So, the tradition continues. 12 lists of 12 things. Some are ranked, others are not. One this year is not ranked but merely numerated.
Category Archives: Franchises
Year in Review: Working Hard Writing
Urobuchi Gen has a breakout year in 2011 between Fate/Zero and Madoka, but we already know Butch is the kind of writer that now more people have come to know. Beats trying to watch Blassreiter or Phantom of the Inferno lol (not a knock, just the truth…I still need to play the game version of the latter). However I want to talk about Okada Mari’s work some more.
Okada is responsible for at least four notable shows this year: Fractale, Hanasaku Iroha, Anohana, and Hourou Musuko. I think it is in Hourou Musuko that her writing really came off well. Given how much that deviated from the original manga, there may be enough space to infer that her style carried a relatively brisk adaptation (Note that it is directed by the director of Fate/Zero, which is probably no coincidence) into the animation medium with a lot of punch. In fact, there’s just something magical about the whole experience. It’s like, laced nostalgia or something potent. And I don’t even care about the whole genderbending aspect at all; the supporting cast of characters are all wonderful and the chemistry is well balanced, dramatic and entertaining enough to keep things moving without getting dragged down by the weight of its seriousness.
I find it so wonderful that if I had to list my top 2011 anime, it would be between that, Madoka, and Steins;Gate. It had me, actually, at the OP.
Hanasaku Iroha is, more relevantly, a Okada original. I think the story is really basically about the nature of work and career in the life of, in some mainline, culturally accepted sense, a woman. However I think it’s important to see how there’s this double talk of sorts in light of what is happening to Ohana versus her mom. I think it is right that so many people hated on Satsuki but I think she is the one thing that makes the story at all credible–it isn’t about societal expectation or doing what society think is right. It’s about actually having that heart of a mom. I mean that is ultimately the issue; people cannot be held to uniform standards when it comes to parenting, or so it would be the framework that I interpret the story.
The career side of HanaIro is probably less thorny but just as tricky. On one hand you have Sui doing her thing at the end of the series, and on the other hand you have someone like Satsuki who pursuits it without regards to the other women in her life. I think it might just want to paint an image where there is conflict and there is no harmony, but people are still able to prioritize what is important in their lives and resolves things in respect to that. It is here that I can see some people raise a stink about its anti-feminist message. It really doesn’t bother me: if I was a feminist I would not be a fan of Japanese animation at all.
The truth is, it becomes more a cultural contextualization problem. If we can either power through or sidestep that, Hanasaku Iroha is a fairly sharp series, perhaps mired in the typical, 26-episode style of presentation that had to feature the backstory of everybody. But make no mistake; it is about a woman’s work. And that is an empowering message in a society where women have always been treated poorly than men.
It made me wonder a couple things: how much of HanaIro was taken out of a page from her life? And what was it like working on that and working on Fractale at around the same time? LOL. As we know, Fractale is the brainchild of Yamakan, cultural critic Hiroki Azuma (who authored that Database Animal nonsense that I refer to all the time) and Okada. I think it’s unfortunate that it didn’t end up doing well, but it makes you wonder what went on between the three of them. You would think that there’s probably potential for something great. I guess it doesn’t always work out that way.
There was also Anohana. It is a very charming and bittersweet story featuring likable characters despite the somewhat predictable path of character development they were on. It is also a little way too sappy, and unfortunately (and ironically) something I find difficult to remember 6 months later. The smiling-crying Menma-face and the sexually-charged nicknames (MANMA wwwww) of our cast of characters aside, Anohana leaves me little to go on besides to wonder how many other references to Forget-me-Not it can squeeze in that 12-episode package. Like Okada’s other stories, it is a very tightly-woven package. I mean if we can boil HanaIro down into the same size it will probably have the same overall format. Both shows have a fairly “slow” segment just after the half-way point in which the story builds up to the dramatic conclusion, and Anohana remedies that drastically thanks to its limited length.
Looking back, I think again the TV anime packing issue is still the one most consistently problematic thing for me when I poke at these works at the big picture level. Urobuchi’s style, in contrast, makes tighter packages–think of it like a HBO mini series–for the same format. Still, it makes me wonder how much you could fit in that 22-minute package every week, with enough of a build-up and release, and keep enough suspense for next week. It cannot be that easy.
Yet if you think about it, given how prolific Okada is in 2011, for whatever the reason, she is probably batting above average overall. I am someone who typically puts down the contribution of writers to quality of TV anime narratives, because I think in general fans elevate that aspect beyond its due worth, but certainly writers (especially people who come up with this stuff from scratch) are important parts to the creative core that brings every anime to their inevitable conclusion. Between them and the directors, the fate of many anime is in their hands even before the horse is out of the gate, and if anything 2011 is definitely the year that demonstrated this.
Something to leave you with: Okada wrote 9 episodes of Simoun and worked on True Tears (both Nishimura projects). She is credited for series composition for Bantorra.  This is somehow NOT a coincidence either, I believe. To go back to the same baseball analogy, I’d safely say she’s batting the proverbial 300. And not entirely a coincidence, in 2012, Okada is thus far tapped for the new Kenshin Shin Kyoto-hen remake,  Black Rock Shooter TV, Aquarion EVOL and the AKB48 anime. Oh boy! I’d say that’s about 300, how about you?
PS. Meeting Nagai Tatsuyuki and Tanaka Masayoshi at AX this year remains one of the highlights of con life for me in 2011. It was wonderful to see some of the people responsible for all that Taiga mania.
PPS. I’m not sure why I’m going with Japanese name order in this post, but oh well.
Fate Zero Tribute Regular Edition
I, like many other collectors, react to terms like “LE” or “é™å®š” or “First Press” etc., you get the idea. Unlike many other collectors, though, I’m rather lazy when it comes to the need to pursuit the limited edition. Do I prefer it? Yes. Do I value it over, say, sanity and a rational cost analysis? Only now and then.
So to my surprise when I realize one of the illustrators that I’ve taken to recently, Shigeki Maeshima, was a contributor to the Fate/Zero Tribute artbook. Among many others. And unsurprisingly I noticed there was a collector’s edition of it back in Comiket 75, or winter of ’09. I think at this point, given the ass-tastic dollar-to-yen exchange rate, a regular edition pre-owned copy would do just fine. Toranoana had, apparently, truckloads of this this particular varity, and given how Type-Moon is over its peak popularity already, you can probably score a new copy without too much hassle if that’s your thing.
Kransom has already written it up very well in his C75 report, including all the links I’ve linked to so far and what composes the LE copy of the same artbook, so I won’t bother repeating it any further (besides to comment on a towel). I’ll share a couple images from the book, simply because I’m testing out a new camera. I mean, if you want scans, you can just google it; it’s a 4-year-old artbook after all. If anything I wish there were more artwork from Maeshima out there. Especially if it is him drawing Maiya Hisau. I am too lazy to link the originals, but they’re available if people really want lousy photographs.
Loli Rin. That was some filler episode wasn’t it?
You know it’s fan drawing fanart when they pick scenes like this. Except it’s some fan who turned pro. And thankfully it’s the kind of spoiler that you won’t get unless you actually know what’s going on already.
And of course, Maiya. The way I stumbled on the image was when I was looking for some Fate/Zero pictures for putting on the blog. As you may have noticed I’ve been writing a lot about it (and Aniplex just doesn’t let up on giving me more reasons to do so) and when I saw that image I was like, “HEY I KNOW WHO DREW THIS,” thus leading to the discovery of said artbook, and then the importation thereof.
So don’t ever let people tell you artbook image sharing doesn’t generate additional sales. (Except in the case where the guy who downloaded the picture bought it pre-owned. Damn you Mandarake.) And, oh, since this artbook is like one of those half-doujinshi, half-pro, 100% Toranoana exclusive things, you can’t really expect to purchase it without some third party help. Not to say you can’t, it is just much easier if you do. And I half-expect nobody would know a thing about this artbook except how some people are all hyped up on industry booths on Day 1 comiket, or are really, really into Nasuverse. Perhaps fortunately, somehow I get the feeling that neither type of people is particularly hard to find on the internet.
That Einzbern doll, so white. And one more Maiya for good measure.
Gundam Unicorn Episode 4
The plight of Zeon forces on Earth is best chronicled in anime form as Gundam 08th MS Team. It is a fun show to watch and it’s a series I would recommend over other UC Gundam, with exception to maybe the trilogy form of the original series. It is in this space that Gundam fans appreciate the glorious Zeon fanservice in the form these whacky mobile suits in Gundam Unicorn, which is the only other exception that I would recommend alongside with 8th MS Team. As the clumsy Zeon units clash against their angular Feddie counterparts in the heat of the battle, it feels like I’m watching a bunch of Syd Mead designs rolling back and forth like a certain episode of Mawaru Penguindrum.
Even better, Gundam Unicorn 4 is more than the sum of its parts. The fourth installment in a six-part series brings to it a certain turning point. It is an emotional episode; you know the emo protagonist schtik works when you can empathize with him. Banagher’s issues come out, and while we can take home the conclusion that he is now invested enough to want to change the world using his powers, it is done in a way that is convincing. I think it is especially noteworthy because it isn’t some lame flashback that gets used way too often; we get a little too philosophical for my tastes, but I realize what Banagher’s going through.
Perhaps more importantly, these youths need someone to guide their way. I think this is ultimately one of the key themes in episode 4; the way such people make mistakes are not resolved by the charming quotable lines the likes of Full Frontal would quote his subordinates. It takes something a little more spiritual. I guess berserk psycommu powers can count?
The problem is that time waits for no one. Kids grow old in a blink of an eye. Just because one may be lost in a Timeless moral dilemma of Epic proportions(and I mean both Timeless and Epic) , decisions have to be made, people have to be saved, and action scenes need pilots. Indeed it is through action, when Captain Zinnerman took him on a desert stroll, that healed Banagher’s soul. Or for example, the events leading up to Minerva’s nice up of coffee (also in the desert, for that matter–or the wilderness for those of you who study the Good Book). But actions have consequences. Or rather, thankfully, they do. (And that is Ensign Riddhe’s cue.)
If anything, you can trace this theme back to episode one. It is not unlike how Zinnerman and the rest of the Vist guys lamenting on the dead man’s quest that they are on–everything is kind of going towards whatever Cardeas Vist is originally scheming. To paraphrase Char, it’s like they’re on the flow of time. In that sense it is very apt to recall not only that the Unicorn symbolizes Banagher’s parents’ will (kind of like World’s Number One Mom here), but Cardeas had actively done things to improve Banagher’s future. (Kind of like World’s Number One Dad.) I mean, making sure he didn’t die in a blast of flaming space inferno is a good start. But we did get a glimpse of Cardeas’s attitude to Banagher in episode one and it may be telling to revisit it.
The emotional climax in this episode is both built on some simple soul-searching and on the notion of having a clear vision of the problem at hand. I thought the point about Char is head on. FULL FRONTAL. So I too appreciated the philosophy lesson even if it’s kind of overdrawn. To the degree that it is, too, it makes me realize that these were originally concepts lifted from a light novel series, so that much can be forgiven. It really is much better handled here compared to what you saw in, say, Fate/Zero.
The animation, the music, the visuals, the fight scenes, the composition of things are all top notch. At this price point, you sort of expect that (I mean I’m paying over $200 over 3 years here, for just 6 episodes). But I did not expect being able to be emotionally connected to a stereotypical UC Gundam protagonist. Perhaps that is due to the fact that my jaw was slacking from all these prolonged battle scenes with gorgeous robots going at it, thus lowering my resistance to sappy emo kids. Seriously, there was just way too many awesomely animated battles in this episode.
I look forward to the battle in 2012 when Banagher tries to reason with our human soldier. I wonder if Shinji fights Rei, who will win? Maybe Alberto Vist’s conscience?
PS. If I was a certain posh, semi-ero blogger I would probably start this post off with a quote with this theme. I chose this particular version for the use of the word curse. I believe it can be fairly interpreted to the context of Unicorn ep4.
On noitaminA, Again
Farming twitter is easy picking, especially when someone already collected the tweets. Take this snippet, originated from an interview of three key dudes behind Guilty Crown.  (So pardon the twice-in-a-row.)
I think this is indicative of how derailed how a few vocal types on the internet think what “mainstream” entertainment is. I mean, when I think about it, I think things like Michael Jackson, Transformer 3 or Donald Duck. I certainly don’t think Guilty Crown panders to the male otaku niche–that’s the same as saying action-fighting-violent Hollywood SFX in the likes of Avatar or Transformers panders to the minority otaku crowd. I think those words do not mean what some people (namely, this guy) think it means.
The twitter conversation went on from there, lots of people talked about certain things about noitaminA and the various shows from it. It’s not really important unless you do marketing and licensing for noitaminA, because I feel for those of us overseas who recognizes the name, that’s somewhat representative as to how we feel about the “brand.” But I wouldn’t trust it much further than I can throw it.
Unfortunately it isn’t typically possible for the average consumer to “reverse engineer” the brand’s image (especially when it’s projected without any direction from the original owners of the brand) and figure out what the business decisions are, when we’re talking about a multi-faceted franchising effort. Especially when it isn’t even in the same language. I mean I don’t even know if people know what the business decisions actually are, yet people are just shooting at it. [And I don’t mean it in a negative way per se: You go armchair anime producer, don’t ever let ignorance stop you from being creative.]
And I think likening Guilty Crown to Code Geass is also partly because in both cases, the producers were trying to attract the same kind of audience. I mean after all there are lots of girls who like Code Geass, I’d think. More than, say, Trapeze probably. So who am I to criticize? Well, maybe only at the fact that noitaminA is a crazy, 2am time slot kind of deal.
If you don’t believe me about the girls-liking-crap-like-this bit (if we can even consider that there are people at all who likes Guilty Crown; certain nobody admits to liking it), let’s not forget: Something like 35% of people who watch K-ON in Japan are actually girls. Is it pandering to otaku? I think it does–but it does also so, so much more. I mean, I’m going to have a :V face towards anyone who called it a moeblob show and left it at that. But since so many did, it just highlights the fact it is really hard to guess these things unless you’ve got the right context. (Or perhaps just as important in the noitaminA discussion: 30% or more of Kuroshitsuji 2’s viewers are male!) I mean there are probably more girls than guys reading Shounen Jump, a magazine clearly pandering to guys. (That one is a guess.)
And who knows, maybe K-ON is the answer, or at least it contains the start to it, a nugget of truth. Maybe noitaminA is known for things like Antique Bakeries or Houses of Five Leaves (to single out one creator on there that I dislike), but it just doesn’t pay. And who is to blame for that?
Reading the actual interview (Dave is in his usual form here), it all makes a lot of sense. They’re following a formula. It only further confuses me why people don’t understand what is happening here; this is hardly new territory. I suppose this can also be chalked up to another case of “catering to someone elses’s tastes = pandering” as per the usual otaku blogger parlor tricks for some people, but com’on man.
And whatever you do, don’t read the ANN forum thread for that topic. It’s even more stupid. Or perhaps the comparison to Transformer 3 is not too far off the course, in that it is a profitable and popular flick that got universally panned. And in that case it’s Mission Accomplished, no?