The Fate universe has different timelines and stories arcs, because of that it is a little difficult to know where you have to start. So in this post I’m going to show you a way to watch this interesting franchise :D
First of all, the first appearance of fate was as a erogame, then the company Type-moon have used different ideas to expand the universe of that game and creating other games (with and without the original idea of erogame) and animes.
The rules in common are: (sometime they are broken)
The Holy Grail War (an epic battle of 7 mages, who invocated different Heroic Spirits of history or mythology), the one who win will have a wish.
The classes of the Heroic Spirits (there are 7, saber, lancer, archer, assassin, caster, rider and berserker) each one has a class as weakness and as strength. But in the majority of the animes this rule don’t have too much impact, in game is very present.
The Heroic Spirits never reveals his/her real identity (except to her/his master), for protection.
A lot of characters are death or will be killed.
There’s always a couple.
So, with that in main, let’s start to explain the different fates
1st Fate Stay Night: It’s the name of the first game and anime, in this arc (yes, I explain this later) the protagonists are Shiro Emiya (a high school student, with a little knowledge of magic) and his servant Saber (If you know something about European mythology maybe you will know who she is hehe). The anime was released on 2004 and has 24 episodes.
2nd Fate Stay Night Unlimited Blade Works: It’s the second anime (with a movie) and it’s the second arc of the game. The protagonists are Rin Tosaka (a high school student, and a member of a mage family) and her classmate Shiro Emiya (with a little more of developed as a character, I think). The movie was released first in 2010 and the anime was in 2014 with 26 episodes (I think the final episode has two version).
3rd Fate Stay Night Heaven’s Feel: It’s the third arc of the game, but it haven’t an anime, the story has been divided in 3 movies (presage flower, lost butterfly, spring song); the first was released in 2017 and the second in this year; the third part will be release next year. The protagonists are Sakura Matou (a high school student, a member of a mage family) and her senpai Shiro Emiya. This arc is the most dark and polemic.
This three stories has some similitudes and some BIG differences, there are a lots of secrets, murderers, suffer and regret.
4th Fate/Realta Nua: Remake of the first game. Released in 2007
5th Fate/Hollow Ataraxia: It’s a parallel story of the original. The protagonists are a new servant called Avenger (his real identity is Angra Mainyu), his master Bazett (she was present in the original story, but not all of her…), a girl called Caren (her presence is a spoiler) and again Shiro Emiya. This story takes in no time, you can think it’s after the events of the first game or is during it. It’s more like a fanservice. It was released in 2005 for PC and in 2014 for PS Vita.
Fate/Zero: It’s the prequel of all Fate Stay Night, has an anime (2011), a light novel (2005) and a manga (2010). It takes 10 years before Stay Night; here we get some knowledge about the families involved in the future events. The protagonists are Kiritsugu Emiya and Irisviel von Einzbern. It has a bad end.
7th Fate Extra: Videogame for PSP released in 2011. The protagonist Hakuno Kishinami has no memory, and is forced to participate in a fight for survival, a Holy Grail War. In this game, the player can choose her/his servant.
8th Fate Extra/CCC: Videogame which take place in the middle of Extra, but takes another route, to a crazy story. Same as the others, the protagonist is Hakuno Kishinami. The game has multiple ends. It was released in 2010.
9th Fate Extra/Last Encore: Anime which it seems like Extra, but with BIG difference. It was released in 2018 and has 13 episodes. The protagonists are Hakuno Kishinami (again without memory) and his servant Red Saber (she has the same face as the saber of Stay Night, if you know about Rome’s history you will know who she is).
10th Fate Extella The Umbral Star: Videogame which take from the end of Extra. Hakuno Kishinami has to defeat a Caster servant, but to do it he (I don’t know if you have the option of change gender) has to get allies. This game has multiple finals, but each one has an influence to get the real end. Released in 2016.
11th Fate Apocrypha: Light novel (2012), manga (2016) and anime (2017). Another Holy Grail War, but with some irregularities, because of that the Holy Grail invoke a servant without a master, servant class Ruler. She can’t interfere in the war; only maintain the order of it. The protagonists are Ruler, a homunculus (spoiler) and the survivors of the war… I think.
12th Fate/Kaleid liner Prisma Illya: Manga (2007) and anime (2013). This story takes place in a parallel world with some of the characters of Stay Night, in the beginning is like a Maho Shojo, but with the pass of the episodes, appears characteristics of the original story. The protagonists are Illyasviel von Einzbern and Miyu Edelfelt, (spoiler alert, if you know something about them only by the name, you know that this will have some bad things).
13th Fate Grand Order: Cellphone game released in 2015 in Japanese server and in 2017 in USA server. The protagonist is you (the girl named Gudako and the boy named Gudao, by the fans). Here are 3 arcs (in actuality), Grand Order, Epic of Remnant and Lostbelt. There are two animations based on the game (the protagonist is the boy called Ritsuka Fujimaru), the first one introduces you in the first level of the game (It’s called Fate Grand Order: First Order, released in 2016), the second takes place after the first arc (It’s called Fate Grand Order: Moonlight/Lostroom). And this year there will be another anime based on the last level of the game (Babylon) and a movie about the penultimate level (Camelot). One thing about this game… is a waifus and husbandos fabric.
AHHHH, I think I finish with all the summary of Fate universe. So how do you start? Basically, there’s no big deal if you start with any of them. But I think you could start with Unlimited Blade Works (series and then movie), later with Stay Night, then Zero, and after that watch anyone. Or you could start watching Apocrypha, and then watch the other ones. The only thing that I really recommend is not watch Stay Night in the beginning is too slow in the start of the story.
It is truly known that anime is a well made medium for entertainment and for storytelling. It is very striking to see and it´s a very good form to make scenes that in the real life are impossible to do without destroying and creating gigantic structures in the real life.
The anime is more than a simple drawing or an art style, but a very good tool to help someone to write well done (or at least try) stories. This is not only for movies and series, but also for videogames.
In this essay, it is showed 3 classifications about how the anime is used in the world of videogames and their developing: Alternate medium, parallel medium, and integrated medium.
Alternate medium.
This first medium its related for those anime series that are based on preexisting videogames. We can call “alternate” because it isn’t inside of the videogames, but it is another form to tell the story of the videogame.
It can be used to reach those fans of anime that aren´t necessarily fans of the videogames. It can be about the same history as the related in the videogames (Examples: Danganronpa: the animation, Castlevania, etc) and it can be about a different story (Example: All the seasons of the anime about Pokémon and all their spin-offs)
This also can apply to Manga, Pokémon and Splatoon have also their own Mangas that create another story with the same or with different characters inside the world of the videogame.
This can help to expand the world of the videogame, attract more public or even making a new story, trying to approach to a new type of public.
Although, this can be a difficult task if isn’t well done, because it can even harm the public image of the videogame and their story.
Parallel medium.
This category applies to those videogames that has Cinematics, parts or even a level that has anime or a related anime aesthetic. It isn´t all about an anime style, but it can be used to make a reference or a shortcut to a better storytelling.
Two videogames that can be used to do an example of this category are Kingdom Hearts and Professor Layton’s games. The first saga of videogames mixes cartoon style and anime style thanks to the 2 worlds that collide inside that game: Disney and Final Fantasy (this second one having a lot of references to the anime and their aesthetic).
In the case of the professor Layton´s games, the videogame has a puzzle part and a storytelling about a mystery. That second part is used with a anime aesthetic and even with animated cutscenes in some games.
This category is apart of the other ones because it isn’t a fully anime videogame, but it is inside the videogame.
Integrated medium
This category is for those videogames that have a fully inspired anime style in all the game. The inspiration from the anime is very clear and it may look like a tv/movie anime. Even if it´s with 3D models, someone can tell that is fully made with an intention to look like an anime.
Examples of this category include videogames like Fire emblem´s and Persona´s Videogames and the various adaptations that had been made, like Jump Force, the games of dragon ball, etc.
The inspiration is very evident and, like the first category, help the developers to approach another kind of public that maybe doesn´t like the anime tv shows, but that enjoy playing videogames.
These categories aren’t exclusive of one franchise. The videogame´s developers and creators can change of category if the circumstances or the creativity of who is making the videogame allows it.
Of course, these categories aren’t a guide about how the anime needs to be used in videogames but a way to see how the anime aesthetic can be observed in the world f videogames. Also, these categories can be changed or modified if someone sees this phenomenon it in other way.
I know everybody is going through a hard time during quarantine, some are sad or angry to be shut in on their houses unable to see their friends and families, and others are just distressed by the situation and incapable of doing anything. So an option to avoid just laying down on bed an do nothing could be watching something motivational, and what could be better than to get motivated by sports anime?
First of all, to answer that question we need to know how we can define sports anime. Of course there’s the obvious answer, anime about sports. But it’s not only about that; other subgenres could modify how the story is portrayed. If the subgenre is drama you can expect the anime to be more centered on the characters’ feelings, fears, problems and their relationship with each other. Another subgenre could be comedy; it’s more likely for us to see a lot of fun/dumb situations involving the characters, and with that the interaction between characters and some traits of their personalities. And finally romance; a subgenre that shows us the thoughts and the feelings of the characters, and how their relationships deepen as time goes by. All of those probably share another subgenre in common, present in the majority of the sports anime; the school subgenre where we can see our beloved characters living the normal school life, having to take tests, going to school trips and having matches against other schools.
So now that we know about the definition, let’s get back to our main topic. Why should you watch sports anime in quarantine? Many of us are currently spending our time doing nothing or only attending to their online classes, but I can say that most of us are discouraged by this virus, by not having contact with our friends or just because we are feeling locked up in our houses. So I believe that watching something encouraging and enjoyable it’s ideal, where its characters overcome the hardships of being an athlete and are constantly improving not only their own abilities as a competitor but also their relationship with their teammates in order to become a better team and with this they also evolve as a person. We can feel inspired and connected with those animes by how the characters conquer whatever situation they are dealing with, no matter how difficult it is and they also learn an important lesson at the end of the day. This of course is connected to our situation, if we can maintain our positivity and high spirits through this awful situation, it will be more bearable.
Some recommendations of sports anime that can encourage you during this quarantine could be: first of all my personal favorite; Hajime no Ippo, it’s an anime about a boy called Ippo that suffered from bullying until he met a professional boxer named Takamura, the boxer saved him and by doing this he motivated Ippo to get into boxing. This anime shows us the hardships that Ippo overcomes by being the only son of a widow that has to work on store by herself, and of course the obstacles presented on his road to become a great boxer. What I like about this anime besides the amazing spirit that Ippo has, is the comedy present in it; we can see the fun personalities of the other boxers and a lot of hilarious situations involving the main characters.
Other great anime I just watched last year is Hoshiai no Sora. It’s an anime about soft tennis, but there’s also a lot of drama involving the characters. There are a lot of hard topics like domestic violence (physical and psychological), over protective parents (excessively) and some other topics that are still considered as “taboo”, like gender identity and preference. I thought that this hidden gem shows us how these incredibly difficult situations can be faced, even though the characters suffered a lot they gave everything to be better players and better people as well, and all of that thanks to their own effort and their mutual support.
An popular option that everybody should watch is Haikyuu!!. An anime about volleyball, it shows us how the main character Shōyō Hinata gets inspired by the player “little giant” of the Karasuno team. Then after that Hinata trained hard for two years with his “volleyball team”, they lost at their first match but that didn’t discourage him. Finally he joined Karasuno his dream team, and evolved as a player and as a teammate as well, the team members got closer as time passed by and as they faced strong different opponents. What I like about this anime is that I love almost all characters, all of them have different and unique personalities, you cannot even hate the opponents, the majority of them are really entertaining and want to have a good time.
Another option would be Chihayafuru, presenting us a not very common sport; Karuta. Chihaya, after meeting Arata a talented player of this sport during their childhood, she gets inspired by him and dreams about becoming the best karuta player. As Chihaya grows up, she got separated of their two best friends (Arata and Taichi), but determined as she is, she continues with her training to become a better player. Then after some time they reunite again through karuta, Taichi being his teammate and Arata as her opponent and love interest. What I love about Chihaya is that she never gives up, she is a hardworking player, passionate and very dedicated not only to karuta but to her friends as well, and also she could be seen as a little weird but she doesn’t care about it. Her determination and passion to play Karuta is impressive, she does not get down even after a defeat, she just wants to improve herself and follow her dreams with a great positivity.
And finally my last recommendation is Ookiku Furikabutte, an anime about baseball. I haven’t seen a lot of people talking about this one so I needed to include it. It tells us the story of Mihashi, he was the ace pitcher in his previous school, but his teammates hated him because they thought that Mihashi only got that position because of his grandfather’s influences, and for that reason they didn’t want to play with him and always lost their games. After this bad experience Mihashi felt guilty and believed that their losses were his fault, because of that his self-confidence became really low. But after joining a new team, he made a lot of new friends that made him feel confident again about his skills. I really enjoy how Mihashi starts to open up little by little to his new friends, and even though he lacks self-confidence and is extremely nervous he loves baseball a lot and is a really hard-working boy.
A couple of lessons ago, while revisiting the different anime genres and how they have developed, there was a topic mentioned that caught my attention. As I knew pretty much nothing about it until we were introduced to the topic during lessons, I did a little bit of research on it, including watching some new animes realted to it. However, I am most definitely not an expert on it, so I ought to apologise in advance in case the information I provide is mistaken.
According to what we saw in lessons, there are some animation studios, such as Ashi Production (now called Production Reed Co.), that work on animes where the main character is usually a little girl, who finds herself thrown into a new world where, seeing how “kids are never taken serious”, she has to use her magic to transform herself into a young adult. This way she is now able to help others and continue the story. This is what we see in the first episode of Ashi Production’s most popular animated series Magical Princess Minky Momo. However, it is important to keep in mind that on the inside she is still a little girl, and, in my opinion, this is one of the main issued with this series and this type of series in general. As it was mentioned during the lesson, as the story progresses, we get to see how in this types of anime, the girl that transform herself into a woman has to deal with older men falling for her, and even, being a bit clingy about it. And I must say that, personally I don’t feel particularly comfortable with this, rather I feel a bit disgusted.
Similarly, there’s the story told in Mahou no Stage Fancy Lala, where the main character, who is a little girl also finds herself in a situation where she ends up transforming her body into the one of a young woman and becomes a model. Again, on the inside she still a child and yet, we see her faced against uncomfortable situations with older guys.
On the other hand, even though I was extremely shocked when finding out about this genre, it made me realise that this “characteristic” can also be found in some of the animes I watch, and it made me question why is there always the figure of the “pervert” within animated series? And why did I never feel bothered by it?
On one side, apparently, there is (or there was?) a whole genre on little girls transforming their bodies into an adult’s one, where dealing with these “uncomfortable” situations are just part of the “details”, which main audience are (were?) girls aged between 10 and 13; whereas on the other side, we find this always present figure of the “pervert”. For instance, in shonen manga/animes, such as Naruto, the main character (Naruto) becomes an expert of the technique “Kage Bunshi no jutsu” (Shadow Clone technique), from where he develops another technique that he calls “Sexy Technique”. When using this technique Naruto transforms into a naked girl. This jutsu is usually used against his teacher Iruka, and later on against Jiraya (Ero-seninn). We must keep in mind that it’s just Naruto’s body that changes, while on the inside Naruto is still a 13-year-old boy and his senseis know it. However, despite this all, the technique is effective, and we can see it when both Iruka and Jiraya end up with nosebleeds and flustered cheeks, bringin their flirtatious and “cheeky” side to light.
In both cases the main audience is usually supposed to be children aged from 10 to 15, and if anything, what we can observe here are some very disturbing and, even creepy, situations that we have allowed to become normalised. I know this is all supposed to be fictional, but is it right, though?
Music is an important part of every anime, often becoming more memorable than the anime itself, it is as varied as the anime itself, ranging from classical music, such as the music of ghibli studios, jazz like cowboy bebop, and plenty of rock and pop. It creates realities, in the scene of Tanjiro fighting with Rui, the song Kamado Tanjirou no Uta (TERIMA KASIH SUDAH BERJUANG, TANJIRO | Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba | Clip) gives it a thousand times more emotion, to the point that you get to shed a tear. Many times you don’t even know what the lyrics say, but I have cried of pure emotion listening to the music.
It is no secret that without music there is no anime, while I love the manga, it is impossible to deny that scenes that I did not give the weight while reading, since the fight scenes you don’t take the time to observe them and really understand them, when watching the anime I found them impressive and gave a totally different perspective.
But what makes music in anime so special?
Music makes us feel emotions, and by accompanying it with the scene, in the moment, the weight given to those emotions is much greater.
I find it impressive how the effect of music is such that many times people watch an anime just for the music, as it is the case of Domestic na Kanojo that although it is not an anime with a striking premise, many people are interested in watching it because of its opening, which I leave the link below (Domestic Girlfriend - Opening | Kawaki wo Ameku), among others.
Music is a fundamental part of the anime, it evolves with these, it is varied and is often fundamental in the life of anime fans, it is a memory of our childhood, as in my case were the openings of naruto, and the music of ghibli. That’s why, and more that music is intrinsic to anime, there is no anime without music.
If you like anime and consume any kind of media related to it outside of the series themselves, you have probably seen an AMV in your life, maybe without even knowing it while scrolling through social media, but what does AMV means?
The acronym stands for Anime Music Video, and it really is as simple as it sounds. It only consists of putting together a bunch of anime clips and syncing it with the beat of certain song. Under this definition, almost every anime meme and edit that you can find on Instagram or TikTok would fit the term, however, I do think the AMV phenomenon is way more important than that, it is a perfect proof of fanaticism and, at it’s best, an impeccable demonstration of editing mastery, enhancing the original flow of animation, becoming a vital piece of publicity, and growing into a new way of discovering new works in the medium.
My first contact with one of these videos was sometime around 2008 or 2009, when one of my school classmates showed me a video on one of those old 2-inch screen cell phones. An insanely well-crafted edit mixing clips from Neon Genesis Evangelion while blasting Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody was presented to me, and while my jaw was on the floor, I could only think about how I had just seen the most epic video ever.
Thankfully, the original video titled “Evangelion Opus” is still available online, it even got remastered with today’s standard picture and sound quality, and you can watch it right here (Yes, it includes a lot of spoilers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdUPwR6mzXo&ab_channel=AnimesonProductions). Perhaps, by today’s conventional style of editing, this is nothing impressive, but at the time the original creator even won some editing awards at some anime conventions.
Crafting a well edited video that uses an entire anime like this requires a huge amount of knowledge and understanding of the original series, as well as a huge amount of time to invest. I always appreciated how much passion for the original work could be felt through the edit, and that made me spent countless hours watching other AMVs on YouTube about other anime that I liked.
During this period of time (2000s and early 2010s) most montages involved anime fights with edgy music from music bands like Linkin Park, My Chemical Romance and 30 Seconds to Mars, hence the genre becoming an online meme and being categorized as cringe (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqTocV2qhWI&ab_channel=leonelguzmanful).
You can also find some AMVs that are not about one show in particular but a showcase of different series and movies involving a defined topic, or the work made by certain author or animation studio (Hobbes Sakuga channel on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/HobbesSakuga).
A recent trend that emerged on TikTok, and also another form of AMV, is mixing really short anime clips with catchy music and making them loop in a satisfying way to catch the attention of the viewers. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHPymClHa4Y&ab_channel=WolvFire)
Lastly, perhaps the one type of AMV that is the most overlooked, and one that became insanely popular with the massification of anime consumption in recent years, is the one hidden inside memes, one of the most important ones being from Naruto Shippuden, where one of the most iconic scenes in the show is mixed with the Daddy Yankee song “Perros Salvajes” (Again, spoiler alert https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9JN31ovtBs&ab_channel=SarmientoZamoraIv%C3%A1n). The repercussions of the video were so big that it gathered hundreds of thousands of views across different social media platforms, it made a lot of people interested in anime and was the final incentive to make others finally watch Naruto (myself included).
Like them or not, I think AMVs are a huge part of the formation of anime culture. For me and many others, it was a huge help in finding new shows and discovering new music, as much as it was back in my first days of internet as it is now.
It would no overstatement to call Mamoru Hosoda a household name in the current landscape of anime. The Girl Who Leapt Through Time(2006), Summer Wars(2009), Wolf Children(2012); The Boy and The Beast(2015); his film catalogue should say enough. The first two films in that list helped consolidate Madhouse as a safe-haven for creative anime projects & creators.
However, with all the attention and acclaim rightfully surrounding those works, its easy to overlook how this all got started. What was he up to before his big break-out hits? And most importantly, what other gems can we find there?
Hosoda started working in Toei Animation, where for a solid decade, he cut his teeth as key animator for various shows, starting with Crying Freeman(1988), and working on series like Slam DunkSailor Moon, Slam Dunk, Yu Yu Hakusho, and Dragon Ball Z, where he worked on the massively succesful Broly OVA. Somehow, in-between all of that, he found time to do storyboarding for seven episodes for J.C. Staff’s Revolutionary Girl Utena.
By the second-half of the 90s, he even nabbed a few directing credits for episodes of shows like GeGeGe no Kitarou(1996) and Himitsu no Akko-chan(1998), a mahou shoujo show. Even back then, it seemed like Toei knew the kind of talent they had on their hands, as little over a year after his work on Akko-chan, the studio put him in charge of his first major motion picture.
It was the centerpiece of an ambitious media-mixing initiative, with videogame tie-ins, an ongoing TV show, CD-Dramas. Toei was pulling out all the stops, and they had to, because they were about to step into the ring with a cultural phenomenon. A show that had exploded in popularity in the 90s and was on its way to become the highest-grossing media franchise of all time. They wanted to compete with Pokemon.
THAT’S RIGHT, THIS POST IS ABOUT DIGIMON
You read that right, Mamoru Hosoda’s first major motion picture was the Digimon OVA. In fact, the man is a hugely important part of the series’ history, being in charge of directing its two most iconic films, and what is considered by many as the best episode in the entire franchise. And now that I’ve succesfully conned you into reading this far, its high time we dive into these three landmark productions in the filmmaker’s career and see what parts of his style we can identify from them.
Despite being only 20 minutes long, Digimon Adventure Movie(not to be confused with Digimon: The Movie) is probably the most important piece of media in the franchise. Despite having only directed less than ten full episodes of television at the time, Hosoda was asked to create a blueprint for the anime to follow, while also connecting the already existing videogame franchise to it.
However, the biggest hurdle it had to overcome was its timing. It had been three years since Pokemon Red had hit store shelves, and less than two since its own anime had started airing. The similarities of the names alone would draw comparisons. If Toei and Hosoda wanted to get in on the monster-collecting craze, they’d have to set themselves apart from the biggest game in town. So how did they achieve this? Easy, they made a Kaiju film.
Taichi and Hikari are two toddlers being raised by their single mom, when one night, an egg suddenly burst out from their parent’s computer screen. Out of it bursts a small, adorable little creature. A digital monster. While they quickly begin to bond and play together, this being begins to transform, both inwards and outwards. With each change, its personality changes, first to the friendly and talkative Koromon, and then into the silent and more animalistic Agumon.
Rather than a story about building up a group of friendly monsters with fairly static traits, Digimon opted for the polar opposite approach as a starting point. .
For most of the film, we follow one of the titular Digital Monsters, Agumon, and unlike a Pikachu or a Butterfree, he is not subservient, or even entirely friendly to our human protagonists, Taichi and Hikari.
As Hosoda himself puts it:
“I didn’t want to take the easy shortcut where the Digimon = kids’ friends. At this stage, I wanted to keep some tension about whether the Digimon is a friend or an enemy. After all the film takes place before the protagonist becomes friends with Digimon, with all that implies in both good and bad ways. If he just looks up at it, it would just seem like they’re friends. I’d rather frame it more objectively, in order to question what that Kaiju is for them.”
(Translated by NohAcro of WaveMotionCannon.com)
In a way, the story applies a bit of an urban fantasy twist to both the monster catcher and the kaiju genres. One could even call it an early example of the “Sekai-kei” genre. It takes place in this apartment complex, adding a backdrop of mundanity and “realism” to this otherwise fantastical story of a critter emerging out of your parents’ old computer. This proves to be a staple in Hosoda’s works, because, as he puts it in that same interview: (His) goal is to depict unrealistic things in a realistic way.“
The choice of only using children also proves to be an astute one. It adds this air of whimsy at the start, with how adorable Kairi and Taichi are when meeting Koromon and reacting to the start. On the flipside, when the movie begins to shift into its second half and the newly-evolved Agumon begins raising hell across town, it ratchets up the tension to have these kids caught up in between giants. Hosoda, for his part, also adds that:
"I also wanted to only have children characters, to have that secretive sense of waking up at night, peeking outside, being the only one to see a monster walking, and feeling special about it.”
It really feels like the movie captures both the hopes and the fears for the then nascent internet. A place that could bring about a never-before-seen avenue for creativity and unlimited creativity and wonder, but one that could also be destructive, unpredictable, everchanging, and even dangerous.
If nothing else, at 20 minutes, the film is an breeze and a treat to the senses. It has a certain vibe that is, for the most part, lacking in the rest of the franchise and even the genre. A feast for the eyes, everything from Botamon’s blur-like movements to the sheer weight and scale behind Greymon’s fight scene. Also, as a sweet bonus, there’s a scene where they animate Toei’s offices getting destroyed(sadly, I couldn’t find footage of this, but the director talks about it in the aforementioned interview).
Since the movie was made in parallel with the anime, Hosoda and crew’s film proved foundational to the franchise. Most of the things that set it apart from Pokemon were first showcased here. The more involved nature of humans in fights, the monsters’ everchanging personality, and most importantly, the fact these could talk. All of that and more had its start here.
The short film released in March of 1999, and while I have no data regarding how well it did box-office wise, its said that Toei was pleasantly surprised with Hosoda’s work. So much so, that they put him to work on a second one right away, but that story would have to wait, because in less than 24 hours, the Digimon Adventure anime would premiere.
Home Away from Home
I would love to sit here and tell you that Digimon Adventure was this ground-breaking avant-garde piece of television. That it was everything Pokemon should’ve been and the much more mature show some fans paint it out to be. The reality is that for most of its runtime, Digimon Adventure is… alright.
Despite the novelty of it being one of an isekai anime decades before SAO’s release, Adventure is a standard fare monster catcher series. A bunch of kids get transported to a new world, they meet their new monster friends, now completely divorced from Hosoda’s ambiguity, and they travel, discovering new evolutions as their bonds grow deeper. Fairly standard stuff.
In the way of visuals, its main selling point was, of course, the design of their brand of collectable gremlins. Since Pokemon had a chokehold on certain demographics, Digimon opted to aim for an older audience, but not that much older. From looking at the monsters alone, one can feel Toei trying to attract a shonen audience, whether it be through skimpier girls or extremely edgy designs which may or may not border on parody.
Save for the banging opening and evolution themes, there wasn’t much to write home about, or at least, that was until episode 21, known in English as “Home Away from Home.” And guess who directed it? Yup, its your boy, Hosoda.
To call this episode a change of pace is nothing short of an understatement. After defeating the previous arc’s villain, Etemon(who in the English dub is changed to an Elvis impersonator), Tai and Agumon are sucked into a black hole. Instead of dying, the pair somehow find themselves in the real world. However, something is wrong…
I don’t just mean “there’s some funny business with digital monsters”, either. The entire episode has an unnerving atmosphere to it. The backgrounds are all of these extremely saturated greys and whites and there’s this unique sense of ennui that permeates throughout the runtime. Its as if the whole dream were some sort of dream, when in reality, it is anything but.
That leads me to another point, the quality of the animation is off the charts, at least in comparison to the rest of the show. It looks better than anything the anime had done before or since. Not only is the real world realized in such an eery way, but the fights themselves are a treat, featuring complex choreography and even some traces of sakuga in it.
At the center of this is Hikari, Taichi’s sister, who for some reason, seems to remember Koromon from a previous encounter. Keep in mind that, at the time, there was no word on the OVA’s canonicity, so the episode served to link the series and the short film, while adding a fresh mystery into the mix, “if Hikari can remember Koromon, then why don’t Taichi and the other digidestined remember the Kaiju fight?”
Speaking of Hikari, her introduction to show-only watchers(and people outside of Japan) added an uneasy tension to the episode. This was not only due to her unnerving demeanor as the classic trope of “creepy child who knows more than she lets on”, but also through a sort of competition she has for her brother’s attention.
The central conflict of the episode dealing less with the specific monster fight of the week, and more with both ends of the protagonist’s life tugging at him from opposite sides. On one side, there’s Hikari, who has lost her brother to this unknown world, clinging to him in hopes of making him stay with her; on the other, there’s Agumon, his connection to the digital world and the rest of the cast, who need his help. They both want his attention, competing for it, but with neither being “in the wrong”, as it were.
The episode ends in a shockingly clean fight scene(seriously, the jump in animation quality from this episode is insane) and a heart-wrenching ending where Taichi leaves his sister behind to return to the digital world.
“Home Away from Home” is a turning point, both for the show and the franchise. It serves as a pallette cleanser after the decent but unimpressive couple of arcs that preceedes it, making it perfect as a stand-alone watch; it serves to connect Hosoda’s directorial debut with the series, which becomes hugely important for the plot, and it kicks off the Myotismon arc, which is by far and away, Adventure’s strongest run of episodes.
However, its most important for another trend that it started, one that would define the series to this day. It began to see the show’s focus moving away from the idyllic vistas and fantastical fights of the digital world and into the all-too-relatable real life issues of its cast. More so than the edgy designs or the talking monsters, this is what I would say sets the show apart from its much more succesful competitor. And that all started with Episode 21 of Digimon Adventure.
Summer Wars Zero.
While directing an all-time great episode, Hosoda had something else cooking up in the backburner. I’m of course talking about that second OVA, one that would push the bar for Digimon’s animation, while serve as the blueprint for one of his later works.
Almost a year to the day of the release of that first OVA, Toei would release Digimon: Bokura War Game. “Our War Game”, as its known in the west, is a movie so good they had to make it four times.
It picks up some time after the end of the show, with our characters back in their home world and dealing with the struggles of adolescence. However, during a summer vacation, a new virus-type Digimon emerges, penetrating every computer and eating through data like nobody’s business.
As our heroes contact this new monster, it begins to evolve at an unprecedented rate, as it evades, outsmarts, and eventually beats Agumon and company at their strongest. Not only that, but the gang’s meddling has caused the Virus to target them with a nuclear missile. So, with the clock ticking down to annihilation, Taichi and his co-lead Yamato must chase the now fully-evolved Diaboromon to the ends of the Internet before it ends humanity as a whole.
If that synopsis seemed familiar to you in some way, shape or form, its because its also the plot to Hosoda’s Summer Wars. It’s also the plot to the second episode of the Digimon Adventure remake/reboot, titled “War Game”. Like I said, this stuff is so good that both the studio and the director wanted another crack at it.
The similarities with Summer Wars don’t end with the plot synopsis. The way the virtual world of the internet is animated in one film is analogous to the other. The way the backgrounds are animated, the outlines to the characters, and even some of the themes. In a lot of ways, watching Our War Game is like watching a battle shonen prototype for Hosoda’s later work, both visually and narratively.
And while we’re at it. I want to take a moment to gush about the animation, because it is at an all-time high for the franchise. The hilarious expressions of the digi-destined in the real-world, the tense editing, and the design of Diaboromon, they’re all top-notch stuff. However, the movie’s depiction of the world-wide-web takes the cake. I still remember being blown away by just how cool the internet looked in this movie, and even on rewatch, I still can’t believe something this pretty was ever in Digimon. The best part, of course, being the fights.
Look at the missile rain, the fast-paced dodges, the impact on that punch. It’s all so clean. Or look at this other example from 2/3rds into the film. Its so gorgeous, I don’t even need to go into more detail here.
Some other aspects of Hosoda’s writing begin to peek through as well, with the director’s style and core themes beginning to take form here, before blossoming in his work at Madhouse and Studio Chizu. Trends begin to form, starting with the first OVA in 1999, being fleshed out by his second film and continuing to this day.
One of the running ideas in Hosoda’s version of Digimon is a conscious move away from the classic “Good vs Evil” narrative that everyone knows and loves. Its present in the first OVA, as the “villain” is merely another creature acting on self-preservation after being attacked, which the director described as akin to watching a lion and an antelope fight. In “Home Away from Home”, the main conflict revolves around Hikari and Koromon’s battle for Taichi’s attention, one where no one really is at fault. Hikari is not evil for wanting to stay with her older brother, and neither is Koromon for wanting to get back with the rest of the gang.
However, nowhere is this running theme better embodied than in Diaboromon(or Diablomon in Japanese). As Hosoda puts it:
“Right, since the Net Digimon is more like some kind of bug, it’s closer to a natural catastrophe in that sense. That’s why we cannot consider it as a straight up evil, and Taichi doesn’t have any hatred toward Diablomon. He just wants to avoid a threat. The generation before us have grown only with stories about moral justice, so they cannot help but look for an antagonist, but that’s their problem (laugh). And I think people of the next generation are aware of the fact that they don’t live in that kind of world anymore. It’s not worth holding a grudge against the world, instead it’s more important to think about realistic ways to deal with it.”
The Western Butchering of Hosoda’s Digimon OVAs(or why you shouldn’t watch Digimon: The Movie)
Now, despite this being a academically convenient excuse to gush about some of the best Digimon episodes every produced, I am not entirely being facetious by calling these “hidden gems”. I’m aware that, some of you may have already watched these films in some way, shape, or form before. Probably without even knowing who directed it. It is part of a massive international media franchise, and it was distributed internationally. Hell, it was even shown in Theaters. The problem is… how they were distributed.
Enter Digimon: The Movie.
If you’ve watched either of the OVAs, chances are you watched it as part of the infamous feature-length film. See, by 2000, Pokemon had already turned the box-office into a money printer twice over with their first two films, and FOX, who had the licensing rights for Digimon, wanted to replicate their success.
What was their problem? Well, all they had were a bunch of seasonal OVAs, the ones Hosoda made, and a two-part film based on the second series. “Digimon Hurricane Touchdown!! / Transcendent Evolution! The Golden Digimentals”, which, I must say, are both terrible names.
In contrast to Hosoda’s earlier efforts, these were directed by Shigeyasu Yamauchi(the director for the first Broly OVA), had an entirely different cast of characters, and were god awful. For time reasons, I won’t go into too much detail, but just know that these two movies barely make any sense on their own and would otherwise only be worth mentioning for the decent animation and the on-screen debut of Terriermon.
So there were these three Digimon stories that had nothing to do with each other, with one of them not even using the same characters, so what does FOX do? Well, of course, they go up to the dubs’ writers and ask them to smush all of these into a 97 minute runtime, oh, and also, they added a woefully unfunny Angela Anaconda short to the start for… reasons that I cannot fathom.
The plots of the Digimon Adventure OVA and Our War Game are mangled to fit Hurricane Touchdown’s uninteresting mystery plot. New connections are established straight out of nowhere and given the vastly different animation styles of each part, the visuals clash with each other, especially as parts of one story as chopped up to fit into another. Not only that, but the pacing of the movie is all over the place, climaxing halfway through the runtime with Our War Game’s buzzer-beating final fight, and then it just keeps going for the final third.
Worst of all, in the process of making this Frankenstein’s Monster of a film, over 40 cumulative minutes had to be cut for time.
The resulting film was so catastrophically bad it veers on “so bad its good” territory. The writers try to inject it with the same kind of unhinged energy that lands the English Digimon dub into a lot of funny compilations, and for some parts, like Hosoda’s comedy-filled Our War Game, it works. However, other scenes, well…(that clip was not altered in any way, shape or form).
It is an ideal movie for groupwatches, especially if one’s judgment is impaired by the use of certain substances(not that I’m encouraging such behaviors). However, it also ends up ruining two otherwise excellent pieces of media that are foundational to one of anime’s best and most acclaimed creatives. For many years, western fans only had the FOX cut of Our War Game, and for most people, that may be the only versions of these films that they’ll ever get to watch. And that is a damn shame.
However, I hope that, if you’re still reading, that this post has inspired you into at least giving these three very special works a shot. Even if you’re just a fan of Hosoda’s other works, its still interesting to see some of his later ideas beginning to form with his work on Digimon.
Who has not passed him while watching an anime hears the voice of a character who had already heard before? Or sometimes we can’t recognize him/her, but it was him/her! They are the Seiyuus. Seiyuu is the name given to the voice actor in Japan. They work in radio, television and dubbing of foreign films. They work as voice actors in video games and anime. One of him can give his voice in many animes at the same time, and they earn much money not only in this, also in certain anime events. Most of them become famous with various forms, like a seiyuu academy
When I began to see anime more frequently, I also began to recognize some voices, but I began to focused in this when I had seen several chapters of Gintama, and for example, later I saw Assassination Classroom and I recognized the distinct voice of Gintoki in Kasasuma. Because of this experiences I wanted to doing this post of some of my favorite and featured seiyuus and my favorite role of him/her.
Hiroshi Kamiya (January 29,1975)
He debuted in 1992. He works for Aoni Production, a Japanese talent agency. He won many awards for his job as a seiyuu. He is actually the most popular seiyu in Japan. For me, this seiyuu have a very unique voice, I can recognize in any anime for his voice and liked every role. He also has a flexible voice and any of his roles can transmit very well the sentiments of the scene. He can do serious and funny characters very well. The first character I heard of him was Levi from Shingeki no Kyojin. Some of his characters are: Koyomi Araragi from Monogatari series, Otonashi Yuzuru from Angel Beats, Shinji Matou from Fate/series, Natsume Takashi from Natsume Yuujinchou, Pheles Mephisto from Ao no exorcist, Orihara Izaya from Durarara, Seijuurou Akashi from Kuroko no Basuke, Trafalgar Law from One piece. Was hard to decide but my favorite is Yato from Noragami; is one of my favorites protagonist of the anime, he has an enormous charisma and also a powerful god of war with a sad and tenebrous past. I always enjoy how can be sexy in a one scene and do a hilarious face immediately. He always doesn’t have money and dream to be famous and recognized for the people as a god and have many money, but sadly for now, this dream is far away to be true.
Daisuke Ono (May 4, 1978)
He debuted in 2002. He works for Mausu Promotion. He won some awards for specific roles like in the seiyuu Awards for Sebastian Michelis from Kuroshitsuji. He has a very outstanding voice, is not as flexible as his friend Hiroshi, but is so strong and masculine, and he doings very well his characters. The first character I heard of him was Erwin Smith from Shingeki no Kyojin. Some of his characters are: Shintaro Midorima from Kuroko no Basuke, Joutarou Kuujou from Jojo Bizarre Adventure, Seishuu Handa from Bakaramon, Kyoma Mabuchi from Dimension W, Kokkuri-san from Gugure! Kokkuri-san, Simbad from Magi, Jun Satou from Working!. My absolutely favorite is Shizuo Heiwajima from Durarara, the strongest man of Ikebukuro; he hates violence but he always does violent things because have a mismanaging anger, many times he throws vending machines, fences, cars, light posts, motorcycles, beams, trees with its root, and even persons, the guy who always make anger and his rival to death is Orihara Izaya.
‘I hate violence' (this scene is memorable)
Mamoru Miyano (June 8, 1983)
He debuted in 2002. He also is an actor and singer. He won awards in Tokyo International Anime Fair and for some roles in the Seiyū Awards. He has a very versatile voice and very flexible, and in his characters conveys very well the feelings of the scene. The first character I heard of him was Tsukiyama Shuu from Tokyo Ghoul. Some of his characters are Masaomi Kida from Durarara, Light Yagami from Death Note, Rintarou Okabe from Steins Gate, Death the kid from Soul Eater, Gakushuu Asano from Assassination Classroom, Rin Matsuoka from Free!. My favorite character of him is Ling Yao from Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, he comes to Amestris finding the immortality because he wants to govern Xing, this guy doesn’t look like prince, but it is (is more like a vague who always try to eat for free); in general acts like a fool but is very skilled with the sword, this talent allows him fights powerful villains, and he always care for his subordinates and treats them like his friends because is how should be a king with his people. Later he will share his abilities and his body with the homunculus Greed. Edward call them Greedling.
'A king is no king without his people’
Rie Kugimiya (May 30, 1979)
She debuted in 2000. She is also a singer since 2012. She was nominated many times in the Seiyū Awards. She is known as ‘Queen Tsundere’ because she was doing many of this roles (Tsundere is a time of person with a violent attitude but at bottom they are a very kind). Her voice many times is unrecognizable in some roles, because of this I like this seiyuu. Proof of this are how different are her characters: Alphonse Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, Taiga Aisaka from Toradora, Happy from Fairy Tail, Karin Kurosaki from Bleach, Nora from Noragami, Louise from Zero no Tsukaima. The first character I heard from her and my favorite character of her is Kagura from Gintama, the girl who belongs to the powerful alien Yato race; She has an endless appetite and usually learns and repeats Gintoki’s bad habits, she has a childish attitude but really she is very mature because her family was broken since the dead of her mother, and she was alone for a long time, but in spite of this she is strong and always she tries to unite her family again. I really admire how she carries that weight, but how she is happy with her friends from the Earth.
'you still are a crybaby’
Jun Fukuyama (November 26, 1978)
He debuted in 1996.He is also a singer. He won the first Seiyū Awards, best voice actor for his role in Code Gears, Lelouch Lamperouge. I admire how different sounds many of his characters, he had done various characters different in all, many times I don’t recognize him in other character. As a curiosity, many of his character wears glasses. The first character I heard from him was Kazuma from Noragami. Some of his characters are Shinra Kishitani from Durarara, King from Nanatsu no Taizai, Grell Sutcliff from Kuroshitsuji, Yukio Okumura from Ao no Exorcist, Misaki Yata from K. My favorite character from his is Koro-Sensei from Assassination Classroom, the octopus who is the teacher of the class E. The class E should assassinate him before graduating, because he will destroy the earth as he did with the moon, for whom kill him, will win a reward of 10 billion yens. But is not to be going easy: his speed reaches 20 mach (20 times the speed of sound), and he has amazing reflexes. Despite of this, Koro- sensei is their teacher, a smart and excellent teacher, he protects them for the danger, and helps them in everything their need. With the passing of the school year the ties between teacher and students will be making stronger, because all of the experiences where they enjoyed, learned and shared. For me, one of the best teacher of the anime.
Aya Hirano (October 8, 1987)
She debuted in 2001 as a seiyuu. She is also a singer and actress. She became quickly popular, proof of this is in the first Seiyū Awards she won an award in the category ‘Best Rookie Actress’ and nominated in other versions of the event. Her voice is as flexible and unique as Kugimiya, and like Fukuyama, many times I can’t recognize her voice in her character because she had done kids, girls and aliens. Some of her characters are Misa Amane from Death Note, Lucy Heartfilia from Fairy Tail, Konata Izumi from Lucky Star, Menchi from Hunterxhunter (2011). Is hard for me to choose between this two characters, so I speak of both: The first character I heard from her Migi from Kiseijuu: Sei no Kakuritsu (Parasyte) and Imai Nobume from Gintama. Migi is a parasite, creatures who invade the brain of the people and used them as a guest and to feed eat individuals of the same species, but in the case of Migi, it can’t invade the brain of Shinichi and finished completing its maduraton in the left arm of Migi; For me was very amazing for me how Migi with the coexistence with Shinichi became to win feelings and even gave the life for him. And the other character, Nobume is the vice-chief of the special police, the Mimawarigumi, but usually she doesn’t act like a cop, is a cold-blooded killer and a sadist. I like her because she is a skilled swordsman and is not like any other woman, and the times he has decided to stain her hands with blood have been to protect the important things, and never she had been a bad person.
Miyuki Sawashiro (June 2, 1985)
She debuted in 1999. She works for Aoni Production. She won in the ninth edition of the Seiyū Awards for some roles in Gekkan Shōjo Nozaki-kun as Yusuki Seo and Sword Art Online 2 as Shino Asada. Her voice is very unique and is one of the few seiyuu which I can recognize her voice and doesn’t have the usually ‘squirrel voice’ of some women seiyuus. The first character I heard from her was Kana Kimishima from Parasyte. Some of his characters are Beelzebub from the same name anime, Kurapika from Hunterxhunter (2011), Celty Sturluson from Durarara, Masami Iwasawa from Angel Beats. My favorite character from her is Bishamon from Noragami, a powerful and dreaded goddess of war who lives for revenge until Noragami Aragoto. I began to like more her in this second because I can know more of her and how she uses her force to help the others and repay her debt.
Yuuichi Nakamura (February 20, 1980)
He debuted in 2000. He works for Sigma Seven. His nickname is You-Kyan, given by Suzumura Kenichi. He loves cats but is afraid of having them die before him, he can’t have of his own. I really like his voice since I heard it. Is very singular and he doing the characters who I like it, is a good feeling, and absolutely love his voice. The first character I heard from him was Guren Ichinose from Owari no Seraph (I like this character). Some of his characters are Gray Fullbuster from Fairy Tail, Kiohei Kadota from Durarara, License-Less Rider from One Punch Man, Tomoya Okasaki from Clannad, Tetsurou Kuuro from Haikyuu, Umetarou Nosaki from Gekkan Shōjo Nozaki-kun. I like his characters, but my favorite character from him is Greed from Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, and also my favorite character of the show because his personality an also in the first time I saw him in the series I liked him because he was a different homunculus, he doesn’t work for Father, and I was very sad when he ‘died’, I want to know more about him. And later I was very happy when he back using the body of Ling Yao and later he joins to Edward and the chimeras in his travel. I like his alliance with Ling Yao and the protagonist group (he claimed to be their leader). And how at the final, he represents the purest and basic sin, greed, and probably the only homunculus who reached his true objectives (this break my heart :( ).
Yeah, I don’t need anything else
Ishikawa Kaito (October 13, 1993)
He debuted in 2012 and works for Pro-fit. He is a recent seiyuu but, ultimately he is getting more relevant roles. I like his voice mainly for his role in Haikyuu, and for this I like heard his voice in other animes. He does very good his roles, fits in every character and has a unique and distinct voice. The first character I heard of him was Shihou Kimizuki from Owari no Seraph. Other characters of him are Genos from One Punch Man, Tenya Iida from Boku no Hero Academia, Rinne Kokudou from Kyoukai no Rinne, Harutora Tsuchimikado from Tokyo Ravens, Marcos Garcia from Terra formars. My favorite character of him is Tobio Kageyama from Haikyuu. He is the setter of the Karasuno’s volleyball team and he is from first year. Is very serious and does very well his part in the team, but really he is as fool as his rival and friend Hinata, proving many times in the series. I really like this part of him, in the beginning of Haikyuu I think he will be the serious and the problem for the protagonist Hinata, but with the passing of the chapters I like the rare relationship with Hinata, is hilarious when they act the same way.
And this was a part of my favorite seiyuus, some seiyuus are missing but no forgotten. If I made other post, I will talk about them (like Sugita). Thanks for reading until here :)
I think that most of know this but i want to talk about this, most anime opening and closing songs are originals made by bands for the anime. A lot of fans of anime thinks that the are placed after the release of the song and that the creator fit the anime with it, obviously this can happen but mostly of times the songs are either composed with the anime style in mind or a classic J-rock style; they don’t find it, they ask for it. So, as i said, in most cases, opening/ending themes, insert songs, and background music are created specifically for the series they represent. Though, it can also be picked based on it’s popularity. After all, the main objective is to promote both the series and the theme songs.
Big or small every anime studio have their contacts with music bands, so when they need an opening song they order the band to compose songs, they search for the theme of the song that fits their anime environment and feels. Then they create opening and ending animations that go with that particular song.
Well, as the crazy fan of detective conan in this course, i will talk about my opinion of the first opening of Detective conan. The openings of the series are well knowing in Japan, the studio tend to work with B'z and have a lot of songs that were used in other animes. My favorite opening and ending of the series are the ones that actually have a lyrics that talks about detective conan and that have relation with the arc that will represent. This is mostly the reason why i don’t like the first opening and i will explain it with the lyrics
Japanese Lyrics with translation
百年ぶりの世紀末 It’s the end of a century after a hundred years
泣けといわれて僕は笑った I was told to cry yet I laughed
ひさかたぶりの世紀末 It’s the end of a century after a long time
広い世界へとび出してゆくI’ll dash out to a broad world
子供のころにわかりかけてたことが Things that I was starting to understand when I was a child
大人になってわからないまま I grew up and I still don’t understand them
えらくもないし I’m not remarkable
りっぱでもない I’m not even praiseworthy
わかってるのは胸のドキドキ What I understand is the pounding in my chest
答えでもない本当でもない It’s not even the answer; it’s not even true
信じてるのは胸のドキドキ What I believe in is the pounding in my chest
胸のドキドキだけ Only in the pounding of my chest
As you can see, the lyrics are not related at all with the series, are not even an introduction for the series; even a fan can’t make a relationship between the plot of the series and this lyrics, this is really disappointed because the spanish version of is a legend, i mean really one of the best openings and it is really famous just because of the lyrics (they deserve and award for not just translated literally, they did a job of interpretation). I looked for the english version of the opening but it is a translation, kind a literally, so i will share with you the spanish version and his translation.
Un detective muy capaz A very capable detective
un joven con una misión a young man on a mission
un muchacho muy audaz a very bold boy
de él se trata esta canción. this song is about him
Nadie le podrá engañar No will be able to fool him
su genio no se puede dudar his genius cannot be doubted
este chico comprobará this boy will check
que el crimen nunca pagará. that crime will never pay.
En este mundo de sombra y de luz In this world of shadow and light
la verdad se logra ocultar the truth can be hidden
pero siempre suele llegar but it always comes
alguien que no la deja de buscar. someone who doesn’t stop looking for her.
When you think about the reasons people invest so much time watching foreign animated scenes with varying topics, visuals and goals you may analyze it superficially as a strange taste in content or maybe not think about it at all and attribute everything to a meaningless attempt to belong into the ‘watching Japanese cartoon’ culture. If this definition hurt anybody it might be because it’s true but I have never met one person who joined for these reasons and instead I’ve actually come across a lot of other people who started watching because it’s a good coping method. A coping strategy, as also called, is basically, for the sake of this explanation, a way of avoiding direct conflict and addressing it in an indirect way by building means of stress tolerance and generally, emotional pain diminishing. I might have gone overboard with the definition but all of my anime watching friends seemed to agree with this as we had this conversation. I want to open discussion about this topic as it’s been a huge part of my whole adolescence and most importantly, made me aware in short time of a whole new world perspective. First of all anime is indeed inspired in it’s beginning on western cartoons, but we can agree that this stylistic choice faded slower than the cultural traits in it. I remember questioning character’s choices in many anime series and many others taught me the value of things I never saw addressed in my daily life. Ghibli character’s sense of responsibility really hit me when I was fed up with school and Trigger protagonist’s really represented every motivated and restless heroine I aimed to become one day. I really didn’t want to start a “cliché things I learnt from anime” post, but actually I can relate with many of them now. The only thing that I’d like to add to them is the fact that you can both run away from reality a second, and still be inspired by that breakaway the next time. I think it’s something in Japanese culture that remains in my head with the beautiful story telling and topic addressing that most of good animes tells. I admit I’m keen on more adult directed content speaking in problems and I enjoy when animes get existentialist or deconstructive but let’s be honest. What’s not to enjoy about high school girls comedy and unlimited superpower in Mechas and never ending will in sports anime!! I love the fact that there wasn’t one anime that I finished that didn’t left something in me, even when I was watching to escape myself most of the times. I agree with some people who say “ah just watch western series in Netflix!” about the fact that they may feel similar about them but there’s a trait in anime, even when it’s set in the most western or the most normal and present environment it’s still very detached, at least superficially, from the boring color-less judgmental and biased real life that stresses me out daily. Fantasy, colorful, metaphorical aesthetically pleasing productions is far a better coping method for me, for most of my friends, for all of us who watch anime for this reason.
Anime is well known across the occidental world. Most of us, at least the youngest generations, have at least heard about the most popular Animes that were released during the first decade of this century, most of us have even watched them. Animes like Saint Seiya, Dragon Ball Z, Pokemon, Slam Dunk, Detective Conan have at least to ring a bell on you.
But Anime is much more than that, Anime is not only about silly cartoons for kids, anime is a Japanese cultural expression that permeates not only television, but many other aspects of the Japanese daily life. Anime can be found everywhere in Japan, from the tv commercial of different products to the painting on the Japanese airline’s aircrafts.
And because is a transversal cultural expression, anime can be about any topic, from the most silly and childish cartoon for kids, to really obscure and depraved animes that not even an adult person should be watching, because it somehow crosses the thin line between what is morally accepted and what should be condemned, like child pornography.
I believe Anime is a kind of art; it has its own history, its own genders and a lot of fans from the entire world. For some people, Anime is a kind of life.
Bárbara Del Carpio - Facultad de Ciencias Químicas y Farmacéuticas.
