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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: 2012-04-19 07:55 pm (UTC)I'm not saying he's unjustified or that Charmcaster was in what she did, but you have to understand where she's coming from. Most of the "lives she thought didn't mean as much as father" had started a war and begun killing each other once she deposed Adwaitya. That combined with the looooong time Charmcaster's been sealed in Ledgedomain, for all she knows ABANDONED by Gwen and co., why WOULDN'T she feel resentful toward all of them and (wrongly, mind you) feel that they deserve to die for the sake of getting back the only person who loves her?
That Ben can't feel any sympathy for her whatsoever, IMO, means he hasn't matured at all from the narrow-mindedness he displayed when he felt killing Kevin was the only option.
Staff writer Geoff Thorne has gone on record to state that Charmcaster isn't evil and is supposed to be sympathetic ("I'm sorry. Were you watching the same episode as me? I saw a girl who was broken-hearted, who had done terrible things for the chance to save the father she loved only to have them come to nothing. Gwen says she has nothing now, she's empty. In what way does "empty" mean "evil?"")
If the writer of this episode (David McDermott) somehow didn't get this across, then that's his problem, not Charmcaster's. Charmcaster was not justified in what she did, but there were sympathetic reasons behind it, and she's likely going to try to get better from now on.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-04-20 01:17 am (UTC)Charmcaster cried when her father yelled at her. That still does not mean it's an expression of guilt. It's an expression of shame, which is different. Guilt is when you recognize your own wrongdoings. Shame is when someone else recognizes it, and you feel bad because of it. And she was never abandoned by Gwen and the others. She locked the door behind them. That's a major difference. She made the choice herself not to let them help her.
And yes, if there is a problem with the writer, then there's a problem with the character. If the writer can't get it across, then that completely changes the interpretation of the character.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-04-20 01:54 am (UTC)First off, no, it was stated that the door locked because of no Alpha Rune. Charmcaster didn't do a thing to lock it; she just chose not to go with Ben and the others. And they were NOT going to help her at the moment to start with, Ben said stopping Aggregor came first and THEN they'd help her, but Charmcaster knew that'd be impossible since the door would be sealed shut behind them when they left to pursue Aggregor. She let them go save the universe while she stayed to fight for her realm alone. And the looooooong time she's stayed there (time passes differntly there) and frusturation she endured would naturally warp her against them and make her think they abandoned her by going after Aggregor rather than helping her. It's not right, it's not logical....but it's understandable given the circumstances.
Tell me, how did you like and accept Kevin for so long? Until episode 10 of "Ultimate Alien", we NEVER got any sort of explanation or justification for why he behaved the way he did in the original series, and he rarely showed anything in the way of remorse for it...in fact, he frequently STILL engaged in criminal acts. For a long time, the reason he was a good guy at all was never gotten across. Yet you accept that he's good easily.
Bottom line: this cut-and-dry "Charmcaster is pure evil" sentiment makes little sense and is against the wishes of the writers. Some things aren't that simple, sometimes genuinely sympathetic characters can and will do horrible things like Charmcaster did, and sometimes do so with little remorse at the time. You're a "Kingdom Hearts" fan, right? Tell me, when he was actually doing them, did Riku have ANY qualms about his acts of evil, like trying to kill his best friend? No. Is he ultimately a sympathetic character? Yes. Same with Charmcaster, and I have little doubt her redemption will unfold in "Omniverse".
(no subject)
Date: 2012-04-20 02:01 am (UTC)As for Kevin, I did have my issues with him. I even point it out in my endpoint analysis for AF, that we don't get any backstory for him until the very end. But the difference is that he stuck around, he developed enough personality traits that were endearing, and he was actively trying to redeem himself.
It's late, I'm tired, and quite honestly, I'm done with this argument. I don't want this to devolve into a shouting match, and I'd just be happy to agree to disagree.