Otaku, No Video

Yosuga no Sora

Josh mentions in his review of Yosuga no Sora’s first episode that he was surprised to see a scene of female masturbation in that anime. I haven’t seen the episode, so I can’t comment on that specifically, but he brings up an interesting point:

For all of the sexuality in anime, how often does sex actually occur?

We see lots of bouncing breasts and panty flashes. But it’s never consummated. I can only think of a handful of non-hentai anime in which the main characters clearly have sex:

• ef — a tale of memories
• Infinite Ryvius
• Mind Game
  
• Neon Genesis Evangelion (Misato)
• Now and Then, Here and There
  
• Paranoia Agent
• Please Teacher
• serial experiments lain

There are other edge cases, like Gundam Seed, where sex is strongly implied.

Even the more adult-oriented anime–Ghost in the Shell, Battle Angel, Metropolis, Texhnolyze–at most implies sexuality.

Why is that? If the medium is so saturated with sexuality, shouldn’t it address the reality and consequences thereof?

Fascinating post on Cutfilm Tovent about Bamboo Blade, which raises the point that the anime blogosphere has evolved an understanding of moe. From early discussions of its definitions, to debates about its morality, to current comparisons of different moe elements, we’re now all pretty comfortable with moe.

I get the feeling this isn’t the first time this has happened; surely other concepts have seen similar debate and resolution. Outside of the anime blogosphere, outsourcing saw a similar trajectory: initial fear, followed by intense debate and clearly-drawn battle lines, followed by acceptance and understanding.

And wonderfully, this has led to understanding and more tools for thought. We can now talk about anime with more finesse and detail.

I wonder: what other aspects of anime remain to be defined?

"Creative independence" by nattu on Flickr

This morning, I drafted a tweet asking the Twitter anime community (aniTwittersphere?) to list the anime works that get them riled up. Emotional reaction points to what a person cares about.

I quickly thought better of my question, though, because a strong emotional reaction isn’t as informative as the reason for that reaction. On Twitter, there are only so many characters available to express one’s opinion. The limitations of the medium compress one’s expression.

As useful as those restrictions can be, it limits deep conversation. While one arguably could send ten consecutive tweets on one topic, that appears rude. It feels wrong. That’s partly cultural and partly conceptual: a tweet is a tweet, a single item, and feels like it should be as self-contained as possible.

So, how is Twitter good for us, the English-speaking anime blogosphere? It’s useful for news, although we already have ANN for that. Otherwise, most of the content consists of folks talking about their day or the anime they’re watching. As I type this, @DarylSurat started a conversation about public dislike of anime, which is interesting but garnering minimal attention. There doesn’t appear to be much direct utility here for us.

Now, if Twitter is a toy, that’s fine. Most anime fans treat it that way; it’s a way to talk about their day, and see their friends’ days. No problem. But how are the serious anime bloggers using it? Are they using it at all?

And how could it be used, so that it provides a useful outlet or platform for us?

I’m just thinking about it, at the moment. What do you think?

"pleeeaaaase..." by MADdemoiselle on Flickr

In catching up on Comics Worth Reading–a blog title I’m envious of–I came across this wonderful line in a review of After School Nightmare:

I’m guessing that a teen will think all this love triangle/body dimorphism stuff is much more dramatically fascinating than I do. I just found it wearying. This is another one of those stories that wouldn’t have anything to tell if people would only honestly talk to each other….

This is a key storytelling lesson. It’s okay for characters to keep secrets from each other, as long as they must. Tetsuo can’t admit to his fellow macho gang members that he’s experiencing severe psychological problems, because they’d perceive that as weakness. Kei can’t tell Kaneda that she works for the resistance, because she can’t tell anybody.

Sometimes, authors mistakenly add secrets in the belief that secrets are inherently interesting. They’re not, especially if keeping them shatters realism.

An interesting example of an interesting secret appears in the original Dominion Tank Police OVA. Hard-working police officer Leona is kidnapped by rampaging cyborg bank robber Buaku. During a break while they’re on the run from the other tank police, an exasperated Leona asks Buaka why he became a criminal in the first place. He thinks about this, and we fade to a flashback of Buaku’s early life. He was born in a laboratory test tube as a test subject. We never know what the lab was researching, as Buaku had no idea himself (does a rabbit in a lab know what serums are being injected into it?). His was a life of tedium and torture. Then, the lab was shut down by the army, who executed the scientists and trucked the test subjects off to be destroyed. Buaku literally fell off the truck in the middle of the city, and innocent that he was, was quickly taken advantage of. The police picked him up, and boom, he was a criminal. He knew no other life.

When we fade back to the present day, Buaku waxes philosophical, then changes the subject. Leona never knows Buaku’s history, and Buaku never shares it with her. He wouldn’t. It’s a special secret for him, something that he wants to keep secret. That’s the kind of secret to keep.

Compare this to the typical fantasy story of a Boy (or Girl) Prophesied To Save The World, who is kept completely in the dark about it until his (or her) country is invaded. Especially if said Boy (or Girl) slacks off in his (or her) training. I don’t care how much of a burden it’d be for the kid to know; tell him (or her) so the he (or she) will understand the importance of said training and buckle down. What sane person would not tell the savior of the world at some point about said prophecy, especially if it was due to come true soon?

"Fashion High School" by MADdemoiselle on Flickr

I’m tired of reading bad anime and manga reviews. I bet you are, too.

Here are a few core principles that I intend to live by in writing anime reviews. Will you join me?

No Value Words

Words like “good,” “fine,” and ”terrible” only communicate my preferences, not information about the work itself. They just say what I like.

Instead of saying that a show has “good characters,” I will describe what was good about the characters.

The only exceptions to this are elements withgenerally-agreed-uponstandards of quality, like number of drawings.

No Plot Summaries

People can read plot summaries on Wikipedia, ANN, MyAnimeList, or a number of other sites. It’s not worth their time to read my re-wording of those summaries, and it’s a poor use of my time to write them when I could be analyzing instead.

I Will Research

I will read others’ reviews of a work I’m about to review. Where possible, I will build on their points.

No Spoilers

Anything in episode 1 of an anime or volume 1 of a long-running manga is fair game. Anything after that must be described in the broadest of terms, and must not reveal who lives, dies, or is permanently changed.

Exceptions can be made for older works.

Is there anything else I should add?

"Christmas #5" by Kevin Dooley on Flickr

I’ve been thinking lately about music in anime.

Music’s a complicated subject because it’s so emotional, and because anime music exists independently from the show it’s used in. Voice acting is integral to a show; fans rarely re-listen to lone audio clips of voice acting (“Kyon-kun, denwa” notwithstanding). But we’ll listen to theme songs and background music in the car.

That’s the rub. Music that works well on its own doesn’t necessarily work well paired to an anime series.  I’m reminded of a statement made by Shinichiro Watanabe (director of Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo), in which he said that the danger of using Yoko Kanno (Escaflowne, Cowboy Bebop, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Wolf’s Rain, Macross Plus and Macross Frontier) as a composer is that her music is often so powerful that it overwhelms the scene.  The visuals have to stand up to her music, as they do in the ”Rain” sequence in the ”Ballad of Fallen Angels” episode of Cowboy Bebop.

Great music attempts to tell its own story. It will have emotional highs and lows and subtlety. As such, great music is often bad to pair with animation, as the two conflict with each other, each trying to tell their own story.  “Flight of the Bumblebee”‘s specific emotional tone and progression won’t match up with every happy or energetic sequence in an anime series.

And yet, there are plenty of beautiful, touching, emotional soundtracks in the world. How do they work? Were they paired with anime of similar visual power? What’s the secret?

The secret lies with story. Great background music won’t tell a story with the clarity and drive of a stand-alone piece by Tchaikovsky or Vivaldi. Background music is all about mood. Yoko Kanno’s music evokes mood as reliably and powerfully as Ray Bradbury’s prose.

© Naoki Urasawa

This Saturday is Read Comics in Public Day, an attempt to broaden public awareness of comics. Here’s the idea: if, as he performs his regular errands, Joe Average notices various people reading comics, comics will seem less strange to him. Public reading of comics normalizes the idea of average people reading comics.

So, what manga would you choose to read in public?

My choice is Naoki Urasawa’s 20^th Century Boys, a tense political/action thriller. It’s exactly the sort of thing I could recommend to most adults: there are few manga clichés, the art is crisp and clear, and the story’s complex.

I have volumes 6 and 7 of 20th Century Boys in my to-read stack, so I’ll take those to some public place and read them on Saturday.

I hope you’ll join me in supporting this project, and read manga in public. Please let me know in the comments what you choose; I’m curious.

First, don’t screw up:

Bring different formats of your presentation on different media. I had my presentation in PowerPoint and PDF, on both my laptop and a flash drive. I also had a physical printout of my notes.

Practice a lot. I ran through my presentation all the way through eight times. That included twice the day before and once the morning before I presented.

Arrive 15 minutes early to set up. Let me repeat that: Arrive 15 minutes early. This will prompt the previous presenter to finish up, gather his or her materials, disconnect from the presentation equipment, etc. You’ll need a few minutes to hook into the presentation equipment even if everything goes well.  If it doesn’t, you’ll need another 5 or 10 minutes. If you have extra time, see below.

Second, a few positive suggestions:

Use visuals. Replace all the words in your slide show with photographs and artwork. Your audience will remember four slides, each with a full-screen photo, better than a single slide with four bullet points. Where that’s impossible, use single words or short phrases. My 30-minute presentation takes up 80 MB and uses six words (plus the ”Thank You” slide).

Add humor. If your presentation doesn’t have any, find a way to work it in (but integrate it). I found myself using the word “model” several times, so at each of those points in the presentation, I inserted a slide of a model kit of a girl wearing a bikini. I’d say “model,” pull up that slide, then say “Not that kind of a model.” Completely superfluous to the content, but it kept the audience engaged and guessing what they’d see next.

Stand up and walk around. At least stand. When humans sit, they relax. When they stand, they gather up energy. Standing presentations are much more energetic than sitting ones.

Tell stories. Since you arrive early, you may have an extra 5 minutes or so before the presentation begins. Warm up your audience with a tangential story, ideally one that relates to the topic. There’s probably something about your subject that you couldn’t include. Tell that story now.

Throughout the presentation, use stories wherever possible. We are hard-wired to engage with any story we hear, at least initially. During my presentation, I paused to recap a particularly dark episode of an anime. When I finished, I got a round of applause (to my surprise).

What are your tips?