Chekhov MacGuffin wrote:
I hope you do the whole spoiler special feature like you did for Sera's appearances in the spoiler cbox
Elaborate, pl0x.
Wakarimashita wrote:
It's not hard to imagine that with DCTP and Chek on board during the Vermouth arc, unravelling everything would have gone (almost) as smoothly as it has for the Bourbon arc.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: The names being so revealing is not an actual "hint". Essentially, we are figuring this specific part of the arc out without needing to consider any of its plot or developments solely because of the naming convention. We don't even have to take anything Sera or Bourbon say or do into account to be virtually certain of who they are (at least Sera; I'll wait until I see this file's TL before committing too much to this Amuro-Bourbon connection). We already know who they are from the moment they are introduced, meaning the only thing the
actual in-file hints do is just confirm our suspicions. It's like an "out of series" hint almost, and it certainly does not do anything but spoil the spirit of speculation as to their identities whilst making a few nods to Gundam.
As for DCTP & Chekhov on board helping us piece this arc together as opposed to the Vermouth one: While it has certainly helped ensure that we're right, it hasn't brought forward any new, OH-MY-GOODNESS revelations. That's the difference that I've mentioned many, many times over. This has been a very simple, linear, and straightforward story arc, at least for quite a few of us. I'm not even someone that tries to actively figure out the cases/takes notes on the files and episodes and yet, I (along with many others also of the same sort) pieced it all together instantly. I'm far from the scholarly type when it comes to dissecting storylines (I prefer to just be surprised by the progress and the revelation), but here, the revelation has come too soon and too easy. Akai not really dying and Akai being Okiya are not even nearly as big of revelations as Vermouth being Araide. That's why, unless Gosho throws a major curveball into the climax of this story, this story arc will never be remembered the same as the Vermouth one. That's just the simple truth of the matter.
One small example: Knightus and I had figured out that it was Rikumichi's body in place of Akai's as soon as that file came out. All that the community + Chekhov have done since is just confirm that--and it's the same with Okiya-is-Akai. Was there really so many people who could have said in Vermouth's first appearance as Araide that she was, well, a Black Org member? Or somehow guess from the very first hint? You can say we would have figured out the Vermouth arc exactly the same, but that doesn't mean anything since we weren't around to do that. Personally speaking: despite experiencing the Vermouth arc just as I do now (on a file-by-file/episode-by-episode basis), I never saw it coming. Here, I've seen it all coming even from the
very first files these mysteries are introduced. If it were just me, then maybe it'd be different, but that's not the case. It's been that way for many, many others, if not the quite literal majority. Seeing the fan theories has not been necessary. Intense study hasn't been necessary to be fairly certain of the outcomes--they've just been, to put it bluntly, pretty obvious.
I've had fun with this arc (even though it has lasted a very long time for us, given that we've all been here to see it unfold in real time, as opposed to experiencing it long after it was over in Vermouth's case), but I think the naming convention and us having noticed it has made us feel maybe a little more certain than we would have about these characters and storylines. Most people
knew that Sera was Akai's sister and needed virtually no convincing even from the very first file in which we heard her name. It's not really very suspenseful when people are that certain even from the get-go. Now, is it possible we're all wrong and have been all along? Absolutely!
But, are we?
Nope.
