Good Old Fashioned Anime Breakdowns Part II

 Good Old Fashioned Anime Breakdowns Part II

 



We return to our regular unglued programming. As we dig in the wealth of unstable characters whether because they are completely bonkers in the most unique way or have a lapse of insanity, this list will show you that even being an anime character doesn’t mean you’re getting off scott free, baggage happens and at ten bucks a pound it can get awfully expensive. Was that a lapse for me, who can say, guess you’ll have to keep reading to find out. Queue the maniacal laughter.

 

 

Parasyte The Maxium: This show is like a loaded gun and it seems to have an unlimited supply of bullets, right out the gate it fires away, one traumatic horrifying scenario after another, along the way you get great character development, relationships waiting on a razor blade, and a slew of unexpected twists. One of them shakes the main character Shinichi so bad, it shows on his appearance, he looks aged in those collection of episodes, like his skin is a thin sheet wrapped around his skull and you can see all the bones hiding underneath. There’s just a complete exhaustion in his eyes but a restless thirst for revenge continues to drive him with a good dose of haunting reminders of what is lost, reminders of what happened. You feel pushed to the corner the way he does and it really feels like Shinchi could be on the verge on losing it all. So what happens next? Well you just have to watch and find out.

 

Elfen Lied-  The entire story is built on something traumatic, as we look at Lucy, a diconlous, experimented on and hunted that meets a young boy and due to an escape from a facility and an injury to her head, she becomes the seemingly helpless Mew. However her pursuer’s aren’t very far and of course their actions lead to an injury that brings back the ruthless Lucy. Limbs will fly and yet it only makes a crazed soldier even more crazed and one of the scientist desperately wanting to be like her, possibly sexual intercourse and diclonius babies? Here’s your source for all thinks unglued, misshapen, trying to be put together again, even scarier how through it, some things can fit.

 

DBZ- There's quite a few moments where it doesn’t matter how strong the enemy is, a character is just pushed too far. While this might be more transformative than it is a breakdown I believe they’re one in the same. So I guess that leaves it open for dozens of shows, quite true, a lot of them I’d like to use but for the moment we’ll use Dragon Ball Z as a fine example. After the death of Krillin in the Freiza saga we get to see an enraged Goku as he slowly turns into a Super Sayian. Now there’s plenty of moments I know but this was one that felt like it wrapped around the series nicely, they were childhood friends, it was Goku pushed to his furthest limit before he tapped into what was pure rage through purity. Transformations are a thing but it seemed worthy of noting considering the type of character Goku is, to be pushed to such a far extreme.

 

Another- In this strange anime there’s a quiet panic that lives in the town. Further into the story we slowly discover the truth, things seem to change when we see why certain behavior is tolerated in the town, why one person is shun and the fear that still lives in everyone in the town if they decide to acknowledge a character's existence. There’s even an attempt to solve it, which seems to work for a while. But let me tell you, nothing could stop this anime breakdown. I mean the entire thing comes to a boil and it’s just one completely paranoid breakdown. Which I guess isn’t completely paranoid considering that people keep dying but resolve that with murder, not such a great idea. The most horrifying thing about Another is when people suddenly become irrational and it seems to bring out the worse in them.

 

Perfect Blue – Perfect Blue directed by legendary director Satsashi Kon gives us an insight into a pop star who faces the mounting pressure following her decision to take another direction in her career. This leads to a breakdown of the psyche and a whole lot of  disturbing images, some of  her own  harsh critique of herself, showing her the worst of what she is now and trying to make her believe she is these things. Not to mention the critical way she's being viewed by the public. A twisted follower of the pop star and a whole lot of things you’d probably associate with a breakdown,  this is psychological in the most horrifying sense. The film shows us truly the inside of a mind under pressure ready to collapse.

 

Gundam 00- What’s interesting about this series is traumatic situations molded the characters into what they are, driving the purpose that we see them have in the show. In Gundam 00 three coalitions which are the majority of countries in the world are competing for the resource of solar energy. It may be the future but things remain unchanged with war and tense standoffs, while other countries remain in turmoil. That is until Celestal Being, a secret group with the mobile suits Gundam having technology light years ahead of the rest of the world begin to forcefully end conflicts around the world, holding both sides responsible if necessary. Their goal to eradicate war completely.

 

      Several of them have reached points of a breakdown but one of the ones I like to point out is the Gundam Meister Allelujah.  Subject to human experimentation the trauma has created a split personality in him, Hallelujah. This side of the mind is cruel and vicious and seems to warp his behavior, it seems the best thing to do might be to deal. Especially if it means attacking a secret facility with the same experiments still happening, ones even undermining the government authority they answer to. Unfortunately ending wars in the world becomes more difficult when the characters are having a war inside themselves.


 

Stein’s Gate- This one is probably a bit of a spoiler so I’ll cover it as best as possible. The series deals in time travel and the first half is interesting in seeing what results these yield. There’s also the sense that any underlining threat is really just an imaginative role playing despite the characters stumbling on such a strange discovery. In fact it’s placed in the back of your mind enough to see what would happen if characters got certain inner wishes granted, how the world around them is changed.

        The threat is real though and when those actions play out it changes the course of the series, leaving it as agonizing viewing to have to watch one character try to make it right with perhaps the answer that it can never be made right again, only worse, who’s to say though, you have to watch and find out. But that is definitely a branch of an anime breakdown, to live through something horrible over and over again just to try and stop it from happening.



Psycho-Pass- There’s something to be said about Shougo Makishima. Clearly the man is deranged and his actions might be from a break down he doesn’t fully contemplate. Or is the world crazy and he just realizes it? Instead of being the ha ha ha I will win evil stereo type. He kind of does win in a sense, if nothing else, he seems to bypass an entire system and structure that is supposed to be the opposing force. Not only that but he proves how flawed the system is with ease, having Akane witness to his horrible actions and revealing the disturbing truth of the Sybil system. So much happens you have to wonder how is Akane’s state of mind supposed to handle it.

 

      That is really the question in the second season of the series, it isn’t too obvious but the concerns of others seem to be the concern of yours, as something feels a bit unstable with Akane. It’s one thing to learn the truth of what you thought you were fighting for, it’s another to live with it and continue forward no matter the reason, where does that lead, what’s the truth of your actions and the outcome you seek. Is there anything left of you once you reach it. That is the question in a series that doesn’t just let you have an anime breakdown, it arrests you for it on the potential that you can be a criminal. Or is that why? Hmm?

 

So many shows, so little to hold minds together. There’s a good chance that in a handful of shows you’ll get, you’ll have at least one or two with people not wound all that tight. Whether from their ambitions, motives or traumatic experiences, sometimes, it mirrors the reaction that people make, when something happens and they find there’s a part of themselves they didn’t know as well as they thought.

One Lamp At A Time

One Lamp At A Time

 

Convenience was never a detailed map

A blueprint with a human emotion to explain

There was nothing but the sounds of life and the silence of death

Reason seemed to be a question that was carried over the waves of an ocean

Yet what if it was shown on a tape

Suddenly there was a reason why the white lab coat was always painted with invisible blood

Suddenly the answer was simple, it was within

A favor is given for the twisted dream, it has made them

Until someone disagrees with him, here to wake the truth from its sweetest dreams

Led here to be enlightened, one lamp at a time

 

Even so a line is a line not to cross

When it is, something disappears

It isn’t what’s expected, their soul not corrupted, a haze from his instead lifted

He had missed something, it has been the lure of conscience

Suddenly not as tempted, who is he, wearer of different faces?

His truer self, first seen in his reflections

Take A Pick Tuesday- Gosick

Take A Pick Tuesday: Gosick

 

There’s been a couple of immensely popular mystery anime shows making waves at the moment. Which is nice to see, a genre that anime has done so many great things with taking the forefront always puts a smile on my face. It brings to mind a terrific show that has had fans longing for it to get a North American release for a long time. A show that had quite a bit of exposure over here when it first premiered.  Gosick is more than a shining example of its genre, it’s a love story that proves no one has to be alone in the world. We find people that come to understand each other can come from any place.

 

       Based on a series of light novels, Gosick follows Kazuya Kujo who transfers to Saint Marguerite Academy from Japan. the school is full of myths and legends and soon he gets labeled as one of them, The Dark Reaper which is also based on his appearance having come from Japan. He stands out in the small European country Sauville. One day he meets someone else, called The Golden Fairy of The Library. Victorique is a short girl his age who happens to be the missing student in his class. She seems to remain in the library surrounded by books though it becomes clear very early on that it’s a little more complicated than that.

  

      What leads them to understand each other better are the seemingly unsolvable mysteries which Victorique is drawn in to solve, a talent exploited by Inspector Grevile De Blois.  After all Victorique is pretty much a Sherlock Holmes in a little girl’s body. One thing becomes clear right away, despite her love for sweets, her lack of tolerance for insolence, Kujo still feels the strong urge to protect her and he is also the key to her seeing the outside world, something she had been prevented from until they meet. Suddenly she's a different girl, seeing all these things on the outside that others take for granted. One of those responsible for enforcing her to live this sort of life, is her brother (yes ol drill hair is actually her brother) Inspector De Blois who also takes credit for every mystery she solves. Much to Kujo’s displeasure.

 

     So while Victorique and Kujo go toe to toe in arguments, he’s also the faithful guardian she’s always secretly hoped for but never was entirely sure existed. Kujo was from a military family, one with older brothers who he felt he lived in the shadow of, a father that was never pleased with him and a mother that tried desperately to protect him,  a life that he couldn’t completely understand. For all their dangerous mysteries it does feel like Victorique understands him and his worth far better than anyone else. These bonds grow through the series and stubbornness aside, you can tell a real affection exists as Victorique gets a jealousy for other characters that appear later on, such as Avil Bradley. Probably one of the few that Victorique can tolerate is there teacher, who looks as young as them, Cecile Lafitte. Well besides Sophie I guess.  As the times are shifting and war seems to be on the horizon their bonds will be put to the test like no mystery before them.

 

     The feeling within offers a certain shade to Gosick and it definitely unfolds it’s mysteries in elaborate, captivating, even literary ways. These murders tend to be brutal expamples of human behavior with the motives being just as cruel. How about a group of gentlemen that kidnap kids of all nationality and see who will survive among them if they place enough situations and provide weapons for them to murder each other. All to predict a coming war. Those are some of the mysteries that the duo explore and at times seem to play into their own personal predicaments as well as their futures.

 

        These mysteries never grow to a height without enwrapping the characters. Gosick accomplishes this while still being fun, sweet, endearing and an absolute joy to watch. They leave us with all these underlining mysteries but do it in a way that seems to be effortless for them, who are the grey wolves, why is Victorique practically a prisoner, what dark shadows are brooding behind the scenes as the world changes and how come she manages to own that look with the pipe when she’s thinking? Reconstructing pieces of a mystery might be the only way to find out or at least watching Victorique do it.  

The End? How To Watch It

One noteworthy thing to say about the series which can’t always be said is the ending of the series of course but also how much the series really covers from the light novel series. Anime is something that we often come to expect something of a cliff hanger, obviously there are conclusions, if every show was like that we’d go nuts but a good portion make us wonder what happens afterwards until we pick up the manga.

       Gosick covers a lot to allow us to be satisfied and it shows us through all the mysteries and all the situations the greatest force to shake the world has to contend with the relationship of Kujo and Victorique. So the series seems impossible to enjoy now because it’s not available here but when it was airing, a good portion of the world had a chance to fall in love with it through Crunchyroll. There was plans for it to be released, particularly in North America when Bandai had changed their focus and no longer would be releasing anime in the states. Which is a shame because it’s such a gem and having personally watched it several times was ready to have it on my shelf in physical form.

 

     That hasn’t stopped Gosick from continuing, there was of course the light novel series, the short stories call GosickS. The manga adaptions which we got a couple of volumes of here in the United States and in 2013 a new announced novel called Gosick Red, to celebrate ten years of the series. Perhaps will get those light novels sooner than the show, who can say? Shows come and disappear all the time, it doesn’t necessarily count it out forever, shows that have never been to the United States are now here so anything is possible. More importantly fans keep theses series alive, by eating up the merchandise here and by forking over for imports but more so with the fan art, with the constant questions and demands, there’s power there to hope it will be listened to. Loving a series keeps it alive and that's one thing fans certainly do. So much so that we get to see certain shows return. When the chance comes I recommend you take that week and devote it to a show that proves that connections know no bound and understanding can come in the most unexpected places.

The Golden Wolf

The Golden Wolf

She was in a prison surrounded by knowledge

Books are the escape to a set of winding stairs

 A forgotten tower, a garden where sunlight finds its way through

Marked a grey wolf in the skin of a golden fairy

The words chattered and accused were also the silence she lived through

Created to be forgotten, never freed from being remembered

Life with the veil lifted she ponders in isolation

Until a voice never heard before asks the question that has always been on her lips

What exactly is wrong with her? Offered hands and devoted protection

Not a single person should be alone in the world she hears over the falling veil, winters are nightmares threating more than idle exile

But she is more than the snow could cover, more than the grey fur placed around her, a golden light brighter than she’d ever seen

A light seen by someone else

Cherry Blossoms

                                             Cherry Blossoms

 

They fell like this when men screamed and died

Blood rose as they fell, it became hard to tell

The difference between beauty and horror, heaven and hell

Things at the moment no one believed

 

Only whispers that claim to have been there

However they are what was found when the snow thawed

Even in the spring that stirs these memories

Can it look any different or has it become the same since

But a cherry tree is just a tree not a man we try to tell ourselves

Though he wonders what sort of man am I

What sort of man will I become?

Binge Sessions

The Binge Sessions

 

Time to sit down for more otaku time after all that couch can’t sit on itself. The question is on what or better yet the question is which one first. The Binge Sessions are lists sometimes themed, sometimes not, they’re when you want more than a single show like in our Take A Pick Tuesday spotlight, mixtures of news shows, old shows, those that are ongoing and ones you’ve just always wanted to get to. Instead of randomly choosing a show (it works sometimes) how about we dip into a few different things to get the blood pumping!

 

 

Detective Conan/Case Closed- Sure I throw this on many lists, probably for the reason that it fits everything! Seriously though this is the perfect anime to start a new year watching, it has something for anyone you might be surprised will sit next to you and it’s a great show to find yourself obsessed over, prepared to dive into its high episode count. Which is well worth it by the way.

 

       The show follows Shinichi Kudo or Jimmy Kudo in the American version, a teenage modern day Sherlock Holmes that has gained quite the reputation and has been aiding the police in some of their biggest investigations, his friend and love interest Ran Mori/ Rachel Moore reminds him of a promise that he made to take her to theme park. The perfect place to confess feelings for each other perhaps?

     Unfortunately the chance slips by as a murder happens in the theme park, soon after that Shinichi follows the trail of two suspicious characters in black and finds them making a deal with someone. Unbeknownst to him he’s spotted, attacked from behind and fed an experimental drug that was supposed to kill him. Instead it turns him into a child again. Now this genius trapped in a child’s body has to make up a new identity, Conan Edogawa, in order to keep those closest to him from suspecting who he is. As well as keeping them from being involved in something that he soon discovers is increasingly dangerous and larger than anything he’s ever encountered before.

     His newfound identity comes in handy real quick. Soon Shinchi or should we now say Conan finds himself living with Ran and her father Kogoro Mori/ Richard Moore a private detective in the hopes that the cases will lead to these mysterious men in black and give him the chance to return his body to normal. However as the show spotlights when everyone is scratching their head but a kid who may have the answer, whose going to listen to him, however Conan realizes this could also work in his favor.

        With the help of his neighbor Doctor Agasa, he uses the tools created for him to help solve the cases even if he’s using other people unconscious and their voices to do so. Boosting their reputations in the process. The series has everything, a long overwrapping storyline to keep you pulled in, unique mysteries each episode, constant growing characters that share similarities to famous detectives in fiction and popular TV from around the world, great character development in the large cast, meaningful romance humor and the thought process of people, what drives them to crime and sometimes what drives them to do the right thing.

 

       It’s a great show for anyone who might sit with you or just a fantastic show to enjoy by yourself. Some of the cases are pretty complex, it takes a genius like Conan to crack it. In the middle of the binge watching, you can also enjoy the movies that have been released every April for just about twenty years. This is also the 20^th anniversary of the series with lots of surprises coming to fans this year.  What are you waiting for!

 

Dragonball- Once in a while you wonder how far you’ve come. I’m writing about Dragonball, a little surreal, anyways, before there were battles of galactic proportions there were big hearted adventure stories called Dragonball.  Daughter of a famous scientist Bulma Briefs (quite the brain herself) is looking for the fabled Dragon Balls, seven mystical orbs that are said to grant any wish. While journeying she meets Goku, a strange boy with a monkey tail, and unusual strength with an even stranger living situation, one that hides the beginning of his most unique origins. Together along with travel companions they meet along the way they search for the dragon balls, encountering all sorts of strange things that eventually lead smack dab into Goku’s destiny.

    The first series had the sort of wonder we would find in series such as One Piece. Which isn’t too surprising considering Akira Toriyama and Eiichiro Oda are friends. The perfect starting point for a franchise you really have to go out of your way to ignore, you’ll find something to love here, there’s plenty of adventure and action but there’s also humor in a way completely different from the other series.

 

Great Teacher Onizuka- Great Teacher Onizuka follows Eikichi Onizuka former gang leader who wants to be the greatest teacher in Japan. To do so though he’ll have to fight every step of the way, even to get into the school to teach, to be assigned the trouble students, to be constantly on the receiving end of all these things that seem to come before his actual teaching, Onizuka employs his unique style of higher learning to actually help the people around him and changing their lives and his forever.

 

      Who would have thought, for a struggling virgin ex delinquent who is always struggling to make ends meet he’d have a heart of gold. Well it’s the sort of point of the series, everyone has a hidden side to them, not in an evil sinister way, just in a way that needs to be reach out toward, no one more so than students and you get it all in the series, the bullies, the bullied, the children ignored, the love, among the students and the teachers, the sledge hammers, the constant destroying of a certain character’s car, the bleeding out after being shot test taking. I told you this show has everything.

 

Beautiful Bones (Sakuarao’s Investigation)- What would be a list without some fairly recent anime and this one in particular having just concluded. Like the title suggests Beautiful Bones follows Shotoro who  is assistant to the knowledgable Sakuarao. When they are with each other they always seem to stumble upon bodies, which always seems to please Sakuarao because this young beautiful girl has a deep love for bones as well. Sakuarao’s vast knowledge of bones in living things helps her deduce what happened to the body and how it’s related to certain people in distress. People in their own lives are not immune to this and what happens is a showing of a very personal connection between these individuals and the victims. On the surface it seems like Sakuarao is a cold calculated indivivual but many things say otherwise and soon there are episodes that say the same thing. Leaving for some heartfelt or heartbreaking episodes, a grandma’s pudding, a previously owned pet and the darker story of friendship once had and the truth that had destroyed it.

     What are we, only bones that are left behind after we’re gone or do the story of bones tell us some thing different? Beautiful Bones explores this in a profound way to show that even the genius Sakuarao who seems happiest when finding a body or getting a new deceased animal is not unaffected by death. Shotaro is her personal connection to some of the personal aspects of her heart and sometimes offers a window to what means the most in her life, even if it’s obvious that he is definitely one of them. This also allows a certain theme that runs with the bodies they found and a possible dueling truth that lies underneath. Someone to connect them all and a possible past the two share. The unique quality of Beautiful Bones is all on its own and without trying surprises you in an episode when you least expect it, you find yourself heavily investing in characters even if you only saw them in a single episode.  While it’s a short and sweet one, we’ll keep out hope for a second season in the long run.

 

 

Gundam: Iron Blooded Oprhans – Many people have a hard time figuring out where to start on large franchises, often one of them is Mobile Suit Gundam. Understandable, it can be intimidating for the nearly 40 years of shows and with it’s massive film base and the scope it has is unbelievable. Yet that might be all the reasons you need to start, one of the newest of the Gundam series, Iron Blooded Orphans is set 300 years after a war between Earth and it’s colonies. Mars has now become a place for humans to live and though some of the colonies have won their freedom from Earth, they’re also dependent on it for its resources.

      The story picks up when a princess of one of the colonies is supposed to be escorted to Earth in the hopes to gain it’s freedom from Earth and is attacked by an Earth military section Gjallarhorn, those left to defend are sort of abandoned to fend for themselves, deciding to rebel from those that ditched them they still find themselves to be outnumbered and outgunned until Mikazuki Agus enters the fray, turning the tide with a Gundam that was in the midst of being repaired.

      The appealing thing about this series that maybe someone who isn’t familiar with the Gundam series, are the melding of common themes from the majority of the series and its sole unique flair. It deals with every political topic from slavery to war but triumphs to make it very personal, a thing that make the franchise stand out but in Orphans its characters are quite different from any other series and with the collaboration of director Tatsuyuki Naguri (Toradora, Anthem of The Heart) and writer Mari Okada (Toradora, Anthem of The Heart, Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day, Gosick) it makes Gundam Iron Blooded Orphans a very unique experience.

 

 

 

Space Brothers: A different sort of space story but one of the most heartwarming, heroic and inspiring series you could recommend to another person, Space Brothers is truly a show where to achieve your dreams, you have to reach for the stars. This is a must if you haven’t seen any of it or simply have heard about it. Now’s the time. Space Brothers gives a detailed look in the hopes of being an astronaut.

 

     The story is about two brothers who as children promise to reach Space. As adults though their lives taking very different paths. He isn’t sure when but at some point, older brother Mutta Namba, had found the dream to be an impossible one. Instead he had become quite the successful car designer, that is until Mutta head-butts his boss for laughing at a newspaper article about his brother Hibito. Ironically his brother Hibito never gave up being an astronaut and is set to be the first Japanese man on the moon. Completely blacklisted, Mutta reexamines his life, what it had meant to go to space and why hadn’t he ever tried.

 

      When Hibto catches wind of what happened, he and their mother submit an application to JAXA for Mutta to take the astronaut exam. When he gets accepted it gives a second chance for Mutta to follow his dreams and perhaps much like their idols be two brothers that reach space. The show paints Mutta as an awkward, very human person, who wonders things most people do and faces the dilemmas most do, the difficulty of following a path toward your dreams. It shows his talents that would make him completely qualified as he goes through the rigorous examinations along with other characters who have similar dreams, coming with different reasons from all sorts of places.

 

       The show is passionate as it is humorous and yes it shows the relationship between the brothers. At a 99 episode count it’s something you can enjoy for quite a while, fleshing out so many characters and so many storylines it has the power to really pull on the heart strings. This is an awakening I think for some, to see the power of storytelling, setting you down a truly fun path this year in anime. And yes I hope they make more too.

 

Yu Yu Hakusho – One of my all-time favorite series Yu Yu Hakusho transcended in so many ways its genre and the expectation of its storytelling. Instead it’s a phenomenal series that looks deep into the desires that drives people and the choices they make when recognizing or not recognizing them. Good and Evil are shattered lines and that is only the beginning, as they constantly are shifting to help add depth to the wonderful characters in the series. Matched with jaw dropping, emotionally, purposeful action Yu Yu Hakusho proves why it’s been a mainstay anime even decades after its release.

 

      We follow Yusuke Urameshi who is written off as delinquent and outsider, poorly misunderstood he does something that most won’t believe except those closest to him (some he was unaware were close at all) and risks his life to save a boy from a speeding car. His unexpected deed leaves him a ghost but one which Spirit World will give a second chance to return to his body. The catch, Yusuke’s nature allows him to be a spirit detective for them, to investigate issues between the human, demon and spirit world and sometimes hunt down demons that go astray. While this leads him into situations he shouldn’t be able to handle it also allows him to undergo a change inside and how he sees the world. Giving Yusuke the answer to what those around him mean to him.

Take A Pick: Samurai X Reflection

Take A Pick: Samurai X Reflection

 

Looking back it’s almost strange to really consider Samurai X: Reflection simply an OVA, it accomplishes much like Trust & Betrayal something truly astounding in anime and also touches on an already established mythos, filling in the things we always wondered about but maybe were too afraid to actually see. Not only does it gives us this, it gives us so much more as it is the definitive answer in both Kenshin Himura’s life and those around him.

 

     In the same vein as Trust & Betrayal, its crisp animation and serious tone set it apart from the TV show but never so that it feels like a completely different series, these are mere chapters in Kenshin’s life, to see them this way is to understand different moments have different feelings attached to them.  Having learned the bloody past of Kenshin that has molded our favorite tortured wanderer, we now look to his future and the majority of it is through the eyes of his wife Karou. Who must cope with his absence and the many times he’s had to leave and it asks the bold question who suffers the most, the sufferer or the witness to the sufferer.

 

      Karou is a weakened form of her old self as she waits and the OVA/Film, goes back and forth into her reflections of their life years before and the present, it also dives into other characters and what has happened to them since such as their son Kenji and the familiar characters Sonouske and Yahiko. Through her eyes we see a wanderer who is repeatedly haunted by his past, through figures that will not allow him to live in the present forcing him to find something in the now to stave off his past. Even so, the lengths he must go seem to be destroying him and the repeated visits keeps his mind far away, how can Karou’s offered hand hope to keep him here. It also ties into her thoughts of her father, the parallel paths he and Kenshin have walked and the yearnings she had as a child mirroring the yearnings as an adult.

 

     Interestingly enough there is no resentment or bitterness toward Kenshin not being able to fully be present as her husband, while there is sadness, there is also hope and through it even understanding. Something that Kenshin needs. This OVA is focused on relationships and the journey the characters will make more than how they cut up their enemies but it revisits certain battles in the TV series, given another glimpse in their mind during it and what it leaves them with. They are wonderfully done, flexing the amazing animator’s muscles to show these briefly as they do with the subtly of other scenes and the scenery and how it plays into character’s feelings. Because a cherry tree is just a cherry tree not a man. Something along those lines. Just one of the many things that Kenshin says to try and keep his feet parked in the present and not the past. Something that if you think about it has even greater significance later on.

    The music just like in Trust and Betrayal is extremely powerful, it has the might of any film score you might see and seems physical as it moves around the characters and the animation, understanding every moment of the film. It simply stands out as great music period, something I’ve heard many people say time and again. As hard as the first half of the reflection is, the second is rougher as we see reflections that mark even deeper into the scar of what has made Kenshin who he is and the return to the present as others that he has moved and changed now make an effort to finally bring him home, truly. There’s no denying the organic romance of it and never does it feel like something Kenshin would not say or do, it always feels like we are seeing the inside of his soul and the connections to all the ones around him. So many people need Kenshin as we see, you find you need him too, his philosophy and struggle to understand life that though he may never have asked it, we are so glad of those that reach out that he needs and the strength of Karou who he might have needed more than anything.

 

 Powerful as a statement, powerful in its closing of a beloved franchise, Reflection is a must for those that love Rurouni Kenshin, it is yet another piece to a whole of what has moved us for so long now and is a great encouragement for those that have not seen the series to watch it in order to reach this point. As sad as it is this isn’t something that can be ignored as is the hope that just will not remain defeated throughout the OVA, making it all the more important.