[yingchen]

Whenever I finish an anime or manga that is amazing but sad/bittersweet, and especially sad, I get somewhat depressed for a period of time ranging anywhere from a few hours to the next few days. I recently finished Code Geass, which took me a day to get over. Just this afternoon I watched 5 Centimetres per Second, which made me really sad for an hour or so but it's wearing off. It's really quite jarring to experience an emotional cataclysm and go back to boring old life, but as Aristede Aristotle said, the beauty of art is in its catharsis, and the ability to let you experience emotions you wouldn't otherwise be able to experience in real life

Anyway, I like to discuss the thematic issues, the characterisations and the creator's visions to sorta view the anime/manga in a more disengaged light, and to be able to appreciate the profound emotional impact it has on me rather than just wallow in my sadness. But if you wanna b*tch about an anime or manga and take it out on the creator for his lack of sensitivity to animals, feel free to do so anyway.

I really wanna discuss 5 Centimetres per Second. Anyone else watched it?

 

[yingchen]

For those who have watched School Days before and are interested in anime meta-commentary, I recommend reading this: http://blog.eternicity.net/2008/09/18/remembering-school-days-the-nice-boat-anniversary/ This is super interesting!

 

[Dave in MPLS]

Quote:

For those who have watched School Days before and are interested in anime meta-commentary, I recommend reading this: http://blog.eternicity.net/2008/09/18/remembering-school-days-the-nice-boat-anniversary/ This is super interesting!

I just watched the first two episodes of School Days. I'd never call it a harem anime. A harem of two?

 

[Aristede]

Well, I've never been distraught over an anime for any period of time, but several anime have stirred melancholy emotions.

• Vampire Princess Miyu: Not one happen moment. Just a series of unfortunate events, death, gloom, and misery episode after episode.
• Full Metal Alchemist: While it certainly has moments of comic relief (and it needs it) there were just so many sad episodes (especially the one where Maes Hughes...)
• Spirit Warrior: This is a sad anime movie with the reincarnated and ill-fated brother and sister forced to duel it out to the very end. So very sad...

This is Part 1 of Spirit Warrior on YouTube. There are two others parts online. The end of the movie is sad, but has it's bright moment too.

I have not seen School Days or 5 Centimetres Per Second. I'd have to check them out.

Aristede

 

[yingchen]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aristede

Well, I've never been distraught over an anime for any period of time, but several anime have stirred melancholy emotions.

• Vampire Princess Miyu: Not one happen moment. Just a series of unfortunate events, death, gloom, and misery episode after episode.
• Full Metal Alchemist: While it certainly has moments of comic relief (and it needs it) there were just so many sad episodes (especially the one where Maes Hughes...)
• Spirit Warrior: This is a sad anime movie with the reincarnated and ill-fated brother and sister forced to duel it out to the very end. So very sad...

This is Part 1 of Spirit Warrior on YouTube. There are two others parts online. The end of the movie is sad, but has it's bright moment too.

I have not seen School Days or 5 Centimetres Per Second. I'd have to check them out.

Aristede

Haha, of course, I don't believe that anime should be sad for the sake of being sad. But I saw 5 Centimetres Per Second as a meta-commentary on the unrealistic expectations set by the romance genre, and it made me incredibly sad. Take that however you want ^^

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave in MPLS

I just watched the first two episodes of School Days. I'd never call it a harem anime. A harem of two?

You have NOT watched School Days until you've watched it all

Or, at least, read the wiki episode list, but then the emotional impact won't be there.

 

[Dave in MPLS]

As far as sad anime, I recall some unhappy moments in Neon Genesis Evangelion that stuck with me.

 

[yingchen]

Unfortunately I have not watched Neon Genesis Evangelion yet, because I want to wait until I'm more familiar with the mecha genre before I do. But I definitely have my eye on it.

Guess I wanna try having an literary discussion about anime and manga here (because I find that our community, as a whole, is REALLY intelligent), but 5 Centimeters per Second is what's on my head right now and I can't shake it off...

 

[Dave in MPLS]

Quote:

Unfortunately I have not watched Neon Genesis Evangelion yet

I highly recommend it. It's the best mash up of mecha and Christian mysticism you'll see all year.

 

[Move of Ten]

I can only remember crying three times as an adult. One of the times was when I watched "Grave of the Fireflies". It also left me stuck in a state of melancholy for several days afterward.

 

[yingchen]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cornsail

I can only remember crying three times as an adult. One of the times was when I watched "Grave of the Fireflies". It also left me stuck in a state of melancholy for several days afterward.

I haven't watched it yet either. I do want to watch it, but I don't like knowing that it's definitely going to make me sad, and the fact that I know it won't help either... What can I say, I empathise with others far too easily =/ But maybe that's why I'm against animal cruelty too, haha. It's a double-edged sword.

I like to think that the sadness has a positive effect on my character though, be it a preparation to deal with real life pain, an optimism that my life is not like that, or a desire not to put others in that same position.

 

[Move of Ten]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yingchen

I haven't watched it yet either. I do want to watch it, but I don't like knowing that it's definitely going to make me sad, and the fact that I know it won't help either... What can I say, I empathise with others far too easily =/ But maybe that's why I'm against animal cruelty too, haha. It's a double-edged sword.

I like to think that the sadness has a positive effect on my character though, be it a preparation to deal with real life pain, an optimism that my life is not like that, or a desire not to put others in that same position.

Pretty much everyone would find it sad, but I think it struck me particularly hard because I have a younger sibling.

 

[Dave in MPLS]

I just finished watching School Days. Didn't see that ending coming. Yeeesh.

 

[yingchen]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave in MPLS

I just finished watching School Days. Didn't see that ending coming. Yeeesh.

I must say that I was completely disgusted the first time I watched School Days, and didn't understand why anyone would waste their time making a show like that. However, going back to the article, what I can appreciate is how it approaches the harem genre with the idea that 'hey, if you put a low self esteem male teenager in a room with plenty of girls who want to get it on with him, don't you think that people may start getting seriously abused and hurt?'. While it's undeniably extreme, maybe that kind of extremity is what's needed to shatter the idea that there is somehow nothing wrong with the harem ideal, because viewers are sheltered by the lens of an unrealistic male character with plenty of love to go around but no libido.

I've never thought of school days as a meta commentary on the harem genre before. I'm still not sure if the creators actually intended it or not, considering that the visual novel that it is based on is rather indulgent. Very interesting, nonetheless.

 

[Aristede]

Vampire Princess Miyu, Episode 1 (all parts are on YouTube). Each episode gets progressively more melancholy and downright depressing really...

Aristede

 

[Aristede]

One of the saddest anime moments....ever.

Aristede

 

[yingchen]

O.O you watch dub?

 

[Aristede]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yingchen

O.O you watch dub?

I prefer to watch anime in Japanese with English subtitles, though I'm not opposed to good dubbing. These are the versions that popularly appeared on television (and the ones to which I was first exposed). FMA (and Vampire Princess Miyu to a lesser extent) actually has a decent dubbing in my opinion. Also, I watch many of these anime through my cable television provider, so they're mostly dubbed (I rarely buy anime). I watch my Asian cinema with subtitles though, because the dubbing is usually awful.

Aristede

 

[yingchen]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave in MPLS

I highly recommend it. It's the best mash up of mecha and Christian mysticism you'll see all year.

Wow, I just finished watching Evangelion and The End of Evangelion. This show is insane. It's broken every single frontier of anime I never even knew existed, for better or for worse. I don't know if I can ever look at anime the same way again.

 

[Dave in MPLS]

Quote:

Wow, I just finished watching Evangelion and The End of Evangelion.

I told ya they were good!

 

[BasedVegan]

Evangelion is dope. Also, I found the ending of Madoka Magica rather upsetting, yet powerful.