This Is Why Angel Beats Gets My Attention
Of episode 6:
And Otonashi’s speech to “God” was like a declaration of all that was wrong with Kyoani’s adaptation of Kanon: “You can’t just give them a fake happy ending! Their lives were real!” [dm, last accessed, May 9, 2010]
Just so you know, this is probably not (one of) the reason why Kyoto Animation isn’t doing Angel Beats. But wouldn’t it be funny if that was Maeda’s intention?
One thing I’d like to presume but I can’t is that between you, the person who’s reading this post, and me, exists an understanding about the database nature of otaku. It’s a basic observation as stated by Azuma’s ought-to-be-more-famous book about so-called database animals. But why do we do this?
Can we really write characters like this? If one might stretch the metaphor, if men are created as images of God, so characters are images of men. The creative and the derivative differ in that breath of life; and the if a man on earth is judged by his mark, fruits of his labor, then what of a lasting character that passes the test of time? Or a character that moved a generation of hearts, or inspired new heights (or abyssal depths) of emotions and convictions?
Is it equally safe to presume that you knew how Kyoto Animation’s adaptations went?
There is relatively much written out there about Jun Maeda, so I’ll leave that for you to explore on your own. Wikipedia is a good starting point.
If I had to pin Angel Beats on one prior work, I would liken it to the 1999 film The Matrix. There is something deliciously fourth-wall about calling out lines of guns to arm yourself in an action sequence; the procurement of firearms is like breathing air in a Hollywood summer blockbuster–it goes without saying. Yet as we know, the characters in the film partake the evocation of this fourth-wall trope as an activity within the confines of its setting. It’s just like reacting to pathos porn like it is full of sad porn, rather than just patent misfortune. And agreeably so, because sad girls in snow is pretty sad, and it’s just as sad to make them sad for the only reason to make them attractive in some database way. Or, worse, as mentioned above, fix these sad girls up for no good reason besides having the producer breathing down your neck, saying that unless we get happy endings, we won’t sell.
Maybe Angel Beats would be better for not only Maeda’s sanity but also Angel Beats’ characters if it was Angel Eats.
The irony, to me, is that until you recognize the weird irony that exists in Angel Beats’ narrative space, the show just lacks that punch, that “chikara” so to speak. It’s like trying to explain to someone why ninjas are cool. Or a lot of guns are cool. Or why Sad Girl Eating Maabo Tofu is hilariously subversive.
Do you think he meant the end of CLANNAD and not Kanon?
I’m pretty sure he means Kanon. End of CLANNAD actually makes sense from the video game point of view.
I was under the impression that KyoAni’s Kanon was loyally following the original game, am I wrong?
Loyally? Uh I guess? Don’t take it so seriously.
Yes, I mean Kanon — the last episode reset-ending, complete with all-better-now Shiori.
Hey, if it makes you feel any better, at least Ayu was in a wheelchair (and would probably never walk again) in the end?
Angel Beats does remind me of Kanon 2002, the AIR and Clannad movies. Great story but ruined to a various extents by clumsy execution. Let’s face it, Jun NEEDS KyoAni.
Eh, what goes on in Angel Beats is all Maeda. Has nothing to do with Kyoani.
A cute lead guitarist/singer of an all girls band named Yui? Yeah, nothing to do with KyoAni…
Yeah, kakifly invented that :p But it’s up to Maeda to put that stuff in. Which just goes to show maybe he does want to criticize Kyoani.
My own take is that Angel Beats is the best “Key adaptation” I’ve seen (which, for me I suppose, is damning with faint praise), perhaps because it’s not taking itself, or standard Key tropes, very seriously. Though I suppose it’s too early to tell (Kanon and Clannad both looked pretty good at episode six, only to go downhill).
Sola (another scare-quoted “Key adaptation”) was good to the end, I guess, so it might be the one to beat.
Didn’t intend to come off as being too serious. I was just saying that I think the “reset” happens in the original game. In that case, I wouldn’t fault KyoAni for it.
On another note, though I feel the pacing of Angel Beats needs to be slowed down, I’m all for more non-KyoAni Key adaptations.
I briefly mentioned about the reset ending in the game :)
To say that KyoAni did something bad to Kanon with the ending is to fundamentally misunderstand Kanon.
And to imply that the handling of Naoi is an example of something done right, well… yeesh.
I love Angel Beats so far, but Naoi’s character and how they handled it was damn near a disaster. I usually roll my eyes when people describe something as “contrived”, but the end of episode 6 was just that. All that rage, all that ambition, gone in an episode thanks to a hug. A character wasted. Not just because this was a terrible way to end it, but because the execution was so poor.
The episode was salvaged by the Kanade/Otonashi moments, easily. However, if this is how Angel Beats! is going to handle story climaxes, I’m terribly worried about the ending.
LOL dude, /facepalm.
The whole point is that Naoi’s handling IS contrived. It is a self-reference. It is satire. Just like Kanon. If you didn’t ‘get it’ then you probably were one of those people being mocked by Maeda.
Oh look. A typical otaku turning a typical moeblog anime into something deep. More like derp amirite?
LOL deep, this is all pretty obvious. It’s only blind to those who don’t see the context and watch the show in a vacuum.
More on this, in the context of Clannad.
dm should write on the blog more. I don’t know why he doesn’t. :v
I’m liking what I’m seeing with Angel Beats! so far, and the potential for world building is still very much alive and thriving.
[...] or, “How I learned to appreciate Angel Beats“. [...]
Well that’s convinced me. The real brilliance of Angel Beats perhaps is that it doesn’t immediately sell itself as subversive metafiction; you’re left wondering if your looking at a hack work or something genius. This post helps nudge it a little closer to genius, I think.
Interesting. This post for some reason feels to me like it has some strong religious undertones.
Anyway, what I’ve realized is that the series Angel Beats most reminds me of is the under-appreciated Shigofumi.
Also, a bit curious about “Database animals”, are you talking about inter-textuality and tropes, our need to have things fit the mold? Should really read The Science of Discworld 2 and the Witches’ series if that’s what you’re talking about. Have a blog-post in my draft section about that, waiting for next week.
Angel Beats’s core setup is existentialist, so it does at least sideswipe religion thematically. Just like The Matrix.
I’m not too sure what you mean by “our need to have things fit the mold” but I will check out your post about Discworld I guess :3
Literary Discworld post is now live!*
I was asking what you meant by “Database animals” ;) Well, “fit the mold”, we look at how things occur, we think of our things should occur, and then we trim and add things to our experience until it fits how we think things should go. Perception patterns, in a way.
There was a psychology experiment where they told two groups of people the same story, about a couple that went on a trip. One half got the ending where he ended up murdering her, the other half he married her.
Then a week later they were invited and asked whether certain things occured or did not occur in the story. The people who were told the murder ending forgot nice things he had done and thought nasty things that were not done were done, and vice versa for the other group.
We shape existence according to our expectations.
* I wish the anime blog crowd were more inclined to read literary posts :-/
Wait, are you asking for real?
http://www.amazon.com/Otaku-Database-Animals-Hiroki-Azuma/dp/0816653526