| Subject: Re: Scrapped Princess |
Author:
D0SBoots
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Date Posted: 15:53:42 08/31/03 Sun
In reply to:
chiisai_nezumi
's message, "Re: Scrapped Princess" on 12:38:12 08/31/03 Sun
First of all, BIG SPOILER WARNING!!!!!!!!!!! You should be more careful about spoiling things when you critique (or praise) a series, because you might accidentally ruin it for others. I'll probably spoil even more things, so reader beware!
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>I dunno, I'm not a fan of Scrapped Princess. The
>animation and character designs are all very nice and
>all, but this show seems to be lacking something that
>makes it fall in the average-good range.
Well, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. A lot of people at JAC liked Saiyuki, and I thought it fell in the average-bad range. To each their own.
>I think, more than any other factor, the
>predictability and triteness of the portrayal of
>Pacifica's emotions is responsible for this show's
>mediocrity. The scriptwriters really could have done
>a better job working with the experience of being
>something akin to the Antichrist (the analogy is
>appropriate, given the Mauser religion and its
>statements regarding her...a major difference however
>is that there simply hasn't been enough time to build
>up a dread factor - the Antichrist has been a notion
>of evil in our world for 2000 years, while that
>particular prophecy of St. Grendel is only 15 years
>old...it is true, however, that the tradition of
>prophecies from St. Grendel has a dread factor of its
>own). I mean, really...I don't expect Pacifica's
>reaction to this news to be visually spectacular, and
>I don't have a problem with her reaction being quiet,
>but I do believe that many subtle undercurrents (even
>taking into account her simplicity), have been left
>out or glossed over.
First of all, I disagree that Pacifica is a "simple" character. The scriptwriters could have made her a stereotypical annoying-brat-princess or a stereotypical bouncy-happy-CCS-Sakura-clone, but they did neither. Although those are both aspects of her character, we often see her quiet, almost fatalistic inner side. Her character is multi-layered and three-dimensional, and as complex (or more) than a lot of real-life people I've met.
We also never see her true "reaction" to being the Scrapped Princess. The series starts after she has already found this out. I guess my question to you is, what would you rather have as her reaction? I think a LOT of people would get very depressed and melancholy if they found out they were supposed to destroy the world, but that wouldn't be very interesting to watch. An airhead might shake it off and continue living from day to day without caring about the next, but that would be boring, too. I think her quiet struggle to accept what she is while maintaining a cheerful, happy outlook most of the time is very engaging.
>The same sort of approach mars this show's portrayal
>of character interactions. When I watched it, I
>didn't really get the feeling that the three were
>siblings at all. Lipservice was paid, of course, in
>Shannon and Raquel's protectiveness of their little
>sister, but there was a haphazard sort of chemistry
>between the three that just didn't quite jive. For
>instance, in the Shannon-brainwashing episode, the
>memory sequence consisted only of a good memory of a
>young Pacifica enjoying eggs, and this is somehow
>supposed to fuel Shannon's unthinking slaughter of
>innocents during the brainwashing dream. This simply
>isn't convincing, and the connection - playing with a
>little sister and then killing people who try to stop
>you from playing with her - is a little thin.
It's supposed to be thin - Pacifica says as much when she snaps him out of it. "How can you go and get brainwashed so easily? Idiot!" The brainwashing was playing off of a pre-existing urge to protect his sister, and Natalie just made that urge strong enough to overrule his urge to protect other people. If you already find the series of, I can see how it would bother you, but it made sense to me.
As for them not being siblings, I can only speak with so much authority, being an only child, but it seemed authentic to me. Sakura and Touya from have a very similar little-sister-picks-on-big-brother surface relationship, but Pacifica and Shannon's relationship goes deeper. (Largely because Pacifica isn't in 5th grade.) There is also the fact that not only is Pacifica much younger than them, (I'd guess about eight years younger,) but she is also adopted. As Shannon says, "She's a little sister that suddenly appeared out of nowhere." Still, they fight, make up, comfort, tease, and pretty much act like siblings do. What jarred you into feeling that they weren't related?
>For those reasons, I'll give Scrapped Princess a 3.5
>out of 5. Great animation and character designs, poor
>portrayal of character relations and situations,
>mediocre soundtrack.
I'm just having real difficulties understanding your point of view, because I think Scrapped Princess has the best character interaction of any series I've seen. What series has a five in your book? Every other anime I've watched has at least one point where the characters feel flat and/or unrealistic, even those that are truly great. (Escaflowne, Grave of the Fireflies, and the first Rurouni Kenshin OVA, to name a few.) It feels like everyone in Scrapped Princess has a motivation, and they don't act counter to their motivations like so many anime characters do. (The bad guy going, "I will tell you my evil plan first" and the uber-annoying Miaka's "I love you but I can't stay with you" are two prime examples of this.)
About the soundtrack - sure, it isn't Cowboy Bebop or .Hack//Sign, but it's very solid and enjoyable, and works very well as a background. I guess I'm just really curious as to what you consider a "good" series with a "good" soundtrack and "good" character interactions.
--
=D ave
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