Comet Lucifer / First Impressions

「堕ちた天使」 (堕ちた天使)
“The Fallen Angel”

There’s a comet, and she’s Lucifer. I see what you did there.

Things Are Just Happening

Telling a good story isn’t easy. It requires a lot of forethought and planning, or a lot of rewriting to make it looked like you planned out what you really didn’t. Also, luck. What you can’t do is abuse your position as author. You can’t just make things happen, like the gods of old. We have a phrase for that: Deus ex machina. Lit: God from the machine. I don’t think I’m telling you anything new by saying that in modern storytelling, the deus ex machina is heavily frowned upon.

If you would like to know how to not tell a story, Comet Lucifer once again shows the way, by pulling almost everything that happens out of its ass this episode.

Moura transforms into her human form because … because she did. She doesn’t know, it’s never said, it just happens. Vee shows up and starts pulling shotguns out of bread and throwing melonpan bombs because of her regret over Do Mon, sure—but why does she have any of these weapons? And why the hell are they in bread? We’re probably better off not knowing.

Captain Gus and co showing up to save Sougo was foreshadowed, this is true, but it was so damn bad—expected, contrived, and out of character … why does he suddenly care about this asshole kid again?—that it was somehow even worse. And then Anatolia (Muranaka Tomo), whose name has never been revealed until this episode, suddenly kills Zoneboyle and becomes the Big Bad (trope trope trope, aaaaand I called it), even though we don’t know a damn thing about her. And there’s also a fucking comet heading for the planet. Ugh. Just ugh.

What’s Being Done Right

Not much. Sougo is still an idiot who is incapable of thinking of a plan other than “Run to where Felia is” and “Hit things with a metal pipe,” plus everything I said above. They also snuffed out Zoneboyle, who could have been a somewhat interesting villain since he’s not cacklingly evil—except for that first scene, wher he did cackle, because we can’t have a scene go by without some bad writing—in favor of the much more clearly evil secretary. But, er, at least she’s a kickass woman who can mix it up in a brawl and also has boobies and stuff, right?

I’m going to be serious here. I’ve got nothing. She’s moderately more interesting than Zoneboyle was as a character (going by her specs—transformer, changes into a mech, etc), though no more interesting in personality. Everything else is bad, including how the antagonists blow up instantly while even Roman’s mech can take a shot. There is no hope left. Everything is bad. Zetsubou! Zetsuboushita

But on the plus side, Sougo can now channel his inner Charlie Brown when he gets Felia back. After all, he’ll have a rock. And will have starred in a show that sunk like one. Zam!

tl;dr: @StiltsOutLoud – There’s a comet, and she’s Lucifer. I see what you did there. …is it bad if I’m rooting for the comet? #cometlucifer 11

Random thoughts:

  • For some reason, no one else wanted to cover this show for me while I was out of town. I wonder why? *glances at the screen caps* …I’m going back to drinking.
  • Just kill him already, dammit.

My first novel, Wage Slave Rebellion, is available now. (More info—now in paperback!) Sign up for my email list for a FREE sequel novella. Over at stephenwgee.com, the last four posts: $%&@* cuss words, Stephen, what is best in life?, It depends, and Momentum & mental space.

 

Preview

46 Comments

  3. I literally said out loud “what the fuck is she going to do with loaves of bread? are they going to do something ridiculous like shoot bullets?” Then she somehow rips a rifle out of a baguette. I laughed hysterically for a good 5 mins. Then I as soon as the MC got into trouble I thought, ‘oh it’s about time for Gus to show up and spout some tsundere line’. Another 5 mins of hysterical laughter. Oh writers… You shoulda just made this campy and fun like One-Punchman instead of trying to be serious.

    Spike
    Reply

  4. If I were Anatolia, I would slice Sougo’s head right off the bat. This woman can kill Do Mon without uttering a word, but had to spend a year giving a speech when trying to kill Sougo. Yeah, I know. She probably likes Sougo, so she wanted to protect him by giving Moura enough time to save him. This is much more logical than what I am seeing here.

    Also, Moura has Spiderman’s ability. Weirdly enough, she doesn’t bother to use that when they were falling down the hole. She totally forgot about her own ability after the first time she used it. Meh.

    Problem Child
    Reply

  6. It feels like the writers are making it bad on purpose, like it’s a game. It’s like every fifteen seconds there’s another inexplicable development, not to improve things but just to keep up a consistent level of stupid absurdity. I really don’t know how a story this bad gets funding, and the animation is pretty good actually.

    I’m still miffed that Sougo simply ran away from a mech’s machine gun fire a couple episodes back.

    flap
    Reply

      1. i know, but i saw no i even smell it against that wind that early

        The Pace of the Story telling, and they underestimate the Spectator way of enjoy the Show. As if they are “dump Children” Story? Do not Care. They are Kids, give them Bum bang and “Tits”

        WorldwideDepp
        Reply

  10. This show, oh this show…

    Moura being all Spider-girl, Spider-girl, and then Vee with the baguette shotguns and bread grenades, I laughed so hard. Gus going to avenge Don Mon, and then there’s the whole evil guardian end that I really didn’t get at all, but it was crazy fun anyway.

    That is except for Sougo and Felia who are as boring as cardboard. I haven’t heard all this calling of names since the 90s/early 2000s, I thought anime had gotten beyond this….

    Irenesharda
    Reply

    1. Probably not. I dropped this during the episode with the glasses guy and the floating cake(?). That was maybe ep.3 or 4, IDK, it was so bad that those were the things that come to mind. I just keep checking these posts to see if the show shows any signs of being redeemable, but the content says otherwise.

      Justpassingby
      Reply

    3. Actually, yes, this is worth watching, if you’re into learning storywriting and want to see what you should avoid doing at all costs. This anime should be a case-study in classes.

      Nyast
      Reply

  13. @ Stilts and Aex – I’ll join you guys…

    The reveal of the comet dead planet’s guardian being here for years was still surprising despite all the (now appearing to be huge) hints from the weeks before. May be this is worth the suffering of some terrible and inflated individual character traits on 95% of the cast.

    ps. Do Mon’s pretty high on the priority list for Gus here…willing to avenge his father figure before going after Sougo (the other adopted son) again…
    pps. Any guy can freak out if they find out that the mech that you’re riding turns into a (nicely figured) girl.

    info600
    Reply

  15. Man, I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m really looking forward to the final episode.

    Mainly because it will be, well, the final episode.

    Not sure how to rank this show on a scale of ‘0 to Guilty Crown’, but it’s probably up there pretty damn high.

    7godeohs
    Reply

    1. LOL this is way worse than Guilty Crown, at least GC’s very pretty to look at and having extraordinary soundtracks, it’s just a shame the story was a trainwreck. That made me thinking, who the fuck design that human Moura? Wtf with that ridiculous design that looks crowded but add nothing to the character itself, neon pink on neon green color scheme, and there’s no trace of the mecha design on it (at least please keep some visual cue from the mecha to identify her with her mecha)…

      cryarc
      Reply

      1. I forgot to mention that, but yeah, Moura’s human form is hella overdesigned. Simple is cool, cluttered is not; yer so often, illustrators get carried away, and no one calls them on their shit. Though it’s made all the worse by Felia’s good character design, at least physically. Her personality, of course, is as bland and underachieving as the rest of the show.

        Stilts
        Reply

  16. Wait… that thing is supposed to be a comet? It’s bigger than their fucking planet.

    AS someone who experiences this show vicariously through Stilts’ pain… was it invisible until this episode or something or do people not look up?

    qwert
    Reply

    2. Regardless of size, it’s not actually a comet for all of the other reasons comets are comets. I’ll let you check wikipedia for what I mean. M’lazy.

      And me, a hero? Well, if you insist!

      *raises his fists to the air* *walks away to the tune of We Are The Champions*

      Stilts
      Reply

    3. Size is the first thing that comes to mind. That alone should disqualify that object as a “comet” but I if we want to get technical:

      A comet is an icy small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, heats up and begins to out gas, displaying a visible atmosphere or coma, and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena are due to the effects of solar radiation and the solar wind upon the nucleus of the comet. Comet nuclei range from a few hundred meters to tens of kilometers across and are composed of loose collections of ice, dust, and small rocky particles. The coma and tail are much larger and, if sufficiently bright, may be seen from the Earth without the aid of a telescope. Comets have been observed and recorded since ancient times by many cultures.

      Obviously that giant object doesn’t have any of those characteristics. I called you an hero because watching this thing on a weekly basis is an heroic thing to do. I wouldn’t be able to do so.

      Kamui
      Reply

      1. BTW, is it possible to mine resources from a comet? I dunno, but at this point in time, mining extra-terrestrial rock bodies or whatever they’re called seems like a fun thing to do… Yeap, this is exactly the kinda thing that this show does to ya’… I want to swim in rare-earth jewelry!

        Nishizawa Mihashi
        Reply

    4. That’s no comet…it’s a space station! LOLLOL

      But no, that thing is a planet. And I’m sorry but two celestial bodies with that much mass coming that close to each other? I’m sorry, but everyone and everything on Gift should be gone. That thing would be doing cataclysmic damage just by getting that close. And you can’t tell me nobody saw something that big coming. Forget telescope, you’d be able to see it with your naked eye.

      Irenesharda
      Reply

    5. We on Earth have an small Satellite that circle around us. It is the moon. And we know with his Gravity it affect the Water. So, now an bigger Planet is on collision course… left alone the Gravity would just kick in and ripp the surface to shreds. Do not underestimate Gravity. It is the Law of the Universe that hold the Planets in their place…

      But here? Physicals laws? Story telling Laws? fuck it!!. To much Realistic stuff

      WorldwideDepp
      Reply

      1. Actually, the Earth’s moon is ridiculously large for a moon, to the point that it’s bigger than some planets and nearly qualifies us as a double planetary system. Moons tend to be rocks pulled in by their planets. Ours is around a 1/4th the size of the planet and is likely a piece of Earth that broke off.

        That said, I didn’t see anyone answer the question and I’m curious, was this ‘comet’ hidden? How did something that massive go unnoticed before this episode?

        KaleRylan
        Reply

      3. it is not that this “Comet” just appeared. We saw it, in Episode 1. This Old Men was looking through the Observatory to it. There is my “they must live on Cocoon (FF13)” solution, or themselves are living on a Comet, that will crush into a Planet

        But in the end, they are like Twins

        My Speculation? We get an “The 5th Element” end or an “Final Fantasy 7”

        WorldwideDepp
        Reply

  18. My initial thoughts on this to a friend: sorry for the delay. Had a heavy concussion.

    Wow. Comet Lucifer just turned the stoopid to 11.

    Spy girl for enemy shows up to help hero break into enemy compound. Because dead guy looking after hero since mom died would do it. And she loved dead guy.

    Secondaries in home-built mech take on 6 military mechs, and don’t die in hella fire.

    Military/merc bad guys turn up and help hero inside enemy compound, because…umm…yeah, don’t get it either. Hero shrugs off that and accepts it without a word. Because.
    Even creepy stalker chips in without a word of worry about crystal girl he’s been stalking, and kidnapped twice. Because…ummmmmmmmm…plot, something.
    Ditto psycho-butch-bitch.

    Main bad isn’t main bad, despite turning crystal girl back into a crystal for…something power of equality and social justice. Gets killed by real main bad who is also a crystal girl, but from another planet, which suddenly appears in sky above enemy compound, on a collision course. Because….ummmm…nope. No idea. But no disruptions to weather on main planet at all, because….magic, plot,something….

    Moura rock snake turns into weird woman thing because magic shield protecting enemy compound causes disruption to mech form other only, not enemy crystal girl’s mech form. Because….ummmm…nope. I gave up. Magiiiiiic.

    I broke my desk, and may need hospital after taking 3 bottles of paracetamol.

    On the bright side, it’s last episode next week. I hope.

    Spy girl turns up to enemy compound with 3 baguette sticks.

    “WHY THE F*CK ARE YOU BRINGING BREAD TO A MECH FIGHT, YOU STUPID B*TCH???!!”

    *breaks bread stick 1 to reveal shotgun*

    “….. Oh. OK. That…kinda makes sense, in a terminator2 sorta way……”
    Putting aside baking a loaded weapon at high temps for an hour without cooking off the ammo….

    Who writes this shit?
    WHY am I still watching this??????????

    >.<

    Kai Lord
    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *