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dangermousieTen episodes in, and it’s official: I enjoy SM but it’s not going anywhere near my Top 10.
I have come to the realization that what I ended up watching is really an anime version of a procedural, something I don’t usually do (they exist, I just tend not to seek them out in any media). Only the ‘procedure’ here is the functioning and administration of a fantasy country. And procedurals are not something I particularly love or even have much interest in.
In a way, this is sort of a fantasy C-SPAN, and I have never been one fascinated by world-building. I might be interested to read (and have done so) a book on how the government in e.g. Ancient China or modern-day Ghana, or medieval Florence worked/works, but I don’t think I’d want a weekly show following the government officials of these places. And more importantly, I have even less interest when the world the story is analyzing is fictional. I want the fictional world to be internally coherent and consistent, but developed only to such a degree as to seem real enough. When a large chunk of the story (novel or anime) is occupied by describing the nitty-gritty of the world, I lose interest. One of many reasons I am not huge into fantasy novels.
I don’t particularly have much interest in finding out how the fictional ministry of finance works, in detail. And I really don’t care about the intricacies of governing a remote fictional province which doesn’t exist in RL.
What I want in my anime (and other media) is a tight, unitary plot and/or intense character interactions and relationship (plantonic or romantic) development, and I am forced to conclude that SM is never going to have that. It’s never going to have a Fushigi Yuugi-type fantasy quest story, or any other strongly plot-driven narrative. Most of the anime I have ever loved had a very strong narrative and strong narrative drive, and the more of it, the better (it’s pretty in character that e.g. my favorite of the three Full Metal Panic seasons is the third one, with the sole, intense arc).
The only exceptions to that rule are the purely comedic/parodic anime, such as Ouran High School Host Club, and Full Metal Panic:Fumoffu, but in those anime, even if there was no strong unitary narrative, each episode had its own, fast-paced comedic narrative. The pace of an average ep of Ouran or Fumoffu was insane and very tightly wound. SM meanders in a leisurely fashion. It makes me think, in that respect, of Cowboy Beebop, an anime where I loved the few arc-plot-driven episodes, but found the pace of the rest to be too leisurely to really adore the show. And I suppose the earlier eps of Rurouni Kenshin were not unitarily-plotted, but they did have a narrative arc in each ep, plus Kenshin’s quirkiness. Not to mention that I like watching swordfights more than watching politics.
And of course, the thing with Fumoffu was that it was a breathing space between the intensity of FMP and FMP:TSR. I would not mind non-plot-driven eps if the overall narrative was plot driven. Ouran was just its own thing and broke most of my anime love rules. It also poked fun at itself which is something I love in my anime, and SM is not doing. But also, in addition to fast internal-per-ep narratives, it had wacky hijinks and oddball characters. There aren’t really hijinks in SM as a rule, and its characters are all lovely, pretty well-adjusted, well-behaved people. Once again, more realistic, but for me, fictionally less interesting.
It’s as if in Ouran, we largely followed not the adventures of the wacky host club, but Haruhi’s studies in her path of becoming a lawyer. The shift in focus.
I basically only become really invested and perk up when Ryuuki is on screen. This does make me feel as a period-clothes version of Ouran ;) I am not too interested in seeing a General run a court properly, or a minister analyze documents, or fictional political infighting in fictional kingdom. The people are nice and competent but except for Ryuuki, leave me nothing to glom onto, as characters. They are someones I wouldn’t mind having over for dinner, but not people I want to watch in screen.
Ryuuki is funny, and quirky, and has issues and basically feels like a cool fictional character to follow. He also has a drive of a personal nature, not just ‘I like to do government stuff.’
Which brings me to Shuurei. She would be a nice person, and a proper official, but as a heroine, she doesn’t interest me much. She has no issues, no quirks, no strong-willed passionate outbursts. She has the most ‘even’ life I have ever seen in an anime heroine: she wants to become a beaurocrat and serve the state. The end. But where is the dramatic tension in it? The narrative interest? It’s a praiseworthy goal for a real person, but once again, fictionally it’s C-SPAN. She has no internal or even interesting external conflict. At all.
I also can’t ship her with anyone, because she isn’t interested in anyone. I can’t even ship her with Ryuuki, because even though he is in love with her, her attitude towards him is ‘I love you like I love 28 of my closest friends.’ Leaving aside that this is shoujo, in RL, I would say there is NO chance she would ever reciprocate. Yes, in RL, sometimes people end up falling for each other after being friends for a while first, but then at least there is some UST first. If she isn’t interested at all by now after knowing him really well as a person, and after he rescued her from a tower full of assassins, or passed a decree allowing her to take the imperial exam, she is never going to be interested. Seriously. It pains me to say so, but it’s true.
Basically, SM is very good, but unless it picks up a plot, which I don’t think it will, or develops interestingly intense character bonds (or spends more time on those it mentioned)* not really my thing. I like it, but alas, no new favorite is born.
Also, enough with 40 new characters, or what feels like it! How many main characters can the story have?
* I did not talk much above about my other alternative love, character relationship exploration, but once again, this does not seem to have a driven, changing, intense interaction between characters (as romantic, friendly, antagonistic, or whatnot). They are all nice people interacting nicely so dramatic tension isn't really there.
I have come to the realization that what I ended up watching is really an anime version of a procedural, something I don’t usually do (they exist, I just tend not to seek them out in any media). Only the ‘procedure’ here is the functioning and administration of a fantasy country. And procedurals are not something I particularly love or even have much interest in.
In a way, this is sort of a fantasy C-SPAN, and I have never been one fascinated by world-building. I might be interested to read (and have done so) a book on how the government in e.g. Ancient China or modern-day Ghana, or medieval Florence worked/works, but I don’t think I’d want a weekly show following the government officials of these places. And more importantly, I have even less interest when the world the story is analyzing is fictional. I want the fictional world to be internally coherent and consistent, but developed only to such a degree as to seem real enough. When a large chunk of the story (novel or anime) is occupied by describing the nitty-gritty of the world, I lose interest. One of many reasons I am not huge into fantasy novels.
I don’t particularly have much interest in finding out how the fictional ministry of finance works, in detail. And I really don’t care about the intricacies of governing a remote fictional province which doesn’t exist in RL.
What I want in my anime (and other media) is a tight, unitary plot and/or intense character interactions and relationship (plantonic or romantic) development, and I am forced to conclude that SM is never going to have that. It’s never going to have a Fushigi Yuugi-type fantasy quest story, or any other strongly plot-driven narrative. Most of the anime I have ever loved had a very strong narrative and strong narrative drive, and the more of it, the better (it’s pretty in character that e.g. my favorite of the three Full Metal Panic seasons is the third one, with the sole, intense arc).
The only exceptions to that rule are the purely comedic/parodic anime, such as Ouran High School Host Club, and Full Metal Panic:Fumoffu, but in those anime, even if there was no strong unitary narrative, each episode had its own, fast-paced comedic narrative. The pace of an average ep of Ouran or Fumoffu was insane and very tightly wound. SM meanders in a leisurely fashion. It makes me think, in that respect, of Cowboy Beebop, an anime where I loved the few arc-plot-driven episodes, but found the pace of the rest to be too leisurely to really adore the show. And I suppose the earlier eps of Rurouni Kenshin were not unitarily-plotted, but they did have a narrative arc in each ep, plus Kenshin’s quirkiness. Not to mention that I like watching swordfights more than watching politics.
And of course, the thing with Fumoffu was that it was a breathing space between the intensity of FMP and FMP:TSR. I would not mind non-plot-driven eps if the overall narrative was plot driven. Ouran was just its own thing and broke most of my anime love rules. It also poked fun at itself which is something I love in my anime, and SM is not doing. But also, in addition to fast internal-per-ep narratives, it had wacky hijinks and oddball characters. There aren’t really hijinks in SM as a rule, and its characters are all lovely, pretty well-adjusted, well-behaved people. Once again, more realistic, but for me, fictionally less interesting.
It’s as if in Ouran, we largely followed not the adventures of the wacky host club, but Haruhi’s studies in her path of becoming a lawyer. The shift in focus.
I basically only become really invested and perk up when Ryuuki is on screen. This does make me feel as a period-clothes version of Ouran ;) I am not too interested in seeing a General run a court properly, or a minister analyze documents, or fictional political infighting in fictional kingdom. The people are nice and competent but except for Ryuuki, leave me nothing to glom onto, as characters. They are someones I wouldn’t mind having over for dinner, but not people I want to watch in screen.
Ryuuki is funny, and quirky, and has issues and basically feels like a cool fictional character to follow. He also has a drive of a personal nature, not just ‘I like to do government stuff.’
Which brings me to Shuurei. She would be a nice person, and a proper official, but as a heroine, she doesn’t interest me much. She has no issues, no quirks, no strong-willed passionate outbursts. She has the most ‘even’ life I have ever seen in an anime heroine: she wants to become a beaurocrat and serve the state. The end. But where is the dramatic tension in it? The narrative interest? It’s a praiseworthy goal for a real person, but once again, fictionally it’s C-SPAN. She has no internal or even interesting external conflict. At all.
I also can’t ship her with anyone, because she isn’t interested in anyone. I can’t even ship her with Ryuuki, because even though he is in love with her, her attitude towards him is ‘I love you like I love 28 of my closest friends.’ Leaving aside that this is shoujo, in RL, I would say there is NO chance she would ever reciprocate. Yes, in RL, sometimes people end up falling for each other after being friends for a while first, but then at least there is some UST first. If she isn’t interested at all by now after knowing him really well as a person, and after he rescued her from a tower full of assassins, or passed a decree allowing her to take the imperial exam, she is never going to be interested. Seriously. It pains me to say so, but it’s true.
Basically, SM is very good, but unless it picks up a plot, which I don’t think it will, or develops interestingly intense character bonds (or spends more time on those it mentioned)* not really my thing. I like it, but alas, no new favorite is born.
Also, enough with 40 new characters, or what feels like it! How many main characters can the story have?
* I did not talk much above about my other alternative love, character relationship exploration, but once again, this does not seem to have a driven, changing, intense interaction between characters (as romantic, friendly, antagonistic, or whatnot). They are all nice people interacting nicely so dramatic tension isn't really there.
