Makato Shinkai

Shinkai Makato's artistic signature can be examined even in one of his earliest short films, Voices of A Distant Star. Aside from the technical feat required to produce this short, the structure of this short established a common central theme in Makato's future work: characters being separated by time and space. The central characters, a boy and a girl; often will try to communicate and connect but there is always an obstacle in the way. This is prevalent in Garden of Words with their communication being limited to meeting when it rains and their age gap. This is also seen in 5 Centimeters per Second; the two characters are separated by one of moving away, however a supplementary theme is communication through letters and later email. In these films, the characters push to be together but in the end, they cannot.  

There was a quite literal play of time and space in Voices of A Distant Star. Noboru must wait longer and longer to receive messages from Mikako as time dilation affects their messages. As he waits, he is in sort of a limbo, unable to know when even the next time dilation event will occur. I enjoyed the unpredictable nature of this theme used so literally.

Another theme in Makato's work is his play with the seasons. Using the seasons as a means to reflect the internal feelings of his characters, he treats the background as a secondary character on its own. Often, Makato will take pause and let the audience absorb the atmosphere of the scene, to truly feel what the characters are feeling. In Voices of a Distant Star, many times the background will just wash over the characters as an internal monologue is heard. This technique was further refined by Makato throughout his career. In Garden of Words, he often used this technique to show the contrast between nature and the modern demands of society. Contrasting the image of the park--seen as an escape--but revealing that it is surrounded by the metropolitan area of Tokyo; maintains that the characters know it is a temporary space, a fleeting moment.

To compare Makato's work with Ghibli's would be incongruent. Makato is focused on the interpersonal relationships between two people and furthering his themes by emphasizing small details within his backgrounds and such. Studio Ghibli, more often than not, undoubtedly focuses on ecological preservation through the lens of strong female characters, their relationship with nature, and the overall effect humanity has on the world. The themes focused between each studio are so different in scope and prominence. Makato's portrayal of emotion is often times too romanticized for my tastes versus Ghibli having a more idealized but honest approach to human emotion. It would perhaps be easier to compare Satoshi Kon and Makato Shinkai, but even then, where would we be going?

Visually although, Ghibli's animation is extremely loose and gestural, unlike Makato's tight movements. The backgrounds are lovely and hyperrealistic in Makato's work whereas Ghibli often chooses to throw a wash of color into the background, like a gouache painting. Both techniques are admirable.

Nausicaä, Ghibli, & Environmentalism

Miyazaki's Nausicaä of The Valley of The Wind is truly a visual feast. The intricate and fluid pen work, combined with Miyzaki's deep worldbuilding, brings the reader into complex world of the Tourmekia War and the flora and fauna that compose the subcontinent. Each stroke is purposeful and produces a powerful result. The nature areas are drawn with a certain fluidity that flows with the rest of the world whereas the mechanical man-made objects are rough and imposing. The battleships are obnoxious and violent; Miyazaki has always placed emphasis on mankind's involvement in the desecration of nature. However Nausicaä's wing glider is always presented in a similarly fluid manner, as she races through the plains and forests of the subcontinent. The detail in the mechanics of her glider are very particular as well. Miyazaki takes care to detail the nature and mechanical aspects of Nausicaä.     

From the beginning, we are introduced to the importance of the forest and its creatures to Nausicaä and how it's production of spores is deadly to humans although they have invented ways to safely cohabit. Later, Nausicaä meets Asbel, her male companion on this journey. Asbel believes that the forest may produce these spores because of the damage that humans have done to it in the past. Asbel's character is established to have been raised in a factory town, opposite of Nausicaä's more natural upbringing and interests. Miyazaki uses these two characters to again comment on the parallel between nature and humankind.

Burning the great tree was a great sacrifice, this again pushes Miyazaki's consistent theme of ecological preservation. The collective conscious of the forest composed of the insects that speak to Nausicaä is also interesting. Although it was made after Nausicaä, I viewed Princess Mononoke years ago and feel similarly about its message concerning ecological conservation. Humanity's interaction with nature and the true emotions expressed between the worlds is a concept ever-present in Miyazaki's work. The forests in both films (& manga) feel alive, but they have their own source of trauma and history. Specifically in Princess Mononoke, we see the forest heal from the damage done to it, but there are scars left behind in the forest.

Romance Manga & Oyasumi Punpun

On Tsubaki-chou Lonely Planet

Generally, romance is not the genre for me. I know within pages how everything will turn out and it ruins it for me. It feels like a less-smart and self-aware screwball comedy playing before my eyes.

To compare, however, with Slow Motion, the art is less detailed and has more ethereal backdrops.

On Slow Motion wo Mou Ichido

This is the manga from the image included above. I enjoyed the art style. There are detailed back drops, and sweetly drawn characters. The trivial plot is silly but I suppose something I can distantly relate to: an outcast being awkward and dissociated because of his interest in old media.

On Romance

(Oh and I read some yaoi too and it's... interesting and not my first deep dive into the genre. However, some mangas involved blatant rape, like Tatsuyuki Oyamoto the 4th. Interesting to say the least.)

All of this romance talk made me think about another manga I really love and read while it slowly was translated back around 2010; Oyasumi Punpun. And then I asked myself if it were considered romance? The story is driven by Punpun’s motivations of desire for Aiko throughout his young teenage life. He is depressed, unsatisfied, and insecure with his life and relationships, but the way Asano renders the story is incredibly realistic and believable. It depicts a coming-of-age story where the more mundane and sad aspects of human emotions are not forgotten. The main love interest, Aiko, commits suicide in the end because of the weight of life. Oyasumi Punpun is a slice of life/coming-of-age manga that only utilized its more romantic themes to speak to a greater concept about existentialism and mundanity.  

Week 4: Documentary Manga & some Junji Ito Research (Gyo, Amigara Fault, Dissolving Classroom)

Disaster Drawn by Hillary Chute

I've watched Barefoot Gen and respected how it handled the subject of the atomic bomb and have read I Saw It twice. I like Chute's analysis of using manga as a medium to present traditionally biographical subjects that one may see in books or documentaries. It is neither traditional, idealized manga nor is it gekiga. The comparison to Maus in this essay was unexpected but useful, as I've read that series and can understand why the documentation of tragedies was considered unusual until these two stories came along.

The interesting thing about Barefoot Gen is the delay in the telling of the bomb dropping. Nakazawa takes time to document his familial experiences. This engages the reader, provides the opportunity to compare the times prior to the bomb dropping to the aftermath, and doesn't make this story just about the bomb dropping. Throughout Nakazawa's work, his depiction of the bomb's aftermath is truly haunting. There is a sense of urgency and uncensored experience. There is no idealized reality here. It's funny that Spiegelman commented that Nakazawa's depiction's etched themselves into his brain, Maus had a similar effect on mine. 

*(I will say, though, this essay made leaps in judgement at times and it was hard to ascertain the point but thanks for the much-needed clarification in class.)

After reading I Saw It (twice):

I have never relished in the history of dropping the atomic bombs on Japan, I think we should be ashamed for our decisions made during wartime. However, I Saw It intensifies this feeling and, as Spiegelman said, etches it's imagery into your mind. I imagine what would happen if more people read something like this in order to prevent history from repeating itself. We seem to understand the Holocaust so well (then again, do we? Racism is still an intense subject in America and genocide still exists in many parts of Africa...) but we dissociate ourselves from the nuclear power we once held and further push using nuclear power as a weapon, not as a renewable resource.

Junji Ito Research

Along with looking into some "documentorial" mangas, I did a lot of research for my Junji Ito presentation. I've decided I would compare Japanese and American horror through the context of manga/comics and ask why there is not a well documented history for Japanese gore. I do believe the "a-bomb-panic" inspired one of Junji Ito's mangas and it is Gyo.

Generally, I have noticed that most of Ito's works discuss a breakdown of society through individual's who are punished for no discernible reason, such as in Dissolving Classroom or The Enigma of Amigara Fault. Gyo, however, analyzed mass hysteria, through disease, and its effect on the nation of Japan. Ito also chooses to form his own folklore rather than using traditional Japanese folklore themes.

I look forward to completing Tomie next and looking more into American pulp horror to compare.

Questions for the visiting Japanese Scholar:

1. I'm struggling to find sources about the history of Japanese horror, more specifically Japanese gore in comics. Are there any sources I can look to such as the shunga ukiyo-e prints of the Edo period? I'm just interested in finding out why Japanese horror is so brutal (and a lot of the time erotic) compared to American. Is it because of the American comic's code?

2. In that same line of questioning, was there a censorship period for manga in Japan?