Forum - View topicThe end(s) of Speed Grapher / Basilisk
|
|
| Author | Message | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
joshuafer
 Posts: 262 |
|
|||
|
I just recently got the last disks for both speed grapher and basilisk. I was a little surprised at the language in speed grapher, I had just been discussing with a friend how they do not swear much in anime. I am referring to the english dub, btw.
It might of been toned down for the sub version, dunno. It was definitely an anime aimed at more mature audiences, thats for sure, even if there was no nudity. At the end of speed grapher, spoiler[ I was expecting some of the " good " guys to die, either saiga, kagera, or the crazy police lady that reminded me of Jo from Burst angel. I was pleasantly surprised they lived, and the cop chick even hooked up with the nice doctor fellow who had lost his wife. I was a little surprised Suitengu saved Saiga. Perhaps because he did not really have a grudge against Saiga As bad guys go, I thought Suitengu was a fairly good one, he was cold, calculating, brutal, and had a very good reason for what he wanted to do. I could definitely sympathize with him, and in my opinion, those are the best villians. The scene where he finally finds his sister was pretty damn sad.] The outtakes from the dub cracked me up, especially the reference to Donkey Kong...haha. Now, in Basilisk spoiler[ I was a little disappointed with the end, i was hoping the 2 main characters, Gennosuke and Oboro would live. I was certain oboro would not be able to strike Gennosuke, but I was still surprised when she turned the knife on herself. I was kind of hoping they would kill the people responsible for the pact being broken, and that conniving woman who was there, I forget her name. I thought a more fitting end would of been to show Oboro and Gennosuke in present day tokyo, together and happy, as they said at the end, even if it takes a thousand lives, we will be together. I just felt horribly unfulfilled and bummed watching the end, not a feeling I particularly enjoy. The fight between Tennzen and Gennosuke was pretty cool. I liked the fact that oboro killed Tennzen, how many times did he think he was going to get away with attempting to rape her, anyways ? Did he think she was just going to let that slide ? Not to mention the fact he tried to kill her beloved. I guess she sure showed him. I did not get how Tennzen was created, exactly. It seemed his mother was pregnant with him, when she was slain ? Was his mother an Iga or Koga ? It seemed to me he just wanted to keep the conflict going, really. I did not quite get what that little goblin thing living inside him was, either. His not quite consumed twin, I would assume ? ] Well, those are my opinions. Feel free to leave your own, thats what we are all here for, after all. |
||||
|
||||
MeggieMay
 Posts: 607 |
|
|||
I saw the first volume of Basilisk at my anime club and I'm glad I've finally run into something online that says how it ends. I have a question and a comment: spoiler[Just going off what I saw in volume 1 I have to say I figured Basilisk wouldn't end all that happly. The entire cast struck me as a loathsome bunch and the show came off to me as a Japanese fairytale - one where the entire point would be to kill everyone off to drive home the point the story is trying to make (which IMO was that if you are so caught up in revenge that you'd rather kill each other than go after someone who has wronged you, you deserve to die). So I'm more surprised anyone came out of the story alive at all.] spoiler[Which leads to my question - did Gennosuke actually make it out alive or am I misunderstanding what you are saying here? Because if he did make it out of the show alive then I may have to reconsider watching this show. I have to admit after seeing it at club I had decided I didn't want to spend seven volumes watching everyone off each other, no matter how creative they got doing that. I just wasn't up for a non stop downer of a show. However, if I'm understanding what you are saying here and Oboro ended up killing herself, leaving Gennosuke behind, the story is a bit more original in how it handles the outcome than I was thinking it would get (not to say that Japanese Fairytales can't be interesting but my current mood just wasn't up for it). So for me it might be worth checking out at some point (I don't get IFC or I'd have watched the show anyway - I generally don't skip anything that shows up on cable if I get the channel and know about it being on )] As for SpeedGrapher - spoiler[I also saw that show at anime club (first volume only, again) and I have to say it was a lot better than I was expecting. I just haven't had the time or money to collect it (I did have an idea how it ended, however, because I have read spoilers that covered the end of the show already).] |
||||
|
||||
HitokiriShadow
 Posts: 6251 |
|
|||
On Tenzen: spoiler[It seems his mother was an Iga and also used to be in love with a Kouga man, but was either betrayed by him or someone else pretended to be him to kill her. Or perhaps she was in love with another Iga, but he was killed and then someone disguised as him to kill her. The anime wasn't particularly clear on what happened, but I think the latter the latter two are possible because of what Tenzen mentioned in his conversation with Saemon when he mentioned another Kouga having that ability a long time ago. As for Tenzen's creation, they seem to have gone with a combination of being born from a dead womb and being possessed by the hatred of the clan.[/spoilers] For all the series pacing issues and disruptive flashbacks, they didn't explain Tenzen's background very well.]
Er, no, spoiler[Oboro kills herself, then Gennosuke crosses out his own name on the scroll and writes that it was Oboro that won the war and sends it off. Then he kills himself and his and Oboro's bodies float down a river together.] As for myself, spoiler[I expected every single one of the people listed on the scroll to die by the end before I even put the first disc in], so the ending didn't suprise me at all. |
||||
|
||||
the Rancorous
 Posts: 2248 Location: Hunting the Dragon in Gransys |
|
|||
that would have just felt cliched and forced, spoiler[especially if they struck down those responsible, no, the way it did end was the best way that it could have ended. It was a tragic story about two lovers born into war, there can be no happy ending for any of the people on the ninja scroll.] Revenge was indeed a major theme for this story, however:
I don't think that this was necessarily the case. It was more like an outlook on how revenge can and will consume all who seek it. There was even a scene in episode 4 where spoiler[Jinguro attempts to assassinate Gennosuke] and Gennosuke says to him something like, "even if you kill all of the Kouga and satiate your revenge, you'll just go and find some one else to hate, some one else who was different." Also, there was the sole fact that these 2 clans were so hell bent on killing eachother off that they never even stopped to ask why such an order was given to them by the shogun, their hatred was to the point where they needed no reason to kill eachother. |
||||
|
||||
LydiaDianne
 Posts: 5634 Location: Southern California |
|
|||
I watched the first two episodes of this and just couldn't continue. But, you are right, no one stopped for half a second and went "Hmmm, I wonder why the Shogun gave such an order...hmmmm." It goes to show how much hate and revenge can blind you to the bigger picture. |
||||
|
||||
|
joshuafer
Posts: 262 |
|
|||
|
Gennosuke did wonder, thats why he began the journey to the shoguns palace. Of course, he did issue that statement / challenge, and of course the Iga clan took the message as a challenge. They never really said whether Gennosuke believed Oboro had been deceiving him about the annulment of the treaty.
|
||||
|
||||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group