[Kurona]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dreamcastegirl

This, I imagine, is the danger of avoiding a show for 19 years because they are not explicit in their intent, and the aftereffects of it attempting to be wedged back into a multipurpose franchise where it sticks out like a sore thumb.

This is the thing, right? Because we don't live in 2002, we live in 2021. Not to say that what inspired Ryuki isn't so significant we're still seeing the vast effects on society today, but it certainly means that how we view media made at the time will be different. I do think that because of the very astute, mature mindset of turning away from just going "justice!!" and doing something that questions it instead, Ryuki is something a lot more timeless in my mind, but... certainly watching it a year and a half ago, the constant beating of Shinji's very basic ideals of being a good person didn't work quite as well for me in the current political climate, let's just say. A story is nothing if not informed by its historical context, and so how we view things later will depend on how different things are when we do so; minor or major. All of which is to say that Ryuki I'd describe more as a show I have a lot of respect for? A lot of the time that respect curves back round into liking a lot of things about the show from Shinji to Ren to many of its incidental episodes like Time Vent, but ultimately it's a show I think I'd have a hard time rewatching!

And... yeah, fully agree on the death of the author part! I don't think you actually need to know what was going through the heads of the producers and writers when they were making Ryuki, but it's always such a fascinating story for me to think about and it's what brought me around to respecting what this show was attempting (and I think in many way succeeded) to do.

Glad to share; Ryuki if not one of my favourites is a show I'm always happy to talk about Have a good one!