My thoughts on Weiss Kreuz Gluhen (Spoilers!)

Tendai · July 07, 2003, 08:43:56 PM

So..you probably know that Weiss Kreuz the original is my favourite series ^^ Needless to say, I was at first excited about the whole Gluhen thing.

Then I saw the character drawings. Then I saw the first episode. Those pretty much turned me off it until recently when someone sent me all the episodes on VCD and told me to watch them.

You know..this isn't Weiss. Yeah, they've got the old characters and they've got some assassination along with some familiar groups and such, but the darkness that was in the original series just isn't there, if that makes sense. I didn't connect with the characters at all the way I did in the first. Sena..well..Sena is Omi (including angst about his past) with the addition of Xena-esque fighting rings. Kyo is somewhat more useful than Botan but only by a little.

Aya..what in god's name have they done to Aya? Part of the reason he was such an interesting character was the struggle he was going through to reconcile himself with what he's doing. And now suddenly he's all fine with it and even smiles a good deal (for Aya). Yeah, I know his sister's awake and all but really..pretty fast change, Ayan-chan.

And don't even get me started on Yohji's new, urine-yellow hairdo. God, what did they do to my boy? On the plus side, they left him at least with the suffering that he went through in the first - the scene where he wakes up with his hands around Tsujii's throat is eerie because I wrote a scene like that into a fic before I saw the series. Yohji is still dealing with his past and it *makes sense*. Out of all the old characters, his characterization is best when viewed in the light of the original series.

Is Gluhen a good series? Yes. The animation is nice and the plotline is good. The scene where they find Todou and Kyo dead was powerful, in my opinion. The voice acting, as always, is incredible, and the music is excellent as well. But it isn't Weiss Kreuz - they've taken the characters and basic premise (a group killing bad people) and removed the emotional side of it. It's entertaining but it doesn't grip me like the original does.

So..yeah. I'd say watch it for itself, but don't expect it to be like the original or you'll be pretty disappointed. It's an good series but it lacks the emotion of Weiss Kreuz the original. While I no longer want to go and throttle Takehito-sama because of it, it's still..not Weiss =/

GokuMew2 · July 08, 2003, 11:01:13 AM

I have the first six episodes and have only watched the first 3.

When I first saw the new chara designs, I was shocked. So much change, especially in Omi and Youji. They looked awful. x_x; Aya and Ken were okay, but Omi and Youji... @_@ After I downloaded the OP movie, seeing the animation in motion wasn't as bad.

The first episode was umm... I dun know how to describe it, but you don't see suicides taking place in a first ep very often. Dark. Yeah, it's pretty dark. I don't remember what else happened in the next 3 eps. ^^; I should go watch 'em but they haven't been working on my comp upstairs and when I'm on this comp, I'm online.

I want to see Schwarz and Knight though! X3
(Schu Schu looks... bad. x_x)

KyraEnsui · July 08, 2003, 01:30:01 PM

::sniff sniff:: Schwarz and Knight are in the series but they come out like the 4 episodes of the series. For now, Weiss Kreuz Gluhen and OVA are being discussed about being licensed by Media Blasters again.

Tendai · July 08, 2003, 04:31:49 PM

Quote from: "GokuMew2"I should go watch 'em but they haven't been working on my comp upstairs and when I'm on this comp, I'm online.

You should ^^ Because despite my bitching that it's not Weiss anymore, it's a good series XD if you'd like, I could try to make copies of the VCDs I have for you? I've got up to episode 12 ^^

KyraEnsui · July 08, 2003, 04:39:12 PM

Have you like gotten up to 13?

Tendai · July 08, 2003, 04:55:38 PM

No, I've only got eps 1-12 >< Just realised that earlier today. I'm searching for a subbed version of 13 but having no luck thus far.

KyraEnsui · July 08, 2003, 08:53:14 PM

www.animesuki.com <----this is where I get most of my animes. and this is where I get all of Weiss Kreuz Gluhen.

Jessa_chan · July 08, 2003, 09:25:09 PM

I couldn't force myself to watch more than an episode. *shudders*
The same "old characters come back, but its mostly new ones" thing has turned me off to a show since they did it with Digimon. And the CHARACTER DESIGNS *twitch* I'll take the first season, thanks.

Tendai · July 08, 2003, 10:09:13 PM

I would say watch it Jessa ^^ I was the same way, but..so long as you don't go through it comparing to the first, it's actually pretty good.

antibishie · July 09, 2003, 06:02:06 AM

There was emotional suffering over killing people in the original series? *blink blink* I guess so... but I didn't really see it too much.... No, wait. I can remember it... I just never <b>believed</b> it. Think about it: Aya kills people with a sword... probably the most human weapon used by Weiss. Ken uses those claws... so realistically he's gotta be right up next to someone tearing them apart... that can't be pretty. Yohji's got to strangle people with his little cord, which certainly isn't a nice way to die... expessially since with a cord like that it should bite into the skin. And then there's Omi. I can see the arrows, but his other weapons are darts, ne? Are they poisoned? I hope so... otherwise "death-by-darts" would probably take a while.

As much fun as most of the show was, stuff like that always bugged me. Seriously... whenever one of them felt grievous about killing someone I would be like, "DUDE?! You strangled someone to death just the other day?! Why is it bugging you NOW?!?!?!"

Hmmm... now I want to know why exactly they were given such brutal weapons to use....

Tendai · July 09, 2003, 06:32:25 AM

I think it makes more sense to have it hit them in random times rather than have them angst constantly - many people deal with pain/anger/whichever by ignoring it until it becomes waaay too strong and sort of explodes and I always thought that people in their positions would have to do that as a simple matter of survival. Constantly-angsting assassins would be dead assassins, ne? It's logical in my head that they express that sort of randomly because constant emotional turmoil would make them less effective.

As for the weapons thing, I'm of the opinion that they gave Yohji wire solely for the scene where he's strangling Neu over his back ~L~ But I actually read a piece once where someone went into the deeper significance of giving each Weiss member their respective weapons and it made a lot of sense. I had it saved on Kyo, my old computer, though, so I lost the link when his harddrive crapped out on me. I do remember that one of the things they went into about Yohji's weapon was how the killing method it was based off of (garotting) was something that was used on dishonourable females often at some point or something like that o.O It's been two years since I read this thing so I'm probably misremembering.

Whee~ early morning ramblings ~L~

Edit: And it is NOT weird to assign gender to my computers *sniffs at non-forum person snickering at her in ICQ*

antibishie · July 09, 2003, 06:39:23 AM

Quote from: "Tendai"Constantly-angsting assassins would be dead assassins, ne?

I suppose that you're right... you'd just think that with the way they're killing people that you'd be forced to with deal with it or suffer a break down much quicker. I just assumed that since they were super-duper assassins and everything that they'd been doing it for a while.... *shrugs*

...and no, it's not wierd to assign a gender to your computer. In fact, my roommate's computer is named Fred Lowe... and like the "Outlaw Star" character of the same name, she claims that her computer is gay. That's odd.

Tendai · July 09, 2003, 06:43:51 AM

XD that's what makes them super-duper assassins - they can turn the angst on and off at will? ~L~

Yay! XD And a gay computer isn't odd at all! Poor Duo-Emiru here has multiple personalities brought on by the fact that I couldn't decide which name to give him and smacked both on there.

GokuMew2 · July 09, 2003, 10:18:43 AM

Quote from: "Tendai"You should ^^ Because despite my bitching that it's not Weiss anymore, it's a good series XD if you'd like, I could try to make copies of the VCDs I have for you? I've got up to episode 12 ^^

Thanks, but I don't have a VCD player. ^^; I like DivX files just fine. Thanks for the offer though. *hugs* And I've seen 13 subbed somewhere. I believe Xenon Fansubs finished the series.

KyraEnsui · July 09, 2003, 10:29:52 AM

I download mine from AnimeWorld. I sort of didn't like their comments at the end of series but I didn't let go through. Dur...what do you expect from Weiss series to have a happy ending? It wasn't that much happy to begin with. Well, that's my opinion.

Miyamato_Mushasi · July 10, 2003, 06:20:59 PM

Shuldich is creepy :shock:

:( :? :) :D :cry: :x :evil: :twisted:
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One by One The Penguins Steal My Sanity

KyraEnsui · July 11, 2003, 08:15:24 AM

Quote from: "Miyamato_Mushasi"Shuldich is creepy :shock:

:( :? :) :D :cry: :x :evil: :twisted:
________________________________
One by One The Penguins Steal My Sanity

True true.... That's why I go with Nagi. Hehe.... :wink:

Tendai · July 12, 2003, 09:05:10 PM

And more thoughts on charas and other things after getting last defective VCD replaced:

Omi - Still whiny and overdramatic. I still wanted to slap him at times especially during the scene right before they go to face Epitaph. "I have chosen to live as Takatori Mamoru"..blah blah blah. Okay kid. We all know you have an identity crisis. Now just choose a name and personality and stick with it.

Fight between Yohji and Aya - Loved it. Something I'd seen in my head for a while made real. Wonderful ^^

Crawford - Uh..okay. Blond. Monocle. Is it just me or is he trying to become a rural British nobleman? Bad, bad, bad. As much a travesty as Yohji's redesign was.

Schuldig - Wow..he looks like a badly dressed Top who's about to go into a particularly flamboyant gay bar. It must be the idiotic hat - reminds me of the ones I saw at Folsom before.

Farfarello - Didn't get a close enough look >< But he looked..odd.

Nagi - Eeeh Nagi got sexy! Sure, he has Due le quartz-esque sweepy hair over the eye, but I can deal with it cause mmm! I like him! And I think they got his attitude right.

and..

The Rosenkreuz team - Sexy. Evil. Everything that Schwarz was in the original and isn't in this series. Belga's voice is yummy, as is Belga himself. I want one. The girl reminds me of a mix of Farfie and the little girl who speaks in the beginning of Berry by Dir en grey. The pyro guy I didn't really have an opinion on.

Now to wait for episode 13 from my friend Yil. I swear, if Yohji is actually dead I'm locking myself in my room and never coming out *gr!*

GokuMew2 · July 13, 2003, 09:53:18 AM

Quote from: "Miyamato_Mushasi"Shuldich is creepy

I love Schuldig! XD Midorikawa sama~~~ Schu Schu is crazy/psycho. Crazy/psycho is GOOD. Bwehehehe~ I like how he kidnapped Omi and all that. Mmm... Midorikawa sama sounded awesome as him too. All deep 'n stuff. =d That was pretty close to his really deep seme voice! Yum.

Jessa_chan · July 13, 2003, 05:24:23 PM

QuoteSchuldig - Wow..he looks like a badly dressed Top who's about to go into a particularly flamboyant gay bar. It must be the idiotic hat - reminds me of the ones I saw at Folsom before.

WHAT DID THEY DO TO MY BISHIE *sobs* He looks like he raided Trowa Barton's circus clothes, got drunk and acessorized. *shudder* Poor baby...