Saturday
Apr182009
Asura Cryin 1-3 - Answer Unclear, Ask Again Later
Saturday, April 18, 2009 at 10:08PM
This is one seriously messed up show.
I have no idea what is going on here
Actually, it fits nicely into a niche I've noticed for early episodes of a new series. In this case, both us and the main character are kept completely in the dark as events just unfold around us. In the case of Asura Cryin, we are introduced to a few basic concepts from which we can expect more questions than answers. First, the main character. Tomo's main interesting characteristic is that he's followed by the ghost of a childhood friend, who we assume died in a plane crash Tomo survived. He also has a brother that has left him a mysterious briefcase while bro went off globetrotting.
Typical Japanese Family
Along with that briefcase comes three factions fighting for...something. The azuma, or devils, seem at first glance to be mafia. The Holy Warriors also turn out to be the student council. And finally the Science Club.
It's a Mexican Stand-off, but Japanese!
I have to stop right there. Through the first three episodes, we see more property damage than a cat 5 hurricane can dish out, and we are meant to believe two-thirds of the people responsible are high school kids? It is true I never see anyone die in these fights, but you would think any reasonably staffed school board would notice the shear volume of secret societies permeating their schools.
Run, Tomo, Run!
Next revelation - the issue with the case seems to be the big robot in it. Skip ahead a bit, and we also see that Tomo's ghost is somehow connected to the robot, since the student council pres appears to use his own ghost to summon his robot to generally pummel the landscape and mess up Tomo's girlfriends, both real and projected.
Typical Japanese After-school Activities
At this point, I should introduce you to the other players in this thing called life. In this corner, representing the Science Club, is Kurosaki, and I'm pretty sure she's a transformer.
Roll Out!
For the student council, the president, Saeki, seems hell bent on preventing Tomo from doing, well, anything, with his robot. Attaching him and everyone he cares about is NOT the proper way to do this.
Way to be a dick about it
Finally, representing the Azuma, and playing center, Takatsuki. Using the ever popular power of colored eyes and fire, she becomes the ally of Tomo when he is, of all things, nice to her. Funny how that works.
She's HAWT.....sorry...
So WTF is going on here? We get hints about the end of the world, devils and holy wars, and general mayhem caused simply by Tomo doing whatever it takes to stay three dimensional. Here is where we get to the point where I would do things a little different than the Japanese high school students that usually find themselves in these situations. I would take whatever important thing everyone seems to be after, hold a gun to it, and not move until someone, ANYone, tells me what the HELL is going on! It's obvious everyone else knows, but no one seems to think telling the guy that everyone thinks holds the key to the End Of The World would help.
So where is this going? With this set-up, you are going to get either several episodes of exposition explaining the mythos of the series, or they just leave you in the dark up till, and usually beyond, the end. Or you kill everyone at the end, that works too.
This one is particularly hard to read, since the character designs are fairly low key, with everyone (except the student council prick) playing the parts of normal high school students until, ya know, they need to level three city blocks. There is a silly high school romance undertone, even. Give the track record I have with this kind of anime, I expect everyone to be dead by episode 8.
I have no idea what is going on here
Actually, it fits nicely into a niche I've noticed for early episodes of a new series. In this case, both us and the main character are kept completely in the dark as events just unfold around us. In the case of Asura Cryin, we are introduced to a few basic concepts from which we can expect more questions than answers. First, the main character. Tomo's main interesting characteristic is that he's followed by the ghost of a childhood friend, who we assume died in a plane crash Tomo survived. He also has a brother that has left him a mysterious briefcase while bro went off globetrotting.
Typical Japanese Family
Along with that briefcase comes three factions fighting for...something. The azuma, or devils, seem at first glance to be mafia. The Holy Warriors also turn out to be the student council. And finally the Science Club.
It's a Mexican Stand-off, but Japanese!
I have to stop right there. Through the first three episodes, we see more property damage than a cat 5 hurricane can dish out, and we are meant to believe two-thirds of the people responsible are high school kids? It is true I never see anyone die in these fights, but you would think any reasonably staffed school board would notice the shear volume of secret societies permeating their schools.
Run, Tomo, Run!
Next revelation - the issue with the case seems to be the big robot in it. Skip ahead a bit, and we also see that Tomo's ghost is somehow connected to the robot, since the student council pres appears to use his own ghost to summon his robot to generally pummel the landscape and mess up Tomo's girlfriends, both real and projected.
Typical Japanese After-school Activities
At this point, I should introduce you to the other players in this thing called life. In this corner, representing the Science Club, is Kurosaki, and I'm pretty sure she's a transformer.
Roll Out!
For the student council, the president, Saeki, seems hell bent on preventing Tomo from doing, well, anything, with his robot. Attaching him and everyone he cares about is NOT the proper way to do this.
Way to be a dick about it
Finally, representing the Azuma, and playing center, Takatsuki. Using the ever popular power of colored eyes and fire, she becomes the ally of Tomo when he is, of all things, nice to her. Funny how that works.
She's HAWT.....sorry...
So WTF is going on here? We get hints about the end of the world, devils and holy wars, and general mayhem caused simply by Tomo doing whatever it takes to stay three dimensional. Here is where we get to the point where I would do things a little different than the Japanese high school students that usually find themselves in these situations. I would take whatever important thing everyone seems to be after, hold a gun to it, and not move until someone, ANYone, tells me what the HELL is going on! It's obvious everyone else knows, but no one seems to think telling the guy that everyone thinks holds the key to the End Of The World would help.
So where is this going? With this set-up, you are going to get either several episodes of exposition explaining the mythos of the series, or they just leave you in the dark up till, and usually beyond, the end. Or you kill everyone at the end, that works too.
This one is particularly hard to read, since the character designs are fairly low key, with everyone (except the student council prick) playing the parts of normal high school students until, ya know, they need to level three city blocks. There is a silly high school romance undertone, even. Give the track record I have with this kind of anime, I expect everyone to be dead by episode 8.
in Asura Cryin, Fansub, High School, Mecha, Reviews, Spirits
Asura Cryin, Fansub, High School, Mecha, Reviews, Spirits
Reader Comments (1)
Well written article.