Shingeki no Shōnen - Why Shingeki no Kyojin is no deconstructional Anime

Sometime last week, I read that Shingeki no Kyojin is a deconstruction of shōnen-manga, basically because it kills off important characters all the time.  Friendship! Effort! Victory! Those are the three basic principles of shōnen-manga. And Shingeki no Kyojin is deconstructional because victory is not in sight? One could compare it to Madoka Magika, or even to Mohiro Kitohs Narutaru or Bokurano, which are some of the best ones when it comes to taking cliches or whole genres apart. But if one takes a closer look, this just isn't accurate.

Shingeki no Kyojin contains so many cliches, beginning with its protagonist's sense of justice, or the training sequences, the thought of effort leading to success or melodramatic flashbacks. Its typical stuff you can read in almost every other shōnen. More important, these building blocks of shōnen-manga are not used in an ironic way, the cliches are not questioned. What makes it special is the combination with the horror-genre, so combination is the word, not deconstruction. If you think that, for example, the combination of Pokemon and lots of cruelty results in Narutaru, you might as well use the term deconstruction, falsely however. Narutaru utilizes the idea of Monster Animes and applies it to Real Life, which is one of the most common ways to deconstruct a genre. A more accurate definition of the term can be found under this link. It is the ironic element, reversing and perverting familiar settings, characters or whole genres to turn them into something new and creating disilliusionment and shock to the reader, especially those who expected stereotypical entertainment. Some people feel disappointed after reading or watching Shingeki no Kyojin because they cannot bear seeing characters die, others think of it as an extraordinary and ground-breaking concept. Both somehow misunderstood the point of the series.

It comes down to this: Shingeki no Kyojin cannot be lined up with Anime/Manga like Evangelion or Narutaru. Its difference from other shōnen is due to its use of horror-elements and its difficult power levels when it comes to enemies, but no more. One could call Shingeki no Kyojin the Touhou or the Sekaiju no Meikyū (Etrian Odyssey) of shōnen-manga, but no more. People may call it exciting, mediocre, cruel, epic, ground-breaking, yet, in the end it is just one of the better shōnen-manga out there, not more and not less.

"Hey Kubyey, people tend to misunderstand us, don't they"

First thoughts on Evangelion 3.0 (Spoilers!)

EVA 3.0 in a nutshell by Meguro Fukuzou (mostly nsfw)

“What is this I don’t even…” is what I’d have said if I hadn’t watched End of Evangelion. After an amazing start, we have to realize that 14 years have passed since the end of Eva 2.0, which basically means 14 years of plot are missing and don’t even think of getting an explanation in the movie. The desperate Eva-Nerd is thrown into a completely new situation after analyzing and interpreting for years to understand enough of the series to feel highly sophisticated about it. No, Anno really didn’t give the fans what they wanted, or at least what they expected from the trailers at the end of Evangelion 2.0.

It’s a desolate world, there is no trace left of the social life, no schools, and as a matter of fact: no-slife-of-life scenes. Instead, we get a lot of meaningless Mari and Asuka-fanservice (not the ecchi sort though). And that’s all we get of them, no need for character development, or in Mari’s case, character. She has remained a waste of screen time, and so have the new characters introduced in the movie. The one with the pink hair caught my interest (yes, “only shallow people do not judge by appearances”), but I don’t expect her to be of any relevance in the following movie.

In retrospect, it is really interesting how the characters, one of the strongest point of EVA, have been portrayed so weakly. Ayanami being mute and lacking character is, of course, nothing I can blame her for. But all the effort of making her into an emotional human being is neglected in this movie. Then there is the long awaited appearance of Kaworu, rest assured fangirls. Yet, he didn’t leave much of an impression. Though his relationship with Shinji, still being as whiny as we know him, was the best kind of character interaction in the movie, which is rather sad. Then there is Fuyutsuki’s conversation with Shinji, releaving him the truth about his mother, a great attempt, but the expected mindfuck was rather disappointing.

 When did EVA stop to be an allegory depicting characters and their problems with society and themselves? I guess with the start of the Rebuild-Movies.

Apart from philosophical and psychological themes, there is still the good old plot: the Human Instrumentality Project, Adam, Lilith aso. This movie means a good piece of work, even or especially for people like me who stockpile their EVA theories, only to get them messed up by Anno every time. 3.0 is truly confusing, not only because 14 years of information is not revealed to the audience. Too much happened, and it will take time to figure things out. Of course we’ll never figure them out completely, but there is a lot to be found out and that’s what makes EVA worthwhile, even after 18 years since the start of the series.

This movie was a disappointment. I have to admit, I didn’t expect the Freudian depth of the original series. Nor did I want to see End of Evangelion being redone. I didn’t expect 3.0 to become as good as 2.0 either. 

Yet, I didn’t get what I wanted, but isn’t that why I’m watching Anno?

I’m one of the few people that don’t hate him because of that.

さて、この次もサビス、サビス！