Forum - View topicDeconstruction anime.
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anime racket
Posts: 314 |
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I really like anime that takes a specific genre, like magical girl series,
twist it with real world logic, and turns out dark and exciting. Of course I'm referring to Madoka Magica. There are other deconstruction series like Evangelion and Death Note could be considered a deconstruction of shows where a character gets a special power and fights crime. Does anyone know of any other similar shows? If so, please mention them and state whether or not you liked them. |
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egoist
 Posts: 7762 |
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I'd rather not research it, but wouldn't anything with an antihero be considered a deconstruction of the hero genre?
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TitanXL
 Posts: 4036 |
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I guess if you had to pick one for the monster-battling genre, it would be Narutaru. Give kids their own personal monster friends like in Digimon and what do they do with them? Kill bullies that troubled them in school, kill random people because they're bored, rape girls, and generally misuse them.
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ailblentyn
 Posts: 1688 Location: body in Ohio, heart in Sydney |
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Narutaru is a clear example, but I think that there are many cases where a show is made an interesting example of a genre by the way it simultaneously subverts and exploits genre expectations.
I've just watched the first season of Magic Knight Rayearth, where it's very hard to say whether the rules are being followed or taken apart. The form of the quest is followed to a tee, so that for most of the episodes the show is a fantasy quest, but at the end the themes are grossly perverted spoiler[(the captive princess needs to be killed rather than liberated, and love, rather than being part of the happy ending, is revealed as the narrative's villainy).] |
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Yttrbio
 Posts: 3714 |
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I'd say that Cencoroll is a different deconstruction on the same genre as Narutaru, suggesting that getting control of a monster friend doesn't really change all that much about a teenager's personality or motivations.
I'm not sure it was supposed to be, but School Days was a functional deconstruction of the harem genre, reminding folks that girls who throw themselves wholeheartedly at bland, character-free protagonists aren't necessarily "all there." |
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zawa113
 Posts: 7360 |
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If we're talking about magical girl deconstruction in particular, Princess Tutu beat Madoka to the punch by several years (and Revolutionary Girl Utena beat Tutu by several years before that). Some aren't sure if Utena is truly a magical girl series or if it's gone too far away from it to still be considered one, but Tutu almost certainly is. It's also a fairly dark series about fighting fate that involves magical girls and a town filled with talking animals and ballet. It's quite frankly a brilliant series that shows how descontructions can both use the tropes and subvert them or change them in other ways to make a unique show. Also, the transformation scene in only 15 seconds long, that's pretty strange too.
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kiddtic
 Posts: 309 Location: Kitwe, Zambia |
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I wouldn't call Utena a magical Girl series not in the slightest, I will agree with you on the point that Princes Tutu did beat Madoka to the ' punch.
I think Kimi To Boku is an interesting take on the moe genre, using boys instead of girl is quite bold. |
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naninanino
 Posts: 680 |
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I don't think deconstruction is a value in itself. Like all shows, it more comes to simple things like presentation if I like the show or not. I for one disliked Madoka big time, because it reminded me of, not Evangelion, but of Infinite Ryvius with the super angst. Tutu on the other hand is my favorite shows. Also, wasn't Ideon kind of the predecessor of Evangelion?
Windaria deconstructed the naive hero trope, and I liked it for that if nothing else. Then there is School Days, a famous harem deconstruction series. I guess Gantz also counts as an action shounen deconstruction show. |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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I like deconstruction more than reconstruction, but neither is inherently better. It's just that deconstruction usually feels fresher and appeals to an older audience.
I don't follow. I don't see how you could logically arrive at this connection. Puella Magi Madoka Magica spoiler[is not a deconstruction but the most epic reconstruction of Magical Girls show, ever. Yes, it did deconstruct the genre, but only so it could then reconstruct it on a whole new level and to its own liking. Madoka herself becomes the patron saint of every Magical Girl who ever lived, in every timeline that ever existed.] Beat that, Usagi, Sakura and Duck. I actually don't think Princess Tutu was a deconstruction in the first place. In what way did it actually deconstruct? Last edited by dtm42 on Sat Oct 08, 2011 3:55 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Errinundra
Moderator
 Posts: 6611 Location: Melbourne, Oz |
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It could be argued that Berserk is a deconstruction of the macho bad-ass hero trope. Guts espouses all the qualities of the strong, honourable, individualistic fighter but, not only are these qualities overwhelmed by the reality of his world but those very qualities cause him to make some very poor decisions.
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naninanino
Posts: 680 |
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Is this the same logic as DBZ having stronger fighters than Naruto and TTGL is bigger than other super robots, so they're better? |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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Nope, it is not. First of all, a nitpick here, DBZ was before Naruto (and most Shounen works), so it couldn't be a reconstruction anyway. Secondly, you are mistakenly equating "bigger" with "reconstruction". The two are not the same. |
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yamata no orochi
Posts: 137 |
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Princess Tutu is much more a magical girl show than Utena, but it seemed to me that the former spent a lot more time playing with fairy tales and metafiction than subverting magical girl tropes. Madoka Magica is a lot more straightforward in that regard. I've heard that Uta Kata plays similar games, as well (although I've also heard that Madoka Magica was more consistent over all?)
Revolutionary Girl Utena, on the other hand, isn't so much a deconstruction of magical girl shows as it is a deconstruction of the Shoujo field itself. It's superficially a show for twelve-year-old girls--cut out of the same cloth as Sailor Moon--but it's so complex and symbolic and dark that you could probably write a college dissertation on it. Just look at all the analyses at Empty Movement! I think it's worth considering exactly what "deconstruction" means, though. I've heard plenty from certain quarters of the internet that TV Tropes has pretty much skewed the meaning of "deconstruction," and that the original term meant something a lot more complex than just twisting things with real-world logic. Any English majors out there who can clarify this? |
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18587 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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Agreed. Princess Tutu may seem dark and definitely integrates in outside elements, but it is still has a traditional magical girl structure in every way; in fact, I would call it more an ideal of traditional magical girl merits than a subversion of them. Madoka, OTOH, is an absolute subversion and more thoroughly deconstructs its genre than any series since NGE. While it adheres to some traditional magical girl principles, it utterly shatters perhaps the most fundamental one: the "feel-good" aspect of being a magical girl. Uta-Kata also does this, but not to the same degree and, as yamata stated, not as consistently. |
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GeminiDS85
Posts: 391 |
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Deconstruction in literary theory seeks to expose the internal inconsistencies that cause apparently stable systems to break down. It is a dismantling of totalizing systems, an upsetting of the hierarchy of binary systems. However, the certainty that all the subjects of analysis are destabilizing could be construed as a new, alternate system of eternal return, which in turn creates a non-totalizing system or structure that acts as a whole. There are a plethora of articles and books on what constitutes deconstruction, but different analytical schools will provide dissimilar definitions of this concept. Additionally, if you are interested in unpacking this concept from its foundation, I would suggest reading Derrida. |
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