IDS2935

Kevin Cui

[revyrn]

Perfect Blue

 Wow, that was a really crazy movie. It was really unique to see how the lines between reality and fiction blurred, and we were thrown into the same confusion as Mima herself was, rather than just being a spectator with a clear idea of what’s going on. The anime clearly illustrates the issues of the obsessiveness of fans, which I guess is relevant to the readings and viewings about otaku culture we’ve been using throughout the class. On one hand, fan culture can be a good way to promote and share content, but on the other, it can also become toxic and dangerous. The fact that fans never have the entire picture of what goes on in a celebrity/public figure’s life also contributes to many misunderstandings and assumptions about their character. So the image of a celebrity that is created in the public’s mind has many inaccuracies, and when celebrities don’t match this ideal character in people’s minds, they feel betrayed and easily become toxic.

I’m not sure if I’m misreading it, but towards the end I felt like there was some sort of theme of Mima having to “kill” her past self haunting her in order to move on in her life. Her past actions as a pop idol gathers fans of her idol persona, but she has to kill this persona in order to create a new one in the public’s mind. 

Another thing that was pretty well done was how it showed the producers and directors’ pressure on Mima alongside the fans’ pressure. It really illustrates how much stress these public figures go through in order to satisfy everyone. They have to worry about maintaining their public image over anything they do.

Anyways, I really enjoyed this class and I’m sad that this is the last viewing, but I think it was a good anime to end the class on. 

[revyrn]

Death Parade

I wish I had time to watch the rest of Death Parade before writing this post, but I guess I’ll just have to revisit it another time to finish it. It’s a really interesting anime centered around judging people immediately following their deaths, ultimately determining the fate of their soul. However, despite these situations being morally grey, it is up to the arbiters to determine a “winner” and a “loser”, or a “good” and “evil”. 

I really liked the introduction of a character like Chiyuki, because I was feeling the exact same way about episode 1 as she was in episode 2. It seemed that Decim’s lack of (and understanding of) human emotions was hindering his judgement, but it is also flawed to let emotion completely guide our judgement. So the usage of two characters with conflicting viewpoints felt like a very appropriate way to look at these issues. Even then, its still difficult to conclude a black and white answer. 

However, one thing that I read about somewhere is that, in Buddhism, enlightenment means escaping the cycle of reincarnation and entering nirvana, which would be the void in this anime. Reincarnation isn’t necessarily considered a good thing, since it is viewed as a cycle of suffering. (This may not necessarily be accurate.) So while the anime seemingly presents the void as punishment, like how the other arbiter said it’s a place where you are left with nothing but your negative thoughts and emotions, we could view it differently. In episode 1, Machiko clearly did her best to alleviate her husband’s grief, and was sent to the void. The pair of lovers in episode 11 also were both sent to the void. So sometimes, the better characters (from my moral perspective, at least) were sent to the void, so I’m not exactly sure how Death Parade wants us to view it. 

Anyways, really nice anime with a unique atmosphere. The colors especially felt like they contributed to the tone, but I can’t quite put my finger on why. Definitely gonna have to finish the rest of the episodes.

[revyrn]

Violet Evergarden

I can’t believe it’s already been two years since Violet Evergarden came out. I think its definitely one of the most memorable anime I’ve watched, and for good reason. The soundtrack is beautiful, the story is heart wrenching, and to top it all off, the animation is absolutely breathtaking. I think stories and shows about war tend to center around the war events themselves (with a tragic ending, of course), rather than the post-war recovery stage, which is something I really enjoyed about Violet Evergarden. The way it covers so many different perspectives of people affected by the war in an episodic format is something I especially enjoyed. 

There’s definitely a very clear message in this anime about how war tears apart everyday life for all people, whether they were directly involved in the war or not. I know some people found Violet to be an intolerable character and found the show hard to watch because of it, and I thought the same way at first. But I’ve come to really appreciate and like it, since it shows how a potentially normal person has been completely hollowed out by the military and war, so it’s not her fault she comes across as emotionless and unsympathetic. While in the military, she was simply used as a tool for killing, which was aided by her lack of emotion. However, after the war ended and she became an Auto Memory Doll, she came to learn the consequences of her killing, and how she tore apart the very relationships she is trying to learn about and protect now. She also seems to have survivor’s guilt, since she was unable to save the major, the only person who she cared about. However, after seeing the gratitude of her clients and those who she delivers letters to, she makes up her mind to continue to move forward, which is what I think the message of this anime is all about. Despite being left with many scars by the flames of war (including the loss of both her hands), she doesn’t remain stagnant. Despite struggling for some time, she manages to integrate back into normal society. Her work as an Auto Memory Doll makes her appreciate the value of human connections, and she continues to work as a doll in order to continue mending, preserving, and nurturing these connections. 

Episode 10 was obviously very impactful, since, apart from the heart wrenching story of the mother and daughter, it’s the first time we see Violet cry and express such strong emotional understanding. It really highlights how far she’s grown as a person from the start of the series. She’s also not the only one who makes progress in this series, however. She also helps each of her clients make progress in their lives in each episode, thanks to her letters, and I think she has become a fantastic character.

[revyrn]

Sensoron

I actually have no idea which stance the author is actually taking. At first glance, it seemed like he was using the toilet situation as an analogy for the war crimes accused of Japan, and was defending Japan’s innocence. The author presents various evidence that support Japan was framed, such as fake photographs, famous Japanese people who reported to have seen nothing, and foreign soldiers pretended to be Japanese soldiers and committed crimes. He mocks the public for being tricked and “brainwashed” by the US into believing they were in the wrong and must make amends for their actions, by drawing them with goofy, exaggerated facial expressions. My initial thoughts were that the author holds the mindset that Japan was unjustly punished, similar to the example he drew with the toilet. However, as the manga progressed, it seemed to me like he was also making fun of that mindset? His own character seemed to be a caricature of sorts, and his arguments sometimes felt like there were logical flaws.

It bugs me that I feel like I can’t view this situation without at least some sort of bias, since I am a Chinese American. Despite not being born in China, and associating myself as an American, I guess the environment that I was raised in tells me that Japan did something wrong, and I can’t get rid of those lingering feelings. It doesn’t change my opinion of Japan now, since I like Japan for creating anime, but I have no idea whether or not the Nanjing Massacre was exaggerated. If there’s a lot of evidence that points towards Japan being framed, then I will accept either outcome. I don’t feel comfortable drawing a conclusion, so I want to see what other people think.

[revyrn]

Your Name

I recently watched another of Makoto Shinkai’s movies, Weathering With You, in theaters, which I think drastically improved the experience. Although its not fair to compare these two movies, I can’t help but do so. Personally, I think Your Name is a better movie, since the plot was more coherent and had some kind of direction. On the other hand, I couldn’t really make sense of where Weathering With You was going/building up to, and sometimes plot elements felt really random or disconnected. But watching Weathering With You in theaters created such a cool atmosphere that I think I enjoyed it more.  Anyways, in the end, both are very good movies that I’m glad I watched. 

Your Name has a lot of cool ideas, and one of the first things that happens in the movie is that Taki and Mitsuha switch bodies. It’s cool because both of them seem to have trouble dealing with the societal expectations placed on them--especially Mitsuha, who has to uphold their tradition, and she wishes that she was someone else somewhere else. And of course, they do magically switch bodies, and while they take some time to adjust to their alternate lives, they manage to make it work, which is cool. I guess that kind of shows that you don’t necessarily need to conform to a certain gender norm or stereotype to be accepted by people. 

Perhaps the most frustrating part to watch in this movie was when they struggled with memory loss, and even completely forgot about each other in the end. I thought that they wouldn’t even meet again, but thankfully they didn’t make the decision to do that. 

[revyrn]

Hetalia Axis Powers (1-19)

I feel bad about watching this anime because I feel like my lack of historical knowledge is making me miss all the jokes. There’s a lot going on that I assume has to deal with real historical events, but I’ve just been blindly watching and picking up whatever little bits I can understand. I would assume that this anime’s intended audience is probably towards females, though, and that many viewers simply watch Hetalia for the characters. 

I think the depictions of the countries were very humorous, though, and although their cultures and interests were overly simplified--like Italy with pasta--it was also accurate to some extent, which is what makes it funny. It’s also interesting because the countries were characterized by whatever perspective the author had, so in Hetalia Japan was a very reserved, serious character, which I guess is how most Japanese people view themselves/their country. However, I would think most westerners have a very different view of Japan at this point in time, which is that of a country with very..weird and even perverted interests, and nowhere close to the character that is presented in Hetalia.

Overall, I think the show is very lighthearted so I don’t take any of its content seriously or as an accurate depiction of countries. I can see how people could be offended, but I really think it should just be viewed as a work of comedy and nothing further

[revyrn]

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Cutscenes

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 actually left a pretty deep impression on me. For some reason, I really really enjoy these kind of stories and these kind of games, which Japan seems to create a lot of. (One recent one that I really enjoyed was Nier:Automata, which got me into some of the other Yoko Taro games, such as Drakengard, etc) Japanese games give a different vibe from Western ones, and although the cutscenes weren’t very high quality, they were still very enjoyable after getting accustomed to them. I also really really really loved the soundtrack, and I definitely will be listening to some of these songs again. 

The premise of Xenoblade is quite similar to that of Nausicaa, which we just watched. In both worlds, humans are running out of space to live in, and there is a force of nature that is constantly threatening them. In both settings, the inhabitants of the worlds are left dealing with the consequences of the actions of past generations. However, the main characters of Xenoblade and Nausicaa take very different approaches to saving their world. While in Nausicaa, the solution was to just live in harmony with nature and let nature heal itself over time, in Xenoblade Rex was actively looking for Elysium, and actively trying to save humanity.

Klaus reset humanity and created an entirely new world for humans to live in, only for humans to take the same path of destruction as before. I really like this kind of theme--that it’s embedded in human nature to eventually self destruct, unless something drastic changes. In this case, Rex was the catalyst and combined with the restorative efforts of Klaus to atone for his actions, the world was saved. For some reason, I always enjoy stories like this. 

I also like the concept of the cycle of life between the blades and the titans, and how blades represent a force of a nature that humans utilize. The fact that they lose their memories only reinforces that, since they have no ideals of prejudices of their own, and only follow their human users.

One thing I did not appreciate, however, was that Mythra had to sacrifice herself at the end... I would really have liked a happy ending to this story. 

--SPOILERS-- I ended up watching the last cutscene, and I’m happy now.

[outofphase-owl]

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.

[revyrn]

Oooh, I like how you mentioned the amount of money that people spend at anime conventions. I completely forgot about that aspect, and I even personally know a few people who spend hundreds, if not thousands of dollars on merchandise. It really makes you wonder where they get this money from... so I wonder if there’s a possibility of people being motivated by otaku culture to get a job and work to earn money to fund their hobbies?

 Though you say that it’s wrong to compare capital exchange within an anime convention to capital exchange in the outside world, I wonder if it’s too early to say that. Rather than leeching off of the outside world (that’s kind of the impression I got from reading your post, maybe I misinterpreted), what if it’s actually promoting productivity in the outside world? Probably not, but just a thought that jumped into my head while reading.

Nice post! 

[revyrn]

Otaku Documentary - SwampCon Replacement

 I still can’t get over the fact that SwampCon was canceled. Honestly, I was really excited about going to a convention centered around anime, and where so many people share a common interest in anime. Besides for a few friends, I’ve usually always kept my interest in anime relatively hidden, but it’s actually something I’’m really enthusiastic about. I guess this class is one way I can talk freely with others about anime, though, which has been a fun experience. 

Anyways, the documentary True Otaku that we watched together as a class in discord was a unique but interesting experience for me. However, the documentary felt a little disconnected from my own personal experiences, since I haven’t attended many conventions, nor cosplayed, so the documentary just felt like I was watching someone else’s definition of otaku. Honestly, the documentary as a whole felt like it lingered a bit too long on the subject of cosplay, which is only one aspect of the fan culture of anime, so it missed out on a lot of other subjects. 

The documentary began by defining the world “otaku”, a world which I’m sure all of us are very familiar with by this point, if you weren’t already before. While the original definition is a derogatory term used by the Japanese, the west has changed the meaning to be anyone who is a hardcore fan of anime and manga, and many fans enthusiastically associate themselves with this label. The documentary only covered the American viewpoint of “otakus”, so I feel as if they could have covered some other perspectives as well. 

The next part of the documentary then covered cosplay, which is where people dress up as characters from anime and even imitate their personalities, essentially living out their fantasies. I guess cosplaying would be classified as a simulacra, since cosplayers simulate fictional characters that have no anchors to reality. However, the hard work and dedication that cosplayers go through in order to bring these characters to life is real, and I think the documentary did a good job in covering that. It goes particularly in depth with a single interviewee, who creates her own costumes and competes to win in cosplay contests. Whereas your knowledge of anime or the amount of merchandise you’ve purchased would be the standard form of shadow cultural capital, I guess your quality of cosplay is the measurement of shadow cultural capital for cosplayers. Through several interviews with various cosplayers at the convention, it seems that the general consensus is that cospolayers like the attention, which would explain their almost hostile attitude towards cosplayers with less detailed or lower quality costumes, as well as those who buy their costumes instead of making it on their own. They don’t want other people to steal their attention, so they discriminate and look down upon others. It’s a little sad, since we should all be happy in sharing our common interest and enthusiasm for anime and manga. 

Anyways, on a brighter note, the documentary did cover the positive sides of anime fan culture. People’s enthusiasm for anime and manga brings people together (there was even a couple engaged to each other who found each other through cosplay!) and bridges gaps between cultures. The documentary also mentioned how anime conventions or other community driven events help nurture and spread the growth of interest in anime. At this point, I think most people would still associate a negative connotation with the word “otaku” and anime and manga, but I wonder if at some point in the future, it’ll be so widespread that it won’t be something weird to people. Honestly, I already feel more comfortable talking about anime with other people than I did a couple years ago, (but I’m not sure if that’s a result of an interest in anime becoming more normalized or if it’s just me being more accustomed to talking about it). 

Anyways, getting into anime and manga has pretty drastically changed my life, and I don’t see my interest in it dying anytime soon. Thanks, Japan. 

[twisted-tito]

Nausicaa

           One of the major things I got out of this movie is how destructive humans can be and how they will only listen once their life is at stake. We are introduced to an apocalyptic future where humans haven’t learned from their past mistake and continue to ensue pain and destruction to the Earth, we also see how the Earth retaliates and is forced to destroy humanity in order to protect itself. Nausicaa is introduced as the only person who is able to rationalize the world around her and tries to understand it as well. We see how she is able to do research and concludes that toxins are only being put out as a result of the pollution that the humans have caused.

           I really enjoyed the fact that this Miyazaki film also focuses on the environment and shows the dangers and destruction that we can cause to nature. This is pretty relevant today and probably was relevant at the time the film was made. We have known about the increasing levels of carbon dioxide since the 80’s and are ignorance continues to expedite the destruction of our planet. I think that the film tries to get rid of this ignorance by making us conscientious of how our actions may come back to bite us in the near future.

           The film as portrays women as the voice of reason throughout the film. We see how the women of Pejite work together to help Nausicaa escape. We also see how the evil princess also changes however she is blinded by her fright even to the end of the movie when she awakens the monster to help fight the Ohms. Towards the end the prophecy is fulfilled only that one thing is wrong, the hero that was supposed to save the world is not a male but a female, this highlights how progressive the film is by advocating feminism.

[revyrn]

Ohhh yeah I actually really like your point about feminism, it honestly didn’t even occur to me. Especially with how old the film is, I think Nausicaa being a female main character is more impactful. Another prominent female character was the grandmother, who was really wise and knowledgeable about things, which is really cool. 

[revyrn]

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

Wow, I think Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind just became one of my favorite movies ever. The soundtrack was beautiful, the setting was enthralling, the storytelling was fantastic, and to top it all off the messages of anti-war and environmentalism were conveyed perfectly. I personally love post apocalyptic settings like this, where vast wastelands are littered with bones or remnants of a civilization long gone, forests are warped into toxic and fantasy-like jungles, weather conditions are abnormal, and the environment in general is deadly (clouds and rivers, etc). The variety of giant insects were also really fascinating, although they were a bit creepy to me at the beginning of the movie. 

One of my favorite parts of the movie was when Nausicaa realized that the plants that made up the Sea of Decay weren’t actually toxic themselves, but only because they were absorbing and cleansing the pollution caused by humans long ago. If they grew in pure water and soil, they would end up completely harmless. For me, this makes the story much more compelling because it feels more grounded in reality, rather than just a separate fantasy world where everything just happens to be poisonous to humans. It illustrates a possibility (although an exaggerated one) of what could end up happening to the world in our own future. I wish there was a little more room/time to expand on that, since it feels like everyone else in the movie just overlooked that fact (besides maybe Asbel). I guess it also just shows how humans are often too dumb to realize the consequences of their own actions, and just end up blaming it on some other thing, or coming up with a terrible solution that only makes problems worse (such as using the Giant Warrior hahhAAa). 

The political problems between nations and the ongoing wars and conflicts between them felt slightly out of place to me, or maybe it was because there wasn’t enough time to expand more on it. Some of the scenes were surprisingly graphic to me, and I think the message of anti-war was still impactful, but I’m not sure whether the movie would be better with or without it. 

Anyways, the ending was a bit surprising to me, since I expected Nausicaa to just die in order to save them all. I think reviving her was a bit cheesy and kind of took away from her actions earlier, but oh well. It feels like the Ohms’ rage was quelled too easily, since their initial goal was to crush the village and kill all the humans anyway, so them to stop at a single death felt a little shallow. I guess she did save the baby though, so they would feel guilty about killing someone who was innocent and even helped them.

In the end, I guess the point the movie is trying to male is that, despite only being one person, Nausicaa’s pacifist and environmentalist stance does make a difference, so everyone should follow her lead and take after her. 

[revyrn]

Wandering Son (1,7,9,10)

Wandering Son was a really unique anime with a premise I haven’t really seen in any others. Our main two characters are a boy who wants to be a girl, and a girl who wants to be a boy. Despite there being many gender-fluid characters in other anime for numerous years now, there haven’t really been any that really address the issue. Japan is also a relatively conservative nation as far as I know, so even though ideas such as cross dressing or gender bending is often thrown around a lot in anime and such, it’s still not very accepted by people in real life.

One thing that stood out was how much more accepted a girl dressing as a guy was than a guy dressing as a girl. It seems to be that way in real life too. Although you don’t see many men wearing feminine clothes, it’s perfectly normal for girls to wear either “women’s” or “men’s” clothing. Nitori is discriminated against and treated as if she is sick when she tries cross dressing, and cries from being rejected by others. It makes me happy to see that she has friends that are supportive, otherwise she would never really be able to be who she truly is.

I think Wandering Son is a really interesting anime, although I don’t know enough to know how accurate of a depiction it is of the experience transgender people go through.

[outofphase-owl]

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]

Wow, I wish I could watch anime with my parents without feeling embarassed. Watching Sailor Moon with your dad sounds like an interesting experience. I definitely feel you in that Sailor Moon is a lot deeper than I thought it would be, since I always viewed it as a simple, kids show. It’s a little unfortunate you weren’t able to wear your Sailor Moon shirt to class though!

[revyrn]

Sailor Moon (1,2,4,8)

Sailor Moon is a pretty old anime, but I definitely still enjoyed watching it. Even though the animation style is pretty simple, the characters still felt very expressive and it didn’t feel stiff or slow paced.  I found Tuxedo Mask to be particularly interesting because whenever he showed up he never really seemed to do much, he just encouraged Sailor Moon a little and let her do the rest of the work. On one hand, it shows reliance on a male figure because he gave her the courage in order to defeat the villains, but I feel like on the other hand it could also work the other way around. It shows how Sailor Moon has the ability to handle things on her own, she just needs to realize it and face things with confidence. So it also illustrates feminism and supporting the fact that women are fully capable of being independent.

I wonder if episode 4 was supposed to be a commentary on female beauty standards, and how people shouldn’t force themselves to conform to the “ideal” figure that other people project onto them. In case of the show, which was an extreme, fictional scenario, it was literally endangering and shortening their life span in order to look better to other people (although there can also be unhealthy consequences in real life as well). Usagi also had to go on a diet, so she wasn’t able to do what she really wanted to do, which was to just eat good food. 

Anyway, Sailor Moon was fun to watch, and I can see why its such a popular classic (and I kind of want to watch more of it now!).

[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. 

[revyrn]

Wolf Children

Wow, I just want to start by saying that was a breathtaking movie. The art was stunning, the soundtrack was beautiful, the characters were lovable, and the story was enthralling. I’m glad that I’ve been shown this anime. 

Watching the story of Ame and Yuki grow up and figure out their own identities was both heartwarming and heartbreaking at times. When Ame read the picture books and cried because the wolves were always depicted as the villains, it was so saddening to watch because Ame had done nothing wrong. He rejected the wolf side of his identity because society had deemed wolves to be inherently “evil”, which falsely taught Ame that his wolf side is bad. And when Yuki realized her hobbies/interests weren’t “normal” for girls, she felt embarrassed about something she shouldn’t have (I think the stuff she collected was really cool, actually!). Because she didn’t match societal norms, she felt a disconnect between her own identity and the expected/”ideal” image of an elementary school girl. But I’m glad that Yuki was accepted by Souhei, and that both Yuki and Ame found a place they felt like they belonged.

One aspect I liked about the storytelling was how Ame and Yuki essentially swapped identities. Ame originally wanted to be human, but didn’t seem to like school very much and ended up embracing his wolf half. Meanwhile, Yuki, who was initially very tomboyish, ended up striving to become human. It was a nice twist and really added to the effect of them trying to figure out their identities. 

It’s also ironic how, despite Hana initially wanting her children to be able to choose their own paths and live freely, their differing paths caused conflict and tore their family apart. It doesn’t seem like Ame and Yuki really resolved their disagreement with each other, and instead just ended up going their own separate ways and never talking to each other again. That’s kinda sad.. :(

One small last thing I noticed was the play around Ame’s name, which means “rain.” It was raining when Ame was born, so it kind of feels like he was brought into their family together with the rain. However, the rain also took Ame away from the family at the end, which is some cool symbolism. 

I just hope it doesn’t snow next...

[revyrn]

Naruto (1) + Shippuden (162,163,168,174,175)

I remember binging through Naruto at an ungodly rate years ago, so my memory of the series has become very fuzzy, but despite that the Pain arc stood out as one of the most memorable and favorite parts of the story for me. I think it’s because its less clear-cut who is “good” and “evil,” so things end up feeling less like a children’s show. And I think Pain having such an interesting character design was just the cherry on top for me.

To me, Pain was such a vital component of the story because it portrays how Naruto could have ended up taking the wrong path, since his life was filled with so much suffering and alienation. However, thanks to Naruto’s encounter with Pain, Pain kind of serves as a deterrent that keeps Naruto on the right path. The thing so compelling about Pain is that he also strove to achieve world peace, but because of his past, he lost sight of that goal and resents the world for its injustice. By putting everyone through the suffering that he felt, he is taking his revenge on the world while also teaching them the pain associated with conflict. His goal is to instill fear of pain in everyone so that they will avoid fighting.

It’s kind of like when you do something bad as a kid and your parents spank you, which teaches you to not do it again. Although, in this case, Pain’s actions are flawed because he is punishing many people before they have even done anything. His goal is logical, but also morally questionable, so I guess it’s really a question of whether the ends justify the means. 

Honestly speaking, Naruto doesn’t have the greatest solution, either. But it is a start to breaking the cycle of resentment and conflict caused by earlier generations, which is better than continuing the loop like Pain’s actions will.