Blessed be the peacemaker, for she ups the body count. I don’t think it’s a surprise that Winterprison ended up dying while protecting Nana. But it is surprising that she managed to take down one of the twin angels before getting taken out. All the more surprising considering that the angels didn’t get a flashback so hurray for unpredictability! Though considering that I don’t really care much about them for it to hold any emotional weight it was more just nice to have one of the annoying characters get taken out of the show. Swim Swim is someone I care about and it was fascinating how she went about this. Ultimately she was following Rulers advice in that the leader does the absolute minimum and leaves the majority of the work to a subordinate. It’s no doubt that Ruler was an incompetent leader with a superiority complex but it is fascinating in how Swim Swim holds her in such reverence and uses her image to become a better yet crueler leader than Ruler ever was. Really what is wrong with this girl, after all she wasn’t sad that one of the twin angels died, instead she was disappointed in herself because she thought that Ruler would have done it better.
It was a good plan but they didn’t quite count on Weiss not getting taken out immediately. There is the question of why the peaky angel didn’t transform to escape Weiss’s grasp, especially when Weiss was specifically telling her that if she transformed into Nana again she wouldn’t be able to hurt her even if she knew she was fake. But I think they can’t transform as long as someone is touching them. Evidence of this being how when the angels stabbed Weiss and she pulled out the knife and threw it into the air before she transformed back. Fear as well could be a factor. But if I was to question anyones actions here I would question Weiss’s. Taking into account her ability I think she could have killed all the team by using her wall ability to crush them against the ceiling.
Koyuki seems to see that Hardgore Alice isn’t her enemy though she doesn’t quite like her all the same. Calamity Mary on the other hand has gone full psycho. With both Weiss and the angel out that means we only have two more eliminations to end the battle royale. Judging by current circumstances I doubt Mary is going to come out of this alive. We have seen that Mary was an abusive housewife looking to bully the weak and Fav jumped to give her power straight away the demonic little monster that he is. I do quite like when he drops the cutesy act and his tone goes more malevolent. Mary’s background is pretty typical but it does make her reaction to Alice a little more interesting. Mary likes to bully those weaker than her and while she can overpower Alice, she cannot kill her. So this pretty much makes Alice unbullyable and something Mary cannot stand. This would give their next confrontation some real emotional weight that has been missing from all the fights up to now.
Watching this really makes me appreciate just how well Fate/Zero set up it’s own Battle Royale as it truly was a well structured plotline. With fight scenes in a story you generally have a few ways to go about it. One way is to go with spectacle and make a fight visually dynamic say like Drifters did with it’s action scenes this week. However Raising project just doesn’t have the kind of animation and artstyle to really deliver on a spectacle. Another method is to give a fight an emotional weight. In Fate/Zero the first episode was the worst but it did the groundwork of clearing up all the masters motivations and how they contrasted the other players. The very first fight of the series setup dynamics between the servant. Like Gilgamesh wanting to take down berserker, Berserker wanting to fight Saber, Saber needing to fight Lancer…each character had a counterpoint that made the fights compelling, be it through principles or personality. Raising project doesn’t have that. For the most part all the battles are random skirmishes between opponents who don’t actually know each other. Dues to our lack of information on their characters these fight just feel rather empty and ineffectual.
However we do have counterpoints forming within the cast. Nana has reason to fight Swim Swim, the peaky angel will likely want to attack Nana in revenge for her sister, Mary wants to get back at Alice, Koyuki will want to fight Cranberry after finding out she’s responsible for Souta’s death…these could make the battles more interesting but even then I think this shows big mistake was having such a massive cast of characters. The best battle royales make it a point to get you to care for the characters before killing them off. I am far too apathetic about the plight of these girls to get invested in the conflict. Of course this doesn’t mean we need more flashbacks as they are the lazy tool for character development. Instead having more meaningful character interaction and grown would be a better option. Ripple and Top Speeds relationship is a good example. Speaking of which, I really worry for top speed. We have got the full extent of her backstory which means that she is a prime target to be killed off.
Also unlike Mirai Nikki, the shock value isn’t as strong as it could be.
I’m not sure if it’s far to compare it to Fate, since that one from what I understand (I’ve only watched Fate/Zero) has a chess strategy approach to the confrontations. But IMO it took them a lot of time to set things up, although I agree the payoff was good because of it, I wouldn’t watch it again because of the buildup.
In regards to this show I think it’s not necessary having character depth but if you don’t wanna have that the main story as in the game, rules and magic should be the focus. Or, or… have the series of events be moving a vital piece of the overarching narrative as some master plan or something.
If all else fails at the very least you could botch any sort of logic and copy cool action scenes from other stuff like in Mirai Nikki. At the very least, that way you have rollercoaster without meaning but full ridiculous thrills and shocks.
A good story needs a certain degree of buildup though. Here we just kinda jumped into the battle royale without any buildup.
You do make a good point regarding narrative. I overlooked the fact that we really don’t know just why this whole thing is going on in the first place.All we have to go on is some ambigious words from Fav.
Though one thing about the Mirai Nikki appraoch is that when you base your story on that you have to constantly one up yourself. Eventually there is just a point where the story gets so ridiclous that you just can’t anymore. Jojo sort of hit this during stardust Crusaders. Though it has redeemed itself with season 4.
Yep, but IMO Fate/Zero was mostly buildup and brief payoff. I think the only series mainly working with buildup is Gakkou Gurashi.
Yep, I mean will something happen when the toll is filled? Or will they let more girls get killed?
Isn’t that the issue with most shounen? The powerlevel and raising the stakes? My issue with Stardust Crusaders is that despite the globe trotting and great art, the season comes down to a Power Rangers formula, monster of the week affair. That Jojo also was unrelatable which might be why the author focused on several episodes on Ponlareff.
Besides the shock value, plot holes and lack of tact, Mirai Nikki also had characters that didn’t grow, despite what happens to them those that survived started and ended pretty much with the same attitude. I suppose only No. 9 had a noticeable change.
Also fun fact back at school I was at anime student group and one semester we saw both Fate/Zero and Mirai Nikki. Despite acknowledging Fate had a better story Mirai Nikki felt more entertaining. I suppose that’s also an interesting way of judging things since even well told stories can have dull parts and the most nonsensical thing can be entertaining if it embraces it’s ridiculousness.