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() (Daishindochika-sou (diipu andaaguraundo))
“Deep Underground”
Say what you will about Clockwork Planet, but the show is never boring. Every week has the uncanny habit of getting laughs out of me even while curiosity stokes the imagination. Yeah a good chunk of the humour is intentional like Naotos boisterous gear fetish, but some is definitely unintended. Marie feeling guilt over Naotos not-death? Probably meant to sympathize, but all I could feel was my sides hurting at the disconcerting eyes girl was rocking. Naoto miraculously returning from the dead? The clich comedy writes itself. Probably just me and my sense of humour, but cannot deny Naotos roasting of the pint sized terror was hilariously on point.
The interesting bit for me this week though was the focus. A Mary-Halter episode, besides running on the serious side, showed how well Clockwork could function without the usual light novel hijinks. Remove Naoto and the dweeby personalityhell even RyuZU toogive Halter some additional power to compensate for lack of hearing, and the show wouldnt actually be that bad. Yeah we would miss out on RyuZU and all the fun deriving from that relationshipplus those Marie tsundere-ismsbut as a simplistic sci-fi story it could work. Marie certainly has the capacity for bad ass main character if her interrogation tactics are anything to talk about, plus Halter never disappoints with his voice of reasonand hints towards a human past. If anything Id say its encouragement for Clockwork to take more risks when it comes to its storytelling.
Speaking of story, the big reveal this week was the story. For once we have a multi-episode arc on our hands which also includes elements previously touched on. Conspiracy theories are a dime a dozen, but Clockworks setup is pretty ingenious for its simplicity. Illegal research, government cover up, and public relations boosting through an outside enemyits actually a pretty realistic scenario. Our history is filled with similar tales (ex. Carters failed Iran hostage rescue, Operation Rolling Thunder), giving Clockwork some sturdy plot legs to work with. The curiosity for me though is what part of existence the government is trying to justify. Is it the government in its current form, or government as a concept? I can easily believe the former considering Clockworks premise so far, but the latter is a stretch, even for this show. The answer will likely involve that old man though, and may also include the allusions to anomalies and world stagnation discussed in earlier episodes. I seriously doubt we have seen the full extent of Clockworks plot just yet.
Before we get into such world ending problems, however, first we must beat the big giant robot and its loli master. Considering AnchoR is confirmed acting against her will I expect well see some sort of RyuZU-led intervention on that front while Halter brings down the monster. Not sure how it will all play out, but you can rest assured the results will definitely be amusing.
Preview
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I loved this week episode too, but…I understand that sometimes you have to make changed when adapting it to other media but I was dissapointed that they didn’t mencin the reason because it’s more rational (I am having visions because I am in deny) than tsundere (How dare Naoto worry me). Little details.The two other things are the skimming over Naoto and Ryuzu trip deep below and the fight where Naoto not only give instrucciones to Ryuzu but Walter too at the same time.And with Mary’s intention to attack Tokyo, I think that it would leave uswe at the same point that the begining of the first episode.
I wouldn’t be surprised actually if they do tie things together next week. It’s the logical spot to do so.
She’s already a bad ass main character.
If Naoto is removed, the story becomes much bleaker, with Marie possibly ending up like Kiritsugu, or even worse, Archer–every loss weighing heavily on her, growing up embittered and loathing herself so much that she’d try to use RyuZU’s imaginary gear to find a way to kill her younger self. :PNaoto’s simple-mindedness serves as a counter, or better yet, an anchor (heh) that stops her from falling to that. I like the yin-yang dynamic between the two young characters, which extends to their automata companions as well. 🙂
Oh I definitely agree, Naoto adds the comedic relief keeping things balanced, I was just surprised how well the show functioned without him. The ability for Clockwork to become that bleak/serious is pretty damn impressive given the light novel origins and something I’d like to see more of. Particularly Halter, I think his stone cold badassery–unlike Marie this week–hasn’t been fully utilized yet.
Having lost your body and being a cyborg help a lot when you want be a stone cold basada. 😛
@Pancakes: I am surprised by the way that you mentioned it being based in a light nivel as a bad thing.I haven’t read any NL myself so, are they so awful?
It depends on the light novel, some are terrible quality-wise, but there are good ones, just like any other medium.The problem is most light novels follow the same format or feature similar tropes/cliches which do not promote imagination. Stuff like Naoto’s personality, the wish fulfillment relationship with RyuZU, or even the “save the world” premise. Some LNs do a fantastic job with these components, but it’s hard expecting any serious originality. This is why my LN mentioning comes across as negative a lot of the time, I’m hard on them 😛
I see.Thanks for your answer. 🙂
http://images.randomc.net/Clockwork%20Planet/Clockwork%20Planet%20-%2006%20-%20Large%2032.jpgNippon… in Clockworks
The funny thing is that, when they showed the planet, I couldn’t see any sea or ocean. ^^U
By the way, I didn’t know that they teach interrogation and torture techniques in posh school. XDDDI had forgotten that part, and I had read the manga.
Finally found the time to watch it:How i see…(inside the Spoilers are my thoughts aka Fan Fiction)RuyZU- She is above AnchoR. She is some kind of Clockwork Planet administrator or overseer Guardian. She has the Power and Status to take over this City AnchoR Guardians, aka she can replace them and perhaps even the “Continent” (or bigger) Guardians (AnchoR Automata)AnchoR- She is the Clock Tower Guardian no? I do not think she can support an Continent or bigger. She has not the power for that, but in terms of Fire power, even she can hurt RuyZU (or RuyZU dodge because of Naoto in her arms)Where i get my idea? They show us that Clockwork Planet here, is nearly an clone of Earth (Japan island in Gears). So i think there must be some sort of Japan (AnchoR) even deeper level (this old men that gave them the Elevator ride back to surface (Knights of Sidonia vibes here), there could be living the Japan/Nippon Automata, giving him company for not become lonely)- The Center of Clockwork Planet.. Perhaps something like “Sol Bianca’s” Mother Earth…(Insider know the truth)Also RuyZU in her Overdrive mode (in her all dressed in White) reminds me of her: http://artonelico.wikia.com/wiki/Shurelia
The Coffin where RuyZU was inside, at Episode 1…Did they found her after doing some kind of Oil drilling deep into the Planet Core? Then her Power and Status is no wonder
@KinaiPerhaps the Clockwork Planet core where exploited for resources materials to produce this all gears, so only empty Space is left. But… here must be still some sort of Gravity working..How the manga-ka explain that there is still G Forces at work, when Humanity plunder the Planets core?Our Earth creates Gravity from his Core, do the Clockwork version here create it with the Planet Gigant ring? So some kind of pushing back from the Space? Then we have some kind of Gigantic Biosphere Planet, just without the GlassI mean, this World building can give a hand for the future story
in knights of Sidonia terms thinking…Clockwork Planet is some kind of Gigant Spaceship Planet Sphere, where the generation of Humans forgotten that
@WorldwidedeppI am not an expert, but I think that I can try to answer that question. I don’t remember exactly why, but any sphere could be considered as a point. So it isn’t the core but all the planet that is “creating” gravity. Following Einstein theory, gravity is a geometry property of space and time. So, if the planet has been used to create the gears, the weight is the same. In the manga mentioned that the planet traverse a ring, pulled by the moon attraction. But that isn’t relevant here. I think.Wow! That’s a lot of text for sunday morning. 😛
@KinaiYour are right, with Gravitybut…They still need Air to breath, look at mars… but then i am about to bring Real Life Sci-fi into an Anime.. My bad 🙂 okay let it sink, and i give up on this path or i begin to question every frame of this anime. But i want to enjoy it…
To me this was an important lesson in how bureaucrats in government see everyone else – as nobodies that should willingly die, rather than have their government leaders lose face, position, and power. And how governments are psychopathic enough to enact a “false flag” operation to restore people crying out for an all-powerful government to save them from the threat. Really heady philosophical stuff that points to today’s real-life governments.”You should just die…are you proud of what you’ve done?” cries the politician. Forgetting the fact that the government was willing to let 100,000+ people die, rather than admit they could not save them.You need to cut off the snake’s head, and restore honorable people who will act in other people’s best interests, rather than keep covering up for the psychopaths’ failures because it would undermine peoples’ faith in their government.
my Answer…I give it a try:Chackie Chan: Snake in the Eagle’s Schadowthe Punching bag fight against his Destiny
Similarity here, he is only there to play the punching-bag, here she should just die as others wanted. But with help of an old Master, he began to fight against his fate (aka Indian caste system)