アニ・ノート

I managed to get swept by J2.

Wild.

So far, everything was great except the way they retconned the sequel to the original Jubei-chan. The Ainosuke story made not the slightest amount of sense.

Well, this certainly was energetic.

The most memorable part was probably the magic exploit. If you lose your sword, take the patch off, then put it back on. The transformation sequence brings you the sword back.

The story was badly deformed to retrofit the first series. Notably, I still cannot understand just how Ainosuke came into posession of the patch. Everything else was given at least some explanation, although often ludicrous. They sure like the trick of marrying during a quest.

J2 was stuck in my “to see” list for ages. Aroduc reminded me about it and thus made me watch it finally. It turned out later that he liked fights the most. But for me they were too abstract. I think I like Naruto ones better. Unfortunately, Naruto is too inconsistent to make such blanket statements, but the ep.22 is a good example of what I’m looking for.

Liked: Not sure. It had good parts.
Rewatch: No

Warning: major spoilers ahead.

I am quite unhappy with Koinosuke’s behaviour, and, by extension, character. That he went AWOL from his quest and got married, I can understand. Not ideal, but… Heck, if his own master deserted in the same way, who am I to judge him? But pulling his daughter into this mess was absolutely inexcusable.

Finally, the bogeyman of the Global Warming put to good use. Not sure if this sequence came out funnier than the creators intended, but all the same.

The evil Frieza is very cool (well, until she turned to nasty tricks). In words of Rob Balder, “My whole life will be a success if I ever get to be half as evil as you, my Lady!”

Now I know where creators of Gurren-Lagann were getting their ideas. Caption: Kamina, is that you?!

Rarely seen style of Japanese living.

Wholly wrong chemistry. Don’t forget that Francoise is married…

Monkeys turning human were great. I liked those moments.

Francoise again.

LOL Disney animals!

Young Koynosuke and Bon.

Bon without glasses.

I think it’s quite sad when you tell a joke and nobody laughs, because it hits home too much.

Just a cool image of Frieza.

What can you say. I’m a sucker for mature women.

Astute viewers probably foresaw this from the start, but still… I saw the idea implemented in DBZ and nonetheless I thought it kind of cool. Also, they didn’t dwell on it too much, unlike DBZ.

I’d like to know just how Frieza is going to adapt to the normal life now that the overriding reason for her existence is gone. Unlike our favourite clan of retards, Odagos Sr. and Jr., she’s not a wandering ghost, so she cannot just shivel up and die, although I suspect she’d love to walk into the sky. Failing that, she might want to blend into the foster family. The final frame showed her optimistically, but with the source so full of gags you can’t believe anything. I think someone could do J3 for 6 episodes just on this material…

Thanks to a shoutout, I saw a post a Daijobu (a blog which I really should be reading but never get around to), which looks at Miyazaki’s legacy. I think his creations can be vulgarized further into few basics (e.g. in DS’ terms, all historically developed MODEs can be collapsed further):

• Miyazaki hates or at best mistrusts all things military.
• Miyazaki loves old people.
• Miyazaki moves forward a spunky young heroine.

The relevant critique mostly circles around the above (there’s a good example at Chizumatic) of only because Miyazaki allows main themes to override and displace the rest of the art. So, Spirited Away is my favourite, because it lacks the usual negative elements of hate and preachiness and this allows the rest of Miyazaki’s talent to blossom.

BTW, I noticed the linked article at TNK back when it was published, but didn’t have much to write about it. Indeed, what can be reasonably said to this:

To date, Princess Mononoke stands as his only animated work where the story was not only relevant to the audience (environmental issues are a cornerstone of our modern attitudes), but also presented with a strong focus.

I suppose when lead is legislated out of ammunition with the corresponding jump in costs, it certainly makes the environment relevant, not to mention forming a cornerstone or attitudes.

Tangentially, I never was in a Japanese school, but anime makes it very clear that the obnoxious environmental propaganda is a big part of Japanese education. When J2 poked fun of it, it was only done because the said propaganda existed. But lots of other anime series touch upon the subject in passing. For example, To Heart delivers a beautiful example of what J2 lampooned later.

Miyazaki not only preaches, but also taps into the feelings of indoctrinated.