Comments | kegom: Something that occured to me concerning the treatment of the LAW in Maou ep. 01

kegom

Something that occured to me concerning the treatment of the LAW in Maou ep. 01 - 03

Jul 27, 2008 23:32

I was picking berries today and suddenly, something occured to me about Maou... (very soothing work, picking berries. ^-^)

( Cut for spoilers for the first three episodes )

failing philosophers, dorama, maou, drama

Comments 13

darkeyedwolf July 28 2008, 00:41:57 UTC

This analogy can be taken further - in fact as far as: The law - spoken by various people - is Naruse's own personal god. And this god disappointed Naruse, abandoned him, if you will, when he needed him. So Naruse rebelled against the law and and conveyed a plan that would give him the justice that he wants.

That's fucking brilliant right there. I just read someone's take on what different versions of the devil could mean for Naruse, and while Faust and Dante fit in their own ways, Lucifer seemed to come out of nowhere-- but if god is the law, if Naruse is rebelling against god/law by trying to take its place, then it makes absolutely perfect sense.

kegom July 28 2008, 21:35:35 UTC

*grin* I'm glad you liked it! Not all of it is really thought through, but I find the idea interesting, because it gives us a deeper meaning behind the Naruse = Devil bit than the simple Naruse = bad and twisted like the devil; because it's obviously not that easy in Maou.

inuhariko July 28 2008, 03:45:50 UTC

This is kind of amazing. And now I'm risking being disappointed if it doesn't turn out this way.

kegom July 28 2008, 21:36:15 UTC

Thanks. ^^" It's just a thought, though. I could easily be totally wrong.

blathering about maou and law/justice ^^" flange5 July 28 2008, 03:46:33 UTC

Hey!

I'm finding this really intriguing . . . I've been thinking about this post pretty much constantly since last night . . . I kind of have a more cynical take on Naruse's treatment of law, though . . .

I find this highly interesting. Obviously, Naruse thinks that the judge made a wrong decision when he passed the judgement on Naoto. At that moment, the law is clearly wrong to Naruse, and he very assuredly wants Naoto to feel bad about what happened. His whole plan of revenge happens because the law let his brother's murderer get away.I already was working this out with another fan, but it seems to me that what Naruse is doing with the law is less based on his belief in it as a system or as an authority and more with his disillusionment with the law as justice. His crimes force Serizawa to relive his own nightmare at the shortcomings of the law as a system of justice. Like Naruse, Serizawa is repeatedly denied closure and justice for the deaths of his love ones through the manipulation of law. His choice of being a lawyer ( ... )

Re: blathering about maou and law/justice ^^" kegom July 29 2008, 00:49:58 UTC

Just wanted to give you a heads-up that it might take me a few more hours to answer you. ^^" I'm getting really sleepy and I'm currently typing 90% nonsense. ^^"

I loved reading your points! I'll definitely try to answer you properly! ^-^

Re: blathering about maou and law/justice ^^" flange5 July 29 2008, 03:08:57 UTC

I'm looking forward to it! Get some sleep!

I've been thinking about the justice issue all day--I can't wait to see how it turns out . . . also, what if he never actually breaks the law? What exactly could they arrest him for at this point? He doesn't actually attack anyone directly or do anything illegal. How awesome would it be if he was able to do it, and everyone know it, and yet not be legally culpable for it--like Seizawa, only more so?

Sadly, I don't think the drama will let that happen, but it would be awesome.

Have I mentioned that my loyalties in this show are pretty skewed? ^^"

Sleep sounds so good. I have so much packing left to do. But I got the final papers from my students today, and graded them all in a sitting. So proud of myself. Now I can pack all evening tomorrow. Though I'm not sure that counts as a reward, really.

*wants sleep now*

rhythmia July 28 2008, 04:03:27 UTC

I haven't finished watching the subbed episode 2, but I really really love your brain. Mmmmm. *chews on analysis* So I think I'll keep this reading of the 'text' in the back of my mind as I continue watching. ♥

kegom July 28 2008, 21:38:24 UTC

Ah, thank you. ^^" It's just a thought, but I find it an interesting explanation of why Naruse takes such great pains to always stay inside the law - apart from his obvious delight at taunting Naoto with it. It could also be an explanation for the Naruse = Devil bit, beyond the "Naruse is evil and twisted, he's just like the devil" explanation, because that seems a bit thin for this drama.

chokingsmoker July 28 2008, 20:32:40 UTC

This post answers a lot of questions in mine.

I have a feeling that everything that Naruse set up is not just a linear pursuit of the Justice that he wants, that everything he planned is a convoluted way of him getting caught in the end. Because Naruse might be rebelling against his God the Law, as you have so cleverly explained, but he is still a creature of the Law, and he still feels under the Law. Something's gotta give, or crack.

kegom July 28 2008, 21:56:37 UTC

Honestly? Yay! ^-^

I get the feeling to, that Naruse wants to be caught. Granted, maybe he just wants Naoto to suffer as he sees Naruse do all the things and can't reach him, but - Naruse's plans are so extremely risky, he's taking so many chances with everything that I can't imagine anything but that he sets himself up to be caught.

And over all, I think that Naruse just seems to have a strangely high respect for the law, considering that it disappointed him like that. I can only explain it with a very strong obsession with it.

chokingsmoker July 28 2008, 23:20:24 UTC

Yeah, really. In my post I've been going on about the parallelism of Lucifer/Satan and Naruse Ryou/Amano Makoto, coming up with the conclusion that Lucifer did not become Satan because Lucifer rebelled against God or tried to surpass God but because Lucifer fell from the grace of God. God could have forgiven him, you see? Anyway, my discussion with, um, myself, XD has led me to ask "Whose grace did Naruse fall from? Who is his God?" Questions which you have answered in your brilliant deduction ( ... )