Seraphim Recall
In good “Do You Remember <insert thing>” fashion, I tuned in to an episode of Seraphim Call, which is this 1999 Sunrise “bishoujo-chara” title or whatever you call it. Harking from the early days of Akiba uprising, several years before maids seeded the electric town like grass on well-manicured NFL lawns, Seraphim Call already exhibited some strong, defining characteristics that later anime take on as a mean of communicating the same old things: moe character tropes.
For reasons beyond me I popped in a randomly-selected episode couple nights ago, and it came crushing down like a flood of memories. Little tidbits like how Media Blaster licensed it back in ‘02 and it became one of the earliest R1 DVD anime releases that was sub-only (and … virtually no one complained about that! Ha!). Or how this was during the days when people thought Hiroko Kasahara was really popular. Hm. I think I can still hear Himikoden OP somewhere in the back of my head, because despite being (largely) unrelated, it was so overplayed during that period in history. Maybe that’s why the idol-singstress (at the time) got the call for her next single, Pray, as the OP piece for the anime. [As an aside, Oh! Great’s character designs probably have never gotten a more graceful anime edit ever since Himikoden OP…]
Of course, cool kids went on and watched To-Heart, being Ayako Kawasumi’s probably first breakaway title (although I didn’t think she caught on with me until much later in Mahoromatic). The other kind of cool kids were still writing 9001 words on End of Evangelion, 9001 times. Or rocking out to X Japan. I think the wing fetish in anime character design was on the full swing at the time. It explains the title of Seraphim Call anyways; selling to those people with Belldandy wall scrolls and those who would rip up manga involving non-virgin deities or some such.
I also remember about how the world was going to end in 1999-2000. Yea, I distinctly remember how some of us, as an analog to people who are excited about Kobato or Tsubasa Chronicles, were excited about X (the CLAMP thing). And that senseless but stylish movie. And how Karen and Satsuki are so hawt. And how the manga will. Never. Freaking. End. What does that have to do with Seraphim Call? I guess it was just Aoi Nanase’s sharp, biting, yet alluring character designs. It draws just enough from shoujo styles that it works like catnip, for helpless boys, in a seinen work? I guess I’m using manga terms to describe an anime aesthetics, but you get the idea.
I think I have to mention “sad girl in snow” somewhere, too. As far as seasons go, Seraphim Call is definitively a winter anime (although some of them are rather suitable for summer…like episode 10). That was great at the time–it aired in the September-December slot. It was around that time, too, when anime were all turning into half-cours. A lot of shows were going into 12-13 episodes in length rather than the then-usual 26.
Probably what is more disturbing and memorable about Seraphim Call universally is its strange “format.” It’s a collection of 11 single-episode short stories, each a slice-of-life (OMG I used the term) of one distinct character. The concluding episode threads all 11 girls together into a single story, kind of like a right-side-up Baccano episode. The focus character in each of the episodes is always a girl, and the story is always told from that character’s perspective. The narrative style could be called avant-garde…but it was more daring on the marketing department. I mean, there was an image album/ED album for every character, plus the OP single. Each episode got its OVA-esqe release too, so we’re talking about like 10 SKUs for 11 episodes, and even more just for CDs. I forgot if there was a LE/RE distinction too. I suppose it wasn’t a huge deal since otaku anime on LD rarely got more than 2 episodes per disc? At any rate, those of us who really like just one or two of the particular episodes could purchase just those episodes… not that I think many people did.
Episode 10 is Ayako Kawasumi in the role of Kurumi, who part-times as a mangaka and keeps it a secret from her close (perhaps only) friend Misaki (Rikako Aikawa). The story uses some directorial tricks that reminds me of Umi ga Kikoeru, but it was most notable when it was telling the manga Kurumi wrote, via a panel-by-panel method. Each panel was a cut, and it worked out in a way that is natural yet it directed the movement. It’s as if someone took a rather cinematically compatible manga and turned it into some kinetic font-y slide show.
Tension rose when the manga Kurumi wrote turned out to somewhat mirror her real life situation. Still just a high schooler (11th grade? I guess), the whole situation creeped her out; especially in regards to the romantic component to her manga. It was entirely mirrored with an estranged but civil relationship with her new housemate.
The weird part, which didn’t occur to me until I started to write this piece, was that one of the earlier episode referred to the same manga… Two characters in episode 10 rendered their opinion of the said manga in front of Kurumi, who was trying to keep it a secret. Well, you can imagine how it could go. The joke was another character from an earlier episode also gave her opinion which somewhat affirmed something or another…
But at any rate, it was a refreshing piece. Just the main character alone went through a range of emotions, and through the subtleties of the dialogs we got a sense of what the three focus characters in the episode really were, as consistent characters. [It’s a feat; it’s more so than I can say for Ponyo.]
Seraphim Call is definitely one of my pet favorites; one big reason being it is in 11 standalone pieces. Anyone can pick it up and watch it, and put it down. It’s also another show that I tend to bring up in a conversation; usually following someone else’s recommendation to go watch Diamond Dust Drops/Daimond Daydreams/Kita E anime. Seraphim Call, at least to my estimation, is a much better product.
Maybe more people should recommend Sentimental Journey? Heh.
I never knew about this! Thanks for the heads up.
This is totally a list of the series that I would have been forced to watch had our 10 year old CD-Rs of them not failed.
totally would comment on it if you wrote about any 3 of those shows too. actually seraphim call is something film buffs might want to watch just so they know it exists.
You some how recount, although briefly, the kinds of things I was into during the time before the turning of 2000. It’s kind of depressing though since I didn’t get a computer until 2001 so I was still getting DVDs and such.
Anyway, I’ll have to look into this show because I am all for obscure things since I am an anime expert in the making.
Actually our CD’s didn’t fail.
I fucking threw that shit out because Seraphim Call is the shittiest shit that was shat out of a butt in the year 2000. All I remember is that show had 1. lesbian twins 2. a pedobear stalking a loli for 20 minutes through a hidden camera 3. only one episode that actually had a guy and focused on the girl liking said guy 4. a catchy theme song
Everything else about the show sucked ass, combined with the fact that my Japanese was pretty poor at the time it was one giant snooze fest.
But then again, Hinano is a woman thus her opinion isn’t valid.
The pedobear episode is awesome! But yeah, “avant-garde” and all.
@Koji Oe: I think I have it on VHS somewhere… Most fansubs before 2000 were VHS only.
I liked the show for the twist ending in each of the episodes. This reminds me that I never picked up the US release of this. I think I’ll head over to Amazon and see how much it’s going for used.
Nostalgia brought me here, made me watch Sentimental Journey again, and then try to find out if I had any Seraphim Call in my CD burns…
…unfortunately not. But I shall recommend Sentimental Journey by bumping my old blog review about it.
As others have said, it’s cheap on Amazon.com or some places. Worth the money I think.
Same with SJ…