Meme: Repent! Repent!

[nebroadwe]

AnimeNewsNetwork.com's weekly "Hey, Answerman!" column last week put the following challenge to its readership:

Pretend you're Catholic and confess! Send [in] your controversial anime fan confessions ... The best ones will be printed here next week; there will also be a "Gallery of the Lame" so don't send me stupid stuff.

I sent mine in, but they didn't make the cut (or the "Gallery of the Lame," phew!). So here they are:

Bless me, for I have sinned while watching anime ...

Azumanga Daioh put me to sleep.

I found the dubbed version of Generator Gawl to be a hoot, and not in a so-bad-it's-good way, either. The edits to the script and the vocal performances of the English-speaking cast improve the story to the point where I actually enjoy watching it as SF. Sadly.

Death Note is not as smart as it thinks it is. It isn't a meditation on the nature of justice or a Ring of Gyges exercise -- it's just a thriller. The "intelligent" characters make dumb decisions whenever the plot requires them to, and the treatment of the female characters is incredibly off-putting. Ugh.

Spirited Away makes perfect sense from start to finish. And it's nothing like Alice in Wonderland, because it's not about the nonsense logic of dreaming; it's more like those Celtic tales where the hero encounters figures and situations running under otherworldly rules. "The Destruction of Da Derga's Hostel" should be required reading for any Westerner wanting to "get" Spirited Away.

The end of Last Exile is incomprehensible. But that's because it doesn't have plot or character development -- just character types doing things one after the other. (It's very pretty, though.)

The end of Escaflowne, on the other hand, is perfect. (So is that of Princess Tutu.) I enjoy romantic closure as much as the next fan, but oh, it is wonderful to encounter a story where the heroine's fulfillment as a character does not require her to glom onto Mr. Right.

Fushigi Yuugi has terrible characterization, sub-par animation, mediocre incidental music, bletcherous gender politics, whiplash-inducing shifts from melodrama to slapstick and back again, and runs for fifty-two incredibly repetitive episodes. And I'm about to pop it in the player again, because I cannot resist the siren call of the schlock ("Yui-chan! Yui-CHAAAAAN!").

For these and all of my sins, I am truly sorry. Well, some. Okay, not at all. Absolve me anyway, and give me my penance! I promise to amend my life, if not my opinions ...

Confession is good for the soul; I feel better already. Check out the column to see what evil lurks in the hearts of other fen ...

Comments

[fmanalyst.livejournal.com]

My confession is that I'm just not as interested as I used to be. I'm following certain series, but I'm not starting any new ones.

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

These things do go in cycles. I'm still interested, but I work my way through series so slowly that I'm still catching up. Right now I'm trying to finish Le Chevalier d'Eon and Tsubasa (mostly in order to make sure someone picks up the OVAs -- plus, my godchildren like it) and mourning the orphaning of Story of Saiunkoku. Given how much I enjoyed Emma the manga, I think I'll be giving the anime a try now that Nozomi is bringing it out. Of things currently running Over There, I'm interested to see how Allison to Lilia and Toshokan Sensou (Library War) pan out -- it looks as if very few people have anything good to say about the former at the moment, but the latter is still generating buzz. If the Someday's Dreamers sequel in the works looks at all useful, I'll probably check that out when it makes it to this side of the pond, too. I enjoyed the first series for using "learning magic" to talk about learning to work in the helping professions. Also for having a very pleasant musical score.

[fmanalyst.livejournal.com]

I'm mourning Saiunkoku and Black Lagoon. I didn't like the Tsubasa anime, though I want the OVAs too. I bought the first couple of discs but the pacing was so excruciating that it made me angry. I'm still eagerly following the manga though, as I am XXXholic.

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

Black Lagoon I haven't heard of -- what's the attraction?

Agree with you about Tsubasa anime pacing wholeheartedly (my godchildren find it amusing that I rant about wasted seconds under my breath while we watch :-).

And suddenly I'm developing a manga collection. I swore I wouldn't -- too expensive. Then FMA came along, and Tsubasa/XXXholic, and Emma ...

[fmanalyst.livejournal.com]

Black Lagoon is about a salaryman who gets kidnapped by modern day pirates in Southeast Asia for a disk he's carrying. When he's hung out to dry by his corporation, he joins the pirates. It's full of gun battles, nihilism and philosophy (Heidegger even gets a mention at one point), and three of the most truly kickass women in anime.

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

I shared your post and what inspired it with a few friends because some of this really amused me a lot.

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

They had to shut down the forum thread that started over the initial question because it got to be too long (and too full of people just expressing opinions, rather than confessing. My Last Exile confession probably isn't that shocking, but hanging out where fanficcers roam makes the Escaflowne and Tutu opinions a wee bit dangerous. Someday I must finish that Tutu story in which Duck remains a Duck and Fakir marries somebody else, just to prove it can be done.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

this was highly amusing so definitely agree Deathnote is nowhere near as smart as it wants to be

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

I'm annoyed that I started collecting the anime -- I have this completist urge to finish the collection, despite the fact that I pulled the last disk out of the player and made disgusted noises at it. Maybe I'll wait for a cheap boxset, or $2 used copies on half.com. People are going to start dumping disks eventually.

(I wouldn't be surprised if L had read the Ikea Torture Manual ... )

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

nods, that's what I use netflix for. I get all the way to the end for relatively little cost. Then again I've gotten to the point in life where I'll a) stop watching a series b) stop reading a book. I used to suffer thru to the end but no longer

[fmanalyst.livejournal.com]

That's how I handled the Tsubasa anime -- Netflixed the end and still yelled at the tv about the pacing.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

I live in the middle of nowhere at the mercy of cartoon network and the crap they put on Sci-Fi so netflix has become my saviour

[mulzrule.livejournal.com]

Hee, what a hysterical "contest"! I totally agree with you on Escaflowne, Spirited Away, and Death Note. I don't think I even made it past ep 3 of DN, but I adored the two previously mentioned movies. I find myself falling out of love with anime/manga lately A) because of lack of time and B)because nobody freakin updates anymore! Arakawa's the only one who's still faithful with her beloved series Fullmetal Alchemist. Come on people!