Tag: links

David Stewart on Endless High School

David V. Stewart has some interesting comments on the Dungeons & Dragons Strixhaven campaign recently announced by Polygon, a site famous for its trashy reporting:

The first thing I did, upon reading that tweet, was wonder what the hell D&D has to do with college. Last I checked, it was about being a murder hobo crawling through underground mazes with the option to build a fiefdom if so inclined. But then again, the last time I checked was back during the Satanic Panic when I played occasionally as a forbidden pleasure.

Now, of course, D&D has a vaguely medieval veneer, and it was in the Middle Ages that the first universities were invented, so we might argue that colleges could conceivably exist in D&D—but we know very well that it isn’t medieval universities that this Strixhaven thing has in mind. That’s obvious from the artwork accompanying the post.

Stewart writes the following:

What I’ve realized from interacting with these sections of millennial fandom is that the escapist feeling they pursue is not so much escape from this world and its limitations per se, but an escape to a life that is somehow better and (most importantly) more meaningful than their own. Thus, the return to high school is about experiencing an alternate memory, one in which the high school experience was all they were promised it would be by shows like Saved by the Bell and Beverly Hills 90210, or even (perhaps more so), Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

This is a reality in which they are special, they are well-liked, and they are doing important things that give their life purpose and meaning. This is almost the exact inverse of what high school actually is for 90% of normal people, including the popular jocks. Real high school is a prison experience, where you are merely a single interchangeable member of an infinite line of grey-goo nobodies who are immediately forgotten (even by your friends) and almost everything you do while in school has no purpose or point beyond getting a grade so you can eventually be released from your captivity.

My own comments:

Someone could point out that the original post says “college,” not “high school,” so Stewart is arguably off base, but since college today had dgenerated into a more expensive high school with less adult supervision, the distinction is irrelevant. However, it’s difficult to know whether his explanation of the endless parade of fantasy schools is right or not.

At least one reason we see so many schools in fantasy settings is the success of Harry Potter, as such success naturally breeds imitations. But Harry Potter didn’t originate the idea. Another reason schools are common settings is the YA demographic of a lot of fantasy, a demographic that is usually in school (though why they’d want to read about school while in it is another question). A third reason is that a school setting makes it possible to intersperse sit-com humor and situations with more action-oriented material, a formula that has proved successful for a lot of anime and manga. I do that myself in Jake and the Dynamo.

But then again, a lot of the school-focused YA fantasy material that’s come out recently is fixated on certain hang-ups. You can see that in the artwork at the top of the post. And that suggests that Stewart is on to something. A lot of this really does look like small-minded people screaming, “Look at me! I’m important!” Or like the products of adults who just never got over high school and moved on.

Another example of this high-school fixation is the recently released and much-derided YA graphic novel from DC Comics, I Am Not Starfire, in which the antisocial authoress stars as the self-insert protagonist. This protagonist is of course in high school:

So Stewart may be basically correct: The rash of high-school fantasies is due to authors who have failed to grow up.

Marcus Williams on Magical Girls

Over at Honey’s Anime, Marcus Williams has an essay on “What Constitutes a Magical Girl Anime.”

His essay is worth reading because he steers away from the superficial answers that might involve animal familiars or fancy costumes and instead focuses on common themes in the genre, which he lists as companionship, perseverence, and growth. Or to put that altogether, magical-girl stories are generally coming-of-age stories, often but not always with a sentimental tone. So go read his comments.

Speaking of magical girls, we’re just getting started with the news about Jake and the Dynamo and its upcoming sequel Dead 2 Rites. Remember, you can preorder Jake and the Dynamo right now for only 99 cents.

Christopher Kinsey: ‘Magical Girls and What to Do about Them’

Anime Outsiders is an interesting website; I first discovered them on Twitter, where they claimed (and whether they were being honest or merely puffing themselves, I have no idea) that they had members who were disaffected former employees of Crunchyroll. Garrulous and highly opinionated, they’re worth keeping an eye on simply because they offer exactly what their name implies—an alternate opinion that’s outside the mainstream groupthink.

Christopher Kinsey has an article up over there entitled, “Magical Girls and What to Do about Them.” Like every author who discusses magical girls, Kinsey feels a strange need to give a history of the genre, but unlike most, he mercifully keeps it brief and gets into the real point he wants to discuss—how the genre has become darker, edgier, and more adult thanks largely to Puella Magi Madoka Magica. In doing so, he also points out a connection between Madoka and Lyrical Nanoha that I had not picked up on (mostly because I admittedly have a hard time remembering Japanese names).

For those among us who know our production houses, Seven Arcs began its life producing adult themed animation, the most notorious of which is known as Night Shift Nurses and the less said about THAT the better. But this was all to build the capitol to make a really honest to goodness TV anime series. As it turns out, they produced Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha which, as mentioned above, was a magical girl anime primarily designed to draw in a male audience.

Kinsey makes the case that the genre, in its recent developments, has ended up excluding the audience it was originally intended for—young girls.

I’ve repeatedly complained on here about the excess darkness in the genre today, with many series like Magical Girl Site trying to duplicate the grimness of Madoka without understanding why Madoka works.

Although I think Kinsey makes the common mistake of interpreting Madoka in light of Gen Urobuchi’s previous work (even though Urobuchi himself has said he was trying to write against his usual tendencies with Madoka), he ultimately turns to the Netflix adaptation of Smile Pretty Cure into Glitter Force and makes what I believe to be a great point:

Could it be translated better and still sold to young girls? Probably, but this is just the thing to remind the anime community that we have to cater to more than just young men with disposable incomes. Everyone deserves a chance at the table, and if Glitter Force can be a gateway to a new fan just as Sailor Moon scooped up many young ladies to the fandom back when I was young, then I think we need to have more series just like it.

Rachael Lefler Asks, ‘Have We Seen the End of the Magical Girl Genre?’

In light of Magical Girl Site, which I will be discussing at greater length in the near future, I recommend a reading of this essay, “Have We Seen the End of the Magical Girl Genre?” written by Rachael Lefler and posted at Reel Rundown. She discusses the increasingly grim tone of magical girl anime in the aftermath of Puella Magi Madoka Magica.

I think this is a thoughtful essay worth reading, but I disagree with her premise. She thinks the disappearance of lighter and happier themes in anime (which have not actually disappeared, incidentally) is due to politics: that is, the world has grown grimmer, and therefore our entertainment has grown grimmer, magical girl anime included.

I disagree with this for a few reasons. First. the world is not actually a more terrible place than in the past. That kind of myopia is common to every age, but it is false in every age. Bad stuff has always happened, and many more catastrophic things have happened in the past than have happened in our lifetimes. To support the view that this is myopic, I note that Lefler’s evidence that the world has gotten worse is very much centered on America, which is not the source of the anime she is discussing. (She does, however, note Japan’s concern over a declining birthrate—and this has become a discernible theme in anime lately.)

Second, the hypothesis she rejects almost out of hand, that grimdark magical girl anime is largely due to the influence of Madoka, would be in keeping with other patterns of influence both in this genre and elsewhere. The magical girl genre previously fell into the pattern of Sailor Moon because of its influence, so we should not be surprised that it has now fallen into the pattern of Madoka—though often with Madoka’s atmosphere and without the elements that actually make Madoka work. In a similar fashion, American comics fell into the pattern of Watchmen.

Third, lighthearted anime most certainly still exists. Moe and “healing” anime are definitely still things. In fact, we could probably make a stronger case that plotless, saccharine, slice-of-life CGDCT is eating the medium alive, than that grimdarkness is.

Fourth, this is not an unusual pattern for a genre. The move from clunky but sincere to more expertly crafted but sincere to snarky and insincere seems to be the typical process of growth, flourishing, and decay.

I don’t think it’s due to a change in the world at large, but an evolution in the genre itself, that we see all these deliberately miserable magical girl titles. The question on my mind is whether this genre is vigorous enough to survive the current trend. It survived Revolutionary Girl Utena, just as the mecha genre survived Neon Genesis Evangelion. It remains to be seen if magical girls are tough enough to survive Puella Magi Madoka Magica.

#WaifuWednesday

This #WaifuWednesday, I happened to stumble across a site called Honey’s Anime, the proprietor of which has a post on “Top 10 Magical Girl Characters.” These top 10 lists are maybe a little stupid because they’re wholly arbitrary, but I did notice that, in the midst of his list, he had Ryuko Matoi from Kill la Kill.

Although it’s an unusual title, I consider Kill la Kill a genuine magical girl show, being as it is an allegorical story about growing up, with monster fights and transformation sequences. It was an early production of Studio Trigger, which had been founded by the creators of the manic shounen classic Gurren Lagann. Kill la Kill has the same crazy pacing, the same bizarre humor, the same surreal imagery, and the same Looney Tunes-inspired animation as its predecessor, but can’t rise to the gravitas that Gurren Lagann ultimately develops, simply because Kill la Kill’s plot is too damn silly. Still, it’s easily one of the best magical girl titles ever made, and it might be the only one that attempts to give an explanation, ridiculous though that explanation is, of why magical girls tend to get naked in public.

Anyway, Ryuko, the heroine of Kill la Kill, is a rough and tough tomboy who’s travelling the world like Antonio Banderas in Desperado, searching for her father’s killer. She’s armed with half of a giant pair of scissors and wears a talking sailor suit. She’s remarkably lovable in her perpetual pissed-offedness.

Although decidedly less friendly than your average magical girl, Ryuko hangs out with an obsessive best friend, wears skanky clothing, transforms, battles hordes of monsters, and saves the world just like the best of them.

‘The Emoji Movie’ Has a 0% on Rotten Tomatoes

I didn’t even know that was possible.

I confess to having a case of the Schadenfreudes over here. I’m frankly tired of politics in my escapist entertainment; maybe a few more bombs and Hollywood will figure it out.

 

Girl Got Game: The ‘Revolutionary Girl Utena’ Rewatch, Part 8.5

End of line!

—Master Control Program

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In 1998, there was a Revolutionary Girl Utena video game. Semi-canonical, it was set chronologically immediately after episode 8, the one I just reviewed. It was created for the Sega Saturn. Sega Nerds reports.

The game was a visual novel, a type of video game that to this day has never found more than a niche market overseas, so it is no surprise that the game, subtitled Story of the Someday Revolution, never saw a release outside Japan.

Continue reading “Girl Got Game: The ‘Revolutionary Girl Utena’ Rewatch, Part 8.5”

Check Out the Pulp Archivist

Deus ex magical girl recently got a mention Nathan Housley’s blog, The Pulp Archivist. Glancing at his blogroll, it appears that he runs in the same circles I do. Check him out.

He has this to say:

D. G. D. Davidson has been discussing Revolutionary Girl Utena, a shoujo series aimed at teenaged girls, bringing a more balanced and thoughtful analysis of the anime and themes than the gloss of surface-level feminism that normally passes for shoujo criticism.

I’m glad to hear it. That is, in fact, one raison d’être for this blog, because I thought it was high time for an alternate interpretation of shoujo anime.

Pulp Archivist is part of a movement Housley calls “PulpRev,” which stands for “Pulp Revival” (or sometimes “Pulp Revolution”), an attempt to recapture some of the fun and grandeur of early sf and adventure stories. It’s certainly a movement I can support, even though I’ve moved from sf fandom to weeaboo in my personal interests. Housley has no great interest in magical girls, but he does from time to time discuss anime. Check him out.

We find a quick definition of the Pulp Revival from Misha Burnett, who summarizes it in “five pillars.” Although I may not be a formal part of this movement, I think I could argue that Jake and the Dynamo embraces all five of the pillars and could in that sense be called a pulp novel.

Memorial Day

Today is Memorial Day, a day to honor the fallen soldiers who fought for our freedom.

Here at deus ex magical girl, we especially like to take the time to honor those pretty soldiers who fought for us against the monsters of the Negaverse and never asked for anything in return.

To that end, I draw your attention to the article, “Magical Girls and Their Historical Origins” by Rachael Lefler at Reel Rundown. The article includes a brief, clearly written rundown of the magical girl genre, but is most notable for its (decidedly strained) attempt to link magical girls to Japanese empress Himiko.

What if I told you, the first “magical girls” were the retinue of the first recorded Empress of Japan, Himiko? It’s true. Himiko was an elderly woman, who united a sizable kingdom in ancient Japan through political competence and charisma. She was the first head of Japan as recognized by Chinese historians, because she sent lavish gifts to the emperor of China. Himiko was reported to have maintained a large entourage of little girls around the age of 13, and they all practiced shamanism, very similar to those rituals practiced by Shinto shrine maidens today. [more …]

In any case, everyone have a good Memorial Day, and thank you for stopping by.

Enter the Wrongthink Sci-Fi Giveaway and Get You Some Freebies

Robert Kroese, author of Aye, Robot, is giving away free books. These are books by authors who’ve been lambasted, harried, blocked, or banned by science fiction’s publishing gatekeepers for being insufficiently politically correct.

Kroese explains. You get seven books just for entering, including Brian Niemeier’s Nethereal, which I’d been meaning to read for some time now. That’s one I got to watch from the ground floor as it went from being a self-published longshot to having its sequel win a Dragon Award.

There’s also a chance to win seven additional novels when you enter.

At the time of this writing, there are two days and five hours left to the giveaway, which you can enter here. Tell them the Deej sent you. In fact, use my link, which gives me more chances to win.

EDIT: I just realized I watched this Robert Kroese from the ground floor, too. He used to run the Mattress Police blog, and I remember when his first novel, Mercury Falls, was a work-in-progress. Cool. I have to admit I haven’t read his books (yet), but I do know he’s a really funny guy with a cutting sense of humor you don’t want to stand in front of. I once crossed wits with him and lost.

Hat tip to Carlos Carrasco.