Category Archives: Franchises

November 27, 2006

A Bit of Summer to Cure Winter Blues

By omo

Somehow Asatte no Houkou keeps me going–it comes to my mind first when I write, even if I am watching plenty of other crap right now.

But here in North America it’s getting cold. Winter has always been a moody season for me and personally I find myself psychologically falling into a cycle. Spring is when I fall in love with new things, and Winter when I celebrate (or lament) on the fleeting days of the year gone by and the memories it carried. Not sure what Summer and Autumn are, yet.

Anyways, it really started with Haibane Renmei. I think when I first caught it as it was airing, it was such a lovely watch that I had to watch it as it was airing. In fact, the first 5 episodes were so good partly because of its timing. It really helps me to savor those episodes because it matched that winterly feeling, transiting from lazy Autumn afternoons into biting, Canadian-like mornings.

What’s odd about Asahou is that right now I can’t imagine watching it during Summer, and have it come off feeling the same way. It’s almost like Haibane Renmei in a way, once I got past the uncertainty of the first 3 episodes. To contrast, Someday’s Dreamers was a similar, slice-of-life show that was very fitting for a Summer viewing. Both, as you may remember, took place during summertime. The seasonal contrast is even a part of Someday’s Dreamers, as it was casually alluded to with Masami Oyamada’s magic powers and past circumstance.

There are other anime with a strong seasonal motif, too, but I think with slice-of-life type shows, it is ever front and center as the most powerful, intangible element to a show. Aria, for example, doesn’t distinguish what season it is even if it’s a visible element to the show–or rather, Summer in Venice is not like Summer in Neo Venezia–because it feels the same no matter what season it is. On the other hand, Kanon does winter right–it has to. There’s an element of play as well an element of sorrow, and I think Kanon captures that dynamic well.

Maybe the real trick is to create your own personal reality in a fantastical setting? I think Azumanga Daioh, which is much more personal to the average Japanese person in Japan than Aria, does a better job at doing seasons and feelings because it is something animation creators can relate to on a first-person basis. Which is to say, Haibane Renmei was all the more amazing as it’s spun only from its creator’s brain? Maybe. Asatte no Houkou could very well be the same, even if the setting is familiar.

Leave a comment | posted in Aria, Asatte no Houkou, Kanon, Modern Visual Culture

November 21, 2006

Rabid Kanon Fans Blow Hot Air or Illogical Harem Hate

By omo

To really do Kanon and Air, as two franchises, justice, we really need a solid footing in history. It just makes no sense to head into it without getting your bearings right. Sadly, I’m not sure if I’m qualified to even try.

Well. I did try, but after writing a few paragraphs I realized it’s futile to explain it in detail. It’s beyond me. Instead, let me just be brief and sweet.

Kanon is about the girls, their stories, and the fable feel in that fantasy winter wonderland. Or winter tragicland. It’s enough, more than enough, to gather its own fans just based on the merits of Kyoani’s animated adaptation alone. The power of moe transcends petty franchise labels, after all.

Older Kanon fans, either from the Toei era or from the original uproar of Key‘s success, will enjoy the new anime just like how the fans do. I’m not sure what that means, but just seeing Mariko Kouda back in action (older, mellower, and more moe!) is enough to send me to that winter wonderland. It probably vary between each fan, and you know the drill.

But to compare it to Air? Sure, you can, but there’s so much one could say about the two beyond the superficial. In fact, you really have to get to the root of both adaptations: that they were sister games in a true sense. Kanon was a proof of concept, and Air is more radical and original which came at the wake of Kanon’s success. It shows in the nonlinear storytelling. It shows in the choice of narrative devices. it shows in the simplicity.

These fundamental differences surface in their adaptions. Kanon was by all means a straight-up harem, and Kyoani’s Kanon currently is just that. It’s no surprise people who are, for one reason or another, coming to be allergic to harems generally “don’t get it” why so many of their equally-jaded fellow fans like it.

The moral of the story, I guess, is to read Wikipedia. It’s common to mock Kanon as an eroge, but that’s kind of like laughing at Michael Jackson as a man with black skin–you could, but it betrays a good-faith understanding of the situation. It’s stupid and ignorant. It’s also a little disingenuous to compare Kanon and Air just on the grounds that one is really a harem and the other isn’t really a harem. There are probably a lot of great insights we can gleam from such an exercise, but we got to go deeper to grasp it.

Analysis GET!

8 comments | posted in Bishoujo Gaming, English Language Modern Visual Fandom, Kanon, Modern Visual Culture

November 14, 2006

My DBZ Romance – Nana Ball GT

By omo

NINE THOUSAND!

Watching Nana is slowly becoming an exercise in farcical appreciation.

Finishing episode 29 was particularly LOL. It’s extremely amusing that during all the dramatic twists and turns, we get sideline dissection by impassioned yet objective third-parties that break all the plays down and hit that “common wisdom” answer like a retired professional NFL player during a post-game TV segment. The only things missing are Eurobeat, consecutive cliff hangers, and never-ending fillers.

Yes, it’s no coincidence that there are SEVEN DRAGON BALLS.

While you ponder this possible connection, give Patrick more of your attention by listening to him laying down the foundational perspective about anime today? It’s rather concise and quick.

2 comments | posted in Modern Visual Culture, Nana

November 13, 2006

Why Do I Bother? Or Asatte no Houkou’s Real Appeal

By omo

Asatte no Houkou‘s appeal comes in two folds. The first is the obvious: the scandalous “loli incest” train of thought coupled with a romance triangle with an ex, and all kinds of gutter-fetching implication when the loli turns into oppai doujinshi magnet and spunky meganekko turns into no-nonsense loli. We’ll leave that alone.

The second layer of appeal is in the mystery.

Asahou slowly reveals to us what happened in Hiro’s past and Shoko’s past. With that we can then piece together the motivation behind their behaviors. And they do act rather mysteriously, if you think about it. I think I stuck with watching it only because they held all those cards and let them lose very slowly. The initial uncertainly was partly due to that, but without knowing the full motivation, Asahou has a real hook for me.

Some background, first. If we look at what made Ruri Hoshino the smash-hit loli that she was, part of it was the passive-aggressive, mean-spirited punk attitude she held towards the adult world. Elitism breeds loneliness and independence robs you the opportunity to lean on someone else.

To apply that to Asatte no Houkou, we have to look at our three main characters: Karada, Shoko, and Hiro. Let’s start from the basics…

Every episode we are repeated the line about grasping and slipping away. I’m at a loss as to piece together a well-founded explanation as to how to explain it within the show, but at episode 5 it’s fair to say that it will be important to keep in mind.

Going to Karada first is important. She is easy to understand and so far she provides us with the boundaries; the limiting condition, so to speak, to make good guesses about what will happen thematically and plot-wise. We know she’s an orphaned girl; Hiro takes care of her and she wanted to be more independent and less of a bother to the person who she perceives to owe some emotional and physical debt to. She turned into an adult, but soon realizes that maturity is not just physical growth.

Shoko, on the other hand, returns home to Japan to find her terrible ex ditched all that she gave him to raise Karada. She’s confused and hurt, but nonetheless understands the situation and does her best for Karada’s sake. Shoko is subtle and passive-aggressive. She lets loose in episode 1. By episode 5 we find out how she was when she was little, and it further goes to explain her behavior in episode 1. In retrospect it tells us two things.

Jealousy. She is obviously troubled by Hiro’s affection for Karada; but she’s also somewhat bothered just by her perceived reason of Karada’s condition: that she’s a helpless child and of course you treat kids with the affection they need to turn them into healthy individuals. As we find in episode 5, Shoko learns that just isn’t the case.

Reaction to her change. How would you react if you turned into a little kid and your ex’s foster sister turned into an adult because she wished on a weird stone? Shoko’s no-nonsense approach seems to crack when she confronted Hiro, but it seems to have more to do with Shoko’s unrelinquished ill will towards Hiro, having not completely dealt with her own hurts. I’m uncertain why was Shoko so easy-going about it.

Indeed, because Shoko is an introvert, she doesn’t express her feelings the same way most anime characters do. Yet at the same time understanding her emotions and thoughts go a long way to understand what’s going on in Asahou. I hope the Ruri illustration was helpful.

Tetsu and his family, too, give the viewer some hints. We’re exposed to his family and his family circumstances. We know that he was raised “properly.” We also know he has a cousin who is something of a foil to him. And of course, his sister is a bit of a foil to Hiro. When minor characters speak, because they have so few scenes, what they say is probably important. When Kotomi talked about her family upbringing and how it shaped her personality, it’s a big light going off…

It all goes to Hiro. His cards will be some of the last few Asahou reveals to us. How will it explain his motivation behind his change of heart? Was he too, orphaned like Karada? Will he has to relearn the precious thing that whoever gave him his chance at life wanted he to have that he gave up? I don’t know. But that’s the right place to go.

At least, it’s the place to go if I’m not to drop this show. Less Strawberry Otome Eggs, more real drama please?

3 comments | posted in Asatte no Houkou, Modern Visual Culture

November 12, 2006

Celebrate Comics with Yotsuba

By omo

Honey for your thoughts?

Yotsuba&! is a heart-warming manga written and drawn by Kiyohiko Azuma, the creator of Azumanga Daioh. Perhaps if you read my blog you would know this already.

What makes Yotsuba&! great is not so much how it celebrates life, but that it does so with its own style, and it’s a great style. Channeling proverbial fundamentals of life and everything through the focus of a child is something that is frequently done in American comics–the ones you can find in the newspaper. The shtick is nothing novel. But rather, I think, what makes Yotsuba&! distinct is how cute it is. And this is not the sexualized, contextualized cute that Japanese pop culture is famous for.

To elaborate, reading Charles Schultz’s Peanuts (or something similar) can often result in the same mental and emotional response. It paints a slightly different picture of childhood and a different perspective of the world. That’s good–we want competing worldviews embodied in shared experiences as different works. It isn’t how charming or pathetic, but both positive and negative feelings, that we get from reading these works that defines them.

Seeing a grown-up problem with an adult’s perspective of a child versus the perspective of a child looking at a grown-up’s world is a scale that I propose where we can understand the appeal of these kinds of works. Sinfest is easily my favorite take about adults looking at adult problems, but pining for that childlike idealist feel. On the other hand the popular Calvin & Hobbes paints sophistry while giving deference to a child’s perspective over an adult’s. Yotsuba&!, I think, is akin to a child’s takeover of an adult’s world.

Continue reading

5 comments | posted in Modern Visual Culture, Popular Culture, Yotsuba&!