Ginga final review
Aug. 30th, 2018 11:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
akinoameOkay, yeah. Viewing the show in the lens of two separate seasons--episodes 1-6, followed by 8-12--makes it make a lot more sense. The themes are different, and the storytelling definitely improves by the second "season," but you definitely need to watch the first six episodes in order to understand the last five.
If the first arc's theme was dreams, the second's is creating the future and maintaining hope in the face of despair. It's more developed a theme, and we just kind of drop the really fucked up goal of Tomoya discovering his dream is to defeat Ginga/Hikaru. Rather, the show focuses on the friendship among the five main characters: Hikaru, Misuzu, Kenta, Chigusa, and Tomoya. Just as school is about to begin, a space-time anomaly engulfs Furuhoshi Elementary, the closed school that they'd all attended and that serves as the new location of the Ginga Shrine. Any attempts to escape lead to the kids being randomly teleported into another part of the school. Also trapped with them are Hikaru's grandfather, Hotsuma Raido, the Shinto priest who cares for the Ginga Shrine; Ms. Shirai, the retired principal of Furuhoshi Elementary; Officer "Kaki," a police officer who looks out for the kids; a former boxer who was an old elementary school friend of Kaki's; two developers who plan to buy the school property and turn it into a luxury resort; Misuzu's father, a realtor; Taro; and the mysterious "dark ruler" who runs this whole thing. The adults all learn of Hikaru's ability to transform into monsters and Ginga, and for the most part, they don't take it well, other than Grandpa and Ms. Shirai, who have been trying to get to the bottom of all the mysterious goings-on that the kids have been thrown into. But the developers, the boxer, and Misuzu's father are all manipulated into darkness by the dark ruler's latest servant, an Alien Nackle, and eventually it all becomes too much for Misuzu to handle...
Probably my biggest complaint in the first half was that Hikaru's friends didn't get as much development. The second half definitely learns its lesson and gives them a chance to shine, even with the limited time offered to the show. Tomoya with Jean-Nine takes the place of a second Ultra in combat, assisting Hikaru whenever he can, although Jean-Nine needs to take time to repair himself between battles, sometimes knocking him out of a fight. Misuzu gets to be a hero and really takes center stage as a main character, taking over the monster transformation gimmick from season one when her prayers at the shrine cause Ginga's power to respond and create a dummy Ginga Spark that allows her to transform as well--later, Chigusa and Kenta also join her. The kids stick together and support each other, definitely reminding me of Kamen Rider Fourze and the later Ultraman Geed--which is appropriate in Fourze's case, since apparently Ginga took inspiration from it and planned to have a similar set-up. Hell, Hikaru and Gentaro apparently joined forces in the video game Lost Heroes and got the only crossover combination attack...because of course Hikaru and Gen would. And when Misuzu's anger toward her father and her despair swallow her, you really see how far her father, her friends, and Hikaru will go to save her. There's a budding romance between her and Hikaru, and not only is it painfully obvious, but it's also pretty well handled. Each is willing to put themselves in danger to save the other and they support each other's dreams. Likewise, Grandpa and Ms. Shirai are really well handled as they try to figure out who the dark ruler is, and when Dark Lugiel reveals himself, do what they can to stop him. It's even revealed that Grandpa has some of Ginga's power in him as well--enough that he can help to exorcise Dark Lugiel's power from the unwitting host, and that he knows of Taro and where he comes from. I won't reveal who the host is, but I will admit that it manages to be a surprise while also making perfect sense.
However, the season isn't perfect. Sometimes, I'm not sure what tone it's going for, and moments that should be tender end up really goofy--but I admit that's part of the show's charm. But I will admit that I'm not fond of how little things are explained. For example, Taro realizes in the final episode that Ginga is "from the future," but there's no explanation of just how that works--it's vague whether that means that Ginga embodies hope for the future, which is my best guess, or if he's a time traveler. Similarly, they don't explain where exactly Dark Lugiel came from or why he attacked the Ultras and why he wants to do the same to humans. I had to look on the wiki to learn that Ginga and Dark Lugiel were once the same being--much like it's implied Rosso, Blu, and Grigio were in the later Ultraman R/B--but that they forcibly split over a fundamental disagreement over whether life should be allowed to continue in the face of inevitable sorrow or if it should be ended to prevent that...which is basically the core argument of Kamen Rider OOO, proving Ginga probably wasn't just thinking of Fourze. I've never been a fan of having to look to external sources for an explanation over what happened in a show. I'll admit that yes, Orb also has nearly its entire backstory in external sources, but at least there, there's planned prequels and sequels to tell the full story, and it's just too ambitious for its own good. Ginga honestly could do with more time to tell its story and flesh out its background better, so I hope the comments by Hikaru's actor, Takuya Negishi, and Kensuke Takahashi of X about movies and sequels to their seasons with enough fan support do pan out. I really liked both shows, but they both suffer from the issue of not enough explanation and not enough time spent fleshing out their supporting cast.
But next time, it looks like Hikaru drops most of his supporting cast members as he joins forces with a science patrol and a new Ultra in Ginga S.
If the first arc's theme was dreams, the second's is creating the future and maintaining hope in the face of despair. It's more developed a theme, and we just kind of drop the really fucked up goal of Tomoya discovering his dream is to defeat Ginga/Hikaru. Rather, the show focuses on the friendship among the five main characters: Hikaru, Misuzu, Kenta, Chigusa, and Tomoya. Just as school is about to begin, a space-time anomaly engulfs Furuhoshi Elementary, the closed school that they'd all attended and that serves as the new location of the Ginga Shrine. Any attempts to escape lead to the kids being randomly teleported into another part of the school. Also trapped with them are Hikaru's grandfather, Hotsuma Raido, the Shinto priest who cares for the Ginga Shrine; Ms. Shirai, the retired principal of Furuhoshi Elementary; Officer "Kaki," a police officer who looks out for the kids; a former boxer who was an old elementary school friend of Kaki's; two developers who plan to buy the school property and turn it into a luxury resort; Misuzu's father, a realtor; Taro; and the mysterious "dark ruler" who runs this whole thing. The adults all learn of Hikaru's ability to transform into monsters and Ginga, and for the most part, they don't take it well, other than Grandpa and Ms. Shirai, who have been trying to get to the bottom of all the mysterious goings-on that the kids have been thrown into. But the developers, the boxer, and Misuzu's father are all manipulated into darkness by the dark ruler's latest servant, an Alien Nackle, and eventually it all becomes too much for Misuzu to handle...
Probably my biggest complaint in the first half was that Hikaru's friends didn't get as much development. The second half definitely learns its lesson and gives them a chance to shine, even with the limited time offered to the show. Tomoya with Jean-Nine takes the place of a second Ultra in combat, assisting Hikaru whenever he can, although Jean-Nine needs to take time to repair himself between battles, sometimes knocking him out of a fight. Misuzu gets to be a hero and really takes center stage as a main character, taking over the monster transformation gimmick from season one when her prayers at the shrine cause Ginga's power to respond and create a dummy Ginga Spark that allows her to transform as well--later, Chigusa and Kenta also join her. The kids stick together and support each other, definitely reminding me of Kamen Rider Fourze and the later Ultraman Geed--which is appropriate in Fourze's case, since apparently Ginga took inspiration from it and planned to have a similar set-up. Hell, Hikaru and Gentaro apparently joined forces in the video game Lost Heroes and got the only crossover combination attack...because of course Hikaru and Gen would. And when Misuzu's anger toward her father and her despair swallow her, you really see how far her father, her friends, and Hikaru will go to save her. There's a budding romance between her and Hikaru, and not only is it painfully obvious, but it's also pretty well handled. Each is willing to put themselves in danger to save the other and they support each other's dreams. Likewise, Grandpa and Ms. Shirai are really well handled as they try to figure out who the dark ruler is, and when Dark Lugiel reveals himself, do what they can to stop him. It's even revealed that Grandpa has some of Ginga's power in him as well--enough that he can help to exorcise Dark Lugiel's power from the unwitting host, and that he knows of Taro and where he comes from. I won't reveal who the host is, but I will admit that it manages to be a surprise while also making perfect sense.
However, the season isn't perfect. Sometimes, I'm not sure what tone it's going for, and moments that should be tender end up really goofy--but I admit that's part of the show's charm. But I will admit that I'm not fond of how little things are explained. For example, Taro realizes in the final episode that Ginga is "from the future," but there's no explanation of just how that works--it's vague whether that means that Ginga embodies hope for the future, which is my best guess, or if he's a time traveler. Similarly, they don't explain where exactly Dark Lugiel came from or why he attacked the Ultras and why he wants to do the same to humans. I had to look on the wiki to learn that Ginga and Dark Lugiel were once the same being--much like it's implied Rosso, Blu, and Grigio were in the later Ultraman R/B--but that they forcibly split over a fundamental disagreement over whether life should be allowed to continue in the face of inevitable sorrow or if it should be ended to prevent that...which is basically the core argument of Kamen Rider OOO, proving Ginga probably wasn't just thinking of Fourze. I've never been a fan of having to look to external sources for an explanation over what happened in a show. I'll admit that yes, Orb also has nearly its entire backstory in external sources, but at least there, there's planned prequels and sequels to tell the full story, and it's just too ambitious for its own good. Ginga honestly could do with more time to tell its story and flesh out its background better, so I hope the comments by Hikaru's actor, Takuya Negishi, and Kensuke Takahashi of X about movies and sequels to their seasons with enough fan support do pan out. I really liked both shows, but they both suffer from the issue of not enough explanation and not enough time spent fleshing out their supporting cast.
But next time, it looks like Hikaru drops most of his supporting cast members as he joins forces with a science patrol and a new Ultra in Ginga S.