Imagine enlisting into a future military fighting a war against an offworld threat. You are a warrior in a space going fleet. You plunge into the inky black depths of space and to the surface of alien worlds in ships and mecha fighting suits to meet the enemy on it's grounds and defeat it. You started out with fear and uncertainty. But your training carried you through your first encounters and experience along with fortitude carries you on. The thing that matters to you the most, though, is a voice that is increasingly heard from less and less as the light years stretch out between you and the home you left. Though it takes years, though, the one you love, though it now takes years to hear from him...he continues to assure you he remains. His love remains. He is concerned later that you will arrive back home still relatively young and he may be an old man. But...still, he waits. His voice still reassures you from a home that is distant in space and memory.
Japanese anime is full of clichés. But every now and then, you get a new creation in the medium that plays with ideas you have not seen done much in it, or most other mediums. This little gem is an example, playing with Einsteinian time dialation with the age old dilemma of a soldier going to war, yet leaving a special loved one behind. Will they stay true to you? Will you survive to return to them? Will there still be anything to return to, or will time and experience wear away what you once had? The uncertainties of war are tough enough. But for those in love, that love is indeed a double edged sword. If that love stays strong, your fighting spirit is indomitable. But should it falter...it becomes a blade through the heart, reaching inside you in a way the enemy never could.
Is it worth it? I'm still wagering most warriors would say yes.
No comments:
Post a Comment