Anime that Turned Their Genres Inside Out

Ever rolled your eyes at the cliches in your favorite anime? Or maybe you love them to itty-bitty pieces? Either way, we all know that each genre of anime has baggage or traditional settings that come with it. You probably know the storylines by heart, the types of characters within it, and what the outcome of the story may very well be. There’s nothing necessarily wrong with that, but it is very fun to see things shaken up. And lo, anime has its fair share of titles that take their respected genres and re-set the standard, or take the standard somewhere off-kilter. They may very well deconstruct it as a whole.

These are four anime that turn their genres inside out and around, changing the stage for everyone. These are, as always, my opinions and I choose shows that deserve to be talked about a little more. I’m open to discussions with others in the comments below.

 

• Isekai – Now and Then, Here and There

 

Isekai, or “different world”, literally refers to stories where a normal person is transported to a different world in the story. It’s often used in sword and sorcery-typesettings, where the hero is given a mentor to teach him the “ways of the world” and an added love-interest for extra measure. It’s a genre with a pretty heavy focus on wish-fulfilment, with shows like Sword Art Online for fantasy lovers or Girls Bravo for harem fans. However, the deconstructive tales to be found here can be extremely dark in nature when the writer is allowed to make a literal hell-on-earth type situation. Such was the case with Now and Then, Here and There, which turned this genre from “wish-fulfillment” to “really be careful what you wish for.”

No jokes to be had here. This one is some serious shit

Now and Then, Here and There sees the hero transported to a world that is dark and unforgiving. Children commit acts of immense violence against each other; young men are conscripted into an insane king’s army, and young women get passed around that same army to be raped and abused. Our hero, Shu, tries his best to be the big hero, but there really can’t be any heroes in this more realistic look at war and tragedy.

• School Anime – Great Teacher Onizuka

Oh, those slice of life school anime, they tend to be so innocent. And they are no stranger to the “Save Our Students” trope in popular culture, where some new teacher swoops in and gives each student a new start on life: better grades, better study methods, so on and so forth. But, really, what if that new teacher was so very far away from innocent? And what if he was just as jaded as all the other teachers?

Enter Great Teacher Onizuka, or GTO, a manga/anime that takes both school anime and the Save Our Students trope through a shredder and a blender. Onizuka himself is crude, impulsive, morally questionable, and only here in hopes of netting jail-bait. Does he slowly come to realize he cares about his students, their asshole-behavior aside? Absolutely, but not before trying to kick some ass, get laid, and just generally try to avoid any real work.

Or scare the crap out of a teenage gang so hard that they become his personal assistants.

While I can’t recommend the show over the manga, I can make the argument that GTO turned the school anime into something amazing. Instead of providing some random, albeit quirky, moral figure to whip the kids into shape, we’re given a former delinquent that accidentally teaches his students moral values that work IRL. The story is definitely not for the kiddies, but I think most adults will get a big laugh out of it.

• Magical Girl/Shojo – Revolutionary Girl Utena

 Everyone loves to talk about Puella Magi Madoka Magica these days in regards to the deconstruction of the magical girl genre. I will be the first to admit that the show does a good job of showing the more serious side of being a magical, sailor-suited soldier of love and justice, and yet there was one before it that made it look dangerous and trippy.

If Cutie Honey is magical girl’s grandma, and Sailor Moon the proud mama, then Revolutionary Girl Utena is the rebellious little girl ready to strike out on her own.

The whole show and manga revolve around Utena herself brushing past shojo girl stereotypes and the show itself looking at more serious issues. The idea is to pick apart the pretty and fantastical world of shojo manga to get to the truth, “reality” as it were, with lots of mind-screwy, allegorical moments to get it done.

• Mecha Anime – Mobile Suit Gundam and The Gundam Franchise

Of course, giant robots were a thing long before this series hit the ground. But the genre itself focused mostly on the Rule of Cool principle, with unruly and unrealistic robot designs that were impractical at best, impossible to work with at worst. Several shows in the 90s poked fun at that fact, and at the overall sentai-ish nature of it, but one series decided to “fix-it” with a hard-science approach.

Mobile Suit Gundam looked hard at how these kinds of robots would function and what a war involving them would really look like. It wasn’t a fun series; it took a very hard look at how a war would harm the surrounding people and areas and you got a whole crapload of technobabble to make a Star Trek fan blush. This set the stage for the rest of the Gundam franchise, in which the robots have gotten fancier-looking and the stories have continued to be hard drama. Of course, outliers will exist, with shows that returned to traditional giant robot escapades… I believe I named one of them as my guilty pleasure.

Childhood Nostalgia Powers, GO!

What anime do you know that broke the stereotypes to smithereens? Feel free to share below. Like and follow for more content just like this.

 

Otome Review: Stardew Valley

Been awhile since I did one of these. That’s been mostly due to a lack of material from the recently passed NANOREN, where a good deal of the entries had to be either a demo or unfinished. So we’ll do what must be done and play the only one that caught my eye but, for now, let’s talk about one of the most successful indie games on the market: Stardew Valley.

Naturally I preface this with the fact that this game is, of course not specifically aimed at girls and has far more to it than the relationship elements. But, since it’s listed on several Otome websites, and it plays to wish-fulfillment like nobody’s business, we’re gonna discuss it. This game is Harvest Moon on steroids, guaranteed to make you waste your life away in the best way. It’s almost impossible to believe this game was programmed and illustrated by one guy.

This is Stardew Valley, the runaway success that will take you in, cuddle you, and refuse to let you leave.

 

• Plot

 

Much like the original Harvest Moon, our plot centers around the start of a new life. And, of course, it begins with the ending of another life. Spoiler Alert: Grandpa’s dead. Before he passes, he gives you an envelope to be opened when you feel your spirit crushed by the burden of modern life.

Such a “happy” start…

An lo, you find yourself miserable while working your job at the soulless JoJa Corp, our resident Evil Corp with Traces of We Will Assimilate You. Fed up, you open the envelope to discover the deed to your Grandpa’s farm in Stardew Valley, next to Pelican Town. Pack’em up and head out kiddies;, it’s time to get back to nature! I mean yeah, your farm is a debris-covered swatch but it’s your debris-covered swatch, so get your tools and get going.

 

• Gameplay

 

Oh, sweet butterball turkey, where do I start?

If you don’t think that upon stepping out of your tiny house, then you’ve probably played this game before several times. Because you are quite literally given the keys to your own place, a handful of means to get there, and only a few directions of what to do first. It’s your farm, kiddies, and you have a crap-ton of options to get it going. Your first project: make a character you can stand to look at for several hours, because there are no redos unless you wanna befriend the town wizard and shell out some cash.

Yes, there is a wizard. You’ll see.

Once you solve that conundrum, you’re given a bag of 15 parsnip seeds and released into the open world. Minecrafters of the world will delight when they realize they now have a debris-covered slate to build off of. You can hoe the ground to plant and grow seeds; you can chop down trees and smash rocks to get wood and stone for building; you can use said resources to make kegs, preserve jars and other farm sundry; you can take what you have to the local carpenter to build coops and barns. If farming’s not your business, you can forage for food and resources to do all of the above. A few days later, you’ll also find you can fish or go mining in caves, slaying monsters.

But this game is a spiritual successor to Harvest Moon so, naturally, there’s a social element to complete the Farm Life Simulator™. The game sets a mission for you to introduce yourself to most of the townsfolk, bachelors, bachelorettes, and most of your vendors. You quickly learn that the social element is extremely important to this game as each character has a carefully crafted personality, well-drawn sprites, and even their own storylines you can follow by befriending them. Just like other games of this caliber, you will befriend them by giving them gifts they like (feel free to use the wiki) and occasionally participate in personal quests. And, as always, there’s at least five bachelors and five bachelorettes you can marry with enough gifts and the right trigger items, and each one has a unique personality and set of Heart Event cutscenes. Granted, they all do the same thing once you marry them, but I appreciate the effort they do get.

I picked Elliot, because I, too, am a mushy romantic.

But hold your horses, cowboy. You see, just like Harvest Moon games past, you have a mission here. You see, JoJa has a big supermarket set up in town and they’re interested in the dilapidated community center, which has some seriously supernatural guests inside. These creatures of the forest, called Junimos, are willing to leave provided you can give them some gifts from the land in little care packages. Thus, you’ll collect the items they request and they’ll fix up the place. You can get all the rooms fixed up… or you can side with JoJa and have the place sold.

 

• Art

 

Because this game was a spiritual successor to Natsume’s original game in the Harvest Moon series, it has an extreme super nintendo look. Everything is displayed in bright, paint-like colors with pixelated in-game sprites and very detailed portraits for all dialogue. Said pixel-sprites are also animated for certain things, be it reading a book or playing the flute, adding yet another layer of uniqueness to each character. In short, this game is super easy on the eyes as you roam around and get to know your community.

 

 

• Romance Options

 

And, in true fashion to this game’s progenitor, some of those people you meet can become your sweetheart-to-be. As mentioned, there are ten partners you can meet and fall in love with, no matter your gender, and each one has their own unique storyline. They act about the same once you marry them but, for once, they also make themselves useful. Your partner will occasionally water crops, feed animals, fix fences, and even make coffee. It’s a nice touch and I think it makes starting a family in-game totally worth it.

Since there are quite a few here that I don’t wanna spoil, we’ll just give a brief summary and let you make your pick.

 

Elliot

Elliot came to Stardew Valley about a year before you, deciding to commit hard to being a writer. He looks like he stepped out of a romance novel and almost behaves as such, making lots of poetic statements about life, the valley, and, yes, you. He’s a gentlemen first and foremost, but just struggling with the burden of living in a small shack, all alone, pouring over his new novel. He just wanted someone to talk to, providing an awesome but schmaltzy experience for his pursuers.

Sam

 If one can ignore Sam’s ridiculous hairstyle, one will find a reasonable, easy-going, guy who’s had to grow up real fast. With his dad off in the war (because there is one, not that it’s talked about much,) Sam has risen to the occasion to help his mom with the house and his little brother, Vincent. But Sam does have the ambition to start a band with his best buddy, Sebastian, and an unfortunate penchant to start projects without finishing them. In short, he’s the kind of guy most people would seek out in real life but doesn’t have much to offer here.

 

Sebastian

Meanwhile, you might miss the valley’s other resident hermit, the emo-tastic Sebastian. He’s got an unfortunate tendency to hide away in his room for very long stretches, typing away on the computer and only ever coming out for food, rain, or nighttime air.  But there are some legitimate reasons for Sebastian’s self-imposed isolation and you’ll quickly find there’s a cute nerd hiding in that black sweater. Sebastian will not be for everybody, but I feel he’s worth the work.

 

Shane

Meanwhile, you will get a very rude reception from the overworked Shane, Marnie’s niece. He helps out with the chicken farm, so she can’t complain, but he’s starting to show some very worrying signs. From alcohol dependence to psychological depression, Shane is a project that will require lots of patience to slowly warm him up; it’s a real turn-around story and it has a lot of potential, albeit a lot of predictability.

 

Alex

Alex is the jock and was a quick lesson for me not to judge people too much on first impressions. He’s arrogant and brash on first meeting, mostly to hide a lot of deep wounds on the inside. His story is about what you’d expect: encourage him to pursue his dreams in being a professional ball-player, teach him not to be so arrogant and ultimately help him move on from the tragedy in life. It’s just a shame that there’s no real class or style to Alex, at least not to me, so I don’t see myself adding him to my usual playthroughs.

Harvey

 Last, but certainly not least, is the resident “sensitive man” in town, and the doctor to boot. He’s the older bachelor, and respected in the Stardew Valley community, but there’s, yet again, a hidden sadness in him that only love can heal. It’s mushy, true, but there’s a real sincerity here to his path that fans of the series find super endearing. He’s kind, compassionate, and a real sweetheart; that’s more than enough for several of the fans.

 

Abigail

All those nerdy, adventuring types have quite the treat available to them. Abby has always been estranged from her more traditional family. She dyed her hair; she practices swordplay; she loves to make snoo-goons and chase frogs; and she’s an absolute gamer girl. You’ll have to be patient and open-minded if you wanna impress her, but it will be very much worth the wait. She’s the kind of girl I’d rush to make a close friend of in real life.

 

Emily

 Meanwhile, we have a slightly newer add to the marriage list. Emily, who works at Gus’s Saloon and makes her own clothes in her spare time, is the older sister of another bachelorette. She’s this town’s resident bohemian type, talking of good vibes, energy, and eating naturally. But you quickly learn she’s ACTUALLY in tune with the spiritual aspect of her universe, making her far more interesting. And, while she’s a bit oblivious – with optimism that will get grating on overuse – I believe she’s a pretty solid candidate.

Haley

 Meanwhile, her sister does not inspire too many positive feelings in me. I see what she was supposed to be: the conceited, formerly rich, girl who needs to shed her superficiality to become a fun-loving, free-spirited, woman. The problem comes in that her story doesn’t really show that transition as well as it should have. There are not a lot of lessons learned with her, nor do you do much, if anything, to ingratiate yourself to her beyond opening a jar for her. I feel like Haley’s story is in need of some fluffing because, let’s face it, it feels rushed.

Maru

In the less appearance-based sector, we have Sebastian’s half-sister, Maru, born from Robin’s second marriage. She wishes the two of them were close, but has a happy enough existence making cool gadgets and helping Harvey at the clinic. She’s bright, optimistic, smart and ambitious; maybe she’s a perfect match for a new farmer in town looking for a little love? It’s one of those “earn the attention of the smart-person” scenarios, which I have gone for before, so props there. Would have loved to see some resolution between her and Sebastian, but the end result is still nice.

 

Penny

 Meet Cinderella, er, sorta. Penny lives in a tiny trailer with her mother, Pam. Pam is a drinker prone to being cantankerous due to the loss of her job as a bus driver, so she spends her days at the saloon while Penny stays home and does lots of chores. But she also takes time to educate Jas and Vincent, the local kiddies, and has dreams of starting her own big family. She’s our “dream of a housewife” candidate (which is a perfectly fine life-goal) and just as sweet as can be, so I encourage new players to give her a try.

Leah

 But far from least is Leah, the artist who’s also living as a hermit in the middle of nature. She left the city to become an artist, a sculptor, and she needs someone to give her a little extra boost of confidence. It’s up to the player to encourage her to sell her art in one way or another and maybe win her heart in the process. And, if that isn’t romantic enough for you, you may very well have to deal with the dreaded ex-partner. Leah’s story feels more complete and quite sweet, compared to a few others.

• Final Thoughts

 

If I have not made it clear how much I love this game, let me make it clear now: I have never played any game in my library as long as I have played Stardew Valley. This game is beautiful, engrossing, and just plain fun for someone like me, and I adore just about every inch of it. If you want an experience you can disappear in, building a farming enterprise from scratch while exploring a very complex group of people, then do yourself a favor and buy this game.

The Ancient Magus Bride (Season 2 Review)

One of the most difficult parts of writing fantasy is trying to immerse your audience in your fantastical world while keeping your unruly plot herding in the right direction. It’s an extension of that delicate balance between showing and telling all writers struggle with, magnified by the fact that fantasy writers have to work from a nearly blank slate.  So, I find myself impressed that Mahō Tsukai no Yome has continued to walk this thin line like a champ for two seasons. It makes Inuyasha look slow in comparison.

And before the fans come at me, be aware that I used to adore this show too.  But a few years will do some wonders…

We’ve come upon the one year mark for Kore Yamazaki’s Shounen love story and yet we’ve still only seen a small fraction of the world she’s created. Each episode has made her world bigger and bigger, with the imagery getting darker and the story getting robust. Season two of The Ancient Magus Bride is about exploring magic’s darker half, the consequences that come with the practice, and allowing the characters to stretch out and show some much-needed humanity.

Btw, here’s your spoiler warning. There will be some. Get out, if you don’t want it.

After finishing her wand and returning to Elias in the most DRAMATIC fashion, Chise decides that she wants to better understand her master; he, in turn, hopes she can teach him more about human emotion. He hints that maybe he’s more human than even he knows and needs someone to help him understand what he’s feeling at a given time. It sets the groundwork for the reciprocity a relationship needs and I absolutely adored it.

 In fact, this entire season had a huge focus on better understanding our actors, be it the sorcerer duo from before or our main villain. Chise and Elias are fleshed out especially well, with Elias’s more selfish emotions allowed to run wild and Chise’s traumatizing past pried out of her skull. I love me some deep-dives into a character’s psyche so I was especially happy.

But this season isn’t just about character development. Because, as these two go forward into the world, hand in hand, Yamazaki expands the magic it towards interesting and horrifying conclusions. She introduces the audience to even more types of magical users – mainly fairies and witch covens – and presents differences between them that are so minute they might as well bleed into each other. But with more magic comes more situations that can go horribly wrong, and wrong they go. We see family members vanishing from existence, friends put on the chopping block in the name of love, and the worrying introduction of “curses.” It all comes to a head when the darkest of all the characters, Joseph, returns to enact what is his most messed up scheme to date in one hell of a finale, in which I may have squealed like a little girl.

It made the tiny person in me squeal.

As always, the artwork in this show continues to be such a treat. Despite the dark subject matter, we did not empty out the slots on the grayscale palette. Each scene still pops with color and our fantastical designs remain cute and non-intrusive. I also appreciate the show’s efforts to stray away from gore-porn or anything visceral, as it had plenty of opportunities to show horror-show levels of blood this time around. It’s still classy and cute without being obnoxious, just like the story itself.

However, in every pot of gold, we will find a small nugget of pyrite. There were occasions in the anime where the decisions characters made either came out of the blue or just didn’t make sense to me at the time. It’s likely explained in the manga and the anime just didn’t have the time to further flesh it out, but that doesn’t help fresh watchers like myself. Speaking of, the anime has now brushed past the manga in terms of content. This, above all else, is the danger zone for adaptation shows because this is where their story will either become a separate entity altogether (FMA) or mindless filler that no one wants to watch (Naruto.)

But there’s no point in worrying about the umbrella when it hasn’t rained. In the meantime, season two of Mahō Tsukai no Yome successfully focused on characters and catastrophe, providing a harder emotional experience than the season prior. It’s a brash and fast-paced season, much like its protagonist, and we can only hope the writers can keep the momentum going.

 

My Golden Etiqutte for Anime Conventions

As we pull into spring and summer, anime fans everywhere have something new to look forward to a fresh crop of anime conventions.

Aw yeah, WOOT!

I freakin’ love a good anime convention. It’s when we, Clan Anime Nerd, can all meet in one place to drink, dance, meet our respective heroes and just have a good time all around. The awesome costumes, the cool panels, and the sweet merchandise tables make the cost of hotel and gas worthwhile, at least in my opinion, and I’m sad that I’ve only been able to attend a handful of them in my time.

That being said, for how little I’ve attended, I have noticed from more experienced goers that there are certain unspoken guidelines that you’re expected to follow. They aren’t exclusionary by any means (we are a very accepting bunch) but they are important if you wanna have the best time possible and make sure everyone else has a good time. Because nothing’s worse than going to an awesome event and leaving sticky, disappointed and fearful of being charged with breaking the venue.

And wanting to eat alive the people who broke things in the first place.

These are my “proper etiquette rules” for conventions or at least the four I would mention to someone who’s never been to one. No one’s demanding you follow them, but trust me when I say they will make your life at the event so much easier.

 

• Pictures and Cosplay: Ask and Expect to Be Asked

 

Cosplay, if you’re out of the loop, is the practice of coming to convention’s dressed as specific characters from a show or game. Most cosplay is handmade, with the more high-quality costumes made by professional cosplay designers and companies. People who wear or design cosplay tend to get tons of attention at conventions because A) it takes some serious skill to create an exact replica of certain characters and B) those who buy the costume shell out mondo bucks for the higher quality gear. And hey, what better place to show off either your purchase/creative conquest than a convention of your fellow nerd-kin?

It’s also a good gauge to see what shows or comics are popular right now. One of the conventions I attended was littered with members of the Scout Division from Attack on Titan; the other had a LOT of Homestuck trolls.

Now, I adore cosplay as much as the next anime-centric adult. So much so that my phone is usually chock full of cosplay photos after a convention. BUT it’s important to remember that there’s a person under that wig and felt armor. And nothing is creepier than some stranger coming at you with a phone while you’re checking the merch table. It’s a no-brainer in my mind, but just remember to ask before you take that photo. And, if they say no, respect it.

The flipside of this is for actual cosplayers: expect to be asked about photos. It’s a compliment, a means of saying “hey, you did a good job and this is really cool.” That being said, you don’t have to agree if you don’t want to; a simple no will suffice. Just don’t be too upset if you get frequently stopped for photos.

 

• Do Yourself a Favor and Remember to Shower

 You’d think this would be common sense; I’d like to think all of these are common sense. And yet, I found myself still wondering where certain smells are coming from. I think this complaint is addressing a more general complaint, mainly that peeps at conventions seem to forget what hygiene and good health habits are. They don’t shower; they don’t eat well; they stay up at all hours of the night and then wonder why they get Con Flu when they go home.

Look, I’m not your mom; no one’s your mom here. But cosplay costumes are hot in the literal sense and you will likely not be getting a good deal of rest and good food on this vacation. So, do yourself a favor and remember to shower, brush hair, and just keep yourself clean and tidy. You’ll get sick a lot less if you clean off in between con-days.

 

• Come With Friends

 

Awesome places are not that fun when you’re all by yourself. They’re also twice as dangerous that way.

Hard to enjoy the free Ramen when you have to be on alert, isn’t it?

I noticed, at all types of conventions I’ve frequented, that almost all attendees would be a part of a group. They may be a group of friends, family, or maybe a specific group on a field trip, but they all accomplish the same thing: a herd. Not only does the Otaku-Herd have twice the fun by experiencing the VA booths and fun games together, but they are less likely to be mugged, taken, or just plain harassed than the lone convention-attender. Maybe these spaces should be safe, and they generally are, but it’s hard to say what will happen when someone said something stupid in a group of people who are sleepy and drunk. It’s just safer and you’ll have more fun.

 

• Don’t. Break. Their. Stuff.

 

Speaking of what can happen when the sake or beer are free-flowing, sometimes people do stupid things. That’s fine; it happens, but do ALL OF US a favor and don’t leave a trail of destruction in your wake.

This is not Fate-Stay, relax.

The nice thing about anime conventions is that most hotels or meeting centers are willing to host them. They bring in lots of business after all, what with goers needing a room, using the bars and restaurants, or even just attending the convention hall in general. However, as years of retail have taught me, you providing your business is a privilege, a privilege that can be abused. Because if you break their nice things because “I’m a guest,” then guess what? Next time the convention will have to find someone else to host or the “guests” will be treated like children.

I gained this insight from the first convention I went to. The hotel had this lovely glass elevator in the center that took everyone to the three different floors of rooms, sparing people the awkward escalators. This worked out just great until the elevator broke and became off-limits to all patrons. Why? Because a large group of people decided to enact an “elevator party” inside it and jumped up and down on it as it was going up and down. Surprise surprise, it broke. The very next year, the same convention was allowed at the hotel but they put a limit on how many of us could be in the elevator at one time.

So, I say this not as someone who wants to “kill your fun.” but as someone who hates being treated like a toddler high on sugar: Don’t break the host’s things. Have your fun, drink, and be merry, but try not to cause property damage. Because the rest of us are going to feel your punishment too.

Is there anything you’d love to tell someone going to an anime convention? Are there any you’re attending and looking forward to? Feel free to comment below and don’t forget to like and follow for more content every Saturday. Have fun, all, and stay safe.