THIS IS SURVIVOR!! (Bokurano goes into the Awesome Second Episodes file)
Posted by: Owen S in Anime, tags: Bokurano, Commentary, Mecha, Sci-fiNote to self: watch the damn thing as soon as it comes out. This would’ve been up way earlier had it not been for the other series I’ve been trying to sit through. See previous post for details. Also, there’s a spoiler after the cut — hell, just assume all Bokurano posts from now on will contain spoilers. It’s that kind of anime, the type where something happens every episode.
Maybe watching this while waiting for Triad to sub StrikerS (yeah, I prefer Hallaoun and Raging Heart, thanks) won’t be such a bad thing after all. Episode 2 of Bokurano was, as TJ Han put it, definitely one of the top 5 WTF moments so far. Yes, that link’s also a spoiler, and no, this goes before the cut. Click at your own risk.
slow battles are slooooooooow — I swear this is an Ultraman homage.
Bokuranos coming to resemble Survivor. This isnt an opinion or anything of the sort, it just is, its either that or a very well-placed observation on the Asian mentality (e.g. the community’s needs before yourself, individualistic values have no place, that Japanese proverb The nail that sticks out gets hammered in) Japan happens to subscribe to. And just like how Lord of the Flies was extremely unsettling when I first read it, Bokuranos doing the same for me.
If youve read William Goldings renowned work, it basically tells the story of a group of schoolboys who get stranded on this island and proceed to go wild. Like, literally. As far as I can remember, which isnt that far at all, among the numerous themes, the book served to illustrate how human nature is innately evil not like the media would like you to believe, with their brainless rhetoric about how violent video games and movies caused Columbine and V. Tech.
Survivor works on that principle too. Despite being for all practical reasons, on camera 24/7, they have no qualms about starting drama. Some play nice, some become the bad guy, almost everyone plays the game in such a way as to ensure their survival, and if it means manipulating their way through, then so be it. And then we have the voting out every round, which ensures that the alliances and drama stays fresh.
But how’s it resemble Survivor anyway? The group behaviour, for one — it sent chills down my spine during the discussion in the room, when they talked about what they were going to do: I don’t remember all their names, but I definitely noticed how those for managed to win over those against, even though those against had perfectly justified opinions as to why they shouldn’t be involved in the game.
The other thing would be the deaths. I’m pretty sure one person’s going to die every time there’s a battle — Kokopelli’s glasses certainly pointed to that. Could this also be an allegorical tale on the dangers of that “all for one” thinking? It’s certainly been referenced, both in the OP lyrics and in the dialogue so far, and it looks like the case to me. Here’s where a post-modernist approach allows for interpretations like Bokurano being a metaphor for the wars against terror in Afghanistan and Iraq, but that’d be too easy to write about, so why bother? More importantly, however:
I didn’t see Waku’s death coming. Never expected that to happen, and although I was aware that people will and do die during the series, I was wondering when exactly during the battle would he die, (was expecting something along the lines of Eva, like what happens to the mech happens to the pilot) so the surprise at the end definitely had me gaping. It seemed all too dream-like and I thought Dung Beetle would conveniently put everyone to static-sleep-teleport again, but to no avail.
Just hoping that it doesn’t degenerate into a gimmicky quota-death as the story progresses, because Waku’s death seemed rather legit to me, despite my guess that it’ll probably be explained some time later as part of the price for piloting Zearth.
Another nice thing was how Dung Beetle’s voice actually sounded normal. I thought it was an unwritten rule that small robot assistants had to have a distorted voice of some sort (quick, name me something other than Bokurano that doesn’t conform to that) and it was nice to have the thing speak in regular tones instead of some cheesy electronic one.
The direction Bokurano’s taking definitely appeals to me so far, although I’m still wondering if the sequence in which the kids appear in the ED sequence actually signify who’s going to be the next pilot, in other words, die. Definitely blogging this on time when it’s out next.
April 24th, 2007 at 10:50 am
I’ve already made my views on Bokurano well known, both its anime and manga form, so I won’t talk about that. I’ll assume you haven’t read the manga, which you really should, because in my eyes Gonzo is heading toward a bastardized version of Bokurano. Not bad, just less great.
Comparing Bokurano to Survivor isn’t a very apt comparison, because in Survivor people have a goal to work towards. No such thing in Bokurano. There’s no reason to team up with anyone; you pilot Zearth alone. Bokurano is actually incredibly individualistic, in that each child is focused on to tell a different story, with themes ranging from the most perverse to the mundane. It’s far less a mecha show than human drama.
And Dung Beetle is a sadistic bastard who could care less if anyone dies. Pretty refreshing actually.
April 24th, 2007 at 2:35 pm
Well, Demian, I guess this is where individual interpretation comes in. I haven’t read the manga, but I guess there’s always something lost in translation from manga to anime, just like from novel to film.
Why not Survivor? It fits pretty well — I don’t see how there isn’t a common goal, because they’re all working to save the earth. Technically. The analogy works because Survivor has a bunch of people thrown together involuntarily to a common goal, even if one of them has to go every round. Like Survivor, the kids want to protect the Earth (Ze Earth, lol) but they were thrown together by chance, and it appears like one of them’s bound to die every time?
The kids might pilot Zearth alone, but it doesn’t change how everyone’s there watching with the ability to speak up, even help the pilot like in Waku’s case. The 14- now 13 of them, are bound by the actions of the pilot whether they like it or not since they happen to be in the mech, and it’s a far cry from every other mecha where the pilot’s alone, with only his HUD and bridge bunnies for comfort and assistance.
It seems, in my opinion, to be verging on the theme of choice and circumstance — how much free will do they have? And being thrown together in events like those, do they subsequently choose to bring down the whole group for the sake of their own choice, or do they pull the group up and get through it all? It’s like watching a 10000x more awesome reality TV programme IMO, and that’s why I’ll probably be coming back again and again to Bokurano. I’m hooked.
Feel free to skirt around the spoilers and tell me stuff from the manga, would love to hear anything non-spoiler (for the sake of those reading the comments) that proves my comparison wrong, actually.
April 25th, 2007 at 6:38 am
I guess I just have a different view of Survivor, because in my eyes it’s more of a battle royale type game, which Bokurano completely isn’t. Or, at least, isn’t right now, though some aspects of a “battle royale” are introduced later. I will agree that the idea of group conscience vs. individualism plays a part, but not to the degree your thinking of. Bokurano tends to deal with Japan and its societal ills as a whole, absent of any particular us vs. them mentality. You’ll probably have a field day with all the issues Bokurano brings up.
I’ll confirm your idea that a pilot dies each time they fight, but your leaving out the fact that they know they are going to die. This is where the true story of Bokurano lies. How do people act with the knowledge of their imminent death? Do they still fight on? How do they solve the issues they’ve had up till now? That’s a more interesting story than any mecha fight. Hopefully Gonzo will be able to show all of that. You really just have to wait and see more to get all of Bokurano, because new elements are being added all the time that just makes everything better.
April 25th, 2007 at 3:25 pm
>>Youll probably have a field day with all the issues Bokurano brings up.
Yes.
>>You really just have to wait and see more to get all of Bokurano, because new elements are being added all the time that just makes everything better.
Looking forward to it then, thanks for the heads up!