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Television Overview, Part 1: Anime
Dec. 19th, 2015 08:01 amInspired by the movie question. I’ve done an even worse job posting about TV than I have about movies this year (I’ve done a pretty terrible job posting about everything this year), so I thought at least I’d do a TV round-up so I’d have some record of what I’ve seen.
...And then I realized I actually had a lot to say about most of them (hence the fact that I didn’t write about most of them: I wanted to do them justice), so I’ve divided the overview into parts. Today: anime!
Puella Magi Madoka Magica. A show that I probably would have loved if I hadn’t heard so much about how it was amazing beforehand. (In fact, let me put a SPOILER tag here, just in case anyone else would like to watch this show without any spoilers.)
I did enjoy it, but I went into it aware that it was The Harrowing Magical Girl Anime that Will Leave You Broken, and I suspect it’s much more harrowing if you go into it expecting happy magical girl times and instead get a show which is, basically, about selling your soul to the devil.
I’ve heard people complain that this show is about how it’s bad for girls to want too much, but I think that’s a misunderstanding. It’s not about wanting too much. It’s about wanting something so much that you’re willing to sacrifice everything to get what you think you want, only to discover that your heart’s desire gives you no happiness because, well, one of the things you sacrificed was the capacity for happiness.
I find the show’s themes fascinating, but I never got attached to most of the characters (well, I did have a soft spot for Kyoko), probably because I knew beforehand that it was going to end badly for pretty much everyone.
END SPOILERS
Sweet Blue Flowers. Loved this one!![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
poeticknowledge recommended it to me; it’s a sweet, slow-moving slice-of-life anime about two childhood friends, bubbly A-chan and shy Fumi, who lost touch when Fumi moved away but reconnect when Fumi moves back into town at the beginning of high school.
Their friendship provides a touchstone for the show, and it keeps coming back to it, but it also ranges out quite widely into other parts of their lives. Fumi gets a girlfriend; another girl is in love with Fumi’s girlfriend; Fumi’s girlfriend is in love with yet someone else, but maybe also in love with Fumi, and generally quite confused. The show is sensitive to emotional nuance in a way that a lot of television isn’t, and the slow thoughtfulness is lovely.
Also the animation is quite beautiful.
Natsume’s Book of Friends. Also love this one! I’m watching it with my friend Caitlin, which means that we’re seeing it in fits and starts because we only see each other every other month or so (she lives two hours away), but we’re really enjoying it.
It’s also a slice-of-life anime, sort of, except with a magical twist. The hero, Natsume, can see yokai (nature spirits? I’m not sure how to translate it. Denizens of the spirit world, who most people can’t see), which has isolated him. At best, people have thought he’s a liar; at worst, they decided he’s crazy, maybe dangerous. As a result, he’s been shuttled from relative’s house to relative’s house for most of his childhood.
But over the first season of the anime, his life finally begins to look up. It slowly becomes clear that the relatives he’s staying with like him, and are likely to keep him; the kids at school are friendly. After his long isolation, Natsume’s not sure how to respond: he’s friendly, but distant; he doesn’t want to be any kind of bother. But by the end of the season, he has opened up enough that a few friendships are just beginning to sprout.
And he starts to learn how to connect with the yokai, too, after a lifetime of trying his best to ignore them. From his grandmother Reiko (one of my favorites, and I wish we got more flashbacks about her) he inherited a book of yokai names, which would allow him - or anyone else who controls the book - to control any of the named yokai. He decides to give the names back, and in the process, he comes to know many of the local yokai. After a lifetime of fearing the creatures that he sees and hating them for keeping him apart from everyone, he learns that they are another potential source of connection.
...And then I realized I actually had a lot to say about most of them (hence the fact that I didn’t write about most of them: I wanted to do them justice), so I’ve divided the overview into parts. Today: anime!
Puella Magi Madoka Magica. A show that I probably would have loved if I hadn’t heard so much about how it was amazing beforehand. (In fact, let me put a SPOILER tag here, just in case anyone else would like to watch this show without any spoilers.)
I did enjoy it, but I went into it aware that it was The Harrowing Magical Girl Anime that Will Leave You Broken, and I suspect it’s much more harrowing if you go into it expecting happy magical girl times and instead get a show which is, basically, about selling your soul to the devil.
I’ve heard people complain that this show is about how it’s bad for girls to want too much, but I think that’s a misunderstanding. It’s not about wanting too much. It’s about wanting something so much that you’re willing to sacrifice everything to get what you think you want, only to discover that your heart’s desire gives you no happiness because, well, one of the things you sacrificed was the capacity for happiness.
I find the show’s themes fascinating, but I never got attached to most of the characters (well, I did have a soft spot for Kyoko), probably because I knew beforehand that it was going to end badly for pretty much everyone.
END SPOILERS
Sweet Blue Flowers. Loved this one!
poeticknowledge recommended it to me; it’s a sweet, slow-moving slice-of-life anime about two childhood friends, bubbly A-chan and shy Fumi, who lost touch when Fumi moved away but reconnect when Fumi moves back into town at the beginning of high school. Their friendship provides a touchstone for the show, and it keeps coming back to it, but it also ranges out quite widely into other parts of their lives. Fumi gets a girlfriend; another girl is in love with Fumi’s girlfriend; Fumi’s girlfriend is in love with yet someone else, but maybe also in love with Fumi, and generally quite confused. The show is sensitive to emotional nuance in a way that a lot of television isn’t, and the slow thoughtfulness is lovely.
Also the animation is quite beautiful.
Natsume’s Book of Friends. Also love this one! I’m watching it with my friend Caitlin, which means that we’re seeing it in fits and starts because we only see each other every other month or so (she lives two hours away), but we’re really enjoying it.
It’s also a slice-of-life anime, sort of, except with a magical twist. The hero, Natsume, can see yokai (nature spirits? I’m not sure how to translate it. Denizens of the spirit world, who most people can’t see), which has isolated him. At best, people have thought he’s a liar; at worst, they decided he’s crazy, maybe dangerous. As a result, he’s been shuttled from relative’s house to relative’s house for most of his childhood.
But over the first season of the anime, his life finally begins to look up. It slowly becomes clear that the relatives he’s staying with like him, and are likely to keep him; the kids at school are friendly. After his long isolation, Natsume’s not sure how to respond: he’s friendly, but distant; he doesn’t want to be any kind of bother. But by the end of the season, he has opened up enough that a few friendships are just beginning to sprout.
And he starts to learn how to connect with the yokai, too, after a lifetime of trying his best to ignore them. From his grandmother Reiko (one of my favorites, and I wish we got more flashbacks about her) he inherited a book of yokai names, which would allow him - or anyone else who controls the book - to control any of the named yokai. He decides to give the names back, and in the process, he comes to know many of the local yokai. After a lifetime of fearing the creatures that he sees and hating them for keeping him apart from everyone, he learns that they are another potential source of connection.
