On SRS Anime Appreciation
November 3, 2009
The title is misleading however, as my case in point is actually in manga. So is this picture.
There are a good number of people in the aniblogosphere (god, using that term feels weird) whom I respect quite a bit. One of those people is Owen / Saturnine. Around a year ago, he recommended (placed a link to Amazon) Solanin which I ended up buying on impulse when I saw it on the bookstore’s shelves. It now sits proudly near front-and-center of my bookshelf, and gets a quick read-through whenever I get all sentimental and stuff. Thing is, something’s always on the back of my mind – I cannot for the love of god, figure out the subtext.
This has been a problem of mine; I see myself as a pretty straightforward guy, and when it comes to things like these, I fail horribly at reading in between the lines. Same goes with Darker then BLACK’s first season. But you know what, I enjoyed the hell out of those two media. They’re way up there alongside ARIA and Yotsuba and Mushishi as some of the best stuff I’ve read or watched. However, I can’t help but feel that I’m always going to be missing the better half of the goodness of the media until I piece together all the motifs and symbols and deeper subtext, and that I’m going to be relying on other people to break things down for me.
Though in the end, we’ve all got a myriad ways of appreciating things, and as long as we enjoyed the work, where’s the wrong in that?
PS: Oh, and before I forget, here’s a nice short by the same author.
An interesting point in realization of subtext, the order in
Ryan A | November 3, 2009An interesting point in realization of subtext, the order in which we realize. Often, we will naturally realize deeper ideas within media over time and possibly dependent on the environment of experience, but between individuals, I feel the order may be quite different, and thus produce varying effects. The notion of this possibility is beautiful… like one of those Highlights Hidden Pictures® challenges.
Cheerios.
I actually miss these things a bunch, and usually only
Asterisk-CGY | November 3, 2009I actually miss these things a bunch, and usually only get it when my friends point it out to me.
Like everything in Haruhi, even the choice of episode number ordering.
I miss all sorts of stuff ALL THE TIME. Bakemonogatari
ghostlightning | November 4, 2009I miss all sorts of stuff ALL THE TIME. Bakemonogatari usually pwns me.
I feel this post is subconsciously telling me: "Contractors oughta
Shance | November 4, 2009I feel this post is subconsciously telling me: “Contractors oughta smile more.”
But anyways, sometimes you’ll have to go through the media for more than a few more times to be able to tell anything aside from the initial impression. This may be in contrast to what Ryan says, since he tries to emphasize the varying effects on different individuals regardless of the intended effect the creator of the media.
I suddenly find myself questioning my way of tackling this season’s shows because of this kind of approach. I mean, try watching Trapeze normally and tell me if you understood anything…
I totally know what you mean with regards to DtB.
ETERNAL | November 5, 2009I totally know what you mean with regards to DtB. I enjoyed reading Owen’s posts on the show, but I still don’t really know what I read/watched.
In general, though, I don’t think things like subtext and symbolism can be forced. Or rather, it’s just something you have to keep your eye out for. It gets easier to piece things together with enough experience with media, and it probably makes it easier if you’re studying something fiction-related at school, but there will always be things that sneak past you. It’s sad but true.
Ryan A, I think it usually follows that people would
Zeroblade | November 5, 2009Ryan A, I think it usually follows that people would place focus on plot and characters, among other things, in the first go-through of the medium. Which means that the underlying themes, motifs, and ideas would be grasped in succeeding read/watch-throughs. Though I do agree that the experience is so variable when you include other factors, resulting in wildly different opinions on certain shows; makes for some good discussion, methinks.
Asterisk-CGY, Oh man, the episode ordering thing. I personally thought it was all a gimmick until others noted that it was the key factor that let the first season on a high note. But indeed, I too end up depending on my good friends to point out the many nuances and little details that I miss (just about everything).
ghostlightning, Even if you removed all the subtext within Bakemonogatari, it’s still an incredibly enjoyable show because of the witty exchange between
Aryaryaryagi-sanKoyomi and Hitagi.Shance, Only if they’re fingersmiles :>
But yeah – multiple watchthroughs are a must; only when you have full knowledge of the plot can you begin tying things together, which is something I suck donkey balls at. And on Trapeze – I think it’s quite the enjoyable slice of life / iyashi-kei show presented in an over-the-top, avant-garde, psychotropic-induced way.
ETERNAL, Indeed, his posts are the stuff of legends. DtB though, was an enjoyable action series as it is, but only after looking through all that and seeing that deeper links behind everything does it become even more, uh, better. I have to say though, it’s also one of its weak points since it’s so subtext-dependent for appreciation that a lot of people were turned off, or didn’t consider it as one of those top-tier shows.
And it is very sad – this entire post was written with that in mind orz
Dude, like seriously, lol, where in the heck are you
FaS | November 16, 2009Dude, like seriously, lol, where in the heck are you getting these INSANELY nice images???