Kokoro Connect and the Sanctity of the Body

/** I have decided to split this post up because I intend to write about this show in the future. I hope that this post is enjoyable, especially since I included some personal material too.**/

Watching Kokoro Connect (Silver Link)[1], an anime adaptation by Silver Link, I started thinking about the body as a concept. Even though many different works tackle questions regarding the body, I feel that Kokoroco[2] makes some interesting insights – the show is able to concisely but effectively tackle these themes because of the situations the characters (Figures 1, 2) are forced into. However, I hope to hone in on the first arc of the show, which can be termed the “body swapping” arc. This body swapping[3] phenomenon occurs between the five club members. Essentially, a person’s soul – or personality, whatever you will – is swapped with another soul, placing them in a different body. Body-swapping forces the club members to reconcile with the personal history of each other and physically with each other’s bodies.

Figure 1. Aoki (left) and Yui (right) depicted in Episode 1 of Kokoro Connect. As a side note, Aoki has a crush on Yui (and yes that is relevant to the story).

Figure 2.  Slightly bewildered Iori (left), angry Inaba (middle), and similarly perplexed Taichi (right) depicted in the same episode. They are reacting to the story being told by Aoi and Yui (Figure 1). Aoi and Yuki are reporting that they swapped bodies the previous night, which starts the body-swapping arc. Taichi has a crush on Iori (which is also relevant to the story – don’t question it! Gosh! Why would I lie!).

While in the classroom Iori body-swaps with Taichi (Figure 3). Looking down, he sees a skirt and realizes that he has transferred bodies with Iori. Taichi also sees that he is clearly alone in the classroom. Being a teenager in the body of the person he loves, Taichi does the obvious thing and gropes Iori’s breasts, acting impulsively. Though he thought he was alone, he learned that that was not the case – rather, he had been seen. An indirect result of this bystander is Taichi having to tell Iori about what happened – she responds by jokingly commenting that she has been violated. Though she is forgiving – cognizant that Taichi meant no harm – the act counteracts the sanctity of Iori’s body because the contact was unwanted. Though in this case, Taichi caused no damage, sometimes this unwanted contact can be quite harmful just not in an obvious way.

Figure 3. Taichi inside Iori’s body, as depicted in episode 1. Currently, Taichi is alone in the classroom, looking at Iori’s desk. (Iori had been searching for a notebook there.) While inside Iori’s body, he acts very differently than Iori would, which is rather suspicious.

This idea can be thought of generally as well. The possible violation of Iori’s body occurs beyond mere touch. When a body is controlled by another person then that body’s owner suffers damage to self-identity. Though the show is quite literal with body-swapping, there are other means of “controlling” another person. Applying strong pressure without touching someone is another way to control a person. The “being in charge” then gets to dictate a new identity over the old identity. Here Iori forgives Taichi, so this example is a mild case. However, being unable to control one’s corporeal essence gravely harms self-identity because the body plays an important role in a person’s personality and essence. Because of this role, I refer to the “sanctity of the body.”

Sanctity of the body can be split into two interrelated categories: physical sanctity and mental sanctity.  The former refers to being touched or control over one’s body physically. The latter refers to having control over one’s body through the mind/soul and can be more complex. For example, exerting pressure through words or actions may, potentially, violate this sanctity of the body even without a corporeal component. However, they are both interlinked, so they should not be talked about separately. Both play a role in the body being valuable. An example of the opposite would make this concept more obvious. A person could receive unwanted physical contact, such as touching, or undesirable communication, such as demeaning “compliments.”

Body-swapping disrupts the sanctity of the body in its entirety because someone other than the body’s owner assumes control. As a result, that person can do what they want. Inaba, playing the role of club leader, makes a similar realization and implores the other club members to be more considerate when they enter each other’s bodies; though her concerns are practical, they reveal that, through body-swapping, they may control their host in unnatural ways. This behavior may be going to the wrong bathroom, or even something more sinister, but ultimately it disrespect’s the person’s original inhabitant by forcing them into an unnatural routine that is potentially unwanted. Again, Taichi’s actions represent a great example of how this phenomenon can be abused. Through body-swapping, the show reveals that the body has a value far beyond not being touched; at the same time, it reveals that there are many ways to violate a person.  

After this discussion, I would like to spare some words, by way of a personal example, for the connection between the body and one’s being.  In my experience, as someone with a neuromuscular condition[4], I have had to think often about what it means to have a body that feels damaged – for me, I view the sanctity of the body as critically important because I feel so far from wholly comfortable with my body. My circumstance is rather different from many people, including the characters from the show, but it conveys the trauma of feeling truly, utterly violated. One earlier post featured my complaints about my hands (see: “Cursed Hands”, paragraph 1) but these complaints can be easily stretched over my entire body. When I feel anxious – and I am in this state often – I can feel my heart pounding; not a regular heartbeat, but rather a series of forceful contractions that cause my chest to vibrate. My legs feel sore and tight sometimes and often I have great difficulty; walking can seem ridiculously difficult at times. My feelings of physical discomfort and pain translate to my sensation that my body is damaged and grossly abnormal.

I would attribute my trauma to more than simply physical pain. Becker’s Muscular Dystrophy has an unexpected subtlety to it beyond the muscle complications: it impacts the brain directly, and plays a role in cognition (Cyrulnik and Hinton 2008). However, the muscular symptoms of BMD play a role in altering cognition and behavior as well. These combined effects put me at distance with my peers in a sense. Starting in preschool and continuing to this day, I have felt separated from others, especially those my age, because of my condition. Physical pain leads to mental anguish when you are the only one feeling it. Because I act differently – and this includes when I feel pain – I feel intentionally cut off. This discontentment is also caused by representations of persons with disabilities (PWD) in the media, and even in conversations. They are not prevalent in most art nor are they talked much about. Because of this culture – an atmosphere of not talking about disability at all – I feel further damaged and out of place. My trauma stems from these sources and many more; it is from my body’s metaphorical injury, aided by the physical pain and discomfort I do feel.

To me, my body is more than simply the assembly of organ systems I learned in anatomy classes but rather represents the full vehicle for my personality and self; this observation coincides with the lesson learned from the body-swapping phenomenon: that the violation of one’s body causes trauma. For me, this first arc is remarkably powerful allowing me to better understand myself and also the idea of the sanctity of the body.  The purpose of sharing one’s body – rather not just hiding and being a hermit – is respectful engagement with others in order to grow as a person. Through body swapping, the club members help each other overcome deep-seated trauma – especially in the case of Yui – which allows them to accept each other more deeply. Here Kokoro Connect cleverly and powerfully displays the critical value of a person’s body.

Works Cited

Cyrulnik, Shana E. and Veronica J. Hinton. “Duchenne muscular dystrophy: A cerebellar disorder?” Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 32 (2008): 486-496. Print.

Kokoro Connect. Silver Link, 2015. Anime. Perf. Miyuki Sawashiro.

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[1] This show’s source is a light novel series of the same name.

[2] Shorthand for Kokoro Connect.

[3] Alternatively, soul-swapping but the show, at least according to the sub I watched, calls it body-swapping.

[4] Becker’s Muscular Dystrophy

Creation, Consumption, and Yet Another Update!

With one of my friends, I talk a lot about balancing my consumption of art with creation. To recap, I have currently been watching Higurashi (Season 2) and Mushishi (Season 1) and both shows are very different - yet they both have a mythology that they follow. In regards to world-building, both are interesting. As someone hoping to write a murder mystery story - and I will finish another part someday - I appreciate influences on story structure. Thanks to Higurashi, I suspect that I will reach beyond strict linearity and logical progression. I read through Haruhi LNs 7-9 recently, flew through Inio Asano's Solanin and started reading Christie's The ABC Murders. Through Solanin, I got a chance to reflect on my life as it is and through ABC Murders I get to return to the world of mystery. Through this web of art, I have become more capable of connecting ideas, themes and better and wading through my art backloggery. Today I finished Higurashi, compounding my newfound abilities (take that, pre-self-protest self!). But my creative habits are not at all at pace - I have fallen behind with creating art. Analysis, even though it involves artistic judgment, is not truly creative even though it plays a role. The small insights I gain from engaging other artists' work does, however, help push me in that direction. Engaging various media is necessary for exposure to different ideas; this exposure allows one to alleviate inexperience. Someone else did this idea so you can use them as a reference rather than try to create from new. That way, you can focus on creating a new work from all of these individual insights accumulated. I am improving but now I would like to translate my art-engagement into art-creation.

Now I would like to provide some updates:
1. I am now on the East Coast for some vacation time, but this may make me less willing to actually write.
2. While I plan to read and watch yet more, I hope to focus on more substantial posts and be more creative. I will pursue the same post ideas as suggested before. However, I hope to end August strong and aim for 20 posts, maybe? A post that was written quite a while ago should go up and that will provide an intellectual basis for future posts.
3. Hopefully, I can watch through Fate/Zero season 2. As you can tell, I'm hard at work writing more posts.
4. I have a rather important deadline September 10 and thus September will definitely not even be an attempt at writing a post every day.
5. I haven't used a legit list in a while, huh?
6. Pay attention!
7. w.r.t  the Murder Mystery, I am working on Part 3 and I will try to entertain some nonlinear ideas.

The Value of Art, Owning Physical Copies

Yesterday, I went to Powell's - yes the Powell's of that other post on here - and I was faced with this question of: what do I buy? Though this question should be straightforward, I was not exactly sure why I was there, what I wanted to buy. So I had to question the value of art, owning physical copies. I would not simply be borrowing like from a library but I had to justify the purchase - the art would have to warrant repeated considerations and last them, offering value evermore. Ultimately, I was restricted to $30 and my summed price, with four items, ended up being closer to $50. Having purchased a game earlier that day - to replace a faulty disc of a game i have to consider fairly foundational to my past self, especially the 5th grade me who mentioned it in a winter break journal assignment for class - I was rather defense. I could defend that choice to myself easily based on sentimental value and my friend telling me that it was a rather good price. But how on earth did I whittle my choice down? The prima facie claim is simply that I need to have engaged a work by the same author or have seen the anime adaptation - in other words, I want some familiarity. Purchasing a volume of the Hayate the Combat Butler manga would have forced me to skip from #1 to #4, which made me hesitant. And the other option was leaping into the first light novel of Spice and Wolf, which I am not familiar with. To be fair, I did read World End Economica Part One written by the same author and the S&W description sounded interesting. But somehow it felt like a leap. One item did come obviously - Durarara LN 1 - because it was what I had wanted. A quick skim revealed an interesting structure, so I knew that this would be enjoyable, and I've seen it adapted. Something about this combination of Drrr and text seemed right. Now, I will mention the second work that I purchased - for I ended up purchasing only two...It was Solanin by Inio Asano, author of Oyasumi Punpun, the only manga I have awarded masterpiece status. There was further depth to this decision: the work was dubbed a Staff Pick, especially suitable for twentysomethings. Unlike Punpun, this work gave off the initial perception of seeming close to home - I am very different from Punpun, but I expect that Solanin will dig deep in a personal way. That's not to say that Oyasumi Punpun can't do that, but it achieves it in a different manner. It's not something immediate to my life, I mean. I got this sense just from the Staff Pick note and skimming the description on the back. Out of all four works I considered in Powell's, I would say that I am most excited for Solanin. So we'll see how I fare. And then I'll leap into Infinite Jest and just focus on it.

An Informal Thing, An Update

Today I wanted to draw attention to an aspect of my blog that has only been addressed twice formally. First was my Learning Guide from late last year, and second was my Disability piece presented by Michiru - both are, in a sense, pedagogical materials that are useful for conveying disability. As I think about creating these materials to teach disability, I can't help but wonder how I can progress further. One important perspective missing from my guide or materials is what an able-bodied child would look like, or able-bodied adult. For that reason, I think a scene from Non Non Biyori would be apt to that end - in many ways, Renge, Natsumi, Komari, and Hotaru are portrayed as typical in ability for girls of their respective ages. So they may provide a clear example of that normed ability. Otherwise, this talk about normality may seem a bit abstract if I only give examples of the typical case. This example of normality must be obvious, even exaggerated, to convey the right message, I'd say. Thus, Non Non Biyori could be germane in this case, and so would other works depicting active children.

One way that I wish to expand my repertoire, when it comes to pedagogy and disability, is t incorporating scenes and images from anime shows, manga, and light novels. Yes, Michiru highlights one potential route - incorporate a character's words into the learning material itself; that allows it to feel personal and more fluid. Learning materials should never feel too stuffy, which I think I managed to capture. However, I need to spend more time thinking about characters that represent disability well. The observant reader may notice that I spent some time taking notes on characters without actually posting on them at all. These notes and observations may still factor into new essays. I thought of a new character, recently, who may be appropriate. Fortunately, I have buried this information deeply so I don't need an overt spoiler warning (I guess I just did)....The person is Rena from Higurashi no Naku Koro ni[1] and she has a neurological disorder. I feel that in some ways this disorder is offered as a convenient explanation and in other ways is used to demonize her. So, I could write something on Rena's experience and perspective - and that would allow me to look beyond physical disability. I wish to capture a greater range of abilities because disability appears in many shapes, and is not simply just obvious, physical ones.

New learning materials will eventually be shared on this blog, so this post serves as a warning of sorts, I suppose. I may update old materials or create new ones.  On a semi-related note, I will be sharing my short story "5 Centimeters Per Second" on the Muscular Dystrophy Association's blog devoted to the theme of transition from childhood to adulthood. This way I will have a more public platform to write about my disability but I will also be able to further my other ambitions in this area. I would like to be able to draw upon my collaboration with the MDA for further work, so this works for me.

That said, I can give an update on the other posts I have been working on.

List of Blog Ideas, Updated

1. Continuation of the Murder Mystery Story
2. Serial Killers Post
3. Amaburi Post
4. Kokoroco Post (expect this one very soon)
5. Gochuumon post (likely a short post)
6. Sound Euphonium post (eventually)
7. Rewrite and the Earth (this one will require replaying a short section of Rewrite)
8. Potentially some posts about my disability (But I likely will not post them here but rather give them to the MDA blog; I do not want Nighttrail to have all of my content)

Kinpatsu and London: Kiniro Mosaic as if it’s related to my professional goals

Today I rewatched episode 1 of the anime Kiniro Mosaic.  In this episode, a young Shinobu heads from Japan to London, despite knowing little English, on a homestay with an English family. While heading to the house she is staying at, Shinobu examines her surroundings. With the help of the father of the family, she makes her way to the house. Stepping out of the car leads to the discovery that where she will be staying is surrounded by beautiful trees (Figure 1). She is in awe.  Her adventure is reminiscent of anyone who enthusiastically travels across cultural boundaries; the settings are different, the culture is different, and everything is simply unexpected. 

 

Figure 1. Shinobu (young) facing the English countryside.

 

Not knowing English is a hurdle for Shinobu but she still manages to arrive at the house and meet the mom and her daughter. Her daughter Alice is initially terrified of Shinobu and hides behind her mom; she claims that Japanese girls are scary.

   Figure 2. Young Alice (left) and Shinobu (right) exploring London.

Fortunately, the mother of the household is fluent in Japanese (and English, obviously) and helps Shinobu settle down. (The father, it can be noted, plays little importance in this episode.) Through being persistent and saying hello to Alice, Shinobu wins her trust, even though Alice does not understand Japanese. This could be considered a classic case of the “connection of hearts beating out not understanding each other’s words” or something to that effect. It helps that Alice can understand a tiny amount of Japanese but after a lot of effort they click and become friends (Figure 2). She gets to see a lot of the London area while engaging in many English activities. Through this effort they grow as friends and appreciate each other’s culture more. Despite not being able to speak much together, they can partake in activities together, and move beyond words. In that sense, they are able to establish friendship beyond words, which represents a more powerful relationship than one based solely on talking. In another scene, Alice is taking a bath, to which Shino had added scented bath balls that smelled of cherry blossoms; Alice conflates this smell with Japan, making her wish to go there.

A few years pass and Shinobu receives a letter from Alice in English, meaning that she has to ask a friend for help. Her blue-haired friend Aya says that she thinks the letter indicates Alice is coming to Japan. Shinobu’s other friend, Yuko, cannot read it at all. This scene reflects how understanding other languages is difficult but also why students learn foreign languages in the first place. Despite this warning, Aya, Shinobu, and Yuko are startled when they see Alice; after these years Alice has learned Japanese and can speak to all of them. Now the tables are turned and Alice is living with Shinobu, granting her desires of cultural experience.

Here Alice represents the driven traveler – someone willing to learn the language and engage the culture, much the way Shinobu did in England. Through this episode, the show displays how powerful cultural exchange can be and how people grow from exposure to multiple cultures. Affirming this point, when Alice meets Shinobu’s mom, she talks about trying out a kimono and having difficulty with it; but Shinobu’s mom is simply impressed with Alice’s Japanese, reflecting her efforts. As a viewer, we see her strong growth from a few years ago in growing beyond fear and into admiration.

At some point in this piece, I should interject, right? I have been to both Japan and England and felt the awe that is being in another country. However, I think my experiences in England are more relevant to this show because I actually spent a couple of weeks there – while in London, I was able to see so many excellent cultural sites but I also got a better understand of living in that area. Even when you know the language, going to a new place is difficult and I was mainly okay because I had people to guide me. There are many minute differences, including the voltage, that make life feel so different in England versus the USA. I’m not sure I can say that my experience was akin to Shinobu’s but London was quite the adventure.

In one sense, this episode is an inspiring story to someone wanting to travel to a different country and engage the culture there. Tomorrow I have an interview for endorsement for the Rhodes scholar program, which would allow me to travel to London. I think that seeing an episode with a focus on London helps establish why I’d like to go there. The questions will certainly be academic in nature but it’s important to have a personal reason that makes me passionate about the location. Why London?  Much like Shinobu, there is a lot of beauty in that area, especially towards outer London (where I stayed). Images like Figure 1 highlight why London is valuable to me – I love greenery and trees, and I’m okay with rain.  Obviously, I won’t cite an anime show for reminding me about why I like London but it’s a good reminder. Now I can feel that I have non-academic, non-professional reason to want the Rhodes scholarship and that’s always beneficial for an interview. Someone who’s just strategic, well, that’s not who I want to be.

Blue Line Swinger, Decora w.r.t Fuzz: A Review of Yo La Tengo’s Electr-o-pura

Yo La Tengo began as a relatively straightforward punk-leaning rock group. However, their history unfolded, they absorbed an appreciation of guitar fuzz and, seemingly contradictory, folk music. Their 1995 album Electr-o-pura fits after 1990’s Fakebook, 1992’s May I Sing With Me, 1994’s Painful because it represents the summation of a few different styles – Electr-o-pura (EOP) savors the fuzz and the folk, creating a distinctive sound, while also having some ethereal moments. This unique blend gave rise to their later works, especially 1997’s I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One and 2000’s And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out. Arguably, after these two albums, Yo La Tengo switched sounds again. Ascribing a “best” album by this band is arduous because the band has had quite a few different stylistic phases but EOP is a solid choice for the position.

A fantastic album, EOP has a particular atmosphere stemming from these songs and their arrangement – upbeat, guitar-heavy songs are often balanced out with mellow, melodic pieces, allowing the album to remain dynamic. Nor is this juxtaposition every other song – often the band will punish one’s ears sonically before aiming for calmer works. Sometimes these shifts in dynamics are subtle and sometimes they are in-your-face, but they always act to keep the album moving. Even though the album is comparatively long, it feels moderately paced.

Having been first introduced to the closer first, I was surprised when I first listened to the album. The closer, “Blue Line Swinger”, would seem quite unusual if it started at the beginning of the album. In a sense, EOP is a musical journey because, as juxtaposition of soft and harsh occurs, the style gradually shifts from the band’s earlier sound into something unique. Arguably, “Blue Line Swinger” recalls Painful while diverging substantially. Yet this journey has gaps – the tracklisting is not just a story to be pieced together. Throughout its length, Electr-o-Pura is cohesive, and can be traced.

“Decora”, the opener, is deceptively calm with its steady drumbeat and intermittent guitar- behind Ira Kaplan’s soft voice erupts insistent guitar, creating a surprisingly distorted sound. After all, the beginning of the song is reminiscent of many other rock groups in the mid ‘90s. As if ushering in urgency, “Flying Lesson (Hot Chicken #1)” maintains a post-punk darkness with an unsettling tone – in that sense it is the stylistically darkest song, standing out from the rest of the album. Flame-spewing guitar enters about 90 seconds in – in that sense Yo La Tengo is separate from many of their noisy peers. A harsher version of “No Fair” by the Wipers[1] may be an adequate description of the song. The feeling of restraint is subdued, allowing for a frenzy of sound. Leaving the blistering style of the previous song, “The Hour Grows Late”, one of my personal favorites, is something of a melodic rock nocturne, in case you could not guess from the name. Here clean guitar is joined by soft, barely audible drums – quite unlike the previous two songs on the album – and vocal harmonies are utilized, giving a calm atmosphere. This piece captures EOP’s soft underbelly while prying the sonic pallet further with an organ.

“Tom Courtenay” then injects energy back in – seemingly the band laughing at listeners expecting a continued mellowing out – and brings the pace back up. If anything, it acts as the upbeat guitar-pop song, loaded with guitar fuzz but perhaps catchier than My Bloody Valentine’s Isn’t Anything[2]^,[3]. Throughout the album post-“The Hour Grows Late”, ther is a lot of juxtaposition between soft pieces and rougher pieces but the band is never crass enough to just switch every other song – they use a gradient of noise, realizing they hail from both folk and noise-inspired indie rock. “False Alarm”, for example, reminds you that the band features a drummer[4]. Though each song on EOP varies, perhaps “(Straight Down To The) Bitter End” in its distorted glory captures the guitar-heavy side of the album – jagged but controlled. If “The Hour Grows Late” is the fragile underbelly, then “Bitter End” is the rough armored shell.

Through this uneven mixture of tones, the album provides two sides behind the band before it tries out something new: the closer. This makes sense – the subtle diversity on the album reveals Yo La Tengo’s willingness to make risks and experiment with their music. The penultimate piece “Attack on Love” features a sample followed by volcanic guitar and furious percussion, reflecting this desire to explore other sounds. “Blue Line Swinger” starts with a continuous stream of keyboard before the guitar enters; the song builds up over a few minutes before Ira’s voice even appears, odd on this album. Though the song accelerates, it remains steady and melodic, creating an immensely fun but structured closer. The guitar’s fuzz is ever-present, building as the percussion pushes the song forward. The album ends with guitar feedback drifting into space before it suddenly ends, a statement that represents the album – Yo La Tengo, throughout Electr-o-Pura, never simply reaches for distortion and is in fact willing to cut it short to change the feel of a piece. For this reason and many others, I consider it a very strong album indeed.

However, one question is likely searing inside your mind: Why would I write about a 20 year old album?[5] After all, Yo La Tengo has not even had this noisy sort of sound in over a decade. (Listen to 2013’s Fade[6] for further proof of that.) Sure, 2003’s Summer Sun – which was my introduction to Yo La Tengo as a band – is busy instrumentally with many layers but it is quite mellow and synthesizer based. There is nothing quite like the ‘90s Yo La Tengo guitar pop on it. In fact, Summer Sun belongs with the few albums that followed it. However, Electr-o-pura does also showcase the band’s evolution of style even if that style is different. EOP was the right choice for this review because it uses a fuzzy rock approach in innovative ways and it represents my favorite arc of the band’s music. 1993’s Painful is similar in this regard and is an excellent companion for Electr-o-pura. EOP bends sounds while remaining entertaining and being a strong album. Even though it came out twent\y years ago, Electr-o-pura remains quite strong.

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[1] The Wipers were a punk group from Portland, OR. Though they played punk music in the vein of their peers in the ‘80s, the Wipers included a grungy sound. “No Fair” is a song from 1981’s Youth of America and features a post-punk style with infusion of distortion.

[2] My Bloody Valentine is considered a major band in the shoegaze genre. They are also considered noise pop and dream pop. The main point is that MBV is fairly similar to Yo La Tengo on this album.

[3] That is not meant to be an insult, by the way.

[4] Hopefully you realize this is another facetious comment.

[5] Yes, possibly nostalgia. But I did not even listen to this album for the first time until last year. The person I’m blaming for that is a secret, though.

[6] Fade is a solid album in my opinion. So go try it out if you haven’t.