Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Tearmoon Empire
|
Goto page 1, 2, 3 Next Note: this is the discussion thread for this article |
| Author | Message | ||
|---|---|---|---|
|
MFrontier
Posts: 14069 |
|
||
|
This is a really fun take on the "Villainess" genre where the protagonist isn't reincarnated but reset and has to grapple with future knowledge and her own vices while being a better person and getting along with people better through sometimes sheer accident.
Also it's just really cute and fun, right down to the OP. Sumippe doesn't miss. |
|||
|
|||
Lily Garden
 Posts: 73 |
|
||
|
One of my favorite things about this series (other than the stellar writing, the layered world-building, the snarky narration, and the themes of redemption & the goodness inherent in the human soul) is that Mia does not become instantly benevolent, sweet, and well 'saintly' when she is rewound to the past. Despite the impression she (accidentally) gives, Mia still the lazy selfish somewhat petty girl she always has been, she now is just trying to be better and make things better for others.
|
|||
|
|||
|
Thespacemaster
Posts: 1171 |
|
||
|
As others have mentioned a lot of the reincarnated as a villainous stories focus on someone else taking over that villain's persona so you really do not see as many actual redemption stories.
This is one of the few series out there that actually has a character still being that shitty character but overtime they actually do develop to be for the better and self improvement focused stories are a lot better than just a reincarnated individual in a dif persona body series. |
|||
|
|||
garfield15
 Posts: 1535 |
|
||
|
I was not expecting to be as taken with this as I have become. Generally not into villainess stories I only checked it out because LN readers said it was funny. Well not only was it funny, but it was not "girl from modern times gets reincarnated into an otome game" like I initially thought.
It kind of feels like a lighter and more positive Overlord in a way |
|||
|
|||
|
Terraziel
Posts: 78 |
|
||
|
It's one of the things that has evolved over time in the novels so it's kind of hard to claim it for the anime as of now, but i don't think Mia was ever a "Villain". There's not a lot that can be said without going in to spoilers but you know there are reasons why Anne and Ludwig didn't abandon her in the original timeline....But then every now and then i do feel like I've brainwashed just as much as the characters, it's part of what makes the books so good.
As to the show itself, it's been good so far, I'm interested to see how it handles the books fetish for doing the same scene from the perspectives of both Mia and whoever's turn it is to be brainwashed. |
|||
|
|||
|
KPK10
Posts: 26 |
|
||
Now I'm curious can you tell me what you mean by that under the spoiler tag? |
|||
|
|||
|
kinghumanity
Posts: 365 |
|
||
|
I really like this show, but I can't help but point out the tired trope of constantly referencing Marie Antoinette's "let them eat cake“ false trope. She never said it, and it is an unfair character assassination on Marie Antoinette. She was extravagant yes, but no more extravagant than your average typical member of the royal family, and she was known to refuse expensive diamond necklaces, saying that the money could be better spent on the navy. She was hated by the people mostly because she was Austrian.
Just putting it out there. |
|||
|
|||
Thesarum
 SubscriberPosts: 537 |
|
||
|
Mia being completely narcissistic and a bit of an idiot, and just accidentally being an inspirational figure to those around her is never not funny. Offering advice or support purely because she thinks it'll benefit her in the future, and then that snowballing as she gathers a group of individuals inspired to heroics because they think that's what Mia would do (narrator voice: totally wrong). In a way it reminds me of Eminence In Shadow which employs a similar sort of farce to a different genre and set of anime tropes. (Mia, I think, it's less of a colossal idiot than Sid).
And she is doing the right things, even if she's doing it for the wrong reasons. She built a hospital because she thought the plague would contribute to inciting a rebellion.. but at least she did find an expert and ask the question "how do I stop a plague?" not "how do I avoid being blamed for a plague?" (Because blaming a foreign power or minority group is a tried a tested solution to that problem, so it's not like an evil route to safety doesn't exist). |
|||
|
|||
|
MFrontier
Posts: 14069 |
|
||
|
Mia's constant failing upwards and everyone ascribing the grandest and most insightful purposes to whatever she does is priceless.
That dancing animation! I know they only CG'ed a little but the close-ups were very smooth and well-animated. Mia swinging her legs in that dress! I love that the Council of Anne's and their single brain cell are becoming a recurring feature. Especially as they all collectively work towards fulfilling whatever greater purpose Anne thinks Mia wants from her. Mia and Abel are becoming an endearingly cute couple. Mia inspires Abel to believe in and better himself and Abel treats Mia more like a girl than a reverential princess, which she appreciates. Meanwhile Mia comes off like she's shipping SionxTiona by virtue of wanting them to spend more time with each other and as far away from her possible. |
|||
|
|||
|
Leviathonlx1
Posts: 209 |
|
||
|
The CG dancing was a mo-cap of professional dancers and I guess they just stuck with keeping that part CG due to the distance or just never had the time to translate that part to animation.
|
|||
|
|||
|
DRosencraft
Posts: 672 |
|
||
|
I don't know that it is precisely the goal, or just the effect of aiming for the other goals, but the series is drawing a pointed message. The distinction between what people perceive a "good" person to be, and what a "saintly" person is, is pulled off very well thus far. Mia is not saintly. Her motivations are not pure, she isn't looking to necessarily be a good person. She's just uncommonly aware of the outcome her actions will have, and like a criminal on parole - or to be more literary about it, like having the Sword of Damocles perceptibly hanging over her at all times - she is very careful of not doing things that will bring that bad outcome her way. It is a very simplistic life model and message the series is promoting - you don't have to have the virtues of a saint and be entirely selfless in everything you do; just be aware of how the things you do impact others, and try to make choices that maybe don't make other people's lives hell.
|
|||
|
|||
|
ThoMBro
Posts: 1 |
|
||
The author (cheekily) states in one of the afterwords of the novels that Tearmoon is a work to spark thoughts about the world, the people in it, and its ethics. And further, the editor says in an interview that he see the author, a university professor that's also a devout Christian, pours a lot of his morality into the work. So it's not surprising, that there's a lot of heavily developed "Do unto others what you want other to do unto you" in the work. |
|||
|
|||
|
T3rmidor
Posts: 66 |
|
||
|
I know it would not keep with the series tone, but I would have liked some transpositions of historical french revolutionary figures into the work, as there are plenty of very interesting possible characters for a story of this kind. I imagine we will still see a revolution of some kind as the moving in time stories have an implicit determinism behind then.
Also I hope the CGI of the last episode isn't any indicator of the so common time constraints associated with seasonal anime. |
|||
|
|||
|
Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18481 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
|
||
I am having the same reaction on both points. This series was on my "potential cut" list after episode 1 because I wasn't an initial fan of how the series was balancing its serious and comedic aspects, but ensuing episodes have smoothed that problem out to the point that I'm now enjoying the title. I have always been a fan of stories predicated on the irony of the MC's selfishly-motivated actions being perceived as purer and greater than they actually are, as I feel that speaks much more to reality than anyone wants to admit. This series delivers on that as much as The Eminence in Shadow does, albeit in an entertainingly different way, and both remind me of Overlord (though Eminence fits that more so than this one). |
|||
|
|||
|
MFrontier
Posts: 14069 |
|
||
|
Surprise Rie Takahashi for the win!
Mia and Abel are so cute together. I like how she's falling for him despite herself and since she's never fallen in love before she has no way of processing the feelings...and even ended up confessing before she was even aware she was in love! Mia's attempts to sabotage Sion while unintentionally shipping him and Tiona together will never get old. |
|||
|
|||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group