Neo-Shonen Fujoshi - End-of-Summer Hiatus

Like the Sleeping Cat at the Toshogu Shrine, it's time for me to take a break.

This blog will be on hiatus until early September. See you then!

Puella Magi Madoka Magica - Review

Warning: Spoilers for the entire series

A young teenage girl, Madoka Kaname, and her best friend Sayaka Miki come across a strange white cat-like creature one day named Kyubey. Kyubey offers to make their greatest wishes come true if they will sign a contract with him to become “magical girls” and fight witches.

Homura Akemi, a mysterious transfer student, tries to kill Kyubey in front of Madoka and Sayaka, who then find themselves trapped in a crazy labyrinth created by a witch. The two are rescued by Mami Tomoe, a magical girl.

It turns out that magical girls’ souls are kept in “Soul Gems,” which eventually become tainted by the girls’ despair and transform into “Grief Seeds.” Grief Seeds can be used by other magical girls to cleanse their own Soul Gems—at the expense of the original owners—witches who were once magical girls themselves.

Mami is killed by a witch, and Sayaka chooses to become a magical girl to heal the injured hand of the boy she loves, a concert violinist. But Sayaka’s choice causes her to lose not only the boy but her own sense of self and identity as a human being, and she turns into a witch and perishes.

Kyubey explains to Madoka that the magical girls of Earth actually help the rest of the universe, since their unbridled teenage emotions as they fight witches provide a kind of energy that keeps the universe in balance. He also tells Madoka that she has the potential to become the most powerful magical girl of all.

At the same time it is revealed that Homura, who has rescued Madoka numerous times, has the ability to affect and change timelines. In the original timeline Homura was the one who was rescued by magical girl Madoka, until Walpurgis Night when a powerful witch destroyed the city. Madoka saved Homura’s life with a last remaining Grief Seed and asked her to go back in time and stop her, Madoka, from signing the contract with Kyubey.

This, as it turns out, is why Homura has tried to protect Madoka from Kyubey in the current timeline and why Madoka has such potential power: Homura’s saving Madoka so many times has built Madoka’s importance up to near god-like levels.

When the Walpurgis Night witch arrives, Madoka finally makes her choice to become a magical girl. Her wish is that all magical girls will disappear before they can turn into witches, so their hope never turns into despair. With this, she becomes something much greater than a mere magical girl, turning into a supernatural meta-being with the power to rescue magical girls throughout eternity and create universes through the force of the energy she collects.

I never watched Madoka Magica when it first aired because I didn’t think I’d be interested in a story about magical girls. (See the name of this blog, above. ;-)) With only so many hours in the day, I try to fit into my anime-watching time series I’m pretty sure I’ll have a good chance of liking: shonen, yaoi, action stories, etc.

Since then, I watched the magical girls in Zettai Karen Children and found them charming and likable, and became curious over time about Madoka Magica and why it had been so popular when it first came out.

Having seen the series now, I have a number of thoughts about it. Let’s start with Kyubey.

First off, selling your soul to the devil is a Very Bad Thing and so it’s no wonder that Madoka hesitates to sign a contract with Kyubey. Of course, this doesn’t stop the usual merchandising blitz for a creepy-cute creature like this and so we have Kyubey face cakes...

Kyubey done in Legos...

A Kyubey watch...

And Kyubey to celebrate the New Year’s with (as if you’d want to).

Kyubey actually wasn’t as evil as I’d been led to believe from reading about the series. He clearly and truthfully explains the terms of the contract before the girls sign them, and if he leaves out certain information (like their souls will now be enclosed in the Soul Gems, leaving their bodies as empty shells—and that all witches are former magical girls who turned to despair), well, they never asked about that stuff now did they?

The story shows each girl going through her own process in deciding whether to sign the contract or not. There’s no coercion from Kyubey; manipulation, yes, but no force is involved. Madoka and Sayaka even learn about Mami’s experience in having Kyubey show up as she lay dying after a car accident before they make their own decisions. Clearly, Kyubey isn’t above taking advantage of people in desperate situations, but neither Madoka nor Sayaka ever face anything like that.

I loved Homura. From her first appearance, she was my favorite character. Her dead eyes and hardened manner are obviously hiding something and when we find out that she’s been fighting and losing to the Walpurgis witch through numerous timelines, all because she’s trying to save Madoka from basically Madoka herself, we now understand why she looks so weary and how she can be so patient with Madoka’s weakness and hysteria.

By no means am I implying that I thought signing a contract with Kyubey was a good thing, and I'm not being critical of Madoka for hesitating so long in doing so. I think I need to back up here and talk a bit about why I don’t normally watch shows with girls as the main characters.

I have an issue with how female characters are often presented in anime. One particular thing that really gets to me is the use of that high-pitched, extremely young-sounding voice that seems to be favored for girl characters (or even grown women characters); it’s like fingernails on a blackboard to my ears and my reaction is usually immediate and uncontrollable aversion. It brings to mind all the clichés about sexism in Japan and how females are viewed, i.e., as cutesy and sweet and—not powerful or self-directed or independent. I have a gut-level, visceral reaction to such characters and especially to voices like that.

I saw episode 8 of Madoka Magica last year at an anime club meeting and two things were apparent: one, I could tell already that I would have a problem with Madoka due to her voice and her helpless victim-like presentation and two, the series showed an intensity that intrigued me despite my reservations about the main character. Episode 8 is the one where Sayaka confronts the two jerks who are mouthing off about women in the subway car and now that I’ve seen the whole series, that is still one of my favorite scenes.

So let me get into what was Madoka Magica’s main problem for me—Madoka Kaname.

Oh, that voice. Seriously, no other female character in the series spoke with a voice like that. And I think not coincidentally—I really liked every other magical girl in the show except for Madoka. They all had their strengths, charm and vulnerabilities that made them stand out as individuals.

The episodes in the middle of the series where the stakes are raised and the situation becomes increasingly desperate were the hardest for me to watch, as Madoka's whiny, high-pitched pleading voice and constant tears irritated and exasperated me to the point of distracting me from the story.

Which brings to mind an interesting question. Can you like an anime series if you don’t like the main character?

I think the answer is yes, under certain circumstances. I couldn’t stand Light in Death Note, but the story was extremely suspenseful and kept me hooked. I didn’t particularly care for any of the characters in Steins; Gate but there again, a very taut and fascinating storyline made me watch it to the end.

Here, it could be argued that Madoka’s transformation at the end redeems her but well… I found the final episode to be a bit of a mess and not as conclusive as it could have been. (I read on Wikipedia that the final two episodes were delayed due to the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami—in which case it’s a miracle the producers got the episodes done at all, so kudos to them for managing it.) I felt like Madoka went from being hysterical over everything to suddenly and calmly making her decision—like a few steps were missing in between. In other words, I didn’t see her grow into the kind of person who could make that choice at the end. It was beyond what her character had shown me she was capable of, so I didn’t quite believe it.

I also was expecting her to make a different choice—as in throwing Kyubey and his ilk completely out of our universe and eradicating magical girls and witches from the Earth timeline forever. I mean, why not? She had the power of a god at the end and that would have taken care of everything. It’s a stretch to think that Joan of Arc and the other women wouldn’t have changed world history if they hadn’t been magical girls, after all: that they couldn’t have accomplished what they did simply as human women.

The way that Sayaka was treated at the end was also surprising. The fact that she was the only magical girl who wasn’t brought back from the dead disturbed me. Again, if Madoka had the power of a god, she could have had Sayaka’s violinist friend remain healed and brought Sayaka back. Sayaka was the only girl who showed very dark emotions and bitterness. Is the subtle message here that females who fall to dark—but very human—emotions are irredeemable, and irretrievably lost? That only “nice” girls deserve to live? This is not a message I would agree with.

So what do I think of Puella Magi Madoka Magica? It’s an anime with a very strong story, well-told, and an unexpectedly mature treatment of existential questions. The background art is wonderful, particularly the witches’ labyrinths. I found nearly all of the characters compelling. The story made me think.

In other words, I thought it was very good and I’m glad I saw it.

Will I be more open in the future to watching anime that is outside my normal comfort zone? I think the answer to that is yes. No, I won’t be watching slice-of-life moe shows anytime soon, but I will consider watching series with compelling plots and characters regardless of whether the main characters are guys or girls. I’ll always have Madoka Magica to thank for that.

An Anime Experiment

Every now and then, I wonder if I'm missing out on some good or even great anime by sticking to the kinds of anime I'm familiar with and know I love (shonen, yaoi, boy's love, etc.).

Therefore, I've decided to run an experiment.

I will watch a very popular anime series that came out a few years ago that is the complete opposite of what I normally watch - and is of a genre that I usually avoid watching. When I've finished the series, I will write a review of it.

So stay tuned. =D

Supporting the Industry - What I Did in July 2013

I went to Anime Expo in July. I qualified for a complimentary industry pass, but I did stay at the Marriott L.A. Live for several nights and spent money on meals and sundries during my stay.

At the convention, I actually got some cool free stuff.

Here's a K poster from the Viz booth in the exhibit hall:

And a Naruto poster as well:

I filled out a survey at the Shonen Jump panel and turned it in at the Viz booth, whereupon I got to choose a free prize from Bleach, Tiger and Bunny or Death Note.

I chose this cute cell phone strap featuring Hitsugaya from Bleach. =D

As for Exhibit Hall purchases, I made surprisingly few this year. I did look at DVD box sets, but nothing appealed. The DVD vendor that usually tempts me the most - Media Blasters - wasn't at the convention this time.

The Artist's Alley area was expanded this year, and I think I went through all the aisles. I was hoping to find fan art - any kind of fan art - from The Unlimited, but found nothing.

So I went to the Digital Manga booth, a familiar haunt of mine at conventions. XD

S, written by Saki Aida, has become one of my favorite DMI yaoi novel series. It's about an undercover detective who starts a relationship with a powerful yakuza leader in order to obtain information on illegal gun sales. A good story with compelling characters, the series is currently up to volume 5.

And here's some yaoi manga I bought:

I also bought Ronin Galaxy, vol. 1, from Team Ronin in the Exhibit Hall, as I mentioned in my convention report in July.

So, no big purchases at AX, but I was part of the convention room block and spent like a tourist while there.

I also paid for my Crunchyroll subscription ($6.95/month) and my Anime Network subscription ($6.95/month).

Sekai Ichi Hatsukoi Movie - Due in 2014

Yokozawa's romance story from Sekai Ichi Hatuskoi will be released as a movie in 2014!

Some kind person translated this news from the cover of the latest volume of the regular Sekai Ichi Hatsukoi manga.

I picked up my copy of Volume 8 yesterday at my local Japanese bookstore:

AND the casting for Sekai Ichi Hatsukoi: Yokozawa Takafumi no Baai has been announced.

Takafumi Yokozawa: Kenyuu Horiuchi
Zen Kirishima: Toru Furuya

That's Toru Furuya, as in Ribbons Almark from Gundam 00 and Amuro Ray from the original Mobile Suit Gundam from thirty years ago(!). Wonder if this is Furuya-san's first shonen-ai role. ;-)

Dance of the Confetti Cat - New Release

My new science-fiction short story, Dance of the Confetti Cat, is now available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Kobo Books.

For more information, please visit Bell River Publishing.