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Basilisk question [Spoiler Warning]

I wish this topic was arround a few years ago before I watched it. The ending just killed this one for me. (I still rated it in the upper range since the show prior to to that point was very enjoyable though.) To me, the sad endings are the ones that "cheapen" a show because they waste perfectly good character development and are less creative. Now don't get me wrong, I don't have a problem with character death I just don't like it when it's done pointlessly or excessively. It should be used professionally like a surgeon's scalpel rather than smash you with a club. I also feel it's a tremendous waste of my time to develop a romance and then kill off one or both of the involved people.

Also, on a side note, being sad sucks. One who derives enjoyment from a series that's as much of a downer as this and prefers them must have some type of masochistic streak if you ask me. I don't get it.

I didn't miss that, no, I just find absolutely no purpose in building up a romance and then having a tragedy. It's like the equalivent of filling up a glass with a nice expensive fine wine and then dumping it on the ground instead instead of drinking it. Just a waste.

spoiler[So the ending wasn't so much of a shock to me but more of a disappointment. Also basically if I recall correctly Genoske made it so that Oboro and the Iga won, which essentially is akin to the bad guys (in this case the government) winning and getting what they wanted. Or did Oboro's suicide deny them that too? I forget, I haven't watched it in a about a year or two. I suppose it would depend on whether or not there were any other surviving ninja left in the Kouga or Iga villages. ]

So there's no point at all in a series unless it ends happily? You're entitled to your own opinion but in this case you must recognize that it's a rather unusual one. I mean, is Romeo & Julliet just a waste?

I think you have to look at the broader scope of the story. It was made very clear from the beginning that spoiler[no one was going to make it.] The character development helped to drive home the tragedy of the situation because outside of their own clans no one viewed them as people. They were just objects to serve a cause that had nothing to do with them. But it's not just with Gennosuke and Oboro. Everyone has a tragic story which makes every death strike the heart. Kagero was the one I felt for the most since she was screwed before the show even started. It was very thematic in it's point that bloodshed and vengance is an endless cycle. It's actually one of my favorite series because even though the overall progression of the plot is predictable the road there is incredible. Gennosuke and Oboro are parallel to Romeo and Juliet but they are only two people out of 20 and aren't the only two you should be invested in.

TranceLimit174 wrote:

I think you have to look at the broader scope of the story. It was made very clear from the beginning that spoiler[no one was going to make it.] The character development helped to drive home the tragedy of the situation because outside of their own clans no one viewed them as people. They were just objects to serve a cause that had nothing to do with them. But it's not just with Gennosuke and Oboro. Everyone has a tragic story which makes every death strike the heart. Kagero was the one I felt for the most since she was screwed before the show even started. It was very thematic in it's point that bloodshed and vengance is an endless cycle. It's actually one of my favorite series because even though the overall progression of the plot is predictable the road there is incredible. Gennosuke and Oboro are parallel to Romeo and Juliet but they are only two people out of 20 and aren't the only two you should be invested in.

Again, please actually read my posts before responding to them. I'd already pointed that out not in so many words, but yeah I got it and to me it's one of the things I don't like about it.

A revelation came to me and I found the core of the matter. What rubbed me the wrong way in this and other series is the concept of some kind of inescapable "fate" or "destiny" or just surrendering to something you don't agree with, basically I just think it's a total crock of s*** personally. If I don't like something I fight it or change it, I don't go along with it like cattle like the characters in this story did. I'll fight to the bitter end, try my hardest, and die trying if I must. If I'd have gone along with "fate" or "destiny" when I got cancer I'd not be alive here to talk to any of you, I'd be dead instead of being 26, cured and heathy. Basically, it's all the character's "mindless sheep" attitude in the series that really bugs me, nobody stops to think for themselves, it's really quite pathetic.

But don't you ever get that feeling, where the protagonist is chasing the girl right at the climax of a series and just as he is about to reach her, you want him to get hit by a big bus? I'd buy a million copies of a legitimate anime that makes it happen.