Category Archives: Modern Visual Culture

April 14, 2006

Conventional Wisdom

By omo

Collage of Con Pics

The annual Summer Convention Season is almost upon us. First glances:

Otakon. This is my bread & butter summer escape. Baltimore wins for its location and cost associated, plus I’ve done this for so many years. The only complaint I have is how it is kind of in the middle of summer and it takes a concerted effort to go to it. A rumormongering little bird of viral marketing told me this year, unlike last, will be very cool. Reading the Otakon boards seems to confirm.

Anime Expo. I went last year and it was lots of fun. I don’t like SoCal but it’s a fun place to visit every now and then. This year their guest list is flowing out just now, considering only three months are left it’s a bit of a pinch. I suppose both this and Otakon are mainly mired by the locals and those dedicated enough to make it there on purpose. That said I’m pretty sure I will skip it this year.

A-Kon. It’s only on my radar for being one of the oldest con and KOTOKO. Never been there, so it’s pretty exciting. Right now, 50% of going; pending time and monetary issues.

Anime North. KOTOKO, again, but it’s not super far, and it might be fun to actually go to Toronto for, well, fun. Somehow Dallas just doesn’t seem that way. It’s also cheaper than Dallas. It takes place over memorial weekend, so that means I’ll miss out on some good BBQ opportunities if I do go.

Normally Anime Central would show up on my radar too, but this year (and last year) they’ve been pretty weak with the guests. The two years I’ve been to Acen things were already pretty rough, even if they did hit the spot in 2004 and 2003.

In retrospect, if I stuck to Otakon every year and went to nothing else, I probably would have saved a few thousand dollars. It comes both in terms of mere expenses of traveling, but also in splurging and what not. The hurt in the wallet makes me ask why if it’s worth it.

Alas, however, like community service, I tell myself every year how it is really all about, being a fan. It is one thing to look at the masses at the con, to soak in the cosplayers, to revel in the hustle of the dealer’s room… but it’s another to realize how happy it can make you feel, and how happy others are in the middle of their metaphysical orgy. They’re geeking out. It’s a little sad to see people go crazy over such little things, on the other hand, it just makes me more apperciative the goodness that’s left in this world. Our freedom to geek out, to express ourselves. It’s priceless.

Leave a comment | posted in Conventions and Concerts, Modern Visual Culture, Seiyuu, Idol, Pop

April 12, 2006

Suzumiya Mania – Examining HARUHI ISM

By omo

Isle Haruhi

This past semester I’ve taken some classes about the power of an idea–in the context of intellectual property and mass media branding. More than just a couple times Key the Metal Idol came to mind while sitting in class. The worth of a brand and the legal protections ideas have when they come into play commercially–clasically and in today’s mass media market–can be in the billions of USDs just for a single brand.

It’s just a matter of time until that train of thought crashes into Haruhi. “How?” One might ask. Legal education is the short (and probably true) answer, but bear with me for a moment as we look into the “why?” (Which is, really, why I’m interested in the question at all.)

In some ways Haruhi is categorically a “High School Girl Idol” show. A powerful, influential, eccentric character takes the lead in the narrative. A slew of side shows play off to mirror the construct of this main character. It’s different than, say, School Rumble, as a pulp romantic comedy; different than a high school harem (of any kind of gender combination); and probably different than the hybrid (slice of lifes, for instance). Perhaps it is cousin to Gokujo Seitokai, and daughter of Yamamoto Yohko?

The story about an idol-like character is just that. My interest is in my own (and like myself, a good amount of others) facination with this idol. It’s one thing to just tell a story but harder to tell it well. But is that it? What is special with this girl? That she is a girl? That she’s a creative literary concept? I think while for many we’re still stuck at the “who is she?” stage of the game, the general topic is probably more interesting: what would an anime look like if it was to make you a fan of one of its character? Is that the same as how it would look if it was to make you a fan of itself? Are the two the same?

Idol culture ultimately hangs on that question. Building an anime that’s great to watch is well and good; but building a character means you are building a franchise that transcends the medium it first existed. Do we like Lara Croft rather than Tomb Raider? I think most of us are like that today.

To answer the “why” question more directly, yes, Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu is well-directed, written, produced, animated, and pitched after a year of rather mediocre TV animation offering. It’s exciting and fun to watch beyond its abstraction. It’s not so crude as slapstick but mysteriously unidentifiable upon first look. I can go on about it but I think that’s answering the “why” question superficially.

The next level of abstraction is a little less exciting; after all, it’s the story about an extraordinary high school girl, mired in her own genius and unteathered to this world’s mindsets. A mania in her own right, the little bit of spark of extraordinary in her ordinary world brings out the little girl unobservable otherwise from her otherworldly shell. I suppose all of that is not uncommon in anime and the art of reciting stories for escapist young adults.

Is there more to it? Do we want to care about Haruhi beyond that point? Maybe–at least by this stage of the game (episode 2), we know no metaphysical genius is an island. Haruhi will not be the Haruhi we know and we will not see an end to her meloncholy without Kyon. SOS-dan recreates a context for our hero and heroine not unlike that of an alternate world. Maybe an analogy is Otakon to Baltimore? The analysis has to end at this point, though, because I don’t have enough to go on.

But do you? I think the concept is wildly interesting when you bring idol-ism into this context. Part of why, at least for me, is my sensitivity to general idol worshipping; but otherwise in the art of manipulating people’s will, mind, emotion, and spending habits, it’s pretty cool.

Leave a comment | posted in Modern Visual Culture, Suzumiya Haruhi no Uuutsu

April 7, 2006

New Season Checklist 2

By omo

Not quite yet over, but I gave in to the Cap.

Nordic != Bagpipes?

AMG TV2 knows what it’s doing. Same with Aria 2. The sequels generally score high and because they exist second-generation that’s probably indication enough. OTO…Wulong? Hack//ROOTS?

Eh. Well, the CG fest anime this season, Zegapain, scored well with me; I probably still won’t follow it, but I dig its high school romance aspect. The combat was very well-done, too. Especially if they can get it all on HD. Simoun, OTOH, was better called “Lez Exile” in its similarity to Last Exile but the whole airship/feudal warring states concept wrapped around a very strange weird girl-girl relational triangle, tied with equally impressive mishaps when the balance breaks. Pass.

The rest of the average grind mill seems barely worth mentioning, even if it has its gems in the rough. Ray had a great pilot but it’s a BlackJack spinoff, so I don’t know. Inukami is probably worth checking out if you can handle the zany UY-ness. Airgear is pretty but the manga hits the spot way better. Seeing the skating in action helps, along with the right dose of fanservice…but it’s going to tank as a matter of time.

Witchblade seems to take root between something like Guyver and Blood+, so that’s probably doing exactly what it’s trying to do (the Mamiko helped). Magipoka, for me, was the surprise hit. Loli comedy, if such a thing can be called, is usually hit or miss. Definitely superior if you’re looking for that in terms of Girl’s High, or the disappointing Disgaea animation. A more curious comedy, in the form of Ouran High School Host Club, is probably worth checking out for its Utena-esqe character constructs. It’s totally not-serious shoujo anime done with a self-parodic bent, so guys can probably enjoy it as a mockery of shoujo generical norms. Shoujo as aberration in anime continues to be a rule of thumb with Nana, too. Not a piece for Noitamina, this Nana bosts way more production value than ParaKiss, if that’s even the right piece to compare to.

I’ll probably update next with PriPri, Spider Rider, Gargole Family, and the rest of the lot. Otanoshimini~

LIPS!

Leave a comment | posted in Aria, Magipoka, Modern Visual Culture, Ouran High Host Club, Simoun

April 5, 2006

New Season Checklist

By omo

(Ok, just Haruhi is worth it so far)

Super Director!

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu). What can I say? When I first watched it, I went in blind. By the time I was able to finish it, I was glad I did it blind. Part of the problem is that this show was giving me so many double-takes, I had problem even going through the first handful of scenes and had to stop.

The animation was clue enough that this is a worthwhile title. I don’t know about you, but the animation direction is something that easily bothers me, especially when it’s done so uniquely like this–imagine framing your scenes as you would in Blair Witch Project…? Okay, save for the wobbly darkness; it must’ve been a major pain in the ass to do the background shots for the first 5 minutes of this episode.

I mean, you thought it was the opening (or I did), but it sounded like…something’s wrong. The animation looked to be cuts from the episode–not unusual for an anime’s pilot. I stopped watching (the first time I put it on), because it really needed my full attention (as I was talking to someone meanwhile, and watching TV out of my other eye). Later on, I got past the opening, got used to the first few scenes. Then the “fanservice”? I stopped because it seems rather weird; skipping around took me to other weird shots. I didn’t check the ending.

I put it on a day later. Marched through the ill-orchestrated opening and finally starting to put the pieces together. Yes, it’s a home-cam production. Mimicking poorly edited film-club quality video is hard in the anime form, especially given the fact that what makes fan films of that kind stand out is the way the background moves… Needless to say I’m as impressed by the feat as well as the fluid animation the rest of the episode gave us. The ending was a riot, too.

I don’t know; it just seemed to be surreally funny. Easily the first anime ever to pull that off since FLCL, probably. That alone makes this probably the best show this season. It managed to channel where Futakoi Alternative failed to do so, yet the flourish is both subtle and to the point. A must watch, even if just for this episode alone.

So far anything that could even possibly measure up to that level of entertainment quality is School Rumble 2nd semester. Alas, though, that’s just more of what has already been well-tread. Well, I’m keeping my mind open for what new stuff that lies ahead. Like Higurashi, Air Gear (heard it didn’t fail?), and what have you.

Leave a comment | posted in Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni, Modern Visual Culture, Suzumiya Haruhi no Uuutsu

April 3, 2006

Life Is a Canvas, Too!

By omo

Elis Housen

Life is a canvas
And the paint is hope and promise
The world is ours
No one could ever take it from us
The sky is blue
The day is new
The sun is shinin’ down
You know life is good
We got each other
And that’s all we need

Maaya Sakamoto’s lyrics got pretty close to the heart of the matter. If a carefree, positive attitude is the approach to life you take, then the climax and resolution of Canvas 2 is the dark, evil twin. Admittedly the last two episodes did a number on me.

… It’s an understatement that the last couple of episodes did a number on me. It really changed my mood after watching it the first time. I felt about as bad as my first couple times going through End of Evangelion. Admittedly I’m a strange creature when it comes to my emotional response to EoE, and Canvas 2 has nothing similar with End of Evangelion aside from my emotional reaction. I had to put off a few days just to try to even write down what was going on in my head.

Part of the experience is a weaving and the coming-together of a lot of parallel theme concepts. The fact that it was a silly renai/bishoujo game adaptation didn’t matter, even if you can see the marks of such. I think I would have missed some of the threads if not the ending bothered me so in a screwed up way and got me stuck thinking about it. It was definitely thought provoking.

The quality of writing regarding Elis was beyond expectation. Her character concept is deep and yet understandable, appreciative yet realistic to her teenage self. The struggle, the progression from fawning to materializing her feelings for “Onii-chan” was (the bulk of the narrative’s burden aside) subtle and then it surfaces like Tessa’s Tuatha De Danaan–a genuine surprise; showy for your emotions and deadly for your moral calculus. Much, MUCH better than the typical drama you’d expect from its peers like Da Capo.

I think it makes more sense to tell the Canvas 2 story from Elis’s perspective rather than the typical Hiroki angle. Even by the end of it all he sucks at letting people know what is going on in his head. I think what bothered me about him was that unlike Elis, who changed drastically from the first episode, he was still pretty BLAH about it until he decided to answer Elis’s affection with his own.

The foil that is Kiri, then, is a bit of a satire against a realist’s perspective of romance. Indeed, it’s probably fair to say that the writers went out of their way to paint that relationship almost ideally. A lot of the fault falls on Kiri, naturally, in exactly how she pursued her relationship. For a comparison…maybe Belldandy’s relationship but sans the divine blessing?

Which is to say, that’s why it hurt all the more (for me! and some of you, I bet) when Hiroki parted ways and Kiri just took it like a man… Well, I’m all for women like Kiri and who can take the emotional punishment. She is a saint by normal people’s standards.

Upon more thought, the train of logic goes, is how Kiri and Hiroki would have fallen into a cherished state in their past if not for the fact that Hiroki was still looking for “whatever it is” and the whole Yanagi angle. Yanagi was an interesting element that, IMO, added a lot of realism along with his misappropriation and all.

Some credit is still due to the supporting cast. Kana Hagino probably gets the best prop here for the subtle introspections the writers managed to cast and clue me in; a cliff-note of the ongoing drama in short truisms. Mami Takeuchi & the Art Club helped earlier on much more so, and it’s nice they get a nod and saved Takeuchi’s coolest moments for last. Sumire Misaki sadly looked as if she’s a tack-on now that Tomoko stole the show… But far better was the Tomoko Fujinami angle; you’d almost expect they play that angle more. It’s my favorite because not just how it related to Elis but because they went out and bought all the cheap tricks they could with her. She does dress how she feels. Loneliness was a theme, at least as far as I can tell, that Elis seems to struggle with. I think overcoming that was the key in her maturity. Once she managed to reach out and “touch” Hiroki, the rest snowballed into the ending we have here. I guess that’s why I thought Tomoko’s role was huge.

I wonder how the writing changed due to the fact that the PS2 version had 2 more characters that had such large roles in the anime writing…

Some other musings:

  • Elis, like Yanagi, was the “bad” guy in the love triangle. Is that why she didn’t like Yanagi at all?
  • It is still pretty messed up. I confess no matter how I dress it up and while the THEME is fine, what transgressed is a nod to the realist’s ideal in heart-breaking and being a retard at handling your relationships. Sure, you can’t please everyone, but you can try a little harder at communicating clearly.
  • Kiri is clearly at fault too, but the harder question is what did she do wrong?
  • I like the ending theme and ending.
  • The LAST Tomoko trick is LOW DOWN DIRTY. ARRG I fell for it. But…how can you not?

Overall I have to say it was a great ride. It’s definitely a little slow; the first set of 13 painted a fairly interesting story but they could have gotten it over faster. The intercharacter drama between Kiri and Hiroki lifted the show from being dropped, I bet, for many. Yet Elis…wow.

Makes me want to rewatch Koikaze.

Leave a comment | posted in Canvas 2, Modern Visual Culture