Brian Threlkeld: The person responsible for this topic is Japanese light novel author, Mamare Touno, the original creator behind two shows in 2013 that may have pushed conceptualism—as it relates to art, anyway, where the “concept” or idea of a work is as or more important than its aesthetic qualities—in anime further than anything before them. First with Maoyū Maō Yūsha, or simply Maoyu, which began life as a dialogue-driven story, as if a theatrical play, on the Japanese textboard, 2channel, before being formally published. Then with the straight to light novel series, Log Horizon. Both stories are fantasy adventure, but both take existential or conceptual approaches to the genre.
First, Maoyu. The “concept” of this relatively simple story about good vs. evil is the experiment of contextualizing a fantasy world (specifically an anime fantasy world, with all of its tropes) within the “rules” of our real world. The fantasy elements, from the characters to the settings, are deliberately generic because their purposes are to be symbols and ciphers. So their names are their “roles”. And plot twists seem generic simply to advance the lesson of a real world parallel or concept.
The idea is pushed hard, obvious often for those aware of the connections, but most likely to highlight the central theme of the story: how a fantasy world, which is most commonly static (think Tolkien’s Middle Earth, 6000 years of a classical/middle ages setting) would react to Real World progression of thought and technology.
Greg Smith: Maoyu is an interesting show to start with, one that definitely was breaking the mold in some ways by going back and being more faithful to the fundamental building blocks which created the basic templates for anime storytelling in the first place. As you noted, all of the characters are named by the role they inhabit in the universe, not by anything resembling a real personal signifier (fancy pants speak for a “name”). It was a bold effort, casting off a lot of the familiar hooks and comfortable conventions that make a show attractive to the anime audience, while at the same time giving them exactly what they wanted in terms of cute and sexy characters.
A daring experiment, but one that sometimes came off as too clever by half because alongside the willingness to throw aside some of the comfortable trappings of standard anime (such as cutesy names and cutesy catchphrases to go along with those cute (mainly female) characters), there were signs of hesitation at the prospect of dumping all genre conventions and going completely off the map. Not just the inclusion of cute girls (a seeming necessity, judging by their presence in the vast majority of anime produced these days), but the use of conventionally one-dimensional villains and generic plot twists at times.
As you said, this was deliberate, a feature, not a bug, since this show was meant to be generic in the other, somewhat older meaning of the word: generic in that it is representative of the entire class (genre) of shows of this type, not in the now more common use of the word to mean “lacking in distinctiveness or individuality” (because such elements are expected and conventional) thus equaling “boring.”
BT: That’s another interesting perspective on it, how it can also be seen as something going back to what makes this genre work in the first place. It also seems sometimes like a test of how much generic quality the audience can tolerate in a show like that.
Also, however, while there were a good number of cute and sexy characters, there was not enough of Mage! Really, the only failing in it.
GBS: More Mage would have been nice, you’ll get no argument there. Sadly, it looks like sales of the show in Japan were not all that great, so the prospect of getting another season of anime is highly unlikely.
BT: Touno’s next attempt at playing with genre and concept (and LN/anime/manga fans’ minds) was Log Horizon. The anime adaptation is currently airing (or simulcasting) for the 2013 Fall season. This is seemingly more straightforward than Maoyu, which was layered in historical and political themes. It’s playing on the now familiar trapped-in-a-game genre that was last popularized by Sword Art Online. But it takes a somewhat more direct and focused approach to the idea, or maybe just a more honest one. This seems very much about the idea of having a “real world” operate with the mechanics of an MMO. (In Touno’s case, hearkening all the way back to Everquest.)
GBS: I think Log Horizon shows an interesting shift in how Touno is working, from a show that is genre aware in the way that Maoyu is to one that is genre savvy, to the point that the characters are genre savvy. It’s interesting to think about whether Hero and Demon King of Maoyu were aware of the genre of their own show; with Shiroe and Naotsugu of Log Horizon, they tell us from the very start that they know what kind of show they are in and that awareness led to a reaction by the characters that has perplexed some viewers who are surprised that they are not freaking out over their situation. You present an interesting observation about Touno’s settings for his works: he seems fixated on the idea of a fantasy world being invaded by “the real world,” with its sometimes more opaque rules and more complex ways of doing things that seem so simple in a make-believe world.
The easiest example of that is what we’ve learned recently about food. The “fantasy” system of just making food appear still works in the world of “Elder Tale,” but magical food has no taste. If, however, if you have someone with a high Chef secondary skill and gather “real” ingredients in the game world, you can turn them into food that actually has flavor and gives genuine enjoyment. Is his message perhaps, on some basic level, that “reality” trumps fantasy when they go head to head?
BT: Hm. Not sure if that’s his Big Question. But it is a compelling way to look at things. Maybe simply these are commentary on the genre, that authors should try to bring some of these stories back to something more grounded, or with firmer rules.
In the mean time, however, his focus on the concepts in favor of traditional plot progression or formula, particularly with Log Horizon, is not an altogether comfortable experience for some segments of the audience. I don’t know if it’s something, with Log Horizon, that breaks down along lines of MMO or RPG players and non-players. But perhaps not, from my perspective: I’ve never played an MMO. But I understand the basic concept, and more importantly I’m more interested anyway with the very idea of conceptualizing a story like that. (With Maoyu, there might have been a similar question, about whether knowledge or at least interest in history and political science and diplomacy determined one’s enjoyment. It didn’t hurt mine.)
GBS: I’ve never played an MMO either (though I have long experience with fantasy RPGs, so much of what is going on in Log Horizon isn’t presenting any challenge in terms of knowledge about how such a game should work), but the show has not bored me. I’m a little less interested in the exploration of the game mechanics, or perhaps better the “world” mechanics as this has become more than a game in certain respects, but so far I’ve been enjoying the journey for what it is. I’ve always favored RPGs that emphasize exploration over mere brutal “hack ’n slash” combat, so I like the fact that we see quite a lot of exploration and old fashioned adventure in addition to the battles.
BT: I agree there. (Darn. No big argument so far!)
GBS: If there is any serious flaw with Touno’s works, it might be that by keeping his characters “generic” (in both senses of the word, as they are both representative of common types but often by default then lack a certain individuality), he makes it hard sometimes to examine their motivations. At least it makes it hard to feel that one can understand his characters’ motivations and believe that one has satisfactorily discovered what they are. For our favorite Demon King and her Hero, it can be hard to comprehend why she is giving the humans all of these technological gifts. Sure, she has this dream of a world without conflict, but that’s something of a utopian platitude, a largely empty reason that is rather…generic (and thus this is again a feature, not a bug. It is fitting that she should have a generic goal for her efforts). Thinking about the Hero, why did he suddenly throw aside his desire to defeat the Demon King and become her willing partner? There is a certain unreality to this sudden change; the Hero’s switching sides is presented without much comment, other than that he shares the Demon King’s vision of a world after the fighting is over. We see no explanation as to why he might share that vision.
Similarly, in Log Horizon, Shiroe’s inner feelings have been only partially revealed to us. We have been made aware of his dislike of others wanting to take advantage of him, which resulted in his refusing to join or form a guild for most of the time he played “Elder Tale,” but we don’t really get much sense of why he wants to play a MMO in the first place. Swords and Sorcery adventure can be had just as easily from a single-player RPG, which comes with the benefit for the socially awkward (which he seems to be) of never having to deal with unpredictable (human) interaction. So, if Shiroe wanted to be free from the burdens created by human contact, even in a virtual world, why did he choose to play a MMO, which by its very design is meant to involve, if not require, human interaction? Part of the answer surely lies in his time with the Debauchery Tea Party, which was in many ways an anti-guild. He clearly wanted some interaction with others. Why, then, did he continue playing when that group apparently broke up?
Touno presents us with ciphers and symbols, as you noted above, thus his characters remain to a certain extent puzzles. It can be a draw (as I like puzzles), yet it also leads to a certain amount of frustration. I wonder why this is? Is there something I am missing in what his true objectives are in keeping things at such a “generic” level?
BT: I think it’s simply Touno being more interested in having his works operate at the conceptual level. He still likes to have fun with their anime aesthetics where he can, like the Demon Lord’s bust, or the entire character of Akatsuki in Log Horizon, but those are tokens. The way his stories seem to be balanced in favor of its ideas certainly presents limitations to our enjoyment, especially if we come in expecting the usual affair. All the result of having characters that are subservient to their own concepts.
This conceptual art idea in anime does not seem to have a long or deep history. A lot of parody dips its toe into the idea, specifically when something explores or shows up the structure of whatever it’s parodying. This season’s NouCome does this a little as it wavers between outright satire and its own revelry in the concept of school-based romantic comedy. The original Kujibiki Unbalance OVA, from the Genshiken universe, is a firmer example. Its characters and situations and settings are intentional archetypes, but even the structure of the series—being comprised of only selected crucial “episodes” from what seems like a full TV series—is an attempt to break down the school romcom to highlight the components that make it click. That really hadn’t been done before to that extent.
Along with a lot of other intentions, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya concerns itself with taking a conceptual view of the high school comedy, as well. Haruhi is akin to the Demon Lord in Maoyu, introducing free radicals into the traditional setting and format of her world, resulting in a story that is often more in love with its ideas than its traditional pieces. (Can you say “Endless Eight”?)
In a very loose sense, shows where the journey is more important than the destination, or even the beginning, are nodding to some conceptual view. Or something where the story is about story itself. Simple self-referentialism or deconstruction (both of which are popular traits in shows these days) are not always the same thing as being conceptual, but the overlap is there, especially in the latter. (I’m sure if we had a philosopher around this could be argued better. Or dismissed altogether. We’re not trying to figure out the ultimate Conceptual show here to then pit against the most Realist and Nominalist show. Wow, most nominalist show? That’s a good one. Actually, maybe that’s what Haruhi is?)
GBS: It could be that anime producers, in general, while they are self-aware are not interested in being reflective and self-critical to the point where anyone has created a truly “meta” anime that doesn’t just parody or deconstruct the normal conventions of anime (both of those have been done numerous times, with the examples you’ve given, to which I would add the recently controversial show Flowers of Evil, which in many ways was created as an “anti-anime” if we could call it that; it definitely had a firmly upraised single digit pointed at conventional anime), but provides a full and deep look at what anime is (or can be) and what makes it tick.
BT: When it come to the avant-garde in anime (where we would assume any kind of conceptual art in the medium would come from) it seems to be concerned more with other types of experimentation. (Or confrontation, as with Flowers of Evil, as you mention.) My current darling show for compositional experimentation, the captivating and beautiful Kyousougiga, is concerned, for instance, with adapting a lot of very traditional (if still oddly revolutionary) film composition techniques, going back to Japanese film masters Ozu and Mizoguchi, with the mesmerizing aesthetics of modern anime directors like Tsurumaki and Imaishi. While it plays with stories-within-stories it’s not trying to break apart the medium. Plenty of other “art” anime, mostly seen in short pieces, is doing something else, too, like upending traditional narrative structure, or doing without things like character, or dialogue.
GBS: Visual experimentation has always been the more common and, I would argue, easier path to pursue. Kyousougiga is a wonderful current example. Quite a few anime “auteurs,” such as the recently departed Satoshi Kon (a great loss) and Makoto Shinkai are noted most of all for their visual creativity. I know this is going to sound utterly out of place, but I would also mention Samurai Girls. Yes, nothing but a brainless breast festival, but the visual conceit of setting it all in a traditional painted scroll oddly puts it into this discussion. Though what does this say about anime, that even a more pedestrian piece of product, not aimed as “serious” art, has aspirations to visual complexity?
BT: Playing with the visual side of the medium is absolutely the more common and easier path creators take. And what it says, to me, is that there is a very long tradition in the anime industry of appreciating the freedom and power of the animation medium itself, more than a lot of other commercial animation around the world.
GBS: Indeed, but perhaps we should save this for another discussion, looking at just the visual dimension of the medium.
BT: Or another several discussions.
GBS: Well, my glass is empty. Perhaps we should refill and end the discussion for now?
BT: Chris has the next round, right? Okay, until next time. *clink*