Aaargh!

[louiselux]

Weiss Kreuz Gluhen - I need a chart, and a double brandy.  Who were all those other people? 

Correct me if I'm wrong on any of this, please.  I figured out who the Crashers were, I think. They were the people who blew up Mafida's palace, including Queen and Knight who we saw playing chess. Aya used to be a Crasher.

Rosenkreuz: they share the same name as the school/lab in Germany, where it seems all the assassins are trained and/or tampered with to make them into crazy psi-assassins. Rosenkreuz are copies (clones?) of Schwarz or from some common genetic material. Rosenkreuz the group is controlled by Eszett.

Mamoru Takatori (but he'll always be Omi to me) controls Weiss, the Crashers and by the end has a tentative alliance with Nagi and possibly the rest of Schwarz. Farfarello appears (disturbingly) in Crawford's inner world: Schwarz are friends, at least with each other.

So, all the assassins came out of Rosenkreuz Crazy Lab, which is controlled by Eszett.  Some of them (Weiss & Crashers) worked for the renegade good Takatori brothers. Some of them (Schwarz & Rosenkreuz) remained in the employ of Eszett.  Schwarz broke away from Eszett to become independent. They were out to further their own interests, which were never made very clear. At the same time, after exposure to a toxic Duran Duran video, their fashion sense began to wither and die.

Let there be no more mention of Schuldig's outfit. Or Crawford's monocle!

By the final episode, Eszett is destroyed, or at least the bit in Japan. The three Swiss elders are dead, but what happens to the Rosenkreuz lab?  Rex talks about training a new Weiss, so perhaps they'd be trained there.  Eszett survives in Europe?

Poor Omi. Lucky Yoji being able to forget. Ken - saved by football. 

Aya - I have no words. Christ. Who was the blond child and the person with dark hair? The new Weiss? Did Omi set it up, because he knew that Aya could never be happy? The talk of bearing bloody crosses and the sins of others made me suspicious that he would have to die, but I didn't want to accept it.  Aya said at some point that Weiss would have to be punished themselves one day.

But well, all I'm saying is that it was an open ending and some kind person could notice that there's a man bleeding to death on the pavement and call an ambulance. 

Comments

[thornsilver]

Are you aware that "Gluhen" is not really the total end of the story of Weiss Kreuz? "Side B" manga picks up from where "Gluhen" left off, but it veers a somewhat different direction.

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, that was something I meant to ask. I didn't know that. Was the manga written first, and do the manga and anime match up, storywise?

[thornsilver]

Well, the "Assassin: White Shaman" is a sort of prequel to the original Weiss anime, though the character desighns and the background somewhat differ. Then we have "Weiss Kreuz" anime, "Crime & Punishment" OAV, a couple of drama CDs that tell certain Weiss and Schwartz backstories, "Weiss Kreuz: Gluhen", and then "Side B" manga, which takes place immediately after the end of "Gluhen".

That's what I've been told, anyways. :P

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

Ah, thanks. That's made things a lot clearer.

[cygny.livejournal.com]

That is about what I gathered from it. But as the other commenter said, it doesn't end here. Daegaer told me that Aya isn't dead and that he shows up later (probably in the Side B manga?) in another team of assassins. So no need to despair yet.
The whole Farfarello in Crawford's mind boggled me the most. What happened there, what's he doing there, where's his body...?

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

Well that's a relief! Otherwise it woud have been too depressing for words.

Maybe Crawford could use Farfarello's skills, even if Farfarello wasn't actually there. Perhaps the bonds of friendship they'd developed were important for their survivial because it meant that they were able to call on each other's skills. That'd mean they'd have to be very intimate, mentally.

[cygny.livejournal.com]

Hm, would be interesting to explore the relationships in Schwarz from that point of view! But you're still only interested in Aya/Crawford? Or Crawford/Aya?

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

Ah, well, I'm not *only* interested in Aya/Crawford:) It just leapt out as a pairing that could be very interesting, partly because both of them are very reserved, plus there's lots of scope for conflict. Also, Aya is perfect fangirl fodder because he doesn't show much emotion-- with characters like that I find I always want to climb inside their heads and turn them inside out. But Schwarz-- they all have potential *g*

I noticed the way you wrote the names out - does the order that you write them in signify anything to you about the relationship? To me it doesn't, but I know it's different in YAOI.

[cygny.livejournal.com]

Ah yes, the order of names. In yaoi fandom, there's a clear definition of uke and seme, the dominant and the submissive errr, characters :P Can't ever keep them apart to be honest, since I'm more into equal terms and such. But I became careful in putting pairings in a certain order. You see, if you were to put Schuldig and Omi together, from most fangirls point of view, Schuldig would be the dominant one so you'd have to write Schuldig/Omi and not vice versa. But if you don't care and I don't, then let's just say Omi/Schuldig, hehe :P

And you're right about Schwarz all having potential. I can't quite decide who my favourite Weiss is, Aya or Ken. Aya is indeed perfect fangirl fodder but he often annoys me too. Ken is just sweet and somewhat tormented although mostly good humoured on the outside, awww, he makes me want to cuddle him... and such ;)

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

But if you don't care and I don't, then let's just say Omi/Schuldig, hehe

Absolutely agree! Much easier to ignore it all and just write a fic, I think :P

Ken is sweet - but not tortured enough for me;) After I'd watched both series, there are a few pairing that I thought could work: Schuldig/Crawford, Schuldig/anybody, Nagi/Omi, Aya/Crawford. Possibly Aya/Schuldig, although their hair would clash *dreadfully* and that's probably enoigh reason for Schuldig not to. Farfarello is just too disturbing.

[cygny.livejournal.com]

So, did you start writing it yet? Anything? Please?

Ah, but I'm still waiting for the Crowley/Sherlock one first :D

And I finally continued with 'All of us' a bit so if all goes well, you should get something in your mailbox by ... oh, end of next week at the latest :)

Hope sore throat is better by now?

[toscas-kiss.livejournal.com]

Farfarello was a figment of Brad's mindscape. He has actually become sane(ish), left Schwarz and run off to Ireland with a witch called Sally. This happens in one of the Drama CDs which explain what happens to everyone between the end of the OVA and the beginning of Gluhen. You can read a translation of the Schwarz one, links here:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/toscas_kiss/100965.html

After Gluhen, Aya and Ken turn up in the manga serial "Weiss Side B" in a new assassin team in England called Krypton Brand. This is still only in Japanese in the Zero Sum magazine, although scanlations are available online.

Confused yet? [grin]

[cygny.livejournal.com]

Daegaer gave me the links to the Drama CDs but haven't managed to read them all yet. (actually, only read half of one so far ^^;;;)
Too bad Farfarello becomes sane, I kind of liked him as he was :(
Ooooh, Aya and Ken, my two fave Weissies ^_^ Does this mean that there's no Schwarz in Side B? Would be ever so sad if they didn't turn up again. Hm, England and Ireland isn't that far, maybe they'll bump into Farfarello someday :P
Is the manga ongoing or is it finished already?

And thanks for the info, it actually all makes more sense this way ;)

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

Oh, thanks! I'm... a little less confused, I think:) And thanks for the link.

(ETA), I've just had a search round for the scanlations, and can only find one of the preview, sadly. I've found quite a good written outline of Side B, with a few scans, on a site called the far shore.

http://thefarshore.henkei.com/

[daegaer.livejournal.com]

When I saw the ending I screamed in agony, I admit it. However, like others have said, Aya doesn't die. He's picked up/kidnapped by yet another group of assassins and ends up in England, in the Weiss Side B manga. One volume of this has been compiled, although not translated, and I am seriously thinking of buying it. It's also scanlated somewhere on the web. The manga is ongoing, and is published in a big multi-story magazine in Japan.

The whole knifing-kid and kid's minder thing confuses me totally. If Omi did set it up, he has indeed managed to kill off his old self.

As for Rosenkreuz-the-green-trenchcoat-gang vs Rosenkreuz-the-place, let me second your Arrgh! It's a place in the scary Farfarello/Sally CD, and it isn't clear how closely it's tied to Eszett/Estet/Esset, although here it seems simply to be the Eszett psi-training facility.

I'm confused as to exactly when Nagi started working for Omi, how they got to be friends (Omi calls him Nagi-kun, after all), and if he's still working for him after he kills sniper!guy in the final episode. I'm also confused as to how Schwarz fits in to this at all - are they there purely to kill off the trenchcoat-brigade? Schuldig makes his "I'll kill you next" speech, while Crawford tells Weiss to get out. (Of course, I don't think Schuldig could actually stop himself making boastful, portentous comments under any circumstances). I'm also confused as to how Nagi went from his season 1 powers to his season 2 powers.

Charts and strong drink all round, I think!

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

Thank god Aya isn't dead. That last bit was too grim for words, although I did enjoy seeing the 'Kitten in the House' shop. I've found an overview with some scans of Weiss side B, here: http://thefarshore.henkei.com/

If Omi did set it up, he has indeed managed to kill off his old self.

He changed very much towards the end, and especially in the final episode I got the feeling that he'd accepted his life was going to be bleak and depressing. I could see him doing it out of pity for Aya.

The whole why-are-Shwarz-there? question is going to drive me nuts, I can tell. Why do they turn up? I got the impression that they were called up by mistake when Tsuji calls up Rosenkreuz to fight Weiss. I might just have to find a good quality written overview of the whole thing, to stop my head from exploding. I agree with you about what Schuldig says to Weiss - it seems more a boastful comment to me. I got the impression that Schwarz weren't there to fight Weiss at all. And Nagi is now a telepath too, confusingly.

As to when Nagi came to be friends with Omi - it's interesting that both the youngest members of the teams turn out to have the most power. Nagi certainly seemed more powerful in some ways than Crawford or Schuldig. Perhaps Omi sought him out, seeing him as a valuable ally?

Sweet Jesus Crawford looked a mess, didn't he?