(anime babble)

[reenka]

I started off making a list of my favorite anime to prove to malafede I wasn't just into shmoopy shoujo, but then I realized I had to post it 'cause it was simply taking so long to come up with every title & comment & stuff. I imagine no one really cares, but if anyone was like, 'hmmm I wonder what anime Reena's into so that I can go out and watch', 'cause you're just that bored, well, hey. Who am I to deprive you?

I've always loved fantasy & romance & adventure, and those are my favorite genres of anything. So my favorite anime are......


- Please Save My Earth - my adoration for this has no limits. NO LIMITS. I am so in love with Shion & Rin it's embarrassing, rather. I am in love with the world & the themes & did I mention little!Shion? Because I adore him. And the idea of their powers and how they are all interconnected and Alice/Mokuren.... Alice. There's a lot of me in Alice. I think she's the closest to what I see myself as that I've ever seen in anime -or- fiction. But then, I don't think what I see myself as is all that similar to what other people see me as. But anyway, PSME = <3333333333333333333

I love psionic stories, and I love growing-up stories, and I love love-stories and star-crossed predestination may not be realistic but it makes for great fairy-tales. It's probably got my favorite plot out of any anime, hands down and no contest. And probably one of my favorite all-time plots/themes.

- Hana Yori Dango - yeah, okay, fine. Romantic comedy. But not quite... not all comedy-- more like dramedy. It's my favorite pure shoujo of all time. I can't stand stuff like Marmalade Boy (though I watch it), and HYD doesn't have that much in common with the Meg Ryan movie thing. Heh. I don't particularly like schmoop, just comedy & romance, yeah. Oh and Tsukasa <3333333333333333 And yeah I kind of identify with Tsukushi, moreso than with any other shoujo heroine.

The thing I adore about HYD is the style (in the anime), too-- just how different it is. And the mood-- all the faded colors and the piano music and.... god I love that English-boarding-school look and the blatant nostalgia. If an anime has blatant nostalgic themes, I'll prolly adore it.

But really, this sort of romance is my favorite. Feisty/indomitable yet positive female and arrogant/broody yet secretly sensitive male-- omg I am a total sucker for that. She slowly 'reforms' him and in the end, he's kinda wrapped around her little finger. I think it's just not very feminist of me, but that was my formative relationship so I think I'm doomed to be fascinated now.

I don't think it's sappy though. HYD isn't sappy and my own ideal of it isn't sappy... it's just intense. Two personalities at war, that's what gets me. Complete opposites who challenge each other and need each other and... just, their personal growth being a result of knowing each other. Wah.

...And yeah, I could never see what the big deal was with Utena. Just. Not my thing (which is weird since it's all fairy-talish & symbolic but... it didn't have that heart I usually cling to).

- Kodomo no Omocha - I love Hayama. That is what it comes down to. I don't just -love- him, I ADORE him. Yeah, I always love the (secretly angsty) smartass, yeah. He's like Rin, except like... even cuter. It's just physically impossible for me to resist him. If I ever had a child like him, he would totally get me to do anything he wants. It's kinda sad.

And again with the violent clash of personalities (Hayama & Sana). I love it when the girl starts out -hating- the guy and thinking he's a complete prick and intending to give him the what-for. A lot of guys so totally need that. And well, the arrogant poopy-heads need it even more. So yes, much with the happy.

Also, it's completely hilarious and a brilliant mix of flashes of drama in the middle of complete insanity. Sana is basically me when I'm on a lot of crack, and also if I was even remotely extraverted, heh.

- Fruits Basket - OMG THE SHEER ADORATION. I mean, Kyou (must love the angsty smartass!!), yeah, but... it's like mind-candy to me. I dunno, it just is. Also the idea is really cute and the theme of beauty's redemption of the 'beast' usually gets me no matter what angle you have. And all the characters are so... distinctive and archetypal and the girl characters are just as interesting as the boys (if you don't count Tohru-- but I don't really mind Tohru like some people do).

- Anything by CLAMP except CCS, which freaked me out with the first ep I watched-- no, seriously, it really did! - mostly I'm still stuck on RG Veda, which was so beautiful I tingle just thinking about it. Mmmmmmmmm. RG Veda-style anime is my crack. So pretty. So pretty it -kills- me, kills me dead.

I like X, too, but I still haven't watched the whole series, 'cause I'm bad. But I still like the themes of Tokyo Babylon & RG Veda more, 'cause I was never into the apocalypse stories much.

RG Veda was one of the first anime tapes I owned. I'm all sentimental about it, clearly. But CLAMP's more complex style is still my favorite, no contest, all this time later. ...This is probably why I actually watched all of Rayearth -.-

- The Vision of Escaflowne - Well, the whole other-world thing. And Van-- is my type (...I have a feeling people will start making fun of me any moment). But anyway, I liked how understated the Van/Hitomi thing was, and I definitely like Hitomi more than any other girl in a fantasy anime with a heroine at the center. Plus. Wings!! No, seriously. That's a big, big huge plus :D

And the plot was rather good. I was actually interested. I didn't mind the mechas 'cause it was character-driven. Overall, it was really good except for the ending, which was understandable too. I really liked the movie, too (which I felt had a much better ending). And the music. The character designs weren't -too- bad, especially in the movie of course.

- The Song of the Wind and Trees - This is my favorite shounen ai, and one of my all-time favorite anime... and I feel this probably says a lot (too much?) about me. It's all over-the-top angst and pain and tragedy, but in a different way than say, Bronze. Maybe I just have a kink about boarding school boys and hero-types falling for hopeless degenerate tramps (okay, I know I do). I think that one moan in their kiss scene was sexier than any other shounen ai sex scene I've seen-- and that includes all the graphic sex stuff.

Well, again, I'm a sucker for nostalgia and boys in hopeless love. Heee, with each other!!

- The Legend of Basara - I love this, though I actually haven't seen the last few episodes. The Legend of Basara is prolly the only anime I'd seriously consider reading as a manga, 'cause it prolly has one of my all-time favorite plots, and a female character I can get behind a 100%, without any need for me to pine over the male leads or whatever. Though of course I love the angry-yet-angsty Red King. The whole thing is right up my alley with the legend-of-the-savior and the girl-heroine and the cross-dressing and misunderstandings and pretty villains and just-- everything. The whole apocalypse thing doesn't apply, since I only dislike pre-apocalypse, not post-apocalypse, heheh.

- Angel Sanctuary - ahhh, the pretty! Boys with wings! And! Forbidden love (aahhhhh kink)! And! The fight against death & evil angels and! And! The slashiness, OMG! *dead*

It's so sad that it's only an OVA. So sad.

- Kare Kano - I don't love it, but I really like it. It seems to get better on rewatching. I think the characterizations are really good and not in a squeeing OMG I LOVE THEM sort of way, which is refreshing in a way. I don't squeal in utter fangirl adoration but instead of watch their story unfold. It's kind of quirky and sad and just, a mixture of everything. Though sometimes the silliness really doesn't work for me.

The style-- with all the still-frames-- is really interesting, too.

- Fushigi Yuugi - shut up. Just. SHUT UP! I know it's lame. But that was what started my shoujo madness, so now I'm sentimental.

It actually got really boring by the end, and I skimmed the last few eps madly. Actually, the whole second half was boring. I really liked it when it was that stupid will-he-won't-he angst with Tamahome (SHUT UP) and the whole introduction of the world and the concept. I'm a sucker for the whole escape-into-the-world-inside-the-book scenario (Neverending Story is like, my favorite movie EVAR, and I feel like if you really understand why, then you know everything important about me just like that), though not to the point where I think much of Magic Knight Rayearth is any good (though clearly, I watched it anyway).

I always thought I -should- get into Ayashi No Ceres, but really that was going too far with the melodrama and the-boy-you-can-never-have-because-he-doesn't-exist-except-to-serve-you-in-your-hour-of-need. Though actually, the storyline is much more up my alley, 'cause I love the fairy-tale.

- Vampire Princess Miyu - yeah, I'm predictable. Creepy (but not horrific) fantasy, well-animated, and with an ambiguous melancholy romance at the center. I wish there was more of it. `Mermaid Scar' prolly goes into this category too.

- Robot Carnival - I have such great memories of it... it was one of my first anime experiences. And I still think there's not much in its genre that tops it (not much in its genre, period, of course). All of the pieces are so completely brilliant and vivid and haunting, especially the robot who became a boy, and that piece with the inventor who fell in love with his robot. It's just completely beautiful.

- Iria: Zeiram the Animation - this is probably the best-drawn sci-fi OVA of all time. Heheh well, I think so, anyway. I adore the animation & background world-building of this to pieces. I mean, the plot is kinda 'eh', but the backdrop is brilliant, and the animation is delicious. Plus I really like Iria and her little sidekick. The style is unique and imaginative as hell and I just enjoy watching it a lot. You can pretty much get me to watch anything if it's pretty enough, clearly. Not that I mind sci-fi thrillers (must stay true to my roots, all that).

- RahXephon - really beautifully animated, and I like the story (though I still haven't finished it). I usually actually like mecha shows when they have a philosophical twist... in the beginning, I watched a lot of robot sci-fi anime (and liked it). Like, I think I have all three tapes of Armitage. Ahahah not many shoujo fangirls can say that, right. Plus I watched all of Bubblegum Crisis and enjoyed it. *flashes geek credentials*

- Tank Police - AHAHAHAHAH. Yeah, I like that sort of humor. Just thinking of the mini-tank and the huge inflatable penises makes me laugh.
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Oh, and all you peeps who wanted the daily-writing community?

Here it is: scribble_daily
~~

EDIT - Omg, joosetta's latest H/D pic is just so yummy..!..!! Aaahhhh, the -Draco- and their -hands- and, and.... 'spretty, mmmyes. Though this one scores for super-hotness. Because. Tongue fetish, me? Nooo.
    *sigh* And then there's sherant's mirror!wank, which is just. Yeah.

Comments

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

I do have a love for the surreal... I mean... surreal is just a type of fantasy, and I dig nearly all fantasy, heh.
I think it's Utena's particular brand of overt meta that bothers me. Like... in general, I prefer not to -have- to focus on a story's 'theme', y'know... at least in some cases. Sometimes a story or movie or what have you is obviously a metaphor or is deeply symbolic, but I want to get that out of the story myself, kinda, rather than having it shoved at me. Perhaps it's because Utena's ideals just... seemed construed and put there instead of natural.

Mind you, watched less than 10 episodes... or at least, not much more than. I remember all that stuff about The Revolution... and mind you, I love the -idea- of revolution (especially when it's in cheesy 80s High School movies, but that's another story). But when it was just introduced, I was more confused than anything else. I was like, whuh--? I think that's where the surreal comes in, because it's not -supposed- to 'make sense', necessarily, yeah, okay, but Lain (and say, even Kodocha) is surreal too-- just in a different way. Any heavily stylized piece is going to be somewhat surreal-- it depends how deep the affectation goes, for me.

I perceived the 'style' as affectation too many times in Utena-- all the ceremony and grand pronouncements and thick symbolism seemed almost -too obvious-. I think that was the problem, for me-- I found it both too obvious and rather obscure (in terms of its stylization) in an uncomfortable way. By 'heart' I tend to mean, the meat-and-bone of a story that has to exist there, completely apart from meta. The meta can only work for me as an added layer, not the primary one; but then, whereas you -look- for ethos, I actually want all overt ethics/ideals to go away-- to be subtle. If I can -tell- what a story is saying for certain, I'm likely to feel spoon-fed and patronized as a viewer. I find such things too didactic and not subtle enough.

I love meta and shoujo both, obviously, but I can only bond with a story if it worms its way into my heart regardless of formula, so to some extent it must be opaque to me-- even as it can be self-referential, it must simultaneously be a -real story- happening in real time for me to care. I dunno, it's hard to explain. My issues with Utena have much to do with how I like my meta :>

I want to come up with 'the point' independently, near the end-- I want to have the story lead me along without me ever realizing it 100%. Otherwise it's more of a curiosity, for me-- some sort of overly high-minded philosophical treatise with no life to it. In the end, Story must retain primacy over Theory for me to enjoy it. Basically, it should work on both levels, but it's more important that it work as a narrative. And just being surreal doesn't change that-- because say, Alice in Wonderland is both surreal and meta, but it retains that primacy of Story thus it works for me.

But I think this returns to the fact that I'd rather not have to analyze/think about things as I watch them, not -consciously-. I don't generally think about 'themes', I just -feel- them. Utena felt very cerebral to me, which is why I said that about 'heart'. Cerebral is anything that forces me to think, heheh. Serial Experiments Lain was kind of on the borderline of how blatant I want my theory to be in things-- I think it was still 'story' driven, but the 'theory' was -very- very near the surface to the point where I couldn't fully enjoy it.

And to me, it doesn't matter whether or not I enjoy or agree with the ideals at hand, too. That's prolly why I can watch cliche romance in the first place-- I enjoy it on a very gut level-- I pretty much enjoy -everything- on a very gut level: it's only afterwards that I analyze. Utena just messes with my process, I think.