Subculture Anime Blog

Yaoi? Ew…….EW!!!

Summary:

Fujiyoshi Harumi bumps into Nozomu on the way to making copies of her doujinshi. Believing that he has already seen her work, Harumi reveals to Nozomu that she is writing doujinshi. Nozomu tells Harumi that he writes doujinshi as well, but it is obvious that they are talking about different kinds. Harumi expresses that she is preparing for a large festival, so she invites Nozomu to go as well. At the comic convention, Nozomu is mistaken for a cosplayer, and so is Matoi who has been keeping an eye on him. Nozomu fails to sell any of his books for a long time, but Kafuka appears to buy one. Seeing this as a way to get Nozomu to like her more, Matoi offers to buy a whole stack. Chiri appears at Harumi’s booth, and quickly scolds her for creating such work. Believing that she should be doing it properly, Chiri brings Harumi to the school to structure her manga using “kishotenketsu”. Overhearing their conversation, Nozomu comes in to add that darkness awaits at the end of the cycle.

The class finds themselves at a summer festival sometime later, all enjoying themselves in their own ways. Kafuka and Nami get some shaved ice, Abiru and Maria look at chicks, and Harumi accompanies Chiri in buying a pinwheel. Kaere appears to give suggestions to Chiri, while Meru isn’t too far behind. The students watch as a Mikoshi passes by, but Nozomu appears to reveal the truth about them. He expresses that Mikoshi take small things and make them big. He points out a beauty Mikoshi as an example. Even though the woman isn’t extremely pretty, she would become very famous for being carried on a Mikoshi. There are also other Mikoshi representing things like humor, charisma, sports, and animals. Nozomu watches as the Mikoshi carriers search for something else to carry, setting their eyes on an intelligent boy. Things like large families and other “rare finds” are also added to Mikoshi, and even the class becomes involved. Matoi is put on a Mikoshi for being a stalker, Kiri is put on one for being a hikikomori, and Nami is put on one for being normal.

Impression:

The Lucky Star and Code Geass references were pretty blatant in this episode, though they were both only on screen for a split second. The SEED/Strikers reference reminded me of a certain hilarious YouTube video. Harumi’s doujinshi writing was similar to Yoshitaka’s cosplay planning in He is my Master. The paper cut out style is something common in SHAFT anime, and the cat from Negima!? made a cameo. The Chie and Kiri frames had to be mirroring something, but I have no idea what. I also loved the photoshoping and old iMac (I’m such a design dork). As for the actual episode, it was quite funny as usual. I don’t know if I could say that it had the same charm that the first few episodes had though. The doujinshi skit was just something that I didn’t think belonged in this show, although it was much different from the usual representation. I just couldn’t get things like doujin work out of my head while watching those scenes. I increased my knowledge of Japanese culture once again by watching this episode, after looking up things like “kishotenketsu” and “Mikoshi”. Kishotenketsu is a structuring style, and Mikoshi are portable shrines that are carried by people in festivals.

The second half of this episode ridiculed idolization through festivals and the mass media. Once again, Nozomu reveals the truth about common customs. I have no experience with Mikoshi, but what was said about the mass media can be seen almost anywhere. Tiny things are always taken and blown out of proportion. Some of the things in this episode were perfect examples. Because people are described as beautiful or talented by the mass media, everyone agrees and follows the fad blindly. Things are also considered to be rare by everyone, even though they really aren’t. Lives can be destroyed because of the unwanted attention, though it seems like the normal people would be happy being famous. This show always takes these huge world events and represents them in small silly ways like putting Nozomu’s students on Mikoshi, which is something that I’ll never stop loving about this show.

It seems like I’m always blogging this show late! Sorry, I was at another LAN party this weekend. It was my circle of friends’ last one before we all head our separate ways for Uni. I need to get used to putting anime to the side pretty soon anyways, so expect summaries and impressions to start coming out a bit later than air date really soon. My Sunday ZnT2 and Seto no Hanayome posts will be a bit late as well, but I’ll get to work on those when I’m not exhausted anymore.