Usurper of the Sun
When I think about science fiction, the hard variety, I think of it, like, drinking a shot of aged Scotch whisky. I sort of expect some familiar kind of punch when I down the fluid in the first instance, like that “umai” feeling that takes you to seventh heaven like a character from Yakitate Japan! or some such, except it’s some delicious food or beverage that you are actually consuming.
The author of Usurper of the Sun, the next SF title from Haikasoru, Housuke Nojiri (野尻抱介), is probably most notable to the average anime guy as the author of Rocket Girls light novel series. Nojiri is a multiple-award winner with several short stories (Seiun) and his other stuff has won random things that doesn’t mean very much to a guy like me. But his writing, I believe, speaks for itself.
Ok, granted a show like Rocket Girls probably does little to inspire confidence, but the science presented in Usurper is definitely way more solid than far majority of science fiction that I’ve ever read. Granted it’s also rather near-future… Well, that’s his niche/subgenre. Think about it for a second–how well can hard SF carry through in an anime? The juicy science discussions are hard to translate into a moving medium that is suppose to capture people’s attention spans without going into an Index-like TL;DR, right?
At any rate, if you dig near-future space sci-fi, this is a book for you. I don’t know how strongly I can push this angle for Usurper, because while it’s definitely good for that, I’m not sure how it measures up with its peers in this narrow category. If there was one main weakness in Usurper, it was the whole xenopsychology/AI mashup. Whatever, it’s not that important. I think the whole “wish-fulfillment of seeing near-term tech materializing” thing worked well in the book.
As for people who don’t particularly care about that aspect of science fiction, Usurper might blend in with a lot of the other SF Haikasoru offerings. On a side note, what’s up with all these non-SF works on the label now? Boo. I guess I’m not particularly thrilled about reading Brave Story at all. Zoo at least has Otsuichi, whose writing style I really like. I suppose they definitely don’t blend so much…
As a consequence of appealing to that genre niche in space SF, Usurper follows the footsteps of some more recognizable names in SF that you may be familiar with. I’m fine with that. It also means it follows the footsteps of other Haikasoru SF books in a sense, but I don’t think that sort of categorical distinction that we find in modern American and European SF is per se a desirable attribute. I mean, after all, the near future only has so many plausible alternatives when it comes to tech.
I wonder if Japanese readers just don’t read these western classics or what? Or are they kind of like me, who generally do not read them but is nonetheless familiar with them in some way?
One other thing I liked about Usurper is how it is very no-nonsense. It isn’t to say it’s particularly plot driven, but it’s very…how do I put it? Single minded? It’s a feeling like you’re in the zone, you’re getting work done, and nothing is distracting you from the task at hand. Our protagonist in the story is precisely that kind of a person, and the story is told in a similar manner. It isn’t to say there’s no character development, romantic side plots, subterfuge behind our backs, or surprises, but this is the 180 degree opposite of floundering harem protagonists who can’t decide which girl to go after or the whiny female lead that calls her favorite name over and over and over.
Not that there is anything wrong per se with all those things.
Our protagonist is the emotional and mental equivalent of the physical powerhouse that is Saya from Blood the Last Vampire. Girls + Swords is a genre/trope, but it isn’t when you’re a driven Japanese workaholic whose life is not empty on the inside because you are saving the world from an alien threat, and because that is your sole calling in life. I mean, what the heck, can this get any simpler than that? It evokes a sense of “1337,” I guess.
Take it as a criticism or complement, but all that means there is more space in the book dedicated to describing alien geography, technology, and rocketry business. Nojiri is pretty good at those things. And despite like how previous Haikasoru novels also skim on some commonly-found aspects in non-light novels, Usurper still manages to read differently. Kudos to the translator, maybe.
For what it’s worth, Usurper is a serialized prose in its first print run, divided into 3 “chapters.” The first chapter acted like a pilot episode and the subsequent chapters only got written when the first one scored well with the readers. Such is a huge difference than how a typical novel is written (you NaNoWriMo guys take note), but I guess that stopped nobody from publishing it in the US like a novel. This one clocked in over 300 pages, which is definitely the longest SF piece on Haikasoru so far.
And it is possibly the best one so far, too.
Marketing Otaku Anime
An alternative take at the eternal struggle of copywriting (read the comments there!) anime for an American audience–the shoppers of America’s big-box heartland–is that it really doesn’t matter. At least not in the way fans think of it.
Let’s take a well-known import of Japanese media in America–wacky Japanese game shows in which the contestants are battered and embarrassed by a barrage of otherwise unimaginable activities if not for the fact that somebody out there had to imagined them first for it to exist. It’s on par with weird sex videos from Japan in terms of sheer otherworldliness.
It’s not unexpected for the people who gave us the high school girl that asked for nobody other than aliens, time travelers and espers to befriend her, perhaps. But the subtlety of that concept is already a mile beyond the veracity an one-liner could express, with the likes of “octopus porn” or “a story of love, dreams, and perseverance” or “watch silly Japanese get dunked in goo!”
Let’s re-examine this divide between works that are layered and works that are less so. Author gave us some other examples which goes to the heart of the matter. For instance, Manabi Straight, he says, is a political thriller. I’m in no position to disagree, having claimed it being one of the best demonstration of the Kingdom of God I’ve laid eyes on. Religion and politics! (No wonder nobody licensed Manabi Straight.) These forbidden family dinner topics would hardly be the first thing one expect to grace the cover of such DVDs, I admit, but it’s there if you choose scratch deeper.
But what is probably a better example is Simoun. It is light years beyond the likes of Divergence Eve’s “come for the tits, stay for the sci-fi thriller” fishing. It’s a show where you don’t need yuri goggles to see the yuri, but the yuri is actually a lie. It’s the kind of anime that even a 500-word post would fail to really get to the heart of what makes it a great story to a wide range of viewers. It’s unreasonable to expect 1-liners to capture even a fraction of Simoun’s glory.
Perhaps another way to think is that copywriting is just some cheap marketing. It’s like the barkers that work out front of strip joints and gentlemen’s clubs. Do we expect people to purvey works that pander to immediate gratification or through thorough research, sampling, and the testimony of critics, fans and friends? In the case of most anime, it’s both. But copywriting obviously is just one form of marketing, to aim for the former. All this is to say, if we take the frame of mind of a fan we would naturally feel ill towards copywriting, like how some feminists may feel ill towards women who work those joints and the related forms of degrading marketing.
But when it comes to anime, there are notable exceptions–when a show it’s constructed with a certain disposition in mind. Say, Excel Saga? Divergence EVE? Or Simoun?
If I want to make just one point, it would be that otaku anime (unlike, say, Saiunkoku Monogatari) aims at a specific audience who are familiar with the work pandering to them. It isn’t to say no one else would like otaku anime, those outside of the target audience, but those kinds of shows generally dispenses the pleasantries and instead exercise their art within the difficult-to-define space within that genre. It’s like saying a $15 bowl of ramen is the best ramen you’ll ever eat in NYC–how do you justify it? And how can you explain it with a simple 1-liner? It’s extremely difficult to do copywriting for a general audience for a niche work, that’s just how it is. So why fret?
And we see that not all anime does this. Excel Saga is a good example of a gag anime that has some universal appeal but is very otaku in terms of its target audience. People ate the humor and the gags up, but to understand its full excellence requires an appreciation for the numerous in-jokes that most people just would not understand, let alone finding them an important addition to their Excel Saga experience. It’s a step up from Divergence EVE, which has this fanservice factor, a candy shell if you will, that dresses something probably more substantive, filling for the audience that enjoy that sci-fi space genre. I mean, that’s true for a lot of anime that use fanservice as a way to get people interested, to try out the show in the first place.
Simoun, ultimately, is the kind of show that plays to this marketing limitation. There’s no point trying to say how awesome a show is just on the cover. It can cite to reviews (or better yet, awards it won…LOL) but for most anime in America, it’s a crap shoot. The only thing Simoun got going at first is just the very natural girl-on-girl covers with all the naughty poses and body positions. It is the only barker speak Simoun has. Those quick, tender kisses and flowing tresses might have a certain appeal, but I don’t think that’s what makes the show worth watching.
At the same time, fans of the show may read and see those things and think “hey this is not (quite) what the show is good for!” And they would be right. However I think the series itself is a bait and switch, so when that marketing speak reaches the eyes of someone who is curious but ignorant, it actually accomplishes the proper effect. The misleading copywriting actually sets up the lies. It is a trap.
And Simoun is better off with its traps, I think we all can agree. When the traps are not so good, that’s when copywriting becomes misleading and people whine and all that. Worse, you get the people buying something totally misleading!
It would be perfect to wrap up this post with some copywriting from Simoun’s R1 DVD release, but the blurbs on the DVDs read more like, well, honest-to-goodness plot summaries. All that is to say, I think, whoever wrote them actually saw the show? It’s a wild guess, but in the end fans do the best at promoting the shows they love, right? Modern technology transforms copywriting via things like customer reviews might work better!
Rocket Girls: Wandaba Style Reprised
Wandaba Style was like shock therapy: you hurt so bad that you come to like it out of psychological desperation. Admittedly it has some redeeming value but only if you can pierce through the…noise. Wandaba Style is, for the uninitiated, the nightmare that spawned nightmares of Akira Kogami.
Rocket Girls, is, in some ways, the same flavor but without the noise. Our protagonist is a very spirited young woman who has discovered that there’s more to life than the dutiful society that cradled her for 17 years. Taking her no-nonsense mother she became the first teenage astronaut. Why a teenage astronaut? I don’t know; but the last 3 episodes proposes some kind of a rationale. Unlike shows like Stratos 4, RG is not pretentious. And unlike Stratos 4, RG is a bit more appealing to realism…even if it’s more ludicrous at times.
I think there’s some kind of charm coming from the overall team of the cast. While the large bulk of the show focuses on Yukari, Matsuri and Akane, it’s the most enjoyable when the overbearing Yukari loses some of her lines to the workers on the island base. Once Matsuri joined in, things got into a good balance and I began to be able to tolerate Yukari better.
It was hard to write about Rocket Girls. It’s a fun show but somewhat uneven at times. It tries to be heartful but it makes you wonder if it works or not. It’s not exactly high profile, and it’s comedy nature only makes it feel cheaper.
What it was, at the end, is a show about growing up and accomplishing something. I think that much was a “mission complete” for this little anime otaku piece. Not much in terms of anything else besides a good tease, maybe.
Without having to drive its viewer insane, I suppose.
Yukari: A Stylish Rocket Girl
I don’t know how hard it is to tell geography by visuals when you’re in low earth orbit, but Yukari can do it. For some reason I got the impression that it is rather hard? For one, you don’t look at things north-up.
Eri Sendai’s performance as Yukari Morita in Rocket Girls is strangely familiar with a pinch of indignity and mild irritation. It took a while for me to find why but I narrowed it down to her role as Yuuhi from Neo Ranga. And in some ways, the mean streak continues on with Yukari when she fights and consents to the various trials and strangeness that makes a high schooler going into space something to be taken slightly more seriously (than not at all). More than a bunch of washed-up idol singers, at any rate.
But in exchange, maybe Matsuri should be in Wadaba Style instead? Maybe Rocket Girls should make reference to Lisa Nowak? Anime fans like determined girls with a streak of insanity, I suppose?
In some ways all of this pseudo low-tech sci-fi gets on my nerves like a confused bee grazing under a blooming Spring sky. Is it like Gundam? As in, an event several decades ago that changed the minds of the animators and creators forever? Are we bridging that gender gap? My parents saw the momentous Apollo 11 landing broadcast live across the world and told me about it when I got older, and most of you reading this blog probably hasn’t, or too young to remember. Is it just a staple genre that old Japanese guys buy to remind them the memories of fascination and dreams they had as children? I don’t know.
