{"id":3221,"date":"2011-01-20T00:45:53","date_gmt":"2011-01-20T06:45:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tancos.net\/wp\/?p=3221"},"modified":"2011-01-20T00:45:53","modified_gmt":"2011-01-20T06:45:53","slug":"butterflies-and-chainsaws","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/butterflies-and-chainsaws\/","title":{"rendered":"Butterflies and chainsaws"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Merry's<\/a>
Merry's eyes: leftovers from Katanagatari?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I might follow up to five shows this winter, the most in years. In order of interest, they are:<\/p>\n

Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica<\/b><\/i>
\nFractale<\/b><\/i>
\nKore wa Zombie desu ka<\/b><\/i>
\nYumekui Merry<\/b><\/i>
\nGosick<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Random notes:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Do lepidoptera frighten the Japanese? When I see flocks of butterflies in anime, it’s usually a prelude to danger or horror, e.g., the blue butterflies in Paprika<\/b><\/i>. Butterfly motifs seem to be one of the signals of a witch’s presense in Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica<\/b><\/i>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2022 Visually, Madoka<\/b><\/i> is the most eccentric show since Trapeze<\/b><\/i>, combining Shaftesque art and animation with architecture from Unhappy Hipsters<\/a> and monsters from RatherGood.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2022 The first clue for me that Madoka<\/b><\/i> might be darker than most magical girl shows was the announcement that Yuki Kajiura was doing the soundtrack. I recently put together a two-hour program of music by Yoko Kanno and Kajiura. I was impressed once again by the width of Kanno’s range; she can do anything, from intensely dramatic to cute and silly. However, Kajiura’s music, good though her pieces are taken individually, eventually all sounds pretty much the same: cool, minor-key, introverted, a little exotic, a little strange. ((I was surprised that Kajiura placed first in zzeroparticle’s recent anime composer poll<\/a>. She’s good, but not that<\/em> good.)) When a show fits her abilities, the results can be very effective, e.g., Noir<\/b><\/i>. Madoka<\/b><\/i> thus far is another good match for her.<\/p>\n

\u2022 How dark will Madoka<\/b><\/i> be? Possibly very<\/a> dark<\/a>, indeed. The silliness in the opening, I suspect, is a deliberate bait-and-switch. Update<\/strong>: Really, really, really dark<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Would<\/a>
Would you trust Mami's little smile?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2022 Discussions of Fractale<\/b><\/i> so far have mentioned such works as Dennou Coil<\/b><\/i>, Ghost in the Shell<\/b><\/i>, The Matrix<\/b><\/i>, The Naked Sun<\/b><\/i>, etc. I’ll add one more: the trio looking for Phryne reminded me of the duo in Brazil<\/b><\/i> who wore the caps with very long bills.<\/p>\n

\u2022 I can understand the Fractale committee’s frustration with fansubs<\/a>, but their action means that people outside Japan now have the choice of a) hoping that it will soon be licensed and available for a reasonable price; b) breaking the law; or, c) joining twelve-step programs to overcome their anime addictions. I really do want to play by the rules, but the case of Dennou Coil<\/b><\/i> indicates that I can no longer expect that all first-rate anime will licensed during my lifetime.<\/p>\n

\u2022 A frightening thought: boys will cosplay as Ayumu as he was garbed at the end of the first episode of Kore wa Zombie desu ka<\/b><\/i>, and pink chainsaws will be the most annoying props since Wolfwood’s cross.<\/p>\n

\"Avert<\/a>
Avert your eyes: one of the characters in Yumekui Merry (shudder) smokes.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I might follow up to five shows this winter, the most in years. In order of interest, they are: Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica Fractale Kore wa Zombie desu ka Yumekui Merry Gosick Random notes: \u2022 Do lepidoptera frighten the Japanese? When I see flocks of butterflies in anime, it’s usually a prelude to danger or … Continue reading “Butterflies and chainsaws”<\/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":[9],"tags":[213,316,347,630],"class_list":["post-3221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-viewing","tag-fractale","tag-kore-wa-zombie-desu-ka","tag-mahou-shoujo-madoka-magica","tag-yumekui-merry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4xam3-PX","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3221","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=3221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3221\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}