Forum - View topicThe Mike Toole Show - Wake Me Up Before You Shojo
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Fronzel
Posts: 1906 |
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The problem with Toole's articles is that I want to watch nearly everything he describes but it usually isn't possible.
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walw6pK4Alo
 Posts: 9322 |
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Forget angst and adolescent themes, a lot of these shows demonstrate that cute girls being the prominent feature of an anime wasn't invented in 2002 by rogue otaku producers. There's a clear groundwork laid out by the predecessors and it's so easy to trace. One you didn't mention but I've only seen the first four and only fansubbed episodes of is Hikari no Densetsu, about a girl with friend and boy troubles while balancing her passion for rhythm gymnastics and the rivalries that come from competition. I feel like these sorts of anime are the ones that grew up dramatically in art and storytelling, they've gone from Kimagure Orange Road, which I do find remarkably slow and stilted at times, to shows like White Album where the drama is brought out further and the supernatural elements disappear. The only thing keeping either of those titles from being classic shoujo is that they're not consistent with design, they don't look like Paradise Kiss or NANA.
I've heard only good things about Creamy Mami, so that's probably the best place to start. I'm thinking about starting Tokimeki Tonight, as I've seen the ending theme tossed around in old anime threads elsewhere, and it's captivating. The major problem I have with old anime isn't how they look or even video quality, it's the sound quality. It's degraded and rough, and it's always interesting to note how well the quality of the OPs and EDs serves in striking contrast. Last edited by walw6pK4Alo on Sun Jun 17, 2012 12:06 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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dandelion_rose
 Posts: 657 Location: Kuala Lumpur |
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My gosh! That's the anime I was looking for -- Honey Honey! (somehow I keep remembering it as Cutie Honey, except every time I check it i know it's not right).
I remember one episode where she got tipsy drinking a yellowish liquid that I was pretty sure was alcohol, but which she kept referring to as apple cider vinegar. Me being a kid, decided to pester Mom to buy apple cider vinegar just to see if it had that same effect (it didn't of course). |
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dandelion_rose
Posts: 657 Location: Kuala Lumpur |
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I'm not sure why this even needs to be mentioned -- as if the current 'moe' dominance needs to be constantly defended. I find it slightly annoying tbh. There's a difference between recent 'cute girl' shows and the kind of stuff like Minky Momo. Something like Lucky Star is aimed at a male demographic -- pretty sure that I remember that it appeared in a shounen mag. Magazines like Ribon and Nakayoshi were aimed at girls. The kind of cross-gender appeal happened more recently; probably Sailormoon was one of the breakthrough shoujo titles that appealed to both a male and female audience. Edit: I didn't expect my response to come right after my post. I wanted to edit the previous post to include this, but I can't find a 'delete' option. Last edited by dandelion_rose on Sun Jun 17, 2012 12:16 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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prabb
 Posts: 86 |
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Wait. It's hard to read because it shows the twin towers? That's it?
trigger warning: twin, towers, north, south, wtc |
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walw6pK4Alo
Posts: 9322 |
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It does, from people who believe it to be some new phenomena which clashes with their idea of anime not being like that decades prior. Same with panty shoots and male gaze in comedy shows, maybe it's much more obvious than before, but it's not new. At least no one complains about the Pretty Cures, right? |
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Wiesteria
Posts: 141 |
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Haha, I have that exact Honey Honey VHS. Ah, this article brings back memories.
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dandelion_rose
Posts: 657 Location: Kuala Lumpur |
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Are you seriously saying that Honey Honey and Minky Momo had a dedicated fanbase of creepy grown-up men who were going nuts over "tsun tsun dere dere" character archetypes in the 1960s-70s? And I'm really tired of dealing with post-2000s fans who try to convince older fans that the moe dominance (which we do not like, and which we will not like even if you keep trying to 'argue' us into it) is all in our head, when they know very well that it isn't. Just check out Danny Choo's blog with pictures of Akihabara when he first got there and Akihabara now. Dear god, you'd think that with the way people get up and ready to defend moe, it's like they're not confident of being the ones 'funding the industry'. |
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zawa113
 Posts: 7358 |
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Ha, man! The Cipher OVA! I just saw this within the past week myself! Frickin' hilarious! One of those "so bad it's good" sorts of things. But I must ask:
Did you actually read any of the original manga? At least according to CMX's translation, the girl's name is Anise. Granted, Ellie is still a character. She's Cipher and Siva's calico cat. But I did notice the OVA credits the girl as being "Ellie", which baffles me beyond all belief. Much like the fact that this OVA exists. But yeah, I don't understand this OVA at all. There's a Phil Collins song, and I get why the Thompson Twins song is there as the mangaka talks about how much she likes them in like half her 1/4 columns, but why is there a Thompson Twins song? And I've read the damn manga, none of the story is in there! Which is a shame as the manga is a great coming of age story about two twins/former child actors trying to get out of each other's shadow. And all the damn OVA shows is part of an excursion to California for the movie filming when the manga never really went into much about the movie Cipher was making. Because it honestly didn't matter in the grand scheme of things. Really, I had to think hard to determine what part of the story they were trying to reference here, I can't imagine that anyone who hasn't read the manga would be able to decipher a single thing here. I also don't get why they bothered to give Alex that random cameo (shame his spinoff manga never came over). But really, there was so much story to the manga, it's a great series that could have made a very good actual anime instead of this drivel. As a fan of the manga, I don't really look at this as a "look, fans! this is for you!", though maybe it's because I live in America and found the Engrish to be hilarious instead of cool. But man, as bad and incomprehensible as the OVA is, the manga is very good, anyone looking for some classic 80s shojo should hunt it down. It's not too hard to find despite being a CMX title. Not hard to find yet anyway. |
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Kikaioh
 Posts: 1205 Location: Antarctica |
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Thank you Dandelion, you said exactly what I was thinking. Cute little girls targeted at children is one thing ---- cute little girls targeted at male otaku is something completely different. |
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Myaow
 Posts: 1068 |
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Exactly!! I've wanted to see "Ai Shite Knight" forever because of its adorably funky "Jem and the Holograms"y style, but there is seriously NO way to find it in the USA! Even the English-language fansubbers have totally neglected it. It makes me so sad. I'd love anyone who managed to pick it up for streaming or something! I guess I could always learn Italian and import the DVDs. Heck, the Italians apparently loved "Kiss Me Licia" (as it was dubbed there) so much that they produced their own live-action sequel! |
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agila61
 Posts: 3213 Location: NE Ohio |
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I find it likely that pretty close to everybody is expecting manga and anime targetting tween and teenage girls to feature cute school-age girls as protagonists. |
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Princess_Irene
ANN Associate Editor
 Posts: 2655 Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City |
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Hikari no Densetsu has an anime?! Oh, I have to track that down! The manga is currently being published in French in bunko form - it's like a slightly less angsty Swan, highly addictive. And I will put in a vote for Lady Georgie, since Mike mentioned it at the end there. It's based on a manga by Yumiko Igarashi about a foundling girl in Victorian-era Australia and her journey to London to find out who she is, not to mention a love triangle between her and two brothers. I remember the manga better than the show, but I enjoyed them both.
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Lord Geo
Posts: 2679 Location: North Brunswick, New Jersey |
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Man, Mike, that Minky Momo ending... It takes some real ballsiness to do an ending like that, and I really respect them for trying it out. I only really knew of Minky Momo due to the Nikctoon My Life as a Teenage Robot, because one of the stories started off with one of the main characters singing a fake song about how "The Minky Momo is an attitude.." I also love your ability to make the phrase "a young girl who [insert magical ability here] to transform into a slightly older young girl" something that never gets tiring. It is funny how they all have to be slightly older, because we all know how unbelievable it is for young girls to save the world... But slightly older young girls is completely believable!
And you just have to love that hair in Ai Shite Knight. |
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Kenotic
 Posts: 167 |
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Man, I remember watching Honey, Honey on CBN in the 80s. They also had Leo The Lion (a follow-up to Simba) as well as their two Bible-oriented series, Superbook and Flying House.
And yes, this does make Pat Robertson's CBN the 80s version on Toonami
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