I want Anime to be Anime

It annoys me how so many of the Anime critics on Wordpress and YouTube predicate their praise of certain shows on how they're doing so much unlike how Anime usually does it.  I like Anime because I like what Anime usually does.

Back before I'd gotten really into Anime that was kinda how I sounded talking about the Western Nerdy media I liked.  But then I started watching more Anime then just the super mainstream stuff, and I quickly fell deeply in love.  Anime was doing what I was wanting all along, and I feel stupid that it took me so long to discover it.  I'm someone who wanted to make the Live Action Lucky Star before I knew Lucky Star existed.  I was also a Yuri Shipper before I knew what Yuri was.

I just started getting into Isekai, while the popular trend now among YouTubers is to talk like it's a garbage trend that needs to die.  It reminds me of when I was into the Vampire craze, accept this time I actually like most of what I've watched.

I'm also tried of hearing people rant about how they want more Anime about adults and less about High School.  When I've always gotten most of my enjoyment from Teen Dramas and was annoyed that only two channels made them on American TV and now even they're not anymore.  I'm over 30 and have come to believe people over 30 shouldn't be allowed to vote.  I love that Anime gives me an abundance of what I enjoy.

So after getting 5 episodes into MMO Junkie via it's Dub and only really enjoying it when it's in the Game.  Hearing the Neotaku podcasters praise how it just abandons the game around Episode 6 made me pull the trigger on dropping it.

Nothing is perfect, but what I want to change about Anime is it going even further with what is weird and distinctive about it.  Like Harems actually going for a truly Non-Monogamous resolution, which Isekai Smartphone has given us, but I now want to see that with more progressive gender dynamics.

And I also want more Yuri and Yaoi to become fully Canon. But that doesn't mean I want the nature of the relationships to become like a typical romance.  I want Konata and Kagami to be how they usually are, just shagging between scenes.

Yuki Yuna is Back B!tc#e$

Season 2 just started, it was a good start.




Spoiler Warning.




I repeat, there will be Spoilers.




The rest of this post will be Spoilers.




So at first I didn't think much of Togo not being there, then the comment about normally cutting the Cake in 5 pieces happens and it hit me, their memories have been messed with.

Seeing Sonoko with the original cast was fun.  And now we've got a plot brewing right away.  I wonder what will happen?

Isekai went from being about Girls to being about Boys

I find it interesting how the development of the Isekai genre has kind of went in the opposite direction of a lot of other genre fiction.  We're recently finally getting an upsurge of female lead Superhero and Space Opera films.  Isekai has gone the reserve of that.

Isekai used to be primarily about young Girls from the real world being transported to a fantasy one, from Alice in Wonderland to Dorthy in Oz. Then the Narnia books were relatively gender even.  But also with it's development in Anime, 90s and very early 2000s Isekai shows were typically Shoujo, from Magic Knight Rayearth, to Escaflowne to The Twelve Kingdoms (I just watched it's first episode).

But it seems they became more male oriented as the genre was taken over by Light Novels and became increasingly Otaku oriented.

As someone who's developed a great appreciation for modern Isekai, starting with In Another World with my Smartphone, then No Game No Life(it's about a brother and sister, but still geared towards the male perspective), and then Outbreak Company.  I would like to see that kind of story with a female lead.  I'd love to see Smartphone's going all in with a true non monogamous resolution to it's Harem be applied to a Yuri Harem or a Reverse Harem, or a female lead with multiple lovers of multiple genders.

And beyond that.  Once again what I love is how unapologetic wish fulfillment they are, and I think the world needs equally unapologetic wish fulfillment fantasies for girls, since they are far more often the ones shamed for their fantasies.

But shows like Twelve Kingdoms predated that being an Anime norm, it's instead really dark in how it gets our heroine to her new world.  The wish fulfillment is there, but it's desperately trying to justify itself.  A young woman getting to go on a traditional Hero's Journey is also something I know we need more of.  But in the mindset I'm in now, I need pure Escapism much more, and I'm sure plenty of young women feel the same.

 Basically, old Isekai Anime are like Batman V Superman, while this new trend is like the MCU.

Washio Sumi gets a Recap Episode

A recap of Season 1 of Yuki Yuna.  It was a good recap, if you want to see a half hour summery to prep you for season 2, check it out.

The Justice League movie was a Ten out of Ten

I know I don't exactly have a reputation as someone who's praise for DCEU films means much.  But I did have conflicted feeling towards MOS and BvS.  That conflict is gone here.

They finally got Superman right.

Wonder WOman was still awesome.

Batman was dope as usual

The Flash was used pretty well, since I gave up on the TV show, Ezra is my Barry Allen now.

Aquaman and Cyborg weren't bad either.

Stay thorough the credits, DC finally did a full all the way after the Credits scene.

I made some Star Wars style Crawls for Gundam

On my YouTube Channel.

Fall 2017 Simuldub Three Episode Test

There are five shows I decided to give the three episode test to via their Funimation simuldubs.  I'm afraid I don't feel like I have any super extreme opinions on any of them yet.  I may of course try more shows later.

Code:Realize

A Reverse Harem Visual Novel adaptation that also appeals to my Tales of The Shadowmen related interests.  It was the one I was most guaranteed to check out.

The show is not possible to imagine as compatible with the original literary canons of the characters.  But it has been fun so far, and so I will definitely watch episode 4 tomorrow.

Kino's Journey: The Beautiful World

My knowledge of the original Kino's Journey Anime is mostly only via watching SFDebris reviews of it.  I learned about the Gender Ambiguity of Kino's character when I read Vrai's piece on the pilot back when only it's Sub was available, so I knew the plot of episode 1 going in.

I have enjoyed all three episodes, and it may please Vrai to know that the Dub has not used any Gendered pronouns for Kino so far.  Still, I generally don't think this is my kind of show, so I have my doubts I'll stick with it.

Anime Gataris.

This is the least likely show I'll drop, it's not on par with Lucky Star but it's still a pretty fun Anime about talking about Anime show.  If Lucky Star and Yuru Yuri are the main kind of Anime you like, this is your show for this season.

A Sister's All You Need

Now if my blog has any followers, you may recall me explicitly telling people NOT to watch this show in my post titled It's Americans who don't know what real Teenagers look like.  That was advice for normies, I'm not a normie, I watched all of Eromanga-Sensei and found some value in it, though I couldn't make it three episodes into Oreimo.  So I did decide to give this show three episodes to see what I think.

So far, I'm still unsure about much of it.  Nothing has been on par with the opening fantasy in over the top creepiness.  I like the MC's two females friends and their interactions.  What really confuses me is the MC's younger sibling.  The plot description says they're female, they have a female voice actor.  But all the MC's friends seem to think they're a boy.  If all this dodging is leading to is a generic "Samus is a Girl" moment, I'll be fairly annoyed.  But I can't help but suspect it's that rather then any attempt to really explore Gender Identity with the character.

Recovery of an MMO Junkie

This show is interesting, I have no particular thoughts yet.

Off Topic Post Script

Cinemanarrative Dissonance and Anti-War films.

So this is my second post on Cinemanarrative Dissonance, a term I didn't coin but want to help popularize.

In the first post I talked about how this related to the Male Gaze, which was the context of the example provided in the Folding Ideas Video I got the term from.  Anti-War films didn't come up in that video but did in the comments section.

I discussed the issues that Anti-Wars films often have in my post about Kong Skull Island.  That was my knew jerk reaction to express my general enjoyment of that film, so I may have gone over board, it too has ways you could interpret it as being Pro "the right kind of War", via the Island needing Kong to defend it from the ugly less human looking lizard monsters.  Still, I definitely stand by the Gundam franchise being the best Anti-War genre fiction.

It basically comes down to how much the need for the violence to be entertaining, undermines the objective of making it horrific.  Again, this too is perhaps easier to do allegorically with some Sci-Fi or Fantasy horrificness.  When it's Lovecraftian Elderich Abominations or Giant Robots destroying buildings and lives, our subconscious is less likely to decide that looking cool makes it good in real life cause we know it presumably can't happen in real life.  Examples of this can go from how the original Gojira works as an allegory for Nuclear War, to how good Miyazaki is at making things look unnaturally ugly in films like Nausicaa and Princess Mononoke.

Still, the main suggestion I want to make today, is that if you really want to have a completely realistic Anti-War film.  Maybe the solution is not to go the Gritty front line horror route.  But rather to, and this will offend the-fanboy-perspective blog endlessly, not seek an R rating.

When you're depicting the people on the front lines, you're depicting the people who even the most already inclined to be Anti-War viewers are naturally likely to sympathize with.  There is a desire to view the brave warrior on the front line as worthy of respect, maybe as a victim rather then a hero, but still worthy of respect.  And I think that really lies at the heart of how Anti-War films unintentionally undermine themselves, even if it doesn't directly seem like the main reason.

Maybe it's better to focus more on the people who aren't on the front lines, the people who aren't directly risking their lives as much, yet are much more the reason the Wars happen to begin with.  The politicians and really high ranking generals.  Show their cold detachment.  Much of Lawrence of Arabia does this, which is why I like that film so much. 

Cinemanarrative Dissonance, the Male Gaze, Megan Fox and Anime

The Folding Ideas YouTube Channel did a video a few months ago on Ludonarrative Dissonance.

In it he references an earlier video that coined the term Cinemanarrative Dissonance with the intent of mocking the idea of talking about Ludonarrative Dissonance.  But he does so going on to say he thinks Cinemanarrative Dissonance is a thing that should be talked about, even if the examples are in general less common then in games.

He cited Megan Fox's character in the Transformers movie as a good example.  The character is a well written not very stereotyped character, who has a solid arc, and is well performed by Megan Fox.  But the camera treated her like a piece of meat, and that is how fans, both casual and even more savvy ones, saw her.

He's not the only person to observe this, it came up in a recent article on The Mary Sue.  I haven't seen the Transformers films myself yet, but I can say as someone who was on Internet Forums like IMDB back then, the perception of the character and of Fox herself was what Folding Ideas says the Cinematography presented.

Now, why is Anime in the title of this post?

Because a lot of female Anime characters have kind of been given the same Cinemanarrative Dissonate treatment.  Characters who are well written, have agency, and depth, and are relate-able.  Yet the animation constantly objectifies them with a lot of the Anime Style Fanservice that I dislike.

The difference I've observed is which way of viewing the female character in question prevails in the general perception of viewers.  With the Anime I'm thinking of this use of fan-service is criticized, but it does not control how the characters are perceived.

Highschool of The Dead is a good example, reportedly most of it's fans are women.  What's empowering about the characters' managed to not be completely drowned out by all the uncomfortable panty shoots and ridiculous boob physics.

But with Transformers, both Megan Fox's character and the actress herself were slut shamed by society, including Feminists, with websites like TheMarySue not feeling the need to stick up for her till fairly recently.  People somehow saw it as her fault that Bay objectified her.

Now in some Anime this contrast is intentional with a feminist commentary in mind, like The Woman Called Fujiko Mine or as I've been told Kill La Kill.  Those I would not compare to Transformers.  But their Live Action Hollywood counterparts do also seem to have more trouble obtaining artistic respectability, like Jenifer's Body (another Megan Fox film) and Sucker Punch.

Why is the general viewer reaction to this contrast so different?  Shouldn't it be easier to see the humanity of the character when it's a flesh and blood human being?  Is it harder to view the actress herself as culpable when she's not physically there?  Is it related to how Anime is inherently more abstract?

Maybe it's because the audience for Anime is more Niche, and so a larger percentage of viewers are inclined to read deeper. 

Washio Sumi is Mimori Togo

As a final verdict, I feel this Yuki Yuki prequel story is good.  But not like the Star Wars Prequels or Fate/Zero in that I'd recommend watching them in chronological order.  The major reveal is comparatively quite underwhelming in it's execution in the Prequel.

Next week, Yuki Yuna season 2 should begin.  Hopefully that will be a wild new ride.

Washio Sumi is still Sad

Last week ended with a Knife to the Gut.  This episode was about twisting it.

November 2017 may wind up being Magical Girl month for me

The Fall Simuldubs have started, I may post something on them once I've finished the Three Episode test.

I'm hoping on Thanksgiving to continue a tradition watching Nanoha seasons 1 and 2 for it every year.  It happened to be that day I watched them for the first time last year, and I quickly decided I'd like to make that a personal Thanksgiving Tradition out of it, but family obligations could make doing that complicated.  Maybe it's more important I watch A's that day and watch season 1 before.

The Viz Dub of Season 3 of Sailor Moon Crystal just dropped, and I still need to finish the Viz Dub for Sailor Moon S.

And my Isekai research may lead to me checking out Magic Knight Rayearth.

Between those and my continuing to follow Yuki Yuna season 2, that's a lot of Magical Action action this month. I could throw in some PreCure time, and watch more of Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne.  And hopefully the 3rd Nanoha movie and the Prisma Illya movie will go online sometime before November's over.  And that could make this a pretty Magical Girl filled month.

Which is a good time to remind people how strongly I recommend Twin Angel break from the Spring Season.  It's also about time I finished the earlier installments of that franchise.

And I also want to read some more Madoka Mangas, Maybe I'll find Tart being sold somewhere, it has a legal release but I can't find it online.

I want to make a Zelda related post for Zelda month.  But I'll need to get some inspiration first.