Another week, another part of ArizUtaku's "Top 50 Anime of the 2000s." As usual, we have got another great-looking list this week, though many folks may be surprised at the series that are at #14 and #12. Eager to find out what these series are? Well, get to the reading!
Just like last week, part 8 is kicked off by a Kenji Kamiyama anime with Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (GitS: SAC) at #15.
Plot Summary (from ANN): In the future, life between the digital and physical world has been blurred. The boundary of technology and humanity has been stretched beyond imagination with lives being led in both the electronic and physical worlds. With the melding of man and machine – a new cybernetic level of existence is being created - An existence that continues to redefine mankind.
Both seasons of GitS: SAC are incredible. Despite roughly half of season one being extra padding to fill out 26 episodes, even the "Stand Alone Episodes" are fascinating for the most part. Plus, the Laughing Man story in the first season is one of the most complex you'll find in anime. You really have to pay close attention to each and every one of the "Complex Episodes," and even then you may not understand it all once it is all over. I love entertainment like this that requires multiple viewing in order to fully comprehend it.
The second season is the same way, save for the fact that there is not really any filler at all. The entire season is about the Individual Eleven. While not quite as complex as The Laughing Man plot, Individual Eleven is more satisfying because much more time is devoted to it. Plus, Motoko isn't wearing that ridiculous out-of-place outfit from season 1.
Of course, they aren't nearly as philosophical as Mamoru Oshii's GitS movies, but that's not a bad thing. Kenji Kamiyama's two series (and also the movie) are much more straightforward, making them more accessible, more enjoyable, and better overall.
At #14 is Shigurui: Death Frenzy, which is one of the most disturbing anime ever made.
Plot Summary (from ANN): At the beginning of the Edo Era, when people enjoyed a time of peace, Lord Tokugawa Tadanaga holds a fighting tournament. In the past, matches were fought with wooden swords. This time, real swords will be used. One-armed Fujiki Gennosuke and blind Irako Seigen will fight each other in this match. Both are disciples of Iwamoto Kogan, who is known as Japan's greatest swordsman. Each of them are determined to prove himself the successor of Iwamoto's school. However, there can only be one champion. So begins a story of intertwining fates, conflict, and strange destinies.
Why is such an unabashedly violent and disturbing series so high? One word: "atmosphere." The main reason why I love this show so much is because of how superbly atmospheric it is. If you watch this series with headphones, you'll see what I mean. The ever-ominous music and sound direction add so much to the bleak and violent nature of the Shigurui that you mat find yourself completely sucked in to it all. Not to mention Hirotsugu Hamazaki's slow, methodical direction adds so much to the ever-present tension found in this compelling series.
This is one of those series that folks may say is glorifying violence, when it reality it is not. It's displaying just how bad things could get back then. In extreme cases like Shigurui, sometimes neither side is justified in their actions and even the women are treated as objects. Still, the story (which is essentially about Seigen's rise, his fall, and his acts of revenge) becomes quite compelling in the hands of Hamazaki. As I already stated, his careful direction and plodding pacing adds so much tension to the series. Couple this with Kiyoshi Yoshida's creepy, minimalistic score, excellent sound direction, animation and artistry and you got one of the best series of the decade. Just because it is extremely violent and disturbing doesn't necessarily mean that it can't be excellent. Shigurui is a prime example of this, and though the anime doesn't come full circle (as it was adapting an incomplete manga), what is told does have a good amount of closure to it. Hopefully more will be produced, though that probably isn't very likely.
When I originally wrote about Wolf's Rain for this project back on December 8th, I had it at #19. As I wrote (and listened to Yoko Kanno's brilliant soundtrack at the same time), I realized that it should be higher in the list, so I moved it up to lucky #13. As I wrote, tears actually began to well up in my eyes, and what follows after the plot summary are my original thoughts.
Plot Summmary (from ANN): In some distant future, it's common knowledge that all wolves have been extinct for 200 years. However, it seems this is false as wolves have not disappeared but rather have taken human form. Kiba, a lone wolf, wanders into a city, trying to sniff out the Lunar Flowers that are supposed to lead whoever follows the scent to paradise. The source of the smell is Cheza, a girl who sleeps in what appears to be suspended animation in a lab. She and the wolves are drawn to each other, and Kiba hopes to find paradise once he finds the source of the scent of Lunar Flowers. However, once Kiba finds Cheza, she is kidnapped by a mysterious person called Darcia, and his search begins anew. Before he leaves the city, he meets 3 other wolves, Tsume, Hige and Toboe. All four wolves have very different personalities and ideas, and their friendliness towards each other is a little rough around the edges. However, they soon band together to continue to search for paradise.
Wolf's Rain is one of the most elegant anime you will ever see. From the artistry and animation, to the music and sound, to the fantastic writing and symbolism; everything is just beautiful. Sure it runs off of the road into a ditch along the way with the infamous four recap episodes, but these can be easily skipped over without missing a thing.
Speaking of the writing, the story itself is very compelling and original. The concept of animals taking on human forms and even speaking in human language is nothing new, but the way in which it is presented is pretty inventive. The idea of wolves following the scent of Lunar Flowers in search of paradise is quite clever when you think about it. You know how wolves are commonly known to howl at the Moon; and how the word "lunar" basically means anything relating the Moon? Think about that for a second. You see what I mean? "Lunar Flowers" is an awesome, highly symbolic concept. Not to mention how the wolves are searching for paradise is another piece of symbolism that has a parallel in reality. This is something that even humans strive to achieve -- they try to reach complete and total happiness, or "paradise" in other words.
The road to one's paradise is never an easy one (and many do not even make it there), and this is the driving force behind Wolf's Rain. Kiba and his companions definitely do have to face a lot of peril and other conflict in order to reach their goal, and some do not even make it the entire way. The ending is indeed a sad one, and it is also bit disappointing, but thus is life. Be you a wolf or a human, all you can do is keep trying -- keep pushing forward. Hopefully someday you will indeed reach your goal, or at least be satisfied with what you were able to accomplish. No one wants to die having lived what they though was a pointless life, and Wolf's Rain does not want you to either.
The #12 series on this list is the recent and very popular romantic comedy: Toradora!. What? A romantic comedy plopped in the middle of of all of these complex and mature anime? Yup.
Plot Summary (from ANN): Despite Ryuji Takasu's gentle personality, his eyes make him look like an intimidating delinquent. Class rearrangements on his second high school year put him together with his best friend, Yusaku Kitamura, and his hidden crush, Minori Kushieda. Along with these two comes Kushieda's best friend, Taiga Aisaka. Her delicate appearance contrasts with her brutal personality. Secretly in love with Kitamura, Taiga agrees to help Ryuji with his love interest as long as he helps her get closer to hers.
Toradora! is perhaps the greatest anime romantic comedy of all time. Though it gets off to a bit of a slow start (episode one is a bit of a bore), it quickly comes to life in episode two and never looks back from there. Sure, the final resolution of the series is obvious from the very beginning, but don't cast aside the series as being a run-of-the-mill, highly predicable show. This is another series that can be described as "It's not WHAT happens, it's HOW it happens."
Anyone who has watched the entire series knows just as well as I do that this series is far from predictable. The writing in this series never ceased to amaze me from beginning to end. Every time it seemed as though the series was going to fall into the many dreaded pitfalls that plague romance anime, it didn't. Every single time, something happened to throw a wrench into the equation that took the series in a completely different direction and each and every story arc had something poignant to say. Plus, the series has so many entertaining characters (both major and minor) and the many subplots that come along with them. The character development is gradual, and at times subtle and even mysterious. Even the actions of certain characters are presented in such a way as to challenge the viewer to ponder why they did such a thing. You don't see that too much in romantic comedies period.
Tack on solid production values, excellent voice acting, direction and music and you've got one of the greatest anime ever made, and a series that falls just short of making the top 10 of the decade. Not to mention the sexy and spunky Ami Kawashima is my favorite female anime character of all-time. She's awesome, even more so with a nice, photoshopped tan provided by me (Mildly NSFW). Here's the original version of that previous image, if you're interested in seeing the difference.
Rounding out week 8 at #11 is my favorite Hayao Miyazaki film: Spirited Away.
Plot Summary (from ANN): On their way to their new home, a young girl, Chihiro, and her parents stumble into what appears to be an abandoned theme park. But all is not as it seems, as the theme park is a bath-house for the spirits, and not a place where humans are welcome. Chihiro must fend for herself and rescue her parents, as they have been turned to pigs as punishment for eating the food meant for the gods.
Spirited Away will always have a special place in my heart, as it was the catalyst that got me hooked on anime. I love telling this story, and I'll tell it again here.
The first anime I watched knowing it was an anime was Love Hina back in 2006, but the only reason why I watched it was because I'd been playing this flash game called "Love Hina Sim Date RPG" and decided to check out the "source." The anime was enjoyable enough, but I wasn't really interested in watching more of the medium.
Not too much later, I decided to rent Spirited Away. I remembered being puzzled when it won an Academy Award back in 2002, ignorant of the high quality of many Japanese cartoons and decided to give it a shot. I was completely blown away by the film, and I immediately sought out more Miyazaki. I eventually moved on the medium as a whole and the rest is history.
Dita from Vandread is thrilled that the top 10 will finally begin to emerge next week! Until next Thursday, this is Jay Gee signing off for now.
3 comments:
Yay for Wolf's Rain and Spirited Away!
Yes indeed hurray for both Wolf's Rain and Spirited Away! ^_^ Both very well deserving of their spots, that's for sure. Although I personally would have put Wolf's Rain up in the top 10 somewhere, but once again, that's just me. It's earned it's very special place as my #4 favorite series of all time because of how gripping and compelling it is indeed. But also because of how much brilliant symbolism is in this series as well that so wonderfully presents probably my all time favorite main theme in an anime series. It's just such a magnificent series in every way, shape and form. And best of all it's one in which I feel I can interpret,analyze and understand easily enough that I can appreciate it for that.
It's a little bit harder for me to appreciate this weeks list than others though, but only because of the fact that I'm not too familiar with these series other than the two I mentioned above plus the first season of SAC, which is indeed excellent and brilliant enough to be very well deserving of it's spot. Shigurui I have at least an idea anyways, but other than what little I've seen of it I'm still not too familiar with it. I will definitely take your word for them though. :)
This may be my favorite part of this list so far, I agree that G.I.T.S. S.A.C.'s both seasons are brilliant. Spirited Away is a no brainer for any list. And Toradora! is that show that I was hinted at before you started posting these entries.
And yes! Someone else shares my love of Ami! She's a special character in this series. I 've heard fans of the show call her, The Truth.
Post a Comment
Got something to say? Then post it, darn you!