Category Archives: Franchises

April 26, 2013

FREE Willy, the Swimming Anime

By omo

I think I can make 99 jokes based on FREE, the newly announced Kyoto Animation project. This TV anime will hit the airwaves in July 2013. It’s roughly the same anime people have been clamoring for since the Animation Do KyoAni commercial of the same subject matter aired a couple months ago. Today, the characters have names, voice acting, and are part of some story.

I don’t know, really. After Tamako Market I’m definitely skeptical about another original Kyoto Animation work. I still like/am biased towards original works, so I’ll definitely be watching it when it comes out, even if the visual signals are clearly saying it’s not for me. And it isn’t as if Tamako Market was not fun to watch; just nothing special short of that one episode.

As for the ongoing discourse, to put it broadly, it’s all about Kyoani putting their foot down on female-targeting fanservice. There’s a lot of different reactions out there actually, but what is kind of amusing and bothersome at the same time is the meta-ness of it. There are probably more blog posts and reactions about people who might be against this manflesh anime pandering than actual complaints about the anime, let alone complaints about the anime being manflesh pandering. I’m sure there’s a healthy contingent of whiners, those so-called moe otaku or whatever, but isn’t that true for just any other anime out there? Shouldn’t all this complaints be characterized in a way where it’s normalized against some average? At this point it feels like people are just having fun against a strawman, and yeah, arguing against a strawman is pretty fun.

The way I see, it’s a simple formula of KyoAni fanbase clashing with the truth that there are probably a helluva lot of girls actually working at Kyoto Animation, slaving away at your Hyouka or Chuu2Koi, and now they are doing a project that flies their flags, so to speak. That goes against the typical work Kyoani has produced, so naturally some people are kind of irked. Like all those people hoping for a Full Metal Panic work. (Funny thing is you can’t even really make fun of these guys (at least not full bore) because FMP is at least a cut above, say, an eroge adaptation). I like this–this flag flying–because people tend to draw their best when they draw stuff they like. But, really, just how many girls are working at Kyoani today? Why do I get the impression there are a lot of them?

To take even a bigger step back, I feel this is just an anime hipster kind of thing to do. It’s like there’s this overarching dialog over there in the video game scene about women and sexism, and anime peeps are just making their own version up, in a monkey-see-monkey-does kind of way. I mean, it’s too disingenuous to even call it prosecution. It’s just silly. It doesn’t even address any of the core issues, or real issues involved.

For one, this is about fanservice. It’s clearly not about moe (or anti-moe or whatever). Yet moe gets flagged, why?

Second, more people need to watch Tsuritama. Or KimiBoku. It’s not otaku entertainment if it doesn’t have discourse, and without familiarity of the discourse I don’t know if you can really make sense of it. Like a good doujinshi, it needs context, it’s from fans, to fans. You really get a nice dose of it in the promo material for FREE. In fact I think that’s part of the problem–so far the various promos offer little in terms of what the show will be like besides the fanservice part. There are high schoolers swimming, and…?

To circle back about fanservice and moe, I think maybe it’s more about misidentifying Kyoani fandom? There was all this hoopla about Little Buster and Air and Kanon, after all. I think it’s just yet another chapter in KyoAni’s varied history–from Munto to the Kanon remake to Haruhi-isms to Yamakan. Now this.

And like every misleading narrative, it distracts attention from real issues, like the regularly-issued bomb threats for Kuroko’s Basketball events, or, well, Kyoto Animation hasn’t been able to do an original anime to make a living off of. Will whining about whiners whining about the homoerotic undertones or manflesh or whatever of Free, change any of it? Or improve the lives of women interacting with anime? Doubtful, unless you count the good feels those tumblr campaigns or laughing at internet strawmen bring home. It’s normal for guys (especially nerds) to get squeamish about the naked body; it’s not normal for BL doujin events to get canceled because of bomb threats. I think it’s just sad when people can’t get that straight.

TL;DR – just another day on the internet.

5 comments | posted in English Language Modern Visual Fandom, FREE, Tamako Market

April 25, 2013

Oreshura, Colors

By omo

There are a few notable OP/EDs this past season but my favorite is probably Oreshura OP. If we put aside the hit-and-miss seiyuu ensemble music aside, that show has the exact kind of color design and set of cuts to leverage it. It is remarkably similar to another OP that had solid color design and matching direction, from not too long ago.

The coloring and post-processing sometimes clue you in about  the production. It’s like Shingeki no Kyoujin’s shiny (and somehow invariably Korean) look.

In Oreshura, the characters are the life of the show;  they’re also split into quadrants, seasons, across a spectrum, whatever. So it is a natural palette. I guess by characters I’m including the sad protagonist in this case; he has this chuunibyou streak to it that makes a sort of uncanny idealism fitting. In a weird way, the club these folks make for themselves, about exploring how to become a proper lady, is almost as apt in terms of an exploration as to how to become a man.

Fuyumi CROSS CLOTH

Leave a comment | posted in Modern Visual Culture, Ore no Kanojo to Osananajimi ga Shuraba Sugiru

April 20, 2013

Steins;Gate the Movie – Fanfare Version

By omo

So I watched the Steins;Gate movie. It’s … well, I probably should hold back on making a call until I confirm my understanding of it, but let’s just say it didn’t meet my expectation. In the end, a time-travel plot can only take you so far. I blame having watched Looper not too long ago for the first time (on the flight to Japan in fact), and that sort of colored my view.

There were two big theaters showing the movie on opening day. Somehow I went to the Ikebukuro Sunshine Cinema for my viewing at 9:45am, which is really early for a movie by American standards, and it’s kind of across town from where I was staying. When I arrived there were lines outside for kuji goods, and lines inside for the movie-specific goods. There really isn’t anything too special, but the cyalume saber is pretty cool–a star wars lightsaber kind of a deal, except it can display something like 6 different colors. It also makes sounds. And by pretty cool I mean it would be a good gag. I mean, I guess you can use it at events…

Given only 2 theaters were doing it in downtown Tokyo, I saw some pretty cool loot.

Signed poster

Chiyomaru eh

I had standing-only seats. It wasn’t too bad because I got there early, and the runtime is only 89 minutes.

As for the movie itself, let’s just say it’s very Chris-centric. In fact if you like her or if she’s your #1 or you dig the thing she has going on with Okabe, then this movie will be your jam. For the rest of us, well, I was hoping for a little more actual drama. Instead, what we have is what is probably best called “closing the loop.” It’s nice to see it come around and make the pieces fit, but I think those of us expecting high dramatics that made the TV series a joy to watch probably should tone our expectations down.

 

8 comments | posted in Modern Visual Culture, Steins;Gate

April 10, 2013

Attack on Titan, Giant, Whatever

By omo

Eren

I watched the first episode of Shingeki no Kyojin. It’s kind of unsettling. And it’s hard to describe why.

I think from a basic level, the show is gorgeously animated. The thick lines is kind of a style thing, and the exaggerated character animation makes me feel like this is a less gimmicky version of Jojo. Of course, this is all just when there isn’t some crazy action sequence going on, in which the show feels like a league beyond the average late-night TV offering. The OP is crazy.

The gore and violence is probably unsettling by default. I didn’t think too much of it because it’s much too cartoony to be taken seriously. I think that’s exactly it–the entire show has this level of theatrics to it that when combined with the deadly serious presentation, somehow it just doesn’t match. The Titans are ridiculously designed, and I mean it in the sense of their facial expressions and movements, not that they’re giant naked people (although that is an enabler). The action choreography, while very cool, is a few levels removed from “real” (in fact it just seems a little too standard “anime”).

I don’t know, it’s kind of like eating a bowl of pho and finding sun-dried tomatoes in it or something. It’s just weird, it doesn’t quite clash, but it doesn’t quite match either. It isn’t  like having cheese with your curry, but it might be like having cheese with your curry for the very first time.

The humanoid Titans in the barbarian kind of sense reminds me of D&D giants. I wonder if that’s where the inspiration is from? I rarely see a visual depiction of giants outside of video games in the savage, barbarian sense, so this is actually kind of cool. Sadly that passing novelty is not going to last beyond a couple episodes, I think.

4 comments | posted in Modern Visual Culture, Shingeki no Kyojin

April 8, 2013

Aku no Hanananana

By omo

All this controversial talk about Aku no Hana has one true casualty: it spoils the surprise. So to share my suffering I will tell you why. And this isn’t a surprise about what the manga is about, which, well, I’ll talk about in a bit. It’s a surprise that will foil both manga fans and new people alike (like me).

After watching the first episode, I think I would be way more creeped out about it if I didn’t know it’s got these no-face rotoscoping, what the awesome post-rock track for an ending was, or that this covers not even the first chapter of the manga. If you went in knowing all this, it somehow detracts from the total experience.

Well, that still stops nobody. The show is not even live on CR for over 12 hours as of this screen cap.

10:38PM Eastern, Apr. 8, 2013

I think the enjoyment of Aku no Hana is going to hinge on really just two things. One, can the powerful manga carry itself over despite an unorthodox, to put it mildly, presentation? Two, do you like Mushishi for what Mushishi is good for?

At the hand of Nagahama, I’m inclined to think we’re in for a real treat. The rest is just a matter of finding something you like, or not caring about not finding something you like because it’s too good to let go. If you read Bakuman at all, you’ll know all about chapter ones for manga. And this episode one is a beautiful illustration where manga and anime fundamentally differ, or how guided viewing versus self-paced viewing fundamentally differ. If stuck on a set of rails, you can do a lot worse than Nagahama.

Most importantly, I understand why this would drive manga interest up, up, up. And at the same time, I totally find it acceptable to be a major turn-off. I thought Mushishi was a major turn-off until I was able to watch it with the right frame of mind. I think exactly the same thing applies to Aku no Hana except in an even worse way.

For the record, the average “hit” show on CR gets 5 stars on its eve, at worst 4.5. The ones that gets dinged usually drops to 4. On the flip side, for an anecdote, I vaguely recall Vividred Operation episode 1 had maybe 100 more views in roughly the same amount of time–but that was on a Sunday.

You know, Mariya Ise plays Nakamura. That is probably going to be a good ride. Hopefully the journeyman seiyuu will pop a good one here.

This is also one of the very, very rare instances that I wish I can read all of the manga before starting the anime. I guess a huge reason why this did not happen is because, man, 9 volumes and still going? Forget about it. Unless you’re some Urasawa masterpiece I don’t think I’m going to go there. Plus, it’s not over, so it is not possible to begin with.

6 comments | posted in Aku no Hana, Modern Visual Culture