My Broken Wings: The Platypus Watches Trinity Blood
My questions were not all answered. That's par for the course when dealing with anime. Most anime is based on manga. That means that an immense amount of plot and character development from a 24+ volume series must be condensed into 24 30 minute episodes. In many cases, the anime is produced before the manga is even finished. Thus, not having a satisfactory conclusion to an anime series is par for the course. Most times, I accept this and shrug it off. In the case of "Trinity Blood," however, I found its incomplete ending oddly fitting. Let me explain.
"Trinity Blood" is chiefly about brokenness. The ending song with its chorus of "my broken wings" gives it away. The setting, a post-apocalyptic Europe, gives it away as well. In fact, every one of the characters in the world of "Trinity Blood" is broken in some way. We see a young Pope, broken by the political machinations of his older siblings. We see a young nun broken by a cycle of revenge. We see an older nun broken by the tension between her vows and her private feelings. We see a young nobleman broken by the betrayal of his friend and mentor. Most of all, we see Father Nightroad broken by the very nature of what he is: a vampire who must feed on other vampires. Each of these characters is broken in a deep and perhaps irreparable way. Like the three Crusniks who dominate the action (Able, Cain, and Seth), the people and the world we are introduced to in "Trinity Blood" is Fallen, cast out of Eden. And yet...
And yet love and grace trickles down like tears into this fallen world and lifts up an ennobles the lives of its inhabitants, raising them, weaknesses and all, to something higher. "Trinity Blood" with its embattled Vatican is a moving picture of the Church Militant: broken and torn, yet striving higher (often in spite of itself) in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
That's why I'm ok with the series' unfinished ending. The fight has to go on. The Eschaton hasn't come and the Church is still present in the midst of a broken and dying World and is still broken herself. Deliverance is coming, but it's also important to confess that we are still waiting. Until that day, we are left to fly with our broken wings.
Comments
While the series isn't perfect, I think its merits more than make up for it. On top of being visually stunning (and Joi was quick to point out various references to particular classical pieces), it's quite possibly the only anime I've seen that got the core of Christianity right in an overt fashion. Add that to the development of some of the characters, the creative world, and the bit of philosophy running through it, and it really is a good series... worth the watch.
Unfortunately, Trinity Blood was hit by two problems in the creation of the anime. The first was that it was planned as 26 episodes rather than 24, thus forcing them to rush near the ending. The second was that the guy who originally wrote the novels died, leaving behind a tale that friends and/or colleagues had to try and piece together for him. I'm not sure how close to the original novels the anime runs, but I have plans to dig them up.
The art in the manga is gorgeous, but for whatever reason the flow didn't quite pull me in. Perhaps because it was done by a different team from either the novels or the anime....