Sunay's Blog @sunayk - Tumblr Blog

Well here we are, the final module of my college course and thus, likely my last real post. My thoughts on the anime, Your Name, Hetalia: Axis Powers, and briefly on the manga Sensōron.

MAJOR SPOILERS for Your Name Below!!!!!!

Starting with Sensōron because it's the one I have the least to say about. Even though the professor gave a warning about it, this one was by far the most political content in this entire course, very revisionist. Not really much to say about it, excessive politics in an medium of entertainment like this is a bit of a turn off for me, especially when it is not at all subtle.

Moving to Hetalia: Axis Powers, still has some politics in it but a lot more subtle than Sensōron. This anime was satire, poking fun at different countries, their national identities and histories. Now, did making each country an individual disregard the diversity that makes up those very same countries? Yeah. Were the countries stereotypes? Yes, it's satire. Were some depictions unfair compared to others? I mean, I guess. Did this anime gloss over dark aspects of history? Oh, yes it did very much. But was the anime good? Yes.

Jokes aside, the anime does have its issues but overall I still enjoyed it, the anime was pretty fun. Overall, I watched this anime with the immediate knowledge that it was satire. Cute, and some place pretty funny (seriously, a lot of the line deliveries in the English dub mixed with the actual dialogue got solid laughs out of me), satire, but still satire nonetheless.

Now finally moving away to something made with politics not as the obvious sole focus, Your Name, beautiful. Absolute cinema. Even though A Silent Voice and A Place Further Than the Universe are still my absolute favorites, this was pretty close. Your Name was a very fun and well-animated movie revolving around dreams, body swapping, and the plot twist: time travel. When the body-swap first happened to both characters I immediately pondered to myself: "How does the body-swapping work? On the first day it was Taki in Mitsuha's body, and the third day it was clearly Mitsuha's first time body-swapping into Taki's body, so how does that work? Is that a plot hole? Hah, maybe there's some sort of timey wimmey wibbley woobly explanation to it." I was joking. Well, mostly. I never could have seen the "it's been three years since the accident" twist happening. Though that is the other thing about the anime, the foreshadowing is incredible.

Anyway now for a tangent about a very specific connection I made when watching Your Name. Even though I know it was really about how society views gender identities (though there still some overlap with that theme in my connection), while likely unintentional I could not help but make comparisons with body-swapping with what I know about Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), previously well-known as Multiple Personality Disorder. I am by no means an expert in the topic so apologies if I'm wrong about anything but, DID is a condition that creates gaps in memory that can only be accessed by different alters, other personalities the brain has created due to prolonged trauma during development, these alters have their own personalities, mannerisms, ambitions, and self-image unique to that of the host. The memory gaps can cause confusion, especially to those undiagnosed, not remembering things done by other alters, similar to how Mitsuka and Taki had no memory of what the other did in their respective bodies, and when hearing about what happened from their friends, "they were almost like a completely different person". Though in different ways and for different reasons, for both DID and the body-swapping, that statement is true. Once the condition, DID or body-swapping is known, notes are left so the host and the other (or in cases of DID others) know what they missed when not in control of the body so there can be consistency and a sense of normalcy. There is much more to DID on top of that but those were the parallels to the body-swapping that I noticed. Again, might not be an intentional parallel, but it is still a fascinating connection to make!

sunayk

Thats really cool, I've never heard of Multiple Personality Disorder. It could be that the movie writers took inspiration from the disorder, which is probably why we see them communicating with notes and have no memory of the things that happened. Your Name was a beautiful movie, and I think they might have used references of DID to maybe bring awareness to the disorder.

Your Name/Hetalia: Axis Powers/ Sensoron Blog Post

Your name was a truly beautiful movie. Almost everything about it, from the music to the art and the plot. It kept you on your toes throughout the movie. I really enjoyed it, and I wouldn't be surprised if it won a bunch of awards. The main plot of the movie is two people switching bodies and feeling out what it's like to live in a different world. Mitsuha lives in a small village with strong ancestral roots and deep traditions, while Taki lives in the bustling city of Tokyo. From the start, we see that Mitsuha really wants to move to a big city, where they have cafes and lots of things to do. She doesn't like her village. While I don't think we see Taki's preference at the start, it's safe to assume that he also loved living in Tokyo, or just didn't think about moving to a village. However, as they continue switching bodies, he starts to get a deep love for the village and its ancestral roots. The main scene that shows this is when he is in Mitsuha's body and her grandma takes them to the sacred temple to place the sake. You can see he is taken by the beauty of the valley. Even when the switching stops and he forgets about Mitsuha, he still has this pull towards the village. He draws lots of beautiful pictures of the village, trying to indentify the place, and even goes on a trip to try and find it. However, we learn that the village was destroyed 3 years ago, and the body switching was actually through time, which is a crazy plot twist. From here on Taki goes to the sacred temple to drink the sake, which takes him back in time. There is more to the story from there on, but for my analysis its enough to say that he warns Mitsuha, and she is able to save her village. I think through all of this, we can see that the movie has a pretty clear message: to not lose your ties to your ancestry. Mitsuha's grandma continues to do her rituals, even though the reasons for doing so were lost years ago. The body swapping we learn is something that has been running in the family for generations. And Taki, someone from the city, finds beauty in the village. If we look at the history behind this movie that we talk about in lecture also, this becomes clearer. It was during the time when the Japanese government was debating on whether or not to rebuild an old village, arguing that the villagers would be much more productive in the cities.

Hetalia: Axis Powers

I don't have much to say for this anime, other than the fact that it was a pretty funny and enjoyable cartoon exaggerating the look and actions of each country. I think of it kind of like a bunch of memes put together to make an anime. I don't know anything about politics, so anything written here is coming from someone completely clueless about the stuff going on. There is a fine line between making something funny and making fun of something, but I think the way the skits are written in this are well done. They exaggerate the stereotypes of each country, but they do it to the point where you laugh at how stupid the stereotypes are, not how real they are.

Sensoron

Now apart from the content, this was the first time I have ever read a manga, and it was a pretty cool experience. I had trouble getting used to the right to left reading style, and sometimes I would have to backtrack and try to understand what was going on, but in general I could understand most of it. The few skits that are there to explain concepts really show the signature manga art style, and I recognized a lot of it from the shows we've been watching. The little dude that was always being targeted had a face i've seen in a lot of the anime we watched, like Spirited away and Naruto.

For me, the overall content was really persuasive. I did read the warning at the start, but alas, I have no idea what a right wing manga is, so I went in fully taking in everything. The arguments and use of visual rhetorics was really convincing, especially since the author used examples with the little toilet dude to prove his point. The use of cherrypicking to choose pictures that specifically showed false captions convinced me a lot, since I had no inital info on the matter. However, I found the argument that there was no massacre because of photos showing people peacefully to be kind of weak. He was basically saying look, this guy's dancing around town, so no one else died! Other than that though, I fully believed what he said, which goes to show the level of persuasion in the article.

gavanalysis

So for my college course, I just added another anime film and an anime game to my list of anime I have watched. I watched Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and some key cutscenes of Xenoblade Chronicles 2.

Very Light Spoiler for Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind Below.

Starting with Xenoblade Chronicles 2, I had only heard good things about this game online, my only prior knowledge of this game was that, knowing a little of the prequel and that there recently was another sequel if I'm not mistaken, and playing Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. The way I watched (and I do mean watched) this anime was via a YouTube playlist of basic story and lore-important cutscenes complied by my professor. So because of this I unfortunately have not seen any actual gameplay. But from what I did see, I'm impressed. The lore seems interesting, the story engaging, and the antagonists seem like fun. Even though I don't think I'm actually going to get the game (heck, I'm still working up just to get a Switch 2 by itself at some point), there's a good chance I may watch a Let's Play for this game at some point so I have the full picture of the gameplay and parts of the story I missed out on.

Now onto Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, I thought this was a great film. I really enjoyed the premise and characters of this anime. Every character, no matter how minor they were, felt three-dimensional, and even the antagonists felt realistic and borderline understandable, especially Kushana. The premise was simple yet engaging and unique with great world-building and original creatures. Something else that I found myself surprisingly enjoying was the voice direction. From what I have heard (and seen on occasion), 9/10 when something is dubbed into another language, the voice direction is not as emotionally impactful as the original, more often than not coming out as flat or overdramatic. The English dub of this film, at least to me, did not have such a problem. I think the reason why is because the English dub has a star-studded cast. I immediately clocked Asbel's va as Shia LaBeouf, but I did not realize until the credits that Uma Thurman voiced Kushana, Patrick Stewart voiced Lord Yupa (the GOAT!!!), and that even Mark Hamill voiced in this!

Overall, both Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 were great. I would highly recommend watching the English dub of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind on HBO Max and getting into Xenoblade Chronicles 2's story in whatever way is most convenient for you.

sunayk

That's really cool that you were able to recognize the voice actors voices, I doubt I'd be able to tell even if I knew their voices by heart. The voices were perfect for this movie, and they really do nail the emotion and impact. The world building was really great too, it felt like I was drawn into the world and its characters. Good luck with getting the switch 2, I heard it's a really good console.

Nausicaa Of The Valley of the Wind & Xenoblade Chronicles 2

Nausicaa Of the Valley of the Wind

After this class I think I am going to sit down and watch all of the Studio Ghibli films, because so far they have been really good. This is just my preference, but I really enjoy their use of silence and the full animation to really draw you into the beauty of the motion. Along with that, the art was really beautiful. It was a great movie.

The movie depicts a Post-Apocalyptic world where these "Toxic" Jungles have taken over the world, and people must live in little pockets of land in order to survive. In these "toxic" jungles are insects ranging in different sizes, although all of them are relatively massive. I emphasize toxic because we later find out in the movie that the true reason the forests are toxic is due to the pollution of the earth, which was caused by humans thousands of years ago. In the setting of the movie, we have the main character Nausicaa, who is a princess of one of the many safe havens. You can probably see her as an environmentalist, since we see her from the start entering the toxic forest and collecting samples of plants. Something that I found interesting from the start is when she found the massive insect shell, which she called an Ohm. Ohm in the spiritual sense means, as quoted from google, "represents the primordial sound of the universe and the essence of ultimate reality, consciousness, and universal vibration." It's a term commonly known in religions like Hinduism and Buddhism, and at first I just thought it was a cool coincidence. However, after watching the lecture and understanding the many references to Jesus, like when Nausicaa opens her body like a cross and dies and gets resurrected, It seemed more likely that the naming was on purpose. In the movie, we find out that the Ohm and other insects protect the forest and its purified sand underneath from human harm, and that is why we see them become enraged at anyone that attacks. They are representatives of the earth.

At the end of the day, I think the main message that this movie tells us is to let nature run its course. All of the other neighboring societies in the movie all try to take control of the Giant Warrior, trying to burn down the toxic forest. However, as we see when Nausicaa gets stuck under the forest, it is fixing the soil, making it and the air pure again.

Xenoblade Chronicles 2

This was a lot different from watching the regular anime that we have been watching throughout this class. For one thing, it wasn't really a complete show, just small cutscenes that together make up the entire storyline of the game Xenoblade Chronicles 2. I think the main way we can call this an anime is because of the artistic style of the characters faces, since almost everything else was completely different from what you'd see in a traditional anime. Apart for the graphics, the overall plot was pretty interesting as well. Like Nausicaa, the characters in this game all live on small pockets of land, which are actually living titans. Everything else is covered in the cloud sea, which has a cloudy surface, but then water underneath. There is a world tree in the center of the world, which reminded me a lot about SAO, since in every game in SAO there is a world tree in the center. The only difference is that in Xenoblade there's no land. So in this game, their goal is to try and find Elysium, which is a place of infinite land where everyone can live, up on top of the world tree. However, at the end when they get there, the land is barren, completely destroyed. We learn that the scientist destroyed it, and the idea of titans and people living in the clouds was to try and save them.

From all of this, I think we can say the moral of this story is, rather than let nature run its course, to intervene and help it grow.

suzhexahedron

I really liked Neon Genesis Evangelion! The art, especially in End of Evangelion, is absolutely beautiful. It started off pretty slow, in my opinion, but I love the dense symbolism that occurs in the latter half of the series, and the complex and rife relationships the characters have with one another. Every single character in this series feels like a real person, and even when they do horrible and selfish things, they still feel a bit sympathetic. Misato has a rife relationship with Kaji, who Asuka is also obsessed with. Misato inappropriately kisses Shinji, and Shinji objectifies an unconscious Asuka. Gendo has a weird relationship with Rei with despite the fact that she’s an underage clone of his late wife, and kind-of daughter figure to him. None of these things are good or fun to watch, but they aren’t necessarily surprising, and adds a lot of flavor to the various events of the series.

The implication that comes along with Kaworu, that angels are intelligent, sapient creatures, ones that diverged from humans on the evolutionary path, is terrifying to me. That, along with the realistic military imagery, takes the story from a typical alien invasion story to one of a real-life war. When real humans come to invade, it's hard not to wonder which party is truly in the right; theyre all just people. The final episode also hammers this point in; Shinji, Rei and Asuka, at the end of the day, are children. With just a bit better luck, they could have had a normal childhood, going to school and cracking jokes.

Episode 16, when Shinji was talking to the other version of himself inside the womblike structure, strongly paralleled the final episode. Shinji, talks to the “true” self inside of him, that takes the form of a child, and argues that each person is composed of countless different versions of themselves that exist within people’s minds. In the final episode, Shinji learns from the countless people he’s met to love himself, and merges with the rest of humanity to a standing ovation. The ending presented in End of Evangelion seems kind of bleak in contrast; although humanity persists, Shinji still hates himself, and both children are traumatized.

sunayk

The art style was something that I really enjoyed too! Apart from the violence and gore, It reminded me a lot of Doraemon. It was really cool to recognize the scene that we saw in the module 1 lecture on limited animation, the one when they introduce Asuka. While overall i didn't really enjoy the show(mainly because of the endings), I do prefer the original ending from the movie ending. Like you said, the first ending allows Shinji to love himself, and grow from that to merge with the rest of humanity. The Second ending just seems to show Shinji as the same, hating himself and continuing to try Hedgemonic Masculinity but still failing.

Neon Genesis Evangeleon

This week's anime went really deep, and got pretty dark. From the references I had seen in lectures of past modules, I had initially assumed it was just a sci-fi kids action anime, but it was actually one of those dark anime we had learned about. I don't think I understood it that well myself, but ill try analyzing it as best as I can. I am going to look at the anime from the point of view we talk about in the lectures, since I didn't really understand much of the apocalyptic stuff with the Eva's and Angels. From the start, Shinji is seen as having Queer Masculinity, always being scared of fighting and just wants to hide away where it is safe. It is only after everyone(specifically the women) pressures him that he tries to fight, but even then it doesn't seem like he can do it. From what I saw, most of his attempts at fighting ended up with him passing out, and the angel inside the Eva awakening and taking over. I enjoyed the anime a lot from the start. Even though Shinji seemed really scared and frightened, I was rooting for him to conquer his fears. However, by the second half of the show, it seemed like he had gone back to being scared. While I didn't really enjoy seeing Shinji like that, what I was really confused about was why everyone was forcing it upon him to continue to fight, even though he clearly had no intention to do so. The only person I think that tries to see Shinji and support him is Misato, but even she for most of the show is trying to force Shinji to become a man. In the movie, she even kisses him, which I think we can see as a last ditch effort to force Hedgemonic Masculinity on him, telling him " there's more once you get back". While I did enjoy the start of the show, Overall I don't think I really enjoyed the show as a whole. I think the main reason for me was the lack of a character arc for Shinji. From the start, we see Shinji as weak, powerless, and scared, similar in a lot of ways to characters like Naruto. But by the end, while Naruto becomes Hokage, Shinji is still the same. There is no learning point for the viewers, no seeing how strength and hard work can get you far, just how being scared can leave you the same as before. No one can really look up to Shinji. That's why I prefer the first ending much more than the movie ending, since it actually gives Shinji an arc, even though it was insanely confusing for me to understand with all the flashing and random voices. In the movie, it seems that Shinji is the same till the end, scared and unable to do anything.

sienafr

Fandom Experience- "True Otaku"

I have personally never attended an anime type convention, but I have definitely seen them around my city. I never knew how vast and popular it was, especially the convention discussed in the documentary, the Otakon. After watching the documentary, I really began to understand the idea of otaku as a fan of japanese culture that engages with it on a deeper level, through different outlets like cosplay for example. So otaku to me are not merely fans of anime, but people who are passionate and feel connected to their interests.

To begin, I was surprised to see the amount of subgroups that were present at the convention. There were the casual anime lovers, cosplayers, j-pop music fans, lolita dressers, and so much more. I thought it was amazing that all of these people with differing niche interests were able to collect into one place and share their passions with each other. Within the larger fandom of Japanese culture, there are even more communities of people, so there is truly a place for everyone regardless of the level of passion or experience. With cosplay in general, it was fascinating to watch how much hard work dust bunny put into her costumes. I think cosplay in general has a bad reputation, but I don’t think people understand how great of an outlet it is for people. A lot of times otaku are kind of ostracized from society and set apart, but cosplay acts as a great form of artistic expression, and helps these people fit into a different community. Not only that, but as dust bunny talks about in the documentary cosplay also provides a sense of fulfillment. In a post modern world, after the fall of the grand narrative, life can seem monotonous, so if cosplayers can get a sense of fulfillment for their hard work, then I see no particular issue with it.

These types of conventions really represent what society should be about, acceptance and understanding. People come from all different backgrounds, race, gender, age, and become united through the conventions. They are able to leave their regular lives behind for the weekend, and really let loose with their passion without fear of judgement or discrimination. I think that belonging to a community like that helps a lot of people who feel like they are alone in regular society, and just validates their feelings and interests. Not only that, but the host also touches on how this community spans across the world. This love for Japanese culture does not only exist within Japan or the U.S, but there are communities present in numerous other countries. The fact that otaku and fandom culture is able to connect multiple cultures and millions of people around the world is just fascinating, and I think that it provides a model for how the rest of society should be. Whether it be Japanese culture or other niche interests, if society grew to be more understanding and supportive of each other then the world would just be a better place in general.

After watching the documentary, I definitely could see myself going to an event like this just to see the costumes and buy cool items. I think watching people just being so passionate and confident about their interests is so awesome, and it inspires me to do the same. Through my own personal experience, especially being a girl, I feel like being an otaku or just an anime fan in general is not accepted in my community, so I do feel a little jealous of those who are courageous enough to express themselves. I think by experiencing the strong otaku community, others involved do learn to grow into their passions because the community is so strong and supportive.

sunayk

I have never been to a convention before either, but just like you, after watching the documentary I think I would love to go to one in the future. Not sure if there are any in florida, but if there is I might end up going. It's really cool how much dedication artists like Dust Bunny put into their costumes, and how its a great outlet for them to show their creativity and passion for anime.

Fandom

I have personally never been to an anime convention, however after watching the documentary on Otaku and the anime fandom, I started to see a lot of similarities with something that I have been to: Robotics Competitions. While at first it might sound like I'm stretching two completely opposite things together, I think you'll start to understand after reading this. First in this post, I am going to talk about my impressions of the anime fandom and conventions, and then I am going to try and compare it to the many robotics competitions i've been to.

In the documentary we watched about anime conventions, I got the sense that these conventions are a lot more than just random strangers all dressed up in a building. It's a way for people to connect with each other and fit into their society. If you go out in the streets dressed as naruto and start shadowfighting people, you're probably going to get a lot of strange looks, and maybe even some aggressive remarks. However, at a convention, this is all completely normal, and part of the magic. You can just go up to a random person and create one of the most legendary battles in the world. This is something I really loved about the conventions. However, I noticed that a lot of people in the documentary didn't really classify themselves as true otaku, and either said they weren't, or that they were partially otaku. You can kind of see the pressure of "normal" society affecting them, and how they hide their otaku-ness in fear of what other people would think. Its pretty sad that that's how our society is, but I think that that's the reason why conventions exist- for people to express their obsession of anime. It's really cool how much effort the fans put into their cosplaying as well. The award-winning lady that we saw in the documentary was a great example, since she not only spent months crafting each of the costumes, but also worked hard on her physique to really embody the character, and become them. I am definetely going to try and go to a convention sometime in the future. I might not have the crazy artistic skill that most of the people there have, but ill probably make something cool.

Now, I want to create a connection between something that I have been to a lot, robotics competitions. In high school, I was on the school robotics team, and every month we'd drive out a couple hours to go to competitions all over the state. Just like anime conventions, people from all over the region would come to these competitions. And just as we have cosplaying, our outlet was creating robots. Now there were specific things each robot had to do, but the way each team came up with their designs and ideas were totally different. More than the competition itself, I really enjoyed just walking to each of the different team booths and talking to them about their robots, looking at all the different ideas out there. And some teams even took it a step further, with painted aluminum parts and custom engraved poly designs on their robots. Personally, we never were able to paint our parts or anything, however our alternative to stand out was our special "Siuu" celebration, inspired by Cristiano Ronaldo. I think just like anime conventions, these robotics competitons are like outlets for all of us to show our dedication to robotics. If I were to take my robot out and about( I have before at school), I get a lot of weird looks from people, because it isn't really "Normal". However, at these competitions, lots of people come over to ask about the robots and how we built it.

While anime conventions and Robotics competitions might not really have a major connection when you first look at it head on, culturally they are really similar.

gavanalysis

Well I just finished watching a few episodes of three different anime for my college course. I watched the first few episodes of Sailor Moon, a few episodes from Seasons 1 and 2 of Aggretsuko, and most of Wandering Son.

Spoilers for the Plots of Sailor Moon, Aggretsuko Season 1 and 2, and Wandering Son Below!!

Starting with Wandering Son because it's the most light of the three, a great slice of life anime! This anime was a really great depiction of transgenderism and how gender is viewed by society. Everything about this anime was really well-written and realistic with its depiction of a transgender main character, their struggles, stigmas around members of the LGBTQ+ community, and how different people react. I thought this show was a really great causal watch with a simple premise and, to me, a very calm and low-key tone altogether.

Next up, Sailor Moon; I can see why this anime is an absolute classic. I loved the characters and became very invested in them and the plot pretty early on. I don't know if it's just that I'm a sucker for classic cartoons and tv, but I found the overall art style of this show very charming, as well as the formulaic episodic nature. Overall, I had an absolute blast watching Sailor Moon and I am happy to say that I have completed a subconscious goal I had when I learned that Sailor Moon was an anime I was going to watch in this class: that I would finally be able to understand what people meant when saying "magical girl anime" or "Sailor Moon transformation". Honestly, alongside Psycho-Pass, I think I'm putting this anime on my watchlist of anime to finish/properly watch after I am done with this class. Though I am putting it at number three on my watchlist right now because it has 200 episodes (and I only watched like 5), and number two definitely goes to...

Aggretsuko. Holy cungadero I was not expecting anything about this anime. The art style was top-notch, I immediately enjoyed all of the characters (except for the ones that were made to be unlikeable, so great character writing), and I was completely caught off guard from the plot reveal. Death Metal...I was not expecting death metal, the tonal whip lash was amazing. Then the second season somehow topped it even more with Anai. Like Retsuko, I was genuinely afraid from the ending of S2E2. A really fun show, definitely up there on my list of favorite anime just below A Place Further Than the Universe, holy.

sunayk

Wow, looks like you really enjoyed all of this week's anime! I thought these were pretty great too. Sailor Moon was really enjoyable for me since it reminded me of old cartoons I used to watch like pink panther and Doraemon. Aggretsuko was a great watch too. At first after reading the Netflix summary I didn't really think it was going to be great, but after starting it was really enjoyable watch. I think the twist of adding in her Death metal Karaoke was what made it really enjoyable.

Sailor Moon, Aggretsuko, and Wandering Son

Sailor Moon:

The art style and quality of the show was what stood out to me at first. It was really nostalgic, and remined me of the old pink panther show and Doraemon, which were some of my most favorite shows when I was younger. I enjoyed watching it, but the show does repeat the same kind of layout for each episode. This is probably because the target audience is for little girls who don't really care about a plot going over multiple episodes. I don't think this anime really addresses any global issues actively, but I think it does passively show the standards for women at the time, and maybe currently in some parts of the world. For example, we see Usagi and a lot of girls in the show try really hard to be skinny, and go to great lengths to keep their body "fit". Other than this, I don't think there are many other angles you can look at it. Its a kids show made to empower young girls, and give them a hero to look up to.

Aggretsuko:

This show was quite a bit different from the other anime's we've watched. I guess I'm starting to understand what Professor Smith was talking about when he said manga and anime doesn't all have the same characteristics. In this show, we have Retsuko, who is working a 9-5 job in accounting, and has a really mean boss. In the first episode, we see her boss Ton tell Retsuko to make him some tea, since thats what women were supposed to do. It's interesting that even in a universe where everyone is an animal, they divide the world based off of gender. Something I thought about after watching the show and the lecture, was about how I could tell each of their genders. Now obviously in the show they use pronouns, which can easily make it clear, but you can also see different characteristics. All of the guys are a lot more aggressive and loud, while we see most of the women as quiet. Retsuko is also pretty quiet at work, but we see her in the afternoons as a loud and aggressive death metal singer. I think we can maybe see it as a sort of rebellion against the norms of society. It reminded me of the book 1984 by George Orwell, where Winston Smith rebels against the heavily controlling Party by doing illegal stuff in secret, like keeping a diary and going to non-surveilled locations.

Wandering Son:

This show was a little tricky for me to understand at first. I had trouble trying to understand who was who, and who did what, but I think I now have a decent understanding of what happened in the show. Nitori is the main character, who wants to dress and explore the world as a girl, but still likes boys. What I found interesting was that everyone seemed to find it alright that Nitori dressed like a girl at home or in private, but when he went to school dressed up, it caused all kinds of problems, and everyone was against it. Along with that, we see some of the other girls dress up as boys, and everyone was fine with it. Some of the kids even found it cool. I guess its probably because girls doing boy stuff has been a pretty normal part of society for a while. I've always heard of a Tomboy growing up, a girl who dresses like a boy and does boy stuff, but I've never heard of an equivalent for boys, which goes to show. Then there's Doi, who i've still yet to understand. He wanted Nitori to dress up for school, and was probably the major reason, then when Nitori did do it, he called her an idiot. At that point, I thought he was just a bully, and had been messing with Nitori just for the kicks, but he comes back later and tries to make up. I think the best explanation for him is just that he's lost. He likes girls, but then there are these guys that look like girls, and he likes them too. Him messing with Nitori was probably him unsure of his feelings.

sienafr

Genshiken

Let me just begin by saying that this anime was a complete 180 compared to what I have been watching these past few weeks. Although initially caught off guard, I grew to really appreciate it, and it gave me some good laughs as I watched.

The whole otaku culture of Japan was something that I was not particularly familiar with. I will admit that I did have some preconceived notions about the type of people that consumed this type of fictional work, but this show really broke down those stereotypes that I had in my head. My absolute favorite character in the show was Kasukabe, and I feel like she really did a good job of reflecting what the general public feels about otaku initially. One of my favorite scenes was when she found all of the pornographic material in Kosaka’s room and was just genuinely confused about how he could be like that. I think this scene really showed that even though otakus consume sexualized material, it doesn’t mean that they inherently are perverts or weirdos. They are able to separate their actual desires and fictional desires through that critical distance, and I think Kosaka is a great example of that.

I also thought it was interesting how the friend group served as a home for those that would otherwise be outcasts. Because of their shared interests and enthusiasm for a fictional work, they built their own community that turned into an actual friendship. I think that just goes to show how the idea of fandom culture can really be a positive experience, where a group of people can validate your passions or interests without fear of judgment or shame. As great as this sounds, I do feel like sometimes social media can turn this into a very negative and toxic thing. As someone who consumes a lot of media, I have seen the toxicity surrounding fandoms in every aspect or industry. Whether it be pop stars, sports teams, or social media influencers, this fandom mentality can be equally harmful as it is helpful.

sunayk

I agree with you that Kasukabe is really portrayed as a "Normal" person, and shows what the average outsider feels when looking into the Otaku culture. We see her smoking a lot, acting cool, and getting aggressive at the idea of being associated with Otaku. The only reason she even joins the club is because Kosaka joins, and she really likes him. However, as episodes pass by, we start to see her showing interest in the manga, and she even starts reading a full series. By Season 2, she becomes a full member. She may not be daydreaming about fantasies with the characters, but she still enjoys the animes and participates in the club. I think it really shows how reading manga and watching anime may seem weird because of the fandom, but we see with Saki that you don't have to imagine stuff to be a fan.

Genshiken

A problem I've been having with the Subtitled Animes we've been watching is understanding the context and language. With this anime, I had this happen a lot. At first, I just assumed words like "Otaku" and "Dojinshi" were just words for japanese porn, since most of the scenes including these words also included some sort of sexual stuff. For example, Sasahara feels really nervous and embarrased about buying Dojinshi, and they go to the topmost level of a store to buy them. After watching the lecture however, I got to know that they just defined the Anime fandom, both its characters and products. I guess this shows what the general outlook on anime and its fanbase is from other people. I was kind of surprised at how "weird" they portray the characters that like anime, since this is my first time watching anime, and I was starting to really enjoy anime. However, as we go on throughout the episodes, we start to see that the characters are all pretty normal people, and just have a "weird" side. Something I found pretty interesting was how they really exaggerated Saki's smoking, showing it in a lot of scenes she was in. I think it tries to show her as "Cool" and "Normal", contrasting from the nerdy view of the other club members. She also sees the anime club and the manga as weird at first, but after a couple episodes we see her start staying in by herself and getting immersed in the anime. For me, I think the show shows us at first how the average population looks at manga and its fandom, but uses Saki as an example of how anyone can enjoy manga. I think this "weirdness" is a pretty normal part of any fandom. For example, I really enjoyed watching minecraft manhunt videos from dream, and there are a lot of fanart on his character, some pretty sexual. The same can be said for movies, shows and pretty much anything. Overall, apart for my analysis, The anime was pretty funny and interesting, although I did not need to see Sasahara get violated.

gavanalysis

So I just spent the last three days (though mostly yesterday), watching three (kinda four?) different anime for my college course. The first episode of Naruto, "The Pain Arc" from Naruto Shippūden, the film Wolf Children, and the film A Silent Voice, and I have quite a lot to say about them.

Spoilers to the Pain Arc of Naruto and MAJOR SPOILERS for Wolf Children and A Silent Voice!!!

When I signed up to take a course revolving around analyzing anime, there were three popular anime that I had actually heard of that I immediately assumed would appear: Dragon Ball Z, Naruto, and Sailor Moon. Looking ahead at the schedule, I was two out of three (sorry Dragon Ball fans). So finally getting to watch one of those anime I heard so much about, (albeit, the first episode and a single arc), is something I am very happy about. Overall, I enjoyed what I saw. Naruto seems like a fun main character and Pain was an interesting villain with a cool power concept and deep origin.

As for Wolf Children, I will admit that at first, I had a bad feeling. I think it was that the beginning and opening premise reminded me a bit too much of what little I have seen and know about Twilight, something I was not a fan of at all. But I immediately got over my hesitations the moment Hana became widowed with the two children and the real plot began. After that, I enjoyed every part of this film. I especially loved how Yuki and Ame remained two sides of the same coin throughout the film but flipped which side they were on. Yuki at first being the wild child, constantly hunting and running around everywhere, embracing her wolf half, while Ame was the timid one who did not want to be a wolf at all. Then once they both started school, Yuki matured and started hiding her wolf half out of fear, while Ame stopped going to school and began to fully embrace his wolf half, living in the wild. The parallel character development and switch were brilliant, overall, this film felt like a great slice-of-life film of growing up, discrimination, and acceptance.

Then there is A Silent Voice. I am already feeling a bit choked up again just from writing this. I have so much to say about this film I can write an entire post of my thoughts on this film by itself and it would be enough to satisfy the writing requirement for this module's blog writing assignment, but alas. I felt so bad for both Nishimiya and Ishida the whole film. One of the themes for this film was self-hatred and regret. Ishida regrets everything that happened with Nishimiya in elementary school, everything he did, and he is a broken man from the fallout and doesn't truly recover until the very end. Nishimiya hates herself because of the pain and stress that she blames herself and her condition for bringing on to others. They both hate themselves so much that at pivotal points of the film, they attempt to take their own lives. It is such a heavy, yet, well-executed theme. Other characters besides Ishida and Nishimiya showcase other means of addressing their own self-hatred. Sahara chooses to run away and hate herself in silence, Kawai pushes her self-hatred away and convinces herself that she did nothing wrong and that she was a victim, and Ueno pushes all of her hate onto one person. Something else that I found very interesting about this film is how the two characters' self-hatred stems from some form of discrimination. The most obvious one is Nishimiya being deaf, meanwhile, Ishida hates himself because he was discriminated against for being a bully. Though I do not know how intentional it was, but I could not help but draw comparisons to cancel culture with what happened with Ishida. Especially when Yuzuru posted a picture of him online and called him a creep, and there subsequent talk in the rain.

To summarize my thoughts, I thought Wolf Children and what little I have seen of Naruto were both great and very well written! As for A Silent Voice, I highly recommend watching it if you haven't, probably my favorite anime that I have watched so far alongside A Place Further Than the Universe.

sunayk

I also had a sinking feeling at the start of wolf children, like the recount was going to lead to some serious plot action. I hadn't noticed the switch between ame and yuki till i read your explanation, but it makes a lot of sense. Ame is shy and frightened, and he overcomes his fears and goes into the wild, while Yuki is wild and aggresive, and she must control herself in order to make it into society. it shows their growth to join into their respective worlds.

Naruto/Wolf Children/A Silent Voice Post

Naruto

This is one of the only anime that I had heard about before starting this course, and it was really good. I can see why it is so popular. I already ended up finishing the first season of Naruto on Netflix, and will probably continue watching it after this class. From the first episode, Naruto reminded me of the Wild Child that we discussed in the last module. Unlike examples we saw such as Shonen A or the monsters in Shin Sekai Yori, Naruto does have a visible reason for being wild. he has no parents and lives by himself, and no one wants to go near him. Compared to any of the wild children we saw in the last module, he had every right to become a menace to society. However, we see that he fights to protect the society, and just wants to be recognized. He uses his powers for the good of his people. Fast forward to the Shippuden episodes, we see him save his village from one such wild child, although pain is an adult at this point. We can also look at this show from a discrimination standpoint as well, like how the lecture went over, but I feel that a lot of anime and action shows like this use discrimination and powerlessness to create a really powerful arc that resonates with a lot of people. It makes us feel good when someone who has been put down all throughout their life climbs up and makes it to the top.

Wolf Children

This was a really enjoyable movie for me. At first I was really sad when Hana's husband died. It goes into this cycle of despair as Hana is trying really hard to take care of the Yuki and Ame. But then they move into the countryside, and things started looking up for them. Watching this part was really nostalgic, since my family had also moved into a rural farmland when I was in middle school. There wasn't a house or anything like there is in wolf children, but watching Hana renovate the house reminded me of my own family building a house. Then we also see the different sides of Ame and Yuki. Ame was always this shy small kid, while Yuki was very enthusiastic and outgoing. These personal traits are what end up guiding them into their respective paths. Ame chose the life of the wild, away from society, while Yuki dived right into society, leaving home to go to a high school. Even though this film takes place in Japan and has some cultural traits that might not be common here, the overall theme of a parent letting go and trusting their kids to choose their future feels universal.

A Silent Voice

This one was definitely the most emotional out of the three. I didn’t expect it to be so heavy. I didn’t like Ishida at all in the beginning, but I also kind of understood why he ended up the way he did. Once the rest of the class turned on him, it felt like he finally realized what he did, but by then it was too late. I thought the way they showed his isolation later on was really well done, with the Xs on everyone’s faces showing how disconnected he felt. I liked that Nishimiya wasn’t made into some perfect victim either. She clearly blamed herself for a lot of things that weren’t her fault, and her trying to take her own life was a huge turning point. What stood out to me was that no one really handled anything the right way. The adults were basically useless, and the other kids just went along with whatever was happening. like in real life, people don’t always speak up or know what to do. They just follow the crowd, and those that differed would be bullied against. Out of all the three anime, this one made me think the most about how people carry guilt, and how hard it is to forgive both others and yourself. It was a really sad movie.

pedroc-animeted-world

I will be talking about some sensitive topics in this blogpost, so please be aware and if it affects you in any way, do not continue reading.

This week I watched a new anime called Shin Sekai Yori. When I first received the assignment to watch this anime, I figured it was gonna be a lighthearted anime about a group of girls, and was confused about how it related to the lecture about violence and gruesome crimes committed by children. So to say that the plot was a shock to me is an understatement. The anime covers the story about a group of kids with telekinetic powers who search for the truth about their society.

The anime presents a lot of violent themes, and the episode that really drew my attention was episode four. In this episode, the children find out about many secrets presented in their society. The origin of violence and criminal activity directly references the state the world is in right now. As the crime rate is at a peak, not only in Japan, but globally, this show (like many others) provides a prediction or warning of what our future will look like. As I thought about how the society of Shin Sekai Yori worked, I couldn’t help but make connections to previous world events such as World War II. The scientists chose a specific trait to define whether someone is right for society or not, the PK powers, and if someone did not contain this trait, they were eliminated. Regardless of age and gender, those who were deemed “dangerous” for society were removed from it. This reminded me directly of the Holocaust and how people were killed off for things they could not control, simply due to the Nazi regime frowning upon non-Aryans.

This anime portrays how highly-invasive surveillance methods can be detrimental to society, alienating children, running tests, removing their abilities, and killing them off, all for the sake of a “better” society.

sunayk

I agree with you that the storyline and plot was pretty dark and gruesome, and had a lot of twists and turns. I think your connection to the holocaust makes a lot of sense, since the Nazis killed off people because they were scared of them. There are a lot of similar examples with this same underlying theme of killing before you get killed, and it highlights a gruesome possibility for the future. However while I do agree that surveillance methods used in this anime can be invasive, I think the main issue is how they act towards kids they suspect. They kill them and get rid of them, which doesn't really create a great society for anyone, even the people having them killed. I think surveillance should be there, but in a way to help guide these kids in the right path.

Shin Sekai Yori

At first, I had a bit of trouble trying to pinpoint when in time this show was placed. The way the characters are dressed and the types of housing makes it seem like this is an alternate reality before our current era. However, as the show goes on, we see the history of this world, and see that it is thousands of years into the future. It seems strange that the "Future" would look like something we would've seen a hundred years ago, but I think, because of all the world wars and conflicts discussed in the show, the world has "ended" and is now being reborn into a new society. Looking at the show with this idea of a "rebirth" shows a couple other things as well. For example, we learn in the final episode that the Queerats are actually humans, but have been turned into a lower ranking society member from their looks, even though they share the same intellect as the humans. At the early starts of our world, slavery and ranking was a completely normalized part of society, and only after centuries of reform were they fixed. There was also this idea of witchcraft(the salem witch trials), and to some extent we could argue that the killing of these kids are similar to these trials. Both were done out of fear, even for the slightest hints of witchcraft. At the end, I think that this society in the anime is at it's early stages, and as we can see with Saki's ending words, there is still lots of reform to be done.

suzhexahedron

I really enjoyed Psycho Pass. It felt like a turn on the usual troupe of something seems innocent, but there’s secretly something evil beneath the surface; the world of this show is extremely dark and gritty, but you get the sense (at least in the first half) that viewed through any other lens then that of Tsunemori and the rest of the detectives, it could have been a very different show. For most of its citizens who cannot even conceive of crime, this world is seen a utopia. But for many more, it is not.

Despite the fact that the twist that the Sybil system was secretly a bunch of brains seemed like a cop-out of the idea of non-subjective power, I think it works pretty well upon the other themes of the story. There are a lot of themes of lack of self-determination. Many people we see who are killed onscreen being labeled as criminals are only committing crimes because their crime coefficient went up, including the woman who was assaulted in the first episode. Furthermore, it’s stated in the show that it’s very rare for someone in this society not to have a job - and, given how one man’s job is simply to be used as a punching bag for the other employees, it’s not much of a stretch to say that people are placed where they will be most productive, not most self-fulfilled.

For something like the Sybil system, the only way to deal with something that exists outside the ideal of a productive society is to kill it or force it to become productive again. So, in my opinion, physically integrating the people with no visible crime coefficient into the system seems like a graceful solution to me.

Overall, I liked both the story and the characters of this show! It honestly sounds like something that could happen not too far from now, but instead of crime coefficients, the government would track your internet data or something to place you in a job or tell people when you should go to therapy. As someone who really values privacy as a human right, it was an interesting exploration of the pros and cons of a ‘benevolent’ surveillance state.

sunayk

This really was a really good show. I agree with you on the fact that this idea was really a danger masked behind the idea of a Utopia. We can see at first that the Sibyl system helps detect criminals before they even become criminals, but it soon starts to become clear that the sibyl system might be causing these people to become criminals. The first victim in the first episode is a great example. I also really liked your thoughts on the brains as the power of the sibyl system. They are pretty much the minds behind the mindless civilization, telling them what to do and what not to do. The people they choose to judge are those that are unaffected by the system.

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