The anime meeting, on June 14, 2008, included the series FATE, STAY NIGHT and a Detective Conan movie.
The FATE STAY NIGHT series is a about a contest between teams consisting of
Masters( human) who are paired with Servants ("epic heroes" from the past or future) They fight against each other to win the prize of the "holy grail." Whoever gains this prize gets their wish granted. The main team in this series is a schoolboy named Shirou and his servant who belongs to the Saber class of fighters. Hence her name "Saber." Later we learn she her real name is Arturia. In this story King Arthur was really the daughter of Uther Pendragon, not the son. Shirou and Saber have formed an alliance with the Master/ Servant team of Rin and Archer. In this episode, Saber is in danger of disappearing, since she used up her power in her last battle. The only solution is for Shirou to supply Saber with some sort of power called "mana." But Shirou, unlike other masters, who are supposed to be mages or musician does not seem to have that power to transfer mana. The only other option is to have Saber attack people. But Shriou did not think it was right to kill or hurt innocent people to save Saber. This is a very real life question. How far does one go in saving a life? I am trying to remember what a doctor said. I think he said he would take any means necessary within certain boundaries In other words, killing an innocent person to save someone else cross those boundaries. Hello this almost sounds like the question of embryonic stem cell "research." In this episode Shirou is captured by another master named Ilya. Saber senses Shirou is in danger and sets out to rescue him. She asks Rin for help. Archer says that one should not bother to rescue Shirou. But since Rin is the master, Archer does have to follow Rin's decision. The episode ends with Saber, Rin and Archer setting out to rescue Shirou. Ironically, in a later episode, Archer is the one who ends up sacrificing his "life" for the group. It later revealed that Archer is the future self of Shirou. Unlike the idealistic noble Shirou, Archer is cynical and thinks of Shirou as naïve. But in this later episode Archer performs this deed of self sacrifice.
The Detective Conan movie is about a teen age detective, named Shinichi Kudo, who was poisoned and shrunk to the form of a little boy. As a little boy he takes on the name Edogawa Conan. This series in English is known as CASE CLOSED. A little Japanese literary history may be in order here. Shortly after Japan surrendered, the Occupation forces in Japan banned military literature. I believe the Occupation forces encouraged mysteries as an alternative literature to military epics. Agatha Christie's works were translated into Japanese about this time. Also after the war a Japanese writer with the pen name Edogawa Rampo arrived on the literary scene. The author adopted this name in reference to the writer Edgar Allen Poe. I read that Edogawa Rampo sounds like the name of the American writer if one says it real fast. The Japanese apparently have had an interest in the fictional character of Sherlock Holmes, created by Arthur Conan Doyle. So the Conan Edogawa character is a reference to two mystery writers EDGAR ALLEN POE and Arthur CONAN Doyle. In Japanese the name would read Edogawa Conan.
Conan feared for the safety of his friends and loved ones and that is why he did not let anyone but a few select people know he was really Shinichi Kudo. His high school girlfriend only knows him as Conan Edogawa, a little boy. He also has a voice changer, so he can change his voice to sound like his old self and talk to his girlfriend by phone. He can't show himself to her in his old high school self. I think part of his quest is to get back to normal. In this movie someone issued a challenge to his old high school self. This challenger burned buildings and planted some bombs. In the end we find that the culprit is an architect who destroyed his own creations because of aesthetic dissatisfactions with his creations. I suspect the writer of this movie was making a reference to the Ayn Rand novel THE FOUNTAINHEAD. The movie reaches a climatic ending where Shinichi Kudo's girlfriend, Ran, must disarm the bomb planted by the architect. Conan is on the other side of the wall. Ran can't see him. So Conan uses the voice changer to sound like his old self Shinichi. I should point out that Ran had met the architect before. She told him that she and Shinichi were supposed to see a movie. She was planning to give him a red sweater as a present since red was a favorite color for both of them. They movie they were going to see had some mention of a red thread. It was about a couple who had their pinky fingers bound together by a red thread. I guess that was to show how close they were as a couple. The architect, who planted the bomb, knew that red was Ran and Shinichi's favorite color. So in the end Ran had to choose between cutting the red wire or the blue wire. Conan realized at the last second that the blue wire was the wire to be cut, but he could not contact her. I think so rescue workers pulled him away from the wall.. Ran had to make the decision on her own. She correctly cut the blue wire. The architect registered a look of astonishment on his face. Apparently he expected her to cut the red wire since that was her favorite color. Later Conan tells Ran that Shinichi was puzzled why she cut the blue wire instead of the red. She mentioned the film and the red thread. I guess cutting the red wire would be like cutting the red thread. And that would be a loss of connection between the couple in the movie, and Shinichi and Ran as well. Yes, I know this is just a story. But this movie made me think about the limitations of human reason and how one thinks. The architect thought he had planned his trick well. He failed to see how Ran would think. Or perhaps he was thinking that Conan's logical mind would lead him right into a trap. It is interesting to see how sometimes ignorance can somehow work to benefit a person, a family or a nation. No, I'm not saying that ignorance is bliss. But sometimes ignorance can cause a blunder into something big. Portugal knew more about geography than Spain and declined to sponsor Columbus's voyage West to Asia. But Spain's sponsorship of Columbus led to an empire which surpassed Portugal's. Logic and reason are great tools, but no guarantee success. I think the providential aspect to life must also be considered.
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# posted by GuyTak @ 9:13 PM
