allyn yonge wrote:
Overall an interesting subject. However I think it
was too rushed and much too simplistic for such a
complex subject. I think it would benefit from a
re-write, expanding on the subject and showing the
emotions and thoughts in more detail. As it stands I
found Usagi's comments to be very chilling. If you
were
attempting to portray a dark future you succeeded.
I tend to agree that Usagi's decision to take absolute power over
everyone in order to utterly stamp out injustice sounds like the
first step in her corruption.
My basic problem with this story is something else, though. Usagi
reading a book, not just a book but a dry history text, because she's
bored? Usagi doesn't strike me as the sort to turn literate as a
source of amusement. That strikes me as contrived just to get some of
the unpleasant things about Japan's war history wedged into the story.
To me it read less like a story, than like a lecture thinly disguised as
a story. If you want to get into this stuff as a story, then I say the
thing to do is to send them back to World War II for some reason. Show,
don't tell.
## Dead is dead. It doesn't matter much if it's an
atomic bomb, an incendiary (many more people died
in firestorms from incendiary bombs than the atomic
bomb) a bullet or a bayonet. And the dead don't care
if it was enemy, "friendly fire", youma or senshi that
killed them.
(A point I'm trying to make in Sukeban Senshi, which
is why this story interested me.)
Dead is not necessarily dead. You can take a long time to die in agony,
or you can live for years with disfiguring scars before the leukemia
finally gets you, or long enough to see your child born with missing
limbs or mental retardation.
There a reason why the Japanese make a bigger deal about the bombing of
Hiroshima than about the prior bombing campaign that in toto actually
cost far more lives. Atomic weapons are the gift that keeps on giving.
That's not to say that the Japanese wouldn't have used atomic weapons
themselves if they'd had them, because obviously they would have.
But your thesis, that dead is dead, is one that would I would dispute.
There are all kinds of deaths and I'd prefer certain kinds to others.
"Usagi!" Rei snapped, "No one-"
"Rei," Ami said, her voice quiet and toneless,
"before you
continue, remember that we're responsible for at
least one act of
genocide."
Problem there. Too vague about what Ami means by "we".
##??? The DK? Even if the DK were completely
eliminated
I'm not sure this can be blamed on the senshi. As I
recall the DK initiated the attack. The senshi's
assault on "D-point" was a counter strike. Assuming
that the DK was indeed destroyed that seemed to be a
direct result of the DK's _own_ power
used against the senshi. It's all a matter of POV.
And of course the Dark Kingdom had no noncombatants, no children, no
humble farming peasants, no conscientious objectors. Everyone there was
a warriour for Metallia, the remainder having long since been consumed.
"Is it?" Ami shot back. "What would you do if
you heard
youma were doing those things?" Ami nodded at Rei's
silence.
Usagi surprised them when she spoke.
##Again, I see this as POV. The Japanese (for the most
part) saw noting wrong in:
Not relevant. These days the Japanese (for the most part) DO see
something wrong in that kind of stuff.
However, the good of society should always be placed
above the
individual.
An old Confucian (or say generally Asian) ethic.
##This ignores the fact that society is _made_ of
individuals.
No it doesn't. It's just a restatement of the idea that the good of
many individuals is better than the good of one individual.