Quote:
Originally Posted by Last Sinner
Beatrix is someone who has significant backstory and deserved a better showing. Showing that also could have done more for Irisdina in the process.
If there's more to Axmann that I'm not aware of, enlighten me. Far as I'm concerned, he excelled at being a bastard and was one heck of a villain.
Gretel lives? Huh...I'll take that. The way she died in the LN did seem rather stupid. At least someone who truly deserved to live through this did.
Katia....I don't resent her but....Katia had a free pass through this whole title. People just took the shots for her and she just makes it through somehow. Solely because of her name. The fact she was the default moeblob also irks me a bit. Okay, she did manage to rally the people. Okay, she somewhat grew up. Yes, she made Theodor pick himself up once more. But Katia had a free pass. She was utterly unspoiled and had it easy compared to the others. No being thrown into a hell that ruined them (Lise), no being broken by the one who destroyed their happiness (Beatrix), no dark past that would forever haunt them (Irisdina), no torture, no significant battle wounds, no nothing. Okay, Katia's war-hero father is dead. But compared to everyone else...Katia had it easy. It irks me. I wish someone who went through hell was given a chance to find happiness.
Theodor....meh. He beat Beatrix. He fought in the memory of Lise. So be it. But I can't stand the guy. He is not a bad-ass. He doesn't have any values of his own - only those that Irisdina and Katia imparted on him. He required just about every female of the 666th to get him out of weak mental states, especially Irisdina and Katia. And I'm guessing the VN will show Pham had to do that as well. He just feels like a default male lead and nothing more. And trust me.... I'm sure you'd despise him as much as I do.
Lise - you deserved a better fate, but life is not so kind. You were thrown into a hell you never had a chance to escape. You lost yourself and you ended up doing wrong. You had to die - it was the only relatively humane thing that could be done for you. But at least the anime gave you a better farewell and allowed you to have one tiny moment of defiance. I hope you're in a better place.
Irisdina....thank you. You were wonderful, even if screen time for you was rare in the 2nd half. You overcame something many wouldn't and did your best. You were willing to do what was right and make the ultimate sacrifices. You were able to assemble a group of people and make them believe in a cause worth fighting for. You believed in a self-less cause. And thankfully, the anime allowed you to kill Axmann. (The LN didn't....) Seriously, you kicked Axmann's butt while handcuffed....you're awesome. Rest well, Irisdina. I hope you're in a much better place.
While the tone of the final minutes may mask the inevitable fall of Germany, I think it's kind of necessary here. Very few survived - most of the good people didn't. There needed to be a somewhat hopeful tone to make emphasis on one thing. Germany may fall as a country in the future, but the people survived. Irisdina and Katia were able to unite them. Hopefully that will mean something in the long-term war. People were able to overcome hatred, mistrust and unite against a common foe. The battles/wars of previous invasions fuelled mistrust and the chance of other countries utilising the BETA to take over other countries. The 666th were able to rise above that and thus inspire a whole country to do so. That is something that means a heck of a lot.
6.5/10. Hopefully the VN is more around an 8/10 mark, if not higher. |
Gretel survived in the LN too. She was rescued by Martin Karrel. Martin and her dated back in highschool, and Beatrix was responsible for purging him because his family had been throwing dirt at the government (she actually spared him and Martin went into hiding; later on, he joined up with the rebellion).
Katia, I agree with. I like her, but it feels like she was just handed her happy ending. She was never put under fire like the other heroines, which is probably why she isn't as popular as Beatrix, Iris, or Lise over in Japan.
You've also done a good job summarizing how I feel about Theo. I will say he doesn't feel that generic just because of his paranoia and ruthlessness (which the anime failed to get across because the director wanted him to be more "heroic"). His final fight with Beatrix was a huge letdown too, not because it didn't have enough action, but because that's all it was, a fight. Theo has no ideals to counter Beatrix with and neither does he have any personal history. There's really no emotional connection and conflict buildup between the two so us in the audience are thinking why should we care. The final fight should've really been Iris vs Beatrix and Axmann vs Theo, but whatever.
Iris's charm was sucked out, and her death made no sense in the anime. I'll leave it at that.
I actually prefer Lise's LN death over the anime's. It establishes that the rebels are NOT nice people. It's far more tragic too, with Katia failing to intervene in time and Lise convincing Theo she's crazy to get him to shoot her.
Beatrix's characterization was a mess. She competes with Lise as one of the most tragic characters in Schwarzesmarken. Seriously, pull up her wiki page, her backstory is heart rending. It doesn't really come across in the anime though. The whole Jurgen thing should've been expanded upon too. Maybe replace one of the post credit scenes with a flashback to the 70s with Jurgen meeting Beatrix as Iris looks on jealously. That would've done a lot to quickly contextualize things. Something like this scene:
Additionally, I view the whole ending as ironic just because I know that the Oder-Neisse will fall in a few months due to all sorts of issues brought on by instability caused by the rebellion.