Posted by OP Sequence
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OP: 「ANGEL」by angela
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「未来」 (Mirai)
“Future”
Coppelion’s back, and as the second week rolls in, our team meets their first threat in this nuclear wasteland. The surprising part? It ain’t no wild animal. Indeed, as we find out in this second episode, some people have managed to survive and continue living despite the conditions, and it’s a notion that testifies to human resilience and resourcefulness. Not only that, but the fact they’ve been supposedly supplied by someone weekly and have anti-radiation suits even better than ones being used by the military makes it a very important development that adds to the mysterious backdrop. Obviously at this point, there’s something big going on in the background, and it’s something akin to box being opened little by little.
Toward this end, the whole finding a daughter—MIKU!—thing that takes up most of the episode sounds silly on one hand, but ends up working quite well in the grand scheme. It was undoubtedly odd in many respects, gives us more great shots of the ruined city, and served as a foundation for Mitsuo and Yukiko to reveal that they’re actually escaped convicts. Furthermore, it emphasizes the chaos that happened in the aftermath of the nuclear meltdown, the obvious prioritization in terms of who received more help compared to others (the prisoners were probably just left there at some point), and it’s something that makes this family possibly representative of the other people that seem to be running around the scenes. That is, it seems more and more likely that the guys supplying things may have been people also forced to fend for themselves, and it’s something that also demonstrates the potential threat our characters may face in the future, as some among them—assuming there is some kind of organized group of survivors elsewhere—may not appreciate their arrival.
As it turns out though, even our two supposed convicts aren’t all quite what they seem to be, and it appears that Yukiko actually ended up kidnapping the kid in order to continue living in the city and ensure she can stay with her instead of “losing another one.” With that said, the tilted hotel makes a return amidst a fitting backdrop, and we get our first real big development in the subsequent death of Yukiko as a result.
Alas, it’s a development that ends up both a hit and a miss in general, because whereas it was touching in some respects, a lot of the lead up to it and the bit about our main characters being doll ends up either feeling somewhat forced or exaggerated, and some of the conclusions Ibara gives us regarding Yukiko seems outright pulled out of thin air. And it’s a pity, because they could’ve really done this portion really well, and I can’t help but feel that this may be in fact due to their leaving out of certain parts of the manga. I had previously read a few chapters prior to the airing of the series and there were some obvious omissions to say the least—a few of which would’ve made the developments better by far. I’ll omit this for spoilers sake and in case they decided to shift some events chronologically, but at the moment, it seems like they may be rushing slightly in an attempt to cover a certain amount, and I can’t say I’d be a fan of this at all.
Either way though, I’m still strongly aboard the Coppelion train regardless, because Ibara’s still an awesome character and because they definitely do some things well with this series. Some of the aforementioned are just a few of the things that come to mind, as does the opening theme and its lyrics as well, which end up being quite relevant in regards to how our main cast feels and the nature of their origins. The DNA motifs throughout end up particularly nice, as are the comparisons of our cast to “Angels”—which they effectively are in this nuclear wasteland. Here’s looking forward to the next episode!
Full-length images: 13, 15, 19.
Author’s Notes:
Preview
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AWESOME set of full size shots! Look at that racetrack!
PS: Zephyr… the OP images seem to have broken the horizontal scroll. You may want to fix that.
Ah yeah, thanks. Was messing around with the HTML a moment ago, some stuff got altered. Fixed.
Maybe it would have been conveyed better if Ibara didn’t cry while yelling at Yukiko. Because the crying made it sound forced to me since it came out of nowhere (since Ibara doesn’t strike us as the crying type). But, we did get to see that the girls at least have basic combat/defense training, plus it looks like the wolf/dog is here to stay as the show’s animal mascot.
I can’t recall the last time I watched an episode this bad. Horrible directing, terrible pace, no ties between sequences, obvious logical errors (one hand to save the girl, same hand to let the stepmother go).
Seriously. I dunno who penned the script and did the storyboarding but man did they miss hitting the emotional cues in this episode.
just watched coppelion 2 and it was another lackluster episode, it may just be me perhaps im dead inside but the episode didn;t move me emotionally or get me involved (thinking hmm that’s a interesting tidbit you have just told me) not for lack or trying.
At the end of the episode I didn’t think ” damn i want to know what happens next” no cliffhanger ending. both episodes have have been pretty much self contained taeko going missing in the 1st episode didn’t prompt any response from me simply because you know they are not going kill off or harm a main character in the 2nd episode.
I’ll probably skim the 3rd and drop it if hasn’t improved. I really don’t see the hype of this show
Sure the production values are amazing, great background art, animation and all around art direction.
Ibara and her kansai accent is chou awesome
Aoi is fucking annoying and useless
taeko is bland so is aoi I only like ibara out of the whole show
what do you guy’s think?
I think you’re dead on the inside….but I do agree with some of your points, but not to your anal degree (Same with Toby). BTW, two shows that killed off the main characters on the first episode, Senki Zesshou Symphogear (Kanade) and the ever so famous Gai-Rei-Zero massacre of the entire main cast on the first ep to be replaced by new characters on the second ep.
*sighs*I meant you and medyum
Not sure if I agree entirely with your post, but I am disappointed in the 2nd episode without question. I had fairly high hopes for this show, but now almost certain to be dropped unless Episode 3 proves redeeming.
maybe it’s just me, but i don’t feel like killing off main characters is something necessary to demonstrate strong story-telling abilities. it’s great when it’s pulled off well, but for coppelion it’s all about these test-tube babies being exposed to a harsh world and developing off the people they save or try to save. this sort of plot is about building a world introducing “what would you do in this situation” concepts with the characters of coppelion as our vehicle, similar to many post-apocalypse stories. i feel like if you’re going to kill off characters, you’d need a more stable backdrop and a larger cast, as it stands now, coppelion seems to be about following the adventures of these three girls and how they approach saving different types of people with the ominous and larger plot leaking in whenever its necessary.
Out of curiosity, did you find Clannad/Anohana/all the other crying animes emotionally powerful when (okay, if) you watched them?
Mocha are you kidding me clannad, anohana (not key) and all key anime are so awesome I love those shows (have yet to watch little busters). Like you said they are very emotionally powerful and I could empathize with the characters anguish (Unfortunately I didn’t cry but I did get a little choked up).
Why didn’t they save that kid’s papa?? Nooooooo, they could save him…..
Watch carefully… I think his condition is beyond saving.
Still there was no reason to leave him there dying alone. It would have been better to have him say some meaningful last words and die while Ibara was attempting to save him. Oh and if that’s what happened, then the director surely messed it up heavily to the point of not being comprehensible.
That’s just another example of the many things done wrong in this episode, let’s hope for some improvements in the storytelling or it will be a big waste of production value and viewers’ time.
I don’t want to be too picky correcting unimportant things… but I think you meant “DNA strands”… motif is a pattern in the DNA that has a biological function. Like a hair-pin or a given binding sequence. http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/v24/n4/full/nbt0406-423.html (only if you have time to read it.)
Well, I meant motif as in “reoccurring element,” as it reappears multiple times throughout the OP sequence eh.
Yeah… great pan shots. I find this ep to be slightly more underwhelming than the first, but these characters seem to have great soul. That’s def working in this show’s favor.
Well, the voice work is much better this episode. Too bad the pacing and direction are deeply lacking instead. Even were I not familiar with the source material, it would be obvious that this episode was full of rushed and therefore abbreviated content.
Probably the most glaring direction mistake was just before the hotel collapse. The BGM during the whole confrontation was incredibly out of place and jarring, and blunted any emotional impact that dialogue could have created. The studio is going to have to do better than this to not make the composition of the whole package feel like a mess.
another episode of coppelion <3
clearly now something going on behind the scenes (well otherwise it was less interesting).
the episode was paced OK but yes something is missing. as you said – "hit and miss at the same time and shot". epsecailly in the character development, which was one of the focus features this episode. we could see that on Ibara crying out loud in front of Yukiko..and then the stuff with the father whom she couldnt save…they missed something there. that's why it felt rushy.
something I didn't see you mention is the stuff with Aoi. the story behind the name "coppelion" gave us a glimpse to their essence and even feelings. we also saw that on Ibara and besdies it's one of the important things probably behind the series. we could see that on Ibara when she speaked with Yukiko.
well, there's still a way ahead of us in coppelion. I am waiting for next week (:
Force drama much? Specially at this early? Sad to say that I might have to drop this one.
Untenable.
It usually leaves you blaming someone/something else because deep down, you know you
can’t fix its outcome. So I think the writing and directing did a fair job portraying that it was
either return to jail or death for the couple – no redemption. Both wanted to save their cute
daughter so the individual paths to their demise didn’t matter (the could have been hit by a bus),
and the writing tried to show the juxtaposition of the girls single purpose – to rescue people –
against the couple’s more complex life or death struggle to keep their daughter safe. I thought
the story did a good job of handling these difficult ideas.
But describing your lost daughter to someone as cute kinda goes against logic, IMHO. I mean,
is that what you would think about at a time like that? And of course, as the audience, we’re not
given an opportunity to see for ourselves because of her suit — not even her face. So, the execution
of the story had its weak/silly points, too.
It’ll be interesting to see the next chapter in this series – I enjoyed it so far…
Wow….they are rushing through the manga. At this rate they might end up reaching Show Spoiler ▼
The writers are trying really hard to get this one down my throat. I cared more for the pet wolf being shot than whatever family drama nonsense was going on this episode.
https://randomc.net/image/Coppelion/Coppelion%20-%2002%20-%20Large%2030.jpg
Subtlety : nil.
I did not felt that anime. It was – meh…
TQ
I wanted to like this episode, but all the crying just felt so forced. I get that they are trying to humanize these super special school girls and they are doing a good job at that, but the other people who are supposed to be normal humans feel mechanical. I am reminded of all the crazy idiot NPCs in Fallout, that can’t be a good thing.
Well, the good, the bad and the ugly of the Copplion episode 2:
The good – nice “Chekhov’s Gun” with hazmat suits superior to those used by military. Definitely a hint of something going on in the background. Also, something akin to a society of outcasts living in the nuclear wasteland. There were people who intentionally moved into Chernobyl “zone” either to escape law or simply live free of stifling Soviet state. While Japan is far from totalitarian I guess there are people who don’t enjoy Japanese societal norms to the extent they would take a modern Robinson’s life amongst the ruined Old Capital…
The bad – both the girls team and the survivors dont act too convincingly their roles. Survivors act exaggerately irrational, resulting in both of them dying and their daughter almost sharing their fate. Girls, on the other hand suffer a jarring mood swings from tears to sudden optimism after just walking away from a kid that lost her parents, due to girls being unable to protect them. I know, maybe this was all unavoidable, but in their place I’d be struggling with responsibility. “What could I have better?” would be on my mind.
The ugly – or rather the eerie beauty of decaying metropolis, scenery remains a very strong point of the series. It is so fascinating that it make syou forget some storyline hickkups.
That opening….got goosebumbs everywhere…I mean everywhere, so beautiful!
Ibara is awesome but I’ll agree with the others that her crying felt out of place,even more so when she mentioned that she’s been trained her whole life for this mission.I mean,you’d expect someone with who’s been training for that long to act a bit more professional.She’s still the most entertaining character so far though and act’s accordingly otherwise.Taeko seems to play her part but not much otherwise and Aoi really is useless.It’s like someone kidnapped a normal girl and put her on this important mission withouth any sort of training.
I still think this has potential though and I think that unless the people planning on dropping it don’t find entertaining at all,they should stick with it for more than just 1-ep to decide.
Sorry, have to give this a pass. Uncanny valley came and wacked me in the head.
High School girl uniforms? Really? Including mary janes even though you are walking long distances?
Yeah, and wearing a radiation suit and then removing it in your contaminated helicoptor, um, your dead, and stupid.
i almost fell asleep and im watching this only at 5pm :S
Haha, I complained in the preview and I complain at this OP. Why in the world is a B-2 flying so low to be skimming over rooftops? It’s a subsonic, high-altitude strategic bomber… Why not use the equivalent B-1 that is a supersonic, low-altitude penetration bomber? :I
Not to mention that the B-2 in the OP and preview has reflective paint to make it even easier to spot.
I liked the episode despite some of the obvious flaws like the scene where Ibara apparently slowed down time to grab Miku’s hand and let go of Yukiko’s with the same hand.
The Fallout New Tokyo setting and the mysterious ration delivery truck keeps me interested in the plot.
The part where Ibara started crying I thought she was faking it on purpose like how actors do. I guess she was actually crying eve though it felt so fake.
I’m watching this show for the atmosphere. It reminds me a little of Casshern Sins strangely enough.
I agree, that Kansai-ben is just awesome to hear and vastly underused in Anime. The plot progression was somewhat spotty, but I am definitely enjoying the world building that is going on. There are alot of things afoot.
So disappointed at Coppelion, it bored me to death to the the point of me wanting to punch my laptop, What a Let down, even the ending song is down right annoying.
OMG.. first episode got me curious.. but this ep… it was a fail to me..
all the crying and the lame forced drama got me rolleyed almost the entire episode to the end..
ill give this series another shot with the next episode though…
btw.. i this episode made me hate Aoi.. the way she speak, refering to herself in 3rd person is so damn annoying