Category: Anime

Ongoing Investigations: Case #071

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At some time in the past I used to have some amount of skillz, but no more. Nothing has proven this more than me playing the New Super Mario Bros. Wii. You can play it like a standard Mario game in which case it plays pretty much like every old school 2D Mario platformer. It really reminded me of Super Mario Bros. 3 quite a bit. The other way to play it is is multiplayer which just adds to the madness. The second you add another player on the screen the game changes completely. It makes many things in the game that were simple very hard and several hard tasks very simple. If you play the game with the right people it will add to the fun especially if you use the bubble trick during some scrolling parts and if you use the team ground pound. Also partners can make getting the coins so much easier. But if you play with some other people death by scrolling and “stolen” powerups can lead to some petty grudges. Our little group pretty well together. We beat the game proper without too much difficulty but having some very good players did not hurt. We still had to go back and get all the star coins but I think we had a great time.

Playing New Super Mario Brothers Wii with 4 players is the only way to roll, seriously. It is fun, it is insane, it is hysterical, and it is deadly! Biggest issue that we all had was when someone would get hit there would be a slight pause of delay which totally threw off your rhythm causing much mayhem and plenty of extra deaths. This was never more evident than in the hidden world in World 8 with the rollercoaster-like contraption. I also found the game to be the right mix of difficulty, which is certainly ramped up with multi-player. While I agree that is references Super Mario Bros. 3 a lot, I think it really took a ton for Super Mario World, possibly my favorite, and things from Mario 64 and even Super Mario Bros. 2 U.S. This game was a wonderful culmination of great pieces from each older game and I have faith that when they make a sequel, they had better make a sequel, that they will fix some of the annoyances and add even more fun stuff! I can’t recommend this game enough, it’s a gem, Mario’s still got it!

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Ongoing Investigations: Case #070

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I had trouble putting into words how I felt about Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms. It was powerful yet quiet; whimsical yet jarring. This story involves people who lived through the atomic bombings of WWII and the generations that come after them. But instead of being about the bombings proper, it’s really about their lasting meaning and effects. These are personal anecdotes the first of which is a poignant and sad, while the second is about understanding and the future which is a nice way of contrasting them. It would almost seem patronizing to see the first story play out happily. However much these bombings bring a string of emotions to the surface, the stories are kept even by the drawing style which is charming. A beautiful and just a little thought provoking read.

I picked up Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms entirely on a whim while entering a raffle for a trip to Japan at Kinokuniya. This is definitely a prestige release that will win awards and praise from critics but will be avoid by mainstream readers. The manga is about two interconnected stories about how two generations deal with the bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A powerful story that deals not only with how the Japanese people had to rebuild but the stigma of the bombing as well. The first story is very melancholy while the second story is lighter but does not break the mood. Both stories go quickly. It only took me about half my train ride to finish the whole book. It was a solid mature story that looks at an important but ugly time in modern history without being preachy or depressing. This is first and foremost the story of the charters whose lives are touched by the bombing more than the bombing itself. But this is the best way to talk about such events. The art is very light and vibrant which helps keep the story refreshing despite the weighty material. A great read for anyone who wants something with a deeper message than your average manga.

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January’s Final Denouement: The secrets of incest and childhood friends.

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My first Final Denouement comes from two commonly used tropes that seem to perplex people to no end. What is the dual appeal and popularity of childhood friends and incestuous siblings to Japan? I propose that while these are hardly the same fetish they both tap into a very similar cultural desire. This makes them oh-so-popular with the Japanese but very odd to the Western audiences.

Japanese society promotes a very formal culture. There can be countless barriers between casually meeting people let alone dating. How many times in anime and manga have you seen people be reluctant to use someone else’s first name despite having know them for the longest time? A recent Anime 3000 podcast makes it clear that while they are opportunities and venues to get to know people better in Japan, overall the Japanese tend to value and protect their privacy from strangers. These barriers are not strictly Japanese, it is just that they can be stronger and more culturally enforced in Japan.

Opportunities to circumvent these barriers are especially appealing to the socially awkward. A way to instantly have a connection to someone without having to go through the complicated social dance could be extremely appealing to someone who has two left feet with such matters. It would be an ideal dream to know someone that would let you bypass these social barriers. To be instantly on an informal level with someone that would easily promote a more intimate relationship is the magical appeal of the childhood friend or the sibling.

The childhood friend is a person you have know all your life therefore you can instantly talk to them as an equal. The childhood friend is known before the tricky politics of gender relationships have formed in your head. Before the wall that separates men and women has become concrete. So when both friends awaken to sexuality there is this open bond that formed naturally without any of the messy complications of adult relationships. The sibling exists in an even more familiar and barrier free existence. Incest also has the added taboo factor which might turn away some but actually attract others.

These two factors then become understandably attractive. The socially inept do not have to change who they are or attack a seemingly unbeatable foe. They just have to be themselves and can still connect with someone romantically. This is not totally running into a realm of fantasy but it is a wish for a simple answer to a more complex problem. I would equate it with wishing to win the lottery. Fun to think about but horrible to put any amount of concrete hope into.