The Shitty Podcast Episode

Here's the first episode of The Shitty Anime Podcast, I've  re-purposed this blog for this new anime podcast that my sister and I have started so here is the first episode, the others will be up shortly.

Ghost in the Shell is Gonna Suck

Ghost in the Shell is one of the most prolific and influential series in modern times, especially in contemporary western culture. It feels as though we were just biding our time of enjoying the almost immaculate slew of Ghost in the Shell media until people decided that they could make a few extra bucks by re-animating the peacefully resting body of works, Ghost in the Shell. Ghost in the Shell was first serialized as a manga from 89’-90’. Later it made its biggest impact worldwide with Mamoru Oshii’s 1995 masterpiece, Ghost in the Shell.  Oshii was known for his experimental and distinct style that was utilized in Angel’s Egg and the 2^nd Patlabor movie. He considers his style to be the exact opposite of the Hollywood formula for making a movie which is why it is so ironic that Hollywood has chosen Ghost in the Shell to be the next IP on their chopping block. After the unexpected success of the theatrical version, an anime was released as a two season series starting in 2003 and although there was a tonal shift, the heart of the movie was still intact and a fabulous job of being different and standing alone from the movie, but still remaining the same thematically. There was a second movie in 2004 that picked up where the first one left of and it is generally seen as inferior to the first but it’s not a bad movie by any stretch of the imagination. This is where I would consider the golden age of Ghost in the Shell to end.

                Skip ahead 9 years when the anime industry is in decline, sales just are not what they used to be and production studios are doing what they can to stay afloat (note the similarities to Hollywood). The re-invigoration of the industry that Attack on Titan would bring has not yet happened so we have now entered the age of re-hashing, where studios will take an old beloved IP, spruce it up a bit and then regurgitate back out for the adoring otaku to eat it up like they always do. At this point Production I.G. was thinking “Hey, it’s been about ten years since Ghost in the Shell came out, people love Ghost in the Shell… we still have the rights to that yeah?” And thus the mediocrity that is known as Ghost in the Shell: Arise is released.  The series of movies which was later put into an anime series is yet another re-imagination of the series with a fresh coat of paint slapped on. It’s not even a good coat of paint, all the character designs are just different enough so it can’t be confused with the rest of the shlock being thrown at us. Not only are the aesthetics unimaginative everything about it seems like it has been tailored to make the most money.  It’s far worse than the show in that it in no way captures the feeling that the movie and the show managed to convey, it’s ok that they wanted to do their own thing but what they pulled off is just boring and I consider Arise a part of Ghost in the Shell in name only. I really hate this slew of re-hashes that the entertainment has been throwing at us, and Ghost in the Shell just happened next in line, right behind Berserk and Evangelion. Now not every re-make during this time was bad, the most notable exception being JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, but that’s another post for another time.

                Fast forward to 2014 and Hollywood has found itself in a similar position to the anime industry, DreamWorks says “Hey, I bet we can make some money off that Ghost in the Shell thing we got the rights to a few years back… we still have some writers working on that right?” And thus production got moving on the westernized Hollywood adaptation of Ghost in the Shell, and it looks horrible.

                Let us for a second forget the horrible CGI, the poor choice of actors, and even the story,  we don’t have to look at those things to know that it’s going to be a bad movie, although we will. All you have to do is look at the current state of Hollywood and we know that this will be shitty cyberpunk action movie that will pander to the lowest common denominator. Any attempt at philosophical thought that the original movie is known for will be shallow at best, the plot will be cut and paste from pieces of the most popular aspects of the franchise, it will be yet another origins story, and all dialogue and every aspect of the storytelling process will be lifted directly from what has been working most recently in Hollywood. I knew this as soon as I heard it was going to be released simply because that is what every other IP that has been in a similar position as Ghost in the Shell. Just look at every super hero movie ever. Now let’s talk about the trailer and how everything that I have said will come to fruition.

                After watching the trailer it’s easy to see that it’s shamelessly pandering to the old fans. They showed all of these classic scenes from the original movie as well as the show, but they don’t have the same context, they don’t mean anything, and they’re just a poor imitation of the original. Let’s take the classic scene where we see Major’s bedroom for the first time. In the original all we can see is the window that looks out over the city and her bedroom is cast in shadows. This is a great peak into Major as a character, we see that her room, which is generally very personalized and is a reflection of oneself is completely dark, we get the sense that Major doesn’t really know who she is. In the trailer we get a re-creation of the shot but we can see her room completely and it conveys the same pretty much does it add anything? Is this how it’s going to be communicated?  Obviously not because in the trailer we have to be told about her inner conflict, so the only reason they put it in movie is because it was in the original, it adds nothing to the story.  It’s already a bad sign about how the movie will heavy handedly deal with the delicate and more interesting nuances if the movie. This scene is just put in there because it was in the original movie. The same goes for basically the rest of the movie where plenty of other scenes are lifted from the original movie as well as the show. The movie will be a sub-par shallow westernization of the source material.

                From the glimpses of story that we get it looks like they are trying to mash together a few elements from Arise with the original, which is not a good sign. It looks like the ominous voice that we hear later in the preview is going to be the Puppet Master from the original movie, and I get the feeling that they will be pursuing him, but when Major and him meet for the first time he will reveal that the people that she thinks saved her life when they shoved her in her robot body actually betrayed her, probably by implanting fake memories, and now she’s going fight back. Aside from this being extremely played out and devoid of creativity, it completely takes away everything interesting about the Puppet Master. In the original all he wanted to do was re-produce before he was captured and killed, and as being artificial intelligence, he still has the basic primordial instinct of passing on a piece of himself. That is what made the Puppet Master such a great character and object of interest in the movie, and I highly doubt anything nearly as interesting as that will be in the new movie. Another part of the movie that is terrible is the way they deal with the creation of Major’s body. In the movie the origin of her cybernation is briefly talked about, but used as a fantastic intro sequence. It’s not that big of a deal because in this world completely cybernized people are not that uncommon, what they choose to focus on instead is how she deals with her situation and what she does to connect to her humanity, and this works perfectly with the Puppet Master as the antagonist. In the movie it appears that she is the first ever cybernized person and she struggles to connect to something like how everyone around her can. This makes her a fish out of water character and it’s flat out stated that the circumstances of her cybernation will be the focus of the film. This is just boring and played out, which is probably how every aspect of the movie will play out.

                Now let’s talk about the characters and presentation for a while. Everyone is freaking out how they cast Scarlett Johansen as the Major instead of a Japanese actress and this doesn’t bother me so much because Major’s body is cybernetic so it look like anything, but Batou being white is pretty bad and that’s definitely a missed opportunity for representation. But the choice of ScarJo for Major is pretty telling of the series. She is a huge draw for audiences which really let you know that they are putting profitability ahead of artistic vision. I think ScarJo is a fine actor, and she’ll probably do pretty well as Major, but I highly doubt she is the best choice for the role. Another point that shows how much this movie is being made solely to drive a profit is that they could have done any number of creative things and it still would have made money because there is a large base of Ghost in the Shell fans, like myself, that will see it regardless of what they did with it. Instead they made a product that will drive the most amounts of people to see it and that is all this movie is concerned about. That is all any major production is concerned with.

The whole point of all of this is that this is not a true Ghost in the Shell movie; it’s just a formulaic future Hollywood thriller that’s wearing the desecrated skin of multiple Ghost in the Shell media pieces  Buffalo Bill style. That just doesn’t rest well with me, and I’m going to see regardless because I have to, but I’m not going to like it. If you have no idea what Ghost in the Shell is then you’ll probably like the movie, I bet it’s a solid action thriller in a cyberpunk setting. But it’s not Ghost in the Shell.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure and Poses

Opening to JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 4: Diamond is Unbreakable

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is a cultural touch stone when it comes to anime, and one its most notable legacies is the striking of a pose. The characters are known for the ridiculous poses that they make. Creator Hirohiko Araki has stated that he drew inspiration from runway models when drawing these characters poses. These poses work so well because they effortlessly blend two polar opposites of absurd hyper masculinity with hyper femininity to create something very unique. Poses are just one of the many wonderful parts of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 3: Stardust Crusaders

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 2: Battle Tendency

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 3: Stardust Crusaders

The Wired

Part of what makes Serial Experiments Lain so great is that the idea of Lain existing as an omnipresent god of the Wired, which is basically the internet except depicted as a higher level of reality, with a cult following actually exists online. There are small pockets of the internet that are basically a peak into The Wired. One of my favorites is a neocities website called fauux.com, its basically a blog for some Norwegian guy who goes by fauux but its presented and executed in such unique way that perfectly fits into the Lain aesthetic. There are so many hidden aspects with increasingly difficult layers to access that his whole website acts as The Wired would. I've spent hours trying to uncover every secret he hid, and it was a fascinating way to connect to the show that I've never seen before. I actually got in contact with the guy when I asked if I could use his art to promote my radio show and he was nice enough to let me use it, free of charge. He updates it every once in a while and its fun to go back and see whats new. Although since hes gotten more popular its kinda ruined the mystery behind it, and its less Wired-esque in a way, but its still fun. Check it out here.

Every Frame A Painting

Perhaps the most well produced and eloquently executed critique videos are those of Every Frame A Painting. He is a film editor and on his Youtube channel he takes his years of experience, and waters it down to an easy to understand, well polished work. In this video he covers the awesome cuts of the late Satoshi Kon. Its a joy to watch Every Frame A Painting and this is the most relevant one to this blog so enjoy.

Anime Everyday

It's a little late for a horror post considering that Halloween has passed us by and we are now in full Christmas mode, but this is still a good reflection on the topic of horror in anime. Anime Everyday is one of the most consistent, quality posters I know of and there's nothing I can say here that he doesn't cover in the video.  He can be a bit elitist on his stance, but that shouldn't be a problem for you considering you're reading this blog. 

Once again I like to point out that this blog is never trying to make you feel bad for liking what you like, taste is subjective, but I think it's fun to try and apply objective criteria, to a subjective medium. I want to see what happens when you set a standard to anime, and I believe it can be done to some degree, considering that there are some basics to judging a medium, for instance we all know when we're watching smut, so there is a starting point for evaluation. At the end of the day though, if you enjoy it, then that's all that matters and don't let me, or anyone tell you it's bad. This blog is just my opinion, its what I personally like, and I'm just putting froth arguments for why I like what I like, and maybe you agree, and maybe you don't, I just hope you find these posts insightful and entertaining to some degree.

Garbage

Here is a short little blurb about the title of this blog, I say that anime is garbage, and that's true for the most part, but let's talk about why. There are two main reasons, both of them are covered in the very insightful video by Gigguk which I posted above.

1. The first reason is the thesis of this video which is that it is incredibly difficult to get all of the stars to align for the production of an anime to even be considered, let alone a quality one. Studios and investors have a larger risk of losing money when producing a show that strays from the standard, which is the case for most good anime.

2. The other reason is a little more subtle, which is that anime fans are garbage eaters and are the main reason for anime being bad. Japan doesn't pump out bad anime because they think it's funny, they do it because it turns a profit. The fans eat that garbage up and in today's age where at least here in North America, buying anime or manga is considered a joke, production studios have to make content that appeals to the least common denominator so they can get dumb otaku to buy figures or other stupid merchandise because lord knows they won't buy the actual anime. They rely on tropes and formulaic stories because if they don't then they risk going out of business.

We are the problem, if you don't support the anime you like by actually spending money on it, then you are contributing to the trend of bad anime. If you want things to change, go out and spend money on a Crunchyroll subscription or something similar, and watch the shows that are good. Crunchyroll collects metrics on these things, and those are relayed back to anime studios. If you spend money and only watch good experimental stuff, then you will see more of that being produced. Cash is king in anime. In other words go out and buy Nichijou on Blu-Ray so we can finally get a season two, that way I can die a happy man.

Nichijou

Almost All of the Characters for Nichijou, Too Much Hype for the Blu-Ray's. 

Nichijou is one of my favorite anime series of all time. I like it so much that I've bought all the manga that has been released thus far in America. I like it so much I've purposefully not finished the show because I don't want to live in a world where there isn't more Nichijou to watch, which is why I was ecstatic when I heard the news that Funimation was finally going to release it here in America, on blu-ray no less. The show is an absurdest comedy about the every day lives of three school girls, although the show has a massive cast including a deer wrestling principle, a talking cat, and an 8 year old mad scientist. It runs for 26 episodes and each episode is a series of short clips. The jokes are fantastic and animated in an absurdly high quality for the content that's being delivered which only adds to the hilarity. Its this obscenely high production quality that makes this blu-ray release exciting, Being able to watch Nichijou in glorious 1080p will be a delight.

This joke is made 1000x better by the high production quality

Often times North American releases includes and English dub for the characters voices, and so anime fans have the dilemma, should they watch the Japanese dub with English subtitles, or the English dub. This is commonly referred to, the subs or dubs argument and it is hotly debated in the anime community. This arises because a lot of the time the companies, like Funimation, that acquire the rights to the English dub more times than not do a horrible job. Characters voices will sometimes not match the character, be annoying, or sometimes they're just bad. But that isn't the case all the time, so people argue about what is better. I've heard people say that if an anime is good then it will have a good dub, or that they only watch subs because that's the way the show was meant to be watched. I disagree with both, I go on a case by case basis, but usually I pick the subs, just because they're usually just higher quality. The voice actors work with the director personally while often times the English dub is cast and directed without input from the director of the series. Of course there are some dubs that are better than subs, like Cowboy Bebop or Hellsing, and there are plenty of subs that are better than dubs, like Neon Genesis Evangelion or Serial Experiments Lain. And there are some where they're all bad, in which case you probably just shouldn't watch it, or just read the manga.

mfw people argue about subs or dubs

Nichijou luckily does not have this problem because the original voice acting is amazing, all of the voice actors are incredibly skilled at their craft and their voices suit their characters perfectly.I couldn't imagine hearing their voices any other way and now luckily I won't have to worry about that because on this very rare occasion, Funimation is releasing Nichijou in North America without and English dub. I can't remember the last time that ever happened, but I'm sure glad my viewing experience won't be tainted by shoddy voice acting. It's being released on February 7th, and you can bet I'll be counting down the days. Read more about it here!

Kaiji VR Game to be Released

                In a recent Anime News Network article, which you can read here, they announced that the game developer Solid Sphere will be releasing a virtual reality game on PlayStation VR based on the popular manga Kaiji which was later adapted into an anime. Kaiji is one of the most stressful anime that I have ever seen, it’s so stressful that I haven’t even been able to finish it because I can only watch an episode or two at a time, so it’s only fitting that the game has you walking across a suspended steel beam which gets narrower the further you go. Keep in mind that this is all in VR, hopefully the players will have better luck than Kaiji.