The State Of The Kaijyu: Vengeance Of The Baytaku?

There are only so many excuses.

But I will go ahead and lament that while the holidays are near, and events at home have created an aura where it is perfectly fine to lay strewn across the bedroom floor in a daze. Even then, there has been much internal activity. It is merely the typing hands, and perhaps even a little misdirected drive that has been keeping me from updating as much as I should. And not merely here, but everywhere else. Which isn't to say that I haven't been paying attention to buzzings here and there. Especially in a November where a new Rebuild Of Evangelion has just graced Japanese screens to massive profits, and possibly even more massive bouts of WTF.

And why? Since I am likely months to years from actually getting the chance to see it, the Twitter/blog talk has declared the film most popularly titled Q, as something of a fan service free-for-all with little to no real grapple on sense, let alone the original continuity which the previous installment so spectacularly jettisoned. It's apparently unrepentant in how chaotic, and pander-heavy it is (even going so far as to aging several major characters, and resurrecting others). Many even went so far as to compare the 2 hour service-fest as something akin to a Michael Bay event film...Stop. Right. There.

::regathers::

Now. I didn't expect to get into this on these pages, let alone anywhere else like Anime Diet, but there has been something of a niggling little piece of rant-fuel that has been plaguing my mind on and off for several years. And I suppose it was more than time to go ahead and just express my concerns somewhere for posterity, so that perhaps one day I could look back at this one day and better have a grasp on matters.

Now Japan has long been famous/infamous for gravitating toward some of the more unusual ephemera emanating from the west. A long held myth along these lines (for older anime fans at least) is the one contending that Walter Hill's ill-fated rock n' roll fable, Streets Of Fire inspired many a popular series and feature. (perhaps most famously, the OVA classic, Megazone 23) Check out a decent amount of shows from 1984-on, and it's pretty hard to dispute as motorcycle toughs, 1950s fashion and iconography, and even poster parodies are to be found with a minimum of effort. Filmmakers like Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, and the like have also see plenty of reverence in anime between the 1970s and early 1980s, and to be fair, anime can always be seen as a frugal alternative to live action filmmaking for the studios, and the leaps and bounds made by many a western pioneer can easily be considered an inspiration to animators of the day.

So when the decades pass, and technology and society changes in vast and unpredictable ways, it's still surprising to see that of all the internationally popular filmmakers/storytellers that could leave a deeply ingrained impression, one wonders what has happened when the ever-grating Michael Bay has become one of the most important global figures for the Japanese. A part of me has been listing these references over the last several years, and apparently this Eva thing just pushed me back into that corner once too many times.

A few that come to mind..

 

2007's anime TV series. Lucky Star.

It's a subtle, yet effective little gag taking place in Episode 12, where our main characters are preparing for a day's doujinshi shopping during the sprawling Comiket. Veteran otaku, Konata lays out well worn plans for where to shop and when, which includes instructions that very resemble battle plans. (even ending with her handing wallets and bottled tea as "ammunition") The tense, almost somber military music that plays in the background is very reminiscent of many Hans Zimmer/Trevor Rabin scores for Bay's films. Merely one small gag in a series famous for pop culture references.

2010's live action Uchu Senkan Yamato.

Right from the trailers, this Takeshi Yamazaki blockbuster touted multiple attempts to pay homage to the Bay by mimicking his almost fetishistic slow-motion montages of crew members, and pilots preparing for battle as inspiring music plays. The film even goes so far as getting Aerosmith's Steven Tyler to sing the major single for the film, "Love Lives". A song that almost completely clones his stylings for the Aerosmith ballad, "I Don't Want To Miss A Thing", which graced Bay's asteroid epic, ARMAGEDDON.

 Apparently, Armageddon remains a large favorite in the east as it is the one film that receives the most nods. And on a scale level, one could understand as it is perhaps one of his more "cohesive", universal works. But the love for it is far beyond so many other iconic filmmakers, one has to wonder what else has been influenced by this man that I've yet to witness.

Here's a bonus...

 

                           Yes. Even a great film like Fish Story makes a grand nod.

Just something I have been noticing on and off for several years. Pretty sure, I'm forgetting many other instances. And understanding that Japan has largely been hankering for "pure escapism" for some time now, I guess it's not too far fetched. How about you? It doesn't have to be a Bay film. Prove that it isn't merely the Baymonster getting all this attention. Should there be others, please let me know. I'd love to hear of others getting mentions. Just the thought that it has too infected the minds behind one of anime's more independent evergreens just renders me kind of sad.

Why Anime?

 

The question has been bouncing around again lately, and largely due to a sudden influx of new people in my life who have yet to fully understand why a 37 year old guy like me continues to seek out new and hopefully entertaining wrinkles to the medium. And it is still interesting how often I get comments and remarks about feeling either on the periphery of actually giving it a try, but feeling overwhelmed as to where to start, or were completely unaware that certain shows they loved as kids were even Japanese. And to this day, that second one remains especially so in that even during my childhood, watching Star Blazers and Battle Of The Planets(Gatchaman), it was pretty clear that these were shows that came from a very different culture and spirit. And as such, it seemed to clearly predict the kind of person I would grow up to become. Never fully satisfied by what the majority of kids around me clamored for (stuff which I admit was pretty cool considering the pop culture period I was growing into), the very notion that it always had to be that something else, that alien element, that neglected animal that would satiate my media consumption needs.




How easily so many forget how much Japanese media material was bring brought stateside by way of a number of small companies with an eye toward sharing foreign kids fare with Americans. Would I have still become the same Japanophile had it not been for folks like Sandy Frank? Or how about Carl Macek? Heck, even further than that with the folks at American International Television? Jack And The Beanstalk, as well as KTLA's playing of Yamato were early infections, ready and eager to serve as portent to what would eventually consume a decent portion of my world, as well as world view. So when more nostalgia-bait shows like Voltron(Golion) came about, I also made it something of a point to make sure I was watching dubbed and edited Mazinger-Z around the same time. And even though many my age were ravenous for Transformers, it was Robotech (specifically Macross) that made clear strides toward crystallizing my interest. And by and large, it was because of how much Macek intended to retain as much of the original version's flavor intact. Not that there was much of a way to completely localize the series, but there is so much of a regional feel to the series that its world and characters felt immensely more absorbing to me than most shows airing after school. And it was in these early packaged shows with such reverence for the source material that kept me curious. I wanted more, and sadly since no internet was available, all I could do was either wait, give up, or stalk adults with friends in the military.



It probably also didn't hurt that by age 9, I was already well versed in seeking out names involved in making the things I enjoyed. So by this time, I was already familiar with the Spielbergs, Lucases, and Carpenters of the world. Point is that the origin of a certain work was every bit as important as the work itself, which apparently continues to be the thing most people tend to regard. And with that, seeing names during end credits, as well as looking at all the clear-as-day signage in many of these shows, it was clear that I would eventually have to educate myself more and more in hopes of better appreciating shows such as these. So upon looking at the back ads in the latest Starlog magazine, it seemed that there was something of a culture of interest happening between english speakers, but the reach was still far too distant and expensive for a fifth grader to ever consider becoming an active participant.



But the real draw of this medium for me has always been akin to why I purchased a SEGA instead of a Nintendo, or listened to weird, noisy music as a late teen. Anime at it's rowdiest and most energetic, is when it reaches beyond the confines of budget to present a world bursting at the seams with energy. Vitality, even as cameras pan left with zero cels flipping. And ideas flowing at the cost of sheer logic. Not unlike the distortion-riddled, often electronic rock I was getting into, anime has had its reputation as something of a rebel art disguised as domestic product. Even through many of its most cliche motions, it has the potential to move hearts without sheen, or provoke without sentimentality. And more than this, it's a window into a culture that continues to confound me as well as fascinate. I at times can't get enough of how such an art form can shed light on contemporary feelings. Now one can argue that the days where this was most powerful are long gone as the early generations of the medium came out of the post war sturm and drang, while domesticity and recession may have dulled the medium's edge. But one can also posit that this prolonged sense of performance anxiety can only lead to something of a bursting point. We have recently seen some recent shows that again feature a grand need for creative and symbolic ways to illuminate contemporary problems and concerns. Even when they are clearly poised to be informercials to sell physical media, the possibility for them to transcend their "station" is still alive and well.

Or perhaps these are merely the squawks and bleeps of an indignant little punk. Hard to say. But this is my current story that works.