| Shuumatsu no Izetta - Witch vs Hitler [message #329606] |
Sun, 02 October 2016 22:23  |
Dave Baranyi
Messages: 1057
Registered: January 2012
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“Shuumatsu no Izetta” is a new alternate world fantasy in which a middle
European teen duchess is saved from from the Nazis in 1940 by a teen witch. The
initial episode had nice animation and character designs, some fairly ponderous
dialogue, the odd bit of gratuitous fan service, and a fair amount of yuri
implications.
The first episode was fairly paint-by-numbers as far as the story and
characterization go. The writers are not trying to find any new ground as far as
I can tell. This is definitely not as imaginative as “Kutsuzure Sensen: Majo
Vasenka no Sensou” with its Russian witch fighting alongside her Jewish Soviet
Intelligence Officer girlfriend throughout the war on the Eastern Front. (That's
a manga that I would truly love to see done as an anime!)
So I won't be bothering with more of “Izetta”, although I suspect that lots of
people will like it.
Dave Baranyi
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| Re: Shuumatsu no Izetta - Witch vs Hitler [message #329607 is a reply to message #329606] |
Sun, 02 October 2016 23:47  |
Leo
Messages: 89
Registered: April 2013
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> The first episode was fairly paint-by-numbers as far as the story and
characterization go.
I'm rather pleased with what I've seen from Finé so far. She's
strong-willed but not brash. She has no trouble commanding others as
their superior but is never arrogant. She holds her subordinates closely
but doesn't get hung up on the issue whenever something happens to one
of them. All in all, she's proven to be very capable in her capacity as
a ruler. Yet she's clearly not infallible.
I suppose what I'm trying to say is that she's got a balanced or
well-rounded set of traits. Anime is a medium dominated by the use of
character templates that often feature highly exaggerated
personailities. As such, it's sometimes nice when a character has a mix
of relatively mundane attributes. It makes them feel human. And that's
doubly true when they fill such a grand role as princess.
My favourite bit of the episode was definitely when she volunteered
herself for a political marriage during negotiations despite plainly
being against it. That was a unique experience, despite—or perhaps
because of—the brevity of the scene.
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| Re: Shuumatsu no Izetta - Witch vs Hitler [message #329616 is a reply to message #329606] |
Mon, 03 October 2016 04:47 |
Hergen Lehmann
Messages: 12
Registered: August 2012
Karma: 0
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Junior Member |
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Am 03.10.2016 um 04:23 schrieb Dave Baranyi:
> “Shuumatsu no Izetta” is a new alternate world fantasy in which a middle
> European teen duchess is saved from from the Nazis in 1940 by a teen witch. The
> initial episode had nice animation and character designs, some fairly ponderous
> dialogue, the odd bit of gratuitous fan service, and a fair amount of yuri
> implications.
It might end up as a nice adventure/fantasy story with likeable main
characters and decent animation, so i will definitely stay for a few
more episodes.
My main problem with the series is it's toying around with a rather dark
part of history. Having location and event names clearly being
depictions of real history is quite disturbing, especially for a german
viewer. On top of that, the pseudo-german wording adds some strange,
funny vibe to the storytelling. If they dig too deep into this...
> The first episode was fairly paint-by-numbers as far as the story and
> characterization go. The writers are not trying to find any new ground as far as
> I can tell.
As Leo already pointed out, having rather mundane characterizations is
not a bad thing. It makes it easier to associate with the characters.
Hergen
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| Re: Shuumatsu no Izetta - Witch vs Hitler [message #329914 is a reply to message #329607] |
Mon, 10 October 2016 16:03 |
Brian
Messages: 441
Registered: February 2012
Karma: 0
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Senior Member |
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On 10/02/2016 08:47 PM, Leo wrote:
>> The first episode was fairly paint-by-numbers as far as the story and
> characterization go.
>
> I'm rather pleased with what I've seen from Finé so far.She's
> strong-willed but not brash. She has no trouble commanding others as
> their superior but is never arrogant. She holds her subordinates closely
> but doesn't get hung up on the issue whenever something happens to one
> of them. All in all, she's proven to be very capable in her capacity as
> a ruler. Yet she's clearly not infallible.
>
> I suppose what I'm trying to say is that she's got a balanced or
> well-rounded set of traits. Anime is a medium dominated by the use of
> character templates that often feature highly exaggerated
> personailities. As such, it's sometimes nice when a character has a mix
> of relatively mundane attributes. It makes them feel human. And that's
> doubly true when they fill such a grand role as princess.
>
> My favourite bit of the episode was definitely when she volunteered
> herself for a political marriage during negotiations despite plainly
> being against it. That was a unique experience, despite—or perhaps
> because of—the brevity of the scene.
>
I liked it, but my reasons are not so complex, I suppose. I just happen
to like anime that is set in Europe or Pseudo-Europe. I think this is
Pseudo-Europe because the map they used is an actual map of Europe, but
the names of the countries are not the actual names (at least I do not
think they are.
I am also not a historian, so I really do not how fast and loose they
are playing it with the actual facts of WWWII, though they are obviously
a little.
--
Brian Christiansen
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| Re: Shuumatsu no Izetta - Witch vs Hitler [message #330360 is a reply to message #329616] |
Thu, 13 October 2016 00:03 |
Arne Luft
Messages: 321
Registered: March 2012
Karma: 0
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Senior Member |
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On Mon, 3 Oct 2016 10:47:23 +0200, Hergen Lehmann
<hlehmann.expires.5-11@snafu.de> wrote:
> Am 03.10.2016 um 04:23 schrieb Dave Baranyi:
>
>> Shuumatsu no Izetta is a new alternate world fantasy in which a middle
>> European teen duchess is saved from from the Nazis in 1940 by a teen witch. The
>> initial episode had nice animation and character designs, some fairly ponderous
>> dialogue, the odd bit of gratuitous fan service, and a fair amount of yuri
>> implications.
>
> It might end up as a nice adventure/fantasy story with likeable main
> characters and decent animation, so i will definitely stay for a few
> more episodes.
I agree.
> My main problem with the series is it's toying around with a rather dark
> part of history.
But in "Schwarzesmarken" they started with a quick guide into the ways
of the "East-German Stasi", too. The difference to the former way is
that they don't paraphrase Naziism like in "Space battleship Yamato
2199".
I guess, there is a demand of more realistic anime, as the success of
"Shingeki no Kyojin" signaled.
> Having location and event names clearly being
> depictions of real history is quite disturbing, especially for a german
> viewer.
I was wondering for a long time, why the Japanese can play with their
history but the Germans can't. It was animes and movies like
"Godzilla" which helped the Japanese to come clear with their
traumatic experiences of the world war 2.
The Germans are still hating themselves, because they are told so by
those which take advantage of that. The result is the common German
belief, that they are chosen to show the world the way into a bright
future with windmills and mutual eternal love.
When it comes to history, the others can make funny plays with theirs,
but the German one has to be told in a serious way, isn't it?
> On top of that, the pseudo-german wording adds some strange,
> funny vibe to the storytelling. If they dig too deep into this...
That's similar to the impressions of non-German singers singing in
broken German. There is really a special vibe, when the accentuation
of German words, which are sung, is the way of the foreign singer,
especially when they are far from Europe.
As a start I would like to see a show, where Ottilie von Bismarck has
to deal with the German Queen Wilhelmine and the Chief of the German
General Staff Helmina von Moltke to find a way to unificate Germany
without that these both fall in love with their Austrian or French
counterparts, because Ottilie has her own interests.
Well, I am a German myself.
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| Re: Shuumatsu no Izetta - Witch vs Hitler [message #330367 is a reply to message #330360] |
Thu, 13 October 2016 00:46 |
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Originally posted by: Bobbie Sellers
On 10/12/2016 09:03 PM, Arne Luft wrote:
> On Mon, 3 Oct 2016 10:47:23 +0200, Hergen Lehmann
> <hlehmann.expires.5-11@snafu.de> wrote:
>
>> Am 03.10.2016 um 04:23 schrieb Dave Baranyi:
>>
>>> “Shuumatsu no Izetta” is a new alternate world fantasy in which a middle
>>> European teen duchess is saved from from the Nazis in 1940 by a teen witch. The
>>> initial episode had nice animation and character designs, some fairly ponderous
>>> dialogue, the odd bit of gratuitous fan service, and a fair amount of yuri
>>> implications.
>>
>> It might end up as a nice adventure/fantasy story with likeable main
>> characters and decent animation, so i will definitely stay for a few
>> more episodes.
>
> I agree.
>
>> My main problem with the series is it's toying around with a rather dark
>> part of history.
>
> But in "Schwarzesmarken" they started with a quick guide into the ways
> of the "East-German Stasi", too. The difference to the former way is
> that they don't paraphrase Naziism like in "Space battleship Yamato
> 2199".
>
> I guess, there is a demand of more realistic anime, as the success of
> "Shingeki no Kyojin" signaled.
>
>> Having location and event names clearly being
>> depictions of real history is quite disturbing, especially for a german
>> viewer.
>
> I was wondering for a long time, why the Japanese can play with their
> history but the Germans can't. It was animes and movies like
> "Godzilla" which helped the Japanese to come clear with their
> traumatic experiences of the world war 2.
Actually with the Japanese and due to the actions of
the Occupation especially in retaining the Showa Emperor
they largely deny the negativity of the experience and some
right wingers want to go back to the pre-WW II social organization.
Some of the manga are accurate and here I think of
Shigeru Mizuki's work, in Onward to Our Noble Deaths and his
Showa:A History. But I don't read but hear about other views
promulgated by commercial manga creating for example Japanese
units that never existed of women running naval vessels.
>
> The Germans are still hating themselves, because they are told so by
> those which take advantage of that. The result is the common German
> belief, that they are chosen to show the world the way into a bright
> future with windmills and mutual eternal love.
>
> When it comes to history, the others can make funny plays with theirs,
> but the German one has to be told in a serious way, isn't it?
Well the Germans accept that they had a bad leader who did
lots of really horrible things due to his anti-Semitic prejudice.
And that he really led a gang installed into high office.
>
>> On top of that, the pseudo-german wording adds some strange,
>> funny vibe to the storytelling. If they dig too deep into this...
>
> That's similar to the impressions of non-German singers singing in
> broken German. There is really a special vibe, when the accentuation
> of German words, which are sung, is the way of the foreign singer,
> especially when they are far from Europe.
>
>
>
> As a start I would like to see a show, where Ottilie von Bismarck has
> to deal with the German Queen Wilhelmine and the Chief of the German
> General Staff Helmina von Moltke to find a way to unificate Germany
> without that these both fall in love with their Austrian or French
> counterparts, because Ottilie has her own interests.
>
> Well, I am a German myself.
>
Good on you. I was quite young being born in 1937 and
had my head filled with anti-Japanese and anti-German propaganda
all during and even after the war. Until the Plutocracy decided
that they need both to win the fight against USSR and then PRC.
I remember being shocked in High School when the Japanese were
suddenly being rehabilitated but I never realized that
the impetus for the economic re-birth of Japan was due to the
supply demands of the Korean War. Not until I started reading
Showa. And I had read a lot about the occupation and post-WW II
Japan.
Well your scenario sounds more interesting than some
stuff I read. Have you ever heard of Flint's Grantville books?
He has an section of the USA transplanted from the last century
to about 400 years in the past. The section is called Grantville
and of course a new alternative world is created. The Americans
try to create a United States of Europe and interfere in many
of the conflicts of the period. It would make a great anime
series or series of LA movie. I hope that some of the Japanese
are following the great ones and reading a lot to inspire
themselves. Other good story tellers collaborate with Flint
and each other to cover as many interesting aspects of the
mid-1600s as possible.
bliss
--
bliss dash SF 4 ever at dslextreme dot com
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