How Many Other Shows Does Soranowoto Episode 1 Reminds You?
- K-ON. Everyone got that. [Food for thought: why not (so much) Lucky Star?]
- Bakemonogatari. Think Nadeko x Mayoi Snail. Well especially Hachikuji Mayoi, since there’s the massive backpack for episode 1, and the whole getting lost thing.
- Haibane Renmei. Jumping down a
wellcliff to see dead bird bones, because of some trinket. And there is an emo moment down there. - Macross Zero. Giant bird bones + music = DECULTURE!
- Valkyria Chronicles. This is more complicated. I think the paramilitaristic component, the tank and the quiet, female mechanic, and color choices are the four key elements that evokes the comparison. Since that was actually an A1 Picture production, maybe some of the process similarities bleed into the end result, too.
- Kino’s Journey. Strange girl travels in a strange land, taking kindness from strangers. A detached narrative angle. But this might just be an episode 1-only thing.
- Elfen Lied. This is just in regards to those ethnic tapestry things in the show.
- Aria. Ask Jeff Lawson.
Joking aside, there are two issues I want to address about the initial wave of first impressions on ソ・ラ・ノ・ヲ・ト, or Soranowoto, or Soraoto.
What is a moe pandering show? My last post is a bit of a lead-in–in a way I think Aria is 100% a moe-pandering show, because it doesn’t really flex its muscles as a show that is enjoyable/good to watch/quality through the strength of its plot or story. The setting itself is a huge portion of its attractiveness, I believe, and in that sense it’s kind of like what Mike says here in the first paragraph about Soraoto. Yet as we all know, we watch Aria for the Undines and their interactions. Ok I’m joking, I don’t really know what moe-pandering show is, but all signs points to, yes, Aria is a show that sells on moe.
Thinking about it more, I have a hard time understanding what exactly is a moe pandering show. So far in its common, debased use on the net, can we just call it “anything that reminds you of K-ON”? And even then, I’m perfectly willing to say that people who think K-ON is a moe pandering show is just talking nonsense, since K-ON is actually a lot more than that.
And again, where’s Lucky Star in all of this? Shouldn’t we be better off saying Lucky Star is really the first moe pandering show, even if it’s just less wrong than calling K-ON that? Because it is a close relative of K-ON and predates it? I don’t see any difference between the two that may shed any light on why people are going K-ON this or K-ON that.
Better yet, how about anything that reminds you of Kyoto Animation? It’s as if people are writing for search engine trending!
People who dig shows from their superficial appearance are the worse acceptable people. I do this from time to time, but that is usually because the visual designs and direction in anime very frequently indicates the content of the show. I believe this is partly why, for God knows what reason, that people start to call moe pandering shows as an indictment of entire stories (what else do they mean by “show anyways?) and not just an aesthetics or even a marketing gimmick. Last time I checked, only femnazis and srsbzns religious conservatives boycott shows that use hot chickas or manflesh to lure viewers in. I mean, it’s kind of an expectation nowadays.
It would be fine if I was only talking about that. But by “superficial appearance” in the case of Soraoto, it would be akin to people who can’t bring themselves to watch Escaflowne because of the the character designs. Remember that? The people reject probably one of the greatest 90s anime because of pointy noses? I mean, the only claim to K-ON Soraoto has, after 1 single episode, is mostly the character design. The rest are neat coincidences. And I think it would be fine if you really dislike K-ON’s character design and thus Soraoto’s designs, but I really wish I could say the same thing about the people who disliked K-ON and thus Soraoto, only because of the character design reminds them of it. That’s kind of like hating on Cowboy Bebop because people die in that show, and they can’t stand people dying.
To go back to what I said earlier, yes, visual designs and direction in anime often indicates the content of the show. But I think that only falls cleanly along genre lines. Soraoto is an A1/Aniplex original, rather than some obvious marketing attempt for some kind of shoujo or shounen manga franchise, in which those design elements tend to be a loud signifers. I don’t think it would be safe to split things any finer, lest you want to commit a graver sin.
Well, judging a book by its cover is pretty close I guess.
Rather than condemn or hold out cautiously, I want to make a positive pronouncement about Soraoto. While character-driven narratives are a common find among the anime storytelling styles, I hope the setting (especially if it is like, say, #3 or #6) play a bigger role in the overall story. It would make Soraoto memorable.
Watching the first episode of Soranowoto reminded me a little of RahXephon with the theme about music and the design of the setting.
Yeah, the characters seem similar to K-ON! (though I wouldn’t judge by just one episode) but that shouldn’t make people disregard it completely. I know that to some fans, character designs are a big deal and they won’t watch any show where they don’t like the looks of the characters. That’s their choice of course, but for me personally, even if I don’t particularly like the character designs, I’ll try to overlook it and concentrate on everything else about the series.
Rahxephon, wow, didn’t see that one coming.
When the undines start using every excuse in the universe to put on cat ears every five seconds, that’s when you can call Aria a moe-pandering show.
It’s like!
::spins wheel::
Yoakemae yori ruri-iro na meets
::spins wheel::
Stop! Hibari-kun!
Thank you, thank you, I’ll be here all night.
“People who dig shows from their superficial appearance are the worse acceptable people.”
But isn’t this what the whole otaku database concept IS all about? Hell, scopophilia too. Oh boy, a little sister character with cat ears! Ooh, my favorite, a childhood friend with glasses! I’m almost certain a large chunk of Shingo’s diagram focuses on that aspect.
@baka-raptor: I think uniforms are moe.
@jpmeyer: it’s only partly true. because how else can you distinguish a good little sister cat ears combo from a bad one? In essence, you take Haibane Renmei and switch character designs, and it no longer is the best show nobody talks about.
I also saw Team Fortress 2, where Kanata will be the Soldier who would buff her entire team with her bugle later on for a battle.
TF2 huh…
Kanata: medic
Rio: soldier/spy
Kureha: Flamer
Felicia: soldier/sniper
Noeru: Engineer
“Haibane Renmei …. is the best show nobody talks about”
Tangentially, I think Princess Tutu is the best show no one talks about (there’s decent enough chatter about Haibane Renmei, after all).
Less tangentially, I think it’s not the character designs that make Haibane Renmei so memorable (they help), it’s the setting — which brings us back to a lot of both this essay and the one on Aria.
Funny, I think plenty of people talk about Princess Tutu too. Partly because it’s a cheaper, in-print title.
The best show that no one talks about is The Legend of Black Heaven. Not because it’s all that amazing, but because of the sheer utter lack of chatter.
Every anime is some other anime and it turns out we’ve been watching the same show for the last few decades.
“Funny, I think plenty of people talk about Princess Tutu too. Partly because it’s a cheaper, in-print title.”
Well, just going by a count here: http://forums.megatokyo.com/index.php?showtopic=1691093 , there are 16 or so mentions of Haibane Renmei and only four of Princess Tutu.
Perhaps a better approximation of “talk about”: searching the AMC forum for “haibane” turns up about 600 threads with the word, and only 205 threads contain “tutu”. The two series aired at the same time (I remember my club showed the two series together).
Haibane has 3000 ratings on its ANN Encyclopedia page, while Princess Tutu has 900 (the curves are similar, though Haibane is rated a bit higher).
As far as designs go, I’ll add this to this.
Honestly, I don’t feel the K-ON! comparison though I just watched episodes 5 and 6 last night, so perhaps I’m a bit untainted to make that splash (though it’s not like I haven’t see K-ON! at all).
Either way, the visual comparison is superficial and doesn’t serve any purpose. And for moe, it takes more than a character design to instantiate; imo, there needs to be additional context, whether it is acting, expression, situation, etc. I didn’t feel this either, Kanata (or any of the other characters) didn’t strike me moe. Maybe the studio was trying to hard, I have no clue, but I’m indifferent either way… it’s not like pandering adds to the experience anyhow.
Really didn’t like any of the characters after first episode either (cept that crazy/angry looking loli who comes on screw with a bucket of water and just stands there looking around…. yea, what was that about).
One episode.
Sweet #’s … Valkyria Chronicles… wwwhoa.
Ryan, I feel the same way. I like K-ON, and I see nothing about Soraoto which reminds me of it. But I think we’re not alone; it’s just that if someone is going to blog about it, we have to mention K-ON just…because.
It’s like a cleverly designed meme or viral marketing concept baked into the mind of fans.
Thankfully those don’t work to well on me… brainwashing is fun lol.
I thought it was reminiscent of Onegai Twins….
Isn’t it more like one character looks a little like a girl in K-On. That hardly means the entire cast is K-Onified.
Agreed on this post. And it gets to the point where that sort of behavior pisses me off. :P