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“Something horrible is happening inside of me and I don’t know why. I feel lethal, on the verge of frenzy. I think my mask of sanity is about to slip.” 

-American Psycho (2000)

I would like to attach a disclaimer, that the analysis of this film as well as the informational link(s) I have provided surrounds sensitive content that may be graphic, upsetting or offensive.

Perfect Blue is regarded as an anime classic, from the creative genius of Satoshi Kon. I’ve only seen one other Kon film, his Tokyo Godfathers. It’d be painfully obvious to say that the two films are as different as two films could be, showing off this director’s range. I would like to watch more Kon films in the future. I can see why Perfect Blue is so well regarded, but it is definitely not a movie I should have started at 1:30 a.m.. 

Perfect Blue tells the story of Mima Kirigoe, a pop idol that is looking to move her career in a more serious direction, with acting. Her very last concert is practically ruined by rude fans, and this starts the film off by drawing towards it’s central message, as the movie makes a biting critique of fandom and celebrity cultures. 

Throughout the film, we see that Mima’s fans have no respect for her autonomy. We see this in various scenes, where her overwhelmingly male fan base makes remarks about what she’s doing with her career, and expect her to constantly keep the pop idol persona they’ve fallen in love with throughout her life. They don’t respect her enough to respect her boundaries, lining up outside of her apartment building, first thing in the morning. When Mima ignores them, they complain that acting has turned her snobby. They don’t bother to think about the fact that Mima may be going through something, or even simply doesn’t like people doing this to her. They make these complaints in front of her because they don’t care about her welfare, and they don’t respect her as a human being– Mima is just a source of entertainment, and they expect her to be entertaining 24/7. 

The elephant in the room of this movie is the character of Me-Mania, who is representative of this harmful fan base on an extreme scale. While other fans mercilessly criticize her, Me-Mania brings this onto another frightening level, stalking her and attempting to rape her. Although he seems exaggerated, the very caricature of a creepy stalker, people like Me-Mania are all too real, and are a blight on the film and musical arts. In the United States, Natalie Portman has come forward to say that the first fan mail she ever received, at age thirteen (13), was a man telling her about his fantasies of raping her.  

Despite this mistreatment, Mima is brave enough to continue her career. However, her dedicated service to others comes at her own detriment. There are multiple times that she could have stood up for herself or contacted authorities from what she was experiencing, but she did not, out of fear, ranging from the simple fear of being a bother to fear of herself losing her grip on reality. This is something that is relevant to both Japanese and American societies, as women are less likely to report problems, less likely to ask for raises, etc., because of the societal roles that have been pressured upon them. As a result of the pressure from society and fans, we see Mima’s breaking point, when she starts to lose touch with reality. This is her TV show’s rape scene. Even though her co-worker was very respectful, saying he was sorry to be in such an uncomfortable position, Mima was not nearly an experienced enough actress to be putting herself in that sort of situation, even if she was in no real danger. The only one that truly recognized this was another woman, Rumi. However, Rumi didn’t even stop what was happening, it was too late. 

The film isn’t quite clear, as we see things from Mima’s distorted perspective. The pressure set upon her doesn’t cease, as not only Mima, but those around her, become increasingly delusional. Me-Mania has already been discussed, but his terror almost pales in comparison to that of Rumi. I was most surprised by this, as Rumi was the only one I trusted to help Mima in the film. However, at the film’s climax, it is revealed that Rumi has been having delusions of being the “real Mima”, and has actually been the one writing the “Mima’s Room” webpage. She had exploited Me-Mania’s vulnerability to pull him into this delusion as well. Rumi had committed the murders, and even tried to kill Mima as well. 

Wow, Death Parade was really a unique anime. The story was framed around these moral dilemnas, in which we, as the viewers, must judge whether characters presented to us are “good” or “bad,” at their essence. (It reminds me of those trolley problems.) Of course, the conclusion that the show arrives at is the fact that nothing is that black and white, and that every person’s life decisions are morally ambiguous. 

Speaking of black and white, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Decim is visually black and white (in terms of his hair and his clothing). His appearance certainly reflects his views: that every person is either good or bad, and that this moral quality can be exposed given enough prodding. It’s a bit of a stretch, but it kind of reminds me of the ideology of essentialism. But in this case, it would be essentialism of the individual, the idea that each individual, at their essence, is good or evil, and that all of their life choices can be rationalized by this essence. 

This seems like a silly ideology, but it certainly pervades through everyone’s thought processes. People are guilty or not guilty, going to the afterlife or going to purgatory, etc. And much like how, in this anime, games are used to decide the fates of the dead, the judicial system kind of seems like a game too; one side wins and one side loses, and both are trying to do everything they can to eke out an advantage over the other while following the rules. And this “game” ultimately decides how society will then judge this person. 

           A theme that this series portrays is the pain the war has brought upon society, we see the emotional pain caused by the loss of a loved one. When Violet was writing the letter to the lady, she found out instead that it was supposed to be the climax to an opera. The letter was supposed to be directed to a soldier by his spouse, the letter would capture the emotion of women and men. This shows much efforts to try to get over the loved ones that were lost at war. This is the transition where they must go on about their days with their loved ones not being there anymore.

           The movie also focuses on the scars and pain left behind by war. In some scenes we are shown bloodshed and battle scenes from Violets dream or memory. We see that the guilt of being in the war and causing bloodshed and also being the one to suffer from losing a devasting amount of their men at war. There seems to be a constant commentary that society should learn to accept the past and move on.

We see how Violet must now live life a very different way than what she would use to in war. We see how she progresses from awaiting to be ordered to do something to actually doing something that is her free will. She has to learn to live on without the major and now has to fit into a post-war society.

I have to confess that I feel angry with this manga. Since the document contains only some parts of the manga, I do not make a conclusion for the moment. But I don’t know the author is using an ironic technique, criticizing Japan’s reluctance to admit its mistakes made in the war, or he really thinks that Japan did nothing wrong, and even believe that the United States does brainwashing to Japanese, and fake photos are used in China for publicity. I don’t know the author wants to express his point of view through the mouth of the main character in the manga, or is he satirizing this character. Also, I am surprised that the author could draw such a long manga for the purpose of defending Japan.

Although I have known for a long time that the Japanese government has done a lot to cover up the truth of the history and deny its guilt, including rewriting history textbooks, when I actually read this type of reading, I still feel a bit angry and disappointed. In addition, the argument of this manga is not sustainable. Japan and Germany are aggressor countries, which is an indisputable fact all over the world. I don’t know much about American brainwashing, but I know clearly that Japan massacred more than 300,000 civilians in Nanking. Every Chinese knows this fact. Even if the photos are censored or fake, or if Japanese soldiers did not kill so many people in Nanking, then what? Do you want to say that because of these two reasons, Japan had not committed any crime and had not killed anyone in Nanking?

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.

Watching Hetalia Axis Powers really threw me back to middle school where it was the only show I watched for over a month (yikes). It is different watching it now and watching it back when I was 12-13 because I did not know much about world history. I took a lot of history classes in high school so I actually knew what was happening in each episode this time around. Something I picked up on in the show, that I did not notice years ago, was there are many stereotypes for each country. In Annett’s “World Conflict”, she states that the anime makes fun of stereotypes, but does not dismiss them because the characters only play the stereotype. Hetalia Axis Powers is seen controversial because of this reason where hurtful stereotypes are presented and insists that it is true. The anime sets up bad examples of how some people view those of different nationalities and/or ethnicities. Hetalia being a popular anime means almost everyone has access to it and watching it puts a horrible influence on those who are easily susceptible to believing that people from other countries literally act like that. It carries into people making racist and prejudiced comments.

 I was very much surprised by this piece of media. Yes, the animation was very rugged and was not really aesthetically appealing but I got used to it. The plot really drove me along and it felt like I really got a feel for the entire series. I also think the overall environmental message was extremely important and related heavily to “The Drama of the Anthropocene” article that we needed to read.

The series seemed well thought out and what made it even cooler was that it was a video game. It seems even in this alternate world, human nature didn’t change. Even with the recreation of life all the way from the beginning, human beings didn’t change. I think this is a message from the series in itself. That human ambition,greed,courage, and love will continue as that is the human condition. The article, however, ponders where this places us in the world. Are we above nature? Or are we a part of it? This is the drama of the anthropocene.

As the article says, there is no way to stop our slow demise without first examining our position in relation to nature. Xenoblade chronicles provided a similar scenario to our own except in a setting divorced from history or political ideals. It is set in a world that is decaying just like ours. We see that it is the mixture of technology, human ambition, and the belief that we are external to nature that has led to the fall of the old world in the animation. This is a strong message of the bad connotation of these elements.

The main character, Rex, in the show comes up with a solution, to find Elysium. This place is the embodiment of nature. When he finally reaches the place where Elysium was said to be, it is riddled with the “hubris of humanity.” It seems that technology was the root of this new world but also would be its demise in the form of Malos. The solution that this animation is to destroy our old view of science and progress being synonymous. This idea is symbolized by the destruction of the world tree along with both Malos and Pyra, the tools that were used to create this world. Only this way are they truly able to find elysium.

“Imagination…is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.”

                                                                                                       -Albert Einstein

This documentary, which is a documentary for otaku, about otaku, by otaku, explores the cross-cultural explosion of the American otaku community. 

What is an otaku? A question we explored before through viewings and readings is illuminated as we gain answers from otakus themselves. Otaku, the derogatory Japanese word, has been claimed American anime, manga, and lovers of the culture itself. These lovers have all have varied views on the term otaku themselves but one thing that rings true is that an Otaku is passionate.

The film also illuminated the importance and value of conventions and things like anime clubs, which are like mini conventions, as it fosters an open and accepting place, which is not easily accessible in society, for people with similar interests to be themselves and openly enjoy said interest. Despite, this importance of shadow culture capital is illuminated. Convention-goers shared that inner circle-wise otaku becomes a status symbol due to said otaku’s increased shadow culture capital.  

When the topic of cosplaying came it reminded me of Genshiken Second Season, where Hato noted that when you cosplay you essentially want attention. This statement was illuminated by all the interviewed cosplayers who reiterated this. It also emphasized shadow culture capital as it highlighted the competition for cosplaying which not only had tangible rewards but resulted in higher shadow culture capital the better a person was at it.

The documentary also noted the influence the digital age has had on the community. It emphasized not only a growth in the community but an influx in the tightknit-ness of the community, as the online platforms, like LiveJournal, even dating sites to name a few. Thus, the result is that Otaku culture is no longer a subculture but a culture itself. A culture that nurtures the individual while fostering a community, multigenerational in nature. A culture that illuminates that through conventions and panels, which truly shows what it means to be a fan, that being part of a community, a fandom means being completely passionate.

           One of the major things I got out of this movie is how destructive humans can be and how they will only listen once their life is at stake. We are introduced to an apocalyptic future where humans haven’t learned from their past mistake and continue to ensue pain and destruction to the Earth, we also see how the Earth retaliates and is forced to destroy humanity in order to protect itself. Nausicaa is introduced as the only person who is able to rationalize the world around her and tries to understand it as well. We see how she is able to do research and concludes that toxins are only being put out as a result of the pollution that the humans have caused.

           I really enjoyed the fact that this Miyazaki film also focuses on the environment and shows the dangers and destruction that we can cause to nature. This is pretty relevant today and probably was relevant at the time the film was made. We have known about the increasing levels of carbon dioxide since the 80’s and are ignorance continues to expedite the destruction of our planet. I think that the film tries to get rid of this ignorance by making us conscientious of how our actions may come back to bite us in the near future.