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Ausdoerrt
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Mar 21 2012 09:17 PM Ding-dong, it's Speculation Time! (massive spoilers circa episode 20) Episode 20 beginning, the "signature monologue" of the series, goes like this:
"This world is on the wrong track. It's all about winning and losing. Who is ranked above and below you. The profitable and unprofitable. The accepted and unaccepted. The chosen and the unchosen. They never try to give, all they care about is taking! What a miserable world we live in. A world ruled by those who will never amount to anything. This is already a Frozen World. But fortunately for us, the Flame of Hope is still burning strong. The holy flame. Tomorrow, we will cleanse the world with that flame. Now's the time to take back the beautiful world where the mankind only needs true things to live! This is our Survival Strategy!"
Now aside from the fairly obvious critique of the modern society, I think this speech ties the whole series together up to this point and before rushing into the conclusion. First, let's look at some terms and concepts from the series present in the speech.
From what we know from the flashback episodes about Momoka, "this world is on the wrong track" is true in the non-metaphorical sense as well. The next part of the speech describes all the ways in which this makes the world wrong - in the opinion of the KIGA group as a more or less direct result of the "fate transfer(s)".
"Those who will never amount to anything" - one of the signature phrases of the series used almost every episode, but not explained. Two possible interpretations. One - an epithet for people like the Natsume Group, the important secondary cast of the series. Despite appearing to "rule", as we know from the series they never do amount to anything worthwhile in the end, and are just along for the ride. Second interpretation - those who mess with the "fate", because they will have to sacrifice themselves in the process - and this amount to nothing. That's why the penguin hat uses this to address Kanba and Shouma. That'd mean that Momoka is included as well.
"Frozen World" - metaphor, hence the penguins. Also, Kanba, Shouma & Himari struggling to "freeze" the moment in their lives and sustain the "fake" family.
"Flame of Hope" - This is constantly accentuated by the animation. The only times flame is ever used in the series is with the relation to the diary and the diary holder - Momoka going up in flames, Ringo "burning" in both OPs, diary burning etc.
"Beautiful world where the mankind only needs true things to live" - full speculation mode, but I think this refers to the world before the multiple transfers undertaken by Momoka. Yuri's father, albeit in a twisted way, emphasized the value of truth and beauty over everything else. Family over non-family.
Put together here's how I see the story. Momoka's fate transfers somehow screw up the world. KIGA group sees that and decides to undo the transfers. Momoka thus is both the one responsible for the sad state of things, and the one hope to set it back to normal. Therefore, the group sets up a plan to force Momoka use the diary again - supposedly in a way that wouldundo the previous transfers. However, something goes wrong in the process, and thus the children are fated to complete the plan of their fathers. First, the hats are sent for the task, but when that fails, Sanetoshi himself arrives to set things straight. More to come when I get to the ending.Beautiful world where the mankind only needs true things to live |
Ausdoerrt
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julezia
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Mar 4 2012 11:00 PM Wow that's cool Ausdo Let us know if you catch anything else we might have missed the first time around... |
Ausdoerrt
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Mar 4 2012 06:50 PM So, I'm rewatching the series, on episode 2 now. It's nice to start picking up little details that you don't see the first time through. Case in point, opening 1: (user posted image) Nice to see that at least the basic storyline was completely pre-planned. |
Kid-Wolf
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| QUOTE (Ausdoerrt @ Jan 06 2012, 03:17 PM) |
I think it's "taboo" for a different reason though - because NGE fanboys are the kind that go rabid if anyone dares to say anything negative about The Best Anime Ever Made.
Tsukihime anime is a rather poor example, since that one already had good quality source material that people liked. |
Hence why you don't want to mess with them for that very reason.
As for the Tsukihime referencing there it's pretty much the Type-Moon fan community pretty much deny the fact that such an anime was ever made. Pretty much they could be somewhat on par with raviouns NGE fans. |
Ausdoerrt
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| QUOTE | | If you're talking about that series they are redoing into movie pieces now then pretty much saying anything bad like that can be considered as taboo you know. It's almost the same as saying that there was a Tsukihime anime compared to that. |
I think it's "taboo" for a different reason though - because NGE fanboys are the kind that go rabid if anyone dares to say anything negative about The Best Anime Ever Made.
Tsukihime anime is a rather poor example, since that one already had good quality source material that people liked.
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Kid-Wolf
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| QUOTE (Ausdoerrt @ Jan 05 2012, 07:12 PM) | | Nobody complains about NGE, and it's a lot less coherent than Mawaru |
If you're talking about that series they are redoing into movie pieces now then pretty much saying anything bad like that can be considered as taboo you know. It's almost the same as saying that there was a Tsukihime anime compared to that.
Although since I haver seen Utena, but saw some of the Sailor Moon seasons (tat were aloowed over state side of course) I kind of get that it has this CLAMP-y sort of feel to it, but other then that it did go a bit heavy on the symbolizm half way though this series.
Also, hearing that the novel is ongoing kind of made me think that thy just wanted to end it here and now even if things end differently in the novel. I mean I get this feeling that Himari and Mario should of met in this entire series, but it never happened at all. I mean if you're going to have a character that looks like he'll be the perfect fit for Himari and not use it then what was the point intoducing him like that? |
Ausdoerrt
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Jan 5 2012 07:12 PM Some more some less, doesn't matter. My point was, symbolism didn't use to be so uncommon as to have people complaining. Nobody complains about NGE, and it's a lot less coherent than Mawaru. Heck, it's typical Japanese style of novel/screenplay writing to leave endings open. I'd say doing it creatively isn't bad at all. EDIT: Oh and the album version of the song is even more hilarious: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgWtNje6VH4 |
JunMisugi
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Jan 5 2012 05:53 PM Hmmm do you really think that those animes from the 90s you mentioned where as overloaded with symbolism like Mawaru? Some of them had quite a lot of a that...but not as much as Mawaru I think, or maybe its just too long ago since I watched them and the impression of Mawaru is still too fresh. Lol in any case I think I really have to finally watch Ergo Proxy, I only hear good things about it and today my brother also recommended it to me after he completed it yeterday Btw the light novels of Mawaru are still ongoing, I hope they'll get translated soon since Im curious to what extent it follows the same story line of the anime adaption and if it will end the same way as in the anime. |
Ausdoerrt
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Jan 3 2012 06:07 PM Well, "back in the day" is a loose term, but the 90s certainly saw an overload of symbolism in anime, especially of the vaguely religious kind. Astro Boy is said to be a symbol for peaceful nuclear energy. Otomo's and Oshii's works are full of symbolism of all kinds. Even the more campy series like CLAMP's X doesn't work without the load of references it brings to the table. something like FLCL makes absolutely no sense without it. Just about every series that wasn't aimed below the waist had a little bit of something. Heck, the death and rebirth tricks common to shounen series are a vague reference to a Buddhist life cycle. Dragonball and the sequels is almost a direct adaptation of a story based on Buddhist canon. And I'm not even going into the direct and indirect Shinto references which are almost omnipresent in anime - Mononoke Hime being the usual famous example. Making the viewer think is certainly a lot less popular now. Though perhaps the natural selection of series over time is partially responsible for that impression. About the series' soundtrack: who woulda thought? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsa1ZyrFGj0 So old-school. EDIT: BTW, I'd definitely recommend the "Triple H" album for listening, a pretty nice effort for a virtual insert anime band. |
