Project Otaku Power-Levelling: Part 5
So I've been doing this for two weeks now, and I've yet to run into a crappy series. Are my tastes that good? As it turns out...
No, they're not. Or at least, my prediction powers are not that good. The marathon continued with this little...ugh.
I'm not sure HOW Pretear got added, but for whatever reason, my partner-in-crime Traveler (who really needs a site) suggested we should watch it next. I agreed, but with the caveat that, if we hated the first three episodes, we would throw it out and watch Variable Geo instead.
...But the opening third was actually not that bad. Himeno Awayuki is the Pretear, the girl who can make the red snow, white. The Pretear is the only being alive who can battle against the Princess of Disaster, a being that uses evil seeds to steal Leafe, the essence of life on Earth and on Leafenia. As a result, the Leafe Knights (protectors of Earth) are forced to find the Pretear when the Princess of Darkness begins to make moves to destroy the planet with the tree Fenrir.
Himeno starts out as a great character. Rather than be the typical female character, Himeno is a very spirited character. She's a bit of a klutz, but she's also a pretty impressive martial artist. Her home life is weird right now as she's living with a "merged family". Her father married a rich business owner with two sisters, and the whole family is learning to adjust. She's having trouble adjusting, but hides it well. The biggest problem she has, is a feeling of being needed. A great theme to work with--everyone can identify with it, right?
Being a mahou shoujo series, initially I thought someone would have to twist her arm to get her to save the world, but I was wrong. There was a twinge of Nanoha (the bar for all mahou shoujo...and action-oriented anime in general) as Himeno not only accepts, but almost *demands* the right to be the Pretear and help save the planet. Me being me, I was impressed.
This impressed feeling carried as I learned the Pretear actually merges with a Knight to use her powers, and has to do the fighting herself. I LIKED this--I've never been a fan of protagonists in action series who play vital, non-fighting roles. Your series is ABOUT action. It is neither entertaining nor logically sound for you to be unable to battle, just because you can find the jewel shards.
The series continues after she gains her powers at a pretty good pace. Watching the characters interact is rather entertaining. I was thinking this would be the shoujo series I could recommend to my fellow guy anime fans.
Its still very much a shoujo series, with Himeno getting to play dress up in different outfits every time she "Prets" with a different Leafe Knight. (My favorite is when she becomes Flame Pretear, looking like a member of the Gatchman. Awesome!)
...And then episode six comes along. This is where Himeno starts to ask questions, and Pretear's weak spot appears: The plot.
From the beginning of the series, the story had been dropping hints about the fate of the last Pretear, and its rather obvious that our current villain IS the previous Pretear. We've seen that plot before. The questions never come from the "What", they always come from the "Why?" My initial thought was that a Pretear, after her job is done, is stuck with the awful fate of becoming the Princess of Darkness because of some reason or another.
...If only the story went that way. Pretentious? Sure. What we got instead, was the story of a girl who became the Pretear and saved the world...but turned evil because the Wind Knight wouldn't fuck her.
...Its like the writers realized the series wasn't girly enough, so they shoved in a completely random romance. However, I'm okay with this. The series doesn't suffer very terribly from one forced romance.
...Its when they begin to force ANOTHER down my throat, that I start to grumble. Despite the Wind Knight turning the last girl away, this one apparently is self-sufficient enough for him to turn completely guy-dependent. His vow as a Wind Knight made him turn the last Pretear down, but apparently for THIS one its okay? That bugs me, for some reason. I'm not certain why, but it does. But even with this, the show is still an average series with a potential for greatness in the finale.
Our hero lives in a house with two sisters. One's older, and a spoiled brat that plays pranks constantly on her new sister. The younger one, though, is quiet, stoic, and very clearly struggling with her life in general, particularly since she lost her father years ago. The only person she feels she can confide in is a radio personality who happens to be the Knight of Sound. And her existence, is why this series goes from average..to fucking terrible.
This girl is clearly in need of help, and every time someone ignores her in a significant way, I found myself hating the series a little bit more. This may be because of the initial time this happens. You're about...seven or so episodes in, the hero (Himeno) is depressed because the knights lied to her, terrified she's going to become evil, and is basically wandering about the city in the daze, when she runs into her equally distraught sister. They begin talking and slowly start to bring one another out of their respective funks, and it seems like a genuine friendship is formed.
...And then Himeno sees the Knight of Wind, Hayate, who's been looking for her. And suddenly... "Sorry sis, but I REALLY wanna fuck this guy! Later!"
Okay, I'm paraphrasing, but at least THAT'S honest. She literally drops her own sister like a stone to cuddle with the Knight of Wind. It wouldn't be so bad if she hated her family, but during the early episodes she talks about how important she feels it is for her new family to get along. Family's important to her, but she ditches the one person that COULD accept her to be with her new boyfriend?
I really should have seen this series' stupidity coming. The transformation should've tipped me off. When Himeno and a Knight merge, it basically looks like a sex scene, as they both become nude and she just barely avoids bumping crotches. (Which is good, since about half the Knights are shota.) But she doesn't avoid looking somewhat sexually satisfied afterwards. Oh, and the energy for her weapons comes from her groin area. Thanks symbolism. I didn't ORDER a ton of bricks, but since they're free and already here....
Ugh. It gets worse. The powers of the villain work off pain and sorrow (of course), so she goes after the sister. Now not only is it necessary to help her, but it would go some ways toward saving the world.
...But nope. The hero continues to ignore her while attempting to find Princess of Disaster, who (coincedentally) lives at the hero's house and spends her freetime mind-screwing her sister. Of course, they notice it eventually, but then, the series makes its final screw-up, throwing the series totally off the rails.
Out of nowhere, after nine episodes, we learn the Knight of Sound (who the Princess of Disaster almost destroyed), Sasame, is in love with the former Pretear/the villain. And decides he no longer cares about the Knights, and abandons them to be with her.
First of all, this not only is not even HINTED at, its completely contrary to the way the character has acted up to this point! Suddenly, with no build-up, he decides he's deeply in love with her, and leaves the knighthood to serve her. He goes the whole nine too--attacking his friends and following every command the Princess gives him.
There's TWO problems with this: Its blatantly obvious the Princess doesn't love him, and more importantly--if he truly felt this strongly about her, shouldn't he have said something about it BEFORE, and maybe ALL of this wouldn't be happening? The series even ADDRESSES these in a conversation between the two, almost as if it is aware of how absolutely banal the writing has become. It does that TWICE.
Just after the Princess abandons the Knight (before later taking him to use him in her plans), Himeno outright ADMITS that she might have done the same thing. Abandon all that's important for love--because no one has the right to tell someone they cannot fall in love.
...Before we get into just how damaging that is to say to young girls that might be watching this series, I'd just like to say: DO THE WRITERS NOT REALIZE THEY HAVE JUST MADE THE HERO CONDONE SIDING WITH THE VILLAIN?!
And y'know, it wouldn't be as questionable, had it been the Knight of Wind. If the reason he hadn't decided to be with the last Pretear was because it was forbidden, but had now changed his mind. But that would have ruined the relationship between Himeno and Hayate; yet another anime immature relationship formed by a mutual dislike of each other--because that's what adults do when they're in love, constantly mock, attack, and insult one another.
Then they could've set up a mature, equally supportive relationship between Himeno and the Knight of Sound. But that's not Inuyasha enough, so let's go with the fanfic relationships instead.
Now, I'd also like to point out that, this is the message the series is sending to young girls: Your man doesn't need to stand for anything. Its okay if he throws EVERYTHING else away from his friends to his honor so long as he cares about you.
You could tell me the show doesn't condone that...but the series Hero, our moral compass, ACCEPTS this relationship as regrettable, but "not so bad", so...it kinda does.
This is nine episodes into the series. By this time, both I and my partner Traveler are screaming at our screens, completely PISSED because it was a decent series up until this "twist", and we've wasted nearly three and a half hours of our life. With only 4 episodes left, we decide...hey, screw it, might as well finish.
If you can't tell, the show never manages (or even attempts) to redeem itself.
My absolute favorite part is where the villain finally enacts her final plan, completely breaking the girl she had been mind-screwing for the past five episodes or so as she embraces the Knight of Sound, the only person the girl felt any connection to, in a deep, "passionate" kiss. The girl becomes catatonic, while the family wonders why she's even like that in the first place. This from:
- A father in law who, perhaps an episode ago, noticed the girl hadn't left her room in ages and attempted to talk to her, but got no answer. He decided, "I'll come back later."
- An older sister who spends most of her time ignoring the girl in place of playing jokes on her NEW sister that constantly backfire.
- A mother who, when the girl begins to talk about how she truly feels, wonders why she's being so immature, and says, "You've always my strong little girl who I was able to lean on and didn't ask for anything in return." (The girl's response? Same as mine. "There's no person that exists like that!")
- A sister-in-law that abandoned her for a guy that she had been whacking and insulting for the entire series up to that point when it was obvious the girl needed help.
SHE'S catatonic? So am I, this family is the worst. They try to make it up later but by this point they've broken the barrier that makes me no longer care about them.
Oh, and the series ending? Himeno becomes Final Form Pretear and defeats Fenrir, the tree that lives off Leafe, then revives everyone else in the series who'd died, or nearly died. How did she manage this? Because, she forgave everybody.
...Excuse me? She...forgave everybody? I think they forgot which character they were using. Y'know what? I don't care. I'm done with this series, and I've spent WAYYYYYY too much time bitching about it. Consider it my Final Vent. (...That series kinda sucked too, but at least its main character TRIED...)
No, they're not. Or at least, my prediction powers are not that good. The marathon continued with this little...ugh.
I'm not sure HOW Pretear got added, but for whatever reason, my partner-in-crime Traveler (who really needs a site) suggested we should watch it next. I agreed, but with the caveat that, if we hated the first three episodes, we would throw it out and watch Variable Geo instead.
...But the opening third was actually not that bad. Himeno Awayuki is the Pretear, the girl who can make the red snow, white. The Pretear is the only being alive who can battle against the Princess of Disaster, a being that uses evil seeds to steal Leafe, the essence of life on Earth and on Leafenia. As a result, the Leafe Knights (protectors of Earth) are forced to find the Pretear when the Princess of Darkness begins to make moves to destroy the planet with the tree Fenrir.
Himeno starts out as a great character. Rather than be the typical female character, Himeno is a very spirited character. She's a bit of a klutz, but she's also a pretty impressive martial artist. Her home life is weird right now as she's living with a "merged family". Her father married a rich business owner with two sisters, and the whole family is learning to adjust. She's having trouble adjusting, but hides it well. The biggest problem she has, is a feeling of being needed. A great theme to work with--everyone can identify with it, right?
Being a mahou shoujo series, initially I thought someone would have to twist her arm to get her to save the world, but I was wrong. There was a twinge of Nanoha (the bar for all mahou shoujo...and action-oriented anime in general) as Himeno not only accepts, but almost *demands* the right to be the Pretear and help save the planet. Me being me, I was impressed.
This impressed feeling carried as I learned the Pretear actually merges with a Knight to use her powers, and has to do the fighting herself. I LIKED this--I've never been a fan of protagonists in action series who play vital, non-fighting roles. Your series is ABOUT action. It is neither entertaining nor logically sound for you to be unable to battle, just because you can find the jewel shards.
The series continues after she gains her powers at a pretty good pace. Watching the characters interact is rather entertaining. I was thinking this would be the shoujo series I could recommend to my fellow guy anime fans.
Its still very much a shoujo series, with Himeno getting to play dress up in different outfits every time she "Prets" with a different Leafe Knight. (My favorite is when she becomes Flame Pretear, looking like a member of the Gatchman. Awesome!)
...And then episode six comes along. This is where Himeno starts to ask questions, and Pretear's weak spot appears: The plot.
From the beginning of the series, the story had been dropping hints about the fate of the last Pretear, and its rather obvious that our current villain IS the previous Pretear. We've seen that plot before. The questions never come from the "What", they always come from the "Why?" My initial thought was that a Pretear, after her job is done, is stuck with the awful fate of becoming the Princess of Darkness because of some reason or another.
...If only the story went that way. Pretentious? Sure. What we got instead, was the story of a girl who became the Pretear and saved the world...but turned evil because the Wind Knight wouldn't fuck her.
...Its like the writers realized the series wasn't girly enough, so they shoved in a completely random romance. However, I'm okay with this. The series doesn't suffer very terribly from one forced romance.
...Its when they begin to force ANOTHER down my throat, that I start to grumble. Despite the Wind Knight turning the last girl away, this one apparently is self-sufficient enough for him to turn completely guy-dependent. His vow as a Wind Knight made him turn the last Pretear down, but apparently for THIS one its okay? That bugs me, for some reason. I'm not certain why, but it does. But even with this, the show is still an average series with a potential for greatness in the finale.
Our hero lives in a house with two sisters. One's older, and a spoiled brat that plays pranks constantly on her new sister. The younger one, though, is quiet, stoic, and very clearly struggling with her life in general, particularly since she lost her father years ago. The only person she feels she can confide in is a radio personality who happens to be the Knight of Sound. And her existence, is why this series goes from average..to fucking terrible.
This girl is clearly in need of help, and every time someone ignores her in a significant way, I found myself hating the series a little bit more. This may be because of the initial time this happens. You're about...seven or so episodes in, the hero (Himeno) is depressed because the knights lied to her, terrified she's going to become evil, and is basically wandering about the city in the daze, when she runs into her equally distraught sister. They begin talking and slowly start to bring one another out of their respective funks, and it seems like a genuine friendship is formed.
...And then Himeno sees the Knight of Wind, Hayate, who's been looking for her. And suddenly... "Sorry sis, but I REALLY wanna fuck this guy! Later!"
Okay, I'm paraphrasing, but at least THAT'S honest. She literally drops her own sister like a stone to cuddle with the Knight of Wind. It wouldn't be so bad if she hated her family, but during the early episodes she talks about how important she feels it is for her new family to get along. Family's important to her, but she ditches the one person that COULD accept her to be with her new boyfriend?
I really should have seen this series' stupidity coming. The transformation should've tipped me off. When Himeno and a Knight merge, it basically looks like a sex scene, as they both become nude and she just barely avoids bumping crotches. (Which is good, since about half the Knights are shota.) But she doesn't avoid looking somewhat sexually satisfied afterwards. Oh, and the energy for her weapons comes from her groin area. Thanks symbolism. I didn't ORDER a ton of bricks, but since they're free and already here....
Ugh. It gets worse. The powers of the villain work off pain and sorrow (of course), so she goes after the sister. Now not only is it necessary to help her, but it would go some ways toward saving the world.
...But nope. The hero continues to ignore her while attempting to find Princess of Disaster, who (coincedentally) lives at the hero's house and spends her freetime mind-screwing her sister. Of course, they notice it eventually, but then, the series makes its final screw-up, throwing the series totally off the rails.
Out of nowhere, after nine episodes, we learn the Knight of Sound (who the Princess of Disaster almost destroyed), Sasame, is in love with the former Pretear/the villain. And decides he no longer cares about the Knights, and abandons them to be with her.
First of all, this not only is not even HINTED at, its completely contrary to the way the character has acted up to this point! Suddenly, with no build-up, he decides he's deeply in love with her, and leaves the knighthood to serve her. He goes the whole nine too--attacking his friends and following every command the Princess gives him.
There's TWO problems with this: Its blatantly obvious the Princess doesn't love him, and more importantly--if he truly felt this strongly about her, shouldn't he have said something about it BEFORE, and maybe ALL of this wouldn't be happening? The series even ADDRESSES these in a conversation between the two, almost as if it is aware of how absolutely banal the writing has become. It does that TWICE.
Just after the Princess abandons the Knight (before later taking him to use him in her plans), Himeno outright ADMITS that she might have done the same thing. Abandon all that's important for love--because no one has the right to tell someone they cannot fall in love.
...Before we get into just how damaging that is to say to young girls that might be watching this series, I'd just like to say: DO THE WRITERS NOT REALIZE THEY HAVE JUST MADE THE HERO CONDONE SIDING WITH THE VILLAIN?!
And y'know, it wouldn't be as questionable, had it been the Knight of Wind. If the reason he hadn't decided to be with the last Pretear was because it was forbidden, but had now changed his mind. But that would have ruined the relationship between Himeno and Hayate; yet another anime immature relationship formed by a mutual dislike of each other--because that's what adults do when they're in love, constantly mock, attack, and insult one another.
Then they could've set up a mature, equally supportive relationship between Himeno and the Knight of Sound. But that's not Inuyasha enough, so let's go with the fanfic relationships instead.
Now, I'd also like to point out that, this is the message the series is sending to young girls: Your man doesn't need to stand for anything. Its okay if he throws EVERYTHING else away from his friends to his honor so long as he cares about you.
You could tell me the show doesn't condone that...but the series Hero, our moral compass, ACCEPTS this relationship as regrettable, but "not so bad", so...it kinda does.
This is nine episodes into the series. By this time, both I and my partner Traveler are screaming at our screens, completely PISSED because it was a decent series up until this "twist", and we've wasted nearly three and a half hours of our life. With only 4 episodes left, we decide...hey, screw it, might as well finish.
If you can't tell, the show never manages (or even attempts) to redeem itself.
My absolute favorite part is where the villain finally enacts her final plan, completely breaking the girl she had been mind-screwing for the past five episodes or so as she embraces the Knight of Sound, the only person the girl felt any connection to, in a deep, "passionate" kiss. The girl becomes catatonic, while the family wonders why she's even like that in the first place. This from:
- A father in law who, perhaps an episode ago, noticed the girl hadn't left her room in ages and attempted to talk to her, but got no answer. He decided, "I'll come back later."
- An older sister who spends most of her time ignoring the girl in place of playing jokes on her NEW sister that constantly backfire.
- A mother who, when the girl begins to talk about how she truly feels, wonders why she's being so immature, and says, "You've always my strong little girl who I was able to lean on and didn't ask for anything in return." (The girl's response? Same as mine. "There's no person that exists like that!")
- A sister-in-law that abandoned her for a guy that she had been whacking and insulting for the entire series up to that point when it was obvious the girl needed help.
SHE'S catatonic? So am I, this family is the worst. They try to make it up later but by this point they've broken the barrier that makes me no longer care about them.
Oh, and the series ending? Himeno becomes Final Form Pretear and defeats Fenrir, the tree that lives off Leafe, then revives everyone else in the series who'd died, or nearly died. How did she manage this? Because, she forgave everybody.
...Excuse me? She...forgave everybody? I think they forgot which character they were using. Y'know what? I don't care. I'm done with this series, and I've spent WAYYYYYY too much time bitching about it. Consider it my Final Vent. (...That series kinda sucked too, but at least its main character TRIED...)
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