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How Mari Okada Went From Shut-In to Anime Director

Notably, the things I haven't seen are all the ones that she is most praised for, namely Hana-Saku Iroha, anohana, and Simoun, so...I oughta fix that sometime, and maybe I'll better understand her popularity. There are certainly writers/artists/directors who I might have different opinions on if I'd seen their worst stuff first, after all.

Anime is in a situation where there is a shortage of screenwriters overall. It's not uncommom for a writer to be credited to more than 2 shows at once. They're nothing like showrunners on Western TV where the writer is the boss. So since all these writers are too busy managing scripts for several projects, you can't expect any large amount of narrative input.

lololol that cute little loli keeps saying "anal". By the way this is actually a pretty typical "Okada-ism".

It's funny when little kids say inappropriate things (in fact, that's basically the main premise of the first few volumes of the Shin-chan manga).

It's also funny when people are embarrassed about some aspect of their younger selves (it's the entire point of parents breaking out the baby pictures and showing them to their kids' significant others).

It's also funny when people's names or nicknames have unintended sexual meanings (I knew that Bulma's name meant "breasts" years before I ever saw an episode of Dragonball Z).

I'm not sure why you think that any of these elements could be deemed "Okada-isms"

or why you refer to the character as a loli (her character design hits a lot of otaku buttons, but none of them are "underdeveloped for her age" or "sexualized child").

And this is where individual taste comes into the picture.

Yeah, I'm sure that the show going out of its way to show the main character being embarrassed at feeling her breasts against his back was meant to be completely innocent. Also, she's exactly the kind of character that tends to be regarded as a loli, and I was satirifally channeling writer intention/fan reaction.

Yeah, I probably should have said something like "people find them funny"; I'm not a big fan of embarrassment-based humor myself, but I recognize it when I see it, and it's hard for me to fault Okada for doing something that feels so ubiquitous at this point.

When her mother watched Hana-Saku Iroha, she never saw herself in Ohana's mother at all. The only thing she said about the character to Okada was, “That mother is a mess.” She had missed the point entirely.

It's the "girl named Anal" part that is the Okada-ism, not the sexual pun nicknames per se but the overall attitude that results in this sort of thing.

Holy crap, that had to have been traumatizing for a middle schooler to experience. I know there have been countless stories about parents murdering their children in the media, but just imagine coming home one day and having either parent say that and try to kill you. Horrifying.

Quote:

When her mother watched Hana-Saku Iroha, she never saw herself in Ohana's mother at all. The only thing she said about the character to Okada was, “That mother is a mess.” She had missed the point entirely.

I wonder if it wasn't Okada who missed the point. It sounds like communication between mother and daughter (or Okada and anyone) wasn't exactly open. Her mother may well have recognized herself in the character, and that was her terse way of indirectly acknowledging her sins.