And with this, the focus on the robot building suddenly returns. This is what I meant by the previous episodes feeling a bit like acheckist, because I nearly forgot that that was also going on, even though it wsa the main focus of the series. They could have shown a bit more about the progress of the construction while they were doing the stories of the other characters.
Having said that though, the supercandy robot launch really was worth the wait and I really liked the moment in which the thing actually moved properly. And either way, the atmosphere of this episode was really, realyl good. Probably the best this show has been so far. The sense of impending doom worked really well for the largest part of this episode. And then “it” happened…
Just holy crap. I did not see that coming. Both of it. I did not expect this series to be such a deconstruction that it would actually tackle what would happen if such a giant robot would fall over. It also did not come to my mind that the robots going out of control also would mean that Kai’s legs would start to act funny. The ending of this episode was just amazing.
That’s the power of the build-up of this show’s first half, in which it tried to be realistic and believable without much of the drama. Because of that we now know the characters, which makes it all the more disturbing what happened. And to make things even worse there was that point in which Kai’s legs actually forced her to stand up again, hurting her spine in the process. I did not expect such a detail whatsoever in a show that so far had no blood or gore whatsoever. The impact of that single thing was much larger than, say, a show that consistently has people hurting each other.
Robotics;Notes, I applaud you.
Rating: 6/8 (Awesome)
Its a good episode review but there is a slight error where you mention Kai instead of Mizuka.
I completely agree with you with regards to the buildup, interesting what you said about deconstruction of the mecha genre.
Crap sorry I misread your review by skimming, my mistake…
But it DOES say Kai’s legs…
I was literally yelling at the Kai “knock her over! Then her legs won’t move!” Then he does and the thing stands back up with a snap that made me cringe… I was like… oh shi… *mouth agape*
@Spike….Me too T_T
I had really bad Lord of the Files flashbacks at that last scene.
I was screaming at him to knock her down too! Like, I imagine he must have been flustered, but come on. If from the front doesn’t work, for some reason, go from the side. If she is suddenly getting up and walking again, turn her around when she’s laying down. I dunno though, I suppose they were aiming for the water, not just walking in a random direction. I’m excited to see where it goes from here. I was just thinking how Steins;gate had already picked up by this point, much earlier even. Finally it’s really getting interesting. I’ve fallen asleep watching the past three episodes or so…
Flustered? He saved a naked Kona from drowning/wrist slashing suicide.
He knows how to be reliable when people are in fatal danger around him.
For me this was probably the worst episode of R;N for 2 reasons.
Firstly, I predicted someone will die in this episode. Psycho Pass and R;N always strangely mirrored each other, so after what happened in the last PP episode I expected a secondary character to die in R;N.
This is not the fault of R;N, it is just something that diminished that surprise for me.
Secondly, the scene with Mizuka completely broke my suspension of disbelief with 2 things. One, that exoskeleton does not have sensors to know where it is going, it is controlled by a joystick. As others said, knock her to the side, rotate her, or something like that. Even if it had internet connection (which it shouldn’t because it wastes battery) in order to be virused it shouldn’t know in which direction it is going.
Two, the way she got back up is implausible. The weight distribution of the human body doesn’t allow it, no matter how much strength your lags may have. Unless you are a trained gymnast and willing to do it you can not stand form a bridge back position no matter how powerful that exoskeleton is. She would have just lifted up and than fallen back down, especially the way he was sitting on top of her.
And another thing, those monopoles (never mind that they are supposed one of the rarest things in the entire universe – that is perfectly acceptable), they are supposed to be magnets with only one pole, therefore should either attract or repel each other, but they behaved like the had no magnetism at all.
From a technological pov R;N is waaaay worse than Steins;Gate. S;G only assumed you could build a time machine with consumer electronics and that’s it. R;N assumes a lot of things, to many things to remain plausible.
I am sorry to say but I am kinda disappointed by R;N, it just breaks my suspension of disbelief.
In the defense of the show, I should add that the part with the toppling giant robot was very well done.
However I think she will be the only death, he will survive somehow.
The more I think about it the more stupid it gets. I would have accepted quite a lot of things. from the exoskeleton overloading and making the batteries explode to it being neurologically linked and mind controlling her to commit suicide. Both of those would have been more plausible.
Here is what a lithium battery explosion looks like, flames and very very much smoke:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsgnZCEeqsE&feature=player_detailpage#t=162s
This would have been much more preferable than slowly waking towards a conveniently placed hole in a fence without any attempt to force her to change direction. She could still knock him away so he doesn’t burn with her.
That was just a massively idiotic scene.
You do have to consider that this is set in an era that technology have gone through significant advancement. I believe that the exoskeleton is connected to iru O.(updating software?) And I think it is unfair to criticize it without having much knowledge of the culprit and his/her/its motive yet. For example, We still don’t know whether the culprit is a human or an a.i. It might turn out extremely stupid, but its still too early to judge it.
However, the part where the exoskeleton defies centre of gravity was pretty weird. The only way she could keep her balance is if the sole of the exoskeleton is extremely heavy. If that is the case Kai would not have the strength to lift her up. That’s pretty basic physics, considering that an economics major like me knows these stuff.
Despite the problem I had with that scene, I think that the whole Mizuka incident did invoke huge emotional impact on me. I believe that the little lapse in physics will not impede the flow of the story….. Not yet. Let’s leave the criticism after episode 22.
pretty much this!
I was going wtf people for that whole scene!
I can’t believe people actually believe that b.s. scene and tried to defend it
*facepalm*
Haha, arent you guys taking physics in an anime a little bit too seriously? XD
Agreed. The whole scene was just incredible stupid to me. Questions like, who put that convenient gap in the fence, how can those legs keep perfect balance despite the fact that is absolutely impossible no matter what techno gadgetry you have, why is Kai just standing there staring when she just clearly told him that her legs wouldn’t stop?
That said Steins;gate had moments like this. It’s just that White fox was clever and managed to omit or keep them out of the anime. Things like a black hole being able to compress not only matter, but also data. Being able to activate a complex Hadron collider in another country remotely from japan. Or that if you must die at this time then you will die regardless of whether your death was natural or not. In the event nothing is there to kill you you will just suffocate on the spot. Oh and you can’t kill anyone who isn’t meant to die because something will always prevent you from doing so. Or that persons arc only in the visual novel which consisted of someone managing to time leap thousands of times despite that being well…pretty impossible.
The writer tends to do his research but when time comes to turn up the drama he then disregards common sense in favor of dramatic effect.
Thank you for enlightening me that White Fox had such a very significant contribution to making the S;G anime what it is.
I knew they were the ones who adapted it, and the ones responsible for the gray filter, but I didn’t realize their contribution was so significant.
That s:g stuff is interesting. Although, some of what was mentioned are somewhat valid theories if you inject quantum physics(the observer effect specifically) into the mix.. . .that is if okabe was the observer, he kept “observing” mayuri’s death by trying to prevent it so strongly that he couldnt get his mind to “observe” her living. kinda like saying “don’t think of the white rabbit” over and over and really that’s the only thing you DO think about haha. To me all the schemes was just an elaborate plan to get okabe to “observe” the outcome he wanted, so that when he “time traveled” he finally went to a universe that had the outcome he wanted, as the mind tricks at the end allowed him to observe that outcome. the other stuff though, yeah its good that white fox took that out.
that and the whole “it’s 20 years in the future, they could have invented something like that” did NOT read alex’s comment thoroughly enough.
besides if you have to speculate “well x implausible event could have been ok because its in the not so distant future” is bad writing, especially after the show went to great lengths to talk about the weight distribution of ROBOTS and then have the human leg thing disregard that.
yeah. . .no.
I am no expert on physics, so be free to call bullshit on what I am saying. But it seems to me like the exoskeleton was holding Mizuka up. If that is the case, isn’t it possible for the legs to bring her body back up if they are her support.
Well, you are just ignoring a lot of things, first it is pretty clear that online connectivity is common-place in R;N world and almost every device is connected to an online network (including all the small Pokecoms) .. so don’t give me the “it wastes batteries” excuse .. it is very obvious her exo-skeleton legs were hacked remotely and someone was intentionally controlling them and taking her in the direction of the opening in the fence of the cliff .. we already have seen that the 300 committee have tech even more advanced that the norm in R;N world (which is already years ahead of our world) .. and they hacked the robots in Tokyo before … all the exo-skeleton “accidents” might as well have been staged and meant to assassinate certain people who get too close to the truth, so this side of the scene is covered.
As for the part where her exo-skeleton forced to get up, your “no matter how much strength your lags may have” doesn’t make sense since we don’t know how powerful those mechanical legs are .. if it’s a matter of weight distribution then any weight can be lifted with if there is enough strength to counter it .. the point of lifting may indeed affect how much force is needed to balance things but there is on such thing as “the way she got back up is implausible”.
First .. the exo-skeleton has full control of her lower-half up to her waist, she can’t resist any of its movements, so if her legs are on the ground her thighs will follow since they are too connected to the exoskeleton (which is turn is why her back was broken since she tried to resist with her own weight and Kai’s weight) .. now imagine the rest of her body and Kai as a mass attached to lift with a powerful joints and it just becomes a math problem of how much force you need to lift that mass .. and why she won’t fall back .. simply becasue the joints in the exo-skeleton can lock movement in the opposite direction or lock movement altogether (specially at her feet) until the “lift” pushes her upper body up from the ground.
Second .. you can scream “but she is unbalanced and should take the exoskeleton and fall back on the ground” .. fact is the exo-skeleton bracer reaches above her waist line and above her center of mass (which is further down becasue of the weight of the exo-skeleton legs) .. not to mention it was clear the final movement that got her up (and snapped her spine) was done with rapid movement and probably max-power output of the joints .. it was more like a catapult .. that gave no chance for her to fall back .. if it was done much slower .. surely she would have fallen back .. but this wasn’t the case here.
I have to wonder, does the exo-skeleton have enough weight on the mechanical soles to generate the friction necessary for that kind of movement against the combined mass of Kai and Mizuka’s upper body (and part of the exo-skeleton as well, if it is that much heavier than we expected) ?
Cause I can easily image it slipping on the grass…
WASTES BATTERY! HAHAHAH WTF WHO’S ASS DID YOU PULL THAT OUT FROM!?
Apparently yours, Airies.
Really?
Really. I mean if you were being kind to the guy, I wouldn’t have said it. But you basically mocked a guy who was making a logical comment and he wasn’t even directing his comment at you. If you are going to disagree with something, the least you could do was be considerate to the guy and not act like an ass (pun intended).
True I could of, but I felt it was too hilarious not to laugh and point out. I should try harder next time. Also It wasn’t pulled out of my ass because he made that comment before I even said anything, so your accusation is wrong. I was just being an ass. 😉 lets just drop this now.
Okay. I DID make a horrible pun. Anyway, just try to be considerate next time is all I am asking.
Coolies buddy 🙂
You people need to calm down. It’s a cartoon for christ’s sake; obviously some unrealistic things are going to occur.
@HunterWulf: Excellent response bud. You actually used evidence supplied by the show to form a well-reasoned explanation of many of the things that people claim to be “impossible.” It’s all stuff they would have realized during those scenes, had they been paying attention.
Honestly though, people. Stop trying to apply real-world physics to something that’s fiction. In the real world, we don’t have the level of technology like they do in R;N. So it seems a little stupid to think that stuff in their world would behave exactly as they do in ours.
“From a technological pov R;N is waaaay worse than Steins;Gate. S;G only assumed you could build a time machine with consumer electronics and that’s it. R;N assumes a lot of things, to many things to remain plausible.”
People build robots all the time, and such things exist even in the real world (robotic prosthetics, AR devices on tablets,) if at a much more fundamental level. Also, we have hackers that regularly stir up trouble. However, as far as I know, time travel does not exist. And if it did, I’m sure the secret wouldn’t be discovered by some random chuuni otaku. If the latter scenario is more plausible to you, then I think you need to seriously re-evaluate what you consider to be “reality.”
@Airies: You should perhaps read all of the posts, then maybe you wouldn’t look like such an imbecile, posting in all caps like that. Also, it’s clear that he’s dismissing that idea in the body of his own post. Stop trying to act smart, please. It’s embarrassing to legitimately intelligent people.
Honestly, if you people have that much trouble suspending your disbelief with something like this, you might want to stop watching any anime at all. Or any fiction, for that matter. Something slightly unrealistic might happen, and then you’d be really disappointed.
how am I acting smart? I was just laughing because there was no information about batteries in the episode or about the fact it uses internet which waste batteries. Whats really embarrassing is you suggesting people stop watching cartoons or any fiction because they felt trolled by the end of the episode and wanted to share that. Obviously people cant be mad or have a negative opinion with being called names which is disgusting. Grow up I was just having a laugh!
“You people need to calm down. It’s a cartoon for christ’s sake; obviously some unrealistic things are going to occur.”
And there’s were I stop reading and disregard your opinion.
Don’t want to be captain obvious here but it’s not a cartoon, it’s an anime. On that note it doesn’t make a difference where it is animated or not. There is no reason why animated feature cannot be judged by the same standards as other mediums. What I am trying to say here is that pointing out that it’s animated doesn’t justify a serious flaw in storytelling.
And frankly this statement is ignorant and degrading to anime.
@Highfinder: I know what your getting at but phrasing it that way is going to send off some signals. Anime means animation and an animation is a cartoon, anime is a Japanese cartoon therefore anime is a cartoon.
That comment of mine wasn’t aiming to be pretentious or insulting just to clear that up just in case. Whenever I hear anime defined people use the words “Japanese cartoon” it feels like that makes sense them because manga are really “Japanese comics”.
There is no point in making fun of each other’s arguments like that, people bring up valid points here. It’s just different for everyone how important those points are.
For me for example, I did find that S;G broke my suspense of disbelief. Not due to physics, but plot devices. There were enough people for who this wasn’t the case.
I still don’t see what was wrong with the end. Clearly any argument could be countered with “Because of the hacked prosthetics.” And while I am at it, why are people complaining about realism when monopoles are falling from the sky.
I agree with the ‘hacked’ theory also.
Also remember the Kagome call that preceded the “malfunction.”
While there’s no guarantee such prosthetics would be connected to the net (heck, what an obvious security risk), it’s perfectly plausible Misa gave them to her as a “security blanket” for the purpose of killing her in the event that she’d spill the beans on some big secret (Kou).
How this was accomplished may have something to do with the ubiquity of PokeComs, which are always connected to the net and have microphones, speakers, and GPS. This pretty much ensures that with the right listening gear/virus, a signal could be sent from the device to any machines in the vicinity programmed to listen.
Now recall the timely Kagome Kagome call, which when answered produced the dial-up handshake. A listener (modem) that hears the handshake could receive a significant amount of data (instructions) encoded in the noise. In this case, there was likely a modem chip installed in the prosthetic legs.
Now, in extension, it wouldn’t be far-fetched to propose that similarly delivered instructions (perhaps even via the same Kagome Kagome modem event) were responsible for the “mass malfunction” of other robotic products produced by the same company/chipmaker.
Now the conspiracy theory makes a little more sense, eh?
Disclaimer: I have absolutely no idea if anything I’ve said is correct.
You know. I think that this episode has caused such a debate makes it a rousing success.
Also I’ll never unhear that spine cracking sound.
Hooray for cross-blog comment re-posting! 🙂
Yes, very true. But then I was led to recall a few more highly debated anime which generated considerable debate — SOA and Guilty Crown. Both were certainly (commercially/demographically) “rousing successes.” But as for the quality of the stories…yeah.
That said, this one is great. I love R;N. I also don’t see a lot of debate. Some people are saying “that can’t happen!” and others are either retorting “So what?” or “It can too!”. Nobody here can know. I’ve seen strange designs coming out of darpa — incredibly strong, lightweight designs that can, for instance, jump hundreds of feet in the air in less than a second. Boggles the mind. Twenty years ago, nothing. Twenty years from now…I don’t even want to imagine.
Seemed plausible enough to me, barring perhaps a minor animation-related adaptation issue or two. The scene had PUNCH baby.
Here’s my theory: Misa’s boss wanted her to get rid of Kai at the beginning of the ep, but pulled back at the last second. Last we hear about that for the rest of the ep. Kagome, Kagome + modem sound transmission on Kai’s and Mizuka’s tablets right before the accident. We haven’t been told where those transmissions are coming from, but if it’s from Misa’s company, then her boss pretty much used it as a heavy-handed deterrent to scare Kai off, instead of killing him (and in the process, hurting Akiho).
As far as the legs not knowing where to go, they most likely used the GPS signal from the tablets to steer her in the right direction. Also, remember that Kai is just a kid, and Misa’s an adult: taller, and most likely heavier, especially with the weight of the legs significantly lowering her center of gravity. I’m guessing that the legs were pretty heavy, since the grip on her “shoes” were far superior to Kai’s, even though they both had regular rubber soles. Of course, if he could just tip her over with a quick tackle, that would kill the suspense. 😉 Though, you’d think something that could torque your body with that level of force would also have a back support to prevent spinal injury… 0.o
Who knows maybe if the exoskelleton had some kind of catapult manouever as was mentioned, it also actually did have that preventative you suggested Blue bomber only it happened not to work. Perhaps due to hacking (which I’ve mentioned before on the shoutbox).
Something else I just thought of: Kai couldn’t find the report icon initially, but once Mizuka got close enough (apparently), it was revealed. Probably along with triggering the transmission.
Aha, you beat me to the “spy tablet + tablet GPS + modem transmission to the legs” theory.
I’d like to take it a step further and propose that every spooky “occurrence” of a Kagome Kagome call is to control other robots/chips and outfit them with instructions, and this may underlie the past incidents revolving around malfunctioning prosthetics and other such devices.
Remember, Misa’s company is wrapped up in litigation about these malfunctions and not much info is forthcoming from the president, who is reserving his explanation for the behavior for the courtroom.
Lol Aizen stahp doing cameos