A short comparison between Showdown in Chinatown and Spring Unending
I've finally finished Heguang's character story and decided to make a short comparison between Patch 2.5 (Showdown in China) and Patch 3.4 (Spring Unending). In general, I like both patches a lot and rank them just shy of my favourite stories such as Chapter 7 and 1987 Cosmic Overture.
DISCLAIMER: THIS POST CONTAINS JUST MY OWN OPINIONS AND I HEAVILY APOLOGISE IF I MISSED OUT ANYTHING OR YOU DISAGREE WITH MY FINAL VERDICT. AS I AM A HUMAN BEING WITH OTHER THINGS TO DO, I APOLOGISE FOR BEING UNABLE TO DO A FULL COMPARISON BETWEEN BOTH PATCHES. IN NO WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM, AM I ASSERTING ANYONE'S OPINION IS INFERIOR AND I HOPE EVERYONE CAN MUTUALLY RESPECT ONE ANOTHER'S PREFERENCES, thank you for your time.
Premise of the story
3.4 >>>>> 2.5. I just think the idea of people from earlier eras getting trapped under a tree and communicating with modern era folk through the internet is a fricking cool ass concept.
Relevance of the 5 star
3.4 >>>> 2.5. To my memory, Loggerhead honestly did not have much of a role in 2.5, while Reed was pivotal to the story both literally and thematically. She's the one who uncovered the ancients' story and helped bring them back from under the tree, and her struggle and desire for longevity and eventual embrace of her belonging in the cycle of reincarnation is just great character development and thematic messaging. She even says in her interview with Pandora Wilson that she's excited about what the new "Reed" will be like, even though we know the Reed of the present is likely not a reincarnation of the Mayfly of the past due to Storm reversal, unless the Tree shielded her from the Storm.
Exploration of Justice
2.5 > 3.4. This one was reeeaaally hard. If you compare between the two characters who are meant to embody Justice in their narratives, Heguang beats out Liangyue imo. Heguang was more memorable in the main story due to his aurafarming and his actions felt more consequential as to what it means to be righteous. While Liangyue's actions in the story weren't going to change much regardless of how her perception of justice shifted over the course of the main story, Heguang's decision not to hand over the sword was delivered with greater impact, even if Ren didn't require the sword in the end. Heguang's matured understanding of justice also directly led to his aiding a "criminal" (Heron), resignation from his role as an "enforcer" of Justice in society and not handing over the sword in the end, where he otherwise would have at the beginning of the main story.
On the other hand, 2.5 had a really unique element of including filmmaking into the discussion. The inclusion of filmmaking into the discussion in the final scene essentially served to convey that there is no true arbitrator of justice and justice lies in the eyes of the beholder. I yapped about this in a lot more detail in the main R1999 discord but the idea is 2.5 had us perceive justice through the lens of the "hero" Liangyue, then the filmmaker who directs the scene and thus arbitrates her idea of justice into the scene Noire, but the filmmaker herself then questions if she herself and every party involved was set upon a stage set by an unknown party, which obviously turns the idea of justice arbitration in the main story upside down. This obviously serves to raise the question "Who is worthy of the role of being the true arbitrator of justice in both the main story and in real life, if every arbitrator, such as a bystander or onlooker, can be viewed as just a character in a scene to be judged from another's perspective?"
Yet ON ANOTHER HAND (the third hand), 3.4 made really good use of Ren to blur the lines between good and bad, black and white to call into question the moral superiority of the "good guys" Paper Heron and Heguang. Was Heron really right to subject entire future generations of future proteges and disciples into subduing the Xiandao beast over and over again instead of liberating them for their own pursuits just as she once had held, like opening a food stall? Was Heron being too conservative or was Ren simply too ambitious? And was Heguang being too sympathetic to the prisoner spirits that he immediately believed them instead of questioning if they were just slandering her school and her name due to spite from being rejected?
I think ultimately though I had to give the points to 2.5 due to its more novel and broader take on justice.
Writing of the villain
Easy 3.4 > 2.5 I'm sorry. I like the complex and nuanced relationship between Qi Xing and Noire. I like her clash with Noire about their ideals for Justice based on their differing opinions about the ending of Noire's seasonal show. I like that she ultimately set herself up to be the villain and Noire the hero to stand by her ideal of Justice since she WAS a criminal after all and as a possible atonement for Rijun's situation. HOWEVER, I just love that Ren's one of the few villains in R1999 who actually puts the moral superiority of the supposed "good guys" into question. More saliently, she's an embodiment of Paper Heron's failing in her desire to seek out proteges or disciples to uphold her school and its mission, which Ren herself questions!
Writing of important side characters
2.5 >> 3.4. I think Poitier is a better side character than Mayfly, because Poitier was essential to helping Liangyue break out of her shell of being a tight rule-follower, while Mayfly was essentially a foil to Heron to highlight the conflict between those with short lifespans who desire longevity and those with longer lifespans who are indifferent to, perhaps even dismissive of longevity. Mayfly's situation didn't seem to encourage Heron to reflect on or appreciate her immortality more, not that she must, but I just thought the Poitier-Liangyue relationship ran deeper than the Mayfly-Heron relationship.
Writing of character stories
3.4 > 2.5. I don't want to get into the rabbit hole of the character stories because I think that would make this comparison 2x longer or more, but I will just say Heguang's character story makes 3.4's exploration of justice even better through Xiu and Heguang's dad whose actions present the debacle of "Justice through the lens of law" and "Justice through the lens of morality", even though characters who do unlawful things for righteous reasons are very common in media.
I like Heron's character story even more though because it bridges Taoist ideas of the cycle of destruction and creation and harmony with the flow of nature (as the story presents them) with acceptance of one's past and moving on, which is VERY PERTINENT TO R1999'S CORE THEMES. The destruction of Heron's sworn sister's emblem beget the creation of new life around the Mei tree in her story. This is also an act of moving on since Heron remains stuck in the past so long the emblem remains, both of them like a stubborn rock refusing to go along with the flow of time. Removing the emblem enables her to move on and flow along with time in the present, just as it enabled the Qi to move on and flow with the Way.
In general, I felt 3.4's character stories were more thematically pertinent to their patch's overall themes.
Putting all these comparisons together, I am compelled to say 3.4 was better written overall, FOR ME, PERSONALLY. YOU CAN LIKE 2.5 MORE AND I RESPECT AND KISS YOU ALL THE MORE FOR IT.
If you are questioning why I did not discuss 2.5's character stories, I do remember their rough plotlines (Liangyue treating QiangLiang as a friend as she did in her childhood, not a tool. Noire seemingly breaking the 4th wall and making us doubt the authenticity of her backstory), but their character stories did not leave that deep of an impression on me for me to discuss them at length.