#5: Crisis Core Final Fantasy VII
In the whole Final Fantasy VII craze, I was amazed that they decided to release a prequel game where you played through as Zack. So where as the ending wasn't a surprise, it is what made me want to cry. Unlike Aerith in FF7, Zack actually got a personality and you could relate and feel something for the lovable oaf. Where as Aerith all you really learned was that she was an Ancient/Cetra and she had a boyfriend named Zack. But playing through this, I felt somewhat of a connection to him. So if I knew the end, why did it make me cry? Honestly, it was because they made you fight the soldiers off. When I played, my brother did all my building for me due to a deal we made and he had made me some kickass materia; one of which being Drain Jump, which did major damage and kept me alive. I literally had to let Shinra win because I was so strong. I know his death was story driven, but it tears me up that they made you do that fight even though as an in game mechanic you technically should be able to win.
#4: Doctor Who End of Time
I have heard a lot of mixed feelings about this episode, but for me it was very emotional. I am not a huge Sci-Fi fan and I never got into Doctor Who until David Tennant played The Doctor. Since being new to the series, my friends who had been fans of it for a long while informed on how the series kept going with different people playing The Doctor. When it was time for Tennant's Dotcor to go through the regeneration I was very torn apart because he did a wonderful job as the character and it was him who made me want to keep watching. In the last few episodes, leading up to this finale, The Doctor seems to not be himself due to the fear of dying. Some people view his regeneration scene as a step back for the character, wondering where his character development went. But in my opinion, it never left. Tennant's Doctor liked who he was and didn't want to change. He liked that life, his friends; who would really want to give that up? I was getting choked up through the entire episode as it drew to a close and I had to hold back my tears as I saw him cry and say he didn't want to change.
#3: Saiyuki Gaiden
Another one of those cases (as were the last two) that I technically knew the outcome. Like Crisis Core, this is a prequel story. This story takes place in the days that Goku spent in Heaven, under the care of Konzen. The story actually starts off very sweet, Goku having the mind of a small child and you could really just smile at his innocence. He became friends with Nataku, who is indeed a God of War, but that knowledge was not shared with Goku, all Goku knew was that one day Nataku came back injured and then for no reason at all was unable to have communication with his friend. This was due to Nataku's father controlling him like a puppet, but Goku was determined to do one things; tell Nataku his name. Now that said, that's about as far as the anime took the story (within it's second season), and for quite a few number of years, I only knew Gaiden to have one volume and then I was delighted to see more come out; it turns out that Goku had the potential to take Nataku's spot as the killing machine so to speak, which threatened Nataku's father's position and he ordered his son to kill Goku. As Goku pleads and actually gets through to his friend, Nataku commits suicide in front of him. This causes Goku to go into a frenzy, shattering the power limiter and revealing himself to be a youkai, resulting in him slaughtering dozens of ppl. The punishment of Goku was that he was to be banned from Heaven and left in the lower world, but Konzen, Tenpou and Kenren have other ideas and want to go with him, so they plan to escape. In their heed to escape, Kenren, Tenpou, and Konzen all lose their lives trying to protect Goku. Botatsu sticks with what Goku's punishment and seals him within a mountain on earth, with all his memories of Heaven erased, except for one thing because they couldn't bare it being lost to him. And that was the name given to him by Konzen; Son Goku.
This made me cry for a few different reasons, the main being that my favorite character in Gaiden committed suicide, but the scene was so touching as he died in his friend's arms, telling him about a birds nest in a tree where they played and Goku crying that he couldn;t see it. And watching the other three die off one by one pulled at the heart strings as Konzen reminded Goku that he made promises to them that he would go to the Earth. And right where they see the portal Konzen is crushed by the door. There are countless times within the main Saiyuki series where it flashes back to the days Goku spends on the mountain till Sanzo finds him and it constantly shows this one scene with him and a bird and the bird one day dies out of his reach, causing him that same anguish he felt back in Heaven...
#2: Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Act 47
Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon was such a good retelling of Sailor Moon's story and one of the big differences from the manga and anime versions was that Minako, Sailor Venus, was ill with some deadly disease. You meet Minako early on as she is Usagi's favorite pop idol and within the few short scenes you can see how her illness progresses, even if they never tell you what exactly it is she has. After revealing herself to be Sailor Venus she doesn't really work along side the senshi, but has the point of view that she cannot let what happened in their past life happen again, and says she has no real attachment to who she is in this life. Artemis shows her how much she means to others by showing her two kids singing one of her songs, trying to cheer themselves up after their mother was attacked by a demon. It's then she realizes that her life has meaning and she wants to go under experimental surgery in hopes that the disease can be cured. She goes off to a doctor's appointment to make sure everything is set for her to have the operation while the other senshi plan a pre- surgery party as a of saying good luck. A demon attacks resulting in Sailor Moon, Mercury, and Jupiter engaging it in battle. Artemis seeks out Sailor Mars and informs her that Minkao has died. Mars finds the others and finishes off the monster; falling to her knees, tears streaming down her cheeks as she screams Minako's name. At the end of the episode the girls, Luna and Atremis sit around the table, reading a letter written by Minako as they see her on the stage singing her new single as her image fades away and the room is silent with nothing to fill it but the sounds of their crying.
As a Sailor Moon fan I normally expect death in a series, but not like that. Had she died as Sailor Venus I would have just added it to the tally of how many times the Sailor Senshi get killed. But she died as Minako, and not on the battlefield as a warrior. And that really tore me up...
#1: Kamen Rider W Episode 48
My first real experience with Kamen Rider and I don't regret it in the least. Kamen Rider W (or Double) is a one mind, one body kind of thing as both Shotaro and Philip make up the Kamen Rider. Leading up to this episode we learned many things, including that Philip is actually a member of the Sonozaki family and in an interesting twist that the real Philip is dead. The Philip we see through out the series is an engineered copy, but even with the knowledge that he is technically not real he is determined to save his sister. Knowing something is going to happen, he requests to Shotaro not to transform into W until he says so. When they do and defeat the enemy Philip sees that his time has run out and prepares to remove the Memory from the belt only Shotaro stop him, asking if he could remove it instead. With Shotaro holding back his tears, Philip tells him that they will always be partners even if he's gone. Shotaro removes the Memory from the belt, and Philip begins to disappear. Shotaro returns to the detective agency and opens the gift Philip left for him in the previous episode; inside is the Lost Driver, a new Henshin belt, and along with it a message from Philip; "Please take care of the city I love. Kamen Rider, Shotaro Hidari."
I actually cried watching that episode. Through out the series you get an attachment to both Shotaro and Philip and to have the notion that half of W would no longer exist was just heartbreaking. The scene with Shotaro removing the Memory from the Driver will always stand out in my mind as you could really feel the emotional loss he was suffering.
So there is my list, I hope you all enjoyed it. I know some of them were more "winded" than others, but some I didn't think required that much explanation. See you all next time. ^^/
No comments:
Post a Comment