JOURNAL: bobbarker31 (Robert Barker)

  • Who Killed Kaji??? <<Spoilers>> 2004-12-01 00:31:28 And then it hit me. The long fan assumption that Misato was the one that killed Kaji had been drilled into me as soon as I finished the episode while watching Neon Genesis Evangelion. What clinched it for me was seeing the authorized Manga.

    We see a little more of the murder scene. In the show we see Kaji greeting someone near a large air moving fan before being shot. The manga shows a little more of that scene. Kaji is shot twice. The first time he is badly wounded, but is still on his feet. A gloved hand holds a revolver with a laser sight. Kaji tells him to shoot straight this time. We then see Kaji's last moments on the ground as he sees his dead friends and brother.

    Case for it being Gendo:
    1. Gendo routinely wears gloves.
    2. Gendo not regularly using firearms would benefit most from a laser sight.
    3. Gendo has shown the will to kill personally during the series (even those he might have been emotionally involved with)
    4. Gendo had more reason to meet Kaji in remote places to hide intentions.

    Case for it being Misato:
    1. I just don't think she could have done it.
    2. Her professional training would have had her experianced with weapons, she would not have needed a laser sight.
    3. Her weapon of choice was a semi-automatic, not a revolver. Pistols are a personal thing.
    4. It was publically known the relationship between Misato and Kaji. It would be a unreliable thing to get her to shoot him.
    5. It was an unusual place to meet for Misato and Kaji to meet. They were able to share most secret information in bed.
    6. The timing in the manga had Misato still in detention when Kaji was shot.

    What really happened? Maybe Mr. Anno knows, but he takes great delight in not telling people. 
  • The End of Cowboy Bebop <<Spoilers>> 2004-11-24 12:01:56 Spike is dead. There is no doubt of that. You did not need to see someone pronounce him that or a lengthy epilogue to show you that he was gone. There is much to point to it and I do not mean the many wounds that he suffered at the hands of Vicious. His death was alluded to over many episodes and it finally came to be in the second part of the Real Folk Blues. Vicious and Spike were the only ones that could kill one another.

    Spike did not die on those steps. He died holding Julia in his arms as she passed on. He had been a man hanging on for years since he left her. Now there was nothing worth hanging on for. There was nothing worth living for in a world without her. All that remained was for him to balance the books. As his last moments crept up on him face down on the stairs we panned up to see a star winking out. The old Indian man said that occurred when a warrior died. Spike body may have stopped then, but he had died earlier in the day.  
  • Yoko Kanno - The John Williams of the Anime world 2004-11-23 13:22:24 It is not fair to call Ms. Kanno the John Williams of the anime world. John Williams never showed the range that she did in just the past 15 years of her prominence, but much of the same effect was there.

    Ms. Kanno's music brings to life much of the animation until it trancends off the screen into something that is larger than life. My first experiance with her work was with Macross Plus. It was hard to believe that the rich symphonic score was composed by the same person who wrote the songs for Sharon Apple. The Macross Plus CDs were among the first anime soundtracks that I ever purchased. "Information High" retains all of its cutting edge energy as it did when it first premiered.

    Ms. Kanno is most famous for her work on Cowboy Bebop. Her eclectic jazz score covered all situations and venues breathing life into the 4 bounty hunters who's lives are chronicled in the series. Selected use of international singers and song lyrics made the series more difficult to pin down or categorize. This was the first time that she used the talents of Steve Conti, who she would later take with her to perform on "Wolf's Rain".

    Got to run now. Just some random musings of my favorite anime music writer. 
  • Utena Tenjou - Misled? Seduced? Drugged? <<Spoilers>> 2004-11-23 00:23:44 It's late and it is time for my random anime musings. So I am watching all of Revolutionary Girl Utena again and an old debate with a friend came into my mind.

    It is quite clear that Utena was mislead to the true nature of Akio, but during the night of her "first time" with him was she drugged or operating under her own free will? The confusion (what is of it) comes from two things. One, Utena seemed very distracted as she talked in bed about making lunches and other nonsense. Two, people really have a hard time thinking of their admired hero or heroine being taken this badly.

    Initially (and I still believe this) I thought that she was operating under her own choices. Akio was not above using drugs on people for these ends. Remember the flashback where fruit was being fed to a very "out of it" Kanae, Akio's fiance.

    We never saw Kanae's father, but she did say that Akio was selected by him for her and she seemed to agree. She seemed quite taken with him without the need for fruit. But that was business for Akio and he needed the facilities and power that being the acting chairman of the academy provided. Why take the chance of failure with Kanae and her family? And more importantly, why waste time?

    Utena was a different story. She was the one most likely to possess the power of Dios. Akio did not want to just have her, he wanted her to give herself to him. It was a challenge that he wanted to ply as a sport. I think it is too simple just to say that he drugged her. Utena is a flawed character in that her love and loyalty blinded her to him, but that is part of the coming of age story. Even the most admirable people get taken once in a while. It adds that much weight to the final duel between them. It is one thing to be wronged by a person. It is much more to be willingly wronged by a person.

     
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