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retrocontinuity · 3 years

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rev, rev, fight the power: thoughts on the first half of chainsaw man

Spoilers through the end of the Bomb Girl Arc.

Devil Hunting in the Age of Fascism

As one of the cohosts of a podcast on Gundam Wing in 2020/2021, I've been thinking a lot about how authoritarian regimes and the concept of societal control is treated in anime. Which is to say: usually in a very limited sense, and based on the actions of a few bad actors, as demonstrated with its effects on a few unfortunate protagonists. It's not that creators don't care about the issue, but rather a sign that the genre (and yes, I do consider manga/anime to be a genre more than just a medium, but that's for another time) and its conventions are not particularly well-suited to showing you those effects.

So, Chainsaw Man. On an individual character level, Fujimoto has some stuff to say about the choice between death and life, and I do want to talk about that and what it says about the characters and what life means in CSM. But it's hard to tell whether or not he meant to create a world with some really fucked up institutions too.

For instance, the civilian, non-public sector Devil Hunters. These appear to be explicitly authorized by the Japanese government, to the point where it is a crime for the Public Safety division's hunters to kill a devil that a civilian is in the process of capturing. They don't have guns (this is Japan!) and I imagine they are only allowed to kill Devils, but just, like, think about this. What if you kill someone else in the process of trying to kill a Devil? What if you suspect someone is a Fiend but actually they're just acting weird? What if you kill someone, then claim later it's because you thought they were a Devil?

This is likely the American in me talking, but I can’t help thinking about how badly this would be abused and how horrible an idea that would be. And I can’t help but think about how the Devils allow the world of CSM to separate fears from human nature. By which I mean, in the world of CSM, evil is otherized in a very specific way; they’re represented by very individual, very distinct, and very monstrous representations. Here is the fear of scissors, the fear of sharks, the fear of the future, and so on. But in the real world, we know it isn’t just fear itself that is the problem; it’s people, well-meaning or otherwise, animated by those fears that create the most evil, or people harnessing those fears to gain power. This may be unfair—I don’t know what Fujimoto has planned for Makima, whose mythos and power seems very much wrapped up in the idea of using Devils to her own advantage. But there’s an assumption here that all actions taken towards eradication of the Devils, or maybe just one Gun Devil, is a de facto good. And in 2021, that’s a very unnerving position to take.

Death in Chainsaw Man is a sacrifice. In these early arcs of the series, death is a "contract," an expending of activation energy to achieve something else. So Pochita gives Denji life (which is really a contract repaid, for when Denji gave him life), so the Devil Hunters "trade" something in a contract with a Devil for power (like Aki giving away literal years of his life to his curse sword), so Denji dying to the Eternity Devil would have freed the rest of the team. But there are plenty of deaths in the series where nothing is traded, nothing is given. These tend to be nameless victims or, in one harrowing scene, convicted felons who die at the hands of Makima as she chases down Katana Devil.

What did they gain? What was the contract formed by the deaths of these 雑魚?

Makima says at some point when she's attacking the gangs that are affiliated with the Katana Devil that "the truly necessary evils are always kept collared and controlled by the state." Which I think is at its face about the fiends and Devils kept “collared” by the Public Safety Bureau. But maybe it’s also about the idea of sacrifice, about giving yourself over to the state, in order to control a world thrown into chaos. The contracts formed by the deaths of those ordinary citizens is meant to bring about an eradication of fear. It gives birth to the Public Safety Devil Hunters, to Devil Hunters in general, to the use of whatever means necessary to achieve an end. But whatever those consequences are, we only see them in the fates of Denji, Chainsaw Man, and the impossible characters around him.

A state under threat, a state that feels like it must collar evil in order to survive, will have ruinous consequences. I just hope we get to see what those are.

Just A Teenage Dirtbag, (Bomb) Baby

I read some reviews about Denji being the anti-shounen shounen manga hero which I can presume were written by people whose only frame of reference is Bleach, Naruto, or One Piece. Sure, the Big Three were, in their most simplistic forms, feel-good series, and CSM's first half is basically a feel-bad series, but that hardly makes it unusual. It's really not dissimilar from other manga like Homunculus, Freesia, and Oyasumi Punpun. Of course, only old fogies like me, who still remember getting scanlations of these series off of IRC, and query, of course, whether or not those series are shounen at all, or more like seinen. If it were up to me to name the genre, and of course it is not, I would call it “simply another line of stories about fucked up things happen to fucked up people.”

Many fucked up things have happened to Denji. I’d call it traumatic, but I don’t think “trauma” covers what this poor man has been through. The effect, though, has been to make Denji less than human, even in his human form.

Denji and Power's nonchalance towards the fate of their human coworkers who die to Katana Devil and Sawatari is framed by the manga through Denji as a potential sign of callousness. Kishibe notes it as a sign that they are "insane," in other words, "not like other humans," and thus capable of bringing down something like the Gun Devil, which would otherwise drive "normal humans" insane.

But like, huh? Denji and Power's reactions are, on the contrary, extremely human, because there’s no reason for them to extend feeling towards other humans. Simply put, they’ve never been human to the humans around them. They seem to be bonded most closely to each other, and in fact almost all the Fiends are, because the wider Public Safety employees treat them so poorly. Remember how the Infinity Devil Arc starts? Basically, they're told to be the advance guard, and threatened to be killed if they ever act out. Denji is kept on a short leash, and is so proud (in front of Reze) that he's allowed to go places on his own now.

Which, I'm not saying that that's wrong. Denji is incredibly dumb, holds monstrous power that could easily be tricked into using for horrible purposes, and appears to be the target of a number of Gun Devil's allies. Power is... well. I wouldn't let her out of sight either. But what Makima does that makes Denji feel so loyal, so utterly tied to her, is simply treating him as a human. She convinces him he has a heart, just like any other human. She tells him about all the love experiences he'll have in the future, because he's just a human teenager. And just like Makima, Reze is able to bond with Denji by treating him like an ordinary 16-year-old horny boy. Is it because as a Devil she knows what he wants the most? What he is craving, and never had? It doesn't matter that Denji had been just an ordinary human before fusing with Pochita or before he began his life as a Devil Hunter; as an orphan growing up on the street, unwanted and unloved, he was no more human than a Devil.

The ending of the Bomb Girl Arc—with Denji asking Reze to run away with him, only to be stood up—reminded me so very much of Aku no Hana. There's the classroom scenes between Reze and Denji, of course, but mostly I think about how Denji—betrayed, injured, manipulated Denji—still asks Reze to run away with him. I'd written about Aku no Hana before, how one of the saddest things about Nakamura is that she cannot imagine a world beyond her current circumstance (and, in fact, the manga ends up dooming her to stagnation). Denji and Reze are Nakamura and Kasuga's perverse mirror. It is because Denji doesn't have the capacity to imagine a larger world beyond his immediate now, three meals a day and a job and this woman who taught him how to swim, that he asks her to do this impossible thing, to run away with him knowing that to do would mean both of them betraying their masters. It is because Reze knows that it is impossible that she does not meet Denji at the cafe. Reze is more human than Denji, because she is capable of dreams, and because she is capable of dreaming, she knows she cannot afford their luxury. She knows too much about the world and its cruelty. And, so, she walks straight into its open maw, and straight into her death.

I don't think we can take Reze at her word that she wanted to be a town mouse, or rather we should say instead that Reze proves that the division between the town mouse and the country mouse is immaterial. The issue is that both, in the end, are only mice, dreaming of a safety they can never achieve. Safety, in the world of CSM, is neither town mouse nor country mouse. It is to not be mice at all. It is to be the dog that digs them out from the cold winter dirt.

It is, in fact, to be Makima, the person who orders the dogs to kill the mice.

Denji, aim for the top! Transcend the town mouse/country mouse divide! Or else you will constantly be hunted and used!

(Side note: CSM goes at a break-neck pace, and I think the speed through which Fujimoto rushes through these early storylines has made it very difficult for me to actually connect with the characters. Reze and Denji’s relationship is one of the victims to this pacing. Do I believe that Denji could fall for a girl and be willing to risk it all for her after about 3 chapters worth of interaction? Sure, he’s that kind of guy. But does it work for me? Not particularly. We’ve hardly had time to linger with Reze before she swears she’ll protect Denji forever, as long as he’ll run away with her. Though the reader at that point knows there’s something off about Reze, it’s still just not believable. Reze’s actions seem like someone trying to bulldoze her way into Denji’s affections, and though she herself is a bittersweet character, I just really feel like CSM could have spent less time with Bomb Devil vs Chainsaw Man and more time with Reze and Denji.)

No Ethical Women Under Capitalism

The Eternity Devil arc, for all its mini-boss game feel (it wouldn’t be out of place as one of the floors in Tower of God), struck a nerve with me, if only because it felt, however unintentionally, to be a story about working under modern capitalism. A floor you can never leave, that loops endless, where the only way to escape is to destroy it, literally, from the inside, by making it so painful, an eternal feedback loop of destroying ourselves and destroying it, before it opens its heart to us. The Capitalism Devil threatens us, tries to tear us apart. Asks us to sacrifice the strongest, the weakest, anybody among us, as if by climbing over the bodies of our friends and coworkers, we can come out ahead. It makes us suspicious of each other, ready to tear into any weakness for an advantage.

No wonder this is the chapter where Kobeni lays bare her reasons for joining the Public Safety bureau. She needed to work, to make money. Her options were to be a sex worker or a Devil Hunter. Either way, she was selling her body to the system. Kobeni is a victim of capitalism, which forces her to do what she hates, for goal that are not hers, and then gaslights us into thinking that she’s wrong for being crazy, she’s wrong for losing her shit, for not being able to handle it.

But... that's an asspull for me, even if it's my ass and I'm the one pulling. I'm truly not sure how to feel about Kobeni. Like, what is her deal?! I’m not sure what to make of her appearance in Chapter 20 in her sister’s hand-me-down. Are we supposed to pity her? See ourselves in her? Even in what I think was intended to be a mic-drop-ish line (at least for her), telling Aki that she didn’t quit because she was waiting on her bonus, landed flat for me, too deadpan to be pathetic and not sharp enough to be actually funny. Part of it may be because she is a character very much shaped by her circumstances as opposed to her personality or any interaction/action she does onscreen, but we don’t actually see her family situation in these chapters. We’re left with a painfully shy and cowardly woman who can’t seem to form any human connections with any of the other characters, who in multiple scenes is shown caving to the slightest pressure or threat.

Do the rest of the women fare any better? I’m not sure. Kobeni is unique in that she does not use her gender/sex appeal to manipulate the men around her and/or Denji (even Power lets Denji cop a feel to get her cat back!). Himeno, Makima, and Reze all hide their intentions for Denji behind the veil of his attraction to them (weak or strong) and are either unable or unwilling to be forthright in their desires and ambitions (Himeno to care for Aki; Reze, to accomplish whatever mission Gun Devil had her set out to do; and Makima, for fuck do I know at this point, but she’s up to something!!). Meanwhile, the men are straightforward to a fault. Did Fujimoto intend this? Is this just a subconscious reveal of his own conceptions of gender and Bitches Be Weird?

I’m not a person who needs to have a strong female narrative in a story, but when you start a story with a protagonist whose life ambition for many chapters was just to feel a boob, you better be careful, you know? CSM doesn’t lack for women; Makima and Power are both formidable characters in their own rights, self-assured and unbeholden to anyone but themselves. But so far almost every arc has featured a woman offering herself to Denji sexually in order to get him to do what they want. It’s getting real old real fast.

#chainsaw man #reading too deeply into the text

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thenightling · 3 years

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Why I do NOT think Over The Garden Wall’s ending is secretly sad

Recently I came across a comment from someone who believes Over The Garden Wall actually has a sad ending and Greg and Wirt and doomed, that the ending is false because of the lyric “Loveliest ...lies of all.” I have to admit I was initially worried about this being potentially true too. But then I remembered a few things that reassured me. A few things made me certain the end is not false.

1. The phrase “Loveliest... lies of all”: At first this worried me too that the frog was giving a wink-wink / nudge-nudge that this wasn’t really how it ended but how the boys would have wanted it to end but then I realized something. He actually sings "Loveliest lies of all" at the start of the first episode too. So if the end is a lie so is the whole thing. So this makes the concern moot, doesn’t it?

2. “What is a story but a lie?”: Some people call fictional stories "lies" and The Unknown is a land of stories. A similar reasoning is how Marvel evolved Loki from God of lies to God of Stories in the comics.

3. The Over The Garden Wall comics are supposed to be canon: The Over The Garden Wall comics (from the same writer) indicate all the stories ended the way the afterward claimed.

4. The end scene is supposed to show how the boys touched the lives of those in The Unknown: We have been told that the ending is supposed to show how the boys impacted the lives of those in The Unknown. Why do that if only that one part is a lie?

5. It was all real on some level: The Bell still being in the frog’s stomach indicate that the adventure was at least partly true.

6. The opening and closing bookends: There are things tied together that the boys would not have known in order to imagine the happy endings for the lives they touched. For example, the fact that the gristmill (now mostly repaired) was owned by Beatrice’s family and the dog from the first episode was hers. The boys didn’t know Beatrice had a dog. The boys also didn’t know what the woodsman’s daughter looked like. We only saw her in the preview segment of the first episode. And Lorna’s ending was the most probable since Auntie Whispers turned out to be a fairly nice person (even if she didn’t think of the obvious way to get rid of the spirit). There’s a preview (in the opening segment of the first episode) that ties directly to the ending and the boys wouldn’t have been aware of either.

7. A sad conclusion doesn’t match the rest of the mini-series: All of Greg and Wirt's adventures ended mostly happily already (”O Potatoes and Molasses: The school is saved via fund raiser and the gorilla was Jimmy Brown all along,” the frog choosing his human companions over fame and fortune, the Potsfield folk just letting them go after their two friends were dug up, Adalade defeated, Lorna de-possessed and deciding Auntie Whispers is her family after all for loving her and looking after her through the ordeal, And the crazy old tea seller (who might actually be the ghost) finding love with his business competitor. So there's no real reason the ending should be false considering how far fetched the previously established stories played out.

8. Purgatory isn’t a bad place by its original definition: Yes, I’m aware that there’s a high chance the boys are in purgatory, or some place between realms. There’s also a chance they are in The Dreaming (realm of dreams and stories) or a combo of the two. But purgatory is not necessarily a bad place and you sometimes CAN return to the land of the living from purgatory. It’s not like the Dante’s Inferno video game or Divine Comedy (which is Bible fan fiction, by the way). Even if Dante’s Divine Comedy did influence Over The Garden Wall so did Goethe’s Faust (part 2 of which had a sweet ending) and a bunch of other classic stories. And purgatory is supposed to be a place between here and it is indicated that it is where forgotten stories (folktales / faery tales) must play out. And most of those were designed to have happy endings.

9. The references and homages don’t fit a bleak ending: Yes, some old Grimm Faery tales have very dark endings but the raw blue print for Over The Garden Wall comes from American folktales, vintage New England post cards, and 1920s to 1940 cartoons, which usually were whimsical and had happy outcomes. You can see the likes of Betty Boop, The Wizard of Oz, and even Shirley Temple’s Animal Crackers in my Soup in loving homage.

10. Tome of the Unknown: They were helping forgotten stories reach their conclusion. That’s why the original working title was ��Tome of the Unknown.” (Which Lorna is reading in her final scene, by the way.) The fact that Lorna is reading the Tome of the Unknown (the book of stories the Unknown characters are supposed to be from) suggests that the boys actually helped these characters play out their stories like faery tale characters in an Enchanted Forest.

11. A sad ending doesn’t really match the established tone. They were mostly sweet forgotten stories and folktales too from the looks of it. If Beatrice was turned into a bird by a bird for throwing a rock why is it so hard for us to accept a witch’s scissors could turn her back? I was worried the scissors would actually mutilate her too but I think we’re just too used to that sort of thing today. Older stories were not so cynical which brings me to point 11.

12. Projecting cynicism and dark expectations: I saw similar projected darkness with some people watching The Shape of Water and thinking the end was wishful thinking even though we had already seen “The Asset” use healing powers. And Guillermo del Toro said it has a happy ending. The Rugrats aren’t dead and Angelica is not just imagining them either. Sometimes things actually just are wholesome. They don’t need to be edgy.

13. I’m aware of what was considered early in the production: Just because an author considered making something darker than what was made doesn’t mean the finished product is darker too. People also like to bring up that in the “original“ Peter Pan the boy was a villain and did awful things but that is not the version that became a beloved play and children’s book. That was essentially a prototype version that no one cared for.

14. Sequel?: Though it’s not likely the show’s creator (Patrick McHale) will do it, there were sequel considerations for Over The Garden Wall, which would require those stories to have ended the way we saw them.

15. “If Dreams can’t come true then why not pretend?” I’ve heard this lyric used to try to claim the ending is false but one could argue that all of the stories the boys encounter in Over The Garden Wall are dreams. And what is the sure way to make a dream become real? “Fake it until you make it.” In other words... Pretend. So the boys may have turned those stories (including their endings) real. Pretending and belief. Believing something strongly enough that is how you make an ideal real.

To quote Death in the novel Hogfather by Terry Pratchett.: “ THEN TAKE THE UNIVERSE AND GRIND IT DOWN TO THE FINEST POWDER AND SIEVE IT THROUGH THE FINEST SIEVE AND THEN SHOW ME ONE ATOM OF JUSTICE, ONE MOLECULE OF MERCY. AND YET”—Death waved a hand. “AND YET YOU ACT AS IF THERE IS SOME IDEAL ORDER IN THE WORLD, AS IF THERE IS SOME...SOME RIGHTNESS IN THE UNIVERSE BY WHICH IT MAY BE JUDGED.” "Yes, but people have got to believe that, or what's the point—" MY POINT EXACTLY.” He goes on to say people need to believe in these things in order for them to “Become.”

This is how you make concepts real, through pretending and creating belief in the idea.

So in a sense what he’s really saying here can be seen as “Make it real.”

#Over the Garden Wall #OTGW

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vincess-princess · 4 years

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someone new

Victorian asylum!Motley Crue au.

@smokeandmirrorz i’m obsessed and your au is the reason.

They brought Tommy in at night. In a closed carriage with all windows covered securely. Like an animal, Tommy thought. Like a rabid, dangerous animal that they couldn’t put down, and so they left him where nobody would ever look. Among the mad, the insane, the lunatics, the retards, the idiots. Oh, his father was clever, he knew no one will even think that Sir David Bass would ever let anyone from his family get into such a… situation. No, the Basses had money, influence and connections, they would always find the way.

Well, they did. A way to Feelgood hospital for the insane, an asylum on the outskirts of London, home to criminals and paupers. “You will blend right in,” his father’s voice was saying in his head over and over like a broken record.

As the carriage stopped in the asylum yard, a figure separated from the darkness of the porch and approached them. It was a man who held a candle in his hand. Tommy stared at it in amusement for a second or two. A candle? In the age of gas lamps?

Colson, the man his father entrusted with delivering Tommy to the hospital, opened the carriage door, jumped out of it and stretched out his hand to help Tommy. He ignored it and got out of the carriage himself. He wasn’t of nobility anymore, was he? He was the crazy pauper in an asylum for the insane, and crazy paupers in asylums do not need help getting out of a carriage. To be fair, they probably don’t even need a carriage.

Tommy also considered spitting on the ground and saying a curse or two, but decided to put it off till tomorrow morning.

Colson pulled his bag out of the carriage and carried it to the entrance. The bag was small and all its contents were newly-sewn right for this occasion. One can’t flash a family brooch with three-carat diamonds in it in an asylum, right?

The man who approached them shot a weird look at the bag, but didn’t say anything. What, did he expect lord – no, no longer lord, - mr. Thomas Lee Bass to wear the same rags as other lunatics? No way in hell.

“Would you be so kind as to follow me, sir?” the man said ingratiatingly. Tommy eyed him up and turned away in disdain. Bootlicker, this one. Show him money, and he would do anything.

They went up to the porch and stopped, waiting for the man to find the right key. Tommy turned around and cast the last glance at the carriage, the last thing connecting him with his so-called family. It might have been his last ride in the carriage at all. From now on, on your own two feet, Tommy. On your own two feet.

The door opened, and the man stepped inside and made an inviting gesture. The candle flame in his hand fluttered from the draft. For a second Tommy got irrationally scared that it would blow out.

Tommy stepped inside, and darkness enveloped him.

***

Mick couldn’t sleep.

He had been on those new pills for only a few months, and they already stopped working. His body learned how to build up tolerance to sleeping pills so fast. Oh, it knew how to torment Mick in most ingenious, intricate ways.

The doctor would probably get angry when he learned yet another medicine stopped working on Mick. On Mick, the man who needed those pills more than anyone else in the world. Whose entire life depended on them.

Very fair, Creator. Very fair.

Mick decided he just wouldn’t go to sleep that night. Not the first time; not the last time. He just wouldn’t sleep, he would just look out of the window at the clouds in the sky. The moon was full that night, but it was almost impossible to see because of the clouds. Not for Mick, though. He had patience and he had time.

Just as a small portion of the sky cleared up, letting a few moon beams through, Mick saw a faint light in the yard. He moved closer to the window, trying to make out what was happening in the yard. A carriage with a horse, a good carriage and a very fine horse, Mick could tell even in the dark. He had long learned to see in the dark, considering that he had spent most of his nights awake. Two people went out of the carriage, one of whom was also carrying something.

Then the moon hid behind clouds, and everything was too dark again even for Mick’s eyes. He only saw a faint light in the hand of one figure, and it soon disappeared too. The figures must have come inside.

Mick moved back to his bed and lay onto the blanket. He was an old man, he had seen a lot, and he had spent almost all of his life that he remembered in this asylum. But even he couldn’t help but feel a little spark of excitement inside him.

New patients had always been fun.

***

Nikki’s thigh was bleeding.

Nikki wanted it to bleed more. He scratched it, and scratched it, and scratched it, but to no avail. He had already broken half of his nails, but could only get so far. There was a bleeding, but minor, feeble, not enough. He needed pain. More pain. Anything, just to drown out his own thoughts, too messy, too quick, too swirling, too intrusive.

Nikki rolled up his sleeve and bit into his upper arm. He had been good all that month, hadn’t hurt himself once. And now – relapse. And now - be tied to the bed every night. Again.

He was so tired of restraints.

The taste of blood on his lips, pain shooting up his arm, dear pain, darling pain. It was simple; it was easy; it was friendly. Nikki’s thoughts – Nikki’s own thoughts – weren’t.

Nikki licked the bite on his arm and was just going to bite in the second time when he heard voices in the corridor.

He panicked. He quickly pulled his pants up and straightened the sleeves of his robe. Then he realized it would get soaked in blood, and they would find he self-harmed again, and they would shower him in cold water and-

Laughter.

He heard laughter from the corridor. Something that had never probably sounded in the walls of that building before. Laughter, of all sounds.

His curiosity took over him, and he let it carry him away. He sprang up and darted to the door, pressing his face into it, trying to see something in a tiny window on his door. What was going on in the corridor? Or, rather, who was passing by his cell? Who was that happy, merry person?

Laughter repeated, now very close to Nikki, and the next second he saw them – three men, one carrying a candle. And the other, tall, long-haired one whose white teeth glistened in the candlelight, was laughing.

The laughter was neither happy nor merry. It was manic.

***

Vince was lying on the floor of the padded cell and counting seconds. He could do nothing more than that - he was in a straitjacket. He could also sing, of course. He could sing very well. Only the guards didn’t like his singing at night for some reason. And Vince didn’t want to lose another tooth.

He wanted to masturbate, but again, in the straitjacket he could only what, grind onto the floor? Vince imagined it and snorted. Although he was desperate enough to consider this seriously very soon. Damn, maybe Nikki would agree to help. He seemed to enjoy it last time.

But to get to Nikki he first needed to get out of this goddamned padded cell.

Over the last month he had spent almost every night in a straitjacket, some of them in his cell, but most of them here. There already was a joke among the patients that they were going to put someone else in Vince’s cell and completely move him to the padded cell. Vince laughed when he first heard it, then found its author and kicked out a couple of his teeth. Their traces were still visible on his fist.

Someone else also must have told a funny joke because Vince was pretty sure he heard laughter from the corridor, laughter loud enough to get through the walls of the padded cell. It got closer, and Vince realized that it hadn’t been a funny joke, because the laughter was anything but happy. As absurd as it might have sounded. He hadn’t heard crying that desperate as that laughter was.

Vince sat up on the floor. No one in the hospital laughed like that, or he would remember them. It was someone new. In the hospital, a new patient.

Oh, if only he was good-looking.

#i wrote this on a spur of the moment this isnt betaed and i just wanted to get this piece out so i can finish ex malo bonum in peace #motley crue #motley crue fanfiction #victorian asylum!au #nikki sixx #vince neil #tommy lee #mick mars #enjoy this while i finish ex malo bonum #i just wanted to pull away from it for a day and direct my attention to something else #also yeah it wouldn't be my fic without me trying to put in some vinikki lmao #i also suck at titles and i know that

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comicteaparty · 4 years

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April 20th-April 26th, 2020 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party week long chat that occurred from April 20th, 2020 to April 26th, 2020. The chat focused on Only In Your Dreams! by Tuyetnhi Pham.

Featured Comment:

Chat:

Comic Tea Party

BOOK CLUB START!

Hello and welcome everyone to Comic Tea Party’s Book Club~! This week we’ll be focusing on Only In Your Dreams! by Tuyetnhi Pham~! (http://oiydcomic.com/)

You are free to read and comment about the comic all week at your own pace until April 26th, so stop on by whenever it suits your schedule! Discussions are freeform, but we do offer discussion prompts in the pins for those who’d like to have them. Additionally, remember that while constructive criticism is allowed, our focus is to have fun and appreciate the comic! Whether you finish the comic or can only read a few pages, everyone is welcome to join and chat with us!

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 1

1. What did you like about the beginning of the comic?

2. What has been your favorite moment in the comic (so far)?

3. Who is your favorite character?

4. Which characters do like seeing interact the most?

5. What is something you like about the art? If you have a favorite illustration, please share it!

6. What is a theme you like that the comic explores?

7. What do you like about the comic’s story or overall related content?

8. Overall, what do you think the comic’s strengths are?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

5. I like how distinctive the character designs are! The mcs are both very unique and recognizable

8. It doesn't take itself too seriously, but it also explores some real neat concepts

the story is full of personality

carcarchu

the comic's not loading for me shakes fist at wifi, gonna try again tomorrow but i just wanted to say the look of the site is really cute!

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

Got the chance to read it So here are some of my thoughts: 1. I like the romantic atmosphere that the comic starts off with warm colours and it gives a vacation ad sensation? 2. My favourite moment is in the pink strange dream world, the colours contrast to the reality of Cara. 4. Fave moment: When that mystery guy shows up and he had corny lines like a romantic parody. It seem so fantastical. 5. I like the colour palette choice of brown tones, shades of pinks. 6. I think the theme is about expectations (it's not clear atm), how Cara is distancing from real relationships and prefer to indulge. 7: I like how the creator shows Cara looking scared of confronting things. It sets an interesting tone of uncertainty. Is she hiding something?(edited)

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I'm super curious about the situation of Cara not remembering her past dreams with Richie, and how that ties into the theme.

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

1. I like how I don’t know what to expect. I also like how the premise is relateable; the idea that you are scared of imperfection making you have high standards in life hit close. 2) Every single time we’re treated to....Tuyetnhi’s lovely use of expression. Also the end part of episode 2, because that’s when I realized it’s going to get dark. 3) A tie between Ana and Richie. Ana because she makes me laugh with her blunt assertions (which...aren’t wrong) and Richie because he’s so flamboyant and extra. I love how much personality they all have. 4) Hands down Richie and Cara. They have a really hilarious dynamic going on. 6) The idea that people seek perfection through their dreams instead of facing reality. Also I really liked how it tackles society’s fixation on everyone to find someone....maybe Cara doesn’t need that and needs to focus on herself first? 7) That I won’t know what to expect. I came into this thinking it was going to be a classic romcom, and then I get hit with implicit horror and trippyness. I have a feeling Tuyetnhi is hinting at some darker aspects of the story we have yet to see. 8) Good lord the expressions. They really do the story justice and make me turn the page every time. Also the colours are beautiful.(edited)

(Whoops sorry keiiii)

7) two moments actually!

The fact that their wide eyed sweaty expressions matched made me laugh really hard

And also Cara’s quick acceptance of the situation was so unexpected and hilarious I took a double take. Also props to the colour dissonance; that looks like meme material right there!

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

yeah. I want to make it clear that Cara is like "This is really not my day." lol

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

Well....you portrayed that sentiment perfectly

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

Omg yes the wide eyed expressions were also making me laugh! Well that was an expression I didn't expect coming into the story(edited)

I was wondering if that was suppose to be serious or humorous?

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

both LOL

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

I see the horror you got going there Tuyetnhi Reminds me of...I dunno Jojo?

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

well............ yes and no lol

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

But I can’t wait to see what’s going to happen

Although...if we’re going by the silhouette....is she scared of herself?

WHAT DOES THAT MEAN

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

I like that sense of not knowing what's happening? :)(edited)

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

that will be coming up in Ch. 3 soon

so please wait till then thank u lol

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

So far it's tough to choose a fave character right now since I feel the story has just started its first segment. I would like to wait until more content is shown before I can make a firm choice? (I'm analytical, I like to go over OCs flaws and strengths once I know more about them)(edited)

I'm curious to learn about her ex crush, since we only get a glimpse of how Cara precieve him. But what is Dean really like? *Drum rolls(edited)

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

you got.... good questions

it will be rewarded.... later on LOL

mariah (rainy day dreams)

1. What did you like about the beginning of the comic? I really liked the colors and island vibe. And this was even before Animal Crossing came out and I started hardcore living that island life I just love a good, soft pink to purple gradient generally speaking so the opening of the story was like falling into a comfy brain pillow for me. 2-4 I'm just gonna answer these ones kind of all together because they thoughts on then are all kind of threaded together into one big thought. After having read through the archive I really liked the scene with Ana and Cara. When I first read it I was like "dang, she's giving Cara such a hard time," but after having read the scenes where Cara just refused to admit to Richie she doesn't know what's going on I really retroactively appreciated Ana's willingness to call Cara on her bullshit XD I think it's a really good foil trait to have for a protagonist who seems dead set on avoiding confrontation even though it seems like doing so is most likely just gonna come back to bite her later. I imagine we aren't going to see Ana for a while though unless Cara is able to use her Phone A Friend card in the dream realm XD I am also looking forward to seeing more of the Cara doppelganger and how she and Cara interact with each other going forward. That feels like an exciting and drama filled mystery

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

1. What did you like about the beginning of the comic? I also love the atmosphere. The color choices are just so beautiful. 2. What has been your favorite moment in the comic (so far)? Ana pointing out Cara's BS hahahaha. 3. Who is your favorite character? Definitely Ana. She's so down-to-earth from what I can tell, someone I'd want to be friends with. 4. Which characters do like seeing interact the most? Probably Ana and Cara. I like to see good friendships depicted, especially in a romance. 5. What is something you like about the art? If you have a favorite illustration, please share it! In general, everything is so soft and pretty. I also really appreciate the fact that all the characters have larger noses. If I had a favorite panel, it would be at the beginning, the sunset beach waves. 6. What is a theme you like that the comic explores? So far, I'm not sure about themes, but I like the talk about the pressure parents give to their children to get married. 7. What do you like about the comic’s story or overall related content? There's a lot of mystery, so I'm looking forward to learning about Cara's dreams, Richie, and the key. 8. Overall, what do you think the comic’s strengths are? The visuals are really nice. I can't stop gushing about the color choices and the pretty atmosphere.(edited)

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

The way Cronaj sums up their thoughts on OiYD, I'm agreeing with the statement on Ana and Cara! Esp friendship part

Deo101 [Millennium]

I'll answer the questions hopefully later this week, but this song reminded me of the comic!!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4z5ecLCvSQ(edited)

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

@Deo101 [Millennium] damn that’s a good song

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

Oooo

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

He's definitely hot and extra

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

lmao

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

My joke idea is that Cara is secretly in a reality show starring Richie and her and the bonds they play out is meant for a live broadcast. But she's clearly not agreeing to this(edited)

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

oh god. i don't think that's good for Cara's mental state lmao

Feather J. Fern

Also I have to say, I do love how the first cover is literally Cara being the meme of "Oh no he's hot"

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

fjdkalfdjdklfj

Feather J. Fern

Also I finally started it, while a bit late, I have to relate to Cara being an accountant.

Also I think my favourite panel is "Welp that worked"

Also I have to appreciate picking a pink that doesn't grate on the eyes.

https://gyazo.com/71fe22ea6ac2ebf6b3d85531c66bf8ed Another really good panel

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

I enjoyed making that one LOL

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

that face is one of my favourites not gonna lie

Feather J. Fern

I really like the surrealness of the story, can't wait to see what happens next

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

same! I feel like something is about to happen

I'm also wondering how Richie would react to the real world

like....the ex. And her parents.

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

soon™️

Feather J. Fern

More like everyone reacting to Richie XD

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

Yeah pretty much

Like can Richie handle the world?

More like

Can the world handle RICHIE

RebelVampire

I like that the beginning really contrasts the dream and Cara's reality pretty quickly. I kind of feel it catches that feeling of coming out of a dream to face reality which kind of sucks, and also plays into the themes of dream vs. reality and expectation vs. reality. It's very easy to idealize things, whether as a route of escapism or just because it sounds appealing. But the reality of things generally is always different, and I like that we're seeing this full force in the comic through Cara's perspective. And the contrasts between the two really enhance those topics. My favorite moment in the comic so far is probably when Cara meets what I assume is Dean. Cause I really loved that both parties were kind of at fault, and I also liked how quickly that convo devolved into a grumpfest, because that felt very realistic. My favorite character right now is definitely Richie, because he is ridiculous and sympathetic at the same time. I adore his exaggerated personality, while at the same time feel sorry for him since for him the memories are clearly there and like...I would not want to be in the shoes of someone where the person they loved no longer remembered them. As for character interacting the most, Cara and Richie because that entire premise of one person remembering and the other not makes for a really tense and awkward situation. It's hard to tell where it's going to go. What I like about the art is the palettes of color chosen, since there's some beautiful scenery as well as fantastic contrasts when needed to make certain moments pop (like dream vs. reality).

As for the story content, what I actually like the most is that Cara is a flawed protagonist. I've read a lot of stories where the protagonist is always 100% right in the relationship and is just eternally the victim because society pressure. But Cara has a lot more going on, since she's clearly been at fault in some interactions, and while we can sympathize with people pressuring her into relationships, she also maybe takes it too far by being avoidant of basically every relationship. However, since she has these traits, I'm more invested into her personal dilemmas since she'll actually make mistakes when dealing with stuff. Which I think this is the overall strength of the comic. Cara is just a damn good protagonist who is easily likeable but isn't perfect and whose imperfections are not just brushed off so easily.

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

;_; .... thank you.

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

I love the story so far! When I first started, I figured it would be some sort of awkward story where Richie comes into the real world and he has to figure out how to, like, act natural, and hilarity ensues. But holy cow, Cara losing her memories, and the slide into somewhat of a horror angle - it's not something I expected (though admittedly I could have read the synopsis lol), but it's definitely something I like!(edited)

Comic Tea Party

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 2

9. Do you think the people around Cara were right to try and pressure her into a relationship? Overall, what do you think the comic has to say about relationships and the themes regarding relationship pressure?

10. Is what Cara experiencing dream or reality, and where is the line between them in this case? Additionally, why do you think her dreams have the potential to become reality as opposed to other people? Also, what is the overall message underlying these themes?

11. Is Richie really just a dream Cara dreamt up, or is there something more to him? If he somehow makes it to Cara’s world, do you think he’ll be able to adjust to that reality? Also, can he win Cara over?

12. What do you think the Cara imposter is about, and what does this have to do with the entire situation? Do you think Cara will eventually remember her dreams? Lastly, what do you think Cara has in store for her as the story continues?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

9. I personally don’t think it was great of the people in Cara’s life to pressure her like that. Sure, they mean well, but it’s most likely bringing Cara’s self esteem down by a lot. I have a feeling that her dreams/reality colliding together is partially motivated by that; the pressure of pleasing society has made her....subconsciously take drastic measures?

10. I’m actually not sure! Maybe there’s a supernatural explanation to it, or it could all just be a dream. Dreams have a way of showing a person’s innermost desires or fears, so maybe Cara’s desires and fears are coming alive in response to external stress factors. So perhaps she opened a portal of sorts between the realms in some way (there’s a key!!!!).

11. Oh I’m thinking they might end up together. But the realist inside me thinks...perhaps what Cara needs isn’t romantic love, but more independent love and being able to love herself. What DOES worry me, however, is the fact that Richie seems...a bit desperate for Cara to like him. Is there a condition to his love after all? If so, that means that it’s possible he’s forced in some way to love her or make her love him. And that’s not really conducive to romance, is it?

12. Ah...the thing that makes me mystified the most. Cara seems to have a negative view of herself, since she told her to get out in the end of chapter two. However, Cara #2 seems to be pretty helpful; knocking on the door to tell her to get out of the house (which Richie has her in), so in a way letting her out. While our Cara seems to dislike her a lot, I think the key to the story would be our Cara needing to accept this double Cara to be really free. Maybe she will, maybe she won’t! But from what I can see from the story and like I’ve said earlier...maybe Cara needs to be able to find love within herself. Love for that Cara double, and enough love to become independent and not bend to society’s overwhelming pressure for outside romance. I hope she finds that as the story comes along, and know that it’s okay to not be ready for love.

As for Richie...hmm. He’s dealing with an amnesiac heroine, and adjusting to the real world. I’m sure it’s going to lead to some hilarious hijinks, but hopefully he can manage! He seems up to the task

RebelVampire

I think whether people were right to pressure Cara is a tricky gray area. On the one hand, no, they were wrong. Nobody should be forced into a relationship. But on the other hand, if you know a person is actively self-sabotaging, isn't it more correct to speak up? So to me this is maybe a situation of good intentions with bad execution. However, I do think overall the comic does say pressuring people into relationships sucks and plz don't do that cause that's how you make ppl run further away. I think it's both, because a dream is reality in a sense. I think many of us have had dreams that caused real emotional affects, whether negative or positive. So the line between them is merely the fact effects are limited. Cara have may have just found a way to cross that line and make a dream a tangible thing that has more consequences. As for why her dreams, I don't know. Maybe she's just super good at dreaming. I do think as the overall message though is that dreams are good but not when we get lost in them, because then we idealize and reject "reality" in ways that aren't healthy. I do think Richie is primarily something Cara dreamt up, but kind of not maybe. Like sure maybe Cara is idea creator, but something else was involved in making the physical reality of that idea. As for Richie adjusting to Cara's world, I'm sure it will be laughably hilarious. I do think he can sort of win Cara over, at least in the sense of being friends. Cause how can you hate Richie? I'm taking a shot in the dark and saying Cara imposter is the embodiment of Cara's missing memories but since they're just memories, all they can do is imitate. As for Cara remembering, I feel like it will be yes but I kind of want it to be no. I like the idea of them having to reform a relationship entire from scratch.

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

Oo good impressions! I wish I have more to say but it would affect the story LOL. Enjoyed reading everyone's theories tho!

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

Ok my turn, let's see what my head theories are: 9: I felt the same annoyance as Cara but it's a mixed feeling, Even though, people shouldn't pressure a lady on her love life, she also has a problem with being in relationships. Or I remember one quote from the story was how she 'ditched her dates by rushing to the bathroom.' although I don't know her circumstance, I do know she has issues to settle too. Relationship pressure is real, especially as a young person grows older. 10. From the comic visuals, it feels much like it's her escapism dream. The only clue I got, is that her holding a literal 'key' connecting both worlds, is evidence that both world could collide. So far, we haven't seen other people's dreams, or whether this is an unusual occurrence in the world? It seems to be a message about idealistic relationships. Since Cara seem to turn away real ones, it manifested? 11. I'm curious about Richie's character too. He seems like a powerful imagination, enough to sway the lead, so he's more than a simple figment. I wonder if his submissive, flirtatious (?) personality was build in him. He doesn't seem to have a 'life' outside his dream house, or so far. 12. I'm not sure whether the 'Other Cara' might be trying to help her or is that.. actually a shadow side? I don't want to say too much, but it's interesting to see where the story goes.(edited)

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

Oh! You make a good point about Richie; I never thought about that! Do you think maybe he's simply a part of Cara and eventually gains his own sentience/personality?

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

Hehe I like analyzing dreams :3 In dream theory, I feel he could be? I was more skeptical whether he should be treated as a real character or something else.(edited)

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

man this does make me want to look up dream psychology

i have a feeling...Tuyetnhi is using some theories from that

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

Hmmmm dream psychology you say?

I guess you can say there's some elements of that, but it's not a major chunk of it if that makes sense lol

Comic Tea Party

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 3

13. What are you most looking forward to seeing in regards to the comic?

14. Any final words of encouragement for the comic?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

13. Maintaining the will power to finish OIYD! so I can see it as its end lmao. As a passion project but also something that I want to invest in when I have the time, I hope ya'll looking forward in reading Ch. 3 very soon lol.

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

13. I really want to see how both Cara and Richie will develop as characters. Whether Cara will figure out for herself what being both independent means....and whether she does want a relationship for herself and not for other people. Likewise with Richie, I want to see if he'll be able to be his own person...and whether he's real or not. I have a lot of questions that I want to be answered, and I can't wait to keep reading.

14. Tuyetnhi, good luck on the webcomic. It's hard to start one and even harder to pull off a good one, and I know yours is a good one. I really look forward to reading more from you. You're amazing (edited)

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

thank you

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

13. I'm interested in learning more about Cara's conflicts, why she is hesitant about having a real relationship vs her dream one? I love the unexpected dark twist that the story seems to be going. 14. I want to say, no pressure and take your time to complete the chapter. Just know you have my support and willing to read when it is ready. Good luck

RebelVampire

I'm looking forward to more Richie being Richie. Because he is an adorable person. And also because I'm waiting for some 'reality' culture shock. My final words are that this comic has a strong themes game going on and an intriguing premise, so it'll be fun to see where the comic is in a few more chapters since I'm pretty sure we're in for a wild ride.

Comic Tea Party

BOOK CLUB END!

Thank you everyone so much for reading and chatting about Only In Your Dreams! this week! Please also give a special thank you to Tuyetnhi Pham for volunteering the comic and creating it! If you liked Only In Your Dreams!, make sure to continue to support it via some of the links below!

Read and Comment: http://oiydcomic.com/

Tuyetnhi’s Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/oiydcomic

Tuyetnhi’s Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/tuyetnhip

Tuyetnhi’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/tuyetnhip

#ctparchive #comics #webcomics #indie comics #comic chat #comic discussion #book club #bookclub #webcomic bookclub #webcomic book club #comic tea party #ctp #only in your dreams #only in your dreams!#tuyetnhi pham

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izayoi-hakuyu · 4 years

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The small stone and the involved nut - The theme of isolation and connection within Haibane Renmei

Actually sitting down and writing an analysis? For an anime that was released almost 20 years ago and that like almost nobody knows? Me? Apparently, yesh!

After I rewatched Haibane Renmei months ago I couldn’t get it out of my mind all this time and writing about it has burned under my nails ever since, so yes. This analysis will examine the themes of “isolation” and “connection”. At first there will be an examination of the setting and the way the world is built in Haibane Renmei and how it presents “isolation” and “connection”. After that there will be a closer look to the characters. The second chapter will analyses how the characters isolate themselves and how isolation is presented. The last chapter will focus on connection, the breaking up of said isolation and will further discuss how the theme of “connection” ties to other main themes, which are “guilt” and “forgiveness”.

Charcoal Feather Federation and the end of the world

I’m sorry for putting a reference from the title of the book “Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World” in the title of the chapter, which talks about the setting of Haibane Renmei. But it is stated from the creator ABe that he drew inspiration from Haruki Murakami’s (imo fantastic) book “Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World” and the similarities in the setting are striking. But this is not about the relationship between Haibane Renmei and the book, but Haibane Renmei alone and how it integrates the theme of isolation and connection in its setting. The setting of Haibane Renmei is a setting of isolation. The town of Glie and its surroundings are sheltered from the outside world by massive walls. It serves as a closed microcosm, the inhabitants of Glie – as shown with Sumika – may wonder what’s behind them, but never make actual attempts to overcome it. Coming neat towards the wall or even touch it leads to serve injury and sickness, which happens to Hyoko in the past and to Rakka in the present of the narrative. This way the isolation stays untouched. There are three entities, which are able to cross the walls: The crows, the Touga and Haibane that receive their Day of Flight. Their life as Haibane ends as they overcome the walls, the closed, isolated space which is Glie. Curiously their life as a Haibane starts in a similar way, namely sheltered in a cocoon. The cocoon isolates the Haibane from the world outside, serving as a sort of wall in itself. The first episode shows this very well with paralleling shots of Rakka in her cocoon and the other Haibane in front of the cocoon, who are discussing what to do. As soon Rakka hatches, she is no longer isolated, starts to connect with others, becomes an active part of the world around her. The progress of a Haibane hatching from the cocoon parallels in them crossing the wall during their day of flight. In both instances an isolated space is left behind, in other words: The Haibane are breaking free from the isolation. The cocoon could be seen as an Day of Flight on a smaller scale, preparing the Haibane for their mental journey that leads to cross the walls someday.

But the isolation is not only empathized in the world around the Haibane, but becomes especially clear in the social coexistence between Haibane and humans. Haibane are subject to the strict ruleset by the Haibane Renmei. They are separated from humans as they live in long-abandoned buildings like the Old Factory or Old Home away from town. On top of the physical separation and the appearance (halo and wings) that separates Haibane from humans, there is the social ruleset that furthers the Haibane’s isolataion. They are only allowed to possess goods that they have made themselves or that the townspeople have cast aside, like donations and discarded items. They have to find an occupation. On the other hand, money is something Haibane are not allowed to have as well; instead they carry notebooks used as scripts. These are instruments of oppression, creating a power imbalance, separating the Haibane further from the humans. Furthermore Haibane are seen as someone who brings luck, which makes them to be seen more as a “lucky charm” than a person by some. This is especially apparent with the woman who is harassing Rakka, who was already struggling with being sin-bound, by highlighting her strangeness as well as calling her Haibane, a term and a position, like I said Rakka was struggling with at that point.

The theme of isolation and separation is also explored with the entities, who are directly involved with the Haibane: The Haibane Renmei and their Communicator and the mysterious Touga, who are able to leave the walls behind and serve as merchants. The Touga are generally not allowed to speak directly and communicate with sign language only the Communicator knowns – furthering the Touga’s isolation within the community and the “otherness” of their status. A similar phenomenon can be observed between the Haibane and the Communicator. The Haibane are not allowed to speak to the Communicator directly (showing the power imbalance) and use their wings for sign language. “Silence” and “not speaking” are prominent elements to show and strengthen the theme of isolation. This is not only appearing in an outward ruleset but also within the characters (Rakka and Reki), but we will get to that later.

There are two other separated groups within the setting: The sin-bound Haibane and the crows, which curiously both have black feathers. It may be strange to examine those two together just because of this, but there is a reason, as both are separated by their unique statuses in the setting. Sin-bound Haibane are Haibane who can not fully remember their dream, which separate them from other Haibane. As seen in Reki’s past, they are shunned and avoided because of their otherness among other Haibane. Furthermore the ultimate fate of a sin-bound Haibane is “to fall”, to lose their wings and Halo, living a life separated from humans and Haibane alike. Speak: Ultimate isolation.

The crows are isolated because of their unique status of crossing the walls. Especially Kana shows disdain towards crows, scaring them away (similar to everyone except of Kuramori was discriminating and avoiding Reki because of her black wings). Rakka (and as well Kuu, who foils Rakka in being the youngest Haibane, their dream/name is about falling, both are struggling to finding themselves and a purpose in life, as well as Kuu being the first one to receive her Day of Flight while Rakka’s ability to receive the Day of Flight is questionable for a long time due to being sin-bound) on the other hand is much more empathic with the crows (which becomes an extremely important plot point later on), even suggesting to give them food. In her response Kana shows a lot more insight and motifs that go beyond that crows are “dirty” animals and envy that they are able to cross the wall: If they get too comfortable they might not want to leave and lose their freedom, which shows Kana’s wish for her own freedom but also a empathy for the crows that only Rakka seemed to show.

While crows can cross the wall by nature, the formerly sin-bound and fallen Haibane have lost the possibility to do so at all – Haibane on the other hand all have the potential to cross the wall on their Day of Flight.

While all the restrictions that are put on the Haibane makes the town of Glie appear like a bleak world, the opposite is actually the case. Glie presents itself as a peaceful, even idealistic place. One does wonder why there are restrictions in the first place – but Kana’s dialog with Rakka about the crows offers a interpretation: If the Haibane would get too comfortable within the town of Glie they would have an harder time to leave it, receive their Day of Flight and to move on with their existence. The life in Glie is a peaceful, worriless one. Every human is kindhearted (even the woman at the shop who tried to touch Rakka’s wings has no ill intention), conflicts don’t arouse. Even though some of them are curious about what is behind the wall (such as Sumika used to search for book) the human inhabitants and Haibane alike mostly don’t seem to mind the fact that they are not able to cross it and focus on their lives within the walls. The shop-owner is generous and friendly, Sumika the librarian is kindhearted, the man who works in the clock tower may seem grumpy but he appreciates Kana a lot.

The first episodes focus on Rakka being following Hikari, Kana and Nemo to their workplaces. Not only she connects with her fellow-Haibane this way, learning about their daily life and personality, but she also forms connection to humans this way. Human and Haibane are even able to connect through their differences – this is what the pregnant Sumika did when she asked Rakka what it is like to be born (empathizing the theme of birth). Most Haibane have initially connection to humans through their workplace, they even form deeper connections like friendship as it is shown with Nemu and Sumika. The town of Glie is a idealistic, kindhearted world – even impactful events like Kuu’s disappearing are, though they are mourned after, accepted relatively quickly and everyone goes back to their mundane everyday life pretty fast. But from this arises the problem what happens to them who don’t conform to such a idealistic world, for those who struggle and feel pain in an intense, long-term way? Who don’t seem to fit in a world where open, negative emotions don’t seem to have a place in? This is what happens with Rakka and Reki respectively.

If conflict arises it appears mostly within the realm of the Haibane. And if there is conflict in the realm of the Haibane, it revolves around those who are struggling with negative emotions and can’t find a place in such a idealistic world und struggle with those feelings: Rakka and Reki. Either in the form of inner conflict (wondering what is their purpose of their existence, struggling with their status of being a Haibane) or outer conflict (Nemu’s negative emotions arise from the worry for Reki; Rakka feeling out of place since she can not cope with Kuu’s disappearance but everyone else can; Reki’s past as a sin-bound Haibane, her feeling betrayed by Kuramori, her plan to escape, hurting Hyouko and Midori in the process). How Reki’s and Rakka’s struggles steam and are fueled by isolation shall be observed in the following.

Birds of a feather – Rakka, Reki and the burden of isolation

Isolation is one of the main themes surrounding both Rakka and Reki and during the narration they heavily foil each other via paralleling and contrasting.

Reki’s start as a life as a Haibane is defined by loneliness, pain and isolation – her cocoon emerged in a boarded up room and when she was found she already hatched. She had to bear the confusion of her new life, the erupting of her wings and the accomplished pain and fever all by herself. She was found unconscious and covered in blood, her wings being black instead of the charcoal color. Kuramori took care of her, cleaned her wings and nursed her back to health.

Rakka’s start highly parallels and contrasts Reki’s arrival. Rakka’s cocoon is found by Reki by chance in an abandoned section of the building complex. But contrasting her own fate, Reki finds before Rakka hatches. And right after she emerged, Reki takes care of her. Reki explains the situation to her, warns her about her condition, nurses her in a devotedly (she uses her own thumb so Rakka doesn’t bite her tongue while being in pain, foreshadowing her self-scarifying personality) and stays at Rakka’s bedside the whole night, watching over her and cleaning her wings. Reki gives Rakka what she couldn’t have at the start of her life: Company, care and compassion – the feeling of belonging, a connection to others. Rakka’s start in the life of a Haibane highly contrasts Reki’s because of the influence of Reki herself, who gives Rakka a different fate than her own by taking care of her.

The contrasting doesn’t stop there: Reki compliments Rakka’s charcoal wings, a callback to her own darkly stained feathers. While Reki started out as being sin-bound from right the beginning, Rakka adapts the status of being sin-bound only later on due to Kuu’s departure. What are Reki’s starting conditions is a development for Rakka. The black wings and the stigma of being sin-bound are the reason why Reki was discriminated by the other Haibane with only her mentor Kuramori giving care of her. In the present, Reki adapts Kuramori’s role as a caregiver towards Rakka. But in contrast to Reki, Rakka is able to bound to the other Haibane right from the beginning. She is bid welcome, everyone introduces themselves in a friendly manner and over the course of the first episodes, Rakka is able to connect with them individually with each episode being decided to a certain Haibane (Episode 3 is focused on Hikari and Kuu, Episode 4 focuses on Rakka’s and Kana’s relationship and Kana showing Rakka her project and Episode 4 Rakka helps out in Nemu’s workplace). All this activities are centered around giving and receiving help. Rakka is introduced to the world of the Haibane, receiving help to orientate herself in her new life, while Rakka on the other end gives help as well, e.g. helping in the library. The other Haibane willingly connect with Rakka, letting her into their personal lives.

As said before, Reki’s first time at Old Home was very different, spending her time as an outsider. Her first experience besides Kuramori introducing herself was Nemu, who refused to talk to her and ran away from her. A situation that would draw through all of Reki’s early experiences in Old Home. While Nemu is surrounded by the other Haibane children, Reki, a child herself at point, it standing isolated on the side, hiding herself. This highly contrasts the warm welcome Rakka receives. Furthermore her caregiver Kuramori falls ill several times due to her weak condition and the exhaustion of collecting medicines to bleach Reki’s wings. Something, Reki not only blames herself for but is blamed for it by an outside force, namely Nemu, who loves Kuramori as well and shoves the blame for her sickness towards Reki. In the end, she openly says to Reki, it will be her fault, if Kuramori died, which makes Reki cry out of fear and self-blame (the long shot on Nemu’s face instead of showing Reki crying suggest that Nemu is sorry). While Nemu watches over Kuramori, Reki is isolated again, even from giving help...until the point she shows up with food she bought for Nemu, thinking she was hungry. Nemu not only accepts the food, but apologies for what she said before. After that she suggests that they could cook together. A connective activity, showing Reki that she is accepted, wanted by someone else but Kuramori. Both are connected by the caring for Kuramori, but Reki bringing food, Nemu understands that Reki not only cares for Kuramori (by coming back instead of staying away) but for her as well, despite of what she has done (by bringing her food). Reki’s action of reaching out to Nemu leads to Nemu reaching out for Reki on her behalf. Nemu even integrates Reki in her activities, allowing Reki to be there and help, doing stuff with her instead of being isolated. In the next morning, when Kuramori wakes up, she sees the two Haibane sleeping on her bedside (paralleling how Reki stays at Rakka’s bedside several times, highlighting her caring nature), holding hands, which symbolizes the connection and the friendship the two girls have made. They are not only connected by caring about Kuramori, but also caring about themselves. Reki’s connection to others even expands further from this point, as she receives the job as the caregiver for the younger Haibane from Kuramori, which – after a moment of doubt if she is really fit for it (same as Rakka is always struggling with what she wants to do) – she accepts happily. She, who only was on the sidelines, is now not only in the center of other people and strongly connected to them, but has also a position of responsibility, showing the trust Kuramori has in her.

Rakka and Reki are slowly finding their places in the world, but both are taken aback by a loss in this stage of their development. In both cases Rakka and Reki are losing their mentor and family figures Kuu and Kuramori through their Day of Flight. Kuu and Kuramori disappear suddenly and the grief Rakka and Reki feel, pushes them into isolation. Reki feels betrayed by Kuramori disappearance, who promised to never leave her, fueling her existing trust issues and self-hatred. She can’t believe or accept Kuramori is gone, paralleling to how Rakka refuses to believe that Kuu won’t come back. Reki’s grief turns against herself in form of self-hatred and anger against Kuramori who seemingly abandoned her, Rakka’s depression partly stems from the fear for another person, namely that Kuu, who was so important to hear, will be forgotten. But this is only one aspect of Rakka’s depression. She is also unable to get back into normal routine after Kuu is gone, holding onto her grief. Seeing how all the other Haibane are going on with their everyday life every fast cuts Rakka’s emotional life off from the rest of her peers. She is unable to fit in and isolates herself. Her black feathers only emphasis her isolation from the world around her. Because of what happened to Kuu she begins to question the existence of the Haibane in the first place, asking questions humans and Haibane ask alike. “Why am I here?” “Where do I go?” “What is the point of my existence?” “What’s the point of my existence if I will disappear? If no one will remember me anyway?” Not only is Rakka unable to find an answer, but she also questions the legitimacy of her very own existence as a Haibane since the black feathers mark her as sin-bound, a “flawed Haibane”, in her and Reki’s eyes. Not only Rakka’s view of the relationship of the Haibane and the world around them (which is obviously a world were Haibane disappear someday) is torn apart and thrown into insecurity – but her own relationship with being a Haibane is just as well torn apart and thrown into insecurity. It is implied that Rakka always had those feelings of inadequacy (as she questioned why her, a normal girl, would become a Haibane) and was prone to questioning her own existence (how she wondered serval times over the nature of the Haibane even in the first episodes). Reki on the other hand always seemed to have the same feelings of inadequacy and loneliness accompanied by the fear of abandonment. In both cases, the disappearance of another Haibane (who was a mentor figure just as much as a part of the family), fuel and worsen Rakka’s and Reki’s existing issues.

In both cases it causes them to run away – in Reki’s case she found shelter in the Old Factory, where other Haibane most importantly her friends Midori and Hyouko live. So it was not a complete isolation, but she did cut ties with her actual home. Also the isolation furthers as Hyouko and Reki tried to flee together as it not only cuts ties with Midori, but Reki and Hyouko are planning to leave this world (the town of Glie) entirely. The attempt to run away is not only fueled by Reki’s perception as the town of Glie as a prison (as it not only her status as a sin-bound Haibane is a prison for her, but also her distance to Kuramori and the rest of the outside world), but also an attempt to reunite with Kuramori – which is an evidence that Reki forgave Kuramori the “betrayal”, even though she never overcame the feelings that “betrayal” left in her. The plan to run away horrible fails as Hyouko is badly hurt through touching the wall, almost bleeding to death – leaving Reki with an immense sense of guilt. Not only their plan is foiled, the ties between Reki and Midori are even more cut, as Midori blames her for Hyouko’s near-death. Furthermore, the Haibane from Old Home and the Old Factory are not allowed to interact with each other as an aftermath of their stunt, leaving Reki and Hyouko isolated from each other.

In comparison to Reki, Rakka is a lot more aimless. She is convinced that she can’t go back to Old Home anymore because she is not a “proper Haibane”, but she doesn’t have a concrete plan and – different to Reki – no other Haibane to support her in the situation (expect Reki, but Rakka has the feeling that she can’t entrust her worries to her and that nobody cares about her anyway. Here we have the theme of “not talking/staying silent” and how it causes issues.). The one guidance she has are the crows, which she emphasizes/connected with right from the beginning of her life as a Haibane (unknowing that she has a much deeper connection to crows due to her dream, which she can’t remember). She is able to emphasize enough with the crows to follow them in the forest, where she finds the skeleton of the bird in a dried up well (dried up as a symbol of death or how Rakka’s happiness has dried up). The theme of isolation and connection is heavily empathized with everything surrounding the well. First of all, it is a symbol for Rakka’s mental state: In a deep hole, unable to crawl out, the ladder is broken, her ankle is hurt (making her even more trapped); the well is in an isolated place so nobody could hear her, nobody knows where she is. In other words: Rakka is feeling depressed and hopeless, she doesn’t know how to feel better (in comparison to Reki, who thought she would feel better if she climbed the wall), any opportunity to feel better doesn’t work, her body is working against her (like the black wings), she feels isolated, nobody knows how she feels or that she needs help. The skeleton of the bird could foreshadow her possible fate (read: death) in the well, which is only emphasized by the falling snow, as snow is traditionally a symbol for death.

In this moment of isolation, Rakka is able to reconnect to the past: She remembers a time, where she felt exactly the same – lonely, isolating thinking, nobody was there for her or would grieve if she was gone. She is also able to recognize the skeleton of the bird as someone she knew, someone who was dear to her. The present reflects her past situation and through meeting the skeleton Rakka is able to remember her dream, having a moment of self-recognition: She remembers that the crow was indeed there for her and cared for her – even though she is unable to remember the context or who the bird originally was. What Rakka remembers is, that she felt lonely in her past life, wanting to disappear, thinking that nobody would care. But the person, represented by the bird, wanted to show Rakka that she was not alone, wanted to save her. That relates to Rakka’s dream how the bird is trying to stop Rakka’s fall – without success. Rakka feels guilty about letting the person, represented by the bird, down, for being unable to recognize their care, for leaving and leaving the bird alone. As a last act, Rakka buries the skeleton, an act of connection and respect, giving piece to the bird. And giving piece to herself. Soon after, Rakka is found by the Touga. Despite the gaps and restrictions between the Touga and Haibane, they both assist Rakka and help her out of the well, most likely saving her life. They never speak to her and are probably not allowed to interact with her, but they still emphasize with and reaching out to her.

It is no coincidence that Rakka and Reki both happen to be in the forest as a part of their personal journey. The forest is an isolated place, not meant to be intruded. Here, Rakka and Reki are confronted with themselves (as isolation means continuous self-confrontion with no one else) and with the consequences of their actions. Reki is confronted with her own recklessness wanting to cross the wall, while Rakka is confronted with the actions of her past and her inability to accept others attempts to reach out to her. In a similar line, both confrontations surround the theme of death and grief, as Hyouko almost died and the withered corpse of the bird – Reki and Rakka both being stricken with guilt. But for both, Hyouko and the bird, there is some sort of relieve. Hyouko survives while the bird is buried, giving it salvation and a reconciliation with Rakka. As Rakka touches the wall, as Hyouko did und falls seriously ill afterwards, Reki is confronted with her past all over again.

Receiving and accepting forgiveness from the bird and forgiving herself releases Rakka from her sin-bound status (we will talk about it in more detail later). Being told this throws Reki into depression – the only person who was like her archived what she never could. Rakka being sin-bound gave Reki comfort, the feeling of not being alone; shared pain is half pain after all. But for Reki it feels, they are no longer the same and Rakka cannot empathize with her anymore. She feels confirmed to the idea that she always be alone. That Rakka is no longer sin-bound can be interpreted as a “betrayal” in Reki’s point of view, which fear of it is one of the main themes surrounding her. A fear that comes true in her eyes. Furthermore the information of the Communicator that Nemu is always worried about Reki drags her down further as she fears to burden Nemu, hindering her Day of Flight – something which she does fear she will never accomplish. Not receiving the Day of Flight/worring about Reki too much would delay Nemu’s Day of Flight and may cause her to “fall” as a Haibane. This is what Reki thinks. She feels guilty about Nemu caring about her, this is why she tells her not to see her as a burden (cementing her worldview of not being able to ask for help). This shows, even though she will feel lonely and she feels envy of the Haibane (especially Rakka), who can take their Day of Flight, she wants others to take their Day of Flight, even if it means to be all alone.

As her time runs out more and more, Reki isolates herself more and more. She makes preparation to leave, thinking she will disappear soon. She is giving Rakka her cigarettes reminiscent on how Kuu gave her coat to Rakka, making Rakka worried. Furthermore she gives Hyouko his bell nut, the symbol of apology, a week earlier because she thinks she wouldn’t make it until the festival. She isolates herself not only emotionally by covering her pain with a smile but also physically, locking herself up in her room.

Reki may have received forgiveness from Hyouko and Midori, but that doesn’t better her condition.

She is convinced that she is not allowed to ask for help or rather she is afraid to ask, because she fears nobody would answer what only would confirm her ultimate loneliness. Reki expresses the wish to become a unfeeling stone – she can’t stand her feelings, because she feels too much, especially pain. Becoming a stone – this not only dehumanizes her, but gives her no chance of communication, no opportunity of interaction. It also reflects how low she thinks of herself, a stone on the sidewalk nobody notices. That the younger version that appears to confront her turns into stone, makes Reki cry, trying to stop the process, hugging her petrified, dissolving self. She doesn’t want this, she doesn’t want to become a stone. She wants someone to do what she did to her younger self – hold her, stop her from emotionally dissolving.

As Rakka offers Reki her real name as a last straw, the name indicates that there was no salvation for her in the first place (something that Reki is already convinced off). “The one who was run over and torn apart” – this being reveled her true name, suggest that there is no hope for Reki, only despair, pain and death. Reki remembers her cacoon dream, remembers the despair, the helplessness and hopelessness, the feeling of being always betrayed and the strong sense of abandonment and loneliness that she felt at this time in her past life. But not only within her past life, but her life as a Haibane as she feels abandoned by Kuramori, the other Haibane who reach their Day of Flight, by Nemu, who she thinks she only sees her as a burden, by the Communicator who refused to talk to her after the incidence with Hyouko (as part of the montage in ep 13 implies, which may be why she didn’t trust him anymore), by Midori (even though the conflict resolved). And last but not least she feels abandoned by God, who won’t give her blessing despite of all that she tried. This, mixed with the despair stemming from the current situation, that she thinks she is really beyond help (confirmed by her nametag), lets Reki hit her lowest point. As a result, Reki pushes everything away ultimately. Her own life and identity. And she pushes away Rakka, who can only watch helplessly. Reki claims to only care about herself and using Rakka as a tool for her own salvation. She opens up what she perceives to be her true feelings to Rakka: She tried to be a good Haibane to shed up the guilt that she felt all her life. But “being good” means to Reki that she was only accepted if she closed away her true feelings and acted that she was nice. Reki’s true feelings harshly clashes with what has been shown about her and her caring nature towards Rakka. To Reki, these feelings weren’t genuine. She harshly tells Rakka, her feelings for her weren’t genuine, but that it could have been anyone, that Rakka wasn’t necessary. Furthermore Reki expresses her jealousy towards Rakka, as both were sin-bound, but only she “was forgiven”. Her jealousy towards the happiness of others makes Reki hate herself even more. As the final straw Reki mentions the bet that she made with herself: That if she could make the Haibane that hatches from the cacoon trust her, that she would be forgiven. She says that to underline her selfishness to Rakka, who refused to believe that Reki is bad in any way. Reki refuses to believe in her own kindness, sees it barely as a facade to cover up her faults that she sees a her true personality (similar on how she dyed her wings to cover up the black spots. To her everything positive about her is just a cover, a facade for the “ugly” interior). By claming that her kindness has merely been a lie, Rakka is pushed away completely. Reki hates herself so much, that she pushes the last one away that she has, thinking she doesn’t deserve the love that she gets (just as Rakka used to think, which was made explicit during her conversation with the Communicator). She hates herself so much she can not accept the positive feelings towards her and does everything to push them away. Furthermore her plan to use Rakka for her own salvation failed, Reki abandons herself completely. Showing what she thinks is her true self to Rakka is relieving to her, since she doesn’t have to act anymore, can finally show how she really is and can finally get a reaction she thinks is appropriate to her (= abandonment). She tells Rakka to go out. Rakka, completely agonized and shattered by Reki’s words, leaves the room and Reki alone. This makes Reki’s isolation complete and her situation ultimately hopeless, because Rakka, who was the last hope to help Reki and the only one who was even trying, abandons Reki and feels to hurt and betrayed that it is unlikely that she will come again. Inside the room, Reki is isolated. Reki even compared the room to a cocoon, which is a symbol for isolation in itself as discussed before, emphasizing that theme. In the first episode, Reki said that there shouldn’t be help to break the cacoon – if there was help, the hatchling wouldn’t grow strong. This implied that she viewed to get help as a weakness right off the bat. But alone she can neither leave the cacoon nor her room nor her dream nor her negative self-image. All those words are synonyms in this situation. This is implied by how Reki said, that she never stopped having that dream – implying she never stopped feeling as worthless and guilty as she did in her past life. She was never awake and always in a dream – isolating her from the “real world”. She never stopped abandoning herself, as she abandoned herself on the railway.

When Rakka leaves, Reki has a conversation with a younger version of herself. A version, who actively wants to ask for help and saw this opportunity to help within Rakka, who reached out to Reki. Reki refused, says that she doesn’t deserve to be saved – her younger version desperately asked if she can’t even ask for it. She confronts Reki with her fears, if she was afraid to be betrayed. Reki agrees, agonizing, watching her younger self turn into stone and dissolving (symbolizing Reki’s wish to become a stone, Reki’s own loneliness [even a part of herself leaves her…by becoming that what Reki wanted. But Reki’s agony shows that she clearly did not want this] and her fear of vanishing if she can’t get salvation). She claims that there was no way of asking for help. After all salvation has never come to her. The younger self replies, it is because she never asked for help. She only did passively wait. By this, the younger self represents Reki’s own desires, not only turning into stone, but a Reki who wants to be helped, who isn’t afraid to ask. Reki on the other hand was too afraid for help, because being refused would confirm to her, that she was truly alone and nobody there to help her. Instead of acting she avoided it, the uncertainty was less agonizing than the possible truth and confirmation, that there was really nobody there for her. That somebody could help her never crossed her mind, due to that asking for help would mean to open up, to show her side that she considers “impure”, which would dispel any willingness to help from the person who offers help. Reki hugs her dissolving self, an act of despair (she can not stop herself from dissolving) and last act of self-care alike. Her other self vanishes and Reki is truly alone in her room. The painting comes alive and Reki is shown agonizing, waiting her fate. She knows what this fate is, since this situation perfectly mirrors her past experience, which she not only knows because of her dream but the as well as the letter which accompanied her true name.

Outside the door, deeply hurt Rakka begins to cry, thinking that she can’t love Reki anymore. And this would be the end of it…if Haibane Renmei wasn’t a story that would value connection, empathy and forgiveness.

Breaking the circle of sin – breaking the circle of isolation

Before talking about the theme of connection in Haibane Renmei further, this analysis will examine the Circle of Sin, as it presents itself as a closed, isolated system like a circle always leading back to the starting point – seemingly without a way to break free. Despite their name “sin” and “sin-bound” are original concepts within Haibane Renmei, working by their own rules which this analysis will try to approach. The first information we get about sin-bound Haibane are embedded in Reki’s and Rakka’s dialogue, after Rakka becomes sin-bound. Reki explains the sin-bound Haibane as Haibane who are not blessed and who are unable to remember their dream within the cocoon. Sin-bound Haibane are unable to receive their Day of Flight. Reki distinguishes between “good” and sin-bound Haibane – marking herself as bad in the process. During the dialog with Rakka on the other hand she claims that Rakka is not sin-bound because her feathers were charcoal when she emerged from the cacoon – Reki strengthens her point by telling Rakka that it was her who took care of her and saw this, emphasizing their connection in a positive way, using it as a proof for Rakka’s “goodness”. At this point Reki tries to comfort Rakka, but telling her that they are not alike creating a gap between them. On the other hand Reki is secretly comforted by the fact that Rakka is like her – explaining her feeling of loneliness when Rakka is no longer sin-bound. Within Reki’s explanation the title sin-bound seems like a condition that is inherited within a Haibane. As Reki views it, it can neither be obtained (as she denies that Rakka is sin-bound despite her black feathers) nor shed off (as she says, sin-bound Haibane can never achieve their Day of Flight). This reflects how hopeless she sees her own situation, having no hope in ever breaking her condition. She claims that it is something that just doesn’t work (because nothing she did to break from the condition showed effect) – but because nothing works it only strengths her despair and her feeling of being trapped in her situation. Again, at first it seems that there are “good” and “sin-bound” Haibane and there is no way of development and change. But when Rakka meets the Communicator within the forest, he discusses the circle of sin with her and we learn that there is more to the nature of “sin”.

The Communicator says that Rakka’s wings and Halo are the proof that she has no sins to be atoned. Noticing that Rakka bleaches her wings and her sin-bound condition and Rakkas question whether she was a sinner, leads the Communicator to tell Rakka a riddle. Rakka is convinced that she is a sinner and not supposed to be here – she feels that she doesn’t deserve the kindness she receives from the town. This leads to following dialogue, the Riddle of the Circle of sin.

Communicator: "To recognize one's own sin is to have no sin. I ask you, are you a sinner.”

Rakka: “If the dream in my cocoon was real, then I think I am a sinner.”

Communicator: “Then, are you recognizing your own sin?”

Rakka: “If so, will my sin be erased?”

Communicator: "Then I ask you again. To recognize one's own sin is to have no sin. So, are you a sinner?"

Rakka: "But if I think I have no sin, then I become a sinner!"

Communicator: "Perhaps this is what it means to be bound by sin. To spin in the same circle, looking for where the sin lies, and at some point losing sight of the way out."

There we see that Rakka proclaims herself a sinner no matter the circumstances. She thinks she is a sinner because of neglecting the person, who is represented by the bird, and was unable to acknowledge their care – leaving thinking nobody was there for her, unable to see someone was indeed with her, hurting the feelings of the person. Rakka equals “recognizing the sin” with “erasure of the sin”. But the Communicator corrects her, that “recognizing the sin” equals “having no sin” – therefore there is no sin to be erased. But Rakka misunderstands the remark, calling herself a sinner again – if she sets herself free from the belief that she has a sin and thinks she has no sin (= not recognizing it), she will become a sinner. This comment of the Communicator shows that this is, what he is talking about by the Circle of Sin: Being caught in the idea of being a sinner, being obsessed with the idea of a bad person and struggling with getting another perspective of oneself. This is not a sin, because there is no sin in the first place. Sin-bound Haibane don’t have sin – they are obsessed with the thought of having one, being obsessed with negative thoughts. A way out of the sin-bound condition is to make a “reality-check”, realizing that those intrusive thoughts are not true. This is shown with how Rakka was obsessed with the thought that she didn’t matter and that nobody would care about her – Rakka recognizes those thoughts and realizes that they don’t withstand reality. That indeed people care about her – this is highlighted not only with the bird, but with Reki (who hugs her when she finds her at the edge of the forest) and the other Haibane as well who desperately search for her. Rakka’s condition strongly paralleled with her situation in the past – in both time she realizes that there are people who love her and care for her and miss her when she is gone.

When Rakka consults the Communicator later on in Episode 9, there are other details about the Circle of Sin revealed. The key to break free from the Circle of Sin is forgiveness, especially forgiving oneself. But sin-bound Haibane are so obsessed with negative thoughts about themselves that they are not able to forgive themselves. Therefore another person is needed who stands by the side of the Haibane and believes in them. Offering forgiveness for the Haibane to their “sin” will break the Circle of Sin and enable the Haibane to take another perspective on themselves. Note that there is no “sin” and the Haibane are not shamed as being “sinful” for their depression. There is no sin. But there is the perception of being “sinful”, or to use other word “flawed” or “not worthy love” that leads the Haibane to be sin-bound. In other words: There is no “being bad” but only the perception of “being a bad person” that lead the Haibane to be obsessed with those ideas, their minds literally circle around it, their negative thoughts about themselves reflect in the black stains of the wings. But the reality is that they are not, but being forgiven for it (and the negative behavior that was caused by those thoughts) loosens the burden and enables the Haibane to forgive themselves. The escape from the Circle of Sin is not atonement or any sort of “making up for it” (this is why Reki’s attempt to reach salvation by taking care of Rakka didn’t work) – but sheer forgiveness. Rakka’s statement that it was not like she forgave herself, implies that forgiving oneself is not necessary to free oneself from being sin-bound. Receiving forgiveness from another person is enough, it is not necessary to be able to forgive oneself. On the other hand being able to receive forgiveness from others requires to forgive oneself to a certain degree. But forgiveness from others and being free from being sin-bound is only one step – the last step is to overcome to behavior and the thoughts that are bound by the perception of being a “bad person”.

This act of overcoming is shown with Rakka, who was obsessed with the idea that she was all alone – realizing that she is not, that people care for her, that she deserves to be happy and she starts to connect with others again. It is also shown with Reki finally asking for help (we will get to this in a minute).

But what makes a Haibane sin-bound? It is shown that the Haibane are born without memories but not without a blank slate as their emotional life. Rakka felt always insignificant, questioning herself and whether she had the right to exist. Those feelings erupted after Kuu’s departure where she questioned her existence even further and starts to isolate herself, thinking nobody would understand her, being afraid to open up to others and unable to receive their care - which she did before in her past life. Reki on the other hand is more obscure, since she had been sin-bound from the very beginning. But it is shown that she is born alone. Knowing how painful the progress is, Reki must have felt scared and abandoned, it is possible that she wanted help and even called for it – but nobody listened; which is exactly the thought pattern she had in her past life, which may confirm these already existing thought for her (even though she doesn’t remember, the feeling of always being betrayed and being unable to ask for help was still left). So a Haibane may become sin-bound if they fall back into destructive thought patterns that lead to their demise in their first life. It may also be called Circle of Sin because it never stops and it reaches from the previous life to the life of the Haibane. Connection to others, empathy and forgiveness are the key to overcome the “sin-bound” status. Breaking the Circle of Isolation means to break the Circle of Sin.

But even before introducing this concept, connection, forgiveness and empathy is something the narratives values strongly.

Kuramori emphasized with Reki and connected to her, helped her with her wings, acted like a mother figure to her and helped her to find to place in Old Home. Reki forgave Nemu mistreating her, emphasized with her as she gave her food and both connect by caring for Kuramori.

Hyouko emphasized with Reki, as she was depressed due to the loss of Kuramori and wanted to help her. He and Midori gave her a new home and Hyouko wanted to do help her more since she understood how much she missed Kuramori. Even though the attempt to help her ended intro tragedy and a long time rip in their relationship, they are able to reconcile their relationship. While Reki is nearly to her darkest point and closing herself up in her room, entirely giving up on action or interaction (which is even emphasized due contrast by the fact that there is a festival, the sense of community and happiness), Hyouko and Midori seek out for her and sending her a message of forgiveness by using fireworks. While Reki has expressed her apology (and her goodbye) before by the bell nuts, she shuts herself up after this. But Midori and Hyouko reach out on their behalves, not allowing it to be a one-way-communication. The firework their launch for Reki represents their forgiveness. This leads to reconciling their relationship, something Reki had already given up to.

But even before reconciling and apology happened on a smaller scale, since Hyouko and Midori gave the Haibane from Old Home sweets. These sweets serve as an apology as Hyouko had made Rakka upset by talking about Kuu’s Day of Flight (that he apologizes for it underlines is empathic personality that he also showed with Reki. It is even possible that Rakka reminded him of Reki). The treat symbolizes the reconciling between Old Home and the Old Factory and serve as a thematic foreshadowing to Hyouko’s, Midori’s and Reki’s reunion.

Nemu is so worried and cares so much about Reki that it is introduced that the only thing that makes her stay in the town of Glie.

Reki supports Rakka after she becomes sin-bound, she reaches out for Rakka, when she started to cut herself of from everybody and avoids every contact because of the grief and shame she feels. She shows compassion to Rakka and hugs her, comforts her, tells her, that she did nothing wrong. Just like Kuramori treated her. On the other hand, Rakka is so emphatic enough that she notices how Reki hides her grief and sadness behind her smile. This becomes extremely noticeable as Reki cuts herself off more and more over the span of the last episodes and Rakka constantly ponders how she could help her. Rakka is both, extremely empathic and helpful and she loves Reki. This leads her to finally reach out to Reki as the final attempt to save her – and as the last opportunity – give her the tag with her real name.

But as described above the situation escalates horribly, worsening Reki’s despair even more instead of saving her (which is symbolized by her wings turning even more black). She not only abandoned herself again, after realizing that she used to abandon herself and feel the same before and that there apparently no way out. Her harsh words to Rakka made Rakka abandoning her. This situation parallels three other constellations within the story. First of all, it mirrors the relationship between Reki and Kuramori. Reki was distraught because she thought, her mentor and mother figure betrayed her and never cared for her in the first place – now she is the one who betrays Rakka by telling her that she only used her as an attempt to ease her guilt, find salvation and be forgiven.

The other is that Reki’s past situation before becoming a Haibane is mirrored in her lowest point. Thinking she is worthless, being only betrayed and unable to ask for help.

The last situation is the constellation between Rakka and the bird. Rakka parallels Reki, as both cut themselves up from the world, convinced they are all alone and hurting another person in the process. Rakka parallels the bird who tries to save the other person, who is not able to accept their feelings. They want to convince them, that they are not alone, but they are hurt and unable to know what to do. Also, Reki’s room parallels Rakka’s well. Both are isolated places, where the person is locked in – either due physical or emotional borders. While Rakka’s well represented her feeling of emptiness, Reki’s room symbolizes the darkness of her heart (that she painted the room this way herself indicates that her negative self-image is not the real Reki. She paints the room as she paints herself in dark colors). In both cases, the past in confronted and overcome, both Reki and Rakka are able to overcome the sin-bound status. But there is still a long way to go before Reki is able to forgive herself…

Rakka is crying in despair, but she still refuses to think that Reki’s words are true. But she comes to the conclusion that she wished not to know, because she could continue loving Reki – implying that she can’t love her anymore. But Rakka’s view changes as she finds the painting of Kuramori which symbolizes that Reki once genuinely cared for a person. She says she wants to believe Reki, but is still in doubt. These doubts however vanish in another step, namely when she finds Reki’s diary. The first pages imply Reki’s hopelessness because she apologizes to Kuramori for not being forgiven. The next pages on the other hand show sketches from the town, showing that Reki still loved the town in a way despite viewing it as a prison. Last but not least one page shows Reki’s genuine, ecstatic happiness about finding the cocoon. She even thinks God send it to her – launching her thoughts that this Haibane could be a way to find salvation. She expresses that she wants to be very kind to the Haibane and wants to always be with her. She expresses her wish, that she wants to be a good Haibane, like Kuramori. The entry show that Reki doesn’t have ill intentions, she just wants to be a good person. This is empathized by the form of the diary, she writes it for herself and it is not intended to be shown to anyone. So Reki does not have to play-act – the diary implies that these are her true feelings. Feelings who are not as impure as she thinks they are. Rakka remembers as Reki talks to her when she was in the cocoon. How Reki expresses her happiness. She says, that the initial period as a Haibane may scare Rakka and she may feel lonely, but she promises to be always there for Rakka, protecting her. Reki promises to be there for Rakka no matter what. With that she is showing her unconditional love before she was even born. On the other hand, Reki “entrusts Rakka with her last hope”. This is not the selfish enrichment that Reki makes it to be – it is putting trust into another person. And Rakka – realizing that Reki was there for her right in the beginning – fulfills that trust. She emphasizes with Reki with empathy as the key for forgiveness. She not only recognizes that Reki is kindhearted, but is not able to recognize it herself and that Reki’s self-image is not the necessary the real Reki and her real feelings. She realizes how similar hers and Reki’s situations are and decides to become “the bird” for Reki, somebody who offers her forgiveness and shows her that she is not alone and being loved the way she is. By this, Rakka not only chooses to forgive Reki, but finally also her own actions, who are extremely similar. By forgiving Reki, Rakka is able to forgive herself.

Even though Reki shut herself in, Rakka wants to reach her, help her. The separation between both is symbolized by the door. This is reminiscent to the scene where Reki discovers Rakka being sin-bound. Rakka flees into the room, isolates herself, only for Reki opening the door, stopping her from hurting herself, giving her help and comfort, telling her that there is nothing wrong with her. Furthermore that parallels Reki’s past, when she was the one who cut her feathers, only to be stopped and comforted by Kuramori. Now it is on Rakka to overcome Reki’s self-induced isolation, to offer her comfort, to tell her, she is okay. In the current scene, Rakka opens the door, overcomes the isolation, breaks the cocoon from the outside – and steps right into Reki’s dream that became reality (similar how Reki’s negative self-image is reality to her). Rakka sees Reki lying on the railway in distance to her. As she tries to get close, connect with her, it is the younger Reki who holds her back, claiming that Reki is no longer able to hear her. This furthers the isolation between them too. The younger Reki claims it to be too late, paralleling the bird, who tried to stop Rakka’s fall with Rakka telling it that it is no use anymore. Rakka is in the same situation, trying to save a person but this person tell her it is too late and no use anymore. But Rakka doesn’t give up on her, calling out to her desperately. In before the younger Reki was used to contrast the real Reki, questioning her choices and symbolized the wishes Reki had and couldn’t make true, therefore she had an opposing role. This time, she acts according Reki’s wishes, holds Rakka back as Reki decided to vanish. But Rakka is – thanks to empathy – able to realize what Reki really wanted, able to realize that Reki is asking her for help. But knowing that she can only help Reki if she asks for help (because younger Reki holds her back because of Reki’s desire not to get help but to disappear), she calls out to her, asks her to say, Reki needs her. The train (not only representing a real train [reminiscent how Reki may have died in her first life by walking in front of a train] but also symbolizing Reki’s depression and struggles) is getting closer to Reki. In this moment, Reki is able to notice Rakka, is able to realize that Rakka truly cares for her and truly wants to help her – and is finally able to ask for help. This shatters the dream and Reki’s nametag alike, the younger Reki is dissolving. Rakka saves Reki from the incoming train, as she is paralyzed by fear.

Being forgiven by Rakka and forgiving herself through Rakka’s forgiveness by asking for help (if she hadn’t for forgiven herself, she would let herself run over regardless thinking she deserves it) frees Reki from her sin-bound status. Finally she is able to receive the Day of Flight. And this time, the Day of Flight is not seen as a negative event or as a loss, but as an opportunity to see each other again. Rakka and Nemu both view Reki’s Day of Flight with relieve and happiness for her, even though they will miss her.

In the end, Reki won her bet, as the Haibane emerging from the cocoon was the one who helped her to overcome her sin-bound status.

After she is gone, Reki is still valued. Everyone keeps her in good memories, her pictures are cherished and wall-hung for everyone to see. The last sentence of the whole series is Rakka saying “I will never forget Reki”, highlighting the value of memory and that a person is never gone when you remember them.

Reki’s and Rakka’s proneness to isolating behavior reflects in their names. For Rakka, it is Rakka’s “true name”, which has been presented to her by the Communicator. Her “true name” means “involved nut”. It reflects how she used to isolate herself from the world, shut herself up within the dark. Without willing to make any connections to the outside. It also represents her change, how she connected with other people. A nut is a seed (similar to the cocoons the Haibane start their lives in and that does eventually break same as Rakka’s isolation broke). A seed means growth, which reflected how Rakka grew. From a clueless newcomer Haibane with no idea about the world, she began to be actively involved with other people and the world around her. Even if learning about the world and herself was a painful progress (suffering from a loss, becoming caught up in her own grief), she overcomes this pain and reaches out for other people. By getting involved with the crows, she can receive forgiveness from the crow that represented a beloved person and save herself. By other people getting involved with her, she is saved vice versa e.g. how the Touga saved her in the well or how Reki shows her compassion after Rakka becomes sin-bound. She is no longer someone who cuts herself off from others, but interacts with others willingly. She became close friends with all her fellow Haibane and after being forgiven by the bird, she is able to accept their kindness. Most importantly she also chooses to involve herself in Reki’s problems, when everyone else thinks that is not possible (how Midori said Reki cannot be helped, because she doesn’t want help and gives up because of this. Rakka on the other hand doesn’t give up on Reki and stays involved). In the end, it is Rakka’s final choice of involvement and of action and her choice of forgiveness that saves Reki.

While the isolation and breaking up this isolation is the main theme of Rakka’s true name, isolation is the theme of Reki’s name as a Haibane. Reki means “small stone”. It reflects her desires to become a stone in a sense of becoming unfeeling, numb to pain, but also unable to act or interact. While a seed has life in it and it has the possibility to grow, a stone is a dead, static object (this also reflects how Rakka was able to change, to get rid from being sin-bound while Reki wasn’t). So Reki’s name is a lot more depressing than Rakka’s, which has a hopeful perspective and indicates change. It gets even worse when Reki’s “true name” – that is supposed to reflect the true nature of a Haibane – means “The one who was run over and torn apart”, giving Reki’s name an even more negative, destructive and hopeless perspective. For Reki, there is no other perspective than being destroyed. Or so it seems. Because when Reki overcomes her own flaws, the name changes. In before Reki’s true name reflected the result her destructive behavior led to in the end and what is about to happen all over again: To be run over and torn apart. Both figuratively (by her own feelings) and literally (by the train). By changing, by being able to ask for help this time, Reki’s fate changes and so does her name.

This is especially interesting because one would think a “true name” can not change, it is established and set in stone – but in Reki’s case it does according to the choice she makes. So it is very possible that Rakka’s “true name” was something else as well before she started to open up. Even if it is a “true name” it changes. Even something that is considered as someone’s “essential nature” may change! Even if her first “true name” was so negative and let Reki fall into despair – it still had the potential of changing. This is similar how Reki presented the sin-bound status, saying Haibane who are sin-bound can never reach their Day of Flight. That being sin-bound is not a set status is shown with Rakka at first, who becomes sin-bound and is also able to overcome being sin-bound over the course of the story. It is a fleeting status, nothing that is there forever. Nothing is set in stone. This also reflects in Reki’s relationship with Midori and Hyouko. It made the impression to be always strain, since they were even officially forbidden to interact with each other – but in the end they were able to reconcile their relationship and forgive each other. Reki who thought that there was never help for her and she would always be betrayed and that there was no salvation for her in the first place is proven wrong in all these aspects by Rakka. Reki’s true name returns to mean “stone” again – but this time it is a stepping stone. Someone who supports the weak with their strength. The stone that Reki represents is no longer an unfeeling, unconnected object, but something that interacts with others, connects with others, supports others. Her name highlights her caring nature, a nature Reki denied to have in her self-hate, but now is ultimately confirmed to her. Her “true name” and her name as a Haibane were both connoted negatively – but her new true name emphasizes gave her not only a positive true name but also a positive, hopeful connotation to her being a stone.

Haibane values connections to others and forgiveness. It doesn’t shy away from showing how people get hurt by loss and hurting each other and themselves and the effects of it. But in the end there stands the overcoming of grief and (self)hatred and grudge in favor of forgiveness, empathy and love.

On top of that it shows even if a situation seems to be hopeless and that there is no way out of it to the point that they are perceived as fate or “essential nature” – there is always, always the possibility of change and improvement.

#haibane renmei #reki #rakka #anime meta #analysis #tw: depression #tw: suicide #anime #2000s anime #yoshitoshi abe #hard-boilded wonderland and the end of the world

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imagitory · 4 years

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D-Views: Muppet Treasure Island

Hi, everyone! Welcome to another installment of D-Views, my on-going written review series for films that fall under the Disney umbrella, as well as those that were influenced by those films! For more reviews for movies like Mary Poppins, Treasure Planet, and The Prince of Egypt, please consult my “Disney Reviews” tag and, of course, if you enjoy this review or any of the others, please consider liking and reblogging!

Today’s film is one of my childhood favorites, starring a cast of some of my favorite people, as well as frogs, pigs, and even whatevers. This is Muppet Treasure Island! (Thank you for your votes, @the-alexandrian-alchemist, @silvvergears, @extremelybears, @livinlifelikeishould and @karalora!)

Ever since 1976, the characters of the Muppet Show have been American pop culture icons. The show itself won a total of 21 Emmy nominations and four television awards over its long run, and by 1990 its cast had also starred in several critically acclaimed films (The Muppet Movie, The Great Muppet Caper, and The Muppets Take Manhattan) and the very popular animated TV show Muppet Babies. And all of that wouldn’t have been possible without the Muppets’ creator, Jim Henson.

Like at the Walt Disney Company, the loss of their leader in 1990 hit Jim Henson Productions very hard. One silver lining, however, is that just like with Walt Disney, Jim Henson was memorialized not just by the characters he created, but by his many achievements and the many friendships he’d made in life. He received a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame alongside Kermit the Frog; was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame; earned a memorial in his hometown Hyattsville, Maryland; was posthumously named a Disney Legend; was the focus of the heartfelt TV special The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson; and was laid to rest with two formal funeral services complete with performances of some of his favorite songs. And just like the Walt Disney Company, even after the death of someone who meant so much to them, Jim Henson Productions got back up and promised to do more in the memory of their lost leader. Jim’s son Brian Henson took the reins and directed the Disney-co-produced Christmas movie The Muppet Christmas Carol in 1992, before he moved on to their next project and today’s subject, Muppet Treasure Island.

So, here’s the thing -- I have a LOT of nostalgia for this movie. I will be upfront about that. But even with that acknowledged, I was sort of stunned when I found out how lukewarm the reaction to this movie was, when it was released in theaters. Sure, I knew it hadn’t broken the bank, but even if it earned about $34 million worldwide, it received no honors or awards, only hit third at the box office opening weekend behind the movies Broken Arrow and Happy Gilmore, and even now only boasts an average 73% rating at Rotten Tomatoes. Critics at the time criticized how it was more “Treasure Island” than “Muppet”, with Roger Ebert calling it “less cleverly written” and Gene Siskel even more coldly deeming it “boring.” Although I’ll readily acknowledge that reading those reactions makes me want to run outside and scream “FUCK YOU, GENE SISKEL” at the top of my lungs, I promise to give a more rational review of this movie instead, one hopefully that acknowledges any possible shortcomings, but also will celebrate this film and how completely NOT boring it is.

One of the best things about this movie hits us in the face right off the bat -- the music, written by scoring giant Hans Zimmer and Nick Glennie-Smith. As much as I enjoy a lot of Muppet musicals, I attest that Muppet Treasure Island has the most cohesive score overall of any Muppet production. The Muppets were always creatures of the short, sweet vignette -- of the variety show -- of many disparate pieces sewn loosely together into a whole like a patchwork quilt. Even though The Muppet Christmas Carol’s soundtrack comes very close in its cohesion and I would say The Muppets (2011) -- my personal favorite Muppet movie -- is truer to the spirit of the Muppet Show in its music while also paying tribute to old-fashioned movie musicals, Muppet Treasure Island just paints a full-bodied picture from the off-set, building on refrains that return and morph over the course of the picture. From the very beginning, we get that this venture is NOT a standard Muppet movie. Like The Muppet Christmas Carol, the Muppets’ humor will only be part of the story told -- in TMCC, it takes a backseat to sincere emotions like love and redemption, while here in MTI, it takes a backseat to adventure and swashbuckling action.

The score also seamlessly flows into our first song, “Shiver My Timbers,” which just screams “pirate!” I’ve loved pirates ever since I was a little kid, and Muppet Treasure Island was one of the main reasons why. I was okay with Peter Pan, but Muppet Treasure Island was what really got me excited about pirates. They were rough, ruthless, and dangerous, but it was exciting to face off against them in an epic musical adventure, even if your only weapons were a couple of artfully thrown starfish. In the 90′s, pirate films weren’t really “in” -- it wouldn’t be until 2003 with the release of Pirates of the Caribbean that they became popular again -- but I think Muppet Treasure Island, through its music, really embraces the fun, action-packed thrills that Disney would later capitalize on in the Pirates films.

After our prologue, we meet Billy Bones (played by the perfectly cast Billy Connolly) and, of course, our hero, Jim Hawkins, played by newcomer Kevin Bishop. Kevin was the very first of a hundred kids who showed up for the audition to meet the casting agents, and he was selected for the part then and there. Sadly post-Muppets he moved on to stage and television, but for what it’s worth, I quite like Kevin in the role of Jim. He’s distinctly depicted as a boy, complete with a pre-puberty “boy soprano” singing voice (which I acknowledge is an acquired taste, but I personally enjoy), but that characterization only serves to accent how large of an arc he goes through over the course of the film. He starts off as smart, sincere, honest, and dreamy, but also very innocent and trusting, and over the course of the story, he learns to ground himself in who he is and what he believes in, to the point where he has to sever ties with someone he once considered a friend and mentor. Accompanying Jim in his journey are Gonzo and Rizzo, who largely serve as comic relief but do still serve as good friends and companions to Jim, as evident by the three characters’ “I Want” song, “Something Better.” Yes, Gonzo and Rizzo are sidekicks, but they’re still distinct personalities that bounce well off each other and “straight-man” Jim. Originally the filmmakers had considered simply having Gonzo and Rizzo being two characters called “Jim” and “Hawkins” respectively (splitting the part in two, not unlike what they did with Statler and Waldorf in The Muppet Christmas Carol), but due to concerns that the choice would result in a lack of heart in the finished product, that idea was scrapped. I think it ultimately was the better decision to leave the drama to the humans -- it’s not that the Muppets can’t conjure sincere emotion (just look at “Pictures in my Head” or “Man or Muppet”), but I still think having any of the existing Muppets fulfill the “coming of age” narrative the original Jim Hawkins goes through would’ve been a bit of a stretch. Even in The Muppet Christmas Carol or non-Muppet-show Jim Henson production Labyrinth, the main characters with a story arc are played by human actors who are able to ground the picture despite the cast of colorful, irreverent characters.

One of the main criticisms that critics of the time lobbed at this movie is that it feels more “Treasure Island” than “Muppet”, and in a way it’s a decent point, if not phrased very badly. Unlike in other Muppet projects, the humor plays second fiddle to the plot and the characters are not the characters we know from the Muppet Show with their Muppet Show backstories and consciousness. In The Muppet Christmas Carol, the film could very easily be seen as a “production” being put on by the Muppets, even if it’s never overtly stated as such, thanks to Gonzo (as Charles Dickens) constantly breaking the fourth wall. In Muppet Treasure Island, however, Gonzo and Rizzo have their own non-Muppet-show history as friends of Jim Hawkins way before ever meeting the other Muppets like Kermit and Sam the Eagle, and Kermit and Miss Piggy have a whole soap-opera romance that involves a wedding and getting marooned by pirates (we’ll get to that later). So yes, this is more “Treasure Island,” but it’s not less “Muppet” -- it’s less “Muppet Show.” These Muppets have different histories, but they’re the same characters despite this. Gonzo is an eccentric thrill-seeker -- Rizzo is a cowardly cynic -- Kermit is a soft-spoken pacifist -- Fozzie is a lovable dimwit -- Piggy is a self-centered diva. Think of Muppet Treasure Island as a Muppet AU fanfiction -- these may not be exactly the characters you know, and yet...they are! They’re the exact same big personalities with the same quirks, strengths, and weaknesses, just in an alternate universe. And honestly, I think it’s really cool, to see these sorts of characters so exclusively used for comedy in a world that’s not flat-out comedic -- one that’s kind of dirty and rough around the edges, with swashbuckling action and real danger around every corner.

The nice thing is that although yes, the comedy isn’t the central focus anymore, there is still really good humor in this film, a lot of it thanks to the shift in tone. There’s just something so very, very funny to me about Billy Bones’s death scene being followed up by Rizzo, Gonzo, and Jim just flat-out freaking out and dashing out of the room screaming like stupid kids, or the tense action scene where the pirates storm into the inn being punctuated by Rizzo trying to help Gonzo load the gun, only to spill the bag of bullets, or the epic entrance of the illustrious Captain Smollett’s carriage ending with the tall, solemn coachman stepping aside to reveal the Captain himself, played by Kermit the Frog. I think it plays into the ideas of subverting expectations and building up a punchline properly before delivering the joke -- as each scene is built up, we’re left constantly unsure if the film’s going to play things straight or just be completely irreverent, and the contrast is what can make a joke much funnier than in a purely, solely humorous scenario. There are a few points where the contrast can become a bit labored, but I laugh so much more during this movie that I ever have watching my favorite reruns of the Muppet Show, no matter how much I enjoy them. It’s something that, again, the Pirates of the Caribbean films would capitalize on much later. (Too bad they couldn’t incorporate that humor into any catchy musical numbers! Disney, where’s my Pirates of the Caribbean musical?)

Aha, and now we come to the brightest of the shining stars in this film -- our villain, Long John Silver, played by the amazing Tim Curry. I’m sorry, it’s an incontrovertible truth that Curry is a unique, magical ingredient that, when added to any movie, just elevates the cinematic dish to a whole new level and leaves you drooling for one more scene with him. I remember someone once saying that Curry is sort of like a Muppet in human skin thanks to his outrageous, yet likable acting, and...yeah, it makes it so that he fits perfectly in this movie, where he has to interact so closely with the Muppets. The nice thing is, though, that he also has a lot of chemistry with his human co-star Kevin Bishop, to the extent that you sincerely feel for the relationship that forms between Jim and Silver even if you know Silver’s intentions from the start. I particularly like their exchange in the ridiculously catchy “Sailing for Adventure,” as well as their scene at the front of the ship where they discuss their fathers and the stars.

Just as the adventure is getting going, however, it stops dead with the wind’s abandonment of the Hispaniola. Out of nowhere, the ship breaks out into the most ridiculous, most “Muppet” of all of the musical numbers, “Cabin Fever.” The song was one of my favorite parts when I was little and it’s always made me laugh, but it’s definitely the biggest detour of the movie that up until that point lived in its own pirate-centric world. It’s a very short-lived detour and as I said, it’s ridiculously funny, but it doesn’t have any bearing on the plot and I could see how people might find it kind of pointless, particularly since it doesn’t even feature three of our main characters, Jim, Silver, or Smollett. One other critique I will give the film is that some of the effects nowadays don’t look very real, like the Hispaniola being composited over still matte paintings -- there are points where the production values remind me a bit of the old Wishbone TV series, where they have to angle the shot just so or get creative just to try to make the ship look as big as it should be. But honestly, there were points where Wishbone impressed me with those same sorts of layering and green-screen effects despite its limited budget, and those cheaper effects don’t look tacky or out-of-place, so I personally don’t mind them that much.

Because this is a Muppet movie, it’s unsurprising that our Mr. Arrow (played by Sam the Eagle) isn’t really killed, instead just being tricked off of the ship by a manipulative Silver, but it says something that, even with that softened plot turn, the stakes are not completely dismantled. We still see the pirates as a legitimate threat when they kidnap Jim and take over the Hispaniola, even when they burst into song. Tim Curry’s “only number,” “A Professional Pirate,” is a perfect expression of his expert, charming showmanship, which in my mind truly can’t be matched by any other performer in Hollywood, past or present. No one gives a performance like Tim Curry. It makes it so that even when I was a bratty kid getting irritated about Silver calling privateer Sir Francis Drake a pirate and using “buccaneer” as a synonym for “pirate,” I would sing this song at the top of my lungs, trying to even reach 75% of the energy Curry put into his vocals.

At long last, Miss Piggy makes her grand debut as “Queen Boom Sha-Kal-a-Kal,” a.k.a. Benjamina Gunn. Although the diva doesn’t end up getting much screentime, she certainly gets a grand entrance, complete with an elephant steed decorated with flowers and a full musical number complete with a tribal chant and ethereal vocalizing. And true to form, when she lays eyes on her one true love, Kermit...she smacks him so hard that he’s thrown backwards off his feet and into a gong. What’s particularly interesting about Piggy in this movie is that although she and Fozzie are voiced by Frank Oz as always, both she and Fozzie were actually puppeted by Kevin Clash, as Oz was unavailable during this film’s production, and Oz’s vocals for both characters were added in post-production. Despite the difference in puppeteer, however, both characters are just as likable as ever -- I’d honestly had no clue that they weren’t performed by the same person! The film even got to use the full-bodied remote-controlled puppets for Kermit and Piggy for the love duet “Love Led Us Here,” which is kicked off by an Evita joke I never got as a kid but as an adult makes me grin like a friggin’ idiot. Fortunately the duet is inter-cut with Silver and the pirates finding the treasure, rather than it being chock-full of romantic flashbacks or prolonged looks between the two lovebirds, giving it a lighter tone than it would’ve had otherwise.

With a much reduced crew comprised only of Rizzo, Gonzo, Squire Trelawney, Dr. Honeydew, Beaker, and the newly returned Mr. Arrow, Jim comes to Benjamina and Smollett’s rescue and returns to Treasure Island to face Silver and the pirates. The action scene is full of humor, but because of the world established in the rest of the film, I would argue it still has stakes. The blows still hurt and there’s still a threat of defeat and danger, most notably when Long John Silver prepares to fight. Even if you don’t think the Muppets are going to die persay, you still feel the suspense in wanting to see what’s going to happen next. And when Silver surrenders, he himself can see the real treasure Jim found on his adventure -- a family...a group of people Muppets who will support him and encourage the very best in him.

Silver’s escape scene is a beautifully heart-wrenching scene -- one that could only have been earned by two excellent performances over the course of the film by Kevin Bishop and Tim Curry. Even though both Silver and Jim know that they’re different people and they could never walk the same path, it doesn’t mean that they don’t still greatly esteem and care about each other. In Jim’s case, it’s especially difficult, given that in parting ways with Silver, he has to cut loose of a very poor potential father figure who would’ve only dragged him down in the long run, but who was so likable in his own damaged way. It proves to be a very bittersweet scene sprinkled into a very happy, cheerful ending, complete with the chipper island-inspired end credits bop “Love Power.”

Muppet Treasure Island is -- in my opinion, at least -- one of the best Muppet movies ever made. It broke away from quite a few Muppet conventions, like the characters breaking the fourth wall and being aware of themselves being in a movie or TV show, and embraced a much less humorous tone in both its writing and cinematography. Yes, it reimagined a classic book like The Muppet Christmas Carol did, but this movie took the next step, embracing the world of the original novel as well as the set-up and immersing the Muppets’ cast of characters in it. Although I can see why some people would be more partial to the original Muppet movie formula and love it a lot myself, I really, really respect Brian Henson and the rest of this film’s crew for taking the Muppets in such a different direction. It was an entertaining, action-packed, funny pirate movie before those sorts of movies became popular again, and it remains my favorite “pirate” movie of all time, as well as my personal favorite incarnation of the Treasure Island story (barely beating out Treasure Planet). I know childhood nostalgia can play a role in what media can give you joy as an adult, but I truly don’t think it’s the only factor here -- it’s also just a really good movie, and I can only hope that more people will consider giving it a chance and have just as much fun Sailing for Adventure as I did!

#d-views #disney reviews #muppet treasure island #the muppets #reviews #opinion #analysis #oh boy here i go #brian henson #tim curry #kevin bishop #billy connolly

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quintessence-sentimentalist · 5 years

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quintessence-sentimentalist Takes on 30 Days of W.i.t.c.h.versary!: Week Three

Week Three already! Days 15 through 21 below the cut!

Day 15 Something that needs a quick fix

Ahaha, well, some 99.9% of things that need fixing with this series can’t be completed quickly, so let me just go with the simplest thing that comes to mind:

The uniform color errors.

In both the comic and cartoon, there are color swaps between the top and bottom, with Irma being the most frequent offender (frankly, I only remember Cornelia’s top being purple on the cover of one of the final Ludmoore arc issues, and maaaaaaaybe Hay Lin got a color swap once too, so basically it was all with Irma). I don’t know if it’s because she and Will might look a little similar in black-and-white or something and that’s why there was confusion over whose top is which color (although if that’s the case then why didn’t it happen to Will too?), but it just kept happening throughout the series. It’s even wrong on the official promo art/opening sequence end card for the animated series.

So yeah. Easiest fix I can think of is to please check which color goes where before inking them in.

Day 16 Something that needs an overhaul

I’m just going to spin the wheel here...

Better executed romantic break-ups/avoidance of shitty break-ups altogether. Consistent lore. All the arcs New Power and beyond. New Power Matt. That one self-indulgent what-if I had about leaving Medina, McTiennan, and Sylla’s memories intact and they basically become the girls’ non-magical mentors and trusted adult figures who help them balance their lives between Guardianship and just being normal girls.

Uh... I can’t choose.

I’ve talked at length about and reimagined a lot of these before (and will do so again, for sure), and those I haven’t people have discussed much more eloquently than I can. And I’m sure I’m still missing some, so I’m not going to get too deep into this and save that all for inevitable rambles later on.

Day 17 Something that needs to be revisited

The Astral Drops, hands down. Why bother sending them off to live new lives of their own, while pointedly leaving them with magical tattoos that will light up when Kandrakar must call on them, if you’re not going to loop back around to that? Honestly, this is something that should have slid back into the narrative in at least some way before things wrapped up.

Day 18 Something that needs more love from the fandom

It’s going to be too predictable if I start chanting “animated series Matt and Will/Matt” (but really, they do deserve all the love), so let’s go for a different angle this time.

Oh... well, I guess since I was already at it, maybe the animated series itself?

Alright, look: I was a comics purist for a solid eight years. I watched the show in full and enjoyed particular (largely season 2) parts, but I still had the frequent complaint that it wasn’t a faithful adaptation and didn’t watch it again for years even when I regularly reread the comics.

But then the English translations of the comic ended, and I was left without any real new material. A couple years later, I was about to go off to college and came across something that reminded me of the cartoon (more on that later on), and I figured what the hell.

It’s still not a perfect or even great adaptation of the comics, and sometimes I still struggle with getting through the first season, but going back to the animated series as a young adult - after years of distance from it and easing up on my rigid stance on comics-only - helped me gain a newfound appreciation for it. The animated series did some things I liked better than in the comics. It had a badass theme song. From a fan creator perspective, I found the cartoon universe a little bit more malleable and full of possibilities than with the comics, partially because it unexpectedly got cut short.

I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t necessarily have impeccable taste when it comes to media (I have a guilty pleasure for short-lived and long-forgotten early 00s sci-fi action shows. I unabashedly enjoyed the live-action Birds of Prey series, and that’s even more wildly inaccurate a comic adaptation than the W.i.t.c.h. cartoon). Still, I think about some other animated series that are based on beloved comics/manga but not direct adaptations, and some of those are considered just as good or even better than the originals (and potentially subsequent accurate adaptations). I feel like at the very least, the W.i.t.c.h. animated series could be a guilty pleasure, or even enjoyable AU adventures of the girls as they are in the comics.

Day 19 Something small but unforgettable

Nothing was immediately coming to mind, but then it hit me. I love that the animated series changed the name of Will’s power to quintessence in the second season.

In the comics, her powers were a bit of a nebulous space, while the others’ were clearly defined elements. I remember it being called “energy” or “absolute energy,” which... while not wrong, it’s just such a broad term, and frankly is missing some pizzazz to it. It wasn’t even a consistent name, since oftentimes Will just called out for the Heart, and then with New Power it became “the power to unite them” or something (uh... what?). I just think it’s weird to have one of your main characters without a clearly defined - or simply named - ability, unless it’s intentionally vague to allow for various deus ex machinas from the Heart, with Will serving solely as the conduit.

And that’s kind of what happened with the first season too, where Will was honestly only able to activate the Guardians and close portals and had no inherent offensive ability. So season 2 was great in the respect that they actually gave her a power, but then there was that name!

Seriously, quintessence. Even before you really know what it is, it’s a pretty kickass name, right?? It definitely has the mystical quality to it, and the fact that it literally translates as fifth essence/element makes it just too good. Guys, there’s a reason why it’s in my username.

(Well, that and the fact that seeing the word and its definition again after many years reminded me that I should rewatch the animated series, and that was what kicked off my spiral back into W.i.t.c.h. fandom. It did tie into the “sentimentalist” aspect in the end.)

Day 20 Something you’d always come back to

Hmm, I’m a little unclear on the prompt for this one, whether it means something I’ll reread/rewatch, or some idea from the series that just sticks with me. I’m going go with the first interpretation, which I guess also ties in with the second.

Hardly a surprise at this point, but I regularly rewatch the most pivotal episodes of the Shagon arc - those being L is for Loser, M is for Mercy, and S is for Self. I just love seeing Shagon in the forefront as a villain, and how Will knows how to deal with Nerissa in some respect at this point (staying suspicious - maybe a little bit too much - and learning to out-strategize the ex-Keeper), but goes absolutely ballistic and loses her calculating edge whenever she’s facing Shagon on his own. He knows exactly how to needle into her vulnerabilities, and the two of them engaging in emotional warfare is just so good. Watching these always gets me wondering how the fallout from this arc would have gone had we had more time and the series had a different tone (maybe more along the lines of Young Justice, to borrow a different Weisman show), because I’m firmly of the mind that Matt would have some lingering trauma from the experience (which he’s had to put aside to take on a new role and deal with everything else that came after he was freed) and I would have loved to see that play out.

As for the comics, though, I like to loop back around to the girls’ potential futures from issue 50. Their careers just fit them all so well, and the way their designs and friendship evolved into adulthood just felt right to me. They’re all grown up and more sophisticated now, but they don’t simply look like a slightly older version of their Guardian forms, and manage to maintain a semblance of their styles from their young teen days. And even though they’re no longer active Guardians and are busy with their own lives (sometimes in various other places), thus not being in each others’ back pockets anymore, you can tell their bond is holding just as firmly as it was forged back in the day. I vastly prefer this glimpse into the future over the one we’re shown in the post-New Power era, so I like to use it at least as a basis for when I imagine the girls post-Guardianship.

Day 21 A memorable architectural design

I do love the design of Sheffield Institute. It’s just so elaborate and wildly different than what you’d normally see for a high school, at least from my view and experience. It certainly looks like a place with a rich history, and honestly I think it’s a great parallel to Kandrakar and the castles of Meridian and Arkhanta - not quite as regal or mystical, but still a structure with some elegance.

#30daysofwitchversary #30 days of witchversary #w.i.t.c.h.#quintessence-sentimentalist rambles

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miyoron · 4 years

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Miyo’s Anime of the Decade though Actually Just 2019

***Before I start this list, I would like to continue to send out good vibes and hope to all those affected by the Kyoto Animation arson attacks this past summer. It still hurts and I hope things can get better for everyone affected by it, even though I'm sure some things will take a long time to heal, if they ever will. Just know that you will always have me wishing you the best I can and sending out hope for you to recover at your own pace.***

I like writing these things every year. Whether it lets me know if my tastes are changing or staying the same, or if I'm just sentimental, writing about things I like is fun. Anime is good and I like watching it. I watched a good amount of stuff this year even if some seasons I couldn't find anything I say would fit this list.

For example, I started watching the Symphogear series and it's fun but I wouldn't say I liked it as much as any of these shows. Anima Yell is a very cute show but I didn’t have much to say about it, same for Aggretsuko again. I liked the main characters of JoJo part 5, but I wouldn't say I liked watching that, especially as the villain was revealed more and more. Fire Force was fun for me for like 5 episodes or so but then I bailed so take that as you will.

But I don't want to sound too mean here. No, this is for stuff I liked a lot and I wanted to write about things I enjoyed. This year I actually kept track of shows I liked as opposed to figuring out what I'd go on this list at the last moment. Crazy, I know, but this could be a good idea. Don't worry, I didn't take TOO many notes so this will be pretty off the cuff of my head like normal though I'm sure. As always, I will be using whatever title is easier for me to write/preference.

With this bit of text out of the way, let's la GO! In no particular order (as always)...

Mob Psycho 100

This entry counts for both season 1 and season 2. I kind of sped through the first one a little so I could catch up in time for the second one. I feel it stuck with me just as much though. Mob Psycho is a solid action series with very silly things going on in the background of it...and foreground honestly). I suspect ONE is very good at making this sort of series. Honestly though, every character in this show is great and there's so many feel good moments. Mob himself is a wonderful character. The most powerful psychic force in the universe but he just wants to get buff to go out with his crush.

There's a lot to like about this series. The humor is on point and anything with Reigen is going to be hilarious, especially if it takes a while. Animation is consistently top notch, especially in season 2, and I love the psychic effects. They end up looking like an old 90's video filter or trapper keeper or something. However, the most impressive thing this series does is show that maybe fighting isn't the way to do things all the time and that the most important thing you can show isn't just sympathy, but empathy.

Mob is a really good show and both of the OVAs are fun as heck. I dunno why I originally slept on Season 1, but I'm glad I came aboard.

Kaguyasama: Love is War

You probably know this one from that one ending with the pink haired girl dancing, that was going around for a while even though it was only for one episode. This series actually took me a little bit to get into mainly due to being WAY too tired to keep up with it. The set up being that the smartest boy and girl in the most elite high school both want to ask the other out. However, being the one to ask the other out would be to give up all power and admitting defeat. Basically it's a battle of two love struck idiots trying to get the other to ask them out.

As dumb as that sounds, the setups are often hilarious. Seeing the main characters trying to out scheme each other and keep a straight face while watching is a challenge in itself. It's like that 4th dimensional chess but the end result is seeing who will hold the other's hand first. Then throw in the wild card of Chika who seems to both not know what's going on while understanding how easy it is to end up on top in these battles and...look it's very funny ok? Even if sometimes the joke is just "weiner".

Shows that made me tear up count: 1

Kemurikusa

Similar to the Kemono Friends and its big gold star award, I felt like Kemurikusa deserved a shoutout this year. It's still janky like Kemono Friends before it, but after everything that went down with that series, it was definitely telling when this was the better of the two. This is a weird series and only some of that is due to the animation. The studio does a wonderful job of making a world that's both interesting and haunting at the same time. Everything that happens all ties to a big mystery that isn't revealed for quite a while.

The characters are fun enough. From the serious Rin to the caring Ritsu. From the voracious Rinas to the dweeby Wakaba. It's a fun cast going on a road trip throughout the apocalypse as they try to find good water for their big plant friend that drives around their husk of a bus. It can get pretty dark at times even with the neon bright colors the titular kemurikusa shimmering softly in the background. Oh also there's a roomba friend and a girl with sharp teeth so I mean, it's got something for everybody.

Hitoribocchi

This series is a cute little show with a setup which is potentially mean if you think about it. Bocchi's best friend is afraid she won't ever be able to make any other friends since they're going to different middle schools. Because of this, she says they can't be friends again until she befriends everyone in her class. The biggest hurdle to this challenge being Bocchi is horribly shy and socially awkward which just makes things seemingly impossible for her to overcome. Luckily, this is a cute comedy series.

The show is basically about Bocchi trying to make new friends so she can hopefully one day reunite with her bestie from the past. As I said before though, she's kind of bad with knowing how to communicate with people so she has a bad habit of say following friend making tips she read in books or online to a t and not deviating from them. Thankfully she is able to meet with lovable weirdos like blunt Nako, pitiful Aru and ninja girl Sotoka. It's a cute little series that also has a lot of heart, especially if you've ever had to overcome your own social anxieties to interact with others before. It's also funny too so there's a bonus even.

Shows that made me tear up count: 2

Carole and Tuesday

Shhhh. Don't let Netflix know I finished this before they did. Carole and Tuesday is a fun show from the creator of Cowboy Bebop, as evidenced in the fact it takes place on Mars and uses the same currency. It's a fairly simple plot, two girls meet up one day on the streets and start playing music together. One's an orphan who's basically lived alone for most of her life, the other is a rich girl running away from her politician mother (whose politics are a little too close for comfort these days). They just wanna make music man, and with a former big time agent with them, how can they lose!

Carole and Tuesday are fun characters and the show has a fun future sci fi vibe while still being grounded in reality. One of the biggest highlights is definitely the music though with lots of new songs in every episode and a good number of them being certifiable bangers. There's an overarching plot that also hits too close to home at times but the big finale at the end made it all worth it in the end really. This is an easy show to recommend and I am doing so to you right now. Go see these girls trying to make it to the big time!

Shows that made me tear up count: 3

Fruits Basket (2019)

I skipped out on Fruits Basket the first time around. I always told myself I'd go back and check it out but, knowing how I do things, this never actually happened. Part of me is kind of glad I waited to check it out though since I really like the style of the new show compared to the one from the early 00s. What I'm saying is I should have checked this out a lot earlier than I did but I don't feel visually bad for doing so.

Fruits Basket is a show featuring Tohru, the most helpful lovable girl, and a cast of characters who all start to love her because she is the most helpful lovable girl. This might sound like a bad thing but it's not. All of the characters are really fun, save one who I don't know WHY they don't just beat up, and I love seeing all their interactions. I just grew really invested in all of them and keep hoping everything will end up ok for them in the end, while in some cases waiting for a really big shoe to drop and biting my nails in the process.

I dunno if I have a super bunch to say about it other than my favorites are Uo-chan and Hana-chan and I can't wait until part 2 shows up. I am ready to see more of these Zodiac weirdos get hugged by Tohru and become animals and have her solve their problems in that order.

Shows that made me tear up count: 4

....Now, as usual, I will take a break to talk about the Precures I watched this year...

Futari wa Precure

This year, my friend Cheapsteaks and I decided to go after the OG Precure scene by watching the series that started it all. School girls run into fairies being pursued by weird monsters from another dimension/world/whatever and have to become legendary warriors to help them out. It's a story we all know well, just with lots of dropkicks and judo tosses.

As much as I like Honoka and Nagisa, and the opening theme...Futari wa has a lot of growing pains which is to be expected. Being the first one, it feels more like other magical girl series of the time compared to the style of later Pretty Cure series. From the rather uninspired villains, including one named Pissard, to the bland crush of Fuji P-senpai, and especially the obnoxious fairies, this is definitely one of the weaker series in my eyes. Again, it's probably not fair to judge it though since they didn't know what they were doing yet with this series.

That being said, there is a dumb fun to watching the Crunchyroll subs for a nostalgic taste of hard yellow subs and often not great audio. Again, the best parts of this are Honoka and Nagisa and I can see why they still get to be super popular today.

Smile Precure!

The other older series we checked out this year was Smile Precure which is much more my speed. The characters are all really good and they're all super good friends and it just makes me feel good. Like just in general they'rea really good and strong cast and I love all of them. Reika/Cure Beauty is the secret funniest character just by being the straight man on a team of doofuses and it works so well.

Miyuki's desire to make everything around her "Ultra Happy" just makes you feel good seeing a character who just wants others around her to be as happy as she is. All she needs is a smile and that makes me also smile. Akane is fiery and powerful, Yayoi is a big sweetie whose artistic trials and tribulations I SUPER identify with, Nao is a super cool big sister and I already brought up Reika being great. This is really one of my favorite Precures I've watched so far and I'm going to be sad to see it go in a few weeks.

I'd also be remiss if I didn't mention that I love the stupid villain trio. Especially Akaoni. I love you big red oni doofus. (Please see oni times in the link below)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXA5jfSJz_c&feature=youtu.be

Shows that made me tear up count: 5 (ANY NAO EPISODE AAAA)

Star Twinkle Precure

The newest Precure series! One we also dragged fellow anime friend Metalray into and I feel like it was a fun enough one. Cute alien encounters trying to help space zodiac princesses with a fluff unicorn and a tentacalien? Sign me up my dudes. Star Twinkle is a fun series and has a lot of things going for it, while also having weird similarities to Smile sometimes like soccer related attacks from good big sisters and prim and proper arrow girls.

The characters as always really make the show I feel when it comes to Precure and Lala is adorable enough to carry it entirely herself? But the enthusiasm of Hikaru is always fun because it usually just involves her being really into outer space and everything in it. Hey there's even Elena who is Mexican-Japanese and the show even explores a bit of her growing up being different from others so like, that's pretty cool I think? If it helps little kids learn to accept others and be cool through lil hermit crabs and dog space police officers, I think that's a real good thing.

...Now Precure time is over but I'm looking forward to next year's offering and seeing what old ones we go after next. (Spoilers, we will probably do Max Heart and Fresh!)...

How Heavy are the Dumbbells You Lift?

So this series has some problems in that like...wow sometimes during the exercise segments of the show, it just gets way too horny like...I dunno if I needed to see sensei in nothing but a bedsheet to show off how she worked her lats fellas. But I digress.

The main reason this show is on here is because it affected me enough to actually look at myself and start wanting to become healthier? Like the show is just a framing device for jokes and showing off exercise routines but the characters are all really sincere and the translation of the opening is even moreso? Like I feel this show helped me out a lot and I'm gonna let you all know about it cuz maybe it can help you out too if you need it.

I don't have a whole lot more to say but I will leave you with the opening I mentioned. Turn on the captions for this banger and remember that you can do it too!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxi2Y4-NNXY

Wasteful Days of High School Girl

Hey, so can I say something amazing? Much like Asobi Asobase last year, this series was a very weird comedy that I absolutely ended up loving a lot in the end. The cast is full of delightful idiots, one aptly named Baka by her friends being the standout moron of the cast. The title pretty much says it all but you will find all sorts of high school girls here just wasting their youth away in their favorite ways.

You want a girl who draws BL doujin while listening to vocaloid tracks? We gotchu. What about a girl who is more invested in micro organisms in Petri dishes than her friends? Yo, we're set. A dipshit chuuni who climbs on top of absolutely anything tall and regularly needs to be rescued/leap out of trees because of it? Yea, that's here too. The show is not afraid to be weird any chance it gets and there's something I can respect about that. This series also had one of my number one laughs in an anime this year in one of the last episodes too and it still makes me laugh as I recall it right now.

Also like Asobi Asobase, it has the plus of having a lovable witch girl who is as pure as she is into weird occult shit. Majo you're a sweetie. Even if your room is creepy.

The Demon Girl Next Door

This show feels like something that should have come out about 5 years ago in terms of animation style, story set up, characters and even the jokes. I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing though because not only is it pleasant and cute, it also knows when to step back from teasing its unfortunate main character. Shamiko, the demon girl formerly known as Yuko by everyone who isn't her family, is a kind of pitiful character and this series could easily just make jokes that punch down and humiliate her way more than it did.

Thankfully, the show actually does it's best to show that she is comic relief but also that she is genuinely a good person. She's not very good at being a demon as she is still learning so maybe she gets easily tricked by resident blase magical girl Momo more than she should. However, she will go out of her way to make sure her rival is eating more than the crappy instant food she frequently microwaves. Like I said, it's ultimately a silly, kind of dated feeling series but the character interactions are nice and it's just genuinely good

hearted to see these girls become friends, even if sometimes it's due to trickier. The show makes sure not to be mean at all times to Shamiko compared to say Satania in Gabriel Dropout's treatment, or the snake girl in that Dropkick show I dropped after one episode. Shamiko is good and hopefully one day she will be able to use her demon powers to rule the world so her family can have a bigger, non cursed, budget to live on.

O Maidens in Your Savage Season

Puberty is hard. Puberty is also maddening, wanting to drive you up the wall with new urges you are not used to. Simple joys like trains are replaced with weird videos you order off websites or somehow get from the back of a video store. Puberty is an inherently frantic time but it's also kind of funny if you think about it enough.

Maidens explores the tales of the Literature Club members as they go through this important stage of life and that's the fun of this series. All of the girls are each trying to find out exactly what it is they want out of a relationship. Is it just friendship? Is it Ess Ee Ecks? There's a lot of fun to be had as the series goes on. Whether it be Kazusa trying to get a bit further with a childhood friend, President Rika questioning her stance on relationships being even proper to have in high school or the writing adventures of HItoha going to sex chatrooms, there is a lot of different things going on in this show.

It's got a very good sense of drama as well; there were more than a few episodes where I found myself worried about what would happen next and hoping things would be ok. Niina's arc is very intense and gave me creeper vibes any time her old mentor appeared. The show is very good in general at just showing emotions and none of it felt like it was shoehorned or phony. The writing is top notch and I love all these girls. Puberty is a weird time but...they got this I'm sure.

Here are a couple of other shows I watched that didn't come out this year but enjoyed a lot!

SSSS.Gridman

Thank God Trigger was able to come back from its previous offering to give us Gridman. At first I was afraid that all of its Transformers color scheme easter eggs were just trying to lure me in with a mediocre show. This was not the case because Gridman just rules hard. A sequel/spinoff to the old 90's series, localized here as Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad, this show was a love letter from the creators to the show and other tokusatsu shows in general.

Kaiju appear to devastate the city, shown from low angles that just make it seem even more like you're watching an old toku show. The toyetic nature of Gridman's various powerups and the design of Gridman himself just further pay homage to this. There was one Kaiju for a moment I swear you could see a string operating it (for the record, it was not a string but was in fact part of the Kaiju). It's not just a cheap nostalgic trap though because the animation is superb, the action is top notch and the main theme song just kicks ass. This is a really cool series and if you have any passing interest in toku shows, are a Trigger fan, or like seeing Actionmaster Thundercracker's color scheme, go and check this thing out!

Other highlights include another version of Inferno Cop and Rikka's mom who is always fun and good.

Dirty Pair (TV series)

Dirty Pair is a series I watched a good chunk of before but never actually finished. Thanks to the #DirtyDecempair hashtag though, I finally went and did it and well...Dirty Pair is still really good y'all. It's got space babes who kick ass and are not afraid to go after hunks along the way. Seriously, it's great when you watch a show older than you and it lives up to its hype.

Kei and Yuri are really good characters because they will snipe at each other but in the end, they are still besties and will mess up anything that gets in their way. I appreciate that they always try to get more PTO and pay out of their boss. Even more, I appreciate that the chief will put up with all their shit, whether it be the aforementioned blackmailing for vacation or the sheer amount of destruction they leave in their wake, and still is 100% behind them. He knows they're the best he has and nothing will get in their way.

So yea, Dirty Pair. Still a good show over 30 years later. You should check it out next December! Or sooner, whatever!

That abut wraps up my list of anime I watched this year, but I'm also gonna throw a little bonus round on you! Some anime movies I watched and liked! Lightning round go!

Promare Good fucking movie, good fucking soundtrack. Good Trigger things this year. It lives up to its hype for sure. Go see this when it is out on DVD and Bluray!

Sound Euphonium - Our Promise: A Brand New Day This was a nice movie that felt like a good third season condensed into about 2ish hours.

Love Live! Sunshine!! The School Idol Movie: Over the Rainbow I actually like the music from this one more than the movie itself but seeing Ruby's arc gaining confidence is good and I love it.

Bonus Saint Snow Track: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUNNWxK2Dfs

Redline A movie I kept meaning to see and finally did thanks. Stylish and cool as hell, and the dub is really good too.

Dragon Ball Super: Broly They made Broly a compelling character finally, holy shit. Also some good Frieza comedy.

KonoSuba! Legend of Crimson Imagine a village full of dipshit chuuni wizards. This movie was fun and funny as shit. Warning: It does have one awkward joke related to gender but it thankfully passes by it real quick.

So I think this is my list. I hope you enjoy it. The next time you'll see one from me will be in the distant future of 2020! Hopefully things will be cool by that point to go with the good anime.

#MiyosAnimeListISatItAgain

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theonyxpath · 4 years

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Two young men trudged through the desert, far from the city’s limits. The first, adorned in fur and jewelry, led the second, dressed in flax cloth.

“There it is!” The first man pointed to a half-buried obelisk stone.

“You brought me here to see a rock?” the second man asked. “Once your family realizes we’re gone—”

“We’ll be back before nightfall.” The first man dug into the sand beneath the stone, and pulled out an effigy of a cat, carved from lapis lazuli. “I wanted you to see this.”

The second man examined it. “Another rock?”

He traced his fingers over the sculpted patches of fur and around the perfectly re-created scar over its left eye. He shook his head and smiled.

“Mouser,” he said, “It’s Mouser!”

The first man grinned. “I know you loved her very much. I crafted this from my memories of her. Now, she will be the Pharaoh of Mice.”

The second man hugged the effigy. “Thank you.”

“That’s not all,” the first man said, “I will present it to the Tef-Aabhi, and they will look upon my work and proclaim me a fellow master craftsman. Then, I will bring you with me. We will no longer be master and servant, but guildmates. Your family won’t live in the barracks anymore.”

The second man looked at the first, shocked. “You don’t mean that.”

The first man put his hands on the shoulders of the second, and looked deeply into his gray eyes. “I do. I will aid you and your family for as long as I live. I promise.”

? ? ?

Pert-en-hat opened his eyes and grasped at the leather seats. He took a moment to gather his surroundings. It was 2020, and he sat in one of the self-moving chariots his cult called a “van.”

The man sitting at Pert-en-hat’s left reached over and grasped his chest. “Easy there, we just hit a bump.”

The mummy grabbed the man’s wrist. “Who said that you could touch me?”

“Wait!” The man shouted. “It’s me, Tristian! The thief you hired?”

“Pert-en-hat,” the woman to his right said, “He’s telling the truth. Let him go.”

He looked at her, stared into her gray eyes, and released the man.

“I am sorry,” Pert-en-hat said, “When the relic calls to me, my mind gets…distorted.”

He watched Tristian shake his wrist and felt a twinge of shame. A year ago, he would have shattered the thief’s arm in three places and summoned a swarm of beetles to devour him before a single cry of mercy crossed his lips. It would have been wrong to do so, but the power would have come naturally. Now, mustering the strength to grab someone was a challenge.

“What did it tell you?” The woman asked.

“Its name,” the mummy said, “It is the ‘Pharaoh of Mice.’”

“So we’ve got its name and where the bastard’s keeping it,” Tristian said, “That’s all I need to know. I’ll give my people the update.”

Tristian got on the phone. As he talked, the woman leaned over to study Pert-en-hat’s face.

“You learned something else, didn’t you?” She put a hand on his shoulder. “You can tell me.”

“Farah, I saw its creator.”

“Was it someone you knew?”

“In a sense, yes.”

“My lord, I don’t understand. Who is it?”

Pert-en-hat sighed. “The relic. It’s mine.”

?? ?? ??

The young man expected to see one of the master craftsmen when he entered the guildhall. Instead, the seven cloaked guildmasters of the Tef-Aabhi beckoned him from the atrium into a private hall, and shut the door behind him.

He fell to his hands and knees before them.

“Most holy Shan’iatu!” He prostrated. “Forgive me; I did not intend to shirk my labor, only to demonstrate my craft.”

He looked up, just for a moment. Their faces were well-hidden by the hoods of their cloaks.

One of them spoke in a husky, feminine voice. “We know what you’ve done. Show us what it can do.”

“Of course.” The man stood up. He invoked the Pharaoh of Mice, speaking its name and holding it above his head. A mouse poked its head from a crack in the floor. Another squeezed through a crevice in the ceiling. Mice from all over the guildhall poured into the room, crowding the floor and standing at attention.

“It controls the weak,” the man said. “As long as you believe you rule them, they cannot disobey. Watch.”

He commanded the vermin to leave. They fled the room. The workers outside shrieked and cursed as the rodents ran as one through the guildhall’s exit. The mice continued into the town, and then to the sands beyond.

He said, “If it pleases the Shan’iatu, I shall add this treasure to the panoply and take my place as master craftsman.”

There was a moment of silence.

“No,” said the husky voice. “You have earned something greater, should you accept it.”

The man blinked. “Yes, of course! What is it?”

The Shan’iatu looked at him, and for a moment he saw the heads of animals, not people.

“You will learn,” the husky voice said, “In due time.”

??? ??? ???

Tristian looked up at the skyscraper, shaking his head. “Robbing a corporate headquarters in broad daylight. You people are my kind of crazy.”

“It’s the only way we can get to the relic,” Farah said. “If Pert-en-hat’s visions are right, it’s in Mr. Collins’ personal safe, and we need him to open it up before you move in.”

“Right.” He looked over the building’s blueprints. “I’ve gotta say, this is a way better deal than what I thought we were going to get when we robbed his tomb. I could get used to this.”

“He recruited you,” Farah said, “because he saw potential. If it had been any other tomb, you and your friends would not be alive right now. Remember that, before you get too comfortable.” She waved over a woman to join them.

“This is Emma,” she said. “She’s the eldest of us. She’ll be heading in for an interview with Mr. Collins. Once she gets him to open the safe, she’ll signal your team over the radio.”

“Good to meet you, Emma.” Tristian took her in, low-cut dress and all. “You know, for the oldest member, you don’t look a day over 22.”

Emma smiled. “Thanks, but she was 26 when I stole her body.” She winked at him and walked into the building.

He laughed. “She’s kidding, right? Right?”

Farah pulled out a jar of red liquid from her jacket and drew a sigil into the ground.

???? ???? ????

The young man shuffled deeper into the tunnels beneath the city, where the pillars dug into the earth. He moved shoulder-to-shoulder with other workers. He recognized some of his fellow sculptors.

Earlier that day, a group of Maa-Kep dragged the grey-eyed young man and his family from his home. The young man, the family’s master, witnessed their arrest and demanded an explanation. They would not tell him why they captured them or where they were going. When he struck one of the secret police to the ground, the rest overpowered him and carried him to his guildhall.

There, servants stripped him of his finery and bathed him. They held him down and poured a bitter drink into his throat. They clothed him in robes with hieroglyphics he didn’t recognize and sent him to march with the others.

Now, his head swam as he created the end of the corridor. He stumbled and tried to grasp the wall with an unfeeling arm. His grip lost strength, and he slammed face-first into the floor. Two cloaked figures, Shan’iatu, carried him to an altar. Blood from his broken noise stained it. They did not care.

“What is this? The young man’s question mingled with the sound of chanting and screaming nearby.

One of the Shan’iatu lifted a long, copper spike above the young man’s head.

“You earned this.” The man recognized her husky, feminine voice. “You accepted it. Our empire is eternal, and you will be its vessel.”

She thrust the spike into his forehead. It was his first death.

????? ????? ?????

Pert-en-hat’s cultists assured him the plan would work. With Farah’s sorcery, the body thief as decoy, and the aid of world-class thieves, they would take the Pharaoh of Mice, and he would return to Duat with the relic without lifting a finger.

They hadn’t expected their mark to find the body thief’s radio. They couldn’t have imagined that he knew they were coming. They were not prepared for Mr. Collins using the vessel and commanding every employee to hunt down the team.

They would need him after all, and he would need to gather all the strength in his dying body. He sprinted into the building, tossing away the glassy-eyed workers trying to tackle him. When he reached the elevator doors, he ripped them from the wall and hurled them into the crowd. He leaped into the empty elevator shaft. His body melted into the concrete floor on impact and he swam through the building like a fish moving upstream. The Pharaoh of Mice shone like a beacon among the skyscraper’s inferior materials and mediocre architecture. He followed its light.

He emerged from the floor of Mr. Collins’ office. The relic stood on the businessman’s desk. It radiated warmth that soothed the mummy. Mr. Collins stood between Pert-en-hat and his goal. Beneath him sat Farah and the others, tied together.

“So.” Mr. Collins kept his gun trained on the captives. “You’re the man who wants to steal my treasure.”

?????? ?????? ??????

Pert-en-hat rose from his sarcophagus, confused. He knew Emma, but she was surrounded by strangers.

“This is your master,” she said to the others. “Kneel before him!”

They did so, save for a woman no older than her late teens. Instead, she moved to him, close enough to get a clear view of her face in the dim torchlight. Her gray eyes seemed alight with wonder. Pert-en-hat stood dumbfounded.

“No!” Emma shouted. “You don’t know what he’ll do!”

“It’s you,” the young woman said, “from my dreams. My father, and his grandfather, they served you. Do you remember?”

The muscles on Pert-en-hat’s skinless face twitched. His mind’s eye saw vague memories of a young man in the desert with eyes like hers, but nothing else. “No.”

The woman sighed. “We’ll give it some time, then. I’m Farah.”

??????? ??????? ???????

Mr. Collins stood with a hunch. His eyes were bloodshot and his clothes were soaked in sweat. His body had a corpse’s pallor.

“You’re dying,” Pert-en-hat said. “Without the proper invocation, it feeds on you. There’s still time. Give it to me, and I can save you.”

“Save me?” Mr. Collins wheezed out a laugh. “When I have the power of a god? No. It’s not me you should worry about.”

He shot Farah in the chest. She slumped over. Her blood soaked into the rope.

“I have more than enough for the rest of—”

Before Mr. Collins finished his sentence, Pert-en-hat leaped on him and smashed his head through his desk, the floor, and several inches into the concrete below both. He convulsed and went still. Emma struggled against the rope. “Farah? Stay with us! Farah!”

“She’s not dead,” Tristian said, “Not yet.”

Pert-en-hat lifted the Pharaoh of Mice from the ruins of Mr. Collins’ desk. He traced his fingers along the patches in its fur, and the scar on its eye.

A husky, feminine voice echoed in his mind. Leave them. They can be replaced. Return it to me.

The mummy’s head ached. “I…”

“Master, do something. Please!” Emma yanked her body away from Farah. “The police’ll be here any minute!”

Return it to me. It’s mine!

“No,” Pert-en-hat said. “It’s mine!”

He crushed the Pharaoh of Mice in his hands and its power flowed through him. The pain in his body ceased, and he cried to the heavens in joy.

He tore the rope binding the cultists. He placed a hand on Farah’s chest, over the bullet wound. “Live!”

His life force flooded her body and her wound sealed. She coughed up gold-tinted blood.

Pert-en-hat felt a chill spread from his chest to his limbs. His skin shriveled and he fell to the floor. Farah and the others grabbed his body, but their voices sounded far away.

Before he returned to the sleep of death, the voice in his head spoke once more. I am very disappointed in you. But I am merciful. We will try again. After all, you are my most beloved servant.

???????? ???????? ????????

Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition is currently on Kickstarter.

#Onyx Path Publishing

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