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.
Aria Culture Mashup, Cookie Monster Style
I remember taking some kind of Japanese culture class as an undergrad (unsure why, probably out of obligation of graduation requirements) and the persistent narrative of that course comes in the form of an illustration. Undoubtedly, I know some of you have heard of the onion analogy in respect to the layers of Japanese culture as a foreign perspective. Long story short, Japan has this tendency to mimic and regurgitate foreign cultural elements to suit their internal needs and purposes. Some well-known examples include the Japanese modern tradition of Christmas and Valentine’s Day/White Day.
Aria becomes interesting in this regard because it is a story about a repackaged Venice. A good portion of the episodes are almost like a tourism promotional video in the sense that various “charm points” of Venice are preserved and translated to its Martian counterpart. Somehow, the science fictional excuse (well, Venice is sinking is no fiction I guess) made the translation from the old & real to the new & imaginary totally cool, sort of like Spike and smoking inside a spaceship.
Thankfully, Aria is not truly about Neo Venezia (or the real Venezia), because the space-time transplant seems a little bit hollow to me. Instead, it focuses on the cast of Undines, who are the space-time transplants of guild-certified gondola guides working the water ways of Venice. In Aria and Neo Venezia, Undines are female only, which is a drastic contrast with their 21st century counterparts in Venice, who are almost all male.
That cute irony aside (and of course we would not have Aria in any way without its present and “iyashi” cast of Undines), there are a lot of little things like this in Aria, some less cute than others. Unfortunately, I am no Venetian, and I am probably equally ill-equipped to talk about Japanese culture in light of Venice’s characterization (as a city and people), or what seems comfortable to the average Aria viewer, rather than what a Japanese tourist might read from a travel brochure or see with their own eyes. I do know, however, that Aria is ultimately a prime example of iyashikei anime, and it intends to bring forth that pleasantry as both a selling point but also as a substance of its story.
If we consider Aria’s story as an onion about coming of age, as a story that instills hope for humankind in general and one that paints a reasonably rosy picture about people coming to terms about their future fears and aspirations, of successes and failures, then Neo Venezia is just an outer layer of that onion. It is, in a literal sense, a gateway to a fantasy world. The construction of that setting is both key to unlock what comes after it, and something more.
And as you can guess, I think the whole Venice/Neo Venezia thing is also a disguise. If we keep peeling back the Aria onion, past its characters and stories, I think we might find just what makes Neo Venezia different than Venice. Sort of like what keeps that cigarette on Spike’s lips in an oxygen-poor place to live.
For one, Venice, like much of the notable and historic cities in Europe, is covered in artifacts and churches. It goes without saying that one of the most prosperous cities in historic Europe (ie., it used to be) is like a gold mine for lore, made up or for real. However, we didn’t really get a lot of that from Aria and Neo Venezia. Instead, we got the “feeling” that there’s something new to discover everywhere you look, if you love the place enough and take the time to walk on shadows, or something. For the most part, we were treated about 40% sci-fi stuff (eg., moles) and 60% Venice notables (eg. the Bridge of Sighs).
Really? Is this why people flock to Venice as a tourist spot? Instead of, say, the beautiful wilderness of the Gobi Desert? Or some dimly-lit stretches of Tokyo’s urban crawl? I doubt it. At any rate, it leaves out one of those key things that can undermine its “everything is beautiful” premise, which is that if you live in a historic place like Venice, well, duh, you’re in rowing distance from some world-famous landmarks and architecture. But can you say the same thing about living in the middle of Antarctica, to use an extreme example? Woo you are actually near the physical South Pole! There are penguins! You are snowed in half of the year! Of course, if we are to see Neo Venezia through Akari’s eyes, it wouldn’t be the same as if we were to see Antarctica from the eyes of a penguin, but you can’t deny that there’s just a lot more to see in Venice or Neo Venezia than a lot of other places your Aria watchers people live. It is an exotic European getaway!
Another way to put it is that, say, if I live and work in Paris, and I spend a lot of time working, I might not have the time to treasure all that cultural richness as designated as landmarks or what have you. It is a good point that Parisians should stop and enjoy themselves and re-discover the cultural richness that surrounds them. But if I was working as a personal tour guide, maybe I should think twice about the everyday sights that passes by me. You know, part of the job and all. If I am neither a professional tour guide nor I live near any notable place on Earth, then it’s not so pretty out there.
Here is the TL;DR–if Venice (let alone Neo Venezia, which is a SF version of the same) is already the sort of touristy destination that your average Japanese-TV-viewing person would find otherworldly, why not use that as the getaway element? Why reconstruct this outer layer (as far as reasons in respect to the story)? And more importantly, what does this comfortably distant future serve for a story that could be told in today’s world?
In trying to find answers to those questions, the only revelation I’ve stumbled upon is that it’s a way to tune into its audience’s mind. It suspends beliefs and speak in a language that disarms the audience from the mental baggage that one might have if it was a real Italian location. Or a South Korean one. Instead of hard-hitting cynicism or political parody, we get some wishy-washy feel-good story about people rowing boats with gloves on. Or off. It’s as if we are tsunderes, or just too childish to take the bitter medicine so it’s coated with caramelized onion skin. OM NOM NOM NOM.
Year in Review: Conclusion
Covering a few personal and not-so-personal bits about this 2008 year in review.
Year in Review: Sunshine & Kisses Drive to Origination, Shrine Maidens Lost Memories in Coded Euphoric Frontier
Running for your lives.
With style.
Year in Review: She’s Going the Distance, a Great Feat of Strength
Going to mention a list of 12 lists of 12 items each. So a nested list. All 144 items. Annotated for the most part. Don’t ask me why I use these pronouns the way I do…
