I remain baffled by the lack of desert, which was a major metaphorical element of Liore (not to mention a serious nod to the "go in and help and then it all blows up" situation of, well, Afghanistan, to be honest -- not surprising given Arakawa interviewed veterans from Afghanistan as part of her research). The lack of skin tone also bugs the hell out of me, in that flash of what I saw coming up, because I loathe when characters get white-washed, especially when they pointedly were not so pale in the original story.
(In fact, I'd say Arakawa does a better job than most when it comes to presenting a diverse world within the scope of a manga, albeit with the usual about-a-handful of black characters, but a strong showing for ones who appear even less, like Arabic, Russo-Mongolian, and Chinese.)
I think the watch said '04, because that was when they burned down their house... wasn't it? (OH man how long has it been?)
As for the reduced gore... I dunno. I think part of the reason the first episode had such incredible power was because it went from this horrible scene, such anguish and terror and utter loss and then suddenly two characters in cheerful music in the desert. It gave you whiplash, and it meant when Ed references the taboo of making humans, and speaks with that kind of arrogant, edged-anger, patient-but-not-interested patronizing of Rose... you know what's hiding underneath. (That's what I meant by keeping the anguish on the down-low; if you didn't see the flashback you might not realize how much it had torn Ed up, and you might think now it's just a badge that makes him different and he's cool with using that to his advantage.)
I didn't mean the dialogue was bad, so much as it's just filled with an awful lot of cabbage-lines. Those, unfortunately, don't usually get lost in translation.
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Date: 13 Apr 2009 03:32 pm (UTC)(In fact, I'd say Arakawa does a better job than most when it comes to presenting a diverse world within the scope of a manga, albeit with the usual about-a-handful of black characters, but a strong showing for ones who appear even less, like Arabic, Russo-Mongolian, and Chinese.)
I think the watch said '04, because that was when they burned down their house... wasn't it? (OH man how long has it been?)
As for the reduced gore... I dunno. I think part of the reason the first episode had such incredible power was because it went from this horrible scene, such anguish and terror and utter loss and then suddenly two characters in cheerful music in the desert. It gave you whiplash, and it meant when Ed references the taboo of making humans, and speaks with that kind of arrogant, edged-anger, patient-but-not-interested patronizing of Rose... you know what's hiding underneath. (That's what I meant by keeping the anguish on the down-low; if you didn't see the flashback you might not realize how much it had torn Ed up, and you might think now it's just a badge that makes him different and he's cool with using that to his advantage.)
I didn't mean the dialogue was bad, so much as it's just filled with an awful lot of cabbage-lines. Those, unfortunately, don't usually get lost in translation.