The title is a bad pun on how a lot of bloggers are dumb this time of the year (i.e. first impressions posts) by dissing a lot of stuff they watch, only to reluctantly say they love it at the end of the season, or something. As bj0rn has said, tsundere boners. See Lucky Star for more details. Also, after watching the first episode of Clannad I found out an interesting bit of trivia:
[03:47:15] <+Moogy> fun fact
[03:47:21] <+Moogy> sunohara has more lines than any other character in the game
[03:47:23] <+Moogy> by a wide margin
[03:47:26] <saturnine> …
[03:47:37] <saturnine> and you don’t get an ending with him
[03:47:38] <saturnine> ;[
[03:47:42] <+Moogy> lol you do
[03:47:44] <saturnine> rofl WTF
[03:47:44] <+Moogy> he has his own path
[03:47:47] <saturnine> YAOI END?
[03:47:50] <saturnine> HOMO END?
[03:47:53] <+Moogy> (romance is not involved)
They probably adopt a kid or something, since it’s about family, after all.
There really isn’t anything wrong with saying that something sucks, but you ought to have good reasons for it or at least be able to state why you dislike it, though. CCYoshi brought up the issue of a balanced “anime diet” recently, and I found his thoughts on the matter interesting. I wouldn’t say I particularly like harem, although I still hold a torch for Love Hina. Don’t ask.
The thing is, as my previous posts can and will show, I haven’t thought too highly of Key stuff. planetarian, which I’m in the midst of reading, hasn’t compelled me to continue on all that much. It is crappy prose, and although I know and grudgingly accept that it is more atmosphere than literary great thanks to it being a visual novel rather than just a novel, it’s still rather trashy — overdescription is something I’d fault it of being.
Why then do I watch something that’s vaguely harem (like ef, although I’ve been confronted with many a vehement denial about how it isn’t, so I’ll leave it at that) in nature when I don’t like it? CCYoshi thinks I shouldn’t, but I’ve always had the idea that hey, it’s my loss if I’m not going to be able to appreciate something a lot of people I know have enjoyed, so why not try to like it? It isn’t so much “living the true anime experience” as it is going out of your comfort zone and destroying a few ill-placed preconceptions about genres you’ve always turned your nose up against.
I know of bloggers who have irrational fears against certain genres, and they’re not even trying to change that — rather, given the masturbatory nature of blogs, they reinforce those built-up stereotypes in their head (and the occasional post), and their commenters cheer them on in that never-ending circlejerk of life. Nice Blog. They won’t touch mecha, or anything that looks remotely shounen, or harem, or even something that’s popular, because, heaven forbid the mainstream disease of the masses infect their taste in turn.
Then there are others, like good old Higevs is doing here, though for God knows how long, who’s braving the moe waters in order to get through to what may or may not turn out to be brilliance. While Kanon 2006 wasn’t that bad, I guess you’ve got to either build up resistance or just get used to the overtly-moe designs for it to work its magic, I guess.
So then there’s all that talk about Key. As my related posts below may or may not tell you, I’ve had this antagonistic relationship with it. After much IRC conversation deep meditation and thought on the matter, I’ve come to the conclusion that I’ve a chip on my shoulder with regards to what seems like the third time in which their formulaic triumvirate of:
- Rehearsed sadness
- Vulnerable girls
- Season aesthetic
Which is simple, really; all this is about isn’t so much telling a story as it is getting you to feel sad. I personally felt like a monster for all of 5 seconds when people tell me they found Kanon the saddest thing ever. Maybe 10 whole seconds when they tell me they cried buckets at Air, because I wasn’t really sold on it. So the magic really lies in the emotion they try and drag out of you, kicking and screaming, while something simple like Lucky Star does it without even making it obvious.
Vulnerable girls are more often than not, the victim of their moe archetype that doesn’t know when to stop. They’re there, alright, but they’re not so much characters as they are helpless pretty things that the protagonist proceeds to go about helping in a by-the-book manner. Feminist rage at this awful, hackneyed portrayal is understandable given the circumstances.
Finally, we’ve got the season aesthetic to top it all off. From Sad Girls in Winter (Kanon) to Sad Girls in Summer (Air), and now Sad Girls in Spring, or something? This is where Clannad rises above its predecessors’ shadows, or so I hope it will. For starters, there’s the fact that the cast isn’t bound as loosely as it was with Kanon or Air, allowing for a lot more realism with regards to how the girls aren’t just conveniently ignorant of each other’s existence.
Then there’s the whole “family” theme.
the personality exhibited by Tomoya so far has surpassed even that of Kyonichi, but what surprised me more was that, Sunohara aside, there was room for other male characters like Akio, who was awesome and hilarious
I’m assuming here on a rather lame basis that, while the otaku over in Japan may not know how real girls are like, therefore ensuring that moe archetypes wouldn’t break their suspension of disbelief, they certainly know how a family is like. You can’t really fake a representation of a family like you can with girls, since while not everyone has had a girlfriend, I can safely assume that every otaku has indeed had a family, orphans aside.
So it could very well be that Clannad’s success comes about as a result of something that the fans can identify with, as opposed to “tragic” magical mystery AIDS, or hysterical hereditary herpes. It’s good, I mean, I’m personally tired of the whole supernatural crap which is really a deus ex machina to get you to feel up for the girls, and apparently the dream sequences are the only parts where something otherworldly happens.
I think I can stomach it a lot better knowing that it didn’t have that angst-ridden feel the movie preview had, of which I saw quite some time ago. Everything about the first episode is promising, from the way it doesn’t feel like another Kanon ripoff on the same template, to how each girl doesn’t seem like another variation of a done to death archetype. Realism in this genre is quite shocking, but if it works, it works. I’m not complaining.
Iwa ni Hana, a blog I’ve been following as of late, came up with this excellent post some time back pointing out how parents are nothing more than convenient plot devices for a majority of anime. Clannad should be worth watching for that point alone, since, as the comments in that post will tell you, there hasn’t been a whole lot of anime or manga portraying “family” realistically, and that’s reason enough for me to continue.
Tags: Air, Bishoujo, Clannad, First impressions, Kanon
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Funny how that post I made has become one of the most commented ones in recent history on my blog, despite being 1) obvious and 2) rather undeveloped. XD I still argue that if you don’t like it, don’t watch it, but it might just be that I have less time to spend powering through something that doesn’t initially catch my eye.
That said, Fall Previews? Mo’ like Clannad previews amirite amirite?
But seriously, Clannad’s family emphasis does seem promising like you said, and there are a lot of entertaining and - gasp - MALE characters.
Unfortunately my Key sense is telling me that it’s going to give you what you hate, just because it IS Key, a few of the character designs actually still remind me of past series from them, and Nagisa seems to have some mysteriousness going on with the whole “other world” thing and standing under a streetlight at night. It does sound like you have done a bit more research on the game than I have though *plugs fingers in ears*.
However, Clannad does supposedly translate to ‘family’ in Irish or some language (yay, being American and ignorant), so with any luck maybe this show will be a bit more grounded in reality than its predecessors.
I admit that I’ve been sucked into Clannad as of late and have more hopes for it than previous Key adapations I’ve seen–I agree with you that at their worst, Key indulges in manufactured sadness over plot and character consistency. This one gives me hope for the reasons you describe as well as because, so far at least, Nagisa and Tomoya actually interact meaningfully. (Given this genre and track record, that is.)
Maybe Key improved their storytelling skills with every iteration? Kanon was the basic template, and has been lampooned in multiple later animes. Air was ambitious and clearly tried to be different, but was a mess. Let’s hope the third time’s a charm!
CCYoshi: Haha, I was unceremoniously spoiled on IRC as to the one death that happens. The name stuck in my head because it was uncommon. But yeah, I guess I have done my research, if listening to a whole lot of people raving about it as fantastic counts.
Mike:
My thoughts exactly. While Air and Kanon previously had the protagonist bumping into the girls in town, which felt terribly contrived and whatnot, at least Clannad makes a whole lot more sense by having them all under one roof, and reasonably, too. I’ve heard that Key gets better with time, though, so I don’t blame them. I’m hoping for a great season ahead.
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*carpet-munching*? How pathetic can you get? I don’t mind you being homophobe and sexist, I am just surprised that you really not afraid of showing how vulgar you are.
Yet, I do admire your courage talking about things you have absolutely no clue whatsover.
Aside from how I totally failed to find any occurrence of “carpet munching” in this post (you’re probably referring to my thoughts on Blue Drop, so try to comment in the correct post the next time), you probably took my sarcasm seriously, nevermind how it’s obvious that such a thing won’t happen since this isn’t hentai and all.
But you’re probably one of those feminazis with hairy armpits who go around burning bras and kicking every man you see in the balls with your steel-toe construction boots, so whatever. I too admire your courage talking about things you have absolutely no clue whatsover.
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