Weighing in on Moe

Image from Crunchyroll.com

Cute and anime run in some pretty tight circles. Because anime comes from a culture that loves to cutify everything ,chances are the “Kawaii Desu” will find you sooner or later. Most often you’ll find it in Moe, an anime character type that’s more difficult to define than Schrodinger’s cat. For a simple, non-headache purpose, this post defines Moe as a character whose level of cute is so high, so saturated, that it elicits a protective instinct and intense attachment from the audience. When the Moe card is played, the animators want the audience to feel like the Big Brother/Big Sister to Character X, and will often go out of their way to endear them to the audience as much as possible.

At this point, Moe has become a staple of modern anime. But a part of the community finds this more troubling than amusing. Has the cuteness seeped into anime for too long? And what kind of effect would this have on the medium as a whole?

The discussion is real, with the question of “is Moe killing anime” being the center of it all. These days, it’s calmed down enough that finding hate-filled rants about Moe is a hard-pressed task (believe me, I tried). But you will find plenty of blogs that discuss the topic for pages on end. Moe detractors accuse the concept of being too oversaturated, to the point of withering creativity. Moe fans defend it as just another character type and argue that anime has been pandering to fans for years, be it giant robots or over-muscular martial artists. While not the definitive authority on the subject, I highly recommend checking out Akidearest’s video Is Moe Killing Anime where she and Gaijin Goombah give both sides of the argument.

When it comes to Moe, I’m a pretty stubborn fence-sitter. I can’t hate it, nor can I really love it, but I know two things for sure:

1. Moe Is only one Slice of the Pie  

Moe is  only one character type,a certain look that generates feelings of affection and protection. You could easily find this in a supernatural anime, a psychological horror, and even shounen anime. Maybe it’s just one character, or maybe it’s most of the cast, but it doesn’t comprise the majority of the show. In short, it’s not the main course; it’s the side dish.

Take the likes of Azumanga Daioh for example. The show has a definite Moe “look” with its characters, but any fan could tell you the heart of the show comes from its slice of life comedy and overall awkward jokes. But if you took out the Moe, wouldn’t the show feel like it’s missing something?

Or you have the likes of Madoka Magica, who’s cute art is deceptive for a very different kind of atmosphere. This deconstruction of the Magical Girl genre would feel very lost if you took out the Moe look of it. The show wouldn’t have nearly as much punch as it’s supposed to, and people wouldn’t be raving about it as much as they do.

I cannot advocate the death of Moe because to do so would be to throw the baby out with the bathwater. It’s a complementary color in a vast, wide painting, and removing it would hurt the work as a whole. Shows that are Moe exclusive can be annoying, but I hardly mind a Moe character in an epic adventure, or a slice of life comedy.

2. There will always be other titles

As I mentioned in my Why I Love Weird Animes post, there is something for everyone in anime. The industry understands that its audience is wide and vast and making one exclusive type of show would be damn near suicidal. They will focus on what’s popular, as any business would, but there will always be a variety to choose from. After all, this year gave us Attack on Titan and Tokyo Ghoul alongside the Moe titles, so your dark, edgy anime isn’t going anywhere.

Besides, worst case scenario, you still have access to the non-Moe anime. The internet has done wonders and horrors to the anime community, but there’s no denying the access it’s provided for fans. Shows that were once buried in the bedrooms of college otaku are now readily available for dissemination. It’s easier than ever to find your niche in anime and binge until your eyeballs fall out. In short, if you really don’t like Moe, it is easier than ever before to go off and watch something else. 

 

This, combined with the fact that Moe is so vague, so broad, so diffused into other genres, makes it impossible for me to swing Moe’s favor or critique. Its presence in anime is gaining momentum and making waves but it’s ultimately up to the fans how long it remains the favorite. It’s a strange little gem that isn’t killing the industry but it’s definitely resonating within it. I don’t believe Moe is killing the anime industry, but I do think it’s changing it. For better or worse, that’s up to the animators.

So hey, if you like what you see here feel free to comment below. Don’t forget to like and follow if you wanna see more, and feel free to check out my other posts.

 

The Real Appeal of Yu-Gi-Oh!

Image from Wikipedia

The nostalgia bomb hits hard and fast for Yu-Gi-Oh fans this week. Today is the day that its fifth film opens in Japan, and this one is harkening back to the good old days. According to Anime News Network, the film boasts the original slate of characters, Yugi Moto and Seto Kaiba returning as the leads. Even better, the original cast of Japanese voice actors will return to breathe life back into their characters.

As for the story itself, details are still tight. We know this takes place a year after the Manga’s conclusion, and that a figure named Aigami is creeping on Yugi and his buddies something awful. But low and behold, Seto Kaiba ain’t having none of that and challenges him to a duel over Yugi’s Millennium Puzzle. We don’t know why any of this is happening, or if it’s going to include all the recent additions to the card game, but I am warm and happy inside to see so many familiar characters.

The people can get so excited for this franchise’s fifth film installment is a testament of  its power. How has it survived so long on a premise so silly? Is it the marketing genius of reinventing the card game each show? How about the mass distribution of the 4kids show, even with the awful dub? Both likely contributors, but I believe the real kicker here is in the details. The real secret to Yu-Gi-Oh’s lies not in its main story mechanic but in the framing device, the silver coated picture frame surrounding it. It’s a show that requires some suspension of disbelief to enjoy, but it’s not hard to keep the fire burning once you’re in.

It all starts with keeping things tense with perpetual high stakes. There are no casual games in Yugioh: every game has the fate of either one person or the world on its shoulders. Best Friend Jonouchi is dueling so he can buy his sister an eye operation; Yugi has to beat the game’s creator to save his grandfather’s soul, and Kaiba has to duel to rescue his baby brother multiple times. Every time the monsters come out someone has something to lose and something to gain, making each game feel important. It’s hyper-unrealistic, but it keeps the tension high and moves the plot forward smoothly most of the time.

But, what’s hilarious, is that this show plays this absolutely straight. As genius comedian Litttekuriboh has pointed out several times, this whole thing relies on each character’s lives being inseparable from a children’s card game, a concept that should produce laughs on principle. But the show has no shame in making Duel Monsters an integral part of the character’s lives, to the point where each game lost is a personal loss. It actually adds a strange layer of sympathy to them, and it’s hard not to get swept up in the earnestness of the tension.

But none of this would matter if all the characters are flat. These guys (and girls) are written better than a show like this deserves, with only minor roles fall into the caricature trap. Most of the villains in the show have a surprising amount of layers, with sympathetic reasons for the terrible things they do. Be it Pegasus wanting to resurrect his wife, or Noah Kaiba wanting to escape a virtual prison, you did feel a little bit for the baddies. Furthermore, the cast of “heroes” had their fair share of complications and aspirations as well. They weren’t sporting Marvel Hero levels of depth, and a fair share of their problems were superficial on the surface, but they weren’t flat pieces of paper on screen either. You might not have noticed if you only watched the dub, but the original show was sporting some praise-worthy writing.

Letting yourself get caught up in the madness of this show is fun when you’re a kid, and still pretty fun as an adult. If you suspend your disbelief, the excitement of the show will easily get to you, and the ride will be entertaining from start to finish. In short, the show works because it’s mostly harmless (barring the occasional dark patch) and adores its premise to no end. Here’s to hoping the new film has a similar feeling, with the long-awaited return of some very well-loved faces.

Were you a Yu-Gi-Oh! fan? Have a favorite episode? Did you duel? Feel free to leave a comment below. Don’t forget to like and follow for more posts  like this every Saturday, and don’t forget to check out my other posts including Why I love Weird Anime and the dangers of long running animes.

Survive or Stagnate: The Danger of Long Anime

Image from Saiyanisland.com

Let’s just be fair: Anime is a business. The longer that business runs, the more money you make. Ergo, you will find a crap-ton of shows that are stretched as far as they can, and then stretched some more, just to keep the buck rolling.

Now fans like myself are no stranger to animes that last for 100+ chapters, and 200+ episodes. Sometimes the on-going story is a fun adventure, an old friend you’re always excited to see. Other times it’s this long-winded experiment, something that overstayed its welcome despite all signs saying it should have gone home. The difference between the two is razor-thin, and the amount of pitfalls to dodge can drive any writer insane. If any anime is going to last longer than 20 episodes, it needs to conquer the following hills:

• 99 Problems

Most long animes break down to a series of problems: Protagonist Dejour wants A, B, and C, and has to deal with an almost never-ending series of obstacles to get there. The problem arises when that stream of issues feels like it really is never-ending. If your fans feel like they’ll never see the end goal, there’s no real incentive to watch. Maybe your ending isn’t for another 500 episodes, but you need to make it clear that there will be a point to this constant madness.

One Piece is running this thin line to this day. It has more than 700 manga chapters and anime episodes to its library, with the promised end-goal of Luffy becoming the “King of the Pirates.” Even if Luffy were to find One Piece, would he keep it? Would he be the type to stop there? Or would more hijinks ensue when jealous pirates attempt to steal it? With the rich world set before us, it’s hard to imagine the wild cruise can ever really end. But, at the same time, the arcs are well written and structured, with characters that continue to grow as the story goes on. It has the strength to keep going, but it’s hard to tell when that end-horizon will ever really arrive.

• Too Many NPC’s on the Dance Floor

Names and faces are hard to remember with one person:add about 50 supporting characters and it becomes impossible. Anime that stretch their running time will litter themselves with new names and faces, and chances are that the audience won’t remember half of them. Sure, it’s a big world full of people, and these long-standing anime seek to emulate that. But they need to make sure each character is memorable in one fashion or another, lest they fall into the black hole of human memory.

Bleach is offender #1 in this scenario, with a roster of characters that is insane in length. The Soul-Society Arc opened a wormhole of new characters into the show, and only the hard-core fans can remember all their names. I have a hard time remembering names with real people, but remember faces pretty well, so my solution was just to give nicknames to the characters I didn’t remember, and that’s usually a sign to me that a show isn’t trying hard enough.

• Three Steps Forward, Two Steps Back.

Progress is the life-blood of a good story. Accomplishments have to be made in order to proceed, and a lack of progress will make your show stagnate, fast. Nothing annoys an audience more than a protagonist that spins their wheels and gets nothing done.

Look no further than Inuyasha for this problem, as the show utterly drags its feet when it comes to getting the Shikon Jewel put together, defeating Naraku, and generally putting things back in order. It made progress with the toxic relationship of its main characters, but heaven forbid they actually get half of their sacred widget back.

So what does an anime need to do to survive?

Above all else, it needs to stay interesting. The plot needs to progress, the characters need to be good, and you need to keep the action coming if you want an anime to survive the test of time. Otherwise, you’ll end up in the reject pile, one of the sad memories of a series that refused to end despite multiple wishes that it would.

Was there a series that went on too long for you? Feel free to comment below. And don’t forget to check out my previous posts, including Why I Love Weird Anime, and When Bishounen Meets Awesome.

When Bishounen Meets Awesome, Magic Happens

Image from Pintrest.com

It’s a safe assumption that anime has some very pretty men.

Slender, wide-eyed, androgynous creatures, Bishounen boys have been a staple of anime for years. The female gaze is the lifeblood of many a show with even a few men finding themselves unable to look away. Best results come from quiet brooders (Sasuke), villains (Sephiroth) and the Loveable Idiot (Tamaki Suoh).

But the best results come when that lovely, expressive man is given a level up in cool, becoming a kind of awesome that makes you giggle like a maniac. These Bishi-Meets-Badass type characters are the creme-de-la-creme of writing, and the most fun you will ever have in watching an anime. They’re rare, they’re beautiful, and they make all the magic happen.

For starters, these men are efficient as hell. Pretty McCoolGuy won’t spin his wheels for 100+ episodes (I’m looking at you Inuyasha) nor will they fail this task for the sake of comedy. They knuckle down and get it done, making sure the plot continues to run smoothly. McCool guy is not a man to waste time, and we are all so grateful for it.

Prime example is none other than Kyouya Ootori, Vice President of the Ouran High School Host club, and secret manipulator. Planning the Host Club events, financing them through genius merchandising, and  covering up almost all of Tamaki’s boo-boos, Kyouya makes sure that the Host Club runs without a hitch, with only minor problems popping up here and there. One could also point to Edward Elric, who’s mind is laser focused on fixing his and his brother’s bodies (with minor distraction to try and kick Mustang’s keister).

But ye be warned: this focus can and will be broken if a loved one is in danger, and heaven help they who cause it. Bishi Badass will not tolerate threats to family and friends, and will extinguish the threat with little to no mercy. Kurama, From Yu Yu Hakusho, killed a demon from the inside out, with a deadly flower, because that demon threatened his human mother. Kenshin Himura, from Rurouni Kenshin,  would have killed the assassin Jin’e had not the woman he kidnapped spoken up last minute. It’s a glorious combination of looks and protective instincts, making them looks and hearts all at the same time.

But there’s a sad little cherry on top of this Sunday, and it’s bitter rather than sweet. Despite all the wonderful listed above, Bishounen Bushido is often the most stone-faced, serious pretty boy you will ever meet. It’s frustrating that these characters, twice as effective as the average Bishi, are also the ones who stand in the back and scowl for the majority of the anime. Exceptions abound, of course, with the previously mentioned Kenshin Himura, Edward Elric, and even Allen from D.Gray Man, but the rest (Kanda, Ishida from Bleach, Vincent Valentine, etc…) tend to be the Johnny Rain Cloud of their group.

But, just maybe, we put up with it. We have a character who will gladly stick his foot in the face of anyone who tries to cause trouble, proving he’s more than a pretty face. Maybe we don’t need him to be sunshine and smiles because we know they’ll come through in the end. They may be frowning the entire way, but we know they’ll prove their awesome stripes in the end.

I think most fan girls/guys alike will still find themselves pining over this breed of Bishounen. He’s attractive, effective, and protective if a bit depressing to hang around. You can always count on him, but don’t expect him to lighten the mood.

Why I Love the Weird Animes

Image from Thebigscreen.wordpress.com

The real beauty and the greatest downfall of anime as a whole is that it has something for everyone, and I do mean everyone. It has the school-themed Shoujo romance for the dreamy bookworm, the sports anime for the cheerleader, the punch-fest shonen anime for the young men, and the fanservice ecchi show for that creepy guy down the street who calls you sweetums when you’re at work (or for your average guy. Remember, no kink-shaming!)

It’s quite the accomplishment, worth a gold sticky star and a fresh spot on grandma’s fridge. But hold your horses, my gentle audience: why does anime have this pristine ability to pander to a wide and varied populace. Is it the vast amount of quality material? Not likely, given Sturgeon’s law. Perhaps it’s because anime is, in the simplest terms possible, balls-to-the-wall weird. The weirder, the more kinds of people you can convince to hop on the train to Crazy-Happy-Fun town.

And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Anime is the ultimate playground for stories because it isn’t afraid to go the extra mile in absurdity. The sky isn’t even the limit, you can fly right past that atmosphere and land on planet Xeno if you’re doing an anime.

If you can get past the different language and style of drawing, you’ll find that anime’s strange stories are experimental by nature, flexing the old’ creative muscles. Think of it like a mad science lab for stories, where bits and body parts of different kinds of narratives get stitched together to create some awesome Frankenstein abomination, and you, my lucky viewer, get to sit back and watch the carnage. The more body parts, the better the story usually gets.

 Take One Piece for example. On the surface, we see a shonen anime, with plucky (and one-track minded) Luffy on his way to find the mother of all pirate treasures and become the King of the Pirates. But O.P’s claim to fame extends to the flashy, superhero-style powers of select characters: Luffy has Mr. Fantastic limbs, Buggy the Clown can disassemble his body, Alvida is super slippery, and so on and so forth. This, combined with a few sprinkles of drama and tragedy here and there, provides a character-driven, well written Pirate Story that reads like a soap opera and a superhero movie.

For another example, what do you get when taking a shonen skeleton, the flesh of a gothic horror story, some steam-punk arms, and legs, and give it some biblical robes? You get the awesome and strange story of Allen Walker in D. Gray Man, where exorcists use magical machines weapons to destroy evil demon-machines created by Noah’s descendants (totally serious.

So it would seem it’s just one more weird thing to come out of the land of the rising sun, right? Wrong. Most of what we find weird is a cultural lesson in disguise and an example of what happens when two very different countries try to cross their wires. If given a moment of examination, you’ll find that most of the weird can be translated back to an artistic (or parodic) part of Japanese society, an elegant form of art representing life. That’s not to say that every single one is something to be hung in a museum somewhere, but it’s worth the time to stew over if you really wanna understand what’s in front of you.

And, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar and weird is just weird. Sometimes there is no significance behind the bizarre, and it’s just there for fun. One Punch Man features an average joe who can knock out giant monsters with one punch while G-Gundam routinely makes its protagonist yell “Shining Finger” at the top of his lungs every episode. They may/may not have some significance behind them, but I can tell you one thing: They’re both real fun to watch.

It’s just silly/weird for the sake of being strange, but  that hardly makes it any less delicious. Much like the fun several of us had singing along to G.I Joe, buying oodles of violent toys, we’re having the time of our lives watching a Big O, where a hostage negotiator breaks out the giant robot when the chips hit the fan;  or seeing a space alien enter earth through the forehead of a teenage boy, ala Fooly Cooly. If you aren’t having the time of your life, you’re taking it way too serious.

To draw my ramblings to a close, where would the true flavor of anime be without the strange stories that populate it? While it means that the creep at the mall can have ample access for female breasts to ogle, it also means that anyone can come forward and tell almost any story, opening the floodgates to limitless possibilities. So go ahead, wade the water and dive right in. You’ll be shocked to find there’s a unique piece with your name on it somewhere.

 Hey, like what you see? Don’t forget to like, leave a comment, or follow the blog for the next post! Feel free to check out my other work too, and please share if you can; it helps a lot.