khr = depressing? it's more likely than you think!
I was starting to fix my memories, finally, and then my connection died. So I had nothing better to do but write that semi-rant I mentioned in an earlier post.
I spotted this fandom secret mentioned by someone on my flist (forgive me, I can't remember who exactly) and I thought it was something I wanted to write about.
For the record, I've not caught up with the anime. I don't know if I ever will... I usually prefer manga. Although I have seen a couple of eps, literally "a couple" - certainly not enough to form an opinion on the show. So I don't know if there's anything about the anime especially that makes the series more depressing onscreen than on paper. I'd like to know if there is.
However, the manga itself strikes me as pretty damn depressing.
If you're about to die, what's your one biggest regret?
This is the premise that this amazingly cracky series starts off with. Look out - someone's got a gun pointed at your head. You only have a few seconds to live. What is it that you wish you had done? What is the one regret you're going to take to your grave?
And see, it's not just anybody with a gun to your head - it's a gangster. Never mind that it looks like a baby wearing a fedora on his head and a pacifier around his neck. You're on your way to becoming a name on a community paper, a fucking statistic, no matter how young you are and how little you've actually done with your life. If you don't become smarter, stronger, faster within the brief period of time you've been alloted, you lose. Time's up: you're going to die.
Of course, death is pretty hard to take seriously if you're 14, you've never experienced war except through stories and textbooks, and you think everything's a game.
I like to tell myself I'm into this series for the light-hearted shounen fare. But there's so much potential for drama here, and I'm not just saying that as someone who was born with the superpower to turn almost everything into angst - KHR does take off from familiar life-and-death situations. It pays (some) homage to the criminal underworld and its roots. For one thing, it tries to bring back the traditional image of the mafia as a populist, family-centric organization (Gokudera's father was not allowed to keep a comadre, which I believe is not standard for a capo crimini?). Which unfortunately comes with a long and colorful history of bloodshed.
As if this doesn't make the series morbid enough, it's all about forcing a sheltered, average little boy out of the safety of his shell, into a world of pain and danger and grief... not just the Real World, son, but the Real Underworld.
The boy resists this method of maturity at every turn, because he's honestly good at heart, was not shaped for the greed or anger or sheer twistedness that comes with growing up into power. He knows it's not a game, is probably more aware of it than anyone else in the series... and even as he's playing along, he's trying to find a way out of it. And to bring everyone he cares about with him.
It's so easy to forget this because everybody (is pretty and) has powers and the whole thing... really doesn't look like the mafia at all. In fact, it looks more like fighting for possession of a fairytale kingdom, bound by rules that are superior to physics and everything believable.
As worldserpent had said once, it seems only Gokudera "is the only one of the main characters who is actually interested in being part of the mafia." I think this gives his character a great deal of depth, though it's overshadowed as expected by his comic moments. For the others, it starts off being just a game/a way to kill boredom/something they got suckered into for no good reason other than they're strong.
The awakening itself comes with a lot of potential for tragedy - loved ones dying, living to tell the tale of atrocities committed to your comrades and closest friends, committing atrocities for the sake of something you isn't sure is a "greater good." In the end, being in the mafia means still being forced into violence, which is what's in my head when I write stuff like this.
But you know, if you hold on long enough, you get to this part, which hints (somewhat unsatisfactorily) at the Vongola's history of cruelty, outside of the shounen Jesus powers. With a little more detail, this would easily have been the coolest scene in the manga - besides the YamaDera throwdown, of course, but that's the fangirl talking.
It's Tsuna's struggle not to be strong, but to be free of the curse of the Vongola blood, that makes this series stand out for me. He's made a pretty brave decision. Although it's possible that this whole future arc exists to show Tsuna that giving up one's position of authority doesn't necessarily mean creating peace. I'm not sure if he's going to follow through on it after all.
If he takes the reins of power, does he sacrifice his innocence - or does he prevail and use his influence to make his "mafia" a force of great good? If he doesn't take the reins of power, what kind of life is waiting for him? He can't turn a blind eye to the pain and injustice suffered by the innocents all around him, now that he's been exposed to it.
Whichever path he chooses, is there really any way for him to be happy?
Even if it's not probable, I'd like to think it's possible that this series is going to end tragically - although of course it would depend on your definition of "tragic." For me, Tsuna becoming Tenth Boss and assuming the sins and duties of the Vongola head, leaving behind his simple life and in fact his whole damn childhood, is pretty sad.
Still... you know you're not really following this series to be sad or disturbed. You're following it for the pretty and the kickass, the feeling of "family" that builds as the guardians go through more trials together and grow up side by side. And admit it, you're following it for the crack. For it is high-grade crack, truly. I mean, supaapowaa mafia battoru complete with magic babies and mecha and fanservice, come on.
At one point you have to stop seeing it as "a series about mafia" and start seeing it as a playground full of brainbreaking win.
♥
now i'm off to pretend there's no net again and watch doctor who or sth. see you~
I spotted this fandom secret mentioned by someone on my flist (forgive me, I can't remember who exactly) and I thought it was something I wanted to write about.
For the record, I've not caught up with the anime. I don't know if I ever will... I usually prefer manga. Although I have seen a couple of eps, literally "a couple" - certainly not enough to form an opinion on the show. So I don't know if there's anything about the anime especially that makes the series more depressing onscreen than on paper. I'd like to know if there is.
However, the manga itself strikes me as pretty damn depressing.
If you're about to die, what's your one biggest regret?
This is the premise that this amazingly cracky series starts off with. Look out - someone's got a gun pointed at your head. You only have a few seconds to live. What is it that you wish you had done? What is the one regret you're going to take to your grave?
And see, it's not just anybody with a gun to your head - it's a gangster. Never mind that it looks like a baby wearing a fedora on his head and a pacifier around his neck. You're on your way to becoming a name on a community paper, a fucking statistic, no matter how young you are and how little you've actually done with your life. If you don't become smarter, stronger, faster within the brief period of time you've been alloted, you lose. Time's up: you're going to die.
Of course, death is pretty hard to take seriously if you're 14, you've never experienced war except through stories and textbooks, and you think everything's a game.
I like to tell myself I'm into this series for the light-hearted shounen fare. But there's so much potential for drama here, and I'm not just saying that as someone who was born with the superpower to turn almost everything into angst - KHR does take off from familiar life-and-death situations. It pays (some) homage to the criminal underworld and its roots. For one thing, it tries to bring back the traditional image of the mafia as a populist, family-centric organization (Gokudera's father was not allowed to keep a comadre, which I believe is not standard for a capo crimini?). Which unfortunately comes with a long and colorful history of bloodshed.
As if this doesn't make the series morbid enough, it's all about forcing a sheltered, average little boy out of the safety of his shell, into a world of pain and danger and grief... not just the Real World, son, but the Real Underworld.
The boy resists this method of maturity at every turn, because he's honestly good at heart, was not shaped for the greed or anger or sheer twistedness that comes with growing up into power. He knows it's not a game, is probably more aware of it than anyone else in the series... and even as he's playing along, he's trying to find a way out of it. And to bring everyone he cares about with him.
It's so easy to forget this because everybody (is pretty and) has powers and the whole thing... really doesn't look like the mafia at all. In fact, it looks more like fighting for possession of a fairytale kingdom, bound by rules that are superior to physics and everything believable.
As worldserpent had said once, it seems only Gokudera "is the only one of the main characters who is actually interested in being part of the mafia." I think this gives his character a great deal of depth, though it's overshadowed as expected by his comic moments. For the others, it starts off being just a game/a way to kill boredom/something they got suckered into for no good reason other than they're strong.
The awakening itself comes with a lot of potential for tragedy - loved ones dying, living to tell the tale of atrocities committed to your comrades and closest friends, committing atrocities for the sake of something you isn't sure is a "greater good." In the end, being in the mafia means still being forced into violence, which is what's in my head when I write stuff like this.
But you know, if you hold on long enough, you get to this part, which hints (somewhat unsatisfactorily) at the Vongola's history of cruelty, outside of the shounen Jesus powers. With a little more detail, this would easily have been the coolest scene in the manga - besides the YamaDera throwdown, of course, but that's the fangirl talking.
It's Tsuna's struggle not to be strong, but to be free of the curse of the Vongola blood, that makes this series stand out for me. He's made a pretty brave decision. Although it's possible that this whole future arc exists to show Tsuna that giving up one's position of authority doesn't necessarily mean creating peace. I'm not sure if he's going to follow through on it after all.
If he takes the reins of power, does he sacrifice his innocence - or does he prevail and use his influence to make his "mafia" a force of great good? If he doesn't take the reins of power, what kind of life is waiting for him? He can't turn a blind eye to the pain and injustice suffered by the innocents all around him, now that he's been exposed to it.
Whichever path he chooses, is there really any way for him to be happy?
Even if it's not probable, I'd like to think it's possible that this series is going to end tragically - although of course it would depend on your definition of "tragic." For me, Tsuna becoming Tenth Boss and assuming the sins and duties of the Vongola head, leaving behind his simple life and in fact his whole damn childhood, is pretty sad.
Still... you know you're not really following this series to be sad or disturbed. You're following it for the pretty and the kickass, the feeling of "family" that builds as the guardians go through more trials together and grow up side by side. And admit it, you're following it for the crack. For it is high-grade crack, truly. I mean, supaapowaa mafia battoru complete with magic babies and mecha and fanservice, come on.
At one point you have to stop seeing it as "a series about mafia" and start seeing it as a playground full of brainbreaking win.
♥
now i'm off to pretend there's no net again and watch doctor who or sth. see you~