So, love is here! War was stopped, in this one section, but as we learned earlier, war always continues elsewhere, because you merely move the fighters, rather than stop their reason for fighting. So, Michael, Maria, and Joseph, what will happen?
Thoughts and Notes:
1) For Whom?:
1) Michael is asking Maria if she’s now acting for her own happiness, rather than the world’s. But of course, the state of your surrounding, and those who live around you, also affect your own situation.
And now Maria is saying so – helping the world’s joy will help her find happiness, which is understandable – why is she doing this, stopping wars? Because it makes her happy. But if she’s saying she’ll find her own happiness in order to lend happiness to the world, then it feels flimsy, feels as if she could just ignore the world. She’d be an ant; yes, she’d affect things, but to a miniscule level, by her own happiness.
2) “It’s not just your problem, anymore.” – It’s not just her problem because they’re there, but they’re there because it’s not just her problem. How so? This is actually hinted at by “It doesn’t matter how many of you there are.” – To Michael, one person or twenty are all the same. To Michael, to the Church of the Heavens, there is no individuality. People are like ants, just like middle ages art often had no actual faces, no details to help distinguish people. Witches are those who chose to stand outside of the norm, to forge their own paths (and yet ended up in a group, because they’re still humans). They’re grouping against someone who would claim to tell them what they can or cannot do.
And, just as when they’d saved Maria from being burnt, does it matter which church it is? If they let one of their members fall down, it’d be their turn next.
3) The witches are now taking Joseph’s route, for which Maria chewed him out just prior to this scene (last episode), they’re going to fight to save Maria’s wish of no fights. They’re not here for Maria, they’re here to save her for their own needs, for their own happiness :P
2) By Whose Hand?:
It’s as if Maria’s “admission” in the first screenshot is already forgotten.
1) Bernard is mirroring a witch’s words. On one hand, it shows that he sides with the witches, that he’s a heathen, of sorts. On the other, it shows what sets humans apart from angels, free will. Then again, that’s exactly what witches are utilizing, so which is it?
Which brings us back to “The Natural Law”. If the natural law is unchanging, then it doesn’t need to be “guarded”, as it’d reinforce itself. And if it must be protected, then perhaps it’s not the natural law, but an artificially imposed one by heaven?
2) Oh my, Bernard. Grouping in some Descartes, some Protestanism, and a bunch of other things all together. I could even see some Spinoza if I squint. Humans proving God, by proving humans’ lack of need for God. I can’t help but think of the movie Dogma, where if they’d succeed, they would indeed undo the existence of God and the angels as powers that dwell within the world, they would undo the fantastical, by telling the world it’s no longer needed for belief.
In a sense, Bernard is actually saving monotheism in the show’s world. Much of the Old Testament is about how the belief in God, unlike the idols of the heathens the Israelites fought against does not require the physical form, the constant reminders. Of course, there were plenty of occasions where God revealed himself. Likewise in this show, there’s no need for “belief”. Everyone knows God and the angels exist, because everyone can see them. Bernard is arguing that monotheistic belief is possible, and that you can believe, without those constant reminders. Of course, he wants to believe by logic, which is historically where faith broke down (Descartes’s moving of religion into the realm of Logic was the formal opening of the door to show it doesn’t work, logically. So long it remained within “faith” it was “My feeling versus yours”). So Bernard has admirable goals, of recreating real-world, post-revelations era Monotheism, doing what historically doomed the movement’s attempt at self-justification.
Of course, Christianity always straddled the line somewhat, what with an idol hanging in every temple. Then again, the symbolistic aspect is present in Judaism as well, though there it’s stressed to be symbolic (Passover is next week, if anyone needs an example).
3) Bending the Knee, Unbending the Soul:
I almost wonder if Bernard is designed to look like Lucifer.
1) Even Cernunnos’s voice. Michael, and the Heavens’ power is without limit.
2) Galfa was about to say, “Even the only friend I ever had.” And his, “We’ll go somewhere else” relates to what I said in my pre-amble – there’s no cessation of hostilities, just reallocation. Maria doesn’t like seeing fights in front of her, but there’ll still be fights everywhere else.
3) And here Bernard went the normal route of ideological fanatics, from, “You aren’t needed” to “You aren’t allowed to exist.” Oh my. At this point the question remains, what’s the purpose of Faith, to Bernard? He’s pushing forth this form of belief, but belief in what? Humanity, and to what end? Because he can’t see a world without belief, without the Church.
4) This hermit Joseph met who carries Michael’s will for a world with no conflict, this sure came out of nowhere… O.o
5) And this is the real thing Bernard fought against. In a world where God is made manifest, where an archangel maintains “The Natural Law”, why should people try to change the way things are? If this isn’t as things were meant to be, surely God and his angels would’ve intervened, right? You need to remove God’s influence for humans to take ownership, to change how things had “always been”.
6) Maria is living the teaching Bernard wishes to spread – she will live by her own will, for her own ideals, and not even the words of heaven will stop her. Bernard merely knows most will be stopped by the will of heaven. Because, well, it’s hard to argue about morality when you can point and say, “Morality exists, and this is what it says.” – Sure, we can say, “God is not the arbiter of morality,” but it’d require a serious redefinition of the concepts of “truth” :p
4) Passing Judgment:
As Heaven judges humanity, so does humanity judge Heaven.
1) Michael laughing felt off-character. It didn’t feel deserved, or “awesome”, it just felt… weird. Would rather have had God intervene earlier, or learn more about Michael’s wish for peace prior, to make this feel justified when it appeared.
2) “It seems you are becoming part of the natural law of this land.” – This is the definition of an oxymoron. The whole point about natural laws is that they don’t shift like so. Unless, of course, that’s part of the natural law, see my comment earlier about Dogma, and how if enough people bought into Bernard’s teaching, it’d erase the angels, and perhaps change God’s nature itself (also a paradox).
3) Bernard had seen God. His utmost wish was to see God in humans, and to not see God as God Himself made manifest, which is what he was shown. Seeing God killed him (as it did Lot’s wife), but hearing God’s Word through Michael all but did that either way.
4) “As one who has shown their own will, you can no longer serve Heaven.” – So, Michael chuckling was Michael. Stern-faced Michael is “just doing its job.”
5) Everyday Life, and The Virgin Birth Too!:
1) So, Joseph and Maria, and Maria, as yet a virgin, is going to become pregnant with a child by the will of Heaven, a new Jesus to lead the world to harmony! Hahaha! I joked just last week that it’d go that way, never thinking it would :D
It’s true, Maria the Virgin Witch is pulling a Dogma on us!
2) Maria, having to decide between defying Heaven (who saw this will happen, obviously), and her friend. Come on Maria, will you choose yourself over your friends? Didn’t you sacrifice yourself for your friends with Martha already? Then again, this is what Maria was always about, what Michael had told her early on, that she’s pushing her own ideals at the sake of others’. Yes, she helped her neighbours, but what of her neighbouring marauding, pillaging, bandits? ;-)
3) Hm, so will Ezekiel only come once Maria gets pregnant “the normal way”? If so, didn’t Maria plan to settle down with Joseph and to keep on fighting even without powers? Didn’t she say that? Guess she did, but she didn’t want it to be by another’s will, rather than her own. Yes, she’d say she’s against her own plan, just because it’s forced on her. Very human.
4) “So you will join your life with those who pass fleetingly through time?” – Yeah, the witches kept talking of “humans”, and deal with “The Ancients”, but are they immortal? We’ve only seen young witches, but is it because they remain young indefinitely, or because old witches go on to becoming something else, or perhaps because Michael gets them? :P
5) Cernunnos gives us a hint to what may be the Natural Law – “All living things affect one another.” So Maria naturally is more of the Natural Law if she’s allowed to exist, and the more things one affects, the bigger your part in the Law. So, why was she in opposition to the Natural Law before? Because she did so in a way that put her ahead of others, and was unwilling to change herself? Because she did not pay heed, did not respect, the way things are? I dunno, it sort of breaks down if you try to make it make sense throughout the show entire, rather than only address it the way it’s been used last.
Shorter Notes / Asides:
- “There’s no need for you to die here, after finally getting a boyfriend.” – This show is pushing the “witches as old spinsters” trope.
- I guess all those monster-gods are the ones Maria summoned last week, hidden by the white light.
- Maria in her plain-clothed outfit looks so much like someone from a different show, from a Ghibli setting.
- Little Witch on the Prairie :P
- Showing us the dancing owls instead of the dancing townsfolk, animation-saving, people!
- Wait, Ann, come back! What about reborn Ezekiel-Jesus?! :<
Post Episode / Show Thoughts:
Last episode felt very “season finale”, but thankfully, this episode didn’t feel like a tacked on ending, or like a series of endings. Yes, Maria going to the village may not have felt as smooth as everything else, and the hermit with his “Eternal Peace by God’s decree”, combined with Michael’s chuckle all mostly felt like they came out of nowhere, which made this episode, and the show, feel somewhat disjointed, but what was there was not only meaty, but felt good enough. It definitely had something to say.
Before we proceed further, I want to discuss two “villains”, Galfa and Bernard. I was going to say that Galfa didn’t get his ending, that he was enough of a character that we deserve to know what happened to him. But we do. Galfa went somewhere else, kept soldiering, and kept trying to progress, where he wouldn’t be stopped.
Bernard was very similar to Galfa. Both of them stood up for what they believed in, crushing other people, crushing societies, under foot, for the sake of their glory, for the sake of their glory as people. Who else in the show is the same way? The witches, and especially Maria, who looks out for their dreams, their ideals, before those of others, including those who belong to the same “group” as they (other witches, mercenaries, or the church).
Those three characters reflect one another, in their unbending manner. It’s just that one was forgiven by Heaven, one was not, and one has no real interest in Heaven either way.
Those three are the heroes of the show. Yes, all three. So which characters would be the show’s “true villains”, the one going against the show’s message, the ones who are “wrong”? Before I go further, to clarify again, Galfa and Bernard are antagonists, they’re just like Maria, but they present obstacles to her. The “villains” present obstacles to everyone, while going against the show’s themes, and not really being “people”.
Just like our heroes, we have three of them. Michael, who is the embodiment of being content to do another’s bidding, to be another’s voice. Le Comte, who will bend his knee and lie to get his way, but not like Galfa, not out of faith, not by thinking about it, just because it’s his nature, and he’ll change said nature of it’d be required of him, and Gilbert, who is somewhere in between, who makes an attempt to understand, but in the end is a champion of the status quo.
What was this show about? It was about being true to yourself, it’s about making peace with the world, and knowing when to not make peace. It’s about striking a balance. We can’t live for the future, but we don’t have live for the past.
Yes, the show sometimes was a mess, in terms of ideas brought about, or what it did with said ideas, but the main message rang loud and clear. I do wish it were better animated, though. The jokes, I remember when we all expected this to be a lewd comedy. It wasn’t, and I can’t say I’m sad about that, even if Priapus’s “situation” is another one of those threads never resolved :P 7.7/10. A fine show, a good show, even if not always clear about everything, it was clear about enough.
Geekorner-Geekulture. 
“I dunno, it sort of breaks down if you try to make it make sense throughout the show entire, rather than only address it the way it’s been used last.” Yup, that is my biggest complaint. I can make a degree of sense out of most things that happen even if they aren’t always particularly meaningful. That said, It’s hard for me to excuse the way this anime abuses any sense of consistency. Sure it’s about being true to yourself in the finale episode, but what was it about before that? Whatever best fit that particular episode with little to tie episodes together thematically. Maybe it just had too much going on for what it was and felt muddled? Instead of asking a few good questions it asks dozens of half-baked questions with an inconsistent approach. Still an enjoyable show none the less.
@lifesongsoa:
I’d strongly disagree with that. I think there is a greater thematic connection at work than you’re giving the show credit for, which I believe is quite internally consistent, despite the narrative overreaching slightly in some respects.
The show was all about testing the purity of Maria’s ideals and whether or not her resolve would waver in the face of a more complex reality, which in turn was expressed in various ways. This also resulted in different secondary topics coming up and different people presenting their points of view about Maria herself. The last episode did a good job by having Michael ask everyone what they thought about her in order to see whether or not she deserved punishment.
Rather than trying to ask and answer every question, the conclusion focused on the most important one. The others were not, objectively speaking, something that could be resolved by either Maria, Michael or anyone else.
Ideally, you could actually interpret the role of each relevant character as representing a whole class of people and their conflicts with each other as part of a social system, which in turn makes them necessary parts of the storyline.
The inconsistency isn’t with Maria, it’s with Michael. They try to make him out to be something other than human, but in the end he only makes sense as someone just as guilty of human logic as everyone else.
I also don’t think Bernard or Galfa were particularly important to the story, at least not for Maria’s sake. For one they were both anime original characters so I know the story exists without them. It would be easy to say that is the entire problem with the show, but that isn’t how I feel. I think Galfa did add to the show even if Bernard breaks down into a hilarious mess. Neither of them really add to Maria though… Galfa adds to Joseph’s character and what bit of growth he goes through at the end. Bernard adds to the church. Both of them feel unnecessary to me, but I am also okay with them for the most part.
The biggest complaint I have is with Michael. His part was never made clear enough and he comes off as an inconsistent mess instead of something more meaningful. That wouldn’t be such a big deal, but he establishes some of the biggest driving forces in the story. He is made out to be a perfect unfeeling tool of god. Almost something along the lines of KyuBei from Madoka. It isn’t true, his character doesn’t make sense in light of what we are told he is up against how he ultimately acts in the end. That could also be all fine and well… But they never give us any hint that Michael’s personality is more human than he lets on, until the very end… It just happens and feels like a mistake was made. If he wasn’t so important to setting the theme of the story it wouldn’t be such a big deal, but he is.
Yes, the theme adds up at the end. It’s the themes from the early part of the show that don’t add up. Those are the ones I am disappointed to see go nowhere. I would have enjoyed this show a lot more if it had established what it wanted to be better early on.
@lifesongsoa:
I don’t exactly agree with that view of Michael either nor with your analysis of the relevant themes.
I believe it makes sense. It seems that in this world all of the angels, while formally capable of emotion and free will, are basically intended to keep those in check for the sake of carrying out their jobs as heavenly servants.
Michael mostly accomplishes this to the letter and is almost robotic in practice, while Ezekiel doesn’t. She’s apparently younger and less experienced, from what we can tell, and effectively becomes fully human in the end since she can’t turn off her feelings anymore. But Michael isn’t literally a robot and I think we do get a couple of scenes which establish this sufficiently. I do not believe that is a mistake or error in the story at all. Simply put, something needs to trigger him enough for Michael to drop his guard for a second. Which only happens twice in the show. Otherwise, he is merely acting how the enforcers of heaven are supposed to work.
I will also politely disagree with the fact you think the early themes when nowhere, because I think the show did connect the first few episodes with what happened later. There are certainly huge philosophical questions that weren’t resolved decisively, but I believe it would be pretentious and distracting to attempt to address them without more episodes. Even the manga isn’t all that long.
I think both Bernard and Galfa do play interesting roles in the story and connect directly to its main themes, even if they were not necessarily obligatory characters for the basic narrative arc to work. The fact they were “anime original” does not make them irrelevant because it is not like the anime doesn’t know what it must do take a few liberties in certain areas. It is done for a reason, not because someone randomly added them without any cause or purpose. Bernard has a silly side to him, I accept that, but to completely dismiss him sounds potentially rather short-sighted.
“There are certainly huge philosophical questions that weren’t resolved decisively, but I believe it would be pretentious and distracting to attempt to address them without more episodes.” Sorry for the late reply. WordPress didn’t update me. It was pretentious and distracting. In essence that is my whole point. Ultimately it is that lack of focus that causes all of the other problems I have with this story, even Michael. The problem isn’t that I can’t make sense of it. The problem is that I need to follow the show backwards to do it. That is a problem because of all the extra noise in the story. If it were more obvious the noise was noise from the start I wouldn’t be complaining about it.
While you quote me, and to a degree I can’t entirely disagree, I still disagree with you for the most part. Yes, it’s a question of outlook, a question of degree, of the literal kind: of the angle from which we read the text that is the show. A question of perspective, and thus of judgment.
There are many small details that do not always get answered, it’s not always clear what it matters, the specific details of Bernard’s questions, of Gilbert’s claims to him, of where Cernunnos comes from, is going for, or his wishes for Maria. It’s often unclear what the Church of Heaven wants, in concrete details. But all those things, they’re mostly “noise”, and while they distract the mind and detract from the enjoyment, and make this a show that is not “clean” in its storytelling, it does not detract from the show at large, it does not detract from the thematic heart of the show.
If you think any of these themes should be discussed equally to the others, and should be made to make perfect sense, then sure, you’ll see the show as a failure. But this isn’t what this show is not only doing, but trying to do. These sub-themes an sub-questions are just that, subservient to the main theme, and are there to help explore it, help reiterate it, and help advance it.
Yes, small details don’t make sense, but they don’t need to. Bernard’s nuttering and invention of this form of existentialism and philosophical inquiry outlook that arrive a century or two too early? They’re there for the goal, of delivering the message of human before God, of a human living for their own decisions, of their own decisions. Michael’s actions, the Heaven’s? Likewise.
I’ll agree with you that there are plenty of loose thematic-question ends that the show does not tie up, and it’s not always pretty, but it’s a great fabric, woven well, where the loose ends lie at the corners. You see them, they’re not aesthetic, but the fabric will still stop the wind. Thematically, the show is consistent, all the time, and all in the service of but one theme.
If you focus on the things the show does not do, does not wish to do, or things it leaves unanswered because they never interested it, then it’ll impact your enjoyment. I’ll agree that it’s not perfect storytelling, because introducing material that isn’t fully answered is not aesthetically pleasing, but it’s still good an clear-sighted storytelling. It knows what matters to it, and goes there. While the show was going on it seemed closer to Death Parade, in the sense of an evolving and transforming theme, or Gatchaman Crowdds, which truly deals with multiple themes; but now that it’s over, I think it’s clear this was a one-theme show, and it never strayed, merely used other theme-threads in its weaving.
The problem isn’t the unanswered questions. I should also make it clear that my overall feelings are positive, I’m just a bit disappointed. I am okay with never knowing anything else about Cernunnos and even generally okay with the thematic ending we did get. Maria is a good neighbor, cool. The ending of Maria’s story felt silly to me, but It fit to some degree. It fit her character if nothing else. I felt like a dozen other anime endings could have been inserted and fit just as easily, but I am okay with what we got. I am disappointed that it wasn’t very interesting, but okay with it.
The thing with “noise” is that it can also be flavor. I’m okay with flavor that isn’t super important. I’m less okay with flavor that pretends to be important. It messes up expectations. It tells me the show is going to be something other than it really is. That is what this anime did.
Michael and god are the biggest problem.(and Bernard, but Bernard is mostly just hilarious) Their position is inconsistent, something I think you pointed out as well. We could argue it’s inconsistent by design, but the show doesn’t make a meaningful point of that. Michael’s original warning toward Maria is about her arogance and keeping the natural order of the world. That sets the expectations for the story. It’s Maria’s selfishness against the world. Until the end when selfishness wins. I could compare this to an Ann Rand novel, but I feel that would be giving Maria entirely too much credit.
Skip to the end and over dozens of things I could nitpick that were ultimately unimportant.(Bernard and Galfa being more of a distraction to the story with a hilarious aftertaste than a positive addition imo,) Nothing about Maria’s selfishness/the hedonism of the witches is resolved. Nothing particularly interesting about the church of heaven or earth is said. It’s neither enforced that she was right or wrong. She just wins and is allowed to exist along side everything else. Because? Because some monk ranted about how god isn’t important? Then god is like, yup you were right all along. I’ve been found out and don’t really matter. Bernard, you get to be salt! Maria? You fell in love? I guess you win! You are part of the natural order now. Magical Girl Virgin Witch Maria is green lit by god! And they all lived happily ever after. There are probably dozens of interesting and or meaningful things that could have been said in the middle of all that. Instead it just feels like a mess to me. Too many things to focus on any one thing in an interesting way. It’s like things suddenly went all Code Geass storytelling on me in a show without first signing me up for Code Geass.
Don’t even get me started on Michael’s Personality… The only way it makes sense is if he was just an arrogant SOB the entire time, which isn’t what the anime tells us. /shrug He is either only doing his job or he isn’t. It seems to me that Michael has his cake and eats it too.
Judging the show from when Michael first appears the ending feels like a cheat. Like they found a way to conclude something that should be interesting without saying anything interesting at all. Any conflict between Maria and the world was a lie the whole time. The natural order of the world can up and change on a whim. That would be fine and good if there had been any hint that the will of heaven was negotiable, or that the natural order of the world was such a flexible thing, but that wasn’t the case.
All that said, I do still like this show so. Looking back I don’t think this show needed to explore more of it’s themes. If anything I think it would have been better if it cut a dozen of them and focused on the best of what it had to offer.
@lifesongsoa:
I’ve already said what I think about Michael above, but commenting on some other points..
I do not think the conclusion is that Maria’s “selfishness” won, so I disagree with your objection to that turn of events. In fact, I think the show demonstrated that what her critics perceived as “selfishness” was actually genuine selflessness at her core. Very stubborn and naive about the world as a whole, but Maria’s heart was in the right place. She was not showing “arrogance” out of self-interest or petty egoism. Quite the contrary. A truly arrogant person would not have reacted to her trials and tribulations in the same way Maria did. When it would have been more convenient for Maria to abandon her ideals and give up, she did not. That is stubborn, which some viewers will find annoying, but I do not believe that was arrogance. She was willing to sacrifice herself for the sake of others and even tried to protect her witches from getting into a fight with Michael that they couldn’t possibly win. There is no selfishness . In fact, I would say Maria gave the right answer at the beginning of the episode. Her happiness matters, but so does the happiness of others. Which doesn’t mean you can’t disagree or try to defend your own views.
Code Geass is a very different story, which I actually like a lot and think there is some brilliance between the superficial mess, but I do not think that is a valid point of comparison. Maria’s story does have multiple themes, but it is a lot more simple and straightforward from a narrative perspective.
I think the will of heaven being relatively flexible was shown at the very start of the show. God didn’t let Michael kill or depower Maria back in episode three.
Did Maria lose her magic in the last episode?
I think she didn’t, but she would, at some point, afterwards.
To be fair, the hermit Joseph met before is actually mentioned in the very first episode. It’s interesting to notice that reference came full circle.
The natural order of this world can be interpreted in various ways, but I think we must make a distinction between what Michael is tasked to do and what God is willing to permit. It seems to me quite clear that Michael would have easily disposed of Maria but this whole exercise was a test from the Lord in order to confirm whether or not her motivations were genuinely sincere, rather than selfish or arrogant.
I could nitpick a little more and propose other alternate interpretations, but I enjoyed reading your thoughts on the show!
The Hermit reference, as it was never truly explored, feels more like “tying loose ends because they’re there,” rather than a meaningful return. Mentioning something for 10 seconds in the first episode and then again in the last is more damning, showing what was not, and trying to shoe it in in the last moment.
The interesting thing about the whole part with Heaven is that it is not internally consistent. You can read it in any number of contradictory ways. Heck, the last episode makes it pretty clear that Michael would’ve let Maria go from the beginning, and only came forth and opposed her because God wanted to test her :P
And rather than test, it feels more as if he wanted to get her to realize the truth, to help her grow. After all, does God not know anything and everything? It’s not a question of nitpicking, as much as it is left open to interpretation, not only because it is merely open-ended, but because various moments within the show contradict one another with regards to details, if not theme, which I’ll touch upon a tad later when I replyto Lifesong.
I’m glad you enjoyed the write-up :)
Well, I didn’t interpret the last episode that way. But I guess we’ll have our own views about the show.