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I find it hit or miss; it's definitely improved a lot over the years. Yeah, I'm hoping someone will summarize all of those videos and write an article. They were obviously leaving it open for a sequel if it were popular enough, but I feel like it's not going to happen. The characters and world aren't even that interesting, so they might as well make a new world from scratch...

https://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=2221228

https://www.youtube.com/@storyriderschannel253

That Youtube link is something Watanabe and some others did for each episode. This might end up being one of the best sources for Watanabe's thoughts on the subject. You can use YT's auto-translate to English or whatever else if you don't speak Japanese, but I'm not slogging through even one vid of this. XD

Bet there are some interesting reveals here.

They obviously did leave it open for a sequel, but I can't imagine it being in demand...

surprised_assistant.jpg

The assassin was... Chinese, right? I think him blowing up the tower would have worked better if he were instead part of a U.S. government project and a puppet of Schneider, with him basically turning against his handlers and the various things they're doing leading to decline and ruination, with the tower being a stand-in. As is, with the Russian subplot and some kind of Chinese version of MK Ultra, it feels like this is just pointing at some of the U.S.'s enemies, while mostly blaming the U.S. for everything. Feels kind of like U.S. propaganda in that respect but muddled because a Japanese studio handled it, lol.

All the travel around and detective bullshit definitely makes this a filler-heavy, shallow series. They indeed should have stuck to Babylonia and not gone globe trotting to Istanbul and Pakistan and all of that. Kind of a waste of time, and once we got to developing the main plot, it was rushed.

I suppose it helps if they take a stance for or against that particular religious worldview or do something with it. There isn't really any search for meaning, as is pretty often the case when religion is involved. Lazarus had a secular world and characters created by a secular staff, with the religious aspects being symbolism meant to exotically complement the end of the world. It does feel forced. What Skinner does is so elaborate that it ends up feeling like an edgy art project with a bunch of pretentious references to the bible.

I know real hacking is kind of boring for a fast-paced action thing, but most of what they do is ridiculous. They probably didn't do the best job of depicting it, but I like the Neuromancer/Cyberpunk-styled hacking a lot more. It's unrealistic but more compelling and immersive.

Yeah, in the biblical timeline it's part of origins, but, realistically, Tower of Babel is mythological and was likely inspired by Babylonian ziggurats. It's not going with the literal tower of babel story. It's just some general thing about man's arrogance (or something something poorly explained as Lazarus always does), since we're doing bad things or whatever... It's like this weird thing of repeating prophecy/myth for a secular age. A kind of cyclical thing. I've seen anthropogenic climate change compared to the flood myth before, so instead of mythological god causing the flood, man causes the flood (actually, this brings to mind a Russian apocalyptic sci-fi film I saw recently that is overly concerned with religion). I think you're expecting too close of a parallel, but symbolism like this is often only superficially similar. A lot of the symbolism does end up feeling a bit tacky and forced, though. To be honest, I probably would have dropped it without all the symbolism present. I like to see what they do with these kind of religious-themed stories, despite not really liking them. XD

It's been a long time since I've seen CB, but that's an interesting precedent with that plotline. Seems Watanabe or one of his writers had the idea to expand upon that for a while. Right, the writers don't really leave it up to the viewer is probably the main thing. They're like, "nah, he's good, actually." Would be better if it were more open to interpretation. It seems like another clumsy aspect of Skinner just being a mouthpiece for their grievances in a way. I've seen some breakdowns on how they got from the U.S. to Istanbul in that amount of time and how it would need to be going much faster to get there at the right time. And, of course, Hapna is a pretty ridiculous drug. The hacking is pretty goofy too, and it's funny how you only ever see hackers use that display method. Well, I tried considering a -cide neologism, and some people are using speciocide.

Huh, you know, I think they didn't make a mistake with Tower of Babylonia. I don't even remember if they called it that. They probably did, but it's called City of Babylonia, where that area is. Tower of Babel must be influenced by an older era of ziggurats. No architect would call their tower Tower of Babel... I mean, even as an art piece that seems like a bad idea, lol. A painting or something is safe or maybe a small sculpture. In this case, I take Babylon as code for Rome, since the location is the Christian west, and they "ignorantly" copy the naughty Babylonians or something. The tower is clearly a nod to the Tower of Babel, and we all knew it would eventually fall. lmao, that generic assassin bringing a stinger or whatever it was with him in preparation for a chopper. XD

Subtle is definitely a notion that the Lazarus staff are not familiar with. I would have just shown a tower and not named it and certainly not called the place "Babylonia City." XD

Such a bad villain that assassin was... Why did they even go to the tower to fight, anyway? Because it was a cool set piece, and they needed it to fall to complete their shitty symbolism. XD

Hmm... no xenocide wouldn't work. Genocide is just a lazy fallback as well, since it's more specific. Best term would be annihilation, I guess. Or extermination. I don't think there is a -cide word for what was going to happen.

I read 2 or so interviews from Watanabe where he didn't speak so glowingly (not to say he was negative but just not saying it's his best work or anything), so I kind of suspect this was a way of drumming up interest or having a "hot take" on the part of that online mag. I hope he said it was his masterpiece, though. XD

This article claims he said that it was his masterpiece:

https://www.gamesradar.com/entertainment/anime-shows/cowboy-bebops-co-creator-says-this-new-sci-fi-anime-is-his-masterpiece-and-the-john-wick-director-is-also-involved/

Considering how awful the series was compared to, say, Samurai Champloo, CB, or Macross Plus, I'm kind of hesitant to believe this unless it comes from an actual interview.

He said it was his masterpiece? :S

You're welcome. Anytime the topic of OP/ED comes up, I always have to mention it. I need to get back to Yukikaze because it kind of reminds me of RahXephon, and I liked how it used music at a few parts, like when the MC crashes the jet or the creepy hospital part. I'm not sure if I'd recommend it yet, though. I guess Tagen Hensoukyoku is kind of like Eva's Death and Rebirth and sort of pointless? I never got around to watching it because that's the impression I got.

I agree with the premise of your review in that david production gave a watered down product. but the only thing netflix did is pretty much ensure that part 6 was financially viable. why? part 6 is the most hated part in japan. even part 7 which moved to ultra jump with a lower readerbase is more popular and highly rated.

tldr: i disagree with the premise that netflix is the reason part 6 was poor when it is a combination of david production, netflix, AND araki at their worst. it is basically a worse version of an already middling part and removed the most enjoyable part of the manga which is the insane art.

I'm ok with dropping stuff, but when I like I go for everything, including manga, so I'm afraid of Gundam :S
I'm watching your Fate journey, I agree with everything, I also only found Zero good, but I think without a lot of context that comes from stay night, it wouldn't be that good... oh, I liked the alternative movie version of stay night, but it probably sucks if you haven't watched the original series before. After those I bored myself with Apocrypha and finally dropped on Last Encore... I'm not sure what order I was following, but later I added Whispers of Dawn to my Plan to Watch because I like other stuff by that writer - but I'm probably not watching any time soon.

Do you think you would survive getting into Gundam?
I mean because your completionism... I'm a tad of completionist, and that's why I fear Gundam hehe