When Kamiyama was visiting USA last year, he asked about how people find Eden of the East interesting. I think there are a lot of stuff that is attractive about Eden, but I think he was going for the whole social commentary thing.
C, in some ways, is the exactly the same thing. Granted this season it was John Titor doing a Juiz impression rather than Msyu, but this Noitamina show does not beat around the bush. In fact episode 8 was probably over the top trying to show us what is wrong with Japan, it is all but short of saying it outright. (Which is fine, the premise and execution is somewhat over the top to begin with.)
I would not have imagined to use virtual Pokemon battles to illustrate the concept of “you don’t know what you’ve lost until you’ve lost it” in a thousand years. At least some money got burned (and it is better than Speed Grapher already, because they explain how that is meaningless), and we’re not even half way through!
What I have questions for is what Kamiyama would have questions for: Just what do you think C is about? I mean unless you’ve read about this or learned about the bigger financial and social ills facing Japan’s future, does this show even make sense?
It’s kind of amusing in that in America, you could say there are Democrats and Republicans; in Japan, they’re still trying to completely set up a 2-party thing; it’s still “the Established” and the rest. I wonder why this is not as much the case for the American economy (well…). Maybe it really is because we have sex more; that we procreate and Americans actually allow permanent immigration in large(r) volumes unlike xenophobic Japan (and I guess people actually want to move to the US). That it has been through the crucible of racial integration for the past 200 years (and still is in it)? I don’t know how it plays out.
Which makes me think: anime? Really? Shouldn’t you be trying for a wider medium than a 2am TV show made for otaku? I mean there’s something empowering to be said about seeing the big picture, and how otaku are often part of this “lost generation” as illustrated plainly by Eden. I just don’t know what context to take it in. I suppose anime and manga has always been on the forefront of some pretty controversial stuff in modern Japan. Now it’s just doing a little dance.
Except it also feels kind of exploitative, given how anime/media-mix projects are financed and who are the ultimate paying customers. Irony in a capitalist society is something we can’t avoid, isn’t it.
