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Deconstructing (and then reconstructing) anime

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JackMackerel from SOME OBSCURE MEDIA Since: Jul, 2010
#1: Feb 1st 2011 at 12:03:38 AM

Basic plot: Average Japanese high schooler gets charged with defending the Ark of the Covenant from a variety of people, ranging from a boy and his knight to magical girls. Yes, it's meant to be a Widget Series.

Now for the deconstruction!

  • When I mean average, I do mean average. He's not a Guile Hero, and while he practices Tae-kwon-do and plays American Football, he's not super strong, super fast, and able to beat his way out of a fight. He more or less has to have his "guardians" do the work for him. The only problem with this is that a useless protagonist with hyper-competent sidekicks apparently annoy audiences a lot (see: The Green Hornet). He nearly gets killed several times during the course of the story, and spends two "episodes" maimed and recovering from injuries.
  • Oh, and his school attendance and performance takes a dive as a result.
  • He's also pretty nationalistic, and has problems working with foreign "teammates" (he eventually has to team up with a Korean he used to bully and a Chinese teenager). Just how does Japanese-style racism manifest?
  • One of his enemies consists of a team of magical girls who think they're doing the right thing by going after the Ark of the Covenant:

This is all I can think of, for the moment. Any suggestions and advice?

Half-Life: Dual Nature, a crossover story of reasonably sized proportions.
Sidewinder Sneaky Bastard Since: Oct, 2009 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
Sneaky Bastard
#2: Feb 1st 2011 at 2:09:05 AM

In my eyes, making the protagonist know Tae-kwon-do and play American Football, however badly, doesn't fit with a normal high school student/deconstruction element.

colbertimposter Since: Dec, 1969
#3: Feb 1st 2011 at 4:36:44 AM

Don't sweat it with the lead protagonist being a newbie/n00b to combat. The audience loves seeing the underdog/unexpected hero save the more competent protagonists/world, because it makes the audience feel better about themselves. Numerous examples come to mind: Chuck, Tuff Puppy, Jackie Chan buddy films, etc.

Also, be weary of the nationalism turned racism. Not only will that sharp edge miff non-bigoted viewers, it will miff bigoted viewers of differing bigotry (for example, a white supremacist will resent a japan supremacist despite them both being bigots). If it's not crucial to the story or if the only moral of the story arising from this is "it's what's inside that counts," which is already an integral part in so many creative works, you may want to consider cutting this idea. I'm just saying that it's risky.

MrAHR Ahr river from ಠ_ಠ Since: Oct, 2010 Relationship Status: A cockroach, nothing can kill it.
Ahr river
#4: Feb 1st 2011 at 5:03:46 AM

It doesn't seem THAT deconstructy, to be honest, it just seems like a parody.

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JackMackerel from SOME OBSCURE MEDIA Since: Jul, 2010
#5: Feb 1st 2011 at 12:40:56 PM

^ Well, it's a Deconstructive Parody at times.

^^ It's kind of made to insult Japanese nationalism and cause conflict - these aren't perfect Asians, you see. For example, the Korean is argumentative and is similarly nationalistic, as is the Chinese, and they argue and fight a lot, hindering progress. (There's also some Southeast Asians. Yes, it's Self Decrepation.)

Some more ideas:

  • Would showing the otaku "villain" allied with one of the magical girls as creepy and weird? be too over-the-top? I hate insulting an audience or looking like some sort of nerd elitist.
    • Similarly, during his death scene (where he actually did love the girl in question, who reciprocated), would it be too cliche?
  • The 3/A and Nanoha expy use tech and magic at the same time, which interferes with their fighting ability.
  • The Japanese government's sat up and taken notice (kind of hard to hide a fight between a giant rusting mech and several shonen heroes in downtown Tokyo). Aside from the Men In Black character, how else can I drag them in?
  • I'm planning on parodying all genres present in anime. Any ideas?

Half-Life: Dual Nature, a crossover story of reasonably sized proportions.
ArgeusthePaladin from Byzantine. Since: May, 2010
#6: Feb 1st 2011 at 4:23:24 PM

...

I kinda stopped reading the moment you mentioned nationalism there. This is a very touchy subject that I cannot stress enough, and toying with it disrespectfully is the death of a writer.

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