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The Last Disk
*sniffle* I knew the journey had to end... but... man, what an amazing ending....
Okay, not really a review so much as a whole lot of fangirl squeeing.
I love how they start with trying to talk about things they haven't told each other and what it is that Mugen gets out about killing an officer of the shogun. And wow Jin's story and even more wow was Fuu's.
It's interesting how some summaries of the series say that 'nothing comes up about Jin's past until the last arc'. When it seemed to pop out to me from even the very first episode. The simple fact that he classifies himself as a ronin when he has those *skills*, and a particular school is named so early...
The beauty of the last story was that it used nearly everything that had been shown up to that point, show just a little more, but it was all in-line with everything that had gone before.
And I was sure that the Sunflower Samurai couldn't live up to being the goal itself. Elven lawnmowers... the goal of the quest can never be as huge as the quest itself, can't be worth all the pain and effort.
But, oddly enough, it was. The whole scene with Fuu and her dad wasn't quite everything I might have wanted for the end of the quest, but with that and how Mugen's story resolved and how Jin's story resolved with the threads from what had happened previously, it was pretty satisfying. Plus, the caliber of the opposition (I can't quite bring myself to label them 'bad guys', though some of them were bad enough in deed) the heroes certainly proved themselves, their resolutions, toughness, and what kind of strengths they'd gathered along the journey.
I loved Mugen through the whole thing. His whole fight with the Hands of God was all his lovely, pure instinct, and the reactions!! I LOVE how they depicted all that. His fight with the brothers was brutal, and very, very much him. It really satisfied me that Fuu was the one that called him back.
Oddly enough I loved the fact that the only time Fuu actually touches Jin is that one time she leans against him by the river bank. And he's the one that says that phrase that Sakura says a thousands of times to Shaoran while she's trying to confess her feelings to him, and I was like OOOOOHHH!! Duh. He is always the one that goes looking for Fuu.
Japanese romance in full bloom.
And when he says he finally is using his sword work for someone other than him, I was like wow. And the opening he make and how he exploits it and the look on his face when he's hit... wow. ALL his fights in this arc were spectacular and really made me very, very, very happy, even the backflash one in the dark with his teacher. And he is beautiful... in that lovely fan service moment with his hair down, his glasses gone, his kimono half off, and the fight then is just. *happies*
There's something in me that is very, very happy about someone so beautiful also being so utterly deadly and honorable all in one, as well as being so completely contained. *grins*
Wow. It was a very satisfying ending, especially when the three of them part ways at the crossroads, in nearly exactly the same way they parted ways like four or five times during the series. Heh. There's a part of me that has to believe they have to collide again in the best of ways.
IT WAS TOO SHORT! But I might just watch it all again and then send it back. *laughs*
Okay, not really a review so much as a whole lot of fangirl squeeing.
I love how they start with trying to talk about things they haven't told each other and what it is that Mugen gets out about killing an officer of the shogun. And wow Jin's story and even more wow was Fuu's.
It's interesting how some summaries of the series say that 'nothing comes up about Jin's past until the last arc'. When it seemed to pop out to me from even the very first episode. The simple fact that he classifies himself as a ronin when he has those *skills*, and a particular school is named so early...
The beauty of the last story was that it used nearly everything that had been shown up to that point, show just a little more, but it was all in-line with everything that had gone before.
And I was sure that the Sunflower Samurai couldn't live up to being the goal itself. Elven lawnmowers... the goal of the quest can never be as huge as the quest itself, can't be worth all the pain and effort.
But, oddly enough, it was. The whole scene with Fuu and her dad wasn't quite everything I might have wanted for the end of the quest, but with that and how Mugen's story resolved and how Jin's story resolved with the threads from what had happened previously, it was pretty satisfying. Plus, the caliber of the opposition (I can't quite bring myself to label them 'bad guys', though some of them were bad enough in deed) the heroes certainly proved themselves, their resolutions, toughness, and what kind of strengths they'd gathered along the journey.
I loved Mugen through the whole thing. His whole fight with the Hands of God was all his lovely, pure instinct, and the reactions!! I LOVE how they depicted all that. His fight with the brothers was brutal, and very, very much him. It really satisfied me that Fuu was the one that called him back.
Oddly enough I loved the fact that the only time Fuu actually touches Jin is that one time she leans against him by the river bank. And he's the one that says that phrase that Sakura says a thousands of times to Shaoran while she's trying to confess her feelings to him, and I was like OOOOOHHH!! Duh. He is always the one that goes looking for Fuu.
Japanese romance in full bloom.
And when he says he finally is using his sword work for someone other than him, I was like wow. And the opening he make and how he exploits it and the look on his face when he's hit... wow. ALL his fights in this arc were spectacular and really made me very, very, very happy, even the backflash one in the dark with his teacher. And he is beautiful... in that lovely fan service moment with his hair down, his glasses gone, his kimono half off, and the fight then is just. *happies*
There's something in me that is very, very happy about someone so beautiful also being so utterly deadly and honorable all in one, as well as being so completely contained. *grins*
Wow. It was a very satisfying ending, especially when the three of them part ways at the crossroads, in nearly exactly the same way they parted ways like four or five times during the series. Heh. There's a part of me that has to believe they have to collide again in the best of ways.
IT WAS TOO SHORT! But I might just watch it all again and then send it back. *laughs*
no subject
I also like the idea of Jin/Yuki totally. Brother... exactly.
I kind of like the unresolved triangle thing, as it's very, very Japanese to just leave it hanging like that, maybe with Fuu in love with Mugen, and Jin longing for Fuu, and Mugen and Jin simply being battle comrades which can be deeper in some ways than even sex, because it's shared death.
Heh. I'll check out your recs. I seem to be in input mode, exhausted otherwise... so I'll see. I'll return the dvds with a small token of my thanks for loaning them.
Thank you.
no subject
It was my pleasure to loan them to you! I just knew you had the sensibilities to appreciate the story. :)
no subject
My plate is full and fun and interesting, but this is actually more along the lines of what I'd like to be writing.
I dunno. As a friend of mine put it while mangling some William Gibson:
"If they think you're mythic, go technical. If they think you're technical, go mythic. I'm a very technical girl. So I decided to get as mythic as possible. These days, though, you have to be pretty technical before you can even aspire to mythicness."
Heh...
It'll be interesting to hit mythical through technical. But this was pure mythic, on a gorgeously personal scale.