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「時空金魚 < 後編>」 (Jikū Kingyo – Kōhen)
“Temporal Goldfish (Part 2)”
The historian and astronomer in me wants to cry a little bit.
And not out of happiness. I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who’s had a raised eyebrow at the way Galileo and his achievements have been depicted, if only because A-1 is taking some real creative liberties as far as historical accuracy go. That’s nothing really new in fiction though, but it’s just kind of… not exactly working well here. There’s already quite a few issues as far as pacing and writing go, so it would have at least been nice to see some good things done with Galileo’s presence, preferably, in my case, with historical accuracy (I mean Galileo was under house arrest and at odds with the church at some point in his life, you can pull lots of great action/plot twists with that), but clearly that’s not what the writers are after here. Instead, they’re after some really strange and kind of weird romance angles which are definitely not working for me.
If you really wanted to, you could argue that this isn’t really romance, but rather companionship/friendship of some sort, and I can understand where you’d be coming from, but seeing as Hozuki acknowledged Galileo’s poem as a romantic one and that Galileo’s been aged down to a bishounen state, it feels kind of forced to say that’s the only possibility. It’s not a hugely romantic/incestuous relationship either, but it does seem to be lightly implied, and that’s iffy enough. Considering that they’re also distantly related, I can’t help but wonder if the writers were trying to pull off some sort of “onii-chan and imouto” like relationship here, the attraction kind. That’s personally not my thing, and it seems strange to put something like that in a series about sibling relationships, not the attraction kind. Regardless though, it feels like a bit of a waste in terms of narrative potential; wouldn’t Galileo have been equally concerned/impacted enough to help if he knew Hozuki was his distant descendant and her world was in trouble (I mean he bought that she was from the future already)? There’s lots of ways to portray that without the odd romance angle, but I guess it’s rather pointless to decry something like that in a show like Galilei Donna.
Maybe I sound harsh, but I can’t help but feel a little disappointed, especially considering how there’s only one episode left. Much of this series has held plenty of potential, only to fall flat at the last minute; the best example is last week’s buildup to Anna’s poorly written betrayal, but the show in general hasn’t quite been up to scratch. I guess you could call it “playing safe” or appealing to certain audiences, but aren’t Noitamina shows usually a bit out of the way in that department? I dunno that I would say that for this series in every aspect, but it would have been nice to see a little more finesse in the writing so to speak. I’d be less inclined to complain if it did what it did well, but that doesn’t seem to happen often enough to really warrant praise in most cases. This is just my personal reaction, mind you, but with the finale on the horizon, I can’t help but wistfully think back to the hopes I had at the start of the season. My one consolation is that there was some beautiful scenery again this week.
Clouds, man. Clouds.
Author’s Note: Reminder, I’ll be in finals next week so I won’t be able to cover Galilei Donna’s finale until next weekend; my sincere apologies for any inconveniences.
So I was right, the writings of Galileo were dedicated to Hocchibi!
But that “platonic romance born and ended by time travel” is quite irrelevant – save perhaps creating the reason why Galileo ever went to research alternative fuels. ORZ.
What is more important is that Hocchibi returns, avoids death along with her sisters due to timely intervention by certain pirate, only to be captured by Interpol (cool blue gunships, to be sure!).
So now it boils down to if even the world-level police was totally infliltrated and corrupted, or if certain law student manages to bring the truth to light in the inevitable investigation.
And yeah, creators of the series forgetting that heliocentric theory has been around for a while already in Galileo’s times, and making him more of Leonardo Da Vinci style inventor… as a history major I died a little inside.
I am mad. furious. RAWR
it’s one thing when a series is being lousy upon writing its script. it’s another thing to underestimate viewers’ intelligence.
first – how is that the goldfish Mecha was able to fly all of a sudden when the girls returned?. he ran out of fuel before!!
second – when someone sees a group of cloud with his eyes, no way it will take more than a day to reach him (assuming it’s heading toward him).
third – in Galileo Galilei’s time, there is nothing related to flying. it wasn’t possible. even air ballons were much later. there are good explanation to that, since Mathematics wasn’t developed enough that time (that’s the reason De-Vinci’s helicopter models failed, he didn’t know something in Math and Physic that was developed only in Newton’s time).
it was impossible in that time. period.
and he didn’t got the push to believe in his theories by flying! certainly with such a short distance you can’t say “I proved that the world is round” like hell I am this idiot.
they could really do a lot more of him as an important figure. and I am not even talking about the whole thing with the church and all. it was quite clear that this would come after Hozuki will leave, ’cause she was his source for courage. which was somehow nice but not enough.
I was talking more of what he did as an astronomer and physicist. neither his sketches got much of attention in the true meaning behind them, nor other discoveries(Jupiter’s moon, the sunspots) with the help of the telescope.
it’s not like I was expected some full scientific review over him. we have Wikipedia and Google for this. but you know..something that will give the viewers a clue about him and his contribution. to show the process of research, to convey a feeling of “science”. and it wasn’t there..I didn’t feel it.
and as someone who loves science and history..it makes me mad. it’s an insult to science, history, science’s history, Galileo Galilei and to us, viewers. it felt like GD is underestimated my intelligence. and I hate it.
maybe I am over-thinking about it, and exaggerating. it’s an anime after all. yet, I was really, really disappointed. sure, the signs were there all along, I never thought of GD as a good anime as we passed on, but still…it’s disappointing.
Guess the writers just didn’t know their history and science well enough.
By the way, Anna did say last episode that she just hid away the fuel tanks. Here’s a small consolation for us all amid the mess this episode was =P
I was sure she dumped it. even with hiding it…like hell they could return to the ship, load the fuel and fly so quickly. but whatever.
in somewhat related matter, next week is the finale. seriously, I don’t know how in 20-minutes episode they are going to finish the series. there is too much to do: the parents (father is nowhere to be seen, mother is ???), the energy problem, the person in Kazouki’s picture, the mystery behind the Tesoro. not to mention the current trouble with the police….
so I really don’t know how is it gonna be a proper ending not only in terms of story, but to see a proper ending of united family, the big sister being in love with the pirate..you know how’s a proper ending should be.
maybe we won’t get to see a proper ending?a cliffhanger?is that mean S2??
I really don’t know what to think LOL
speaking of the finale, don’t worry Kairi, focus on your exams, best luck!
we and GD’s finale can wait. totally understand.
A love story between a medieval guy and his thirteen-year old descendant – best romance of the year!
Also, where the hell did Galileo get an accurate world globe? It’s the 1600’s! They only found out about the Americas a hundred years before that!
Well, par for the course at this point. This show seemed to have a lot of potential in the first episode, but sadly the writing just doesn’t hold up and the whole thing descended into an anime version of The Da Vinci Code. Kind of a dissapointment, really, like a lot of shows this season. Still a more fun show than Kyoukai no Kanata, though, on the subject of dissapointments…
Well, at least by the medieval standards she is old enough to be perfectly marriageable.
Except Alaska, parts of Australia and Antarctica there were already quite precise information known about the coastlines in the early 1600s as seen on this map: http://mapcollection.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/world-map-1600.jpg
I guess this show went bad because Yasuomi Umetsu tried to keep it a little too child friendly, and ended up making a mess of the story’s pacing.
It would probably be best for him to keep things a little closer to the formula he created for his previous works, Kite and Mezzo. His next show airing in January, Wizard Barristers, seems like it does that. It even uses his older art style.
So am I the only one who kinda can’t stand Hozuki at this point? She started out cute and likable, but (and I honestly hate saying this about a character) she’s basically a total Mary Sue at this point. She’s super smart and cute and even Galileo thinks she’s the smartest and cutest. It feels like the other two girls are barely necessary — Kazuki’s just there for whiny teen drama and Hazuki’s just around so her pirate boyfriend can conveniently bail them out whenever the writers get stuck in a corner. It just feels like the story is bending itself backwards (through time!) to make Hozuki as special as possible while totally sidelining the other two. Disappointing.