Follow my Anime viewing in real time at these links..
https://myanimelist.net/profile/JaredMithrandir
https://twitter.com/JaredMithrandir
Also here is the introductory post for this series.
https://jaredmithrandirolorin.blogspot.com/2020/01/anime-2020.html
Tower of God Episode 11 was very good, I can’t wait till next week.
The 8th Son Episode 11 was also interesting. The comparison I made to David previously might prove rather apt, but not a 1 to 1 allegory.
Episodes 14 and 15 of Railgun T both became available at the same time. They are the proper end of the Daihasei Festival arc though it’s mostly epilogue, and it was pretty fun. Episode 16 might be more epilogue too who knows. I have already been informed that Railgun T won’t have an Anime original filler arc, so I just have to hope the next Manga arc can be satisfying in a similar way.
Hamefura Episode 11 was very dramatic.
Saturday, July 25, 2020
Thursday, July 23, 2020
Reveal scenes are lame when it is being revealed only to the Audience.
Obviously this excludes exposition and world building where the audience has to be informed of what the people in the story already know. But none of that is ever presented as a shocking reveal scene.
There are occasionally "reveals" where it is only the audience learning something we didn't already know and any characters who didn't already know this still don't. Those reveal scenes are no longer interesting on a re-watch.
In fact a lot of my favorite reveal scenes are ones where the audience already knew the relevant information and it's only characters in the story learning something new. Like scenes where the Superhero we're following reveals their true identity to someone.
This relates to my advocacy for watching the 6 Star Wars movies in chronological order. If you think that scene in Empire Strikes Back is somehow pointless if the audience already knows Vader is Anakin then you didn't get what the scene is actually about at all, it's about Luke learning that information and his reaction to it.
This issue is never a deal breaker. In fact because I like in scenes where the characters learn something for the audience to not be distracted by being equally suprised then revealing it to the audience early to set that up can work out fine. That's why I tolerate how PLL season 3 handled the Toby working with Mona story-line. PLL gets away with breaking a lot of my rules actually.
Sometimes a very long running show, I mean shows so drawn out it takes them 30 episodes to cover what PLL covered in 10, will try to spice up the show by revealing something to the audience but no one in the story not even the people most effected by the reveal in question.
In season 1 of Sailor Moon the audience obviously always knew that Mamoru/Darrien was Tuxedo Mask whether the show was treating that as known information or not. And this is further complicated by how what I'm about to talk about was the case only in the 90s Anime version of the story. But a certain episode reveals that Mamoru doesn't know he's Tuxedo Mask, it's like a split personality or something. But this is "revealed" only to the audience. And the thing is that particular issue is resolved before anyone else ever learned who Tuxedo Mask was, so it kind of never actually went anywhere.
There are occasionally "reveals" where it is only the audience learning something we didn't already know and any characters who didn't already know this still don't. Those reveal scenes are no longer interesting on a re-watch.
In fact a lot of my favorite reveal scenes are ones where the audience already knew the relevant information and it's only characters in the story learning something new. Like scenes where the Superhero we're following reveals their true identity to someone.
This relates to my advocacy for watching the 6 Star Wars movies in chronological order. If you think that scene in Empire Strikes Back is somehow pointless if the audience already knows Vader is Anakin then you didn't get what the scene is actually about at all, it's about Luke learning that information and his reaction to it.
This issue is never a deal breaker. In fact because I like in scenes where the characters learn something for the audience to not be distracted by being equally suprised then revealing it to the audience early to set that up can work out fine. That's why I tolerate how PLL season 3 handled the Toby working with Mona story-line. PLL gets away with breaking a lot of my rules actually.
Sometimes a very long running show, I mean shows so drawn out it takes them 30 episodes to cover what PLL covered in 10, will try to spice up the show by revealing something to the audience but no one in the story not even the people most effected by the reveal in question.
In season 1 of Sailor Moon the audience obviously always knew that Mamoru/Darrien was Tuxedo Mask whether the show was treating that as known information or not. And this is further complicated by how what I'm about to talk about was the case only in the 90s Anime version of the story. But a certain episode reveals that Mamoru doesn't know he's Tuxedo Mask, it's like a split personality or something. But this is "revealed" only to the audience. And the thing is that particular issue is resolved before anyone else ever learned who Tuxedo Mask was, so it kind of never actually went anywhere.
Then Sailor Moon R has a few episodes that are trying not to feel like filler episodes, and yet the only even slight change to the status quo is in how much the audience is supposed to know.
Basically reveals that reveal things only to the audience give the impression of a change to the status quo that really isn't a change at all. Even if some of these seemed cool the first time, on a re-watch where you the viewer already know everything, they are complete duds.
Puella Magi Madoka Magica is a show known for it's twists. However in each case the point where this "dark secret" is revealed to the audience is also when some character in the show first learned it. To me it is those characters learning this information and reacting to it that actually makes those scenes good scenes that hold up even on repeat viewings where I already know everything.
And that's why as I've said before it annoys me that Madoka spin offs are always creating new twists instead of just letting the dark secrets the universe was originally built on continue to drive the drama, I wanna see how different characters would react differently to the same information. Surprising the audience is not what actually made Madoka a good show.
Basically reveals that reveal things only to the audience give the impression of a change to the status quo that really isn't a change at all. Even if some of these seemed cool the first time, on a re-watch where you the viewer already know everything, they are complete duds.
Puella Magi Madoka Magica is a show known for it's twists. However in each case the point where this "dark secret" is revealed to the audience is also when some character in the show first learned it. To me it is those characters learning this information and reacting to it that actually makes those scenes good scenes that hold up even on repeat viewings where I already know everything.
And that's why as I've said before it annoys me that Madoka spin offs are always creating new twists instead of just letting the dark secrets the universe was originally built on continue to drive the drama, I wanna see how different characters would react differently to the same information. Surprising the audience is not what actually made Madoka a good show.
Sunday, July 19, 2020
Spring 2020 Anime Decalogue
I tried and dropped Japan Sinks. It’s artstyle is the antithesis of what I watch Anime for and the subject matter kind of is too.
The 8th Son episode 10 brought some intrigue into the show.
Tower of God episode 10 was interesting. Once again my ability to talk about this is filtered through my being spoiled about what will happen in episode 12, but I still know virtually nothing about the actual context. Was it something Rachel was already planning to do at this time or is it largely the result of future circumstances? Since this was a Death Game premise to start with I kind of feel like it’s only worthy of the way so many reacted if it was already the plan, if she knew that was coming during this crying apology scene then that is a pretty deep cut.
Hamefura episode 10 was good.
Follow my Anime viewing in real time at these links..
https://myanimelist.net/profile/JaredMithrandir
https://twitter.com/JaredMithrandir
Also here is the introductory post for this series.
https://jaredmithrandirolorin.blogspot.com/2020/01/anime-2020.html
The 8th Son episode 10 brought some intrigue into the show.
Tower of God episode 10 was interesting. Once again my ability to talk about this is filtered through my being spoiled about what will happen in episode 12, but I still know virtually nothing about the actual context. Was it something Rachel was already planning to do at this time or is it largely the result of future circumstances? Since this was a Death Game premise to start with I kind of feel like it’s only worthy of the way so many reacted if it was already the plan, if she knew that was coming during this crying apology scene then that is a pretty deep cut.
Hamefura episode 10 was good.
Follow my Anime viewing in real time at these links..
https://myanimelist.net/profile/JaredMithrandir
https://twitter.com/JaredMithrandir
Also here is the introductory post for this series.
https://jaredmithrandirolorin.blogspot.com/2020/01/anime-2020.html
Wednesday, July 15, 2020
"A Kingdom Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand"
This is a Bible quote most famous in America for how Abraham Lincoln used it (changing Kingdom to House), but I find it amusing how his use of it is perhaps undermined by acknowledging that Jesus was specifically talking about the Kingdom of Beelzebub when He said this (arguing it is absurd to accuse Demons of helping someone cast out Demons). Doesn't necessarily debunk it's applicability, but it's funny to think about.
What I want to talk about today however is the weird irony of how often writers of fiction want to believe the Kingdom of Beelzebub is exactly the Kingdom that would be incapable of following this advice.
A lot of kids shows in particular want to preach the value of teamwork by suggesting that the bad guys always lose precisely because they can't actually work together.
It's a lot more jarring however when these same tropes pop up in more "adult", "serious" or "realistic" settings. Where the big bad thinks making the cashing in of their bounty on the hero a competition will increase the odds of success when what it really does is cause the assassins to spend half their time saving the hero from each other. In Arkham Origins when it turns out it was The Joker doing it to cause Chaos it works, but when the real Black Mask does it in the recent Birds of Prey movie.... I like the film overall but that part does annoy me a bit.
Or when in Rise of Skywalker General Hux betrays the First Order to the Resistance because his personal hatred of Kylo Ren suddenly now trumps his devout loyalty to Authoritarianism so strongly established in The Force Awakens.
However the example that is most pertinent on my mind right now is Sailor Moon. You see one of the things Manga fans really harp on the 90s Anime for is the way this trope is strongly at play in that version but really never was in The Manga. However 90s Anime fans feel the Satou and Ikuhara versions of these villains have more "depth" since we spent more time with them. But when all that depth merely functions to make them less effective as antagonists it's ultimately a hollow depth, to some viewers at least.
Thing is it could be all this infighting was partly because of the 90s show drawing things out longer, they need to explain why it's taking so long for this many super powerful black mages to accomplish anything. But it's also partly because 90s Toei didn't want the Senshi killing the bad guys as directly as they did in the Manga, so Zoisite kills Nephrite, Mimette kills Eudial, Tellu kills Mimette and so on.
I've been slowly but surely watching my way through Cutey Honey Flash, the 97 Cutey Honey reboot designed to serve as a successor to the 90s Sailor Moon Anime, and this trope is again at play here in a way that as far as I can tell currently it isn't in other versions of Panther Claw, but I'm no expert on that franchise.
Perhaps it is inappropriate to bring The Bible into this particular trope discussion, since this quote was about Demons not Sinful Human Beings who have presumably more complicated motivations. Number one, villains in Magical Girl shows and Power Rangers sometimes are treated as more Demon then Human.
But more importantly this Trope often happens for the trope's own sake without putting any thought into why these characters are acting this way. If they don's care about this cause enough to put it ahead of their personal animosity for certain co-workers why are they fighting for it at all? If this villainous organization itself isn't driven by an ideological goal what is driving it? Those questions could have good understandable answers, but usually the show is hoping we won't ask in the first place.
A lot of those Sailor Moon Manga fans frustrated by the 90s Anime love the mid 00s Live Action show commonly known as PGSM. On that show the Shitennou wind up not being all on the same page but why actually does make sense in the context of that re-imagining of the story. Parts of what was done with them in the 90s Anime work great, I love Nephrite/Naru and Kunzite/Zoisite. But the complete picture is never painted at all, the 90s Anime is the one version to never even explain the part about them being originally Prince Endymion's loyal retainers.
The Black Moon Clan has it the worst, for them the 90s Anime almost completely removes their motivation. They were supposed to be the most ideologically driven of any of the Sailor Moon villains so them spending the Anime constantly betraying each other over petty BS is completely nonsensical.
But the Infinity Arc is the most Lovecraftian Sailor Moon story-line, the Deahtbusters are meant to be like one of those cults Nyarlahotep founded, so their infighting in Sailor Moon S doesn't make sense either.
You can have villains fighting each other because they weren't part of the same "Kingdom" to begin with. You can have rivalries within an organization so long as those rivals can put that aside when it's time too actually fight the heroes. You can have someone in a villainous organization who actually has their own agenda. Or you could attempt to debunk these rules I'm making altogether by making it make sense.
But a lot of the time villains are undermining each other for no reason other then people expect villains to behave that way.
Update: The closest thing to a TVTropes page for this says it's not a pervasive trope at all but rather that it's a rarity when this happens. I guess when a Trope is annoying you at the moment it seems more pervasive then it actually is.
What I want to talk about today however is the weird irony of how often writers of fiction want to believe the Kingdom of Beelzebub is exactly the Kingdom that would be incapable of following this advice.
A lot of kids shows in particular want to preach the value of teamwork by suggesting that the bad guys always lose precisely because they can't actually work together.
It's a lot more jarring however when these same tropes pop up in more "adult", "serious" or "realistic" settings. Where the big bad thinks making the cashing in of their bounty on the hero a competition will increase the odds of success when what it really does is cause the assassins to spend half their time saving the hero from each other. In Arkham Origins when it turns out it was The Joker doing it to cause Chaos it works, but when the real Black Mask does it in the recent Birds of Prey movie.... I like the film overall but that part does annoy me a bit.
Or when in Rise of Skywalker General Hux betrays the First Order to the Resistance because his personal hatred of Kylo Ren suddenly now trumps his devout loyalty to Authoritarianism so strongly established in The Force Awakens.
However the example that is most pertinent on my mind right now is Sailor Moon. You see one of the things Manga fans really harp on the 90s Anime for is the way this trope is strongly at play in that version but really never was in The Manga. However 90s Anime fans feel the Satou and Ikuhara versions of these villains have more "depth" since we spent more time with them. But when all that depth merely functions to make them less effective as antagonists it's ultimately a hollow depth, to some viewers at least.
Thing is it could be all this infighting was partly because of the 90s show drawing things out longer, they need to explain why it's taking so long for this many super powerful black mages to accomplish anything. But it's also partly because 90s Toei didn't want the Senshi killing the bad guys as directly as they did in the Manga, so Zoisite kills Nephrite, Mimette kills Eudial, Tellu kills Mimette and so on.
I've been slowly but surely watching my way through Cutey Honey Flash, the 97 Cutey Honey reboot designed to serve as a successor to the 90s Sailor Moon Anime, and this trope is again at play here in a way that as far as I can tell currently it isn't in other versions of Panther Claw, but I'm no expert on that franchise.
Perhaps it is inappropriate to bring The Bible into this particular trope discussion, since this quote was about Demons not Sinful Human Beings who have presumably more complicated motivations. Number one, villains in Magical Girl shows and Power Rangers sometimes are treated as more Demon then Human.
But more importantly this Trope often happens for the trope's own sake without putting any thought into why these characters are acting this way. If they don's care about this cause enough to put it ahead of their personal animosity for certain co-workers why are they fighting for it at all? If this villainous organization itself isn't driven by an ideological goal what is driving it? Those questions could have good understandable answers, but usually the show is hoping we won't ask in the first place.
A lot of those Sailor Moon Manga fans frustrated by the 90s Anime love the mid 00s Live Action show commonly known as PGSM. On that show the Shitennou wind up not being all on the same page but why actually does make sense in the context of that re-imagining of the story. Parts of what was done with them in the 90s Anime work great, I love Nephrite/Naru and Kunzite/Zoisite. But the complete picture is never painted at all, the 90s Anime is the one version to never even explain the part about them being originally Prince Endymion's loyal retainers.
The Black Moon Clan has it the worst, for them the 90s Anime almost completely removes their motivation. They were supposed to be the most ideologically driven of any of the Sailor Moon villains so them spending the Anime constantly betraying each other over petty BS is completely nonsensical.
But the Infinity Arc is the most Lovecraftian Sailor Moon story-line, the Deahtbusters are meant to be like one of those cults Nyarlahotep founded, so their infighting in Sailor Moon S doesn't make sense either.
You can have villains fighting each other because they weren't part of the same "Kingdom" to begin with. You can have rivalries within an organization so long as those rivals can put that aside when it's time too actually fight the heroes. You can have someone in a villainous organization who actually has their own agenda. Or you could attempt to debunk these rules I'm making altogether by making it make sense.
But a lot of the time villains are undermining each other for no reason other then people expect villains to behave that way.
Update: The closest thing to a TVTropes page for this says it's not a pervasive trope at all but rather that it's a rarity when this happens. I guess when a Trope is annoying you at the moment it seems more pervasive then it actually is.
Sunday, July 12, 2020
Looking back 25 years at the Anime of 1995
I decided it’d be interesting to make a post taking a look back at Anime that was airing 25 years ago. My past posts like this have just focused on the corresponding season, but 2020 madness had me forgetting to even think of this till now. 95 wound up being a pretty game changing year for Anime, and for Japan in general.
This is not going to be a massive project of trying to watch absolutely everything from 95 like Kor’s project for 89 which recently ended and might be followed up by a 92 project. This is just my skimming over MAL and noting the stuff I’ve seen and/or heard of before, and the stuff I hadn’t that interests me.
First, what was continuing from prior seasons when the year started?
Dragonball Z, Sailor Moon S nearing its end, that basketball Anime called Slam Dunk which has a lot of members on MAL even though I never see it talked about, G Gundam, Magic Knight Rayearth, Marmalade Boy in the future PreCure time slot which is pretty good from what I’ve seen so far, and Macross 7. And on a more obscure note Akazukin Chacha interests me. In the OVA market Legend of The Galactic Heroes was still releasing stuff.
Which was fortunate because the Winter of 95 didn’t have any new premiering shows that I recognize the name of, though for OVAs there was Armitage III. I’ve noticed there are some forgotten Toei shonen shows during this era with MCs whose hair looks like it’s transitioning from Goku to Yugioh.
Sailor Moon SuperS technically started in late winter, but MAL classifies all March premieres as Spring, and SuperS is really just a new season of the same show. Like in my view there is more consistency between the arcs of Sailor Moon then there is between the Arcs of DBZ, yet that show gets to be all one entry on MAL while SM gets broken up.
This is not going to be a massive project of trying to watch absolutely everything from 95 like Kor’s project for 89 which recently ended and might be followed up by a 92 project. This is just my skimming over MAL and noting the stuff I’ve seen and/or heard of before, and the stuff I hadn’t that interests me.
First, what was continuing from prior seasons when the year started?
Dragonball Z, Sailor Moon S nearing its end, that basketball Anime called Slam Dunk which has a lot of members on MAL even though I never see it talked about, G Gundam, Magic Knight Rayearth, Marmalade Boy in the future PreCure time slot which is pretty good from what I’ve seen so far, and Macross 7. And on a more obscure note Akazukin Chacha interests me. In the OVA market Legend of The Galactic Heroes was still releasing stuff.
Which was fortunate because the Winter of 95 didn’t have any new premiering shows that I recognize the name of, though for OVAs there was Armitage III. I’ve noticed there are some forgotten Toei shonen shows during this era with MCs whose hair looks like it’s transitioning from Goku to Yugioh.
Sailor Moon SuperS technically started in late winter, but MAL classifies all March premieres as Spring, and SuperS is really just a new season of the same show. Like in my view there is more consistency between the arcs of Sailor Moon then there is between the Arcs of DBZ, yet that show gets to be all one entry on MAL while SM gets broken up.
SuperS is often considered the weakest season of Sailor Moon, but fortunately the Spring of 95 provided us with another Magical Girl Warrior show that would last a full year in Wedding Peach, which is the most underrated Mahou Shoujo as I’ve discussed on this blog before [it's also historically important in the role it played establishing OLM the studio that will go on to animate Pokemon, Berserk, To Heart and more].
April of 95 also saw the premieres of Gundam Wing, Fushigi Yuugi, Slayers, Tenchi Universe, Magic Knight Rayearth II, and a lot of other mostly forgotten TV Anime, and then in May the first El Hazard OVA dropped. I don’t think I’ve seen that many now considered to be classics debut so close to each other anywhere else.
For theatrically released movies Lupin III had Farewell to Nostradamus in April. I used to be confused by how the mid 90s theatrical Lupin movies felt below the quality of the contemporary TV specials, but now I know part of it is that the first several TV specials were directed by Osamu Dezaki, while this movie had a director I never heard of before.
A more obscure OVA from May that interests me is Princess Minerva.
Summer had even less than Winter for new TV Anime, which is expected because most of what started in Spring was 2 Cour at least.
Down in the OVA department there was a Ranma ½ OVA, the first Pretty Sammy OVA, Dirty Pair Flash, Ruin Explorers Fam & Ihrie, Sailor Victory and Megami Paradise which I’ve actually seen the first episode of, it’s an interesting premise.
For theatrically released movies there was Whisper of The Heart which I happened to watch recently first because it’s the only Anime with Ashley Tisdale. But I fell in love with it because of it’s usage of Country Roads which made me cry because of how I associate that song with my mother. Also the first Slayers movie and the 13th DBZ movie. And there was also an Anime film adaptation of the Diary of Anne Frank.
Then in August was the Lupin III tv special The Pursuit of Harmios Treasure which was the last of them to be directed by Dezaki, it’s also one of the ones Funimation dubbed, the Funimation voices take some getting used to but I enjoyed it. The theatrical Lupin movie is fine too, don’t read too much into my smack talking before.
Late summer and the first half of fall is also when the first 65 episodes of the DiC Dub of Sailor Moon first broadcast on Canadian television.
The Fall of 95 for TV Anime had Kaitou Saint Tail, El Hazzard: The Wanders, and Gokinjo Monogatari aka Neighborhood Stories which took over the future PreCure time-slot from Marmalade Boy. Oh, also something called Neon Genesis Evangelion which started out pretty good.
And for OVAs this Fall had the original two episode Galaxy Fraulein Yuna OVA which I’ve talked about before.
And for the big screen there was the movie edition of Macross 7, Ghost In The Shell, and the Sailor Moon SuperS movie Black Dream Hole accompanied by the Ami’s First Love short. (Also there was a Madhouse project called Memories.)
Some of what I consider the most interesting Hentai of all time also came out in 95, but I’ve decided not to talk about that here.
This year was originally supposed to be the release of the first movie of the Crystal redo of the SuperS arc, it really would have fit being 25 years later, it’s a shame.
But that’s not the only way in which the foundations of contemporary Anime were laid in 95. The kind of Isekai that has been popular for a decade now kind of begins with El Hazzard. And I think it’s also interesting how much the Shoujo of the 90s has influenced the Seinen of the 21st Century. Meanwhile Galaxy Fraulein Yuna anticipated stuff like Nanoha and Symphogear.
April of 95 also saw the premieres of Gundam Wing, Fushigi Yuugi, Slayers, Tenchi Universe, Magic Knight Rayearth II, and a lot of other mostly forgotten TV Anime, and then in May the first El Hazard OVA dropped. I don’t think I’ve seen that many now considered to be classics debut so close to each other anywhere else.
For theatrically released movies Lupin III had Farewell to Nostradamus in April. I used to be confused by how the mid 90s theatrical Lupin movies felt below the quality of the contemporary TV specials, but now I know part of it is that the first several TV specials were directed by Osamu Dezaki, while this movie had a director I never heard of before.
A more obscure OVA from May that interests me is Princess Minerva.
Summer had even less than Winter for new TV Anime, which is expected because most of what started in Spring was 2 Cour at least.
Down in the OVA department there was a Ranma ½ OVA, the first Pretty Sammy OVA, Dirty Pair Flash, Ruin Explorers Fam & Ihrie, Sailor Victory and Megami Paradise which I’ve actually seen the first episode of, it’s an interesting premise.
For theatrically released movies there was Whisper of The Heart which I happened to watch recently first because it’s the only Anime with Ashley Tisdale. But I fell in love with it because of it’s usage of Country Roads which made me cry because of how I associate that song with my mother. Also the first Slayers movie and the 13th DBZ movie. And there was also an Anime film adaptation of the Diary of Anne Frank.
Then in August was the Lupin III tv special The Pursuit of Harmios Treasure which was the last of them to be directed by Dezaki, it’s also one of the ones Funimation dubbed, the Funimation voices take some getting used to but I enjoyed it. The theatrical Lupin movie is fine too, don’t read too much into my smack talking before.
Late summer and the first half of fall is also when the first 65 episodes of the DiC Dub of Sailor Moon first broadcast on Canadian television.
The Fall of 95 for TV Anime had Kaitou Saint Tail, El Hazzard: The Wanders, and Gokinjo Monogatari aka Neighborhood Stories which took over the future PreCure time-slot from Marmalade Boy. Oh, also something called Neon Genesis Evangelion which started out pretty good.
And for OVAs this Fall had the original two episode Galaxy Fraulein Yuna OVA which I’ve talked about before.
And for the big screen there was the movie edition of Macross 7, Ghost In The Shell, and the Sailor Moon SuperS movie Black Dream Hole accompanied by the Ami’s First Love short. (Also there was a Madhouse project called Memories.)
Some of what I consider the most interesting Hentai of all time also came out in 95, but I’ve decided not to talk about that here.
This year was originally supposed to be the release of the first movie of the Crystal redo of the SuperS arc, it really would have fit being 25 years later, it’s a shame.
But that’s not the only way in which the foundations of contemporary Anime were laid in 95. The kind of Isekai that has been popular for a decade now kind of begins with El Hazzard. And I think it’s also interesting how much the Shoujo of the 90s has influenced the Seinen of the 21st Century. Meanwhile Galaxy Fraulein Yuna anticipated stuff like Nanoha and Symphogear.
Anime 2020, it's still Spring in the Summer of 2020
Follow my Anime viewing in real time at these links..
https://myanimelist.net/profile/JaredMithrandir
https://twitter.com/JaredMithrandir
Also here is the introductory post for this series.
https://jaredmithrandirolorin.blogspot.com/2020/01/anime-2020.html
Tower of God episode 9 was quite tense. If I didn’t know the spoiler for episode 12 I’d be reading the show as setting up a triangle with Rachel and Betty and Endorsi as Veronica. Since I do know it I can sense that we may be going for a Betty and Veronica Switch.
I watched a couple episodes of the Slime-Incarnation OVA, they were fun but weird.
The 8th Son episode 9 was amusing.
Railgun T episode 13 was extraordinary, this arc has particularly felt a lot like Code Geass, a lot of characters trying to outwit each other. And Misaki Shokuhou is officially the Female Lelouch, strategic genius, pulled a Memory Gambit, and there is a running joke on how physically weak she is.
Hamefura episode 9 was pretty nice.
https://myanimelist.net/profile/JaredMithrandir
https://twitter.com/JaredMithrandir
Also here is the introductory post for this series.
https://jaredmithrandirolorin.blogspot.com/2020/01/anime-2020.html
Tower of God episode 9 was quite tense. If I didn’t know the spoiler for episode 12 I’d be reading the show as setting up a triangle with Rachel and Betty and Endorsi as Veronica. Since I do know it I can sense that we may be going for a Betty and Veronica Switch.
I watched a couple episodes of the Slime-Incarnation OVA, they were fun but weird.
The 8th Son episode 9 was amusing.
Railgun T episode 13 was extraordinary, this arc has particularly felt a lot like Code Geass, a lot of characters trying to outwit each other. And Misaki Shokuhou is officially the Female Lelouch, strategic genius, pulled a Memory Gambit, and there is a running joke on how physically weak she is.
Hamefura episode 9 was pretty nice.
Friday, July 10, 2020
My Christian reading of Penguindrum
The Gospel According to the East is basically now the introduction post to how I look for Christian meaning in the Anime I watch, and media in general really. Though one thing I fear it might have failed to communicate is how I'm more like Tolkien then C.S. Lewis.
Ryan Reeves has a series of lectures on Tolkien and Lewis, one of the things he talks about is how Narnia is mostly a one for one allegory, Aslan is Jesus and so on, while Tolkien prefers to avoid that and focus on how all people can be Christ-Like. In my opinion the Lewis approach has a far greater risk of leading to unwitting idolatry while Tolkien's better fits my understanding of how Christians should think.
For Steins;Gate in that prior post I refereed only to how Kirisu can be viewed as Christ-Like but really many characters get to be Christ-Like in that story. For example Okabe himself when he replaced Kirisu's Blood with his own.
I was reminded of this in my most recent re-watch of the Devotional Criticism video on Man of Steel particularly when comparing it to the Donner and Reeve films and how they apply Messianic imagery to Superman. Donner takes a much more Lewis approach where Superman is basically Aslan, at the moment I can't even recall those two films having anything to establish Christianity existing in their universe, in the world of the Donner films Superman explicitly replaces Christ.
Ryan Reeves has a series of lectures on Tolkien and Lewis, one of the things he talks about is how Narnia is mostly a one for one allegory, Aslan is Jesus and so on, while Tolkien prefers to avoid that and focus on how all people can be Christ-Like. In my opinion the Lewis approach has a far greater risk of leading to unwitting idolatry while Tolkien's better fits my understanding of how Christians should think.
For Steins;Gate in that prior post I refereed only to how Kirisu can be viewed as Christ-Like but really many characters get to be Christ-Like in that story. For example Okabe himself when he replaced Kirisu's Blood with his own.
I was reminded of this in my most recent re-watch of the Devotional Criticism video on Man of Steel particularly when comparing it to the Donner and Reeve films and how they apply Messianic imagery to Superman. Donner takes a much more Lewis approach where Superman is basically Aslan, at the moment I can't even recall those two films having anything to establish Christianity existing in their universe, in the world of the Donner films Superman explicitly replaces Christ.
[Update: That video I referred to is now on the Archive. https://archive.org/details/devotional_criticism_04]
The video is seeking to show the absurdity of critics like MaggieMaeFish claiming Man of Steel actually doubled down on the Jesus allegory in a way no prior installment did, when in fact Man of Steel distinguished Clark from Christ making him a Disciple of Christ striving to be Christ-Like in the way we all do. Donner made Superman Jesus while Snyder made Superman a Christian.
But you didn't come here to talk about Superman, you came here to talk about a trippy 2011 show from the David Lynch of Anime.
This post will have Spoilers for Penguindrum, especially since the episode I will most focus on is one from the latter half which is itself the second part of a two parter. So if you haven't seen the show already you should maybe watch it before reading on, it's a very good show.
The video is seeking to show the absurdity of critics like MaggieMaeFish claiming Man of Steel actually doubled down on the Jesus allegory in a way no prior installment did, when in fact Man of Steel distinguished Clark from Christ making him a Disciple of Christ striving to be Christ-Like in the way we all do. Donner made Superman Jesus while Snyder made Superman a Christian.
But you didn't come here to talk about Superman, you came here to talk about a trippy 2011 show from the David Lynch of Anime.
This post will have Spoilers for Penguindrum, especially since the episode I will most focus on is one from the latter half which is itself the second part of a two parter. So if you haven't seen the show already you should maybe watch it before reading on, it's a very good show.
Wednesday, July 8, 2020
The Killing Joke is about how The Joker is wrong
I just watched a video essay call The Killing Joke a "Deconstruction" and it pissed me off. I didn't think I'd need to defend my earlier statement that it's not a Deconstruction, but here we go.
The Joker is proven wrong in more ways then one, the big one is that Gordon was not broken, and it's kind of funny how confidently The Joker assumed he was. However The Joker's "one bad day" speech is also not really supported by the flashback sequences.
When it comes to The Killing Joke as a Joker origin story people like to focus on the "multiple choice" quote giving us permission to not take the flashbacks as definitively canon. But even if we take them at face value, they do NOT vindicate The Joker's "one bad day" thesis. That person's life was already miserable before that day came along and he was already demonstrated to be unstable. That day was a tipping point but he was in need of help even if that day had never happened.
When someone says that Batman is a psychopath in The Killing Joke I go "what were you reading?" The Joker expresses the opinion Batman is just like him, but the story is all about The Joker being wrong.
I partly blame this on that animated movie from 2016. There is a meme going around that only the tacked on Batgirl story is bad but once it becomes a direct adaptation it is great. That is false, Hbomberguy did a video on the subtle ways that the movie is a pale imitation of what the comic drew. But I want to focus on one specific scene they didn't cover.
The Joker is proven wrong in more ways then one, the big one is that Gordon was not broken, and it's kind of funny how confidently The Joker assumed he was. However The Joker's "one bad day" speech is also not really supported by the flashback sequences.
When it comes to The Killing Joke as a Joker origin story people like to focus on the "multiple choice" quote giving us permission to not take the flashbacks as definitively canon. But even if we take them at face value, they do NOT vindicate The Joker's "one bad day" thesis. That person's life was already miserable before that day came along and he was already demonstrated to be unstable. That day was a tipping point but he was in need of help even if that day had never happened.
When someone says that Batman is a psychopath in The Killing Joke I go "what were you reading?" The Joker expresses the opinion Batman is just like him, but the story is all about The Joker being wrong.
I partly blame this on that animated movie from 2016. There is a meme going around that only the tacked on Batgirl story is bad but once it becomes a direct adaptation it is great. That is false, Hbomberguy did a video on the subtle ways that the movie is a pale imitation of what the comic drew. But I want to focus on one specific scene they didn't cover.
[Update: Unshavedmouse also recently wrote something on how bad that movie was.]
When Batman almsot falls into the pit with the big sharp spikes at the bottom, the Animated movie has him intentionally throw a random goon down into it, making him a killer. Now I knew even from having not read the comic recently that that must be wrong, but I kind of assumed that the comic at least had a goon fall into the spikes and that's where it came from. But no, I just reread the comic before writing this post after watching the Video Essay I'm responding to, and there is no goon in that scene at all, the spikes just look like they might have blood on them already.
I'm not as dead set against letting Batman kill in adaptations as some people are, I'm fine with how both Tim Burton and Zack Snyder handled it. However this was a direct adaptation of a specific story where Batman not killing was specifically part of that story's framework.
The interpretation that Batman kills The Joker at the end was something proposed in only the last few years, but this video essay went and stated it as fact claiming you have to ignore the final page to make it "canon" to an ongoing continuity. The notion that the story was not originally meant to be in continuity is also false, the reason why we have the "cripple the b!tch" quote is because Moore had to ask permission to cripple Barbara Gordon, and then before the novel was published in the same month DC released a Batgirl Special that gave Batgirl a proper send off (the movie should have just adapted that for the Batgirl story instead of letting Tim indulge in his weird shipping).
Guess what, I'm not agaisnt interpreting Batman to have killed The Joker is a beloved late 80s classic that allows us any excuse to say he didn't. Batman killed The Joker in The Dark Knight Returns, that is proven by following how the dialogue balloons' colors changed. That interpretation is also controversial, but it's based on the text in a way that's pretty irrefutable once you've noticed it. Saying he killed The Joker in The Killing Joke undermines what that story was entirely about.
I say this as someone who considers the story overrated. And no it's not because I'm upset with it's treatment of Barbara on Feminsit grounds. Overrated doesn't mean bad, it's overrated compared to other Alan Moore Batman stories (more people need to read Mortal Clay, that story is beautiful), and it's overrated compared to some more modern usually not Comics works that repeat similar themes and ideas. The Dark Knight is a better take on a story where The Joker has the same goal, and 2019's Joker is a better elaboration on what the flashbacks were trying to do.
Basically people go "the guy who wrote Watchmen, must be another deconstruction". The truth is every good Deconstruction is written by people who also know how to play that genre straight. Watchmen is Moore's only Deconstruction, every other hero he wrote is sometimes maybe flawed but still a genuine hero.
When Batman almsot falls into the pit with the big sharp spikes at the bottom, the Animated movie has him intentionally throw a random goon down into it, making him a killer. Now I knew even from having not read the comic recently that that must be wrong, but I kind of assumed that the comic at least had a goon fall into the spikes and that's where it came from. But no, I just reread the comic before writing this post after watching the Video Essay I'm responding to, and there is no goon in that scene at all, the spikes just look like they might have blood on them already.
I'm not as dead set against letting Batman kill in adaptations as some people are, I'm fine with how both Tim Burton and Zack Snyder handled it. However this was a direct adaptation of a specific story where Batman not killing was specifically part of that story's framework.
The interpretation that Batman kills The Joker at the end was something proposed in only the last few years, but this video essay went and stated it as fact claiming you have to ignore the final page to make it "canon" to an ongoing continuity. The notion that the story was not originally meant to be in continuity is also false, the reason why we have the "cripple the b!tch" quote is because Moore had to ask permission to cripple Barbara Gordon, and then before the novel was published in the same month DC released a Batgirl Special that gave Batgirl a proper send off (the movie should have just adapted that for the Batgirl story instead of letting Tim indulge in his weird shipping).
Guess what, I'm not agaisnt interpreting Batman to have killed The Joker is a beloved late 80s classic that allows us any excuse to say he didn't. Batman killed The Joker in The Dark Knight Returns, that is proven by following how the dialogue balloons' colors changed. That interpretation is also controversial, but it's based on the text in a way that's pretty irrefutable once you've noticed it. Saying he killed The Joker in The Killing Joke undermines what that story was entirely about.
I say this as someone who considers the story overrated. And no it's not because I'm upset with it's treatment of Barbara on Feminsit grounds. Overrated doesn't mean bad, it's overrated compared to other Alan Moore Batman stories (more people need to read Mortal Clay, that story is beautiful), and it's overrated compared to some more modern usually not Comics works that repeat similar themes and ideas. The Dark Knight is a better take on a story where The Joker has the same goal, and 2019's Joker is a better elaboration on what the flashbacks were trying to do.
Basically people go "the guy who wrote Watchmen, must be another deconstruction". The truth is every good Deconstruction is written by people who also know how to play that genre straight. Watchmen is Moore's only Deconstruction, every other hero he wrote is sometimes maybe flawed but still a genuine hero.
Sunday, July 5, 2020
Entering Julius Month Anime 2020
Tower of God episode 8 was pretty good. I think Endorsi might be shaping up to be my favorite character. I really do feel this show is doing a good job of making Bam’s ability to attract all these girls without trying seem plausible.
Railgun T episode 12 was pretty intriguing.
The 8the Son episode 8 was pretty entertaining.
Hamefura episode 8 was neat.
I’ll tell ya what, this reincarnate as an Otome Villainess sub-genre is one where you can't really argue that first was the deepest exploration of the concept. Rather than truly exploring a villainess's perspective or trying to deconstruct related tropes, it’s really just a framing device for standard reverse harem comedy antics in a unique setting.
The Korean Webtoon Villainous Princess kind of seems like it’s the real genre analysis take. With how popular Tower Of God is maybe it’ll get an Anime someday.
Follow my Anime viewing in real time at these links..
https://myanimelist.net/profile/JaredMithrandir
https://twitter.com/JaredMithrandir
Also here is the introductory post for this series.
https://jaredmithrandirolorin.blogspot.com/2020/01/anime-2020.html
Railgun T episode 12 was pretty intriguing.
The 8the Son episode 8 was pretty entertaining.
Hamefura episode 8 was neat.
I’ll tell ya what, this reincarnate as an Otome Villainess sub-genre is one where you can't really argue that first was the deepest exploration of the concept. Rather than truly exploring a villainess's perspective or trying to deconstruct related tropes, it’s really just a framing device for standard reverse harem comedy antics in a unique setting.
The Korean Webtoon Villainous Princess kind of seems like it’s the real genre analysis take. With how popular Tower Of God is maybe it’ll get an Anime someday.
Follow my Anime viewing in real time at these links..
https://myanimelist.net/profile/JaredMithrandir
https://twitter.com/JaredMithrandir
Also here is the introductory post for this series.
https://jaredmithrandirolorin.blogspot.com/2020/01/anime-2020.html
Wednesday, July 1, 2020
My plea to Horror YouTubers to talk about more Horror Anime?
If you'r afraid "I don't understand Anime enough to have the proper context for this" good, that's exactly the perspective this conversation needs.
You see there is a Meme in the Anime Community that Horror is a genre Anime isn't good at. And in my opinion the main reason for that is most discussion of these shows are from people who're more into Anime then they are Horror and so only have the most surface level assumptions about what the goal of Horror even is. The only non Anime Horror they've seen is the most mainstream well known stuff, to make an analogy they'd understand, the Horror equivalent of the only Anime you've seen being what airs on Toonami and a couple Ghibli films.
I don't consider myself nearly a Horror fanatic, but I definitely feel like I've seen a lot more western horror then Mother's Basement or Gigguk or Digi-nee. I've seen lots of Universal and Hammer stuff and the major Slasher franchises, but also the kinds of movies that show up in those 50 movies for 20 dollars box sets you used to be able to buy at K-Mart during Halloween season. And I've read more pre-Dracula vampire stories then anyone else who's blog isn't explicitly a Vampire themed Blog. And in the context of all that I think Anime does Horror just fine.
And the thing is I feel like other Genres don't have this problem in how their Anime installments are talked about nearly as much. There are plenty of non-Horror YouTubers I wish would dip their toes into Anime more often, and I make recs I think will suit them in their comments sections. But SFdebris has given a normie SciFi nerd's perspective on some SciFi and Fantasy Anime, the Anime heroes that most resemble American Comic Book Superheros have been talked about by Comic Book YouTubers, Death Note has been talked about by every normie who could possibly have something interesting to say about it, and we've had normie Feminists talk about Utena at least in print.
All of those are things I'd like to see more of, but they don't have the complete dearth that Horror Anime has. The most interesting videos on Higurashi are from someone who mostly makes their name talking about PreCure.
Now most of the YouTubers I'm thinking of are mostly talking about Movies not more serialized formats. So that might be a problem since none of the top Anime Horror I recommend are movies. But the 80s Vampire Princess Miyu OVAs are about the same total length as a movie, so perhaps they're the best place to start.
So people like Dark Corners and In Praise of Shadows the opposite of your perspective on Anime Horror we have more then enough of, your takes are now needed to balance things out.
So start with the Miyu OVAs, find out which Anime Horror movies are considered good or at least interesting, I have no recs there yet besides maybe that early 80s Frankenstein movie. Then when you're ready to devote time to some TV Anime get on School Live and Higurashi.
I'm making this plea at the start of July hoping I can inspire someone to have something ready by this October. Dark Corners now has a series specifically on stuff you can stream, a lot of Anime is streaming, apparently the Miyu OVAs are on Tubi now.
Episodes 1 and 2
Episodes 3 and 4
[Update: I was suprised to see Tubi has the Dub (and only the Dub from what I can tell) for this one, Tubi usually only has Subs from what I've tried to watch there before.
The OVAs have a pretty good Dub so it should be fine.]
Don't use only my recommendations though. There is a lot I haven't even seen yet.
Update: These Horror YouTuber have talked about serises of Horror Films though, and in that context maybe dividing Higurashi up between it's Arcs would work.
You see there is a Meme in the Anime Community that Horror is a genre Anime isn't good at. And in my opinion the main reason for that is most discussion of these shows are from people who're more into Anime then they are Horror and so only have the most surface level assumptions about what the goal of Horror even is. The only non Anime Horror they've seen is the most mainstream well known stuff, to make an analogy they'd understand, the Horror equivalent of the only Anime you've seen being what airs on Toonami and a couple Ghibli films.
I don't consider myself nearly a Horror fanatic, but I definitely feel like I've seen a lot more western horror then Mother's Basement or Gigguk or Digi-nee. I've seen lots of Universal and Hammer stuff and the major Slasher franchises, but also the kinds of movies that show up in those 50 movies for 20 dollars box sets you used to be able to buy at K-Mart during Halloween season. And I've read more pre-Dracula vampire stories then anyone else who's blog isn't explicitly a Vampire themed Blog. And in the context of all that I think Anime does Horror just fine.
And the thing is I feel like other Genres don't have this problem in how their Anime installments are talked about nearly as much. There are plenty of non-Horror YouTubers I wish would dip their toes into Anime more often, and I make recs I think will suit them in their comments sections. But SFdebris has given a normie SciFi nerd's perspective on some SciFi and Fantasy Anime, the Anime heroes that most resemble American Comic Book Superheros have been talked about by Comic Book YouTubers, Death Note has been talked about by every normie who could possibly have something interesting to say about it, and we've had normie Feminists talk about Utena at least in print.
All of those are things I'd like to see more of, but they don't have the complete dearth that Horror Anime has. The most interesting videos on Higurashi are from someone who mostly makes their name talking about PreCure.
Now most of the YouTubers I'm thinking of are mostly talking about Movies not more serialized formats. So that might be a problem since none of the top Anime Horror I recommend are movies. But the 80s Vampire Princess Miyu OVAs are about the same total length as a movie, so perhaps they're the best place to start.
So people like Dark Corners and In Praise of Shadows the opposite of your perspective on Anime Horror we have more then enough of, your takes are now needed to balance things out.
So start with the Miyu OVAs, find out which Anime Horror movies are considered good or at least interesting, I have no recs there yet besides maybe that early 80s Frankenstein movie. Then when you're ready to devote time to some TV Anime get on School Live and Higurashi.
I'm making this plea at the start of July hoping I can inspire someone to have something ready by this October. Dark Corners now has a series specifically on stuff you can stream, a lot of Anime is streaming, apparently the Miyu OVAs are on Tubi now.
Episodes 1 and 2
Episodes 3 and 4
[Update: I was suprised to see Tubi has the Dub (and only the Dub from what I can tell) for this one, Tubi usually only has Subs from what I've tried to watch there before.
The OVAs have a pretty good Dub so it should be fine.]
Don't use only my recommendations though. There is a lot I haven't even seen yet.
Update: These Horror YouTuber have talked about serises of Horror Films though, and in that context maybe dividing Higurashi up between it's Arcs would work.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)