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animebw · 2 years

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Short Reflection: Space Dandy Season 1

There is no anime creator I struggle more with than Shinichiro Watanbe. Intellectually, I understand why his work is so acclaimed, and I respect the immense talent and craft that goes into everything he produces. But time and time again, his shows just fail to connect with me. Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo, for all their impressive qualities, always seemed to keep me at a distance, admiring them like art pieces behind a thick glass window instead of welcoming me into their beating, bleeding heart. They’re whirlwind showcases of some of the most technically gifted artists working in this medium, yet very little of that talent struck a chord in me beyond “Well, that was interesting.” And when his work does capture something that speaks to me, like the fatalistic beauty of Zankyou no Terror or the heartfelt whimsy of Carole and Tuesday, it’s marred by a messy script that fails to do justice to such immaculate vibes. Watanabe is a man of many talents, but he’s never been able to truly win my heart. Maybe one of these days, he’ll finally make something I can wholly love the way I want to. But it’s not gonna happen today, and unless the second season is significantly better, it’s not gonna be with Space Dandy.

Okay, calling Space Dandy a Watanabe show may be a tad misleading. The actual director is Shingo Natsume, who would later become famous for the fantastic first season of One Punch Man and the immensely captivating art-house masterpiece Sonny Boy. Watanabe’s role on this show is more as a creative overseer, bringing together as many talented people as he possibly can and letting them loose to do whatever the hell they want. Which, yeah, that collaborative freedom has always been a big part of his creative process, but Space Dandy takes that concept farther than anything else he’s worked on. The only consistency is the premise and core cast: it’s the far reaches of outer space, humans and aliens live side by side, and our protagonists, similar to the Bebop crew are a bunch of down-on-their-luck bounty hunters, though in their case, they’re only hunting rare and undiscovered alien species. Dandy is a lecherous slacker who goes with the flow and wants to spend all his money and cash at a restaurant chain that’s essentially just Hooters in space. Meow is a cat-like alien loser who’s basically freeloading off Dandy’s ship. QT, the ship’s sentient robot vacuum and engineer, acts as the straight man to the other’s antics. There’s also some purposefully poorly defined big galactic war going on somewhere in the background, and a team of recurring villains from one of those armies are pursuing Dandy for reasons neither we nor he are aware of. I imagine this will become more relevant in season 2, but for now, it’s just an excuse to have a Team Rocket-style bumbling villain squad pop in every now and then to spice things up. They’re my favorite characters in the show, and I always enjoyed seeing them pop up.

Aside from that, though? The name of the game is freedom, baby. Each episode is helmed by a different creative team, and those teams are given free reign to take that cast, setting, and premise in whatever direction they damn well please. The first episode even ends with the main characters dying in a planetary explosion, only for them to show up next episode like it never happened. If nothing else, it’s a very effective way of setting expectations: this is not a show you come to for tight continuity or lasting consequences. This is a show you watch to see how each different team of talented anime artists chooses to interpret the broad strokes of Space Dandy as a concept. What kind of story will they tell? What animation style will they use? What kind of tone will they try to set? The universe is a big place, after all, and there’s no telling what kind of wild and imaginative situations this crew might find themselves in. The only limits are what the people behind each episode can dream up.

And to its credit, Space Dandy really does showcase that diverse creativity. No two episodes feel exactly the same, and each creator puts their own unique touch in ways both subtle and obvious. Some episodes lean into the goofier, cartoony side of Dandy’s world, all ridiculous alien designs and exaggerated character animation. Others lean harder into extraterrestrial awe and existentialism, with evocative camerawork and heavily stylized animation. Some are relatively normal affairs, while others are completely off the walls. At one point, Dandy literally surfs the dust of an exploding planet. At another, he and his entire crew, robot QT included, turn into zombies and grapple with the question of how to keep living once you’re dead. Then there’s episode 9, directed by future Science Saru producer Eun-Yeong Choi, which dives full-tilt into Masaaki-Yuasa-style abstraction in animation for one of my favorite episodes of the bunch. And just to drive that sense of diversity home, my other favorite episode, episode 10, is one of the series’ most grounded episodes, using the classic “stuck in a time loop“ trope as a metaphor to explore the apathy and wanderlust of growing up in some backwater town where every day is the same anyway. That willingness to experiment with mood and style is Watanabe’s strongest skill, and honestly, Space Dandy’s freeform world is probably the best fit for it yet. Unlike with Champloo and Bebop, no episodes feel tonally dissonant, because every episode is equally free from expectations of any sort. The creators can all just go in whatever direction they want, and the universe is easily big enough to handle all those different visions at once.

Unfortunately, this is also where the problems come on. Because with any anthology series, especially one with as loose continuity as Space Dandy, your enjoyment is gonna come down to how much you enjoy each episodic story on its own terms. And to be blunt, there’s a lot of episodes in Space Dandy that are just kinda “meh” at best. Episode 3 is a mostly uninteresting take on the “sexy alien lady is secretly a bloodthirsty monster” trope. Episode 5 is an even more paint-by-numbers “Dandy travels with a feisty kid and becomes her surrogate dad for a time” story. Episode 7 is about Dandy getting jealous over a narcissistic pretty boy getting all the girls and entering in a spaceship race to try and beat him. These storylines were already getting trite back in Bebop’s time, and they’ve only become less interesting since then. And that’s probably my biggest issue with Watanabe’s work as a whole: for all his visual and cinematic imagination, he rarely applies that same level of imagination to his actual storytelling. I’ve seen so many versions of the stories he chooses to tell, and he never tells them in an interesting enough way to make them fresh again. Maybe it reads less chiche to Japanese audiences who aren’t as familiar with the Western storytelling tropes Watanabe likes to draw on, but they mostly just leave me cold.

Of course, Champloo and Bebop at least had effortlessly cool main characters to try and pick up the slack where the storytelling fell short. Which brings me to Space Dandy’s other critical flaw: Dandy himself. Remember when I described him as lecherous a few paragraphs ago? Yeah, sadly, that comes with all the baggage you might imagine. He’s never an outright sexual harassment lawsuit waiting to happen, but my god, I didn’t even last two episodes before I wanted to slap the shit out of him. It is exhausting spending time in his meathead mind, listening to him wax poetic about boobs and butts while dreaming about going back to that titty restaurant again. it’s the equivalent of being stuck at some obnoxious college party with a drunk frat bro spewing chauvinistic slop at you like he thinks it’s “funny” and assumes you’ll find it funny too. Which maybe wouldn’t be as frustrating if there were some interesting female characters to offset Dandy’s piggishness, but nope. Basically every female character in this show is either a brainless bimbo, a walking pinup, a damseled maiden, or that one evil temptress who seduces men to kill and eat them I mentioned earlier. So the show basically treats women the same way Dandy thinks of women, and that’s just not a pleasant thought stream to be a part of. At least Faye Valentine and Fuu got to kick some ass every once in a while.

I don’t hate Space Dandy’s first season. Frankly, I don’t even dislike it. But it’s the weakest of Watanave’s work I’ve seen thus far, and it’s representative of why his stuff just keeps bouncing off me. Hopefully the second season, as with Bebop and Champloo, will bring it to a strong enough finish that I still find it an overall worthwhile experience. But until then, I give season 1 a score of:

5.5/10

Onward to season 2 I go. See you next time!

#anime #the anime binge-watcher #tabw #space dandy #2014 aniwatch

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probabltbry · 5 years

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Carole & Tuesday [Rants/My Opinion/Controversy]

THIS TOOK SO LONG TO WRITE, PLEASE SKIM IT AT LEAST (T.T).

This is very different than what I usually post and I want to begin by saying that I may not have all of the facts! I am basing this on what I’ve seen other people say on this site (and others) and fact checking. I am open to learning and understanding more, and I will read any and all comments (if this post gets any lol). If this changes anything, I am making this post through the lense of a black bisexual female, so my view on things may be different. :)

I try to keep this spoiler free in general, but since I’m going to talk about characters and episodes that have released that’s a little impossible, so I will warn you if there are any spoilers in the section I discuss. I want people who haven’t seen the anime to get a taste of what it is!

In this long post I will touch on the following; LGBT+ representation, POC representation, exposure of the anime(streaming and where to find it), the community/fandom of C&T, Cybelle????!!, and other characters. Remember- this is my opinion and that is always subject to change.

For those of you who don’t know about Carole & Tuesday, it’s a Spring 2019 anime directed by Shinichiro Watanbe in association with the popular Bones studio. Shinichiro is well known for his other successful series such as Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloos and Space Dandy and Bones studio has produced many popular animes like Noragami, Soul Eater and Ouran High School Host Club, etc. [Fun fact, Cowboy Bebop and Carole & Tuesday are said to be set in the same universe and I died when I heard this.]

The plot of Carole & Tuesday, as provided by wiki is:

Set in the future on a partially terraformed Mars, teenager Tuesday Simmons runs away from her posh lifestyle as the daughter of a politician and makes her way to the populous Alba City to pursue her dream of being a musician with just a suitcase and her Gibsonacoustic guitar. On her first day in the city, she crosses paths with Carole Stanley, another aspiring musician who plays the piano, and the two decide to team up as a singer-songwriter duo under the name Carole & Tuesday.

Where can I find this? Why haven’t I heard of it?

I actually discovered Carole & Tuesday through google since I was looking at new and upcoming animes for the Spring and Summer of 2019. Sadly, the website I used show that Carole & Tuesday was an anime many people weren’t looking forward too- but that was only a handful of votes. Personally, I had been super ecstatic since, just from the promo poster, I assumed Carole and Tuesday would possibly be a couple, there’s a person of color as a main protaganist, and they’re both SUPER CUTE. This all made me happy beyond words.

As of now, Carole & Tuesday should only be available on Japan Netflix. Japanese viewers tend to prefer weekly released episodes whereas Americans prefer to binge shows. I am assuming that once the show has completed airing in Japan (there are going to be 24 episodes) it will appear on other Netflixs around the world.

I believe that’s why the promo for it has been severely lacking and the fanbase appears non-existant. The fandom is there, if you squint (which is why I’m surprised there’s already controversy). The fact that I had to look through a list on an unknown website and scroll to the bottom to find this anime is very showing of how unknown this anime is.

I also saw a post comparing Yuri!!! On Ice to Carole & Tuesday and I personally believe that OP took the wrong approach. I forgot the posters name (I will edit and tag if I find it again) but the post said something along theses lines; YOI is so popular because it’s a mlm show whereas C&T isn’t nearly as popular because it’s a wlw relationship with poc.

While this can prove to be true in the future, there are some major differences that were overlooked. I was into the YOI hype when it was first released but it didn’t truly become popular until Yuri and Viktor were canon and everyone was speculating whether it was a kiss or a hug, etc. Yuri!!! On Ice is also a relationship with a person of color, Yuri, and the anime was also supported by Crunchyroll, a major streaming service for Americans/others. It has had two years to become popular, grow and this is one of the very few animes that had positive lgbt+ representation since the relationship grew just as normally as any other type of relationship. It also wasn’t labeled a yaoi/shounen ai (though this sadly didn’t stop the fetishization of the characters and No.6 did it first but let’s move on-). It felt like a big step in the anime lgbt+ community and it won’t be forgotten!

Carole & Tuesday has just started off! Not much promotion is being shown in other countries outside of Japan and the first episode premiered in early April this year. I believe it’s harsh to compare C&T to such a popular anime when it’s literally just begun. It’s also exclusively on Netflix (besides pirating sites) so there is a little foreseeable loss since it won’t be available on Crunchyroll. But despite that I know there’s hope! Though mlm couples tend to be more popularly viewed, and any pairing that doesn’t have completely white/asian/white-presenting people in the relationship they tend to not garner much interests, but I don’t think C&T will fall into that pit. There’s simply not much promotion of it yet but it still has defied odds and has a fanbase with people from many different countries already!

Though I do see the OP’s point and concerns and they have facts on their side (look at fandometrics popular characters/couples, they’re mostly male) I think it’s too soon to point fingers.

Just imagine how large it’ll get when it has proper streaming (because many people do choose not to pirate in order to directly support the anime and it’s creators!). I think this is where our patience comes into play because if you have seen Carole & Tuesday already, you are most likely not using the most legal means. We are all early to the party.

LGBT+ and POC Representation (spoilers in part of this section, read first line):

I will say this, and this will only be the only spoiler free line, I think it has decent lgbt+ representation and that there’s more to unfold. If you’re going to watch exclusively for lgbt+ representation then I don’t think you will be too disappointed but the anime has a ways to go before it’s finished so my opinion can change.

But the most recent episodes and commentary has caused a ripple in viewers beliefs.

Anne and Marie

I literally adored when Marie kissed Anne whilst Carole and Tuesday sat there blushing. Then, Marie was careful to ask if either of them had a boyfriend or girlfriend not assuming C or T’s sexualities at all. This happened on in an early episode so this left me to believe that more casual representation was on the way!

Cybelle

This was where it began to become uncomfortable for me and a few others. I actually couldn’t figure out whether Cybelle was a female, male or left to be ambiguous intentional (I just concluded she was non-binary until they used she/her pronouns). But many people concluded that since it was clear Cybelle was a female with an infatuation (not a crush, an infatuation) on Tuesday people simply labeled her as lesbian. A few are labeling her interactions with Tuesday and Carole as a harmful and negative commonly used trope when involving wlw characters.

Cybelle was being creepy and aggressive towards Tuesday, constantly touching her abruptly and without consent and going as far as biting Tuesday’s neck and leaving a mark. Actions like these feed into the trope that is commonly used in anime/television shows and it actually demeans real lesbian couples. It’s like a scapegoat; saying ‘here’s your rep’ but it’s very, very, very bad rep.

The controversy comes in since there are people defending Cybelle’s actions because she’s a girl, and people are literally calling others ‘homophobic’ because they choose not to ship Cybelle and Tuesday despite their ‘canon interactions’ but they still want Carole and Tuesday to become a couple.

My personal stance is that none of Cybelle’s actions were consensual and I will never want her and Tuesday to become a couple. I think the creators fed into a bad trope (I’m not sure if intentionally or not), and the real only development we got from this was Tuesday learning to stick up for herself. I also think that Cybelle is simply a crazed fan who is not in a sound mental state and that her gender may not necessarily play into this; maybe she was meant to just be an aggressive fan that overstepped boundaries and made people uncomfortable and just happened to be female. Maybe it wasn’t meant to be representation and should not be labeled as such.

But these are just thoughts!

Mermaid Sisters - Galatic Mermaid

I was personally pleased that the Mermaid Sisters blatantly said they weren’t male or female, just like mermaids aren’t fish or human. Non-binary representation is my fucking jam!

But there are worries that this group was used as a comedic affect due to the way the characters were dressed and how they presented themselves, and the fact that they were POC who were interrupted, immediately lost and were shown to be aggressive directly after.

When I first viewed this I was more focused on the fact that they were non-binary, had amazing voices and had sang a song that was clearly not the most appropriate for Mars Brightest. Now I understand that how there were presented can be damaging and as a person of color, I am disappointed but I’m still conflicted. This scene caused people to ‘cancel’ the show and they’re trying to discourage others to not view it but I want to watch until the very end.

Overall I am super happy with the POC representation in the show! Especially since various races and skin tones are show quite frequently.

Dahlia

The same can be said about Dahlia. People feared the a negative trope of transgender females was being displayed though it’s stated that Dahlia is currently male but their sex varies from time to time, on the official website!

The Community/Fandom

Honestly besides the few odd balls who stir the pot and clearly use harsh words when not needed, the fandom is chill. The artworks are sooo cute and a little scarce but you can find Carole and Tuesday content here, on twitter, on YouTube, Deviantart- literally where you would find any other fanbase! Most people are friendly and (NEED) are willing to talk with you! If you’re still hesitant to watch just message someone who constantly tags Carole & Tuesday because I assure, they’re dying to rant to someone about what goes on lol.

Here’s my last little tid bit on whether or not to watch!

You should watch this show because you want to. Don’t do it because someone else keeps saying you have to because it has representation, or because they think Pyotr is hot or whatever. Of course I am the biggest hoe for Carole & Tuesday and if someone wants a new anime to watch I will suggest this one!! But!! Watching a show just because you feel you have to and you have no genuine interests will dull the experience! You should watch and support the show if it makes you laugh, feel love and genuine enjoyment. That’s the point of anime and that is definitely the point of Carole & Tuesday.

I have already seen so many people drop the show because they were forced into it and promised things that weren’t delivered (it’s still early on) and then they bad mouth the anime. If you want to start watching when there’s more hype and a fandom, then wait!! If you’re unsure and want more convincing, message me!! If this doesn’t seem like this anime suits your tastes and, then why did you read this far (kidding)?!!! Regardless, I just want everyone to have a good experience when watching so we can have more good vibes all around.

I would definitely give this anime a shot if you love music, beautiful voices, dancing, poc/lgbt+ rep, suspense and just amazing animation all around, though! It’s has a baby fandom but it’s surely going to grow and I can’t wait to see the outcome of the anime and what becomes of our lovely Carole and Tuesday! <3

I’m also in love with Roddy, just look at him~ | I’m still not super fond of Angela but I am wishing her the best to achieve happiness in the end!

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