Posted by  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
「月の光、太陽の陰」 (Tsuki no Hikari, Taiyou no In)
“The Moon’s Light, The Sun’s Shadow”
This is a far more interesting threat.
Ginka’s Dad Remembers
Not much to say other than that I’m surprised that Ginka’s dad remembers about Ginka / realizes that she has died. I’m not sure whether it’s because he knew about the elemental tarot users or because the way Ginka died was special, but that sure does hurt. Then the triplets start talking about where Ginka-oneechan went to…to? Don’t you cheapen this by making her have teleported somewhere or something!
Ohhh who am I kidding, they’re going to do whatever. Surprise me in a good way please, AIC.
Yuri, Yuri Everywhere!
Time to say something controversial – I’m getting tired of all the yuri. Once in a while is entertaining, and stories centered around it can be great, but sprinkling it into damn near everything just gets tiresome. Luna loves Akari, we get that. Yes, it’s really been more of an admiration for an older sister type – up until they slept together, that is. It just doesn’t seem to add anything, and is just for titillation – titillation which doesn’t even really work. Maybe I’m just overloaded, but I’m growing tired of this.
An Interesting New Threat
The original daemonia were interesting because they forced the main characters to kill innocents, but as soon as Akari started playing therapist and they could hear the victims asking to be killed, that lessened. The counterpart cards I disliked from the beginning, especially once the triplets managed to design a decoy out of nowhere a mere episode after Ginka’s death. This new threat though, Daemonia Luna…this could be fun. I don’t know how much of Luna will still be within her, but this presents Akari and Seira with a new level of an old problem – whether to kill those who have been taken over by a Daemonia. They always have, but now it will be their friend, their precious, innocent Luna-chan. Should be fun to see what they do.
Oh, and it’s less of an ass pull since they’ve already established that creepy can make people into Daemonia. I appreciate that.
Looking Ahead
What’s ahead is fairly obvious – the confrontation with Daemonia Luna. I’ll be interested in seeing how that turns out, but my money is on the body count rising higher. I know, where do I get the gall to guess such a thing? What can I say, I’m a rebel.
tl;dr: @StiltsOutLoud – An obvious “twist” may lead to a more interesting confrontation than we’ve had so far. Luna-chan, noooo!! #geneitaiyou 09
Random thoughts:
- Luna didn’t wonder why her onee-chan suddenly showed up without having aged? Called it from the very beginning that this Akari was fake. Easy plot twist, try to do better next time!
For more from yours truly, check out my blog on writing, art, and the book I’m working on at stiltsoutloud.com.
Preview
 |
 |
 |
Seeing that Daemonia Luna kind of makes me wish the art style was different. You know like more detailed or something.
You just wanted to see some nipples :p
What’s with the breast enlargement anyways? Sure it adds to the effect, but damn.
Luna’s clothes hide the fact that she’s always been pretty well endowed (check the swimsuit or bed scenes for confirmation). It’s finally putting emphasis on it that has changed, and that’s totally for effect. Luna Unleashed doesn’t cower.
It’s not just that. I think if it was a little more realistic it would have had more impact.
Oh god! Will everyone be dead by the end of this show??
Base on current projections, it looks that way. Unless Illya makes a dramatic entrance in the end and saves everyone. Wait… wrong show.
Werewolf Luna :\
The symbol on her chest reminds me of the Humonculi symbol from FMA.
@Stilts: “Yuri, Yuri Everywhere!” – maybe, but not nearly as much as “Loli, Loli Everywhere” this summer. I’d be happy to bet there are more shows with lolis this season than those with yuri elements (probably true of just about every season). TBH, I’m more burned out on that than yuri.
In defense of
yuri, I mean consistent character personality in terms of plot, IMO there is a point to the whole “spending the night together” scene beyond fueling the imaginations of certain a viewer group(s). Clearly Luna is very emotionally attached to Akari (arguably, emotionally dependent), so what better way to completely drive her over the edge mentally than to pretend to give her the one thing she desperately wants (Akari’s affection, undying love, etc.), then ruthlessly crush all hope at exactly the right (worst for Luna) moment?Who knows with this show, but as best I can tell, “Daemonification” of card holders won’t work unless they are mentally susceptible. Otherwise, why not do it a long time ago with Akari or any other card holder? Assuming that is the case, then “Evil Kid” just used a smart, effective strategy. Not saying that scene was entirely plot driven (I’m sure fan-service was a major factor), but IMO it’s not as egregious as Stilt’s seems to suggest when considered in that light (hopefully I didn’t misconstrue anything this time). The whole thing does tie in to what “anti-Ginka” mentioned about combining.
2nd what Stilt’s said about cheapening Ginka’s “death” if it turns out instead that she was teleported away somewhere. Rather than any feeling of relief that she survived (and I like Ginka), I’d feel like I had just been trolled by the director.
In terms of Ginka’s dad remembering her, it seems that either the “global memory loss” effect only applies to Daemons (maybe it’s a penalty for their evil deeds) since they did remember the other card holder who “died”, or in fact neither that person nor Ginka are actually dead. I’m betting on the latter at this point.
Looking forward to next week simply because it seems like anything goes now regardless of plausibility or consistency. I’m honestly curious to see what part of the kitchen sink they throw at this next.
They did lead up to Luna’s affection fairly well, it was just it finally going from she’s-like-the-missing-onee-chan-I-loved to stroking-her-hair-while-we-sleep-together that went a little overboard to me. That said, I was mainly just hella sleep deprived when I wrote that. It doesn’t annoy me quite so much this morning, lol
And you’re probably right on Ginka’s dad. After all, Akari still remembers her mom even though she probably died fighting (I’m assuming).
They were waving the jealousy flag for a long time with Luna. I don’t think that they’re having slept together can be taken as explicit yuri, more of of just sharing a bed at that point. Remember that Luna was surprised that Akari kissed her and even protested that she didn’t feel that way (yeah, right).
I agree that there has to be a susceptibility, but I had understood that to be true of all of the people turned into Daemonia. Though I didn’t understand how the father’s friends got turned based on that.
I don’t think they stated that the tarot user’s cease to have existed, only Daemonia infected people, so there was no reason that Dad wouldn’t remember Ginka. Doesn’t look like she’s really gone either.
As far as I can tell, “Daemonification” requires the person have some strong desire coupled with some form of negative emotion (jealously, hatred, revenge, etc.) and are pushed to a mental brink. I agree that applies to “normal” people as well as card holders.
You make a good point about Ginka’s dad’s two friends, but perhaps their issues were just better hidden. IMO the show has not done a good job of explaining things (either that or I’m thinking about this too much).
Version I watched for EP 08 (Horrible subs) said the user of the Love card was “annihilated”. That pretty much = death. Perhaps the TL is off. During the meeting, the word “disappeared” was used frequently, and AFAIK, they never expressly stated “die”. Even so, they sure set the whole thing up as much closer to death than MIA (but still alive).
They could have done a much better job explaining what happens to tarot users when they are killed. But it appears obviously they are still remembered. Yet, the humans possessed by the Demonia are not.
Hm, originally I thought of this as a poor man’s Madoka Magica clone. But the more I watch it- it seems to take on a personality of its’ own. But it’s not a path I really enjoy. Still interested enough to finish though
I am just going to comment on one thing only after rewatching the next to last sequence repeatedly.
Werewolf Luna has been conveniently censored. She is just wearing a choker and a corset with her cute hat.
The Blu-Ray/DVD release will probably remove them, IF they ARE actually censorship and just not some skin-colored, body tight clothing.
Won’t remove it since it will involve full frontal nudity with nipples and Genitalia. Doing so would move it into the Hentai realm. I only realised the situation and implication after rewatching it: i) her shoes get shredded ii) her gloves get shredded and partially merged into her arms (skintight) iii) Ends up with breast accentuating corset minus the rest of her usual dress (no capelet+skirt). Call it skinsuit etc2, but the suggestion is quite clear.
In previous scenes it looks like Luna has a tight white item of clothing underneath her shoulder cape/poncho thing. We’ll undoubtedly see more of her character design next week, but I wouldn’t go expecting anything ecchi, and would be sorely disappointed if it happened.
Remember, Luna is NOT human anymore. She’s a monster. The normal rules do not apply to her anymore, and that includes those that deal with clothing.
We expect no ecchi but it is quite obvious if this was say… an R-18 anime. (or one of the Rule34 H-doujinshis that will come out at Winter Comiket 2013).
“Don’t you cheapen this by making her have teleported somewhere or something!”
Like people were theorizing last episode, it’s still unsure if Ginka and that Lover tarot user was really dead/annihilated by it’s alternate version.
I’d like to think that THEY became cards.
Calling it now if they did became cards: Akari will be able to use their powers in the finale episode.
I actually like this theory. It then seems to reason that the Cards of Elemental Tarot users contain the souls of a good many of their predecessors. Essentially, those cards are Soul-hives. Two dimensional, rectangular Soul Gems containing many souls.
I’m not sure whether it’s because he knew about the elemental tarot users or because the way Ginka died was special
Isn’t it because he is from a elemental tarot user bloodline? Even evil shounen said he had “bad blood” and wouldn’t even bother trying to turn him into a Daemonia.
Could be, but since it hasn’t been adequately explained I’m not making assumptions. The reason doesn’t matter too much since the implication is clear – elemental tarot user’s deaths are remembered, which I should have seen coming since Akari’s mother was remembered.
Oh well, my mistake gave Ginka’s dad’s scene extra punch, so it worked out.
i did not see that coming from a mile away
Neither did I, for once. Refreshing.
Now I have seen it all – Stilts tired of yuri. Actually this is something more and more people are compalining about. Male characters being less of an concern than girls is normal in magical GIRLS show, but they can add some pretty good storyline and/or character development. Yuri theme sprinkled a bit here or there is fine, overuse it and it becomes boring and predictable. One thing I see is a bit of hypocrisy in treating characters – boy acting sexually on a teenage girl is treated as sex offender, girl as adorable and cute…
Now, the very moment Akari showed up at the villa I have became suspicious. Being Genre Savvy myself, I was easily picking up things like avoiding replies that only real Akari should know, and getting too overly friendly. With enemy being shapeshifter, this really screamed of a trap (not that we know real gender, if any, of the shapeshifting fiend).
And my comparison to 40k universe is working again brilliantly, as the (kept strictly secret ofcourse) annals of inquisition are full of heroes that have turned to daemon side!
And now we have poor girls facing their former comrade. Body count rising is highly probable, to say the least…
…SO where is this supposed oversaturation of yuri? I can count canon lesbian characters in anime during the last two years on one hand. If there was oversaturation, we’d have more than five. Not …two.
Really, people. If anything, this going beyond subtext is a breath of fresh air. About time it happens in a show. Last magical girl shows that did it were Tokyo Mew Mew and Sailor Moon, QUITE a long time ago.
And? I’m quite definitely not a guy. Just so tired of guys behaving like this. Yes, we get it, lesbians are threatening, yadda yadda -.-
I’m unclear on this post. Are you saying that Tokyo Mew Mew and Sailor Moon have lesbian characters or they were deep into Yuri themes? I haven’t watched these shows so I’m curious.
I really hope there’s a point for this show to be tormenting these poor girls for the last 9 episodes other than just the “break the cutie” for simple shock value.. It started interesting and all, but now I can’t really see where this is all going.
…The stabbing thing was new. I don’t know what those disembodied voices were thinking, but I like villain-kun’s sense of drama. I’m glad he seems to be dropping the counterpart cards thing, especially.