Platinum End

So did this just stop being a thing?

Edited by LSBK on Jun 27th 2018 at 1:15:56 AM

I don't know, it seems like everyone just… gave up. I dropped the series around the part where Mukaido gets trapped in a mirror prison by Metropoliman.

I just… don't care what happens to these characters. There are very few series that have managed to make me feel that way to this extent. It's almost impressive in a way.

I kind of forgot this existed.

I've seen very little about this series in my travels - it seems pretty underrated.

I suspect Mother's Basement or Digibro or some other "Youtube anime guy that people base their opinions and interests off of" will eventually do a video about it that helps the series be a little more mainstream, but whether or not that livens up this thread I can't say.

Getting an anime series would probably help too. Hard to believe that Big Order and Durarara got animated adaptions, but this didn't.

I'm watching Episode 4 as we speak.

Metropoliman came up with a plan to have a body double and 2 other decoys at a big stadium, have the body double get attacked while hypnotized, switch places with him when the audience was distracted, attack whoever was in the center, and have the decoys and the body double trick whoever was standing next to him.

Wow. Ok.

He's also pretty glib about murdering children.

I don't... why is this guy a public superhero. How does he, where did he get his suit, and how did two random schmoes get suits?

Episode 5 annnnnnd the psycho lesbian schoolgirl axe murderer shows up.

I am starting to understand why people have issues with this show.

You're watching this trainwreck huh? Good luck with all the bullshit.

Speaking of, Mother's Basement actually did do a review and breakdown of Platinum End a few days ago.

It's an hour long so to make a long story short, Platinum End does not play to Ohba's strengths as a writer very well. In other words, the things you liked about Death Note and/or Bakuman aren't here, leaving the weaknesses of his writing by themselves.

Edited by VeryMelon on Apr 1st 2022 at 8:15:55 AM

(2) That review is actually why. I'd forgotten about this series and didn't realize it had an anime.

It's ok for like the first 3 episodes but when the fighting/thought battles start it nose-dives. And I'm not intensely bothered by Misa Amane, but after what that review brought up about Bakuman yeah I can't say this series does women any better. In fact it might be actually worse than Misa.

Its taken the worst parts of Future Diary and stapled those onto the worst parts of Death Note.

Still its kind of hard to stop watching. I really want to see how it all pans out. Plus I'm a sucker for "good people tossed into an existentially terrible situation and they bond throughout."

Its like A Certain Magical Index where I like the premise until the characters start wearing superhero outfits and acting like Japanese pop idols all of a sudden, leaving all of the author's fetishes to bare.

I am the lone person that loved Platinum End up until the very end.

Let me rephrase that:

I loved Platinum End... until the end. At which point I was extremely angry.

On deeper reflection I'm a bit less annoyed with the ending but still. Jesus Christ (not a spoiler) were there some annoying tropes that I could reference. Sigh.

Simple version: Platinum End's ending works very well as a metaphor, but is intensely frustrating as a narrative for what actually happens.

Edited by TheyCallMeTomu on Apr 1st 2022 at 12:05:12 PM

I'm willing to give it benefit of the doubt.

But psycho lesbian kawaii pop idol girl who is a subordinate of the real villain... I want to like it, I do, but I'm still trying to grasp where all the Metropoliman suits came from.

Once they get away from this "Girl A" thing I think I'll like it more.

The ending is also a pure misunderstanding of the works of Nietzsche. His actual work basically states that yes perhaps life doesn't have a greater meaning but you should still live it.

Like it's a really missing the point of nihilism and existentialism

I'm a bit skeptical as to thinking the ending was supposed to be a commentary on Nietzsche, though I guess I can see where people are coming from on that front.

I suppose if Yoneda is intended to be a stand-in for Nietzche, the show can basically say that Nietzche is explicitly wrong, and that "God is Dead"/"Killing God" is going to doom humanity or whatever, but this isn't about Nihilism so much as it is the specific metaphysics as to the existence of divine entities, and specifically the atheist's perspective when there are confirmed divine entities.

Any commentary on Nihilism is fundamentally secondary to the commentary on suicide.

Edited by TheyCallMeTomu on Apr 2nd 2022 at 1:37:04 PM

I can officially say as of Episode 11 that this main character is the biggest b-tch I have ever seen in an anime before. Shinji Ikari would pimpslap this kid and tell him to get over his freaking issues.

He gets better.

Course, part of that is the introduction of an ACTUAL Shinji Archetype character into the series...

Okay. Episode 18.

Most of the annoying characters are gone. Actual group politics and theological discussion. Things are getting interesting.

Also good god what the phuck I was turned on by the majority of these angels so far and then Mewni showed up jesus

Episode 19.

Best this anime's been so far. Shame Metropoliman and the Professor didn't meet. I think this is actually pretty exciting now. The Professor's a way more enticing antagonist, and seeing the group break apart and define their motivations was unexpected.

It's sort of what I would have wanted to see in Future Diary instead of the psycho pew-pew battle royal and the big plot twist leading to a DBZ fight.

Edited by FOFD on Apr 5th 2022 at 1:49:05 PM

Double post because, seriously, this got really good in those two episodes and I'm hopped up on caffeine.

Like — just going off Mother's Basement's impression, I was expecting the characters to be lame and two-dimensional.

• Saki is this weepy shy girl who is basically the Sakura Haruno character: less important than the boys with a single moment of wanting to prove herself
• Loki/Atreus/whatever shows up and is just some random kid Metropoliman picked up, and I'm waiting for him to turn into this Bitch in Sheep's Clothing who somehow outwits everybody and is totally nefarious.
• Doctor Kenpachi was gonna be this edgelord token evil old dude, sort of like John Bacchus from Future Diary, with this generic evil doo-doo plan that everybody rallies against because we need a final boss
• And the chick with the pornstar figure and constant Shes Got Legs was just gonna be a target of feminist criticism for the Male Gaze and being air-headed and ditzy
• And then we have B-tchface. Mirai. Don't even get me started. His inability to get with the program and constant moping around was about to make me drop this show.

But. Like.

• Saki actually develops. Sure there's the unneeded catgirl cosplay but like - I was expecting her to be a wallflower who supports Mirai and does nothing else of real note. She genuinely starts voicing her opinions more, actually does a clever manipulation of Pink Hair Sword Guy and it actually works instead of just being a pointless fanservice scene, and contributes in a big way to the heroes defeating Metropoliman.
  • Her relationship with Mirai is genuine and it's not some paltry "guy and girl can't spit it out Will They Wont They." It's not some gratuitous hentai romance, but they clearly have feelings for each other and resonating emotional values. I like this, I really do, its rare in a lot of the anime I watch.
  • And best of all, when all the God Candidates are lined up, I thought this was going to be some ridiculously overwrought scene where they'd end up in another DBZ fight, but Saki and the rest actually deliver their own motivations and perspectives on religion and God. What.
• Susumu came in and I was barely paying attention. He started off as some cheeky non-ally to Metropoliman. That he actually Red Arrow'd Kanade was a surprise. Not only that but rather than turn into some Tyke Bomb who was all about the evulz, he actually stirs things up and accelerates the meeting of the god candidates. He's actually a kid with simple viewpoint that radically alters the plot. He's even self-aware enough to know that the other candidates won't trust him so easily. I like how he's kind of like Nasse, having that "whatever will be will be" attitude but not as removed from the others in lieu of being an angel.
• Professor Yoneda? Kenpachi lookalike? Ho hoh. He overcomes the dullness of John Bacchus from Future Diary by having a fairly fleshed-out and arguably sensible viewpoint. He's not as puppy-kicking evil as Metropoliman. Dude is introduced in a pretty creepy yet unobtrusive way. The way he came in I thought he was gonna be all fire and brimstone, but instead he poses a totally different, ideological threat to the group, even dividing some of them. Unlike the others he approached his Candidate powers scientifically. Flying around the earth in under a second? Bad-ass. I like that he actually decided to fly up and talk with the candidates rather than just try to get rid of them.
• I expected Temari to be an airy, fanservicey character that would just make my brain shrivel but... yeah, she's not the best commentary on women perhaps, but she does have her own viewpoint on things. I like that. She's self-indulgent, she actually weighs in on lot of the talking points, even more than Mirai in some instances. She might be materialistic but it's not taken to an absurd degree like Future Diary or other anime would have taken it.
• Mirai. slow clap

Goodness, Mirai my child.

I can't remember the suicidal kid's name but to explain why I like Mirai now I have to go into him. Suicide Kid came in and he could have easily been Crona from Soul Eater, this chronically depressed, pathetic character. He could have been a meme, he could have fallen back on some tired running gag of being frightened by women - instead he's got a pretty messed-up, self-deprecating yet selfless personality and, shock of all shocks, the group votes him in as the new God. All's good in the hood, right?

Wrong. Because Mirai.

This big-balled motherf-cker. Mirai listens to Yoneda's speech and rebels hard. But Suicide Kid doesn't. Suicide Kid actually agrees with Yoneda.

Holy crap group conflict.

And then Mirai's just like "nope. I'll be God."

—

—

tl,dr because my fingers are tired Episodes 18 and 19 have really set the stage for the story's climax in a fun way. I wish we'd had more of this than Metropoliman.

Edited by FOFD on Apr 5th 2022 at 2:15:34 PM