#didnt think id be writing an essay for kagepro day but

[polandspringz]

The Problem with Kagerou Project

The title of this post may make people sort of wary, considering I’m posting this on what is supposed to be a celebratory day, but let me be clear: The problem I have with this series is possibly one of the biggest things that makes me love it and hold it so dear.

It’s confusing, I know. But at the same time, I feel it’s very simple and obvious. Something other, early Kagerou Project fans will understand as well.

Ever since I discovered Mother’s Basement’s “Adapt or Die” series on Youtube, my subconscious have been slowly piecing together some of my nostalgia with the various failures of mine to get my friends into a Vocaloid song series, that also has a series of novels, and a manga, and a very disheartening anime adaption- but oh, no, you have to listen to the songs first, or else you won’t- and at this point in my passionate, albeit complicated, explanation to my friends about how great Kagerou Project is, I realized the fault in this series. It is quite possibly the fault- to some extent, in some other series as well.

Part of the fun and love I feel for Kagerou Project was the experience.

This is where I have to be a little specific to differentiate what I mean when I say that other series might have it to some extent. A lot of a show’s appeal is not only its general construction in technical things like sound, music, animation, story, and characters but also the journey it takes you on. While things like enjoyment scores have been faded out of many Youtube Anime reviewers score systems, it is still a topic that is prominently brought up in other debates. Videos by Glass Reflection and Mother’s Basement on the Anime Strike and Netflix debacle in licensing shows have presented the reasoning at Netflix that they want seasonal anime weekly instead of in a binge set up is because the consumers want to be able to make theories and discuss things right after they happen. This happens all the time with manga, of course, as those who read chapter by chapter instead of by tankobon join in on forums and post on Reddit or talk on podcasts all about what each individual frame or image could foreshadow or how emotions were portrayed and etcetera. It is even possible for shows that aired a long time ago to be appreciated by newcomers who could talk to their friends about what happened and avoid spoilers to have their own private analytical sessions so that the longevity of a show’s enjoyment factor can keep going even once a series has laid out all its cards and concluded.

The problem with Kagerou Project is that it is quite different.

As I mentioned above, we do have a light novel, manga, and anime series, all of which can fit into the appeal I described. However, there is another sector of this series, the earliest, and something of which only a select few of series at the time had: The songs. Nowadays we’ve got series like Honeyworks, Mikagura, and even one that went before Kagepro (and did not achieve the same fame), Shunennpro. Kagerou Project began with the song “Jinzou Enemy”, which was not only Jin’s first work, but also the first in the line of many different works to come. It was released on NND on February 17, 2011, and what were we given: A Vocaloid song by Miku with a girl that looked very much like Miku for the art. Not a lot to speak of. However, flash forward two years to March 29, 2013, and we’ve got the release of “Lost Time Memory”, the tenth song to be released, and what do we have now? Well, not only do we have ten songs in a series, but we’ve got a fully animated PV by the artist and animator Sidu and a fairly well established timeline that puts Jinzou Enemy in the middle of the Lost Time Memory PV in all the scenes where the character Shintarou is wearing a black sweatshirt, dubbed as Route XX. We also have two light novels now, but they are very early on in the series’ plot, and take place in the future, after the events of both songs, but in the second timeline occurring in the Lost Time Memory PV, probably.

With that alone, I hope I can help to start draw one’s eyes to the main difference Kagerou Project has over other series. Instead of getting a simple story that developed naturally, we were given one scrambled. For the earliest fans, you got essentially a plot diagram, a rather barebones one, to create a plot from. We had songs that told us sometimes about a certain character’s life or a main event in the series, and in a story about many timelines, many of us theorists had to struggle to figure out which song existed in each route or each branch of the timeline, only for Jin to throw us another bone and curveball with an animated video for one of the songs. “Kagerou Days” is probably the most notable example of this, and not just because it gave the series its name. The shocking imagery presented in the lyrics described to the listeners a major event, one that occurred for every character in some shape of form, on this exact day, August 15th. The strange thing about this song is that it took something that was not cannon, and it became cannon, as Wannyanpu’s PV for the song was originally a fan work, so despite it being rather fascinating, originally we had to only pull from the lyrics, and not the amazing animation we wanted to couple it with. And then, Wannyanpu was brought on the team, and suddenly we were allowed to use this animation as cannon- even if Hiyori’s and the “Heat Hazes’” appearances were not.

I entered the Kagerou Project rather gradually. I was a big Vocaloid fan at the time, and I remember listening to these songs and their videos but not connecting the dots quite yet. A lot of those Tumblr 30 Day Challenges often ask me what was the first song I heard, but I’m not even sure, because it could have been “Kagerou Days”, “Kisaragi Attention”, “Imagination Forest”, “Children Record”, or “Headphone Actor” which if we go by the creation of my Tumblr, places me at some point in 2012 when I first really discovered the fandom lying beneath this whole series of songs I was enjoying independently. At this point, I had missed out on about eight songs, each with their own long stretches of time in between them that forced fans all over to struggle to grasp some sort of story from these songs. It was after “Kisaragi Attention” that the first light novel was released, and I missed that and the second one too, and I’m sure at the time, old fans of the series might have been experiencing the same thing many of us now are dealing with now that the series is largely concluded. When new people come in, there is so much catching up to do, and while you are explaining what the person missed, explaining things that are now chronological and linear that you had so much fun piecing together for months, over a course of a year, you start to realize that, although this series is amazing to you, and might soon become amazing to that new person, there is a chunk of it they are missing. A chunk of it that you can only explain, a chunk they cannot experience, not ever in the same way the community did, when it fought to translate lyrics liberally or directly to get the most out of song’s meaning, its story. All the fun you had with that, all the work you did, you just helped make the story easier to understand, and while that person may be able to read that part of the story in the light novel or watch the songs and produce theories of their own before they hear yours, it’s pointless really. We know what the songs mean, we know where they fit. We know your theories are wrong. What the new people don’t know is that you had the same theory a year ago, back when we only had one or two or three songs and no light novel. What they cannot experience is those intense periods of joy when a new song comes out that gives you more to work with. Well, they could, I could, because at that time, we were only eight songs in.

I was in the side of the fandom that only really paid attention to the songs. I never could get into the light novel at the time, because it hadn’t been licensed in the US yet, and wouldn’t be for another three years. It was hard to find good translations online at the time, and it was hard to enjoy something that I had been introduced to as an audio and visual work in a literature format, despite myself having no problems with books. Light novels themselves bothered me, and I did not quite yet grasp the difference between them and normal “western” novels. So, whatever theories were brewing during each new release, I for the most part ignored, and learned along the way when I made an error in a theory I published because I was missing a crucial detail revealed in a novel. I learned from fanfictions, from things other people wrote and what they thought, and together as a community we turned the plot diagram into a story as Jin continued to fill in the pieces. I was an active reader of the manga when I could find a fan translation, but that got hard to find as well, and it was not up as fast and lyrics were. So, I continued to stick mainly to the musical side of the series, the original side. And it was there that I found the section of time that revealed to me how much I loved this series and how different it was from other.

I am certain a lot of what I’ve already said could be completely applied to anyone entering a series. Catching up to One Piece is a job in its own right, and as I’ve done it and then fallen away, I always find myself experiencing it in a new way than those who grew up with it, because nostalgia does play a large role in our enjoyment of things. But, I still believe the media difference in Kagerou Project compared to other series is what makes it special and this enjoyment thing so vastly different. The emotions that Jin drew from us, not from his writing, but from how he released the story and built it through this schedule, it felt like as he was creating this series, we too were creating it alongside him. It was something born from songs, and maybe our theories, those written on Japanese blogs, maybe they helped him write some of the different routes later on too. The feelings I have about this series, I see them summed up in the time between August 31, 2013 and September 2, 2013. Those who have gone through this will know what I’m talking about. On the first date, we were given the video for Outer Science. The song had already been released on an album, but it was now we got a music video. I remember being told by many upset fans it was to be the last video of the series, and that was it (I do not remember if the anime was announced before or after this, but it seemed liked the end was near for all of us at the time). What this song entailed was the “Bad End” of the series, similar to how many videos game have. We were treated to a song where the villain of the series, one of Azami’s snakes, who we dubbed Kuroha when in Konoha’s body, was killing all of the characters before the “Queen”, Mary, and how he kept taunting her to reset. Yes, the last music video we got for a series we all held dear was one were we could make out characters were getting tossed in front of cars and being decapitated, and while none of this was explicitly shown in gruesome, the mere idea that we could see Kuroha dragging Seto away by his collar but not visualize his head was too much for us. I, myself, joined in on the parade of people making really terrible fan art that depicted the blood as “jam” and Seto, Kuroha, and Mary were all sitting around jolly having a good time. It was one of the biggest disillusioned denials in any anime fandom. So, disheartened by the images we had been given and sad that our beloved series was coming to an end, this went on for two days.

And then-

On the second date, September 2, 2013, we were given a wonderful surprise.

The “Good End” of the series, the song titled “Summertime Record” was released with a music video, depicted Haruka Kokonose, back in his body, no longer Kuroha or Konoha, a slightly new appearance. Everyone was alive, everyone was happy. The whole song sang about the good memories shared and the video depicted reflection and spoke of nostalgia, and showed the entire gang in the future, back together again, going their separate ways. All of us began crying at the sight of this video. We had been played by Jin, Sidu, the whole team. They had evoked despair in us, and then toyed with us for two days and then said, “No, we can’t leave them like that”, and granted us our good ending. We were given a proper farewell to the series, or what would have been a proper farewell, and sent along with a message from the creators through dialogue that flashed on the screen at the end of the video.

One of the biggest issues I have with getting people into this series is I never know where to tell them to start. It’s so hard for me to tell them “Just go watch the anime”, because the 2014 anime was bad and although it helped bring more people into the fandom, it did not cause the same affect, it did not take us on the same journey that we had over the course of 4 years (now 7?) I also have the problem of telling them to read the light novels or manga, because, at the time of me writing this, we have one novel left to be published. The manga is more of a wild card, as many fans are angry at Jin’s writing of certain characters right now as it seems to be causing continuity errors and the constant decision to make everything a different “route” in the time line makes it more annoying than fun nowadays. It seems more as though Jin doesn’t know how to reach the good end as is going to keep hitting as many bad ends as he can until we get to the perfect one. We have been given some promise of an anime remake, one that makes me hopeful for the anime industry knowing that it is happening because Sidu, like us, was angry about how Mekakucity Actors ended. (At the time of me writing this, there has been no news since last August 15th in 2016, about the anime). I want to point them to the songs, but then I feel as though I have to point them to the wikia page to understand what each song means, and its honestly not a lot of fun to read the explanation when there is unknown out there, because everything has either been proven or disproven by the other media entries that already exist. I know that all series have this problem where it might be hard to let new people in because of spoilers and the fact that everything has already occurred, there is nothing to predict, but my point here is not really about that.

My use of this fact existing in any media was a way to explain my thought process, to justify my illogical nostalgia that makes me want to dictate how a person consumes this series. Perhaps the evangelical in me is the one that believes all of these stories are beautiful and that Kagerou Project in particularly needs to be experienced by everyone. Maybe it’s the self-centered part of me that just wants to be able to have everyone just talk to me about the series. I love Kagerou Project, and I know all day I’m going to be watching Mekakucity Actors and cringing at episode nine’s CGI while I take photos in my Momo cosplay and still cry at the ending when I hear Jin sing Summertime Record at the credits. I love this series, and I want everyone else to love it too. But, a part of me cannot stop thinking about that two day period in 2013, that time where we felt such anger and then such elation that we collectively cried over some stupid song that is part of a “Vocaloid song series”, which is possibly the statement that turns people off the quickest to this series. The journey Jin took us on, emotions we felt during that, maybe we will get to experience it again if we ever get Mekaucity Reload and it lives up to what all of us who love this series hopes it can be. Maybe then, we will be free from the “shackles” of Kagepro, as we all exclaim on this day while we anxiously wait for any piece of news about the series.

…

Maybe then-

I guess it must be goodbye now.

You won’t forget again, will you?

Don’t worry. I couldn’t forget a tale like this.

I wonder about that. I bet you’ll have completely forgotten about it by tomorrow

And is that so bad? I mean, if there are better days to come…

But, we’ll meet again somewhere, won’t we?

Of course we will. Well, I’d better get going now.

Right. I’ll see you later.

We will all meet again.