Eucatastrophe in Anime

Eucatastrophe is a literary term J.R.R. Tolkien invented for an ending that is more than just a standard Happy Ending.  I’ll copy/paste a more detailed explanation from a Tolkien Wiki.

Eucatastrophe is a neologism coined by Tolkien from Greek ευ- "good" and καταστροφή "destruction".

"I coined the word 'eucatastrophe': the sudden happy turn in a story which pierces you with a joy that brings tears (which I argued it is the highest function of fairy-stories to produce). And I was there led to the view that it produces its peculiar effect because it is a sudden glimpse of Truth, your whole nature chained in material cause and effect, the chain of death, feels a sudden relief as if a major limb out of joint had suddenly snapped back. It perceives – if the story has literary 'truth' on the second plane (....) – that this is indeed how things really do work in the Great World for which our nature is made. And I concluded by saying that the Resurrection was the greatest 'eucatastrophe' possible in the greatest Fairy Story – and produces that essential emotion: Christian joy which produces tears because it is qualitatively so like sorrow, because it comes from those places where Joy and Sorrow are at one, reconciled, as selfishness and altruism are lost in Love."

― Letter 89

In his On Fairy-Stories Tolkien describes eucatastrophe further:

"But the 'consolation' of fairy-tales has another aspect than the imaginative satisfaction of ancient desires. Far more important is the Consolation of the Happy Ending. Almost I would venture to assert that all complete fairy-stories must have it. At least I would say that Tragedy is the true form of Drama, its highest function; but the opposite is true of Fairy-story. Since we do not appear to possess a word that expresses this opposite — I will call it Eucatastrophe. The eucatastrophic tale is the true form of fairy-tale, and its highest function.

The consolation of fairy-stories, the joy of the happy ending: or more correctly of the good catastrophe, the sudden joyous “turn” (for there is no true end to any fairy-tale): this joy, which is one of the things which fairy-stories can produce supremely well, is not essentially 'escapist', nor 'fugitive'. In its fairy-tale—or otherworld—setting, it is a sudden and miraculous grace: never to be counted on to recur. It does not deny the existence of dyscatastrophe, of sorrow and failure: the possibility of these is necessary to the joy of deliverance; it denies (in the face of much evidence, if you will) universal final defeat and in so far is evangelium, giving a fleeting glimpse of Joy, Joy beyond the walls of the world, poignant as grief.

It is the mark of a good fairy-story, of the higher or more complete kind, that however wild its events, however fantastic or terrible the adventures, it can give to child or man that hears it, when the “turn” comes, a catch of the breath, a beat and lifting of the heart, near to (or indeed accompanied by) tears, as keen as that given by any form of literary art, and having a peculiar quality."

― On Fairy-Stories

He sees it in The Gospel and in many “Fairy Stories” but said it never happened in the “modern” novel.  "Modern" when he was writing would have included Victorian Era novels.  I should note that I think it’s safe to assume he hadn’t read any of the French Novels translated by BlackCoatPress.  Because I do think some of Paul Feval’s novels may have them.

Talking about what potentially counts as Eucatastrophes in modern fictional media like Movies and TV Shows and Video Games in Tolkien and Lewis Facebook groups has revealed that what does and doesn’t qualify can be quite debatable.  I’m inclined to define it fairly strictly since Tolkien said they are unheard of in any modern novels he was aware of.

I watched a YouTube video attempting to explain what distinguishes a Eucatastrophe from a Deus Ex Machina and I really feel they got it wrong.  Especially in how they said Peter Jackson improved what happened in the Crack of Doom, I am a Jackson apologist, but on that one NO the Book’s version is still a truer Eucatastrophe.

To me the suddenness of the Eucatastrophe is vital, it seems like Evil’s about to prevail, like it pretty much already has, then BAM! something unexpected happens.  That’s why I kind of feel Jurassic Park has the best Eucatastrophe of anything I’ve seen in a Hollywood movie.  But the end of Final Fantasy VII could perhaps also work depending on how you interpret what actually happened there.

What makes a Eucatastrophe still not a Deus Ex Machina in the literary sense (one certainly can be in a theologically literal sense, like maybe the end of Raiders of The Lost Ark), is that understanding how this resolution was properly set up requires paying attention to the themes and morals of the story rather than the technical mechanics of what was happening.  Good doesn’t prevail because everything went according to some brilliant plan, or because the hero won a fight, in fact the villains should win the fight.

Proper Eucatastrophes are rare in every medium, but this post is about how I feel Anime is more prone to them then Hollywood is.  But I had to cover some non Anime stuff first to provide context for what it means and how I personally view it.

And because I'll be talking about stuff a bit more Niche then everything referenced above, be prepared for Spoilers.

I kind of think the Purest Eucatastorphe in not just Anime but all of Fiction period, including Tolkien’s own examples, is the ending of the Makai Tree Arc (once known as the Doom Tree Saga in English) of Sailor Moon R.

Some may argue every Season of Sailor Moon ends in one as well as Ikuhara’s movie, and that may be true.  But here more than anywhere else is where Sailor Moon embodies what a Eucatastrophe should be, and finally fully gives birth to what the Magical Girl Warrior Sub-Genre will become.  Because a good deal of the other Anime Eucatastrophes I recommend are also from Mahou Shoujo shows.

Like the ending of episode 9 of Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya 2wei Herz!, a scene that makes me Cry, it so perfectly embodies both my understanding of The Gospel and the Magical Girl Genre.

When I mentioned in one of those Facebook groups working on a project about Eucatastrophe in Anime someone else brought up the ending of Puella Magi Madoka Magica.  And yeah I do feel that also fits, given what I’ve learned following Clearandsweet’s videos on Madoka and what I talked about long ago regarding Kyoko Sakura.

But I want to go back to the Doom Tree Saga.  Certain Sailor Moon Podcasts hosted by western Comic Book writers have mostly not enjoyed the ending of this arc in their recent rewatches in spite of their Nostalgia for it.  And I think the problems that prevent conventional writers from doing Eucatastorphes are exactly what’s keeping them from appreciating this beautiful ending.  Western Superheroes don’t lend themselves to Eucatastrophe, even Endgame didn’t have the guts to do one.  

Another Spoiler Warning

The day is not saved by Usagi defeating anyone, the day is saved by the villains finally learning to truly Love each other, but it does happen because of Usagi, because her incredible capacity to Love is what inspires them to finally figure out what Love is.

Let’s go beyond Mahou Shoujo now.  Another Anime example suggested to me by others on Facebook was Nausicaa of The Valley of The Wind.  That is still my favorite Miyazaki film.

Kunihiko Ikuhara’s shows I would be less hesitant to count if their endings were more unambiguously happy.  Tolkien’s own Happy Endings do tend to have some Bitter Sweet quality to them however.

I still haven’t gotten to see Spring Song yet.  I’ve heard things about what happens in Heaven’s Feel that have me hoping we’ll get one here.  The True Magics are probably either Deus Ex Machinas or Eucatastrophes, it all depends on execution really. 

I think you could also possibly argue for the ending of Clannad: After Story qualifying.

I feel like some of the Pokemon movies have them, but I’m hesitant to definitively single out any of them right now.

I also think A Certain Magical Index: The Miracle of The Endymion might count.

Actually the Daihesei Festival arc of A Cretan Magical Index II (episodes 8-13, or 32-37 of the series as a whole) definitely counts.

I kind of get this feeling from the final episode of Accel World.  Technically that’s almost more a Heist Movie twist making it more like what I above defined an Eucatastrophe as not being.  But it does compliment the themes and morals of the show, and I just love how the seeming Damsel in Distress of the Arc actually had a plan all along.

The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya’s ending is really right on the line between how I define a Eucatastrophe and a Deus Ex Machina and I’m not sure how I feel about that.

Very recently I considered counting the last episode of Warlords of Sigrdrifa, but I also think that may be stretching it.  I really don’t want to look like I’m just giving this label to every ending I like.  In those Facebook groups some people suggested that Star Wars (presumably A New Hope) counts and I kind of had to laugh at that one.

The fact that it's kind of ultimately an emotional reaction is perhaps what really makes it hard to define.  In a weird way maybe some people think the Threesome Ending of the School Days Visual Novel works as a Eucatastrophe for the players who wanted that ending.

I may edit this post to add additional examples in the future.  I have a sense that I may regret not finishing Princess Tutu before publishing this.

Update: On April 1st I watched Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms and there was a moment near it's ending that I feel kind of maybe fits.

January 2022 Update: The first Detective Conan movie, The Time Bombed Skyscraper has an ending that perhaps counts.

September 2022 Update: Actually a better Detective Conan/Case Closed Eucatastrophe is probably the one in episode 345.

December 2022 Update: On my fourth viewing of Robotics;Notes it occured to me that the Parrot saving Airi in episode 20 could qualify.

April 2023 Update: I have two to add.

First is that Re;Creators may very well count, and perhaps also embodies why the desire of us Tolkien nerds to distinguish Eucatastrpohe from a Deus Ex Machina is somewhat futile.  Nothing in the modern world actually matches100% of Aristotle's definition of a Deus Ex Machina, we literally don't write Plays like they did in Ancient Athens anymore, so there is always some flimsy attempt to justify a resolution that appears to come out of nowhere.  What makes it one we'd call a Eucatastrophe or not is simply in how it's executed, or more truthfully whether we happen to like it or not.

Second is that, most shockingly I'm thinking of counting a Hentai called Triangle Blue, but I need to qualify some things.

Triangle Blue like a lot of Hentai of it's genre is a technically a Visual Novel adaptation, meaning it's source material has different timelines that could play out, which we commonly call Routes.  Most of the Triangle Blue two part OVA is a very condensed adaptation of one specific route, but then after reaching that story's end crams on some elements from other routes.

So if you stop episode 2 at about 22:14 (exactly when could depend on the upload), that's the end of the storyline it had been adapting and what's left is Anime Original Filler.  And in that story I'm willing to consider when Akane's Sister slaps her a Eucatastrophe.

Britannia of Code Geass is the only Fictional Evil Empire truly based on the Nazis

The Galactic Empire of Star Wars may cosmetically look more like the Nazis with their 1940s style formal Military uniforms and completely ahistorical use of the term "Stormtrooper".  But they like most other alleged "Space Nazis" have no elements of actual Nazi ideology. The Cardasians of Star Trek are a good fantastical Analogue for proper Fascism, but that's actually a different ideology.  

Britannia of Code Geass cosmetically looks more like it's based on the 18th-19 Century British Empire.  But it's Social Darwinism and Biological Racism make it the only SciFi Evil Empire I really see as at all resembling Nazi Germany.  The original concept behind the Pure Bloods (before Jeremiah's motivations got retconned) could even be compared to the SS.  The Honorary Britannian status is clearly modeled after the Honorary Aryan status.

It's Socio-Economic system looks like a continuation of Feudalism with Capitalist elements, which at face value doesn't seem to contradict it being based on the British Empire.  But unlike Brittan of the last 400 years there is not a trace of Democracy or Constitutionalism, no Parliament or Prime Minister.  And unlike any real period of the British Monarchy's history there is no attempt to adhere to any strict form of Primogeniture, which child of the Emperor will succeed to the Throne seems to be based on Meritocracy.

[Update: I've been reminded on Twitter that Schneizel holds the title of Prime Minister.  But he seems to have that position because he was appointed it, there is no evidence of a Parliament.  Being that and also a top General does make his position similar to Goring in Nazi Germany who was Prime Minister of Prussia.  But also no real world British Prime Minister has ever been a member of the Royal Family.]

The relationship between the Nazis and the old German Nobility was complicated.  The majority of Nobles never liked the Nazis, and the Nazis very specifically didn't like the ones they blamed for losing WWI particularly the deposed Kaiser Wilhelm II.  Their anti-clericalism tended to make them unpopular with the Catholic Nobles of southern regions like Bavaria and Austria.  And their relationship with the Prussian Junkers (who largely supported the DNVP and dominated the Wehrmacht) was shaky.

Still some Nobles did join the Party, one of the first of them was Karl von Eberstein who was Important to the SS which one could argue Himmler envisioned as becoming a new Nobility.  A number of the Nobles to join were from the families I like to call the Lutheran Aristocracy, descendants of the founders of the Schmalkaldic League.  Many Princes of Hesse, Charles Edward of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Georg of Saxe-Meiningen (probably also his brother Bernhard), Georg Morits of Saxe-Altenburg and his father.  Ernest Augustus Duke of Brunswick never joined the party but was a key ally.  Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands relationship with the Nazis has long been a subject of controversy, less disputed is his cousin Princess Marie Adelheid of Lippe.

And while Hitler was opposed to ever putting the former Kaiser back on his Throne. there are reports that at one point he'd arranged for Prince Alexander Ferdinand a grandson of the Kaiser (his father was the 4th Son and only one to join the NSDAP) to be his successor.  So I do think it's plausible that the Third Reich may have become a Social Darwinist form of Neo-Feudalism if it had survived.  They were after all obsessed with romanticizing Germany's past including the Teutonic Knights and the Holy Roman Empire.

Meanwhile within Britain both Fascism and Nazism were more Feudalistically inclined then in Germany or Italy, even Mosley supported the Monarchy, but his more Aristocratic Father In-Law was more Nazi inclined. The Nordic League and the Right Club were lead by Nazi sympathizers in the Aristocracy like The 5th Duke of Wellington, The 2nd Duke of Westminster and Lord Lymingtonn.

The Nazis complicated relationship to Christianity is also interesting to compare here.  Christianity does seem to be nominally still the religion of the Holy Britannian Empire, but The Emperor also publicly denounces The Ten Commandments with basically the same Slave Morality reasoning as a certain German Philosopher who's ideas the Nazis selectively co-opted.

Justice League, Both Cuts are good movies

That’s my double Hot Take, each has their advantages and disadvantages.

I wasn’t expecting to have this reaction.  I’ve always known I’m not as much of a Snyder Fanboy as I sometimes come off to others, but clearly I myself was overestimating our alignment.  So much of what I liked about the Theatrical Cut that is not in the Snyder Cut I really assumed would be.

I’m quickly growing to have a similar relationship with Justice League as I do Superman II where my ideal hypothetical version of that movie combines elements of the Theatrical and Donner versions.  However the differences in Aesthetic Style here make doing a Fan Edit not nearly as easy.

I can say that while the Theatrical Cut should have been longer, 4 hours I would not have tolerated for a movie theater viewing where I can’t pause it.  No Superhero movie should in theaters be longer than The Ten Commandments.  However like the LOTR Extended Editions home viewing is different.  The same runtime as the Avengers movies would have been the ideal.

The best “superficial” praise I can give the Snyder Cut is that every scene or moment which is on paper the same in both versions is better executed here, better editing and cinematography and special effects and definitely a far more cohesive Musical Score.  And a lot of the longer scenes, and other stuff one might say adds nothing to the “plot” and may therefore get criticized as padding actually helps the film’s Gravitas and Characterization.

As far as the actual story goes the chief improvement in the Snyder Cut is everything involving Cyborg and his Father and the characters connected to them completely cut from the theatrical, he is the heart of the film and who was most done dirty by the theatrical cut.  Most of what I now dislike about the theatrical version are the alternate scenes with them.

However there is one more detail of the Theatrical Cut I would be completely adverse to including in an ideal hybrid cut and that is the Flash landing on Wonder Woman’s boobs gag.  One of the few Anime clichés I’m glad I (usually) don’t have to worry about in a Hollywood movie.

The Flash is overall also done better by The Snyder Cut, but I also like everything with him in the Theatrical besides that one gag I just mentioned.  However I don't consider major extra Flash scenes to be necessary.

Aquaman comes off about the same in both versions, which is good, he’s cool.  

Steppenwolf I don’t care about either way.  He is different but I really don’t care about his greater depth.  As I said before in Super Team formation films I’m fine with the villain being just a plot device.  The DeSaad and Darkseid scenes I enjoyed as a Nerd, but I don’t think what they add to the film really matters, they were there to set up future films that still might never get made, and Darkseid is the kind of character I feel should be ominously mentioned for years before he's ever even glimpsed.

However what I would most prefer to be gone are the Injustice inspired bad future visions, and I now want that gone from BvS too.  I was hoping that storyline would be resolved by the end of this film.  I don’t want more Evil Superman BS, that was supposed to be done away with once this film finished Clark’s Hero's Journey.  It turns out Snyder was planning more than a Trilogy and that disappoints me.

The Theatrical version of Justice league for all it’s plot holes and imperfections is still a fun movie that gets most of the core characters right.  And compared to The Snyder Cut is far better as a Superman movie, or a Batman movie and sure as hell a better sequel to Patty Jenkins Wonder Woman films.

The Theatrical Version despite having less than half as much Runtime feels like it has twice as much humanity.  Patrick H Willems talked about how Whedon’s Avengers movies have more glimpses of the normal civilian population and their reactions to the Superheroes then the Russo films, and that same contrast exists here.  

That Instagram video of the kids recording Superman at the beginning, that goon Batman uses to bait a Parademon, the Opening Credits sequence, having civilians around they need to protect during the big final battle, and other little moments right before cutting to the end credits.  All of that adds a lot of humanity to the theatrical version that I missed here.

I want to talk briefly about the Mustache controversy of the theatrical version.  People keep saying it's something you can’t not notice, except when I first saw it I hadn’t heard about any of this and I indeed didn’t notice it.  That one particular screenshot people like to meme to me just looks weird because of Cavil’s facial expression, in a way lots of freeze frames in a film will.

I hate the inclusion of the Black Superman Suit.  A lot of people think it's a requirement for a Superman returns from the Dead storyline, but this isn't a direct adaptation of Reign of The Supermen.  I would have been fine with it if it was only temporary like in those Comics, but him having it in the closing shirt rip shot symbolizes what I’ve already complained about and feel betrayed by.  I’m one of many who defended Snyder’s choices for Man of Steel and BvS on the grounds that it's Superman’s beginning.  Instead The Snyder Cut has revealed that Darker Edgier Superman was the long term plan.

With Batman I’ve already praised that scene where he coaches Barry and how much I liked that.  I also liked that Lois calming Superman down was Bruce’s plan, in the Theatrical Cut that’s the pay off to Barry’s future warning, in the Snyder Cut it only adds to that to set up a final pay off later.  I also like when he says to Alfred that Clark is more Human than he is.

In the Snyder Cut Diana kills that British Terrorist, this isn’t exactly contradicted in the Theatrical but it's clear that’s something Whedon chose to cut because he knew it didn’t fit with how Jenkins’ Wonder Woman movie ended.  A lot of people have been praising the moment with the little girl soon after saying “how could they cut that?” they aren’t looking at the context.  There was no way to include that while still hiding that Snyder had filmed Wonder Woman killing someone.  In addition to that I also don’t like her being so determined to decapitate Steppenwolf either.

I also miss all of the interactions between Bruce and Diana unique to the Theatrical Cut.  I do not interpret them Romantically, Alfred is just being a naggy parent who wants grandkids.  I like that they talked about Steve Trevor, something only briefly alluded to in the Snyder Cut.  I like that Bruce is a dick in one scene but not going to Frank Miller levels.  I like that he sees Diana as the one who should actually lead the team.

As stand alone works of art The Snyder Cut is more “Auteur”, but both were in truth collaborative projects.  I appreciate both and I hope the Theatrical version is never buried and forgotten.

Winter Anime 2021

 I figured I should make a post on this subject between my finishing the 2020 project and what I plan to start in April.  None of these winter shows are completed however since I do mostly Simuldubs, my finishing them up will be chronicled in the series I start in April.

Naturally it starts with stuff carrying over from Fall 2020.  Attack on Titan’s Final Season which started in December I have been following via Toonami.  It’s been pretty good, I think it shall prove to be a fitting ending for the show.  I watched the first episodes of Fate/Grand Carnival and Vladlove, the latter didn’t appeal to me so I dropped it, the former was fun and so I will watch more when they come out.  And the simuldub of Assault Lily Bouquet ended well.

And then the more standard Two Cour shows. HigurashiGou is one of the few I’m following Subbed, and where it’s gone has proven quite interesting, but it’s something I won’t have a final verdict on till it’s over.  Yashahime I put on hold, I may return to it, but it’s the kind of show that I enjoy the start of but will quickly get bored once it settles into a Status Quo.  Kinda like Pokemon beyond the first season.  

But my main goal in watching Yashahime was to be the online blogger testing its ability to stand on it’s own since I haven’t seen Inyuasha, and I do feel it passes that test though I’d recommend non Inyuasha fans to start with episode 2 and save episode 1 for around the same time they watch episode 7.

HigurashiGou ended on March 18th, and it was a cliffhanger, with much of the final two episodes being rather boring.  So I can’t really decide what I think of this sequel till I’ve seen HigurashiSOTSU, which I have no idea when that will even air.

In February I watched the latest Netflix original soon after it dropped, High-Rise Invasion, and it was very good, so far the most successful any Netflix original has been at engaging me.

On the last Day of February Tropical Rogue Pretty Cure started, as of my beginning to write this I’ve seen two episodes of it and it’s a pretty decent start.  PreCure is usually done well, but it's still difficult for me to stick with it the entire year.

The English Dub of Lord El-Melloi Case Files also finally dropped in early March, it was a very good show, better than I expected.

Shows that were Fall 2020 in Japan but who’s Simuldubs didn’t start till 2021 I shall think of as Winter 2021 shows.  The first of them is Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear which I’ve seen 5 episodes of and was enjoying, but then it’s Simuldub seemingly suddenly stopped, I have no idea what’s going on there......  And before March was over more episodes finally dropped, it’s still pretty fun.

For everything else that interests me I decided to wait till the Simludubs can give me a three episode test.  Though Wonder Egg Priority is a show I’m willing to try Subbed if it seems like a Dub won’t be coming anytime soon, but I’ll give it a bit more time to find out, in fact I’ve decided if I do watch it Subbed I’ll just Binge it when all the episodes are out.  Though now that I'm hearing how Suicide themed it is I'm not sure I want to watch it anymore.

Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle episode 1 was funny, but I question how you can get a full 12 episodes out of this premise.  “You’ve met a terrible fate haven’t you?” I wonder if that Majora's Mask reference was only in the Dub or also in the Japanese?  Episodes 2 and 3 were also very amusing.  Episode 4 was also fun, but definitely starting to stretch the joke already.

Adachi and Shimamura is more fun than I expected.  It’s not one of those boring Yuri like Bloom Into You or KaseSan.

Now I'm moving on to the proper Winter Seasonal Anime.  Jobless Reincarnation I’m not gonna bother with.  Nothing I’ve heard about it endears me, and some people’s attitude has given me an unfair bias against it.  If it is a show I can enjoy, I probably won’t be able to till it's not a current seasonal hot topic anymore.

So I’m A Spider, So What is one of those Isekai where an entire class reincarnates.  I think this is the first one I’m watching as an Anime but The Princess Knight is a Classmate is one I enjoyed at least the start of as a Manga.  I’ve noticed an increase in Anime referencing Marvel characters lately.  According to the White Haired student in episode 3 God is a Girl in this world, I always like when Anime takes that route.

Season 2 of SlimeIncarnation is also getting off to a pretty decent start.

So to start with I'm not following a lot actually, I may decide to start more later.

Update: I watched the Dub of Burn The Witch and enjoyed it.  All the shows above are still proving to be entertaining as well.

Gun Gale Online, SAO's Phantom Bullet Arc: An Accidental Anime for American Gun Nuts?

The first slightly more then half of season 2 of Sword Art Online.  

One detail I notice is how the one Full Dive VRMMO Video Game of the SAO Universe that is specifically said to be developed in America not Japan is the Shooter.  This actually does reflect the real world Game industry, Extra Credits has a video called The Myth of The Gun on why First Person shooters are the one genre of Games that America dominates rather then Japan.  I like to add that America's unique fixation on Guns perhaps partly has to do with us being the one Major nation of the world that is younger then the existence of Guns.  So while other cultures prominently feature Swords, Spears and Bows&Arrows in their founding myths, our founding myths are about battles fought with Guns.

As a Leftist, specifically an Anarcho-Libertarian-Communist, my position on Gun Laws is one of the few things on which I take what America considers the "Conservative" position, but in truth it's only in America that belief in Arming the Proletariat is considered Right Wing.  My beliefs in Gun Rights are the same as Karl Marx, and philosophically my attitude towards Guns is not the same as that of a typical card carrying NRA or GOA member.  I wish Guns didn't exist, but we can't just give fire back to Prometheus.

It's from that perspective that I have observed how Sinon's story in the Phantom Bullet Arc can quite unintentionally appeal to American Gun Nuts.  As a little girl she was a good guy with a gun who stopped a bad guy with a gun, but because Japan's Liberal society so irrationally fears guns everyone looked at her as a freak instead of a hero and that is what traumatized her.  And so now she's playing this Gun themed video game to deal with her trauma, and then she gets pulled into this Death Gun crisis and again helps save the day with her Gun skills before finally getting the thanks she deserved for her original act of heroism.

Normal Anime fans when critiquing this arc of SAO will sometimes say they wish it was just about Sinon and Kirito didn't have to be there stealing the spotlight.  I suppose my hypothetical Gun Nut watching the show for this reading might feel the same way.  But I like to argue that even if we watch it as if she was the lead, Kirto's role in her story is the same as her role in Kirito's, they're making a connection with someone else who has their own PTSD to deal with.

However the one common criticism of the Phantom Bullet Arc that these hypothetical viewers would  most jump to agreeing with is it allowing Kirito to just use a Lightsaber so he can transfer over his RPG sword skills.  Usually the reason this bothers people is because it's Bad Game design that this Gun themed Game allows you to win Gun fights without actually using a Gun.  And that it would be more interesting to actually make Kirito have to adjust to something he's not already good at.

However this hypothetical Conservative American viewer would have a more deeply philosophical problem with it.  Remember one of the most Iconic images of American Cinema is a "savage" POC showing off their sword skills only to be quickly and easily gunned downed by an American who isn't even a professional gunman.  While one of the most popular recurring images in Japanese Animation is a Samurai using their Sword to easily disarm entire legions of gun wielding goons.

However the aspect of the Phantom Bullet Arc that really shows how it doesn't actually agree with this American romanticisation of guns is the villain.  More specifically the Villain who's an actual character in the story.  His infatuation with Sinon is because she killed someone with a Gun and has thus completely fetishized that Gun.  Almost as if he's the audience insert for the people who'd be watching it for that reason.

Defending The Defenders

I'm late to the Marvel Netflix party, and right now I still haven't watched most of it.  But I enjoyed The Defenders miniseries which seems to be uncommon.

Most of the criticisms of it I've seen so far are levied mainly at The Hand being allegedly weak antagonists.  I already made one blog post on why I am okay with Superhero stories where the villains are weak.

And frankly the kind where I least care about the villains are the big team up stories, or at least the first time a Superhero team of people who also have their own solos adventures team up.  In fact in something that's film length, 2-3 hours instead of 8, I'd potentially consider it an impediment for the villains to take too much attention.  Loki in Avengers worked because he was Thor's family so he brought more to Thor's character then antagonism.

The point of these stories is seeing these characters people already like on their own come together and play off each other.  For reasons I can't explain I'm vaguely watching these Netflix shows out of order, I went into this having seen the first 2 seasons of Daredevil and 2 episodes of Jessica Jones.  In that context it perhaps worked for me that they took their time assembling them, this wasn't Nick Fury premeditating forming this years in advance.  So I got a sampling of how the ones I wasn't already following tend to look on their own.  My main point is, what I watch a team up for this provided, I found all their chemistry fun even though I wasn't a fan of most of them going in.

That said, a lot of the complaints about The Hand I don't get.  I mean I am uncomfortable with how Yellow Peril they come off, especially on Daredevil, but that's not even the focus of the Patrick Willems or Nando v Movies video essays on the subject.

They are indeed not motivated by an ideology strictly speaking.  But the confusion these critics express regarding what they are driven by I simply don't get.  It's about a group of villain who want to live forever and have been prolonging their lives, and lately they've been acting more desperate because they need to replenish how they've been doing it.  I've gotten quite used to antagonists like that from all the Anime I've watched, but I suppose it's a theme the West isn't generally used to.

Sigourney Weaver's character was humanized in a way I feel works just as well as what everyone praised about Wilson Fisk.  They are far from my favorite shadowy secret society, but they did what they needed to do for this show just fine.

On a related note Daredevil season 2 is sometimes considered not as good as season 1.  I think a lot of the complaint there is how the Hand and Punisher storylines are so unrelated.  I have criticized TV shows for having different storylines that are too unconnected to each other, True Blood starting in season 3, Game of Thrones, and more recently Gotham.  But in Daredevil season 2 they are connected by that Matt Murdoch is involved in both stories.  And maybe Superhero stories should do that more often, show that there is no guarantee you'll only have to deal with one Supervillain at a time.  And for the middle act of the season it's largely Punisher is Murdoch the Lawyer's job and The Hand is Daredevil's problem, so their being otherwise unrelated is where the double life drama comes from.

Hanami, or How to Pretend Anime has Easter Specials

Easter (Pascha in non Germanic nations) and Christmas are traditionally the two most important Holy Days of the Christian Ecclesiastical Calendar.  And so in the many cultures where Christianity has been the dominant Religion for centuries they are also two of the most important Secular Holidays.

Japan is not a culture where Christianity has ever been the dominant religion.  But it has spent the last Century and a Half of it's history being to varying degrees influenced by those cultures.  And so during that time Secular Christmas has caught on and became a popular Holiday in modern Japan, allowing Anime to seemingly have just as many Christmas specials as Western Cartoons have.

Easter did not catch on in the same way however.  Maybe Easter is just harder to separate from what's inherently Christian about it regardless of how much Puritans complain about all the Bunnies and Eggs.  And so this makes it difficult for a Christian Anime website like Beneath The Tangles to have the same fun during Lent that they have during Advent.

Another thing Easter has in common with Christmas is being compared to observances Pagans engage in at about the same time of year.  Often with hostile intent, claiming the Christians were merely stealing from the Pagans, or reactionary Christians saying the Mainstream Church has been corrupted by these Pagan holidays.  But I have come to be with those who see these Cosmetic similarities as not inherently a bad thing.  

These kinds of Pagan holidays are about observing what happens in nature, and we Christians believe everything in nature is God's design.  There is a reason this time of year was Chosen for Passover and for the Death and Resurrection of The Messiah.  So the Hebrew Roots types need to get over themselves and realize The Torah's own description of it's High Holy Days are just as superficially similar to what the Pagan Canaanites were doing, like for example Emar 373 and Emar 446.  Which God we Worship is the point.

And that is part of how I would argue that the Themes and Messages of Easter can still be found quite unintentionally in plenty of Anime, just like the Unknown God of Athens in Acts 17.

The Hanami is not quite a formal Shinto Festival, it doesn't seem like it's organized by the Shrines or anything.  But it is a part of Japanese culture during Late-March through May, the same basic time of year as Palm Sunday through Pentecost, but usually the big ones are in April.

The first example of Hanami observance in Anime that western fans were likely to have been exposed to is the 5th Episode of the Makai Tree (Doom Tree) Saga of Sailor Moon R (episode 51 of the series as a whole and 45 of the DiC order), the only episode of that arc directed by Kunihiko Ikuhara, but has the same writer who both began and ended it, Shigeru Yanigawa.  The Doom Tree saga shall continue to be a recurring subject on this blog, and indeed the entire Arc might well be good for viewing during the Easter season given the relevance it will have to the Eucatastrophe project I'm working on.

A website called Honeysanime.com made a Top 10 list of Hanami Anime.  Their number 1 was Clannad, Clannad and Clannad After Story does inevitably become a show about Death and Resurrection, and Clannad is considered the Spring of Key's Seasons Trilogy.  They also have a list of Cherry Blossom Scenes.  Here is a blogpost Itadakimasu did on the subject called This Day in Anime Hanami.

Not actually Anime but I've already said on this blog how the original Mothra and Mothra vs Godzilla movies from the 60s can work as Easter Movies.  I was gonna now recommend watching on YouTube the Devotional Criticism video on Mothra, but it seems those videos are now unavailable.

This is just the tip of the Iceburg, basically everything in Anime I've ever referred to as intentionally or not reflecting my view of The Gospel, since Easter Sunday is The Day of The Gospel.  But in order to feel like it's also amendable to Secular Easter it helps if it's set at or is about Spring Time, like parts of Majora's Mask.

And anything Jewish Anime fans find they like to watch during Passover is probably also good for Easter.

Update: A Year later and I find myself thinking of Pretear as an interesting Anime to add to this list, it's got Spring Imagery going on and definitely has some Gospel allegory potential.  I controversially consider it a much better show then Junichi Sato's other early 00s Magical Girl Anime.

Updating again in April 2022:  Going back to the Sailor Moon reference above, anytime Sailor Moon seems to be in Spring really works surprisingly well.  Usagi's name means Bunny that's why her Hair is like that, to look like Bunny ears.  

Also I've been looking into the Hebrew scholars who argue "Passover" isn't actually an accurate translation of Peshach and that the word really means Protection or Protector.  I looked into how you'd say either of those in Japanese simply because I've been constructing a sort of "Weeb Bible Translation" in my head and found something I should have remembered I already knew, that's what the name Mamoru means.  Mamoru is the name of Tuxedo Mask but Takeuchi had one point planned for it to be Sailor Jupiter's name.

There is arguably Spring imagery in the first Sailor Moon movie, Sailor Moon R:The Promise of The Rose, but it's also common in the first Cour of each year of the 90s Anime which tended to air in March-May, that includes the Doom Tree Saga (there are only two episodes I consider not good, episodes 3 and 7 of R, 49 and 53 total but 43 and 47 of the DiC order), and the first 6 episodes of Sailor Stars which you should watch instead of SuperS.

Pretear is arguably those themes of Sailor Moon brought to maturity for a somewhat older audience by a more experienced Junichi Sato, and it's fantastic.

Some Anime is for Children

I want to share one of my favorite quotes from C.S. Lewis.

“Critics who treat 'adult' as a term of approval, instead of as a merely descriptive term, cannot be adult themselves. To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence. And in childhood and adolescence they are, in moderation, healthy symptoms. Young things ought to want to grow. But to carry on into middle life or even into early manhood this concern about being adult is a mark of really arrested development. When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.”

― C.S. Lewis

This quote can be relevant to a lot of disputes that happen on the modern Internet.  I of course want to bring this into Anime.

There are a lot of American Anime fans who've greatly tied their love of Anime to appreciating that in Japan there is less of a perception that Animation is inherently for Children.  And that is indeed apart of what I like, many of my favorite Anime are ones you absolutely shouldn't show to small children, and some more you probably shouldn't.

However this results in there being some of us, a minority of the overall total I'm sure, probably no proper respectable AniTuber, but still some who have trouble accepting that some Anime is indeed for kids.  Anime refers to all Animation produced in Japan, and Japan has children who need to be kept entertained on Saturday and Sunday mornings just as much as American kids do.

I have seen both Sailor Moon and Dragonball Z referred to as shows that "stupid western studios tried to turn into kids shows".  In Japan both of those are kids shows, that they did things American (and Canadian) network censors didn't find appropriate for children doesn't change that.  Japan simply has different standards.

I said different standards, not lower.  While there is a certain type of "sexual" content Japan may be less uptight about then America, there are other things that I bet 90s American kids shows could get away with easier, especially pre-Columbine.  Chiefly I think there is a certain type of "realistic" violence you could see on Batman: The Animated Series that probably wouldn't have flown on a Toei produced Shonen.  Battle Shonen may be technically violent, but it's so cartoony and distant from the way people hurt each other in real life that BTAS isn't.

Of course there is the occasional Bat-Nerd in denial that BTAS was a kids show, it aired on Fox Kids, just grow up and accept that you like a kids show.

Today I am concerned that too many Millennials with this attitude are influencing how Shoujo and Shonen Anime get Localized in the opposite direction of what plagued old 4kids and DiC Localizations.  Yashahime should be a fairly kid friendly show, but the Dub has some profanity laced into it that really feels out of place.

And then there is the fact that Toonami has been folded into Adult Swim.  Back in my day those were totally separate Cartoon Network blocks.  Toonami was founded on the very same two above mentioned Anime I've seen people deny the Kids show status of, while Adult Swim was where you went for Lupin III and Cowboy Bebop.  It seems occasionally Toonami accidently got a show that should have been Adult Swim from the start like Tenchi Muyo, but mostly it remained a bloc for Teens at the oldest.

I guess the reason for this is partly that today many Adults are Nostalgic for Toonami.  However this doesn't change that it is inherently wrong to put the localizations of modern Dragonball, Naruto, One Piece and My Hero Academia in a timeslot where their real intended age demographic are told they shouldn't watch them.