Back to Ariscottle's Profile Ariscottle's Profile

“My Generation” by The Who is perhaps the greatest song to ever capture the pure essence of teenage angst and still manages to be an upbeat, foot-tapping, instantly recognizable rock and roll classic. When writing this legendary song, Pete Townshend probably never anticipated it becoming the perfect, emotionally-moving anthem of an animated film over 50 years later. The moment this rock classic began playing I immediately realized that I was about to witness a masterful drama unfold.

Koe no Katachi is thematically touching as it tackles some emotionally powerful topics such as bullying, suicide, isolation, love, and redemption. Each topic is handled with magnificent grace and ... portrayed in a manner that is both realistic and effective. Koe no Katachi tells the story of Shouya Ishida as he struggles to redeem himself after bullying a deaf girl by the name of Shouko Nishimiya in elementary school. After forcing Nishimiya to transfer schools, Ishida becomes the target of bullying by the very classmates that perpetuated his bullying of Nishimiya. The story of Koe no Katachi primarily takes place years later as Ishida attempts to battle isolation, redeem himself in the eyes of Nishimiya (as well as himself), and connect with the peers of his past and present. What makes the story of Koe no Katachi so powerful is the realistic portrayal of its central themes while being beautifully woven into an emotionally-impactful drama.

A particular highlight of Koe no Katachi is how realistically the aspect of bullying is portrayed. Often times in media, bullying is portrayed as violent, aggressive, and merely the act of physically abusing another individual. Bullying seems to be associated with the “give me your lunch money” type of attitude where the bully is bent on taking the victim behind the school and punching his/her lights out to assert dominance. What Koe no Katachi highlights is the far more subtle side of bullying, the type of bullying that is often labeled as simply “teasing” or “just messing around.” Ishida bullies Nishimiya in a way that isolates her from her peers by creating a laugh at the expense of harming Nishimiya. Eventually, Ishida’s bullying comes full circle and he becomes the one that is isolated from his peers. Koe no Katachi depicts how others impact the effect of bullying whether it be Ishida, the primary bully who receives the blunt of the blame, Ueno, the one who perpetuates the bullying by encouraging Ishida’s behavior, Kawai, the one who laughs while avoiding blame, or even Sahara, the bystander who understands the impact of the actions but runs from the situation. Careful attention is given to the effects and portrayal of bullying and it was a welcomed deviation from the norm.

The impact of bullying creates an almost unshakeable feeling of isolation among its victims as Koe no Katachi elegantly portrays in both the eyes of Ishida and Nishimiya. Both characters feel the impacts of becoming isolated from their peers, a feeling that persists long after the actual bullying has passed. Ishida responds to the isolation by erecting walls between himself and those around him. Ishida is the pessimist that believes that he has lost the ability to connect and has concluded that the easiest solution moving forward is to block all others out in order to avoid the pain of personal connections in the future. Ishida has determined that no one wants him around and that he is unworthy to be around others. He has locked himself in a vicious cycle of isolation that only further isolates him. Nishimiya plays what could arguably be considered the opposite approach to this force of isolation. While Ishida (the pessimist) resolves himself to avoid burdening others by remaining isolated, Nishimiya (the optimist) welcomes those around her with open arms and a positive attitude. It is Nishimiya’s infectious positivity and strength throughout her situation that allows Ishida to eventually begin to overcome his inner struggles. That is not to say that Nishimiya never feels the weight of what is happening around her. Nishimiya struggles by internalizing her own demons and, eventually, we realize just how complicated her inner feelings regarding Ishida’s friendship truly are.

Both Ishida and Nishimiya are dynamic, relatable characters that exhibit immense growth while still feeling like realistic embodiments of the films central themes. Where I do retain certain qualms are with regard to the film’s supporting cast. The supporting cast ranges from underdeveloped to moronic. The characters that remain underdeveloped by the end of the film are the rest of Ishida’s and Nishimiya’s elementary school class. Each of these characters feels as though they have more of a perspective to share that could give us a more complete picture of why events unfolded the way that they did; however, they are not given the opportunity. As for the moronic cast members, it appears that the adults of Koe no Katachi have little to no common sense about how to handle these types of situations. To start, Ishida’s elementary school teacher feels it is necessary to ostracize Ishida by calling him out in front of the entire class. Why would a teacher confronting someone about a difficult situation proceed to point the blame on a student in the class and practically declare him public enemy number one? Ishida’s teacher immediately establishes a system of isolation by confronting Ishida in front of his peers. Next is Nishimiya’s mother who manages to assault three different children throughout the film. How this woman manages to retain custody of her children is absolutely beyond me. Nishimiya’s mother is portrayed as a character who has struggled to care for her two daughters; however, I find it hard to feel any sympathy for someone who answers problems by hitting any child she clashes with. Finally, while I enjoyed the personality of Ishida’s mother, I wondered why she was oblivious to Ishida’s well-being prior to his attempt at suicide. It is difficult to imagine that Ishida never displayed any symptoms of depression over the many years since his bullying began, but I realize that this is often the case with parents of children dealing with depression.

Another small grievance I had with the plot was that there are multiple coincidences that end up feeling unrealistic and mere attempts to tie up the plot in a convenient manner. For example, there is a scene in the latter half of the film where a particular character is rescued by someone to ensure that each character was shown to have at least some level of compassion. Is this scene necessarily a poor one because of the convenience? No, it was done so for the sake of the drama of the story; however, it was still a noticeably coincidental plot development.

As for the art and animation of the film, Koe no Katachi is nothing shy of brilliant. Kyoto Animation on a movie budget has proven in the past the magic they can work from an artistic standpoint and Koe no Katachi is no exception. The direction of the series is magnificent and Naoko Yamada has achieved a tremendous feat. Koe no Katachi uses its art and animation to enhance the story by the use of first person angles to accentuate the feeling of characters, the blue marks on the faces of Ishida’s peers to display his resolve to closing others off, the breathtaking imagery, and numerous other artistic choices that serve to support the story and not merely act as eye candy.

The music and sound of Koe no Katachi adds to the overall dramatic tension of the story; however there are two aspects that specifically stand out in my mind. First, as I mentioned earlier, the use of “My Generation” by The Who was a brilliant choice to quickly exhibit the power of the story through the film’s opening theme. The other noteworthy aspect is the voice performance by Saori Hayami as Shouko Nishimiya. Hayami’s role as Nishimiya was a remarkable portrayal of someone who is deaf, encapsulating the raw emotion of the character while still feeling authentic.

The greatest achievement of Koe no Katachi is the ability to tell a story with authenticity. Navigating such emotional content with grace has left a remarkable impact on me as a viewer. So often it feels that these gut-wrenching tales use tragedy as a cheap tool to illicit emotion without having developed an impactful story; however, Koe no Katachi is the exception to the norm. Much like The Who magnificently captured teenage angst through song, Koe no Katachi has magnificently captured teenage angst through film.

Allow me to preface this post by stating that I never expected to even tolerate, let alone thoroughly enjoy, Rumbling Hearts when I first began my 14 episode adventure. Rumbling Hearts is a drama/romance series from 2003 that was directed by Tetsuya Watanabe and Studio Fantasia. So what originally drew me to this series you might ask? And to that, I don’t have much of an answer. It all honestly, I started this series because I was in the mood for a romance series and found this one by chance and began it on a total whim. The studio is one I have never heard ... of, the director has done nothing of merit (in my opinion at least), it’s dated, and it has a completely mediocre score on MAL. I actually find that starting completely random series can be a fun adventure all on its own simply because you have no expectations heading into the series, but that is a tangent for another day.

So the real question is, why did I enjoy it? Now that is a question I can answer! To put it simply, this is a series that, for me, had everything I desire in a solid, nail-biting drama: originality, unpredictability, and a well-developed (albeit incredibly flawed) cast of characters.

Caution: I do want to mention that I will have to reveal minor spoilers about the series (nothing major of course) to be able to discuss the series, so I wanted to throw a quick warning out there!

The story itself revolves around four friends, originally set in a high school setting that later changes to an adult setting after a three year time skip. This premise by itself sets itself apart from other anime of its kind. It was a breath of fresh air to see a romance that, while it began in high school, is primarily set in adulthood. In terms of originality, Rumbling Hearts doesn’t stop there. Throughout the course of the series (again minor spoilers ahead), Takayuki becomes involved in a committed relationship with both of the lead heroines. This is able to occur because the first heroine he dates winds up in a tragic accident while back in high school and remains comatose for three years. This ends up developing many of the central themes of the series: friendship, betrayal, guilt, jealousy, and love. The premise is an incredibly difficult one to navigate properly without delving into the overly dramatic; however, Rumbling Hearts does so in a magnificent fashion. Even when the story seems to brim on the absurd, every character is justified in their actions (at least in their own minds) and acts according to the character motivations that have been developed throughout the series. This series is unafraid to dive into new territory and it truly sets it apart from other anime of its kind.

In terms of unpredictability, the series manages to keep the outcome a complete toss-up. By showing Takayuki with both of the lead heroines, we are able to imagine him in a scenario where he could end up with either one. By keeping the outcome a mystery, it truly keeps the entire series fresh and interesting because I was eager to see which way Takayuki would lean. This also causes Takayuki as a character to struggle because he realizes that, no matter the outcome, someone will end up damaged and hurt by the result. The series takes many twists and turns throughout that added an overall element of unpredictability to the plot.

The characters in Rumbling Hearts are incredibly flawed people. I would even argue that a majority of them (all for except maybe one) are selfish and mostly self-serving, despite what they admit to themselves. Although, I do not hold this as a negative toward the series, I actually regard it as a positive. These characters felt fresh and original. They may not have had fun personalities, but they felt different because they felt far more real than the usual one-dimensional goody two shoes we usually see in romance series. Each character is, at times, self-serving and makes choices that hurt others. These are flawed people and it allows them to grow as characters, recognize their mistakes, and learn from them in the end. Again, this is another way that Rumbling Hearts manages to really drive home the themes of jealously, betrayal, and guilt. Each character goes through a transformation of sorts and ends up a wholly different person from the beginning of the series to its end. For example, Takayuki goes from someone who is indecisive because he wants to be kind to everyone and never wants to let anyone down, but realizes how his indecision is hurting the people around him. Takayuki eventually becomes a character that is able to make decisions and follow through upon them because he realizes that sometimes the best thing you can do for someone is let them go. Each character goes through this type of metamorphose and eventually ends up a different character come the conclusion because they learn from their experiences. Characters will make mistakes throughout this series because people make mistakes in real life. I was thoroughly impressed by the evolution of each of the characters, something I never expected going into the series.

Perhaps a large reason of why I was so impressed by Rumbling Hearts is because I never expected to actually be impressed by it. Does this series border on the ridiculous at times? Absolutely. It is anime after all. The parts revolving around the accident and comatose state are exaggerated; however, this was something I was easily able to look past because they explained it well enough and followed through on their reasoning. People also seem to take issue with the conclusion at times, mostly because it doesn’t end in a fashion that a lot of people expected it to. I for one give this series props for remaining unpredictable all the way through to the dramatic conclusion.

This series is by no means perfect, but I enjoyed myself tremendously on this roller coaster ride of drama. Rumbling Hearts was original and unpredictable. It was unpredictable from a story perspective as well as unpredictable in the sense that I never would have predicted how much I would enjoy this series when I first started. In my opinion, this series incredibly underrated and if you are looking for something different than the norm, I highly recommend you give this hidden gem a shot.

There are a few categories of anime that tend to gain mass appeal simply because of what they are. Examples include run-of-the-mill Shounens, Key adaptations, “Oh no I’m trapped in a video game!!” series, and action-horror anime that are filled with gore for good measure. Due to the recent disaster known as Tokyo Ghoul, I initially brushed Parasyte to the side dismissing it as another horror clone. For the first 12 episodes or so, I held my pinky in the air and avoided Parasyte like the plague. However, I finally caved to the hype. After marathoning the first half ... of the series, I realized oh how wrong I was.

Story (7/10):

The story of Parasyte is fairly simple. One night, a bunch of parasites float down from the sky and attempt to enter a multitude of human bodies by taking over human brains. They do this in order to control a host because without a host the parasites themselves cannot survive. Enter our main protagonist Shinichi Izumi, a young high school boy who lives a hilariously average life. Do you remember the nerdy guy from the movie The Breakfast Club? Well that’s pretty much Shinichi in a nutshell. This all changes when a parasite attempts to enter his body one night; however, Shinichi holds off the parasite and contains it to only his right hand. Enter Migi, the parasite who now lives in Shinichi’s right hand and allows Shinichi’s hand to morph into a whole slew of weapons *insert obligatory masturbation joke here*. Now that parasites have begun to invade the human race they have to feed by eating other humans. Shinichi, being the Good Samaritan that he is, takes it upon himself to protect the human race from becoming human happy meals while still hiding the fact that he himself is a partial parasite.

In my honest opinion, the story itself wasn’t really all that intriguing. However, what are intriguing are all the different themes that the story sheds light on. Instead of focusing completely on villain after villain and attempting to create a premise without any depth, Parasyte poses some very interesting questions. What does it really mean to be human? Are the parasites really wrong for acting on instincts? Who are the true parasites of Earth?

Characters (6/10):

Parasyte really only has two “main” characters; however, they have a few supporting characters that, in my personal opinion, really shine and add depth to an otherwise standard cast. Obviously we have Shinichi, our main hero who wants to save world! He has really generic motivations but he’s still a well-written character. He develops throughout and goes through experiences that alter his view of the situation at hand. Is he really that interesting? Not to me personally, but I didn’t hate him so that’s a win. Then we have Migi, a character who shows a lot more development and growth than Shinichi ever does. I wouldn’t want to spoil how our tale with Migi concludes, but I did feel he was the more interesting of our two leads.

The supporting roles of Parasyte were very hit or miss. Satomi is about as bland of a love interest that ever existed. Her sole purpose is to constantly nag Shinichi over how he has “changed.” She adds absolutely nothing to the story and only serves to act as a damsel in distress for Shinichi to save and then nag and cry to him later about how Shinichi has just changed so much recently. Satomi is clearly one of Parasyte’s misses; however, for every miss they have a couple successes. The two other characters I want to briefly mention are Ryouko, the parasite soccer mom, and Kuramori, the residential detective. Ryouko is interesting because of how well she develops and grows. She poses many of the overlying questions in the story and really forces both Shinichi and Migi to question what the meaning of humanity is. Kuramori seems like a bland and boring character that is in far over his head. It almost seems ridiculous that someone would actually try to be involved in such a horrific case until we see his motivations. The scene where it flashes his bedroom filled with detective books gives a true sense of character motivations without saying a single word. At that moment everything comes rushing to you. All of his dreams as a child, where he would read the stories of these great heroes and long to achieve what they did, come forward. Its characterization that adds meaning and it was extraordinarily well displayed.

Art (8/10):

As for animation there really isn’t much to say. The animation is spectacular with well animated action sequences and a dark color pallet to fit the dark tone of the anime. This well-done animation is something I’ve really come to expect from Madhouse studios.

Sound (7/10):

Sound is highly dependent on taste. The opening theme is different. I can’t say I’m fond of the full version, but the cut version used for the opening was two thumbs up. The ending theme was the polar opposite in terms of presentation. The opening theme is very loud, electronic, and scream-y, while the ending theme is very relaxing and tranquil. Both the opening and ending are songs I would download so that’s always a good sign. The background music didn’t really do much for me. Nothing I would go out of my way to download but nothing that distracted from the show.

Overall (7/10):

Parasyte sure seems to do a lot right; however, I do think that it’s important to note that after my 12 episode binge I never quite got the same feel from Parasyte while watching it week to week. Whether this is because I missed some of Parasyte’s shortcomings in the beginning or because the show took an overall dip halfway through is up in the air, but I definitely preferred Parasyte’s earlier episodes to its later ones. Another important note about the latter half of Parasyte is that the themes of the show will begin to feel like they’re being shoved down your throat and up your ass simultaneously. Usually, I don’t have a problem with a writer being obvious with the themes because I’m not a huge fan of vagueness as vagueness usually leads to pretentiousness. But damn, this writer really and I mean REALLY wanted you to know what he was going for. Eventually, it did get a tad annoying and by the end it definitely felt like the horse had long been beaten.

Overall, Parasyte is a show that I feel most everyone would enjoy. It has all the qualities of a binge-able show: stellar action, cliffhangers, and intriguing questions. It also has many qualities for critics to enjoy: strong themes, some interesting characterization, and unique twists. Some people might argue that the show begins to be a bit preachy and takes itself too seriously by the end, but I felt this didn’t detract from the story that strongly. The ending itself could have been stronger, but it certainly wasn’t awful.

Parasyte was certainly a fun watch and deserves a full recommendation to check it out!