A while back I was on the Ani-Gamers podcast along with the Reverse Thieves where we talked about our experiences at Otakon 2009 this past July in Baltimore. There’s some overlap with my written review of the invent, but I invite you to listen anyway and hear us crack wise in Real Time.
This episode of Ani-Gamers can be found here.
World Masterpiece Theater is a very long-running series in Japan, where famous stories from around the world are adapted into television anime series. Even today new series are running under the World Masterpiece Theater banner, and in practically every case it’s produced a series loved by many and considered to be of the finest quality in Japanese animation. One particularly exceptional series comes to us from 1979: Anne of Green Gables. Adapted from the novel of the same title by Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables, or “Akage no Anne” as it’s called in Japan, is the story of a young orphan named Anne Shirley and the positive impact she makes upon the life of a pair of elderly siblings, Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, as well as the little Canadian town of Avonlea in which they live.
Now, I’ve never read any of the novels and never really planned to, but two factors piqued my interest enough to watch the anime. First was the fact that it is so well-regarded in Japan, and second was that it bears one of the more remarkable pedigrees in anime history. The director and first layout artist for Anne are two names you might recognize: Takahata Isao and Miyazaki Hayao. They are the two men who would a few years later found Studio Ghibli, perhaps the most respected and highly acclaimed Japanese animation studio of all time. Also on board were Kondou Yoshifumi on character designs and Sakurai Michiyo, who would take over from Miyazaki on layout. The two would go on to do key animation for various Ghibli titles such as Kiki’s Delivery Service and Porco Rosso (Yoshifumi), Castle in the Sky Laputa (Sakurai), and even direct for Ghibli (Yoshifumi on Whisper of the Heart). Both also did key animation for Grave of the Fireflies. Simply put, this show did not suffer from a lack of talent.
While this was not the first time the duo of Takahata and Miyazaki had worked together, nor was it the first time they had done any World Masterpiece titles, Anne of Green Gables is one of the best examples of what they were able to accomplish. Anne of Green Gables takes full advantage of its fairly episodic format by making each and every episode a joy to watch either on its own or in large chunks of multiple episodes. It makes the show approachable at any stage, and the show becomes a pleasant yet compelling experience, especially when you factor in Anne Shirley herself. Anne, who introduces herself as “Anne with an E but I’d rather be called Cordelia,” is a shining example of a main character who just carries a story. All of the other characters are good too, mind you, from Anne’s best friend Diana to the rascally Gilbert Blythe, but her name’s in the title for a reason.
Anne’s most endearing trait is probably her tendency to get caught up in her own imagination. When combined with her love of storytelling, it results in seemingly endless declarations of love and hate, with flares of drama or comedy or passion depending on how she’s feeling and where her sentence construction is taking her. Anne is never satisfied with a simple story, and will turn even simple lies into elaborate tales just to fulfill her sense of the dramatic. Give her one episode and you’ll be likely be drawn into her world.
Anne of Green Gables is not only one of the most beloved novels of all time but also one of the most beloved anime of all time. Just this very year, the prequel novel Before Green Gables was adapted into a currently-running TV series to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the original anime. 30 years is a long time, but Anne of Green Gables has aged very gracefully. Kannagi director Yamamoto Yutaka said at one of his Otakon 2009 panels that he considers Anne to be the best example of how to do a long television anime series, and while I cannot say it is the best, it certainly sets a good precedent. In fact, my only real regret with this series is that we are no longer able to see Miyazaki and Takahata use their talents on television series, as they’ve moved on to feature films and almost nothing else.
Anne of Green Gables has a level of quality and accessibility that few anime can live up to, and just as the original novel still carries relevance today, so too does Akage no Anne.
Back when Shin Mazinger first began, I told everyone to go check it out based purely on the strength of its first episode. I assume some of you followed my advice, but there are probably many readers who were still unsure. Maybe they checked out the first episode (which acts like a final episode), and got too confused. Well, with over half of the series finished at this point I am back to tell you once again and emphatically to take some time out to watch Shin Mazinger Shougeki!! Z-Hen.
The director Imagawa, famous for Giant Robo and G Gundam, among others, does not make the story unwatchable for those who are unfamiliar with the Mazinger series of classic and pivotal giant robot anime. Every character that matters is introduced as if you’ve never seen them at all, and many of the characters weren’t even originally in the Mazinger Z manga or anime! Now, Imagawa has a tendency to pull characters from other works loosely related to the source material in question, but it’s never done in a Marvel comics kind of way where they refer you back to a previous comic book release to get all the details. No worries there.
Unlike what many would expect, there isn’t a giant robot fight scene every episode, which I know disappoints some, but know that what’s really happening is a buildup to an even better fight later on in the series. This happens again, and again, and again. On top of that, each fight is choreographed and animated surprisingly well, especially when it seems like the show was (and possibly still is) operating on a very limited budget. No matter what’s going on, you can expect a certain degree of high quality.
As for the story itself, Shin Mazinger plays out like a children’s story as one might expect based on its source material, but it’s done with a strong sense of sophistication and respect for what it means to be a children’s story, with enough twists to make it watchable for its new intended audience of older viewers. It’s not like Alan Moore who is all, “Well what if we took superheroes and made them crazy and grim and realistic?” If Imagawa were to do super hero comics, he would ask, “Well what if we took real life, and made it more like super hero comics?” That’s pretty much where Shin Mazinger comes from.
If you’re still hesitant about watching Shin Mazinger, you should maybe check out the episode reviews of it over at Subatomic Brainfreeze, as Sub is all about HYPING it up.
Tell me if you’ve heard this one before: A young man is an outcast among his peers, and he spends each day barely interacting with them. When he’s alone though, his true personality emerges, and he makes grand displays of superiority, insisting that he is above everyone else.
Here’s the twist: Our intrepid hero is proving his superiority by masturbating daily in the girls’ bathroom.
And now here’s the second, vital twist: The story ends up, against all odds, actually being really good.
That is Onanie Master Kurosawa (Onanie meaning masturbation), a 4-volume doujin work which goes from being a sort of parody of Death Note and Code Geass-type manga, to a recounting of characters not unlike Anonymous messageboard posters who lash out at the world in pointless and self-destructive ways, to a stark and heartfelt look at redemption and growing up and, well, acknowledging the mistakes of your youth. Most likely what happened was that the creators, Ise Katsura and Yoko, realized that they couldn’t just keep milking the same gag (no pun intended…maybe), and that it needed something extra, something dramatic.
And the most amazing thing of all is how well the comic transitions from absurd comedy into down-to-earth drama. It’s something many a webcomic have attempted, with few ever succeeding. For one thing, Onanie Master Kurosawa transitions far better than Megatokyo did, and I suspect it might not be even be a fair comparison.
That’s not to say Onamas (as it’s called by fans) is without its faults. The transition was surprisingly good, but it did have quite a few bumps along the way, and for those who aren’t comfortable with that change in content it might not be an enjoyable read. Also the art is good but not fantastic, which when I think about it is hardly a negative, as it were. Like Megatokyo above and even parts of Nausicaa, the artwork is done primarily in pencil, which may seem sloppy.
The entire series has been scanlated, so go check it out. Raws are available as well, and if you can understand Japanese better than you can read it, the Nico Nico Douga Onanie Master Kurosawa Community has uploaded some dramatic readings.
Before manga author Wakasugi Kiminori created his most famous work, Detroit Metal City, he created a gag comic called Amateur Wrestling Ken-chan. Seeing it at Book Off one day, and seeing that it was just a single volume, I decided to pick it up. Having read it now, I can say that Wakasugi has improved tremendously by the time he began working on DMC.
The basic premise of Ken-chan is that a high school student named Nagano Kenpei is convinced/forced to join the amateur wrestling team at his school. Among his teammates are a fat kid, a creepy goth, and a homoerotic yet athletically fit wrestling ace who faints in ecstasy whenever his nipples are grazed. Kenpei is similar to Negishi Souichi, the protagonist of DMC, in that he’s a weak kid with a far-off love interest who he just can’t seem to make a move on. However, unlike Negishi, Kenpei is in many ways an irredeemable human being, and is thoroughly unlikable as a main character. You never actually cheer for Kenpei and his blackened heart. Instead, if there’s anyone you would cheer for, it’s the incredibly hairy half-Russian wrestling coach and silver medalist Numata Puchkoff. He’s a dumb yet earnest guy who wants to help the kids do their best, even if they have no real motivation and never get any for the entire duration of the manga.
Despite its name, Amateur Wrestling Ken-chan has almost nothing to do with amateur wrestling, and instead mainly focuses on how pathetic Kenpei and the rest of the characters are, and a whole lot of toilet humor involving dumb girls, mighty breasts, and raging boners. Is it funny? Sometimes. Is it so funny that if you see it in the store it’s a must-get? Certainly not, but it’s just a single volume.
Ken-chan, while clearly coming from the same author as DMC, is much less refined compared to the exciting tales of faux-rape by Johannes Krauser II, and is simply less good overall, but that shouldn’t really surprise anyone. In fact, it probably didn’t, as Ken-chan pretty much ends unresolved, implying that it was canceled pretty early on.
On the bellyband of the book is a message from Krauser II, which says, “If I had met a teacher like this, I would not have become the Demon Lord I am!” Is that a positive endorsement or a negative one? Who knows!
Example from the manga below, arguably NSFW. I’ve included it after the cut just in case.
Otakon 2009 was punctuated by a number of personal differences and changes in my life, not least of which were a new method of travel, as well as a variety of new travel buddies. It was also my first year at Otakon as a member of the Press (thanks to the existence of this blog), and while I can’t say that it was as rockin’ as last year’s Otakon, I can tell you that it was a fine experience where I never felt like there was too little to do.
My trip began Thursday afternoon, where while on the bus to Baltimore and then on the city bus to Downtown Baltimore we argued about moe in all of its forms, seeking to wrestle the elusive beast to the ground with mixed results. Baltimore that day was a breezy 93 degrees Fahrenheit, the kind of weather perfect for strolling through the city carrying luggage. Dropping off our belongings at the hotel, we went off to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and met up with esteemed guests such as Patz, Ed Sizemore, and Clarissa from Anime World Order. A variety of fine topics were discussed, such as the joys of showing little kids the Real Power Rangers and the deliciousness of beef (conclusion: it is very delicious).
Upon returning to the convention center to get our badges, we realized that there was a line still snaked around the building that normally would not be based on past experience. I luckily had my badge waiting for me at Press Ops, but many were not so lucky. It was yet another sign that this year’s Otakon was Different. The lines would continue throughout the weekend.
The Pre-Registration Line for Otakon 2009
I also had dinner with people on Friday and to a lesser extent on Saturday, meeting the rest of the AWO crew, Erin from Ninja Consultant and others who I can’t quite remember because the table was quite long. If you’re willing to sit down and relax, the downtown Baltimore area is good for food, and if you’re able to travel further out there are also some excellent restaurants. If you want fast food, that’s also available, and if you want to save money on food I recommend Grape Nuts and Parmalat. Grape Nuts is a dense cereal in a small box and is very filling and nourishing. It has the Ogiue Maniax seal of approval.
Food aside, there were so many events each day that they’ve started to blur in my head, and instead of discussing what happened chronologically I’m going to talk about things more categorically.
Industry and Otakon-related panels I attended were the Funimation panel and the Opening Ceremony panel. Funimation, as you might know already, announced some big-deal shows, namely Casshern Sins (which I reviewed here), Eden of the East (one of the best shows of last season), and the “Dragon Box” master edition remastering of Dragon Ball Z just like the one the Japanese have.
The opening ceremony also marked the second year that Madhouse animated a special opening for Otakon, akin to the Daicon IV opening of legend. This year’s animation incorporated the entire Otakon staff and had numerous references both eastern and western. If you wanted to see the Enterprise duke it out with the Yamato, this was your chance. Unfortunately, we were given the news that the director of the Otakon 2009 Opening Animation, Endou Takuji, had died the week prior, and our condolences go out to a man who reached out to American fandom so readily. Endou was also the director of Record of Lodoss War, a show which many fans in America consider vital to their beginnings as otaku.
As you might guess from the title of this post, guests this year were remarkably good in their decision to not constantly dodge questions and defer to others, though it still happened occasionally when it had to.
Yamamoto Yutaka, aka Yamakan, dropped down answers to questions which clearly showed him putting in some genuine thought and not just defaulting to stock answers. One person asked him how he got to be a director, and his response was that he wanted to be an animator but then couldn’t draw so he had to pick something else that would let him work in anime without drawing talent. To follow up, I asked what he thought of Takahata Isao, director of Grave of the Fireflies, because Takahata is also a director who cannot draw. Yamamoto answered that Takahata is one of the two directors who inspired him to get into anime, and that he considers the Anne of Green Gables anime directed by Takahata to be pretty much THE finest example of an anime TV series and how to tell a story in that format. Sadly, he would not reveal the second despite prompting.
I also asked him about Tonari no 801-chan’s anime debut, and he said that the original author asked him personally to do it, and that he felt destined to do it. Other highlights from Yamakan include his belief that what’s most important in animation is having characters stay “in-character” (and anyone who’s seen Tsugumi in Kannagi can attest to him putting his money where his mouth is), his desire for fellow anime creators to be capable of being creative with each other so that they may grow and improve, and his belief that today’s anime creators lack strong enough personalities akin to Miyazaki, Tomino, and Anno. As you can tell, he was not a “normal” Japanese guest and I am grateful for that.
Oh, and as for his definition of moe: If you like it, it’s moe for you.
Frederik L. Schodt
Frederik L. Schodt (apparently pronounced “Shot”) meanwhile revealed very good knowledge of the scanlation scene and an understanding of its appeal, as well as being good at handling the audience at his Astro Boy panel. At his Q&A panel, I asked him about instances where either American culture values in Japanese comics made them unapproachable by an American audience and vice versa. For the manga example, he pointed out how works are still censored to an extent, and that some companies are forced to claim the girls in their media are 18+ when they clearly are not given the context of the story, and that most of the genres of manga in Japan never come to the US, such as mahjong manga. His answer for American comics that were deemed not appropriate for a Japanese audience was even more interesting.
Schodt had accompanied the great Wil Eisner of all people to Japan, as Eisner was interested in publishing his works there and and there was a Japanese publishing company which published non-Japanese artists. However, when shown the work of Eisner, the company said that he had to rework it to flow more like a Japanese comic and have it read right to left. Eisner, who was over 80 years old at the time, naturally did not want to entirely redo one of his comics which had sold successfully internationally for decades and so the deal was off. He also talked about how much he likes The Four Immigrants Manga by Japanese immigrant Henry Yoshitaka Kiyama, a comic from California in 1927 which is written in a sort of simultaneous Japanese and English (thus requiring knowledge of both to read properly), and is arguably the first existence of a comic book in America, as well as predating Tezuka’s debut by a number of years. After the panel, I got Schodt to autograph my copy of Dreamland Japan.
While I did not manage to score any one-on-one interviews, I did attend some very informative press conferences. There was a sudden press conference with Maruyama Masao (head of Madhouse), Ishiguro Noboru (director of Macross and Legend of the Galactic Heroes), Kikukawa Yukio (producer of Legend of the Galactic Heroes), and Matsubara Hidenori (character designer for the Ah! My Goddess anime), which started off with Ishiguro and Maruyama deciding to just sit in the audience and act like they were members of the press. At this point we had some fun interviewing the translator in the room, asking him throwaway questions such as, “Who are your translating influences?” and “What made you decide to become a translator?” When the press conference actually began, as it were, it turned out to be one of the most informative hours of my life. This press conference will most likely appear online in its entirety at some point so you don’t have to worry on that front, but there are a few highlights I’d like to mention.
From left to right: Kikukawa, Maruyama, translator, Ishiguro, Matsubara
One interesting set of answers was everyone’s response to the anime they would love to make if they could. Matsubara said he would love to adapt the Tezuka manga Dororo into an anime, and even has the support of Maruyama. Maruyama meanwhile said that there were so many he’d like to have made and that’s why he makes them. Ishiguro wants to make a story set in Tokyo in 1948 that he’s been wanting to make for 30 years and even has the entire story plotted in his head. Kikukawa’s dream anime is to adapt the Darkover series of science fiction novels by Marion Zimmer Bradley.
Another interesting answer was one to my own question, where I asked Ishiguro to talk about his experiences with the deceased Nagahama Tadao, creator of Combattler V, Voltes V, and Daimos, as well as one of the directors of Rose of Versailles. Nagahama, as it turns out, was actually in puppet theater of all things before he became an anime director. Also, when working as a director he would act out every part, male and female, in the script to give a better idea to his staff as to how the story should go. Finally, because he had no talent for drawing, whenever he wanted to make corrections to a key animation (and he inspected every single one), he would write a detailed description on the back as to what needed changing. Nagahama is not terribly popular in the US even among old school fans so this was an amazing bit of information to find out. I personally cannot wait to ask Tomino this question at New York Anime Festival.
While the other press conference I attended with MELL was not nearly as informative, what I found was that MELL opened up to us much more than I would expect from a musical guest. We found out that, despite the heavy use of English in her songs she was never good at it in school, she had her first band at around the age of 15 or 16 where she sang for a college band, and that she mistook a guy for a girl due to his elaborate cosplay of a Victorian era character.
MELL was also one of the concerts I attended at Otakon, the other being the Tamura Naomi concert, and both were beyond my expectations. I am no music expert and my music vocabulary is entirely lacking, but I will say that MELL and her band knew very much how to perform and keep the audience in the mood. She sang songs from Black Lagoon and Rideback, and showed off why she’s well regarded among fans.
Sunday’s concert with Tamura Naomi showed how incredibly powerful her voice can be, as she demonstrated that the notes she hits in those opening themes she sings are notes she can hit in a live performance. Highlights of the concert include her own rendition of the Jackson 5’s I’ll Be There, and her Rayearth songs, namely Yuzurenai Negai (1st series opening), with which she ended her concert.
I also held my own concert on Sunday where I sang the theme song to the Golgo 13 NES games. In case you didn’t know, the song actually has lyrics!
My dealer’s room experience was also a most pleasant one as I managed to get everything I was looking for, specifically Ogiue-related…merchandise… as well as the recently released Revoltech Souther from Hokuto no Ken, or, as he’s known on the box, “Thouzer.”
On the fandom side of things, while I did not pay much attention to cosplay I was glad to see a good variety of costumes. While you had your endless Sora from Kingdom Hearts and the general love for Naruto and Bleach you usually expect, I also got some pleasant surprises, such as a cosplay of Kitarou and Nekomusume from Gegege no Kitarou.
Something I did not approve of was the near-total lack of Tainaka Ritsu when it came to K-On! cosplay. I like Mio too and all, but the ratio of Mio to Ritsu was unacceptable. I’m just saying.
The fan panels I attended were all well-run and had people who at least to some extent knew what they were talking about. The Neo-Shounen panel run by Daryl Surat succeeded in its goal of showing how Shounen as a concept changed over the years, mainly in its desire to appeal to both male and female readers, and the Lost in Translation panel was a good beginner’s panel for those interested in seeing some of the difficulties of translating from Japanese to English. The Mecha Appreciation Panel had knowledgeable panelists, but the format was a little haphazard and could have used some focus. If you ran this panel, I was the one who said “King J-Der” for coolest Gaogaigar robot.
I also went to the Anime Recruitment panel by the Reverse Thieves, which provided very good advice for how to get people into anime without scaring them off, offering tips such as, “If your first attempt fails, don’t press the issue. Instead, give them time to cool off, like three weeks or however long it takes.” I’ve spoken before on how difficult I find recommending anime to be, so I will take this advice to heart.
I had a personally vested interest in attending the Otaku TV and Genshiken panels, both run by Viga the Otagal, and was curious as to how these panels would go. Overall, they did a good job of showing the audience what these shows are all about, though I think Viga was a little too spoiler-friendly and it could scare off people who would want to see these series otherwise. Still, I was very glad to see such significant attendance for Genshiken-related panels. After the Genshiken panel, someone in the audience actually greeted me as a reader of Ogiue Maniax and asked to take my picture. Whoever you are, that made my day and I thank you.
Viga said in her Genshiken panel that she believes “The Psychology of Ogiue” would provide enough material for an entire panel, and I am inclined to agree. Keep on the lookout for that.
Overall, I have no serious complaints about Otakon this year, as I feel that the events I would have complained about I simply did not attend, such as the apparently misleading title of the “Sailor Moon’s Influence on Hentai” panel. The fact that Daryl Surat’s Anime’s Craziest Deaths got shut down because no one actually knew what Apocalypse Zero was disappointing, but I’m sure both sides will know how to better handle it next year. As a member of the Otakon press, I also would have felt better if I was told in advance that I would not be getting any interviews, rather than being left dangling. However, because this year’s Otakon was so packed with activities and intriguing and intelligent guests, I can say that this was one of my finest convention experiences, and everyone I traveled to Otakon and back with agreed wholeheartedly.
Anime World Order every so often will talk about how Letter and Star-based grading systems are a waste and don’t explain anything. For example, what’s the difference between a 4 star and a 5 star in animation quality? How can a show have like C’s in multiple categories but end up with an A rating overall? It’s generally better to just write something out, but what if you really don’t want to? In that case, let me propose some ideas for new grading systems.
1) The Descriptive Letter Grade System
I want to ask you, why should A be considered better than B? What if, instead of having your letter grades be ranked, you instead had letter grades which actually represent aspects of the anime beyond saying “this is good” or “this is bad?” What if, for example, if we were grading animation quality, A stood for high-budget high-quality animation, while R stood for “good use of a low budget” and Y stood for “often inconsistent?” You could have multiple letter grades per category, or you could choose the one that stands out the most. If everyone can agree on what all the letters mean for every category, we can then have a consistent rating system that anyone can use (provided they learn the system)!
2) Elaborate Star Ratings
The problem with star ratings or such is that they tend to be used in the most general sense. 5 stars for story, 3 stars for music, who is to say just what consistutes a 5-star story, aside from Nagano Mamoru? What if, then, stars were a quantitative rating given out for more specific categories, ones that can be seen clearly, where a 1-star is not inherently worse than a 5-star?
Possible categories:
Cast Size
Plot Consistency
Plot Arc Size
Recurring Villains
Amount of Stock Footage
Melodrama
These are not objective ratings now, but no review is every objective. Instead, what these categories tell you is that if you start watching the shows, these are things you might expect. Want to watch a show with a ridiculous-size cast? Go for a 5-star Cast Size show. Prefer something more episodic? Go for a 1-star Plot Arc Size show. The ratings will not tell you that show A is better than show B, but rather, just what A and B have that differentiate one from the other in a way which may or may not indicate that A is better than B.
Conclusion
On second thought, just write out your damn reviews.
Is Transformers Japanese or American? Is it anime or not? The answer to these questions is “yes.” While the toys came from Japan, the original plot of Autobots vs Decepticons came from American writers, so it should come as no surprise that an American director was assigned to helm not one but two movis based on the franchise. Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen is the sequel to the previous live-action Transformers movie, and once again directed by Michael Bay.
I enjoyed the first movie overall, but I had my own complaints about it. It was, to no one’s surprise, a flawed movie with a lot of action and a lot of juvenile humor. I was okay with that. My main issue with the movie however, was that so little time was spent on the actual robots themselves that one had to ask if it was really a TRANSFORMERS movie or not. Focusing too much on the kid, Sam Witwicky, was also a problem as I felt that within the Transformers franchise you had perfectly good main characters in the robots themselves, and to have to see it through the lens of High School Kid was pointless. If not Optimus Prime, at least make the main character Bumblebee so you could have a young character who is ALSO a Transformer. But again, I enjoyed it more or less.
Transformers 2 manages to solve at least one of the major problems with its predecessor, and that is to include the Transformers in the movie from the very beginning. There is no waiting an hour for Optimus to arrive, and that’s the way I like it. Also, they were given more time to talk and show their personalities. Sadly, while this issue was resolved a number of other ones cropped up.
Many characters felt useless or extraneous, and I was left scratching my head and wondering just what purpose these characters served. I’m mainly talking about the twins, who also act as sort of racial stereotypes without actually being any human race. I wouldn’t mind that aspect so much if only these characters actually DID something.
The action was often-times not well-suited for the presence of giant robots, even if the majority of the action involved them. It was often difficult to differentiate the Transformers, especially at a distance. Because so much gray metal was exposed, the defining colors of the Transformers was barely noticeable, and often times it was easy to confuse one robot for another and be unable to tell just who was fighting who. On top of that, it was often difficult to even tell just what was going on in a battle because the camera refused to be located where it actually mattered. This is an action movie first and foremost, and I expect the action to actually be visible. That said, there were actually a few instances where this was not the case and naturally they were the best fight scenes in the movie.
And now, the big complaint.
Transformers 2 has this very overt, unsubtle pro-military, pro-Iraq, America is #1 forever and ever stance that is extremely difficult to ignore. It was present in the first movie to an extent, but here it was so in-your-face that it made me kind of angry.
The most annoying character in the movie was an assistant for President Obama who acted as a strawman so that his intention to withdraw the Autobots from Earth in light of the Decepticon threat would be compared to the intention to withdraw American troops from Iraq. He is the typical guy-in-a-suit who the humble but patriotic military boys get to contrast with to seem that much more American.
Then there were all the scenes designed to glorify the American military, such as planes launching from hangars and soldiers jumping out of planes, and these wouldn’t be so bad if they didn’t look like they were ripped straight from a US Air Force commercial on TV. The quality of the video, the camera angles, everything is set up to glorify the military.
The American soldiers even manage to score some successful hits on the Decepticons. And while I’m not against the idea of humans being actually useful in the face of a giant sentient robot menace, too much time is still spent on the American military dishing out the damage. It sometimes ends up feeling like an idealized war movie which happens to have giant robots in it.
Pro-America ultra militaristic patriotism. Lots of action scenes with soldiers running around coordinating attacks and using cool vehicles to fight an enemy. Hilariously awful racial stereotypes. These are all the ingredients for a fantastic GI Joe movie, but when you’re making a Transformers movie it just ends up being inappropriate. Transformers supports capitalism and American values already by being about the right to freedom and the right to sell millions of action figure toys to kids; it does not need such a divisive and time-specific message tainting it.
So in conclusion, why is Michael Bay NOT the director for the GI Joe movie anyway? I mean seriously, whoever was in charge of adapting Hasbro/Sunbow franchises for film seriously should have thought this over better.
EDIT: I previously labeled this movie as “Pocket Full of Rainbows” only to realize that the title is actually a reference to the Elvis Presley song “Pocketful of Rainbows.” As such, I’ve changed the title and the associated category accordingly.
When the Eureka Seven movie was announced, speculation began as it always does. BONES said they would be retelling the story of Renton and Eureka, and using some of the existing footage from the TV series in the movie. Fans wondered if this meant the movies would be a retelling of the TV series with content edited to make it flow better as a movie, not unlike the First Gundam movies. Preview images and trailers started being released showing Renton and Eureka together as small children, something that never happened in any previous Eureka Seven media. Now that Psalms of Planets Eureka Seven – Pocketful of Rainbows (or as it’s apparently called in English, Psalms of Planets Eureka Seven – good night, sleep tight, young lovers –) is out, we know that the plans for this movie were much more ambitious than most anyone expected.
Once again, Eureka Seven focuses on the boy named Renton and the girl named Eureka, only this time any hint of the previous series beyond a superficial level are thrown out the window. As mentioned before, now Renton and Eureka are childhood friends who are separated and then reunited amidst a war with an inhuman enemy called the Image. Connecting them is a small fairy named Nirvash, whose words only Renton can understand. Front and center in Pocketful of Rainbows are the concepts of mythologies and dreams, as the movie explores the effects their existences have upon the world and what they mean for human beings.
This is a new world with a new history, and familiar faces are anything but. If you’re approaching this movie without ever having seen any of Eureka Seven in its other incarnations, rest assured that they have little to no bearing on the events of the movie. If you’ve ever seen the Vision of Escaflowne TV series and the Escaflowne movie, the level of difference in Pocketful of Rainbows is even more pronounced. In fact, spoiling the events of one will actually NOT spoil the other!
For those of you who are fans already, let me tell you just one little thing that will make you realize how different this movie is compared to the source material: In the world of Eureka Seven: Pocketful of Rainbows, there are no such things as Coralians.
This movie uses existing footage better than any anime I have ever seen. This is not simply reusing stock footage to show flashbacks or for the animators to go, “We already animated this once, why should we do it again?” Just like how the characters may look the same but their insides have changed dramatically, the TV series footage is given new life. Even though the same animation is being used on a number of occasions, the context of each scene is so different from when it was originally used in the TV series that the meaning of these animations change entirely. You almost can’t tell that it wasn’t originally made for the movie. This also has to do with the fact that this animation was already impressive in the first place, and the scenes newly animated for the movie are just as good if not better.
Being a movie, Pocketful of Rainbows does not have the luxury of developing the relationship between Renton and Eureka as thoroughly as the original TV series, but it still manages to get a sufficient amount of characterization into them and others. Even though you aren’t given all of the information, the way the characters act around each other will make few of the revelations about character relationships seem jarring or negatively unexpected. BONES knew that this was a 2-hour endeavor instead of a 50-episode series and worked accordingly. It really shows, as I do not feel that this movie was rushed unnecessarily.
Overall, this was a fun and thought-provoking movie as an Eureka Seven fan. Expect future posts about it as I explore some of the concepts presented in Pocketful of Rainbows, as the movie has gives you a lot to mill over.
For those of you want to see the movie for real inside of an actual theater, you should know that Bandai Entertainment has plans to do exactly that, albeit dubbed. Tickets go on sale August 21st for a September 29th showing in select theaters across the United States.
Before I start talking about the Eureka Seven manga adaptation, I’d like to explain what Eureka Seven is as a franchise. Eureka Seven was designed by Studio BONES and Bandai to be a sort of multimedia franchise that reaches out and expands beyond the normal frame of any single anime or manga series. You have the flagship anime, video games which retell the story of the anime, video games which act as prequels to the anime (which I’ve never played, but if I do get my hands on them some day I may review them too), a manga that is a prequel to the prequel video games, as well as a recent movie which is an alternate setting using the same characters. The Eureka Seven manga I’m about to review is somewhat similar to the movie in that it takes the characters and settings of the anime and adds a few twists to them here and there, but unlike the movie it sticks a little more closely to the plot of the TV series.
Unlike a lot of anime or manga, the Eureka Seven manga was not really made to be an “adaptation” of some source material that already exists in public entertainment, despite me using the word adaptation numerous times. Instead, the manga and anime were released almost simultaneously, so one does not rely on the other to be an initial source. Instead, the “source” for both of them is the director, Sato Dai. The result then is that as a manga, Eureka Seven is something quite unique, both relative to other manga in general, as well as to the anime TV series.
Premise-wise, the manga is pretty much the same as the anime. You have an impetuous youth named Renton Thurston, an enigmatic girl named Eureka, an anti-government group called Gekkostate, and there’s sky surfing and trappar and all sorts of familiar sights. Many of the plot points between the anime and manga are similar, too. However, many plot points are also quite different, and these changes to the story also change the basic feel of Eureka Seven.
The Eureka Seven manga is a little more action-based, a little more violent than the TV series. There’s not superfluous amounts of blood flying about, but people get hurt in the manga pretty badly. In other words, it reads less like the crescendo that is the anime and more like a sforzando. Now, if you’re like me and only knew the word crescendo (gradual buildup), and had to look for another musical term to continue the analogy, sforzando basically means “sudden changes.” The manga comes at you fast and hard, and at times it can leave you asking, “Wait, when did that happen?” Not that it’s necessarily a bad thing, of course.
There’s also more fanservice in the manga, such as panty flashes. And by panty flashes, I mean a character literally lifting Eureka’s skirt in Renton’s presence in order to get a rise out of him, both emotional and physical. Anemone in particular is given some choice sitations, as well as an ever-so-slightly different personality, where her cheerful side and her not-so-cheerful side are just a bit more extreme on either end.
I personally feel that the manga is not nearly as good as the anime, lacking much of the subtlety and grandeur of the anime, but that doesn’t mean I think the manga is bad or mediocre. I know some people prefer the manga because it doesn’t dawdle as much, and it really does get to the point more often, although it tends to be at the expense of building up the characters more. Still, I think it’s worth reading whether you’re an Eureka Seven fan or not. In fact, you don’t even need to have seen the anime in order to enjoy the manga, and it’s even possible you might enjoy the manga more if you don’t have the anime for a comparison.
The creators of the Eureka Seven manga, Kataoka Jinsei and Kondou Kazuma, are currently working on their own original manga called Deadman Wonderland. Check it out if you want to see them working in a setting that isn’t tied to a greater franchise beast.
OGIUE MANIAX 