Weiss Kreuz Rewatch
Jan. 12th, 2025 09:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kraitI started a casual rewatch of Weiß Kreuz back in December, and today I finished the original arc... and began WK Glühen.
Man, I'm reminded of how the usual fan advice to newbies is "Love yourself and don't watch Glühen." Before HP fandom existed to give us EWE (Epilogue? What Epilogue?) - and before fic sites had a tags section to put it in - WK fans were cheerfully ignoring Glühen so hard that 'Glühen didn't happen' was all you needed to say to establish your AU.
The best reason to watch Glühen is so that, in future, you can remember not to watch Glühen.
----
Tongue-in-cheek aside, the original WK is such a nostalgia trip for me! Every time I rewatch it, it strikes me again how it shouldn't have the emotional power it does. It's a vanity project anime made by some voice actors, it has a silly premise and ridiculous plots, and the animation quality is rough, but the characters are compelling; it's like all the work that didn't go into the other stuff was put into them, to the benefit of all the rest. They may be melodramatic prettyboys, but they feel like real people and like a group, not just a handful of OCs tossed together with no connection.
My favourites are Aya & Youji (separately, together, and *ahem* together), but Omi tends to steal my affections when I hit his arc. When the whumphammer comes for Omi, it comes hard! Everybody gets their turn under the mallet, but Omi's suffering is especially harsh, and I love him for it.
There's no particular point to this post, but if you've seen Weiß Kreuz, chime in and tell me your faves!
Man, I'm reminded of how the usual fan advice to newbies is "Love yourself and don't watch Glühen." Before HP fandom existed to give us EWE (Epilogue? What Epilogue?) - and before fic sites had a tags section to put it in - WK fans were cheerfully ignoring Glühen so hard that 'Glühen didn't happen' was all you needed to say to establish your AU.
The best reason to watch Glühen is so that, in future, you can remember not to watch Glühen.
----
Tongue-in-cheek aside, the original WK is such a nostalgia trip for me! Every time I rewatch it, it strikes me again how it shouldn't have the emotional power it does. It's a vanity project anime made by some voice actors, it has a silly premise and ridiculous plots, and the animation quality is rough, but the characters are compelling; it's like all the work that didn't go into the other stuff was put into them, to the benefit of all the rest. They may be melodramatic prettyboys, but they feel like real people and like a group, not just a handful of OCs tossed together with no connection.
My favourites are Aya & Youji (separately, together, and *ahem* together), but Omi tends to steal my affections when I hit his arc. When the whumphammer comes for Omi, it comes hard! Everybody gets their turn under the mallet, but Omi's suffering is especially harsh, and I love him for it.
There's no particular point to this post, but if you've seen Weiß Kreuz, chime in and tell me your faves!