Seriously, do it. Viral is decent but he’s no Raoh. Raoh, who is the End of Century Conqueror. Raoh, who decides that in order to bring peace to the land he must rule over it and its endless hordes of mohawked goons so that he can control them. Raoh, the demon who eats demons. And Raoh, the character so manly, he launches his life force into the heavens by himself, rather than needing a proper funeral to do so.
Category Archives: anime
Please make it happen
I propose that whenever anyone speaks about Gundam 00, particularly in real life, they should call it “Gundam Ooooooh.”
Gundam 00, Season 1, Episodes 1-13
I have finally gotten around to watching Gundam 00, and now at the end of part 1 of season 1 (episodes 1-13), I find myself with a series which manages to be culturally relevant and captures the spirit of Gundam without actually trying.
I am aware of the fact that the director of Gundam 00, Mizushima Seiji, has said that he’s never seen a Gundam series before, and that this was an intentional decision by the staff to get some fresh ideas into Gundam. I know there are some disagreements among fans about this, but you know who else never saw any Gundam before directing his first Gundam series? Tomino Yoshiyuki, that’s who.
A technicality yes, but the point is that Tomino, like Mizushima, did not approach his directorial role from the position of a mecha fan or a fan of the conventions of giant robot series. The result is a pleasing series which tries its best to show that even in this fictional world of hot girls and suave (mentally damaged) men, that world peace is not so easy to achieve.
When viewing Gundam 00, I feel as if I’m looking at a very elaborate jigsaw puzzle. There are many parts to it, and eventually it will form a greater whole, but I can’t see where exactly everything will fit into place. It’s pretty interesting slowly watching the plot and world unfold. Everything and every character is given prominence in the series, and to continue my jigsaw puzzle analogy, the main gundam pilots, the Gundam Meisters, are like the corner pieces. They are only more important in their role of being a helpful start, but the true main characters are everyone else, from the politicians to the other pilots to the civilians. Gundam 00 is a series which asks the viewer to see a bigger picture.
Now, Celestial Being’s goal of eliminating warfare is something we’ve seen before in Gundam series, especially when this goal is being carried out by a series of bishounen. One main difference from its predecessors though is that their idealism is not the reality of the show. Celestial Being acknowledges the sheer logistical difficulty of trying to prevent war via giant mobile death platforms, and sees that an ideal is just an ideal no matter how hard they fight towards it. Sacrifices must be taken, concessions must be made, it isn’t all rainbows and flowers and they know it. Even the “Relena” of this series, Marina Ismail, acknowledges this from the very start.
As I said in my Votoms part 1 review, I am at the point where the plot will truly begin. Congratulations Gundam 00, I am proud to call you a Gundam series.
PS: I laughed my ass off when I saw the sudden arrival of Future Kato.
The Generation Gaps in Taste in Anime Fandom
While anime fandom in the United States is old enough that a literal generation gap is possible, though that is not quite what I mean by the term. When I say generation gap, I mean the difference between waves of fans that have appeared since anime first gained popularity back in the 70s. The biggest indicators of these gaps, I believe, are the statements that will give away how they feel about themselves relative to anime fandom, such as “all these new shows are terrible compared to older ones” and “I won’t watch any show if it looks too old.” But why is it that the fandom resorts to such statements about their interests and how they compare to different times in the life of this hobby?
Speak to an anime fan of any age, and ask them why and how they got into anime. Most likely, you will get an explanation of how the anime they first watched differed from whatever else was on tv. I will give you my own example. While I watched Voltron and other such shows as a kid, I first discovered anime as coming from Japan in the form of bootleg Dragon Ball Z tapes a few years prior to it airing on American television. What stood out to me about DBZ relative to other cartoons I had been watching at the time was first the fighting, second the serial nature of the show, and third the idea actions had consequences. Characters could DIE (and then run around and have dead adventures and come back to life later, but they were still officially dead). In a time of only “cartoon” violence, I got something I wouldn’t call realistic, but rather much more weighty. The universe hung in the balance, after all.
Now, the reason I’m giving this example is to begin to show that I believe that this generation gap in anime fandom has not only to do with physical age, but also that anime hits us hardest during periods when we are most emotionally and mentally receptive to it. It is during these times that I believe people have a hunger for entertainment which satisfies them, and this is the basis of peoples’ nostalgia for certain times. Anime fandom in the 70s grew out of science fiction and fantasy fan scenes, out of Star Trek and Star Wars, and the first big shows were things like Battle of the Planets and Star Blazers. These fans were receptive to it because it was similar to the types of shows they enjoyed beforehand, but it also flipped their worlds upside down with stories and themes that went beyond other forms of fiction they had been exposed to at that point. When Dragon Ball Z rose in popularity in the 90s, I strongly believe that kids had a reaction to it similar to my own. It affected their world, introduced them to new ideas. Same thing goes for people discovering Sailor Moon around the same time. And Pokemon. And even Love Hina.
The conflict occurs because the values which affect people have changed, and why anime fans of one generation can have difficulty with fans in another. While the values may have changed, the strong feelings towards the anime which they fell in love with means that each generation feels strongly about the shows which got them into it, and where feelings are concerned, misunderstandings arise, because when you attack someone’s favorite anime you are essentially attacking what they believe in, what makes them feel good about life. It’s easy to joke about not taking anime so seriously, that chill out it’s just a cartoon, but it is also easy to see why and how people can be affected by not just anime but any form of fiction or storytelling. And because these feelings are so strong, it makes other periods of anime pale by comparison because they are not easy to relate to on an emotional level. To give an example which is not necessarily generational, take a look at the Robotech and Macross fandoms. Robotech’s appeal is that it presents three series as a single cohesive universe with a unified theme. Macross’s appeal is that very different stories take place within the same universe, giving a variety of themes and subjects. Different values, different fanbases (though of course there’s plenty of crossover).
Older anime isn’t good precisely because it looks old, and seemingly exists in a time far gone and surely these shows could not possibly be better than the ones that have influenced a fan’s thoughts. New anime can’t possibly be good because it fails to tackle the themes which a fan finds most important. Those are the essential feelings.
Now, one thing I should point out is that it’s certainly possible to have multiple periods of increased receptiveness towards anime. By my count I’ve had at least 3 or 4 (the most recent being the era of Genshiken and Eureka Seven). Perhaps the people who say every show they watch is the best show ever do so because they are in a current renewed state of fandom, instead of simply being standard internet-style exaggeration.
Seeing why people become anime fans, I think, will result in a lot less misunderstanding.
The Fujoshi Files 2: Tamura Hiyori
Name: Tamura, Hiyori (田村ひより)
Alias: Hiyorin (ひよりん)
Relationship Status: Single
Origin: Lucky Star
Information:
Tamura Hiyori is a student at Ryouou High School in Saitama Prefecture. A friendly and sociable girl, Hiyori has no problems making friends. Despite her age, Hiyori is a doujinshi artist and member of a popular circle which has even sold at Comic Market. A very enthusiastic artist, Hiyori frequently comes up with ideas for new comics but often forgets them just as easily, which is a continuing source of frustration for her. While not obviously a fujoshi at first sight, Hiyori has a tendency to (almost) accidentally blurt out phrases which betray her true status.
Fujoshi Level:
Hiyori frequently uses examples from real life to inform her work. Most notably, her two female friends and classmates, Kobayakawa Yutaka and Iwasaki Minami, who have a very close friendship with each other, have become a recurring subject and inspiration for many doujinshi. Unlike many fujoshi, Hiyori’s draws more than just boys’ love pairings, as shown in the example of Yutaka and Minami. However, she rarely ventures outside the theme of sexually charged pairings, which perhaps says more about her status as a fujoshi than anything else.
Why hasn’t there been another Evangelion?
Evangelion is an anime which resonated with the Japanese population because it accurately captured what they were feeling at the time of its broadcast. Probably for similar reasons, this is also why it resonated with fans around the world. It materialized feelings.
Now, I think the reasons why there has not been another Evangelion, in the sense of a title which transcends the normal/otaku divide and causes a lasting emotional influence on the public at large are many. I feel that the otaku community may have gotten more insular. I feel that the animators respond to this by trying to cash in easily on things like moe. When the shows DO try to resonate with their audience, there is resistance and backlash. Perhaps a show has the power to reach fans far and wide and affirm their feelings has been shown, but it was put in a bad time slot. I do not fault anyone for doing any of these things, and it may be a sign that there is simply too big a diversity of opinion among people now for a show to hit on the level Evangelion did. Blame everyone and blame no one.
So what’s the answer to my question? Perhaps that for an anime to affect people on such a large scale again, there has to be large scale events affecting Japan in the real world that the normal person and the reclusive otaku can feel in their daily lives.
Armored Trooper Votoms: Part 1
This is a review of episodes 1-13 (or was that 14?) of Armored Trooper Votoms.
Armored Trooper Votoms is the story of a soldier gone AWOL named Chirico Cuvie. Chirico is the pilot of an “Armored Trooper,” essentially a giant robot used for military purposes, but without any of the flash or style of a Gundam or a Valkyrie. Having found himself an unwitting accomplice in a conspiracy to attack a friendly space station, Chirico is betrayed by his fellow soldiers, but not before discovering their most important secret: A mysterious, expressionless woman inside a capsule and the target of capture by his former allies. Barely escaping with his own life, Chirico runs into a higher-up in the military, a man named Rocchina, who believes Chirico’s accidental treason to be anything but. Chirico is tortured mercilessly, but manages to escape and ends up in a city of scoundrels and gangs not unlike the entire planet in Hokuto no Ken. That city is named Uoodo.
In Uoodo, Chirico manages to make some friends, though none of them are by any means innocent, given the nature of Uoodo. Chirico must deal with a corrupt police force while still running from the military who believes him to know more than he actually does. As Chirico tries to survive, he begins to learn the secrets of the mysterious woman he met at the space station, referred to as the “Prototype,” and the viewer is shown that the conspiracy that got Chirico running for his life in the first place runs much deeper than anybody ever suspected.
Armored Trooper Votoms, as I mentioned, has giant robots, and not fancy ones at that. The result is that, while the action is not exactly completely realistic, it has a very gritty feel to it. An Armored Trooper is not made of super alloys, it does not have any fancy weapons or serious technological edge. It is basically a tank with legs. In fact, Chirico frequently switches Armored Troopers because the previous one got wrecked beyond repair in battle, though he prefers a specific type called the Scope Dog. In one battle, his Scope Dog was taken down by heavy fire from people on foot and in cars and helicopters. They are far from invincible, and this is the basis of the combat in the show.
As for the plot, this is what is meant whenever someone says that you have to give a Sunrise mecha series chance to set up, that they generally have a 13-episode test. This entire first part, aptly entitled the “Uoodo” arc, is ALL setup for what’s to come. I can feel it, I think anyone watching can feel it, the whole point of this first part is to set up the characters and the basic setting, and to establish what is “normal” for the show so that the show can then be turned on its head. These first 13 episodes for the most part feel fairly episodic. They sometimes revolve around Chirico’s friends trying to strike it rich, or Chirico escaping from danger, or a combination of the two, but along the way hints are dropped and characterization is expanded. My only complaint is that the show has a very Tomino-esque way of introducing relationships, which is to say unrealistic and rushed in order to make a plot point. Other than that, the show is on its way to success.
I have been set up. Now it’s time for the show to begin knocking me down.
PS: One amusing aspect of Votoms I should mention is the next episode previews, which are usually serious expositions of what will happen to Chirico. Best of all is that they all end on some extremely dramatic and cryptic message of what’s to come. The one that stands out in my mind is “NEXT TIME, CHIRICO DRINKS HIS COFFEE BLACK, AND IT IS BITTER INDEED.” It kind of makes the show hard to take seriously sometimes, but that’s okay.
Ogiue Lexicon
I realized that there may be a few terms I use when discussing Ogiue that may not be familiar to some people. So I thought I’d clear up at least one or two of them.
fude: literally meaning “paintbrush,” this is a term used to describe Ogiue’s normal hairstyle. Also frequently referred to as “fude atama” or “paintbrush head.”
getting a little warped: translated in the Del Rey English translation as “getting carried away.”
Anata no Tonari: “By Your Side.” Ogiue’s Mugi x Sen doujinshi that she sold at Comic Festival.
Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei: Zetsubou of Socks are Really Itchy
So with season 2 having just begun airing in Japan, it’s about as good a time as any to review Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei.
Simply put, this is a good series.
Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei is the story of a harshly pessimistic and cynical teacher, the titular “Mr. Despair,” Itoshiki Nozomu, and his student, Fuura Kafuka, who can put a genuine positive spin on anything. Their interactions with each other, the other students in the school, and their environment at large are approached in multiple layers of dangerously effective meta-humor, like getting a heart attack from Azuma Kazuma’s ultimate croissant.
Akiyuki Shinbo, the director of SZS, has a very distinct directing style which is evident in pretty much everything he does. You will find in Zetsubou Sensei a keen awareness of the anime as an anime, as an image projected from a television screen (or some other type of monitor). This applies not only to the strong use of flat colors as well as the placement of objects within each scene, but also to the characters and personalities. The characters could easily be thought of as gimmicks: Optimist, pessimist, anal-retentive, cell phone, fujoshi, hikikomori, on and on and on. I, however, believe it is better to think of them as character traits in their purest forms. Watching a character in Zetsubou Sensei is like chewing the coffee beans right in your mouth.
For me, the example that stands out most is the anal-retentive Kitsu Chiri’s perfectly symmetrical hair. It is a representative of her desire for symmetry in everything, and when shown on screen close-up, Kitsu’s hair becomes negative space and the split turns into a vivid shape on a flat plane. The split hair is quite literally symbolic.
Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei is a show I feel I can appreciate on a very artistic level, but it also satisfies my simple desire to watch an entertaining show. I look forward to Season 2.
By the way, if I had to choose: Kafuka, Kitsu, and Fujiyoshi in that order.
The Fujoshi Files 1: Ogiue Chika
Name: Ogiue, Chika (荻上千佳)
Aliases: Ogino Naruyuki (於木野鳴雪), Yukimian (雪見庵)
Relationship Status: Dating
Origin: Genshiken: The Society for the Study of Modern Visual Culture
Information:
Ogiue Chika is a member of the Society for the Study of Modern Visual Culture, or Genshiken, at Shiiou University in Tokyo, and a former member of the Manga Society at the same university. She discovered doujinshi as early as 5th grade, and has maintained a passion for boys’ love ever since, though a traumatic event in her junior high school days created a great deal of self-loathing in her, leading to her denouncing otaku in general. One of her greatest fears was that her love of yaoi would preclude her from ever being in a romantic relationship. Thanks to the friendships she gained by being a part of Genshiken, she has gradually accepted her fujoshi side. She eventually becomes chairman of Genshiken, receiving the title from its previous owner, fellow fujoshi Ohno Kanako.
Ogiue is a talented artist who is best described as being unable to resist drawing what she wants. She has produced a number of works, most prominent among them being Anata no Tonari, a girl-oriented doujinshi involving the characters Mugio and Chihiro from Kujibiki Unbalance.
Fujoshi Level:
The greatest example of Ogiue’s fujocity is the fact that her interest in boys’ love extends out from manga and into the real world. Ogiue fantasizes about her male friends engaged in very obscene activities and has drawn many, many pages (she describes it in multiples of ten) of these images which exist in her fantasies. In fact, her boyfriend, Sasahara Kanji, himself a former chairman of Genshiken, continues to be a subject of her more explicit drawings, and their intimacy has allowed her to draw him with greater accuracy.
OGIUE MANIAX 