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EP. REVIEW: Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka


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Terrible90sDub



Joined: 14 Jul 2017
Posts: 168
PostPosted: Wed Mar 06, 2019 1:33 pm Reply with quote
Agent355 wrote:

(Step?)Dad tries to sell daughter into sex slavery, doesn't work, gets drunk and *beats her out of her wheelchair.* Daughter barely reacts as (Step?)Dad's head is *crushed* in front of her when Giess comes to "save" her (I know he was abusive, but he was also her only adult caretaker for a year, and the way she wasn't fighting back or even screaming when he beat her made me think she might've loved him and internalized some "I deserve this" message from his beatings so I was surprised when she didn't react to his death at all, but maybe I put more thought into her character than the writers did). That's all so bad it's...ridiculous.


While it's entirely possible they didn't put much thought into it, that isn't really an unrealistic reaction. There are several common ways that people respond to traumatic reactions which mirror other survival situations, and one of those is to freeze or "play dead" while mentally detaching yourself from the situation. I assumed that was what was going on in her case, but it's also possible it was just a coincidence.

Asuka seems to share some of the same reactions, given how she froze in the middle of battle when someone else got hurt. If they do make a parallel out of that, it would help the series regain some of its points for me.
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Agent355



Joined: 12 Dec 2008
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 07, 2019 4:05 am Reply with quote
^At that moment, yeah. But she immediately trusts Giess to the point of imprinting on him like a baby bird, even though the first thing she saw him do was implode a man's head.
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Key
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Joined: 03 Nov 2003
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Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley)
PostPosted: Thu Mar 07, 2019 3:53 pm Reply with quote
^
A man who had been abusing her, had tried to get her a job in the sex trade, and looked fully prepared to kill her. Given her later violent inclinations and that Giess was decent towards her, I don't think it's out of line at all that she would quickly take to him.
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TanyaTheEvil



Joined: 11 May 2018
Posts: 332
PostPosted: Fri Mar 08, 2019 11:04 am Reply with quote
Ok, now that I finally watched this I don't see why this episode got such a bad review. In fact it was one of the best episodes to date. As far as the father getting killed in front of the daughter and everyone saying she was heartless, remember that he was beating her senseless and was about to finish her off, but she got saved in time and there was no gore there. As far as the torture, there was no gore there either unless you think a good spanking is over the top. The reviews said that this episode would have been the one to stop him/her from watching becuase of the things i mentioned. I think it was a great episode giving us background info on nurse and the girl whose father was killed. The so called fanservice was not anything to fret about either. I believe it mixed up everything very well and gave us some good background info.
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Yuvelir



Joined: 06 Jan 2015
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 08, 2019 12:13 pm Reply with quote
Wasn't nails under nails enough?
Anyway, the whole point of the scene was to make a human asshole suffer solely for the sake of sexual titilation. It' s not a nice fetish to witness.
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TanyaTheEvil



Joined: 11 May 2018
Posts: 332
PostPosted: Fri Mar 08, 2019 12:49 pm Reply with quote
Well kinda, I wonder if anyone has ever seen Elfen Lied? This is one of the best animes and even has a cult following, but was one of the most gore animes i ever seen. As far as the sexual inuendo most animes do that anyway. But I believe that seen has given us insight into who nurse really is and we may see something a little later about her, but i am not absolutely sure tho.
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Yuvelir



Joined: 06 Jan 2015
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 08, 2019 1:32 pm Reply with quote
TanyaTheEvil wrote:
Well kinda, I wonder if anyone has ever seen Elfen Lied? This is one of the best animes and even has a cult following, but was one of the most gore animes i ever seen. As far as the sexual inuendo most animes do that anyway. But I believe that seen has given us insight into who nurse really is and we may see something a little later about her, but i am not absolutely sure tho.

Most anime that have violence also have sex appeal... but they tend to keep them separate, even when they happen concurrently. In this case the violence WAS the sex appeal, that's why it's called torture porn.
As for War Nurse, if they wanted to convey exactly what the dialogue said, they didn't really need this scene at all, specially since it would only work if the victim presented ANY form of resistance.
Now, if what they wanted to convery is that she might be a descendant of the Marquis de Sade, then they have succeeded. Because what she was doing was completely unrelated to what she was monologuing.
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TanyaTheEvil



Joined: 11 May 2018
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 08, 2019 1:55 pm Reply with quote
Ok then, so how does that make this a horrible anime or episode? All in all this was a great episode and I have been liking the anime as a whole. In fact I look forward to watching it each week more then alot of the animes that are making the top 10 chart each week. I do understand what you are saying however I have seen enough anime to know that the scenes were not as bad as the review was saying and what a few of the people was saying in the forums.
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Yuvelir



Joined: 06 Jan 2015
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 08, 2019 4:19 pm Reply with quote
TanyaTheEvil wrote:
Ok then, so how does that make this a horrible anime or episode? All in all this was a great episode and I have been liking the anime as a whole. In fact I look forward to watching it each week more then alot of the animes that are making the top 10 chart each week. I do understand what you are saying however I have seen enough anime to know that the scenes were not as bad as the review was saying and what a few of the people was saying in the forums.

I don't think the reviewer called it horrible?
That particular scene WAS horrible, and Chisato's lack of an initial reaction is dramatically flat, but other than that what the episode was is hard to stomach. Abuse, human traficking attemps, gruesome traffic death, disability, trauma, murder, guerrillas, raping and killing your family, the whole African war context, cold blood torture (talking of the four not-so-nice-people here, 10 minutes to kill each isn't just a murder). This all happened in ONE single episode. A lot of hard themes thrown all at once that many people just can't sit through easily.
And then there's the dissonance of the beach episode happening concurrently. As buildup to knock Asuka out of her safe space, I know, but it's a contrast that accentuates the harshness of the harsher parts.
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TanyaTheEvil



Joined: 11 May 2018
Posts: 332
PostPosted: Fri Mar 08, 2019 4:38 pm Reply with quote
You are right it did have alot of material to cover. I don't why but I like animes like this one. In fact Efen Lied is one of my favorite top 10 animes on my personal list. Everything you described is exactly what i liked about this episode. Another favorite of mine is Magical Girl Site
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Yuvelir



Joined: 06 Jan 2015
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 08, 2019 7:42 pm Reply with quote
TanyaTheEvil wrote:
You are right it did have alot of material to cover. I don't why but I like animes like this one. In fact Efen Lied is one of my favorite top 10 animes on my personal list. Everything you described is exactly what i liked about this episode. Another favorite of mine is Magical Girl Site

Mahou Shoujo Site hit a weird sweet spot. It had all the violence and despair you'd expect from such shows but it was so over the top that it was also a bit cartoony, but it still allowed characters to wind out and be themselves within the darkness of the context rather than in spite of it or in some safe aside.
Heck, it had that Hastune Miku lookalike who was insane comic relief (for crying out loud, her weapon were panties), an actual threat and a tragic heroine. It was crazy.

Anyway, I digress. It's just that I find Site to be a more entertaining show since it's grittiness is more cartoony (and it introduced its dark themes one at a time) while Asuka goes for a pseudo-realism brand... that is in turn often undermined by its more over-the-top characters&situations and the drive to push fanservice every then and now.
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TanyaTheEvil



Joined: 11 May 2018
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 08, 2019 7:55 pm Reply with quote
Yuvelir wrote:
TanyaTheEvil wrote:
You are right it did have alot of material to cover. I don't why but I like animes like this one. In fact Efen Lied is one of my favorite top 10 animes on my personal list. Everything you described is exactly what i liked about this episode. Another favorite of mine is Magical Girl Site

Mahou Shoujo Site hit a weird sweet spot. It had all the violence and despair you'd expect from such shows but it was so over the top that it was also a bit cartoony, but it still allowed characters to wind out and be themselves within the darkness of the context rather than in spite of it or in some safe aside.
Heck, it had that Hastune Miku lookalike who was insane comic relief (for crying out loud, her weapon were panties), an actual threat and a tragic heroine. It was crazy.

Anyway, I digress. It's just that I find Site to be a more entertaining show since it's grittiness is more cartoony (and it introduced its dark themes one at a time) while Asuka goes for a pseudo-realism brand... that is in turn often undermined by its more over-the-top characters&situations and the drive to push fanservice every then and now.


You really are quite knowledgeable and that is cool. I am still scratching the surface, Thank you for all you insights
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Nordhmmer



Joined: 11 Feb 2017
Posts: 1028
PostPosted: Fri Mar 08, 2019 8:32 pm Reply with quote
Yuvelir wrote:
Wasn't nails under nails enough?
Anyway, the whole point of the scene was to make a human asshole suffer solely for the sake of sexual titilation. It' s not a nice fetish to witness.


That scene is part of Kurumi's character development.
It's not in anyway about her sexual predilections.
Kurumi,who's been severely traumatized by bullying,does all the dirty jobs,ie torture,as she sees it as protecting her 4 true friends,Asuka in particular.
Also this is part of the build-up...When Kurumi shows what a badass she is.
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Joined: 03 Nov 2003
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 08, 2019 8:59 pm Reply with quote
Yuvelir wrote:
Anyway, I digress. It's just that I find Site to be a more entertaining show since it's grittiness is more cartoony (and it introduced its dark themes one at a time) while Asuka goes for a pseudo-realism brand... that is in turn often undermined by its more over-the-top characters&situations and the drive to push fanservice every then and now.

Enh, I'll take this one any day over MGS. Its only redeeming factor was the relationship that developed between the two main girls, and it was over-the-top in a more viscerally revolting way than I have generally found this one to be. This one can be fun when it isn't being ugly, and I could never say that about MGS.
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Nordhmmer



Joined: 11 Feb 2017
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 16, 2019 1:04 pm Reply with quote
Well episode 10...Production values took a nosedive-a silver lining perhaps.The poor quality animation lessened the impact of the mass rape scenes,most of which were shown as stills.


Just a poorly constructed episode trying to adapt too much too fast..
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