Hey all. I’ve been doing this anime blogging thing for a while now, and one of the my favorite things to do has been to manage an anime “book club” of sorts. We all watch an episode (or episodes) of an anime and then reconvene to discuss it once a week. While I like to watch anime on my own, it’s also great to get perspectives on series that I may not have come up with were it just me thinking about it. Does this sound like fun? If it does, I hope you’ll feel up to participating in the most recent incarnation of the S1E1 Anime Book Club!
Below is a poll of several potential series I’ve come up with. Some of the criteria for these selections were:
Series that I’ve already watched all/some of (and am confident that there’s some discussion to be had)
Series that are about 1-cour (12-13 episodes or so)
Series that either have not been watched in my local anime club, or at least not recently
Series that are available legally-streaming (in this case, Crunchyroll)
So how will we choose? Below is a poll where you can select all the shows that sound interesting to you (you can select multiple). Before that, though, I’ve posted some short descriptions of each, potential content notes I can think of, and links to their info at ANN.
Kino’s Journey: The Beautiful World (2017) – Kino is a traveler who visits countries all over the world, but only for three days at a time. By visiting these places, Kino sees both the worst and the best that humanity has to offer.
Pros – Lots of variety. Many of the stories are interesting parables. This incarnation (technically a remake of the 2003 series) spends some time with other characters in Kino’s world.
Cons/content – Gun (and other) violence.
Library War – In an alternate future, government information censorship has gotten out of control. The people fighting to ensure freedom of information for the populace are the libraries and armed librarians.
Pros – Decent story about censorship and various character relationships.
Cons/content – Militaristic activities. It’s been a while since I’ve watched it (basically 10 years) so don’t remember if there’s more (apologies).
Bakemonogatari – Teenager Koyomi Araragi knows lots of girls who are haunted and empathizes with them, since he used to be a vampire. I watched this as it was broadcast but have not seen the full final arc, as Shaft hadn’t finished it in time (lol – this was many years ago).
Pros – Full-on Shaft visual style. Story arcs in bite-sized pieces. Interesting character banter and relationships.
Cons/content – Fanservice-y. Borderline (imo) stuff involving the younger characters. Can be violent at points.
No. 6 – The main character finds out that his utopia is a dystopia after meeting a counterpart from the wrong side of the tracks. Sci-fi with homoerotic undertones (or sometimes just tones).
Pros – Interesting setting and relationship between the main two characters. Lots of exciting moments.
Cons/content – Just kind of “ends” (show runs out of time). Bees!
Otome Youkai Zakuro – A fantasy romance taking place in Meiji-era Japan, where young women who are half-youkai team up with men from the military to defend against monster attacks.
Pros – Very pretty, with a historical flavor.
Cons/content – I can’t recall anything in particular (it doesn’t mean there isn’t anything)
Un-Go – In the dystopian future Japan, following several terrorist events, Detective Shinjuro solves “”””””Mysteries”””””” with the help of his (gender-fluid?) assistant, Inga, but almost never receives credit for his work.
Pros – Interesting setting, commentary on government censorship. Based on a famous novel.
Cons/content – Terrorism/war stuff.
Terror in Resonance – A terrorist attack strikes Tokyo one day, perpetrated by two individuals calling themselves “Sphinx.” Directed by Shinichiro Watanabe, so character feels. Should note I have not watched this all or even most of the way through, but I feel like it’s my kind of show based on what I have seen.
Pros – Watanabe directing. Good animation. Character-focused story.
Cons/content – Terrorism (bombings and such). Also I have heard that, plot-wise, stuff is not tied up nicely (if that bothers some people – not me)
Flowers of Evil – Takao fancies himself an intellectual, and has a crush on a girl in his class. One day he’s compelled to steal her gym clothes, but there’s a witness to his crime. Thus begins a tense relationship between himself and the one individual who can see right through him.
Pros – Very deep, dark look into the hearts of several teenage characters. Incredibly artful (though the aesthetic is very “YMMV”).
Cons/content – Content is seriously dark and affecting (hard to describe). Painful teenage moments, dark intentions, human ugliness. Oh, and story will never be finished because the anime did so poorly on the market.
So, does anything strike your fancy? Please vote below for whatever series you find interesting. I’ll leave the poll up for a week at least, so check out the info above and let your voice be heard!
Kōta Hasegawa is a high school boy who loves the yellow Pom Pom Purin dog. By mere coincidence, he ends up attending the same school as Yū Mizuno, a boy who likes the bunny My Melody. Yū tells Kōta that there’s nothing to be ashamed of for liking Sanrio’s cute characters. Together, Kōta, Yū, Shunsuke Yoshino, Ryō Nishimiya, and Seiichiro Minamoto learn to accept their love of the characters instead of feeling embarrassed. – ANN
Review:This review may contain spoilers for the series.
When was the first time you felt ashamed for liking something? When I was in elementary school, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was huge. I loved the cartoon series and the video games more than almost anything else. I really wanted to own some of the toys, but as a fourth-grader without a steady source of income, it was up to me to try to get my parents to buy them for me. Looking back as an adult, I can logically say that there’s nothing wrong with a girl wanting to own action figures, but all the toy commercials had boys in them and even at my young age I was afraid of being judged or laughed-at for wanting to play with toys made for boys. The happy ending to my story was that my mother never once judged me or made fun of me for my preference, and I went on to build a large collection of action figures, Star Trek figures, and other miscellaneous fandom toys that eventually led to the overgrown collection of anime figurines I have today.
That, of course, was just my experience, but not everyone has the luxury of crossing society’s arbitrary gender boundaries with their likes and dislikes, especially boys and men who enjoy things typically aimed at girls and women (because believe it or not being a girl or woman is valued as lesser by our society, even by people who might not necessarily think so consciously). I know my husband has gotten some flak for his enjoyment of My Little Pony and preference for pinks and purples, and in an even broader sense, there are people who are harassed and harmed because their gender expression doesn’t fit into a certain narrow binary. Sanrio Boys isn’t a heavy hitter when it comes to discussing the latter; in fact, the series doesn’t really touch on gender itself very deeply. But it does spend a lot of time looking at the former – boys who express themselves through their enjoyment of characters and products typically aimed at women.
Kouta was picked on for his love of Pom Pom Purin.
Each of the five main characters in this series exemplifies the different ways that people experience liking things outside the mainstream. Kota, the everyman protagonist, was picked on by his peers as a child because he carried around a Pom Pom Purin stuffed animal. Yu loves My Melody without shame, but his younger sister finds his hobby disgusting. Ryou is the youngest sibling in a family of older sisters, and fears being pigeonholed into the role of an effeminate younger brother. There’s nothing particularly complicated about any of the guys’ circumstances, but the simple injustices of their situations are laid bare for the audience in a way that I find very relateable. I like to think that most viewers would tend to realize how hurtful bullying someone for their hobbies is (and I imagine there are a lot of anime fans out there who have gotten picked on for being into “weird cartoons”), but the straightforward, sometimes ham-handed way the series insists upon the fact that young men can and do like cutesy characters and merchandise is something some fans may not have thought much about, even considering their own circumstances.
Beyond its central message, the show is pretty light on narrative and hits a lot of trope-y beats that would be at home in any high-school-based anime series. There’s a strong emphasis on friendship and relationship-building between the boys, a sprinkling of dramatic interpersonal conflict, a whole boatload of earnestness (and some dramatic overwork-to-the-point-of-self-destruction) from our main-man Kota, and a school culture festival to tie the entire thing up with a sparkly bow at the end. It also spends some time paying attention to its assumed viewer base (young women, the same individuals who tend to be major consumers of Sanrio products) by not only featuring cute guys being cute together on a regular basis, but also getting those same characters into situations where they hang out together buying merchandise or take on princely personas for the sake of a school theater production. There’s certainly nothing wrong with this; as far as fanservice goes it’s easily some of the more innocuous I’ve seen lately. It does distract a bit from what I see as an atypically good toy commercial disguised as an average anime series.
It’s a fun day at Sanrio Puroland.
The commercialized bits of the series are admittedly pretty entertaining and mostly forgivable. The boys go shopping for Sanrio toys and merchandise on a regular basis (naturally) and those bits made me long for the days when there was still a Sanrio store at the Mall of America (I’m probably showing my age by saying that). They also make a big mid-series trip to Sanrio Puroland, the Sanrio theme park in Tokyo with costumed characters and themed areas and performances. There’s a particularly ridiculous montage in the episode where the boys wander through all the areas and big attractions, dressing up in costumes and interacting with their favorite characters. It’s pure fanservice in more ways than one, but it’s indulgent rather than trashy – I’ll give it a pass (and be jealous that I’m not in their place). Having seen many more shameless toy commercials disguised as anime in my time, the fact that this series blends the fluff with some fairly substantial character moments is pretty good by me.
Ultimately whether viewers are likely to glean anything from Sanrio Boys’ lessons in subverting gender essentialism will be based on how much they can also tolerate being advertised to and whether they enjoy cute-guy pandering. I happen to be a Sanrio fan who likes shows starring cute guys, but it’s obviously not everyone’s specific cup of tea. I’d argue, though, that those who go in with an open mind will likely come away with something worth more than the price of admission (and some stickers and key chains).
Pros: The show is strongly in favor of people enjoying what they enjoy, gender roles be damned. If you like Sanrio, that’s an added bonus.
Cons: The second half of the series is especially filled with common tropes that stray away from some of the positive messaging in the first half.
I spend quite a bit of time on social media, which has its high and low points. One positive aspect of it is that I happen to follow a lot of anime-related folks on Twitter and it helps me keep up with what’s going on in anime fandom, anime news, and anime blogging/reporting (also anime fandom drama, but I try not to worry about that too much). Someone who works for a famous anime news outlet posted some thoughts that are relevant to individuals in almost any job or industry, regarding being recognized and given credit for your work. They provided some examples of work they’re proud of to which people have given mixed reactions (and, it being on the internet, some truly rude variations on “this is something I disagree with”). It was something that really struck a chord for me and I wanted to expand on it. Certainly, I’m especially sensitive when I feel like I’m not being given credit for something I’ve done (or someone else gets credited in my place; this has happened in several situations in my past and continues to affect me as an adult despite me realizing that it’s petty), so I felt like this was worth talking about more.
I keep a pretty low profile here at S1E1, for various reasons. Part of it is due to aforementioned internet rudeness; I’ve gotten some pretty terrible, abusive comments and emails from people who didn’t like what I had to say about one anime or another, especially if it skewed a little bit further towards feminist critique. I understand the feeling of being pissed-off by a review of something that seems to miss the point of what you enjoyed about a piece of media, I really do; I can’t tell you how many times I’ve fallen in love with something (usually an anime aimed at women, telling a woman’s story, or simply featuring a lot of women… is that snarky?) that I’ve felt the fandom at large has misunderstood, mis-categorized, or simply not given a proper chance. However, in spite of my strong feelings I really haven’t gotten the urge to then fling around death threats like confetti. But that’s just me.
Another reason, though, is that I just have never felt like my writing is that good. So many of my feelings on anime are just that – feelings. Emotions are so, so difficult for me to properly put into words because I don’t often have words to describe them (despite the fact that I’m a native English speaker and our language has so many words for everything). Whatever I’m feeling in my heart and mind seems to lose all of its luster and life once it’s stuck on the page. I also feel that writing doesn’t come to me very naturally; I’ll sometimes spend all day trying to write one review, and on some level I’m a little ashamed of that (especially when I see others able to complete more work in a shorter amount of time and sound more than competent doing so). I’ve heard it said more than once that “comparison is the thief of joy,” but it’s a difficult habit to break when your self-confidence about something isn’t much to speak of in the first place.
Really, though, I think the big, underlying reason I don’t do much self-advertising is that I have a major case of impostor syndrome. I’m sure this is the case for many people who express themselves creatively, so I don’t want to beleaguer the point. Whenever I’ve been given an opportunity for more exposure, however, whether through another person/website or just an opportunity through one of my other fandom ventures (usually conventions), I doubt myself constantly and end up self-sabotaging myself. I start to question what I’m doing and then become paralyzed with anxiety. It makes me look like a flake (which I suppose is accurate to anyone observing), and then I just end up depressed and unable to produce much of anything for an extended period of time. So I suppose my line of thinking is that, if I don’t call attention to myself, no one will notice when I’m on an extended absence from writing.
And the truth is, it’s hard to keep going without constant encouragement. Maybe this is a symptom of being an older Millennial – I need praise and feedback to feel as though something is worthwhile, when really what’s worthwhile is participating in an interesting fandom, making connections, and sharing something I love with a few other people. I think the message of the original Twitter thread is that many people don’t understand the work that goes into creating something, and if they aren’t also in the same line of work (or unpaid hobby-work, as it is for people like me) they don’t know to recognize, understand, or acknowledge the effort. There will always be people who do understand, though, and it’s also good to be able to point out things to yourself that you’re proud of having accomplished. I’m going to try to do a little of that now.
One thing that I’m proud of, related to this website, is a series of posts I did some years back called “Women in Anime.” In these posts I’d choose an anime I liked with interesting women in it and talk about why those characters were important or what set the anime apart in terms of women’s representation. I can’t say that I always hit the mark with these posts and I recall sometimes having to pull some pretty weak arguments in order to justify series that could also have been easily interpreted as problematic, but I always liked writing those sorts of features and celebrating things I liked in that way. Probably my favorite series of these posts had to do with Puella Magi Madoka Magica back when that series had just finished its broadcast. Sadly, due to reasons that aren’t worth going into here, I no longer have access to or copies of those posts, so they’re just distant, positive memories. I do remember them fondly and hope maybe some others out there might have read them. Maybe I’ll revive the series someday.
I also wrote reviews for The Fandom Post for a while, which was a job I really liked but which I eventually self-sabotaged in the aforementioned manner. I did some episode recaps and some standalone reviews there for various series, but I did one DVD review there that I was really proud of. The series in question is called Intrigue in the Bakumatsu: Irohanihoheto, and was an anime series that I had been waiting on to get licensed in the US for many years. The show itself is incredibly dense and deals in a lot of historical details that would be difficult for someone with a casual interest to get through anyway, but couples that with some odd theatricality and some very anachronistic character design. In short, I really liked it and wanted to share that. The review is like five-and-a-half years old or so as of the time of this post, but I still think back on it with pride since it flowed from me so easily and I felt like it captured what I wanted to say in a way that’s not consistent across my writing.
I’m happy that I’ve been able to make this site semi-active again by my own hand rather than relying on others for help; I’ve gone through a lot of things over the last several years, and to have gotten through the weeds and figured things out by myself has been a great boost to my confidence. Maybe someday that will translate to my writing and I won’t be sad over the lack of comments or interactions with other fans (or I’ll stop self-isolating and stick my neck out again and make it happen). It is nice to know that all of this isn’t entirely just a product of my quirky brain and that others (even people who I think are great at their jobs), struggle with similar feelings and lack of recognition. It would be great to exist in a situation where we could all just enjoy our fandom feelings and not worry so much about what other people think, but there is certainly some additional satisfaction in learning to be empathetic of others and sympathetic to ourselves.
Rin enjoys camping by the lakeshore, Mt. Fuji in view. Nadeshiko rides her bike to see Mt. Fuji, too. As the two eat cup noodles together, they behold the beautiful scenery around them. – ANN
Review:This review may contain mild spoilers for the series.
If you’re like me, you’ve long since accepted the fact that “Cute Girls Doing Cute Things” is a perfectly legitimate anime genre. I’ve even seen it abbreviated “CGDCT,” so it’s time to acknowledge that this slice-of-life sub-set is now firmly its own thing and has been for years. As with other genres, it comes with its share of identifiable tropes; these series sometimes have a tendency towards Seinfeldian “nothing actually happens” stories, and many give off an impression of being frothy and insubstantial (if not downright insulting to the intelligence of the audience). This is probably true for a portion of them, but what I find appealing about these shows is the emphasis on friendship and relationship-building between girls, which is often in short supply elsewhere. This isn’t to say that the genre isn’t without its problems, voyeuristic focus on girls’ interactions for the benefit of straight male otaku being the big one, but I think the best of these series do a good job of making it so I can push these concerns to the side for a half hour and appreciate what’s there to enjoy.
Rin sets up her campsite along the lake.
Laid-Back Camp is one of the better examples of this sort of entertainment due to its emphasis on developing the friendship between two characters who are very different from one-another. The story begins as Rin arrives at her campsite alone, and raises her tent in view of the lovely autumn lakeside environment. Her solo camping serenity is interrupted by Nadeshiko, a bubbly girl Rin’s age who accidentally oversleeps on a nearby bench until after sunset. When Rin shows Nadeshiko some hospitality and compassion, Nadeshiko immediately becomes enamored with the camping life. Back at school, she joins an outdoors club and she and the other members start to enjoy group camping. Though Rin goes to their school as well, she prefers not to join the group; while she maintains a friendship with Nadeshiko and occasionally camps with her, she prefers to enjoy the outdoors alone, on her own terms.
Rin and Nadeshiko do a little duo-camping.
What I appreciate about this set up is that it eschews the expected story arc that would likely focus on Rin opening up, becoming friends with the other girls, and learning to favor group dynamics instead of honoring her inherent loner-ism – i.e. fundamentally changing herself to please others. Instead, the series seems much more focused on exploring the positive aspects of both Nadeshiko’s group-oriented style and Rin’s solo-camp adventures while vilifying neither of them or obligating them to alter their personalities for the sake of storytelling. Rin and Nadeshiko fall into a comfortable rhythm of texting one-another photos of their excursions while the series follows them (mostly) individually from place-to-place. This gives off the message that there isn’t just one “right way” to enjoy camping or, by extension, many of life’s other wonderful hobbies. Just like there isn’t just one way to enjoy watching anime (and no one is going to convince me to change my stubborn fandom ways).
I also got a more basic level of enjoyment from the fact that this anime is not just focused on the act of going out camping, but also on the cool equipment available to make camping more comfortable and, more importantly, all of the delicious foods one can prepare while “roughing it” outside. Many years ago, a friend of mine who had spent some time in Japan had me try to guess what the most popular food is for Japanese campers. In the US it tends to be easy things like hot-dogs, granola bars, beans, and other items you can heat up easily with minimal equipment (or eat cold). I was surprised to learn that in Japan curry is popular, with rice cooked in special cookers over the campfire. It seemed counter-intuitive to me, what with the messiness and need for special utensils, but there you go. Laid-Back Camp features curry and more, including meats, fried rice, stews, soups… one of the characters even busts out a camping-specific cook book at one point. It’s no secret that I’m a fan of food-related anime and manga, so this aspect of the show was a welcome surprise (though as far as iyashikei (“healing”) anime go, it’s something that seems to show up in one form or another fairly often, so maybe I shouldn’t have been so surprised!). I’m not sure that I’d actually take any of these recipes on the road, but it is interesting to learn that, yes, cooking and eating fun, somewhat labor-intensive foods outside is something that people do.
Through Nadeshiko and the club’s camping adventures, we also get a look at the different types (and price points) of camping gear available, which is fun – watching other people shop for things fulfills a vicarious need in me, and I suspect others might feel the same. I also enjoyed watching the characters learn new skills and techniques through study and experience. Since much of the series takes place during the colder months, there are special considerations as far as sleeping bags, blankets, and ground coverings are concerned, so it was interesting to learn about those things while also getting a realistic look at how much those items cost. The girls all get part-time jobs to help support their hobby, which I thought was a nice touch.
Club members learn how to build a different type of fire.
What I think is the real success of this show, though, was that it was able to get me interested in something I was formerly averse to ever doing – camping. Call me soft, but I have never been a fan of the outdoors. I don’t like mosquitoes, heat/humidity, going days without bathing, smoky campfires… I’m a big wimp who spends most of my time connected to the internet and has an adversarial relationship with the sunlight. Strangely enough, though, watching Rin’s adventures in particular really taught me to recognize the appeal in spending some time disconnected from daily life, enjoying nature. It’s worth noting that camping alone as a woman is probably something more easily-done in Japan than the US; I’d feel fundamentally safer in a place with lower crime, especially if it were overnight in an unsecured sleeping situation. But if I ever make it over there, I might consider it as an option, assuming equipment rental is easy. And again, since the series takes place over the colder months, there are few heat concerns and no insects; it wasn’t until watching this series that I even thought about off-season camping as an option, so it’s encouraging to know that it’s something people can actually do.
Beyond that, this show is just a really pleasant, offbeat pseudo-travelogue that benefits from a naturally gorgeous setting (most of the camping takes place within view of Mount Fuji). The character relationships are healthy and low-pressure, the excursions are varied and soothing, and there’s even some light humor thrown in to keep things upbeat. I think it’s worth noting that viewers who are looking for something high-stakes and exciting are not likely to get past the first couple of episodes; by design this isn’t a high-energy piece with a lot going on. But set opposite something with a lot of action it might serve as a nice way to break up a more “serious” viewing experience. Or, if you’re like me, this is just the type of series that you might prefer when the rest of the world is stressful enough. And heck, if you’re driven to take a break from society for a bit, this might give you some basic skills to do so.
Pros: The show is exceedingly chill. There’s some fun focus on tools and eats. The relationship between the two main characters is positive and encouraging.
Cons: Some viewers may find the show fundamentally boring.
Happy Mothers Day, everyone. I’m not normally one to make holiday themed posts because most of the time by the time I remember there’s a holiday it’s the day of and there’s not much time to put anything together. For some reason, though, I’ve had this on my mind for a while and wanted to put it into writing, even if it’s a little late. I thought it might be fun to look over my last year or so of anime viewing and pick out one of my favorite mother (or mothering-type) characters.
I know a lot of blogs and news outlets like to do top-ten lists in these cases, but the fact is that anime mothers who actually have significant story-important roles in anime aren’t that common so most of those lists tend to be very similar. My arbitrary criteria for my post was to pick out a mother who was active, important, and/or memorable in some way within a series I watched that was broadcast somewhere within the past year (loosely – since this is the first one I’m reaching back a little bit further). I’m sure there are other candidates out there from series that I’m not so familiar with, so if you have someone in mind feel free to let me know in the comments.
Anime, like many other storytelling media, tends to have a “mother” problem. Meaning that so much anime focuses on the activities and adventures of children and teenagers that a parent’s presence could be seen as stifling to their ability to get into “interesting” trouble. What decent, responsible parent would willingly allow their child go places and do things that have the potential to put them in mortal danger? Sure, there are examples in anime of parents who laugh in the face of such concerns and are more than willing to allow their children out into the world (basically every incarnation of Pokémon ever), or accept that their children are in a situation where they’ll be growing up quickly and taking on adult responsibilities (Bodacious Space Pirates, absolutely), but those are less common. Coming from a more realistic perspective and looking more at anime series that are at least somewhat based around realistic social norms, if you want to have some fun it’s just easier to leave parents out of the equation (or create some plot-related circumstance where they’re conveniently unavailable). Since mothers are generally thought to be the more “present” parent in Japanese households, what with social norms and gender expectations being what they are even today, when the story requires a lack of parental oversight it’s usually mom who suffers some ill fate (and maybe dad who becomes a buffoon or is otherwise ineffectual). Anime is full of dead-moms-as-motivation (though in some cases, like Erased, Satoru’s murdered mother is still present in some form due to timeline realities); it’s rarer for mom to be active and involved in Important Story Activities™.
That’s just one reason why The Eccentric Family is so distinctive. Its title immediately betrays the fact that, despite its fantastical, magical setting, the story is focused on family – specifically one particular family of tanuki in Kyoto. While the original season of the show had its debut almost five years ago (which pained me to find out – time flies in anime fandom!), its sequel season appeared last Spring, providing us with a second window into the life of the Shimogamo tanuki clan. While most of the series follows the adventures of the four Shimogamo brothers and primarily the third brother, Yasaburo, their mother, Tousen, is an active participant and the glue the holds the family together, especially after the death of the brothers’ father prior to the show’s start.
The tomboy becomes a bride.
What I love about Tousen is that she’s a multi-faceted, funny, and supportive character with a lot of inner strength. Our early introduction to her in season one paints her as quite the flamboyant person; the tanuki pride themselves on their ability to transform from their furry raccoon-like bodies into almost anything else, including the human forms they often take. Tousen sometimes chooses to become a princely-looking pool-shark out of The Rose of Versailles or Takarazuka play when not in her more standard housewife getup. It’s a great expression of her inherent nature as a trickster, something incredibly important to most respectable tanuki individuals. It also provides a funny contrast to her major weakness; Tousen is scared of lightning and can’t maintain her transformations when she’s startled (a quirk of many tanuki).
I recognize and admire the way in which Tousen displays inner strength, although it takes familiarity with the backstory of the series and some of the relationships to be able to fully appreciate that aspect of her character. Having lost her husband to death-by-hot-pot (which, true to the tone of the show, is both ridiculous and tragic), Tousen does the heavy emotional labor of ensuring the stability of her immediate family, and helping her sons, directly or indirectly, manage the aftermath of the event. She’s obviously still heavily involved in the upbringing of her youngest son, Yashiro, but as the mother of four she still has a hand in all of her sons’ lives even though three of the four have physically left the nest (or the den, I suppose).
Tousen trades scents with her mother.
With all of the supernatural and magical occurrences throughout the series, it can be easy to miss the very down-to-earth family concerns that form the backbone of the character interactions, but each Shimogamo son has his own issues that Tousen has her hand in mediating. Yashiro, the youngest, is sensitive and deals with being bullied by his cousins. Yaichiro, the oldest and most serious, is gunning for the seat of Trick Magister (elected leader of the tanuki clans). Yajiro, the second son, deals with guilt, depression, and PTSD stemming from the night of his father’s death, and thus is stuck in the form of a frog. And Yasaburo is the put-upon third son, stuck in the middle trying to keep various powerful factions balanced and himself from becoming a hot-pot dinner, all while goofing-off to the max. On the surface, all of these are obstacles for the affected characters to overcome on their own, but as with many women in her same position, Tousen has taken it upon herself (voluntarily or not) to help her family address these challenges by offering advice, guidance, and unconditional love. Their challenges are, in turn, her challenges. The cherry on top is that she somehow also manages to maintain some sort of relationship with the Ebisugawa clan (Soun Ebisugawa was responsible for her husband’s death, after all, so it would be less surprising if she wanted nothing to do with them) through Kaisei, Yasaburo’s on-again-off-again possible marriage partner.
I have some ambivalent feelings over the fact that so much of Tousen’s character comes out through reading-between-the-lines, her interactions with other people, and her background presence in the stories of her offspring, though in a way that particular issue feels almost appropriate (possibly more appropriate than was intentional by the creators). Tousen is in the position of that I think so many parents, especially mothers, are forced to occupy. Despite having her own sense of self and inner life, her persona is inextricably connected with the children she’s raised and is sometimes overshadowed in favor of celebrating their more obvious adventures and accomplishments. Motherhood is so often exalted, but less examined in a realistic way or allowed to hold the primary focus in a narrative.
Aside from one example I happened to find while poking around the internet, most discussion of the anime is focused around characters like Benten, the Friday Fellows, Nidaime, Yasaburo, and other characters who viewers would typically consider more “interesting” – people getting into trouble (or causing it), and those who wield literal and figurative power. There’s less glory for or even discussion about characters who only fit into support roles or feel like someone one might actually meet in reality, though the “Tousens” of the world are the unsung diplomatic heroes who ensure that conflicts get resolved, that people know that they’re cared-for, and who show support to their loved ones – all essential acts of kindness that probably ought to be glorified more than they are.
Tousen and her mother share a moment in the sun.
I’d like to close this off by describing one of my favorite scenes from the anime. In the third episode of season two, Tousen and Yasaburo visit Tousen’s mother, a grand matriarch of their tanuki family, in order to seek help for Yajiro, who is still unable to transform out of his amphibious form. Grandma has knowledge of a medicine that might help him learn to control his abilities again. Though they easily obtain the object they’re there to get, what follows is delightful banter between an old mother and a younger one. Grandma is so aged that it takes her some effort to remember who is who, including her own daughter, but the love between the two is so clear even if the details are hazy. I love the juxtaposition of the many tanuki sitting around the forest clearing, chanting sutras as if worshiping the elderly woman on her pedestal, with the two family members joking with each-other playfully. With Tousen enveloped in the sunlight with her mother, there’s a sense that she’s carrying on a very grand tradition of mothers in the tanuki culture.
Thank you for reading, and I hope I’ve whet your appetite for The Eccentric Family! Go check it out on Crunchyroll if you have the time (and don’t miss the second season if you enjoyed the first!).
Who were your favorite anime moms from recent (or maybe not-so-recent) anime history? Please let me know in the comments. Or just show some love for Tousen Shimogamo if you have some to share!
"Laid-Back Camp" lets us soak up pleasant feelings without really having anywhere to go.
“Laid-Back Camp” lets us soak up pleasant feelings without really having anywhere to go.
I think a lot about anime (obviously), and also about the way in which I consume it, as should be evident by my earlier post regarding my totally-not-superhuman ability to watch a lot of it in a short amount of time. Years of reading reviews and lurking on message boards, as well as trying and failing to participate in message board discussions without getting into weird, unintended arguments, has told me that my way of thinking about anime (and other storytelling media, by extension) is probably kind of strange and a little contrary to the norm. This isn’t a “look at me, I’m such a special snowflake” statement, just an acknowledgement that I recognize my critical eye has some… astigmatism.
I hear people chatting all the time about an anime’s “plot.” Where the plot is going, what should happen next in the plot, is this or that thing that happened indicative of a plot hole (don’t get me started on that one)… examining this structural aspect of an anime series is very important to a lot of people, and certainly one broad way of discussing and interpreting media in general. In the modern anime fandom, this type of discussion is a huge part of participating in that fandom, and writers ranging from amateur-level bloggers (for example, myself) to professional staff writers for bigger anime and fandom websites post recaps and dissections of weekly episodes from their favorite (or occasionally obligatory) series all the time. This is awesome for people like me who are put off by certain things and might want to seek out more details about certain kinds of content (for example, I needed to be sure that After the Rain was not actually a romance between its two protagonists before I was willing to invest the time to finish it).
However, speaking as someone who’s written them, the downside of weekly recaps is that one can feel compelled to pick at every last detail with a fine-toothed comb and analyze every single action of the characters and movement of the story, because otherwise a half-hour episode of your typical anime series can be exceedingly difficult to write about at length. With a word count to reach and a deadline to meet, what’s the easiest thing to write about? What happened, who it happened to, and where they might be going, that’s what. There are writers who are definitely better than I am at this, but I only read these types of reviews piecemeal and occasionally so I can’t really call out the “good” ones. I personally have a lot of trouble with that format because it’s just not the way I feel comfortable interacting with media and I don’t gain much pleasure from it. At best, it can be a satisfying way to go back and examine something I’ve already watched or read once I’m familiar with it.
It wasn’t until fairly recently that I got a better handle on my beef with this line of thinking. Maybe this is more a function of being a woman in internet fandom circles, or maybe it’s that I tend to be emotional and sensitive in general as part of my nature, but I’ve had several run-ins with people during which I’ve been criticized for having a strong feeling about something, instead of basing my opinions on some sort of measurable “logic.” Man, almost nothing rankles me like someone telling me that pure, unfeeling logic is somehow superior to emotion-based reactions. Never mind the fact that “pure logic” almost always seems to actually mean “cherry-picked realities that align with my own emotional investment in the topic that I refuse to acknowledge as being emotional,” the simple truth is that our lives are informed every single day by the facts and realities of daily life and emotional fallout from our many ways of perceiving them. And sometimes the things that people say and do, or the things that happen, just don’t align with some nonexistent grand logical scheme running the universe. Our lives are full of dead-ends, poor decisions, standalone moments of extreme elation, fruitful conversations, wasted time… we’re a mess. Society is a mess. The stories we tell are sometimes (always) just an extension of that.
That’s why I don’t really care that much to pick-apart plot. It’s true, there are some stories that are entertaining to me just because they’re what I’d call “page-turners” (each episode ends in a cliffhanger, and the show doesn’t seem to have a super-deep message – Attack on Titan is one of these types of series I’ve really liked), there are so many more I find enjoyable because they provide a window into a character’s life, or create a fascinating new world, or speak to some truth about being human. Sometimes these series might initially imply a certain story arc but start to turn in a different direction, or sometimes there’s not really a grand story to tell in the first place. I’m more than willing to let a show with a fascinating premise carry me where it wants to go and I’ll then consider the whole package, even if it’s not where I expected to be going. I’m also on-board when an anime exists to cultivate an emotion, rather than drag me along to some concrete destination where a person does a thing because of reasons.
“The Perfect Insider” is as much Nishinosono’s story as anyone else’s.
Whenever I start mulling over this topic, I inevitably start thinking of examples of anime that I really liked for the above stated reasons, which anime fandom as a whole was cold towards. The Perfect Insider is one of those shows that I really loved (and wrote weekly recaps of… whoops), but which the larger fandom and many other reviewers just did not like at all. The series is a tough nut to crack, not only because of some of its subject matter (murder, statutory rape, the nature of genius, etc.), but because it (wrongfully, in my opinion) markets itself as a murder mystery tale. Contrary to first impressions, the point of story has more to do with deciding whether the type of intellectual existence Saikawa-Sensei and Dr. Magata strive towards has any value and less to do with figuring out the identity of the murderer. It’s also a snapshot of the consequences of nourishing and celebrating a gifted, precocious intelligence without also encouraging (or insisting upon!) normal, age-appropriate emotional development. There were a lot of critics and fans who seemed to be frustrated over the series as they watched its final few episodes, not just because of the ways in which the “mystery” resolved itself, but even more so because the enigmatic figure at the center of it all, the striking young genius Dr. Magata, was ultimately motivated by a set of rules and standards that were perceived as illogical and ridiculous.
To me, The Perfect Insider was a real punch in the gut, though I’d be hard-pressed to provide a concrete reason. I think I connected with it because it reaffirmed for me that, as much as humankind worships the notion of transcending the limitations of its basic meat-based form and reaching some higher plane of mental existence (as Dr. Magata ostensibly has done and Saikawa-sensei wishes like hell he could figure out how to do), what defines them is their infallible passion, pain, joy, feeling as represented by Nishinosono Moe, who is highly intelligent, but not an intellectual the way that Saikawa or Magata are portrayed. I didn’t care so much about the details of how the perpetrator overwrote the lab’s security camera footage (though that was neat, too!), or how a second person arrived in Dr. Magata’s locked room without anyone realizing it (that was easy to figure out after a certain point). What I connected with was the story of Nishinosono’s past and her passionate devotion to bringing Saikawa back to reality time and again (two things that are actually related), as well as Dr. Magata’s truly tragic life, the sadness of which I don’t think many people must have realized.
I have too many examples of these types of anime experiences to list here, but I hope this one helps to at least explain what I look for in a viewing experience. Watching anime, to me, isn’t like clutching a map in one hand and a compass in the other, marking off landmarks as I make my way from A to B. Watching anime is more like hiking to the top of a tall hill and breathing the crisp, clean air as the sun warms my face, or a summer storm drops rain suddenly, or fog drifts by below. If I decide I’m where I want to be, then I can be open to almost anything that happens (unless it’s that one-in-a-million time that a bird flies by and poops in my mouth – I’m looking at you, Gangsta.). As my husband likes to say, some of the best series out there are those with the lowest stakes; shows in which no demon king needs defeating, no items need to be obtained, and no damsels/dudes/cute animals need rescuing from the clutches of evil. Sometimes it’s better to stop anticipating the next step and just enjoy the way that life unfolds around us. Or to just accept that anime series don’t always cater to our own expectations, and maybe being passive and open in the face of the unexpected is okay, too.
We all consume media in our own way – this is just an explanation of mine. And heck, it’s served me well for years. What’s your favorite way of enjoying the shows you like? Let me know in the comments!
Retsuko is a 25-year old red panda who works in her dream company’s accounting department. But it turns out that she is forced to keep doing more and more impossible tasks by her superiors and co-workers. She doesn’t talk back to them, but she still has to let off steam, so she ends up going to karaoke by herself and singing death metal. – ANN
Copyright 2018 – Sanrio/Netflix
Streaming: Netflix
Source: Original
Episodes: 10 (15 minutes apiece)
Review: About two years ago I caught wind of Aggressive Retsuko, a new Sanrio property debuting in two minute chunks on YouTube. The concept really tickled me – a twenty-something OL who puts up with typical office politics during her day job, lets out her many frustrations in the evening by growling death metal into a microphone at her local Karaoke parlor. A bit of a one-note joke to be sure, but one that hit me the right way and provided some decent belly laughs. I never watched much of it because it wasn’t that easily available, but I definitely indulged in some of the merchandise when it started popping up in my local Hot Topic and other Asian pop-culture shops. When this sequel appeared it actually took my by surprise; I only caught wind of it after reading Jacob Chapman’s preview of the first couple of episodes the most recent Spring Preview Guide over at ANN, and initially questioned the choice to make the episodes longer than their original two minute format. I doubted that one gag, even a pretty good one, could sustain a longer episode, much less make it entertaining.
As they say, boy was I wrong. While Aggretsuko is still primarily what I would call a comedy, it’s also a fairly robust critique of some Japan-specific (but still widely-relatable) office issues, especially as they affect women in a workplace setting.
One of the series’s many successes is how Retsuko is presented as a character, because despite her cutesy, merch-ready appearance her situation feels so genuine. She’s a cute, earnest person who feels lucky to be working at one of her dream companies, but her accounting job is anything but satisfying and her situation is greatly complicated by the fact that she doesn’t interact well with some of her coworkers and doesn’t have the personality that helps her to play games and suck up to the right people. She tries to lay low and get through the day, but this only turns her into a dumping ground for others’ work and, unsurprisingly, she’s unwilling to tell anyone “no” and spoil the office harmony. While my work situation is leaps and bounds better than depicted in this series, I’m fully sympathetic to the idea that it’s just easier to become a “yes man” and take on more and more work than to speak up and potentially make someone else’s life more difficult. Maybe it’s due to my problems with social anxiety or my poor handle on how to maintain human relationships, but I can see how the idea of “harmony over all else” can be desirable while also ultimately harmful.
Mr. Ton is a literal chauvinist pig.
Retsuko is also exposed to some of the most blatantly awful chauvinism I’ve seen depicted in media in a long, long time. Every interaction with her boss, Mr. Ton, is a tension-filled exercise in suffering through off-color comments about women’s place in the office and what jobs they’re meant to perform. Each time Retsuko got caught in the cross-hairs I could feel myself welling up with frustration. I’ve luckily never been in her exact position or had a boss so profoundly terrible, but I have been made to feel like an outsider and I’ve heard my share of casual sexism, so subtle and insidious that it doesn’t register even with people who otherwise have a handle on those sorts of things. It’s exhausting and defeating, and even several days later I have to marvel at the ability of this series to capture that and bottle it for consumption. I’m reminded a bit of Hataraki Man, another workplace series that follows the trials of several women working for a magazine publisher and examines their specific hurdles and ways of coping with unjust and unequal treatment and expectations. In that case, the protagonist is hyper-competent and admired for her ability to “work like a man,” when the men around her don’t put in half the amount of work that she does. Both series are very telling about what we expect of men and women in the same setting, and those concerned with workplace equality will likely be similarly frustrated by both.
This is supposed to be a comedy anime, right?
Gori and Washimi help to mentor Retsuko.
If the series were nothing more than a string of upsetting circumstances for Retsuko to deal with via death metal therapy, it’s likely that it wouldn’t be upbeat enough to maintain its own sense of humor. What helps immensely is that the show allows Retsuko to get by with a little help from her friends, as well as with some personal mentorship from a couple of high-powered working women in her company who have seen it all and lived to tell the tale. Retsuko is by no means a loner and often gets support in one form or another from Fenneko, a snarky fennec fox who survives each workday through pure cynicism, and Haida, a hyena who’s an everyday normal guy nursing a crush on our heroine. There’s a good sense that these three have been in the trenches together for a while and the others do a decent, if flawed, job of talking Retsuko out of some situations. Fenneko in particular was a real source of entertainment for me just because of her deadpan delivery and ability to see right through the world’s fakery. She’s not a character who would work well as a protagonist, but in small doses she was hilarious. As Retsuko connects with Washimi and Gori, two women who she has only admired from afar prior to their meeting in a yoga class, she learns that there are opportunities to get things done even when the system seems rigged and unfair. There is a lot of depth in these interactions, especially when Washimi and Gori attempt to help Retsuko directly with her management or try to guide her towards making good life decisions, and I think they really elevate the show.
My one complaint, and it’s a relatively minor one, is that the series attempts to insert a sub-plot of sorts near the end and isn’t able to devote enough time to it for it to fully mature. In her desperation, Retsuko starts to believe that her only “out” from her job is to find a partner and get married so that she can live as a housewife. She ends up falling for a guy with zero personality whose only real distinguishing quality is his low-key lack of consideration for her. She grins and bears it for a while until she’s forced to face reality. The lesson, of course, is that we tend to tolerate so many things when we feel that our lives are hopeless, and in doing so give up our chance at happiness and dignity. I really loved that message, and only wish that the show had been a couple more episodes long to allow it to unfold more gradually. As a sentiment, it was absolutely right on the money and just another way in which the series surprised me.
In the couple of weeks that the series has been available I’ve seen the amount of fanwork for it blow up completely, so I doubt that my giving it a glowing review is somehow going to inform anyone who isn’t already aware and interested. But in case someone does randomly stumble across this anime blog (or, more likely, discover the show while adding dozens of things to their Netflix queue), I hope maybe my words or their own curiosity will give them the push that they need to give it a try. And then, maybe we can continue to try to dispel the myth that cutesy-looking cartoons are only for kids.
Pros: The protagonist is very sympathetic. Portrays Retsuko’s tough situations in a way that feels real and relatable. The character relationships and interactions add a lot of depth.
Cons: The late-game romantic subplot could have used a couple more episodes of exploration.
A certain point in time, in the continent of Telesis. The great war which divided the continent into North and South has ended after four years, and the people are welcoming a new generation. Violet Evergarden, a young girl formerly known as “the weapon”, has left the battlefield to start a new life at CH Postal Service. There, she is deeply moved by the work of “Auto Memories Dolls”, who carry people’s thoughts and convert them into words. Violet begins her journey as an Auto Memories Doll, and comes face to face with various people’s emotions and differing shapes of love. There are words Violet heard on the battlefield, which she cannot forget. These words were given to her by someone she holds dear, more than anyone else. She does not yet know their meaning but she searches to find it. – ANN
Review:This review contains minor plot spoilers for the TV Series.
I don’t like to get too hyped-up about upcoming anime because it’s so exhausting to be disappointed when the final production doesn’t live up to what was promised. I like to let anime happen on its own terms rather than measured against my often incorrect expectations. But I ask you, as one anime fan to another, what am I to do when Kyoto Animation releases a teaser trailer that’s such an incredible fever dream of flawless animation and the interplay of light and color? There was no possible way for me to ignore what I had seen and start with a completely blank slate once the series was finally posted to Netflix. Rather than try to fool myself into believing that it was possible for me to be impartial, I decided to embrace impartiality and read other reviews of the show, both episodic ones and those focused on the series as a whole. I prepared myself for possible disappointment by arming myself with information.
Was this the right tactic? I’m not entirely certain, but what I can say is that going into the experience expecting to be frustrated by certain aspects of the story left me feeling pleasantly surprised by how the series was not nearly as flawed as I had been led to believe. This sounds like faint praise, but I really did enjoy the show more than I had expected to and I’m left wondering why others were more disappointed.
The series is comprised of two concurrent story arcs – one about a country at war which has at this point reached an unsteady truce, and one about Violet Evergarden, the titular character, who comes from a place of darkness and must reacquaint herself with the subtlety and full range of human emotion. The former story is the weaker one of the two; it works well as a backdrop and helps to establish who Violet is and where she’s come from, but when it comes further into focus as part of the primary conflict it feels forced and uninteresting (one might even describe it as kind of “tryhard” if one wanted to be a little snarky). The latter is where the more meaningful and satisfying developments happen, and while Violet’s story occasionally gets a bit melodramatic, viewers like me who have a tendency to get emotionally-invested will likely eat this right up.
Violet’s scars from the war are both internal and, to the surprise of others, also external.
It does take a few episodes for Violet’s story to get moving, and as I commented to some friends after I’d watched the first three or so episodes I was concerned that the series felt overly-manipulative in its storytelling. Several of the early episodes feel like one-offs that serve to build the setting and put Violet where she needs to be, but don’t quite achieve the emotional highs they try to wring from the viewer using beautiful music and imagery. As a veteran of war remembered both for her youth and her emotionless brutality, Violet is clearly out of her element as an Auto Memory Doll. The Dolls are women who compose eloquent letters for paying clients by interpreting those clients’ feelings into written language. Violet, as an orphan who has seen (and committed) countless horrors as a child soldier, is more adept at reporting facts and taking people’s words at pure, functional face value. She may have emotions, but they’ve been so blunted by her tragic experiences that it creates a wall between her and others. Likewise, the first few episodes of the show where Violet stumbles through an ill-fitting civilian existence, feel like attempts at forced emotionality that are unsubtle and unnerving. I can’t say whether this was intentional or not, but looking back it’s interesting to me how much the structure and feel of the show mirrors Violet’s evolution.
As Violet becomes more accustomed to her work and begins to allow herself to feel and empathize with others, the show capitalizes on this to tell some of its most memorable stories. My two favorites were one in which Violet helped facilitate more genuine communication between a couple of soon-to-be-wed nobles (ignoring the squicky age difference between the two), and one in which she composed a large volume of letters from a mother to her daughter. Though both stories are still what I would qualify as one-offs, they also provided great snap-shots into Violet’s progression towards not only understanding others, but also understanding herself and the relationships that she values.
Violet returns to remember a painful moment.
I’m what I would call an empathetic viewer and I generally pay less attention to plot and continuity than many others, since I find little value in picking that stuff apart. I find more value in thinking about broad themes and considering how I was made to feel. This is the perfect example of a series that I think was made for that mode of viewing, since I recognize that there are some issues with the structure of the show and feel like it could have benefited from some reshuffling of priorities. As I mentioned earlier, possibly the weakest aspect of the show is its sub-plot revolving around the tenuous peace between its setting’s warring factions. Violet herself obtains a kind of personal emotional climax a few episodes from the end of the series, and much of the remainder of the show is devoted to a sort of shoehorned-in plot about a rebellion hell-bent on mucking up the signing of the peace treaty. The last two or three episodes of the series feature some great action pieces – an attempted bridge bombing, Violet parachuting into a war zone, a fist fight atop a moving train… all things that are cool to look at, but which feel as though they come from a completely different series (though they also provide a poignant resolution to the loss of Violet’s father figure that plagues her throughout the series, so it’s not all fluff). They’re ostensibly there to prove that Violet is no longer a cold-hearted killing machine (as she eschews using her strength and speed to actually murder anyone despite the fact that it would more easily resolve the situation), but we’ve already been shown so much evidence of her evolution that the reminder is unnecessary. The series as a whole easily made it into my good graces on its other merits and I could look at these last couple of episodes as mostly-extraneous, but I can see how many people would find this much more irritating.
The way in which Violet reaches a resolution in her troubled relationship with the Bougainvillea family is one of the high points of last few, weaker episodes.
As emotionally moving as many episodes are, they’re matched or exceeded by Kyoto Animation’s cinematic visuals and animation. If I’m being truthful, being able to watch characters move in front of gorgeous backgrounds is one of the bonuses of watching almost any Kyoto Animation series (and the main reason why I’ve pushed on through more episodes than I’d like of shows like Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maidand Amagi Brilliant Park) and this series is perhaps their most striking, detailed effort to date. It was the original commercial for the show that captured my attention, and while the series doesn’t quite sustain that exact look throughout, it still maintains a visual lushness that’s so far above and beyond what I’m used to as a TV anime viewer that I can’t rightly complain. I can only really fangirl in a basic way over how the show looks, but if you’re interested in some more educated commentary, check out Sakuga Blog’s series of production notes on the series.
I’m not a huge fan of Netflix’s delays when it comes to streaming anime series that I’m really anticipating, but I do appreciate the fact that I can watch an entire show (or cour, at least) in one or two sittings, so I suppose it’s kind of a wash in that sense. In this case, I got a chance to listen to lucky folks in other regions post their reactions, and despite the fact that my expectations were high they were also tempered and honed by what I was hearing. As someone with an (apparently) offbeat point of view on how stories are told it seems like I didn’t have much to worry about, as a lot of the complaints aren’t necessarily my complaints, and I truly enjoyed the show as a whole for its primary focus on feelings and human interactions and not as much on its weaker political plot. It’s gorgeous testament to KyoAni’s draftsmanship skills, as well as Netflix’s apparently pretty decent skills at picking anime series to partner with. It also gets a “5” on the Jessi Silver Cry Scale (TM) (I cried/held back tears at least 5 times while watching). If you’re someone who’s more into emotional through-lines in your entertainment, you might have a very good time with this series.
Pros: Visually beautiful. The feel of the story seems to mirror its protagonist’s development in many ways.
Cons: Political plot feels unnecessary. The real character climax arrives around episode 9 and parts of the last couple of episodes don’t fit in with those themes very well.
Just a selection of items from the many anime I’ve watched.
“How do you watch so much anime?” – Everyone, to me.
I’ve been an anime fan for over twenty years now. When I was just a little chibi fan, all I could do stoke my fandom flame, other than doodle anime characters in the margins of every notebook, was to wake up early before school to catch Sailor Moon on local TV and hope that the local Blockbuster might stock a few random OVA series. It was easy to stay up-to-date on the fandom, even without the benefit of online anime blogs or news outlets; when you could count the number of “big” releases on two hands, there wasn’t a lot of deep discussion to be had. If it wasn’t on TV or sitting precariously on the shelf with the other “cartoons,” it was unlikely that most fans (including my gangly teenage self) would know to even look for it.
Times have obviously changed, with each new season unleashing an onslaught of 40-50 new anime to watch and many of them available to us within a fairly short time period (some with an English dub option!). There was a time, back in the fansub-heavy days of the mid-2000’s that I tried to sample every single anime that was released (at least those that amateur groups deemed worthy to translate). There were fewer series coming out back then, but it was still a huge undertaking. I felt like I was doing anime fandom some sort of service, however minor, since I had few qualms about where and how I was getting my review material.
I eventually reached a point in my life where all that watching, writing, and reviewing became impossible due to the time investment and conflict with my day job. I’ve known people to have gotten away with watching things at work, or doing writing at their desks on a regular basis, but I’m not really in a position to do that – and I like my job, so I’d rather not jeopardize it! There are also substantially more series to get through now than in during the bust years around 2009-2011, and more still are available in easy-to-obtain official forms. About once a year I make an attempt to go comprehensive again and am quickly jerked back to reality, because I’m no longer unique in my coverage methods and I’m an unpaid staff of one. I also have a household and a relationship to nurture, and I think even a very passionate hobby shouldn’t take the place of those things.
This is all a very roundabout way of saying that I don’t feel like I really watch all that much anime – at least not as much as maybe I would like to, if I lived in a world where I had fewer other responsibilities. Yet friends, family members, and people I meet at conventions have all remarked to me in recent years that I watch so much anime and they don’t know how I make the time for it. I started to think about it, and came up with a few insights.
I have a daily commute of about 45-50 minutes each way.
I’m lucky enough to live in a fairly urban area, and I take public transportation to go to work so I don’t have to pay out the nose for parking. That provides me with at least an hour-and-a-half each day where I can just chill, read a book, or watch anime on my phone. I pay a decent amount of money for an unlimited data plan and live in an area with good coverage so I can stream anime every day that I commute by bus. 50 minutes is just about two episodes of anime, so I can get through a 1-cour series in 3-4 days if something unusual doesn’t happen or I don’t choose to drive my car instead. I also subscribe to pretty much every streaming service that does anime simulcasts, so I rarely exhaust my queue.
These are options I’m privileged to have and make it really easy to check out a lot of anime in a short period of time. If I get bored of one series, I can check into another app and watch something else. And watching anime on the bus has the added bonus of keeping other people from trying to harass me during my commute; sit down, headphones in, bye bye outside world!
I don’t consume a lot of other media.
I don’t consider myself a boring person (others may beg to differ) and I have several hobbies that aren’t related to Japanese animation. I like to cook and do the majority of the meal prep at home. I like to edit video. I like reading manga and playing video games. But when it comes to consuming media, anime is far and away the bulk of what crosses my path. There are quite a few Western TV series and movies that sound interesting to me, and I get a chance to see a few of them here and there, but most of the time I set aside for watching things goes towards watching anime, discussing anime, or attending and providing programming at anime conventions.
I’m guessing that most people who comment on the amount of anime I watch probably just prioritize their time in ways that are more suited to the types of things they like to do. They probably see more movies, watch more TV, do things outdoors, or spend their free time doing any number of other things that aren’t watching anime. And that’s great too!
I will acknowledge that watching and reading more things outside of my comfort zone would likely make me into a more well-rounded consumer and probably a better writer. It’s something that I think about fairly frequently. But as a human being I’ve chosen to quit beating myself up over it and to instead just enjoy what I choose to do.
I am not a “plot enthusiast.”
This might seem like a strange thing to say, since anime is mostly serialized entertainment, and that type of entertainment is all about the plot, right? There are a lot of blogs and bloggers that focus on discussing anime series episode-by-episode, detailing what happened, how it happened, who did what, and speculating about what might happen in upcoming installments. I enjoy reading these sometimes, but when I’ve tried to write that way in the past it eventually became a huge chore. I just don’t have that much to say about a show from week-to-week. This might paint me as more of a passive consumer, but really I just prefer to take each series as its own whole. I like to feel out its themes, connect with its characters’ motivations, and allow the creators to take me where they want to go (rather than where I think they ought to be going). I’ve found this to be a more fulfilling way for me to watch anime, and because of it I spend less time worrying about minutiae as I watch.
The downside is that I occasionally overlook details that others find to be obvious, but to me that sort of bookclub-style analysis is more suited to a second watch. Great series are always worth another viewing down the line, and by that time I’m usually watching with friends and my enjoyment is even greater because of it.
I don’t waste time hate-watching things that will make me angry (most of the time).
When I was an itty-bitty fan, all anime fell under this huge umbrella of “things I want to watch.” Like I said before, there wasn’t that much around to sift through, and my standards as a young fan weren’t very strict. But as with all people, more familiarity with the entertainment, as well as a much wider selection, allowed me to hone in on the things that brought me joy. As I’ve grown I’ve also become more conscious of things like sexism, racism, and other prejudices present within media, and this has greatly affected my tolerance of certain types of entertainment. I’ve gotten very good at identifying things that I know are not going to be worth my time and energy to deal with, so I usually avoid them. I do appreciate analysis of the wrongs being committed by trashy anime, I just rarely have the energy to be the person providing that commentary.
That isn’t to say that I never hate-watch something; generally there’s one thing a year or so that everyone wants me to watch that I know is probably not for me, and at some point I bow to the pressure just to get it out of my system and have the ability to discuss it if it comes up in conversation. But while I spent a lot of my early reviewing career watching things I didn’t like and ranting about them on the internet, In more recent years I decided that I would rather put effort into making time for things from which I expect to get some positive emotional return.
I don’t wait around for other people.
This is probably the point which will come across as the most rude, but believe me when I don’t mean it that way.
I used to belong to more anime viewing groups, including an anime club (which I actually still attend most of the time), as well as a couple of informal groups of friends who would get together to watch anime together and have dinner. Once we chose something to watch, I’d generally avoid watching ahead. This was great for the purposes of enjoying the show with others in real time, but not so great for the purposes of watching anime at a pace to keep up with the seasonal releases. I find that my husband, the person with whom I watch the most anime, also has drastically different viewing habits than I do. This caused some problems for me because I didn’t want to watch things ahead of him, but his tolerance for marathoning several episodes of something in a row is drastically different than my own. Now I’ve chosen to be okay with watching anime on my own and then re-watching it with others, rather than sweating about avoiding spoilers and missing out on internet discussion. It’s so much more difficult getting behind on watching something and then to have to catch up again than it is to keep pace with watching a series in real time (life pro-tip: that goes for responsibilities other than watching anime, too).
I let others do some of the dirty work.
One piece of advice I give to people is to read a lot of reviews and find some reviewers whose opinions you feel you can trust. You don’t always have to agree with them, but you should be able to discern from the things that they write whether or not you’re likely to enjoy something. I read a lot of anime news, opinions, and reviews. I read some other blogs, including those written by individuals whose opinions are different from my own in a lot of ways. I’ve worked to become familiar with some anime directors, staff, and studios, so that I can follow and anticipate their work. I take time to be informed, which lets me narrow down the list of anime I might want to try.
It’s also convenient that most large anime news outlets produce seasonal previews of one form or another. I used to do this for myself in the past, but as just one person it’s difficult to match the speed and comprehensiveness of a website with multiple writers who have time built into their day to preview series as they’re released. If I can go to a few different websites and see opinions from dozens of writers, that helps me to narrow down my planned viewing each season. And with many people doing weekly recap discussions, I can help hone my plan of attack even further.
But still…
Believe it or not, despite watching hours upon hours of anime, I still don’t always get around to watching everything I would like to in a timely manner (or at all). Even with all the aforementioned tools at my disposal, there are still anime series that fly under my radar or end up on the back burner until some vague future time where I have a chance to “catch up” (LOL, sure). A symptom of the current anime boom is that there are simply too many anime series, period, being created for one person to realistically watch, and even the number of very-good-to-excellent series are beyond the average person’s ability to consume in a reasonable manner. It’s not a bad problem to have, to be honest, and definitely not one I would have expected as a teenager in a fandom that nobody cared about at the time. There will always be anime that I never see, films and series that are compelling and brilliant that will never quite cross my path. It’s both wonderful and frustrating, but it’s the world we live in, and I’m actually sort of okay with it.
So there you have it. I’m not special when it comes to watching anime, but I have my system and it works for me. How about you? What do you do to help maximize your anime-watching potential. Let me know in the comments!
