AceLe's Blog

Anime Relations: Hajimete no Gal

Perhaps there’s no word more feared and hated in the animanga community than Netorare, or cuckholding; its ubiquitous presence in the romance genre contradicts the universal hatred it harbours. Meanwhile the trope doesn’t intrinsically lead to bad writing, every attempt at this have resulted in, with very few exceptions, a messy, contrived and downright disgusting storyline that fails to arouse any emotional response besides revulsion in the audience and furthermore regresses the given relationship. Thus, it was highly interesting that this season’s Hajimete no Gal, a rom com with characterisation bafflingly good in contrast to its raunchy presentation, tackles NTR like it did with many other tropes of its genre. Through analysing this arc I want to explore the circumstances regarding NTR existence in anime, what Hajimete no Gal did right and what future series could improve on.

Cuckolding have probably existed for as long as humans have been in relationships. Our tendency for promiscuity as part of our evolutionary advantage has ironically turned into the biggest conflict with the virtues we demand in modern relationships. Thus, it is of no surprise that it would be portrayed in romance stories. Yet this still does not explain how frequently it gets featured in anime manga even considering how often anime regurgitate materials, especially in stories that had no use for it. The trope of cuckolding, in theory, serves as the ultimate tribulation for any incomplete relationship where both parties are made to question their dedication and true feelings for the respective partner as they are coerced to achieve the resolution against the external adversity. For the audience, the rift formed by their separation theoretically create a sense of unease and fear and thus strengthen their belief in the legitimacy and appropriateness of this couple (assuming the series had competently established their romance). In this way, an NTR arc with a well-constructed antagonist (the cuck) can easily fit in as the dramatic climax of a series and serves as the proper conclusion to all loose ends of the romance story (so far as most romance in the medium is concerned with anyway). This makes for an incentive for many series of the genre to put it to use.
However therein also lies the biggest problem with this kind trope usage in animanga: most series don’t have all their themes figured out and the storyboard lay out. In fact, it’s not unreasonable to presume that many series, manga in particular, are written with no preconceived end in mind. Hence, when some asshole with no proper build up is whipped out of thin air and forcefully wedged inbetween this relationship as a trial that bares no semblance with what has been going on the two characters thus far; it’s all within expectation that many will immediately lose immersion and possibly even felt betrayed.

The anime adaptation of Hajimete no Gal similarly uses the NTR arc as the climatic point of the first season. Though there are still issues with the way Gal handles this, as I will discuss later, it demonstrates that when executed with care, the trope can be effective. Unlike other series, Gal had the foundation necessary to implement it; the audience is aware of shakiness the main relationship: it is the resultant of a punishment game gone wrong, with MC-kun driven purely by lust and Gal-chan by purely curiosity and pity. By sheerest of coincidence, the relationship worked out due to the genuine feeling to uphold each other of these characters that belies their archetypal designs. This sense of insecurity was further compounded by MC-kun’s established self-defeating personality and to a lesser extent Gal-chan’s tendency to overplay her cards. Thus, the introduction of an ultimate trial in the form of a romantic rival not only fits right into the narrative but also is the most logical and appropriate approach to consolidate and conclude their story (though the manga ongoing status seems to imply otherwise). This writing decision was subsequently supported with competent writing where protagonist appropriately struggle against his urge to abandon responsibility and ultimately coming to terms with his mistakes and arrived at the correct resolution, resulting in one of the few competent NTR arcs produced to date.

On the other hand, there are certainly aspects that could be improved that wouldn’t necessarily change the effect achieved significantly but still something I’d like to see in future works. First and the most glaring problem in this arc is it emphasising the blame to be all on MC-kun. From a storytelling perspective, it is reasonable that story would focus more on his side of story because this is of course, his story. However, when viewed under a broader scope, one cannot help but wonder why Gal-chan was deemed innocent at all; she did hang out with a guy in private (caught red handed too) after telling him that she will be with a group of friend. Yet we are somehow meant to take this all this on the fault of MC-kun overanalysing the situation. A more realistic representation of this issue should incorporate both sides of the story if not only to bring clarity for the viewers but also to serve its intended cause, to demonstrate the emotional state of both in this situation and how they managed to work together towards the solution. Secondly, though it could not be helped in the case of Gal, NTR arc would benefit greatly from a better developed antagonist that have had significance in the narrative. An asshole with a line for characterisation poses no impression on the audience and lessens the impact of the arc when they know he is just a temporary nobody to be disposed of as soon as they’re through.

Essentially, NTR is neutral as far as tropes go, differing only in how it violated modern virtues, and is entirely dependent on how it’s utilised. In the case of Gal, the series approach to storytelling allowed it to succeed. It’s unfortunate that most animanga writers, or in any medium really, just really aren’t that competent.

Anime Relations: Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e

Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e (henceforth for a lack of shorthand will be called SHIT ANIME) is without a doubt the worst anime of summer 2017 for me. Not since Re:zero has an abomination so inept at every aspect of story writing been witnessed.

SHIT ANIME has no hesitation in presenting its incredibly self-important and edgy ideas. Whatever Highschool is an elitist institution nurturing the very best of Japan by churning them through the wrenches of utter meritocracy and social Darwinism; the very best lives the lives of kings and the inept lives like slave. Another very interesting premise indeed, one with implications that extend far beyond highschool and poses relevant questions as to how society should handle our innate difference in ability (which the show to its credit incessantly hammers onto). Had the show give its premise just the slightest of attention, it wouldn’t have turned out as hilariously dumb as it did. You see, shows with similar premise like Kakegurui or even Baka to Test is at least aware of this and improvise accordingly by way of implementing a system (through gambling and battle, respectively) wherein meritocracy could conceivably be in effect. On the other hand, in SHIT ANIME students are judged purely by their academic performance; thus forcing every effort to raise stakes in the series to bend over backward and feel extremely idiotic and ludicrous. For example, the very core narrative stakes of the series being their struggle to ascend the class order is misshapen into unintended comedy solely because of this system. It should be apparent to everyone with an IQ above 50, let alone the students of this selective elite school, how the metric of this system work; in spite of this, the show try to cast some kind of epic mystery over this by repeatedly reinstating the secrecy of this system and subsequently showing students of the superior class discuss secretly in some shady fashion, as if they have somehow figured some loop hole in being a good student. The show makes no attempt to reconcile the merit system with its class system, never offering an explanation for the difference between the students in these classes that would fall in line with the premise. This problem exacerbates in episode 3 where the supposedly clever solution to improve their marks was literally to cheat. Of course it doesn’t take more than a second of thought to overwhelm this smug “solution” with unanswerable questions: assuming cheating was a regular conduct (as stated by the show), this would imply this school actually value deceit and probably in one way or another put students who only follow the curriculum at a disadvantage. This instantly destroy any creditability this school has as a supposed meritocracy and any comprehensibility of this class system. One would have to question as to the point of awarding merit directly to results achieved through dishonest misconduct and how the class even differs when the process is the same. It can be seen that SHIT ANIME’s shallow understanding of its topic of interest constantly betrays the grandiose impression it tries to make.

Equally baffling to its premise is SHIT ANIME’s utter ignorance of impacts from its choice of tropes. From the big titted wise senpai, the oppressive/rapey older brother/senpai, the random thug, the class moron, you can name whatever staple highschool characters and SHIT ANIME will have them included. Individually you could beg the purpose of their existence in the narrative (more like being hamfisted into it) but overall it does not help the show at all. Consider the yankee for example, who come to a selective elitist school probably with a reputation for expelling incapable students (as explained by the rule against underperformers in episode 3) but somehow still expect to get by with just his performance in sports. The entire purpose behind having this archetypal character for the sake of having this recalcitrant characters who oppose the main character effort in studying speak volumes of how poorly thought out these characters and their place in the narrative are. Also, there were like 3 even bigger bully asshole from the superior class so either those guys are actually good students (as they are also judged by their behaviour) or it is just an even better example of how moronic the writing in this show is.

With its ideas in tatters, it’s hard to imagine the story writing would achieve any better and indeed it doesn’t. The plot development of SHIT ANIME is based on the sickening overuse of shock factor and superfluous plot twists. Besides the theme and credulity shattering nature of these twists as discussed previously, the deliberate act to frame each and every reveal as groundbreaking and utterly mindblowing forces the plot to wrap even more around itself until its head enters the anus. For example, in preparation for the grand shocking reveal of the truth behind the point system, the show constantly use red herrings and hammers the discrepancy of between their allowance and their performance. All for the sake of this comical scene where the teacher reveals their desperate situation, presumably with the intention to shock the audience and make them interested. However, in reality, this just shows how idiotic this show is with its obvious twist and, with just a headscratch later, invoke more questions than the show could answer. To be more concise, the biggest question would be the reason behind the classes ranking turned out exactly the way intended, assuming the knowledge of this merit system was fairly kept secret to every student. If one were to explain this from the fact that upper class tends to be better students, it still wouldn’t explain the discrepancy between the non perfect classes, B ,C and D; were class B only 80% as well behaved (as there were no exam yet at this point) as class A with the other class subsequently less? In fact, there is no reason to assume all the students wouldn’t act the same way as class D given the circumstances. On the other hand, if one were to try explaining that class A might have been given the information deliberately; well then, how is it that class B, C and D follow in order. Did they choose only arbitrary proportions to reveal to in the other classes? More importantly, this would imply that the school is intentionally devious and is completely antagonistic to the cause (of mecritocracy) they were said to endorse.

Last and also least in the pool of undeveloped and shitty ideas of SHIT ANIME is its characters. The source of influence for these characters is so obvious theres no prize for guessing. Yes, SHIT ANIME rips Oregairu off blatantly and proceed to turn these well written troubled teenagers into trite and hideous assembly line Light Novel tropes. Hachiman, the heart and soul of Oregairu, is a character who is completely wrapped around his own narrative and cynical perspective of the world; his action are determined by his elaborate but misguided understanding of society and as such lead to the dangerous selflessness forming the core of his characterisation. Ayanokouji, in contrast, is a de facto infallible and secretly omnipotent light novel protagonist. His only flaw (of being anti-social) serves no other purpose than comedy and in no way interferes with his bravado as he proceeds to solve every problem with relative ease and no conceivable repercussion. If this wasn’t somehow convincing enough, he could further be shown be incredibly intelligent (as he intentionally keeps his score at dead average), physically capable (protected ripoff Yukino when assaulted by her rapey brother) and a strategic genius (single-handedly rose his incompetent class to competition); the list of Light novel protagonist qualifications goes on. These factors combined with his lack of relevance to the themes of show eliminate any possibility of genuine characterisation and character development. Kushida (Yui/ Iroha’s ripoff) has yet to receive enough attention to be as baffling as Hachiman ripoff but has already been broken by silly personality flip for the purpose of, again, a comical shocking reveal. Instead of communicating the characterisation with the audience in an intellectual way, the show went out of its way to twist the character demeanour for naught other than shock value. With this in mind, I can do nothing but fear what they are about to do with Yukino’s ripoff character.

All in all, SHIT ANIME suffers from making no use of any of its ideas and instead is satisfied with engaging with trite and contrived tropes found across almost every light novel. The convoluted, nonsensical story is equally matched by its insufferable characters; both of which is only evident for its shallow understanding of the themes of interest and characters it takes influence from. Bar some miraculous improvement in later episodes I don’t see any prospect in this hackneyed piece of shit.

Anime Relations: Koi to Uso

Setting itself in an alternative dystopian Japan, Koi to Uso’s ignorance of the implications being made makes it not only aggravating to watch but also completely detrimental to the narrative it’s making and any opportunity to make itself standout from its contemporaries. With the slightest shred of consideration, the show’s contrived approach to its dramatic story telling destroy the credibility of its premise, characters and subsequently the audience (at least mine)’s interest.

The entire point of koi to uso revolves a government policy that require every citizen to marry and procreate with an assigned individual when they reach the age of 16 in order to combat dwindling birth rate. An interesting premise indeed, and one that address a very relevant population problem for Japan as well as many developed countries in the world. Had the premise been the gravitas it deserve and portrayed intricately the implications and consequences that would have arisen from this hypothetical setting, the series would have been at least super interesting, if not also amazing. Unfortunately, Koi to Uso is complacent with just regurgitating the staple tropes of its genre and wring its poorly developed premise for superficial drama, which is most evident through how poorly it address the implications it is making. The system in this series is no legitimatised, optional online matchmaking system, it is directly shown to be an authoritative, unrelenting legislation that is imposed on everyone presumably recorded in the Birth Registry. Even without consideration of the details as to how the matchmaking process or the logistics of such a system would work, one should immediately realise the grave implication that this law makes: Does the maintenance of a modern human made society with our arbitrary limitations outweigh following our natural instinct, in other words does utilitarianism or human right reign supreme. A realistic presentation of this scenario should address the fact that people, no matter their cultural beliefs, will be instantly outraged by such a legislation and probably in sizable volume as well. Or alternative if lack of such resistance is present, this would imply that the government in power has effectively, for a lack of a better word, brainwashed the entire population of Japan of biological attraction. Yet in Koi to Uso, society, besides these 2 characters within the 4 decades of implementation, seems perfectly happy to comply whilst retaining respectable knowledge of traditional coupling and even hold such ideas, romantic (no pun intended). So has Japanese in this series evolved to be full utilitarians or that any individual uncompliant to the law been removed in some manner for this situation to transpire? The answer is that these contradictions don’t matter; the series has only put these contrivances in place to overblow the drama to hammy level without a care as how to much sense it makes.

By extension, the characters mindset in this setting make very little sense. As stated in episode 1, this particular law was put in place from 1975, making it 4 decades in duration by the present point. This means that the population has been immersed in this newfound (dystopian) societal system for 2 generations. It’s difficult to ascertain the exact mindset the present generation as there isn’t much to base on, but it wouldn’t be remotely close as to what is shown in this series. From a broad perspective, this hypothetical government would be extremely antagonistic of, and probably desire to ban, all materials and initiatives pertaining to the natural matchmaking methods; this in addition to the apparent satisfaction observed in the adult population in this series would imply there is a massive preponderance of positive attitude towards the law and disapproval, or even outright stigmatisation, of primitive matchmaking methods. Except in the first scene of the series, several kids in his class were discussing their rebellious (in context of the series) intentions out in the open. Nevermind how they acquired such knowledge of biological coupling, such attitude within such a group makes no sense within the context given. Was his class in fact a collection of special potential rebels or is the government actually extremely lenient in execution yet somehow still successfully carry out this authoritative decree? The answer is, again, that it doesn’t matter contradictations exist because koi to uso only cares about the drama it makes; which was exemplified by the classmate contradictory reaction to his running away from his marriage meeting in episode 2.


More importantly, this contrived and lazy approach to exploring its setting leave very little to appreciate from its character and as a result the characterisation of the series suffer in turn by being as poorly contemplated as the setting. Even by the most exaggerated manner, the conflict in the story can only be described as “Oh ye cruel fate, getting in the way of my adolescent love”. The main character faces an issue that is extremely juvenile, sophomoric and have hardly any meaning further than appealing to our gut feelings. This puts the show right of the level of fellow series in its genre and ignore whatever interesting possibility in conjunction with its setting. In contrary, consider an alternative execution where he has to struggle between his innate biological attraction (that he doesn’t understand at all because this time the setting is given actual thought) and fulfilling the societal duty of procreation given to him. Such characterisation is not only infinitely more interesting with the real life implications it has, but also gives far more substance to the male lead beyond just choosing between whichever girl he likes better.

At the end of the day, Koi to uso is just an overglorified romcom that’s completely oblivious to its potential and people seem content with that because lets be honest, who would even thought of such a cynical and scrutinising interpretation unless you’re as cynical as I am. A couple episodes onwards the show will probably forget about all these contrivances and continue instead with the misunderstandings or other tropes used in every other generic romcom. However, what this indicates to me moreso than just the inept understanding of the series of implications, is that the planning of this series is almost non-existent; that things just get made up as they went along. For these reasons, I firmly believe this series will turn out to be a disappointing trainwreck at best but I will tag along just in the most unlikely event of being proven wrong.

Anime Relations: Masamune-kun no Revenge

Appearing in 185k lists on MAL at the time of writing, Masamune-kun Revenge was no doubt one the biggest hit anime from the season of Winter 2017; second only to the massively popular and beloved second season of Konosuba. Yet in contrast, it holds one of the record low score of 7.13 for any of the “hit” anime in time memorable. Many would undoubtedly attribute this to the abomination that is the NTR twist in the last episode of the show. Personally, I think the problem ran deeper than just merely the twist; it’s the entire show’s foundation that became compromised as a result of lazy convention iteration and circumventing the main point for the sake of maintaining status quo which drove the series to the ground and devolve into a mess of non-ideas and uninteresting tired romcom- typicals.

Yes, there are spoilers.

Animanga as profit

The problem deeply rooted in Masamune as with many manga without a strong foundation is the monetary motive. This isn’t to say that mangakas are all cash grubbing hacks with no passion ,in fact, the opposite is very true considering the discrepancy between the income and work required in the industry; but that of the inherent problem with a medium that encourage works to go on for as long as possible. Masamune went through the same process as any other manga would, submitted as a pilot one-shot, get narrowly approved for serialisation and milked to the greatest extent humanly possible. Of course, there are series that work great with this system; the prime example being One Piece that has been running for 20 years and Oda can add as many arcs possible before the final one so long as it remains consistent with the ongoing narrative (or even not so in the case of many other long running show) and yet it’s still great. On the other hand, prominent and established authors like Urasawa Naoki can fulfil the intended narrative without a care as to what the editor or publisher has to say (about the length). It’s the little, unknown authors of masamune that are stuck in the clenches of the industry and wry dry of their juice. (Un)aware of the real potential of their premise or not, these authors are virtually coerced into elongate their (probably) flimsy premise as far as possible as to not waste their chance of finally getting serialised.

Premises that are never touched

Nothing get attention (and apparently all you need to make a hit anime these days) better than a solid premise and Masamuse in my opinion boasts one of the most interesting premise in its genre. Contrary to the criticism of the ideals held the characters being sophomoric, self-important and mopey, it sets the perfect stage for the coming of age story where these adolescent grow out of their self-perceived flaws. The real problem is that no matter how good the premise is, it became entirely irrelevant in face of the roundabout narrative that only further dilutes what little idea this series had to begin with. Despite the elaborate setup full fleshed out by the first episode, the characters accomplish so little in way of character development throughout the entire run of the show (in contrast to what some might argue as development in their relationship). It’s a problem that’s present in so many manga that it would force one to ponder as to where this disconnect arise from.

Manga itself is probably one of the worst formats for a well-synthesised narrative. The pressure of the highly competitive dog-eat-dog industry, the temptation to take the easy way out by conforming conventions and maintaining status quo and the difficulty in even remembering what you intended to show at the start all contributes to the notorious issue of sidetracking. OF course, these problems also manifest across all medium but ultimately alleviated due to the absence of one of the aforementioned factors. Western TV shows enjoy a low threshold for audience satisfaction; anime are preferably short and limited in budget; light novels are not obligated for scheduled release and so on. Therefore, even when watching only the first episode of Masumune will tell an experienced viewer knowing the ongoing status that it is inconceivable that the series would be able to fully explore the depths of themes it wanted to. Indeed, the series inevitably falls into the trap of “chewing the fat”

Following genre conventions and maintaining status quo

“Chewing the fat” here refers to perpetual cycle of introducing additional plot points and utilising typical scenarios to prolong the longevity of the series without necessarily advancing the themes exploration or narrative in any substantial way. Whereas the first 3 episodes did fine in romantic progress even in lack of real character development; episode 4 marks the start of the derailing process with the introduction of Fujinomiya Neko. The use of the third wheel is of no surprise to any viewer with a shred of experience in the RomCom genre; they serve as a doorstop to any romantic development between the main pairing and, with very few exceptions, to be removed when desired and reclassified as the necessary catalyst for the eventual romantic development. In theory, such plot device can definitely be used for genuine development but unfortunately for masamune and many of its contemporary; their use of the trope always lack the justification from the premise and theme involved. What use did Neko’s existential crisis serve in helping masamune coming to terms his skewed self-perception that is holding him back? Nothing, and that’s exactly why there’s no progress. There are various other instances in which romcom tropes are used unwittingly in Masamune to obviously no avail. And of course it’s not thorough to discuss masamune without addressing the elephant in the room and the ultimate problem that all these factors culminate into, being the highly controversial twist of fat Masamune.

Continuity wise the series face a precarious situation following the events of the neko arc. Character motivation issues have been sorted, any real obstacles already removed and the “ice queen” had not any justifiable reason to refuse the advancement of MC-kun. Like all well written romance series, netorare appeared to be the perfect solution to keep the audience engaged. Jokes aside, when a series resort to such a cheap and lazy plot device that so obviously informs the author intention of deliberately maintaining status quo, even the most mindless of viewer will feel betrayed. Of course, I am not implying that the author was entirely driven by greed in including the plot twist and neither am I implying that NTR can’t be used to great effect. However to a viewer, good intention is irrelevant when it directly and detrimentally contradict the entire premise that got them attracted to the series in the first place, especially when it get hamfisted into the narrative so carelessly and abruptly without any justification in place. The result is an outrage from every viewer from elite to casual at the atrocious attempt to keep the story going.

Overall, it can be seen that meanwhile the twist itself is horrendous in its own right, it’s also a manifestation of the issues that plagued the series from its very conception as I have previously alluded to. With that said, it’s interesting to discuss the circumstance which the anime face in its production.

The dilemma of anime adaptation

The anime covered about 20 chapters of the manga (to which the twist occurs), leaving about 20 chapters unadapted when the simulcast began. This means the production staff decided to follow the manga plot knowing full well the negative reception the manga received almost 2 years back. As a result, the production not receive as much flak if not more due to the wide audience in anime as well as reflecting very poorly on the adaptation process. Which is even more surprising considering the fact the adaptation actually made several changes as far as making an entire original episode. Just from the first 3 episodes alone, the characters’ inner conflict already appeared far more nuance and invested whilst not undercutting the intended sophomoric scent. To me, this clearly (maybe too optimistically) implies that staff does indeed know the intended theme. Yet paradoxical it retains the plot twist that contradicts it all. So where was the missing link?

It’s insanely rare that original anime content is celebrated, and probably for good reasons. Lazy 2 eps original ending arc are notoriously rushed and bad; filler content typically deviate from the source material and non-radical changes often do too little to be of significance. Even in cases where the original content actually attempt to flesh out its own narrative consistent with the source like FMA 2003; much complaints still exist by sheer virtue of not being the source material. On the other hand, there are definitely examples, even if rare, of original content being crucial to their success, namely almost every Kyoto animation work. It is unfortunate that creative and critical adaptations are rarely made and celebrated within the anime industry as series like masamune and many others would have profited from it.


In conclusion, Masamune is a project doomed by, but not inclusively, the circumstances of its production and adaptation. With so little information available as with most production it is hard to judge of whose volition the series turned out as it did but as a viewer it’s always frustrating to watch a promising series crashlanding on its head and do nothing but sigh in disappointment.

Anime Relations: Kimi no Na wa.

Kimi no Na wa (Your Name) made massive ripples in the weeaboo community as it became the next smash hit in both theatres and many discussion platforms such as MyAnimeList. As the cynical fuck with no faith in Makoto Shinkai writing that I am, it was to my pleasant surprise the movie was rather praiseworthy. Despite the general lack of themes involved, boring typical romance plot and overall lacklustre characterisation that I denounce so often in other series, the movie make some key calls that greatly assisted its entertainment value. This isn’t to say that I’m promoting that one should “turn off their brain and enjoy this movie”, which will and should remain a perpetual stupid concept. In fact, calling upon such a notion would be disrespectful to the amount of effort put into polishing the execution of this movie.

As usual, spoilers are used to make actual discussion points

The hallmark of a successful story is its ability to maintain its audience’s interest, whether through thought-provoking theme and narrative or to continuously maintain their involvement in the narrative. Kimi no Na wa seemingly bank entirely on the latter and engages its audio-visual and narrative aspects into making this a success, even at the apparent cost of the overall theme.
The most prime example of this execution and the most genius masterstroke has to be the major twist at the half-way point where it was revealed the town in which Mitsuha was already gone 3 years ago. At this point, the audience has been shown in detail the interaction occurring between Mitsuha and Taki through their phone dairies, which established their connection despite no direct contact and later on (somewhat) justify the later romantic development. In doing this, the movie construct a natural impression in the audience that these two will try to meet up at some point and enact their hijinks. This curiosity was further amplified by a general sense of ambiguity with the disruption of the status quo and Taki’s misshapen journey. As the plot twist and the realisation of the worst case scenario came crashing down, the audience’s curiosity is turned upon itself and converted into an unbelievably strong, genuine, unwavering empathy towards Taki and Mitsuha and what is to befall upon them next. As cliché a moment as this scene was, it worked perfectly to the show’s intent of keeping the audience engaged and remain unconditionally engrossed in the following events. Additionally, this also legitimise the romance elements of the show which is highly impressive considering the plain execution of this aspect beforehand.

For a tightly packed romance movie, Kimi no Na wa was certainly not impressive at all in this department in the first hour of the show. After the novelty of the premise wears off, what’s plain to see was a generic highschool rom com story that seems overly enthusiastic on throwing romcom hijinks than delineating how this situation matter to each of them personally and the natural change that comes as a result. This lack of interpersonal relationship depth remains true for the rest of the movie; however, where the movie lack in depth it again makes it up for it in enthusiasm. Following the aforementioned twist, the movie further bolster their romance with excellent use of dramatic effects and almost gratuitous symbolisms/ metaphors (including red string of fate, “musubi” and so on). In contrary to other Makoto Shinkai, the hardship befalling these two are far more visceral than just mere existential crisis; it was, through continuous reinforcement, an endearing bond between people put against the cruelty of fate. The loud round of applause in the whole theatre (including myself) I witnessed at the ending scene where their love come to fruition more than enough stand for the movie’s success in involving the audience in this fictional relationship of the last 2 hours.

The comedy aspect of the show, which was not particularly impressive in my opinion, admittedly did play a role in making the romance feel somewhat sincere. However this was, as explained, also detrimental to the amount of depth that movie could have gotten into. In retrospect, it is hard to judge whether this was truly necessary but ultimately should definitely be held against the production going for a light hearted mood atypical to Shinkai Makoto.

The science fiction aspect of Kimi no Na wa was problematic to say the least. One could easily pick out all the illogical and nonsensical parts of the time travel mechanics of the show; a really easy example being taki (and mitsuha in his body) shouldn’t be seeing the comet in the future timeline at all. This was exacerbated to baffling levels further on in the movie where new mechanics just seemingly pop out of thin air and makes even less sense. This was understandably a nuisance, or worse, a complete party-booper for many viewers. However, I personally found this largely irrelevant to what the movie was trying to accomplish. Almost all the time travel bs was used to great dramatic effect, notwithstanding how much logical sense (or lack thereof) they made. For example, the vanishing text on his phone at the exact moment he finds out the village’s ill fate made very little sense but perfectly display the utter despair he undergoes at that point. Similarly, all following instances worked of the movie’s plot to keep the audience thrilled. Overall, the timetravel mechanics, meanwhile obviously not well thought out and researched, provided means of easy dramatic plot twist to enhance the story.

Albeit only a small role, the visual presentation also assisted in the movie’s delivery. The expected gorgeous artwork aside, the decision to go with more cartoony character design rather than the mature character look in his other works supported the presentation by the character to morph into more silly form for the comedy scenes whilst can still look very well defined in more serious scenes.

As can be seen, Kimi no Na wa success can be mostly attributed to how well it makes use of its storytelling aspects to keep the audience on the edge of their seats even in spite of the lacklustre character/ story elements and lack of any real innovation. It can not be overstated that the movie only manage to achieve this by knowing full well the limitations of a movie. Characterisation not tied in to the narrative will always end up a waste of time and a story too grandiose will never receive the justice it deserve. Instead, by going all out on the visceral, touchy feely front, Kimi no Na wa reach for the audience’s raw emotion and ask them to embrace it.

Anime Relations: Keijo!!!!!!!!

Amidst of escalating hype for series like Haikyuu and Hibike Euphonium, Keijo also received much hype amongst manga readers leading up to the Fall season. As a fan of the manga myself, I could not be more excited about the prospect of seeing the ingenious and awesome buttboxing action of keijo in full motion. One episode later, I could not be more disappointed as to how something so easy to adapt can be so deliberately and thoroughly butchered.

Before delving into what the adaptation got wrong, let’s start with the appeal of Keijo. There’s no denying the fact that Keijo is fanservice, everyone and their mom watching this show is aware of it and so does the show itself. However, in contrast to most other fanservice- orientated show, Keijo takes an alternative approach. Simply put, the series does not exist for the fanservice; rather, the fanservice is just a part of the show. The series’ success at selling the impression that keijo is legitimate sport in this story allows it to include all these ridiculously voluptuous female characters, overblown moves and special attacks featuring close ups of cleavage and ass meanwhile remaining justified in the setting without becoming excessive. In contrast, a series like Seikon no Qwaser with obviously similar goals and even possess a more involving, extensive underlying narrative yet still fails to justify its fanservice scenes; there was no reason as to why the audience need to see tit sucking scenes beyond the first instance to understand how the power works. As can be seen, where almost every ecchi fails to be anything more than masturbatory material, Keijo strives by making full use of its premise and overturn the general expectation of ecchi series by making the fanservice secondary to the sport and narrative.

Subsequently, it cannot be understated how integral the execution and visual elements are in validating the authenticity of the sport. The series is at heart a fiery shounen sport series, which work wonderfully in favour for it. By showing that all these characters are actually serious and all have motivations to be involved in this competition and additionally fleshing out the details of the sport itself, including things like development of special techniques the legitimacy of Keijo is further confirmed. Furthermore, by utilising the climatic structure of a shounen battle series, the genuine competitiveness between these characters become even more apparent. On the other hand, the fights features endless scenes with the action tension of Hajime no Ippo but still consist of mostly female body parts, making even individual panels feel genuine. In doing all of this, the Keijo manga brings the sport to life and engage the audience even without the use of a substantial narrative.

Therefore, from this perspective the first episode of the Keijo anime could not have been more of a disservice to its source material.

By haphazardly removing the entire first entry exam arc and jumping straight into the middle of the story for no apparent reason, a huge of amount of character motivations is instantly removed and immediately undercut into the reason behind the characters existence in the story. As I explained, the character motivation play a huge part in justifying the story and showing that keijo is indeed a sport people can be passionate about. With so little information given about them, the audience has no choice but to assume that they are just empty, purposeless vehicle for the fanservice that ensues.

Furthermore, it’s extremely puzzling as to why the episode was organised in this way. Following the scene in the future that introduces all the characters, the show goes into flashback of just this one part of the entire arc it skipped for the next 12 minutes. Whether this was a vain attempt to shortcut the explanation of the sport or to lazily show the potential excitement of the sport without having to devise an original script is unclear; however what is clear is that these segments have absolutely nothing to do with each other. This may not necessarily be a fault per se, but it is a showcase of the total incapability of the hacks making this adaptation that is about to be fully displayed in this flashback.

There were probably at least 5 chapters being adapted in these 12 minutes, spanning across multiple fights. As such, it was of course rushed to oblivion; it became hard to comprehend how one event is somehow a logical, smooth transition to the last one shown on screen even as someone who has read the manga. Furthermore, in being so insistence on showing only the highlights of these fights, the Keijo anime completely mess up their natural build up akin to a shounen series’ battle; which is, as aforementioned, is actually what helps sell the premise and make the special attacks as naturally integrated as they are. What emerged as a result is only a series of over-the-top scenes that doesn’t get justified and serve no real purpose in the episode. The impetus in doing this, however, is completely transparent. The staff at Xebec is far more interested in animating what they think (and probably is correct about) will make them money: over the top scenes with tits and asses. Utterly disregarding what makes the manga works, the anime only preserves what it’s interested in. As a result, no matter how well these scenes are animated they become nothing more than cheap, lazy, meaningless and grating titillation that exists solely for fanservice, exactly the opposite to the point of Keijo.

That being said, this post is by no means conclusive of the series as I have yet to watch another episode. As overly cynical as this post is, it may very well be wrong about the series when it slows down actually adapt the manga properly. However, I will stand by all the points I made here when it turns out the staff is really a bunch of incompetent hacks oblivious to the strengths of this series, for reasons demonstrated above.