#many characters in one scene my unbeloved

[lit-in-thy-heart]

‘It was me.’

Even in his weakened state, with the blood matted in the roots of his hair and dusting his forehead, with a scarlet hand still pressed to the bandage around his midriff, Lancelot’s voice was commanding. It had been his voice that Elyan had fallen in love with first, with the way it had reminded him so much of the summer breeze, but all thoughts of love were now overcome with a growing sense of dread.

Arthur’s voice was not commanding. It was disbelieving and verging on desperate. ‘What?’

‘It was me. I used magic to defeat the attackers.’ Lancelot pushed himself further up against the log, face convulsing in pain. ‘I’m dying anyway.’

Beside Lancelot, Merlin flinched violently.

‘You’re not dying,’ Elyan sharply said. ‘And it wasn’t him.’

Gwaine was looking at Lancelot with deep lines running across his forehead. ‘You’re a sorcerer?’ His eyes slid momentarily towards Merlin, who was keeping his gaze deliberately averted. ‘But—’

‘You’re a knight of Camelot,’ Leon broke in. ‘You can’t...’

‘Just because we’re knights of Camelot doesn’t mean we can easily strip away every part of who we are to sacrifice our souls for the crown, for the idea of being worth something,’ Lancelot lowly said. ‘I thought that for a long time. I lost myself to the dream...’ He looked towards Elyan with exhausted eyes. ‘But I can’t lose some parts of me.’

Elyan could feel Percival behind him, could feel his own heart thundering, and he tried to moisten his lips before speaking. ‘It wasn’t Lancelot. It was me.’

[ablazenqueen]

Someone on my last post demanded my full Pran’s Friends Are The Best Rant™ and I’m weak, so here we go! This is gonna be a long one so buckle up.

I’m going to break this down into four categories to avoid going off on a tangent: Loyalty, Trust, Support, Understanding. And for (attempted) brevity’s sake, I’m only going to break down one-two example of each.

Loyalty:

Obviously, we see this right from the get-go.

Wai trusts his friends will come to help him and they, of course, do. No questions asked, they rush to his side. The thing that I love about this is that Pran’s friend group is shown to be mostly pacifist. Wai is really the one who always charges in headfirst. He starts the fight with Pat’s group all on his own - and he is most certainly the one who initiates - and he’s always the one who (when pushed by My Most Dearly Unbeloved, Korn) tries to start physical brawls everytime the two departments argue.

I like to imagine they’re just a group of goodie-two-shoes that adopted this chaotic little troublemaker and decided they would protect him. But moral of the story, this is a crew that backs each other up, physically and emotionally.

Another note I want to make about this scene is that it does a good job of establishing Pran’s friends as their own characters. Sure, narratively their role in the plot is to serve as “Pran’s friends” by default because Pran is one of the two protagonists, but we understand immediately from the start that they aren’t just sidekicks. Interestingly enough, aside from the whole ordeal with Pat, Pran is a pretty passive member in his friend group. I’m pretty sure that he would be the least likely to initiate fights, even without Pat being involved. And the fact that our very first scene starts with Wai challenging Pat and Wai getting caught up in a fight and Wai rallying his troops? For a hot second there, it feels like he’s the main character. And I mean that as a good thing. The group spends time together but they aren’t attached at the hip like a single entity, they do things unrelated to Pran, they’re the protagonists in their own stories (mainly Wai, we don’t see too much of the others).

Trust:

The scene I mentioned in my previous post is an excellent example of a subtle sign of trust.

Pran shoves Wai and Wai doesn’t even flinch or retaliate. He instead stumbles, surprised but not angry. Because this is Pran, this is his friend, and Wai trusts that he means no harm.

But another scene that I want to point out is this one.

This one is a good display of both trust and loyalty.

Wai senses that Pran feels unsure and sees Pat as a threat, so he immediately steps in. Pran backed Wai up when Pat first cornered him, Wai will back Pran up if Pat tries anything now. Theirs is, in every way, a friendship with equal give and take.

And now Pran. The way he stands behind him, looking very unsure but safe. He fully trusts that his friends, Wai especially, will protect him. Unbeknownst to his friends, in this case the protection is probably more emotional than physical. It’s hard to tell if Pran does or doesn’t want Pat to be able to approach him and I think that’s because it’s both. Emotionally, the idea of Pat being worried and wanting to comfort him is appealing. Intellectually, he knows that they can’t show their friends that side of him. And beyond that, he’s still jealous over Pat’s crush on Ink. The nicer Pat is to him, the harder it is to remember that, as far as Pran’s (incorrectly) concerned, Pat is not into him. Obviously, he is but that’s a rant for another post. In this way, Wai - without even knowing it - serves as an emotional shield that Pran can hide behind and feel secure.

I also want to point out Pat’s reaction here (and how it qualifies as one of the many little things that makes his relationship with Pran so good). He backs off. Yes, I know that doesn’t sound like a big deal. But we can probably all think of an example where a character’s love interest is being shielded by someone else which leads them to using force to barrel through. Pat doesn’t do that. He sees that Pran feels safe behind Wai, he sees that Pran doesn’t want him to come closer, he knows that Pran would be upset if he fought with Wai, so he respects Pran’s unspoken but understood wishes and boundaries. And, as such, he backs off.

Understanding:

I want to point out two scenes here specifically.

First:

This scene isn’t hugely significant but on a surface level, I like the way it cements how well the group knows each other. Wai “gently modifies” the explanation for why Pat’s group was chasing him and Pran can immediately tell and calls him out on it. However, there’s also a deeper understanding than that as the conflict between the two groups grows. Pat’s friends bully Wai at work and post a video of it, and Pran’s friends understand how upsetting this is for him and they back him up in getting revenge. It’s something that can easily be overlooked from the outside. “That’s a dumb reason to fight.” But to his friends, even Pran once he finds out, who understand him and see the insult to Wai as a personal insult to them? It means a lot more than that. It means something to him so it means something to them.

Second:

Wai isn’t just describing the definition of a secret crush. Sure, it starts that way but as he sees Pran’s reaction, he starts actively watching Pran and describing what he’s doing. He starts describing “smiling when you think about them” after Pran starts smiling at the memory of Pat then patiently waits for Pran to reveal the truth that he already knows. And when Pran runs away, Wai doesn’t push. If he isn’t ready to talk, he isn’t ready to talk. And that’s okay.

Support:

Pran’s friend group is supportive in multiple ways, as I’ve already mentioned. Physically supporting each other in brawls, emotionally supporting each other through teasing and talking things out and verbal reassurance, supporting each other by sharing the responsibility of their actions and bearing each other’s burdens as a team.

This scene has been talked about over and over again, but you can’t talk about how awesome Pran’s friend group is without talking about it.

Not only are they hugely supportive of the idea of Pran dating another guy but they go as far as to reject Pran’s immediate attempt at using heteronormativity as a defense mechanism for being accidentally outed. Not only is this great because hurray, they’re not homophobic, but it’s the way they go about it.

It’s not just “we can forgive that you might be gay because you’re our pal”, instead it’s a firm reassurance that “this is completely normal and okay and we support you and we’re going to tease you about having a suitor to prove that you can be open and honest with us”. They’re normalizing it in order to extinguish any possible fears Pran might have. This, my friends, is reassurance and validation in their purest forms.

Conclusion: Pran’s friends are awesome. A little reckless maybe but they’ve got the spirit.

Aaaaaaaand that’s all, folks! Thank you for coming to my unnecessary Ted Talk!

[recentanimenews]

Anime-Gataris Explains Anime Pilgrimages

Anime-Gataris so far has been a compassionate love letter to anime, its industry, the fandom surrounding it, and also to everything else the medium entails. The show has been brimming with meta references and touched upon many of anime’s peculiarities, such as the now-confirmed three-episode rule, or the unbeloved god rays. But Anime-Gataris, to my great joy, also introduced a topic that ‘anime about anime’ rarely discuss, which are anime pilgrimages. We’ll get to the usual comparison images in few seconds, but first, let’s break down everything that Anime-Gataris had to say about pilgrimages.

  I’m sure most of you are familiar with the term by now, at least I hope so after I’ve been constantly writing about the topic for more than one and a half years on Crunchyroll, but Anime-Gataris’ sixth episode marks the perfect opportunity for me to dive even deeper into the subject matter. Simply summarized for starters, an anime pilgrimage is the act of traveling to a real-world location featured in an anime. It’s really not much different from the standard pop-culture tourism, but instead of visiting the filming locations of The Lord of the Rings in New Zealand (not that impressive), or going to Austria because of The Sound of Music (I’m Austrian and still haven’t watched it), one would go to Oarai to see the setting of GIRLS und PANZER (now that’s where it’s at). 

    As for terminology, these trips are called seichijunrei (聖地巡礼) in Japanese. Seichi translates to sacred places, or even the Holy Land, and actually mean the anime locations in this case, hence why they’re often fittingly translated as anime meccas in English. Junrei simply means pilgrimage, and for it to qualify as an anime pilgrimage, a simple visit to one of the real-world location models used in a show would be enough. However, finding those places in the first place can often be tricky business. For that, there are the highly devoted group of butaitanbou (舞台探訪, literally scene hunting) enthusiasts, who not only seek out the locations, but also try to identify and pinpoint every single scene in an anime. That also includes photographing these locations in a way that they match the anime backgrounds as closely as possible, which is also what I do for all of my Anime vs. Real Life articles on Crunchyroll. On that note, I’d also like to highly recommend the blog likeafishinwater from my friend Michael Vito, who’s been meticulously following and compiling the efforts of the whole community. 

    On the other hand, it has actually been getting noticeably easier to identify an anime’s setting nowadays. Due to the strongly growing anime tourism trend, many local governments already start cooperating with the production committees early on, trying to promote their respective cities to anime fans, which naturally make some anime settings become blatantly obvious.

  There are still enough shows that aren’t as straightforward and still don’t use real town names, perhaps to avoid negative backlash from the local community (like Hanasaku Iroha’s Yunosagi, which is Yuwaku in reality), but even then, once the town has been identified, pilgrims would still flock to these meccas nonetheless.

So instead, communal authorities seem to more and more want to get their foot in the door early, as the geographical product placement in anime is sure to raise awareness and recognition among watchers, not only of the cities and tourist destinations themselves, but even the local products. I’m sure that everybody who’s been following Love Live! Sunshine!! has noticed that one specific brand of mandarin oranges that keeps popping up, which are unsurprisingly being produced where the show is set.

  The town featured here by Anime-Gataris is Oarai, one of anime tourism’s biggest success stories, which I’ll get to in more detail a little further down.

    Anime collaborations and tie-ins have also become more elaborate. These can range from simple local events with an anime’s cast, to stamp rallies, to fully decorated buses and trains, where all the stops get announced by the show’s voice actors. Just like the Tokai Bus Orange Shuttle that runs in Numazu, the setting of Love Live! Sunshine!!

Anime-Gataris chooses a shot of Kamakura here, which has been home to a plethora of anime that I don’t even want to try to count. A few examples would be Squid Girl, Tari Tari, Elfen Lied, Slam Dunk, and many, many more. Heck, even if the anime itself is not set in Kamakura, the inevitable beach episode will be (like in Fuuka or Oreshura).

  The odd thing about Anime-Gataris’s shot here is that it actually does not depict an actual location of Kamakura, but rather merges together a few spots that instantly evoke the image of the coastal town. One of them being the highly popular railway crossing near Kamakurakokomae Station (shown in anime like Three Leaves, Three Colors, Interviews With Monster Girls , etc.), and also the slope near Shichirigahama High School (HaNaYaMaTa, Minami Kamakura High School Girls Cycling Club, Fireworks, etc.).

    The reasons and motivations as to why anime watchers travel to these meccas vary from person to person. One of the pleasures is to further deepen the connection with an admired anime, to blur the line between reality and fiction, trying to experience the closest possible version of the fictional world of one’s favorite work. The anime location can be as mundane and ordinary as it gets, but e.g. the moment that Taki and Mitsuha meet on a random flight of stairs in Tokyo, instantly turns those into a special spot for fans. The value of an anime pilgrimage location is therefore not necessarily defined by the nature of the site itself, but rather the emotional investment and connection a fan has with it.

The image shown in Anime-Gataris here is a shot of Kyuchichibu Bridge, which in itself is not really all too special, except for fans of Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day, who’ll surely recognize this key location from the anime (we even made a video about it). Anime adds a specific narrative quality to a location, a different dimension, and a certain atmosphere only watchers of the show will feel. It's remarkable that for some people the motivation to seek out anime locations isn’t necessarily the place itself, but more the love for an anime, its characters, and its story, as this even allows the dullest and untouristy places in the middle of nowhere to attract fans and tourists.

  For some, the draw is more to see anime places they already knew beforehand. These are often located in their own area, or one they’re highly familiar with, generating a sense of pride and attachment. This season’s A Sister’s All You Need even addressed this in of its end cards, jokingly stating that Gifu Prefecture has become (rightfully) cocky lately, due to the many big recent anime set there, namely Your Name. and A Silent Voice.

  As for myself, I simply like visiting places I wouldn’t visit otherwise and I actually enjoy searching for all of those locations I see in anime. It’s a fun pastime and even quite rewarding when you finally find that one spot you’ve been searching for. Or, you know, maybe it’s just cool to see a place you’ve seen in an anime.  

    The next popular location featured in Anime-Gataris are the Sayama Hills, which served as the setting for the Ghibli classic, My Neighbor Totoro. There actually is a quite chilling aspect to this, due to the murder case called the Sayama Incident, which took place there in 1963, and has served as the basis for the infamous conspiracy theory that Totoro is actually a god of death (which has already been more or less denied by Studio Ghibli). 

    To my surprise, Anime-Gataris also briefly mentioned the surge of augmented reality smartphone apps, that let you add the anime characters to photos of the real-world locations. The biggest one being Butaimeguri, which also has a partnership with the anime that’s being featured in the Anime-Gataris screenshot here, which is Hyouka (set in Takayama). Another one would be P.A. Works’ app for the anime Koitabi: True Tours Nanto, which will only unlock an episode once you are at the respective location in Nanto.

  There are many more facets’ to anime pilgrimages. The show didn’t really go into the practices’ history, or the reason why anime studios have been putting out more and more intricately detailed and realistic backgrounds, but Anime-Gataris has done a very good job of giving a profound and thorough overview of anime tourism and pilgrimages. 

    Finally, let’s get to the comparison shots! In the sixth episode of Anime-Gataris, the anime club heads to Oarai, in the Ibaraki Prefecture, for their very own GIRLS und PANZER pilgrimage (or Girls & Tank in Anime-Gataris). As already mentioned, Oarai has become one of the biggest success stories in anime tourism as it was one of the few places that actually managed to keep a long-lasting stream of visitors since its initial run in 2012. Its success can be attributed to various different factors, like the high popularity of the show itself, the easy to reach location, but also the proactive local community, who welcomed all the anime visitors with open arms. The image above shows Oarai Station. I’m lucky that I get to reuse the photos of my own GIRLS und Panzer this way. 

    The stairs leading up to Oarai’s historic Isosaki Shrine. In GIRLS und PANZER der FILM, the anglerfish team’s Panzer IV and Pravda’s T-34-85 both rattled down these stairs during their intense fight, so it’s only natural that Minoa would get excited about finally seeing the spot in real life (I was as well).

    As Minoa correctly states, it's just cool to see the same scenery that Miho Rinpomi gets to see in the anime. One of the many joys of an anime pilgrimage. 

    I mentioned earlier that anime pilgrimages don’t really differ from the common pop-culture tourism in general, but this certain aspect here is actually culture specific. Whenever a shrine appears in an anime, it usually doesn’t take fans all too long to leave custom-made anime wishing plaques (ema) at that shrine. The shrines themselves also try to benefit from this behavior, as you’ll often find already premade anime plaques for sale there.  

    Another regular site in anime is the Tokyo Big Sight. The convention and exhibition center in Tokyo is the venue for the biannual Comiket, the world’s largest doujinshi fair, which gets featured in anime at least once every season (twice this season already). 

    If you’re planning on getting pictures of the place itself, I’d recommend not doing so during Comiket. 

    It might just be pure coincidence, but the almost exact same shot was also in this season’s BLEND-S.

    And, of course, an anime about anime wouldn’t be complete without a visit to the center of otaku culture itself, Akihabara. 

    There are many reasons to love Anime-Gataris, as it's not only surprisingly educational, but also one of those shows that seem to truly understand anime and everything around it.

  In case you ever want to make an anime pilgrimage to the locations of Anime-Gataris, I also put together a locations map for the show (and it’s not only a rehash of my GIRLS und PANZER map). There are actually quite a few spots in here that I didn’t mention in my lengthy article, like Anime-Gataris’ school and the nearby station, which both often get used in anime. But also one of anime’s most animated theme park gates is in the small extra Imgur folder that I compiled.

    Make sure not to miss Anime-Gataris’ grand finale this weekend! Have you ever done an anime pilgrimage, or do you want to visit a specific anime location? Sound off in the comments below! Merry Christmas!

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Wilhelm is an anime tourist, who loves to search for and uncover the real-world spots he sees in anime. You can talk with him on Twitter @Surwill.

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com