Fall 2010 - Kuragehime

There is something to be said about the current societal demographic in Japan. While the "Boomer" generation is approaching their retirement age, some of their "Boomerang" children are still hovering between employment and slacker status. Whether it be the half-hearted interest in part-time jobs by the "freeter" circles, the extreme apathy towards a career by NEET's (Not in Education, Employment, or Training), or the "acute withdrawal" from society by hikikomori, there is a lurking fear regarding the perception of the future in Japan.

We could spend an entire column on a discussion of attachment in Japan, but we are a blog on entertainment and review, foremost, and a source of critique next. This concept of societal withdrawal in Japan is a very real problem in negativity that has been both mocked (Sayonara, Zetsubô-sensei) and embraced (Genshiken, Otaku no Musume-san) in popular culture. However, it has mostly been a masculine addiction, and the perception from the opposite gender's point-of-view has not been a popular subject. If you consider the "parasite single" in Japan, women are steadily turning away from marriage and turning their attentions to happier pastures in self-enjoyment.

This brings us to the fictional case study on the female otaku in Kuragehime ("Princess Jellyfish" according to the Funimation translation). The story centers around a particular boarding house in Tokyo and the eccentric women that live there. Each is a derivative of the "parasite single", having managed to live on the allowances of their Boomer parents and bury themselves in the appreciation of hobbies (i.e. trains, kokeshi dolls, Records of Three Kingdoms figurines). All of the occupants of Amimizukan have a strict policy regarding the outside world—fashionable women are to be feared, and men have no place in their apartment!

The youngest of this group is Tsukimi, a plain woman in her early 20's who dreams of life as an illustrator and obsesses over jellyfish. During a skirmish at a pet shop, Tsukimi frets over the health of a particular jellyfish in the window to very little avail, only to have a stylish pink-haired hime-gyaru ("Princess Gal") rescue her by demanding it be given to Tsukimi. Appreciative of the gesture, Tsukimi can't do much when her new acquaintance horns in and stays the night at her place, but she's shocked when the morning comes—that stylish Shibuya-ite is actually a cross-dressing male!

The plight of the cross-dressing Kuronosuke brings a new dimension to the "nunnery" Tsukimi inhabits. Not only is he suddenly forcing flamboyance into the apartment, but he is also the son of an influential politician in Tokyo, the hobby of dressing up being his resistance towards inheriting his father's mantle. All he wants to be is a master of fashion, but weaving that magic on an "ugly duckling" like Tsukimi only makes his older brother Shû fall for the swan he creates.

Kuragehime provides an interesting analysis on all of the pressures being forced onto Tsukimi. While past shows have often portrayed the main character under the weight of parental focus, much like the pressure put on Kuronosuke to become a proper Japanese male, we don't get that gravity on the ladies at Amamizukan from their lineage. However, we do get a good glimpse of the two-sided push against Tsukimi from society—not only is Amamizukan under the microscope of traditional Japanese societal perception, but it is also under the implied general gaze of the Buddhist "three-obligations" policy ("obey the parents, husband, and children"). It will be interesting to see if there is any pressure that eventually comes from the parental units and the force-back (if any) that comes from their otaku children.

Kuragehime itself is not necessarily a plain anime, but one where it clashes plainness against brilliance (depending on your perception of both sides). There are some overused metaphors (Tsukimi and her friends turn to stone when overly shocked) and some clever trips past the fourth wall (Tsukimi's jellyfish Kurara addressing the viewer to explain things), but this anime's forte is in the story itself. Instead of depending too much on sexual comedy, the show focuses more on situational comedy and could easily become a live-action drama in Japan if it succeeds under an animated format.

Because it is being piloted by the story and not merely by accidents, Kuragehime is able to construct very enjoyable characters that are absurd yet quite possibly real. Kuronosuke isn't getting into ladies' garments for the sake of being some pervert that wants to sneak into the women's room, while Tsukimi and her friends exhibit some real symptoms that come from fandom. We should be seeing quite a bit of our own otaku complexes in this story without having to resort to overwhelming the psyche (MM! being a prime example).

Lately, the noitaminA block has been providing some strong titles that all have a commonality. Along with the recent likes of Shiki, Moyashimon, and Tatami Galaxy, Kuragehime could very well be part of a revolution in animated storytelling. We may even come across a rift—unlike many of the episodic high-school shows, these shows contain a well-developed plot to stitch the episodes together and less of a high-school setting in order to provide a more mature story. Considering that the yearly number of total noitaminA episodes has doubled, something must be going right for the concept. Let's hope that Kuragehime becomes part of the standard and not the exception.

Spring 2010 - Kaichô wa Maid-sama!

Of all of the new shows being pushed for this season, the one that I recognized right away was Kaichô wa Maid-sama! ["The (School Council) President's a Maid!"], an anime adapted from the manga running in Lala by Hiro Fujiwara. The anime is being produced by J.C. Staff, the studio responsible for Excel Saga, Utena, Azumanga Daioh, and the proposed Bakuman anime run in autumn of 2010. The series is also being directed by Hiroaki Sakurai, who has directed Sakigake! Cromartie High School and Daa! Daa! Daa!

The general gist of the story fits in place with the current trend of the "maid-cafe" phenomenon in Japan--Misaki Ayukawa has a reputation to uphold at Seika High School as the first female school-council president in its history. Since Seika was once an all-male school that had been converted into a co-ed school, the student body is still primarily male and rooted in its laxness concerning student code. Ayukawa is rough on the boys for not sticking to the rules, often overworking herself to straighten the ship. Guys see her as a dictator, but fear her wrath; girls see her as a savior, but don't have the voice to protest things yet.

However, Ayukawa has a second side to her personality, as poverty at home has forced her to moonlight as a waitress at Maid Latte, a quaint maid cafe. Ayukawa works hard to support her mother and sister, all while trying to hide her identity to the student body, but when one of the popular boys at school, the expressionless Takumi Usui, discovers her situation, Ayukawa is forced to work harder while her paranoia drives fear for her status in school.

Pictures in the opening theme indicate that things will likely get romantic between Ayukawa and Usui, but there seems to be something...different between the character designs between the manga and anime. In the anime, Misaki appears to be a little too...what's the word...chipper? Perhaps it is due to the brighter colors, especially in the irises of the characters' eyes, but there's something that just sugarcoats Maid-sama! into something that is a little brighter than the original manga.

Am I being picky? Probably.

The other thing that really doesn't sit well is the introduction of time into the anime. The original manga took pride in presenting the stories as contained chaos--conversations would overlap, and as much empty space as possible was filled by art and word balloons. The anime takes that compressed area and expands it into a decent storyline that sticks to the original manga (at least for the first episode). For those that read the manga, this might take some getting used to.

Those aspects aside, Maid-Sama! isn't your moe presentation of the maid-cafe culture, and that's a refreshing way to look at the obsession. I actually think the number of maid-cafes in Japan could be stagnating at the moment, so it is hard to say if a shôjo depiction of the trend would increase or decrease business. The series will likely steer the concern for the maid-cafe in the direction of the effect of work on teens in school and Japan's economic downturn, possibly in the way that Hana Yori Dango viewed class structure in schools. The focus appears to be more on Ayukawa's ability to hide such a different role from her peers, all while trying to prove that being a maid-waitress doesn't mean she's below Usui.

I do hope that Maid-sama! can outlast some of the cutesy depictions of maids that anime has been used to presenting in the past, but I have my doubts. An okay start to the show, but I hope that something is added to the anime that keeps the manga's engaged spirit in mind.