What’s gone is forever lost, now all we can do is live: “The Enemy of My Frenemy”

[akinoame]

…I liked this episode better when it was called Fullmetal Alchemist. The original, not Brotherhood. Also when it was called Kamen Rider Ryuki.

That said, this review is essentially a preview of my Endpoint Analysis on Ryuki’s Shiro Kanzaki. Enjoy!

The story begins with Gwen returning to Hex’s house to return a book and borrow another. Apparently, she’s been doing this a lot since “Time Heals.” WHY? Hex confronts her, and she reveals she’s trying to rescue Charmcaster, who was left behind in Ledgerdomain back in “Where the Magic Happens.” Interestingly, Hex reacts with grief. This is…interesting. See, he rarely shows that he gives a damn about his niece. Also, he apparently hasn’t wondered why she hasn’t come back from going out to buy milk a few months ago. Well, Dwayne McDuffie said their relationship was complicated—that doesn’t even cover half of it.

So the team has to go into Ledgerdomain using the dialing computer from Stargate SG-1, where they meet the last free Jaffa rock monster, Ignatius, who I kept calling Teal’c. But that’s okay; I also kept calling Kevin “Jack O’Neill” because he’s totally his long-lost kid. Really. Watch a few episodes of SG-1 and then go back and rewatch Kevin. SAME GUY. They manage to rescue a depowered Adwatia, who now sounds like Dr. Drakken, and then they go looking for the usurper to overthrow, who is quite obviously Charmcaster. And then the plot goes into Charmcaster draining the lifeforce of every living thing in Ledgerdomain (well, obviously aside from herself) to resurrect her dad. Also, God apparently exists in Ben 10—he takes the form of a crack in the universe and sounds like Dr. Claw from Inspector Gadget. And it takes 600,000 souls to resurrect one.

Wait. I get it now. That is why there are so many rumors of a reboot of Ben 10 and why we have a redesign. You’re doing a new version, featuring Vic Mignogna as Ben, Aaron Dismuke as Kevin, and Caitlin Glass as Gwen, and reimagining Vilgax as a green-haired guy of indeterminate gender. Redesigned Ben is just short.

Everybody who’s ever read or watched any version of Fullmetal Alchemist, say it with me:

“Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. This is alchemy’s First Law of Equivalent Exchange. In those days, we really believed that to be the world’s one, and only, truth.”

Thank you, Alphonse. Now, this horribly Inequivalent Exchange means that Charmcaster kills EVERYBODY—ONSCREEN—to bring back Daddy. Who calls her Hope. Which is a massive letdown. Really? “Hope”? Whatever. Anyway, so Daddycaster is horribly disappointed in Hopecaster and tells her that because she sacrificed 600,000 people to save his life, he’s going to go back to Heaven or wherever and chill with Trisha Elric and Yui Kanzaki (I’m paraphrasing here). Dr. God gives a refund on all 600,000 souls (apparently, there is a money-back guarantee on resurrection), and everybody comes back to life while Charmcaster has no clue where to go. Ben wants a smoothie, and then he, Kevin, and Gwen argue about whether or not they can feel sympathy for Charmcaster.

Yes. This is LONG when I said I was only going to do minireviews from now on. But that’s because I have an analysis I want to get across. The plot I summarized very sarcastically is very similar to the journey of two characters, Edward Elric of Fullmetal Alchemist and Shiro Kanzaki of Kamen Rider Ryuki, two of my favorite series ever.

Let’s start with Ed. As a child, his mother died of a mysterious illness, leaving him and his younger brother Al alone. Instead of doing the sensible thing and moving in with their next-door neighbors and family friends, the Rockbells, Ed and Al designed to find an alchemy teacher and spend the next couple of years learning how to perform the forbidden human transmutation that could bring their mother back. When they finally returned, they did their experiment, only for it to horrifically backfire. Ed lost his leg to the Gate of Truth, and Al disappeared into it entirely, and the creature they brought back wasn’t even human—“pus-spewing organ pile sin against God” was used by VG Cats quite accurately. Regretting what he did, Ed sacrificed his arm to retrieve Al’s soul, bonding it to a suit of armor. They then swore that they were going to restore each other’s bodies, willing to commit the taboo again as long as they had the Philosopher’s Stone, which could bypass alchemy’s Law of Equivalent Exchange.

There’s also Kanzaki. And this is major spoilers for Ryuki, if for some reason, you’ve managed not to be spoiled by my reviews for it already. As a teenager, his younger sister, Yui, died from neglect. In a moment of desperation, he struck a deal where his sister would live off the lifeforce of her Mirror World reflection until she turned twenty. So for the next several years, he dedicated his life to researching the Mirror World until he found that there was a power within it that could create one reality-warping wish. But it required thirteen people to fight and die inside the Mirror World to do so. So he created the Kamen Riders and set up a Rider War, manipulating their lives so that they’d have a wish they’d want to fight for, and on top of that, he had the Mirror Monsters attacking and eating innocent people.

The similarities are obvious, but do you notice the differences yet? No? Well, here it is: Ed wants to avoid the whole messy Equivalent Exchange issue, where Kanzaki is willing to sacrifice thirteen people to get his wish. When Ed learns that the Philosopher’s Stone is made up of countless souls, he and Al are torn. They don’t want to sacrifice anyone else for their wish. Kanzaki is perfectly willing to. The only reason he stops is because he realizes that Yui doesn’t want him to make that sacrifice for her.

Now, do you see the parallel to Charmcaster? In Linkara’s review of Power Rangers Time Force, he brought up the difference between a sympathetic character and a sympathetic backstory. A sympathetic character is someone you feel for, you watch them go through hell, and you understand why they’re doing this. A sympathetic backstory is a reason you feel for them. A sympathetic backstory does not justify a character’s actions. Those actions are what make a character sympathetic or not. What Ed’s doing is obvious from the start. Why he wants to do it, why he feels torn, why he feels like he can’t do it. Kanzaki—and by extension, Charmcaster—isn’t. They don’t show remorse for their actions, and they keep doing horrible things without a single thought for anybody else. And then they’re completely blindsided when it backfires on them. Ed would understand perfectly if Al told him not to save him. It’d hurt like hell, but he’d understand. Kanzaki didn’t. And Charmcaster didn’t. She still doesn’t. Gwen tries to argue that Charmcaster had a goal in life that she was trying to obtain and now she’s lost it. Ben and Kevin argue that it doesn’t justify a damn thing she did. She feels no remorse when they came specifically to save her. They were just souls in the Philosopher’s Stone or Kamen Riders in the Rider War as far as she cared.

So yes, you can feel bad for her, the way Gwen does. But does that justify her? Hell no.

“The Enemy of My Frenemy” was written by David McDermott. Thank you to Kapaychan for providing the episode.

Comments

[alanddizzy.livejournal.com]

Out of curiosity how many villains have been able to so easily dispatch all three of our heroes so quickly?

[galistar07.livejournal.com]

Took me a while to find this episode online since I accidentally missed its airing on television last week.

I actually enjoy this episode but yes, I thought 600,000 souls in exchange for one was a bit of an overkill. I've read CLAMP's xxxHoLic and the charactr Yuuko always stress that the price must be equal to the worth of the payment. No more and no less or else bad things will fall on both the customer and the shop owner. But then again, she also said that you should never bring back people from the dead...

You're right that I do feel a little bit sorry for Charmcaster, but yes, her action doesn't justify her and whatnot.

And this episode does make me wonder if Charmcaster is even strong enough to take on Verdona or Sunny in their full Annodite forms since she was able to wipe all three of our heroes in this episode.

[(Anonymous)]

you guys make it sound like a bad thing that we don't sympathize with her :) that's because we weren't supposed to and that was the intention, hence the word empty and just because Fullmetal Alchemist used the idea of equivalent exchange doesn't mean it didn't exist before. I'm really sick of the comparison considering there are tons of sources for the ideas of alchemy.

[(Anonymous)]

Too be perfectly honest, comparisons to other shows bore at times, especially if the creators themselves probably did actual research when making the episodes, not just watch other shows. Did I ever say to change your reviews to fit me??? A character regression is just as fascinating as a character progression ( Death note?? Batman's foe Two face anyone??) I didn't feel killing 600,000 souls for one life was too far fetched an idea, it's basically bending the rules of life and death. Why, should Charmcaster feel sorry?? should she learn the corny moral of the day??
Not saying you should agree with me but that's how I see's it

[(Anonymous)]

I extremely HATED this episode. I loved the character development Charmcaster received in "Where the Magic Happens", and seeing it undone in such a horribly written manner was devastating.

Still, this whole damn season of UA has a track record of being horrible, so I guess I shouldn't have been surprised.

Personally, I still consider Charmcaster a sympathetic character.....because being screwed around like this by the show writers garners my sympathies.

[(Anonymous)]

''And Charmcaster didn’t. She still doesn’t.''

Er, I disagree, I think when her father told her she'd become worse than Adwaitya, she DID realize how wrong she was (she started crying because of it), and her father leaving to go back to the dead because of what she did made her realize it even more. Where did it indicate she hadn't learned her lesson?

''Gwen tries to argue that Charmcaster had a goal in life that she was trying to obtain and now she’s lost it. Ben and Kevin argue that it doesn’t justify a damn thing she did.''

Actually, only Ben argued that. Kevin was clearly empahizing with Charmcaster and knew how she felt. He may not feel she was justified, but he's not unforgiving like Ben is because, frankly, he's in position to be so.

Please ignore obvious RP account stuff

[trinariffic]

...OK, I've been reading your reviews since I found this reconstructed directory, and I've enjoyed them...until now, as I feel you completely missed the point here. Charmcaster was NEVER meant to be justified in what she did, that was never the intent of the episode. But she WAS meant to be sympathetic, and a display in moral grayness, and much of what you say here is flat-out wrong.

Especially glaring is your Linkara reference, which falls flat. He NEVER said "actions make a character sympathetic". He even said in regards to Ransik "This isn't Magneto we're talking about here". He's saying Magneto is sympathetic, and Magneto has done much, MUCH worse than Ransik.

What Linkara meant is that a sympathetic backstory doesn't make a villain sympathetic, it's their MOTIVATIONS that do, even if they take wrong actions in pursuing it. Ransik was just an anarchist and criminal, but Magneto was fighting for the rights of an oppressed people. This doesn't justify his actions, but it makes him sympathetic.

Likewise, Charmcaster was genuinely trying to free her world...and when she did, everyone went to war and started fighting over power. Can you not see how that would make her resentful toward those she sacrificed? You say she "does horrible things without a single thought for anyone else", forgetting entirely that she didn't pull this until after the time of chaos where those "anyone elses" ALSO did horrible things without a second thought all in the pursuit of what they wanted.

And her other motive was to resurrect someone she dearly loved...again, a very clearly sympathetic motive. It doesn't justify her actions, but claiming those actions make her not a sympathetic character is dead wrong. She's like Magneto here, not like Ransik.

"A character you feel for, watch go through Hell, and understand why they're doing this" describes Charmcaster to a TEE. The majority of Ben 10 fans do feel for her, they do watch her go through Hell before and after this, and they do understand why she does what she does because they can understand that loving your father and being stuck somewhere where nobody else loves you, even after you freed their enslaved asses, would drive her to very extreme and evil lengths to find her happiness. It doesn't make her a monster, it doesn't make her unsympathetic, it makes her a lost and lonely girl who has done the wrong things but still has HOPE (yeah, that name was chosen for a reason) to get better.

She DID feel remorse for her actions. I saw you arguing against that above and have to call bull. "No point in continuing?" If she wasn't remorseful, she would have just kept searching for another way to bring her father back that wouldn't cost any lives and make him upset at her, not because taking lives was wrong but because it didn't get her what she wanted. Instead, she gives up the Alpha Rune that forces servitude to her (notice that she's not wearing it next episode) and is to actually rule Ledgerdomain the right way, even when she finds the job boring she's doing it to make up for what she did to the realm's denizens before.

And lastly, "Ben and Kevin argue..." NO. This wasn't a sexist "boys against girls and the boys are right" case. Kevin was on Gwen's side: he agreed that Charmcaster WAS sympathetic. It didn't justify anything, true, but Gwen wasn't arguing that and neither was the episode. She was arguing that, even after her unjustifiable actions, Charmcaster is deserving of pity, and Kevin agreed because he could empathize. The point of the episode was that sometime people who do terrible things do it for human and sympathetic reasons, and Kevin can understand that better than anyone else since he has an even longer history of it than Charmcaster. Only Ben doesn't sympathize with her, and if you think the guy constantly made to be a foolish jackass this entire series is meant to be the correct one here, then I don't know what to say.

Look, I'm sorry if this sounded ranty, but Charmcaster was one of the late Dwayne McDuffie's favorite characters due to her moral nuance and her character arc, and you grossly misinterpreting and misrepresenting it makes me have alot of negative feels. Nobody was ever trying to say she was right and justified in what she did. But she is sympathetic and she is a developing, redeemable character, so painting her as just a remorseless monster is about the biggest slap in the face to Dwayne's intent as possible.