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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 freeJaffa 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.
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
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.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-03-29 06:37 pm (UTC)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.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-03-30 12:13 am (UTC)I would have been able to stomach the whole sympathetic backstory vs. sympathetic character conflict if they hadn't shown in her previous episode that she was capable of being a perfectly sympathetic character. How do you go from her near-friendship with Gwen to this? You can't do it. It's not even a matter of a friendly enemy--they hugged and held hands and squeed together! Friendly enemies do not do that!
(no subject)
Date: 2012-03-30 12:36 am (UTC)The worst part is that the episode doesn't even TRY to explain why Charmcaster is suddenly acting so differently. Charmcaster doesn't say anything, Gwen doesn't ask anything, nothing is explained. There are theories about why she changed being speculated (stuff about "The Chaos" or the Alpha Rune or Diagon, etc.) but no matter what may be true, none of this is in the episode. She's just a sudden genocidal maniac who doesn't care about Gwen and the people of her realm because......because!
And I have to call bullshit on ressurecting Spellbinder being "her life's motivation". No....just no. None of her previous appearances make ANY sort of sense if bringing her daddy back was her driving motive all along. At least becoming powerful enough to liberate Ledgerdomain made sense with what came before, as gaining power was always her objective. But human ressurection? Whaaaaaa!?
(no subject)
Date: 2012-03-30 12:49 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-03-30 01:38 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-04-02 01:22 am (UTC)