heartlandcity | another_one_bites_the_dust.mp3: ZEXAL, death, and why it still makes me go "ow"

I’ve seen a bit of discussion around the #zexal spoilers tag about why the accelerating death toll in this season either is or is not impactful, so I guess I’m just taking that as an opportunity to chime in with my own two cents. Of course, requisite disclaimer that this is all my opinion and I write like the humanities major that I am, so I’m basically trying to drive home a couple of points with the evidence that I have--there’s room for disagreement and nuance, obviously! In any case, I think that the deaths in ZEXAL continue to be effective for a number of reasons, and that certainly, there are other ways of evoking emotional responses from the audience, but they aren’t necessarily better than death in the context of this particular arc and narrative. I don’t believe that the death toll in ZEXAL is cheap, trite, or just done for shock value, because I think it does emphasize the consequences of the characters’ situation and struggle.

The first series of mass deaths was a number of one-shot or side characters, starting with Tokunosuke and going to characters we pretty much assumed we’d never see again because they’d outlived their plot importance, like Fuuya. As far as my personal feelings go, I was never particularly attached to any of them, but I know a lot of fandom members were. Because they had less screentime, their deaths were less impactful--I don’t think they were meant to be as singularly soul-wrenching as the deaths that will be discussed later, especially because they weren’t given individual focus. Instead, the first series of mass deaths is meant to emphasize that these characters are fighting a war. Tokunosuke was an unwitting civilian casualty to a larger conflict. The rest willingly stepped up to fight, knowing that the consequences were dire--not just losing a card game, not even just losing a soul, but staking their lives because this is a war.

When these characters die, the main characters as well as the viewers themselves are reminded of how deep the consequences of this conflict are, how this is not just about them and their immediate friends but about saving the world because it literally is a matter of life or death. What I think is meant to be effective about these deaths is not that the characters are dead and death is inherently sad, but its impact on the people who are left behind. Yuma just lost a bunch of people he considered close friends and comrades, and that makes his own motivation to continue fighting and to find a way to resolve this conflict even stronger because of the people who he loved who set down their lives for this. This is something I’m going to keep talking about--the character deaths are impactful not seen through the lens of someone being gone, but considering who they leave behind and how those people will feel.

Moving on, we have IV vs. Nasch. I would say this is something like a turning point for the narrative, driving home the consequences that have been introduced with the previous series of deaths because this dude is a fan-favorite and much more consequential than the previous characters. Furthermore, IV’s duel with Nasch provides profound insight into Nasch’s motivations and what he sees as his obligations in this war. Around 10 episodes earlier, we had IV and Ryoga getting along in a bickering, snarky manner after they worked together to defeat a Barian enemy. Now, Nasch is fighting against IV with what is undeniably killing intent, and what this shows us is that Nasch has fully accepted what he sees as his responsibility as the king of the Barian world and the leader of his people. Nasch knows that this duel will kill IV--it’s not just a disqualification or a defeat, but an actual death, because, again, this is a time of war, and lives are at stake. And by taking up the fight, Nasch shows us that he’s chosen sides, that he’s willing to go to these lengths for the Barian world and that he has resolved to give up his relationships as Ryoga to win. Again, IV’s death is not just about IV being gone, it’s about how the people who are left behind are impacted by it--what it reveals about Nasch’s resolve and how Nasch will have to carry the guilt of killing someone who he once fought alongside, but how he still chooses to do so because he believes it is his duty.

Following their brother, III and V’s deaths also serve to further emphasize the consequences of the interworld conflict. As Yuma’s comrades, they fight to buy Yuma and Kaito time, again knowingly putting their lives on the line essentially as soldiers in a war. Here, again, what becomes significant is the impact of their deaths on Yuma and the remaining survivors--the fact that the writers chose to allow III and V to say their goodbyes and for Yuma to react. What we get from this is a compounding grief, and an increasing sense of Yuma’s resolution to solve the conflict because he keeps losing important people to it. During this duel, Kaito says something along the lines of “We do what we must do,” and it’s true--at this point, everyone realizes how dire the circumstances are, and they push forward because they know how deeply the consequences can reach. III and V are two more people who are leaving behind people who love them and care about them, and that makes the conflict that much more urgent.

To wrap things up on Yuma’s side of “Oh god everyone you love is dying,” we have Alit and Gilag. This is a YMMV thing, as this whole essay has been so far, but for me, what was particularly notable was how their deaths were unexpected. Alit vs. Gilag seemed to be set up as a healing duel, especially since Alit had just resolved to fight alongside Yuma to defeat Don Thousand. He was expected to maybe carry through with that and survive more than a few episodes afterwards. What Alit vs. Gilag also does is show that no matter which side you have allegiance to, you won’t be spared. Alit’s death becomes impactful because we are allowed to see how Gilag reacts as his best friend, and ultimately, how Yuma reacts to both of their deaths as his allies. Their deaths remind us that on both sides, Barian and human, people’s lives are at stake. And, again, it comes down to how it affects Yuma--two more people who were allied to him, no matter how briefly, are gone now, and Yuma carries the burden of their deaths as the survivor. This is something that Yuma feels deeply, and as the viewers, we sympathize with Yuma, and we are meant to feel his sadness and his resolve. In my opinion, the deaths keep hitting hard because we know how they hit Yuma. It’s not that we are losing beloved characters, but that Yuma is losing beloved friends, and that if he doesn’t carry this fight through until the end, those friends will have given up their lives for the war and for him in vain.

Which brings us back along to the Barian side of things, with Nasch, Merag, and Durbe. Just like for Yuma, Nasch feels the consequences of the war hit incredibly close to home when his brother in arms and his sister die right in front of him. More than that, Durbe’s death actually does a pretty significant service to reinforcing his character, which is interesting because he doesn’t get much relevant screentime or character exposition otherwise. Durbe’s death shows us the depth of his loyalty not only to Barian, but to Nasch himself. Not only his sacrifice of his own life, but the calm, collected way in which he carries it out makes it clear to the viewer where Durbe’s priorities are and what he holds most important, reinforcing the values that we see in him in the past life flashbacks. Could this have been conveyed effectively with a fake-out where he doesn’t die? Very probably. But in the end, we come back to the point that the fact that he does die is important because of how it affects Nasch. Durbe is another soldier in a war, and more than that, he’s a soldier in a war whom Nasch has failed. Ryoga, from the very beginning, has been defined by how he feels he has failed others--how his inadequacies have driven him to giving up on himself entirely. And we come back to that with Durbe’s death, because at this point, the anguish on his face shows that it’s very clearly become more than just the duty of a leader for Nasch. People have died because of him, whether by his hand or because they gave up their lives for him, and for Nasch, just like for Yuma, it is an ever-present reminder that he bears the weight of a world on his shoulders.

So at last we come to Merag. Whew!! As a precursor for this discussion, I’d like to say that I could write another essay on how Rio’s character has been done a complete disservice by the writers and the narrative and how, in a show with very few prominent female characters, she definitely could’ve been handled much better. However, I think that would be derailing from the point of the essay. Yes, it sucks that a female character dies in order to motivate a more important male character’s angst and suffering. However, this is the function that Rio has repeatedly served from her very first appearance in the narrative. Ryoga is the main player here. Rio has served as Ryoga’s most important motivating factor for the majority of the show--we know how much Ryoga loves Rio and how deep their bonds as siblings run, through three lifetimes. Rio may have been out of commission for the entire first series, but Ryoga was never truly alone, and Nasch was never truly alone until Merag died (twice) (while he was watching) (hoo boy). Essentially, what it seems like is that the deaths go in escalating order of importance, which, to me, keeps them significant and emotionally impactful and relevant. Nasch loses one of Ryoga’s former allies by his own doing, then he loses an important friend--and ultimately, he loses the singular person who’s been by his side and who’s been the constant throughout all of his lives, and that’s what makes it devastating, because we know how Merag’s death will absolutely crush Nasch. In fact, we’ve seen it before. Thus again it is in the survivors that the victims become important, because Merag will always be the breaking point for Nasch no matter what time or which world. In the war, Nasch has been losing soldiers, and Merag is one of them--but she is also his sister, and so just like for Yuma, we feel for Nasch in the people that he’s lost, over and over.

What the writers also do with Merag’s death is reaffirm the importance of their time as humans, as Ryoga and Rio--in her last moments, these are the names that come to them, because this is what is most important at the forefront of their hearts. Nasch hasn’t completely abandoned Ryoga. Although he knows what his duty is, we are allowed to see the nuances in the conflict that is internal to him, and this comes out at a pivotal, incredibly emotionally fragile moment for him.

In short, I guess what strikes me as important about LET THE BODIES HIT THE FLOOR DOT MP3 is that it reminds us that ZEXAL, at this particular juncture, is basically a war narrative, and the characters are soldiers. They’re putting their lives on the line for causes that, if they weren’t completely convinced of them in the beginning, they have to be now because otherwise the sacrifices of so many of their loved ones and comrades would be meaningless. So ultimately, it’s sad that the Arclights are gone, it’s sad that Durbe is gone, it’s sad that Alit and Gilag are gone, and it’s sad that Rio is gone--but what matters now is the burden on Yuma’s shoulders, the responsibility that Nasch feels he has to follow through with, the way that these experiences of loss have cemented the significance of this war to both of them and their remaining comrades and how their motivations have been shaped and reaffirmed by them.

And let’s be real Nasch will probably die in the end too so look me in the eyes and tell me that’s not gonna make you bawl.

another_one_bites_the_dust.mp3: ZEXAL, death, and why it still makes me go "ow"

Hi!