Animating tactical genius: Miho, Marika and Shinon

by dm00

I came to Girls und Panzer very late and for an odd reason — the soundtrack amused me.  I’d written the series off as moe fluff (it is that), but something about the soundtrack on top of all the enthusiasm for the series prompted me to give it a try.  I started watching the series a week or so ago, and found myself plowing through all the episodes.

Between its production values and charm, it’s no wonder so many people rated the series so highly.  I’m sure it’s been talked to death.

But I want to express my appreciation for one thing the series does that’s rarely done so successfully: we see a brilliant tactician at work.  We see Miho being brilliant, we aren’t just told how brilliant she is.  We see her scanning the landscape through her binoculars, we see staring at her knees as she mentally tabulates her resources and the resources of her opponents. We see the flash of inspiration that leads to the audacious move that carries the day.

Anime (nor any other fiction) rarely pulls this off.  After all, it takes a bit of genius to show us the work of a genius (you can borrow some of that genius though: I suspect the military otaku have dissected each of Oarai High School’s battles and found possible inspirations in the history of tank warfare for Miho’s successful maneuvers).

Fortune favors the prepared.  We rarely see genius, even less often do we see the 99% perspiration that accompanies the 1% inspiration that makes up that genius.

We see it just a bit in Girls und Panzer as Miho spends a late night contemplating the forces tomorrow’s opponent will array against her.  We saw it as Marika in Bodacious Space Pirates struggled for sleepless days to hatch a plan to take on the shocking new opponent who had appeared and was destroying her fellow pirates.

One of the best renditions of the genius-by-sweat-equity was portrayed by the character Shinon in Starship Operators.  Throughout the series we see her strategic cunning at work. Then at the end of the series, when the odds looked hopeless, Shinon spends several days in the simulator, running battle plan after battle plan, looking for one that has a prayer of keeping them alive through the coming conflict.  She emerges with a plan that uses her ship in a completely unexpected way, and they live to fight another day.

(I guess we do see a lot of the “hard work and guts” school of winning the day through sheer determination and strength of will. I’m not talking about that, here.)

Girls und Panzer does this subtly and well.  It was a joy to watch.

Kotoura-san and the Power of Emotional Manipulation, Successful or Not

By TheBigN

So far, of the shows  I’ve watched so far this season (a list which slowly grows the more free time I have and the more interesting statements I hear about it from others), Kotoura-san two episodes in has been the one that’s grabbed me. It helped that I didn’t know anything about the show before hand, as a large part of it is the pathos that they try to induce by quickly dropping misery on the namesake character, and whether or not they’ve done too much with depends on the eyes of the beholder, I guess. While I can easily seem some moments in both episodes so far that could give me a feeling of “they’re trying too hard here” (in episode one, DAT CAT. In episode two, the lonely house as examples), I haven’t come out having that feeling as of yet.

The show’s been trying to advance the idea of  ”how someone with psychic powers is ostracized in today’s society” with the heavy dump life takes on Haruka in the first half of the show, as well as how it still affects her (and Yoriko) in episode two, and it’s been effective for me. In fact, I wish they could have been more visceral in some ways, such as actually showing Haruka’s emesis in episode two instead of a discretion shot. If it went that far however, I’d assume many people would be scared off by watching something that intense (might be too serious for something that’s supposed to be a romantic comedy). That being said, it’s hard not to notice that I’m trying to be played like a violin in order to care for Haruka as she comes out of her shell. And it’s pleasant for me that I know this and (so far) I don’t care about that.

So far, it’s hard for me to fault her. Picture by muneyuki: http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=32893426

Otakon 2012 Day 3: Not Much Quantity, Yet So Much Quality

By TheBigN

Sundays at Otakon are always a cool down period for me. Part of it is that usually the panels scheduled on this day tend to be ones that I don’t particularly have much interest in (though I really wish I did check out the Director’s panels when they used to be there. I missed out on something special there).  Part of it is the anticipation for going back to my regular daily grind and wishing that I had more of a respite from it. Part of it is gearing up to say final Hi’s and Goodbyes with friends. And so on. So I don’t really run around during this time and try to get something more out of my leftover time there. I’d like to think this was the case on this Sunday…

Yuki Sanada from Tsuritama. You can find the most interesting cosplays in autograph lines…

Space Brothers and That Reciprocal Push

By TheBigN

So this first year of medicine residency has been tough in many ways, especially in terms of time available to do other things, such as being faithful to this blog (but for the most part, I’ve been able to watch some anime throughout, so it’s a matter of priorities more than anything else ). But when things have gotten tough in matters such as finding a place to continue my training, or when I’ve felt the need to vent because the work stresses me the hell out, I’ve had the ability to rely on colleagues regardless of experience who’ve been there before. Including my older brother, who’s currently in his second year or residency; no fooling.  But I’ve noticed that when I talk to him, he offers encouragement more so than advice, and often it feels like either he’s waiting for me to ask him for help (which I’m not the best person to do that) or that he wants me to learn how to go through rough patches himself with nary a helping hand. And while that previous sentence can just be pure conjecture on my part, I feel like I’m also in my own way pushing him, though I’m not sure exactly how. It’s a push and pull with uncertainty, yet we’re still relatively close throughout all of that. I can’t say that our relationship mirrors that of Mutta and Hibito in Space Brothers, but I feel like I can see that reciprocity as well between them.

Doing this for five years with something to show for it?

By TheBigN

This post is a little late, though given my posting frequency for the past year, it’s something.

It’s been an interesting year for me in general, and large parts of interesting stuff kept me from writing lengthy posts here on DMAB (if any posts at all – 16 here in the past 12 months :v) while making several tiny comments elsewhere. I’m very much grateful for dm00 picking up the slack and then some in this regard.

I wish this was how I look when I have free time to do things like this. Picture by rorerurirarirurero: http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=23524523

A “Quick” Question

It feels like I talk about this sort of thing way too frequently, but there’s always something that keeps pulling me back to thinking about the adoption of the term “slice of life anime” (to the point of where I’m getting sick of seeing that to the point where he’s probably already at). In this case an article from a CNN blog focused on geek culture about anime that’s decently written, but glosses over some things and pokes my nerves again with using the term and defining it in a way that bothers me:

“slice of life anime”, in which characters didn’t really do anything, but spent a lot of time talking about nonsensical subjects and looking pretty. “Moe” characters – young, adorable girls on the cusp between puberty and adulthood – were a pervasive signature of these anime shows.

“Slice of life anime” marked a stark shift between darker themes and comedic themes, affecting the climate of anime on a major level.

In an article that uses various “turning points” to explain how anime has changed over time, this is one of those examples, and with my bias showing, I don’t feel like it’s used in a positive light.

I’m still at a loss as to why this definition (variations on “stuff not happening” tied into “moe” characters and whatnot) has become acceptable and mainstream enough that it gets thrown around frequently. And that’s because this usage often evokes a negative connotation in my head (as in “this is what’s wrong with anime today” doomsday-type of connotation) to the point where it feels like it’s becoming the new scapegoat in anime, incorporating the old scapegoat (moe) into something that’s more definable. A genre that shifts anime into places “we” don’t like.

As with issues of this nature, there’s few clear-cut examples where people actually say this sort of thing and mean it, so that what I’ve said with many grains of salt. That being said, what I want to know is how this definition has developed over the years to become a catch-all, as well as why people (in the west) are using it as an explanation of what anime has currently become. Does anyone have any suggestions or clues?

Spring 2011 Anime Initial Impressions

Another day, another late quick impressions post. As with the impressions done last season, Link’s the main author here, and when TheBigN or dm00 post, we’ll indicate it by name and by color.

Madoka Magica and the Weight(lessness?) of Expectations

By TheBigN

Given the amount of coverage this blog has had with this show, this won’t be the last you’ll hear from us for sure. Spoilers obviously abound here.