Mawaru Penguindrum, afterthoughts
I finished watching the anime series Mawaru Penguindrum today and was in tears for quite awhile henceforth.
Problem is, these were not solely the tears of me being deeply, emotionally moved. More like tears of frustration.
Of course one of my favorite characters was killed off. But that's just a part of it.
What bothers me even more than Kanba's death itself is the way it was portrayed. Conveyed as romantic, noble, actually downright poetic. Just look at the pretty picture of him dissolving into glittering shreds of glass...
Kanba lays his life down for his foster sister's, whom he may be creepily in love with (why creepily is yet another story).
Now, I wouldn't be surprised if many Supernatural fans were on board with this idea. But personally the whole trading lives thing on the show always made me ill at ease.
Maybe if this was coming from a more wholesome person than Kanba, maybe I could get it. Someone who had his taste of life and loved it and wanted more of that for the dying loved one. But that's as far as it gets from Kanba's case.
Kanba is a sixteen-year-old boy with absurdly warped past, utterly fanatic about his foster sister. He explicitly states that he doesn't want the world without his beloved Himari in it. Hello Romeo, goodbye Romeo.
The twist is, Himari actually is the most wholesome character on the show. Despite being the youngest sibling, she is already the most content with life. She knows love and friendship and giving. She's easily made herself a part of the world.
She certainly doesn't want to die but has accepted it as inevitable (being terminally ill).
Brief though her life has been shaping to be, she's been living it to the fullest. Kanba never had that. And she wants him to. In fact, she begs him not to save her the way he's been pursuing it.
Anyway, Kunihiko Ikuhara, the series creator, obviously decided that he was having none of that 'normal-life' trifle in his show. Hence, the sixteen-year-old boy who possibly hasn't lived a single truly happy day, ends up dying in what is strongly conveyed as a noble act of self sacrifice.
I don't think I need to explain how wrong that felt. I'm angry. It's actually weird how angry I feel about this.
Heh. I wanted to resort to some fix-it fanfic at least but there's practically none. Now I'm angrier yet!
Problem is, these were not solely the tears of me being deeply, emotionally moved. More like tears of frustration.
Of course one of my favorite characters was killed off. But that's just a part of it.
What bothers me even more than Kanba's death itself is the way it was portrayed. Conveyed as romantic, noble, actually downright poetic. Just look at the pretty picture of him dissolving into glittering shreds of glass...
Kanba lays his life down for his foster sister's, whom he may be creepily in love with (why creepily is yet another story).
Now, I wouldn't be surprised if many Supernatural fans were on board with this idea. But personally the whole trading lives thing on the show always made me ill at ease.
Maybe if this was coming from a more wholesome person than Kanba, maybe I could get it. Someone who had his taste of life and loved it and wanted more of that for the dying loved one. But that's as far as it gets from Kanba's case.
Kanba is a sixteen-year-old boy with absurdly warped past, utterly fanatic about his foster sister. He explicitly states that he doesn't want the world without his beloved Himari in it. Hello Romeo, goodbye Romeo.
The twist is, Himari actually is the most wholesome character on the show. Despite being the youngest sibling, she is already the most content with life. She knows love and friendship and giving. She's easily made herself a part of the world.
She certainly doesn't want to die but has accepted it as inevitable (being terminally ill).
Brief though her life has been shaping to be, she's been living it to the fullest. Kanba never had that. And she wants him to. In fact, she begs him not to save her the way he's been pursuing it.
Anyway, Kunihiko Ikuhara, the series creator, obviously decided that he was having none of that 'normal-life' trifle in his show. Hence, the sixteen-year-old boy who possibly hasn't lived a single truly happy day, ends up dying in what is strongly conveyed as a noble act of self sacrifice.
I don't think I need to explain how wrong that felt. I'm angry. It's actually weird how angry I feel about this.
Heh. I wanted to resort to some fix-it fanfic at least but there's practically none. Now I'm angrier yet!