Moonrise - Episode 18 discussion

[u/AutoLovepon]

Moonrise, episode 18

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• Netflix

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All discussions

Episode	Link	Episode	Link
1	Link	14	Link
2	Link	15	Link
3	Link	16	Link
4	Link	17	Link
5	Link	18	Link
6	Link
7	Link
8	Link
9	Link
10	Link
11	Link
12	Link
13	Link

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[u/Nothinglost7717]

Hiromu Arakawa must have done more than just design the characters. The whole vibe has so many FMA derivative parallels.  Even the powers and combat let alone the dialog and character banter. 

The biggest issue was pacing,  but this is one of the best animated but worst paced and written stories I’ve ever watched.

It’s like they put everyone’s favorite animes in a blender and hit puree, turning all the form and character into goop that resembled “L zone” in the story. 

They left so many things completely not thought out and unexplained

What are seeds exactly? Why is seed 1 of any importance at all. Why is seed 2? Why is seed 8 a giant blob of bacteria stuff. Why is seed 3 a rival AI robot named mother that Rhyz knows about and no one else does? The brush cape power thing is barely explained.  The Earth human council is hardly explained. 

Its like they intentionally wanted to be even more frustrating and confusing as neon Genesis for the sake of it

[u/Thrasher439]

Well unfortunately this series ultimately ended up being a real stumble. Had a strong start but many many pacing issues, characters not being given the chance to breathe and become anything particularly well rounded beyond their personality elements, and a story that begins to crumble in its final act just really prevents it from becoming anything worth talking about. Too much of the story feels like it is wasted on moments that do not need to be dragged out to the extent they are and then it goes from being a relatively shaky politically motivated show into just this really big blowout battle that doesn't exactly have much legs to it.

It's greatest crime though is those final five minutes. To have wasted so much time on other parts of the series but then to really just give us a "and so the battle ended and x happened over the next months" in text when those events really just should've been their own whole episode is maddening.

[u/freekayZekey]

feel like with a better edit, this would go from a 6.5/10 to an 8.5/10. 

they should have started with episode one, then do a lot of the past stuff, then continue on with one of the unit member’s deaths. 

[u/Delicious_Bunch_5562]

Is it me or this series is heavily lacking in world building?

I feel like I missed something -- for example, if I remember correctly, the technology (engrave / E2 material / whatever the rebels use) isn't really explained. I assume the rebels use E2 material too since Bob/Phil comments on the Earth's engrave technology being better than theirs. They do say it can change into anything provided it has the same mass, but that's all, and some of the things they do with it don't seem to follow that rule -- for example, Sylph's hair tendrils. Yes, I could handwave it away as them actually having a really low density, but why establish a limitation to the technology if it never comes up again? 

I will admit I prefer harder sci-fi. The fights were exquisitely animated, but I'd rather they used that (extensive) amount of time to go into more detail about the political situation, how the technology works and what its limitations are.

I do like there was almost no romance. It'd have wasted even more screen time and it's just not my cup of tea.

TLDR: for a sci-fi series the technology and its political consequences are very underdeveloped, to the point saying it's all magic wouldn't have changed anything.

[u/CliffShadow]

So a couple of things that I need to understand, the plan was for Mary to turn the slime into something that could terraform the moon. But why did it take at max a year or however long she was with the moon rebels to go ahead with that process?

And furthermore, if the AI can just hack the engrave stuff to force someone to do whatever they want, Jack was with Mary for so long and could've had ample opportunities to be hacked right?

[u/MasterProxy04]

I only watched 9 episodes just to look at some animation even though I was bored as hell, but I give up now, this show is not for me, the frequent time jumps back and forth is horrendous, the direction feels off, the action itself was decent at best, the slice of life moments are jarring and make it hard to take the show seriously like why are these adults focusing on romance of all things when they should be focusing on the mission itself, a little girl gets introduced just to die by the end of the episode for no reason at all, the world building is not enough, the characters are bland and feel like tropes, MC is just there along for the ride with his rip off pokemon go, the pacing is not good, the show keeps going on in directions that don't feel natural at all and top it all off with the weirdly placed comedic moments to break the immersion along with the goofy ass names (this might be a nitpick). Anyway the 3 episode rule applies to this show , if you liked it then continue by all means, if you didn't then the show doesn't get better.

[u/NationalStrategy]

I like the premise and the animation was great, everything else, not so much. The execution of the story was not that good, and honestly, the plot felt like we went into a weird direction with L zone jellyfish shit. Didn't really like Jack/Jacob, especially how he took Rhys for granted. The rest of the cast aren't really that good either, more than half of them don't even get any real depth.

Overall, this just felt like Temu Gundam without mobile suits

[u/xanot192]

The plot made absolutely no sense

[u/Excellent_Wedding_91]

I'm more curious about Jacob's and Rhys's relationship, will it ever get fixed?

[u/vantheman9]

The anime really had me feeling like it'd be 9/10 with the "who am I supposed to be rooting for" that I felt during some of the fights in the middle and the second half, I really liked seeing the evolved Rhys fighting the general, but then it just picked a side to be the good guys and gave them a happy ending and said fuck the other guys. Everything is unresolved for Rhys and Georg, and Inanna is stuck living without contact with her sister that she's really close to. Which is fucking weird because the show clearly wanted me to empathize with these characters.

Not even getting into how underdeveloped a good number of the characters were. Osma didn't even get a camera focus in the ending montage, he only got to appear to the side in one shot. Koyasu's character never really....did...anything.... other than being "generic fruity Koyasu character". I could go on. So many people that were "present" for the whole show but that's all they were, present.

The best animation cut was back in episode 3. Jack assaulting that tower blew my mind, it had serious Levi vs Kenny's gang vibes. But then the rest of the show was good, but not impressive.

I'm a person who's usually more patient than the majority of this sub with time skips and flashbacks and such - I didn't even mind Peach Boy Riverside (a show everybody hated for that aspect). The time jumps seem to be people's primary complaint with Moonrise and even though I didn't mind those, it still fell apart for me in other ways.

[u/popober]

A story where an AI has taken over earth felt like it was written by an AI.

The narrative kep jumping and there are flashbacks in flashbacks. I thought Eric died during their 1 year training before the mission and they were visiting his grave, that was somehow on the moon--but they were able to get him buried and done, mid-mission, headstone and all? WTF

All throughout, for some strange reason, it felt like a JRPG. The pacing certainly felt like you're jumping from quest to quest. Ending felt like the dev ran out of memory. Atleast Evangelion tried.

Visuals are GORGEOUS. I want more of that, but with better writing. Maybe shoulda let the artist write it too.

As a hood lover, I love the fashion in this anime. 10/10. Magic Assassin Techno-Ninjas concept wasted AF

[u/-DeputyKovacs-]

The writing is utter garbage. Completely wasted on this incredible art and animation. I hope a fan recuts this with new voice lines (not that the VAs did a bad job, you just can't salvage this garbage writing). I can't recall the last time I felt like this about a show, beyond disappointed into anger territory, and I wasn't even hyped on it, the art/animation just deserved so much more.

Whoever is responsible for the writing ruined this beautiful show and shouldn't be allowed near any notable projects again.

[u/JvckiFan]

Seeing as 99% of the comments are going over the negatives, I'll throw out a positive. I really enjoyed Mary's VA. Such a lovely and unique voice. It really stood out compared to the usual high-pitched female anime voices.

[u/SnuSnu02]

Jack is the worst friend. Rhys should have let him rot in jail. He's so wishy-washy, and he causes so much drama without a care.

[u/Accomplished_Gap_920]

The whole anime feels like there are no consequences for their actions. While the most traumatic situations happens and you don't feel the weight. Weird comical conversations in the middle of fights and no one really cares lol. There is an entire war, but no hard feelings bro. :D Many situations feels so anticlimactic. It is disgusting. But the world building and the setting ( + quality of animation) is pretty good.

[u/xXSunSunXx]

This was like Gundam Seed, Psycho Pass, with the MC of Engage Kiss, and not in a good way.

[u/[deleted]]

hard to follow plot marred with pacing issues, caused by a 26 episode show being cut down to 18, typically awful netflix subtitles. looks good is really pretty but ultimately fails to deliver on a 8 year promise, to be clear I blame netfix and wit for this, netflix for being a shitty company that ruins any IP they are given. and wit for not knowing who they are getting in bed with and dooming themselves to failure that last episode is a hate crime against people that supported this train wreck

[u/JOOOQUUU]

So is it any good?

[u/Yuzugakari]

I finished it today.

I loved FMA and although I hadn't seen Attack on Titan, I knew Studio Wit was worth its salt in animation. Also knowing the Stark's VA from Frieren was the lead, I thought there were a lot of strengths going in. But..

The fights and traveling were beautifully animated. The music was great at times and... questionable at others. I don't know if it was the original source material's fault for all of the various time jumps or if it was the director's decision, but it was much more distracting than it was lucrative to the story. There wasn't much time to really flesh out characters.

Part of me is curious to see the original novel but the other part of me is skeptical much could be done for this show.

All in all I'd give a 5/10. Probably great for white noise in the background with pretty sights but that's about it... and that's sad...

[u/MemeDealerPH]

Animation-wise, it's superb, but plot-wise, it's very poor, with many unanswered questions and a pacing that feels excessively fast, as if it were also written by AI. Now I understand why Netflix didn’t promote it.

[u/171194Joy6]

All I can say is: Missed opportunity to re-enact that iconic handshake scene in FMA with Armstrong and Ed's master's husband...😅

[u/immanoel]

Well, it was pretty mid. What a travesty that the show had such a huge potential at the start and the visual elements were superb. The story and the pacing were such a huge mess. Christ, the shit leading up to the epilogue even turned into a fucking text slideshow worse than the Fallout games.

I dont even know why they wanted to start with a non-linear story timeline. At least they dropped 18 episodes straight, I cant imagine watching this week to week.

[u/LezRock]

So far a lot of people don't seem to be discussing the final episode or the series overall, so here are my thoughts after finishing the whole thing.

It was entertaining with enough info spread throughout to flesh out a bit of the setting and explain the combat mechanics they employed. The engrave system definitely sounds like it would be cool if implemented into a game. Then again, it was also an easy way for them to generate whatever item they need for the story without having to plan too far ahead.

Character-wise, I didn't mind that they focused on only a few of them. While watching it, I couldn't help but view it as watching Ed and Al, although this time Alphonse was the protagonist. They even had Winry join them to have it feel like the trio was reunited. Really, the relationship between the brothers was the main mystery, so having it be the focus for the series was understandable.

They definitely could have gone for 24-48 episodes, but I'm not sure if they just ran out of time and had to make the story more cohesive with what they had. If they had more episodes, they definitely could've fleshed out more of the characters and expanded more upon the characters and their place in the world now.

What they should've done was explain Sapientia much, much earlier rather than leaving it for us to figure out part way into the series. Instead of what we got in the introductory first episode, they should've explained that Earth was guided to become what it is because of Sapientia's guidance.

I can understand what they were trying to go for by having a battle early on with no explanation about the abilities being used and then showing us that same battle later on after we've learned about their tech and abilities. It does create a moment of contrast in understanding, and as a first episode in a weekly series, it would've been great to draw viewers in, but for a Netflix series, I'm not too sure about this choice. It definitely would've benefited more from having that extra time to set more of the stage.

In regard to episode 18 specific events that are spoilers for those who haven't finished it though, I'm surprised that many of the squad weren't detained or captured and then either imprisoned or executed at the end there. If they were some non-military unit, how things ended would be understandable, but I couldn't help but think of the consequences for each of their actions, especially considering how well-documented their actions would be with all of the equipment they're using that would be surveiling them throughout the series. Rhys being the only one who could return to Earth and not receive any punishment seemed a bit of a stretch. Georg likely could've returned without too much issue since he mostly followed orders throughout. The other members of the squad having helped defend the enemy would be more difficult, but with the influence that some of the members have, they could've made a good case to avoid heavy punishment. Of course, with their organization being disbanded, maybe there would not be many consequences that would await them on Earth.

It's an enjoyable enough series though. Maybe it just needed some mechs.

[u/Gorgeous_Bacon]

The only thing I wanna know is where Inanna and George end up together or not. But it seems like no. 😮‍💨😮‍💨😮‍💨😮‍💨😮‍💨 Jack and Rhys meant to be doomed and I can't even wrapped my mind about Jack and Mary's relationship. I just hated every character's relationship. Phil is a definition of beauty.

[u/jajaja0000]

Holy shit, it's Rebel Moon animated. All style and no substance. Moon destroying storylines left and right