Codex Hermetica, Chapter 4: Crystal Triangle

I'm not dead yet.  Just been really of busy of late, what with the rebellion and all.  No, seriously the bastards at work gave me 10 hour shifts and I'm not getting paid for anything over 40 hours, so I'm a little pissed.  Anyway, here is something way too long.

Codex Hermetica

Chapter 4: Crystal Triangle

I think this is getting needlessly messianic

--Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

You can tell a lot about a culture by how they portray themselves in their entertainment. For Americans, not only do they portray themselves as the heroes and leaders of the world, but they are the strongest and most powerful nation in the world. As much as Americans love an underdog, they can only portray themselves as such against an outside force, generally an alien invasion of some sort. American entertainment is truly devoid of the sort of despair that is found when a small nation is cornered between two larger rivals. But for most the world, that is the case.

In the sixties, England was a nation in decline, its Empire lost, its position as world power failing, and facing increasing irrelevance. What entertainment appeared? James Bond. For many second-rate powers, that can not compete on terms of physical strength alone, the idea of an agent holds great appeal. Maybe they can't save the world with their armies, but they still have agents that are a force to be reckoned with. In the last decade in anime, this 'agent' position has been increasingly been filled by Lupin III (ignoring the fact that he really is a Frenchman), although this is an incorrect reading of the character of the gentleman thief, or has Camus would call him, a 'dandy rebel'. But look back a handful of years, and you will find, in the action hero genre, a number of Japanese 'agents', that fight to save the world, often while fighting interference from both the Americans and the Russians. It is in this perspective that we meet, in the anime movie Crystal Triangle, the character of Professor Kamishiro, archeologist, mystic, and all-around badass.

Watching Xanadu -- Oniisama e...

There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide. Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy. –Albert Camus

WATCHING XANADU

ONIISAMA E... EPISODE 26

Oniisama e is the best anime nobody has seen. It is a victim of its place in time, a long, slow paced series shoujo series that has almost zero marketability. First airing during 1991, it stands at high contrast to the mecha shows of the 1980s, and is a forerunner to the popular shoujo series that came existence later that decade. Its closest descendant is Utena, but it lacks the male crossover appeal of the sword fighting eponymous character. If it had aired ten years later in would probably be a well know classic, but without Oniisama e to pave the way, it is possible that the shoujo mainstays that followed after would never have existed at all.

Codex Hermetica Chapter 3

Codex Hermetica

Chapter 3: Demon Hunter Makaryuudo

When I have fears that I may cease to be

Before my pen has glean’d my teeming brain,

Before high piled books, in charact’ry,

Hold like rich garners the full-ripen’d grain;

When I behold, upon the night’s starr’d face,

Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance,

And think that I may never live to trace

Their shadows, with the magic hand of chance;

And when I feel, fair creature of an hour!

That I shall never look upon thee more,

Never have relish in the faery power

Of unreflecting love!—then on the shore

Of the wide world I stand alone, and think

Till Love and Fame to nothingness do sink.

--John Keats

That is one of my favorite Keats sonnets. I quote it here to show an example of what I call “Efficiency of Information”, or the ability to convey emotion within a limited space. Any one can write a lot – hell, look at me. It is one thing to write without limit, it is quite another to be constrained, as Keats is within the bounds of a fourteen line sonnet. Or to quote Pascal, “I have made this letter longer than usual, only because I have not had the time to make it shorter.” In order to tell a compelling story in a such a short time requires this efficiency of information, an uncommon skill even in the best. It is especially rare in the anime directors and screenwriters of today. In today's market, most marginal properties get inflated into 12 episode series rather that the OVA release that they would get twenty years ago. Not only does this add to the current problem of oversaturation that plagues the modern industry, but it atrophies the skills needed to be efficient. Add in the moe boom of the past decade, which elevated character attributes over plot and writing, and you find good writing to be the exception, not the rule, in most modern anime. Lackluster writing skills and filler time has given rise to the dreaded 'info-dump', a noxious state where instead of depicting events, they characters merely tell the viewer, in monologues that last minutes. Take Freezing, please (No, seriously, take it far away from me). The first episode, the only I watched before dropping the series, spent a good two-thirds of the airtime filling in the main character who the characters are, what they are doing, and how the world works. Important information, yes, but show us, don't tell us. You find this manga, as well. As I was reading Kampfer, I discovered a text heavy page where the hero described in great detail how sweet and wonderful his love interest was. Not a total waste, but the story would have better served by showing us how wonderful she is, not by wasting my time listening to him tell me. However, given the dominance of database characters in certain segments of the fandom, the finer details of writing quality tend to be ignored. So with that, I will turn to a show from an older generation that still shows why efficiency of information matters: Demon Hunter Makaryuudo.

Demon Hunter Makaryuudo – Technical Specs:

Year Released: 1989

Running Time: 30m

AniDB rating (at time of writing): 6.25

ANN rating (at time of writing): 6.157

My rating: 7.7

The First Act

The weakest point of the story is the first minute, if you can believe that. The opening scene is a conversation between two off screen characters that makes little sense, until you've seen the entire OVA. The conversation lacks context, and really is a shitty way to kick a show off. But don't give up. Things quickly turn around. In contrast to the opener, the next scene has no spoken dialogue at all, but the atmosphere of the scene says it all for it. Inside a office room at the local school, we see haunting shapes of half-bird, half-woman monsters feasting on dead animals, being cared for by a woman whose very appearance screams “EVIL”. The atmosphere is dark and claustrophobic, with deep shadows cast everywhere. Particularly nice how the first harpy we see is introduced. Hidden in darkness, we see only the face, and think that it is just a girl, only to be rudely awakened when talons and wings come lurching out of the shadow. The use of shadows increases the unnaturalness of the monsters.

DHM wastes no time in introducing the human stars. After the villains are established, the scene switches to two students heading home in the rain. In only a few lines of dialogue, the viewer quickly can establish their relationship. They are friends, but not dating, although the girl has a crush on the dude. Now that is being efficient. As the two walk in the rain, something scurries by in the shadows. The duo is relieved when the shape reveals itself to be a woman's smiling face, only to turn to terror when a lightning strike illuminates the rest of the monster. The attack is brief, but how the harpies smile so while attacking is rather unnerving. Fortunately for our heroes, the assault is interrupted by the advent of the Demon Hunter, who makes quick work of the beasts. The scene is very effective—the powers and motivation of Yama, the Hunter are demonstrated, as well as the one-sided romance. Yama erases the memory of the human girl, Kaoru, but leaves Shou alone. Not only that, she hints at a shared past with him, and with a sad smile, tells him she still loves him, before disappearing into the fog. The act ends with a return to the evil lady's office, and adds some more motivation and explanation. The first act is not even five minutes long, but we know who the characters are, their relationships, attributes, and motivations. The story is set on firm foundations.

The Second Act

The second act is the 'normalization' of the characters. It is an exploration of the characters, which shows how evil the villainess really is, how good natured the hero really is, and the tortured nature of Yama. Again, there are good scenes without any dialogue. In an entirely to be expected scene, we see Yama, in human form, introduced as transfer student to Shou's class. In modern anime, you'd expect explosive reactions and lots of childish drama, but there is not a spoken word during this. The emotions are shown clearly on the face of the characters, nothing needs to be spoken.

After some classroom scenes, we return to the evil lady, who reinforces her evilness by calmly murdering three delinquents. And as a follow up act, she launches a psychic assault on our heroes as they are leaving school. The attack is easily repulsed by Yama, but as she quickly rushes into the evil lady's office, she falls into a trap.

This, my friends, is how you do a flashback. The trap set by the evil lady is a trap of the mind, designed to reveal Yama's secrets and past. Generally, flashbacks are a sign of weak writing, a tool for a writer to use when they can't adequately explain their character's motivation. And they only seem to happen when the plot calls for a piece of information that they writer has failed to prove so far. But by establishing this flashback as a sort of mental interrogation, we get an actual reason for it, and an added substring of mind rape throughout the scene. Act two is all about exploration, and here explore Yama's past. A lot of the information revealed is not particularly necessary, as it deals with events beyond the scope of the OVA, but it frames the character of Yama, and explains her love of Shou and the source of her bittersweet nature. The overall idea of DHM is that demons are infiltrating the human world, which causes imbalance, and threatens the foundation of both hell and heaven as well. This is a common idea in supernatural anime, and is the corner stone of other series like Enma-kun and Vampire Princess Miyu. A lot of DHM is rather standard, a by the book story—but one that is still executed very well. There isn't much that is groundbreaking here, but it is still a solid piece of work.

The Third Act

After a rather cute scene between Yama and Shou and his family, we return to the evil lady and begin the final battle. Again, the setup is rather standard—the evil lady captures Shou's friends and uses them as hostages. This act is a bit rushed, perhaps too much time was spent on exploration in the second act, but overall it is pretty good. We get another good example of show, don't tell, with the mind control snail shells, but I get ahead of myself.

The first fight is between Yama and the sub-boss snail boy. There are plenty of tentacles, if you're into that sort of thing, but the animation remains strong, even with all those arms flailing around the screen. There are some shortcuts taken, but it lightyears better than a lot of other examples I could name. The fight also provides some pretty good nightmare fuel, if a boy's face on a giant snail wasn't bad enough, this happens:

The boss fight is a fight by proxy, the evil lady controls the humans in an attempt to cause Yama to self-destruct. This stratagem worked, and she would have gotten away with it, if it weren't for those meddling kids Kaoru helping Shou resist the mind control. After overcoming this obstacle, the final boss appears, a huge, golden demon that only speaks though text displayed over the screen, oddly enough. I've seen characters use notepads instead of talking, but this isn't moe at all.

Actionwise, the final fight is a rather lacking. There are some nice scenes where we see only the characters' silhouettes against the clouds, but Yama dispatches him rather easily. The story ends with a quick wrap up loose ends, the evil lady suffers a truly hideous fate, and Shou and Yama agree to work together. Roll credits.

So what do I take away from DHM? First excellent use of Efficiency of Information. Scenes and characters convey information without talking about it first, and the sole flashback is interleaved into the story well. The atmosphere is expressive and used to great effect. And I am fascinated by the character of Shou. I can't think of another male lead quite like him. The only one that springs to mind is Yakumo from 3x3 Eyes, but he is much more protective than Shou is. Generally, characters in these stories are either complete losers or go the “I don't care if you are a demon with super-magic powers, I'm a man, and therefore I have to protect you in order to enforce traditional gender roles” route. There is a sense of equality with the characters. He defers to her in battle, and she defers to him in normal life. Maybe this is just due to the lack of screentime, but it is not something that I've seen before. Amazing, that even after 350 odd anime titles, I can still see things I've never seen before.

The Boxscore:

Plot: 8

Art: 8

Sound: 7

Character: 9

Enjoyment: 9

Value: 5

Overall: 7.7

Grade: B

Recommendation: It depends on how good your Japanese is. This was never licensed, of course, and there is only one English translation, done by the fansub group ARR. Their quality is subject to quite varied swings, and this is a low point on the pendulum. The translation is utterly horrible, and while there isn't much that is wrong, the text is stilted to the point of unreadable, and the failure to follow the basic rules of grammar don't help. I need to take and polish their subs to human readable at some point, but I just don't have the time. I mean, those eroge aren't going to play themselves. Anyway, the overall plot idea is nothing that new, and so it is not a loss if you never get to see this one. But if you do take the trouble to track this one down, you will find a clever and well executed story.

Side Note: This is supposedly based on a manga series, but I've been unable to find any information about it. That troubles me sometimes, enrages me, what knowledge might be lost in the turning of the Wheel, knowledge I need, knowledge that I have a right to. A RIGHT! Sorry, I was channeling my inner Moridin there. You know know what's bad? With thirteen books and thousands of pages, I was able to find that exact quote within minutes. In the middle ages, monks would train their minds to memorize large sections of the Bible. I'm like that, but with high fantasy.

Codex Hermetica: Chapter 2

Codex Hermetica

Chapter 2: Elf 17

If there is one thing that Americans and Japanese share, it is an affinity for sport. Of course, baseball, “America's Pastime” is a bigger deal in the Pacific Rim than it is here, but it doesn't stop there – you can find manga and anime versions of every sport out there, even things that Americans ignore. I have heard rumours of the legendary curling manga, but I have yet to find proof of its existence. But, the one 'sport' that does surprise me is that of Pro Wrestling. I've always found Pro Wresting to profoundly stupid, a soap opera for men, rife with sexual tension and homoeroticism (not that there's anything wrong with that). Not only that, but the idea of a scripted sporting event is anathema to me; I watch sports precisely because anything can happen. Let me quote an exchange from the second episode of Galaxy Angel Z, one of my favorite franchises:

Normad: What a meaningless spectacle this is. That man thrown up against the ropes shouldn't bounce back that hard. It goes against the laws of physics..

Ranpha: What was that?!

Normad: I'm just wondering why, when one guy gets up on the corner post, his opponent comes right up to the landing spot...

Ranpha: I hope you understand the magnitude of what you just said!

In short, I much like Normad, fail to understand the draw of Pro Wrestling. But apparently, it has be present in Japan for a while. In an episode of Urusei Yatsura, Ataru watches some Pro Wrestling at dinner, so it's been around since at least the eighties. And there has been a merging of the ridiculous costumes and spectacle of Pro Wrestling with Japanese MMA (I recall a cosplaying fighter, but can't find the source right now). And so this brings me to an obscure little OVA, that opens with a mixture of Pro Wrestling and MMA – in space!

Review: Nisemonogatari

Wow. There were 52 March Madness games last week, and I watched at least some of all 52. And somehow found the time to repair, re-stain and re-finish one of the shelves I built myself. And finish up Nisemonogatari, and write a review of it. I also posted it on the AniDB, but here it is, in it's entirety.

Nisemonogatari: A Post-Mortem

People will be happy if they think what's in the museum is the authentic one. Delusions such as pictures and money don't have value. They're all illusions.

--Kyouka-sama, Kyouran Kazoku Nikki

What happens if you set out to tell a ‘fake’ story and succeed? Should a successful telling of fake story be rewarded? Well, let’s leave philosophical paradoxes aside, and discuss the truth: regardless of intent, Nisemonogatari is a weak story, and it is a disappointment. In short, this show fell flat. It failed to capture the magic of the first season, and spent too much time on character cameos and incest-ero and not enough actual story.

Before I start, I need to set the framework. I generally enjoy the work of Nisioisin. His style is somewhat esoteric, and he delights in wordplay and unusual diction, but I find these traits endearing. And I believe that Bakemonogatari is one of the best anime ever made. In my ‘Giant Spreadsheet of Doom’, there are 348 anime titles listed, in order of quality. Bakemonogatari is entry number 2. So when I discuss Nisemonogatari, keep in mind that I know full well what this franchise is capable of, and to what standards I am holding this show to.

The Good

Animation

Here is a case of when having too much of budget can be bad. The animation of Bakemonogatari was beset with Shaft’s usual budget crisises, and so a lot of the strange atmosphere and animation cuts where more forced than planned. However, somehow, they managed to turn this disadvantage around to Bake’s biggest strength, creating an eerily beautiful and surreal landscape and a truly unique animation style. In Nise, there is plenty of cash on hand, and therefore the animation is more polished, but it loses the sense of charm that original had. The animation is style very good – both fight scenes and landscapes retain the good parts of Bake, but there is no innovation, nothing new. And there the director fails to make good use of the Red Scene/Black Scene cuts as compared to the first season. It might be more shiny, but it is less filling.

Writing

When Nisioisin is on, he is on. The true greatness of Bake lay in its ability to weave an engaging story out of a simple conversation between two characters. Some of the best episodes of Bake are nothing more than Araragi trading sarcastic barbs with another character. These scenes return, and there are some notable ones, especially the opening episodes and every time Hachikuji appears. But they have a different feel to them than in Bake. In Bake, these scenes exist to provide information on the character, to define their personality or to advance a plot point. Here, they are more like slice-of-life comedy shorts, something that wouldn’t be out of place in Lucky Star or Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, but are for the most part pointless. Their only purpose is to satiate the fans of these characters, to give them some airtime to please the fanbois of the original. Often, they feel more like cameos, or that they were wedged into the story to sell more character products. It creates and odd situation. The original five girls have the best writing, but they don’t advance the story, and so all this good writing goes to waste.

Endings

The one other place where the writing shines is the endings of the two arcs. The final showdown with Kaiki is brilliantly anti-climatic, and is supremely well designed. And the closing episode again shows off Nisioisin’s command of the written word. It is not a typical anime ending, nor is it expected. But it is a perfect fit, to both the tone and style of the show. This is a fake story after all, and it is only fitting that it receives a fake ending as well.

Sound

Again, we have one of the best vocal casts out there at the peak of their game. Take everything I said about the first season and at it in here. And there is a new cast member, one Sakamoto Maaya as the voice actress for the loli vampire Shinobu. Shinobu is a demanding role, but she gives a commanding performance. There is little more to be said about the cast, this is perfection. On the music side, the OPs exceed the already high expectations set by the first season, but the ED is a letdown. I found it to be a poor fit for the tone of the show.

The Bad

Filler

There are eleven episodes of Nise. These eleven episodes contain about four episodes worth of plot, spread between them. The remainder is filler. Now, in Bake there was a lot of sitting around and talking, but that those scenes meant something. They developed a character, or advanced a plot. Nise's scenes, as I said before, are more like slice-of-life scenes. Not bad, in their own, but pointless in the greater scheme of things. And there was no moderation to it. In a low point for the franchise, there was an episode devoted to Araragi brushing his sister’s teeth. It was truly bizarre, lasted way too long, and failed to have any meaning. It seemed as an attempt to create a fetish out of thin air, and the only thing worse than a fake fetish is a fake meme. And this leads me to the next subject:

The Chemistry

Or complete lack of it. In Bake, the strong chemistry between the characters turned potential filler into engaging and important episodes. But in Nise, the chemistry between Araragi and his sisters is near zero. Part of this is bad design—the relationships between Araragi and the five girls are new and therefore need to be established, but the relationships between Araragi and his sisters is old, and therefore already established—but the viewer does not know of this relationship. They don’t need to build a relationship, it already exists, but this negates Bake’s greatest strength. And no chemistry is generated with the sisters within the content of the show. A lot of this is due the character of Araragi—he remains stern and protective of his sisters, while friendly and playful with the five girls. The result is that the interactions between Araragi and his sisters often feel forced, while the interactions between Araragi and the original five remain natural. A similar problem happens with Shinobu. Again, her relationship is already established, in the yet to be animated prequel. However, this problem is overcome, mostly due to the fact Araragi treats Shinobu like an equal, unlike his sisters. However, the focus of Nise is on the sisters, and the failure to generate chemistry undermines the foundation of the show.

The Ugly

Ero

Bake had its moments of ero, but they did not dominate the show, like they do in Nise. And the ero is not necessary to the show. It is pandering for the sake of pandering. And that is insulting. I like ero as much as the next man, but there needs to be moderation. Most of the filler I mentioned earlier consists of ero scenes. And the really irritating thing is that these scenes are unnecessary. Generally, ero scenes like this are the last refuge of a failing show that needs to make up viewership at any cost. Nise is guaranteed to sell at least 50k, so that can’t be the reason. The original Bake was a well written show with deliciously subversive eroticism. It deftly wielded the ero to enhance the story. Nise’s ero has all the subtlety of a sledgehammer. It substitutes ero for clever writing and style, and that never works well. It is lazy writing, and that is polar opposite of what a Nisioisin story should be.

Incest

A lot of the reason that the ero fails is that it is incest ero. Not only is it completely unrealistic, but it is pandering to the otaku core. It is cheap, and completely stupid. The problem is that any time invested in incest ero scenes is wasted, since there is no possibility of the characters actually following through. You could imagine Araragi ending up with any of the five girls, but the possibility of the one of the sisters is zero. Yet, in the course of eleven episodes he kisses both and strips both. This cheapens the show and cheapens the character of Araragi. This franchise is good enough not to prostitute itself like this. It was highly disappointing.

Haircutting

Nisioisin must have some weird haircutting fetish. In Bake, Nise, and Katana, there are four separate instances of girls getting their hair cut. Stop this foolishness. The longer the hair, the cuter the girl. It is a fundamental maxim.

The Conclusion

Nisioisin sets out to prove a philosophical point with Nisemonogatari. Can a fake be more valuable that the real thing? The answer is left to the viewer, but it is clear that Araragi has made his choice. But while he succeeds at proving his point, the overall this story is not as good as Bakemonogatari was. Nise is still a solid show. If this was an original show, if it was not a sequel, I probably would have rated it higher. But I know what this franchise is capable of, and this is a disappointment. I expect quality, and I got average. Not good enough.

In Bake, things are gained. Araragi works to restore the girls to where they want to be. In Nise, nothing is gained, only preserved. Araragi works to prevent loss. Bake ends with an increase over the starting point; Nise ends at the same point where the story started. This fundamental difference in design prevents Nise from matching Bake’s greatness. But it did itself no favors either, with its flawed chemistry and ero-incest filler. As a sequel, it is acceptable. But it could have been better. It should have been better.

Grades:

Plot: B

Art: A-

Sound: A-

Character: B-

Enjoyment: B

Value: {

Watchability: B+

Re-Watchability: D+

Historical Value: A }

Watching Xanadu -- Ano Natsu de Matteru 09

In any sporting competition, there is often a point where the outcome of the game hangs in the balance. Causal fans assume this occurs at the end of the game, but the truth is this point can occur at any moment of the game. It could be a relief pitcher getting a bases loaded strikeout in the 6th inning, or a falling-down tray with the shotclock expiring. In the best of games, these points can happen multiple times, as the pendulum of fate swings back and forth. An experienced eye can see these moments, as if time itself slows down. You can feel the forces of destiny swirling as the ball hangs in the air, your heart in your throat as you wait to see whom fate has favored. There is nothing like in this world. Perhaps the popularity of futbol is due to its ability to measure these moments – a goal being the very crystallization of the idea itself. In these games and matches at last forty or sixty or ninety minutes or nine innings, these moments only take up a handful of seconds. Ninety minutes of futbol can be decided in twenty seconds of play.

Codex Hermetica

Chapter 1: The Samurai

Welcome to the first of a (hopefully) regular installment: Codex Hermetica, where I will take a look at old and forgotten anime OVAs and movies. It is said that people die twice, once when they stop breathing and a second time when somebody says their name for the last time. When do anime titles die? I don't know, but I want to do what little I can to keep their memory alive. So in the Codex, I plan to write quasi-reviews of these series, and breathe some new life into these old bones. I strongly believe in the importance of history, and these are foundations that the modern industry was built on. It is only appropriate that someone pays homage to them. And for my first chapter, I shall write a little OVA called The Samurai.