Ah, the good old favourites list. It’s a tradition as old as anime itself – perhaps older – but it hasn’t lost its significance over the years. Your Top 5 list is the first thing people will notice about you on MAL, aside from your profile picture and your total completions. It’s the first thing that comes up in conversation when you’re meeting up with your fellow otaku at a convention, and a good list might make the difference between a good first impression and an awful one.

However, contrary to popular belief, there is more to creating a Top 5 list than selecting your 5 favourite anime. In order for a list to be effective, you must consider several other factors, which include – but are not limited to – an anime’s critical reception, popular reception, and cultural significance.

Does that sound pointless to you? Are you silently thinking that a favourites list should be nothing more than a favourites list? Skepticism is understandable, but if you’re willing to bear with me for the next thousand words, we just might get to the bottom of this.

Now, it’s true that people are more likely to notice your #1 anime before your #5, but because of that, your first choice is of the utmost importance. Therefore, following the traditional list format, I’m going work my way up in reverse.

#5 – The Good-But-Not-Great

Your 5th favourite anime shouldn’t be a difficult choice to make. What you’re looking for is something that’s good – preferably something unique that pushes the boundaries of its genre – but ultimately falls short of being a true masterpiece. It might be awkward to place real masterpieces in this position because the fans of said shows are bound to ask why you placed it below a noticeably inferior story. Of course, the show should still be something that you’d rate a 10, but I’d advise you to steer clear of the big-name titles. A good example would be ef – a tale of memories: the show uses a distinctive visual style to tell its story, but it’s hindered by its visual novel roots and moe character designs. An acceptable excuse line of reasoning.

#4 – The Obscure Gem

Ah, obscurity. The word that makes the high-brow critics giddy with excitement. Nothing proves your experience and knowledge as an anime fan more than placing an obscure title in your favourites list. It proves that you have taste, and that you can see things that the average fan can’t.

However, there’s one major pitfall to the obscure gem tactic: how do you know that the show you picked is good? Certainly, many lesser-known anime can be better than they look, but how do they compare to the true legends of the medium? Can one honestly say that Earth Girl Arjuna is better than Ghost in the Shell? Obscure, artsy picks are great for the 4th position because they prove your intellect without forcing you to make claims that are difficult to back up.

#3 – The Classic

I don’t need to tell you that classics are a necessity in every Top 5 list. In every medium, there are a few gems of greatness that appeal to a wide audience while maintaining an above-average ability to convey their message, either intellectually or emotionally. These are the works of art that are praised across the culture, known to the youth in the following generation as a natural part of the universe. Romeo and Juliet are symbols, not characters; lightsaber is no longer a proper noun.

It is essential to pick one of these world-renowned classics as one of your favourites, even in the world of anime. Titles such as Cowboy Bebop and Grave of the Fireflies are a good starting point. They’re the kind of shows that every fan must watch and enjoy, because every fan in the previous generation has watched and enjoyed them. However, since you don’t want to risk sounding like a beginner to the medium, mainstream classics should remain near the middle of the list.

#2 – The Work of Art

Art in anime has always been a touchy subject. However, it is indisputable that some series and movies were directed with enough care and attention to reach the same level as the films we revere in Western society. These are the stories that possess enough social, cultural, or emotional value to survive through the ages — true paragons of the medium. The selection of your 2nd favourite anime should be based largely on the shows that you feel passionate about, but you must remember to choose something that has met positive critical and popular reception. Solid choices include 5 Centimeters Per Second and Neon Genesis Evangelion.

#1 – The Unique, Obscure, Classic, Artsy Masterpiece

In other words, a combination of all of the above.

In a nutshell, your favourite anime should reflect all of the traits that made your previous shows selectable, minus the flaws. A #1 choice must be simply perfect, and you must be prepared enough to back up this claim. It’s a difficult task, but as a budding member of the otaku community, it is one that you must undertake. A favourite anime must be original, pushing the boundaries of its genre; it should be relatively obscure and unknown to a casual fan. It must be a classic while simultaneously not being mainstream; a well-respected show that is only known among those who are “in the know.” On top of that, it should be able to demonstrate expertise in various areas of the art form, proving that it can be shown to your 50-year-old film professor without any embarrassment.

But most importantly, above all of the aforementioned prerequisites, your all-time favourite anime must be something that you can defend. It doesn’t matter if you like it: so long as you arm yourself with the right quotes and terminology and literary jargon, you’ll be prepared to triumph against any plebeian Anime Suki amateur who dares to stand in your way. And if you’ve been following my advice, your #1 choice will be something that the entire community can stand behind, meaning that any naysayers will be blaspheming against anime as a whole. With an impregnable shield and a battalion of cleverly stolen words, you are guaranteed to earn the respect of your peers.

However, it is highly recommended that you pirate the occasional K-ON episode to enjoy in your downtime. If anyone catches you, just say that you’re taking notes for your next great essay on Why Moe Sucks!

~ ETERNAL
つづく

- – - – -

To clarify: yes, this is a satire against arguments based on Top 5 lists, partially inspired by TJ Han’s wise words from a time long past. However, it is not a satire against the recent “What do your top 5 anime say about you?” trend, which is a fun exercise for everyone, if not a little redundant.

Put simply, the self-proclaimed connoisseurs who attempt to factor objective analysis into a show’s enjoyment are always a great target for attack, especially since they’re not as rare as I’d like to think. Favourites are, and always will be, a measure of a person’s enjoyment. Viewers enjoy fiction for objective and subjective reasons, and unless you want every Top 5 list to look like the one above, keep in mind that people assign these ratings based on their own internal scale of quality. It would be quite a world if we were all afraid to speak up for the shows we genuinely enjoy instead of the shows we’re supposed to enjoy.

©2009 Memories of Eternity. All Rights Reserved.

The eternal sakura tree(s) are pictured above, albeit indirectly. Now for the more important things.

• I decided to start a blog. Bet you didn’t see that coming! There’s a bit more detail on the site itself, but basically, it’s a side-blog for me to go off topic and post random pictures. It’s nothing too ambitious; I’d put it in the same category as Tumblr and MAL. That said, it’ll probably be updated frequently, so check it out if you’re interested. I’m excepting to keep each entry under 200 words so as to not detract from my real anime blog here.
• Sepia Tears is underway, despite the outdated website. I w0n’t post anything online until I actually have something substantial to post, but rest assured, all of my creative energy is being poured into this one (instead of, say, NaNoWriMo). If you want to do the male characters designs or background designs, contact me. I have a feeling it won’t be easy to find the latter, but hey, it’s worth asking.

Anyway, that’s all I have to say for now. It would be kinda awkward to launch a side blog and not notify anyone of it, even if it’s mostly irrelevant. My posting schedule has been a little funny lately thanks to a multitude of things to do – university applications don’t wander into the most suitable schools by themselves – but I’m still at it. I’ve got a juicy post scheduled for Tuesday that you might find interesting.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to sleep and completely re-arrange my mindset for the English essay I’m working on tomorrow…

~ ETERNAL
つづく

©2009 Memories of Eternity. All Rights Reserved.

There are many adults in this world who enjoy fiction aimed at children. That isn’t news to anyone, and it shouldn’t need justifying. Be it for the magic and excitement or the hotblooded black-and-white combat, stories that are primarily aimed at teens – or younger – are often enjoyed by many demographics.

Sometimes, though, I wonder what it is about these shows that makes them appealing. Is it simply because they’re different, or because they’re less challenging? The thing is, age can be a misleading factor when looking at target audience. Some stories appear to be aimed at a younger audience when they can really be enjoyed universally, and I’m not just talking about otaku-targeted mahou shoujo. Age does have an impact somewhere along the line, but now that I’ve had the pleasure of watching shows from Ghost in the Shell and Mushishi to Cardcaptor Sakura and Hayate no Gotoku, I’ve come to understand the simple pleasures that can be found in stories free of moral ambiguity and psychological intrigue.

I wrote about the topic of age and innocence a little while ago, although the point I was trying to make then is a bit different from what I’m talking about today. In a nutshell, watching CCS made me realize two things: one, that the age of the viewer impacts their perception of the characters, and two, that real innocence can be a huge draw in a story.

While innocence is and always will be a vague term, the realization of its power as an element has only sunk in further over the last few months. Innocence is a funny topic – and a bit awkward if you’re into the whole visual novel scene – but there’s no doubt in my mind that true innocence is felt before it’s seen. I suppose this could also apply to real life, but it definitely applies to fiction. Every viewer will have a different opinion of certain characters and events, but when Sakura Kinomoto skates to school with a smile on her face and Shaoran blushes as he begins to understand the feeling of love, there’s a definite form of innocence in the air. It’s something that the viewer picks up on without having to analyze the characters.

Similarly, that sort of innocence, or purity, works its way into a lot of shows, most notably the ones that are aimed at a younger audience. The younger you are, the more likely you are to enjoy stories with a clear line between good and evil, and characters that have overly idealistic beliefs are hardly ever disconcerting. It’s common in a lot of genres, though shounen is the first to come to mind. My memory of Naruto and the like is foggy, but I remember looking up to Sasuke as an anti-hero, and his careless actions based on his tragic past weren’t jarring in the least. It’s that same kind of self-righteous idealism that many JRPGs are rife with.

Getting back to the main point, the black-and-white nature of stories targeted at younger audiences have their own charm to them, and the flat, immature characters can be a blessing when looked at from the right perspective. This holds true when you leave the realm of shounen and, as the post title hints at, enter the realm of magical girl.

[source]

This isn’t really a Kobato post, and it definitely isn’t an impressions post, but I’d be lying if I said that starry-eyed Kobato isn’t the character that inspired this. If you’ve seen any of the show, there’s one thing you’d know: it’s simple.

Although, simple might be putting it lightly. A girl from a mysterious world whose mission is to heal broken hearts in order to meet her parents? Sounds delusional to me. Looking at it objectively, it’s hard to imagine any adult enjoying the show for anything more than emotional therapy. Admittedly, it does do a good job of emotional therapy, but there’s no doubt in my mind that the appeal stretches beyond that.

I think this is where the genre boundaries become useless. From here, shows like Kobato stop being shoujo or magical girl and start being simply heart-warming tales about…stuff. That’s the key: it doesn’t really matter what they’re about. All of the enjoyment is in seeing how they approach the most mundane of tasks. In this sense, it’s just like the iyashikei subgenre: most Aria fans would agree that Akari’s mindset and lifestyle are what make the show what it is. Yes, it’s true that Kobato makes me feel all warm and fuzzy, and it’s a great stress reliever, but I wouldn’t dismiss it that easily. It’s not quite that simple, not as straightforward as jotting down a couple hundred words stating that simplicity in anime is fun and relaxing.

Because when it comes down to it, no one can define “fun” and “relaxing,” just as no one can define “innocence.” But regardless of what you want to call it, it’s a fact that these shows work. They’re about more than just helping you unwind after a hard day’s work, they’re more than just a tool to help you relive your childhood. Those factors are important, yes, but much like in the VN scene, all ahoge make not moé.

There’s more to an appealing moe character than a generic character design, and there’s much more to a successful iyashikei-esque feel-good slice-of-life than an optimistic heroine. The appeal reaches somewhere deeper than that, to something intangible, something universal. It touches the child within all of us, the basic instinct we have to be just like Kobato, to see beauty in the most ordinary things.

Magical girls can cast spells and summon familiars, but it takes real magic for a feeling like that to be brought from 2D to 3D.

~ ETERNAL
つづく

©2009 Memories of Eternity. All Rights Reserved.

Kimi ni Todoke doesn’t jump out at me. It doesn’t make my heart go aflutter; it doesn’t make me want to sit in front of my computer with a box of chocolates in hand.

And yes, that’s been known to happen.

But even without the bittersweet pining and the hesitant blushing and the warm acoustic guitar, the show does have something.

It has heart.

Considering the kind of reception the show has been receiving – unlinkable, since I don’t want to track down the countless positive impressions posts and tweets – I thought I would fall for this at first sight. I was setting myself up for another legendary shoujo, for the kind of emotional bliss that I haven’t felt since reading my last Arina Tanemura manga.

And I can’t say that I was disappointed…but I didn’t quite find what I expected.

The problem is, I was expecting love at first sight – of the same variety that Sawako and Kazehaya felt. Although, it’s a bit too early to assume that there’s no chance for a bond like that; perhaps it’ll be a late reaction, something that grows over time? In the four episodes that air over a month?

Anyway, what I mean to say is that Kimi ni Todoke doesn’t seem like the be-all-to-end-all that the hype is making it out to be, but that doesn’t make it a letdown. It has, like I said, heart. And isn’t heart what matters the most in shoujo? The people who want action watch shounen and super robot; for drama, visual novels, and for story, seinen. Shoujo can share traits with any genre, but the most important thing is heart. Without heart, Sawako is just Sadoko and Yuki Sohma is just gay.

(Some might still like to argue that Yuki is gay, but that’s beside the point).

At any rate, after sorting and skimming and not really reading most of the impressions posts, I intuitively feel that Choux said it best.  This series has awakened my inner fluffy fangirl, she’s not about to go away any time soon.

~ ETERNAL
つづく

P.S. That red umbrella reminds me of the creepiest thing.

©2009 Memories of Eternity. All Rights Reserved.

This isn’t quite a serious response to a recent Sankaku Complex article (NSFW). Their jab at Western “dating sims” was obviously not intended for any kind of serious contemplation, despite the fact that they overlooked something crucial.

The punchline, however, felt disturbingly familiar. It isn’t all too uncommon in anime fandom to criticize Western media, much moreso when a person is creating something that “resembles” Japanese media like anime and manga. It’s the typical “stop trying to be Asian” argument, which appears to be worse for the YouTube stars (although that may only be because they have to deal with YouTube commenters).

Anyway, media is the issue here, not culture. Put simply, some fans have a bad habit of underestimating Japanese-style media that wasn’t made in Japan, and that can be as unhealthy for the community as it is harmful for your own media intake.

I don’t think anyone would benefit from me listing the reasons why Western “imitations” of Japanese media aren”t necessarily bad. It’s common sense, for the most part. While anime is distinctly Japanese, I don’t believe the fact that it’s Japanese has much to do with our enjoyment of it. The fact that it’s different, maybe, but not simply because it came from Japan. So, instead of rambling on about the importance of open-mindedness, I’ll do something productive and list a few pleasant Original English Language creations I’ve had the pleasure of discovering over the years.

• Katawa Shoujo needs no introduction (and it’s linked above). I played the demo up to the opening video, by which point I was convinced that it would someday become the revolution that the OEL VN community needs. There’s no question that I’ll play the full game when it comes out.

• The Answer is clever, though it has little value unless you’re an aspiring visual novel creator.

• You’ve probably played The Best Eroge Ever already. If not, do so now: it’s the good kind of meta.

• Tomorrow is an unusual OEL VN written like a Shakespearean play. Sorta. It’s no masterpiece but it’s a refreshing change.

• Sorcerers & Secretaries is a soothing romance manga that isn’t too ambitious. It’s an enjoyable read for the two volumes that it lasts for.

• Megatokyo needs less of an introduction than Katawa Shoujo, but it’s worth linking to for the two of you who haven’t heard of it. The comic supposedly dropped in popularity as it took a more serious turn, but while I wouldn’t recommend reading it in webcomic form due to the naturally slow pace, the archives and/or manga volumes make for a great read.

• Textnovel is one of those sites for amateur writers to post their work, the only problem being that there’s usually more writing than reading. However, the site’s focus is on cell phone novels, and it seems to have a heavy slant toward Japanese-style light novels. The Ranobe Cafe took note of them a little while ago, and the most popular story seems fairly interesting. At least the art is good!

That’s about all I can think of at the moment, but I’m sure there are a few buried (and not-so-buried) treasures that I have yet to stumble upon. I’d appreciate any and all recommendations if you happen to know an OEL gem or two, but failing that, perhaps it’s time you took a break from watching Railgun and reading Umineko to give the unknown a shot. Who knows, you just might earn the bragging rights of saying that you were there when a future classic first got off the ground!

~ ETERNAL
つづく

©2009 Memories of Eternity. All Rights Reserved.

I often ponder the appeal of yuri. Is it the forbidden, exotic allure of a pair of pining maidens, begging to be fetishized and capitalized upon by the industry? On some level, yes – but making that claim would be akin to claiming that all romanticized love stories with attractive females exist solely for the lonely fan.

Yuri, like all settings and devices and what have you, is simply a premise. It’s something that can enhance a story if used effectively, something that can potentially add that extra push to cross the line between good and great. Recently, one such series stirs warmly in my memory as I recall it: Aoi Hana, a warm love story about crying lesbians.

Aoi Hana is, for lack of a better word, subtle. It interests me because subtlety is something that we often see in anime, from ambiguous symbolism to succinct dialogue. While that does come off as a bit of a blanket statement, I believe we’ve all seen our fair share of vague romance and it’s-about-something-even-though-it’s-about-nothing stories to know that a director who whispers rather than yells is not uncommon in the medium.

Coming back to the topic at hand, Aoi Hana seems like a perfect example of subtlety in anime. Furthermore, it’s not a bad example of subtlety in romance. Think back to your reaction to the sight of Kyouko’s tears during her discussion with Akira; as Baka-Raptor said, the lesbians of Matsuoka and Fujigaya cry about mostly insignificant things, and the rest of the cast cries when the see the first batch crying. It sounds like your typical melodramatic high school waterworks, bound to end without a shred of originality short of a Nice Boat bombshell.

But I can’t say that Aoi Hana is unoriginal.

It isn’t groundbreaking, I’ll give you that much. We’ve all seen the show before, and many of us have seen it three or four times: a group of high school girls talk and have fun and do girlish things and stop just short of doing the things they would need an OVA for. The show falls more or less perfectly into this category, minus the fanservice, but it’s the minor details that genre cannot account for. It’s the minor details that are overlooked by the one-paragraph synopses and brief episodic summaries.

Really, it’s the minor details that make the show great.

[kl]

Subtlety. What is subtlety? And what does it have to do with romance?

Unless you want to play the semantic card, I’m sure you know where I’m going with this. Subtlety in romance anime can be found across the board, from the bittersweet conclusion of Yuta Takemoto’s bike ride to the unspoken meaning behind Tsukimiya Ayu’s hairbands.  While the latter may not have been entirely unspoken, I think the point is clear: many romance anime rely on vague symbolism and roundabout dialogue to convey emotions and feelings, rather than a straight and to-the-point confession or a linear monologue. It’s this ambiguity in the characters’ actions that makes it intriguing to observe them, and when they narrate their feelings as they feel them rather than as they would write them, it heightens the viewer’s ability to relate and connect.

Aoi Hana is no exception to this. Remember the crying scene? Crying over a lost love is not entirely subtle, but when the words associated with that heartbreak are replaced by a simple but meaningful stream of tears, the audience feels an emotional bond before they get the chance to think it.

This is why I believe that the show is all about the subtlety – or to be more precise and less subtle about it, it’s about the presentation. The how, not the why. Everything about the show is soft, gentle, from the pastel colouring to the instrumental lead-in for the OP and ED. It works its way into the dialogue and story – Yasuko’s wistful gaze at her first love and his bride, Fumi’s memory of her library encounter prompted by the gentle breeze from the open window. The setting helps this, too: remember what I was saying about yuri as a setting and device rather than a genre? The purity and innocence that are stereotypically associated with shoujo-ai fits the show perfectly; not because it’s a pandering Strawberry Panic knockoff, but because it’s a humble story of an innocent first love. Nothing more, nothing less.

An unspoken yet warming show of affection – the epitome of yuri as a device.

Aoi Hana will always be ahead of the pack in my view, and it’ll always hold something over the classics like MariMite and Kannazuki no Miko - although in keeping with my statement of yuri not being a genre, a more apt comparison would be Hatsukoi Limited or Nanatsuiro Drops. Though the summer season had many a gem to uncover and savor, it isn’t an understatement for me to claim that this emotionally ambiguous first-love story will remain in my memory for years to come: not because it was spectacular, or even particularly good, but because it succeeded in telling a delicate story in such subtle, poetic way.

~ ETERNAL
つづく

©2009 Memories of Eternity. All Rights Reserved.

Seitokai no Ichizon is masturbation in every sense of the word except the literal one. It’s as meta as meta can be, as counterproductive and pointless as a dating-sim parody of Comic Party. I don’t expect there to be anything original in Seitokai; I don’t expect it to be occasionally heartwarming like Lucky Star or occasionally bittersweet like Genshiken. You’d have to search high and low to find something that has less of a plot.

And yet, I’m writing this post with nothing but praise in mind. Does that say something about me as a fan? Technically, yes – but don’t forget that there’s more to entertainment than objective quality.

I honestly don’t think Seitokai should be treated as an anime. Frankly, it hardly qualifies as a work of fiction. Seitokai no Ichizon is about nothing, and I don’t think that fact will change.

But is that necessarily a bad thing? Remember, you’re not really watching anime for the 24 minutes a week you spend on the show: you’re reading a meta blog post about the random goings-on of the internet. When you click on your Seitokai video file instead of Railgun or Nyankoi, you’re not choosing one anime over the other: you’re taking a short break to check your Twitter feed and IRC log.

In essence, I believe Seitokai is all about mindset. If you approach it as a comedy filled with cheap references and shallow characters, then you might not totally hate it… but if you approach it as a commentary on fandom, a detour from the norm, then you might actually like it.

And I loved it.

You see, the show isn’t inherently unfunny. Some might say that it is, but I think it’s an issue of quantity vs quality: and Seitokai is filled with the former. Some of the jokes are dumb, I admit. Some are only deserving of a smirk, and some fly by like an outdated OVER 9000. The thing is, when the jokes are fired off in such rapid succession, chances are you’ll laugh at a few, even if it’s only an immediate reaction. It’s not a very quotable comedy, certainly not the kind of thing you’d rewatch in the years to come, but since when did comedy need wit and sarcasm to be good?

The beauty of Seitokai is that it’s neither wit nor slapstick. It’s pure meta. It’s like having a chat with your otaku friends, except less predictable and with cuter girls (though the internet avatars can solve that problem). It extracts the core intrigue of shows like Genshiken and Ouran, throws out the story, and presents us with the kind of idle chatter we know to be plausible. It doesn’t just break the 4th wall and assault us with cheesy jokes; it knows its jokes are cheesy, but it keeps on going, because for God’s sake, the show is about a male otaku and his harem!

- – -

At the end of the day, I don’t think there’s anything I can say to convince you to watch a show like Seitokai. Moreover, it’s not the kind of thing that needs convincing: if you dislike it at first sight, then it probably won’t grow on you.

That said, for the kind of fans who like a little circle jerk now and again – the kind who don’t mind that a timeslot is being taken up on a show that only works on them – Seitokai is pure genius. It will never be appreciated by the masses, but it couldn’t care less, because it knows that its sole purpose is to provide a fun time for the crazed fan out there who isn’t afraid of a little masturbation.

Figuratively.

~ ETERNAL
つづく

©2009 Memories of Eternity. All Rights Reserved.

Well, this is quite a turn of events, isn’t it? No matter how diverse or focused a fan’s interests may be, it would be hard to call oneself a dedicated anime fan without exploring the beast known as Gundam. By “beast”, of course, I’m referring to one of the most massive and well-respected franchises in anime history. It’s the good kind of beast, a creature that must be tamed in order to reap your reward, like a secret boss with a legendary drop item.

That said, I don’t think I’ll get anywhere with the metaphors today, so I’ll stick to giving my first real impression of this universe of epic proportions.

If there’s one thing I know about Gundam, it’s that it’s about war.

I think.

Having seen the post UC series (Gundam Seed being one of my gateway anime), I already had a decent idea of what I was getting into. Aside from the visible amounts of angsty bishounen, the current-gen Gundams maintain a story grounded in the darker side of war, featuring both powerful robots and grief-stricken civilians. The recent Gundam 00 was a constant reminder of how twisted the Gundam world can be, and how the heroes, villains, and irrelevant side characters always share some of the pain of war. I distinctly remember being intrigued by the shifting of perspectives in Seed and Destiny between the two sides as it tried to blur the line between right and wrong – at the time, the concept of forcing a hero to question the morality of his actions  was alien to me.

Anyway, as I leaped into Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket, I was impressed to find that my expectations were met. In place of the over-the-top plot devices of genetic manipulation, melodramatic love triangles, and Generic Tragic Past #42, I was met with a disturbing yet optimistic story about a boy who wanted excitement and a soldier who couldn’t fight.

Aside from the usual Gundam themes and devices – War Is Bad, no distinct group of antagonists, no one has plot armor – I was pleased at the overall presentation of the show. In contrast with the flashy action scenes of many a mecha anime, War in the Pocket was mostly devoid of combat, instead choosing to spend an entire episode on an 11 year old’s daily life. Is this relevant to a story about a war between the Federation and Zeon? As Gundam fans know, of course it is. After all, war doesn’t only occur between soldiers.

A pleasant off-topic picture.

It’s a difficult thing to articulate, but War in the Pocket did something for me. It seemed to summarize everything I knew about Gundam, everything I knew about war, and present it in six episodes of pure goodness. A boy who wanted nothing but trouble, who killed the good guys in video games like a psychotic kid playing Grand Theft Auto – watching a boy like that come in contact with real violence, witness the death of innocents, and ultimately risk his life to protect his home, is quite an experience. It’s about the end of innocence in a way, but above all, I think it says something about how the individual looks at war.

Children don’t see evil the way adults do, but when Al realized that military combat isn’t something to be glorified and worshipped, only he was strong enough to convince the soldier Bernie to stand up and fight. Ironically, for a story that condemns the glorification of mobile suits, the last battle was not a necessary one: instead, it was about a soldier finding the courage to fight. If Al’s battle was to overcome his discontentment with the ordinary and everyday, then Bernie’s battle was to overcome his fear and risk his life like soldiers were meant to. It’s ironic that such opposites could exist in the same show, but perhaps condemning violence and fighting for the weak are two sides of the same coin.

Themes aside, though, there was one thing that truly stood out about the show – and from overhearing other fans, I think it’s something that remains constant throughout the franchise. When you close your eyes and block out the mobile suits, the irony, the turning points in the characters’ lives, one feeling remains that’s central to the Gundam universe:

It’s human.

I never did figure out the significance behind the name.

In short, my first real experience with UC Gundam taught me the obvious and the less obvious. The obvious is that it does its job well – and what else would I expect from such an acclaimed series? But beyond that, there’s something distinctly human about it, something real and personal that can be understood by those who haven’t as much as seen a real gun. In a world filled with space colonies and mobile suits, it takes guts and effort to craft a story that can convey its message and resonate with viewers who are as innocent and naive as the civilians themselves – and I can see why a story that accomplishes this can live through the decades.

~ ETERNAL
つづく

©2009 Memories of Eternity. All Rights Reserved.

It can get a little tiring thinking about plot and character all the time, can’t it? The Araragi Theory of Bakemonogatari, the Nasu-ified story of CANAAN, the theme of the value of life (and, well, brotherhood) in FMA: Brotherhood – while all of these things are good by themselves, they can easily lead to a mentally-taxed viewer.

Well, when you look at it objectively, being mentally taxed isn’t exactly a bad thing. If anything, it’s good to have stuff to think about while watching anime, but as everyone knows, sometimes it’s nice to just kick back and relax. But what is it about these shows that lets us do that? Aria is an extreme case, but even so, what is it about the show that causes it to be such a stress reliever? The characters and story are part of it, but surely that isn’t everything. When I started questioning why I fell so easily for a show about baseball girls in the early 20th century, though, I knew it was time to get to the bottom of it.

The term “milieu” in literature refers to the environment or setting in which a story takes place. Thankfully, that’s not what I’m here to talk about (I could do with a lecture on the topic myself). What I do want to talk about is how basic things like setting and premise can affect a person’s enjoyment of a show, and how vague intangibles like atmosphere can often make or break a story.

It sounds strange when you put it that way. If a story is good, then isn’t it just that: good? How can a good story be bad? And yet, when it comes time to input your MAL ratings, you probably find yourself wondering how much you enjoyed the series you just finished, weighing its objective quality against your subjective experience. It’s difficult to describe because it’s all internal, but when you do away with the independent factors that define what a show is about, it’s surprising to find that there are still a lot of aspects that could affect your enjoyment.

Really, I’m not using this as an excuse to post pictures of Hazuki!

If I said that I like goth-loli character designs and therefore I like Tsukuyomi, you’d probably take it the wrong way, so let’s look at it from a different angle. What makes Tsukuyomi appealing to me? Well, there’s Hazuki, of course. Looking at moe as an aesthetic, that means that I like the art and character designs. Fair enough. But Tsukuyomi isn’t the only show to feature goth-lolis, and yet it’s certainly the only one to make me react like this. So why did it happen, then? It’s because it involves more than just goth-loli character designs; it’s saturated in the romanticized gothic anime setting.

I suppose it would be unfair to compare Tsukuyomi to Victorian literature since, for one, vampires were scary back then. But that aside, it’s a fact that the show is stuffed to the brim with the kind of imagery (mysterious misty castle), architecture (design of said castle), music (eerie, string-heavy), and all-around tone that people usually associate with the Victorians and their horror stories. Of course, since this is an anime, those things should instantly bring to mind magic battles and vampire lolis.

The same can be said for similar stories like the manga Tetragrammaton Labyrinth, which I fell for instantly for no apparent reason. Looking back, the reason was actually quite obvious: I like gothic settings in anime, especially when they’re accompanied by vague fanservice (or in this case yuri, which makes the deal arguably sweeter).

At any rate, back to Taishou Yakyuu Musume. Why am I raving over this show when I could be pretending to analyze Fullmetal Alchemist or scouring Danbooru for new Senjougahara pictures? Well, it’s because of something completely indescribable.

It makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

That’s it, really. It doesn’t overload my heart like a good shoujo manga, nor my moe-senses like the aforementioned goth-loli paradise; it’s just plain warm and fuzzy, in the truest sense of the word. The everyday adventures of a bunch of 1920s Japanese girls as they fight against society’s norms shouldn’t rank too highly in my book, even if it’s got a touch of romance and it’s closer to being a comedy than a drama. And yet, contrary to my common sense and preconceptions, I can’t help but feel good every time I finish an episode.

And that’s about all I can say. I did say that these things were intangible, remember? There’s no way to describe it: it’s simply a magical combination of plot, character, aesthetic, and dialogue that produces an atmosphere that can only be described as pleasant. The same goes for all atmospheres of all genres – you can never put your finger on it and describe it as you want to, but the moment you start watching, you know it’s there. It’s that invisible X-factor that makes a good thing even better.

~ ETERNAL
つづく

©2009 Memories of Eternity. All Rights Reserved.

A few months ago on Twitter, Moritheil of Anime Diet proposed one of those ever popular communal rewatches that always seem to make the experience more fun. A couple posts have already been done to get the ball rolling , but I was busy drowning in my backlog toward the end of the summer and so I’m more than a little late to the party.

At any rate, there’s one aspect of modern Japanese media that I’ve always been illiterate in: live-action dramas. Admittedly, I’m not even well-versed in Western live-action films, favouring video games as a child, and I’ve only seen a couple anime-irrelevant Japanese live action movies (although one was directed by Hideaki Anno and the other was scored by Joe Hisaishi.) Most of my knowledge of the medium comes from little clips I’ve seen on my classmates’ computers and Hinano’s screencaps. Needless to say, it’s about time I took a look at the medium for myself and figure out what I’ve been missing.

Besides, there’s promise of GYABO in here. How can it go wrong?

The first ep begins with a pleasant shot of Prague. There are points in which it felt more like a cheap tourism ad than anything else, but it builds anticipation nicely. European imagery and motifs (and, well, music) is ever-present in the series, and it was one of my favourite aspects when I first watched the anime.

As the introduction continues, Chiaki’s very own Vieira is conducting an orchestra in an impressive concert hall, which is apparently the norm over in Prague. The music plays in the background as we’re introduced to Young Chiaki and told of his early encounter with the Maestro.

The plane should tell you enough about the show’s quality of special effects (it looks even worse in motion), but I was impressed by the introduction of Chiaki as an adult. Lots of dramatic fades and transitions accompanied by the orchestra from his past, and a light-drenched room that feels like someone forgot to close the camera’s shutter – which is exactly the kind of thing that I like. The scattered sheet music on the ground is quick and careful exposition, moreso if you don’t already know him as a character. He might be a little untidy, but he’s no slacker.

Moving along, I thoroughly enjoyed the short campus scene as Chiaki discontentedly dismisses the unskilled students around him. It was almost the same as in the anime, but it reminded me of what a distinctive character the guy really is. He can be a little on the pretentious side, but he’ll always remain as one of the few bishounen I can genuinely respect.

And of course, the turning point. Like in the anime, there isn’t much talk about music theory; it’s portrayed in a light that anyone can understand. In this case, Nodame’s piano almost feels like a visual performance rather than an aural one. The slow transitions work well in all of the piano and music scenes, but Chiaki’s narration as he finds brilliance in the sloppiness of her performance in this scene is the icing on the cake.

Anyway, when you’re not in it for the music or light slice-of-life romance, there’s definitely one element that glues the whole story together: hijinks! And it’s here, all right, to the same degree that you’d expect.

By the way, she’s holding his belt. Make of that what you may.

I still wonder how she manages to walk around without crushing anything.

I honestly can’t remember Afro-tan’s full name (or gender), but she’s here, and she’s as awkward as she should be.

Suffice to say, I LOL’D. They managed to pull off both this and the subsequent Chiaki KICK as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

Oh yeah, he’s German. At least he does the accent pretty well.

Finally, with the usual comedy aside, we reach the climax: the real turning point in Chiaki’s musical career, as he plays successfully with Nodame and remembers the fun in music. As fans of the anime would know, it’s the beginning of an extremely unlikely and all-around awkward relationship, but we all know that those two need each other, even if they seem like complete opposites.

- – -

All in all, I’m pleased with the first episode, though that’s largely due to the fact that I liked the original series. The romance undertones are nice, but personally, the setting will always be the biggest draw. The whole concept of a music academy is alien to me, and the sheer novelty of an anime centered around a group of classical music students is…well, music to my ears. The best thing about Nodame is that they use the setting to their advantage, playing ample music in the background and spending enough time talking about the concerts and rehearsals, without making it feel like you’re actually at school. The biggest danger with shows like these is that they introduce a novel concept and promptly forget about it a couple weeks later, but luckily I know that won’t happen here.

As far the live action medium goes, I’m mostly neutral to it. “Apathetic” sounds negative, but really, the medium didn’t make much of an impact on me. Maybe it’s because it felt considerably lower budget than your average Hollywood movie (as with my prior experiences with Japanese film), but the directing and acting didn’t feel too different from an anime, aside from the obvious differences. On the plus side, it always looks better to have real people perform musical instruments than to try to animate it, and it’s doubly funny to see Chiaki’s and Nodame’s rom-com hijinks acted out.

In conclusion, I can see myself enjoying this rewatch, and I’d recommend the drama to anyone who wants to re-experience the series but still wants to try something new. At the very least, I know that Nodame can whet my appetite for classical music without forgetting to keep things fun.

~ ETERNAL
つづく

©2009 Memories of Eternity. All Rights Reserved.