The Title is a Lie (Or Is it?): My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU

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One of the most visibly obvious trends in anime in recent years is the extremely long and descriptive title. My Little Sister Can’t Be This Cute. Baka and Test: Summon the Beasts. More accurately, it’s the product of a tendency in the current light novel industry from which many anime are adapted, and with that verboseness comes a blessing of sorts. For those who want what a particular title has to offer, they need only look at the name, and for those who want to avoid specific shows at all costs it becomes equally useful. You can indeed judge these books by their covers to a certain extent, which is why I initially set aside My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU, considering it a low priority.

I have nothing against teen romantic comedies or SNAFUs, but the original Japanese title, Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Come ga Machigatteiru (translated also as, “My Youth Romantic Comedy is Wrong as I Expected”) seems to imply a lot of things which don’t exactly excite me. First, it seemed to hint at this strange cooler-than-school cynicism which you find in a lot of light novel protagonists that I find unappealing, a sort of counter-elitism of the same variety as “the geeks will inherit the Earth.” Second, even though it says the romantic comedy is “wrong,” it still implied some combination of harem/love triangle. When I finally got around to watching SNAFU, I realized I’d been wrong all along. While it contains some degree of the two elements I’ve described, it’s also a clever series which has at its core not so much a good ol’ harem comedy but a closer look at the combination of social and sef-perceptive tensions which can make life as a teenager mentally and emotionally taxing, especially for those who don’t quite fit in, and the help that can come from those who simply understand.

SNAFU centers around Hikigaya Hachiman, a cynical guy who quickly acknowledges how low on the social totem pole he is and how much he prefers to be there. Hikigaya is forced to join a club whose purpose is vaguely to help people out, acting as a last-ditch student-run guidance counseling of sorts. In the club, Hikigaya is joined by two girls with equally Stan Lee-esque names, Yukinoshita Yukino and Yuigahama Yui. Yukinoshita is extremely observant but a little too sharp-tongued for her own good, and Yuigahama is energetic and a little ditzy with a greater desire to try and fit in with her peers compared to the other two.

Just from my basic plot summary I think it’s easy to see why I was a bit wary (and potentially weary) of the show, but there are a number of things which give this anime some solid legs.

First, although Hikigaya is indeed quite the pessimist, and he does have the “screw the popular kids” attitude to an extent, he also shows that he’s aware of what he lacks. He knows that if you have the right attitude you can accomplish many things and reach out to a lot of people, but he doesn’t have that attitude and probaby never will. What his perspective does for him, however, is that it allows him to find people who are similar to him, and to figure out solutions that wouldn’t work for the “average” teenager, but are perfect for those who are below the bar. Similarly, Yukinoshita’s astute assessments make her able to understand a given social situation quickly, while Yuigahama’s propensity for tact and cheer becomes the grease to move the wheel where Hikigaya and Yukinoshita’s personalities would otherwise stifle it. SNAFU really does focus on the theme of helping people who feel ground down by the pressures of their social groups, and at places goes to some fairly dark (though not morbidly or horrifyingly dark) places.

Second, even though there is a love triangle element to the main cast, with Yuigahama clearly having feelings for Hikigaya due to a small event in the past, and Yukinoshita can be seen as gradually developing feelings for him as well, the friendship between the two girls is just as if not more important than the romance. Yukinoshita has no friends, while Yuigahama would traditionally try to ingratiate herself with other girls just to not be caught outside the circle, and so their growing bond becomes an important factor in developing them. It’s to the extent that, even if the series ends with one “winning” over the other by dating Hikigaya, it is highly doubtful that it would destroy the friendship they’ve built up.

Third, when it come to determining who might indeed end up with Hikigaya, the show gives a fair case for both of them. It doesn’t come across as woefully lopsided like in, say, Love Hina. And actually, when you look at the hormonal responses Hikigaya has to those he finds attractive, the strongest reactions seeem to come not from any girl, but from the incredibly effeminate male tennis club member Totsuka Saika. I’m pretty sure this is just another case of a Hideyoshi from Baka Test, a character so feminine in appearance that we’re supposed to take it as a gag, though in this case I suspect he also functions as a way to show how much deeper the connection Hikigaya makes with either girl will be.

I honestly think that this series ended up with a name as excessively long as Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Come wa Machigatteiru because someone told the author that everybody’s doing it. As a title, it’s actually quite deceptive, and somewhat ironically doesn’t help a person looking at it to understand what’s beneath the cover. I don’t think it’ll start any trends of intentionally obtuse light novel names, but at the very least it gives hope that if you’re willing to squeeze that lump of coal hard enough that it might turn into a diamond after all.

No guarantees with any other shows though.

Genshiken Second Season Episode 12 and the Fanservice You May Not Have Seen

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Episode 12 wraps up the school festival. If you want to read my thoughts on the events of the episode, you’ll find them as part of my analyses on Chapters 81 and 83. At this point I’ll have to assume 82 will be covered in Episode 13 or just not at all.

So with all the cosplay this episode, particularly from Ohno, there was a hefty amount of fanservice in the most obvious sense. This was magnified by the fact that they combined two disaparate chapters together to make it an almost “cosplay-themed” episode, but amidst all that more overt fanservice the anime actually added a little something for the Ogiue fans in particular.

This image is actually an anime original, and though it’s just a single frame it communicates a lot of intimacy and perhaps even eroticism between Ogiue and Sasahara. Ogiue never ever, ever has an expression like that, with the wry and suggestive smile as well as the sideways glance towards Sasahara who’s more tacitly responding in kind. The message this image communicates is that Sasahara likes what he sees out of Ogiue, and Ogiue is pleased that he likes that. While you might think that this is me reading too much into it, given their interruption by Sue previously, there’s no doubt in my mind how we’re supposed to interpret it.

However, if you want something that I consider fanservice that probably no one else does, it would be another anime-exclusive moment:

A Go Go Curry parody!

As long-time readers of the blog might know, I am a huge fan of Go Go Curry, and what’s more, the very first Go Go Curry I ever ate at was one in Akihabara. Though there’s no way to tell if the one Madarame is at is the same one that introduced me to the wonders of Kanazawa-style curry, I’d like to pretend that it is.

Really though, Episode 12 of Nidaime actually combined two of my favorite things, Ogiue and Go Go Curry. On some level I have to rank it pretty highly, albeit at a fairly shallow level.

The Mawaru Penguindrum merchandise also helped.

The Fujoshi Files 81: Yano

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Name: Yano (矢野)
Alias: N/A
Relationship Status: Dating/Complicated
Origin: Bust to Bust: Chotto Kurai Kusatteru no ga Oishiin Desuyo?

Information:
Yano is a student who, after being absent from school, enters a sexual (and eventually romantic) relationship with a boy named Igawa who delivered her homework. Because Igawa’s childhood friend Shinobu and a teacher from America also vie for Igawa’s affections, Yano first competes with them but ends up agreeing to share him instead. Yano’s favorite series include Taiga and Tiger Sheet.

Fujoshi Level:
The reason Yano was absent in the first place was due to an uncontrollable BL-drawing frenzy.

Zankoku na Genshiken Second Season Episode 11

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Now comes the other big moment of the new anime. Of course I’d have a lot of thoughts on what transpires this episode, which you’ll find in the equivalent manga analyses: Chapters 78, 79, and 80.

I think there’s little doubt that Madarame’s confession is one of the most significant events in Genshiken. I’ve felt sort of conflicted that it happened because it is possible for someone to move on from a former love without the confession and rejection you see so often in anime and manga, but the series makes it clear that Madarame was incapable of doing so, no matter how hard he tried. Looking back, the idea of “freeing” Madarame to some extent implies making it so that he’ll be open to others.

There’s a fairly significant mistranslation in the Crunchyroll subs, at the very end of the episode. After Kasukabe starts to cry, the translation has Madarame say, “Now I know that Kasukabe-san cries easily.” This isn’t quite right: what Madarame actually says is more along the lines of, “I already knew that Kasukabe-san cries easily.” It’s a reference to the events of Volume 4 of the manga (Episode 11 of the first anime), when Kasukabe accidentally starts a fire which gets the club into trouble. Though she put on a tough face, her guilt over the accident caused her to start crying. Essentially, Madarame’s line is supposed to reference how much he’s paid attention to Saki over the years.

It’s probably significant then that Keiko and Saki both notice how Hato pays a lot of attention to Madarame. Or is it?!

Some of the timing of the confession itself turned out different, and there isn’t quite as much impact from Madarame’s response to the line about the relationship that might have been, but I think the episode overall does an all right job of it. The manga devoted an entire chapter to just the two of them in the club room, mirroring previous chapters which did the same.

As for the actual confession and reaction, I could see how Kasukabe’s response could be interpreted as cruel, though I don’t necessarily think so. One thing anime viewers may not be aware of is that Kasukabe’s line about how a relationship with Madarame might have been a possible future is actually also a reference to another series by Kio Shimoku called Spotted Flower. In it, characters very (but not entirely) similar to Madarame and Saki, an otaku and his non-otaku wife who knew him since college, are married and expecting their first child. In fact, the title itself is a reference to them: Madara means spotted (which also explains the Naruto character), and Saki refers to the blooming of flowers. It’s a sort of holy emblem for Saki x Mada fans, but at the same time perhaps incredibly cruel itself for very nearly giving those shippers what they want before collapsing the entire thing like a house of cards.

Cruelty abounds.

Powerful Genshiken Second Season Episode 10

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Mysteries melt away this episode! Covering chapters 76 and 77, it’s one of the more significant parts of the whole series.

In previous episode reflections (a better term than review I now realize), I mentioned how elements from the manga were cut and shifted, sometimes for thematic consistency within an episode, but more often because the Nidaime anime clearly has a particular end goal in mind. With Episode 10, we’re finally able to see whether or not this “cutting of the fat” has paid off, more or less. It already began with the previous episode to an extent, but this is when the revelations truly begin, and it’ll continue into the next episode too.

In this regard, I think that Episode 10 is probably the strongest one of the season so far. Whether it’s because of Mamiko’s excellent performance as Kaminaga, the portrayal of the way Hato’s denial/hiding of his inner self to others weighs heavily on him, Konno’s amazing facial expressions, or some combination of the three, I think that this episode communicates all of the complex emotions which make up Genshiken. The manga chapters were already great and enlightening, and the adaptation does them justice. In some cases, it even makes things clearer. One example is when Hato sees his brother driving with Kaminaga, with the clear implication being romance. In the manga, Yuuichirou’s expression is kind of ambiguous, but in the anime you can clearly see him smiling. It wasn’t necessary, but it helps communicate that information more overtly.

When I say good adaptation, though, I don’t simply mean that it’s accurate or 1:1 in terms of elements. The anime added an additional thing about Kaminaga moving in with Hato and his brother, but in the manga Hato lives on his own in an apartment far from the university so that he can maintain both his BL and crossdressing. They even visited it in one chapter, which was cut from the anime. The original manga also shows that Konno had dyed her hair in between high school and college, while the anime has always been brunette. It doesn’t impact the story much, but it is curious.

Yamamoto Nozomi also probably puts out some of her best Ogiue performance as well this episode. I still give the edge to Mizuhashi, but Yamamoto really displays a sense of Ogiue, particularly her delivery of Ogiue saying that turning your own boyfriend into BL material is “normal.” It really gives off the vibe that this is an area where Ogiue has not only a lot of experience, but a lot of history, while also showing how far Ogiue has come from her previous self.

I really like how the anime took the scene of Sue mimicking Rei from Fist of the North Star from the manga and added the after-images and laser lines from Fist of the North Star‘s anime. Basically, the anime adaptation of Genshiken enhanced its portrayal of a manga scene parodying a famous manga by utilizing the iconic effects from that famous manga’s own adaptation. The Crunchyroll subs do not make the reference obvious: Sue says, “Nanto Kyuukyoku Ougi!” and likely the translator either misheard or didn’t even hear the “Nanto” part.

One of the categories in the Fujoshi Files is “Fujoshi Level,” which is a not-so-serious way of describing just how polluted the mind of a particular character can be. While I actually don’t create specific rankings and try to give just a general impression in them, here you could see an obvious hierarchy: Kaminaga is off the deep end, Ogiue is right behind her along with Hato, and Konno and Fuji are definitely not as powerful. It makes me want to perhaps write up a full Fujoshi/Fudanshi Tier List one of these days.

It’s Been a While: Genshiken Second Season Episode 9

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I’ve been away for the last couple of weeks so it’s time to do some catchup! Episode 9 covers Chapters 74 and 75. Also, there’s quite a bit of cosplay in this episode, and luckily for me a Japanese blogger Renko’s already laid out all of the references.

Sue = Meruru (Atelier Meruru)

Ohno = Asama Tomo (Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere)

Yoshitake = Inahime (Samurai Warriors)

Sawatari = Kunoichi (Samurai Warriors)

Fukuda = Okuni (Samurai Warriors)

Mimasaka = Leia Rolando (Tales of Xillia)

Yajima = Hirano Kouta (Highschool of the Dead)

Kuchiki = Matsudaira Katakuriko (Gintama)

The sheer amount of Ogiue content in this episode makes me happy, just as it did with the manga. You can really see her take center stage at least in the first half of the episode, and the sheer range of facial expressions that are not coming from deep anger and frustration is quite satisfying. There’s also something hilarious about Sasahara essentially roleplaying as a fictional version of himself.

Speaking of Sasahara, the new voices at this point are old news, but I have to remark that Sasahara’s voice really throws me off. It’s like his old voice was just the perfect shade of average that anything else sounds odd. Moreover, Sasahara doesn’t appear often enough for me to get used to him.

When it comes to adapting from manga to anime, I thought the decision to turn Yoshitake’s exposition into a Star Wars-esque text scroll was clever and properly captured the incessantly convoluted nature of her plot. The manga conveys this through the sheer amount of text in Yoshitake’s word bubble, but obviously that doesn’t fly in the animated format. Interestingly, when Yajima hits Yoshitake with the manga, you can see that it’s a Monthly Afternoon (the magazine Genshiken runs in), with its most famous and longest-running title Aa! Megami-sama on the spine.

(Seriously, Oh My Goddess! is still running).

Another thing I’ve been thinking about is the whole gendered pronouns thing (whether to refer to Hato as a “he” or a “she”), and while Japanese doesn’t typically use gendered pronouns the way English does, perhaps a comparison could be done between which characters refer to Hato as “Hato-kun” and which use “Hato-chan.” Those aren’t strictly gender-divided (guys can be referred to with -chan and girls with -kun), but it may speak to how they personally see Hato.

In the end, of all the things to happen in this episode, I especially hope people are enjoying the new characters’ old friends. Mimasaka comes across as the most shy and awkward of possibly any character in Genshiken (with her voice actor doing quite a good job showing this). You can also actually hear Yajima slipping into an accent when talking with Mimasaka, which is again a nice touch for the anime. I also have to wonder if Konno’s massive saucer eyes in the opening had people wondering just who she is. She doesn’t appear much, but she pretty much became my favorite of the new Nidaime characters just from her expressions. Given that Ogiue also had fantastic facial expressions, that might just be more indicative of my tastes than anything else.

As for Kaminaga’s debut, I find Noto Mamiko’s performance to be pretty spot-on with what I imagined.

The Changing Face of Takahashi Ryousuke

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The Initial D character, not the VOTOMS director.

Takahashi Ryousuke, leader of the Akagi Red Suns, the White Comet, and the creator of Project D is one of the most prominent and important characters in Initial D and so inevitably he appears in every main Initial D anime. Now, each stage of Initial D has come out at different times, sometimes years apart, and even the art style of the original manga has evolved over the course of more than a decade. Character designs change according to the artist’s whim.

That still doesn’t explain how Ryousuke manages to look wildly different from one sequel to the next, while other prominent characters such as Takumi and Keisuke remain relatively intact.

Look at the guy. His face can’t stay the same size, his hair changes back and forth between blue and brown, his bone structure morphs as well. The only things that remain remotely consistent are his thick eyebrows and his full lips. Even his hair, which is roughly the same style until Fifth Stage, still undergoes some peculiar shifts. The closest he gets to looking similar is between Third Stage and Fourth Stage, and even that’s a bit of a stretch.

Anyway, I’m still trying to figure out why all of the anime have struggled to decide on a proper hair color for Ryousuke. Maybe it’s like how Raoh is blond in the manga but has brown hair in the anime?

Otakon 2013 Seki Tomokazu Interview

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Though I doubt he needs introduction, Seki Tomokazu is a well-known and highly celebrated Japanese voice actor, who has performed roles such as Domon Kasshu in G Gundam, Tanaka Souichirou in Genshiken, and Takahashi Keisuke in Initial D, among many, many others.

Hello, welcome to Otakon! Actually, a few years ago when you were a guest at Otakon I actually asked you a question about Hiyama Nobuyuki, but now I’d like to ask you about your recent work.

So the first question I’d like to ask is your role in Gyrozetter as “Mic Man Seki,” because I’m wondering, as you share the same name, if you were the inspiration for the character, or is it merely coincidence?

So originally the character was called a different name, and his profile was different, but the staff said, “It’s Seki doing it, so we should probably change this around.” So they decided to change the name, change the profile, and now the character is me.

I’d like to ask you about another recent role you had, your voice work in Gokaiger. How is voice acting for a live-action show different from anime, and how do you feel about your voice coming out of children’s toys?

So when I was small, I was also playing with tokusatsu toys, and to think that children nowadays play with those toys and that my voice comes out of it, I feel very honored and very happy that children are playing with those toys.

Regarding acting, I don’t really differentiate anime acting from live-action. It would be the same, but then the only thing I would really care about is to say it very heroically and courageously, as the word “goukai” in Gokaiger implies.

My next question is actually about Genshiken, of which I’m a fan, because you play Tanaka, a character very different from your other roles. What was it like playing Tanaka, and because of the recent cast change, although I know this may be a difficult question, if you know the reasons for the change?

So regarding the character Tanaka, he really likes figures and plamos and such, and I personally really like models, and although this character is very different from the ones I’ve been doing, his inside, as a person who likes models, is something I could relate to very much. I feel that the casting and such were matched up for that purpose.

As for the cast change in Genshiken, it does sort of happen at times when the sequel of a series goes on with a different company or production, and I thought I would love to do it again, but since I took on other roles after other people in similar ways, I would just need to term it as an “adult world.” I don’t have much to say.

I would also like to ask you about working with Mizuhashi Kaori, especially in Genshiken.

Mizuhashi Kaori is small but very energetic. She’s a very nice girl, but I don’t get to see her much these days. She’s about this big. *Seki puts his hands about a forearm’s length apart, to which I do the same*

*Laughs* You don’t believe me.

You’re known for voicing a lot of powerful characters, but your strangest role may be Mepple in Pretty Cure. How did you get that role, and how was it playing the character? Was it a challenge?

About Mepple, this offer came in to me, and they told me to do it as I like it, so I thought I should just do it in my regular voice. That day, on my very first recording on Mepple, I was feeling really good, and I decided to do it with a sort of high voice. They told me, if you can do that for an entire year, please do it. So, the only really good day I had was just that one day, and afterwards I was having a really hard time doing that one voice. Now that I think about it, it was a year of really hard work.

My final question has to do with voice acting. A few years ago, Mitsuya Yuji was a guest at Otakon, and he talked about how in the old days voice acting was a side job for theatre and drama actors. Nozawa Masako has also mentioned outside experience is also valuable, as opposed to acting exclusively in anime or voice acting. What do you think of this advice, and do you think it’s possible to be a strong voice actor without that outside background?

I think both opinions are correct. Whether you have influence or not, it’s all about how hard you work yourself. But, I am in the generation where Ms. Masako was my teacher, my sensei, and I learned from her that to be a good voice actor you have to be very powerful without just the voice actor part, that you need to be very good at using your body to act and such. From how she raised me, I think that’s very true, and outside experience helps very much, but the recent generation don’t really follow that example, so it really is up to the person.

The Fujoshi Files 80: Rittoku Kanae

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Name: Rittoku, Kanae (六徳カナエ)
Alias: Kana (カナ）, Ankoku Miko (暗黒皇子), Anko Kumiko (あんこくみこ)
Relationship Status: Complicated
Origin: Fudanshism: Fudanshi Shugi na Seikatsu

Information:
Rittoku Kanae is a teenager attending Kentei Academy with a love for cosplaying as men, gothic lolita fashion, and visual kei. Believing that her developing figure prevents her from being the ideal image of a girl (something she derives from visual kei), Kanae tends to minimize the appearance of her very large breasts through the use of wraps and loose clothing. It is Kanae’s experience in this regard that allows her to immediately notice that the gothic lolita fujoshi “Amane” is actually a boy. Despite the fact that she harbors feelings for not only Amane but Amane’s true self (fellow classmate Miyano Amata), she does not realize the two are the same for a very long time.

Kanae’s hobby is to compose dark poetry on her website under the pen name Ankoku Miko, “priestess of darkness.” Her favorite band is Beni Kagerou, a two-man band featuring male crossplayers. She is also a fan of the anime Omakase Tentel, though not to the extent of her friends and acquaintances.

Fujoshi Level:
Rittoku is not an extreme fujoshi, as her other hobbies seem to hold higher priority in her life. On Miyano Tamae’s fujoshi rating system, she is a “Visual Kei (Bangya) Fujoshi” with a Delusion Power level of 2500 and an Economic Power of 200.

Otakon 2013 Anime Mirai Interview

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This is an interview with Tachikawa Yuzuru and Suwa Michihiko, both of whom are involved with the Anime Mirai project, an annual Japanese government-funded program to help teach young animators the skills they need to improve Japan’s animation industry. Tachikawa is the director of one such Anime Mirai-funded work, Death Billiards. Suwa is better known as the producer for works including Detective Conan, Magic Knight Rayearth, and City Hunter, and is part of the Anime Mirai selection committee.

So the first thing I want to ask you pertaining to Anime Mirai is, because the project developed from wanting to help young animators, what is your opinion of the current state of anime for young animators in Japan? Would you like to see a future perhaps where the AnimeMirai project is no longer necessary because there are so many opportunities for young animators?

Tachikawa: So the reality is that when it comes to the number of animators versus the number of projects, the projects are greatly outnumbering the animators. The upper staff (senpai) is supposed to teach the younger (kouhai), but that’s not really happening these days. To speak bluntly, the studio doesn’t have much time or money, so it’s sort of centered around making the project. So since Anime Mirai is being funded by the country, I hope that it will be a starter for raising new hopes for the anime industry.

In the end, what would be best is if the upper staff at the studio would be able to teach the younger staff and that way Anime Mirai would no longer be needed. That would be the best future we could see.

You said the Anime Mirai project is funded by the Japanese government. What unique advantage does this provide, the fact that it is state funded?

Suwa: So the country funds Anime Mirai with I think 38 million yen, check back with me for the numbers. Sfter Anime Mirai makes a project, throughout the year the project will be shown as a movie. But after that, the movie/show will be in the hands of the companies, and it will then be a new project for the companies to get a profit out of Anime Mirai, so I think it will be a new way of doing things.

This question is about Death Billiards because it uses a lot of 3DCG in its animation of billiards. I know 3DCG has been seen in a variety of ways, such as a shortcut, a new form of animation unto itself, and as a cost-saving measure. What is your opinion of using 3D computer graphics in anime?

Tachikawa: Personally I don’t like anime becoming all 3DCG, it has to be a balance of both. The importance would be using 3DCG in the right place at the right time. The balls in Death Billiards are 3DCG, but the project had plans to teach the younger ones how to draw the more human parts, so we left the billiard balls and such to 3DCG.