gavanalysis

[gavanalysis]

I agree with every detail that you brought up. Sensoron left a pretty bad taste in my mouth with a lot of political argument tactics used in it. Hetalia while the issues are easy to notice, but the show itself is satirical, campy, and kind of ingenious. I agree with you, I likely won't watch more of it, but the appeal is definitely there.

I too am not much of a romance person, but the plots for both Your Name and A Silent Voice worked very well and made enjoy every aspect of both films. So much that I have even made a comparison in each film to something that likely was not the writer's intent.

I really liked Your Name! The animation was breathtakingly beautiful. I also love how the twist that Mitsuha was actually living 3 years in the past was set up; it genuinely surprised me, but suddenly all the details slid into place and I wondered why I hadn’t seen it sooner. The comment about inflation of food prices, the fact that no one knew what the festival was originally for, the fact they couldn’t call each other, the lack of knowledge of the comet and a bunch of other little incongruences- it really was perfect! I teared up a bit when they met again at the end. I’m not the biggest fan of romances, but this and a Silent Voice were great. Altogether an amazing movie. 

I felt kind of neutral about Hetalia. Especially because of it’s World War 1--World War 2 setting, depicting these countries that are, within the context of the show, currently committing horrific acts as cute shippable anime boys was a bit jarring. However, there's a part of me that thinks it’s kind of ingenious. It’s total dismissiveness of the violent, masculine and chauvinist themes that come up in a lot of war media was refreshing. It feels genuinely disinterested in that stuff. I can see how the national stereotyping could quickly get into dangerous territory, but I also thought it was pretty funny how the America one was constantly eating hamburgers. The super disconnected plot, stiff animation, and constant use of royalty-free sound effects, surprisingly, kind of worked for me. I won’t be watching more, but I can see where the fanbase comes from - it’s kind of camp.

I didn’t like Sensoron, for obvious reasons. Also, I noticed it used a lot of logical fallacies to support its claims. It used cherrypicked photos, strawman opposition, appeal to emotion “Think of the children” type arguments, and it also just plainly tried to prove that you can’t trust photographic evidence. The victim-blaming of the comfort women who were raped, and denial of their experiences also left a bad taste in my mouth, especially since I’ve seen similar arguments from people in the US. And on the more petty side, I didn’t like the smug face and attitude of the main character in the manga generally.

[gavanalysis]

Well here we are, the final module of my college course and thus, likely my last real post. My thoughts on the anime, Your Name, Hetalia: Axis Powers, and briefly on the manga Sensōron.

MAJOR SPOILERS for Your Name Below!!!!!!

Starting with Sensōron because it's the one I have the least to say about. Even though the professor gave a warning about it, this one was by far the most political content in this entire course, very revisionist. Not really much to say about it, excessive politics in an medium of entertainment like this is a bit of a turn off for me, especially when it is not at all subtle.

Moving to Hetalia: Axis Powers, still has some politics in it but a lot more subtle than Sensōron. This anime was satire, poking fun at different countries, their national identities and histories. Now, did making each country an individual disregard the diversity that makes up those very same countries? Yeah. Were the countries stereotypes? Yes, it's satire. Were some depictions unfair compared to others? I mean, I guess. Did this anime gloss over dark aspects of history? Oh, yes it did very much. But was the anime good? Yes.

Jokes aside, the anime does have its issues but overall I still enjoyed it, the anime was pretty fun. Overall, I watched this anime with the immediate knowledge that it was satire. Cute, and some place pretty funny (seriously, a lot of the line deliveries in the English dub mixed with the actual dialogue got solid laughs out of me), satire, but still satire nonetheless.

Now finally moving away to something made with politics not as the obvious sole focus, Your Name, beautiful. Absolute cinema. Even though A Silent Voice and A Place Further Than the Universe are still my absolute favorites, this was pretty close. Your Name was a very fun and well-animated movie revolving around dreams, body swapping, and the plot twist: time travel. When the body-swap first happened to both characters I immediately pondered to myself: "How does the body-swapping work? On the first day it was Taki in Mitsuha's body, and the third day it was clearly Mitsuha's first time body-swapping into Taki's body, so how does that work? Is that a plot hole? Hah, maybe there's some sort of timey wimmey wibbley woobly explanation to it." I was joking. Well, mostly. I never could have seen the "it's been three years since the accident" twist happening. Though that is the other thing about the anime, the foreshadowing is incredible.

Anyway now for a tangent about a very specific connection I made when watching Your Name. Even though I know it was really about how society views gender identities (though there still some overlap with that theme in my connection), while likely unintentional I could not help but make comparisons with body-swapping with what I know about Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), previously well-known as Multiple Personality Disorder. I am by no means an expert in the topic so apologies if I'm wrong about anything but, DID is a condition that creates gaps in memory that can only be accessed by different alters, other personalities the brain has created due to prolonged trauma during development, these alters have their own personalities, mannerisms, ambitions, and self-image unique to that of the host. The memory gaps can cause confusion, especially to those undiagnosed, not remembering things done by other alters, similar to how Mitsuka and Taki had no memory of what the other did in their respective bodies, and when hearing about what happened from their friends, "they were almost like a completely different person". Though in different ways and for different reasons, for both DID and the body-swapping, that statement is true. Once the condition, DID or body-swapping is known, notes are left so the host and the other (or in cases of DID others) know what they missed when not in control of the body so there can be consistency and a sense of normalcy. There is much more to DID on top of that but those were the parallels to the body-swapping that I noticed. Again, might not be an intentional parallel, but it is still a fascinating connection to make!

[gavanalysis]

As someone who watches game playthroughs and a mild gamer, the stiffness and exposition dump nature of Xenoblade 2 was noticeable, but that really is just most video game cutscenes. Though, I have to admit, the fight chorography in the cutscenes did seem really good, especially with Malos in my opinion.

As for Nausicaa, yeah she does somewhat fall into the writing trope of the simple savior main character and is debatably one of the more simpler characters in the anime. But for one, I too think it works well with her unique perspective on nature, and two, the subtle character arc with her anger did add some nuance to her character.

Nausicaa was fantastic, and extremely beautiful! The cultural and aesthetic differences between the different kingdoms felt really nicely thought out, and in every interaction we had with the forest, it also felt rich and full of life. One gripe I did have with the story is Nausicaa as a character felt kind of bland, but when considering her role in the story as a perfect, saviorlike environmental protector, I think it works. While there are a lot of Ghibli movies concerned with the relationship between nuclear war/war generally and the environment, I think Nausicaa has one of the clearer thematic relationships to the concept. It reminded me a lot of princess Mononoke in that way, along with the darker themes it had sometimes. I also really liked the bug appreciation!

After watching so much anime for this class, the style of Xenoblade’s cutscenes was a bit difficult to get used to. I’m not really used to watching game playthroughs, and honestly I’m pretty unfamiliar with the conventions of Xenoblade’s genre as a whole. The animation of the characters was stiff, none of the shots felt that cinematographically great to me, the art styles of the characters felt disjointed, and the story was mostly told through exposition dumps. However, I do recognize that all of these things are constraints of the medium, and if I played the game myself I probably would have appreciated them a lot more. One thing I also didn’t like much was the sexualization of the female characters. The overall plot was pretty interesting, though.

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and Nausicaa were pretty similar in some ways. They both had a “chosen one” protagonist, and they both involved total environmental destruction in the distant past. Both of these media depict an apocalyptic future, where humanity feels tiny and dwindling - however, in Nausicaa, the apocalyptic feel derives from the huge scope of nature when compared to the humans, and in Xenoblade, it’s from the increasingly shrinking population of both humanity and nature. I really liked that despite the hopelessness present sometimes in both Nausicaa and Xenoblade, hope for the future remains.

[gavanalysis]

So for my college course, I just added another anime film and an anime game to my list of anime I have watched. I watched Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and some key cutscenes of Xenoblade Chronicles 2.

Very Light Spoiler for Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind Below.

Starting with Xenoblade Chronicles 2, I had only heard good things about this game online, my only prior knowledge of this game was that, knowing a little of the prequel and that there recently was another sequel if I'm not mistaken, and playing Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. The way I watched (and I do mean watched) this anime was via a YouTube playlist of basic story and lore-important cutscenes complied by my professor. So because of this I unfortunately have not seen any actual gameplay. But from what I did see, I'm impressed. The lore seems interesting, the story engaging, and the antagonists seem like fun. Even though I don't think I'm actually going to get the game (heck, I'm still working up just to get a Switch 2 by itself at some point), there's a good chance I may watch a Let's Play for this game at some point so I have the full picture of the gameplay and parts of the story I missed out on.

Now onto Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, I thought this was a great film. I really enjoyed the premise and characters of this anime. Every character, no matter how minor they were, felt three-dimensional, and even the antagonists felt realistic and borderline understandable, especially Kushana. The premise was simple yet engaging and unique with great world-building and original creatures. Something else that I found myself surprisingly enjoying was the voice direction. From what I have heard (and seen on occasion), 9/10 when something is dubbed into another language, the voice direction is not as emotionally impactful as the original, more often than not coming out as flat or overdramatic. The English dub of this film, at least to me, did not have such a problem. I think the reason why is because the English dub has a star-studded cast. I immediately clocked Asbel's va as Shia LaBeouf, but I did not realize until the credits that Uma Thurman voiced Kushana, Patrick Stewart voiced Lord Yupa (the GOAT!!!), and that even Mark Hamill voiced in this!

Overall, both Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 were great. I would highly recommend watching the English dub of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind on HBO Max and getting into Xenoblade Chronicles 2's story in whatever way is most convenient for you.

[gavanalysis]

While I personally thought this anime was just alright, I honestly agree with everything you said. I forgot Ms. Misato kissed him! You are so right, that was wrong!

I came to a realization earlier today when doing the other assignment for this anime, practically everything I and most others dislike about Evangelion stems from the movie. Think about it, the alternate ending, Misato kissing Shinji and dying, Shinji's father killing Ritsuko, the hospital scene, and uncensored nudity (there was nudity in the show but it was always censored in some way) all came from the movie.

In one of the lecture videos it was said that the original ending was always supposed to be the ending, but the creator made the movie and the new ending because of negative fan response to Shinji and the ending. It also briefly said that it was rumored that some things in the movie (i.e. the hospital scene) were possibly done out of spite towards fan response. I fully believe that rumor, it would explain a lot of things that happened in the movie.

Blog Post - Neon Genesis Evangelion / The End of Evangelion

This show and movie truly stunned me with how much I did not like it. To be honest, all of the other shows were at least decent, but this show was not at all what I was expecting after all the hype that I had heard about it. Shinji, as a character in general, annoyed me the whole show. There was no confidence anywhere within him, but it was sad because he was saving thousands of lives, and he still could not see that he was worthy of some love, even though people were freely giving it out. I thought it was weird that there were so many naked bodies. I know it was TV-MA, but there were times when they could have worn clothes, and the same point could have been made. One of my favorite characters was Ms. Misato. I liked that she went against some of the rules and always questioned what was going on. She also encouraged Shinji, although not always in the best way, to try to give him some confidence and guidance. There were only two things that I did not like about her. The first one was when Shinji found out about her and the guy, and she said something about grown-ups, and then the second one was when she repeated it when she kissed him before she died. That is wrong. I believe she was grooming him. He was 14 years old in the show and still in high school or middle school, and she was at least 29 years old. They should not be kissing, and she should not be initiating that. I thought that was so weird, even if she did die right after. On the other hand, I was shocked when Ritsuko tried to shoot Shinji’s father and failed. That was disappointing, and I wish that it ended with him dying, Shinji getting some confidence and retaining it, and everyone else still alive, but not in this weird world. I believe that the difference of masculinity in this show were shown to the extreme, and there are better subtle ways that hegemonic and queer masculinity intercept each other. 

[gavanalysis]

Alright, so I just finished watching quite a bit of Evangelion for my college course and I have a few thoughts.

MAJOR SPOILERS for Neon Genesis Evangelion and The End of Evangelion Below!!!

Though not as much as with other anime like, Sailor Moon and Naruto, I had briefly heard of Evangelion before. Mainly just that it was the inspiration for Peni Parker in Spiderverse and some other media with the giant mech suits, and that the anime was a bit dark (true especially with The End of Evangelion). Apparently like a lot of people, I was not expecting anything of where the story went, namely the endings. For my class I had to watch the beginning, some episodes of the middle, and the last episode of Neon Genesis Evangelion alongside The End of Evangelion, a movie remake of the last two episodes with an alternate ending. From class lectures I learned that The End of Evangelion and its new ending were made after fan reaction to the original ending, and quite frankly, I wasn't too keen on either one.

Both endings followed the ongoing theme of the main character, Shinji, not following in traditional masculine stereotypes, developing a deep self-hatred for himself for being "cowardly, timid, sneaky, and weak", and being implied to be queer through Kaworu. To summarize, the original ending had Shinji eventually come to terms with his self-hatred and queer masculinity as humanity became one organism and congratulates Shinji for finally accepting himself, accepting him to join with society. Then the alternate ending had Shinji try to reaffirm his masculinity and when the symbolic embodiment of masculinity rejected him, his hatred boiled so much he decided that he and society shouldn't get to live anymore, leaving himself and Asuka the last two standing as a new Adam and Eve.

I can see why people weren't fans of the original ending, the final episode completely abandoned reality for Shinji's character growth via very meta images and a brief alternate reality. Yet, I liked that ending much better than the alternate ending. While the movie had a lot more explanation and was more show than tell, the ending still was a (literal) reality check for Shinji with, this time heavy religious symbolism and elements instead of meta ones, but with a more bleak and ambiguous (and at least to me, somewhat confusing) ending.

Overall, I liked Evangelion, but the endings, while alright, stick out like a sore thumb, the second one was iconic, I think the first one was better, but both of them were a bit out there.

[gavanalysis]

That all sounds like so much fun! Besides who is running the event, I was a bit curious what the differences between different conventions were when I watched True Otaku. I don't when and where, but I hope that one day I will finally go to a convention of some sort!

I've been to several different comic conventions in the past. While my experiences I’ve had at every comic convention differed, I would say the most obvious factor I noticed that influenced my experience at each convention was the size. One of my favorite convention experiences was at the St Pete anime convention, which I actually went to the first year it opened. It was a lot smaller convention than it is now, and was a bit disorganized, but they had a lot of really fun events. I got to participate in a timed fanart contest, and while it was a bit disjointed, I interacted with a lot of people, and we bonded over our shared interests. In general, the smaller size of the convention led to a lot more interaction. There was a big emphasis on community interaction; there were a lot of opportunities to interact with the local artists and small businesses tabling there, and there were a lot of cute meetup events the convention had set up.

I also went to the New York comic convention last year, which was a vastly different experience. As expected, most of the creators in the artist alley there were of a more professional variety, but there were still a lot of local artists and businesses in some sections. One thing that surprised me a little bit, though, was the huge emphasis placed on the presence of large brands. A significant portion of the convention halls was dedicated to corporate sponsors, from Bandai to Marvel. There was definitely more of a focus on the consumerism aspect of fandom rather than the community aspect, which is understandable. In a convention with so many people, it's hard to organize smaller events within, and there are so many things going on that I didn’t really fell the need for smaller-scale interactions to fill my time. 

(^Me as Ace from One Piece at New York Comic Con 2024)

One thing that didn't change with the size of the conventions, though, was the enthusiasm of people there. In every single convention I've been to, I've seen amazing cosplays with massive amounts of time and effort put in, ones that probably took months of work, things that people did for no monetary gain. I, personally, like cosplaying a lot! I’ve cosplayed at multiple conventions I’ve been to, and every single time, I've had strangers come up to me to get my picture of me, whether it be because they were cosplaying someone from the same media, or just really liked the character I was cosplaying. It goes the other way around too; there’s a sense of community that comes out of seeing someone who really obviously cares about the same things you do, and seeing a wonderful cosplay is like seeing your favorite characters come to life. 

Overall, my favorite cosplay-related memory is from the New York comic convention. I went with my mom and aunt, and my mom was super excited to cosplay a character from a show she really likes, Bee and PuppyCat. When we were in artist alley, we saw a table full of Bee and PuppyCat related merch, and as we waited in line we slowly realized that the person tabling there was actually the creator of Bee and PuppyCat, Natasha Allegri who we had no idea was going to be there. Both my mom and Natasha Allegri were over the moon, my mom that she was meeting someone who created something she really admired, and Natasha, who was excited someone was cosplaying her character. My mom ended up getting a hug and her portrait drawn by one of her favorite artists, just through cosplay.

(^My mom with her portrait! She's so cool)

Overall, I think going to conventions is a worthwhile experience for anyone! As of right now, I’m prepping to go to the Tampa convention next week with some friends, and I’m very excited.

[gavanalysis]

Fandom

Something a little bit different from the regular blog post, but still a part of my college course, a talk about my experience with fandom and conventions.

As the description for my blog says, before taking this class, I had little to no knowledge of anything anime. The closest things were passing references to Dragon Ball, Naruto, and Sailor Moon, and me knowing Ace Attorney and Persona 5. So in terms of anime fandom, I have no real experience, the same can be said about conventions.

While I don't have any personal experience when it comes to conventions, I know enough about them to think they seem very fun. I recently watched the documentary, True Otaku, and I thought the anime conventions looked like a blast! I even recognized a lot of outfits from different franchises I know of. My only thing is that if I ever go to a convention like that, there is no doubt in my mind that I would have to buy a costume because there is no way I could ever design my own. I have zero artistic skill, I can't draw for crap, my handwriting is horrible, and I can barely draw a straight line even when using a ruler. Even my parents do now want to see the clay abominations I made at "Do Art" as a kid, there is no way I could make my own costume.

(The face was supposed to be a dog...I think)

I love Halloween, I may not trick or treat anymore, but I still love wearing a costume, scaring kids, and seeing other great costumes. Conventions seem just like that to me, but just replace the "scaring kids" part with buying merch.

Outside of True Otaku, I have heard of other similar conventions (namely Comic-Con) through the internet and have seen panels for them and similar events, but the most memorable thing about them that I know about that I haven't already said is the experience a friend of mine had. Her dad has a Jurassic Park car and they were able to tale it to a convention and they had a great time, and I want to say (might need to fact-check this with her) at one convention she was able to meet Matthew Lillard, the guy that plays William Afton in the FNAF movies. Overall, I have heard only good things about conventions.

But now onto my experiences with fandom, and ,more accurately, my thoughts.

I am a fan of many things, mainly video games, tv shows, movies, and YouTubers. I grew up a big fan of Super Mario, Skylanders, and The Rabbids. I may not know much about the Rabbids anymore, Skylanders hasn't had much of anything new since 2018, and Mario is just as enjoyable as ever, but I have moved on to other things, I will always enjoy those franchises and I still cherish them to this day.

But as I have gotten older and have gotten into more things, there is something I have learned and always try to keep in mind. I even said it and most of my thoughts around it in a previous reblog, and I will say it all again. Any fandom has the potential to be very positive and capable of such amazing things that you would not believe, as well as the potential to be negative and toxic.

When people become fans of something, they identify with it, try to have a part of it be theirs with their passion and/or fan works. But there have been far too many times where I have seen that cause people to become defensive over their views of what they consume, patronizing, bullying, hating on, or even trying to cancel others because of it. Over the past two years or so I have been watching Doctor Who, becoming a fan of all things Doctor Who classic and modern. But especially recently, it has gotten to the point where any modern "who" video I watch on YouTube, even on the official channel, has hate comments and the very toxicity I just described. Doctor Who is a show that has been ongoing on and off for over 60 years now with 14-16 different lead actors as the title character, there are many opinions on it and so many people are defensive over them to all else.

Now I'm trying to bash those fans, or the Doctor Who fandom, or fandom in general, I am just of the belief that everything has a light and dark side to it. Anything is capable of great good and great controversy, even you and me. Any fandom must be prepared to take the good with the bad, but always remember to look on the bright side. While fandoms can be toxic, the good things that a fandom can do are great. Conventions, fan works, you name it, those are what make a fandom great, what makes a fandom, a fandom. Even something as simple as watching and leaving a "like" helps, that's what I do. I find that the best way to go about any fandom, no matter how you do so, is to be supportive of what you and others enjoy, and always be respectful. Yes, people can criticize, but only when it's constructive and comes from a place of good. You and others are allowed to enjoy what you enjoy, anything that says less is not on you.

[gavanalysis]

Sailor Moon was such a great watch! The animation style and overall feel of the anime were so fun! I too was a bit surprised with the weight episode, but it and the entire anime from what I have seen had great messages. I am definitely going to continue watching at some point.

Sailor Moon, Aggretsuko, Wandering Son

I did not know what to expect going into these shows, however I was pleasantly surprised with each of them, and they really were special in their own ways. 

To begin, I was really excited that we were going to be watching Sailor Moon. I have seen it practically everywhere as it is one of the most famous works out there, but I have never had the time to sit down and watch it. Starting with the first episode, I was instantly hooked. Just watching the animation gave such a sense of nostalgia and I just felt like a little girl again. I think that the show portrays femininity in such a good and positive way for young girls. Sailor moon is a relatable young girl that uses what would be feminine weaknesses to defeat her foes, and I think that it makes the young audience really comfortable with their own femininity. With the episode about her gaining weight, I was really surprised that a show would tackle a topic like that, but I feel like in the end it did give off a good message that women don’t need to change their bodies for anyone. 

For the show Aggretsuko, I was kind of lost at first, and it took me a while to get into it. I think it approached gender in a very different way than Sailor Moon, but it was still enjoyable nonetheless. Her interactions with the boss really demonstrate how women are treated in the workplace. This is especially shown when the new coworker comes in. The coworker is really bad at his job, and Retsuko is tasked with training him. However, when the new guy makes a mistake, he is faced with gentle criticism, while if Retsuko makes a mistake then she would feel the full wrath of her boss. I just think that it does show the true double standards that exist in real life.

Finally, the last show Wandering Son was a bit of a surprise as well. I think it did a good job of demonstrating how hard it is for young kids to express themselves in a way that is acceptable by society. I think it also shows how many young children deal with depression and mental health issues due to this rejection from society just because they want to perform a different gender than the one that is assigned to them. It really opened my eyes to the situation.

[gavanalysis]

Well I just finished watching a few episodes of three different anime for my college course. I watched the first few episodes of Sailor Moon, a few episodes from Seasons 1 and 2 of Aggretsuko, and most of Wandering Son.

Spoilers for the Plots of Sailor Moon, Aggretsuko Season 1 and 2, and Wandering Son Below!!

Starting with Wandering Son because it's the most light of the three, a great slice of life anime! This anime was a really great depiction of transgenderism and how gender is viewed by society. Everything about this anime was really well-written and realistic with its depiction of a transgender main character, their struggles, stigmas around members of the LGBTQ+ community, and how different people react. I thought this show was a really great causal watch with a simple premise and, to me, a very calm and low-key tone altogether.

Next up, Sailor Moon; I can see why this anime is an absolute classic. I loved the characters and became very invested in them and the plot pretty early on. I don't know if it's just that I'm a sucker for classic cartoons and tv, but I found the overall art style of this show very charming, as well as the formulaic episodic nature. Overall, I had an absolute blast watching Sailor Moon and I am happy to say that I have completed a subconscious goal I had when I learned that Sailor Moon was an anime I was going to watch in this class: that I would finally be able to understand what people meant when saying "magical girl anime" or "Sailor Moon transformation". Honestly, alongside Psycho-Pass, I think I'm putting this anime on my watchlist of anime to finish/properly watch after I am done with this class. Though I am putting it at number three on my watchlist right now because it has 200 episodes (and I only watched like 5), and number two definitely goes to...

Aggretsuko. Holy cungadero I was not expecting anything about this anime. The art style was top-notch, I immediately enjoyed all of the characters (except for the ones that were made to be unlikeable, so great character writing), and I was completely caught off guard from the plot reveal. Death Metal...I was not expecting death metal, the tonal whip lash was amazing. Then the second season somehow topped it even more with Anai. Like Retsuko, I was genuinely afraid from the ending of S2E2. A really fun show, definitely up there on my list of favorite anime just below A Place Further Than the Universe, holy.

[gavanalysis]

Humanizing the characters and addressing the negative stereotypes around otakus is what Genshiken did best, remaining respectful to the culture throughout the entire series.

As for your thoughts on how fandom can sometimes be toxic instead of positive, that has been a belief I have had for a very long time. Any fandom has the potential to be very positive and amazing as well as negative and toxic. There have been too many times where I have seen be so defensive over how they view their favorite media that they go out of their way to patronize, hate on, or even try to cancel others. Especially recently when it comes to DC with the Snyder vs Gunn Superman debate, or Doctor Who.

I believe that with any fandom you must be prepared to take the good with the bad, but always try your best to look on the bright side and be respectful. It's a reason why I try to be as open and honest as possible in my blogs. I never know who may read my blogs outside of the course, so I add as much context as I can and specify what I know and think as much as possible while remaining professional and honest to myself.

Genshiken

Let me just begin by saying that this anime was a complete 180 compared to what I have been watching these past few weeks. Although initially caught off guard, I grew to really appreciate it, and it gave me some good laughs as I watched. 

The whole otaku culture of Japan was something that I was not particularly familiar with. I will admit that I did have some preconceived notions about the type of people that consumed this type of fictional work, but this show really broke down those stereotypes that I had in my head. My absolute favorite character in the show was Kasukabe, and I feel like she really did a good job of reflecting what the general public feels about otaku initially. One of my favorite scenes was when she found all of the pornographic material in Kosaka’s room and was just genuinely confused about how he could be like that. I think this scene really showed that even though otakus consume sexualized material, it doesn’t mean that they inherently are perverts or weirdos. They are able to separate their actual desires and fictional desires through that critical distance, and I think Kosaka is a great example of that.

 I also thought it was interesting how the friend group served as a home for those that would otherwise be outcasts. Because of their shared interests and enthusiasm for a fictional work, they built their own community that turned into an actual friendship. I think that just goes to show how the idea of fandom culture can really be a positive experience, where a group of people can validate your passions or interests without fear of judgment or shame. As great as this sounds, I do feel like sometimes social media can turn this into a very negative and toxic thing. As someone who consumes a lot of media, I have seen the toxicity surrounding fandoms in every aspect or industry. Whether it be pop stars, sports teams, or social media influencers, this fandom mentality can be equally harmful as it is helpful.

[gavanalysis]

So I just finished watching most of Genshiken Seasons 1 and 2 for my college course, and I have a few thoughts.

This anime was much more of a slow-burn compared to the other ones I have watched for my class, no fantastical elements, no major plot, and no magic phones, deeply-written antagonists, or self-loathing protagonists defined by childhood trauma, just realistic, character-driven episodes. The anime is about the "otaku" fandom culture, with the premise being about college students in an otaku-based club. I enjoyed learning about the otaku culture through this show and I thought the characters were pretty well-written and enjoyable with plenty of funny moments! But besides that, this anime is currently my least favorite one so far.

Before this anime, I would have said that my least favorite one so far was Eden of the East (ironically, also named after the group of young adults in the story, now that I think about it). The reason why, as I have said in a few different blogs now, was because I feel like the writers showed their hand with the plot too soon and then proceeded to not take it to its full potential. It is not like I hate Eden of the East, far from it, I feel like if the plot was tweaked just a little, it likely would be near the top of my list. I think Eden of the East has had one of the more original and interesting plots so far, it's why I keep bringing it up. The word that would best explain why I would rank the anime low on my favorite list is "disappointed". But getting back on topic, for Genshiken, I would use a different word, but I don't know what it is.

My thoughts on Genshiken overall can be best summed up by something I briefly said in a reblog referencing a certain aspect of Shin Sekai Yori, there is nothing intricately wrong with it, Genshiken just wasn't my cup of tea, and there is nothing wrong with that, just my personal preference. Like I said with Eden of the East, it isn't like I hated it or anything, it has just been the weakest link to me. Why? I don't know, I guess I just didn't connect to it as much as I did with the other ones. But that's fine, nothing against the anime, "it's just, personally, not my cup of tea".

[gavanalysis]

Coming-of-age! That was the phrase I was looking for with my last post! Wolf Children really was a great slice-of-life coming-of-age film. Even though her leaving the parent's house was only briefly shown at the end of the film, the themes of coming-of-age also applied to Yuki with her maturity.

Blog Post - Naruto / Wolf Children / A Silent Voice

I heard a lot about Naruto before this class, and I was glad that I got to see what the hype was all about. I liked how it used historical references with the war.  One of the situations that we often see in history is someone wanting to make a change, but doing it the wrong way. Pain went about it through violence, and I connected this to Malcolm X’s famous quote, “by any means necessary”. After all his pain, violence was the only thing that Pain thought would truly scare them.

I liked the movie Wolf Children. I think that it demonstrated the importance of having a community that supports you to be able to live out your dreams. It also went into being able to dismiss what other people think about what you want to do and who you want to be. Ame wanted to be a wolf, and it took his mother's treacherous route in the rain to finally understand that he is not coming back. I think that this was also a coming-of-age movie. In the US, it is common for people to leave their parents’ houses at 18, when they legally become an adult. For Ame, he was considerably an adult in wolf years and left the house to be on his own and pursue his passions. 

In A Silent Voice, there was a lot of bullying. I have always seen bullying as a good thing as long as it does not go too far. I think it makes the person confident in themselves when it happens once or twice, but it is not okay when it happens excessively, and that is exactly what happened in the show. Internalized hatred is very common when people are discriminated against. They believe what others say about them, and they see the world through the eye of someone else’s hate. It is unfortunate that this happens at all.

[gavanalysis]

So I just spent the last three days (though mostly yesterday), watching three (kinda four?) different anime for my college course. The first episode of Naruto, "The Pain Arc" from Naruto Shippūden, the film Wolf Children, and the film A Silent Voice, and I have quite a lot to say about them.

Spoilers to the Pain Arc of Naruto and MAJOR SPOILERS for Wolf Children and A Silent Voice!!!

When I signed up to take a course revolving around analyzing anime, there were three popular anime that I had actually heard of that I immediately assumed would appear: Dragon Ball Z, Naruto, and Sailor Moon. Looking ahead at the schedule, I was two out of three (sorry Dragon Ball fans). So finally getting to watch one of those anime I heard so much about, (albeit, the first episode and a single arc), is something I am very happy about. Overall, I enjoyed what I saw. Naruto seems like a fun main character and Pain was an interesting villain with a cool power concept and deep origin.

As for Wolf Children, I will admit that at first, I had a bad feeling. I think it was that the beginning and opening premise reminded me a bit too much of what little I have seen and know about Twilight, something I was not a fan of at all. But I immediately got over my hesitations the moment Hana became widowed with the two children and the real plot began. After that, I enjoyed every part of this film. I especially loved how Yuki and Ame remained two sides of the same coin throughout the film but flipped which side they were on. Yuki at first being the wild child, constantly hunting and running around everywhere, embracing her wolf half, while Ame was the timid one who did not want to be a wolf at all. Then once they both started school, Yuki matured and started hiding her wolf half out of fear, while Ame stopped going to school and began to fully embrace his wolf half, living in the wild. The parallel character development and switch were brilliant, overall, this film felt like a great slice-of-life film of growing up, discrimination, and acceptance.

Then there is A Silent Voice. I am already feeling a bit choked up again just from writing this. I have so much to say about this film I can write an entire post of my thoughts on this film by itself and it would be enough to satisfy the writing requirement for this module's blog writing assignment, but alas. I felt so bad for both Nishimiya and Ishida the whole film. One of the themes for this film was self-hatred and regret. Ishida regrets everything that happened with Nishimiya in elementary school, everything he did, and he is a broken man from the fallout and doesn't truly recover until the very end. Nishimiya hates herself because of the pain and stress that she blames herself and her condition for bringing on to others. They both hate themselves so much that at pivotal points of the film, they attempt to take their own lives. It is such a heavy, yet, well-executed theme. Other characters besides Ishida and Nishimiya showcase other means of addressing their own self-hatred. Sahara chooses to run away and hate herself in silence, Kawai pushes her self-hatred away and convinces herself that she did nothing wrong and that she was a victim, and Ueno pushes all of her hate onto one person. Something else that I found very interesting about this film is how the two characters' self-hatred stems from some form of discrimination. The most obvious one is Nishimiya being deaf, meanwhile, Ishida hates himself because he was discriminated against for being a bully. Though I do not know how intentional it was, but I could not help but draw comparisons to cancel culture with what happened with Ishida. Especially when Yuzuru posted a picture of him online and called him a creep, and there subsequent talk in the rain.

To summarize my thoughts, I thought Wolf Children and what little I have seen of Naruto were both great and very well written! As for A Silent Voice, I highly recommend watching it if you haven't, probably my favorite anime that I have watched so far alongside A Place Further Than the Universe.

[gavanalysis]

I will admit, even though this isn't personally my least favorite anime that we have watched currently, the uncomfortably dark subject matter of the show really tanked a bit of my enjoyment as well. It made me not sure what to think or how to feel about this anime most of the time. I liked the characters, I thought the twists were all really well done, and overall I still liked this show, but the only thing was that plot was a bit uncomfortable. Not that there is anything wrong with that, it's just personally not my cup of tea.

Shin Sekai Yori

When going into this anime I didn’t really know what to expect. Then after the first scene of the boy ruthlessly murdering the people in the city, I was really caught off guard. It then clicked as I watched why we were assigned to watch this in the first place.

I would like to say that I enjoyed the show, but that would not be entirely true just based on the fact that I don’t love shows like that. However, I will say that it did a great job of creating suspense and making the viewer feel uneasy and anxious. What seemed like a cute story of a group of children at a magic school quickly turned into a thriller of disappearing children, demons, and monsters. It became clear that the children that did not pass the psychological and personality tests that the school gave out were eliminated, demonstrating the idea of a strict surveillance system. Then, when the children eventually found out about the history of their society, and how PK users used to rule, they began to understand the fear of their society. Although dramatized, this show demonstrates in a way how society today treats children, especially in the education system. Those that cannot keep up, or demonstrate tendencies of learning disabilities, are separated from the rest, and increasingly surveilled. They become part of a system, documented and watched over. 

Just like in the show, this surveillance can be good, but it can also have negative effects. For one, children who need extra help or attention receive it, but they are deemed as being abnormal and isolated from the “normal” children. No matter how much society aims to understand the psychology behind children and their actions, there are just some cases where their actions do not make sense, like the case of Shonen A. I think that the show does a good job of calling out this fear that society has and shedding light on the idea of the “wild child”. It also proposes the idea of a life where this type of surveillance and punishment system is not necessary, which is not totally realistic but it does offer some hope that this system can be improved in the future.

[gavanalysis]

I recently watched Shin Sekai Yori/From The New World and I must say, the premise around this series is probably the heaviest topic I have come across thus far.

MAJOR SPOILERS for Shin Sekai Yori (From The New World) and Discussion of a Serious and Heavy Topic Below!

I watched this show as part of a college course I am currently taking. Before watching this anime, there was a lecture about some of the context around this anime. Namely, the 1997 "Shonen A killings" in Japan. The name Shonen A is derived of Shonen, the Japanese word for boy, and the "A" is as in number one. The Shonen A killings were when an unnamed 14 year old boy brutally murdered two other children completely inexplicably and threatened to do it again. The lore and premise of Shin Sekai Yori is taking the fear caused by that tragedy to the extreme, having either a or the Shonen A be the first known person to have the Cantus abilities and use them to kill people. After more people like Shonen A, labeled "fiends", do the same, a society is eventually precariously formed to ensure no child ends up becoming another fiend, using genetic modification and creating exaggerated stories to keep them in line. After what happened with K (a telling continuation of the "A" part of Shonen A), even getting rid of any child that shows any possibility of psychological problems of any sort, whether it be isolation or callous disregard for the rules. With some of the major twists of the anime being how far this society has gone to protect the future, even mutating humans without powers into the genesis of the queerats.

I honestly do not know how to feel about this anime. I liked it and thought it was pretty good. But I was not expecting how dark the themes would be, and a lot of them brought back to mind something that happened to a friend of mine.

I had a friend who went to the same school as me in Elementary School that went to the same Middle and High School as I did; I even remember her saying one day that she thought I was the only person who went to the same three schools as her. That was until Senior year of High School, she moved to a different school. The next thing I heard from her was that she got arrested. It was at a prom or school dance, she was bored and not having a good time, so without thinking, she jokingly said on one of her social something along the lines of, "yeah, I'm shooting up the school". Now I will admit, while she did not mean what she said, she was in the wrong and should not have done that, and I do not condone what she did even though she absolutely did not mean it, it was in the end only a joke. But especially in the first few episodes, the comparisons I made from the anime to that were still there. The only difference was what the Tainted Cat did, and I too wonder where she is now, and knowing her, I hope she is doing well.

[gavanalysis]

Another thing that makes Psycho-Pass so fascinating is that it takes a fairly straight-forward plot of a futuristic surveillance society where the police are sent after people because of their state of mind and takes it to its fullest potential. The anime makes the ethics of such a world take center stage, having most antagonists and even the Enforcers constantly question the system.

"Fools learn from experience, while the wise learn from history."

I know I said this before in my last post, but Psycho-Pass might be one of the best anime I've seen this YEAR. I may be biased because of my interest in everything sci-fi, but the anime's concept was executed perfectly. I also love the not-so-underlying theme of ethics in safety and the measures to maintain that safety in society. I think the anime as a whole serves as a fortune-telling spyglass that suggests a world that has a possibility of happening shortly. Over the past few decades, we have had significant technological advancements, which have also raised questions on how these innovations should be regulated, if even regulated at all. Right off the first episode, the viewers are thrust into this futuristic version of Japan, with holographic images and drones all around. The presence of drones all around already presents the idea that in this world, a higher power wants to keep its eye on everybody, everywhere. The first episode does a great job of introducing us to how society works while also keeping the plot moving forward. We learn that citizens are scanned and their mental state is evaluated by drones that the “higher power” controls. When evaluated, a system known as the “Siybl System” determines the risk/possibility of the person committing a crime or being a danger to those around them. This essentially means people can be reprimanded or targeted by authorities because of their thoughts or state of mind. Today, the thought of authorities doing this would be ludicrous, but this anime leaves us rethinking whether something like this is impossible. This very feature is what influences the main plots in Psycho-Pass. We see how society is affected by this feature when a scene of a man brutally murdering someone in public is met with a somewhat apathetic reaction from the crowd. It is later revealed that citizens don’t know how to react to something so absent because they had never had an idea that the act could be possible. Overall, Psycho-Pass isn't just an anime with sleek visuals and high-stakes action; the anime challenges the viewers to imagine and consider the ethics of a world that prioritizes order and safety over individual freedoms.

10/10 from me. See ya!