Black Cat 16-18
10 Mar 2006 02:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mayoraaseiI haven't actually watched it properly, fast forwarded through most of the sequences.
From about 14-17 it's basically about the Sweeper Alliance, and this interlude is painfully long (with a side story of Train meeting a Saya-look-alike, the entire episode of which I skipped, so I'm not sure exactly what happened but that Sven was really pissed off in the end that they ran out of petrol looking for Train).
In 17 they pretty much jump straight into the final arc of action, and the action is really...eye-boggling. It's really hard to keep up because (as usual) they've used very sudden cuts and edits. Creed is incredibly more crazy, spending the entire of the last 2 episodes playing on what looked like a pipe organ.
They've added a few things to the final event:
- A little interlude about Number X (the guy who can change his appearance) which...I felt was too long. I liked the fact that X was only subtly likeable in the manga (he is manipulative and immature to some extent). I didn't need to have a sequence showing him being moved by Train's ideals. I am, however, pleased that they increased his screen time, because he was so underexposed in the manga =(
- More people went to the island for the final showdown and in different groups and order. Most of the Chronos Numbers turned up, including Number II and a few we didn't see in the manga (some guy who used arrows and another who used cards...reminding me of Hisoka). Number X, instead of going with Chronos as he did in the manga, went with the sweepers.
The sequence is also slightly different:
- Maro (sumo guy) gets defeated by a random Chronos Number called David (tell me he wasn't in the manga...I have absolutely no impression he existed)
- Leon is defeated by Eve in a sequence of really cool moves (even though it was exactly like the manga, but still cool to see it animated). Though the little thing about Leon and his friends irked me. It dampened his motive. The manga showed that he was left behind alone by a war started by the carelessness and insensitivity of adults. It justified his bitterness towards violence committed by adults. It made him a misled idealist who channelled his anguish into violence, not a spoilt child who didn't appreciate what he had. Because in the manga he had always been living this way: fighting tooth and nail to survive, so that when Eve showed him that there was a peaceful way to change the world, his tears were heartfelt and genuine. The fact that he already had a life that was - if not peaceful - full of trustworthy friends, and he had to go and get himself involved in world destruction...just...doesn't...have the same effect.
- Sven, Train and Eve meet up briefly, then Sven gets delayed by the ugly guy who can corrode stuff.
- Sephiria has gotten through all of the defences and confronts Creed (end of 18).
Overall, everything is again far too flamboyant for my liking. Every time someone pulls out their weapon it has to be with a flourish (accompanied by some loud and jarring background music). I guess this is where sometimes the stillness of the manga is much more appealing in an understatedly dramatic way. And while the choice of ghoulish colours and operatic music and sharp cuts was refreshing at the beginning of the anime, now in the climax of the anime where there is inherently a lot of movement and intensity, these techniques become tiresome and compete too much with the story itself.
The Black Cat manga has also been licensed. Finally. I'm actually surprised it too this long.
In other news, Hunter X Hunter has gone on (a second) hiatus. No reason was given this time. Last time (last year) he went on hiatus because he was "sick" ("sick" apparently connotates anything from "flu" to "cancer", let's hope it wasn't too bad).
From about 14-17 it's basically about the Sweeper Alliance, and this interlude is painfully long (with a side story of Train meeting a Saya-look-alike, the entire episode of which I skipped, so I'm not sure exactly what happened but that Sven was really pissed off in the end that they ran out of petrol looking for Train).
In 17 they pretty much jump straight into the final arc of action, and the action is really...eye-boggling. It's really hard to keep up because (as usual) they've used very sudden cuts and edits. Creed is incredibly more crazy, spending the entire of the last 2 episodes playing on what looked like a pipe organ.
They've added a few things to the final event:
- A little interlude about Number X (the guy who can change his appearance) which...I felt was too long. I liked the fact that X was only subtly likeable in the manga (he is manipulative and immature to some extent). I didn't need to have a sequence showing him being moved by Train's ideals. I am, however, pleased that they increased his screen time, because he was so underexposed in the manga =(
- More people went to the island for the final showdown and in different groups and order. Most of the Chronos Numbers turned up, including Number II and a few we didn't see in the manga (some guy who used arrows and another who used cards...reminding me of Hisoka). Number X, instead of going with Chronos as he did in the manga, went with the sweepers.
The sequence is also slightly different:
- Maro (sumo guy) gets defeated by a random Chronos Number called David (tell me he wasn't in the manga...I have absolutely no impression he existed)
- Leon is defeated by Eve in a sequence of really cool moves (even though it was exactly like the manga, but still cool to see it animated). Though the little thing about Leon and his friends irked me. It dampened his motive. The manga showed that he was left behind alone by a war started by the carelessness and insensitivity of adults. It justified his bitterness towards violence committed by adults. It made him a misled idealist who channelled his anguish into violence, not a spoilt child who didn't appreciate what he had. Because in the manga he had always been living this way: fighting tooth and nail to survive, so that when Eve showed him that there was a peaceful way to change the world, his tears were heartfelt and genuine. The fact that he already had a life that was - if not peaceful - full of trustworthy friends, and he had to go and get himself involved in world destruction...just...doesn't...have the same effect.
- Sven, Train and Eve meet up briefly, then Sven gets delayed by the ugly guy who can corrode stuff.
- Sephiria has gotten through all of the defences and confronts Creed (end of 18).
Overall, everything is again far too flamboyant for my liking. Every time someone pulls out their weapon it has to be with a flourish (accompanied by some loud and jarring background music). I guess this is where sometimes the stillness of the manga is much more appealing in an understatedly dramatic way. And while the choice of ghoulish colours and operatic music and sharp cuts was refreshing at the beginning of the anime, now in the climax of the anime where there is inherently a lot of movement and intensity, these techniques become tiresome and compete too much with the story itself.
The Black Cat manga has also been licensed. Finally. I'm actually surprised it too this long.
In other news, Hunter X Hunter has gone on (a second) hiatus. No reason was given this time. Last time (last year) he went on hiatus because he was "sick" ("sick" apparently connotates anything from "flu" to "cancer", let's hope it wasn't too bad).
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Date: 2006-03-11 11:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-11 11:41 am (UTC)....Half your message might have disappeared.....
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Date: 2006-03-11 11:48 am (UTC)