Caffeinated Telescopes

Hello! I'm Elijah. This is my little corner of the internet where I write about music, animation, television, and whatever else interests me.

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Brief Blog/Life Update

First off, it’s good to be back to regular posting after that brief period of inactivity! So here’s a few quick updates on what I’m working on right now and hope to accomplish in the next couple weeks. First off, I’m currently working my way through Winter 2017 anime which has been an….interesting experience thus far. Sangatsu no Lion is a masterpiece, ACCA is pretty cool, Demi-chan wa kataritai…

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ACCA's GENIUS Details (and Less Genius Generalizations)

Some of my notes on how ACCA worked with its limitations and became such an intriguing show.

It was the cigarette detail and others like in the first few episodes of ACCA that first captured my interest. When Lotta tossed Jean his pack of cigarettes in the first episode, I think not only considered it to be a great addition to the show’s aesthetics and setting, but was also elated to discover that it played a crucial role in understanding the show’s world. A while back Under The Scope…

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Flip Flappers: Magical Girls and Thematic Presentation

Flip Flappers: Magical Girls and Thematic Presentation

(Note: I was getting bored of my Flip Flappers analysis so I decided I had two options: I could rewrite it again or move on to one of the 6+ ideas that I’m currently writing about. I chose the latter, so here’s a quick short form on something about Flip Flappers. Now that I’m over that hump, expect to see more posts in the near future.) Flip Flappers is one of the most well constructed shows in…

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On My Writing Habits, Motivation and Maintaining Interest I've been writing about anime on and off for about five months now, and have only recently decided to make it an active part of my daily schedule.

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Why I Didn’t Like Izetta: An Cynical, Analytical Dissection I don’t regularly write negative posts because normally the things I get the most excited and passionate about are the things that I enjoy, but in Fall 2016 there was an anime that I was deeply disappointed with, and ever since the finale the world has seemed intent on not letting me forget about it.

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        With today’s anime industry cranking out more shows per season than ever before, many of which instantly forgettable due to lazy writing, sub par production and generic characters and stories, the fan community is quick to jump at any show that differentiates itself from the norm, praising these rule breakers for being inventive, creative, subversive and even deconstructive in their methods of storytelling. In late 2015, the show was One Punch Man. In Winter 2016, it was Konosuba and Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu. More recently in Fall 2016, it was Flip Flappers. This season, it looks like it’s Kuzo No Honkai. However, while many fans consider shows like these to be fresh and inventive, there are an equal amount of people ready to jump on them from the opposing point of view, accusing them of being pretentious or pointless. Often, the most hotly debated shows within the community are the ones that are doing things differently, for better or worse.

         In the Fall 2016 anime season, no show was more divisive than Occultic;Nine. As a member of the Science Adventure series originally written by Chiyomaru Shikura, the creator of Steins;Gate, it attracted a lot of high expectations prior to its airing. However, after the first episode aired the general reaction seemed to be, more or less, confusion. Structurally speaking, Occultic;Nine is the opposite of Steins;Gate in almost every way. It’s extremely fast paced, its characters are all fairly stereotypical and don’t develop very much throughout the course of the show, and the dialogue is constantly exaggerated, almost to the point of being ridiculous. Most viewers walked away from the first episode with mixed feelings, some dropping it right away and moving on, criticizing it for being pretentious or simply bad.

        I don’t really like using the word “pretentious”, but even if I did I don’t think I could apply it to Occultic;Nine because, although it has its weaknesses, it always seems to be aware of itself and what it is and doesn’t attempt to be anything different. In deviating itself so far from the rest of the Science Adventure series, and from its contemporaries in general, it demonstrated that it wasn’t trying to be anything that it wasn’t. However, if anything is clear from the first episode, it’s that this show is wildly ambitious.

        The ambition of the production team, particularly of the director, is both an asset and a liability for the show as a whole. There are a lot of things about Occultic;Nine’s directing and production that I can easily praise. Being a mystery story, director Kyohai Ishiguro leaves plenty of subtly hidden clues and references throughout the show that forced me and other viewers to carefully examine and analyze each episode, hoping to pick up on the bread crumbs that were being left behind for us in an attempt to solve the mysteries ourselves. When the answers were finally revealed, we often found that our thorough analysis had paid off. Even so, there were still many details and plot twists that were impossible to predict, giving it a strong shock value as well. Where directors of shows such as Erased make the answers to the mysteries so blatantly obvious that the reveals feel anti-climatic, Ishiguro and his team force us to look carefully to discover the answers, making for a much more satisfying and enjoyable viewing experience. Additionally, a lot of the use of color, camera work, editing and sound design made it visually and audibly stimulating as well. This is the kind of directing style that I would thoroughly enjoy dissecting and analyzing one day.

        However, as clever as Kyohai Ishiguro may be in his utilization of the mystery genre, there’s also several aspects of his directing style that I can easily criticize, and many viewers have done so extensively. Towards the end of the show the his knack for cinematic rule breaking seemed to spiral into an obsession. Unfortunately, a lot of it ended up feeling pointless. Breaking cinematic rules of thumb can be done tastefully to enhance the tone or direction of a scene, and Occultic;Nine did this well early on, but as the show neared its conclusion it started to feel purposeless and exaggerated, leaving me confused about what I was meant to take away from many of the scenes. The dutch camera angles during the dialogue scenes are so overplayed that they walk a fine line between unsettling and obnoxious. Basic rules of scene composition such as the 180 degree rule are broken for no obvious reason. The pacing is fairly inconsistent, speeding up and slowing down seemingly at random throughout its run, making some dialogue scenes feel rushed and nearly incomprehensible. Ishiguro plays with a lot of cool tricks and effects in this show. Some of them work well and enhance the show’s mysterious and unsettling nature. Others are simply distracting.

        The problem that creators like Ishiguro face is that their ambition doesn’t match up to their skill and experience. If ambition were equal to ability, Occultic;Nine would be a directorial masterpiece. This is just one of many struggles of an ambitious creator. It’s difficult to want to grow as an artist and tell your stories when you’re unable accurately replicate the vision in your head.

        Ishiguro isn’t exactly new to the industry, but very few of the projects he’s directed have gained any commercial success, and the one show that did (Your Lie in April) isn’t really known for it’s outstanding direction (at least, I’ve never seen anyone draw attention to it). With that in mind, Occultic;Nine seems like his attempt to make a name for himself as a director, exploring his talent and ability in an attempt to discover his unique style. This being his first show to direct of this nature is, needless to say, a massive undertaking, and despite the challenges he faced and the areas in which he didn’t have the skill to match his ambition, from watching this show I get the feeling that he genuinely had a lot of fun with it. Should the director’s position and feelings towards the show they’re working on be included in analytical discussions? Perhaps not, but I don’t feel that they should be discarded completely from the perspective of the casual viewer, either. For what it’s worth, Ishiguro puts a really good effort into create something that is equally unique and enjoyable, yet so many reviewers seem quick to address everything he did wrong.

        I’m not suggesting that a show be completely exempt from criticism just because it has ambitious creators. I think it’s possible for something to be too ambitious for its own good to the point of meaningless self-indulgence, which is largely how I felt about shows like Nisemonogatari, The Perfect Insider and parts of Shinsekai Yori. Additionally, I’ve seen shows that are wildly ambitious, yet don’t seem to care at all about the quality of their final product, like this season’s Hand Shakers. There’s definitely a line that needs to be drawn between ambition for the sake of itself and creators who genuinely care about their work. It’s well worth discussing and analyzing the areas in which ambitious shows succeed and fail. To the analytical reviewer, the intents and purposes of the creators of a show are irrelevant; all that matters is their product. However, I feel that the real struggles of these bold creators who are trying to make a product that is equally unique and high quality are often lost upon many viewers. The ambition and bravery displayed by Ishiguro, his team and A-1 Pictures in the production of a show like Occultic;Nine that defied the standards of the industry so much so that it nearly flopped in DVD sales (Source) is something that I can respect and support. It’s one thing to see a show with sub par writing and production fail, but when it happens to a show in which the creators seem to take an active interest in their work, even though I’ll happily criticize all their failures, at the same time, I want to buy the DVDs as soon as they came out, because this ambitious spirit is something I want to see more of, not only in anime, but entertainment in general.

        The anime industry needs new ambitious creators that aren’t afraid to take risks and attempt to make something unique, even if its something as wild and divisive as Occultic;Nine. Since the anime industry is so large with so many new generic, run of the mill shows every season, it’s ambitious creators like Kyohai Ishiguro that are inevitably going to give us that breath of fresh air we all look for each new season. One day, they may even create a masterpiece.

Check out my new blog post on Occultic;Nine and the struggles that ambitious artists face         With today’s anime industry cranking out more shows per season than ever before, many of which instantly forgettable due to lazy writing, sub par production and generic characters and stories, the fan community is quick to jump at any show that differentiates itself from the norm, praising these rule breakers for being inventive, creative, subversive and even deconstructive in their methods of storytelling.

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Blog Update

Hey everyone! Here’s a quick update on what I’ve been working on this past week. The Winter 2017 anime season is well under way, but I still haven’t gotten over all the shows from last Fall. Presently, I’m working on four posts: three are anime analysis (two from last season and one older show), and one is a topical analysis (on a show from last season). I’ve been working on these for a little…

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Yuri!!! On Ice: The Power of Delivering to Your Audience

Introduction:

Ask yourself: what do you you want to get out of your entertainment? If someone were to ask you to make a detailed outline of everything you want to see in any television show, movie, game, book, album, or other form of media, what would be on your list? Not what type of genres, settings, characters or stories you would prefer, but what themes, qualities and values would you look for? When you go into a movie theater, pick up a book, put a disc into a console or reach for the remote, what is it you hope to come away with?

One thing I’ve noticed from personal experience and from spending time with other fans is that sometimes recognizing everything we want in entertainment is difficult to do. We might prioritize things like good writing, representation, a unique concept or a story that wraps up all it’s threads, but all of those things can be present in a piece of entertainment and still leave us underwhelmed. In cases like this we often discover that we have more expectations for entertainment than we originally thought. While we receive everything we thought we wanted, we walk away disappointed because it wasn’t everything we internally craved.

There are some critics who have large, specific lists of things they look for in media, but generally, that’s not the case for most casual fans of entertainment and storytelling. Our mental list of things we want out of a story is constantly changing as we grow and develop as people and as society changes around us. If we knew what we wanted to see all of the time, we’d never get excited or surprised or disappointed by anything. We’d never have that inexpressible feeling that leaves us with nothing else to say except for, “I don’t know what I just witnessed, but I loved it.” We may not be able to point out everything that needs to be included in a story for us to feel satisfied, but when we receive something that speaks to and connects with us in a surprising and personal way, we realize that it’s exactly what we’ve wanted all along.

It turns out it’s just as difficult for creators to understand what their audience wants to see as it is for fans. While a lot of entertainment is about creating art for the sake of art and telling our stories through media, it’s also an industry in which creators hope to appeal to general audiences to make a profit, which is a lot harder than it might seem. We see tropes and trends in entertainment that people are generally dissatisfied with and bored of, but we don’t see them disappearing. At least not quickly, because its just as difficult for creators to recognize the growing trends and wishes of their audience as it is for the audience to recognize their ever changing expectations.

Hayao Miyazaki, the critically acclaimed anime director and founder of Studio Ghilbi, recently made some bold complaints about Japan’s current anime industry. “Some people spend their lives interested only in themselves. Almost all Japanese animation is produced with hardly any basis taken from observing real people...it’s produced by humans who can’t stand looking at other humans.” (Source) While Miyazaki takes a very cynical approach, I think he may be onto something concerning how many creators, not just in anime, but in all entertainment mediums, don’t seem to know how to connect with their audience.

Delivering To Your Fans:

However, every once in a while, a group of creators come along that seem to grasp the answer to this mystery. Sometimes it’s in the form of paying tribute to fans. When BBC’s Sherlock Season Three began airing, written by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, fans immediately took note of the show’s unique structure. Even now jokes are still made about how it’s essentially “like watching fanfiction”. In a lot of ways, Sherlock Season Three feels like a big thank you fans and a sign that the creative team was keeping an eye on what their fans wanted and appreciated their support.

In Spring 2016, anime studio Trigger, famous for their ridiculous, over the top stories, characters and settings, started airing two new shows. One, called Kiznaiver, was structurally different from anything the studio had ever done before and what fans had come to expect from them. This experimental project received mixed reviews. The other was Space Patrol Luluco, which felt less like an actual story and more of a tribute to their fans. In this show, Trigger returned to the wacky, senseless style of storytelling people loved them for while heavily referencing all of their previous works, making the whole thing feel like a giant thank you to their fans for putting up with their weird experiments and a promise to deliver what they wanted to see in the future. These, of course, are examples of creators who observed their fan base and gave them what they wanted to see. However, there are some pieces of art and entertainment that appeal to the general public on a fundamental level, whether the viewer is a fan of the genre and medium or not.

Delivering to the World:

One such show from the Fall 2016 season surprised everyone with how quickly it took root within the internet fan community, given how little it was hyped up beforehand. Yuri!!! on Ice, an original sports anime, began its run and managed to capture the hearts of anime fans and non-fans alike. This show swept the internet by storm, rapidly gaining popularity with every new episode. Viewers started noticing how the show was constantly one step ahead of what they wanted and expected to see.

What gives Yuri!!! on Ice this power to connect with such a large group of people is the humanity of its characters, both in conception and action. While they all reach for the same goal, to win a gold medal in the world ice skating competition, we’re given in depth looks into their lives and who they are as people. Both Yuri and Viktor are set up to be complex and interesting characters far before the show goes the final step to establish their canonical gay relationship. When that happens, it still doesn’t become the point of the show’s focus, nor is it fetishized or aimed towards the fujioshi community in any way. It’s presented as just one of many parts of their lives as they work together to accomplish their goals. Their love and passion for their dreams and for each other is something that all audiences can easily connect with. What’s really interesting about how this show presents Yuri and Viktor’s relationship is that all the supporting characters accept the fact that they’re in a relationship without question. There aren’t any jokes or gags revolving around their sexuality like we’re used to seeing in most entertainment. The way the show portrays Yuri and Viktor is what many have been wanting to see for a long time: gay characters and relationships that aren’t the butt end of a hetero-normative punch line. This show doesn’t ignore the sexual orientation of its characters, but they never become the primary focus. Rather, it strips the characters of their sexuality and genders until all that’s left is who they really are: people. Real people with dreams, goals and passion.

In addition to having a great cast of lead characters, Yuri!!! on Ice has a diverse and interesting cast of supporting characters as well. Although many of them don’t get as much screen time as one might hope, they all have dreams, lives, relationships and struggles that they have to learn how to deal with. A large selection of nationalities are represented, once again avoiding stereotypes. Each of the skate performances are accompanied by an incredible score that uniquely represent their dreams, identities and personal struggles.

As with any show that explodes in popularity, there are always those who don’t believe it’s worthy of the recognition its received, and in this case it’s not without reason. Yuri!!! on Ice has a handful of flaws. Its supporting characters aren’t developed or explored as much as I would like them to be, the animation, while gorgeous at times, is inconsistent for most of the show’s run, and many of the in between episodes can easily start feeling repetitive and boring. However, the fact that it’s become so popular that it’s starting to be considered mainstream is a sign that it’s making a real impact on people, and that isn’t something that should be ignored, and the amount of work that Mitsurou Kubo and Sayo Yamamoto put into discovering what trends viewers were tired of, what both Japanese and Western audiences wanted to see and the risks they took in creating a show based on the results is something I think should be respected.

Even though part of entertainment and storytelling is telling your own personal story, there’s a lot of power in searching out what your audience wants and delivering it to them. One of the most incredible things about stories is how they connect with people. They connect fans with each other and with the creators. They give us things we can be surprised by and excited about. They create that transcendental feeling of satisfaction that make us feel like we’re not alone and are understood by others. They appeal to our basic human needs of acceptance and validation. They speak to our emotions and brings us to tears. They inspires us to push ourselves to the next level of life, to continue to survive and improve. Stories have the capability of changing us on a fundamental level as we see the world through the eyes of others and discover new things about ourselves. When a show’s creators take the time and effort to make a connection with their consumers, the result is powerful. Like Yuri and Viktor, stories like this are capable of stripping away the differences between people because they don’t speak to our genders, sexuality, races, politics or religions, but to our humanity.

Conclusion:

Surprising, the things that people ended up wanting last fall weren’t the things one might expect. They were things like respectful ethnic diversity, realistic LGBT+ representation, characters who acted like real people with real lives, relationships, mental struggles and questions about their identities, a powerful soundtrack that reflected the nationalities of the characters represented, interactions between characters that could go from funny to tear jerking in just minutes without feeling out of place and, ultimately, something we could all connect with. The reason Yuri!!! on Ice is so loved and praised by such a large and diverse audience that under different circumstances would have nothing in common is because it’s everything we wanted and were ready to receive. It appealed to our humanity, our differences, and our most basic emotions. It speaks to that burning desire in our hearts to reach farther than ever before, to dream, to break rules, to be ourselves, no matter what anyone thinks or says. At its core, this show is terrifyingly, beautifully, powerfully human.

Critically, Yuri!!! on Ice is far from being a critical masterpiece, but for many, it was perfect. And I think that’s powerful.

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Scattered Thoughts on Bakemonogatari

Well, I just finished Bakemonogatari for the first time and have a lot of thoughts and feelings about it. The problem I’ve been experiencing since the final ending theme has been making those thoughts and feelings cohesive, even to myself. Since they’re all still too scattered in my mind to make a full article out of them (for now), I thought I’d just offer a few of my initial thoughts upon completing one of the best selling anime series of all time.

If I were to attempt to describe Bakemonogatari in a single word I’d have a difficult time deciding on one that completely sums up the shows intentions and impressions. Intriguing comes to mind, as does fascinating. I’ve heard it described as a bit pretentious, and although I’m not really fond of that word, I can understand where they’re coming from. I suppose I’d probably end up summarizing it as innovative. From the direction to the soundtrack, the editing to the flow of the story, and the characters to the art and color design, this show broke boundaries. One of the things I find most interesting about Bakemonogatari is that none of its individual facets are original by themselves. The show combines bits and pieces from the horror, romance, harem, drama, suspense and thriller genres, all of which have been done extensively in anime. What makes this series so fresh and creative is the way in which all these individual parts work and flow together. I can name many, many shows with colliding, conflicting genre conventions, but none that work nearly as well as Bakemonogatari does.

If I had to offer an explanation as to why it works so well, I’d credit the driving force behind the show: the direction of Akiyuki Shinbo and his team. His use of colors, cuts, text and trademark shots (head tilts, eye close ups) is what allows the show to move from scenes of lighthearted comedy dialogue to heart pounding suspense in just minutes. These transitions are often bizarre, but never feel unnatural, forced or inconsistent. In Madoka Magica, due to its conflicting nature, Shinbo’s directing style changes after the third episode and continues to spiral into insanity as the show’s suspense continues to build, but in Bakemonogatari there aren’t any major shifts in style and flow depending on what the scene, it’s consistent. Meanwhile, the color designers and soundtrack composers make the scenes what they are, either comedic, dramatic or suspenseful, and I think it’s this system that allows each scene to flow into the next so flawlessly. Shinbo and his team have managed to come up with a style of direction that works for both comedy, drama and horror, depending on what the visual artists and musicians are doing, so that instead of jumping back and forth between thriller directing and harem/comedy directing, like shows such as Higurashi do, Bakemonogatari has a consistent feel that makes it memorable and allows it to stand out among its contemporaries, something I find completely genius.

Aside from Shibo’s genius direction, there are a few other things I like about the show and would like to briefly touch on. One of the things that caught my eye about this show from the very first scene was the character design. If you’re familiar with some of Shaft’s other works, such as Madoka Magica or the currently airing 3-gatsu no lion, you’re used to the studio’s knack for interesting character design that both looks and feels like anime yet has enough differences in outlining and other features, such as the eyes, to set it apart from similar characters. Bakemonogatari is similar, but in a different way. While all of the characters generally look much more anime-ish, for lack of a better term, than Madoka or 3-gatsu, it’s clear that the designer put an extended amount of thought and effort into the designs to make them stand out, both from each other and from similar characters in other franchises. These unique features are so small and unnoticeable on their own that I still can’t put my finger on what sets them apart from your typical anime characters. For some reason, they just pop out of the screen.

The shows plot is interesting to me, at least in some ways. Bakemonogatari is a supernatural mystery/romance show that follows our lead character as he attempts attempts to help people [read: young (perhaps too young), attractive women] with their supernatural calamities, such as possession or spiritual oppression, since he, himself, was once turned into a vampire and has some experience with the supernatural. One thing I appreciate about the show’s plot is that not only are the conclusions surprising, often the mysteries themselves aren’t what they originally seem. While the romance isn’t particularly appealing to me, it has it’s heart warming moments of good development, particularly in the last arc. Additionally, the writing, especially the dialogue, is flawless. I remember when the ending theme started playing at the end of episode three, I realized that I had just watched twenty minutes of two people talking to each other in a colorful but simple setting and hadn’t even noticed any time had gone by. It’s smooth, witty, and interesting to read all on its own. At this point I might attempt to explain the appeal of the show’s unique use of colors, setting and sense of space to set the tone for its each of its scenes, but this aspect of the show is really something better experienced than told about.

In conclusion, I’m not really sure I can count Bakemonogatari among my favorite shows, on a personal level. Even though it had some genuinely heartwarming moments, it didn’t really bring me to tears like Madoka did, and isn’t as crushingly relatable as 3-gatsu no lion. It took a long time for me to start enjoying. It was only during the Snake arc that the show really took hold in my mind, and I started looking forward to each episode more and more. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed Bakemonogatari, and for all the right reasons; flawless writing, directing, storytelling and fun and memorable characters. It’s definitely not a show for everyone, but personally, I can’t wait to watch the next season.

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Hibike! Euphonium: Character Analysis

Introduction:

Character development is a term thrown around a lot in discussions on storytelling. It’s often a sizable factor in how many critics view whatever media they are reviewing. Briefly, because I don’t feel like doing a full article on it at the moment, character development is important to me because while we, the audience, are viewers and observers of any given story from the outside, we also vicariously live out the story through its characters. A great story does more than look pretty from an outsider’s point of view, rather, it drags its audience kicking and screaming into it, forcing us to experience the characters’ emotions first hand as we find ourselves desperately wanting them to succeed in their goals. When a lead character never changes or develops, the audience can’t experience that because there’s nothing to experience. As humans, we are constantly changing and being changed by our experiences, so seeing a character change and develop only feels natural. When it doesn’t happen, it feels dull and even unnatural, causing me to feel like I’m being ripped out of the story and forced to be an observer again. A great story uses its characters to keep the audience thoroughly engaged and immersed throughout. The line between good and bad character development, however, is extremely subjective. For me, when I think about anime with great character development, a few immediately come to mind, one being the extremely popular high school music drama Hibike! Euphonium.

Whatever your opinion of the show, it’s not difficult to understand why it’s popularity has exploded within the last year. Kyoto Animation (Free, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, K-On!) are masters of what they do, specifically slice of life and drama series. From a production standpoint, Hibike is, as the kids are saying these days, on fleek. The animation, soundtrack, voice acting and directing are all top notch. However, while production quality is an important part of how I rate the media I consume on it’s own, we live in a world in which technology is developing so fast that high quality production values have become standard and are no longer a guarantee of a worthwhile story. Anime such as Sword Art Online, Guilty Crown, and more recently Kabeneri of the Iron Fortress have flaunted impeccable production values but still failed to capture the hearts and attention of a widespread audience. This isn’t only true of animation, either. Television, film and literature can all be perpetrators as well. A skilled team of artists doesn’t necessarily guarantee an equally complex product. The way I see it, Hibike is a solid seven out of ten in production alone, but what is it that has caused me and many others to give it an even higher rating? You guessed it: the characters.

A better reviewer than myself could write a massive article detailing why each character in this show is intriguing and important to the story in their own right. However, right now I’d like to examine one of the most obvious and interesting character arcs, that of Kumiko Oumae, the lead character, and a couple things I found interesting about it that weren’t immediately apparent to me upon my first viewing. I’ll be diving into some spoiler territory for season one so if you haven’t watched it, I’d highly recommend it if you don’t mind a bit of musical melodrama. It’s currently available on Crunchyroll for free. Let’s get started.

Analysis:

Hibike has a very simple premise and story. It doesn’t have to sell it’s audience on complicated world building or a deep, intense plot, since it’s a modern day drama. Given that many of KyoAni’s shows are similar in structure, they’ve become good at making up for it with their characters. In order to understand the leads of this particular show, we need to go back to the beginning and work our way through the events of the first season.

The show opens with the middle school band competition results being announced. Kumiko and her classmate Reina are sitting together, waiting to hear the results. The way they speak to and sit with each other would suggest that the two are already good friends at this point. Upon hearing that their band would not be moving on to the national competitions, we see two opposite responses from the characters. Everything about Kumiko’s body language and dialogue during this scene portrays her as apathetic and even harsh. In contrast, Reina is incredibly upset to the point of tears that their band didn’t succeed. Kumiko marvels out loud that Reina actually thought they had a chance, to which Reina takes great offense.

Before the OP even begins, we see a clear contrast between these two characters and how they feel about their school band. Since the story is told from Kumiko’s point of view, it’s difficult for us, the audience, to judge her for her harsh response to Reina’s distress. In the following episodes we see that, despite her guilt over hurting Reina’s feelings, Kumiko doesn’t really feel like she did anything wrong. Because I too was confused at why Reina had been so upset, I couldn’t help but side with her. After all, at first glance it seems as if Reina had been overreacting at the competition, harboring some unrealistic expectations for their school band. As if her actions in the first five minutes of the episode weren’t confusing enough, with the exception of a few bursts of passion she then spends the next several episodes acting distant and unreadable, a stark contrast to the emotional vulnerability she displayed at the competition.

It didn’t take me very long at this point to understand what type of character Reina is. She is a character that doesn’t fit any predetermined mold but rather is dense, confusing, mysterious and difficult to understand right from the beginning. These types of characters can be overdone at times to become a brand new stereotype of their own, the “different-than-others-pixie-dream-girl” that are often made fun of in discussions on YA literature. However, when done well, it is my favorite and, in my opinion, the most realistic approach to creating a character. They are difficult to understand immediately because their outward actions are the products of multiple layers of personality and experience. Anime has gained a reputation for having an absurd amount of character stereotypes, but realistically, people aren’t defined by specific sets of traits. Rather, humans are constantly molded and changed by their individual experiences, which create the layers of our personality that are sometimes difficult for even ourselves to understand. It’s up to the writer, at this point, to begin stripping the characters of these layers one by one, breaking them down to who they really are. Whether or not Hibike succeeds in this remains to be seen.

Back to the main character. Kumiko remains distant and apathetic throughout the early episodes. She originally hesitates to join the high school band, and even when she decides to sign up after all she’s determined to play a different instrument than the Euphonium she played in middle school. Much to her disappointment, she gets stuck with it anyway.

It’s only later on that we discover that her original reason for playing the Euphonium at all was because she wanted to be like her older sister, who played it in high school and later dropped out of band to work on her college entry tests. It’s difficult to say exactly what happened between the sisters between that point and the present, but it’s hard to ignore the tension between the two.

This may explain why Kumiko wanted to play a different instrument than the Euphonium, to break out of the cycle she had been stuck in since she was little and be different from her sister. This was an act of her own will that reveals that she isn’t a completely purposeless character, that on some level that she cares about her place in the band. Unfortunately, after being put behind a Euphonium she returns to her previous apathetic demeanor, possibly symbolic of her place in her sister’s shadow.

When a new instructor for the band enters the scene asking whether the students want to simply have fun with the band or work towards the national championship, Kumiko doesn’t raise her hand either way, an indicator of her confusion and indecisiveness. When the vote goes to the nationals, the instructor pushes them harder than the school band had ever pushed before, and while Kumiko practices with the group in their attempt to meet the instructor’s standards, she still doesn’t seem to think of the band as anything more than a routine. When the instructor’s intense and strict standards received opposition from many members of band, Kumiko responded with a near flippant attitude bordering on cynicism.

The turning point for Kumiko’s character comes in episode eight, followed by seven episodes of buildup as Kumiko and Reina attempt to reestablish their friendship that had been temporarily broken by Kumiko’s harsh comment during middle school. On the night of the local festival, the two climb up to the local shrine and play their instruments together, separated from the crowds. Reina confesses her attraction to Kumiko’s cynical personality that she hides under a facade of apathy, then explains her motivation and passion for music. She describes it as her desire to remain herself without becoming conformed to the rest of society, that she wants to stay unique and attempts to do so through her instrument, the trumpet.

There are a couple interesting things about this episode, apart from the stunning animation and romantic soundtrack accompanying their conversation. We realize that Reina and Kumiko are both putting on the same facade of distance and apathy to hide their true personalities. However, the parts of themselves they are trying to hide are vastly different. Reina is trying to disguise her raw, energetic, optimistic passion that we’ve only witnessed a few times at this point, while Kumiko is trying to hide her blunt cynicism. In addition, the two go about hiding their personalities in different ways. Kumiko tries to fit in with a clique of friends, while Reina acts as a loner. These contrasts and similarities make for some great chemistry between the two characters that is both fun and satisfying to watch.

As a viewer looking from Kumiko’s point of view I couldn’t help but see Reina’s ambitions of becoming “truly special” as a bit dramatic and unrealistic. Reina seems completely aware of how dramatic and crazy she sounds because after seeing the look on Kumiko’s face she starts laughing, remarking on her “terrible personality”.

The next few episodes follow a sub plot in which an audition takes place for who will be competing in the next competition, since only a limited amount of students can participate. This whole arc is a mess of melodrama that is pretty straightforward and doesn’t leave much to discuss, although it did leave me with some additional questions about the characters involved. Throughout this arc a lot of pressure is put on Reina specifically, and we begin to see more and more of her layers of personality being peeled off. When she and Kumiko are alone in one episode, she starts yelling about how unfair the situation was, the first time we see her visibly upset over something less about music and more about other people. Later, she’s pressured by some of her classmates into giving up her solo position for a senior student, and we see the effects of that on her personality. If anything can be gathered from her character during this sub plot, it’s that Reina is an emotionally and mentally strong character, but isn’t invincible and clearly longs for the support of Kumiko in these difficult circumstances.

While all this is taking place, Kumiko is beginning to change. While she may have immediately expressed disbelief over Reina’s ambitions, without knowing it, she had been inspired. From episode eight and on, Kumiko begins to work to perfect her instrument with more determination and purpose than we’ve seen from her in the series thus far. She remarks to Reina once that she wants to become “special” like her, and works diligently to achieve that. When the instructor assigns a difficult piece to Kumiko, she furiously practices it day and night. It becomes her only activity. She slowly grows passionate about the piece and works through blood, sweat and tears to perfect it, but no matter how much she practices she feels as if she can’t improve. All of this tension, frustration and agitation builds up to the climax of the season, her standing on a bridge and screaming “I want to improve!”, finally breaking down and mirroring Reina’s words from the beginning, “I’m so upset I could die.”

As soon as she says it, Kumiko looks up suddenly, a look of realization crossing over her face as a montage of flashbacks go by onscreen. Finally, Kumiko, and by extension the viewers, understood why Reina had been so upset in the opening scene. Kumiko had never experienced that level of passion for anything before, but now that she was put in Reina’s shoes, she understood her pain of not being able to rise above her present state. She finally understood how someone could be so passionate over something that it consumes their entire being. Stunned by this realization, she rushes home and boldly declares to her sister that she likes the euphonium, which seems to surprise her. This line caught me off guard initially because her intense declaration of love to her instrument immediately following her passionate screaming from a bridge felt like a large jump in emotional states, but looking back on it, it was one of the most powerful moments in the series. Kumiko had developed a passion for her music, not because her sister had played it before her, or because she was stuck was trying to live up to a role model who had let her down, but because she genuinely liked it. She had reached Reina’s level of passion, and wanted to declare it to everyone.

Conclusion:

Hibike could be called a lot of things. It’s a music infused romance, drama and slice of life. However, I don’t think any one of those labels represents what this show is really about. Yes, the chemistry between Reina and Kumiko is fun to watch, but that’s not the point of the show. It’s about Kumiko’s journey. She began as a lonely, cynical high schooler that hid behind a mask of apathy and allowed herself to be held back by people who had let her down to becoming a passionate, excited and animated artist. Reina showed her that her life could be more than regret and conformity. Just like she had, Kumiko found her way out of the system of apathy and normalcy through music. As the first season closes, Kumiko still has a difficult journey ahead of her as she and Reina strive to satisfy the burning passion within them to reach higher than they’re capable of. They’ll continue to build up their scaffolding as the bar they attempt to reach continues to rise, but as is evident from the finale, Kumiko is prepared to face those challenges. She’s had a taste of what a life of excitement and passion is like, and she’ll never be the same. Whatever your opinion of the show as a whole, in my opinion, this character arc was is flawless.

I sometimes like to imagine what certain shows would be like without certain characters, and when I think about Hibike I marvel at the fact that if any of the leads were taken out or replaced the entire story would fall apart because it’s completely carried by the characters. Every one of them, even the “minor” characters, are remarkably well designed. They have layers of personality created by their experiences that the writer then begins to break down throughout the course of the series. As mentioned earlier, even without the flawless character development this show would still hold up great on it’s own. The animation, soundtrack and directing are all fantastic. However, the additional character arcs and the development of Kumiko and Reina’s relationship make it an unforgettable experience. My only complaint about this season apart from the melodrama (looking at you, bow girl) is that it isn’t really complete. There’s a lot of characters that haven’t been explored yet, and I still have a lot of questions. What made Reina so passionate about music to begin with? What’s her family like? What did Kumiko’s sister do to let her down? What the hell is up with Asuka in general? While I applaud KyoAni and their writers for managing to accomplish what they did in the short thirteen episodes, it just isn’t enough time to completely explore it’s large cast. However, it would appear I’m in luck because the second season just started airing, so I guess it’s time for me to catch up. The first season of Hibike is one of the most personally impactful anime I’ve seen recently. However, there’s still plenty of time for this franchise as a whole to become either an all time favorite or a bit of a disappointment, so you can expect to see another article on it later this year when the season wraps up. Until then.

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Air For Free: Lyrical and Musical Review/Analysis

Introduction:

Relient K is a difficult band to summarize in a few sentences. In the eighteen years that these Christian punks have been rocking and writing, they’ve changed, evolved and matured with each new release. When the wave of punk-pop began to recede in the ocean of Christian contemporary music and many of the bands that were once at the forefront of the movement began to fade into obscurity, Relient K remained, continuing to change and experiment while staying true to their original creative spirit. Not many of their contemporaries can claim as much.

When Relient K first got their feet off the ground with the help of Toby Mckeehan, I’m not sure anyone was entirely prepared for what their first few albums would bring to the table of Christian music. What the industry gained were songs about Marilyn Manson, Matt Theissen’s fictional crush on Nancy Drew, comparisons between a car and mental breakdown, college life and, as the band would later title their debut book, The Complex Infrastructure Known as the Female Mind...Oh, yeah, not to mention Jesus and church and stuff.

While their songs were goofy, ridiculous and reminiscent of nineties punk-pop acts such as blink-182, the brutal honesty of their lyrics and catchy melodies caught the attention of many listeners early on. Over time, their lyrics continued to mature, and with their gradual changes in sound and style the band begin to tackle bigger, more philosophical questions in their lyrics, climaxing in their albums Mmhmm and Five Score and Seven Years Ago, with tracks such as “When I Go Down”, “Devastation and Reform”, “Let it All Out”, and the eleven minute epic, “Deathbed”. However, after their 2013 album Collapsible Lung, a conceptual pop album about growing old and reminiscing in which Theissen brought in a team of mainstream songwriters, many fans were concerned about the future of Relient K, some going so far as to say that they had “sold out” to the mainsteam music industry. Three years later, Matt Theissen and Matt Hoopes, the two original and remaining members of the band, announced that they were working on their eighth studio album, Air For Free. Right now, I want to try to flush out some of the core themes and ideas behind this album by analytically examining the lyrical and musical content. Let’s do this.

Lyrical Analysis:

Relient K often does far more than write songs: they tell stories. Sometimes these stories are poetic, sometimes they are shockingly straightforward. Sometimes they center around a single person, and other times address a much broader audience. While Collapsible Lung tells one continuous story, Air For Free tells a collection of much smaller stories. What I found interesting after listening to this album a few times is that these stories are not at all large scale and spectacular. They aren't Deathbeds or Collapsible Lungs or When I Go Downs. Even one of the longest and most impressive tracks on the record, “Runnin’”, doesn’t conclude with fanfare, thematic appeal, or deep, philosophical points to make. Air For Free, in some ways, is a very simple album.

That's not to say that it's void of introspection, questioning and depth. It definitely has its profound moments on tracks like “Local Construction”, “Prodigal”, “God” and “Man”. In fact, in terms of quantity, this album is easily more thoughtful and introspective than Collapsible Lung. However, in its own way, Air For Free tells simple stories that describe events, emotions and questions that everyone has to face at some point. They’re little snippets of life that don't end in a philosophically dense, existential finale. Instead, they conclude with the realization and understanding that life goes on and the exhortation to make the most of each moment.

To give a few examples, “Bummin” is about understanding our weaknesses, inability to cure ourselves from our vices, and our need for help. “Man” is about coming of age and maturity. “God” is about deciding and coming to terms with what we believe in. “Empty House” is about feelings of loneliness in the absence of loved ones. “Sleepin’” reflects on individual moments, the little things in everyday life. Even “Runnin'”, a story about an orphan who, in the wake of losing his father, was encouraged to give his life to God, ends on a peaceful, simple, yet completely satisfying note about how that orphan, even with his tragedy and pain, was able to still gain everything he could ever ask for and continues to live life to the fullest (he keeps on “running”). These are just the tracks that stick out to me lyrically. Every song on this album is impactful and important in its own right. Each tells a simple story, fused with raw emotion, meaning and depth.

The album ends with “Heartache”, a song that reflects on the past and asks questions about the future. Matt Theissen asks himself if he's truly found his way, then reflects on how he found his purpose in life. He then asks the question "Is it gonna always have to be this hard?" He comes out on the other side of his questioning with new confidence and hope, determined not to lose heart. Even though he has questions, he finds comfort in holding onto hope, admitting that it’s “all I know”. In the bridge he sings, "Up and at 'em/Bright as the start of a brand new day/There's a magic to it, never let it go/It's the time when you awake/Something holy to it only you could know."

Musical Analysis:

While in concept this album is relatively simple, lighthearted, and, as one of my friends put it, “chilled out”, musically that is definitely not the case. Being some of the most prominent punk rockers in the Christian industry, Relient K has always had a reputation known for pushing boundaries and trying new things. That being said, this album takes Relient K's musical creativity to a new level, the likes of which they haven't attempted for a long time, if ever. Musically, Air For Free can be broken down into three sections, each of which carries different sounds, tones and structures that are each individually unique yet consistent with the others to form a cohesive whole. The landmarks for these three sections are “Bummin’”, “Elephant Parade”, and “Marigold”.

The album begins with “Bummin’”, a simple song that sets the tone for the rest of its section as being fun, uncomplicated and easy to listen to, yet not without depth. It’s interspersed with upbeat, lighthearted songs with some humor mixed in (“Cat”, “Mrs. Hippopotamus”) and songs that take on a more thoughtful, mature sound (“Local Construction”, “God”, “Air For Free”, “Man”). While “Cat” definitely stands out to me musically for its unique vocal effects, it is “Air For Free” that has some of most creative mixing and effects on the album. In the chorus Matt sings, “Air for free/If I sink to the darkest depths/Will you be there for me?/To hold my hand while I hold my breath.” The production and musical sides of the track compliment the lyrics nicely, making it sound as if the song were being played underwater, a touch that makes this song all the more dynamic and impactful. “God” is another interesting song to take note of, being by far the most religious song on the album (what a surprise) and carrying a more Christian Contemporary sound. It’s difficult for me to associate Relient K with the CCM genre, and while it may be one of the weaker songs on the album musically, it serves its purpose lyrically, introducing the questions of belief and religion to the album.

When you reach “Elephant Parade”, it becomes obvious that things are about to change dramatically. If it wasn’t the introduction of the brass section that tipped you off, the blatant tempo change at the end of the song leaves little doubt. What follows is a collection of four songs in which Relient K plays with some new instruments, styles, progressions, effects and lyrics. ”Mountaintop” takes the transition easy, keeping the brass section alive and featuring the album’s first romantic lyrics. “Sleepin’”and “Flower” both take a slower approach that builds up in energy as they progress. The former introduces the ukulele to the album, and the latter features a piano progression that has a much darker, more dramatic texture. “Empty House”, one of my favorite tracks on the album musically, is a melancholic piano ballad that features a blatant use of auto tune software on Matt’s vocals. Some found this effect to be a distracting put-off, but I thought it fit the creative tone of the album beautifully. If I may indulge myself for a moment, I also believe the effect carries some hidden symbolism. In a song about the pangs of loneliness, the effects give the lyrics an almost drunken sound, or that of someone on the verge of tears attempting to maintain a facade of composure (I may be looking too far into this, but knowing Relient K, it wouldn’t surprise me).

And now we come to the third and final section, beginning with “Marigold”, a song that begins almost too pop oriented and sappy to fit in any of the three sections, but changes suddenly in the bridge when Matt launches into a new set of lyrics, accompanied by another change in tempo and dramatic drum buildup as Matt sings “nothing but the sun in your eyes” with a resounding chorus of background vocals. The change flows together perfectly, and actually gave me goosebumps the first few times I listened to it. This song is an indicator that final section is about to become the most dramatic and thematic of the album. It makes good on its promise right away, launching headfirst into “Runnin’”, the tree-part mini rock epic. The song puts a much heavier emphasis on the guitar, making it the closest track on the record to the old Relient K sound we fell in love with. The dramatic chord progressions, tempo changes and variety of instruments fit the thematic lyrics perfectly and serve to make this one of the most interesting tracks on the album. “Prodigal” slows the section down considerably, but still maintains a thematic sound. Finally, the album concludes with the dramatic finale “Heartbreak”, which, like “Runnin’”, moves in sections, but with a much more relaxed tone that gracefully eases the album into silence.

Conclusion:

Relient K has, without a doubt, has left their mark on the Christian music industry. They’ve been among my favorite bands for as long as I can remember. That being said, they’ve truly outdone themselves this time and created something that, while staying true to their roots both lyrically and musically, is unique and original. They’ve reached a whole new level of creativity. It’s astonishing to think that after eighteen years these rockers are still in their prime. In fact, if anything, they’ve improved. They haven’t lost their love for what they do best or for their rebellious tendencies to push boundaries and explore different ways of telling stories through music. While this album is certainly different than any of their past projects, both musically and lyrically, it gives new perspectives on life, death, religion and love that they’ve never explored in this way before.

I have nothing bad to say about this album. It’s good to hear Matt back at the helm of the songwriting, and while I respect their bold and creative spirit in the creation of Collapsible Lung, I was relived to find that for their eighth studio album they had created a much more original sound that, while not the traditional punk rock that sold us on the band in the beginning, has Relient K written all over it. Admittedly, “Mountaintop” and “God” feel like weaker tracks in comparison to the rest of the album, but overall played their role in telling its story. All in all, this album is original, energetic, theatrical, dramatic, heartfelt, honest, and yet somehow surprisingly simple. The boys from Ohio have been rocking for eighteen years and I’m in suspense to see where their imaginations and creativity will take them next.

Overall rating: 10/10

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Hello!

I’ve never been a huge fan of introductory posts. They’re boring to write and boring to read. I’m not entirely sure if anyone even cares why I’m here or what I’m trying to accomplish on this little blog of mine.

Consider this post more for me than it is for any of you, my readers. I can’t begin to tell you how many times my internal monologue has been interrupted by the thought, “Man, I should get back to writing”. However, I never follow through because I’m always waiting for the right idea, the right topic, the right moment, etc., and so my inner thoughts move on to more pressing topics. I’ve done this with nearly every blog I’ve ever written on until I was finally forced to take a long break from blogging altogether. Instead, I focused my efforts on music writing and my clusterfrick of a multifandom blog. Recently, however, that strange urge is pushing me again. I have ideas and opinions that I want to share about the things that I enjoy and dwell on. I’ve decided that the only way I’m ever going to get back to writing is if I just do it. So that’s what this is. Me, forcing myself to write something. All the topics, arguments, ranting and analysis can come later. Today, it’s just an introduction. But if you are, in fact, curious as to what the hell this blog even is in slightly greater detail than was described in the sidebar, feel free to take something from this as well.

Hi, my name’s Elijah. I’m a seventeen year old musician, writer, bookworm, punk rocker and consumer of all media types, my favorites being books, anime, television and music. I’m currently hanging in Southern California, rocking with my family and finishing up high school. I’m constantly looking for inspiration to complete my full length projects, but until the rest of my creative juices catch up to me, I’ve decided to make my home here. I’d like to go into greater detail about the importance of fandoms in my personal life in another post, but to summarize, I’m very enthusiastic about a lot of things, especially the ones I deeply enjoy, and am in desperate need a medium in which to express my opinions and vent my enthusiasm, whether it be positive or negative. This year has been a brewing pot of opinions, ideas and excitement, so I think it’s finally time I indulge myself, and perhaps you’ll enjoy the journey with me.

-Elijah

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