goetzjpvis

[goetzjpvis]

[goetzjpvis]

Hey Mason, I totally agree with your comments on Anonymity. It actually reminds me of the movie "Paprika", where experiencing a new identity caused Dr. Chiba to completely change her personality. This also reflects people's behaviors in the digital space versus real life, and we see it taken to the extremes in Lain. Good analysis!

Post for 4/24

I’m really glad that we got to watch Serial Experiments Lain for this semester’s last class. It was a cool show! The anime’s art style is unique and I think the bleak backgrounds really added to the atmosphere. It’s very minimalist, but it works wonders for this show.

I was sometimes confused by random, short sequences that the plot didn’t really explain. For example, there was a guy who was chased around and murdered (?) by a little girl, but I don’t think the show ever clarified who either of them were. Then, some guy killed (?) that girl in a game called Phantoma in the Wired using his handgun (no pun intended). Also, where is Mika? Can someone check up on her?

However, the moments when I could comprehend the show were good. I wonder if the version of Lain that is confident is a reference to how the shield of anonymity makes people lose their expressional filter when they’re talking on the internet. Also, it was kind of annoying to see Lain’s family basically neglect her well-being, except for her father to some extent. I did end up watching the very last episode of the anime, too, and it was nice to see her father talking to her in limbo.

My favorite episode was the last one we were assigned, where Arisu reminds Lain that she is human and stops Eiri’s plan from coming to fruition. It was wholesome to see Lain trying to comfort Arisu and vice versa, despite Lain letting her see man-made horrors beyond her comprehension, going so far as to erase herself from everyone’s memories to stop their suffering. It felt like Lain was more human than she ever was during those moments. Actually, I think they intentionally made it ambiguous whether Lain is a human, homunculus, program, or a God. In any case, it was awesome to see her putting Eiri, a false God, in his place. By all means, own that fraud!

Image of Lain from https://pen-online.com/culture/god-is-in-the-wired-serial-experiments-lain/.

[goetzjpvis]

4/24/24 "Serial Experiments Lain" JPT3702

PRESENT DAY. PRESENT TIME. HA HA HA.

This time around, I decided to do something slightly different than simply watching the prescribed episodes in class. I had always wanted to watch Lain for a long time, but dropped it after episode one because I couldn't understand it. Now, I'm going to try once again with a more socially critical lens and see if I can pick out any themes I've noticed!

In the very first episode, one of Lain's classmates commits suicide. I feel like a lot of episode one centers around the fact that people are obscuring their genuine personalities behind the ever growing facade that this new technological society offers us. She says "I do not need to stay in a place like this" before committing suicide. Meanwhile, Lain, the only technologically averse person in the show, does not understand the situation of a world surrounded by tech. I mean, she's literally in a classroom with a teacher teaching C and using PCs with emails (I think that was big at the time!) and struggles with it immensely. When she walks home, the power lines buzz incredibly loudly and are the only things standing above the illuminated parts of the street. Maybe Lain's friend didn't want to live in such a technological society? I mean, it doesn't sound so far fetched when you realize people kill themselves very often from things they've seen online.

Lain, in my opinion, represents a "mob" human, or a person who stays in the background. Lain is presented with very little background, giving the watcher the ability to project themselves onto her. Since she is generally not very opinionated; most of Lain's character development is simultaneously done through the watcher as well. With the coming of the internet, we see the clueless Lain as the watcher.

We are also aware of Lain's family. The father is obsessed with technology, and the mom is resentful of her father's obsession with it, neglecting Lain when she mentions her dead friend's email.

As we saw in the first two episodes, technology was once a standalone item- kept as a different entity than the user, and time was set aside to use it. Nowadays, however, (in Lain's universe), technology grows with humans, and even becoming a part of them. As Lain even said herself, "Everyone is connected".

As much as I hate to admit it, this show really did predict the 2020s. We all walk around nowadays with our phones in our pockets and technology producing tangible effects on our everyday lives. People are "cancelled" and lose their livelihoods, some set up online shops, and some cyberbully. We are all connected, and the Lain series is, as a result, most likely one of the more relevant-to-today series that we are watching in class.

[goetzjpvis]

It's nice to hear some fresh and differing opinions on this topic. If it helps, I also found the movie somewhat confusing at times and did have to use the wiki to get around certain edges. However, the most interesting idea you've conveyed is your interpretation of the concept of madness and how we need to be able to have introspection and self control, less we spiral and become somewhat like Paprika.

For the second-to-last class 4/22

Paprika was an okay film. At face value, it definitely sold me on how well illustrated the anime was, and that was it. However, I got caught up in the idea of dreaming. What is dreaming in the context of existence? I think Paprika attempts to make a commentary of what the subconscious does and what your identity is a function of. I feel like identity is something that people consciously show to others. This is encapsulated well; once I realized that the anime was more of a surrealist expression, it fell into place.

Identity is something that people struggle with everyday, because it’s necessary of humans to be self-critical and to view themselves from the outside. As we are social, we must make attempts to try to see in us what others see in us; we want to know how we’re seen from the outside. This alone is a very frustrating, conflicting idea. It forces people to question themselves, and from there, their integrity. So why does that matter? This is a completely conscious thing we do, we have to analyze ourselves and put in a substantial amount of effort to do so, but we have subconscious influences that restrict us from seeing ourselves truly. This is the prominent thing that restricts us when we look at ourselves. The subconscious in this context is destructive; it lays a film of bias through our lenses, which influences our judgement.

The best example of this is what you may feel when you talk back or argue with someone, one of the first things we do is deflect blame as a subconscious defense mechanism. That is madness. That is destruction. All of us have these subconscious ideas that influence the way we act and the way we think, if we were to allow this to affect our ego too much, we would all descend into madness. This is what I think Paprika commentates on. As for the symbol of dreaming? Dreaming is purely subconscious. Dreaming is how the subconscious manifests itself. Dreaming here is showing you how strong these thoughts are, even if you don’t notice their influence.

[goetzjpvis]

4/22/24 "Paprika" JPT3702

It's fun to eventually be able to experience the anime predecessor to Inception, and it was thankfully much less complicated in a scientific sense.

To me, the main theme of the movie is that people are unintentionally stifled by society, and while that's not necessarily a problem, that does change the way people behave. I think it's important for doctors, such as our main character, to keep an outwardly composed and intelligent facade. However, she takes this to the extremes, sometimes accidentally coming off as cold faced. Her alter-ego, or dream persona is named Paprika, who aims to help people while simultaneously having fun. As we see the film progress, we understand the necessity of escapism to lead a happy life, however becoming fixated on and obsessed with constant escapism nearly ruins Chiba, so this gives the impression that moderation is very important when it comes to pleasure.

I want to touch back one more time on the "completely new person" thing, though. I was shocked to see Chiba's utter transformation into Paprika. You tend to think that people are just born with the personalities they have, but now we can see that people usually just tend to fit the role they're given. I wonder if this also makes a statement about general Japanese society, which tells people to essentially not judge a book by it's..... contents? That's a new one.

Anyways, Chiba scares of several love interests in the movie. Some men are very interested in her as Chiba, and some love her as Paprika. I really like how the film makes a point that people effectively lose interest in her once they figure out about her second self, which I guess also implies that the audience should do some soul searching themselves. Do you love your partner because of who they truly are? Or just how they present themselves. This theme delves deeper than simply saying "Do you love me for my personality?" because it argues that personality might not even be someone. Sorry, that's hard to word well. But anyways, at the end, Chiba gets with a programmer named Tokita who loves her no matter how she expresses herself, because he doesn't see her as an object or pleasure item, but a complicated human being, just like him.

This movie covers themes that I think very well could be aiming toward the Japanese society, however I also think that it can be applied to other people all around the world.

By the way, this tidbit is only tangentially related but I was playing "Tomodachi Life" earlier, which is a nintendo game made for children in which you cultivate a small island of your custom-made family. i noticed that you could only give your character one set personality, which goes against everything the Paprika movie argues. Funny.

[goetzjpvis]

Interesting analysis! I like how you mentioned that when names are taken you have nothing. It's unusual to find identity crises revolving around personal aspects like names in American movies, so I was unable to make the personal connection. However, I could see this clear with Haku, as even in his 'controlled' state he was being called 'haku' a shortening of his name.

Spirited Away

It feels unusual to look at a childhood film with academic eyes but here goes nothing.

The way this film handles identity is really interesting to me! For Chihiro and Kohaku, this takes the form of names. By having your name forcibly taken from you or forgotten, you lose your sense of self and become vulnerable to other people. Not only do you lose yourself but you lose your home as well. Although signing the contract is essential for her to continue existing in the spirit world and find her parents, it also means giving away her name and sense of self. She now needs to keep safe her identity and keep a hold of herself as much as she can. To me, this also manifests as the need to be confident in one's self. Kohaku tells Chihiro she needs to keep asking for work and Chihiro does persist even when Yubaba is in her face. In other words, Chihiro must learn how to look confident, stand her ground, and remain dedicated to her goals. And she does the whole film through! Kohaku does much the same especially when he takes hold of himself again after the bug controlling him is squashed, revealing to Yubaba the disappearance of her precious baby. About the being unable to go home part, I'm not sure what to make of it but only that losing your name cuts your connections to your previous life. I guess in that sense you no longer remember home or where it is.

No Face is another example of identity too. Without a face, do you have an identity? Not only for us humans but the creatures of the film are each unique in some way. If not by face, then by personality but how do you express personality? Generally it is by speaking. No Face has no mask and constantly struggles to speak unless he's stolen someone else's voice (like the frog's). In that sense, No Face is unable to express his identity and therefore has no identity at all. Chihiro must interpret by his actions, by his few words, and by her own sense of kindness. The scene where she notices No Face following her to the bus, she asks him if he is and he doesn't really reply. But she is happy to use one of her tickets for him. I think that's why he gets along with Zaniba at the end of the film. She is also kind and gives him a home and good work to do.

Identity is also sort of tied to form at least in other people perceive someone's identity. Yubaba and Zaniba share an appearance so that Bo and Chihiro are caught off guard by Zaniba's appearance and actions. However, the two are so obviously different from each other. Chihiro must stand up to Yubaba but she is grateful and hugs Zaniba. Bo is spoiled by his mother but then stands up to her. He is at first bullied and taught a lesson by Zaniba but it is because of Zaniba that he learns to stand by himself and enjoy moving on his own four (two?) feet. Identity doesn't have to be set by one's form but it is dictated by one's name and one's actions.

Oh! And also one doesn't need to secure one's self alone. Throughout the film, Chihiro is always relying and being helped by people in order to get along in life. I do think that this film is part of Chihiro's coming-of-age journey but she does not become self-sufficient or independent and confident through her own efforts alone. She is grateful to Kohaku for all her help. It is he who tells her to remember her own name and he also remembers it for her too. And it is Chihiro, helping him in many ways in return, who remembers his name for him.

There is also an environmental message in the film. The most obvious example is Kohaku losing his name because his river was forced underground by humans. There is also a shot of the bathhouse too. From a side shot, we see that the front of the bathhouse is colorful, luxurious and bright. However, the back of it is dark and full of crude machinery. This should be just the same side that Chihiro had to make multiple dangerous trips through to get her job, go see Kohaku, and also return the seal to Zaniba. In other words, people try so hard to make things look pretty and structured but are just hiding ugliness behind it. Comparing Yubaba's beautiful, ostentatious palace to Zaniba's peaceful country home reveals how much more greedy and materialistic Yubaba is. Although… I mean Yubaba's hut is actually pretty luxurious going by country standards? Lots of space, cabinets, beautiful furniture… but it's a bit unfair to judge because how "frugal" or "minimalistic" should one be in order to not look greedy, huh?

[goetzjpvis]

4/22/24 "Spirited Away" JPT3391

Before this class, I had already watched Spirited Away, but honestly, I was not a fan! This time I attempted to watch it with a new lens and see what life lessons and motifs I could gain from it that I hadn't done before. I know for many movies, Ghibli moves are an experience rather than a message (and it had been that way for me as well) so this time I challenged myself by looking for hidden messages! Here are some things I noticed.

Right as the movie starts, we see a sullen Chihiro. She's bothered that she has to move to a new town, and spends a good amount of time pouting in the car. According to some trivia I had read on this animation beforehand, Miyazaki was actually supposed to go into retirement after the creation of Princess Mononoke, but he was inspired seeing a coworkers annoyed child that he felt inspired to continue creating. The main conflict for Chihiro herself is her adversity to change, she is uncomfortable with scenery around her moving and doesn't know how to process her emotions. I see this film as a coming of age, where she learns to be able to accept change while also realizing that it's okay to be sad and upset, but to at least confront these emotions and keep them in check. She ends up passing this lesson onto Haku by the end (but not before begging him to not leave her, signifying her issue with change once again).

The movie criticizes negative behaviors such as gluttony and sloth. The no face creature and Chihiro's own parents are gluttonous, which hurts not only them, but those around them. We see her parents turn into pigs, and no face ends up going crazy and destroying the bathhouse due to being fed insane amounts of attention and food. I.e. he was corrupted!?

The one character I don't understand and will never understand is the creepy radish guy. He seem to be inspired by bathhouse patrons, which are usually almost naked old fat guys!? I know at some points he saved Chihiro from evil workers, but man I felt so creepy watching him slowly walk towards her haha. I couldn't gauge his intentions well at all.

Anyways, My last lesson that I've learned is that we need to work together to overcome our adversity and other personal issues. Haku and Chihiro worked together to help cleans the river that was so stinky it brought in a spirit (who I think was supposed to be a river god) that was just completely covered with sludge and ended up destroying a significant portion of the bathhouse. If Chihiro had not worked together with Haku, and even that creepy mustached, several-armed guy in the basement of the bathhouse, she would have never been able to save the river and return home. She might have even turned into a pig then and there!

Below is an image of the dirty river god who appears as sludge. The second portion of the image shows all the manmade filth (representation of capitalist greed) being flushed out from the spirit.

After my second watch, i realized how much I appreciated this movie. I had actually never really liked Miyazaki, but the messages were hid skillfully and with tact, making an enjoyable watching experience alongside some very nice storytelling rhetoric. It's okay to get sad, but not greedy!

[goetzjpvis]

Hey Alex! I totally agree. Hearing the English was honestly the funniest part of this movie. I loved hearing how everything was pronounced and now am also somewhat questioning this directive decision; How could the movie have been directed if the director couldn't even speak English? 😭I probably wouldn't have enjoyed the movie as much if it was in Japanese so I am happy regardless~

Sukiyaki Western Django

The opening scene really set the tone for what the rest of this movie would be. Everyone dressed like cowboys, speaking in a prophet-like manner until everything explodes into violence, blood splattering against the vibrant backdrop. Also Quentin Tarantino is the main guy in this scene? I’ve watched Django: Unchained before coming into this movie so I was expecting some sort of connection or influence, but to have Tarantino appear as an actor was hilarious to me.

To be honest, I didn’t quite follow the plot of this film closely. A lone gunman comes into a town with a long-standing conflict. Luckily for me, it wasn’t hard to discern between characters in this conflict, as one gang is dressed in all white, and the other side is splattered in red. This is just one of the many over-the-top choices in this movie that makes it a fun, extravagant watch. A lone gunman pulls up into the town and decides to search for money.

A lot of violence ensues, it’s level ranging from somewhat grounded to absolutely batshit crazy. In any given battle scene, gatling guns may show up, something is bound to explode dramatically, and certain characters are given character introduction cards like they’re in a fighting video game. Blood is bright and abundant, but there’s also more serene shots that are either character-driven or peaceful shots of nature. The final battle scene features a sword vs. gun. In classic don’t bring a sword to a gun fight fashion, the swordsman is shot point blank in the face, but only after slicing a bullet with his blade.

One of my favorite scenes which highlights how strange this film is begins with a quitter moment. A wheelchair-ridden Emperor Palpatine lookalike who describes himself as an “anime otaku” speaks to another character in which he tries to pass on a message. The scene immediately cuts to a building exploding with some cowboys trying to calm the scene, to a woman shouting in the mountains, to one of the characters involved in an earlier conflict being treated for his injuries in the woods. There’s no predicting what will come in the next shot, making this film a ride from start to finish.

The funniest thing about this film was that the cast, other than Quentin Tarantino, is practically completely Japanese actors doing their best to speak English. Even the director, according to the internet, didn’t speak English, so I just wonder how this was done on set. I mean, I couldn’t imagine how difficult yet entertaining it would be to work on a project like this done in Japanese with only a few people who are truly fluent in the language. Overall, this was definitely a film I’m going to remember, but probably not much more than as the over-the-top Japanese Western filmed in English.

[goetzjpvis]

4/17/24 "Sukiyaki Western Django" JPT3391

Dang, my expectations for Sukiyaki Western Django were changed once I saw the opening scene, and then changed again halfway through the movie. The entire thing plays out like an intentionally silly mishmash of cultures, both appreciative and mocking, but also making tons of references to the popular old culture of Japan (and America too I think). I was definitely not expecting the entire movie to be in English, and even more, I was definitely not expecting Quentin Tarantino to pop up as well!??! Haha.

A lot of this movie involves the typical gunfighting you'd see in a Tarantino film, but they are across two clans of 'cowboy-samurai'. I also noticed that much of the dialogue pans out in a "spaghetti-ramen-western" type of way, where there is traditional Americanized dialogue between cowboys meshed with an old-Japanese-esque feel (they reference so so many old Japanese movies).

Right off the bat, there are several over-the-top fighting scenes. A red/white gang war, guns on top of guns (I think one guy even had a bazooka type thing), and people exploding really made me laugh. I also enjoyed how katana were involved, despite guns clearly being the more physically dominant weapon. Lots of the scenes were mishmashed together, creating a hodge-podge feel (for example, the woman dancing in a burlesque manner, pulling a necklace from her throat only for the bar to explode into violence not much long after), that made the film feel more like a playful absurdist piece of art than a movie made to make any serious message. I enjoyed the theme it exuded, of a mix between olden-time cultures because it also reminds me of the current age. People around the world are slowly mixing races and cultures, and out of it something truly beautiful happens!

The amount of references in this movie is crazy too. It feels like we've genuinely stepped into the modern age with just how many movie references were made, I remember Yojimbo (who I had to research), Django, and Genji. I didn't know those references immediately, so some of the charm was unfortunately removed for me. Although I do appreciate the effort and thought to this massive cultural homage.

My one critique, that I usually have for almost every movie, is the presence of female assault. I'm tired man. I was really enjoying the movie up until that. And I get it. It does happen to women, and it is terrible, but when every film involves a woman brutalized for spectacle I become somewhat desensitized and also fed up with this recurring theme. I want to see women do more, especially in a movie featuring Gatling guns on horses and people knocking the bejeezus out of each other like in Kingsman, all communicating in what is not even their native language.

[goetzjpvis]

What a great description! I love how you mentioned that both main characters, although being able to make a wonderful dorayaki together, aren't able to amount to much on their own. Sentarou's craftsmanship combined with Tokue's wonderful bean paste says something about how we as people in a society, where most people are driven apart by age, gender, race, etc., need each other in order to stay afloat and generally just be able to create beautiful food, and by extension, beautiful art.

Sweet Bean

I clap my hands. Wonderful, amazing! It's so funny to watch this after Pulse's tirade (the word lovingly used by me) about the epidemic of loneliness.

The found family aspect was wonderful to see emerge between Tokue as the mother, Sentaro as the son, and Wakana as t

he granddaughter. It is such a gradual realization confirmed finally in Tokue's last message to the two of them that was so sweet to hear. I think what creates this strong feeling of becoming family are the scenes of Tokue and Sentaro working together to create dorayaki especially when compared with each of them struggling to create dorayaki on their own and also the conversations Wakana has with each of them. To begin with, Sentaro giving Wakana the rejects is already a sweet gesture that implies they have a strong relationship. Furthermore, Wakana somewhat sharing a meal with Sentaro (especially when it's clear her mother has abandoned her to go find dinner on her own) and giving him advice about Tokue's employment feels a little like a consultation between family members. Of course Tokue giving Wakana advice about how to live her life freely and offering to take care of the canary was very sweet and grandmotherly.

On another note, the use of sound was kind of interesting? I mostly noticed it whenever Sentaro was walking up and down stairs. The heavy thuds of his depressed steps when we are first introduced to him as well as a similar after the dorayaki shop starts to crumble are so loud that it's unreal and emphasizes the sense that something is going wrong for him. Otherwise, the contrast between Sentaro carefully crafting his pancakes while the middle school girls noisily chatter in the background was seriously hilarious. The film is able to use sound in ways that set the emotional tone of scenes in interesting ways.

To end, the relationship between Tokue and nature is interesting especially when considering that quote from the book about leprosy. Those with leprosy/Hansen's Disease want to live in society "where the sun shines" too. Tokue listens carefully to nature and this way she is alone and lonely but surrounded by beautiful and noisy nature. The film shows us and lets us hear the sounds of the nature that Tokue loves so much throughout the film as well. It feels like nature is also society, that both are one and the same, and by enjoying nature we can also become part of society as well. The ending scene of all the people cherry blossom viewing and Sentaro setting up his own stall, calling out to them, might be representative of this as well. Everyone loves nature! We're all looking at the same moon!

[goetzjpvis]

4/15/24 "Sweet Bean" JPT3391

This movie was genuinely beautiful and tugged at my heartstrings! It was much less action packed than the average Japanese action film (or any action film for that matter), but I felt like it was one of the more meaningful things I've watched this semester.

The main themes it touches on are, at least from Sentarou's perspective are the public's perception of the elderly, honesty, and circumstances of one's actions. From Tokue's perspective, I suppose the watcher is taught to appreciate what they have while they have it, and understand with age comes prejudice. Although it was never Tokue's fault for having leprosy, she was forced to be removed from her job only to die not much later, which compares the treatment and public perception of those with infectious diseases to inhumanity and a lack of compassion. I remember researching the American aids epidemic for a school project not much longer ago, and although AiDS was never infectious through F2F communication, a lot of people believed that AiDS patients were infectious, and as a result they were ostracized from society and sometimes even physically abused.

I also do not take kindly to old people! I know that sounds very mean, but as a Floridian who gets crowded in their own home during snowbird season, I feel a sense of discomfort when I drive on the road seeing old people, or being yelled at at a restaurant by an elderly lady who ordered fries and then got upset she was served fries. However, now I see that this social generalization is often just as bad as racism, and can really harm the people who built the backbone of our society. Nobody deserves to be ostracized from the public, especially old people who have been working their entire lives to provide for the younger general public. I have rethought my actions after this movie.

I did have to do some google searching about what leprosy was post movie as well, and how it affected the Japanese population. There are lots of little things you don't know about a society or country until you're forcefully shown by movies, so I appreciate An taking the time from it's plot to feature such an (nowadays) unknown disability.

Lastly, seeing Sentarou running from his dark past only to confront it was honestly very stressful but releiving at the end of it all. I think a lot of people spend their lives running from some unknown past mistakes that they never really seem to confront. It makes me happy that we can see Sentarou used a role model, helping the viewers learn that they need to confront their past mistakes as well. This is applicable to not only Japanese people, but lots of people around the world.

Great movie!

[goetzjpvis]

I definitely agree with you, the villagers were first and foremost, concerned for their safety. However this fear led to an uprising built on animosity and 'hysteric rage'. I feel like this type of groupthink can be applied to many societies nowadays, especially online groups who argue politically until both sides become 'he-said-she-said" and real ones too!

for class 4/19

Episode 21 really showed me how rage can be something that is blinding. The opening to the episode was symbolic of hysteric rage. Everyone was initially rooting and chanting for this violent cause, however, even they too perished. Despite being the ones who wanted the uprising, they perished alongside the people that they were uprising against (if I interpreted this right). I know this is something that’s relatively minor in respect to the episode, but it stood out to me. I also liked how the ogre stood up to the individual who ended up killing those people.

There was a dialogue in episode 21 that also stood out to me. One of the characters, not sure the name, claims that killing Shisei would be far too difficult for an ogre to do, since his powers allowed for repelling all of the ogre’s attempts. But here’s what that symbolizes to me, it kind of symbolizes how once people get comfortable or complacent in a system, trying to do anything that makes an effort to oppose it seems futile. It’s almost like people are blinded by comfort. This is definitely something that happens in society today. People, for example in politics, think that sometimes there is just nothing that can be done about current situations. I know I am personally part of this issue because I do not believe that anything I do makes a difference against anything considered much stronger than me. Or even much bigger than me.

This kind of rebellion that we saw towards the ending assigned episodes seems like a call to action for me. It seems to request that viewers try to break free of fearing people who have these gifts that others do not, even if you cannot understand them. People have these deep desires to understand perplexing things, and this is part of the subconscious effort to control the unfamiliar.

[goetzjpvis]

4/19/24 "Shin sekai yori": 2 JPT3702

Woah.... Just woah! I am almost speechless at these episodes- they seem like a far cry from what we watched on Monday and a completely different anime in general. Monday, we opened up a dialogue on control and social monitoring, and this Friday.... I suppose the dialogue is about control too... just in an ethnic sense? Right in the first of the 4 assigned episodes, we see the queen queerat in such a bad state. She had been turned from a highly volatile and unstable individual into a breeding machine. It actually reminds me of the anime 'Made in Abyss', where an orphan was mutated into a monster that was made to give birth to offspring that would eventually be eaten for sustenance for the nearby travelers with no ability for retaliation. The nearby queerats justified it by arguing that without her restraint, their people would die, although the humans were unfond of this idea. Saki herself even got into an argument with her friend because while he felt this was completely unethical, she kind of understood where they were coming from. Analyzing it from a utilitarian standpoint though, I feel like Saki might be right! Humans, for the longest time treated queerats like monsters, breeding them for slave labor and subjugating them under the guise of inferiority. Once the queerats started advancing, removing threats from their society, and building human-like structures, the humans felt unsafe, because they knew the queerats would no longer be under their control. Unlike the situation in Made in Abyss, I feel like the queerats were right to subdue the motherrat, although it is very sad. Abusing the queen was never ideal, but made a necessity by the humans own abuse. Sometimes we need to take a step back and see things through the lense of others before we go and make authoritarian decisions. That being said, how does this apply to Japan? Well.... Japan has had a rough history. The rape of Nanking and the genocide and torture of Koreans is just a dent in their history. Although nowadays, most Japanese people wouldn't even dare to agree with these practices, back then a lot of people were more defensive of them. We can extend these ideals towards Americans and Canadians, and their genocide of the Indigenous race, as well as China and their systemic attacks on Korea. I think that this anime is trying to say that we need to look through the eyes of those lashing out in order to understand why they behave like they did, perhaps? I am also reminded of the anime "Go! Go! Loser Rangers!" where the monsters accepted abuse from the human rangers until they fought back during their 1000th battle, when they eventually retaliated.

[goetzjpvis]

Hey Katey! Nice blog post. I found your relations of Shin Sekai Yori to A Promised Neverland and Psycho Pass both very interesting. As you said, this society in question is cultivating children to suit a greater population. I.E. How much can they benefit us all? Psycho pass does the same concept with adults, and the grim Promised Neverland produced intelligent children to be eaten by monsters. I suppose you could consider this connection similar because as disturbing as it is, children are created only for the benefit of their society, and by extension everybody older than them, rather for themselves and their families. It should make the reader wonder to what extent they are also a cultivation of society too! Have you ever found yourself doing something personally harmful for somebody else rather than your own personal interest?

4/17 Blog Post

Upon writing this blog post, I just finished episode 4. I don’t want to watch episode 12 just yet since I’m trying to watch all the episodes up until that point to (hopefully) give a better analysis of the anime for my presentation. However, just from these past four episodes, it can be determined that the characters are living in a dystopian world way further into the future. It gave me similar vibes to the anime A Promised Neverland in the sense that it is like they are cultivating children to suit their needs. Another anime it reminded me of was Psychopass in the sense that they are trying to keep the “mental stability” of the children in check. If someone were to show any signs of diverging from the norm (usually based on the psychological and practical tests that they put them through) they were removed. The kids are definitely being sheltered and manipulated as they don’t seem to bat much of an eye when their classmates go missing. Saki seemed to be the only one who remotely cared, but then she went about her way. In addition to that, they are being gatekept knowledge of their past, so they do not question the adults. This served as a double-edged sword seeing as the unknown piqued their curiosity further. I feel as though this anime serves as a metaphor for growing up in some sort of way, but I can’t pinpoint the exact reason why just yet. Perhaps it is from the manifestation of their powers being a symbol of puberty, hence that one mention of the bonobos.

Other than that, I kinda found the character of Satoru to be annoying, but apparently, he gets better later on. 

[goetzjpvis]

4/17/24 "Shin sekai yori" JPT3702

"Shin Sekai Yori", also known as "This New World" is an anime about societal control, manipulation, and groupthink.

The jist of the aesthetic is a tactical mix of old-world visuals and a new world aesthetic, which definitely demystifies the idea that your society could be manipulating you without even realizing it. I think a lot of the time, people associate this type of manipulation and society with the 'older' age, including emperors and rituals, etc., so when we see it in a modern day anime atmosphere with slice of life theming and schoolchildren, it makes the viewers feel like this could be applied to their lives too. Many of the characters in this society follow rules only because the ones who don't are killed off. Saki's mother had lost her own first child, as children are 'removed' from society until age 17 for anti-state behavior. Pupils are continuously taught rhetoric and stories involving those who go against society, and the things that happen to those who are deviant. Children are made to cast their Cantus into fire without even recognizing the need for this ritual, inducing this aura of blind obligation, and absolute authoritarianism. People are taught that this is necessary because they need to keep society safe, but in doing so they stifle children's individualism and turn them into a hivemind of people who keep their heads down out of fear.

The first case of the modern day application of this anime is the scene where the queerats fell into the river. Most of the girls and boys didn't want to help the drowning queerat because they were worried about punishment from their superiors, as the system is made to keep people separated into classes. Saki helps the drowning queerat, despite it being against the rules. This is reminiscent of modern day Japanese social issues wherein people are told to 'not cause a fuss' by drawing attention to themselves, especially in public. This has caused bystander effect crimes, in which individuals see a crime but refuse to intervene because they otherwise don't understand what is happening, don't think it is their place to intervene, or think that somebody else should be helping. While most of the famous bystander cases happen in America and China (both notably collectivist and individualist countries), Japanese society still has their fair share too. People all over the world generally tend to not care about things until it affects them.

The game they played in episode 2 (i think it was 2) showcased a teamwork effort for ball rolling which was supposed to indicate and weed out troubled students. Afterwards, one of the cheating kids was killed discreetly. This is because they were attempting to remove "shounen A"s from society preemptively. kids who are said to have been 'consumed by their egos' are crushed, instead of removing the issues that cause them to feel like societal rejects. This was a similar concept to what was discussed in the "Wild Child" reading in today's class. The fact that so many people couldn't determine why the student "went crazy" was enough for them to determine that they needed to surveil the children even more instead of learning to listen for more warning signs instead. Additionally, I also want to mention that the game played simulated a societal reality. People are used until they 'break' and discarded when they are no longer useful to society, just like the pieces in the game. The sphere was cracked, so they replaced it very quickly.

[goetzjpvis]

Hey Mason!

I totally agree, I was constantly laughing my ass off watching the NEETs run around naked and solve problems. I felt like their portrayal in these scenes both fell to and dismantled stereotypes. While the NEETs were naked, bald, and interested only in anime girls, they were able to create their own subsociety filled with intelligent people that created world computers, etc.

Post for 4/15

The last episode of Eden of the East felt like it was something straight out of an action movie. The part where all of the NEETs worked together to plan out how to intercept the incoming missiles within seconds is like a visualization of people on the internet using Reddit to track down a piece of lost media, or something along those lines. In general, the appearance of the naked, angry NEETs were really funny to see. Something about the imagery of 20,000 of them simultaneously yelling and jumping out of shipping containers was so surreal. The scene where they immediately dispersed to the sides of the room when women were passing through, like vampires to garlic, was also really funny. “Don’t worry, they’re probably only interested in 2D” completely caught me off guard, too.

I don’t think I’m the only one who didn’t expect the ending to be so abrupt. I thought that I had watched the wrong episode at first but it really turned out to be the last one. I searched it up and apparently there’s a couple of sequel movies that follow the anime series. I kind of wish we were assigned to watch those for class because I feel like there are still a lot of loose ends that remain. What does Takizawa intend to do as the King of Japan? Who is the real Supporter? Is Ato still out there? There’s still so much to be explained.

Something that relates to our previous in-class discussions was Itazu’s belief that conspiracies emerge when a nation is weak. When there isn’t a physical higher power that enacts power onto the common people, those people start to make things up to fill in that gap, such as religion or conspiracies. Perhaps this is why Takizawa wants to become the King of Japan so that people aren’t misled by falsehoods any longer?

Image from https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/culture/anime-review-eden-of-the-east-the-premium-edition-122333/.

[goetzjpvis]

4/15/24 "Eden of the East": 2 JPT3702

The latter 4 episodes to Eden of the East were honestly very funny, and felt more commentary driven than the first 4 assigned. I enjoyed most particularly how the NEETs were portrayed. At first, they were nothing but a concept, which let the viewer determine how they wanted to perceive the NEET. Most of the time, in real life, people complain about NEETs being stupid, lazy people who contribute nothing to society, however Eden shows that this couldn't be farther from the truth. Yes, their portrayal was definitely much less than ideal, but they were still treated like humans in comparison to the rest of the cast. The NEETs were able to band together to disarm the bomb, which I thought was really interesting, and Yutaka was effectively a genius too. He was able to help Akira hack into databases and find information on Noblesse, and his backstory describes him as an intelligent man who stayed indoors due to his anxieties about the real world. NEETs are portrayed as people with potential to help society, but are misguided, rather than people who are lost causes that need to be destroyed. He even created a world computer that served as a sort of calculator on his PC too. None of this could have been accomplished by Akira.

I also noticed the social determinism device that was created by the child prodigy, Mikkuru, introduced around episode 6. It was portrayed as a wonderful device made by an intelligent young girl, but it was also a tracking device... in its own way? This begs the question regarding social monitoring: Is it really helpful enough to overcome the issues society poses caused by invasions of privacy?

Lastly, I want to point out how dismayed I feel by Saki's character development. In that, I kind of felt like there was none? haha. The show continues to shove most of the development onto Akira, while simultaneously portraying him as a misunderstood guy from the start. The show went as far as to put down other male characters that doubted Akira's authenticity by putting them in socially shameful situations. Saki is otherwise treated like an innocent princess who is left out of most major conflict (and Akira is obviously her prince (literally, too!)). It dampens her ability to contribute to the show in any way other than being a (very cute) damsel in distress. Or rather, the ideal female for the male that male watchers can project themselves onto, which I definitely felt was a weak point in effectiveness. (Looks like an otaku, behaves like a badass, go figure.)