Hiromi Maiharu moved from Nagasaki to Kamakura. She begins her new life in Kamakura and her first day in high school by bicycling to her school, but she has not ridden a bicycle since she was young. On the way to the ceremony for the first day, she meets Tomoe Akitsuki, and Tomoe helps her train to be better at bicycling. – ANN
Episode 1 Summary: Hiromi is starting her first day at a new high school, and against her mother’s protests decides to ride her bike to school. She hasn’t ridden a bike since she was small, but is pretty sure that she’ll pick it back up in no time. After a terrifying downhill descent, Hiromi realizes she doesn’t really remember as much as she thought she did, but luckily she crashes into a new classmate, Tomoe. Tomoe does her best to keep Hiromi upright on her bicycle, but it seems like a lost cause. The two decide to hoof it instead, so at least they’ll arrive in time for the opening ceremony. On their way to the school building they meet one of the teachers, and Hiromi discovers that her food isn’t safe from the sea birds flying near the shore. After getting situated in class and listening to an inspiring speech from her homeroom teacher, Hiromi heads home and sees a group of cyclists whiz by on fancy road bikes, and she’s instantly hooked on the concept. But she’ll have to learn to keep her balance first!
Impressions: Oh good grief. I queued this up because I thought it would be cute and harmless. After struggling through Saga of Tanya the Evil, I just wanted something nice and pleasant to enjoy. I was unfortunately not prepared to experience such an intense and immediate dislike of the main character. It has often been a trope of sports anime to introduce the sport or other activity in question through the eyes of a character who doesn’t know much about it, or has only done it casually in the past. Hiromi serves that role here, but her ignorance of cycling is almost beyond comprehension. I don’t blame people for not knowing how to ride a bicycle. I grew up doing it, but not everyone had that luxury. But generally even people who aren’t familiar with bikes know something about how the vehicle functions, even in just the most basic sense. Hiromi mounts her bike and it starts to roll downhill… and it takes her a few beats to realize that she’s supposed to propel it by using the pedals. She nearly crashes into Tomoe before she figures out how the brakes work (and then gets tossed over the handlebars after clasping them too hard too quickly). Hiromi comes across not as someone new to a sport, but as someone who is clueless to basic aspects of life, and that doesn’t make for an engrossing experience.
Beyond that, though, there’s not really anything substantive to think or talk about. The episode sets up the premise competently, but I don’t really feel like I needed twenty minutes of goofy biking antics to learn that Hiromi is kind of directionless and that cycling might be her ticket towards some greater character-building purpose. There is a very tame element of humor throughout the episode that provides a little something to grasp onto (I did chuckle a little bit when a bird stole Hiromi’s sandwich… and she revealed another backup sandwich soon afterward) and the rest of it is harmless enough, but “harmless” doesn’t generally get me pumped to watch much more. I love iyashi-kei or “healing” shows, but often those have endearing characters and some sort of emotional hook; this series is less a contented sigh and more a non-committal shrug.
I’m also getting the sneaking suspicion that perhaps the local Kamakura tourism board had some hand in this anime adaptation, because boy does it read like a thinly-veiled advertisement at times. Did you know that Mount Fuji, which can be seen from the seashore in Kamakura, is about seventy kilometers away? Oh, and the area is in close proximity to Enoshima? This is what I learned today while watching this episode. This is nice information to know, but it feels a bit like Tomoe is providing this exposition/info-dump in a very unnatural manner and it feels extremely obvious. I certainly wouldn’t fault them for wanting an anime tie-in, because anime tourism has become big business in recent years, but my opinion is that the focus should be on telling a good story; the benefits will follow.
There is an upside to the strong focus on Kamakura as a setting, though – the background artwork is consistently vibrant, detailed, and gorgeous. The artwork appears to be referenced from life as the Hiromi’s neighborhood really looks very lived-in and lush with plants. There’s also good use of CG to provide more three dimensional first person point-of-view shots from Hiromi’s perspective as she travels through town. If the rest of the show were slightly more tolerable in other aspects, I think this could definitely be worthwhile watching for the scenery porn.
The last two minutes of the episode are a live action segment featuring two voice actors learning about the sport of bicycling; in episode one, they learn about the merits of bicycle frames constructed of different materials, and deciding how they plan to use their bikes before purchasing the one which will work best. It’s useful information, but I don’t find seiyuu culture all that interesting, personally, so the additional appeal from that aspect was a little lost on me.
There’s a difference between being low-impact and being frustratingly boring, and unfortunately my first impressions of this series is that it crosses the line into the latter. I wish I liked any of the characters a little better, or thought that the bicycle plot had more potential, but it’s difficult to see that from where I’m standing. I’ve seen slice-of-life and sports done so much better, so I can’t really recommend this one.
Pros: The background artwork is beautiful and the CG is well integrated.
Cons: The main character’s incompetence is grating. Some of the episode feels like a thinly-veiled ad for the region in which the anime is set.
Tanya Degurechov used to be one of Japan’s elite office workers, but because of a wrathful god, was reborn as a little girl. She has blonde hair, blue eyes, and nearly transparent white skin, and she flies through the air and mercilessly strikes down her opponents. She speaks with a young girl’s lisp and commands the army. Tanya prioritizes optimization and career advancement above all, and she will become the most dangerous entity among the Imperial Army’s sorcerers. – ANN
Episode 1 Summary: In a pseudo-European world under siege, young mage Tanya Degurechov is the weapon that the Empire needs to fight off the various entities that would trample on her fatherland’s borders. Tanya appears to be a young girl of ten years old, but her ruthlessness and ability to dole out orders (and reprimands) to other officers speaks to someone much older, cunning, and world-weary. She has little patience for weakness and especially looks down on possible desertion, so when two mages under her command begin to show a pattern of disobedience, she sends them to rot far from the front lines. After using her intense, powerful magic to utterly obliterate a platoon of enemy magic-users, we learn that the insubordinate officers were killed by enemy fire. It’s almost as if Tanya knew that they were at risk, and purposely sent them to their deaths.
Impressions: Even though there are a good number of anime this season that I’m at least a bit interested in, I decided to go off script a bit and watch something that I knew had aspects I probably was not going to like. Military fiction (and especially thinly-veiled attempts to rewrite World War I/II era military history) always make me a little bit uncomfortable, especially since Japan seems to maintain a kind of weird romanticism focused around Germany or the German-esque. There are many examples of modern attempts to recreate the aesthetics of that era (for example, some lolita fashion lines that incorporate recognizable Nazi motifs, or cosplayers who don replica Third Reich uniforms for fun) while sugar-coating or tiptoeing around the bulk of the bad things that happened and crimes that were committed during the time period. It skeeves me out and I very much question the motivation behind it.
Likewise, one trope of anime in particular that leaves me cold is the one in which very cutesy characters are contrasted with the unthinkably horrible acts they are made to commit. It didn’t work for me in Gunslinger Girls, nor with the Higurashi series, and similarly I think it’s mostly used to cheap effect here. While Tanya isn’t necessarily what I’d call cute, in that her main facial expression seems to be “utter disdain” and her angular features make her look like something other than an actual kid, she still has the stature of a child and she’s referred to as such more than once by other characters (though only in fearful whispers behind her back, of course). And look, she spends most of the episode barking orders, threatening others with bodily harm, literally tearing people apart and burning them to ash, and not demonstrating any actual emotions about it. Whoa, edgy! I find that portion of the premise to be very lacking, to be honest.
The bulk of the episode is seen from the point of view of a subordinate mage named Visha (Viktoriya) Serebryakov, who is the type of character one sees and thinks “how did this person happen to stumble into the military, make it through basic training, and not get kicked out immediately afterward?” She’s the typical kind of audience helper-character who seems to not be very good at her job for the purposes of prompting exposition, and she’s altogether pretty innocent-seeming and naive. She doesn’t display a wacky, comedic kind of incompetence, she’s primarily just mildly clumsy, timid, and in awe of Tanya’s murderous actions, because shouldn’t we all be dumbstruck by gratuitous mass-murder perpetuated by a ten-year-old? (Actually, yeah, we probably should). She and Tanya are also the only women thus far in the show who are named and not background nurses or other sorts of crowd-fillers. That’s not necessarily bad in the sense that they’re the most focal characters thus far and an anime featuring two women in important roles (where they aren’t featured in constant up-skirt shots) is generally a victory (though considering the supernatural element suggested by the general plot summary and Tanya’s reference to herself as a “salaryman,” it’s not clear whether she considers herself a woman or not, but this is making things more complicated than it needs to be to make a point). The problem is more that their character designs are both wildly out-of-place compared to the military men that surround them. The guys get to be young and brash, old and grizzled, sharp-chinned, weary-looking, wrinkled, hairy… in one word, varied. The women look like, for lack of a more descriptive term, anime characters. Dewy eyes, soft features, and long eyelashes. It’s not a complaint that’s specific to this anime in particular, but it’s part of a continually frustrating trend. They all seem to exist in the same harsh, unforgiving environment, so why don’t they look like it?
There is something to be said for the portrayal of the environments and the general art direction in the episode, though. The background artwork is, in its bleakness, striking and gorgeous. What I really loved lingering on when I was taking screen shots were the gray-blue of the clouds above the battlefield, rimmed by hints of yellow in perpetual evening light. I began to recall bits of Shirobako, which I had the chance to re-watch recently. Though the shows that the Musashino team bring to life in the anime are not really what I’d call “high art,” a lot of work goes into making them look their best, with art directors and background artists contributing to an overall visual appearance that ends up being greater than the sum of its parts. This episode of Saga of Tanya the Evil comes across as slightly better than typical to me; while the story isn’t appealing and feels almost cynical at times, it’s easy to see the care that went into the art design, cinematography (by which I mean, the joining of animation, effects, and lighting), and getting the CG to look at least tolerable (which, in my opinion, is still about as good as you can expect). It helps to slightly obscure the otaku sheen and highlights the large amount of work that likely went into visually developing the adaptation. It makes it difficult for me to dislike it too much.
I’m mildly curious about the direction this show will take, if only to learn more about Tanya and her past life as a hard-ass Japanese business person (which I’m not treating as a spoiler since it appears to be in every publicly-available synopsis of the plot), but at the same time I also find her pretty intolerable as a human being and I’m kind of repulsed by all the violence and destruction served up in this episode. War is terrible and I hear enough about it in real life; I’m rarely in the mood to see it fictionalized and glorified in a cartoon, especially so by a character who seems to be some sort of sociopath. I understand that alternate history scenarios may be interesting to some, but I lack that interest myself, especially when particularly controversial time periods are involved. I have a difficult time condemning this first episode fully taking into account its merits, but I do find the subject matter pretty distasteful and doubt I’ll watch any more of it.
Pros: The background visuals are bleak but beautiful. The show features two non-sexualized women(?) in main roles.
Cons: There’s a boat load of violence to slog through, which may not appeal to some. The character designs are inconsistent along gender lines. The titular character is defined by a cheap trope (young child does horrifying things).
A new year, a new quarter, a new anime season. I like to tell people that there are always great anime worth anticipating, some of which we might not even be aware of. I’ve been around long enough to know what I like and follow some creators whose work I’ve enjoyed in the past. Here are a few things I’m anticipating this season!
The unique, complicated political climate that serves as a backdrop here would be enough to get me interested, but I’m also an enthusiastic follower of Natsume Ono’s other works – I own all of her manga that’s been published in English, and I’m a very big fan of both the Ristorante Paradiso and House of Five Leaves anime adaptations. I like her focus on more mature, adult-focused stories, and her somewhat European aesthetics, which is unusual for anime. Her character designs are also very unique and identifiable, eschewing overall cuteness for sharper angles and lankiness.
The series’ director, Shingo Natsume, has a lot of Key animation work under his belt, so one would hope that those sensibilities would translate to a pretty end-product (it worked for his One Punch Man adaptation, obviously). I would love to watch the PV, but for some reason YouTube is not loading well at the moment, so I will have to go on faith. In any case, this is definitely one of my top picks for this season, sight-unseen.
Did I have any idea before watching the first season that Rakugo is a very funny, engrossing theatrical art form? Not really, though being a student of Japanese Culture I had certainly been exposed to it before in a more academic sense. Sometimes it takes that pop culture media connection to fan the flames of interest, though.
The first season of this series was definitely an emotional ride that I voluntarily took multiple times (sometimes you just have to sit your friends down with you and force them to watch an anime about an unfamiliar storytelling art that they probably don’t know or care about otherwise). Perhaps the only thing I felt it was missing was further exploration of Konatsu’s character as an adult, which I expected to appear in the first season based on pre-broadcast summaries of the story. I certainly wasn’t dissatisfied in learning about the history of Sukeroku and Yakumo’s relationship, which was rich and complicated and emotional. But obviously women’s stories are of interest to me, so I’m hoping that Konatsu will get her due this season, even if the focus is more on Yotaro.
Ever since the original LWA OVA, I’ve been hoping for a TV series adaptation. The second OVA was great in its own right, but the world in which the story takes place has always seemed so much richer than what could be crammed into a mere forty-five minute chunk. I’m so glad that Trigger decided to go forward with this project, especially since I haven’t been quite as pleased with their output as of late (though Space Patrol Luluco was definitely very fun).
My one major worry is that director Yoh Yoshinari’s perfectionism will get the best of him and cause delays and perhaps less-good initial animation quality (I’m not sure what kind of development schedule Trigger was on for this, so it might not be as much of an issue as I’m thinking). My other sort-of worry revolves more around characterization – the one big downside of LWA: The Enchanted Parade was the fat character whose defining characteristic was that she ate constantly and spoke in a stereotypical deep/dumb-sounding voice. I was left feeling glad for the body-type diversity, but sad about the choices made in her character portrayal. I’m hoping that will be minimized this time around (but the hope isn’t strong, I know how Japanese creators can be).
I wouldn’t necessarily say that I’m looking forward to this series, but I’m cautiously interested to see how it handles the kind of emotionally-fraught and weird relationship between two teenagers who are kind of using one-another to fill their emotional emptiness. I’ve heard the story compared to Inio Asano’s The Girl on the Shore, which is a tough book to read; explicit, sad, and filled to the brim with characters who are truly lacking in self-esteem. It’s not a fun read, but I did find it to be an compelling window back into that depressed and directionless teen mentality, and it was one of the few manga I’ve read where the visual explicitness was actually used to proper effect (I anticipate that there are people who would disagree with me on that, and I totally understand it). I think many adults might brush off this kind of stuff as overly melodramatic, but as someone who had kind of a tough go of it as a teen it tends to resonate with me a bit more.
In looking towards Scum’s Wish I think I might be hoping for something akin to The Flowers of Evil, which I enjoyed despite the fact that it tore my guts out and stomped on them; emotional rawness and, even beyond that, truthfulness about the badness and goodness of people. Life is hard, we all put up fronts to guard our position in society, and this is especially true in high school when we’re still concerned about fitting in and holding up appearances.
I like monster girls, okay? I keep hoping there will be an anime series focused on those types of characters without being overly sexualized (at least in the creepy, uncomfortable manner that most anime tends to be). This one sounds lighter and goofier, and features a woman as the main character, rather than Loser Anime Dude #437 who doesn’t know how sex works, so in that sense it’s at least slightly fresher. I’m anticipating it in a “probably-bad-but-might-be-funny” sort of way. The nice KyoAni animation can’t hurt, either.
I should mention, as always, that I tend to be pretty cold on most anime comedies. I’m not into humor that involves a lot of yelling back-and-forth; instead, I prefer really sharp visual comedy, and comedy that escalates well. I have a small hope that this series might replicate a little bit of that Nichijou magic that seems so difficult to capture, so here’s to hoping, I guess.
I forgot to add this initially, but thought it deserved an edit.
I’m definitely a fan of serious historical drama. I’m not as big a fan of the part-fantasy, pseudo-romance stuff like Hakuouki and its ilk (not that they’re bad); I’m truly kind of a nerd and love to see different time periods brought to life, so I generally stick to fare that’s closer to reality. As far as this series in particular is concerned, I’m still not entirely sure what to expect – plot synopses are vague and don’t give a strong sense of the actual tone. But I’m kind of hoping for a historical police drama, as the main character is purported to be trying to crack down on arsonists and other criminals in Edo-era Japan.
Another curiosity about this show in particular is that it’s being animated by a newer studio (M2), which can be good or bad. I tend to think good, usually; generally newer studios seem to be less concerned with the financials at the moment of their inception and can pour their effort into whatever their first project is before realizing that they’re not making enough money and deciding to take on some adaptation that’s bound to sell copies but might be more lacking in the creativity department. It’s maybe not a great thing in the long run… but the end product has some freshness and ambitiousness, so it’s nice for the anime viewing audience in that sense.
So how about you? Is there anything you’re looking forward to? Winter season tends to be smaller and more subdued, with fewer “big-name” series, but I tend to think there’s always at least a couple of things worth making time for. Let me know if you have any potential favorites!
Hi everyone. This weekend I attended Anime Fusion 2016, a small anime convention local to the Twin Cities area. J.C. and I presented two panels at the convention – “Anime about Anime” and “Shiny New Anime.” The panel materials are presented below.
“Anime About Anime” was focused on anime series and OVA’s that actually talk about or focus on animation production. It presents a very high-level and non-specific look at how anime is made using clips from these anime. The majority of what we talked about can be found in the notes on the PowerPoint presentation. I believe that they should be viewable in PowerPoint Viewer and perhaps Open Office, though I have not tried that one. Apologies for some of the clips which contain some wack subtitles; In some cases I had to convert video from soft-subbed downloaded video, which is always iffy (if I had taken more time I would have ripped my own DVDs, but constructing the presentation took longer than expected). A special thanks to Washi’s Blog and Sakuga Blog, where I took a few of my extra examples.
“Shiny New Anime” is, of course, our recurring panel focusing on anime from the last year that we watched and liked. It doesn’t include every single thing that I watched, just things that we wanted to recommend and discuss. It is also not comprehensive, as there were some very popular things from the last year that just didn’t hit me right. Please don’t take this as a judgment on anyone’s tastes, just a judgment on the anime itself as seen through my eyes and experience as a fan and consumer, as well as a reality check on how much time I have to devote to watching anime each season 🙂
The PowerPoint presentation itself is very large (600mb or so) because it contains some very large videos. I may upload each clip separately if there is some interest. The accompanying handout is usually what people like to have on hand, so I’ve uploaded that as well. The markings next to show titles are indicative of either the series we have clips for (*) or those we really wanted to discuss (++) or intended to discuss if time allowed (-). One other thing worth mentioning is that this is an incremental update to the presentation of this panel we did at Anime Detour 2016 – basically an update of 6 months/2 anime seasons.
Please feel free to share these things around and use them how you like. If you plan to use them, in whole or in part, for a presentation you’re doing somewhere, just let me know. It is a lot of hard work to put this stuff together (I took the week off of work prior to the con in order to assemble it all and used a good majority of that time!), as well as to present it to an audience.
Ogikubo is the name of the specially designated area in space in the Milky Way where Earthlings and aliens can live together. Luluco is a female middle school student who lives with her father, and no matter where she is, Luluco is a common, “super normal” girl. As she is living her normal life, one day the mysterious transfer student ΑΩ Nova abruptly appears before her. That meeting will change Luluco’s fate. – ANN
Review:This review contains spoilers for events that occur throughout the series.
There’s a large sub-set of anime series that seem to trade primarily on their perceived “wackiness.” “Oh, those cartoons from Japan, they’re so weird,” people sometimes say, confused by somewhat by anime’s blending of cultural call-backs they’re not familiar with, referential comedy based on other media that will likely never be available in the West, and characters that don’t seem to reflect any real human attributes. Add to that the fact that so many shows nowadays, comedy series especially, arrive in such short, punctuated doses, here and gone in the blink of an eye, and it’s no wonder that many of these silly, colorful, and over-the-top anime are incredibly difficult to relate to (especially if you’re getting on in “fandom years” like me).
Luluco endures an awkward transformation into the Judgement Gun.
Short form anime seem to only be increasing in popularity and ubiquity, but until recently I just couldn’t fine many that I actually liked. It’s only been in the past couple of years or so that several short series have started to make decent use of their format and branch out from comedy into other realms, like Yamishibai‘s horror tales or She and her Cat‘s delicate look at life through a feline’s eyes. Still, comedy has primarily the format’s bread and butter over the years, and there have been several good ones lately. While many people have been trying to get me to watch Please Tell Me! Galko-chan (I’ll get around to it… someday), which I’ve heard called “Feminist” and “like Broad City, the anime,” I haven’t found myself in the correct frame of mind to tackle it yet. Those are both really large claims to make, and I’m afraid of ultimately being disappointed if/when it misses the mark. On the other hand, I had no trouble keeping up with Space Patrol Luluco from week-to-week, I think primarily because there’s some inherent part of me that just clicks with Hiroyuki Imaishi‘s body of work.
The anime that Imaishi has had a strong hand in tend toward the silly and perverse, with a lot of over-the-top movement and fiery, uncomplicated emotion. They can be both barely-animated in the same vein as many Western made-for-adults animation series tend to be, and jam-packed with cinematic, bombastic movement, within the same episode. Their subject matter could be silly, perverse, or grotesque, but with the ability to turn serious when needed or at least provide lip service towards exploring more complex topics. It’s like he walks into a project with a big old bag full of contradictory nonsense, and somehow has the ability to smash it all together into something visually appealing and entertaining to watch. I find that pretty fascinating.
Luluco is a sci-fi comedy anime that has Imaishi’s storytelling and directorial fingerprints all over it. It’s about a self-professed normal girl who wants to live an average teenage life. She worries about “teenage girl stuff” like finding her first love, getting along with others in school, and dealing with her dad. The twist is that she lives in an area called Ogikubo that’s a hotbed for alien activity where creatures from all across the local corner of the universe interact with one-another and occasionally cause trouble. Luluco’s dad is a member of the Space Patrol, an agency that sniffs out unlawful alien activity and “deals with it.” It’s when Dad “accidentally” eats some contraband material with his breakfast and freezes his body solid that Luluco is thrust into taking his place until he’s better. Goodbye, normal life! All is not lost, however, since with her is Alpha-Omega Nova, a very attractive boy her age that Luluco instantly starts crushing on. Chasing down criminal aliens and embarrassingly transforming into a giant gun aren’t so bad when you get to spend all your time allowing your first love to bud and flourish!
Lalaco Godspeed arrives to steal Ogikubo.
Eventually Luluco’s mom shows up (she’s a space pirate with a real rag-tag crew), steals Ogikubo itself and takes it to the far corners of the universe, and Luluco and company are sent on a mad chase to retrieve it, all the while discovering just how many truly goofy planets there are out there. Eventually Luluco’s very love for Nova-kun becomes a major plot point and the fate of Ogikubo and all its characters rests in what the big-bag refers to as a teenage girl’s “shitty, worthless first love.”
Imaishi seems to have a way with female anime characters and their stories. I wouldn’t necessarily call it feminist (those of you who have seen me in person at conventions lately know that there are reasons for that), but I do think that he and those who work with him seem to have more of a vested interest in presenting girls and women in a different light than you see in many anime. In Panty and Stocking (a series that generally seemed to confound a lot of fans), we get two main characters who are basically unapologetic about their “vices.” Panty has a lot of unattached sexual encounters, and Stocking eats sugary sweet food all day. Ultimately, I interpreted the series as a whole as being critical of these mostly unexamined prejudices that are held against women, both in the anime and in real life. In Kill la Kill, in the correct light, you can tease out messages about body shaming against women and the constant pressure we face to be dressed a certain way, as well as the value of female camaraderie and friendship. There are major issues with these anime series, too, which is partly why I’m hesitant about lifting them up as paragons of female-focused entertainment. They contain plenty of leering and fanservicey stuff to round out their run time (though I maintain that late-era “good” Gainax and Trigger material has a way with fanservice that I personally find less gross than the norm), so that’s something to consider.
Luluco close to death (from embarrassment?)
Luluco as a whole skews a bit younger with its characters. Its atmosphere, while appropriately zany and wacky, is a lot more tame in terms of the visual sexualization, so its handling of female-focused plot points comes across more purely than some of its predecessors. Ignoring the sci-fi element all together, the story is focused on the value of a young girl’s first love. This might not seem like particularly groundbreaking material, but consider that anime most often tackles this subject in the context of school drama where a young woman ends up becoming consumed with her feelings for the object of her affections to the exclusion of (most) everything else. The crush acts as both the focus of the plot, as well as an aspect of it which is used by outsiders and naysayers to trivialize the type of anime made for a young female audience. I knew someone at one time who called shoujo anime something like “those pointy-chin shows” referring to the types of character designs that tend to show up in those series. Getting beyond the fact that it’s kind of a funny term and there are a lot of mediocre shoujo anime (like any other type of anime) out there that kind of deserve it, I find that there are a lot of viewers who generally just trivialize anime series that have too strong a focus on feelings and emotions, and especially uncomplicated-yet-overwhelming pubescent romantic feelings, ostensibly because they find themselves unable or unwilling to try to relate to those emotions of the teenage girls who serve as protagonists.
There’s a lot to unpack there, but what amuses me about Luluco is that it does so without hesitation and without looking back… you just have to be paying attention to notice it. Luluco lays its aesthetics on thick with its bright colors, cutesy characters, madcap comedy, and constant parody humor, not to mention its lightning-fast pacing and Inferno Cop style plot progression. Luluco’s girlish crush on Nova-kun seems like a side note for most of the series, a gag that keeps cropping up that serves to re-emphasize just how bland of a personality he has. It’s only near the end of the show when the big baddie is revealed that we find out how central Luluco’s feelings were the entire time. The Blackholeians, who make their living stealing valuable items throughout the universe, have decided that it would be more interesting to start seeking out things that are considered utterly worthless. They’ve now come to the conclusion that the first love of a teenage girl is probably the most utterly worthless, most bland and most insignificant thing out there, so they steal it (visually represented by a clear heart-shaped jewel) from Luluco, killing her. Luluco then has to journey back from Hell itself to then prove the true value of her feelings.
The essence of Luluco’s pure and innocent first love.
I was incredibly impressed by this final story arc because within the microcosm of an otherwise very silly show, the creators were able to express a frustration that I’ve had with almost every kind of fandom I’ve ever been in – “this thing you care about isn’t important to me, so therefore it doesn’t matter.” Doubly-so when said by male fans when referring to entertainment targeted towards girls and women. Thinking back, I don’t think there are many people who would look at their first crush or even their early relationships, and think to themselves “this was substantial and it was made to last.” There are so many factors, including physiological ones and those relating to experience and emotional maturity, that generally doom these early relationships to be nothing more than learning experiences on the road to adulthood. But they were real and they were important, and at the time they felt all-consuming. They had value in they way they helped form my adult self; thinking back to those memories, I can tell which relationships helped me learn to appreciate others’ hobbies (even if they weren’t my hobbies) and which ones caused me to let my personal boundaries deteriorate, setting me up for a long road towards learning to respect myself again. There were happy times and challenging experiences. Sometimes there was more bad than good, but even if the emotions themselves were fleeting and over dramatic, they were always real and they were always important. Some of the same things could be said for the books, movies, television, blogs, or games that drew our attention as younger people. Some of them might have less objective “value,” and looking at them now we can tell that they were pretty terrible (I used to be in love with so much terrible anime, you guys), but people don’t attach themselves to fandoms and media for no reason; there’s always something there that speaks to us when we need to hear it.
When Luluco comes back from Hell and takes full ownership of her feelings for Nova, it’s then that she proves her power. Because there is nothing more emotionally powerful than being able to fully value one’s self and one’s emotions, at least as far as defeating black hole aliens is concerned. I like to interpret Luluco’s powerful return as a giant middle finger towards those who under-value entertainment made for women, especially since the message was stealthed into a show that from the outside seems to be nothing more than a cracked-out (and possibly a little bit self-congratulatory) comedy romp from Studio Trigger and company.
Luluco gets advice from a friend.
All that aside, there are some fun references to other Trigger properties throughout the series – Little Witch Academia, Kill la Kill, and Sex & Violence with Machspeed being the really obvious ones; Inferno Cop shows up in an awesome cameo later on and there are some strong aesthetic references towards Gurren Lagann, too. I would also be remiss if I went without mentioning the third member of the Space Patrol team, Midori, an alien gyaru who starts as sort of a love-rival to Luluco but ends up becoming supportive (though no less sassy) by the end. She’s used more as comic relief and provides a good foil for the pure-hearted Luluco, but unfortunately doesn’t spend much time front-and-center. Luluco’s mother, Lalaco Godspeed, is also a hoot (with prominent hooters, eheheh). The only downside is that the short format means that these fun side characters don’t really receive as much attention as I would have liked, but maybe there’ll be a sequel someday.
I’ve been a little bit snarky in person with some folks this past season, calling this “Studio Trigger’s good Spring 2016 anime series.” I’m only partly joking when I say that, though, since as much as I thought Kiznaiver was a decent accomplishment with a lot of good ideas to share, I felt a stronger emotional connection with this series. Luluco just always seemed more focused on the story it wanted to tell and on the character it decided to feature in the telling. Its entire run time only constitutes about 1/3rd of your average anime series, and yet I think it was more successful in arguing for its central conceits than a lot of other series out there. I may even have shed a tear once or twice (whether from laughing or crying, I’ll never tell). I have a tendency to dig deep into shows that I really enjoy, drawing conclusions that others might not agree with, and I gather that’s the case with this show, too. But they’re my feelings, and those feelings have power for me. And isn’t that really what’s important?
Pros: The show has a definite sense of style to it, with cute character designs, and a good balance of stills and more animated portions. I thought most of the gags were pretty funny and enjoyed the references to other anime throughout the show. There’s a good message to be found about the value of formative (and especially romantic) experiences, especially those that women have which are often belittled by the mainstream.
Cons: If you choose to seek out some of the anime referenced in the show, be warned that Sex & Violence with Machspeed is incredibly racy and grotesque, something that’s more hinted at in the episode of Luluco that references it. The short runtime leaves little time to flesh out some of the side characters, like Lalaco and Midori. Please make a sequel!
Math teacher Kōhei Inuzuka is a widower with a young daughter named Tsumugi. Inuzuka isn’t adept in the kitchen but with the help of his student Kotori Iida and his daughter, he embarks on a culinary adventure. – ANN
Summary of Episode 1: Kyouhei Inuzuka is a high school teacher, but he’s also a single father to his young daughter, Tsumugi. It’s been six months since his wife died, and he’s just trying to take each day one day at a time and make sure he can take care of Tsumugi. Unfortunately, he’s often out late and more often than not resorts to grabbing convenience store bento for dinner. While out in the park flower-viewing, they happen upon a young lady weeping over her rice balls. She’s not sad, just moved to tears over the delicious food that her busy mother prepared. It just so happens that her mother owns a restaurant, and she passes along a business card. A couple of days later, Tsumugi is really feeling sad over the lack of home-cooked meals at their house, so Kyouhei does something impulsive – he races to the restaurant, daughter in tow, in order to provide something warm and nourishing. One problem – the owner is out and the restaurant is technically closed for the day, but Kotori, the owner’s daughter and coincidentally one of Kyouhei’s students, offers to cook up something simple. That night, they enjoy hot rice together, and Kotori asks that they join forces and learn to cook with one-another.
Kyouhei pieces together Tsumugi’s lunch using store-bought pre-prepped side dishes.
Impressions: I have a major soft spot for stories that involve parenting and genuinely cute kids. Not because I have any of my own, but likely because it’s such a unique occurrence in anime. I remain a big fan of Bunny Drop(hey, it was a really excellent 11-episode anime and an equally good 4 volume manga!), enjoyed Kotetsu’s relationship with his daughter in Tiger & Bunny, and in general am impressed when the parental relationship is depicted as being substantial rather than as some afterthought in an anime full of teenagers (I don’t really have time to get into the related issue of dead moms in anime, but that’s certainly something to note). In any case, anime series that consider the parents’ point of view and depict that trials of trying to bring up a young person in an environment which makes that difficult are some of the anime I find appealing.
So far this show has a lot going for it in that regard. Kyouhei is depicted as a genuinely good person who has his daughter’s best interests at heart. It’s the specifics of their situation, as well as perhaps some residual depression following the death of his wife, that creates a lot of challenges for him to try to overcome. For the most part, Kyouhei seems fairly on top of everyday life; he makes plans to do the laundry with Tsumugi that weekend, they get out of the house to spend time together, he gets her dressed and out the door in the morning and generally arrives in time to pick her up from daycare. In short, he’s loving and competent, and while obviously any single parent situation is difficult to manage, there’s a decent amount of realism in his ability to juggle all these things and it’s clear that Tsumugi is grateful.
A cell phone shot of Tsumugi during her first (and only) experience with dad’s cooking.
What left an impression on me after the first episode, though, is its (and by extension, the show’s) focus on food and meals as they relate to family life. In flashback, we learn that Kyouhei’s late wife Tae was quite the experimental chef, and her meals were beloved in the household. Because of the food lifestyle I (mostly) adhere to, I’m used to hearing the refrain that “food is fuel” and that we should strive to remove the emotional aspect from it (as in, try to stop emotional eating and listen to your body’s hunger signals instead). That’s fine on a logical level, but for me in particular food and meals have always served the purpose of showing love to those I care about and bringing together friends and family around a shared table. Tsumugi is a generally happy, bubbly youngster, but her sadness at eating convenience store bento boxes while her dad catches up on his classroom work is obvious. To her, meals are something that she wants to share with family, and a home-cooked meal trumps anything from the microwave (though her dad’s early attempts at home cooking so far have left a little to be desired, judging by her reported reaction).
I think this episode does a good job of explaining (without explicitly doing so) why Kyouhei hasn’t taken up cooking, and in fact has outright avoided the task. Aside from the fact that he doesn’t have much cooking experience and his first attempt was a major bomb (seriously, that photo of Tsumugi making a disgusted face is hilarious), it becomes clear that the subject of cooking is too strong a reminder of what’s missing now that his wife is gone. Trying to do something that was so closely associated with someone who’s now gone has got to be incredibly painful; each dish, whether successful or a failure, is just another way of pointing out the empty space left behind. It wouldn’t be unusual for Kyouhei to avoid cooking out of respect for his wife’s memory and a desire to keep from feeling as though he were trying to replace her. All of this is interpreted from what’s written between the lines; unlike a lot of anime, this one so far is a little bit more “show” and a little less “tell,” which in itself is nice.
Kotori crying while eating in the park.
Lest everyone think this is a show all about doom and gloom and death, let me mention that I found the first episode to be incredibly cute and also pretty funny. Tsumugi is at that particular age where emotions are still shared right out in the open, and social norms don’t necessarily play a large factor in everyday interactions. She says what’s on her mind and expresses her feelings without worrying what others might think, and that’s one of the things I find cutest about little kids (well, until their emotions go into overdrive and devolve into tantrums; then I’m quick to leave the area). I enjoyed how she declares her love for her dad, and also how she had no qualms about approaching Kotori (at that time a total stranger) in the park to comfort her and ask why she was crying. There’s just something really heartwarming about the earnestness of children that gives me that warmhearted feeling.
I’m guessing that any “concerns” about the direction of this show that one might have would be due to the fact that one of the three main characters is a high school student of Kyouhei’s. Maybe it’s my cynicism talking, or maybe it’s just anime’s propensity for being willing to go in distasteful directions, but I’m wary of the fact that Kotori is likely going to be spending a lot of time with Kyouhei and possibly filling part of the role that Kyouhei’s wife used to and of the fact that the Wikipedia entry references Kotori’s possible crush on her teacher. The anime seems fairly cute and innocent so far, and Kotori’s attitude seems innocent enough, but I’ve been burned in the past and just don’t want such a cute series to go down that dark road.
I’ve been feeling kind of crappy the last few days (bad allergies are keeping me medicated-up and I’m having a hard time staying awake and focusing on anything), so it was nice to take a moment to sit down with something that’s very cute and heartwarming while trying to unwind. For now, rather than worry about what direction it will take, I’m going to accept the show at face value and just appreciate the fact that anime is a medium with so much variety in story and character and that there are still series that are made to appeal to people my age. I was impressed with the first episode’s ability to demonstrate its cuteness without being overly saccharine, as well as how well I gained a window into the protagonist’s feelings. I’m calling it – “feel-good anime of the season.”
Pros: Kyouhei’s life and choices are explained well through the narrative. The episode is genuinely cute and heartwarming.
Cons: Kotori’s “crush” on Kyouhei, though mostly unexplored thus far, has me feeling wary.
You’ll get used to this screen after the thirteenth time you’ve restarted the game.
I’m by no means a hard core gamer, so it should come as no surprise that I had no idea “Pokémon GO” even existed until the day it was released upon the face of the country as a free app for Android and iOS last week. As with most fandoms, I expect to perpetually be playing catch-up with this one. In fact, a lot of my friends are already forming gym alliances and evolving their pokémon, and I’ve just barely cracked level 4 and only have some very basic pokémon to work with. I unfortunately can’t play all day because of where I work, and I have a lot of other stuff going on (like this website!) so I can’t really go all-in except for a couple of hours on the weekend. I suppose my point is, there are definitely people out there much more well equipped than I am to write thoughtful, weighty think pieces about this gaming phenomenon. But I wanted to throw in my two cents anyway, because the very existence of this game and its almost instantaneous popularity have inspired me to do a lot of thinking.
Some of you might be aware of this, but my favorite anime, Dennou Coil, is finally available on disc in the United States (at least, the first part is; the second isn’t due to be released until late September of this year). If you’re not familiar with the show, a lot of people have jokingly called it “Google Glass: the Anime” because of its central sci-fi tech element – augmented reality glasses. The anime isn’t so much about the glasses as technology as it is about the elements of human nature that the use of the glasses eventually reveals in the characters, but I wouldn’t expect first-timers with the show to know that yet (a lot of emotional truth-bombs don’t get dropped until the second half of the series, via the expansion and then resolution of several story lines). To summarize without spoiling the finer details, the way the juvenile characters utilize their glasses is somewhat off-label, and through their explorations they come face-to-face with certain elements of human nature that seem obvious in retrospect, but revelatory at the time. When they form emotional connections towards simulated beings that only exist as part of the AR world around them, to the point that they grieve when those entities no longer exist, we suddenly realize that our own tendency as geek consumers to form deep connections to fictional characters and worlds and to then experience a sense of loss when those things come to an end is eerily similar and indicates the same thing – reality doesn’t necessarily correlate with tangibility, nor emotional verisimilitude with weight or mass.
I got a little bit flowery there (it’s difficult not to when you’re talking about your most favorite thing in the world!), so thanks for bearing with me. What I’m leading towards is that this anime series came out almost ten years ago (next May will mark its tenth anniversary), and was set in an undefined but clearly near-future setting which has still not entirely come into being. Yet, it has coincidentally made its US debut at a time when I can finally say I feel that we might be right on the cusp of taking steps to make the world of the anime into some sort of reality. This new Pokemon iteration is probably the first signal to me that we are making the approach.
The map view provides a good overview of the local area.
Virtual reality and its sister technologies seem to be all the rage these days. After beginning as a Kickstarter project in 2012, the Oculus Rift VR headset was released to the public earlier this year, and they’ve partnered with Samsung to create add-on technology for the current series of Samsung Galaxy devices. Whereas earlier attempts at VR were strictly for stationary use, now you can literally carry a VR device around town in your pocket (well… the headset maybe not so much, but at least the phone/tablet portion!). The Oculus and its related devices are set to be used for specially-developed films, TV series, and games, among other applications which are probably not even out of the idea stage just yet.
To me, though, VR is still a mysterious and, frankly, intimidating form of technology that feels very unapproachable. It requires a huge commitment – proprietary add-ons or standalone VR units, for example – and of course assumes that, once you start using it, you won’t get migraines or end up with motion-sickness (likely consequences for neurologically-sensitive folks like me). You’re also basically chained to your location – if you went walking around the neighborhood wearing your Oculus, you’d end up tripping over your own feet or wandering out into traffic (and I’m only half-joking), since what you’re seeing has nothing to do with the real world around you. Augmented-reality technology, though, is more of a step up than a giant leap forward, as far as simulated action goes. What you’re seeing is the real world, enhanced with additional imagery that’s helpful or playful or serves some other functional purpose. There’s something inherently more friendly and inviting about it, since it takes something familiar and embellishes it a little bit.
“Pokémon GO” definitely is not the first video game or gaming experience to take advantage of advancing AR technology – several previous games for both common mobile devices and hand-held game consoles have incorporated the technology (whether via trading cards or similar collectible objects, or in other ways) to enhance a core gaming experience. The game that keeps coming up in conversation is “Ingress” (which I had only really heard about in the past week, but which is a few years old) which is considered sort of an AR MMO type experience with large teams that triangulate sections of territory. As is often the case, though, the early-adopters of the mechanic paved the way for an iteration that utilizes the same core gaming mechanic, but touches on particular nerve in such a way that it becomes extremely popular and turns into the face of the technology itself.
I don’t really need to say this aloud, but I think it bears mentioning anyway; people freaking love Pokémon. It’s been that way since my friends and I were playing Pokémon Red and Blue in high school, and with each new generation it seems like the fandom continues to grow and expand. The Pokémon series has always invited players to join forces in one way or another, since one of the primary attributes of the game is that neither version will give you access to all the pokémon of that generation. Sure, you could be a shut-in, buy two handheld consoles, both versions of the game, and trade pokémon with yourself, but the spirit of the mechanic essentially requires you to find a friend (or friends) and bargain with one-other to complete your pokédexes. This mechanic invites players to go outside themselves and interact with others, but there’s definitely a limit; if your friends are playing the game, it’s not really necessary to reach outside your core social group and meet others to get your money’s worth. What’s interesting about “Pokémon GO” is that the essence of the game is intact but the mechanics thoroughly encourage a different way of playing.
Twinsies!
On Saturday my boyfriend and I decided to go for a walk around our neighborhood at dusk. It was my first opportunity to really give “Pokémon GO” a fair play through, since until then I’d either been busy or in a location that made playing the game impossible (it can’t be played effectively while riding in a car, for example). I noticed that a local strip mall had a couple of Poké-stops and so we walked a couple of blocks to get there. One stop led to another stop, and suddenly we were headed down a winding path into a large local park. We’d lived in the neighborhood two months already, and yet this was the first time we’d taken the time to wander over and enjoy walking along the small lake there. There was something particularly magical about this evening; the warm, musky summer air, the light fading from the clear sky, the sparkling lights reflecting on the water’s surface… and the groups of two or three people that we began to notice, their faces glowing with the light from their smartphones, chatting, and laughing, and interacting with their environment. Aside from a few individuals here and there, it appeared that the majority of the people out that night were there to enjoy some of their first experiences with “Pokémon GO” A few people yelled out “gotta catch ’em all!” as we walked by, and we all shared a good laugh about it. It was amazing to me to look around and just be able to sense that almost everyone around me was there for the same reason; as someone who doesn’t leave the house all that often, it felt brand new and fresh, like I was a part of an experience much bigger than what was displayed on my smart phone screen.
I think it’s worth mentioning that, aside from the gaming aspect of the experience, there are some tangible real-world benefits to logging in. Like I mentioned, I’ve lived in my apartment for two months already, and Saturday was really the first time I’d gotten out to walk around and explore our new neighborhood (well, the first time while not in a moving vehicle, anyway). Sure, I was drawn onward by the promise of gaining some extra items (and I was amused to find that the Starbucks near me is considered important enough to serve as a Pokéstop!) but I didn’t set out with any particular goal in mind and wasn’t taking a walk in order to “burn calories” or anything like that. Instead, it was carried back to my childhood, staying up late during Summer vacation and meeting up with kids in the neighborhood to play capture the flag in the fog of night. There’s something incredibly nostalgic about taking advantage of that freedom we have as adults, something we may or may not have had as children, and walking just to see what’s over the next hill or across the next bridge. Meeting up with random people is something that seems so difficult now that we have homes to manage and jobs to do, and yet this became effortless while we were walking around for that hour or so. The experience is like being able to share a secret with a million other people at once, to be part of a group that isn’t based on many of the things that keep us separated from one-another in other contexts.
Shellder enjoys watching Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.
What brings me back to Dennou Coil is that the anime and this game both demonstrate our ability as human beings to indulge in that shared magical act of transforming something that’s nothing more than a straightforward game or tool into something that furthers our connections with one another. The world of the show may be overlaid with imagery that doesn’t exist without the aid of the show’s technology, but to the characters, that upper layer may as well be part of the real thing. Dennou Coil teaches us that the realities forged in our hearts, the feelings we have towards people and things both solid and in the worlds of our imaginations, are real and worthwhile. They matter.
I’ve seen a lot of pooh-pooing on Facebook by people who aren’t interested in Pokémon, and while I respect their right to be non-participants in this fandom (just as I would hope anyone else would respect my fandom choices), it also makes me kind of sad that they’re missing out on that feeling of participation that I’ve experienced. Looking around and just knowing that the group of teenage boys walking down my parents’ street, or the two young women in front of Penzey’s in Uptown, were all participating in an activity I’ve quickly grown to really enjoy is a terrific feeling. I believe that technology should serve to enhance our lives, and while games are often said to waste time rather than contribute to anything of import, something that provides the opportunity to high-five a fellow pokémon trainer and heck, even just get out of the house and enjoy the real world for a little while, is providing a wonderful service.
In a certain tea shop there lives a man called the Mononokean. This morose looking man gained his name for his ability to work with yōkai, guiding the ones that wander in our world into the next. – ANN
Summary of Episode 1: Ashiya Hanae is the son of an overly-enthusiastic flower-shop owner. He’s really looking forward to starting high school. The evening before his first day in class, he encounters what he believes to be a stuffed animal laying on the ground. It is, however, a very-much-alive ball of fluff that only Ashiya can see and which takes an instant liking to him. And then starts to suck out his life force, bit-by-bit. Soon his school days are spent recuperating in the nurse’s office, and it’s only by extreme chance and desperation that Ashiya notices an advertisement for someone looking for part-time help and who seems like he might possibly know how to exorcise this very fluffy demon. Ashiya meets Abeno, a curmudgeonly young man dressed in vintage style clothing, in a very shady tea room that appears to exist outside of normal time and space. Abeno can help him, absolutely… but only for a very steep price. And of course, circumstances play out which indebt Ashiya to Abeno. There’s no chance of escaping, either, since Abeno shows up in Ashiya’s class the next day.
Ashiya gains a new… friend?
First Impressions: As an anime fan and also someone with an interest in Japan in general, Japanese myth and folklore has always intrigued me. Anime and manga are rich with tales that draw upon these sources, from the library of late, great yokai-master Shigeru Mizuki himself to more contemporary titles like Natsume’s Book of Friends and Mononoke. Even sci-fi series like the recently-released-on-disc Dennou Coil incorporate elements of this kind of mythology to establish a particular kind of Japan-centric supernatural undercurrent to excellent effect. So you could say that I’m on the look out for this sort of thing when I’m browsing around in anticipation of a new anime season. The trailers for this show had me pretty excited – Cute creatures, attractive male characters, bright colors… not necessarily masterpiece material, but definitely a lot of things that scratch my itch if you know what I mean. And, of course, there was the promise of Japanese mythological references and the inclusion of familiar yokai. On paper it definitely seems like a winner. My feelings about the first episode are very mixed, however. There are a lot of elements that I enjoyed about the first episode, including the general tone and the look of the less-human mononoke (primarily suggested by imagery in the opening and closing animation and the preview), but there’s something about the way it all falls into place that ends up feeling sort of flat.
In most cases I prefer not to jump right to criticizing animation quality, because I genuinely don’t believe that even in a storytelling medium that’s just a style of animation, the quality of animation is the be-all-end-all defining aspect. This puts me in opposition to a lot of anime fans, and I’ve made peace with that; many of you out there feel (for good reason) that something animated should look good and appear to have some base level of quality, and I respect that. I’ve just seen too many series that fall outside the accepted aesthetic (I love you, Masaaki Yuasa!) and which have affected me strongly enough that I don’t consider weirdness, off-model animation, or a high level of still frames or talking heads to remove a series from the discussion by default (if I were a “Chopped” judge I’d probably be pretty forgiving anytime a contestant forgot a basket ingredient, too). I do, however, think that the first episode of an anime should be an example of the staff putting their best foot forward in order to captivate and impress the audience, and this first episode just doesn’t demonstrate a lot of finesse that’s often evident even when you can tell a show doesn’t have a lot of budget to work with.
Ashiya begs Abeno-san for help.
The yokai in this series (at least from what I can tell) are brought to life utilizing CG imagery. You all know by now that this isn’t my favorite thing by any stretch of the imagination, but I think “Fluffy” as he’s affectionately named by the protagonist, doesn’t demonstrate a lot of the weird qualities that make CG clash with traditional 2D animation. I think the issue I have is that the hand-drawn animation feels very flat and lifeless in comparison and just in general. The lines are a little too thick, the character coloration feels thickly-applied and lacking in detail, and there are character facial inconsistencies that make this feel like an episode 6 or 7 (past a mid-cour climax but not quite into the final rising action) rather than a striking opening entry. The background art is very lacking in texture and richness. Abeno’s tea room feels flat and lifeless, not like a place that exists outside the real world. It’s definitely not a deal breaker, but also not the strong sort of fantasy aesthetic I was hoping for based on the promotional images. As this episode takes place primarily on the mortal plane, there’s obviously still time for the underworld to make its debut. But I wish it had made its appearance sooner, to give things more of a “Dorothy entering OZ” effect.
There are things about the episode that hit me more positively, though. While I think a lot of the humor is too much along the lines of the “incredulous characters yelling in exasperation” variety, it’s actually some of the cornier, cliche moments that triggered me more positively. The montage of Ashiya’s daily belabored walk to school (and his eventual collapse closer and closer to the door) was pretty funny in the sense that it escalated well. I also liked the fact that Abeno is revealed to be Ashiya’s classmate. That “twist” was 100% predictable as soon as Ashiya started his introduction to the class at the end, but I definitely chuckled. And considering the fact that Ashiya’s indebtedness situation is drawn directly from xxxHolic, it still manages to be kind of funny (even if a bit mean-spirited). I do also think a lot of the characters that show up in the opening and will likely feature in future episodes are pretty cute. It’s obviously not the main criteria for a good show, but it’s definitely a contributor.
Ultimately, all Fluffy wants is someone to play with.
I think ultimately what spoiled me here was that I just really have a strong hankering for another season of Natsume’s Book of Friends (I can’t wait until the Autumn season!) and was hoping for something to keep me going until then. This series seems like it will be fun enough, but so far it’s really lacking in the lovable charm and humanity that makes Natsume so appealing. I’m thankful for the opportunity to get a glimpse of the world of Japanese yokai again, and I’ll probably check in with this series from time to time just for that reason. But I’m still wary of adding it to my already lengthy watch list based just on episode 1.
Pros: The element of humor comes across well enough to provide some entertaining moments. The yokai featured in this episode is also quite cute.
Cons: The first episode has an overall feeling of being made on the cheap, with kind of dull aesthetics and some uninspired background artwork.
I try not to get very personal here since I don’t intend this blog to be a “diary,” but in this case I feel like this situation might resonate with others in some way, since it’s related to things a lot of us go out of our way to experience – fandom conventions and interpersonal relationships. I also thought it might be good for my own well-being to talk through it and work it out a little bit before I bring it to a formal therapy session. So feel free to skip this one if you’re just here for the anime and lolita fashion. I promise I’m not insulted <3
This past weekend was CONvergence in Minneapolis, a large local fandom and media convention that lasts for four days around Independence Day every year. I started attending this convention around ten years ago when some friends of mine wanted to enter the masquerade and needed some warm bodies for the rather huge (and funny) production (I hesitate to say “skit” since there was singing and items planted in the audience… and it was quite involved). I had so much fun that year that I came back for the next, then the next… I’ve always been a fan of quality over quantity, and thus only attend a few conventions a year. CONvergence has always been on my list.
Some things happened last year at the convention that spoiled what was otherwise a really awesome weekend. I’ll spare everyone the fine details, because that’s not the point (and it’s easy enough to search out what happened, there was some internet press about it). The short answer is that someone made a joke, it wasn’t funny, it hurt some people, there was a big blow-up online about it, and suddenly I (and, several others, from what I gathered) ceased to feel safe around my fellow CON attendees. The feeling descended like a black cloud and spoiled what was otherwise a fun weekend where I had a lot of other positive experiences. I (and others) felt that the response from the convention wasn’t swift or decisive enough, the people associated with the “event” weren’t apologetic even after several people had voiced their hurt (note: if your comedy is hurting sexual assault survivors or otherwise “punching downward,” you’re doing it wrong), and the whole ordeal left a really bad taste in my mouth. I decided it was time for a break and didn’t register for the 2016 convention, and there were a few other close friends who made the same decision.
The subject would come up again every couple of months; one friend of mine had put a lot of hard work into getting people to fill out feedback surveys and get the concerns heard by the convention committee in an attempt to either get a substantive response or to have them beef up their staff training and response to future issues of the same nature (which it sounds like they eventually did – kudos to the con on that point and in general I’m complimentary towards steps they’ve taken since even if it wasn’t as quick as I would have liked). I voiced my opinion online a couple of times, primarily on Facebook though I did fill out a very extensive feedback survey as well. Some people were supportive, some people tried to CON-splain to me about why I was being “unreasonable” (and I utilize quotes because there’s always someone who pops in to tell me that my legitimate feelings that I’m feeling for reasons that I explain pretty completely aren’t legitimate for this, that, and the other reason because they didn’t feel the same way and also I don’t understand the full situation or how conventions work ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Even though I have staffed another similarly-sized local convention for ten years. But whatever!). The point is that I felt pretty secure in taking a year off and letting things fall where they were going to fall. It was nice to feel a little bit of solidarity from my friends since I always worry that I’m overly-sensitive. I’d never ask anyone outright to give up their convention experience just for my sake, but I was glad to know I wasn’t the only one feeling my feelings.
Last week (a couple of days before the convention), I attended an event with several friends and learned that, sometime within the last couple of months, they had decided to attend the con. I’m not going to pick apart who originally said they were or weren’t going and who had planned to go all along because it’s not important and I’m honestly not sure. I’m also not criticizing anyone’s choice to go and have a great time, because that’s not something that I would want anyone to feel bad about. But after trying to hide my surprise and voicing an admittedly kind of pathetic offer of free “limo service” to any off-site restaurants so that people wouldn’t need give up their parking spots (the food options immediately around the con hotel are kind of crappy and my sweetie and I live in an apartment very close by), I kind of spent the rest of the evening off in my own brain somewhere. The next couple of days found me very angry, then for about a day-and-a-half I became profoundly depressed (the type of depression where about all I did for a day was lay on the couch in a daze and not do anything of use besides drop the occasional tear out of my eyes). It wasn’t really that I wanted to go (and in fact I still didn’t and truthfully couldn’t – I couldn’t afford or justify the $120 at-the-door price of admission for the weekend, and I didn’t have the ability to take any time off from work). It was more that, in that moment I was reminded of what it feels like to be excluded and forgotten. To not be part of the “in” crowd.
I think as geeks we can get so insular that we forget that people are people, no matter what group they’re in. I’m very introverted and (though I risk retribution for even alluding to this) I spent quite a while having my friendships and activity choices subtly policed, manipulated, and controlled. Eventually I sort of lost the drive to leave the house and spend time with people, even to maintain friendships. And it’s really unreasonable to expect people to remember, let alone go out of their way to contact, someone who hasn’t done a very good job of making themselves present or upholding their end of a friendship. I literally don’t know how to friend, sometimes.
I was also reminded that my problems are just that – my problems. Whatever problem I had with the convention is mine to deal with, and it would be silly to expect others to react as dramatically to something that is based so much around my own feelings and history.
In any case, I realized after a while that it wasn’t jealousy or a desire to be at that hotel for that convention that was getting me down so much (though I did read through the programming guide and there were a lot of things I’m sad I missed, and I really lived vicariously through all the photographs that were and still are being posted online), it was more just knowing that I was outside looking in all along, and I should have known better. It’s kind of the same way with my friends from high school – I see them visiting one-another and interacting and I know a lot of them keep up their relationships and friendships with one-another, and all I feel like I can do is ask “how in the world do people achieve that?” It’s such a huge mystery to me, because I always just feel like I’m creeping on other people, looking through the window at them as they live their lives. I think I’m a nice person and I can kind of bribe people with food, but I’m sort of confounded by that next level and how to get there.
The one other thing that hurts my heart, which is one hundred percent my own fault, is that in choosing not to attend the convention in the manner that I did, I made my boyfriend feel obligated to sit it out with me. Last year was his first CONvergence, and he had an awesome time. And then I took that away. I’m the type who would have told him to go without me if I were more aware, but I just assumed that he felt the same way I did without asking and that was wrong to do. I feel profoundly guilty because of that.
I think ultimately the shock of feeling totally justified in what I was doing and then suddenly being faced with a huge pile of conflicting evidence just shook me down to my center, and I no longer know where I stand. I have no idea what I’m going to do for next year. My heart aches for what I’ve missed but I think in all my outspokenness I may have simply just made myself unwelcome. I still have fears about the type of people who would say the types of things that were said in the big Facebook blow-up of 2015 (it boiled down to a strong lack of empathy towards survivors and those triggered by slut-shaming and sexual assault references). I don’t trust the people around me that I don’t know, because they could very easily belittle me and my experiences, or at least that’s the conclusion I came to. I don’t know. I’m feeling very lost and I don’t know what to do about it.
I do want to mention (and end on more positive note) that a couple of people did reach out to me directly over the weekend; that in itself made me feel a little bit warmer and less isolated. I am always very thankful and amazed that there are people who are still willing to make the first move; it kept me from wallowing any deeper, at least.
I don’t think there’s a conclusion here; I don’t know that any person other than myself can say anything to help this. I don’t know if it’s an apology I’m looking for, because I don’t think I’m really owed one, exactly. I’ve always said that the best con drama is the con drama you’re not involved in, and those words are echoing for me right now. I wish the comedian who did the thing at the con last year had just not done the thing, because then none of this would have happened. I wish she’d taken more responsibility after the fact; that would have gone a long way to help, too. I wish people in general were more sensitive to those who have had rough experiences. But I also really wish that I could convey my feelings a bit better, so that maybe more people could understand the kind of emotional hell that I put myself through when these things happen. I try to keep that kind of stuff off the internet because it’s always so personal and it’s easier to let people assume that there’s nothing wrong than to try and explain why something is wrong in a way that they would care about. I feel like talking about it too frequently or at too much length makes it easier for people to just ignore. I don’t know what prompted me to come out and say anything this time, except that maybe the wound is still fresh (and honestly… every mention of how this year’s CON was BEST CON EVER reopens the wound every time I see it. Not that I would have gone! But it feels like rubbing salt in the wound).
Anyway, I thank anyone who at least tried to read some of this, I’m sure it makes very little sense and ended up being kind of a chore, but it feels sort of good to air it out. I don’t know that I’m looking for any advice either; I’ve had people on Facebook say some stuff they thought was helpful (“I’m not going to CON either because of [insert other mundane reason]” or “I didn’t think there was a big enough issue to keep from going” which is all fine but doesn’t amount to much when your heart is hurting) and I think I’d rather just come to my own conclusion and maybe work up towards trying to approach some other people about it. Thanks again.
Obligatory disclaimer – this is a review of items I purchased with my own hard-earned money. I did not receive incentive or compensation from the company to write this review (not that anyone would honestly consider that a possibility, but still…)
I’ve somehow amassed quite a few violin-related Lolita Fashion items over the last couple of years. Two Innocent World violin dresses, a couple of violin-themed bags… one would probably think that I have some experience playing the violin. The joke’s on you all, I’ve never even touched a violin. I would have no idea what to even do with it. But I find violin motifs strangely appealing for some reason. At some point in the past, I noticed that Bodyline was planning to release a pair of boots with a violin-inspired design (it was the winner in one of their clothing design contests). I thought that sounded pretty awesome, but as the days went by and the boots didn’t show up on their website, I kind of forgot about it.
Because I often get a lot of my basics from Bodyline (especially shoes… I have large feet and just can’t cram them into brand shoes no matter how hard I might wish to do so), I generally poke around the website every couple of months to see if anything new has been added. Lo and behold… violin boots! And they weren’t expensive! I tossed them into my cart and a couple of days later, they arrived at my doorstep.
The boots come in several different colorways, the majority of which seem to skew more towards classic lolita styling. I purchased the “brw-dbrw” (or “Brown and Dark Brown” as translated from Bodyline’s color language) since I thought those would be most likely to match with other items in my wardrobe. I do also like the wine colorway, though, and if I had more items to match I might have gone for that one instead.
They’re available in sizes up to 260, which is what Bodyline calls 26cm (which is more standard that mm in Japan, at least judging by what I’ve seen while online shopping) and which roughly equates to a US women’s size 10 and a UK size 42. Some shoes on Bodyline’s site go up to size 270, but not these, unfortunately.
The price listed for these boots is $39.99, which doesn’t include shipping, so keep that in mind – EMS Shipping cost $13.80 at the time I purchased the boots. If you prefer to utilize Bodyline’s airmail option it will likely be cheaper, but then you’ll be poised to wait at least a month and I didn’t feel like doing that, partly because I’m wary of the postal system as it is (a dress of mine got lost in the mail one time, it was a huge bummer). As it stood, I got the boots in less than a week, not taking into account the amount of time it took me to be able to make it to my apartment’s office hours to pick it up (I understand why they’d want to be open regular business hours like any other regular business, but since I work those same hours and also have a bus commute it doesn’t work out very well for me a lot of the time.
The package arrived inside of the standard gray shipping plastic. The boots were shipped in their shoebox, which had gotten a little bit mooshed up in transit (not unexpected, it had a long way to travel). Sometimes Taobao shopping services will offer to ship your shoes sans the shoe box to save a little bit on shipping costs, but Bodyline doesn’t have this option, so just be aware that you’ll end up with a shoe box that’s probably going to be pretty useless by the time it gets to you. The boots arrived with plenty of packaging inside the foot portion to keep from getting mangled. They were in good condition when I opened them up, with no wrinkles, smudges, scuffs, scrapes or flaws.
The color in the stock photograph seems to be pretty accurate for these boots; the primary portion of the details are a nice warm tan color, while the accent color is a deeper coffee brown. The violin details are printed on the body of the boot, and there are few visible printing flaws (at least until you get up very, very close, and I think they fall within the realm of acceptability). The material is a faux-leather like Bodyline’s other shoes, and definitely has a distinctly plastic-y feeling and smell to it. It’s also not particularly thick, but this gives leg portion some needed flexibility. There are some very cute scallop details along the length of the laces and around the toe of the boot, as well as along the top. The lace holes have eyelets/grommets and the boot laces included are long enough to allow for some loosening if the wearer has thicker calves. There is a size zipper for easy on/off.
One thing to note (and this is true of all Bodyline shoes that I own), is that the sole of the shoe has about zero cushioning or support, so if you’re like me with feet that tend to get sore pretty quickly and which need some arch support, you’ll have to invest in some decent insoles. Aside from that, the heel is at a really nice height and feels sturdy. I don’t wear heeled shoes very often, so I prefer the type of wider heels that these boots have – they keep me from feeling like I could topple over at any moment.
The toe box is roomy like a lot of Bodyline shoes (and lolita shoes in general). I own a pair of their heeled oxfords (model number S272, they don’t appear to sell them anymore) and those have kind of a pinch-y toe (they’ve gained the nickname “those stupid shoes” because I wore them to a con where I ended up having to walk a whole lot and my feet were in bad shape in short order), but these strike a good balance between the elegance of a less-boxy toe area and keeping enough room in there so my toes don’t get mangled.
I put these boots on straight out of the box without making any adjustments to the tightness of the lacing, but there are a few centimeters of give if you’re larger than I am. In the photos below I’m wearing crew socks but nothing that goes too far past my ankle. If I were wearing tights or some of the OTK’s that I have, I might have to play around with the fit a little bit. Oh, and I totally didn’t just put on some frilly Innocent World shorts for the pictures, there’s totally a full coord going on up above my waist (spoiler: I was wearing an old T-shirt. Fight me). Also, we’ll pretend that those are patterns in the carpet, and not little fuzzy gifts from my very shedding long haired cat that haven’t yet been vacuumed.
The Verdict: I really like these boots, and definitely think they’re worth the very nominal price they’re charging. I’d been looking around for a pair of taller lolita boots, and these I think will make a really great addition to my wardrobe.
Edited to Add: Attitude Lolita has a video unboxing/review of these up at her channel. Check it out for some more information on the boots (she ordered the gray ones).
Streaming at: Crunchyroll
Beyond that, though, there’s not really anything substantive to think or talk about. The episode sets up the premise competently, but I don’t really feel like I needed twenty minutes of goofy biking antics to learn that Hiromi is kind of directionless and that cycling might be her ticket towards some greater character-building purpose. There is a very tame element of humor throughout the episode that provides a little something to grasp onto (I did chuckle a little bit when a bird stole Hiromi’s sandwich… and she revealed another backup sandwich soon afterward) and the rest of it is harmless enough, but “harmless” doesn’t generally get me pumped to watch much more. I love iyashi-kei or “healing” shows, but often those have endearing characters and some sort of emotional hook; this series is less a contented sigh and more a non-committal shrug.
There is an upside to the strong focus on Kamakura as a setting, though – the background artwork is consistently vibrant, detailed, and gorgeous. The artwork appears to be referenced from life as the Hiromi’s neighborhood really looks very lived-in and lush with plants. There’s also good use of CG to provide more three dimensional first person point-of-view shots from Hiromi’s perspective as she travels through town. If the rest of the show were slightly more tolerable in other aspects, I think this could definitely be worthwhile watching for the scenery porn.
Pros: The background artwork is beautiful and the CG is well integrated.
