Thetraitordemon:

thetraitordemon:

“Well that’s a difficult question.” Kimuri huffed before soon thinking more on it. “Maybe a small amount of miasma? It’s a mix of that and just a heavy feeling. Not really comfortable if you think on it.”

Taking a moment to pull on his shirt collar to more prove the fact he soon asked his own question, having his own curiosities.

“But now what about you Lunarre? Why aren’t you attempting to attack me? I know most hellions seem to lose their old will yet you still seem to hold onto is in some way.” Folding his arms he tilted his head curiously.

“I know there’s the Lord of Calamity but still…I think it’s more or less a rare thing. But I won’t complain on that too much. I rather not fight in fear on losing track on just where I’m heading.”

Lunarre shrugged, beaming from ear to ear.

“Dunno. I guess I’m just special.” He snickered. 

There was the possibility he was correct, or partially so, but Lunarre was only joking. He hadn’t a clue what made him different from the other hellions he had encountered, but it didn’t really matter. 

“I’ve never met a guy like you before,” he added. “You interest me. Besides...” Lunarre stood up, looking into the forest stretched out thick and dark behind them. “I’m tailing someone. I can’t waste too much time dawdling.”

thetraitordemon:

“I suppose so.” He shrugged looking at the hellion’s excitement. Maybe he never heard much on Seraphim? Then how old are they?

Closing his eyes he shrugged. “Just how I am maybe. But I still wouldn’t stick my head in a lion’s mouth even if it doesn’t attack me at first. As for how you use that information I doubt there’s really much you can do with it. You’re not the Lord of Calamity, even if you were there’s still a slim chance on the seraph turning into a dragon. No one it that stupid to let that happen to them.”

He paused to think on the name, he has heard of them before on his travels. They were a guild of some kind.

Jerking his head back on the outburst he raised a brow. “Well I guess you are giving off that suffocating feeling now that I pay more attention.”

Lunarre scowled. Not quite the reaction he was hoping for, but then this was an old fart he was dealing with. An old fart who had seen far worse than Lunarre could imagine.

He sat down again, slightly put out, but curiosity got the better of him.

“Is it really suffocating?” he asked, with some pride. “What’s it made of, hm?”

Lunarre wasn’t a fool - he knew he had changed. He was gifted with strange powers, capable of feats that had until only recently been impossible. He was driven by the burning fire in his belly, fire that continued to grow within him each passing day. Some people could see him and were repulsed. Some could only see a normal man, as he had once been, and carried on their merry way oblivious. 

By the looks of things he was invisible to the majority of ordinary folk, with Kimuri one of the few exceptions. That suited Lunarre just fine.

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A Hellion with No Purpose

I swear making Lunarre an aimless, wise-cracking Observer of All was the worst thing they could have done for his character. Even in the games he had a drive, while not particularly explored or examined, he at the very least had one. Namely, vengeance.

The anime, on the other hand, stripped Lunarre of his loyalty to, betrayal of, and ultimately his desire for vengeance against, the Scattered Bones and his former boss Rose. It stripped him, also, of his desire to pursue Alisha for longer than the plot would allow. Three episodes in and suddenly Lunarre is more interested in sightseeing along with Alisha than having her for dinner.

In so doing, Lunarre becomes little more than a stand-in for the audience. An observer with little to no influence on the plot unless the plot or, more specifically, Alisha focus, demands. He even outright declares himself an observer, and has little ambition to move from his solitary perch overlooking the plot at all unless pushed.

The rest of the time Lunarre is content with muttering to himself about what he sees and how excited he is, like a good audience-stand-in. As the Observer of All he adds precious little to nothing to the flow of the plot nor to his own character as the story progresses. It makes his sudden attempt at redemption at the end utterly baffling.

Lunarre also has a strange and utterly baffling habit of constantly questioning his own motives for being in whatever location he planted himself in, as if self-aware that his actions, as a fictional character, are controlled by the gods that are the Writers and so forth.

Unfortunately, it seems that Lunarre’s constant questioning of himself, even manifesting as rhetorical questions when asked directly who he is and what he is doing in such-and-such a place.

Example: In episode 20 of Season 2, Maltran asks Lunarre who he is. Lunarre’s response is quite literally ‘I wonder?’ It doesn’t occur to him to simply answer with his name.

From my perspective, there are two main problems with his anime portrayal.

Problem #1: His Brief Appearance as a Human

We are shown Lunarre as a human, working under Rose’s leadership as a member of the Scattered Bones. If the game is anything to go on, then like in the game Lunarre will have by this point been with the guild for two years.

This alone completely fucks with Lunarre’s identity crisis, as it appears.

He is onscreen as a human 54 seconds. I know, I timed it, including the time in which he was masked, fighting Alisha. 

From what we saw, Lunarre was loyal to Rose and a keen fighter, though unable to match Alisha. 

That, coupled with the fact that he is a member of an assassin’s guild and has likely been such for two years straight, calls into question how he could be anything but serious in his belief that he belongs to the Scattered Bones, that he is part of it. 

You don’t join something like an assassin’s guild for the luls, and you certainly don’t stay there two years when you’re not sure if it’s really the job you see yourself doing long-term. Rose certainly wouldn’t have tolerated someone like that in her guild. Game!Lunarre certainly considered himself a member until his behaviour got him kicked out.

So why does he leave? And why does he suddenly become the most uncertain man in the entire Zestiria universe?

Lunarre, as in the game, never removes his assassin uniform. He keeps his tie to the guild despite so abruptly and nonsensically leaving it, and he bears no grudge or ill will towards it or Rose. Neither what little we saw of his human life nor his transformation into a hellion give the audience any indication that he transformed and went rogue other than because he’s batshit crazy. 

Yes, there was a slight indication that Rose’s comment could have set him off, but it’s one comment, with no history of similar comments or treatment that might have made this particular comment mean anything. It certainly doesn’t give the weight necessary to give credence to the fact that LUNARRE BECAME A HELLION because of it!

If we had been given more insight into what could have been a mind steadily disillusioned with the assassin lifestyle, a man realising he is, for whatever reason (let’s say skill) the black sheep of the organisation. We could have seen how he feels belittled by Rose, perhaps, or underappreciated, or lacking in fulfillment. It would have gone a long way to explaining why Lunarre became a hellion after Rose told him he was ‘no match’ for Alisha.

Perhaps that is what they were going for, but it is so poorly conveyed it goes unnoticed under the maniacal cackling from the newly-transformed fox hellion.

Problem #2: No Time, No Effort, No Shits Given (Until it’s Too Late)

The identity crisis could have been a very interesting. it could have been a rare, intimate insight into a more in-control hellion’s mind. 

Lack of time and focus on him, even through other characters, who by and large forgot his existence until they discovered his dead body near the end of season 2, meant that his entire ‘arc’ was botched practically from the start. 

The smatterings of appearance he made only raised eyebrows from confused viewers, wondering what he’s still doing here. He either comments on what the audience can already see, or acts like a deranged lunatic simply content to watch cool shit go down. Only as the series draws close to its finale do the writers suddenly realise Lunarre exists and has had no resolution yet. 

Unfortunately, it falls flat on its face (much like Lunarre does as he dies) because there has been no build-up, no tension, no time or effort given to invest in his character before. Why should the audience give a shit now, when they have never been given a reason to prior?

When there has been no build-up, there cannot be any pay-off. At all. Only confusion, disbelief, and annoyance.

Thus, as the main cast inexplicably take time out to have a minute’s silence over Lunarre’s dead body, the viewer can only sigh and mutter “Can we just get on with it? Who the fuck is this guy anyway?”

ufotable + skies