That's One Way to Go
Feb. 20th, 2013 05:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
krpalmerOnce finished watching Mobile Suit Gundam, I decided it was about time to start another one of the "giant robot" anime series that preceded it, and just happened to have Voltes V all set to go. I'd picked up somewhere along the way its staff was connected to Combattler V, a "giant robot" anime that had just preceded it, and from the very first episode I could see the resemblance in the familiar categories of the five pilots, the way the giant robot assembled, and its absurd, "toyetic" weapons. Along with that, I suppose I began anticipating at least one of the initial authority figures being killed off early on. What happened, though, was memorable enough that I do feel sort of compelled to set it down, even if I'm aware this may cancel out the "utter surprise" that got my attention in the first place for other people...
Three of the five pilots happen to be brothers, and when their mother (involved in their rigorous training and cooly ordering them into battle in the first episode) got caught outside the protective barrier in the second episode I did get concerned. Sure enough, she was sideswiped by an enemy beam. I managed to stay hopeful as she was wheeled to the operating theatre, but then the barrier got breached and the theatre was blown up... only for her to stagger to her feet among the rubble, get into a jet fighter, and crash it into the monster-of-the-episode to give Voltes V the chance it needed. As much as recent news has sensitized me to the problematic nature of "violence against women" once again, the mapping of something more usually associated with "doomed veteran pilots" onto a mother did seem beyond usual. In the next episode, we learn that another pilot's mother sacrificed her life to save him from a pack of wolves earlier on (if by blowing herself up with them, apparently not having enough bullets), which just fit in with the air of absurdity.
Three of the five pilots happen to be brothers, and when their mother (involved in their rigorous training and cooly ordering them into battle in the first episode) got caught outside the protective barrier in the second episode I did get concerned. Sure enough, she was sideswiped by an enemy beam. I managed to stay hopeful as she was wheeled to the operating theatre, but then the barrier got breached and the theatre was blown up... only for her to stagger to her feet among the rubble, get into a jet fighter, and crash it into the monster-of-the-episode to give Voltes V the chance it needed. As much as recent news has sensitized me to the problematic nature of "violence against women" once again, the mapping of something more usually associated with "doomed veteran pilots" onto a mother did seem beyond usual. In the next episode, we learn that another pilot's mother sacrificed her life to save him from a pack of wolves earlier on (if by blowing herself up with them, apparently not having enough bullets), which just fit in with the air of absurdity.