So I watched the first episode of Prism Ark, which at least takes a stab at serving up epic plot and epic fanservice, although it succeeds best with epic confusion, what with the first episode jumping erratically among 3 different timeframes. Sort of like one of my run-on sentences, which just take these odd twists and turns, much like rides at Astroworld.
Wait, there is no more Astroworld.
So while I was trying to follow the chopped-up plot and enjoy fanservice that kept disappearing as fast as it appeared, thanks to equally-choppy animation, this little tidbit got thrown onto the screen. Prism Ark takes place in a slightly different version of Europe. Either the land masses are somewhat different, or they have the worst mapmaker in the world working in the royal courts of the Wind Lands. I’m thinking the latter. There are two really bizarre errors in the map; not “the geography is slightly different,” not “names are misspelled,” but two really peculiar items that stand out compared to the rest. Can you spot them? (Click for a larger map).
Actually, I think I just spotted two more, although arguably those might fall into the “different geography” category. They’re not quite as odd as the first two, IMHO.
I could be nice and post the answers below the fold or in spoilers, but everyone will simply wimp out and click to see the answer. So you’re just going to have to wait until tomorrow. Nyah.
(Or you could try spotting them yourself. Please, if you post the answer, use the spoiler /spoiler tags, with angle brackets.)
Edit: fixed –ubu
I used the spoiler tags, I swear. Guess that doesn’t work here.
Strange but true: in the state of Massachusetts, Norfolk county is south of Suffolk county.
It should, Avatar…. weird. did you use the angle brackets instead of square? I’ll test it in this comment; perhaps the plugin only works for main posts.
Anyway, Corsica is part of the “different terrain” — but I didn’t really notice the last one until you mentioned it! Here’s t he four I was seeing:
The Dardanelles don’t drain the Black Sea. It looks like they connect to “Poleland,” and there is no Black Sea.
What is Hungary doing in the middle of “Speen”??
The other two:
Greece being north of Italy (you got that one)
Sweeden is part of north Germany.
In fact, if you look closely at the north coast of “Speen” there’s something that looks suspiciously like “Kingdom of Denmark.”
I mean, it’s an alternate fantasy world, but the first one caught my eye while watching the show, so I backed up and then I started picking out all the others.
Oh, and the general story is that there’s a holy war going on. Heroic princess knight, commoner(?) knight, a loli mahou, a young miko, and a beautiful swordswoman and others all fighting for the Wind Land vs. the forces of Hell, who have a big-breasted blond for a field marshal/warrior. Cleavage abounds.
I think I’ll go watch more Dai Mahou, it’s got a more wicked sense of humor.
GOOD choice. Well worth your while…
Don’t forget that the evil blond general dresses in a nun’s habit (with, er, some gaps compared to the standard version) and fights with a big cross (cross-shaped sword? whatever). That’s about where I started fast-forwarding. Not that I was particularly offended or bothered … it was way too dumb for that.
Steven: Thanks. 🙂
Griffin: yes, but she comes from the land that’s southeast of Europe, so shouldn’t she be using a sickle? Or is that too un-PC? Did you notice the war is over Resrexion….which just happens to be about where a certain hotly disputed territory is located?
Eliz von Barbaroque? a.k.a. “Hole Digger Eli?” Maybe wicked wasn’t the right word. Demented, perhaps.
However, it contains one of the best realistically (excepting a few high leaps) choreographed and animated fights I’ve seen in a while. (Granted, if I’d watched more panty fighter shows, I might not think so, but I happen to like my brain cells, and want to keep them unexploded, thank you very much.) Most of the time, it’s “Power Up –SMASH!!!” when fight scenes are animated. These girls are actually matching move vs. counter-move, with minimum close-ups of frozen grimaces and speed lines. There’s no, “hey, they were grappling a second ago, now they’re 40 yards apart?: moments.
It’s worth mentioning that GSNK tried to do the same thing in episode 6, but came off looking much worse. The problem was they spent their animation budget detailing the solders’ uniforms and not on making the fights look smooth. Dai Mahou has a much simpler, cleaner (therefore probably cheaper) look, so they could spend the budget on making the fight look good.
That fight in the third half-episode is definitely a fine one — and I love the way it ends, with Tetsuko passing out.