Forum - View topicAkane Analyzes (Spoilerific).
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nobahn
 Subscriber Posts: 5120 |
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Akane--
Seen any anime with Strong Female Leads/co-leads recently? |
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Akane the Catgirl
Posts: 1091 Location: LA, Baby! |
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@nobahn
Well, there's two ways we can interpret that question. A) Have I seen any anime with interesting and likable heroines? B) Have I seen any anime whose leads are lifted out of a Kate Beatonian comic?* In regards to A, I'm watching Spice and Wolf II right now, and Holo is still an amazing female lead. I love her so much that it's actually kind of ridiculous. She's one of my favorite heroines in all of anime, nay, perhaps in all of media. Motoko Kusanagi and Nina Fortner and pretty fun to watch too. If you want B, nothing right now. However, the show I'm watching after Spice and Wolf II is kind of infamous for having a Strong Independent Woman who's treated like garbage by the narrative towards the end. (No, I will not tell anyone what it is until I'm done with the former show. You guys are going to love it.) 
* For those of you who don't know, Kate Beaton wrote a series of comics on Hark a Vagrant titled "Straw Feminists", which parodied the average straight white heterosexual man's idea of what feminism should be. It's also where we got the "SEXISM IS OVER" meme. |
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Night fox
 Posts: 561 Location: Sweden |
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Q - If you had the opportunity to develop one supporting character into a lead - from any anime you've seen - which one would you choose and why?
(Feel free to make suggestions on how to actually centre the story around him/her as well) |
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Akane the Catgirl
Posts: 1091 Location: LA, Baby! |
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@ Night fox
Hmm...interesting question. I'm going to have to default and say Sucy from Little Witch Academia. In the very unlikely case that LWA gets a third film or TV series, I'd like to have an episode focused on Sucy's background or what a day in her life is like. While we're at it, I'll throw in the three delinquent witches introduced in Enchanted Parade, too. All of them have a lot of potential for some very funny episodes. |
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Redbeard 101
Oscar the Grouch
Forums Superstar  Posts: 16935 |
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Favorite specific character from an anime? Least favorite?
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Akane the Catgirl
Posts: 1091 Location: LA, Baby! |
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@Psycho 101
Let's see...that's a complicated question. I have a lot of favorite characters, but if I had to pick just one, I'd go with Ken Kaneki from Tokyo Ghoul, since I felt I had the strongest personal connection to him. As soon as I watch Root A this October (by the way, new Halloween tradition), I think I'll write an analysis post on him. Other characters I have a strong love for include Holo the Wise Wolf from Spice and Wolf (witty, intelligent, yet recognizably human), Tamaki Suoh from Ouran Host Club (he's just so NICE!), Rider from Fate zero (brave and philosophical, a perfect match for Waver Velvet), and Duck from Princess Tutu (ain't she adorable?). There's two least favorite characters off the top of my head. The first is Lilie from Princess Tutu, who is cruel and mean-spirited and just plain unfunny. She isn't so bad in the first half of the show, but the second half? Lilie is just intolerable there. The other...well, is it possible to hate a character from a show you've never even seen? I haven't watched Black Butler II so far (and hopefully will not), but I've seen a few clips featuring Alois Trancy, and already I hate this kid and want him to die a horrible bloody death. Alois Trancy is a horrible little brat and I do not wish to watch the show partially because of said horrible little brat. I find it weird because normally, I don't really hate a lot of characters. I don't even hate Yukiteru Amano from Future Diary (I'm more "he could'a been a contender" on him than anything). To get me to intensely dislike a character, they have to have done something specific, and bad writing usually gets involved there somehow. Now, Love to Hate is an entirely different thing altogether. My two primary examples for that are Zoisite from Sailor Moon and Nora from Noragami. They are two awful excuses for (non-)human beings, but there's just something fun about their awfulness. They're just entertaining! (For those of you wondering, my "Shinji Ikari VS America post will hopefully be up in the next twenty-four hours.) |
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Akane the Catgirl
Posts: 1091 Location: LA, Baby! |
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Hello and welcome to Akane Analyzes! First off all, I'd like to thank nobahn, Night fox, and Psycho 101 for their thoughts and comments! You guys are awesome. And now, for today's post, we'll be introducing a special guest! He came all the way from Tokyo-3 just to make an appearance for all of you!
A boy in a summer school uniform appears. He initially shys away from the camera before taking his seat at the Analysis Table. He then hesitantly waves hello to the audience. Akane smiles. A: So, how are you doing today, Shinji? S: Um...fine, I guess. May I have some cookies? A: Sure, go ahead. Anyway, today, we're going to discuss why so many fans of your show hate you so much. Any thoughts on the matter, kid? S: Well, I can imagine a few reasons why. I mean, not a lot of people like me to begin with. Not even my own father...say, this isn't going to be controversial right? A: Whaaaat? Of course not! Just enjoy your cookies. (Twenty-year-old) SPOILERS! Today's post will be spoiling a good amount of the Neon Genesis Evangelion TV series, as well as the first two Rebuild films. (I haven't seen the third yet.) Y'all have been warned. Cultural Boundaries 
[Pictured: Western EVA fandom's reaction to Shinji.] A: You know, it's funny comparing Japan's and America's reaction towards you, Shinji. Japan seems sort of cool with you. In fact, I found a few character polls from Japan's Newtype magazine where you ranked third most popular in both the best EVA character AND best male hero. How does that make you feel? S: Weird. A: What I know from my research is that Eastern and Western cultures have very different views of how children should behave towards their parents. In Japan, which emphasizes respect towards authority figures, the viewer would sympathize with you, since your dad doesn't seem to give a damn about you except as a means to an end. And after all, don't you just want approval for the man who was never there in your life? S: Um...yeah? A: Now an American would behave differently. Yes, respect towards your parents is important, but if they treat you badly, then why give them the time of day? An American would look at your scenario and wonder why you're trying to please someone who doesn't really care at all about your well-being. Here's another reason why Americans in particular seem to hate you, kid. Plain Old Sexism A: Here's a funny story I heard. Weren't you supposed to be a girl in some of the first few drafts, Shinji? S: Wait, WHAT!? A: Yep. Buuuuuut since Gunbuster and Nadia: Secret of Blue Water already had female protagonists, it was decided to have a boy be the main protagonist for a change. I believe that if you had been a girl all along, there would be far less kvetching from the Western side of the fence. S: But why? All I'd be is a different gender, right? A: Yes, but one difference is all it takes to change someone's mind. After all, girls are shy and insecure and are allowed to show their feminine feelings. Men are emotionless and take initiative and don't complain even when they have perfectly legitimate reasons to! And you're a terrible character because you're flawed and that's bad. For those of you who know me well enough, I absolutely HATE the "wimpy, whiny, unmanly man" complaint from disgruntled fans. This is mostly because I find it to be both incredibly sexist and a double standard that harms boys. I already have a mentally-unstable little brother, and I don't want him to grow up in a world where he's constantly told to "man up" and "don't be a sissy". That's not to say these fans are wrong all of the time. 
[You coulda' been a contendah', Yuki.] Personally, I want my protagonists- both male and female- to be flawed. That doesn't make them annoying most of the time. If anything, flaws are what make them more human, and therefore, more relatable. But if there's anything I learned in all my years of anime-viewing, it's that some people just don't like that. And that's okay, I guess. A Legitimate Issue? 
S: What do you mean by that? A: Well, I have another fun fact about the show. While there was no official head writer for EVA, creator Hideaki Anno wrote or co-wrote almost every episode himself. (The exception being Number Four). After all, this was his baby, and dammit, he was going to put his all. A more well-known fact about the show is that Anno had severe depression while working on it. During production for the second half, he started seeing a therapist, and... S: ...and? A: Aaaaaand I really think he should have handed the reins over to someone else. The first half of EVA suggested that you were going to eventually gain confidence in yourself. You would have learned that your new friends- Rei, Asuka, Touji, Kensuke- truly loved you, and in turn, you'd learn to love yourself. And if Rebuild's first two movies are any indication, that was indeed the original plan. The second half went a bit differently. The descent into darkness really reared its head, and so did quite a few problems. All of a sudden, the show would take a few breaks too many to navel-gaze in a way that didn't flow with the script. The show started to treat our friend here as a chew toy, and as a result, his character arc ended up going off the rails. And let's not even discuss the ending of the TV series. Believe me, we covered THAT pretty well. S: What about the movie ending? A: Um...I don't even. Conclusion? S: So, um, why do people hate me? You know...even I don't like me. A: Many Americans hate you because you're atypical from other heroes, even at the time. You're not manly or determined like other protagonists were. You're not the ideal or a paragon like Superman. You're not badass or cool like Batman. Heck, even I have issues with how the narrative handled you in the second half. S: I see. I guess that means I can- A: But that doesn't mean we all dislike you, Shinji. S: ...Wait. What? A: Actually, lots of people in recent years have been warming up to you. I know a lot of them can relate to your struggles for acceptance. I know that there are others who really liked how you saved Rei at the end of the second Rebuild film. Besides, your name's pretty much cemented in anime history. Love you or hate you, you are important to a lot of people. S: Do you...um, do you like me? A: You're okay with me, kid. You know, I've been thinking of introducing you to a good friend of mine. He's kind of like you. Same struggles with making friends, being accepted, all that. I think you two would be good pals. S: Really? Some time later... S: So, what did you say your name was again? ???: Ken Kaneki. And you? S: Ikari. I mean, uh, Shinji Ikari! K:Um...nice to meet you. Do you...like books? S: Sure. Not particularly, but I've read a few. K: This is a copy of Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis. I think it relates a lot to my life. Would you like to borrow my copy? S: Yeah! T-Thanks... THE END NEXT TIME: 
Haruhi Suzumiya and how NOT to adapt a light novel. Thank you all for reading! Do you have anything insightful about today's topic? Tell us what you have to say! See you later! *** Today's Pimp of the Week is Bojack Horseman! If you haven't seen this Netflix-original series, than check it out! It has interesting characters, great humor and drama, and of course, Mr. Peanutbutter himself! Everyone loves Mr. Peanutbutter, right? Oh, and there's this guy named Bojack who's trying to win his career back but WHO CARES!? Watch it for Mr. Peanutbutter! You'll laugh! You'll cry! You'll cringe uncomfortably! There's twenty-four episodes available (plus a Christmas Special), so why not drop everything you're doing? |
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12skippy21
 Posts: 785 Location: York, England |
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The issue I took with Shinji, and I do probably fit into the male stereotype role as that was how I was raised, is that he never tries to overcome his flaws, at least in the original series.
You are correct that flaws are what make us human but it should also be to tackle and improve ourselves, not to simply devolve into depression over it. Shinji tackles his cowardice in the second Rebuild movie only to recede in the third (I think he might pull himself out of it in the fourth). It is also something you learn as you age which it why I also liked the timeskip in the third movie (as he got left behind). Still, I never understood the argument towards hating the guy as there is part of him in all of us and such thoughts come to us all at some point in ours lives, I just do not think it excuses him of his behaviourin the TV series. |
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Zin5ki
 Posts: 6680 Location: London, UK |
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I am loath to blame him, so too do I believe we should all be. His depression, one can only imagine, is not the sort of affliction from which one can heal oneself within what the show’s running time permits, especially given the duress Shinji regularly endures. Of course, this will frustrate us and appear somewhat obdurate within the setting of a mecha anime; heroes are supposed to defeat their foes, aren’t they? Yet I think Evangelion would have been less enduring a work if Shinji uncontrovertibly “got better” for the sake of a wider narrative. The fact our protagonist retains his infamous troubles is perhaps the most humanising tragedy in this story of widespread death. (This is, I admit, disputable. I have seen it written that Shinji’s encounter with his mother has a notable healing effect, or that the final two episodes provide some degree of interpersonal closeness that he had hitherto been denied. In both cases, however, he still suffers his old ways later. Indeed, the only emphatic bookend to his mentality is his act of violently throttling Asuka, hardly a sign of stable contentment.) |
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Akane the Catgirl
Posts: 1091 Location: LA, Baby! |
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Important Update
So, you might be wondering exactly what's been up with my schedule and why my Haruhi post isn't up. The answer is...complicated. As in, if I tell you everything, things will get awkward very quickly. Let's just say my family is having a bit of crisis right now- one that will not resolve itself anytime soon. Yes, it's that bad. What does this mean? Well, Akane Analyzes is going to be on a temporary hiatus. Right now, my mind just isn't in the mood for doing this sort of thing. Real life is complicated, and right now, I need to focus on just getting through this until the situation gets somewhat better. That means my priorities will not be on this thread for a while. I know all of you who regularly read my thread have been very patient with me. So I ask of you to please bare with me. I have no idea when things are going to improve at this point, and I could use a bit of support. Feel free to discuss any past topics amongst yourselves. Thank you all for your continuous support, and hopefully, I will see you all again before the end of May. Take care. |
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Jose Cruz
 Posts: 1773 Location: South America |
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While Japanese culture is also masculine in it's mainstream incarnations it has a strong feminine side in it's subcultures: That adult males can like stuff like K-On! is completely beyond the understanding of western culture as well. Like Shinji, males who like K-On! are essentially in dialogue with their "sissy" side. While it has pride on it's openness and "liberal" values modern western culture can be extremely repressive in some ways as well. |
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FenixFiesta
Posts: 2581 |
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Shinji as a character was never meant to be a "hero", that is to say a character that through his own force of will would overcome his trials.
He is in fact a loser and the world around him is effectively demanding him to be at the most a tool. This is the reason why western audiences could find disdain in particular for original series Shinji, it isn't about being "unmasculine" it is that he has no real personal drive and simply plays his role as "the pilot" just to minimize conflict. If Shinji "had the balls" he might actually tell off his dad and walk away from "saving the world" just to spite him AND the cruel world that he believes he lives in, instead Shinji defaults to piloting Eva in the first episode because he feels sorry for a wounded girl, his Father regardless if intentional or not ends up using Shinji's empathy as a tool to get him to pilot. The contrast to Shinji of course comes in the form of Asuka, while her reasoning for wanting to pilot Eva is flawed, her character for wanting to pilot is more of the traditional "hero" in regards to being arrogant and wanting to do so as a proof of existence, that is part of the reason why Asuka is loved in the west. Shinji is the definition of an anti-hero, no not the "im dark and brooding but beat up thugs to a pulp" kind, but a character that the narrative revolves around but whose action are not truly driving the situation sprinkled in with over lamenting on things that are literally out of his control. Shinji Rebuild is a much more carefully constructed character, his is a much more proper tragic character and when he finally moves to act in the second movie spoiler[it turns out pushing Eva into shining god mode pushed the earth into another semi-apocalypse] That said, for some of the audience Shinji's self deprecation might strike too close to home or simply alienate himself from people that simply haven't been THAT deep in self made hole. |
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Akane the Catgirl
Posts: 1091 Location: LA, Baby! |
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That's right, ladies, gents, and others! Akane is back in town and bringing you content more often from now on! I'd like to thank 12skippy21, Zin5ki, Jose Cruz, and FenixFiesta for their thoughts and comments. I'd also like to thank everyone who's come here to read my posts for their patience. Thank you all. You know, adaptative writing must be the most thankless job in all of the entertainment industry. On the first hand, you have the meticulous task of preserving the original spirit so fans of the source material won't go ape-sh*t. On the other hand, you also need to make the work accessible enough so the adaptation can rake in money from people other than the fans. Suffice to say, adaptation is a tricky art. This is especially true in regards to anime. As the years go by and the domestic population shrinks, the studios must resort to anything to keep the money flowing. One of the quickest ways to appease fans is to adapt the source material without any changes. This is not necessarily a good thing, as today's subject proves. Today, we see what went wrong with the adaptation of Haruhi Suzumiya. Spoiler time! This post will be containing minor spoilers for Haruhi. You've been warned. Accessibility VS. Faithfulness There's a certain phrase you see whenever there's a discussion regarding adaptations, particular those from text to film. This is "the book is always better". There’s lots of logical fallacies in order to justify it, but here's the two that stand out to me: A) Adaptation is an inherently bad thing. B) The original source material is incapable of having any flaws whatsoever. Here's my counter argument. 
I know this is going to get me torn to shreds in any literary circle from now on, but I have to say it; The Adventures of Pinocchio is a really, really, REALLY awful book. The plot is nonexistent, most of the characters are either idiots, jerks, or both, and that's not even getting into how cruel and misanthropic the story can be at times. There's a sequence where a starving Pinocchio tries to get back inside the Blue Fairy's house, and since it's late at night, he has to wait for a snail to let him in. It takes all night for the snail to get down there, and the breakfast she has for him is made of fake food. This entire scene is played for laughs. You are meant to find this funny. Yeah, let's just say that Disney had a looooooot of clean-up to do in order to make the film palatable. I love the movie, but the book is just vile and mean-spirited, determined to make you hate humanity just as much as it does. If it weren't for Disney, The Adventures of Pinocchio would have fallen into the Pit of Obscurity a long time ago. And... Oh, I was supposed to be talking about Haruhi, wasn't I? My point is, sometimes, a faithful adaptation is not the best way to go. Books aren't flawless, and some are downright terrible. To me, an adaptation is a perfect opportunity to fix any problems that fans complained about in the original source material. Sometimes, an adaptation can prove to be more popular than the original source ever was. (Hello again, Disney!) An Exercise in Adaptation Congratulations, you've been chosen to do a faithful adaptation of The Giver! (WHAT MOVIE?) Let's make it an animated mini-series, give it about thirteen-ish episodes. Now it's time to write the first episode. How do you begin? Well, here's how the first chapter starts:
In text format, you're allowed to get away with blocks of description such as the above paragraph. In visuals, however, you can't do this. The entire first part of the first chapter is like this. So how would I adapt this? I'd begin this hypothetical mini-series with a scene that is only shown in flashback in the novel, and that's the scene where Jonas starts to see red. We open with Jonas and his friend Asher just goofing around at the recreation center. Asher brings up the memory of the plane, they joke about that, and they throw around an apple. The scene plays like it did in the book, and ends with Jonas sneaking the apple with him, closing with a voice on the intercom indirectly calling him out. How Haruhi Failed at Adaptation 
It's strange how, when watching the Melancholy arc and reading the original novel back to back, you start noticing a few strange patterns. Noticeably, everything that was in the first novel was retained for the anime adaptation. Absolutely nothing was cut. Sure, some dialogue wasn't retained, but apart from a few minor edits, the Melancholy arc is lifted word for word from the book. And that's the problem. As detailed in the section above, things that would work in a text medium don't always work in a visual medium. In books and novels, you can get away with constant narration and heaps upon heaps of description. In a movie, a single shot is worth about three paragraphs. The same goes from theater to film- acting methods that work on stage would be incredibly awkward to watch on screen. The point is, changes are going to happen, and often for the sake of whichever medium the story is. (For further reading, I recommend watching Lindsay Ellis' Lorax review and Glass Reflection's "Is the Manga Always Better? AKA The Brotherhood Problem" video). For Haruhi specifically, it feels like the people who were in charge of making the script flow cinematically weren't putting effort into it. Visually, the transitions are smooth and fluid. A few scenes are switched around (e.g. the meeting at Yuki’s apartment takes place before Itsuki's introduction in the original), and I do like that. However, there are moments when the characters talk and TALK AND TALK, and you want something interesting to happen. But no, you're just watching these people constantly exposit things one big info dump at a time. These scenes just don't work in this medium, and Episode Five is easily the worst offender in this regard. This is not to say that Haruhi is a bad anime, far from it. In fact, I admire how much effort was put into making the show enjoyable as it was. However, there’s a reason very little fans seem to care about the series anymore and why the franchise is pretty much dead. The writers just weren’t putting much hard work into making Haruhi accessible towards new fans who might want to read the books themselves. Final Thoughts At the end of the day, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is just another trend that came and went. There haven’t been any novels published since 2011, the Yuki Nagato-chan spinoff adaptation was a big flop, and don’t get me started on the disaster that was Endless Eight. And that’s a darn shame, because I liked the first book. I liked these ideas and I liked this premise. So who’s to blame? Why, Kyoto Animation, of course! I did some research, and it turns out there was no head writer for the adaptation. Seven people (including the director and the original creator) were assigned to write scripts for the first season, adding an eighth writer for the second. And since it was their idea to air Endless Eight the way they did, I think it’s safe to say that KyoAni killed the franchise. There was a way to fix this. There really was. They could have even kept the first person POV (like with the awesome film adaptation of Coraline). Maybe one day, they’ll reboot the franchise and adapt it properly. For now, I’ll go read a book. NEXT WEEK: It’s Akane’s birthday! A special post will be coming your way~! Thank you all for reading! What are your thoughts on today’s topic? Please share! See you soon! *** Today’s Pimp of the Week is for minus. This webcomic is about a little girl named minus (lower case intentional), who has the power to warp reality to her whims. Surprisingly, it’s not a horror story. Quite the opposite in fact. If you liked Yotsuba&!, you’ll enjoy this charming and creative story. |
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nobahn
Subscriber Posts: 5120 |
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OK, I'll bite: How could it have been fixed? |
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Akane the Catgirl
Posts: 1091 Location: LA, Baby! |
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@nobahn
Cut down on the constant narration (seriously, I love Crispin Freeman, but it's so obvious this was adapted from a first-person light novel), make the exposition scenes less info-dumpy, (e.g. have Kyon comment and ask questions a bit more), aaaaand that's about it. Like I stated, I actually liked the few deviations from the novel. There's nothing too specific about the adaptation problems, to be honest. There's just not enough to make it work as a stand-alone, in my opinion. |
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