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4/19 - Erased

Erased is an interesting one for sure. I kind of actually wish I had been able to watch this from start to finish, because honestly, a lot was lost in between episodes. Otherwise, the person who suggested this anime did a great job of picking core episodes to sort of get the gist of the story. And I got to say, that ending was a whopper. I did NOT see Yashiro as the serial killing coming, even though I began to suspect it after his car case filled with candy burst open. That part was suspicious as hell, but I still saw him as such a sweet guy. Then it turns out he was a psycho the whole time, and I was blown away. Also that last scene where Satoru and Yashiro were just kind of exchanging the upper hand back and forth was so good, and I legitimately thought that it was about to be a double suicide, but then Satoru pulled the ol SWITCHEROO and killed Yashiro with that little wink. Big brain stuff, I loved it. And it was so sweet seeing everyone together in the end, happily alive and not murdered. In terms of theme, this series presented a few things that stood out to me. One was obviously its interaction with the past, which was fascinating. He gets to go back in time and rewrite his past, but we don’t get to do that. Every choice that we make is permanent, and there is no second chances or going back. I think that this anime really emphasized how important it is to truly live each moment as if it could be your last. We don’t get the second chance that Satoru got, so we should live each day as if it was our last chance, cherish it like Satoru did when he got that second chance. I just think that part is incredibly beautiful. Another message that the show really instilled was this concept of faith and believing in others. I love Satoru’s point at the end of the last episode where he says something along the lines of “saying you believe in someone is like saying you believe in air” since truly having faith in someone is not something you need to convince others of. And I can see that. If you truly in your heart believe in someone’s capabilities or that they got your back, then you don’t need to say anything, because it will occur regardless. However, I can’t deny that it still feels nice to hear, especially when the object of that belief is unaware. Obviously, their performance shouldn’t change based on this knowledge, but it’s heart-warming to hear regardless. Of course, if you want to throw some grand narrative and postmodernity stuff in there, you can also discuss how the show presented the kids as being stronger together and defeating the big bad guy by cooperating and trusting each other, which could be viewed as a critique on the modern day societal culture of atomization.

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4/17 - Cowboy BeBop

I have to say, I wasn’t too sure what to expect going into this anime. At first I wasn’t super into it because it’s old nature, but man, it drags you in really fast. And despite all the comedic gestures and playful banter that ensues throughout the series, it gets deep and emotional fast. Some of these episodes hit like a truck, and the ending is just straight-up depressing. Aside from that, the music 1000% needs to be acknowledged in this show. It was absolutely beautiful and fascinating, and it truly made some scenes so much more interesting and mesmerizing than it otherwise would have been. So just a shoutout to the awesome music. Also just the character development is incredible, despite the series portraying the members of the crew as pretty apathetic. It’s nice when the anime introduces subtle moments that show how truly human they are. Now the most important part of the episodes that were assigned is definitely the discussions of the past. Perfect choice of episodes, as each one targeted the past of each member of the crew. And they handle them in very different ways as well. With Spike, he used to be partners with Vicious when he still worked under a crime syndicate. In the episode we saw, he dealt with a past of sin and wrongdoings, and the show portrayed his handling of that past through sacrifice and atonement. However, the show ends up allowing him to live in the end, which was kind of a reflection of how it is alright for someone to move on from the bad things that they did in the past. They don’t need to be burdened by it forever as long as they made the effort to make up for it. Then with Jet, we see someone who is stuck on their past, unable to let go. At the end of the show, we see how he needed to find his own closure, and to come to terms with his past on his own. He realized that he did not need someone else to bring that closure for him, and in this way he was finally able to move on from that point in time in the past. For Faye, we see someone who has forgotten their past. However, for her, the past that she left behind is gone. In this way, the show kind of represents how it is sometimes for the best to leave the past in the past, and not dig up things that might hurt you. At the same time, it also presents the discussion around “ignorance is bliss”. Would Faye have been happier never knowing that her past was destroyed, or would not knowing end up eating her alive? Finally there is Ed, who was abandoned by her father, and it is pretty obvious in that episode that he does not really care about her at all. However, Ed doesn’t let that hold her back. She is the character that truly didn’t allow the past to hold her back or weight her down. She simply followed her own path and stayed in the present.

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(4/14) - Parasyte

Parasyte is as awesome as I honestly thought it would be. The first two episodes get you right into the gory nasty action and it’s incredibly fascinating in terms of the global issues that it presents right off the bat. One of the most interesting aspects of the series is its questioning of human morality. Despite how “devil’s advocate” it really is, it’s kind of strange that us humans are so critical the moment a clearly stronger and more intelligent life form comes and uses us as food. It presents the hypocrisy behind the whole issue of humans glorifying human life, while mindlessly slaughtering millions of animals every year. We’ve become so good at killing and eating animals that we have them made into cuisines and frozen for later usage, sometimes even throwing them out in the process. And yet when the parasytes simply are eating for survival (although quite grotesquely), humans immediately see it as a moral issue. It’s facts when migi states how mankind is truly the demons of this world. I’d understand it more if the argument was purely on a basis of “I don’t want to die, so I’ll resist the parasytes”, but consistently pushing that the parasytes are morally compromised because they want to eat honestly annoys me, and I think it causes the viewer to really evaluate their morality and the core of how they judge the world. I’ve also seen interpretations of how Parasyte is also a commentary on social classes and capitalism, and I can see how it plays a part in the series. The parasytes are like the upper class to me. The top of the food chain in capitalism. They force themselves onto the poor and the middle-class, and once they’ve already asserted their dominant role in society, they say “oh well, you need to cooperate now or else we both will suffer the consequences” as if they were in the same boat. This lack of actual “equality” and coexistence is especially seen in the scene where Migi threatens Izumi with bodily harm when Izumi does one thing that threatens Migi. It showed how despite them “cooperating”, there is clearly a one-sided power dynamic that is oppressive.

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4/8 - Kobayashi’s Sensoron

This manga was actually a very interesting read, and whether or not its contents are actually factual or not, it brings up important points in society. Again, whether or not what this author said is true or not is beside the point, because even the author’s argument itself plays the same role. This notion of appealing to the reader’s emotions and senses to win them over for their argument. The author was so convincing that now I’m really not sure who to believe, which is absolutely insane because this is HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE that we’re talking about. The fact that anyone can even dispute the factuality of such an accusation is absurd, and says a lot about the reality of human kind’s history. As has been stated many times before, history is written by the victor, and there is no doubt that the same happened here. After all, any book basically only points to the atrocities caused by those in the Axis Powers. NOT to say they didn’t do it, but the manga points out that everyone was quick to pass judgment on those who lost, and let go those who won, despite the dropping of two nuclear bombs on innocent civilians. However, I feel conflicted here as I can’t help but think that history being written by victors is simply just the logical thing to occur. We would all love for the world to be fair and just and have history only be facts, but realistically, humanity and its experience is MUCH too subjective for all of recorded history to be completely unbiased. Another quick thing I wanted to point out was that the utilization of exaggerated artwork in the manga honestly did a great job of evoking emotion from the reader and easily convey the message that is implied throughout each page.

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4/7 - Your Name

Completely ignoring the reading for a second (especially because it was literally horrendous for my monkey brain to try to comprehend at this hour), this movie. Blew. My. Mind. Oh my lord I am just going to vomit on this post really quick because HOLY MOLY, this movie was amazing. I swear to god, there have been very few pieces of cinema that I have encountered in my life that tugs at my heart strings like this movie did. It played with my mind and my soul the entire time, and I LOVED IT. First, just visually speaking, the art for this movie was absolutely mind-blowing. The scenes that it captured through animation alone was absolutely beautiful. And the music made the movie so much more passionate and elegant at certain parts. But man, I did not see that twist coming. I actually thought that they were from different realities entirely, but I definitely enjoyed the time split and the connection of the comet much more, especially with how it was foreshadowed in the beginning of the movie AND how they were able to meet in the twilight, which was ALSO foreshadowed. And because of their meeting together, they were able to alter the course of history itself. Thank the lord almighty, that they finally found each other at the very end, even though it had been 5 whole years since the incident. That was truly a much needed ending. If they had passed each other one more time, I might have just thrown my laptop across the room. Anyways, in terms of the reading, it was a little hard for me to grasp, but there was definitely a lot of discussion around the idea of power and sexuality being interconnected in society. One part that definitely stood out to me the most, was that when they switched bodies, or sexualities, their interaction with the world completely changed. Despite being the same general personality, its existence in a different body altered the treatment altogether. Both became more popular with members of the opposite sex, with Mitsuha showing people a more “feminine side” to Taki and Taki showing people a more “tomboyish” side to Mitsuha. And really, I felt like the movie had a nice subtle underlining of the two characters kind of being flipsides to the same coin, and really shows how society places such a strong identity on character based off of a person’s born sexuality.

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4/3 - Hetalia Axis Powers

Alright so this anime was definitely an interesting one. I’ve heard about it before but I never watched it myself and boy oh boy. It was quite the experience. Now while I say it was “interesting”, I mean as a concept. However, in terms of actually watching it, I found it rather boring if I’m being honest. And don’t get me wrong, I don’t just watch Shonens and want action all the time. I love my romance, I love my comedy and slice-of-life animes. But this was just kind of. Not vibing with me. In terms of actual content though, before I get into the reading more, I was kind of iffy on the whole Italy depiction right off the bat. Because if I’m being HONEST, I found it hilarious when he said “PASTAAAA”. I laughed. But at the same time, I’m well aware of the controversy that the anime brings up in terms of stereotypes and the rift that that can cause between the world and the anime community. I think this term “community” ties well into the reading because it was a part of the reading that I found most connected to me and my personal experience with anime. I find it fascinating that there was really a time when anime was very niche, and that there were no “celebrities” or widespread popularity. Everything seemed to be pretty underground, until the internet blew up and anime suddenly became very popular. Despite this, I find that I disagree with the idea that anime is really only community in person, and that the internet is only a substitute. I find that I feel the most connected to the anime “community” when I’m doing everyday normal things and someone will point at my shirt and say “yo, I love haikyu” or something along those lines. And I absolutely agree with the author in terms of this conflict and agreement within the anime community truly making it a process that works together. Especially on social media like TikTok, there is a massive community in which people can share there love for anime, dispute power levels between characters that will never meet, and make new head canons.

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Xenoblade Chronicles 2

This series of cutscenes was a wild ride, if a tad bit confusing since it kind of jumped around a ton. But I managed to get the gist of the story and the message it was trying to convey. There were two main themes to the story that come together hand-in-hand, one part being world peace, and another part being the environment. And often times when people say “environment”, everyone’s brain automatically tends to go to “climate change” and “trees” and stuff like that, but I think in Xenoblade Chronicles 2, it tries to emphasize the interconnectedness of it all. The environment is often something we see as separate from ourselves, something that can be acted on, but it is enveloping. It encompasses all of everything on this planet we live on, and every action we take has an impact on that world. This idea is brought up in the passage, where the author tells us how people are unable to solve this crisis with our environment because we as a species do not understand where we stand in our relationship with the environment, and such we continue to drive forward with this idea of instrumentalism so that we only enhance our own personal comfort and conveniences. And I believe that to some extent, that isn’t an unreasonable thing for all humans to desire. The reason that we have reached where we are, and the reason that we as a people are so different from “animals”, is because we are not content on survival. We desire more, but as we can see, that has negative consequences. This is especially due to the fact that our understanding of our relationship with the environment has not progressed at the same rate that our industrial revolutions have. What Cobb suggests in his passage is that we need to proceed with a completely different outlook on our relationship with nature. And despite being a fun videogame, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 shows this beautifully. Humanity needs to stop waging wars and pitting ourselves against each other, and truly sit down and think about how to prevent our own annihilation. One way is to reach this “Elysium” that Rex and his merry band of drivers are trying to find throughout the game. We need to step away from the concrete and cement landscapes that we’ve constructed and go back to truly immersing ourselves in nature before we can understand what we are trying to save.

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SwampCon

SwampCon in all honesty was not anything CRAZY to me, but I will admit that I was pleasantly surprised by some of the things I saw there. And overall, I was just excited to see what I might encounter at my first ever anime convention. Just to celebrate going, I decided I wanted to have some fun doing my own bit of cosplay, so I ended up going as Toji Zenin (Fushiguro), since he is SUCH a dope character and also he is really easy to DIY (if you don’t mind not having a cursed spirit to hold your weapons). I was super proud of my work but when I showed up, I was absolutely blown out of the water. I absolutely did not expect this kind of turnout here at UF. So many people came and almost everyone who showed up had dressed up as their favorite characters in some way, shape or form. And it humbled my own little dress-up quite. It was as if this event had drawn people out of the woodworks and created a safe space where everyone who had a love for anime could just be proud of themselves and be themselves, surrounded by other people who love the same thing and weren’t judgmental about it. There is definitely some parts of class that just kind of made the experience a bit more intriguing as a whole. Especially in terms of Genshiken. I really felt as though the convention was truly a safe space, and in reality, the rest of the world kind of isn’t. I know a lot of people who are very judgmental when it comes to anime, and don’t even get me started on furries. But here, in this little alcove for a weekend, furries and weebs can just come out and have fun and not CARE about what the rest of the world thinks and I thought it was beautiful. The doujinshi was also astounding. I had no idea so many people here at UF actually made their own original works and sold it, and it was really cool getting to see all of it on display. I loved walking around and actually seeing for myself all these characters I know being drawn and portrayed in an artist’s own style, yet still being iconic and recognizable. I popped in on a paneling about pokemon, but because I don’t know too much about pokemon other than the nintendo game, I was a bit lost but that was alright. Overall, my only regret at the end of the day was never being able to go inside the maid cafe.

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3/25 - Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

There is a LOT to unpack with this movie, but let me just say, it was AMAZING. I almost cried a few times but it was genuinely such an emotionally powerful movie. At the same time, I’m not going to lie, the scene where she and the baby ohm just got absolutely trucked by the raging adult ohms kind of maybe sort of possibly made me laugh. It just LOOKED funny and it took off guard. STILL EMOTIONAL THOUGH. Anyways, another thing I wanted to point out really quick was the animation. It is definitely much older than some of the other movies we have watched, and it is quite distinct that despite them making the setting and background very alive, some shots I saw made me go “oh, that is a still background that they are panning the camera across”. Anyways, that aside, it was a truly beautiful movie. Now there are a few things to go over in terms of analyzing this movie. One thing I feel should be mentioned is the feminism aspect of it. Those that were in charge were women, or more specifically, the princesses. No matter if they were good or evil, or anything in between really, the princesses were very strong and independent leaders who inspired those around them. At the same time, the movie shows two princesses who are polar opposites. One of them is brash and very militaristic, while the other is soft and kind, but able to unleash her inner strength when pushed too far. So I think it was a great juxtaposition of the two characters, and also a good illustration of how kindness does NOT equal weakness. Another thing that I looked into briefly was Nausicaa’s name. Apparently she was a character in the Odyssey, and although I don’t really know much about her role in the story, she was apparently described to be a beautiful and generous woman so that ties into Nausicaa of this movie quite well. Another thing that needs to be mentioned in terms of feminism was the prophesized “man in blue walking through a field of gold” or something. Everyone just kind of assumed it’d be a dude, but in the end, it was not a man who saved everyone, but a woman. So I think that was a great little twist there at the end. And we definitely can’t ignore the environmental and human messages here. The glaring message of this movie is obviously that human’s destroy the world and themselves and that’s it. Nothing else is going to do it, just us, so if we don’t take the time to actually reflect on ourselves and how we can change our OWN ways in order to prevent the world from being destroyed, then we’re doomed. It’s kind of funny actually, that everyone is so focused on this “toxic forest” idea, as if the world is trying to kill humanity. They then argue about how to handle this toxic forest, which leads to them trying to kill each other. Humanity created a problem, which starts destroying them, so they then start destroying each other on how to fix it. It’s hilarious.

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3/22 - Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!

Once again, I am starting off this blog post just to emphasize how much I truly enjoy this series and I am SO glad that we aren’t skipping around on the episodes for this one because I truly want to finish this series on my own time. It feels like it is in the slice-of-life genre, while creating a setting with moments that make it seem almost sci-fi/fantasy. This in itself is important in the anime as we see the main character, Asakusa, placing a very distinct emphasis on the world-building in anime story-telling. There is one aspect that is repeated throughout the anime that I think is really interesting, and funny enough, I only thought of this because of a recent video I watched by one of my favorite youtubers. Bricky, a videogame/media youtuber, discusses this notion of “suspension of disbelief”, and he goes on to explain that there are two main aspects that make fictional storytelling so wonderful. One, the fantastical things that occur in the fiction can not be over explained, yet at the same time can not be under explained. Over-explaining would ruin the fantastical image that is suggested, while under-explaining would leave too much room for potential plot holes and other narrative issues. Two, the story must be enjoyable. It has to peak interest, and the other aspects of the story, such as visuals, music, dialogue, setting, plot, character development, and more, have to be good enough such that viewers won’t even care about overanalyzing the fantastical occurrences. One example that he provides is the idea of the force in Star Wars. I bring this up especially because there are multiple times throughout the anime where Asakusa starts to ask more and more questions concerning her ideas, but the important part is that she always stops herself. After a few in-depth looks into her world-building and conceptual ideas, she always ends up stopping and saying “whatever, it’s all made up, and it’s my world so I can do whatever I want really”. And that is something I find so interesting about this anime is that the main character is so focused on this fantasy and adventure in her head, while the amazing character of Kanamori exists to really draw her in and show to us the harsh realities of the animating world, which is further discussed in the reading. 

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3/19 - Wandering Son

This anime was very interesting to me, both in its content as well as its style. One thing I love about this class is that it has introduced to many new art styles of anime and this is no exception. The lighting of the anime really made it seem like a world of its own, and it makes it really feel like we are on the outside, looking in on these children’s lives. And I guess that makes sense in a way, as some of the kids in the anime feel like an outsider not only to those around them, but to themselves. Like Sailor Moon and Aggretsuko, this anime targets themes surrounding gender, and what it means to be a certain gender. However, this anime does it differently as it directly confronts what it means to be transgender in society. Throughout the anime, we watch as the main character Nitori struggles with his sexuality and gender due to the pressures placed on him in society. And this time, we see age come into play. As stated in the anime, he used to be dressed up as a girl all the time by his older sister, and his parents seemed to think it was completely fine. However, it is because they didn’t think it was due to his own desire to be a girl. As Nitori gets older however, things start to change. He has to start suppressing his sexuality because he is aware of the rejection that society is ready to give him. Even though everyone he is close to is comfortable and accepts this part of him, it takes a lot of confidence for Nitori to eventually display this side of him at school. And when that finally happens, we see that society behaved exactly how he expected. He is bullied and made fun of because he wants to be a girl, despite everyone he knew being alright with it when he was a child. Then there is Takatsuki, who wants to “dress as a boy” despite being a girl. She is not transgender, but this brings up this idea that there is a certain way that society has taught each “gender” to dress. If you are born with this biological part, you are forced to dress this way, and if you decide to have a mind of your own and dress otherwise, there MUST be something wrong with you, definitely not society. This anime also brings up the glaring issue that PLENTY of girls can and do dress like guys, and as seen in said anime, the girls are praised for it. However, there is a double standard, as this only applies to girls, and guys who dress like girls are called “sick” and “freaks”.

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Aggretsuko

I absolutely love these kind of shows. Simple, slice-of-life stories that have a twist, making it entertaining to watch. The animation style is very cute, and I love that about it because the anime actually discusses a lot of adult, serious issues. There is discussion about workspace environments, relationships, sexism, and more in this show that appears to be tailored towards children. It is this jarring juxtaposition that actually highlights the social issues presented in the show, and to me, it is a way to introduce these topics to children of a younger audience. At the same time, Retsuko being a death metal enthusiast further enhances the comedy and whimsical nature of the anime, while also emphasizing the pressure and emotion that comes with the work environment, and also being a woman. This hidden secret of hers ties into the reading as it illustrates this difference between sex and gender. Although I will be honest, the reading was quite tough for my simple brain. From what I gathered, there is this idea that gender, is more of a historical concept than a biological one. This means that the gender norms and expectations were formulated by society and is continuously changing as times change and move forward. Furthermore, at the beginning of the reading, the author mentions human beings as the “object” instead of the “subject” in terms of gender. In other word, gender is being “acted” onto us, not us “acting” out genders. Basically, we are born with certain biological sexes, but society then applies gender expectations onto us, and we learn to follow along with that act and integrate it into our identity. This is seen in Aggretsuko when Retsuko is constantly trying to hide her true self, going to the lengths of ignoring nights out with co-workers. Instead, she puts on this facade of herself being a “model employee” and acts in a very “feminine” way. However, her true self does not simply align with these gender norms, as she secretly practices death metal, which is not traditionally seen as a “feminine” hobby. There are also other issues with gender roles that are presented. One of them is this idea of marrying a working man and living as a housewife. Retsuko starts the series with this notion of only working until she finds someone who can provide for her, and she can take this traditional gender role of being a housewife and raising a family. Another issue is the difference in treatment in the workforce. Her boss is clearly misogynistic, and constantly berates her purely because of the fact that she is a woman. Overall though, the death metal was a 10/10.

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Sailor Moon

This anime was actually really fun to watch. As someone who enjoys watching and consuming some darker, grittier material in anime and manga, there are times when I also really like a good, light-hearted series that just puts me in a good mood. Sailor Moon is a good mix of “action” and “slice-of-life”, which is good for the plot anyways because the main character, Usagi, is trying to balance the two sides of her life as well. One of the main aspects of the show that I found really interesting is that, every episode is it’s own little moment. The shows are all connected, but there isn’t necessarily any cliff hangers. They also all are clearly meant to share a specific moral/message based on a certain topic. The first episode concerned itself with jewelry, the second episode discussed love/fortune-telling, the fourth episode discussed weight and fitness, and the eighth episode discussed academics. However, other than episode 2, all of these episodes focused purely on the female part of that topic. It is obvious that Sailor Moon is targeted towards a female audience, and its existence raises a lot of debate surrounding the use of fictional female role models to push for increased support for feminism. In the article, we see that there are some pros and some cons that came with the new narrative that is shown in Sailor Moon, which is this “third-wave feminism”. First, we can look at some of the cons of Sailor Moon and its impact on feminism. As a part of third-wave feminism, Sailor Moon pushes this notion of female empowerment through femininity. However, there are issues with this, because the social constructs of femininity were based on the expectations set by a patriarchal society. Furthermore, because Sailor Moon emphasizes this “girl power” coming from a certain body type, style, and mannerisms, it pushes girls who desire this independence and strength to fall into the trap of patriarchal societal standards. It also supports consumerism, where certain clothes and jewelry and looks are required to obtain this kind of power. At the same time, there are pros to Sailor Moon’s contribution. First, Sailor Moon suggests this idea that women are strong and independent as they are, and they shouldn’t need to be masculine in order to be respected and have power. Second, Sailor Moon emphasizes how femininity itself is power, and that women do not need to hide it if they want to get where they want. Finally, Sailor Moon is powerful in a system of her own, where she defers to no men. Unlike other “strong female characters”, she leads her own path to independence and strength, and isn’t just trying to gain the validation of the patriarchy.

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Genshiken part 3

I found the centering around female otaku really interesting in this season, and I feel like it adds a lot of depth the show that breaks away from this general idea of “oh it’s a bunch of weird pervy dudes in a room”, and now it’s a bunch of weird pervy girls in a room. It breaks down the social expectation of otaku being completely male-dominated. However, the show also digs further into this by revealing how many female otakus end up going into this “fujoshi” side of things, which is a term for “rotten girls”, which is referenced in the first episode by one of the new recruits. And with this discussion of fujoshi and such, I feel like these assigned episodes did a good job of highlighting sexuality in the otaku world. The scene in the first episode where everyone is having this crisis over discovering that Hato is actually male says a lot about how society reacts to breaking out of gender norms. We see this a lot in recent years actually, where the LGBTQ+ movement has highlighted this notion of gender being separate from sex and your sexual identity being unique to yourself. We have people who view it as completely normal (more or less) like Madarame, people who view it as kind of a spectacle like Ohno, and people who flat-out reject it like Yajima. In fact, she makes it clear throughout most of the season that she dislikes the idea of Hato cross-dressing. However, we see that sexuality is confusing to even Hato, as it has become it’s own character, which is separate from him and fantasizes about himself, which is intriguing. We discussed otakus fantasizing other people in this fantasy, but with Hato we see someone separating this obsession from themselves, and in turn fantasizing about themselves through this genre/media. So even though Hato fantasizes about himself being in a yaoi-type relationship with Madarame in one of the episodes, he clearly states multiple times that he is not interested in men in that way. And then there is even debate about whether this kind of media can even influence someone who identifies as heterosexual to become homosexual or curious.

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Genshiken Pt. 2

The OVA episode was definitely an interesting one. I definitely feel like I watched a lot of this out of order but it’s more or less alright seeing as how there isn’t any strong, central plot line. It is very much a slice-of-life, day-by-day, small plots that drive the individual episode kind of anime, and I do enjoy these thoroughly. Furthermore, I don’t know if this is a stretch, but this aimlessness of the anime kind of relates to this idea of the otaku generations lacking that “grand narrative”, and so they are aimless without their otaku fantasies filling up their daily lives. Anyways, back to the OVA episode. I enjoyed this episode because there is a major difference between Ogiue and Sasahara. While Sasahara is shy about showing who he is, Ogiue flat out suppresses and rejects that side of herself. She is a representation of the part of society that desires to escape and be a part of something else, but is afraid of what the rest of society will think if they take that step. However, once she is left to her own devices, all her bravado crumbles away and we can see that she is in fact interested in what she claims to hate. The scene says a lot about how we as people behave under this social pressure, and how we would truly be if we gave in to our carnal desires and ignored the boundaries set by society. Another thing about this episode was the childhood “trauma” that Ogiue spoke of. I feel like this represented this idea that we are born loving whatever we wanted and doing whatever we wanted, back when being part of a larger group wasn’t our priority. However, as we grow older, the need to fit in also grows, and we learn to kill that part of ourselves that wants to do whatever. Then there is the episode where Kasukabe dresses up in the cosplay. One thing that I wanted to point out was how the otaku community can have a severe lack of human decency, and while this is prevalent in all of society in general, this idea that one becomes just a “character”, and that others can then too only see them as “characters”, leads to this disrespectful, inhumane treatment. This even extends to the scene with the policeman, who cared more about her outfit than the sexual harassment that just occurred. However, this scene also shows another side to otaku culture and cosplay, and that is this concept of people desiring an escape from their current identity, and feeling fresher when they can be someone other than themselves.

[beepityboopity]

Genshiken

This was definitely one of the more eccentric animes that we have watched, as it is basically a slice of life anime that centers around a very, mundane character. And I don’t mean mundane as in average, he definitely isn’t considered to be the average person, but mundane as in he doesn’t really stand out. Compared to everyone else in the group, he kind of just blends into the background. And I feel like that is representative of the nature of a lot of people who are considered otakus. While not all of them blend into the background of everyday life, many of them are ashamed of who they are and their obsession of this form of media. Society looks down upon them, and thus they are shamed into hiding this side of themselves and they are very wary of other people finding out. Much of this shame is seen in the first few episodes of Genshiken. The main character, Sasahara, is seen in the first episode being very anxious and nervous about deciding which club to join, and is obviously not sure where he really fits in, which is a part of much of otaku culture, and as discussed in the last session, is part of the reason why otakus form a sub-community of their own. This shame even extends to other characters like Kugayama, who is very quiet and stutters a lot, despite being of a larger stature. And this degrading by society is shown through Kasukabe, who tears into the club for their interest in anime-related “adult games” and their interest in general. One scene that I found particularly interesting is the scene where Madarame digs into the shallowness of Kasukabe herself, and this speaks a lot about society. Kasukabe glorifies Kosaka, saying it was basically love at first sight, but the moment she learns more about him and his interests, the more grossed out she becomes. However, instead of accepting his interests or rejecting him entirely, she tries to figure out a way to preserve the parts of him that she likes while discarding his otaku nature. And this opens up discussion about how being physically attractive can play a major role in the acceptance of certain quirkier interests and things like that. Finally, I wanted to point out a very interesting scene where there is a constant flipping between the boys shopping in the manga/anime store and Kasukabe shopping for clothes. I feel as though this scene really emphasized how being an otaku is really not that different from a “normal person”. It has become normalized for people to be passionate about things like clothes and for people to spend buckets of money on it, but the moment that interest is simply directed at an unfamiliar form of media that is slightly off-kilter from what is socially accepted, that passion becomes ostracized.

[beepityboopity]

Otaku, Japan’s Database Animals

Right off the bat, this author absolutely seems to hate otakus. Now for the record, i only got through about the first 10 pages, but I found a lot to unpack in that which said a lot about society and ties back to the simulacra presented by SaO. It also ties into issues of discrimination that are presented by A Silent Voice and Wolf Children. The author discusses how otakus label themselves as such and fall into such categories not necessarily because of the content, but because of the comfort and safety found in the group. Much like Ame and Yuki, the otakus just want to find a place where they feel like their passions are accepted and they belong. And in Japanese society, shut-ins who obsess over anime and manga are usually shunned or shamed. Because you of this “exile” from society, they come together to form a society of their own, much like the monster rats in Shin Sekai Yori. Then the author suggests a different position, in which those who consider themselves to be otaku are not in fact exiled from society, but actually form a new society in order to escape the problems and faults in current society. The author calls the direction and expectations of society the “grand narrative”, and after it began to crumble after the 1970s, the otakus found a new narrative for themselves through fiction, and this blend between original works and author’s works to form a simulacra, or new reality, resembles this new reality and direction that otakus have discovered/created.