Week 3 Anime Notes

• Neon Genesis Evangelion

The key focus of this episode is the budding relationship between Shinji and his classmates, specifically Suzuhara and Aida. Shinji has very much in common with his classmates – they have all lost their mothers, and their fathers work at NERV, leaving them often absent from home. They all have abnormal home lives because of this: Shinji is estranged from his father, Suzuhara takes care of his sister by himself, and as we discover later, Aida often runs away from home for long periods of time.

Suzuhara and Shinji are initially at odds, because both of them have learned to become defensive as a coping mechanism. In Shinji’s case, he suffers from a “hedgehog’s dilemma.” Because he believes he cannot make friends, he does not make friends. Suzuhara, on the other hand, is prone to violence, and is protective of his family. He has become ultramasculine as a result of his father’s absence from home.

• Berserk

This episode establishes the parameters of Griffith’s relationship with his troops. He strikes an odd balance between cold-eyed commander and father; while he does not seem to care for his troops on a personal level, they all respect him imminently. The only person that Griffith does show an interest in is Guts. In fact, the level of respect Griffith seems to have for Guts seems to hint at Griffith’s homosexual attraction to Guts. Caska acts as Griffith’s second before Guts shows up, but Griffith cares so little for Caska that he actually asks her to sleep nude next to Guts, in order to “warm his body.” But Griffith risks his own life to go back and save Guts from the enemy when Guts is in trouble. The question the viewer has to ask themselves is: does Griffith save Guts because he knows Guts is a valuable asset, or does he save Guts because of a deeper, personal connection? This answer is made clear over the course of the show, and is in fact one of the key themes of all Berserk.

• Lupin III

This episode of Lupin was surprisingly drab. It had to do with a group called the Killers of Killers, who had grown a flower which could be used to synthesize a high-powered explosive. But there’s also this hippie girl who has had some of the flower put into her DNA? I think? So she can’t live without the flowers. But at the end Lupin burns them, even though he knows this, and then seems shocked when the girl dies. The episode ends inexplicably with Lupin riding a missile. The theme here is sometimes you have to break a few eggs to stop a plot to make missiles using exploding flowers.

• Gurren Lagaan

This episode focused on the teamwork of the core group; that is, Yoko, Kamina and Simon. Simon has trouble trusting himself, and Yoko has trouble trusting others besides herself. Both must deal with these traits in this episode. When Yoko offers to pilot the Lagaan in place of Simon, Kamina tells her that she should not believe in herself, but instead believe in her teammates, who in turn believe in her. This same advice is what allows Simon to overcome his fear of battle and help Kamina in the pivotal moment of this episode; he realizes that Kamina is fighting his heart out for the good of the group, and Simon in turn does the same for Kamina.

Week 2 Anime Notes

• Neon Genesis Evangelion

In episode two of Evangelion, we see Shinji and Misato’s relationship deepen. Even though they have only known each other for about 24 hours, Shinji already feels closer to Misato than he does to his own father. Part of this has to do with the fact that Gendo only perceives Shinji as a tool. This is a trait that Gendo will display more and more throughout the series. Misato, on the other hand, identifies with Shinji, perhaps because she herself lost her mother at a young age, and had a strained relationship with her own father up until his death.

This episode is also the first time we get a hint at what the Eva units really are, and what their AT fields actually do. When Shinji’s Unit 01 goes into berserker mode, we realize that the Evas have a life of their own, and may even be more dangerous than the Angels themselves.

• Berserk

The Golden Age story arc begins in the second episode of Berserk. Guts meets Griffith for the first time, and the parameters of their relationship are defined. Griffith is much like Gendo Ikari in that he considers his men to be little more than tools for his own use. He doesn’t care at all about Guts at first until he sees how easily Guts dispatches his best men. Then Griffith tells Guts that he “desire to have” him. There are homosexual overtones to this statement, but the homosexual aspect of Griffith and Guts’ relationship is never fully realized in the scope of the show. It is better to simply focus on the master-and-servant relationship that eventually leads to their falling out at the end of the series.

Another thing to note in this episode is that brute force does not work on Guts. Caska is forced to use a bow to wound him, and even that barely fazes him. Only Griffith’s skilled swordsmanship and unmatched speed can defeat Guts.

• Lupin III

This episode demonstrates a typical archetype in Japanese television of the time period – that of the “invincible foe”, who exhibits supernatural powers, but who always has a single weak point (thanks to Eckelkamp sensei for this tidbit!).

The relationship between Lupin and Fujiko is elaborated on in this episode. Fujiko turns to Lupin for help when she fears that Pyker will kill her, but later claims that she doesn’t want to involve him in this dangerous business. Lupin knows that he is being played for a sap, but goes along with it anyway. His love for Fujiko surpasses all her betrayals, and he is even willing to kill Piker in cold blood to prove his love for her.

• Gurren Lagaan

Episode three of Gurren Lagaan is devoted to Kamina, and his relationship with his father. Kamina is at first derisive of the skull found in the desert, saying that someone who died so close to home must have been weak or cowardly. He later discovers that this skull belongs to his own father, who Kamina idolizes. The fact that even his father was killed in a place like this forces Kamina to question his own reasons for being on the surface.
Kamina also comes to grip with his own mortality in this episode. When he is attempting to take over the enemy Ganmen, he is confronted by images of skulls on the monitor. Then, in an interesting sequence, the skull is imposed over Kamina’s face as the animation flashes back and forth between images of life and death. Kamina is forced to accept that here on the surface, he might die at any moment; this is the price and adventurer must eventually pay. When he realizes this fact, the Ganmen accepts him as a pilot.

Week 1 Anime Notes

• Neon Genesis Evangelion

We didn't really have a lot to say about this one, honestly. Mostly we outlined the production and gave a brief history of Gainax. Because the first episode is tied in heavily with the second episode, we saved most of the commentary for next time.

• Berserk

Because the first episode takes place in a different time period than the rest of the show, a lot of what was shown isn't relevant, especially because we're only showing thirteen episodes. But a lot of the themes and symbols presented are extremely relevant.The first big thing is the concept of weak versus strong and mortal versus immortal that becomes apparent over the course of the show. In episode one we see the Snake Guy's goons pushing around the people in the tavern, which exemplifies the heirarchy of the Berserk world: weak at the bottom, strong at the top. The people at the very top, the Apostles, have supreme power. Promises mean nothing to them, nor does human life. But they are never characterized as evil -- after all, if you have that much power, why shouldn't you be allowed to use it? And similarly, if Guts has the power to beat these demons, how different from them can he really be? This is stuff that the show doesn't cover too much, but the weak versus strong dichotomy is definitely important later on.The second thing I mentioned was the concept of the Apostles having two faces. This represents that they have both an inner, human side and an outer, demonic side. The Apostles have human desires to dominate others, and they also have a human fear of death -- the Snake Guy begs for his life when Guts has him on the ropes. The demonic side, on the other hand, has no restrictions, hence the bloodthirsty, animalistic qualities of the Apostles. We don't see much more of the Apostles in the scope of the show, other than Zodd, but the same distinction between animal and man is something that Guts struggles with a lot as well -- he's just as bloodthirsty as the Snake Guy, and delights in torturing him.

• Lupin III

The first episode of Lupin is pretty representative of the series as a whole. Lupin enters a race that he knows is a trap, switches out driving duties with Jigen halfway through to go save Fujiko, and then switches back out with Jigen at the end just to win the race. We mostly addressed how the show is relevant even though it was made in the 70s. It features violence and sex when American cartoons of the time were still really tame (America was still showing stuff like Scooby Doo and Loony Tunes). We also talked about how influential this show has been, specifically to Cowboy Bebop. The four main characters of the two shows are almost direct analogs, especially Lupin (Spike), Jigen (Jet), and Fujiko (Faye). Spike is the wild guy who always runs off to do crazy things, with Jet playing the consummate straight man to balance him out. Lupin and Jigen have a similar relationship. Faye is obviously inspired by Fujiko. Both ladies often screw over their supposed "compatriots" for their own profit, but the boys always welcome her back.

• Gurren Lagaan

The show is kind of pedestrian, but there are a ton of symbols to address. Most obviously, the face-centric structure of the mechas reflects a very Japanese idea of battle. Simon is a coward, but once he gets in his mecha, no one can see his cowardice. This is a common theme in many giant robot shows, but GL takes it a step further by actually making the face of the suit its chief characteristic. Kamina often speaks of facing your enemies face to face, but what he really means is that you should meet your enemies head on with the hope of intimidating them. You don't talk to you enemy in the same way that you talk at the dinner table; you have to project a warrior's persona. This also ties into the face idea.The other big thing is the phallic symbolism: Simon's drill, Kamina's sword, even Yoko's gun. Simon has to use his big drill-penis to break out of his home town into the world above, which symbolizes his coming of age as a man. In addition, the whole concept reflects traditional Japanese samurai values, and the male-centric view they take of conflicts. It isn't necessarily sexist, because Yoko seems to be just as savvy as Kamina and Simon, if not moreso, but she has to have her big old penis-shaped gun to fight with.

Wooo blog!

Hey everybody, Sam here. Just getting the new blog started for our Weekly Anime Night here at UMSL. Feel free to post anything anime realted. I will be updateing the site with Andys type ups for each week.