Nakata Sae, oh my gosh, she’s really really cuuuuuuuuuuuteeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!! The third arc of Amagami SS is Sae-chan! The embodiment of cuteness! I mean, the game version of her is really cute. It’s regrettable that Anime version of Sae-chan is very disintegrating, drawing-wise.

Darn it! Yeah, I thought my favorite was Morishima-senpai. Yet, that was until I encountered Sae-san. She’s very pure-hearted, but extremely shy, averts eye-contacts and avoids people like a little animal. She’s physically small too. Her height is not even 5 feet tall. Yet, she has fairly a good size of chest. And her personality is very much like me! Yeah, I listed all the phobias I have in this article, and I think it perfectly fits her too. I think she can’t cope with stressful social interaction due to hypersensitivity to criticism and rejection. Even teacher’s constructive criticism is painful to her. Same with me! I totally understand you, Sae-chan! Let’s run away and elope together!

I like spring, because it's pokapoka.

Which season does she like? She answers, “I like spring, because it is pokapoka(warm).” The way she chooses the word. Pokapoka is so childish, immature, adults usually don’t use that word, but OMG, if she uses it, it’s cuuuutee!!!! Vivaldi must be dancing in his grave! Mo…mo…moe~!

I can't have a bitter drink. So, I put a lot of milk and sugar.

And she can’t drink coffee. How cute! So, she puts milk and sugar in it. Me too! I don’t like coffee. I can’t have caffeine. Coffee makes your heart dirty. All salarymen are dirty. 3-D (market fundamentalist society) stresses out people to consume coffee and cigarette. So, I always order decaf, and put cream to ease its bitterness. Cigarette is big NO! It’s just vice. Yeah, I’m sensitive to caffeine and nicotine, world deadliest stimulants, so I avoid them. It’s the smell of 3-D. So, I avoid French café but I love French maids. We don’t want to contaminate maids with secondhand smoke. Yes, decaffeinated maids! That is  maider’s café! I’m a maider, a person devoted to maid. Let’s celebrate May Day, maid-day = maiday, m’aider!

She just transferred from all girls school to coed. Man, it must be rough for her. Her sense of inadequacy is alerted. She can’t fit in, so she finds herself alone. Well, she was bullied by boys in kindergarten, and still today, she feels high-strung to talk to men. Yeah, I’m androphobic too because of the similar experience with macho men. So, we do have a lot in common!

Did I finally meet..

my only prince I had believed for a long time?

“Did I finally meet my only prince I had believed for a long time?” Oh man, that line! Guha! That line penetrated my heart! I almost died from that phrase! My heart almost exploded! Auu… She’s just sweet, as if she still believes in Santa Claus. She’s the beautiful dreamer. She can still have a dream even in this cruel 3-D world! I just want to hug her!

"Sometimes I make an obento, so let's..."

Ah, when she made obento, I was just flabbergasted. “I sometimes make obento, so…let’s…” With that Tenshinhan’s kikoho hand gesture and how she looks at you straight into your eyes, blushing her cheeks! And that upward glance… my entire body would melt away! I don’t think any guy can refuse her obento! Pokapoka bento! Bento-magic!

Ah, no girl made obento for me in high school! What a melancholic high school years! Yes, lack of skinship is the reason I left that stupid country. But also lack of emotional exchange, especially in a form of obento, cooked specifically for me, I didn’t get to eat any of that. Life is unfair! Give me back my adolescence! I wish I could be 17 again! I want to redo my life as though pressing the reset button! But I can’t, so only sadness remains. I totally agree with Inoue Kikuko‘s cult, 17 year old is the best time. “She was just 17, you know what I mean!”

"Senpai. Do you have a girlfriend?"

And she asks if you have a girlfriend! Ah, no girl asked me if I had a girlfriend in high school. How sad… Life is not fair.

"Would you...hold...my hand?" Uru-uru beam from her eyes.

And she even asks you to hold her hand. I mean she’s really shy, so it’s amazing for her to ask that. That takes courage! A whole otakus applauded her. She deserves Purple Heart! Ah, just cute. Yes, of course, any time! I can hold your hand anytime you want. I mean, I want to hold your hand!

Ah, and the ending of Amagami SS, Nakata Sae version. Golly! Her singing sucks, Simon Cowell would tear her apart. But that also adds on top of her cuteness. Clumsiness enhances it. Yes, might is right, cuteness is might! She makes us purified. Whenever otakus see a uru-uru (watery eyes) beam from her eyes, they comment, “Ahhhh! Don’t look at me like that. I’m defiled. My whole body is made of dirt, so I would be evaporated to nothing if you look at me like that.”

You know, we’ve all become cynical pessimists growing up. So, we lost our innocence. And we stopped dreaming. But, MLK’s speech was a wake-up call for not only Americans but all grownups. Yes, Nakata Sae represents the hope we lost a long time ago. When I was 17…

Yeah, we’re not pure enough to date her. But, it’s 2-D! It’s okay to date!!! Femme moetical. That’s how we regain purity! Purity of the 17 years old! Fragrant meadow of adolescence. Paradise regained! That’s the quintessence of moe!

If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell. -Jesus Of Nazareth

Boku no kanojo wa migite (my girlfriend is my right hand). It’s a sad statement by hetare. Whenever I watch a romantic anime on Niconico, I always see comments like, “I wish I had a girlfriend. But, my current girlfriend is my right hand.” A very Otaku’s lamentation indeed. Because of evolution and machismo factors, a hetare can’t get to have skinship, making him incel, involuntary celibate. Yes, we’re celibates. So, that means we’re as holy as religious celibates such as Catholic sisters. We’re as holy as Mother Theresa indeed. Why aren’t we getting the same respect? It’s just whether it’s involuntary or voluntary, right? Yet, hetares can’t embrace flower generation concept of peace-making.

Yes, peacemaking is lovemaking, erotic humping! The Gipper’s slogan was peace through strength, flower people’s was peace through sex, but hetare’s would be peace through O72*?

Midori no Hibi, that anime is so hetare. Yes, the heroine’s hair color is Midori (green), the same haircolor with Ranka Lee. That’s the most staggering prophesy I’ve ever seen, even more frightening than Nostradamus’. Your right hand becomes a girl! Yes, even if we want to make peace, we don’t have any girl to make peace to. Can’t sing, “Making peace to only you, so hold me tight tonight!” Maybe sing, “So I make peace to myself, what a skinshipless world.”

"Senpai. Do you have a girlfriend?"

"Yeah, my current girlfriend is my right hand..."

I wonder if hetares are already members of this peace movement. Their motto is Peace through O72. You know, I felt like a total loser joining them, so I didn’t. It just reinforces the fact that 3-D (reality) is very harsh. And I don’t want to be infected by O72. O72 will attack you when you are most vulnerable feeling lonesome and saudade (melancholic).

O157 infected kindergarten kids in Osaka from eating kaiware-daikon (sprout radish) in 1996. In order to ease public panic, Kan Naoto (current Prime Minister of Japan, Health Minister in 1996) had to eat kaiware-daikon in front of the press. Now, as PM of Japan, he needs to address the nation to be on the lookout for a new bacteria, O-72. If you get O72, when you see yourself in the mirror, your hand will start transforming into a human girl, and she will start talking to you. What a spooky ventriloquist epidemic… O72 is a new ergot.

Bridge-maker is pontifex, and peace-maker is pacifex. A renowned bridge-maker was John Paul II. MLK, Mahatma Gandhi, John and Yoko were the renowned pacifex maximus, the greatest peacemaker. But hetares are falling to be pacifex minimus. The least auto-pacifier. Anything auto (self) is a sin. Autism (auto + ism), auto-consciousness, and auto-consolation. So, hetares are fallen angels like Onan the sinner. Les miserables. So, we try hard not to be a sinner, but if we hold it for too long, Hoover Dam will explode. Does “lucid” dream also count as a sin? That dream is nothing we can do, it’s beyond our control. It’s automatic~♪ Even Utada agrees with us.

So, what is a golden remedy for O-72 when peace through skinship is unattainable? It is Moe! Virtual skinship. Spiritual skinship. Moetical skinship! Cleanse us from defilement! So, I rather become the real winner in 2-D instead of a loser/sinner in 3-D. Peace through moe!

Let us march forward to 2-D, land where hetares cried, land of the Otakus’ pride, from every cliffside, let moe ring! For the sake of MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech anniversary! But not that kind of dream…

Back in a minute…

*O72 is pronounced “onanii” in Japanese, reference to the story of Onan.

Ray and I did an informal, unedited summer season preview a few months ago…and now it’s time for the fall 2010 one! In this edition, we run down almost every show in the order of Scamp’s season chart (version 1). We looked at trailers whenever we could and express our hopes and fears for the upcoming season. I, for one, am waiting for surprises.

Reminder: this is raw and unedited, unlike our much more polished Anime Diet Radio podcasts (which will return soon)! Enjoy.

*I have not seen his TV series Paranoia Agent, probably to my shame. I want to rectify that in the coming days.

Perfect Blue

How scandalous this movie seemed at the time I heard about it! It was sometime in 2000 or 2001; still in college, still rising out of my sheltered, conservative upbringing, Perfect Blue was presented at the time as being a risque, even semi-pornographic thriller which received mixed reviews at best from the mainstream movie critics. I saw it anyway, and discovered the sensational parts were not nearly as much as advertised. But what I discovered was at once disturbing—the image of the crazed otaku obsessed with Mima’s “purity” seems all too prophetic in the wake of recent events—and also immensely clever. Kon’s trademark move, the seamless slide in and out of reality, was already in full force. So was the attention to realism and detail—see the ordinary slice of life scenes during the opening credits sequence—and the social subtext about the way women are objectified in the entertainment industry and how it is so easy to lose oneself in a role. Kon was, in short, almost fully formed from his first film onwards, though he would rely less on “shock” plot elements in future works.

Plus, the silly CHAM pop songs stuck in my head for far too long afterwards, as well as the deceptively upbeat ED. It is a movie that lingered in my mind far longer than I thought it would.

Millennium Actress

Kon could have gone in a similar direction to Perfect Blue for his follow-up: directing a clever thriller. Instead, he chose to explore the inner space of the human memory and heart in Millennium Actress. It was a movie I picked up in a few years later, in a fit of Netflixing, and in some ways it could not be more different from Perfect Blue in tone and subject matter. The similarities are there for someone who wants to look below the surface though. It too is about acting and the playing of a role, except the stage is not just outside with an audience but also within one’s own mind, in the memory. Once again, unlike most anime, Kon uses it to talk about the social changes that Japan underwent in the lifetime of the protagonist, in the roles she played and way a role and a life can become almost one and the same. His stories always exist in a larger context and are not, unlike so many anime stories today, mere self-reference and pandering to a particular niche.

Tokyo Godfathers

In some ways, Tokyo Godfathers is the most subtle and yet the most joyous film in Kon’s career. Once again, it seems on the surface to be a departure from his previous work: what is the common thread between the past two stories and this Christmas-flavored fable of three bums finding an abandoned infant? The fantasy/reality theme is transmuted once more, this time to the lies people tell each other about themselves, as well as the contrast between a glittering Tokyo and the reality of being homeless on the streets. (For such a warmhearted film, it is surprisingly frank about homelessness; the closest visual and thematic American analogue to this movie, Terry Gilliam’s The Fisher King, romanticizes the indigent much more.) Kon seemed determined to show that he wasn’t simply just a clever/smart director, a Christopher Nolan of anime; he uses Tokyo Godfathers to tell his funniest as well as his most frankly emotional story, one that has more than a few spiritual/parabolic overtures. (Christmas; a child; three people coming upon a child…) This is perhaps the “sleeper” film of Kon’s catalogue, unpretentious and unassuming and yet just as rich and rewarding as any of his work.

I saw this movie in what I think is the ideal environment for it: in an anime club with other people, around Christmas time. Because, in a way, it’s Kon’s “family film.”

Paprika

The dazzling visual bravura and originality of vision in Paprika is well-recognized by critics and fans alike by now. I even wrote about it a few years ago already. This movie, which I saw in the only place it should be seen—a real big screen movie theater—is a canvas where Kon paints his masterwork. It in many ways is the culmination of all the themes he’s worked with in the preceding movies. There is the blurry line between dream and reality, sliding in and out (which Christopher Nolan, bless him, decided to borrow in Inception); there is the image of the Cute Girl flitting in and out of dreams played by no one less than Megumi Hayashibara; there is even the twisted blend of otaku culture and Japanese tradition in that surreal parade. Paprika is a wonder because all of these elements somehow manage to hold together and never lose coherency, even though it nearly overwhelms the senses with its colors and noise. One is dazzled, but never lost. That the story is more inventive than moving is not really an issue; that’s not the point.

What Kon did in this film is to showcase the kind of imaginative vision that is only possible in anime, that culturally hybrid medium of East and West we love so much. Paprika in a way is more representative of anime than, say, a Miyazaki or Studio Ghibli movie, which works on its own rules and universe. Kon, like his artistic doppelganger Takashi Murakami, uses the elements of anime and otaku culture and transforms it into something uniquely his own.

Which is why this movie is really a fitting cap to his career, though untimely and unintended—Kon was working on a film at the time of his death and its fate is uncertain. The essential parts of his artistry are most fully expressed in this movie. If this is to be the last work to bear his name, it is a fine way to go.

Conclusion

Kon’s loss hurts not only because his body of work is so consistently original and interesting. It is because what he represents in the anime community is rare and appears to be fading: a commitment to making artistic but not inaccessible anime film (not TV, Paranoia Agent excepted), works with social significance that bear an individual stamp. He was, in short, one of anime’s few auteurs, and in a time when anime seems to be turning in on itself, such outward vision needs a champion. Someone who, by skewing our perspectives just a bit, gives us a glimpse of another world and helps us see things with new eyes rather than just confirming our prejudices once more.

Someday that person will arrive. Art never dies. But he or she will not be the same, which is good. Art also always progresses and moves forward. But it will not be Kon.

But damn it. I wanted to see one more of his movies. Just one more.

Requiscat in pacem.

Other Tributes

• Our own wintermuted wrote one in his blog, The Wandering Kaijyu.
• Jeremy posted our first news article about it just earlier today.
• Martin at Mono no Aware wrote a lovely review of his work, which helped inspire this one.
• I agree with Subatomic Brainfreeze: the loss of Kon has not come at a good time for the anime industry. Here’s to hoping someone will carry the torch of artistic anime.

Apparently, it has been confirmed that famed anime director Satoshi Kon , director of such works as Perfect Blue and Paprika, has in fact died at the age of 46. Initial statements were made over twitter by founding member of Gainax Takeda Yasuhiro earlier today, followed by an apparent confirmation from Madhouse president Masou Maruyama. Details are still unclear but apparently he died this morning around 2 a.m. in Japan. More details to be posted as they are released.

*Updates:

According to Anime News Network, Kon’s widow wrote on his website on Wednesday about his death.

Satoshi Kon passed away due to pancreatic cancer on August 24 at 6:20 a.m. He was 46.

His funeral service will be held for family members only.
We are respectfully and deeply grateful for your kindness during his lifetime.

Furthermore, MADHOUSE had this to say,

Satoshi Kon,  the director of numerous works at MADHOUSE including Paprika, Paranoia Agent, Tokyo Godfathers and Millennium Actress, passed away due to pancreatic cancer early in the morning of Tuesday, August 24.

He was 46.

With regards to funeral services, a private service will be held for family members only.

We are respectfully and deeply grateful for your kindness during his lifetime.

Finally, pre-written statements were also posted to Kon’s website on his behalf

I was supposed to publish this one yesterday, titled “legend of Legendary Heroes has deep stufff and fucks it up”, based on my first viewing through the episode. But after thinking it over for an hour and watching it again last night, I’ve decided to simply discuss my thoughts.

Screen shot 2010-08-22 at 12.26.28 PM Screen shot 2010-08-22 at 12.24.56 PM Screen shot 2010-08-22 at 12.24.33 PM Screen shot 2010-08-22 at 12.24.12 PM Screen shot 2010-08-22 at 12.23.21 PM Screen shot 2010-08-22 at 12.22.18 PM Screen shot 2010-08-22 at 12.21.57 PM Screen shot 2010-08-22 at 12.21.37 PM Screen shot 2010-08-22 at 12.21.23 PM

Establum, one of the kingdoms under the rule of the Roland Empire, has rebelled. That’s supposed to be another test for Sion. In this episode, we see him being questioned harshly by nobles as to how to deal with it. He’s smart enough to realize who’s behind it all and implements appropriate actions in order to avoid slaughtering the innocent.

In the meantime, Noa An (Noa Angel?), the leader for the rebellion, finds out that she’s really just a puppet put up as a symbolic figure. Less than 20 minutes later, it was all over. No important characters really got hurt and Noa An actually lives on for another day.

After my first viewing, I was disappointed with how quickly and neatly everything was handled. The screen time for the height of the rebellion lasted less than 17 minutes to save time for Lute and Phylis, who looked like unnecessary comedic relief characters rather than two out of the three central characters. Everything went down pretty fast and the display of emotional struggles was all too brief.

As usual, Milan is behind the scheme and Sion is smart enough to find out. What bothers me is that it’s way too obvious that Milan will be some kind of final boss because he always takes the initiative to do evil things in order that Sion can play the good king. At some point of time, Milan will hatch a scheme so evil and messy that Sion will have to make a major decision – to let the evil continue or confront Milan about everything. It sounds like good enough drama, but that’s where the problem lies. It’s only good enough but not great.

There are classic tales out there about the hero’s slow descent into the darkside because it seems like taking that path will help him to achieve his goal in his life time. Sion was presented with such dilemma. He realized that with his slow and steady method, what he wants will not be achieved during his life time and once he’s gone, everything will go back to its corrupted way. Disregarding whether he has too high of an opinion of himself and too low of an opinion toward humanity in general (personal note: I agree with him on the low opinion on people), we see that there’s potential for heroic struggles within. However, here, everything is conveniently laid out for him. Milan does something here, so he sends his brave and hot-blooded general, Clau, for damage control. The situation doesn’t present hard choices for him. He allows Milan to hatch the scheme but he’s not in the hot seat for long.

Now for the details. It’s just so convenient that Clau always easily dispatches the enemy commanders without much killing. It’s just so convenient that the episode is short and there’s no need to show the possible intense regret and struggle that Noa An goes through when her minions take their own citizens as hostages. It’s so convenient we don’t see these people groan and curse the princess and in term we don’t see her emotional pain and struggle as a kind and compassion character as well as her groaning in emotional pain about having to do what’s evil despite her wish to do good. Finally, it’s just so convenient that Clau saves the princess just when Milan is about to kill her.

Silly me, of course. Noa An is in the OP eye-catcher and the pretty ones in there almost never die. She’s cute with big tits and a wasp waist, not to mention she happens to share the same ideology as Sion. Nope, she ain’t gonna die and she will come back and fall in love with Clau Chrome. Yep.

Although the classic hero’s tale of slowly falling into the darkside is predictable, it makes for great drama nonetheless. But in this case, there’s always a way provided for Sion to escape from sinking into the darkside. Milan is conveniently a risk taker who always act on his own accord. Of course it’ll be so easy to blame him for everything. The roles that Milan and Sion play do work, as Milan presented: Sion is the light, Milan is the darkness. But such a partnership/union never works out so neatly at the end. Messiness will always ensue.

There are some other questionable plot weaknesses but I won’t discuss them here. I’m sure everyone has seen them before I had. My personal opinion is that the anime handled this plot poorly by giving an easy way out for everyone involved and hinting too strongly that Milan will rebel someday and become the final boss, thus sparing the blame on Sion, who actually hired him and allowed him to do whatever he wanted in the first place.

I’m not final on whether this setup is good or bad; I AM concerned that this setup may present a weaker dramatic tale and thus, wasting its potential.

A hesistant 7.2 / 10 for this episode.

It’s perhaps a measure of how caught up in the Now that I’ve gotten as a blogger when I say that Beck (2004-2005) is the oldest anime I’ve watched in a while. It’s also one of the most fascinating and frustrating too, at least so far; it’s one of those shows that is at once low-key and ambitious, quietly doing something different than everyone else without drawing attention to itself.

Half the reason why many complain about Beck‘s slowness, I’m convinced, is that it has not one iota of background soundtrack music. The only music is that being played or sung by the characters themselves. It is, in other words, scored much more like real life, lending the show a much more naturalistic feel and pace that is very rare in contemporary anime. (Or contemporary popular entertainment, period.) It also calls attention to the actual music the bands and singers are singing, of course, which is fitting for a show that is genuinely centered around the process and the difficulties of making music. If K-ON is more centered around the girls themselves, the characters who just happen to play in a band—Beck is about musicianship itself.

The slowness of Koyuki’s learning of guitar, of a whole year passing since his meeting of Ryusuke and ups and downs therein, is all too believable. The show is not in a rush to get to the rock star glory, of playing live concerts in front of huge cheering audiences instantly smitten by their genius abilities. They are talented, but not brilliant; they have to practice hard like everyone else. Yet, the joy of playing in a band is conveyed so well; it reminded me of the state that I fell in when I played in church bands in my younger years, that almost trance-like state of mind that is both concentrated and free, especially when things simply ‘click’ and everyone plays in time and in tune. That it doesn’t happen all the time makes it all that more believable.

In the first seven episodes, the songs themselves are not particularly special. Save for one surprisingly emotional duet of “Moon on the Water,” which even more surprisingly was as good in the English dub as in the original Japanese recording—more on that in a moment—the songs are not particularly catchy to my ears. This too, for some reason, seems OK, even though the show is perhaps the most explicitly music-focused of anime. Not every band is the Beatles or the Stones or even Oasis, which plays in the trailer of the upcoming live-action movie of Beck. There was always a disjoint between the quality of a lot of the songs and performances in K-ON and the way the girls often behaved and the time they seemed to spend practicing. That’s OK, given the goal and the point of that production. The good-but-not-great-yet quality of the music fits this production because development and growth are the point of the story.

A discussion of Beck can’t ignore the Engrish dialogue. There are copious amounts of it, in every episode, mainly because Ryusuke and his sister Maho speak English constantly, having been raised in the United States. Here an original Japanese audio + subtitles fan faces a problem: the point of preferring the original audio is to preserve the integrity and original acting as intended by the creators. (In this case, too, that includes the recorded songs.) However, in this case, the characters are supposed to be fluent in English; if they weren’t, they wouldn’t be speaking it to each other as a matter of daily routine. The actors’ lack of fluency thus grates, and the same goes for English language songs (though “Moon on the Water” is performed well). Because of its constancy the Engrish began to become a distraction, to the point where I would occasionally switch to the dub on the DVD to hear more natural English being spoken. Not all episodes have a lot of it, and in those cases, I left it on the Japanese audio; I suppose this is primarily a problem for those whom English is their first language and are thus more sensitive to it. It may also be a marker that even in Japan, the world of rock is still one deeply associated with America and Britain and that the measure of coolness is still one with an American/British yardstick. (See the groupies fawn over Ryusuke’s New York roots; hear the OP song “Hit in the USA,” with the chorus singing: “I was made to hit in America…”)

Some may feel that the Engrish adds to the charm, which might be the case if the scenes and the songs weren’t meant to be taken so seriously. It may just be a personal prejudice at work, I confess; in my perfect production, however, I’d keep the Japanese audio for Japanese dialogue and perhaps use accented-but-fluent English speakers for the rest.

I understand that the rest of Beck will tell the story of the rise of the band, which has just gotten started by the end of disc 1, and the ups and downs that learning to be a working group of musicians will entail. (I look forward to the record company shenanigans.) Given how honest the show is trying to be, it’s interesting how no instrument companies thought to put product placement in the show, in the manner done in K-ON!: we get the pastiche names instead. I realize this show came out a while ago, before Fender and Gibson perhaps thought of anime product placement as a profitable venture (has Pizza Hut paved the way?), but that is a shame. This show, more than either K-ON! or Nodame Cantabile, manages to capture the spirit of real musicianship in a forthright, even raw, way. It really helps to show just what leads people to pick up a guitar or a bass or a drumstick and starting rocking and rolling, screaming and swaying and singing a song.

I wonder what, of course, this Beck thinks of this show? Someone should ask him.

The Hanged Man, The Traitor, Uragiri-mono, thus Ura-boku!

Uraboku is sick.

I have been watching Uraboku and appalled by its sadistic nature. When I was watching Episode 10, the torture scene was just unbearable. It’s crime against humanity. And a torture officer is a cute Gothic Lolita girl, Ashley. She takes a great pleasure torturing Shusei, a Zweilt Guardian, a very good looking bi-danshi. The voice actor is Miyano Mamoru, well-known voice for Yagami Light and Kida Masaomi. Penetrating his body with needles, oh my…I couldn’t keep watching it. I just couldn’t, especially when he screamed and moaned in an intense agony. I just covered my eyes and ears to let the scene pass. Do girls find pleasure watching a hot guy getting tortured? This fujoshi from Japan writes, “Overly too beautiful, The Hanged Man…Shusei♥ Don’t rescue him, I wanna keep staring at him…No! I wanna lick him thoroughly…”

Sadistic Ashley with Shusei's voodoo doll.

Ashley-sama is really a sicko. She collects all the good looking guys she finds by abduction. A kind of female version of The Silence Of The Lambs. What a nasty paraphilia… And what’s more shocking was Ashley’s voice is Ueda Kana, the voice actor for Fukuzawa Yumi, the protagonist of Maria Sama Ga Miteru, the heavenliest anime I’ve ever seen in my life. Yumi-chan is very pure-hearted, clumsy, and cute, longing for her eternal sœur, Ogasawara Sachiko. Yumi-chan is probably the first female character I identified myself with. Yes, my life-long desire to be a girl was conceptualized in her. But, my beautiful dream was annihilated into oblivion by Ashley, a sadistic psycho. I’m now traumatized. I got PTSD. I got waterboarding with this particular episode. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band was from the 60s, Plastic Ono Band and Sadistic Mika Band was the 70s, and our 2010s is Sadistic Ashley Band.

Sadistic Ashley fondles Shusei.

There’s also another crazy woman in Uraboku. In Episode 18th, there appears a psychotic jealous woman, Elegy. She is a general class demon (Opast), and she tries to kill Luka with a whip, because Luka betrayed the demons and ran away with Yuki, a human girl. But why with a whip? So sadistic. Well, turns out to be she’s had a crush on him. She tries to seduce him at first. She tells him to give up on Yuki. “She forgot about you. She never loved you. Eternity is an illusion. Love is just a game.” But he tells her straight, “I only love Yuki. I will die for her.” Then, she gets mad, “I’ve loved you so much, but you ran away with that stupid human girl, I can never forgive you for that!” After all, she is just a psychopathic stalker. She claims “Love is just a game,” but she screams, “I gonna kill you!” when she gets rejected. Didn’t she say love was just a game?

This is like Gilgamesh getting Inanna’s wrath. Adam getting Lilith’s wrath. The Bambara men getting Musso-Koroni’s wrath. Musso-Koroni’s husband went on having sex with human girls, so she got angry and cursed the world. Yes, as a result, she committed crime against humanity. Is that why I’m not getting any?

So how do we save ourselves from the curse? How do we stop her sadistic nature of crime against humanity? Ah My Goddess! is the answer. Accept her love. Adam made a mistake by rejecting Lilith’s demand. But we will correct Adam’s mistake. We will correct Gilgamesh’s mistake. We’ll correct Tannhäuser’s mistake, rejecting Venus, the beauty goddess.

The Church has long told us mingling with goddess is a grave sin to commit. So we have to be stuck with 3-D girls forever? That’s ri-f@cking-diculous. I mean, come on, Yuki the human girl can be with a loyal demon. Why can’t Otaku be with 2-D girls? We get cursed because we reject goddess, and we get cursed because we accept Golden Calf. We betray either one, and the result is the same. Even if we accept both, that’s still a betrayal, it’s called “cheating.” Either way, we’re f@cked. Catch-22. God must be jealous. Isn’t God supposed to be the unconditional love? Well, Elegy is a demon, so her jealousy is more understandable.

But come on, Elegy. Just look at us. Please objectify us. We will never betray you. Betrayal doesn’t know our names. Forget that stupid A-hole Luka. He forgot about you. He never loved you. Just like you said, love is just a game, right? So why bother? Moe in turn is a devotion. We are here to worship you. You are forever canonized in our moetic pantheon. That is moetic justice!

Crunchyroll recently made the first four episodes of Moribito available to premium subscribers, so I took a look. How did I miss this one after all these years? Seirei no Moribito (aka Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit) is the sort of anime I want to watch nowadays.

There are many “sexytough” women in anime, the archetypal one probably best embodied in Major Motoko Kusanagi of Ghost in the Shell (another work of Kamiyama’s). She is good with weapons. She is a bit of a hardass and is emotionally reserved, sometimes to the point of seeming constipated. Yet she is always out there to protect something or someone—a younger charge, in the case of Claymore’s Clare and in this one, where Balsa must protect possessed prince Chagum from assassination by his own father. The wandering warrior + younger companion is itself another archetypal plot setup (see: Lone Wolf and Cub, Guin Saga, etc.) and is a useful one as a setup for an epic journey.

What's amazing is that she doesn't smash him in the face for that comment

Balsa is perhaps the most balanced out of the “sexytough” female leads I’ve seen in anime yet. She is sharp and no pushover—witness the way she basically threatens the second queen and demands to be treated as an equal even by royalty. However, she is a bit more nurturing than, say, Clare toward Raki in Claymore, perhaps helped by the fact that Chagum himself is not nearly as annoyingly whiny and dependent. She has friends, like Tanda, subtly undermining the “lone warrior” motif. This being a NHK show, there are also the two kids she looks after from time to time, Touya and Saya, which is the part that reminds me most of the other NHK fantasy adventure Guin Saga—though in Kamiyama’s hands the direction is never condescending or dumbed down. Balsa is woven in more tightly to a community of sorts, and has personal reasons of her own to pursue this job. This is a great setup for a rich character.

Kamiyama directs this show straightforwardly, compared to the heady Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and the frequently bizarre and mishmash of Eden of the East. However, he is the expert of the slow build and tension, particularly as the chase after Prince Chagum gets underway. The fights are animated with extreme fluidity and grace—though without one drop of blood!—and emotional moments like Balsa’s life-endangering injuries are handled very well.

Hey, at least he tries

While watching the show, the word “stately” kept coming to mind as a way to describe the pacing; however, by the end of the fourth episode, it seemed inappropriate. Rather, it is simply unhurried, as befits a show with a long journey ahead. Its lack of the usual gore or fanservice now makes it seem almost odd compared to most modern TV productions; the fact is, however, is that it doesn’t need them. It simply focuses on telling the story, and telling it well.

Finally, the soundtrack is notable for being one of the finer orchestral-based scores I’ve heard in a TV anime. It was no surprise to learn it was the venerable Kenji Kawai, the composer of the terrific Ghost in the Shell film soundtracks, though he works without the traditional instrumentation as much in Moribito As many know, I’m a sucker for great music in anime, and for once, the music is worthy of the show rather than being its only saving grace. I am actually not as fond of the L’Arc-en-Ciel OP as some are, nor the ED.

The first few episodes are available on Crunchyroll, though the rest of these series is already available on DVD. I’ll almost certainly be picking this up sometime myself. This is the kind of prestige, quality production that is all too rare in TV anime these days.

Primastea, the anime studio that created and distributed Training Together and Sleeping Together, has released a delicious yuri title, created by one guy (of course it’d only be a guy). The story is about the risky adventures of two high school girls during summer. The story has one twist; one of the two girls has the ability to move things with her mind (THE FORCE).

A good story has devices that work; a medicore story has conveniences that just happen; I believe this story is the latter. Buuut, whoever’s reading my article is not looking for an in depth and detailed analysis of story plots, devices as well as the merits of using them in the right places without failing (wut). So let’s get to the goodies.

You can get the characters’ names by searching through ANN or Wikipedia so I’m not going to bother with them. When I first set my eyes on the show, it struck me that the shapes of the heads of the girls looked oddly shaped; kinda squashed, in fact. I could tell it was a one-person-effort on a good computer, because the drawing is consistent. But the production value is also low, hence the odd head shapes as well as the not quite harmonious eyes and facial features. But there was nothing particularly unpleasant about them. Eh.

Nothing is wasted on any elaborate setup; the story gets the girls together right away. We get some nice girl on girl action with plenty of kissing, saliva swap and all that. Did I mention that the body proportions were kind odd? Oh and yes, the Force. The Force to break apart the necklace that consists of two star-shaped metalic things locked together. Of course, you know that’s going to come apart at the end of this episode, right? Since it’s a two-part OAV.

Captain Obvious has been screaming his/her lungs out miles back. Being a Yuri fan, this passes my test just fine. But other than that, I can’t remember anything that would earn high merits from me. Check it out  if you like.

P.S. Oh and yes (YES), one of the girls wears nothing underneath her school uniform skirt! Wonderful! Except we don’t get to see ANYTHING!

P.S. 2 – I didn’t realize that this show counts as a fall 2010 show.

With the recent release of Edgar Wright’s live-action adaptation of Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, it looks like an old disconnect has come back in some respects to haunt fandom once again. Whether or not this was a factor in the film’s lackluster performance at the box office, it is clear that beyond the film’s niche leanings, there is also the phenomenon of not having the most “heroic” of central characters. Scott is jobless, stays in an enclosed studio apartment, and shares a bed with his too-cool roomie, Wallace(who owns practically everything in said apartment) , and clearly has no plans in the long term. In fact, aside from video games, having an underaged girlfriend, and playing bass in his little garage outfit Sex Bob-Omb, there’s really little to our hero that makes him such. And this is what we are essentially stuck with as love at first sight hits the mind cycles like an N2 mine. And yet this is all by design, to the detriment of many. The tendency to take a central character, and to shape them into something less than a clearly sympathetic lead is often a risky proposal in any medium, but when executed with style and balance, something can indeed be savored. And how does this apply to the worlds of anime and manga? Well, it can almost easily be said that the origins of many such stories can be traced here with equal ease.

Looking over the decades, and seeing through the often parodied cliche of the ever-unflappable hero with a desire to be “the best”, it can also be said that a saturation of such types has its very own shadow counterpart, the loser hero. Not merely comfortable with the moniker, anti-hero, these types, while having goals of their own, are often far too shortsighted, too easily distracted, or focused elsewhere to ever truly be considered heroes in any common sense of the term. They don’t take on enemy after enemy in a protracted battle royale for ultimate glory, nor do they completely embrace the power of change toward a brighter future. In fact, very often, they aren’t very heroic at all.

So why is it that they continue to have large followings despite the glares & sneers of disapproval of so many? Well the answers can be both traced to both contemporary society’s own reception of the so-called “least of us”, as well as a deep seated need for recognition of the simpler, quieter defining moments in the lives of certain individuals. It’s a quasi-response toward feelings of alienation, and disaffectedness akin to those of a young Holden Caufield, uninvolved, unimpressed, and aching to be heard regardless of the direction of the winds. Taking the time machine back to the early days of Gekiga manga, where the pratfalls of ordinary folk, with their own internal strife often enveloping their fates with the power of a black hole. Daily life, inner city dregs, and the smoky skies of industrialized society rule intersecting lives without heroes, but many interesting lives with which to explore. Whether Tatsumi knew what kind of mutations would come from his then fresh battle cry against the ever numbing assault of super robots, detectives, and action heroes or not, the influence upon later works can be seen in many well-known central characters.

Can one imagine Go Nagai’s iconic Akira Fudoh without the influence? Heck, in Japan, even Spiderman had his share of problems.(as beautifully captured here in Jason Thompson’s amazing new post.You thought Peter Parker had it bad.) A land recovering from such dramatic changes over recent decades naturally needed an outlet for them that didn’t exclusively float away into mere flights of whimsy & easy answers. Something truly had to give in regards to those less regarded, the reluctant, the daily warriors aching to see it through for another day. Which is why when Gundam first landed in Japanese homes, the very nature of Amuro Ray was something unprecedented, even for a Yamato-era series. A hero nowhere near as interested in the fate of those around him, but of those closest. There was a scrappy, everyboy feeling to the proceedings that helped pave the era of realistic mecha anime, naturally leading to the ultimate expression of this disaffected archetype, Shinji Ikari.

And for years, it came to be long debated right at the gate. Many viewers to this date cannot watch Shin Seiki Evangelion merely because the lead character is so caustic, and incapable of reaching beyond himself. And yet it spoke to so many in an unprecedented manner, exposing a spirit not only reflective of post-bubble Japan, but of a general societal malaise. To see the sheer number of international fans (US fans included) recept to the characters of this series in such a manner, even as it takes a page from Tatsumi’s book of urban isolation is telling. Many wished to not merely see the boy pilot’s evolution from troubled introspective, and into a more classic hero, only to be denied by design in an even more unprecedented move by the show’s director. But the aim remains the same, to begin a character’s arc at the lowest point is a classical method in genre fiction. But in Evangelion’s case, it is less an arc than a case study. That one of a kind look into the mind of one incapable of seeing the world in a pluralistic sense, and more longing of some unseen, ordered universe, which jibed well with many fearing the coming millennium, and a potential cerebral meltdown ala Pink Floyd’s The Wall.

And yet it is a stunt that can only work so many times, which is why the loser hero is often more suited to be a comedic lead where the stakes are lower, and the fan service can be high! When the loser hero gained traction in the late 70s, it only took one mangaka’s central pervert to pave the way for an entire generation of lucky zeroes. Ataru Moroboshi, the insatiable, aimless lowlife son of the average Japanese family became the prototypical harem lead with Urusei Yatsura. And what makes this particular character so unique in this pantheon of service is that his unrepentant nature is rarely to never deterred. Even with the ultimate prototypical alien girlfriend, it isn’t enough. And even as the whole town had had their lick at beating this boy to a bloody pulp, it never seems to be enough. It is practically a metaphor for sexualized Japan’s own inability to grow past it’s own middle school period. And yet, the fans clamored for more as Takahashi continued to refine the loser hero with Yusaku Godai from Maison Ikkoku.

Almost setting up what will likely be the final mold for the harem lead, struggling student, Godai while not dealing with a vending machine selection of potential mates, has direction issues that continue to deter him from being a typical seinen hero. Whether it be school, or his landlord, Kyoko Otonashi, Godai’s choices are often more base, and not as concerned with the greater struggles of a would-be college student. The manga & anime’s leanings coalesce into realms unexpected, and side less with what most would expect regarding the initial setup. A bittersweet set of choices makes Ikkoku into something truly brave in the gardens of anime love geometrics, and has yet to be executed with as much sensitivity or irony.

The Takahashi Loser Hero Evolution Scale:

Which leads us to where it can all go wrong. When the loser becomes so unyielding, so childish, so incapable of sympathy that it can only end in bloody histrionics. That’s right. There’s just no other way for these folks to end their journeys but in the requisite bloodletting and screams one saves for a slasher free-for-all. Now without getting into titles, we are talking about the loser heroes who usually and up becoming yandere bait, and sometimes even targets due to their indecisive, unconscionable actions. Now where this comes from internally, I won’t get into here. But I will say that it is a pretty desperate place, and will likely take a strange place in the echelons of otaku museums for future investigation. Maybe then we can all look back, and ask exactly what it was we were drinking back then.

Ahem.

And so the often kneejerk reaction toward protagonists that happen to be less than ideal comes off as not only a little strange (after all, where would Golgo 13, Taxi Driver, or Fight Club, or even Charlie Brown(!!) be without this complex viewpoint?). To not see the connection between our own fallible selves and the at times borderline massive battles of the mundane seems a little shortsighted, and more than a little unfair. To each their own of course. And of course, there has been a recent tendency to allow characters to start from this point, only to wallow in it without an ounce of likeability, nor hint of reprieve from their childish natures,which is also telling of artists & readers. But to see a non-hero from the perspective of those around them can be a rewarding experience (as best expressed in Bryan Lee O’Malley’s comic version of Scott Pilgrim and well implied in the film. To see this expressed stateside is something of an interesting reflection on classic Japanese tropes of these sorts, making it a fascinating counterpoint.). When writers are fully in control of where a protagonist begins, it is vital to consider the placement of it, and in the case of the film in question which owes a great deal to Japanese video games, as well as anime, has a great amount of kinship with many elements of the more comedic loser hero with a tinge of the urban disconnect prevalent in so many classic characters.

Your mileage? Can’t say, but it is a most welcome swipe at the already tired comic book movie format. Now if only other live action anime adaptations would be so lucky.

Big acknowledgments to the works of Antonia Levi.

ソクラテスはキモかった。Socrates wa kimokatta. (Socrates was repulsive). -Friedrich Nietzsche

Ranka Lee of Macross F sings ‘Watashi no kare wa pilot‘ (originally by Lynn Minmay, composed by legendary Hane-Ken). But I want her to sing ‘Watashi no kare wa hikikomori.’ A pilot is a war hero, and evokes certain images: Red baron. Red comet. Amuro, Char, Saotome Alto. But, war hero is as old as McCain’s gray hair.

In the age of 2-D, in anime or dating sims, we make girlfriends. So the characters should sing, “私の彼はひきこもり (my boyfriend is a hikikomori).” Hikky is new hero.

Why am I a hikky? First, I have eisoptrophobia. In other words, I’m spectrophobic. I’m afraid of mirror. Man in the mirror is a kimo-ota, hetare. If you are リア充 ria-juu, (living satisfactory life), you see a narcissist in the mirror, but if you’re experiencing a “perception of failure” as Glenn Beck calls it, you find yourself repulsive. kimoi (repulsive) + otaku = kimo-ota. That is Man in 3-D. Yes, mirror is exactly a reflection of yourself in the 3-D world. That’s why I can’t face the mirror. I think mirror is a measurement of autophobia (self-loathing), just like John Lennon said “God is a concept to measure our pain.” So, God is in a sense our mirror. Confession room has a mirror. That’s why the Japanese put a mirror in a shrine, symbolizing the divine power. The Sun Goddess Amaterasu said, “treat this mirror like you treat me.” The Shinto mirror is just like the all-seeing eye on a dollar bill, or the eye of evil from Lord of the Ring: it has a penetrating power to see through illusions to the truth.

Scopophobia

I can’t see myself in the mirror, and at the same time, I don’t want the public to see me. I’m afraid of being looked. So, I have scopophobia like Morino from Okami san and her seven friends. You know, eye contacts are highly stressful. It causes a great deal of anxiety. Why? Because eyes are like the mirror. It reflects you. Yes, eyes are the camera lens. I know why stars feel uncomfortable when they’re taken pictures by paparazzi. It’s the same. I feel uncomfortable being taken pictures with their natural lens. Everywhere you go, there are cameras. Wal-Mart, parking lot, cross section of the traffic. London is the worst, citizens are constantly being watched. So, I can’t get out at the marketplace, because of agoraphobia, a fear of the market, just like these German shepherds returning from wars. That’s why I need privacy from Orwellian 3-D.

zoophobia

I also have zoophobia. I don’t like beasts including dogs and cats. I thought humans were different from animals, but turned out to be otherwise. The truth is human beings are part of the animal kingdom, so zoophobia includes anthropophobia, a fear of humans. Because of zoophobia, I try to avoid eating meat. Not because of health reason. I don’t want to mix with lower creatures. It’s carnal and bestial. And the meat of beasts makes men violent. Probably macho men are the closest to the beasts since they are the most violent one.

Because I’m a misanthrope, I’m horrified to be in a huge crowd. It wears me down. Women are slightly better than dudes. At least they don’t come off violent and intimidating. More than 90% of violent crimes are committed by dudes. Dudes get really aggressive, you can imagine some sports bar, they always start a fight during football game. Alcohol makes them extremely violent, so I try to avoid alcohol also.

"Boys bullied me a lot in kindergarten."

"Because of that, I still get nervous to talk to boys even today."

Dudes are scary, so I’m also androphobic, i.e., misandrist. Macho men are cruel and brutal, especially Taikukai-kei (jocks), the alpha male type. I’ve long experienced male aggression since preschool like Sae Nakata of Amagami, a very sweet girl. I totally understand what you went through, Sae-chan! Let’s run away and elope together! Anyway, they all give me anxiety. They resort to violence to get what they want. They compete with their horns and fangs to win females. And the strongest gets everything. Winner-takes-all, just like American electoral college, an embodiment of crappy machismo. Thus, sex is limited to few men, that’s why men become aggressive. If sex becomes more available, then violence will drop. I’m not asking for orgy, but at least freer sex. If sex is free, why need violence? It’s already been seen in muriquis’ world, so let’s liberate sexuality in human society. Yes, free skinship! True freedom! But that won’t probably happen in my life time.

Sociophobia

Therefore, I am afraid of society run by machismo. So, I’m a sociophobe. That’s why I wear a mask when I go out. People must have thought I was wearing it to avoid SARS or swine flu, but no. It was to hide myself from the public eyes. And I don’t want to be looked directly into my eyes, so I wear shades as well. But avoidant personality is not recognized as a disability. Mentally challenged people get assistance. Mental illness is well recognized. But socially challenged people such as hikky don’t get recognized but blamed as lazy bastards, useless waste, and the burden of society although social illness is also a handicap.

Shouldn’t we be able to get a wheelchair parking? Shouldn’t we be able to get charity…salvation? For the sake of Assumption of Maria-sama…

Back in a minute…