It's anime time!

Its been a couple of years since I watched Death Parade so I forgot how good it is. This show opens an interesting discussion about morality and the human experience. The arbiter system to determine the fate of a soul is very intriguing. Despite the complexity of world, this system simplifies humans actions to either good or bad. This very black and white approach towards distinguishing morals clearly illustrate the flaws of the arbiter system. An arbiter's lack of emotions results in them not being unable to comprehend a person's motive behind their actions. 

A lot of Death Parade's themes are presented as dichotomies that subvert the audience's expectations. One of the main dichotomies throughout this anime is between Decim and Chiyuki. Decim is displayed as a socially inept, emotionless arbiter, while Chiyuki is a compassionate human being. Their roles as an arbiter and assistant clash through the differences in their decision making processes. Decim is able to make choices with logic, while Chiyuki emotions influence her judgements. This dichotomy between emotional and logical decision making is explored mainly in episodes one and two. Decim assesses the couple's fate logically based on their actions in life and during the game, while Chiyuki is able to see beyond the wife's act because of her emotional intelligence. The real point of episodes one and two is to illustrate that emotional intelligence is a major aspect of decision making. Overall, Death Parade's exploration of morality and the human condition is something that everyone should watch.

One major aspect of Violet Evergarden is its dialogue of how war influences the human condition. The physical and emotional scars of war are present all throughout the show. In first episode, Violet is presented as an emotionally stunted, physically impaired child soldier unable to understand her own emotions herself as well as the ones of people around her. Violet decides to become an Auto Memory after realizing that this career path can help her with her final mission from the war, discovering the meaning of I love you. In episode 9, Violet confronts her trauma from the war and is consumed by her emotions of heartbreak and grief. The show's solution to dealing with trauma is that all wounds heal with time. This is also reiterated in episode 10 by Ann's Mom's decision to write letters for the future, rather than the past. Another instance of this would be the success of the letter/song in the OVA. Violet was able to use her own experiences to successfully convey a message that resonated with the members of the audience, further demonstrating that everyone in the show has experienced war. Overall, Violet Evergarden conveys that war will always impact the human condition.

 Also, everyone should listen to the OST for this show. It's amazing!

Sensoron really surprised me with it's strong conservative messages. Despite our previous discussions of Japanese conservative ideology in anime and manga, our class has never really explored Japanese conservatism to this extent. 

As someone who loves to learn about history, using the manga medium to distort history in favor of the author's perspective is wrong on so many levels. Kobayashi uses language such as group lynching when referring to the Tokyo War Crimes Trial. This manga tries to justify Japan's actions by saying that other nations committed war crimes and Japan is only persecuted because they lost frustrates me. That’s the  equivalent of two children fighting over cookies with the child who at a dozen saying that other child who ate a single cookie is just as guilty. As someone who is Jewish, deescalating Nazi war crimes because they lost the war is wrong on so many levels. 

Your Name is up there as one of my favorite films of all time. Makoto Shinkai's art style stands out as some of best that anime has to offer, which help contribute to the film being the highest grossing anime film of all time. 

One major aspect of the film is the ideological juxtaposition between tradition and modernity. The first way the film explores this conflict is by making Mitsuha and Taki polar examples of these concepts. Mitsuha is the presented as the pinnacle of the traditional lifestyle through her role as a Shinto priestess. She takes care of her family's shrine and participates in her family's traditional ritual, the kuchikamikaze. On the other hand, Taki represents the aspects of life unique to modernity. He is college student studying architecture, while working part time as a waiter. His choice to study architecture is purposeful, as this career path is symbolic towards the creation of new buildings for the modern era. Throughout the film, Mitsuha and Taki begin to embrace both lifestyles throughout their body swapping misadventures. Taki learns to appreciate the past and traditions, while Mitsuha enjoys the city lifestyle. At the end of the day, the film does not present an answer concerning these juxtaposed ideologies, but rather treats both sides as something that should be balanced. 

This theme of balance between the two is a metaphor for the success of modern Japanese culture. In Japan, western technology and ideology are perceived as modern after the United States helped Japan recover post-WWII. Modern Japanese culture is unique because it was able to strike a balance between maintaining the traditions of the past, while adopting many aspects of modern life. An example of this would be Tokyo as it is renown for it's modernity. There are plenty of soaring skyscrapers in Tokyo, but ancient shrines are also scattered across the city. Some of these shrines are just as popular as other modern places to visit like Skytree. Overall, Your Name illustrates that balance needs to continue to be maintained between tradition and modernity.

Hetalia at it's core is a political satire, but its tendency to simplify complex issues results in the promotion of problematic ideologies. This web series is a carefree illustration of international relations from all eras of history. A lot of the issues stem from it mainly focusing on WWII, in which Hetalia portrays the Axis powers, Germany, Italy, and Japan, as the main protagonists. The show deliberately ignores fascist Germany and Italy, as well as Imperial Japan. This web series demonstrates Japan's penchant of erasing history in regard to it's actions during WWII. In the 1990s, their were several controversies regarding history textbooks downplaying Japanese war crimes and Japanese imperialism. Even today, there is a lot of pressure to discuss Japan's actions during WWII with politicians and media not even willing to start a conversation. It's only when victims of Japanese imperialism speak up does the government acknowledge it's previous regimes actions.

Remnants of Japan's imperialistic mindset still exist within Hetalia. In the article, "World Conflict", Sandra Annet elaborates upon the South Korean criticism towards Hetalia. She states, "Though Japan’s colonization of Korea is not directly shown in Hetalia, the diminishment of Korea’s concerns and the infantilization of his character are consistent with more general depictions of colonized nations throughout the web comic and anime." This portrayal of South Korea as colonized is problematic as portrays Korea in a an offensive manner. Annet also discusses how Himaruya disputes South Korean sovereignty for Dokdo in his interpretation of Japan South Korea relations. This particular comic ended up harming Japan's reputation in Korea rather than spreading a message of cooperation. Overall, I feel that Himaruya had nothing but positive intentions when writing this series, but the simplification of history makes the illustrated imagery problematic in nature.

So I have known about the Xenoblade franchise since before Shulk was even in Smash. I adore the original Xenoblade Chronicles. I own of a copy of Xenoblade Chronicles 2, but never made it past Gormott. I'm really bad at committing to finish JRPGs. 

Xenoblade takes a unique approach towards discussing the relationship between humans and nature. Like in the real world, Xenoblade presents a setting in which all life is on the brink of becoming extinct. The realm of Alrest has finite land and resources, which has led to many titans loss of sentience and descent into the sea of clouds. The main character Rex sees Elysium as the solution to his decaying world. The game illustrates Elysium as Eden-esque land where all life thrives on grassy plains. However, as the player reaches this haven they discover that the land once considered Elysium fell to drought and famine because of man's hubris. This leads Rex and Pyra/Mythra to develop a new answer for the future of the world. 

The most interesting part of Xenoblade was the solution it presented. The game illustrates that the Elysium Rex was searching for was not a myth, but in fact the world he was living in all along. Elysium was only found once all the technology that harmed the world in the past was destroyed, thus showing man's return to nature. It also very symbolic that Elysium was created by all the titans came together and forming a giant landmass. The message I took away was that humanity and nature must work in tandem to solve problems on a global scale. Overall, I really enjoyed the ride with Xenoblade Chronicles 2.

This Otakumentary was very interesting to watch. The first thing this documentary sets out to do is to define the meaning of otaku. In Japanese culture, the word otaku is associated with negative aspects of fan culture because of Miyazaki murders. There was a sense of shame around being an otaku, but recently the stigma has drastically decreased. In Japan, otaku has evolved from being dedicated anime fans to now a word used to describe nerd culture. In the west, most people use otaku as a label for liking anime, manga and Japanese culture. Another fairly common explanation for describing otaku was it being associated with negative weeabo and hikikomori stereotypes. I think Lauren described it best by stating that otaku has a different meaning to everyone. 

Like Lauren, my roommate and I have also interviewed many people attending conventions. All of these people had fascinating stories about why they started going and eventually cosplaying. Similar to the documentary, the people we encountered were a very diverse group. Even almost a decade later, the otaku community continues to spread across many generations and consists of many different subgroups. 

Another aspect of this documentary was it's focus on cosplay. Experiencing or participating in cosplay is an essential part of conventions. At every convention I have attended, cosplayers are always prominent. I have never cosplayed myself, but I love taking photos of everyone's outfits. At the main convention I attend, cosplay contests are a lot more informal. This may be because it is also a smaller convention. Cosplayers participating in the contest would strut and pose across the stage, similar to a fashion show. Then, judges would choose the best for each category. The documentary provided valuable insight on how more professional cosplay contests work. It was amazing to see how dedicated Dustbunny was to her character through her cosplay. 

On another note, it is amazing to see how much fandom culture has changed since the documentary was made in 2012. The internet has played an influential role in regards to the rise of modern fandom culture. Websites like Tumblr and Twitter have fostered a constant line of communication between content and its consumers. Stan culture is now a main aspect of Twitter fandom. In addition, people are no longer limited to in real life meetings as communication has evolved. Discord servers are one of the main ways people in a fandom connect. Research for cosplay is more accessible than ever before. YouTube is a prime example of how the shadow cultural capital of fandoms is slowly transitioning into cultural capital. I know it's outside of otaku culture, but the Marvel Cinematic Universe is huge contributor to nerd culture being accepted and apart of the mainstream. Fandom culture is still rapidly evolving today.

Surprisingly, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind was one of the few Ghibli films I had not set out to see before this class. After watching this film, Nausicaa is definitely in my top five Ghibli movies. Every scene in this movie oozes passion and care. 

The film's messages about preventing the destruction of the earth through war and pollution were really powerful. I love that Nausicaa was able to be a diplomat in a shoot first ask questions later world. Nausicaa's compassion for all living creatures gave her the ability to not act in fear when interacting with the Ohms as well as the other nations. This illustrates the anti-war message that people should work together instead of fighting for power. Nausicaa was only able to stop the stampede because she forced the Pejites to work with her. I also appreciate the Nausicaa does not let grudges influence her kindness for others. She rescues Kushana, despite Kushana murdering her father earlier in the film. Overall, Nausicaa illustrates that disputes should be solved diplomatically, instead of through violence.