I’m not going to go too much into why it’s made of awesome and win — many have seen it, plenty of blogs praise it even if they don’t agree on the methods, and most people already know lots about JC Staff’s occasionally brilliant skills of execution that can make something as rote as Hatsukoi Limited into a winner and something well written into animated gold. The true strength of Honey & Clover is not its humor, underplayed dramatic moments, or unwillingness to insultingly explain key points to you out loud; it’s the writing, plain and simple. As a fan you’ve probably spent at least a little time justifying why anime isn’t kids’ stuff, but you’re often repaid by archetyped characters bouncing around a high school and crying a lot. Honey & Clover is your true reward. Even the theme that I most wanted to talk about is a little more “mature” than what you normally see: That’s letting go, one of the series’ many central threads that runs throughout. I’m picking ONE because apparently I can write almost 2,000 words about it, so to take on the whole thing would be extreme fucking insanity.

Something atypical for me: I try to leave them out normally, but there will probably be big spoilers.

What do I mean, specifically, when I say “letting go?” Easiest way to explain is through the characters, and how their ability to “let go” is directly proportional to how much they grow as people.

Rika and Shuu. Rika’s pretty easy: she is still hanging on to her dead husband. In a way, Shuu-chan is hanging on to him as well. They both lived a depressed life, feeling half complete without their counterpart and unable to even be around each other. Rika fully planned to off herself after completing their last joint project, which seems counterintuitive to me (seems that finishing that would be the last thing she needs to move on, but she’s taking “move on” in a very different way). She’s the only person who’s somewhat unclear at the end of the story: did Mayama really open her eyes to the kind of love that can free her? Not sure. But she did get the benefit of a very shock-treatment method of therapy when they visited her childhood home. Shuu of course, freed himself by admitting his feelings about Hagu, — he’d already been dedicating himself to her, but to truly live for her was his way of finally facing the future.

Kaoru. He’s the next simplest to explain. Though his father specifically told him not to pursue a grudge, he dedicated his life to just that. Was it about redeeming his father, reclaiming the company, or revenge on the villain? It didn’t matter. He wasn’t even sure anymore, and besides, everything he did from a very early age was colored by his envy of Shinobu. He couldn’t stop his hanging on to the past until the deed was done, and then he was left without a purpose for quite a while. Clinging to something, especially a grudge, for so long causes you to really lose sight of everything and get serious tunnel vision.

Yamada. Speaking of which. Boys from her childhood, good looking suitors with successful careers, even a better job — they all existed outside her narrow field of vision that encompassed only Mayama. What was it that finally broke the spell? More than likely being around Rika and throwing herself into her work had the largest effect on her, but of course cool guy Nomiya’s clumsy and vulnerable persistence finally opened the door. She might be the most cartoony of the characters, like a shoujo heroine (Kotoko from Itazura Na Kiss, anyone?) who just can’t stop. But when she became free, it happened in a realistic enough way: not a snapping realization, but a gradual stepping into the light.

Mayama. Here’s the flipside of that equation. What is there to talk about? Mayama’s hangup is obvious. It’s Rika. Wrong. At least, not all the way right. Yes, he had a serious problem with his one-way feelings for Rika, but that (sort of) paid off in the end. The moment when his folly ended was when he loosened his iron grip on Yamada, the poor, beautiful bench warmer. Even he wasn’t 100% sure whether he was keeping an overly big-brother hold on her or if he really was keeping her on the back burner, but neither one was healthy. He found it very easy to blame her until Nomiya went on the offensive and he stopped bemoaning his own situation long enough to realize how badly he was fucking her up by maintaining his hold.

Shinobu. The younger Morita seems to have had the opposite problem of everyone here; instead of clinging to something that’s holding him back, his unwillingness to cling to anything is what stopped him for so long. His feelings went unexpressed, responsibility was an ignored nuisance, and he even tried to bring Hagu on that train of irresponsible apathy with him. In that way he’s actually like Takemoto gone unchecked, but more on that in a second.

Hagu. For most of her life, until college, drawing was her only escape. And when she was told that she was better at art than most people, she reacted in a way that infuriated her “fans.” But Hagu’s desire to move back to the country and spend her adult life painting the forest and the mountains shouldn’t be confused with a clear-headed decision or an adult way of thinking. She just hung on to that life from before, and the more time she spent in Tokyo the more she seemed to  block out her own opinions and keep her focus on that goal that she might not even want. Combine that with being unwilling to trouble her beloved Shuu-chan, and by the time of her injury she wasn’t even sure what she wanted and what she was doing for others anymore. Morita put a stop to that with his selfish but caring request that she just stop her art and be with him. Paradoxically, she was able to feel her love of drawing again just by being told that she didn’t have to do it. And that same paradox freed her.

Takemoto. Poor Takemoto. It’s easy to think of him as Anthony Michael Hall in The Breakfast Club (RIP John Hughes), the nerd who went through the same (actually, more effective) journey of self-discovery as the rest of the crew but who didn’t get the girl and ended up writing everyone’s report for them.

Takemoto was cursed by his own self-awareness. Every year since Mayama’s graduation was progressively more sad, and it became harder and harder to hold on to his memories of carefree days filled with the love of friends and dominated by the image of Hagu. For Takemoto, even the very literal journey of self-discovery brought him only to realize the value of the things and people he wanted to come back to. I thought sure he’d wind up replacing Shuu as a teacher, his attachment to the school and reluctance to commit to the future were so great.

At the end of the first series, it was in debate whether the naïve and crying Hagu was confused about her feelings or just plain couldn’t return his; by the middle of the second series the truth was heart-wrenchingly obvious. And that, long past the point of unequivocal defeat, was really hard for Takemoto to stop clinging to. It partially served as a reminder of how much different this is from most anime: as with Yamada, just working hard to win over your unrequited love won’t necessarily change anything. It just makes you lonelier and less tied to reality. But more importantly, this is about how the things that were holding Takemoto back were tied together. When he finally cut the ties to both his college life and his unrequited love, he could rest. Hagu let him do that with her trip to the train station and her goofy bittersweet sandwiches. And when Takemoto was finally able to cry and let it go, we the viewers finally got the chance to be free as well, left with our own bittersweet taste.

Close to home (do you remember love, and how it ruins everything?)

Putting aside the flowery talk that always sounds better in your head than in print, how does this contribute to me, my viewing, and the fearsome oyaji hate machine that is Honey & Clover? Simple, on one level. It makes for a story that someone like me (a bit older, out of school for quite some time) can not only identify with, but be hurt by in a way that more juvenilely focused plots (no offense) just can’t deliver. While that KeyAni gut punch is swell at first, it fades quickly. For the feeling to really sink in and last through time and repeated viewings, it has to resonate. There must be identifiable pain in your own life behind it.

I suppose that’s why Takemoto’s character creates a dull ache in my heart. He’s the reliable but not-too-sexy dude who doesn’t get the girl and can’t quite be okay with growing up. Eventually I did get the girl, but Honey & Clover showed me that I still haven’t quite shaken the Takemoto-like desire for things to just “stop spinning” for a while. That’s painful, as it refers to mortality, which is an even more agonizing subject than unrequited love — you cannot go back, no matter how much you want to. But even that realization is a beautiful thing.

And it means that for all those marvelous characters, great humor, and tasty music, the thing that really sets Honey & Clover apart is that it has the power to hurt, help, and look inside its viewers. You don’t see that too often. It also apparently has the power to end all the usual irreverence in my blog posts, so I apologize for that. Back to dick jokes and Macross references next time.

But that resonance was important for me to get across, and I know plenty of folks love the series for different reasons so I ask this: did Honey & Clover hit you very hard personally, compared to other anime? Was there a character that you identified with particularly, as I did with Takemoto? And might H&C help you move on from something?

So what makes this wingnut/auteur so appealing? Let’s pick 5 and run with that (please note that after the jump this post may contain images of animated girls in their skivvies!):

Ownage.

SHAFT’s works are rarely original. And the word “writer” does not appear once on his IMDB or ANN profiles. But if I were a mangaka or author and I found out I’d be adapted by the man, I’d probably go home and cry and get to work on my next piece. It takes something as distinctive as Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei to retain its own identity in the face of a SHAFT adaptation. When your style is as distinctive as Shinbo’s, it’s bound to subsume the original to a degree — kinda like those guys in Spirited Away.

Angles.

Is it off-balance compositions? Is it long, Kubrick-esque one-point perspective shots? What about the fisheyes where the character’s head digitally turns all creepy-like? No! It’s jump cuts! If you’re a fan, then you probably have a favorite (mine is the off-balance composition ), but most of us love them all. Shinbo’s philosophy is that animation should be enjoyable to look at — that’s what it’s there for — so from hiring the best character designers to elaborately planning scenes, a well-done SHAFT work is a visual treat.

Words.

English words, Kanji, symbolic words presented as pictures or objects. They’re all here. Not just the Anno-ism of a giant word on an empty screen, silently jarring you into paying attention to the scene again. Not just the overtaking dread of ef’s NAZE or Bakemonogatari’s frightening Wordcrab, but all of these, and more.

And it’s not just about weighty symbols and crazy goose chases for hidden meaning, although that’s a huge part of the fun. Bakemonogatari proves that words and puns, much of which English speakers partially miss out on, can drive an entire story. Feelings vs. weight? Seems like a pretty thin thread on which to hang your plot, but it works. And even amidst that, Araragi and Senjougahara’s pun-riddled conversations tickle your brain into submission. Credit in the case of Bakemonogatari of course goes to author NisiOisin but his love of wordplay is brought to life here. From an interview with Shinbo on adapting Bakemonogatari:

Not only amusing characters and story, I also found the conversations to be peculiar. That’s why we should adapt those conversations as it is without any weird changes. Since I myself also want to see those conversations in the anime.

To make the boundary line between the letters and the visuals as vague as possible. Not only turns texts into visuals, but to leave the novel’s characteristics on them. This may sounds exaggerated; we’re finding the definitive technique in order to make Bakemonogatari anime. We’re also trying in on-screen texts’ direction we’ve been using up until now.

And I’ll say it again if I have to: phone card countdown.

Service.

Hideaki Anno proved a long time ago that fanservice and depth are not mutually exclusive. Whether aiming for the top(!) or embarking on an epic Jungian journey, tits, ass, and robots accompanied the Gainax helmsman on his voyage. Just as Anno more than likely influenced Shinbo’s use of text (I have no verification, just an educated guess), the Gainax Way creeps into SHAFT’s work.

Some may be turned off by parts — like ANN’s famed reaction to his most famous earlier work, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha. But the boldness of Shinbo makes all those steam-filled bath scenes of normal anime seem downright juvenile and tame.

It’s not just about underage panty-shots or the incredibly lusty Senjougahara though — just as Nadesico taught us to “remonstrate love,” the wild Pani Poni Dash flew in the face of tribute/reference anime like Project A-Ko or Lucky Star with its never-ending supply of Gundam-infested chalkboards.

Sometimes it’s just staplers fucking.

Density

Those chalkboards exemplify the extreme sensory overload that is packed into every single episode of Bakemonogatari, or the best pieces of ef. The wordplay, the graphics, the visuals, the fanservice, they all come together with a density that the typical TV anime viewer never deals with. All this adds up to an experience that’s wholly unique. For me, in a sea of sameness, that’s more valuable than almost anything else. And as a bonus, it makes rewatching that much better.

I’m sure while getting all giddy over the usual goose chase I missed something. What was it? What do you love about Shinbo? Or, barring that — and I know you’re out there — why can’t you stand him?

Apologies (esp. to zaitcev) if I overstated the cheesecakey nature of the pictures that go with the post.

Noisy girl (Asuka)

She’s bossy, annoying, and/or tsundere. You can’t do anything right around her, and she’s probably more likely to punch you than give you the time of day. Take a look back to Tenchi’s Ryoko for a classic example, or another #1 Haremette, Love Hina’s Naru Narusegawa. The modern day goddess of anime, Haruhi Suzumiya, may not be the most stereotypical version but she sure fits the bill. Most of these characters don’t lack charm. Naru’s downright wonderful. 
So what’s the problem?

Noisy. Bad trait for a woman in Japanese culture, probably in western too when you get down to it. She doesn’t have to be barefoot in the kitchen all the time, but damn a woman’s should know her place! Besides, these days tsundere’s just another fetish (see the entire cast of Shakugan no Shana).

Frontin’ (Misato)

She is in over her head. She acts like she’s got it all together, but it’s all a facade for a scared little girl. Misato seemed like such the onee-sama, but she was an unstable house of cards.

Maybe it’s unfair to bring RahXephon into a conversation when Eva is your yardstick, but Haruka is another prime version of the Misato quasi-archetype. And though it takes her a long time to reveal it (and arguably it’s one of the main points of the series), Saya from Blood+ turns out to be just this. Kallen from Code Geass, though willing to don a bunny suit or ride ass-up for the Elevens’ cause, was kept going through the last days by her silly, girly attraction to Ledouche.

Why is this not really a strong archetype? She gets things done, no? Because underneath the front, she’s just another yamato nadeshiko.

Dr. Frankenstein (Ritsuko)

The Frankenstein character is consumed by her ambitions, never thinking to shout to the sky “My God, what have I done?” until it’s far too late. This is one of the few roles that gets equal billing on both the male and female side — but too often the female version reads like a morality play about how women really shouldn’t have too much ambition. Also, like Ritsuko, this character may have ulterior motives including maintaining an abusive relationship with her male counterpart — take Elfen Lied’s Shirakawa for instance.

Mix ‘n’ Match

Often times, there’s a mix of these going on, especially in the first two. After all, that extreme bossiness probably hides a deep desire for deep dicking to be loved and protected by a man. Macross’s Misa Hayase could lead the fleet into battle and stand firm in the face of the Zentraedi, but she was really just a waifu-in-army-clothing who needed the love of a hot-blooded pilot to be a complete person.

In the end, so many anime females are just fodder for your imaginary harem. Is your faith being shaken in the strength of anime women? Don’t worry, this post was written with inspiration from some of the medium’s true Women.

Where’s the real girl power?

Faye Valentine (Cowboy Bebop). What can you say about Faye? Sure, she thinks pretty highly of herself, but her often humorously irritating ways never devolve into the “noisy” archetype. Also, she kicks lots of ass.

Re-L Mayer (Ergo Proxy). Though she reveals her weaknesses often, Re-L gets the benefit of true character growth without reliance on archetypes. She goes from over-privileged and under-appreciative to someone truly willing to devote herself to a cause. And through it all, she maintains both vulnerability (in a so non-moe way) and strength. Because of that, she gets a gold star. (Though quite the modern woman, she’s fond of makeup).

Talho (Eureka 7). In an anime that’s all about growing up, even the girl who takes care of Holland had to do a little growing up herself. And in her “true” adulthood, she went from strong to really empowered. Even if she had to go through the stereotypical haircutting.

click for full neato image by the artist "kei"

Lafiel (Crest of the Stars). Ahhh. I get it now, why so many of you consider Lafiel to be the ultimate “mai waifu.” She’s got a sharp mind, most often evidenced by one of anime’s sharpest tongues. And while she’s not going to let her status afford her any special treatment, she never acts like a princess who’s denying her station either. Somehow, her sideways insults are a cut above those of the unoriginal hot-and-cold tsunderes.

Kaname Chidori (Full Metal Panic!). What, you say? She’s so bossy! And didn’t she prove in The Second Raid that she’s just a helpless girl? No! I tell you. She’s bossy but she cares, and she isn’t even afraid to show it. And her dramatic home-alone moment of weakness in TSR came less as the result of her being a girl and more because she was a normal girl, not a killing machine like Sousuke. In the end, Kaname has to stand on her own, and she does.

Click for full size "zaitcev edition"

What’s the connection?

I sense a theme. Really what I may be saying here is that we don’t find great female characters in anime unless we find great characters in general. Shows that don’t resort to the usual anime archetypes can find gold living inside their characters. [update: my point isn't just about realism, though, it's about marginalizing — see Joe's comment and my response underneath.]

So who’d I miss? Can anyone else here compete with the likes of Faye and Lafiel?

Re-watching anime, like any visual entertainment, can give you new perspective on it just from the plain and simple value of seeing things again. We tend to see plot, character development, and visuals the first time around (and considering anime means watching with subtitles for most of us, even the visuals can be secondary at times). But that second viewing can reveal details of reference, symbolism, and detail. If you only watched The Holy Mountain or, yeah I’ll say it, FLCL just once, you missed something.

But more than that, a re-watch is a reflection of where you, the viewer, are in that particular point in your life. That means it’s also a reflection of a few different factors:

I view the world through BOMBER colored glasses

Sum Total of experience

This is obvious, and especially obvious when re-watching (as I am) a series like Martian Successor Nadesico (or say, Lucky Star) that’s full of references. But it doesn’t have to be a situation where you say “Hey! I know why they said no smoking on the bridge!” during Eureka 7.

My experience as an anime fan was pretty limited when I first saw Nadesico. In fact, when it comes to sci-fi non-super robot stuff, nearly everything at that point in my life was viewed through the filter of Neon Genesis Evangelion.

Since then, I’ve seen a whole lot of other anime, including those outside the mecha and guro genres that I was big on in the 90s. Having seen the later Love Hina helped me appreciate the “harem-esque” aspects of Nadesico’s bizarre romantic story (see fig. 1).

Changing values and perspectives

This is tied in, but relates to the rest of your life as well. As we grow older, and our interests change, we desire different things out of our entertainment. Back in the day I never really desired escapism — sure, fantasy is fun, but I would gladly have watched something resembling 5cm per Second daily. Now, life is a little harder, extreme and “real” emotional impact is something I can still get great value out of, but in smaller doses. Jading and cynicism color your outlook despite your best efforts.

For some people, it may even work in the opposite way. Maybe you’re sick of the empty escapism of your average anime, and crave something with a little more meaning. Of course, we should all try to keep a balanced diet going, but the point is that tastes change — and you might find yourself enjoying something far more (or less) than you did the first time you tried.

It can even be much simpler than that. Tastes change. Maybe you didn’t even like comedy anime the first time you saw Tenchi Muyo. And now, you do. It’s still dumb, but that’s beside the point.

Slice of your life

Something that you might rarely think about, but has a very direct effect on your opinion, is where you are at this particular moment in time. On a Wednesday, in June, in 2009, what direct circumstances are painting your life differently than in 1999?

Maybe you’re watching on an HDTV instead of a 13” TV/VCR combo with bunny ears. You’re living in a different city, watching with different people (in my case, different city and same person). Maybe that bit about escapism is particularly important right now because you’re in a draining job that makes you tired and unwilling to devote a lot of brainpower to anime. Perhaps you just talked to ghostlightning and your positivity quotient is doing better than most days.

Whatever it is, the circumstances at that very moment are important.

Your mileage should vary

When you’re watching something for the second, or third, or whatever, time, take these things into account. Sometimes the old George Costanza adage “It’s not you, it’s me” is totally applicable.

Did you ever have an experience where you went back months or even years later to something, only to find that you’ve changed or even done a 180 on your opinion?

What if, amidst all the baiting and switching, R1 is actually their potential target? Author seems to think the numbers tell a disheartening story for that theory, but that’s not really a surprise. The sales of the first Haruhi series over here were nothing like the fansub-watching internet fandom naively imagined they would be. That doesn’t mean we’re not a potential market, even if we’re more likely to buy something like Black Lagoon. Besides, Kadokawa have become in/famous for milking the golden goose, or something like that. And you would too if you were responsible for H2O.

Anyway, it makes me wonder if they’re planning to stream the next (fictional?) Haruhi series on the internet, with Haruhi-chan and Churuya-san as a litmus test. [Edit: I realize this scenario only works if a real S2 broadcasts, since streaming the rerun would get confuzzled with Bandai owning the R1 license to the first season] In a beautiful, lovely, perfect and probably completely fictional world, we’ll get the second series over here zero-day.

That is, if it exists.

[More edit: Author weighs in again, and while he stops short of calling it a no-brainer, he mentions that "Chairman Kadokawa has gone on record with his international inclinations." Interesting times ahead, no doubt. Great to see different types experimentation from different companies on both sides of the Pacific.]

Every once in a while, I decide that I need to reinforce the name of my blog by, I dunno, watching Rosario+Vampire, or (thanks to the twitter link from Blue Mist) by downloading the first bishoujo game for the iPhone/iPod touch.

The game is somewhat-hilariously titled “Ah… Moemory,” and it’s basically a classic card-matching game except with a few pictures of anime/manga type girlses on the backs instead of something more random. Click some screenshots:

That’s… pretty much all there is to it. Only a few patterns on the cards, those match the background pictures you uncover. I suppose that’s the limit of the “lite” version, which is all that’s currently available. However, I think it’s a bit of a stretch for the game’s website to say “See images of girls in significant volume.” I want significant volume! Anyway, this lite version is free, check it out for the lulz and such if you have a Touch.

Gonzo’s been in the news a lot for its apparent rocky financial situation, even as it enjoys a philosophical victory for being the first Japanese company to get the worldwide streaming out there. But good news came Friday in the form of some investment from the firm Iwakaze Capital in Gonzo’s parent company GDH. GDH then in turn put about $2 mil into Crunchyroll. [Source: ANN]

I really enjoyed/still enjoy Druaga and Blassreiter’s run on YouTube, Crunchyroll, and BOST TV all at once, but I recognize that the YouTube availability was just a teaser. I assume that the CR model for Strike Witches (limited streaming, pay-to-own outside the time frame) is the way they’re going to go in the future for Kurogane No Linebarrel or whatever else they’re bringing to the rest of the world next season. So all the CR haters in the anime-blogosphere will probably have to put a sock in it or stop watching the Gonzo streams. Personally I’ve thought for a while now that CR’s (admittedly still-slow) transition from pure fansub-and-pirate hangout to legit service is going to tell us a lot about how digital distribution will go down in the future.

Incidentally, Linebarrel’s “Creative Producer” is listed as being Goro Taniguchi, so was he pulling our legs about leaving anime altogether?

Nothing worth a full blog post here. So here’s a few random thoughts:

1. Nabari No Mo

Fansub group Rumi has been issued a takedown notice by Funimation, who has “obtained an agreement authorizing FUNimation to act on behalf of d-rights to prevent infringement on specific titles.” So no more than 6 episodes from the end of a series, I’m forced to stop watching it, “though these series have not been licensed to a local distributor in North America.” That means I may never see the end (you know, where the inevitable gay sex will be).

I have a couple questions here (perhaps someone like a jpmeyer or an Omo can answer them):

1. Firstly, is it not the distribution of raws that is the illegal part? So wouldn’t releasing a script (like an .ass) be a reasonable “circumvention?” Obviously, that’s up to the subbers, if they want to play it clean, they might not even want to enable people who obtain the raws, but if you obtain the raws you’ve already done the dodgy part… or am I wrong?
2. Second, how does the DMCA, and US federal copyright law, apply to a property that isn’t licensed in the US?
3. Does this imply that there will be a license for the series, and the other ones in the package (Bamboo Blade, Monochrome Factor, etc)?
4. Could someone pull a pirate bay and locate (their tracker) outside the jurisdiction of Funi and the DMCA? I’m not saying it’s a great idea, just curious.

Anyway, I can’t say I’m really that rootin’ tootin’ about the series, but now that I’ve come this far, it’s at least a rental. Provided it actually becomes licensed.

2. I am an extremist, and I enjoy seeing pretty girls being dismembered.

According to Author anyway.

Well… let’s not get carried away. I mean… are there robots involved? This affects my answer. I suppose I did caption that image “Fuck yes,” but really that picture was just enabling some fine-ass Kabitzin punnery.

And if what you meant was, “I would rather see some sweet spattering gore as long as it’s in a good anime than watch a bunch of underage nekomimi cavort around in their underpants for 24 minutes a week while pretending to be airplanes,” then yes. I am an extremist.

Anyway, I do understand the creators are in the place where they are through no fault of their own, but my 2 bucks doesn’t care where the blame goes. It cares when the new Blassreiter comes out.

3. I can’t find my Netflix.

This is irrelevant to most of anything, but people have been talking a lot about Netflix lately for some retarded reason. Here are some Netflix fun facts:

1. I have been on the service for 8 years.
2. I watched a lot of anime on Netflix.
3. The delay stories are true. You have to know just how fast to return your movies for maximum value. Not too fast, not too slow.
4. “Watch Instantly” is kind of a drag because the DRM requires Internet Explorer (and thus, Windows), there is a really small selection, and anime always shows the dub.
5. There is no big fucking whoop or revelation about Netflix, and if you’re watching anime using it, you are about the 8 millionth person to do so.
6. I have never once made a spreadsheet of my rentals.

Problem is, I moved recently, and all my boxes have finally been unpacked, and some miscellaneous disc-shaped things from one corner of one room are missing: The bonus music CD from the Home Movies season 1 box set, my RahXephon box, and two movies from Netflix. Possibly some candy. Kind of sucks.

4. That reminds me.

Primer is a really good movie. You should try it. Not sure you can get it from Netflix though. I hear some guy is hoarding it at his house. Weird.

I think that can tell you a lot about an anime fan from what they consider to be their influences — at least in the terms that we here on the anime-internets tend to related to one another. Also, I’m waiting on my Chiko to get subbed and I’m short on original ideas at the moment. So I stole one from Riex.

My most influential anime!

1. Neon Genesis Evangelion. What did they call it, the Series that Launched A Million Fanboys? You’re looking at one. The angst, the action, the symbolism, the pretentiousness, and the all-out mindfuck couldn’t be topped. I liked anime before, but all of a sudden this insatiable appetite to consume episode after episode of marginally believable animated nonsense starring underage protagonists took over — to the point where Pokémon briefly became an somewhat-acceptable form of entertainment. Plus, it was only the second time I’d seen such blatant contempt for humanity. The first?

2. Urotsukidoji. Yeah. That one. I’m not kidding. To this day, I don’t watch hentai, but I can still appreciate the horror of this flick. Make no mistake — it’s full of sex, violence, violent sex, and sexualized violence. That makes it appropriate for almost nobody, but it’s also got a well-written story that foreshadows plots like Evangelion and Blassreiter, except with huge demonic cocks. I was taken aback by the shocking nature of Japan’s original tentacle vehicle, but also by just how surprisingly good it was.

3. Akira/Ninja Scroll/Ghost in the Shell. Why put them together? There was a day when you couldn’t mention them separately. If someone had seen one, you forced them to watch the other two because that person was an otaku on the verge. Thanks partially to frequent commenter Jason (specifically for Ninja Scroll), I hit the whole triumverate of violence, story, atmosphere and quality and that’s all she wrote. Like so many American fans, if I hadn’t seen these, I wouldn’t be here yammering on about this shit.

4. Tie: Cardcaptor Sakura/Love Hina. Weird tie, no? But I watched these two series around the same time, and they served similar purposes in my degeneration into otakudom. I had mostly seen full series on VHS and of course VHS tapes were almost all dubs. We started watching CCS to find out only the first part of it was dubbed (the parts they took out back behind the shed and beat until it became the horrific American Cardcaptors). So I saw my first profesionally subtitled anime in a perfect scenario to learn just how much better it was than the dub. Love Hina was about a week after, and it wasn’t even out in the US yet (thanks, crack dealer anime-lender friend from Hong Kong), so no dub there either.

The second reason these are here: my first marathons. You bet your sweet ass I plowed the entirety of Cardcaptor Sakura. Wow. Still my longest record. Thankfully, my (now-)wife was there, and so was booze.

Maybe more important than either of those things, both of these shows proved without a doubt that an anime didn’t need to have a heavy story, or robots, or heaps of violence to entertain the shit out of me. A screwball romantic comedy and a kids’ adventure, if done well enough, can get the job done and then some. To this day, you can’t show me a harem or a childhood friend without it all looking suspiciously like Love Hina. Also, I have a coffee mug with Kero-chan on it. Judge me, go ahead.

5. Macross aka Robotech. OGT probably puts it best: The original reason anyone loves Macross is that damnable transforming airplane, the Valkyrie. When I was a kid I could give two shits about Lynn Minmay or Shao Pai Lon (which I also think is a great song, probably a shit movie though) but I did have a Valkyrie toy. And it was somehow cooler even than the transfomers because it had three forms — I still can’t get my mind around why the Gerwalk form is needed, but watching the show as a kid you knew that even that form had a point. Anyway, regardless of how bastardized it may have been, Robotech made a mecha fan out of me early in life so I have to thank it.

6. Haruhi. Easy, right? For me, yes. After Evangelion I went berserk for a while, then tapered off after a while in favor of things like Takashi Miike and David Lynch. But Haruhi made everything better again. It doesn’t matter that Haruhi is the product of a scientific formula that’s guaranteed to be loved by otaku everywhere, it’s a great show, a time-traveling treat with a pile of laughs. I also came to the mistaken conclusion that television anime had turned a corner quality-wise. Turned out that was just one studio.

So what got you going? Inquiring minds want to know, what made you the fanboy/girl you are today?

My kind of meme is the kind that happened two years ago. IcyStorm revived this classy post idea a couple days ago, so I’m going to jump on this newly-renovated bandwagon. If you’ve been hanging out here the past week or so waxing economical and philosophical for Industry Defib (thanks Kabitzin) and you weren’t aware of just what kind of internet neighborhood this was, I’m going to move the horse’s underwire aside now. Or whatever.

My personal harem!

I really didn’t follow any of the rules Icy mentioned, except for the “no-characters-newer-than-6-months one.” But mostly because none of them made the cut (Noe Isurugi? I did date her once, in college. No fun). As an added bonus, I made a short list of girls who will never appear in my harem. So, without further brainpower, I give you this collection of obviousness:

1. Belldandy (Ah! My Goddess!). You have to ask? When everyone else gets you down, that’s who you’d end up going to for a quiet evening of completely platonic relations for seemingly thousands of episodes. According to Danbooru, she’s good in a gangbang too, but according to Danbooru, who isn’t? You sick puppies, this is Belldandy! Have you no scruples?

2. Tsukasa Hiiragi (Lucky☆Star). Give her a new cell phone, then just sit back and enjoy.

3. Winry Rockbell (Fullmetal Alchemist). I do try to avoid FMA references (for no good reason), but gnaw on this: When your car breaks down, Belldandy could just wish it better, but you can’t just take advantage of Belldandy all day like that! For shame. Plus, a girl with a wrench is just fantabulous! Since everyone here is a cartoon and I don’t actually get to have to have sex with any of them, you could exchange her for Leeron, for all I care. I just need a mechanic who knows Volkswagens.

4. Kaname Chidori (Full Metal Panic!). Who among us is so bad-ass we wouldn’t need someone to bail us out of a hairy situation every now and then? Chiko from 20 Faces could kick some ass for you too, but even for you sick anime fans she’s underage, and every harem needs a few comedic smacks of the harisen per episode.

5. Marjorie Daw (Shakugan No Shana). In a series known for tsunderes, she’s the queen of them all. She’d go shot-for-shot with me on that cheap whiskey on top of my fridge, and it’s impossible to be jealous of her best male friend, since he’s a goddam book. I almost went with Misato Katsuragi for old times’ sake since she’s good with the booze and probably comes with Pen-Pen too, but damn, all that baggage…

Obligatory Maid: Chiyo and otou-san’s maid from Sakaki’s dream.

What? Don’t judge me.

Girls not appearing in this harem:

1. Kazumi Yoshida. Just. Kill. Yourself. Damn.
2. Any member of the Clannad cast. So obvious. I get it, Kyou is the hottest cartoon character evar.
3. Misa Misa. High maintenance and clingy. Never a good sign.
4. The ef girls. Wait, wait — How many voicemails?
5. Haruko Haruhara. IcyStorm went with her, and I greatly respect that choice, but I prefer to keep my head where it is and the pirate robots in space where they belong.
6. Mamiko Noto. Sadly, she is real, and ineligible for consideration.