Earth Maiden Arjuna Episode 3 Discussion

What did you think of this episode?

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Dec 9, 2009 1:07 PM

meneope

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Jun 2009

880

THIS IS AN ANIME ONLY DISCUSSION POST. DO NOT DISCUSS THE MANGA BEYOND THIS EPISODE.
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what do u have to killl? So what's she supposed to do huh!?!

Oct 31, 2010 12:49 PM

mrbryce

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Oct 2010

"what" does she have to kill ? its not the relevant question is it ? in the series she reacts in killing rajaas. in this particular episode she could kill (what) animals (why) to eat and survive.
"why" is the relevant question that Chris will keep asking throughout the series. He is asking for a reason, or rather a meaning to the kill. it is the core purpose of using those words.
As will be elaborated in a later episode, people limit themselves by the words they use and the words they have in mind.

Arjuna makes an uncounscious leap (and we all did) in interpreting those words as a questionning of the kill itself, rather understanding they raise an opportunity to think about the meaning of the kill.

Understanding the meaning of the kill implies ; understanding what the rajaa is, why it came to be, what we are trying to achieve by killing it, considering all alternatives, understanding our part of responsability in the situation, considering the feelings of the target, setting our own emotions accordingly, expressing all this in a ritual that keeps us aware of the righteousness of our decision, wether regrettable or fortunate.

it is that awareness that some tribes would originally keep alive by ritualizing and thanking their preys for the life they bring in the life that is taken.

it is that awareness that our modern world has lost, in the meaning of actions or the meaning of words. We inherited a pool of actions and words that we use in an automate fashion, without questionning or understanding, thus propagating disorder to our surroundings.

Chris could have explained all this litteraly to Juna, the same way i am explaining it here. The reason he did not do so is because he knows that the best way people can fully understand is by experiencing and figuring it out on their own. as Juna is the chosen one she needs to have a deep understanding of what she is fighting for.

As i was writing this post and searching for exact quotes from the anime, i stumbled upon an article about the Bhagavad Gita, an ancient Indian text full of Hindu wisdom. Apparently there is a story on Prince Arjuna, who took his chariot and his charioteer out onto the battlefields to look across at the enemy.

He saw all of the forces of the opposing side, and envisionned amongst them relatives of his, loved ones, teachers. He turned to his charioteer, Krishna, for advice. Krishna uses story, allegory and reason to try to explain the true nature of reality to Arjuna, but Arjuna is unable to grasp it through words. Finally Krishna relents, and grants Arjuna a vision. At this point, Arjuna says to Krishna that he will do his bidding, and he will go into battle.

I have yet to read the story, but the way i can relate it to the anime is in saying Chris probably didnt want to have another soldier under his command. All he could do was relentlessly try to initiate Juna's own questionning.

Learning things through experience is what this episode is about. In this story, i think Chris's team overestimated the chosen one's potential to become aware of everything they expected her to, in such a sudden and short timeframe. The change in her environment was brutal, and we see that the modern world sometimes reformats some people more than others (Tokio ended up handling it pretty well in the last episode).

I am grateful for this anime and the support and inspiration it brought to my understanding of the world. There are a lot of concepts to grasp in it and amusingly enough, i did not understand Chris's constant questionning until a few month ago. About a year had passed since i had finished watching the anime and i am amazed at the time, the links, and the retrospection it took me to understand it.

Undoubtedly the most valuable anime i have seen.

Now to answer the question in a more simple fashion,

what do you have to kill -> the rajaa
what is she supposed to to -> prevent the birth of more rajaas. (by gaining awareness and spreading her wisdom)

Jul 29, 2014 12:21 AM

WolfWood37

Offline

Jul 2008

11105

mrbryce said:

what do you have to kill -> the rajaa
what is she supposed to to -> prevent the birth of more rajaas. (by gaining awareness and spreading her wisdom)

I completely understand your whole post and Chris' reasoning, but he's still an idiot. You throw her in the middle of a nuclear powerplant and tell her to fight a huge monster with no fear, then call her a fool when she beats it.

Then you throw her in the middle of nowhere and she goes to fight another Rajaa and then before she beats it you stop her to ask why fight it? All in the span of 24 hours probably.

I'm sorry he's an idiot to expect her to understand all of this in a snap of the fingers. I don't care if he is disabled or been fighting them for a long time, I'd slap his face for all the crap he's been pulling.

In short save the preaching until you explain what the hell is going on, which again goes against Chris' entire point but still...

Aug 30, 2015 11:37 AM

RafaelDeJongh

Offline

May 2012

25828

Another quite interesting episode, I sure like the pacing of this anime!

Jan 21, 2016 2:52 AM

mrbryce

Offline

Oct 2010

WolfWood37 said:
In short save the preaching until you explain what the hell is going on, which again goes against Chris' entire point but still...

The girl has to reason her experience by herself. There are no shortcuts to real understanding. Chris probably saw her potential without knowing how long it would take for her to awaken.

Being nice and polite, euphemism, will hinder your ability to expose the full extent of the problem.

Learning from someone else is not as powerful as learning from within.

I do think Chris has emotional awareness, whereas cindy and tokyo's father don't.

Feb 26, 2017 2:23 PM

zombiepika

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Sep 2012

445

-man the people that made this anime sure did their research.

Sep 28, 2019 12:38 AM

glassknuckles

Offline

Aug 2015

984

there's that gaslighting again

I think I already know where this is going - the real enemies you have to defeat were the humans the whole time

Mar 12, 2024 9:51 PM

nhkam

Offline

Aug 2021

119

Brought to you by Green Peace. What garbage…. Dropped

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