Gungrave--Das Ende and Other Stuff

I've finished my rewatch of Gungrave and am now feeling depressed and angsty for want of something to fan over. I have gotten some good suggestions though in comments to my previous post, and since my DVDs of the second half of Blood+ arrived today, I'll probably fan for a little while by rewatching some of that.

I think I've spent all my deep Gungrave thoughts for now except to say that every time I watch this show I see more structural resonances. Everyone pretty much foils everyone. The effect is to demonstrate with an enormous iterative weight how different people face the "same" conflicts but make different moral choices according to their personalities, backgrounds, and what all. Here are just a few pairs who act as foils for each other:

* Brandon/Harry
* Big Daddy/Harry
* Brandon/Big Daddy
* Brandon/Bear Walken
* Maria/Sherry
* Maria/Mika (a little)
* Brandon-Harry/Bear-Sid
* Brandon-Harry/Lee-Bob/Big Daddy-Jester
* Brandon/Bunji
Etc.

In other viewing news, I'm in the midst of converting my old VHS tapes of Space Island One to DVD. I don't know why this show has been so totally forgotten. It may not have as much charisma as some other sci fi shows, but it's very solid and often very entertaining. I feel like I'm preserving a precious relic--though I note that it apparently is online. That's a comfort.