[Zolda]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

I'm only talking about material property in this case, not intellectual property. If you copy something, then what used to be 1 becomes 2. Germain hasn't shown or mentioned any ability to destroy souls, a feat equal to creating them. Only stated that he ate Geryon, which would typically separate the soul from the deceased's body. When a phylactery or "horcrux" is involved, then the splintered soul returns to that place, such as the engoldened cube.

I think Fuuga's doppelgangers use soul-transmission, as his true body is shown to be unconscious when Clotho invades his base, in the same way that Phillip's body is unconscious when becoming Double and how the entire Ganma Eyecon system works. I think it seems relatively logical to apply the same concept to Geryon, with the only difference being that the greater fraction of his soul was transmitted after his death.

True that this is a fitting subject for the theme of alchemy. There are many things that can be researched and experimented on, like elements and the physical body. Even the creation of gold is a simple task in the world of Kamen Rider Gotchard. The true mystery is in the properties of objects and forces we don't understand, which is the ultimate truth that alchemy seeks to learn. The composition and origin of the soul being at the top of that list. The fact that Kongo Laboratories have invented technology to even read the soul is a miraculous breakthrough.

I'm afraid you've misunderstood how alchemy works. In alchemy, when I copy 1 object, that 1 object does become 2, but the copy/the second one is not created out of thin air. It's not created from nothingness. It's created from another existing object that is transmuted into a copy of the original object.

Ex. 1 - How alchemy works:
1 spoon + 1 fork -> 1 spoon + 1 spoon
1 apple + 1 orange -> 1 apple + 1 apple

Ex. 2 - Not how alchemy works:
1 spoon + thin air -> 1 spoon + 1 spoon
1 apple + thin air -> 1 apple + 1 apple

This is the most fundamental difference between alchemy and magic/wizardry/sorcery/witchcraft. Magic is the creation of something out of nothing, like example #2 above. Alchemy is the creation of something out of something. That's why creation in alchemy is called transmutation. The trans- prefix implies a fundamental change (mutation) from an existing object/matter/state into another object/matter/state.

This internal logic has been consistently applied, and was likely violated once in this episode @ 22:45 when Glion transmuted his favorite golden Rubik cube into a Dreadriver that created a network of interconnected Dreadrivers out of thin air. The story did once mention the creation of something out of nothing when Rinne described the definition of alchemy to Houtarou in episode 2 @ 10:50, but that was it. It wasn't followed up because the writers probably realized that the creation of something out of nothing is closer to magic, which had been used in KR Wizard.

Alchemy does have its own "creation of something out of nothing" mechanism involving aether (the fifth element) which is often combined with prima materia (prime matter). Aether usually has something to do with natural forces like gravitational forces, electromagnetic forces, etc, while prima materia usually has something to do with the basic building block of matters in particle physics like atoms, sub-atomic particles, quarks, strings, etc. Aether and prima materia could be incorporated in Gotchard's story by combining it with Nijigon's power. Aether and prima materia would make the alchemy in Gotchard much richer, and even nicely touch several phenomena in modern physics like dark matter/dark energy, string theory, gravitational wave, etc. Aether and prima materia would allow alchemy to complement modern physics/chemistry. That's how big the potential this story has. Very unfortunate!

I also thought that Fuga may use transmission technique, but the story has never elaborated on it, mainly because he's almost always absent from the story. But wasn't Fuga's lotus position a process/ritual to restore his damaged body?

I don't think chrysopoeia (the creation of gold) is a simple task in this story. Only SSS+ class of alchemists like Glion (and very likely also Fuga) are able to transmute lower value elements into gold. That's why their Rings have golden shanks, not silver like those owned by lower ranked alchemists like Minato and Kyouka. If the creation of gold is a simple task, then Renge would've already been a trillionaire richer than Elon Musk, since making money is her main goal (or maybe sole goal) in studying alchemy. The global economy in Houtarou's world would've collapsed due to the oversupply of gold. And even Glion himself can only perform limited degree of chrysopoeia. If he could easily turn everything into gold, then his obsession of creating the El Dorado would've already been fulfilled, at least in a small region. He would've already created a golden apartment complex, haha. If Glion could perform infinite amount of chrysopoeia, then he would have no need for the power of the Unholy Trinity, which does allow infinite amount of chrysopoeia because they're the ones who created alchemy in the first place.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

"Mere alchemical technologies" kind of underestimates what they're capable of. The Dark Kings aren't omniscient after all, unless we consider Gaelijah's yet unseen mastery of astrology. Geryon has gained the power of Germain and 33% of the Philosopher's Stone, in addition to his education with the Alchemy Academy. If he acknowledges the value of "mere alchemical technologies" enough to try and claim it for himself, then perhaps there are things about alchemy that even the Dark Kings can learn from humans, if only they weren't so egotistical to deny that. This is Geryon's major advantage over his stupid predecessor, that he doesn't underestimate humans and would seek to exploit that power against them and his competition.

This is why making the most powerful character in your story (God) the villain like I mentioned here is a very very very bad idea.

When I claim that I'm God, people expect to see me do Godly things, for example: creating a second moon by pointing my finger to the sky, reviving dead people and make them appear in the blink of an eye, making the stars fall from heavens by waving my hands, replace a city with its older version 2000 years ago, travel to the past, transmuting water into wine like Jesus did, etc. I can basically do the impossible and manipulate (or even violate!) the laws of nature. It's impossible for a human to win in a fight against me the God. Making God the villain will initially make your story look artificially exciting, but if you want your hero/protagonist to defeat him, you'll eventually be forced to severely depower him by making him incompetent, make irrational decisions at crucial moments, make stupid mistakes not even a rational human would do, etc. You'll be forced to humanize a God, which is something laughable. Basically, you'll be forced to drag him down to the level of your hero/protagonist.

Not to mention that it will also create many logical anomalies that are almost impossible to resolve, if not actually impossible. Over time, these logical anomalies will crop up and accumulate, and will eventually wreck and turn your story into an illogical, irrational, incomprehensible mess that make little sense.

After watching several stories that feature this faulty trope, nowadays, everytime I see a God-level villain, I can almost guess that the hero/protagonist will defeat him not because the hero/protagonist is strong nor shrewd, but because the God-level villain is dumb. The God-level villain will make one or several stupid but plot-crucial mistakes at several plot-crucial moments that will conveniently move the plot in favor of the hero/protagonist and allow himself to be defeated by the hero/protagonist.

So, will Gaelya and or Gigist (and very likely also Glion) make stupid mistakes like Germain did that will allow them to be defeated by Houtarou? I see a 80-90% probability that they or at least one of them will.

TLDR:
A God-level archvillain = Crappy writing may very likely be lurking behind the facade of artificial excitement.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

Agreed. I was only using the term "creation" loosely, in the same sense that "humans created Chemies" is mentioned in the show. If we attribute the creation of a sentient lifeform to the being or force that provides the soul, then we actually can't say for certain who created humans or Chemies, only that humans and the Dark Kings facilitate the creation through chemistry, both natural and synthetic. But if Geryon can copy his soul, then Geryon can create another Geryon, so I doubt your suggestion of him having this ability, due to copying ultimately being a form of creation.

Why did you say that we can't be certain of who created humans? The Unholy Trinity themselves implied that they created humans and stated that they created alchemy, and very likely also created everything in Houtarou's world. The Unholy Trinity created alchemy, and Chemies are created via alchemy, so the Unholy Trinity are the creators of Chemies, not humans. Humans merely transmuted matters into creatures called Chemies. Even Gigist himself said in episode 36 @ 16:21 that he directly created the first 2 Chemies. The Unholy Trinity didn't only create Houtarou's world. They also created the law (alchemy).

Can Glion (or other alchemists) transmute an object into a 100% perfect copy of himself? Maybe he can, maybe he can't. Maybe it's possible, maybe it's impossible. The story has never shown nor hinted at it. What's been shown so far is that Glion is only able to copy his soul into his golden Rubik cube. So, Glion can copy his soul into a homunculus and transmute it into another Glion, but it's not a 100% accurate copy of Glion.

In alchemy, copying is not creation. I've already elaborated this point in my first point above.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

All the more reason why Arumi would need the Isaac with her personality, if she can't verbally convey her personality on her own. Of course, Sabi doesn't have this problem, so we already know what his personality is like and I don't recall anytime that his Isaac has severely misrepresented Sabi's intentions or put him in danger. Isaac is rude, but he knows when to shut up. He could've been programmed with a cheerful personality instead, but then you'd need to find someone other than Kenichi. If Sabi had a problem with the personality, then he simply could've modified Isaac himself, having had the opportunity to do so during Episode 28-29. There's also the possibility that due to Sabi's shy temperament, an Isaac with his personality would be equally shy, which is not an ideal trait for a communication AI. Anyway, don't you think it's pretty weird to hear your own voice coming from outside your body? Personally, I would feel uncomfortable with my personality being copied like that.

Why do only Arumi have the need for accurate communication channel, but not Sabimaru? Both Arumi and Sabimaru have speech impairment, so they need accurate communication channel. Their intentions should be 100% accurately conveyed by their Isaac AI tablets, in verbatim, word for word, letter for letter, with no distortion. No more, no less. Sabimaru's Isaac AI tablet with 100% accuracy will convey his true personality, including his shyness, albeit with a normal, louder, clearer voice.

I think you conflate the information that we (the viewers) have and the information that the characters have. Of course we (the viewers) already know Sabimaru's true personality because we know almost everything in the story, but are all the characters in the story know Sabimaru's true personality like we do? Do strangers know Sabimaru's true personality? Of course not. Strangers would still need accurate communication, which should be the main function of the Isaac AI tablet. Even Houtarou still needed accurate information about Sabimaru's true feelings and intentions, which were grossly distorted by his Isaac AI tablet. So, why does everyone in the story have accurate communication, but not Sabimaru? Why does his Isaac AI tablet distort and obfuscate communication, instead of facilitate accurate communication? The answer is clear: Because the writers made it so.

Sabimaru's Isaac AI tablet has never put Sabimaru in danger because the story has never shown it. But remember, the internal logic of a story should be consistently applied to all possibilities, including hypothetical scenes, not just to scenes shown on the screen. In a hypothetical scene where Sabimaru encountered street thugs, the rudeness of his Isaac AI tablet would definitely put him in danger. About Sabimaru's Isaac AI tablet severely misinterpreting his intention, it was already shown when it grossly distorted Sabimaru's compliment to Houtarou into a total silence. I already elaborated on this in my previous post.

Even without accounting for the logical anomaly about Sabimaru's Isaac AI tablet grossly distorting his intentions, there's still another logical anomaly about Sabimaru's Isaac AI tablet having Kenichi's resentful personality, while it was shown in the previous episode that Sabimaru's Isaac AI tablet was given to him by Kid Kenichi while their relationship was still good. Kid Kenichi (before he resented Kid Sabimaru) had normal personality, not resentful, so why was the Isaac AI tablet he gave to Kid Sabimaru has had rude, resentful personality? This is what happens when your story is too convoluted. It will eventually make you confused.

And why is it weird to hear my own voice coming out from outside my body? When I use a sound amplification system, my voice is captured by the microphone and comes out of the loudspeakers. What's so weird about it? That's one of the functions of the Isaac AI tablet: A mind-reading AI tablet with a built-in speaker to help those with speech impairment. It's not like the Isaac AI tablet is a homunculus that is a copy of myself. Now that is weird, haha.

My point of criticism is:
These 2 episodes were convoluted and largely unnecessary. It answered 1 question, but created 5 new questions and logical anomalies. It's a hallmark of plot convolution.

I think I gotta stop here. I've already elaborated too much in this thread, haha.