The series’ main Aesop, a recurrent theme in the comic, is roughly the same of NGE: live your own life for yourself and take responsibility for your actions. A secondary one is similar to that of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: persevere, stay optimistic, and fight for your beliefs. They are presented here in a more Western-friendly way and with far less misogyny (virtually absent variation in body types aside), breezing through The Bechdel Test and the Mako Mori test.
Also, the comic included sorely needed Aesops about personal growth, interpersonal relationships, and dealing with trauma (some of which are often missed even by adults), and I think they fit in very well with the series as a Coming-of-Age Story as they pointed out the various stages of characters maturing. This, I think, is the comic’s main strength: you can actually see the Character Development, so instead of characters learning a 1-2 lessons throughout the whole comic, as in too many other works (e.g. Walter White realising only in the finale that maybe he is a power-hungry arsehole after all), they grow and learn like real-life people.
This is all intertwined with decent art and humour, nuanced characters (even if a bit stereotypical sometimes—well, Maligned Mixed Marriage is definitely Truth in Television among Jews, as I can attest from living in Israel), and a nuanced plot I found engaging. The Brother-Sister Incest plot was tragically moving—while I find the trope revolting, I really felt for the characters. The morality was more complex than portrayed: early on Fisk said he thought war was about Blue and Orange Morality rather than Black and White Morality, and I think his actions near the end were meant to be just one shade of that strange spectrum rather than beaming white. Fisk explains his reasoning for enlisting as his own personal one, so while I disagreed with Naylor politically, I could accept this difference of opinion. Tommy’s priest continues this trend, giving Tommy sound advice when asked, even if it’s rejected.
My main beefs with the comic were with the unaddressed massive Unfortunate Implications of Fisk’s essays and glorification of Israel and denouncing the Arabs around it as ‘savagery’.
A Furry, Westernised Neon Genesis Evangelion without the Mind Screw.
The series’ main Aesop, a recurrent theme in the comic, is roughly the same of NGE: live your own life for yourself and take responsibility for your actions. A secondary one is similar to that of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: persevere, stay optimistic, and fight for your beliefs. They are presented here in a more Western-friendly way and with far less misogyny
(virtually absent variation in body types aside), breezing through The Bechdel Test and the Mako Mori test.
Also, the comic included sorely needed Aesops about personal growth, interpersonal relationships, and dealing with trauma (some of which are often missed even by adults), and I think they fit in very well with the series as a Coming-of-Age Story as they pointed out the various stages of characters maturing. This, I think, is the comic’s main strength: you can actually see the Character Development, so instead of characters learning a 1-2 lessons throughout the whole comic, as in too many other works (e.g. Walter White realising only in the finale that maybe he is a power-hungry arsehole after all), they grow and learn like real-life people.
This is all intertwined with decent art and humour, nuanced characters (even if a bit stereotypical sometimes—well, Maligned Mixed Marriage is definitely Truth in Television among Jews, as I can attest from living in Israel), and a nuanced plot I found engaging. The Brother-Sister Incest plot was tragically moving—while I find the trope revolting, I really felt for the characters. The morality was more complex than portrayed: early on Fisk said he thought war was about Blue and Orange Morality rather than Black and White Morality, and I think his actions near the end were meant to be just one shade of that strange spectrum rather than beaming white. Fisk explains his reasoning for enlisting as his own personal one, so while I disagreed with Naylor politically, I could accept this difference of opinion. Tommy’s priest continues this trend, giving Tommy sound advice when asked, even if it’s rejected.
My main beefs with the comic were with the unaddressed massive Unfortunate Implications of Fisk’s essays and glorification of Israel and denouncing the Arabs around it as ‘savagery’.
9.5/10, -1 for that.