FiviG's Profile - Reviews - MyAnimeList.net

Last Online10 hours ago
JoinedApr 7, 2016

Anime List Manga List

Oct 12, 2024

Cossette no Shouzou (Anime) add

Recommended

Spoiler

There is something of worth here: the idea of Lolis being held up on a pedestal of desirability gets shattered. Why does that matter? Because it's a pedestal made by men and one that has viscerally hurt women. That violence, which has afflicted generations of girls and women alike, needs to be atoned for, which this anime understands and garishly, maybe even tragically, communicates. Here's where a wrinkle to this issue is embedded.

Unfortunately, this addressing can hurt a new generation of men who weren't involved initially but are now caught in the clutches of history's pain (e.g. Eiri suffering for Marcello's misdeeds, i.e. the "sins ... of the father"). This can manifest in many ways, but if you take a second to think about contemporary cultural issues, you can see men struggling with the concept of their masculinity. Similarly, descendants of colonizers are struggling with their inherited history. You can see the distrust in current relationships because of the inherited history of the former. Waking up to this responsibility of rectification is a hard thing to do, especially if you've always been told, 'you're not responsible because you weren't alive when it happened,' or 'clearly things have healed because x,y,z got this a,b,c job/position/etc.' Yet, this atonement is needed because it eventually leads to a stronger relationship between the parties. This anime suggests this. That's interesting.

While this atonement may seem like a chivalry-bound duty (e.g., Eiri submitting himself to Cossette's physical torture to 'save' her), i don't believe it's a duty steeped in patriarchy; more so, i believe it is sacrifice steeped in reparations, humility and goodwill. This is why the eventual self-ownership of this purging is not only interesting but may be vital as well. This anime suggests it is in order to generate a deeper connection. That's interesting (and as an aside, contemporary restorative justice practices would agree with such a stance).

So what happens? Eiri actually goes so far in this atonement process that he breaks the binds of our inherited aesthetic imagination (a feat personally tied to him because, just like Marcello, he's also an artist, solidifying this metaphor of recursive generational gender violence) as to what relationships we can and even should foster. (e.g., a future becomes possible with Shouko, partly because Eiri rejects his predecessors' imagination). That's why Eiri disappears in the end: because we've reached the bound of imagination; where he goes (where we're meant to go) is someplace untraversed and therefore, without a history or story, in essence, un-intelligible.

Hence, i think he may literally be going into the future with a new version of Cossette, in fact maybe without 'Cossette' at all, at least in a way we can understand her, because remember (per Marcello's imagination) our ideas of 'her' are rotted and more over not actually 'her', therefore the future 'her' could be Shouko (and whatever she entails) or something entirely different; we don't know, that's the point. Additionally, since Eiri disappears, maybe the past will not hinder him from moving forward anymore; Cossette's curse, which is really the curse of misogyny, is potentially behind him.

As I've said, his relationship is not even intelligible to us anymore from our lens of understanding, which leads me to believe he is literally beyond us. He even says before he disappears, "everything pure can combine". In short, philosophically speaking to combine one must remove differences; ideas of what femininity is or should be, is certainly a difference that may get in the way of two people genuinely connecting in a relationship. So, in the end, Eiri has left us (other men) de-contextualized to his presence because it does not exist anymore in a way that is discernible to us via our inherited lens.

But was that the end? Post-credits, we're suddenly left with a closeup of Cossette, who staring directly at us, the viewer, ominously. What does this mean? Is she our final boss too? It's a very interesting but short post-credits scene because it can recontextualize the previous scene, maybe instead of Eiri escaping the bounds of the curse, he was simply consumed by it. Maybe Cossette isn't challenging us to get by her, but warning us not to test her. Because while I've been painting this as a 'good' story, Eiri's initial infatuation with Cossette feels (obviously) a little weird. He then allows himself to succumb to a blood oath with her (the doll), and then throughout the runtime Eiri becomes more isolated from those around him. Shouko who starts off as melodramatic, actually becomes genuinely concerned for his well being, because he starts to feel like he's losing his mind and gets progressively worse looking to the point where her and others try to intervene, but in the end, he vanishes.

So the question is, what was the cost of all that sacrifice, and what was it worth? This story can also be read as a genuine horror, a stark reminder of what obsession can do to us (i.e. desiring lolis is an issue), what happens when we tie romance to power (i.e. gendered power dynamics built upon harmful aesthetic priorities is an issue), and what can happen when we wrong others (i.e. generational trauma has karma to it, therefore clearly an issue).

In the end, it could be a tragedy as well. These layers of sacrifice we see from Eiri could simply be him falling down the rabbit hole of Cossette's malevolence; the progress he seems to make might just be a semblance of the real thing. He might just have been a naive guy who was unlucky enough to be caught in history's pain. It might be a tragedy because there may have never been a way to work through the past. That's depressing but also interesting.

So, to conclude, was it an uplifting tale of atonement? One where men throw off the shackles of a patriarchal imagination as to what the feminine can be, ensuring the future of better romances by literally, even philosophically, being closer to their partners? Or, in the end, does the ghost of those standards get revenge? Is it a tragedy or something more?

Either way, i believe this simple conclusion, Le Portrait de Petit Cossette is emphatically saying do not hold lolis to any standard of worth, which, for a medium probably singlehandedly keeping the word alive, is very VERY much of worth.

Open

Gift

Mar 29, 2023

Kaze no Tani no Nausicaä (Anime) add

Recommended

Spoiler

Nausicaä is probably the perfect animated movie in terms of an accessible intro to the philosophical "other".

As a quick synopsis, "the other" in philosophy is something that in intrinsically different than "us" and therefore this difference can cause tension if not out right harm done onto "the other" which is caused by "othering": this proclivity to treat things we don't identify with, with less importance. In short, "the other" is an extremely important idea in ethics.

Nausicaä warns about the danger of "othering" rather interestingly by making "the other" giant horrifying insects. Can you imagine a creature more unlike us? Something you could be less ... sympathetic to? I mean genuinely ask yourself this: why do you squash bugs, because you don't care about them, because they don't matter, or are you just scared? Are any of them 'good' reasons?

But that's the point, these beings are different, and yet Nausicaä ingeniously also makes them necessary. And not on our terms but theirs. Which in of itself is immensely important, i.e. the insects protect the toxic jungle which is de-toxiyfing the soil but at the same time is incompatible with humanity. Towns have been lost and people have died to the toxic jungle (and the insects for that matter). But their existence is necessary. This an important but hard to deal with seeming paradox for most people when initially encountering "the other". Arguably even more important is that the movie reveals this necessity; it doesn't start with us knowing it. We, the viewers, just like the rest of the cast don't know the "Ohmu" are needed in the beginning, all we know is that they're powerful and scary. This therefore makes us re-evaluate our preconceived notions about "the other" later on. (as an aside, this also gives Nausicaä more prophetic credence in hindsight (even if it comes off too preachy in practice)

But funnily enough even before we come to the understanding that the Ohmu are powerful and scary we are actually briefly introduced to how they are beautiful and useful, with the initial Ohmu shell scene. In short the shell scene is an instance of the philosophical "sublime", something awesome that is bigger than you but something you don't need to fear, like a thunderstorm in the distance. It's this "sublime" that is probably the foundation of Nausicaä's acceptance of the Ohmu. And because this is practically the first scene of the film it is thematically cohesive in creating a subliminal environment for us (the viewers) to eventually accept the Ohmu as well. Immediately after this though, we are shown how powerful and dangerous the Ohmu can be, but it's this acceptance despite seeming paradox that the film is most interested in. It's interested in the "and yet" of a situation. They're beautiful and yet scary, they're necessary to "us" and yet (in some ways) oppositional to "us".

The film wants us to learn to hold this space of "and yet" by viewing Nausicaä as the example specifically through deescalation techniques to accept "the other". More over (on the whole) they build in existential threat to "the self". This is kind of hard to explain but in short one of the first things that happens in the movie is that Nausicaä is bit by Teto after Lord Yupa warned her that it inhaled too much noxious gas. So Teto is a lil crazed and bites her, one may think the immediate thing to do is yell and pull away and maybe even kick the animal, but Nausicaä consciously chooses to accept it even when she was clearly pained. She held space for Teto recognize the hostility in it's own actions and therefore Teto realizes it hurt her and proceeds to mend their relationship and the rest of the film they're basically inseparable. So by Nausicaä holding space for "the other" was there able to be a relationship had at all.

Throughout the film there are more and more courageous act of acceptance and deescalation (and some falters), and therefore it's fitting that the climax of the film comes to a resolution via the most extreme de-escalation technique: sacrificing "the self" to "the other". Nausicaä sacrifices herself to the Ohmu as the ultimate demonstration of acceptance. It was only in this complete acceptance were the Ohmu's justified wraith quelled. While that is a very strong stance it is also very interesting ethical one.

Now while I've breaking this down as if it's gonna be a submitted paper, this message isn't presented through lofty monologues and PhD level texts, but through understandable actions that are steeped in de-escalation and empathy. Sure it's optimistic in its ideals, because sometimes you probably can't have a productive relationship to "an other". But this movie isn't about that, it's centrally focused on the relationships you can have, framing acceptance of "the other" as an ethical guiding principle for that and seeing it to its existential end.

-----

Additionally, something that can be interesting to ponder as an aside is how the Ohmu are regularly introduced in a scene with an eastern gong-like sound. Coincidentally (or maybe not) "Om" is also the sacred sound from Hinduism. From a western religious frame of reference, "the other" here takes on new dimensions. Speaking of sounds, the toxic jungle and the Ohmu at times are also represented with 80's synth which is a stark contrast to the traditional vibes from wind instruments of the regular tracks associated with the Valley of the Wind. In short, it's clear this idea of "the other" is being depicted in all aspects of aesthetic.

Oh and on top of all this let's not forget Nausicaä is a respected (non-sexualized) creative female warrior pilot scientist translator princess. It's befitting that an animation made in 1984 with a protagonist as different as her, compared with her contemporaries, is about "the other".

Moreover, it's rather impressive that considering how Nausicaä doesn't really have a character arc, she is still likable. Why is that? Well, because at the end of the day, the character arcs are happening in the cast and (maybe potentially) in the viewer. Nausicaä is literally a teacher, one so clearly strong and lucid as to be almost unreal, it makes sense she's in a prophecy (with the slight dig at normative expectations of what the gender of a prophet should be (because of the tapestry)).

This isn't even getting into the aesthetic brilliance of the film, from which I heard was partially inspired by Dune, or the amazing soundtrack by Joe Hisaishi, or the fact that Hideaki Anno animated one of the best laser beam explosions in anime history for it. Or the fact that they were able to make the post-apocalyptic feel nostalgic, iconic Teto, etc, etc, etc...

-----
TL;DR
But I digress, so what's the point? put simply, Nausicaä is about reverence for "the other". This is a crucial lesson, regardless of a viewer's age. Is it perfect? No, but as an accessible, enjoyable, necessary, formative, beautiful film, it doesn't get much better than this, no matter how old it gets. Ethically speaking, it's evergreen and I would continue to show this film to the next generation forever more.

Open

Gift

Jan 17, 2023

Shinseiki Evangelion (Anime) add

Mixed Feelings

Informative

Spoiler

I can see why NGE is considered a masterpiece, especially in context of genre (mecha/super robot) norms at the time it came out and what Eva was trying to say about masculine normativity, but only through this lens do I see worth and at what cost?

Hot take: unless you are depressed, possibly gay, hate yourself, and HAVE to watch an abusive relationship filled 90s mecha/super robot arthouse with a red herring of a plot to come to terms with that self loathing that's spurred on by societal norms, simply don't watch this.

(spoilers past here)

Now if you still want to watch this say out of curiosity ... because it's such a non-consensual cultural monolith, know this: the finale does not give a cathartic nor tragic enough climax to justify the abusive journey. It was just Shinji on a surreal episode of Law and Order SVU finding out what the definition of "tautology" means, then we flick the channel to a slice of life ep of Shinji in a parallel dimension, then we flick back, he's gaslit then comforted and then he's kind of okay? *clap, clap*, the end.

No lie and that's on top of schizophrenic editing.

So then the question becomes why did we endure all that? What was the pay off? What was the central message? (seriously take a second and think about those questions)

Was it really just to say, hey man, I know you're in a hard place right now but if you just perceive things differently, everything will be better. ?

Sure how you perceive things matters, manifestation is a thing, but a bullet to the brain is still a bullet to the brain. (basically) killing your friend because your dad r@ped your body autonomy, is still killing your friend, plus the dad trauma.

Since Eva demanded so much, since it brought us to the brink, it needed to give us something of equal value in its finale. It needed to have either the strongest stance possible on what would happen since Shinji just continually rejected his own needs: i.e. Death. I would have maybe given it a 9/10 for that alone, even considering the red herring plot, bc the message would have been clear: that toxic masculinity corrodes unto death. Orrrrr it needed a more credible climax to his self-acceptance (episode 16 would have been great for this) with even some runtime after to settle into the catharsis of that new life, kind of like the parallel dimension school scene, except 'real'. For instance, maybe (in that new life) one day he's watching the news or something and it says "BREAKING NEWS: Nerv was destroyed by Angels but Tokyo-3 is unharmed and all traces of Angels have vanished", like the existential threat that was used as coercive leverage against him was all a farce, that would be f*kin dark and hilarious in retrospect. Like Shinji finds himself dumbfounded staring at the tv, then he finds himself laughing and then maybe he even finds himself crying. Now that's what you call catharsis. In this scenario as well the message would have been clear: your world won't end if you accept yourself but a new one can begin. And that pathos may have actually made me emotional. (and Shinji would probably be on my favorites list)

But we didn't get that, we got what I just said previously.

So... is NGE subjectively important? without a doubt. Objectively important? yes. (I appreciate that other works were enabled by its success.) Overall objectively, masterfully crafted? No, which is a shame because the subtle storytelling and impeccable pacing in the first half of the series comes close to that (even if it was a little repetitive), ep 16 was very interesting symbolically, ep 26 had some wonderfully surreal animation, the aesthetic was searing throughout and that OST is actually genuinely next level. Like the OP is a certified hood classic; "Next Episode" track is my anthem and literally f*kin give me back "Fly me to the moon".

In sum, my biggest issue with NGE is that tries to do too much and asks the viewer to bear too much for in exchange an ending that almost says the only reason Shinji is in all this pain is because it's in the way he perceived himself killing the one person in the whole world who was genuinely kind to him. Like no bro, you were just coerced into killing your future gay partner (huh wonder what the show is saying about normative masculinity?). Plus all the other baggage. Don't get gaslit into this being your fault Shinji. Like anyone who is trauma informed will find this gaslighting of liability to be at the very least problematic and at worst APPALLINGLY harmful. This is NGE's worst offense.

With that in mind, I will say that Shinji fersure gets too much hate as an MC. He's actually genuinely pretty resilient (even though his mom is almost always saving his ass through Berserk mode, oh wonder what that means?), empathetic, and perceptive. He just needs to go to therapy and have a restraining order against his dad. Additionally when analyzing his situation through his MBTI type, INFP, things become more clear about how toxic this situation is for him. In short, it's impressive that he endures. I wish I could give him a hug and tell him that it's okay to be different and that sometimes the healthiest relationship we can have with someone is the lack of one. Which is funny because the idea of isolation (in some capacity) being healthy is clearly shown when Shinji chooses to reject human instrumentality.

And while I'm wishing, I wish Misato could have been been a better role model for him, to see what a strong non-normative women (with issues) looks like so maybe he could've learned how to be a strong non-normative (however he'd eventually identify). Especially considering he already had Asuka as an unhealthy feminine figure in his life (granted she acted more masculine and abusive, wonder if that was intentional? For instance, she was so emotionally fragile that when her pride was tarnished, she shattered. Know any guys like that?). See how Eva demands you to think and interpret and wade through the abuse? The real question is was its pay off enough to warrant testing the viewers good will so? I'll leave you with that.

Phew I feel better now. Either way though, NGE is undoubtedly an experience. And while I've been critiquing it, Eva clearly has had the ability to reach people in ways other anime can't so while I don't like it, it is maybe canon. Just remember my disclaimer if you do decide to watch it: don't expect it to be "GOOD" or for you, okay? okay. With confidence I feel like this show is only ONLY for people who have endured abuse (parental, possibly related to their identity), couldn't do anything about it (i.e. they were stuck in their situation), and yet despite that, still want to get to know themselves. Be well y'all.

Open

Gift

Feb 25, 2022

Mind Game (Anime) add

Recommended

First things first, this is definitely not a movie for everyone but also a movie for anyone. Such that, not everyone will enjoy this film but it has a broad enough message that literally anyone could appreciate it.

There are many things to be said about Mind Game, one of the most important is that it was directed by Masaaki Yuasa. I have only recently become aware of Yuasa and from his filmography that I have seen, one thing is clear: he is very good at showing not telling. In such that, when he works on a project he likes to use animation as an asset ... to tell the story not to just be there because it's the medium he works in. I believe Yuasa (for the most part) depicts stories in such a way that it's necessary they are animated.

This idea is important to Mind Game because at it's core it's story is about internal struggle. Therefore, it's more about the ire-describable than dialogue. So strong visuals, symbolism and cinematography are needed more so than monologues. In my opinion, Yuasa succeeds in this front.

But I also find Yuasa is at his best when he is strapped down to a story that already exists, thankfully this is a manga adaptation, and the reference material is amazing in it's structure (I can only assume, I can't actually find it anywhere to read). In such that, the overarching structure of the plot actually gives pause for one to think.

Switching gears, I do believe most everything in the film is intentional even if it comes off as absurd. For instance the intro sequence, is a blur of shots that don't make sense until the end of the film where a similar blur of now contextual shots play. While this is a little aggressive, it makes the second (or fifth) viewing feel cozier because nestled inside these surreal slideshows is a very intentional personal story, about choice, courage, and growth.

This story is relayed to the viewer through Yuasa's acid like character interactions, but even more so than that the setting itself of most of the story is meaningful.

I didn't want to have spoilers because of MAL's guidelines, there is also more to say about the film, but I do believe that it is much more dense than it initially lets on. As a final note, the main character Nishi (who has a certain aspiration), share's his name with the mangaka of Mind Game, Robin Nishi. Interesting.

In short, I think this film absurdly yet densely depicts some of our most poignant struggles. It makes me want to experience the mangaka's other works and for me it made clear that Yuasa with the right source material (similar to Ping Pong) is a force of a director. Crazy how this was his directorial debut.

Lastly, I'm not going to pretend I got everything in this film or that I think it's perfect. But I do think it's worth a watch even if it ends up not being for you. Because like all good art, in my opinion, it makes symbolism matter.

Open

Gift

Aug 19, 2016

Vampire Hunter D (Anime) add

Recommended

*If you are thinking about watching Bloodlust consider watching this first!*

I don't say that because there is any continuity to the movies, there technically isn't as far as i know. But watching this before Bloodlust allows you to get a better sense of the main character D. This is important because fast forward 15 years (real world) to when Bloodlust is made and D is still the same age just doing another job. It's kinda crazy but if you accept the internal logic of the movies, watching both movies (starting with this one) is a better experience than just Bloodlust. In doing so, you can ...

Open

Gift

Back to FiviG's Profile FiviG's Profile

All (71)Friends

Also Available at

RSS Feeds

MoreTop Anime

MoreTop Airing Anime

MoreMost Popular Characters