Category Archives: philosophy

Cause, Effect, Necessity? Sci-Fi Fandom and Early Anime Fandom

Posted on by

Anime World Order recently posted an interview with what are the self-proclaimed “old farts” of anime, and they rightly deserve the title. Hearing them speak, and thinking back to an earlier comment by others in previous shows, such as Joey Snackpants and Neil Nadelman, I had to wonder just how much this has affected the flow of anime fandom in the United States. Though I personally have found some issue with those sci-fi fans who lament the status of anime today because it is not “sci-fi enough,” I cannot help but feel that their influence is hard to deny.

I am certainly not old enough to have experienced any of that early anime fandom, but in listening to those that had been around there is one message repeats constantly: to be an anime fan required obsession. This was before the internet was established, before google and youtube and digital fansubs and wikipedia, so to find any sort of information required the ability to search and research and to find collaborators so as to increase one’s chances of obtaining anime and anime-related paraphernalia. I imagine that either you had to be somewhat extroverted or at least have an obsession so strong it overcame your fear of other people to accomplish this task. And what better place to find those with powerful obsessions than in an already-established fanbase?

For that matter, who better to pursue this difficult-to-obtain treasure from the isles of Japan than those who already had spent time discussing and analyzing technology in their favorite shows, writing fanzines to pursue and exchange ideas? With this many people with the ability to obsess grouped together, and more importantly able to obsess over fictional works on television and comics, two forms of media long thought juvenile or at least unintellectual, it might be no wonder that American anime fandom in its infancy sprang forth from sci-fi fandom.

Of course anime fandom today is also largely the result of arguably bigger influences in the years after. Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball Z, and Pokemon came on TV early in the morning and introduced both boys and girls to a serial story where actions in a previous episode are not reset in the next. They targeted a much wider audience than older anime had ever hoped to, and rather than having their native origins obfuscated where introduced as something from Japan. Still, I believe even this part of anime fandom is influenced by those sci-fi fans of yesterday. Slash, derived from the pairing of “Kirk/Spock,” may have allowed its foreign cousin Yaoi to get accustomed to traveling on western soil. Sci-fi conventions may have given pointers to the anime fandom when it became large enough on how to congregate with like-minded (enough) individuals. In that sense, perhaps the actions of sci-fi fans in the 70s and 80s became a template for today’s anime fandom, who have shaped it to their own experiences and will some day become the old guard to influence others.

The Active Pursuit of Anime and the Effects Thereof

Posted on by

Anime fans in the west have had a long history of actively seeking out their anime. Be it trading tapes, taking time out of your day specifically to go to anime clubs, figuring out the arcane secrets required to get shows off of irc, learning how to use bittorrent, or even searching on Youtube, there has always been the push to find more anime. There is a sort of mental devotion, however small, to finding new shows or finding more of a particular show, and I believe that just as much as it is a reflection of the hardcore fan’s mindset, it can also influence that mindset as well. It is both cause and effect.

When one downloads or otherwise looks for episodes of Pretty Cure, there’s some sort of labor involved, and from that labor it makes sense to want sufficient value in return, to (misappropriately) use some of Karl Marx’s terminology.  Thus, when that episode of Pretty Cure has no progress, when it feels like the last episode, disappointment occurs. Then you might think, “This show isn’t worth my time.” And it might not be. However, keep in mind that most anime in Japan is shown on TV, and the TV acts as a passive medium for most mainstream shows. Anime like Pretty Cure air on weekend mornings, so there’s no need for staying up late or setting a VCR or Tivo. It, like so many other shows, becomes simply a part of a weekly routine, something that can be enjoyed in addition to other activities by the viewer, such as eating breakfast.

It becomes a custom, like saying hi to your neighbor every morning (feel free to substitute neighbor with anyone else). Anyone who woke up for Saturday Morning Cartoons is probably familiar with this feeling. Sure, there are shows you like more than others, or would have to sacrifice one for the other if they aired at the same time on different channels, but the familiarity makes it less of a new shirt and more of a warm blanket.

Having started to watch Eureka Seven in Japan, I originally thought it was going to be a warm blanket, that Eureka Seven would be mostly episodic and carried on the characters’ strong personalities and their interactions. When I noticed those interactions causing permanent changes in those characters, I became more involved, and before long it started to become an active pursuit, where I would purposely go to sleep early on Saturdays to catch Eureka Seven early Sunday morning. I think this gradual shift from blanket to shirt is part of what made me so fond of the show.

I think some of the success (or lack thereof) of anime aired on TV in the US has very much to do with being situated in a way that makes them accessible to passive viewers. Dragon Ball Z and Gundam Wing aired at convenient, after-school time slots. Cowboy Bebop was on around midnight, when it’s late but not too late. Gundam SEED was saddled by a poor time slot that got progressively worse. Adult Swim seems to be pushing Code Geass off a cliff with a 5am time slot, and I think they are well aware of the active/passive fandom dichotomy that occurs. I mean, you could say that viewers should just set their vcr’s to record, but then that involves labor, and the viewer then pretty much has to be a fan.

And while it’s great to be an anime fan, not everyone who is a potential viewer or a potential fan starts off this way.

Love the Robot: Dreaming of Great Mecha Anime

Posted on by

In a dream a few nights ago, I found myself sitting in a restaurant tasked with making a list of attributes necessary for a great giant robot anime. I didn’t get very far in the list, being able to only list one tenet of a great mecha anime, but it sat very prominently in my mind, even making it past my dream memory into reality, something that sadly does not happen to most of my dreams.

Rule #1 of great giant robot anime: Giant Robots have to be important.

It wasn’t those exact words, but the whole point of this first rule is that you cannot call something a good giant robot anime if the viewer believes that the show would be better without giant robots. This is not to say that any show is made better with giant robots (Kannazuki no Miko is proof of that), or that a show without giant robots is somehow worse. Nor is it to say that giant robots have to be prominently displayed in the anime.

What there cannot be is disdain towards the giant robot from the creators and viewers. The giant robot cannot be pushed to the ignored or regarded as some kind of detriment to the show itself.

This came to me in a dream, but I realize that I believe strongly in it. As for rules 2 through 10 and beyond, well who knows. Rule #1 might be all that’s truly needed.

The Right Way to Do “VS” Arguments

Posted on by

Who would win in a fight, Kenshiro or Golgo 13?

Lina Inverse or KOS-MOS?

Toilet Paper or a Snickers Bar?

I love this sort of argument generally, but it’s generally considered in very poor taste by large parts of fandoms, tired of seeing them. It is considered a useless endeavor, be it in the “unstoppable force vs immovable object” sense, or just being futile and biased based on favoritism by the people arguing. , but there is a wrong way to do it, as stated, and there is a right way to do it, which begins with realizing its uselessness is not a problem at all.

At the end of the first Phoenix Wright game, and this is the point where those of you who haven’t played should turn back in case you don’t want to get spoiled, the message given is that in a court of law the prosecution and defense aren’t working against each other but with each other to arrive at the truth. This is what you should be doing with VS arguments, except that there’s clearly no actual truth. You may want to reach for it, but the goal is not to grind the other person underneath your forum avatar’s heel. The real goal instead is to build upon each other’s arguments and logic and to challenge each other’s opinions in order to promote critical thinking, even if it’s all in jest.

There’s never really a loser in VS arguments, and that’s the fun of it. Work on opposite sides, but work together, just as Phoenix and Edgeworth* do.

*Substitute their Japanese names if you so feel inclined.

Enjadening

Posted on by

At some point, it seem likes most anime reviewers begin to lose passion for their work, provided they had any in the first place. Though we may say something along the lines of, “Why do it in the first place if you no longer like it,” they say that one of the reasons they lose that passion is because they are constantly forced to wade through shows they dislike. They cannot choose the anime they review, and so with every disappointing show they become more and more bitter towards anime. That ocean that once seemed so wide turns out to be polluted.

At least, that’s what I think might be happening.

Aside from a few exceptions, I haven’t really tried to talk about anime on here that don’t really interest me. I mean, it’s difficult to talk about things you find boring, right? And anime reviewers have to do it, be it hell or high school romantic comedy.

In that case, what if I did start reviewing things outside of my interests?

I don’t know if I’ll actually do this. While I have a strong love of anime and manga, to put it to the test like this may be asking too much of me. If I go in, I may come out a different person. I’d like to think there’s interesting lessons to be learned in any anime, good, bad, or decidedly mediocre, but how many will it take before I break, if I do at all?

Most likely, if I do decide to begin this self-experiment, I won’t say specifically which reviews are part of it. That would be up to the readers to determine.

The Most Difficult Question

Posted on by

“What anime/manga would you recommend?”

At some point this went from being a fairly simple question to being an incredibly complex one that leaves me puzzled for long periods of time. As I absorbed more and more shows and comics into my being, as I began to expose myself to more and more types of fans and non-fans, the number of variables just kept increasing.

How long has this person been watching anime, if at all? What titles do I think are good? Out of those, which do I think the person asking me would like? What non-anime genres is he or she already into? How open is he or she to new genres? Different visual styles? How familiar is the person with digital downloads, bittorent, etc?

I know in a previous post that I recommended Slayers, but that is more of a generalist approach. The difficulty arises when I try to tailor my response to that individual. Everyone is unique, and I can’t rely on my own taste to sell a show to another.

An equally difficult question is “Which shows do you like?”

How familiar is this person with anime? If I say a title, will they understand what it is? How open are they to explanation?

And it’s not like I’ll lie or anything. I just prefer to pick an answer that will most accurately describe what I like in anime as efficiently as possible to the person in particular who’s askng.

Or I can just say “Rose of Versailles” and see what happens.

Amelia Wil Tesla Seyruun and the Mystery of Moe

Posted on by

Slayers is a 90’s anime series which arrived in a time before moe became a commonplace word. The most recent series which began airing this year, Slayers Revolution, is extremely faithful to that era of anime. So faithful, perhaps, that it can be jarring when put up against the other shows surrounding iSlayers Revolution at the moment. It is with this contrast that I began to wonder about the character of Amelia Wil Tesla Seyruun and how, in her very 1990’s anime characterization, she is not quite moe as we know it today.

Young and cute with a bit of sexiness.

Honest and kind, but overly naive.

Tries her best but is often clumsy.

On paper, Amelia seems to be an obviously fall into the “moe” category in its most obvious and stereotypical sense. And yet, something doesn’t add up. While she has a lot of endearing traits similar to those of characters such as Arika Yumemiya (My-ZHiME) and Nono (Top o Nerae 2), Amelia is somehow different. She is not a character easily called moe, and her immediate loss in round 1 of the first Anime Saimoe’s main tournament says she was popular enough to get there, but not popular enough to overcome others.

Just to make things clear, I believe moe to be a personal, subjective thing. It is okay to moe over Amelia. What I mean when I say she is not quite moe is that she is generally not viewed as a “moe character” despite being so similar to characters who are.

One possibility is that while it’s possible to enjoy her character, feel empathy for her, and even perhaps become infatuated with Amelia, it’s much more difficult to feel sorry for her. Amelia is the confident princess of a powerful kingdom. She is skilled in diplomacy and magics both offensive and defensive. Her personality flaws are in sort of a no-man’s land, where they’re real flaws (and not just ones to make her cuter), but not so detrimental so as to turn her into damaged goods. She has both a gentle side and an agressive side, but it could never be mistaken for the ever-popular tsundere category.

I do not have the answers, but I believe that with a careful study of Amelia’s character, we can begin to unravel the clues explaining why anime has increasingly made this turn towards moe as she sits on the precipice between two worlds.

Flaw Magnification at Conventions

Posted on by

A week after Otakon, about a month away from New York Anime Fest, and knowing my friends are going to PAX at the end of this month, I have conventions, or more specifically congoers, on my mind.

I support fans doing what they want with what they love. One might call it one of the pillars of the concept of fandom itself. However, even I find myself being at times bothered by some of the behavior at anime conventions, even things that I normally would not be too bothered by outside of a con. It bothered me as being hypocritical, and it still might be, but I knew something was different about each situation. I mean, a lot of things are different about a con, but the main one is that it’s a lot of similar people in one area.

When you have one person who loves being the center of attention, it’s a perfectly okay personality trait, especially when you have people who can reciprocate. However, when you have 100 of those attention-craving individuals, and ten times that many people reciprocating and giving them attention at the drop of a hat, it magnifies the negative facets. It’s like inbreeding, where the more it happens the more concentrated the disadvantageous genetics become (no Koi Kaze jokes, please). And because so many people ARE vying for attention, their individuality tends to get lost in the mix, making them faceless, making them “attention whores.”

Being the center of attention is just an example, and not any sort of focal point for criticism. And it doesn’t just apply to personality traits but also tangible ones as well. When everyone who is not in a costume is wearing a t-shirt (myself included), you start to notice that fact.

Once you get to know someone individually, this sort of thing almost always stops mattering, but it is in this initial stage, this first sighting, that these judgments are formed, for better or worse. Moreover, many geeks, nerds, dorks, and otaku are bad at making first impressions in the first place, so this doesn’t make it any easier.

And though I say this is “at Conventions,” I know that this is less about cons in particular and more about human behavior and the interaction between individuals and masses. This is just to put it all in a context which is meaningful to me so that I can think about it more readily.

Kaiba is a difficult show to watch

Posted on by

A very good show yes, but a difficult one nonetheless.

Kaiba is a very intelligent show, but so are a lot of other shows. The difference, however, is that while something like Crest of the Stars appeals to the viewer’s intelligence, it does not actively try to challenge that intelligence as Kaiba does.

Crest of the Stars will say, “I assume you to be an intelligent person, and therefore I will provide you with tons of information so you can get a clear idea of what’s going on and better appreciate this fiction.”

Kaiba, on the other hand, will say, “I assume you to be an intelligent person, therefore it’s only right of me to push that intelligence further, to not only grease those wheels but to then burn them out as well.”

The result is that Kaiba can be rather exhausting, and it’s not the kind of show I would recommend for a marathon. This is exactly the reason why I haven’t finished it yet. Each episode presents so much, and asks so much of the viewer that it makes me wish I was some kind of brain cow with four organs to process it all.

That Which Causes Me to Not Like Something, Part 1

Posted on by

The vast majority of the time here on Ogiue Maniax, I talk about the shows I like or at the very least the shows which I think have merit in discussion. I prefer to be open-minded about shows of all kinds, though there are some genres I’ll get into less than others for a variety of reasons (boys’ love, for example). Still, as much as I want to say that every anime or manga has its day in the sun, there’s some criteria in which I will have to declare a show less-than-good, and not in a so-bad-it’s-good kind of way. Here is one of them.

When a show fails to reach my already low expectations, I will think less of it. Link, upon reading one of my reviews for My-Otome/My-ZHiME, informed that from what he’d heard, the My series was nothing but pure trash. My response was that I was fully aware of this, but it did not impact my enjoyment of the show. I expected nothing deep, and that’s what I got, as well as an excellent characters in a sort-of-okay story. Now, Tokyo Underground is a different story.

With Tokyo Underground, I looked at the show presented to me, one that was essentially “fighters with elemental powers hitting each other.” “Okay,” I thought, this is about as run-of-the-mill as you could get, so it shouldn’t disappoint. All you need is characters throwing lightning and fire at each other and maybe some training montages and the occasional powering up and development of new abilities. I got none of that. Instead, over the course of 26 episodes, only two new abilities for the main character were developed, with one of them simply being an enhanced version of his default special move. Whereas Dragon Ball Z had the courtesy of giving us the logic of “powering up makes you stronger,” fights in Tokyo Underground consisted of using the same attack over and over with no tangible change from one attempt to the next. 

I heard the manga is better though. Maybe I’ll check it out some time.

To summarize, when a show cannot even reach the level of “cliche,” then there’s a problem.