Carnival Phantasm 2: Gal Undo

This is one of a series of posts about Carnival Phantasm, co-written with Hisui of Reverse Thieves.

 The yin and yang of Type-Moon insists that if the first episode is based on Fate/Stay Night, then the second episode must look at Tsukihime. More specifically, this is an examination of the fighting game based on Tsukihime known as Melty Blood. Since I have read Take Moon volume one, I have a bit more insight into what has been changed in the adaptation.

The Neco-Arc crew jumps right into the Melty Blood references with Neco-Arc Prime and Neco-Arc Chaos discussing beam attacks. In the game, one of Neco-Arc’s attacks is shooting beams out of her eyes like she was a little death bot. We get a sizable demonstration of the ability to the detriment of the cafe.

 The Neco-Arcs’ eye beams are one of the most hated maneuvers in Melty Blood, with reasons you shouldn’t even be surprised about. First is because they can easily harass opponents from a distance like how you can harass players with Hadouken in Street Fighter. Second, the beams spread outward like a funnel, keeping enemies at bay before they can even attempt to dodge. All in all, the eye beams are one of best weapons a Neco-Arc can wield to defeat an opponent, if not outright annoy the hell out of anyone else playing against them. Remember kids: Lasers are unisex, and definitely not difficult.

 Since I did not examine the opening too much the last time so I will mention that with the Blu-ray I can make out almost everyone on top of the cake in the background during the big dance number. On the top row you will see Mitsuzuri Ayako, Makidera Kaede, Himuro Kane, Saegusa Yukika, Aozaki Aoko, Seo Akira, Misawa Hanei, Tsukihime Souka, and Inui Ichiko. In the second row is Stheno, Sella, Luviagelita Edelfelt, White Len, Saber Lion, Mech-Hisui, Leysritt, Euryale. The bottom row is sort of hard to see but I know I see Master Panda, Issei Ryudo, Kinoko Nasu & Takashi Takeuchi,  Nanaya Shiki, Arihiko Inui, Tohno SHIKI, Kishima Kouma, Night of Wallachia are also down there. I might be missing one of two people as the bottom row is often blocked by people dancing. As a side note, if you look closely on the all-guys row you will see Nanako at the very back of their line. Is that just a joke or does she have a concealed “carrot” we do not know about?

Before we jump into the main story, there is a Phantasmoon break. I know that the monsters that Phantasmoon are defeating are inside jokes, but I can’t decipher them. The magical girl tropes continue like the villains using tainted cosmetics to control people just like the the Cosmetics Caper from Sailor Moon R. Just so you know the weird block of jello Len is holding is Konnyaku, a jelly-like substance made from Devil’s Tongue.

 It is quite surprising that these Phantasmoon breaks feature Akiha Vermillion as the primary antagonist and rival, when we see Arcueid depicted as being always at odds with Ciel, no matter the incarnation of the former. Is this probably because “Imouto” is the only one blocking Arcueid’s way to get Shiki? Probably. And I’m actually interested on what’s written on the whiteboard…

Actually Eri Takenashi seem to really like the whole Arcueid and Ciel conflict more than any other. Akiha is far less predominant in the Take Moon.  In fact in the Phantasmoon story in Take Moon is is 95% Arcueid and Ciel. In fact the whole next episode preview is just a throw away gag at the end of a story about Arcueid running around the city being a magical girl. In fact she is only in 1/5 of a page in the whole story. But apparently someone needed more Akiha like Christopher Walken needs more cowbell.

As we pan in we finally find where Shiro and his Neco-Arc rocket have landed, but that is not the only change to the Tsukihime volleyball game story. The most important change is the people in attendance. Inui Ichiko, Seo Akira, Misawa Hanei, and Tsukihime Souka were all in the original manga story but have been replaced with Sion and Miyako Arima. This of course led to the teams being very different. The original teams were Arcueid, Ciel, Hisui, Akira vs. Akiha, Hanei, Souka, and Len. Akiha had a bit more dead weight to contend with in the original. One thing is always the same: Kohaku is the evil mastermind. If you play through all the paths in Tsukihime you will discover that Kohaku is behind a surprising amount of things that go in in the game. So her little manipulations to start a dangerous volleyball match is her normal modus operandi especially in comedy material.

 Kohaku’s underhand tactics gave her a nasty reputation among Tsukihime characters, even if her intentions are actually for the good of Shiki and her master Akiha. Her penchant for acting under the pretense of curiosity and interest is probably why she was chosen by TATARI to embody a rumor about someone planning to take over the Tohno mansion. After all, Kohaku has been acting this way before Tsukihime happened, as she was the one tasked to take care of the possessed Tohno SHIKI in one of the mansion’s underground lairs.

 When the game is in full swing everyone starts whipping out their super moves from Melty Blood. Instead of going through them individually I will just link to a video of all the Arc Drives and Last Arcs from a recent version of Melty Blood. It is easier that way. Also, when Ciel is making that mad dash for the ball a little meter is seen on the bottom of the screen. This is the Magic Circuit meter. The Magic Circuit meter is your super gauge. When it is full you can active Blood Heat, which is mostly mumbo jumbo to anyone who does not play the fighting game. Just realize that it’s all a hat tip to the games and that Ciel must be majorly pumped up when she sees that curry.

 As a Type-Moon fan that regularly plays the Melty Blood series of games, I think I can give a better explanation about how the Magic Circuit meter works. The meter is slowly filled by attacking or getting attacked, similar to how the Rage/POW meter works in Samurai Spirits. You can also charge the meter by EX-Shielding, though this method only applies in high-level play. The gauge can be charged to 100%, 200% and 300%, respectively. The Magic Circuit can be used for EX Attacks, Arc Drives, Circuit Sparks and Last Arcs, albeit the more famously known purpose of the gauge is to declare Heat in order to regain lost HP. Do note that Heat is declared if you activate Heat when the Magic Circuit meter isn’t full, while Blood Heat is declared if you declare heat during when the meter is full and Max Power Mode is activated. I’d like to continue explaining this, but it would surely take us a few more paragraphs if I do so, so I’ll leave it here. However, it is quite interesting to note that Ciel is charging up her Magic Circuit meter even though she’s evidently not attacking. Maybe being in the offensive in volleyball = attacking? We’ll definitely have to ask Curry-senpai about that.

 During the match there are a few random elements not from Melty Blood. Hisui constantly spinning her fingers is a reference to the comedy character Brainwasher Detective. It is a comical alter ego of Hisui, that of a dark private investigator that uses hypnotism to solve crimes. This joke comes from a misspelling in Kagetsu Tohya that made a scene of Hisui accusing someone of being a murderer turn into Hisui trying to convince someone they were a murderer. Hisui’s strange multi-arm block comes from the Imogirisou side story in Kagetsu Tohya. Apparently that weird move is a parody of a scene from the horror game Otogirisou that the story is riffing on. The little swords that Ciel always carries are called Black Keys and they are standard issue disposable weapons from the church. Demon fighting members of the church are taught to materialize them at will. They are not very powerful but they count as a magical weapons against anything that can only be hurt by enchanted or holy weapons. Ciel’s other weapon is the Seventh Holy Scripture. It is an enchanted pilebunker that has special prayers placed on it to prevent anyone killed by the weapon from reincarnating. There is also a spirit who lives inside the Seventh Holy Scripture named Seven (a.k.a. Nanako). She is the little horse girl we see eating curry. Ciel and Nanko have an odd relationship of stern parent and unruly child.

 Did you know that the Black Keys’ blades are usually materialized pages of the Bible? While it is common for the Keys to take in whatever form they may have, the most common form, which is that of a sword or a rapier, can be easily concealed by passing mana into a simple object. Of course, a page from the Bible is no exception, which means an Agent can keep hundreds of Keys in a single copy of the Bible. While it is rather surprising for some people to know, I think a handful of people already understand how religious representatives have the capability of keeping a personal hammerspace for their concealed holy relics and weapons. Hellsing. Alexander Anderson. Iscariot Organization. They do ring a bell, yes? And it’s quite surprising that Arc uses her alter ego Red Arcueid’s Arc Drive, Blut Die Scwester.

On a lesser note, Hisui actually uses those hypnotism maneuvers in Melty. The circular arm maneuver becomes her Arc Drive, Saturday Night Fever/Ankoku Hisui Ken, while the finger hypnotism becomes her Last Arc, a “fake” Reality Marble named Guru Guru Hisui no Sekai. However they don’t play exactly how they play in their canon counterparts, so I guess this is dismissible.

I think off of this just goes to prove that Kinoko Nasu and Takashi Takeuchi met playing table top RPGs. Akiha’s random moments of red hair are a nod to her Inversion Impulse. The Tohno family gains its magical powers from having demonic blood mixed with human blood in their family tree. While being half-demonic gives them various abilities, it also tempts them to give into their demonic half. This temptation is called the inversion impulse. When Akiha’s demonic side is ascendant, her hair turns to a bright color red. The strange panda we see is Miyako’s is master and named, simply enough, Master Panda. I don’t know much about him other than the fact that he was introduced in the first Character Material book.

 It is also worth nothing that other clans and families can also experience Inversion Impulse. The Nanaya clan, known as a family of demon hunters, also experience Inversion Impulse whenever they sense an anomaly or a demon in their vicinity. This greatly contributes to Tsukihime actually starts, wherein Tohno Shiki slays Arcueid Brunestud by slicing her into 17 pieces, all because Shiki sensed Arcueid’s anomalous presence and his Nanaya blood interprets her as a threat.

 A crazy theory of mine stems from the fact that all the characters that were cut from this skit are characters who do not have voice actors in Melty Blood, while all the characters who were added have their respective VAs. I wonder if the dedication to parity between the games and Carnival Phantasm was so high that they refuse to add any characters who did not have voices, lest they lock people into those parts to permanently play those characters. The only exception seems to be that Nanako gets a voice actress when she never had one before. But with the inclusion of Powered Ciel in the latest Melty Blood,I wonder if she will have a speaking role in the PC version of Melty Blood: Actress Again Current Code coming out at the end of the year. While she probably won’t be a playable character she might get a few lines of dialog in Ciel’s story mode which would make Haruka Tomatsu the dedicated VA for Nanako.

 Did anyone actually notice that Len didn’t play the volleyball game and had no speaking roles so far in Carnival Phantasm? Is Kaori Mizuhashi too much to afford?

Well Len does only speak in twice in all of Kagetsu Tohya and never speaks during Take Moon. So not talking is sort of her shtick. In Metly Blood she only REALLY talks when she is White Len. As the episode winds down we find the last skit, the Afterschool! Alleyway Alliance! The group is a reference to the trio in Melty Blood called the Back Alley Alliance. The original Back Alley Alliance is made up of Satsuki “Sacchin” Yumizuka, Sion Eltnam Atlasia, and Len. Since Sacchin, Sion, and Len spend a good deal of time on the streets, they form a little group of friends in Melty Blood. As expected, this lead to mountain of Sacchin x Sion yuri doujinshi. The girl most people do not recognize in the skit is the white haired knight named Riesbyfe Stridberg. At first she only appeared as part of Sion’s back story as her friend from the church who died fighting the Night of Wallachia. Later on she appeared in Sion TATARI’s/Vampire Sion’s Last Arc and later still as an independent playable character. In the latest game you can find a way to revive Riesbyfe in a form much like a servant in Fate/Stay Night and she joins the Back Alley Alliance as well.

To round things out there is the vital Tiger Dojo next episode preview. This time I do recognize Taiga’s  little introduction. “Don’t trust anyone over thirty” is a famous slogan from 60′s icon Jerry Rubin. In fact, all of Tiaga’s little sayings seem to have a 60′s vibe to them. We see that her antics from the last time got her downgraded to being draw in pencil sketches. But she runs around quite a bit to make up for that, even doing a shouryuken before someone stopped the time for her. I do have to wonder if these budget numbers are accurate. I have to imagine they are but does anyone reading who works in animation know the truth?

 It is quite intriguing that whileh Taiga tried to move around so much, her movements aren’t as fluid as the ones from the first episode. Even so, those numbers still skyrocketed. I guess the saying “Extravagance is the Enemy” really applies here. I won’t be surprised if Taiga suddenly disappears on the next episode.

 Well, that’s another Carnival Phantasm under our belt. Next up is a half and half episode. We get a Fate/Stay Night and a Tsukihime sketch with school time and nap time antics. And the unexpected ally who appeared then… wasn’t of any help.

P.S. I totally missed the fact that it was a poem about a dog that distracted Lancer in the game of Karuta in episode 1. The joke being that Lancer (a.k.a. Cú Chulainn) was known as the Hound of Ulster and dies eating dog stew. So obviously the word dog is a bit of a sore point for him.

 P.P.S. We forgot to note that Sacchin wasn’t able to get a decent role this episode. And people are actually clamoring to see her in a swimsuit. Isn’t it sad, Sacchin?

P.P.P.S. Belated Happy Birthday, Len!