Jim Kuno @kunojim - Tumblr Blog

Kimino Na Wa

Your name is a very famous work that I have heard of multiple times throughout my life. I am not a big fan of romance anime for no particular reason. But the animation is very well done and I can clearly see why a lot of people would like it.

I want to point out the disconnection from urban and rural areas. Over 70% of total Japanese people live in urban cities and since a lot of young workers seek more job in the urban areas, a lot of the population in concentrated in cities. This would mean that not only rural areas are more shut off from the rest of the world but also cause depopulation of these areas. And given the "boring" life Mitsuha lives, it is not surprising that she wanted to be a handsome tokyo man.

I feel like other analysis would be a little stretch or squeeze since I personally think that is the one of the only societal commentary that affects the plot.

The striking of the comet itself might be a reference to multiple occasions of strong intensity earthquakes that Japan has to deal with. Earthquake is Japan's one of the most prominent bane of existance and thus a lot of the infrastructure and citizens are prepared to withstand the earthquake.

The connection between Mitsuha and Taki might also be a hope for more connection between people around Japan. There are a lot of shut ins and people who does not have much connection and people who are too busy working to form connections. And watching a romance anime that is built upon inseverable connection might give audiences the sense of connection they lack from real life.

Hetalia Axis powers

The show is mainly about countries turned into humans interacting with each other. And judging by the title it is mainly about the Axis powers during WW2. WW2 is a very dark history for countries such as Germany, Italy, and Japan who lost the war and eventually were villainized in the eyes of the victors such as United States. It feels like it undermines the severity of the actions during WW2 by making silly depictions of each countries. The depiction of each character also enforces the stereotypes of each countries which is mostly a downside.

But it also makes history more accessible and encourage interest in global culture throughout depicting complicated political situation. It targets more younger audiences who are most likely emphasized Japanese history over world history and helps them widen their world view.

Swampcon

Swampcon is my first ever anime convention I have been to. It was in my bucket list to visits an anime convention sometime. It's a place where I can find "people who like what I like." There are things that I like that are mainstream and other stuff that a very niche. For example, I really enjoy fighting games like Guilty Gear which are still not mainstream but it is relatively mainstream to my other obsession. That day, I wore a cosplay T-shirt for my favorite character from the game and I had a very big "keychain" which is just my Gundam figure encased in a transparent pelican case. I had one or two person recognize and appreciate the T-shirt but no one acknowledge the Gundam figure.

I met one person who had a very nice interest that seemed like I was the only one who recognized it. It was "Kamen Rider Decade" from the famous Tokusatsu series Kamen Rider. Even in a collection of shadow culture such as an anime convention, there are niches that dig deeper.

Then I began to wonder; what draws the line between shadow culture and open culture? There are huge corporations behind the creation of shadow capital. It also depends on the location. Gundam is very mainstream in Japan or Korea but it is so hard to find any fans in the Western culture. Bandai and Sunrise which is the company responsible for creation of Gundam is also a very big company that does game publishing. And I feel like as these industries grow in size and fame, the boundaries between shadow and open culture and capital becomes more and more blurry.

Although I could not participate in them, I saw bunch of workshops and sessions around very niche topics. And these kind of workshops are only possible because it is in a setting where shadow capitals are appreciated shared.

Also the vendor stalls in the rooms had so many different aritists selling famous characters drawn in their own artstyle or adding their own spin to it. And the make it "their own" and people buy these products out of appreciation of both the characters and the artists' work.

I was going to go the second day with a proper cosplay but unfortunately could not due to the heavy rain.

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The End of Evangelion

The second half of this movie was the most difficult for me to understand out of the entire series. This was the second time I've watched through the series, and even still I don't truly understand the motivations presented at the end.

It was difficult for me to watch as impactful characters like Misato and Asuka died as as result of Shinji's hesitancy. When Shinji eventually got to his Eva, it was covered in Bakelite which prevented him from piloting it. This made it easier to believe in the excuse that Shinji wasn't at fault, not only for me, but likely for Shinji himself too. The fact that his Eva freed itself essentially right after Asuka's death didn't quite sit right with me though.

Ultimately, I think that the movie is trying to assert that the true problem plaguing humanity is loneliness, which is caused by the walls we erect in order to protect ourselves from others. When I was watching the original show, I was left with some sense of helplessness. The mental states of the characters slowly broke down over the course of the season, but it wasn't as if this couldn't have been helped. Not only was NERV subjecting a bunch of teenagers to high risk scenarios that would definitely cause psychological distress, the staff refused to acknowledge and resolve the pilots' internal issues that inevitably grew to extremely harmful levels. While Misato cared for Shinji, and to some extent, Asuka and Rei, this care never really extended past not wanting them to die. I considered the adults to be irresponsible throughout the entirety of the show.

However, in the context of the problem of loneliness, the childrens' growing distress becomes easier to accept. Because of these walls that humans naturally put up between each other to survive, it becomes very difficult to resolve ones' mental health through external intervention. People with issues are more hesitant to open up with others, and social etiquette can make it almost impossible to broach the issue as an outsider. Further, the outsider could have their own issues as well, hidden by their own walls that they put up as well, which would make helping others not their immediate priority. Thus, it could be ignorant to view the issues raised throughout the show as solvable issues that were simply ignored. There was negligence, but it's pretty complicated. Misato and Ritsuko should've been more responsible as adults, but adults aren't that different from children. They evidently were very troubled by their own issues as well.

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't bring myself to understand Shinji's actions throughout the movie, especially when he attempted to strangle Asuka at the very end. This took place after Shinji had already introspected and even decided to return to the painful real world where barriers exist. I appreciated the messages that the show attempted to convey though.

kunojim

Shinji most likely was very mad at Asuka even though he decided to forgive humanity despite causing him pain because when they were unified together in the LCL, Asuka still decided to reject him. We can see that Shinji really cares a lot about Asuka (hospital scene aside) from how he showed just a bit of reaction when Misator mentions that she is alive. Shinji wholeheartedly believes that no one can truly love him just like his father Gendo does.

The end of Evangelion

As discussed in class, The end of Evangelion is a direct response to audiences’ disapproval of the original show’s ending. It’s actually a combination of the episode 25 and 26 which were cut due to budget.

Evangelion is a reflection of Anno’s inner world and Shinji is most likely a reflection of himself.

The hospital scene is perhaps the most notorious scenes in the anime history. This was most likely a foreshadowing showing how much Asuka actually means to Shinji. The climax of the show is meant to express the inner conflict of Shinji and by extension Anno, who went through the conflict of whether to destroy the world or save the world. In the end he chooses to save the world while giving into the hope represented by Rei and Kaworu. And the destruction is represented by the messy drawing flashing images. And in this moment is repeated again and again. In fact, in the rebuild of Evangelion, when Kaworu is awakened he is seen waking up next to several other coffins remarking how he is going to meet Shinji again.

Although I talked a lot about the opposing factors of Gendo and Shinji, in the end he is exactly like Shinji who simply cannot admit that other people can like him.

In the end I feel like this ending really focused on reflecting Anno’s inner world.

There’s a theory where the eyes of Eva represents the amount of souls in the Eva. Unit 0 has half a soul (possibily Rei A.K.A Lilim’s) so it has monoeye. Unit 01 and 03 have two eyes since it houses the soul of their respective mothers’ souls. While Unit 2 might have four eyes since Asuka’s mother’s mind was fractured counting as multiple souls.

Neon Genesis Evangelion pt.2

We are introduced to a new pilot for the new Eva unit 2 Asuka. She’s very cocky and has pride with her skills as an Eva pilot. She’s a direct foil character to Shinji. She has way more flamboyant personality compared to Shinji’s more introverted and calm personality. Unlike Shinji who considers being an Eva pilot more of a burden, to Asuka it is almost like her raison-d’etre.

Although we are not assigned to watch episode 18, I would like to talk about it. A new fourth Eva is introduced but is taken over by an Angel and classifies as a new Angel. Shinji is given the mission to “put it out of commission.” But Shinji refuses to take action and Gendo takes over the Eva with the Dummy Plug system which gruesomely vivisects the unit 3. This time Shinji fails to act “masculine” and thus causes Touji who was piloting unit 3 to be heavily injured.

Shinji is shown to be straight mostly throughout the show until he meets Kaworu Nagisa. The two develop almost a romantic bond as Shinji has never felt such level of affection before. And when he reveals himself to be the 17th Angel and asks Shinji to kill him as he deems humanity to be kept alive. This pushes Shinji’s instability further and sets up the events for the “End of Evangelion.”

The ending of the Evangelion series was a very confusing one. This was because they ran out of budget. The author, Hideaki Anno considered whether to finish the series with an apology or a low budget episode that conveys his true emotions behind the Evangelion series. He chose to do the latter.

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Evangelion is one of the biggest hit animes not only in Japan but across the world. For the episodes we are given to watch for the first part, we get to know Shinji. Relating to the articles about masculinity, I would say Shinji usually acts very non-masculine but acts so when it counts. He is usually very timid and introverted and struggles to express himself. But when it comes to helping people, he performs his role and faces the problem head on. Despite this, Shinji is never the one in control; he is given orders and expectations that he risk his life piloting the Eva-01.

I want to take this chance to compare Amura Ray from Gundam and Shinji from Evangelion. Both being a “Mecha” Anime, shares a lot of similarities. Unlike Amuro who stumbles upon the Gundam, Shinji is presented with Eva. Both at some point tried to escape their responsibility and expectation Amuro by refusing to pilot Gundam while Shinji ran away. Amuro is however celebrated as a war hero while Shinji is still bullied and being forced through more training despite saving everyone.

As I have already seen what comes after, Shinji’s masculinity continues to face challenge through the introduction of characters like Asuak and Kaworu who makes not just Shinji but viewers questions is masculinity.

iterationofaphoenix

Wandering Son - Episodes 1, 7, 9, and 10

Wandering Son was an extremely interesting anime to which we were supposed to watch. This is because it was a take on a slice-of-life anime which had much deeper themes. So, there was always an undercurrent of deeper issues happening, while the characters were dealing with the mundane problems of everyday life in the forefront. Personally, I felt very neutral about this anime because I thought the story was very sweet, but slice-of-life isn't my favorite genre. Thus, it evened out for me having a very neutral opinion on it as a whole. I did however, find that Wandering Son had some really deep themes to explore and look at. Specifically to do with gender and society.

The whole plot surrounds two characters, Shuichi and Yoshino discovering more about themselves and their identities. It is done in a manner which feels like it follows their everyday lives. So, even though this point was the main aspect of what was going on, it didn't feel forced upon the viewer. This is because the anime was able to keep a level of lightness whilst still covering these deep issues. Within their identities, it was more specifically their gender identities. It followed their struggles and joys while they discovered more about themselves. This connection they had with each other showed how important it is to have someone who really understands you within your life. It also showed that support is essential when going through major lifechanging things.

Another thing I would like to bring up is the society, community, and friendship displayed in this anime. More so, the hard place the characters found themselves within. They wanted to follow societal norms, but could not as they simply didn't fit them. They dealt with the struggles of feeling different, and dealing with that perception. Most people know what it is like to be looked at weirdly every now and again, but for the main characters, this is something they felt with and struggled with throughout the course of the anime. That being said, this was interwoven within the plot, and it didn't make up the entirety of the viewing.

The anime as a whole was a lot more about the exploration of ones self.

kunojim

I feel like the whole reason why they could transition despite the norms was because they had each other. If either one of them had to go through it by themselves, I feel like they would have given up and went back to performing their assigned sex on birth.

Wandering Son

This anime largely explores the T, transgender, in the LGBTQ+. From what I have experienced, there are less non-cisgender people in Asian region compared to American. This could be due to the generally more conservative and homogeneous traits of the soceity. Regardless, as time passes, it is bound for more and more representations of LGBTQ+ community emerge worldwide.

American health care provides people with way more flexibility and access to gender transition options compared to Japan which have way stricter conditions (such as multiple diagnosis of Gender Identity Disorder). The term itself for the condition represents the stigma behind it. America changed to Gender Dysphoria to reduce the negative connotation of Gender Identity Disorder which is the term Japan still uses up to today.

I personally really admire Shuichi's courage to even consider transitioning. Although I've only spent elementary school and it is in Korea but back then playing games that traditionally girls play immediately makes every boys (sometimes even girls) make fun of you for acting feminine. I feel like the other reason why such a transition is rare is because masculinity is something that every culture expects from a male in most cultures and any divergence is usually bullied back into fit the societal norm.

I can really see the connection between this anime and the article given last class. In this anime, gender is indeed "performance" of someone. Although they are born with a different gender, their decision to "perform" or act as their respective chosen gender would make them belong to that gender no matter what their assigned sex is on birth.

Genshiken pt2

With these episodes of Genshiken, we get to focus more on the Otaku aspect rather than the whole fandom. Otaku in most contexts has very negative connotation but it should not be necessarily so. Otaku is a term that describes people are obsessed with something (anime in this case). And we see people obsessed with their interests all the time. In terms of music, there are artists like Taylor Swift who has almost a cult following. We have car fans who spends fortune on modifications that makes their car go faster and look cooler.

And when people really like something, they start to create something that has their own spin off to it. I feel like fan fiction is a very controversial topic online. I have seen a lot of people come up with their own “original characters” that are from their favorite show. Some people will rewrite endings that they are unsatisfied with and so on. It by itself is a very positive thing; a media that can serve as an inspiration to creativity.

However when it comes to anime, due to the post-modern properties that tends to focus more on the visual pleasure of characters rather than the whole narrative, they have been labelled Otaku almost as a derogatory term due to the criminal activities related to it.

A similar case happened with videogames in America. Videogames that feature violence (especially Mortal Kombat) was a big concerns to parents for being very graphic. The vidoegame “Guilty Gear” was heavily referenced throughout the anime. The running joke in the community is the fact that the president Bill Clinton read the advertising slogan: “Kill you friends guilt free.”

Power of Fandom

I talked about the "No Mai no buy" protest with the KOF XIII entry last post. A lot of animes or videogames does something called "fan service." And I guess this is what keeps them coming back to the game. And a lot of the would usually release merch around the fan favorite characters. For example, my favorite videogame franchise, "Guilty Gear." They have unfair amount of merch for the fan favorite character "Bridget" even over the poster characters. She not only has appeal to male audience for looking "cute" but she also appeals to the transgender community for being a transgender herself.

I personally can not judge anyone for spending great sums of money on anime girls as a guy who also has spent a considerable amount of money in Gunpla and Guilty Gear merchs.

I am guessing one of the reasons why Bandai can make mega projects like the moving life size Gundam is because of the amounts of fan they have and their willingness to spend money on the Gundam Plastic models or "Gunpla." As our professor showed us, Gundam is everywhere in Japan. Gunpla itself is its own criteria of art that has various stunning custom models. Fun fact, the moving Gundam statue (that is now sadly gone due to maintainance reasons) is actually sold bunch of exclusive Gunpla sets to attract fans.

And one the biggest challenge of a post-modern literature is balancing the "appeal" and the "narrative." Too much appeal with no narrative creates characters that has no depth while too little appeal with no narrative appeals to less and more niche group of people.

NEON GENESIS EVANGELION SPOILERS AHEAD

I feel like Neon Geneseis Evangelion has a very splitting fanbase. There are people who like it because of the girls. I find this very creepy. Underage girls in latex tightfits while showing them half naked across the show is very inappropriate and most likely illegal. Other visual feature that attracts audience is the "cool robot" Eva units themselves. I personally do not particularly find the mecha designs that great but I understand why someone would like it.

The other fanbase and the one I would be in if I were NGE fan, is the people who finds the internal conflict of Shinji intriguing and how it expresses the sentimenets of the writer. I feel like this is one of the few animes where nudity has a psychological value.

Database Animals

This was a very hard to understand reading for me. When I hear Otaku, it is always a negative thing. It is almost derogatory on the same level with words such as "weeaboo", "hikikomori", and more often than not "perversed." And a lot of times an Otaku fits the mentioned adjectives. Animals is such a way more disrespective way to call them.

I personally despise such aspect of the Japanese animation. A lot times in anime, a lot of the female characters are depicted overly suggestive for no good reasons other than the fact that it attracts audiences. Although it is not anime I can think of a similar case in the fighting game history. For the comeback game of the "King of Fighters" series, "KOF XIII", the attractive female character, "Mai" was notably missing from the starting roster and started a movement called "no Mai no buy."

As a Gundam enthusiast and someone who enjoys building and collecting Gunplas, context is a very important thing. When I build the Gunpla, I enjoy the detail put into the design while going over the history behind the mobile suit. In fact, my entry to the franchise was a HG model of the RX-0 Unicorn Gundam. I was curious about the story behind the machine and got hooked to the series. When I built the MG model of it, I feel like I am fully appreciating the "art" behind the creation of both the narrative and the undoubtly cool robot. Each detail in a Gundam has a function both practically and symbolically. I personally came for the cool robot but stayed for the story.

On the other hand, I had a friend in highschool who collected anime girl figures. A lot of times, the only reason he spent hundreds of dollars on an anime girl was that it looked good. I personally did not understand him.

And Databasae animal does not apply just to anime girls. I have seen a lot of mecha goods that just displays some arbitrary mecha that has no context and displays for the sake of "looking cool." And this reminds me of the meme, "War is bad. Wow, cool robot."

The shape of the voice

The shape of the voice is a slice of anime that explores a bully's coming of age and redemption. I feel like this is another piece of culture that Japanese and Korean share. It is important what kind of friends we make and it is universal that parents reminds their kids to be careful who you make friends with. And it seems like kids learn from experience; hanging out with "delinquents" and "bullies" are bound to get you into trouble too. And so, bullies end up alone unless they continues to find other bullies.

Japan has an emphasis on homogeniety of their community. And this movie in a lot of ways challenges it. Nishimiya herself stands out among her peers in that she is deaf and partially mute due to it. And so she attracts attention especially for bullies. Although it is wrong, it is understandable how Ishida's open hate towards Nishimiya peer pressures others to join in whether they mean it or not.

The teacher does not actively monitor the bullying but I feel like he takes reasonable actions in order to fullfill hs duties as their supervisor. Although it probably is just because it was her turn, he does not skip Nishimiya when it is her turn to read out the textbook and does not scold her for bad reading like he did for other students. He also openly calls Ishida out for bullying which shows that he is not indifferent about the bullying going on in his class.

When Ishida was having suicidal thoughts, he gathered money for his family out of guilt. It reminds me a little of "Breaking Bad". In Korean culture (a little so but in Japan too), a highschooler working part time is often associated with poor family and/or delinquency. And we see the other bullies working part times later in the movie.

Wolf Children

With this anime, I feel like we are given less of a clue when it comes to what to look for. But I feel like identity is the main motiff of the anime. The children struggles to live a life as both a human and a wolf. As a kid, both Yuki and Ame often shows traits of both human and wolf Yuki being more active while Ame being more timid. As they grow up, it feels like their roles start to switch. As Yuki spends more time with humans while studying in school, she starts to naturally supress and almost loses the wolf part of her. As for Ame, since he did not blend in well with other people and was being bullied, he stopped going to the school and started to become more wolf than human. I also feel like Yuki interacts way more with her mom than Ame does which also contributes to Yuki becoming more human and Ame wanting to move into the mountains. However, even though Ame is shown being strong and feeling more at home in the mountains. To Hana's eyes he's still human child she feels the need to take care of and wishes looks like she somewhat wishes for him to stay that way. Ironically when she goes into the mountain searching for Ame, Hana was the one getting lost and Ame was the one who found her. Even though he looks like a teen in his human form, Ame looks fully grown up when he is in his wolf form.

I watched the anime without much thought but I found it really emotional analyzing afterwards. Identity is a special motiff especially for people with international backgrounds. And the character dynamic of Yuki and Ame kind of reminds me of me and my two younger brothers (especially the youngest). I am special out of three of us not just because I was born first but also because I am the only American. And as we spent more and more time outside of Korea, and became more "foreign." Me and the middle kid eventually started speaking to each other in English even at homea and since it is awkward for us to talk to the youngest in English, the youngest spends more time with our parents and thus more "Korean" than two of us are. I can also draw a few parallels between me and Ame. I feel more natural being an American than Korean although my mom is Korean and I live far away pursuing my path.

If I had to try and guess why we are talking about identity after talking about war, it would be how Japan changed after WWII under the American influence and Japan's loss of identity after WWII and the choices they can or are forced to make to become a new nation.

Naruto

Naruto is one of the most iconic animes that I grew up watching. A lott of my friends actually called it the "eye anime" because of how important eyes are in this anime.

The episodes we are assigned to watch are about Pain, former student of Jirarya. These episodes are supposed to be like a look back point where the audiences can be reminded of who Naruto was in the start of the series.

We can see how Naruto has become the village's hero from the bane he was considered in the beginning. We follow Naruto's seemingly unachievable goal and looking back, he's already halfway there.

Talking about Naruto's world in general, it is a very military power centered world. It is normal for everyone to study some form of ninjutsu. That would make sense since the setting mentions how each villages were at war with each other. And if there is war, it is crucial to have militant power at all times. For example, in Korea, since we are technically still at war, all Korean men (including me) are required to do military service.

Pain A.K.A Nagato wanted to end this state of conflict by gathering overwhelming force to scare nations into uniting into one. This is a theme that I am familiar with since one of my favorite Gundam spin-off (00) revolves around this ideology.

Mobile Suit Gundam

Gundam is my favorite anime franchise. I first got into it with Gundam Unicorn but eventually watched the first Gundam.

There are so many details that could not be captured in the episodes we are required to watch such as the Newtype theory and the Battle of A Bao Qu that ended the one year war.

Weapons are a big deal when it comes to any war. Zeon initially had the upper hand with their Zaku-I and Zaku-II which are the first ever mobile suits to see comat. The federation soon develops the RX-78-2 Gundam and later the mass production unit GM to turn the tides of war and eventually win the One Year War. To the Federation, it is a war hero that won the war but to the Zeon it is the "White Devil" that killed them mercilessly.

The reason that was not entirely mentioned in the episodes as to why Zeon rebelled is because they considered themselves superior to people in Earth. The name Zeon itself comes from the person who proposed the New Type theory that claims that there are new race of human adapted to Space, Zeon Rem Daikun who is also the father to Casaval Rem Daikun A.K.A Char Aznable.

In many ways the reason why they started a war on Earth sounds a lot like Germany is World War II. A lot of the Zeon's weapons are inspired by WWII Germany. And in the anime Gihren who is the acting leader of Zeon is called the second coming of Hitler by his own father.

Gundam is story about war and how it changes people. And it did change Amuro. It was a coincidence that he had the chance to board the Gundam, but it was his choice to pilot it. In fact, a lot of the Gundam pilots that came after Amuro were not trained pilots but kids who happen to stumble upon it during the time they need power to protect people they love. And Amuro shoulders the weight of his friends' lives by piloting the Gundam.

However one thing Amuro fails to do is shoulder the weight of life. Amuro is seen mercilessly killing Zeon soldiers in Zaku, Dom, and Gouf. It is true that being in a mobile suit reduces the qualm required to kill a person and thus donned the title "White Devil." Althoug this is a quote from a different Gundam series I would like to include it. "In battlefield, you and I are combat unit called pilots." This quote really shows how dehumanizing war is because it reduces a human to a part of a machine called pilot rather than humans.

Other Gundam titles such as the Zeta Gundam, Char's Rebellion, Unicorn Gundam, and Hathaway's Flashback has a big motif of corruption of the Earth Federation which we do not get to see in the original Gundam.

Grave of the fireflies

Being a Ghibil studio film, I found it weird that I've never heard about it. It turns out that this specific film was not so well received in Korea because of how it portrays Japan as a victim since Korea was Japan's colony at the time.

But Japan still is a victim of world war II. We see how Saita's mother suffered burns all over her before inevitably dying from the injury and the poor conditions at the time. Saita's father is a soldier and is not present to take care of him and his sister. It was up to Saita to take care of himself and his little sister. And because of these responsibilities given to him due to wartime, he is forced to act mature and grow up fast.

When the sibling goes to their aunt for her help, she initially meets them with hospitality and gradually acts more petty with the siblings. Their aunt's arguement is how they are not contributing to anything. It is true that they are not actively working to help the war but they are still children and thus should be protected without asking much from them. But we should also consider the limited rations that they are given too; they are giving Saita and his sister what they could have had for themselves and as things are, they don't have enough for themselves.

Saita decides leave their aunt and move into a cave instead where Saita would steal foods from other place to keep him and his sister alive. Personally, I think this was very foolish of Saita. He out of his own pride left the house instead of prioritizing his sister's health and survival. Given his age it is understandable that he acts immaturely but I still think he could have at least let his sister stay at his aunt's.

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