Anime

Lycoris Recoil’s uniquely Japanese right wing paranoia

Published on July 13, 2022Leave a comment

It’s the near future and the peace of Japan can only be kept by having heavily armed high school girls murder everybody who threatens it.

Lycoris Recoil touches on an uniquely Japanese sort of right wing paranoia. The idea that modern Japan may look peaceful on the surface, but in reality is a criminal cesspitt where monsters and terrorists are only kept at bay through extralegal government directed death squads, usually consisting of cute high school girls. The sequence above, in the opening two minutes of the first episode is particularly blatant in expressing this paranoia. To me, this feels different from similar law and order concerns in e.g. US media. The crime in movies like Deathwish is not hidden, but out in the open. Everybody knows that the city is riddled with crime, but nobody can do anything about it. The police are helpless, tied down by bureaucracy and political correctness and you need a vigilante like the Punisher to step up and take a stand. Which is the second difference, in that the heroes of western fantasies about restoring law and order tend to be outsiders rather than government employees. With the Japanese version you have the fear that there are monsters lurking behind the surface of polite society, but also the fantasy that the government will protect ordinary citizens from discovering this truth and is competent enough to keep the monsters at bay. Not an idea that plays well in America.

It’s ironic that Lycoris Recoil came out in the week in which former prime minister Abe Shinzō was murdered by a guy with a self made shotgun, apparently due to Abe’s ties to the Moonies. Perhaps that paranoia is not entirely unwarranted…

Christ, what an asshole — Engage Kiss

Published on July 4, 2022Leave a comment

It’s not often I have such an intense and visceral loathing of an anime protagonist the moment he first appears, but Engage Kiss managed it. Let me explain.

Brown haired loser with messy bangs covering his face wearing a green rain coat explaining how he will only work the jobs he should be doing

When we first meet Shu, he’s messily stuffing his face at a dinner with his ex-girlfriend. Apparently he used to work for the company her mother owned but started for himself. She’s worried about him, asks if he’s been eating, whether he’s gotten any work in the three months since he left. He replies that this is his first meal in three days and that he worked only recently, on the scale of a human lifetime. She presses that being principled is good but not if you cannot eat. He blows her off by spouting some high minded crap about only wanting to do the jobs he should be doing. It’s not very convincing that all this is done out of idealism when she not only pays for his lunch but also his cell phone bill. He returns to this dingy flat, which earlier we saw another girl preparing dinner in only to discover the electricity had been cut off. They have dinner together and once again his situation is discussed. She has paid off the electricity bill, he promises he’ll pay her back once he has some work, she points out he hasn’t had work in three weeks. Shu counters with a promise that the case he’s been waiting for is finally here, but she tells him that’s the same thing he said last month. And the month before. Before having to pay again for an unexpected delivery.

A screen shows that Shu underbid everybody by some 70,000 dollar

Shu is right however, the case he’s been waiting for has occurred. That’s why he met up with his ex, to give her some intelligence and rope her into the plan, which is set in motion the very same day. A demon has attacked a casino and an auction is held to determine which anti-demon company gets the contract to get rid of it. Throughout the episode Shu had been busy setting up his plan to get the perfect job and his grand strategy turns out to be …under-pricing everybody to the tune of roughly $70,000, then hiring his ex’s company to support him, who take most of the fee? I don’t feel you need to buy intel to do this, especially if it leaves you with barely 4000 dollars for yourself. He could’ve doubled his fee and still won the auction. Also, what made this particular demon attack so special that he needed to wait for it?

Kisara powers up by kissing Shu. Of course.

None of this is answered because Engage Kiss isn’t interested in it. On we move to the actual demon subjugation. Note that the attack happened at 15:55, the auction was completed at 19:00 and Shu only shows up at the casino under attack at 20:11. what has the demon been doing all this time? Apparently he’s just been hanging around doing a little bit of roulette? The fight itself, once it finally happens is well animated, though the monster design and the cannon fodder are just meh. It’s now that we learn that Kisara — the school girl making dinner in Shu’s apartment — is actually a demon herself, much more powerful than the one they have to get rid of. Again, not sure why Shu’s ex and her minions are actually dare as all that was really needed to end the fight was Shu powering up Kisara by making out with her, after which she just wiped all the monsters out with one big blast. But not before getting into a cat fight with Shu’s ex, Ayano. Nothing in this plot makes sense.

Pink haired winged demoness with big sword takes on gun wielding armour wearing raven haired ex-girlfriend

I have the terrible feeling that all this was meant to be funny, that this is intended to be an action comedy, but it’s all done so straight and boring that it’s just not funny. Shu’s an asshole, his girlfriends are doormats with no personality than being thirsty for him and as a viewer I have no idea why I’m supposed to like this. Yes, there are plenty of action comedies with a loser protagonist: Date A Live, Strike the Blood or even A certain Magical Index spring to mind, but none of those are unlikeable assholes leaching off their ex-girlfriends. This episode goes through the motions of setting up Shu as one of them, ticking all the boxes, but without understanding how such a character can work and still be sympathetic. I want to like Engage Kiss because this sort of sci-fi action nonsense i smy bread and butter, but Shu’s making it hard. I’ll give it a couple of more episodes and see if this first one was just a bit too try hard and he becomes more bearable.

RWBY vs RWBY

Published on July 1, 2022Leave a comment

Thank you Cyan can for putting the two big climatic Nevermore battle scenes from the new RWBY anime and the original RWBY Flash animation back to back in one Youtube video:

You can see that the battle is roughly the same in both, with a lot of the differences due to translating a 3D scene into 2D animation; much harder to swing the camera around as impressively for example. But there are also differences in the choreography of the battle itself, as well as in what the anime chooses to showcase as opposed to the original. the biggest difference is at the start of the battle. In the anime, the battle is quickly divided into one team fighting the giant scorpion while the other tackles the giant raven. In the original, this all happens much more organically, with various characters switching which monster they fight as their comrades need help until finally you get the two teams established that will remain together for the rest of the battle. (And which will remain teams for the rest of the series.)

Character wise, the anime version keeps a much tighter focus on Ruby, Weiss and Jaune. In both versions it’s Ruby and Jaune who come up with ways to defeat their respective monsters, but in the anime version the other characters have little more to do than just fight whereas in the original they got their individual moments to shine as well. Especially the scorpion’s defeat was much more of a cooperative affair, with Nora playing a much larger role. She just hammers the scorpion’s spike into its head in the anime version, while in the original she was flipped into the air by Pyrrhia, riding her own hammer and giggling. The team work to defeat the other monster also suffers a bit in the anime version, with the original being much more clear about all four members setting up Ruby to launch the final blow.

Neither version is bad, both are very good actually, but in the end I prefer the original. Its choreography and the way it makes everybody shine is just slightly better than in the anime version. A fitting tribute to RWBY creator Mony Oum who created this choreography and who sadly never got to see it in a proper anime, as he died in 2015.

Eightysixed Again — 86 Part 2 – Anime 2022 #015

Published on June 30, 2022Leave a comment

Child soldiers return to the war they just escaped from as they cannot concieve of any other future.

We can't pretend to be at peace when we are not say the 86

How could they do otherwise? The world ended nine years ago as the Legion, AI driven combat mecha overrun the entire world except for their homeland, the Republic of San Magnolia. Its citizens found refuge in the 85 districts protected by the Gran Mur, but not them, as the original Alba population of the republic decided to kick out everybody non-Alba. Instead they became the 86, no longer deemed human, forced to wage endless war against the Legion, a war that killed their parents, siblings and friends, a war that’s supposed to end in two years as the Legion’s AIs die out, a convenient solution to the problems of the Legion and the 86 both. That’s the reality they faced, but even worse, they knew the Legion wasn’t going to die that easily because they knew it harvested the brains of their killed comrades to command its mecha. So when they were sent on their final mission, a suicide mission, they felt relief to know it was almost over, one last fight and then they could die.

A demonstration to save the 86 from exploitation by San Magnolia

And then they woke up and Shin Nouzen and his four surviving comrades from the Spearhead squadron found themselves in the country that started the war, Giad, free from the burden of duty, free to be teenagers rather than soldiers. Originally 86 was a standalone light novel and this was where the story ended, but because it was so popular it was expanded into a series. The first 86 series adapted that first light novel, but ending just before they found out they’d survived. This second series adapts the next two books in the series, which show what happens after they wake up, with the first two episodes following them in their newfound civilian life before they rejoin the military. Just in time for the next big Legion offensive…

Frederica threatening to kill herself to grab the attention of Kiriya

The plot in the first series was largely driven by Shin’s ability to hear the thoughts of the Legion as well as those it killed to ‘crew’ its mecha. Some of those killed with brains intact would not just command a mecha, but entire armies of the Legion, one of which was Shin’s brother, with the fight against him to grant him peace being the climax of the series. This plot is repeated in the new series through the introduction of Frederica, the last surviving member of the old Giad imperial family that started the war ten years ago. Her body guard Kiriya was taken by the Legion the same way Shin’s brother was and the two bond over their shared experiences. Kiriya of course turns out to be the most important piece in the Legion’s offensive and it’s up to the 86 to kill him, deep inside Legion territory. Meanwhile, back in San Magnolia, Spearhead Squadron’s old handler, Lena, their handler, one of the few to take the threat of the Legion seriously or treat 86 as actual humans, is preparing for war. The deaths of her subordinates on a unnecessary suicide mission haunts her and she uses it as motivation to prepare for the final Legion offensive she knows is coming, to save as many people as she can, if she can. As the offensive hits her actions do make a difference. Her story converges again with that of her old squadron in the last two episodes, as they finally meet face to face.

The 86 looking out over a sea of grass, completely at ease in the wilderness

In some ways this entire second series is there to help Shin to get over his PTSD and guilt over killing his brother. At times he comes close to sliding into battlefield madness, only held back by Frederica. The rest of his comrades are less traumatised than him, or are able to handle it better, but it’s telling that they all feel at ease more in the post-apocalyptic ruined towns and landscapes of Legion territory than in the cities of Giad. Even in a much more tolerant country than they left behind their experiences set them apart from ordinary people. Things are just that more simple when it’s just themselves and the wilderness the Legion created The landscapes are certainly gorgeous, beautiful images of ruin and decay, nature reclaiming the wreckage, softening the tragedy that lies behind it.

A rusting away tram being covered in vegetation now home to birds

In the end this second season of 86 was not as good as the first, because it lacked the focus and sense of overwhelming dread it had. The story was certainly done no favours by the series disastrous production schema, with weeks and even months between episodes, making it seem much more disjoined than it actually was. Having a similar sort of antagonist as the first series thematically makes sense. Having killed his own brother in season one brought no closure to Shin, but doing the same thing for Frederica, having another person who went through the same journey as him, did. It works well but it still left this second season feel like a rethread of the first one.

The fundamental laziness of Bennett the Sage

Published on June 27, 2022Leave a comment

I’ve been annoyed by Bennett the Sage’s review of Akira for at least six years now, but was today years old when I found this perfect dissection of it:

I can well understand that if you’re not particularly interested in what some anituber said about Akira a decade ago you don’t want to watch a nearly hour long video about why he’s wrong, but it points out two consistent flaws in Bennett The Sage’s reviews that drive me up the wall. With Akira he insists on using a particular not very good old dub to review and I get that reviewing crappy dubs is his schtick, but it’s fundamentally unfair when better versions are available. Worse, he has the habit of blaming the movie for the sins of the dub. Don’t complain about the voice acting as if that’s the movie’s fault when you yourself sought out this dub. Dubbing is fundamentally inferior to subbed anime anyway, but especially if you insist on using the worst possible dub in existence. Every review of his is this way, where he takes some hastily shit out dub done by bored amateurs instead of using the original Japanese version. Again, it wouldn’t bother me so much if he didn’t then judge the entire anime by the crappy dubbing. With something like Akira it’s even worse when the dub makes things that were perfectly clear in the original and muddles them up.

Which brings me to my second gripe: he wants everything explained but doesn’t bother paying attention. As the video makes clear, he complains about things that were spelled out for him literally minutes before. He also doesn’t have the patience to wait if something isn’t when plot points or situations aren’t immediately explained to him. He fundamentally refuses to do the work to understand a story on anything but a surface level and gets frustrated when things are implied or left to subtext. This is made worse by him wanting every aspect of a story, characters and setting to contribute to the plot, preferably all tied up in a neat package. He cannot handle messy settings, a world that exists outside of the plot’s constraint. When you combine that with his tendency to get fixated on irrelevant details, he’s the worst possible person to review something like Akira.

Studio Chōjin in his critique of Bennett’s review chose to focus on how he misunderstands things even though the movie explains them, but I feel that a deeper problem is that tendency to want everything explained in the first place. The idea that you have to explain why Neo Tokyo is wracked by riots and political unrest, that it all has to tie into the plot rather than just be the background against which the story happens, even though it is explained and does tie in with the plot, is just alien to me. I first saw Akira in 1989 or 1990 and political clashes like that were familiar to me from the evening news, from seeing the marches for freedom in East Germany or Poland, from the squatter fights with the cops in Amsterdam or even the fight for democracy in South Korea and Taiwan that took place at roughly the same time Akira was made. Corrupt repressive government involved in dangerous secret schemes, idealistic, naive militants used by equally corrupt opposing politician, righteous rightwing military leaders disgusted by them all, those are not new ideas. You don’t need the movie to spoonfeed you the background, you just need to accept it and move on.

Ultimately my point is that Bennett is lazy. He’s comfortable just slagging off decades old dubs of already obscure titles with not enough dept in them to trip him up with his overly literal way of looking at stories. To be honest, I do enjoy watching his videos from time to time even if the only he does is just retelling the plot and complain about crappy voice acting. But when he tries to tackle something with a little bit more worth, he’s out of his depth fast. He is getting better, but ultimately you don’t want to rely on him for judging whether any anime more complicated than Queen’s Blade is any good.