#Jun Inagawa

[nasaturnona]

[animehouse-moe]

The Best of 2023 Anime

First of all, I have to say that this isn't my idea: it's @444lpblue's idea. I'm just stealing it getting to it it before they do.

Anyways, the idea was to pick the best for several categories in relation to anime from 2023, and share why they were chosen. This doesn't necessarily mean I'll be picking my favorites from the year, but what I think is the best of the best, so there'll be a few interesting choices made (but I think that makes it more fun). Enough preamble though, I should just get to sharing my list.

Best Show - Heavenly Delusion

I don't think this one is much of a surprise. Heavenly Delusion, by and large, is an outstanding show (and adaptation) in all meanings of the word.

I think the best way to explain what constitutes a "best show" is by asking the question: how much of the medium does this series make use of?

With Heavenly Delusion? The answer is effectively everything. Visual storytelling, auditory cues, leading the viewer visually, incredible foreshadowing, expressive and detailed character acting, apt humor, incredible visual effects. The list goes on and on. Frieren was a great show, Skip and Loaf was a great show, The Witch From Mercury was a great show. But the best can't fall short in nearly any category, and Heavenly Delusion successfully evades that pitfall at every twist and turn within its twelve episodes.

Personally speaking, it was a show for the ages. Sure, we have Frieren pushing the boundaries in terms of visual quality in a seasonal anime, but I think the difference in terms of experience between Frieren and Heavenly Delusion is night and day- an entirely incomparable experience.

Best Movie - The Boy and The Heron

I mean, is there really another choice? The Black Clover movie was good, the Kaguya movie was good. Suzume, The First Slam Dunk, Blue Giant. There are quite a few good movies out there, but let's be real- you just can't win if you're against Miyazaki.

Best Episode - Heavenly Delusion Episode 10

Yeah yeah, sue me, I picked something a lot of people have also picked. But just know in the deepest parts of my heart that this would always be my pick. Junichi's character arc and its expression through this episode is sublime. Ikarashi's insane Trigger style meshing with Hirotaka's more voyeuristic appeal is sublime. The panic of Kiruko as she runs with the baby, the goofy and excessive humor that opens the episode, all the various examples of symbolism. The art shifting art styles, the different approaches to animation. The list quite honestly does not end. While some might argue for Frieren's dragon episode as the entry for best of the year, I think the frame of reference for that argument is far too narrow. The perspective of animation and visuals above all else completely fails in the face of holy trinity of Masakazu Ishiguro, Mori Hirotaka, and Kai Ikarashi. You just cannot beat it, and you can't argue it in any way.

Best Opening - Magical Destroyers

It was a toss up between this and Heavenly Delusion, but I just can't get rid of this opening in my head. It's like a plague that's taken me over. Incredible visuals, incredible boards and animation work, and just an incredible testament to Jun Inagawa's art. Heavenly Delusion's OP is very good, but in a way can, oddly enough, feel too literal in comparison to the comparatively indecipherable story that the OP of Magical Destroyers tells. Really, just wonderful work all around that I desperately wish could have extended to the anime itself.

Best Ending - Magical Destroyers

This was always a one person race. Would it be Taiki Konno's Magical Destroyers ending, or would it be Taiki Konno's Undead Unluck ending?

Personally, I don't think there was much of a contest between the two purely because of the story told with the Magical Destroyers ending. I think that giving Konno a static ending also helped a great deal as they were able to explore their vision in much greater detail than having to animate directly.

But that's also the beauty of Inagawa's appeal, really. Konno and Inagawa got along like a house on fire with this ending, and adding The 13th Tailor's music overtop just brought it to a totally different level. Still a massive massive favorite of mine.

Best Animation Designs - Trigun Stampede

Now, just hear me out. 3D animation's sore spot has always been expressiveness, and bringing anime original designs to such an intensely beloved and cult classic series is an insane challenge.

Orange, of course, was totally up to the challenge and brought what I'd argue has become a modern icon of Vash the Stampede. The facial expressions, reactions, and interactions were impeccable. The larger movements were incredibly fluid and full of life and feeling. The cloth and other materials were amazing to experience.

The designs feel almost effortless in the context of 3D animation, and I really have to stress that that is a huge challenge. Look at how other characters look in 3D vs how these ones look. Really, really impressive work in my books.

Best Aesthetic - Bleach Thousand Year Blood War: The Separation

Bleach has, and always will be, a very aesthetically pleasing series. There's plenty of moments to pull from, but I think the second cour of TYBW presents the pinnacle of Bleach in anime form.

The lighting, the backgrounds and environments, the insane levels of composition: TYBW The Separation is the highest reaches of style Bleach has mustered to this date.

And really, there's not anything else to it. The iconic red and blue palette, the crazy details in highlights and shadows, the incredible color schemes and storyboards. It's simply Number 1.

And that's as far as the list goes. Pretty simple, but a pretty fun exercise in looking back on the year in terms of more specific aspects. Does highlight the gulf between good and great though, as there's many series that can qualify as "good", but very very few that can really be reasonably considered for accolades such as these.

2024 seems keen on changing that up though, so I'm really looking forward to what all we get for this year!

[valentinesweetheartspecial]

Jun Inagawa

[majokkoradio]

“Magical Destroyer” - Mahou Shoujo Magical Destroyers - April 8, 2023

[bunnymajo]

I wanted to know more about Jun Inagawa as an artist since I know Magical Destroyers is a passion project for him and that I know he uses magical girls as a motif in his art in general and found this interview from 2020

Interviewer: There are quite a few girls in your artwork and collaborations. The magical girls (an anime and manga category of young girls who use magic to overcome conflict) you frequently post on your Instagram represent you well as an artist. Do they have a backstory or background?

JUN: There’s no specific backstory or anything, but you know how most people depict magical girls as these powerful and perfect ideals? I started drawing them because I thought it was better to have magical girls who possess a more human quality and are true to themselves. Before long, these characters were smoking and doing drugs. Whenever I would watch anime featuring magical girls with a strong sense of doing what’s right for others, I would assume weird things about them: “it doesn’t matter if they’re cute because they do bad things in the dark.” So, I decided to draw magical girls with their bad side out in the open. It’s not like I have a message I want to convey through these characters. Nothing deep. I’ve always enjoyed watching anime with girl protagonists and drawing girls, so it’s just an extension of that.

While I don’t fully agree with his views on magical girls I think it’s neat to have a different interpretations out there and I think he’s got a good understanding that girls are just people too. I wonder if his stance has changed at all in two years too

[deadboylives]

[magideskai]

[Heaven’s First Start Dash] - Anarchy (Initial SSR)

[newsintheshell]

Lo staff di MAGICAL DESTROYERS ha creato un archivio pubblico di clip della serie, scaricabili liberamente da tutti (qua https://magical-mad.com/mad-movie), per facilitare la vita ai fan che volessero creare AMV / MAD. Che dire, chad assoluti!

[jpopstreaming]

🆕 「 Explode (Remixes)」 by JUBEE, JUN INAGAWA, BAKU, Rave Racers Available for streaming worldwide!🌐 Added to our weekly playlist 🎧 https://spoti.fi/3lgjH73

[atarashii-gakko]

[CRUNCHYROLL CONCERT ANNOUNCEMENT]

[cherrygeek]

Everybody let's Party Dragon Ball Style at SDCC with Crunchyroll 

Party with Crunchyroll at San Diego Comic Con Panel, Concert, Giveways and more #SDCC2022 #Crunchyroll #DragonballSuper #88Rising #ATARASHIIGAKKO! #JPop #DJJunInagawa #Panel #Giveway #DanceParty #Panel #FanActivation #CherryLosAngeles

Crunchyroll has big plans for San Diego Comic-Con with panel, booth, anime newspapers, free giveaways at activations, and a PARTY for badge holders AND the release of the upcoming Dragon Ball Super: SUPER HERO to theatres on August 19th (North American theaters).  The SDCC Schedule kicks off on Friday, July 22nd with Toshio Furukawa, the voice actor for Piccolo, and fans are able to watch the…

[nasaturnona]

[animehouse-moe]

Mahou Shoujo Magical Destroyers Episode 4: R U Ready?

Another day, another Magical Destroyers episode. It's not so much predictable as it is informative and relatable, but that doesn't cause the value or enjoyment of it to depreciated as it parades itself around through Inagawa's vision that tackles just as many abstract concepts as it does pieces of otaku culture.

So I think I'll try to keep this one short, since the idea is pretty well established and explained. The episode is effectively all about the rift between generations in otaku culture, as a hobby almost. It's about the modern day reconciling with its roots, and that source lashing out at where they've been forced to come to.

Before I get into that though, I want to establish some history with the term Otaku. It originated in the 80s, much like the otaku shown in this episode, and it is indeed a word that's come to embody a similar meaning to how English speakers see "geek" and "nerd", but it wasn't always that way.

Otaku is a very finnicky term in its early years. Originally, it was popularized as term in a magazine that was known for Lolicon Hentai content (though it was later lessened due to reader feedback). Regardless, the term came to be a way to refer to who we see as Otaku thanks to a columnist that would write articles titled "Otaku Research" (Otaku no kenkyuu). From there, it saw use at a marginally harsher version of "geek" or "nerd". Basically, like how old school movies would have bullies refer to kids as a geek. Derogatory and aggressive, but not something full of distaste or anything.

That changed at the end of the 80s though. As the term Otaku gained ground it was used by more, and was forever attached to the "Otaku Murders". Tsutomu Miyazaki was in their late 20s at the end of the 80s, and was a serial killer at the center of a batch of gruesome acts over the course of a year. After being caught and arrested, media began to label Miyazaki as an Otaku and created a massive moral panic to erupt towards the group in Japan at the time. The piece that remains interesting however is that Miyazaki's collection was largely live action horror and pornography, but the media ran with his collection being largely anime and manga.

It's very heavy, but it's how the life of the term Otaku really started. An immediate plummet towards rock bottom that created an intense separation and hatred of Otaku in Japanese society. Outcasts, people that are unable to understand or relate to reality, people that cannot integrate with society, failures. It was a harsh and terrible time to be an Otaku, which this episode does a solid job of depicting while leaving out the heavier aspects.

And within that, a rift is formed. The older otaku who struggled to enjoy their hobby, versus the younger otaku who know nothing of strife. It's a great interaction as you see it all over the place with generations across media and hobbies. Car guys, music (particularly stuff like Rap), even video games. The challenges that faced earlier generations were their rite of passage, one that newer generations never cleared or struggled with. And on the opposite end, why would the newer generations respect that struggle when they have everything in front of them and have their own issues?

It's a back and forth that, even though it's covered comically, gets the point across of the generational gaps in hobbies and the distaste that each sees in the other. So very much something that holds particular value in otaku culture, but can also be applied and related to other hobbies and interests.

Okay, well this is not short but there's still more to, sorry! I'll try to breeze through it.

It's impossible to remove tropes and clichés from the root of how many fans see and understand anime these days, so I like how much they're leaned on through this series alongside expectation subversion. It's fun, definitely not fresh, but an enjoyable feeling of nostalgia for the illogical and odd nonetheless.

Plus, random fanservice? Gotta love it, and how it both sort of mocks the pointless scenes of women in animanga, while also placing the sexualization of Blue in her own court.

The pervasion of Otaku culture in interaction and casual dialogue is still quite fun and it finds the right times to make it funny versus making it something closer to a parody. I wouldn't exactly call it a parody as it's not mocking it per se, but it's certainly not an entirely serious depiction either.

In addition to that, I'm also still liking the sort of romantic undertones that the characters give off randomly. I'm unaware as to whether or not it's an intentional piece, but it really adds to that immature feel that pervades a lot of the shallow aspects of the story. You can see it as the weird and wacky Magical Girl comedy that's a high schooler's vision, or you can see the pieces that it expresses underneath. It's easy to take the shallow without the depth, but the latter doesn't come without the former.

And I think that's an important piece to remember with Magical Destroyers. You can take it as it gives it you and have a good time if you're okay with the production value, but you can't separate the two facets of Inagawa's approach to his work in this anime. In for a penny in for a pound, and I think fans that dive in headfirst are really appreciating what Inagawa's giving out.

[magicalgirlagency]

@mew-cake is totally correct when she said that Magical Destroyers could've been so much better if the story was told through the perspective of a girl otaku; like how girls often have to deal with shit like gatekeeping and uncomfortable sexualization in otaku/fandom circles, being constantly scrutinized for committing the unforgivable sin of having a hobby and enjoying things.

So, I just had a quick idea for a rewrite/reboot (it may not be perfect, but here's what my brain could muster):

Otaku Hero is the Magical Girls' Aniki (Big Bro), a mentor of sorts. He pulls a Project Mew by constructing the pocket-sized assistant Kyunsuke to search for the three heroines to help him in leading his otaku revolution and freeing his colleagues from systemic oppression.

The assistant gives the girls three tote bags as their main henshin item, each of them with a different costume inside (referencing cosplay). The costumes are fueled by the girls' willpower, making their innermost desires come to life.

Each of the Magical Girls has a theme that pertrains to otaku culture, or rather, a protest against its rotten treatment of female characters (as well as a desire to see more female characters that aren't moe-moe-kyun):

Anarchy-chan (who I'll refer to as "Akane" because seriously, these girls were so objectified to the point that they didn't even had names!) should've represented the female character who is loud and boisterous. She's not cute nor sweet, she doesn't exist to appease to your desires. Her weapon is a war hammer;

Blue (who I'll refer to as "Nanami") should've represented the female character who is sexually confident. She's not perpetually horny, but she has an issue with how female characters are often percieved as and pure, sinless and ignorant virgins. Her weapon is a whip;

Pink (who I'll refer to as "Momoko") should've represented the female character with unusual hobbies. She doesn't enjoy girly hobbies like shopping and make-up, strongly preferring to study about drugs and firearms instead. Her weapon is an infinite assortment of grenades and smoking bombs.

Each of these girls represent a desire of seeing more nuanced and fleshed-out female characters in media. A want for more female characters with traits and personalities so fucked up that they'd be much more well-recieved if they were male characters.

Alongside their mentor, they fight for theirs and other people's rights to express themselves without fear nor scrutiny.

Not to discredit Jun Inagawa (he seems to be genuinely passionate about what he does), but if he really wanted to show Magical Girls being foul and rude, then he should've fully committed to the bit instead of falling into the tired and outdated animanga tropes and stereotypes.

If it's not done with proper care, research and hours of thought, then maybe your "passion project" wasn't passionate at all.

[yaraaltrospace]

MAGICAL DESTROYERS: LOVE, MAD, DESTROY!

In case we really don't get a second season or movie to finish (whatever the Japanese industry decides and/or Jun Inagawa and his staff feel like doing), I pondered a possible final that could be made either of these two ways.

Starting from the end of season 1, with the supposed death of Otaku Hero and the new Revolutionary Army rising, and after battling the Magical Destroyers, Otaku Hero Second take the microphone and blurt out "LOVE, MAD, DESTROY! OTAKU HERO LIVES!" before disappearing with the resistance.

Shobon, humiliated, vents to Origin about the situation and she nonchalantly ignores him, telling him simply that "the game isn't over", and this "new player" could be an interesting addition, since things were getting mundane and boring; they'll need to improvise a new script.

Meanwhile, Anarchy still ponders over the faint memory of Otaku Hero, and how that fight with the resistance was fun despite the Magical Destroyers not winning. She also can't seem to forget the LOVE, MAD, DESTROY words for some reason, and this glitches something in her mind, causing a similar pain to when she fought Slayer.

Late at night, when Otaku Hero Second visits the place where the first Otaku Hero was buried, Anarchy meets him, and as they battle, her pain increases, and more glimpses of Otaku Hero's past appear in her mind, until she stops herself from killing Otaku Hero Second just as the other Revolutionary Army members arrive. He notices the tears in her eyes, but she shouts and opens the buried grave of Otaku Hero... only to find it open. No body, just the items left by the rebellion.

As the resistance take a "glitched" (eyes glitching) Anarchy to their base, Otaku Hero Second comments their memories and love for Otaku Hero could never be truly erased, and the empty coffin proves that somewhere in the SSC, Otaku Hero is being kept prisoner for the past two years; him and many other otaku that supposedly died are being used to keep this game going. He recalls the day of Otaku Hero's "demise", and how thanks to the Magical Destroyers being controlled by the SSC, he was given the chance to escape and inform the Army survivors of all he learned while working there, including the failsafe Origin hid inside the game world's codes for some reason, LOVE, MAD, DESTROY.

When Anarchy wakes up, she laughs and cries at the same time, her memories still vague but returning, her uniform losing the dark pieces; as she asks Otaku Hero Second about Otaku Hero, he invites her to return to the Revolutionary Army and end that sick game. Meanwhile, Blue and Pink find strange how Anarchy disappeared "again", this being a recurrent thing during the two years they worked for the SSC. Shobon then gives them two separate missions to locate and destroy the resistance, and enters a secret room full of coffins like the ones Otaku Hero was in, only these having various plugs and wires attached to it, and there are also three incubation chambers illuminating a wall.

In both spots, the resistance alongside Anarchy manage to trap Blue and Pink, and make them confront their previous interests and things they liked and wanted, like surströmming and drugs, as well as spreading the LOVE, MAD, DESTROY failsafe message; their memories return in small glimpses just as happened with Anarchy. Despite the success of having the Magical Destroyers back in the resistance, Otaku Hero Second is sure that "this whole thing going so well might be a bad signal".

And true to that, Shobon has a new army, so powerful it annihilates an entire army of SSC members. He wonders if these will be enough to truly get things back on track... but Origin just tell him to get the new level tested by tomorrow.

Anarchy is talking to Otaku Hero Second, commenting on her memories coming back completely and how much regret she felt for everything she did while in the SSC, and sure she could never have her dream realized with all she knew now. However, he encourages her, reminding her of Otaku Hero's determination and trust on her, and sure he'd forgive her and the others, because that's the sort of person he is; Anarchy then wonders where he could be if he's indeed still alive after everything.

Their conversation is interrupted as thousands of blasts come from far away; the new army of Shobon is revealed: Magical Destroyers clones, all wearing different sets of clothes, and yet looking like their corrupted versions. The Destroyers hesitate, remembering how fighting with counterparts caused their turn to SSC in the first place, but Otaku Hero Second has a plan to uncover all the hidden truths Shobon's sick game have, and that this time, no more lives would be lost or corrupted.

The Destroyers lead three separate armies to battle the clones, and soon realize that despite their amazing strength and magical ability akin to theirs, they don't last very long after using all their magic, and end up melting or falling apart. With the memories of their battles beside Otaku Hero and their own promise between each other to take that world back, they push forward, and pray that Otaku Hero Second and his team achieve their goal.

Using their subterranean knowledge and improved stealth, Otaku Hero Second infiltrate the SSC building, and find the many higher-up supporters hiding in fear, begging for mercy and to stop "those abominations", pointing how they annihilated the original army and that Shobon threatened them as their next target if they stopped financing; Otaku Hero Second then force one of them to lead him to Origin, but they have no idea who that is.

A red light then lures him to the secret room, where he finally finds the body of Otaku Hero and the other otakus inside the coffins; despite his theory indeed being confirmed, as he looks up to the incubation chambers, he's shocked to see Anarchy, Blue and Pink. Otaku Hero then awakens from the coffin Second opened, and after getting quickly summarized on the situation, aims to "free the original Destroyers", the girls Shobon took to be their "main characters", creating the magical girls he met; however, they cannot just break their chambers, for there is still one obstacle to their freedom: Origin.

As the Destroyers make their way among the melting clones, Shobon threatens them, once again recalling how he made that perfect world and they were doing their job well, but they reaffirm their beliefs and wishes, not even caring when he threatens to reveal the "truth", Anarchy being somewhat aware of it thanks to Otaku Hero Second, and that their "real selves" deserve to live their reality and dreams as well. Fed up, Shobon calls once more their counterparts, born from the melted bodies of the armies they fought, and grown into a gigantic form. However, this time, the magical girls don't fight them, but hold them back.

Both Otaku Heroes them march again towards Shobon's room, and meet a bathing Origin; she nonchalantly as always claim how this world can be remodeled and recreated on her will, and comments on the behavior of the magical girls towards her; Otaku Hero and Second then point it wasn't unfounded, since some part of their real selves remained on the clones Shobon made. She then chuckles at how he's also replaceable on her view, but she keeps him around for being entertaining and knowing how to plan stories, showing a storyboard book to them. As Otaku Hero catches it, he fears for what the next pages might bring, but then... see they're all white. Otaku Hero Second then questions Origin on why never doing anything against the remains of the Revolutionary Army, and allow them to keep existing and spread rumors about Otaku Hero, and she admits not wanting the fun to end; despite her being immortal, she has seen too many worlds created and destroyed for her, only for her to end up lonely and bored again; this world and the real-life game she convinced Saito/Shobon to make has been the most fun she's witnessed so far. Otaku Hero is livid at her indifference with the lives she dragged into this real-life game she made, and all that didn't survived or sacrificed themselves for each side, but Otaku Hero Second asks about the white pages, and she admits Shobon has no talent for improvisation and kind of stopped after their encounter with her was put in the pages.

[bunnymajo]

An original television anime by underground art and music creator Jun Inagawa, revealed a new visual and teaser video for the anime on Friday. The video highlights the magical girl Anarchy, and reveals the main cast members, more staff, and the anime's 2023 premiere.