render up my body into the burning heart of god
Last night my iPad freaked out and I had to restore it to factory settings, which is fine, because there was a backup and it then restored my settings from that, but it took OVER FOUR HOURS to complete the process. I think Robin the iPad is jealous of Oracle the Kindle (which I have been using since I got it since it was a gift from my boss and she notices these things when I'm reading at lunchtime), which leads me to wonder if my iPad is actually Damian!Robin, which would explain SO MUCH. And I say that as someone with great fondness for the brat.
While that was going on, I watched the last four episodes of Samurai Champloo, which I'd started watching over the weekend, mostly on recommendations from you guys. I liked it, mostly, though having watched it directly after Cowboy Bebop, I have to wonder what the creator's thing about mushrooms is. Also, there is an awful lot of time devoted to scrounging up enough money to eat and not actually managing it in both sources. Also, what is up with the awful filler episodes in Samurai Champloo? A clip show? Zombies? Baseball? And so close to the end of the show? Really?
Oh, and I watched the Cowboy Bebop movie, which I kind of loved. Mostly because I was really happy to see the crew all together, and also that Ed played a larger role, because you guys, ♥ED♥. I wish she'd had more interaction with Spike overall, because I feel like that was a neglected relationship in the show, but there's that moment in the movie when he comes back to the Bebop and she clings to him like a spidermonkey and he's just like 'Huh?' and it is ADORABLE. We got to see Jet and Faye be her foster parents, kind of, but we never really got much of her with Spike, and as much as it pains me to admit it, Spike was definitely my favorite. With Ed and Ein and Jet in second place. And then Faye. I wanted to like Faye more than I did, and I did eventually come around to feeling for her, but she never really clicked for me. Also, I didn't really get the vibe that she was in love with Spike, which I have seen a lot of people mention. Being upset that someone is going to throw their life away (or at least, that's what it looks like) isn't the same thing as having romantic feelings for them.
Anyway. I liked that the movie had a big actiony plot and that they introduced a female character I really liked and it just worked for me both on the "yay, they got the band back together" level and on an emotional level to explain how Spike gets to where he's at by the finale.
On the other hand, while I enjoyed Samurai Champloo, I feel like I didn't really connect as much emotionally with it? I thought Fuu was a great POV character, though she irritated me early on because of all the repetition. Every episode she reminded them of why why were traveling together and I was just like, I KNOW THIS ALREADY PLEASE MOVE ON NOW. Also, I mostly got the references in Cowboy Bebop, because they were mostly riffing on American genre fiction (and the Firefly resonances don't hurt), but I know there was stuff I totally did not pick up on with Samurai Champloo because it was about Japanese popular culture. Also, CB was very noir at heart, which is one of my favorite genres, and also the music. THE MUSIC. I cannot stress enough how good the music is in Cowboy Bebop, and that factor just isn't there with Samurai Champloo.
Also, I really did not like the ending. I mean, I don't hate it the way I was prepared to when I thought they were all going to die and I was going to have to post about WHY WOULD YOU RECOMMEND SOMETHING WHERE ROCKS FALL AND EVERYBODY DIES ACTUALLY HAPPENS+ but then they didn't and there's that glorious fanservice-y moment of Jin with his hair down and his robes half off and his declaration of love (familial, not romantic, not that I couldn't ship it anyway) for Fuu, and also her calling Mugen back from the afterlife. I enjoyed Jin and Mugen's awkward conversation later, but felt it was completely unnecessary - for a show that was so subtle about emotions that it felt like sometimes they weren't even there, that conversation seemed oddly blatant.
SO THEY BASICALLY AGREE THAT THEY ARE FAMILY AND THEN THEY ALL WALK AWAY FROM EACH OTHER WHAT THE FUCK. THAT IS THE OPPOSITE OF WHAT I WANTED.
+Oddly enough, though, I was okay with Spike dying at the end of CB, because that was basically what he was heading towards from the moment we met him in that opening flashback. It seemed a fitting end to his arc. I mean, I didn't want him to die, but I also didn't want Ed to leave to go after her loser of a father when Jet was trying so hard to fill that role (and doing a much better job, such as it was), but it made sense narratively and emotionally that that happened. Here if they'd all died - or if Mugen and Jin died and Fuu lived - it just would have pissed me off because it would have felt completely pointless and it would have retroactively made me resent the time I'd spent getting to know and like the characters. I don't hate sad or tragic endings inherently, but I feel like they need to be more than just an attempt to be ~edgy~ or manipulative; they need to have a point and they need to feel earned, just like happy endings, but also inevitable. I need to be able to say, "Yes, there was no other way this could end." Whereas a happy ending needs to feel like it's not inevitable, that there's always that niggle of doubt that things could have gone badly at some point.
But there was no real reason the other samurai dude needed to kill Jin and Mugen once he'd killed Fuu's father. I mean, I thought the reason he was ordered to kill them was because the shogunate was afraid Fuu's father was going to raise another rebellion and having two super excellent swordsmen on his side would be bad for the govt. Once that possibility was out of the way, there was no reason for them - or Fuu - to die, except orders. Though I suppose they had to off Fuu also to make sure she wasn't plotting revenge against the govt for killing her father, and there again, Jin and Mugen would be assets.
Also, Fuu had that moment where she realized that Sara the blind assassin lady was after them because she was still determined to go to Nagasaki to find her father, so I don't know why she never said anything to Jin or Mugen about it. A little heads up as to why the govt is sending assassins after you would be helpful. I'm just saying.
Also also, I found Mugen kind of off-putting for most of the show. I think he was supposed to come off as crusty/gruff but with a growing acceptance of Fuu being in his life, but it didn't quite work for me until the very end. (I think this was a function of watching the dub? Does he constantly call her a dumb bitch in the subbed version? Because seriously, that was gross and off-putting.) Like, Jin's reserve worked because there were definitely flashes that he cared for Fuu, even if it wasn't how she wanted him to (and I wasn't quite sure if the show was telling me she had a crush on Jin but was in love with Mugen, or what - I would be perfectly fine OT3ing them, though I'm sure it's probably just a slash fandom - I haven't gone looking, but I'm not really interested if it's not the three of them together), but Mugen's hostility almost never seemed tempered by any affection until the very end where he's basically laying his life down so she can get away. (I also was really annoyed at how suddenly this random dude was able to beat him so thoroughly after the show had gone to such lengths to establish his abilities as a fighter.)
I do think it had a tighter arc than Cowboy Bebop, but a less compelling one to me. Like, was I not supposed to know from day one that Fuu was looking for her father? Though I don't understand why she didn't tell them that early on while she was reminding them repeatedly that they had promised to accompany her on her journey. (I also don't understand why they didn't figure it out early on, but maybe they did and just wanted her to tell them?)
Wow, okay, I didn't think I had that many thoughts but apparently I did.
*
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/540457.html.
people have commented there.
While that was going on, I watched the last four episodes of Samurai Champloo, which I'd started watching over the weekend, mostly on recommendations from you guys. I liked it, mostly, though having watched it directly after Cowboy Bebop, I have to wonder what the creator's thing about mushrooms is. Also, there is an awful lot of time devoted to scrounging up enough money to eat and not actually managing it in both sources. Also, what is up with the awful filler episodes in Samurai Champloo? A clip show? Zombies? Baseball? And so close to the end of the show? Really?
Oh, and I watched the Cowboy Bebop movie, which I kind of loved. Mostly because I was really happy to see the crew all together, and also that Ed played a larger role, because you guys, ♥ED♥. I wish she'd had more interaction with Spike overall, because I feel like that was a neglected relationship in the show, but there's that moment in the movie when he comes back to the Bebop and she clings to him like a spidermonkey and he's just like 'Huh?' and it is ADORABLE. We got to see Jet and Faye be her foster parents, kind of, but we never really got much of her with Spike, and as much as it pains me to admit it, Spike was definitely my favorite. With Ed and Ein and Jet in second place. And then Faye. I wanted to like Faye more than I did, and I did eventually come around to feeling for her, but she never really clicked for me. Also, I didn't really get the vibe that she was in love with Spike, which I have seen a lot of people mention. Being upset that someone is going to throw their life away (or at least, that's what it looks like) isn't the same thing as having romantic feelings for them.
Anyway. I liked that the movie had a big actiony plot and that they introduced a female character I really liked and it just worked for me both on the "yay, they got the band back together" level and on an emotional level to explain how Spike gets to where he's at by the finale.
On the other hand, while I enjoyed Samurai Champloo, I feel like I didn't really connect as much emotionally with it? I thought Fuu was a great POV character, though she irritated me early on because of all the repetition. Every episode she reminded them of why why were traveling together and I was just like, I KNOW THIS ALREADY PLEASE MOVE ON NOW. Also, I mostly got the references in Cowboy Bebop, because they were mostly riffing on American genre fiction (and the Firefly resonances don't hurt), but I know there was stuff I totally did not pick up on with Samurai Champloo because it was about Japanese popular culture. Also, CB was very noir at heart, which is one of my favorite genres, and also the music. THE MUSIC. I cannot stress enough how good the music is in Cowboy Bebop, and that factor just isn't there with Samurai Champloo.
Also, I really did not like the ending. I mean, I don't hate it the way I was prepared to when I thought they were all going to die and I was going to have to post about WHY WOULD YOU RECOMMEND SOMETHING WHERE ROCKS FALL AND EVERYBODY DIES ACTUALLY HAPPENS+ but then they didn't and there's that glorious fanservice-y moment of Jin with his hair down and his robes half off and his declaration of love (familial, not romantic, not that I couldn't ship it anyway) for Fuu, and also her calling Mugen back from the afterlife. I enjoyed Jin and Mugen's awkward conversation later, but felt it was completely unnecessary - for a show that was so subtle about emotions that it felt like sometimes they weren't even there, that conversation seemed oddly blatant.
SO THEY BASICALLY AGREE THAT THEY ARE FAMILY AND THEN THEY ALL WALK AWAY FROM EACH OTHER WHAT THE FUCK. THAT IS THE OPPOSITE OF WHAT I WANTED.
+Oddly enough, though, I was okay with Spike dying at the end of CB, because that was basically what he was heading towards from the moment we met him in that opening flashback. It seemed a fitting end to his arc. I mean, I didn't want him to die, but I also didn't want Ed to leave to go after her loser of a father when Jet was trying so hard to fill that role (and doing a much better job, such as it was), but it made sense narratively and emotionally that that happened. Here if they'd all died - or if Mugen and Jin died and Fuu lived - it just would have pissed me off because it would have felt completely pointless and it would have retroactively made me resent the time I'd spent getting to know and like the characters. I don't hate sad or tragic endings inherently, but I feel like they need to be more than just an attempt to be ~edgy~ or manipulative; they need to have a point and they need to feel earned, just like happy endings, but also inevitable. I need to be able to say, "Yes, there was no other way this could end." Whereas a happy ending needs to feel like it's not inevitable, that there's always that niggle of doubt that things could have gone badly at some point.
But there was no real reason the other samurai dude needed to kill Jin and Mugen once he'd killed Fuu's father. I mean, I thought the reason he was ordered to kill them was because the shogunate was afraid Fuu's father was going to raise another rebellion and having two super excellent swordsmen on his side would be bad for the govt. Once that possibility was out of the way, there was no reason for them - or Fuu - to die, except orders. Though I suppose they had to off Fuu also to make sure she wasn't plotting revenge against the govt for killing her father, and there again, Jin and Mugen would be assets.
Also, Fuu had that moment where she realized that Sara the blind assassin lady was after them because she was still determined to go to Nagasaki to find her father, so I don't know why she never said anything to Jin or Mugen about it. A little heads up as to why the govt is sending assassins after you would be helpful. I'm just saying.
Also also, I found Mugen kind of off-putting for most of the show. I think he was supposed to come off as crusty/gruff but with a growing acceptance of Fuu being in his life, but it didn't quite work for me until the very end. (I think this was a function of watching the dub? Does he constantly call her a dumb bitch in the subbed version? Because seriously, that was gross and off-putting.) Like, Jin's reserve worked because there were definitely flashes that he cared for Fuu, even if it wasn't how she wanted him to (and I wasn't quite sure if the show was telling me she had a crush on Jin but was in love with Mugen, or what - I would be perfectly fine OT3ing them, though I'm sure it's probably just a slash fandom - I haven't gone looking, but I'm not really interested if it's not the three of them together), but Mugen's hostility almost never seemed tempered by any affection until the very end where he's basically laying his life down so she can get away. (I also was really annoyed at how suddenly this random dude was able to beat him so thoroughly after the show had gone to such lengths to establish his abilities as a fighter.)
I do think it had a tighter arc than Cowboy Bebop, but a less compelling one to me. Like, was I not supposed to know from day one that Fuu was looking for her father? Though I don't understand why she didn't tell them that early on while she was reminding them repeatedly that they had promised to accompany her on her journey. (I also don't understand why they didn't figure it out early on, but maybe they did and just wanted her to tell them?)
Wow, okay, I didn't think I had that many thoughts but apparently I did.
*
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/540457.html.
people have commented there.