Oh hey, this will be my first post of 2009. Nothing better to bring in the new year than a CUP OF RAGE.
Ok, I admit, I’ve never really had anyone close to me die, nor have I ever really considered what would happen if I were to die, but jesus christ Kuze grow some balls. His incessant whining about not wanting to have anything more to do with the world and then backing out at the last second was getting so tiring. I give ef credit for flatlining him and then showing the ending sequence though. This show really knows how to troll.
So, once again I have one part of the story that I really don’t care for all that much. That happened last time too, so whatever. But then the Yuu/Yuuko side was something I knew couldn’t ever happen. From the first season, we already saw that Yuuko was some sort of spirit or angel or something, and clearly Yuu was not with her, so obviously they were just setting us up to get hurt. The problem? It was shallow as fuck.
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but honestly and truly, Code Geass R2 episode 13 was more emotional to me than all of ef – a tale of melodies. Yuuko’s death was inevitable, I knew that from the start, but I had no idea it’d be so short and so lame. Ok, I’m fine with her getting hit by a car and that being how she dies. Fine, it happens, it’s exactly the same shit that always happens, but whatever. But her death was not moving at all. It lacked any impact whatsoever and there was no feeling in it. Perhaps it just didn’t tug the right chord for me, but it actually had me sighing rather than crying. I was really expecting a much better death for Yuuko, and perhaps that’s where some of my dissatisfaction comes from.
And you’re probably thinking right now, didn’t the same thing happen in H2O? Partly, yes. I didn’t have the sense of foreboding that I had with ef, up until I heard the train warning. It was a really lame scene as well, but it had at least a little more impact. But for me, the real impact came when I saw Hayami once again. In my eyes, her coming back actually redeemed her somewhat lack of a good farewell. It really hit all the right buttons and made me really lose it. So, when Nagi was talking to Yuu about Hiro, Miyako, and the others about seeing Yuuko, I thought, great, a chance to redeem the fact that her scene was poorly done. I was really looking forward to it too, because I did want them to meet one more time. Even if I knew they couldn’t be together, I really had fallen for Yuuko. Damn ef for making such adorable characters.
Unfortunately, once again, something was missing. I’m still trying to put my finger on what it was. If I had to say something, it’d have to be how Yuu reacted. Perhaps there was just something in the way he talked, but it felt… empty. Maybe it’s just bad luck that I watched two stories that were somewhat similar to each other back to back, but ef – a tale of melodies, surprisingly, failed to nail it all the way home. Their reunion and then final farewell just didn’t feel, well, didn’t really feel at all. It almost felt cold. I’m having a hard time trying to express what I felt, but for once it wasn’t an overflowing of emotions. I don’t want to say that it was because it wasn’t a happy ending. After all, the conclusion to Fuuko’s arc in Clannad wasn’t entirely happy, but I really lost it with that as well. It’s a similar situation here. Really, the best that could have happened, under the circumstances, did happen. I didn’t expect Yuu and Yuuko to be able to get back together, so the best thing would be to see each other one more time, but even that final reunion felt bland.
I suppose on the plus side, I finally understand why Hiro and Renji never bumped into each other. They were halfway across the damn world. I had no idea there were two Otowas, one in Japan, one in Australia. I don’t really remember that from the first season, but at least it makes a bit more sense now. I was also pleased to see Chihiro and Kei finally make up. I was wondering when Kei was finally going to face her and talk to her about what happened.
So, sadly, ef – a tale of melodies doesn’t quite live up to what I had hoped. It’s too bad really, but I guess you can’t always hit a home run.
kaijinexia said
I agree with you, memories was so much better …
About Otawas, I hadn’t catch this up in memories either and another thing which is fucked up is how all the characters are related. When Yuuko said “there are twin girls next door” I was like wat???!
nazarielle said
Well, I found those coincidences pretty interesting. I didn’t realize they were all so close in age though. I mean, they were young kids, but still, they were only maybe 10 years apart at most. Although that makes the Kuze/Mizuki relationship a little weird. loljailbait
Minnie said
Hiya ^^
Oh, so you finally go around to watching ef. Nice. ^^ My fellow blogger Garrick aka Koala loves this series so hopefully, he won’t get mad at me (again) for saying negative things about it. Although I disagree with the Kuze thing, I agree with everything else you said. Yuuko’s death left me going ‘huh’ more than ‘NOOO YUUKO’. I also hated the part when Yuu shakes her body when she’s obviously dead by a tree. >_< I really dislike that a lot. If she didn’t die from blood lost, she would have died then and there with all that shaking.
Unlike others, I didn’t like the ending. Everything is wrapped up so… cleanly. Like wow. Nothing to talk about at all after the series ended. The reunion between Yuuko and Yuu is emotional for like one part (when she has to go) but other than that, I didn’t feel it either. Also, I love Nagi and I feel like they really downplay her role. Sigh. I just didn’t like the last episode in general. Anyways, I’m not here to complain, just want to see your opinion on the subject. Glad to see we are mostly on the same page. ^_^
nazarielle said
Ah, did you like Kuze’s part? I just felt like he was a big crybaby. Either face death or face life, don’t fuck around in the middle.
Yeah, it just came kinda so suddenly, there was no build up at all and then there was no real… I don’t want to say closure, but there was no emotion in it. I think he knew she was dead, but didn’t want to accept it. Though honestly, yeah, if someone’s near death, you don’t want to move them around very much. And if we’re going for realism, what happened to the car that hit her? Did they just take off after smashing her?
I didn’t mind the ending being able to close a lot of things off, but I did mind that it had very little emotional reach. Someone else said it best, it was really hard to empathize with the characters, I didn’t really connect with Kuze or Yuu. In fact, my feelings were in direct conflict with the way they felt and acted, so that made any type of emotional impact just kinda get filtered out by my contrast in feelings.