AAA omg you notice so many little details in my animatics that like, no one ever points out haha! I'm so happy to hear you point out stuff from the frame composition and such! I really hope you continue watching the whole musical!
@@qryptida lot of the olympians, titans, and the more then mortals less than gods (forget the actual name for them) became fey when in christian nations
Not even though, he never says "Say goodbye to Telemachus" Only "Say Goodbye to Penelope" Because women are more important than children in his mind. Or Alternatively because Telemachus wouldn't get killed by the grown up warrior
"I hope Epic fans like watching epic content" Oh, we collect new fans through reactions like they where Pokémon's xD Since we can't experience Epic for the first time again, we re-live the journey through others, very very happily
You described the thing I tried describing to my husband earlier today. He likes Epic but not to the level I do of living vicariously through every "first react" video I can find 😂😂 it's okay if he doesn't get it, I know the winions get me ❤
Just so you know, Agamemnon, Menelaus and other people mentioned in the first song are not part of 600 men. They are all kings and leaders of different armies. They are listening to Odysseus because he is the best greek strategist, not because they are subordinate to him. They also all went home separately, so we will not meet them again in the musical. Polites and Eurylochus, on the other hand, are Odysseuses people
@@theartassassin1865in the poem Menelaus and Nestor were actually the ones to whom Telemachus went during his "diplomatic mission"! They told him some cool war stories about his dad!
It's likely they're not even in the horse, these two are mentioned as "---- will do this and ----- will do that" Odysseus does adress Nestor and Neoptolemus directly, which makes sense as they were there
@@theartassassin1865 Agamemnon was the one who drafted Odysseus into the war. When he came to Ithaca, Odysseus tried to act insane to get exempted by plowing his fields like a madman, but Agamemnon foiled this by putting baby Telemachus out on the field to prove Odysseus was still sane enough that he would not let his son be killed.
@adellefletcher, the thing that greatly bothers me is that people don't seem to be capable of looking at two men who are really close and friendly to each other and love each other a lot but *platonically*, as very good friends that love each other *platonically*, as actual friends, love is not only romantic and in all types of it a deep closeness is present because no matter the type of love, it's still love, two men can be really close and love each other even being physically close and comfortable with each other like hugging (and some men are complaining about this two, that they can be good friends and love each other without being gay), which good firends do despite of their gender and sexuality, without being gay or having any romantic interest in each other, this problem doesn't happen that much with two women, though in this time and age it does happen a lot too, but it's still not as much as two men since there seems to be some kind of perverted and obsessive obsession with two men specifically, not even with a man and a woman, and then people talk about normalizing things that are normal and how terrible misogyny is (which it is), and that deep friendship without romantic intent between two men exists too without them being gay at all, but then they don't leave way for obvious close friendship in their heads because all they do when characters or people like this appear that are so close is thinking that they are romantically involved or if they are two men specifically that they have to romantically like each other and be gay, thus taking away the complexity and dehumanizing, demonizing and abnormalizing human relationships, people, and characters and songs in this case too, I literally see nothing wrong or "gay" with the song "Your light" or with "Open arms" because I normalize them and see them as completely normal and two best friends being two best friends and caring for each other deeply in the songs like two best friends should do and that’s why they are supposedly best friends, I would be exactly the same with my best friend because I would deeply care and love that person even with that person being of the same sex as me, and I am 100% straight, that is normal, true and deep friendship, not something gay or something that points to some romantic and sexual attraction
@adellefletcher, the thing that greatly bothers me is that people don't seem to be capable of looking at two men who are really close and friendly to each other and love each other a lot but *platonically*, as very good friends that love each other *platonically*, as actual friends, love is not only romantic and in all types of it a deep closeness is present because no matter the type of love, it's still love, two men can be really close and love each other even being physically close and comfortable with each other like hugging (and some men are complaining about this two, that they can be good friends and love each other without being gay), which good firends do despite of their gender and sexuality, without being gay or having any romantic interest in each other, this problem doesn't happen that much with two women, though in this time and age it does happen a lot too, but it's still not as much as two men since there seems to be some kind of perverted and obsessive obsession with two men specifically, not even with a man and a woman, and then people talk about normalizing things that are normal and how terrible misogyny is (which it is), and that deep friendship without romantic intent between two men exists too without them being gay at all, but then they don't leave way for obvious close friendship in their heads because all they do when characters or people like this appear that are so close is thinking that they are romantically involved or if they are two men specifically that they have to romantically like each other and be gay, thus taking away the complexity and dehumanizing, demonizing and abnormalizing human relationships, people, and characters and songs in this case too, I literally see nothing wrong or "gay" with the song "Your light" or with "Open arms" because I normalize them and see them as completely normal and two best friends being two best friends and caring for each other deeply in the songs like two best friends should do and that’s why they are supposedly best friends, I would be exactly the same with my best friend because I would deeply care and love that person even with that person being of the same s*x as me, and I am 100% straight, that is normal, true and deep friendship, not something gay or something that points to some romantic and s*xual attraction (I censor those two words because of UA-cam)
@adellefletcher, the thing that greatly bothers me is that people don't seem to be capable of looking at two men who are really close and friendly to each other and love each other a lot but *platonically*, as very good friends that love each other *platonically*, as actual friends, love is not only romantic and in all types of it a deep closeness is present because no matter the type of love, it's still love, two men can be really close and love each other even being physically close and comfortable with each other like hugging (and some men are complaining about this two, that they can be good friends and love each other without being gay), which good firends do despite of their gender and sexuality, without being gay or having any romantic interest in each other, this problem doesn't happen that much with two women, though in this time and age it does happen a lot too, but it's still not as much as two men since there seems to be some kind of perverted and obsessive obsession with two men specifically, not even with a man and a woman, and then people talk about normalizing things that are normal and how terrible misogyny is (which it is), and that deep friendship without romantic intent between two men exists too without them being gay at all, but then they don't leave way for obvious close friendship in their heads because all they do when characters or people like this appear that are so close is thinking that they are romantically involved or if they are two men specifically that they have to romantically like each other and be gay, thus taking away the complexity and dehumanizing, demonizing and abnormalizing human relationships, people, and characters and songs in this case too, I literally see nothing wrong or "gay" with the song "Your light" or with "Open arms" because I normalize them and see them as completely normal and two best friends being two best friends and caring for each other deeply in the songs like two best friends should do and that’s why they are supposedly best friends, I would be exactly the same with my best friend because I would deeply care and love that person even with that person being of the same sex as me, and I am 100% straight, that is normal, true and deep friendship, not something gay or something that points to some romantic and sexual attraction
40:55 - Yep! It's collectively agreed Polites has a headband and also glasses! The reason why is because the VA for him has glasses! Designs for a lot of these characters ae made with the VA's looks in mind and do a few things as little easter eggs about them.
17:13 The thing about Greek mythology is that prophecy is absolute. Zeus isn't lying here, as even the gods answer to fate. Even the act of trying to prevent a prophecy just ends up being its self-fulfilling cause. My favourite example of this is Perseus.
exactly, if you don't act the prophecy will come true, and if you try to prevent it from coming true, your actions will cause the prophecy to come true anyway; there is no escape from fate.
@AquaticDot for oedipus really if both his parents and himself didn't try and prevent the prophecy they would have been fine, if oedipus' parents did nothing and oedipus left like he did to prevent the prophecy everyone is fine, or if his parents did cast him away and oedipus never learned of the prophecy he'd have stayed in cadmus
Little Ajax is most likely a play on Ajax the lesser, not because he was young or small, but to distinguish him from Ajax the greater. He also managed to piss off Athena by falsely swearing on a figurine of her
He also During the Sacking of troy SAed an Athena priestess. In her temple, Odyseus wanted him stoned to death for his crimes. Didn't happen but the gods took care of killing him when he tried to go home
And to that point, im pretty sure man on man relationships were pretty common, and they weren't thought of as cheating in ancient greece. Uh, maybe dont quote me on that, though. I just read that somewhere once.
@@Virginnyyea from what I’ve heard over the years (and not sure if it’s actually true or not) Greek warriors were not only permitted, but encouraged to love each other, as it would make them stronger warriors. That way, not only would they fight fiercely for their wives and children at home, but just as fiercely for the man beside them that they love.
17:20 thing about prophecies, the greeks believed that your destiny was pretty much written in stone and you could not change it unless through death, suicide was almost glorified by the greeks for this reason cuz they saw it as you taking control of your own life by chosing when is your time to die instead of going at the moment you were destined to. So if zeus says if that infant stayed alive he would have made odysseus' life hell you better believe the guy is being 110% truthful, had odysseus not killed the boy directly it would have probably been a similar case to perseus where his grandfather was told by an oracle that he'd be killed by his own grandson, trying to avoid this prophecy he imprisoned his only daughter a top a tower, but there she was impregnated by zeus in the form of a shower of gold. When perseus was born her father tossed them into the ocean in a wooden chest they survived and washed ashore, years later after the medusa event perseus would end up accidentally killing his grandfather when he was playing a brand new game where you throw a disc to land it on a spike, the disc would end up hitting perseus' grandfather and killing him Zeus too is familiar with this kinds of prophecies since his own father, the titan kronos was warned he'd be defeated by his son just like he defeated his own father before him, kronos tried to avoid this fate by devouring his children as soon as they were born but his wife got tired of this cruelty and swapped the 6th child (zeus) for a rock and gave the actual baby to the titan gaia to raise him, which resulted in zeus growing up to want to avenge his siblings and take down his father. Once that was done zeus married the oceanid metis but when she got pregnant he was told her son just like him and just like his father before him would grow to eventually take zeus down, knowing this zeus took direct action by absorbing metis before the child was born, which granted him her wisdom and sometime later resulted in the birth of athena when zeus got a killer headache and had his head split open to release the preasure (some version say metis was pregnant with twins, a boy and a girl which was athena)
It's a lot of the self-fulfilling prophecy narratives, trying to prevent a prophecy often is what leads to its fulfilment, bc in doing so, one usually ends up producing the conditions that will lead to the prophesied outcome (I.e. locking up your child being what leads them to resent and later kill you)
Glasses Context: many of the animators in the epic fandom base their designs for characters on the appearance of the vocalalist. With the trio in full speed ahead being the primary examples. Poletes’ Vocalist has glasses so allot of the animators added them.
57:20 I would say that the main thing that happens between this young Odysseus and the one in the Troy Saga is, in fact, the Trojan war. He was drafted into a 10 year long war mostly against his will and has not seen home for a decade at this point.
@@JacobPenrodWrites He literally faked being insane just to avoid being drafted, and a dude just threatened his son, so he had no choice but to join the war. I'd be salty af as well.
That observation of him not flinching when called upon by a god meaning that he must have some experience with gods before when you don't know his backstory is actually such a good indicator for the last song of the saga in Warrior of the Mind. The first song indicating what the last will be about. And his call about focusing on the humanity of Odysseus was spot on.
52:25 Polities is Ody's best friend, and while nothing states that Eurylochus is an old friend, Eurylochus is Ody's brother in law, so it's likely they'd be freindly.
i think at 25:36 hes not just dehumanizing the baby, hes dehumanizing himself, arguably more than the baby. I think he was viewing the "warrior/soldier" version of him, and HIM as two different people and might even be using the "soldier" persona to compartmentalize what hes about to do.
I think it's a combination of both. When does he, the man, become a monster for prioritizing himself and what he loves over the infant? But also, when would the infant grow up and become a monster to Odysseus's whole life? Jorge's Odysseus is very self-deprecating when he's being vulnerable though lol
The thing about Epic and Jorge’s approach to this story, is that there’s no point in looking for good guys or bad guys, there’s no point in trying to hold the characters accountable for their actions. It’s a story in which everyone (with a few notable exceptions) is just doing what they need to to survive. The Odysseus that makes it back to Ithaca is a very different person to the one we meet at the beginning, but we still root for him because we’ve seen what he’s gone through, what he’s done, to get himself back home. The whole point of the story is “how far are you willing to go for the people that you love?” and it’s a question Odysseus gets confronted with over and over again throughout the story, it’s the main theme of the musical. Starting off with killing that baby is just setting the tone lol
As a longtime EPIC fan, I find your commentary on the storytelling aspect very fascinating. As you go through reacting to future songs, it would be worth revisiting some of these earlier comments. I also found myself chuckling at the comments about Little Ajax. In the myths, he was more accurately known as Ajax the Lesser. Not a little boy!
Same, it’s really interesting to me compared to all the other reactions I’ve lost. We’ve had tons of people react to the music, either the instruments or the lyrics, and people who don’t know to much about music to react, and it’s really interesting to see a professional talk about the writing. I think this is the first video I’ve seen really talk about it
@@Dawn_the_dragonyes! I’ve been enjoying watching people like Casper and Martius and a bunch of others discussing the music and motifs, people like CyYu discussing the vocals and lyrics as he’s a VA, and Bec Leavesly (who he mentioned at the start) talking about the story, but I’m loving such an in depth analysis on the story and how perceptive he is to what’s coming. Would love to see him revisit this analysis once he’s deeper in the story as @dandegoat mentioned. 😊
Want to note that the visuals are created by independent animators and all of Jorge’s actual storytelling is in the audio. The animations are great and add to the overall storytelling but it’s important to remember that what you see may not be entirely canon to the actual events. Eg, in Gigi’s Just a Man animatic, all the men look up at Odysseus as he drops the baby. That’s not necessarily canon, HOWEVER, as we hear the men singing along with Odysseus, we CAN say that they echo his questions about when a man becomes a monster
@@dolphin64575 ah, maybe :) i was mostly focused on the "dropping from the wall" part because there are other versions of the child's death and the song doesn't outright say what's happened. So one could imagine that even the fact that Odysseus drops it is only Gigi's interpretation. Sorry for the confusion
as a fellow writer, i loved the commentary! looking forward to you continuing with the other sagas :") 1. so glad you liked the in medias res nature of the opening. some people have criticized epic for opening with the end of the trojan war instead of the usual odyssey opening which is with telemachus and penelope back in their home, to which i would disagree as it's clear that Epic strongly has a message it wants to tell even with its narrative structure. which brings me to my second point: 2. super fun that you're picking up on the themes and characterization of odysseus. from the very start, jorge is already making clear the kind of story he wants to tell with this adaptation. (it was originally his college thesis btw! so there's totally a thesis statement here that will be even clearer throughout the journey of Epic) 3. please don't worry about "talking too much" in your reaction! we fans totally love reactors who are engaged with the story. we understand you're offering a writer's perspective. 4. the constant Lesser Ajax shade is so funny i'm crying 😭 5. LOVEEEE how you see ody's characterization! he is in fact a selfish character! let's goooo. 6. great catch on Ody and Athena seeming to clash. this musical is fully sung through, so it's really cool to see someone pick up a lot of things from the get go as they're important later on in the story.
This was one of the best reaction/analysis videos of Epic I’ve seen in a long time!! I hope you decide to watch and analyze the rest, seeing you break down the storytelling choices that Jorge and the animatic illustrators make is very interesting and informative
Yesssss welcome to the Epic community. Prepare to feel all of the feelings. For the character designs, a lot of the animators go off of the singer/actor’s real appearance, even in the official art/animatics Jorge commissioned. So Polities having glasses is purely based of his actor Steven Dookie wearing glasses irl.
Fun fact: A LOT is told through the musical through instruments and such. I know you said you’re not here for the music, but I think it’s best for you to know that when Athena starts singing Warrior Of The Mind she keeps a very strong and high ending note. Personally, I interpret that as her not wanting to really slow down and instead constantly wanting to soar upwards, to improve all the time. Whereas when Odysseus sings the same line, he does little riff during “Mind” because he’s not as uptight. He’s more willing to be playful and relaxed. And at the end of the song, you can hear Athena eventually following HIS lead and doing the same riff, symbolizing that she’s slowly accepting his ideals as time passed and their bond strengthens.
Great reaction! For the next saga, I recommend both 1st and 2nd songs to watch the animatics made by mircsy - they follow on each other thematically, and I find that the 1st one “Polyphemus” is a much more emotionally impactful and well-crafted cinematically than the other animatics of the same song.
Hi! Greek Myth nerd here! Here's some added context as I watch along: Horse and The Infant: Odysseus is actually technically a demigod. He's the Great Grandson of Hermes(relevant for later sagas). Little Ajax isn't actually a child, it's just funnier to draw him like that. There were 2 Ajax's involved in the Trojan War on the Greek side and were differentiated as Ajax the Lesser and Ajax the Great. No relation to each other whatsoever. The named figures in the first song are never mentioned again in the musical. They're important figures from different allied Greek forces. In song order they are: Diomedes; King of Argos and actual badass that injured 2 gods, Aphrodite and Ares.(Who both acted like actual babies about tiny scratches. Aphrodite literally went crying to her mother about a little cut on her hand. This is relevant information for later sagas) Agamemnon; King of Mycenae and actual asshole that pissed off both his own wife and Achilles. Menelaus; King of Sparta, who was Helen's original husband and the whole reason this war happened at all. Teucer, a companion of Achilles Little Ajax; or Locrian(Lesser) Ajax, often alongside Ajax the Great and the quickest sprinter besides Achilles himself Nestor; King of Pylos and most noted as being the oldest dude there Neo (I'm assuming this is Neoptolemus); was the son of Achilles. Paris, the guy who stole Helen, has killed Achilles by this point. Odysseus doesn't even flinch because the gods talking to you in various forms is actually that freaking common in Greek Mythology. You kind of expect it at some point as an influential figure (or generally attractive person) in your society. The gods don't lie about Prophecy. it's the one constant in Greek myth you can't avoid. Like in Doctor Who how you can't change history once it's written down. Once Prophecy is spoken, it is inevitable. Zeus only lies to his wife. Just a Man: Odysseus didn't kill Astyanax(the baby) in the original myth, it was another soldier who did it with zero remorse. The difference is hilarious. Full Speed Ahead: The named men of the first song did not take the same route he did, Odysseus took the scenic route. Open Arms: The animators tend to make the characters look like the people that voiced them. As such, the VA for Polites does wear glasses. The Headband on the other hand, is a stylistic choice that has been absorbed into fanon. Polites and Eurylochus are Odysseus' childhood friends in this story. Polites is actually barely mentioned in the source material at all. 100% do not trust the lotus eaters through no fault of their own. They were originally supposed to be actual people in this song but the fandom collectively decided they were winions and no one has argued with us. The Flash Warning may not be necessary but definitely appreciated by me, who deals with light sensitivity and chronic headaches/migraines that can be triggered by this kind of flashing (you going over it a couple times actually triggered a mild headache for me lmao) Warrior of the Mind: Fun fact, Odysseus tried to dupe his way out of being involved in the Trojan War by pretending to be insane. Palamedes calls his bluff though. Odysseus, like the others, was obligated to join on Menelaus' side as a former suitor of Helen. (Menelaus made all her suitors swear to join him in war against anyone that would try to take her, to prevent any of them doing what Paris ended up doing.) #JusticeForArgos. Good boy, best boy. In the original myth, he clung to life for 20 years waiting for his master to come home after being abused by Penelope's suitors the whole time. He literally dies after being the only being to recognize Odysseus when he finally gets home. Like, immediately after Odysseus walks away (because acknowledging the dog would expose his identity, which he is concealing at this point, and yes, it breaks his heart to see the state Argos in, he even sheds a tear) Welcome to the madness! I've been following Epic since the very beginning and I can tell you for a fact that we LOVE watching people react to Jorge Rivera-Herran's genius. There's always things we miss that people like you pick up on and it enhances everyone's enjoyment
Neo is for sure Achilles' son Neoptolemus, and Gigi's way to draw that - covered in blood near slaughtered bodies - it's 100% accurate. Dude was a brutal killing machine. He's the one that killed Astyanax in most of the myths, with not much of a "Just a man" thought, for sure. There are vases that represents how he definitely ended Priamus' bloodline that involve Astyanax too and are...not good. to elaborate on Full Speed Ahead "scenic route" (I love this) Ithaca is very far from Troy. With no way to pass through the Isthmus of Corinth (the Trojan war can be traced to around the 12th Century BC, while the Diolkos, the road/railway passage between the Gulf of Aegina and the Gulf of Corinth, was built around 7th BC) Odysseus' fleet had to take the full periplos around the Peloponnesus, which was renown to be a really difficult voyage because of - well, he already reacted to the Ocean saga so it's not spoilers anymore, STOOooOOOoooOOORMs - and they were at full capacity too because they didn't lost a single man in the war! So all combined they would have the most need for stops for resources in the whole Greek army, therefore "scenic route".
Hi 👋 this was an excellent read. Can you expand a bit on how the bit about Diomedes is important in later sagas? I've heard the whole musical, so don't worry about spoilers. I'm guessing it's related to God Games, but I probably missed the layer this relates to
This was an awesome breakdown. I had chuckle sometimes because your comments were so spot on and you didn't know it yet. I hope you keep your comments and theories in mind. I would love to see more of this break down for the other sagas.
The reason polities has glasses is because they are designed to look like their VA's! No matter what animatic you watch, you should be able to easily identify the main characters. Also, each character has an instrument. Oddy's is guitar, Athenas is piano and eurylochus actually is the crew! Also in this music if theres a group singing eg the "six hundred men"- unless a god is singing- thats ACTUALLY the crew! Glad to have another winon, welcome to epic!
Your perspective of the writing is great. Please continue your reaction to it, I belive you will love the whole thing! I really enjoyed your reaction :)
I second this, it was a great watch. And it's always an enlightening experience when people notice tiny details that I never even thought about 🤣 makes this whole musical even more fascinating to me than it already was
Oh, and just fyi all the just a man "when does" lyrics were When does a comet become a meteor When does a candle become a blaze When does a man become a monster When does a ripple become a tidal wave When does the reason become the blame When does a man become a monster
Oh my gosh, I'm barely a quarter into this video but as someone who's already familiar with Epic and it has been fresh on my mind for a few months now, it's so satisfying to see you immediately get every character motivation, every story beat!! You're really good at this!!
@Idk_what_to_put_here_3 during the sacking of Troy he SAed a priestess of Athena in Athenas temple, Odyseus wanted him stoned but he was let off. Later when he tried to go home, the gods killed him
Just a note for future watches - where the gods have backing vocals they are choirs created by the gods. For any mortals (Odysseus / Eurylocus etc) the backing vocals are from those with them (usually the crew).
This rule does have an acception however which is Posiedon in Ruthlessness where the backing vocals are the giants and in keep your friends close with Aeolus and the Winions
Also going from that an interesting thing is, that all characters have personal instruments that announce them. For example Odysseus has a guitar, Athena a piano, Zeus a Sync and Eurylacus has the voice of the men he talks for.
YES PLEASE!!!! This was the best story analysis reaction I have seen. And your predictions and understanding is on point! For the next saga I recommend watching merci’s animatics for the first two songs, and I can't wait to watch it.
This is an amazing reaction... It is interesting to get a writers perspective on something that is normally analysed musically. I hope you carry on with the rest of the musical... Don't worry, Epic fans are known to sit and watch hours and hours of reactions
This was one of the best EPIC reactions I've seen, and trust me, I've seen a lot. I hope we will get another part soon, tho I feel it might take some time looking at your upload schedule of around one-per-month up untill now.
Welcome to the obsession! 😊 There’s a ton of really fascinating things Jorge did or didn’t do when creating Epic. One to look out for is when there are background vocals. When the character is not a god, background vocals are only present when other people are nearby. For example, “we’re up, we’re off, and away we go” is Ody’s crew singing with him. Gods, on the other hand, can manifest their own background vocals! This happens in Warrior of the Mind when we are introduced to Athena. :)
Stumbled accross this in my reccomended and will probably start binging all your Epic reacts and then some. I really love how you break down the different story elements, as well as the animatics; its such an interesting and cool perspective on everything aaaa.
Ive stopped watching so many reaction channels because they speed up or skipped the music only to have really mediocre responses (no slander just hearing the same thing that is obvious in the story can get old). Normally i dont like pauses but you have such genuinely awesome and refreshing new reactions and its so cool to see, it got to the point where I started getting excited for pauses to see what would be said. Nice job and I really want to see you react to the rest.
I watch a huge array of react vids and I've found that there are 2 kinds of reactors that are really enjoyable. The ones who pause a lot, but give really funny and/or insightful feedback and the ones that don't really give feedback but have a very strong physical response just absolutely vibing to the content.
35:36 the glasses have a reason, it helps alot with visualisation at one point, and the artists tend to draw the characters as their VA/singers (as steven dookie, polites' VA has glasses), so personally i can forgive it even if i doubt they had glasses in ancient greece :)
This in-depth analysis is soooo good, I love this so much. Epic the Musical builds onto itself constantly so I think it's really compatible with your style of understanding
Fun fact, all of the characters have an instrument associated with them, as well as various motifs to hint at danger and other moods. Odysseus is a guitar- both acoustic and electric depending on his mood. Eurylochus is actually the only character to have other characters as his instrument- the entire crews background vocals. Oh and all background vocals are either people if a mortal is singing but in the case of a god or powerful being they can summon them into existence.
Odysseus is not really a demigod, he has godly blood in him and he's a grandson/great grandson of Hermes so frankly it's pretty far removed from him, to the point where he realistically isn't a demigod in the same way that heros like heracles and the like are, he's really just a man, a clever one sure but still just a man.
Plus, with the exception of Heracles, being a demigod wasn't actually super special on its own and didn't come with superpowers as part of the package like in the Percy Jackson books. Helen herself was a daughter of Zeus, as an example. The Greeks liked to ascribe relations of some sort to the king of the heavens or his relatives to a lot of nobles, kings, and other significant figures.
@@williamharmon4039yeah, a lot of people forget that while Heracles and Perseus are powerful sons of Zeus even in their own myths it's other things for the most part that make them powerful outside of Zeus being their father. Like Red from OSP once said, "being a child of Zeus in ancient Greece is about as common as being left handed"
@@bonniethebunny3971 he doesn't have "the mind of a god" though? his main characteristic is just being smart. in fact a lot of the odyssey is him showing he can be very stupid when he wants to be
15:02 I think because in Iliad which is the prequel of the Odyssey, the gods are heavily involved with the war so it was normal for them or at least to the leaders of each war because if I remember correctly the gods often help or sabotage people from the war. Also while writing this I realized it was because he met Athena already LOL
Your analysis was so good! I've heard and watched the whole musical a million times, but you still managed to point out many things that I missed! Your attention to detail and especially lyrics is amazing. Thanks for the awesome reaction! Can't wait for more!
First of all, LOVE the reaction absolutely what I've been looking for and hope you do more. Now onto the ramblings: 7:40 Another point about naming all the characters is that it's very very reminiscent of the poems themselves (the Illiad and the Odyssey) where lists or catalogues of names whether it be ships or people are given out one after another to 1.) fulfil the needed rhythm of the poems, and imo more importantly 2.) to "evoke the sublime magnitude of the world" (Emily Wilson's introduction to the Illiad), essentially fleshing out the whole world these poems exist in. (Also they're cool references for fans of Greek mythos. I liked going 'oh! the guy!!' when Diomedes was mentioned) 31:12 Dying over the Little Ajax slander but feel the need to let you know that he wasn't actually a kid it was just to differentiate between him and Greater Ajax 40:49 The vast majority of the designs are based off of the voice actors! So Ody looks like Jay/Jorge, Eurolychus like Armando, and Polities like Steven, who wears glasses. The community has also ascribed him a headband! 51:00 EXACTLY! As soon as Athena notices him being just a little lenient she's there to be be like ☺ No ❤ All in all, excellent, gimme 14 of em right now
I actually really appreciate the point of view you bring to your reactions. Many reactions I’ve watched focus on the music and story, I like how you spend more time about the specific animatics and what they do well.
Loved your analysis!! I couldn’t stop laughing at your teasing of little Ajax 😂 don’t worry about the length of the video, you’re coming at this with a really cool perspective, and I would hate for you to have to rush through it or cut off some of your insights!
Dude, the animation analysis, the fact you got most of the musical down on the first two songs this is awesome and YES WE DO ENJOY WATCHING EPIC CONTENT !! I HOPE YOU REACT TO THE OTHER SAGAS !!
Im obssessed youre my favourite EPIC reactor so far i havent seen anyone go fully into the writing aspect yet and youre doing it so well like you already clearly understand the material, really excited for more reactions/analysis!!
Welcome to Epic: The Musical. I hope it is an enjoyable experience. To explain why Polites has glasses, it is mainly a choice by the animators in order to make him look like his VA, Steven Dookie. If you want reccomendations for the next saga, I recommend Mircsy for the first two songs, then WolfytheWitch for the last two. Mircsy has a talent for character design that will be shown quite well there; the reason for WolfyTheWitch for the latter half is that they do a good job portraying the emotions the characters will be feeling. That will be all I have to say for the moment. May you have a nice day.
Not sure if anyone else has commented this but the music has some very interesting rules: When Mortals have back-up voices, those are diagetic (other characters), when Gods have choirs/backup voices they are non-diegetic. So only Gods can affect the music directly. Also every character has their own instruments associated with them. So for example Odysseus instruments are guitars (one more electric one is for his cunning side). Very excited if you want to finish this, your thoughts are fascinating, I certainly will continue watching these reactions!
Only halfway, but already - nice and awesome reaction. A bit wordy of course, but lots of interesting prospectives on both songs themselves and animatics. Cant wait to finish this video, and cant wait for future sagas reactions
I love hearing different perspectives on this. I love epic because so many people can listen to it and find a cool detail. It’s why it’s so worth it to listen to it so many times over again!!!
Instant sub from me. I am a wannabe author, have been since I was a kid, and I love watching authors react to Epic. However, yours is by far my favourite reaction. The way you break things down and explain stuff is not only entertaining but extremely interesting and helpful to me. Defo taking notes from now on haha. I hope you contionue to watch the rest of Epic, it is truly amazing to see how the community bring this little musical to life. Gigi is especially amazing at this and has become the face of the community pretty much. The latest and final Saga doesn't have many animatics yet, so if you get to that point fast then I recommend watching the Livestream that Jorge does because he commisions animators/artists to do animatics for 'em.
The winions (lotus eaters) aren’t malicious. They’re super chill and just eat lotus fruit. They were told the visitors wanted food, so they provided the food they had. Please react to the rest of Epic. As of Christmas Day, the whole thing has been released, and there are a few bops in there (I’m looking at YOU, Hermes).
How have I waited this long to watch your reactions, your analysis of the story and characters is so good, and it's so nice to see a reaction appreciate the animation to such a detailed level! Great video, I will watch all of them now!
Keep in mind, that some things that you see on animatics might not be canon to musical. Animatics were made before later sagas were released which added context to few songs, which conflicts with the animator's vision. As for the Troy Saga and Cyclops Saga (except for one very minor thing), such conflicts do not occur.
I've been watching a lot of reactions to "Epic the Musical", and am so glad to come across your perceptive insights right from the outset of this opening saga. Eager to follow your journey further through this excellent musical retelling of the ancient story.
Yay! I've seen analysis of Epic from music and singing point of view, seen pure emotional reactions, and I just love your perspective and detailed analysis of the story-telling. Thank you, keep warching please! Great job. Oh, and your predictions and deductions are very fun too, I guess we'll see how correct those turn out!
"oh i hope epic fans like watching epic content" Sir, the last saga just came out and I've already watched like 5 different youtubers react to the same 5 songs and i want more... so this is just perfect
It's actually crazy how much you immediately clocked and noticed about the characters for your first time listening. EPIC is special in the way that the community started out so small and passionate about the story and grew into a very involved following for it. Jorge has said before that every line and progression of the characters and plot are very intentional and important to the story. He's also a musical genius for how the songs reflect characters and the world around them, like how every major character has a special instrument assigned to them that you'll hear when they are mentioned or singing. Other great examples of the songs deepening the story are callbacks/returning melodies from songs that affected Odysseus strongly as a character, like Open Arms and Just a Man, which you listened to in this video. There's just so much love that Jorge has poured in the writing and so much to analyze. Going to watch your Part 2 now as I loved your input on the songs and even the amazing and outstanding animators.
Your perceptions on these animation wise really opened my eyes to thing I didn't notice before despite watching other reactors and going through the songs multiple times!! I have watched vocal and musician reactions and I am ASTOUNDED at how much each person picks up on hidden and underlying story points from their particular niche! You are extremely perceptive with great insight and I thoroughly enjoyed this! Subbed.
RAAAAAA THIS REACTION WAS SO GOOD I LOVED IT SO MUCH I LOVE YOUR ANALYSIS also Eurylochus functions as the voice of the crew which is why they echo him so much! I would also HIGHLY encourage you to look up each characters instrument and the common musical motifs because there is SO MUCH additional storytelling within the music! For example, human characters have acoustic instruments while gods have more electronic sounds! In Warrior of the Mind we are told musically that Odysseus changes Athena because she originally sings mind in the line "warrior of the mind" as a high clear straight note, then when Odysseus sings it with her the first time he sings a riff while she sings the same straight note, then they harmonize together on the riff! There are endless instances of this and its absolutely incredible how many details Jorge put into this whole story.
Only in the first song so far, and have to point out, i don’t think little Ajax staying behind was necessarily being useless, but to stay behind is to bring up the rear guard and cut of escape in that direction rather than a direct attack. Loving the analysis so far though, and look forward to seeing more. 😊 loving how thorough you examine everything. Also, song 3…. “He’s so smart, and crafty….” You could almost say he’s a…. Warrior of the Mind… 😉😉😝
40:50 most of the animators base their art of the characters on the voice actors and polites’ voice actor (Steven Dookie) has glasses so it is mostly agreed upon that polites has glasses. Odysseus is also drawn to look like Jorge who voices him
Something really cool with each character is that they have a signature instrument that signifies when that character is doing something, Odysseus has a guitar (both acoustic and electric that swap), Athena has the piano, and Eurilicus has the voices of the crew as his instrument. Have fun figuring out who has what and when their instrument sneaks into the music
I honestly can tell without ever having read your work that you've got to be a good writer from your deep and careful analysis here and i appreciate this video so much, cant wait to watch you react to all of them.
Odysseus saying he's "just a man" has multiple meanings in one, not only is he just a man in the sense that this whole thing is so much bigger than him and he's helpless, but on the other hand, he's "just a man" as in just a human, flaws and all, he's both complaining about his responsibilities, and admitting that he's flawed and will make mistakes, that he isnt special or guilt free, he's a man like everyone else, with selfish goals and flaws like everyone else!
Your commentary is so fascinating. The amount you're able to pick up from just these first 5 songs shows just how solid the writing in this musical is!
Honestly, probably one of my favorite overviews of EPIC that I've seen with a deeper look at the story, characters, and how the story heads rather than the instrumentals :) However, the instrumentals and musical choices do actually have an impact on the story as you have already noticed! And it should be noted that most characters have their own background instruments (Odysseus has a guitar, Athena has paino and a ticking clock, ect.). One thing that is of note is that Eurylochus' backing instrument is the voice of the crew, and the way the crew echos him shows that he's the representative of the crew while also being his own character! I really like the direction your ideas and predictions go and can't wait to see more! You've done more than earn my sub
This is the best first time reaction and analysis of Epic ive seen (and ive seen them all) by leaps and bounds. Your perceptiveness and deep understanding of the characters and their motivations already is insane and very prescient. Super excited to continue this odyssey with you
Part 2 is out where I react to the Cyclops saga! ua-cam.com/video/2okb44XUttk/v-deo.htmlsi=M7sRbovOOVtrGLG2
he has glasses because his voice actor has glasses.
Most of the characters animations are made to resemble the people who voice them
AAA omg you notice so many little details in my animatics that like, no one ever points out haha! I'm so happy to hear you point out stuff from the frame composition and such!
I really hope you continue watching the whole musical!
Gigi!! Love your art :3
Gigi is here! We love you 🥰
Yeah Gigi, we all love you!
Gigi youre absolutely the canon gateway into Epic the musical ❤🎉
Yooo! Gigi!
12:52 "painting him as just a man, essentially" THE WAY I GASPED
I KNOWW, I DID THAT TOO
@@naveyistrying Ikr
Winions noticed this catch 😁
I had a does he know moment myself.
REAL
Zeus didn’t promise killing the baby would keep his wife and son safe, he promised that *not killing* the baby would guarantee their deaths
exactly. big distinction that shouldnt be misinterpreted.
Very Olympian of him. Kinda fae/trickster logic for just about everything 😂
@@qryptida lot of the olympians, titans, and the more then mortals less than gods (forget the actual name for them) became fey when in christian nations
Not even though, he never says "Say goodbye to Telemachus" Only "Say Goodbye to Penelope" Because women are more important than children in his mind. Or Alternatively because Telemachus wouldn't get killed by the grown up warrior
The fact you predicted the entire saga based on the first song is a testament to your media literacy and Jorge's writing
yeah, good stories should to some degree be predictable like that
fr it brought out my stupidity for not seeing the foreshadowing even after listening to the whole musical at least 50 times now
WINIONS!! WE GOT ANOTHER ONE!!
Edit: Guys thank you sm for the likes!!
Quick, Epic fandom, get in the comments section so we can do that thing where the reactor accidentally summons all of us lol!
Yes, the more the merrier
One of us! One of us! One of us! 😂
@@celiamilhoud5245 i came by to write this but u beat me to it 😂❤️
One of us! One of us!
40:56 Polites’ voice actor, Steven Dookie, has glasses so everyone draws him with glasses.
That is... An unfortunate last name. 😂
Yeah, the Epic designs r mainly based off of the singers... I think
@@beepmoo yup, it's a very common trend in musical fandoms designs in general i think
@@jackierabbit Yes it is :3
@@jackierabbitThere's a reason so many people draw Thomas Jefferson as a black man lol
"I hope Epic fans like watching epic content"
Oh, we collect new fans through reactions like they where Pokémon's xD Since we can't experience Epic for the first time again, we re-live the journey through others, very very happily
I love watching Winions migrate through reactors it’s really funny seeing the same people everywhere
THIS is absolutely perfect. Never had that analogy pop in my head, but thank you!
Yep, exactly this. We got another one winions!!!
You described the thing I tried describing to my husband earlier today. He likes Epic but not to the level I do of living vicariously through every "first react" video I can find 😂😂 it's okay if he doesn't get it, I know the winions get me ❤
THIS! Absolutely how we get to experience it like it’s new again. 😝
Casper has some competition for those Nat 20s 😂
Epic is attracting all the prophets
Dude, the strongest prophet of history vs the stronges prophet of today
Casper seeing the future through music, inkwrites seeing it through literacy
Casper forgets what happened 5 minutes ago and remembers things from the future😅
@Noah-l2v5x right I forgot, Casper is cursed to only see the future
Just so you know, Agamemnon, Menelaus and other people mentioned in the first song are not part of 600 men. They are all kings and leaders of different armies. They are listening to Odysseus because he is the best greek strategist, not because they are subordinate to him. They also all went home separately, so we will not meet them again in the musical. Polites and Eurylochus, on the other hand, are Odysseuses people
Been part of this fandom since March last year and I didn’t even know that 😭
@@theartassassin1865in the poem Menelaus and Nestor were actually the ones to whom Telemachus went during his "diplomatic mission"! They told him some cool war stories about his dad!
It's likely they're not even in the horse, these two are mentioned as "---- will do this and ----- will do that" Odysseus does adress Nestor and Neoptolemus directly, which makes sense as they were there
Yay, someone said it! Thank you. Really well phrased... Makes me embarashed for a comment I made trying to explain the same thing 😅😂
@@theartassassin1865 Agamemnon was the one who drafted Odysseus into the war. When he came to Ithaca, Odysseus tried to act insane to get exempted by plowing his fields like a madman, but Agamemnon foiled this by putting baby Telemachus out on the field to prove Odysseus was still sane enough that he would not let his son be killed.
43:00 „I‘m distracted by their gay“ 😂
Wait 'til this man sees Your Light 😂
@adellefletcher, the thing that greatly bothers me is that people don't seem to be capable of looking at two men who are really close and friendly to each other and love each other a lot but *platonically*, as very good friends that love each other *platonically*, as actual friends, love is not only romantic and in all types of it a deep closeness is present because no matter the type of love, it's still love, two men can be really close and love each other even being physically close and comfortable with each other like hugging (and some men are complaining about this two, that they can be good friends and love each other without being gay), which good firends do despite of their gender and sexuality, without being gay or having any romantic interest in each other, this problem doesn't happen that much with two women, though in this time and age it does happen a lot too, but it's still not as much as two men since there seems to be some kind of perverted and obsessive obsession with two men specifically, not even with a man and a woman, and then people talk about normalizing things that are normal and how terrible misogyny is (which it is), and that deep friendship without romantic intent between two men exists too without them being gay at all, but then they don't leave way for obvious close friendship in their heads because all they do when characters or people like this appear that are so close is thinking that they are romantically involved or if they are two men specifically that they have to romantically like each other and be gay, thus taking away the complexity and dehumanizing, demonizing and abnormalizing human relationships, people, and characters and songs in this case too, I literally see nothing wrong or "gay" with the song "Your light" or with "Open arms" because I normalize them and see them as completely normal and two best friends being two best friends and caring for each other deeply in the songs like two best friends should do and that’s why they are supposedly best friends, I would be exactly the same with my best friend because I would deeply care and love that person even with that person being of the same sex as me, and I am 100% straight, that is normal, true and deep friendship, not something gay or something that points to some romantic and sexual attraction
@adellefletcher, the thing that greatly bothers me is that people don't seem to be capable of looking at two men who are really close and friendly to each other and love each other a lot but *platonically*, as very good friends that love each other *platonically*, as actual friends, love is not only romantic and in all types of it a deep closeness is present because no matter the type of love, it's still love, two men can be really close and love each other even being physically close and comfortable with each other like hugging (and some men are complaining about this two, that they can be good friends and love each other without being gay), which good firends do despite of their gender and sexuality, without being gay or having any romantic interest in each other, this problem doesn't happen that much with two women, though in this time and age it does happen a lot too, but it's still not as much as two men since there seems to be some kind of perverted and obsessive obsession with two men specifically, not even with a man and a woman, and then people talk about normalizing things that are normal and how terrible misogyny is (which it is), and that deep friendship without romantic intent between two men exists too without them being gay at all, but then they don't leave way for obvious close friendship in their heads because all they do when characters or people like this appear that are so close is thinking that they are romantically involved or if they are two men specifically that they have to romantically like each other and be gay, thus taking away the complexity and dehumanizing, demonizing and abnormalizing human relationships, people, and characters and songs in this case too, I literally see nothing wrong or "gay" with the song "Your light" or with "Open arms" because I normalize them and see them as completely normal and two best friends being two best friends and caring for each other deeply in the songs like two best friends should do and that’s why they are supposedly best friends, I would be exactly the same with my best friend because I would deeply care and love that person even with that person being of the same s*x as me, and I am 100% straight, that is normal, true and deep friendship, not something gay or something that points to some romantic and s*xual attraction (I censor those two words because of UA-cam)
@adellefletcher, the thing that greatly bothers me is that people don't seem to be capable of looking at two men who are really close and friendly to each other and love each other a lot but *platonically*, as very good friends that love each other *platonically*, as actual friends, love is not only romantic and in all types of it a deep closeness is present because no matter the type of love, it's still love, two men can be really close and love each other even being physically close and comfortable with each other like hugging (and some men are complaining about this two, that they can be good friends and love each other without being gay), which good firends do despite of their gender and sexuality, without being gay or having any romantic interest in each other, this problem doesn't happen that much with two women, though in this time and age it does happen a lot too, but it's still not as much as two men since there seems to be some kind of perverted and obsessive obsession with two men specifically, not even with a man and a woman, and then people talk about normalizing things that are normal and how terrible misogyny is (which it is), and that deep friendship without romantic intent between two men exists too without them being gay at all, but then they don't leave way for obvious close friendship in their heads because all they do when characters or people like this appear that are so close is thinking that they are romantically involved or if they are two men specifically that they have to romantically like each other and be gay, thus taking away the complexity and dehumanizing, demonizing and abnormalizing human relationships, people, and characters and songs in this case too, I literally see nothing wrong or "gay" with the song "Your light" or with "Open arms" because I normalize them and see them as completely normal and two best friends being two best friends and caring for each other deeply in the songs like two best friends should do and that’s why they are supposedly best friends, I would be exactly the same with my best friend because I would deeply care and love that person even with that person being of the same sex as me, and I am 100% straight, that is normal, true and deep friendship, not something gay or something that points to some romantic and sexual attraction
Ah yes, the "very close friendships don't exist anymore, they must be in love" concept.
40:55 - Yep! It's collectively agreed Polites has a headband and also glasses! The reason why is because the VA for him has glasses! Designs for a lot of these characters ae made with the VA's looks in mind and do a few things as little easter eggs about them.
And with the headband, it’s often pulled of in “monster” animation
17:13 The thing about Greek mythology is that prophecy is absolute. Zeus isn't lying here, as even the gods answer to fate. Even the act of trying to prevent a prophecy just ends up being its self-fulfilling cause. My favourite example of this is Perseus.
exactly, if you don't act the prophecy will come true, and if you try to prevent it from coming true, your actions will cause the prophecy to come true anyway; there is no escape from fate.
Another extreme example of this in action is Oedipus.
@AquaticDot for oedipus really if both his parents and himself didn't try and prevent the prophecy they would have been fine, if oedipus' parents did nothing and oedipus left like he did to prevent the prophecy everyone is fine, or if his parents did cast him away and oedipus never learned of the prophecy he'd have stayed in cadmus
Little Ajax is most likely a play on Ajax the lesser, not because he was young or small, but to distinguish him from Ajax the greater. He also managed to piss off Athena by falsely swearing on a figurine of her
He also During the Sacking of troy SAed an Athena priestess. In her temple, Odyseus wanted him stoned to death for his crimes. Didn't happen but the gods took care of killing him when he tried to go home
What did Athena have to say about it? @@omalleycaboose5937
@@omalleycaboose5937Jesus good thing he stayed back 😮
@@distinguishedallureproduct879 I think I'm combat he and the archer always worked together in a partnership, he was his shield.
Wasnt he also realy tall?
"they are so gay" yup, that's how most of us first reacted when we saw them
And to that point, im pretty sure man on man relationships were pretty common, and they weren't thought of as cheating in ancient greece. Uh, maybe dont quote me on that, though. I just read that somewhere once.
@@VirginnyI believe that’s correct? I’ve just heard things worded of “it’s greek mythology. Everyone was bicurious at the very least” 😂
@@Virginnyyea from what I’ve heard over the years (and not sure if it’s actually true or not) Greek warriors were not only permitted, but encouraged to love each other, as it would make them stronger warriors. That way, not only would they fight fiercely for their wives and children at home, but just as fiercely for the man beside them that they love.
17:20 thing about prophecies, the greeks believed that your destiny was pretty much written in stone and you could not change it unless through death, suicide was almost glorified by the greeks for this reason cuz they saw it as you taking control of your own life by chosing when is your time to die instead of going at the moment you were destined to. So if zeus says if that infant stayed alive he would have made odysseus' life hell you better believe the guy is being 110% truthful, had odysseus not killed the boy directly it would have probably been a similar case to perseus where his grandfather was told by an oracle that he'd be killed by his own grandson, trying to avoid this prophecy he imprisoned his only daughter a top a tower, but there she was impregnated by zeus in the form of a shower of gold. When perseus was born her father tossed them into the ocean in a wooden chest they survived and washed ashore, years later after the medusa event perseus would end up accidentally killing his grandfather when he was playing a brand new game where you throw a disc to land it on a spike, the disc would end up hitting perseus' grandfather and killing him
Zeus too is familiar with this kinds of prophecies since his own father, the titan kronos was warned he'd be defeated by his son just like he defeated his own father before him, kronos tried to avoid this fate by devouring his children as soon as they were born but his wife got tired of this cruelty and swapped the 6th child (zeus) for a rock and gave the actual baby to the titan gaia to raise him, which resulted in zeus growing up to want to avenge his siblings and take down his father. Once that was done zeus married the oceanid metis but when she got pregnant he was told her son just like him and just like his father before him would grow to eventually take zeus down, knowing this zeus took direct action by absorbing metis before the child was born, which granted him her wisdom and sometime later resulted in the birth of athena when zeus got a killer headache and had his head split open to release the preasure (some version say metis was pregnant with twins, a boy and a girl which was athena)
It's a lot of the self-fulfilling prophecy narratives, trying to prevent a prophecy often is what leads to its fulfilment, bc in doing so, one usually ends up producing the conditions that will lead to the prophesied outcome (I.e. locking up your child being what leads them to resent and later kill you)
Glasses Context: many of the animators in the epic fandom base their designs for characters on the appearance of the vocalalist. With the trio in full speed ahead being the primary examples. Poletes’ Vocalist has glasses so allot of the animators added them.
57:20 I would say that the main thing that happens between this young Odysseus and the one in the Troy Saga is, in fact, the Trojan war. He was drafted into a 10 year long war mostly against his will and has not seen home for a decade at this point.
You know, that would definitely do it 😂
@@JacobPenrodWrites He literally faked being insane just to avoid being drafted, and a dude just threatened his son, so he had no choice but to join the war. I'd be salty af as well.
@@lyrablack9169 He later framed Palamedes for treason over this, because Odysseus held a major grudge over being forced into the war.
@@kallandar13 Yeah Ody was out for blood with that one
Deserved
That observation of him not flinching when called upon by a god meaning that he must have some experience with gods before when you don't know his backstory is actually such a good indicator for the last song of the saga in Warrior of the Mind. The first song indicating what the last will be about. And his call about focusing on the humanity of Odysseus was spot on.
52:25 Polities is Ody's best friend, and while nothing states that Eurylochus is an old friend, Eurylochus is Ody's brother in law, so it's likely they'd be freindly.
52:45 yea they were! polites is his childhood friend and eurylochus is his brother in law
i think at 25:36 hes not just dehumanizing the baby, hes dehumanizing himself, arguably more than the baby. I think he was viewing the "warrior/soldier" version of him, and HIM as two different people and might even be using the "soldier" persona to compartmentalize what hes about to do.
I think it's a combination of both. When does he, the man, become a monster for prioritizing himself and what he loves over the infant? But also, when would the infant grow up and become a monster to Odysseus's whole life? Jorge's Odysseus is very self-deprecating when he's being vulnerable though lol
The thing about Epic and Jorge’s approach to this story, is that there’s no point in looking for good guys or bad guys, there’s no point in trying to hold the characters accountable for their actions. It’s a story in which everyone (with a few notable exceptions) is just doing what they need to to survive. The Odysseus that makes it back to Ithaca is a very different person to the one we meet at the beginning, but we still root for him because we’ve seen what he’s gone through, what he’s done, to get himself back home. The whole point of the story is “how far are you willing to go for the people that you love?” and it’s a question Odysseus gets confronted with over and over again throughout the story, it’s the main theme of the musical. Starting off with killing that baby is just setting the tone lol
As a longtime EPIC fan, I find your commentary on the storytelling aspect very fascinating. As you go through reacting to future songs, it would be worth revisiting some of these earlier comments. I also found myself chuckling at the comments about Little Ajax. In the myths, he was more accurately known as Ajax the Lesser. Not a little boy!
Same, it’s really interesting to me compared to all the other reactions I’ve lost. We’ve had tons of people react to the music, either the instruments or the lyrics, and people who don’t know to much about music to react, and it’s really interesting to see a professional talk about the writing. I think this is the first video I’ve seen really talk about it
@@Dawn_the_dragonyes!
I’ve been enjoying watching people like Casper and Martius and a bunch of others discussing the music and motifs, people like CyYu discussing the vocals and lyrics as he’s a VA, and Bec Leavesly (who he mentioned at the start) talking about the story, but I’m loving such an in depth analysis on the story and how perceptive he is to what’s coming.
Would love to see him revisit this analysis once he’s deeper in the story as @dandegoat mentioned. 😊
Want to note that the visuals are created by independent animators and all of Jorge’s actual storytelling is in the audio. The animations are great and add to the overall storytelling but it’s important to remember that what you see may not be entirely canon to the actual events.
Eg, in Gigi’s Just a Man animatic, all the men look up at Odysseus as he drops the baby. That’s not necessarily canon, HOWEVER, as we hear the men singing along with Odysseus, we CAN say that they echo his questions about when a man becomes a monster
Good point overall but Odysseus dropping the baby is canon to EPIC, though not outright mentioned in a song
@i-will-bite I think they meant that the men all looking up wasn't necessarily canon, we know Astynax's death is canon
@@dolphin64575 ah, maybe :) i was mostly focused on the "dropping from the wall" part because there are other versions of the child's death and the song doesn't outright say what's happened. So one could imagine that even the fact that Odysseus drops it is only Gigi's interpretation. Sorry for the confusion
as a fellow writer, i loved the commentary! looking forward to you continuing with the other sagas :")
1. so glad you liked the in medias res nature of the opening. some people have criticized epic for opening with the end of the trojan war instead of the usual odyssey opening which is with telemachus and penelope back in their home, to which i would disagree as it's clear that Epic strongly has a message it wants to tell even with its narrative structure.
which brings me to my second point:
2. super fun that you're picking up on the themes and characterization of odysseus. from the very start, jorge is already making clear the kind of story he wants to tell with this adaptation. (it was originally his college thesis btw! so there's totally a thesis statement here that will be even clearer throughout the journey of Epic)
3. please don't worry about "talking too much" in your reaction! we fans totally love reactors who are engaged with the story. we understand you're offering a writer's perspective.
4. the constant Lesser Ajax shade is so funny i'm crying 😭
5. LOVEEEE how you see ody's characterization! he is in fact a selfish character! let's goooo.
6. great catch on Ody and Athena seeming to clash. this musical is fully sung through, so it's really cool to see someone pick up a lot of things from the get go as they're important later on in the story.
this is honestly one of the best "reactions" to epic i have seen. this is more of a story breakdown then a reaction which is better.
This was one of the best reaction/analysis videos of Epic I’ve seen in a long time!! I hope you decide to watch and analyze the rest, seeing you break down the storytelling choices that Jorge and the animatic illustrators make is very interesting and informative
Yesssss welcome to the Epic community. Prepare to feel all of the feelings.
For the character designs, a lot of the animators go off of the singer/actor’s real appearance, even in the official art/animatics Jorge commissioned. So Polities having glasses is purely based of his actor Steven Dookie wearing glasses irl.
One thing abt the animatics, not all animatics are accurately portraying the story of epic, but the animatics does help with knowing the story.
Most notable example is the opening of 600 strike imo.
@@ControversialOpinionGuythe animatics in the livestream are canon tho
@dawnkyria8518 I know, I mean because a lot of animators drew the spirits pulling him up instead of dragging him down.
Fun fact: A LOT is told through the musical through instruments and such. I know you said you’re not here for the music, but I think it’s best for you to know that when Athena starts singing Warrior Of The Mind she keeps a very strong and high ending note. Personally, I interpret that as her not wanting to really slow down and instead constantly wanting to soar upwards, to improve all the time. Whereas when Odysseus sings the same line, he does little riff during “Mind” because he’s not as uptight. He’s more willing to be playful and relaxed. And at the end of the song, you can hear Athena eventually following HIS lead and doing the same riff, symbolizing that she’s slowly accepting his ideals as time passed and their bond strengthens.
Great reaction! For the next saga, I recommend both 1st and 2nd songs to watch the animatics made by mircsy - they follow on each other thematically, and I find that the 1st one “Polyphemus” is a much more emotionally impactful and well-crafted cinematically than the other animatics of the same song.
Seconded! And mircsy’s visual storytelling in those two is unparalleled.
Hi! Greek Myth nerd here! Here's some added context as I watch along:
Horse and The Infant:
Odysseus is actually technically a demigod. He's the Great Grandson of Hermes(relevant for later sagas).
Little Ajax isn't actually a child, it's just funnier to draw him like that. There were 2 Ajax's involved in the Trojan War on the Greek side and were differentiated as Ajax the Lesser and Ajax the Great. No relation to each other whatsoever.
The named figures in the first song are never mentioned again in the musical. They're important figures from different allied Greek forces. In song order they are: Diomedes; King of Argos and actual badass that injured 2 gods, Aphrodite and Ares.(Who both acted like actual babies about tiny scratches. Aphrodite literally went crying to her mother about a little cut on her hand. This is relevant information for later sagas)
Agamemnon; King of Mycenae and actual asshole that pissed off both his own wife and Achilles.
Menelaus; King of Sparta, who was Helen's original husband and the whole reason this war happened at all.
Teucer, a companion of Achilles
Little Ajax; or Locrian(Lesser) Ajax, often alongside Ajax the Great and the quickest sprinter besides Achilles himself
Nestor; King of Pylos and most noted as being the oldest dude there
Neo (I'm assuming this is Neoptolemus); was the son of Achilles. Paris, the guy who stole Helen, has killed Achilles by this point.
Odysseus doesn't even flinch because the gods talking to you in various forms is actually that freaking common in Greek Mythology. You kind of expect it at some point as an influential figure (or generally attractive person) in your society.
The gods don't lie about Prophecy. it's the one constant in Greek myth you can't avoid. Like in Doctor Who how you can't change history once it's written down. Once Prophecy is spoken, it is inevitable. Zeus only lies to his wife.
Just a Man:
Odysseus didn't kill Astyanax(the baby) in the original myth, it was another soldier who did it with zero remorse. The difference is hilarious.
Full Speed Ahead:
The named men of the first song did not take the same route he did, Odysseus took the scenic route.
Open Arms:
The animators tend to make the characters look like the people that voiced them. As such, the VA for Polites does wear glasses. The Headband on the other hand, is a stylistic choice that has been absorbed into fanon.
Polites and Eurylochus are Odysseus' childhood friends in this story. Polites is actually barely mentioned in the source material at all.
100% do not trust the lotus eaters through no fault of their own. They were originally supposed to be actual people in this song but the fandom collectively decided they were winions and no one has argued with us.
The Flash Warning may not be necessary but definitely appreciated by me, who deals with light sensitivity and chronic headaches/migraines that can be triggered by this kind of flashing (you going over it a couple times actually triggered a mild headache for me lmao)
Warrior of the Mind:
Fun fact, Odysseus tried to dupe his way out of being involved in the Trojan War by pretending to be insane. Palamedes calls his bluff though. Odysseus, like the others, was obligated to join on Menelaus' side as a former suitor of Helen. (Menelaus made all her suitors swear to join him in war against anyone that would try to take her, to prevent any of them doing what Paris ended up doing.)
#JusticeForArgos. Good boy, best boy. In the original myth, he clung to life for 20 years waiting for his master to come home after being abused by Penelope's suitors the whole time. He literally dies after being the only being to recognize Odysseus when he finally gets home. Like, immediately after Odysseus walks away (because acknowledging the dog would expose his identity, which he is concealing at this point, and yes, it breaks his heart to see the state Argos in, he even sheds a tear)
Welcome to the madness! I've been following Epic since the very beginning and I can tell you for a fact that we LOVE watching people react to Jorge Rivera-Herran's genius. There's always things we miss that people like you pick up on and it enhances everyone's enjoyment
Neo is for sure Achilles' son Neoptolemus, and Gigi's way to draw that - covered in blood near slaughtered bodies - it's 100% accurate. Dude was a brutal killing machine. He's the one that killed Astyanax in most of the myths, with not much of a "Just a man" thought, for sure. There are vases that represents how he definitely ended Priamus' bloodline that involve Astyanax too and are...not good.
to elaborate on Full Speed Ahead "scenic route" (I love this) Ithaca is very far from Troy. With no way to pass through the Isthmus of Corinth (the Trojan war can be traced to around the 12th Century BC, while the Diolkos, the road/railway passage between the Gulf of Aegina and the Gulf of Corinth, was built around 7th BC) Odysseus' fleet had to take the full periplos around the Peloponnesus, which was renown to be a really difficult voyage because of - well, he already reacted to the Ocean saga so it's not spoilers anymore, STOOooOOOoooOOORMs - and they were at full capacity too because they didn't lost a single man in the war!
So all combined they would have the most need for stops for resources in the whole Greek army, therefore "scenic route".
"Zeus only lies to his wife" absolutely killed me im sorry 😂 as a fellow greek mythology nerd reading those words made my day 😂
Agamemnon pissing off his wife was putting it lightly… she ☠️him with an ax in a bathtub.
Hi 👋 this was an excellent read. Can you expand a bit on how the bit about Diomedes is important in later sagas? I've heard the whole musical, so don't worry about spoilers. I'm guessing it's related to God Games, but I probably missed the layer this relates to
Menelaus didn't make anyone swear anything. The pact was Odysseus' idea as part of his scheme to marry Penelope.
This was an awesome breakdown. I had chuckle sometimes because your comments were so spot on and you didn't know it yet. I hope you keep your comments and theories in mind. I would love to see more of this break down for the other sagas.
12:51 just a man, huh?
Me too
Beat me to it
He Rolled a nat 20
Exactly! I just cackled
I love that you immediately got Eurylochus position and power by a single moment!
The reason polities has glasses is because they are designed to look like their VA's! No matter what animatic you watch, you should be able to easily identify the main characters. Also, each character has an instrument. Oddy's is guitar, Athenas is piano and eurylochus actually is the crew!
Also in this music if theres a group singing eg the "six hundred men"- unless a god is singing- thats ACTUALLY the crew! Glad to have another winon, welcome to epic!
Your perspective of the writing is great. Please continue your reaction to it, I belive you will love the whole thing!
I really enjoyed your reaction :)
I second this, it was a great watch.
And it's always an enlightening experience when people notice tiny details that I never even thought about 🤣 makes this whole musical even more fascinating to me than it already was
In cannon Polites does not have glasses, but his VA does so in most if not all fan animations he has glasses even if it isn't cannon
I cannot WAIT to see you continue this, the media literacy in conjunction with Jorge's writing is really incredible to see together
Oh, and just fyi all the just a man "when does" lyrics were
When does a comet become a meteor
When does a candle become a blaze
When does a man become a monster
When does a ripple become a tidal wave
When does the reason become the blame
When does a man become a monster
Oh my gosh, I'm barely a quarter into this video but as someone who's already familiar with Epic and it has been fresh on my mind for a few months now, it's so satisfying to see you immediately get every character motivation, every story beat!! You're really good at this!!
2:59 he's a he's a hemisemigod (his grandfather is hermes)
For the next two songs Polyphemus and Survive I recommend doing the animatics by Mircy. Their character design for Polyphemus is amazing
Ajax isnt useless, hes just a shield,
Unrelated he commited unspeakable crimes and afterward Odysseus wanted him stoned to death
Wait can u explain
@Idk_what_to_put_here_3 during the sacking of Troy he SAed a priestess of Athena in Athenas temple, Odyseus wanted him stoned but he was let off. Later when he tried to go home, the gods killed him
Just a note for future watches - where the gods have backing vocals they are choirs created by the gods. For any mortals (Odysseus / Eurylocus etc) the backing vocals are from those with them (usually the crew).
This rule does have an acception however which is Posiedon in Ruthlessness where the backing vocals are the giants and in keep your friends close with Aeolus and the Winions
And Monsters often break the rules, as per thier nature
Also going from that an interesting thing is, that all characters have personal instruments that announce them.
For example Odysseus has a guitar, Athena a piano, Zeus a Sync and Eurylacus has the voice of the men he talks for.
YES PLEASE!!!! This was the best story analysis reaction I have seen. And your predictions and understanding is on point!
For the next saga I recommend watching merci’s animatics for the first two songs, and I can't wait to watch it.
This is an amazing reaction... It is interesting to get a writers perspective on something that is normally analysed musically. I hope you carry on with the rest of the musical... Don't worry, Epic fans are known to sit and watch hours and hours of reactions
The seven hour Mortius/Casper reaction compilation… I watched the whole thing twice…
@@AzziyaOnline that was the one I was referencing lol
This was one of the best EPIC reactions I've seen, and trust me, I've seen a lot. I hope we will get another part soon, tho I feel it might take some time looking at your upload schedule of around one-per-month up untill now.
Welcome to the obsession! 😊
There’s a ton of really fascinating things Jorge did or didn’t do when creating Epic. One to look out for is when there are background vocals. When the character is not a god, background vocals are only present when other people are nearby. For example, “we’re up, we’re off, and away we go” is Ody’s crew singing with him.
Gods, on the other hand, can manifest their own background vocals! This happens in Warrior of the Mind when we are introduced to Athena. :)
Oh man your analysis is actually so insightful and fascinating, I really hope you do the rest of the musical !!
Don't worry about the time! Both writing enthusiasts and Epic fans enjoy long videos, and your analysis is really good!
Stumbled accross this in my reccomended and will probably start binging all your Epic reacts and then some. I really love how you break down the different story elements, as well as the animatics; its such an interesting and cool perspective on everything aaaa.
Ive stopped watching so many reaction channels because they speed up or skipped the music only to have really mediocre responses (no slander just hearing the same thing that is obvious in the story can get old). Normally i dont like pauses but you have such genuinely awesome and refreshing new reactions and its so cool to see, it got to the point where I started getting excited for pauses to see what would be said. Nice job and I really want to see you react to the rest.
I watch a huge array of react vids and I've found that there are 2 kinds of reactors that are really enjoyable. The ones who pause a lot, but give really funny and/or insightful feedback and the ones that don't really give feedback but have a very strong physical response just absolutely vibing to the content.
Don't worry. The baby is like a basketball. It bounces
How "fluffy" Polites is... Yes, he is soft and fluffy. Think he's a fan of maple syrup too
I would love to make pancakes with Polites (in more than one way)
@@Failing101-qq6wl .... now wanting an AU (or just an insert) of Polites just baking and cooking for fun. Making some nice berry pancakes.
35:36 the glasses have a reason, it helps alot with visualisation at one point, and the artists tend to draw the characters as their VA/singers (as steven dookie, polites' VA has glasses), so personally i can forgive it even if i doubt they had glasses in ancient greece :)
This in-depth analysis is soooo good, I love this so much. Epic the Musical builds onto itself constantly so I think it's really compatible with your style of understanding
little ajax was a full adult warrior and general, the name differentiates him from greater ajax (generally just referred to as ajax)
Fun fact, all of the characters have an instrument associated with them, as well as various motifs to hint at danger and other moods. Odysseus is a guitar- both acoustic and electric depending on his mood. Eurylochus is actually the only character to have other characters as his instrument- the entire crews background vocals.
Oh and all background vocals are either people if a mortal is singing but in the case of a god or powerful being they can summon them into existence.
The animations roughly depict the vocal artists who play the characters so that should help answer your questions about the glasses
Odysseus is not really a demigod, he has godly blood in him and he's a grandson/great grandson of Hermes so frankly it's pretty far removed from him, to the point where he realistically isn't a demigod in the same way that heros like heracles and the like are, he's really just a man, a clever one sure but still just a man.
he did get the mind of a god tbf, he has superhuman strength, trained by a god and he's a greek hero so that's a plus
Plus, with the exception of Heracles, being a demigod wasn't actually super special on its own and didn't come with superpowers as part of the package like in the Percy Jackson books.
Helen herself was a daughter of Zeus, as an example.
The Greeks liked to ascribe relations of some sort to the king of the heavens or his relatives to a lot of nobles, kings, and other significant figures.
@@williamharmon4039yeah, a lot of people forget that while Heracles and Perseus are powerful sons of Zeus even in their own myths it's other things for the most part that make them powerful outside of Zeus being their father. Like Red from OSP once said, "being a child of Zeus in ancient Greece is about as common as being left handed"
@@bonniethebunny3971 he doesn't have "the mind of a god" though? his main characteristic is just being smart. in fact a lot of the odyssey is him showing he can be very stupid when he wants to be
15:02 I think because in Iliad which is the prequel of the Odyssey, the gods are heavily involved with the war so it was normal for them or at least to the leaders of each war because if I remember correctly the gods often help or sabotage people from the war.
Also while writing this I realized it was because he met Athena already LOL
Your analysis was so good! I've heard and watched the whole musical a million times, but you still managed to point out many things that I missed! Your attention to detail and especially lyrics is amazing. Thanks for the awesome reaction! Can't wait for more!
First of all, LOVE the reaction absolutely what I've been looking for and hope you do more. Now onto the ramblings:
7:40 Another point about naming all the characters is that it's very very reminiscent of the poems themselves (the Illiad and the Odyssey) where lists or catalogues of names whether it be ships or people are given out one after another to 1.) fulfil the needed rhythm of the poems, and imo more importantly 2.) to "evoke the sublime magnitude of the world" (Emily Wilson's introduction to the Illiad), essentially fleshing out the whole world these poems exist in. (Also they're cool references for fans of Greek mythos. I liked going 'oh! the guy!!' when Diomedes was mentioned)
31:12 Dying over the Little Ajax slander but feel the need to let you know that he wasn't actually a kid it was just to differentiate between him and Greater Ajax
40:49 The vast majority of the designs are based off of the voice actors! So Ody looks like Jay/Jorge, Eurolychus like Armando, and Polities like Steven, who wears glasses. The community has also ascribed him a headband!
51:00 EXACTLY! As soon as Athena notices him being just a little lenient she's there to be be like ☺ No ❤
All in all, excellent, gimme 14 of em right now
I actually really appreciate the point of view you bring to your reactions. Many reactions I’ve watched focus on the music and story, I like how you spend more time about the specific animatics and what they do well.
You couldn't have picked a better time to start this, i hope you have fun and love this musical as much as we have
Loved your analysis!! I couldn’t stop laughing at your teasing of little Ajax 😂 don’t worry about the length of the video, you’re coming at this with a really cool perspective, and I would hate for you to have to rush through it or cut off some of your insights!
Holy cow, what an amazing breakdown! Definitely earned a sub.
Dude, the animation analysis, the fact you got most of the musical down on the first two songs this is awesome and YES WE DO ENJOY WATCHING EPIC CONTENT !! I HOPE YOU REACT TO THE OTHER SAGAS !!
Im obssessed youre my favourite EPIC reactor so far i havent seen anyone go fully into the writing aspect yet and youre doing it so well like you already clearly understand the material, really excited for more reactions/analysis!!
Welcome to Epic: The Musical. I hope it is an enjoyable experience. To explain why Polites has glasses, it is mainly a choice by the animators in order to make him look like his VA, Steven Dookie.
If you want reccomendations for the next saga, I recommend Mircsy for the first two songs, then WolfytheWitch for the last two. Mircsy has a talent for character design that will be shown quite well there; the reason for WolfyTheWitch for the latter half is that they do a good job portraying the emotions the characters will be feeling.
That will be all I have to say for the moment. May you have a nice day.
Not sure if anyone else has commented this but the music has some very interesting rules:
When Mortals have back-up voices, those are diagetic (other characters), when Gods have choirs/backup voices they are non-diegetic. So only Gods can affect the music directly.
Also every character has their own instruments associated with them. So for example Odysseus instruments are guitars (one more electric one is for his cunning side).
Very excited if you want to finish this, your thoughts are fascinating, I certainly will continue watching these reactions!
Only halfway, but already - nice and awesome reaction. A bit wordy of course, but lots of interesting prospectives on both songs themselves and animatics. Cant wait to finish this video, and cant wait for future sagas reactions
I love hearing different perspectives on this. I love epic because so many people can listen to it and find a cool detail. It’s why it’s so worth it to listen to it so many times over again!!!
Instant sub from me. I am a wannabe author, have been since I was a kid, and I love watching authors react to Epic. However, yours is by far my favourite reaction. The way you break things down and explain stuff is not only entertaining but extremely interesting and helpful to me. Defo taking notes from now on haha. I hope you contionue to watch the rest of Epic, it is truly amazing to see how the community bring this little musical to life. Gigi is especially amazing at this and has become the face of the community pretty much. The latest and final Saga doesn't have many animatics yet, so if you get to that point fast then I recommend watching the Livestream that Jorge does because he commisions animators/artists to do animatics for 'em.
The winions (lotus eaters) aren’t malicious. They’re super chill and just eat lotus fruit. They were told the visitors wanted food, so they provided the food they had.
Please react to the rest of Epic. As of Christmas Day, the whole thing has been released, and there are a few bops in there (I’m looking at YOU, Hermes).
12:49
That was a nat20
How have I waited this long to watch your reactions, your analysis of the story and characters is so good, and it's so nice to see a reaction appreciate the animation to such a detailed level! Great video, I will watch all of them now!
Keep in mind, that some things that you see on animatics might not be canon to musical. Animatics were made before later sagas were released which added context to few songs, which conflicts with the animator's vision. As for the Troy Saga and Cyclops Saga (except for one very minor thing), such conflicts do not occur.
I've been watching a lot of reactions to "Epic the Musical", and am so glad to come across your perceptive insights right from the outset of this opening saga. Eager to follow your journey further through this excellent musical retelling of the ancient story.
Yay! I've seen analysis of Epic from music and singing point of view, seen pure emotional reactions, and I just love your perspective and detailed analysis of the story-telling. Thank you, keep warching please! Great job. Oh, and your predictions and deductions are very fun too, I guess we'll see how correct those turn out!
"oh i hope epic fans like watching epic content" Sir, the last saga just came out and I've already watched like 5 different youtubers react to the same 5 songs and i want more... so this is just perfect
It's actually crazy how much you immediately clocked and noticed about the characters for your first time listening. EPIC is special in the way that the community started out so small and passionate about the story and grew into a very involved following for it. Jorge has said before that every line and progression of the characters and plot are very intentional and important to the story. He's also a musical genius for how the songs reflect characters and the world around them, like how every major character has a special instrument assigned to them that you'll hear when they are mentioned or singing. Other great examples of the songs deepening the story are callbacks/returning melodies from songs that affected Odysseus strongly as a character, like Open Arms and Just a Man, which you listened to in this video. There's just so much love that Jorge has poured in the writing and so much to analyze. Going to watch your Part 2 now as I loved your input on the songs and even the amazing and outstanding animators.
Your perceptions on these animation wise really opened my eyes to thing I didn't notice before despite watching other reactors and going through the songs multiple times!!
I have watched vocal and musician reactions and I am ASTOUNDED at how much each person picks up on hidden and underlying story points from their particular niche! You are extremely perceptive with great insight and I thoroughly enjoyed this! Subbed.
RAAAAAA THIS REACTION WAS SO GOOD I LOVED IT SO MUCH I LOVE YOUR ANALYSIS also Eurylochus functions as the voice of the crew which is why they echo him so much! I would also HIGHLY encourage you to look up each characters instrument and the common musical motifs because there is SO MUCH additional storytelling within the music! For example, human characters have acoustic instruments while gods have more electronic sounds! In Warrior of the Mind we are told musically that Odysseus changes Athena because she originally sings mind in the line "warrior of the mind" as a high clear straight note, then when Odysseus sings it with her the first time he sings a riff while she sings the same straight note, then they harmonize together on the riff! There are endless instances of this and its absolutely incredible how many details Jorge put into this whole story.
Only in the first song so far, and have to point out, i don’t think little Ajax staying behind was necessarily being useless, but to stay behind is to bring up the rear guard and cut of escape in that direction rather than a direct attack.
Loving the analysis so far though, and look forward to seeing more. 😊 loving how thorough you examine everything.
Also, song 3….
“He’s so smart, and crafty….”
You could almost say he’s a…. Warrior of the Mind… 😉😉😝
I really like how you separate the videos as each saga instead of each song. Makes it more complete, concise, and very interesting!
Yes, please continue this. As an aspiring writer, I love hearing your breakdown of the story.
I just love how many like nat 20 predictions you got right in the first song with like just a man and his experience with the gods!😂
40:50 most of the animators base their art of the characters on the voice actors and polites’ voice actor (Steven Dookie) has glasses so it is mostly agreed upon that polites has glasses. Odysseus is also drawn to look like Jorge who voices him
I actually never noticed they looked like their characters until now lmao
Which is also the reason why the community sees Ody as the short lol
Something really cool with each character is that they have a signature instrument that signifies when that character is doing something, Odysseus has a guitar (both acoustic and electric that swap), Athena has the piano, and Eurilicus has the voices of the crew as his instrument. Have fun figuring out who has what and when their instrument sneaks into the music
I honestly can tell without ever having read your work that you've got to be a good writer from your deep and careful analysis here and i appreciate this video so much, cant wait to watch you react to all of them.
Absolutely loving your analysis and spot-on predictions! Can't wait to go on this journey with you 💅
Odysseus saying he's "just a man" has multiple meanings in one, not only is he just a man in the sense that this whole thing is so much bigger than him and he's helpless, but on the other hand, he's "just a man" as in just a human, flaws and all, he's both complaining about his responsibilities, and admitting that he's flawed and will make mistakes, that he isnt special or guilt free, he's a man like everyone else, with selfish goals and flaws like everyone else!
I'm genuinely impressed at how well you analyzed this!!! Definitely sticking around for that alone haha
Your commentary is so fascinating. The amount you're able to pick up from just these first 5 songs shows just how solid the writing in this musical is!
I love your commentary as a storywriter and as an animator!! Pls make more of this
i freaking LOVE your analysis, you had a lot of care and attention to detail, thats so so awesome :) welcome to the epic fandom!!! 🫶🏼
Definitely want more. Out of everyone I've watched react to this, you've got the best analysis of the story
Honestly, probably one of my favorite overviews of EPIC that I've seen with a deeper look at the story, characters, and how the story heads rather than the instrumentals :)
However, the instrumentals and musical choices do actually have an impact on the story as you have already noticed! And it should be noted that most characters have their own background instruments (Odysseus has a guitar, Athena has paino and a ticking clock, ect.). One thing that is of note is that Eurylochus' backing instrument is the voice of the crew, and the way the crew echos him shows that he's the representative of the crew while also being his own character!
I really like the direction your ideas and predictions go and can't wait to see more! You've done more than earn my sub
This is the best first time reaction and analysis of Epic ive seen (and ive seen them all) by leaps and bounds. Your perceptiveness and deep understanding of the characters and their motivations already is insane and very prescient. Super excited to continue this odyssey with you