#forvisualculture

Perfect Blue was such a fun and dark watch. It consists of an ex-pop star named Mima and her new journey through acting. As she made the transition into acting, it seemed like she lost agency in what she wanted to pursue. The career path seemed chosen for her, encouraged but more or less coercion. This could also be seen in the decision to take the nude photo shoot and perform in the rape scene. While on the surface it seems like she actively makes the decision to perform in it, she states that she was only doing it to please the people who work for her. Rumi, one of her managers, is explicitly upset over the rape scene, as she advised against it and walks offset as it is occurring. However, we later find out this is due to her seeing herself in Mima, and feeding into Mima’s delusions. 

During the course of the movie, Mima descends into a shocking and grim spiral of questioning her own sanity. Her days fast forward, she loses track of time, she sees her former pop-star self in reflections and in person, and ultimately cannot distinguish reality from hallucinations. This reminds me of Black Swan, in which the main character of this movie descends into madness in the face of fame. However, what differentiates these films is that while Mima is suffering from these hallucinations, Rumi plays into this. Rumi sees herself in Mima in her former pop-star days, and it’s unclear her reason for intent, whether it is Rumi’s own delusions, her showing resentment for the tarnishing of Mima’s image, or just pure envy. 

This plays in the recurring line Mima quotes: “Who are you?”. We see this at first in her first line in her first scene, then her questioning her own identity, questioning who the Mima she is seeing in her hallucinations, and once again questioning her stalker and the murderers. It can be interpreted in several ways. It can stand on the belief that idols do not get to make their own choices in the pop industry, and how women are utilized as objects and images for fame and money. It also can be interpreted as who she is in the face of the huge transition she is making in light of the coercion into acting. Lastly and more surface level, when she questions who the Mima she is seeing in her delusions, it foreshadows that it was Rumi all along.

Penguindrum was a trip. There was so much symbolism jam-packed into each episode that it was difficult at times to keep up with. I’m doing my presentation on Penguindrum and I’m still a little confused with what is going on. Wish me luck! 

It starts with our three main characters: Himari, Shouma, and Kanba. Himari is the sweet, soft-natured sister to Kanba and Shouma. After experiencing some confusion from the last scene of the first episode… I discovered that the three are not related but joined together throughout life and created a family. While they seem like a blissful and happy family, their past, present, and future are much darker. We discover that their parents were part of an organization that executed a biological terrorist attack on a subway very long ago and were imprisoned. Furthermore, Himari is terminally ill, estimated to only live a couple more months, with the possibility of sudden death. She does in fact die, twice! However, the nature of this anime is the theme of fate. Is it sealed in her fate to die? 

In this case, regardless of if this is fate or not, Shouma and Kinba receive the help of Princess of the Crystal to unseal this fate and take Himari’s life back, but with the exchange for part of his soul. The anime mentions time and time again that they hate the idea of fate, and if fate involves predetermined events from a higher power or God, then God is cruel. However, the mere concept of fate is also questioned. Is fate real? Is believing in fate a way of ignoring the consequences of our own actions and the chain of events that follow it? And if fate is real, is it better to accept it and take it at face value, or understand destiny in a deeper sense? I don’t know, this is making my head hurt. I found that Penguindrum confused me with the concept of fate they were trying to side with. Maybe it’s because they weren’t choosing a specific direction to take with fate but rather employing intrinsic and extrinsic options for the audience to decide on. Is fate driven by an external higher power that predetermines our life events, or is fate not real and we control the direction of our lives? 

Another interesting thing I learned from research was that the act of biological terrorism was based on a real event that happened in Japan in 1995 called the Subway Sarin Incident. A cult released chemicals into several Tokyo subways killing 13 people and injuring over 1,000 people in the process. During this time, instead of Japan investigating ways in which they may prevent further instances such as this from happening and understanding why it occurred, they solemnly decided that it just happened, and essentially that it was predestined by fate. I feel like this offers a perfect backdrop to Penguindrum as it helps enhance the questions of fate they present to the audience. 

I loved Dororo! I liked it so much that I ended up just watching episodes 1-7 and will probably continue to watch it. First show in a while that I felt really engaged in and couldn’t help but watch the story unfold. Dororo is about Hyakkimaru, a character born without several limbs and senses due to his father’s deal with a demon. Taken in by Jukai, he is given prosthetics and learned how to protect himself from the ghouls that are attracted to his powerful abilities. In the present, he fights these monsters and gains a new limb/ sense upon defeating them. Throughout this, he is accompanied by the outgoing and pure-hearted Dororo, and occasionally the priest. Because Hyakkimaru lacks the ability to see (other than auras of people’s souls) and hear, it’s hard for them to engage. However, he continues to accompany Dororo and grow attached to each other. 

Hyakkimaru is a very interesting character. Being abandoned as an infant due to his condition, he still fought for survival and has this strong will to live. His ability to see inward into other’s souls allows him to see ghouls and demons, and in order to protect himself, he immediately attempts to destroy them. However, I’m unsure if he is completely aware that upon every defeat, he is able to regain a limb/sense. I questioned if he was even human, but continuing to watch the show, I saw he is one that has not been able to experience the complexities of human emotion and connections. We see glimpses of his human traits, such has his strong desire and need to survive, and the warming scene of him attempting to express love and gratitude with Jukai by cradling his face. He cares for people’s safety, as we see him protect the child from falling and saving Dororo in the first episode. 

We only really see Hyakkimaru perform actions in terms of survival in the beginning. He fights demons and eats food, but does not really do much else. However, we see the biggest shift in his actions and emotions when he regains his hearing and voice. When he gains his hearing back, he is overwhelmed by the stimulation around him, expressing discomfort and even a bit of fear of the new world he is experiencing. Around this time he meets Mio, who he develops a connection to as her singing brings comfort and ease in the noisy world around him. She nurses him during his fever and loss of his leg and sings to him when he is suffering and needs to be calmed. He becomes attached to her, leading to his progression of not only seeking survival but also experiencing a desire for human connection. Seeing Mio injured, he has his first aggressive outburst that leads to him killing several men. He never really sees him kill humans, or kill in general other than a means for survival. This was out of pure anger, killing all that hurt Mio. This touches on what it means to be human. While a basic necessity is survival, our actions are further driven by emotions and the complex choices we make when we experience them. 

I really liked this movie! I was excited to watch it because I was a really big fan of Perfect Blue, so I’m glad to see this type of animation and psychological thriller from the same director. He definitely implements similar designs and actions in his films, like when Atsuko (Paprika) is jumping in the beginning like we saw in Perfect Blue. This movie was a little creepy with the recurring circus dream, but it was a very cool and beautiful film to experience. I was definitely confused throughout the film, it took a bit of time to wrap my head around it. 

This movie follows Atsuko, both a psychiatrist and detective, who uses this device that tracks, records, and analyzes one’s dreams to further understand a patient/ suspect’s psyche. Not only can it do this, but it can allow people to interact and change aspects of their dreams, with people having the free will to enter the dreams, with or without permission. The devices however are stolen, and Paprika goes on a journey in searching for them. The confusion and complexity then begins to peak. We see the lines blur between reality and dreams. It kind of reminded me of the movie Inception, and a little bit of Perfect Blue. In Perfect Blue, we see the lines blur between reality and her delusions too. 

This movie definitely delves into the conversation on our reality while we’re conscious and unconscious. There has always been debate on the concept of dreams. Is it just neurons firing in random directions that create these elusive dreams, or do we use it unconsciously to process different emotions, trauma, and situations we deal with in the real world? I like how it addresses and conceptualizes what would happen when the worlds of the conscious and unconscious merge, creating this abstract symbolism on several conflicts one could have with their unconscious processing. 

I feel like I always wondered what my dreams mean because I am personally a contender that dreams do allow for people to process the emotions and situations of everyday and trauma throughout life, and this kind of re-asserted it for me. I also liked the vulnerability of allowing someone to enter your dreams and open yourself up to someone experiencing and analyzing your unconscious. 

Despite my last blog post, I like this anime now! The more episodes I watched, the more I liked it. I feel like these episodes were a bit more clear in what is going on. It seems like the monster rats are at war with the humans, and their ruler, or god,  is the Ogre. The Ogre was born from Maria and Mamoru, however, the monster rats took the human infant and raised it to believe it was a monster rat. It then does not have death feedback for humans, only for monster rats. The Ogre ends up dying, and Yakomaru is sentenced under punishment to eternal hell. However, Yakomaru’s words “we are human” haunt Saki, leading her to find out that the monsters are just genetically modified humans. She then finally kills him and releases him from his eternal hell. 

Not gonna lie, I didn’t really enjoy Shin Sekai Yori. I don’t think it was a bad anime, I just think I personally don’t have the brain capacity for it. So much information is thrown at you and I made the mistake of trying to fold laundry and watch the show at the same time, LOL. From what I gathered, we follow the young Saki Watanabe as she finally gains her powers and moves on to an academy meant for people who possess psychic abilities. She joins group 1, with the members being Reiko, Satoru, Maria, Mamoru, and Shun. 

I think the episode that stuck out most to me was episode 4. They encounter a thing called the Minoshiro, which reveals the answer to any question they ask. It ends up being a fake Minoshiro, in which a guy comes to destroy for them. However, they learn a lot of useful and saddening information from them. They learn about society from the Dark Ages and their own society, and the creation of Ogres and Karmic beings. They also learn information on the population of those with PK, such as only 0.3% of the population obtain PK and there were movements to eradicate them, some even leading to war. It made me feel sorry for these kids, they are absorbing so much information at such a young age, and given a lot of responsibility for holding this type of power. A lot is to be said about the development and destruction of certain societies and eras. It went from embracing PK powers to suppressing anyone who has them, leading to what they called the Dark Ages. Then it progresses back into acceptance or practice of PK powers into the present time in this anime. Episode 4 contained a big chunk of the history of this universe, and I’m still trying to wrap my head around it. I feel like this show tried to implement many themes but I could not really catch myself developing any of my own thoughts. I think our next round of episodes will help me get a clearer idea of the message of this anime, but right now I feel like my mind is convoluted with the huge information dumps, especially in episode 4. One thing I did notice is the question of what it means to be human and to be treated as human. This goes for the rat people, Queerats, and all other beings in this universe. Even the existence as humans obtaining PK is called into question. So what makes one human, and what is the ethics of treating one as one? 

Wow, I was way off on the theme and meaning behind the anime from my last post! These half of the assigned episodes allowed me to gain a new perspective. Last time I talked about how this show was revolving around identity and the ability to disconnect from your former self, but even if that might be a small part of that, the larger theme was definitely about the Japanese government. 

In the earlier episodes and the first two episodes assigned for today, they try to show NEETs as useless shut ins that do not contribute to society and, thus will be the reason it falls apart. However, that is not the case. Also, so much hate against NEETs! Off topic, but I think given some of the work cultures in Japan, kinda like in ZOM100, this might skew the opinions of NEETs. Work culture in Japan is very intense and you basically dedicate your life to your work and one company. I liked how this anime tried to humanize NEETs and show that they are people who are still capable of change and are able to contribute to society in different ways, kinda like the reddit thing. 

This anime also kind of reminded me a little bit of Penguindrum. The Sarin gas attacks in 1995 were explained by the government as just being fate with it just being something that will occur and is out of their control. This anime gives me a sense of that, where they believe that fate drives the decisions of the government and they cannot control what happens. However, this is definitely a cop out and just shows the weakness of a government. Not being able to place prevention tactics either before or after an attack like Careless Monday. It just seems like they try to deflect blame from anyone but themselves. 

Eden of the East was a really good show! I found it really interesting and would probably continue to watch it. This show follows Saki and Takizaya through their journey starting in DC to Japan. Saki, at the white house throwing coins for good luck, gets in trouble with the police, until Takizaya shows up naked with a gun and a phone… We discover he has no recollection of who he is, but he knows that his past self willingly wiped his memory. Saki and Takizaya create a bond and return to Japan together, later working together to find out who he is and who he was before his memory was taken from him. We find out that he is what is called a Selecaao. From what I understand, a Selecaao is one that is given the task of saving Japan in any way they see fit, given a phone obtaining 10 billion yen to aid them in their journey. There is a supporter among the select few who holds the right to check the other Selecaao. 

I had a hard time trying to find the themes of this show. One I might run with reconciliation with our past selves and seeing a former self we no longer identify with or understand. Takizawa subconsciously understands some of his past life’s ways, like feeling a sense of nostalgia when turning the key to enter his house or loading the film for the movie. However, he feels completely disconnected from his former self’s life choices and is borderline disgusted and ashamed of his previous actions. Can a person forgive themselves for their past actions if they feel remorse? Is there a level of sympathy and forgiveness we can offer him? I feel like this is often a question we ask whether people can be rehabilitated in such a way or make a 180 in terms of their actions in the past. It’s hard to tell if it’s morally correct to judge and reprimand people for their past mistakes.