Twelve Days of Anime Part 4: Big Mecha Franchises – COMPLETE

This year I finished up two big, fan-favorite\mecha franchises: Mobile Police Patlabor and Armored Trooper Votoms.  Otaku bucket list item checked.  Feel the power of my nerd aura, etc.  Though the two are both real robot series originating in the 80s with multiple installments spanning three decades, there isn’t actually much commonality between them beyond that.  In terms of their production and their content, Patlabor and Votoms are quite different, and, because of this, I find it interesting that I like both of them as much as I do.

Votoms is Ryosuke Takahashi’s baby.  He is the original creator of the concept, directs all of the installments of the main story, as well as a particularly good side story, and is responsible for much of the series composition.  It would be hard to argue that the show is anything but his vision.  The story is about one character (though other interesting side characters orbit around him).  Chirico Cuvie is the center of gravity of the Votoms universe.  His tale is ultimately a tragedy and is largely a bleak and gritty affair.

In contrast, we have Patlabor.  Patlabor is a collaborative effort, in terms of the creative side of things, with the likes of Naoyuki Yoshinaga, Masami Yuki and, of course, Mamoru Oshii steering the story.  The series features an ensemble cast and adopts several different tones throughout.  Its feature films are quite dense and serious; its OAVs and TV are at times sweet, at times silly, but always entertaining.  Patlabor‘s diverse cast allows for a flexibility in the kinds of stories it can tell and, thus, in the kinds of tones it can maintain.  I have been left musing on political philosophy, genuinely moved emotionally and also laughing at the dumbest shit all while watching some iteration of Patlabor.

I suppose the two series do have one additional trait in common:  their strength is in their writing and characterization rather than in their robots.

Senses of Knowledge in Green Legend Ran and Gundam 0080

I recently caught up with an early 90s OAV that I had been meaning to watch for some time, Green Legend Ran.  Director Satoshi Saga (of Armitage III “fame”) would likely not enjoy hearing that I had seen GLR in a bargain bin three or four months ago and passed on it for Garzey’s Wing.  Ah, the lure of the terribad.  Though I think GLR suffers from problems that plague many 90s OAVs, I also think that it is a worthwhile watch for most anyone, which is not something I can say for Garzey’s.

GLR is especially interesting when it serves as a companion piece to Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket, an OAV three years its senior.  Both shows delve into the nature of violence for the ordinary person and also the effects on such persons of the knowledge of violence, though GLR shifts its thematic focus from these ideas a bit after its first episode.  The messages of the two are just different enough in their scope of application (not to mention GLR‘s thematic shift) to make them complimentary of one another rather than retreads.

In this post, I examine the character arcs of Alfred Izuruha and Ran to illustrate that there is more than one mode of knowledge.

Suggested Soundtrack for Reading – The Clash “Spanish Bombs”

Has Armored Trooper Votoms Been Misclassified?

Did you ever have that feeling that, despite the fact that you had watched the same show as other people, you had somehow seen a different show than other people?  This has been my experience with Sunrise’s “other” big, enduring mecha franchise, Armored Trooper Votoms.   My disagreement with the discussion (that I’ve been privy to) of the show is not about the esteem in which it is held.  The show is one of my absolute favorites.  I think it’s really well done, and nearly every iteration of Votoms offers something worthwhile…even the most recent stuff.  Not even LOGH can say that.

To be clear:  this post does not really concern the Votoms franchise as a whole but mainly the original 1983-4 television show, though my comments do apply to most of the series.  The reason for disparity between my own view and those of others has to do with what I think the show fundamentally is.  Most people describe the show using terms like mecha, sci-fi, and action (see my own metadata) or talk about the realistic nature of the robots or grittiness of the combat.  Such talk is not wrong;  all of these elements are certainly present in Votoms.  However, I maintain that, at its core, the show is a tragedy.

Suggested Soundtrack for Reading – Oneohtrix Point Never “Replica”

WARNING:  MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR THE VOTOMS FRANCHISE BEYOND THIS POINT.

The Otaku Memory Box: Fastest Delivery

Macross Frontier Episode 12 | 13:53 – 16:42

I feel like all my recent writing has involved extrapolating themes or expounding theories and hasn’t contained a lot of expression of how much I enjoy anime.  So, I thought I’d take a cue from ghostlightning and remember some love.  These thoughts lead directly to the creation of this featured Post Series, “The Otaku Memory Box.”  OMB will be a collection of posts showcasing what I (and hopefully fandom) feel are iconic scenes in anime along with the requisite fanboy gushing over these indelible “snapshots.”  Hopefully, other fans will chime in with their affections in the comments section.  Don’t expect much in the way of analysis or argument.  OMB is meant to be a place in which we can come together and be effusive about special moments in “our” shows.

In the inaugural OMB, I’m going to talk about the best 3 minutes of Macross Frontier episode twelve, “Fastest Delivery.”

Suggested Soundtrack for Reading – Megumi Nakajima “Seikan Hikou” (of course)

The Hyperrealism of Patlabor the Movie

Between forty and fifty years ago, a movement that would come to be known as superrealism began within the visual arts.  Pioneered by artists such as Chuck Close and Audrey Flack, superrealists (sometimes referred to as photorealists) sought to infuse a then-unparalleled level of detail into their work, seeking to replicate a photograph as nearly as possible with paint or sculpture.  The early twenty-first century saw the next step in the movement:  hyperrealism.  While the superrealists viewed the imitation of reality as their goal, hyperrealists wanted to go beyond reality and imbue their art with a message, a point of view (which had the effect of depicting reality as reflecting that point of view).

I believe that animation from the mecha battles in Patlabor the Movie falls into this category of hyperrealism.

Suggested Soundtrack for Reading:  Wolf Parade “Modern World”

Speciesism in Mobile Suit Gundam

THIS POST CONTAINS THEMATIC DISCUSSION OF SEVERAL GUNDAM SERIES.  I DO NOT SPOIL ANY MAJOR PLOT POINTS, BUT I DO DISCUSS CHARACTER DESCRIPTIONS AND MOTIVATIONS.

Many of the conflicts in the Mobile Suit Gundam metaverse, global, interpersonal and inner, have speciesism as their catalyst.  The Universal Century (UC) contains the Oldtype/Newtype divide, while the Cosmic Era (CE) plays host to the dispute between Naturals and Coordinators.  The speciesism in Gundam is often a human prejudice directed towards the more-human-than-hue-man (guitar riff) folks, but human beings are also the object of prejudice by the group considered to be an advanced species.

I am currently watching Gundam SEED for the first time, and I am struck by the speciesism, specifically how different it is from that exhibited in the UC, which SEED is meant to be re-imagining.  In this post, I will contrast the strain of speciesism exhibited in the Oldtype-versus-Newtype relationship with that of the Natural-versus-Coordinator relationship.  I want to touch on how each is integrated into its respective story, the roots of the feelings/beliefs associated with each, and the psychologies of the participants in the previously-mentioned relationships.

Suggested Soundtrack for Reading – Kenna “War in Me”