member of the Kusaribe clan? I mean, who else would talk this way? Oh… well, maybe he’s a Kusaribe mage too!
• I suspect we won’t learn of the bad guys’ true intentions until we near the very end of the series, and judging by the way the narrative is shaping up, their true intentions will want to make us reassess the entire morality of the show: “Oh no, were they trying to save the world after all?” How do I know? It’s just the way information is being dealt out. Yes, the narrative is a clunker, but ZnT doesn’t strike me as a series where the good guys are absolutely good, and the bad guys are absolutely bad. Combine this with the way the anime is so secretive about any details regarding the Tree of Exodus beyond the fact that it supposedly “severs and destroys the reasoning of this world.” It just all adds up to a pretentious plot twist.
• Well, that bit of action is ultimately all too short. Shortly after skirmishing for a brief bit, our characters go back to — you guess it! — walking. Walking through this aquarium like it ain’t no big thang. But wait, where’s the exposit–… there it is! It wouldn’t be a ZnT episode without Hakaze telling us the same thing over and over: her clan derives its power from the Tree of Genesis, which is all about reason, reason, reason!
• “If everything happens for a reason… are you telling me that the reason [Aika] was brutally killed was so Mahiro would save the world?” Whoa there, skippy. That’s a bit of a logical leap, wouldn’t you say? Knowing ZnT though, this’ll probably turn out to be true.
• When Hakaze does manage to shut up for a second, the action returns. There’s no middle ground! Walking+exposition or pure action where guys zip around like DBZ characters.
• This time, the canopy of trees is accompanied by a slender leg. Sweet.
• We finally get to see a demonstration of Hakaze’s power. She’s strong, I guess.
• Choice quotes from the episode’s ending: “Boobs that don’t shake aren’t boobs at all.” and “She used to be a cute little kid who wet her bed.”
Hah, take that Hakaze! Strongest mage and a bedwetter. Good ol’ anime never lets tsunderekkos get too full of themselves.
• Stunning revelation: Hakaze is actually dead. Funny. By anime law, she’s too cute to be dead. I wonder…
FWIW, this episode is actually about how I thought all the episodes were going to be, albeit with less repetition in the dialog; a few episodes back it was just being pedantic, not repetitive, but now it’s definitely just repetitive. It’s an extremely talky manga and although not the greatest work it works better there than it has been working in this adaption.
The next couple of episodes are about where things either get interesting or I give up on it. The part I was interested to see is how they adapt the “debate” over Hakaze’s death that should follow shortly now. It has some unique aspects I hadn’t seen elsewhere before. Anyways, seeing it animated makes me think there’s a decent, I guess, “setting” (in an extended sense) here but it’s the wrong plot with which to work through said setting. If nothing else, it’s pretty boring.
Even better, I wonder if this shouldn’t have just been a book instead. I’m not a manga reader by any means, but I can’t imagine just going through pages of these characters just having a conversation. Maybe I need to see the manga myself to believe it can work in a somewhat visual medium, albeit less so than anime.
Hm, well, I’ll take your word for it. I have high expectations then!
Please don’t set your expectations very high! Also don’t get your hopes up too soon, I got curious and skimmed the early parts and what I’m thinking of probably won’t show up for another 3-4 episodes. So, yeah, it’s going to be an awful long while.
It might work better as a novel but in all seriousness I’d say that reaction faces have a lot of utility that’s extremely underappreciated by literary types, what with a picture being worth a thousand words and all that.
Sure, but I seem to be getting a thousand words thrown at me at the same time.
I agree the constant repeating of “logic” and all kinds of flashbacks aren’t really helping to move the story along. IIRC, it’s supposed to be around 13 ep? I thought by now, they’d be tracking down the murderer instead of wandering around the towns. After watching the OP, I thought Ken was a girl before this eps. I wonder if he will play a bigger role instead of minor friendly character A for our adventurers.
FWIW: I did glance at the manga for background info, and it’s around 7 vol ongoing, I don’t think there’s enough material for a longer series ;/
If anything, this seems like it should’ve been a shorter series.
“More boring exposition as the characters from both sides literally walk around.”
WHAT is WITH anime doing this crap these days?! I’ve seen this nonsense in a few others animes within the last year or so too, one of which being a slumbering little number you reviewed called “Fate/Zero”. Odd how, despite how so much is said, none of the exposition really conveys to the viewer why they should care.
My Guess: In the end the Tree of Exodus turns out to be an allegory for nihilism, with fruit that poisons those who eat it with the insipid idea that nothing in existence has any meaning, and therefore there’s no true value beyond simply existing. It leads to a clash between the trees and those who fight for discovering the governing reason of everything while those who ate the nihilistic fruit fight to destroy what they consider to be “the illusion of reason” (aka the other tree). This culminates into a massively exciting climax where, alone in a plain white room, two characters stare at each other in intense philosophical thought until their veins pop on their heads and blood shoots from their nose. Then someone suggests that it doesn’t matter since technically both philosophies are right since “reality” is simultaneously perceived by different individuals in different ways, thus being in a philosophical state of infinite states of philosophy and then everything explodes to reveal a panda dressed as Hamlet and scratching itself to pretentious melodrama written by overreaching authors who chose to write about subjects they bothered not studying before committing to paper.
…Just my opinion, of course.
On a more serious and personal note: I hope there’s hope for things to get better for you, E Minor, and I pray things get better for you sooner than later. You’re a good reviewer, you seem like a good bloke, and your posts certainly keep my own problems from overwhelming me. I hope for the best for you, mate.
-Also, keep fighting to never let those issues that plague you smother your talent and wit. I hope I don’t sound like an ass when I say this, but I know how hard it is to write when it feels like the world is collapsing around you. Even if the volcanoes blow and the storms intensify, never surrender to that hound that keeps you from enjoying and exploring your gift!
…Probably overshot it with that last remark, but I hope you know what I mean. Please don’t let what is harming you rip you away from your art.
Even if that art just so happens to be reviewing anime for a laugh (and for the occasional moment of introspection). haha
Every time I complain about boring exposition, someone inevitably chimes in to defend the anime because it’s “world-building.” So there’s your answer. Everyone’s doing it because anime fans will defend almost anything.
Uh…
Haha! I knew I overshot it with that cheesy inspirational nonsense. Sorry for the sentimentality, mate. It’s an old fault of mine. haha
I hope I at least managed to bring a chuckle to you.
“Anime fans will defend almost anything.”
Too damn true. It’s amazing that, with so many stories (anime and otherwise) that clearly show you how to do world building -properly-, people still seem to think flat exposition is necessary.
Wait, Hakaze’s dead? Fuck, now I’m actually a teensy bit curious again.
You’ll just get burned.