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Forum - View topicREVIEW: Children of the Whales
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H. Guderian
Posts: 1255 |
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I like this show a lot, but yaeh the two huge drawbacks are that annoying psychopather murderer. And then it looked like they solved it and then double-downed on it. I loved the show up until he appeared, hated him, and was relieved when his importance faded. I often feel this kind of insanity is used as an easy out to inject drama, rather than it being an integral part of the story.
spoiler[The enemy Nous -eats- emotions to give people power. If he has so much insanity shouldn't he be hyper powerful and unstoppable? Even for a royal exemption, the other exempt royals in that society should be able to recognize legit insanity and not task such a loose canon with finding the Mud Whale and interacting with hundreds of potential sparks of Revolution! His character ruins the show, which I otherwise like! ] The other problem is the long long war. My numbers may be off, but I think they spend several episodes crossing one corridor in which most of the combat happened instantly. The show can some pacing issue where it seems to be unable to get to the point of the fighting and is indulging in trying to dramatize smaller details of the fighting endlessly. I love my war anime, so if I'm complaining about war melodrama, its probably too much. spoiler[ Also what was up with the rebellion subplot? It got solved and then the instigators returned the following episode like they weren't defeated, to be defeated again.] |
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NobodysDawn
Posts: 57 |
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spoiler[While I didn’t like the over-the-top psycho (the trope itself doesn’t bother me, but either the show itself needs to be over the top like Baccano or the character needs to be more developed like Ren Kouka) it WAS explained in the show that he was seen as “defective” and shunned because his emotions couldn’t be taken by the Nous.]
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H. Guderian
Posts: 1255 |
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But they exiled an entire population for being defective. How are royalty treated? They picked up a properly functioning emotionless royal relative and were mostly fine with eliminating her on the island as well with little care.
spoiler[Yeah I think the trope can work, in fact if his original exit from the show was held to I'd be satisfied. He is killed and falls into the ocean of sand. I mean no one swims in this the whole show so I assume it is too dense to do so. So he was a violent killer who loved preying on the innocent and weak to get their reactions, and then is poetically dealt with by children who manage to be the ones to stand up to him. He had flashes of remorse and being unable to grasp his end....and then that little development they gave him was thrown away so now he can be a crazy clown. The trope of someone insane and causing harm and still getting let loose can be seen in Kefka in FF6, but his insanity is seen as a tool by the Empire, as his cruelty gets Results where someone like General Leo or General Celes, in that setting would have problems. Both of those generals are done in by their humanity, and are stepping stones for Kefka to raise himself up while doing the Emperor's bidding, until of course such a chaotic force as Kefka takes everything over. Meanwhile this insane kid is not leveraged at all, the reason for him being exempted from exile, banishment, or dealth, in an emotionless society is not consistent with what the female convert goes through, and he family is pretty high up there. His insanity is not utilized as an asset either, until the end of the show where they just make him a clown.] But I'm told the books had more details. So when I consider that some important scenes might be missing -and- the glacial pacing during the 'battles', the flaws seem to stem from it being an adaptation, thusly, the Director. |
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Agent355
 Posts: 5113 Location: Crackberry in hand, thumbs at the ready... |
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My main question, which unfortunately wasn't addressed in this review, is how the anime compares to its source manga. I read the first two volumes of the manga and absolutely loved them. The pacing, as felt in some exposition and convenient sequence of events to facilitate expository world building, certainly isn't perfect. But the characters and their relationships felt lived in and real, which gives the emotional beats a lot of depth. The art is incredible overall.
I saw the first two episodes of the anime and felt they were speeding through material to pack all the world building details in. It emphasizes the story's pacing flaws and definitely doesn't work as well for characterization. I decided to put off watching the rest of the show for now until after I've read more of the manga. If you liked aspects of the show but feel it could use more depth and detail, I can't recommend the manga enough! |
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vashfanatic
 Posts: 3490 Location: Back stateside |
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Agent355's experience has been pretty much mine so far. I'm 5 episodes into the anime as I'm on the third volume of the manga and the anime is just a...subpar adaptation. I know it wanted to get to the meat of the story quickly, but that's what flash-forward before-the-first-episode's-credits scenes are for. Give a little taste, then rewind and show the slow, world-building, character-developing setup.
(Now, if I were being really adventuresome, I'd use the conceit found in the author's notes at the end of each volume where she claims she "found" these notes as a framing device of some kind, but that might be a bit too much) The art style also doesn't fully capture the airy shoujo aesthetic of the comic either. It's not a bad anime per se, but it's left me underwhelmed compared to the manga which I adore so far. |
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melmouth
Posts: 167 |
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And I love its world building.
It's a unique version of the fairly common setting of people exiled in a closed-off society. It has one and only one magic power, which keeps the heroes from seeming overpowered. It has lots of cute kids and likeable young folks, plus some questionable rulers. It has very much the kind of set of moral rules you would expect of a society in which much of the population is made up of young people with the aforesaid magic power. It's drawing is lovely and its music is moving. Conflict within the society, when it comes, takes a form to be expected given the people's training and circumstances, and I am now in great suspense as to whether these lovely folks will come out OK. Keeping in mind that anime seldom have conclusive endings because they are generally made essentially as advertisements for the manga, I don't understand what's not to like. |
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