Category: Editorials

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Editorials

When merely good anime is good enough

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I’ve just spent the last few hours messing around on MyAnimeList. The result? This is the closest I’ve come to realizing how much anime I’ve actually consumed over the years. Apparently, I’ve completed 70 TV series, 51 OVAs and 61 movies, and out of all that, I’m dishing out an average score of 7.9 out of 10. I’m not sure how to feel; I’m totally satisfied to finally have a decent gauge on all this anime “stuff” I’ve been watching, but at the same time, it’s rather like an alcoholic discovering the depths of his addiction… Well, it’s not that bad, but you get the point.
Anyway, ripping my way through the MAL anime archives, I came across a couple of series I’d loved for a few weeks and then, for whatever reason, had just totally forgotten. The one that struck me most was “Infinite Ryvius” (1999). I must have watched it back during 2004, because while I have these vivid memories of the show, I discovered it around about the same time that my interest in anime had ramped up into overdrive. I was grabbing as much as I could find (probably working my way through the AnimeNFO.com top 200) and as a result, almost everything from that period was great, but whenever I try to reel off my favorites, I can only recall the familiar names like “Berserk” and “Cowboy Bebop”; the rest is forgotten, almost like fading in the noise of time.
I don’t want to forget Infinite Ryvius. It’s by no means a masterpiece, but it’s fascinating and excellent, none the less. Sometimes, I find it hard to go back and watch my absolute favorites; recalling all that emotion you felt first time around, will it be the same on replay? I don’t want to invalidate those feelings by going back and realizing that, actually, my favorite anime sucks. Something like Infinite Ryvius is safe ground; it doesn’t have that sentimental weight of being the “BEST ANIME EVER!!” but regardless, I remember it being good; that’s enough.
This is perhaps as good a testament to my love of anime as I can offer. As much as it may seem like I’m swinging between love and hate, or constantly searching for the next big thing, I really don’t need any of that to feel the warmth and fondness I have for these stupid shows. I can’t really explain exactly why I’m an anime fan, but I expect that answer lies in my continued attraction to series like Infinite Ryvius.

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Editorials Music

Attention Yoko Kanno & Steve Conte enthusiasts!

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A Gabriela Robin Site have posted an awesome acoustic live set by regular Yoko Kanno vocalist/collaborator Steve Conte. Performed songs include “Heaven’s Not Enough” (my favorite), “Living Inside the Shell”, “Words We Couldn’t Say”, “Rain” and “Call Me Call Me” – so that’s some of the best music from Wolf’s Rain, Stand Alone Complex and Cowboy Bebop. Light those lighters and head on over there right now.

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Editorials

Disposable anime, or not?

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Every now and then, it’s nice to take a break from long-standing hobbies. I’ve never been one to binge on anime and the idea of day-long marathons positively scares me. At most I can take about five standard length episodes in one sitting; any more and my brain gives up. I begin to feel like I’ve seen it all before; all the plot devices, catch-phrases and characterizations will suddenly become intolerably tired and cliche. That’s how I’ve been feeling about anime for the last few weeks, everything has felt so circular and repetitive, even that stupid fansub debate that’s been doing the rounds recently. In short, I needed a break; you could say rushing through Princess Tutu broke me.
I guess I’m constantly searching for something new and exciting, more now than ever before. Right now I’m looking at my DVD collection, more than 100 movies and TV series are just sitting there collecting dust; the vast majority of which I’ve only bothered to watch once.
The funniest thing is that I actually bothered to VHS record every episode of Dragonball Z back when it was marathoned on TV; that’s like 10+ separate tapes and well over 200 episodes. I remember this because it was an epic and synchronised effort in the early days of my anime fandom that involved getting up early (6AM) to start recording and setting alarms through out the day to switch out the expiring videos. And you know what, after all that, I’ve never returned to watch even one episode; it seemed like a good idea at the time, and if just to validate all that effort, I still have those damn tapes! I suppose that’s why I back-up a lot of my downloaded fansubs too; I doubt I’ll watch much this stuff ever again, but they represent important feelings and memories, like a part of my life I want to remember. I’ll never throw-away Honey & Clover.
I’m not sure what I’m trying to convey with this post, but I hope you can salvage something from it. I haven’t blogged for a while precisely because I have this foggy mish-mash of thoughts; I actually sat down to say how I’m looking forward to immersing myself in Baccano! but ended up talking about Dragonball Z and listening to the Moyashimon ED theme on repeat. I’m losing my marbles.

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Editorials

Hey there Delilah, what's worth watching?

I must admit, I haven’t approached this autumn season with my usual enthusiasm for all things Japanese animated. Every review I read says it all sucks, I’m confused; has anime suddenly turned bad? So, since I don’t have the will-power to sit through dozens of mediocre first episodes, I’m asking you instead; what’s worth watching? What am I am missing out on? It can’t all be bad, right?

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Editorials

Anime fan forever?

This picture is from Toward the terra. I've included it for no reason.

In the wake of Ten’s exit from anime blogging, I can’t help but reflect on my own love affair with anime. In a few years time, could I find myself feeling similarly ambivalent, thinking back on this odd fascination as a mere fling? Or rather, am I destined to be forever an otaku? Decades on, long in beard but still a Narutard.
Today it’s hard to imagine what I would be doing had I not caught the bug. Simply put, I’ve spent a lot of time (and money) watching, reading and writing about anime; it’s a big part of my life. But why? What is it that attracts me, some bloke on the other-side of the world (England), to Japanese animation? Is it merely an aesthetic thing? Am I attracted to the Eastern-style of art? I would hope the fascination runs a little deeper.

Continue reading “Anime fan forever?”
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Anime Editorials Reviews

No. Not even in the face of armageddon. Never compromise.

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With September in full swing, we find ourselves on the verge of the 2007 fall season. What? Already? I’m not prepared for any of that new stuff yet; it’s still too early for all these fall previews, autumn can go fuck itself. On the other hand, I’m still hopelessly devoted to a number of currently running series; hence this post, so end intro and cue this countdown of my favorites.

Continue reading “No. Not even in the face of armageddon. Never compromise.”
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Editorials Music Polls

Polling Yoko Kanno's best soundtrack?

kanno07.jpg from http://www.katana.com.br/content/blogcategory/1/2/

I’m a big fan of Yoko Kanno’s music; be it the atmospheric electronica of Macross Plus (1994) or the acoustic style contributed to Wolf’s Rain (2003), it’s hard to ignore the core emotional beauty of her work; a quality that, not matter which musical style she borrows, ensures that she captures our attention (and often, hearts too!). For the means of this poll, I picked out three series which distinctly represent Kanno’s diverse talent.
For example, lets consider her soundtrack for Vision of Escaflowne (1996), an epic and exciting orchestral set (“Dance of Curse”) that emphasizes fantastical themes of life-changing conflict. Then we have Cowboy Bebop (1998), arguably a career defining fusion of American jazz and blues; cinematic, moody and bitter-sweet (“Adieu”, “Space Lion”, “Rain”, “Blue”), it’s a superlative collection of songs that undoubtedly have their own story to tell and stand alone as great music, regardless of Cowboy Bebop itself. Finally, we have Stand Alone Complex (2002); this time it’s an interesting mash-up of her previous work. Being scored for science fiction anime, there is an overriding use of up-tempo and rousing electronica (“Cybermind”, “Rise”) as well as dreamy vocal tracks (“Christmas in the Silent Forest”, “Psychodelic Soul”, “Mikansei Love Story”) that echo an ethereal trip into a starry-eyed unknown. For the means of this vote, I ended up plumping for “Cowboy Bebop”, but I particularly love a lot of her work for “Stand Alone Complex” and if just for beautiful “Voices”, I was tempted to include Macross Plus too.
At the time of writing, Kanno’s most recent effort is Darker than Black (2007); being another attempt to capture an American rock feel, it’s doomed to living the shadow of Cowboy Bebop and rarely reaches the emotional heights we expect of her craft, only “ScatCat”, “Kuro”, “Deadly Work” and “In no Piano” hinting at the beating heart hiding beneath the superficial front of up-tempo, slick rock and muzak.
It’s also interesting to note that whether coincidence or not, a high number of Kanno’s soundtracks have contributed to landmark anime productions; I need not extol the virtues of the likes of Cowboy Bebop or Escaflowne, but I do wonder if her presence elevates and influences those around her to create the kind of anime that will be remembered for years to come.

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Editorials

Anime going mainstream, what's the point?

001393531.jpgFor whatever reason, I’ve spent the last few years trying to share my passion for anime, hoping to establish new fans, dreaming of a day when I could turn on my TV and find, say, Escaflowne lining up along side The Sopranos. I guess I want more people to understand anime and to know that it has more to offer than its stereotypical reputation may suggest. I think that’s what drives me more than anything else, that sense of injustice, the idea that someone would presume to ignore all anime simply because Pokemon sucks. I want to prove them wrong.
The context of this editorial is an exciting new development for the UK community; we’re getting a completely dedicated (not to mention free!) anime TV channel called “Anime Central“; come September, it will be accessible to millions of digital TV subscribers. Further more, the schedule reads like a dream, matching classics of the caliber of Cowboy Bebop and Escaflowne with new favorites like Planetes and Fullmetal Alchemist. It’s the moment we’ve been waiting for; now or never.
Perhaps I should be careful, what if I get what I wish for? What happens when anime is embraced by the “mainstream”, becomes “cool” and everywhere I look, I see people showing off their NERV t-shirts. Don’t get me wrong, I love anime and always will, but I suppose a part of what fuels my fascination to such a degree is that it’s so obscure; since I can sit in a crowd of hundreds of people and know that I’m the only one that’s watching Gurren Lagann, I feel almost duty bound to recommend it; hence this blog and all the rest, that innate need to scream “anime” from the roof-tops wouldn’t exist if there was no-one worthwhile left to convince.
I must admit I’m fascinated by the populist reaction to anime. We’ve all heard the cliche opinions (anime is porn, didn’t you know?), but now that the masses are getting real exposure to the good stuff (either via TV or the net), I wonder about their reaction, whether or not they will see the light? Or if in the end, it takes a special kind of person to be attracted to anime, a specific taste that will forever confine it to the small niche of dedicated otaku?

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Editorials

Someone said "anime isn't deep, it's just entertainment"

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(Because I’m such an elitist lamer, I was invited by Owen of Cruel Angel Theses ♪ to take part in this discussion of "anime isn’t deep, it’s just entertainment". Other enthusiastic contributors include the fine bloggers at Drastic My Anime Blog, Hige Vs. Otaku, That Animeblog, That’s Not Kanon and The End of the World.)
Anime is entertainment. Anime is deep. Anime is ugly. Anime is stupid. Anime is beautiful. Anime is isolation. Anime is culture. Anime is anything to anyone. Gurren Lagann isn’t deep, it’s just entertainment, Grave of the Fireflies is deep, but it sure as hell doesn’t feel like entertainment. Dear ignorant masses: there is no argument; anime is a swirling kaleidoscope of colour and emotion, all at once a profound revelation and a cynical marketing ploy. What I mean to say is, for all of those hundred-odd episodes of consecutive Naruto fillers, watching that stunning first episode of Shippuuden, feeling that fleeting Naruto magic one last time, if just for that one evening, felt like it was worth the wait. That is anime, it’s what you take from it.
One of the more esoteric statements above is that "anime is culture". Indeed, I’m sitting here now and writing this article as a part of a group collaboration with my fellow bloggers. I wouldn’t be in contact with them if not for anime, that’s what binds us together, the common link. To use a more extreme example, let’s consider a popular anime-dominated community like 4chan, with its own particular attitudes and use of language. A big crowd of 4chan’ners at Otakon were recorded chanting slogans like "DESU DESU DESU", and to outsiders like me, it makes no sense, it’s a sub-culture with it’s own particular rules and words.
Anime is a great foundation over which to build a (admittedly geeky!) community like that (not forgetting conventions, fan-clubs and so on), but getting involved obviously relies on an innate need to interact with your fellow otaku. It’s easy to join discussions with bunch of anime fans, to refine your literary skills and critique the latest shows, but it’s even easier to do nothing. Many will use anime to escape real life, to sit in front of their TVs, day after day, night after night, watching nothing but Japanese cartoons and spending all of their money on figurines and bed-spreads, surrounding themselves in a fabricated universe. Basically, your figurines won’t magically start moving, guys, you’re stuck in this dimension for the time being.
That’s what anime means to people; a lot. It’s a road to social interaction or isolation; you choose the direction. Otaku don’t spend hundreds of dollars and travel hundreds of miles to celebrate "light entertainment".
In more physical terms, whether or not an anime production is capable of transcending that dreaded level of "light entertainment" depends on the establishment of a strong emotional understanding between the animated characters and yourself, the viewer. In my case, I love One Piece because every step of the way, I’m so behind the Straw-hats, I understand (and therefore, I feel) their comradery, their need to protect one-another. When a character clicks with me, that’s all I need, the anime is win from that point onwards. A good soundtrack helps too.
The trick is finding what clicks with you, and if you follow what is popular these days, that’ll be either cute school girls or pretty boys. In these cases, the aesthetic is the attraction, all the talk is of moe, loli and bishonen; visual styles. To me, that’s superficial, that’s "light entertainment", but to the fans who love these series, the art is essential to their enjoyment, they have to love the characters before they can love the story. So it’s not really superficial at all, it’s just what they need to "let go".
Anime is entertainment and is deep. It’s nothing without the shameful lows or the heart-rending highs. It’s sweeping diversity is it’s true strength; that one mans dull rock is another’s shining diamond.

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Editorials

Breaking out of the moe box

moe.jpg“I don’t want to put people off of watching purely moe anime, but I would be a lot happier if more people started to actually watch some anime as a legitimate form of art and entertainment, rather than just quick fix for entertainment or lust. Basically, just think about what you’re watching and ask yourself, “Am I really enjoying this, or am I just wanting to enjoy this because of my moe preferences?””

The above quote was taken from The Fortune’s “Moe Factor” and though it’s obviously referencing the ever-trendy moe genre, I think most of us are at least a little guilty of allowing our eyes to deceive our minds in creating superficial reasons to justify our tastes in anime. The truth is, as should be blatantly obvious to any of my regular readers, I’m not a moe fan; aside from a general frustration with intensely “cute” characters, I’m disturbed by how the moe aesthetic blatantly panders to its older male otaku fan base. Because of all this, I’ve never bothered to watch the likes of Lucky Star, Kanon or Haruhi; in fact, looking at Wikipedia, I’ve managed to avoid everything produced by Kyoto Animation altogether! These days, I guess that’s pretty rare for a bloggin’ otaku!
I suppose I could just say I’m not into “school life” anime and leave it at that, but then that’s false because I still managed to sit through all 22 episodes of “angst-&-flowers” Red Garden. The funny thing is, and with the benefit of hindsight, this was never a particularly outstanding series anyway, but I managed to stick with it because, first and foremost, the art was deliberately unique in eschewing the cliche anime school-girl style. If it had looked like Haruhi, or My-Hime, I never would have bothered with it in the first place.
And there-in lays the fatal flaw in my logic; if all we ever create are superficial reasons for avoiding anime, sooner or later we’re bound to miss out on something great. I adore both Azumanga Daioh and Fruits Basket, but I didn’t pick them up because I knew I’d love them, rather I was sent the DVDs to review and reluctantly forced myself to give them a fair chance; I’m glad I did! These days I’m in a better position to pick and choose what I want to watch, but that’s as much problem as it is a luxury; I’m getting bored knowing what to expect, and basically, I think I’m about ready to pop the Kyoto Animation-coloured cherry.
A rather deplorable facet of human nature requires that we label everything, and I’m guilty of it as much as the next guy. Just like I’ve been avoiding anime slapped in the moe box, you’ll often see others dismissing Claymore or Death Note because they are from the dreaded Shonen Jump magazine, and therefore, must be exactly like Dragonball Z or Naruto. Maybe you think all anime with bishonen characters is “gay” and that “classic” movies from the 80s are boring and unsophisticated? It’s sad to think that so many of us are missing out on great anime for no reason other than ignorance.