Category Archives: Modern Visual Culture

November 26, 2007

Baccano! Is Overrated…

By omo

…But You Should Give It a Spin Anyways!

The Main Ladies

Baccano, as said in other places, is an ensemble film-type work. There is a large cast thrown in a bunch of seemingly unrelated stories that intersect by happenstance and causes-effects. It is adapted from a series of light novels, and the novels are like so. A little more read will tell you that the name signifies a seemingly bunch of chaotic nonsense spiraling out into craziness but spinning a coherent tale at the same time.

Well, to be fair as pulp entertainment this is pretty top notch with one caveat–you just have to watch it all at one setting. Being 13 episodes long, it means you can finish the ~5 hour journey in one setting indeed. This is one show that doesn’t benefit any from the wait. You just have to watch it all at once, as the material is fresh in your mind. It also benefits from re-viewing.

But this is a series that is more than what meets the eye. Sort of like this post is actually about photography than the concert last week.

That subtle plug aside, Baccano is overrated. And sadly in the way that Kamichu isn’t (more people ought to watch it!). What I mean by that is both are great shows that deserved to be viewed, but both have some flaws. What’s interesting is that, obviously, there are probably only…one or two works of anime, in a serial format, that is in an ensemble film format. And what’s great about Baccano is that it works.

But there’s a lot that doesn’t.

What meets the eye once you stare at Baccano as a whole for a while is a lot of blanks and emptiness. The work in general is completed, but it’s missing a lot of information. Not every character’s motivation is explained, their purpose revealed. And some of them seems rather … key. We might enjoy watching Miria and Issac fool around, but we can probably use less of them in the spotlight and use the time to flesh out Ladd, the Gandors, the newspaper company, and some of the less notable puppet-master types. Its shotgun approach to characterization is risky especially when you have a very eccentric cast instead of a horde of ordinary strangers.

But that said, there were some pretty amusing, ordinary strangers in Baccano. And the show comes back to that–it’s amusing! You’ll likely find one out of the dozens of characters in the show intriguing, if not more. A lot of likable, hearty Americans in this anime, despite some screw-ups with setting and some well-played moments. It is the kind of show that you can just kick back and enjoy….

Except that it is a ensemble film that requires you to remember events from previous episodes (all the way dated back to episode 1) to piece everything together with clarity. It is the kind of show that gives the viewer a blank in the narrative sentence and the viewer will instinctively try to fill that blank. And for me the answer I put in the blank doesn’t always make sense. Maybe for some folks the answer in the blank makes more sense, or for some they’re not as nit picky about having the perfect fit in that blank, but the ensemble film format is both Baccano’s greatest strength (on uniqueness grounds alone) and its Achille’s heel.

Or, as I often say about TV anime that comes close to “good” – bad (okay, it’s harsh, but the pacing was definitely not consistent and was dragging at parts) pacing ruins the day.

Not to mention the whole “what’s well that ends well” nonsense. I LOL’d at it but it leaves me empty and unfulfilled :(

Well, enough criticism for something so undeserving. It’s a great show and you all should go and enjoy a TV anime that dares to sidestep the common mode for its narrative. That’s what progressive anime are made of.

11 comments | posted in Baccano, English Language Modern Visual Fandom, Modern Visual Culture, Popular Culture, Seiyuu, Idol, Pop

November 22, 2007

Feeling Like Aoi – Am Sure Stuffed, Myself.

By omo

So I cooked like a madman today. Only problem was I planned out of sync with my fellow family-chefs that my dishes were a scale above the cut. What would’ve been a homely end to a scrumptious and wholesome Asian-American Thanksgiving meal was a dash too Italian and a pot too foreign for the familiar tongue. Recalling new episodes of Iron Chef America (which is by all means inferior than the original, but nonetheless inspirational and educational) I saw last night reminds me the importance of cohesion in a multi-course meal, even if it is a half-potluck between me and 8 other people. I should’ve known what they were bringing anyways…

And I should’ve known that I’m out of my reach when I had to wiki up what the hell is parsnip and stopped there. But hey, I like to try new stuff. And for that matter the dishes were successful as themselves.

But when Renji Asou’s mother noted about the fastest way to a man’s heart, it just occurred to me: Just how many western anime viewers can relate to that culinary aspect to modern Japanese life? Sure, we have stuff like actual anime involving the various culinary arts–East Asian societies love to cook and eat so it’s no surprise that it makes a good topic–but what does that mean to you when it isn’t prominently the subject of the show?

What does it mean for Aoi, the dressing character and your neighborhood squeak toy from Myself;Yourself? Or Renji Asou himself? Or those lunches made by each of them? In my own estimate cooking and eating is a tight knit to the Japanese soul–if it’s anything like your typical Korean or Chinese souls–and it has a pretty big role in life generally unlike what we’d imagine in the west. In fact, I don’t even know if we can properly imagine it.

But on the flip side, eating and fellowship over food is just another cultural thing like family dinners and starving as a poor artist. People take it for granted, but when it’s written into a show like ef, you know it’s anything but.

Just what kind of cuisine paves the road to an otaku’s heart? Choco coronets? Canned stew? Akiko’s jam? I don’t know and I would hope we’re a more sophisticated lot than that. But in anime, manga and game, just how does it work together? Do you even care?

But I do know anime goes well after a good, hearty meal that you cooked yourself and am proud of, partook with friends and family. That’s feeling like Aoi, I hope.

1 comment | posted in ef, Modern Visual Culture, Myself; Yourself, Popular Culture

November 20, 2007

Why Am I Still Watching Ninomiya-kun?

By omo

I don’t know.

Wrestling for Ninomiya's affection...?

Well, fanservice was never really my forte. I think over the years I’ve learned to enjoy it, and at the very least the fanservice in Ninomiya-kun is not terrible… To be precise it’s not really very serious fanservice–it gives you all the frills but it doesn’t give you much thrills. For some that’s a serious problem, but for me it’s just the right amount.

But even so, I think I’ve always stood firm on the line regarding the value of fanservice. Regardless if I can appreciate the sort of fanservice in a show or not, it has to serve a greater purpose. There has to be meaning behind the fanservice. It is not not in the sense that fanservice has to be a part of the plot–no, that is nonsense for a requirement–but fanservice has to serve some overall purpose in terms of the writing and direction.

For example, a recent episode of Blue Drop showed off some of the protagonists (notably, an all-girls bunch) but it was in line of the direction of the series–a balance of slice of life and strange alien mecha…crap. But it was clearly fanservice in some of the way things worked out, such as Miichi’s contemplation in the bath, and Hagino’s response to our spontaneous heroine as she jumped into the ocean. It was up to the viewer to find those things distracting or not.

Switch to Ninomiya. He is constantly tortured by his classmates and his sister and put in compromising situations. The international super agents that he and his sister are, the show has plenty of “reasons” to have the Ninomiya entourage dressed in skimpy wears suited for the tropics. And they do. But what was much more powerful was, say, episode 7’s prelude segment with Rika’s strange 4th wall fantasy about propaganda. It’s both satire and a joke rolled up into a fanservice package! That’s the stuff I like.

Needless to say I was less amused later on in the same episode when Mayu went bonkers and changed clothes. It was a silly joke, I suppose, but it didn’t really serve much beyond what it is–suddenly you have this girl dressed up like a cheerleader crossed with a nurse and crossed with a dominatrix, trying to stab you with a syringe full of unknown chemicals. I guess for some that’s amusing enough in itself, but it doesn’t cut it for me.

I laughed harder when Reika’s meeting with some unknown Arab-looking man was interrupted. So, yeah. I know Ninomiya-kun is one of those low budget crap shows on the menu right now, but it had some substance going into the series at first. The chemistry is right. But it looks like the show’s going nowhere right now, and that’s just too bad.

5 comments | posted in Blue Drop, Goushuushosama Ninomiya-kun, Modern Visual Culture

November 16, 2007

From Xenoglossia to Repeating Themes in Soundtracks

By omo

A lot of people didn’t think iDOLM@STER: XENOGLOSSIA was any good. Well, it wasn’t; but looking closer you can see that it’s not consistently bad or mediocre, but a mixed bag.

I actually finished (if one can call watching just the first episode and 18-26 “finished”) watching the show a few weeks after it finished airing. A recent fansub of the last episode came out finally, so I’m sure for some of you this show is still a little fresh in the mind.

The mixed bag is most impressive in the high quality of production value. In fact it’s pretty good throughout the episodes I’ve seen. The choreography is average for mecha but pretty enjoyable when it’s just a bunch of dressed loli flinging axes and other instances of non-mecha stuff. There’s a lot of good visuals that goes alongside with good production value, at least.

But what made me want to blog about this mixed bag is the music. There are some parts of the show where it’s plainly invisible while accompanying the show, but there are parts of the show where the music shines. Just by looking the role of the music in the show, it reminds me a lot of Mai-Hime.

Mai-Hime is one of my two most favorite Kajiura soundtracks, but the music for that show was a lot more repetitive than other Kajiura’s works as many of them are rearrangements of the main theme. The focus on a central theme expounded across the series (and on the OSTs themselves) was the way Mai-Hime BGM worked. Xenoglossia, likewise, focused on a handful themes and Tsuneyoshi Saito’s various arrangements were quite good.

Well, I guess for the soundtrack buff, Xenoglossia is going to be a hit and miss because most tracks on the CD are straight out of the show, and the show, well, is mostly silly. There are some pretty great tracks, though, especially if you like piano or a slightly more jazzy style. There are some more classically orchestrated stuff as well, and for me those are a cue when they pop up in the show, to pay extra attention to the music.

Oddly enough I didn’t care much at all about the main theme (which is aptly the first instrumental track on the first soundtrack), although it seems to be penned with the idea that it’s going to pluck your sentimental strings or whatever as a fan of Xenoglossia might feel when they relive the more emotional moments of the show. I thought the various arrangements are much easier to listen to even if they aren’t as… interesting.

But overall, the two soundtracks to Xenoglossia are pretty solid, as far as anime soundtracks go. Tsuneyoshi Saito also worked on some notable shows like Fafner, Nazca and Denno Coil, so that should give you an idea what sort of stuff he writes. I think there is some FF6 music with his name on it, too. Xenoglossia is probably the odd one out from Saito’s collection?

4 comments | posted in English Language Modern Visual Fandom, Modern Visual Culture, Seiyuu, Idol, Pop

November 13, 2007

Captive Audience

By omo

I think the first 8 minutes of ef – a tale of memories episode 6 is made of pure win. It is the sum of a delightful dialog that I have been trying to have with the rest of you in these past few years, boiled down in a very pointy and simple, directed scene about living for yourself and living for others, tersely paralleled with a creator’s dilemma in his artistic pursuit.

The subtle irony presses on even in the soundscape. Tenmon’s accompaniment with Makoto Shinkai’s early days is not without meaning. The simple chords (or whatever those wiggly lines next to them are called) pierces a slightly heated, poorly acted, but lively dialog. What leaks out was that subtle, fourth-wall prodding that have been pressed through the scenes of this anime series since episode 1. The writing and the dialog talks about a weird, artsy show like ef itself. And the people who make and appreciate them.

The episode started patently out of the DVDs of Soul Taker; flat-pressed rail road crossing, a silent parting only dressed by a roaring locomotive; but it is a declaration of war rather than an unconfessed complex.

But how does a girl figure into all of this? I’m sure a lot of you are rather more interested in the plot elements. Kyousuke was always “that special something” which made the ef anime different than anything else out there for me, so it is good to see the main romance story involving him.

The sharp declaration, the clever, alter-perspective recap to connect episode 5 and 6, well, is electrifying but also a little wacky. I guess I will have to live with that.

As the episode progressed the intensity of the direction dwindled. With Chihiro we see a lot of softness (although it makes good material to spike up things like with that sheep, those painted glass, a singular reaching arm). It’s that Renji-puppy-love, maybe. His mom is definitely a pretty lady that is also pretty funny. A little less funny was his neighbor-friend. And probably way less funny is Renji’s adviser. I guess they’ll save that for his back story with Yuuko.

The episode ends with some tender moment between Kei and Kyousuke, and Kei and Hiro, and showing you why ef is taking advantage of the anime format by doing some cool stuff that wouldn’t be so easy to do.

5 comments | posted in ef, Modern Visual Culture