User blog:Mr.Cutlery/The New Gen Era - A Finality.

Alright, a good month after the series ended, and I've finally gotten to watching past the 12th Episode, and yet we're still at the 20th Episode. By no means am I trying to demean the sub group that's doing R/B, but come on, last update was 8th January. Including Twitter account. But that's not what I'm here for.

I've finally watched past Episode 12 (skipped 13, because why not) and... let's say R/B might still fall victim to one of my new analogies for the New Gen Era. Will get to it later.

I'm just letting out my thoughts on this. Just my thoughts, not outright review. Well, it is semi-review. Anyway...

Minor Review
Biggest mistake of the R/B show is constantly pushing Ushio's relevance from the plot not just aside, but out of the freakin' window. Constantly in Episode 14, he is painted as a bad guy, with the delivery scene being the worst. Asahi just straight up angers me now, and the scene when Ushio left no longer left me feeling just sympathetic towards the guy, but outright disheartened by it.

Asahi herself is just way, way, too disconnected into the story. Even here when she's supposedly getting some light shed on her backstory. Or at least, try to, because MIO HAS TO BE THE ONE WHO KNOWS EVERYTHING. Whoo. Calm down, there. Let me take a deep breath.

The whole story behind Asahi is just a mess. Good thing she'll most likely be practically irrelevant aside from becoming Grigio by the movie, so that's already something I must keep in mind about it.

Say what you want about Aizen. But, he definitely is one of the few characters that has yet to anger me on the scale that Asahi did. I'm saying this in terms of how they are as a character and not because of personal distaste for their types of character.

During the entire mess that was Asahi being confrtonted by Saki, I couldn't help but feel as if I missed an episode or something. I mean, we don't actually get a scene with her, she just left and the story paints Ushio as someone evil. Yes, I know that they fixed a lot of things by the finale, but I just can't believe how messy the story structuring of R/B was once I finally got to the episode. My goodness. I realized this sometime earlier this year, but now, it's unavoiddable.

And funny thing when I mentioned Aizen is... after everything, his scene imitating Orb is what got me smiling. It was, as he said "For the first time... here's a genuine... catharsis." and honestly, I think the best part of the episode was when G.King wrecked the bros.

By no means am I simply hating R/B for the sake of it. Believe me when I say, I want to love the series, I really do. Not even Geed was this messy.

Now...

The analogy.
The New Gen Era, is like an obtuse (or scalene for a more extreme example) triangle laid on its base (or hypothenus, because I don't know other words for that line).


 * On the first end, we have Ginga. This one lies at the longer end of the angled side. For something with so many potential, everything ended up being underused and somewhat underwhelming. It was at least, thanks to its atmospheric feel that gives it the vibe of early Heisei Ultras that really helped me go through the entire series. Honestly, only the first few and the last episodes are the good ones, but Ginga as a whole, isn't a failure. It has it's flaws, had it's ups. But one thing to keep in mind, is the fact that Ginga is the series that acts as the foundation for future Ultra Series. Of the New Gen, that is. Overall, it has the story, but lacked the time enough to thoroughly go through everything it set up due to how big it was.


 * On another spot, still on the first angled line, lies Ginga S. Definitely the better one of the two Ginga series. The only problem it has, really, is completely ignoring many of the past plotlines of the previous series and not expanding on them in favor of new ones. But, it succeeded in that. Victory's story was fairly fleshed out and his story is basically complete. Only thing left is his still unexplored past. At least, it wasn't really expanded on beyond Episode 6. Why? That was one of Ginga S' best episode. It had the skills to wrap up what was started in the series, but didn't quite have the focus to stay on track most of the time. For once, it's actually a good thing.


 * Further along the line, is X. While definitely better on the visual, storytelling and time aspects, it lacked the focus. More often than not, we walk into a different story, due to the showrunner's (admittedly most questionable) decision. Had it been more focused towards its story, it would have definitely trumped Ginga S as my 2nd favorite of the New Gen.


 * At the mid-point, where it is currently at the peak, lies Orb. Big surprise. But yes, Orb had everything that the others failed to go through. It had a fairly linear story, but the skill and style that went on to making all of the episodes were undoubtedly what helped to elevate Orb as the pinnacle of New Gen's installments. It is, for the majority of the time, the show with the highest rewatchability (It's a word, pretend it's an official one), except for Episode 21. Just... gonna let my personal bias flow for a bit there.


 * Geed. Oh boy, this is where we take a slight decline in overall quality. The focus on the story is there, but the content is mostly irrelevant when viewed as a whole. Thankfully, there are a good amount of episodes that really feel wholesome and enjoyable to watch. I'm also thankful that the worst episode is early on, with episode 10. Not the story and outcome, but more the overall content. Nevertheless, Geed does still try its best, despite the strange decision made by showrunners on when to actually move the story along.


 * R/B. At the bottom of the line, is this. Where Ginga has received the worst comments on, R/B has no excuse to back it up. Sure, the showrunner is a beginner. So was (Insert my favorite director), but the thing is, many of the episodes of R/B is kinda bland when you look again. Really, whenever they tried to world-build in the show, it fell flat. When they're not focusing on the brothers' relationship, the show offers nothing. As with Episode 14. Aizen may have helped, but he is merely a band-aid applied on a massive crack in the storytelling structure that R/B had.

This is Mr.Cutlery, and this left me with a bad taste in my mouth.

Hopes for the future
But not all is bad. Sure, the whole thing I made here came out as very aggressive and negative, it's not to say that I've lost hope for the franchise. Goodness, no, I do not want to be those kinds of people.

After all, we still have:

The Movie
For all we know, the movie might be like Geed, and I do hope it to be like that. I know that when hopes and expectations are all set-up it usually isn't reached, but really, the world is full of surprises. And I mean, the universe doesn't revolve around me. Not on anyone, but hey, it's good to keep your hopes up, anyway.

Future Installments and International Expansion
We all know that the Ultra Franchise is still going strong today. And with the success of TsuPro's other project, I'm sure they're going to find a way to put that profit into good use.

And there's also the American reboot coming up. Sure, it might not be ideal to put out another reboot of the show, but if it helps in introducing more to the series, I wouldn't mind. And that is especially true for me if it helps in pushing the company into a better future.

Conclusion and Closing Words
So, what am I trying to say or do with this in the first place? Well, I'm angry at R/B, and will probably continue being so until I get to the finale again where I will retain some sort of peace with myself.

Well, I'll be angry at R/B, when I'm watching it of course. At this point, my hate will probably have lessened now that I've done this. And what is this? A review of R/B turned into an overview of the New Gen Era as a whole.

For real now, this is Mr.Cutlery, and I'll see you, when I see you.