Konshuu Volume 59, Issue 1

KONSHUU vol. 59 #1

Global

Ben Tennyson & Aliens Ben 10 Art By Heaven Jones

KONSHUU | Volume 59, Issue 1

THIS ISSUE’S FEATURED SERIES! ANIME RECOMMENDATION

BY WAI KWAN WU

Kaitou Joker

Joker, a phantom thief, takes us on a wild ride in search of the world's greatest treasures, encountering old rivals and new friends alike! Every episode is just as much of a treat as the next. Strap in for a colorful adventure filled with comedy, feuding rivals, and… molecular science!?

Winter 2014, Shin-Ei Animation

By Yukiyo Teramoto 13 episodes

ANIME RECOMMENDATION

BY WAI KWAN WU

Aria the Animation

Fall 2005, HAL Film Maker Directed by Junichi Sato 13 episodes

In the city of Neo Venice on Mars, a humble little business by the name of Aria Company takes customers gondola rides around town. Akari, a new apprentice of the company, learns to appreciate all the beauties that the city has to offer. Slice-of-life fans will not want to miss the quaint charm of this series!

KONSHUU | Volume 59, Issue 1

Nero Claudius Fate/Extra Art By Catherine Rha

KONSHUU | Volume 59, Issue 1

BEYOND B A HARSH CRITIQUE O RAHM JETHANI

Writer

2nd Year, English & Japanese

Or: The Side Story Nobody Needed (or Wanted)

SPOILERS FOR CODE GEASS: AKITO THE EXILED! In one of my previous articles, I briefly described my then-current thoughts on the Code Geass OVA spinoff project, Akito the Exiled. Even though my opinion has since changed, and I neither consider it a “true hidden gem” nor “peak”, I’ve maintained appreciation for Akito the Exiled’s merits that set it apart from the rest of the ever-expanding Code Geass multimedia series. That being said though, appreciation does not always equal enjoyment, so let me elaborate.

In many ways, this show is an awkward entry in the Code Geass series. Taking place in Europe instead of Japan, Akito the OVA series follows Akito the brooding teenager along with a ragtag group of soldiers who stage their own revolution against the reign of Britannia. The story is on a much smaller scale than the original anime, which isn’t something to necessarily complain about. However, its ideas ultimately culminate into nothing because the events of Akito the Exiled are awkwardly sandwiched between the first two seasons of the original Code Geass anime, leaving little room for meaningful depth (and therefore reasons for this side project’s existence) to occur. This anime doesn’t quite reach the level of ridiculousness present in other Code Geass spin-offs like Renya and Oz, but even its triumphs only serve to isolate it further from its own series. In no world is it favorable to fully evaluate Akito the Exiled as simply “another Code Geass anime”, exactly because its strengths and focuses are so different.

And contrary to popular belief, Akito the Exiled does have strengths. Relationship dynamics, fight choreography, visual aesthetic, and music are all really solid here, and are the main aspects I enjoyed while watching this series. The ways in which these elements combined in certain scenes, like the dramatic confrontation between Leila and Shin at the end of OVA 4, absolutely blew me away. However, in line with popular belief, Akito the Exiled also has strong detracting factors such as a convoluted story that makes literally no sense (and actively undermines the original’s impact), lazy and pointless fanservice, and forgettable one-note characters in comparison to the original colorful cast. Constant comparison to the original series, while perhaps not fair due to the different targets each anime aimed for, clearly highlight the narrative nosedive the Code Geass series underwent after the original series concluded.

In regards to Akito the Exiled’s flaws, it should be noted that they are relatively tame and that these problems only became exaggerated in the subsequent Code Geass multi-series projects.

As a result, I still consider Akito the Exiled the best spin-off in comparison to the descendingly abysmal quality of Renya, Oz, and R3. But, bad writing is still bad writing, and I’m still very disappointed that Akito the Exiled didn’t live up to its predecessor.

While I did praise this OVA series for having good relationship dynamics, the dynamics are unfortunately more interesting than the actual characters involved in them. For example, the dynamic between the two main characters Akito and Leila was clearly well thought out, and their relationship with each other allowed for both characters to make important decisions, as well as for interesting story sequences. However, their dynamic ultimately felt unsatisfying because there was no profound or meaningful character growth. Both characters, at the start

KONSHUU | Volume 59, Issue 1

BRITANNIA: OF AKITO THE EXILED and end of the series, could be described using the same short and boring archetypes (I’ll try it now: Akito is the distant, lonely, “cool” edgelord; Leila is a caring, thoughtful woman who the public likes because she’s the one politician who’s not corrupt or racist). Likewise, pivotal characters to this story like Shin and Ashley have arbitrary and contrived reasons for doing what they do, which makes the audience’s connection with them equally arbitrary and contrived.

as a child), and also moments where the unexplained nature of certain Geass powers are used as a deus ex machina (Leila’s Geass can transport her back in time and also summon ghosts for some unexplained reason). This weak point of Akito the Exiled can be grouped with and described like the other two flaws I pointed out earlier: the story has arbitrary contrivances, and makes lazy writing decisions that come off as desperate and shallow.

The fanservice in Akito the Exiled is also quite bland, clearly only used to get people to watch this series. In fairness to the Sunrise team, they did create an admittedly awesome design for the returning Lelouch, but his implementation in the story was quite forced. His segments of the story took away from time that could have been spent developing more central characters to the plot of this OVA series. Furthermore, Lelouch’s inclusion here doesn’t add anything to his character either, due to him being brainwashed during the time of Akito the Exiled. He doesn’t really do anything either, aside from making one general political announcement and getting his plans discovered by Shin so that the writers can tell the audience that Shin is really cool.

This kind of storytelling is boring, belittling, and desperate.

I should say that despite these problems, I enjoyed watching Akito the Exiled. It’s a good anime to turn your brain off to, if that makes sense. As stated previously, the fight choreography, landscapes, and energetic jazz soundtrack are phenomenal.

These aspects are probably better than the original series, at least in my opinion. Furthermore, this project has its unique quirks that make it worth watching as a standalone thing. The smaller cast allows for more nuances to be present and develop in relationship dynamics, and while many characters are flat, they can be quite entertaining too (Ashley in particular was awesome). However, the story and character writing can range from passable to outright atrocious, with no semblance of logic to tie it together. This series is definitely worth watching if the world of Code Geass intrigues you, but it is also full of careless writing that doesn’t care to justify itself.

The story of Akito the Exiled faces a lot of scrutiny, especially with its additions to the Code Geass lore, and the role of Geass in this story (although the strange pacing is an issue too). The inclusions of the Caretaker of Spacetime, “fragments of Geass”, and the reasons why certain characters have Geass are all simultaneously complicated yet unnecessarily vague. There are moments when the specific loopholes of a certain Geass allow for victory (Akito’s interpretation of Shin’s “die” command

KONSHUU | Volume 59, Issue 1

AROUND THE WORLD WITH THE NEW ONE PIECE OPS WAI KWAN WU

Editor-in-Chief

3rd Year, Molecular Cell Biology

We have peaked :,,)

Ask any One Piece fan and they can tell you: anime watchers have been eating well recently. There's a good reason for that: there's been an exciting rise in talented young animators at Toei Animations, and that directly translates to some of the most exciting stuff that we've been seeing in the franchise. While I personally prefer some of Toei's other ventures and wish we got some of those folks there instead, it's hard to not feel infected by the waves of optimism that emerge whenever a cool new episode of One Piece drops. And within this realm of exciting One Piece events, no one has made as big of a splash as Megumi Ishitani, a prolific director who burst into the scene with their excellent direction on some big episodes. Ishitani episodes always end up being a big deal, which I can definitely respect but not always have the context to fully appreciate. That being said, Ishitani has also recently found herself directing a few openings for the franchise, which are things that I can absolutely appreciate on their own. And boy let me tell you, they're pretty dang amazing.

The first is Saikou Toutatsuten, which capped off the end of the Wano arc. It starts off rather unassumingly, with a simple ink circle containing recap footage in the center of the screen.

This blossoms into something greater though, as Luffy eventually bursts through the circle and we are immediately taken into a journey through One Piece. A forty second segment encapsulating over a thousand episodes worth of One Piece history may sound like a Herculean task, but Ishitani has a way. As the opening zooms through over thirty shots showcasing different characters, the circle motif in the center ties everything together. This is such an incredibly brilliant motif, as visually it man-

ages to connect the many colorful shots together via a single throughline, turning it into a cohesive whole. Praise also has to be said about the sheer amount of ways that the OP is able to create the circular imagery, ranging from positive space to negative space to virtually everything in between, making it a ton of fun to go back and examine everything in detail. Of course, this barely scratches the surface of what this OP manages to achieve, because the motif is also incredibly resonant thematically, with the unification of the circle showing how everyone's connected, and how everything has come full circle in the long journey of One Piece. This truly makes it a wonderful celebration of One Piece, and even as someone from the outside looking in, it's easy to see how much love this opening holds for the franchise.

Anyone would've been satisfied by this one opening, but Ishitani would soon follow up with yet another masterpiece, with the introduction of the Egghead arc following Wano. Assu! enters the show perfectly capturing the zany energy of the franchise and remains no less impressive. This opening goes for flatter, brighter colors in approach, and makes the designs of the characters stretchier than ever before. The personality comes through in spades, from the gang bouncing around in this new world to Luffy whizzing across the screen. The command that Ishitani has over color design that allows for this level of expression without ever coming off as garish is nothing short of breathtaking. And heck, when the chorus drops and Luffy flies over the city in Gear 5 form? That's just an absolute banger, and the infectious energy of it all makes it easy to fall in love more and more. If Saikou Toutatsuten is an emotional tribute to the extensive history of the franchise, then Assu! Is a joyous and exciting look at the future, and what's to come for the franchise.

And by the looks of things, it looks like the brakes on One Piece aren't going to be hit anytime soon.

So yeah, hate to say it, but One Piece really is peak. God bless.

KONSHUU | Volume 59, Issue 1

HOW BANANA FISH UNDERSTANDS AMERICA DEVON NGUYEN

Writer

3rd Year, Anthropology

‘Merica

For a good two decades now, western anime fans have bemoaned and joked about the depictions of Americans and American culture in their favorite series. Ranging from hilariously outdated to surprisingly on the mark, it’s always been entertaining to see how countries incorporate the United States into their stories, what more when said stories actually take place in it. This brings us to Akimi Yoshida’s hit eighties thriller manga, Banana Fish, which features an almost exclusive American cast and setting. Even when the 2018 anime diverges from the manga in terms of time period, it still feels wholly different from what other mangaka have tried.

Right out of the gate, the manga delves into the nitty gritty politics of the eighties. Whether it be the rampant number of runaway children who were kidnapped and forced into human trafficking rings or the devastating crack epidemic, Yoshida wove those mainstay issues into her story, constantly reminding the reader that what her characters witnessed and experienced was very much real. I was pleasantly surprised whenever the Vietnam War was mentioned, even more so when the drafting of Ash’s older brother essentially kicked off the entire plot. Even in America, media focused on the Vietnam War pales in comparison to media of other armed conflicts the country was involved in, so for a twenty eight Japanese mangaka to make that integral to her plot is pretty amazing. I also find the addition of the rivalries between the Chinese and Vietnamese gangs to be small, yet poignant in detail. Just the simple acknowledgement of Chinese-Vietnamese relations–in the eighties no less, when hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese people fled to the United

States a decade prior, thus making these tensions become diasporic–says a lot about how Yoshida fully immerses her stories in the culture of the era. Capturing the harsh and unforgiving atmosphere of New York in the eighties is no easy job, but she managed to do so without ever having visited the state before and during serialization.

The 2018 anime switches things up by having the plot set in the modern era instead of the eighties, something which I (and other fans) have mixed feelings about. The New York of the twenty-ten’s is nothing compared to the New York of the eighties.

Gang violence isn’t as prevalent as it used to be, drugs aren’t as accessible, and the overall image of the city has livened up significantly. And instead of the Vietnam War being the catalyst that set off the plot, it’s the War on Terror, a conflict that doesn’t feel as intertwined in the narrative like the former. In spite of this, the anime manages to capture the general vibes of the modern-era city quite nicely. The fashion is quintessentially New York and the speech and slang feels recent, not to mention the fantastic background work. Most anime depict the city as just another metropolis with tons of people, cars, and skyscrapers–maybe the occasional landmark or hotdog cart too. With the anime, it’s like the animators look at pictures taken from the people who lived in New York and breathed new life into them.

But if there’s one thing that Yoshida truly gets right about her writing about America, it’s her understanding of the country’s vast diversity. New York isn’t just an ordinary city, it’s a city with an intimate relationship with immigrants from across the world.

I think it’s amazing (and a little disappointing) that a manga from the eighties exhibits racial diversity better than other western focused series that’ve been published in the past decade. Even without having visited New York or the United States, Yoshida was still able to see what others still have yet to recognize, and I think that’s wonderful.

VOLUME 59, ISSUE 1 FEBRUARY 23, 2023

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Great Pretender Art By Miranda Zhang