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Uta~Kata
Spoilers may abound in this thread. Stop reading if you don't want to be spoiled, or continue reading if you don't ever plan on watching this anyway. Yeah I know this thread is basically for me and DYRE because no one else here has watched this, but feel free to comment on stuff anyway.
It kinda bugs me that I haven't figured out what this all means yet.
Why is Ichika chosen to go through all of this? And similarly, why Sei? Who is the higher power that Saya apparently serves? Why is it at all fair to do this to these poor fourteen-year-olds? And why do fourteen-year-olds look so damn young compared to twenty-year-olds?
Since the story events don't really seem to make sense by themselves, I conclude that this might be more of a "legend"-style story--where the events don't necessarily make sense but they are supposed to mean something. So what does it all mean?
Maybe it Saya is giving Ichika and Sei a depressing glimpse of adulthood--where one knows much more, one can do much more, but the stakes and the consequences of screwing things up as well as the temptation to abuse things is also much higher. Or maybe it's just a depressing representation of the transition from childhood to adulthood--when we're children, we think of things that adults can do as really cool--which is how the first few djinn are represented. But then the idea that with great power comes great price comes into play. Maybe it's just the idea that nothing exists for free. But why purposely grant such great powers and then force people to pay dearly for them?
The opening theme is upbeat but with a tinge of sadness in the melody. I don't know exactly how, but I think it's in the way the melody of the refrain ends downward. The ending theme has a sort of go-with-the-flow neutral emotion to it, but the two instrumental versions of it in the soundtrack definitely go along with the depressing feel of the direction of the story.
On the other hand, one could say it represents hope. Amidst all the depressing plot elements, and how the story just gets almost constantly more and more unnerving and even disturbing, both for us and for Ichika, Ichika does kinda turn things around at the very end. I actually wondered originally how her answer and Sei's answer (Sei's the real one, right?) were different at all. They seemed to be the same. Except I realized that the difference is that Sei refused to answer out of fear, while Ichika chose not to answer out of conviction and confidence in her beliefs. So maybe Ichika's decision represents the idea that we don't have to choose between two bad choices--for instance, we can go forward and grow up without losing the optimism of our childhood or succumbing to supposedly-depressing realities of adulthood. This is in line with the whole story's coming-of-age theme, and does provide an relevant conclusion to it.
----
By the way, Noimporta, if you ever wondered why I can like crappy animé, maybe this little essay ought to shed light on my perspective.
It kinda bugs me that I haven't figured out what this all means yet.
Why is Ichika chosen to go through all of this? And similarly, why Sei? Who is the higher power that Saya apparently serves? Why is it at all fair to do this to these poor fourteen-year-olds? And why do fourteen-year-olds look so damn young compared to twenty-year-olds?
Since the story events don't really seem to make sense by themselves, I conclude that this might be more of a "legend"-style story--where the events don't necessarily make sense but they are supposed to mean something. So what does it all mean?
Maybe it Saya is giving Ichika and Sei a depressing glimpse of adulthood--where one knows much more, one can do much more, but the stakes and the consequences of screwing things up as well as the temptation to abuse things is also much higher. Or maybe it's just a depressing representation of the transition from childhood to adulthood--when we're children, we think of things that adults can do as really cool--which is how the first few djinn are represented. But then the idea that with great power comes great price comes into play. Maybe it's just the idea that nothing exists for free. But why purposely grant such great powers and then force people to pay dearly for them?
The opening theme is upbeat but with a tinge of sadness in the melody. I don't know exactly how, but I think it's in the way the melody of the refrain ends downward. The ending theme has a sort of go-with-the-flow neutral emotion to it, but the two instrumental versions of it in the soundtrack definitely go along with the depressing feel of the direction of the story.
On the other hand, one could say it represents hope. Amidst all the depressing plot elements, and how the story just gets almost constantly more and more unnerving and even disturbing, both for us and for Ichika, Ichika does kinda turn things around at the very end. I actually wondered originally how her answer and Sei's answer (Sei's the real one, right?) were different at all. They seemed to be the same. Except I realized that the difference is that Sei refused to answer out of fear, while Ichika chose not to answer out of conviction and confidence in her beliefs. So maybe Ichika's decision represents the idea that we don't have to choose between two bad choices--for instance, we can go forward and grow up without losing the optimism of our childhood or succumbing to supposedly-depressing realities of adulthood. This is in line with the whole story's coming-of-age theme, and does provide an relevant conclusion to it.
----
By the way, Noimporta, if you ever wondered why I can like crappy animé, maybe this little essay ought to shed light on my perspective.
Comments
> Really slow pacing. Characters reacted to every event as if it were
about five times more serious than it actually was, up until near the
end when things actually are serious and then suddenly nobody
can be bothered to give a shit about anything for more than two minutes.
I can't tell if it's actually supposed to be a shoujo-ai series or
not. Most of the costumes that Ichika wears are dumb looking.
Yeah, the pacing is slow, though it kinda fits the contemplative nature of this series (better than such pacing fits some other shows), though the main thing that makes the pacing work is that you know that each episode is going to feature one of those charm-lights, going twelve for twelve.
And I guess you could say it suggests shoujo-ai but it's really not the point of the series. As for the costumes, I found them meh.
One thing I actually kinda didn't like was the extra OVA episode to tie things up. I actually think the symbolism would have worked out better had it ended with twelve, leaving questions unanswered and for the audience to ponder. At least, the symbolism of Manatsu appearing for only the summer and kinda representing the fleeting and temporary nature of time and experiences (leaving only memories for us to keep) would work better that way. Though the extra episode did show us that Saya has a veritable collection of those mirrors--how many other children went through this torture, seriously?
I agree the OVA was kind of detrimental to the whole thing. Even your last point that it showed that Saya has a lot of mirrors... that was kinda sorta implied in episode 12 anyway.
Anyway, while I normally don't mind questions being left unanswered in a show, I think these:
not having an answer kind of just make Saya and her person that she serves come across as tormenting kids for the lulz. This presumably is not the intended point, but unfortunately there's not really any better conclusion I can come to.
I will probably reply to this again later, but I'm kind of limited for time at the moment, so for now... yeah.
Also, when I saw the title of this thread, I thought I made it. >.>
Well, apparently Saya and especially the higher power she serves are not supposed to be seen as jerks. Said higher power even talks in a forgiving manner, is given comforting background music, and seems avuncular in his attitude. However, I can't help but see Saya as a total jerk.
I think they made the OVA in order to give a greater sense of closure, except I don't really think it accomplished much of that, apart from finality in terms of removing Kai and Manatsu from existence entirely.
So, I apparently am having difficulty coming up with anything particularly insightful to say about this show. I'd probably be able to if I watched it again, but... I kind of just didn't really like it enough to be willing to do that... >.>
Er... maybe I'll try skimming over some of the episodes again later, and we'll see how that goes.. >.>
In fact, I definitely will, for the sake of being able to discuss it because discussion is fun. But... not right now. Soon.