[PREV - OTAKU_YAKI] [TOP]
STEINS_GATE
October 18, 2013
One of the old "Ghost in the Shell" team
was quoted in the media to the effect that
the invention of "moe" was the end of the LOLITA_MOE
opportunity to do anything serious with
anime.
And it is true that the endless
repetitions of goofy fantastic
premises and dorky sexual humor
in high school settings can try But "Hentai Prince and the
one's faith in the path of slow, Stony Cat" was brilliant.
evolutionary progress in popular I hope that's understood.
culture.
HENTAI_PRINCE
MUTATION
So, that's a divide of sorts in the anime
world-- once, back in the mid-90s, there were
things like the "Ghost in the Shell", which are
often called "cyberpunk": revolving around ideas
like the uploading of human consciousness into
machines and the construction of machines that
mimic human beings, all of which neatly addressed
the question "What is human?".
These days, a hit show is likely to have
clumsy Moe blobs engaging in heart-warming
classroom hijinks; or a clumsy schlemiel
plunged into a situation where multiple
tsunderes are fighting over him (for no
apparent reason), and the central question
addressed is "Can I get laid?".
These tend to be full of self-referential meta
jokes-- everyone in the stories is aware of
stories like the ones that they're in.
MEDIAVORES
The characters themselves engage in "cosplay",
imitating the look of characters in other
anime. They're aware of the jargon that's
evolved to discuss anime: people accuse the
tsundere of being a tsundere, and the otaku
may call themselves an otaku. Kawaii and moe
are never far from anyone's minds, and they're
acutely aware of the hentai aspects of any
situation (though the joke is typically that
they have more or less of it then they would
like).
Then there is
"Steins;Gate" (2011)
It's difficult to speak coherently about "Steins;Gate":
descriptions of the premises and characters sound
completely berserk, and yet the tone of the show remains
very serious throughout-- one doesn't laugh at the
screen, one laughs with the characters. When you're
not biting your nails in suspense.
They get you to buy into the craziness, which may be
the highest compliment you can pay to something from
the twisted world of anime.
A thumbnail sketch: there's this small group (Aug 25, 2015)
of people who have a small workspace/club
house in Akihabara. The main character is a A recurrent theme
self-styled mad scientist, and he and his (a central theme of
cohorts have taken a cellphone and hooked it otaku philosophy, I
up to a microwave oven, and found they'd think) is taking
invented something that can send text your fantasies
backward through time, thus creating seriously: the main
time-paradox world-changes which only the character plays at
main character can perceive. They have to being a mad
deal with spies from the Evil (as opposed to scientist, he
Mad) Scientist organization SERN who are spouts lines of
interested in stealing or suppressing the dialog that are
invention. near-meaningless
but sound just like
This description, though, just something out of a
covers the serious (such as they story like this.
are) science fictional elements He sports a white
of the show, the aspect that it lab coat as both a
has in common with the mid-90s joke and a
"cyberpunk" style. declaration.
There's a gadget
Actually, "Steins;Gate" is a very solid that's key to the
hybrid of both forms, the serious SF and story which he
the newer meta-comedy sub-genre. implments using
nixie tubes as a
The characters include: display, just to be
"stylish".
o A cosplay girl who works a maid cafe;
o An otaku hacker, who proudly displays his
dirty mind, claiming to be a *gentleman*
hentai.
o A cross-dressing young man who passes
perfectly as a girl;
o A prickly tsundere, who goes along
with the project at hand, but always
with feigned reluctance.
"She's a 3D woman
with a 2D soul!"
"I am his
*hostage*."
"Has the moe
gone from Akiba?"
--------
[NEXT - HIGASHI_NO_EDEN]