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I liked your analysis of the theme of abuse in Erased, which is the most important one, in my opinion. During the episodes assigned, there as flashbacks to Akemi, Kayo's mother, being abused herself. This behavior is continued between her and her daughter, creating a vicious cycle of domestic abuse that practically requires outside intervention to fix, whether that's therapy and/or taking the child into custody. You also explained the other half of this theme really well; having a sense of empathy/being kind to others can be the highlight of people's days. Satoru's maturity/life experiences helped him understand the situation of Kayo, and was ultimately what led to her being saved from murder.

Erased

I��m always impressed by the depth of some anime. In my western mind, I think of anime often in the terms of the action and shōnen genres. Through all of the anime we have watched, I have grown to appreciate the medium much, much more. This is one of the series that impressed me the most.

This anime covered a lot of different themes. One of the initial ideas I noticed was the cycle of abuse. Kayo was abused by her mother, Akemi, who was abused by her boyfriend. We often see this cycle of hatred within anime themes. In Naruto, we saw that Pain was continuing the cycle of vengeance. Luckily, the protagonist always ends this cycle. However, it’s often hard to do this in the real world. Seeing signs of abuse is hard to do and doing something can be even harder. I appreciated that this anime commented on the issues with helping others. However, it showed that it is possible. Satori was able to help everyone through friendship. He was able to form relationships with those around him and stop the loneliness that these people experienced. While he did have to travel through time, the anime shows us that it is possible. Being open and loving to others can change other people’s lives. Simple tasks like complimenting a person or walking someone home to make sure they are safe can mean the world to people. Bullying others only led to more sadness. This is the cycle of emotions. If you are happy and loving, you will cause more people around you to feel happy. If you are filled with hatred, you will make others feel worse. This is especially important in the hate-filled, polarized world we live in. No matter what people think or say, spread the kindness that they need

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Erased

With a really unique art style and a more cinema-like aspect ratio, Erased is clearly meant to be treated as a carefully constructed piece of art. I found the premise of it to be rather interesting: an adult being a child once again and stopping a series of homicides from occurring. I think this single detail allows the anime to explore the themes of growing up and the perception of children by adult society.

Satoru Fujinuma, who is 29 years old, is sent back 18 years to save the lives of 3 children murdered on March 1st, with Kayo Hinazuki being the one most emphasized throughout the episodes. Being sent back to his tween/teen years as an adult led to relatively negative reactions due to his more mature personality. Most thought of Satoru's sophisticated approach to difficult problems as a threat to the authority of adults. I found this rather fascinating, as it shows the negligence that adults can have if they don't stay within their definition of a child. If a child acts like an adult, do they need to care about raising them any longer? This is a fundamental question Erased asks the viewer, in my opinion.

Satoru's simultaneous role as both an adult and child also highlights a theme of growing up. Being forced to conform to the rules of childhood while not even being a child highlights the fundamental act of growing up. The most apparent exemplification of this is Satoru being one of the few (if not the only) student to notice signs of child abuse in Kayo. All the other students in his class were completely clueless about this and even bullied Kayo for being shy/isolated from everyone else. Satoru being able to detect this is what saved Kayo from her death in the end, and this shows how growing up is about being more aware of your surroundings and the development of your sense of empathy.

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I didn't think of Faye's episode as a commentary on capitalism, but I definitely agree with you. The ridiculous cost of her preservation, plus the terrible interest rate is likely to bash the medical industry on its capitalization of human health, which has gotten even worse since the premiere of Cowboy Bebop. Another aspect that I think acts as a critique of capitalism is the destruction of Earth. The planet looks to be very flooded with meteors constantly destroying it, and this started due to human activity. I see this background information as a critique of capitalism in terms of its apathy towards climate change and pollution.

Cowboy Bebop

Cowboy Bebop is an anime I have been wanting to watch for a very long time, and I am glad to have gotten an introduction to it through these four episodes. I liked the way that the series tells the main characters’ backstories by dedicating one full episode to each of them. These in-depth episodes cover the great effects that one’s past can have on the trajectory of their life. The characters experience feelings of vengeance, grief, and loss, and are faced with decisions in order to move forward. All of the characters must face their past regrets in order to better themselves as current bounty hunters.

I found Faye’s episode to be the most interesting since she had lost her memories and therefore started out without a painful past. Even though she started off with a clean slate, she is still troubled by her life before waking up, as her life is dependent on the money she owes to pay off her medical bills. Her love interest, and her current lifestyle as a member of the bounty hunting squad are all a result of her debt. I feel like this episode could definitely be interpreted as a criticism of capitalistic societies. Faye’s situation is one that is similar to a lot of American’s as medical debt and student loans drive their every decisions. The doctors do not show any compassion towards Faye even though she is left without any memories, and even the Lawyer who she falls in love with is not able to help her pay for her medical procedures.

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Cowboy Bebop

Being noir-like, I knew I was going to like Cowboy Bebop, although it was quite different than what I was expecting. I was going in thinking it would be about each of the characters questioning their own morality due to being bounty hunters. However, Cowboy Bebop emphasizes relationships and past traumas much more than the morality of their careers.

Each of the selected episodes goes into the stories and the past of the four main characters: Spike, Jet, Faye, and Ed.

Episode 5 focuses on the past of Spike, who was once acquainted with someone named Vicious. However, times have changed, and they are now enemies. This set of scenes ends with Vicious and Spike attacking each other and Spike falling from the chapel. Here, Spike experiences many flashbacks that I don't exactly understand the context behind, but they are very likely from his past.

Episode 10 looks at Jet and his relationship with Alisa, who he was formerly with. She left him a long time ago due to unknown reasons, and when Jet finds her, he asks Alisa why he left him all that time ago. At the end of the scenes, though, Jet realized that his past did not matter anymore, and left her.

Episode 15 focuses on Faye, who I think has the most interesting past. She is actually from the past, being cryogenically frozen for 54 years, and recently taken out. It is revealed that she was frozen due to an accident and that all her past memories are gone. A person named Whitney promises to help her, but he ends up using her to transfer his debt. When Faye finds him a couple years later, she initially wants to same him, but then realizes that he's been telling her all lies, and turns him in.

Episode 24 looks at Faye's past again, as well as Ed's. On the planet Faye is from, she begins to regain some of her memories and goes to what's presumably her old home. However, it is entirely destroyed now. I find this scene to be a metaphor for an overarching message in Cowboy Bebop: the present always takes precedence over the past. Faye's old living space is now destroyed and now is with the Bebop crew; she must abandon her past and live in the present.

Ed's backstory in episode 24 is unresolved, but she goes to the planet her dad is on to find him and eventually does. However, the father immediately leaves her when another meteor drops, once again showing the unimportance of their past. After this, Ed leaves the crew with no reason given, though this is likely to find her father again. I suspect this effort to fail though, and she will return to her present.

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I am in the same boat where I liked the concept of Parasyte, but I was not remotely a fan of the art style. I think it does do a good job of emphasizing the theme, though. By making the opposing species in Parasyte incredibly ugly and full of gore-y details, we are appalled by them, and want to exterminate them. The anime highlights how humans act for their own survival, and it wants you to hate the aliens. Migi makes this more complex, though, by adding an alien that has a relationship with a human where they both need each other to survive.

Parasyte

Parasyte explores what it means to be human. Migi, obviously a parasitic creature, starts off with characteristics of his species. I know Migi is supposed to have no emotions, but I really think that he (I'm not really sure what Migi’s pronouns are I’m sorry) somehow starts to value certain people in a “human-like” way, or at least starts to gain a “human-like” characteristic integrated into his normal species’ way of thinking. 

I definitely was a little shook regarding the first couple episodes. They were a bit gory; but the concept behind everything was very interesting. I like how there was a concept that a different species’ survival was reliant on human consumption in a way similar to the fact how humans consume other organisms for survival. It really puts a spin on how I view the world. 

I think the show explores the themes of survival; there may not be an ethically or morally clear “good or bad”, but just the concept of surviving; this is demonstrated through the species. They are “evil” to humans because they are a threat to human survival; but really they’re just doing what humans do in a sort of way; consuming other living things for survival. 

I think what Migi was trying to say when he said humans are closest to demons in a sort of desensitized contradictory manner is that a lot (there are quite a lot of exceptions) of people have no problem eating what was once living that may have had some sort of consciousness level; but they have a problem with the emotional toll of them becoming the victim when they do the same thing. 

I don’t know how much of a fan I was of the art style; I don’t hate it, but it definitely freaked me out. I did love the concepts associated with the anime, and I definitely want to watch it fully when I have the time.

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Parasyte

Being someone who despises/is really sensitive to gore, I immediately wanted to stop watching this and lie down. However, the plot/themes of Parasyte are still rather interesting. This doesn't remove the fact that I could hardly watch some scenes, though.

Parasyte looks at the morals of humans in the scope of the entire world, rather than at the individual, which is contrary to a lot of debates on this topic. To us, slaughtering other species (with a couple of exceptions) evokes no reaction; we only care about our own survival. This applies to the alien species as well, since they consume other species to sustain themselves. To humanity, though, this is murder and needs to be stopped to save their own species.

This instinct is flipped on its head by the two main characters, though: Shinichi and Migi. Shinichi is a human who has his right hand taken over by one of the aliens, when its intention was to take over the brain (thus, the entire body). This failure by Migi forces the two to coexist against their own instincts, leading to some actions taken that contradict their species' survival. For example, Migi has to kill one of their own so that Shinichi is not killed, as that would kill them too.

This does not remove from the climax of Parasyte, though. During the last two episodes, Migi and Shinichi have opposing views on what should happen to Gotou, a super-powerful being taken over by one of the aliens. Of course, Migi wants them to survive, while Shinichi wants them dead so that they don't kill any more humans. When Shinichi kills Gotou, Migi does not oppose him, as they know that he is doing it out of his own instinct, as they would do if they were in control of the situation. This event solidifies Parasyte as an anime that stands against arguments that shame humans for their actions. Not quite sure if I fully agree with this, though.

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I also found this manga to be rather frustrating to read, especially with how easily they call testimony an illegitimate piece of evidence. As you stated, traumatic acts such as rape are seldom reported immediately due to how much emotional damage they cause. Bringing up past traumas in court or on the news can cause breakdowns, and this is part of the reason why they're seldom reported. Kobayashi assumes that no immediate reportings imply no crimes committed, which is absolutely incorrect. The last page solidifies his anti-testimony stance, with them saying "people who 'want to be good people' lack the courage to distance themselves from testimony." This statement is so bluntly ridiculous it's almost funny.

Sensoron - 4/11

Sensoron was an infuriating read to say the least. Even with being warned that it was a right-wing nationalist manga, I didn’t know what to expect. The manga opens up with a silly story of a man taking too long in the bathroom and his boss spraying bug spray to run him out, then fabricating a story to say that he deserved it. It seems like a harmless story at first, then it turns into full on war crime denial. 

Kobayashi then goes on to explain how almost every picture depicting Japanese war crimes were faked or attributed wrongly to the Nanking Massacre. One of the examples he brought up was of a baby in a bombed train station. Kobayashi states that the photo was manipulated to appeal to people’s emotions, as people get more emotional when it comes to things like babies. It is true that photos can be manipulated or even staged a certain way to get a message across, so that they don’t portray the objective truth. However, Kobayashi just focuses on the fact that the baby wasn’t the sole survivor and neglects to mention the fact that the train station was still, in fact, destroyed. He describes several instances of peace museums mislabeling pictures, and even claims that a picture of a Japanese soldier is actually of a Chinese nationalist dressed as a Japanese soldier, and uses this to come to the conclusion that there is no evidence of Japanese war crimes (and if there was, it has to be fabricated). He even brings up several pictures of Chinese civilians acting peacefully with Japanese soldiers, which, one could argue, could have also easily been miscaptioned. Kobayashi makes several hasty generalizations in order to defend his flawed argument. 

The part that angered me the most, however, was how Kobayashi flat out denied the abduction of comfort women despite there being many first-hand accounts. While it is important to view witness accounts critically, in the cases of crimes like rape, often times witness accounts are the only evidence. Kobayashi also states that there were no accounts of comfort women until after the war, and claims that this entirely disproves the existence of comfort women. Aside from the fact that this is a logical fallacy, women often don’t report rape immediately after it happens, and many don’t report it at all. To say that comfort women didn’t exist because their stories weren’t told until after the war is simply a leap in logic, and came across as victim blaming. Furthermore, Kobayashi claims that if there were comfort women, they were merely prostitutes who were forced into the profession because of the economic hardships in their country due to slow modernization, which sounded like Kobayashi was trying to justify Japanese occupation of China. 

The underlying message in Sensoron seems to be not to trust everything that you see, which seems like a pretty sound message until you realize that Kobayashi was just blaming everything on American brainwashing. It was easier for nationalists like Kobayashi to believe that the war crimes Japan committed during the war were actually just fabricated by world governments to justify the United States dropping atomic bombs on them than to overcome their nationalistic pride and admit that Japan had, in fact, committed those crimes. Sensoron also represents how easy it is for people to fall for propaganda. If someone who had no prior knowledge of World War II read Sensoron, they could easily be swayed to believe Kobayashi’s revisionist version of events rather than the truth. 

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Sensōron & Gellner's "Short History of Mankind"

Kobayashi's Sensōron was a rather interesting read due to how different it was compared to the mainstream manga you see here, such as Attack on Titan. Instead of being fictional and for entertainment purposes, Sensōron is an informational (and propagandic) manga that is based on real-life history. The introduction of this reading confused me for around the first five pages, but the mention of the Tokyo War Crimes Trial made me realize this manga is about using elements of historical revisionism to support historical negationism, a tactic seen in the denial of the Holocaust as well.

For clarification, the definitions I am using are as follows:

Historical Revisionism: Using more present-day evidence to re-evaluate historical events.

Historical Negationism: Falsifying or denying historical events.

Without reading between the lines of Sensōron, their arguments can be rather convincing, but I think they become utterly ridiculous when you look at how little regard the author has for human life/human rights. This becomes especially obvious when he makes an argument about "Photo 3-1," which shows a picture of a baby covered in something soot-like next to a pile of rubble. The author states this is photo cropped out the adult in the photo to create anti-Japanese sentiment as if the cropping would even make a difference. The baby is still covered and next to rubble; adding a parent to the photo doesn't remove any emotional impact, at least in my eyes. This argument the author made makes me think that they lack a significant amount of empathy and can't relate to the struggles experienced in the past, thus denying/ridiculing them.

Another section of Sensōron argues that the Japanese people have lost their sense of homogeneity (nationalism) and instead embrace individualism. I found this argument to align itself on the complete opposite end compared to otaku culture, and this also connects to Gellner's "Short History of Mankind." In the article, they argue that a part of nationalism came from the connection to high culture, something not seen in previous agrarian societies. Kobayashi emphasizes this when they state that Japanese citizens no longer vote and participate in civic duties. Instead, they participate in a more individualistic culture that emphasizes mainstream culture. This change described by Kobayashi is post-modernism itself, and they clearly want to revert back to modernism and restore the grand narrative. The author most certainly despises otaku culture for being the antithesis of nationalism; they follow the lifestyle of the endless everyday, and they do not care about the nation as a whole.

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I didn't really put any thought into the romance of Your Name in my analysis, but now that I think about it, the romance is really interesting and odd because it's practically impossible in our reality. For Taki and Mitsuha, their relationship was built purely on empathy rather than direct conversation. While empathy is clearly a part of our own relationships, it never makes up one hundred percent of it. This gives a unique perspective on romance that I haven't really seen in any other piece of media. Romance typically isn't my type of thing in films, but I found the romance in Your Name to be more than bearable.

Your Name

This movie made me cry profusely, but I was so happy with the ending! I was literally screaming at my screen when they met again. It was the perfect balance of audience suspense (in the way that we don’t know if they will meet again and/or even remember each other). I really thought they were never going to meet again.

The movie definitely incorporates a lot of themes into the storyline; we see elements of tradition, love, yearning, and more. What I thought was really profound about the movie is the concept of love being perspective-focused. The two characters, Mitsuha & Taki, have never actually met each other but still fell in love. It was not physical appearance or talking to each other that made this happen, but rather the sharing of hardships and being put directly into the other person’s shoes.

Focault’s writings regarding “The History of Sexuality '' were quite interesting to read; and in regards to its relationship with the movie - I think it mainly has to do with the concept that power is everywhere and multifarious. In the movie itself, we see the God of time as this sort of power that entwines the fates of Mitsuha & Taki; (1) in order to save the people (2) for the interesting romantic development of these characters. This God is pretty “overpowered” in the sense that they can control time and unite these character from different timelines which somehow still find themselves together.

Another theme I found in the movie was the importance of tradition. Without the traditions, Mitsuha and her town may have very well been dead forever; in a way, it was the family tradition that saved them all from the comet.

The art style was beautiful; and overall, the movie was deep, but also adorable in a sense.

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Your Name and Foucault's "History of Sexuality"

I remember everyone talking about this film when I was in 8th grade and freshman year of high school, but I never decided to watch it. I'm somewhat glad I didn't though, since I think I wouldn't have enjoyed Your Name as much back then. The twist came completely out of left field for me, and had me really interested in the story, albeit it got rather confusing towards the end with multiple timelines.

Your Name is a film with themes in many areas, such as tradition, time/fate, gender norms/sexuality, et cetera. The female lead character, Mitsuha, lives in a small, traditionalist town called Itomori, where her family was broken from her father no longer practicing the town's traditions and becoming a (corrupt) mayor. This sequence of events clearly situates Your Name as a film that upholds rural, familial, and ancestral traditions rather than urban cosmopolitanism. Within these emphasized traditions, there is the use of the string, which represents fate, along with the passage of time. When Taki and Mitsuha swap bodies, Taki is given her string, which connects the two between timelines, and also by fate. An additional detail that I may be misremembering due to how small it is, but I think Taki also forgets Mitsuha's name when he isn't wearing the string she put on him, further supporting how important tradition and fate is in this film.

Another theme that isn't front-and-center but is worth detailing is how the film depicts gender norms. When Taki and Mitsuha switch bodies, they are generally appreciated more due to them defying the traditional gender norms. Taki is able to go on a date with his crush with the help of Mitsuha's femininity, but the relationship falls apart when he goes back to his more masculine self. The same goes for Mitshua in Itomori, when she is more appreciated when Taki's masculinity makes her more athletic and assertive. Your Name depicts defying gender norms as something positive and appreciated in society.

Foucault's "Method" chapter in their "History of Sexuality" was rather confusing, but they discuss how power doesn't come from the top but from everywhere; each and every person contributes to power in society; it's not strictly negative. I see this the most in the town of Itomori, where everyone contributes to the local culture and rituals. In the end, Mitsuha was able to save the entire town by evacuating them, which is usually only possible if done by someone considered powerful.

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I was also reminded of Polandball/Countryballs (the title of the flag ball memes) by Hetalia: Axis Powers, how similar countries are characterized between them, and also the controversies they generated. They both have a country they poke fun of (Italy and Poland), they both essentialize countries to one or few characteristics (Polandball has very dangerous stereotypes, though, while Hetalia's are offensive at worst), and they both discuss wars in a satirical manner. Both of these series (and especially Polandball) display the issues desensitizing war/history can have and can be applied to the Russo-Ukrainian War today, as you stated. I can imagine a Hetalia-like series being made in the future (or just Polandball right now, probably), sugarcoating the Russo-Ukrainian War happening right now, and how much backlash it would receive.

Hetalia Axis Powers

I have no idea how to feel about this show. Like, the personification of powers into actual people? I’ve seen a similar thing in like memes. They have like little balls that are colored the same way as the flags of different nation and they interact with one another. To see the concept made into a show is interesting. And actually watching it, maybe a good idea.

This definitely reminds me of the orientalist view on culture. That there are certain axioms when it comes to characterizing them and that everything that a culture does and evolves into must fit within those boundaries. These charactures of these different powers does a similar thing. It break down different countries into its popular aspects and just puts them all together to form a single unit. Its like people trying to create the most United State-ian man: 2.3 kids, picket fence, house, and a car. Or in this case, burgers (funny scene lol).

This show made me think about what it means to break down wars and battles into fights and arguments. It could definitely work as a way to teach history to a younger audience while keeping it interesting. However, doing so also removes the intensity of what those words mean and can cause people to become desensitized to it. In comparison, reading these things in textbooks and having a serious lecture to it is able to give it the respect it deserves. In light of the war in Ukraine, theres been a world wide disapproval because people understand how bad war is. If there was a desensitivity, would the same reaction have been illicited?

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Hetalia: Axis Powers and Annett's "World Conflict"

Knowing the premise of Hetalia: Axis Powers, I was fully expecting there to be really potent essentialization and stereotypes, but this far exceeded my expectations in that regard, and not in a good way. I found pretty much all of the characters annoying, especially Italy, and found the sugarcoating of World War I and World War II incredibly problematic. I am clearly not the intended audience of this anime, though, and Annett's "World Access Powers" gave a really intuitive rundown of the appeal Hetalia: Axis Powers has to fujoshi (rotten girls) and some of the backlash it received in its first years.

Annett's "World Conflict" connects to Azuma's " Japan's Database Animals" that we previously read and states how Hetalia: Axis Powers was made just for database consumption, leaning very heavily into moé elements, most notably Italy's antenna hair. These elements create character-images (kyara), and through the use of yaoi elements, they appeal to a college-age female audience known as fujoshi. Unlike otakus, they are not antagonized within mainstream society and function through "counterpublic" communities, which according to Annett, are aware that their interests are not seen in a positive light and often keep their interests to themselves. This has kept the fujoshi community away from any sort of criticism, but Hetalia: Axis Power's explosion in popularity, combined with its problematic stereotyping, put the fujoshi community in a bind when it was heavily criticized by those in South Korea. I liked Annet's analysis of this crisis, highlighting how getting rid of Hetalia: Axis Powers isn't the solution. They argue that this criticism is an opportunity for the typically unseen fujoshi community to monitor their peers (and themselves) for promoting stereotypes or hate speech, such as the Anime Boston Nazi incident. By doing this, they can improve the community together to prevent repeats of these events. There are also adaptions that have made the series more inclusive. These recognize the differences between parts of countries, and they include some left-out parts of the world, such as Latin America. This doujinshi is another method of community improvement that directly connects to how otaku (and fujoshi) culture functions: they claim the series and/or characters as their own, and they adapt them to their own liking.

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I did not even notice a relationship between the final scenes of Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind initially, but your analysis makes a lot of sense. Both Nausicaä and Pneuma/Pyra sacrificed their lives to save humanity, showing how humanity needs to make sacrifices to save nature/the planet itself. In Xenoblade Chronicles 2, this is a little more direct, as a new piece of land is made by the Titans at the end of the game due to Pneuma's sacrifice. The successes of these sacrifices show how we must change as a society to save and support the environment, even if that means a loss in productivity.

Xenoblade Chronicles

This was my first time watching video game cut scenes. I was surprised by how much storyline and plot was present. I will not lie though,I had a hard time understanding the storyline but I think I was able to pick up on a few themes.

The ending where Pyra sacrifices herself so that Rex and the rest of his crew could board the escape shuttles and fly away safely reminded me a lot of Nausicaa. Pyra is like Nausicaa who sacrifices herself trying to get a baby back to its mother to save her village. These parallels introduce the idea that in order to save the world, sacrifices must be made. Environmentally speaking, if we are to resolve are conflicts with nature and maintain a balance, it would require some sort of sacrifice on our part. Cobb discusses a similar idea. Currently, we follow “heroic science” which is just using technology to solve problems that our previous technology created. This, like Cobb states, is an “illusion”. Rather, to think that our problems with our environment could be resolved without sacrifice is not plausible and offers a false sense of security. Both Nausicaa and the Xenoblade Chronicles reiterate this fact with the life sacrifices made at the end.

Furthermore, the world of the Xenoblade chronicles reflects what our world could turn into if we continue our unsustainable ways. We see Elysium in Pyra’s memories as a beautiful meadow with endless green grass and bright blue skies. However, when they finally do reach it in the real world, it is desolated and barren. This is due to the mistakes of the creator. This artistic choice demonstrates an idea of what our world could come to if humans do not change their ways. Ultimately both Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind and the Xenoblade Chronicles call for humans to be more environmentally aware and take action before it is too late to save our home.

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Xenoblade Chronicles 2 & Cobb's "Drama of the Anthropocene"

I thought these 3 hours of cutscenes would have been incredibly boring and confusing due to how much was cut out, but this was actually interesting and quite related to environmental issues in humanity today.

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 takes place in a universe created by a human from the previous dimension, who sought to continue life in humanity's final seconds. Klaus created this universe where Titans grew and gave birth to new Titans, which then eventually evolved to become humans. There are also the Blades, who accompany adept humans but have their memories wiped upon death, constantly being set back by the new humanity. Since humans evolved from the Titans, they are also going extinct, with them almost extinct during the timeframe of the game.

Humanity is a detriment to both the Titans and Blades, but the Blades are the most analyzable example since Titans are the victim of biological evolution, rather than action. Blades, on the other hand, were created by Klaus (a human), and do not progress whatsoever due to their memory loss. Blades can be seen as an object for humanity's benefit. The only way for the Blades to prosper and progress is by killing humanity, the source of their exploitation. This is rather similar to one of the fundamental issues Cobb describes in "Drama of the Anthropocene:" humanity uses nature as an instrument, leading to greater human productivity, at the cost of nature itself. This instrumentalism is seen between the humans and Blades in Xenoblade Chronicles 2, and the game emphasizes the Romanticism solution, in my opinion. When Rex is dead, he is in the old Elysium, where the landscape is lush. Rex's "dream" of his ideal afterlife is a beautiful, temperate plain where everything is perfectly green. This relates to Romanticism, where they had a reverence for nature, and thus did not want to use it as an instrument like we do today.

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Swampcon

This was the first convention I've ever been to, and the experience was very interesting, being a combination of many popular subcultures that can usually be quite disconnected from each other.

I volunteered and worked registration for the first 3 hours of the convention (Saturday 9 AM- 12 PM) and was astonished by how many people were in cosplay. Of all the people I registered, probably half of them were in cosplay, which I wasn't expecting at all. This made me feel out of place in the convention, especially on the third floor, where the artists and vendors were located; practically everyone there was in cosplay, which intimidated me. I was almost too intimidated to even enter the areas, but I got over it eventually. Going into those rooms made me feel even more out of place due to how little of the fanart/doujinshi I recognized. However, all the art was very visually impressive, and I was tempted to buy some random art/merch. However, to my surprise, there was one artist who was selling a print of something that I'm actually a fan of: Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem, the only "anime" (if you can call it that) I watched prior to taking this course. It's essentially an hour-long music video of Daft Punk's album Discovery, similar to how singles get music videos. Seeing Interstella meshed in with traditional fandom material was rather odd since that film has a following close to 0, while everything around it has millions of fans (Sailor Moon, Demon Slayer, Naruto, et cetera). Nevertheless, I did buy the print, as I will take any art I see of something that seldom receives fanart/doujinshi that's within my interests.

There was also the vendor area, where more physical objects were being sold (plushies, clothing, pride flags, et cetera). Nothing really caught my eye here, but it was still cool to look at what all the local businesses/artists were selling.

I also went to two panels, one that had absolutely nothing to do with fandom culture and one that had an incredibly strong connection to fandom culture.

The former was a panel done by an author titled "Nuts and Bolts of the Writing Process." They gave an hour-long speech on their experiences with writing, their successes, their mistakes, and how to begin making a book/novel. Although I would never in a million years make a book, listening to them was really interesting and puts you into the shoes of a creator.

The latter panel was "How to be a [BIG SHOT] with SPAMTON G SPAMTON." Despite never playing Undertale, Deltarune Chapter 1, nor Deltrarune Chapter 2, the title of this panel was too hilarious to not go. The panel ended up being a giant fever dream full of enunciative productivity that I didn't understand. From random lore references to fan-speak I couldn't decipher, this panel gave me a bit of a headache, but the host put on a good and funny show.

This panel (and many others), plus the artist and vendor halls give a good insight into the inner workings of fandom culture, which were explored in animes we watched such as Genshiken. Everything seen in this convention is shadow cultural capital, and inherently has difficulty translating into official cultural capital; knowing the full lore of Spamton will not get you into a university. However, conventions are a small exception to this; artists and vendors gathered here to sell their fanart/doujinshi, which makes them official economic capital, although not as much as a paying job for nearly everyone. The extreme amount of cosplay at the convention shows how people in fandom culture adapt characters to call them their own, and also to "be" the character. Cosplay has connections to semiotic production, as the cosplays need to interpret the characters to become them. There can also be enunciative productivity where the cosplayer speaks and acts like the character, which can attract people who are also fans of the anime to interact. There is also textual productivity, which isn't really seen in cosplayers but is definitely seen in the OC (original content) artists sold.

Overall, this wasn't exactly my cup of tea, but I'm glad I went to it. The staff also did a really good job of making the convention a safe space for people typically shunned by the public such as the LGBTQ+ community. There was even a vendor selling pride flags which were really nice to see.

[aw-cream-soda]

Your in-depth analysis comparing Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind to the Cold War is very informative. Similar to the actual Cold War, this film has two major powers and one powerless society, where Nausicaä resides. As you mentioned, Pejite and Tolmekia both want a weapon of mass destruction to eliminate the Sea of Decay. This manifestation of this WMD ends up putting all 3 of the human societies in danger, though, showing how WMDs benefit absolutely no one. To get out of this situation, Nausicaä's had to use her ideals of coexistence and kindness to save the baby Ohm and calm the army of Ohms, who in return healed her of her wounds. This climactic scene promotes the idea of pacifism and coexistence between different societies, no matter how different they are.

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind: War and Environmentalism

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind is a film I have seen before, but like Spirited Away, I had not analyzed it effectively until now. The story follows a princess named Nausicaä, who acts as a peacemaker between two warring countries and between humanity and nature in a post-apocalyptic world. Using two conflicts, one between countries and the other between species, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind provides its audience with two messages.

Nausicaä was made during the Cold War, so it may be more than a coincidence that the story resembles this event. The film presents a conflict between two kingdoms, Pejite and Tolmekia, who both have very powerful militaries and seek an ultimate weapon of mass destruction: the ancient God Warrior. This has obvious parallels to the dynamic between the United States and the Soviet Union, who were both armed with nuclear weapons during the Cold War. Nausicaä uses this conflict to promote an anti-war message by showing how devastating war can be to both humans and the environment.

Before the Tolmekia invade the valley, there is an obvious conflict between the insects/environment and the humans. A global war, the Seven Days of Fire, destroyed the environment. Now, humans must wear masks, because toxins in the soil have made all the plants poisonous to humans. The insects, as we learn later in the film, have become the earth’s only guardians, which is why they are defensive against the destructive humans. Due to these circumstances, I also believe Nausicaä has an environmentalist message.

Nausicaä also promotes the idea that the environment is much more powerful than any war. In the film, the Sea of Decay is depicted as the earth’s greatest power. It threatens the entire human species, while cleansing the earth simultaneously. This shows that the earth does not rely on humanity in any way, but all ecosystems must rely on it. Additionally, the toxins produced by the earth kill the God Warrior in seconds, proving how much stronger it is than even humanity’s greatest weapons. Showing how massive the power of the earth is while the countries battle demonstrates how insignificant human conflicts are in comparison to the greatness of the earth.

Serving as the mediator between each of these conflicts is Nausicaä, who acts as a messiah-like divine deliverer for humanity. There is an obvious religious essence to Nausicaä, because she fulfills the prophecy that a savior will deliver humanity from destruction. Although humans believed their prophetic savior would deliver them from the Sea of Decay, Nausicaä actually ends up delivering them from themselves. Therefore, she can be viewed as a Christ-like figure in many ways, especially since she often sacrifices herself for her people in pursuit of their salvation and she is often told she is the only one who can save them. In fact, she even takes bullets as she poses like a crucifix on her glider.

Giving Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind a second watch has certainly been eye-opening for me. When I first watched this film, I was incredibly confused, but now I feel like I have some sort of understanding of its themes. Although the animation isn’t of the same caliber as its proceeding Miyazaki films, Nausicaä is definitely an underrated film that deserves more attention.

[aw-cream-soda]

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind is a film with a slightly different perspective and context compared to the previous anti-war films we have watched in this class (Barefoot Gen and Grave of the Fireflies). While Barefoot Gen and Grave of the Fireflies are based on the tragedies of World War II, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind lacks a central human context, although you could argue there are some parallels to the Cold War. However, this film is still based on fiction rather than nonfiction.

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind shows the conflicts between humans and the Sea of Decay, a toxic forest full of insects that threatens humanity and has almost brought it to extinction in multiple instances. From this description, you'd believe that the forest and insects represent the evil of this world. However, the reverse is actually true; the Sea of Decay is the Earth's protector from human destruction. Most of humanity has responded to this with violence, but the Sea of Decay responds back with even more force, wiping out entire races. Only one character realizes that the solution that guarantees their survival is coexistence is Nausicaä, the princess of the Valley of the Wind, who acts passively towards the insects that guard the Sea of Decay. While the rest of humanity thinks that her so-called recklessness will lead to her death, Nausicaä knows that the insects are considerate when unprovoked. Her knowledge of this is what saves humanity from extinction during the climax and also fulfills the legend Obaba discussed earlier in the film.

Miyazaki is promoting a slightly different perspective on the anti-war theme compared to Grave of the Fireflies. While Grave of the Fireflies highlighted the tragedies of militarism, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind used a pro-environment narrative to promote pacifism through the actions of Nausicaä. This pro-environment stance came at a time when global warming was being discussed more and more as a dire issue, and Miyazaki clearly acknowledges it in this film, making the setting a post-apocalyptic wasteland caused by prior human pollution. What I found most interesting about the Sea of Decay was how it purified water, which was discovered by Nausicaä. The very thing that has almost ended humanity is erasing human pollution, showing how the Sea of Decay is actually the force of good in the film. Overall, I found this film to be significantly more engaging compared to the other anti-war films we've watched, but at the cost of a more ambiguous theme that might demote it from being considered an anti-war classic like Grave of the Fireflies.