My Thoughts so far on Three Houses

[vanguard333]

45 minutes ago, Icelerate said:

Is that even more contrived than the blood pact? 

They aren't even comparable. As @Flere210 said; it is far worse than your typical plot contrivance and is a full-on Diabolus-ex Machina. It's basically the inverse of a Deus-ex Machina: where a Deus-ex Machina comes in out of nowhere near the end to resolve the central conflict, a Diabolus-ex Machina comes out of nowhere to keep the central conflict going. 

The short, vague, non-spoiler version is this:

The show's premise is that the protagonist gains a power (Geass) that allows him, if he makes eye-contact with a person, he can command them to do whatever he wants them to do, once. Before the event we're talking about occurs, he learns that any Geass eventually becomes uncontrollable: first turning on all on its own, then losing its off switch, and he is terrified of this happening. Through this whole conversation he has just before the event, he's extremely careful; wearing a mask or looking away from the person when talking. Then, he reveals his power by semi-jokingly explaining that he could get them to do whatever he wanted, starts listing examples, and, at the worst possible moment, he looks right at the person and says the worst possible example. The Geass activates on its own right at that moment, and chaos and tragedy follows.

There's a whole lot of context that makes it even worse, but I can't mention that stuff without spoilers. Also, if someone could please tell me how to make the explanation even shorter; it would be most appreciated. 

 

I will say that, thankfully, nothing in Three Houses' writing has come close to that bad (from what I've seen; after all, this whole thread is my thoughts so far), but there are quite a few odd parallels between some of the stuff in Three Houses and Code Geass; I'm hoping it's just typical anime/JRPG tropes because, while Code Geass had great concepts, it was a train wreck. 

[Ottservia]

1 hour ago, vanguard333 said:

They aren't even comparable. As @Flere210 said; it is far worse than your typical plot contrivance and is a full-on Diabolus-ex Machina. It's basically the inverse of a Deus-ex Machina: where a Deus-ex Machina comes in out of nowhere near the end to resolve the central conflict, a Diabolus-ex Machina comes out of nowhere to keep the central conflict going. 

The short, vague, non-spoiler version is this:

The show's premise is that the protagonist gains a power (Geass) that allows him, if he makes eye-contact with a person, he can command them to do whatever he wants them to do, once. Before the event we're talking about occurs, he learns that any Geass eventually becomes uncontrollable: first turning on all on its own, then losing its off switch, and he is terrified of this happening. Through this whole conversation he has just before the event, he's extremely careful; wearing a mask or looking away from the person when talking. Then, he reveals his power by semi-jokingly explaining that he could get them to do whatever he wanted, starts listing examples, and, at the worst possible moment, he looks right at the person and says the worst possible example. The Geass activates on its own right at that moment, and chaos and tragedy follows.

There's a whole lot of context that makes it even worse, but I can't mention that stuff without spoilers. Also, if someone could please tell me how to make the explanation even shorter; it would be most appreciated. 

 

I will say that, thankfully, nothing in Three Houses' writing has come close to that bad (from what I've seen; after all, this whole thread is my thoughts so far), but there are quite a few odd parallels between some of the stuff in Three Houses and Code Geass; I'm hoping it's just typical anime/JRPG tropes because, while Code Geass had great concepts, it was a train wreck. 

Contrived as that event may be(and thinking back it wasn’t terrible. I’ve seen worse). I like the events that happen after and what it does to Lelouch’s character. It’s the event that pushes his character over the edge and just sends him spiraling into madness. It’s been a while since I’ve watched the series but seeing Lelouch fully embrace his Zero persona and descend completely into madness is legitimately bone chilling. Very few shows I’ve seen have been able to adequately replicate such an experience(Madoka Magica and death note being the primary examples that spring to mind) I’m not gonna say they couldn’t have handled it better cause they could’ve but I honestly can overlook just because of how good the stuff that happens after is.

I dunno I just love me a good fallen hero story.

Edited December 11, 2019 by Ottservia

[vanguard333]

21 minutes ago, Ottservia said:

Contrived as that event may be(and thinking back it wasn’t terrible. I’ve seen worse). I like the events that happen after and what it does to Lelouch’s character. It’s the event that pushes his character over the edge and just sends him spiraling into madness. It’s been a while since I’ve watched the series but seeing Lelouch fully embrace his Zero persona and descend completely into madness is legitimately bone chilling. Very few shows I’ve seen have been able to adequately replicate such an experience(Madoka Magica and death note being the primary examples that spring to mind) I’m not gonna say they couldn’t have handled it better cause they could’ve but I honestly can overlook just because of how good the stuff that happens after is.

I wouldn't know; that moment killed my interest in the show. I read up what happened after that, but I just couldn't bring myself to keep watching. 

 

22 minutes ago, Ottservia said:

I dunno I just love me a good fallen hero story.

In that case, what do you think of what I said at the start of this thread about Three Houses (the connection being that it's all about the Crimson Flower route)?

[Crysta]

See of this was Fire Emblem: Code Geass version, after disposing of Rhea/the Church, Edelgard would make herself the worst tyrant ever to bring factions that normally wouldn't unite together to defeat her and achieve world peace.

Thankfully, Edelgard is a much better character than Lelouch. And she stays dead if you kill her, though she does beg you to off her for similar reasons, I guess (her death would be the thing that ends the conflict she started)