Otakuism

It’s a rule that every editorial I write has to have a Touhou element somewhere in it.

The title for this post comes from chapter 144 of Rurouni Kenshin. It’s near the end of the Shishio battle, one of the single greatest battles in manga history. Yumi, Shishio’s lover, throws herself in front of him to stop Kenshin’s attack. Kenshin relents and in that moment of weakness, Shishio strikes through Yumi to injure Kenshin, killing Yumi in the process. Kenshin cannot believe Shishio would betray the one he loves for victory, but Yumi points out that being useful in her lord’s final battle is the greatest love she could know. The aforementioned line refers both to the quiet love of Kaoru and the suicidal love of Yumi. It’s a great title for today’s Valentine post, as I look at the different kinds of love expressed in a few of my favorite series: there’s the different forms of personal love in Gankutsuou, the love of family in Futakoi Alternative, and the love of a community in Mahoraba. I realize all these shows are pretty old in anime years, but when I looked through my collection I realized how much I enjoyed them all for the strong love in their characters.

I’m surprised that in the year and a half that I’ve had this blog I’ve never gotten around to talking about how awesome Gankutsuou is. I’m sure I’ve mentioned offhand how it’s my favorite anime, and a part of this is how strong the characters and plot are. Love is the strongest central theme of Gankutsuou, right alongside fate and hope, but I’m talking about love right now. One of the greatest lines in the story is said by Franz the night before he goes to sacrifice himself for Albert: “…the feeling of love, the feeling of hate, both are born from caring about someone.” Albert repeats the line later to the Count to get him to open up about his past, for Albert to learn the truth about everything. Every character in the story has something they deeply care about in different ways: the jaded and forgotten love of the Count which has turned into concise hatred, the jealous love of Fernand and Cavalcanti, the love of power in Danglars and Villefort, the remembered love of Mercedes, and the pure love between Albert and Eugenie and Maximilien and Valentine.

Most interesting of all is The Count, who manages to transform his love into a bitter hatred to everyone around him, destroying even the love of his most loyal servant, Haydee. Twisted love seems to be a motif of the series. The ego maniacal Fernand uses love to justify killing his wife and child to save them from dishonor, while Madame Villefort would attempt to kill Valentine so her son would inherit the family’s wealth. However, in the end it is only the Count who sees the redemptive power of love and is saved from his self-destruction. When The Count is completely possessed by the alien entity Gankutsuou, it is Albert who frees him with the simple words “I love you.” Gankutsuou, a being made of hate, is completely destroyed by this phrase. The Count may be killed during this process, but he is allowed to die peacefully free of his hatred.

While much has been made of the apparent homoerotic nature of Gankutsuou - sometimes I think the only people who actually like this show are rabid yaoi fangirls - I really don’t see that much in it all. It is clear that Albert loves Eugenie; he may be naive in his love at first, but my the end of the series he is secure in his devotion for her. For the record, Albert and Eugenie are probably one of the most naive couple’s ever, but you can’t help but root for them. Albert’s love for the Count is more the love for an older brother or father-figure than anything else. The Count shows Albert the truth of the world, and even after seeing its corrupt nature, Albert it still able to remain pure and believe in the Count. The final scene of the series is Albert walking towards the future, his love for Eugenie in his mind. In Gankutsuou, the strongest kind of love is this pure love between individuals, untainted by the malice of the past.

At first glance it’s easy to see Futakoi Alternative as another harem show that uses twins as a cheap gimmick. In reality though, FA goes a long way to show that just picking a girl is not love at all, and that the love in a family is just as important. From the very first episode the emphasis is put on Rentarou, Sara, and Souju interacting as a group. They play together, live together, and enjoy life because they are together. As the story progresses it becomes obvious that at some point the three will have to separate, and when it is forced to happen no one is happy. The rest of the series is spent trying to regain the things that were lost, ending with the heartfelt reunion of the three.

However, there’s a lot more to FA than just strong family love; there’s: giant squids, badass detectives, goth-loli twin superheroines, and other crazy stuff. This is a ufotable show. But the main theme of family and togetherness shine through completely. You never doubt Rentarou’s devotion to Sara and Souju, or think that he prefers one over the other. It’s either all or nothing. Aside from the family aspect, I also have to point out how well-developed Rentarou is as a character. His gradual development over the series in his relations with Sara and Souju and his father is deftly handled in both excellent dialogue and visual metaphors. FA is definitely the best ufotable work to me, beating out even Minabi. Funny that this is from a show that’s supposed to be a sequel to one of the worst eroge adaptions ever.

Mahoraba is about the milquetoast Shiratori Ryushi coming to Tokyo to study and boarding at the Narutakisou with the cute landlady Kozue Aoba and the many crazy residents there. Again, this sounds like the perfect set-up for a harem series, but Mahoraba is anything but that. It’s never doubted from the first moment that Shiratori and Kozue like each other, and Shiratori, unlike several other male protagonists, actually confesses his love to Kozue before the end of the show. Aside from this main romance, however, the main theme of the show is how all these various individuals, most of them with less than stellar pasts, can live in peace in Narutakisou. As the show goes on the idea that these characters must leave one day becomes the overriding conflict of the series, both for Kozue who needs others for stability and the other characters who are forced to stand up to their pasts.

The interesting thing about Mahoraba is also how large its supporting cast is, with several characters that still manage to reappear often. While they do not live at Narutakisou, their interactions all seem to bring them closer to the communal happiness that Narutakisou represents. The manga for Mahoraba shows this even stronger than the anime, but I’ll talk about that when I review the manga, which will be whenever the final chapter comes out. Looking at both Mahoraba and FA now, I would probably say both use the themes of family and community interchangeably: FA has the strong community of Nikotama with its weird characters, while the main characters of Mahoraba constitute much of a family themselves (Kozue the mom, Haibara the dad, Megumi the older sister, Asami the little sister, Tama the weird aunt, and Sayoko the pet). Both shows definitely show the non-personal forms of love at its strongest.

So what am I saying about love here, or is it even my place to make a point about love? As I think about the metaphysical aspects of this emotion, I am always amazed by the sheer size of love, its all-encompassing, everything for every person nature. I feel that all of these shows reflect that very well, and stay with me even now because of it. All worth a viewing in their own right. Happy Valentine’s Day everyone. Appreciate any love that comes your way, cause every love is unique and worthy in its own way.

A few other guys talking about love today:

IKnight
BigN
Karura
Moe Check!
Owen S
Usagijen
Crusader
Martin
JRoxas
DeathToZippermouth