The cartoon, not the comic.
My opinion of Teen Titans Go! is pretty simple: I hate a lot of things about it but still find some episodes that are moderately enjoyable. If it became cancelled tomorrow I wouldn't shed any tears over it but I find it's usually bearable and sometimes amuses me. It helps that at least the voice actors seem to be having a good time even if the show is kinda crap. Yes, the characters have all been ruined and act very little like how they should, yes Beast Boy, Cyborg and Robin in particular get it the worst, and yes they all have episodes where I hate their guts and make me wish for cancellation.
That said, there is one thing about the show that I absolutely loathe: the freaking titles. "Breakfast Cheese", "Money Grandma", "Smile Bones", etc., all are really terrible! "Breakfast Cheese" I can't even figure out, the title has nothing to do with the episode's plot except for one little throwaway lyric at the end. It doesn't make sense! "Money Grandma" and "Smile Bones" are just made of stupid since they're ignorant phrases Beast Boy (and Cyborg) use instead of the real name/word (George Washington and teeth, respectively) because I guess the writers think it's funny that BB is ignorant.
Not all the titles are bad, I just remember those in particular because they just didn't make sense to me. The latter two just play into the problem of the show as a whole. It's not just a problem of the characters being stupid, it goes beyond that. The show feels very anti-intellectual, with characters reveling in their ignorance. Not to mention all the other horrible messages, which generally get shackled onto Beast Boy and Cyborg. Robin fairs better only when they're busy being the episode's idiots, otherwise it's a safe bet he'll fall into that role. Raven and Starfire generally make it out better in the episodes, but they can be infuriating as well.
There is potential in the show, though yeah that should be obvious since Teen Titans was mega popular a decade ago. The writers/directors/creators/network are just too busy trying to... I honestly don't know what they're trying to do, maybe be funny? The problems are just too big to be mistakes, they are intentional and they get repeated, as though something tells them that this is the right thing to do. The characters are generally too ignorant and mean to like, only occasionally doing something right and making something genuinely amusing.
I'll end this post by listing an episode or two I think work: "Starliar" and "Lady Legasus" are pretty entertaining. Starfire and Raven episodes generally do fair better, I don't know why but maybe because they're girls and the writers are afraid of making unlikable women? Anyway, in both episodes the antagonist is a Titan, but not because they are being too mean. Starfire in the former learns how to lie from Beast Boy in an attempt to spare the other Titan's feelings when she gets invited a party they don't, She does more damage with this action but she thought she would be doing something good. In the latter, Cyborg has donned Raven's cloak and the darkness within it corrupts him into a crabby, mean-spirited person who eventually attacks his friends. His actions weren't his own doing though, he was being influenced by an outside force.
Those episodes do something right by keeping the antagonists sympathetic. Instead of BB and Cyborg being huge jerks like in SOME episodes, Starfire and Cyborg are kept likable because their motivations are understandable. That is how you do this right, by not altering the personality drastically.
Finally, a thought about something in this show that has been in my mind for awhile. In one episode where Robin challenges his friends to go a day without using their powers, they end up doing better than he thought and so he decides to try to cheat to win. He ties a robot of himself to a bomb and puts it at the end of an obstacle course, hoping they'll use their powers and disqualify themselves. None of them do, and they don't make it in time. My problem with this episode came with that resolution. NONE OF THE TITANS WOULD RISK A BET FOR THE LIFE OF THEIR FRIEND! Not one of them even tried using their powers to get to Robin in time, they were going to let him die! That's why the episode fell apart for me. It made Robin go from the most unlikable person in the episode to the most sympathetic. The guy who tried to cheat his way through a bet and lied to his friends, pretending to be dead, is more sympathetic than any of the others. The episode had an easy way of keeping the tone of the show and making it a much better episode.
They should have used their powers and lost the bet. Robin cheats, he wins, his friends are mad at him and he's unlikable like the episode wanted to portray. This is in keeping with the tone of the episode and the overall portrayal of the Titans in this show. Instead the writers tried to outdo themselves in how mean-spirited they could be and everyone in the episode was unlikable. Good going, guys.
Oh wow, okay this turned out way longer than I thought it was going to. I've been bottling up my thoughts about the show for awhile now, it was good to get them out.
-Subtle
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Monday, February 2, 2015
Quick Thought on GamerGate and SJWs
I have never gotten a comment on this blog. I like that, because my opinions are opinions and people on the internet love beating people with opinions down. The status quo might change with this post, depending on who sees it.
Okay, so I mentioned briefly about a month ago that I stay the hell away from GamerGate. I just... I want to be neutral, I don't want to take a side, I want to acknowledge that there are good people on the pro and anti sides. All the hate speech and harassment from GG'ers make it really hard to feel neutral though.
Now let's just stop here real quick. Yes, people get harassed on both sides, there are plenty of awful people everywhere in the world, blah blah blah. My problem is that GG seems to be mostly made up of harassment and misogyny. You can try to explain how it's really about ethics in game journalism all you want, but anytime I see gaters, who are identifying as such, are always spewing harassment and misogyny.
To be fair, the anti-GG side also seems to primarily spew harassment at GG but it's hard to fault them when they seem to be doing it out of a sense of disgust and irritation at the bile that GG spews. I just don't see why GG is still a thing. The image is tainted, I doubt it will ever be thought of by most people who know about it as anything good. This is the problem with GG. I don't care what you say you stand for, all I've seen is hatred. That is why I find it hard to be neutral.
I can't believe there aren't decent people who believe in GG, but the reality is that scum took it and poisoned it and made it impossible for a lot of people to take seriously in any positive light. GG either needs to get some serious, hard policing and cleaning of its image or the decent people need to abandon ship and find other outlets for their cause.
It's at the point where, even if what gets said about the feminist agenda trying to change gaming was true, I'd consider it preferable if it meant the assholes left. But they wouldn't.
This is the kind of shit that makes me wary of ever getting too near to internet gamer culture.
-Subtle
PS- Social Justice Warrior is the worst insult ever. Why would you call someone you're trying to put down something that sounds awesome?
Okay, so I mentioned briefly about a month ago that I stay the hell away from GamerGate. I just... I want to be neutral, I don't want to take a side, I want to acknowledge that there are good people on the pro and anti sides. All the hate speech and harassment from GG'ers make it really hard to feel neutral though.
Now let's just stop here real quick. Yes, people get harassed on both sides, there are plenty of awful people everywhere in the world, blah blah blah. My problem is that GG seems to be mostly made up of harassment and misogyny. You can try to explain how it's really about ethics in game journalism all you want, but anytime I see gaters, who are identifying as such, are always spewing harassment and misogyny.
To be fair, the anti-GG side also seems to primarily spew harassment at GG but it's hard to fault them when they seem to be doing it out of a sense of disgust and irritation at the bile that GG spews. I just don't see why GG is still a thing. The image is tainted, I doubt it will ever be thought of by most people who know about it as anything good. This is the problem with GG. I don't care what you say you stand for, all I've seen is hatred. That is why I find it hard to be neutral.
I can't believe there aren't decent people who believe in GG, but the reality is that scum took it and poisoned it and made it impossible for a lot of people to take seriously in any positive light. GG either needs to get some serious, hard policing and cleaning of its image or the decent people need to abandon ship and find other outlets for their cause.
It's at the point where, even if what gets said about the feminist agenda trying to change gaming was true, I'd consider it preferable if it meant the assholes left. But they wouldn't.
This is the kind of shit that makes me wary of ever getting too near to internet gamer culture.
-Subtle
PS- Social Justice Warrior is the worst insult ever. Why would you call someone you're trying to put down something that sounds awesome?
Monday, January 5, 2015
Follow-up: Why Does Zhurrick Get a Pass?
New Year acknowledgement yay.
Okay, so my last post was about The Legend of Korra and specifically the final canon coupling. I honestly don't care for shipping in most instances: I never cared about the romances in Harry Potter for instance and I only like NaruHina in Naruto because I love Hinata an unbelievable amount and just want her to be happy and I honestly hate how stupid that makes me feel because I don't even care about my friends romantic lives but I want a fictional character to be happy.
So yeah, I don't ship much. In LoK though the finale ended with Korrasami and it honestly made me feel things, things I went into detail over in the last post (or meant to). But not everyone had that reaction and the criticism I see leveled most often that bugs me most about the pairing is that it was too rushed, came out of nowhere or was underdeveloped. Now, fair's fair. I said myself last time that there should have been more development between Korra and Asami and even I in hindsight realize that nothing came off overtly romantic between them until the finale.
I believe that romance can happen in a variety of ways though and I thought that the pairing was great at the end because it was more of a realization than a culmination. Kataang from Avatar: The Last Airbender was a culmination of the development between the two characters, Aang and Katara, over three seasons and 60 episodes (they weren't in one). Korrasami, meanwhile, is not the endgame that Kataang was, it's the beginning of their relationship. Aang and Katara kissed to confirm they were together, Korra and Asami held hands in a moment of realization that they could be together. That's how I interpret the scene anyway.
Now, what's my point in bringing this up again? Well, the title of this post says it all... well, not really, I'll still be going on here. For all the accusations against Korrasami being rushed and out of nowhere, little attention has been paid to the real rushed relationship of the show: Zhu Li and Varrick. The two were introduced in the second season and in addition to the third they had a boss/employee relationship going on. Nothing between them in those two seasons ever made them seem like anything else.
Then suddenly in season 4 episode 5, we get a ship tease moment between them. Note, this is nearly halfway through the season, and the next time we get any moments between them is in episode 11. That's at the end! The next episode Varrick PROPOSES! This is a rushed relationship. This came out of nowhere. Look, I don't hate it. I have no strong feelings about Zhurrick one way or the other. I like Varrick as a character and believe Zhu Li barely has a character. At least Korra and Asami had two seasons of character development becoming closer friends and eventually found romance in it. They didn't propose marriage or even end the show calling each other their girlfriend. It was the start of something new. Yet Zhurrick is allowed a pass for some reason, ending the series with THEIR WEDDING! Seriously!
Argue how vague Korrasami is all you want, but can anyone honestly claim that it was more rushed and out of nowhere than the wedding the show ended on? I really don't want to make this about LGBT issues either, but it reeks of a couple getting a pass because their Hetero and the other being questioned and dismissed because they aren't. And don't even get me started on the claims it was just Fanservice or feminist agenda or progressive for the sake of being progressive. Ugh, see now I'm annoyed and might just have to go look at more Korrasami art. I never look at fanart! This is what I've been reduced to!
I just really hope we get some fucking Korra comics. I need more Korrasami in my life.
-Subtle
Okay, so my last post was about The Legend of Korra and specifically the final canon coupling. I honestly don't care for shipping in most instances: I never cared about the romances in Harry Potter for instance and I only like NaruHina in Naruto because I love Hinata an unbelievable amount and just want her to be happy and I honestly hate how stupid that makes me feel because I don't even care about my friends romantic lives but I want a fictional character to be happy.
So yeah, I don't ship much. In LoK though the finale ended with Korrasami and it honestly made me feel things, things I went into detail over in the last post (or meant to). But not everyone had that reaction and the criticism I see leveled most often that bugs me most about the pairing is that it was too rushed, came out of nowhere or was underdeveloped. Now, fair's fair. I said myself last time that there should have been more development between Korra and Asami and even I in hindsight realize that nothing came off overtly romantic between them until the finale.
I believe that romance can happen in a variety of ways though and I thought that the pairing was great at the end because it was more of a realization than a culmination. Kataang from Avatar: The Last Airbender was a culmination of the development between the two characters, Aang and Katara, over three seasons and 60 episodes (they weren't in one). Korrasami, meanwhile, is not the endgame that Kataang was, it's the beginning of their relationship. Aang and Katara kissed to confirm they were together, Korra and Asami held hands in a moment of realization that they could be together. That's how I interpret the scene anyway.
Now, what's my point in bringing this up again? Well, the title of this post says it all... well, not really, I'll still be going on here. For all the accusations against Korrasami being rushed and out of nowhere, little attention has been paid to the real rushed relationship of the show: Zhu Li and Varrick. The two were introduced in the second season and in addition to the third they had a boss/employee relationship going on. Nothing between them in those two seasons ever made them seem like anything else.
Then suddenly in season 4 episode 5, we get a ship tease moment between them. Note, this is nearly halfway through the season, and the next time we get any moments between them is in episode 11. That's at the end! The next episode Varrick PROPOSES! This is a rushed relationship. This came out of nowhere. Look, I don't hate it. I have no strong feelings about Zhurrick one way or the other. I like Varrick as a character and believe Zhu Li barely has a character. At least Korra and Asami had two seasons of character development becoming closer friends and eventually found romance in it. They didn't propose marriage or even end the show calling each other their girlfriend. It was the start of something new. Yet Zhurrick is allowed a pass for some reason, ending the series with THEIR WEDDING! Seriously!
Argue how vague Korrasami is all you want, but can anyone honestly claim that it was more rushed and out of nowhere than the wedding the show ended on? I really don't want to make this about LGBT issues either, but it reeks of a couple getting a pass because their Hetero and the other being questioned and dismissed because they aren't. And don't even get me started on the claims it was just Fanservice or feminist agenda or progressive for the sake of being progressive. Ugh, see now I'm annoyed and might just have to go look at more Korrasami art. I never look at fanart! This is what I've been reduced to!
I just really hope we get some fucking Korra comics. I need more Korrasami in my life.
-Subtle
Friday, December 19, 2014
The Legend of Korra: Oh my stars I can't believe the series finale y'all
So... I'm glad I don't pay for this space on the internet. A year and half goes by with barely a thought spared for the poor Falsification. Part of it may just be that I've not really seen anything that inspired any passion in me, positive or negative. I mean, I loved Frozen but I didn't feel the need to write about it or anything. I mostly stayed the hell away from GamerGate because I couldn't understand anything with everyone yelling about it. I watched Gravity Falls for the first time a couple of months ago and I like it a lot. Regular Show's most recent episode upset me but still, yeah, didn't feel like writing about it much.
S-S-S-S-S-SPOILERS!!!!!!!
From the title of this post you can then guess what has gotten me out of my year-and-a-half silence: The Legend of Korra ended the series with a lesbian couple. Guys, gals, I can't even deal.
I don't know if I've ever mentioned The Legend of Korra or its prequel series Avatar: The Last Airbender, but they are my favorite shows of all time. Korra mostly benefits from the connection to the previous series, otherwise I think Regular Show or Adventure Time would have topped it, or even something older like Justice League or Nicktoons I grew up with. Still, I think it's one of the best shows to have ever come out, even while I acknowledge that there are plenty of flaws to be found within it.
I'm inclined to blame whatever problems Korra has on Nick. As fans of the show know, in the middle of its third season that aired this summer, Korra was taken off the air and made an online-only show. That was the biggest strike against Korra, others being no advertising for the third season until a week before its premiere and then season four being trotted out around a month after the third season ended. Suffice to say, the show has been screwed by the network. This isn't even the first time it's happened, but it certainly was the biggest middle finger presented.
The series ends with Korra and Asami walking into the spirit world, holding hands and looking into each others eyes. There's subtext, and then there's this middle finger to the censors. It boggles my mind that they actually got away with such an overt LGBT message, and it saddens me as well that this is something to celebrate but I'll take it. Since season 3 began I actually had started to enjoy the possibility of Korra and Asami getting together. They are the best characters out of the four main characters, though with Asami that status is debatable, and Korra finally seemed to have good chemistry with someone other than her airbending master and Zuko's grandson.
I'm not much of a shipper, I generally like canon relationships just fine as long as they're written decently and don't create a romantic plot tumor. I never thought Korra and Asami would end up as an official couple though, and I mostly just enjoyed the possibility and hoped that their friendship would get adequate time in the somewhat rushed narrative the show deals with. I haven't much talked about what aside from shipping I like about Korra, pretty much because it doesn't have much to do with shipping and that's kinda what I've been on about.
Honestly in hindsight Korra seems to be a show constrained by its running time. The creators clearly have ambitious stories to tell but, unlike Avatar: The Last Airbender they didn't have the benefit of years to work on the story and the necesarry amount of episodes to properly tell it. Avatar was penned out years in advance and was given 61 episodes early on to achieve it. Three seasons were adequate to fully explore the story, the characters and rarely felt rushed or constrained. Korra began life as a 12 episode mini-series, and the first season already felt utterly constrained by the episode limit. Nickelodeon, toward the end of the first season's development and way too late to make any changes, ordered an additional 40-something episodes, and not all at once either. The result is that individual seasons are more individual than Avatar's long-flowing narrative. Each one has had to tell a new story in the space of 12-14 episodes, and that is hard to achieve when you have big ambitions and big shoes to fill.
So I don't blame the co-creators of Avatar and Korra for the pacing issues and rushed feeling that Korra sometimes has. They were cramming arcs that probably should have been closer to 20 episodes into a little more than half that amount of time. So Asami got shafted a fair bit in representation and character development throughout the series. Bolin and Mako suffered this to some degree but not nearly as bad, and this is the biggest shame. Avatar was so great in large part because it had fleshed out characters who were so compelling. It was obvious so much work had gone into writing them and delving into what made them tick, and they felt real.
Korra's characters, on the other hand, lost the time to get focus. Avatar could dedicate part of an episode to Iroh celebrating/mourning his dead son's birthday (and his voice actor's death) because the plot was in no rush to finish itself. Korra's plots always felt like they had no room to breathe. The moments we aren't dealing with the plot moving forward can be great moments (Asami reconciling with her father, Korra talking down a new airbender before he tries to kill himself by jumping off a bridge) but they're fewer and farther between than they should be.
All of this is basically leading up to me saying that although I love that Korra and Asami got together, I really wish they had more development as a couple. Not even romantically, just more to show how they grew together, more interactions, scenes that show us how they work together. The few we got were great, but consider Avatar again. All three seasons were littered with the development of Aang and Katara's relationship. Sure Aang was crushing on her pretty hard throughout, but they were also friends. They had tons of time to work off each other and show how they worked together as individuals, not just love interests. Korra and Asami by comparison really lacked that.
This isn't a problem with just the one relationship though, few relationships really got much to work with. Korra and Tenzin probably came out the best, the student and teacher scenes were plentiful. Lin and Su Yin's sister bond was done well, despite a short time together on screen you could really tell they had a history and worked well. Varrick got two decent relationships with Zhu Li and Bolin, but there are precious few others I would say really worked well. This is opposed to the numerous strong relationships that Avatar had: the main four kids all worked insanely well off of each other and accomodated Zuko wonderfully late in the series; Zuko and almost anyone he interacted with actually were super; Azula and her gang were pretty developed together, and the list can go on.
So yes, Korra has flaws, which I blame on Nick pretty solidly. That said, I loved the show and I'm super sad to see it's ended. I really hope the co-creators find something new to work on if they can't return to the world of Avatar, they obviously have a lot of talent and passion for telling stories and they need to continue on in some capacity. I just absolutely love that Korra ended by breaking a bunch of stereotypes and giving a giant middle finger to the people who try to keep this kind of relationship down in children's media. The final shot is wonderful and I really hope that we begin to see more shows take these kinds of risks. A dark-skinned bi/lesbian woman is the lead character in a wonderful animated show that kids can also watch, and that really does make me happy.
-Subtle
S-S-S-S-S-SPOILERS!!!!!!!
From the title of this post you can then guess what has gotten me out of my year-and-a-half silence: The Legend of Korra ended the series with a lesbian couple. Guys, gals, I can't even deal.
I don't know if I've ever mentioned The Legend of Korra or its prequel series Avatar: The Last Airbender, but they are my favorite shows of all time. Korra mostly benefits from the connection to the previous series, otherwise I think Regular Show or Adventure Time would have topped it, or even something older like Justice League or Nicktoons I grew up with. Still, I think it's one of the best shows to have ever come out, even while I acknowledge that there are plenty of flaws to be found within it.
I'm inclined to blame whatever problems Korra has on Nick. As fans of the show know, in the middle of its third season that aired this summer, Korra was taken off the air and made an online-only show. That was the biggest strike against Korra, others being no advertising for the third season until a week before its premiere and then season four being trotted out around a month after the third season ended. Suffice to say, the show has been screwed by the network. This isn't even the first time it's happened, but it certainly was the biggest middle finger presented.
The series ends with Korra and Asami walking into the spirit world, holding hands and looking into each others eyes. There's subtext, and then there's this middle finger to the censors. It boggles my mind that they actually got away with such an overt LGBT message, and it saddens me as well that this is something to celebrate but I'll take it. Since season 3 began I actually had started to enjoy the possibility of Korra and Asami getting together. They are the best characters out of the four main characters, though with Asami that status is debatable, and Korra finally seemed to have good chemistry with someone other than her airbending master and Zuko's grandson.
I'm not much of a shipper, I generally like canon relationships just fine as long as they're written decently and don't create a romantic plot tumor. I never thought Korra and Asami would end up as an official couple though, and I mostly just enjoyed the possibility and hoped that their friendship would get adequate time in the somewhat rushed narrative the show deals with. I haven't much talked about what aside from shipping I like about Korra, pretty much because it doesn't have much to do with shipping and that's kinda what I've been on about.
Honestly in hindsight Korra seems to be a show constrained by its running time. The creators clearly have ambitious stories to tell but, unlike Avatar: The Last Airbender they didn't have the benefit of years to work on the story and the necesarry amount of episodes to properly tell it. Avatar was penned out years in advance and was given 61 episodes early on to achieve it. Three seasons were adequate to fully explore the story, the characters and rarely felt rushed or constrained. Korra began life as a 12 episode mini-series, and the first season already felt utterly constrained by the episode limit. Nickelodeon, toward the end of the first season's development and way too late to make any changes, ordered an additional 40-something episodes, and not all at once either. The result is that individual seasons are more individual than Avatar's long-flowing narrative. Each one has had to tell a new story in the space of 12-14 episodes, and that is hard to achieve when you have big ambitions and big shoes to fill.
So I don't blame the co-creators of Avatar and Korra for the pacing issues and rushed feeling that Korra sometimes has. They were cramming arcs that probably should have been closer to 20 episodes into a little more than half that amount of time. So Asami got shafted a fair bit in representation and character development throughout the series. Bolin and Mako suffered this to some degree but not nearly as bad, and this is the biggest shame. Avatar was so great in large part because it had fleshed out characters who were so compelling. It was obvious so much work had gone into writing them and delving into what made them tick, and they felt real.
Korra's characters, on the other hand, lost the time to get focus. Avatar could dedicate part of an episode to Iroh celebrating/mourning his dead son's birthday (and his voice actor's death) because the plot was in no rush to finish itself. Korra's plots always felt like they had no room to breathe. The moments we aren't dealing with the plot moving forward can be great moments (Asami reconciling with her father, Korra talking down a new airbender before he tries to kill himself by jumping off a bridge) but they're fewer and farther between than they should be.
All of this is basically leading up to me saying that although I love that Korra and Asami got together, I really wish they had more development as a couple. Not even romantically, just more to show how they grew together, more interactions, scenes that show us how they work together. The few we got were great, but consider Avatar again. All three seasons were littered with the development of Aang and Katara's relationship. Sure Aang was crushing on her pretty hard throughout, but they were also friends. They had tons of time to work off each other and show how they worked together as individuals, not just love interests. Korra and Asami by comparison really lacked that.
This isn't a problem with just the one relationship though, few relationships really got much to work with. Korra and Tenzin probably came out the best, the student and teacher scenes were plentiful. Lin and Su Yin's sister bond was done well, despite a short time together on screen you could really tell they had a history and worked well. Varrick got two decent relationships with Zhu Li and Bolin, but there are precious few others I would say really worked well. This is opposed to the numerous strong relationships that Avatar had: the main four kids all worked insanely well off of each other and accomodated Zuko wonderfully late in the series; Zuko and almost anyone he interacted with actually were super; Azula and her gang were pretty developed together, and the list can go on.
So yes, Korra has flaws, which I blame on Nick pretty solidly. That said, I loved the show and I'm super sad to see it's ended. I really hope the co-creators find something new to work on if they can't return to the world of Avatar, they obviously have a lot of talent and passion for telling stories and they need to continue on in some capacity. I just absolutely love that Korra ended by breaking a bunch of stereotypes and giving a giant middle finger to the people who try to keep this kind of relationship down in children's media. The final shot is wonderful and I really hope that we begin to see more shows take these kinds of risks. A dark-skinned bi/lesbian woman is the lead character in a wonderful animated show that kids can also watch, and that really does make me happy.
-Subtle
Saturday, June 8, 2013
Baka and Test: Summon the Beasts
Imagine your high school days, where you went to class, talked with friends, did normal student things. Now imagine what it might have been like as a war-zone between your class and all the other classes in your year. This is the world of Baka and Test, and it's probably one of the funniest anime's I've seen in awhile. The premise is that in this particular Japanese high school, the students have been placed into classes based on their scores for their entrance exams, ranging from Class A which is the geniuses of the school all the way to Class F, the idiots, losers and overall scum of the earth. The classes have equipment of varying quality: Class A has a luxurious classroom with comfortable chairs, laptops and coffee station; Class F has broken down tables made for Kindergartners in a drafty, dirty classroom.
The twist is that during the school year, a lower-leveled class can declare war on a higher class and if they succeed they can claim their stuff for their own. Of course they don't fight each other physically, instead they have a new state of the art system that allows students to summon an avatar of themselves in a summoning field controlled by a teacher. The strength of the avatar is tied to the student's latest test scores, and the summoning field uses the subject the teacher teaches. So a Math teacher would supervise a battle using the student's math scores. A student loses when their avatar's score becomes zero and they must take a remedial class as punishment. If a lower leveled class looses the war, their equipment gets downgraded as a result, since the higher leveled class wouldn't want to take their stuff.
So the story follows our main character Akihisa Yoshi, the titular baka, in his second year of high school in Class F. Alongside him are: his best friend the brilliant but lazy Yuuji; flat-chested tomboy/tsundere Minami Shimada; pervert ninja, with a camera, Kouta; extremely feminine-looking male Hideyoshi; and the pink haired girl he likes and seems like the typical first girl in the harem Mizuki Himeji. There are also other characters the pop up quite alot, like Shouko (Yuuji's yandere sort-of love interest), Akira Yoshi (Akihisa's very strange elder sister), Aiko (major tease), Iron Man (the craziest teacher ever, he drags students off for the remedial classes and presides over them), Miharu (Minami's lesbian stalker), Kubo (Class-A student with a crush on Akihisa), and even the FFF Inquisition (a bunch of Class F losers who torture guys who get the tiniest bit of affection from girls, since they can't be happy and decided that no one else would be either).
Akihisa is a refreshing sort of main character for a series like this because he's an idiot intentionally and there's really nothing more special about him than that and his sincere good heart. That's not to say he's perfect, like other leads in this kind of show. Akihisa is a major pervert, teases all his friends pretty harshly and when he inevitably gets retribution for his teasing it feels more justified, though still overboard. He wants to do the right thing a lot of the time and for once the fact that he's oblivious to love is justified. His harem is barely existent, only two girls actively show their interest, another is just a kid, one is a shy gay guy, and the last is his own sister, which he is understandably creeped out by. He doesn't realize Minami even likes him at all, since she is rather violent toward him and he primarily thinks of her as another friend, and the girl he does like he doesn't ever try to get with because he feels she deserves better, and that's his driving force throughout the first season at least: trying to improve Mizuki's lot in school with the wars.
Mizuki is fairly bland, though she also feels a bit more nuanced then a character I could normally expect from an anime like this. On the day of the entrance exam Mizuki fell ill and couldn't finish the exam, landing her with 0 points and Class-F. In truth she's Class-A caliber and her grades are on par with the top students in the school. She isn't treated as flawless by the anime either, there's a running gag about how lethal her cooking is and she's quick to join Minami in punishing Akihisa if he so much as looks at another girl. It's just a shame that in the two seasons of the show I've watched we get relatively little insight into her, she's just kind of bland as a result.
Minami is a pretty stereotypical tsundere tomboy; her chest is flat and she gets teased for it, she responds to said teasing by putting Akihisa in incredibly painful wrestling moves, she gets easily embarrassed when her feelings are addressed, etc. She's in Class-F because she's recently moved back from Germany, and while she's picked up speaking the language, she still can't read Kanji worth a damn (I so know that feeling) and thus her only class that she does decently in is Math, which is numbers and something she can understand. Unlike other tsundere characters she's not always hostile, she gets along with everyone, even Akihisa, until he does something really stupid, which is pretty often, but she's not defined by that hostility toward her crush.
Yuuji is the representative of Class-F, so if he gets taken out during a war then it's over. He's brilliant at strategies and tactics but has a tendency to not carry out his own plans at times. His and Akihisa's relationship is very amusing and he really comes off like an older brother of sorts to the group. He has does end up being abused by Shouko, which is something I have a bit of a problem with but I'll discuss that later. When Yuuji does put his mind to it, he has the intellect of at least a Class-B student, which is pretty darn good. He has a tendency to sacrifice Akihisa a lot of the time, tricking him into thinking he's the conerstone of a plan when he was just the distraction.
Hideyoshi is the most fan-serviced character in the show for guys... and he's a guy. There's a lot of great gags over this that I won't spoil here, suffice to say that both Akihisa and Kouta both perv over him like they would a girl, or more so. Aside from being in a somewhat genderless state, Hideyoshi is notable for being an amazing thespian with incredible range, and has the most common sense in the show. Kouta is a ninja pervert, his score in physical education is the single highest score in any subject in the school, outclassing the Class-A students. He always has a camera and is around to snap photos at opportune times and acts a surveilance/tech specialist when the group needs one.
These are the main characters we're with over the course of the series, along with many more minor characters, some of which I've mentioned up above. The series itself pretty often seems to forget about the Avatar system, it's not uncommon to go some episodes with no appearance or battles of any kind. It's also very hyperbolic in nature, on the verge of being satirical. A lot of the abuse dished out by the girls is like this, it's supposed to be over the top and funny how much they hurt the guys for even the most minor infractions. There's also the premise, banding groups of students to help each other do better so they'll get better grades and become stronger to get luxuries other classes have. Then there's a second season premise that takes up a few episodes that's essentially a war between the boys of the second year and the girls/teachers to spy on the girl in the bath. It's a concept that sounds good, a literal war over peeping on girls, but it plays out very dully and it's repetitive.
I have a problem with this show and it's fairly serious, despite it's hyperbolic nature. The abuse that goes on in anime always makes me uncomfortable, but this series dials it up for the sake of comedy and I just can't laugh at it. Sure, the boys fairly often behave in such a way that it makes sense the girls would get angry and "punish" them for it, even though it's not their place to do so. But almost all the time it's disproportionate and a number of those the guys didn't even do anything wrong. I so detest abuse anywhere in media, regardless of who's doing it, and it really concerns me when I see something like that played for comedy when if the genders were reversed it'd be dramatic and the abuser would be a monster. The problem with this anime is that this is almost satirical and laughing off anime that does this kind of stuff seriously. It is over the top, the girls are shown to be kind of crazy when they do it, but the fact is it's still supposed to be funny for the audience. I'm very mixed on what to think about it but it detracts my enjoyment of the series overall.
I don't intend to turn this into a discussion of sexism though, that's for another time and place and probably not by me. Baka and Test is a really interesting anime, it's pretty funny even with the problems I have with it and I would recommend watching it if you're a fan of comedy and especially comedic anime. It's a fun ride for the most part and it even manages to get some decent drama and sentimentality into the mix without making it melodramatic and sappy.
-Subtle
The twist is that during the school year, a lower-leveled class can declare war on a higher class and if they succeed they can claim their stuff for their own. Of course they don't fight each other physically, instead they have a new state of the art system that allows students to summon an avatar of themselves in a summoning field controlled by a teacher. The strength of the avatar is tied to the student's latest test scores, and the summoning field uses the subject the teacher teaches. So a Math teacher would supervise a battle using the student's math scores. A student loses when their avatar's score becomes zero and they must take a remedial class as punishment. If a lower leveled class looses the war, their equipment gets downgraded as a result, since the higher leveled class wouldn't want to take their stuff.
So the story follows our main character Akihisa Yoshi, the titular baka, in his second year of high school in Class F. Alongside him are: his best friend the brilliant but lazy Yuuji; flat-chested tomboy/tsundere Minami Shimada; pervert ninja, with a camera, Kouta; extremely feminine-looking male Hideyoshi; and the pink haired girl he likes and seems like the typical first girl in the harem Mizuki Himeji. There are also other characters the pop up quite alot, like Shouko (Yuuji's yandere sort-of love interest), Akira Yoshi (Akihisa's very strange elder sister), Aiko (major tease), Iron Man (the craziest teacher ever, he drags students off for the remedial classes and presides over them), Miharu (Minami's lesbian stalker), Kubo (Class-A student with a crush on Akihisa), and even the FFF Inquisition (a bunch of Class F losers who torture guys who get the tiniest bit of affection from girls, since they can't be happy and decided that no one else would be either).
Akihisa is a refreshing sort of main character for a series like this because he's an idiot intentionally and there's really nothing more special about him than that and his sincere good heart. That's not to say he's perfect, like other leads in this kind of show. Akihisa is a major pervert, teases all his friends pretty harshly and when he inevitably gets retribution for his teasing it feels more justified, though still overboard. He wants to do the right thing a lot of the time and for once the fact that he's oblivious to love is justified. His harem is barely existent, only two girls actively show their interest, another is just a kid, one is a shy gay guy, and the last is his own sister, which he is understandably creeped out by. He doesn't realize Minami even likes him at all, since she is rather violent toward him and he primarily thinks of her as another friend, and the girl he does like he doesn't ever try to get with because he feels she deserves better, and that's his driving force throughout the first season at least: trying to improve Mizuki's lot in school with the wars.
Mizuki is fairly bland, though she also feels a bit more nuanced then a character I could normally expect from an anime like this. On the day of the entrance exam Mizuki fell ill and couldn't finish the exam, landing her with 0 points and Class-F. In truth she's Class-A caliber and her grades are on par with the top students in the school. She isn't treated as flawless by the anime either, there's a running gag about how lethal her cooking is and she's quick to join Minami in punishing Akihisa if he so much as looks at another girl. It's just a shame that in the two seasons of the show I've watched we get relatively little insight into her, she's just kind of bland as a result.
Minami is a pretty stereotypical tsundere tomboy; her chest is flat and she gets teased for it, she responds to said teasing by putting Akihisa in incredibly painful wrestling moves, she gets easily embarrassed when her feelings are addressed, etc. She's in Class-F because she's recently moved back from Germany, and while she's picked up speaking the language, she still can't read Kanji worth a damn (I so know that feeling) and thus her only class that she does decently in is Math, which is numbers and something she can understand. Unlike other tsundere characters she's not always hostile, she gets along with everyone, even Akihisa, until he does something really stupid, which is pretty often, but she's not defined by that hostility toward her crush.
Yuuji is the representative of Class-F, so if he gets taken out during a war then it's over. He's brilliant at strategies and tactics but has a tendency to not carry out his own plans at times. His and Akihisa's relationship is very amusing and he really comes off like an older brother of sorts to the group. He has does end up being abused by Shouko, which is something I have a bit of a problem with but I'll discuss that later. When Yuuji does put his mind to it, he has the intellect of at least a Class-B student, which is pretty darn good. He has a tendency to sacrifice Akihisa a lot of the time, tricking him into thinking he's the conerstone of a plan when he was just the distraction.
Hideyoshi is the most fan-serviced character in the show for guys... and he's a guy. There's a lot of great gags over this that I won't spoil here, suffice to say that both Akihisa and Kouta both perv over him like they would a girl, or more so. Aside from being in a somewhat genderless state, Hideyoshi is notable for being an amazing thespian with incredible range, and has the most common sense in the show. Kouta is a ninja pervert, his score in physical education is the single highest score in any subject in the school, outclassing the Class-A students. He always has a camera and is around to snap photos at opportune times and acts a surveilance/tech specialist when the group needs one.
These are the main characters we're with over the course of the series, along with many more minor characters, some of which I've mentioned up above. The series itself pretty often seems to forget about the Avatar system, it's not uncommon to go some episodes with no appearance or battles of any kind. It's also very hyperbolic in nature, on the verge of being satirical. A lot of the abuse dished out by the girls is like this, it's supposed to be over the top and funny how much they hurt the guys for even the most minor infractions. There's also the premise, banding groups of students to help each other do better so they'll get better grades and become stronger to get luxuries other classes have. Then there's a second season premise that takes up a few episodes that's essentially a war between the boys of the second year and the girls/teachers to spy on the girl in the bath. It's a concept that sounds good, a literal war over peeping on girls, but it plays out very dully and it's repetitive.
I have a problem with this show and it's fairly serious, despite it's hyperbolic nature. The abuse that goes on in anime always makes me uncomfortable, but this series dials it up for the sake of comedy and I just can't laugh at it. Sure, the boys fairly often behave in such a way that it makes sense the girls would get angry and "punish" them for it, even though it's not their place to do so. But almost all the time it's disproportionate and a number of those the guys didn't even do anything wrong. I so detest abuse anywhere in media, regardless of who's doing it, and it really concerns me when I see something like that played for comedy when if the genders were reversed it'd be dramatic and the abuser would be a monster. The problem with this anime is that this is almost satirical and laughing off anime that does this kind of stuff seriously. It is over the top, the girls are shown to be kind of crazy when they do it, but the fact is it's still supposed to be funny for the audience. I'm very mixed on what to think about it but it detracts my enjoyment of the series overall.
I don't intend to turn this into a discussion of sexism though, that's for another time and place and probably not by me. Baka and Test is a really interesting anime, it's pretty funny even with the problems I have with it and I would recommend watching it if you're a fan of comedy and especially comedic anime. It's a fun ride for the most part and it even manages to get some decent drama and sentimentality into the mix without making it melodramatic and sappy.
-Subtle
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Aliens Vs. Predator: Resurrection
Recently I went about watching every single movie in the Alien canon, the original four, the AVP movies and Prometheus, and I'm not sure if there are more. This was my first time seeing them and for the most part I liked them all (except Alien3), but Aliens Vs. Predator Requiem is a weird one. There are parts I liked in it, despite the problems, but there was one thing about the movie that continues to bug me quite a bit about it, despite it being more like a SyFy made for TV movie than a feature film starring two major monster franchises.
Okay, so if you haven't seen the movie I'm not going to take great pains to describe the setup, it's honestly not that important. My problem is with the scene where the pizza boy delivers pizza to his crushes' house. Her douchebag boyfriend and his friends (and I guess her friends) are there and the douchebag insults the pizza boy, you know, because he's a douchebag. The pizza boy shrugs it off and fires an insult/taunt back at him. When he's leaving, the pizza boy gets jumped by the three douchebags because of his insult. Which is awful writing!
Note to the writer(s) of this script: conflict like this needs to be built up more! No one is going to jump someone over a minor insult like the one pizza boy said, it can fuel the conflict but that is not going to spur someone to action! It's just a stupid method of trying to get you to sympathize with pizza boy and hate the douchebags, but it's done so poorly that it honestly bugs the heck out of me, We're not given any indication these guys have a rivalry outside of their mutual attraction to girl who dies by running into a predator attack (SPOILER ALERT), not that anyone cared...
It's just that bit of stupidity that makes me hedge toward not liking this movie. If you're going to make a movie with terrible lighting and never focus on the Predalien and only have one Predator in the movie then at least know how to write some characters so I don't get sucked out when stupid shit like a kid getting jumped over a pizza-related taunt happens!
-Subtle
Okay, so if you haven't seen the movie I'm not going to take great pains to describe the setup, it's honestly not that important. My problem is with the scene where the pizza boy delivers pizza to his crushes' house. Her douchebag boyfriend and his friends (and I guess her friends) are there and the douchebag insults the pizza boy, you know, because he's a douchebag. The pizza boy shrugs it off and fires an insult/taunt back at him. When he's leaving, the pizza boy gets jumped by the three douchebags because of his insult. Which is awful writing!
Note to the writer(s) of this script: conflict like this needs to be built up more! No one is going to jump someone over a minor insult like the one pizza boy said, it can fuel the conflict but that is not going to spur someone to action! It's just a stupid method of trying to get you to sympathize with pizza boy and hate the douchebags, but it's done so poorly that it honestly bugs the heck out of me, We're not given any indication these guys have a rivalry outside of their mutual attraction to girl who dies by running into a predator attack (SPOILER ALERT), not that anyone cared...
It's just that bit of stupidity that makes me hedge toward not liking this movie. If you're going to make a movie with terrible lighting and never focus on the Predalien and only have one Predator in the movie then at least know how to write some characters so I don't get sucked out when stupid shit like a kid getting jumped over a pizza-related taunt happens!
-Subtle
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Grave of the Fireflies
I'm at a bit of a loss when it comes to my feelings on Isao Takahata's film Grave of the Fireflies. It's a sad film to be sure, and it's filled with a lot of emotion and messages, there are worthwhile things to take from it. It's just that it can be hard to take them, considering the film was made for the Japanese youth in the 1980s, a culture and generation removed from now, and while some things are universal in the film, at its heart this film is Japanese and speak mostly to the Japanese, which is perfectly fine, it just makes it harder for an American like myself to fully appreciate it.
A bit of backstory on the film, it was adapted from a novel written in 1967 by Nosaka Akiyuki, a semi-biographical narrative of his experiences in the latter days of World War 2 in Japan, particularly the incendiary bombings by the US. The story and film are quite similar in content, so this can serve to summarize both, and I'll be spoiling the story here, not that it's all too important, since knowing what happens doesn't take any of the emotional punch away.
The story follows a 14 year old boy, Seita, and his 4 year old sister, Setsuko, as their home is destroyed, their mother is killed, and they go live with their Aunt. Though the Aunt is at first nice and sympathetic, the two orphans begin to frustrate her as the rations of food get smaller and Seita spends all of his time with his sister and being unproductive, during the middle of a war. She gets rather harsh and treats them pretty badly in a passive-aggressive sort of way, so Seita eventually decides they'll go live in an abandoned shelter. Though they try to make it home and survive on their own, Setsuko gradually gets weaker and sick, and Seita resorts to stealing crops and during air raids so he can take care of her. Their situation gets worse and worse, and Setsuko dies despite Seita's attempts to take care of her. This is the end of the story and film, but I haven't actually talked about the beginning, because it depicts Seita's end. Some time after Setsuko died, Seita lived in a train station with a bunch of other orphans, and gradually weakened himself, not getting enough to eat, he dies alone along with 20-30 other children. After this death we go back to see how it started, with the initial bombing of Kobe.
Nosaka had a 18 month old sister during this time, and he was unable to keep her from dying, but he survived and partially wrote the story as a way of atoning for this, but also a societal critique of the people who let those things happen, the Japanese bystanders who did nothing for the war orphans. Like Takahata's film, however, it also gets treated as a sort of plea to the Japanese youth to remind them of humility. In both releases, the 67 story and 88 film, Japan experienced an economic boom, and the youth were being spoiled by it; juvenile crime was at its height in those two periods. By those times the war was pretty removed from the youth, a cultural memory more than anything, and none too important to their lives. These works, especially the film, were trying to get the youth to respect what they had and their elders, by showing them the hard times they went through as well as how fleeting things can be, ala the fireflies.
I'll explain what I mean by that last point. Throughout the film, fireflies are shown constantly, generally providing some comfort to the kids in their struggle for survival. The first night they live on their own they fill the place with tons of fireflies to light the dark shelter, and it's beautiful for the night. Come the morning they're all dead, and Setsuko buries them in a grave. The fireflies come to symbolize the children, all the war orphans and such, as short lived beings. The end of the film shows the fireflies flying around and the backdrop of a metropolitan Kobe, tying parallels to the current economic boom. JesuOtaku on thatguywiththeglasses.com pointed out that what the film says there is that this, the metropolitan city, the wealth and all the things you're taking for granted, are only temporary like the firefly, and that they needed to remember what was important in life. As I mentioned this was made for the youth of Japan at those times, and it represents a cultural experience that, while can be appreciated in 21st century United States, doesn't have the exact same impact it did for those people at that time.
Most people who watch it nowadays see the film as an anti-war film, for its honest depiction of events that happened, but Takahata has gone on record as saying that he never intended for the film to be an anti-war film, and that no such message existed in it. Now that seems pretty conclusive, so why do so many people seem to think it's anti-war when the director disagrees? Cultural differences may be the answer, it certainly doesn't help that Grave of Fireflies is mainly for the Japanese, the intent can be lost upon international viewers. There is also the possibility that even if Takahata doesn't see the message in the film, it could still be there. For my money I don't think it's an anti-war film, if anything the war seems to be treated as a sort of natural disaster, something that just happens and the characters have to endure it. There aren't any anti-earthquake or anti-tornado films out there, just ones that deal with survival during them. As much as the war effects them, the characters rarely seem to acknowledge it, Seita and Setsuko disappear more and more into their own world as the film goes on, they don't confront it.
In the same vein of being a plea for humility, it's also a warning against pride. Seita is a 14 year old boy and he's becoming a man, growing up quickly, and he's finding his ego. We see through his interactions with his Aunt that he doesn't think highly of his elders, he doesn't understand their reasoning or listen to their wishes, and eventually decides he's better off taking care of Setsuko alone. This dooms them both, as his pride keeps him from turning back to his Aunt even when things get dire, and they begin to starve. Essentially he kills his sister and himself because he refused to go back and swallow his pride. The youth of Japan during the time of the film's release were like Seita in this way. They grew up in prosperity, and they didn't understand their elder's frustrations with their lifestyle, and they grew rebellious. The film is an example of what can happen when you let pride keep you from listening to your elders. Seita tries to survive with them alone and cut off from their older generation, and they died.
There is a lot in the movie that isn't said outright, there is much symbolism and subtle messages but it's all just draining. There's a lot to discuss about it but my feelings on it are confused and jumbled. On the one hand I appreciate the work put into the film, I appreciate the intent and the messages placed in it. On the other, there may be a problem with it being for such a specific audience at a specific time. There are certain universal truths to it, but knowing that it was for all intents and purposes a film to guilt the younger generation into being more obedient and less rebellious in Japan in the late 80s is difficult for me to get around. It's like I'm being shut out of a conversation, I can still hear it but I'm not involved. Considering how many people found it to be an anti-war film, I don't think the message got through very well outside of Japan anyway. and I think that's what keeps it from being truly great. It's not a universal film, and that's okay, but it limits just how impacting it can be to other cultures. I truly don't know how I feel about this film, you should watch it to see for yourself. Just don't watch the dub, the original Japanese is kind of important, since this is a very Japan-centric film.
-Subtle
A bit of backstory on the film, it was adapted from a novel written in 1967 by Nosaka Akiyuki, a semi-biographical narrative of his experiences in the latter days of World War 2 in Japan, particularly the incendiary bombings by the US. The story and film are quite similar in content, so this can serve to summarize both, and I'll be spoiling the story here, not that it's all too important, since knowing what happens doesn't take any of the emotional punch away.
The story follows a 14 year old boy, Seita, and his 4 year old sister, Setsuko, as their home is destroyed, their mother is killed, and they go live with their Aunt. Though the Aunt is at first nice and sympathetic, the two orphans begin to frustrate her as the rations of food get smaller and Seita spends all of his time with his sister and being unproductive, during the middle of a war. She gets rather harsh and treats them pretty badly in a passive-aggressive sort of way, so Seita eventually decides they'll go live in an abandoned shelter. Though they try to make it home and survive on their own, Setsuko gradually gets weaker and sick, and Seita resorts to stealing crops and during air raids so he can take care of her. Their situation gets worse and worse, and Setsuko dies despite Seita's attempts to take care of her. This is the end of the story and film, but I haven't actually talked about the beginning, because it depicts Seita's end. Some time after Setsuko died, Seita lived in a train station with a bunch of other orphans, and gradually weakened himself, not getting enough to eat, he dies alone along with 20-30 other children. After this death we go back to see how it started, with the initial bombing of Kobe.
Nosaka had a 18 month old sister during this time, and he was unable to keep her from dying, but he survived and partially wrote the story as a way of atoning for this, but also a societal critique of the people who let those things happen, the Japanese bystanders who did nothing for the war orphans. Like Takahata's film, however, it also gets treated as a sort of plea to the Japanese youth to remind them of humility. In both releases, the 67 story and 88 film, Japan experienced an economic boom, and the youth were being spoiled by it; juvenile crime was at its height in those two periods. By those times the war was pretty removed from the youth, a cultural memory more than anything, and none too important to their lives. These works, especially the film, were trying to get the youth to respect what they had and their elders, by showing them the hard times they went through as well as how fleeting things can be, ala the fireflies.
I'll explain what I mean by that last point. Throughout the film, fireflies are shown constantly, generally providing some comfort to the kids in their struggle for survival. The first night they live on their own they fill the place with tons of fireflies to light the dark shelter, and it's beautiful for the night. Come the morning they're all dead, and Setsuko buries them in a grave. The fireflies come to symbolize the children, all the war orphans and such, as short lived beings. The end of the film shows the fireflies flying around and the backdrop of a metropolitan Kobe, tying parallels to the current economic boom. JesuOtaku on thatguywiththeglasses.com pointed out that what the film says there is that this, the metropolitan city, the wealth and all the things you're taking for granted, are only temporary like the firefly, and that they needed to remember what was important in life. As I mentioned this was made for the youth of Japan at those times, and it represents a cultural experience that, while can be appreciated in 21st century United States, doesn't have the exact same impact it did for those people at that time.
Most people who watch it nowadays see the film as an anti-war film, for its honest depiction of events that happened, but Takahata has gone on record as saying that he never intended for the film to be an anti-war film, and that no such message existed in it. Now that seems pretty conclusive, so why do so many people seem to think it's anti-war when the director disagrees? Cultural differences may be the answer, it certainly doesn't help that Grave of Fireflies is mainly for the Japanese, the intent can be lost upon international viewers. There is also the possibility that even if Takahata doesn't see the message in the film, it could still be there. For my money I don't think it's an anti-war film, if anything the war seems to be treated as a sort of natural disaster, something that just happens and the characters have to endure it. There aren't any anti-earthquake or anti-tornado films out there, just ones that deal with survival during them. As much as the war effects them, the characters rarely seem to acknowledge it, Seita and Setsuko disappear more and more into their own world as the film goes on, they don't confront it.
In the same vein of being a plea for humility, it's also a warning against pride. Seita is a 14 year old boy and he's becoming a man, growing up quickly, and he's finding his ego. We see through his interactions with his Aunt that he doesn't think highly of his elders, he doesn't understand their reasoning or listen to their wishes, and eventually decides he's better off taking care of Setsuko alone. This dooms them both, as his pride keeps him from turning back to his Aunt even when things get dire, and they begin to starve. Essentially he kills his sister and himself because he refused to go back and swallow his pride. The youth of Japan during the time of the film's release were like Seita in this way. They grew up in prosperity, and they didn't understand their elder's frustrations with their lifestyle, and they grew rebellious. The film is an example of what can happen when you let pride keep you from listening to your elders. Seita tries to survive with them alone and cut off from their older generation, and they died.
There is a lot in the movie that isn't said outright, there is much symbolism and subtle messages but it's all just draining. There's a lot to discuss about it but my feelings on it are confused and jumbled. On the one hand I appreciate the work put into the film, I appreciate the intent and the messages placed in it. On the other, there may be a problem with it being for such a specific audience at a specific time. There are certain universal truths to it, but knowing that it was for all intents and purposes a film to guilt the younger generation into being more obedient and less rebellious in Japan in the late 80s is difficult for me to get around. It's like I'm being shut out of a conversation, I can still hear it but I'm not involved. Considering how many people found it to be an anti-war film, I don't think the message got through very well outside of Japan anyway. and I think that's what keeps it from being truly great. It's not a universal film, and that's okay, but it limits just how impacting it can be to other cultures. I truly don't know how I feel about this film, you should watch it to see for yourself. Just don't watch the dub, the original Japanese is kind of important, since this is a very Japan-centric film.
-Subtle
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