[インマR.]
There are many adults in this world who enjoy fiction aimed at children. That isn’t news to anyone, and it shouldn’t need justifying. Be it for the magic and excitement or the hotblooded black-and-white combat, stories that are primarily aimed at teens – or younger – are often enjoyed by many demographics.
Sometimes, though, I wonder what it is about these shows that makes them appealing. Is it simply because they’re different, or because they’re less challenging? The thing is, age can be a misleading factor when looking at target audience. Some stories appear to be aimed at a younger audience when they can really be enjoyed universally, and I’m not just talking about otaku-targeted mahou shoujo. Age does have an impact somewhere along the line, but now that I’ve had the pleasure of watching shows from Ghost in the Shell and Mushishi to Cardcaptor Sakura and Hayate no Gotoku, I’ve come to understand the simple pleasures that can be found in stories free of moral ambiguity and psychological intrigue.
I wrote about the topic of age and innocence a little while ago, although the point I was trying to make then is a bit different from what I’m talking about today. In a nutshell, watching CCS made me realize two things: one, that the age of the viewer impacts their perception of the characters, and two, that real innocence can be a huge draw in a story.
While innocence is and always will be a vague term, the realization of its power as an element has only sunk in further over the last few months. Innocence is a funny topic – and a bit awkward if you’re into the whole visual novel scene – but there’s no doubt in my mind that true innocence is felt before it’s seen. I suppose this could also apply to real life, but it definitely applies to fiction. Every viewer will have a different opinion of certain characters and events, but when Sakura Kinomoto skates to school with a smile on her face and Shaoran blushes as he begins to understand the feeling of love, there’s a definite form of innocence in the air. It’s something that the viewer picks up on without having to analyze the characters.
Similarly, that sort of innocence, or purity, works its way into a lot of shows, most notably the ones that are aimed at a younger audience. The younger you are, the more likely you are to enjoy stories with a clear line between good and evil, and characters that have overly idealistic beliefs are hardly ever disconcerting. It’s common in a lot of genres, though shounen is the first to come to mind. My memory of Naruto and the like is foggy, but I remember looking up to Sasuke as an anti-hero, and his careless actions based on his tragic past weren’t jarring in the least. It’s that same kind of self-righteous idealism that many JRPGs are rife with.
Getting back to the main point, the black-and-white nature of stories targeted at younger audiences have their own charm to them, and the flat, immature characters can be a blessing when looked at from the right perspective. This holds true when you leave the realm of shounen and, as the post title hints at, enter the realm of magical girl.
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This isn’t really a Kobato post, and it definitely isn’t an impressions post, but I’d be lying if I said that starry-eyed Kobato isn’t the character that inspired this. If you’ve seen any of the show, there’s one thing you’d know: it’s simple.
Although, simple might be putting it lightly. A girl from a mysterious world whose mission is to heal broken hearts in order to meet her parents? Sounds delusional to me. Looking at it objectively, it’s hard to imagine any adult enjoying the show for anything more than emotional therapy. Admittedly, it does do a good job of emotional therapy, but there’s no doubt in my mind that the appeal stretches beyond that.
I think this is where the genre boundaries become useless. From here, shows like Kobato stop being shoujo or magical girl and start being simply heart-warming tales about…stuff. That’s the key: it doesn’t really matter what they’re about. All of the enjoyment is in seeing how they approach the most mundane of tasks. In this sense, it’s just like the iyashikei subgenre: most Aria fans would agree that Akari’s mindset and lifestyle are what make the show what it is. Yes, it’s true that Kobato makes me feel all warm and fuzzy, and it’s a great stress reliever, but I wouldn’t dismiss it that easily. It’s not quite that simple, not as straightforward as jotting down a couple hundred words stating that simplicity in anime is fun and relaxing.
Because when it comes down to it, no one can define “fun” and “relaxing,” just as no one can define “innocence.” But regardless of what you want to call it, it’s a fact that these shows work. They’re about more than just helping you unwind after a hard day’s work, they’re more than just a tool to help you relive your childhood. Those factors are important, yes, but much like in the VN scene, all ahoge make not moé.
There’s more to an appealing moe character than a generic character design, and there’s much more to a successful iyashikei-esque feel-good slice-of-life than an optimistic heroine. The appeal reaches somewhere deeper than that, to something intangible, something universal. It touches the child within all of us, the basic instinct we have to be just like Kobato, to see beauty in the most ordinary things.
Magical girls can cast spells and summon familiars, but it takes real magic for a feeling like that to be brought from 2D to 3D.
~ ETERNAL
つづく
