[DreamSword]

Episode 7: At the Ends of Hatred

I have ceased caring.

Call me heartless, and hey, maybe this show is, infact, way smarter than I am and I just don't understand how "deep" and "complex" it's being.

But as soon as you try to preach that you should infact feel sorry for people who abuse you and betray your feelings because hey, they're CLEARLY suffering far worse than you are? Yeah, no, I hate this.

I mean really, why should I feel bad for Yohan? His entire setup doesn't even make any sense. If he's poor, how did he afford to buy Malek a new game? We also never actually get to SEE his time spent with the bullies, thus making it hard to believe he just felt oh so bad about abandoning Malek for new friends.

Malek doesn't fair any better in this situation either, going on to spout the type of extremist crap that I only need to browse twitter or tumblr to see, and yet he also has the gall to try and act as though he was the only one who fully understood Yohan, when Yohan out of literally nowhere backstabbed him with zero hesitation.

Speaking from my own personal experience, this show's' handling of these types of bullying and racial tensions rings really hollow, especially when done with a character who we not only barely know, but goes on to spout the type of rhetoric that racists typically like to use to devalue those who try to stand for equality i.e. "I want to kill everyone who shows prejudice" and other such idiocies. Malek lost all sympathy with me this episode.

And to top everything off? The only two characters who show any sort of optimism are either locked out of the show(Hermann) or outright told that they're morons who could "just never understand" (Amanda). AND SPEAKING OF THAT I absolutely HATE when people say "There's no way someone who isn't exactly like me could even grasp my situation." Know why? Because damn near everyone who makes that claim never even ATTEMPTS to bridge an understanding with anyone or explain their viewpoint.

But no, everyone else is the close-minded one, not Malek, clearly.

This is what I meant when I said that this show is far more concerned with making a statement and trying to prove how much smarter it is than those clearly "unrealistic" shows that dare to have even the slightest amount of faith in people, rather than, you know, actually tell a compelling story with characters of which we have even the basest idea of. Know what? Screw it. You guys want a list of shows that deals with the darkness of people that still manages to actually do things in a competent and compelling way without coming across as preachy? Many even from the same time frame? Here ya go:

• Android Kikaider: The Animation
• Garo: The Animation
• Half the Gundam franchise
• Damn near every Kamen Rider show ever
• Power Rangers Time Force
• Power Rangers SPD
• Yu Yu Hakusho
• Brain Powerd
• Casshern Sins
• Digimon Tamers
• The entirety of the Dororo franchise
• Fullmetal Alchemist
• Ghost in the Shell
• Kino's Journey
• Macross Plus
• Neon Genesis Evangelion
• Perfect Blue
• Princess Tutu
• Samurai Champloo
• A whole host of other stuff I can't think of at the moment

Again, I do plan to finish the show off, because hey, maybe it'll surprise me. But I really, Really doubt it, and I have zero faith going forward.