#i wish there were more backgrounds because a lot are reused for different locations

[heatwa-ves]

augh I love d4dj but it's strength is really not in storytelling and the missed potential of some stories I've read is really bothering me

[linkspooky]

The Characters of Nisioisin (3)

Trickster - Kaiki Deishuu

Nisioisin often uses and reuses a lot of common character archetypes in his writing. An analysis on his common use of liars, thieves and cheats by comparing and contrasting the differences between Kumagawa, Iichan and Kaiki. More underneath the cut. 

A. Defining the Trickster 

Already covered in this post. 

1. Introduced as a Villain

In the story proper Kaiki is introduced to us as the opposite of Araragi. If Araragi is the person who saved Senyjogahara’s heart, then Kaiki is the one who broke her heart. If Araragi is a hero who saves everyone, Kaiki is a callous villain who cons people and doesn’t seem to care about the consequences for those he cons. 

Their interaction with every character they both interact with is the opposite. Araragi helps Senjyogahara, Kaiki stole her money and ruined her family home even though they are both positioned as people Senjyo once loved and thought of as a savior. Araragi saved Nadeko from the curse of the snake, whereas Kaiki is indirectly responsible for her being cursed due to selling curse charms to middle schoolers. 

Araragi heroically faces off against Gaen to defend his sister, while Kaiki is the one who sold the information about Tsukihi’s location to Gaen in the first place for a quick buck. In every instance, Araragi saves, Kaiki cons. 

Kaiki is also one of the few characters that Araragi shows an open disdain for. Araragi who is usually a very passive protagonist, and will go with the flow and talk casually with people who have beaten him half to death and is overly forgiving outright despises Kaiki on sight. 

However, it’s important to remember that Kaiki calls himself a villain when making his first introduction to Araragi. He intentionally places himself as the villain so that Araragi can play the hero, even calling him “Manly”, “Cool” and “Grown-up” for doing so, implying again that Kaiki is his opposite. Kaiki however is a liar, and when he calls himself a villain intentionally that also is a lie. 

2. Subverts Expectations

Everything we learn about Kaiki in his first introduction in Niseimonogatari is inverted later on. He is a character who exists to play upon other people’s expectations and cast everything into doubt. There’s even a meta aspect to this, originally Koimonogatari was foreshadowed to be Senjyogahara’s narration debut only for Kaiki to take the mantle of narrator from Araragi instead. 

Ladies and gentleman, dear readers and all of you who picked up this book expecting Hitagi Senyjogahara to be the narrator have been duped. The lesson you should take home from this is every sentence ever written down by a book is bogus. 

-Koimonogatari

Koimonogatari is a book that exists to flip everything set up by Nisei. It is a book where the villain saves the girl (Nadeko) whereas the hero is someone almost completely helpless the whole story (Araragi). You could even say that it’s Araragi’s actions which created the problem for Nadeko, as his complete ignorance of her, and his coddling of her helped push her to want to become a god. 

Koimonogatari also starts a turning point in the series, where Araragi who had been a straightforward hero until this part starts to have his character deconstructed. Araragi who is constantly remarked upon as a hero who tries to save everyone, we find out that in Owarimonogatari is not only are there people he never even made an attempt to reach out to and help (Sodachi Oikura), but that Araragi is someone who uses obfuscation and self-deception to cover up his bad traits. He is someone who cares far more for the appearance of being good and helping others, then the actual work of helping others. This is again an idea that is set up in the intro to Koi. 

Humans have a desire for truth. or they have a desire to believe what they know is the truth. Kaiki brings up the example of the higgs boson particle that moves faster than light. Plenty of people will find this change in the truth alarming, even though most normal human beings aren’t physicists and won’t even bother to look at the math or data that proves the Higgs-Boson particle and will just read the headlines and take other physicists at their word. 

People often care more for the image of something, than the actual thing. That’s true for Araragi as well who isn’t as noble as he appears to be and is for all intents and purposes a normal people. Kaiki is presenting us with the image of himself as a villain, because that is general is easier to accept then viewing himself as a more complicated person. Kaiki also, prefers to view himself as a villain rather than what he really is, which is a failure. 

Araragi uses obfuscation to hide his bad traits, but as his foil, Kaiki always desires to hide his good traits. The reason being that Kaiki as a person when he acts with good intentions, things always tend to go opposite of the way he planned them. Kaiki feels in control when he lies, he can control others by lying to them, manipulating them, duping them, but reality is something entirely out of his control. He can try to save someone only to have the completely opposite effect. 

“You tore apart the Senjyogahara - and backed her parents into a corner from which divorce was the only way out - because nothing else was going to work, right? You judged that the only daughter would have no future if you didn’t cut her mother off from the family.”  “Uh huh, that’s right. I was actually a standup guy. A real sweetheart, just looking out for a kid. I was only putting on a show of being nefarious. You’ve got all the details, don’t you? You’re really well informed. But don’t tell anyone, okay? It’s embarrassing.” 

-Koimonogatari. 

Kaiki is ultimately someone afraid to be good. That’s his weakness. He knows his good intentions are not guaranteed to produce good results, and he can’t face himself when his failures spiral out of his control so it’s easier to present himself as a villain. Kaiki, much like Iichan only feels comfortable when he’s deceiving everyone around him. He exists to subvert other people’s expectations because it’s a way of grabbing back control, in a world that Kaiki is mature enough to realize by now is completely out of his control. 

3. A Lying Liar Who Lies 

When Kaiki said every word written down in every book ever are lies, what he’s talking about is narrative. People who see the world in narrative view are applying a lens to reality to make it more palatable and easy to understand for them. Once again, they are preferring to hold onto images and preconceptions, the idea of the truth rather than the truth itself. It’s true that books are like reality, but people will often craft a narrative about reality in order to believe everything has direction, meaning, and a purpose when there is none.

Kaiki is also one of those people. He embraces crafting narratives, and telling lies because it gives him this idea of control he otherwise would not have. Kaiki is someone who doesn’t have a lot of control over his own life. If you take him for his word in the book he has almost no background, no family, he’s legally dead, and he’s a wandering vagabond that never remains in the same place for long. Kaiki’s way of reclaiming that stability and agency is to always craft a narrative around himself wherever he goes. He’s the one in control because he’s conning everyone else around him at all times. He acts like he always has all the cards in his hands, and he’s the smartest person in the room, because he can’t admit how afraid he is of not being that. Of being vulnerable. 

Kaiki goes one step further not just by calling himself a liar, but believing the whole world is made up of lies. He’s not just a fake, everyone is. A world of fakes desperately struggling to be real. 

“The second you say it out loud to someone, it deviates from your true feelings. All words are lies, it’s all a scam. No matter how true, the moment you utter it, it becomes embellished. Words are only representations, so impurities find their way in. If you want to make a wish, to make it exactly as it is, you absolutely mussn’t say it aloud.” - Koimonogatari

Yes, Kaiki I’m sure this speech has nothing to do with your fear of ever letting your intentions be known. 

This is also something Iichan directly calls out in his own struggles with lies, the truth, and the trust in other people you have to find between them. 

Hime-chan said everything was a lie. I agree, that must be the truth. But- really. Really, really, really you know.  If this world were like what Hime-chan said, if this world were like what I think.  We would not be suffering like this. Do you get it? If everything is a lie and there is not one ounce of truth - if ther is nothing of comparison, then everything ends up being the truth, too. - Zareogoto Vol. 3

Kaiki is able to call out Nadeko’s assertion that everyone in the world is a liar, everyone was misleading her and leading her on so easily because that is the same narrative lens he applies to the world to cope with it.

Let’s return to the Senyjogahara household again. Basically imagine you're Kaiki, a homeless man with no family who spends all of his time in luxury hotels and you're watching what looks like an ideal happy household. They are a rich loving family, with a good marriage, and their daughter is basically the school idol. What you Kaiki would call “Normal Law Abiding Citizens” the kind of life he could only dream of. 

Traditionally held values say that these people should be happy forever, because they're good people doing the right thing. But the things the world tells us have meaning, are secure, have no meaning at all and easily fall apart.

So, he watches this good family, get struck by misfortune and fall apart. The loving mother sells her daughter to a cult basically, even though she originally joined the cult because of her daughter's sickness.

Now what's an easier story to swallow? That good people do bad things and good circumstances can easily turn bad for no good reason at all.

Or is it easier, and more meaningful to swallow that Kaiki showed up, conned them, caused the parents to get a divorce and therefore he's the villain in the scenario. By being the villain he turned the scenario into a story, he gave it meaning.

The first time I met Hitagi Senjogahara - two years ago, in other words - I thought to myself, What a fragile-seeming kid.  Of course, back then Senjyogahara was afflicted with her mysterious ailment, which is why her devout mother had summoned me, flying the flag of the ghost buster as I was. But even without the ailment business, I thought she seemed “fragile.”  The impression hadn’t changed.  Fragile. [...] Fragile, on the edge of fragmentation.  Which is exactly why her current self was a miracle. A mysterious ailment followed by a miraculous achievement - for someone who seemed so breakable to make it so far without ever breaking, not two year sago, not now, for eighteen years -  The mother broke.  But the daughter Didn’t.  -Koimonogatari

So Kaiki says he thought Senjyo and her mother were fragile, but he probably thinks that about everybody. He's cynical and disaffected because he's seen this kind of thing happen again and again. That's why he tells lies, that's why he manipulates, it gives him the illusion of control over a world not only him, but no one else has any control at all.

There are two sides to the story of Kaiki’s perception of Senjyo. First, that people are more fragile than you think they are. Even if you come from a good household, have a loving husband, and have money you can break. The second is that people are less fragile than Kaiki thinks they are. Even if your mother turns against you, you lose your money, status, and family you still might not break. Both of these things are true at the same time, people are both more and less fragile. There are truth, and lies, and even Kaiki is unable to face reality directly because he prefers to stare into lies and shrowd himself in them then ever confront the truth. 

4. Themes of Nihilism

Kaiki case believes everything is worthless and everything will be eventually lost so he thinks it's pointless to cling to things. However, that doesn’t have to be an inherently negative idea. Nihilism the rejection of the idea of inherent meaning, is also something that can lead to creating meaning which is where we get existential nihilism. 

Nihilism is the precursor to existentialism. To find your meaning in life you have to first reject the meanings that other people give you.

With respect to the universe, existential nihilism posits that a single human or even the entire human species is insignificant, without purpose and unlikely to change in the totality of existence. The meaninglessness or meaning of life is largely explored in the philosophical school of existentialism. 

He basically tells Nadeko that he likes money because the value of money is something entirely made up by people and yet it’s still something that has value.

Kaiki loves replacable things while at the same time hating irreplacable ones, because he hates the way people tend to cling to things forever. Almost like, Kaiki himself is someone who always clings to his first love that he lost over ten years ago and doesn’t try to love anyone else, or find anyone else and Kaiki hates himself. 

Existential nihilism also means rejecting what society tells you to think has value, because you have to reject first before you can come up with your own meaning. Which is literally exactly what he guides Nadeko to do, he tells her to reject the thing which she thinks gives her life meaning, her love of Araragi and then find a new meaning instead in being a mangaka. and that she can do this because everything is worthless therefore she can try anything.

He also suggests that the work of having to create her own meaning to life, and follow her own dream, will make her far more satisfied than simply following the job of a god which was given to her by someone else.

Humans are always changing their minds about what has value and that makes them human and Kaiki thinks that's a wonderful thing, that's existential nihilism, they're always inventing new meaning. Kumagawa is someone who always loses, but he tries again an infinite amount of times, and that struggle to keep trying again and again is what makes him human in Kaiki’s mind. It’s not the result, not the happiness or sadness, but rather in the constant searching for meaning that defines yourself. Once again. Kaiki sees the freedom in that. There is nothing in life that will make you truly happy, there is no meaning to life, but there’s freedom because it means you can try as many times as you want. 

Everything is worthless. Everything will eventually lost. However, because of this it also means that you’re never going to lose something that will destroy you permanently. Because the things you were holding onto were worthless in the first place, you can always try to replace them. You can always try again and find something else. There is no ending that will permanently end you, there’s no loss you cannot suffer. Araragi is not really that important to Nadeko, she can live without him, she was only giving him that importance. This is also the compelte and exact opposite of Iichan’s a fatal would speech. 

Iichan is someone so terribly afraid to hold onto anything, because he feels the process of trying over and over again at something he’ll never succeed at is going to completely destroy him. 

And Kaiki would tell Iichan the same way that he tells Nadeko that him constantly stumbling over his own actions and trying to find meaning in them, is something in itself that has meaning. That's what makes him human, his search for meaning. But philosophically Iichan isn't there yet. He's still a little baby nihilist. Tiny. Infant. He hasn't grown up yet.

“A man devoid of hope and conscious of being so has ceased to belong to the future.” “The struggle itself towards the heights is enough to fill a man's heart.

One must imagine Sisyphus happy

[Albert Camus]

So if you were to put iichan at one end as the baby nihilist, and Kaiki as the adult (kind of) nihilist then the adolescent Kumagawa would be right in the middle. That’s the way to compare the three, Kaiki is a mature adult who has figured out the way he wants to live his life, Kumagawa is someone constantly in flux like an adolescent, desperately struggling to reach the point where Kaiki is where he’s decided how he’s going to live and not quite there yet and therefore always doubting himself. Finally, Iichan is a child who wants to cling onto his immaturity and his completely wrong views of the world because he doesn’t want to face them or have to change. All three of them are liars, and but the lies they tell are different and that brings us to the end of this comparison. 

[ayankun]

real quick before I get into season 6

So this is my second time watching Season 6 and I’m p. excited.  This last week or so I’ve been dredging up bits and pieces, but most of it is a blur.  It seems the memories that lasted this whole year were mostly of the huge armored truck and the nonbinary character who works at *spoilers*’s tech startup.

I’m curious to see if the second time through it’ll settle in like it belongs.  I remember Season 5 really didn’t make any sense to me until I saw it again.

But really I’m just excited that in 11 hours I can watch the new stuff?!

But first, before I forget, here’s my last thoughts on Season 5.

So remember how I was surprised at Season 1′s structure, that it folded up nicely down the middle with some pretty tidy symmetry?

None of the other seasons do that.

Instead, I remember particularly strongly how jarring the end of the Ghost Rider arc was in the middle of Season 4.  And then again when the (what I’m calling) Kasius arc also wrapped up mid-season.

I’m not sure when I read about it, but it probably was circa Ghost Rider, that they’d intentionally decided on what I’m pretty sure they called “pods” of episodes, these seasons-within-a-season sort of narratives.

Season 2 sort of kicks it off, what with the race to Terragenesis taking eps 1-10 and the Afterlife/splinter SHIELD stories filling 11-22.  Then Season 3 has the monolith/Maveth mystery to start, followed by Hive & the Inhumans for the second half.  S4 is super poddy, obviously branded as Ghost Rider/Agents of Hydra, and S5 also splits neatly into future!Lighthouse and present day!Lighthouse.

Two points to make on this:

Kasius is such a rockstar villain that I feel really bad for Hale/Ruby/Talbot.  They’re so apples and oranges but having the highlight come first allows for unfavorable comparisons to be made.  It’s like asking any well-to-do Kree to compare Xandarian snail to oops all berries.

Good thing they’d had all this practice writing complete stories in 12 eps, since I’m hoping Season 6 (and obvs Season 7) will still feel as fully formed as their longer antecedents.

Anyway, that first point is my major point for S5.

S3 already feels like the second half of S2, and its internal halves are the most similar to each other as any of the other “pods,” so it’s not like people have a reason to go around saying “I liked the first half of the season waaay better than the second.”

(although I might.  I might say that, actually.  but not because the halves were branded separately from one another)

And S4, though the two halves are barely identifiable as coming from the same show much less the same season, they’re both good.  Robbie Reyes is perfect.  The effort to incorporate new MCU topics/aesthetic from Doctor Strange is great.  Robots who just want to be a real girl is my JAM.  All the Framework cameos really make my day!  And then Robbie Reyes comes back all deus ex machina (ironic) and saves the day, and

it makes sense that he does because the function and nature of the Darkhold was well established in part 1 and

it’s GREAT that he does because he’s perfect and we miss him.

Then here comes S5.  I really really respect so much about the creative decisions that took the story where it went (ie, outside Papa MCU’s sphere of interference), and getting to reuse the same set in a different context while minimizing “on-location” shoots is just technical and financial genius, okay. 

But there’s so much about the first half, in the future, that compels me waaaaaaay more than the gritty anger of the second half. 

Kasius, WOW what a villain.  Dominic Rains, everyone.  I have nothing unkind to say about the performance, the character, anything.  Impeccable.  Spectacular.  Perfection.

The mystery of the season opener!  We had the tag scene where Coulson’s “in space” and plenty of time to ruminate on the how and why, especially with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 coming out right as S4 ended and Thor: Ragnarok literally sizzling in the theaters at the same time as this season started.  They answer the question by the end of the episode, but not before several characters come up with and pursue several different theories, and that’s fun.

What a way to capitalize on the Inhuman storyline your show’s been about for years now, without forcing Papa MCU to contend with all this good work you’ve been doing.  Just go somewhere he can’t reach you (the future), and then un-write all of it anyway.  V. tidy.  Extra style points will be awarded.

LEITMOTIFS.  If y’all’ve seen BSG, then you know Bear McCreary is a master of the art.  But this season has so many good themes, my friends.  The Daisy/Quake theme that’s been knocking around for a season is here in full force, and Sinara’s is the best bad guy theme you could have wanted, and dearest sweetest Flint has the best great guy theme you ever heard.

Just, while we’re here.  Sinara.  She says nothing for episodes (it feels like, I wasn’t counting) and her first line is a scornfully growled “compassion.”  Give it up for Florence Faivre !!!  She hardly has any lines but you always know exactly what she’s thinking and what she’s about.  Sinara and Kasius have the richest on-screen chemistry of anybody on any show from any era fight me on this I dare you.

Mack’s coming down from his second life in the Framework, and that suuuuucks that these folks never have a moment to rest before barreling into their next story.  But he gets to be a father to Flint!  And Yo-Yo gets to be a mother!!!  UGH why couldn’t they have brought Flint instead of Deke lololol oh well.

I think I know another reason why Lincoln seems overhyped to me.  That other Inhuman, Ben I think his name is?  He’s in like two episodes, serves a narrative purpose, and is disposed.  I know Lincoln’s in like 18 times as many episodes but they have the same exact overall impact on my brain-hole.  Imagine if it was Ben that came back with them instead of Deke.  That’s how I feel about Lincoln.  Like, how did this obviously disposable character make it this far?

Then you have Deke.  You love to hate him.  He’s a very well-fashioned character who is flawless in making you feel the way the showrunners want you to feel.  That’s the kind of character that gets killed off twice and still comes back, and it doesn’t surprise you.

So, Enoch.  Enoch is everyone’s favorite character, right?  Right.  Give me genderless robots with a soft spot for humanity ANY DAY.  PLEASE where are they I need them.  (I’m un-repressing memories of S6 and I feel like somehow I should be careful what I wish for)  Man I remember with 1000% clarity the absolute glee I felt sitting down for the opening montage of S5 the first time, how ballsy weird it was, just watching this freaky bald alien of a man go swimming with some fun electro pop number playing in the background.  100/10 please make more television like this

 More monoliths!!  The time one is so pretty!

(remember when there were more monoliths and no one knew where they came from or what they did but then it didn’t matter because they got instantly exploded?)

The low-key obvious answers to the season’s questions, what with the Inhumans running all over the shop, Quake there to tear everything down and Flint there to put the pieces back together I’m not crying you’re crying

Oh man, and Simmons getting to mentor not one but two Inhuman youths to be confident and trust in themselves and their powers.  What a ways from the fear-panic response to Daisy when she turned.

Also, yeah, it has to be said, this show’s blatant “you’re different and that’s okay” agenda sits very well with me.  Agents of SHIELD says LGBTQ+ rights!

So anyway, part 2 falls a little flat for me because its strength is its themes, but I’m not really compelled by the stakes and definitely not by the villains and not really even by the intra-team drama.

Obviously S2 touched on parenthood, but it was pretty specific.  S5 digs in and brings us a lot more on the topic.

Kasius desperately desires his father’s approval but very deeply despises the methods and the people who earn it.

Hale was indoctrinated by Hydra and was very earnest in wanting to uphold the values of the organization, until the organization (and Whitehall) shared with her their narrow appreciation of the gift of her loyalty.  Even then, she struggles to make sense of this loyalty, only realizing too late that being a good Hydra pawn and a good parent are categorically mutually exclusive.

Ruby, obviously, is like a mini-Kasius, the brave-faced rebel who wears her mother’s disappointment on her sleeve like a badge of honor to pretend that it isn’t crippling her.

The Von Strucker kid, boy is he messed up (and his Hydra dad had something to do with it)

((echos of Ward are still heard even this far after his demise, and we know what his father figures were like))

Poor Talbot, got some brain damage and some Hydra conditioning on top of that, cracked that noggin wide open.  He just wanted to do good by his family.  Just wanted his son to know he loves him.

Polly and Robin.  The daughter who needs constant special care because she’s stuck inside her own mind and the mother who’s been through hell and back and still manages to do her best.  Even when she knows she won’t always be there for her daughter.  Even when she knows she’ll be replaced.

May getting a glimpse at the life she and Andrew once talked about.  Getting a chance to do right by that little girl.

Mack recovering from getting that same glimpse, from the echoing memories of a life time spent with his greatest regret erased.  Being roped into being a thug and threatening that dad without knowing the meaning behind his threat -- being told that people like him don’t deserve the privilege of parenthood.  But then getting to know Flint, and having Yo-Yo at his side while they fast track this kid through all the things he’s gonna need to know in order to be the Big Damn Hero the world needs him to be.

The timey-wimey promise that FitzSimmons will one day be parents to a brilliant daughter who will unfortunately give birth to a Deke.

Coulson and Daisy.  Another parent placing enormous expectations on his daughter, desperate that she be ready for his responsibilities because his time is running out.  A daughter who mishandles these expectations and refuses to stop fighting a losing battle, not because she’s not ready to step up, but because she doesn’t want to face the fact that she’s losing the man who raised her.

Anyway, aside from all this good Theme work, part 2 wades perfunctorily through musty remnants of the previous season, from The Doctor to The Russian.  Which makes sense, because that season ended in a way that left so many loose threads -- but then this season comes along and summarily ties them up, all cute little bows, the lot of them.  Dusts its hands.  Nothing to see here.  Move along now.  Time’s up.

[secretmellowblog]

Carmen Sandiego Hot Take

THIS SHOW IS GREAT AND I LOVE IT

Positives:

Short answer: the best parts of this show are the central character, the action scenes, and the visuals

I love the Heroic Thief/Robin Hood archetype, and this show does it beautifully! 20/10!!! 

Their new take on Carmen Sandiego is suave and snarky and compelling and I love her

 She’s a thief-themed superhero, a liminal figure  who “belongs nowhere so she can belong anywhere,” the kind of rebellious anti-heroine I wish I had as a kid 

Friendly Archenemy Relationships! “I’m fighting you but I also know/care about/respect you” drama! Both with VILE and the police! Always good

The action scenes are all  fun and engaging, and every heist/chase/other big set-piece feels totally different. They found a lot of cool ways for Carmen to use her thief-skills and a lot of compelling situations for her to use them in, and it’s really fun to watch.

A diverse cast and tons of cool female heroes and villains

Carmen is an action adventure show first and a comedy second, and I love that. I’m glad we’re finally recognizing that people, including kids, want to watch mANY different genres of animation

This show’s gorgeous my dudes

It’s seriously worth watching for the designs/animation alone.

 It’s got this Art Deco Poster style that’s both beautiful and fits perfectly with the Heist Movie tone of the story

Really though, props to all the artists who worked on this show. It looks so gorgeous and unique

so pretty animation

THE MUSIC

THE INTRO

The backgrounds and the locations are as much as a star of the show as Carmen herself. In hindsight I wanna praise the background designers/painters/layout artists and stuff for their absolutely gorgeous work, especially cuz as an “adventure around the world” story the show doesn’t get to reuse most of the backgrounds/designs!

I ship Julmen, predictably

Things that could be improved:

Like She-ra, this show has “Season One Problems”-- tONS of setup/exposition and some early pacing issues. It also has the bad luck of having the Exact Same Premise as She-ra ( brainwashed soldier of evil organization learns outside world isn’t like what she was taught, and rebels against her former friends.) And the thing is….

Carmen isn’t “worse” than She-ra, but it’s tonally very different, which is why it sucks their premises are so similar you can’t help but compare them. SPOP episodes center around personalities/relationships,  while Carmen’s episodes center around heists/action sequences. She-ra’s action scenes work because of the Character Drama(tm), Carmen’s action scenes work because they’re just good action scenes. But even then.....there’s a scene where Carmen reunites with an old friend But Now They’re Enemies, and I might’ve really enjoyed it if I hadn’t just seen Catra/Adora do the exact same thing but with more emotional weight

This show features three characters-- Player, Zack, and Ivy- who were the POV characters in the original games. The problem is that this show is from Carmen’s POV. So if these guys aren’t our POV audience-insert characters anymore, who are they? The show is having trouble figuring this out, especially with Zack and Ivy

There’s been a recent trend of cartoons where the only “butch-coded” women are antagonists? Jasper/Topaz/Bismuth from SU (until Bismuth got brought back), Scorpia from She-ra, and now Coach Brunt. Eh. Another villain is the “evil girly-girl” stock character, which feels very “come on, you’re better than this” in a series that otherwise has actually interesting female antagonists

It often feels like someone behind the scenes was saying “we can’t tell kids that stealing is cool!” and that message just doesn’t work in a show about a Robin Hood. Kids aren’t dumb-- MCU Captain America is now a criminal  on the run from the cops because his heroism is against the law, Carmen can be that too, and it won’t turn kids into the people from the Purge movies

All in all I really enjoyed this show so far! Even if some of the side characters/world-building get messy, anytime Carmen is onscreen snarking and pulling off Master Thief Moves it’s great. It’s a flawed but solid start with tons of potential.  I hope it gets another season because I’m excited to see where it goes next! 

[kcwcommentary]

VLD5x01 – “The Prisoner”

5x01 – “The Prisoner”

The Paladins are attacking a Galra moon base because of some intelligence they’ve been given. I still think Blue’s ice cannon is silly, and here Allura uses it to hold off some advancing magma, which I don’t think would work more than a couple of seconds, but whatever. They are in some huge shaft system built into the moon, and they form Voltron. And the animation of them forming Voltron is the same as it ever has been: In space. But they’re not in space, they’re underground. I understand the show is reusing the form-Voltron animation, but I’ve never understood why. Did they do it for the same purpose 80s shows used repeated animation: To pad time and not have to spend money on new animation? Or was it supposed to be some nostalgia thing? Regardless, the use of the form-Voltron animation here is super awkward.

Shiro orders them to “take down the factory machines,” which is a clunky line of dialog, and they blow up some stuff, and somehow that leads to the entire moon exploding. I really don’t think destroying a factory on a moon would destroy them moon, but whatever.

The Castle Ship is parked on Naxzela: I must say, that does not seem like a safe place to hang out. “Going on missions is a lot easier when someone gives you all the information you need before you get there,” Hunk says. Maybe you should have valued what Keith was doing back in 4x01 “Code of Honor” when he was nearly dying while getting you guys information. The show does this unnecessarily cryptic tone, as if it’s building to some unexpected reveal: Surprise, the source of their information is Lotor! But that’s not an unexpected surprise, it’s actually the opposite: It is expected. If last season’s ending was to be resolved any way other than some manner of cooperation with Lotor, then this season premier to this point would have been way too casual in tone.

Lotor states his motivation: “The Galra Empire is completely reliant on quintessence. Serve that need peacefully, and you have a complete paradigm shift. […] My plan from the beginning has been to find a way to harvest quintessence without resorting to the barbarism of the komar. Extracting quintessence from entire planets at the cost of every living thing: I think not.” The thing is, he’s not lying.

In the end, this show reduces Lotor into a cackling, cliché villain. At the end of season six, we’re supposed to feel surprised that he’s been a maniacal villain all along. The problem is that the show gives us stuff like this. His motivation, stated here, is not a villainous one. His wanting to preserve life matches up with his reputation of letting planets govern themselves that the two Galra discuss in 3x01 “Changing of the Guard.” He doesn’t want to abolish the Empire, but he does want it to stop being so brutal.

Upon hearing that Lotor has been trying to gain access to the rift, Allura responds, “Sounds like you are your father’s son.” Well, that’s overly simplistic of her. It’s expected that she would be particularly aggressive toward Lotor though. “This isn’t a zero-sum game,” Lotor retorts. “All I ask is to be judged by my actions rather than your preconceptions of my race.”

There’s a cute moment of Lance trying to be supportive of Allura, who’s worried about preparing for a presentation she’s giving to the Coalition. This is the part of Lance that I like. Allura gives her presentation via teleconferencing to four alien leaders last seen in 3x01 “Changing of the Guard” and to Kolivan (and Keith standing in the background behind Kolivan). Seeing these particular aliens again makes me wish we had seen more of them during the past two seasons. They are interesting character designs, and it would have given some continuity to the Coalition.

Allura ends the conference call with all but Kolivan and background-Keith. The Blades have been able to conduct many successful missions using information gained from Lotor. Pidge makes a very smart comment, “With all these successful missions taking place in such a short period of time, it won’t be long before the Galra realizes we’re using inside information.” That leads Lance to suggest that they should take advantage of what time they have left and hit as many targets as possible. This is some decent strategic thinking, which I’m not used to seeing characters have on this show. I am again bothered, like I was last season, that they have Keith just standing around behind Kolivan. They could have given the dialog Kolivan had to Keith, but this show would rather give dialog to a reoccurring character than to give it to a main character. It’s strange.

Lotor says any additional information he could give them would be more dangerous than the missions they’ve gone on based on his information before. He has information that he describes as “important on a more personal level” for the Paladins about a prison and a prisoner there. You can almost tell that he’s talking about Sam Holt what with the show then cuts to Pidge and Matt. They’re having a conversation with Nyma and bragging to each other about science and improvements they’ve made to rebel ships. I’m not sure I understand the locational logistics of this scene. Where is Pidge that Shiro and Allura have to contact her through the rebel ship’s communication system rather than through Pidge’s Paladin armor?

Shiro says, “We have a lead on Commander Holt, your father.” This is an aspect of episodic writing that has always bugged me. Realistically, Shiro would never have needed to say, “your father,” but the line was written that way to inform any new viewers who would not understand Commander Holt’s connection to Pidge of what that connection is. I understand why episodic writers write like this, but it always feels artificial to me.

It feels like a stretch that the Galra Empire, which has seriously advanced technology and spans the whole universe, would find a human scientist as being advanced enough to match the Galra’s scientific needs, but that’s apparently what the Galra have done with Sam.

Shiro says that “once the teludav is repaired we can all head over there.” Since when was the Castle Ship’s teludav damaged? And, since the Paladins have been going on a bunch of missions, at least someone one, even if not the Paladins themselves, would have had time to repair the teludav already. Someone like Coran. Where is he? Last we saw of Coran in the last episode, he was on the Castle Ship. He’s nowhere to be seen now and no explanation for his absence has been given.

Fitting her blind impulsivity, Pidge wants to go after Sam right now without the rest of the Paladins. Rolo tries to assure Allura that he, Nyma, and Beezer will serve as backup for Pidge. I’m still confused about the locational difference between where Pidge is at and where Shiro is at. The teludav is used to create wormholes, which the Lions cannot do, so for Pidge to be able to go to this prison while the Castle Ship cannot, wherever Pidge is has to be a long way away from where the Castle Ship is. It mostly just ends up feeling like this damaged teludav is a contrived way of keeping the Castle Ship and the rest of the Paladins out of the story for a while.

The prison is on some asteroid, and Green comes under attack by Galra fighters when they get there. Everyone but Pidge, skydives out of Green down to the asteroid. Matt’s jetpack, as a stand-in for a parachute, is a cliché and fails to function. Rather than anyone else using their jetpacks to maneuver to Matt and grab him, Beezer fires cables at Matt to lasso him. Eh.

They get to the entrance of the prison and find Galra guards laying all over the place. Someone else has clearly already been here. Other alien prisoners are still inside working. Sam is not there. Rolo loads everyone into a Galra shuttle and returns to Green, who’s still fighting Galra. The idea that the shuttle’s engines fail because of how many people are on board is nonsensical. Even if the weight of the number of passengers would prevent the shuttle from reaching the altitude where Green is, the engines wouldn’t cut off. And yet, off they go. Pidge comes by with Green and grabs the shuttle though.

Matt goes into the cockpit, Pidge asks if Matt found their dad, and Matt says, “I’m sorry Pidge.” Pidge reacts in an unbelievable way. She tries to run out of the cockpit, screaming, “Dad? Dad, where are you?” It is totally understandable that Pidge would be emotional, but that she would think Matt is lying to her and her father is hiding somewhere in the rest of the ship is not a believable reaction.

Axca contacts Zarkon. She and Lotor’s other generals “have something in [their] possession [they] think [he] would be interested in.” It’s not specified in the scene, but obviously it’s Sam. They want to “trade” him to Zarkon in order to be accepted back into the Galra. This is such a weird development to me. Since Sam was in a Galra prison, he was already in Zarkon’s possession. So, Axca broke into a Galra facility to capture someone to trade him back to the Galra as a demonstration of their worth and be accepted back by the Galra. It’s not like Axca is adding value to the situation, it’s not like Sam was somewhere outside of Galra control, and Axca captured him. This just doesn’t work for me.

The Castle Ship is now in space (so its having been parked on the surface of Naxzela at the beginning of the episode served no purpose). Found Coran: He’s standing in the background. Both Keith and Coran were relegated to barely visible, silent background characters in this episode; that really annoys me.

Zarkon contacts the Castle Ship. He’s offering to trade Sam for Lotor.

This season premier does not hold up for me on repeated viewing. I felt energy off this episode the first time I watched it, but this time, it seems just okay. I think the first time I watched it, I was caught up in seeing the show reintroduce Sam that I didn’t pay attention. Also, the first time I watched this episode was immediately after having finished season four, so the episode wasn’t functioning as a season premier for me at that time. Rewatching it now, I see it differently. The first half of the episode, focusing on the beginning of the Paladins working with Lotor, is appropriate follow-up to how last season ended. But the second half of the episode is so centered on Pidge’s character arc, that it feels like the episode is ignoring most of the main cast. For a season premier, you can’t ignore the main characters like this. I’m left feeling like a lot is missing from this episode, like the narrative skipped prematurely to this plot development. And given what happens in the next episode, these two episodes do not feel like the beginning of a season.