It’s a Saki post in disguise!
If there’s one thing we know about anime, it’s that everything seems more exciting in 2D. The beginning of a school year doesn’t mean less free time and more math homework, it means encountering a mysterious transfer student under an eternally blossoming sakura tree! Being a maid isn’t about doing tedious housework that no one wants to do, it’s about serving your master and tending to his psychological needs! (Or in some cases, protecting your master through whatever bizarre means necessary.)
Likewise, in the world of anime, mahjong is not just mahjong. It’s epic mahjong. In fact, it’s epic Crazy Loli Yuri Mahjong. But is this trend to lean towards the over dramatic a good thing? How does the use of extreme exaggerations affect the viewer, especially when the line is crossed by a mile?
Personally, the use of exaggeration and so-called Mary Sue characters doesn’t bother me if it’s a stylistic decision. Take s.CRY.ed, for instance. Unusual name aside, would the show have anything worth bragging about if it didn’t give its two heroes ridiculous powers? Well, I suppose it’ll always have that whole My Balls thing, and DRASTIC MY SOUL has been more or less immortalized in the aniblogosphere, but for the most part, the distinguishing aspect of the show was the over-the-top action. That’s what shounen is about, after all. The action doesn’t yield to logic – it shatters logic with its Golden Finger in much the same way that Hayate no Gotoku shatters the fourth wall.
However, while this kind of exaggeration works at least moderately well in the shounen genre, would it work as well it other shows? Perhaps shows that deal with less battles for the fate of the earth and more mahjong games between friends?
The use of over the top effects in Saki has been brought up before, usually in a negative light. After all, summoning lightning from a single mahjong tile doesn’t exactly match the definition of normality, especially when the game is being played indoors. Some would say that the use of effects like this decrease the show’s credibility – they make it seem like more of a joke than something that can be viewed for its objective merit.
And, in most every way, that judgment is sound.
Realistic? No. Stylish? Well, no, but it looks cool, and sometimes that’s all that matters.
The thing is that most shows that employ these effects aren’t looking to be taken seriously to begin with. Is Prince of Tennis an ambitious, realistic story about a young man’s dream to become a pro? I’m not sure since I haven’t seen it, but I doubt anyone would watch it expecting real, believable, and plausible tennis matches. Instead, a tennis or shounen fan might watch it for an exciting tennis match: because they want to see how anime can make the sport more interesting. After all, real tennis is always an option for those who enjoy realism.
Likewise, the shining mahjong tiles of Saki don’t bother me in the least, because we all knew what we were signing up for. It’s not a serious show by any stretch of the imagination, and anyone who expected Tactical Mahjong Action obviously didn’t look at the character designs. I wouldn’t say that lack of realism hurts Saki any sooner than I’d say that fantasy hurts the Ghibli movies.
However, this entire post isn’t necessarily in Saki’s defence. There’s still one aspect of the show that bothers me, and it’s part of the same topic – it’s simply easy to overlook when you’re blinded by the light from a Certain Magical Mahjong Tile.
Enough said.
The problem I have with shows like this is that the characters are unreasonably strong. No, not because they can command the power of nature – looking unnaturally cool/cute is just another ubiquitous aspect of anime. What I’m talking about is the fact that the characters are good at what they do, and they’ve done precious little to earn it.
For lack of a better example, I’ll bring up the relatively obscure light novel, Zaregoto. Put simply, the story is about a group of geniuses that are called to an island to spend time with some rich girl or the other. Apparently people start dying after that, but I haven’t finished the book yet, and it’s hardly relevant. The point I’m trying to make is that a group of characters in their twenties (who act like your average anime teenagers) are able to do things like wreak havoc across the nation with their hacking skills, work on three monitors at a time, read minds, and cook and paint like the best in the world. True, they’re supposed to be geniuses, but the line should be drawn somewhere.
And that’s where shows like Saki start to bother me. I’m fine with Ichigo Kurosaki shooting beams of energy out of his sword if it makes the battles look better, but accomplishing something in three days that takes most people several decades? I haven’t seen the show in years so forgive me if I’m mistaken, but that sort of thing pops up all the time in shounen. I don’t mind ridiculous abilities if it’s for the sake of style, but please don’t try to convince us that a girl who only played casual mahjong with her family can be good enough to beat one of the best high school students in the country.
At the end of the day, it’s all about the implied yuri.
Admittedly, I don’t really have a bone to pick with Saki. I’m only watching it because it looks fun, and I’d say it’s been fun so far. Shows like this aren’t meant to be taken seriously, so I wouldn’t bother ranting about how the lack of realism detracts from the story. However, I think it’s worth noting the difference between Mary Sues in the name of style and Mary Sues for the sake of. I’m all for planet-shattering energy beams and, in the case of Gurren Lagann, what resembled the flinging of solar systems, but you can’t expect anyone to believe that Some Random Kid from Some Random High School can hop into a mech and defeat trained soldiers. It doesn’t work in shounen, it doesn’t work in loli yuri antics, and it won’t work in whatever genre it forces itself into.
~ ETERNAL
つづく
On Power Levels and Mary Sues
It’s a Saki post in disguise!
If there’s one thing we know about anime, it’s that everything seems more exciting in 2D. The beginning of a school year doesn’t mean less free time and more math homework, it means encountering a mysterious transfer student under an eternally blossoming sakura tree! Being a maid isn’t about doing tedious housework that no one wants to do, it’s about serving your master and tending to his psychological needs! (Or in some cases, protecting your master through whatever bizarre means necessary.)
Likewise, in the world of anime, mahjong is not just mahjong. It’s epic mahjong. In fact, it’s epic Crazy Loli Yuri Mahjong. But is this trend to lean towards the over dramatic a good thing? How does the use of extreme exaggerations affect the viewer, especially when the line is crossed by a mile?
Personally, the use of exaggeration and so-called Mary Sue characters doesn’t bother me if it’s a stylistic decision. Take s.CRY.ed, for instance. Unusual name aside, would the show have anything worth bragging about if it didn’t give its two heroes ridiculous powers? Well, I suppose it’ll always have that whole My Balls thing, and DRASTIC MY SOUL has been more or less immortalized in the aniblogosphere, but for the most part, the distinguishing aspect of the show was the over-the-top action. That’s what shounen is about, after all. The action doesn’t yield to logic – it shatters logic with its Golden Finger in much the same way that Hayate no Gotoku shatters the fourth wall.
However, while this kind of exaggeration works at least moderately well in the shounen genre, would it work as well it other shows? Perhaps shows that deal with less battles for the fate of the earth and more mahjong games between friends?
The use of over the top effects in Saki has been brought up before, usually in a negative light. After all, summoning lightning from a single mahjong tile doesn’t exactly match the definition of normality, especially when the game is being played indoors. Some would say that the use of effects like this decrease the show’s credibility – they make it seem like more of a joke than something that can be viewed for its objective merit.
And, in most every way, that judgment is sound.
Realistic? No. Stylish? Well, no, but it looks cool, and sometimes that’s all that matters.
The thing is that most shows that employ these effects aren’t looking to be taken seriously to begin with. Is Prince of Tennis an ambitious, realistic story about a young man’s dream to become a pro? I’m not sure since I haven’t seen it, but I doubt anyone would watch it expecting real, believable, and plausible tennis matches. Instead, a tennis or shounen fan might watch it for an exciting tennis match: because they want to see how anime can make the sport more interesting. After all, real tennis is always an option for those who enjoy realism.
Likewise, the shining mahjong tiles of Saki don’t bother me in the least, because we all knew what we were signing up for. It’s not a serious show by any stretch of the imagination, and anyone who expected Tactical Mahjong Action obviously didn’t look at the character designs. I wouldn’t say that lack of realism hurts Saki any sooner than I’d say that fantasy hurts the Ghibli movies.
However, this entire post isn’t necessarily in Saki’s defence. There’s still one aspect of the show that bothers me, and it’s part of the same topic – it’s simply easy to overlook when you’re blinded by the light from a Certain Magical Mahjong Tile.
The problem I have with shows like this is that the characters are unreasonably strong. No, not because they can command the power of nature – looking unnaturally cool/cute is just another ubiquitous aspect of anime. What I’m talking about is the fact that the characters are good at what they do, and they’ve done precious little to earn it.
For lack of a better example, I’ll bring up the relatively obscure light novel, Zaregoto. Put simply, the story is about a group of geniuses that are called to an island to spend time with some rich girl or the other. Apparently people start dying after that, but I haven’t finished the book yet, and it’s hardly relevant. The point I’m trying to make is that a group of characters in their twenties (who act like your average anime teenagers) are able to do things like wreak havoc across the nation with their hacking skills, work on three monitors at a time, read minds, and cook and paint like the best in the world. True, they’re supposed to be geniuses, but the line should be drawn somewhere.
And that’s where shows like Saki start to bother me. I’m fine with Ichigo Kurosaki shooting beams of energy out of his sword if it makes the battles look better, but accomplishing something in three days that takes most people several decades? I haven’t seen the show in years so forgive me if I’m mistaken, but that sort of thing pops up all the time in shounen. I don’t mind ridiculous abilities if it’s for the sake of style, but please don’t try to convince us that a girl who only played casual mahjong with her family can be good enough to beat one of the best high school students in the country.
At the end of the day, it’s all about the implied yuri.
Admittedly, I don’t really have a bone to pick with Saki. I’m only watching it because it looks fun, and I’d say it’s been fun so far. Shows like this aren’t meant to be taken seriously, so I wouldn’t bother ranting about how the lack of realism detracts from the story. However, I think it’s worth noting the difference between Mary Sues in the name of style and Mary Sues for the sake of. I’m all for planet-shattering energy beams and, in the case of Gurren Lagann, what resembled the flinging of solar systems, but you can’t expect anyone to believe that Some Random Kid from Some Random High School can hop into a mech and defeat trained soldiers. It doesn’t work in shounen, it doesn’t work in loli yuri antics, and it won’t work in whatever genre it forces itself into.
~ ETERNAL
つづく