Year In Review: N-Squared List
Just like last year, I guess some things have not changed. This could be a reference.
Leaders of the Pack: 2000-2009
I used to keep somewhat-up-to-date top 10 lists for several categories, including favorite characters and favorite anime. It’s a tool to introspect, and an excuse for said exercise, so why not revamp my top list of anime at the end of 2009 and make it 2000-2009 only? Two birds with one stone, so they say.
Ultimately it’s an excuse for me to migrate some writing from elsewhere to here.
I originally baselined the list about five and a half years ago. And it hasn’t changed a whole lot in some aspects; a couple things moved and I adding a couple things. It’s a sure-fire sign that I’m an old fart, in internet terms. A new generation of netizens have already taken their place and drowned out the likes of me. Heh, remember when people used the word “netizens” and climbed hills to go to school both ways in the snow with no shoes &c?
The below is just a list of anime that I really liked in the past 10 years or so. There were some “franchises” that I was enamored with but they never really materialized in the form of an anime that I liked–Sakura Taisen being the most obvious example–so they’re off the list. And of course just because I like the anime doesn’t mean I like the other parts of the franchise, too. It really is a case-by-case analysis.
One more thing–this list is not ordered. Because it would take too long and honestly the order has no meaning beyond what it means to me, and I can’t be bothered to count any more angels on the tips of pins. So here it goes:
Millennium Actress - It is personal, as with most of this list. However I would say that I watched it during a period in my life where chasing dreams was the stuff that I wish I was doing. In some sense I still feel that I am not? The whole actress-idol angle was beside the point, although it is through that particular lens that we observe a form of beauty that can go beyond the limitations of real life. But in good Japanese tradition of mono no aware, it’s the chasing after an empty dream that beautifies, and perhaps it is the memories of that, which is eternal. Chiyoko’s fervent and undying sentiments powers her journey through time, but “Hollywood Magic” is the true substances of her dreams. No longer a person, she transforms into a conduit between her emotions and the silver screen, purer than the drab reality we’re a part of.
FLCL - Mad pimp style. In fact I still haven’t seen anything this stylish since. I mean this is a 2000-2001 show, so a lot of anime have gone past us since, in a medium that is known for its stylishness. There have been attempts, and some come pretty close, but as they bear their fangs to accomplish what they set out to do, FLCL has already been there, done that, and done it earlier. It also introduced America to the Pillows. LOL. I also think it’s the true complement to Gainax’s Evangelion. One is African-American blues stuff, and the other is, well, rock.
Scrapped Princess - I like this show for its drama and setting. While it’s fun and exciting to see how the story play out in its [super-spoiler-statement-removed], Pacifica and her siblings rise beyond just mere anime characters and into very personable entities that I see everyday. The high fantasy feel also comes across fresh and it unveiled itself like a pleasant surprise. I also blame Sutepri for dooming me to follow every blasted abortion of Ichiro Sakaki’s novel adaptations, because neither the Sutepri novels nor any of his consequent anime adaptations were up to snuff. If I had to say one key thing about Sutepri that I liked, it was Fumiko Orikasa’s Pacifica.
Rahxephon - I don’t know if I like Rahxephon, or Akihiro Yamada :) But nonetheless it’s a very pretty show that just doesn’t stop at being its own exotic, senseless shounen exposition. It has some great moments, and even blundering through its cloudy plot there’s a lot of wonderful tension. It’s also one of the best scripted giant post-Evangelion robot shows, although I can’t really vouch for the likes of Gasaraki or Betterman. The ensemble cast comes alive, albeit stubbornly, to put together enough interesting parallels and polygons to warrant a few essays at least.
Evangelion - Just because it’s mostly in 1996 doesn’t mean I can’t let it in… I added it back to my list partly because I think most of the Eva fans have already gone off and rant about other crap so it’s a topic that is generally less annoying now. Also over the years I’ve never really stopped appreciating what this show has to offer. It helps me to rewatch this because they keep on re-releasing it, lol. And what is there to appreciate? It’s definitely top notch as 90s TV anime goes, in terms of production values. The writing, designs, direction, music, theme, acting…well you can go on. It’s a perfect storm of some sort, as far as getting the right talents (and large number of them), the right crazy people, the right time and generation of Japanese people, the right way to frame the issues… So many factors contributed to its success. Lastly, the rebuilding isn’t so bad so far. Maybe I should’ve limited this entry to the Rebuilding, separate from the TV series, but that saga just started.
Manabi Straight - this is probably one of the new title I latched onto this list after a drought of personal inability to really like a show–basically it’s not to say there haven’t been many great shows to recommend others between 2004 and 2007, but this one manages to strike a chord in me that elevates it above others. It’s a feel-good high school affair with a lot of heart, but that alone wasn’t enough. What makes Manabi Straight work for me is the way the story manages to build a powerful allegory about vision and about fulfilling it. If you can cut through the cutesy loli appeal (or rationalizes it away), there’s a gem waiting for you.
Simoun - What wins with Simoun is its intricate writing to display the really odd human relationships wrapped around a very creative sci-fi/fantasy backdrop. It doesn’t help if the ensemble cast is also awesome and full of “good girls.” It’s not the kind of good girls that grace a Key game, no sirree. To me this was probably the ultimate example of the anime storytelling format in combining elements of high fantasy and drama, all together with just enough of those frown-upon meta elements that it doesn’t get in the way of the story. Unfortunately the production value was lacking in places, and it’s a difficult show to get into regardless on how you feel about yuri and fanservice. Nobody is perfect I guess.
Notable mentions–shows I like but don’t want to put on a pedestal:
GunParade March - I’m amazed that it’s still on my list, but for a romance-in-the-military story, it really captures that whole ishin-denshin idea excellently.
Witch Hunter Robin - Does goth style right. And Robin is…simply wonderful IMHO. Shukou Murase’s problem with pacing just wasn’t so pronounced here as it is with Ergo Proxy.
Ghost in the Shell TV - The unlearned man’s version of Shirow’s Ghost in the Shell. With twice of the cuteness and half the nudity! The less cat-ish Major might be more mainstream-appealing at any rate. Yes, I mean both Stand Alone Complexes and the OAV thing.
Planetes - No man’s an Island, and no man should go without seeing PLANETES because it’s awesome drama. Oh, it’s an exemplary piece of hard, near-SF with a sense of humor, too. It may also be one of the earlier no-nonsense post-911 works from Japan, as far as its vintage.
Dokkoida?! - It’s one of the best self-referential style of comedy that I can recall. The sisucon episode is perhaps the funniest and yet the most riveting episode of LOL ever. Also, in before ufotable. Futakoi Alternative gets a nod here, but I don’t think it’s got enough to make it to this list proper.
Koikaze - Speaking of sisucon, while this anime tackles a subject matter that’s all too taboo (incest), it is directed and put together with superb craftsmanship that it even does the subject matter with some justice, if at least superficially.
Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya - just for the fact how it raised the bar for TV animation alone is worth watching. It’s a boon that it’s also one of the best adaptation of juvenile science fiction for anime that I’ve ever seen. The out-of-order broadcast is brilliant and it is a ballsy move that paid off. Too bad Endless Eight did not; I would probably recommend season two anyways.
Full Metal Panic Fumoffu - Possibly the widest-appealing slapstick anime ever, and it manages to be not-too-gross most of the time!
Cowboy Bebop (TV, Film) - You already know this. Hi Robert Rodriguez and Quintin Tarantino! And Keanu, lol. While most of it took place before 2000, the movie didn’t come out until 2001, and for the most part Bebop is more of a “this decade” thing than a “last decade” thing anyways.
Chikyuu Shoujo Arjuna - It’s a little too new-agey for my taste, but it is a solid production with a daring message. I liked the music and the production as a whole.
ef - I’m reluctant to include this title because there hasn’t been enough time since I last watched it, but to call it a novel thing is understating the creative effort behind a seemingly plain eroge-turn-animated-companion. I’m not sure if it rises fully to the occasion however, as only the test of time will tell.
Xam’d - Like Haruhi, it belongs to this list just because it is animated like a champ, and the rest of the package is quite above average. I think it makes a cheap substitute for Eureka 7, at half the length and twice the visual goodness in exchange for a less satisfying story. Still to some the story might stand stronger than those who are more picky about linearity.
True Tears - There is something oddish about this show which just doesn’t make it stand out beyond its harem trapping, even if it most deservedly is beyond that. Characterization and production value are top notch. It’s almost needless to say that True Tears is a charming affair, no matter who you root for.
Rurouni Kenshin (OAVs, Kyoto Arc) - It’s possibly the only shounen fight anime that I truly liked, and probably the last. And the 4-episode OAV (or 1, director’s cut) of the Tomoe tragedy… It’s just so good, even if it lacks the grit of what we typically associate with samurai films. In its place we get a very early taste of, say, and euphoric field kind of thing. I can’t really say much about the TV series though, besides that it’s an enjoyable rump with some worthwhile meme powers even so many years after. Besides that, it is a 90s show. Unlike Bebop, the Kenshin experience is a very 90s kind of thing anyways, so I don’t want to highlight it (much).
That’s more or less it. I know this list skews old, especially considering the volume of anime available the last 5 years, but passing the test of time is a major criteria for me, and a lot of the shows in recent years just don’t stand out too much, you know?
For a very different list but possibly even more a trip down memory lane, check out Psgel’s. There are other holiday festivities that may grace this site, as such.
[edit: I removed Utena the Movie, because I don’t think it’s a 2000+ title if we go by the screening dates! I don’t know why I thought so the first place.]
Funimation’s Figures, Reading Between Eva Films
Namely via this and that. About the write-up on Navarre’s earning call from ICV2. Perhaps with a misleading title.
I don’t know, from what I’ve heard over the years, bidding on any given license wasn’t something particularly exclusive. You have the random deals that are more or less locked in (Naruto comes to mind) and that’s about it. Usually a discussion about bidding on licenses comes down to profitability, bidding wars, and uh, more profitability. Which is to say the earning call statement tends to suggest that Funimation is either implying something–namely, the ones they don’t license are the ones they don’t find profitable–or it’s just PR fluff that isn’t particularly meaningful, or suggest that they were able to lower the transactional cost on particular titles that they want to acquire regardless of any business alliances and connections.
After all, it’s an earnings call…
Especially when you think about the status between Funimation and whoever owns Evangelion 2.0. This year it’s a hot question at all the Funi panels, naturally, and they’ve dodged that repeatedly. Especially given how they are (and how they are) handling Eva 1.0, it’s kind of a suspicious thing. I guess that’s the nature of what a bid means, and being able to bid on it doesn’t mean very much until you win it, and I’m sure Funi wants to win it.
I think it’s a no-brainer to see Funimation, which represents about half or more of the home video market in the US for anime, doing well. It definitely suggests that anime on the whole is doing well during this time (lol recession) since I doubt it’s a fluke just for half of the market. From Funimation’s licenses, which are largely comprised of rescued titles, it would also say a lot about them being conservative and pushing for what sells, and not merely by what Author and I like. Maybe not the newest and greatest but what wins the bread and feeds the kids, amirite?
The logical thing from here, to me, is that all the more precious are the ADV23, Bandai and Media Blaster licenses. Because they license(d) a good number of my favorite titles and titles I care about. Simply put, these are the people who licensed CLANNAD, True Tears, and Simoun (among others). And if they’re less profitable than Funimation’s licenses, well, hey, then they need more help than our profit-min-maxing FUNi Overlords do. I for one wouldn’t mind a division of labor, between anime that sells to freaks like us and anime that do not, if the economics work out–although it rarely does. Whatever, that’s not our job.
Being a publicly traded company has its vices, I suppose. And not to dig on FUNi much, I think they’ve slowly drifted into the “2nd-gen otaku” stuff with pickups like Spice & Wolf and Oofuri. I think titles like those will be a litmus test towards their future licenses in the more “alternative” category of anime, away from the usual sit-com/fanservice romps, straight-up sci-fi, pulp violence, and the more “mainstream” things like Soul Eater. What’s important isn’t so much that you and I buy the anime we love and to support whoever or whatever, but it would be key to see that newer anime get a chance at being licensed, despite that they may look like high-risk, low-reward properties on a spreadsheet for merely being new and untested.
I mean, going back to the bid statement earlier–I doubt they can put a serious bid on Naruto and Death Note…even if they could. Evergreen titles are already taken up. It’s time to discover those new ones!
Don’t give up on Mari just because you have Misato!
Mecha as Fig Leaves, Not as Genres
This post is a response to Daniel’s post on mecha as genre.
I think going down his line of abstraction is a little too much. I mean, yeah, once you boil it down a Gundam is just a projection of one’s earthly desires into heroism. Why does Superman fly? Why is Nono topless? The difference is perhaps one of idolatry versus escapist, self-insertion, and the boat floats either way you row your pickle.
But just because they both float, it doesn’t mean they are the same thing.
And I think it’s times like this we can really appreciate anime like Evangelion because it puts a face on a notion that the world has struggled with and responded (or rather, reacted to?) with great interest. It’s so very apt that Evangelion copied from Judeo-Christian and gnostic myths, because this is all very religious. And often times classic mecha anime have a sense of institution and formality to it that is not unlike some earthen religion or Hinduism.
Still, I think Daniel’s post paves the way to model the core components of a hero story. There are three core elements: the hero, the heorics, and the the audience. What makes a show tick is how the viewer relate and perceive the relationship between the hero and the heroics. What is unique about mecha from any other hero story–that separates BGC from Nanoha, let’s say–is the identity of this projection as we perceive it. What makes mecha anime different than others like it is that this projection has god-like attributes. And I don’t just mean in terms of physical powers, but also socially and in the psyche of our heroes (ie. they serve the same role as gods in the real world).
In other words, the hero is the heroics–you can’t have a mecha anime like that.
Would you pray to it? Many mecha heroes did. Some with tears, many with passionate screams, some speak the language and can reprogram really fast.
Some easy example of this are Evangelion and Neo Ranga. The mecha themselves serve not only as an extension of a will and desire for our heroes, but they are a pathway, a means, to achieve something beyond what powers might bring. In Neo Ranga’s case, it played the role from god to oracle to judge to house pet. In Eva’s case it’s not only man’s last defense, but also a road to total destruction of man…and a comfortable hole for an emo-head to hide in. It’s gooey, warm, and feels a lot like mom. Or in Xenoglossia’s case, the boyfriend you wish you had.
Everything before Eva can be seen as a road leading up to it. Is not Astroboy an embodiment of godhood in human society? Read much Shirow lately?
Gundam 00 played this up a notch with Setsuna’s complex, right? Silly teenage extremist. By the way I thought that was the most brilliant part of Gundam 00.
(Actually several Gundam series deal with this in a pretty amusing way. Such as when a mecha pilot put too much trust in the latest tech, only to be let down by the false god.)
What is god in the Nanoha universe? Sweat, blood, tears, lesbian undertonesnever-ending power of heart, and incremental upgrades of a deadly mix between tech and magic. Ancient prophecies, modern inventions and everything in between play a role. But none of it materializes as god. If anything, Nanoha is like Hercules; if there’s a claim to godhood, it would the worship of her (and not Raising Heart… If Daniel said Mai-Hime, however, he’d be right on). I always thought what was worshipped in the Nanoha series is a sense of ethics, of right and wrong.
Anyways, can we say the same thing about the Gurren-Lagann? Is that why the second half of the series was as hollow as it was?
And I think it gets into the divide between super robots and real robots?
And that is the difference between an age of darkness and an age of enlightenment. (Yes, yes, Mobile Suit Gundam brought upon the anime world an age of enlightenment; we all can agree on that I hope.) If we think of science and technology as the god of this age, it all makes sense? And what better symbol of modern technological advancement are there than made-in-Japan humanoid weapons? Well, maybe mutated giant tentacle monsters as an alternative (and they exist in mecha anime, even). The fiction of science went well with the fiction of god-idol-heroes; they’re peas in a pod.
What made the Evangelion so profound-seeming (to clarify my earlier point) is how it handled a duality of modern gods. Mankind has always understood deities to be both kind and cruel; but it wasn’t until the past few hundred years that we questioned their identity in an organized manner; are gods really gods? And with gods we can understand (eg. science & technology, even if it’s alien), we can make stories out of them that deal with this issue. Evangelion simply took that to a step beyond gods, to the ultimate creator of such gods–man himself. Evagelion did more than just took an axe to a tree, it took a lance and pierced the veil that separated imagination from our unconscious guilt.
Once we have understood construction of gods (as defined by real robots), we worship that faceless, personless understanding and no longer the personality which we now understand. The super robot magic is lost when this happens. In Gurren Lagann’s case, we have ourselves a real robot anime with the trapping of a super robot show (at about half way through the second arc), although by then we have a lot of pretty stuff on the screen to distract us. And will Nia be saved?
I believe the opposite perspective coincidentally, is held by Gunbuster–a proper, modern day miracle where science + heart overcomes obstacles size of stars. Of course, part of the ordeal within Gurren Lagann is one that does not have a textbook happy ending, it’s thoroughly post-Evangelion. Congratulations, Simon.
And that is why things like Turn-A Gundam are so interesting.
Maybe that is why well-adjusted teenage boys and girls watch shows like Naruto and Bleach where the focus is on interpersonal relationships, and not on why my giant robot is better than your giant robot?
[Either way, when you get old enough, you will learn to appreciate Blade Runner, and by extension, Bubble Gum Crisis. That gets to the next point: I admit, I’m pretty weak from the sentai side of things, and it helps to have a healthy understanding of that genre to talk mecha. They are close relatives after all.]
