The Death Note and Galaxy Angel connection.

[DKL]

PLEASE READ BEFORE GOING ANY FURTHER AS THIS WILL CONTAIN GALAXY ANGEL SPOILERS ONLY

Okay, so while finishing up the first season of Galaxy Angel yesterday, I decided to come up with a new anime-related forum project for this year; last year’s Monster thread was a little hectic, and I’m pretty sure that I won’t go that far with this new one.

So yes, let’s start:

The aim of this new project of mine is to correlate the style and execution of specific episodes from Galaxy Angel (the Madhouse ones) with that of the highly popular Death Note anime as a means to rationalize why using a couple of integral staff figures in Galaxy Angel was a highly competent choice in regards to the Death Note anime adaptation.

While watching 3 seasons of Galaxy Angel over the last few weeks (and with the knowledge of the fact that some of its production crew was brought over to produce Death Note, Madhouse aside), I noticed that there was a ton of strange similarities between Death Note and some specific episodes of Galaxy Angel; the execution and the scenarios in Galaxy Angel drew some interesting parallels to Death Note and I thought it’d be fun to talk about.

Okay, so what’s happening here is that this will mostly contain Galaxy Angel spoilers, and, at best, vague references to Death Note’s style, execution and writing (given that, I don’t want to spoil Death Note’s story for anyone… well, that and I don’t actually have the fansubs needed to illustrate my points better…my computer was pretty screwed up during the period I had all 74 episodes of Monster on it, so I don’t think it’s a good idea to do something like that again…).

I will, for the most part, be screwing around… but then, I’ll probably be partially serious; I’ll leave it up to personal interpretation in regards to what my actual “screwing around-to-being serious” ratio is.

Also, this thread will be quite image heavy as I want to pull out screencaps from Galaxy Angel to further elaborate on my points and I will probably try to make some comments on the actual visuals as well.

So yes… I shall thank people in advance for reading this (and Selenta for letting me actually go through with this).

Let me just get my stuff together… should be done with the first part tonight and I’ll probably do subsequent parts as I go through a re-watch of all 3 seasons of Galaxy Angel that I have on DVD.

[DKL]

Part 1: Galaxy Angel, season 1, episode 22.

Okay, so here we are. The general thing I’ll be doing for this thread is actually just summarizing various Galaxy Angel episodes; to help make the correlation to Death Note, I’ll be taking VERY specific screencaps (which, hopefully, will convey the idea better than me just simply talking about it).

This will probably be overly analytical… I mean, more than it needs to be, which is why it will be funny (hopefully).

Let’s start.

Thanks to the crappiness that is batch English credits (I hate that Bandai did this… least they could’ve done was sort it by episode), I can’t tell which specific people are doing which episodes; the best idea I have on this episode was the fact that Tetsuro Araki (the head director of Death Note) was doing the storyboards (I looked at the Death Note OP to get his Kanji and everything).

Anyway, this episode, I felt, was probably the closest and most obvious example that ties Galaxy Angel’s execution to that of Death Note’s (meaning that the thread will go down hill after this, unfortunately).

This episode begins with one the members of the Angel Brigade, Mint (the cosplay addict), and how she finds herself in a troublesome situation at the top of an observation deck on a hill island: she seems to have gotten her head stuck in one of those funny cardboard thingies where you have your picture taken.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/dklreviews/DEATH%20NOTE%20GA%20PROJECT/22-1.jpg

While in the middle of contemplating the sheer awkwardness of her situation, she suddenly notices that her fellow Angel Brigade comrades have now begun making a dash for the highest point on the island: the observation deck, because the island is apparently now experiencing an extremely high tide that’s engulfing everything in its path.

The endangered lives of the rest of the Brigade aside, this was quite a problem given that it would be very embarrassing if Mint’s comrades were to ever discover that she was stupid enough to get her head stuck in one of those cardboard things; she had to do something and something quick.

After taking a quick survey of the resources she had on hand:

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/dklreviews/DEATH%20NOTE%20GA%20PROJECT/22-2.jpg

Mint is now aware of the fact that, whatever it is that she’s going to do, she’ll only have 3 turns at the binoculars in order to do something.

At this point, it was only possible to use the binoculars for one of two things:

-To save her friends, but at the expense of having them laugh at her.

-To mislead her friends, but at the expense of killing them.

Notice how she explores her choices:

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/dklreviews/DEATH%20NOTE%20GA%20PROJECT/22-3.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/dklreviews/DEATH%20NOTE%20GA%20PROJECT/22-4.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/dklreviews/DEATH%20NOTE%20GA%20PROJECT/22-5.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/dklreviews/DEATH%20NOTE%20GA%20PROJECT/22-6.jpg

After much deliberation, and for whatever reason, it somehow made sense to Mint to use her resources on hand in order to kill her friends; surprisingly enough, there was a rather strong resolve to do this:

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/dklreviews/DEATH%20NOTE%20GA%20PROJECT/22-7.jpg

The initial plan Mint cooks up is to prey on the weaknesses of her fellow Brigade members in order to stall them long enough so that they don’t make it up to the observation deck alive.

Given that two pairs of teams were running up the hill, Mint finds herself in a situation where she has to simultaneously juggle between convincing two different people with two different reasons to NOT go up the hill and using the limited time she has on the binoculars to scope out possible items of interest that will aid her in her objective.

This would’ve all been a little easier if it weren’t for the fact that she only had enough for 3 turns; an old lady comes by and offers her some snacks for sale, but Mint would rather have some change for her paper money (so that she’ll have more coins)… her plea is unsuccessful and Mint is forced to work within the confines of the 3 coins she currently has on hand.

But, all things considering, she could’ve bought the snacks and gotten change for her money back, but I think she didn’t because she was too cheap to do so.

Notice how Mint looks very calm as she relays orders that will hopefully lead to the demise of her fellow Angel Brigade comrades; the effect of having emphasis on her mouth movements while the expression in her eyes is hidden by the binoculars helps accentuate the nice contrast between her calmness and the nature of what it is that she’s doing.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/dklreviews/DEATH%20NOTE%20GA%20PROJECT/22-8.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/dklreviews/DEATH%20NOTE%20GA%20PROJECT/22-9.jpg

So, first off, she contacts Forte (the gun addict) and reminds her that, if she doesn’t finish the mission (which is to look for an item called the “Lost Technology” that’s possibly somewhere on this island), none of them will be paid… and an Oden tab that Forte is currently stuck with will remain outstanding.

Given the difficulty of the current situation, Forte finds herself in a bind: she has to either save her life (and the life of the person with her)… or be stuck with an outstanding Oden tab.

Forte eventually concedes that paying off her tab is more important than saving her own life.

Next off is the second pair, headed by Ranpha (the boy addict). Mint tries to throw Ranpha off by telling her that she has to save some birds that are in a tree; Ranpha passes on the offer since she doesn’t care about some random birds. However, Mint manages to get Ranpha to change her mind when she claims that the feathers of the birds in the local region are known to be good luck charms that improve your love life; being the boy-crazy girl that Ranpha is, she has a sudden change of heart and decides that saving the birds is a good idea after all.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/dklreviews/DEATH%20NOTE%20GA%20PROJECT/22-10.jpg

Much to Mint’s delight, both parties have taken the bait and Mint’s embarrassment has now been avoided.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/dklreviews/DEATH%20NOTE%20GA%20PROJECT/22-11.jpg

However, Mint apparently didn’t count on the fact that, in extreme cases, people will eventually prioritize their lives over anything else; thus begins a new part of the story where Mint has to now re-tool her strategies and deceive her friends into thinking that she’s leading them up the hill.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/dklreviews/DEATH%20NOTE%20GA%20PROJECT/22-12.jpg

After mapping out all the coordinates, Mint convinces both parties to head to a weird door in the middle of the island (there just happened to be a door there, for whatever reason).

Her objective was to get both parties to reach the door (from opposite sides) and, at the same time, pull really hard on their respective side of the door when they get there (naturally, both parties had no idea that they’d just be tugging each at other when they got to the aforementioned door, so what this meant was that they’d be doing that until the water catches up to them).

After laying down the final ground for her plans, there’s a surprisingly atmospheric shot of Mint as she uses her last coin in order to make a final surveillance of how the fate of her friends will turn out.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/dklreviews/DEATH%20NOTE%20GA%20PROJECT/22-13.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/dklreviews/DEATH%20NOTE%20GA%20PROJECT/22-14.jpg

The two groups seem to have not the slightest idea of the malevolence that has just transpired; Mint finds herself amused given that it seemed like their absolute obedience was just too good to be true.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/dklreviews/DEATH%20NOTE%20GA%20PROJECT/22-15.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/dklreviews/DEATH%20NOTE%20GA%20PROJECT/22-16.jpg

Now that the waters are finally closing in, the two groups find themselves in panic. In order to seal the deal and continue the deception further, Mint makes one last call of desperation encouraging her friends to hurry up and run away from the tide.

Notice the contrast between her final desperate call and her actual feelings that border on indifference; this is very well conveyed in the calmness of how she turns her communicator off.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/dklreviews/DEATH%20NOTE%20GA%20PROJECT/22-17.jpg

And, finally, she bids her dear friends the farewell that they’ll never live to hear.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/dklreviews/DEATH%20NOTE%20GA%20PROJECT/22-18.jpg

But, this is all short-lived as Forte and Ranpha summon their last remaining strength and convince themselves that they won’t die in a place like this.

Given the new developments, Mint finds herself in a desperate situation and needs to know what’s going on… however, she has already used up all 3 of her coins and has to now resort to begging the old lady from earlier for change.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/dklreviews/DEATH%20NOTE%20GA%20PROJECT/22-19.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/dklreviews/DEATH%20NOTE%20GA%20PROJECT/22-20.jpg

After a neat little drawn-out sequence, we get to see that Ranpha and Forte have finally snapped and now mean business: they break the door down from both sides and start running up the hill.

A thing to note in that sequence is probably this (notice the use of split-screen):

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/dklreviews/DEATH%20NOTE%20GA%20PROJECT/22-21.jpg

So, with that done, both parties now make a clean break for the observation deck, all the while thinking that they now owe their lives to Mint’s guidance.

The look of devastation on Mint’s face isn’t all that bad considering what she tried to do.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/dklreviews/DEATH%20NOTE%20GA%20PROJECT/22-22.jpg

The episode ends when Mint realizes that it’s strange for birds to build their nests near places that have the tide come in; it was telling her that what was going on here wasn’t natural.

The main villain (the short old lady from earlier… who was actually a tall middle-aged man) is drawn out mainly because he was stupid enough to think that Mint’s inquiry had something to do with his true identity (when, in actuality, Mint intended to ask nothing of the sort). And, after a brief action sequence, Mint attacks the main villain by jumping on top of him (and, in the process, manages to remove herself from the cardboard thingy she was stuck in from the beginning of the episode, thus solving her problem and ending her reason to murder her friends); he drops a controller that apparently controls the island’s submerge functions.

After tinkering around with the controller, the island begins to rise from the water… revealing an illegal weapons production plant and its operators.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/dklreviews/DEATH%20NOTE%20GA%20PROJECT/22-23.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/dklreviews/DEATH%20NOTE%20GA%20PROJECT/22-24.jpg

Notice the surprised look on the faces of the guilty; they’ve been found out somehow and they can’t believe it.

=============================

Okay, so how does this relate to Death Note?

If you haven’t noticed it so far, this particular episode of Galaxy Angel was needlessly meticulous and detailed: the hectic micro-managing (Mint having to figure out a way to kill her friends, not only before they reach the top, but before she can run out of coins for the binoculars machine), the detailed contemplation of scenarios (Mint having to choose between saving her friends or not and what both choices entail) and the sheer deviousness behind the logic of those choices. Then, you have the little pieces of atmosphere here and there, such as the parts where this aura starts swirling about Mint as she revels in the satisfaction of having her plans come to fruition; between her bursts of amusement and her cold, calm gestures, you can’t quite tell if she’s happy about what’s going on or if she’s indifferent about killing her friends altogether.

You see a lot of stuff like this in Death Note both visually and stylistically; the similarities are almost mind-boggling and, going by my [confounding] logic, it really makes sense as to why a team such as this (sans Morio Asaka, since he’s working his magic over in the anime adaptation of Ai Yazawa’s Nana… which I haven’t seen yet because I’m waiting for it to be licensed) was brought over to the team that put together Death Note.

So, with that said… that concludes part 1 of my thread; hope you guys had fun reading.[/quote]

[Arcturus]

what

[aquapermanence]

This was my favorite episode of Galaxy Angel, and now I remember thinking at the time how unusual and refreshing it was to see an anime episode that dealt with a character having to work through a dilemma by making cold-hearted and immoral decisions.

[bctaris]

I am as disturbed and confused as I am impressed and delighted by this thread. Awesome Thread of the Week, I think.

This would’ve all been a little easier if it weren’t for the fact that she only had enough for 3 turns; an old lady comes by and offers her some snacks for sale, but Mint would rather have some change for her paper money (so that she’ll have more coins)… her plea is unsuccessful and Mint is forced to work within the confines of the 3 coins she currently has on hand.

But, all things considering, she could’ve bought the snacks and gotten change for her money back, but I think she didn’t because she was too cheap to do so.

He, he. Aww, Mint.

[evilarrex]

A brilliant summary! This is the reason why Mint is my favourite character in Galaxy Angels.
Here is a better shot of the door scuffle. :>
Victims at the Door (http://evilarrex.rubberslug.com/gallery/inv_info.asp?ItemID=92217)
Too bad subsequent seasons of GA were fully CG shaded..... there are other priceless moments I'd loved to have owned as well

[EmperorBrandon]

Thanks to the crappiness that is batch English credits (I hate that Bandai did this… least they could’ve done was sort it by episode),

I'll agree there - batch credits suck. At the very least they should list the primary episode staff with each particular episode.

I can’t tell which specific people are doing which episodes; the best idea I have on this episode was the fact that Tetsuro Araki (the head director of Death Note) was doing the storyboards (I looked at the Death Note OP to get his Kanji and everything).

I did some checking on this to see, and it turns out you are correct, at least from what I see here (http://adr.s201.xrea.com/ga/data/galstaff2.html). :) In the first season, Tetsuro Araki did storyboards for eps. 15, 22, and 24, and was the episode director for eps. 3, 15, and 26.

[Speedy Boris]

I haven't seen Death Note but that was one of my favorite GA episodes. :D

[DKL]

A brilliant summary! This is the reason why Mint is my favourite character in Galaxy Angels.
Here is a better shot of the door scuffle. :>
Victims at the Door (http://evilarrex.rubberslug.com/gallery/inv_info.asp?ItemID=92217)
Too bad subsequent seasons of GA were fully CG shaded..... there are other priceless moments I'd loved to have owned as well


WOW... that's really nice; cool stuff you got there.

ANYWAY, thanks a lot guys... the fact that this is being well-received (despite being an incredibly outlandish idea) is very comforting and I feel motivated to keep going...

Actually, I'm about to start a new one right now, I just need to see the episode again and take screencaps...

The next one should be up in a couple of hours.

[DKL]

In the first season, Tetsuro Araki did storyboards for eps. 15, 22, and 24, and was the episode director for eps. 3, 15, and 26.



Funny you should mention episode 3 (which was also a really good one... the one where we first meet Normad)... I'm gonna layeth the smacketh downeth on that thing after I get this current episode I'm doing done (I'll keep it a surprise).

Oh yes, can I count on your help for production credits for every new episode I do?

This'll help make the thread seem more plausible.

[EmperorBrandon]

Oh yes, can I count on your help for production credits for every new episode I do?


Sure thing, the listing I mentioned above looked reasonably complete, so I should be able to help.

[Fencedude]

This was my favorite episode of Galaxy Angel, and now I remember thinking at the time how unusual and refreshing it was to see an anime episode that dealt with a character having to work through a dilemma by making cold-hearted and immoral decisions.

Indeed. Probably my favorite Galaxy Angel episode ever.

[DKL]

Part 2: Galaxy Angel, season 1, episode 07.

Well, here we are once again. Aside from the fact that this whole thing is rather amusing, it’s beneficial for me to be working late into the early hours of the morning as my Hanada Shonen Shi [unmentionable] gets [unmentionabled] much sooner than it would had I turned my off the computer.

So, here we go:

This particular episode is set at some space theme park somewhere; children are being regularly kidnapped in the immediate area and a few members of the military’s Angel Brigade (specifically Milfuelle, Mint and Vanilla) are called upon to rein in the situation. While this would seem like the kind of serious situation that the Angel Brigade should be bringing their illustrious A-game to, a particular member of the trio finds herself in a situation where procrastination knows no bounds.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/dklreviews/DEATH%20NOTE%20GA%20PROJECT/episode%207/2.jpg

Given what the nature of a recreational theme park is, Milfuelle (the super ditz) finds it quite hard to resist her endless desire to goof around; while the problem of children being kidnapped might seem like a big deal to most, the rampant disappearance of children and the infinite worries of their parents are fairly trivial when viewed in the grand scheme of roller coaster rides, cotton candy and bumper cars.

But, before this profound disparity between self-satisfaction and responsibility can be further widened, Mint manages to step into the picture and bring Milfuelle back to what’s important: the mission at hand.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/dklreviews/DEATH%20NOTE%20GA%20PROJECT/episode%207/6.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/dklreviews/DEATH%20NOTE%20GA%20PROJECT/episode%207/8.jpg

After quickly surveying the surroundings, Mint realizes that she needs to go through a quick once-over of the vital mission points and objectives (all of which completely fly over Milfuelle’s head).

In the far recesses of Mint’s mind, however, is something of greater interest; despite the fact that she’s able to convincingly talk about the importance of focusing on the job at hand and protecting the children, there lies a motive behind the web created by lies and deceit:

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/dklreviews/DEATH%20NOTE%20GA%20PROJECT/episode%207/11.jpg

“The truth is in the ears,” they say.

With that said, the scenario and true objectives of this episode are fully realized with the revelation of Mint’s cosplay complex to the viewer:

Mint finds herself in a golden position in which she can wear the rooster costume of the beloved theme park mascot if she uses the recent kidnapping incidents as false pretense to mobilize the use of said rooster costumes as a means to, not only survey the area without arousing suspicion from the would-be kidnappers, but to draw the attention of children and to gather them in one specific location as well.

Given the benefits that can be derived through the use of the rooster costumes and how they far outweigh any disadvantage that can possibly be thought of, this plan could work considerably well, if not perfectly. However, if Mint were to ever press too hard for the mobilization of the rooster costumes, it may give rise to hints about her cosplay complex; given the situation, a touch of delicacy and sophistication is needed as to not raise any red flags that may indicate Mint as to having some sort of weird and embarrassing hobby.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/dklreviews/DEATH%20NOTE%20GA%20PROJECT/episode%207/15.jpg

After an elaborate conference (complete with 3D hologram diagrams) in which Mint relays her ideas towards improved surveillance over the children, Milfuelle and Vanilla are sent off, rooster costumes and all. However, there seems to be a small problem as Mint, at this point in her scheme, has yet to don a rooster costume herself; Mint inquires about the issue to one of the theme park staff given that it seems like they might only have had 2 costumes readily available.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/dklreviews/DEATH%20NOTE%20GA%20PROJECT/episode%207/21.jpg

The above assumption is quite on the contrary, however; there are many rooster costumes, in fact… there just aren’t any for Mint.

Despite the effectiveness of Mint’s park surveillance plans, it would seem that Mint herself is being excluded from this particular operation mainly due to the fact that Mint is the heir to the prestigious Blancmanche family, a large corporate contributor of funds to the establishment; it would be considered crass for the heir of such a large sponsor to dress up in a shabby rooster costume, so it was decided by the staff that she’s better off not being bothered to do something as such out of respect to their benefactor.

This immediate conflict of interest between Mint’s image and the rooster costume has set a rather large chasm between Mint and her goal, much to her disappointment. And, to make matters worse, Mint is forced to accept a job monitoring the entire theme park from an incredibly drab command center (that would probably go better with her prestigious image).

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/dklreviews/DEATH%20NOTE%20GA%20PROJECT/episode%207/23.jpg

This was considerably far from the ideal situation she’d rather find herself in, which is out in the field and fighting alongside her comrades while dressed in rooster costumes.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/dklreviews/DEATH%20NOTE%20GA%20PROJECT/episode%207/24.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/dklreviews/DEATH%20NOTE%20GA%20PROJECT/episode%207/26.jpg

Due to the current scenario Mint finds herself in, a much-needed revitalization of plans is required; Mint calls a conference with all the players once again in order to re-tool her strategies as needed.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/dklreviews/DEATH%20NOTE%20GA%20PROJECT/episode%207/27.jpg

With her goal still in mind and a passionate dream in her heart, Mint tells everyone on the team that the current plan they are using is inefficient as not as much ground as possible is being covered. Due to the large size of the theme park, it can be concluded that it’s very likely that children come to the park for reasons other than hanging out with their favorite mascot character.

Two particular areas of interest are brought up during the meeting:

-A botanical garden
-The “space” part of the theme park (which is a little ironic given that everything outside is in space to begin with)

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/dklreviews/DEATH%20NOTE%20GA%20PROJECT/episode%207/30.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/dklreviews/DEATH%20NOTE%20GA%20PROJECT/episode%207/34.jpg

Not only are these very strategic locations for kidnapping children, but Mint also concludes that monitoring these locations will fall into the best interests of both Vanilla and Milfuelle (as Milfuelle gets to dress up as a flower and Vanilla, the overly quiet religious girl, doesn’t have to move around much).

After pressing much in that direction, Mint finally comes back to the inevitable fact that the current surveillance done in the rooster costume absolutely cannot be abandoned as it is also a vital necessity in regards to looking after the children; she takes it upon herself to agree to wear the rooster costume, despite the fact that it may not be ideal for the image of the heir to the Blancmanche family.

Given her true intentions however, this current scenario is highly preferred and the only thing standing between Mint and the rooster costume was the go-ahead approval of the theme park staff… in which case, her embarrassing hobby should remain secret given that she will have had an apparent reason as to why she would have to be wearing that costume in the first place; no one will be the wiser.

But, theme park staff is still very reluctant over the sensitive bureaucratic issue and think that it really isn’t a good idea for her to be wearing such a costume after all.

Given the desperation of the current situation, Mint tries to work things into her favor by fervently recalling that one of the duties that she is bound to as a member of the Angel Brigade, despite the fact that she may indeed be from a prestigious family, is to uphold justice in the face of all adversity; and this can only be done if she goes by the solemn oath that she made when she first chose to become a member of the Angel Brigade, which is to see every single mission that she accepts up until its very end.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/dklreviews/DEATH%20NOTE%20GA%20PROJECT/episode%207/37.jpg

And if that wasn’t enough, Mint pulls out her trump card given that the other two members of the brigade were not immediately present: it was decided that the only thorough way to convince the staff to let her pursue the mission (and the wearing of a rooster costume without giving rise to suspicion of her strange hobby) was if she were to fabricate a story about how a great misfortune was met during a time that she wasn’t allowed to participate in the front lines in an incident very similar to this one.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/dklreviews/DEATH%20NOTE%20GA%20PROJECT/episode%207/38.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/dklreviews/DEATH%20NOTE%20GA%20PROJECT/episode%207/39.jpg

Given the looks on their faces, you can’t quite tell that if the reason behind why the staff was so shocked was because of the fact that Mint was involved in a situation where people around her died while she was left to carry on the burden of living on or that they were shocked because of the fact people actually died on some other theme park surveillance mission similar to this one.

As Mint goes on, she cites the death of two of her comrades as the reasoning behind her strong dedication to this particular mission.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/dklreviews/DEATH%20NOTE%20GA%20PROJECT/episode%207/40.jpg

The image of her dear friends, Ranpha Franboise (the boy addict) and Forte Stollen (the gun addict), running into a hail of bullets is still deeply ingrained in her mind and their souls will live on in her heart forever.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/dklreviews/DEATH%20NOTE%20GA%20PROJECT/episode%207/41.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/dklreviews/DEATH%20NOTE%20GA%20PROJECT/episode%207/42.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/dklreviews/DEATH%20NOTE%20GA%20PROJECT/episode%207/43.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/dklreviews/DEATH%20NOTE%20GA%20PROJECT/episode%207/46.jpg

Given the weight of her sorrowful tale, the staff is almost immediately convinced of the reasoning and logic behind Mint’s dedication to wear a rooster costume (all the while oblivious to the fact that Mint has a cosplay complex).

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/dklreviews/DEATH%20NOTE%20GA%20PROJECT/episode%207/47.jpg

Take notice of this particular sequence where Mint is left all alone in the room with the costume and how the lighting sources around her contract and how the shadow cast on her grows; this scene properly conveys the fact that Mint was able to pull out a victory under the unsuspecting incompetents of the theme park staff, and all at the very low expense of killing off two of her comrades in a story.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/dklreviews/DEATH%20NOTE%20GA%20PROJECT/episode%207/49.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/dklreviews/DEATH%20NOTE%20GA%20PROJECT/episode%207/50.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/dklreviews/DEATH%20NOTE%20GA%20PROJECT/episode%207/51.jpg

Much to our amusement, however, is the fact that Forte and Ranpha are still very much alive and well back at the Angel Brigade base; the hard laughing of the two was a very nice contrast to the grave tale Mint spun back over at the amusement park… it was almost as if they were trying very hard to re-assure as of the fact that the 2 other members of the Brigade were still indeed alive.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/dklreviews/DEATH%20NOTE%20GA%20PROJECT/episode%207/52.jpg

Anyway, much satisfaction is derived (and it really shows on her face) once Mint is finally able to put on that rooster costume; all the detailed hassle and mind-play that Mint had to go through in order to get to this point was very well worth it, it seems.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/dklreviews/DEATH%20NOTE%20GA%20PROJECT/episode%207/55.jpg

But, this moment of bliss is short lived as Mint receives a call from Milfuelle saying that she managed to spot the perps running away with a kid; amazingly enough, Mint’s strategy was actually rather effective in regards to accomplishing the real mission.

And thus ensues an epic chase scene involving kidnappers and people dressed up in costumes:

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/dklreviews/DEATH%20NOTE%20GA%20PROJECT/episode%207/56.jpg

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http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/dklreviews/DEATH%20NOTE%20GA%20PROJECT/episode%207/58.jpg

Notice the shot of the chase from behind the water of the fountain; very neat.

At one point during the chase scene, and for whatever reason, the criminals thought that it would be a particularly good idea to utilize the theme park’s rides in order to evade capture from the Angel Brigade.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/dklreviews/DEATH%20NOTE%20GA%20PROJECT/episode%207/59.jpg

Naturally, it was an incredibly futile attempt at getting away, and thus the whole case is resolved when the Angel Brigade finally gets the drop on the kidnappers and corners them.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/dklreviews/DEATH%20NOTE%20GA%20PROJECT/episode%207/63.jpg

The last scenes in this episode involve Colonel Volcott telling Mint about how there seems to be a missing rooster costume from the theme park that the kidnappers might’ve used and how the they claim that they never stole one to begin with when they were interrogated about it.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/dklreviews/DEATH%20NOTE%20GA%20PROJECT/episode%207/64.jpg

But, given that they’re criminals, who would bother to listen?

However, we all know what the truth behind the missing costume really is…

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/dklreviews/DEATH%20NOTE%20GA%20PROJECT/episode%207/65.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/dklreviews/DEATH%20NOTE%20GA%20PROJECT/episode%207/66.jpg

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====================

And so there you have it: the end of part 2.

There weren’t any particular immoral choices that needed to be made in this episode (outside of Mint’s choice to pretend that 2 of her friends were dead in order to get what she wanted), but the mind-play and manipulation is quite similar to that of Death Note’s. The delicate balance between Mint’s fear of being exposed and getting what she wants was probably the most obvious correlation. In Death Note, Light is quite nefarious, but can’t let anyone know about what it is that he’s actually doing; he has a clean and prestigious image, but he only uses his brilliance to manipulate his surrounding and get to the things that he wants, all the while without letting anyone know that they’re being used.

Mood-wise, the Death Note connection can probably be seen in the somewhat elaborate sets; the overblown command-center (too overblown, even for a theme park in space), the conference room with the map of the park and Mint’s use of 3D holograms are pretty good examples.

Also, there was a particular sequence that looked like it was lifted right out of Death Note. Specifically the scene where Mint comes to the realization that she has emerged victorious over the obstacles that got in the way of her wearing a rooster costume, as seen earlier in the post; you can’t quite see the expression on her face, but she’s obviously very satisfied that everything fell into place after a lot of lying and hard work.

OKAY! Things are heating up, and summer vacation is just around the corner! There’ll be more parts to come (assuming that I don’t get lazy and decide to stop)!

[bctaris]

OKAY! Things are heating up, and summer vacation is just around the corner! There’ll be more parts to come (assuming that I don’t get lazy and decide to stop)!


And this times well with next month's long-awaited R1 release of Galaxy Angel AA!

But I guess a point of all this... Are you implying that I should get interested in Death Note because I love Mint?

[DKL]

Aww man, you mean it comes out next month?

I'm totally getting that!

Anyway... the implications of this thread...

Yeah, I guess it's sort of cross-promotion, but at the same time, I just genuinely thought that the similarities were funny.

But yeah... I guess... that... if you like Mint, then you should probably hop aboard the Death Note bus...

[angelx03]

Does the reverse work as well? Get the people who's already into Death Note into Galaxy Angel? :sd:

[bctaris]

Follow up to my last question, sort of, but are you going to focus on other characters from GA that may draw parallels to DN characters/situations? The whole team exhibits some strange immoral behavior over the course of the franchise...

[DKL]

Does the reverse work as well? Get the people who's already into Death Note into Galaxy Angel? :sd:

I’m… kinda thinking about how to do this as well… actually, let me finish off everything, then I’ll tie all of my analysis of the GA episodes with one episode of Death Note (meaning, I’ll summarize an episode of Death Note in the same detail as I’ve been doing with the Galaxy Angel episodes, then I’ll tie that analysis to the observations I concluded in previous parts)

…

It will be a long time before I get to this though…

I’m not even sure if I’ll actually go the distance here…

Follow up to my last question, sort of, but are you going to focus on other characters from GA that may draw parallels to DN characters/situations? The whole team exhibits some strange immoral behavior over the course of the franchise...

Actually, it’s just a coincidence that Mint was the focus twice in a row… I have specific episodes in mind, and I’ll probably get to them later.

If you want an idea…

Remember some of the stuff in the 3rd season… it was pretty evil.

I won’t spoil it yet, but I’m sure that you’ll remember stuff.