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Old 11-04-2014, 02:48 AM   #1
Doppleganger
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A Certain Magical Visual Novel

The writing in A Certain Magical Visual Novel is astoundingly sharp. The basic plot is boy-meets-girl. The girl is literally and metaphorically wounded. Literally, in the sense she has self-harmed and attempted to cut her veins with razors. Metaphorically, in how she is alone and suffers from survivor's guilt. The boy is a doctor. His investigations lead him to look underneath the girl's clothes for answers. To his horror, he discovers a wound bigger than anyone would have ever believed, and stumbles upon the discovery of a lifetime. I shall attempt to spoil the major twists in the following image-post.



This slimy simile is coated with complexity. In various culture, the slug is a symbol of empathy and agreement. It's no wonder that the University of California, Santa Cruz has its sport teams - teams that are intended by design to dominate other teams - represented by the totemic "banana slug". It is as if to say, "make love, not war!".

In other words, the hidden meaning of this sentence is "I'm slowly coming to understand you". The doctor is getting an idea of the girl's emotional wounds.



When humans are in great distress, they revert to instinctual habits. Sucking the thumb and crying are imprints left over from infanthood. However, the adult mind is far more self-destructive than a baby's, so rather than sucking a thumb to relieve pain, the girl is so warped she is actually harming herself. The use of minor pain to escape greater pain is a common theme in adolescent fiction, especially of the nihilistic variety, to illustrate the futility of desiring escape from the suffering that is life.



You're probably about the physics behind this. The answer dates back approximately one thousand years. In the circulation of a Muslim robe, the sun heats the bottom of the robe and creates warm air, which then rises due to the temperature gradient, creating an air current. The warm breeze under the girl's skirt is due to this current.



The doctor displays his selflessness, disregarding his own safety for the welfare of his patient. But what kind of woman would invite death upon her would-be saviour? Again we have to look to the insect kingdom, fitting with the author's theme of noble insects to capture complex emotions. In this case, a woman known for "eating" after she's been "eaten out":



...



Here, the author invokes some black comedy to break the tense atmosphere he's painstakingly constructed. The visual conveyed by the description is immediately recognizable to Western audiences:



...



Completely allegorical. The protagonist/doctor is describing how vulnerable the girl is on the inside, and how his efforts to emotionally connect to her is starting to bear fruit, as he's reaching the inner girl who has shielded herself off from the world. To break her out of her shell, he has to drill through the gooey yolk surrounding her.



I know what you're thinking: how can a gaping wound be "tight"? But he's talking about the wound in her heart. The hole is huge, but the path to get to her heart small. The only way is to force his way through, and a doctor's fingers are as gentle as anyone's.



What. a. tweeeeeeeest!!!



...



Hmm, now where have I seen this description before?

Tightly guarded hidden place. A treasure never before known to man. A hard outer shell protecting a soft, tender inside.

The answer's pretty obvious, to be honest.



...



I can just imagine those smells now.

Ethanol.

Iodine.

Morphine.

I bet the sheets are visibly stained.



My heart is tearing at the poignancy of this scene. Ever heard of "dogs licking each other's wounds"? It's clear that the girl and the doctor find comfort in their mutual understanding of suffering. The indomitable strength of the human spirit in the face of adversity is one of mankind's greatest triumphs.



This was my exact reaction when I got to the Extra Stage of Embodiment of the Scarlet Devil. I even made a similar face to the girl's when Flandre Scarlet first ruined by day.

I can totally relate to this situation.



;_;

It's like a post-modern argument for how emotion is inherently indistinguishable, and that all we humans can know, to invoke the spirit of Descartes, is that "we feel, therefore, we love".



I'll spoiler tag the tragic ending.

Spoiler: show
If you haven't figured it out yet, the story is about a miscarriage. The doctor is removing the dead fetus from the girl's uterus to save her life. In the process, he has to remove her uterus. The "protrusion"? The dead baby tearing up her fallopian tubes.

I was crestfallen at seeing this ending. The girl is asking, almost rhetorically to the doctor, if she can have a baby. She hasn't realized her baby is dead. The doctor can't bear to tell her she'll never have children again.


...

A Certain Magical Visual Novel is one of the most emotionally moving, metaphorically sophisticated and thematically developed stories I have ever been beholden to in any form of media whatsoever.

TEN TEARS/10
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Old 11-04-2014, 03:29 AM   #2
Kindrindra
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I'm not sure if I want to slap you or hug you. Please advise.
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People should watch what they enjoy regardless of what others think, even if it's a terribad guilty pleasure.
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Though, I also dislike the concept of lamenting the current day while wishing to re-experience the past. At least, my modern attitude is to try and make each new day magical even if it's not, since exclusively reminiscing about the past is too pathetic.
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Old 11-04-2014, 03:40 AM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kindrindra View Post
I'm not sure if I want to slap you or hug you. Please advise.
I definitely need a hug.

Perhaps a shoulder to cry on.

I feel so alone right now. ;_;
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