sodomized's Blog

Anime Relations: Akira

YES, IT'S INFESTED WITH SPOILERS


Plain and simple. Characters have 0 motives and are super dull. Why do they do all these things? Why does Kaneda go through all this shit, other than for the pOwEr Of fRiEnDsHiP? What's the purpose of Kei and why did she decide to randomly follow the hideous child (this was actually never explained)? Why are her analogies so shit and boring? Everything prior to the ending is a hot convoluted mess but at least it stringed itself with final 20ish minutes to save the movie from getting a score lower than 5.

Plot pacing is horrid: we get very little information in the first half. Later on, it drastically picks itself up and dumps all this info in such a short amount of time, almost like it's rushed (probably even was, I didn't read the original). Furthermore, it takes turns in shifting gears for whatever reason. We only got a glimpse at what happened prior to the series aka world war 3. Like seriously? It wouldn't hurt them to throw in a couple of minutes to provide some quality material. It could've helped the narrative in so many way, it could make SOOO many side characters relevant as it would lead up to some well needed character development. Speaking of which... Boy, did this movie suffer from characters... or should I say, the lack of. They're just stagnant objects serving as a plot device synthesis. That's basically it: a group that forms one huge plot device, nothing more.

Sadly, the positives don't outweigh negatives. The theme of public hysteria building up into being the manifestation of peoples communal worries is really good. If it was serving as a parallel to the plot itself, it could've easily been one of the most genius ideas in the entire industry. It did try to do this, but it (plot) rode a fast futuristic looking ass red bike while the undertones rode a fucking vespa. Tetsuo pulling an 'end of evangelion' on us during the ending was really good imho. Theorizing if he really created a new universe is a bit ludicrous. Something else I liked was the theme of evolution and the main subtext being puberty and how the bike served as an analogy to Tetsuo's mental turmoil. Pretty neat stuff.

Akira (aka god) is dead

later followed by

I am Tetsuo (god)

served as a fantastic closure worth the ride. Fan-fucking-tastic ending.


I'd lie if I said I wasn't disappointing. It's mostly due to my soft spot for anything outrun and cyberpunk (probably the main reason why i'm delving deep into this), but alas. There were just too many glaring issues for my pretentious, overly-analytical ass to ignore. Talking about it's stunning animation and art is pointless and has been covered numerous times before. It's not digital yet it looks better than most CG bullshit we have nowadays. Also, I love how the movie made a mockery out of George Lucas' statments - iirc he labelled Akira as not marketable in the west. Up yours Georgey boy, shove a light saber up your ass. You were wrong!


I just can't see it being higher than a 6

Anime Relations: Utsu Musume Sayuri, Shitcom

I'm more interested in the backstory of these staff members, than I am in these mushes of pop art, degeneracy and surrealism with some eye gaugingly horrid editing sprinkled on top. I want some of what they were having.

I don't think that anyone in their right mind can be fooled into believing that these serve any purpose other than to invoke disgust. Their plot's are extremely convoluted, no scratch that, there is no plot. One's basically a crappy drawing doing who knows what, while the other is a literal representation of verbal diarrhea. Maybe I could've gotten something out of Sayuri if it weren't for the severely jagged animations.

I guess I'll never learn my lesson. Every time I watch a crappy movie (in this case - Pepperminta) I get incentivized to find it's anime counterpart, all while being perfectly aware of how fucked up and weird this medium can be. Humans can be scary, japs can be scarier.

Anime Relations: Shinseiki Evangelion, Shinseiki Evangelion Movie: Air/Magokoro wo, Kimi ni, Perfect Blue, Tenshi no Tamago, Top wo Nerae! Gunbuster, Yojouhan Shinwa Taikei

Neon Genesis Evangelion + End of Evangelion

Near perfect narrative that fluidly works hand in hand with it's cast. At no point during NGE and EoE did I feel like any relevant characters were a liability and that perfectly culminated during the movie. Animation is pure art. Disregarding popular beliefs that it's shit purely because people are clueless. It fully utilizes the screen usage and manipulates focus shifts from one character to another in a brilliant yet subtle manner. I'd suggest checking out evageeks- forum and eva monkey- youtube, there are some great threads and videos that delve deeper into this.
Conceptualization of undertones in Evangelion is probably it's strongest point. Ranging from various psychological themes, ethical dilemmas, religious imagery, psychosexual development and so on. Evangelion is a whole package and undoubtedly a rollercoaster of emotions.

Tenshi no Tamago

Solitary characters wondering and wandering in abstract spaces is how I'd simply describe this anime. It's multi-interpretational, it's surreal apocalyptic setting is portrayed fantastically, it's thematic structure is fairly simple: loss of faith. These are some of the more impactful elements that make Angel's Egg so great. There's also nihilism and post-apocalyptic elements that are imposed upon the viewer; I thought the film never seemed to makes a coherent and convincing argument that it is the case in the real world. This is my own take and I'm not certain if this might be the case. That i'm misreading some crucial parts and that the nihilistic aspect of the show is great and accurate.

Yojouhan Shinwa Taikei

Imo, Yuasa's greatest work and the best anime of the decade. On surface level it's just a light-hearted groundhog day loop story. Internally it's about dilemmas your average university student faces. I'm heavily biased when it comes to Tatami Galaxy, so there's that. You could argue that Ping Pong the Animation is better and that I should swap these 2, but alas. Enjoyment is a prevalent factor, and this was probably one of the most enjoyable rides I've been on. Because of that it'll permanently stay in my list of favorites. Now what I like the most about this anime is the dynamic duo of Ozu and Watashi. Ozu's a carefree guy and a certified piece of shit that often takes leaps of faith. This impacts Watashi who is more reserved (in many aspects). Often times it leads to wrongdoings which doesn't help Watashi, not in the slightest. But that's what I like about them. They perfectly feed off of each other to form a weird narrative with it's vivid cast that compliments the story. Final 2 episodes are too good and I'd go as far as to suggest trucking through the anime just to experience it's thrilling closure. So, even if you find yourself bored at times, you won't regret the journey.

Top wo Nerae! Gunbuster

Evangelion before Evangelion. It goes headon and tackles similar themes with an addition of a fantastic take on the concept of time. Much like Tatami Galaxy, the final episode left me speechless. It's riddled with symbolism and it's really heavy on monochromic imagery that visually manages to tell the story. I wouldn't do gunbuster justice without mentioning it's hand-drawn explosions that often make battles more grandiose.

Perfect Blue

The polarizing effect that Perfect Blue causes is justified. There are numerous factors that mould ones opinion. From something so small as persons mood to differences in critical thinking skills. In the end, I do understand people who criticize the 2nd half of the movie as it is kinda 'pretentious'.
Kon was just a major hipster; there's no denying it, and Perfect Blue showcases this the best. Unlike in most 90s anime, characters have realistic qualities. It feels real. I'd even argue that it's ahead of it's time. What I mean by this is (mostly) the movie's exploration of duality that exists within the person and the avatar, and the character design that goes along with it. More often than not, we strive to present ourselves in an unreal and idealized manner and we often lose track of what's and who's real. We think we know each other but were so far off. It's very relatable to all of us since we're all victims of social media madness. Internet is evil, celebrity life sucks.






Hiatus x Hiatus

It's a fantastic battle shounen and a well needed deconstruction of the genre. Plot pacing is great, characters are memorable, Hisoka makes me question my sexuality. It's sad knowing that we may never see it properly end.

Berserk

Rape horse is the ultimate waifu. Miura's art is unparalleled and in addition to that he doesn't care about the reader with it's compelling story full of the sort of sucker punch moments that puts garbage shows like GoT to shame. It's a gritty fantasy seinen that treats it's characters like utter shit and I love it. Much like HxH, we may never see it end.

Nijigahara Holograph

If you're into minimalism, then Asano's art is not for you. His works are always filled with ridiculous amounts of details so you're bound to occasionally stumble upon some breath-taking double pages. Nijigahara Holograph is weird, dreary, bizarre and most importantly it's incredibly complex. It's hard to keep up with the plot and by no means does it ever try to hold your hand. I'd suggest checking out Nietzsche's idea of eternal recurrence because this was the only reasonable interpretation I could come up with. Even then, I found myself perplexed as some things simply don't line up. Pinnacle of mindfuckery and a never ending cycle of misery. Gud stuff, definitely worth a re-read.

Hotel: since 2079

One shot version is better, well.. minus the aesthetic aspect as the other one is more polished. I just prefer the original ending.
So what happens when humanity is under a threat of extinction? Do we and/or should we rely on artificial intelligence? Do we become gods as a result of that? Is that machine possible of obtaining free will and whatnot? These questions are answered in this poignant and slightly absurd story about a robot that's the last 'living being' on Earth. The only thing keeping it going is hope, the only thing left on our planet serving as a remnant of our species.

Aku no Hana

Everyone is fucked up. Kasuga is a little bitch, and Oshimi definitely didn't go easy on him with his trademark exaggerated grimaces. Nakamura on the other hand is a manipulative bitch. She is omnipresent, a driving force of this manga that manipulates Oshimi, Aku no Hana, everyone around her, you, your mom... fucking everything dude! She probably even managed to time travel and manipulate Baudelaire, transcending reality all while keeping her bad bitch status in tact. She is a goddess and you're a poopyhead if you disagree. Aya is boring but well written, Saeki's downfall is glorious, setting switch is exceptional...yaddi-yadda. Manga's far better than the animay. 1v1 me m9.

Mikai no Hoshi

I just love how two independent plots intertwine with each other. One's reality, other's fantasy. I'll put emphasis on 'fantasy' as I truly believe in a theory that the whole spaceship thing is just a byproduct of cast's mental instability. Once again, I just love bitch MC's as they always have unlimited potential. You also get a sweet deconstruction of the love triangle trope, which requires reader to pay attention to small details. Matsumoto Jiro is heavily underrated, please check him out. This was hella fun.

Oyasumi Punpun

And the icing on the cake! My favorite piece of work in this entire sub-culture and a sole work of fiction that managed to impact me on a personal level. I truly am grateful to Asano for creating this monstrosity. I won't bore anyone with my past so I'll spare you the details. Artwork was amazingly detailed and realistic, the story and characters were relatable, right down to the abhorrent and nasty thoughts a lot of the characters have in their heads. It worked nicely with the art style. It's not overbearingly long, and surprisingly enough it left me with impression that the amount of content was just enough - a feeling I haven't experienced ever since. The more I think about Punpun and how he's portrayed and developed throughout the manga, the more it manages to stir me up and boost my already evergrowing sympathy towards him. I just wanna give my birdman a hug and tell him that everything will be daijobu. Also, Sachi > Aiko.


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Why isn't there an option to add manga entries? Fix this shit MAL!

Anime Relations: Darling in the FranXX

Almost as if it's a parody, due to how bad it is. At no point did I enjoy myself, even with my expectations dropping to below minimum. Vast majority of mindless mongrels that cream over DitF often portray this anomaly as deep-thonker material without any cogent arguments to back it all up. It is really saddening to witness people falling victim to this horse shit tier narrative. God knows how, but it does manage to captivate your average anime viewer. My initial thought was that this would pan out to be (at least) a mediocre anime as it is derivative of shows like diebuster. I fail to see how this has any solid similarities with Evangelion or Gurren Lagann though. Advocates of former often follow a preconceived notion of drawing parallels just because the humanity is threatened by a menacing creature (it's just incredibely vague), and the latter is even dumber and more groundless because 'muh visuals'. As a huge Eva fan I feel offended knowing that my favorite anime will forever be smeared with this pile of feces.

Contrary to popular belief, DitF is neither symbolic nor thought-provoking. The only reasonable analogy I can find is the harsh commentary on japanese society. It's no secret that japan's total fertility rate is record low and this show is nothing but a warning to the nipponese folk to start humping or the government will allow third world 'aliens' into the country to reproduce with qt azn hunniz. A fair warning before all hell breaks loose and the glorious culture slowly diminishes. Going further down the rabbit hole we may find that the mangaka is a firm believer of alt-right ideologies, specifically an advocate of Japanese ethnostate. I might be a major sceptic but this whole 'Code:000' seems way too fishy and like some sort of a hidden message.

Now, I'm not gonna lie. The whole mechas with tits thing and all these sexual innuendos (mostly the cockpit bullshitery) have (slightly) peaked my interest and at some points had me giggling like a 12 year old. I've only watched 10 episodes so I don't really have much to work with, but even still, I don't think that I'd be missing out on a lot... and going off of popular reviews, the show slowly sinks into abyss with each passing episode. Retrospectively, it was for the best that I dropped this trainwreck of a show.


But everything is not as grim as it may seem. It does actually try to achieve 'something', and at best it is some sort of a homage to some mecha classics. Everything is inspired by something and it's not really fair to bash DitF just because it's like Eva but with poor execution. I just hope that the show managed to find a way to explain the whole deal with episode 6 (or was it 5) where there was a huge deus ex machina moment that left me extremely perplexed, or if it's just neglected and follows the old 'with power of kokoro~, we can overcome anything' strategy.

I'm not that mad because it wasted my time, nor was it it's obvious lack of character development or it's completely butchered and plot hole infested story. What really rustled my jimmies was the amount of initial traction the show was getting and that we're now stuck with it's huge toxic fanbase terrorizing the interwebs. Such is life, I guess.