These seasonal transition periods are always tough on us fansub watchers. Dedicated raw watchers are flooding the internet with discussion of spectacular (or lackluster) finales, while the rest of us (im)patiently await Episode 18 of our favorite show. I have to be ever so diligent when browsing anime blogs and discussion forum, ready at a moment’s notice to cover my eyes and divert my attention elsewhere, lest I unwittingly stumble upon some juicy bit of spoilage I’m not yet mentally prepared for. I find that thinking of naked Mahoro helps, but your mileage may vary.
Whatever. Go scrub a toilet or something.
One show that I’m trying desperately to avoid spoilers for is Noein. Of course, seeing as BluWacky is the only anime blogger to cover the show to the very end thus far, avoiding spoilers hasn’t been all that difficult.
Still, Noein is a show that surprises me with each and every episode, so I hope to remain blissfully ignorant to the final second. I can’t help but wonder, however, “Why do I like Noein?” After all, it’s “thinking man’s” anime, and, well… I’m not much of a “thinking man’s” anime kinda guy.
I think my preference for lighter fare has pretty well been established by now. I go for the slice of life, the light romance, the occasional soap opera… the boring stuff, really. But, sometimes, I need something heavier to give my anime diet a little extra kick. What makes Noein such a gem, I think, is the fact that it’s heavy without actually feeling heavy. It makes me think, but I won’t sprain my brain in the process. And, if it does start to get heavy, I can always look at the pretty pictures… or think of naked Mahoro. Studio Satelight knows pretty pictures. Not sure about naked Mahoro.
But, what of “thinking man’s” anime in general? Why do I not care for it? Intellectual laziness?
Yoshitoshi ABe is known for his “thinking man’s” work, that’s for certain. But, of all his works, Haibane Renmei is the only one I care much for, and even then, I don’t hold the show in the same high regard as most others do. So, what happened when I found myself face to face with ABe-sensei at Comiket this past summer? I was left speechless, that’s what - and not because he’s my hero or anything of the sort. Rather, I honestly had no clue what to say. “I enjoy your work?” That’s about it. Obviously, there are fans out there who, offered a similar opportunity, would hound the guy with questions until the doujin peddlers had all packed up and gone home. I didn’t have much to say, though. Some pleasentaries, a quick bow, and that was it. I felt like an idiot, to be honest.
Perhaps an idiot I am. I like my bishoujo shows. I like my sappy melodrama. I like my pretty pictures. There’s nothing wrong with that, I suppose. But when I find myself around other anime fans and conversation turns to deconstructing Shinji’s psyche or the politics of Gundam, I tend to tune out. I’d rather think about something else. Like naked Mahoro.
You’re quite obviously not intellectually lazy, given the stuff you write in here :p
Glad to see you’re enjoying Noein, hopefully you’ll enjoy it right to the end (and believe me, I’m not going to spoil it for you if I can possibly avoid it!).
Despite some of the science babble, I wouldn’t say it’s a “thinking man’s” anime in the way I think you intend it (something pretentious like Texhnolyze or Ergo Proxy is probably more what you mean, and I certainly can’t stand Texhnolyze!); like you say, it’s got some heavy-ish stuff going on with regards to quantum physics and parallel universes, but it’s not overly complicated (and gets fairly well explained); besides, it wouldn’t be so good if it didn’t have people beating each other up with laser beams and stuff all the time.
There’s obviously nothing wrong with liking bishoujo shows and sappy melodrama per se (no matter how much I slag them off!); it’s different strokes for different folks. Likewise pretentious conversations and the like (although I love those!). Obviously, we all have different opinions about what we like and dislike, and it shouldn’t be for anyone to dictate what we enjoy, otherwise I’d be watching Shuffle and you’d be watching Gantz and the whole world would implode!
Okay, so I only meant to comment to show how happy I am lots of people are watching Noein, and now I’ve waffled incoherently…
The nice thing about the physics of Noein is that it’s (for the most part) real. A lot of shows resort to pure fiction when it comes to science, making it all the more difficult to understand unless you pay really close attention. The science of Noein makes sense. And, yeah, it’s far from pretentious; at it’s core, it’s a show about a girl, her friends, and people beating each other up with laser beams.
The animation is really something, too. The character designs took some getting used to, and in typical Satelight style, they look off model more often than not. BUT, the action sequences are carefully rendered and the background art is vibrant and detailed. I thought I’d be annoyed with the funky CGI, but it gives the animation a theatrical character. Using it to animate cars and other background objects is pure genius. No more static backgrounds!
Yeah, I’m a background art buff. That topic definitely deserves a future post.
Ah, ABe. Haibane Renmei is very “thinking man’s” because it’s so abstract that you read it as just about anything that you want. I personally think that “smart” movies or anime that “makes you think” is sort of a meaningless distinction. A Gundam Seed Destiny clip show made me think, as did a Kiminozo eroge sex scene (and isn’t pr0n just about the furthest you can get from a “thinking man’s” anything?)
Perhaps “it makes you think” really means “it makes you think that you’re smart”?
…and isn’t pr0n just about the furthest you can get from a “thinking man’s” anything?
Well, you know what they say about men thinking with two heads…
You have a point, though, in that ANYTHING can be analyzed to excess given proper motivation (read: fanboyism). Of course, those shows that explicitly set out to say, “Look how intelligent I am! You’re so intelligent for watching me!” turn out to be little more than pretentious tripe much of the time. Pretentiousness is quite the common geek personality trait, however, so it’s no surprise the stuff has its followers - especially among American fans. It could be worse, I suppose. We could all be pedophiles.
You know, while unpacking boxes the other day, I came across my Eva DVDs and thought, “I haven’t watched this in awhile. I should!” Then, I found my Ai Yori Aoshi DVDs and thought, “OH! I SHOULD WATCH THIS!” The first AiAo disc went in the DVD player last night. The Eva discs are sitting on the shelf, collecting dust as usual. Some things will never change.
Noein may be good series, but I stayed away for my Electrical Engineering training makes be scoff at any fiction dealing with time travel back to the past ( I have no trouble with sudden time leap into the future, though ). If you study System analysis, you will see that any system relying on future output is inherently unstable. I might be missing out on a good series because of this.
http://www.ece.purdue.edu/~mazum/ee602
I’m different; I gravitate towards things that I can become engrossed in. That’s why, despite being generally poorly received, I loved Argentosoma: I became totally involved with what was going on and it was one of the series where I could say “OH!” at several locations.
Same deal with Monster.
I’m not so sure about “thinking”: I loved what NieA_7 had to say about young people and … uh … aliens, but that’s also not very well handled by people probably because it’s a bit “random” as we say in Australia. Definitely not an intellectual show, but a “feeling” show.
Feeling; as Nintendo tells us, “touching is good”.
Omo approves Noein Ending! Rest assured.
All you have to live with is your burgening intelligence, cursed you to be able to predict the quantum states of future in terms of anime endings. CURSED I TELL YOU!
And speaking as a bullshitter in physics, Noein … well, let’s just not think about what you haven’t seen.
Yuzumiya Haruhi = best episode 1 this season.
umm, the physics in noein is totally made up. Pretty much the same way the physics in Star Trek is made up, in that they grab a few terms or simple concepts and ….uhhh… take it from there. I don’t really find it insulting nor annoying unless they try to go and explain it. Keep in mind that a lot of the “metaphysical” concepts in physics are “constructs” or “representations” that make it easier to do calculations or understand a situation. They shouldn’t be taken too literally.
I don’t consider Noein a “thinking” show, except for the fact that the plot is a bit complicated, and stuff isn’t given away right away, like who=who in the future. It is an enjoyable show to “just watch”, though.
Lain was the last show that I ever tried “thinking hard” about. I guess it was worth it when I came up with my understanding, but I’m not really willing to do that anymore for entertinment, unless I really enjoy the show. I like the shows of Abe since they are pretty deep if you think about it, and even if you don’t think too hard, you can still enjoy it, while getting the sense that there is something going on. Also, he doesn’t beat you over the head about the deepness of the show. Unlike GITS movie, where they go on long monologues…
In conclusion, Haruhi = teh win