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[linaasca]

What a good ending to a series! I didn't watch the whole series so I was curious on if the class was able to assassinate Koro as well as grow up and be successful. I also agree with you that the school gave Class E the almost impossible job to kill Koro to further their degrading. However I voted to watch this because I was intrigued by the plot, I had no clue that it's banned in Florida schools, and I can kind of see why.

Assassination Classroom (s1 ep 1,5,16 and s2 ep 11)

I had to rewatch Assassination Classroom because it has been a while. However, this time I actually paid attention to the social issue in this anime. Before, I start ranting on about this anime. Can we agree that most of us voted on Assassination Classroom because we figure out it was banned in Florida schools? 

This anime shows the separation of the “lost cause community”, aka class E. The school moved Class E into an off-site campus building in the mountains because to them Class E is a lost cause and not worth the resources. Even Karasuma-sensei and bitch-sensei realize how can Class- E is able to work in a classroom without proper air-conditioning and when Karasuma tried to request air-conditioning it was denied to “lack of funds”. The principal and teachers on the main campus use and encourages the degrading of Class E to influence the students to work hard to prevent going to Class E. They typically use the school assembly to make this point. Even the government had similar attitudes towards Class E, they choose Class E to learn assassination techniques and pressure to kill Koro-sensei. I think Ryoma had told Nagisa that both the school and government had labeled them a lost cause with the potential to commit murder. Hence, why they were chosen to kill Koro-sensei.

It was kinda nice that Koro-sensei, Karasuma-sensei, and bitch-sensei were the only ones to see the potential of Class E. They put all of their efforts to get Class- E to beat the top students in the main class. It was sad that they had to kill Koro-sensei, the main person that help them realize their true potential, for the greater good. 

The last episode had show Class- E as Adults was a nice message that a lost cause will always have the potential to grow. Most of Class E has grown to have a successful life. Nagisa had chosen to become a teacher to a class of misfits, taking a page from Koro-sensei’s book. He wants to be that person that shows the “lost cause” students that they have the potential and do not let others put a label on them.

[linaasca]

When I heard the synopsis of what this show was about in class, I was intrigued, hence why I voted to watch it. The episodes that were assigned were also an interesting cluster, and made me want to watch the rest of the show JUST to see if the students are able to kill their teacher. There is a lot of irony right from the start of this show. The teacher seems to be such a nice guy, who genuinely cares for his students, and wants to see them succeed. But he's actually the target for his entire class of assassins to kill by the end of the year. Teachers are supposed to be a guiding adult figure in which one can trust and look up to. And this teacher, despite seeming un-killable, puts thought towards teaching his students the learning curriculum they are tested on at the end of each term. Koro also teaches his students that it's okay to fail, as long as you don't give up. By instilling this lesson into his students, they are more encouraged to keep trying to kill him in new creative ways. This promoted a lot of creativity among the students as well as forcing them to work together and communicate to come up with new strategies. We also see in the last episode assigned that Koro's students actually do benefit from his teaching, which strengthens the irony of this show. One of his students was getting bullied, and instead of stopping it, Koro waited to see if his student would do what he taught him to do, which is to hold your ground. The student then made a snide remark to the bullies, who got scared and ran away, proving that even though Koro is to be killed at the end of the year, his lessons are still valuable to his students when he's alive.

[linaasca]

This is a great analysis of this show! I also agree that Cyberpunk Edgerunners has a very interesting art style that draws the viewers attention towards the screen. Additionally, I agree that one of the themes in this series is classism. We see several examples of this: David's moms working status, David's school status, and your example of the nurse refusing to help him.

Cyberpunk Edgerunners: EP 1, 2, 6, & 10

What an interesting series. And I mean that in a good way, I suppose, because I liked watching the show. The art style was different, and the story line was unique. The characters were also unique and different. I kind of wish I had more time to watch all of Cyberpunk to better understand who Maine, Kiwi, Falco, and Rebecca were though. Something that I noticed immediately was the classism that has clearly infiltrated this cyber- advanced society. We see that the main character, David, lives with his single mother and they live paycheck to paycheck. However, David has the opportunity to go to this prestigious academy, but students at this academy constantly bully by saying he doesn’t belong there and constantly bad mouthing his mother. David’s mom was a hard worker who committed many hours to her job to keep a roof over their heads and ensure her son would continue to have an education. But David has delinquency tendencies which gave everybody else chances to further diminish his worth and used it as an excuse to treat him like scum. The classism theme can also be reflected in the real-world because many people live in a society where they are seen as lesser than when they don’t fit the status quo. Such as a student being let into a prestigious academy or college on a scholarship vs having rich parents, no one’s worth should be diminished just because they come from a different background. Additionally, this society portrays money as being a huge factor into how much you can contribute or be useful to someone. As if money defines worth, so it’s an almost dog-eat dog kind of world. We see this especially when David passes out in front of Lucy and he’s being nursed by this medic who eventually turns on them once she found out that David was connected to systems (or metals) that would fetch a very high price to buyers. Cyberpunk is also a series where vigilantes, delinquents, and “mafia bosses” thrive in this high stakes society because everyone is always wanting to advance themselves and their livelihoods, which can also be relatable towards the modern world.

[linaasca]

To start off on a good note, I love how unique the art style of this anime was. It was nothing like we've seen in class before but I think it kind of resembles Devilman Crybaby in a small way, with the characters seeming flat with not a lot of shadows to tell what is foreground and background. In this show, we see common themes that we've been introduced to earlier this semester, such as the rise of technology. This futuristic world is run by technology and resembles Psychopass in that way. We find out that the main character David ends up in a cyberpyschosis and loses some sense of self. This is strikingly similar to Sword Art Online where the characters lose touch with their true selves while playing as a persona in the NerveGear. Cyberpunk Edgerunner theme of technology warns us of bad possibilities if we further advance AI and trust technology, which furthers classism, another theme in this series. Right from the beginning we can see that David and his mother live in poorer circumstances than the rest of the community, as his mother works overtime and the two live off of her paycheck. What's interesting is that David got to experience a high class school for a kid of his background. There are consequences to this though, as we see that he is constantly bullied and demeaned by the kids that come from high class, rich families. The last and most obvious theme that this show has is capitalism, as seen by David's mother working to make ends meet and everyone is greedy in an attempt to push themselves up the social and success ladder. This type of society allows for criminals to gang up with one another and take chances in order to beat the system and rise above capitalism.

[linaasca]

Your idea of one's career affecting one's identity is such a true concept. I didn't even think of that but relating it back to this film, we can clearly see how a career change can have negative side effects on one's mental health. Even if they believed it was the right choice in the beginning, the change could lead to other jobs such as taking and selling nude photos, which can have a damaging effect on one's identity.

Perfect Blue

Ok, so, huh? What? “Is it real?” Good question because I don't know anymore. The show follows a line in which I am unsure of what is actually happening. Dream? Reality? The show explicitly questions its own passing of time when Mima Kirigoe tells Rumi that its been a while when its only been a day. Also, the portrayal of time overall makes the viewer's perception of time distorted to the point that, personally, made the show is quite incomprehensible. I had no way of telling what was actually happening or not. No doubt that was part of the intent of the show design as can be observed through the constant use of perceived “rollbacks” (or real I am not even sure) that makes the reader question what on the show is “real” for Mima Kirigoe.

The shows focus on identity. There is an interesting conflict between who she “is” versus what she considers herself or chooses to be. Although with all honesty I don't understand how this conflict relates to the mirages of her evil J-pop idol persona (aka Rumi maybe?), it does illustrate this perception of identity in ways that I found particularly interesting. For example, the a great emphasis on career as the definition of one's identity. In Perfect Blue, the clash of identity is presented by changes in occupation. We have seen clashes between individual identities in this course, like Wolf Children, where their wolf and human identities clash. However, in the case of Wolf Children, the conflict of identity stemmed from an inherent and unchangeable characteristic of the characters. However, in Perfect Blue, the conflict is between a more fluid characteristic which is one’s career. I find it interesting that the clash between these changeable aspects of Mima Kirigoe led her to a much greater conflict than the inner conflict of the Wolf Children. Perhaps the show attempts to illustrate the importance of one’s career in one’s identity.

[linaasca]

Even though it was a class choice, this movie is by far my favorite we've seen so far! I LOVE LOVE LOVE thrillers and this was just the cherry on top. Perfect Blue seems like an interesting title to give to this movie and I found later that it could mean either metamorphosis or total pervert. Both of which are extremely prevalent in this film. I could not keep my eyes off Me-Mania, even though he was absolutely foul looking. I got goosebumps every time his presence was on screen and felt so bad that Mima had to deal with this stalker by herself. What I also found intriguing about this movie is the last 20 minutes where I could not tell whether Mina was in a dream or awake. And when she was awake, I couldn't tell if it was a scene being shot for the tv show or if it was truly reality. Then there is foreshadowing during the scene being filmed where Mima is diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder. The theme of identity comes into play here as Mima is constantly bullied by Idol Mima who is constantly dressed up as a pop idol and taunts her. Mima fights her own self as she wants Idol Mima to disappear so she can go back to being herself. At the end of the movie we find out that Rumi is the one who has D.I.D. and was responsible for the murders, the website, and communicating with Me-Mania. Rumi's split personality was Idol Mima who believed she was a pop idol, and the other personality of Rumi was Mima's friend and manager. We see how this struggle with self and identity proved to be harmful to not only herself but to others. When taking a closer look at the details of this movie, we see all along how it could have been Rumi. After the murder of the photographer, Rumi placed the bloody clothes in Mima's closet as well as stealing her Cham poster and fish. All of these tiny details are so important in piecing this epic plot together. Overall 10/10!

[linaasca]

I was also surprised by this manga as it was also one of the first ones I've ever read. And I did also notice how text heavy it was, which is not like the normal manga we see. I do like how the actual plot of this manga is very reflective of what was going on in the real world during the war. I think it helps readers better understand how deception was done and just how effective it could be.

Sensōron

So this was quite an interesting introduction to manga. I surprisingly have never read manga before, instead primarily consuming anime even though there are many anime that I want to read the manga for (because I am impatient). I do know that this probably wasn't too similar to most other mangas since it was quite dense and most manga that I have seen didn't seem to be quite as wordy.

The main point of this manga seems to be the topic of nationalism. Taken from a far right point of view the author argues that misinformation is often used to further nationalism. The manga starts off in an office which is used as a segway into the talk about Japan's history in WWII. The boss fabricates white lies in order to justify his actions and paint his employee, Poka-Q, in a worse light than himself. The rest of the employees believe him and this brainwashing is similar to that done to the youth in Japan. They were convinced that Japan was indeed in the wrong and deserved to be treated poorly. This problem of fabricating evidence to justify actions is highly criticized by the author and in this day and age is facing even more scrutiny. Evidence is necessary when trying to form just decisions but when this evidence could consist of testimonies or accusations that could easily be altered to better suit one side or the other is it even worth considering. And now with technology that allows voices and almost entire videos to be emulated and faked can these forms of evidence even be trusted?

[linaasca]

This was the second manga I have ever read and it was definitely a trip for me. The gore was not the problem as the first manga I read was Berserk, but the reality behind this one did not compare. Sensoron was not the typical manga that I picture when I think of one, but I did enjoy reading about it. I think the "plot" was very interesting as it was technically set in one room with a small group of characters trying to write their own manga. As the reader, we follow their thoughts on what they're going to write, including historical events that actually happened versus what other countries believed happened. The manga follows several invasions and bombings that other countries such as China and United States paint Japan to be the bad guy. They used either fake, set up photographs, or misleading captions under them to set Japan up like it was their fault. The writing crew then explain that these false news stories were shown all around the world, giving Japan a bad reputation, and even causing Japan's citizens to be ashamed of their past. The common themes and ideas I picked out from this manga is obviously guilt and deception. There are several manga strips where these horrific pictures are shown to children of all ages and their opinion of Japan changes from being to victim country to self-hating their identity and culture. The other countries got what they wanted by twisting these pictures to make them as the victims. But my question is, is there bias in this manga that is deceiving us from believing Japan did NOTHING wrong? Because that's what it's looking like to me. The characters even have their own brawl at the end that is reflective of Japan versus other countries. The character that is representative of Japan tries defending themselves and making themself look like the victim, causing the other characters to feel sorry for them.

[linaasca]

I also highly enjoyed watching this film purely based off the scenic views and the art style it had. The two contrasting ideas of traditionalism and modernity are huge! And I didn't even think to write about it in my own post, so GOOD ON YOU. But yes, I clearly agree that the star crossed lover trope is so traditional but the modern city life added some spice to this movie.

Your Name

Wow… I love this movie. Your Name has been on my watch list for a while and I’ve heard a lot about it, and I can see why people admire it so much. It tells a beautiful story of a boy and a girl living separate lives and timelines, yet they still remain bound and connected to one another. Not to mention that the movie is a visual work of art that enhances the progression of the plot. My favorite part, visually speaking, is when Taki went to the mountain shrine and envisioned the memories of Mitsuha. This movie definitely took me on an emotional roller coaster because at first, I thought they were two people living in the same time period, but they lived different lives in the city and in the rural environment. Then, I’m confused and shocked when it seems as though Mitsuha died 3 years ago, yet Taki is still alive in the present. There was just a lot of back and forth and intertwining of lives that both confused and intrigued me. Overall, this movie definitely compares and contrasts traditionalism and modernity. 

Traditionalism is definitely something that I noticed in the movie when we look back at the life of Mitsuha. Mitsuha lives in a small and intimate community where they lack a lot that is typically present in a more modern city. We hear Mitsuha and her friend, Sayaka, complain about there being no bookstores, no jobs, no cafe, and no one dateable. Although these are the gripes of teenage girls living in a rural community, it still shows how different their lives are. Moreover, we see with Mitsuha and her family that family hierarchy and spiritual identity are very important to them, at least to her Grandma. Mitusha’s grandma represents traditionalism because a strong family structure and continuation of traditions are important to her, especially when taking care of the shrine. This traditionalism is further seen in the representation of the red ribbon when Mitsuha and Taki first met, and in the ritual, Mitusha performed with her sister. But, this traditional way of life was not something Mitsuha’s father partook in. We even see Mitsuha’s grandma outright kick out Mitsuha and her sister’s dad because he turned to politics after his wife died, and their grandma severely disapproved of it. Don’t even get me started on how Mitsuha’s father treats her, very stern, cold, and clinical. 

Modernity is portrayed in the life of Taki who’s living the life of a city person that Mitsuha only dreamed about. (See what I did there? ;) because they both thought they were dreaming about each other’s lives…?) Moving on…Taki could go to the cafe, go to the bookstore, work at a job, and didn’t have to wait over 2 hours for the train to come. Taki was able to have a lot of freedom that gave a whole new perspective to the traditionalist environment Mitsuha was used to. Traditionalism got to know about Modernity, and seemed to really enjoy her time there, while still holding on to her roots and what was important to her. However, both blended into each other whenever they crossed lives, and depending on the day, this either turned out to be for better or worse.

[linaasca]

What a rollercoaster of a film! When I wasn't frustrated, I was confused, and when I wasn't confused, I was frustrated. I would like to rewatch this movie in like a month and with a group of people so I get everyone's opinions on it. I didn't understand the three year time jump between them being in each other's bodies, and the comet crash, and them meeting each other in person. Also was extremely irritated that after less than a minute, both of them forgot each others names. If it had to do with magical hour, okay fine, I get it, but still annoying. I knew twilight and the idea of magical hour was going to be a reoccurring theme when I heard of it at the beginning of the movie. I think it holds a lot of meaning behind it as twilight is the time between daylight and night time, so it's sort of an unknown territory. There are a lot of unexplained events that happen at this time of day and it's also the time when nocturnal beings wake up, so it's kind of a blurry gray area of everyday, which is why they made it so important in the movie. Another theme that I picked up on the very beginning was the common "getting what you wish for" as Mitsuha wished she were a boy in Tokyo and ended up waking in his body the next morning. Although at times it was confusing separating the two bodies from minds, I did like the overarching plot of them being in each others bodies and setting each other up for success/failure. And obviously at the end we see destiny and fate come into play. These star-crossed lovers want to be with each other soooo bad that they travel far and wide and would do whatever it takes to reach another. So it didn't come as a surprise when they passed each other on the subway and ended up meeting up one last time. Their determination was so strong that it simply wouldn't happen any other way.

[linaasca]

I do agree with you that making this show with the beautiful anime men and airing it on a children's network does allow it to gain popularity and be able to teach more people about the wars. What I don't agree with is how they portrayed some of the countries. Sure, they poked fun at Italy and showed some stereotypes, but it can be seen as offensive to some people.

Hetalia Ep #1-19

Hetalia is beautiful chaos. It’s a show about beautiful anime men who somehow represent the countries of the world. The show is wack and I’m all for it. It’s a mostly satirical anime about the world events that have happened throughout history, portrayed through silly adventures and nonsensical actions between the characters. The show provides a social commentary on the world, how conflicts arise, and the general attributes and stereotypes some countries have connotated with them.

Hetalia has garnered a large following over its years. First beginning as a web manga, the animation attracted more and more fans. But what made it so lovable? One of the reasons was its strong appeal to fujoshi culture. The almost exclusively male cast of properly dressed, silly yet somewhat serious characters takes a lot of liked male features from the otaku database that have been shown to appeal to female audiences. The tension between characters and borderline yaoi interactions garner a lot of attention from that side of the otaku fandom. On the other hand, many males also like the show either for the comedy, characters, or also for the yaoi. However, the style of the show isn’t the only point of conversation, the fun critique of the world is an alluring factor for some and a point of disgust for others.

Hetalia brings awareness to world events in a fun manner. Axis powers in specific dives into the events of WWII in a way that critiques its causes and conflicts. For example, instead of being militaristic, the axis powers go on random hyjinx. Germany wants to fight and train and is always serious (alluding to the strong German army of the second world war) while Italy is made out to be this weak, cowardice, pasta loving buffoon which alludes to their weaker presence compared to Japan and Germany. The events of the war and other global affairs are depicted as gags which the show itself acknowledges as jokes and doesn’t take seriously. Fourth wall breaks and snippets of actual text explaining real events make the show have a tame feel. Furthermore, the personifications of each country play on stereotypes yet I never felt like they crossed the line. I think this is a fun way of providing some fun yet loosely educational media. It mixes absurdity with anime with real world events to depict real world events. Hetalia has had a lot of backlash, however, because it pokes fun at very serious events in history. Furthermore, many arguments are made that say its critiques and personifications are offensive. Though I understand their perspectives, I personally still find the show enjoyable and it handles what could be seen as dark humor in a fun way.

[linaasca]

First of all, the outro song of this anime made me want to shove my head through a wall. I was immediately evoked into a rage state whenever an episode was over because I knew I would be subject to hearing that AWFUL tune. Besides that, this anime was not my cup of tea. I'm pretty sure it was aimed more towards younger girls, and in the reading for this show, most of the audience that showed up to the premiere was majority teenage girls. I felt like this show was a little too controversial and was heavily mocking multiple countries. I understand that it's supposed to be lighthearted, but sometimes they took it too far. For example, portraying Italy as pasta obsessed and baby-ish felt a little too rude to me. What if an Italian watched this show and saw their home country being portrayed so innocently and frail? In the reading, the author himself also agreed that this show is controversial transnationally. Girls from across the world are fantasizing about these personified countries, some of which have done horrible things during World War one and two. It's just weird how this show became so popular over time and attracted the audience it did. Obviously the theme most present in this anime was world conflict. But the conflict in this show was very babyish, as it included wooden sword fighting and no gore or any amount of blood. The only reason we know that there is serious conflict is because the narrator says directly that these countries are in a world war. However the light-heartedness of the show tones down how serious the conflict is, which in my opinion isn't a good idea. Wars should be shown exactly how they are, with no mockery of any kind and especially no playing it down to something less serious. Overall, the concept of this show is okay, but the end result does not deserve the amount of popularity it has.

[linaasca]

I love this analysis of the show. I also agree that it was very hard to understand just watching the cut scenes. However, the longer cutscenes during the end with more explanations helped a lot with my understanding of how the world came to be. I also compared this game to last class's movie with the leading women being in charge of "restoring" or "saving" the environment. In the end, both sacrificed themselves for their friends as well as the world they loved. I also agree with the irony you presented about this world being so hard for humans to live in.

Xenoblade Chronicles

I don’t quite understand what is going on in this Xenoblade Chronicles playlist… maybe I just need more context, but it’s like I understand, loosely, of what’s going on but the true details and makeup of this world, I don’t understand. But, what I can gather is the importance of the environment in this world because the environment holds an effect on their powers. Moreover, harmony with the environment is important to everyone, especially when it comes to human relations with the Titans. When I noticed this, I immediately thought of Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind due to the importance and correlation between being cognizant and taking care of the world they call home. The Titans in Xenoblades are these giant beings who the people rely on to stay afloat in their dwindling realm, which ties into the reading about anthropocene, the age of human influence on the earth. There’s irony though, in the fact that homosapiens are regarded as exceptions to the natural laws that nature itself abides by. Yet, in the Xenoblade realm that exception, or excuse, to go against nature’s ways, ends up biting the populace’s butt as they navigate their diminishing world and must learn to survive in the consequence of taking advantage of the earth. As the reading states, every species has to adapt to its environment. I could even go as far as referring to the Charles Darwin experiment that discovered “survival of the fittest”, but I won’t because we’re aware of that. Adapting and change are words that this realm is familiar with, especially when looking back at the rebirth of the swords and crystals who are portrayed as very human-like. These swords of power and light are in a cycle of immortality and being able to die, but have no recollection of who or what they did before. I find this trope interesting because it’s almost sad but intriguing to go one for multiple lifetimes but not recall any unless circumstances force them to.

[linaasca]

These 29 cutscenes made me have an existential crisis. At first, I had little to know idea what was going on and kept getting everyone confused with each other. I was also confused at the different types of "people" such as the Blades, Drivers, etc. But the last two cutscenes we watched where the world's Architect explained everything helped me so so much. After reassessing the video game series, the two main ideas I pulled from this were obviously environmentalism and then the grand narrative. We see from the beginning that these characters are living in a different fantasy world that exists above the clouds. And I wondered what was beneath the clouds and why they couldn't just land and live on the ground. We now learn that humans have once again destroyed the earth and had to become creative in how to rebuild not only a new world but new life forms. This took the idea of environmentalism to a whole new level. The people in this game couldn't live with themselves their destroyed world, so instead of adapting, they just made a new one with "tools" to make life easier for them. The new circle of life didn't require as much energy as blades would eventually turn into titans on their own and in turn bring new life. Comparing this to Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, we see again a women that has the role of "saving" the environment and being very mother nature. Pyra/Mythra had to make the ultimate decision to sacrifice herself in turn for the others to go back to the world and help save it. The other thing I noticed was the Architects thoughts on human behavior. He viewed humans as animals since they only lived selfishly for their own wants and needs. He lost hope in humanity and the grand narrative since no humans were working towards it. This is why he created the new world with the Conduit, and created new life forms. But we see in the end that the new life forms are just like the humans before them, which leads me to think that the cycle will just repeat itself. Overall, VERY interesting series just based off of the cutscenes!

[linaasca]

Aw... Yay! I agree with both of your themes and how they relate to the real world. After reading the plot line, I thought this movie was going to be more like Barefoot Gen, showing the effects of war on people. But instead, it shows more the environmental side of things, which is such a good idea. I also like how you mentioned how the forest and Nausicaa both show resiliency to the decay of the earth by remaining strong and trustworthy. Without Nausicaa, this movie would have had a completely different outcome.

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

I enjoyed watching this movie and really liked the beautiful landscapes that were drawn. I hadn't really seen many Miyazaki movies before this class but I have always heard good things about him and his creations and I feel like this movie met my expectations. The two main themes I saw were that of environmentalism and once again war.

Starting off with war, this theme sort of goes hand in hand with environmentalism in its portrayal in this movie. The major conflict we see in the movie is between the Tolmekian and the Valley of the Wind. Through it we are shown the downfalls of war. Though this time, not only the negative effects on humans but also the environment hence why I said they go hand in hand. We are shown the despair that everyone faces with the deaths of the innocent, destructions of homes, and displacement of people. But also how the militaristic and expansionist Tolmekian are once again using and polluting the environment rather than coinciding with it. Yet again, no good has come from war further promoting the idea of its futility and the senselessness of armed conflict.

Then we get to probably the major theme of the movie: environmentalism. The movie highlights the dangers of ecological destruction and strongly promotes environmentalism. The "Seven Days of Fire" is the major ecological destruction caused by humans in this movie which is quite relevant to the world today as we continue to face worsening global warming. The toxic jungle seems like a representation of the resilience and power of nature. It's a deadly and inhospitable place, yet still teeming with life and capable of regenerating itself. Nausicaä herself seems to be the centerpiece of it all having the ability to connect humans to the environment. She is gentle and cares for all the creatures of the toxic jungle showing her interconnectedness with the environment and the value in all life. This can also be seen as Miyazaki holding humans responsible for caring for all life.

[linaasca]

This movie was very interesting to watch! I had to read the plot line before watching because the first couple of scenes were a little confusing. But now that I know what the state of the world was and how dangerous it is to live there, I understand. The common themes I sought out in this movie was war and peace obviously, but the underlying one is about trust. We learn that the insects are actually helping the planet and that this Giant Warrior that is meant to save the world is actually going to do the opposite. Both nations don't understand the truth behind the world so they are constantly at war. I swear half of this movie was them in fighter planes shooting each other down. We see peace at the beginning of the movie in the Valley. I think this is because that group of people found a way to live with the world, alongside the spores and the insects. But the main symbol of peace in the movie is Nausicaa, as she is able to communicate with all animals and reassure them. She did this at the beginning in the village, and at the end when the ohms were on their way to destroy the valley. Having her as the peace symbol is so important for every human in this movie. Everyone looks to her for guidance and also for protection. Even in the end, the enemies that were trying to capture and kill her ended up trusting her. All of the enemy warriors had so much faith in the giant warrior, so when that didn't work, all they had was Nausicaa, who obviously knew what she was doing and came to save the day. What I find odd is the lack of common sense these people had. Especially near the end when the two guys didn't want to give the ohms back their baby. Like hello? Of course they aren't going to stop raging until their child is safe. But anywho, I did enjoy the plot and the characters. Twas a cute movie.

[linaasca]

It sounds like you had a great con experience! I didn't want to volunteer as I wanted to get there on my own time and be able to walk around and see everything. But it's a good thing that your leader let you walk around at the end of your shift before the artists started to pack up. And I fully respect and understand your reasoning for buying art. It is very true that you may never see the artist again if you don't ask for their etsy or social media pages. I also didn't attend any panels as the ones I was interested in were later in the day and I didn't feel like waiting, but there's always next year!

SwampCon

word count: 639 words 04.01.23

I have been to five (5) cons, ever, and it never gets less exciting. This was my first time as an active staff member, though. If I can, I'll continue to volunteer in the future. There is just something really nice about getting to speak with cosplayers without having to gather the courage to approach them first, since they're the ones that need something from staff.

Although I didn't ask to take pictures with anyone, regrettably, my aunt did lmao. Cosplay is a form of self-expression and art, alright— a lot of time, effort, and creativity goes into these costumes, and it's great to see them confidently put all of this on display. I know that to many, being asked to take pictures is an acknowledgment of their hard work. I hope my aunt made those Sailor Moon and Genshin cosplayers happy with her requests.

I grew up thinking enjoying manga and anime... was taboo, almost. I get it, there may be social stigmas associated with people who enjoy anime because anime and manga have historically been associated with certain genres that are seen as inappropriate or immature. Genshiken covered this— your average otaku isn't always socially awkward or obsessive. They just are. But now, as the medium becomes more mainstream, it is also more broadly accepted. It's great to see.

That being said, conventions provide a space where people who love aspects of otaku culture can come together and bond over their shared interests. It isn't always easy to find like-minded folks, and the con does just that. It also offers a wide variety of vendors selling neat merchandise that won't really be available at your typical store at the mall. I'm frugal at best and terribly cheap at worst, but even then...

... it had to be done.

I try to justify the purchase by saying that I may never again find the artists I got the prints from, and I really did fall in love with the art you guys. I had had the chance to check out the con prior to my shift starting, spoke with the artist some, and... walked away. My shift supervisor was kind to let me escape briefly to run up to the Artist Alley and grab a couple prints before they closed. Gladly advertising them here because they're so very talented.

And I guess that's kind of the thing. I wouldn't have had the chance to meet that artist or get introduced to the art if not for events like this con. It's about building a sense of community and fitting in seamlessly.

Merch tax right here. Freebie con shirt that staff members and some lucky con-goers were allowed to get, my three prints (terrible picture, but it's Naruto, Chainsaw Man, and Hunter X Hunter, in that order), My Hero keychain, and a handful of freebie stickers. Better than the experience itself... is the stuff you can get out of it.

While I know that I definitely engaged in sharing art and media by ogling art and cosplay and whatnot, I didn't really have time to explore the panels. I was out of town for most of the event, and really only showed up for my scheduled shift. I think that attending panels is a good method to learn more about what makes up Otaku culture; you're exposed to new ideas and perspectives that way, and also new fandoms.

I did get the chance to witness this drag show that was going on, but only briefly. Not to get too political here, guys, but I don't think activities like these "appeal to prurient, shameful, or morbid interests," or whatever. It certainly looked perfectly healthy in there! Amusing to watch, too.

I'm glad I got to attend, and I look forward to being part of more events like these in the future!