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Perfect Blue

I thought this film would be a good match for the class because we just finished a lengthy discussion on fandoms and respective culture. A look at a different kind of fandom, it shows us exactly how obsessive some fans can be and reminds us that celebrities are normal people like the rest of us. In my opinion, anime fandoms are among the healthiest in expressing their likes and dislikes. On the other hand, idol/celebrity fandoms are some of the unhealthiest. In general, when people start to idolize other people, it becomes toxic very quickly. When a celebrity’s flaw is publicly known, we are quick to cancel them. Mima’s situation is a similar example, where fans began viewing her as a product. When she changed her cute image into a more mature one, they felt a sense of betrayal. Although the film was made twenty years ago, the issues presented are just as problematic today. Some of the other themes are the importance of technology and identity. Technology is a double-edged sword, with a unique ability to empower and enslave. Identity is another common theme, one that is relevant to people of all ages, but especially important to the younger generation as our identities are still being formed and therefore fragile. Mima is especially vulnerable because she goes through a transition, idol to actress.

The director, Satoshi Kon, left the title open to interpretation. He named it Perfect Blue after the original novel, so the color blue wasn’t necessarily the most meaningful. Colors do however serve to set the mood and deliver implicit messages. Red is the most common color throughout the film; expressed through blood, furniture, clothing, and makeup. For example, that one scene where Rumi (as Mima) fights the real Mima, she is almost entirely in red to show both insanity and danger. Blue is a calming color and used to symbolize stability. In the last scene, blue is the most present color. Previously muted colors are also vibrant to represent Mima’s improved mental health. Blue can also be viewed as a sad and cold color, so it could also be used to describe Mima’s primary state of depression and despair throughout the film.

outofphase-owl

I was wondering about the title, so I appreciate you clarifying it a little bit! And yeah we definitely see the commoditization of celebrities here, where they are reduced to nothing more than a product to be consumed. And then, when Mima makes her own personal, human decisions (like to try to become an actor), we see that she is at odds with the commoditized version of herself.

I don’t wanna get stabbed with an umbrella.

Wow, I was really impressed by Perfect Blue; it was so well made. I liked the feeling that I got when I didn’t know whether what I was seeing was reality or imagined (or somewhere in between). It kind of speaks to the world of celebrities and idols, where the line between reality and “manufactured reality” is blurred. Our ideas of “what celebrities are like” are fantasies created in our mind based what we see from pop media. Celebrities, like all other people, are complex, but we tend to reduce them to simple, one-dimensional essences. Really, in our heads, we’re creating an entirely new person, merely based on the original. And in Perfect Blue, a simulacrum is reached; a second Mima, a simulation of the public’s perception of Mima, takes on a life of her own. Suddenly, the real Mima is unecessary, or rather, totally independent from this second Mima.

Going in a completely different direction (or maybe not), I thought this movie was really insightful in how it portrayed an actress being pressured by her staff into doing things that she didn’t want to do. I have to be honest: I’ve never thought about that before. I’ve always assumed that whenever an actor or actress acts in a scene, they’re totally comfortable with whatever they’re doing. I’ve never considered that maybe they’ve been pressured into doing whatever they’re doing by other people, and they just don’t want to cause trouble for anyone by standing up for themselves. This kinda changes how I think about pop media now. (And it’s so weird to think that an anime could change how I think about stuff, but here I am.)

I have to say, Perfect Blue was maybe my favorite viewing of the class (or maybe it’s just recency bias). Either way, this was my first time seeing a psychological horror anime (or whatever you wanna call Perfect Blue) and I really appreciate how well they pulled off this genre.

woolooshepherd

Death Parade (EP. 1,2,9,11)

I watched Death Parade back when it first came out a few years ago and its still one of my favorites to this day. Great concept, and the OP slaps too.

Death Parade is clearly a show about moral conflicts, and the difficultly of placing objective judgement on a subjective concept. In order to do this effectively, or attempt to, Arbiters were created with no emotions. In fact, they are created with the idea in mind that they should be as far from human as possible. They are dummies that cannot die, and they cannot work with anything living. In theory, this seems like it should work – what better way to stay objective than to have a completely outside point of view?

However, in reality (anime reality), we can see from the start that Decim makes a mistake in his judgement of Machiko and Takashi because of this. Because he doesn’t understand emotion, because he doesn’t have empathy, he sees everything at surface-level. He takes Machiko’s claim about the baby’s father as fact, and condemns her to the void without a second glance. It wasn’t until Chiyuki, the one human staying in Quindecim, points out Machiko’s underlying intentions to save Takashi that Decim questions his decision. Decim’s inability to feel emotion rendered him blind to the true dynamics at play, and therefore caused him to make a ‘wrong’ decision.

At the end of the series, Decim is able to experience human emotion through his time with Chiyuki. We don’t get to see how Decim changes in his judgement-making after he sends Chiyuki off to be reincarnated – the ending is interpretable. Judging humans is still complex, not everything is black and white, but I think we can assume that Decim is now able to understand his clients’ emotions and morals better than before. As said in the show, you need to understand one’s suffering in order to truly pass on judgement.

outofphase-owl

I like your interpretation: that emotions are a necessary component of morality (in other words, that morality is not objective). It definitely makes sense; I know that one could judge the morality of an action based on the total effect on other’s emotions (although this line of thinking has some flaws).

Sign Me Up For The Death Parade Please

Wow, Death Parade was really a unique anime. The story was framed around these moral dilemnas, in which we, as the viewers, must judge whether characters presented to us are “good” or “bad,” at their essence. (It reminds me of those trolley problems.) Of course, the conclusion that the show arrives at is the fact that nothing is that black and white, and that every person’s life decisions are morally ambiguous.

Speaking of black and white, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Decim is visually black and white (in terms of his hair and his clothing). His appearance certainly reflects his views: that every person is either good or bad, and that this moral quality can be exposed given enough prodding. It’s a bit of a stretch, but it kind of reminds me of the ideology of essentialism. But in this case, it would be essentialism of the individual, the idea that each individual, at their essence, is good or evil, and that all of their life choices can be rationalized by this essence.

This seems like a silly ideology, but it certainly pervades through everyone’s thought processes. People are guilty or not guilty, going to the afterlife or going to purgatory, etc. And much like how, in this anime, games are used to decide the fates of the dead, the judicial system kind of seems like a game too; one side wins and one side loses, and both are trying to do everything they can to eke out an advantage over the other while following the rules. And this “game” ultimately decides how society will then judge this person.

I’ll be honest; the little interpersonal dramas between members of the Quindecim bar were kind of boring to me. But I thought that the overall premise of this anime was pretty interesting. And that metal music during the end credits went super hard! :D

Violet Ghostwrites For Eminem

I can appreciate how well-made Violet Evergarden is. However, I’m more of an action type of guy and I don’t really like the overly sentimental stuff, so I had a hard time getting into this show.

I found Violet really unrelatable. She doesn’t seem to care about how other people feel and she doesn’t express much emotion at all. However, I understand why she is the way she is. Violet is a direct product of war; she’s kind of the manifestation of the military. The military is strictly devoid of emotions; it’s all about utility. So, it only makes sense that a girl who has been in the military since she was ten would be like this. She has essentially internalized the logic of the military; it’s become a part of her. Then, when she’s put into a non-military setting, what we could call “everyday life,” she can’t operate. The solution? Put her to work; at least she can follow commands and executes on them to the best of her abilities.

I guess this really just shows us how incompatible everyday life and the military is. In the military, you are given commands, and you follow them, an idea antithetical to our notion of free will. The idea of love, something ubiquitous in everyday life, has no place in the hierarchy of the military. And while I hope nobody’s been in the same situation as Violet, I know that people who have been in the military often have a hard time adjusting back to daily life. So I guess this is kind of the same thing.

Even so, I wish I could have related with Violet. Then maybe I would have been a little more invested in her character.

By the way, there were a ton of shots of plants and nature in general in this show. Which juxtaposes Violet, who, despite her name, is (metaphorically speaking) man-made. Just a thought.

emilyanimeted

Hetalia

This was the first time i watched this show. I definitely remember seeing stuff from this show back in the day when i was on tumblr and I actually found it interesting even though i didn’t watch anime. It was surprising that the episodes are only five minutes long, including the end credits and also the extra separate thing that they have at the end. I think the show might benefit from a longer format because it makes the storytelling a little choppy.

I thought it would be interesting to see how Japan viewed different countries, and I was not let down. Within the first two minutes of the first episode, many countries were introduced and their ‘personalities’ were displayed. It was a cute idea to make each person represent their own country, but this makes story-telling a little confusing as you’re generally supposed to remember which country is which or you end up lost. When I looked up the show before watching it, I saw it was based on a manga from the late 2000s. I wonder how different it would be if they made this today.

When watching the sub vs the dub, there were more differences than i have seen before when watching sub vs dub anime. Usually, there are only slight differences in sentence structure and the uses of different synonyms, but the dub version had some translations that were not the same.

It seemed a little odd that the characters were literally countries boiled down to one person. It felt like the show perpetuated the idea that every person from the one country was the same, and seemed to lean on stereotypes. This also makes it seem that every person in the country agreed with their decisions, and there was no dissent, even though the decisions were likely made by whoever the ruler was at the time.

outofphase-owl

I felt the same way; a lot of the humor relied on you remembering which character was which country, so for the first few episodes I was completely lost. And yeah, the show completely neglects the fact that political decisions are made by governments, regardless of what their citizens think.

Pasta!

I remember my friends excitedly talking about Hetalia in middle school. I tried watching the first episode, but it was such an information overload for my middle-school-brain that I couldn’t follow it (and didn’t like it as a result). I’m happy to report that I’ve now made it past the first episode, and I have to say that the whole “making fun of history” thing is right up my alley. To a lot of people, history is pretty bland because of the way that it’s presented, but this show takes advantage of the fact that history, after all, is a narrative involving real people who think and feel and joke around just like us.

I think part of the humor of the show comes from the oversimplification of national stereotypes, which kind of makes fun of the national stereotypes themselves. For example, no person would seriously believe that Italians’ one single focus in life is pasta. It is kind of funny, though, to watch a character that seems to be made by somebody who has this belief. The stereotypes that we see in Hetalia aren’t really the stereotypes held by creators of the show. Instead, they’re more like stereotypes of stereotypes: a simulacrum, if you will. So when we look at, for example, Japan in the show, who is very reserved and ineffective, we can interpret his personality traits as being representative of common stereotypes of Japanese people, taken to an extreme. Similarly, America, who acts like a hero and eats a bunch of hamburgers, embodies many common stereotypes of American people. (I do like hamburgers tho.)

The one thing that was a little annoying about Hetalia was how short the episodes were. If they just condensed the episodes, five at a time, it would’ve been cooler. But oh well...

snipesga

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 4/3/2020

I feel like Japanese video games have this unwritten rule to make terrible graphics, even on modern titles. Despite the animation and art being rather lacking (in my opinion), Xenoblade Chronicles 2 brings a vast world with an interesting story, including ideas relating to the environment, technology, and more.

Near the end of the video game, Klaus activates the conduit in an attempt to change his own universe; he reveals to Rex that once he leaves, the Conduit - the large source of power in this world - will likely vanish, causing the World Tree to collapse as well. The importance of the Conduit displays technology’s grip on the world portrayed in Xenoblade Chronicles 2. The world benefited greatly as technology played a large role in the formation of it; however, their over-reliance on the things they took for granted cause the world to nearly cease to exist. Cobb’s “Drama of the Anthropocene” partly relates to this in the fact that science and engineering has contributed to a “naive” worldview separate from nature. This worldview, then, warps our perspective on nature causing us to ignore certain aspects of this world. The collapse of the Conduit brings back nature in a sense; the Titans merged together to create a new natural landscape, one that fulfilled Rex’s true goal of Elysium. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 also addressed the role of the environment in the world earlier during the story.

The cutscenes throughout the video game revealed to us that Rex’s supposed goal of Elysium was instead lifeless and not at all what he had expected; there was no plant life and the buildings were all crumbled. The destruction was caused by past human life as a result of the exploitation of resources. Klaus also realizes the errors of humankind, saying he gave up on the species. He felt the current world coming to an end, just like his previous home.

outofphase-owl

Yeah, I thought the animation was pretty bad too. But the story was pretty cool. It’s true; the power that technology grants us can be used to both construct our world and destroy it just the same.

I’m The One True Otaku

I think that the otaku subculture in the U.S. is awesome. Despite this, I wasn’t a huge fan of the True Otaku film. This documentary prided itself on the fact that it was made “by otaku, for otaku,” but I think that this fact was the documentary’s greatest weakness. It’s great that the filmmakers were excited about their subject, but their seeming disjointedness and lack of both informational and analytical depth was comparable to a superfan rambling on and on about how great their favorite anime is. The film provided surface-level information about the otaku subculture (explaining common terminology and such), but didn’t go much deeper into really uncovering why this subculture exists and what really makes its members tick. Instead, it felt more like an advertisement for anime conventions. My suspicion is that True Otaku would have been better had it been made by filmmakers totally outside of the otaku subculture, kind of like the documentary Trekkies (about Star Trek fans).

Nevertheless, we can still glean a lot from what True Otaku gives us. To me, the most interesting part of the documentary is when it follows Dust Bunny in her creative process of designing a costume for an upcoming cosplay competition. Maybe it’s because I love the creative process so much, no matter what is actually being created. To be honest, before this documentary, I kind of disregarded cosplay as something stupid. But I really respected Dust Bunny’s craftmanship and artistry in designing her costume. I can almost see her as an “economic unit” in the otaku subculture, but instead of being payed in economic capital, she’s being paid in shadow cultural capital. In addition to being an “economic unit” of sorts, she’s one of many conduits for idea exchange within the otaku subculture (i.e. she’s influenced by other cosplayers, thus creating her own cosplay and contributing specifically to fans’ idea of Kirin while also inspiring other cosplayers in general).

Speaking of economics, one thing that became very clear as I was watching the documentary (that surprised me) was that a lot of people spend a lot of money at anime conventions. When we talked about economic capital and cultural capital in class, we talked about them as if they were two independent axes. However, at anime conventions, it seems like they are somewhat related to each other; if you spend more economic capital on merchandise, you can acquire more shadow cultural capital (”anime clout”). From many of the interviews, I got the impression that people buy a ton of merchandise to kind of prove how much of an anime fan they are. To extend this idea, one might say that Dust Bunny is investing a large amount of her economic capital into acquiring shadow cultural capital when she is designing her cosplay. (However, the creative side of me says that she spends all of this economic capital just because she enjoys her creative process so much.)

Despite all of this, I think that it’s wrong to compare the capital exchange within an anime convention to the capital exchange in the outside world. After all, both consumers of merchandise and cosplayers have to bring economic capital from the outside world inside (in boomer speak, make money in the real world) in order to engage in their activities. Anime conventions aren’t self-sufficient; they rely on economic stimulus from the outside world in order to operate. I guess it’s for these reasons that the otaku subculture is called a subculture, and isn’t a culture unto itself. It’s a dependent fragment of society that has internal capital exchange, but isn’t separated from everything else.

Anyways, this just makes me want to watch Trekkies again.

dixiesbizarreadventure

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

“You may live to see man made horrors beyond your comprehension.”

-Nikola Tesla

I have a high regard and respect for movies from Studio Ghibli, and I hope to watch them all eventually. This is the first time I’ve viewed Studio Ghibli, and they lived up to their reputation with Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, an inventive and piece that any viewer can tell is created for the love of the art and not for the money.

The main protagonist is Nausicaä, the princess of the Valley of the Wind. Her happy homecoming with Lord Yupa illustrates how in the thousand year aftermath of the seven days of fire, humanity has lost its industrial and aggressively capitalistic foundation system, and The Valley of the Wind is very much a gemeinschaft, with the people respecting and cooperating with each other. A hierarchy exists, since Nausicaä and her father are monarchs, but this monarchy is idealistic, her father being a gentle king, our heroine being a calm and loving princess. This image rejects the industrial society we have built, giving an example of a true community in which people flourish.

The true message of the film, however, comes through with the fact that the beautiful Valley of the Wind is under constant threat by the toxic jungle. The world-building here is particularly excellent, as insects are its main inhabitants. Insects are the most diverse and abundant group of animals on earth, and it would make sense that they would become dominant animals after the seven days of fire, since many species can even survive nuclear explosions. There is a testament to the intricacy and unknowable contents of nature, as Nausicaä discovers that these insects are not aggressive animals, but protecting the forest that needs ample time to renew itself. Another contribution to this theme is the mysterious Ohm. With their feelers, they revealed to Nausicaä that the Pejite pilot was still alive. They do the same thing to resuscitate Nausicaä. It is never explained how they are able to do this, and that is why it is humbling to the human species. Although we are able to make such bounds and learn so much, there are some mysteries of this planet that we cannot solve, and questions that don’t need to be answered.

Humanity’s hubris rears its ugly head through the Tolmekians (less so, but still, through the Pejites). The Tolmekians masked their ambitions of conquest under those of unification, as many powers have in our own time. Furthermore, they ignore the patterns that humanity has seen. They are aware that the giant warrior was something wrong in the cosmic sense, they were a result of human arrogance and had scorched the earth as a consequence, and yet the Tolmekians believed that they were somehow better, that they could do what ancient humans could not. It is interesting that while the Valley of the Wind uses futuristic gliders, the Pejites their unique flying craft, the Tolmekian aircraft all looks very antique. They even look a little antique to us, more like World War II aircraft than the sleek fighter jets we have now. They are also notoriously flimsy, foreshadowing that Tolmekian brute strength is a delicate facade, as when things turn, their soldiers do as well, deserting.

Thus, the overarching message of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind is environmentalism, but not in the “paper-straw sense”. It reminds us of the consequences of our actions not in the way seeing a dead seabird does, but in the way that seeing an entire city ravaged by a storm does. It doesn’t make us think of the dodo bird, but of the passenger pigeon. This makes the message far more chilling, that although we may seem the dominant species, we are bound to nature’s whims. Thus, we must not concern ourselves with petty, artificial arguments such as the control of kingdoms. A respectful understanding of nature and its laws is the only way we can ensure the survival of our species far into the future.

outofphase-owl

I like your comment that the Tolmekians thought that they were somehow better than people who lived before them. We have a tendency to think that people who lived a long time ago were stupid, as if people only “got smart” recently, even though that’s obviously not true. This thought process can ironically lead to people making the same mistakes as their predecessors. Pretty interesting.

Ohm My (Wind) God

Wow, I really enjoyed Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. The animation and the music were fantastic, and the designs of the various “bug monsters” that populated this future world were so cool. I thought that the choice to use bugs to represent the will of the Earth was interesting. The general human consensus on bugs are that they’re creepy pests that should be killed, but in reality, they are an absolutely critical part of our ecosystem. So, it’s appropriate for bugs to be the ones to “take back the Earth” from humanity.

In this movie, the toxins, fatal to humans, are actually derived from humans’ pollution of the Earth. The Princess tells us that if the water and the soil were clean, the strange, “poisonous” plants that pose a threat to humanity would be completely harmless. This propogates an idea that humanity is its own worst enemy. By polluting their own environment, humans are just really poisoning themselves. Of course, the people in this movie are too short-sighted to realize that they themselves are to blame; to them, the plants that release the toxins are simply a threat to their existence.

Of course, Miyazaki had to go and give us an anticlimactic happy ending. I appreciate that he didn’t want us to leave us feeling sad, but I think it would have been more appropriate for the Ohms to totally demolish all of human civilization. I guess by having the Ohms spare humanity because of the kindness of one girl, Miyazaki is telling us that we, as individuals, can make a difference. It’s a sign that Miyazaki hasn’t lost all hope for humanity saving itself from its own destruction. Which is cool. :D

nay0ungg

Wandering Son

This show was another hit, I’m hoping I have time to go back and watch the rest of the episodes. Straight off the bat, we’re introduced to a diverse array of characters, one of which is transgender. We’re able to compare the double standards with gender roles. Our protagonist, Nitori, enjoys dressing in girly attire. Each time, however, she’s met with disapproval and disgust. Very rarely does she ever feel accepted and comfortable, which results in visible frustration, such as the time she pushed her sister. Maho, although unpleasant, was a vital character because she was the human embodiment of transphobia. Watching her, I felt her transphobia and disgust likely sprouted from ignorance and xenophobia, not out of malice. Japan and most Asian countries are still conservative and not regularly exposed to LGBTQ-related topics, like we are here. Sarashina has a completely different experience, as a girl, she dresses in both male and female attire and nobody questions it. In fact, dressing in this non-conforming manner actually gets her popularity.

We can see this divide in our everyday lives, women’s styles are becoming more adventurous while men’s fashion is not really being explored. If a man dresses in a crop top, people automatically assume he’s gay. Women can dress however femininely or masculinely they wish and will not be met with the same judgement or curiosity. No one will really pry, most will assume she’s a tomboy. In fact, in the past two years, there has been a recent influx in masculine fashion for women, the most obvious example being the pantsuit. I know some guys who won’t even wear pink because they don’t want to be misunderstood. With the rise of feminism, women’s pantsuits are associated with power and therefore encouraged. Men dressing in skirts and more feminine dress is discouraged because females are still viewed as the second sex, weaker.

outofphase-owl

Right, masculinity is associated in our minds with strength, so when a girl wears masculine clothing, she’s “cool.” Femininity doesn’t have that association, so when a guy wears feminine clothing, it’s “weird.” This line of thinking really reveals how differently we tend to think about masculinity and femininity.

lazurievans

Aggretsuko

Watching this show reminded me a lot of The Office but if it were more closely followed on a single characters struggle, mainly due to the shows’ expertise at managing to use typical office tropes to great comedic effect. While the show is a comedy, and quite a funny one at that, it portrays situations in the workplace that are so common that they are relatable, despite the overwhelmingly negative characteristics that form them.

The first episode of Aggretsuko introduces us to a lot of the colorful characters we see repeatedly, as well as the stereotypes they represent in the office environment. We very quickly see multiple examples of Retsuko’s split personality between her home life and office life, as well as the various additional challenges her and her female coworkers face due to their gender. The article we read talks about how ones expected behavior can be closely tied to their gender, and how in different contexts acting out these expected behaviors can be expected of your gender. In these episodes we see Retsuko conceal her outlet of death metal, which can be considered distinctively unladylike, and carry out actions that would be expected of a woman such as fetching tea for her supervisor. In the workplace we see a false version of Retsuko that acts out the created role of her gender in the office to maintain the order and stability of the workplace. As the show progresses we see glimpses of how the other female workers are often doing the same, and are aware of their “performative act” that they uphold in the workplace.

This workplace acting can be seen in a larger context than just gender as well, which we see when Retsuko begins to interact with her coworkers outside of the office. They quickly attempt to break each others charades down in an attempt to see their true personality outside of the stifling workplace. As the article says in regards to gender, continuing to perform an act outside of its context often leads to much different emotions and outside opinions than simply assuming a different act or behavioral pattern. We see Retsuko realize this with Gori and Washimi, yet also find that Anai struggling to maintain a proper act in either situation. In society we see different acts in every type of social interaction, where people alter their behavior to more easily conform to the requirements and desires of the context they are interacting in. What become most important however, is finding the situations and people in which certain acts can be used, or perhaps when they can be dropped entirely so that one can be their truest self

outofphase-owl

Yeah, it reminded me a lot of The Office too. Both are satires on the stereotypes of office interactions, I guess, except in that Aggretsuko obviously looks at Japanese stereotypes, while The Office looks at American ones.

You Gotta Love Death Metal

Wow, Aggretsuko was pretty different from anything else I’ve watched for this class. Maybe I’m saying this just because the art style was so different. To be honest, I wasn’t a huge fan of the overly cartoonish art, but I can appreciate how it gave the show levity. The show certainly would’ve been more relatable / emotional (closer to reality) if all of the characters were portrayed by people and the art was more detailed, but maybe the creators wanted this show to be far-separated from reality.

Art aside, my impression of Retsuko is that she’s stuck in a system that she doesn’t want to be a part of. Being a “model citizen” doesn’t come naturally to her; she has to constantly remind herself to act in a way that is “appropriate.” This is reminiscent of today’s reading, which proposes that our concept of gender is best defined as a set of learned actions, “acting” of sorts, an idea which definitely rings true for Retsuko, who is only truly herself when she’s singing death metal at a karaoke bar (and she feels a need to keep that a secret from everyone else). It’s not an idea I can personally relate to that much, but I understand how Retsuko feels.

The whole “arranged marriage vs. dating who want” aspect of the show felt very familiar to me because I had recently watched a movie, The Big Sick, which dealt with the same issue. It’s easy to discredit Retsuko’s mother as selfish, for wanting to set Retsuko up with somebody (presumably so she can have grandchildren or whatever), but I don’t think that’s necessarily the case. I think there’s just a unbridgable gap between Retsuko and her mother in that her mother will never really understand Retsuko’s position. I think people like Retsuko’s mother were pushed to get married as soon as possible after turning 18, either out of necessity or that was just the culture at the time, and that idea is kind of internalized in Retsuko’s mother.

In any case, you gotta appreciate the sick death metal in this show. Very cool.

justagirlwithaclassblog

Sailor Moon

“Why don’t you start acting like a lady for a change?”

- Mamoru Chiba

Sailor Moon illuminated the stereotypical portrayal of women and young girls in the media, focusing on feminity.

In fact, according to Newsom’s “Girl Power”, “Sailor Moon is a powerful and feminine character whose power is dependent on her femininity”. In the first episode, women and young girls are portrayed as emotional beings who are easily swayed by sales and jewelry due to their shiny factor. In the second episode, focuses on romantic relationships, specifically focusing on the crush stage. In this episode, Usagi is more obsessed with the cute guy from the arcade instead of focusing on her mission. In episode 4, the obsession with weight seen in females as well as the pressure to lose weight and live up to the “skinny” ideal is presented. In this episode, Usagi starves herself while linking beauty to weight. These ideas and ideals are presented to women (young and old) constantly daily. Growing up, young girls are exposed to this and like Usagi, choose to starve themselves and/or constantly work out pushing themselves past their limits, potentially shortening their lives for their ideal bodies. Things like this lead to young girls to put too much emphasis on their weight, resulting in the eating disorder epidemic seen in the United States.

It is interesting to see the duality between the Sailor Moon persona and Usagi Tsukino. In contrast to Usagi Tsukino, who is a crybaby klutz and terrible student, Sailor Moonis a seemingly fierce and confident fighter. As stated in the reading, “Girl power is a pleasure-centered form of empowerment tied to ideals found in third-wave feminism. It is also a media construct that challenges feminine empowerment by limiting empowerment to a specific body type and active performance by young women.” This seen in Sailor Moon as although the Sailor Moon persona is fierce and seemingly confident, she is still subject to the obsession of the ideal beauty and weight standard. In fact, Sailor Moon’s catchphrase is “Sailor Moon! In the name of the Moon, I’ll punish you! I am the Pretty Guardian who fights for love and justice!”. This only puts emphasis on an ideal standard of beauty, as the heroines are depicted as beautiful and are called the pretty guardians. In contrast, it is also important to note the villains, who are also female, are distinguished as beautiful before their true hideous appearance is revealed.

outofphase-owl

Yeah, it’s true that, in this show, beauty is pretty much directly linked to morality. All of the heroines are beautiful, and all of the villains are revealed to be ugly at the end of the episode. This is probably one of the key characteristics of the show that makes it part of the “girl power” media construct.

Sailor Moon Is Anti-Zoom

These episodes of Sailor Moon really were an entertaining watch, especially since I got to watch a couple of them with my dad, who then let me know that he himself watched anime when he was a kid (Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion). Although I would have preferred for it to have a little more action, I can understand that Sailor Moon followed the same pace as a lot of other shows back then.

I found it very interesting, especially in the later episodes, that Sailor Moon always seems to be fighting some enterprise, of some sort, that takes advantage of young people. In the first episode, the enemy is a jewelry store that uses discounts to scam young people out of their money. Later, there’s a gym that advertises weight-loss within days and a “cram school” that probably promises better grades.

The most interesting thing, to me, was the anti-technology sentiment in the eighth episode of the show. In this episode, computers were being used to drain the mental energy of the gullible, brainwashed students who had signed up for the “cram school,” expressing a common sentiment in our society that people who use technology are “brainwashed drones” (something I hear a lot fom my parents). Then, in the climax of the episode, Sailor Mercury professes that studying should be done without the aid of technology, and frees the “brainwashed drones” from their “mental captivity.” We can see that the writers of the show felt negatively about the use of new technology, in this specific case, computers and floppy disks. I can understand this; computers seem to pervade every facet of life nowadays. (I’m lookin’ at you, Zoom.)

In any case, Sailor Moon was a lot more insightful than I thought it would be. It very specifically fights against those who exploit confused young people for money. (Or in the case of the show, “energy.”) And it’s something that my dad can enjoy!

revyrn

Koe no Katachi

Wow, I never planned on watching the movie since I had already read the manga (I feel like I say this at the start of every post but these are just my honest thoughts x_x), but I’m glad the movie still turned out good. Although there were a few parts of the story that felt cut out, it’s still a good story and and enjoyable watch.

At several points of the movie, it feels like everyone has turned against Ishida. When the principal of the school comes to their class to address the bullying, all of his friends instantly turn against him, even though they also bullied Nishimiya or were just spectators. No one told him to stop, which they lied about, and even the teacher didn’t do anything to try and stop it, which should be his job. That really made me mad, and it’s understandable why Ishida didn’t look at anyone’s faces after that. His actions were wrong, so he should take responsibility for them, but he did try to make up for them afterwards. He worked part time jobs to help pay off the hearing aids he broke, he learned sign language, and went and found Nishimiya to try and amend for his past actions. On the other hand, Kawai continued to pin the blame solely on Ishida, Ueno continued to treat Nishimiay poorly, and (manga-specific) Mashiba punched Ishida despite really knowing nothing about their past. Even at the end, I feel like the other characters were kind of shallow and didn’t really change. Anyways, it just really made me wonder if people can redeem themselves for their past actions, or if their lives should just be dictated by their past. In the case of Ishida specifically, I would consider him to have redeemed his past actions, especially since he was still young and immature. However, is there a point at which actions become irredeemable?

Another thing is that Nishimiya naturally made the assumption that things were her fault, since she couldn’t fully grasp what was happening around her. But she really shouldn’t feel this way, since it’s not her fault she was born deaf. People should be more accommodating, but I guess 6th graders don’t really understand that.

Anyways, that was a really good movie, but it does feel like some stuff I really liked from the manga was left out, which is understandable but also a little unfortunate.

outofphase-owl

Yeah Shoko really did blame herself for everything negative that happened to her friends, maybe because she internalized what everybody else thought/said about her (“she’s a burden”). If she hears (bad choice of words) this idea over and over again, it’s only natural for her to start believing it.

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