The Last Will

In Death Parade, the recently deceased play a game to be judged for their spiritual permanence. They can either be sent to reincarnation or to the void. One of the biggest talking points is whether someone deserves to be reincarnated. For example, in the first two episodes we see a couple fall apart as they interrogate each other on their biggest fears. Takashi believes that Machiko had been cheating on him. This simple premise had built up a bitter grudge between the two of them and had been the cause of their untimely demise. Meanwhile Machiko states that she had never loved Takashi and only had done so for the money. Its this statement that sends Takashi to be reincarnated and Machiko to the void. Their destinations seem very clear cut, and while its questioned whether they deserved it, the show brushes past it and states the reasoning is novice.

Violet Evergarden is about how words are permanent. So long as words are remembered, their impact will remain. We see that throughout the show as Violet writes letters with deep meaning for her clients.Every word has deep emotional meaning and must be regarded with care. Words of love are enough to bring people to tears. This is seen in the OVA when the client is desperately searching for the words that express her true feelings for her beloved. She can not accept any substitutes because she wants her emotions to become permanent, something she can never forget.

It may mean a lot for someone to say to their beloved, I love you, but by having on paper, it can last until the ink fades. This form of permanence is utilized by Ann’s mother to make fifty years of letters to her daughter. Enough letters to give reminders of her love and to give her tips to survive out in the world, but brief enough to allow her to form her own memories and bonds.

What importance is in a name? This is one of the questions Your Name by Makoto Shinkai asks. Taki and Mitsuha are two high schoolers with the special ability to swap bodies across time while they sleep. Their singular goal is to evacuate Itomori Town before a comet kills all the inhabitants. In order to do so however, they must be able to remember each other’s lives, memories, and name. Throughout this anime, a name is the key to the soul and its memories. If you forget someone’s name, the memory of them fades away. You can still be left with a small sliver of their purpose, but everything else disappears.

To me, this takes the idea of remembering people’s names to another level. I have difficulty remembering people’s names and faces. I often must repeat the names of people several times before I can commit their face and personality to memory, let alone become friends with them.

Additionally, the knowledge of a person leads to influence. While Taki is in Mitsuha’s body, her friends and family don’t understand or listen to her, they see her as an otherworldly being, however once Mitsuha returns, she can influence her friends and her father into evacuating the city.

Hetalia Axis Powers is anime about the adventures of a personified Italy as he navigates the world during WW2. The anime is not meant to be taken seriously. Every country is a stereotype of the people that live there. For example, Italy is a lazy, cowardly, bum, while the U.S. strives to look cool, be the hero, and eats food constantly. While these stereotypes have to generalize greatly for a whole entire country, it allows people to easily be invested in the show. That seems to be the entire point of the characterizations. To make learning history fun.

Interestingly enough, I preferred the dub of this show. There were several moments in the show where people would talk over each other and it made the sub difficult to read in real time. Additionally, the bonus of the caricature accents really sold the stereotypes of the characters.

Xenoblade Chronicles 2(XC2)is about a boy thrown into a world of discrimination conflict and destruction.

In the world of XC2, blades are merely seen as tools you can purchase and cast aside. Is forms the fundamental philosophy behind Jin as a character he hates the fact that humans don't care for blades that they only see them as weapons but they don't realize that they have human emotions and memories that they contain within them. That when they're cast aside and killed they lose those memories that they lose part of their identity that they lose part of their Humanity. However the change in the tide from Rex's favor results from him treating both Mithra and Pyrrha as Humans Beings with human emotions rather than simply tools a mantra or gold can achieve. Is because he believes them to have their own identity 3 can truly bond with them.

In terms of conflict, the main source conflict is drawn from the line between free will lack of control. Malos wants to destroy the world because he believes he is the Destroyer, the Endbringer, and his role in life is simply destroy to everything, which is something brought about from his programming. However, at the same time, the game showcases that Aegises' have free will because Pyra and Mythra can overcome their programming and save the world rather than take it into another dimension or destroy it. This is insinuated to have come about because of likely all their time fantasizing about Elysium, the paradise that can't ever exist.

       True otaku is a documentary about otaku and conventions. It mainly focuses on Otakon to explore the Otaku culture. The documentary is split up into three parts, the first introduces otakus, the second discusses the community, and the third uses cosplay to explore Otaku culture as an art form. This documentary works hard to shine a new positive light about otaku culture and help newcomers understand why people are so passionate about the topic.

        In the first segment the documentary interviews several people about the definition of an Otaku. What I found most interesting was that there was no definite answer. To me this means that otaku can’t be limited to one subculture, instead the Otaku culture spans several genres and mediums. It goes beyond the bounds of manga and anime, something one would normally associate with an Otaku. Furthermore, it opens the world of otakus to many different forms of expression. With this idea in mind, it makes sense why the community is so large.

        The second part of the documentary discusses the Otaku community. During this section, many kinds of people are interviewed. it's made clear that the convention experience is not just for a select group of individuals based on the interviews of singles, couples, and family members. Anyone can enjoy the Otaku culture and indulge in their own creativity. This means you wind up with different kinds of mediums, like manga, anime, concerts, games, films, and parties all being utilized to express enjoyment for a culture. This means you can always find a home with otakus. There will always be something you can enjoy, whether it’s fictional, historical or somewhere in between.

        The final part of the documentary makes its true point clear through the exploration of cosplayers, Otaku culture is about creativity rather than careless consumption. Dust Bunny throughout her interview states that cosplay isn’t inherently for attention or escapism, while those are both powerful motivators, she states cosplayers create costumes so that they can have a medium to express their creativity through. At first, I found this portion of the documentary slow and irritating with all the focus on cosplayers, however upon second thought, I have realized it perfectly mirrors otakus at their finest. For half an hour we follow Dust Bunny as she struggles to craft the perfect costume. She must research into the right fabrics, budge out her costume, create and cut the individual components, and then finally sew, stitch, or glue the remaining components together. However, if she misses even one piece when she goes to the convention, the cosplay falls apart. Cosplayers are a great example of otakus because they put time, money, and passion into their craft. They build intricate designs to give back to the community that sparked their passion. Just like we discussed in class, an otaku creates a product in order to truly own that which they desire. In the same way, a cosplay creates a costume so that they can own and wear, their creativity spurred on by other mediums

Hayao Miyazaki's Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind is a beautiful Masterpiece about the dangers of war, and a lack of care for the earth. A thousand years after the Seven Days of Fire insinuated by the end of the movie to have been a nuclear holocaust, the toxic jungle has taken over a large portion of the world. Nausicaa princess the Valley of the Wind is shown to be a competent explorer and scientist as she explores the world in search of a cure for the toxins produced by the jungle in order to save her father and people. Nausicaa discovers that this toxic jungle is not toxic because of the plants or the insects, but as a matter of fact due to the jungle trying to remove the toxins and thus becoming toxic themselves. Similarly, the insects are actually attempting to defend the jungle and protect the earth from further destruction. 

This is where the first part of the movie’s message becomes clear. The environment only fights back when provoked. It protects itself in order to survive, but would much rather ignore the fighting of man. 

Mankind on the other hand. does not care much for the struggles of nature. Humans are responsible for the destruction of the earth due to their creations, the bio mechanical warriors. These massive beings of destructive power can scorch and destroy the Earth, but can only last for so long before the earth claims them as skeletons. The humans desire for war and conquest leads to destruction of the Earth and the creation of the ever growing toxic jungle. We can see humanity’s inherent warlike nature between the two rival factions constantly bickering and fighting over control of the last surviving Warrior. We can even see the normally passive members of the Valley of the wind be roused to fighting because of the warrior’s presence, a symbol for humanity’s violent nature. 

Human nature continues to be seen throughout the film when they utilize one of the baby ohm, guardians of the forest to lead the rest of the ohm on a stampede to wipe out not only the valley but the warrior as well. Both sides desire control of the warrior so they can clear the jungle, but they are either oblivious to the fact that they are the ones responsible or choose to ignore it because they would rather survive then think about the future of the earth. 

It is only through Nausicaa, what the movie desires humans to aspire to that the warring ends. It is only because she's desires not to fight and uses a weapon as a last resort that she is able to become a mediator between the factions of man and the jungle. This is possible because she is willing to think about the consequences of one’s actions. She stops to think about why things exist rather than seek to destroy inconveniences or threats. As the credits roll, the movie displays instances of mankind and the jungle being able to coexist. While it does not offer any solutions to the current warring at hand, it does suggest that instead of fighting one another and carelessly ruining the earth, we think about the consequences of our actions.

A Wondering Son is about a boy trying to become comfortable in his own skin. Shuichi Nitori desires the ability to feel cute. However, society imposes the idea that only girls can be cute. He sees the people he admires being happy by dressing as the opposite gender. He thinks the only way he can achieve this sense of cuteness is by performing as a girl. The more he performs, even while in private, the more people begin to admit to him as being cute. Thus, he can only see his desire being fully achieved by dressing publicly as a girl. With a flip of the switch, Society turns on him.