Otakudemia: Border Crossings - the musical multiculturalism of Beck

With the primal screams and pounding rhythms of raw musical emotion, studio Madhouse and director Osamu Kobayashi rocked the anime world in 2004 with Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad, an anime that caters to the would-be rock star yearning inside the fingers of even the most timid otaku! That said, English-speaking viewers should throw their linguistic inhibitions out the window, forget all about the sub/dub debate, and listen to the original Japanese audio. It far surpasses that of the English dub because it distinguishes the English effort.

I say that because the original audio track incorporates both English and Japanese – nigh un-unwittingly so. That is to say, the Japanese audio is the reason to watch Beck because it exploits the idea of a foreigner (no band name pun intended, but duly recognized) and his influence on mainland Japanese culture.

Sure, the writers will try to explain it away with, “Oh, he only left the country and then came back,” but, because of the character’s affiliation, he is a foreigner for all rights and purposes. And as badly voiced as his English almost always is, it makes the presentation perfect because the character, a sixteen-year-old rocker, sounds slurringly drunk upon every English line delivered. But what are musicians if not drunks? Businessmen?

The very thing that makes this series initially watchable, besides the West’s obsession with corrupting the East (and the East’s with being corrupted by the West), is that the life of a band and its members is so accurately portrayed via a “series of down endings”.* After all, who wants to watch success? The joy of life is in the struggle. Watching someone eat cheesecake at a restaurant is boring, but laughing at them eating crumbs from a dumpster is funny and humbling.

Though watching the (romantic and technical) failures of the main character is painful – and I mean really painful – it relays real-world experience (semi-dramatically) as opposed to glossing over said failures in the interest of moving the plot along. The story and all its barbs make you, the viewer, stick to each happenstance and feel each down-turn, bringing you into the proverbial shoes of a teenager who wants nothing more than to be something more than what he has been.

The atrocity lies in attempting to watch this anime with the English dub track, which totally ignores the beautiful (if only unintentionally brilliant) bilingualism that sets up the main romantic conflict. Crossing borders is what Beck is all about, be they stylistic, cultural, or emotional. Ignoring such an extended metaphor would be detrimental to its intent, as shown through the many misunderstandings and dialogues throughout the series.

Admittedly cheating, I would counter any argument that Beck progresses slowly by saying that the plot is not what is in focus. Rather, it is the character development – all the trials and tribulations applied to a life in transition – that drives this episode-by-episode serial. Anyone familiar with the catharsis behind a scream, the mimicked strum of a guitar, or the reverberations of a desktop drum solo will tell you that it is music that drives the soul and the events behind life that drive the sympathy between player and listener.

Listeners, all of us, must identify with, if not the creators' intentions, then the events in our own lives that correlate with the Beck's consistent message: that we all can become something more than what society so often bullies us into believing is "impossible." So go ask the girl out, get up on stage, and show us your heart. You'd be amazed how much only the shadows of difference can accentuate similarities.

* from Kevin Smith’s movie Clerks

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Otakudemia: Translation as the Definitive Noir Element in Speed Grapher

Noir is hard to pin down as a genre, because most critics only selectively agree, collectively, on exactly what it is that comprises the style. Also, certain films carry the weight of noir without exhibiting any of the specific elements previously conferred upon. This lends to a know-it-when-you-see-it mentality more often than not applied to general mood in movies that “dealt with the kinds of tragedies, scandals, and duplicities that bordered on their audience’s everyday experiences and that appeared regularly in tabloids” (Grant 224). And if you’re looking to define noir through any specific distinction in the 2005 anime Speed Grapher, it’s all between the lines...literally. Cool your heels on the sub vs. dub debate and indulge in both to discover that the translation of the dialogue/monologues is what defines Speed Grapher’s sense of noir.

That said, film noir was originally a term used by French critics to describe Hollywood movies of the post-war 1940’s era (up through the 1950’s) that portray “a darker perspective upon life than was standard in classical Hollywood films and [concentrate] upon human depravity, failure, and despair” (Grant 221). After 1960, films of similar nature that actively try to emulate the classic noir style (for better or worse) are deemed neo-noir. Both terms imply use of a cinematic style with a particular way of lighting, positioning and moving the camera, and using retrospective voice-over narration (Grant 221).

Speed Grapher is the tale of Tatsumi Saiga, a photographer who gained his fame for his vivid portrayals of every edge of reality during a war but since has had his visa stripped by his country and now takes whatever paparazzi-esque job will pay the bills. He lives in a near-future Tokyo, where the economic climate has brought forth the rise of an all-controlling corporation (The Tennozu Group), which is headed by Shinsen Tennozu but controlled by her boy-toy, Suitengu, and acts as a front for the biggest example of indulgence around: the club. The club is a gathering place where those that can afford it come to engage their various perversions, be they lustful, violent, or some combination thereof. It is also the place where "the goddess" – Tennozu heir and hypnotized 15 year-old Kagura – bestows a blessing (kiss) on special club members that releases their innermost passion. This passion is then used by Suitengu for special jobs that may arise, usually murder. The story comes down to Saiga helping Kagura escape her situation after stumbling upon this club via one of the places for which he works. It is simultaneously the story about Suitengu's past, Kagura's situation, and Shinsen's cruelty.

Anime relies heavily upon translation to interact with audiences of different cultures via two means: subtitled releases (subs) and dubbed releases (dubs). Speed Grapher viewers fluent in understanding spoken Japanese or reading English are subject to only the visual elements of noir, as the subtitles reveal all-too polite/reserved speech that does not carry the necessary sense of desperation or hopelessness. The inferred “you” of the dubbed version translates into subtitles riddled with “sir” and “-san” when characters address each other, making exchanges either far too formal or familiar to be considered gritty; the language is flat, almost factual, with limited descriptors; and there’s a noted lack of the subtlety that gives noir its nuance. However, English-fluent viewers are subject to a much more pessimistic, downbeat, and crass oral experience, a “narrative [that] often relies heavily on flashbacks and choice of setting – usually a seedy, urban landscape, a world gone wrong” (Grant 221). As an example, read the following subtitles to Saiga’s opening monologue:

It’s been over a decade since the worldwide economic 'Bubble War.' Under the banner of global standards, the wealthy grew even wealthier and the poor grew helplessly poorer. The world’s winners gather in Tokyo, where there are no desires that money cannot fulfill. Money, money, money.... As they gained possessions, people also forgot the important things.

Now look at the dubbed version:

It’s been a decade since the 'Bubble War,' when the global economy burst and the insiders who held the needle pulled out early and swooped in like vultures to eat the remains at a fraction of the cost. Welcome to Tokyo, the city where all the winners came to jerk each other off. If you got enough money, you can buy anything your sick mind can dream up. If you don’t, you just try not to get crushed beneath the wheels.

If you want to cite production difficulties, such as lip-flap-matching, to try to explain the difference, it should be noted that the above voice-over occurs during nothing more than a panning cityscape and street scenes devoid of any technical hurdles. There is a decisive effort to Americanize (noir-inize?) the translation for the dub, voiced appropriately here by Washington D.C.-native Christopher Sabat, to “create a specific malaise and to drive home a social criticism,” another noir staple (Silver 373). Such criticism is brilliant as it actually works two ways – accosting the sociopolitical/economic environment of USA and warning Japan about the dangers of succumbing to the influence of outsiders – by using an American style (noir) within a Japanese medium (anime) to liken both cultures. Thus, a true neo-noir environment is only fully realized when the shadowy/dark visuals are combined with the Americanized dub.

Whether it is done via brief exchanges or introspective monologues, “one aspect of film noir which filmmakers have chosen to underscore is its forlorn romanticism, the need to find love and honor in a new society that venerates only sex and money.” (Silver 398). The translation of a quick conversation between Suitengu and Tsujido, in which they are assessing how to deal with the recent Saiga problem, verbally verifies the above statement. First the Japanese translation:

Suitengu: A battlefield cameraman?
Tsujido: Yes. It seems he’s stuck inside the country now, though.
Tsujido: Should we plant some bait and reel him in?
Suitengu: Money has no effect on a man like him.

And the English dub:

Suitengu: A war photographer, eh?
Tsujido: Yes. He’s in Tokyo now, toiling away in obscurity.
Tsujido: Should we attempt to lure Mr. Saiga back home?
Suitengu: There’d be no point. A man like him can’t be seduced by money.

To truly pick apart all the nuance here, the different connotations for words must be observed. “Money has no effect on a man like him” is appropriate, but cliché, and does not fully tie together the sex-and-money mentality so contrary to Saiga’s nature. However, “A man like him can’t be seduced by money” eliminates the cliché while tying in the seedy nature of what’s being proposed. The exchange also serves to highlight Saiga’s desperate situation, or rather his situation of despair in how he is described.

“Battlefield cameraman” sounds more energetic, more action-oriented, than “war photographer.” The former makes it sound as if Saiga is currently in the fray, even though the war he covered happened years ago, and the latter conjures a sense of reflection by mentioning war in general, which puts Saiga in a passive and helpless role. Such despair is further extended when you compare the sub’s trite “stuck inside this country” to the dub’s superior “toiling away in obscurity.” The language is more dense and leaves more of an emotional impact, even though this exchange takes place in a few seconds’ time. The fact that there are no long speeches in this anime actually lends all the more importance to what is said as well as how it is said.

Small lines of dialogue can ruin the atmosphere the visuals are so adept at creating by not matching the tone. It is here where the sense of politeness and place inherent in Japanese culture, stemming from a country-first attitude and the work ethic of tirelessly toiling away under vast numbers of superiors, contradicts the vengeance aspect of noir, the rat-in-a-corner attack on the world that suppresses them. A prime example of this can be seen in a simple line of dialog spoken by a euphoric dentist when coming after Saiga. Explaining what exactly he is doing there, the subtitles read:

Dr. Mizonokuchi: Everyone has been inconvenienced because of you. Accept the consequences for your crime.

And the dubbed audio says:

Dr. Mizonokuchi: You’ve made some powerful people very angry. So they’ve called on me to remove the decay.

Notice the emphasis of the subject of the sentence and the way the implication of threat virtually dissipates in the subtitled version. “Everyone” is a bland and generic term with no specific implications, “inconvenienced” sounds like Saiga spilled some water on the offended party’s pants during a party, and “Accept the consequences of your crime” sounds like advice from a parent or, at the worst, a soft reprimand from a cop- or judge-like authority figure. The dubbed version, however, gets the mood right by bringing in the notion of those in power, upping the ante to “angry,” and using a dentistry metaphor to drill home the doctor’s specific threat of danger while keeping within the overall mood.

Writing is hard work, and not many people realize it. To make a good noir story, it must stay within the bounds of the style it has set out to emulate or break said rules for a specific purpose. Speed Grapher’s obvious noir visual styling vs. horrible writing may be a case of one production team not knowing what the other was doing, incompatible wording, or just plain ol’ bad choice, but it only serves to hurt the overall effect of the series itself. Dubbing is hard work under any circumstance, and much more so when changing/adding so much original content. The adapted writing has to be meticulous, and inserting the full subtlety of noir into a given time/mouth pattern is not a job to be envied even under the best circumstances. Still, the Speed Grapher dub manages to up the noir ante for almost every line of dialogue, from the banal greetings to those that “[transcend] personal and generic outlook[s] to reflect cultural preoccupations” (Silver 398). Without the benefit of the dubbing, Speed Grapher could only qualify as a neo-noir if watched on mute and without subtitles, because the addition of the original Japanese would turn the dialogue into a parody of noir, which was definitely not the intent of the series.

Works Cited:

• Grant, Barry K., ed. "Film Noir." Schirmer Encyclopedia of Film 2 (2007): 221-29. Gale Virtual Reference Library. South Brunswick Public Library, Monmouth Junction. 19 Jan. 2008. Keyword: noir.
• Silver, Alain, Elizabeth Ward, R. Ward, and James Ursini, eds. Film Noir : An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style. New York: Overlook P, The, 1993.

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Otakudemia: When is an anime not an anime? When it's a Gothic novel

A deconstruction of Cossette no Shozo (Le Portrait de Petite Cossette)

Like most things, the idea of Gothic has undergone an evolution. What originally started out as a term used to identify a barbaric Germanic tribe came to describe a specific style of European architecture and then became synonymous with written tales of horror and the fantastic in England and the USA. Given the visual nature of human-kind, it is not surprising that the mediums of construction and text could accept visual media as a blended brother. Furthermore, with the amount of communication and information readily available to any interested party in the current era, it is not surprising that what was once isolated has become global. With that global availability and the like-mindedness of human nature, the cross-culture adaptation of genres was inevitable (you’re reading an essay about a Japanese anime based on European tradition as fawned over by a citizen of the USA after all).

Shojo anime and Gothic tales seem like brothers separated at birth in the respect that both have been considered intellectually lighter mediums that address issues of romance and the fantastic. However, where the “Gothic novel is a romance typically written as a long prose horror narrative that exhibits...qualities of doom and gloom as well as an emphasis on chivalry and magic,” a typical shojo anime is a romance typically written as a dramatic/comedic narrative stressing the humility and awkwardness of personal expression with an emphasis on a wealth of emotional frustration (Bedford, 149). Cossette no Shozo, directed by Akiyuki Shinbo and adapted for the screen by Mayori Sekijima, is a brilliant blending of both forms in that it forsakes everything inherently shojo, save the style of animation, in favor of telling a true Gothic tale in relation to its devices, characters, and settings/images.

If Gothic is to be considered as “[stemming] initially from a point of intersection between ‘realistic’ and rationally ‘unexplainable,’” then already Cossette no Shozo defies shojo tradition, which typically uses the explainable to bring about the ridiculous (Messent, 5). The premise, a young man (Eiri) falling in love with a girl who exists only in Victorian glassware (Cossette d’Auvergne), is pure fantasy. This fantastic notion is then colored gloomy by the Gothic aspects of decay, as made clear by the dust-gathering nature of antiques and the morbid nature of how the items came into Eiri’s possession, as well as the grotesque, with souls sucked bloodless and blood being spewed forth from inanimate objects, to “create an atmosphere of dread by combining terror with horror and mystery,” another Gothic mainstay (Thompson, 34). Another device of note is employed during the extractions of Eiri’s sins by Cossette.

Crucifixion, bloodletting, and the mental torture experienced by Eiri during the extraction of the hate given him via Cossette’s cursed objects evokes an element of Romantic Gothic, which “deals with the tormented condition of a creature suspended between the extremes of ... love and hate – and anguished by an indefinable guilt for some crime it cannot remember having committed” (Thompson, 33). First, it is Eiri’s duty, as explained by Cosette, to act as a sponge for the hate absorbed from the cursed objects that witnessed her horrific murder. He must also bear the pain of that hate’s extraction to lift the curse in the name of the love that he holds for her. Secondly, he also suffers from being a reincarnation of the man who killed Cossette, a fate over which he obviously had no control and the one that is the reason behind his required penance.

Premises aside, the characters in this story are hardly typical shojo. For one, Eiri is not the typical male love interest. He’s portrayed with an air of self-confidence, relates to and calmly interacts with his peers (male and female), and even carries around a certain aloof je ne sais quoi that defines his personality. Consequently, the definition of a Gothic hero is “typically a man known more for his power and charisma than for his personal goodness” (Bedford, 149). Even though he falls in love, and that fulfillment is what the story hinges upon, the coloring of the events and situations needed to be contended with along that journey is what defines this tale as Gothic instead of shojo.

Similarly, the heroine in this tale is a ghost: not an oft-used archetype used in shojo. Furthermore, the ghost is not fawning over Eiri because she thinks he is cute or because he has swept her off her feet by any other means (other than, perhaps, lifting her glass off the counter). Instead, Cossette is trying “to win his love without being destroyed in the process,” where continued solitude would constitute her mental destruction, and that is the nature of the typical Gothic heroine (Bedford Gloss, 149). Also note the differentiation in that Cossette is not trying to love but rather just trying to win the love of Eiri as to fulfill her own plans. As a main character, this is most rare with shojo (a notable exception being His & Her Circumstances).

As far as imagery is concerned, the visuals of Cossette no Shozo alternate in wallowing between Rococo Romance and Gothic gloom. The modern-day Japanese antique shop setting, while not allowing for the Gothic architectural standards of “vaulted ceilings, ‘flying’ buttresses, and pointed arches,” does manage to integrate the four forms of painting to which the ... Gothic style was applied: frescoes, panel paintings, manuscript illumination, and stained glass (Bomarito, 475). The flashbacks to Cossette’s past and certain areas outside the main setting of the antique shop, however, abound with the typical architectural elements as well as Gothic decadence.

Aside from the appearance of specific types of art within the story, the surrealistic images used to depict the purgatory in which Cossette waits directly reflect the macabre and grotesque nature of the Gothic. Here, skulls, blood, and chains abound at every turn and flow over every edge. Religious images (crosses, mainly) also appear repetitively, acknowledging the fact that Gothic was, in part, a reaction to and recollection of values in The Ages of Faith and a celebration of what Romantics would call a freedom of spirit.

Cossette no Shozo is a fantastical story filled to the brim with art, blood, and period architecture. It is focused around a decadent (often-times disturbingly naked) youth, who happens to be a ghost exacting her revenge on a boy who happens to be the reincarnation of the man who killed her. There’s your typical shojo anime. Oh, wait. No it’s not. Even though there’s a love, it’s enthralled to the Gothic traditions and therefore not at all what is expected of an anime. It takes full advantage of mysterious character, gloomy settings, and grotesque images to offer a story as true to an over-actively dreadful imagination as any writings of Edgar Allen Poe or Stephen King.

Works Cited

• “Visual Arts and the Gothic.” Gothic Literature: A Gale Critical Companion. Ed. Jessica Bomarito. Vol. 1: Topics. Detroit: Gale, 2006. p475-526.
• Messent, Peter B., ed. Literatue of the Occult: A Collection of Essays. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1981.
• Murfin, Ross and Supryia M. Ray. The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms. New York: Bedford Books,1997.
• Thompson, G. R. “A Dark Romanticism: In Quest of a Gothic Monomyth.” Literatue of the Occult: A Collection of Essays. Ed. Peter Messent. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1981.

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Introducing a new column: Otakudemia

Last week, I introduced everybody to our newest staff member here at Ani-Gamers: Ink. He has agreed to start a new column called "Otakudemia," featuring his academic critique of anime (and possible manga and games). Yes, I said "academic critique." He will be applying the skills of literary academia to a discussion of Japanese pop culture, providing for a literate view of anime, manga, and games that is rarely seen in our quickly growing otaku fanbase.

Some of our other staff members - myself included - might write a few articles for the column as well, though Ink is its primary writer. The first entry in Otakudemia will be published later tonight, so check back around 9PM to make yourself SMARTR.

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