Yoshitsune(the end)
So, LJ hates me and won't let me put the entire poll as one poll(stupid character limit) and if I try to break it down into several, it erases the others. (However,
telophase, what you told me to do for putting the poll behind a cut did work, so that's a bonus.) As such, it's just a part of the regular post.
Who wins at dying not-quite poll.
Randomly being executed, dying in battle or committing sepuku is just too mundane:
1. Your forces have lost and you failed to achieve your father's dream. You have half a dozen arrows sticking out of you but there are several enemies down per arrow. You get fed up, rip off a piece of the boat with rocks on it, strap it to you, and throw yourself into the ocean. Downside: You think you're going to join your wife but she was pulled from the sea. Upside: You become a ghost, declare the battlesite your family's sacred ground and sink all ships that try to go near it. Your portrayor clearly loves this beyond words.
2. You have failed to achieve your husband's dream and decide your entire family must drown themselves in the ocean, taking the sacred treasures the enemy wants with them. You give your enemy a "tragic heroine" look and leap into the ocean, holding your grandson.
3. Your lord's mansion is attacked. Seeing an archer aim for your lord, you cross the courtyard in half a second and swat the arrow aside with your sword. Sadly, your superspeed then fails you and you get an arrow in the chest. The enemy is polite enough to ease up on the attack so you can die in your grieving but greatful lord's arms and make you younger brother swear to follow your lord for the rest of his life.
4. You are separated from your lord's lady in an attack and set off to find her. You hear she's in enemy hands and being transported and show up looking like a wildman. You get cut down in the streets, screaming her name and vowing to protect her. Downside: It was a trap. She wasn't there. Upside: Like your brother, you get to die in your grieving but greatful lord's arms.
5. You immitate your fallen friend and throw yourself between your lord and enemy arrows, taking 2 in the chest. You pretty much go "screw it" and charge the enemy archers. It takes about a dozen to bring you down. Sadly, your lord is too busy fleeing with his sole remaining vassal to let you die in his arms, but you're sure he's grieving and greatful.
6. Under pursuit, your lord takes refuge in a shrine. You vow to give your lord "quiet time" (read: let him randomly commit seppuku while staring at a folding screen that now only exists in his imagination) and hold of the enemy forces. You take out a few dozen, get a dozen arrows in the chest and take out a few dozen more. By the time they're through shooting arrows into your body, it almost looks like there's a tree trunk to it. Instead of falling over, your body holds its ground, weapon at the ready, and everyone is understandably too scared to go near it.
7. You may only be 10, but you understand your duty as a tragic samurai princess, and after your father executes your fiance, you swear your hatred against him and all like him and literally waste away into nothing, saying things like "wait for me my lord...I'm coming." (Please note that, while this death isn't 100% confirmed it seemed very certain...they probably didn't want to kill her on screen, thus earning the fan's wrath for killing virtually every cute kid in the thing)
8. You die at home, in bed, with those you love nearby. It was an amazing accomplishment to last that long.
Moving on...
GIANT HELMETS OF DOOM!!! EVERYONE WEARS GIANT HELMETS OF DOOM! And everyone but Abe Hiroshi is eaten alive by their Giant Helmet of Doom. Abe Hiroshi is a giant himself, and thus is able to hold his own against the Giant Helmets of Doom. (but hey, at least they included the helmets...)
Ok, that didn't cheer me up as much as I wanted it to. The problem with getting attached to supporting characters is that they tend to be expendable, and tend to start randomly dying about halfway through, both for dramatic effect and because you can't have EVERYONE die in the last 15 minutes, so you have to spread it out.
I've already squeed a lot over the good parts, so I'm going to focus a bit on a couple of bad parts(for me) It's a good series and I liked it a lot (obviously) but there were 2 drawbacks.
1. Politics. I love politics. A hefty chunk of my interest in period dramas is the politics. However, I like my politics to support the story and help fill it out. After the first 10 or so episodes, the politics here are often the driving narrative, with Yoshitsune's story filling in the cracks. We are also given almost every character's perspective and interpretation of the politics, to the point where you could often ffx8 through half an episode and not miss a thing. In fact, that's halfthe reason I've finished.
2. While Yoshitsune/Shizuka is supposed to be a great, sweeping, tragic romance, it's very flat. The relationship development is 90% mutual prettiness and angsting. As they are history I can't really complain about them, but to me, it was by far the least interesting relationship Yoshitsune had, and while most of his final parts with the people in his life wrung something from me, their left me flat. Also, until the last handful of episodes, Shizuka is nothing more than Yoshitsune's love. While she was likablelikable, this left her rather uninteresting to me. However, once she's separated from Yoshitsunem she's written as an independent character, and it's only then that she's on a par with the other female characters in the series.
I have to admit, while I liked both parts, I found the conflict between the Genji and the Heike far more interesting than the conflict between Yoshitsune and Yoritomo, and felt it had a much more satisfying resolution. Sadly, with the end of the Heike conflict, 2 of my 4 favorite character, Tomomori and Yoshiko, were gone.
Before I go, 5 best scenes, IMO(in no order):
1. Koichi shooting the Heike fan while Yoshiko held it out at sea.
2. Shizuka's dance before Yoritomo.
3. The death of the Heike women(possibly the most beautiful scene in the whole thing)
4. The death of Tomomori.
5. The death of Benkei. (despite not being as amazing as his historical death...why'd they have to change that...)
Honorable mention: Yoshiko unrolling the white cloth to save her clan, and then sacrificing her own immunity to save the child emperor.
3-5 can be found in the "Who wins at dying?" section.
Also, ever since
dangermousiecompared Shizuka(dunno the actress's name, and am too lazy to investigate after battling LJ over the poll for an hour) to Crystal Liu, I've been wanting to make cracks about her chipping. This is in no way a slight against either actress, except both have the kind of beauty that makes you think of a delicate porcelain doll, and porcelain dolls chip...
telophase, what you told me to do for putting the poll behind a cut did work, so that's a bonus.) As such, it's just a part of the regular post.
Who wins at dying not-quite poll.
Randomly being executed, dying in battle or committing sepuku is just too mundane:
1. Your forces have lost and you failed to achieve your father's dream. You have half a dozen arrows sticking out of you but there are several enemies down per arrow. You get fed up, rip off a piece of the boat with rocks on it, strap it to you, and throw yourself into the ocean. Downside: You think you're going to join your wife but she was pulled from the sea. Upside: You become a ghost, declare the battlesite your family's sacred ground and sink all ships that try to go near it. Your portrayor clearly loves this beyond words.
2. You have failed to achieve your husband's dream and decide your entire family must drown themselves in the ocean, taking the sacred treasures the enemy wants with them. You give your enemy a "tragic heroine" look and leap into the ocean, holding your grandson.
3. Your lord's mansion is attacked. Seeing an archer aim for your lord, you cross the courtyard in half a second and swat the arrow aside with your sword. Sadly, your superspeed then fails you and you get an arrow in the chest. The enemy is polite enough to ease up on the attack so you can die in your grieving but greatful lord's arms and make you younger brother swear to follow your lord for the rest of his life.
4. You are separated from your lord's lady in an attack and set off to find her. You hear she's in enemy hands and being transported and show up looking like a wildman. You get cut down in the streets, screaming her name and vowing to protect her. Downside: It was a trap. She wasn't there. Upside: Like your brother, you get to die in your grieving but greatful lord's arms.
5. You immitate your fallen friend and throw yourself between your lord and enemy arrows, taking 2 in the chest. You pretty much go "screw it" and charge the enemy archers. It takes about a dozen to bring you down. Sadly, your lord is too busy fleeing with his sole remaining vassal to let you die in his arms, but you're sure he's grieving and greatful.
6. Under pursuit, your lord takes refuge in a shrine. You vow to give your lord "quiet time" (read: let him randomly commit seppuku while staring at a folding screen that now only exists in his imagination) and hold of the enemy forces. You take out a few dozen, get a dozen arrows in the chest and take out a few dozen more. By the time they're through shooting arrows into your body, it almost looks like there's a tree trunk to it. Instead of falling over, your body holds its ground, weapon at the ready, and everyone is understandably too scared to go near it.
7. You may only be 10, but you understand your duty as a tragic samurai princess, and after your father executes your fiance, you swear your hatred against him and all like him and literally waste away into nothing, saying things like "wait for me my lord...I'm coming." (Please note that, while this death isn't 100% confirmed it seemed very certain...they probably didn't want to kill her on screen, thus earning the fan's wrath for killing virtually every cute kid in the thing)
8. You die at home, in bed, with those you love nearby. It was an amazing accomplishment to last that long.
Moving on...
GIANT HELMETS OF DOOM!!! EVERYONE WEARS GIANT HELMETS OF DOOM! And everyone but Abe Hiroshi is eaten alive by their Giant Helmet of Doom. Abe Hiroshi is a giant himself, and thus is able to hold his own against the Giant Helmets of Doom. (but hey, at least they included the helmets...)
Ok, that didn't cheer me up as much as I wanted it to. The problem with getting attached to supporting characters is that they tend to be expendable, and tend to start randomly dying about halfway through, both for dramatic effect and because you can't have EVERYONE die in the last 15 minutes, so you have to spread it out.
I've already squeed a lot over the good parts, so I'm going to focus a bit on a couple of bad parts(for me) It's a good series and I liked it a lot (obviously) but there were 2 drawbacks.
1. Politics. I love politics. A hefty chunk of my interest in period dramas is the politics. However, I like my politics to support the story and help fill it out. After the first 10 or so episodes, the politics here are often the driving narrative, with Yoshitsune's story filling in the cracks. We are also given almost every character's perspective and interpretation of the politics, to the point where you could often ffx8 through half an episode and not miss a thing. In fact, that's halfthe reason I've finished.
2. While Yoshitsune/Shizuka is supposed to be a great, sweeping, tragic romance, it's very flat. The relationship development is 90% mutual prettiness and angsting. As they are history I can't really complain about them, but to me, it was by far the least interesting relationship Yoshitsune had, and while most of his final parts with the people in his life wrung something from me, their left me flat. Also, until the last handful of episodes, Shizuka is nothing more than Yoshitsune's love. While she was likablelikable, this left her rather uninteresting to me. However, once she's separated from Yoshitsunem she's written as an independent character, and it's only then that she's on a par with the other female characters in the series.
I have to admit, while I liked both parts, I found the conflict between the Genji and the Heike far more interesting than the conflict between Yoshitsune and Yoritomo, and felt it had a much more satisfying resolution. Sadly, with the end of the Heike conflict, 2 of my 4 favorite character, Tomomori and Yoshiko, were gone.
Before I go, 5 best scenes, IMO(in no order):
1. Koichi shooting the Heike fan while Yoshiko held it out at sea.
2. Shizuka's dance before Yoritomo.
3. The death of the Heike women(possibly the most beautiful scene in the whole thing)
4. The death of Tomomori.
5. The death of Benkei. (despite not being as amazing as his historical death...why'd they have to change that...)
Honorable mention: Yoshiko unrolling the white cloth to save her clan, and then sacrificing her own immunity to save the child emperor.
3-5 can be found in the "Who wins at dying?" section.
Also, ever since
dangermousiecompared Shizuka(dunno the actress's name, and am too lazy to investigate after battling LJ over the poll for an hour) to Crystal Liu, I've been wanting to make cracks about her chipping. This is in no way a slight against either actress, except both have the kind of beauty that makes you think of a delicate porcelain doll, and porcelain dolls chip...