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Analyzing "Shiki's" women
Oct. 10th, 2013 10:03 pmSo in honor of my running a showing of "Shiki" at my school. I've decided to crawl back to it revisit it again, but this time I'll be doing something different: I'll be talking about "Shiki" entirely from the perspective of its women and gender politics.
The reason why I decided to do this is because it seems to me that although the "Shiki" women are awesome, people don't really talk about them. They want to talk about Toshio Ozaki, or Seishin, or Natsuno or Toru or whoever else, but it seems like they ignore all but the most prominent women in the series. Sooooo, I'm going to go through the "Shiki" episodes as they play and talk about its women, and what they do, and how they relate to one another and to the men in their lives; as well as what points I think this makes about gender. Additionally, I've made the conscious decision NOT to discuss the men at any length, unless I can bring them into the overarching gender politics that exist in the series.
So...yeah. Stay tuned.
The reason why I decided to do this is because it seems to me that although the "Shiki" women are awesome, people don't really talk about them. They want to talk about Toshio Ozaki, or Seishin, or Natsuno or Toru or whoever else, but it seems like they ignore all but the most prominent women in the series. Sooooo, I'm going to go through the "Shiki" episodes as they play and talk about its women, and what they do, and how they relate to one another and to the men in their lives; as well as what points I think this makes about gender. Additionally, I've made the conscious decision NOT to discuss the men at any length, unless I can bring them into the overarching gender politics that exist in the series.
So...yeah. Stay tuned.
So a short time ago I was reading this article about something completely unrelated, but one of the things the writer commented on in passing was that Twilight comes under fire a lot simply for being a book for girls. One of the people in the comments put in, quite sensibly, that a lot of people who don't like Twilight are offended by its undeniably offensive messages, to which the original poster replied that although there is, in fact, quite a lot to dislike about Twilight, in practice not everyone who's willing to talk about how much they hate it even brings that up, with many instead commenting on how it's a "stupid sparkly vampire series for stupid girls" (probably not in so many words, but you get the point). I even think this line of thought might be the origin of Mervin's "Hate it for the right reasons" video series (though there's no confirmation there).
I will say this makes the almost-obscene amount of time anti-Twilighters in certain sections of the internet spend comparing Twilight unfavorably to "Hellsing" all the more suspicious, because while "Hellsing" is popular with women and in some respects quite feminist, it's still technically written by a man, for an audience consisting primarily of men, and it shows.
I will say this makes the almost-obscene amount of time anti-Twilighters in certain sections of the internet spend comparing Twilight unfavorably to "Hellsing" all the more suspicious, because while "Hellsing" is popular with women and in some respects quite feminist, it's still technically written by a man, for an audience consisting primarily of men, and it shows.
Twilight-Sucks, I am disappoint
Sep. 16th, 2013 09:47 pm...Although really it's more generally anime fans bashing Twilight. I'm getting sick of how they constantly make everything a "Hellsing" joke and constantly compare Twilight unfavorably to "Hellsing" for all the world as though "Hellsing" were the greatest thing ever! The latest entry on the Twilight-Sucks comm on LiveJournal was just a "Hellsing" AMV, and near as I can tell, that AMV didn't even have anything to do with Twilight!
I mean, okay, I'll admit that it's likely some of this is just me being a raving "Shiki" fangirl, but I'd like to think I'd get annoyed if they made everything a "Shiki" joke too (specially now that I'm no longer...quite as obsessed a "Shiki" fan as I used to be)!
Otherwise, I think this is probably half my annoyance at the common forms anti-Twilight discussions take, and half my sense that "Hellsing" just gets a ridiculous amount of hype from the anime fandom when I honestly have a hard time seeing how it's that interesting. In the former case, it seems like sooner or later anti-Twilighters inevitably fall back on comparing the Twilight protagonists unfavorably to either Leah or the "Hellsing" cast. I mean, I get that providing a good example of something to compare to a bad work is desirable because it enables you to explore just how something can be done well, but there are a million other things to compare the "Twilight" characters to besides just those things. They aren't the end-all, be-all. And in the latter case you have "Hellsing" fans going on about how Hellsing is the BEST THING EVER!! because its vampires are sexy and badass and don't sparkle, all while anime feminists go on about how Integra is the BEST THING EVER!! I think Shamanicshaymin put it best in one of her comments: they're putting these things so high on a pedestal that they can't see anything below. And that pisses me off.
I mean, okay, I'll admit that it's likely some of this is just me being a raving "Shiki" fangirl, but I'd like to think I'd get annoyed if they made everything a "Shiki" joke too (specially now that I'm no longer...quite as obsessed a "Shiki" fan as I used to be)!
Otherwise, I think this is probably half my annoyance at the common forms anti-Twilight discussions take, and half my sense that "Hellsing" just gets a ridiculous amount of hype from the anime fandom when I honestly have a hard time seeing how it's that interesting. In the former case, it seems like sooner or later anti-Twilighters inevitably fall back on comparing the Twilight protagonists unfavorably to either Leah or the "Hellsing" cast. I mean, I get that providing a good example of something to compare to a bad work is desirable because it enables you to explore just how something can be done well, but there are a million other things to compare the "Twilight" characters to besides just those things. They aren't the end-all, be-all. And in the latter case you have "Hellsing" fans going on about how Hellsing is the BEST THING EVER!! because its vampires are sexy and badass and don't sparkle, all while anime feminists go on about how Integra is the BEST THING EVER!! I think Shamanicshaymin put it best in one of her comments: they're putting these things so high on a pedestal that they can't see anything below. And that pisses me off.
Musings on Trigun and VA's
Aug. 18th, 2013 08:55 pm So, as I look, one of the interesting things about "Trigun's" voice-acting cast, at least in English, is that it seems to have recruited a lot of voice actors who were relatively unknown at the time and/or didn't go on to have much of a career.
Take the four main "Trigun" men: Vash, Wolfwood, Legato, and Knives. Of those four, only two (Vash and Legato) had voice actors who managed to have real voice-acting careers. And only Vash's voice actor, Johnny Yong Bosch, has had a career that fans bother to keep track of or talk about (Vash was also Johnny Yong Bosch's debut role, meaning that he may well have had a career thanks to "Trigun"). Legato's VA, Richard Cansino, has been in plenty of other roles, but only a small handful of other roles (most especially Kenshin Himura, the hero of "Rurouni Kenshin," a show I loved as a teenager) seems to have achieved real widespread popularity. And I have no idea who the guys who played Wolfwood or Knives are at all (Knives's VA, Bo Williams, is only credited with three roles, in total, on Behind the Voice Actors, which can't even provide a picture of him).
This may or may not be true across the board. I know Meryl and Milly, the two leading ladies, are voiced respectively by Dorothy Elias-Fahn and Lia Sargent, both of which seem to have had careers (Dorothy Elias-Fahn was actually in "Code Geass," which was dubbed many years after "Trigun," but her role was minor and I don't know how many of her other roles people really remember). And I know that both Bryce Papenbrook, and Joshua Seth, who play Vash and Knives as children (respectively), have been in some pretty high-powered roles since (Bryce Papenbrook also debuted in "Trigun," and has since gone on to play major characters in shows like "Vampire Knight," "Durarara!!" and more recently "Sword Art Online").
Yeah.
Take the four main "Trigun" men: Vash, Wolfwood, Legato, and Knives. Of those four, only two (Vash and Legato) had voice actors who managed to have real voice-acting careers. And only Vash's voice actor, Johnny Yong Bosch, has had a career that fans bother to keep track of or talk about (Vash was also Johnny Yong Bosch's debut role, meaning that he may well have had a career thanks to "Trigun"). Legato's VA, Richard Cansino, has been in plenty of other roles, but only a small handful of other roles (most especially Kenshin Himura, the hero of "Rurouni Kenshin," a show I loved as a teenager) seems to have achieved real widespread popularity. And I have no idea who the guys who played Wolfwood or Knives are at all (Knives's VA, Bo Williams, is only credited with three roles, in total, on Behind the Voice Actors, which can't even provide a picture of him).
This may or may not be true across the board. I know Meryl and Milly, the two leading ladies, are voiced respectively by Dorothy Elias-Fahn and Lia Sargent, both of which seem to have had careers (Dorothy Elias-Fahn was actually in "Code Geass," which was dubbed many years after "Trigun," but her role was minor and I don't know how many of her other roles people really remember). And I know that both Bryce Papenbrook, and Joshua Seth, who play Vash and Knives as children (respectively), have been in some pretty high-powered roles since (Bryce Papenbrook also debuted in "Trigun," and has since gone on to play major characters in shows like "Vampire Knight," "Durarara!!" and more recently "Sword Art Online").
Yeah.
I've just thought of something!
Aug. 18th, 2013 12:24 pm So, Railrunner. What exactly does he do throughout the course of the story?
-Remorselessly and sadistically murders people in the most gruesome way he can think of
-Enjoys every bit of it
-Thinks of humans (by and large) as useless insects (not that he admits it, but still)
-Can manipulate people's limbs to get them to do things against their will/kill themselves
-Eats (near as we can tell) nothing but meat and sweets
-Will kill any enemies he doesn't consider his worthy opponents in the blink of an eye
-Is single-mindedly determined to torture and kill said worthy opponents
You know who else does all these things? Legato Bluesummers from "Trigun!"
Tip from the experts: if your oh-so-noble, chosen one Jesus analog hero has anything remotely in common with one of the most notoriously-evil bad guys in the popular anime fandom consciousness, YOU'RE DOING SOMETHING VERY WRONG!
-Remorselessly and sadistically murders people in the most gruesome way he can think of
-Enjoys every bit of it
-Thinks of humans (by and large) as useless insects (not that he admits it, but still)
-Can manipulate people's limbs to get them to do things against their will/kill themselves
-Eats (near as we can tell) nothing but meat and sweets
-Will kill any enemies he doesn't consider his worthy opponents in the blink of an eye
-Is single-mindedly determined to torture and kill said worthy opponents
You know who else does all these things? Legato Bluesummers from "Trigun!"
Tip from the experts: if your oh-so-noble, chosen one Jesus analog hero has anything remotely in common with one of the most notoriously-evil bad guys in the popular anime fandom consciousness, YOU'RE DOING SOMETHING VERY WRONG!
So this summer I've now watched three fantasy anime: "Magic Knight Rayearth," "Slayers," and "Dragon Half." All these anime are older (from the '90's or early 2000's), and, most interestingly of all, they were all dubbed in different locales: "Magic Knight Rayearth" was dubbed in California, "Slayers" in New York, and "Dragon Half" in Texas.
( See the rest of my thoughts... )
( See the rest of my thoughts... )
You know, I've tried to get into feminist discourse about anime (and to a lesser extent video games) for awhile now, but it often seems like every time I try, I'm disappointed with the way it goes. So, lemme see if I can lay it on the line just what it is about a lot of these discussions that bugs me so much.
( This got long )
( This got long )
So, a few years ago now I was having a conversation with a friend about women in anime, and he pointed me to Nausicaa (of Nausicaa of the Valley of Four Winds fame) as a good example of a feminist heroine because according to him, she actually felt like a real woman and not just a stereotype or a man in a woman's body.
Now, I'm not about to deny that Nausicaa is a good feminist heroine, but to me that kind of attitude misses the point of feminism because it implies that all men and women inherently act in certain ways, and that if a female character doesn't have enough "womanly" qualities she automatically fails to be a good female character because she doesn't count as a woman, just as a macho man in a woman's body.
What troubles me more is that this attitude is common. I've run across internet commentators who have tried to argue that Revy from "Black Lagoon" fails to be a worthwhile female character because she acts too much like a man to be believable (I, for one, have no problem believing a woman like Revy could exist--at least no more than with anything else in "Black Lagoon"). It just seems like another way of excluding women from discourse about feminism in fantasy, in much the same way as some people seem to think a woman can't be too sexy or cute and still be a good feminist character.
Now, I'm not about to deny that Nausicaa is a good feminist heroine, but to me that kind of attitude misses the point of feminism because it implies that all men and women inherently act in certain ways, and that if a female character doesn't have enough "womanly" qualities she automatically fails to be a good female character because she doesn't count as a woman, just as a macho man in a woman's body.
What troubles me more is that this attitude is common. I've run across internet commentators who have tried to argue that Revy from "Black Lagoon" fails to be a worthwhile female character because she acts too much like a man to be believable (I, for one, have no problem believing a woman like Revy could exist--at least no more than with anything else in "Black Lagoon"). It just seems like another way of excluding women from discourse about feminism in fantasy, in much the same way as some people seem to think a woman can't be too sexy or cute and still be a good feminist character.
And you know what? When I started watching this show I was expecting it to be some sort of light-hearted, wacky action/adventure story, like "El-Hazard" or "Slayers" or somesuch...but it's actually pretty dark (for what it is, anyway)! I'm six episodes in and already at least two characters who had seemed rather important have been killed (technically a third has been turned to stone, which may or may not equate to death since he's still able to communicate with the heroines telepathically)!
The English dub bears commentary as well--overall it isn't that great, but it does have some interesting spots, like a young Wendee Lee as the blue magic knight Umi, and Lex Lang of all people (who also played Sano in "Rurouni Kenshin," for the record) as the evil emperor Zagato.
I'll be watching "Slayers" later this summer too, so I'll be interested to make comparisons (I know both shows are very girl-power heavy, which is pretty damn awesome).
The English dub bears commentary as well--overall it isn't that great, but it does have some interesting spots, like a young Wendee Lee as the blue magic knight Umi, and Lex Lang of all people (who also played Sano in "Rurouni Kenshin," for the record) as the evil emperor Zagato.
I'll be watching "Slayers" later this summer too, so I'll be interested to make comparisons (I know both shows are very girl-power heavy, which is pretty damn awesome).
Revisiting Grings Kodai
Jun. 22nd, 2013 10:32 am In which I take another look at the villain of the 13th Pokemon movie. For those of you not in the know, Grings Kodai is a successful businessman who's arguably the evilest character ever to appear in the anime (only certain game villains are worse).
For those of you who follow my sporkings over on Das Sporking, he's also the guy featured in my "Do Not Want" icon.
And since I am utterly failing to come up with any decent fanfic ideas for him, instead I'll just share my latest revelation about the character.
See, most people who see the 13th Pokemon movie absolutely hate this guy. He has his fans (such as myself) but they're very much in the minority, and I, at least, like him more for what he could have been than for what the movie actually gave us. When I first saw the movie, I wrote him off as being so unabashedly, unapologetically, thoughtlessly evil that he couldn't possibly be real. But now that time has passed and I've become a bit older and wiser, I suspect that the opposite is true: people hate Kodai because he is realistic (by Pokevillain standards, anyway).
Most villains in Pokemon, across all media, seem to just be crazy people who go around causing trouble either for fun or power (generally), or else in the name of some sort of lofty ideals. It's a bit more complicated than that, but that's basically the deal. Kodai, though, works rather differently. He's a businessman, who will do anything to hold onto and increase his money and power, even if it means wrecking the environment, scapegoating and torturing innocent pokemon, and threatening children. All of which, if you get right down to it, sounds rather a lot like what shady business leaders at companies like Monsanto or BP do in the real world. And much like real-world companies, Kodai is able to get away with his bad behavior by presenting a good face to the public and keeping most of what really goes into his operations out of their eyes--something which is rarely attempted by Pokemon villains and generally very easy to see through even if they do try it (to be fair, it's easy to see through Kodai's schemes too, but that's largely because the audience has prior knowledge of how evil he is).
It's long been my opinion that Pokemon is actually surprisingly astute about pointing out societal evils--the Hoenn games basically predicted the effects of global climate change even before Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth came out, for example. And what does the Pokemon anime do several years after the fact? It makes a movie in which the bad guy is a relatively realistic corrupt corporate executive (albeit one with a more supernatural slant) and basically focuses on what a complete monster he is. Granted, I'm not quite sure how much of this is deliberate. All the same, one thing we can say with reasonable certainty is that people generally do not like it when people act like Kodai.
Now, if only they knew how common his behavior was....
For those of you who follow my sporkings over on Das Sporking, he's also the guy featured in my "Do Not Want" icon.
And since I am utterly failing to come up with any decent fanfic ideas for him, instead I'll just share my latest revelation about the character.
See, most people who see the 13th Pokemon movie absolutely hate this guy. He has his fans (such as myself) but they're very much in the minority, and I, at least, like him more for what he could have been than for what the movie actually gave us. When I first saw the movie, I wrote him off as being so unabashedly, unapologetically, thoughtlessly evil that he couldn't possibly be real. But now that time has passed and I've become a bit older and wiser, I suspect that the opposite is true: people hate Kodai because he is realistic (by Pokevillain standards, anyway).
Most villains in Pokemon, across all media, seem to just be crazy people who go around causing trouble either for fun or power (generally), or else in the name of some sort of lofty ideals. It's a bit more complicated than that, but that's basically the deal. Kodai, though, works rather differently. He's a businessman, who will do anything to hold onto and increase his money and power, even if it means wrecking the environment, scapegoating and torturing innocent pokemon, and threatening children. All of which, if you get right down to it, sounds rather a lot like what shady business leaders at companies like Monsanto or BP do in the real world. And much like real-world companies, Kodai is able to get away with his bad behavior by presenting a good face to the public and keeping most of what really goes into his operations out of their eyes--something which is rarely attempted by Pokemon villains and generally very easy to see through even if they do try it (to be fair, it's easy to see through Kodai's schemes too, but that's largely because the audience has prior knowledge of how evil he is).
It's long been my opinion that Pokemon is actually surprisingly astute about pointing out societal evils--the Hoenn games basically predicted the effects of global climate change even before Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth came out, for example. And what does the Pokemon anime do several years after the fact? It makes a movie in which the bad guy is a relatively realistic corrupt corporate executive (albeit one with a more supernatural slant) and basically focuses on what a complete monster he is. Granted, I'm not quite sure how much of this is deliberate. All the same, one thing we can say with reasonable certainty is that people generally do not like it when people act like Kodai.
Now, if only they knew how common his behavior was....
I'm going to Anime Boston!
May. 21st, 2013 11:50 pm I'm so excited!
The first time I went to Anime Boston was in my freshman year of college, when I went with RPI's anime club. That was the con where I bought the poster of N which turned be into a Pokemon fan as an adult. I couldn't make it to Anime Boston my second year, but this time I was able to convince my parents that we should go for Memorial Day weekend. The way it's going to work, I'll go up on Thursday and my parents, my little sister, and her friends will follow me on Friday after my sister's high school lets out. I'll be the first one there and the last to leave, since I plan on staying in Boston until late Sunday afternoon, while everyone else will be leaving in the morning, so I can go to the Japan Festival, which Anime Boston advertises.
I still haven't decided exactly what events I'll go to. I know I want autographs from Christopher Bevins and David Matranga, because they provide the voices of my favorite characters in "Romeo X Juliet" and "Xam'd Lost Memories" (respectively). Oh, and if I can get Greg Ayres to autograph my new "Ouran High School Host Club" DVD that would be awesome too. Other than that, though, I think I've been so consumed by the excitement of it all that I haven't actually been able to sit down and make firm plans :P
One thing I was kinda sorta hoping I'd get a chance to do at some point is buy an elegant gothic lolita dress. No such luck, though--it wouldn't arrive in time. So I'll just be wearing this cool anime-inspired squid T-shirt for one day, and casual dresses for the rest of the time. Sometime in the future, though, I may have to find myself the perfect elegant gothic lolita dress which I can wear to every con I go to for ever more.
I also learned that they're going to be showing "Shiki" at Anime Boston this year! I, however, will not be going on account of the fact that I've already seen it twice and will be running a showing at my school this upcoming fall. And why watch anime at a con, anyway, when you could be doing things you couldn't do anywhere else?
Anyway, if anyone else is going to be there let me know and maybe we can hang out.
The first time I went to Anime Boston was in my freshman year of college, when I went with RPI's anime club. That was the con where I bought the poster of N which turned be into a Pokemon fan as an adult. I couldn't make it to Anime Boston my second year, but this time I was able to convince my parents that we should go for Memorial Day weekend. The way it's going to work, I'll go up on Thursday and my parents, my little sister, and her friends will follow me on Friday after my sister's high school lets out. I'll be the first one there and the last to leave, since I plan on staying in Boston until late Sunday afternoon, while everyone else will be leaving in the morning, so I can go to the Japan Festival, which Anime Boston advertises.
I still haven't decided exactly what events I'll go to. I know I want autographs from Christopher Bevins and David Matranga, because they provide the voices of my favorite characters in "Romeo X Juliet" and "Xam'd Lost Memories" (respectively). Oh, and if I can get Greg Ayres to autograph my new "Ouran High School Host Club" DVD that would be awesome too. Other than that, though, I think I've been so consumed by the excitement of it all that I haven't actually been able to sit down and make firm plans :P
One thing I was kinda sorta hoping I'd get a chance to do at some point is buy an elegant gothic lolita dress. No such luck, though--it wouldn't arrive in time. So I'll just be wearing this cool anime-inspired squid T-shirt for one day, and casual dresses for the rest of the time. Sometime in the future, though, I may have to find myself the perfect elegant gothic lolita dress which I can wear to every con I go to for ever more.
I also learned that they're going to be showing "Shiki" at Anime Boston this year! I, however, will not be going on account of the fact that I've already seen it twice and will be running a showing at my school this upcoming fall. And why watch anime at a con, anyway, when you could be doing things you couldn't do anywhere else?
Anyway, if anyone else is going to be there let me know and maybe we can hang out.
Ideas for a Horror Anime Panel
Apr. 2nd, 2013 11:05 pmSo I'm thinking of doing a panel dedicated to horror anime at Genericon 2014. It'll feature discussions of things I tend to see in horror, discussions of certain horror anime, and where to find similar tropes in stories that aren't anime, or aren't strictly horror. If anyone has any ideas of horror anime they know and like, feel free to give me suggestions.
Aww, man, this is pretty much the story of my participation in fandom. Let's see...
1) MASAO! ("Shiki")
2-3) Lua and Dallas ("Baccano!")
4) Mao ("Code Geass")
5) Eh... Cytomander ("Gurren Lagann")
1) MASAO! ("Shiki")
2-3) Lua and Dallas ("Baccano!")
4) Mao ("Code Geass")
5) Eh... Cytomander ("Gurren Lagann")
