Pascoite gets bored and reviews anime, vol. 57 · 11:42pm Sep 19th, 2023
Summer shows are ending! As I write this, only one I was watching has finished, so I'll throw it in today's blog, but the next couple posts should have a bunch of them. Featured items are both top-notch, an oldie (but goodie!) series, Princess Tutu, and a movie from late last year, Suzume Locking Up the Doors, plus the usual odds and ends, including more YT shorts, after the break.
Princess Tutu was recommended to me by Paul Asaran, who simply said it's a twist on the magical girl genre. The premise summary I read described somewhat of a fairy tale scenario, enough to get my interest.
This was really strange. And really good. Really good.
I made the mistake of skipping the voice-overs at the beginnings of some of the early episodes because the second one seemed like a repeat of the first, and I assumed they were all the same. Don't make this mistake. These segments give you a lot of information about what's going on. And there is a lot going on, since this is constructed as a story within a story.
A strange figure approaches a duck living alone in a forest pond and shows her a prince dancing ballet. The stranger asks if she would like to be human so she can follow the prince, and she agrees.
Suddenly, we're at a school, one that appears to be focused on the arts and pretty exclusive. I don't even know if they learn the usual things there, like math or writing, since the only classes you ever see are related to dance: a lecture on the theory of it, and, most often, performance studio. Though eventually, they do allude to art and music tracks at the school.
Duck is a human girl at the school, and I love that they call her Duck. Many Japanese names have a meaning, but they don't translate that meaning when they make a dub, since the translated version isn't the character's name. But here, they do translate it, since it's not really her name. She doesn't have one, but the other students don't realize that. Duck's a klutz, and she's often late to class, which exasperates the cat who teaches dance. Yeah, there are some rather absurdist elements to this, and in a way, it reminded me a lot of the surreal randomness of Revolutionary Girl Utena. And even more than Utena, there's a sense that there's no world beyond the school. Other animal characters show up regularly, but rarely more than once each, yet the cat is recurring (and constantly threatens a punishment for rule infractions of marrying him).
Duck has two friends she hangs out with, but she's particularly enamored with the popular girl Rue and a mysterious new guy named Mytho (pronounced like Myuto), who also has another boy Fakir who acts like an attendant to him. Mytho is emotionless, though, and various characters have a stake in keeping him that way, in parallel to an in-universe fairy tale. Duck isn't convinced, and the amulet that lets her be human also gives her the power to transform into Princess Tutu, a minor character in that tale.
But as Princess Tutu, she doesn't have any powers. She does become a skilled dancer, though, and the show uses that as a metaphor; while there is some physical combat at times, mostly Tutu can disarm conflict by dancing and being charismatic.
It shouldn't surprise from the title that this is a ballet-centric series, but unless you really despise ballet (I, for one, am pretty neutral to it), I don't think it would be off-putting. It actually uses ballet very cleverly. The background music is mostly stock recordings of classical music, but it skillfully blends in some modified versions of them. Episodes are named (in German, for some reason) after many such pieces, and oddly enough, only half or so are actually from ballets. Many are operas or simply orchestral works, but ones that certainly could lend themselves to dancing, and the direction does a great job of syncing the music to what's happening on screen, as well as making it thematically appropriate.
Take a character named Edel. She's a gem seller who's presented as somewhat of a mechanical puppet, and the calliope she plays always has a tune called "Dance of the Automata" from a ballet by Delibes. Similarly, Romeo and Juliet figures in. It's also hinted early on that Mytho isn't his real name, and if you're familiar enough with the background music, it basically tells you his real name (which isn't a spoiler, since it's not significant to the plot, though somewhat symbolic of his role).
Duck and Rue end up competing for Mytho's love, but that competition is mostly in Rue's head, since Duck just wants him to be happy, no matter what. But we're still on the story within the story. I can't really talk about the framing device without spoiling it, but this gets very meta.
The art looks much older than it is, evoking a throwback early '90s style, even though it's a decade newer than that, but I liked it. I was impressed with the technicalities of the ballet dancing, too. They did their homework.
Bit of a rant, though. Anime, why do you feel the need to draw buttholes on animals? I've been annoyed by that in several series now, particularly one I'm not quite finished with yet. It'd be bad enough putting a dot there, but what's with the X? I could see it in an over-the-top random comedy, but in something that's supposed to be taken seriously? And in this case, she's a duck. You wouldn't even be able to see that. It's a poor fit for the tone anyway.
Okay.
It starts out being silly, absurd, and fun, but it gets more serious the further in it goes. By the end, it's a lovely exploration of being who you truly are, never giving up, and doing the best you can for those you care about. Even a lowly duck can change the world.
Rating: excellent.
26 episodes, relevant genres: drama, romance, fantasy, music, dance, meta.
Suzume, sometimes called by a longer title of Suzume Locking Up the Doors, caught my eye over a year ago when the trailer came out. I'd been looking forward to it for a long time, and like lots of trailers, the little bits of emphasis it can put on this or that will distort the implications of what happens in it or what tone it will strike. That is to say, this wasn't quite what I was expecting.
Suzume is a high school student pretty far in the south of Japan, and on her way to school one day, she encounters a guy a little older than her who stops her and asks if there are any ruins around. Nothing by the traditional definition comes to her mind, but she does point him toward a small village area that's been abandoned for years. He thinks that's probably what he's looking for and says he's trying to find a door.
Her curiosity won't leave her alone, so instead of staying at school, she goes to check out the place herself and indeed finds a strange free-standing door. When she opens it, she can see a recurring dream she's been having, but she can't go in. But she also finds an odd statue of a cat that wakes up and runs off.
Finally returning to school, she notices something ominous happening in the distance, where the door was, but nobody else can see it, so she rushes back, only to find that guy doing something that he says will prevent a natural disaster. And he's none too happy to learn the cat ran away.
There are a lot of themes to this movie. Personal responsibility, the nature of family, taking part in things that are more important than you, to name a few. Suzume realizes the gravity of what's going on and runs off to help however she can. Her mother died years ago, and no mention is ever made of her father or his family, so her mother's sister has been raising her, and that's just the kind of tenuous relationship that's ripe for exploration here. Does Suzume even feel any attachment to her that would make her think twice about running away? Does her aunt genuinely care about her, or does she just want to keep up appearances?
A lot of the charm here is the people Suzume meets along her journey. They're a fascinating bunch, and as much as there are larger world-shattering things going on, all the little "help how you can, where you can" moments that arise were very endearing. It's very much a "the journey was the important part all along" while still having the central mission accomplish a great impact. I was impressed.
The only thing that bugged me was that cat. Its flippant attitude and seemingly shifting loyalties just made it more annoying than anything, and it felt like they were hand-waving its motivations, but everything came together very cleanly at the end.
It's a well-known director, Makoto Shinkai, and I've seen people accuse him of remaking the same story over and over, somehow to great acclaim each time. I don't mind, because if it's a good story, it's a good story, period. I can think two different versions of A Christmas Carol are really good for different reasons, though that's overstating the level of similarity here. That said, I do see the rather similar plots. I've seen 5 Centimeters Per Second and Your Name, and they do have pretty similar plots and themes. I guess The Garden of Words is pretty similar, too, though the rest of his works I've seen don't follow this vein. Weathering With You usually gets mentioned in that group as well, but I haven't gotten to it yet. But it's worth noting he generally makes movies out of books, so it's not him making the plots similar (though it may be him biased toward selecting works to adapt that are).
Art was very good, using CGI that was only obvious in some places, and the music was very good. Not only is it a good fantasy story, but it's also a great picture of a girl having to grow up, though with her unusual circumstances, it feels less generic.
Rating: excellent.
Movie, Suzume no Tojimari, relevant genres: adventure, drama, fantasy, coming of age.
To the other stuff, all pretty good.
Into the Forest of Fireflies' Light (Hotarubi no Mori e, movie)—and a short movie at that, running 44 minutes, including credits. A little girl named Hotaru goes to spend summers at her uncle's place in the mountains, and on one such trip, she gets lost in the woods near a shrine. A strange boy wearing a mask helps her find her way out, and she promises to return the next day with a gift to thank him. Well, it's somewhat obvious how it'll all go, because even before that, it starts with a framing device of her significantly older and going to visit her uncle again, before skipping into flashback mode. Really, that sums up the movie in general. It doesn't do anything unexpected, but it does it well. She returns each summer to rekindle their friendship, but as he's a spirit creature, he doesn't age. He also claims to be cursed: a touch from a human will cause him to die. We see their developing relationship by anecdote, a couple of scenes from each year as she ages, and one well-conceived scene of her back home during the winter, which shows a nice contrast. There's not a lot of plot, but there is a sweet tale of Hotaru coming to terms with certain aspects of how the world works, and if there's one thing I really liked about it, it's how understated it presents itself. No beating you over the head with "This is the message!", just a quiet story of a girl growing up. I do wish we'd gotten a little more of her character—I couldn't tell you much about her personality, for instance, but you can read some of it from her behavior. I debated about rating this higher, but I think it's just on the side of needing a little development to give it a kick of originality. Animation is perhaps a tad dated for when it as made (2011), but still a good style, and the music was cool, a bit quirky and leaning toward classical, and I enjoyed the composer's work on Durarara!! and Baccano! Rating: good, but high in that range, relevant genres: drama, romance, coming of age.
No Guns Life (24 episodes)—some time in the recent-ish past, a brutal war was fought, but the show is always vague about who fought and why. But one of the most lasting results was common adoption of cybernetic prosthetics called extensions, which were originally developed to enhance soldiers, but are now used to replace damaged body parts or just accommodate people who want to improve their abilities. Such people can potentially be dangerous, especially the former soldiers, so one of them named Juzo has become the only one licensed to resolve problems caused by anyone with extensions. In practice, this has him acting very much like a private detective. In fact, the whole series leans into that aesthetic. It's very much a blend of cyberpunk and noir, and I thought it was handled very well. The first episode has him taking on a case of protecting a young boy who claims to be the victim of experiments by the company that makes extensions. Various other mysteries arise, but they're mostly aligned around exposing the company's darker side. Juzo has some other friends, like his landlord, the local barber and his daughter, an engineer named Mary, and a security official named Olivier. There's a running theme of Juzo being rather human for someone who was converted into a weapon and seen as no more than a tool. It started out really strong with that noir feel, an interesting initial mystery, and good action, but it eventually turns into a predictable "bad guys want to control the world" plot, though don't expect it to come to a conclusion. It finished before the manga, which is now complete, but it's been two years with no hint that it'll continue. The main plot and all the B plots are left open, so skip this if you can't stand to see a story unfinished. Otherwise, if an effective cyberpunk/noir blend sounds interesting, it's worth a go. Art was good, though I get a little annoyed when a series resorts to chibi style for brief comic moments (I'm looking at you, The Ancient Magus' Bride). CGI is obvious in places. Music is average, though the opening and closing songs are good, especially the first-half opener. Quite a bit of fan service, and it's one of those odd shows that has more of it in the closing credits than the show, particularly in that it has some characters doing things that their personalities suggest they'd never do (like Olivier go-go dancing or Mary twerking). Rating: good, if you don't mind it being incomplete, relevant genres: cyberpunk, noir, action, drama, sci-fi, thriller.
The Dreaming Boy is a Realist (Yumemiru Danshi wa Genjitsushugisha, 12 episodes)—just finished from the summer season. The light novels and manga are still going, but I don't get a sense the anime will continue. Mostly, this is a very average high school romance. On the plus side, it's got a bit of a different angle and a couple of cool characters. Main character Sajo was once helped by classmate Aika, and in the years since, he's always been infatuated with her. He hangs around her at all times and repeatedly asks her out, getting turned down every time. Then he abruptly decides he's not getting anywhere and leaves her alone. Aika is surprised and unsure whether this is a good development. The interesting angle is that he's monopolized her time so much that she's never gotten to know anyone else, save her one friend. And that friend, Kei, is the show's best character. She immediately calls out Sajo on this and says it's his fault, so it's his responsibility to help Aika make some more friends. Unfortunately, this doesn't really last as an active plot thread. Aika finds she misses the attention, and Kei decides to play matchmaker, which was fine enough, if an unsurprising plot to follow. The problem is that it starts to follow numerous diversions that don't lead anywhere. They probably do in the manga, but for the anime, I have to think it'd be better if they got pushed to background elements, but Sajo being scouted as a potential committee member, his part-time job, helping bring a shy classmate out of her shell, becoming friends with a very... developed, shall we say, junior high student. They all felt so extraneous for the amount of time devoted to them. Art was well above average, and while the music was fine enough, the opening song was cute. Rating: good, but lower in that range, relevant genres: drama, romantic comedy.
To some animated shorts on YouTube!
Wings (short film)—another of ChungKang Animation School's shorts. This was so similar to Puppy Love I reviewed a couple blogs ago that I wonder if it's the same team who did it. A boy has wings, but one of them seems malformed, and he can't fly up to an apple in a tree he wants, but he meets a girl who has the same disability and has found her own way to deal with it. He learns he can actually make do, but then they also find a solution to both their problems, one which was obvious to me from the start, but it was still sweet. Music and art are both pretty good. Rating: good, relevant genres: drama.
Andal Chronicles (short film)—ChungKang again. This was cute but there's really nothing to it. The animation is choppy. I couldn't figure out whether the two leads were brother and sister or the old "childhood friends who've built romantic tension" thing. At first it seemed like the former, then by the end, I was getting strong Tomo-chan is a Girl! vibes from it. Music was fine, nothing special. Rating: decent, relevant genres: slice of life, romance?
Love You (short film)—and yet another by the same studio. This one's nothing surprising, but at least it's really cute. Just a girl trying to tell a guy she likes him, and he's completely oblivious to every effort she makes. The plot's been done a lot before, and it's not going to reinvent the genre at under 3 minutes, but I liked it. Rating: decent, but high in that range, relevant genres: romance.
Ghost Runner Runner Run (short film)—this was really cute. There's a lot that's implied, and I think I put it together. It seems like the girl is part of a family that battles ghosts, but they can wear special items to shut off their ability to perceive/interact with them and take a break. The girl's on her way to meet a date, and it would seem to be a good idea to keep the item on for that, so I don't know why it's suggested she take it off. Maybe it still works as long as it's in a pocket or something, and it's too conspicuous to wear it openly. I don't know. Either way, she loses it and has to fight her way through a bunch of spirits to get to her date. Some of the sound and animation effects really do smack of YT stuff, versus a more professional feel you might expect from an actual school like this, but it was still really cute. The final joke went over my head. I didn't at all recognize what was in the gift box she was carrying. Rating: good, relevant genres: action, comedy.
Seen any of these? Did I convince you to try any of them? I'd like to hear about it in the comments.
Last 10:
vol. 47 here
vol. 48 here
vol. 49 here
vol. 50 here
vol. 51 here
vol. 52 here
vol. 53 here
vol. 54 here
vol. 55 here
vol. 56 here
speaking of short anime films, have you ever seen On Your Mark?
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The music video by Ghibli? It looks vaguely familiar, like I might have seen it in a search result before, but I haven't watched it. Might as well do so now.
Yep, Princess Tutu is awesome. I myself rewatched it a few months ago for the first time in years, and I had forgotten just how good it was. Scratch that, I don't think I fully appreciated how good it was that first time. Glad to see you liked it as much as I did! And maybe more, since you looked into the pertinence of the music aside from mere theming, which I did not do (although I'm not surprised they went that far with it).
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Oh, wow, I forgot all about that! Now I need to look it up and watch it again. I remember having that song in my head constantly when it first came out.
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I've always said it's impossible to find on the internet, but that's actually completely untrue, I just found it on vimeo and dailymotion. It's Youtube where you can't find it, so I've always kept my (very shitty) copy of it because I always really liked it.
That said, heading down the On Your Mark rabbit hole just now, I swear to god that song sounded way different 20 years ago c_c; wtf
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There were a couple of the classical pieces I didn't recognize, but for ones I did, just off the top of my head:
"Siegfried Idyll" or "Siegfried's Funeral Music" playing at appropriate times when Mytho was present, revealing his name.
"Swan Lake" often when Tutu was around, playing into "The Ugly Duckling" symbolism.
"Romeo and Juliet" when Mytho was with Tutu or Rue.
"The Old Castle" when things were happening in the more castle-like parts of the school.
"Catacombs" when they were in the underground passages.
"Dance of the Automata" whenever Edel was there.
"The Great Gate of Kjiv" when Tutu was going around to the town gates.
"The Bartered Bride" when Rue was trying to get Mytho to love her.
All that was exceedingly clever.
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I knew Swan Lake and Dance of the Automata. Everything else you pretty much just revealed to me for the first time.
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Just rewatched it myself, and yeah, it's exactly what I remembered. A pity you can't find it on YouTube, I'd add it to my music collection.
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yeah, I want it on my classic AMV playlist :/
I am physically incapable of discussing twists on the magical girl genre without mentioning Magical Girl Spec Ops Asuka.
A few years in the past, half the middle school girls sent by the UN to save the world from monsters died in the process and the rest were left with PTSD. One of the survivors is just trying to live a normal life and go to high school under an assumed name when some asshole decides to try and take over the world again, forcing her out of retirement.
While gritty magical girl stories aren't exactly rare these days, this one does have several unique touches. The magical mascot creature is actually an asset in battle, rather than just a cheerleader. Every country has their own magical girls and most of them are in the military, with access to firearms - not that magical girls need help messily killing normal humans.
The show might not be polished enough to be an all-around great, but I do enjoy it as a dark action spectacle. The manga continued a ways beyond where the show stopped, and ended up incorporating the ongoing war in Ukraine.
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Haha, and I’ve probably heard you plug that show a dozen times by now. Perhaps I should just add it to my list.
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Color me impressed that you knew "Dance of the Automata." Probably a fair number of people would at least say they'd heard the melody before, but knowing it by name, and thus being able to make the thematic connection, is another matter.
I'm betting you've heard of the larger works that a lot of those pieces are from. "Siegfried Idyll" and "Siegfried's Funeral Music" are from one of Wagner's Ring Cycle operas, and "The Great Gate of Kjiv," "The Old Castle," and "Catacombs" (plus "The Hut on Fowl's Legs" and "Promenade," though those ones didn't seem to be used in a referential manner) are from Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition.