The difference between genres and mediums: Sci fi vs anime

Let's talk about the difference between genres and mediums. Some fans (or opponents of certain genres and mediums) tend to confuse the two, and this confusion leads people to limit themselves to certain types of mediums, not exposing themselves to creative stories that may exist in other forms.

Genres are things that let you know what kind story you're about to encounter. If the genre is fantasy, the story or movie or what have you is likely to have elements of magic, wizardry, or otherworldliness. If the genre is mystery, you're likely to see people solving crimes. Typical literary genres are: Young Adult, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Romance, Paranormal Romance, Mystery, Historical Fiction, and Thriller/Suspense. Anime has these as well, though within anime, "contemporary" is a genre of its own, referred to typically as slice as life. 

These genres can overlap-I have written science fiction/romance, for example. Twilight is Young Adult Paranormal Romance. Harry Potter is Young Adult Fantasy. There are also subgenres within each genre, which let you know a little more about the story. Hard sci fi is likely to have people living in spaceships, while cyberpunk, a subgenre of sci fi, asks questions about how technology affects humanity, and typically does not take place as far in the future as hard sci fi novels do.

Now we get to mediums. The medium is how the story is told-is it a movie? An anime? A book or tv show? A video game? Many people seem to think anime, for example, is a genre-"all anime is porn! All anime are children's cartoons!" Not true. Nor is it true that every videogame is a carefully orchestrated snuff film.

So, do genres and mediums overlap? It may be true that if something is animated, it is more likely to be fantastical or childish. If something is a video game, it is more likely to contain violence. Newbies to anime especially tend to think that all anime is wonderful and will contain elements they like. However, they learn quickly that it is difficult to judge something by it's medium. (Judging by genre, however, is a different story). Just because a medium tends to have certain genres does not mean it always will, and these genres change over time just as they do in the literary world. Anime in the 90s was often science fiction, known as "mecha anime." Now the primary genre is slice of life.

 It is fine to claim to like, or not to like, a medium because of the attributes of the medium itself. Disliking anime because the bright colors are offputting is a fair, if odd, complaint. Disliking video games because they are difficult to play is fine. But disliking an entire medium due to genre associations is naive.

With that in mind, I hope people who read this branch out to other mediums. There are many good stories out there, and sticking to only novels or only anime is limiting.

Anime Classics: Neon Genesis Evangelion

 This anime, like James Joyce's Ulysses, has an entrance fee, which is a backlog of works you must be familiar with in order to maximize your enjoyment of the show.

The entrance fee for this show is knowledge of Freudian psychology and obscure Christian mythology. If you want the full experience, read the science fiction novel Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke, as well as science fiction novels by Philip K. Dick and Paul Linebarger. Your enjoyment of the show will be affected by your previous knowledge.

At minimum, if you don't know what the dead sea scrolls are, what the Hedgehog's Dilemma refers to, or what an AT field is, the first 14 episodes of this show will be incredibly underwhelming. That is especially true now, considering that knock offs of Eva abound. Emotional teenagers piloting giant robots in a post apocalyptic society? Been there, done that. Shinji falling on Rei's boobs? Anime trope. An episode where Shinji and Asuka have to learn to dance in order to destroy an angel with simultaneous attacks? Not as bad as cooking ninjas, but close.

And then you realize that each robot that Shinji and Asuka are piloting are organic robots made from the cloned tissue of their dead mothers, and the show starts getting good.

Rewatching the show after experiencing the ending-where this realization occurs, when you know who Kaworu is, when you know who Rei is, when you know just what's at stake- just makes watching the show again that much better. The first 14 episodes are sprinkled with promises of depth in what was once a original idea. The difference between Evangelion and the knockoffs is that Eva delivers on this promise.

The Neon Genesis Evangelion series is a phenomenon, an anime (and two movies) that brought intellectual discussion into the fandom. It's usually the anime that people refer to when they assert that anime is a step above most American television, that anime is innately intelligent and full of meaning. They're wrong, of course, but the fact that this anime is still the symbol of quality for many says much about its impact.

Looking back now, unfortunately, Eva has a few glaring flaws that new fans pick on immediately. The animators blew their budget fairly early on, leading to scenes where people may comment “we've been staring at an ashtray for the past five minutes.” Little is explained in the beginning, so that people are left wondering “who the hell that guy is.” And of course, the final two episodes do not appeal to everyone. While some may consider it genius, others consider it philosophical masturbation that means little. The ultimate themes of the show as presented in the final two episodes are ones that fourteen year olds grapple with-issues of one's place in society and definition of self. A worthwhile watch, to be sure, but hardly groundbreaking in older, more learned audiences, and these episodes do not address what many consider to be the ultimate plot-what happens to the world.

The movies expand on this, however, and much debate can be had by juxtaposing the final two episodes with the events of the movies. Eva is an anime that works because of its originality and its opaque nature-even if you claim it means nothing, you must defend that claim in the face of what you see. On top of that is the fact that the show is innately rewatchable, once you see the ending, and again when you actually do acquire that entrance fee.

If you enjoy science fiction with a dash of intellectualism, you need to see Neon Genesis Evangelion.

Classic anime review: Dragon Ball Z

So, for my first anime review on the blog, let's tackle a classic! 

Classic anime reviews are a bit different from my regular anime reviews-they are less reviews, per se, and more a commentary on what made the anime great or long lasting, and how well they have held up in today's anime market. 


So, Dragon Ball Z, or DBZ for short. This show was many anime fan's gateway drug, ushering a generation of middle and elementary schoolers into the world of anime. There was a time when you could tell the age and relative maturity of forum goers based on their forum name. If their handle was something similar to “Supersaya-jin Gogeta IV” they were probably a 12-13 year old who would protest vociferously if you said anything negative about the crown jewel anime in America at the time, which was Dragon Ball Z. 

The show about an alien named Goku from the planet Vegeta and his son, who fight increasingly more powerful bad guys, ran on Cartoon Network every day on weekdays and was highlighted in the New York times for its use of over the top violence. Kids loved it. 


These users faded out, however, as the anime market moved on, and DBZ was replaced with shorter, more self contained series, like Cowboy Bebop and Ghost in the Shell. Anime fans aged up, from pre teens to teenagers, who were trying to find the same type of entertainment while simultaneously disregarding the “immature” shows of their past, much the same way first graders make up vulgar songs about Barney while enjoying Blues Clues. 


I too went through these stages. When I was 12-13, I watched DBZ as religiously as I could considering parental monitoring on Cartoon Network. I loved it. Goku's battles were epic, and I remember my sister and I thrilled with excitement as Goku fought Frieza. I even remember getting teary eyed 3 o' clock one morning when I caught the episode where Frieza killed Vegeta. 


Then the reruns began, and any DBZ fan remembers these. Frieza is killed, but instead of more new episodes, the channel looped back, playing the show all over again from the beginning. It wasn't as bad as Naruto fillers, but at the time it was the bane of a DBZ fan's existence. I knew there was more in the series, but I could not find it short of purchasing expensive VHS tapes, which I couldn't do. Friends who did told me how fascinating the story became- “Androids! Vegeta has a kid! Trunks!” But without being able to watch it myself, my ardor faded. I would see people online bashing DBZ, saying how boring it had gotten, and I agreed. Too much filler. Low budget animation. Slow pacing, lots of screaming, five episodes for a planet to blow up in five minutes! I spent a lot of time agreeing with people who had only seen a few episodes and gave up in disgust, forgetting my initial love for the show. 


Fast forward to now. I remember years ago, I would watch anime and while watching an episode, I would be checking the clock and despairing when it would near the half hour mark, because it meant the episode would end, and I wouldn't want it to. Lately, though, when I try to sample a new anime I often end up checking the clock to see when will end. I don't feel any desire to watch the next episode when it's over, and no desire at all to go out and buy the next DVD. Then, years later, with a dearth of anime that I found interesting at the time with the moe boom (Which I'll discuss in a future post), I rewatched the first six seasons of Dragon Ball Z, with three more to go. And I fell in love with it all over again. 


I'm not trying to be one of those old fogeys who goes on about how entertainment was better back in the day, because I know I haven't sampled enough of what's out there today to say that. But after rewatching DBZ, I know my inability to enjoy more recent shows is not because I'm burned out on anime, considering I stayed up an hour too late before the morning of an exam to finish watching Goku beat Captain Ginyu, and waiting for Vegeta to blow Jace's head off. 

Even if I know what's going to happen, I still can't stop watching. DBZ is that good. Yes, it has flaws, and they are the same flaws that every detractor picks on. But it is unmatched in suspense and the sense of sheer discovery--unlike, say, Naruto, where Naruto only matches his teachers in technique and nothing new is really discovered, you find out with Goku about the legend of the Super Saiyan and what it means. The story always moves forward, and people continually grow--nothing is ever retconned. The characters have incredible amounts of depth for a silly shonen action show, and we get to watch them grow in their own independent ways. Goku is a noble character, and yes, he may be loosely based off of all of those ancient noble heroes like Hercules and Beowulf. But you know what? Those stories were written centuries ago, and we still remember them for a reason. 


So why all the hate, back then and now? Part of the problem is the length of the series. Yes, there are parts of DBZ where it drags. Even I admit that there are parts of the Android and imperfect Cell sagas that my friends and I refer to as the “saggy middle of DBZ.” For those who heard of the epic anime DBZ as they were getting into anime, and started watching during those sagas, I can see why they would be fooled into thinking so negatively about all of the pacing problems and ridiculous fillers, and why they may have given up before really getting into the story.


For those of who you have seen the series from the beginning and hate it, that's fine. This is anime, after all, and opinions are subjective. But if you are simply agreeing with the majority of the haters and haven't seen DBZ, or have only seen a few episodes? Watch from the beginning. Watch it subbed if you don't like the dub, or dubbed if you don't like the sub. There are people above the age of 13 who enjoy the show. It deserves to be given a chance.