yes, I'm pathetic. your point?

[xparrot]

denial: de.ni.al n 1: refusal to satisfy a request or desire
                       2: refusal to admit the truth or reality
                       3: a river in Egypt
                       4: a fangirl method of survival

So Fuyuki Shido. The Beastmaster. One of the VOLTS' 4 Kings, Madoka's sweetheart, and my favorite char after the titular two. Is dead. At Raitei's hand (sort of).

Two thoughts. One, there's apparently an archive prophecy that has it that Shido will kill Ginji (or at least be responsible for his death) It appeared to refer to Shido betraying Ginji to Kabuto, but given recent events, could it be something else? 'cuz Gin-chan, when he's back from being Raitei, he really really is not gonna be happy to find what he's done...Ban-chan, get to your honey quick. (meanwhile, has Kabuto actually been killed yet? Don't get too distracted, dears...)

Two. Uh. No way.

Of course Shido died. He had to sometime. Juubei "killed" Kazuki in the return to Mugenjou. Lucifer's magic killed Uryuu Toshiki (and we all know how that turned out. Heh.) Akabane wasn't breathing for a bit there (if he ever does, of course, which is a point of some contention.) And then there's Ginji, who - discounting the times he and Ban both have kicked the bucket in jagan visions - has been dying a whopping 3 times, once in the Venus de Milo arc and twice in the most recent storyline (and only Ban-chan on his mind all three times. Sure they're straight, Aoki-sensei...) He's competing with Son Goku in resurrection count (not that Son Goku. The other one. With the balls.  --not those balls!)

One can rightfully argue that all these reports-greatly-exaggerated presumed-deads undermine the story, that the drama is lost when you fake out your readers too many times. Frankly? I don't care. Screw drama, get Shido back! This is GB, my shiny happy ending series, and that's the way I like it. Makubex gets a hug, they restore the archangels to their families, the jagan undoes great wrong - and isn't that the ultimate let-down to the reader, the great "it was all a dream" cliche?

...Admittedly there's always been a darker current, since that very early story with the old man's daughter. And Lucifer's final fate. To say nothing of Yamato. But in the end GetBackers is not about angst but overcoming it, fighting and triumphing against the bad things of the world in the grand old shounen fashion, with the power of *cough* friendship.

So until they actually bury Shido's body, I'm not believing it...and even then, I'll be skeptical.  Until that point - well, Shido's played dead before, and while I imagine his fellow Maryuudo could see through the mystic gossamer trick, there might be something else at work. Otherwise - Ban-chan, pucker up!!

Edit: Additionally, as mullenkamp mentioned below, without Shido, Ban & Ginji automatically fail in their retrieval, since there's no one to return Madoka to. For that reason alone I can see Ban agreeing to revive Shido. And Shido is one of the few who wasn't present for Toshiki's resurrection, so I'm not sure he knows the method of it...good thing, too, 'cuz I hate to think about what he'd try to do to the hebi-yarou if he found out what had been perpetrated on his unknowing corpse... ^^;;

Comments

[pantswarrior]

*nods* As much as I'm freaked by this development, I just can't believe they'd actually kill him. Especially since this whole plot was supposed to be about him getting back Madoka and reuniting them and all. What sort of ending would it be if they got back Madoka, but Shido died, and so she'd have to go back to her mansion all alone and in mourning? Answer: A really crappy one.

So they have to fix it.

And plus, as I noted before... in addition to liking Shido a lot myself, I don't ever want to see Emishi crushed like that. ;_;

(Okay, that's a lie, I like angst. -_- But I want my little pet dork to be happy again soon anyway.)

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

You're right! It's mess up their 100% success rate, not to have a client to return their objective to!

And I'm with you there...a moment or two of Emishi angst would be lovely (Amo-yan can comfort him! ^^) but a truly angsty Emishi would just be sad.
...Emishi goes goth. Bad poetry and all. Tho' black shades would be an improvement over those pink. things.

[pantswarrior]

I had a dream once where Emishi lost it over someone's death, and started carving heart-shaped holes in his clothes between bouts of somewhat insane laughter. (A different sort of insane, I should say. ;)) But in the dream it was Amon who died...

Last night, I commented on IRC that Emi-yan and Amo-yan could always get together and porn. I mean mourn. *cough*

But then, I seriously felt guilty about making stupid slashy jokes about Shido's death. Because I genuinely do like him and don't want him dead. :P

So I am going to make another dumb joke, and say that I really want to see a scene where Ban has to kiss the monkey trainer. Although really, I don't think they'd use that plot device again. I suspect they'll do something different. Because really, if Ban just keeps kissing people and bringing them back to life (and we won't even get into the implications I've seen that the kiss isn't really part of the spell) time and time again, death in GB will be meaningless, and nothing will be the slightest bit threatening.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

From what I can tell, the kiss wasn't really part of the spell - it was Ban's witch-queen blood that was the important thing. Also, those were very special circumstances - Toshiki had been killed by magic, and the resurrection spell involved Lucifer and Maria, both powerful witches. (Ban does it again in the 3rd GBA game, but Maria is there and another magic user, and again the death is under odd circumstances...)

So yah, I don't think it will happen like that, but damn it would be funny to see Ban kiss Shido...heaven help them if Shido ever found out, tho'. he'd probably need to do it again after the smoke cleared...

and I love Shido but am fine with making dumb jokes about his being dead. Because, y'know. He ain't!!

[pantswarrior]

Yeah, and I heard that apparently the other witch present in the game had never heard of kissing as part of the ritual... therefore it sounds like Maria's a shounen-ai fan too. :D

"Oh, by the way, Ban? You have to kiss him."
"Whaaaat?!"
"On the lips!"
"But-"
"No buts! It's a part of the spell."
"...Okay, fine, as long as it's a part of the spell."
"Teeheehee. ^_^"

You know, jokes about (not-)dead Shido combined with your username are leading to bad thoughts.

Ban: Look, I know a dead Shido when I see one, and I'm looking at one right now.
Ginji: No, no! He's, uh, resting!

And yes, as soon as I saw Emishi dressed as Hitler, I knew SOMETHING had to be done with that. So wrong. (I particularly like using that userpic for Abuse Team stuff, since people call us nazis, but we're actually a bunch of silly dorks behind it all. :D)

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

BWAAA!
"Maryuudou Blues stun easily!!"

"...that Beastmaster wouldn't VOOM if you put 4 million volts--oh wait. Already tried that, didn't you."

[ex-naye320.livejournal.com]

Toshiki had been killed by magic

Had this translated for me, and apparently he's not even dead yet when they revive him. That is, his body isn't. His mind *thinks* he just died, and that will eventually kill him. So they are in a bit of a hurry, but they don't actually resurrect him.

About that, I am still waiting for them to do something about the other side of Aesculapius, which is - healing. Up to and including bringing the dead back to life. Of course, according to some versions of the myth that was what caused Aesculapius downfall. Still. Yes. Ban's constellation is Ophiuchus, which is more than just the serpent. Should be more than just the serpent. Maybe he too has a real strength that he is not yet aware of, more than the destructive power of the Snake Bite, and the evil eye?

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

btw I <3 that icon. it's so very wrong.

[incandescens]

Some slightly rambling thoughts.

(a) The Archiver predicted that Shidou would kill Ginji.

(b) Makubex, in the earlier arc, predicted that Ban would use the Jagan to stop Akabane/Ginji killing each other (or just to save Ginji). Or, possibly, the _Archiver_ predicted this, as part of The Big Rant seems to be that the Archiver predicts everything and Makubex can't change it.

(c) This prediction goes wrong, leaving Ban with one use of the Jagan to shock Makubex into sanity, because Ban does something Totally Bloody Stupid -- he throws himself between the two and takes Akabane's sword in his back.

(d) If Shidou has done something emotional and unpredictable and self-sacrificing, might he have managed to screw up the Archiver's predictions again?

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Good point - especially since one of the themes of GB seems to be overcoming those prophecies, breaking out of what traps you. Think it's likely Shido did circumvent the Archive...
wish he'd found a less lethal way to do it, tho'!!