hontou ni Stripey Insists Sisters Cry Oniichan Now

from the ancient times FGH

More stuff from the pre-blog era for archival: FLCL, Gundam SEED, Hand Maid May, Hellsing.

FLCL (Reviewed 2001-12-27)

Weirdshit headtrip courtesy of Gainax of Evangelion Ep 25 and 26. Naota, a grade school boy, being fawned over by his older brother's high school girlfriend and then assaulted by the madcap Vespa riding Haruko. Things literally start popping out of his head, leading the more machinations by Haruko, the robot Canti, MiB-like force, the planet-killing Medical Mechina and Atomsk the Pirate King.

Mad mix of mediums, blurring the line between manga and anime with scenes (seen also in KareKano) of manga interruptions to anime scenes where the characters within the manga panels are then animated. Easter eggs with the use of Ebichu the Housekeeping Hamster soundtrack samples as well. The story doesn't always follow chronological order and seriously fucks with the viewer's head at times, but I suppose that's art by an otaku studio.

Great riotous fun, with plenty of rock guitar music, the violent wielding of electric guitars melding over into the baseball motif. Grandly epic yet local, deeply personal yet world-shattering, lots of uncomfortable moments where the viewer's own social mores are tried against what we know to be the sordid realities clinging like filth and flesh to our ideals. Solid series, definitely recommended for all fans sick of the usual saccharine derivative shit.

At present, I'd rate Top wo Nerae! 2 above FLCL. But I'll need to rewatch it again before I can decide. Selective memory plays tricks on you.

Gundam SEED (Reviewed 2004-05-04)

The popularity of this series can be attributed to drawing on the wider Gundam brand name, excellent art and animation as well as a blistering pace for the first half of the mammoth 50 episode series where viewers are led to cliffhanger after cliffhanger. It was also somewhat refreshing to see various supporting characters were killed off - it's a big war, not everyone's gonna make it through; something that was emphasised by the images of the closing credits. I also liked the portrayal of strong females in the story. Mariuel Ramius (sounding rather like Marco Ramius from Tom Clancy's The Hunt for Red October) and Nataru Bagiruuru were excellent leaders and officers in their own ways. Lacus and Cagalli had stronger will, purpose, political savvy and common sense than their male counterparts, the somewhat Shinjiesque Kira and less-whimpy-but-plenty-confused Athrun (expect many yaoi fanfics about this very slashable pair). Murata Azrael, as the manic genocidal silver-tongued villian on the Earth side, makes an excellent villian. I loved the way he made complete immorality and amorality look so naturally rational. A good villian really brings out what the good guys are fighting for and against.

Having said all that, I was faintly disappointed with it. There was plenty I enjoyed about it, especially the intra-factional politicking (within the Earth Alliance and within PLANT/ZAFT) but there were several important elements that were inadequately explained or resolved. For example, I still have no idea what this "SEED" thing is and why Cagalli gets those big-SEED-has-been-activated eyes and what extra super special power does Lacus get when she opened those eyes too at the end of her philosophical monologue in the midst of the final battle? We know that Kira is the result of some super-coordinator breeding experiment but what about Athrun, Lacus and Cagalli - the latter of whom is supposed to be a Natural? Right now, I don't really care anymore... and I think Full Metal Panic: Fumoffu?'s Gundam PANTIES parody is probably the best substitute of an explanation for me.

The series also suffers somewhat from Dragonball syndrome. The weapons just keep getting more and more powerful until it becomes ridiculous, especially when you re-look at the earlier episodes, it's hard to swallow how quickly they arrived at point Z from A. Even the vaunted Strike Gundam becomes mass-produced.

Two interesting issues raised in the series that I'd like to explore further. First is the broad group of concepts on conflict that are shown in this series: threat perception, security dilemma, escalation. Background. The war is directly triggered off by a nuclear attack on Junius 7, a PLANT colony and is referred thereafter as Bloody Valentine. Actually the conflict has deeper roots in the Natural's fear of the Coordinators' superior prowess in just about everything and that fear causes Coordinators to become targets of discrimination and violence on Earth. The Coordinators react by forming their own polity, housed in hourglass-shaped space colonies and their own military, ZAFT. This physical separation, due to the Natural's inability and/or unwillingness to protect Coordinators in their midst and the Coordinators' desire to find security among their own.

Threat perception. The Naturals feel threatened by the Coordinators' superior intelligence (translating into superior science, technology and military materiel) while the Coordinators, having a low and falling birthrate, fear being eventually crowded out by the Naturals. In the end, extremists within the Naturals strike first. Until now, it is unclear as to whether the Bloody Valentine attack had official sanction.

Security dilemma. Except for the extremists within either group, probably neither wanted this war and simply wanted to be left alone by the other. This alienation between the two groups allowed suspicion to build up even among the moderates. So that when violent conflict erupted, it was easy to justify military action in terms of self-defence and limited aims of honour and favourable terms. This is essentially the case of the majority allowing themselves to be dragged deeper and deeper into a conflict because they did not clearly look at the roots of the conflicts and what it was fundamentally about. The only ones that did seriously think and plan for further escalation were, unfortunately but usually, the extremists on each side seeking a Final Solution to the other.

Escalation. Defensive measures become less passive and more active to the point they could really be offensive measures. Luring ZAFT to the Alaska base and the destruction of 70% of its attacking force leads to the retaliatory EMP strike on Panama that destroys the Earth forces and the Mass Driver (for space launching) there. That in turn leads to Orb's destruction as the Earth military desperately seeks a replacement mass driver to launch their forces into space. Later the nuclear destruction of the ZAFT asteriod fortress of Yakin Boaz is shortly followed by the gamma-ray obliteration of the Earth military's main base, located on the moon. Things reach a point where the costs of escalation have become unbearable and the true and unlimited aims of the conflict - mutually assured destruction (best represented by the nihilism of Rau Ru Kruez) - are laid bare. Fortunately, the leaders of the extremist factions on either side (Azrael and Zara) are Killed-In-Action just in time for the moderates to seize control and attempt to arrive at a negotiated termination of hostilities with the other side (again, the characterisation and personification on the Earth side is much weaker).

The second issue is about the roles of power, realism and idealism in war and peace. We don't really see any evidence of a peace camp in the Earth Alliance though there is evidence that there is reluctance on the part of some of the higher-ups endorse to Azrael's methods (though perhaps not his goals) e.g. wanting to first use the N-Jammer Canceller technology to restore full power generating capacity on Earth rather than launch an immediate nuclear attack on ZAFT/PLANT. There is clear evidence of moderates in the PLANT group led by Siegel and Lacus Klein against the kill-them-all-to-ensure-our-security group led by Chairman Zara. Orb represents the ideal of Naturals and Coordinators living together in harmony within the same political and territorial spaces.

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiples violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction... The chain reaction of evil - hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars - must be broken, or we shall be plunged in to the dark abyss of annihilation." Martin Luther King Jr.

The peaceniks clearly realise that good intentions, love and an angelic singing voice are not enough to stop a conflict, particularly one over which so many lives have been lost. The ruling council of Orb chooses suicide and the dissolution of their political entity rather than to betray their principles of neutrality and coexistence by siding with the Earth Military or ZAFT. Power is needed, even to negotiate for peace, especially when the other side's idea of peace is you (all of the Other) being dead. Thus the need to talk peace while wielding the weapons of war like the battleship, Eternal and the two uber-gundams, Justice and Freedom. For me, Gundam SEED's greatest strength was to show up this fundamental contradiction.

After watching Gundam SEED Destiny, I realized that I had taken the first season much too seriously. And that I still have yet to read Schelling's Arms and Influence. orz

Hand Maid May (Reviewed 2002-03-05 with revisions 2003-11-16)

Computer wunderkind receives a cyberdoll by accident/twist of fate. Hijinks and hilarity ensues. They fall in love. Bigger picture emerges. They live happily ever after. Sort of.

I felt some irritation with the Tenchi Syndrome i.e. every female loves the main character (Kazuya) who probably reflects the demographic of the core otaku audience (youngish geekish bespectacled college student who is rather good with computers, quite a nice person at heart (haha) but clumsy with the opposite sex). But this one really is a genius. Not Washuu style but enough of a genius to let my irritation slide. And the almost Love Hina level of fan service, Choose Your Favourite Type of Girl range of female cast, Akamatsu Ken amounts of panty flashes and bouncy bouncy bounce bounce. Ah well. Fan service ain't all bad. At least no unnaturally weird fetishes (pedo-stuff or incest).

The reason of the title becomes apparent as the android maid can be held in your hand and had nothing to do with other possibly more ecchi interpretations. Similar structure to Mahoro with the story background becoming more apparent as the series progresses, but not as touching and the ending was rather less captivating. But HMM had two quite interesting, if not too surprising, twists. Not to spoil your fun, let's just say '1/6 to 1' and 'Back to the future'.

Some people might find the maid genre rather distasteful. Hegel's master-slave dialectic, subjugation and exploitation of the female made tolerable only by the chance (and arguably rare) presence of a kind and enlightened master. To that, I say, maybe you should just watch CLAMP anime instead of male geek fan service anime. Surprisingly, Kasumi-chan, the real girl, comes up tops for me in this series.

An entertaining short series - a tad too many Love Hina/Tenchi elements for my personal taste but reasonably enjoyable to pass time with. As a maid anime, better than the meandering and discursive Hanaukyo Maids but definitely not reaching the standard of Mahoro (first season).

I can't even remember that HMM had a harem element to it. I remember the ending rather fondly now though. Haven't seen Midori no Hibi but I do wonder if it'll make an interesting comparison.

Hellsing (Reviewed 2003-11-23)

Super busty Seras Victoria is captured by a vampire after other members of her elite special ops team have been killed and turned into ghouls. Arucard, with his overly large hat, turns up and shoots through her to kill the vampire. With her dying breasts... i mean breaths, she consents to Arucard turning her into a vampire minion of his, thus beginning her new life/undeath.

Through Seras (employing her as the rookie plot device), she is introduced to the Hellsing Institution which is *surprise surprise* a secret organisation with Royal assent and charged with "burying the dead". Its ultimate weapon is a true vampire, Arucard, thus perpetuating another over-used premise in vampire/horror movies (think Blade and Vampire Princess Miyu where the worst enemy of the undead et al is one of its own) who has sworn fealty to the rightful head of the Hellsing family, Sir Integra Winsgate Hellsing. Artificial vampires start appearing, created with some kind of bio-microchip and stretches Hellsing to its limits. It doesn't help when the Church of Rome's secret Iscariot Division sends a powerful Regenerator to interfere in the affairs of Anglican England. A rival master vampire appears and all seems lost when Hellsing loses its political power and Arucard appears to have met his match. But they prevail. Sort of.

Despite all the cliches that i grumbled about above and more (i suppose "Hellsing" is a bad pun on the vampire killer, Dr. Van Helsing from Bram Stoker's Dracula and btw, knighted women are addressed as "Dame" not "Sir"), the 13 episode series still seemed promising due to the charisma of the main cast: Seras Victoria is endearing in her naviety and devotion to Arucard. She also has quite a few humourous moments - i'll just say barrel of a rifle and mega-cannon. Oh, did i also mention she is cute and busty? Integra is interesting as a strong willed old-style aristocrat complete with faithful (and deadly) manservant, Walter. Father Anderson is a great counterpoint to Arucard with his stranger powers, fanatacism and blind hatred which cause you to doubt his sanity. And of course, the main anchor, Arucard, who is one cool badass.

The big disappointments came from the failure to properly develop what could have been a fascinating and gripping story. Character and relationship development were uneven - Seras' struggle to retain her humanity in the face of the reality of her vampirism was suddenly dropped as the Nameless One approached. Her relationship with her master Arucard was only briefly touched on during the climatic fight and we have no idea what happened to her after that. (This master-slave dialetic was paralled between Integra and Arucard and there was a good bit of dramatic tension at the end when Arucard seems to attempt to turn the tables on Integra.) The whole episode with the artificial vampires and the disgrace of the Hellsing Institution was simply glossed over with a text panel and voice-over saying the MI5 investigation had failed to uncover the truth. Given the promise of a larger plot with all the bureaucratic infighting between various security and intelligence agencies as well as Hellsing and Buckingham Palace, this conclusion was extremely unsatisfying to say the least. Stripey tells me it's a GONZO penchant for weak, cop-out endings.

If the series was remade or continued, my wishlist would include: What is the position of Hellsing and Integra following the Nameless One's defeat (Will the Queen intervene)? Will Seras finally accept herself as a vampire and take up Arucard's offer to give her back her own will? Will Arucard and Father Anderson continue to clash (as a proxy of the rivalry between Hellsing and Iscariot)? Another interesting aspect i would have like to have elaborated on was how did Integra's father subdue Arucard and to what extent are Arucard's powers that of his own and how critical is the Hellsing seal in constraining or boosting his powers? Will Seras' bounce alogrithm be adjusted?

Probably still worth a watch, if only to glimpse the potential that was eventually unrealised.

Hellsing Ultimate so much better. I recall this as the series that made me BEWARE OF GONZO and to steer clear of Odex VCDs which had such terrible contrast that I could hardly see anything.

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