Visual Culture Blog

This was an incredibly tense scene for me

Full disclosure: I watched the entire season. But I decided to only make notes for the episodes assigned. Then when I finished I decided that I wanted to write my paper on this series and I had intense regrets about my note taking decisions. But, I’ll try to limit my discussion to the four episodes we were supposed to watch!

I actually adore this anime. My paper is looking to be a little negative, and I think depending on how you interpret certain events there are negative things to say. But forget all that. This anime is great. If 君の名は is my number 1 for this class, this is easily my number 2 (not that there was a lot of competition, but oh well). 

女の子ってなんでできてる？男の子ってなんでできてる？Questions that really inform the rest of the series, and difficult ones to answer. What is it that makes somebody a girl? What is it that makes somebody a boy? I used to think a lot about gender (my own, specifically). I eventually came to my own conclusions, but it’s funny to think about how a support network or shows like this might’ve affected me back then. 

When I initially watched this series (in one sitting) I thought about how well it covered some topics. Typing this now, I instead think about how I never really stopped to think that this setting was supposed to be limited to Japan. I listened to the Japanese for certain cues, and of course with things like the school’s culture festival it is undoubtedly Japan. But in a way it feels like some messages from this anime have the ability to resonate with people across the globe (for better or worse). 

One of the things that really stood out to me was how it presented the pressure to conform. It calls to mind the saying 出る杭は打たれる. The nail that sticks out gets hammered down. Nitori stepped outside of expectations one time, going to school dressed as a girl, and there’s hell to pay for it. Anna dips, bullies pop up, and Nitori is forced back into the schoolboy role. I said it once in class already, but I grew up in a really small, really rural, town. Think Itomori (Your Name), but possibly smaller and certainly more spread out. It’s difficult to force yourself to stand out in that kind of environment. And I don’t mean that in the, “everybody is just so amazing” type of way. My county had two high schools, a standard one and one for dual enrollment (HS+college). I attended the dual enrollment one, and some of my other friends attended the standard one. One of my friends (that I had met in kindergarten) came out as bisexual in 9th grade. Despite the fact that he went to the standard HS, everybody in the DE school knew that he had come out. Then one of my friends from the DE school told me that he was homophobic. Literally, just like that, as if it were something to brag about. He told me that he didn’t want to hang out with my other friend, and that I shouldn’t either. And I’d like to tell you that I told him to fuck off. But I didn’t. And I’d like to say that I couldn’t do that, because of the environment. But I could’ve. I mean, if my friend could come out of the closet in that kind of place, then what is telling one person to get lost? But I took the easy way out. I remained friends with both of them, keeping them out of each other’s way, until I moved to Florida and eventually lost contact with both. 

I have more recent stories that I’d like to share, but if I remember correctly this is supposed to be a blog about anime/manga, and not my personal diary. So, I suppose I’ll save them for a later date. Though I only talked about the issue of conformity I think this anime does a lot of things right. I wish we had had more of this. 

Spirited Away is a timeless classic that I’m proud to have been apart of the generation that came up on it. Nevertheless, its confusing as it sort of meshes elements of reality and fantasy without much warning sort of as Penguindrum did. On that note, the transformation of the parents into pigs is one early example of how greed affects society, indicating to me that elements relating thereto are an important theme of this movie. The happy ending was also nice seeing as how we have seen many very not happy endings. 

Evangelion is an enthralling show upon first sight. The opening song I knew through a friend who mentioned something about its popularity in Karaoke playlists throughout Japan. On that note, this is a work rich with anime and pop culture troupes which I feel contribute to its popularity. Definitely feels like there are societal critiques underlying the show encompasses a greater dialogue underlying the show. It feels again like wartime and bomb references are prevalent. 

How it feels when you decide that catching a limited express at rush hour in Shibuya is a good idea

I was really excited to get to watch this movie for this class. In one of my Japanese classes at Aogaku we listened to an NHK segment on why the movie was so popular. I can’t find the video, but here’s the transcript, if you’re curious. On top of that, for Dr. Wehmeyer’s translation class I translated the first two chapters of the novelization (released a month before the movie). Moreover this is just my type of movie/anime. A romance/comedy/drama WITH A HAPPY ENDING. It’s unfortunate (for me) that we spent so much time on military anime, because frankly I have next to zero interest in them. Also, generally speaking, not a fan of things that are super sad (looking at you, three out of four of the non-military things we watched). Also also, this movie is just so pretty. 

That being said, I think it’s harder for me to analyze a piece when I actually just enjoy watching it. So this gonna be rough, but whatever. How bad could it be? What’s the single most important thing in this movie? The idea of musubi (結び). The whole story revolves around the concept. So what is musubi? Well, according to grandma, it’s a lot of things. Tying a knot, connecting with people, bringing things into yourself, the flow of time itself. They’re brought together, they can twist, tangle, unravel, break, and come back together again. It’s the connection between things (everything?), both in a micro sense and macro sense. Time ties together the past, the present, and the future. And you are tied to people through your relationship to them (daily interactions, old grudges, whatever). It’s the connection between Mitsuha and Taki that tie them together (literally, in the picture above), through time and space. It’s through this connection that Mitsuha and Itomori stand a chance of surviving at all. But of course, Taki/Mitsuha couldn’t do it alone. They also required the help of Tessie and Saya. I think an important aspect here is musubi isn’t just you’re tied to one person and then you can do something incredible. It’s your connection to everybody, and everything. I’ll come back to this in a second.

So what are they saved from? A big ol’ comet. Is this meant to be a stand in for anything? You could argue that the way the comet’s strike is depicted is somewhat reminiscent of the way certain other things have been depicted so far (that silence when it’s about to go boom, the way houses and things are tossed like they’re nothing). But personally I don’t think it’s a stand-in. Or rather, it could be a stand-in for any event that causes a lot of death and destruction. Because the message (to me) isn’t about people reacting to a specific event, like it was in Barefoot Gen or Grave of the Fireflies. Annnnd going back to the previous paragraph,

For me, the movie was about how important our connections are to people in general. This movie chose a comet, but couldn’t it have just as easily been a fire or an earthquake? So it’s not the specific event that matters, but (at least here) it’s about how people come together. Mitsuha got information from the future that put her in a position to be able to save the town. Her connection with Tessie and Saya gave her the tools to do it. Her connection with her dad ensured it. On the other hand, Taki was able to send that information back to the past. He was only able to do that because of a chance encounter with somebody who had lived in Itomori, and because of his connection with Mitsuha. 

In my mind this can be broken down to a more basic message, which is that we are stronger together. I think there’s also a message in the fact that they (Mitsuha and Taki) were able to accomplish this despite being separated by time, and having lived totally different lives. I think it sends a  message of (a hope for?) togetherness that supersedes personal differences (such as where you were born or where you live now). 

Final note on 君の名は. In the last picture above, they’re tied together by a red string. This string also shows up in the scene after he drinks the 口噛み酒. In Japanese there’s an expression, 赤い糸 (akai ito). Literally red string, but it comes from folklore that fated lovers are joined by a red string of fate. And Mitsuha lived in 糸守 (Itomori). 赤い糸、糸守. Well I thought it was interesting.

Wow, what a beautiful film. I read somewhere that a general aim of Miyazaki’s has been to illicit an appreciation for the ‘little things’ in life amongst his viewership. Certainly, I feel typical settings seen in every day life, such as mountains, shorelines, cities, etc. are made easier to appreciate through this film as they’re depicted with rich detail, going down to the finer points. Even with people, I love how the boss’ hair, for instance, would rise and fall back on his head as he went about; it really contributed to characterizing him as a ‘kibishi’ boss. The train rides also serve as a great example of this, as provide an ideal site to gaze in awe at Miyazaki’s depictions of mother nature race by at a speed they actually would in person. Miyazaki must be really observant. The Kanto Region earthquake was depicted in a rather pornographic manner, as the bomb in barefoot Gen was, depicting a quite literal rolling out of the land scape and everything within it with no special regard for the life it hosts. While evil music plays in the background to inject a stronger sense of tragedy into the event, almost making it seem like a menacing act, it is a very real event.

One scene I found interesting was when Jiro goes to spectate the German planes. Many of these scenes were very racially charged as the German soldiers kept referring to them as ‘these Japanese’ and were very suspicious of them the whole time, even though they had explicit permission to be present on supposedly equal terms, even though, of course, the Germans did not truly view it this way. When one soldier advised them not to go beyond a certain point for their safety, he referred to them in that same demeaning manner as previously mentioned while Jiro refers to him as ‘kyodai’ or ‘brother.’ Obviously, the soldier doesn’t consider them equals and while Jiro doesn’t care, his partner does. Somehow I feel this another way the film emphasizes innovative qualities in people overlook superficialities and thus is encouraging thereof.

Barefoot Gen

Although I knew that it was going to be a sad movie, due to the advice given during class (thank you for the warning), I had no idea how devastating this movie would be. I never really watched anything like it before. Ofcourse I knew the general story about the history but seeing it in action really brings out a lot of different emotions. The scene when the mother is looking for other woman to give milk to her newborn, and when the one mother dies while giving milk and the baby is still trying to get milk out, that scene really got to me. When Gen and the mother tries to save the Dad, Eiko and Shinji, but cannot due to their lack of strength because they can’t eat, that truly broke my heart. Although the ending somewhat ended on a positive, hopeful note, it still left me feeling very helpless and sad.

Grave of the fireflies

I have seen this movie a while back and remembered some small parts, like the candy box and how incredibly sad it is, but not much of the story. I watched Barefoot Gen first and didn’t think I could get any sadder, but wow, it was possible. The whole movie from the plot, to the illustration, to the voices, it was just too much for me. Although I know Seita did the best he could, I just can’t get over the fact that Setsuko passed away… especially when she finally got food. I also cannot stand the aunt! Why couldn’t she have been there for them more. So many mixed feelings and questions and overall sadness. 

           Classical Japanese-themed Phoenix chapters continue to be interesting takes on historical accounts from pre-modern Japan. The Civil War volumes continue the upward trend in Tezuka’s epic manga series, and I really do keep liking these volumes more the more I read of them. The tale of Yamato Takeru was a bit of an odd departure, but I liked Tezuka’s take on Yoshitsune and the Genpei War overall.

The background art in these two volumes was really something, too…