Lingering Echoes

[angel-is-not-creative]

Assassination Classroom

alright I have to start this by being sentimental first. This is the last post we're all gonna be making you guys :( personally I'm sad as this has been like my favorite class ever. It has been so amazing getting to hear from all of you and I've been exposed to so many beautiful pieces of media. This class is forever something I will bring up in any conversation and has made an actual impact on me. I know it is unlikely we will run into each other in the future considering the amount of you that are computer science or engineering majors but I hope my Hetalia blog post made a lasting enough impact in your brain that you may remember me, thanks for putting up with my takes and just being a really fun group of people ❤ (I won't be taking the exam with y'all so Wednesday will be the last time I see you all and I will be sad about it because I'm emotional)

okay now on to the actual show!

I have seen bits and pieces of this show but I've never sat down and watched the whole thing, and I still haven't cause I only had enough time to watch the assigned episodes.

This show has a lot of the same themes of shows that we watched previously. A few that I noticed are Psycho-Pass and Eden of the East. This show and Psycho-pass share the similar theme of "if you tell someone they are something they are bound to become it". Within this show, these kids have been seemingly abandoned by the education system. Every person at this school seems to hate class-E for no apparent reason. They are viewed as violent, dumb, and worthless by every other class and even the educators. They are being set up to fail, and their fate has been set for them at 14.

In regards to Eden of the East, this show also shares the similarity of kinda pinning the responsibility of saving the world on other people (also many of the shows we watch rely on children to save the world like Sailor Moon, Gundam, Evangelion). Despite literally having no faith in Class-E to do anything successfully, they put the fate of the entire planet in their hands. If these kids cannot kill their teacher every single person will die, and yet people still don't seem to be rooting for them.

They also have to work considerably harder to do satisfactorily on exams, as their education in the past has been lacking since no teacher ever gave them a real chance. With everyone against them, they still managed to rank themselves at the same level as Class-A, proving their ability despite what others may believe they are capable of.

Overall I think this was a pretty good watch and I will likely get around to finishing it.

[voicesofthechord]

I noticed the same theme of being abandoned by the system, but I didn't quite connect it back to Psycho-Pass. What you said does make sense though. The students all have their fate predetermined by the school system. They have been deemed failures from the beginning and never given a chance to succeed. As for Eden of the East, the students of Class E feel similar to NEETs in that they are casted aside by society and deemed as worthless without being given the resources or opportunities to prove their real worth.

[voicesofthechord]

Assassination Classroom (s1: ep. 1, 5, 16. s2: ep. 11)

I have heard a lot about this series over the years. I knew about the premise, the characters, and even the ending, without ever having watched a single full episode or read the manga before. Now I have finally watched a few episodes. And I can't say I'm a big fan of this anime, although it is a pretty good show. It is a wholesome, occasionally funny, anime that is set in your typical anime school setting. There is some interesting themes in there about discrimination, competition, community, and education.

Firstly, there is some obvious discrimination theme going on. Class E is looked down upon by the rest of the school for their intellectual failure. They are seen as lowly students that are not worthy are even being around the rest of the school, and as such Class E is segregated to basically a rundown shack far away from the main campus of the school. The anime shows how the administrative system intentionally fosters an environment of discrimination and disdain toward Class E as a twisted way of motivating the rest of the school to excel in order to avoid becoming failures like Class E. The students in Class E are intentionally sacrificed as an example of failure. How can the entire school system deem them failures when the system never gave them a chance to begin with? Class E was immediately segregated to a disadvantaged position, with no resources provided to nurture success. They are just left there to fail. And of course, when Class E inevitably does fail or underperform, the system can then point to such results and say that it's initial assertion was right all along that Class E had no potential for success. This kind of circular logic is very prevalent in cases of institutionalized discrimination, where such institutions fail to provide the adequate resources or help and then point to an inevitable failure of their constituents as justification for withholding those resources in the first place.

The framing of Class E as the shining example of failure also foster a sort of competition among the students. Especially as they all strive to avoid becoming Class E. Furthermore, when Class E does start succeeding, the rest of the school continue to view Class E as failures. The discriminatory views have been internalized by all those involved to the point where even if the reality of the situation doesn't match up with the discriminatory views, the discrimination will persist nonetheless. And as Class E starts improving and succeeding under the guidance of Koro-Sensei, the other classes, especially Class A, feel a competitive drive inside of them. They view Class E as an enemy that must be defeated. And this us vs them mentality fuels a senseless competition. Because having a physical external enemy to defeat gives one a solid goal to work towards and makes it that much easier to direct one's efforts toward that goal.

The anime also has some themes of Gemeinschaft vs Gesellschaft. Class E under the guidance of Koro-Sensei is the gemeinschaft. Despite them being in a rundown classroom that doesn't even of AC, their spirits and friendships are much stronger. They have more genuine connections between each other. Scenes with them generally have a warmer feeling than scenes of the rest of the school. The other classes of modeled like a gesellschaft where results are everything. The cold lifeless feeling of this environment is made very obvious with the introduction of Class A's new teacher, who seems to use a lot of fear, cruelty, and hatred to drive up Class A's mindless desire to surpass Class E at all costs. The friendships in Class A are also incredibly flimsy.

There is also a bit of gender ambiguity going on with Nagisa. He is a male, but his appearance is very androgynous, and if not for the gender-distinct school uniforms he could easily be mistaken for a female. I also know that there are a few instances in the anime (not in these episodes) where Nagisa is forced to cross-dress. This may all be a commentary on the performativity of gender.

Now onto the education. May I remind everyone that the students in this anime are all in junior high. As in middle school. As in roughly ages 12 to 15. So why in the hell are the standardized tests illustrated as these epic fights against monsters? It's just a piece of paper. A standardized test in middle school should never be as serious as this. That is just not effective education. Every student in the anime is shown to be dedicating their entire existence to getting a good number on these pieces of paper. At the end of the day, it's just a number on a piece of paper, and this is in middle school of all places... They are all like 14 years old. None of theme should have their entire lives defined by a standardized test like this. But unfortunately, that is the reality, and such reality can be seen in our real world too.

Well, I had fun in this class. Undoubtedly the best and most fun class I have ever taken. Good times. Thank you all for this wonderful journey through a semester of anime.

[beefmastersblog]

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners

I typically am not someone who enjoys any kind of fighting anime or the cyberpunk genre. In fact, until this piece, I had no idea that cyberpunk was a genre. But I have heard of this piece before this class, but never had any interest in watching it. In fact, I was pretty disappointed when it was selected as our class choice. But I was pleasantly surprised by this anime, I actually ended up watching the whole thing (because I am sick and have nothing else to do) and I ended up enjoying it.

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is a story about a society that is so messed up that it fails basically everyone in it: everything is heavily dictated by money, you cannot trust anyone, and the only way to escape it is to go to another celestial body (which also requires money). It follows David Martinez, a street boy who attends a preppy school but doesn't fit in, and his adventures after he acquires a military grade piece of cyberwear.

One theme that I want to touch on that is very noticeable within the first few episodes is the idea of money, and a society so overrun by it, that it no longer cares about it's citizens. David's mother slaves away at her job to make sure that he is able to attend the best school possible, because she fears that if he doesn't, he is just going to end up like her, not having enough money to run their washing machine. However, we see that he doesn't fit in at this school, and he is an outsider because he is poor and doesn't have the same posh, stuck up attitude as all of the other kids. This comes in on a later theme. But, the whole slaving away to pay for his schooling is sad enough, but when they get into the car accident, as he is crying for help for them, the medical team walks up, scans them, sees that they are not a member of their specific insurance plan, and then leaves them there to die. And when a rinky-dink hospital takes them in and his mother ends up dying, instead of condolences, David, now an orphan, is bombarded with funeral packages, listing the different costs of funeral services. I think this is a sad commentary on the prioritization that money has in our world today.

Another major thing I wanted to talk about was David being constantly outcasted by his peers. I think that the constant bullying and the fact that he was treated as lesser than, really developed his personality into one that fights hard to be not just equal but "built different". I think that his body did have an unusual ability to support the cyber wear, but he went way too far beyond his limits, even after his friends told him it was too much, and after watching Maine die because of it. But I think that ties into this idea of knowing and acknowledging your own limits. The same thing could have been said for Maine. If either of them were simply willing to recognize when they reached their capacity, and either removed the cyber wear or stopped using it like their friends advised them to, then they could have likely remained alive. I think that having the ability to recognize your own limits and weaknesses is actually a very important strength, and it was very sad to see David losing it in his last moments.

Those were the two main things that I wanted to talk about, but I also thought the idea of going to the moon to escape how horrible reality on Earth is, is very reminiscent of another anime we watched in this class (a place further than the universe). I thought it was very interesting as well, because we see that the cyberpunk universe is also completely dictated by money, with those having money being the people in power and those without always getting the short end of the stick. Lucy's dream reminded me a lot of that idea of emancipation from capitalism.

But yeah, I liked this anime. I will admit, I enjoyed the first 4 episodes significantly more than I enjoyed the last 6, only because it started to feel a little too basic for my tastes, and I enjoyed the deeper storyline of the first few episodes of this show. It actually reminded me a lot of Dorohedoro, another anime on Netflix, but I will admit, I thought that one was executed better from start to finish. But I thought the characters were pretty cool and I really enjoyed the piece overall. It was a very interesting watch and although by no means would I rate it a masterpiece, it was pretty good and I'm glad I have finally watched it so I can engage in the exchange of cultural capital with it now.

[voicesofthechord]

Yes, I also think this anime has a major theme about recognizing one's limits and about addiction. I do think that part of why Maine and David both push themselves beyond their limits has to do with hegemonic masculinity. Except in this anime, hegemonic masculinity isn't societally enforced as a gender role, it seems more like a type of mentality that one has to take up if they want to survive in the harsh world of Night City. Both Maine and especially David feel compelled to be a stronger "man" in order to protect their crew and their loved ones.

[voicesofthechord]

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners (Eps 1,2,6,10)

Never seen this before, but I ended up watching through all 10 episodes (the show was good enough to make me want to watch all of it). Now it didn't quite live up to the hype and my expectations about it prior, but it is still a very good show nonetheless. As for the plot and characters, it is intriguing enough, but the worldbuilding/setting carries most of my intrigue.

Now onto discussing the anime. It follows the story of David, a low-born delinquent who gets fixed up in the shady world of cyberpunks and corporate corruption as he fights to survive in it. The anime critiques class divisions, capitalism, and the dystopia of corporate dominance. David, who is in a lower social and economic class, stands no chance against the capital power of the corporate world. There is no hope for him to change the system or even challenge it. And the anime shows that all someone like him can do is fight to survive in his own lowly sphere or find a way to escape. At the end, when David does try to challenge the corporate system in his effort to save Lucy, he is brutally beaten down and killed. Upward mobility for the economically disadvantaged is nonexistent in this dystopian world, and the corporate overlords hold too much power to be challenged.

We see the escapism idea with Lucy's dream of going to the Moon. She is searching for an exteriority to the oppressive system of corrupt capitalism. And of course, this exteriority cannot be obtained without capital. Lucy needs 250k for a one-way trip to the Moon; she needs to participate in the capital system in order to try to escape from it. She tries to acquire capital through non-legal means, such as stealing from corporate suits and taking shady jobs in Night City. Of course, the corporate giants don't strictly engage in legal means either. And it all shows that in a society obsessed with capital, the rule of law is just a surface formality whose power and influence is dwarfed by that of capital. This anime also shows that capital accumulation is not the only thing that pursuing an exteriority to capitalism is going to cost. At the end, Lucy does make it to the Moon, but not only did it cost her the money, it also costed her David's life and her own happiness. An immense price (monetary, emotional, and sacrifices in human lives) had to be paid for that escape. And even then, the Moon isn't even a true exteriority to the capitalist order. It has already been commoditized. And it shows that the all-consuming influence of capitalism is not even confined to just Earth; it will reach even beyond our own atmospheres into space. Chasing that dream of exteriority on the Moon is just a way for someone like Lucy to cope with the hopelessness of their lives.

Speaking of dreams, that is another major theme in the anime. David is shown at the beginning to not have any dreams of his own. Even at the end, he doesn't really care what happens to his own life. His search for purpose in life is characterized by him taking on the dreams of others. He puts it upon himself to carry out the dreams of those he loves and cares about, like his mother, Maine, and Lucy. And that becomes his life's purpose and his dream to chase. It shows that one's purpose and goals do not exist in a vacuum. It is influenced by those around us. When David forms a deep social bond with Lucy, we see him take on her dream of the Moon as his own; he makes it his life's mission to take Lucy to the Moon. Their spheres (containing their identity, purpose, dreams, etc.) overlaps with each other when a social bond is created. And when this overlap/merging happens, one can no longer be satisfied when one actualizes just the things in one's own personal sphere, because the other person's sphere has also become integral to one's own happiness. We see this at the end with Lucy feeling depressed on the Moon. Despite her accomplishing her own dream of the Moon, she doesn't feel any happiness from it, because David isn't there with her. By interacting and deepening her bond with David, her dream has shifted to include David. Her dream no longer consist of just the Moon; in fact, I don't think the Moon itself matters at all anymore, because her true dream at that point is to save David's life. The anime shows that in a social world, happiness does not come from the interior; one needs an element of exteriority, especially a genuine connection with another person, in order to feel true happiness.

All in all, very good show. My only gripes about this anime is I think there is too much action and not enough focus on the characters and their interactions, and I think the color scheme is excessively vibrant at times. The music is really good though. Glad to have finally seen this show.

[leiogerio]

^^ a perfect shot

This is my third time watching Perfect Blue, and it’s still a straight banger. Directed by the GOAT, Satoshi Kon, this anime film is absolutely mind-blowing, and it’s one of my favorite anime movies of all time.

What I love about Perfect Blue is how it messes with your mind. The story follows Mima, a former J-pop idol, who's trying to make it as an actress but is haunted by her past. The film blurs the lines between reality and illusion, and it's so intense and suspenseful that it keeps you on the edge of your seat the whole time. The final twist and chase scene goes so crazy, and it’s the perfect climax.

The direction of the movie is also top-notch. Satoshi Kon is a genius when it comes to storytelling. He uses visual cues, symbolism, and changes in perspective to create a sense of unease and uncertainty. The pacing is spot-on, with quiet moments of introspection followed by wild and surreal sequences. The animation is also stunning, especially for a movie that came out during the 90s. The visuals are vivid and dynamic, adding to the overall intensity of the film. One of my favorite shots is when the stalker in the beginning seems to be holding Mima in his hand.

One thing that stands out in the movie is how it explores the dark side of the entertainment industry. It delves into the pressures of fame, the loss of identity, and the consequences of pursuing one's dreams. It's a thought-provoking commentary on the price of stardom and the sacrifices that come with it. Another amazing modern manga/anime, Oshi no Ko, tackles similar themes of exposing the entertainment industry, and it’s clear that Oshi no Ko has taken a bit of inspiration from Perfect Blue. Moreover, Satoshi Kon's impact on the film industry cannot be overstated. He's known for pushing the boundaries of storytelling and animation, and Perfect Blue is a prime example of his genius. His use of visual metaphors and symbolism adds depth to the narrative, inviting viewers to interpret and analyze the story in multiple ways.

[voicesofthechord]

The directing and cinematography of this film is pretty genius. The final third of the film is mindbreaking in its expert blurring of three worlds: the real world, the acting world, and the dream world. The themes of identity and illusions are very well developed and is relevant even today, probably especially today. This is the first psychological thriller anime that I have seen, and it was pretty good.

[voicesofthechord]

Perfect Blue

Oh wow. My mind feels completely messed up after watching this one. The final 20 minutes was especially confusing with the repeated switches between reality, acting, and dream. There is so much to unpack with this one. So overall, the movie tackles the struggles of stardom and identity, especially through an exploration of the blurring of reality and illusion.

Mima is a former idol that transitioned careers to become an up and coming actress. However, through her new acting career, Mima is thrown into a much more mature and "tarnished" world that is completely unlike her old world of innocent idol singing. The stress from her new career causes Mima to slowly spiral into madness and start hallucinating her former idol persona. Mima feels haunted by her past self, feeling as if she had betrayed it. She struggles with coming to terms with her new identity. Is she Mima the Idol or Mima the actress? Does a distinction exist and does it matter at all? Such is the identity crisis that is represented by the blurring of reality and illusion that Mima experiences. The film, especially in the final 20 minutes, show an intensely mindbreaking blending of three worlds: the real world, the acting world, and the dream world. And the struggle to distinguish the three shows Mima's psychological deterioration.

Mima's manager, Rumi, is another person that struggles with identity and delusions. The film at first makes it seem as if Mima was the one with Dissociative Identity Disorder, but it was really Rumi all along. Rumi had been a former idol a long time ago, and she struggles to move on from it. As a result, she tries to live vicariously through Mima's idol career. But when Mima switched to being an actress instead, Rumi's delusions were shattered and she was pushed to the brink of psychological instability. Rumi started believing that she was the real Mima, the one that is still an innocent idol. She then, completely deluded, goes on a quest to destroy all who are "tarnishing" Mima the idol, with the hope that she can return Mima to her innocent idol persona. Rumi kills the scriptwriter and the photographer for exploiting and tarnishing Mima. Eventually, Rumi realizes that Mima was going to fully embrace the actress career and that she was not going to go back to being Mima the idol. Thus, Rumi then suffers an even further psychological break in her identity, and she starts believing that she herself is Mima the idol. Rumi becomes a physical manifestation of Mima's idol persona and now wants to destroy the real Mima for being a "tarnished fake". This is a severe case of DID and a further instance of the deterioration in one's ability to distinguish between what is real and what is an illusion/delusion.

Then there is Me-Mania, the ugly creepy stalker. He also has a struggle to distinguish between reality and fiction. He is representative of the obsessive idol fans who have bought into the illusion of the innocent idol singer in a way too deep and dangerous manner. Me-Mania has gone to the point where he cannot separate Mima's fictional idol persona from reality. He goes to obsessive lengths to interact with and "protect" that idol image; I think he has also been hired by Rumi to do some of the things he did. And it further shows how deeply consumed he is by the fictional image of idol Mima, that he is willing to believe an unseen online voice that matches his idea of what idol Mima is supposed to be like, and he goes as far to try to kill the real Mima because he was "commanded" by idol Mima (Rumi) to do so.

Overall, the film showcases some of the darker dangers of the entertainment industry and the psychological chaos and dissonant identities that public figures have to balance. The cinematography is pretty good, although it feels far too nauseating at times. Pretty good psychological thriller.

[jmalegni]

Sensoron

Who doesn't love a classic revisionist history manga that pretty much is just super conservative propaganda. But seriously this was a very interesting read in the aspect that I haven't ever seen what revisionist history looks like for any country other than the U.S.

The author of Sensoron seems to be a person who is fed up with "Japanese apologists" and the "brainwashing" of new generations into believing that Imperial Japan was evil. Now I will admit, I am not very familiar with the history of Imperial Japan during the Sino-Japanese wars and the Russo-Japanese war, so I cannot directly disprove some of the authors claims of certain event not happening or downplaying Japan's role in the suffering of many Asians in the period. What I can do is point out some very clear fallacious generalizations that are made. The first of these being the few photos that he "proves" are false or misattributed to make Japan look bad. He at least provides some references for his claims on the falsity of the photos (I am not going to go fact check them) but he generalizes those few examples to all of media trying to brainwash the Japanese into becoming mindless western puppets. There is obvious unfair generalization, hyperbole, and bias here. The author also depicts this as a specific attack on the Japanese, when in reality every country is targeted by not so fair media portrayal. I am sure that in Russia the U.S. is painted in a very negative light using all kinds of doctored documents. But that is just reality, Japan isn't necessarily unique in this sense.

Taken out of the Japanese victimization context, there is a rare piece of good advice from the author. Always validate your sources, especially as technology develops and new methods evolve for propaganda purposes.

Anyway, this guy is totally off his rocker though. Saying the Rape of Nanking was some Chinese soldiers dressed as Japanese. And including Korea and Manchuria along the with Japanese Islands when referencing Japan is just blatant revisionist history. I do not think he necessarily has malicious intentions though. He legitimately believes that the Japanese are becoming western puppets and is scared that Japan will become a doormat for other nations. I find it pretty sad but it puts this manga into perspective.

What a great first manga.

[voicesofthechord]

I also found this manga pretty interesting to read, despite being incredibly frustrated with it. It claims to be dispelling misinformation, but ironically, it itself is a blatant participant in misinformation with its revisionist history. If anything, this is a pretty good case study for logical fallacies and their use in propaganda.

[voicesofthechord]

Sensōron

This manga is so unhinged. It is far-right revisionist propaganda written for the purpose of downplaying Japanese war crimes and defending the Imperial Japanese Army's actions during the war. I have never felt more frustrated while reading something. The fact that this thing has the audacity to deny the existence of the Nanjing Massacre is completely abhorrent. It goes even further and tries to excuse everything that the Japanese military did during WW2 and even tries to frame the Allies as the true bad guys during the war and especially during the postwar occupation of Japan.

Sensoron is an attempt at criticizing and reversing the "brainwashing" of Japan due to Western postwar propaganda. However, this manga itself is a piece of propaganda. It employs an arsenal of blatant logical fallacies and insane mental gymnastics in a poor attempt to excuse or disprove all of Japan's crimes during WW2. (The author even compares photos of war crimes to UFOs??? What is this far-fetched connection?) The fake-photos section is a treasure trove of cherry-picking and composition/division logical fallacies, where he proves a couple photos false and from there makes the outlandish claim that the ENTIRE massacre must therefore be false too. The author does make some good points in that it is important to not believing everything one sees as absolute truth and that basic fact-checking is an important aspect of journalism and education, but his application of that idea to disproving Japanese war crimes is completely unhinged.

The section about testimonies had a tiny bit more validity than the fake-photos section. But it still contains numerous instances of logical fallacies and a pervasive mindset of overextrapolation. Once again, he discredits a few selected cases of misinformation, but then immediately engages in his own attempt at misinformation by extrapolating to conclusion that ALL claims of Japanese use of "comfort women" must be false, which is a very grand conclusion that cannot possibly be reached with the selected evidence that he gives. Of course, he does make semi-reasonable points in regards to how emotionally charged and inconsistent testimonial evidence is and can be. However, that is not to say that all testimonies should or can be immediately disregarded as pure fiction.

I really dislike this piece of right-wing revisionist propaganda. It claims to be combating misinformation and brainwashing, but it itself is a despicable participant in misinformation and brainwashing, just in the opposite direction. I do quite frankly think that this manga would be an excellent example for studying logical fallacies.

[jjraderftw]

Your Name (Kimi no Na wa)

This is literally my favorite movie ever. I’ve seen it a countless number of times and can’t recommend it enough to anyone who hasn’t had this viewing pleasure. The animation looks absolutely stunning, the music is the type of beat I still hum to this day, and the characters are fun and memorable. The anime revolves around Mitsuha and Taki, two teenagers living in different towns and times who mysteriously swap bodies. They are tasked with preventing a comet disaster from occurring that would kill Mitsuha and her whole town. They prevail and eventually fall in love with each other, making for a really wholesome and fun watch. The anime talks about a vast array of themes including the possession of power, the idea of fate, modernity vs tradition, and sexuality and its connotations.

The idea of power is prevalent throughout the anime. Power is something that exists everywhere and is a force that a person can exert. With this in mind, the question becomes who holds power, or better said, who has the ability to control fate and exert a force of change? When the two main characters switch bodies, the power to control the lives of Mitsuha and Taki respectively shifts to the other protagonist. They are no longer in direct control of their lives, and are subjects to the power exerted by each other. Thinking of this idea on a larger scale, the entire cast is at the mercy of the power exerted by fate and destiny. Since Mitsuha lives in the past, fate has exerted power and control over her by controlling how she will die. It’s initially fated that her town will get destroyed. However, this power is subject to resistance in the form of Taki’s character. His determination to meet Mitsuha and save her town switches the position of power from fate/time to Taki. He, using Mitsuha’s body, helps devise a plan to save everyone. However, when he switches back to his own body and Mitsuha takes over the town’s evacuation effort, the position of power is given to Mitsuha, where she can now determine her own fate.

The idea of fate goes hand in hand with this idea of power. The red string of fate, a popular symbol for the control of one’s destiny, is a prominent theme in this movie. Mitsuha’s grandmother describes how strings represent time, how strings flow but can sometimes come undone, meet new ends, and reunite to form new threads. The idea is symbolic of destiny. Strings are the flow of time that represent the timelines in which certain events are meant to happen. However, certain “masters of fate” (string weavers) can cut the timelines, change them, and create a new future. Since Mitsuha is a string weaver, literally, she holds the power of fate. This is also symbolized with her red hair tie which is an alias for the literal red string of fate. She symbolically shares this power with Taki who is given the red string by Mitsuha. He wears fate on his hand and uses that power to change the course of history. When Mitsuha unravels her hair tie at the start of the movie, she undoes the current timeline. Taki, by wearing the hair tie, is making a new timeline by having the string meet a new end. At the end of the movie, when he gives Mitsuha her hair tie back, she wraps it around her head once more, solidifying the new flow of events.

Taki and Mitsuha contrast each other in not their bodies, but also in the locations, cultures, and ideas each character was raised in. Taki’s life is very modern and is rooted in a city where traditional beliefs are not the main focus of life. Conversely, Mitsuha lives in a rural town surrounded by nature where religious practices and traditions encompass a large facet of her life. Though the idea of a body swapping adventure sounds fantastical and nonsensical, the movie has many allusions to Japanese spirituality for its explanation of the phenomena. The movie alludes to the notion that many facets of life such as fate, time, and salvation are tied to spiritual practices and how believing and partaking in old traditions are the key to understanding and controlling such concepts. It is implied that someone living in a modern setting is devoid of such understandings of the world and thus incapable of changing the world nor their lives compared to a person of spiritual background. As a result, the movie suggests that we need tradition and spirituality in our lives in order to be true masters of our own lives. For example, Taki, in order to save Mitsuha and her village, had to commute from the city to the nature filled town out in the countryside. Once there, he was only able to get another chance to save Mitsuha by drinking sake made through traditional means in a shine.

Finally, the movie touches upon the idea of sexuality. Though I have talked about this topic a lot in the past few posts, I will say this anime has a similar mindset as other anime where it suggests that there shouldn’t be a gender norm. When each main character switches bodies, the people around Taki and Mitsuha notice how each of them act either more “masculine” or “feminine.” Their bodies act differently and show different sides of people that exist within them. Not all boys are super tough and unaccepting of emotion while not all girls are soft and frail. This show challenges the idea of conformity and encourages you to express yourself however you want. The fact that friends and families of each main character seem happy (for the most part) about their differences in behavior critiques how society should accept people who don’t conventionally fit into any preexisting mold of gender.

[voicesofthechord]

I had not considered the idea of power and the constantly switching subjects of power, but after reading your analysis of it, I can definitely see the prevalence of the power dynamics in the film. Your analysis is very interesting and thorough. There is just so much in this movie to talk about. Absolutely gorgeous film, especially the soundtrack. (I've been listening to Katawaredoki on repeat for a while now; that piano is just magnificent).

[voicesofthechord]

Your Name

Now I've never seen this movie before, but I knew that it was going to be a 10/10 within 30minutes of starting. This movie is so good. The visuals are absolutely beautiful, and the soundtrack alone is enough to make this a masterpiece. The film has a very compelling story about two teenagers, Mitsuha and Taki, living in a different time and place randomly switching bodies with each other. It follows the entanglement of two completely different lives as they work to avert the comet disaster and change the fate of the residents of Itomori.

The dichotomy between their lives and the intersections of them illustrates key themes of gender and identity. When Mitsuha switches into Taki's body, she brings an element of "femininity" into his life, which lands him a date with his crush. And when Taki switches into Mitsuha's body, he brings an element of "masculinity" into her life, which makes her more popular at school and helps her stand up for herself more. Both individuals benefited from the introduction of elements from the opposite gender identity, which shows that conformity to a singular one is not necessarily an effective way to live and that the elements that are defined as "feminine" or "masculine" are not restricted to the bodily expression. Gender is not intrisincally tied to the biology; it is instead rooted in one's mind, and we see this when Mitsuha and Taki retain their individual gender identity while in the other's body instead of changing to conform to what their bodies signify. This also goes into the theme of identity. Both Mitsuha and Taki retain their individual identity despite embodying a completely different physical form. Their friends and family are able to tell when they are a different person. And it shows that identity is rooted in the mind. Identity itself is a spiritual concept that is not tied rigidly to one's bodily expression.

Another theme is the contrast between traditionalism and modernism. Mitsuha lives in a small rural town, while Taki lives in the urban city of Tokyo. Mitsuha's life is dominated by traditions such as her shrine maiden responsibilities. However, at the beginning of the film, she laments being stuck in her life of unchanging traditions, and she finds a lot of fun in experiencing the urban modernist life through Taki's body. But the film has an even stronger inclination toward retaining tradition and going back to natural/spiritual roots. This is shown through Taki venturing all the way out to Mitsuha's town and finding the tree. He is only able to get a second chance at saving the people of Itomori by drinking the sake under the tree, signifying that he has returned to that natural/spiritual root and becoming one with it. And it is through this embrace of traditional values that Taki and Mitsuha are able to save the people of Itomori from being destroyed by the falling comet.

This also goes into a theme of fate. I noticed that Mitsuha's hair tie and Taki's wrist bands are both symbolic of the red strings of fate. And of course the whole film is ultimately about changing fate. The film initially suggests that fate is immutable as Taki fails to save Mitsuha the first time around. However, a second chance is given when he revisits traditional values and becomes in touch with greater spirituality. Through that, Taki and Mitsuha are able to change fate and alter the course of history. But it also seems like fate has a role in the two meeting and becoming intertwined with each other's lives both in the beginning and once more at the very end. After all, why did they have to switch bodies with each other in particular? Is that not fated?

Absolutely beautiful film. Loved it.

[angel-is-not-creative]

Hetalia

I cannot rate this with a good conscience ❤

I have autism and Hetalia is my special interest so this is literally 3k words long and I have absolutely no regrets. I could have gone on longer but I wanted to remain relevant to the class. If you don't reply to me I will cry.

I'm gonna break this into a few sections so you can skip around. I'm going to try and stick to just season 1 with this discussion, which won't be too hard cause it's the most insane one. Also, I just want to say that I wrote this all before I read the attached article and I'm now seeing that I literally could have written that article because I know everything about Hetalia.

When do we cross the line between stereotyping and just straight-up racism?

Hey, why are we idolizing WWII Germany?

Oh, we are portraying war as silly and funny, okay cool.

Is this Japanese Nationalism? (a surprisingly controversial argument)

The Sub and the Dub are 2 totally different shows

The Fandom (and linking back to other class-related terms)

Okay I'll name one good thing

Alright, let's get started.

1.

A lot of people will argue that Hetalia is not racist at all because they are making fun of everyone. If you are portraying all of the countries as their most common stereotypes then it evens out in the end. I would argue that this is in fact, not the case. Especially when you set your show during WWII. I will give Himaruya credit in that he mostly focuses on European countries to make fun of, making a lot of the stereotypes less so targeted at minorities. However, a lot of these jokes are still highly insensitive and frame some countries in a worse light than others

Just look at the difference between how Northern Italy is portrayed as opposed to Germany or Japan. Or how France is a predator, Belarus is into her literal brother, and Spain is seen as a creep. It is often times mocking an entire country's intelligence, appearance, or personality. While it is not always that serious, it does lead me to the second point.

When you personify a country and mock it, you aren't just mocking a piece of land, you are mocking an entire population of people. These jokes may seem harmless but they can still be hurtful. While I don't believe that liking Hetalia translates to your actual views on world events, it can unconsciously impact your real-life thoughts and behaviors.

(also why does Britain see imaginary magical creatures, what is that referencing? According to the wiki, it is some popular folklore story of a rabbit who lives on the moon but like.. what? If Himaruya was doing this much research into these countries' cultural backgrounds why is he portraying them like this?)

2.

This show portrays WWII Germany in too positive of a light for my liking. I've noticed a trend in anime where they seem to love Germany (or Germanic aesthetics) a lot (AOT I'm looking at you). Now I'm not well-versed in the interpersonal relationships between Japan and Germany, but the idolization is not it. The way that Japan in this show is portrayed as being literally obsessed with Germany is the biggest example (Italy is also shown having an immense appreciation for Germany and is often gushing about his positive qualities, even writing him a song while he was being kept prisoner). But I mean look at how Germany is portrayed, even his stereotypes are mostly positive, he is hardworking but helps out his fellow allies, makes great food, and is super strong. His only negative trait is that he sometimes doesn't understand social scenarios and that makes him very awkward. However, he will always go out of his way to try and better understand his friends (like Italy) by purchasing books to try and help him learn the appropriate way to act in scenarios).

This is 10x worse in the dub but we will get there. When one of your main characters, the one you are portraying in the best light, is a literal war criminal hot anime boy, you can understand why I would be concerned. I mean they gave him the whole blonde hair blue eyed appearance like come on. Now I'm not going to go into depth on fandom or anything here but Hetalia knows that its demographic is young tweens (primarily girls) so how can you be surprised when this portrayal of Germany leads to WWII fanfics sympathizing with Germany and 14 y/o girls in German military uniforms doing questionable things. (also Germany becomes a canonically gay character in Hetalia in like season 4 or something and that just makes me so mad, like yeah, of course, the gay character is WWII Germany that so cool) (okay, I would like to clarify that technically Sweden is the only confirmed gay character. Sweden is bad representation though because he has one-sided feelings for Finland and makes him uncomfortable by constantly referring to him as his wife)

3.

I mean yeah, obviously this isn't going to be an accurate portrayal of history but some of this is just totally misinformation.

Austria invading Germany is literally just Austria annoying him in his house for a really long time. But also there's like actual wars... and like all of the events of WWI are canon... and like there are some really serious episodes

Also, we literally see a bunch of countries going to war personally, like fighting on the frontlines. Which to me confirms that these people are all literal murderers, like mass murderers lowkey.

Do you know how many weird USSR jokes there are throughout this? So many. Lithuania is pretty much just in a running gag where he keeps getting manipulated by Russia into coming back to live with him. (Yeah, there are so many USSR fics as well).

ALSO! why is the American revolution portrayed as the saddest thing to happen thus far, the storyline is stretched out from episodes 16-20 and it is all drastically different from the tone of the rest of the show. Britain is literally on his knees crying saying that he can't shoot America (which also implies these countries can physically harm/kill each other). Like that is the war you wanted to make all sad and sentimental? Why? Is this how Japanese people think that we view the Revolutionary war? Because that is a pretty inaccurate view.

Anyways back to the original point. Some historical events should not be played for laughs sometimes. It is incredibly disrespectful for actual victims of these tragedies to portray these events as funny or goofy.

Though I will give credit because Himaruya does make all sides of the war look like idiots who have no clue what they are doing, which is a sentiment I can get behind.

4.

As a both non-Japanese and non-Korean person I can not really give my opinion on this however I can share with you both sides of the argument. This is mostly in relation to the original comic strip, but has some relevance to the anime as well. I just wanted to bring it up because it is interesting to me. (This is briefly mentioned in the article but I wanted to expand on the argument).

You may or may not have noticed that there is no South Korea character in this show, however, there was in the original comic. In the comics, South Korea is a pervert who is constantly touching Japan and he also takes credit for the inventions of other countries. Now I'm obviously not going to go into the past history of these 2 countries because that would be incredibly long but the South Korean National Assembly reviewed Hetalia and determined that it was a "crime against South Koreans, akin to slander". So yeah, South Korean people were not happy with this portrayal and the character was inevitably removed from the anime before release. (This is a real picture of the South Korean National Assembly reviewed Hetalia, the corner shows South Korea groping Japan inappropriately)

There are two opposing views to the Japanese Nationalism take and I'll link them both (Belittling Japanese Nationalism Hetalia: Axis Powers is the title of the first one)

The first one pretty much argues that Hetalis is not Japanese nationalism because it paints Japan in just as negative of a light as all of the other countries, no one is left out of being made fun of. Japan is seen as socially awkward, emotionally repressed, and obsequious.

The second argues that Japan is often shown to be more intelligent than other characters as well as often being of the voice of reason (especially compared to China) and most of his negative attributes are not nearly as harmful as some others in Japan’s case, even his “negative” stereotypes are inoffensive, as they pose no threat of meiwaku.

I think we see in the dub that Americans are a little more willing to make fun of themselves. Though there are a few good Japan self digs, like the capitalism joke in one of the first episodes.

5.

Oh boy I've been waiting for this.

The dub is 10x more offensive than the sub. Most people consider it a crack dub.

So many of the jokes are rewritten that it is practically a different show. The sub is from a Japanese perspective and the dub is from an American perspective.

First of all the accents in the dub are so bad like it is actually atrocious. Japan is really annoying because not only is his voice stereotypical but he always says 'nani?' instead of 'what?' as if that is a normal thing that people do. The narrator is the best part of the dub and she is hilarious.

So I don't really feel comfortable even typing out the jokes here so if you want to hear them I included the time stamps for the three nazi jokes I remember in season 1 (the last two being worse).

Episode 1 (1:35:1:38)

Episode 7 (2:13-2:19)

Episode 48 (1:28-1:31)

Those are just a few examples and it gets worse. The dub literally had no reason to include these jokes because there is not even an insinuation of them in the sub and it makes literally everything a million times worse.

I will give the dub some credit for being so utterly ridiculous that it's funny. I will provide a few timestamps for the funniest jokes that only appear in the dub from the first 19 episodes (but I really recommend looking up Hetalia dub funny moments on youtube because some of them are really priceless):

Episode 13: (1:45-2:05)

Episode 14: (1:12-1:22)

Episode 17: (0:59-1:15) (2:06-2:11)

6.

Now I've had this post typed up for a bit and originally I wasn't going to talk about the fandom but after reading the article that he assigned (and going through the fandom unit), I see that there is a lot of reference to fandom in particular so I want to at least mention it.

Not the 2 biggest problems with the Hetalia fandom are racism and the fetishization of gay men.

As mentioned in the article, there have actually been multiple fan incidents of them dressing up in WWII German military uniforms Germany/Prussia cosplay, and standing in front of temples with fake guns or doing nazi salutes in convention photos (If we want to bring racism and fetishization of gay men together there were two people who kissed in a holocaust memorial museum in Italy and Germany cosplay... there is no picture of this so it might be a rumor but it was well-known so it is worth mentioning). There were also a lot of people using imperialist Japan flags in cosplay/fanart and writing incredibly inappropriate fanfiction about real-life events.

If you would like to see any of these incidents feel free to look up "Hetalia the Boston Incident" I don't really wanna include the photos here.

The fetishization is not unique to the Hetalia fandom, but it is amplified to the max. Obviously, within Hetalia, there are almost no female characters, so this leaves only male characters to be shipped with one another. Now suddenly Germany is an uwu gay bean and not an actual war criminal. At the moment of writing this Hetalia has 32105 M/M fics on ao3 which is only one of the three fanfiction sites, with ao3 not even becoming popularized until after the peak of the Hetalia fandom. (the most popular ship being America/England who refer to each other as brothers in the show as England raised America, showing another problematic part of the fandom). I would argue that Hetalia has one of the gayest fandoms (My Hero Academia is giving it a run for its money though) and I agree with the article that it is inaccurate to say that this is only done by straight cis women. The fact of the matter is a lot of queer teens used Hetalia as an outlet to express their own sexuality through these characters. The straight women that do fetishize BL are likely only doing so because anime creators suck at writing good female characters.

I think that the "level of gayness" turns straight fans away from watching the show (again MHA is the same way today) as it is hard to interact with the fandom without seeing some yaoi content. However, many people view this as something wrong or cringy, when in reality it is a normal part of fandom culture. When gay people have such little content that is actually gay, you cannot blame us for creating our own through characters that we like/relate to. Again, I think the only issues that arise here are the problematic ships that give young people a bad impression of relationships (abusive, incest, pedophilia, etc) or the arguable problematic ones like China/Russia or Lithuania/Russia as again these are real countries with real political relations. (However, I will never forget the time that there was Russia/China fanart on the news, maybe they approve and I shouldn't be complaining)

The thing is, Hetalia only seems so bad because the fandom is so large and so young. A lot of shows have fandoms that sexualize the characters and have kinda problematic fans, but the sheer volume makes things seem worse. This is something that we covered when we watched Genshiken, but there is a lot of negative stigma behind this fandom in particular, but it is just a loud minority that gets a lot of news coverage between fandoms.

It also raises the question "Is a show responsible for the response of its fans?"

Because while Himaruya has no control over what people do with his characters or how they interpret a plot, if a majority of people are leaving your show spouting vaguely racist rhetoric and interpreting your show one way, isn't there some validity in that interpretation? I think a creator has to be aware of their audience, which in this case is a very young and impressionable audience who might not understand how offensive some of the things they are doing really are. They don't hold the same ability to separate fiction from reality.

That being said Hetalia had a large impact on fandom culture as a whole, largely starting things like 'ask a character' panels (along with like homestuck but we don't talk about her). If you go to any convention you will probably find a Hetalia cosplayer, and if you watch any dub there is probably a voice actor from Hetalia there.

I also want to mention Hetalia is also a fandom full of cultural capital, If you don't know every niche fact, you're not a real fan, If you haven't read Auf Wiedersehen Sweetheart you haven't even met the entry-level requirements to be a fan. There are also no characters that are too sacred to be altered within the fandom. If you want to put Germany in a maid dress have at it, if you want to see all the characters as girls you're in luck cause Himaruya literally drew them. Fanfictions can take place anywhere from WWI to the present day and you can put any characters in any scenario and make it believable. There are thousands of pieces of fanwork, fan art, fangames, and fan AUs. These characters are malleable to fit your personal preference and there is really no way you could be mad at this as Himaruya does this himself, with no real established canon.

a Hetalia fan once said, "No one cares if Hetalia was written by a Japenese Imperialism apologist when you're 31 chapters deep into a human Au soulmate fic about Austria inviting Prussia to see his boyband perform in Berlin"

Himaruya is also the king of moe characteristics because he turned these Hetalia men into any cute thing he could think of, Chibi versions (Chibitalia), female versions (Nyotalia), and cat versions (Nekotalia). He has no reservations about drawing the characters in a dress or in cat ears. He gave the characters human names to allow for more standardized human AU's and made a DS dating game. He encourages fans to take his characters and use them in their fanworks as they see fit, canon is up to interpretation itself. I think Himaruya himself was a huge part of fandom culture (not that I could tell you cause no one knows anything about the guy) and saw how the female characters were often treated by fans and turned it on its head, allowing for females to sexualize the males this time.

Also, none of the male characters in this show resembles a Hegemonic form of masculinity. Even the most masculine character in the show (Germany) can be seen doing more "feminine things" like wearing a dress or proposing to a man. Which, you know, I guess is a good diversion from things you would typically see in an anime of this nature (but again there are a lot of instances of characters being feminine being played for laughs, like a man being girly is something inherently funny). Feat. Germany proposing to Italy with a tomato ring.

7.

I am Hetalia's biggest hater, however, I cannot deny the impact that it has had on my life and how much I love to talk about it. Hetalia is what introduced me to anime and fandom (and tumblr) for the first time. I met a lot of people I still talk to today because of this show. It encouraged me and a lot of other people to actually get interested in history. Thanks to this show I can identify every country in Europe, and it was a lot easier to remember historical facts if I just imagined the Hetalia characters. Also, Auf Wiedersehen Sweetheart is a literary masterpiece and there is a reason it almost has a five-star rating on goodnotes (https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/22064556) I love you George DeValier I hope you're doing good wherever you are.

I would like to make it abundantly clear that despite everything I've said that might make me sound like a woke blue-haired liberal, I don't really think this show is some horribly racist show or that the people who enjoy it are racist. I just wanted to provide a deeper outlook on the impact a seemingly dumb show can have on real people. I can't really blame the show for the terrible response of the fandom and it did honestly get better in later seasons that are not focused on WWII.

Despite all the bad stuff, it is a relatively funny little 5-minute watch, and you can really just jump in at any point you want to. If you don't take it as seriously as I do you might even enjoy it a little.

If you actually read this far I have major respect for you, I'm really excited to see what the general consensus on this show is.

Prussia and South Italy were my favorites in case anyone cared

If you're wondering why I didn't do my presentation on Hetalia despite my extensive knowledge, it is because I would be incredibly biased and I would go off the rails I think.

Also, my biggest fear is current Hetalia fans finding this and killing me, that might seem irrational but the Gundam fans found me last time so I wouldn't put it past them.

[voicesofthechord]

Wow, you are clearly very passionate about Hetalia. I especially like your commentary on the anime's fandom, and I do believe that the show itself has some responsibility for the fanbase that it cultivated. Especially considering that its target audience are young impressionable teens. I do also agree that the show has the potential to bring more awareness to the history and culture of different countries and to get new people interested and start talking about it, but I also think that overall a show like this will perpetuate more of the harmful stereotypes instead of dispel them.

[voicesofthechord]

Hetalia Axis Powers (Episodes 1-19)

This was a wild one. To begin, I watched the dub version of this anime, and the fake accents in that are so atrocious. This anime anthropomorphizes different countries in a way that makes them into the most stereotypical representation possible, and most of the time it is just taking one or two particular stereotypes about a country and then making that the whole character; it's like Essentialism: The Anime. And the anime also attempts to tackle some historical issues given that it's set around the time of WW2.

Now, one may argue that Hetalia is not racist because every country is presented in an equally stereotypical manner and that it is all lighthearted comedy. And I'd agree that Hetalia is not racist, certainly not in the conventional sense, but it is also absolutely not innocent of all guilt. Not every country is portrayed equally. Some countries, like Germany with his hardworking and disciplined personality, get stereotyped in an almost positive light, while others, like Italy with his obsession with pasta and infant-like portrayal, is not even remotely positive and is sometimes actually offensive depending on the particular audience watching. This anime also seems to have an uncomfortable idolization of Germany. And this would have been mostly fine if they chose any other Germany (like Prussia or WW1 German Empire or the Weimar Republic), but Hetalia Axis Powers, like its name would suggest, focuses specifically on WW2 Nazi Germany. And that's just like why though? Why did it have to be Nazi Germany in particular, and why is he portrayed as hardworking, disciplined, attractive man with basically no negative traits, especially when compared to the stereotypical portrayals of the other countries?

Furthermore, every major character in this anime is male. I get that it's probably to appeal to its audience of mostly young teenage girls and fujoshi. There is also a lot of yaoi tension between certain characters, especially with Italy and Germany. Very few male characters in this anime get portrayed with hegemonic masculinity. There is a lot of queer masculinity and just a lot of yaoi tension. This is probably just to make it easy for the fanbase to ship any characters they want together. This also ties into the idea of database consumption. All the countries got moefied into basic male anime characters. The episodes in this anime are mostly self-contained, and all the characters are designed and portrayed with traits and personalities that make it very easy for database consumption, and the database aspect of this is also reflected in the absurd amounts of fanfics and fanarts out there relating to Hetalia characters.

Given that this anime is set around the time of WW2 and that it plays around with historical and cultural stereotypes of countries, it is inevitably going to tackle some historical issues like war and international conflicts. And this anime portrays real historical events and wars in a way too lighthearted manner. The negative aspects and the atrocities that come with these wars are glossed over and treated as basically nonexistent. I understand that the lighthearted comedy of the anime is an easy way to introduce a lot of new people to the topics of history and cultures of different countries, and it might be a way to get people to start talking about these historical and cultural topics. However, the way this anime handles the stereotypes and its portrayal of real historical events can further perpetuate the harmful stereotypes that the anime supposedly makes fun of. And this concern is especially true given that Hetalia's audience is mostly young impressionable teens who don't know any better than just what they are shown. Furthermore, there is so much historical inaccuracies and oversimplifications that there is no way this anime can claim to be educational. As someone who has an avid interest in history and almost majored in history, it was so painful to sit through some of these episodes. Such as France being portrayed as militarily weak and helpless in wars; I know the anime is centered around WW2 and France's quick surrender in it is one of the most meme'd on things about France, so I can understand and tolerate the anime for portraying France as weak in WW2, but why in the world is France also portrayed as weak, helpless, and a sidelined character who only profits by relying on other countries' contribution in past wars too? France literally holds the largest record of military victories in world history, and WW2 was basically the only major exception. So many things in Hetalia seem like blatant ignorance just for the sake a quick laugh, which most of the time was not even that funny, instead of treating the real history with respect. There are better comedies out there that are based on real history and cultures.

[jpt1311-blog]

Xenoblade Chronicles 2

As I am presenting on this set of videos for the game Xenoblade Chronicles 2, I won’t give away too much of the information being talked about tomorrow. I will be talking about one of the themes which is the delusions of grandeur. In the 24th video of the playlist, we start off with seeing a room of scientists and analysts attempting to regain balance from the war waging outside the station. It then cuts to the professor who is experimenting on the Conduit talking about how creating a new universe and new life is something only a god could do but now he will be able to achieve the same. This seemingly is pushing his human agenda of wanting to have the ultimate power and wanting to play the role of god. Towards the end we see however that this professor regrets doing what he did as it caused suffering for all his people and it brought to light just the vastness of the universes and how even by creating what he did there was no way to escape the overwhelming power of who or whatever is out there in the great beyond. We can see this coming into play in the real world all to often with many powerhouse countries and wealthy people feeling as though they have the ultimate power and decision over life and death of the vast majority of people. Without getting political we can see countries building nukes and waging war in order to fulfill the idea that they deserve to be in control of everyone when in reality they are just someone filling a spot in the grand timeline of the world’s lifespan. Overall we have seen world leaders attempt to play the role of god and we know that with humanity being built the way it was, no one person should hold all the power as no single person has the best intentions for everyone. In the reading when talking about alchemy and the role it can play we read “It shows how alchemy in its many forms was just as empirical in its orientation as the mechanical or materialist forms of science that eventually triumphed. The main difference was that practitioners of alchemy believed that the secrets of nature represented an underlying divine unity that was manifest in the material world. Mechanical science was equally theological, but it posited that God was distant from nature, denying that nature itself might hold meaning." Overall now I want to play the game....

[voicesofthechord]

I like your point of about the desire for power and to play the role of God. It really does seem like a lot of humanity is defined by this desire for ultimate power over everything else, including nature. And that kind of goes back to what we discussed in class about the Instrumentalist view that nature should be controlled by humans and be used for the benefit of humanity as if that's the only thing that matters in the world. Humanity has this desire to play the role of God over nature.

[voicesofthechord]

Xenoblade Chronicles 2

These cutscenes were an interesting watch. I can't say that I fully understood what the game was about, but here's just some of the things I took away from it.

Firstly, I noticed there's a strong theme about humans and their relationship to the environment. The world of Xenoblade is not the first or original one. It was created by a guy named Klaus, because his own world was being destroyed by the actions of humans, namely war and exploitation of nature. Essentially, the world of Xenoblade serves as a second chance for a new humanity. Klaus created a new cycle of life to replace the one that was lost in the old world. However, the new world is also dying, as evidenced by the shrinking of livable landmass and the deaths of the Titans. It is once again being ruined by humans. And a major point of contention in the game is whether a new generation of humans, represented by Rex and his crew, is capable of being different and being able to save the world instead of destroy it again. There seems to be a questioning of whether humanity will always inevitably end up defiling their environment and thus destroying themselves.

There is also a theme of what it means to be human, as seen with the contrasts between Drivers and Blades. Both physically appear human, and mostly act and feel like humans. However only the Drivers are afford the luxury of being independent and retaining their memories. A Blade, on the other hand, has their life intrinsically tied to a Driver. Their motivations, desires, and even emotions to an extent, are determined by the will of the Driver. In that way, the Blades have no living will of their own. Furthermore, when a Driver dies, the Blade attached to them loses their memories and awaits to be reawakened by another Driver. A point brought up in the game is that the Drivers, due to their independent will and ability to pass on their memories and experiential knowledge to the next generation, have the capability to create culture and thus progress and evolve as a whole. But the Blades, due to their nature, are doomed to never enjoy those luxuries afforded to Drivers. It seems that the ability to create and possess a collective culture in that sense is what defines humans, especially human civilization.

The character of Malos, the main antagonist, is representative of cynicism and the view that humanity is always wretched and corrupt and therefore should be destroyed. He seems to view it as his duty to erase humanity as a way of actually saving the world. And the role of our protagonist, Rex, is to prove that humanity does possess the ability to learn from the past and change for the better, that the new generation of humans are capable saving the world.

At least that's just what I think. I could be completely wrong about these things. I don't really know anymore. (This game has a beauty soundtrack though).

[angel-is-not-creative]

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

I loved the environmental aspect of this movie, and I think that is what differentiates this movie significantly from other war-type movies we have watched in the past.

I really enjoyed Nausicaa as a protagonist and I think that she is constantly able to think rationally and do what is best for her Valley. It's refreshing to see how much she cares for the nature around her and how she puts effort into caring for the creatures and growing plants of her own.

As a princess, she does not have to do all the things she does, like journey out into the Sea of Decay, she could just give orders from the comfort of a tower, but instead, she puts in a great deal of effort to protect her valley. She is willing to put herself into dangerous situations for the sake of the people she is governing.

At the surface level, Nausicaa might seem like a naive pacifist, but in reality, she is fully aware of the violence of the world and is able to make violent decisions when it is necessary. She finds no joy in these actions but understands that she needs to do them, however, she never does so unnecessarily and will always result in another form of conflict resolution first.

In the end, Nausicaa is able to end the rage not by an act of violence, but by sacrificing her life to the creatures. She was more than willing to give up her life to save the valley, and to make sure the humans stopped fighting the creatures. Because of her kindness in the past to the creatures, she is brought back to life, bringing hope of human survival in any circumstance.

(a little short this time around but just you wait til next Monday)

[voicesofthechord]

I also really liked Nausicaa's character. She is an idealist; a hopeful pacifist with a profound respect for nature, and she is absolutely willing to fight for her ideals and for those that she loves. I also noticed that she never uses violence against the avatars of nature, only against other violent humans. Even when she accidently steps on an insect's back toward the beginning of the film, she is mindful enough to apologize before heading on her way.

[voicesofthechord]

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

This film has a heavy environmentalist theme. It is a post-apocalypse story that follows Nausicaa, a young princess of the Valley of the Wind, as she tries to bring harmony between nature and humans.

The world is in a post-apocalyptic state where a gradually spreading toxic forest emanates toxic spores that are dangerous to human life. This Sea of Decay is also populated by insects and defended by the Ohms, which are giant insects (There's a lot of insects in this film). Industrialized civilization seems to have destroyed itself in an event called the Seven Days of Fire using Giant Warriors, which seem to be analogous to nukes/WMDs. It is an obvious message that humanity's greed, wars, and ignorant destruction of nature will lead to our own destruction. However, nature is very resilient in the grand scheme of things, and it will eventually recover. This can be seen with the Sea of Decay, which is the Earth's way of cleansing itself after humans have polluted it. The Sea of Decay, on the surface, is hostile and deadly to humans, especially the spores. But that's only because the trees of the Sea of Decay grew up on polluted soil and water, and the spores they release embody that deadly pollution, which is the product of past humans.

The humans in the film still don't understand nature and doesn't seem to have learned anything from past mistakes. Instead of appreciating nature for trying to cleanse the Earth, they deem it as their enemy. Factions like the Tolmekians want to destroy the Sea of Decay, even though that is the very source of the pure water that the humans rely on. The Tolmekian's actions is a critique of militarism and how war can only bring destruction and cause more problems than it might solve. It is also a critique of the blind violence of industrial human civilization, who frequently fall back on violent means to destroy anything that they perceive as obstacles, instead of trying to genuinely understand the root of the obstacles and overcome via peaceful and more thoughtful means. It is ironic that as human civilization progresses, especially in terms of industrialization, they become more barbaric in their treatment of nature. Furthermore, the humans in the film are split into different factions that are all busy fighting each other instead coming together to solve the collective problem of the environment. It is a critique of how despite being faced with a common problem, humanity still has this tendency to remain fragmented in what is basically tribalism, and each separate group only fights for their own greedy needs instead of working together.

The film also has a heavy generational critique. It is the past humans that have utterly destroyed the environment, and the newer generations have to live with it. Furthermore, in the film, Nausicaa, who is representative of a younger generation, has to fight and fix the problem by herself, despite the problem being originally caused by those older than her. The adults, for most of the film, are busy bickering with each other, starting wars, and angering nature, while Nausicaa, the young princess, has to fix of their problems and at the end even sacrifice her life. Nausicaa is also an environmentalist ideal. She is in tune with nature. She tries to understand nature's perspective and look for peaceful methods of coexisting, such as her secret lair of those supposedly toxic plants. Those peaceful methods often take much more hard work to pull, but Nausicaa nonetheless never wants to use the easy method of sheer violence as a solution. And the only times that we see her use violence is against other humans and not nature.

The film tells a good story and its themes are very relevant to our modern society. It preaches the importance of respecting nature and learning to live harmonious with it, because in a conflict between humans and nature, nature will always win in the end.

[bribriz]

End of Evangelion

This film said a lot and nothing at the same time—is what I am guessing many people are thinking. I too am confused as one who is rewatching.

We have to start with the hospital scene, which has many interpretations. Within the framework of the series, I believe Shinji does it because it is something he would not do if Asuka were awake, let alone anyone with a working brain. It all plays into the film’s main message of humans not truly understanding one another. Shinji in the hospital room is one side of him that he would not—hopefully—actively express to others, something beyond the facade of himself. 

In particular, when Shinji decides to merge everyone’s soul into one, he still finds it painful because he expects everyone to be the same as him. It is suggesting that complete understanding will not solve the fundamental pain underlying human connection. Obviously, everyone will have different perspectives and beliefs, so it is arrogant for Shinji to hope for someone who is similar to him instead of attempting to connect with different people. 

A surprising (not really) reveal was that Gendo left Shinji because he thought his presence only hurt Shinji. After he lost Yui, he truly believed no one else would love him, thus isolating himself from everyone. Of course, Shinji, as a child, would not understand this, so he perceives this as no one needing him anymore. Overall, it is an unfortunate situation where self-love was critically lacking. 

About the 3rd Impact, we can see that, at least where Shinji and Asuka are, the world is in ruins and the sea level appears to have risen significantly. The 3rd Impact could be alluding to Mother Nature’s wrath. In that moment, the fact that only Shinji and Asuka have the will to live on in reality suggests they are willing to rebuild after the earth’s destruction. It could also be a critique of the old generation because they are not seen to come back from the LCL, only leaving an almost uninhabitable future for the younger generation. 

Everyone should watch the Rebuilds…

(btw listen to Komm Süsser Tod)

[voicesofthechord]

I like your interpretation of the events. Especially the environmentalist and generational critique angle. But I do think that the 3rd Impact is a bit less of those two things than the 2nd Impact was. And yeah, a lot of the struggles that Shinji and others faced through out the series was the fear and difficulty of connecting with others. Genuine connection between individual humans can of course bring pain, but it is also what makes us human and it is the only way to reach a "human" happiness. And yes, Komm Süsser Tod (Come Sweet Death) is a great song. I've been listening to it on repeat for hours now. it has a bittersweet sounding melody, but the lyrics are so depressing.