I think this series has a lot of potential and I think you should give it another chance.Originally Posted by Kraco
Gonzo was being pretty secretive about this series. Given all the weird shit that happened in Last Exile or Eureka 7 (what I got out of that single image they kept showing until they released a promo) nothing in this episode really went so far afield that it would bug me. Perhaps you were expecting something more slice of life from the description they had been providing? When I read about the environmental angle, I immediately thought back to Real Drive, so this was pretty much exactly what I ended up expecting.
As for the actually mechanics behind it, there was a hint in the episode. When Kuniko's grandma was lecturing her, they showed a glimpse of the content in the books. It was almost entirely about fabrication processes and other material properties. I imagine this is the major secret to the action in that scene. Momoko also lectured Kuniko about her technique as well (which I was glad to see Kuni make a remark when she hurt herself as a result), so that may go further into it. It largely seems that the tank slicing is entirely due to the very secretive nature of the Metal-age society that she belongs to.
The rest is just exaggeration pretty commonplace in cyberpunk series. The environmentalist message was a little bit heavy handed though for just the first episode. We did not see this in Real Drive until the very end. Cap and Trade already exists for acid rain, and a lot of the same sorts of things happened. Companies would pollute like hell and buy it off, other companies that didn't at all would screw those polluters over by demanding bidding wars for their credits in Sulfur Dioxide emissions. With all the big stink about carbon dioxide today, and how much more common it is in industry emissions, it's entirely plausible that such an absurd market would be created. I have no problem with environmentalism, but a Cap and Trade Market for Carbon would be a nightmare, and seeing it turn into this is not all that far fetched. It also screws over developing and third world countries who have neither the capital for 'greener' industry or the capital needed to bribe it away. They touched on both those issues with Kuniko's city and the girl manipulating the market and screwing that guy over.
As for little girls tricking world leaders, that just continues on the theme running in cyberpunk for years. Younger people are always more in tune with emergent tech than their elders, so I didn't really think it was that alarming that she is a leader in carbon trade. It wasn't that Karin was all that smart with the market, but she did program the best algorithm for analyzing it, which turns out to more or less just be the most powerful AI at the time. Kevin Mitnick was prominent hacker at his age, so it was just another thing exaggerated from reality.
Lastly, it is a common view that people will often rather suffer attacks on their personal liberties for protection, comfort, and the illusion of safety. Just look at Great Britain or the US. Happens all the time, every single day. If the option is to live in a sinking city like Kuniko and friends, or become a slave to that bitch, mistreated every day for the chance to live in ATLAS, there will be people who submit to it.
If it's not for you, that's unfortunate, but I think this series has a ton of potential to be an awesome cyberpunk series that isn't made by Production I.G.
They did kind of jump the gun by expositing all of those major messages in just the first episode, but I think they can flesh them out more thoroughly over time.
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