Chatterbox - Anime & Manga

Eh, Miyazaki makes scary stuff already (Mononoke....) and Anno used to be his student.

So I watched an OVA for a series called Guardian Hearts. For the standard harem fanservice wankfest, it has some pretty decent animation.

What are your opinions of Kannazuki No Miko?

Not nearly as cool as the 'lesbian magical girls with mecha' premise would lead you to believe, not least because, despite being yuri, it brings a whole lot of the worst yaoi stereotypes into its central relationship. Music's good, though.

Nausicaa is basically what inspired EVA. So don't be afraid~

I actually like it. It's really cheesy in all the best ways (but I know how messed up Chikane's feelings are going to get, specially in episode 8) - the realization that this lame, exploitative Yuri story also has GIANT ROBOTS with a hot-blooded pilot to boot just made my night when I watched it.

But the whole thing about the leads not fighting well against men (I've only just watched episode 2) and my recent rewatching of Kimi Ni Todoke has led me to think about something that's been plaguing me for a couple months now. I've been pondering the state of women in Anime.

In pretty much every anime I've ever really seen, the girls have either been weak and powerless on their own without a male (Kimi Ni Todoke [I will be explaining this one later], Kannagi, Kannazuki No Miko) or eye candy to the guys (most animes I watch on Trashy Anime Night).

For some characters, the guy is all they talk about - Sawako's always like "Kazehaya is so amazing, he's my rock, so refreshing" - I get 100% where she's coming from, I have received the same basic treatment in real life as she's gotten. But it feels kind of... wrong. It's just like she's growing as a person due to his influence and such, but being constantly reminded about how flawless she thinks he is is really irritating. Kazehaya's a good guy, but he has some flaws (which are actually elaborated on later in the manga, and hinted at in the anime) - he's jealous, and has control issues. In episode 6 (I think...?), he grabs her hand very roughly and raises his voice - it's meant to be seen as him reaching through to her, but it looks kind of abusive - and she praises him internally for it. If the show was a narrative observed solely through the fourth wall, it could be seen as some sort of deconstruction - the nice guy is actually kind of messed up and abusive. But the focus of the show is Sawako, and you're constantly looking through her eyes in relation to the plot, being fed her hopes and thoughts (and that's what makes it so special) - so the action being seen as positive can be construed as the show itself passing the action off as a grand romantic gesture. Those with more foresight and understanding of how life is meant to work can see it for what it is, and still see that the show is not endorsing the behavior so much as Sawako sees it as a positive action - but the anime industry has pushed some very sexist or backwards things in regards to women, so for all I know this was actually the anime playing the message completely straight. I get that Kazehaya is a positive influence on Sawako, but that moment where he treats her roughly for ignoring him - that was not positive at all. And to a viewer, male or female, it could come off as a straight example of how a situation can be handled - by having a guy mishandle you and shout at you.

Another thing is having the guy always rescue you. So far, that's been Kannazuki No Miko for me - Souma has showed up in both episodes to save the girls, after both have been attacked and nearly killed. Granted, the first episode had the Orochi feeling controlling Souma, so he did the damage - but the big tough guy dispatches both girls in the second episode, one who is string enough and strong-willed enough to fight back, and it still takes a hot-blooded young man to save them. Despite the Yuri and such happening in the show so far, there's still Souma doing all the heavy lifting while Chikane and Himeko are together having all the Yuri moments - i.e. fanservice.

Now, I am enjoying both series - I'm watching Kimi Ni Todoke for the second time, and it is one of my favorite anime hands down. I'm also enjoying Kannazuki No Miko for the sheer badassery so far from a fantasy-mecha-yuri show. But there are issues entrenched within both series which I think show something deeply wrong with how the Japanese go about ahowing how women should act, or where their place in society is, within their media (which panders to young and older people). There are series better about women than these 2, and I am not by any measure saying America or English speaking countries are any better about it - but the general messages these shows are sending out, both of which attracted a fairly large amount of coverage during their runs, not to mention the other fanservice tropes found in harem shows like Guardian Hearts... it's making me very uncomfortable.

Ghost Stories has been rescued by Discotek!

Kannazuki no Miko is actually the next anime coming up in my queue (after I finish A Little Snow Fairy Sugar). It's good to hear that it's worth watching for at least some reasons. :)

Miyazaki is retiring from films. Again

"Again"? How many times did have temporary retirements?

Several..

So he's the Jay-Z of anime?

The Naruto Parody spinoff, Rock Lees Springtime Of Youth is getting a second season.

Elfen Lied's guy's new manga gets an anime.

Well, that'll be one to keep an eye on.

Turns out Gen Urobuchi's new project will be Kamen Rider Gaim, as it's main scriptwriter.

Heh.

I can dig it, especially since Kamen Rider has plenty of dark series already, and Yasuko Kobayashi was also a good writer on the series.

edited 7th Sep '13 7:06:24 PM by Demongodofchaos2

Just finished Kannazuki no Miko.

Pacing and animation weren't too impressive. Art style, music and yuri were good, though, and I'm glad Himeko got the chance to do something badass towards the end.

Also, lesbian Jesus is now officially the second best kind of Jesus (after steampunk Jesus, of course).

I noticed that the credits for music and series composition is different. What are the difference between these two? I saw that some series share the same music but not the same series composition while some others share the same series composition but different music.

Anyone here remember Remi, Nobody's Girl from the World Masterpiece Theater series? I'm trying to remember the names of the orphans that were under the "care" of the villainous Gaspard from the latter half of the series; could use a little help here, since Google isn't being forthcoming about any but two of them (Mattia, the leader, and little Lise).

Does anyone know who the character with the 100 on her shirt is?

Super Sonico is getting her own TV anime.

I really don't know what to say about this...

_{And this will probably be the last time I post as Pokénatic since TV Tropes' update screwed me over again}

This is the first I've heard of her.

She's the mascot for the game company nitroplus.

_{I forgot that there was a 24 hour wait for new accounts...}

And is rather popular in the doujinshi world, if you catch my drift.

Same here. First I heard of her. I can't be the only one thinking "wow, puberty was really kind to Amy wasn't it. "

edited 22nd Sep '13 8:16:21 AM by kiukiuclk

I'm not sure whether or not to be surprised about Sonico getting an anime. On one hand, she's certainly popular enough, on the other, there's not much there to adapt, and what she's popular for isn't allowed on TV...