Lifespan

Nachtsider wrote:Fleshing out Elsa was still a stroke of genius, though. I loved it.

Are you absolutely sure Yu had no hand whatsoever in doing this? He might have looked back on his throwaway character and retroactively decided to give her more of a background.

Yu Aida did write the screenplays for -Il Teatrino- which no doubt helps explain why they track closer to the manga.

For the first anime series, however, he was just listed with "Original Manga by" credits, which means I expect they just offered him a licensing fee for the characters and he didn't have any input into the scripts or screenplays. The adherence to the manga was much looser in the first series and then there were "original stories" completely separate from the manga like Episodes 9 and 12.

I'm sure he had to have a hand in it because he had to approve everything before it went into production.

Reading the manga and this thread, I can't help but think about the apparent discrepancy about Gen I and Gen II discrepancy.

Reading between the lines, as in other posts, it seems Gen I last around 5 years.

The doctors said Gen II should last about twice as long, that makes it about ten years. But, Jean said they last 5-7 years.

I think a possible explanation is the difference in ruggedness. Sure, Gen II can potentially last 10 years. However, Gen II was not made to be as rugged as Gen I (that is, Gen I can take strenous levels of hardware punishment without the need for repairs). So, Gen II can last long provided that they are not subjected to severe hardware punishment. That is, Gen II's are not sent to Gen I type missions, which is unlikely to happen. Hence, they end us with only a bit longer lifespan as Gen I.

So, IMO, the doctors when talking about 2X lifetime did not factor in the combat stress/fatigue. Jean when talking about 1.25X lifetime factored in the combat stress/fatigue (possibly with recalculation from doctors/repairs n maintenance personnel).
Of course, these is but a hypothesis and is subject to review.

The Generation I girls appear to be, as one of our members noted, "shock troops". They work best when they have the element of surprise and they can overwhelm their opponents with speed and firepower. They do not seem to be able to "think on their feet" very well, depending on their handlers to give them instructions.

While only a sample set of "one", Petrushka appears to not be used in this role. Part of it could be her design. Part of it could be that Sandro's background is intelligence and espionage while the Gen I handlers all have police and military backgrounds.

Anyone else find it interesting how they bring in this new less abtrusive method to fixing the girls? The new stuff we saw use on Henrietta etc.

Wasn't it also said that this new conditioning is less dangures to their minds and so on? Might be kinda late in the game but I'm fine with calling plot hax later on and having them somehow live longer than the 5 years or so everyone expects them to.

I don't think this new development is unrealistic at all. Improvements to existing technology can and do happen over time.

It took oer 50 years for VW to change its Beetle

1938


1970


2005


(if the pics dont work, here's their links:
1938: http://www.seriouswheels.com/1930-1939/1938-VW-Beetle-Cabriolet-1280x960.htm
1970: http://www.edmunds.com/media/advice/specialreports/instant.car.classics/70.vw.beetle.500.jpg
2005: http://www.pictures-of-cars.com/VW-Beetle.jpg )

But... we're not talking about bugs here, now are we

And yet they still haven't changed the 911...

Nachtsider wrote:I don't think this new development is unrealistic at all. Improvements to existing technology can and do happen over time.

This I concur with. After all, Angelica's cousin(I think) has a prosthetic leg that looks like a primitive prototype compared to what is running inside the girls. Hell, the US Military itself has made a habit of publicly declaring that they have technology that the public won't see for another 5, 10, or more years.

ElfenMagix wrote:It took oer 50 years for VW to change its Beetle

But... we're not talking about bugs here, now are we

...and even then it was just a re-bodied Golf with less space inside.


Anyway, I don't know if it's been approached from this angle before (and I've sadly not the time to have a good read through the thread) but on the breakdown of the girls' brains, and hence lives.

As far as I can tell from reading the manga, the onset of the breakdown seems to be heralded by hallucinations and rememberings of their former lives. See Angie's dog and Henrietta's reaction to the GIS troopers' ski-masks, signaling perhapse a conflict between the brainwashing/conditioning and their memories of their former selves. Now, to me that raises the question: if that's the case, then what of Triela. I mean, she knows her past, at least since the snuff film incident (the related PTSD of which may form some type of natural-ish blocker unlike forced conditioning), which would make any conflict somewhat less distressing for her mentally, or even non-existant. Add to that that she underwent a year-ish of hypnotherapy... which would suggest a less brute force approach than the otherwise described chemical wiping (watch Petra's conditioning process) and you (or at least I) start to wonder...

...which still leaves the issue of her drug dependancy, but yeah (open to suggestions on that one).

I dunno if I'm just grasping at any flying straw that'd let Triela live longer, but that's my take

In my fanfict, I dealt with the solution of the conditioning medication by reformulating it. The original formula was created so that it does slowly kills the girls over time, so that the handlers would not get too attached to them knowing that one day (soon) they would die. Unfortunately, that failed, and relationships started (first with Angie/Marco, then with the others).

The mistake here is the human condition itself. Take a few lonely guys, place them as care givers to the girl who also have feelings and close relationships will bloom. Marco, Jean and even Jose tried to distance themselves from having too close of a relationship with the girls, but only Jean seems to be the one who is keeping with that premise... 80% of the time.

The conditioning medication is supposed to ward off various issues with the cybernetic implants (Phantom Limb Syndrome and such), while providing a conditioned emotional response, and stop pain from serious injuries so they can continue to operate in the field of battle until they are totally diestroyed. This would be a powerful drug (or a combination of drugs), which does over time destroy the brain.

Alfisti wrote:As far as I can tell from reading the manga, the onset of the breakdown seems to be heralded by hallucinations and rememberings of their former lives.

Triela, Henrietta and Silvia all noted that they can no longer clearly remember events that took place more than a year before.

Henrietta is indeed starting to remember the murder of her family and the assault on her person, however that happened during the application of a new form of conditioning and medical treatment so it might be a side-effect of that treatment. Petrushka was also under some form of medical treatment during her Q&A session where she started to dream/have visions in her mind of Elizabetta in Volume 8.

As for Angelica, she was actually hallucinating Perro, which so far is something unique to her. But then, she started her tenure with Section 2 with the memory of her life (including the accident), however the medical team eventually wiped all of that (and unfortunately took most of her original personality with it).

As you note, Triela continues to be a "blank slate" - perhaps due to the level of conditioning she was subjected to when she first arrived.