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Mar 18, 2023
Like Tatami Galaxy, NANA was a manga about characters of a very different age range compared to me. Despite the fact that there were many events throughout the manga that I couldn’t totally understand or relate to, I was still riveted by the beautifully crafted coming of age story of Nana Osaki and Nana Komatsu. What I loved most about this coming of age was that it focused not only on the two main characters’ individual growth as people, but also their inevitable impact on each other as they struggled to find meaning and order in their lives. In reference to my review of A
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Silent Voice, I thought that NANA did a much better job portraying the importance of interpersonal relationships realistically. I know through first-hand experience that people are not separate islands - as I reached out to Charles Wallace and opened my heart, so did he to me and I think the emotional weight of that vulnerability in relationships is dramatized so perfectly in NANA.
Nana Komatsu’s character was one that stood out to me the most - despite how old she was, she and I shared so much in common - emotional, loving, maybe a little ignorant. She’s a plain country girl living in the city, where she befriends the members of a famous rock band, which as weird as it might sound, reminded me of how I first felt when meeting Calvin. I found myself reading NANA through Nana Komatsu’s eyes, and the fact that she could form close friendships and find love, even if she was just a normal girl among celebrities, was very inspiring to me.
Overall, I think NANA was the manga I learned the most from. I was able to essentially peek into a semi-adult’s life, because of how detailed and realistic the manga was, and watch how two characters wrestled with their past trauma and their place in society. From NANA, I’ve learned that being an adult comes with its fair share of challenges, but in the end, by reaching out and forming lasting relationships with those around you, life is ultimately worth living.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Mar 18, 2023
Puella Magi Madoka Magica, surprisingly, was the most “out-of-the-comfort-zone” I’ve ever felt when watching an anime (maybe Tatami Galaxy comes second). It took the famous magical girl shoujo genre that I’m used to and turned it upside its head. Rather than a coming of age, it almost felt like an anti-coming of age, where the final messages of the story don’t really highlight maturity in a positive light like most other stories do. Instead, my final take away from the show was something along the lines of don’t become too ingrained into the status quo of the failing society around you; live life on
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your own terms, and change what you don’t like about it. The whole system in the show seemed really twisted, as each magical girl inevitably met their fate of becoming a witch, and it was honestly a little depressing - reminded me a little bit of IT and Camazotz, the way everyone assumed the role that society was given to them without much of a fight, and marched towards some sort of meaningless ending. Creepy.
Anyways, despite my initial reactions to its gloomy outlook, after watching the movie and discussing it with Charles Wallace, I realize that there are parts of the show that align with my beliefs. The Incubator species, who are revealed to be behind the whole plot of the story, aim to harvest the human emotion that is produced from the magical girls’ transformation into witches (I guess kinda like nuclear fusion in the sun, or nuclear fusion plants for energy). However, what ultimately defeats the Incubator is love, an unexplainable and spontaneous human emotion. Homura describes it as “the pinnacle of human emotion, more passionate than hope, far deeper than despair - love.” to which the Incubator replies “We could never hope to control anything so unpredictable.” Seeing this scene, I was strongly inspired and reminded of how I defeated Camazotz in pretty much the exact same way - through an only human emotion, love, which could overpower the status quo and which is stronger than reason. So while I can’t really get behind the show’s depiction of coming of age, I think that the emphasis they place on love as a human emotion really stood out to me.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Mar 18, 2023
FLCL is a lighthearted and chaotic story about mending dysfunctional relationships. When Naota’s (the main character) brother leaves for America looking for new opportunities, Naota’s family and those close to him fall into disarray as the metaphorical planet they revolved around suddenly disappears. What I loved about FLCL was that each character has their own way of dealing with their loss, and as a result their own separate coming of age story. While there wasn’t really a character I personally related much to, many of the characters in the show reminded me of Charles Wallace - young children, too mature for their own good. Naota
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and Ninamori both had the same problem in the show, misunderstanding what it means to be an adult, and trying to seem overly mature by putting on nonchalant airs and refusing to show emotion. I can’t really speak for Charles Wallace, but I do think that back when our father disappeared, he also felt that same need to protect us by becoming more mature, with his incomplete understanding of adulthood. I’m glad that all three of them eventually realized that adulthood isn’t so stoic and strict, and that it’s okay to be a kid.
FLCL, kind of similar to Madoka Magica, focused heavily on that childish silliness before adulthood, and I could easily feel that goofy atmosphere in almost every second of the show. FLCL is the most comedic out of the shows I’ve watched, with tons of references to things I’ve seen and my dad likes watching (like South Park, for example). There were a bunch of stupid scenes that made me laugh, and kind of lightened an otherwise typically serious topic. I think that atmosphere that FLCL established was a message in itself, a reminder to reconnect with the child within us. This less extreme take, a mix between Madoka Magica and the typical coming of age story really resonated with me. Although short and spontaneous, I took a lot away from the show.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Mar 17, 2023
Yona of the Dawn was one of my first manga and anime ever, so this review probably comes with a bit of nostalgia. The story starts brutally and abruptly with Yona, the princess of a prosperous kingdom and the main character, witnessing her love interest murder her father. From there, it becomes a tale of her reconciling with her past pampered, ignorant self and becoming an independent woman to save her kingdom and the ones she loves. It probably sounds like an overdone trope, but to a young girl who never really could relate to the overly stereotypically feminine stories like Kamisama Kiss, Yona of
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the Dawn was a savior of the shoujo genre. I immediately felt a personal connection to Yona, who suddenly had to cope with the loss of her dad, but more importantly learn how to connect and build meaningful relationships with those around her.
What I loved most about Yona of the Dawn was how emotionally and mentally focused the manga was; unlike many other adventure and coming of age shows, it really took the time to detail everything which was going through her mind, and it allowed me to really immerse myself into her world and her journey. Although Yona and my journey most definitely are very different, her plunge into the unknown from the safety of her past life is something that I have experienced before too (I did NOT expect Mrs. Whatsit to show up at our house’s front door!). And I think I can say that Yona’s growth into someone independent that can think and love for herself is something I see in myself as well.
I guess the only thing is that looking back from a coming of age perspective, Yona makes her development rather quickly, without too much hardship, and I just felt that it doesn’t really do justice to how difficult it was to step back and take a look at yourself to find what you want to change. Despite it being less realistic, the story and its message were really inspiring to me at the time, and still now Yona of the Dawn has stayed with me as a earnest, beloved tale of a girl leaving her shell.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Mar 17, 2023
A Silent Voice was one of the movies that I was really looking forward to watching, since it’s so critically acclaimed and a beloved film for all ages. And for that reason, I’d love to say that I enjoyed it just as much as its fans; however, to be honest, the movie fell slightly short of its expectations for me.
I did like the main character, Shouya, and appreciated the messages his character imparted about self-acceptance and embracing imperfections of those around us. In addition, a large premise of the movie, bullying and ostracization, was something I connected deeply to. However, at the conclusion of
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the movie, I felt really unsatisfied with how the other characters were portrayed - I thought the relationships between characters, even Shouya and Shouko, the main characters, weren’t really expanded on and honestly didn’t change much throughout the series. When I was reunited with my family and loved ones after my fight with IT, I had a fresh outlook on life and I think I came to appreciate them, even my father, a lot more. I felt like a lot was left out of A Silent Voice in that regard; while Shouya begins to learn to accept others by the end of the movie, I didn’t really get to see his reconciliation with others like I had hoped to.
On the other main character, Shouko, I appreciated her character at first - she experienced extreme bullying, and I really sympathized with her and even saw myself in her. But as the movie went on, I feel like she was just a tool, a catalyst for Shouya’s character development, and never actually had her own coming of age story, which just didn’t make sense to me - I feel like a story of growth like A Silent Voice should have both characters grow alongside each other. It was really disappointing to see that Shouko, after being bullied throughout her life, never really was able to gain her self-esteem, and instead was more of a supporting character to Shouya, especially since Shouko was who I related to the most.
Overall, while I did definitely cry at some points of the movie, I just felt unsatisfied by the conclusion and overall lack of growth from the characters. Sorry if this comes off as pretentious or anything… I just feel like it didn’t really live up to the praise.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Mar 17, 2023
Tatami galaxy was a swirling mess of a show, in maybe both a good and bad way. The problem that the animation tackles is a pretty well-known yet difficult one - the choices that we make in life, and how they define us. The show’s structure itself, however, was something that I’ve never really experienced before - something like a time loop, where the main character (who’s nameless, by the way) gets to restart his college experience in pursuit of “The Perfect, Rose-Colored College Experience”. The main character continually turns back time, slowly falling into a depression as each of his alternate stories derail into
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chaos. What stood out to me most was the main character’s tendency to blame others for his failures, and this sort of blind romanticization of maturity, kinda like how I used to see Charles Wallace and Calvin as these ideal children and compare myself to them. There was this sudden realization of the main character that he has to accept his flaws as a part of who he is in order to take control of his life and live in the present that really hit me hard: “You must accept that you are the person here, now, and that you cannot become anyone else other than that person.” (kind of cliche, I know). It feels weird to say, but I feel like I experienced the same epiphany in my battle against the Black Thing - I suddenly understood that there was no one else that could save Charles Wallace beside me, and in that moment it kind of clicked for me, that I had to stop blaming my faults, like Ms. Whatsit said, and take responsibility as Charles’s sister and the one closest to him.
Although Tatami Galaxy was probably aimed at a demographic a bit older than I am, I still feel that a lot of my experiences are echoed in the struggles of the main character to accept himself. A lot of the show was confusing, and so many things felt random, which I personally didn’t like as someone that appreciates a clear-cut explanation for everything and no plot holes, but overlooking that, I thought this show was poignant and effective in its message.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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