Oi, I think this guy just doesn't quite get it. In fact, I'd bet willing to be that he hated Neon Exodus Evangelion as well. I've got a few choice arguments in mind as soon as I can get myself an FFML account going...
On Mara is Dying...
Yeah, so there's going to be techno babble. There was techno babble in the AMG anime for crying out loud. He's gonna honestly pick at something that's cannonical for the characters? Puh-leeeeze...
On God is Being Inscrutable...
Sure, Bell-chan obviously would not get the runaround. But guess what? This is God we're talking about here. You know? G. O. D. Tha' man himself. If he wishes for Bell-chan to get the runaround, then he's gonna get it whether the other lesser Gods like it or not. Besides, he's forgtten the other part of what this is all drawing from. In Chris's OMB God is, for all intents and purposes, an asshole.
On Megumi Updates Her Twitter...
I agree whole-heartedly with Zojojojo. Megumi is righteously cheesed at Mara for being used and abused not just a couple of times, but continuously throughout the time she's known Bell-chan and her sisters. Give the girl some room to work out her aggressions, especially once Mara's back up on her feet (if that even happens?). Then Megumi can go ahead and have it out with her without fear of reprisal or outright killing her.
On Chris Takes Time to Think...
Sometimes it's best that things like this are left off-screen for the moment. That, and it makes for great flash-back fodder later on down the line.
On War is Hell...
Oh man, I can go on and on about this one... He's just given me so much ammo to do so!
>"Ah ha!" I thought. "A siege engine!" I thought. "This is a clever nod
>to Fujishima's borderline-fetishistic love of machines!"
>
>But it isn't. Not exactly. The difference is that, when you load a
>goddess into the barrel of a lovingly-detailed Morser Karl
>self-propelled 60-cm siege gun and fire her into heaven, the gun is
>ultimately superfluous, and it's okay to be ludicrous. Whatever just
>showed up on the doorstep, it's not going to be that detailed because
>it's necessary.
Uhm... Dude. They haven't even gotten to the scene where we get to 'see' the seige engine 'o' doom. Like, cliff hanger, yo!
>First, if Hell really wanted a barrier down, they'd just send Hild, who
>would peel off one limiter-studded glove to the temporary delight of any
>unemployed saxophone players and blow a kiss that, when it connected,
>would make Pluto the largest object in the now-inaccurately-named solar
>system.
Hild's probably got better things to do at the moment. 'Sides, Hell doesn't want that kind of firepower running loose - they'd lose the source of all those damned souls that are so yummy in their tummies.
>So when Paradox Triggers and starts working his inexorable way up to
>SSStylish, he doesn't need to be mowing through troops that are part of
>or even led by Hell's top brass. They could be just a bunch of mooks
>looking to get ahead by playing office politics when upper management is
>perfectly content to, as it were, let Mara escort herself out of the
>building once her retirement party's over.
Uhm... From what we've seen, Mara's departure isn't exactly being taken lightly. Refer to this snippet from Chapter 6...
Takano stood stock still for a moment as his mind raced. *A
major defection? That could only mean a first class unlimited
was running to the Other Side...* And *that* meant that this
"delegation" was a *war party*, because a defector of that level
was *always* protected by a fucking legion of angels until the
process was done and they could bugger off to Heaven.
Razielaingor was probably calling in every demon in the Kanto
Plain, and then some.
Okay. From what the character is thinking here, we can determine that what's being stated is Historical Fact. Ergo, Hell is indeed taking this very seriously. And why not? First Class Unlimiteds DO NOT grow on trees, not matter what alter-verse you're working in. And if they do in yours, then your name must be Marty Stu. They are, for all intents and purposes, irreplaceable because it is ever-so-difficult to find someone that you can trust to do what you want them to do with all that power without making a royal mess of things. Mara's misadventures with The Three don't really count because it's one-on-three. The fact that she can even make things difficult on them at all (to the point where they keep the heavenly equivilant of Fort Knox going all the time just as a deterent) is probably pleasing for The Devil himself.
Also, another thing to consider, this is the entire Kanto Plain region... Have you ever been to freakin' Japan? You know what kind of population that is? This is a population density that New York's got nothing on! I know because I live there for at least four months out of a year. I've done Tokyo-during-rush-hour and it ain't a pretty picture. So, you can bet that there's a serious flippin' army sitting outside just waiting for the wall to come tublin' rumblin' on down, because the Boss himself probably said so. You don't divert that many demons, even if they're all minor ones, for something that is trivial. And if you do try to take that many cookies from the cookie jar, you're gonna get noticed and have your ass pounded for it.
On Confession...
The hell? What's with the mumbo jumbo? Let's get to the damn point first and elaborate later!
>My ACTUAL point is: the specifics of the confession scene, including the
>list of Doug's sins, really doesn't add anything, so if you're going to
>put the scene in there you can probably elide the process.
.... Oh, c'mon! That's just there for literary garnish. Without that, the scene would have been a kinda empty of atmosphere. Seriously.
On Final Thoughts
Dude, every story has its 'still' spots. These are usually the points where a lot of character development and introspection occurs, a delicious part of this balanced literary meal. If he wants things to be moving in a literal sense. Why doesn't he just go watch a movie instead? Obviously he can't stand to read.
And those are my arguments, such as they are. Any thoughts before I post this?
On Mara is Dying...
Yeah, so there's going to be techno babble. There was techno babble in the AMG anime for crying out loud. He's gonna honestly pick at something that's cannonical for the characters? Puh-leeeeze...
On God is Being Inscrutable...
Sure, Bell-chan obviously would not get the runaround. But guess what? This is God we're talking about here. You know? G. O. D. Tha' man himself. If he wishes for Bell-chan to get the runaround, then he's gonna get it whether the other lesser Gods like it or not. Besides, he's forgtten the other part of what this is all drawing from. In Chris's OMB God is, for all intents and purposes, an asshole.
On Megumi Updates Her Twitter...
I agree whole-heartedly with Zojojojo. Megumi is righteously cheesed at Mara for being used and abused not just a couple of times, but continuously throughout the time she's known Bell-chan and her sisters. Give the girl some room to work out her aggressions, especially once Mara's back up on her feet (if that even happens?). Then Megumi can go ahead and have it out with her without fear of reprisal or outright killing her.
On Chris Takes Time to Think...
Sometimes it's best that things like this are left off-screen for the moment. That, and it makes for great flash-back fodder later on down the line.
On War is Hell...
Oh man, I can go on and on about this one... He's just given me so much ammo to do so!
>"Ah ha!" I thought. "A siege engine!" I thought. "This is a clever nod
>to Fujishima's borderline-fetishistic love of machines!"
>
>But it isn't. Not exactly. The difference is that, when you load a
>goddess into the barrel of a lovingly-detailed Morser Karl
>self-propelled 60-cm siege gun and fire her into heaven, the gun is
>ultimately superfluous, and it's okay to be ludicrous. Whatever just
>showed up on the doorstep, it's not going to be that detailed because
>it's necessary.
Uhm... Dude. They haven't even gotten to the scene where we get to 'see' the seige engine 'o' doom. Like, cliff hanger, yo!
>First, if Hell really wanted a barrier down, they'd just send Hild, who
>would peel off one limiter-studded glove to the temporary delight of any
>unemployed saxophone players and blow a kiss that, when it connected,
>would make Pluto the largest object in the now-inaccurately-named solar
>system.
Hild's probably got better things to do at the moment. 'Sides, Hell doesn't want that kind of firepower running loose - they'd lose the source of all those damned souls that are so yummy in their tummies.
>So when Paradox Triggers and starts working his inexorable way up to
>SSStylish, he doesn't need to be mowing through troops that are part of
>or even led by Hell's top brass. They could be just a bunch of mooks
>looking to get ahead by playing office politics when upper management is
>perfectly content to, as it were, let Mara escort herself out of the
>building once her retirement party's over.
Uhm... From what we've seen, Mara's departure isn't exactly being taken lightly. Refer to this snippet from Chapter 6...
Takano stood stock still for a moment as his mind raced. *A
major defection? That could only mean a first class unlimited
was running to the Other Side...* And *that* meant that this
"delegation" was a *war party*, because a defector of that level
was *always* protected by a fucking legion of angels until the
process was done and they could bugger off to Heaven.
Razielaingor was probably calling in every demon in the Kanto
Plain, and then some.
Okay. From what the character is thinking here, we can determine that what's being stated is Historical Fact. Ergo, Hell is indeed taking this very seriously. And why not? First Class Unlimiteds DO NOT grow on trees, not matter what alter-verse you're working in. And if they do in yours, then your name must be Marty Stu. They are, for all intents and purposes, irreplaceable because it is ever-so-difficult to find someone that you can trust to do what you want them to do with all that power without making a royal mess of things. Mara's misadventures with The Three don't really count because it's one-on-three. The fact that she can even make things difficult on them at all (to the point where they keep the heavenly equivilant of Fort Knox going all the time just as a deterent) is probably pleasing for The Devil himself.
Also, another thing to consider, this is the entire Kanto Plain region... Have you ever been to freakin' Japan? You know what kind of population that is? This is a population density that New York's got nothing on! I know because I live there for at least four months out of a year. I've done Tokyo-during-rush-hour and it ain't a pretty picture. So, you can bet that there's a serious flippin' army sitting outside just waiting for the wall to come tublin' rumblin' on down, because the Boss himself probably said so. You don't divert that many demons, even if they're all minor ones, for something that is trivial. And if you do try to take that many cookies from the cookie jar, you're gonna get noticed and have your ass pounded for it.
On Confession...
The hell? What's with the mumbo jumbo? Let's get to the damn point first and elaborate later!
>My ACTUAL point is: the specifics of the confession scene, including the
>list of Doug's sins, really doesn't add anything, so if you're going to
>put the scene in there you can probably elide the process.
.... Oh, c'mon! That's just there for literary garnish. Without that, the scene would have been a kinda empty of atmosphere. Seriously.
On Final Thoughts
Dude, every story has its 'still' spots. These are usually the points where a lot of character development and introspection occurs, a delicious part of this balanced literary meal. If he wants things to be moving in a literal sense. Why doesn't he just go watch a movie instead? Obviously he can't stand to read.
And those are my arguments, such as they are. Any thoughts before I post this?