delayed gratification: Level E and Hourou Musuko
A heads-up to those on my flist who are anime/manga inclined but don't follow 50 anime blogs:
YES, FRIENDS, 2011 WINTER SEASON IS NONE OTHER THAN THE SEASON OF THE LEVEL E ANIME. Done up in adorable retro style, Bakaouji, Yukitaka, and friends (INCLUDING A KRAFT THAT IS VOICED BY NONE OTHER THAN... WAIT FOR IT... WAIT FOR IT... Koyasu) finally get an anime adaptation after fifteen years of being awesome. Not only does the first episode do full justice to Yukitaka's jock-stroke-thug mentality, it also plays along with the tongue-in-cheek yet SUPER SERIOUS mood of Level E. The punchline of Level E's first major arc (Bakaouji's introduction) has already been ruined for me, so I've been reading and laughing at the reactions of bloggers who don't know what's in store for them. Bottom line: it's an odd couple story with a hidden but explosive sense of humor and side characters that will make you laugh so hard you cry, if it's anything close to the original manga. Stick with it and it'll be good to you.
---
Hourou Musuko also got an anime adaptation (which isn't as surprising, seeing as the mangaka's other work, Aoi Hana, got one as well, and it was pretty well received). Notice how I haven't jumped to recommend this; there are two reasons. The first is that I haven't watched it yet, so I can't actually give you my impressions. The second, though, is that the reviews I have read of it worry me a lot. Apparently they've skipped the opening chapters and character introductions and jumped straight into the middle of the story, which seems a little strange to me. And then, there's reading stuff like this: On the other hand, what makes Hourou Musuko so great is these superficial things. Granted what is presented to us on a watercolor, sparkly, white-filtered platter is character drama, I can’t help but to notice the stereotypical otaku elements are largely present: the tsundere, the trap, the tomboy, the cooldere, the fast-to-mature, the flirt, the shota (this is a Josei TV segment right?) and the loli-appealing. That gorgeous animation and those masterfully-done characters are what make this show so good at the start.
...
If there’s one negative thing I want to say about Hourou Musuko, it is that the whole gender identity issue aspect feels tangential and is really just a plot device to get drama juicy. Watching the show, I feel not really compelled about Nitori’s gender struggle as much as his attachment to Takatsuki, or what happens between them. Which is to say, episode 1 of Hourou Musuko is like a well-done template for teenage romance. Instead of a cute okama-to-be it could have been several other things (drugs, depression, etc), and it would not have changed the look, the feel, and the awesomeness of episode 1 of Wandering Son.
Unless you have a thing for shota traps, of course.
from bloggers like omo, who are usually thoughtful and insightful. It really make me afraid of pressing play on that first episode and wind up not liking an adaptation that I've been really excited for. On the other hand, adaywithoutme wrote very positive things about the anime, and they're big fans of the manga. They also wrote this wonderful little paragraph about why Hourou Musuko is so amazing: I mention that since Hourou Musuko, although it isn’t either BL or yuri, could potentially be dismissed by this same attitude, as the premise here is that there are these two kids who are transgender. But this is a demonstration of how such a thing should be used as a premise, because this isn’t a fetishization of the matter. Instead, it is an examination of the affects that their identity has on their own selves and on those around them and their relationships with others. And it is also about the formation of that very identity. This is the missing link from a lot of BL and yuri, and it is why much of those genres are so exploitative at base, because its just used as a hook, as a way to titillate the audience. I’m not arguing that all BL and yuri must deal directly with identity formation, but I think including identity as a theme in more of the manga from this genre would be a solid move.
So I guess what I'm actually saying is that I'm both excited and afraid that this anime is going to make or break my favorite bloggers for me. (This is not an idle statement; omo's review actually made me go through omo's recent blog posts and make the rather reluctant decision to unsubscribe from his blog. Already the writeup on Sea Slugs is making me wince something awful because of the blogger's determination to reduce the characters to "Shuichi (Male)" and "Takatsuki (Female)" when one of the biggest fucking parts of the series is their gender identities, not to mention the ill-timed joke about cross-dressing).
Blah blah blah traps and anime representation of gender conformity and that post I keep meaning to make about Onani Master Kurosawa and anibloggers as a community. Nothing we haven't hashed out before, and nothing I haven't already nattered on about badly re: Hourou Musuko. Bottom line: I'll get back to you on the anime when I finally sit down and watch it.
edit// aaaaaand just found Travis' review of it, which is really comforting, as his was one of the journals I mined for background info re: talking about the manga, so finding out that he enjoyed the anime adaptation is a good sign.
Click to viewYES, FRIENDS, 2011 WINTER SEASON IS NONE OTHER THAN THE SEASON OF THE LEVEL E ANIME. Done up in adorable retro style, Bakaouji, Yukitaka, and friends (INCLUDING A KRAFT THAT IS VOICED BY NONE OTHER THAN... WAIT FOR IT... WAIT FOR IT... Koyasu) finally get an anime adaptation after fifteen years of being awesome. Not only does the first episode do full justice to Yukitaka's jock-stroke-thug mentality, it also plays along with the tongue-in-cheek yet SUPER SERIOUS mood of Level E. The punchline of Level E's first major arc (Bakaouji's introduction) has already been ruined for me, so I've been reading and laughing at the reactions of bloggers who don't know what's in store for them. Bottom line: it's an odd couple story with a hidden but explosive sense of humor and side characters that will make you laugh so hard you cry, if it's anything close to the original manga. Stick with it and it'll be good to you.
---
Hourou Musuko also got an anime adaptation (which isn't as surprising, seeing as the mangaka's other work, Aoi Hana, got one as well, and it was pretty well received). Notice how I haven't jumped to recommend this; there are two reasons. The first is that I haven't watched it yet, so I can't actually give you my impressions. The second, though, is that the reviews I have read of it worry me a lot. Apparently they've skipped the opening chapters and character introductions and jumped straight into the middle of the story, which seems a little strange to me. And then, there's reading stuff like this: On the other hand, what makes Hourou Musuko so great is these superficial things. Granted what is presented to us on a watercolor, sparkly, white-filtered platter is character drama, I can’t help but to notice the stereotypical otaku elements are largely present: the tsundere, the trap, the tomboy, the cooldere, the fast-to-mature, the flirt, the shota (this is a Josei TV segment right?) and the loli-appealing. That gorgeous animation and those masterfully-done characters are what make this show so good at the start.
...
If there’s one negative thing I want to say about Hourou Musuko, it is that the whole gender identity issue aspect feels tangential and is really just a plot device to get drama juicy. Watching the show, I feel not really compelled about Nitori’s gender struggle as much as his attachment to Takatsuki, or what happens between them. Which is to say, episode 1 of Hourou Musuko is like a well-done template for teenage romance. Instead of a cute okama-to-be it could have been several other things (drugs, depression, etc), and it would not have changed the look, the feel, and the awesomeness of episode 1 of Wandering Son.
Unless you have a thing for shota traps, of course.
from bloggers like omo, who are usually thoughtful and insightful. It really make me afraid of pressing play on that first episode and wind up not liking an adaptation that I've been really excited for. On the other hand, adaywithoutme wrote very positive things about the anime, and they're big fans of the manga. They also wrote this wonderful little paragraph about why Hourou Musuko is so amazing: I mention that since Hourou Musuko, although it isn’t either BL or yuri, could potentially be dismissed by this same attitude, as the premise here is that there are these two kids who are transgender. But this is a demonstration of how such a thing should be used as a premise, because this isn’t a fetishization of the matter. Instead, it is an examination of the affects that their identity has on their own selves and on those around them and their relationships with others. And it is also about the formation of that very identity. This is the missing link from a lot of BL and yuri, and it is why much of those genres are so exploitative at base, because its just used as a hook, as a way to titillate the audience. I’m not arguing that all BL and yuri must deal directly with identity formation, but I think including identity as a theme in more of the manga from this genre would be a solid move.
So I guess what I'm actually saying is that I'm both excited and afraid that this anime is going to make or break my favorite bloggers for me. (This is not an idle statement; omo's review actually made me go through omo's recent blog posts and make the rather reluctant decision to unsubscribe from his blog. Already the writeup on Sea Slugs is making me wince something awful because of the blogger's determination to reduce the characters to "Shuichi (Male)" and "Takatsuki (Female)" when one of the biggest fucking parts of the series is their gender identities, not to mention the ill-timed joke about cross-dressing).
Blah blah blah traps and anime representation of gender conformity and that post I keep meaning to make about Onani Master Kurosawa and anibloggers as a community. Nothing we haven't hashed out before, and nothing I haven't already nattered on about badly re: Hourou Musuko. Bottom line: I'll get back to you on the anime when I finally sit down and watch it.
edit// aaaaaand just found Travis' review of it, which is really comforting, as his was one of the journals I mined for background info re: talking about the manga, so finding out that he enjoyed the anime adaptation is a good sign.