Mega Megane Moé
Hell and Heaven Moéltdown
Posts tagged Kaiji
In a world without omnipresent narrators…
Feb 12th
Where blogposts run wild in the internet, one man stands between a computer screen…and the wall behind him. And actually, he’s sitting. Coming soon – actually, right now – to a screen near you…
The Editorial. (This post is not yet commented)
Unfortunately that’s about as funny as the post is going to get, as we return back to our regularly scheduled Shiori worshipping search for a better memorable meme analysis, commentary, and yes, topic title, which, as you may have noticed, has a lot to do with that great voice from the sky.
Uh, the narrator.
Ironically enough most anime, and probably TV work in general, have as many varying beliefs in the existence of the narrator as the world does in the existence of the higher powers vaguely alluded to in the last paragraph. The majority of the shows take a largely individualistic approach, believing that The Narrator is inside each and every character, with the male lead interjecting useful mental comments into the conversation such as “Heloooooooo, <s>officer</s> meido.” (This is anime after all.) Very rarely, a show will be a nonbeliever, not implementing the narrator at all, giving a very third-person view to the scheme of things. And also quite uncommon is the canon implementation of the narrator, the enthusiastic and energetic voice that helps to explain the action, shouting statements like “The hero makes his move!” (Followed, of course, by the girl turning him down – don’tcha love context?)
A mix of the first and third variations are the ones I’ll be covering today in a case study, as I’ve recently been doing some musing about the storytelling of Kaiji during the ample downtime (action-wise, perhaps, although the mental conniving goes non-stop) of a show that is probably taking a few episodes to explain less than an hours’ worth of play.
The situation I pose is simple: the anime utilizes both lengthy inner monologues by titular character Kaiji and external explanations by the third-person narrator. Together, they probably compromise the bulk of the show, as Kaiji is very much a thinking man’s show, in-between all the falling off beams (among other physical punishment) .
But, what if we were to remove these segments? Read the rest of this entry »
Track Two: KimiKaiji, School Days LxH, and old-school fandom
Feb 8th
Day before yesterday I saw a Not Boat,
yesterday an sentimental fic,
and today, you…weird…music video…thing.
I keep trying to be a crazy anime fan. As a guy, I watch magical girl shows, as a realist, I watch ridiculous harems and visual novel adaptations, I fanboy over 2D things more than anything 3D, and I have an adoration of glasses-sporting characters that will put me in a straightjacket someday.
Yet somehow, I always seem to be one-upped by the manic minds across the sea, of what undoubtedly are self-labeled the “true otaku”, those who really have no shame nor sanity. Read the rest of this entry »
Track Two: Kaiji
Jan 27th
The story of Kaiji is a mentally and emotionally charged one, revolving around the titular character’s quest to escape from a crushing debt inflicted upon him by the yakuza, the Japanese gang. Kaiji, an anti-hero with a dead-end job, is forced to participate in emotionally and physically testing ‘gambles’ against his fellow kind of losers, in a last-ditch chance to win big…or die trying. These games include an evil form of rock-paper-scissors, a tightrope walk 22 stories up, and even more sinsister events, where the punishment is often too painful to comphrehend. Much commentary on the society of today, combined with complex psychological battles, makes Kaiji a deserving watch for anyone who likes mental challenges with a shot of adrenaline.
1/26/08: Episode 16
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1/19/08: Episode 15
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Click here for more information on Track Two.
-CCY
Looking Both Ways: The Fall Season Carryovers
Jan 19th
Looking back…
And now for the Slowpoke news: we’re in the winter season.
I’m still stuck in the past, not because of any traumatic accidents which have permanently scarred me and/or my memory, but because the fall season is arguably a much more robust season than the winter ones, at least in terms of new shows.
Especially for a visual novel slash romance slash restricted rock-paper-scissors fan like me, there were a lot of shows that were very appealing; many of them, despite being in tried and tired genres, brought a lot of fresh concepts to the table.
And what’s interesting about this, is that unlike in the summer season, a lot of the most promising shows didn’t close out at twelve episodes. Those that did, were strong shows, no doubt, but many more than that have been promised at least 20-odd episodes, double the goodness if they can keep the pace up.
As such, the winter watchlist is turning out to be strangely familiar. There are plenty of carryover shows on the list, and those that are new shows to 2008 are mostly sequels in some way or form (Zoku SZS, Minami Okawari). Not to leave a bad impression of the winter season – but there aren’t any names of new shows that really stand out from it.
This doesn’t equate with ‘no good shows’, per se – some of my favorite fall shows have been ones that have been completely off the radar – but going off the blog reactions so far, there hasn’t been a standout show that absolutely blows people away, that came out of nowhere and delivered the awesome. Undoubtedly there probably will be, but for now I’m content with surviving off both fresh old shows, and some true classics that are burning a hole in my DVD collection. Today, I’ll take a look at what we have to expect from some of the shows coming into their second cour in 2008.
Read the rest of this entry »
Through Three, Fall 2007
Oct 25th
Oh no! It’s the dreaded but ever-popular “here’s what I think about all the new shows in a season that I’ve barely seen an hour of” post!
Perhaps it’s one that can be considered overdone in the anime blogging world, but it certainly serves a purpose. A blogger’s watchlist can say a lot about their tastes and passions, something that can be helpful when getting a concept behind the words. Not to say to form massive stereotypes on bloggers, but at least once you know the general viewing pattern of a person you can know where to turn when you need your fix of genre-specific fandom.
The seasonal review posts that pop up around the first few weeks of a show are also helpful to those of us who actually don’t have the time to watch every first episode individually (major props to those who can; it’s some serious effort just handling half) and need to gauge popular opinion to see what are some of the unknown shows that went previously under the radar.
As such, it’s a little late but it’s time for one more take on what shows suck, what shows don’t, and why you should listen to me instead of everyone else. Most shows have gotten three episodes in by now (look at the title. Ooh, alliteration, exciting, I know) and that seems a fair enough time to get a reading of the series, especially with the projected 12-episode length of many of this season’s shows.
I don’t plan on directly ranking the shows against each other but rather putting them on an overall barometer of just how much hype a show can build in me; whether it’s more likely that I’ll crash the servers looking for the latest release or whether it’ll pop up months later to remind me that it still exists.
If you’re looking for a take on all 30+ shows I would reccomend one of the excellent summaries from somewhere else, but if you want overly biased harem / romance comparisons (plus one or two oddballs; 8 in total)…welcome home, master.
Yeah, I can’t stand that line at all.
Read the rest of this entry »