[ALT] Tokyo Babylon 1999 (OP&ED) - Higurashi no Naku Koro ni - Taishou A

[jjblue1]

Another attempt of mine to make an opening in a MAD Movie style... and an ending too... for my so much wished and never existed ipotetical 'Tokyo Babylon 1999' anime. MAD Movie designates video done solely by Japanese so I labelled this simply a Alternate Theme...

The song I used for the opening is the theme from 'Higurashi no Naku Koro ni', '

Comments

[akk_]

The ending of a series is no issue if it has been delivered together with the series. But now, in X' case, it would be delivered 10 years afterwards, when people got used to their own ideas and concepts. I know that an official X ending is craved, but -frankly- I believe that the majority of loyal X-fans will be seriously disappointed by it, because the expectations had so much time to grow, the concepts for it have become so elaborate. I think it'll turn out a lot like the "StarWars effect" - the sequel is so craved that whatever is delivered can only fall short. And I'm not much for the whining that will cause. :)

If we got a cent for everytime somebody proclaimed the X-fandom dead or dying since I started writing in it, we could pay Clamp to abandon all other stuff and finish X once and for all.

When is a fandom dead, anyway? When there aren't endless pointless discussions about the One-True-Pairing? The aaaaah-oh-my-gosh-there's new franchise hypes (and the herds of people behaving like "Take That" (or whatever else group caused suicide rows because they disbanded) groupies? If that's a definition, then I was never part of a fandom in the first place. :)
As long as people read and enjoy the stuff, it's not dead in my eyes. There are fans for 1930ish movies and 1960s tv soap operas...
...are that dead fandoms? Even when people complain that "the fandom" is dying, it ultimately shows that they are concerned with the stuff, so... ???

[jjblue1]

I think it's up to CLAMP to write a good ending for X. Of course there's to consider that X had started when CLAMP too were young so the planned ending might be childish and disappointing... As for people's expectation... as Subaru would say there's no way for everyone to be happy.
I've been hearing people whining for the ending of Code Geass for a long time. Some kept insisting a character wasn't death even when specifically stated by the authors, some complained that his death was the easy way out... some complained about some other stuffs... and we didn't really had to wait much for the ending of CG.
And I bet there will be people who will be disappointed by the ending of TRC or Holic too...

As far as I'm involved a fandom is dead when people stop discussing about it... not about just pairing or gadgets but about everything.
When was the last discussion about anything plot related about X? About character profiles?
An 'oh my God there's a new CLAMP in 3D with Kamui' discussion isn't really a discussion, more like cheering. There's no thought behind it.
I would even prefer an active complaining about how bad X end is than this silence.
Besides complains about how bad the X movie was produced really funny fics ^_-

In short I measure a fandom's life on its activity not on the number of silent fans.
Sure, there are still some fans who're producing something (fanfic, fanart, AMV...) but they're getting less and less. How long before they'll move to other interests as I've seen people doing so many times before?
... but maybe I'm just being pessimiste...

PS: sorry for the late reply but I had to go away for a while...

[akk_]

"As far as I'm involved a fandom is dead when people stop discussing about it... not about just pairing or gadgets but about everything."

I think you involve yourself more deeply in groups than I do. I consider a fandom "active" when there are fics and art and people willing to share / enjoy them. Most of the discussion you seem to miss so much, I felt more as a group/peer pressure thing of which I was happier staying away from.

I've participated in a fandom that was active - as in fics, talks, discussions, mailing lists, homepages, fanart, contests, desperate-struggling-to-get-VHS tapes of the show for twenty years, but when there finally was a release of the show on DVD the fandom virtually... went *poof*. Now there's merely the official webforum - with no relevant content whatsoever - and that was it.

A lot of things can happen when/if Clamp finishes X, but even if the ending it fantastic, it might well be the end of X fandom as well. Or not. Nobody knows; anything's possible. That's why I don't see a point in calling for an end at all costs.

[jjblue1]

Oh, I don't really take part to many fandom discussions or something.
But to me fandom is a group of people interacting together, not just people producing fanwork (mind you, I love people producing fanwork... in some cases I'm totally crazy about them... :P).
I'm not sure what you mean with group pressure...
The fate of each fandom can vary according to many things.
I'm still totally crazy about a certain series but, once I managed to get the original version on dvd, my fanatism... kind of calmed down.
It might be coincidence.
I had already produced fics, arts, video and even comics for that series, other members were starting to disappear so maybe... I simply didn't have anything to give anymore and I needed to move my interests toward another direction.
After all other members didn't get the series on dvd and yet they started to disappear as well...
So, really, I don't know.
I can't force CLAMP to write an end for X... and I've no idea what will happen if they write it or they don't but personally I would prefer to have it. Feel free to call me end obsessed but I'm much more curious to see what CLAMP had planned for the end of X than everyone's else.
In the end I might not like it, actually I fear I will not like it (same way I didn't like the X anime), but curiousity is stronger. And CLAMP might surprise me...

[akk_]

With group pressure I meant that the discussions weren't friendly but more of a "what the majority believes is absolute, whether the canon supports it or not". It depends a lot on the people involved, though.

Basically, you like the interaction (and the fanworks), whereas for me the fanworks (and their reception) suffices. Different expectations / preferences. :)
I can see that in your sense, any fandom not receiving "official updates" any more is in danger of dying, whereas in mine it's just a matter of overall interest.

Regarding an X end. I won't mourn to have one, but I won't mourn to get one either. I'm content. (Or I just might not care and feed my tree.)

[jjblue1]

Oh, that. *sighs* That sadly always happen.
There's always someone possessing The Truth... and sometimes that someone possess a truth the manga/anime's author stated clearly is no truth at all.

You're in a lucky position! ^___^ (If I feed a tree it drops dead the next minute. Actually if I just get close to it it drop death. Generally trees and flowers move away as fast as they roots allow them when they see me walking somewhat close to where they are... I've kinda the perfect opposite of green thumb... while my mother has a perfect green thumb. Dead plants resurrects if they get close to her...)

[akk_]

Well, my grandmother actually insisted on treating plants nicely.
I did that and the damned things withered instantaneously.
Then I swore at them and promised that if they aren't green and blooming *asap* they'd see the inside of the garbage bin rather quickly. Result: the living room has become a jungle, despite rather negligence on my part.
Therefore: plants might not move fast, but they do have survival instinct. ;)

The main issue with "The Truth" is, that while it surely exist, we can't be sure we know it, hence our "knowledge of The Truth" is all relative. Sadly, there are a lot of people unable to accept that. So I'm rather content in fandoms past the discussion phase. :)

[jjblue1]

LOL
I might try that!

I agree. While there are some 'Secure truths' that are pubblic knowledge (es: Subaru and Hokuto are twins) too many things are just speculations.
Plus, since the manga isn't ended yet CLAMP might have been planning some 'interesting' surprises kind of like 'the whole thing is a nightmare Hinoto had due to Fei Wang tampering with Sakura's feathers...' or 'Kamui doesn't know but he's ended up in an alternate version of the Fairy Park and the end of the world is a new virtual reality game...' or 'Fuma didn't really kill Kanoe, he faked it for unknown reasons...' or 'Kamui's true father is in truth Clow Reed...' or 'Fuma isn't Fuma but a clone whose brain had gone damaged...' or 'Kamui isn't really Kamui but someone pretending to be as such in order to make void the final battle...' things like that...
(yes, TRC's 'interesting' surprises didn't impress me much...)

[akk_]

:)

Make that TRC (or xxxHolic for that matter) didn't impress me much; one of the things I love about Clamp's earlier works is their foundation in a believable reality - and then comes the magical additions. They abandoned that completely in their later works, sadly.

Regarding Clow Reed... as Seishiro commented once in a certain fic-o-mine: "He's a sick old fuck." ;)

[jjblue1]

I find TRC is too commercial, with a plot that looks like the one of a poor AU fanfic, not really good fighting scenes (but maybe I'm too much into Shonen), a bad use of crossover characters and 'surprises' that really are a bit too much popping out of nowhere...
Holic is much better but I dislike its deep connection with TRC. It smells like a commercial trick to persuade people to buy both (and also Holic doesn't care at all about time pasing by. Either Watanuki and Co had to repeat the year or they should be out of school by now... but CLAMP did the same with CCS... -_- and messed up with timelines in other stories so...).
According to CLAMP Clow should be an amazing powerful magician... which would be cool if his plans were to make sense.
I think I lack the intelligence to understand why, if Sakura weren't to master all the Clow Cards, all the people who come into contact with them should get amnesia... and I know it's a recurring plot but really, I don't see why he had to cause mess to force her to evolve the cards... knowing Sakura it would have been enough if he had told her and she would have done her best.

[akk_]

Can't say much to the plot, since I don't follow those series. I just didn't like the drawing styles to begin with.

I admit I somewhat liked CCS on a pretty-in-pink basis (with Yue flavor *g*), but aside from that... *shrug*

[jjblue1]

I don't like much their drawing style in them either but, apart from 'Kobato.' I don't like much CLAMP's drawing style in their last works.

LOL
I also found Sakura and Shaoran very cute, especially when they were embarassed (Yes, Yue was the very BEST past... too bad he doesn't show up enough)

[akk_]

Their "newer" style reflects a bit their change in plot-style: away from the realism on to utter magic mumbojumbo.

Regarding Yue, that's why I used him as a layout for the obnoxious ghost of the first Sakurazukamori. ;)

[jjblue1]

Well... in a fashion there was magic in their earlier works as well, sometimes coped up with absolute unrealism... but I miss the old times in which characters were walking for a real Tokyo instead than a place that is half Tokyo and half Tomoeda or half something else and facing real problems instead than chasing at feathers, cards, human persocom or battle dolls... -_-

I've noticed! ^_-

[akk_]

Indeed. What I meant with "missing realism" is the grounding of their fantasy elements in reality. All the battles in X - and Subaru's work in TB(!) - wouldn't be half as effective if the backdrop wasn't a believable, almost everyday Tokyo.
If it were a place like Clow Country instead... *shudder* all the appeal would be gone.

[jjblue1]

Oh, I can deal with Clow Country.
What I don't like is the 'kind of like Tokyo but not Tokyo' city in which they set all their supposed to be placed in not a fantasy world stories.
I can accept the 'let's make up an immaginary city' when there's a plot need for it.
But what need there's for their more actual stories to be placed 'nowhere'?