Plot
The story begins with Shuji (シュウジ Shūji), a high school student in Hokkaidō, walking up to an observatory and reminiscing about his girlfriend, Chise (ちせ); there he finds her exchange diaries that she purposefully left behind. The ensuing story is narrated by Shuji through flashbacks while reading Chise's diary. Chise, a fellow student in his class, declares her love for Shuji at the beginning of the series. However, Chise is very shy and Shuji is insensitive: neither know how to express their feelings very well, but they do indeed have feelings for each other.
One day, while Shuji is shopping in Sapporo, unknown bombers attack the city in broad daylight. He and his friends run for cover, but notice a fast and small flying object shooting down the enemy bombers. Separated from his friends, Shuji wanders through the wreckage - only to stumble upon Chise; here she has metal wings and weapons - apparently grafted onto her body. She tells him she has become the ultimate weapon, without her knowledge or consent, and that she is seen by the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) as the last hope for defending Japan from imminent invasion. In the anime, it is not apparent why Chise was chosen to be the ultimate weapon or why the country is under attack. It was not until the OVA episodes were released that an explanation for Chise being chosen was offered: her body has the highest degree of compatibility with the weapon system. (In fact, later in the OVA it is mentioned that Chise had been "over-developed" and was so much of a weapon that she would kill anyone regardless of what side they were on. This fact is punctuated by Chise vaporizing the Special Forces building where she first became the ultimate weapon.)
This story, as suggested by its subtitle "The Last Love Song On This Little Planet", is primarily a love story. It focuses primarily on Shuji's and Chise's reactions to her increasingly powerful destructive abilities, and the relationship between the two.
A number of minor characters who do not necessarily know of Chise's role in the war have sub-plots that concern everyday people in the context of war: a woman whose husband is constantly away from home, a school boy who joins the army to protect his girlfriend, a girl whose civilian boyfriend is killed in a bombing, and others.
War
Both the manga and the anime feature a hotly-contested war. Battles are shown through the lives of people on the front, but the diplomatic particulars of the war are not revealed to the audience. A reason is never given as to why the war broke out in the first place, what the war is all about, or what countries the Japan Self-Defense Forces and Chise are fighting against except that a small mistake humans made caused Earth to start destroying itself and the mistake was ignored until the world order came crashing down on "that day", what exactly happened is never explained. However, there is speculation about possible foes. For example, in one episode an enemy plane is shot down near the city and the pilot's one or two lines are in near perfect American English. In the manga and OVA, Chise speaks to the enemy soldiers, saying that she does not know much English, and later in the series there are certain enemy soldiers that speak French. The OVAs also portray some of the soldiers speaking French. This would suggest that there is an international coalition invading Japan. On the day before Armageddon, a JSDF soldier under Chise's command states that Hokkaido was to be the site of the decisive battle.
However, in the end of both the anime and the manga, Chise remarks that many other parts of the world had experienced "horrendous things", and that "humans have done a lot of damage to this world". This may imply that the invasion was due to the lack of livable land anywhere else other than Japan, which was protected by Chise. This in turn would cause other countries to seek places where people are able to live. On the other hand, Chise could have been referring to her own creation and her part in destroying much of the world. In the manga, Chise does refer to the catalyst for the environmental doomsday, but never states anything specific until the end when she states that an earthquake will strike the core of the planet. Whether the two earthquakes that have occurred previously have anything to do with the chains of events leading to doomsday, has not been ascertained.
The only weapons of mass destruction observed in both the anime and manga was Chise herself, who by the middle of the story had the power to destroy entire cities and did so on a fairly regular basis. In more than one battle over a Japanese city, Chise simply vaporized the city and most of the people in it. Coupled with the comments about how the enemy had nowhere to return to and how Chise has been "working" all over the world, it seems unlikely that the invasion by other nations is simply over territory.
Also troubling is the seeming nonexistence of a nuclear arsenal in the invading coalition forces. No nuclear weapon is ever used against Japan, despite Japan having no nuclear arsenal of its own, and coalition forces willing to inflict civilian casualties through total war. Though an ICBM would have undoubtedly destroyed Chise in the beginning, it is never seen nor mentioned in the series. Some have argued that this is because the invading nations are desperate to capture Chise to study then destroy her for their own safety, or use her or the material she has been transformed into for their own purposes. If the latter is correct, and if the other nations were aware of the inevitable doomsday scenario mentioned by Japan's leaders, then the act of capturing Chise would possibly be seen as the only way to save their own respective nation. Chise, in fact, does reach a point of power where she is able to synthesize voluminous pieces of matter out of thin air, but it is dubious whether or not Japan would have been able to have saved itself, seeing as even Chise was unable to use these structures to stop an enormous tidal wave from annihilating her hometown.
Main characters
Chise (ちせ) Voiced by: Fumiko Orikasa (Japanese), Melissa Hutchinson (English)
- She is the main female character of the story. Chise is a shy, clumsy girl with very little self-esteem and has poor grades in everything except for World History. She was constantly hospitalized in Tokyo during her elementary years, and thus, has very few friends (except for Akemi). She starts dating Shuji, with Akemi’s help, and tries to make her relationship work with him despite his apparently aloof personality. However, Chise is very inexperienced and does not know much about relationships to the point she reads shōjo manga for advice. She was turned into the ultimate weapon against her will and the series revolves around her and her fading humanity. Chise tries to come to terms with her new weapon body by convincing herself that she’s protecting the one she loves, but comes to admit to herself that the only thing she can do is to destroy. She feels horribly guilty for all the pain and death she has caused and shies away from Shuji, believing she doesn’t deserve any happiness. As Chise’s weapon-side starts to take over, her hearts stops beating, her body lacks warmth and her sense of taste and touch are dulled, but other senses (especially sight) are accentuated and she’s basically immortal. However, a second darker persona starts to emerge halfway through the series, a cold, ruthless machine that delights in her growing, destructive powers and killing people without mercy. In the end, her love for Shuji is the last of her humanity she can cling onto. Its implied at the end of the anime and manga that Chise has become machine god-like in its immortality and destructive power.
Shuji (シュウジ Shūji)Voiced by: Shiro Ishimoda (Japanese), Mark Atherlay (English)
- He is the main male character of the story and narrator of the series. He is a somewhat antisocial 17-year old high school student who gets higher than average grades and used to be on his school’s track team. Shuji is very unsure of his initial feelings for Chise and feels that their relationship is more trouble than its worth, though his feelings deepen as the story progresses. At first, he wanted to break things off with Chise, but he then changes his mind and wants to give the relationship another try. However, things get complicated when his first love, Fuyumi, reappears in town. He is the only civilian who knows Chise is the ultimate weapon and promises that he will never divulge her secret. Shuji is torn by this side of Chise; he loves her deeply, but he is terrified of her weapon capabilities. This causes a very noticeable strain on their relationship and he finally succumbs to Fuyumi’s advances because of this, although it is unclear whether he actually has sex with her as she desires. Shuji is feeling constantly guilty and useless because his irresponsible actions tend to hurt Chise and because all his loved-ones are dying around him. Later on in the series, he comes to accept his love for Chise and vows to protect her at all costs. He’s the only human being left alive in the end--thanks to Chise’s sacrifice in the anime and thanks to her desire to spare him from annihilation in the manga. The manga ends with him entering a giant ship which claims to be all that is left of Chise--she says she has been trying to get "big and strong" so she can protect him in this way. He is left alone in a spaceship flying away from a devastated Earth, with the human Chise in his heart. It is unclear whether or not the spaceship is an actual spaceship or if Shuji just went insane and imagined the whole thing. The anime changed this into them having another go at life in the memories of his past. In both endings, without food or water, Shuji's fate is unclear.
No comments:
Post a Comment