Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Izetta: The Last Witch
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Joe Mello
 Posts: 2273 Location: Online Terminal |
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To be fair, Yoshino also did one of the Macrosses and the apparently popular Code Geass, but yeah, he seems to lurve his clones.
Oddly enough, the first Google entry when typing in "Watson and Crick" led me to this article explaining the 90 or so years of genetics research leading up to the famous 1953 discovery, so it's not entirely as implausible than it is at first blush. However, there are three other things to keep in mind 1) I'm probably giving the screenplay too much credit, 2) you don't need to know what Watson and Crick did to be a proponent of Eugenics, and 3) we all know what happened the last time a bunch of anime characters were running around during the World Wars chasing a magic red stone, so chances are Izetta's just treading the same ground. |
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Blood-
 Bargain Hunter Posts: 23907 |
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and 4) the earth depicted in the world of Izetta is not our own so any discussion of "plausibility" of things that happen there with reference to real world history or developments is inherently moronic. Hey, I know, why don't we examine Lord of the Rings to see how life potrayed there is incongruent with the reality of Dark Ages Earth?
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FilthyCasual
Posts: 2249 |
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The red stone doesn't cancel the magic of a certain witch. What it does is absorb the mana from a certain area - as shown earlier when Sophie was walking through the grassy field and sparkles flew into the stone - and allows the stone's holder to use it as a battery. So when Izetta went into the mana-drained area she was powerless since the grid went down, but Sophie was fine because she had a battery. And I highly doubt that Sophie's personality stems from the original White Witch, given that she's a clone made from the White Witch's corpse as opposed to the WW's reanimated body. I bet the Germans brainwashed her with a false personality based on the legends of the WW instead. Speaking of Sophie, is GLORIOUS NAZI ENGINEERING a stupid development? Absolutely. Is it a hilarious development? Absolutely. Try as I might, I can't hate this show. So next episode is when things get even worse by America invading Eylstadt, right? |
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GoldenPincers
 Posts: 65 |
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^ Exactly what he said. Also, while it IS true that Nazi Germany had the most advanced technology and scientific research at the time, along with USA, making an entire clone seems very farfetched. But to the show's defense, the world in Izetta is not the same as ours; it's more like a parallel universe where magic happens to exist. And since the Germanians used magical blood to create the White Witch's clone, combined with their top-tier technology, their achievement becomes more plausible. |
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Uchay
Posts: 78 |
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...Out of the thousands examples you could have picked, you had to pick one that takes place on an entirely different world from ours? Middle-earth was completely created from Tolkien's imagination, it has little to no ties to the real world. Not that I don't understand your point, but if Izetta is set in WWII, Germany, it's normal for people to expect some plausibility from it when it comes to certain historic aspects, unless it can explain how cloning is possible in this setting. GoldenPincers explanation is good, though. |
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Angel M Cazares
 Posts: 5462 Location: Iscandar |
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I had a blast with episode 9. I do realize that Sophie could derail the show, but as of now I do not see enough reasons to panic. Around the airing of Izetta's first episode I was made aware that people from not so good past anime shows were working it. I have been ready for things to turn bad, but so far that has not happened in my opinion.
My enthusiasm for Izetta is stronger that ever, and I look forward to the final episodes. |
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zrnzle500
 Posts: 3767 |
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@Blood- I don't think the fact that it is fiction means all questions of plausibility are "inherently moronic". Generally speaking in say a historical fiction period piece, is not the presence of glaring anachronisms, in technology especially, a valid criticism of such a work? Part of such works is portraying the time as it was generally speaking but with a few tweaks here or there, or a fictional organization occurring within the past as it was. Even beyond critical analysis, it breaks suspension of disbelief for the audience to have a glaring anachronism in such a work. So perhaps in some cases, fiction doesn't mean you can do anything.
Of course you can rebut, "But they have magic. How can you suspend your disbelief on that and not on anachronistic technologies?" Magic is by its very nature unrealistic, so doing unrealistic things with magic is believable. If Sophie had been cloned by magic, I doubt anyone would have been bothered. But she was revived by science, which is supposed to be realistic, especially in historical fiction, which the show outside the existence of witches is (science fiction to a lesser degree, as even the most speculative tends to be grounded in scientific principles). So since the scientific and historical portions are intended to be realistic and time period appropriate, the inclusion of glaring anachronism seems to be a valid criticism of the show and something that would break suspension of disbelief, even in a show with magic and witches. Last edited by zrnzle500 on Sun Nov 27, 2016 11:37 am; edited 1 time in total |
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chaccide
Posts: 295 |
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I'll be that... guy. Knowledge of DNA did exist at the time. Its existence had been determined around Darwin's time. People had pretty much figured out what it was responsible for (that it made our chromosomes and this genes) decades before Watson and Crick et al discovered the double helix structure. The idea of cloning too, has been around for a long, long time. Grafting can been considered an early form of it. Granted, cloning of an individual animal by humans via somatic cell nuclear transfer is an idea that's only been around a few decades, but people have been making attempts at cloning using genetic material for almost 100 years now. It's plausible that in a fantasy world of the 40s an alternative method of cloning could be successful, one not based upon our present day techniques and knowledge, especially if magic is involved. (Source: worked in a lab that did early molecular cloning in the 80s.) |
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meiam
Posts: 3442 |
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Well knowledge of DNA and cloning have little in common really. Even with our current knowledge perfect cloning is not within our grasp, DNA is just one part of what makes a human what they are, what happen in the womb will have a massive impact, gene can be turned on and off and there's also mitochondria which aren't coded in our DNA.
Plus if the clone is already 10 year old or so that means they had to clone her 11 years ago, in the 30. They would have needed to use a surrogate mother, which would have been human which would really screw up with the clone development. The whole things is so far fetch that it's something you either accept at face value and don't question or reject altogether. |
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Megiddo
 Posts: 8360 Location: IL |
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I'm almost caught up with Izetta, but I gotta know, who was the guy who picked up the jewel and camera and went 'Sieg Reich'? I can't recall seeing him before and his attire just looked like a normal peasant/farmer. It's possible I could have missed something since the show likes to jump around in places.
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Angel M Cazares
Posts: 5462 Location: Iscandar |
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^ If you are talking about episode 8, I am pretty sure that was the first time when that farmer guy showed up. I assume he had been living as a spy for some time.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 23907 |
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Tolkien made clear in his Prologue to LotR that Middle Earth is our Earth. Its events simply take place during a "forgotten" period of Earth history. In fact, he claims that the descendants of halflings still exist in present day, but they are so skilful at evading human attention that they are rarely seen. And who cares if this alternate world of Izetta's has obvious parallels to real Earth? It's different enough that things that are incongruent with real history should not raise any eyebrows. This idea that because there are familiar aspects to the technology and geography the show should be bound by real world precedent is both insanely pedantic and symptomatic of imagination constipation. Wow, would I ever hate to be burdened with such a banal mental analism. |
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zrnzle500
Posts: 3767 |
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It's not just familiar aspects in technology or geography. Aside from a few small changes both are almost exactly the same. The name changes are trivial and in some cases (Germania) negligible. And that is no coincidence. It was clearly designed as WWII...but with witches. When it fails to live up to the first part, people will take exception to it, and not due to failure of imagination. I do not contend the fact that it is pedantic though, not that I find it being so derogatory.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 23907 |
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I suppose I shouldn't be so strident in my own views - but I can't help it, 'coz I'm always right.
 But seriously, when I watch an parallel world story like Izetta and I see, for example, cloning technology during what would have been "our" world war 2, it doesn't faze me in the slightest. I just go, "okay, so that's what happened on that world." I really have a hard time wrapping my mind around getting tripped up on that stuff.
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Megiddo
Posts: 8360 Location: IL |
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Huh, so the entire reason that Germania was able to counter Izetta was because there happened to be some random farm dude spy who had never been introduced before? For such a pivotal moment which shifted the entire scape of the war I would have hoped for a little bit more than that. |
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