It’s nice to know that, even on the sixth or seventh rewatch (I’ve lost count, to be honest), Figure 17 still gets me reaching for the tissues. I’m a pretty stoic guy, all things considered, so I’m always a little shocked when anime (or anything, for that matter) moves me to tears. It’s an involuntary response, I think, kind of like those chills you get when listening to an incredible piece of music. One moment, I’m sitting there, and the next, there’s a tear running down my cheek. Where the hell it came from, I don’t know.
There are a lot of those moments in Figure 17. There are a lot in anime in general. Godai and Kyoko’s first kiss in Maison Ikkoku. Ai and Claire on the moon in Planetes. Meiling’s farewell (and return) in Cardcaptor Sakura. Damn near half of Fruits Basket.
Figure 17 is pretty much structured around these moments, though - especially in its final episodes. And it’s near the end that one finds THE SCENE. Those who have seen the show may already have an idea what scene I’m referring to, near the end of Episode 10. That entire episode is awfully heavy to begin with, given the surprising turn the story takes at the end of the previous episode - a turn that absolutely floored me the first time I saw it, foreshadowing aside. THE SCENE is anime at its best, I think. I look forward to it every time I rewatch the show. It’s funny how that one scene - only a few minutes long - defines the entire series for me.
Why does the scene work so well? For a lot of the same reasons Figure 17 as a whole works so well.
Expression.
It’s a tricky thing. How do you breath life into the characters on screen? How do you move past flapping mouths and dub tracks? Why do people go so crazy over Kyoto Animation’s work? What’s so great about Kamichu? Why does Studio Ghibli amaze us?
There are all sorts of reasons, of course, but I’m sure most of you understand what I’m getting at. Expression is about attention to detail. And passionate acting. And thoughtful direction. It’s a lot of things.
It’s about LOVE.
I think about the animators, producers, directors, musicians, and actors who slaved away week after week, pouring their love into Figure 17, pouring their love into THE SCENE, and I wonder: what would they say if they knew how much their work means to me after all this time? How something they created can move a damn stubborn fool to tears again and again?
I too LOVE anime that really pulls at my emotions, like Figure 17. It doesn’t take much for me to start getting teary-eyed. Another series that leaves me choking inside …. Haibane Renmei.
Times like this I wish I watched Figure 17. Thankfully it only takes a few seconds to scroll down and have a 180 switch of mind.
But onto a different point: LOVE is more powerful to me when it’s from real people. That’s the kind of vibe I get when I found out how, for example, the pilot episode of Black Lagoon was completed a year before it aired. Or the little details KyoAni put into their website that came out of their anime.
I got to see this.
Times like this I wish I watched Figure 17. Thankfully it only takes a few seconds to scroll down and have a 180 switch of mind.
Thankfully. I wouldn’t want to waste your time.
I highly recommend Figure 17. I rented the first DVD last summer… didn’t really know much about it or have much interest in it, but I was hooked right away. I then went out and bought all the DVDs. The characters are well developed and the episodes have a nice mix of action and drama. Just great stuff overall :)
Ah. “…those chills you get when listening to an incredible piece of music.” I do love that feeling. Whenever I see/hear/whatever something that just amazes me and I instantly admire it and the creator… Really a great feeling.
And now I guess I have to check out Figure 17. Whee.
The final episode of Azumanga Daioh did that to me. Twenty years since I’ve been out of high school, and yet…
Hmm… never heard of Figure 17 prior to this post, and I have so far checked out the first episode. Will probably watch it slowly throughout the week to match the pace of the series.
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Reading this post also made me nostalgic for Futakoi Alternative, since it was one of the few animes that made me sniffle on a constant basis, even on repeated viewings.
I wrote a little about it over at ‘Sea Slugs!’ in the following post.
I had also wanted to about it in the Hearing Double post, since it was just weird to hear the ARIA BGMs in another anime. I was half-expecting Undines to appear and flit around Souju, and you know what? I wouldn’t bat an eyelid if they did.
Cheers.
I made fun of Jeff and Figure 17, and then I remember saying something about love languages, because that’s really what Jeff’s doing in this blog entry: “Hey guys look! they love it and I love it because they love it!” To which each is to his own, but it’s important to know what to look for.
At least something like that, before the db crashed.
That said, I read ufotable loud and clear…
Figure 17, which I just finished watching a week or so ago, has to be one of the most beautiful and poignant and ultimately life affirming animes I’ve ever watched. The story, the characters, the artwork . . . it all just comes together so perfectly. It had my eyes soggy time after time.
There are so so many anime that are close to my heart in this same way. Good stuff. Of course, I want to go back and watch the final episodes of KOR the TV again, now.
Luckily, the local video rental store/book shop had the full set of Figure 17 DVDs so I got to see some of it. I was especially impressed that all characters played important role in plot developement, and there wasn’t much of token-something guy/gals in it. I am going to recommend this series to my wife.
ok, ok, ok, OK! I’ll give Figure 17 another try!!
geez…
Just watched the sixth episode of Figure 17, and I am getting a lot of bad vibes from Tsubasa… the kind of vibes that invertebrates emit. Up till this point, everytime she gains a measure of backbone, it vanishes into thin air by the next episode…
*sigh*
Mitigating factors include that she is very young, but urgh… watching her wallow in depression is as fun as shovelling garbage. So far I have managed not to snort in digust, but if this continues, I am going to associate her with Shinji, the role model of invertebrates.
In contrast, I found the side story of Sakura and her family to be quite touching. I pray that the future episodes will have concrete development for Tsubasa, now that they settled the ‘Monster of the Week’ arc.
Cheers.
Well fish.
Just watched Ep09.
…
I was not surprised by WHAT happened, since the foreshadowing was pretty thick, but I was surprised by HOW it happened. No fanfare, no special BGM, it just happened. Which ironically, made it all the more saddening.
I fear for the future development of Tsubasa’s backbone though… now that this has occured.
PS: Ep09 is also special for being the first episode in which a monster was defeated without the aid of Figure17! Woah, who would have thought that? Snark!
With the end of Ep11, I begin to fear for the mental stability of Tsubasa… Her dependancy complex for Hikaru is dangerous to her mental well-being in the long run, and the episode highlighted some of the ill effects of it, such as the distancing from friends, the inability to make decisions on her own, etc…
Gawds, I am beginning to pity her at best. I won’t, can’t, sympathise with her, because there are better ways to deal with her insecurities.
Potential spoilers ahead. Skip if you intend to watch Figure 17, but haven’t done so yet.
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After so many years of studying Literature and watching anime, one will begin to develop an innate detection of, what some will call, ‘Death Flags’. Figure 17 is no exception, and I fear for certain individuals after watching Ep11.
I have, by this point, a certain level of trepidation in watching the final two episodes of Figure 17. Much like how Saikano and other depressing series made me melancholic for days, I fear Figure 17 may affect me similarly.
So far I have managed to hold back the tears, but I got struck by the sniffles in Ep10. Part of the reason I feel, is because I have a certain level of loathing for Tsubasa. If I had managed to find her more likable, maybe Figure 17 will have succeeded in making me weep openly.
Final Episode Spoilers
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I knew it… I had hoped against all hope that I would be proven wrong, but… it happened. :( And it had to be one of my favourite characters too… I started getting bad vibes about her possible impending death when D.D. discussed about the need to leave the planet after the defeat of the monsters, and short of a contrived plot, I could not find a suitable way for her to stay behind. Her death was… pre-destined, so to speak.
After all, what ‘better’ way to solve the issue of staying or not staying than to kill her off?
Also, when Tsubasa’s father mentioned that the family was going to relocate back to Tokyo, that was the killer clue, since in order for Hikaru to remain with Tsubasa, they would need to brainwash all the people that know them, and without D.D.’s help, this would have been quite a formidable task, if not outright impossible.
Still… I continued to hold out the possibility that DD and Orinda would remain stranded on the planet( since their mothership was blown up) and live with Tsubasa and Hikaru, but alas… it was not meant to be.
On the bright side… Tsubasa finally grew a backbone. It was just too bad that Hikaru could not stick around.
Ahhhh, damnit. Why!
Why!
It took me long enough to watch Figure 17, and I am somewhat glad that I finally did. Hikaru, Asuka, Sakura, Hide, etc… The characters were all wonderful, with none( except Tsubasa) being overly annoying.
Sigh…
I remember watching this series, and I’ll probably watch it again. This is the kind of stuff that makes me sniffle. (Fine. I cried like a baby.) I wish they could have extended the series a bit, maybe an epilogue or something. Oh well.
This is one of my favorites, and you’re spot on about the impact of The Scene, although there are many scenes in this series that can evoke such a response. It can be a long series due to the episode length, but it wouldn’t have the impact and character depth if it wasn’t so long. I’m glad others out there are familiar with it though, as it seems few anime fans I meet have even heard of it.