Sixty Years Since Mighty Atom: 2012
Feb. 19th, 2023 01:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
krpalmerAlthough much bogged down by spam comments now, the concluding post of a “golden anniversary of anime” weblog (which I know might provoke present insistences animation had been made in Japan for decades before Mighty Atom, and for that matter that show had been preceded by shorter segments of domestically produced animation on Japanese TV) is still up and covering 2012. That post tied into an impression I still have of the weblog’s composite take on things darkening as it approached its concluding point; it spends a good deal of time dwelling on “little sister fantasies” series. I suppose it’s not quite fair to bring that up and then comment how, with the benefit of some years of hindsight, I came up with a good-sized list of personal standout series; for that matter, I haven’t watched the shows the post worried about (although one unfortunate element of that was who’d licensed them).
When I looked back my top pick was a relatively respectable science fiction series; with the thought From the New World develops its world over time, though, I turned to something else to sample. Symphogear falls into a small but notable category of “shows I enjoy specifically because there’s something absurd about them, indeed about trying to describe them.” It might let me claim I’ve acknowledged “idol singer series” along the way of this sixty-year tour, although the idol singers in the first episode transform into something only sort of like magical girls to battle burbly-sounding monsters swarming their concert. The mission control monitoring all of this do sort of bring giant robot shows to mind as well. There does just happen to be a girls’ high school in this series, but there’s also a moment where two of the students are shown sleeping in the same bunk. (That’s one bit of Symphogear I seem to keep acknowledging and moving on from even as I suppose others are more excited, but then the show offers a lot of things.)
I had recalled this series doesn’t “look” quite as polished as other anime from its year, but this time around I was ready to weigh the flatness of its colouring and roughness of its character designs in repose against the action animation. I also noticed the very beginning of the episode had a bit of dark anticipation not quite matching up against how exuberant further instalments were, but I was willing to welcome that small surprise even as I kept remembering certain once-upon-a-time surprises later on. The first episode ended on an impressive cliffhanger (after a bit of “it’s not just the transformation that makes this girl heroic”), and I did keep supposing “those who like this franchise might get a little over-enthusiastic about it.” (When Discotek did start licensing it that got my attention, but there was a pause between two titles that had me worrying “enthusiasm” had turned into licensing fees the actual commitment to purchasing hadn’t covered. Then, things picked up again, although I’m still waiting for the announcement of the final title to turn into “Blu-Rays in my hands.”) Thinking back just to this personal tour, I did get to wondering if I have to go all the way back to Attack No. 1 for something else I want to at least try and promote as much.
When I looked back my top pick was a relatively respectable science fiction series; with the thought From the New World develops its world over time, though, I turned to something else to sample. Symphogear falls into a small but notable category of “shows I enjoy specifically because there’s something absurd about them, indeed about trying to describe them.” It might let me claim I’ve acknowledged “idol singer series” along the way of this sixty-year tour, although the idol singers in the first episode transform into something only sort of like magical girls to battle burbly-sounding monsters swarming their concert. The mission control monitoring all of this do sort of bring giant robot shows to mind as well. There does just happen to be a girls’ high school in this series, but there’s also a moment where two of the students are shown sleeping in the same bunk. (That’s one bit of Symphogear I seem to keep acknowledging and moving on from even as I suppose others are more excited, but then the show offers a lot of things.)
I had recalled this series doesn’t “look” quite as polished as other anime from its year, but this time around I was ready to weigh the flatness of its colouring and roughness of its character designs in repose against the action animation. I also noticed the very beginning of the episode had a bit of dark anticipation not quite matching up against how exuberant further instalments were, but I was willing to welcome that small surprise even as I kept remembering certain once-upon-a-time surprises later on. The first episode ended on an impressive cliffhanger (after a bit of “it’s not just the transformation that makes this girl heroic”), and I did keep supposing “those who like this franchise might get a little over-enthusiastic about it.” (When Discotek did start licensing it that got my attention, but there was a pause between two titles that had me worrying “enthusiasm” had turned into licensing fees the actual commitment to purchasing hadn’t covered. Then, things picked up again, although I’m still waiting for the announcement of the final title to turn into “Blu-Rays in my hands.”) Thinking back just to this personal tour, I did get to wondering if I have to go all the way back to Attack No. 1 for something else I want to at least try and promote as much.