Odd Taxikino
This anime is about a guy who drives a taxi and just meets very interesting people in the way, with everything building up to a central mistery. This is not the first story about taxies or the first with that general story structure, but odd taxi may do it the best
the conversation and dialogue in odd taxi feel very real, even with the characters that have very marked personalities, they feel plausible, but I would say a lot of that feeling is carried because of the protagonist
in many ways, the protagonist of odd taxi just acts as a observer, you could compare them to kino from kino no tabi in that regard, they are a not too upbeat individual and is not too judgamental, he just gives space to everyone else to express themselves, which in the context of the story works to build this portrait of the world. In this case them driving a taxi is just the best job narratively speaking, as you're just meant to drive, and the passangers just tells you their whole life.
It's also set in the modern day, which I think also has a strong element of charm, a lot of modern shows who try to talk about modern issues kinda fall through?, it's probably because we're living in it right now that it feels difficult to really represent it. When it's done wrong you get shows like oshi no ko, who's commentary on modern society feels more like a hook to bait viewers in rather than anything too substantial. In that show every real element is exaggerated in a way that doesn't really reflect society, yet odd taxi is able to make comments about our society in a way that feels more effective in real by just having that more relaxed and borderline melancholic atmosphere
Then you have the twist, what a GOOD twist oh my fucking god that is how you do it unironically top 5 twists in anything i've seen. When you watch something like fight club, and then see the ending you are surprised, the story makes sense when recontextualized, but it doesn't hit as strong as odd taxi, because odd taxi plays with your preconcived notions of the medium, it plays into certain tropes, it plays into the fact that anime logic is not 1/1 with reality. All of the hits are there, and they are VERY noticeable, way more than the hints for most twists, but they can hide it plain sight by just going "oh yeah most anime do that to make the story work you just got to hold your disbelief" and then it hits you with it and it's so fucking goodPlaced in A rank
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BarakamonI really respect this anime
Barakamon is a slice of life anime about a frustrated caligraphy artist who kinda gets into artist block who moves temporarily to a small rural island where they end up taking care of a kid
Like sport anime, in slice of life, you don't need to be previously invested in the matter at hand to enjoy it. In slice of life it's probably even better if you're not invested in it beforehand, because they also tend to be very educative on the matter at hand, in this case traditional japanese caligraphy. But even beyond that, if you finish the anime without caring or really understanding caligraphy, that is fine, because it also has deep symbolic meaning
The caligraphy is a device for the protagonist to be stressed out, to be obsessed with work, which are in reality the main themes of the anime. Caligraphy is also a artistic medium, which mains they don't really have to worry that much about deadlines. You can do caligraphy in a very short ammount of time, the point is for it to be good. Another aspect of caligprahy being artistic is that the personality and emotional state of the protagonist is apparent on the brush strokes. As the anime progresses, and they grow as a person, that is reflected in the art.
The island that he moves in works as a relaxing and way lower energy environment than the big city, and I agree that it's a really beautiful place, ut I don't think that is what heals them as a person. The island is a small community, what makes them grow as a person is not the environment, is the fact that they're forced to interact with other people, forced to care for a kid. Such wonderful people as the people in the anime do exist in the big city, but they have never experienced it because they didn't have a incentive to talk to them. The culture of the big city is different, specially in japan, where it's notoriously antisocial
that broandens their horizons, makes them challenge a lot of their own beliefes and values, and what is what makes it growth, not the environment, it's the social relationships
Not my favourite slife of life but I can't deny it's really well written. A rank
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Welcome to the N.H.KUnironically amazing use of comedy, they knew what they were doing
NHK is about this guy who is a hikikomori, and then there is this girl who tries to help him overcome to their bad lifestyle. The anime at first is presented as a comedy, and it works. Hikikomori, while cruel, it's a funny concept. We point and laugh at hikikomori, because their life habits are absurd from our point of view.
Some of the reasons this happens is because when you become a hikikomori you become disconnected from the world, you lose a lot of your values and culture only to adapt certain radicalized ideals imported from the internet. This is apparent on the protagonist in NHK by the conspiracy theories they believe. They have been led to believe in that vision of the world, and they really don't know any better
Comedy in NHK works to soften us. It's like a romantic comedy, the comedy softens you up so then the romance can hit all that much harder. Yes, we're laughing at the protagonist, but believe it or not, we're also gaining appreciation for it, we don't consider them a bad person because you know, we like seeing them on screen. As the anime progresses we're more willing to engage with them on a equal level
the anime gradually loses it's comedy until it just becomes a very depressing drama. A lot of characters are introduced that live similar lifes to the protagonist at the start of the anime but you're no longer laughing. It draws a amazing picture on hikikomoris and the ugly part of internet culture, about ideology and escapism
That same technique of comedy but not is actually featured on some of my favourite movies, specially love exposure and brazil (1985).
I could write more but it's been a hour of typing all of this out and i'm tired, going to (re)watch shaolin soccer in vc now. Great anime, placed in A tier also
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will start button city tomorrow, evoland 1 and 2 after I finish that one.