I had my hangups about Love Live, but one thing I actually do like is the Asako Nishida-signature character designs. In a word, I like it for being glittery. Nishida comes across to me as a good illustrator with an innate sense to express emotion through character artwork. In fact sometimes I prefer her fanart over the original character artwork for certain IPs. In her works I can see a wide variety of feeling expressed, even if a lot of it tends to be the usual, fujoshi-tilting, fanart-style stuff. It’s often girly but yet compiled in a way that has uni-sexual sensibilities and can appeal in the same way, say, how young, girl-next-door style idols can appeal both to girls and to guys.
This season it feels like there are a ton of short anime. It feels…kind of like this.
Last time I mentioned I’m putting gdgd on the to-do list. Now it’s off the to-do list: somehow I managed to watch all of season 1 and caught up to season 2 during that time span. It’s not super hard, given it’s 13 minutes or so each episode and a quarter of it I was watching with my eyes closed (blame food coma). I think however I managed to get the gist of at least why there are some pretty loud fans of it. Well, the ultimate reason why comes down to the fact that it is not really anime, right? And by that I mean anyone who would watch this via some categorical basis would’ve dropped it on contact of its Red vs. Blue (season 1) visuals? The jokes (as good as they are) are totally besides the point why it would be in this discussion.
I’m not the first or last person to talk about anime as a way to deliver the laughs. I love comedy in my anime, but it’s also an often ignored sort of thing. It’s hard to talk about. It’s also hard to watch, I guess, because comedy in anime this season means 3 minutes long and probably full of in-jokes. I think this might be why I will look forward to Kotoura-san every week (plus, it’s got potential to be darkly humorous, which is quite rare). I guess it will have to do. In some sense, the past few years have been pretty solid for comedy anime, it’s just that what’s good has been hard to find. You’ll have to look all over the place to find something. It means looking at things like gdgd. Or Infernal Cop. Or whatever.
So, consider this sort of an attempt to talk about comedy and point out what you might (not) be missing. I’ll list one good point and one bad point for each show. Most of them have at least one of each.
Osaka Okan – Asumi and Shiraishi make an okay combo, but Asumisu carries the show as per her usual routine. Yuka Iguchi does a funny job being the third wheel when the occasion calls for it. Good: It is a moe. Bad: All the jokes are the equivalent of “you might be a redneck.”
gdgd fairies – If you loved season 1, you should watch season 2. If you didn’t watch season 1, don’t bother with season 2 until you finish season 1. But the one thing special about gdgd is that it is more radio show than normal anime and it’s stronger than ever in that front. Good: Random. Bad: Too long.
Ishida & Asakura – Even sketch comedy play by build-up, character development, and viewer investment rules. But this one… Good: It reminds me of Cromartie. Bad: It’s way, way, way worse than Cromartie.
Mangirl – It’s about manga and education. It also makes you wish it was actually about girls who are men. Good: It’s educational. Bad: Punchlines are optional.
Ai-Mai-Mi – Possibly Teekyuu’s spiritual successor. Also no Strawberry Eggs. Good: It makes sense. Bad: Much worse than Teekyuu.
Senyu – Condensed gamer humor by trope inversion. Good: Creative (for people who don’t read nerd webcomics). Bad: Whiny.
Puchim@s – 4koma comedy comic but is serial. It’s kinda simulcasted on Youtube, which might be the first time we see a daily simulcast for any anime ever. Good: Daily. Bad: Low new content per episode.
Bonus:
Encouragement of Climb – If you overcame the adversity of its Engrish titling, you will not find a sketch comedy within. Good: It’s just an ishashi-kei anime, so it’s kind of experimental and new in this form factor. Bad: It’s not a sketch comedy.
Infernal Cop – Web-only indie animation from Imaishi, published via Comix Wave. I haven’t seen anything like this since the last time I saw Bevis & Butthead. Good: Very good direction. Bad: It’s got not much else going for it.
I can’t help but to feel two things while watching Tamako Market:
1. Hungry for mochi.
Truth is, Tamako Market right now is exactly constructed like mochi. By “like mochi” I mean its mouth feel. Now to be specific, there are a wide variety of mochi-type foods out there, but in this Tamako Market, we’re constantly shown the mame mochi, which is, from what I can gather, one of the region’s famous combination. Mame mochi is kind of like a daifuku, except instead of a filling you mix in whole beans in the thing. Well, I certainly have never seen mochi like this anywhere other than stuff from Kyoto, although I am still a novice about this food. I mean I didn’t even know what chikara udon (udon topped with mochi, usually fried) was until I looked it up–it sounds like it could be pretty good! As much as I like mochi I sure am not very knowledgeable about the Japanese varieties, I probably should fix that.
I think in order to understand the nature of rice-eating in Japan, you really have to know mochi and its large varieties in Japan. I think they go above and beyond almost any other rice-as-a-main-staple country in terms of the weird thing they do with it. Like, what the hell is this?
It’s kind of the subtle yet super-pervasive thing about certain aspect of Japanese life, I gather. In some ways that really is what Tamako Market feels like to me. It’s enjoyable, white rice-product. Except the bird.
2. Feel Excalibur.
By Excalibur I mean the Legend That Began in the 12th Century. By that I mean the joke in Soul Eater in which this…perhaps insufferable creature of mystery (CV: Takehito Koyasu) but also the embodiment of a great power. And by great power I mean both his ability to beat the bad guys and his ability to fascinate and irritate, perhaps in equal measures.
Dera is like the black beans in the mame mochi. Dera gives it texture, flavor, and excitement. He can drive the plot to unpredictable places, introduce new characters and break up the monotone, everyday life.
It’s more than just filling and flavor, I think. Let’s look at the daifuku. Daifuku can be had anywhere these days, from Korea to China and beyond. I can go to my local H-mart and get it. The daifuku only a hop away from what the west calls “mochi ice cream” which is served in half of the Asian restaurants I frequent in NY. It’s a hit with the world. And a daifuku, in its basic configuration, is mochi with anko paste as a filling.
Sorry Anko, you’re great but Dera is better–or maybe not better, but more interesting because it’s unique. The anime community’s had Ankori Pasta Rice since when Momotato still blogged the world. It’s been done before, and it will continue in the future. We’ve had so many cute-girls-do-life shows. Now we have a cute-girls-do-life-with-a-talking-bird anime. It’s a safe twist, like tasty black beans mixed in mochi. But it’s a different taste; a taste closer to possibly my favorite K-ON song:
You make my heart throb, it may be love, I scurry
I can’t stop this hungry sensation and get dizzy
Please!
A piping hot plate of curry
Motivate me with a single spoon of spice
I don’t want mild, I want medium spice today
It’s an adult’s flavor
Meat, vegetables, and a secret hidden flavor
It’s the greedy loving heart of a growing girl
I love you!
Bubbling boiled curry
Let me experience two spoons of spice
But that’s my limit, it’s too spicy…I can’t
Shocked, shocked, shocked
Oh no no no no no no no no no no
A bit of curry and plenty of rice
Well, curry is probably a league above anko or mame but it’s too much for a comfortable show like Tamako Market.
You still might wonder how I get Excalibur vibes from Dera. I don’t even know, honestly, but I like both characters at this point and I think there is something faux-gentlemanly about the two creatures that is both endearing and sickening. It’s that duality which gives a distinct flavor to this show–not quite like spicy curry, not as extreme as bitter melon, but it is perhaps a little sweet and sour? I think as far as something like that goes, Dera is rather mild and, perhaps most importantly, amusing. At least he makes sense, and that goes a very long way.
But that’s just me. I’m sure plenty of people prefer Tamako Market like vanilla ice cream made with LN, bird-free. There’s a great comfort to biting into a solid, but appropriately soft chunk of mochi in which I think is partly conferred by the show in terms of its feelings, but I don’t know if one could build an interesting story with only that. A little bit of magic here go a long way.
I’m probably not going to do this every episode but I feel a little bit obligated to react to it here. I think it’s nice to be able to hand your quiz in and get the answer back in a week. And looks like at least I passed. Perhaps better yet we ought to celebrate the anime sinking back to the realm of easy-to-understand.
It’s very casual how this episode drops in the information of how Sasami and Onii-chan are Amaterasu’s vessels at some different points in the timeline. It says nothing about the Imperial Regalia, besides that Shinbo puts Tsurugi in that down-shirt fanservice angle. Must be nice when you’re short. Oh so maniac. Tama on the other hand behaves almost like how a girl her age would. It’s probably the most dissonant thing about this show this week.  Also, how old was Sasami and Kagami 3 years ago? How old was Tama 3 years ago? It boggles me a little.
The one obvious, beat-over-the-head reference in episode 2 is the Yamata no Orochi. Others have remarked enough about it so I’ll just add my own 2c: “I guess despawning the boss doesn’t drop its loot.” The key takeaway is the ludicrousness of playing a game that’s essentially called “Devil Online” (or, as reality does it better, “Diablo“) and people are getting sucked into the game and getting stuck. Despite its great power all it wanted to do is to maintain the status quo. If that’s not some social crit on MMORPGs, then I don’t know what is.
It reminds me of the funny news articles on big nerd item release dates on how American productivity sinks.
The only other interesting thing is that Onii-chan gets sucked in, but where did he go? I guess it’s time to rewatch. Speaking of which, the way Sasami climbs into bed, and her bed, were great. This show is full of simple but deeply impacting scenes like this. I guess that’s why the ending visuals are the way they are.
Okay, so Love Live episode 2 sheds light to my weird lukewarmness and why I feel that way. I think none of it is fault to the stuff, but hopefully you will see why this is the case. Basically, it clashes ideologically.
Let’s start with the fundamental. Asako Nishida. I like her artwork! A lot, in fact. Enough to buy an artbook she put out. But in this show I feel it’s… I don’t know. It’s unique I think, but it kind of jars me out of its everyday setting. I presume “School Idol” channels, in part, the “Idol You Can Meet” AKB-pioneered concept. It makes a small clash with fantasy.
The fact that the main trio always reminds me of…this other trio in another fantasy work. Granted, Hikaru, Umi and Fuu are not uncommon motifs, but unless they’re going to get Captain Planet in the mix I’m not sure why is there an elemental signifier in my idol anime.
The problem with main characters is that they are the main characters. Who is the main character in the iDOLM@STER? Who is the main character in, say, Chance Triangle Session? And then there are the Creamy Mamis of the world. Love Live is neither. Just think about it for a moment: what would AKB0048 be like if there was a main character? I don’t think it will work. I also just want to put in the disclaimer (as weak as it is) regarding figurehead/representative characters and how they’re not really main characters–like Haruka is not the main character in iM@S but she is the one spokesperson for the franchise.
It’s not a simple thing as to why main characters doesn’t work for an ensemble cast of idols. “Doesn’t work” probably is not the right term; maybe it’s just that the dynamic of the narrative is now about what the characters try to accomplish, not so much who the characters are and what they accomplish while they do their things. I think it might come down to both a matter of individual preference for it, and if it makes sense in terms of character development. It is a delicate balance but I believe going with main characters is not the best way to do it. Maybe Love Live can prove me wrong.
A much better comparison to the glitz-filled life of Love Live is the relatively down-tempo and half-baked seriousness that is Tari Tari. At least at this point, we have a similar plot regarding a group of people trying to put on a show against the administrative odds of the system. (But who’s the main character in that one?) I think the more important thing to point out is that by end of episode 2, Tari Tari has had its club identity established and a concert has happened. I guess that won’t happen until next week’s Love Live–it takes care of a major plot point like that because it is about what happens, not so much the characters.
At this point of the series, we are introduced slowly to the growing list of eventual idols under μ’s. I think it’s safe to say that THE main character is burdened with the things she has to do, and meanwhile the other girls simply just have to be themselves in order for the group to come together. In that process, too, the main character will slowly spread out the burden to the other girls, and important things like the associated screen time, lines, and attention will get their ways around. In fact, it’s already happening despite the main character having as much impact this week as she did the last. I think the show is better off for it. I know I liked episode 2 greatly more than 1.
 The problem with Honoka, and many of the other girls, in this plot-driven environment, is that they cross the line. What line is this? Remember K-ON when the girls aimed for Budokan? That line. Because, by doing so, it would turn it from a real-feeling fantasy into a dreamy-feeling fantasy. It is perfectly realistic to have a bunch of girls hang out in an after-school music club. It’s not realistic to see high schoolers play in a nationally known venue (although empirically speaking, who knows). The crossing of this line will change the nature of the story completely, and I feel that’s in another way a clashing with the nature of the idol group in question. Because AKB48 is an already existent, independently real thing, its spinoff anime can do whatever the hell it wants. Because iM@S is not a real thing, its spinoff anime needs to play to the nature of the concept of the franchise. (Unless somehow we’re talking about Xenoglossia which is kind of not even in left field; more like the other side of the country.) What is Love Live? Just what kind of message should this anime be sending IRT the idol group itself? I don’t know and the more I watch this anime I feel the less I know.
And maybe this is all just me reading too much into it. If the idea behind Love Live anime is to pilot a story that is engaging and interesting, they very well could with what they have right now. If the idea behind Love Live is to market an anime idol group based on a moving anime, regardless what that anime is really about (besides that it is about the idols), maybe it will work; it really depends on the marketing and how the idol part of the equation play out. It is just that I am not sure if this is the most excellent way.
For the meanwhile I’ll just shut up and enjoy the ride–at least as long as it takes for me to remember their names to their faces.
