Forum - View topic

Interview: Seiji Kishi

I think the fact that they minimized her disability was a wasted opportunity, precisely because it is such a unique thing and was really uncharted waters.

Jajanken wrote:

"other notable works like Danganronpa and Persona 4" NOTABLE AHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA what a joke

At least they didn't mention the disaster that was Devil Survivor 2 the Animation. I love the game, but the anime was just bad
What kind of anime adapring a videogame skips the final boss fight?

Hyperdrve wrote:

The way I see it, conflicted (and angsty) characters such as Shinji are just instruments that writers use as a cop out to writing a good plot or that animators use when they don't feel like animating and instead push for a "deep" conflicted monologue. Also like with real people, you can disagree with a fictional character's perception of things and that might reduce the likability of the character.

That does happen, often for the sake of imitating Eva, but anything can be done badly. The thing about Shinji is that he's literally, clinically depressed, and pretty much the whole show revolves around that condition. And, well, most people who haven't had that sort of experience are profoundly incapable of understanding what it's really like--they usually confuse it with temporary sadness about something tangible--and think Shinji is just "whiny" or lazy and has only himself to blame (not coincidentally, people say exactly the same things about real people with depression). If someone's in a wheelchair, it's obvious why they might struggle with some things; but if someone has mental issues, you can't immediately see what's wrong with them, so the natural assumption is that nothing is wrong with them and they're just making it up for attention or whatever.

Society has never been very accepting of mental problems, but it seems like it's gotten worse recently; as stated in the interview, people have kinda soured on internal conflict entirely, to say nothing of mental illnesses. It's great that Yuki Yuna has some representation for the physically disabled... but mental ones seem nonexistent, the characters are as ridiculously self-assured as in the majority of other superhero stories these days, breaking down rarely and very briefly before one of their friends picks them up again. spoiler[Despite having damn good reasons to lose composure. Togo gets suicidal, but for pretty rational reasons, and she's cured with a punch and a quick pep talk.]

Maybe it's a reduced attention span thing, or a desire for characters to look up to rather than to relate to. It kinda bothers me, though, because people don't seem to want to confront their own problems very much these days, only other people's problems, which is kind of narcissistic...

That comment about heroes these days being "flat" and not dealing with conflict is just outright bull. I can understand if he's referring to harem leads but the majority of MCs these days are likely to be more complex.
Someone used Levi earlier as an example of heroes these days, while its easy to just pick on specific examples, you can just as easily point out Erens/Historias growth inmore recent chapters to prove the contrary.
I think the director is probably harking back to old times where shonen heroes would overcome simple weaknesses to beat the villain. Characters these days have more diverse backgrounds and maybe he just can't relate.
Think Yuuki from Gakkou Gurashi (school live) and tell me theres no conflict there.

ChibiKangaroo wrote:

I think the fact that they minimized her disability was a wasted opportunity, precisely because it is such a unique thing and was really uncharted waters.

Why? They showed that a physically disabled person, with a few accommodations, could function just like any other person, and they did a beautiful job of it, too. I applaud how well they detailed the accommodations without overemphasizing that they existed - in other words, without making it the point of the scenes. That is absolutely uncharted waters for anime, too, and they didn't waste a shred of that opportunity.

As for the interview, I, too, found the comments about how Kishi sees the nature of the hero as having both changed and not changed to be particularly interesting.

The problem is this: even Kishi acknowledged that disabled people live like the rest of us. They go out and do stuff. They go to school. They eat at restaurants. They have fun. They do all the things that the rest of us do. Some people might ignorantly not understand that, but I think most people do realize that to be true. So, in other words, he was using Mimori to reinforce something that all of us already know (or should know).

You could look at it from another angle - when it comes to people with disabilities, or other issues that cause them to have some kind of unique or minority condition, there is an external view and an internal view. Some might also refer to it as an external struggle and an internal struggle. What he showed us was the external, and in the case of Mimori, he showed us a mostly happy and well-adjusted external face of a disabled person. She is a disabled person who has pretty much fully adjusted to living a perfectly normal life with her disability and is more or less happy-go-lucky and all smiles. Perhaps this is a somewhat idealistic and hopeful view of someone living with a disability, and I have no doubt that there are many such people going about their daily existence. Personally, I'm fine with him showing us that external view because a "wallowing" external view would have probably been a major drag on the show.

However, I think he more or less glossed over the internal view. There are all kinds of things that I would have loved to see as far as the psychology of a disabled girl coping not only with her disability but also transitioning to being a magical girl despite her disability. That is the uncharted waters I am talking about.

Let's be honest, this isn't the first time we have ever seen disabled people in anime. There is a whole class of "Moe" dedicated to insanely cute girls who are disabled or otherwise vulnerable. That combination tends to drastically amp up their appeal to the target audience, protective male viewers who want to help them or keep them safe.

In that sense, presenting a well-adjusted, cutesy and mostly happy-go-lucky disabled girl is not new. What would have been new in my mind is if we actually got to the internal perspective. They should have made Mimori a focal character in that way, not in the way they ultimately did spoiler[(having her go crazy because of how the Taisha treats them and the perceived futility of their efforts)].

Seeing her internal struggle with the disability would have made her a great and memorable character. Instead, she was more of a symbol that disabled people are just like the rest of us.

Again, I understand why they did it. It carries a different message. Maybe Kishi and the others thought that was important to help people see that, but I don't think it was necessary and I do think that was the safe thing to do. The risky and much more memorable thing to do would have been to explore her unique perspective and the struggles associated with that, particularly with the added fantastical nature of the magical girl context.

That comment about heroes these days being "flat" and not dealing with conflict is just outright bull. I can understand if he's referring to harem leads but the majority of MCs these days are likely to be more complex.
Someone used Levi earlier as an example of heroes these days, while its easy to just pick on specific examples, you can just as easily point out Erens/Historias growth inmore recent chapters to prove the contrary.
I think the director is probably harking back to old times where shonen heroes would overcome simple weaknesses to beat the villain. Characters these days have more diverse backgrounds and maybe he just can't relate.
Think Yuuki from Gakkou Gurashi (school live) and tell me theres no conflict there.

spoiler[I think they didn't focus on it because the disabilities weren't permanent, it would be kind of pointless to have an internal conflict about disabilities if they wouldn't actually last, also, Tougou did tell Yuuna that she had negative thoughts when she's alone, she never specified what type of negative thoughts, you can assume what you want, though I think they're mostly related to the Vertex issue than anything else.]. At the end it makes sense her conflict was with the magical girl system since spoiler[at the end the world is still fire.]

The problem is this: even Kishi acknowledged that disabled people live like the rest of us. They go out and do stuff. They go to school. They eat at restaurants. They have fun. They do all the things that the rest of us do. Some people might ignorantly not understand that, but I think most people do realize that to be true. So, in other words, he was using Mimori to reinforce something that all of us already know (or should know).

However, I think he more or less glossed over the internal view. There are all kinds of things that I would have loved to see as far as the psychology of a disabled girl coping not only with her disability but also transitioning to being a magical girl despite her disability. That is the uncharted waters I am talking about.

...Kishi himself didn't use the word "complex" in this response (at least as translated). What he talked about specifically are the angsty, low self-esteem character types who are trapped in their own heads, constantly second-guessing themselves and doubting their own abilities or value to the cause...I don't see that as frequently in MCs anymore (it's not entirely gone, just less common). In part, you can probably thank the rise in popularity of characters like Haruhi and the K-On girls who just keep either recklessly or naively plowing ahead towards their goals in defiance of any and all obstacles, either supreme in their self-confidence or just convinced that everything will work out somehow as long as they don't give up....

Think about the debilitated girls anime has shown in the past, the ones that don't have cyborg components or some other persistent means to get around their illness/disabilities. Almost without exception (and maybe without exception?), they're shown as terribly limited. Even if they're happy, they're tragic characters and specifically portrayed as such. Mimori is an archetype-buster.