Saturday, August 9, 2008

...return to Japan's version of the Neverland

I managed to find the rest of Peter Pan no Boken (Adventures of Peter Pan) that I wrote about here. I'm just a few episodes beyond where I left off. On the whole, it's still very good. They've created a compelling set of characters and circumstances. Peter Pan and company have befriended Luna, who is a princess and grandaughter to the Black Magician. Children's dreams are being destroyed in some capacity, but the how and why does not yet seem entirely clear. And it seems I'm not either, so I will wait until I have seen more and can focus my thoughts.

Two parts seemed rather jarring though. Although I adored the location of it (a graveyard of pirate ships floating haphazardly in dingy, foggy space) I didn't see the point of bringing Captain Hook back. Perhaps there is a good reason. I have yet to see. As of now, it seems unnecessary when they could focus on the wonderful characters they created instead. And he didn't do much but sneer and grumble a lot.

The other part is the inclusion of Don Quixote. What? Right. I don't know either. The character of Miguel Cervantes shows up in an episode which, other than a lesson in courage vs. cowardice, has no real value. Not to be cruel, but it steered away from the story arc just to have Don Quixote appear. I imagine the writers had an affinity for the knight errant and paid him homage this way. I just didn't get it.

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