(CR) Hametsu no Oukoku (The Kingdoms of Ruin)

[magnuskn]

Originally Posted by shmaster

So someone do take notice of this.
Only if the prequel is translated for people to notice the real implication of that masked woman.

I mean, c'mon, a masked woman is the wife of the king with the psycho stare? The language of storytelling is pretty clear that she is Up To No Good and Very Important.

[patnam]

this is Eren Yeager in Kingdom on Ruins...

[frubam]

Well, good first episode. Managed to show the strong rapport between Chloe and Adonis before Chloe's terrible end. When the Emperor ripped off her clothes and said she is just a "mere woman", I thought for sure there would be a gangr*p* scenario(though prob off-screen). Wouldn't have been any more tragic with that for MC, but certainly would have felt like the extra f'you to her character for the anime watcher. Still felt pretty bad, seeing MC watch the woman he loves being made a mockery of and killed right in front of him.

That being said, there are some caveats that worry me. One of the weakest links to a revenge story of this caliber is gaining an entourage(unless said entourage has same goal). Makes the MC more humble, which unfortunately kills the edgelord aspect of the story. Its usually better to have MC do his edgelord thing solo for some time to establish his own inner hatred to the viewer, but here, it looks like he will immediately get pink-haired girl as a travel companion. The very nature of her kindness and the silliness in which she was able to attack the warden, run from the guards, and the process of trying to unlock the cell doors, all conflict with the nature of the story it wants to tell; which I assume is a revenge tale. Of course, if it wasn't all he was made of, i.e. he had other dreams in which to pursue or are exposed to, then it would be okay(see Noll in 7 Spellblades), but it essentially looks like his lover was killed right in front of him, then placed in immediate incarceration, so his desire to kill all humans should be nothing but that. We'll see in the coming episodes, but I won't be surprised if the murderous intent I expect him to have is lessened somehow, whether due to his ineptitude as a witch, or pink girl softening him up, lowering the quality of the series as it progresses(though I hope I'm wrong on this; I do like a magic vs tech story[FF6]).

Originally Posted by serenade_beta

Spoiler for ep1:

I have no idea why people want to kill the witches so much if the humans are so strong
I don't know why the people are acting like it is the medieval times
I don't know why a smartphone controls the entire jail

I asked similar questions. If tech is so good that it is superior to witches, there is no need to fear the witches. Why kill them? Well most obv thing would be a plot by the woman in red. I wish the answer was not so obvious in that she shouldn't even have been shown at this point, but it is what it is I guess.

Based on their clothing though, it seems like there was a sudden boom in technology, though the full details haven't been given yet, so its understandable if it still has that feeling. Maybe the actual mindset of the people haven't caught up with the new technology yet.

Then the smartphone; that is not how voice authentication technology works. It's sophisticated enough to control the whole jail and even the "superjail" that confined Adonis, but not enough to tell when someone is faking a voice? Granted it may be possible with other tech, but highly unlikely to do this while running full tilt from guards while imitating the voice of a man trying to sound like a woman by a woman trying to sound like a man trying to sound like a woman(yeah, sounds stupid here).

[Guido]

Don't ask me.

I was out of a sudden pulled into this show once I took a slight peek of the trailer without a warning and expecting Nothing out of it.

Agreed that this is an edgy story though the violence is not that extreme in contrast to other anime I watched in the past.

However, they ramped overboard the cruelty of humanity to psychotic levels for this show, and the first episode doesn't do favors at giving any hint or nuance for the spectator to pick the context in order to rationalize humanity's overall attitude and hatred towards the witches.

Pretty much, humans in this story are bastards that deserved to be killed by the MC because the plot demands it to be so.
The baseless and mindless discrimination towards the witches in Hametsu no Okoku kinda reminds me of Cross Ange where the Norma got discriminated by the Mana-User humans because Norma couldn't use mana.

However, here in Adonis world and story humans are portrayed as the worst amongst the worst with a bloated pride and a leming mindset.
The first episode already established the polarity: all Witches are portrayed to be the victims and all Humans are demonized. The only good humans are those who were raised by and made company to Witches.
In one end of the spectrum we have the bond between Chloé & Adonis and to the opposite extreme we have the Redia Emperor with his bloated arrogance and nonchalant disposition at sparing no time to waste Chloé right off the bat without batting an eye even when she delivered a heartfelt plea to bargain for Adonis's life.

Honestly, I am so tired of that bidimensional cliché, and I wish they could have handled the story to reach a middle ground by establishing that the world is fallen and cursed but still looking at it with eyes unclouded by hatred.

Originally Posted by frubam

Well, good first episode. Managed to show the strong rapport between Chloe and Adonis before Chloe's terrible end. When the Emperor ripped off her clothes and said she is just a "mere woman", I thought for sure there would be a gangr*p* scenario(though prob off-screen). Wouldn't have been any more tragic with that for MC, but certainly would have felt like the extra f'you to her character for the anime watcher. Still felt pretty bad, seeing MC watch the woman he loves being made a mockery of and killed right in front of him.

That being said, there are some caveats that worry me. One of the weakest links to a revenge story of this caliber is gaining an entourage(unless said entourage has same goal). Makes the MC more humble, which unfortunately kills the edgelord aspect of the story. Its usually better to have MC do his edgelord thing solo for some time to establish his own inner hatred to the viewer, but here, it looks like he will immediately get pink-haired girl as a travel companion. The very nature of her kindness and the silliness in which she was able to attack the warden, run from the guards, and the process of trying to unlock the cell doors, all conflict with the nature of the story it wants to tell; which I assume is a revenge tale. Of course, if it wasn't all he was made of, i.e. he had other dreams in which to pursue or are exposed to, then it would be okay(see Noll in 7 Spellblades), but it essentially looks like his lover was killed right in front of him, then placed in immediate incarceration, so his desire to kill all humans should be nothing but that. We'll see in the coming episodes, but I won't be surprised if the murderous intent I expect him to have is lessened somehow, whether due to his ineptitude as a witch, or pink girl softening him up, lowering the quality of the series as it progresses(though I hope I'm wrong on this; I do like a magic vs tech story[FF6]).



I asked similar questions. If tech is so good that it is superior to witches, there is no need to fear the witches. Why kill them? Well most obv thing would be a plot by the woman in red. I wish the answer was not so obvious in that she shouldn't even have been shown at this point, but it is what it is I guess.

Based on their clothing though, it seems like there was a sudden boom in technology, though the full details haven't been given yet, so its understandable if it still has that feeling. Maybe the actual mindset of the people haven't caught up with the new technology yet.

Then the smartphone; that is not how voice authentication technology works. It's sophisticated enough to control the whole jail and even the "superjail" that confined Adonis, but not enough to tell when someone is faking a voice? Granted it may be possible with other tech, but highly unlikely to do this while running full tilt from guards while imitating the voice of a man trying to sound like a woman by a woman trying to sound like a man trying to sound like a woman(yeah, sounds stupid here).

I was as well confused as when human hatred for the witches stemmed from since no rational explanation is shed.

Come on, Attack on Titan biggest twist reveal delivered nuance and context as to why Eren's people were kept within the walls from the titans, and eventually triggered the path that Eren took for the things that he did when he realized he was out of options.

All right, so I am taking note at the woman in red in hopes that she turns out to be the real puppet master and expecting to shed light if any on any twist that the story has to offer.

Originally Posted by patnam

Naofumi in full rage on humanity...!!

Ironic that you mentioned it, since I checked the character bios for Adonis and is voiced by seiyuu Kaito Ishikawa whom also voices Naofumi Iwatani in Rising of the Shield Hero series.

[FlareKnight]

Well, those people suck.

I feel like the premise is seriously riding on people just being awful. Look I kind of get the stretch we're taking here. People as they grew more powerful realized how powerful the witches were. The gap between them creating a sense of fear and a desire to fight back. But it's mostly just guesswork.

Same with the speech. It went from A to Z in one move. People want to feel independent and respected and all that. So obviously...they need to massacre the witches. What!? He must have dropped a whole page of his speech here! If there was something like some witches openly sneering at humanity or treating people badly or...literally anything! I get the human Emperor being arrogant and not liking someone more powerful being above him. But everyone else in his empire lives that way because he's above them!

At least they have built up a pretty good desire for the main cast to wipe out this Empire. MC has plenty of reasons to be pissed off with the horrible and public execution of his mentor. And so does Doroka. Since for all the uplifting of humanity talk...it's uplifting of humanity within this one Empire.

I suppose it at least makes sense why Chloe wanted to head to another country. The discrimination and executions probably were contained to this one country. Although in that sense that should mean any witches that were outside in other nations are both alive and pissed. Although if this nation is actively invading and conquering the globe those numbers may be dwindling.

[stray]

I'm not really sure I'm going to have any motivation for this series the same day as Goblin Slayer. I flipped through the manga a bit and it... doesn't seem to get any less edgy. I'll see if I can make it another week.

[grecefar]

For a 10 year simulation plan to kill everyone and destroy the country... his plan sucks.

And I think pink hair is lying about bringing chloe back.

[FlareKnight]

Oh boy. Not surprised at how downright evil this kid has become. His plans and his mindset seem utterly locked down to a childish level. Why did none of the witches save Chloe? How were they going to do that exactly? She was one of the most powerful of them all. No one should have been expecting her to need saving. Plus it's not like she was racing around saving anyone besides herself and Adonis either.

I get he's on a rage filled rampage so rationality and logic aren't his friends. But...what?

The plan is pretty terrible. If he wanted to kill the Emperor...how about getting closer to the palace before drawing all that attention to himself with a giant?

Too bad for him that his revenge won't be all that complete. Good odds the Emperor dies before Adonis gets there. Too bad there aren't any witches that would be around to heal him eh ? Honestly I half expect a reveal that his Queen is poisoning him to take power.

Shocking ending. But somehow I doubt she's dead. Maybe she's literally got resurrection magic and can revive herself so long as there isn't a magic shut down field? That would give her claim to be there to revive Chloe some credit.

Originally Posted by grecefar

For a 10 year simulation plan to kill everyone and destroy the country... his plan sucks.

And I think pink hair is lying about bringing chloe back.

To be fair he did start off with a child's understanding of things. So...I guess it's a given that his plan would be incredibly childish and short-sighted.

Should I give him credit for presuming that they put the anti-magic device into storage since they didn't have any enemies left to use them on? Probably not. Considering his sloppy plan...I doubt he had a countermeasure in mind there.

She might be telling the truth about resurrecting Chloe. Outside of the chance to revive one of the most powerful witches in the world I probably wouldn't suggest getting in the path of that psychopath otherwise. Not sure what other use Adonis would legitimately have. If it's destroying the Empire...honestly just leave him be and hope for the best.

[serenade_beta]

When the "animator" tries their best to not animate any scene other than basic moving and lip flapping

[magnuskn]

Wow, what is this show? What a damn mess. Dropped, HARD.

[Nachtwandler]

For me personally it is in "so bad it's good cathegory". I want to enjoy this dumb edginess for a bit more.

[Lukes YGO & WS on YT]

That was a good old fashioned revenge massacre.

[FlareKnight]

I'm shocked that the guy that spent a decade planning his revenge didn't have a plan for the magical device that killed the person he's obsessed with avenging...

Also great, the main character is killed in episode 3. This was a short show, but I suppose that makes it a bit more memorable .

Honestly I'll love the explanation of how Adonis was switched out with a fake. I'm sure it'll be a good one.

And I'd say the girl that left her boyfriend (?) made the right call. There's no way she was pulling him out before they were both crushed by debris. And honestly with part of his body crushed he probably dies from shock even if she could miraculously pull him out. Though I suppose openly talking about how hot the guy that killed so many people is out in public...is probably a bad choice . Keep thoughts in your head!

[grecefar]

like I said, his plan sucked.

at least I'm happy to hear that all those people that killed the witches and the ones who were there when chloe was killed are all dead because of the machine.

there are now a lot of people that need to die now but I guess we need to wait for their moment now.

[serenade_beta]

This kingdom continues its trend of being able to activate extremely important and dangerous features extremely easily, now with radioactivity

[arkhangelsk]

I like how this show doesn't pull its punches either way (at least to the extent allowed in a TV anime). The humans show their cruelty in Episode 1, and Episode 2-3 becomes a killfest that explains why Witches are such a threat and is enough to push the sympathy meter back.

[Guido]

Honestly, my feelings got mixed as I do not know or being left confused whether to support or not MC's killfest.

I have an edgy distaste on fights featuring psychopaths vs. psychopaths.

Got it that the Redia Empire is drowned straight with inhumanity towards witches and day-to-day indifference for the citizens just to matter their own business.

But, this Adonis dude the way he handled his rampage with a single mindset hellbent to commit genocide to me speaks that he's just a stray puppy suffering from incurable rabies just to bite back hopelessly against the world.

I still don't know why the Emperor obsessed to purge all witches from the face of the earth in order for humanity to advance and progress, but I need a more substance of a reason to at least get his point. Otherwise, let Adonis literally be a RRR; roaring rampage of revenge.

Let him roar, let him rampage, let him kill loads of people, and let him get bloody satisfaction.

And, as always with this types of edgy stories just when the MC felt a tinge of hope that hope is abruptly dashed away, since Doroka got shot to death by the psycho-executive officer.

[grecefar]

I knew it wasn't going to be that easy to bring chloe back. Now I wonder why it was doroka.

I doubt adonis reaction is going to be pretty, he is an asshole.

[FlareKnight]

Honestly I'm not sure why it would be Doroka. Not like he seemed to care all that much about her death. At least not enough to refrain from throw verbal dirt in the face of her friend. Not even sure how that would be effective in bringing back Doroka. He knew next to nothing about that girl. Reviving her based on a single encounter should only do so much.

Though I do think it had to be intentional. Seems like the jerk thing to do to waste everyone's time by not reviving Chloe. If I wanted to be nice could say he did it because Chloe wouldn't want to be brought back to be used like this. Honestly, I'm not even really all that sure about why. But it seems like the only realistic option. Even an idiot like him couldn't screw up on what memories he was cramming into that sphere.

Also I love him being a jerk about the possible war strategy of the witches when his strategy...was that he didn't have one. Just march straight into the capital and waste energy attacking everything that could move around him.

[serenade_beta]

Okay, they grow from trees
Gotta say that was amusing