06-08-2003, 12:43 AM
~SPOILERZ/RANT~
Okay, I watched the ending with Vance and I hated it to the point of dismissing it. In my mind, the last two episodes were just the cast's bad drug trip after they ate some (strangely bitter) paper out of desperation.
I gather that the events are acceptable in context with the manga and I have no problem with that. However, the manga and the anime tell two entirely different stories.
In the Manga...
BEFORE THERE'S -ANY- information about the Band of the Hawk, there's an entire story arc (the Black Swordsman) in daemon world. You realize this is how things are. You come to terms with Guts being a lone warrior battling demons in a hellish universe. This is the focus. Everything has GONE TO HELL, this is GUTS'S STORY, and you're going to learn about HIS PAST. It then proceeds to the Band of the Hawk arc and you know intuitively beforehand that this will tell you how the world went down the shitter.
In the Anime...
Episodes 1 - There's a man with a big sword killing people and demony things. Who is he? WTF?
Episodes 2 - Whoa, is this a flashback? No, it's going on too long. This must be the actual story. Lots of main characters here, lots of simultaneous threads...
Episodes 3-23 - Yes! What an engrossing plot! Things are going places.
Episodes 24-26 - Hmmm... suddenly lots of demons show up for no apparent reason and everyone dies. Wow. How fulfilling.
Obviously the makers of the anime wanted to focus on the BotH arc, so why didn't they just leave it at that beautiful, epic tale? They were comfortable taking other liberties throughout the series, so why bother with the frame story when they weren't going to explore it at all? WHY WHY WHY? It makes no damn sense. It's a special kick to the face when the series builds up so much of its dramatic tension by saving main characters from the brink of death. Every person had at least two sequences where they could have expired with meaning and purpose.
End of Evangelion was this ending done right. Everyone died, but at least they got their due respects.
IMHO, if you want to be left whispering "Wow", just stop where Judeau says "Y'know, I think I'm gonna start a band of thieves and take care of Griffith", and Guts says "I never realized it, but everything I wanted was right here." I think it's at the end of Episode 23. End Series. Cut. Servicable ending.
The End.
In fact, what am I saying? It did end there. Like I said, everything else = bad cast acid trip.
Okay, I watched the ending with Vance and I hated it to the point of dismissing it. In my mind, the last two episodes were just the cast's bad drug trip after they ate some (strangely bitter) paper out of desperation.
I gather that the events are acceptable in context with the manga and I have no problem with that. However, the manga and the anime tell two entirely different stories.
In the Manga...
BEFORE THERE'S -ANY- information about the Band of the Hawk, there's an entire story arc (the Black Swordsman) in daemon world. You realize this is how things are. You come to terms with Guts being a lone warrior battling demons in a hellish universe. This is the focus. Everything has GONE TO HELL, this is GUTS'S STORY, and you're going to learn about HIS PAST. It then proceeds to the Band of the Hawk arc and you know intuitively beforehand that this will tell you how the world went down the shitter.
In the Anime...
Episodes 1 - There's a man with a big sword killing people and demony things. Who is he? WTF?
Episodes 2 - Whoa, is this a flashback? No, it's going on too long. This must be the actual story. Lots of main characters here, lots of simultaneous threads...
Episodes 3-23 - Yes! What an engrossing plot! Things are going places.
Episodes 24-26 - Hmmm... suddenly lots of demons show up for no apparent reason and everyone dies. Wow. How fulfilling.
Obviously the makers of the anime wanted to focus on the BotH arc, so why didn't they just leave it at that beautiful, epic tale? They were comfortable taking other liberties throughout the series, so why bother with the frame story when they weren't going to explore it at all? WHY WHY WHY? It makes no damn sense. It's a special kick to the face when the series builds up so much of its dramatic tension by saving main characters from the brink of death. Every person had at least two sequences where they could have expired with meaning and purpose.
End of Evangelion was this ending done right. Everyone died, but at least they got their due respects.
IMHO, if you want to be left whispering "Wow", just stop where Judeau says "Y'know, I think I'm gonna start a band of thieves and take care of Griffith", and Guts says "I never realized it, but everything I wanted was right here." I think it's at the end of Episode 23. End Series. Cut. Servicable ending.
The End.
In fact, what am I saying? It did end there. Like I said, everything else = bad cast acid trip.
Why do you want my signature? Are you forging a check or something!?