Of Children and Layered Reality
I started writing this post pretty much right after I saw Wall-E on opening weekend. It is now my favorite Pixar feature-length movie for several reasons. But I’m still having some trouble to come up with a narrative to describe what I want to say in response to seeing it.
We all know that Denno Coil is about today, more so than the future. In some ways it is a cautionary tale for children and parents, about getting lost within virtual reality and both the benefits and trappings an augmented reality brings to the next generation.
Augmented reality is a reality today. Just looking at what the various iPhone applications are out there, it brings me some degree of confidence that soon enough kids will play hide and seek with GPS, play catch with accelerometers, and tell ghostly stories with its reflective screen.
Just like the last generation of kids, I suppose.
But like Wall-E, Denno Coil’s story is a layered thing. I say layered rather than multi-faceted because one thing has to build on another. It’s not so much there aren’t aspects of Wall-E that are tangential (such as the romantic side plot), but there are both themes and settings within the show that commonly come in bundles. Nations run by corporations? A pollution-ravaged Earth? Mankind’s exodus into space? Intelligent robots doing our bidding? Rogue AI? Search for leafy vegetation? and All it needs is more sex, technobabble and a katana-wielding kayak maker. Or a GECK.
Denno Coil’s layering is probably just as ingenuous, but it’s not subtle. It paints a near-real-life picture with AR, but at the end it’s about a bunch of kids doing the Tom Sawyer thing about some urban legend. Parents are probably still better off spanking them and spending the time to figure out what is going on, rather than just letting them be kids. It’s quite Japanese in a way.
Where the two are different is in the order of things. For most people, Wall-E is a cute story about robots in love, about loneliness, about standing up for your inheritance, and the usual heroics. But its science fiction trapping paints a impressive and cautionary imagery about the world today–pollution, the addiction to luxury, and growing isolation of individuals with his or her heritage, neighbors, and the environment. Yea, the irony is there how it’s telling this to a bunch of theater goers and eventual couch potatoes.
Denno Coil, on the other hand, draws the viewer in with its imaginative altered reality. The murder(?) mystery element and its impressive setting are major draws. But the show is mostly about human relationships, about adolescence, and what happens if you do something dangerous on your own without heeding any warning. There’s the heroics and a very brave dog (Densuke FTW) but what of the actual human beings who suffered the very real consequences? That stuff is what is going on in the back drop of Denno Coil–a real person laying in a hospital room, in an unending coma.
What’s more disturbing? The happily glossed over, post-apocalyptic Earth? Or the fact that little girls can lose their lives to … internet predictors? I guess neither really is unless you pick them out like that.
I think the layering presentation is particularly good because it gives the audience a wide variety of takes. Making good children’s entertainment that adults can enjoy is hard; the layering allows people to combine ideas and filter the experience using the audience’s level of experience and sophistication.
This layering is characterized by the integration of common themes across layers, however. Without it we would just have a bunch of not-so-related ideas. I think Wall-E works because they do well integrating that whole theme about loneliness. In Denno Coil, a similar thing goes on with loneliness and that whole Japanese character stereotype with personal responsibility and no manYoko is an island.
It’s fair to say these two shows are examples of powerful storytelling styles and they use the form wisely in family entertainment. But what happens when these forms are powerless? We’ll find out hopefully in the sequel post of this two-part series. It should also answer how I stumble upon a way to focus on a narrative about Wall-E.
JAM Project @ Otakon Primer
At the JAM Project events for Otakon 2008, there may be some stuff you’d like to know ahead of time. And unless you’re a JAM Project fan who goes to Otakon a lot, odds are you probably don’t know all of these.
1. It’s a bit of news for some still, so I’ll repeat it–Rica Matsumoto is taking a break from JAM Project activities this summer. Some fans are still holding out on if she’ll make it to America and the other tour stops, but it’s quite unlikely. It’s kind of ironic considering she’s the one who has been to Otakon already in 2003.
2. The concert at Otakon is part of their NO BORDERS tour, which started off in Japan and the international part of the tour began in Taipei this past month. Even without Matsumoto they were able to do most of their songs. Naturally some songs will be difficult (FREEDOM?) but looking at the set list it shouldn’t be a problem. Do expect each of the JAM Project folks to do solo songs at the show.
Speaking of which, you can check out the Taipei set list here.
3. Because it is a tour, the JAM Project roadies will be selling some of their tour merchandise at Otakon. We can pretty much confirm they will have at least t-shirts and CDs for sale. It’s hard to say what else they will bring, and in what quantities. However, there are some reports from Taipei and I saw a picture (and…can’t find it anymore) of what was on sale there. It’s a good bet that there will be less stuff at Otakon, simply because there are fewer roadies and it’s harder and more expensive to ship that stuff. But picture books, towels and bandannas are definite possibilities, along with sweat bands, stickers and whatever trinkets they decide to ship over. Not sure about DVDs because of region locks.
And as usual, they’re probably going to hawk the goods at the dealer’s room rather than at the venue itself.
One thing about T-shirts–it’s likely that they will have American-sized shirts on sale rather than super small Cospa type shirts that are from Japan. Good for us?
4. The venue is going to be at the First Mariner’s Arena, which is big enough for 14000 people. Back when L’Arc-en-Ciel played their show at Otakon 2004, people weren’t able to pack it out, but I hope it draws more than TM Revolution’s show at 2003 would… Well, who knows. Anyways, for people who are familiar of the ordeal you had to go through at the L’arc show, they should have some expectation of what things may be like at JAM Project’s show. In other words, you’ll likely to be standing outside if you are waiting in line. And Baltimore weather in August is, in a short word, hot.
As an aside, the Otakon masquerade this year will also be at the Arena.
5. While it’s not official and subject to change, the JAM Project show is going to be on Friday, August 8 in the evening, like 8pm. 8/8/2008 8pm. LOL superstitious Chinese numbers. Anyways, it’s better to stand in line at 6pm than 3pm, for sure. But this also means Friday night is going to be hot and bothersome since I’ll be pumped till like 11pm. And because First Mariner is a proper venue, there won’t be ticketing (cost $ for Otakon) and there won’t be anything allowed inside the venue as you would expect any other rock concert of that kind. No food and drink (probably not even bottled water), no camcorders and cameras, etc.
For Otakon goers that are commuting from outlier hotels and residences, a lot of cheap parking is near the Arena, so it should make going home after the show easier. Otakon’s website and their forum can help with that.
6. Of course, the ultimate highlight about American-style anime conventions is the opportunity for guests to interact with the fans. That means, yes, panel and autographs for JAM Project. While I don’t know any real details (besides those things will happen), you can pretty much bet on that like prior years, Saturday late morning/afternoon will be the prime time for autographs. Also it seems that Otakon is going to treat JAM Project as “one” guest, meaning all the JAM Project guests will have the same autograph session. This also means, more than likely, the five artists will sit on the same table and deal with just one line of fans at a time.
Otakon does have a set autograph policy on their website, but in years past they will deviate from it slightly to accommodate you as long as it’s not obstructive and if there isn’t a long line. But of course a lot of it depends on the guests and their managers willing to accommodate the fans too. What is definitely up in the air is the use of tickets; in some years prior Otakon gave out tickets who attended panels to make sure they get an autograph, in some prior years they did not bother and you just had to camp the line. Well, we’ll see.
7. Sort of related to the high cost of getting JAM Project to play at a con, JAM Project won’t be playing with a live band…I think. At least there won’t be one flying in with them I guess. Will that put their signature 10-minute version of SKILL in jeopardy, I don’t know.
There will likely be more information available as we approach the date. I’ll try to post as they come out in reasonable doses.
Satoshi Kon Covers It Himself
So Satoshi Kon came to NY for a visit a couple weeks ago. I went to the Friday showing with the on-stage interview of Paprika. I was also 45 minutes late…not that it matters considering I’ve seen Paprika on 35mm at least twice now. I did the usual recording thing and there were a lot of juicy stuff at the interview worth spinning out; it’s just the recording came out pretty badly. Because I was late I didn’t get a good spot; so yes, unlike Tokikake this showing had a good attendance.
So what do you do? You Google around to see if anyone else have done it. It’s about not reinventing the wheel.
And Satoshi Kon probably does the best job himself.
Short of copypasta, though, I’ll just list the questions that I recorded here. I apologize ahead of time for the crappy transcription.
Kon took the stage after a brief intermission at the end of Paprika. At the end of the intermission they played Kon’s Anikuri 15 clip “Good Morning.”
He then took the stage with applause with the MC and translator.
I wasn’t able to get the recording for the first bit of the interview, so from memory I recall… First he spoke about this retrospective, and mentioned something how he’s getting it in America with just 4 films. But was honored anyways and hope to have this again when he is properly old and got lots o film?
At any rate, the MC started to field questions, starting by asking Kon about the Anikuri 15 segment. I remember this well because he starts by panning NHK by saying how it is accused by the public for misappropriation of funds. In order to improve its image NHK asked the top animators to produce a short, and he was asked and he made a short.
I was able to get the recording thing going soon after that. I’ll try to paraphrase; the whole session was rather long IMO.
Why did Kon choose to be an animator? He likes it when he was little? Watching animation growing up, Kon makes a comment: the disposable nature of anime today; back in the days, there was more anticipation and fans digested each work better. (I agree; people consume anime very differently today.)
How was it being a mangaka and how does it compare? He said people always asked him about it, but he likes moving images so he likes making anime better.
How did he get to do Perfect Blue? He’s been doing a few things, and some producer approached him and they went ahead. Same with how he got to be an animator from being a mangaka. He is not ambitious and people approach him. [There was suppose to be a joke here.]
At this point we watched a clip of Perfect Blue; namely the lead up to the rape scene and the rape scene itself.
So how does he feel about it: He feels bad about putting that rape scene in for the main character now. He didn’t know very much as a newbie director. Originally they planned PB to be OAV so he/they wanted to add something that makes it stand out, so there was the rape. But it got turned into a theatrical piece half way so they kept it.
Role of pop culture in his show? [The question kind of got lost in translation]: Want to recreate the time and feel of Tokyo for BP.
Layer of viewing in PB: It reflects Kon’s own perspective. He works and draws, a part of him watches that and directs, another part of him watches the director, etc. [takes picture use audience as an example]. Just by taking a picture the audience is now being watched by Kon rather than Kon being watched. The shift in perspective is one way he communicates with his audience.
Control? Just partial. Full control is boring and no control is chaotic. 50/50, but sometimes it tilts. Perceive control versus actual control, etc.
We then moved onto a clip in Millennium Actress, around the part of the sennen tea.
Ever watch your own films? Just when it’s on TV when at home when it’s on, and he always finishes it, out of some misplaced sense of duty.
Japanese film history in your works? Didn’t start out MA with that in mind–was about dream and reality and movies, but it turned out that way. Ended up meaningful the way it evolved.
How do you categorize your film in terms of Japanese cinema? It’s kind of by itself even in terms of animation; a lost child. He would be honored that it can be considered as a part of Japanese cinema history in its small way!
How do you create a character, say, Hana? Not good at chara design. He does stories and plugs characters in. In TG, it’s characters drive the film, hmm. He doesn’t have any transsexual friends, so when he wrote Hana he did some research–dressed up like him once. (The audience lols, naturally.)
How was it writing for a TV series? Compact animation, in movies he can stuff it in; but in TV there are a lot of limits so he can only tell so much stuff at a time. The basic question for both is how to get the audience’s interest from the first scene. Solving and creating more mystery until the end.
How did you get to the end of Paranoia Agent? They want to create it piece-wise because they want to be in the audience’s shoes in not knowing how it’ll end. So they didn’t know. By episode 10 or 11 the crew realized they can’t wrap it up and the screenwriter was in a bind to try to wrap it up. At that point things feel really pressed; he needed to figure out how it end and there was a lot of stress; and it felt Shonen Bat may come. Sympathy for the characters.
The audience fields some question now.
Did Kon ever watch [Konishiba] [Can’t spell it right] (picture with rolling music)? No, not that old.
Music is uplifting and energetic but often opposite of what’s on the screen? For example, if for a sad scene, everything is sad, the feeling of sadness gets away. However if you flip the music so it’s not sad, it actually feel sadder. Juxtaposition.
Akiba knifing? Difficult situation; can’t explain. The perpetrator said that he couldn’t care who he kills, and likewise does it matter who the perpetrator is for this to happen? At first we thought about whose fault it was, but it’s still the actual person’s fault. What is striking is that the person looked like a stereotype of someone who committed a random crime and less as an individual person. It seemed it could have been anyone. No answers.
Otaku culture and his fans? Otaku has been around for 30 years; he’s a first gen otaku. It’s fine if it refers to someone who pursuit what they love very much. Kon is reputed to be critical of otaku in that it is not good to live an unbalanced life and unable to work with society at large. As long as you can function with society it’s fine.
A word for inspiring animator? Here or Japan? Japanese animators are super poor so I don’t recommend it. For someone who love to draw and animate, for CG or hand drawn stuff, as long as you love it very much pursuit it and everyday get a new feel and find a new way to look at it, you’ll be good.
Perspective, people see themselves–personal or abstractions? Becoming a public figure, there will be people who know the person of me but don’t know me, but there will people who know me better than I do. People closest to me probably have a different idea of me than myself. I have an idea of who I might be and it may be not very close; someone else may have a better idea of who I am than myself. That gap is something I want to show in my characters. Oversea or in Japan, I’ve had opportunity to meet fans. In Japan, 70% of the time his fans said he is actually scarier? It’s enjoyable to observe that gap.
[The weeaboo question which the recording didn’t get well.] Thanks for asking it in Japanese. I don’t think I purposely create anything complex; the stories are simple. The delivery is complex. [It’s in the flavor?]
That’s it!
At the end of the session most of the crowd took a stroll over next door to the theater. They have a bunch of Kon art on display, including that hawt Perfect Blue jigsaw puzzle picture. And it took the edge off my complaint how no one asked about his new work. What kind of fans are they?
Lastly, Reverse Thieves has the write-up for Kon’s Monday showing sponsored by ANA. Kon’s blog also lists more details on his trip if you dig around. If you have any question about my indecipherable transcription feel free to ask. I probably still have pieces of that stuff stuck in the back of my brain from two weeks ago.
This Is My Kind of Denpa Anime
Mission-E expands on the setting told to us through Code-E.
But what’s really strange is this is the setting Gunsmith Cats told us through … Gunsmith Cats.
Or was it El-Hazard?
Just gimme my 80s rock and transformable motorcycle already!
Momoi’s got it right–it’s got a good, easy feel, and we agree.
I think most people will still find Birdy up near the top of the list as their primary form of old-school, action anime entertainment this season, because Kazuki Akane is just better at this as a director and Studio Deen…is not the best group of people to be animating action-packed stuff. But Mission-E is 12 episodes ahead on the character development and making sure that omo will find Chinami totally adorable right off the bat. If you’ve seen Code-E already, you owe it to yourself to see how things turned out a few years down the road and have a bite at that dangling carrot hanging over our collective heads last summer. This was what most of us were half-expecting!
Of course I guess more of you didn’t watch Code-E, and that is okay. You can always go back to it; it’s slow and meticulous and mostly a romantic comedy that is more fustrating than romantic and more weird than funny, but it wasn’t bad. It definitely paid off for me, but it might not be worth your time anyways.
Actually, I take back one thing–Studio Deen does one kind of action well: car chases.
No Pants, No Service, or WTB Skirts?
Well, this guy gets it.
I think it isn’t really a problem (some might even find it funny) per se that there’s an overall lack of pants in Strike Witches. In fact when Mio beseeched Yoshika’s mother in traditional old Japanese swordsman manners, it was good juxtaposition.
And comparing seifuku over sukumizu against the pantsless + leather jacket combo that was the eyesore of GITS SAC season one is unfair because in the latter case it was really a per se, aesthetics problem. In Strike Witches, even while stuffing the audience’s face with close-up crotch shots, Yoshika and her friends-to-be are still relatively palatable characters and designs. To me, what’s really weird is seeing how everyone else is equally in such fetish-catering attires that the whole experience feels like a cheap yaruge.
Is this what Strike Witches is going for? Maybe in parts. At least we know it is trying to cram in every single otaku fetish, archetypes, and moe triggers that invariably the whole experience feels very flat. It is as if the audience of the show is like some kind of dating sim where there are flags and buttons to be pressed to get us interested.
And maybe that is fine–if that’s what you expect out of it. My problem with Strike Witches is that I expect it to entertain along the lines of this anime. I guess if I was to draw comparisons, the two shows are opposite takes on the same mechamusume fetish; Sky Girls take it relatively seriously and is actually borderline outside the genre. Strike Witches…well. I want to say it is hardcore somehow; the girls in the show are actually not mechanized (save me, Chise!) so in some sense it is just like Sky Girls, or Code Geass, or any show with the attractive female character bending over to pilot a mechanized weapon. But at least Strike Witches is true to the mechamusume fetish.
I guess the first episode did well to lower my expectation, so it has succeeded in that front. It’s a common thing to say that the show is not to be taken seriously and put off negative comments on a stupid show for being what it is, but that’s still inexcusable when we’ve seen very stupid shows like this that still shine even under scrutiny. Just because the premise is ludicrous doesn’t mean there’s a license to goof around.
