#znt1aasks

[zntanniversary]

September 27th [Day 3] FLIGHT ASKS

1. What do you think of the theme of “flight” in the series?

2. How would you have liked to see the issue between Lisa and her mom be resolved?

[zntanniversary]

September 26th [Day 2] GENDERBEND

1.  How would the ZNT world realistically react to genderbent characters?

[zntanniversary]

September 25th [Day 1] GRIEF

1. Which character did you mourn for most?

2. How do you think the story would have ended had Lisa or Shibazaki died in place of the Sphinx duo?

[zntanniversary]

[DAY 8] FAREWELL // REMEMBER US ASKS

1. What do you think would have been a suitable alternate ending?

Honestly, I don’t know. I am pretty satisfied with how the show ended: Nine and Twelve dying was something I pictured since episode 1, so I think I would have a hard time seeing them survive this all, especially considering serious ZnT is about realism. Even if they had survived, with their whole terrorist stunt, and not even counting the fact they blew an atomic bomb, Twelve and Nine would have probably been caught and sent to jail immediately. I doubt they would ever get to be freed on conditions or have their cases revisited after they’ve spent X years in prison.

But if I must, I suppose that a suitable ending would have Nine and Twelve surviving (or the U.S. choppers not shooting them, you know?) and going into hiding (in Japan or in another country like Iceland). They’d watch from the underworld how the world reacts to the Athena Plan and the Rising Peace Academy’s involvement as well as what would happen to the men funding the organization. I guess if they weren’t satisfied with how the media/police/government handled it all, they’d just flood the net with all files concerning the Athena Plan, kinda of like they did in episode 4 when they revealed the information concerning the terrorist Sphinx case so that justice would be made, finally.

And they’d Skype Lisa sometimes. Like, I can picture her just working at her desk, doing her homework or something like that, then her phone/computer just rings with a Skype conversation and the video opens on Twelve and Nine crammed in a tiny apartment with a naked light bulb. Twelve’d be all grin and say “Hiiiiiiiiiiii Lisaaaaaa,” with Nine just exasperatedly sighing in the backgrond and muttering that “the whole point of going into hiding was to disappear from the surface of the earth. Calling her defies the whole- oh hey Lisa, how are you?”

And poor confused Lisa’d just blink a billion times like “am I seeing things?” until it clicks and there are tears in her eyes. So Twelve and Nine being dorks, they’d completely panic because there’s a crying Lisa and they can’t even comfort her, whatthefuck dammit, move Twelve!

And Lisa going all “it’s just happy tears.” Twelve and Nine would be completely baffled by the idea that someone would cry tears of joy and relief at seeing the two of them alive (cuz they were never really needed before by anyone, y'know?).

Yeahh. Yeah. And Shibazaki would be drowning under all the deskwork and the pressure that’s been put on him by the two teenage boys, like “why do I have to do the paperwork, I’m a detective and I’m the last one who saw Sphinx alive, so shouldn’t I be a key element of this investigation?” but deep down, he’d be very satisfied with how things turned out. Sure they almost died from an atomic bomb à la WW2, but at least justice for the 26 children of the Athena Plan was going to arrive.

2. Which character did you find most memorable?

Uh… uuuuuuhhhhh…..

Twelve! Nine! Twelve! 

Yeah, Twelve! I suppose he’s been the most memorable one because as soon as I saw him, how sympathetic he seemed, yet so not empathetic in reality, I knew he’d be the kind of guy who would undergo a lot of character development. I was invested from the get-go at seeing how exactly he’d grow from creepy slightly sociopathic kid who seemed to care but didn’t give a damn if your name wasn’t Nine or weren’t related to the Athena Plan to a character who’d actually be the cutest most adorable sinnamon roll ever.

And his character development started pretty soon, too, so that helped. When he met Lisa and jumped in the pool: the whole scene just screamed at me something’s gon happen!

And something did happen. As soon as episode 2, we have Twelve trailing Lisa to see if she hasn’t blabbered about them yet and goes straight into “I’ll kill you if you talk” mode. However, 2 episodes later, he seems so fcking disappointed and conflicted when he tracks Lisa on his phone. He knows she ran away and he feels compelled to help her, but it contradicts with how he’s always lived his life up until this point: not caring about other people, just focused on making the world know about the Athena Plan and the lost children so that no one would ever suffer like they did.

From that point on, Twelve became the most precious and memorable character in my eyes. He was conflicted, he was pulled in two different directions (Nine and Lisa), trying to cater to the both of them and reach some kind of middle point. Twelve’s transition from an uncaring, emotionally-stunted and childhood-truncated terrorist into a vulnerable, teenager who openly admits that he’s always felt the need to be needed, to be of some use to someone else secured his spot in my heart. <3

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3. What are some of your headcanons for Lisa after the ending?

Lisa still keeps a kururin keychain to remember Twelve.

She doesn’t get to keep Nine’s phone (as it belonged to a criminal and as such, is a piece of evidence). Nonetheless, Lisa still puts the song VON and whatever others she remembered from Nine’s playlist in her own phone to listen and remember Nine.

Lisa writes everything that happened with Twelve and Nine in a little journal that she reads it from time to time, especially after she’s had a rough day. It always brings a smile to her face.

Lisa is taken into witness custody (though not in prison) immediately after Twelve’s and Nine’s death. Being both a witness and a hostage, the MPD and the Japanese govt secured a location for her safe-keeping. Detective Shibazaki was at first the only one allowed to see her and talk to her until the whole atomic bomb mess was sorted out. 

Lisa became selective mute (though she abhors the term “selective”: she doesn’t feel like she chose to be mute. Her body made the decision on its own) for months after Twelve and Nine died. She would eat and sleep on habit. It was Shibazaki’s idea to provide her with a book and pen and since then, she hasn’t stopped writing: her thoughts, her experience with Twelve and Nine, her feelings and fears.

Lisa’s status as Sphinx hostage was kept under the wraps: the Japanese govt thought better of announcing her existence and ties to Sphinx. As such, she never had to deal with journalists.

Lisa’s silence was bought for a hefty sum of money, though Shibazaki was assigned to keep tabs on her in case she ever blurted anything out about Sphinx and her ties with them.

American and Japanese governments negotiated with each other about what information would be released: the existence of the Settlement and Sphinx’s origins would be revealed. The Rising Peace Academy’s involvement in the Athena Plan were mentioned as well. However, the U.S.’s involvement and the names of the principal people responsible for the project were kept under wraps for an internal investigation.

After the ending, Lisa tried to visit the Settlement every month. However, it was off limits as it was a scene of crime. Later, when all evidences were recovered, Lisa found a way to sneak in and pray for the children.

It was Shibazaki who told Lisa that Twelve’s and Nine’s body would given for science and then incinerated. She cried for days at the news, wishing that at least, the boys could have had a normal, proper funeral.

Despite that, Lisa decided to plant wooden planks in Twelve’s and Nine’s memory, just like for the other children of the Athena Plané Shibazaki supplied the money, Lisa did the rest: scribbling their numbers and planting the planks.

Lisa picked up cooking as a way to honor the boys’ memory. She kept making curry, noodles and beef (the original dishes she tried to make for Twelve and Nine back then) until she perfected them. Sometimes, she’d bring that food to the Settlement and eat it, wondering what Nine and Twelve would think of her improvement.

Because the boys never really had a chance at a normal life, Lisa decided to return to school and became more studious than ever. She decided that she’d live her normal life fully until the very end, so that she would go without regrets and become someone Nine and Twelve would be proud of.

Shibazaki sometimes visit Lisa to see how she’s doing. He introduces his daughter, Haruka, to Lisa, and the two become best of friends rather quickly.

Whenever she sees a flip phone, Lisa smiles fondly at the memories evoked.

The bullying picked up again once Lisa set back to school, around January. By that time, she had mourned Nine and Twelve and picked up on her life, using her pale yellow voice to retaliate.

Summer is Lisa’s favorite season: it is synonym of a smile warm like the sun, eyes cold like ice and bittersweet happiness.

Once Lisa’s sight started degrading, she looked everywhere for a pair of glasses reminiscent of Nine’s.

She also bought a yellow beanie like Twelve’s, though the color is way too bright for her taste. She bears with it.

At some point in time, Lisa starts growing her own flowers to put on the children’s grave. They’re all yellow, because she’s nostalgic like that and because Nine and Twelve were her light at the end of the tunnel.

Lisa started working with children (either as a teacher, nurse, kindergarten worker or by adopting them). She always took special care to tell them they were special and precious and that they had a bright future ahead of them.

Lisa comes and cleans the Settlement’s grave, sometimes retracing the numbers on the wooden planks if they’re faded.

Lisa sometimes buys strawberry pocky for no reason. She says her body moved on its own.

Lisa wishes to visit Iceland, the land that Nine seemed to love so much. (If she does go there, she takes millions of picture that she uses as background).

Her favorite colors are yellow and blue/white/red, like the Icelandic flag.

Lisa keeps her hair long during one year, styling it like Twelve’s, then cuts it short like Nine the next year. She alternates between hairstyle like that as a way to remember the boys.

[zntanniversary]

Note: I am five days late. Proscrastination, man, that’s what it does ahah. But anyways, I’m going to be catching up on these pretty soon, so enjoy! Btw, happy Zankyou no Terror week y'all, even if it’s already ended <3

1. What colour would Lisa’s voice take in your mind? 

I guess it’s pretty much a tie between green and yellow. I find that these two colors have the most vibrancy to them, but that they can be overpowered and shadowed by other colors quite easily (especially yellow. It’s very easy to color over pale yellow). 

I can associate these two colors to Lisa because they represent how at first, Lisa was meek and ate her emotions, how people easily walked over her and she wouldn’t be able to respond (a pale yellow that can’t quite stand out against brighter colors like orange, red or blue). She looks like she’s full of despair and sadness, and flower that can’t quite shine because it is surrounded by sunflowers. 

There is strength and life in Lisa, but it’s hard for her to show that she’s got some backbone when nobody tells her that she matters, when school is hell and home is an added source of worry and stress. It’s unhealthty.

But after meeting Twelve, after starting to live with our two terrorists, Lisa starts to live. She takes the initiative by trying to cook or doing the laundry, she goes around the apartment to satisfy her curiosity and she acts like someone her age. Her range of expression broadens: surprise, happiness, envy, sheepishness, content. We see here that Lisa is working to becoming a whole person, someone with a plethora of expressions. She doesn’t eat them up anymore, she starts to shine.

That’s why I associate her with green or yellow. Because they can be the lightest of colors and easy to overlook or soil, but there are shades or green and yellow that are very bright. Yellow can be warm and comforting, while green is calm. Yellow is the sun overhead and green is the grass that feeds on the light: the meanings of yellow are light and hope, optimism and energy. On the other hand, the meanings of green are growth and peacefulness, youthfulness and trust.

And I picture Lisa’s voice as either yellow or green, sometimes being pale or sometimes being the most loud and bright shade ever (right to left)

2. Do you think colours play an important part in the show?

Yes. The use of color allows to establish contrast between characters (like Lisa’s voice being pale yellow and opposing Five whose color scheme is purple, whether it’s her make-up, her eyes color or her clothing as yellow and purple. This is actually pretty interesting since yellow and purple are complementary colors, meaning that they offer the brightest contrast when placed side by side and can cancel each other out) and can be quite symbolic (the red-blue-white combination reminds the viewer of the Icelandic flag and of Nine and Twelve’s VON, their hope, Five painting one of her fingernails like that).

However, on an artitstic point of view, animation wise, colors create an atmosphere and decide the mood: oppressive, light, heavy, serious, cheerful, etc. For example, in the end of episode 11, the sunset gives everything an ominous shade of purple: ominous because so far, we’ve been accustomed to associate purple with Five and with bad things happening. So subconsciouly, when we see how the scene darkens (drastically so, I may add, compared to the previous more light-hearted moment where Nine, Twelve and Lisa were playing around), we feel that tragedy is near. We know.

There’s also a little thing I picked up: it may sound like I pulled it out of nowhere, but when we see Nine, he’s surrounded by a blue tint and his glasses reflect that cold shade of blue. And later, when Twelve is at the Tokyo govt building, Twelve is illuminated by the emergency lights, giving the screen a greenish tint. Also, Nine + Three (or Nine + Lisa) = Twelve, while Blue + Yellow (or Nine + Lisa) = Green (or Twelve). Just a thing I noticed. It may have no meaning though :P

Otherwise, the game of light and shadows also plays an important role in the show, dictating the mood and, combined with Yoko Kanno’s impressive and eclectic soundtrack, the viewer is almost always aware that some impending doom will threaten the protagonist. Muted colors give off this vibe of madness and loneliness, and as such, the more vivid colors pop out much more than had everything been colored with bright colors (see how Five’s eyes are the focus of the picture below, how they seem to glint with a determind and mad because the whole picture is cast in shadows and soft muted colors? This is the effect I was talking about).

(“After that winter will come, and snow will cover everything.” We know that white is the reason it all began: Twelve and Nine’s story started back at the Settlement, where the walls, the people, the clothes, everything, was white. It’s sort of a throwback and a neat touch for Zankyou no Terror’s story to start in white too.)

There are many more instances of Zankyou no Terror’s impressive use of colors, contrasts and subtle accents, but at the top of my head (hey it,s been a month since I last watched ZnT, I don’t remember everything yo :P), these are the most impressive ones (of crouse they’re from episode 11 it’s the one I’ve rewatched until the halfway point just to see Twelve and Lisa holding hands. I’ve got shipping needs y'all):

Obviously there are many more examples of beautiful scenery. That’s one of the aspects with which Zankyou no Terror charmed me. If you want more of these beautiful screenshots, go rewatch the series.

Enjoyment guaranteed.

3. Do you think Twelve’s seeing Lisa’s voice as being the colour yellow is symbolic? If so, of what?

Like I said above, yellow symbolizes light, hope and optimism, many things that Twelve and Nine were never privy to before. Lisa’s yellow voice is a beacon of change for Twelve, who has never dreamed of a future beyond his and Nine’s plan, who was mostly a playful devil-may-care at the beginning of the series yet changed enough to question why he and Nine were going through their plans and started having doubts.

Lisa’s yellow voice is symbolic because it comes with a person who needed Twelve and gave him a purpose. The color yellow is, in Japanese culture, a symbol of courage, and I find it very fitting for Lisa to carry courage in her voice and actions. It’s also a motivator for Twelve, who starts to act more open and tries to live for himself instead of living to carry out his plan of justice.

But above all, yellow was a symbol of hope: hope for a new future ._.