MX7 wrote:Whoa. This thread has taken on a kind unpleasant tone over the weekend. I don't think I ever said I liked Diebuster, but yeah, I don't like Diebuster. It's really not worth talking about Diebuster.
That's my normal internet tone, don't worry about it!
I was under the impression you valued Diebuster because you called it a "perfect sequel." Then again I keep forgetting you use 'perfect' as a weird slang term for just about everything, and not as a literal adjective for something intrinsically ideal in every conceivable way. It's even more confusing in type than it is in real life, lol.
All of our amicable disagreements tend to be because you apply a method of interpretation to products that, I feel, don't deserve examination, especially if it bestows a poor work with some kind of faux integrity simply by virtue of picking at its base components. Japanese stuff is often prime material for examination owing to its general aloofness, which some people diagnose as a form of sophisticated artistry, but I just consider aloof (that's a blanket statement, I don't mean that there aren't Japanese works bursting with genuine artistry - much to the contrary in-fact.)
I've not yet come across something you didn't like, in your field of interest, if that helps explain it. Much like our debate over Miike's instalment in Dumplings, I don't think smashing conventions, paradigms or playing with tropes and memes excuses Diebuster from being abhorrent, or Miike's short film from being bullet-in-the-head boring. I'm dead set against seeing something average being given a get-out (unless its deserved, of course) and that's probably where my face value approach versus your deep analysis ends up butting heads.
I think Lily Chou Chou is a perfect example of how these alternate approaches can't always see eye-to-eye, but then you're a qualified teacher so I'm probably just rebelling on impulse.
Anyway, re-watched Gunbuster again last night. Think it's probably my favourite OVA series ever. Showing it to someone new I was kind of embarrassed by all the creepy fanservice and almost gynecological cinematography, but that's Gainax I suppose. I guess it's meant to be a critique. The soundtrack is absolutely perfect, but that's largely my predilection for 80's synths and power snares. I love how it combines so many genres into one very assured mess with its girly boarding school in space/Freudian psychosexual melodrama/70's sci-fi homage thing going on. Everything is cranked to such a hyper-intensity, where strobes, screaming and staccato Holst references instantly give way to knowing barrages of speculative science lectures (the post-episode science lectures are perfect in that they immerse the viewer in the verisimilitude of the while at the same time distance them from it; just perfect). The literally insurmountable threat of billions of space monsters flying towards Earth (and the moral ambiguity of resisting such an attack) is nicely compared and contrasted with the far more relatable problems of going to school (albeit an elite robot fighting school in space). I think this macro/micro thing was done better in Evangelion, but Gunbuster achieves a very similar effect in just under three hours of total screen time. And it's fun to drink beer and watch it with your housemates.
Excusing the analyses, it's also just a very fun and brilliantly made OVA. I don't consider Gainax to have been on some kind of genius juice when they made it, certainly not to the point where it was ever meant to be a critique of the industry (possibly crediting them a little too much there). If anything it's a show that had fun picking up on specific anime tropes and then subtly (such an important word, Diebuster doesn't get 'subtlety') working them into an enjoyable part-parody, part standard 80's sci-fi anime with tits adventure.
Regardless of its true depth and nature, I'm in complete agreement that it's totally Toppu!
)
That's what I really love about OVAs: usually straight to the goods and a ton of fun!
