A few questions
I think you've probably heard of the new Dragon Ball Kai anime series that started a little over a year ago and is a filler-free remake of Dragon Ball Z, not to mention in higher quality. Well, as I'm following this series week by week, I search for the raw by using the japanese title in Google, and what regularly comes up as a good quality raw is
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That's because Tony with white hair is too wtf. But as far as Blue goes, I must say I prefer his albino blond look. Looks a little more natural and tame. Also, I prefer the Soldier outfits of the pilot, ie they look more like the manga version. I was also a bit disappointed that they never used the whole thing with Jomy in the ice room from the manga in the TV series. Yes, the ominous image is also why I prefer the pilot. Pretty much the only aspect of the pilot I disliked was Tony's hair. Everything else looks nicer than the TV series version. Including Jomy's blue eyes and Physis' softer lip color.
Did the eyes change shape much? I didn't really notice that part.
Actually, I checked the pilot artbook just now, and if I'm reading this right, it says that this is Jomy's encounter with Terra's Number 5.
But while we're on the subject of changes, to be honest, though I really like Blue, and the TV series keeping him alive longer is a creative change, I think the manga and movie had the right idea. I don't know, but it feels like a lot of Jomy's growth, his motivations and his actions were taken away by this change. Also, there's something more firm and determined about the manga Soldier Blue. *shrugs* But I really like all three versions, it's just the I prefer the manga. :)
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I think I prefer how Blue looked in the finished version of the anime because of how ethereal he ended up looking. He's supposed to be this grand hero, a sort of idealized savior of the Mu, so it made sense to me that he looked almost otherworldly in comparison to everyone else. It helped him stand out and stand apart from the other characters, and it leaves a lasting impression on the viewer. Or at least I thought so.
The light blond version did look pretty cool, though. :3
There were a couple of things they didn't use from the manga, which kind of sucks, but I can see why they were cut out. Some of them would seem redundant in terms of characterization and would probably tire out the audience. What worked in the 70s might not have worked now. Like the scene where Physis went into Jomy's mind to help draw him back out after Nazca.
I thought they chanted the eyes quite a bit. In the promo, they look a lot more like the eyes from the manga shape-wise, with more solid colours and the sort of thin-line details of the pupils, eyelashes, etc. that Takemiya used. In the anime, they modernized how they coloured the eyes (mix of colours, shiny, a "burned" sort of black for the pupils, like the tool found in photoshop). But it makes sense that they did that, since they wanted to attract an audience with different tastes.
I sort of thought the same thing with Keith's characterization in the anime (but I don't mind it as much, because it gave Suena a more reoccurring and relevant role, and that's always a good thing in my book). I don't mind that they prolonged their development a bit, because I do like some of the changes they made, but I do agree that Jomy's (and Keith's) characters were a bit stronger in the manga. The movie, I don't know. The movie captured the atmosphere in the manga perfectly, but it startled me a bit how intense and serious Soldier Blue was in the movie.
I like all three too, with the manga and anime tying for first, and the movie being second (or third?).
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The scene of Physis going into Jomy's mind is one of my favorite parts, actually. And heck, something similar was used in X, which is not that old, so why wouldn't it have worked in Terra E...? I thought it was a nice touch to show just how obsessively determined Jomy was to see Blue's wish come to fruition. It added a certain selfless touch to him that the TV series almost lacked. Same thing with the scene on Nazca. In the manga, the planet was burning while they were in the ships and Jomy couldn't do anything about it. This is what made him blind, deaf and mute after all.
About the eyes, I'd need a side by side comparison to tell for sure, but all I know is that in terms of animation style, I definitely preferred the pilot to the TV series.
Keith, he was a bit too bastardized in the anime, maybe because Tony would have been deemed irredeemable otherwise. Manga Keith isn't the type to bother with hostages. Rather, he let it all play out naturally, and thought that he'd let the best man win. I don't even remember if this was mentioned in the anime, but Mu were beginning to make up most of the human population and Keith was thinking how nature favored them.
The manga is my favorite, but it's a tough thing deciding between the movie and the TV series, because some aspects were handled entirely better in the movie. And yes, Soldier Blue was serious and intense in the movie, but he was pretty much the same in the manga. He was very much the type to cut to the chase and skip the unnecessary details, but given his situation, that's entirely understandable. His desperation was more palpable in the manga.
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I remember that scene in X. That was also one of my favourites (totally not just because I love the hell out of Kamui and Subaru). Too bad the manga never ended. :/
As much as I love that scene in the manga, I'm actually kind of glad they left that out of the anime. I don't think it would have worked because Soldier Blue is still around in the anime by that point, which changes a few things. In the manga, Jomy is already on his own and considered a Soldier. He's uncertain and finding his way in the dark, but he's got more experience being a full-fledged leader under his belt. In the anime, Jomy seemed more like a stand-in for Soldier Blue; he fulfilled the role, but he wasn't quite there yet. For Jomy to struggle with finally succeeding Soldier Blue's place and then to go Heroic BSOD on the audience would have been too much. In my humble opinion, it's more engaging and inspiring to watching Jomy rise above his grief and loss and become what he's spent episodes trying to be.
Er, tl;dr version: It's not the scene itself that wouldn't have worked, it's the timing and pacing of the overall plot that would have made it painful to sit through.
The differences are a lot more apparent when they're seen side-by-side. I'm sorry of my description of those differences didn't help any. xD
As much as I adore Tony, it's true that he doesn't a lot of redeeming factors going for him in the manga.
I think that's why I prefer manga!Keith. He does horrible things in the manga as well, but nothing like he does in the anime. Manga!Keith never went out of his way to be a jerk. I think the anime did a great job with Keith in the first couple of episodes and at the very end, but the middle is a little hit or miss at times.
I think that was mentioned in the manga (the Mu increasing favorably in population).
Pretty much. I find the movie got the atmosphere and personalities of the manga!characters down really well. The main downside to the movie is that a lot was cut out or condensed, and to someone who isn't already familiar with the story, I bet certain parts of it would be jarring. (I will never get over Jomy and Carina hooking up and having Tony, either. ._. Whhhhhhhhy?) The anime had the benefit of having more time to expand and explore a lot of things the movie couldn't.
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Ah, well, you see, much as I love Soldier Blue, that is why I was saying that his continued survival in the anime stymies Jomy's growth in every way. I've always preferred Jomy's character especially in the manga. The manga did not exactly make Jomy a sudden hero. Where he erred and made decisions that you can be sure Soldier Blue would have not made, that was his flaw. In the manga, it was entertaining to watch his arguments with the elders and others because they were always heated. The anime Jomy lacks that passion. Seeing Jomy in the manga, I can understand more why Soldier Blue thought him his perfect replacement. And in the scene of Physis going into Jomy's mind, Soldier Blue is sort of like a ghost, hanging around because of Jomy's strong telepathy and uncertainties. That's why, to me, this scene is better than having kept him alive in the anime. The whole point is that whether he was there or not, Jomy still clung to his mentality. Physis even said that Jomy had gone deep into his subconscious seeking insight as to what Blue would have done in his situation, which is to say that this scene served the same purpose as in the anime, but without giving Jomy an unneeded crutch. This made him an entirely more tragic character in the manga because you see that how the other Mu view him in fact frazzles him. Twice or more, he suffers heavily under his burden, but the anime presents him too strongly. It is hard to feel sympathetic for him specifically in the anime.
If it could be worked out in X, I'm sure it could have been worked out in a more recent series too. But about the timing and the pacing of the TV series, the producers struggled a little too hard to put everything together. I don't mind a character like Suena being added in, but things like Megiddo feel a little too choreographed and stereotypical. Not every shounen anime needs big canons after all.
No, they helped, but having the screeshots side by side really would put the picture in my head better. I'm a very visual person.
Tony is a child and never outgrows it. It's rather pitiable that he turned out this way, but I also always found it a bit strange that a 3-year-old would have murderous thoughts under *any* circumstance... Not to mention Tony's self-awareness when he refers to having heard Jomy while still in his mother's belly. Must be something about being a new generation of Mu born from their mother's bellies on a natural environment, because otherwise, I never understood those aspects of his personality. However, one thing I understood better was Soldier Blue's statement to Jomy when they first meet in the manga that Mu preferred to project a younger appearance. For the longest time, I was sure that this was some sort of mistranslation referring to the Mu living long lives, but seeing how Tony grew because of his strong wish to better explains both Soldier Blue's youthful appearance and the fact that certain Mu look definitely older. Must be about the image they want to project.
Manga Keith was very much a machine in the sense that his emotions did not affect his judgment. At the same time, though, he retained the ability to think for himself and was not as much of an obedient toy soldier. Even back at the Education Station, in the manga, Keith was having intelligent thoughts about the current state of humanity. It's only sad that he didn't use that judgment back when he was on Nazca, but then that would have been too easy.
But not mentioned in the anime, right? I suppose Laeticia's dormant Mu factor can be considered a hint.
Well, I can understand wanting to make Jomy a less lonesome character and putting him with Tony's mother. In the manga, Jomy is very selfless and suffers because of it, and you never see him once considering what might be best for himself. And one last note about Tony. It's a bit sad that he was so young that he blamed others for what were essentially his actions. Truth be told, he alone caused the death of his mother.
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That was actually one of my favourite things about Jomy in general, just how much energy he poured into everything. It was such a stark contrast to more than half of the cast, and it was always really fun to read/watch him butt heads with everyone who resisted his decisions. xD It's too bad that part his personality didn't really make it into the anime much. It's sort of there, but more so near the end.
Even though they took out ghost!Soldier Blue, I think they sort of made up for it with the numerous scenes of Jomy hanging around comatose!Soldier Blue, just sitting by his bed and basically talking to himself, working out his issues and insecurities. Well, aside from the one time Soldier Blue actually responded. xD It's not quite as effective actually having a memory lingering around inside Jomy's head, but I found that change to be pretty interesting.
I didn't really have trouble feeling sympathy for Jomy during the anime, but I read the manga long before I finished the anime, so maybe that influenced my perception of the anime the first time around. I am noticing a lot more of the changes they made, and whether they were as effective or not, the second time around.
The Megiddo is pretty cliche. I could name several other Sci-fi and Mecha animes that used the same idea for their climaxes. Maybe the production team felt that the audience would prefer something like that as opposed to how the climax of the story actually turns out (i.e: lots of talking and tension). Although how that explains the statues, tentacle-things, and swords...
I found Tony's early self-awareness a little strange, too. But he and the other Nazca children were described as being more "purely Mu" than the other Mu, so perhaps that has something to do with it? It could be anything, really, there's a few factors going on there.
I never really thought of that as a mistranslation, because I remember that making sense at the time (specifically because it explained how young Soldier Blue looked, even though he's among the oldest). Taking that into account, that says quite a lot about Tony, who is so young but projects the image of a very tall adult. Al things considered, I guess it only makes sense that they have that much control over their physical bodies. I mean, several of the Mu "shed their bodies" at the end of the manga, so why not be able to alter how they appear? Unless I misunderstood what they meant by "shed their bodies." D:
As far as I remember. It's stated that humans accept the Mu more and are shown to even be willing to cut off all contact with Grandmother, but the Mu's population significantly increasing in number? Nope.
I don't know, I wouldn't go so far to say that he actually caused his mothers death. He did do a stupid thing and get himself and the others into a hell of a lot of trouble, but I wouldn't say it's his fault his mother lost control of herself and died. Tony does shoot himself in the foot a lot, but, I dunno, I'd hesitate to put 100% of the blame on him. Maybe I'm just super biased... x'D
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Yup. Some of his reactions were a bit on the childishly exuberant side, but that made him fun.
I no longer remember if they did the same in the TV series, but when Artella and Cobb were killed in the manga (why was there a third in the anime and who was it again?), Jomy wanted to move right on with their attacks to avoid having the children retreat inside themselves from their grief if they had time to themselves. Things like that, he understood them because he'd been through them too. The Jomy who learns from his experiences is not all that present in the anime.
About the tentacle thing, I can excuse that a little more having re-read the manga part where Jomy confronts Terra's Number 5, cauz there are some there, but geez... abuse of a stereotype for the ending of the series is *not* ok.
'You're only as you feel', eh? ;)
I'm saying it's entirely his fault because as much as a child can't help their feelings (and neither could Physis in this case, I guess), he is the reason that Keith could injure him and escape. Physis might have inadvertently shown him part of the way out, but that was something a smart man like Keith could have easily figured out on his own anyway. So it is because of Tony's thoughtless actions that his mother went mad with grief and ended up killing herself. The thing about Tony in the manga is he's far colder than in the anime. His reactions in the manga are more those of a child who's just physically outgrown his age.
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I don't know why they added a third death to that scene, but I remember it was Tachyon's younger brother (his name escapes me at the moment).
I'd say that Jomy does retain that same attitude in the anime version. He does allow Tony a moment to just breathe after Artella's death (and even anticipates Tony doing something about her death), but he doesn't stop and put everything on hold just because they lost several people. He keeps right on going and decides his next course of action.
I think the anime version of Jomy did learn from his experiences, it's just not as bold as his manga characterization. Anime!Jomy is at the very least far more decisive than he was before Nazca.
I don't know... I think that every character is accountable for their own actions, so I can't see how anyone but Carina herself is responsible for her own actions/response. And it's partly because Tony is just this big kid. He doesn't have years of experience under his belt like Jomy or his mother does, he just has his instinct, abilities, and a very childish understanding of what's going on (ex: "A bad person is here who scares me and upsets everyone else, I'll just go kill him! That will solve everything!"). But I can see where you're coming from.
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There's another stereotype for you, I guess, killing off families together.
It's good that they kept that, but without the whole thing about him being comatose that went on in the manga, it kinda comes out of nowhere in the anime.
Maybe, but I don't think he changed as much as in the manga. You're right that the anime isn't as bold as the manga. The manga presented him in a more vibrant, energetic and positive light.
I've thought about that, but what bothers me is that Tony blames other people without any awareness that he's the one who did the most damage by breaking that thing Keith was in, therefore allowing him to escape in the first place.
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It's really killing families off together. In order for that to be true, Tachyon would have died too. Unless you meant something else?
I don't think it comes out of nowhere so much as that's just replaced with Soldier Blue's death and sacrifice. But, again, your mileage may vary on whether that was a good change or not.
Not, not really, I agree with you there. Manga!Jomy has the strongest characterization for sure, although I still like anime!Jomy.
Of course Tony does. xD It would out of character for him to accept all responsibility for his actions. It's easier for him to just blame humans and Keith, so he does. Maybe post-series Tony would be able to accept he's helped to manufacture his own fate, but that would also depend on whether you're talking about the anime, manga, or movie. I could see it going either way (him retreating further into himself post-series, or smartening the hell up and becoming more responsible).
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No, I meant that it came more out of nowhere because in the manga, he learned from personal experience, whereas in the anime, this is sort of just thrown in randomly. In the manga, Jomy reacts pretty strongly to everything that happens around him, to the point where others' thoughts of him affect him, hence why he went into a coma and they put him in the ice room. Manga Jomy knows about feeling lost and despaired because he experienced that feeling and its consequences on a personal level.
To put it simply, to me, manga Jomy is just so much cuter in every sense of the word.
Tony's character isn't that different from one version to another. He's just a little colder in the manga, as well as the fact that practically his whole life revolves around Jomy then too, since when Jomy dies, he and the other Nazca children all leave both Earth and the Mu behind. This is part of what bothered me in the anime, btw, the fact that they made the other children somewhat colder to Jomy when the manga implicitly stated they loved him more than their own fathers. As for Tony, he didn't just blame Keith and the humans, he also blamed Physis.
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Good point. xD
Not really, no. I think he's a little more sympathetic in the anime because there are a couple more scenes depicting Tony being anything other than just frustrated and smug, but he's mostly the same in all 3 versions. Including his hero-worshipping of Jomy. xDD
I'm not really sure how I feel about that change. It doesn't out right bother me, and the change itself is interesting. I'm not opposed to it, but I'm not sure I agree with it either. ._.
Aw, I can't believe I forgot Physis. x'D Sorry, it's been a long week.
Before I forget, it's been awesome discussing this with you. It's not often that I get to discuss TTT with people, so when it happens I get all giddy and happy. xDD
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Manga Tony didn't give a crap who he killed on the human side, including Matsuka, which is how he was a bit colder than in the anime. I don't actually disagree with his attitude towards the humans, just the extent of it. Tony overreacts in most situations.
The change disturbs me mostly because it makes no sense. The other children are pretty much all like Tony, after all.
For me too. So many people are afraid of getting into good, long, deep conversations like this, and it's been a pleasure to do this with you. :)
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