In the past two years, I’ve made 278 posts. You’ve made 3,942 comments.
That’s a lot of blackmail material.
Monthly Archive for January, 2008
This post at Ogiue Maniax kind of threw me for a loop. Despite the fact I’m so deeply engrossed in Japanese animation, I have little interest in animation in general. I couldn’t even tell you what’s going on in the world of animation outside Japan today. Nor do I care to know.
Honestly, it’s not my style to so elitist about such things. My taste in music, for example, is pretty diverse. But, for some reason, I came to appreciate Japanese animation in a way I never appreciated, or even considered appreciating, Western animation. My standard explanation is that, having been interested in Japanese culture prior to truly discovering anime, and anime being one of Japan’s most visible cultural exports, it’s only natural that things turned out the way they did. And this explanation seems all the more plausible when you take my love for slice of life anime into consideration, seeing as it’s some of the most “Japanese” anime that anime has to offer.
Except, I could have just as well gotten hooked on Japanese film, or Japanese television, or Japanese literature, or Japanese video games, or whatever. And, while I have some level of interest in all of these things, none excite me quite so much as anime.
So, why anime, over all other things Japanese? And, why anime, over all other forms of animation? I don’t know. However, it’s worth noting that, growing up watching cartoons as a child, it was the localizations of Japanese anime that I loved most. Perhaps there’s just something about anime that appeals to me on a very basic level.
In the middle of a root canal yesterday, a thought occurred to me: I’m just as guilty as anyone else in describing shows like Aria, Maria-sama ga Miteru and Hidamari Sketch as having “limited appeal”, and yet, these shows keep getting multiple seasons. Meanwhile, a lot of seemingly popular shows get one season and nothing more.
I’d be curious to know what the story is behind this. Is it because these sorts of show often cater to a core group of dedicated fans, whereas most everything else is left to fight over a bunch of fans who couldn’t care less what they’re watching from one season to the next? Perhaps there are lucrative merchandising tie-ins at work? I know the Aria manga has long been a hot seller in Japan. Same with the Marimite novels. No idea about Hidamari Sketch.
Of course, these titles most likely appeal to mainstream, non-otaku audiences with a lot of yen to spend. Perhaps it just highlights how difficult it is to gauge what’s truly popular in the world of anime and manga from the inside looking out. It’s easy to get so wrapped up in the trivialities of the subculture that you forget there are millions of “normal” people out there who dig this stuff, too.
As for why this all came to mind while a guy shoved metal files up my tooth, all I can say is that I had to keep myself entertained somehow.
I don’t want to dig too deep into this episodic blogging vs. editorial blogging debate, but since I’m often held up as an example of a blogger who transitioned from one approach to another, I do want to offer a few thoughts.
For what it’s worth, I rarely read episodic or summary posts on anime blogs, with a few exceptions. And when I do, I typically skip straight to the personal opinion portion of the post (should it exist), as that’s where my interests truly lie. Of course, if the personal opinion portion of the post consists of little more than, “This was a good episode,” I probably won’t be bookmarking the blog or visiting all that often in the future.
Yet, if I take a look at the posts I wrote when I first started anime blogging back in the dark ages, most consist of little more than, “This was a good episode,” at least in distilled form. There’s a world of difference between what I was doing then and what I’m doing now, and while I get a lot more personal enjoyment out of my current approach to anime blogging, the old approach was plenty enjoyable in its own right.
However, it required that I be pathologically diligent in keeping up with shows, taking screenshots, and making new posts, and eventually morphed into a part time job that sucked up a lot more of my time and energy than there was time and energy to be had. It was a high cost, low benefit sort of thing, and it was so negatively impacting my anime viewing experience that I had to stop. Had I kept up for much longer, I fear I would have flamed out entirely, and I wouldn’t be sitting here writing this today.
But, there are anime bloggers out there who are still putting the time and effort into summary and episodic blogging. And I can only assume they still enjoy what they’re doing and will continue to enjoy what they’re doing for a long time to come. When I look at the anime blogging landscape, I see a lot of summary and episodic blogs. And I don’t think that’s a bad thing. In fact, I’d like to see more anime blogs come online, editorial and episodic both, as it would inevitably make for a more robust and more diverse anime blogging community. That’s a good thing.
Every blogger has their own reasons for walking the path they’ve chosen, and even if you decide not join them on their journey because you have a different route or destination in mind, it doesn’t mean they’re lost. I like discovering new anime blogs, especially when they’re written by interesting people who have interesting things to say. If someone can say something interesting in four screenshots and a couple of sentences, more power to them.
Fundamentally, it’s not the format that matters. It’s the content.
You know, as much as I love both Nino and Makino Yui’s work on Aria, I’m glad they tapped Arai Akino for the ED this time around, because she sounds absolutely incredible. What a great song.
By the way, has anyone else noticed that Ai sounds a bit older in her replies to Akari at the end of each episode? I wonder if that’s intentional…
The other white meat, apparently…
If there’s one thing that concerns me about Clannad going forward, it’s the fact that I enjoy the “normal” moments of the show so much that the “things are gonna get weird now” moments give me indigestion. I think I’d be perfectly happy to watch Tomoya and friends sit around and do their dango daikazoku act for the remainder of the series. But, “things are gonna get weird now” is the hallmark of every scenario in every Key game ever made, so I better make right with it and fast.
Looking on the bright side, Fuuko’s story was so simple and matter of fact that it never quite veered off into bizarro land. Which is kind of funny, of course, if you consider the particulars of her character. I’ll admit to waiting for a plot twist that never came. And, looking ahead, both Kyou and Tomoyo strike me as such normal characters that I can’t see either of their stories getting particularly wacky before all is said and done. Then again, assuming that Kyou’s story is defined by her relationship with her sister, who, at this point, is still a bit of a wild card, I suppose I should be prepared for anything. The same goes for Tomoyo.
Unfortunately, Kotomi’s story is shaping up to be standard Key fare (note that, since I’m following the 16:9 broadcast of the show, I’m still currently in the middle of this arc). I also have this gnawing feeling her story will turn out to be the weakest of the entire show. This, despite the fact she’s such a wonderful character. She’s hot moe infused with essence of sweet moe with a side helping of refined moe served on a dish made of moe mined in the moe mines of ancient Moetopia.
Kotomi’s eccentricity is not a problem in need of a solution. It is to be cherished.
And Nagisa? Well, I only hope all the character development she’s experienced so far isn’t thrown to the curb once her arc begins. She’s really come quite far in a very short stretch of time, and I’d hate to see that go to waste. Of course, given that she’s the original game’s “main” heroine and the likelihood that she’s connected to the dream world we’ve been seeing little snippets of, I’m assuming the non-stop tickets to bizarro land are already bought and paid for.
But, hey, if there’s one thing Kyoto Animation has abundant experience with by now, it’s Key adaptations. I’m sure it’ll be a comfortable trip.
It was fitting that I rewatched Kita e - Diamond Dust Drops this week, living in a frozen wasteland and all. When I woke up this morning, my outdoor thermometer was registering -8 degrees F. For those of you living in the civilized world, that’s -22 degrees C. I saw something when I stepped outside, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t diamond dust. I think it was my eyeballs freezing.
Anyway, while watching the final episode last night, I was reminded of how valuable epilogues are in tying together even the most disjointed of shows. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Diamond Dust Drops, the series tells the stories of six different women, unrelated except for the fact they all live in Hokkaido. The only common element tying their stories together, really, is the subject of diamond dust. Well, that and Squid Boy.
In the final episode, however, each heroine descends on the city of Sapporo on the same snowy winter day, only to see a rare display of diamond dust together in the show’s final minutes. All things considered, it’s kind of a corny ending. But it’s a good ending, and it gives the show a sense of purpose that would have otherwise been missing had there been no epilogue at all.
Which brings to mind a conversation I had the same evening with Wonderduck on the subject of Uta Kata. He couldn’t make it through the first episode of the show, and asked, “What am I missing?” I didn’t have a good answer, to be honest. And I pointed to my final comments on the series as evidence that I didn’t have a good answer back when it first aired, either.
But that was before the show’s final OAV episode was released. Even though the television broadcast did an acceptable job wrapping up the show’s story, it wasn’t until I watched the “where are they now” OAV that I felt like I truly understood what that story was all about. It wasn’t a matter of the OAV resolving hanging plot points, however. It was a matter of closure. And with that closure, the skies cleared, the sun shone through, and I was able to see the show for what it was, laid bare and out in the open. All it took was one extra episode.
Unfortunately, many shows never make room for “one extra episode”. Or they relegate the contents of one extra episode to two minutes in the background as the final credits roll. I understand the economics of anime on television, of course; there are only so many episodes to work with. But I wish more production committees would put as much time and effort into closing out a show as they do launching it. Give epilogues their due.
Of course, there’s something to be said for prologues, too. I know I labeled Sola as absolutely forgettable and all, but the special prologue episode on the show’s final DVD volume made me reconsider. Perhaps I should just wish for more DVD only episodes after the fact.
And a week in Tahiti.