OP Sequence

OP: 「gravityWall」 by SawanoHiroyuki[nZk]:Tielle & Gemie

「ダイナマイトとクールガイ …… that wasn’t funny.」 (Dainamaito to kuurugai)
“Dynamite and Cool Guy …… that wasn’t funny.”

Out of the frying pan and into the fire, I’d say that’s one way of describing Re:Creator’s second episode. Well, if you like info dump expositions like me. After throwing a ginger Asuna, a Prussia-meets-Gilgamesh girl, and one hell of a bland MC at us previously, this episode was all about the explanations. Reasoning for the world meshing, raising questions of creation, hell even revealing the mission of our main baddie, we got it all. Oh, and magical girls, definitely magical girls.

Interestingly, Re:Creators’ basis isn’t all that bad science fiction wise. We generate a lot of information, that information is digitized, apply probability and add in time and a spontaneous world soon develops. Pretty much a multiverse meets string theory setup, which at the minimum puts to rest questions of “how”, but still leaves room for other heavy hitters. Of course how magic works (or doesn’t) is the obvious one—it always is—although the more likely focus will be on personality and free will if you like. The characters have met their creators, but does the meeting and realization “free” them from their origins, or do they remain bound by their previous state? Our Magical Slayer Madoka Mamika acted according to her design for example (i.e. beat up those refusing her justice), but it could be simply that it’s all she knows at the moment—Celestia and Meteora have certainly prodded their boundaries already. I’m curious seeing how this plays out alongside reveal that Gunpuku (at bare minimum) seeks using the creators to remake their worlds, as this indicates the characters still are not exactly “free”. If the stories can still be changed, what exactly happens to those characters now in our world?

How this plot unfolds and reveals the answers, however, will probably prove equally interesting. Souta of course remains the true neutral with no saving features whatsoever, but he has a function here and gosh darn it’s important. Plus he’s got a knack for game/anime knowledge and imaginative (fan) art; must to count for something right? Yeah not I’m seeing it either, unless that cat girl and his curious art blockage plays a role later on. Thankfully though the other characters more than make up for it currently, especially Mamika’s hearts of doom and Celestia with her face to face creator meeting. I get the impression—not influenced by the ED in any way mind you—these creator discoveries will be important, particularly given the above about remaking worlds. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised either if a creator or two are involved with whatever the true objective of Gunpuku is.

Nevertheless with another character showing up and a magical girl to punish, next time will probably see more of the same. No doubt Re:Creators will take its time setting its main conflict up, which shouldn’t prove a problem provided things remain interesting. So long as Souta can grow some and I get plenty of Meteora deadpan I have few complaints. Just have to wait and see what next week brings.

 

ED Sequence

ED: 「NEWLOOK」 by マシロ アヤノ (Mashiro Ayano)

62 Comments

  1. I hope Yuya becomes part of the group, even it’s just as the token evil teammate.

    Considering that Celestia was already uncomfortable with a bunch of people she doesn’t know looking at promo art on her show’s official website, imagine how she’d react to fan-art and the like.

    starqo
      1. That’s kind of what I was alluding to when I said “the like.”

        Seriously, how would Celestia feel if she saw things like that of her?

        Really, with how official art involving characters in swimsuits or at the hot springs exists (or something like a dakimakura), I just get more curious as to how she’s going to react.

        starqo
    1. Even if the plan she told Meteora was a cover-up of her real intentions, the idea of “Prussia-meets-Gilgamesh” is an interesting one: what if characters of stories wanted their creators to make better world for them? It’s the usual Rage Against The Heavens trope, but with a twist, because we are the gods.

      Then, the old question of “if God is good, loving and all-mighty, why does evil and suffering exist in our world?” has a disturbing answer: because it’s more entertaining this way. It has an echo in that common writing tip: “if you love your characters, make them suffer”.

      By the way, it seems that ‘Gunpuku’ is just part of her nickname (Gunpuku no Himegimi = Military Uniform Princess). It’s not her actual name, is it?

      Mistic
      1. EDIT: Please, could someone erase the comment that appears as the answer to starqo? That was a mistake on my part, the correct one is the lower comment in the main thread.

        Seriously, Random Curiosity needs some way for visitors to edit or at least erase their own comments.

        Mistic
      2. Gunpuku probably isn’t her name, but it’s what I have so I’m sticking with it until another is revealed 😛

        @Velvet
        If you think that’s funny, Meteora mentioned a guy called Kunst Wunderkammer, which more or less translates to Kunst Wonder Chamber. Definitely one for the imagination.

        @haseo
        I had the thought last week too, which would certainly explain why she knows Souta, but doesn’t explain why he cannot recognize her. Best hypothesis I’ve seen so far IMO is a bit of time travel, with Gunpuku being future Souta’s creation.

      1. I’m guessing it’s people who are going along with the White Princess’s idea of changing their worlds via their creators, versus does that don’t. For example, Mamika probably naively thinks her world can be made better with her creator’s intervention. The female knight looks like she comes from a really crappy dark fantasy world, so she’s probably willing to take any chance to change things in her world. I don’t know about the other two though.

        FlameStrike
  2. Am I the only one who likes the “MC”, or more accurately, his current role? Personally, I do like it how he’s not intrusive on the other characters. Too many times do MCs overshadow an otherwise colorful cast of characters with some often annoying antics. I guess what I’m saying is that I love his passive presence which allows the other much more vibrant characters to shine.

    It seems likely that the cast may be extended to include the creators along with their creations if the ending is any sign. That I think would add a very interesting and entertaining group dynamic and further expand the shenanigans they can play on.

    Goodwill
    1. I think the opening narration was something like – “Hey, I’m not the hero here, I’m just telling this story.” Which told me what to expect and said expectations have been so far met.

      Frankly, I think our society places too much pressure on the male otakus – you don’t need to be bad-ass protagonist in anime, if you don’t want to, just be whoever you want to be 🙂

      Kessler
    2. The problem is that manga and anime is choke-full of generic male high-schoolers with no other special personal traits than being the Ridiculously Average Guy, as Tv Tropes puts it. So witnessing yet another ordinary student surrounded by certainly-not-ordinary characters won’t endear him to many viewers.

      But I do appreciate that he’s not intrusive nor stealing the spotlight for himself. So far, he’s the Watson, and that’s not bad.

      Mistic
    3. As others laid out, it’s more or less Souta being the typical LN protagonist who is average in every way except luck. I agree he’s not an issue right now, but until his function is revealed he’s largely superfluous.

    4. his role is fine; regardless of whether he is the mc or not, he should still feel like a substantial character. It’s the fact that he’s lacking intriguing characterization is why I personally dont care too much for him. His title as “MC” means nothing to me. Any character that isnt intriguing or has any screen presence should be rightfully called bland. However we are only two eps in so there’s still time to make him better. As was with the first ep, re:creators is a show with cool concepts and very vanilla execution and dialogue. Let’s see where this series go. I will say that this series is very competently produced; the show goes out of its way to make sure things in the background are always moving (most of time) and that you’re at least watching something being animated regardless of how minuscule that animation would be

      sonicsenryaku
    5. Souta could be a character which does not often exist in modern fiction but is all over older fiction. And that is the Narrator Character who often is not the main character but is the one who introduces the story and concludes the story. If it is a tragedy often one of the few survivors. Ishmael in Moby Dick is a Narrator Character. Thus do not expect Souta to drive the story forward even he should tag along and be helpful if they hold true to the narrator character structure. And our fictional girls might actually be the main characters.

      Just Souta should be very glad he did not keep hentai in his rooms. Silver hair girl should have just shown them the hentai involving them and they probably join her quickly to destroy this horrible world.

      At least the sci-fi fiction I toy with writing actually already deals with this fiction connected universal structure, and for a popular story there can be dozens if not hundreds of variants universes as well. So my characters would be hey we knew we were in a book somewhere no problem man actually our universes create your story idea not your fault and work quickly to signal the gate system to bring over part of the fleet that deals with this stuff to bring them home, as they are forever young genetic superhuman of corse I would beg to come along.

      RedRocket
  3. I think meeting the creators would at least open the possibility of them getting power-ups from the writers writing in power-ups for them.
    Like Celestia being able to summon in her robot, stuff like that.

    Mignear
      1. Not only that, Celestia´s response to Mamika´s logic of defeat means friendship was a huge take that! to shows like Lyrical Nanoha where the tittle character beats the living hell of anyone until they are friends.

        haseo0408
      2. That would probably depend on where Starlight Breaker was cast. If it was in the middle of a residential area with a lot of civilians you’d probably have a fair amount of deaths/injuries. If out in the open, nadda.

        Saying that it’s probably just the equivalent of a large explosion in terms of power.

        Lyfe
      3. The difference with Nanoha and Mamika is that Nanoha knows that people can and will get hurt in battle. Her magic doesn’t kill, but goddamn it hurts and you would still get injured if not killed if a magical sword or a sharp rock stabs you.

        Mignear
  4. Now the question is how can they cover up the damage Mamika does in this EP. She just blow up a lot of building and many people see them. This can’t be cover up by the usual “gas explosion” or “CG” thing.

    Azure
  5. Thumb up 0 Thumb down

    Even if the plan she told Meteora was a cover-up of her real intentions, the idea of “Prussia-meets-Gilgamesh” is an interesting one: what if characters of stories wanted their creators to make better world for them? It’s the usual Rage Against The Heavens trope, but with a twist, because we are the gods.

    Then, the old question of “if God is good, loving and all-mighty, why does evil and suffering exist in our world?” has a disturbing answer: because it’s more entertaining this way. It has an echo in that common writing tip: “if you love your characters, make them suffer”.

    By the way, it seems that ‘Gunpuku’ is just part of her nickname (Gunpuku no Himegimi = Military Uniform Princess). It’s not her actual name, is it?

    Mistic
    1. Have not watched it but I believe Fate/Zero has a mass murderer who worships god because god just wants to be entertained by both good and evil so he is going to be as evil as possible praise the lord.

      RedRocket
  6. I’m calling it. Everything’s layered. The creator’s world that Souta inhabits is a world of a higher being’s creation. They all team up and find out it’s all just layers.

    Nitro
  7. Speaking of creations meeting their creators, i really wanna see if Saber Zero or Homura meeting Urobuchi Gen in this kinda setting XD (or Mari in this case)!

    Celestia waifu confirmed! <3 im so surprised how calm she is dealing with the real world! And Meteora, i'm a sucker for smart girls ^^

    Btw, saw the third PV in youtube already, i guess we'll be expecting the blonde female knight next. "Angry Saber" will be up soon! XD

    Onion Warrior
  8. Re:Creators is really entertaining and memetastic to watch.

    https://randomc.net/image/Re%20Creators/Re%20Creators%20-%2002%20-%20Large%2015.jpg
    That is down right cute

    https://randomc.net/image/Re%20Creators/Re%20Creators%20-%2002%20-%20Large%2029.jpg
    Let’s say our prayers for Mamika…
    “I pray upon and call out to thee who has sacrificed her existence to bring happiness and solace to Mahou Shoujo across time, space and worlds. Thee who’s blessings and power hath been pool together when time and world lines repeat. Thee who knows no sadness or despair. Thee who is the blessed Mahou Shojo Kami Madoka to save thy Mamika’s soul as it knocks upon the door of sadness and despair. I call upon the name Kami Kaname Madoka.”

    Velvet Scarlantina
  9. Meteora´s theories really hit home with me, specially the one about the authors drawing inspirations form other worlds. Stephen King has used that idea a lot in the Dark Tower Saga and by extention all his books, the author recives the events of the journey of the “characters” and he uses them to “create” his work, or in the case of The Dark Tower guide the characters when they run out of options; that means they are not really the creations of the author, the author is like a record keeper of the characters from another world.

    In the universe of Stephen King all myths and fictional universes are true so create a universe of possibilities. From what I can remember the cofirmed universes in the Dark Tower are: Marvel Universe, DC Universe, Star Wars and Harry Potter and belive they influence the plot directly one way of anither!.

    haseo0408
  10. Am guessing Gunpuku is a co-creation between the MC and the girl that commited suicide in the 1st ep. (like her art, but his backstory) would explain him not knowing her, but Gunpuku knowing him.

    Devastator001
    1. Could be, but I’m hesitant on that idea until we know that Souta actually knew her. It would explain his art blockage though, as he is quite unwilling to put pen to paper, let alone showing his work off.

  11. Fate/Stay Night with fictional characters kinda. I love it!

    Meteora having trouble expressing herself is kinda funny seeing as she’s a game character. Especially if she was an npc. As for the new guy, was I the only one thinking Persona when he summoned that spirit thing?

    JHN
  12. I’ll be disengaging or at least limiting my activity in the netsz to an almost non-existent level so that I can finally get my own novel done in time for December latest. And so before going on that massive hiatus here’s some of what I think and feel about this show.

    Well, interesting and rather fun is how’d I describe this show Jimmeh. I will still find every slumberin’ opportunity to stick a claymore in that walking dead boy you call ‘mainmed kewektur’ but hah, that’s just me personal vendetta so what does it matter in the end?

    I shall continue to observe this show and see what they’re willing to do to advance the story in interesting ways. Indeed, would they have the golden sacs to advance the story in interesting ways is what I shall patiently observe and so far there have been displays of interesting things. Majikaru gyaru as a case in point.

    Also, note however that whenevah you people keep callin’ ‘er as “‘Gunpuku’, ‘Gunpuku'” is how’d someone would come up to me and say “Hey Uniform, how goes things eh? Well I just find that your uniform reminds me so much of Boogiepop Uniform and that’s awesome! But wait, why did they design your uniform in such a way Uniform? Isn’t copyright a divine commandment in the Land Of The Suicidal Samurai?”

    My Kami-sama how it grates me nerves and scorches me eyes encountering that. If the lot of you must refer to that unique rip-off with a name, then refer to her as ‘Hime’ (Purinsessu in Japanese) or well, ‘Boogiepop’ or ‘Fumika’ from Shigofumi. Look, whatever it is ‘Gunpuku’ sounds focken’ bad ‘n awkward. Giv’er a proper name lads fer kraiyin’ aut laud yeah? At least Hime can be used as a proper name in the language of Nippongo if you don’t want to confuse yerselves.

    Nishizawa Mihashi

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