Quote:
Originally Posted by SigUp
Actually, I don't think you are correct, at least in terms of this episode. The self-restoration ability was shown in episode 3, while the basics for flash casting (the bypassing of the activation sequence) was described in episode 5. As long as the viewer pays attention and keeps them in mind he won't get all surprised by what happened in this episode. And if he didn't pay attention or forgot about it ... spelling it any clearer won't achieve any desired effect, unless it is shown that clearly that it robs much of the potential for development. Who wants to see a character that is basically finished at the start of the show?
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The problem isn't just that people aren't paying attention. It's that the way the information is relayed is through the dialog of one individual (Tatsuya Shiba), who has a
vested interest in hiding his abilities. Throughout the series, Tatsuya regularly claims to not have substantial abilities or downplays his abilities and then latter demonstrates that he either does have said abilities or has effective work arounds that render his previous statements dubious or even outright false.
In the absence of an objective narrative voice, the audience is left only with Tatsuya's own deliberately muddled descriptions of his own powers. This obfuscation gives the audience the impression that Tatsuya has
no meaningful limitations on his powers, as he seemingly produces powers at whim to solve whatever issue crops up.
Tatsuya's explanations of his powers throughout the series vary depending on who he is talking to and what the situation is, so it's
blatantly obvious that at least some of the things Tatsuya says are about his abilities are lies or half-truths. The audience is left to determine what, if anything he says is true, which means its quite easy to assume that Tatsuya is simply some unlimited magical badass who simply feigns magical incompetence to avoid unwanted attention.
Knowing Tatsuya's limitations, I felt quite a bit of tension during this episode's show down with Masaki, but if I hadn't, I might have just assumed that Tatsuya would make up some new ability to win, and then feel justified in feeling so when he healed all damage and cast a spell we'd never seen to take out Masaki. I just really don't think this show benefits from just letting people see the action without explaining what's actually going on.