Nakama Britannica

In the early noughties there was a sudden surge of interest in manga in the USA, resulting in several publishing houses establishing their own lines of manga in English translation. Some have fared better than others – and now, one of the best-established of them all, Del Rey Manga, has recently celebrated five successful years in manga publishing.

Del Rey, thanks to their relationship with Kodansha, have brought us a rich variety of titles and mangaka – although it will be interesting to watch what happens now as Kodansha have recently established their own US publishing base.

As a dyed-in-the-wool CLAMP fan, I was very happy to see Del Rey license the (then) new series ‘Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle’ and its crossover/linked manga ‘xxxHOLIC.’ And when the first volumes appeared in 2004, it was especially pleasing to see the care that had been taken with these titles, setting a high standard that, by and large, Del Rey have maintained. From helpful explanations about honorifics to the fascinating Translator’s Notes at the end of each volume, with illuminating Japanese cultural references, not to mention previews of the next volume in the original language, Del Rey were offering something a little different, even a little more scholarly (but in a good way!) than Viz and Tokyopop (their main rivals in the field.) Another massive hit has been ‘Negima!’ by Ken Akamatsu; the story of ten-year-old wizard schoolteacher and his harem class of fourteen-year-old schoolgirls is ongoing and still selling extremely well. Their latest hot property is Hiro Mashima’s immensely likeable ‘Fairy Tail’ (and, yes, his art is still reminiscent of Oda’s art for ‘One Piece’ but not in a bad way.)

As the five years have passed, there have been more jewels revealed in the collection: most notably ‘Genshiken,’ ‘Mushishi, ‘School Rumble’ and ‘Sayonara, Zetsubou Sensei’ – and the classic SF series ‘Parasyte.’

And then Del Rey have given us the invaluable Character Guides: two for ‘Tsubasa’ so far and one for ‘xxxHOLIC’ (just out) as well as the ‘Genshiken Official Book.’ Filled with interviews, character information and facts as well as brand new material, these guides are useful for newcomers to the series and feed the addiction for existing fans. In France, a recent development from Pika has been to issue the last three volumes of ‘Tsubasa’ each in a box-set with the three episodes of ‘Tsubasa: Tokyo Revelations’ on DVD (subbed, not dubbed) from Kaze; one wonders if Del Rey might consider a similar project?

Criticisms? Well yes, I do have a few, even though I applaud Del Rey for the overall high quality of their translations and presentation (the lettering is usually easy to read, another bonus.) But there have been some weak – yes, even depressingly bad – titles amongst the jewels. Several of the shojo titles have left me scratching my head and wondering ‘why?’ Especially when Kodansha’s mangaka have won awards for shojo titles such as ‘Guru Guru Pon Chan’ And I’ve been less than impressed with their ventures into OEL manga; although ‘Yokaiden’ by Nina Matsumoto is a notable exception, with pleasing art and a theme rooted in Japanese folklore, that’s well worth investigating. The cinemanga titles such as ‘Ben 10: Alien Force’ and ‘Secret Saturdays’ (linking up with Cartoon Network) have impressed my kids at school, but may be seen by some purists as selling out. I’d love to be able comment knowledgeably on the recent X-Men and Wolverine manga, but, unfortunately, I haven’t yet seen them.  

And now Kodansha Ltd, celebrating its centennial anniversary in Japan, has just begun to issue its own English editions, Kodansha Comics, via Random House the home of Del Rey Manga. The first volumes of ‘Akira’ and ‘The Ghost in the Shell’ have just been released – or ‘re-published’ according to the publicity. The word on the street says that, rather disappointingly, they seem to be the flipped versions previously available from Dark Horse.

So what can we look forward to in the next few months from Del Rey Manga?
Later in November, comes ‘Moyasimon’ by Masayuki Ishikawa
‘Tadayasu is a new, fresh-faced university student hiding a bizarre secret: He can see germs with the naked eye. Between the machinations of an eccentric professor determined to unlock the power of the microbial world and the doomed agricultural experiments of his fellow students, will Tadayasu ever find the cool college atmosphere he so desires?’

The final volumes of ‘Samurai Deeper Kyo’ bu Akimine Kamijyo. Volumes 35/36 in December, followed by 37/38 in June 2010, Del Rey having taken over the license from Tokyopop.

And to please anyone with an eye for bishonen – or who enjoyed the anime R1 series – ‘Nighthead Genesis’ #1 with art with You Higuri.

At a time when other manga publishers in the US (apart from Viz and Yen Press) are cutting back on their output, Del Rey Manga must be doing something right to be continuing to issue on average eight titles a month. I’ve found much to enjoy in their output; I hope they can continue to keep up their high standards.

To conclude on a lighter note – and at the considerable risk of provoking the ire of Answerman from ANN – here are some lists!

Five Titles Suitable for – and tried and tested by –  older Juniors (10+)
1/ Kitchen Princess: includes recipes and loved by boys and girls alike – truly addictive! (10 volumes: complete, yet with a light novel to come.)
2/ Sugar Sugar Rune: an imaginative, touching and unusual take by Moyoco Anno on the shojo theme of magical girls. (8 volumes: complete)    
3/ Shugo Chara: ongoing magical girl fantasy – a huge hit in Japan, with a charming anime spin-off.
4/ Dragon Eye: a shonen fantasy fighting adventure.  
5/ Bakugan Battle Brawlers: from the Cinemanga collection

My ‘Five to Avoid’ Titles (please argue with me on this one! It’s only personal taste…)
1/ Gakuen Prince: you’ll either love or loathe this tale of predatory, sex-obsessed high school girls and their prey. Guess which camp I fell into?  
2/ Q-Ko-Chan: The Earth Invader Girl: a massive disappointment from Hajime Ueda, the mangaka of FLCL; what was that all about, then?
3/ Le Chevalier d’Eon – deviates significantly from the anime, a (non) triumph of style and large bosoms over coherent plot and…well, anything, really. Only for true enthusiasts.
4/ Pichi Pichi Pitch: singing mermaids;  but which one is which? Impossible to tell them apart… or care…
5/ Gacha Gacha: fan service, obviously not intended for me to enjoy, but some plot would have been nice… 

http://www.randomhouse.com/delrey/manga/index.pperl

When I began reading the Kenichi Sonoda’s Gunsmith Cats not long ago, I was almost immediately struck by the similarities between it and Rei Hiroe’s Black Lagoon. Both are action packed guns blazing stories but what I particularly noticed and enjoyed was the focus on the tough, independent female characters who feature prominently in both works.

Gunsmith Cats’ Rally Vincent is a bounty hunter, sanctioned by the police to capture and bring in alive any criminals who are on the run from the law. This of course means that unlike Revy from Black Lagoon (a mercenary for hire) she has to watch her trigger finger, and more than once her quarry has escaped due to her professional obligation (as well as her personal judgement) not to fire. Rally is tough, she is uncompromising and relentless in her pursuit of justice for all, but especially for herself and her friends. The America of Gunsmith Cats is by no means a black and white world, but there are lines which the good guys will not cross but the bad guys will happily trample over. Rally might bend or sneakily rip the odd page from the rulebook when no-one is looking, but Revy tosses it straight in the nearest trash can with a look of disgust and Balalaika grins as she sets it on fire. In Black Lagoon there is hardly any such thing as a good or a bad guy. Roanapur and indeed the entire world which Revy & Co. inhabit is a murky grey sludge, even the different shades of grey can barely be discerned and are liable to change with the winds at any moment.

Both Revy and Rally are ace gunslingers, pulling off moves with their pistols which would leave olympic sharpshooters scratching their heads. While quick to pull her gun should the situation dictate, Rally has a responsible attitude towards guns and in one particular scene where she is haunted by the demons of her past after being injected with a new drug ‘French Connection 2′ style by the villainous Goldie (more on her later) she reveals that she is an advocate of the “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people” school of thought. It is obvious though from the fascination and love she has for firearms that she does not view them simply as a tool. The ability to possess and use guns is very important to Rally as shown when she has her licence temporarily suspended, and when she holds back from shooting a foe precisely because the drugs in her system could get her licence revoked. This kind of thinking is at one point admonished and labelled as cowardly by probably the most grey character in Gunsmith Cats (being neither hero nor villain) Bean Bandit. His view is that Rally should, like him, follow her own moral code rather than the law.

This school of thought is far closer to Revy’s position, though she generally keeps her cards close to her chest with regards to how she feels about any situation which doesn’t require violence. While often openly hostile to the people closest to her even to the point of pulling a gun on fellow Lagoon Company partner Rock over an argument, like Rally she does still use her skills to defend her friends (even against business interests, as is seen when she is ready to shoot Russian gang boss Balalaika when she threatens to do the same to Rock) proving she is not as mercenary as first glances might indicate, and still has a certain bias towards those she knows and to some extent, trusts.

Balalaika herself makes for an interesting comparison to Gunsmith Cats’ archvillainess Goldie Musou. Both are powerful women in a men’s world, heading up criminal gangs where they are in the position of power over most men. With this power and isolation though, comes a sense of sadism and even reckless abandon in both characters. Unlike Rally or even Revy, Goldie and Balalaika’s moral compasses have entirely ceased to function, and they do what they do primarily for their own amusement and love of the power they exercise over others. Balalaika’s domineering personality is satisfied by her continual and often unprovoked warfare with other underworld elements, a taste for which she developed while fighting in Afghanistan. Goldie however is driven by more materialistic sexual desires, and from her point of view her feud with Rally is an amusing (if particularly violent) game. She doesn’t want to kill her at all, rather to posses her for her own. Due to her mercenary outlook and the fact that the two rarely come up against one another, Revy can and does work with Balalaika, although uneasily.

The supporting casts of each story are a little different. While both Revy and Rally’s worlds are full of colourful characters, Rally tends to be at the centre of her group of friends and acquaintances, the strongest and most capable among them. Rally’s friends Minnie-May, Becky and Misty are all capable women in their own right, their skills at explosives, intelligence gathering and breaking and entering respectively complimenting each other. The same cannot be said of Black Lagoon’s extended cast. Characters such as Eda the gun-running nun, Jane the counterfeiter and Shen-Hua the bounty hunter more often than not find themselves in opposition to or competition with Revy, or forced through circumstance into grudging alliances. Such are the different worlds they inhabit. There is room for trust and friendship in Rally’s life, far less so in Revy’s. It is fair to presume that personal circumstances are as much to blame for these differences as the places in which they live.

The thing the women of Gunsmith Cats & Black Lagoon value most is their freedom to do as they please, but each woman’s idea of how far they should be able to take this freedom (especially where the lives of other people are concerned) differs greatly. Some might say that their passions, thoughts and actions (love of cars, guns, power or sex) are more male due both to the writers and the target audience, but I would suggest that anyone, male or female, who finds themselves on occasion despairing at the portrayal of women in manga and anime check out both of these titles. There may not be a Revy for every cute, naïve and helpless girl in the world of manga… But that wouldn’t be a fair fight now, would it?

Magic performing alchemists, L singing Blur karaoke and Solid Snake vanishing into a cardboard box! This year’s MCM Expo had more magic (and mischief) than previous shows but mixed in with the same old regulars: the gaming section, manga artist alley, scandalous cosplay kids were a few extra addictions. This year’s expo included some of the best bits from Japan Ex, a convention which last took place back in 2007.

Ouran girls will yaoi for commoner food

Including a Gothic Lolita fashion show, Japanese drumming, tea ceremony and origami. Although, rather amusingly, half way through the weekend the origami table was high-jacked by the cosplay kids as they made ‘Free Hugs’ signs. Talking of free huggers, I ran into a distressed L who had a ‘Please don’t give me free hugs sign.’ She was forced to make the sign as L received one too many unwanted hugs last year. Watch out kids, the resistance has started…

In terms of cosplay, Kuroshitsuji was surprisingly popular, with many teenage boys and girls donning up as demonic butlers. The usual armies of Bleach and Naruto fans were there along with some surprising outfits: Ronald McDonald, J-rockers Versailles and steam punk military cadets with vintage oversized goggles. Many people queued up to have their picture taken with a massive Hello Kitty and some even (posed?) as if they were being eaten by a giant yellow Pacman. Every expo has their own celebrities, the Ghost Busters crew and Scrubs guys were back. But you will never believe who had his own posse. This guy here:

Spongebob is hot...honest!

Meanwhile in the Manga Alley I had a chat with an artist on the most popular drawing requests of the day. I discovered that yaoi-ness wasn’t confined to the realm of manga. Many fangirls (and boys) had requested he draw pictures of yaoi Spiderman and X-men. Somehow this shouldn’t surprise me but it did.  Alongside professional artists rested doujinshi artists, peddling their home made wares, but it was nice to see a mix of both manga and American comics side by side. A new attraction at expo was the Rock Band stall, where kids tried out karaoke. I heard that decidedly annoying Blur song, you know, the one that goes, “I got my head done, when I was young…” and turned around to see L behind the microphone. It was priceless.

I spotted a pair of worn out convention goers who were new to this whole expo madness. I probably should have directed them to the first aid area but instead I took them to the nearest stall and bought them chocolate. “What’s this?” they asked. “Pocky. Eat it. It’s the only way you will get through expo.”

Outside in the forecourt were cosplay outfits of every shape and description, ranging from Neo from the Matrix to Hei from Darker Than Black. Although computer game cosplays are nothing new, it was the first time I had ever seen Solid Snake from Metal Gear Solid. (I knew those hours wasted playing computer games would come in handy one day.) I then watched him disappear into a cardboard box! Speaking of all things magical, this year’s masquerade included a routine with Edward Elric performing magic tricks, pulling this impossibly long rod out of a box. Expect it to already be on You Tube, go on, I dare you, go check it out! Another surprise hit was watching Bleach cosplayers performing the Hare Hare Yukai dance, it’s just way more funnier when non-Haruhi kids pull off this routine. That wraps up expo (or so I thought.) It wasn’t until I got home and checked my photo’s did I get an unexpected surprise. The seemingly innocent Ouran Host Club girls (or boys, depending on how you look at it) had a ‘Will yaoi for commoner food’ sign. Kids, really, whatever next…

Before beginning this article for Nakama Britannica it is worth noting that this is the start of many new posts for this blog. Although inactive for sometime it is back and not with just the weird articles I post either! Other great posts are in the pipe line from veterans of this blog and also authors who are new. I think this could be a very interesting tenure in the development of the blog. So watch this space every Sunday, or so, for articles on all aspects of anime from issues that are considered mundane, yet are extremely important like the industry, to the far more important issues, like what exactly you should be buying in retail outlets around the country…

This article at the start of our new season is taken from a piece which unsuccessfully did not make the cut when I submitted it to Asian film magazine ‘Jade Screen’ last year. It covers some of the work from Satoshi Kon and was designed as part of a series, which never got written, to attract a new group of fans to explore the genre whilst providing existing fans with something new to read. The reason why only two of Kon’s films are critiqued is because the word limit imposed by the magazine. I might get round to completing the whole thing when I’m less ill and less busy. Perhaps you guys could fill in the article or comment and critique Kon’s other films to get any new fans to watch a film by Kon. Anyway I hope you enjoy…

Anime is a kaleidoscopic genre. It is comprised of many diverse genres and transcends its own boundaries on an almost constant basis. However these changes are mediated by the constant awareness of its Japanese roots. So just what is anime? Just like a child, we will twist the tube of anime to answer this question; examining its nature one pattern at a time.

The first twist of the tube takes us to an image of a man who fashions stories that are just as kaleidoscopic as the genre itself: Satoshi Kon. Kon joins a pantheon of Japanese directors who push the boundaries of Japanese animation further and further. Just like Tezuka, Otomo, Oshii, and Tomino, Kon is creating anime that is transcending previously known boundaries. However what differentiates Kon from those four directors and creators is to spawns a story that is much like an optical illusion. That is that he creates stories that play on our perceptions of what is real and what is fictitious.

Satoshi Kon

Satoshi Kon is of a host of directors who are fantastic at producing some of the most underrated material possible. Kon presents his audience with a warped sense of reality and fiction and takes us on a journey to explore what exactly is reality and what is fictitious. Kon’s speciality is this ability to take that warped clash of reality and fiction and synthesise them together to form some great films. This article will examine all of his major films and, will shortly, critique them also. This is because Kon is largely ignored by the more scholarly of the anime community. What he produces is, often, a breed of very challenging, deep films which are bypassed in favour of the pretentiousness of Mamoru Oshii (’Ghost in the Shell’, ‘Patlabor’, ‘Sky Crawlers’) or the, frankly, insanely talented Katsuhiro Otomo (’Akira, ‘Memories’ and ‘Metropolis’).

However Kon’s almost constant flirtation with the subject of reality is something that will bring his work into the fore in the future. However his work is not always about this constant fluctuation in and out of reality, indeed works like ‘Tokyo Godfathers’ and ‘Paranoia Agent’ present stories that are, respectively, conventional yet provide cleverly convoluted plots to provoke thought and debate. This is a director that does not do ‘bog-standard’, boring fare. Rather here is a man that wants to challenge and confuse you. An easy thing to do when your films are the manifestation of an infatuation with probing the depths of what humanity calls real and what it, conversely, calls fictitious.

The protagonists from Tokyo Godfathers

This article will deal with his two of his four feature films. The reason why I selected Kon, as the first of Jade Screen’s anime articles, was mainly because of his ingenious way to fashion films that are essentially universal in content, but they are performed in a Japanese context and obviously made within the context of the anime medium itself. Satoshi Kon could, possibly, create these films in Hollywood but he is an up and coming director of Japanese animation and as such is a great way to begin exploring the genre, to keep exploring the genre for fans who have not seen a Kon production, or a reflection for those anime fans who are well acquainted with the wonderfulness of Kon’s work.

Perfect Blue

Perfect Blue DVD coverIn 1997 anime fandom was faced with an anime that both was infinitely illusive yet remarkably brilliant in the deployment of its fascinating story line. ‘Perfect Blue’ synthesises together the concepts of psychological definition, philosophical perceptiveness on life, how communication has evolved with the internet and finally a greatly disturbing idea of what it is like to be famous.

The story revolves around a former pop idol, Mima Kirigoe, and her decision to change her career from being a pop idol to being an actress. This prompts a negative reaction from her fans who believe that she should remain as a pop idol in the band ‘CHAM!’. Her decision leads to her taking up one of the leading roles in the programme she was cast in. However the lead role comes with a price, she will have to act out a completely unsavoury role. This sends her sense of reality completely spiralling out of control! Add this to an internet website, designed to completely track Mima’s life from the most important to the most mundane moments, setup by Mima’s stalker ‘Me-Mania’ which causes Mima’s delicate sense of reality to implode.

Me-Mania

The story is not a classic in the sense that the story it works on the basis of is not particularly fantastic. Indeed the concept of the pop idol trying to throw off the shackles of her former life as a pop star is one that feels uncharacteristic of Kon really. However the way in which he uses such a poor foundation to build a great film is fantastic! He takes this overused trope and gives it a great makeover.

Kon uses the idea that the pop idol is one created in an atmosphere of greater communication. This communication is streamed through a variety of ways including TV, radio and, in 1997, more increasingly the internet. ‘Me-Mania’s’ website, Mima’s room, is the natural escape from a life that craves and more communication. Unfortunately for ‘Me-Mania, he has not benefited from this increase in communication. Indeed the depiction of ‘Me-Mania’, who runs this website, as grotesque is therefore the way in which his life is stranded in between this need for others to communicate with others yet this repulsion of the very same others who cannot treat him properly because he is physically different. The juxtaposition is important because ‘Me-Mania’ believes that Mima is what epitomises a good life. She is someone who, for him in his warped reality, has beauty and therefore has a great degree of ability to exercise communication with others, when really this is just not the case. As much as the film deals with fictitious concepts, this is part of the subtle social commentary underlying meaning residing in Kon’s many films. This is present in any good director of Japanese Animation.

Mima

The film therefore raises issues of one’s personal psychology and how it is developed in a society with predefined concepts of what it is to be right and wrong. Mima is depicted unflatteringly, especially in the English Dub, where she is seen to be delicate and in a constant transition from being a young teenager to being a young adult. Her aspirations are clear but her maturity is not in place yet. However it is this description of ‘Idol’ that fixates many people and disguises someone who is essentially fragile, yet in the media is made out to be a woman who has a greater amount of inner-strength.

‘Perfect Blue’ is a great example of what exactly anime actually is. It is a synthesis of great animation which is bolstered by a striking story and involves tropes which are communicated, occasionally, with glaring depiction yet some are communicated subtly. It manages to incorporate a very Japanese trope of communication and, perhaps, the lack of it in Japanese society but also talks about the individual personality and whether that personality can be created and maintained in reality or whether one creates a personality that is fictitious and requires fictitious things to operate it.

Millennium Actress

‘Millennium Actress’ is a continuation of the kind of weird psychological mind games spawned by Kon in his previous film ‘Perfect Blue’. A gap of four years had passed since ‘Perfect Blue’ and ‘Millennium Actress’ was to follow in 2001. It alludes any true critique because Kon’s mind games make the film especially convoluted and complex! Indeed from one moment to the next one cannot tell whether they are seeing Chiyoko Fujiwara’s, the protagonist who has acted since The Mukden Incident (1931) and during the course of the film has retired becoming a recluse, actual flashbacks or part of a film she starred in or a mixture of the two. The concept of a play within a play imbues the film with an ability to create a complexly perplexing plot because reality is interacting with fiction to make a story where reality and fiction are undefinable in the sense that they cannot be told apart for much of the film.

The focus of the film is the relationship between Chiyoko and, her interviewer for the film, Genya Tachibana. The two are both coming to deal with their unrequited love for partners of whom will never be able to reciprocate love back to them. Chiyoko is following a man who cannot be found while Genya loves Chiyoko; a woman who cannot love him. The complexity of the story lays in the format of the flashbacks which inform Genya as to Chiyoko’s inner most thoughts and feelings as she guides him through her life until she dies at the end of the film.

The plot is simple, much like ‘Perfect Blue’, which allows for Kon to diffuse a degree of the reality warped mind games into the mix. Indeed the film’s two main protagonists’ imaginations link together throughout the film to explore their thoughts and feelings. Genya, who has always loved Chiyoko, therefore during the flashbacks acts Chiyoko’s protector and helper. This could never have had happened because he crops up later on as a member of the production staff for Chiyoko’s films. Also the idea that her flashbacks occur within her films could also be down to his influence because he has the hallmarks of being a fanatical fan of Chiyoko’s films and therefore can act as her protector.

Kyoji, the camera man, and Genya, the interviewer.

Chiyoko, alternatively, is telling her story about something she can never have and therefore is living in her world of make belief. Both of these protagonists are blurring the lines between reality and fantasy mainly because the two cannot get what they really want. Essentially Kon is evoking a theme that sometimes humans live in their imaginary worlds far too much leading them to miss out of the things that matter in reality. Therefore the film acts as a great medium for telling this play in a play because we are witnessing fantasy. Perhaps Kon is offering us a little bit more social commentary?

The film, like ‘Perfect Blue, is not a classic as such. It is not a bad film in anyway but certainly shifts down from fifth gear into third. A slower, much more powerful gear is required for us to traverse the meandering manner in which the film is told. We are observing a whole life after all rather than watching just a snippet of one life and the impacts of the blurring reality and imagination together throughout a life. The film is certainly brilliant and again transcends the usual fare.

Conclusion

Satoshi Kon will certainly go down as one of Japanese Anime’s greatest directors of recent years. Rather than spawning more of the ‘boring fare’ he provides a delectable mixture of reality and fantasy imbuing this trope with both panache and flair making this trope his very own. Well, at least in Japan. Japanese Anime has certainly more series and films in this kind vein of greatness; perhaps some are greater than the works mentioned here. For the seasoned veteran this may all be apparent but for those of you less acquainted with this great genre then Satoshi Kon is a great place to start. He synthesises the uniqueness of Japanese Animation into stories that are truly universal. Also the eccentric fashion that they are crafted also makes anime a truly special genre and very different from anything else despite the universal themes some anime deal with.

‘Perfect Blue’ and ‘Millennium Actress’ are two of Kon’s four films. The other two are the conventional ‘Tokyo Godfathers’ and, a return to form with, ‘Paprika’ and Kon’s TV series ‘Paranoia Agent’. If you wish to really experience something a little different that I urge you to explore these films. They offer entertainment for those viewers who do not wish to be overly challenged yet for those who do Kon is the perfect remedy for films that seem to lack any underlying themes and attitudes that make the audience think. Satoshi Kon is also directing a film in development as we speak, ‘The Dream Machine’, which has yet to be confirmed when it is due out. I hope you can turn the kaldiscope of anime with me to and discover just what else you can make of the weird and wonderful paterns of anime.

Nakama Britannia has been dormant for quite some time and I thought it was time to revive it from its slump into hibernation. What an interesting way to revitalise the blog than by awakening it from its electronic sleep than actually talking about electronic sheep. The inspiration behind this article is precisely to look at the recent American film ‘Surrogates’ and compare it to the anime which so obviously inspired it. Yet the films I reference all have their roots in the book ‘Do androids dream of electronic sheep?’ or its film adaptation ‘Blade Runner’.

‘Surrogates’ is a fascinating film concerning the proliferation of technology that enables humans to be exceptionally safe and free from harm’s way by way of providing, for its host, a shell they can go and roam around in. Essentially they are shells without ghosts actually inhabiting a brain case actually in the suit. Bruce Willis stars as an FBI agent who uses a surrogate to navigate his way through life, his decision hinged on the guilt of not being able to save his child from a terrible car crash. His child would have survived if it had used a surrogate.

The interesting thing about the film, and perhaps the whole genre, is the idea of exploring what exactly humanity is and what is the point. The idea of the surrogates is like a desperate mother trying to protect her child from anything that may harm it. This is the idea that surrogacy is stifling humanity from actually seeing the problem they are creating for themselves. There is, perhaps, too much cotton wool.

In ‘Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex’ (GS:SAC) it is interesting to see how the world is changing but not in the sense that surrogacy has made the world. One ‘commentator’ from the introduction of ‘Surrogates’ believes that surrogacy is the next step in our evolution. ‘GS: SAC’, and the film versions particularly, make reference to the idea that technology is not the catalyst for evolution rather it makes it clear that it is not.

In SAC episode 8, ‘Missing hearts’, Motoko Kusanagi, the series’ protagonist, attempts to recover a set of organs meant for transplant patients. On her way she encounters the Jameson robot who is in fact the leader of a big Transnational Company involved in the growth of organs. Insinuating that the world’s population still believes that ‘upgrading’ themselves is not the way forward. In fact would that company not be making spare parts if it was chasing real profit? We could perhaps say that ‘Ghost in the Shell’ is the Tachibana labs to the Knights of Surrogacy.

This has only really touched upon the physical part of being human however. It has not touched upon the emotional and mental part of humanity. The surrogates also represent something else. Not just a liberal dose of cotton wool but also allow their masters to be who they want to be. The film has a lot of middle aged characters, who’s puppets look very beautiful and youthful yet are in real life, who are not youthful and look wizened. Greer’s, the film’s protagonist, wife believes that her surrogate gives her the life she really wants to live. This film is more than meets the eye. Just like when we see the film we should not judge it on face value and look to the heart of it. The film is also talking about out inbuilt stereotypes and judgements that we label each other with and how that is wrong.

Greer's wife's surrogate

The film insinuates the concept of subtle subversion manifesting itself from a system built on our collective, at least in the west, stereotypes that fuels capitalist growth. The more negativity against a certain stereotype is rewarded by a way to escape that particular stumbling block. In ‘Surrogates’ the stereotype of being an old person is greeted not by a traditional eastern respect for the aged but rather by a need to escape: a way to be younger. Greer’s wife therefore detests her own body and the surrogacy offers a release from something she ultimately hates because that would encourage an outsider’s psychology to blossom in her because of the system of negativity built around that stereotype.

In contrast Kusanagi is the antithesis of this psychological system. The viewer does not know her age but what we do know is that she is very old and may not actually be a woman. This suggests that there is a difference in terms of attitudes prevalent in the making of the two stories. Kusanagi is gifted respect because of her great experience which could have only been yielded via years and years of work. Therefore this idea of a ‘job for life’ in Japanese culture polarises the two visions of the future.

Kusanagi is trapped as a member of section 9, bound because of the use of technology she needs to live.

In essence we could draw the fact that both stories explore a different view of human evolution but ultimately only one story has the real path to that conclusion. The climax of ‘Surrogates’ demonstrates a need for technology to remain in the background if humans are to dream of real sheep and not electronic ones.

In conclusion, and using another famous book, if we use ‘Nineteen Eighty Four’ by George Orwell to assess both stories, which is the barometer of what happens when technology is used to create a human that is not quite a human because of the impact of technology within the science fiction genre. Orwell’s tale is perhaps more on a par with ‘Surrogates’ because of the fact that humans wish to grow a culture that suffocates humanity rather than ‘Ghost in the Shell’ which is dealing with humanity as it exists now but in the future e.g. the 2^nd Gig’s refugee storyline and resolve what is wrong with this culture. ‘Surrogates’ is in a way a warning, like ‘Nineteen Eighty Four’, about the future impact of technology upon humans. ‘Ghost in the Shell’ merely uses technology, like ‘Star Trek’ to prove a point.

This is a real sheep!

As to whether ghosts dream about electronic sheep…always. They will always want to return to their orginal shell because flesh and blood is part of what makes a human a human.

When people think of Japanese stereotypes, samurais and ninjas must be the most disseminated ones in pop culture. Ninjas were spies and assassins, warriors said to possess the powers of ninjutsu, the ninja techniques, and the image of the ninja dressed all in black is a powerful one.

Samurais in their full armour are also a very powerful image. But for aesthetic reasons, they usually appear in their kimonos in anime and manga.

There are no famous ninjas worth talking about, after all a known ninja is a ninja who blew his cover. But the same can’t be said for samurais. Many of them survived in history and legend and I dare say it’s impossible to like anime without meeting a character inspired by a samurai or even a romanticized version of one. Keep reading →

Sometimes you can just watch too much anime even if you don’t watch that much. The amount of new series being released can be overwhelming to the point where you just have to step back for a while because you can’t tell if a series is good or if a series is bad anymore, it just exists. Time for a holiday away from anime for a while.

Keep reading →

First off, apologies for the delay (and for the crooked images, wordpress is weird). I have exams this week and I was through in Glasgow watching The Kings of Leon rock the house at the S.E.C.C.

Anyway, earlier on during the week I had to endure one of the worst films I’ve seen in the last year or so. Speed Racer. I haven’t felt that my time has been wasted this bad since I reviewed Divergence Eve last year. (And no, I will never, ever get around to reviewing the third volume)

This two hour piece of crap prompted me to think about Hollywood and our favourite import from the east. Will they ever do a decent adaptation of anything to do with Anime or Manga?

The biggest problem that I have with this whole scenario is that we, as the regular punters, know that Tinsel Town can chuck out a decent adaptation of something. Insert Spiderman and Batman here. But when it comes to using source material from Asia, everything turns out to be like Daredevil, and the first Hulk, and the Fantastic Four. These three films on their own almost put the last nail in the coffin for comic related films until X-Men and Spiderman came along to save the day.

Keep reading →

[This article is my reply to Alex's excellent 'For the anime fan in 2008, is it essential to watch online anime?']

I came across this recent news article at ANN, ‘Dennou Coil Wins Award from Japanese Sci-Fi Writers‘ and more than anything else, it annoyed me. Here’s why.

‘Dennou Coil‘ was amongst the most acclaimed anime TV series of 2007, a beautifully animated, whimsical science fiction story with broad appeal and notable production values, often likened to the adventurous mainstream story-telling of ‘Studio Ghibli’. Naturally, it wasn’t a particularly big hit with the hardcore anime fans, or at least, not on the same level as something like ‘Haruhi’, but it is capable of capturing of the imagination of someone (or some kid) not usually swept away by the conventional tropes of Japanese animation.

Keep reading →