Derek Pena's Blog

This movie was really intense and I had to take a break halfway through due to how uncomfortable it made me feel. In the second half, the movie becomes really confusing as, much like Mima, we can’t distinguish illusion from reality. I believe this movie achieves its goal of confusing and terrifying its viewers very well and does a good job of clearing up some of the mystery at the end. Had we not learned that Rumi was the one tampering with Mima’s image the whole time due to a personality disorder, I don’t think I would have enjoyed the movie as much as too many things would need to be explained. In fact, I believe some of the dream sequences that we see play out take place in Rumi’s perspective, although this is all up to interpretation.

The main theme of this film deals with how toxic fan culture can become, particularly to mentally unstable individuals. In the first half of the film, we see the people Mima works with get attacked one by one when she leaves music to pursue acting. From bombs being planted in letters to vicious stabbings, all of these attacks are meant to send a message to Mima and force her back into music. When she continues to pursue acting despite these messages, things become more intense. We see her being stalked by a man that is being manipulated by Rumi, which contrasts the ideas on otakus discussed earlier in the course. We came to the conclusion that otakus have the ability to distinguish their fictional desires from reality, creating a distance between the two while still enjoying both. Here, we see the result of the line between reality and fiction becoming blurred as Rumi begins to picture herself as the real Mima and Mima’s stalker believing that he is Mima’s protector. As such, these two seek to kill Mima in order to preserve the new reality they have fabricated in their minds.

Something else I noticed about this film concerned Mima’s acting and how she was constantly pushed to expose more and more of herself, from acting out a **** scene to having nude pictures of herself being taken for the consumption of others. I understand that people have the right to do what they wish with their bodies, but the whole situation seems very exploitative. They take an idol who is known for being very innocent and expose her to the public just to make a quick buck. Many of the people she works with, such as her photographer and her agent, seem to encourage her down this path while it is Rumi who is the only one that gets concerned for Mima being placed in these positions. I think I remember seeing her agent flinch during the scene, showing how even he may think it is too much. Yet, she is still pushed to continue down this path by those around her.

This show was definitely one of the best we have watched all semester, in my opinion. From the very first episode, the premise of the show was gripping and nearly every episode had me on the edge of my seat. It plays out sort of like a mystery, where bits and pieces of people’s lives are revealed to the viewer as the characters themselves realize it. I took it upon myself to watch every episode, and even those episodes that weren’t around judging two people were quite interesting as well. In every aspect, this show comments on morality and the human condition, presenting different ways to judge people and different types of people that are judged.

Something that I believe is crucial to the ideas of the show comes in episode 2. Here, we learn that it is possible that Arbiters can make mistakes. While I’m unclear whether or not Chiyuki was right in saying that the woman might have been lying so the husband could die peacefully, it is clear from Decim’s reaction that this was a possibility he did not consider. Emotions often complicate one’s judgement, which is why Arbiters are created to be free of emotion. Yet, it is through Chiyuki’s emotions that she presents Decim with a convincing counterargument to his judgement. Furthermore, throughout the show we learn that Decim himself is a bit of an experiment, being granted the ability to experience human emotions by Nona. I believe this is meant to be a solution to the vast number of deaths that the Arbiters must judge, as this is a reoccurring issue throughout the show.

So what does this all mean? Well, the ending of this show is quite open-ended as we never learn if Decim’s ability to judge others improves as a result of his time with Chiyuki. But I believe this is intentional. In the final episode of the show, Decim is finally able to connect and understand Chiyuki. Chiyuki also has a revelation in the final episode as well, stating that everyone means something to someone else. I think this show is trying to encourage us to try to understand others before making any judgement on them. By portraying Arbiters as able to make mistakes while keeping them as judges allows everyone the ability to judge others. But this ability must be accompanied by a desire to understand others and what they may mean to their loved ones. Perhaps if we sought to understand those different from us, many conflicts could be avoided. Relationships could be saved, lives could be spared, and war could be prevented. 

But the show also acknowledges that life is cruel and may not have a true purpose, other than to die. So is there truly a point in understanding others and avoiding conflict? Why should we strive for reincarnation? Everything is left up to interpretation by the audience, as even the judgement passed on people is never outright stated by the Arbiters (although it is heavily implied). I think this is the true strength of this show, as it presents a number of different arguments and situations dealing with fundamental questions of life and pushes viewers to form their own opinions about them. That, along with its fantastically nuanced protagonists, is why I fell in love with this show. 

I was recommended this anime by a friend, so I took it upon myself to watch every episode up to episode 10 and I plan to finish the series tomorrow! I am enjoying this series and have a lot to say on the structural side of it. But don’t worry, I’ll get into my connections to this class and the world shortly after!

So a major motif shown throughout this anime is hands. There are tons of shots where we are made to focus on character’s hands, the post office’s logo is two hands joining together, and of course we have Violet’s metallic hands that shock everyone that sees them. I believe this motif is meant to symbolize the idea of bringing people together or lifting them up from darkness, as the post office ensures that every letter is delivered because of people’s “precious feelings.” Strangely enough, the person who does the most of this is Violet, despite her unnatural hands. Furthermore, it was her natural hands that ended people’s lives in her “previous life.” Her losing her hands not only symbolizes a rebirth in her character, but also shows how anyone has the power to help or hurt others. You would think that her cold, unfeeling, and rigid hands would parallel her want to harm others, but the anime subverts that expectation and shows how she can use her skills and demeanor to benefit others. 

Speaking of Violet, I thought her character arc so far is very well done. Many of the characters we meet along her journey only get about an episode or so of screen time. While this can make it a bit hard to sympathize with some of them to a great extent (Ann is the exception), it does show us how Violet interacts with different people and grows because of these interactions. In episode 10, we see how she goes beyond her duties as a doll and plays with Ann, something the Violet we see in the earlier episodes would never do. Just when you might be getting bored of her dry answers, she starts to surprise you by taking back some of her humanity. Again, humanity that was lost with her real hands and regained with her mechanical ones.

I love this movie. Like I really love this movie. This is my second time watching it and I still couldn’t fight off the tears. I could rant for days about the beauty of this movie, the wonder of its storytelling, the nuances of its symbolism, and the passion behind the animation. 

One topic I thought was really interesting was how this movie toys with the idea of power. As defined by Foucalt, power is this intangible force that exists in all things, much like Musubi. With this power, comes a power relationship that everything takes part in. A key aspect to this relationship is the ability to resist another being’s power influence over you. This can be seen as Taki and Mitsuha struggle against their fate, searching for each other despite not being able to remember each other’s name. Taki is literally able to rewrite time in his opposition to the force that is splitting him from Mitsuha. This is also seen in a more grounded sense with Mitsuha’s father, the mayor of Inotori. Being the mayor, he is at the top of the town’s governmental hierarchy. Yet, it is through Mitsuha’s resistance to his orders to continue the festival that hundreds of lives are saved. I believe this film teaches us to embrace our ability to oppose those who exert their power on us, as we make up the other half of the power relationship.

Being honest, I wasn’t that big of a fan of this anime. History is by far one of my weakest subjects and not of great interest to me which made following the characters and their relationships to each other a bit challenging. I was able to understand a few of the more subtle jokes, but the humor of this show failed to capture me as it came off as either boring or really annoying. No offense, but head is going to explode if I hear Italy beg for pasta one more time lol.

Regardless, I was able to pick out some themes in the context of this class that were somewhat intriguing. I liked the way this anime parodied the power structures of the two alliances in WWII. Germany is a strong leader that is the clear head of the Axis Powers, with Japan being a loyal follower and Italy tagging along for the ride. In contrast, most of the Allied Powers seem to be on relatively equal footing with each other and bicker more among themselves. America claims to be the hero of the war but this is always met with opposition from the other countries. Additionally, each country does seem to have an input on their course of attack which is different to Germany’s more dictatorial leadership.

These differences in power structures stem from past relationships hinted at in the anime. Italy has been a target for most of its existence, being occupied by other countries and not having much military power. Japan is also fairly young, and does not seem to have much military experience. However, Germany has a deep hatred for France due to past military encounters. This created a drive to achieve victory in Germany, which along with his higher level of military experience, naturally led him to become the leader of his alliance. For the Allies, it seems that every country has their own war experience. France, who is portrayed as the weakest, still holds more of their own than Italy does as it has reigned victorious over Germany in the past.

I had only heard of Xenoblade through it’s inclusion in Super Smash Bros. along with the occasional social media posts by its fan base. I’m not a big fan of JRPGs and most RPGs (I don’t even like Pokemon that much) so I never gave the series a try. But I knew the fan base for this lesser known Nintendo title is extremely passionate about their series, something that I can relate to as a Metroid fan. So I gave the cutscenes we watched an honest shot and wow, was I shocked at how much I fell in love with this story.

Although we were only able to watch a small fraction of the game’s 100+ cutscenes, I still feel like I was able to resonate with a lot of the characters and the commentary on environmentalism this story was trying to tell. From my understanding, Klaus tried to play god and restart the Universe to undo the damage humans had done. He then crafted this story’s world in an effort to avoid the selfishness of humans, creating the Titans and the Blades. However, he came to realize that these new humans were just like the ones in his previous world and gave up on trying to fix the world. Playing god and fixing the world’s problems to one’s liking is ultimately pointless so long as humans have freewill. There will always be those that seek to exploit nature for its resources, damaging the world they live in. Yet, the opposite is also true.

Throughout the story, we see countless examples of humans controlling Blades and using their power to achieve their goals. Due to the connection Blades have to Klaus and the Titans, I believe this story is trying to depict the Blades as a being of the environment. While this could symbolism could easily be used to further show how humans exploit their environment, the story centers around Rex’s connection to Pyra/Mythra and their opposition against those that seek to destroy humanity for the destruction it causes to the environment. I think this is meant to show how the solution to our environmental destruction must come from working with and using the tools provided to us by the environment.

While it was quite unfortunate that SwampCon was cancelled, I did enjoy getting to watch the documentary on Otakus and conventions with my classmates and imagining how this documentary could relate to SwampCon. I’ve never been to a large convention, so I feel like it’s one thing to know what a convention is like, but it’s an entirely different experience in person. Fortunately, this documentary gave a decent insight as to what it’s like to attend a convention so I could formulate some thoughts concerning these events. I noticed several ideas that were discussed in class during this viewing, such as the ideas of shadow cultural capital and animalism. The ways in which Otaku were able to convert this cultural capital into some form of real-world value was also quite intriguing to see.

According to the readings discussed in class, cultural capital is essentially knowledge of a certain topic, such as movies, shows, or music, that bolsters one’s status in a social group and is broken up into official and shadow cultural capital. Where these two differ is in their ability to be converted into money or professional advantages, as official institutions and professionals don’t recognize shadow cultural capital as worth much. However, in the documentary it is made clear that there is some form of hierarchy in the conventions. Lolita cosplayers note how those who use cheaper fabric don’t look as good as those who know to use better quality materials, and cosplayers don’t see much of a point in going to conventions without donning a costume. In addition to this, those who frequent conventions begin to recognize people and build relationships whereas newbies often stick to their original friend group. It is evident that the more conventions you attend and the more knowledgeable about certain social groups you are, the easier it is for you to connect with others at these conventions.

In addition to the larger amount of shadow cultural capital cosplayers seem to possess, they also are great examples of humans becoming animalistic, in the sense that they are unburdened with a grand narrative and human progress and are content with their current way of life. The cosplayer that is the center of this documentary is clearly dedicated to her hobby, even stating that she sometimes lost relationships due to being more invested in her art. She appreciates the challenge in the art and the attention she receives, working to win more competitions at the conventions she attends. She seems very content with the state of her life right now, as she is not searching for better paying jobs, or a spouse to settle down with. At least, not as hard as she is seeking to better her ability to create costumes that will win costumes and grant her a larger sum of shadow cultural capital.

While shadow cultural capital may not be able to earn you a job as a high-ranking businessman, it does have the potential to generate value on its own as seen by the sellers at these conventions. There are a wide variety of games, manga, posters, clothing, and even hentai available to purchase at Otacon. Some of this merchandise is the work of amateurs that use conventions as a way to become recognized and generate currency for themselves. As seen in Genshiken, Otakus generate the fiction they desire and sell it off to other Otakus for their consumption. Furthermore, this high amount of shadow cultural capital can also be used for charitable causes as seen with the Star Wars club’s performances. There is a market for the types of things Otakus can provide, so it is a bit misleading to determine that shadow cultural capital cannot generate any real capital.