The Wheel of Pandering
One way we (I) gain insight from thinking too much about silly things, like the nature of anime industry for example, is through abstractions, models, and generally theorizing about the cogs and levers that turns whatever thing I’m thinking about. Well, maybe cogs and levers are code words for elements and their relationship with each other, but it doesn’t have to be.
Any “oldfag” industry types will be able to say something about merchandising and its role in the rise of anime as a popular cultural icon. It’s true, especially in the last 15 years with the changeover to video games. All we need as an example, a proof, is to see how Pokemon became the global monster that it became. In fact, it brought up a generation of western anime fans with it, which is something older generations of merchandising-lead anime productions also did, but differently. But I don’t see any “oldfag” analysis of present-day (or not even anymore, Pokemon is a 90s thing) marketing deals and what not. I want to read about, say, how the Upper Deck/Konami mess impact the business trends of that sort of anime, for example. Because it’s relevant. And less about how Bandai took off because of their business strategy in the 70s and 80s.
A repeated thing that I’ve seen in editorials is Japan’s inability to capitalize its status as a global trendsetter, to the degree that often their trendsetting ideas are exported by international giants (say, in fashion) that end up making the far majority of money and Japan getting little to no credit. At least in the realm of video games, this hasn’t been entirely the case (God bless … Sony? Nintendo? Sega?), but that’s a bit of the exception. Of course, it isn’t because Japan isn’t trying (at least in anime; they may very well be not trying in some other areas). But it isn’t like Pixar is notable for their love and use of the Ghibli work in their rise to being the best selling animation studio on earth or anything. I think the key lesson to take heart is that it isn’t Japan doesn’t get it or doesn’t do it right, but they’re just not reaping the benefits, or doing it wrong to harvest that positive benefit, the reward. It’s like winning the war but losing the treaty. [/wheel of morality]
Ok, let’s just ignore the last paragraph for now. Read these posts at Awesome Engine. It is like cranking that lever; it’s like hitting “start” on some simulation software. I’ve already long internalized these elements but it wasn’t clear to me as to how it all came together; which cog spins which way when whichever lever turns that direction. Now it makes more sense.
If you can only read one of those, check this. The NTV narrative is particularly enlightening, because when we distill the story by focusing on a single player, the various reasons why things happen condense into visible lines of rationale and rather than just noise in the air. I just have a few comments.
1. I agree in general that complaining about “moe pandering” is silly. It’s not so much a criticism as a means in which I sympathize with those people who got into anime because of 80s mecha shows or the various gory/sexploitation stuff. And then as time moves on, cultural trends and what sells changed. Consequently people are left in the dust if they couldn’t “grow up” with it. At least, that’s one aspect of looking at change in anime in the past 20-30 years. At the same time, it’s safe to say the context in which western fans are exposed to anime has also changed, and it impacts the way we perceive anime as well.
I’m a sci-fi person. And this day and age I have to take it where I can. Even if it’s crap like Index or Railgun. The era of Tylor and Nadesico is over, and honestly I’m not even sure if there are any good reasons to return to that kind of thing today. Maybe I’m just open-minded enough to get huge rise over the setting of Simoun or Xam’d, in contrast to some. Maybe I am tolerant enough to stomach the Heroic Ages of the world. I get by. I certainly don’t expect everyone who got into following anime to do what I did.
2. And it’s perfectly fine to stop. Some people “grow up” and “grow out” of being an anime fan, almost by design. Put away up your Kenshiro posters and gunpla? It makes sense as an observed behavior in American fandom, now that it has been relatively robust subculture for some time.
3. And because now America and the west is, at least in the middle of the last decade, a big source of revenue to Japan’s anime-related content industry, it needs a good look. The paragraph I told you to ignore? That stuff.
4. At the same time, NTV anime’s main target audience undoubtedly is its domestic crowd. It’s sort of an established fact (sort of only because I would have some difficulty citing) that what Japan likes in their domestic media is often not what the rest of the world likes. Since NTV’s anime draw from some pretty high profile mainstream manga, the success of their anime adaptations in the US might be a harbinger to the localization of critical (as in, not your Jump-type stuff), mainstream Japanese comics in America. It’s probably safe to say that things like Monster or Nana will sell, but neither would be able to engage with the US audience (or their pocketbooks) on the same level as the more maniac-inducing stuff like Evangelion or Cowboy Bebop. In fact outside of Ghost in the Shell and Death Note, I’m not sure which NTV anime would have really reaped some serious money, or even could. It isn’t to say shows like Ouran Host Club or Berserk (or many others) can’t make money, but it seems most of these titles have to aim low, or aim at a very specific group, to turn a profit.
Wideface Fishyard
Ever made sock puppets?
There is something magical about Hidamari Sketch. At least, to me. The latest episode helped to give me a control about how to study and compare this magical thing.
The Riri-Misato segment gave us a look at the life at Hidamarisou before Yuno and Miyako. Putting aside Misato and Riri, how was Hiro and Sae? And I mean it from the perspective of lead characters, not so much the point of the segment (which presumably is to give us another look at the Hiro-Sae relationship).
The thought has to come to some of us after seeing episode 9–what would happen if Hiro and Yuno switched places in the narrative? What if Hiro was the main character?
I’m not sure how to answer that question, but I actually think I would like it more. Yuno is wonderful, but it’s been 2+ seasons with her already. Maybe I’m just tired of seeing her all the time. And to be fair, maybe my endurance with Hiro might run thinner faster given the same length of time, I don’t know. The control, being just half an episode long, isn’t enough. The only thing left to demand is an entire show like that…right?
What magic? Oh, right. The fish. So besides Miyako always manages to crack me up, this same episode showed us a school of koi. What I love about them is that the shot is amusingly inaccurate, yet it conveys exactly the same feelings that I would have had if I saw the live action version of said school of fish. Plus, there’s just something funny about it. It isn’t quite a caricature, but it is. It isn’t quite in the same wideface style as the character designs, but it is.
Which is to say, there isn’t much different between a Yuno or a Hiro, besides our personal preferences. But there is something special in that water. It’s like “You’re healed!” every time that soap-thing drops into the pot.
Summing Up Summer Wars
Tokikake:
Summer Wars:
Sometimes I wish I was more of a graphic artist, so I can illustrate my points without words.
Let me open with an anecdote. I was talking to some guys (non-anime people) about this film I saw over the weekend. I am a person of few words, so I described Summer Wars’ plot as, to paraphrase:
“So you got this high school geek who somehow got tricked by this girl, who goes to her school, to help her out during summer vacation. He ended up going to her family’s reunion because there are a lot of old people and they need extra help. Stuff happens. Towards the end of the movie they ended up trying to save the world from a rogue AI who threatens to blow up some nuclear power plant or something.”
Isn’t that 24 in a nutshell?
I think that’s distorting what makes Summer Wars a good film. But as media consumers, what I’ve describes should flag as something, at the very least, intriguing. It’s one of those things that reminded me of anime from the 90s; it combined crazy hijinks with the outright ordinary. It’s catchy at least in concept, regardless of how the show may have truly been.
At the same time, my description above isn’t so far off the mark. I pulled some key elements of the show and threw them together–namely the basic setup and the driving force of the plot for the second half of the film. Maybe this is why Summer Wars is sort of a difficult thing to process. It’s got that stuff on top of your Tokikake-style family drama. And then the Google-Murakami world, the King T. Kazuma things. (T is for trap right?) Then there’s the action/tension vehicle. Then comes the meta references.
If we assume that a family film, a blockbuster formula, has to appeal to multiple sorts of audience, then this sort of mix and match is a good old try at it, yes?
But I think we all will agree that the mix in Summer Wars is a far cry from what we’ve seen in Pixar’s works. If anything, Summer Wars is a little too otaku-ish. It’s almost like a brilliant and almost-eloquent man, with good things to say, but waves his hands and glosses over the detail, presuming his listeners already have some idea what he was going to say in the first place. His constructs are like an intricate, 3D object made of paper, an origami that reminds of databases. It appeals on a visceral level but only very few can digest what it is in entirety, simply due to the background knowledge necessary to understand.
Thankfully that might very well be the right presumption; most do have some background knowledge necessary. But it’s the kind of presumption that I wish nobody had to make. It’s the kind of bets that good stories make and win, but the best stories don’t even bother with.
Well, unless you are that kid at the NYICFF showing that had to ask how do people play games over the internet.
The Nutbladder Ranking: 2010-02
February is 2 days too short I think. It’s jam-packed and I could use that extra time…at least so I can make more progress on the UC Gundam backlog. (I’m holding off on Unicorn until The Time Is Right. Even if that usually means RIGHT THIS MOMENT.) So much stuff, so little time. Let’s get on to it.
[Just to recall, this is just a list of things I found notable during this month.]
Mai Mai Miracle is WOAAAH
Since Summer Wars is out on DVD/BD this week, you can watch it pretty easily. But Mai Mai Miracle is not going to happen for a while still, and my goodness.
If you like Omohide Poroporo, or know what inaka means and like anime, then you owe it to yourself to watch Mai Mai Miracle. I am actually not exaggerating at all; the film is all about that inaka-crap. For the record, I probably don’t qualify for either, so maybe this is just over-reaction or something.
It’s been years since I last saw Omohide Poroporo, but I still remember it vividly, if spottily. And as much as I hate to pin Mai Mai Miracle on that excellent Ghibli production, I think I have to, out of my inability to stand on anything else to criticize it.
Which is to say, I think Maimai Shinko to Sennen Mahou doesn’t quite stand up to that work, but at the same time it isn’t equally boring. Make no mistake; it is still boring. I saw the film with a theater full of kids, and a lot of them are fidgeting throughout the affair. You can hear it. It’s definitely a low octane experience. Still, it’s a visually competent work with good music and all that as you’d expect from a Madhouse feature film that opened just a few months ago (Began screening in Japan back in Nov. ‘09). It just doesn’t have as much of that softness, that human touch, than the Isao Takahata masterpiece. On the other hand, Shinko’s life in the boondocks was notably less controversial and friendly to certain things and ideas.
The story itself is based on the autobiography of a writer, and it’s set during her childhood. The presentation is, actually, like another Madhouse film. I hope that got you curious enough. It was my first impression. I even wrote it on the ballot… A writer is akin to an actress, but even more powerful since she created whole worlds from scratch; but I guess on the silver screen, we’re given the treat the same way, no matter if it originates from an act or a script.
On some level, this is a film that’s mainly for kids, or Japanese people. But the film’s presentation isn’t exactly the most easy thing to understand for the young as it overlays fantasy over reality and it’s quite the raw countryside (well, packaged nonetheless) experience to well-to-do New Yorkers and their children. I’m sort of at a loss as to how foreigners should engage the work besides as a, well, foreign film. But maybe that’s why the term “slice of life” is still a butchered metaphor rather than anything else, despite the earnest desire of people trying to use it to describe something way more profound than they realize.
As obligated, I’ll write more about both this and Summer Wars. Summer Wars is notably more mundane in comparison. I mean a mainstream-appealing action-adventure work with attractive Sadamoto designs is a win-win formula, but we’ve had just that a few years ago. Well, see for yourself.
The screening I attended featured Mamoru Hosoda himself, and after the screening he gave us a good 30-40 minutes of Q&A time. As this was the NYICFF, about 70% of the questions came from kids, as in people who looked like kids since they were yea big. There might be a few adults who actually asked questions, as in certifiably people over age of 25, total, out of the 2-3 dozen questions he entertained.
This was simply the best, most delightful Q&A session involving something anime in nature that I’ve attended. The questions from the kids were earnest, straightforward, and even thoughtful (as kids could be). Like why the Love Machine was called that (not just a Momusu thing). Or the big diss on lacking on juice. I had a great time anyways. Hosoda had to entertain the kids, but he also asked them some things to get feedback. And boy did they give feedback… I was amused when Hosoda was trying to explain the concept of internet-based multiplayer gaming to this kid, who looked like 7 or 8 years old. Well, you get the idea. Appropriately he went for a smoke after the time spent w/ the general public; it’s a tough crowd.
I’ll save the comparison with Tokikake and the rest of the review for later, but the thing that struck me about Summer Wars the most was the references. I mean, we all got the John & Yoko bit (and to the NY crowd, that’s a funny joke, if you are over the age of 20). But I just can’t help but to think that the Hanafuda Koi-Koi game is like Mahjong, and Natsuki is like, well, Nodocchi.
