Comet Lucifer / First Impressions

「道」 (Michi)
“Path”

This episode changes everything. For the first time since the premiere, I’m optimistic about where Comet Lucifer is going. If it gives us more of this, it can—bwahaha, I’m just kidding. It’s still bad.

Warning: We’re now entering the part of the Stilts-blogging-a-bad-show life cycle where I take more obvious pleasure in ripping apart the show’s manifest faults. After over half a season of failure, I think we can safely say that all hope is dead (zetsuboushita!), and I’m no longer in a mood to coddle incompetents. I’ll still try to point out good stuff when it happens, though. YOU’VE BEEN WARNED.

Sougo Attaining New Levels as an Unlikable Twat

It’s utterly stunning how bad Sougo is as a character, and never has that crystallized (get it, haha, Sougo likes crystals. It’s a pun! *ducks airborne vegetables*) more than the scene where Do Mon confronts him about going up against soldiers when his only skills are gem-collecting and running away. The scripting, the acting, even his facial expressions all conspired to make him look like an absolute twat, a robotic shell of a human being with the personality of spilled milk. Not that I blame Kobayashi Yuusuke (Sougo’s seiyuu) for the bad performance—when you give someone a turd, there’s only so much they can do, though admittedly he’s not getting much done in the turd polishing area. It all solidified how little personality Sougo has, when Do Mon had to dredge up the red crystal (that hadn’t been brought up in like four episodes) to attempt to explain his motivation—and then no, it’s just that he “can’t leave Felia alone.”

(╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻ Godsdammit Sougo! Have an original thought in your head already!

The Fossil Fuels Giftdium Lobby

So now we have the lowdown on how Sougo’s mother, Ena Amagi (Noto Mamiko), died. She was researching an alternative to Giftdium, Planet Gift’s main energy source, which she called Lucifer, because that name has never meant anything bad to anyone. (It’s red too, fer chrissakes. Might as well call it Sith Bling.) I’m tempted to call Giftdium an analog for fossil fuels on earth today, only we’ve heard of no downsides to the use of Giftdium up until now. The idea of a “better” energy source was just shoehorned into this episodes, without any reason given as to why she’s searching for it.

Look, if Comet Lucifer actually wanted to do a whole anti-fossil fuels storyline, I’m all for that. And I’m not even saying that because of any political leanings of mine, so don’t get your panties in a twist. It could be about supply side economics for all I care. What I want is for it to have a point. Stories (and characters) are more compelling when they have points of view, something they believe in or are trying to say. Sure, that might turn some people off, but there’s already word for something that’s palatable to everyone, and it’s “mediocre” (obligatory Fury Road clip). I’d rather it espouse a worldview I find repulsive than the blah mess they’ve got going here. That’s why Heavy Object will always be better—it may be stupid, but at least it occasionally says something. Comet Lucifer is all noise, no message.

The Mystical Magic Nonsense of Life

I don’t even know where to begin with the magical space seeds view of life. Aside from being utterly unnecessary and nearly impossible in a practical sense (space is fuckin’ big, and the habitable zones to Earth-like life are extremely rare indeed—how are non-sentient seeds going to find the good planets?), it introduces something more odious: Felia is literally an angel. Which … ugh. Of course she is. Of course she’s an angel. I feel like that’s symptomatic of how blatant and uninspired this series is, but what do I know, I’ve been drinking since I started the episode. I have to, to make sense of why I bizarrely enjoy blogging this show. I’m a mess, y’all. Send help.

At least all of this means that Planet Gift humans probably didn’t come from Earth, because if they had, this show would have taken another level in stupid. And since it’s already a Lvl 11 Stupid and going for the Idiot prestige class, another level would be overkill.

I Wish Do Mon Were the Protagonist

Do Mon is everything Sougo isn’t. He’s interesting. He has a personality. He has a personal nemesis in Cap’n Gus, whereas Gus is just after Sougo (really, Felia/”Lima”) because of orders. Do Mon actually has some skills to deal with the situation, and his relationship with Vee is much more interesting than the blind love(?) and callous obliviousness Sougo has for Felia and Kaon, respectively. How much better would this anime be if Do Mon was the protagonist instead of Sougo?

Unfortunately, my Magic 8-Ball tells me that Do Mon is probably going to die next episode. After all, why else does the mentor/father figure show up, than to die to propel the protagonist onward? At minimum, his life is going to be seriously threatened, and either way, Stilts is gonna be pissed.

tl;dr: @StiltsOutLoud – Learned about Sougo’s mom’s death (dumb), the origin of life (stupid), & more about Do Mon (he’s cool). Too bad he’s doomed #cometlucifer 08

Random thoughts:

  • How do you get to the space donut? Why don’t you, I don’t know, fly there on Moura! *facepalm*
  • I can’t believe we watched them build a raft. This is like a stupid boy scout outing to save the stupid world. Also, they should have scuttled that thing when they left, because Kaon and the others are so going to follow them.
  • How is that ship hovering with his thrusters firing backwards?
  • Do Mon just hit a kid. Not even the likable characters can stay likable … is what I would say, but I’ve been waiting for someone to punch that dumb bastard.
  • I hate to say it, but Do Mon makes for a shitty Lupin III.
  • My viewing notes are fun sometimes. Here’s what I wrote when we were getting the life seeds reveal: “Countless lifeforms. Space chick? THAT’S Moura? Okay, sure. The seeds of life. Angel. Planet’s avatar. This is all dumb. Felia is literally an angel. Barf.”
  • A five-year-old could tell you that putting all the important people save for one on a flight is a good way for the entire government to go down. An especially jaded five-year-old, granted, but still. Idiots.
  • At least there was no unnecessary battle with Cap’n Gus’s crew this time. For all the stupid, but improved the episode. That and all the Do Mon.

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: Stephen, what is best in life?, It depends, Momentum & mental space, and The best content is in email

 

Preview

38 Comments

  2. I’m sorry, as “interesting” as dandelion seeds in space and angels and guardians are, I have to say that the most interesting character so far has to be Don Mon. He’s the most developed character in the whole darn series.

    To see his relationship with Sogo’s mom, how she was killed and for what, and then she left her son in his care, I can see why he pulled away from the military in order to raise Sogo. I’m not sure if he was in love with his mom, but there was clearly a close connection there to the point that she trusted her child to him. Also how he went after the guy who killed her Russian assassin style. To him, Sogo is both his son, and a reminder of his failure. For him to now also risk his life for the same thing that his mom did, touched some unhealed wounds.

    But Don Mon can no more stop Sogo then he could have stopped the boy’s mother from studying her red crystals. However, he will do what he can for the boy, by taking the fight to the bureau.

    And Gus seems to have some abandonment issues where Don Mon is concerned. Those two really need to have a talk.

    Oh, and Sogo, Felia, and Moura go on their own to the Abyss (that’s not going to last long) and the council was killed off by evil assistant girl. But who cares about any of that.

    Next week’s preview is sending up death flags for Don Mon, but I sure hope not. 🙁

    Irenesharda
    Reply

    1. I really respect what you’re doing, spending time discussing characters in order to illustrate their motivations.

      However, trying to analyze the complexities of these characters is like looking at a puddle and expecting an ocean underneath. In this case, there’s nothing below the surface except an inch of muddy water.

      7godeohs
      Reply

  4. I really wish Comet lucifer would be on fridays or saturdays, that way i can wash the bad taste with something i really look forward to: Fafner Exodus on friday, or Gochiusa/utawarerumono on Saturdays. Sundays are kinda bare for me which this and gundam are my sunday shows i watch.

    Also, i had a feeling Felia was something like an angel/goddess since the beginning… oh well.

    sithstormjedi
    Reply

  5. Good grief, what is it about existential storylines that has people near completely butchering the characters in the process? When people talk about Evangelion, they don’t talk about the dumbass Human Instrumentality Project or any such crap. They talk about the characters; how f***** up Shinji is, what Gendo Ikari said at the End of Evangelion, and how Kaji was really the only character in the entire series to have his s*** together.

    Mayhaps it’s gotta go the route of Serial Experiments Lain; either go full mindf*** or don’t go at all.

    Ryan Ashfyre
    Reply

      1. Hold up there for a sec, if it looks like I’m comparing the two, it is only because I’m trying to say that, with respect to the fact that both these anime are applying existential elements to their storytelling, one does it very badly and the other does it very well. Which is which should be obvious.

        Ryan Ashfyre
        Reply

      3. My bad, I read that in a wrong context before. Though jokingly, it’s feels poor for Lain and Eva to be written in the same paragraph as Lucifer, kinda like it’s staining them. /bricked

        cryarc
        Reply

    2. It’s funny. It reminds me of video game writing, in a way: People get so enamored with the shiny stuff (mechanics and graphics in video games, themes and worldbuilding in stories), and they forget to go about the difficult, unsexy work of making compelling characters. That’s not the most exciting thing to some creators, but it’s fucking vital. Without characters, you have NOTHING. That’s as true for anime and other linear stories as it is for video games too.

      Stilts
      Reply

      1. Oh yes, when Mario jumped that Goomba I was deeply moved by the layered motivations that underpinned their struggle. I may have cried.

        (I know what you’re trying to say, but I just can’t help myself. Don’t hurt me.)

        Passerby
        Reply

      2. Oi! Don’t you dare mitigate our mushroom-munching hero by insinuating that there’s anything but love in each and every one of those jumps! With every “Woohoo!” that he utters, he carries a little bit of each and every one of us with him, yourself included, my friend. >__<

        Ryan Ashfyre
        Reply

      3. *twists Passerby’s arm behind his back*

        To be fair, Mario’s character at least seems to imply something interesting. A plumber who fights goombas to rescue the princess? Dafuq? Back in the day, that was the height of originality. Now we just can’t get rid of him, like a zombie infestation, or a troublesome kouhai.

        *twists arm harder*

        Stilts
        Reply

  6. LOL this made me remember a story when I went into a date with my girlfriend, we picked up a random romance movie to watch out of playful whim. Our expectation was low, but after a couple of minute we realized that it is even worse than our low expectation. It was so badly written with questionable logic and cheesy lines that we ended up extremely amused while desperatly suppressing our laugh. The whole time of the movie we discussed every single plot hole while laughing. This is exactly the same as I’m feeling now. xD

    Punchline of my story: A girl near our seat cried at the end of the story while saying it’s “very romantic” to her boyfriend. Me and my gf laughed so hard at that xD

    cryarc
    Reply

      1. A couple of example of the plot hole I still remember about that damn movie:
        –> It was supposed to be Romeo and Juliet story, with the family feud exchanged with “According to some random superstitions who knows come out of nowhere, people of this village can not be allowed to have relationship with the people from village across the river!”
        –> The MC was supposed to be an architect. Then he built a damn school for his girlfriend on rocky riverside, alone, using wood logs and ropes, without any heavy machinery (he shouldered wood logs, lol that was hillarious).
        –> He is extremely poor, until he doesn’t have money to buy food; he has a horse. You know what is his solution? Kill the fucking horse and eat it. (DUUUUDDEEEEE YOU COULD’VE SOLD THAT HORSE AT A HIGH PRICEE) and he said this fucking line “I’m sorry my dear horse, I need to do this…”
        –> This fucking guy works even on rainy days, till he got sick. He doesn’t take a rest until finally in the end of the movie he dies on the heroine’s lap. I was like dude, stop working if it’s raining and go buy fucking medicine…

        and that was only a tiny bit of it…

        cryarc
        Reply

      2. As I said before, you can´t stop watching a train wreck, like Guilty Crown, so much promise and it all went to hell in a hand bascket, it got so bad that I went all the way to the end to see how that insaty could possibly end.

        haseo0408
        Reply

  7. i never liked Sogo ever since the first episode and i am glad i wasn’t the only one. It is just amazing how much armor plot he has against war machines and professional hitman/soldiers. No bullet or shrapnel could hit this guy.

    sadamitsu
    Reply

    1. It´s not only that, the guy is a human size blank space, he lacks that something that should make the protagonist of a story interesting, specially in this kind of adventure anime. Take the new Rise of the Tomb Rider, everything in the workd is telling Lara to leave things alone but she just keeps going but has a very good reason for doing that, you can relate or understand her character, Sougo completely lacks any of that.

      haseo0408
      Reply

  8. I think this anime is the biggest disappointment of the year for you Stilts-san. I keep watching it each week because things have gotten so bad that it´s just like watching a train wreck, you can´t stop watching that danm thing burn all the way to hell.

    haseo0408
    Reply

  9. If the show was 2-cour, would it have improved the story? There seems to be some kind of severe plot compression, similar to what happened to the Galilei Donna anime. Perhaps then it won’t look like they’re zooming from 1 plot point to the next.

    zztop
    Reply

    1. But i mean…do you really want to see this story (if you can call it at a story) dragged out 2 cours instead? Although there are a lot of anime who could of used 2 cours (charlotte and angel beats are two examples) to flesh it out, they actually had a sensible premise and potential.

      ChromeNova
      Reply

      1. I’m going to echo ChromeNova. Angel Beats is a great example of an anime that would have been god-tier if it had been two-cour. But here’s the kicker—it was good with one-cour. This is more like Charlotte, where the extra time might have helped, but the rot at the core is there no matter how long it takes them to reveal it.

        This isn’t a good story, and where I think Charlotte could have been markedly enhanced by better pacing, the dumb asteroid thing would have still been there. Same idea here.

        To quote comedian Ron White: “You can’t fix stupid.” More time to explain its stupid message wouldn’t have made it any less stupid.

        tl;dr – The “needed two-cour” argument only works if there was something redeeming about the plot and characters, and it was just overly compressed. This series lacks the former.

        Stilts
        Reply

      2. I’m with Stilts here. CL doesn’t have that “something” that makes you think “wow, they really need more time to expand this plot/idea”. It also lacks something very important: A core message. Every story has one. Hell, even things as bad as Naruto have one. But here? There’s nothing. Then we have these characters that are as flat as sheet of paper, and I’m sure a sheet of paper is deeper than them.

        To me Comet Lucifer has a problem you run when you’re starting to write, and that is the lack of a competent editor. To a writer, usually, every thing they come up with for a story is important. Even if they have to trim some things away, they still thing that those things they cut were vital. An editor can make or break a book. The people behind CL writing are just throwing everything they like to this story and no-one is telling them “Stop, that’s stupid!” And because of that we’re here.

        Kamui
        Reply

  11. Do Mon’s reason for punching Sougo was so stupid. Why can’t he just say “Your mother was murdered because she studied the crystals and I’m afraid you’ll share her fate”? Or, I don’t know, offer his protection since he apparently still has some skills left. The show would be so much better if they all just tried to communicate. Preferably with something more that half-sentences and repeating names.

    The writers are trying so hard to redeem Roman. Look, he didn’t even injure anyone today. Good job.

    Moura’s space design reminds me of the 90s anime. Remember the spiky hairstyles and overgrown sideburns? Yup. Classics.

    The coucil people’s masks always make me laugh. They look like they’re heading for a party. Well, maybe they now are.

    Kaon, Roman and Otto were left with the raft, great thinking there, Sougo. Big Damn Heroes moment in 3, 2, 1…

    Reite
    Reply

  14. This episode is not the first appearance of Moura’s true form, in fact the first appearance was all the way back during episode one. During the brief instant were the comet nearly hit Sogo they showed mouras true form as a blink and you miss it scene.

    Still getting to see what she looks like up close is much better.

    SageM
    Reply

  16. So I am the only one who thinks this is not the worst this season. For all its missteps, at least there’s rawness this show has that feels of a very cliched 1990 anime series. Not that it says so much but I am enjoying its ridiculousness.

    For the next episode, let’s have a drinking game for every plot misstep of this series. My treat. Hahahaha.

    samui
    Reply

    1. it is not bad. what lacks in this Show is an “Strong Hand of Storytelling”

      it might had worked in 1990ies, but we write now 2015. this 1990ies children are all grown ups now

      WorldwideDepp
      Reply

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