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dangermousieI ended up watching and getting psycho marathonning with GetBackers. Why? The Limitless Fortress arc. I am a sucker for arcs, and this was one heck of a long one, with plenty of fighting and angst and fun and coolness. So I am now a GB addict.
The plot? Summed up briefly as Ban and Ginji and a bunch of others take on an assignment to retrieve a mysterious “IL” from the fortress, a half-finished, mystical danger zone of a building in the center of Tokyo. Complicating matter is the fact that IL is in possession of Makubex, a computer genius who runs the lower floors. Makubex used to be one of the 'four kings' under the 'Lightning Emperor' who used to run the place and is amazingly powerful. Even more complicated? The fearsome Lightning Emperor is the cheerful, unworldly Amano Ginji, who's left the fortress years ago, leaving a power vacuum and chaos in his wake. With Ban and Ginji are Akabane, a cold-blooded, deliciously amoral transporter only in it for the joy of the fight; Shido (my favorite character except for Ban), a taciturn beastmaster, who used to be one of the Four Kings; Himiko, known as “Lady Poison” who has a really complicated relationship with Ban (*pets the OTP*); Hevn, an extreeeeeemly busty negotiator, and Kazuki who fights with threads and who also used to be one of the Four Kings. It's certainly going to be a fun trip down the memory lane. Blood, angst, OTPishness and complicated plots ensue.
First off, I have to note how amused I am by everyone pointing out repeatedly how mellowed out Shido is. The way they talk, one would think he is a dope-smoking, peace-loving hippie, as opposed to a tough, non-nonsense loner. Makes you wonder what he was like before Madoka. How much do I love my OTP (Shido/Madoka)? Thiiiiiiiis much. I love when he tells whoever in the fortress that now he has someone and flashes to Madoka. Awwwwww. Anyway, now Shido is all quiet and noble and non-nonsense cool and I loved his fight with Enishi (who is just annoying and wouldn’t shut the heck up), when at the end, all wounded to hell because of the guy, he picks up the unconscious Enishi and leaves the fight room, because his ears override the false reality, and takes him to a doctor because “he used to be one of my own, so that means he can be one of my own again, sometime.” And then later he leaves the sick room, even in his condition and saves Ban’s life and fights with other members of the gang against the bad guys. I have a huge thing for Shido.
The whole concept of the fortress being something that warps reality is really interesting. I kept complaining ‘stop bitching and leave if you hate it’ but it becomes clear not everyone can. Witness that girl who helped them out. Some of them are at least partially constructs of the reality warp and can’t exist outside. No wonder Makubex is going nuts, as he (probably rightly) believes he himself isn’t real. And this is where Ginji’s power comes in. He was clearly not the Emperor because he wanted to be or had the grand plan. Shido and Kazuki are a lot better planners, after all. It’s because of the sheer crazy amount of power he has. He can warp reality his own way in a place where reality is warped to begin with. He can probably bring down the building. Which is why he wanted to leave in the first place: he was turning into something he couldn’t control and it was a vicious cycle: he’d go into the Emperor form to not fell grief and do something horrible and feel bad and go into the form and so forth…
I like Ginji and I found it interesting that no one was really going to take him down but the point was to make him go into a Lightning Emperor mode and destroy things (and to do that by reminding him of all the people he lost and telling him it’s his fault), but I am afraid I still don’t find him too fascinating. He is too simple and good-hearted a person.
I’ve also really gotten to adore Kazuki (who definitely looks like a girl, whatever silly excuses they have for it). Though I must admit, I kept wishing for him to kill Juubei already. Yeah, yeah, he is your former bodyguard, he’s saved your life repeatedly, he is your former best friend, and if I am not insane, later episodes indicate he is your lover too, but when someone does his level best to kill you repeatedly, it’s time to decide he is irredeemable. People in anime are a lot more noble than I would be. Or maybe it’s because I just wanted Juubei to shut up. All of Makubex’s villains, he himself included, just kept talking and talking and talking. But yeah, the Kazu/Juubei fight is fun, and then Juubei does the noble suicide route, because what has he been doing with the trying to kill histrue love best friend, only not completely, and I love that Kazu, who is himself on the verge of passing out, picks him up and carries him out, overriding VR sheerly through strength of will because Juubei’s life is that important. Juubei makes Aoshi seems cheery, scatterbrained and never serious. I do love Kazu’s attitude to him, which (if the hilarious ep in the baths is any indication) is ‘he is as straightforward as a plank, but oh baby, he is so hot.’ Yeah, slash ceases to become subtext, btw, when we have Kazu and Juubei in the baths with the whole ‘I will protect you with my life’ and Ban and Ginji commenting that they come across as two newlyweds honeymooning at the baths. Heeee.
But leaving all of this aside, let me get to my favorite character, Ban. I. Love. Ban. This. Much. Ban is permanently pissed off in the fortress, ever since he saw one of the villains conduct body modification experiments on people. Ban is a cynic who clearly believes he is unworthy and damned, and tainted: witness his trying to prevent Ginji from becoming a Lightning Emperor because “you are not like me.” But that’s all BS because Ban is, under the snark and the attitude, an extraordinarily decent guy, and seeing people abused gets his blood boiling. I love it when he gets wound up. And I love that he trusts Ginji so much. And that he takes on a sword wound through the shoulder because he knows nothing else will shock Ginji out of his state, so as Ginji won’t become the Emperor. And he lies it’s the mind trick when it isn’t. No wonder Ban is barely walking by the end of the arc.
Also, is he a warlock? He has that weird curse ability and that one flashback to his grandmother (not a fun childhood by the looks of things) also seemed to indicate it (and what is with his memory of a woman saying he is a devil’s child and she doesn’t want him or similar? If it’s his mother, she is not too maternal. Ouch).
Fudou, the thief who wants to off Ban, is clearly not helping matters (not to mention that there seems to be a weird psycho-sado-sexual element which is creeping me out), but I want to talk about Ban/Himiko. I love that when the entire group reunites early on, Himiko is totally glad and whispers ‘Ban’ before she can stop herself. And then of course when Himiko is about to be sacrificed, Mayan style, she ends up thinking of Ban and actually yelling for him, and she doesn’t know why (but I do) and of course Ban helps her out and he rescues her and he holds her as she faints and she is all wrapped in a sheet and he is shirtless and it’s all yummy and awkward and hot and mmmmmm.
Of course, following conversation ensured between me and Husband as a result:
Husband: Himiko is so outclassed with anyone in this group. She totally has no equal powers.
Me: Yes she does. She’s got lungs, with which to yell for Ban. The way Miaka used to yell for Tamahome.
Husband: But she basically has to hope for events to incapacitate her opponents
Me: so? If I was a superheroine, that would be my power too. I’d yell for you, and you’d appear, hopefully not in red spandex and rescue me. Besides, she’s got the poisons.
Husband: Poisons break.
Me: Hers must be durable. When she was going to be sacrificed, she was lying on them and they didn’t crush.
Husband: and that brings me to another point. She was naked and wearing only a sheet wrapped around her. Where the heck did she put the poisons?
Me: One word: ”cavities”
Husband: Yeah.
Me: OK, so when she told Ban to get her an antidote…my mind just went straight to the gutter.
I also like the new credits better than the old one, and the ep with the high school girl who they had to mollify and who ended up crushing on Akabane was hilarious. I love how they couldn’t take out a HS girl, well, at least because they couldn’t hurt a child. But wanted to ;P
The plot? Summed up briefly as Ban and Ginji and a bunch of others take on an assignment to retrieve a mysterious “IL” from the fortress, a half-finished, mystical danger zone of a building in the center of Tokyo. Complicating matter is the fact that IL is in possession of Makubex, a computer genius who runs the lower floors. Makubex used to be one of the 'four kings' under the 'Lightning Emperor' who used to run the place and is amazingly powerful. Even more complicated? The fearsome Lightning Emperor is the cheerful, unworldly Amano Ginji, who's left the fortress years ago, leaving a power vacuum and chaos in his wake. With Ban and Ginji are Akabane, a cold-blooded, deliciously amoral transporter only in it for the joy of the fight; Shido (my favorite character except for Ban), a taciturn beastmaster, who used to be one of the Four Kings; Himiko, known as “Lady Poison” who has a really complicated relationship with Ban (*pets the OTP*); Hevn, an extreeeeeemly busty negotiator, and Kazuki who fights with threads and who also used to be one of the Four Kings. It's certainly going to be a fun trip down the memory lane. Blood, angst, OTPishness and complicated plots ensue.
First off, I have to note how amused I am by everyone pointing out repeatedly how mellowed out Shido is. The way they talk, one would think he is a dope-smoking, peace-loving hippie, as opposed to a tough, non-nonsense loner. Makes you wonder what he was like before Madoka. How much do I love my OTP (Shido/Madoka)? Thiiiiiiiis much. I love when he tells whoever in the fortress that now he has someone and flashes to Madoka. Awwwwww. Anyway, now Shido is all quiet and noble and non-nonsense cool and I loved his fight with Enishi (who is just annoying and wouldn’t shut the heck up), when at the end, all wounded to hell because of the guy, he picks up the unconscious Enishi and leaves the fight room, because his ears override the false reality, and takes him to a doctor because “he used to be one of my own, so that means he can be one of my own again, sometime.” And then later he leaves the sick room, even in his condition and saves Ban’s life and fights with other members of the gang against the bad guys. I have a huge thing for Shido.
The whole concept of the fortress being something that warps reality is really interesting. I kept complaining ‘stop bitching and leave if you hate it’ but it becomes clear not everyone can. Witness that girl who helped them out. Some of them are at least partially constructs of the reality warp and can’t exist outside. No wonder Makubex is going nuts, as he (probably rightly) believes he himself isn’t real. And this is where Ginji’s power comes in. He was clearly not the Emperor because he wanted to be or had the grand plan. Shido and Kazuki are a lot better planners, after all. It’s because of the sheer crazy amount of power he has. He can warp reality his own way in a place where reality is warped to begin with. He can probably bring down the building. Which is why he wanted to leave in the first place: he was turning into something he couldn’t control and it was a vicious cycle: he’d go into the Emperor form to not fell grief and do something horrible and feel bad and go into the form and so forth…
I like Ginji and I found it interesting that no one was really going to take him down but the point was to make him go into a Lightning Emperor mode and destroy things (and to do that by reminding him of all the people he lost and telling him it’s his fault), but I am afraid I still don’t find him too fascinating. He is too simple and good-hearted a person.
I’ve also really gotten to adore Kazuki (who definitely looks like a girl, whatever silly excuses they have for it). Though I must admit, I kept wishing for him to kill Juubei already. Yeah, yeah, he is your former bodyguard, he’s saved your life repeatedly, he is your former best friend, and if I am not insane, later episodes indicate he is your lover too, but when someone does his level best to kill you repeatedly, it’s time to decide he is irredeemable. People in anime are a lot more noble than I would be. Or maybe it’s because I just wanted Juubei to shut up. All of Makubex’s villains, he himself included, just kept talking and talking and talking. But yeah, the Kazu/Juubei fight is fun, and then Juubei does the noble suicide route, because what has he been doing with the trying to kill his
But leaving all of this aside, let me get to my favorite character, Ban. I. Love. Ban. This. Much. Ban is permanently pissed off in the fortress, ever since he saw one of the villains conduct body modification experiments on people. Ban is a cynic who clearly believes he is unworthy and damned, and tainted: witness his trying to prevent Ginji from becoming a Lightning Emperor because “you are not like me.” But that’s all BS because Ban is, under the snark and the attitude, an extraordinarily decent guy, and seeing people abused gets his blood boiling. I love it when he gets wound up. And I love that he trusts Ginji so much. And that he takes on a sword wound through the shoulder because he knows nothing else will shock Ginji out of his state, so as Ginji won’t become the Emperor. And he lies it’s the mind trick when it isn’t. No wonder Ban is barely walking by the end of the arc.
Also, is he a warlock? He has that weird curse ability and that one flashback to his grandmother (not a fun childhood by the looks of things) also seemed to indicate it (and what is with his memory of a woman saying he is a devil’s child and she doesn’t want him or similar? If it’s his mother, she is not too maternal. Ouch).
Fudou, the thief who wants to off Ban, is clearly not helping matters (not to mention that there seems to be a weird psycho-sado-sexual element which is creeping me out), but I want to talk about Ban/Himiko. I love that when the entire group reunites early on, Himiko is totally glad and whispers ‘Ban’ before she can stop herself. And then of course when Himiko is about to be sacrificed, Mayan style, she ends up thinking of Ban and actually yelling for him, and she doesn’t know why (but I do) and of course Ban helps her out and he rescues her and he holds her as she faints and she is all wrapped in a sheet and he is shirtless and it’s all yummy and awkward and hot and mmmmmm.
Of course, following conversation ensured between me and Husband as a result:
Husband: Himiko is so outclassed with anyone in this group. She totally has no equal powers.
Me: Yes she does. She’s got lungs, with which to yell for Ban. The way Miaka used to yell for Tamahome.
Husband: But she basically has to hope for events to incapacitate her opponents
Me: so? If I was a superheroine, that would be my power too. I’d yell for you, and you’d appear, hopefully not in red spandex and rescue me. Besides, she’s got the poisons.
Husband: Poisons break.
Me: Hers must be durable. When she was going to be sacrificed, she was lying on them and they didn’t crush.
Husband: and that brings me to another point. She was naked and wearing only a sheet wrapped around her. Where the heck did she put the poisons?
Me: One word: ”cavities”
Husband: Yeah.
Me: OK, so when she told Ban to get her an antidote…my mind just went straight to the gutter.
I also like the new credits better than the old one, and the ep with the high school girl who they had to mollify and who ended up crushing on Akabane was hilarious. I love how they couldn’t take out a HS girl, well, at least because they couldn’t hurt a child. But wanted to ;P
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no subject
Date: 2006-05-15 09:25 pm (UTC)I like Kaz a lot. He's a sweet, delicate guy who can mess you up. And I think Kaz sort of sees Juubei as his responsibility. Juubei, while not stupid, is completely without imagination. I suppose opposites attract, as Kaz is good humored and friendly to Juubei's stoic and blunt.
And that he takes on a sword wound through the shoulder because he knows nothing else will shock Ginji out of his state, so as Ginji won’t become the Emperor. And he lies it’s the mind trick when it isn’t.
For as mercenary and cynical as he is, Ban is extremely self sacrificing. And it's Akabane who recognizes what Ban did and gets Ginji out of the room so Ban can pretty much pass out. Akabane is interesting. He doesn't really have any ill will towards any of the members, he's just completely amoral and in it for the best fight he can get.
Also, is he a warlock?
Yup. The Jagan and the Snakebite and also the Snake Mode he can go into are all acquired powers, unlike Ginji's genetic ones. While the anime never goes into it, it's pretty obvious that Ban is cursed in some form or another, which is why he sort of originally takes up with Himeko and her brother (also cursed children).
Himeko really does love Ban and I think he loves her in his own complicated way. He feels a ridiculous amount of responsibility to her because of his promise to her brother and I think he likes her in and of her own right (there is a flash back or two that indicate that). It's always HER that he can hear and totally distracts him from fighting.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-15 10:48 pm (UTC)like Kaz a lot. He's a sweet, delicate guy who can mess you up.
Yeah. He has no real anger or spite. He reminds me of Souji, a bit. And he is just so decent and caring.
Juubei, while not stupid, is completely without imagination.
That's true. He is not mentally felxible at all. Much too tenacious as well. He gets one idea: 'protect Kazu,' 'serve Makubex' and will hold to it at all costs. It can make him a really loyal friend, but it also makes him blind to opposing views.
I suppose opposites attract
And hey, Juubei IS hot, after all.
Ban is extremely self sacrificing
I noticed that as well. He sidetracks his fights to help Himiko, he puts himself in the certainly of great bodily harm to help Ginji etc etc. I do think it's more than simple goodness. He seems to be a bit into punishing himself because he is oh-so-unworthy.
Akabane who recognizes what Ban did and gets Ginji out of the room so Ban can pretty much pass out.
Interesting. I never realized that, but you are totally right. And it fits with Ginji's not being able to hide anything nature that he doesn't suspect anything is wrong. Ban is a lot more complex than Ginji is. No wonder he takes care of him in the real world.
It's always HER that he can hear and totally distracts him from fighting.
Yup. It's interesting that it's always Ban who comes to her rescue, no one else. And they make a pretty effective team. I have to say I can see why she fell for him even without knowing the truth about the brother. A hot guy keeps protecting me at the greak risk of death to himself? I'd fall for him too.
While the anime never goes into it, it's pretty obvious that Ban is cursed in some form or another, which is why he sort of originally takes up with Himeko and her brother
I wonder if the manga goes into it more...
no subject
Date: 2006-05-15 11:49 pm (UTC)Everyone sort of treats him as a time bomb in their midst, which he is, so it's never really surprising when he switches sides. Ban especially is always sort of "well, I saw that one coming". For all that, as I discussed in another of my posts, Akabane finds acceptance, if on the fringe, in the circle of friends. He's never actually a "friend" and no of them trust him farther than they can throw him, but for all that, Akabane is still someone they sort of care about, and like it or not, amoral as he is, he does care about them in a weird way (if they're not in his way).
but it also makes him blind to opposing views.
I'll ignore that obvious pun.
And hey, Juubei IS hot, after all.
And you never have to worry about him cheating as he doesn't have enough imagination to put something like that into practice. He's sort of like a lighter haired Aoshi, only blind and with less humor.
He seems to be a bit into punishing himself because he is oh-so-unworthy.
Which is interesting because Ban is generally always the confident, opinionated one. But when push comes to shove, he's far harder on himself than Ginji is on himself.
A hot guy keeps protecting me at the greak risk of death to himself? I'd fall for him too.
And not only a hot guy, a hot guy she's very compatible with. She's fiesty and loud and Ban doesn't back down to her. Likewise, Himeko lets Ban have it when he's out of line and serves as his conscience when Ginji isn't around. And Ban needs someone to take care of really. The two people he picks are quite capable of taking care of themselves in a lot of ways, so they don't drive him nuts with their neediness, but they still need Ban. And I think in the long run that's what Ban wants.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-16 12:17 am (UTC)Exactly. Actually, there is something rather 'nice' (it's not the right word, but I can't think of one) that Akabane is just interested in the purity of the fight, not money or whatever. No wonder Makubex pays him for his transporting services by letting him fight Ginji. And I love how he finds killing 'himself' aka virtual soldiers looking like himself an interesting challenge rather than creepy which is what anyone else would do.
He's sort of like a lighter haired Aoshi, only blind and with less humor.
And the latter fact is a bit scary :P The thing is, I have a huge thing for Aoshi, but Juubei? I just got amusement with a bit of impatience and 'hey, he makes Kazu happy, so it's good enough for me.' I am amused at the slash though, as they really pull out all the stops, including having kid Juubei be all blushy when he first sees kid Kazu about how pretty Kazu is.
And Ban needs someone to take care of really. The two people he picks are quite capable of taking care of themselves in a lot of ways, so they don't drive him nuts with their neediness, but they still need Ban. And I think in the long run that's what Ban wants.
I think his needing people to take care of seems to be a common anime trait. It's sort of 'anchoring the character to society' theme. Kenshin has the same thing. Even such characters you wouldn't think of right away are actually that way: Sousuke only becomes fully human when he finds Kaname to take care of, Tamahome ends up literally finding a meaning in unreal existence in protecting Miaka etc etc.