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dangermousieAs I've mentioned, I've been rewatching Fushigi Yuugi lately. It really holds up well on repeat viewings, even though I now know the plot twists. It's interesting I love it so much, because objectively, I know it doesn't have the jaw-dropping visuals of RahXephon and it doesn't have the complex philosophy (though more on that below). But what it really does, and does amazingly well is mix melodrama, adventure and comedy in a sort of irresistable mix. And it also has an overwhelming narrative drive, a unitary story, which is what all animes I've really enjoyed have possessed (Escaflowne, Trigun etc. Something like Chobits loses me precisely because of lack of plot drive).
But what really sells me is the same thing that sells me on Bollywood.
I've often said that FY is the closest I've seen anime come to Bollywood, and I usually mean the plot, but on rewatch, I've realized that it's true in another sense as well. Just like a really good Bollywood movie, FY appeals to me on two separate, completely independent levels. One part of me is a grown-up, giggling at the melodrama or thinking 'isn't that a bit extreme?' And yet another part of me is a struck 14 year old, swooning at the romance or the heroism, crying like a maniac in spots or gripping the couch so hard it could leave marks. And the two work together, increasing the fun. The fact that a part of me might know that such and such is OTT or a coincidence has no influence at all over my emotional involvement, just like is the case in Bollywood (Shahrukh coming upon Kajol in a sarsaon field in Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge is improbable, highly contrived for maximum emotional effect, and turns me into a starry eyes, sobbing wreck every single time). But in a way, FY is superior to a lot of Bollywood in the dual level of enjoyment, because just like something like Main Hoon Na, it knows that it's a melodrama, it knows that it can be improbable and it pokes fun at itself.
Just as Miaka is both the romantic heroine AND comic relief (which is why I can never have a problem with her. She is far from perfect but the author does not present her as perfect. Her shortcomings are not swept under the rug but are poked at, in fun), FY both revels in its angst and yet winks at it. Take the scene where Hotohori prepares to kill Miaka so she can be resurrected (it IS a fantasy and it would take too long to explain, so just take it as possible in that world). On one level, the anime portrays it as a highly dramatic scene it is: Hotohori is an inredibly noble person, and he has to kill the woman he loves and he ends up being unable to do it. He just can't. Drama, right? Melodrama, right? And I swoon for it every time. But at the same time, the story is winking at us, as if it knows how potentially OTT it is. Not only do we have Miaka (who in many ways is incredibly prosaic) say she doesn't mind being stabbed, probably because she likes yakitori so much, but after Hotohori breaks down at Miaka's bedside and it's all very angsty and dramatic, the story cuts to Nuriko and Tasuki listening outside the door, going 'what's the thing with the big love scene all of a sudden?' in a bit of meta commentary, equivalent to the audience. In a way, doing something like this enables one to enjoy such moments, because you know TPTB appreciate the potential for hokiness, they are not deluded. But it still works anyway. Or maybe because of it. The same is true with the characters. Some of them are amazingly cool or noble or what not, but the show is never always solemn about them. Tamahome might be my anime husband and make me swoon like a rockstar groupie at her first Kid Rock concert, but he is not just loving, heroic and super-cool. He is greedy for money and a bit too fond of a scuffle (the whole duality is exemplified by the scene where Hotohori finds Tamahome in Miaka's room and puts his sword to the former's throat. It's all very melodrama, with Tamahome saying he won't give Miaka up etc etc, but the moment Hotohori leaves, Tamahome reverts to a chibi form and starts muttering to himself 'oh boy, I was so scared. You have NO idea how scared I was.') Hotohori is noble and brave but also vain. Etc etc.
It also works because this device is not overused. When something truly horrible happens, there are no cutesy meta jokes. FY knows not only when to do them to undercut a potentially cheesy scene, but when to leave well enough alone. When Tamahome finds his family murdered, it's a very grim couple of episodes, and no meta jokes, as the situation of a murdered family generates enough legitimate pathos. It's not guilty pleasure melodrama. The same with when Tamahome finds Miaka in Nakago's tent and both Miaka and Tamahome believe she's been raped. The same with Hotohori's battlefield death.
But that's not all there is to the Bollywood aspect. It's the sheer intensity of emotions and the mythic nature of obstacles. True, I first thought of it as Bollywoodish because of romantic melodrama aspects of it, but after all, if I think about it for a moment, something like Peach Girl or Hana Yori Dango are a lot closer to a traditional Bollywood movie, which is all angsty and complicated relationship drama and almost never an adventure with battles and alien world. But what FY has that both PG and HYD lack is the overwhelming immersion of the drama. Miaka and Tamahome are presented as star-crossed, in an almost operatic, epic fashion which is something neither HYD nor PG, set in a more mundane every day world possess. Or are indeed capable of possessing, as the modern Western world is epic and mythic, with intense climaxes and dreaded villains only in Bollywood. Elsewhere, you actually need to go for a period or a fantasy setting for the same. What FY has is the same feeling of emotional intensity, of surpassing logic (not that FY, just like Bollywood, is necessarily illogical) and appealing directly to the emotional part of your brain. Everything feels more intense.
And another thing it has in common with Bollywood: emphasis on the importance of society. Bollywood lovers are rarely, if ever, the types to give up and go live on a mountain top. They need family approval, family integration. In a way, FY is the same. Miaka spends the most influential, exciting months of her life inside the book of the Universe of the Four Gods. But she ends up back in modern Tokyo, living there. She falls madly in love with Tamahome, who is, when all is said and done, a supernatural, medieval-style warrior. But significantly, she can only have him for keeps when he's been transmogrified into a modern Japanese young man, fully integrated into society, able to function in it. After all, the first time he came to modern Japan, in his full battle armor, no knowledge of the modern world, he couldn't stay. In a way, it's symbolism for merging of dreams and reality. If the book is, in some ways, fantasy life, personification of what it feels like to really be deeply engrossed in a world of your imagination, what FY seems to say is that you need the ability to merge. You (in this case Miaka) cannot live just inside a fantasy. You have to exist in the real world. But a real would without trying to fulfill your dreams, without imagination, without striving (Miaka's world pre going into the book) is too drab and unsatisfying. In order to be a happy individual you have to merge the too. The same is true in a Bollywood film as well. The heroes and heroines do not want the arranged marriage. They want the romantic ideal, obstacles, fights, dances in Switzerland. But when all is said and done, the romantic choice gets OKed by the family, gets a stamp of approval by society, merging the individual and the group.
And this is the end of the really long thesis.
In completely different fandom meta, here follows meta on Battlestar Galactica. Namely the character of Dee. I think Dee just might be the most controversial current character on BSG. Interestingly enough, I haven't seen such strong aversion to Anders, who is, in some ways, Dee's reverse mirror (a new love interest for one half of a popular fandom pairing). Of course, it could be that I just haven't seen such on the flist, so correct me if I am wrong.
First, since so many opinions on Dee are driven by shipper preferences, let me state mine. I am not much of a shipper for BSG. My ship of choice for the show is Helo/Boomer. I mildly liked Kara/Lee earlier on (though never with overwhelming passion) but as the show has lost interest in shipping them, so have I.
So, what is my view on Dee? Honestly, I am bored by her. I am bored by Lee/Dee, at least what I've seen so far (for all I know, S3 will remedy that and have amazing scenes with the two of them, but for now, my boredom remains). It's interesting, because I do like Anders. He's grown on me, and now I am rather a mild Kara/Anders shipper. I enjoyed watching the two together, I will enjoy watching the two of them (or Anders interacting in general) in S3. I liked Dee earlier on just fine, as a secondary character. She was one of the roster of secondary characters I liked without being very motivated in seeing more of them (Gaeta, Cally, Kat, Billy etc). She is still a secondary character. I don't think her role has been expanded. The problem for me (and thus my losing inrerest in her) is that in the second half of the 2nd season, all or most of her scenes have been with Lee. Most of them relationship related. And I just don't find this interesting. Lee is a nice guy (well, sometimes). Dee is a nice woman. Both of them are attractive people (well, at least until Lee started hitting the noodle stash). And I have no trouble buying that they are at least reasonably content with each other. But that does not make them interesting to see. In fact, quite the contrary. It makes them rather uninteresting to this viewer. I think also, what goes hand in hand in making them not too interesting to me is that both are somewhat proper and well-behaved. Lee is capable of having fun (usually at Kara's instigation. Finger painting anyone?) but he is not a party machine. And it's not as if we've seen him have interesting or challenging debates or what not with Dee.
The thing with Anders and Kara is that, though they are happy together, they are fun to watch. Not just because they have chemistry which is lacking in Lee/Dee. They are loud rowdy and fun. I buy their attraction and their interaction. Watching a Kara/Anders scene feels fun. Watching Lee and Dee is a bit on the dull side. There is no conflict and thus no interest that way, but it's not balanced out by playful chemistry. So I am left with watching a relationship that probably works for the principals, but not exciting as TV. Whatever Kara and Lee have (and I will fully grant that it's not romantic) is always fun to watch, whether it's playful or antagonistic, though healthy it is not. Lee and Dee lack that spark to me, for now.
But what really sells me is the same thing that sells me on Bollywood.
I've often said that FY is the closest I've seen anime come to Bollywood, and I usually mean the plot, but on rewatch, I've realized that it's true in another sense as well. Just like a really good Bollywood movie, FY appeals to me on two separate, completely independent levels. One part of me is a grown-up, giggling at the melodrama or thinking 'isn't that a bit extreme?' And yet another part of me is a struck 14 year old, swooning at the romance or the heroism, crying like a maniac in spots or gripping the couch so hard it could leave marks. And the two work together, increasing the fun. The fact that a part of me might know that such and such is OTT or a coincidence has no influence at all over my emotional involvement, just like is the case in Bollywood (Shahrukh coming upon Kajol in a sarsaon field in Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge is improbable, highly contrived for maximum emotional effect, and turns me into a starry eyes, sobbing wreck every single time). But in a way, FY is superior to a lot of Bollywood in the dual level of enjoyment, because just like something like Main Hoon Na, it knows that it's a melodrama, it knows that it can be improbable and it pokes fun at itself.
Just as Miaka is both the romantic heroine AND comic relief (which is why I can never have a problem with her. She is far from perfect but the author does not present her as perfect. Her shortcomings are not swept under the rug but are poked at, in fun), FY both revels in its angst and yet winks at it. Take the scene where Hotohori prepares to kill Miaka so she can be resurrected (it IS a fantasy and it would take too long to explain, so just take it as possible in that world). On one level, the anime portrays it as a highly dramatic scene it is: Hotohori is an inredibly noble person, and he has to kill the woman he loves and he ends up being unable to do it. He just can't. Drama, right? Melodrama, right? And I swoon for it every time. But at the same time, the story is winking at us, as if it knows how potentially OTT it is. Not only do we have Miaka (who in many ways is incredibly prosaic) say she doesn't mind being stabbed, probably because she likes yakitori so much, but after Hotohori breaks down at Miaka's bedside and it's all very angsty and dramatic, the story cuts to Nuriko and Tasuki listening outside the door, going 'what's the thing with the big love scene all of a sudden?' in a bit of meta commentary, equivalent to the audience. In a way, doing something like this enables one to enjoy such moments, because you know TPTB appreciate the potential for hokiness, they are not deluded. But it still works anyway. Or maybe because of it. The same is true with the characters. Some of them are amazingly cool or noble or what not, but the show is never always solemn about them. Tamahome might be my anime husband and make me swoon like a rockstar groupie at her first Kid Rock concert, but he is not just loving, heroic and super-cool. He is greedy for money and a bit too fond of a scuffle (the whole duality is exemplified by the scene where Hotohori finds Tamahome in Miaka's room and puts his sword to the former's throat. It's all very melodrama, with Tamahome saying he won't give Miaka up etc etc, but the moment Hotohori leaves, Tamahome reverts to a chibi form and starts muttering to himself 'oh boy, I was so scared. You have NO idea how scared I was.') Hotohori is noble and brave but also vain. Etc etc.
It also works because this device is not overused. When something truly horrible happens, there are no cutesy meta jokes. FY knows not only when to do them to undercut a potentially cheesy scene, but when to leave well enough alone. When Tamahome finds his family murdered, it's a very grim couple of episodes, and no meta jokes, as the situation of a murdered family generates enough legitimate pathos. It's not guilty pleasure melodrama. The same with when Tamahome finds Miaka in Nakago's tent and both Miaka and Tamahome believe she's been raped. The same with Hotohori's battlefield death.
But that's not all there is to the Bollywood aspect. It's the sheer intensity of emotions and the mythic nature of obstacles. True, I first thought of it as Bollywoodish because of romantic melodrama aspects of it, but after all, if I think about it for a moment, something like Peach Girl or Hana Yori Dango are a lot closer to a traditional Bollywood movie, which is all angsty and complicated relationship drama and almost never an adventure with battles and alien world. But what FY has that both PG and HYD lack is the overwhelming immersion of the drama. Miaka and Tamahome are presented as star-crossed, in an almost operatic, epic fashion which is something neither HYD nor PG, set in a more mundane every day world possess. Or are indeed capable of possessing, as the modern Western world is epic and mythic, with intense climaxes and dreaded villains only in Bollywood. Elsewhere, you actually need to go for a period or a fantasy setting for the same. What FY has is the same feeling of emotional intensity, of surpassing logic (not that FY, just like Bollywood, is necessarily illogical) and appealing directly to the emotional part of your brain. Everything feels more intense.
And another thing it has in common with Bollywood: emphasis on the importance of society. Bollywood lovers are rarely, if ever, the types to give up and go live on a mountain top. They need family approval, family integration. In a way, FY is the same. Miaka spends the most influential, exciting months of her life inside the book of the Universe of the Four Gods. But she ends up back in modern Tokyo, living there. She falls madly in love with Tamahome, who is, when all is said and done, a supernatural, medieval-style warrior. But significantly, she can only have him for keeps when he's been transmogrified into a modern Japanese young man, fully integrated into society, able to function in it. After all, the first time he came to modern Japan, in his full battle armor, no knowledge of the modern world, he couldn't stay. In a way, it's symbolism for merging of dreams and reality. If the book is, in some ways, fantasy life, personification of what it feels like to really be deeply engrossed in a world of your imagination, what FY seems to say is that you need the ability to merge. You (in this case Miaka) cannot live just inside a fantasy. You have to exist in the real world. But a real would without trying to fulfill your dreams, without imagination, without striving (Miaka's world pre going into the book) is too drab and unsatisfying. In order to be a happy individual you have to merge the too. The same is true in a Bollywood film as well. The heroes and heroines do not want the arranged marriage. They want the romantic ideal, obstacles, fights, dances in Switzerland. But when all is said and done, the romantic choice gets OKed by the family, gets a stamp of approval by society, merging the individual and the group.
And this is the end of the really long thesis.
In completely different fandom meta, here follows meta on Battlestar Galactica. Namely the character of Dee. I think Dee just might be the most controversial current character on BSG. Interestingly enough, I haven't seen such strong aversion to Anders, who is, in some ways, Dee's reverse mirror (a new love interest for one half of a popular fandom pairing). Of course, it could be that I just haven't seen such on the flist, so correct me if I am wrong.
First, since so many opinions on Dee are driven by shipper preferences, let me state mine. I am not much of a shipper for BSG. My ship of choice for the show is Helo/Boomer. I mildly liked Kara/Lee earlier on (though never with overwhelming passion) but as the show has lost interest in shipping them, so have I.
So, what is my view on Dee? Honestly, I am bored by her. I am bored by Lee/Dee, at least what I've seen so far (for all I know, S3 will remedy that and have amazing scenes with the two of them, but for now, my boredom remains). It's interesting, because I do like Anders. He's grown on me, and now I am rather a mild Kara/Anders shipper. I enjoyed watching the two together, I will enjoy watching the two of them (or Anders interacting in general) in S3. I liked Dee earlier on just fine, as a secondary character. She was one of the roster of secondary characters I liked without being very motivated in seeing more of them (Gaeta, Cally, Kat, Billy etc). She is still a secondary character. I don't think her role has been expanded. The problem for me (and thus my losing inrerest in her) is that in the second half of the 2nd season, all or most of her scenes have been with Lee. Most of them relationship related. And I just don't find this interesting. Lee is a nice guy (well, sometimes). Dee is a nice woman. Both of them are attractive people (well, at least until Lee started hitting the noodle stash). And I have no trouble buying that they are at least reasonably content with each other. But that does not make them interesting to see. In fact, quite the contrary. It makes them rather uninteresting to this viewer. I think also, what goes hand in hand in making them not too interesting to me is that both are somewhat proper and well-behaved. Lee is capable of having fun (usually at Kara's instigation. Finger painting anyone?) but he is not a party machine. And it's not as if we've seen him have interesting or challenging debates or what not with Dee.
The thing with Anders and Kara is that, though they are happy together, they are fun to watch. Not just because they have chemistry which is lacking in Lee/Dee. They are loud rowdy and fun. I buy their attraction and their interaction. Watching a Kara/Anders scene feels fun. Watching Lee and Dee is a bit on the dull side. There is no conflict and thus no interest that way, but it's not balanced out by playful chemistry. So I am left with watching a relationship that probably works for the principals, but not exciting as TV. Whatever Kara and Lee have (and I will fully grant that it's not romantic) is always fun to watch, whether it's playful or antagonistic, though healthy it is not. Lee and Dee lack that spark to me, for now.
