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?
