<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
I’ve watched Shingu<\/em><\/strong> twice now, and it was as good the second time as the first, even though I knew all the twists. But I’m as puzzled as ever by the great mystery of Shingu<\/em><\/strong>: why has the series never received the attention it deserves? There has to be a reason beyond the lame opening. (The following is mildly spoilerish.)<\/p>\n As has been mentioned elsewhere, Shingu<\/em><\/strong> is a coming-of-age story on a grand scale. I.e., the theme is growing up, becoming mature, entering the larger world. I suspect that this is a fraught subject for a disproportionate number of younger anime fans.<\/p>\n The adult approach extends throughout the production. A lot happens \u2014 there are surprises in every episode \u2014 but always at a measured pace. The narrative never leaves you gasping for breath. If you want an adrenaline rush, you’ll be disappointed. There are some fights and some battles in space, but there aren’t many, and they’re not extravagant spectacles. There’s no eye candy (though there’s much to reward the observant). The creators of Shingu<\/em><\/strong> deliberately designed their 2070 world to echo the 1970’s. With the old-school character designs, it likely looks boringly old-fashioned to adolescents.<\/p>\n To a youngster looking for flash and fanservice, angst and violence, there is nothing of interest in Shingu<\/em><\/strong>. For adult looking for a interesting story and sympathetic characters, there’s plenty. However, the former outnumber the latter, which is one reason Shingu<\/em><\/strong> has been overlooked.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Lycoris radiata I’ve watched Shingu twice now, and it was as good the second time as the first, even though I knew all the twists. But I’m as puzzled as ever by the great mystery of Shingu: why has the series never received the attention it deserves? There has to be a reason beyond the … Continue reading “Anime for grown-ups”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[660,684],"class_list":["post-219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-whatever","tag-current-viewing","tag-whatever"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4xam3-3x","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nMy best guess is that, even though half the characters are middle-school students, it lacks adolescent appeal. There’s nothing special about Hajime, the central character; if anything, he’s atypically normal. He’s happy and well-adjusted, with an affectionate family, including both parents. Unlike half his classmates, he has no special powers. There’s nothing there for a neurotic teenager to identify with. There are a couple of characters who could be classified as shounen hero fighter types, but they’re both girls. The most noisily angsty character is treated largely as comic relief.<\/p>\n