Find me another series where witches on broomsticks dogfight mecha; where super robot King Lear fights spirit summon Macbeth in a contest of Shakespearean tragedies… with Shakespeare participating.

From a literary perspective, I’ve always been told: keep your audience in mind. But since I’m not a professional, this is only a partially-accepted piece of advice. Sometimes I follow for the sake of good writing; but there’s no point to creative writing if I’m not writing what I want. So for someone as split-off tastes as me, it can come off oddly niche.

Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon feels like the word of some author who wrote a book completely tailored to his own tastes… then somehow marketed it successful.

I am impressed.

But that’s also exactly where the problem with Kyoukaisen lays. Why this show is almost impossible to understand for most people (because there are people like me who, by and most, do understand it).

Lesse…

Kyoukaisen is Science Fiction x Fantasy x Alternate History. Each genre already has its own barriers of entry. But to combine them?

A nightmare.

Its character references and its plot deals heavily with both the geopolitical situations and history of the 1600 turning point in both the far east (Sengoku era Japan) and the far west (Thirty-Years War & Defeat of the Spanish Armada).

So you need to be an expert in both eastern and western history to understand things… As well as to have reference points to remember thehuge cast of characters.

Then, the fantasy mechanics of Kyoukaisen is completely based off a tangential interpretation of how modern Shintoism works. For the western audience who doesn’t even understand Shintoism to begin with, this takes a long time getting used to.

Anime as a medium is also bad at explaining complex mechanics. People tend not to like watching a ton of talking, after all (this works better in the light novel series).

Finally, to finish it off — Kyoukaisen uses a lot of knowledge fields. Some rather seriously, like the application of reverse-psychology in an argument or referencing one of Excalibur’s (many) origins or battle tactics carried out during the Spanish Armada. Some completely-unseriously, like comparing seiza postures during business negotiations or flipping topics during a debate (isn’t that cheating?).

The fact Kyoukaisen takes it completely seriously and completely not seriously, at the same time, is quite a killer than throws people off.

So in the end, it’s not good writing. In fact, literature folks would consider it an utter train-wrecked disaster.

However, that doesn’t change it from being one of the most creative anime series in recent years. Setting-wise, plot-wise, and character-wise.

How many other places can you find a feminist prostitute, for example?

So what makes me claim I understand this series? I read nonfiction. A lot =P

(There, I made an anime post. Kadian and mangoseller, I hope you’re happy =P)

I recently re-read Kare Kano, for the 4th time in my life — all 21 volumes of it.

I remembered the plotline. I remembered the characters. Yet I couldn’t help but feel mesmerized once more. It shocked me that every time I read this beloved series, I encountered a different experience, felt a different emotion bloom.

It wasn’t story inconsistency. It was a change in the appreciation and understanding of life.

When I was down and depressed, when I recently graduated and was reliving memories, when I was settling into a new house with friends, when I’m lost before the next stage of life. Each time I re-read this series, my situation varied; the people I knew varied.

Each time I re-read this series, I emphasized with different characters and the different life problems they faced.

Sometimes I felt more heartfelt reading Yukino learning that academics wasn’t the only thing to being the student. Sometimes I understood more towards Arima’s intense emo desolation that crept beneath his mask of perfection. This time, the path that struck out most personally was Tonami’s overbearing parents who kept prodding him to follow their desires, and his own desire to walk a path less conventional through life.

It made me realize: the truest of favorites weren’t just  well-written, intellectual, or enjoyable, but because they appealed to our very heart and soul in some way. It was personal. It was nearly explicable, because any attempt to portray through mere words would seem an injustice.

(I remember some people explaining a similar sensation with Revolutionary Girl Utena.)

…And thus, they’ll remain favorites no matter how much time passes, or how many times we relive the experience.

For me, Kare Kano will always remain a top favorite, and I will always be proud of it. Because for such a genre most shrugged off as being merely ‘shoujo’, this series was built around characters worthy of being role models. They enlisted the aid of friends and lovers, but they never relied upon it — independent and self-achieving. They were driven by unique, personal dreams and goals as they struggled through life’s most common problems.

(With the exception of Tsubasa =P)

Masami Tsuda will always be someone I look up to in my writing, in my characterization.

Took me a long time to return here. I simply didn’t feel good each time I looked upon that dashboard.

It wasn’t that I regretted stopping blogging (could be in denial though; I could never tell with myself <_<). But I certainly did recognize the fact that as an ‘animesque blog’, this place had ran out of its value when I had started to force myself to write.

There was no point to writing if one didn’t enjoy every moment of it.

I guess the problem was that I stopped using this place as a blog too early and ended up using it as an editorial, only to realize (at Otakon 2011) that I hate amateur critics — judging works of others when they’ve never made one themselves and experienced both the difficulty and pride involved. Facts can’t be unlearned, and writing here became hypocrisy for me — I tried to keep going for a few posts but it just felt, unnatural. It also made me wish to distance myself from the aniblogger community asap.

Also, too much life junk happened in the past year, like learning why corporate people tend to be so cynical… that’s it. I’m shooting for management for serious now, so I can build a team that I can love again and those within may enjoy the experience with me.

Either way, things do happen in life. I bet I offended some people the way I stopped. Nevertheless, regretting the past doesn’t work. Time to stop.

Time to start using this place as an actual blog.

…

Anyhow, it’s late November. In other years I may be a lot more anxious and a lot more sleep deprived, driven either by approaching exams or NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month).

For once, not so. I’m not even writing. I’m editing. I would say I’ve finished editing but… one can never finish editing. Not as long as one takes pride in one’s own work.

That pride reminded me to finally post it, publicly, on authonomy.com for critique and all.

My first thought was one I asked prior:

I know a lot of people who write for NaNoWriMo, but barely any who would publicly post their work. What’s up with that?

Someone who really enjoys writing shouldn’t be afraid of critique, of honest opinions.

Embarrassing? Sure. But I believe those who enjoys writing also enjoys sharing writing. Take pride that it’s your work and let it flow, be revealed and known. Yadda yadda.

Sure, it’s hard. It’s harder still to receive negative feedback, to realize what you’re doing wrong. But you know what…

For the first time, the first year when I almost shamelessly plugged and shared my fic-writing with friends, receiving their replies (sometimes honest, sometimes not) in return, I realized that my writing also made leaps and bounds in quality. That might sound like self-praising but, it’s also a matter of taking pride in one’s own improvement. I know I have a long time to go, and I’m going to keep taking critique to get there.

Getting praise may help motivation, temporarily. But getting criticism is what really helps. It improves, teaches. Pride in one’s ability, one’s work… that goes a far further, lasts a lot longer.

I really do love writing.

…

The best thing about losing a lot of audience is that once again, I can say whatever I want without worrying over twenty thousand things before every publish click.

Weeeeee~

Lastly, me on Authonomy.

I’ve actually been done for a few days. Just didn’t want to post. “First time” (return) and all.

But whatever. There’s also a harder decision: to keep writing, or to start drawing and designing and all that other stuff I’ve put off until “I finish the first book”.

First… more real life troubles >_>

p.s. this stupid wordpress dashboard is killing me…

Well we’ve finished translating 1st volume and it’s a summer anime, so here’s the review!

Sikorsky really isn’t the best illustrator, but he gets better.

I wasn’t particularly impressed by Campione! when my friend first dragged me onto the project, its first chapter opening up like a typical harem romance-comedy and the second featuring a classic shounen contemporary-fantasy battle. But I was promised GAR enough to slay gods and the mythology to come along, so I kept with it, and for once I was taught not to judge a book by its opening chapters either. It’s still a harem series, but when author Taketsuki Jou decides to fight blasphemy with blasphemy, lead by a male comparable with the demigod heroes of Greece and a heroine that manipulates everyone (especially her teammates) under her fingertips, this becomes quite the creative endeavor into mythology — of Heretic Gods.

Fans of mythology, of superpowered GAR leads, of a harem that just might actually work? Well this is the story for you.

Kusanagi Godou is a high-school boy whose greatest wish is to peacefully enjoy his life, except by a series of coincidences and plothax galore he ‘accidentally’ slays the Persian God of War, Verethragna, and becomes the 7th godslayer residing in the world, usurping Verethragna’s ten incarnations as his own power and ascending to divinity where no mortal man can hope to touch, thus forever dooming his life to chaos — this is where our story starts. Sounds familiar enough to countless light novel adaptions out there?

That lasted until he met the war maiden of Greece, Athena, and discovered just how many gods he truly faced in the form of a single Heretic God — gods angered by the mythology that mankind choose to constrain and defile them with.

But aren’t mythology praises to the gods? Yes, but that’s only when you limit the scope to that of a single culture. In the words of author Taketsuki Jou:

To regard foreign gods as evil spirits, demons, and monsters to be vanquished by one’s own gods; such examples are plenty. It really is blasphemy.

Caught as the only Campione who stood between Athena’s wrath and humanity, Godou stepped up to the plate to confront the maiden of war, the gorgon of snakes, the mother goddess of earth, and etc… all her other incarnations diffused or adapted across cultural, historical, and geological boundaries — origins well researched and explained, albeit creatively bent at times. Facing an endlessly powerful foe, Godou is armed with not just hotblooded shounen determination but also enough adaptability and understanding of his opponent to make even Sun Tzu proud (something quite rare in ani-fandom); not to mention faith in his followers (aka harem).

[Ike Masato] ‘The red devil’ indeed…

Erica Blandelli, his partner and leader of his companions, is a piece of work. This selfish ojou-sama is not only a daring fighter worthy of standing besides a demigod, but is ‘generous’ enough to prod Godou to seduce other girls with party potential for his harem. The fine print? She has to be number one, and she will bully, manipulate, and blackmail the other girls (and Godou) to ensure her absolute dominion. The reason this harem may just actually work isn’t because of the Emperor, but because the Empress rules it. She might send shivers down your spine, but she won’t leave you bored.

Unfortunately for her, Godou, as main male leads always go, is denser than a black hole. Fortunately for her, he attracts girls like one as well (to be fair, so did the other demigod heroes of mythology).

Thus begins the story of Godou and his party’s (mis)adventures in defeating the trouble-making Heretic Gods. It’s not deep, it lacks central themes outside mythological investigations into the origins of blasphemy, but for those who roll along with keeping an open mind, you might just learn something interesting about cultural exchange while having some fun~

P.S. This is in no way a vote of confidence for the anime; I don’t trust Diomedea when it comes to adaptations.

Tyranny may flourish under the wisdom of one.
— Yet unrestrained, it takes but another to ruin the works of all.
Democracy may ensure a balanced hand.
— Yet dissociated, it concedes to the desires of the now and many.

Thus, the Philosopher King shall be united with the Representative Republic.
— Grant the liege his orders, for civilization must advance.
— Grant the people their voices, for the liege must answer.

Revolution is the battlefield on which authority is founded.
Bureaucracy is the battlefield in which progress is endorsed.
— But an Imperator has his allies; he need not walk alone, he must not walk alone.

This was the story of a collegiate corporate scion raised in occupied territory, who stumbled through to the last bastion of mankind, saved by the hands of the blackest ops, and involved with a team that deemed no action too atrocious for their goals, all to rediscover the legacy of a distant Utopian dream that will alter the oncoming struggle for dominance in the fracturing new world.

I mentioned in my last post that I’ve been working on a light novel project and that it was close to being made available for open beta. Well, above is the synopsis, and it’s ready now. Actually been ready for a week after I revived the Projects page.

Avalon Beyond the Eclipse

It’s a scifi/fantasy drama, in a setting I spent a lot of time building that would hopefully be one that truly melds magic and technology, and my themes were definitely somewhat inspired by the series that really left an impression on me: The Twelve Kingdoms, and Crest/Banner of the Stars. Just add some more shoujo elements courtesy of things like Hakushaku no Yousei and this is my production~!

I also returned to my role as an editor on Baka-Tsuki light novel translations, after a friend there dragged me in to help a slowing project — Campione!

It’s actually quite an amazing series~ (and definitely one of the most original action rom-coms I’ve seen; planned for Summer[?] animation). Although due to the lack of staff I’ve doubled up as a translator as well… no better way to reinforce my rarely used Chinese skills~ I’ll put together a review after vol 1 finish translation.

I finally brought up enough courage to log in again…

It’s been a while, and I deeply apologize for those who still follow me for my sudden death and long-time disappearance. Some life issues happened, plus I was a little… traumatized (too strong) by a certain experience with anibloggers during Otakon and wanted nothing to do with aniblogging for a while. I think I may be recovering…

Nevertheless, given my personal and career commitments nowadays, it simply isn’t possible for me to blog anime anymore — Major Arcana as an anime blog is forever dead.

Good thing I never made it to be an anime blog. I think that’s part of where I went wrong was when I pretended to use this place as an anime blog.

In fact Major Arcana originally started up as a project/personal blog, and I fully intend to return it to its roots. I might still write about anime-related stuff every once a while, and definitely try to squeeze time for light novels again (Because almost nobody writes about light novels!!! Does the anifandom read anything without pictures!?!? Honestly the lack of translations for exceptional light novels, especially outside the seinen sector like Hakushaku to Yousei or Saiunkoku Monogatari is one of the greatest tragedies of anifandom!!! /rant). But honestly, there are more than enough people aniblogging as it is.

Far too many… and they don’t need me to squeeze in, and I never did like crowds…

As for projects go, well using Major Arcana as a VNRPG project blog was a chapter of my college that won’t return. But, after I stopped blogging last year, I finally realized what part of me I had to shelve for one-and-half years to make this blog work. My specialty has never been about building my own personality, a skill rather needed for bloggers. Nope, I’d much rather go back to the creation process, work on settings and characters— besides, there are few things that allow one to appreciate others’ stories more than writing some yourself.

In 2011, for the first time in my life, I managed to finish NaNoWriMo.

It’s been going through revisions upon revisions of editing ever since, thanks to my friends whom I (forcibly) drafted~

So there you have it. My love of light novels fully extends to writing them… and that’s where I’ll be taking this blog down again.

But for those who followed me to talk about anime, well I guess this is a (belated) goodbye! \o/ Hope to catch you every so while, still around the sphere.

Somehow, I tend go missing for a while and then finish editing posts in batches xD

[Deisel-turbo]

In many ways, Moshidora could be seen as a fictionalized, dramatized management textbook that started off with pure technicality and eventually brought audience sympathy to the screen. Many of its characters were never given proper depth, and for much of the series it felt more like an academic case study than a story. It’s hardly surprising (in fact I expected it), as the name dictates that the entire theme was centered around a single book. But just as its own Marketing went, it accomplished this goal wonderfully. My only regret is that I didn’t have the chance to watch it years ago— because management skills often come into play way before you expect it.

Ducker’s Management is definitely not just for ‘businessmen in suits’…

Unfortunately, even most managers are not so enlightened. In most workplaces, you’re expected to work because it’s your job, it’s what you’ve been told to do, and that you’re paid to do it. This old-style approach was firmly embedded into society by Taylorism, which believes that people will be satisfied as long as they receive proper compensation. Thus, most motivational tools in our culture all revolve around completion incentives, rather than building trust and fostering the exchange of ideas during the process. Profit » teambuilding, one could say.

Most organizations don’t practice fair process… (They) assume people focus solely on outcomes… Outcomes matter, but no more than the fairness of the processes that produce them. — Harvard Business Review

That’s for organization planning, not team planning — don’t mix.

So instead of relying primarily on winning and reaching the championships as the incentive, like most teams would, Minami (and her book) takes a much better approach: what are you hoping to find in baseball? It’s not merely a question for managers either. In fact, anyone who ever took part in an extracurricular or hobbyist project should have thought of it— the work being done is often genuine, but unlike a real occupation one isn’t getting paid for it. So… how does one keep themselves and others motivated on everything from translation groups to (anime) club presentations to team blogging? What about any other group activity where not everyone might agree?

The best teachers, coaches, and leaders in general are those who make the process enjoyable~

Fair Process isn’t merely a managerial concept, it’s a group decision-making concept. It focuses upon the psychology that people will stay motivated and committed to teams they trust and respect, striving to maintain motivation and initiative through its three principles:

Engagement: To involve individuals in the decisions that affect them, seeking their opinions and reactions; as management has to show respect to members’ interests to receive respect for its own goals. This was central to Minami’s managerial goals in Marketing: it’s not just what the team needs, but what the team members want, and to find that out she has to converse with them as individuals (rather than just a ‘team member’ resource) by engaging them individually.

Explanation: Everyone involved and affected should understand why final decisions were made as they are. Minami realizes early that a key role on any team is Translation, making sure all details (especially disagreeable ones like pulling a pitcher) are properly explained to all parties so no misinterpretations arise. It’s also central to Innovation, as only proper explanations will allow fresh ideas obtained through Engagement, such as the captain’s radical “no bunt no ball” strategy, to become accepted— the team had no faith in it, but they trusted the captain enough to try for the sake of the team.

Translation is particularly important in any technical project — be it the programmer or editor.

Expectation Clarity: Once a decision is made, all rules and expectations must be clearly made to everyone at start; in fact, understanding of the rules is more important than the rules themselves, as it allows members to focus on their tasks by minimizing unnecessary worries and favoritism. Be it boosting the lineup members’ sense of responsibility after Optimization or establishing individual roles in Tiered Management, clarifying expectations is arguably the greatest responsibility of leadership.

Yet despite her work in following the Fair Process, Minami completely focused herself on the completion goal (winning the championship for Yuki) for most of Moshidora. It took her until the end of the series to truly appreciate and understand her work — for a team, the process of getting to the goal is as important if not more so than the goal itself.

Just as the process of learning taught Minami something even more valuable than the concepts that produced the result~

K-ON! doesn’t need it [Diesel-turbo] but maybe now Azu-nyan wouldn’t have to be all alone.

Postnote: Part of the reason I felt so strongly about the series is because I led student development teams on projects before. I was definitely *not* good in a managerial sense, and watching Moshidora left me a lot of regrets on all the things I could have done better.

Cultural shock always interests me— assuming I’m not the one experiencing it xD

Experiencing the different mannerisms of faraway cultures can be bewildering, especially when one has no clue how to interpret or respond to what is obviously an extremely serious gesture. Ikoku Meiro comes as one of the only anime I’ve seen which shows this in full impact, as Yune’s perfectly postured Dogeza left Claude completely off balance and, in his case, utterly outraged. It’s not really surprising either— the Dogeza, or any form of prostrations that’s so deeply set into traditional Asian mannerisms, had always been misunderstood by westerners not accommodated to the culture.

Dogeza [Lit: kneeling down on the ground] isn’t a English word, and is usually translated as Kowtowing, which comes from the Chinese word Ketou [Lit: touching head upon a surface]. But one should first note that while the traditional purpose of these two gestures are very similar, their procedure and posture is slightly different: a proper Dogeza is a deep bow performed from the ‘proper position’ (Seiza), kneeling on the ground with both legs folded underneath. Meanwhile, Kowtowing does not require this, and allows the legs to be left in an acute or even right angles; thus it can be done directly from a standing position without coming to a kneeling sit first. The forehead is usually left just millimeters from the ground, although emphasis can be given by actually touching the ground (audibly so for ketou: ouch). The Dogeza’s strict posture has more formality, but carries essentially the same meaning: to either show deep respect and reverence, or to express absolute humility when apologizing or begging.

Notice Yune’s perfect Dogeza posture vs Yukiatsu’s (AnoHana) far more generic ‘kowtow’ — his head isn’t low enough.

Dogeza certainly isn’t a slavery-ish mannerism, although it does historically carry the notion of being in a lower, if not servantile, position— peasants to nobles, ministers to emperors, but not the other way around (except under extremely grave circumstances). Claude’s reaction certainly could have been far worse: many westerners who first encountered kowtowing thought they were being worshiped, and most continue to see it as a sign of abject submission or grovelling. It’s not entirely untrue, as once in China, kowtowing before the emperor symbolized submission and fealty, thus becoming a significant issue in diplomacy and international ceremonies back then.

No… it’s not “convenient”, it’s to be taken extremely seriously.

However, equating the Dogeza/Kowtow to submission without taking circumstances into account would be a grave mistake: it is simply meant to show wholehearted earnesty through the display of humility (prostration) and the gesture of deep respect (bowing). In apologizing and begging, it also equals to an acknowledgement of shame, in a “I’m very sorry to trouble you” way, and its profound significance and sincerity would often lead to forgiveness. But while we often see it in the form of apologizing and begging (such as Kyousuke to the directors in OreImo, or Kou’s many apologies in Arakawa), it is also used in formal, ceremonial greetings between equals or to higher-ups (e.g. a high-level interview). The exchange is what really sets the relationship— the fact that Claude did now bow in the slighest in return could be seen as implying that he considers himself far above Yune in position… not exactly polite.

So if one is ever on the receiving end of one… don’t just stand there in shock =P

Not that adorable little Yune minds such small matters~

[Shirako mugi]

When I told my friend I was going to buy a commercial OELVN to check it out, the response was “Why would you do that!?”

Even western fans of Japanese visual novels often frown upon the OELVN (Original English Language Visual Novel) community. Production qualities are always a concern, as the amateur teams formed by western enthusiasts simply have no chance of competing against fan-translated famous Japanese visual novel titles. But there’s always a start— the Key staffers’ first big title, ONE, certainly had neither good artwork nor detailed storywriting, even compared to animation from back then. But just as the early visual novels offered something different from the animanga medium, OELVNs have their own appeal. Yet as far as I can tell, OELVN groups haven’t made much progress at all in expanding over the recent years, especially in comparison to visnov localization companies like Mangagamers.

It’s not merely a ‘lack of visnov audience in the west’ either. Yes, English fans of visual novels are still rare, but if the pace in translation groups is any indication (Yandere translations announced Aiyoku no Eustia project just 4 months after its Japanese release!), it’s certainly been growing by leaps and bounds. Quality isn’t the biggest hurdle either: the short freeware Re:Alistair was quite a hit amongst everyone with the slightest interest in otome games. So what’s the biggest problem then? — probably still cost vs reputation.

The commercial OELVN, Always Remember Me, is an otome dating-sim game featuring Amy, a college girl and writer-to-be who was going through a life crisis after getting involved in a traffic accident: her boyfriend Aaron had been hit trying to protect her and woke up in the hospital with no memories of their relationship. Despite my lack of experience and interest in most dating-sims (except the Persona JRPG series’ social link system), I found the game to be quite fun to play. The game was interactive, where you chose from numerous activities for each time period of each day in order to develop Amy’s personal skills and her relationships. It had a lovable art style with soft textures, light shadows, and a watercolor-esque feel (main reason I checked it out~). The script was short yet light and sweet. The event CGs numbered less than a dozen, but each of them handled with excellent transitions and focus panning. The game even had an original soundtrack with a great OP (Remember Me) performed by Cristina Vee. It may not be quite competitive with its Japanese equivalents yet, but the polish that went into this game certainly shows that we’re getting there~ ^o^

However, there was just one problem with it— the game costs $20, the most common price you see for commercial OELVNs.

It’s really not much; actually it’s much lower than what JVNs cost these days. But when you compare that to the cheap indie games being sold through Xbox live and Steam, it is. Localized visual novel element games like Recettear (also $20) are getting common, and they usually offer much higher production qualities and longer playability, not to mention better established fanbases. If I had only $20 on my gaming budget this month, I’d probably hold off on this…

Now, the concept of a loss leader is quite well known, particularly in indie games and publishing. Xbox live developers and Kindle e-book writers often release games and books for as little as under $3; many of them do precisely this in order to get their products, and their names, out there. The loss lead might not gain much profit, but the fanbase earned usually makes it worthwhile in the long run. For a community as small as the OELVN one, any expansion in fanbase also expands the community and its market as a whole— taking a slice of the pie from the rapidly expanding animanga fanbase out there.

So I talked to the creators of Always Remember Me about a lower distribution price. To many of my friends, $5 or even $10 could be seen as a ‘throwaway’ amount, a price they’re willing to spend to trial a game with potential. But $20 is certainly over that. With the right marketing, an OELVN that people wouldn’t hesitate much to pay for should be able to pull many more customers over time, and some of these customers will hopefully stick around for other products from the company and the community, right? But, the response that came swift and simple was: “($20) is the one that gives best return”.

Yes, on that game. But what about the long run?

Well, in the end, I’m not an entrepreneur, so these are just some thoughts of mine as a customer of the market; and to Winterwolves’ credit: the demo release + online registration purchase system they set up was an awesome idea~

Menma, always there yet out of sight… [Ayazaka]

Ever wondered what AnoHana would be like if we, the audience, couldn’t see Menma either? Would we believe Jinta from the start? Would we, like the rest of the gang, feel that he was hallucinating, stuck in the past, and slightly out of his mind? It certainly would be a very different experience, watching the reunion of friends unfold from the other (and majority) perspective. But would it still be as interesting and gripping?

Asymmetric information, a topic mostly studied in the context of decision-making pertaining to business, politics, or war, occurs when one party has superior information access or control than another. It’s one of the focal points of any conflict and an important part of Game Theory. But in the field of entertainment, where viewers usually find themselves with a different understanding of the current situation than characters within a series, this translates to empathy, suspense, and drama. Most of the time, the audience is given a higher vantage point than the characters themselves, and are eagerly anticipating when a ticking time bomb will explode. But there are also times when characters know details that the viewer does not, anxiously awaiting the Just as planned moment of revelation.

It’s not really any different in a coming-of-age drama like AnoHana… here Jintan is the one who holds the greatest trump card— he’s the only one who can see Menma, the only one who could interact with her without obstacles. It gives him a tremendous advantage in the central conflict of the series— this game of guilt and blame that’s been tearing apart an once irreplaceable group of friends for years. It’s part of the reason why Jintan, compared to both Yukiatsu and Anaru (the two other friends directly affected), is climbing out of the past quicker and with arguably the least mental baggage.

It would have been even faster if the others had believed him…

We’ve spent much of the series being frustrated by Yukiatsu, eagerly awaiting the moment when he would realize the truth. At the same time, we’ve also been shocked by his own (and very messed up) ‘method’ of coping with the past. But we knew that Menma’s spirit had been around from the start, and that his antagonism towards Jintan had never been anything except misdirected rage born out of sorrow and guilt. However, to turn the tables around— if we had always seen Jintan talking to thin air while avoiding reality through his hikikomori lifestyle, approaching ex-friends only to pour salt on old wounds that no one wishes to touch…

Still entertainment by asymmetric information, just from a different direction. A perspective where certain other disagreeable characters may possibly have became a lot more reasonable.

Personally, I would love an OVA like that~

“…when I talked to a diary floating in midair…”

.

Postnote: I’m also becoming a real big fan of Yukiatsu (ever since he saved Anaru). He might be bitter and blunt and a big hypocrite, but those ‘uncool moments’ really shows just where his courage and heart lays~