C - CONTROL Forum

If the beast weren't wearing socks, they would totally bounce him.

Wow. The fed lady in this show sounds far less threatening when she’s trying to speak in English. Did they even bother to get a language coach for her? She spoke with a breathless lack of inflection during that meeting. Perhaps this is what the shoe slipping onto the other foot sounds like. My favorite episodes of the new (and maddeningly unfinished) MORTAL KOMBAT LEGACY web series were the ones spotlighting Scorpion’s spiteful feud with Sub-Zero. To me, it was cool that they went for that extra level of authenticity by having a two-parter entirely in Japanese, but apparently the authenticity was illusory. Fans who could actually speak Japanese said that the Asian-American actors' accents were horribly off.

It comes down to perspective, of course, and we all get a little more of that in respect to the world of [C] – CONTROL today. I do like how the worlds of the entres are more-or-less embodiments of specific nation’s GDP, and the throwaway line alluding to FAUST makes me smirk - - it paints Masakaki and his people as devils who’ve basically upgraded to the times. That’s honestly a good enough explanation for any of this fantasia for me. I was getting a little worried that they’d play the allegorical card a little too hard by offering no explanation for how this arena made sense in the greater world, but I can work with it just being a trap created by some oh-so-current demons.

As of yet, this show’s taken a refreshing stance on the themes it’s playing with. It's not stamping its foot down to say “Money is evil!” yet it still isn't verging too far into the “Selfishness is awesome!” realm of some Randian screed. I don’t think the veteran entre’s argument about Yoga’s aims being selfish are quite that sound - - he who has no family, has no binding responsibiltiies outside of himself, right? - - but I’m glad they’re taking a fairer angle over the usual "daddy issues" protagonists use to get cheap sympathy from an audience. Along that line, I’m really hoping that Masakaki isn’t lying about Yoga’s selection been coincidental to his father’s. I feel like there’s actually more pathos to them both being arbitrarily selected instead of fulfilling some kind of lineage-related intrigue.

Watch this episode “Conspiracy" below, decide for yourself and then read my comments on the previous episode here.

Tom Pinchuk’s the writer of HYBRID BASTARDS! & UNIMAGINABLE. Order them on Amazon here & here. Follow him on Twitter: @tompinchuk

@ninjadude853 said:

What's wrong with the chick having difficulty with english? I just assumed that she was a native Japanese person who learned to speak english, and therefore would have a bad accent.

Nothing wrong with it. It's just funny to hear.

@ninjadude853 said:

Also, Masakaki freaks me out... This anime manages to feel creepy to me really often.

He's enjoying too much, isn't he?

@rxanadu said:

I also like the fact this show doesn't go for the "Money bad, Greed good" mentality. As you go on, Tom, you'll find that the show is more about who should benefit from money. This show realizes that money is a means to an end, and that the people with said means are the ones who decide what to use it for and how to use it.

Yeah, that's the more reasonable truth of it.

There's also a shocking use of the butterfly effect in this series that works toward amplifying the things I said above.

Hopefully no Ashton Kutcher appearances, though.

@zaldar said:

yup it gets deep and is definitely not a battle of the week show. The chick is supposed to be non japanese which is the problem with her bad English, and even if she was japanese and learned English you still should have some emotion behind the voice. But, not like they are going to find a japanese actor that can speak English that they can pay the extreme tiny amount voice actors get in Japan. So not surprising but certainly disappointing.

Yeah, I just thought it was amusing that were was literally no emotion in her voice.

@rxanadu said:

@zaldar said:

yup it gets deep and is definitely not a battle of the week show. The chick is supposed to be non japanese which is the problem with her bad English, and even if she was japanese and learned English you still should have some emotion behind the voice. But, not like they are going to find a japanese actor that can speak English that they can pay the extreme tiny amount voice actors get in Japan. So not surprising but certainly disappointing.

She should have learned English from that one dentist from Tatami Galaxy

Ay-oh!