Iwa ni Hana

Saudade and Nostalgia in 'Byousoku 5 centimeter' and 'Innocence'

To define saudade and nostalgia upfront (courtesy of Wikipedia):

• Nostalgia: the yearning for things lost in the past that will never return
• Saudade: the yearning for things lost in the past that might return, even if that return is unlikely or so distant in the future as to be almost of no consequence to the present

Wikipedia further elaborates: 'One might make a strong analogy with nostalgia as a feeling one has for a loved one who has died and saudade as a feeling one has for a loved one who has disappeared or is simply currently absent. Nostalgia is located in the past and is somewhat conformist while saudade is very present, anguishing, anxious and extends into the future.'

When I was watching Shinkai Makoto's Byousoku 5 centimeter, I thought to myself: 'Well, that's saudade alright.' In addition, I think the scene where in adulthood Toono passes by Akari is significant for two reasons:

i) Saudade becomes nostalgia in one split second.

ii) The most important decision one ever makes in one's life is made in one split second.

The yearning does not cease - but the realization that something or someone long lost may return or will never return makes all the difference. And the fact that this all happens within one split second (perhaps that is what the title of the film "Byousoku 5 centimeter" really refers to?) makes it all the more poignant.

Similarly, when I was watching Oshii Mamoru's Innocence (I mean the part about Batou's love for Motoko), I also thought to myself: 'Well, that's saudade alright.'

When the Motoko says to Batou at the end, 'Do not forget - I shall be with by your side whenever you are online', it sounded to me like a life sentence of saudade to be borne by Batou.

Utimately, I think it is a matter of choosing one's poison: With nostalgia, one is resigned that what is lost is lost forever - with that in mind, one may be able to move on with life. With saudade, one lives the perpetual hope that what is lost may yet return - and one tiptoes around the void of absence; life goes on but one leaves that void unfilled in expectation of the return of the long lost. Nostalgia has a cut-off line at some point in the timeframe. Saudade goes on. 

If there is ever such a thing as opium in the aesthetic sense, then I have to say that saudade and nostalgia are without doubt my opium - my heart muscles twitch with pleasure and pain at anything with a component of saudade or nostalgia - provided that they are presented in splendid style and good taste, of course. (My 'gateway drug' in this regard was the films of Wong Kar-wai but that's too long a story to be mentioned here.)

'Innocence' movie of Ghost in the Shell and the world of things

So I finally watched Innocence a while ago. There are a lot of things to be said about this movie and I would prefer to break them down into smaller easily digestible pieces. So here goes one such small-ish post -

WARNING - SPOILERS AHEAD

One of the most iconic features of the film is a sequence of festival parade lasting approximately 5 minutes. The parade, as you may recall, was extravagantly animated with a myriad of ornate details. However, the sequence does virtually nothing to advance the story in anyway, and even feels somewhat out of sync in the natural flow of the story. So my question is - why bother?

Oshii-sensei has probably been asked this question and answered it accordingly somewhere. For my part, I could only say that my gut feeling on seeing it is that it is a powerful and nostalgic expression of the world of things - that is to say, the seen and touchable world that one interacts with through one's physical senses and in which one lives in perpetual want of one thing or another.

This is in stark contrast to the state of human existence you see in the movie. Humans live in various states of modification from their natural biology - the Major long transcended to a form of existence not unlike 'data' on a vast network, and various characters living in man-made bodies instead of their natural bodies. Yet the world of things is still the point of reference in human existence, even though ironically humanity seems to show tendencies of leaving that world of things behind. The parade seems to express nostalgic yearning for physical presence, the sensation of being there, of things with colours that you can perceive through your eyes, texture that you can perceive through your sense of touch, producing sounds that travel to your ears.The objects you see in the parade are all reminders of the natural world, recreated from man-made materials in the likeness of their natural counterparts. What you can no longer have, you create a likeness of.

So what did you people make of the parade scene?

Kouha (硬派) vs Nanpa (軟派)

I was somewhat amused by this Wikipedia Japan's entry on the meaning of kouha (硬派) in relation to anime and manga. But to start off with, the traditional meaning of kouha and its opposite nanpa (軟派) has to be defined and I think this post from Neojaponisme contains an excellent overview:

Nanpa apparently dates back to Edo time but was certainly in popular use during the Meiji period. Back then, it was written in kanji (軟派) and used in relation to its antithesis — kōha (硬派). The words mean “soft faction” and “hard faction,” respectively, and at the time, denoted diametrically opposed philosophical outlooks. Softs were thoughtful, introverted and open to compromise; Hards were aggressive, inflexible, and beat up Softs for kicks.

You can find numerous examples of the words nanpa and kōha being used to bisect various social groups, ranging from newspaper reporters (Softs did society and the arts, Hards did politics) to black marketeers operating in early 20th-century China (Softs dealt drugs, Hards ran guns). The usage that eventually evolved into the modern meaning, however, was the one that applied to young men. Simply put: Softs liked women, and Hards didn’t.

Okay, that’s not entirely true. Hards liked some women just fine: mothers, wives, and respectable spinsters. They were happy enough to jump through societal hoops and set up their own household, complete with standard-issue heirs. But they were only really comfortable in the company of other men.

Softs, on the other hand, loved women, and I mean loved women. They dressed sharp, preferred conversation to fighting, and always tried to be where the women were. (It’s worth noting that nanpa was also used as an adjective to describe women who would respond to such advances.)

Meanwhile, the Wikipedia Japan's entry contains three definitions in describing kouha anime/manga fan. The first one goes like this (my translation):

1) Refers to characters (mainly men) who are stoic and possess bushido or chivalry or so-call manliness or such value system.

In manga, anime or computer games, when the word kouha is used in character settings, it often does not mean this. In contrast to the 'might is right' attitude mentioned above, in this case it is more of a transcendence to something like 'the character himself is not violent, but he has the physique or mental strength to not bend to violence from external sources'. It is appears in settings of characters in middle-age because of this image of maturity. Its values are held to be opposite to moe, and people who are into kouha tend to dislike moe. However, because kouha also has a large following of fans, in a point of fact it has become a sub-category of moe.

In addition, the second definition of kouha goes like this:

2) Refers to manga, anime and computer games that are not aimed at beginners and cannot be enjoyed without prior knowledge, experience and technique - that is to say, so-called 'difficult' works. It also refers to writers and creators who tend to produce such works.

Such works are strong in projecting the image that it is not aimed at the majority but the discerning few. It is also said that even if those works have are a lot of fans, those fans may have a strong feelings as a self-appointed exclusive elite. Because those works are not beginner-friendly, market expansion tends to be obstructed. And it has been pointed out that the rise and fall of genres like SF, shooting games, combat games can be attributed to these genres being too kouha-conscious.

Lastly, the third meaning goes like this:

3) From the above usages comes the reference to people who like minor genres who 'do not go with the popular flow and choose what they like by their own will'. In this instance, 'nanpa' means things that are popular.

It is true, that kouha works like Ghost in the Shell for the 'Hards' are few and far in between these days, while nanpa works like adaptations erogames for the 'Softs' inundate the market. Personally, I am a kouha myself and I pray that Tanaka Yoshiki's Tytania (all three volumes of the still-continuing novel series I just read) will bring about a swing of the pendulum to accomodate 'Hards' who had enjoyed works like The Legend of Galactic Heroes oh-so-long-ago.

(On a housekeeping note, I can see myself updating the Tytania sublog more than I update Iwa ni Hana for the next few months ahead. So see you there!)

Ghost in the Shell: Subversiveness, The Definition of Masculine Strength and Love in a Cybernetic World

So I am having a marathon run of the two seasons of the TV version of Ghost in the Shell over the Easter weekend. I have never seen it and it is quite overwhelming to see all 52 episodes in one go. Here are some quick impressions.

[Massive spoilers ahead]

Subversiveness

Methinks if you actually manage to get your head around all the maze of events in and philosophy behind the work, you may be surprised that the work was not banned by censorship or otherwise obstructed from ever being produced at all. I think it is fair to say that Ghost in the Shell is a story set in the 21st century that is really about Japan in the post-WWII economic boom. As I watch it, I could feel this raw, seething rage against the Establishment / the Old Guard / the Social System of Weasels, by Weasels, for Weasels that Japan frankly is. It is almost as though the creators have a personal grudge against all the shams in the world (世の中のいんちき) and want to overthrow the whole damn apple cart. The finales of the two series feel almost like Judgment Day.