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Lt. Lizard
Apr 28, 2013
Yeah, I'm genuinely enjoying how, despite the premise being "terrorists take a bunch of schoolchildren hostage", the "rescuers"/SSS are portrayed as being more and more villainous while the terrorists/Red Circus are portrayed as being more and more sympathetic. Not the kind of thing I expect in shonen manga.

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Fabricated
Apr 9, 2007

Living the Dream
I'm stretching my memory here but the name Red Circus and their description absolutely has to be a reference to something real but I just can't remember.

Darth Walrus
Feb 13, 2012

Fabricated posted:

I'm stretching my memory here but the name Red Circus and their description absolutely has to be a reference to something real but I just can't remember.

They appear to be strongly inspired by the West German Red Army Faction in their history and ideology, in-keeping with Ostania being a repressive capitalist state rather than a communist one like East Germany.

Fabricated
Apr 9, 2007

Living the Dream

Darth Walrus posted:

They appear to be strongly inspired by the West German Red Army Faction in their history and ideology, in-keeping with Ostania being a repressive capitalist state rather than a communist one like East Germany.
There's a specific group that was exactly like the one the Red Circus guy's daughter was from. It was a student group that started as a peaceful protest group and then basically got murdered by the state. I think you got it but I'm remembering a different name and it's driving me nuts- the group I'm trying to remember never fully radicalized into violence and pretty much got entirely killed.

Fabricated fucked around with this message at 23:06 on Dec 25, 2022

RareAcumen
Dec 28, 2012




Fabricated posted:

There's a specific group that was exactly like the one the Red Circus guy's daughter was from. It was a student group that started as a peaceful protest group and then basically got murdered by the state. I think you got it but I'm remembering a different name and it's driving me nuts- the group I'm trying to remember never fully radicalized into violence and pretty much got entirely killed.

Any chance you're thinking of the Red Circle from either Riverdale or Archie comics?

Terrifying Effigies
Oct 22, 2008

Problems look mighty small from 150 miles up.

Might be thinking of Benno Ohnesorg as that was part of the German student protest movement that the RAF came out of.

gimme the GOD DAMN candy
Jul 1, 2007
it's not exactly an uncommon scenario.

K Prime
Nov 4, 2009

Fabricated posted:

There's a specific group that was exactly like the one the Red Circus guy's daughter was from. It was a student group that started as a peaceful protest group and then basically got murdered by the state. I think you got it but I'm remembering a different name and it's driving me nuts- the group I'm trying to remember never fully radicalized into violence and pretty much got entirely killed.

Are you thinking of the anti-Nazi protest group the White Rose?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Rose

Fabricated
Apr 9, 2007

Living the Dream

K Prime posted:

Are you thinking of the anti-Nazi protest group the White Rose?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Rose
I think that might be it.

fizzy
Dec 2, 2022

by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

tsob posted:

She's getting another Stella then?

Give her ten Stellas if she manages to take out the SSS cops while saving her classmates.

Darth Walrus
Feb 13, 2012
I suspect we'll soon get a reminder that Henderson can throw a hell of a punch.

Desumaytah
Apr 23, 2005

Intensity, .mpeg gritty, Intelligence
Jesus, those first few panels were dark. This series knows when not to pull its punches. Glad Yuri was useful and cool for a sec. Also, glad he got hurt and is crying.

Carpator Diei
Feb 26, 2011

Desumaytah posted:

Jesus, those first few panels were dark.
And Anya saw all of that.

tsob
Sep 26, 2006

Chalalala~

Carpator Diei posted:

And Anya saw all of that.

I'm sure she'd get something out of it, but at 4, 5 or 6 (whichever age she actually is) she's not gonna get the full context of why his memories are bad so it's probably not quite as traumatic as it seems for her. It does ensure she'll see him as sympathetic, and may be able to convince Yuri or someone later to go easy on him because of it by claiming she overheard something or what have you, but I doubt it's the kind of thing that'll live in her head for years afterwards at the same time.

thetoughestbean
Apr 27, 2013

Keep On Shroomin

Lt. Lizard posted:

Yeah, I'm genuinely enjoying how, despite the premise being "terrorists take a bunch of schoolchildren hostage", the "rescuers"/SSS are portrayed as being more and more villainous while the terrorists/Red Circus are portrayed as being more and more sympathetic. Not the kind of thing I expect in shonen manga.

Well, one of them is planning to blow up a bus full of children. Not exactly a sympathetic move there.

thetoughestbean fucked around with this message at 04:10 on Dec 27, 2022

where the red fern gropes
Aug 24, 2011


thetoughestbean posted:

Well, one of them is planning to blow up a bus full of children. Not exactly a sympathetic move there.

he's waiting until the cops board the bus

tsob
Sep 26, 2006

Chalalala~

where the red fern gropes posted:

he's waiting until the cops board the bus

That doesn't make it any better.

Onehandclapping
Oct 21, 2010
I mean… maybe a little

SpiderLink
Oct 3, 2006
"I didn't WANT to murder 30 six year olds, but I figured hey, gonna die anyway."

Lt. Lizard
Apr 28, 2013

SpiderLink posted:

"I didn't WANT to murder 30 six year olds, but I figured hey, gonna die anyway."

Are you talking about Red Circus or SSS here? :v:

David D. Davidson
Nov 17, 2012

Orca lady?
Well given that said kids are mostly the children of the rich and power and Yor the SSS better not be thinking that.

SexyBlindfold
Apr 24, 2008
i dont care how much probation i get capital letters are for squares hehe im so laid back an nice please read my low effort shitposts about the arab spring

thanxs!!!
Yeah the Red Circus seems to be broadly modeled after the Red Army Faction / Baader-Meinhof Gang (pro tip: go to the wiki page of Andreas Baader to find a fun fact right under "Death"), their origins as a student movement that got merked was pretty common among radical armed groups during the Cold War, and the hijacking itself wasn't exactly uncommon but the method is closest to a 1988 case in the Soviet Union, though that one seemed to be carried out by common criminals.

Omobono
Feb 19, 2013

That's it! No more hiding in tomato crates! It's time to show that idiota Germany how a real nation fights!

For pasta~! CHARGE!

The not Stasi going "gently caress the hostages" is kinda strange though. If these were random kids such an attitude would be unremarkable, but the parents have enough political power and pull to disappear the whole department if anything were to happen to the kids.
Disappear very slowly, over the course of very painful weeks.

Brought To You By
Oct 31, 2012

gimme the GOD drat candy posted:

it's not exactly an uncommon scenario.

Specifically in the late 60s there were a lot of student protests among other social movements happening around the world including west germany which would line up with this manga's timeframe. I remember reading up on some particularly nasty student protests that happened in Japan while watching Concrete Revolutio.

Mulva
Sep 13, 2011
It's about time for my once per decade ban for being a consistently terrible poster.

Omobono posted:

The not Stasi going "gently caress the hostages" is kinda strange though. If these were random kids such an attitude would be unremarkable, but the parents have enough political power and pull to disappear the whole department if anything were to happen to the kids.
Disappear very slowly, over the course of very painful weeks.

The people you get to do something like that are the secret police.

You would be amazed at how hard it is to call the secret police *on* the secret police. It's like....well it's like trying to call the police on the regular police, only even more violent and corrupt.

Desumaytah
Apr 23, 2005

Intensity, .mpeg gritty, Intelligence

Mulva posted:

The people you get to do something like that are the secret police.

You would be amazed at how hard it is to call the secret police *on* the secret police. It's like....well it's like trying to call the police on the regular police, only even more violent and corrupt.

Yeah, you'd need to call some sort of...organization of highly skilled assassins to take on such a difficult project.

Electric Phantasm
Apr 7, 2011

YOSPOS

Actually I can't remember where does the Garden fall in the East vs. West thing? Or are they more of a neutral party?

Preechr
May 19, 2009

Proud member of the Pony-Brony Alliance for Obama as President

Electric Phantasm posted:

Actually I can't remember where does the Garden fall in the East vs. West thing? Or are they more of a neutral party?

Garden appears to be a private Ostanian organization dedicated to removing internal threats to peace.

TwoPair
Mar 28, 2010

Pandamn It Feels Good To Be A Gangsta
Grimey Drawer

Electric Phantasm posted:

Actually I can't remember where does the Garden fall in the East vs. West thing? Or are they more of a neutral party?

No one knows yet. Yor seems to be under the impression that they're in the business of keeping the peace. But Yor's uh... pretty impressionable, so they could be working towards other ends.

TwoPair fucked around with this message at 19:27 on Dec 27, 2022

Fabricated
Apr 9, 2007

Living the Dream
The garden seems to be Ostanian in origin but thusfar does not seem to be as directly under the state as WISE is in Westania.

narm00
Feb 18, 2006
Shopkeeper is... not exactly a friend of the Desmonds, it seems. He comments that Melinda is a conservative and he wouldn't exactly recommend Yor making friends with her in case anything were to happen, recommends that at the very least she be careful in case her husband starts thinking she has one-sided political beliefs, and gets suspicious when he hears Loid appears to be taking an interest in the National Unity Party.

Brought To You By
Oct 31, 2012

narm00 posted:

Shopkeeper is... not exactly a friend of the Desmonds, it seems. He comments that Melinda is a conservative and he wouldn't exactly recommend Yor making friends with her in case anything were to happen, recommends that at the very least she be careful in case her husband starts thinking she has one-sided political beliefs, and gets suspicious when he hears Loid appears to be taking an interest in the National Unity Party.

Well at the core of this operation, Desmond and his political party are doing something that will spark another war so it makes sense Shopkeeper is not fond of him.

Fabricated
Apr 9, 2007

Living the Dream
WISE's missions are really straightforward stuff that make sense for a spy organization to be ordering them to do. The Garden has Yor play bodyguard for the widow of a mafioso black marketeer- so personal interests and not explicitly state-related work seems to be a thing for the Garden.

SirKibbles
Feb 27, 2011

I didn't like your old red text so here's some dancing cash. :10bux:

Electric Phantasm posted:

Actually I can't remember where does the Garden fall in the East vs. West thing? Or are they more of a neutral party?

The Garden appears to be like the Eastern WISE as they don't like Desmond either.

Desumaytah
Apr 23, 2005

Intensity, .mpeg gritty, Intelligence
The Garden is just a better GRU/CIA because yeah they're organized crime and the govt sponsored mob, but they also have people who can kick whole city blocks apart like Yor in their ranks.

Like, My name is Agent "I punched your house into sawdust and was your family in there?" That's my name. It's Polish.

Or like, Northwestanian.

Desumaytah fucked around with this message at 00:54 on Dec 28, 2022

SexyBlindfold
Apr 24, 2008
i dont care how much probation i get capital letters are for squares hehe im so laid back an nice please read my low effort shitposts about the arab spring

thanxs!!!
Closest real-life thing to the Garden re: the way they operate (clandestine hits on state and civilian targets while also having links to organized crime, as opposed to just outright state-sanctioned assassinations via secret police) would be some ~deep state~ Cold War orgs like the turkish Grey Wolves, the various psychopaths of Operation Gladio, and some Latin American death squads like the AAA. None of them had the lofty goals the Garden appears to pursue, though. Motivation-wise, closest thing would be Lebanon under Chehab.

Hmmm yes I have adequately mapped the geopolitics of it all. Now I can wait to see how this psychic child saves the day along with her magic dog.

MonsterEnvy
Feb 4, 2012

Shocked I tell you
The people Garden tends to target are straight up traitors to the country, or criminals. Shopkeeper while he does not appear to be fond of Desmond, he does not seem to view him as a target just because of his political beliefs.

Darth Walrus
Feb 13, 2012

MonsterEnvy posted:

The people Garden tends to target are straight up traitors to the country, or criminals. Shopkeeper while he does not appear to be fond of Desmond, he does not seem to view him as a target just because of his political beliefs.

Though he's very much a potential person of interest to the Garden for precisely those reasons. I assume they're just as interested as WISE in finding out what the gently caress is really up with him.

Sephyr
Aug 28, 2012

Omobono posted:

The not Stasi going "gently caress the hostages" is kinda strange though. If these were random kids such an attitude would be unremarkable, but the parents have enough political power and pull to disappear the whole department if anything were to happen to the kids.
Disappear very slowly, over the course of very painful weeks.

Don't know enough about the stasi, but here in Brazil's military dictatorship, the official secret police's rulebook was to always treat the hostages as dead in a hijacking and just kill the rebels.

Which worked out great when the US ambassador was kidnapped and they could NOT just light up the place because it would royally piss off their main backers. They literally had no other tricks, and the ransom and demands were paid. One of the few highly successful attacks of that kind.

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gimme the GOD DAMN candy
Jul 1, 2007
the first student to ever get a star and a bolt at the same time, for the same actions.

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