Thread 282861448

In the end, was season 2 truly the peak of the show?
>It had the best fights
>It had the best bug
>It had the most unique swords
>It had the most entertaining secondary antagonist
>It had the funniest duck fuckup
>It was the first time the show made an effort in creating a complex story after S1's basic intro to puppetry plot

>>282861448 (OP)
Nah, season 3 and finale movie were great too. Only season 4 was a dip for the series, and that's purely because the pacing was fucked because of season 5 being scrapped for the movie.

>>282861448 (OP)
No.

>>282861448 (OP)
Season 3 was my favorite for Ban Gunha.

I wish there was more...

I wish they had scrapped the time travel reveal. I don't really mind Sho's backstory, he's already fine being a wandering hobo swordsman.

>>282861448 (OP)
I would like the limited threads we will have from now on to not be about season faggotry.
Do you guys think we could ever get puppets again at some point in the future? Even if they are a different series.

>>282861448 (OP)
S1 is probably my favourite because it is a complete story without needing subsequent seasons.

>>282861529
Season 5 getting reduced to the movie kind of shows but the movie was still really good regardless, so I'm not really all that bothered by it.

>>282862778
4 seasons and 3 movies isn't too bad for Taiwanese puppets directed by a mad man.

>>282861529
>>282862700
BAN GUNHA
BAN GUNHA
BAN GUNHA

The ending might not have lived up to the hype but I can't say I dislike it

>>282862880
I heard Urobuchi and Pili might be working on some cyber punk or sci-fi puppet show next

>>282862973
Oh yeah, the movie was the perfect closer for the series. I'd have loved to see how a full season 5 would have gone, but I'm content with what we ended up with.

>>282861448 (OP)
S1 > S2 > S3 > S4
Is the last movie up already?

>>282863518
Anon-dono, the movie has been out since early summer

Sho seeing duck and demon lord fighting and immediately deciding that he wanted nothing to do with that shit was the highlight of the movie to me

>>282863493
GOD! Grant us another puppetkino and my life is yours!

>>282863648
That and Locust's ending.

So whose sword autism was the strongest?
>live by the sword
>loving a sword
>become swords

>>282863648
Duck entering the demon lord confrontation trolling himself and then just lounging on the throne was kino, made PEAK by the light/dark interplay of their duel.
Also s4 where he erupted into sheer glee at the chance to Duck the ultimate target: himself.

>>282863518
Anon...

>>282864743
It's honestly a close call between 10Guy, Monk and Locust, each for completely different reasons. I feel like I have to give it to Monk because he fucking LOVED his sword.

>>282861448 (OP)
S1 was the best.

>>282864743
I prefer
>deliberately not using any sword in swordfights

Kguy is alive and married to me. She is baking an apple pie right now btw.

SPK di nothing wront

How do you even escape this?

>>282865079
Have you tried not putting the bag over your head?

>>282863501
The very final scene of the movie with Shou on the boat really felt like Urobuchi saying he was sad to see the series end.
Those final piano notes with his poem playing looking off into the horizon really makes me feel like he's saying he wants to continue writing Shou's adventures

Ken is a lucky dude

>>282865133
But someone else will and I won't know who. Isn't that a worse situation?

>>282865298
Insane we won't get post like these from pili anymore...

>>282865619
I'll miss the silly movie poster pictures

>>282865619
>Duck defeated by love

>>282861448 (OP)
I was really disappointed to see that Azibelpher and Demon King fights ended up being just sword fights. I was really expecting some time fuckery magic from Azibelpher and cool dark spells from Demon King.

>>282865850
Demon king fight was kino imho. Pili fights always reminds me of characters saying "I understood his characters from his strikes".
Azi using time magic would be retarded from everything we learned about him, though the flying swords were lame. Denka carried that whole segment.

>>282861448 (OP)
Yeah. Fox will always be the most based villain in the show.

>>282865850
The demon king fight felt a lot like an early S1/S2 climactic fight in the sense that we got lots of fast swordplay. The scene in the dark room was easily one of the best looking scenes in the movie
Aussiebellpepper was ok but the flying swords was just the worst style of fight in the show (cgi heavy). Denka carried it. I didn't care for human Ryouga in S4+

>>282863518
Anon.....

>>282863493
>S.O.S: Shou in Space

So I heard that we have a mythical creature named Cecilia

>>282866158
>Shou gets kidnapped by time-traveling aliens because, in the far future, swordpussy finds her way to their planet and all hell breaks loose.
>Duck somehow makes his way there as well.

>>282865687
The highlight of S4. It's so obvios that he'd get cockblocked by the power of love, it's a small wonder nobody saw it coming

>Son #1 killed Dad #1
>Son #2 becomes Dad #2
>Grandson #1 summoned the most popular man In Taiwan and then fucked off with Son #2

>>282865619
Spider's background bio really didn't feel like it was relevant at all, his knowledge that Locust = Seiyuu's Emperor basically became moot really quick as Duck didn't even use Spider to figure that out and his whole woman hating didn't come up aside with Wasp. Spider probably just disliked Wasp as a person, being a reckless musclehead, rather than her being a woman.

>>282866200
This guy was so fucking goofy I loved him

>>282866200
>Cyberpunk puppets
Fun
Though I don't think adding more 7BD is good. I like that her/monk's story ended where it did. She was already the antagonist of two seasons

>>282861448 (OP)
I liked monk, but season 1 was the beat for me.

>>282864743
>finds swords sexier than women
I think monk wins this one

>>282868110
I can fix her

>>282867385
I'm pretty sure 10guy, Monk, and Locust all find swords more appealing than woman. 10guy had Ryou Mi fawning over him, and Locust commanded Scorpion's loyalty.

>>282868110
Veiled blowjobs
https://images.plurk.com/4fSwy2mLOWujtz26lmV0e6.jpg

>>282866530
>>282867193
My favorite part of Wuxia is the random guy who just uses guns or future tech while everyone else has swords and chi.

>>282861448 (OP)
I think movie_2 > all

>>282861529
Demon King really needed a few more episodes to flesh him out, we had two seasons of Locust and Azibelpher so the Demon King kinda felt undercooked

>>282870356
Only the strong get poems, sorry

>>282864743
Monk is the most memorable villain to me.

>>282865619
man, I'm missing duck like you wouldn't believe. I really cannot think of another series with a similar character, urobochi made the perfect trickster.

I just wanted this nendo...

>>282861529
But if a nitpick but I can’t believe major villains like Locust and Azibelpher went the whole series without getting poems while a (based) dipshit like Fox did.

>>282863493
>Meguca had to wait a decade for the Rebellion sequel cause Urobuchi was busy playing with puppets.
>Now that he’s done with that he immediately jumps back into the puppets
Based if true.

>>282872451
Maybe meguca should become puppets

>>282868118
You're going to need a time traveling scrying mirror to fix that, she's kankou food now

>>282861448 (OP)
S1 was real peak S3 is second best

My Duck plush arrived today. I ordered him because I knew I'd never get a Duck nendo, and I wanted to throw him out a window while my Phoenix Killer watches. For some reason though, I have this sudden apathy towards the series. Like my enthusiasm's just keeled over. I guess I should rewatch the movie some time and see if it stirs again.

>>282868292
I don't care for blowjobs but put on a veil and all of my neurons are activating.

>>282864743
tbdesu one of the main letdowns of the movie was the decision to turn him into a giant toku guy, there would have been way more room for a cooler boss fight against him with better looking moves if they kept him as a puppet, maybe even make an XL puppet if they wanted to show that the size difference was a big deal

>>282877542
What is a Toku but a giant puppet

>>282878005
Legitimately one of the best scenes in S3
Rip mantis he never scored a poem

>>282878046
>Mantis is a fight fag
>only gets one real fight, which gets interrupted

>>282868292
too bad theres not a tag for that

You know, instead of releasing a novel of S1 (which already has a manga) they should release a novel with Urobuchi's original longer version of S4 with all the demon realm worldbuilding that was cut out.

>>282872262
Is it still possible to get them?

>>282878139
Or porn that isn't gay.

>>282878107
It's kinda a shame we never ended up seeing Shou vs Duck.
I know it'd get interrupted, I know there's not really a good reason for it to happen.
But I just wanna see it

>>282863493
Kikokugai but puppets

>>282861448 (OP)
I like how everyone was downplaying the second released sword because the first was way more dangerous and it couldn't actually kill people and then it turned out it could perfectly hard counter the first sword.

GUNHA-dono...

>>282867193
>rays of light from both his eyes
>only one lazer beam

>>282868131
Locust at least had a daughter.

>>282881405
>Locust at least had a daughter
>a daughter

>>282877542
>the decision to turn him into a giant toku guy
My complaint is he's just standing around not doing any cool maneuvers. Imagine a giant toku guy jumping around fighting a puppet. That'd be rad. But I guess they don't have the proper equipment for that.

>>282868292
fuark, im gonna need a source for that image, anon dono

Magic sword made by a mountain wizard.

>>282881486
yeah that's what it comes down to, I don't know if they could have pulled off cool moves with actual guy vs puppet but either way it should have been more than guy swinging his arms around a bit while hardly even moving his feet

>>282883952
I get the feeling they just couldn't have it nove very well. The same thing happened with the dragon
I still prefer it over giant cgi monster like in S1 but it really shows why human final fight (Monk, Swords pussy) are so much better

the time travel stuff kinda ruins the movie for me

>>282861448 (OP)
All of it was peak

Keigai sex

>>282885572
Demon femcel hands typed this post
Duck isn't going to bang you Keigai

>>282885778
I hate it. She deserved better

>>282885826
demons only deserve death

>>282878406
If you're lucky you might find it expensive as fuck on Mandarake or Mercari or whatever, but unless they do a re-run (which the window for that is probably long closed) it's gonna be hard as fuck to find it again.

>>282885884
That includes Duck, who's a demon on all levels but physical.

>>282885572
Hairy demon pussy.

>>282880091
Considering everything, I think Duck takes it unless he decides to fight fair which is unlikely since he employed trickery against the Demon King and even his Lunar Crater Vapor technique is based on deception. Shou might be almost skilled as or equally skilled as Duck in the martial arts, but he's been shown to be outmaneuvered by trickery multiple times, from Scorpion poisoning him to Kei Gai getting her talismans on him.

>>282877542
>>282881486
>>282884945
https://youtu.be/uihu2ATLqOQ?si=hHcZAZYcT2FUHs-C&t=43
If you watch the behind the scenes, the big Locust toku suit doesn't seem very movable in, I think it's the design especially those two long lance-sword arms. Personally I wish they used a bit more CGI for his attacks like with 10guy or Youjarei in S1, they didn't feel as powerful as they should've been considering he had absorbed mansei shinpuku which could cause earthquakes and destroy whole fortresses.

>>282866195
She's apparently Shou's half-demon childhood friend whose father is a seal guardian with water powers and her mother is a demoness, I'm just hoping someone gets around to translating that sidestory. Supposedly it ends in tragedy as her seal guardian father doesn't fully trust the demoness mother and has trapped her on an island alongside Cecilia with his water magic so she doesn't threaten other humans; he lives on the island with them, but only allows Cecilia to see her mother for short periods of time as he believes that spending too much time around her demon mother might awaken her demonic heritage. Shou shows up on the island due to a scrying mirror and befriends Cecilia, but eventually has to leave, so he decides to give her a parting gift of bringing her off the island for some sight-seeing since she's been confined to the island her whole life. Unfortunately this whole ordeal ends in tragedy, her father senses the two boarding a rowboat to leave the island with his monitoring water magic and he moves to destroy it, with Cecilia's demonic mother intervening; the father misinterprets that as demonic treachery of some kind, so he attacks and cuts her down then wrecks the boat which almost drowns Shou and Cecilia. I don't know if Cecilia makes it out alive, but I guess this retroactively could explain why Shou prefers not to say goodbyes.
https://x.com/hayatomibu/status/1935582024074682473
Here's fan art of her and young Shou.

>>282861448 (OP)
Watched the movie, while I did like it, I was also very disappointed by it, especially the demons that ended up being just a bunch of pussy ass niggas, after what we saw at the end of S1 I thought all of the demons would give that much of a fight, but nah, and then the Locust dude that kind of just crashed into the party, broke the TV screen and then got throw away like any drunktard, underwhelming.

>>282888565
The entire surface battle feels like it took the brunt of the budget cuts. We never got to see any of the holy swords being used against demons or anything.
Seeing Ken and Tan Hi fighting back to back was cute though

Hold up, so Shou lost his virginity with his mother? Do the taiwanese really?

>>282888643
There is no indication that he ever had sex.

>>282888643
He is a volcel. He knows all woman are as demonic as duck

>>282888643
>Shou lost his virginity with his mother
anon-kun's been reading doujin and treating it as canon again

>>282885572
She's so beautfiul, she deserved love and happiness

>>282888565
The demons really got hurt by the S4 + 5 cut, S4 was supposed to be a whole season of demonic worldbuilding and focus on demons with the demon bard puppet having more screen time instead of just one scene.

>>282888020
I have a feeling that Cecil is still roaming the earth

>>282888020
I didn't know that Shou had a relationship with Alicia from Aria

>>282888020
Foreigner demon?

>>282888020
>Some random seal guardian prevented you from having a grandson

Family outing gone wrong

r8 this merch

>>282889218
That's racist.

>>282889193
Possibly, if half demons have extended lifespans. I choose to believe Shou has a big breasted blond half demon wandering soulmate out there

>>282861448 (OP)
I liked how S1 and S2 had diverse environments. S3 and S4 was 90% underground

>>282889363
Wouldn't buy/10

>>282889796
>Needless, but puppets

I miss her so much bros

>>282884945
>>282887568
It's understandable how it's hard to move in if the puppet guys made the toku suit themselves. I was wondering if Butcher asked his Kamen Rider contact for that.

>>282887328
honestly I don't think duck is physically capable of not deceiving people

>>282890473
I heard kamen rider suits were hard to operate in too.

>>282888020
Uh, juat reading that and now I boat ShouxCecilia

Duck fujoshits BTFO

>>282890945
Pretty sure all the fujos ship duck with SPK though.

>>282888020
>Shou's half-demon childhood friend whose father is a seal guardian with water powers and her mother is a demoness
Kek, that's some fanfic tier stuff.

SEX WITH A SWORD

>>282889875
She cute

>>282889875
>>282891363
I wanted her to have a happy ending and be Shou's submissive wife

While S1 is better than S2, S2 is still the peak as the show went quickly downhill in S3 and only kept getting worse. There was still some good stuff in S3 and S4, but the overall quality was no longer there. Introducing time travel to a story that is primarily not about time travel is always a terrible choice and hasn't resulted in a good story even once.

>>282891442
>as the show went quickly downhill in S3

>>282891812
It recycled the main villains of S2 and then gave them an identical ending to S2. It introduced time travel which proceeded to break the show. The characters conveniently running into each other as the plot demands got worse, though this was already an issue is S2 and honestly is slightly less bad as S3 takes place in a more limited area. It introduced robot arms and other highly advanced technology to what was previously low-tech setting. It introduced that cancerous subplot about Lang having a demon for a daddy which also raises several issues about traveling back and forth to the demon realm. Again, there were things to enjoy about S3, but it's pretty clearly the root of most of the issues in S4 and the final movie, which have even more issues and even less things to enjoy.

>>282892014
s2 and 3 are my favourites also the backstory movie is the best

>>282889193
>>282889457
Cute. I believe.

>>282891391
As her life drew to its end she neither repented nor showed remorse for the lives she ruined and ended, she only lamented her own misfortune; sowed and reaped by jer own hand though it was. She deserved only to suffer and die, Anon-dono.

>>282891812
The only really great thingg about it was BAN GUNHA, the rest was inferior to S1 & 2

>>282892091
That's fair. Like I said, there are still things to like about S3, and S2 is nearly as good as S1, so having a personal preference for those is understandable, even if S1 is the objectively better told story.

>>282891442
The time travel set up is all for the punchline of TM Revo singing a cover of Beyond the Time.

>>282889875
>>282891363
How old is Scorpion supposed to be anyway? Based on her comments in the Kyubey video, where her wish is to "start over and become a normal girl," I assumed she was a cake of some sort or approaching her mid 20s.

>>282890641
Sure, but the toku Lotus looks like he can't even move his lower half! That's bulky-monster tier of suit. Hell, I can't remember the last time a toku monster can't run around. Though maybe it's because they don't want to break the... table thingy they use for the set.

>>282861448 (OP)
I agree, 2 first seasons were worth watching.

>>282894797
I always assumed she was early to mid 20s. Older than characters like Ken or Tan Hi, but younger than Rou.
If I were to guess ages of the main groups/antagonists of the seasons it'd be something around the lines of
>Fucked up magic altered aging that can't be pinned down
Duck, Kei Gai, Azibelpher, Demon King, Byakuren (Pili watchers can tell me otherwise for Su Huan Jen here I guess)
>65-70
Old man Seal Guardians, That guy who made the Index, Locust
>40-50
Shou, Ban Gunha, Sharp eye Impaler. Trapped wizard
>30-40
Screaming Phoenix Killer, Mantis, Spider, Centipede, Monk, 10Guy
>25-30
Rou Fu You, Tenmei, 10GUY's Lieutenants, Fox
>16-24
Chao Feng, Ken, Tan Hi, Scorpion

>>282895142
I'd bet Shou and Gunha are 30s at most.

Duck the same, unless he has duck'd time.

>>282895142
>Mantis
>30
Really? My impression was that he was around Scorpion's age, a relatively young and ambitious martial artist compared to the likes of Shou, Gunha, and SPK who are all 30+.
>>282895503
Apparently both Duck and Shou are in their 30s according to hearsay of an Urobuchi Q&A, although Shou might be on the further ends of the 30s. Gunha's definitely older man material, I think Urobuchi mentioned in a character design interview back when S3 was airing that Gunha was designed to be an older man to contrast all the younger looking pretty boys of S1-2.

>>282895591
I picture Mantis as having just hit 30 or at least really close to it. It's kinda a toss up. Him being around Rou's age fits too I suppose. At the very least I think he's got a year or two over Scorpion
>>282895503
Shou is up there to me primarily because he's seemingly constantly referring to himself as being an older stubborn guy, and you have a lot of much younger characters looking up to him for his experience. His design is full of older traveling furs and such to contrast everyone else in fine cloth and his hair is streaked with white.
He's got some sort of military history in a leadership role and has served with Ban so I consider them to be around the same age

>>282887207
>medieval Asian setting
They're all hairy down there

>>282897228
The sword shaves

>>282895591
I don't think Gunha looked that old, he was a slightly more masculine design than most (like Shou) though.

>>282897880
Some men are just built different

>>282898800
Turbo-manlets always look muscular.

>>282899885
She would poison Arnold so fast

>>282861448 (OP)
Yes.

>>282899813
I didn't know TM Revolution was 5'3...

>>282888643
Urobuchi wrote the plot, the Taiwanese just did the puppetry and effects

all of thunderbolt fantasy is up on nyaa with _good_ subs, except for the very final movie. is it ever coming, or did everyone move on forever now that the show is all over?
i vaguely remember a sub file in the works that was pretty good, shared only in the threads, and have been checking for an updated torrent or something to complete the autism collection at even intervals since then.

kinda feels like most peeps just watched it without japanese names, or the fast subs, and then closed the book on a completed show. then again i'm a non-contributing faggot myself and have no right to do more than ask.

what sucks about thunderbolt fantasy is that it's really hard to find more media like it.

>>282908444
They do follow the standard anime tropes
What's different is that they killed all the good girls

>>282909125
Kasei Meikou gave everyone the good ol' shinkai makai

>>282909125
the greater beats may be trope-y, the scenes themselves however, are unlike any of the 900 anime i've seen.
what would've been a seppuku scene, one we've seen many times, is instead replaced by someone catching a falling sword with their throat, and then twisting it so hard they decapitate themself and send the loose head flying into the claw of a winged creature.
just an early example, and it's not even the coolest scene of the episode. the dialogue is also consistently entertaining in a sincere edgekino way. it's very hard to find shows like it.

>one duet
>does nothing in S3 except get blinded in a flashback
>gets one good scene in S4
>does nothing except bring Shou the Wise Lotus Saber and get pregnant in the movie
>no backstory, no poem
What was the point of her? Aside from giving birth to our hero

>>282861448 (OP)
yes
unlike the other seasons it also didn't need 6+ episodes of buildup to get good

>>282907467
>or did everyone move on forever now that the show is all over?
Pretty much.

>>282909574
I love it post the clip

>>282907467
https://desuarchive.org/a/thread/279281661/#279291516
There was a sub being started by anons on here when it was released RAW, but it got rendered moot when CR released the movie with subs within the next day, so I think an anon just rigged an .ass file to just replace the Chinese CR names with the Japanese ones and called it as the CR subs were mostly correct otherwise.
>and then closed the book on a completed show
I don't think there will be too much work on TBF related stuff now that the series is basically over. I heard there might be a fan English translation of the Gunha audio drama and the sidestories that were given with the Asia airings of the movie (one of them being Shou's childhood adventure involving a half-demon girl and the other Lin's meeting with Ren Ki aka the old master magic item maker with the magic flute that SPK killed during Season 1). The Gunha drama doesn't even address too much apparently, it involves Gunha being taken prisoner by foreign tribes that are in open hostilities with Seiyuu and running into Shou in captivity. Tenmei shows up as well, serving the two food, but it's revealed to be a ruse by Shou and Tenmei to test Gunha's character and see if he can help the relations between Seiyuu and the tribe.

>>282909628
I'm actually surprised she never really got any background
She was a competent enough fighter to keep up with Shou/Rou most of the time
She was clearly knowledgeable about Kasei Meiko more than Shou/Rou since she was the one advising them in their fight
She had pseudo magical blast Qi stuff going on and wasn't getting charmed by Rou's voice like the guards were
She was doing important research on the holy swords alongside the old monkey mech guy
And she was never explained or explored

>>282898800
dude's definitely had botox/ his face done. His face looks rather plastic-y

>>282907467
The CR subs are good enough, I didn't notice any major issues with the lines, so the old 'replace cn names with jp' approach is enough.

>>282908444
Somewhat constant reminder to read/ watch wuxia, the classic ones, not the modern japanese LN inspired ones. In particular, read Gu Long, he's Urobuchi's recommended wuxia novelist. You can even see parallels in terms of themes and style from his works vs TF.

>>282911862
>>282909628
'member the old theories about how she's probably a member of royalty like a lost princess or something because she had phoenix motives and knew that crescent cutlass song?
I remember.

>>282895142
Funny enough, I think it's mentioned Kguy is young for a demon, Azibelpher said she must've been young and out for merit when she joined the war effort two centuries ago. I think Su Huan Jen reincarnates, I heard he gets killed a few times in Pili. I mostly agree with those age ranges for the characters except for maybe the machine gun wizard, he seems like he's the same age range as mech wizard but he aged better and/or his cybernetics help him.
>Locust
>65-70
What makes you think Locust is an old man? He seems like he's maybe around Gunha's age, maybe a few years older at best. I could buy him being older than he actually looks though, due to his mastery of the dark arts.
>>282911966
There was also that whole deal about Seiyuu's Emperor (Locust) sequestering himself away after he received an oracle years ago, was that just him giving himself a reason to turn away from the public eye?

>>282911966
I was always a fan of the theory that she was Spider up until she got slashed by Locust
>String instrument player that infiltrated Shou's group with incredibly convenient knowledge of what he's after while the show makes it pretty clear red bard is into her

>>282912053
>I could buy him being older than he actually looks though, due to his mastery of the dark arts.
Pretty much entirely this
He's had plenty of time to build up the Seiyuu empire, while coordinating with a heretical group going against it, and could 1v3 some of the most competent warriors the had shown us, needing a deus ex machina to beat him.
He's been around for long enough as Emperor to have a nearly adult daughter, he was the one that granted Gunha Dono the rank of general back around the time before Shou was doing full time sword plundering
I assume he was doing some dark magic cultivation tier shit making him live significantly longer than he looked

>>282861448 (OP)
season 1 good
season 2 meh
season 3 droped

>>282892014
>Again, there were things to enjoy about S3, but it's pretty clearly the root of most of the issues in S4 and the final movie, which have even more issues and even less things to enjoy.
S3 was supposed to be a ramp into S4 + S5, unfortunately S4 didn't quite hit the mark because S4 + S5 got cut short, which is why it delved into Shou Kun Rin, introduced advanced tech (demon-related, we see the demons have generators of some sort since one was used to suck up Rou's demon god energy), and Rou's demon dad.
https://thunderboltfantasytranslations.wordpress.com/2025/05/18/febri-magazine-thunderbolt-fantasy-season-4-urobuchi-gen-long-interview/
>In Season 3 the Void Junction would be introduced, Season 4 would be about the Demon Realm, and Season 5…well, eventually it became a movie, but in it, all would come to an end, that was all decided back then.
https://thunderboltfantasytranslations.wordpress.com/2025/05/21/newtype-magazine-march-2025-issue-thunderbolt-fantasy-the-final-chapter-an-interview-with-urobuchi-gen/
>Initially, it was planned that Season 4 would dive into the past of the different characters and a fifth season would wrap up the story. However, the situation overseas changed, and Season 5 got cancelled. That’s why we decided to make a final movie instead of another season. That ended up being quite troublesome. (laughs) At first, it was planned to thoroughly depict the demon world and the demon nobles, so I placed Azibělpher as number eight in the demon court and prepared six additional demon nobles. The staff from Pili (Pili International Multimedia) also made wonderful puppets for the demon nobles. I really wanted to show them all, so even though it was very hurried, I included them all in Season 4 and The Final Chapter.
We lost a whole season of worldbuilding and backstories, I assume Locust and maybe Tenmei might've gotten more backstory info in the original plan, the demon nobles would've had more screen time too.

>>282909125
That dumb pic always make me grin.

>>282911966
Hell, I remember someone saying she's Denka's half sister or some shit.

>>282911966
>>282912460
Out of all the wild theories, from Shou Kun Rin being 7BD possessing her body to her being secret royalty, no one ever guessed that she would be Shou's mommy.

>>282865850
It's a bit understandable from Azibelpher refraining from using time magic, considering his whole spiel to Kguy about how he's given up on trying to use his time travel powers to influence his current fate because he doesn't see a point anymore and wants to suffer the consequences of his own actions since it gives his current actions some meaning. The Demon King definitely should've used more magic though, especially with how Ansatt and Azibelpher claimed that battles between powerful demons usually hinge on mastery of magic and cunning (although I guess Duck's Night of Mourning + bag trick was pretty cunning).
>>282865986
I kinda liked the flying swords from Azibelpher, he always seems like a laid back guy who has others do his work for him so using flying swords he controls from afar feels right for him.

Oh yeah, here's the S4 + Movie artbook if anyone's interested. For whatever reason, it doesn't seem to have the 2d art of the demon nobles despite the fact it exists out there.
https://archive.org/details/thunderbolt-fantasy-s-4-and-final-movie-official-fan-book/page/53/mode/1up

>>282912801
Those are just all the screenshots I took

>>282909661
>Imply S1 needed any build-up to get good.

>>282912857
If it was you, thanks. I wasn't able to find a copy when I was in Japan earlier this year.

>>282912898
Sorry I didn't share the best ones with them I had nothing to do with that thing

How to cloak the land in deepest blue?

>>282914687
You must obscure the moonlight with a large bird of prey.

>>282862681
kek

>>282912310
Sure, I can understand that an entire season being condensed to a single movie fucked their plans, but there are plenty of problems in S3 that are independent of that. Time travel was (and always is) a huge mistake that breaks the story, and teleportation is right behind that as a power that will telling a story that makes sense so much harder. And the added backstory we did end up getting for the main characters was a downgrade in my opinion, Shou being a time traveler despite nothing even slightly implying it in the first season was straight-up dumb, and I hate that they made Lin Setsu a part-demon. To me, he was far more interesting as a regular human who just happened to be more cruel and devious than any demon. Neither character needed any more backstory than they already had, it strikes me as over-explaining.

>>282917291
Yeah, agreed. I've said way back in the prev seasons that Shou is better off being this mysterious wanderer with a checkered past where we get some glimpse, but not the full story.

>>282917291
I think they didn't need it but I am happy with what they got regardless. I have seen way worse and hamfisted asspulls. Maybe my standards have lowered from seeing those asspulls, but I can't say it it didn't fit their characters.
Between the two I think the Setsu one was the better since it explains why he is so fucking good at everything and can do so much shit, but I didn't hate Shou's little backstory either.

>>282917377
I don't mind the idea of exploring his backstory, I was just hoping he'd be more connected to the world. Like if he used to be a general together with Gunha or something.

>>282919405
>Setsu one was the better since it explains why he is so fucking good at everything and can do so much shit
See, this is where I differ. I don't think he needed any explanation. Bones of Creation was also a mighty swordsman and a wizard, and so was Locust. Setsu was a swordmaster, realized that path led to villainy and boredom, and became a thief instead. He doesn't need more than that. Making him a demon makes him lamer, because it explains his personality instead of his personality being an organic part of him. Everything about him now boils down to: "well he's a demon lol". Also as a side note, I'm not convinced his original backstory as presented by Season 1 actually makes sense with the demon revelation, it feels like he should have always been tricking and deceiving people instead of that being a part of him that developed after becoming a master swordsman.

>>282917291
Lin being part demon kinda makes sense, I was always under the impression he was some kind of immortal based on his mastery of many skills. I agree Shou's origins are kinda dumb, him being a regular human who reached a nearly peerless mastery of the martial arts from his battles to gather mystical swords and from various adventures was much more appealing for me (rather than Lin).

>>282919560
>I was always under the impression he was some kind of immortal based on his mastery of many skills
See the thing is, Lin has to be around the same age as a regular human being, because he himself is unaware that he is anything but a regular human, and also the person who mentored him was still alive in Season 1. This also kinds fucks with the timeline, so we are left to assume that parts of the Demon Lord he cast aside just kind of hung around incorporeally for over a hundred years before becoming a part of a human child. And again, I don't think him being both a master swordsman and a skilled sorcerer as just a regular human is unreasonable since there are several other characters who have similar skillsets and they don't get a meta-origin to explain their prowess.

>>282919553
>Setsu was a swordmaster, realized that path led to villainy and boredom, and became a thief instead
You make it sound so simple to be fucking amazing at both. Honestly I thought that was a little bullshit even in S1 that he was just that good at everything, I only recently started the show like a couple months ago and finished it two days ago, so I vividly remember that. It was a cool reveal but also bullshit in my view. Not only is he a peerless thief, manipulator, and sorcerer, but also a peerless swordsman? I could believe 3 of those, but he basically has no weaknesses and mastery of everything. Literally his one weakness is that when he is disappointed or too cocky he can make a short sighted decision, and that in my view fits with what he is. He is literally partially made of demonic arrogance - the part that enjoys toying with people and plotting to humiliate others.
>I'm not convinced his original backstory as presented by Season 1 actually makes sense with the demon revelation, it feels like he should have always been tricking and deceiving people instead of that being a part of him that developed after becoming a master swordsman.
You have a point there, but even if they didn't say he was who he was, I think it would have been fine with them to toy with the fact he may be supernatural in some way. Also it's not like he is pure demon, he is still in a human body born to humans. I am fine with that revelation because they could have done much worse with it in my view.
For Shou I'm kind of conflicted because his origin also makes sense to why he is such a good swordsman, but I also agree that it would make sense for a traveler to have been that way to begin with.

>>282919763
>You make it sound so simple to be fucking amazing at both.
It's wuxia, bro. I previously mentioned Urobuchi's fav author Gu Long, and he's got one series that's literally about a master swordsman and because of his super martial arts skills, he also became a super skilled thief. He also has another novel about a guy with a mysterious past that lead to a bunch of people chase after him and this guy can nearly perfectly copy his enemy's special move. The sort of special move that a person needed years to master, this guy manages to perform it well enough to fool other veteran martial artists. And that's just Gu Long. Jin Yong is full on shounen jump battle manga with protagonists collecting special skills and beating experienced fighters.

>>282919835
>It's wuxia, bro
I know, it is my first that I have seen. I don't intend on watching more exactly because of that shit. In Thunderbolt Fantasy they at least give some reasoning as to why they can do it, but I don't like the answer for being a turbo genius at everything just boiling down to cultivation or natural talent every time. I could see it for a couple things, but not for every single ability. It's not like Shou had massive sorcery powers and shit too. I think it just makes sense that duck had his genius come from something supernatural, I suspected a bit the whole time, but I was still caught off guard because I assumed it was something different than what it actually was.

>>282919553
>Also as a side note, I'm not convinced his original backstory as presented by Season 1 actually makes sense with the demon revelation, it feels like he should have always been tricking and deceiving people instead of that being a part of him that developed after becoming a master swordsman.
I think the opposite personally, it makes his juxtaposition from the Buddha statue in Season 1 better: the Buddha has ascended from all earthly desires while Lin himself is not only a great demonic entity but also the embodiment of evil desires. Regarding his pursuit of swordsmanship before trickery part, I can see him trying to satisfy his strange (demonic) urges through the thrill of battle and making others suffer through force before discovering that it was utterly destroying the pride of others that made him most satisfied. Kyarei (and Ryouga once he got a demonic body) was a battle freak and a demon so there's a bit of precedent for that kind of demonic desire.
>>282919553
>See, this is where I differ. I don't think he needed any explanation. Bones of Creation was also a mighty swordsman and a wizard, and so was Locust. Setsu was a swordmaster, realized that path led to villainy and boredom, and became a thief instead.
As the other anon says, it's believable that one could achieve some level of mastery in martial arts and sorcery at the sametime (Tengai and Locust both achieve this), but Lin is also a master thief, item crafter, and poisoner on top of it. He even controlled birds back in Season 1 and probably has good leadership skills since he can use the Night of Mourning effectively plus dispersed the doubts the imperial soldiers had with Gunha's "decision" to strike a truce with the Divine Swarm, and would probably display even more skills if there was more content since Urobuchi designed him as an overpowered cheat character that had mastery in almost every skill.

>>282920060
Because the fights and powerlevels aren't the main point, they're just to facilitate character interactions and narrative themes.

>>282920218
>Because the fights and powerlevels aren't the main point
I know that and have been a fan of other series where there are very strong characters but the fights are not the point of the series. Just saying it does make what fights there are feel flat if that is what is a common trend. Even in a show like, say, Overlord which has an OP main character the story still gives him multiple theoretical weaknesses in fights even if they don't pop up. Not to mention he is retarded. But he didn't earn his power compared to people who have to live and die for it so that makes sense

I just think it makes sense that if a character can do literally everything then there should be a more satisfying answer than "he just can". Unless there are certain limits to what he can't do.

>>282912801
Thanks!

>>282912801
Hyrasu's 2d art mogs his puppet

>>282865079
This image also needs the bag scene from S1 when Duck tells Shou to put it on

>>282917291
>>282917377
>>282919473
>>282919560
I agree with these.

When I re-watch this series a decade from now I'll watch S1, S2, S3 but just for BAN GUNHA-DONO, and the SPK movie but forget everything else exists.

>>282922725
>not watching the duet
>ending on Gunha dying and Shou depressed

>>282922725
I'm getting tired of your samefagging.

>>282922725
I'll watch all of it
S4 isn't as good as the past, but its still higher quality than most anime I watch. The movie had some very well made shots and finally gave me some much desired Ken+Tanhi
I like to go back and rewatch Kyousougiga every few years and its extremely low budget and schizo paced but I love it

>>282912801
I didn't even realize that the veiled one had bat-winged sleeves. What did that detail look like for her puppet?

>>282920304
I'm not too worried about the gunner feat, generally I treat enchanting equipment as a lost art. Magic items are a generational item you might inherit (or in the case of a PC, raid an ancestral tomb) so any strength guns have over bows can be offset by magical bows

>>282918802
That looks kinda cool.
>Verification is not required.

>>282918802
Punished Ken

>>282928300
A man denied his spear

>>282928367
His wife gives him plenty of spear.

>>282930775
KISAMA RYO FU SETSUJIN

>>282885572
I guess this guy will never do one with the S4 girls...

The only good sword is evil sword that can talk.

>>282861448 (OP)
>>It had the best bug

>>282934600
Scorpion is my wife

>>282934767
But Gunha should be your brother