Category Archives: Franchises

February 9, 2011

Compulsion about the Star Driver Puzzle – Vanishing Age

By omo

Star Driver is kind of like a fable. People in the show act out stuff, in representation of higher concepts and ideas, in service of themes. Or at least, that is how it is represented with characters larger than life and brighter than a shooting star. Or something. The problem is these characters all clearly are employed by somebody, and it has become irritating when they don’t say who that somebody is. It’s like when you are being told a fable, you kind of just want to get to the bottom of it, to spin that wheel of morality already and see what the final answer is.

I’ve been pretty okay about Star Driver when it comes to that compulsion, so far. However the recent episodes featuring the Vanishing Age really tickled my fancy. I mean, let’s look at the names of the Kiraboshi Juujidan factions. Unlike Urobuchi, we know Yoji Enokido is not trolling us, right?

  • Filament – It’s bright, but more importantly, it burns out. It also makes Kiraboshi Brigade what it is, or at least the Kiraboshi part. We’ve had the episode about the “glittering of youth,” so perhaps this symbolizes the literal glittering part of youth. Also, filament, an man-made creation, is great foil to the naturally-apprivoise-able Galactic Pretty Boy. It’s tough to beat fusion for brightness.
  • Adult Bank – I thought this one is obvious. But why “Adult” when there are no adults in it? I can’t say for Bouganville, but Vanishing Age and the Science Guild surely have adults? I could also point to the relationship between Leon Watanabe and his teenage bride, but that would be obvious, so the not-as-obvious point here is something about the wealth kids have that are not really theirs. Kanako lives in the shadow of her husband, that much we know for sure.
  • Science Guild – I thought this one is even more obvious. And this one is also the most over-the-top. Can I have Rinko as my First Stage?
  • Bouganville – Besides being the largest of the Solomon Islands (now an independent nation) and that Japan occupied it during WWII, the only thing to say about it is that it is actually an “island in the south.” It makes sense in that it has a flavor of locality and tradition behind it, as applied to the members of this subsection. (Human civilization on the Solomon Islands do date back pretty far.) All two of them, at this point, anyways. Maybe the events of WWII can serve as a possible hint.
  • Vanishing Age – Well this is where…I stop bulleting and start to make the point I was trying …to make.

When I was thinking about putting the puzzles together, I was influenced by this NY Times piece. Generation gap is actually a big issue facing American society today as well, but Japan is really getting screwed–so screwed, that we use a more technical and all-encompassing term, “Generational Inequality.” The socio-econo-political aspect aside, the Times piece paints an image that, hopefully, resonates with Japanese college pre-post-grad/super-seniors struggling to find happiness in their line of work and their near-future. It is a future that is, not unlike Head’s sunset, turning darker each passing moment.

The old boys club, the high-class lounge, the back-room deal made under a cloud of cigarette smoke and over some fine Suntory whisky are a thing of the past. There is your Vanishing Age. That is your modern vice that rocketed Japan to its global economic plateau, perhaps at the cost of its first-born sons and daughters. Looking from that perspective, the Kiraboshi section titles become

  • People who tries, even if it looks like they’re faking it
  • People who can’t get out from under their fetal silver spoons, no matter how accomplished they are
  • Otaku
  • People stuck in the old ways
  • People on elevators

But that is just one interpretation, and you might be able to do better. Also, we clearly see that Vanishing Age represents a group of people who are truly elite, who are born with “the mark” and who use it to reinforce its own elite status. Injecting a dose of real world problem into this fairly modern fable is more nuanced than one might imagine.

All this, just to capture that spark. Will it cure Japan’s problems? DUN DUN DUN.

Leave a comment | posted in Modern Visual Culture, Star Driver

February 4, 2011

Melting to Wandering Son’s OP

By omo

It’s really weird, but somehow I really like Hourou Musuko’s OP. By Winter 2011 anime on Japanese TV standards, it’s not a happening OP. For noitaminA standards, it’s not a happening OP. In fact it’s basically the polar opposite of Kuragehime OP. Maybe because it is so out of place, that it ranks at the top of my favorite OP/ED this season.

I think Kuragehime OP is a good point of comparison. The dynamic and lively chain of references aside, the song “Koko Dake no Hanashi” is one of Chatmonchy’s better works–at least from a non-fan’s perspective–and it is great accompaniment to a happily-paced romantic comedy. On the other hand, I simply melted to my seat when folksy upstart Daisuke played out his “Itsudate.” during the opening of Hourou Musuko. I’m not sure what it was or why it happened, but there was something that was able to grab my attention, help me focus, and make me soak in the watercolor landscaping and the simple guitar chorus, on a dime.

If I had to guess, it was the watercolor credits hovering eerily over the empty school scenes. It came with an English translation. Three-Dee English translation. If that doesn’t draw your fancy, well…

The funny thing is, from some kind of objective sense, the OP to Hourou Musuko is all messed up. There are different kind of visual elements clashing together; it’s largely full of computer generated visuals, and (again) nothing really happens, yet it is almost the first thing we see in each episode. It works for me, but I can’t imagine it working for the average Western anime person. What is going on here?

This is just one part of the conspiracy. To see the big picture, we have to talk about theme (a little). Soft focus? That’s a good place to start. It’s like digestive juices of a pitcher plant, blending together character animation, background, colors, themes, and viewers like you.

One of the themes as expounded upon by others within Wandering Son is loneliness and finding common ground as a way to bring people together. I think the OP plays right in by cranking the folksy nostalgia lever up to 10 and lets you fill in the blank on your own. That’s why the school is empty, anyways. The show works when we project ourselves, when we engage our powers of empathy. The anime works because it invites us to do so. Even if you never had a problem with any of the problems the characters from the show faced, you can put yourself in that empty school. [And you can imagine how much more so for people who can really identify with the cast.]

Anyway, I melt when I watch the OP each week. It’s almost like the whiplash Rie Fu is now serving up weekly in the ED, except it is reversed; the OP buys us in, the ED flips out the trump card and collects the winning. There is a method to this not-so-madness.

And we didn’t even get to talk about transgender stuff! But hey, them otaku love it when a plan comes together. That plan is having a visual direction that is a part and extends the thematic content of the story. And it’s a grand plan.

PS. This is the best anime since K-ON at this trick. And I have no idea why a carnivorous plant was referenced in this post. Food chain identity disorder?

Leave a comment | posted in English Language Modern Visual Fandom, Hourou Musuko, Modern Visual Culture

January 27, 2011

Array of Public Opinion Blossoms in the Crack of Weekly Broadcast

By omo

Okay, can I spoil on Madoka Magica episode 3 now?

It is the sort of little joys in my life, to be able to tune in to a fanbase that expressed their surprise, dismay, anger, joy, admiration and how eyes lit up when the collective of us pondered the meaning behind Kyubey’s unphased face, that never-changing :3 expression. The undigested SPOILER of a certain SPOILER drops onto those pin-top tables, feeling as if we’ve attended the wrong tea party. No queen spoke of “off with her head” but we did get a really large dose of Faust, and when you get that along with the word “contract” it shouldn’t take a lawyer to have some alarm go off.

The most pretty expressions this week are the fan artists and the graphical remixers. As TheBigN mentioned previously, Pixiv is one of the earliest spot. I guess there might be some kind of speedsubber mentality at work there, but it’s not just them. I think 2ch, 4chan and all the usual spots have a lot of fun takes of episode 3’s surprise twist.

But how can you enjoy these potentially short-lived outbursts if you don’t follow this show on a weekly basis? I suppose to an extent you could enjoy it by an exercise of empathy, but I doubt it can capture even 80%, let alone 100% of the festive feeling I’ve seen expressed. Especially if in the next episode, we get a big turn-around that may nullify this little shocker.

Well, we’ll know in a couple hours!

Leave a comment | posted in Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica, Modern Visual Culture

January 23, 2011

The Spoiler And How It Implicates in the Simulcast Nonsense

By omo

This post contains no spoilers, at least not on the face.

The latest about Madoka Magica from Urobuchi’s, writer, twitter, is a spoiler for the show, 3 episodes in. I am not too concerned about his sadly feeble attempt to mislead, but it does show that the intent to surprise is fully present.

As an anime guy who watches anime and talks about it on the internet, spoiler, well, I shouldn’t have to tell you if you are reading this–they’re a double-edged sword or a necessary evil. Whatever and however you think they are and feel about them, they are unavoidable to an extent. Some might even seek them out on purpose. It’s also a great way to troll, as seen in Madoka’s case, as well as countless previous instances. Probably most recently famous for the Snake Kills Dumbledore meme [wow, 2005?]. Or maybe something else newer.

But if Shinbo doesn’t want to spoil you, maybe that is the best way to enjoy the show? Maybe it is best to enjoy Madoka without reading up and speculating too much? Well, whatever floats your boat, but that seems like a sensible thing to do.

Funny enough, given my perspective and tendencies I find myself applying The Spoiler Problem on the whole directly to the simulcast situation. It isn’t really a big surprise considering time delay and exclusivity are common methods for content owners to make profit and distinguish themselves over their competitors–there’s money in it. People want their stuff now, ASAP. I am not going to point fingers at DirecTV customers and call them impatient because they can get Hollywood films over their satellite dish faster than Netflix, but you get a bunch of them calling people who watch fansubs that exactly. That makes no sense to me, especially how some (very large and pervasive) media companies encourage this behavior. Can’t we stick to calling them people who break copyright laws? Because that’s all there is to it.

I mean, put it this way, in order to enjoy Madoka fully you pretty much have to avoid a spoiler that is 3 episodes in. The surprise element is pretty much gone if you follow any of the anime episodic blogs or chatters from Japan. Heck if you read #madoka on twitter you will basically get spoiled. As someone who prizes enjoyment of his anime above all else anime related, I really sympathizes to those Madoka fans who have to get their anime first, in this specific case, just so they can keep swimming.

I guess that’s not a real problem anyone has to be concerned about, since we live in a media-rich society with instant communication and broadcasting via the internet. In other words, we struggle with this all the time. It’s no different than picking up the newspaper on Friday and read about the reviews of new films coming out. Except in that case, if I really cared, I could just go watch it in theaters that same day then read the reviews. Where as in the anime case, copyright law says  you are SOL. Sorry, can’t read twitter or blogs for the next 3 months!

But instead of griping or whatever, I think of it as a Real Life Problem and an opportunity for profit. That’s how startups are born, people! Because this applies not only to anime, but it applies to all manners of media and it applies to all forms of consumption. Like this little twitter client. Or something like Crunchyroll.

Leave a comment | posted in English Language Modern Visual Fandom, Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica, Modern Visual Culture

January 19, 2011

Shiki and Satisfaction

By omo

Shiki was one of the two shows I wanted to marathon from the last season. It’s particularly notable to me for its lineage, being another anime adaptation of Fuyumi Ono’s works. Yea, I liked Twelve Kingdoms, and no, I passed on Ghost Hunt, too. Now that I’ve watched it as it’s almost all out and all done, hopefully I can put it down as fast as I’ve finished it. Naturally, minor spoilers are ahead.

In terms of genre, I think Ono writes for a horror-for-girls kind of thing in Shiki. In some ways that makes sense in Shiki, there are some pretty obvious elements where it feels natural to graft BL things onto them. I think typical for a girl-focused/mainstream work, also, there is a lot of strong poetic justice plays. There is a theme about retribution, divine, natural or man-influenced. Also I wonder how would anyone get the abandoned by God thing without knowing Cain and Able’s story.

Anyway, I don’t have a lot to say about Shiki except that during the whole build-up to the gruesome end to the series, I was being fed lines and after lines of how these vampire people are more people than vampires. And this happened not only as plot material, but as some kind of thematic element. I thought it was trying to speak a message that is about sympathy. In the end I realize it wasn’t the case. It was more a message about doing the right thing that is laced with sympathy. Shiki’s justice is swift and poetic; I can’t really say much bad things about that.

The problem is I have few good things to say about Shiki. Seishin’s plight as a human being might be the only angle, but I don’t quite get it in that ultimately his kindness lead to the death of those who probably didn’t deserve to die. Remember: Cain is the transgressor! In as much part of that become a purified, if meaningless, struggle against and for selfishness, it is just a little too calculated.

Speaking of calculated, Natsuno is clearly Able. In fact his circumstantial werewolfing is kind of a huge break, making him pretty much the victim the entire way through the show. It’s kind of nice to see the guy who was mean as the guy who is doing the right thing, for a change. A foil for Megumi for sure. I guess revenge is okay if they’re a bunch of undead bad guys?

Character analysis aside, Shiki just didn’t deliver enough. It got to a point where it is campy, and it just didn’t mix with all these serious characters. Well I should say, there were all these comical characters not contributing much to the overall impact of the series. There were some turning points in the plot where satisfaction, pity and other things they wanted to solicit just didn’t really come out of me. I guess there were a couple “Don’t invite them in!” or “Don’t open that window!” moments where it worked out okay, but I didn’t watch in a group where that dynamics was present to make the effect enjoyable.

I suppose after all is said and done I can understand why some people thought this was an anime-of-the-year caliber show, but to me it’s just your average Toradora-7/10 kind of fare. And that is being really generous, largely on the account of its production values.

Lastly, whoever edits Shiki’s Wikipedia entry should be slapped around a bit for putting major spoilers in the character descriptions, as it is in-line with the main article. Oh well, maybe you won’t believe it’s true.

Leave a comment | posted in Modern Visual Culture, Shiki