Hige vs. Otaku

Blogging awards are funny things. They seem to mark a particular point in a community’s lifespan that suggests establishment. Establishment in the chronological sense of showing a robustness of community in supporting such ceremonies, and establishment in the sense of drawing out a canon of popularity, influence and age.

I hate them as a rule. They impose a sort of food chain that, regardless of the original egalitarian intent, feels dangerous in how it entrenches bigotries and draws very specific lines around things that are wholly subjective. Equally, they just seem so obvious and redundant. I remember in the early days of blogging when an award ceremony appeared and Kottke swept the decks. It’s not hard to imagine the resounding NO SHIT SHERLOCK that immerged from the lips of those who read the results - like it’s no surprise that exactly the same thing happened with Anime Bog Awards’ nominations and what’s happening with its results.

I don’t mean to attack the ABAs particularly – it has a number of good qualities that, if they existed independently from the back patting, I’d wholly support. I’m just worried about what it will do to a community that I’ve loved because of its nebulous existence – because people have had their own favourites without any particular authority to validate or deny them. There’s nothing wrong with recognising bloggers who occupy important roles in the community, but I can’t see the point of overtly awarding them for something that is expressed through other, healthier means. We all know who is important in this community; the influential are explicit by their nature of being, yknow, influential. As are the humorous and the thought-provoking. I know who influenced me, I know who gets me thinking and makes me laugh. Surely these personal things are so subjective that to canonise them is to dilute their meaning completely?

It’s all very doom and gloom to say this, I know, but the ABAs do have elements I love. Ideally if it was just concerned with awarding new blogs then I’d be enthused to the point of irritating. And the ABA is commendable in how it gets new blogs some attention. I just fail to see why categories like Most Influential etc need to exist when their participants speak for themselves. Do we really need to know who is Most Most Influential? Don’t we all know, in a general sense, that Hop Step Jump, Memento et al are the reason for the existence of most current blogs? Their recognition is implicit through practice – in the way they spur others to start their own blogs - which feels the ultimate form of community building to me. My biggest fear is that by standardising their position with a shiny gold badge it alienates the potential influence of other blogs and the different approaches they present.

My main point, then, is that award ceremonies compromise the natural growth that keeps a community healthy. It’s funny that Impz, one of the core responsible for the ABAs, also produced the best alternative to it: a nostalgic snapshot of our history. Because fundamentally this is all the inaugural Anime Blog Awards will be: a history lesson and statement of the bleeding obvious.

First, props are due to the wealth of coverage Kaiba is getting in the ‘sphere lately. Not only is the attention surprising (though wholly deserved) but impressive, too. This is why left-field anime shouldn’t be feared; it’s not out to rape your mind and make you feel stupid (like Mike Tyson with a First from Cambridge). It makes beautiful and intelligent things happen.

So, seeing as I’m hopelessly slow with my coverage of the show, I’m going to use Mike and itsubun’s recent postings on this episode as points of reference. Both consider different elements while tapping into the general consensus well, and direct acknowledgment avoids any shifty acts of plagiarism. I guess those coat tails are just little too inviting when you’re slow on the uptake.

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Kaiba’s third episode is testament to the strength of the show’s core themes and ideas. Chroniko’s story of naive devotion to her aunt-cum-adoptive-mother and the subsequent betrayal of this devotion is startlingly affective considering its brevity. It drives home the disposability of physical bodies in the universe of Kaiba and subsequently how this disposability has royally fucked its value system – all within a very short but intensely moving story arc.

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Shigofumi seemed like a show at odds with itself. Like its protagonist Fumika, it had two personalities – one of candid introspection and one of flamboyant, often clumsy, extroversion. Its introspection offered many moving insights into Japanese adolescence, yet it played them out through such jarring melodrama that often felt awkward and difficult to relate to. JC Staff and their writers obviously had interesting things to say in their analysis of Japanese school life, and sometimes they succeeded when due subtly was employed, yet they constantly botched it with paper-thin characterisation and messy storytelling.

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I think it’s fair to say that the green space ostrich of Kaiba’s first episode is the coolest animal sidekick in anime since Dennou Coil’s Densuke. Or, dare I say, since Nausicaa’s Teto and/or Kai. Its first appearance, swooping into save the titular character, heralds the most energetic moment of the first two episodes which, in all honesty, isn’t saying much.

Yet it goes some way in debunking the expectations of those piqued by Maasaki Yuasa’s previous effort, Kemonozume. Kaiba is not an action show. It has its moments, but the contrasting art styles speak volumes in how each show differs in purpose. Kemonozume’s jaggy aesthetics never felt like they stopped moving, that its frenetic action sequences were only ever moments away. Conversely, Kaiba’s visuals don’t lend themselves well to dramatic movement. Rather, they fumble along like the characters themselves and rarely does an action show worthy spectacle occur.

What is spectacular about Kaiba is how completely magical it looks and feels. Its synthesised design, the bastard lovechild of superflat and Osamu Tezuka, creates strangely saccharine but completely absorbing world. It’s no hyperbole to say that Kaiba lingered in my mind for days afterwards. I watched the first episode in the midst of my finals as a guilty pleasure and could not forget what I’d seen, nor the innate desire to see it again. Kaiba perhaps lacks the ostentatious flash of many new anime yet it processes something much more vital – the power to adsorb and captivate. My one soundbyte in this sense is that Kaiba is the most colourful dystopia you will ever see.

Of course the story is a key constituent in manufacturing this immersion and Kaiba offers a massive amount of depth to compliment its magical, though constantly disturbing, visuals. itsubun mentions the strong classism vibe that run throughout these episodes (with interesting analysis of the dividing electrical cloud and the colour motifs) and these Marxist overtones particularly stood out in episode two. In Kaiba society is split into two distinct classes: the rich upper and the plebeian lower, and true to Marxist form the lower class is exploited wholly by the upper class for their own benefit. The analogy of the upper classes literally stealing the lower classes’ bodies might be a little heavy-handed in exploring the Socialist criticisms of capitalist society, yet it sets the scene brilliantly and makes the show feel unique.

Kaiba almost drowns in its own implication during this pair of episodes. How does the mind and body relate to one another – and is the former directly influenced by the latter? How does the disposability of the body affect morality and ethics? In the broader sense, how redundant is the notion of ‘status quo’ when the physical appearances of the show’s characters are so interchangeable? Every one of these dilemmas is completely thrilling and I can’t wait to ponder more. Kaiba, if you hadn’t noticed, is rather special.

Yes, it’s that time again. I subvert the main principles of an editorial and use it purely to explain why I’m such a terrible anime blogger. You’d think after three years of repeating exactly the same process it would alert a man to his ebbs and flows, to the innermost core of his blogging soul. But no, the cycle of neglect and guilt continues and I roll out another editorial to explain away my negligence to the five people that still read.

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First episodes are a tricky beast. You’re torn between the barrage of first impressions/intuitions and the knowledge that most anime takes two or three episodes to really hit its stride. This week I’ll be wrestling the duality with Kurenai and xxxHOLiC: Kei.

Kurenai

The OP looked like it was animated with Flash – but in the best way possible. More anime should put this kind of creative effort into their OP rather than the usual montage tedium. Kurenai’s aesthetic in general is gorgeous, actually, with crisp high quality animation and beautiful character design. It reminds me of a lot Red Garden without the controversial snozzes, which probably isn’t a coincidence had I the time to check Wiki. Storywise it was structured well with a lot of plot and just the right amount of ambiguity. The characters similarly are intriguing and likeable. I’m sure Murasaki will appeal to the loli fanboys out there, but then does she count as loli when she is actually seven-years-old? I’ll be interested to see how the ‘sphere behave with regards to her. Hopefully not in the relentlessly upsetting way I’m imagining.

Likelihood of watching episode two: Definitely. This was solidly entertaining and completely beautiful to look at.

xxxHOLiC: Kei

For the love of god, Production I.G., please maintain Kei’s standard to the level set in this first episode. This exactly how a xxxHOLiC anime should be handled. Solid production values, a firm grasp of the characters and, most importantly, brilliant atmosphere. I’m probably a little too harsh on the first series but I wholeheartedly blame the thoroughly enjoyable film Production I.G. released before it. It massaged my expectations and demonstrated they had a keen understanding of what makes the manga great, thus making the mediocre anime effort seem all the more disappointing. Kei, however, is spot on. At least at this point. Its animation quality is still a little murky but I’m sure a widescreen transfer would resolve any minor visual qualms, and everything else feels right. xxxHOLiC definitely was one of those shows that had to tackle my deep-seated love for the manga before any reasonable assessment could occur, and I was probably ready to pounce on it from the opening credits, but these days I’m much calmer and receptive. Hopefully this won’t be a repeat of what happened two years ago.

Likelihood of watching episode two: High. I may actually turn into a monster if it disappoints me in the same way the first series did, however.

My swift and brutal first impressions of the new season’s shows. This time, episode one of Bus Gamer, To LOVE-Ru and Itazura na Kiss.

Bus Gamer

Bus Gamer is an ugly, ugly show. Seemingly it’s shonen in type but has the worst kind of shoujo character design with its creepily long fingers, stupid hair and excessive accessorising. The animation itself is rigid and has that murky, insipid quality you find in a lot of cheaply outsourced Korean animation. All three of the protagonists are unlikable, even Saitou who I assume is meant to be the personable one. They’re just atypical lazy archetypes that inspire nothing except disdain for their lack of depth or charm. Bus Gamer obviously owes a lot to Akagi/Kaiji for its inspiration but doesn’t even come close in terms of quality or sophistication. The parallels would be easy to ignore if Bus Gamer had enough personality to set it apart, but no, it’s just relentlessly mediocre verging on awful. It attempts to foster a cool attitude but comes across as stilted and contrived. The action, one of the key elements of the show about street fighting, is equally as dull and poorly directed. A pretty shoddy and unappealing specimen, to be honest.

Likelihood of watching episode two: Hells nah.

To LOVE-Ru

It almost seems cruel to review a show that exemplifies everything I hate about anime, but To LOVE-Ru is so shameless about it I’m finding it hard to have serious teeth-gnashing contempt. It’s got everything you want from a brainless shonen romance show: goofy humour; countless varieties of moe; relentless fanservice (avec pornographic moaning); a completely ridiculous, paper-thin sci-fi plot. The animation lingers around Saturday morning cartoon quality but occasionally spikes when there’s a ridiculously flamboyant costume change or surprisingly good CG sequence. It didn’t offend me in the way I was expecting, but that doesn’t mean it’s anything less than pants-on-head retarded.

Likelihood of watching episode two: Go die in a fire! ^_^

Itazura na Kiss

Surprisingly enjoyable. Initially I thought it was yet another example of fight against the strict hierarchical mentality of Japanese society with love~~ and that the formula wouldn’t stretch to maintain a 13/26 episode series. Then circumstances change with Kotoko, female protagonist, moving in with Naoki, unrequited love interest, and his mental family. I’m not massively familiar with shoujo comedy conventions but this particular example was quite quirky and hilarious in places. Fundamentality it still feels formulaic in plot and character but there are a lot of surprising touches that heighten its charm (Naoki’s insane mother being my favourite). Aesthetically speaking it looks quite 1980s with its character design (judging by the original manga that isn’t much of a surprise) and the animation quality is solid if unremarkable. Quite hard to criticise objectively, really.

Likelihood of watching episode two: Recommended for those who like shoujo comedy, but personally . . . I don’t like stupid girls.

Romance anime and I aren’t friends. Short of KareKano (and Honey & Clover, I suppose), the genre has me in constant despair. It seems most guilty of the mass-produced, formulaic crap that makes me hesitate with shame whenever someone asks if I like anime. In the past I would splutter, ‘yeah but not that big eyed Manga shit’ and hastily throw my FLCL DVDs at them until they relented or left to make a cup of tea. These days, with us living in the post-Miyazaki era that has cleansed British consciousness of all the stereotypical nightmares of yore, I shrug nonchalantly and say, ‘yeah, I could lend you a few if you want’. No crippling sense of shame to speak of. Yet romance anime embodies everything that embarrasses me about this hobby. Shrill squealing schoolgirls who fawn over the same characterless everyman character. Character designs so saccharine and malformed they make you gag with horror. Constant fucking panty shots. The whole affair makes me want to hulk-out and rampage through KyoAni/Key’s studios and leave no person alive.

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I remember reading an interview with Hideki Anno in an early volume of the Evangelion manga a year or so after I’d seen the anime. In it he made the simple statement that Misato is the second protagonist of the show, and my hardcore fandom has yet to feel so vindicated. I sat there nodding like a fool, feeling smugly superior to all the Rei and Asuka fanboys who infuriated me online with their ignorance of Misato’s towering significance. At least the creator wasn’t completely preoccupied with a glorified sex puppet or some mouthy ginger bitch; at least Anno knew exactly who mattered in his show.

My love for Misato knows no bounds. She is completely fundamental to my Evangelion fanaticism. Rebuild: 01 loves her, too, and every new or improved scene acknowledges how essential she is to the show’s success. Her friendship with Risuko; her awkwardly maternal connection to Shinji; her fierce sense of duty. They’re all accounted for and accentuated in fantastically moving ways.

Specifically, there’s one scene that really hit me hard. Shinji, having almost died in a previous battle, is apprehensive to fight again. Misato, knowing there’s no other choice, takes Shinji to Central Dogma to see the crucified Lilith and explain his worth and that, most importantly, he is not alone. The camera frequently cuts away to the pair holding hands throughout their descent and in this final scene of encouragement it cuts away again to Misato’s hand tightening around Shinji’s after he accepts to fight ‘one more time’. His hand seems limp under her conviction yet he slowly reciprocates and the camera lingers on their hands firmly in one another’s grasp. The impact of this scene, its structure, the dignity and compassion it depicts, had me in tears.

Scenes like these validate Rebuild’s existence for me. It feels like Anno has taken all the brutally candid Misato-Shinji moments of End of Evangelion and transplanted their sensibility into these earlier events. It’s phenomenally successful and enough for me to ignore the overt cynicism Rebuild inspires as a concept. Everything else is adequate in its reproduction – this first film does little to rock the boat – but these minor bits of refinement make all the difference. If Hideki and chums can keep up their promise of ‘less wankery, more humanity’ and keep doing it like this then I will be satisfied.

I’d be a fool liar if I denied the simple pleasure I get from seeing everything so lushly animated. FLCL and Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo demonstrated that it verges on a hate crime not to animate Yoshiyuki Sadamoto’s character design to the highest possible standard, and Rebuild: 01 joins their ranks comfortably. Plus, the promise of original content in the next film does actually excite me. It suggests Anno has new things to say in his world and I’m inclined to listen when the man speaks. Whether this makes me a complete tool or not is unimportant. Kaworu is coming from the moon in a new Evangelion unit for Christ’s sake. The goddamn moon.