Okay, the calm before the storm episode. Most of this episode was very quiet, and yet at the same time a lot of things happened, were built up and had me glued to the screen.
With the biggest event being Lizzie’s death. At this point, it wasn’t meant to be a shocking plot twist, but rather to symbolize how much has gone wrong with Drei. Throughout the series, she has always been the most solid and stable character: she had no hidden agenda, and instead she worked with a mindset with a healthy balance between friends and money. She was the one who watched Cal train in her Drei-form, and in this episode you can really see that now that she has found out what drove Cal to be an assassin, she really regrets to see what she turned into.
In this episode, the inevitable indeed happened that Drei was forced to shoot Lizzie. She really doesn’t care at all about her job, as long as she gets to kill Reiji, and in this episode we see her kidnap Mio, to prevent him from running away. In the end though, Helen takes the bait. The next episode is going to be awesome, I can feel it. But yeah, this episode still rocked. At this point, the characters can be drinking tea and I’m still going to love them.
Also, how large is this soundtrack anyway? This episode introduced yet two new tracks. I’m growing into more and more of a fan of Hikaru Nanase. At first I believed her to be some sort of one trick pony, with Noein’s soundtrack and all. But after watching this show, and finishing Zone of the Enders, I really have to take that back: Hikaru Nanase really is an amazing composer, but she does need a great show to draw out her full potential.
Rating: ** (Excellent)]]>
Phantom – 23
Same way as Tokyo Magnitude will probably be my favorite of 2009, this one and Pandora Hearts will probably be my biggest disappointment of 2009. Pandora Hearts never really managed to deliver for me. I think my biggest problem is the cast. They’re probably the most uninteresting characters of the year. I hate Oz the most.
As for this one, I think the plot twist with Ein ruined it for me. She should have stayed dead, and if she returned, they shouldn’t have pulled the “she’s been fooling everyone all along” plot twist, sorry, it’s just cheap. No matter what the reason… And the reason they gave was particularly cheap anyways. And then turning the setting into a school… that’s strike two.
I think I managed to come to peace with Cal’s character though. Overlooking all that I mentioned above, this anime had its merits, but the flaws are too big for me to be able to recommend it to a friend, for example.
I can’t get enough of bashing those two animes, sorry!
@Perrin4869
People can have their ridiculous-tolerance-o-meter tweaked as they go along.
Those plot twists are reasonable (if events are not possible, beyond a shadow of doubt, then throw it into ridiculous realm. But as long as it’s not, it’s “reasonable”), strictly defined. But, forget about that, what people might say cheap, but hey, we buy it.
I’m a happy camper, not only for the plot, but, just like psgels, for the characters. Birdeye-view this season (and last one), and you might find next to this one, there’s only Bakemonogatari that (really) excels in character interaction.
psgels: Funny that you mention it, I thought the same – two more interesting new musical scores. I wonder if we’ll get some more when the crap REALLY hits the fan (probably in 25)
@revthemilk:
Well, but you see, the character interaction bugs me a lot too here. Helen is just not one bit credible. Her interaction with Reiji is very hard for me to accept. In just one episode she decided she’s siding with Reiji and running with him to Japan, stating that she can’t live without him. But she spent 3 years living without him, and prior the first time she ran with him he was just her partner, nothing more. And the whole stopping Reiji from killing from his own will thing is ridiculous, no real life person would do that, certainly not in the underworld. Her characterization is just terrible. And other than Reiji and Cal, all the other characters are flat.
An anime that has a lot of cheap developments can be fun to watch. Heck, I’m sticking to this one until the bitter end, and I watched all Code Geass. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that this is as low as Code Geass though, Code Geass is just an example of how extreme cheap developments can get. But that kind of fiction can’t be highly praised.
@Perrin4869:
Elen didn’t take a bullet from Reiji to protect him but to protect SM. To Elen, SM is like a father figure, her world revolves around him and she will do anything for him. Just think, if your father and lover trying to kill each other would you not wanted to jump in between to stop them? People tend to underestimate SM influence on Elen and Cal as well but the truth is Elen has spent years with him ever since she was little (from the VN). In the game your job is to steal her heart away from SM and you would succeed if you have enough time but the two of you were caught too quickly and so Reiji only has partial influence on her and so she still cares for SM. The years that she stays away from Reiji are the time that her love for him really grows. In the VN, the last battle between her and Reiji, she was told by SM that she didn’t need to come back to him as this will be her last mission (he figures that the only way for her to beat Reiji is to go all out like a suicide mission plus he doesn’t need her anymore). So of course, the moment she realized that Reiji still cared about her, she would ran of with him. The VN is like a novel and the anime can’t cover the same amount of details, it will need more than 26 episodes to do that plus people will start complaining about too few actions in between episodes. Hope that will explain Elen’s actions better.
The story and characters have far surpassed my expectations when I first saw this series. With all the buildup in this episode, I can’t wait to see what the finale holds in store for us!
@Perrin4869
I can see your point,but I disagree. Helen’s development is very strong, and on the contrary, she’s credible. Since the beginning, she killed with hiding her feelings so deep inside her, that she finished thinking it was normal. But then, Reiji rocked her world of belief, by showing her that, even if you hide your feelings to kill, you mustn’t become only a puppet. By seeing Reiji acted as he did, she began to hate her machine self, and wanted to escape with him.
After that, I find also cheap the fact that they become japanese students out of the blue.
Speaking about the episode, it was an amazing one. I watched it with a very anxious feeling all along. The tension was very strong, and all the characters seem on the edge like us. Very good!
Funny, somebody commented on the post of the previous episode that the reason Ein stopped the bullet was to stop Reiji from killing out of his own free will, so I guessed I missed that when I watched the episode. But I downloaded the episode again, and indeed, I found no reference to that.
But still, I would agree with you guys in that Helen’s development was strong if she didn’t stop the bullet! You are missing the fact that by stopping the bullet she is choosing SM over Reiji. And I don’t see any reason why those 3 years would make Helen develop any feelings for Reiji. Those 2 were colleges up until that point, there was nothing between them. Sure, he saved her life, and tried to escape with her, but nothing happened between them, and she was very indifferent. So suddenly deserting SM (even if SM told her it’s her last mission) is not very credible in my book… Betraying someone you took a bullet to the heart for for no good reason is just not good fiction.
And if we’re fair and consistent about Cal and Helen, then Helen was also 3 years under SM’s influence, and probably was brainwashed to think that Reiji was wrong or something. That’s what everyone told me about Cal, and that’s the most reasonable thing that could happen.
And in the end, why is it that only THIS anime feels so forced? Why doesn’t Guin Saga, or Fullmetal Alchemist, or Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 feel this forced?
As it stands now, I’d give this series an 75. The flaws are just terrible, quiet a reduction of points. You know, those are the kind of flaws I expect over the top and fanservice shows to give us, just to create the biggest sensation (“Ohhh, Helen deflected with Reiji, I didn’t see it coming! Awesome!”), in the end it’s poor fiction. (By the way, Pulp Fiction was awesome! For some reason writing “poor fiction” made me want to reference that movie)
Actually, Guin Saga has Remus’ sudden development from an utter wimp to an evil overlord. Tokyo Magnitude suddenly introduced an unrealistic plot twist with Mirai’s hallucinations, and Full Metal Alchemist’s first season turned Ed too much into a Gary Stu. All of those can be seen as forced. I can hardly recall any series that didn’t have forced moments in order to create a bit of drama; even Darker than Black didn’t escape this trope at times.
My opinion on Ein’s development is that it can’t be explained by logic. My suspicion is that when Zwei was about to shoot SM, she was still unsure of what she really wanted to do (after all, she had just been saved by someone who gave up everything just to be with her), and I think that it was her conflicting feelings for both SM and Zwei that prevented her from acting rationally (after all, it’s not like she’s a contractor of Darker than Black ;)). During that half-a-year timeskip, she had a bit more of an opportunity to sort out her feelings and come to the conclusions of who she really wanted to be with. You must also know that for Cal, SM had an added bonus that Cal was already mistrusting Reiji when he met her. All he needed to do was manipulate those feelings. For Ein, he was more like the only authority in her life, so when Reiji arrived this bond between the two was more easily broken.
I just finished watching the episode, and I can’t believe how utterly ridiculus some of the things the characters said were! Between Lizzie saying that she won’t forgive those who ruin the everyday life of others and that Shiga guy (if I’ve got the name correctly) getting all worked up about the memento of the guy he killed, my opinion about this series is as low as ever. And the teenage romance between Reiji and Mio just got on my nerves…
Ohh, I didn’t like the first FMA, either because I had already read the manga, or because it just wasn’t good. You won’t be hearing any praises about it from me at least. I was referring to the new one. And well, Remus’s development still has to be explained, and Tokyo Magnitude’s unrealistic development can be forgiven given the fact that in the realm of fiction you CAN use hallucinations to convey Mirai’s current state. Unrealistic or not, it’s a brilliant development.
And well, saying that Helen’s development can’t be explained by logic just doesn’t cut it. The fact remains that it was forced, and it was used to push the story in a new direction (and I resent the direction it took a lot). You can make any explanation you want, heck, even I can make up explanations! It still had a cheap feeling to it, and nothing can take it away.
I liked the DtB reference though 😀
@ Perrin4869
you say Ein should die on the first arc. I don’t see it, how she could die, just look Zwei he is alive even after being shot multiple time by Scythe. was it really a plot twist that Ein alive , hell no. everyone know that.
the whole concept this show suddenly change into school life, I thought that awesome. and as for this episode, it is an excellent buildup.
The fact that she survived doesn’t annoy me half as much as her suddenly bursting in tears deciding she wants to desert Scythe Master and run away with Reiji after one of the cheesiests monologues. But yes, I do find it a flaw, albeit a minor one, that she turned out alive, even though we thought she died for about 6 episodes. It of course ruins my suspense of disbelief.
Oh, and I’m still taking bets that Claudia is still alive, if anyone is interested!
I’m really starting to get annoyed with Cal. Jesus, for one tiny little accident and she makes her life revolve around it. What a static, idiotic character. She was so awesome when she was naive and all. *shakes head sadly*
And if I’m correct, this doesn’t end in 24 episodes, right? 25 maybe? I don’t think they can squeeze all the action and aftermath into one twenty minute episode if you ask me.
Perrin4869
The dialogues were not so ridiculous, when Lizzie said ” I won’t forgive those who ruin the everyday life of others”, I think she meant that she can’t tolerate that “normal” people got involved in their quarrels( the fact is that Mio is just an ordinary student, who doen’t have anything to do with their organisation, the mafia and all-time killers’life), which I don’t find stupid at all. And Shiga cared for his “aniki” and promised him to watch over Mio, their relationship wasn’t so simple, thaty’s why for me it is quite accurate that he’s so concerned about Mio’s fate, like he has to carry out his best pal’s last wish or something like that. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was to give his own life to protect her, maybe that’s a little too far.
I understand what Lizzie said very well, and it’s one of the most stupid things I heard. We saw Inferno ruining the lives of people countless of times, the couple from episodes 6-7 who didn’t give in to them comes to mind. Zwei killed the little boy, the wife, and in the end the leader was killed, and he wasn’t part of the mafia. And there are more examples, countless of them. Sorry, but that line was completely uncalled for.
And as for Shiga, please, he’s a selfish bastard, he killed his best friend in cold blood, you want me to believe he would even care about a promise, let alone honor it? He’d kill her himself if he’d profit from it. Although if you think about it, he could just be angry that Inferno is attacking one of their own, and then he’d be getting angry the way any mafia leader would. I guess that line wasn’t so out of place… But still…
I believe there are going to be 2 OST’s. OST 1 is already out and has 31 tracks; most under 3minutes in length. I’ve noticed a number of pieces missing including the rap song they play when Reiji is Phantom at Inferno after he thinks Ein is dead. Also the song they play when Ein speaks or is mentioned the haunting choral one. Both missing from the first OST made me sad 🙁
Just managed to catch up on phantom so i can finally participate. Been reading up on the comments here and thought I’d throw in my two cents.
Regarding Ellen’s behavior:
Up to the end of the first arc, and even far into the 2nd arc up to the point where Reiji asks Ellen to kill him, I consider her still semi-brainwashed. She didn’t have the same hope-providing mentor that Reiji had in Claudia and more importantly, hadn’t regained her memories like Reiji did. All the things that Reiji did for Elen had a tremendous impact on her, which is why she ran with him in the first place, but don’t forget she’s been treated like a doll and possibly a sex slave by SM for a long time – when confronted with SM’s imminent death, her conditioned body probably acted on it’s own to block that bullet. Throughout the 2nd arc, she’s been faithfully following SM’s commands, as she accepts this as her existence. She still protects Reiji when she can though, for example when Gouda was about to shoot him at the train station in ep 17. She also warns him to escape but doesn’t go with him because she’s accepted her fate as SM’s puppet. When faced with the direct order to kill Reiji though, while she’s still in Ein-mode, I think it was her intention to die at Reiji’s hands. She’s forced to reveal her feelings openly when Reiji stops resisting completely, but I guess that created the opening in her heart to accept Reiji’s 2nd proposal to get her away from SM. Two years later, I’m hoping her brainwashing may have eroded enough that she’ll be able to face off against Scythe Master if necessary but I’m still not sure.
@Immelman: Regarding the cheapness of the two of them becoming high school students, I think you should have realised by now that it was all part of a master plan to use Mio as an insurance policy in case Inferno found them. Reiji cares for Mio as a friend but doesn’t have serious romantic feelings for her and is simply using their friendship to keep her in close proximity in case they need to use her against Inferno. (Actually she has a route in the game but in the end, they wind up separated.) Interesting coincidence that she happened to be in Reiji’s hometown though – and I’m a little surprised that Reiji didn’t run into any of his relatives living in the same town. This part I find a bit of a stretch. Still, Reiji going back to continue the life he had before he got caught by Inferno would be his wish if he could escape so I can totally buy this.
Regarding Shiga; Shiga was very loyal to his friend Gouda but was forced to choose between saving him and risking war between their group and the powerful Inferno organization. I think SM manipulated him into believing they were in serious danger. It wasn’t profit but simple survival that forced him to side with SM cos without SM’s assistance, Inferno would probably take the Gouda group out. I think also that the shot that killed Gouda might have come from SM and not him. So now, in Gouda’s memory, Shiga is sworn to protect Mio from all harm.
I was frustrated to see Cal shoot Lizzie. I think Cal would have let Lizzie kill her if she had decided to shoot before the watch song ended. On the other hand, she admitted that Lizzie was always kind to her so I’ll be disappointed if Cal really gave Lizzie a fatal wound even though Lizzie refused to shoot. Well, this show has a tendancy to have people get shot up badly and somehow survive.
It’s getting harder and harder to believe that the old Cal survived SM’s training as the OP would have us believe. And that idiot Reiji still refuses to explain himself or ask how Cal survived. At least tell her that he did go back for her but thought she died in the explosion. She probably wouldn’t accept it straight away of course but it’s better than getting resigned to a duel to the death.I really think Cal wants to be with Reiji but can’t understand why he didn’t come back for her and wound up half-believing SM’s lies and let herself get manipulated. Well, I guess she had no choice given the circumstances. How else was she going to survive in Inferno without Reiji?
I wonder how this show is going to end…it’s like watching a train wreck about to happen. My money’s on Ein’s true ending. Cal’s ending is cool but I’ll be disappointed if Reiji winds up sliding back to becoming an assassin with Cal. I’m still half hoping for a good happy ending where all three survive, maybe combining their talents to wipe out Inferno and free themselves once and for all so they can live in peace. I guess it’s too unrealistic/cliche for this type of flick?
Perrin, you didn’t seem to understand very much about the past scenes, did you?
Ein: In the harbor scene, she defied SM because she refused to kill Reiji as ordered. At the same time she defied Reiji by jumping in between to save SM. What’s ambivalent or unclear about that? She wanted BOTH to live at that point, her master and her “other me”. At the end of chapter 2, she was _discarded_ by SM, tossed away as useless trash. However, Elen said that the thought that Reiji, her “other me” was still around and living, gave her life purpose. And this remains. Ein is focused on protecting Reiji. Simple as that.
Shiga: If you didn’t grasp that Shiga was _forced_ to kill Godoh to prevent an all-out gang war with Phantom, you really should go watch some Pokemon instead. Shiga valued his “aniki” Daisuke extremely highly, and protecting Mio is his top 1 priority.
Lizzie: Her point to Cal was “stop dragging unrelated civilians into this”, in other words, let Mio go. She also supported Reiji’s efforts in the past to KEEP CAL OUT OF THE UNDERWORLD. She saw Cal’s hatred and how it ate her from the inside. Remember what Lizzie told Cal? “You’re like burnt-out fireworks”. The hull is still there, but she’s scorched and dead inside. “There’s a line you shouldn’t cross, Cal”, and she meant it. She means good, she tries to protect Cal, as former Reiji’s protegee… and she’s not prepared to kill her.
It’s really not so difficult.
Well, to start off, it’s true I feel a bit lost about the whole conspiracy Claudia pulled off, I’d need to rewatch those episodes to comprehend it, I think. But I did grasp the fact that Shiga was “forced” to kill Godoh. And I put it in quotes because he wasn’t really forced, it was his decision in the end, he pulled the trigger. We’re talking about what was supposed to be his best friend, the person most significant to him in the whole world. In that situation, don’t you think that someone, even someone extremely rational (not contractor rational, but you get the idea) would rather stand up to that person and try to escape and figure the situation out? To just go ahead and kill him means he didn’t regard him as someone important at all! I couldn’t even begin imagining killing my best friend in a situation like that. Only someone heartless and selfish would do something like. And someone heartless and selfish wouldn’t care one bit about the well being of Mio. That’s my point.
As for Lizzie, again, she said she won’t forgive anyone who destroys the life of ordinary people. It doesn’t matter what her message to Cal was, if my memory is not extremely wrong, those were her words, and that’s the last thing someone like Lizzie can say. Inferno is an organization about ruining the life of normal people…
And finally, about Ein, it is as you say, but my point remains that it is completely cheap. It felt as if it was done for the sole purpose of letting the story move forward. It could have been much better executed. But I can hardly take it seriously when it downgrades to a monologue about “my other self” and other crap like that. And when we finally see her after watching her take a bullet, and believing she betrayed Reiji, watching her deflect without any build up whatsoever is bound to feel cheap. Heck, in Code Geass we had Susaku siding with Lelouche towards the end! I can make up reasons the same way you guys have been doing up until now, but none of you can deny it was the cheapest thing that could possibly happen. Now that I think about it, Phantom did something very similar to Code Geass – it also moved the plot to a very different direction towards the end, very abruptly. And in my opinion, the results were disastrous in both cases. In Code Geass it was beyond ridiculous, and in Phantom we are introduced to teenage romance, high school life, and even if they try giving it a reasonable meaning, by saying Mio was their target then sorry, Mio could as well have been the employee in any place, and thus avoiding the much dreaded high school setting. And heck, what’s the point of going to the same school as her anyways? When you think about it, you don’t need to befriend someone you want to use as leverage!
I’m sorry, I just can’t agree to all the praising you guys are giving to this anime. In my opinion it just doesn’t deserve it.
Hm Perrin I have to say I agree with how you feel, especially with regards to Shiga. Out of curiosity, how did you feel about Lizzie executing Claudia? Lizzie and Shiga’s situations seem pretty similar – both killed their respective superior/best friends?
Shiga initially advised Godoh not to trust Claudia but Godoh refused him (rightfully). Later Shiga was shown a photo of Reiji standing over the body of Godoh’s murdered subordinate in the hotel, with SM persuading Shiga that Claudia was behind the deaths of that subordinate as well as the other 4 killed during the 5 million dollar heist (the one Cal witnessed where her sister got shot). (In fact, all 5 were killed by Ein under SM’s orders to sow unrest between the Godoh group and Claudia.) Did Shiga hold Godoh responsible for trusting Claudia and getting them into a war with Inferno and feel that the only way to end it honorably was to execute Godoh to atone for his mistake? Was this a yakuza honor thing?
Similarly, Lizzie is sent to hunt down Claudia. She’s goaded by someone on the phone over whether she can really do it to her friend and she replies that she would, as if it were a matter of personal pride or something. Lizzie joined Inferno to support Claudia; why would she kill Claudia for Inferno? Was it because she felt betrayed by Claudia? Shiga revealed to her that Claudia was the one that arranged the robbery of the cocaine a year ago that Lizzie defended in vain. Was she upset that everything had been kept hidden from her? Still she cried for Claudia before killing her. I think Claudia could have persuaded her to join her but she didn’t. She just knelt down and apologised and let herself get shot. To protect Claudia from Inferno? Especially now that Reiji wasn’t with her, did she also feel that there was no longer any chance of success for her?
This story is pretty darn complicated. I didn’t watch Lelouch so I can’t comment on what happened there but I think I can agree with how you feel. I had to rewatch alot of episodes to try to wrap my head around alot of things that happened. In a way, it might be more realistically dramatic if Reiji had killed Ein in their dual towards the end of the 2nd arc but I’m honestly glad Reiji finally got through to her and saved her. And as for the school thing – I think it symbolizes where Reiji’s life should have been if he hadn’t gotten involved with Inferno. Their peaceful life would have continued if not for SM’s interruption. Interestingly, it seems Reiji and Ein never got romantic in all their time together. I keep remembering the time Cal asked about the 2nd bedroom in their old apartment and whether it belonged to his girlfriend, to which Reiji replied that it wasn’t.
Btw, I’m trying to find out Reiji’s age throughout the game. I think I read it somewhere but i can’t find that info right now.
@meow:
Hi, nice to know you agree with me 🙂
As a response to how I feel about the whole Lizzie and Claudia thing: wanna bet that she’s still alive? I honestly hardly believe she was killed, and if she really wasn’t it’ll be the cheapest development in the entire series, and that says something, unfortunately.
Your point about Shiga is a good one. It certainly makes sense that he’ll be angry with Godoh, I myself have been in multiple projects with some friends, and whenever there’s a screw up we get a bit angry at each other. But it’s all between friends, we don’t stop speaking to each other because of it, let alone kill each other. Sure, yakuza business is different, but Shiga and Godoh were good friends who stood by each other multiple times, I find it hard to believe 2 persons in such a relationship would kill one another. I must say it felt cheap when I watched Shiga kill Godoh, by that point I pretty much expected him to pull out a gun…
My problem is not exactly with the complicated story, but more with the turns it took starting the point that we realized Ein was indeed alive. And up until the point in which they went to high school I’ve been watching under the assumption that this is a story about adults, watching them living a high school life was so no fitting of anything that happened up until that point, and it was so unnecessary, it lowers the quality of the anime as a whole terribly… Like 20 points out of 100, I’d say, it’s that big a flaw. They could have lived peaceful lives as anything, but high school students is just a terribly big no-no…
And you didn’t miss much about Code Geass. It had an interesting concept and a nice start, but unlike Death Note for example, it decided to focus, again, on high school students, and to take the most unbelievable turns. It’s good for brainless drama though.
@ Perrin4869: I’d have to disagree with you about Code Geass to some extent but speaking only about Phantom, which is much more to the point, I think you’re definitely making a big deal out of something that can be and has in fact already been explained.
For me, while the best part of Phantom was probably the second arc…this development is plausible enough and the show has actually approached it in a manner that subverts the usual concept of anime school life as something sacred and protected from the outside world. If anything, I think it has helped show that Reiji can’t really run away from the past and begin a new life, no matter how much he’s trying to, without resolving things first.
It seems to me that a bit of part of the problem lies not with the show’s story but perhaps in your personal dislike of high school settings, period.
@Perrin – No, i’m pretty sure Claudia is dead. I think her’s and Godou Daisuke’s deaths were some illustration of the mafia/yakuza code. Remember just after the Cal/Elen face-off at the church which Lizzie interrupts? She asked Reiji to live freely in Claudia’s stead too, as if she had passed on.
And regarding Shiga, it wasn’t merely about anger over a bad decision – it was about taking responsibility for a serious mistake done against the family. Think of it as your project breaking some serious law that leads to a death and having to hang up your friend up to dry for it – except in the underworld concept of law. Actually, while Shiga made Daisuke take responsibility for putting the Godoh Group in danger, I’m surprised Shiga himself didn’t punish himself. He didn’t just kill his best friend. He also killed the heir apparent and blood-related son of their big boss. At the very least, I would have expected him to be missing some fingers.
@Camario: It’s not a hate of high school settings at all, but a hate of high school setting where they just don’t belong. Can you think of a single thing that the high school setting contributed to Phantom or Code Geass or even Birdy the Mighty Decode? It almost feels as though producers feel somehow compelled to use high schools as a setting for no reason at all, without realizing that it just degrades the show to… well, the kind of things that you just don’t want to see in that kind of shows.
On the other hand I enjoy watching Cross Game, and I will always have high regards for Ghost Hound. So high school setting should be used only in certain shows, otherwise it’s downright annoying. As an aside, do you think that you could have taken Death Note seriously if every episode it showed Light doing stuff high school students do? Sure it had it shared or problems, but at least the creators seemed to be good enough not to insert high schools.
@meow: Well, reasons to think that Claudia isn’t dead are aplenty. First of all, we never saw her body, and second of all the person who supposedly killed her was her best friend. So it’s very possible Claudia was speared, and that her death was staged. I hope not, of course, for the sake of the anime. If it turns out to be true it’ll be mostly disappointing and predictable.
And well, at least as I see it, if you really think of someone as a friend, that is, someone you feel confident with and enjoy hanging out with, you wouldn’t try to hurt him even for a mistake he made. If I screwed something I certainly don’t expect a friend to throw me to the dogs, but to actually try to figure the situation out with me. Shiga didn’t seem to feel any remorse after killing Godoh, so he certainly is a heartless and selfish bastard who couldn’t care less about Godoh. And by that logic he will kill Mio the very moment he feels compelled to do so…
@Perrin – Unfortunately, the most obvious reason I believe Claudia to be dead is that Lizzie is still alive and still working with Inferno. Had she let Claudia escape, I think she would have gone with her, if not immediately then soon after. It would be tricky for Lizzie to fake Claudia’s death without Inferno knowing because given their history, Inferno would need absolute proof of her death to trust Lizzie again. But two years later, she’s still with Inferno. To me, that says there’s just no where else for her to be.
They didn’t show Claudia’s death too obviously because she was one of the possible heroines in the game and a sympathetic character trying to avenge her brother’s death by taking over or at least taking out the people who killed him, only to have the tables turned back on her by Scythe Master. She was also genuinely on Reiji’s side, even though she used him to her own ends. Her death really is pretty tragic. I do wish Lizzie had run off with Claudia, even if it went against her own principles, as living without her didn’t have much meaning anyway. And to think Lizzie would be killed by the same girl she’d been trying to look after, two years later.
Btw, that last part in episode 23, the gun with bloodsplatter on it, that’s Lizzie’s isn’t it? How did it wind up with Scythe? Is it meant as proof that Scythe is already well aware of Cal’s actions and is pulling the strings behind the final act?
“Shiga didn’t seem to feel any remorse after killing Godoh” I have to disagree with this statement here. There’s plenty of signs that he was in remorse. The last thing Shiga said to Godoh was that he truly loved him and he hesitated a long time before pulling the trigger…actually was it him or Scythe? Right after that, Scythe goes on to say that with this, Godoh’s innocence in the matter has been proven and with his help, war between Godoh and Inferno will be averted. Reassuring words and yet Shiga turns his gun on Scythe and declares to him that he wants to kill him so badly he can’t help himself. Outrage at Scythe’s cold words over the sacrifice of his friend? Later on the flight back to Japan, along with the coffins of his fallen comrades, Shiga calls out to his “Aniki” , while carrying the bottle of liquor they shared while in the States. You might want to rewatch a bunch of episodes – from when Shiga and Godoh first come to LA up to when Reiji and Ein escape, to get the full picture. But yea, I’m surprised that he would turn on Godoh quite so easily. I feel like there wasn’t enough development to get the audience to understand Shiga’s motivation to shoot Godoh. As far as I can tell, from Shiga’s perspective, Godoh’s only crime was trusting the wrong woman and got the Group into trouble with Inferno. Is sacrificing the heir to the Group worth avoiding direct confrontation with Inferno? Especially with their Phantom semi-out of the picture? But he did make a deal with Scythe. Did Scythe do something to make Shiga kill Godoh? Or was Shiga under orders from the head of the Godoh Group in Japan? (Mio and Daisuke’s father)
You know, the one thing that should be praised about Shiga, Ein, and Lizzie, is how humane they act regardless of their character. They were all put in a situation that somehow gave them one identity as a human being. This shows that no matter who you may be, a humane heart will pop up. Shiga chose to kill his aniki thinking it was to prevent more bloodshed (which he couldn’t explain to his aniki), Ein was torn and confused and so her irrationality almost caused her death (a connection with what she said in this episode), and Lizzie did never enjoy killing, but you can’t just point out, “hey why join Inferno in the first place then???” Look it’s complicated 😛
Lastly, why did the high school setting bugged you too much? XD It’s a symbolism for a NORMAL LIFE. Maybe it doesn’t suit your choice, but it’s pretty perfect for the plot.
All in all, try not to view things based on your personal choice. A show will barely really satisfy you. Somehow, I got the idea you just skippd through episodes now, Perrin 😛
@meow: Sure, there’re many reasons to think Claudia is dead… On the other hand, Reiji got shot multiple times, and Ein got shot on the heart, and both lived… Let’s face it, this anime is very good at ruining your sense of disbelief, that’s why I think Claudia may turn out to be alive. All you’re saying is true, and any series with a bit of self-respect will let her stay dead, but sadly Phantom has turned me down many times already for me to have faith in it.
As for the bloodsplatter, I truly don’t think it was it at all, I think it was a red light or something… You’re looking too much into it.
And I think you’re looking too far on Shiga as well. He’s just too unrealistic and unbelievable. Before killing Godoh we were shown images of the stuff they went through, and how they always stuck to each other at the tightest situations, and then suddenly we see the betrayal. And now he truly seems to regret it and care about Mio? He’s either a complete hypocrite, or the creators did a terrible job with him. At this point you can just guess which it is for me…
@The rest who think that I just “don’t get it”, or that I’m going by personal tastes or even did the unthinkable and skipped episodes, let me make it clear: I’m always up for a good story about Yakuza, or a good high school drama. But mixing them both… Seriously, what the heck are you thinking!? Sorry, we’re not talking about personal tastes, we’re talking about good and bad fiction here, and Phantom unfortunately chose the later just for the sake of continuation/fanservice. And yes, I’m pretty sure that Ein in a high school uniform is more than just representing a “normal life”. It’s just annoying that if a series like Code Geass does that kind of things, you guys all say how stupid it is, but if it’s Phantom, then it’s all symbolism! Why, because Code Geass is popular and Phantom isn’t?
And Phantom had the same type of character development that Code Geass had. Susaku at the end of Code Geass = Ein at the end of the second arc, period. Thinking back, maybe it was the overly cheesy monologue Ein gave before bursting into tears that really marked the point in which I lost faith in Phantom… Sorry guys, I truly think this show became cheap, regardless of tastes. And I do get what’s going on, I’m not a moron… None of the other series I’m seeing right now feel even remotely as cheap as this one, so there must be a reason for it…