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 Stretch
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[series:3046#628] | ||||||
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(Seven episodes watched): There's a lot of inexplicable, weird stuff going on here--premonitions, time-travel, mecha, alternate reality and the last person you'd expect to run into. What exactly is happening is very unclear, and little or no explanation is forthcoming in this opening episode. I couldn't help wanting to know what sort of reasons there could possibly be behind these things, and whether they are fairly believable or not will probably determine whether I watch the rest of the series. Tohru seems like a likeable character, since he's a sort of underdog from a future culture where your skills are estimated by a computer and you are assigned a ranking which will probably determine the rest of your life (and his isn't all that great). In some ways this show seems stereotypical, with lots of wild action to rope us in, but you feel a genuine sense of danger to Tohru and all the absurdity, again, demands an explanation. I feel much more intrigued than frustrated. I didn't watch the opening episode until something like two months after it first ran, because I couldn't find an AVI-convertible version, but I will watch at least one more. In episode two Tohru and Kyoka get the usual meeting with the leader(s) of a sophisticated secret organization that is fighting a threat to planet earth itself. Fortunately, there was at least one unusual and interesting twist to the explanation, namely that the enemy are not the usual demons or grotesque aliens, but (modest spoiler) the characters' own counterparts from an alternate reality. There's still plenty to be explained, but that is novel and I want to know more. This might all still turn out to be pretty shallow, but so far good enough. Who are 'The Timekeepers'? Why have they intervened in this strange conflict? How did it get started to begin with? It's the mark of a fairly intriguing show that it leaves us with questions which we want the answers to; now, the question is whether it will deliver the answers in a skillful and entertaining manner. The fighting is kind of wacky, with awesome weapons and an ability to basically ignore gravity and do other weird things. But it's not all that thrilling--I noticed that the people engaged in supposedly real combat sometimes have paintball stains on their clothing, so I was confused about just how serious the action was--namely, are lives really at stake? It sometimes seems more like a game than potentially lethal combat. This show had better not just rely on the action to entertain us. There is a hint that a greater mystery, regarding the Timekeepers and an enemy of their own, unfolding. Maybe the two conflicts will come together eventually in an intriguing manner. But so far, while I find this show to be modestly interesting, I also can't help feeling that it isn't achieving anything like it's full potential. As I watch, my imagination often takes me off on a tangent as I imagine where I wish the conversations between the characters would go. I hope they do a little thinking about topics like 'is my alternate self good or evil--and what does that say about me?' or 'If we win, does that mean the alternate world is destroyed?' or 'Is this fighting just a form of amusement for the Timekeepers?'. Bokurano often comes to mind, as an example of a really good show about the psychology of people facing potential annihilation. In episode six I thought briefly that a third dimension had been discovered, because the people there didn't treat Tohru in the way that you would expect; but it turned out not to be. The thought occurred to me that the difference between a truly intriguing show and an average one is often that in the really good ones the basic mystery that is contained in the premise continues to develop and become more complex and entrancing as the series progresses, while in most shows once the basic premise is set forward, nothing more that is particularly mind blowing is added later on. Gunslinger Stratos, unfortunately, seems to be one of the average ones. In episode seven we finally get a pretty thorough explanation of what's going on, who the Timekeepers and the 'phantom' girl are, what lies ahead, etc. But it seemed kind of confusing and not all that intriguing to me; like lots of fine details but not much of an overarching theme. The Timekeepers are not all that evil, for one thing; the episode toyed with a 'how do you know who is telling you the truth and who is lying?' twist, which might have been fun, but ultimately didn't do much with it. The Timekeepers basically don't care whether Tohru believes them or not, since they see what they are doing as inevitable and unchangeable. How the future might me altered is the real question, but it wasn't made clear how that might be done, or even if it is possible in the first place. I do not understand the chain of events well enough to come up with a scientific notion of how things might work out; knowing anime, however, I bet the good Tohru will somehow convince the other side to ally with him and his companions, and together they will defeat the Timekeepers somehow. Last updated Tuesday, June 16 2015. Created Thursday, May 28 2015. | ||||||||
