Employees of Croach & Croach Jr. MUST NOT:
touch, breathe on, or stand too near Mr. Croach Jr. unless they wish to be fired immediately.
No children are allowed in any room Mr. Croach Jr. occupies.
Any member of the staff who has recently handled a child must undergo immediate quarantine.
–Notice at Croach & Croach Jr., the Proto-Hollow Fields
Manga >> Madeleine Rosca’s Hollow Fields (Vols. 1-2)
If you are one of those insufferable wights who believe that any story involving something magical or mysterious is automatically child’s play, you probably won’t like the Hollow Fields series very much. I would assume you’re not one of these, however, since you’re taking valuable time out of your day to read this weblog.
That said, the Australian Ms. Rosca’s Hollow Fields is an adorably Gothic tale in the tradition of another Poe-writ-small, Lemony Snicket. In fact, she even lists Snicket among her influences. Anyway, the basic premise of Fields is that Lucy Snow, the precious, bunny-eared heroine of the series, has been sent by her somewhat neglectful parents to a prestigious boarding school in the vicinity of Nullsville. Unfortunately, she ends up getting sidetracked and, with obligatory stuffed animal sidekick Dino in tow, she stumbles upon the secretive steampunk nightmare that is Ms. Weaver’s Academy for the Scientifically Gifted and Ethically Unfettered. In short, a school for mad scientists.
The “Engineers” that run the school are essentially undead corpses that have been kept alive through the magic of steam and clockwork-driven technologies. The children are essentially ensnared through a misleading contract. Every week, a child must be sent to the Windmill for a permanent “detention.” And yet, somehow, a light, silly air befitting an “All Ages”-rated comedy permeates the work, making it a manga I wouldn’t mind my children reading.
Well, except Summer’s evil Deathtrap maybe.
My only major quibble is… well, major. It’s the irritating habits of some characters to repeat quirks (i. e. Lucy’s constant treatment of Dino as if he’s alive, Groundskeeper Croach’s groundless hatred of children, etc.) and Lucy’s incessant st-st-st-stuttering. Venerable manga st-st-st-stereotypes all, but still annoying nonetheless.
Final Grade: A-.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: enemies of the state, freedom, politics, the trap
It is obvious that reporters and average Joes blame anarchism in ignorance; they know no better. But it is as obvious that the rioting punks try to free-ride on a thoroughly misunderstood and propagandized label. They don’t riot and destroy because they have read and understood anarchism as described by the great anarchist thinkers; they riot under the name of anarchism because they understand it the way it is used by statists trying to make people fear level organization and non-hierarchy. In using anarchism as a reason for destruction, they are playing the statists’ game and reinforcing the myth of freedom as a threat rather than a promise.
Proudhon, just as any other great anarchist thinker, was clear on anarchism being order. But it is an order based on equality, freedom, and mutual individual respect; in this sense it is, indeed, the opposite of the current state of society. In anarchy, no individual can be sacrificed for a greater good and no individual is persecuted for his beliefs or choices. No individual’s right is greater than any other individual’s; the very foundation of anarchy is every individual’s equal right to life and liberty.
–Per Bylund, “Blame Anarchism?”
Just a reminder, sports fans: we are now syndicating some of our geekier reviews to The Healing Touch.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: anime, douchebaggery, failure, freedom, letdowns, madness, magic, reviews, satire, surreal
Anime >> Abenobashi Magical Shopping Arcade (Vol. 4)
It’s no use, Sasshi. No matter how big a tantrum a kid like you throws, nothin’s gonna be changed or resolved by it. The only thing that changes is what’s in your head, in your imaginary world. But this is reality, and you can talk about all the Omryou science and spells you want, but it won’t move a single pebble. In the end, it’s nothin’ but a toy… and you’re just a kid who stayed out too late playin’ in the dark after the sun’s gone down.
–Sasshi’s Dad, Delivering the Serious Closer Lines Every Comedy Must By Law Contain
This volume begins with a witty realization of the emotional battle between the two protagonists into a literal war in Episode 11, in which almost every other major character in the realm of Abenobashi is implied to have lost their life due to the hellish nature of their conflict. You’ve got your tanks, your World War II-era fighter planes and, of course Sasshi fighting his way through a Catch-22-style military bureaucracy from hell.1 Extremely entertaining though annoyingly rough around the edges would be a good way to describe this set-up to the tragic failure that Episode 12 becomes. Ostensibly a wry look at those retarded Americans and their wacky cinema, Episode 12 quickly devolves into a wheels-off debacle that invites more pity than anything else.2
Good God, I actually frowned while watching this episode… not a good sign!
Episode 13 brings us back around to the underdeveloped “serious side of Abenobashi” and the repeated conflicts related to Sasshi’s profound selfishness and his attempts to shield Arumi from the harshness of reality, even though she seems far more capable of handling it than he is. I won’t spoil too much, but the quote box at the top of this article plus an in depth understanding of the prefix “meta-” should help guide you in the right direction.
What really, really annoyed me about the ending of this series was not that it “was too sad,” but that it almost validates Sasshi’s douchebaggery to some extent. For one, he actually succeeds in reversing Grandpa’s death in the “real world” (yeah right), keeping the shopping arcade open, and even keeping Arumi in Osaka.
ARUMI: It’s a shame I won’t be moving to Hokkaido. I was really looking forward to it!
SASSHI: I see..
See that? He wasn’t even able to make her truly happy! That little b*****d ran amok through at least fifteen different universes and learned absolutely nothing!
And what line did it end on? Something like, “Well, at least you’ve got your health”?
…
Dang it!
Had enough yet?
Final Grade: C+.
1Cartoons can be literary, too!
2Like, say, laughter for example.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: anime, madness, magic, melancholy, reviews, satire, surreal, the trap
Anime >> Abenobashi Magical Shopping Arcade (Vol. 3)
ARUMI: Yeah, but that outfit is totally dumb…
SASSHI: STOP SAYIN’ THAT! Now listen carefully: this is an excellent costume based on geomancy and mystical physics! Its first awesome feature is the number of paper dolls you can carry with ya at all times–50! That’s an amazing 1.5 times the amount of previous costumes…. What’s more, you get the Demon’s Gate and Rear Demon’s Gate at your disposal, plus this all-directional gyroscope comes standard. Not only that, the size is adjustable, and extra urethane makes this baby completely airtight! Wait, hold the phone… it’s even reversible! [Awkward Pause] ARUMI, WAKE UP!!!
ARUMI: Alright, alright, I get it. So now you’re an honest-to-God Omryou mystic, right? Well how about shakin’ a leg and gettin’ us back to our own world?!
SASSHI: Well, uh, I could, but…
–No Sale in Abenobashi
Volume 3 sees Abenobashi Magical Shopping Arcade1 hit its stride once more, not only in comedy, but in heartbreaking tragedy as well. **SPOILER:** Yes, Grandpa Masa is actually dead from his fall in Volume 1. **SPOILER:** Ms. Munemune (whom Sasshi crassly refers to as “that boobalicious babe”) is, in reality, his grandmother. If there was ever a time to use my “THE TRAP” tag, it would be now.
Look, without getting into specifics, Eutus is in fact the original Mr. Abeno, a powerful 10th-century expert in the purported science of “Omryou mysticism” and the space-time architect of the Abenobashi Shopping Arcade. Since Omryou mystics are in the business of diverting horrific fates, we learn that the entire reason the shopping arcade was built on these grounds (and the only reason all this gobbledygook continues to happen) is to avoid past-Masa from killing himself and past-Munemune once he finds out the affair she and past-Abeno have attempted. Thus, when the shopping arcade was built in like the 1950s or something, Abeno, Masa, and Munemune were reincarnated around its construction. Thus, the events of Episode 7 are explained. Got all that?
Apparently, this all justifies why various friends and relatives of Sasshi keep on showing up in the young lad’s wacky dreamworlds: as an Omryou mystic lite, he has been attempting to deny the impending fates of both Arumi moving away to Hokkaido2 and Masa’s tragic fall to his death. With all the cast and characters assembled by Abeno for his original purpose, Sasshi has plenty of material to work with as he inadvertently warps reality into various shopping arcade “worlds.”
Phew!
Anyway, that’s basically what happens before they converge with wacky satire once more in Episode 10, a conventional parody of the easily lampooned “magical girl” genre.3 Whoops, almost forgot about Episode 8, this gloriously bizarre send-up of not only dating sims, but a classic revelation of Arumi’s jealousy of Sasshi and her pervasive hatred of the worlds that are inevitably for only his pleasure and no one else’s… High drama fer shure, I know. Some have sniped at what they view as an overwrought mythology behind the series, but hey, I like my dark drama and high comedy mixed together as closely as possible. In sum, this critical mass definitely qualifies as grounds for an A+. Congratulations, Abenobashi: you just accrued an Epic Win.
Final Grade: A+.
2Apparently they haven’t discovered e-mail yet.
3“Where’d you get this flimsy outfit?” “At a thrift store! But that’s not important now!”
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: anime, madness, magic, melancholy, reviews, satire, sehnsucht, surreal
Anime >> Abenobashi Magical Shopping Arcade (Vol. 2)
MASA: Aw, come on, don’t you have a sympathetic bone in your body?
BANK TELLER: No, sir, I don’t.
–Pithy Exchange in Abenobashi
I was all set to review this and give it my highest honors.
But that would be if Episode 8 were included. And since it’s not, well, I’ll have to mark off a few points. Tough.
Episode 5, involving a Tex Avery-esque chase scene in Neanderthal times or something, was a noticeably weak point in my opinion. Granted, they did choose to steal from the best with Avery, but things just didn’t cohere as wondrously as they could–and some rather grating sexual humor and cartoon violence didn’t help. Also, for those with Internet access and ability to Google… what’s with Sasshi’s view of his aunt? Honestly, the events of this episode involving both Sasshi’s aunt and the enigmatic Ms. Munemune are somewhat of a beatdown, I think.
Anyway, Episode 6 involves a witty send-up of American gangster flicks (where “the Snail Prohibition” is still in full force), with Episode 7 giving us that sweet melancholic elixir of pure drama. Heck, isn’t that how life feels sometimes… surreal comedy bracketed by sadness? Also, Ms. Munemune is revealed to be… uh… more directly related to Sasshi than previously thought. I don’t know exactly how the writers will deal with this situation, but in any case, it will be quite an exercise in narratorial finagling.
I’ll try to keep Episode 8 out of my mind as I review, but suffice it to say that this section “prepares for great things to come” (lame phrase, ain’t it?). This review is shorter than usual simply because this three-episode slice wasn’t as impacting as the former or the latter. Here’s to completing the set.
Final Grade: B+.
