TRIGGER DELIVERS, AGAIN!
I hope we get a song similar to Libera Me From Hell from this series...
"And you must be Jonathan Joestar!" - SueThere's an old Gainax show that somebody posted on "animenewsnetwork" which is actually very similar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtxORWdsxG0
Just watched the pilot. Wow, so I guess this is what you get if you put TTGL, Fist Of The North Star, Kamen Rider Fourze, and Witchblade in a blender. Pretty awesome start on my book and Matoi's one hell of a badass. Will definitely tune in next week, but I do think how Matoi acquires the new uniform is a little... rapey IMO.
edited 5th Oct '13 1:41:54 PM by sanfranman91
I actually had a really freaky idea (blame my media analysis class for what's about to come next). Aside from the obvious fascism and allusions to Nazi Germany, you know what this show is primarily a metaphor for?
The oppression of the masses through consumer culture.
Now hear me out. Branching off of this observation posted earlier
, the Goku uniforms don't just represent power in the hands of the wrong people, they represent oppression and an abuse of power in general. It isn't the oppressor that wears the uniform, it's the uniform that makes the oppressor. This I think we can all agree on, since pretty much every character who isn't Ryuko that wears one is a violent fascist. But why exactly? What's the significance of tying clothing to an oppressive government regime? Alright, I invite you to think for a moment about where this anime takes place.
It takes place in a highschool.
In a highschool, consumer culture rules with an iron fist. And inevitably, that's what this anime is about. It's about how consumer culture uses frivolous commodities like clothing to control the masses and artificially manipulate social norms. In this world, your worth as a human being is determined solely by the quality of your clothing. The elite are literally bestowed power by the best and nicest clothing, and those who don't have access to these high quality uniforms are treated as subhuman, literally referred to as "pigs in human clothing". You are what you wear. Wearing high-ranking Goku uniforms is the sign of an individual with great power and respect, while being naked is considered a mark of shame bestowed on the proles and the churls.
However, where this gets really interesting is Ryuko. As was already said, her uniform is different (i.e. skimpier) than the normal Goku uniforms so as to make it impossible to construe it as a tool of oppression as opposed to what it is, a tool of justice. Ryuko is literally fighting back against consumer culture, rejecting its gratuitous commodities and trite, useless trinkets in favor of the natural state of humans, the state in which we evolved, the state into which we are born, and the state we will return to once we die. Naked, but most importantly, free. Not shackled by artificial symbols of power and social status which serve only to oppress. And you can see this in how Ryuko is initially embarrassed to wear the outfit after a lifetime of living in an inherently consumer-oriented culture. However, I'm more than willing to bet that as the show goes on, she'll become more comfortable with the outfit and will stop minding how revealing it is, even considering it natural.
I've got new mythological machinery, and very handsome supernatural scenery. Goodfae: a mafia web serialActually, no, I'll have to disagree with you there. Because of that guy who stole a uniform at the beginning. His uniform did not make him into an oppressor. Sure, he didn't have the uniform for very long, but that's because the oppressors control access to the uniforms, not because he was rejected by it or anything.
edited 5th Oct '13 1:57:12 PM by Gilphon
It's a great thought, I think! I'll be curious to see if they'll really follow through on a theme like that.
Your argument is invalid.
edited 5th Oct '13 2:08:29 PM by Fawriel
TTGL aside, a few people are pointing out the influences Imaishi is pulling from Go Nagai stuff (not Mazin saga, but the unanimated stories like Gakuen Taikutsu Otoko) and Osamu Dezaki ( if we ARE getting Ace wo Narae references next week then they'll be even more obvious), but given how Kazuki Nakashima is on board writing, there's also going be be influences from Ken Ishikawa's (yes, Getter Robo) brand of insanity as well.
I don't mean that the uniforms can forcibly turn people into oppressors, I meant that the uniforms have a corrupting influence on those who wear them. It's no fault on the uniform's part, it's simply power going to the person's head. And we definitely saw that in the guy who stole the one star uniform.
I've got new mythological machinery, and very handsome supernatural scenery. Goodfae: a mafia web serial"BRICK SHITHOUSE! K-POP! NERD! Token loli."
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edited 5th Oct '13 5:13:03 PM by KSPAM
I've got new mythological machinery, and very handsome supernatural scenery. Goodfae: a mafia web serialSaw the first episode. Poor ring girl. Ryuuko has a great voice. Otherwise kinda meh. Design feels very uninspired, and the action is surprisingly bland considering the dynamic camera work. Plot and characters may be interesting. I may or may not drop this one. I'll see whether or not it falls off my list just because I forget to watch it or just don't feel like it.
Check out my fanfiction!Man, I'm excited for this. The first episode was something else.
Anyway, I'm also going to have to disagree with the Goku Uniforms = consumer culture idea. Students in Japan buy two school uniforms, and that's it aside from changing schools or outgrowing the uniform (or getting something torn, etc etc, you get the idea). My point is, consumer culture is about inspiring people to constantly buy, and clothing consumerism tends to bank on marketing the idea of a 'personal brand' with individuality and fancy clothes. If there is a "uniform" of consumerism, it's in high-market, expensive clothing that says 'wear this or you're nothing' - which, while similar to Satsuki's statement, doesn't jive with the basic fact of what a uniform is. If the Goku Uniforms were able to be bought with cartoonishly large amounts of money, I'd believe it, but they're explicitly gifts from Lady Satsuki, and from what we've seen so far, it's a (warped and incredibly unforgiving) meritocracy, where your rank in the school dictates your uniform.
Keep in mind that consumerist culture isn't the only culture that uses uniforms to control and elevate people. The Black Shirts and Brown Shirts are probably a better comparison here.
edited 6th Oct '13 12:09:36 PM by RedSavant
It's been fun.next episode will introduce Mako's family and her mother is voiced by Yukari Fukui.Even though it's not a Gainax show,she's still a recurring voice-actress for this staff(she was one of Yukino's sisters in Kare Kano,that paranoid teacher from FLCL,Nono from Diebuster and Nia from Gurren Lagann.)
Part of me REALLY wants to hear Kari Wahlgren do the dub voice of Nonon Jakuzure for the FLCL connection.
edited 6th Oct '13 1:46:01 PM by DS9guy
It could have benefited from slightly more context (as in being more obviously comedic), but I do love the energy of the whole thing. It's with that sort of visual inventiveness that I can entirely ignore real physics (whereas anything that occasionally invokes them only attracts attention to its violations). I wonder if there will be enough plot to give things some structure.
A blog that gets updated on a geological timescale.

That's how it is, yeah. The one seen in that picture is the normal mode, and the more revealing one is the super-mode. This has been public knowledge for a month or so, so I'm kind of surprised more people aren't aware of that, considering how much hype there's been. Knowing Gaina- I mean Trigger, the suit will probably go through multiple transformations as shit continues to get even more real and then inevitably transcends to realer-than-real territory.
As for my own reaction to the episode, though... well, it somehow managed to live up to most of the hype as far as I see it, which is amazing in and of itself. Everything feels simultaneously engaging and larger-than-life in every way, which is something I was sorely missing in recent anime. I think I've rewatched the episode about... two-dozen times now? I love it already, in case you couldn't tell.
edited 4th Oct '13 8:36:34 PM by darksidevoid
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