| Divergence Eve Misaki Chronicles Complete Collection |
|
|
| Monday, 23 June 2008 | |
 Misaki Chronicles continues from where Divergence Eve left off, and goes out of its way to try and confuse you, in the early episodes at least - just where is the 'real' Misaki, and why does the storyline seem to jump around the timeline so much? Initially, it's up to Lieutenant Lyar Ertiana to find these things out, and that doesn't prove to be the easiest of missions. Under the surface, though, stranger things are afoot...So at the end of Season One, Misaki was attempting to control the passage of the Watcher's Nest station from its location in deep space back to Earth - the Exodus. Not an easy task, even for someone who's not entirely human - and so when the Ghoul escape through the resulting inflation hole to Earth itself, you know there are going to be problems. That's where this series comes in - and while the station is back at Earth, with the Moon having seemingly taken the place of the original planetoid that the station had been built around, there's something definitely not right about the situation: a temporal barrier surrounds the planet, and the Ghoul are running loose within it. Of Misaki, there's no sign.   There's your setup. The initial episodes leave lots of questions hanging in the air, but don't go a long way to answering them, other than making it clear that the strangeness going on is mostly down to Misaki, wherever (or whatever) she may be at this stage. Season one had a light-hearted aspect to it that's almost completely lacking here, with the primary focus being on Lyar and her attempts to figure out what's going on and defeat the Ghoul that they intially believe to be behind the temporal anomaly, and while the truth does slowly begin to dawn on her, it's a slow process. There are a few other story threads that we're just reminded about early on, but that aren't dealt with in an sort of detail - Alchemy are still about, along with leBlanc; while Suzanna's still around, with her (possibly incomplete) memory wipe being brought into the picture as well. Interesting pointers, but saved for later in the series.   The big problem with the early episodes is that they're almost too obscure or confusing for their own good - it's hard to get a real feel for what's going on, and that does get in the way of the enjoyment. Season one wasn't exactly easy to follow either, but it was more straighforward than this. Around the mid-point of Misaki Chronicles, watching the show actually got quite frustrating - at that point, the explanations are just beginning to come (although not so much that you actually realise what's going on yet), but you're still so much in the dark that you wonder at time why you're bothering. It was only the knowledge that the first season did things in similar fashion that kept me going, hoping that season two could work out okay by following the same formula. Fortunately, events do eventually come together. Episodes 10-12 take care of rounding out the main storyline, and do a very good job of finally explaining what's been happening this series in a way that's understandable and doesn't leave you feeling overloaded with information. From there, you can get on with simply enjoying the climax of the series.   It's pretty impressive as climaxes go, too - not in an action / adventure way, as that's never really been what Divergence Eve was about, but in terms of bringing all the protagonists together and letting them do what they do best. The series also doesn't shy away from writing people off - in much the same way that Luxandra suffered a more-or-less meaningless death in season 1, there are some major characters here who are written off. I'm always please when shows have the guts to do that - although perhaps here some of the noble sacrifices didn't really need to be made. The final episode jumps forward in time, and follows Ertiana's efforts to make sure that Misaki's sacrifices aren't completely forgotten. As humanity returns to Watcher's Nest after a 70-year absence, there are some ghost to be laid to rest and some others to be raised again - and the spectre hanging over what in mostly a "happy" ending that some people may be willing to start the whole process all over again. Overall, I have to say that Misaki Chronicles takes some effort to watch, especially during the early volumes where the tone of the show is very different from season 1 and where you're left to try and figure out the story's direction on your own. Once everything begins to come together, though, this season does finally become as good as its predecessor - and that was one of the best hard science fiction shows I've seen in a long time. The end result? Well worth picking up. Just try not to let those character designs bother you... For full episode summaries and more screenshots, chek out our reviews of the individual discs: » Volume 1: Second Chance » Volume 2: Revelations » Volume 3: Continuum  |
