Anime and me
Introduction
There's a thing that happens to a number of older people, like me: they realise that the world is moving on and could leave them behind if they don't make some effort to keep up. In some cases this involves trying to get a handle on youth culture, which leads most of their peers to say: "He's entering his second childhood; so inappropriate", or: "So sad, she should act her age". Well, sod them. But yes, it can feel a bit weird to look into stuff which the young are taking for granted, but without the implicit reassurance of those around you. So with these thoughts in mind I'll sketch out how I came to be interested in a few anime and manga, and what I've made of them.
Actually, I have not the faintest recollection of how I first came across anime. It was ten or more years ago, and I found some snippets - stills they would have been - from an anime called "Golden Boy". The pictures were intriguing in style, and there were hints that it was a moderately well-regarded example of its type, so I looked around for a copy, only to be defeated in my attempts to find one, as it appeared only to be available on VHS tape, from Japanese sources. Actually, I got an English dubbed DVD of it recently, which I'll mention later.
I should mention, just by the by, that I have had a passing interest in Japanese culture for a while, as a result of visiting Japan on business in 1980 or so (very successfully, as well - I sold my software through agents there for several years after that), and this may be why things Japanese sometimes make me pause a little longer as my gaze moves over them.
Skip to about four years or so ago. I was studying a piano transcription of Bach's setting of Komm süßer Tod - written originally for voice and accompaniment and then rearranged as a chorale prelude for organ. While searching for information on the original, I happened upon a YouTube clip of the unrelated song from the movie End of Evangelion. I was immediately intrigued by the song itself, both music and words, and fascinated by the collage of images that accompanied it (I soon found that there were a number of different videos backing the song, though only one is that of the film itself). So being at a loose end shortly afterwards, I read up about the movie, and thus the original anime series.
The first thing I found was that there was a lot of really peculiar stuff written about it. Much was frankly offputting, but some of it interested me enough to keep me reading, and after a while I decided to get the films to watch. This sent me off on another adventure as I discovered the number of versions and packaging of them that were available, and how hard it was to tell on eBay which one was being offered. Still, I ended up with the best versions to have, so that was all right. But then I watched the films. The first, Death, I had taken from what I'd read to be a rather terse summary of the main parts of the anime series - and I don't mind terse; however, it turned out on first watching to be completely incomprehensible. Still, nothing daunted, I watched the second film, End of Evangelion, hoping that it might clarify what had gone before. It didn't; but I was once again haunted by Komm süßer Tod, and this time also by the parts of the film surrounding it, and the strange ending. So I applied myself to reading more about it, and decided that I had to get the whole series to watch in order to work out what it was really about. Once again, it took time to work out which of the various packages that seemed to be around on eBay and Amazon was the sensible one to get, and I ended up with a tin box of the Platinum edition (again, the best choice, fortunately). But by the time it arrived, I had other things on my mind, and being daunted by the prospect of thirteen hours of viewing I put it to one side and forgot about it.
Now skip forward again to the time that the buzz was starting to build about the forthcoming Scott Pilgrim film. Again, I can't recall what specifically drew me in - my memory's crap (always has been, it's not just my age) - but I found myself reading the books and waiting for a pre-ordered copy of the last volume to arrive. I was really taken by both the story and the style of drawing, which is realistically expressive, even though stylised.
Golden Boy
Thinking about the relationship of the Scott Pilgrim style of drawing with that of manga, I was reminded about Golden Boy - and this time, I found it was readily available on DVD and got hold of a copy. I was really disappointed. Although the art is well-enough done, and the main character (Kintaro Oe) has his appealing side, it is clear that the series really only exists to provide fanservice bordering on hentai - lots of mild titillation, a fetish for toilets that a female has sat on, and little else; only the flimsiest of plots, and nothing that could be called development. I've not seen the manga (which was the original form), but understand that it is more sexually explicit.
Scott Pilgrim
Scott Pilgrim, on the other hand, I found a compulsive read. The character of Scott is a convincing depiction of a drifter in his early 20s, quite similar to some I know, in fact. The way he approaches the difficulties in his developing relationship (represented by the evil exes) is also nicely shown - and again realistic in the way that several of them he can only beat with support from his friends or outside help (the Vegan Police!). His, and Ramona's, problems with deciding whether the effort is worthwhile are also well covered. And as an outside observer of the culture concerned, I found discovering details of the references to music and games most intriguing as well. The film doesn't, on the whole, quite measure up to the books, I think. Although I can't criticise his playing of the part, I simply didn't find that Michael Cera looked the part somehow; and the ending was weak in comparison with the books (which of course hadn't been finished when the screenplay was written). But the fantastic energy and pace of the film, and the way it incorporated print and game effects into the live action, were all highly impressive, making it a worthwhile film to see in spite of its flaws; the music wasn't bad either. So when someone in a now defunct forum described Scott Pilgrim as "the shitty FLCL", obviously I had to find out what they were talking about.
FLCL (Fooly-Cooly)
FLCL (pronounced Fooly-Cooly, representing Japanese Furi-Kuri) is another anime of six episodes; but unlike Golden Boy it has a strong plot, and real character development. It is also at times one of the most frenetically hyper-active things I've ever seen, which I guess explains the reference to it in relation to the Scott Pilgrim film. There are parodies of many other popular series, such as South Park, and of contemporary Japanese culture; also lots of explicit breaking of the fourth wall. The underlying plot concerns the adolescent stirrings of sexual awareness in a twelve-year-old boy, Naota Nandaba. This is tied up with a rather surreal science-fiction plot involving a girl of uncertain age who is apparently from space, and a factory with no windows or doors (weird, eh?) in the shape of an iron - oh, and not forgetting robots which appear out of a portal in Naota's head and guitars that are offensive weapons. And the old cat is an intergalactic boss, or the representative of one such. Anyway, what happens is a large dollop of chaos which is easier to comprehend on second viewing, accompanied by a splendidly appropriate soundtrack (which apparently nearly wrecked the budget) from a band called The Pillows. The anime was made for release on video/DVD rather than TV broadcast in the first instance, which is, I gather, a little unusual - as is the fact that the associated manga came after rather than before the anime.
The FLCL manga is as crazy as the anime, and covers much the same ground, but there are big differences in plot and characterisation, and a distinctively crude style of drawing (deliberately so) that makes it even harder to see what's going on. They are both huge fun - but even though they are very different, I really would not recommend trying to read the manga before getting familiar with the anime. There is also a novelisation, written by the original script writer, which fills out lots of detail which is glossed over in the anime, and which some people find makes it easier or more rewarding to watch (I haven't read it yet).
In the anime (and in the manga, but curiously not in its English translation) there is a reference to Naota's father having written a book on Evangelion. This reminded me that I had a whole lot of DVDs waiting to be watched (it also made me aware that FLCL was from Gainax, the same studio that had produced Neon Genesis Evangelion). So, I fired up Handbrake, and ripped the Evangelion DVDs to carry around on my iPhone for watching in odd moments like lunchbreaks.
Neon Genesis Evangelion
So, on to the big one - 26 episodes and two films, and counting... Like FLCL, Evangelion is pretty hard to get one's head round first time through, so I recommend deferring judgement (if you feel like judging it) at least until after a second complete watching. Is it worth the effort, you might want to know first? Well - I don't regret it. I do like to be deliberately broadminded, as I feel that if I don't like something, I am in danger closing my mind to whatever the artist had in mind through lack of understanding. One complication with Evangelion is that the emphasis of what it is about changes through the series, and this throws some critics who feel cheated when whatever they'd latched on to is left hanging or not fully resolved. At the start, you are watching a pretty straighforward story about a fight between humans with their "Evangelions" or "Evas" and the somewhat mysterious "angels"; there's also a good dose of adolescent conflict with parent stuff. About halfway through the story changes its focus, and the reason for fighting the angels becomes more murky as the conflict between the commander of Nerv (the group doing the fighting) and Seele (the group financing it) takes centre stage. Then there is a shift to impending mental breakdowns in the chief two of the "pilots" of the Evas (who have to be fourteen years old and motherless, by the way). And finally, we have a window into the depression of the main pilot (Shinji Ikari) - and by all accounts, that of the director, Hideaki Anno. In fact, in the last two episodes of the anime, the ostensible plot concerning Seele and Nerv is essentially abandoned, and the conclusion has to be deduced; which is one reason the films were made - they spell out the end of the story more explicitly. The thread that holds this all together is the character of Shinji, first through his relationship with his father, and then his difficulties relating to anyone at all, leading to serious depression; his father Gendou (commander of Nerv), co-pilot Asuka, and manager Misato are the main foils for examining Shinji's state of mind. And this summary doesn't touch on the contentious (and overstated) religious elements, or the examination of Japanese society that some people see in the series.
Evangelion is another anime that was conceived for the screen rather than adapted or developed from a manga. There is also a manga, written by the character designer of the anime, but although its first volume came out before the release of the first anime as a taster, the rest of it took much longer to appear - in fact, even though it started in 1995, it is still not finished. The thirteenth volume is slated to appear in late 2012, and it is not clear whether it will be the last. The manga is not quite a simple retelling of the story of the anime, but neither is it greatly different as was the case with FLCL. In this case, the story is essentially the same, but with changes of emphasis - some angels are left out, which reduces a somewhat repetitive element, and on the other hand interpersonal relationships are made more explicit and developed further. In particular, the character of Kaworu - who is both an Eva pilot and the last angel - is greatly expanded in a worthwhile and interesting manner (developing the relationship role filled solely by Rei in the anime). I recommend the manga if you want more after getting to know the anime, as it provides a further degree of character development - but it is not necessary to understand what's going on.
The director has also returned, fifteen years on, to remake the entire series as four films. The first is very similar to the first half-dozen episodes of the anime, and the second takes us all the way up to episode 20, with very substantial changes. The third is expected in late 2012, with the last following in 2013, and it will be interesting how he builds the rest of the story out to fill two whole films.
Returning to the anime, what is it about Shinji? "Shut Up, Shinji", said the teeshirt that Jeph Jaques sold briefly on the Questionable Content web site, echoing a common complaint about the series - that Shinji is an annoying wimp. But should he shut up? I rather think not. It is not given to everybody to be the tough guy who just accepts or rejects what's going on. Some, many, perhaps most, people actually find themselves facing conflicts in their ordinary lives that they cannot so easily resolve, and I think Shinji can stand as their representative, without shame or embarrassment. He wants to do what is right, but he doesn't want to fight, in particular not to fight other people; he finds that the world has placed him in a position that he can neither by action nor inaction avoid hurting those whom he comes to love (this comes to a head in the section about Touji), so he resigns himself to the thought that he can only avoid this by not loving anyone again; and it is made clear to him again and again that his value to other people - even his father - lies only in what he can do for them when he obeys their orders. No wonder he's depressed! At the end (both in episode 26 of the series, and actually less clearly in the film The End of Evangelion), he realises that he can value himself for himself, and that this understanding can underlie his response to orders, whether he accepts or rejects them (i.e. the decisions he makes for himself); but how he will then rebuild his world with this new understanding is left to the imagination, as the story ends there, and extending the metaphor for the collapse of his personality (the Human Instrumentality project) into the new reality would be a step too far.
Conclusion
So, is there a common thread to these stories which I have been drawn into reading? All of them have had the phrase "coming-of age story" associated with them; but actually they are all quite different, and are treating very different aspects of coming of age, if they treat it at all. Leaving aside Golden Boy, which isn't about much at all, we have Scott Pilgrim, who is concerned with forging a relationship which has a chance of lasting and giving meaning to his life, Naota Nandaba, who is discovering the chaotic effects of puberty and decides that in spite of these new feelings he is best off remaining a child for a little longer, and Shinji Ikari, who is discovering after huge internal struggles that only when he can value himself will he be able to place values on what happens in the world around him. Utterly different messages in the end, and all valuable in their way. But above all, these three stories are all entertaining; none of them should be considered a waste of time, and all have the potential to make you think, if you take the trouble to see it.
I can't say whether these stories are typical, in their depth, of anime and manga in general. I dare say they are not; but they have certainly made it clear to me that these forms of expression that have grown up entirely within my adult lifetime are not to be ignored or dismissed simply as modern trivia.
What to get
Golden Boy - don't bother.
Scott Pilgrim - both film and books are readily available in the obvious places. The US printing of volume 4 has a section in colour which the UK printing just rendered in monochrome. There is also a neat iPhone app for reading it (in the UK, at least). Fully coloured versions of the books are being prepared; the first two volumes are expected this autumn.
FLCL - omnibus editions of the anime and (published just this week) the manga are readily available. The novelisation is long out of print, and pretty expensive secondhand.
Neon Genesis Evangelion - you have to be a little careful. There have been several versions of the anime in the west, but there is no reason to get any other than the "Platinum" collection (not, for instance, the "perfect" collection); this is in print in the US (region 1), but not in the UK (region 2). Get the film End of Evangelion; this is out of print (it was licenced to a different company from the anime series), but not hard to find secondhand - it doesn't matter if you get the set with the other film, Death, but you don't really need that. It's often recommended to watch End of Evangelion after episode 24, returning to the last two episodes afterwards to get more insight into Shinji's thought processes in the last section of the film.
The new films are readily available.
If you want the manga, search for Sadamoto (the writer) as well as Evangelion, to avoid other unofficial publications. The English edition of the first six volumes was published in mirror image, to match our direction of reading; then they were republished in the original Japanese orientation, to read from right to left, as "Special Edition". But best is to try to get the 2004 second edition (and be careful to check the language, as there are French, Spanish and German translations as well as English); there are twelve volumes so far, and volume 9 in English is rare and expensive for some reason.
