Day 12 and Endings: 2018, and We Never Study/We Never Learn

12 days of anime is actually quite tough, whether if you’re ‘just’ writing or creating a video, to do consistently and well. In large part because of my aggressively ambitious program. But this act requires a touch more energy than I have had lately. As a direct result, I omitted some posts and others were not to satisfaction.

These included the following posts:
1) Darling in the Franxx and disability inclusivity (omitted due to scope of article, likely requiring a rewatch)
2) Feminism of moe (omitted because of not sure where to take it)
3) Liz and Gait post (needs editing after a rewatch)
4) Mitsuboshi Colors and Greenery post (needs fleshing out)
5) Zombieland Saga post (needs fleshing out after I finish ZLS)
6) Revue and Utena post (needs editing after I finish Revue/Utena)
7) 3D Kanojo Thematic post (will happen after I see S2, and probably after I read the manga)

As you can see, there are many loose ends, many of which exist precisely because of time and energy. For many, if not all of these posts, I tried to explore different methods of inquiry. Like discussing how vegetation plays a large role in urban life (Mitsuboshi). Or how Liz and the Blue Bird reflects and uses scientific concepts like gait to explore human relationships. Or how disability can be reflected in the symbology of the zombie. Additionally, this gave me the opportunity to explore how seemingly unrelated works like Fate/Kaleid and Roma could share themes. This approach also finally compelled me to write about race and anime, which has even more nuance than I first realized!  In a way, this reminded me that I, even after years of blogwriting, am still grappling with the process of learning.

And maybe another Zeldaru would have started just writing about the experience of 2018, and what I will explore in the new year.

But I still find myself deeply, immensely, profoundly frustrated by the seasonal anime discourse. We seem to never study our methods of discussion, and as a result never learn how to do discussion better. That’s not to argue for discussion moderation or something like that – but for each of us to grow as people who engage this discourse. There is no one who can’t grow in this regard.

Of course, this is nothing new, but it does seem to have hit a critical mass. As we move past the low bar of “Should we discuss politics and anime” (yes a million times yes), we near that tipping point where the discussion becomes mainstream enough for clear ‘conventions’ to form. Much of this discourse is on deeply valuable subjects. Yet it often comes to narrow or misleading conclusions about broad subjects. And much of the time, it focuses on proving “who” is really a socially just being with the right opinions, as if this is just some competition to win. But an overemphasis on hot takes in this way, besides being tiring, prevents us from having more meaningful dialogues. Hopefully, I do not need to point out broader issues with this discourse approach (cough Spanish Inquisition cough).

 But this is all completely draining and often makes watching anime seasonally far less fun. And often recent shows will be much more harshly examined than less recent shows. It can feel like shows only need to be socially conscious if they come out in year of our lord 2018!

We can have enriching discussions that focus on critical topics but are also founded in mutual respect and exploration, rather than simply having a correctly blazing take.

A particular instance of discourse has been on my mind even though it’s 6 months old. Ancient by Anitwitter discourse terms! But it….reflects some deeply concerning concepts around disability (an underrepresented area in my view). Amanchu Advance, based on the manga by ‘heterosexy’ (here meaning the overemphasis of heterosexuality as a profoundly favored way of living, beyond a passive degree) writer Amano, allegedly tripped alarms with episode 11 – here Teko (MC1, a girl) apparently gives an 11 year old boy (positioned as a character both MCs know) permission to date Peko (MC2, a girl). This could be read as stating that an 11 year old boy is a more fruitful romantic partner for a girl than a girl, which would be homophobic! It basically insists that the heterosexual dynamic is crucial to the world. But…I want to refute this temptation to read this as a heterosexy encounter, even if Amano is guilty of writing such scenes.

In my view, this controversy is overblown: you must cynically overapply heterosexuality to reach this conclusion (based on the portrayal in the anime). But that gets into deeply uncomfortable territory, as it maladroitly sidesteps how different identities intersect. As portrayed in the anime, Teko struggles with strong social anxiety (highlighted by an AniFem article on the subject) and to ignore that for the sake of convenience is ableist. From this view, Teko is struggling to find the right words to express her exact feelings (which very likely include considering both parties’ feelings). Thus, Teko’s offer of support to me does not read as “date my friend” but rather “you are my friend, and I support your feelings and want you to express your feelings”. Because of her own struggles with sharing feelings, Teko is likely wanting to see others succeed in this approach.

I will not say Amano is above criticism for heterosexy portrayals. But to criticize her for this scene (as shown in the anime) is nonsensical to me. There are far more poignant examples of this from her work, like the writing of the Peter arc, which appears to position heterosexuality as powerful through supernatural imagery, and her similar works in Aria (from what I hear). But I won’t stand for Teko, who expresses herself earnestly while living with social anxiety, being read as a mouthpiece for that heterosexuality.

The refutation of this particular situation’s heterosexiness comes in full force from the anime’s conclusion (the episode following episode 11), where Teko and Peko intimately share what they have learned from each other in diving and in life. They do this exchange by sharing letters and describing their feelings orally. Such an exchange, which is at least intimate if not very probably romantic, locally refutes the imposition of heterosexiness. Of course, the Peter Arc struggles with heterosexy framing, and maybe Amano destroys this context later. But this discourse always came across as focused on the anime, and so I want to stay here.

Of course this implies that the anime has a different focus and frame than the manga. I fully intend to say that! To this end, I have another point: director Kiyoko Sayama and series composer (main series writer) Deko Akao, the female director-writer team guiding Amanchu Advance, definitively play a role in changing this framing to encourage emotional honesty and reducing heterosexy elements. In particular, the first episode, an anime original venture, places the relationship between Teko and Peko into square focus, establishing their intimacy. A romantic vibe is probably not intentional. But the use of framing, which is where female creatives tend to differ from male creatives, is able to pull the audience closer into the Teko-Peko relationship. Even for the Peter Arc, which feels distressing, the use of direction to emphasize the female characters’ courage and motivation is able to provide a more compelling vision over what the manga seems to broadly suggest. (I will admit this is conjecture but I do get the feeling the anime handles this arc differently than the manga would.) Therefore, to me calling the anime homophobic strikes me as not only ableist but also sexist by ignoring the work of the Sayama-Akao team in changing the framing. We cannot talk about anime as if only the manga’s intentions simply seep through and dominate anything that comes after. Amano doesn’t have such an awe-inspiring power over Amanchu Advance that dominates every angle, even if she is the original creator.

We could be having so much more enriching, engaging, and even dare I say it fun discussions if we could look beyond simple divisions, especially around sexuality and gender. I well understand that this approach has evolved because of a culture that stigmatizes these discussions. But at this point, where we are building a critical mass, it is harmful to focus on simple division along social identity lines. We should see ourselves as intersections of identities existing in space and time, as beings with randomness and entropy, not as a tightly molded model like Crunchyroll et al would like us to be!

I sincerely hope that 2019 can bring a more sincere and meaningful dialogue back to the Anitwitter community.

Day 11: You Get To (Gene) Editing: Bioethics of creating life and episode 18 of Nadesico [DRAFT]

Disclaimer: Spoilers. Sorry Jet.

For those who do not know, Martian Successor Nadesico is an often light-hearted, yet occasionally more serious, work that explores science fiction from an incredibly 90s perspective. It invokes the classic (70s) super robo shows like Getter Robo aesthetically and narratively, looping in a super robo parody named Gekiganger III. This series feels like a time capsule. You would expect that to make its science fiction feel dated. And sometimes it does feel like it also borrows straight from 70s series like Space Battleship Yamato or from Mobile Suit Gundam! But, especially when the series focuses hard, there are moments when Nadesico can offer beautifully clairvoyant visions about the way science will be. In a way that matches with how science is now.

With this intro out of the way, we can share spoilers freely! Episode 18 is one such episode that feels especially germane, as it covers Ruri’s backstory. As is revealed, Ruri is born from in-vitro fertilization (IVF) with the combination of genetic engineering. Both IVF and genetic engineering are existing technologies (and are available if you’re IVF), though not necessarily widespread. Therefore, the guess that the two technologies would be combined is not entirely surprising.

Questions around gene editing are flying past and furiously right now as He Jiankui, as of late last month, claims he made the first CRISPR-edited babies. This is horrifying for a variety of reasons: 1) his gene editing was not done to address an unmet medical need 2) there was no informed consent and 3) he did his actions in secrecy and received pushback as a result.
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/11/china-crispr-babies/576784/
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/12/15-worrying-things-about-crispr-babies-scandal/577234/

Though certainly the use of CRISPR-Cas9 is somewhat different from Ruri’s case, it can be assessed in much a similar way. Currently, the dominant method of gene editing comes from CRISPR and if a modern “Ruri” existed it would probably involve that work.

Nadesico, from being a fictional work, is able to create constrains that provide a rich philosophical construction. We know, for example, what happened to Ruri after the birth, unlike the work of He Jiankui right now. Additionally, Ruri being a main character creates a concrete layer to the story – this episode traces her backstory, after we have learned of her as THE most competent Nadesico crew member. It is quite incredible that a 1996 show could offer insight to a 2018 problem!

In engineering Ruri, the lab sought to create a soldier, in this case on the Nadesico itself. This is a deeply questionable element that makes sense in context of the show but is not nearly as ‘good’ for the real world. It is of very little surprise the in-show lab (Hunaro Institute) was shut down and the experiments were banned – we could hope that this happens to He for his secretive and unprofessional work! 

In a sense, Nadesico deeply exaggerates this genetic engineering story, allowing us to see the ridiculousness. Based on Ruri’s fears of never knowing her roots, the crew goes to Peaceland to investigate. But Ruri learns that the lab where her parents genetic material is stored was destroyed in a terrorist attack. And the parents she meets in Peaceland are not her biological parents and are in fact holograms. This is both pleasing to her and depressing as it is far beyond what she expected. She goes to eat pizza in sadness, which she calls awful, and starts a fight with the owner (letting Akito, the male MC, take care of the situation).  This is hilarious, but beyond that powerful: an entire character arc happens within a matter of a few minutes and concludes that parenthood is important but that it is messy and far beyond biological. The people who comprise family could be biological parents, adopted parents, or could be greater. In this show, one can see the Nadesico crew as (an admittedly messed up and unruly) family; this is why Ruri, even after learning her past, returns to the Nadesico. Spoilers, but in fact Ruri is in the remaining 8 episodes!

But there’s more to this character arc: Ruri finds the Hunaro Institute, the lab from earlier, and this is where she actually finds the answers to her concerns. She finds the beautiful river and forest she had only seen in her dreams so are. This is the place she seeks. The lab is in such a ruinous ,empty state that there is only one scientist, an old man, left in the place. (Again, one can imagine a similar symbol for He’s lab.) 

According to his judgment alone, he saved the IVF-fertilized (and engineered) eggs, thought destroyed in the terrorist attack, as a test subject. But in this position he has role over human life and cannot take such an irresponsible attitude. The consequences can easily include death or indoctrination leading to a far worsened quality of life. However, there is yet another wrinkle in this fabric: he brings the IVF children into the world, including Ruri, and offers them clean air and water and a structured and protected life. And they get employment from this!

This offers a series of benefits not even given in the actual 2018 situation and it gives us insight into what has to be done to in fact offset the troublesome morality of doing gene engineering without consent in any appreciable way. We also see the vindication of Ruri slapping the professor sand saying nobody asked this of him. But Ruri values being alive and that should be considered. In any case of genetic engineering, one has to weigh the intrinsic value of life, and that is really hard to consider. Giving a comfortable setting to grow up in is one essential part of this process. But there’s also facts involved with a person carrying those engineered elements throughout their life. To justify genetic engineering, this type of analysis must be rigorously done!  

With Ruri returning to the Nadesico, we see an emotionally honest resolution to her confusion around her feelings on being engineered. The show concretely places Ruri in control over her life with the knowledge of being an engineered being. Nadesico reflects a much more nuanced understanding of the situation, to me, than He’s research ultimately does. Ultimately, a human being, whether engineered or not, will want to find satisfaction and meaning of some form in life and we should always hold this search as vital.