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adhd-mess · 1 year

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I have so many thoughts about episode 8 but I'll begin with my favorite dumbass: Tusgaru Shinuchi, this is a little meta I made, it was supposed to be about him and Aya's relationship but I got distracted.

This scene is by far one of my favorites. I love Jack's just utter confusion on why they were chasing them. Like he can't imagine why?

"Chasing us? For what? Revenge? A cure?"

He doesn't get it. Because he wanted to be this hybrid, he had a choice whereas Tsugaru didn't. But what catches my attention in this scene is Tsugaru's reaction to him saying "for what?"

The most likely involuntary head raise, the widening of the eyes, the gasp. What Jack said triggered Tsugaru trauma. The curtain closes only for a moment on his performance of being the Headliner.

And then we get his memories coming in

A normal shot of Tusgaru standing in front of some body of water covering his face

Then it shifts and he's completely shaded black

He's shaded completely black as he remembers the torture, his trauma. To me it kind of feels like he's reliving his trauma . Typically when someone with ptsd is having a flashback they will think that it's currently happening to them--reliving it.

But that doesn't always manifest in the way we see ptsd portrayed(specifically with veterans)in media. You can relive a flashback, think you are there, but it doesn't show in real life. (i have cptsd as does my sister). Maybe except for eyes widening and gasping, and some others that aren't relevant.

To help bring someone out of a flashback you need to remind them of the present, he does this himself. Jack's question triggered a flashback but it also reminded him of why he was doing this.

The person who gave him a reason to "live", or better put, a better cause to die for--destroying the man who is to blame.

Aya Rindo.

or appearing in blood is just a power of the immortal and she knew Tsugaru was having a flashback and could have died either way Aya brought him back to reality.

He sees her in the pool of blood between his legs which is interesting but okay. And then our favorite Headliner is back

Our Jack here takes that the wrong way, I doubt he knows the double meaning that lies in those words. The meaning we learn in the first episode where Tsugaru says the only reason he keeps killing is one day he'll go feral from using his ability(? cant remember exactly)and kill his owner and all the people who support his and the onis abuse.

A little tangent here: Tsugaru's nonchalant and "dumb lug" attitude is the reason Tsugaru got the diamond in the end. He knows acting that way gives him a certain power, the ability of being underestimated. I know that's a given but I just love that

#ugmf #undead murder farce #undead girl murder farce #umf #tsugaru shinuchi

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lilyginnyblackv2 · 1 year

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Undead Murder Farce - First Impression - SPOILERS!

Just got some time to watch Undead Murder Farce, Episode 1, and I LOVED it!

Looking into it, the series was originally a three volume long novel series that was then turned into a manga, which also had three volumes, and is finished. It also didn’t run in a Jump Shonen magazine, which means there is a higher chance I will like it (I tend to like Shonen in non-Jump magazines like Pandora Hearts, Nabari no Ou, both of which were Monthly G-Fantasy series).

I think you can feel the novel source material influence in this first episode. I love how they did the exposition. There was a bit of an info dump at the very beginning of the episode, with text on the screen, but they had the text come across as someone speaking to you and the way they incorporated the text appearing with the animation and visuals of the opening scene was just really nicely done.

The conversation that then occurs between our main characters was very nicely done and handled too. It was essentially a consultation, so it makes sense that they would discuss their individual situations, determine what each can get out of the deal they are making, and make a deal with each other. I’ll get to the deal part of this episode in a second.

First, I want to just briefly mention that the music was great, I loved the vibrancy in colors, and the animation was very nice too. There were some interesting shots as well, such as this one:

The way they have the more colorful part of town, where they are walking to and end up, floating in the background, with the poor and desolate part of the town that they are walking through in the forefront was quite cool.

There was a lot of excellent visual direction in this series, like the scene where Tsugaru talks about why he joined the “circus” / “freak show” / “sideshow attraction” like gig that we see him performing at.

A spotlight is placed over him, like he is on stage. This is something anime have used before. More often though, it is solely for some kind of comedic purpose (or the characters are actually on stage, like for a school play or something). But the way it’s used here reminds me more of Princess Tutu’s usage, where the series itself is based on ballets and the characters are essentially having their lives being written and controlled by another character in the series. There is less a comedic element, and more a thematic element.

Also, a very 4th wall breaking element without, once again, going into a purely comedic direction. Some of his movements may seem comedic, like here:

But neither Shizuku nor Aya are shown to be amused by this. No sweatdrops or anything like that either, the tone is kept consistent with them just listening intently to what he is saying. Since this is him basically letting them in on his revenge fantasy toward the people who give him the money to live, while at the same time dehumanizing him and viewing him as nothing but entertainment.

Also, god awful people that wanted him to harm a cat (and later his boss, that then goes on to have him fight a cat (under the guise that it’s a bakeneko, a type of cat yokai). I’ll talk about this some more when I get into themes and narratives that the series looks like it’s going to explore.

The way Tsugaru takes “the camera” and moves it around and very agilely moves around the room as he is explaining adds a dynamic element and keeps our, the audiences’, interest, at the same time that he, in-series, is keeping the interest of Shizuku and Aya - his potential new employers.

He is putting on a show for them, but in a very aloof way, which gets into some interesting characterization elements, that I’ll talk about in a bit. The placement of small shots of terror and gore, makes for a different experience (for the audience) with this “spotlight exposition” type scene than the usual as well.

I think the visual direction of the episode is what makes it so engaging and what causes the time to go by so quickly (the episode literally flew by for me) despite the viewers being given so much information to digest in this first episode.

Now, let’s move on to the character designs. The character designs are fun and engaging, as are the personalities we’ve seen so far. They definitely are based around established tropes on some level, but I can already tell that they are being used and engaged in ways we don’t commonly see.

For example, the maid (Shizuku) is kuudere, she doesn’t speak much, only speaking and engaging in things when commanded. She also states that her feelings don’t matter. This doesn’t anger the male MC, Tsugaru. He facepalms, but that’s it. He also just casually mentions to her that that makes her more like a puppet than a human.

The same with Aya, she has a traditional Japanese beauty appearance, and her way of speaking is very direct, straightforward, and demanding. She has an aspect about her that feels very himedere like, but she doesn’t necessarily act like she is a princess herself. She has lived too long for that and is just a more “business first” type of individual. Once again, we don’t see Tsugaru getting annoyed by this, there is no tonal breakage to have characters swat at each other or anything like that.

One moment did imply that that was something that may have occurred if Aya wasn’t just a head. But, well, she is just a head right now, so that takes away such tired tropes from the writing and from the original author’s repertoire of tropes to use.

Finally, Tsugaru himself. He has an aloof-ness and cynical outlook on life (philosophical too) with a bit of a joking side to things that reminds me a great deal of Xerxes Break from Pandora Hearts (being dedicated to a lady is also another aspect, like with Break to Sharon, I’m hoping Tsugaru’s dedication to Aya remains non-romantic).

But he delivers it all in a more deadpan voice, not the more eccentric and teasing way like Break. That makes sense, since Break is a character based off of The Mad Hatter. What we see of Tsugaru’s character feels more like the Break that we get in the latter half of Pandora Hearts.

The thing that makes Tsugaru’s character really stand out though is that his type of character isn’t one that we usually see in a Main Character role. This more quirky male character type is usually reserved for side, secondary, or minor character roles. So I find that fascinating and am intrigued to see how this will play out.

I brought up Tsugaru and Aya’s relationship here because I am a bit side eyeing that aspect (I’m not sure on ages, but since Tsugaru is depicted as drinking, I think it is safe to assume that he is over the age of 20, usually underage drinking isn’t really depicted much in Japanese media). So far, I feel like it isn’t going to be the usual kind of adult-minor or “she looks like a child but is really 1000 years old” type of stuff that pops up in anime and manga far too often. She is 14 physically, that was the age she was killed, and therefor the age she stopped aging, but they really do have her act and sound and feel more like an adult. That doesn’t necessarily mean much though, I find it more telling how they decided to present and depict the contractual kiss that the two have.

They discuss the kiss in a very matter of fact way, this is another aspect of their business contract to them. The series makes sure to focus on the saliva, since that is what Tsugaru needs to extend his life.

Then they make it clear that the two seal their contract with this kiss and exchange, but they don’t linger on the kiss in any way. They don’t sexualize it, in fact, the way they have Tsugaru apologize to Shizuku before he enacts the kiss with Aya is quite interesting as well. It is a contract to the both of them, but the act itself is still seen as intimate, and he behaves in a generally respectful way towards the both of them. We see this earlier when he bent down and kissed Aya’s hair.

There is no focus placed on their lips touching or on romanticizing that aspect. We get a quick shot of them with their lips locked to show that they made the contract. But the lingering focus is instead placed on Aya’s hair. The length of it, highlighting just how long she has been stuck like this.

I hope that there isn’t a huge focus on romance in general, not just for these two, but just between any characters. I don’t mind if there is a bit here and there, I do generally like that, but I think a lack of romantic focus would probably work best for this series. If they do go in that direction though, I do have some faith that some interesting themes might be explored along with it (rather than just otaku bait stuff).

This series has a lot of potential for me. The fact that Aya feels like she has a lot of autonomy, despite the fact that she has no body, and the fact that they aren’t doing anything weird or objectifying with her body or Shizuku’s (so far, at least) is a good sign for me. I also like, once again, that there really wasn’t anything sexual or romantic depicted in the kiss contract betwee Tsugaru and Aya. I can already tell that they will have a sort of “princess and knight” or “employer and employee/master and servant” type of dynamic, and I prefer when those remain platonic, tbh. It’s more interesting and refreshing that way (especially if it involves opposite sex characters and any kind of age gap sort of thing).

The themes of: dehumanization, exploitation, and the fallacies of immortality/having superhuman powers (or being something superhuman) are all ones I like to see explored. The unwanted experimentation aspect is quite fascinating too, and I hope we get some more interesting themes explored further into the series. Both the novel and manga are completed works, so that also gives me hope that the anime will be a full adaptation and have a satisfying ending.

The only real them that I’m a bit side-eye about is the whole “Westernization” aspect. I get it within the time period of the series itself, but this is a modern series being written for modern audiences as well, so I’m keeping an eye out for any Nihonjin-ron type stuff (essentially, Japanese nationalism views, similar to stuff like the USA’s tea party ideas of how the USA is the best country ever, never does anything wrong, and shouldn’t allow foreigners in - that sort of nationalist ideology, just with Japanese towards Japan). We are dealing with outcast characters that exist in a very dangerous situation, so I’m thinking that won’t likely happen, but you never know.

Especially since we have this framework of “Westernization has led to this Purge of demons/yokai” and “the man that appears to have murdered one of the MCs and experimented on the other MC is a Westerner as well” just...hmm. I want to see how they explore things once our gang gets to Europe though. And, I want to make it clear, I’m totally not against being critical of the West and things like colonization (or other similar aspects, which I can see may be a narrative that could be explored here through things like The Purge), I’m just hoping it won’t come with Orientalism and Nihonjin-ron ideologies attached to it. Considering that many of the Japanese portrayed in this first episode weren’t shown in a great light either though, does reassure me some that this likely won’t be the case.

Anyway, I’m really excited for this series, because it is giving me big Pandora Hearts like vibes (one of my favorite manga series), and just has a lot of potential in so many ways. Can’t wait to see where this all goes! :D

#Undead Murder Farce #long post #image heavy post #thought post #Undead Murder Farce spoilers #UMF spoilers #Summer 2023 anime

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