Forum - View topicThe Book of Bantorra (TV).
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rainbowcourage
 Posts: 1216 Location: what is commonly known as "hell week" |
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Caught ten through twelve.
Okay, so far we've had four distinct arcs--the Colio arc, the Mirepoc/Volken arc, the Zatoh arc, and now Mokkania. The big problem is that they haven't been tied together well. The Colio arc to me had the smallest purpose so far--it introduced the church, meats, the concept of books, etc. Volken's arc has been left dangling in the air with his spoiler[disappearance/betrayal. If he comes back as a villain, though, all will be forgiven  ]. Zatoh's arc gave us Enlike (whose role, besides protecting Noloty, has yet to be determined, unless he eventually becomes a librarian), and established that Ganzanbel is not the villain of this series, which means...there is no villain yet. Twelve episodes in and we still don't know who's actually running the church? Crazy. But I like it. Mokkania's arc also left some huge questions, and it was difficult to follow. spoiler[So the church recreated Mokkania's mother to manipulate him into killing Hamyuts; meanwhile, they wanted to recover an important book, which Hamyuts let them take. Ireia was awesome in this episode, as was Hamyuts. It also sounds like Mokkania went nutso four years ago after the Guinbecs Revolt. It looks like the utter destruction there might have been Hamyuts' fault.]
The church's motives are still really unclear. All we know is that they want Hamyuts dead, but it's not clear why; is it simply because she's the head of the librarians, or is it more personal? Even Hamyuts thinks she'd be better off dead, but she wants to be killed, not kill herself. Speaking of directors, what happened to the past Acting Director? Who, coincidentally, spoiler[ordered Hamyuts dead.] And, um, spoiler[helloooo sexytime between Mattalast and crazy younger Hamyuts. She's settled down a little, it seems, but not much. I wonder what broke them up...and I wonder how things went down when the Acting Director ordered her dead.] Also they didn't explain at great length what an Argax is, though I'm assuming it's the same thing spoiler[Mirepoc used to erase her memories.] Maybe it was that man Mokkania's "mother" walked in with? I hope they start pulling all these plot threads together soon because they've set up an ambitious base. |
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belindabird
 Subscriber Posts: 134 Location: Minneapolis |
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I just caught episode 13 this morning. Without being particularly spoilery (because I'm too lazy to spoiler tag, heh), I get the feeling that things are starting to come together a bit. Continued references to earlier plot points, including things from the first story arc that continue to pop up, should satisfy those who have been focused on the fact that that part of the story appeared to have been abandoned for a while.
My thoughts on this series as far as the first half is concerned are that it's really the type of show that rewards the viewer for being patient, paying attention to small details, and not making assumptions based on the way things first appear. Just as a side note, I really like the sense of time and place that comes through in this latest episode. It truly feels like New York in the earlier part of the 20th century. Kind of an odd setting, but I definitely like it. |
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rainbowcourage
Posts: 1216 Location: what is commonly known as "hell week" |
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You know, my fears haven't been eased yet. They mentioned the other arcs in this episode (13), but mentioning is not the same as a good tie-in. They mostly brought them up just to say that spoiler[the church members in each never had their books recovered. I'm still really having trouble piecing everything together. So the librarians and the church are now fighting over actress Parney's book because she found out about the existence of Lascall Othello? And they both found this out through Hiza's book, which Winkeny stole? And Hamyuts just let him take the book in the Mokkania arc? This is getting really complicated. I'm also wondering if this is finally the main arc since we're halfway through the show and Othello's been popping up all along, but if so why are they handing the protagonist spot off to Mirepoc? I thought the grand climax would have to do with Hamyuts and Olivia Litlet (who, by the way, we've heard zilch about since the first episode...kind of like a certain green-haired someone who disappeared in episode five or six)? And what's with the weird looks from Mattalast for the past few episodes, first in his little talk with Zatoh during the Mokkania arc when Zatoh suggested there might be a traitor in the organization (was that simply a foreshadowing of what was to come with Mokkania, and then that explosion proved Zatoh correct, or was he sore over Volken, or was it something more? Maybe he's working for Fotowhatever, the ex head of the librarians?) and then with Mirepoc being "fired up" (we're being led to think it's because they need her telepathy powers and maybe Matt's afraid the church has tampered with her somehow). Meanwhile, Segal's pet human is out for bloodlust and also wants Parney's book, though it's unclear why. And Lascall Othello seems to think that both she and Mirepoc can reach him. I wonder if Mirepoc dies and Volken gets her book? Or something? Gah, my head is just exploding. So in the Mokkania arc the church wanted to kill two birds with one stone by getting Hiza's book and killing Hamyuts. The big question is why does everyone care about Othello? Is he hiding important books? Is he working with the church? 
] Really there are so many questions the only thing I can do is watch and pray they'll all be answered. I think the ride will be fun but only really, really good writing can save the impending disaster. |
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egoist
 Posts: 7762 |
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I think his name is Cigal, as weird as it might look. Too many questions, though I don't think any of them need answering at this point. Also, I expect this to be yet another arc. Whose? The violin lunatic and Mirepoc's? I don't know, but I wish both of them could die already. Mirepoc seems to be completely useless, instead of casting her in, they should have brought another means of communication, such as a telephone. Then we wouldn't waste so much time watching her inferior dramatic bologus(her seiyu is the only good thing about her).
Apparently, the nearly invisible man is who she's looking for. I still don't know who's on whose side, but at a certain point I could swear the two old men were on the Church's. |
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rainbowcourage
Posts: 1216 Location: what is commonly known as "hell week" |
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So I'm caught up through episode 18..and really confused (also ep. 19 spoilers)...
I appreciate this series for its lack of conventionalism, but plotwise it's a trainwreck. I like the show a lot, but on the other hand, I feel like I've been constantly strung along with no real idea of what's going on. There was almost no transition or connection between the arcs, leaving me with a jilted feeling. spoiler[Okay, so there's no real mystery to Volken's betrayal-he simply discovered that Hamy blew up the Silver Smoke, decided she was besmirching the Library, and wanted to basically stage a coup. So he goes after Olivia Litlet because she was on the Silver Smoke (which doesn't really make any sense because how does she know what Hamy did...). The Mirepoc angle has been handled really well though. I hope she doesn't decide to retrieve her memories, because when Volken dies like I've read, that's just gonna be major grief for her. But why bother bringing him back? It's just so messy. He leaves for like 10 episodes, comes back to stage a coup, and then dies. So unless he drags Hamy's "evil" into the light, he was pretty much useless and irrelevant. Olivia Litler/Renas Fluru/Vend Ruga is a lot more relevant, but no less confusing. How is Vend Ruga inside of her? Apparently Vend Ruga is a bunch of lead golems with one mind split across them (the Violet Sinner's mind)...but they seem pretty weak and useless and I don't understand why Hamy wants to destroy. It seems like a silly outer shell for the Violet Sinner, who obviously has relevance in Hamy's own past, so why bother putting her inside a golem? They've layered a lot of useless crap into this story, with at least two new characters to come in the next six episodes (blonde-haired chick and creepy white-haired chick...oh, plus the Violet Sinner). As far as I can tell, the Church once served a specific function within the Library but were kind of a dirty secret...then they erected open hostilities and decided to rebel. Of course there's also the tree (Governor of Paradise) and Heaven.] I like this show. A lot, despite its flaws. But it's going to take some masterful explanations to make this coherent, much less cohesive
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egoist
Posts: 7762 |
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I still have the same problem with Mirepoc after so many episodes. She's still completely useless. The time they wasted on her could be used to explain some facts, or simply have more action added(no matter how messed up the plot is, at least the fighting scenes are above the average, mainly Ham..[something] techniques).
But of course, depending on the ending this anime could even reach a very good rating, but for now it's at good and if the ending doesn't explain much it will probably fall one or two because there won't be a re-watch value. |
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rainbowcourage
Posts: 1216 Location: what is commonly known as "hell week" |
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Mirepoc's actually a pretty unique character. She acknowledges that she's weak (physically she's not a good fighter, and mentally...we know how she dealt with Volken leaving) yet she doesn't take the shounen attitude of "I must get stronger!" But she's far from useless. She was instrumental this episode in spoiler[Volken's downfall]. I do agree that her Lascall Othello arc didn't make any sense, however, unless they end up tying it into the Big Picture.
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egoist
Posts: 7762 |
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Well, she's unique, yeah. But she's not much of use, despite that she's been appearing way too much for someone nearly useless. Like you said, the plot is a trainwreck, but despite that they still focus so much on her. I wonder if she slept with the director.
But, the next episode looks interesting. spoiler["The world vs Bantorra."] |
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Blood-
 Bargain Hunter Posts: 24136 |
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I'm sad.
 spoiler[My sweet, sweet Noloty has been kilt!] Although I wonder if sspoiler[he and Volken are actually dead or if the show will find some sneaky way to bring them back to life. We'll see I guess.]
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wonderwomanhero
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Okay, I just finished episode 2, and I am quite confused.
Who were those people that spoiler[Haymuts killed? They seemed like innocent people, but were they bad guys? Because it's just odd to me that she would randomly decide to use her weapon to kill random townspeople...] |
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