Author Archives: ahhshoelay

Toradora! // Anime Review

Toradora is another Slice-of-life shoujo anime revolving around the relationships of Ryuuji and Taiga. It is reminiscent of Kimi ni Todoke, in that it does briefly talk about bullying in schools based solely on appearance of the main characters.

Plot:

The basis of this story is the relationship between the two main characters, and their relationship with the world around them. They are constantly being misjudged by their appearance, and this helps the two of them form a bond throughout the course of the show. This show holds itself pretty tightly to normal shoujo standards, like types of characters(which I’ll talk about more in the character section) and plot devices that they use. I don’t want to dive to deeply into them, mostly to avoid spoilers.

Artwork:

The artwork in this anime is pretty stylized. There are quite a few action scenes, leading to an interesting flow to character movement. The color palette tends to favor more bold colors, and the characters tend to be more or less proportioned. It is very detailed in its background work and they throw in a lot of unnecessary movements to the characters, which give it  a more realistic tone. The music in the show is actually quite nice, more edgy than cute and poppy.

Characters:

Ryuuji is an interesting character. He is seen by the outside world as a delinquent because of his appearance, but his heart is genuine and sweet. The show is focused more on him, and so the audience gets to spend more time in his shoes than in Taiga’s. Throughout the course of the show, we learn he is more of a hopeless romantic than anything, seeking out a relationship with Taiga’s best friend.

Alternatively, Taiga is misjudged based more on her actions. Taiga is also seeking out the romantic attentions of Ryuuji’s best friend, and as such Taiga and Ryuuji end up spending a lot of time together. Taiga turns out to be a tsundere character, and over the course of the show we find out that she is actually quite kind-hearted, she just doesn’t understand how to show it.

 

I found this show to be quite entertaining, though a little bland at times. I would recommend, regardless.

Kimi Ni Todoke // Anime Review

Kimi ni Todoke is a charming slice-of-lice shoujo anime largely focused around the life of a girl named Sawako.

Plot:

This is definitely one of the first shoujo anime I’ve watched that has felt immensely realistic. The pacing of this anime is a slow build, happening over the course of a year, which really added to this. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched an anime that felt like the entirety of the story happened over the course of a week. The plot of this one is simple enough; Seeing as it is a slice-of-life, much of the plot revolves around the growing relationships and struggles that the characters face. There is no big dramatic moment, no big epic twist. It is a very simple anime which questions the nature of relationships and life itself.

Artwork:

The artwork in Kimi Ni Todoke is incredible, at least in my eyes. The drawing style is soft and had a lot of flow. The color palette involved is light and consists mostly of light pastel colors. I feel very much that the plot and the artwork tie themselves together, as they parallel each other. For me at least, this makes watching it more enjoyable. 

Characters:

Sawako is probably one of my favorite shoujo leads. She is a very genuine person, but tends to suffer frequently by misguided bullying from her classmates. Over the course of the show, this manifests and is addressed as an issue, not just in her life, but as a part of the societal norms.  Her character is one that is easy to appreciate, and her growth as a character is undeniable by the end of the show.

Kazehaya, the lead male role, is interesting to me as more of a standout character. In the genre, it is typical for there to be only a couple types of male leads to female lead. There is your “jerk” type, who later turns out to be a charming nice guy. There is also the typical reverse-harem type,  making several guys a lead male character. This one is fairly unique, in that Kazehaya is both a nice guy, but he is also the only love interest introduced to the audience. Generally, he is a great character that is easy to love.

The other characters in the show all provide their own type of input to the show, and really help make the show. The supporting characters all reflect people you would see in real life, which continues the realistic feel of the show.

 

Overall, this is probably one of the best shoujo anime I’ve personally watched, and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it on.

A Look at Time // Ozeki 305-End

“..I am a time being. Do you know what a time being is? Well, if you give me a moment, I will tell you. A time being is someone who lives in time, and that means you, and me, and every one of us who is, or was, or ever will be.”

A Tale For The Time Being. Its all in the title. While this novel focuses on the different ideas surrounding time, the title absolutely explores this idea as well; It has a dual meaning. First, its primary interpretation to the average reader with no idea of the context of the story would believe that it is “a story to to pass the time”. While this is accurate, the title’s secondary meaning is more along the lines of “a story for everyone”. The dual nature of the title is clarified in the first few pages of the novel, but it is relevant to not only the idea of time, but another concept that we studied this quarter known as “dual-consciousness”. The book itself even expresses this, with Nao’s American and Japanese backgrounds. While not particularly explored in the novel, I appreciated how this relates in an historical context, bringing it back to its relevance to the time theme.

Time is also explored through Ruth’s reading of the diary. There was a particular part in the novel which brought to light the fact that the timelines of both of the characters don’t particularly coincide. Oliver and Ruth are having a conversation relating to an email that Ruth had sent to get information on Nao’s father, mentioning that it was urgent due to the girl’s suicidal thoughts. Oliver offhandedly says “Well, you’re not making a lot of sense. Its not like its happening right now, right?”(pg.312). This is the first moment in the novel that the time difference, about ten years, between Ruth reading the diary and Nao writing it is addressed. I found this to be interesting because, over the course of the novel, the reader may find themselves feeling much like Ruth, reading Nao’s words believing they are happening in the moment. The fact that it was addressed allowed for both Ruth and the reader to step back and realize that time essentially swallows up existence. Nao may have been dead the whole time Ruth was reading her diary, but that didn’t change Ruth’s resolve to find the girl, in the end. In a similar vein, I noticed very early in the novel that Nao’s journal had a distinct lack of dates, as typical journal entries do. I think this was a conscious choice by Ozeki, for the same reason’s stated above.

Historical representations of time were also explored. This is true in the case of Haruki #1′s letters, and similarly with the story of Jiko’s past. This, in my opinion, really sold the whole book for me. Not only was this a novel about a girl and her life, this was a story of how the past and the future meet. It is a complicated emotion for me to express, but this really reminded me of a lot of social issues surrounding technology in the world today. But I digress.

All in all, I found this book to be quite enlightening. It expressed so many things flawlessly, from life and death to identity to the big idea of TIME!

“I’m counting the moments.

One…

Two…

Three…

Four…

Hey, I know! Let’s count the moments together!”

 

Haruki #1 and Reading // Ozeki 204- 304

Reading in this novel has more layers than many fiction works I have ever had the pleasure of reading. The first, simple level of this resides in Nao. Specifically, during this section of the novel, we find Nao begins to read Haruki #1′s letters to Jiko.   I personally found these letters to be quite interesting. She not only has to translate them, but then she begins to read and understand Haruki’s struggle in the military. We find out that Haruki’s letters are disingenuous; he has a french diary that is later translated to hold his true thoughts and feeling. This way of reading the novel provided not one, not two, but three separate evolving opinions or the letters. Nao reads the letters, then Ruth, and then the reader proper, each with their own varying inputs on the letters.

The reader is then confronted with the fact that Nao’s entire point of view throughout the novel comes from a diary. Every word we read from Nao is also read by Ruth, and thus commented on in various ways. My favorite example of this is through the footnotes of Nao’s journal. I originally didn’t understand that the footnotes came from Ruth, until a particularly sassy one directed my attention to it.this offered the reader proper and Ruth to form a connection through Nao’s entries.

Finally, we are presented with Ruth and her varying degrees of understanding through the internet and Nao’s journal. It is expressed to the reader in such a way that they feel as thought Ruth is guiding them through this journey. I feel it’s important to differentiate between Ruth the character and Ruth the author, and I say my previous statement is related to both.

I found that Ruth Ozeki did a lovely job of using the theme of reading in her novel. It was by far a deeper, but also more enjoyable read for it.

Communication is Key //Ozeki 111-204

What defines communication? The Merriam-Webster dictionary relies on two separate definitions.

“: the act or process of using words, sounds, signs, or behaviors to express or exchange information or to express your ideas, thoughts, feelings, etc., to someone else

: a message that is given to someone : a letter, telephone call, etc.”

This novel is specifically linked with both of these. I’d first like to note that the latter definition describes this book almost in its entirety. A dairy, washed ashore to be read and deciphered by a woman unrelated to the original diary owner, twists itself into a tale of death, time and understanding. The whole diary is a message, a note to someone from a girl’s future. This is important to the reader; the author could have just written a story of two women, living their separate lives. So what was gained from portraying the novel this way? From what I could gather, this was used as a way to express a story which cannot be changed at the time of reading, which is crucial to the novel’s most prominent theme, time. These two themes piggy-back off of one another very frequently. While this is the most obvious form of communication used thus far in the novel, it is not even close to the only one.

There is many smaller, more frequently used forms of communication presented thus far. One example of this manifests itself early in the reading, after Nao had spent some time in Japan. In an eager attempt to retrace back to her american roots, she frequently messages her best friend from California, Kayla, via the internet and texting. Later she realizes that these roots are slowly disappearing around her as her life begins to change. This use of technology becomes crucial to Nao and some of her experiences. Another obvious example of this is when Nao’s funeral is posted online and sent to her. Nao and Old Jiko used texting to communicate with one another on some topics. In Ruth’s side of the world, while trying to decipher Nao’s cryptic journal, she looks many things up on the internet, which tended to become annotations for the reader.

In my opinion, this theme is incredibly important to the entirety of the novel, but is used more as a vessel for many deeper, thought-provoking themes to flourish.

My Name is Khan, from the epiglottis.

This film is an epic journey of man. It is a love story. It is the story of overcoming life struggle. It is a story of adventure.

My Name is Khan.

Khan’s struggles throughout the film range from minuscule to tremendous in scale. Helping a boy with a cut leg to being tortured from being a potential terrorist, he comes into contact with a lot of different experiences. I think his most difficult experience in the film would have been with his own identity. First of all, Khan had Aspergers Syndrome, causing a lot of social anxiety for the people around him, and surely for himself as well. Though this was something introduced immediately, its purpose within the film is overarching. The whole reason Khan goes on his journey to meet the president is because he didn’t understand Mandira’s misdirected frustration at the death of her son.

On the other hand, he is also Muslim. This, combined with the dark period in american history that was post-9/11 racism, made for some very hate-filled comments and lots of internal debate within Khan’s own life. During his ventures to try and meet the president, he is accused and cleared of being a terrorist, though his actions did seem a bit suspect without the full story. Khan’s brother, Zakir, tells Khan he can’t marry Mandira because she was Hindu. His problems seem to never cease, though he continues to push on, all the way toward the bitter-sweet ending.

A Look on Life and Death in “A Tale for the Time Being”

“The truth is that very soon I’m going to graduate from time, or maybe I shouldn’t say graduate because that makes it sound as if I’ve actually met my goals and deserve to move on, when the fact is that I just turned sixteen and I’ve accomplished nothing at all.  Zilch. Nada. Do I sound pathetic? I don’t mean to. I just want to be accurate. Maybe instead of graduate, I should say I’m going to drop out of time. Drop out. Time out. Exit my existence. I’m counting the moments.” (P.7)

Time and death. Two inseparable themes in life, and this novel weaves them together like a water-tight basket. This novel explores the idea of death in several different ways, most obviously and notably within Nao’s own narratives.  Though funny and youthful, she connects most of her life events with the inevitability of her own death, or suicide as it would be in her case. Her narrative relies centrally on the fact that she is going to die. Revealed as the purpose of her writing the journal which now resides in the hands of Ruth, the quote above is Nao’s explanation for the journal.

Suicide is particularly emphasized within this novel.  Nao’s father attempts suicide via Chuo Rapid Express, a  famous suicide spot.  Nao’s father’s Uncle, also known within the novel as Haruki #1, was a Kamikaze pilot in World War II.  Nao, who also struggles with her own feelings on suicide, notes “Haruki #1 was a kamikaze pilot, which is kind of weird when you think of it because before he became a suicide bomber he was a student of philosophy at Tokyo University, and my dad, Haruki #2, really likes philosophy and keeps trying to kill himself, so I guess you could say that suicide and philosophy run in the family…” (P.68).

In Nao’s future, a woman named Ruth is reading her journal, trying to understand her life.  It is understood that the history of the novel and this history of our world coincide, so we as readers are aware that a large tsunami and earthquake hit Japan some time after the writing of Nao’s journal.  This, in and of itself, presents the theme of death more ambiguously than the previously mentioned examples.  While Ruth reads Nao’s journal, we as readers feel as though she is alive, at least for the time being. Though when we are presented with Ruth’s narrative, there is an ethereal understanding that Nao and her family may have perished in the wake of the tragedies that Japan suffered.

To me, these were the most important life and death themes, at least to the current place in the novel we are at. If you think I missed anything important, please post in the comments so that I can expand on the ideas.