Visual Culture Blog

[daynihongo-blog]

Final Post

This class was really fun for me because when I first walked in I was mainly just expecting to watch some anime and talk about random things. Instead though this class was very thought provoking and really showed me a lot of things I didn’t ever think about before hand in things that seemed so surface based to me before. Thinking about deeper themes and author intents in anime was fun and challenging and something that I felt was fun to try and figure out while watching any anime. Seeing the way anime evolved and its messages throughout the years and time periods that Japan went through was really cool.

My favorite anime that we watched throughout the class was Spirited Away. I think that Kimi No Na Wa is also very close but since I’ve already seen that a few times before, I have to choose Spirited Away. I had never seen any Studio Ghibli movies before this class so being able to watch such a famous and well done movie for the first time was very fun and I was glued to it the entire time.

My favorite manga we read throughout the class was Sailor Moon. Sailor moon was something that I watched sometimes as a kid but I had never read the manga before, so while it felt a bit nostalgic, it also felt like opening up a brand new world. I also really enjoy the art style of Sailor Moon so it was very visually pleasing to read as well.

After this class I feel that I will always want to look for the themes and messages the author tries to include in their works whether its anime, manga, or anything else because I had a lot of fun doing it in this class. This class geared me up with the tools to start thinking more into media works so I am very grateful for that.

[krupptonaru-blog]

Wandering Son

This was an incredibly tense scene for me

Full disclosure: I watched the entire season. But I decided to only make notes for the episodes assigned. Then when I finished I decided that I wanted to write my paper on this series and I had intense regrets about my note taking decisions. But, I’ll try to limit my discussion to the four episodes we were supposed to watch!

I actually adore this anime. My paper is looking to be a little negative, and I think depending on how you interpret certain events there are negative things to say. But forget all that. This anime is great. If 君の名は is my number 1 for this class, this is easily my number 2 (not that there was a lot of competition, but oh well). 

女の子ってなんでできてる？男の子ってなんでできてる？Questions that really inform the rest of the series, and difficult ones to answer. What is it that makes somebody a girl? What is it that makes somebody a boy? I used to think a lot about gender (my own, specifically). I eventually came to my own conclusions, but it’s funny to think about how a support network or shows like this might’ve affected me back then. 

When I initially watched this series (in one sitting) I thought about how well it covered some topics. Typing this now, I instead think about how I never really stopped to think that this setting was supposed to be limited to Japan. I listened to the Japanese for certain cues, and of course with things like the school’s culture festival it is undoubtedly Japan. But in a way it feels like some messages from this anime have the ability to resonate with people across the globe (for better or worse). 

One of the things that really stood out to me was how it presented the pressure to conform. It calls to mind the saying 出る杭は打たれる. The nail that sticks out gets hammered down. Nitori stepped outside of expectations one time, going to school dressed as a girl, and there’s hell to pay for it. Anna dips, bullies pop up, and Nitori is forced back into the schoolboy role. I said it once in class already, but I grew up in a really small, really rural, town. Think Itomori (Your Name), but possibly smaller and certainly more spread out. It’s difficult to force yourself to stand out in that kind of environment. And I don’t mean that in the, “everybody is just so amazing” type of way. My county had two high schools, a standard one and one for dual enrollment (HS+college). I attended the dual enrollment one, and some of my other friends attended the standard one. One of my friends (that I had met in kindergarten) came out as bisexual in 9th grade. Despite the fact that he went to the standard HS, everybody in the DE school knew that he had come out. Then one of my friends from the DE school told me that he was homophobic. Literally, just like that, as if it were something to brag about. He told me that he didn’t want to hang out with my other friend, and that I shouldn’t either. And I’d like to tell you that I told him to fuck off. But I didn’t. And I’d like to say that I couldn’t do that, because of the environment. But I could’ve. I mean, if my friend could come out of the closet in that kind of place, then what is telling one person to get lost? But I took the easy way out. I remained friends with both of them, keeping them out of each other’s way, until I moved to Florida and eventually lost contact with both. 

I have more recent stories that I’d like to share, but if I remember correctly this is supposed to be a blog about anime/manga, and not my personal diary. So, I suppose I’ll save them for a later date. Though I only talked about the issue of conformity I think this anime does a lot of things right. I wish we had had more of this. 

P.S. There’s no picture, but Chi is easily the best character.

[daynihongo-blog]

The constant backlash that Nitori receives is for sure something that I think everyone in the world can relate with. Even if it is not gender identity, the idea of backlash for being what you believe you really are and being forced to conform is something that I agree isn’t limited to Japan. The “he’s sick” that his sister gives to her friend is something that I immediately felt sad for Nititori for, since he is not able to try and discover his own identity without having to deal with criticism even from some of his own family.

[daynihongo-blog]

4/23/2019

This show was a fun one to watch. I think that whether or not someone has struggled with particularly gender crisis or trans identity, that this show has something that everyone can relate to. Mainly being that in this anime the characters are in middle school which is a prominent time where kids are searching for their early identity and struggling with identity problems, especially in a world that I feel is still pretty new to the idea of gender identity and wanting to explore your own gender identity. One example being in the first episode where his sister finds him dressed in her clothes and tells her friend that he is sick.

Overall I find this anime very interesting with a theme that I have never seen really explored and used before in a media like this (besides the obvious trap theme in anime, but that doesn’t ever dive into the reasons behind it).  I plan on watching the entire anime sometime this week so I can get the full experience of what looks like a very interesting anime that explores lesser talked about struggles.

[themediumsizedbear-blog]

4/17/2019

Spirited Away is a timeless classic that I’m proud to have been apart of the generation that came up on it. Nevertheless, its confusing as it sort of meshes elements of reality and fantasy without much warning sort of as Penguindrum did. On that note, the transformation of the parents into pigs is one early example of how greed affects society, indicating to me that elements relating thereto are an important theme of this movie. The happy ending was also nice seeing as how we have seen many very not happy endings. 

Evangelion is an enthralling show upon first sight. The opening song I knew through a friend who mentioned something about its popularity in Karaoke playlists throughout Japan. On that note, this is a work rich with anime and pop culture troupes which I feel contribute to its popularity. Definitely feels like there are societal critiques underlying the show encompasses a greater dialogue underlying the show. It feels again like wartime and bomb references are prevalent. 

[daynihongo-blog]

The song from Evangelion was also surprising to me when I first heard it today because I also knew it without ever watching the show. I knew the song threw the internet and memes and when I heard the song it made me a bit more exited to watch the anime because this was something that stuck with a lot of people past their childhood. That’s always something that I find fun about watching anime that is older but I've never watched because I already know things from the shows because of things such as memes, and then seeing them in the show makes the show feel a lot more relatable and fun.

[daynihongo-blog]

4/18/2019

 Before taking this class, I had never watched any Ghibli movies, and I am sad that I have waited so long to watch some of these. Although the other ones we have watched so far weren’t as interesting to me because I am not super interested in war type movies usually, but this one was really good and I enjoyed it very much. The animation quality was outstanding and the characters had a very enjoyable persona to all of them. The plot was centered around the two ideas of greed and lost identity and were played out very well by the characters in my opinion. After watching so many Ghibli movies, I see where all the hype for them comes from.

Evangelion was basically a throw back Thursday to Macross and Gundam for me. It feels like all the mecha anime have pretty similar plots and characters. Unconfident/forced into war boy who meets hot anime girl(s) and fights big space monsters/robots with his big robot. I can understand why people like this genre a lot although for me I just don’t have much interest in it. Although I have my own personal likings that have their own cliches and common themes so I am not devaluing the mecha genre for having their own. The animation and art style was the classical anime look and feel and I enjoyed it since I don’t usually ever watch anime with this style its always a good blast to the past for me. I enjoyed watching the episodes we selected for class but I don’t think it is anything that I will ever watch on my own personal time.

[summer-gator-blog]

Ummmm… what? I’m pretty sure this all went over my head. Maybe I wasn’t paying enough attention, but I felt really lost. I guess Seifuku Girl’s sister cursed Main Baddy and then she was turned into the penguin hat (which there are apparently two of)?  Also, Shoma was in love with Seifuku Girl? Did he take her place and get killed? Was love actually the Penguindrum the whole time? I should probably google the plot (and their names). I’m also really confused about the relationship of all the siblings and the apparent abuse they all went through. I mean, was Himari literally in some sort of child equivalent of a broiler slaughterhouse? If so, were the brothers in a related facility, or was that an unrelated child abuse center? I obviously have a lot of questions, so I really hope things get explained tomorrow…

[daynihongo-blog]

I’m right there with you on the confused part. Watching the child broiler section I was just actually trying to figure what was going on and why they were putting kids into a literal shredder. I think the crazy amount of flashbacks that were in the anime made it even more confusing because I wasn’t sure what was supposed to be linked to what. But I hope as well tomorrow that we can find out the missing info.

[daynihongo-blog]

4/16/2019

This anime was very, very confusing for me. I’m not sure if I’m missing out on a lot of context or if I’m just really bad at seeing the meaning behind some things but the insane amount of flashbacks and references to characters i’m pretty sure we have not seen throughout our 6 episodes of watching really confused me and kinda put me off from the show.

That being though, the show has really good art and animation execution in my opinion. Once again the colors look vibrant and bright but also in some areas look very steam punk like. From what I think I understand the show had a good message of doing whatever it takes to save the ones you love which is a pretty common one through out a lot of anime, and I really liked the background music that they had for the final episode. I felt like I wanted to cry for Himari and her brothers even though I really had no idea what was going on. I’m hoping in class tomorrow that I can learn about the things i’m missing out on and i’ll probably take a week one day later on to watch the entire 24 episodes and try to get the full experience.

[krupptonaru-blog]

Your Name

How it feels when you decide that catching a limited express at rush hour in Shibuya is a good idea

I was really excited to get to watch this movie for this class. In one of my Japanese classes at Aogaku we listened to an NHK segment on why the movie was so popular. I can’t find the video, but here’s the transcript, if you’re curious. On top of that, for Dr. Wehmeyer’s translation class I translated the first two chapters of the novelization (released a month before the movie). Moreover this is just my type of movie/anime. A romance/comedy/drama WITH A HAPPY ENDING. It’s unfortunate (for me) that we spent so much time on military anime, because frankly I have next to zero interest in them. Also, generally speaking, not a fan of things that are super sad (looking at you, three out of four of the non-military things we watched). Also also, this movie is just so pretty. 

That being said, I think it’s harder for me to analyze a piece when I actually just enjoy watching it. So this gonna be rough, but whatever. How bad could it be? What’s the single most important thing in this movie? The idea of musubi (結び). The whole story revolves around the concept. So what is musubi? Well, according to grandma, it’s a lot of things. Tying a knot, connecting with people, bringing things into yourself, the flow of time itself. They’re brought together, they can twist, tangle, unravel, break, and come back together again. It’s the connection between things (everything?), both in a micro sense and macro sense. Time ties together the past, the present, and the future. And you are tied to people through your relationship to them (daily interactions, old grudges, whatever). It’s the connection between Mitsuha and Taki that tie them together (literally, in the picture above), through time and space. It’s through this connection that Mitsuha and Itomori stand a chance of surviving at all. But of course, Taki/Mitsuha couldn’t do it alone. They also required the help of Tessie and Saya. I think an important aspect here is musubi isn’t just you’re tied to one person and then you can do something incredible. It’s your connection to everybody, and everything. I’ll come back to this in a second.

So what are they saved from? A big ol’ comet. Is this meant to be a stand in for anything? You could argue that the way the comet’s strike is depicted is somewhat reminiscent of the way certain other things have been depicted so far (that silence when it’s about to go boom, the way houses and things are tossed like they’re nothing). But personally I don’t think it’s a stand-in. Or rather, it could be a stand-in for any event that causes a lot of death and destruction. Because the message (to me) isn’t about people reacting to a specific event, like it was in Barefoot Gen or Grave of the Fireflies. Annnnd going back to the previous paragraph,

For me, the movie was about how important our connections are to people in general. This movie chose a comet, but couldn’t it have just as easily been a fire or an earthquake? So it’s not the specific event that matters, but (at least here) it’s about how people come together. Mitsuha got information from the future that put her in a position to be able to save the town. Her connection with Tessie and Saya gave her the tools to do it. Her connection with her dad ensured it. On the other hand, Taki was able to send that information back to the past. He was only able to do that because of a chance encounter with somebody who had lived in Itomori, and because of his connection with Mitsuha. 

In my mind this can be broken down to a more basic message, which is that we are stronger together. I think there’s also a message in the fact that they (Mitsuha and Taki) were able to accomplish this despite being separated by time, and having lived totally different lives. I think it sends a  message of (a hope for?) togetherness that supersedes personal differences (such as where you were born or where you live now). 

Final note on 君の名は. In the last picture above, they’re tied together by a red string. This string also shows up in the scene after he drinks the 口噛み酒. In Japanese there’s an expression, 赤い糸 (akai ito). Literally red string, but it comes from folklore that fated lovers are joined by a red string of fate. And Mitsuha lived in 糸守 (Itomori). 赤い糸、糸守. Well I thought it was interesting.

How could you not immediately think of these guys when you see that scene? I don’t want to write too much about this because I wrote a fair amount for Your Name. I remember some many years ago when I saw the first couple of episodes I thought this anime was really strange (and I stopped there). I can confirm that I still find it strange. Lots of talk about fate (and how people don’t like it). In the hospital there was a line leading to the family, and it was red. Red string of fate? Also apples keep popping up, and then we get a story about a really poppin’ apple tree that died and ended up getting somebody killed. Also, talking about taboos while that ceremony/ritual/whatever is going on… hmmm… Overall this anime feels like it has a lot going on, but it’s just going over my head. Oh well

[daynihongo-blog]

I have to agree here that I had a harder time analyzing Kimi no Na wa. I think it was as well for me because I liked it a lot so the scenery, music, and characters were what I always enjoyed the most compared to military anime where I wasn’t as interested and the scenery was usually pretty normal and bland so I focused more on the plot and analyzable content. Even though, Kimi no Na wa had a lot of good content that I think is analyzable for comparing themes in Japanese media, which is fun to look at in my opinion.

[daynihongo-blog]

4/11/2019 - キュー

Today’s viewings were Penguindrum and Kimi no Na wa. Kimi no Na wa is a mvoie that I have seen a few times being that it was super popular when it released and it is personally one of my favorite anime/anime movies. The soundtrack from the movie is something I listen to from time to time and the animation of it is top quality. It carries a theme that I think is pretty common in anime and Japanese movies from what I have seen, being romance mixed with a situation that pulls two people apart or won’t let them have the relationship they desire. In Kimi no Na wa, the two main characters are introduced to each other by a comet switching their bodies and them having to live each others lives, communicating with each other by leaving each other messages. The twist comes when it is learned that they are living in slightly different time periods in Japan and Taki has to use Mitsuha’s body to save her soon to be destroyed town by the comet.

This plot style is one that see a lot in Japanese media, and one that I really enjoyed. The twist in the plot isn’t something that I ever saw coming and was one that caught me by surprise. This kind of plot style is something that I usually see in Japanese style media in sometimes different forms, one example being a movie where the two people met and fell in love but they were ageing in different directions and had their love ripped apart.

Penguin drum was a interesting anime to say the least. The plot line was pretty interesting and it was fun to get surprised with the characters with what was happening to Himari. My favorite part was when Shouma was asking the Mother and her daughter what the penguin was and the thought he was a weird person hallucinating. Being that we skipped a lot of episodes there are a few characters that we don’t get introductions for but the story was still easily understandable. I really enjoyed the art style in this anime as it was very colorful and felt very vibrant. I am excited to watch the next 3 episodes that we have lined up and can’t wait to get to see more of the plot.

[themediumsizedbear-blog]

The Wind Rises (1/8/2019)

Wow, what a beautiful film. I read somewhere that a general aim of Miyazaki’s has been to illicit an appreciation for the ‘little things’ in life amongst his viewership. Certainly, I feel typical settings seen in every day life, such as mountains, shorelines, cities, etc. are made easier to appreciate through this film as they’re depicted with rich detail, going down to the finer points. Even with people, I love how the boss’ hair, for instance, would rise and fall back on his head as he went about; it really contributed to characterizing him as a ‘kibishi’ boss. The train rides also serve as a great example of this, as provide an ideal site to gaze in awe at Miyazaki’s depictions of mother nature race by at a speed they actually would in person. Miyazaki must be really observant. The Kanto Region earthquake was depicted in a rather pornographic manner, as the bomb in barefoot Gen was, depicting a quite literal rolling out of the land scape and everything within it with no special regard for the life it hosts. While evil music plays in the background to inject a stronger sense of tragedy into the event, almost making it seem like a menacing act, it is a very real event.

One scene I found interesting was when Jiro goes to spectate the German planes. Many of these scenes were very racially charged as the German soldiers kept referring to them as ‘these Japanese’ and were very suspicious of them the whole time, even though they had explicit permission to be present on supposedly equal terms, even though, of course, the Germans did not truly view it this way. When one soldier advised them not to go beyond a certain point for their safety, he referred to them in that same demeaning manner as previously mentioned while Jiro refers to him as ‘kyodai’ or ‘brother.’ Obviously, the soldier doesn’t consider them equals and while Jiro doesn’t care, his partner does. Somehow I feel this another way the film emphasizes innovative qualities in people overlook superficialities and thus is encouraging thereof.

[daynihongo-blog]

I agree that the scenery in this film was very nice. It is probably one of my favorite things from this movie. For example in the beginning when Jiro was riding on the outside of the train and looking at all of the scenery I just thought to myself how much I wish I could enjoy that same kind of experience.

[daynihongo-blog]

4/9/2019 - The Wind Rises

Today’s movie that we watched took place before the bombings of Japan and takes point of view from Jiro Horikoshi and his dream of making air crafts. This movie was slightly confusing trying to figure out where the dream parts were at some points but once I got farther into the movie it was much easier to tell. This movie had things that I didn’t really understand much about, such as flight terms and engineering terms, but even without knowing them the movie is easy to watch and enjoy.

For me, the main plot of this movie is the relationship between Jiro and Nahoko. Their relationship was a very emotionally pulling part of the movie and made me very sad to see the way their relationship came to an end. Watching Jiro from a boy with a dream to watching his dream turn into an art of war was also quite sad and made me feel for him as he walked through the graveyard of his planes. The animation and art style in this movie was very nice and the way that I do always imagine Studio Ghibli movies.Seeing Japan look so old yet still modern was interesting to see and the scenery was very pleasing.Everything about this movie was quiet enjoyable and I think it gives good insight into the process that Japanese plane engineers had to work through during this period of the world.

[monnnica-blog1]

4/5/2019

Barefoot Gen

Although I knew that it was going to be a sad movie, due to the advice given during class (thank you for the warning), I had no idea how devastating this movie would be. I never really watched anything like it before. Ofcourse I knew the general story about the history but seeing it in action really brings out a lot of different emotions. The scene when the mother is looking for other woman to give milk to her newborn, and when the one mother dies while giving milk and the baby is still trying to get milk out, that scene really got to me. When Gen and the mother tries to save the Dad, Eiko and Shinji, but cannot due to their lack of strength because they can’t eat, that truly broke my heart. Although the ending somewhat ended on a positive, hopeful note, it still left me feeling very helpless and sad.

Grave of the fireflies

I have seen this movie a while back and remembered some small parts, like the candy box and how incredibly sad it is, but not much of the story. I watched Barefoot Gen first and didn’t think I could get any sadder, but wow, it was possible. The whole movie from the plot, to the illustration, to the voices, it was just too much for me. Although I know Seita did the best he could, I just can’t get over the fact that Setsuko passed away… especially when she finally got food. I also cannot stand the aunt! Why couldn’t she have been there for them more. So many mixed feelings and questions and overall sadness. 

[daynihongo-blog]

The scene with the mother looking to find milk for her baby was one that stood out to me as well. Watching her run through what felt like a zombie land to try and find anyone that was even well enough, let alone alive, to help her was gut wrenching. I felt scared for her safety almost because of how crazy people can become when on the verge of death. One example being how the other mother she met wanted to kill her baby out of jealousy.

[daynihongo-blog]

4/4/2019

The two movies that we watched today both dealt with the life of living through the aftermath of nuclear war. Both movies dealt with heavy topics of death and the struggle of dealing with constant bombings from American forces. Both movies also took place from the point of view from kids that survived the bombings.

Barefoot Gen took was very saddening to me because the main character had to legit watch his father,sister, and little brother die right in front of him after he failed to save them. Hearing Shinji scream about how hot the fire was while all Gen could do was watch really hurt to see and showed the dark and realistic turn of events that are the cause of nuclear warfare. Before that happened though, the scene where the bomb dropped and the people’s skin and eyeballs were falling off was a really heart dropping scene. I have never seen this kind of history from Japan’s side so seeing a city be turned into a wasteland was very mind opening. This movie was for sure the more gruesome of the two in my opinion.

Grave Of The Fireflies was from the perspective of a kid and his little sister and go through the death of their mother after a bombing raid. This story is much less gruesome but is still very tragic and hurts to watch the loss of their mother and watching the two go about trying to survive with ultimately the little sister dying. This one probably hurt more emotionally because we saw more of the aftermath instead of getting to know the characters before the bombing.

Both movies in the end though were very emotional and made me happy to know that we are at one of the most peaceful times in the planets history and I hope we can work to keep it that way. Watching so many innocent lives be destroyed throughout these two movies was hard to watch and really show the aftermath and devastation of what war is and can do.

[tobe-gandamu]

Phoenix 7-8

           Classical Japanese-themed Phoenix chapters continue to be interesting takes on historical accounts from pre-modern Japan. The Civil War volumes continue the upward trend in Tezuka’s epic manga series, and I really do keep liking these volumes more the more I read of them. The tale of Yamato Takeru was a bit of an odd departure, but I liked Tezuka’s take on Yoshitsune and the Genpei War overall.

The background art in these two volumes was really something, too…

           I keep coming back to the comedic style, as I feel it’s a very good balance of humorous and seriousness- not unlike a Marvel movie, come to think of it. In any case, I’m definitely seeing more of the “purposeful dissonance” that we spoke of in class, where Tezuka purposefully inserts some modern reference to remind us that this is, in fact, a story and not a historical account. These volumes also interestingly continued the trend of having the “real” historical account of the events being portrayed as fictionalizations written by characters in Tezuka’s own tales. All very interesting stuff- especially the step back from the focus on the phoenix itself- looking forward to what everyone in class has to say about it!

[daynihongo-blog]

I think Tezuka has done a great job in all the volumes we read with keeping enough modern jokes and themes to keep us reminded that this isn’t a accurate representation, and personally I enjoy it more that way. I enjoy the Tezuka personal touch he adds with the modern jokes and themes and it’s probably my favorite thing about Tezuka’s comedic style since it feels like the kind of comedy that I remember seeing as a kid.

[daynihongo-blog]

4/2/2019 Phoenix Vol 7-8

Both volumes in today’s readings followed the same story, and I have to start by saying, this story was sad. Out of all the Phoenix stories we have read so far, this one has been one of the most interesting but also one of the most emotional.

This story started with a story of two commoner lovers that get wrapped up in affairs with the capital and Obu gets taken to become a noble woman of the Taira, while Benta tries to get her back. After reading these two volumes, I really don’t know who from this story that I like and don’t like besides Benta. Pretty much every character in this manga did things to make me want to root against them but they all also had qualities that made me like them as well. In the end though, I am happy that Benta ended up with Hinoe, as I feel like she is more deserving of Benta than Obu, and I’m also salty that Obu didn’t go back with someone that cared for her as much as Benta did.

The writing style and drawing style in these two volumes were around the same quality as the other volumes of Phoenix that we have read. Although this volume still had the cheesy jokes and fun drawings at some points to relieve some stress, this volume felt much more bloody and sad. This volume had a lot of deaths of innocent in the path of war and seemed like the causes were people that cared for nothing but power. The Phoenix once again played a part in these volumes but I feel like the part it played was more like the first story we read of Phoenix, with people chasing after a dream that didn’t really exist, and killing people for it. The main difference I saw was that in this volume towards the end, the Phoenix is portrayed as a god telling the characters that they will be reborn in what seems like a purgatory.

Overall I really enjoyed these two volumes and will for sure be reading more of Tezuka in my future as I really enjoy his stories and art style.

[tobe-gandamu]

Phoenix Vol 3

For as much as I am a sci-fi guy, I found myself drawn more towars Yamato than Space. Both stories were very interesting in their own rights, Space, in particular, gave me big 2001 and Alien vibes, the same sort of loneliness and sublte sci-fi horror, only from a manga. Yamato’s story was a very cool variation on the legendary warrior, and I enjoyed the callbacks to the previous volume. I’m starting to grasp that these are not independent stories as I had once believed, and the central theme/involvement of the phoenix is really a cool idea. Telling the stories out of order as well is narrative tactic I’m particularly fond of, as it rewards the reader for thinking back on the previous chapters. I’m also more aware now of the phoenix’s increasing presence in these stories, as it(she?) was a major character, even going so far as to offer subtle life advice to Yamato Takeru. There is certainly a lot more to unpack- how characters physical appearances can help us trace somewhat of a bloodline between these depicted generations, the not-so-subtle pop culture and western media references, and Tezuka’s own fourth-wall-breaks, all of which are not as jarring as I originally thought glancing over this volume before, but certainly welcome for the humor they add.

[daynihongo-blog]

I also found myself enjoying more of the Yamato ark that we had. I think that these being intertwining stories that grows the character of the Phoenix and tells us more about the Phoenix makes the stories really fun to read and follow. Each volume we read gives us more insight into the Phoenix and what it is. I really enjoy what feels like small life lessons that Tezuka adds into the story for the reader to learn from the Phoenix, I think it really adds to what makes the Phoenix seem so mystical and powerful.

[daynihongo-blog]

3/25/2019 - Phoenix Vol 3

This volume of Phoenix from Tezuka was a great read in my opinion. Although between the two chapters, I enjoyed the story of Yamato much more. The Yamato story made me realize how much I enjoyed reading Tezuka’s telling of the creation history of Japan. While reading the Kojiki for today’s readings, I found myself lost and confused at some points and sometimes a bit bored, but when reading Tezuka’s telling of Yamato, I was very into the story and enjoyed the way he made it fun and creative. Just like vol 1 of Phoenix, you can see Tezuka’s inspiration from Disney and Mickey Mouse style characters and the way he integrates comedy and even more modern things into his stories about the past. I think his use of these things make the story more relate able and adds places where you can take a small second from the seriousness to have a quick laugh.

The second chapter was a bit more serious and didn’t have much of any humor in it. The theme of someone being cursed to always be reborn and live forever definitely made me think more about what I want to do to make sure I enjoy my life because living forever doesn’t sound as fun when we look at how the character is forced to be reborn forever. The Phoenix played a lot bigger of a role in this volume as in both chapters, blood from the Phoenix was obtained and used. I was glad to see what happened when characters did receive and use the blood since we only heard about its powers from the first volume.

Overall in this volume the Phoenix seemed much more friendly and understandable, and yet to me also felt more powerful because of the demonstration of its powers. I am excited to read more volumes later in the class and really enjoy Tezuka’s works the more I read them.