Lost in America: Anime & More

Mushibugyou - 07

2013-05-21T11:35:00.000+09:00

The bugs are getting bigger, right alongside the plot.

No Haiyore! as a dance partner for Mushibugyou this week, but that's fine - I'm more than happy to give this series its own post. Occasionally I get one right, and I think I did when I pegged this series as a keeper despite a generally poor reaction to the first episode from manga readers. Mushibugyou still has the things going for it that sold me on the premiere - a terrific soundtrack, attractive visuals, and a great sense of fun. And it's added a deceptively genius hand with plot and character development. I really love the way this series has patiently parceled out exposition, expanding then plot only after it had introduced the cast and given the audience some buy-in with the characters. In terms of pacing, most far more touted series could take a lesson from this one.

As for that plot, it's really picking up, and all of the elements teased in the first six episodes are starting to come into play. One of them is the Insect Magistrate herself (I'm assuming it's a her), who up to now has only been a mysterious figure behind a bamboo screen who communicates with Kotori via a tinkly little bell. Well, she finally has a face - a very odd one - and the voice of Megumi Han. The character is still shrouded in mystery, but it's interested that she chose to leave her cloistered space and walk about the compound only when she assumed everyone was gone. Whether this means no one is ever supposed to see her face I don't know - she says herself later that no one is supposed to touch her, but she doesn't seem all that upset that Jinbei has now done both.

Jinbei has systematically converted everyone in the cast to his friendship harem with his preposterous levels of earnest cheerfulness, and the Mushibugyou is the latest to fall under his sway. He's off on a sake run while the others are called into battle to face the biggest insect we've seen so far, a "fortress insect" - a rhinoceros beetle, naturally. Thus, he's left behind and in fact, never at any point has a clue the "Summer War" is going on in Edo. Instead, he sets himself to finding a good spot for the Magistrate - who says she can never leave the compound - to watch the famous Sumida River fireworks which mark the start of summer. As a reward for his efforts she eventually gives him one of the tassel bells off her hat, which I assume is going to be a significant moment going forward.

As for that beetle, this is apparently a ritual in Edo - every summer a fortress insect descends on the city, and the Insect Magistrate's office has a well-established plan in place. Effectively, Mugai fights the bug while everyone else evacuates the populace - many of whom, it seems, take to enjoying the ritual as just another part of Edo's summer pageantry like society swells watching a Civil War battle from a nearby hilltop. Rhinoceros beetles are practically big enough to feature on this show in real life (up to 6 inches long) but basically harmless - though certainly impressive (they're popular pets for young boys in Japan, who can even buy them from vending machines). The mountain-sized one here provides Mushibugyou a chance to deliver its most impressive set piece yet in Mugai's battle with it, which eventually sees him cutting off its horn and absorbing it into his katana, which he then uses to cut the beetle in half. Mugai seems pretty much indestructible at this point, though I wonder if that's going to be put to the test before we're done. And just who's going to cart away a carcass the size of a small town?

The last piece of the plot puzzle - that we've been teased with, anyway - is the blonde who's one of Mugai's old cohorts, and it seems we're finally going to get her story next week. She's excessively interested in the Magistrate herself, who's informed her retainers that the insects are behaving strangely this year, and that she's going to follow the summer tradition and "seal herself away" early. I'm not sure just what this means but it's clearly more than significant, and tied in to the central mystery of just why these giant mushi came into the existence in the first place - which not even the son and heir of the Shogun himself has any answers to.

Game of Thrones - 28

2013-05-20T22:27:00.001+09:00

"Second Sons"
I know I've had the odd bit of criticism for Game of Thrones over the last three seasons - as a fan of the books it would be almost a miracle not to - but more than anything, I think you have to marvel at how this series consistently brings it. In many ways I think it could be argued that this series is even harder to adapt than the supposedly impossible-to-adapt Lord of the Rings - it certainly has more characters and storylines to balance, and much less of a conventional good and evil narrative to cling to. But GoT manages to tell a cogent and compelling story, week after week.

I think it's also worth singling out the adaptation for the way it reworks the novels into a form that works with episodic television. I love the artful thematic structure it gives to many episodes - we saw it last week with "The Wall", and "Second Sons" is an even better example. Of course it's the name of the sellsword company Danerys is dealing with in Yunkai, but trace the episode from start to finish and you see it repeated over and over:

The Hound, Sandor Clegane
Tyrion Lannister
Stannis Baratheon
Samwell Tarly

In the world of Game of Thrones (and indeed, most any medieval setting) being a second son is a considerable burden, both for rich and poor. Second sons generally don't inherit their fathers' lands, titles or business - and very often, don't see much of their affection, either. This episode (which thematically could and perhaps should have included Jon Snow, for that matter) was a tale of these outsiders, cast aside and disrespected if not outright disdained by fate.

"Second Sons" was also the most tightly focused Game of Thrones episode since "Blackwater", with the entire episode spent on three storylines apart from short bookends at either end of the episode. But those bookends were important, starting with Arya's meeting with Sandor Clegane. Of all the characters in GoT, The Hound is among the most misunderstood - though be brings much of it on himself, no doubt. In truth it's a stretch to call him a good man, but as he tells Arya, "There's far worse than me." She's stunned when he says he plans to take her to The Twins, and her family rather than King's Landing ("Fuck Joffrey. Fuck the Queen."). And even more when he reveals that he saved Sansa from rape and violence on many occasions. I'm saddened that the excellent Rory McCann hasn't been given a chance to shine, as the Hound isn't as prominent as he was in the books, but he's likely going to get his opportunity now.

The first of the three major settings this week is King's Landing, where Tyrion is preparing to wed Sansa. This entire scenario is every bit as dreadful and uncomfortable as it should be, but the sad thing is Tyrion is a far better man than the one Sansa was almost forced to marry, if only she could see past her shallow prejudices. He wants this no more than she does, and Shae's constant presence only makes things that much worse (and more uncomfortable for the viewer). There's one moment in the episode where Tyrion makes Sansa laugh - when he asks her if she drinks when and she replies "When I have to." his respons is "Today you have to."

Tyrion was probably the standout of the first two seasons, but he's been somewhat flat this season, outshined by other characters - but this was his breakout moment. There was never any doubt of Peter Dinklage's ability to be as good as the material he's given to work with, and the wedding day is pretty brilliant stuff. There's the white-hot venom from Cersei to Margaery, with whom she shares the cautionary tale of "The Rains of Castermere" - the story of the Reynes family, and what happens when you cross Tywin Lannister. There was the wedding itself, with Joffrey in his finest cruel and vile humor, taking Tyrion's step-stool away and threatening to rape Sansa on her wedding night. Tyrion grows increasingly drunk as the hideous occasion drones on, finally threatening to cut off Joffrey's cock - though he's sober enough to step back from the edge and laugh it all off at his own expense.

Best of all, though, is the scene in Tyrion and Sansa's bedchamber - tragic, tense, brutal to watch. Tyrion's skin may be thick but he's not above being hurt, and seeing Sansa's obvious disgust cuts him deeply. As she slowly undresses and he stares at her the tension mounts, until finally he stops her - promising they won't share a bed until she wishes it. "What if I never wish it?" she asks. Tyrion doesn't respond, only smiles and offers "And so my watch begins." Sansa doesn't realize how lucky she is, truth be told.

In Yunkai, Dany has her first meeting with the Second Sons (this sequence is much rearranged from the books), a sellsword company hired by the slavers to protect them from Dany's Unsullied army. There are two Captains and a third man, a Lieutenant named Dario Naharis (Ed Skrein, channeling a young Fabio). We continue to see Danerys' evolution as a leader, but there's no question that she's often helped by the power of her beauty - and so it is with Dario Naharis, who also sees in her the potential for many future successful battles and riches to be won. Dany is at this point a curious blend of naiveté and cunning, of idealism and raw practicality. She's very much a work in progress, and cutting a swathe through the slave states beyond the Narrow Sea is a graduate-level training program for the task she has before her.

Getting some much needed screen time is Stannis and his thread, as Melissandre welcomes Gendry to Dragonstone. I'm not a huge fan of the way this storyline has been changed for the adaptation, and of the fact that it finds a way to mine yet another needless kinky sex scene out of it. But it does offer us a terrific scene between Stannis and Davos, still in his dungeon trying to learn how to read. Davos is a really compelling character, a profoundly decent and courageous man who never loses sight of his duty to speak his mind to his Lord. Stannis knows full well what Melissandre has in mind for Gendry, and Davos catches on quickly enough. He also catches on to the fact that the reason Stannis chose this of all days to visit him and offer him a chance at freedom is because there's a part of Stannis that's as horrified by what his sorceress has planned as he should be.

This is the sort of scene that's desperately needed to give some balance to Stannis' character, which has been somewhat one-dimensionally pathetic in the TV version. He, like Dany and indeed all who seek to rule Westeros, is faced continually by hard choices, of trying to justify means by the end in sight. Davos' undying faith in Stannis and his willingness to speak his mind even when it might cost him his head ("Bordering on none" is how he describes his regard for his own life) are like the last lifeline connecting Stannis to the ideals he started this struggle with. In a sense I think Davos sees Stannis as the person Stannis would like to be, and usually isn't. And it's apparently Davos' intervention that spared Gendry temporarily from being sacrificed ("I'm not a learned man. Is there a difference between killing and sacrifice?"), though his actual fate is hardly a pleasant one. Stannis instead asks Melissandre for proof of the power in a King's blood - and as a test, he utters three names as he tosses the leeched filled with said blood onto the fire.

Finally, we have a short but truly superb visit North of The Wall, where Sam and Gilly are making their way with agonizing slowness towards Castle Black. Sam is another one of those characters who stands out like an odd sock in this cast, and his conversations with Gilly about baby names and such are both funny, sad and rather moving. He can't even get a fire started or properly explain the concept of given and family names to Gilly, but when he pleads with her not to name her baby "Randall" - his father's name - it's clear she understands Sam on some level. The climax is a gathering of crows on the snowy night, as Sam and Gilly huddle inside a ruined hut (she ends up starting the fire). In a marvelous slow build of suspense the crows outside become louder and louder, prompting Sam to investigate, then stop in an instant - as a figure appears in the trees, slowly making its way towards Gilly and the baby.

This is a moment readers of the books have been waiting for - and for a while worrying we might not see - and it doesn't disappoint. It's scary as hell when the White Walker appears, and shatters Sam's sword before sending him flying. As he closes on Gilly and baby, Sam turns to the one weapon he has left - his small Dragonglass dagger - and to his astonishment one blow from it causes the White Walker to shatter like glass and scatter like snow in the wind. Yes, Sam the Slayer has arrived at last - and he showed great courage when he had to, considering he had to assume his attack would be a futile one. As Mark Twain said, courage is simply the willingness to be afraid and act anyway, and we've seen courage in the oddest places at times this season.

(Note: Game of Thrones is on hiatus next week for Memorial Day)

Suisei no Gargantia - 07

2013-05-20T11:41:00.000+09:00

The main plot may have been deferred, but the debt has started to come due.

I don't want to take up this post rehashing the last two episodes, but the two subjects are linked pretty closely and I think the question of what was accomplished in episodes 5-6 is an important one. In one sense it seems like a very odd choice to have fully detoured for two episodes (minus the last 10 seconds of episode six) and then jumped back into the story as if nothing had happened. And, well - it is. But I think the issue isn't that what happened was beside-the-point - the issue is with the execution. Those two episodes should have been one episode (#6) and the transition between the Hideauze storyline and what happened should have been smoother, in both directions.

A lot of this comes down to what kind of series you think Suisei no Gargantia is, and a lot of that comes down to the involvement of Gen Urobuchi. Absent hard evidence to the contrary I'm assuming his role is the conventional "Series Composition" one - write a few eps (usually the first and last), and supervise the general direction of the story. It's only unusual because that's not the way Gen usually works, but then, thematically Gargantia as a whole isn't either. Again, I'll take him at his word when he says this is a different sort of series - one directed towards teenagers and young adults just beginning their lives.

As such, I think what happens with Ledo (especially last week) is quite relevant because I think to some extent Suisei no Gargantia is intended to express the alienation of the current generation of young adults in Japan. In this instance quite literally, as Ledo is an alien on his ancestral home world - but I think that symbolizes the way many young Japanese feel. They have no connection to the world their parents made for them - their parents struggles and their prejudices mean little to them, and they enter a world where the virtual guarantee of lifelong economic security their parents and grandparents had is denied them. Of course they feel alienated - they're forced to make their way in a world someone else made, and they don't share its values. Japan is perpetually a struggle between the old and the new, between tradition and change, and I think the way Ledo feels as he struggles to make a life for himself is meant to express that. The frustration at the way he's "mismatched" to this world, the first feelings of serious romantic love, loneliness, intellectual curiosity - I think these are different themes for Gen to be putting on the front burner, and I think he should be taken at his word about what he hoped to accomplish with this series.

So where does that leave us now, as the plot has kick-started again? I think those expected a quick turn towards conventional Gen brutality, nihilism and despair are going to be disappointed - not least because I don't expect him to write another episode before the finale, but also because I don't think that was ever his intention. I do feel as if the way the two-episode meander was handled has robbed the show of some of its magic, and I didn't find this episode to be as gripping as the first four (the last of which remains the best anime episode this year, probably). Nevertheless, I think the series is in very interesting territory and I think the questions it's posing are genuinely interesting, and worthy of a Gen series. As we all know Gen loves to pose moral and ethical questions in all his works, and he's very good at doing so - it's my personal opinion that he generally punts on trying to answer them. What will be the case here?

The fundamental practical question is the underpinning of the moral one - just what are the Hideauze? The Gargantians call them "whale squids" and to them, they're something between a sea monster and a Kami. They're feared, yes, but also worshipped and revered as Gods. Chamber has confirmed that, genetically, they're identical to the creatures the Galactic Alliance has been fighting in space. So while it's hard to blame Ledo for killing one on his salvage expedition with Bellows, it's equally hard to blame the Gargantians for being horrified when he does. After all, they have no reason to attack the whale squids, who apparently never bother humans unless they're attacked first. And being a relatively primitive culture technologically, they're susceptible to real harm if the squids do become hostile (as we see hard evidence of later in the episode).

What's the truth of the matter? At this point I don't think we have enough information to say. It would be easy to say the Gargantians are right and it's unwise to pick a fight, but Ledo's theory that the Hideauze simply haven't attacked the humans because they're too primitive is not unrealistic. The Commodore's response when a shoal of squids come at the fleet (which suggests an intelligence at work) is to kill all the engines and declare total silence, which suggests the squids are attracted to energy or artificial light. And then there's the seemingly rampant belief that the whale squids' territory is loaded with "treasures" from the ancient world - which in this instance could be conjectured to be technological advances (weapons or otherwise). On the other hand, Chamber informs us that the language of the Galactic Alliance has no words for "co-existence" or "prosperity". Perhaps they started this fight in the first place, or perhaps the squids somehow left Earth when humans did (some kind of "arc" project?) and evolved into the enemies we see in the premiere.

What all this leads to is the alienation issue again. This is not Ledo's home, and these are not his people. He sees the world differently than they do - for him, it's survive or be destroyed, and peaceful co-existence is a concept beyond his comprehension. The Garngantian way of thinking has worked adequately for them, but they seem to be running in place, and it's the human way to want to move forward and expand (for better or worse). The conflict over the whale squids brings this to a head, and the Gargantians' feeling that Ledo has brought them big trouble is quite justifiable from their circumstances. It's only Ridget's gun pointed at his head that keeps him from attacking the squids when they approach the fleet, and the implication seems to be that he's reached a point where he can no longer stay with them without compromising his ideals to a degree he finds unacceptable. But can they simply turn a blind eye and let him leave if his intention is to destroy as many whale squids as he can before they destroy him?

Worse still, Ledo's presence seems to have fundamentally altered the dynamic in Gargantia and shattered their unlikely stability. The designated asshat character, Pinion, has a more sinister role than it appeared - his brother was likely killed by whale squid, and in Ledo's hatred of them he sees a natural ally in exacting some payback and getting rich in the process. And this has emboldened Flange (Tsuda Eizou), who controls enough ships so that his departure would cripple Gargantia's defenses, to likewise petition to leave. In this we see how tenuously Ganrgantia's survival is balanced on the head of a pin, and how little it would take to effectively destroy it as a collective body. It's been telegraphed for a while that the Commodore, in failing health, would give way to Ridget at some point - and the crisis seems to have brought us to that moment. She's going to effectively face the dissolution of her country if she allows the others to leave - and it all starts with Ledo, who she likely could only prevent from departing by killing him. It's going to be very interesting to see how Gargantia manages to tie the larger plot in with the central theme over the next few eps - more than in most series, they're quite distinct from each other, and we've already seen evidence of the narrative difficulties that's caused.

Doctor Who Season 34 - 08 (Season Finale)

2013-05-20T00:28:00.002+09:00

"The Name of the Doctor"

Bring on November 23rd.

It's been an uneven season (or half-season) for Doctor Who. Let's just be honest - it's been a mediocre one. Only "Hide" and Neil Gaiman's "Nightmare in Silver" were solidly above-average episodes by the standard of the Tennant/Smith era. And Clara has turned out to be a bit of a disappointment as Clara - her chemistry with The Doctor never materialized, and there was something in Jenna Louise Coleman's performance that was a bit off-key, a false note. Amy and Rory have been terribly missed.

Thankfully, then, the season has capped off with a very good finale - making the last two eps of the season arguably the best. It seems pointless to warn of spoilers when they've been floating around the internet for a week thanks to the Blu-ray blunder, but for the record - I'm about to talk about the ending. To get the two big questions out of the way: yes, we do get a definitive answer about who Clara is, and no, we don't find out The Doctor's name. And thank goodness for that, I say - I never especially wanted to know it, as finding out would surely be an anti-climax and it would seriously dent his mystique.

Clara's secret nature is, in fact, somewhat anti-climactically for all intents and purposes revealed in the first 30 seconds of the episode. She's "the impossible girl" who goes goes throughout space and time, always saving The Doctor. The rest of the episode is more or less a discourse on how that came to pass, with significant supporting roles played by Vastra, Jenny and Strax (who I wish was The Doctor's full-time traveling companion). We also get another appearance by the scenery-chewing Richard E. Grant as The Great Intelligence, who's behind the major events of the episode, this time backed up by "Whispermen". They're quite scary but eerily reminiscent of a certain demon from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Oh well - Joss Whedon is a fan, so he probably won't sue.

I'm not going to talk too much about the plot, which isn't the strength of the episode and doesn't really hold water from a logical standpoint. Suffice to say it involves The Doctor visiting his own grave on Trenzalor (never take Trenzalor without consulting your Doctor) - a problem, as apparently for a time traveler visiting your own grave is as far on the wrong side of the tracks as you can go. T.G.I. has it in mind to enter The Doctor's "tomb" - a writhing mass of light strands that represents the "scar" his time travels have caused over the Centuries - and rewrite The Doctor's history, turning all his victories into defeats. It actually turns into Grand Central a bit - first Clara follows T.G.I. in there to foil the plan by saving The Doctor from all the times he's about to be screwed, and then The Doctor follows her inside to save her from, well - dying and stuff.

As premises go it's pretty far out there, but it's a fairly respectable explanation for why Clara has had the strange journey she has. What really stands out is Clara's "interactions" with the previous 10 Doctors (sorry, no Paul McGann, sadly) which bookend the episode. This is all done through the magic of stock footage, and the effects people do a nice job matching Clara's appearances to their respective eras - though it's just possible that Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant were actually present. It feels a bit like an early 50th Anniversary special - it may be as much of the first 9 Doctors as we're going to get. We also get a dose of River Song, which I never really look forward to. There's been much debate of late over what constitutes a Mary Sue, but I can't imagine anyone arguing against River being one. Apart from one or two grimace-inducing moments, though, she manages to stay out of the way of the good stuff.

The big whopper comes at the very end, the last thing The Doctor and Clara see inside his time stream. It's a man who's apparently The Doctor - except he isn't. Smith's Doctor says "I said he was me - I never said he was The Doctor." This man is played by no less than John Hurt, a huge name that was miraculously kept out of the press until last week, and he's cleverly introduced as "Introducing John Hurt as The Doctor". Just who he is - Twelve, or The Valeyard, or someone else altogether - we'll have to wait until the 50th Special to find out. Depending on the answer to that question, it doesn't take a math genius to figure out we're going close to a very important number in Doctor Who mythology.

All in all this was a very good effort. Murray Gold's soundtrack is his best work of the season, and it was a treat to see geeky stuff like Clara telling William Hartnell which TARDIS to steal. I'm generally not a fan of Steven Moffat's inclination to constantly deconstruct the series mythology, but this one felt on-point - philosophically, spiritually, it was a Doctor Who episode. And if the goal was to stoke interest in the 50th Anniversary Special, mission accomplished - though for me, the notion of seeing David Tennant back in the role was already more than incentive enough.

Ore no Imouto ga Konnani Kawaii Wake ga Nai 2 - 07

2013-05-19T20:56:00.001+09:00

Flawless? Hell, no - but that was certainly the first episode of the season where Oreimo felt like the show I liked so much two years ago.

It just wouldn't be Oreimo 2 if it didn't make me cringe or howl with outrage at least once or twice, but this episode definitely delivered more on the positive side of the ledger than any this season. As for our hero, Kyousuke has descended deep into the pit of creepy losers this season - or maybe he was just as much a creepy loser in S1 and I just didn't see it - but I almost forgive all of it when he said "You want to touch my boobs, too?" That was definitely the hardest I've laughed at Oreimo this season.

Is it a coincidence that this was the ep in which Kirino appeared the least and also the best of the season? No, but for all the temptation to be a smart-ass about it, there's a lot more to the issue than it seems. Yes, Kirino is annoying and extremely unlikable, but the real issue is twofold. First, her presence turns Kyousuke into the most disgusting and pathetic version of himself. Seriously, that wallpaper - just what the hell are you thinking? Second, Kirino's presence crowds out all the elements of the series that are far more appealing. She's a big, powerful and disruptive presence, and when she's on stage there's just no chance for anyone or anything else to flourish. There's a saying about multi-candidate races in politics - "There's only so much oxygen in the room". And Kirino sucks up most of it when she's inside.

With Kirino largely absent, all the other elements that make Oreimo a much more pleasurable experience get a chance to breathe. First and most obviously there's Kuroneko, whose nascent romance with Kyousuke takes center stage this week. But there's also stuff like a conversation between Kyousuke and Manami, whose relationship has a different dynamic than any other in the series. And there's the club, which provided some of the best moments of the first season in the BD extra eps (not coincidentally, with Kirino absent) but has been almost entirely forgotten this year. For pure comedy the clubroom might be the most consistently entertaining setting in Oreimo, and this episode was no exception. I'm not sure the addition of Kirino's beard Mikagami really brings anything to the mix, but it doesn't ruin it either, and he does prompt a funny moment when he states his astonishment that Kyousuke isn't in fact doing his sister, and an important plot driver when he spills the beans about Kyousuke's comment that he wanted to touch his girlfriend's boobs.

The centerpiece of the episode - and of the series, for now - is of course Shironeko's confession to Kyousuke, or rather its aftermath. There's no two ways about it - Ruri is a highly appealing character, plain and simple. She's funny, she's cute (chuunibyou has never been more winning), and she's fundamentally kind despite her tastes in fantasy. In many ways she and Kyousuke dating couldn't be more logical - yet, I can't shake the conviction that he's going to royally screw it up. We have way too much time left in the series for things to go smoothly, first of all. And while I'd like to believe Oreimo has come to its senses and set aside incest as a credible alternative, I'm not sold - I think that ugliness is still to be heard from. Kirino encouraging Kyousuke to accept Kuroneko's confession - and his doing so - is all well and good, but I still think the two of them are obsessed with each other to an unhealthy degree. Call is sexual or not, I don't think they're capable of extracting themselves from it to the degree necessary for either of them to have a healthy romantic relationship with anyone else.

I'll say this for Ruri, though - it may be pretty bogus for a girl to call her boyfriend "Senpai" but she's darn good at confessing. It's pretty rare in anime to see a character so open and straightforward about what they want, and she was certainly unambiguous in her "greater than the stars and stronger than death" declaration of love. Ruri is a very naive and innocent girl in many ways, and Kyosuke obviously a complete neophyte when it comes to relationships, so even setting aside the incest elephant in the room I think these two would be in for a rocky start. The thing is, as much of a pathetic specimen as Kyousuke can be, he's not malicious - he wants to do the right thing and he's not intentionally trying to hurt anybody. So who knows, maybe there's a chance this thing can beat the odds and work - but even if it does I suspect there are going to be several fits and starts on the way. If that proves to be the meat of the remaining episodes, I'll be more than satisfied - but I have serious doubts it will be.

Hunter X Hunter 2011 - 80

2013-05-19T15:57:00.000+09:00

Once again, that's 10:55 AM. On Sunday. Sleep well tonight, Kids.

Hunter X Hunter continues to pretty well re-define excellence, in ways old and new. Of course it's still brilliant both in terms of writing and the execution of the adaptation - but that's been true for the last 20 months, so nothing new there. But despite doing something radically different in the "Chimera Ant" arc than it did in the 75 episodes that preceded it, it's now doing this better than anyone else is doing it. The schedule is packed with series trying to be terrifying and thrilling, in the full range from very good to awful, but none of them can really match H x H for pure fearless brutality and horror. It's not this easy - it can't be - but this show is making it look effortless, and making the rest of the field look bad by comparison.

I thought for a while that this might be the first episode of H x H where none of the four main cast members appeared. As it was, we didn't see Gon's party until the 18-minute mark, more or less - and it didn't stop the episode from flying by in what felt like seconds flat and every one of them thrilling and profoundly unsettling. In fact, the first several minutes of the episode were spent chronicling the backstory of a character who's either dead or about to be, NGL's "Shadow Don" Gyro. It was beautifully told, too, in a world of shadows and monochromatic backgrounds that reflected just how bleak and terrible it felt to the person in question. Gyro had it pretty miserably, all right, especially given who he was cursed with for a father. But some might reasonably argue that it was excessive to spend so much time on a character who's never spoken and seems to be doomed, in any case.

I have my own ideas on that, and it all ties in to the fact that with the Chimera Ants, death isn't forever. It's one of the many terrifying things about them - their victims live on, but in a grotesque and twisted mockery of the beings they were. We've seen this most profoundly in the backstory of Curt/Colt, which should be proof enough for anyone that Gyro's backstory is very much relevant. But we also had Kaito's words at the end of the episode that Chimera Ants and the NGL would be the "worst combination possible". When considering Gyro I can't forget for a moment that the Ant King hasn't been born yet - the Queen is still carbo-loading on human genes - and that Gyro set up the NGL to "make everyone's lives as miserable as his was". Is this the strain of human desire that's going to provide the core of the Ant King's personality and motivation?

As if that weren't an ugly enough scenario, you can add Nen ability to the mix. The ants are learning frighteningly quickly - they're using the guns they took from the soldiers they killed, and Peggy and Colt are puzzling over the methods used to kill the soldiers Pokkle defeated with his Nen arrows. It seems that they - at least some of them - are able to see aura and Nen (I'm not sure just why this is possible - could be spider eyes, though it seems very likely they've already eaten the Hunters that entered the country before Pokkle and Ponzu). There's been little doubt what fate was going to befall Pokkle's group, but my goodness it was terrible to see. First a beheading, with the victim living long enough to scream in terror, then a head bitten off by Pike (Yamanaka Masahiro). Pokkle does his best with his somewhat modest Nen ability, seemingly getting the better of Pike, but Zazan's sneak attack seals his doom.

In a way it seems as if poor Ponzu is the lucky one - she, at least, was shot to death before she was devoured. She gets off a message (the use of the Japanese Yuubin Kyouku logo on her bee-mail would be cute under other circumstances, but here it's just tragic) before she meets her end. Sadly Pokkle had the right idea - he knew he was overmatched and was just trying to escape the NGL and warn the world of the danger. Pokkle's fate is seemingly to be devoured by the Queen herself, with probably disastrous results. What a terrible construction these creatures are - even in the case of Colt. He retains the purest of his noble attributes - he's smart, loyal and fiercely protective. But now instead of Reina - whose name he remembers this week - it's to the the Ant Queen and her terrible struggle. He more than any of the Chimera Ants seems to at least have the potential for a real internal struggle - perhaps he's retained enough of his humanity that as he remembers more and more, he may come to rebel against the cause he now gives absolutely loyalty to. It's notable that he's already shown mercy to humans on two separate occasions.

It should be no surprise that an episode even an edgy and psychologically dark series like Hunter X Hunter titles "Evil x and x Terrible" would be a brutal one indeed. It's a measure of just how bad things are that after Kaito receives Ponzu's final message, he flat-out asks the boys to go with him. You know in his heart he'd like to keep Gon and Killua safe (he does send Stick and Podungo away, superficially to get a message to the world but mostly because he knows they're too weak to face what the road he's following holds), but he realizes things are so bad that he can't possibly spare their strength - and I would imagine he's quite torn about not just allowing them to accompany him into what he knows will be a horrible situation, but asking them to do so. Even knowing their precocious strength my stomach churns thinking about what Gon and Killua are going to face - it's surely going to be hard to watch, and Togashi is not a sentimental mangaka. I don't think we'll be spared much, and this journey - while it's likely to be riveting every step of the way - is going to be the hardest not just for the boys, but for viewers who've come to care for them about the last 80 episodes.

Uchuu Kyoudai - 58

2013-05-19T12:35:00.000+09:00

It's certainly obvious that Kouyama-sensei is one serious space geek.

We've seen lots of pretty direct references to well-known space movies in Spacee Brothers, most prominently Apollo 13 and The Right Stuff (especially during the first exam arc). This time around it's October Sky, the movie and the book it was based on, the memoir of NASA rocket designer Homer Hickham (who, in case there were any doubt, is referenced by name in the episode). There were hints that's where this was going with Vince and Pico's story, but this week's episode almost played like a tribute album.

In that context, I'm a bit sad that I didn't like the episode more than I did. I know exactly where Kouyama was going with this and I can't say how well it might have worked in the manga, but in purely qualitative terms I don't think it was an especially effective turn for the anime. The original is a good film, not a great one (the book is better) but the problem is, that story was set in the late 1950's. Guessing at Vince and Pico's ages (I would actually have thought Pico to be older before all this started, but perhaps that chalks up to the obvious difference in their lifestyles) and the series timeline, I'd place the flashback scenes in this ep somewhere in the first decade of the 21st Century.

Theoretically, that shouldn't be a problem. In practice though, it makes the story feel a bit trite - like a somewhat caricatured view of American culture from a Japanese perspective. 50 years makes a difference, and mining towns like the fictional Pothill, Minnesota, were nearly all on the decline by the early 2000's. It's not unrealistic that the fathers of 15 year-olds with big dreams would be pushing their sons to think practically about their futures, but with the handwriting on the wall I'm not sure most Dads weren't pushing their sons to find a future outside the mining industry. And kids with terrific grades (like Vince and Pico apparently had, not surprisingly) certainly wouldn't have a problem getting into a decent college. The broader theme of big dreams clashing generationally with adults trying to crush them is certainly still a valid one - I just felt the execution was a bit clumsy.

The wild card in the flashback scenario is Rick, the third boy in this idyllic American pastorale. He, Pico and Vince have made 15 model rockets, all of which have failed, but it's Rick who provides the optimism and ebullience for the group. He dreams of being the next Gene Kranz, while it's Hickham that provides Pico's inspiration to design rockets, and Vince dreams of following Brian Jay into space. The obvious question is, what happened to Rick? Did he stay behind as the others pursued their dreams? The overtly sentimental tone of the piece and the cinematography seems to hint he may have died young, perhaps in tragic circumstances. Maybe he just ended up being a supervisor at the mine, who knows - but he did come up with the "earnest failure has value" mantra that ended up making the connection between Mutta and Pico.

The earlier part of the episode - the conversations between Mutta and Vince - worked much better for me. In the first place Mutta is the best character in Uchuu Kyoudai and it's usually better when he's prominently featured. It was amusing to see Vince's reaction when Mutta was completely unfazed by his driving (thanks to old Deneil Young). And their conversation about enemies was an interesting one, reflecting the difference in their outlook. For Vincent, it's a pretty basic "you're either with me or agin' me" take, and he lists the media - nor surprisingly - but also the likes of unmanned mission designers and astronomers as enemies. Mutta's observation that the only enemy he has is himself pretty much nails him as a character. He's self-aware enough to realize it, for starters, but he doesn't judge people superficially the way Vince does. There's an obvious bone of contention between the two of them on this issue, most specifically in the person of Sharon - one which Vince confronts Mutta about directly - the surface of which was barely scratched this week. The conclusion of that conversation, more than the conclusion of "October Sky II" and the reveal of Rick's fate, is what I look forward to in the next episodes.

Shingeki no Kyojin - 07

2013-05-19T12:27:00.000+09:00

Best strap the seatbelt on tightly, because we're fully back in JoJo mode...

Damn, but the mystery aspect of this series is really interesting. To be honest I still rarely find myself caring much whenever a character says anything (apart from last week's ep, which was very effective) and I think Mikasa's audience-pandering Knute Rockne moment this week was not nearly so different from Eren's constant GAR proselytizing as his detractors and her fanboys would like to think. But the action is top-notch and the plot just continues to take us deeper into the rabbit hole, and that's more than enough to make Shingeki no Kyojin a good watch.

For whatever reason, the thing that popped into my mind as I watched the major development this week was Soylent Green - or more specifically, its most famous line of dialogue "Soylent Green is people". There's the obvious fact that much of the series is taken up with lovingly patient scenes of merrily smiling titans messily devouring humans, but it goes deeper than that. I still don't know what the connection between the two species is, but I can't shake the feeling that Eren's soul is somehow inhabiting the body of that titan-attacking titan. It's loud, it loves to kill titans - that should be enough evidence right there - but Mikasa's comment that it "sounded like the embodiment of human rage against the titans" was probably the thing that sealed the deal for me.

Of course, I can't back that notion up with hard facts - hard facts seem to be in short supply where Attack on Titan's conspiracies are concerned. But one thing's for sure - that titan is quite different from any we've seen before, and the timing is highly suspicious (as is the fact that as far as I can recall every appearance by a previously unknown type of titan has happened in Eren's presence). Not only is it the first sign we've seen of titans attacking each other, but this one was distinctly more human in its demeanor, musculature, and its attack style. In short - as Mikasa pointed out - it seemed to fight like a person would, right down to the classic boxing stance. Another giant (pun intended) anomaly raising more giant question marks - welcome to the world of SnK. (Whether any of this is on-target or not, please don't refute or affirm anything in the comments!)

Scenarios continue to outstrip character development for me, and we had another excellent one this week. The civilians are safely evacuated, but the soldiers are stuck behind the giant wall without enough gas to scale it. Trapped inside the cage with the tigers, as it were - and the titans have the gas supplies surrounded, along with the support squads who were supposed to get the gas to the frontline troops. It suggests intent on the part of the titans if you ask me - they've headed straight for depriving the humans of their means of escape rather than fanning out through the city to hunt them down one by one - though whether it's individual reasoning on their part (which seems unlikely based on the evidence we've seen) or the more intriguing possibility that they're some sort of hive-mind under centralized control, I couldn't say. Many of the troops have already given up, which leads to Mikasa'a aforementioned JoJo moment. It's a crowd-pleaser, no doubt, though pretty low-hanging fruit from a dramatic standpoint.

More interesting is Mikasa's interaction with Armin, and the way she reacted to the news of Eren's supposed death. She went into dead-eyes mode again, but she didn't abandon Armin and the others, though from everything we've heard from her up to now it seemed as though protecting Eren was her sole purpose in life. Her mission to go off and kill all the titans surrounding the depot - when she knew she didn't have enough gas to do so even if it were possible - certainly had the whiff of an intentional suicide run to it, but it did shame the others into following her into the seemingly hopeless mission. She was certainly right in that no matter the odds against her, they were better than simply waiting until presented with the inevitable choice of suicide or being devoured. It's only memories of Eren - and the thought that if she died, she can no longer remember him - that spur her into fighting for her life, when all else is lost. That and a stray pomegranate (fruit of life?), which certainly offers another example of Attack on Titan's facility with offering up strange and iconic imagery.

If there's a character element that I do find somewhat intriguing, it's Armin. Just what is his role in all this, from the standpoint of character dynamic? Thus far he seems to serve no indispensable purpose apart from living out the "weakling dealing with feelings of inadequacy" trope. Mikasa appears to feel nothing approaching the affection or responsibility for Armin that she does for Eren. He offers no urgent personal motivation, apart from staying with his friends and eventually seeing the outside world. Yet he narrates the story, and his constant presence - even as a seemingly incidental appendage - suggests something more. He has the grace to feel shame over living and watching Eren die (though it wasn't really his fault), and manages to muster the composure to realize that his survival is trivial for the group's chances compared to Mikasa's, which is why he quite rightly gives up his remaining gas to her (“Just leave me one small blade”). Perhaps Armin's role is simply to provide a kind of viewer's perspective in all this, someone who's as frightened and horrified by events in the story as any sane person would be - but I hope it turns out to be something more essential and compelling that that.

Tokyo Diaries – Sanja Matsuri

2013-05-18T23:44:00.000+09:00

And a little Todai, too.
If it’s May there must be a matsuri somewhere today – especially if it’s a Saturday. Today’s happens to be the biggest in Tokyo, the Sanja Matsuri, which draws about 2 million people to Asakusa over three days.

I actually visited this matsuri back in 2010 (pics are on my Picasa page) but that was on a Friday, and quite a different experience. Today was the day for the neighborhood associations to parade their mikoshi around the Shitamachi neighborhoods (much like last Sunday at Kanda Matsuri) where tomorrow is the main event, where the Asakusa Jinja’s three huge mikoshi will traverse the area. That gets pretty intense, apparently – violent even – as locals fight over the right to bear the portable shrines.

Anyway, the diaries are on matsuri overload at this point, so you know the drill. After Sanja I met my friend Mark, who’s lived in Tokyo for about 15 years and is in the doctoral program at Tokyo University (Todai). This weekend is their May Festival – kind of like a giant high school culture festival blown up to brainiac college size. Good fun, and a very nice campus with several Josiah Conder buildings. Nothing there looks remotely Japanese apart from most of the students and the temple-style gate, but a lovely place nevertheless.

Chihayafuru 2 - 19

2013-05-18T12:33:00.000+09:00

Well, that was a surprising turn of events...

Or rather, it would have been if a commenter hadn't spoiled this week's ending after last week's episode. Be that as it may, always lead with the headline - and the banner is definitely, "Mizuswa wins the title". In many ways it contradicts the ineffable laws of sports anime to have a team win on their first trip to the big game, so I was rather expecting Fujisaki to defend and be the bogeyman for Mizusawa to shoot for next year. As some have pointed out most of their elite is third-years, but that doesn't seem to matter to a school like Fujisaki, which is effectively a Karuta factory - they'd already won four titles in a row, after all.

This certainly takes the series' development in an interesting direction. Rion will be the ace and gunning for Chihaya and Mizusawa in the team competition next year, and may be Taichi's opponent in the Class B final. A case can be made for either she or Retro-kun - her coach's "Take the summer and get better" suggests it could be the latter. It also seems to have taken a major goal off the table - really, there's nowhere for the team drama to go from here but down, since Mizusawa is already at the summit of Karuta Mt. Everest. The element that could see more play as a result of that is the third-years expanding their role as mentors, shifting their focus to leaving Mizusawa with a capable Karuta Club after they've left it to Tsukuba and Sumire.

In many ways the final was surprisingly predictable, apart from the actual result. Chihaya won her match, as you'd expect - Tsutomu and Tsukuba lost (though I'd argue Tsukuba fared very well as a Class D against a strong Class A). It came down, as it's been looking like it would for a while, to Taichi and Nishida. Fortunately those two matches were knockouts, especially Taichi's. In a way, it's as if Taichi has been missing in action for most of the season, but this episode was like a throwback to Season One, where his development was so often at the center of the story. All of his demons were in full evidence this week, his self-doubt and fatalism and desperate longing for Chihaya's love. And as it almost always was last year, it was riveting to watch. Mamoru Miyano hasn't been asked to do much this season, to be honest, but it was thrilling to hear him step it up this week.

In a very fundamental way, I think Taichi and his teammates are more interesting to watch as Karuta players than Chihaya - or at least just as interesting. So much of what Chihaya does is based on the spur-of-the-moment - not always her raw physical talents (though those are still her greatest weapon, as her win over Rion proved) but even when she strategizes, it's mostly seat-of-the-pants adjustments based on instinct. As a result I think Chihayafuru has suffered a bit by focusing probably 80% of its Karuta attention this season on her matches at the expense of everyone else's. Nishida is the most experienced and purely strategic of the bunch, and has more than his own share of self-doubt. Tsutomu brings his uniquely analytical perspective, and Kana is always aware of the spiritual tenor and pure beauty of the moment. And of course Taichi, in addition to his fascinating struggles with himself, has a phenomenal situational awareness. He knows exactly what's happening in every game, which cards are left and which are read, the tendencies of his opponents. All of these internal monologues are compelling, and this episode really soared when the camera narrowed down to Taichi and Nishida against the world.

We didn't get as much focus on Nishida's match as Taichi's, but it seems to have been quite close for most of the game. As for Taichi we've seen him chip away and chip away at Ryouga's lead, and it seemed as if the mental control in the match clearly shifted to Taichi. Rarely for him, we saw him use a little gamesmanship to throw Ryouga off his game - long pauses before sending cards, icy glares. More than anything, I think Ryouga had a growing sense that he'd undersold his opponent - and it hasn't been often that we've seen Taichi the one with growing confidence and his opponent psychologically dominated. The pressure eventually forces Ryouga into a rare (especially for a player like him) double-fault - he incorrectly touches a card in Taichi's territory as Taichi correctly captures one in his. This means a two-card penalty, and the match is now tied at three cards each.

It's here when the drama goes up to eleven and the S2 BGM really kicks in. Nishida and Taichi being experienced and the most strategic players on Mizusawa realize their situation - they're down 2-1, and either of them winning matters not a jot if the other loses. As Retro-kun and Hokuo (who I'm guessing won their match, as they were well ahead at the last look-in) look on like proud papas, Taichi and Nishida use the card-synching strategy Hokuo used on them against an unsuspecting Fujisaki. This means that when both their matches end up in luck of the draw (which happens just a bit too often in Chihayafuru to be truly credible) they have exactly what they want - winner-take-all. They've effectively turned the team final into a coin flip, despite being down 2-1 - as brilliant a move for them as it was for Hokuo against them.

I'll say this for Suetsugu-sensei - she's certainly not afraid to kick in the drama, or to torture Taichi. Naturally the one card remaining in the luck of the draw is Yuku e Moshiranu Kohi no Michi kana - "I do now know where this love will take me". Whether even Taichi with his hyper-senses is aware of the irony of this is debatable, but no poetic moment slips past Kana - as her teammates (especially Sumire) agonize over the tension of the moment, Kana (who's certainly a Chihaya-Taichi shipper if ever there was one) latches onto the meaning behind the words, as always. Suetsugu pours everything into this moment: Taichi pleads for Chihaya - who's fallen asleep immediately after match as usual - to wake up and see his moment in the sun. All of Taichi's teammates - and Taichi - reflect on the fact that he's never had his card read in a luck of the draw. He even - ominously enough - promises God that if it is this time, he "doesn't care if it never happens again". The fact is that even now, Taichi and all of his friends are convinced he's cursed. "The one card I need won't be read. It never is. Is that how my life will go? Is everything I do futile?"

It could be argued that there's a somewhat contradictory message at the end of Taichi's match. It's rare in sports manga to see the big moment come down to luck, but there are to be no miraculous faults or stealing the opponent's card against Ryouga - he's simply too solid a player. Yet luck it is that finally smiles on Taichi - not only is his card read, but Chihaya wakes up at the crucial moment and sees it all happen. What are we to take away from this - has Taichi's problem been bad luck all along? As superstitious as Karuta players are that would be a somewhat strange takeaway for a major character, but the fact remains that Taichi has been in this situation before and the only difference between this and, for example the Nishida match, is whose card was read. We know of course that Taichi largely made his own luck here - he clawed his way back from a large deficit against a higher-ranked player, and seized the momentum and psychological control away from Ryouga by sheer force of will. But will Taichi see it that way - especially considering what happens after the match?

After the emotional team hug, the inevitable moment happens - when the team walks into the corridor, Arata is waiting for them. His silence when Chihaya pleadingly asks if he'd watched their match is all the answer she needs, yet she surely misunderstands the meaning behind his absence. She scolds him, but in a sense she's wasting her words - Arata has already been won over and realized that he's been depriving himself of an important part of his life as both a person and a Karuta player. How will Taichi react to this instance of Arata once again seemingly intruding upon his rare moments of good fortune - will he curse and fate and believe his curse still stands, or will he rejoice at seeing someone he cares for and realize that everything he wants in his life, even Chihaya, is all about what he chooses to do and not about Arata or anyone else?

The individual matches come now, and with 6 episodes remaining seem likely to carry us to the end of the (knock on wood) season. I would be shocked if Chihaya plays at this point - that would make her injury a Hall of Fame red herring - but she'll still be part of the drama as Arata (and Shinobu), Taichi, Tsutomu and Kana, and Tsukuba all go to separate tournaments. I have nightmares of Taichi's promise to God coming back to haunt him as the last card of the Class B final is read, and even with an Arata-Shinobu final looming that's the storyline that still holds the greatest potential for drama - Ryouga has pegged Taichi as "That guy who's on his way up" but as he also says, Taichi has been "kicking around Class B" for a year. Remarkably, Taichi has not lost a match in any of the team competitions this season - that he should be Class B is a lead weight on his shoulders, and his arc can't possibly go anywhere until he takes his rightful place alongside Chihaya and Arata in Class A. I summed up the difference between the two seasons of Chihayafuru this way: "It's still massively entertaining, but I used to have Chihayafuru on the brain all week long because I was so wrapped up in the characters. Now, once an episode ends I don't think about it until the next one starts." This episode marks the first time when I really feel that same sense of anticipation bordering on obsession that I did last season, and next Saturday can't come too soon for me.